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SKUNDER THUNDER RECEIVES BAD NEWS

The Skunder's pulled off a great scrimmage victory of dabulls22 the other night, but at a great cost. Italian sensation and Big 8 all star starter Vincenzo Gallinari will miss the playoffs for the this season. "Terrible news, I feel for him" stated GM Tyler Skaggs at the announcement this afternoon, "The team has fought through tough challenges all year, and I believe that we can overcome this lose."

Asked if he was looking for a replacement for Gallinari, Skaggs stated "Heck and Hond have been great contributors throughout the season, and I feel they can help with the loss, but if an opportunity presented itself, I would be a fool to pass it up. This coming game against the Super Sonics will determine a lot of our decisions"

On the improvements of the team this season, "Well, we brought in some solid players, and started to gel as the season went on, the victory over the Red Flags was a great boost with the home crowd, but I feel that the Red Flags played sloppy, yet still almost beat us at their worst, so the road won't be easy. The Cyborgs in Steel City also played a sloppy game against us, and pulled out a victory, so I'm worried that come playoff time, these teams won't play as badly as they did against us the last time, we still have work to do to be the best in the league."

On playoff outlook "We can win it, but it won't be easy...don't go betting life savings on the Skundah-o's just yet."

With a big hole at SF, we'll see what the Skunder Thunder can do ag

nice post!

Injuries are the great wildcard, I still expect the Thunder to be a tough team! The trade deadline has not passed, still time to make moves

SKUNDAH-O's TO THE FINALS; SET TO FACE THE CYBORGS

Egalitarian Arena - Tyler Skaggs is only 23 years old, but after this game, he looks like he's 43. "If I didn't shave my head for the JMU upset over Virginia Tech, I probably would've lost it all tonigt. My heart was pounding, and all I could think about was the last game we had here in Egalitarian Arena," (blew 10 pt lead in the 4th quarter earlier in the season) as the Red Flags scratch and clawed back to within 3 in the waning minutes tonight. "I can't believe we came into this hostile environment and are now going to the championship game."

Mangaers around the league pointed to changing philosophies that the Skunder's deploy, and came out this game with a strong focus on the front court players. "Oh yeah, once Gallinari went down, I knew we should use a more interior focus, but we had the playoff spot locked up, with quality opponents, I decided to see if our balanced approach would still work at the end of the year. The BYU Cougars were a great measuring stick at the end of the regular season, and seeing our success with the system, I didn't want to change anything. By the way, I would like to thank the BYU Cougars for the gracious message, and goodwill after defeat, I know they will be a force sooner rather than later."

As for going with the inside focus against the Red Flags, "Listen, they slow the game down, and are very efficient, so I had to go with the best chance of getting a score everytime, and we have 3 all-stars in our front court, so obviously, we went for the inside focus. I'm so glad that it was a single game with the Red Flags, nothing would bother me more than playing them for best of 3."

Anything to say about the opponent, "Hey, anything can happen, best of 3, I expect it to go to game 3. They don't call him Krazy Kay because it's catchy and cool, they do it because of his madness, but the method behind it wins basketball games. I mean, he keeps calling us the Thunder Skunders, maybe trying to get us off our game."

After a tough season, we will decide next week who is the best in the league, one things for sure, it will be a helluva matchup