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MVP voting here. As Gully pointed out on Discord, it was tough to narrow it down to three for the NT.
Easier for the U21, but there the difficulty is picking who had the very best performance.

So tough it seems that you didn't include the player I initially chose lol.

(68808)
England 132 Nigeria 102

This game was over as a contest quite quickly, with such a disparity between the two teams that England simply did everything better than Nigeria, understandable given the number of clubs in the two nations. This is something that can quite easily happen in NT games, and for us as a small but not a micro nation, it can go both ways.

Nigeria did actually shoot quite well inside, but England dominated the boards and shot well from 3 pt range (almost 44% from 16 attempts.) My MVP vote finally went to Kemp who led the starters in scoring with 18 and added 4 assists. His deputy Farmer also scored well with 15 and he also passed well, adding 6 assists, as we gave Nigeria's SFs a torrid time.

England are now one of 11 unbeaten teams. We lie 8th in the table, but it should be noted that two teams we have remaining on the schedule are 2nd and 4th right now with PDs 55 and 58 better than ours.

Another win for the NT, by an impressive 80pts! Plenty of counting stats for the players, vote for an MVP here:

(https://strawpoll.com/polls/NoZr3PEJry3)

The U21's suffered their first defeat of the campaign vs Israel. There were two fantastic performances despite the result, so pick your favourite here:

(https://strawpoll.com/polls/7MZ0ABw68yo)

(68431)
England u21 90 Israel u21 111

This was a game Israel would be expected to win with their much higher ranking and their standing in the BB world, especially at u21 level, and so arrows's tactical choices for the game were an understandable risk. He expected motion so went with a 1-3-1 defence, and made a double guess, which he was right to do, but unfortunately Israel did the unexpected and went with Look Inside, which looked problematic for us. Fortunately Israel chose a 2-3 defence which appeared in our favour as we played motion.

At half time, with the score 43-41 in favour of the Israelis, both managers were probably regretting their defensive choices, however understandable they were. The first half had been a tight tense affair, Israel's biggest lead had only been 6, and we'd had the lead briefly also. Boddie appeared exposed and was almost completely unable to rebound but we'd defended well as a team thus far, and scored enough to stay in the game.

We led again in the 3rd, two Clarke FTs giving us a 59-57 lead, a Duncan reverse layup tied us at 61. James with a 3 brought us within 3 with just over a minute to go in the 3rd but those were our last points of the quarter which ended with us 7 down.

With just over 9 minutes to go in the game a Clarke jump shot gave us hope, bringing us within 4 but from then on the Israeli machine seemed to finally start going and they outscored us the rest of the way 32-15.

An expected loss which leaves us with the equivalent of a playoff with Greece next monday. Israel are now certain to qualify, so well done to them.

(68831)
Azerbaijan 76 England 156

Not our record victory (yes I checked) but a very impressive performance as we beat the Azeri by 80. Obviously an expected win but still praiseworthy. Certainly not every day you see a player play 27 minutes and end up +78 in the box score.

Everything in the pregame choices looked good for England with js8 getting a double prediction right, using a full court press, not often seen at the top level, and Azerbaijan chose a 2-3 which was unfortunate for them as we used an outside offence.

Six England players managed double figure points, with Kemp top scoring with 34, Thomas grabbed 17 rebounds, and 7 players managed 4 or more assists as we moved with ball with speed and accuracy (only 6 TOs).

The 80 point win has moved us up to 4th in the rankings, a very impressive feat by js, who deserves only praise for his job this season. So one might wonder why 8 people disapprove of him so far giving him an approval rating of 64%. Disgruntled fans of some other manager perhaps? Maybe you'll be bold enough to give your opinions on here on why js8 is doing such a bad job in your opinion.

MVP polls will be available once the NT game is over. For now,

Your s60 U21 team picture: (https://i.imgur.com/DPiTgiv.png)

It looks like five players carried over from s59 - Bunce, Clarke, MacLachlan, Allison, and Big Boddie. We had some talented players this season, and it's going to be a while before we see a big man like Boddie again. But we move on to the next set of exciting youngsters and hopefully success in s61!

