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Hi,

new season is approaching fast and it will again be exciting one. As usual, we will play in the consolation tourmanent, where 82 teams compete for hosting the next area championships. For us, European teams, that usually means needing to win the tournament. However, now not all teams are eligible for the main (and only) prize. If some team won any medal in the last five seasons, it only plays "for fun". Such teams in this seasons tournament are France, Serbia, Germany and Greece. There are still many very competitive teams left, so we cannot realistically compete for the only trophy of the tournament. A nice success would be qualification in the playoffs, which wasnt accomplished in the last try. Given our schedule, it will be difficult, but definitely feasible. Our opponents are as follows:

Albania (home). A game that shouldnt be very difficult, although first games are always a bit risky. But we are strong favourites in this one.

Russia (away). Contrary to the first game, this one will be very tough to win. Russia beat us in the last EC, although we were close. But now they will have the home-court advantage (HCA), which will put them further ahead.

Senegal (home). Team which I am not very familiar with, but given our HCA, I definitely see us as favourites. In any case, if we want to get to the playoffs, this is a must win game.

Columbia (away). Another difficult away game, where we will be underdogs. But we will try to increase our odds.

Brazil (home): A strong opponent, but at home. This is one of the two crucial games, which will decide our fate.

India (away): Long journey to New Delhi and low energy after game against Brazil will not do us any good, but still I see us as favourites in this one.

England (home): Similarly to game against Brazil, this will be one of the decisive matches. England is slightly better in quality, but our HCA should negate that, and a close score is expected.

Pakistan (away): Consolation tournament is really one of the least eco-friendly competitions ever created, instead of playing back-to-back games in Asia, we fly back to Sweden, than back east... In any case, this one shouldnt be difficult, but Pakistan will most likely attack us with crunch time, so we will have to stay focused.

Bottom line, four easy(-ier) games, two games, where win will be very difficult to get, and two very unpredictable games. Score needed is usually 5-3 with good point difference, so every game we will have to do our best.

As for the draft, the number of promising draftees is much much higher this season then it was in the last draft. Some are also on the market now (Im talking about MVP, HoF and even AtG potentials). I want to highlight specifically Alexander Eckhult ((53065707), who is on the market right now (until sunday 9 am), and is truly a perfect trainee with All time great potential (I believe the only one in Sweden). It is best, if he stays in Sweden, so I hope some really dedicated manager will buy him. I also contacted other managers with promising players (and some will be contacted soon), this generation really looks very promising

Once again I invite you to our discord channel (https://discord.gg/xZNmX6jdX7). First it was three of us, then four, five and now I dont count anymore. Debate got quite lively. Since much of it is in swedish, I dont follow everything anymore, but it is definitely worth to join.

Good luck in the upcoming season to everyone

The first game was somewhat easy for us, home court advantage and better quality gave us enough push, that the winner of our match against Albania was decided in minute 0 (74072).

We started the game with Dallius, Börjesson, Fyhrhult, Egghall and Giltorp. Although Albanians scored the first two points (from the free throw line) of the game, this was their only lead. By the end of the first quarter, we managed to break the 10 points difference, by half-time it was already +26. Although we stopped pushing afterwards, the our lead was still slowly increasing, and got to +37 (109-72). Without the unfortunate injury of Börjesson, our win would probably be even higher.

As usual, Tommy Fyhrhult lead the scoring table with 31 points, and is now 3rd on the all-time scoring table. Frank Jonasson collected 19 rebounds and was a very adequate replacement for Börjesson.

Next week, we will be quite an underdog against Russia. But game shapes can alter things quite a lot, so I hope we will get an edge here

Our trip to Moscow was not successful, Russians took the match very seriously, thus it ended with their win 120-99 (74147).

Given the fact, that our GS wasn't great nor terrible, and the same could be said about Russians, who were maybe slightly better, I wasn't very optimistic about the game. So we went into it with double prediction, hoping for that sweet sight of double green dots. Unfortunately for us, it was a double miss, and Russia even played with higher attitude, which erased all our hopes in the first minute of the game.

But BB is sometimes very unpredictable, so you are never 100% sure. In fact, first ten minutes were quite good for us, as we kept the score tied. Before the end of Q1, the home team managed to get some advantage, but even afterwards, in the beginning of Q2, we were still close. The real difference was made in the second half of Q2 with 19-2 score for Russians. 20 points difference at the half-time already meant that the game was decided.

But since the points difference also counts in consolation tournament, we were quite lucky not to loose by even more. We were trailing already by -32, but the garbage time in Q4 got us back to the acceptable difference of -21. I believe it was worth to try to get something from the game by risking double prediction, but with Russia's higher attitude, it would have been difficult even if we got it right.

