Y'all I need to tell you absolutely how elated I am to be out of here. I've been playing this game for over a decade. For most of that time, i've been terrible at this game. This is like my fourth attempt in DIII. I
was back-to-back league runner up in the 33rd and 34th seasons, and that was the closest I ever got.
The second time I made the playoffs the first season, and then immediately relegated the next.
My third stint in DIII I spent three seasons winning my relegation matches only to realize after the third that I didn't have the momentum to hang in DIII and intentionally relegated the fourth season.
But by this point, I had actually built a solid foundation of players that I knew would keep me competitive in DIV. I was sure it would be a short trip in DIV, and the players would be trained up enough by the time I made it back into DIII to be competitive. And unlike the first dozen seasons, it seemed like I finally had a functioning plan. I won the DIV league championship and made it into this league with the most success since my first DIII attempt. I was sure that my team would be even more mature by the end of the season, and I would cruise to the DII chip.
but of course, that didn't happen. SomeTeam knocked me out in the semi-finals. Shutdown my 3 point shots and beat me by four points. And that was honestly devastating for me. So I needed to come back stronger, and come back stronger I did. This season I put together not only the best three point shooting team, but also the best rebounding team in the league. I was absolutely not going to get shutdown beyond the arc anymore.
The team shot .571 from three against SomeTeam this season in the semi-final as opposed to the .387 we shot last year. This allowed us to. survive a TIGHT game where we needed a buzzerbeater to send it into overtime, and then another buzzerbeater to win the game in overtime. It doesn't get much sweeter than that for the semi-final redemption game.
In the finals match the team shot .519 in the first game, and determined to close out the finals quickly they shot for .619 on the road. holding out opponent to .125 (3-24). Absolutely putting a clamp and stamp on the final game to send this team into DII for the first time in my history running it.
Absolutely elated. Now doing that in of itself would be special, but there's something else that makes this even more special. I looked at all the DIII leagues and this division is BY FAR the most competitive of all the leagues. The second to worst time in our league has a record of 10-12. That's ridiculous. It has been an absolute challenge just trying to keep my teams head above water with everyone absolutely throwing more effort at me in games all season. If I didn't get the home course advantage SomeTeam would have surely beaten me in the semi's like they did last season when they had home court.
I really ope that the difficulty of this league has prepared me for some level of success in DII. Its a brand new world for me up there. No clue what to expect. But I absolutely know one thing. I am SOOOOOO happy to be out of this division and league. Thank you all for keeping me sharp, and I hope to never see your faces again. ciao