If you like the idea of training an English U21 player, it's easier than you think and possible for any team, no matter how new to the game. Feel free to message arrows or myself if you'd like to know more, or join the discord.

Thank you to everyone who trained a player to be part of the squad!

Back row (left to right):

Matthew Milne (50757256) Tide of Fire
Carl Mortillaro (51077367) Flamin Carrot Unit
Jeffrey McAvoy (50757041) Gherla Pantoni
Jack Bunce (50757159) Borac Basket
Baldemar Chávez (50757163) North London United
Neil James (50757195) EasilyBeatables BC
Greg Clarke (50757708) Mixanostasio BC
Fran Hand (51076601) ZBW Diavoli UK
Aaron Duncan (51076632) ZBW Diavoli UK
Carlo Stevens (51394495) Aminu

Front row (left to right):

Dale MacLachlan (50892827) Team Nook Yellow
Jon Allison (50757014) Team Nook Yellow
Oliver "Big" Boddie (50757188) Team Nook Yellow
Clint Timko (51394707) Dartmoor Pumas
Adi Kansal (51076760) new jersey2
Nick Karmiol (51077538) North Walsham Vipers

Last edited by testudo at 6/13/2023 9:08:23 AM

MVP Voting:

U21 MVP: (https://strawpoll.com/polls/GPgV6pQYBga)
NT MVP: (https://strawpoll.com/polls/6QnMO8X6bZe)

Another European tournament.... again 1 game away from success!

When the group was drawn I believed we had a chance of qualification and it was obvious that the season would be defined in the last 3 games with Ukraine, Israel and Greece the 3 teams seeded above us at the start of the season. We had a top heavy team with Bunce, Clarke, Boddie and Mac all being top u21 level players and Allison a very good backup big but lacked a 5th starter and strong bench unit.

The season started well and as expected with 4 wins from the first 4 games. Scotland, Norway, Georgia and Switzerland all dispatched with no issues and impressive defensive efforts. That continued on to Ukraine with another comfortable win (until garbage time allowed them to half the PD). Could have gone with less effort here, but CT vs TIE always worries me and I expected CT from Ukraine (which they did). After beating Ukraine the plan was to target whoever lost between Israel and Greece, which turned out to be Greece. But this is where things went wrong. The Israel game was a shot to nothing. We lose it goes down to us vs Greece for 2nd spot, we win and we still needed to beat Greece due to PD. I decided to gamble all in on Israel playing motion with double GDP and 1-3-1 zone and they did the opposite and went LI, mixed with a 2-3 so they dominated inside scoring and on the glass. Which took us in to Greece. Equal enthusiasm and I believed equal team quality, but the GS update was kinder to them than us which gave them the advantage. I went for LP moving Boddie and Mac down a position to get better matchups and Greece nullified with a 2-3 zone which their manager had never used before, but was maybe an obvious choice.

Looking back through I see a couple of mistakes on the tactical front, normal effort vs Ukraine and wrong tactics vs Greece. Not trusting our 3-2 zone which had looked strong in 3 of the first 4 games may have produced different results. All in all, we fell 1 game short of reaching the 2nd phase for the 3rd time in a row.

This team was led by some stars and all-time u21 legends. Oliver Boddie gained plenty of attention around BB with his really high salary and it did lead to some impressive performances. In season 59 (aged 20) he broke the single season rebounding record with 171 rebounds. He followed that up this season with two top 10 all time rebounding games, and eventually broke the all time U21 rebounding record with a total of 330 rebounds. Boddie also finishes at 5th in all time scoring with 413 points, 78 points behind leader John Costabile who has 491 points.

Jack Bunce also ends his U21 tenure with history as he tied the record for all time assists with 115 which was also achieved by Steve Sharpe back in season 15 (all in 1 season!). He also finished season 59 (age 20) with 60 assists which was good for 10th all-time in a single season.