Next week we play a home game against Senegal. They surprisingly lost the first game of the season against Wales (due to Wales playing crunch time), and then they won at home against Luxembourg, but even that was not a very convincing win, since they played with a higher attitude. So, judging by their games so far, we are definite favorites. But still we need to be well prepared, since it is a must win game for us, and a good point difference would also serve us well.

Best regards

In the past two weeks, we played two games with a different outcome. In both cases, the power of the home court advantage was quite evident. First, we beat Senegal, even easier than expected (74174), but two days ago we were nowhere close against Colombia, even though we gained some tactical advantage (74193).

The home game against the respected african nation was decided in the second quarter, when we managed to get away with a score 42-18. However, all other quarters also went smoothly, so we managed the get a very nice point difference of +53. Veteran Markus Andersson came from the bench and managed to become our best scorer by playing only 21 minutes. We had very solid stats in both FG% and 3pt %, as well as passing, rebounding and even defensive stats, so no complaints about this game.

Contrary, the game against Colombia proved to be much more challenging. Although I cannot point to any interval during the game, where we were much worse than our opponent, the difference was steadily increasing through all 48 minutes. Our main problem was, that we didn't have any positive streak. Our attack was decent, but the defense was very weak, as was our rebounding, where Columbia "won" 50-37. Although some of these difference can be attributed to their high FG%, I still expected 2-3 zone to give us some advantage in rebounding, as well as being more efficient against their inside tactics. But to be fair, their inside rating of 16 (high) is so good, that their brilliant scoring percentage is somewhat logical.

Our odds might have been better without the unfortunate injury of Håkan Dallius , but it is hard to imagine, that we would have been able to close the gap even with him. Tommy Fyhrhult was, again, our best scorer, and can still climb a place, or even two places higher in the all-time scoring table. But he needs to stay focused.

Next week we are facing another South American team, Brazil. But this time at home, so it should be a very close game, and, as I mentioned before, one of the most important ones. So keeping fingers crossed for our game shape

Finally we managed to get two consecutive wins. The first one, a home win against Brazil (74256), was especially important and meant a huge step towards playoffs. This could all be lost in a tricky away game against India, who played some decent games recently. But luckily, we exceeded expectations and not only won, but also gained some important points difference (74302).

Before the clash against Brazil, South Americans were on the very top of the consolation tournament table. This doesn't mean much, since it is very dependent on the quality of past opponents, but along with their higher rating, and also slightly better quality, it labelled them as favorites. Luckily for us, they went too easy into the game, probably because we were still missing injured Håkan Dallius , which made us look quite vulnerable.

The first quarter was very close, but Brazilians managed to get a good run at the very end, gaining a 9 points advantage. We were slightly better in the most of Q2, but it took us quite some time to catch the away team. This was achieved 3 minutes before the half time, with a two pointer from Lasse Lundell. Afterwards, neither team was willing to risk much until the half time, which saw result 49-47 for Brazil.

We opened the second half much better, 10-0 after first 4 minutes put us in a decently safe lead, which went to +10 several minutes later. By the end of Q3 Brazilians managed to get closer (73-70), but we again demonstrated very strong start into Q4, which got us back to +10 after four minutes. Afterwards, guests didn't manage to seriously threaten our win, so the final minutes (luckily) weren't very dramatic.

The next game against India was easier than expected. Since they played some good games recently, I was a little bit nervous whether they would maybe go crunch time on us. In combination with their HCA, that might be dangerous. Although they actually played with a higher, but not CT attitude, we demonstrated a solid strength and didn't leave any doubts about the winner already by half time. So most likely we are qualified to the playoffs, where we will get also with a good enthusiasm.

Next week we again play against the leading team in the consolation tournament table - England. We play at home, a win is possible and would move us somewhat higher in the table (currently we are 27th). But I doubt even two wins will get us to the top 16, which would mean a HCA in the first round. But hope remains, our last game is against Pakistan, where we shouldn't have any problems.

Best wishes

We finished the first part of the tournament with a score 5-3 and on 30th place. The two most recent games were played against England (74349) at home, and against Pakistan away (74379).

Before the start of the tournament, the game against England was considered to be one of the most crucial games for us. But with the outcome of prior games, it was not as important anymore, because our qualification to the playoffs was more or less secured, however we didn't have chances to finish in the top 16 anymore. For England, this game meant quite much, since they wanted to remain on the very top of the table, so it is no surprise, that they went into the game with a lot of effort.