Two elite U21 players who should be remembered for a long time. It is honestly tempting to keep them with the squad so they can extend their records/ Boddie reach 1st for points, but that would be unfair to the current 20 year olds raring to go.

Thanks to all managers who have trained players for the season 60 squad and for the most part maintained solid game shape. Thank to Gully for the match reports this season, they are definitely a more interesting read than mine ever were! Thank you also to Testudo who once again helped with tactical ideas and background work!

We now move on to focus on season 61 which will hopefully be another exciting season in the consolation tournament

Last edited by arrowspg5 at 4/5/2023 10:35:17 AM

With the U21's in scrimmage-mode, there's no MVP poll this week. But make sure to check their games out and get a sneak peek at the next generation!

For the NT, a tough loss at home to France. Vote here - (https://strawpoll.com/polls/05ZdWJkEQg6)

Well unfortunately that's it for both teams this season, a very close defeat tonight away to Portugal for the NT. Vote for your last MVP here!

(https://strawpoll.com/polls/BDyNEDkE4ZR)


Winners up to now for the season:

NT

Kemp 3.5
Catty 1.5
Banuelos 1
Cassell 1
Franks 0.5
Hargreaves 0.5

U21

Boddie 4
Allison 1
Bunce 1
Clarke 1

Season 60 review
After defeat to Portugal in the last 32 of the knockout rounds, this seasons NT campaign has come to an anti-climatic end.

Once the schedule was declared for this seasons consolation tournament, my aim was to finish in the top half of the standings to secure a home tie in the first knockout round. Things started positively with us winning our first six games very comfortably, albeit against teams we should be beating, but the offence looked dangerous with Kemp and Banuelos leading the pack and notable contributions from Catty and Smith. Then came our two toughest games in the round robin stage - an away tie to Belgium and a home tie to France. In the Belgium game, we started well but were outclassed in the next three quarters, with the home side showing why they're one of the top European nations by winning at a canter despite a correct GDP. For the French game, I tried something different and for three quarters, the tactics were spot on as we took a 12 point lead into the final quarter, but unfortunately we were unable to hold on with the French strength in depth really coming to fruition and overturning the deficit to win by 9. Our 6-2 record left us in 17th place, meaning an away tie to Portugal in the knockout rounds.

We had once again started the game against Portugal in great fashion, leading at half time by 7 but with the offence and defence lacking the same fluidity in the second half, we were never able to put the game out of reach and were in for a tense finish. We led by six with 1:33 to go, but two clutch free-throws and back to back buckets swung the momentum in the favour of the home side, reducing the deficit to 2. Dave Smith missed an important free-throw with 42 seconds left to make it a two position game and we were punished with Monteiro hitting a 3 to send the game into overtime. Once Portugal got their noses in front, we were never able to claw it back, putting an end to the season.

Overall, I'm slightly disappointed with how the season has ended, especially after a narrow defeat to Portugal. As everyone knows, HCA is huge in the knockouts so an away tie was always going to be tough to overcome, but when I saw CT v TIE, I had faith we could do it but it wasn't to be. I do think we have a nation that is heading in the right direction over the last couple of seasons, climbing 9 places in the rankings.

Our game shape for the majority of the season has been fantastic but unfortunately, for the three games that mattered, a couple of our key players weren't in the best shape. On a more positive note, we've also seen some great progression from the younger guys in the team and congratulations go out to Darren Curran, David Albrighton and Rab Gillespie for all making their competitive debuts for the national side this season.

We end the campaign saying goodbye to a national team legend in Alexey Sanders. At the ripe age of 35, Sanders closes out a glittering international career with 1618 points, ranking him 7th all time.

Also, big thanks to Gully for the match reports and Testudo for the MVP voting, we try to do this to keep as many users who aren’t on the discord channel engaged as possible. Feel free to drop any of the guys in here a message if you’d like to be added to the channel.


Last edited by js8 at 4/18/2023 7:07:37 AM