Their desire was evident especially in the first quarter, when they quickly gained some lead and outplayed us by a wide margin (30-19). They didn't stop in Q2, when the gap rose to a very depressing -22 for us (50-28). Fortunately we managed to improve offensively and got a little bit closer by half-time (58-42).

First minutes of Q3 didn't indicate our comeback, as the difference remained at approx. 15 points for the first five minutes. Then it got better, as Lasse Lundell scored for 71-62 six minutes into Q3. A couple of minutes later it was already 71-66 and we were back into the game. We needed a couple of minutes to beathe and England managed to get a couple of points further, but after some consolidation we managed to break the 10 points barrier again and finished Q3 with a three-pointer from Finn Egghall for 87-82.

Start of Q4 was again a little troubling for us, and our guests again increased the difference above 10 points. Not for long though, some well played actions got us back to where we wanted before the final minutes. A good minute to go, Lundell scored for 108-104 and we desperately needed to be successfull defensively. Thanks to a missed free throw from Jonathan Kemp, our success was 50%. Lundell then got us to 109-106, and a few seconds later Jack Stjärna collected a defensive rebound. There were only 11 seconds left on the clock, we called time-out as we needed a three pointer to get us into over-time. Five seconds to go, Lasse Lundell, admittedly the man of the evening, tried but missed. However Tommy Fyhrhult hustled for the offensive rebound, passed to Finn Egghall, but again, it was a miss. Afterwards we fouled, England scored one more point from the free throw line, and the game was over.

No big deal though, let's save the success in nail-biting games for some other time

Afterwards, we just needed a win against Pakistan, which was, until recently, one of the worst teams in the BB world. However, they have a very experienced manager at the moment, and their results improved quite a lot, so there was a little bit of nervousness before the game. Indeed, the first quarter was very tight as Pakistanis lead most of the first 12 minutes. We managed to take the lead just at the end of Q1, and got to +10 by half time. Afterwards the difference in quality finaly emerged and we increased the difference to +47 by the end of the game.

At the end, this placed us to 30th position, and we only improved by 2 places after that significant win. Unfortunately this matches us with Slovenia, a team I managed for 14 seasons and a team, I really didn't want to play against, since I really wish them/us all the best. But eventually it was bound to happen. On the plus side, I know the team and players very well. On the negative side, I know we are not (yet) at their level. But of course we will do our best and hope for a surprise.

So, again I ask for a special care on the players' minutes, since we really need everyone at their best. Now every succeding game will be the most important game of the season, so if somebody can affort GS training, even better. Many thanks for your dedication so far, we had some problems, but in general our GS is very good

I am still in debt with the report of the last competitive match of the season. A bitter loss against Slovenia (74659) was nothing to brag about. We were inferior throughout most of the match. I knew the opponent quite well, therefore I was aware of the difference in quality and knew we had to risk a lot. With the combination of double prediction and 2-3 zone we tried to successfully adapt to either inside isolation or inside attack, but such "safe" approach was not enough and I am sorry I didn't go with inside prediction.

We were competitive only in the first quarter, and even then the home team managed to win a 6 points difference at the final minutes. Second quarter was already decisive, and the difference steadily increased above 10 points, then it got over 20 points in Q3 and the last twelve minutes of the match were more or less an exhibition.

Maybe things would have been somewhat better if we had better game shape of crucial players, but it is hard to imagine, that we would be able to win this one. Well, not yet

Although Slovenians achieved a good result afterwards, the trophy of the consolation tournament (hosting the next EC) was won by Finland, who beat Slovenia last Monday in the semifinals. The final game Finland-France is yet to be played, but since France is not eligible to host the EC, the "true winner" is already known.

As of today, we are ranked 29th in Europe, meaning we will be seeded 5th. I am never completely sure which week is decisive for the next EC draw, but usually it is this one (so last rankings update before offseason). If this is true, then our opponents in the next EC will be Spain, Italy, Portugal, Austria, Denmark, Azerbaijan and Wales. I didn't bold the names, because this is still speculative

The team for the next season will not change much. Unfortunately, Tommy Fyhrhult is getting older, and this should hurt us a little bit. But there are some young guns who are getting better, so our quality should remain at the same level. More about that later.

A final word about this season - I believe we achieved a decent result, managed to beat some very good teams, and decently resisted some others. But at the end we were grounded in a game against Slovenia, so it is evident, that we need to develop a better team in order to hope for some outstanding results. I believe we will be able to do this, although it will probably take some time.

Once more, I invite you to the discord server, numbers are increasing

(https://discord.gg/xZNmX6jdX7)

Good job this season. I think we performed well with our roster.