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6/13/11 - Review

We lost to Brasil 78-76 on a last second foul by Lloyd Suarez which led us to finishing second in our group. Results are here: (14696)

By finishing 2nd we will be placed in a group with Chile, Ecuador, Venezuela, Canada, and Colombia.

The other group will consist of Argentina, Panama, Brasil, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay.

The top two teams in each group advance to semifinals. The two finalists qualify for the Worlds while the other semifinalists and 3rd place teams qualify for the second chance qualifiers.

Looking at the groups, with all due respect to the other teams, Argentina and Brasil are probably the favorites in the other group. In our group we will probably face stiff competition (that's what she said) from Chile and Canada.

Last edited by Rambo at 6/13/2011 11:01:05 PM

6/20/11 - Review

USA vs. Chile
We welcomed two newcomers to the line-up against Chile, Point Guard Forrest Machado of the Wall Street Wizards and Center Harris Carson of the Cleveland Ballers. Carson started at Center next to Merrill Clement while Machado backed up Chris Wilburn at Point Guard. Unfortunately, neither was enough to overcome the powerful Chilean attack as the US fell 102-101 in overtime. The USA outside attack was not able to overcome the dominant rebounding of Chile. This marks the second straight week that the USA lost and each one was by less than a basket. The US had 3 chances to win at the end including one off of a Chris Wilburn steal but couldn’t find the basket.

Obviously no loss is pleasant but looking at the results after game 1 of the first round, Chile and Brasil look like the strongest teams out there. These are two teams the US went toe-to-toe with, each loss coming down to the final shot. If you can find a silver lining its that, should we meet either team again, we should have a fighting chance.

Other Pool D Results
In a shocking upset, Colombia took down Canada 65-57. Going into the second round Canada looked like one of the top 3 teams, now they will be in a dog fight with the US for positioning. At the start of this round I pegged Canada and Chile as the teams to beat in our group so this loss could be huge and help offset our loss to Chile.

In other news, Venezuela beat Ecuador 84-69 on a TIE vs. a CT. This is a very impressive win for that reason alone. This is good news for us because we face off against a now depleted Ecuador next followed by Venezuela.

Pool E Results
Brasil beat Argentina 90-69 to take control of Pool E. The win is not that shocking but the margin of victory is very impressive. Again, Brasil is a team we lost to by 2 at the buzzer.

Uruguay crushed Mexico 101-73 on a likely TIE vs. a Normal. Another very impressive margin of victory with the enthusiasm disadvantage.

Finally, Panama beat host Peru 81-76 on a likely Normal vs. a TIE.

Results are here: (http://www.buzzerbeater.com/world/standings.aspx?teamid=1...)

6/27/11 - Review

BIG BIG round of games today!

USA vs. Ecuador
Ecuador, the weakest team in the group, was coming off a CT so this game was pretty well locked up before it started. The minutes were pretty evenly distributed and the team was lead by relative newcomer Forrest Machado of the Wall Street Wizards (14592924). Machado had the highest rating and tied for the highest scorer in the game with 20 coming off 4-4 from 3. Additionally we saw a pair of double doubles from Jim Munoz and Ron Crowder.

Other Pool D Results
Now this is where it gets interesting! After defeating the US in overtime last week, the Chileans fell to Canada 97-80. (15441) The result is huge because it puts Canada, USA and Chile all at 1-1.

Colombia continued its run, winning 95-73 against Venezuela, (15442), putting them at #1 in the group. Next week we face Venezuela and hopefully can duplicate Colombia's results.

At this point everything is pretty wide open with the US facing off against undefeated Colombia in the group finale and control our own destiny.

Pool E Results
Another interesting result with Argentina falling 102-114 to Uruguay in overtime (15456). If you remember back at the very start, I pegged Chile and Argentina as two of the most dangerous teams in the tournament. Now Argentina might be eliminated from the Semifinals after two games.

Unfortunately, Brasil continues to roll, taking on the overmatched Panama squad here: (15458)

Last but not least, host Peru was able to roll to an 89-54 win over Mexico to move to 1-1. (15457)

If Brasil continues to win it might come down to a final match-up between Peru and Uruguay for the #2 spot.

7/4/11 - Independence Day Review!

|USA vs. Venezuela
Facing a much more challenging opponent than Ecuador I decided to call up 3 new players in Nemesio Xermade, Van Odonnell and Mike Merrill. All three shined, putting u pa combined 43 points 11 rebounds and 4 assists. The game ball, however, goes to Chris Wilburn (14595028) for his quiet 14/6/6 at Point Guard. This game got out of hand fairly early and the US was able to cruise to a 30 point victory.

Other Pool D Results
Chile continues to confound me, winning 93-88 against until now undefeated Colombia on a likely TIE-Normal here: (15446). Combined with Canada's 92-71 win over the over-matched Ecuador on a TIE-CT here: (15444) there are now 4 teams tied at 2-1. Remember only two can move on to the semi-finals and only 3 total get a shot at Worlds next season so these next two weeks are going to be very interesting!

Pool E Results
Brasil continues to cruise with a 74-61 win over host Peru (15460) but Uruguay stumbled against Panama to fall to 2-1. Uruguay's loss opens up the door for Argentina to potentially make it back into the semi-finals after looking DOA to start the second round.

Brasil remains the favorite to advance at the #1 seed but at this point it is a toss-up for the #2 spot!

Results here: (http://www.buzzerbeater.com/world/standings.aspx?teamid=1...)

7/11/11 - Slurpee Day Review!

USA vs. Canada
After convincingly beating Venezuela last week, the USA faced essentially a must win game against a strong Canadian team. Prior to the game, Canada lost one of its better players, David Castro (16416234), to injury, opening the door for an inside offense. Going Look Inside combined with Canada going with a 3-2 zone allowed us to overcome the enthusiasm disparity and cruise to a 16 point victory off an impressive 3rd quarter rally. Nemesio Xermade continued to shine and will collect the game ball due to his 21/7/4 stat line. Ron Crowder was also impressive, putting up 18 points in 23 minutes off the bench.

The puts us in 1st place in the pool but we will face off against #2 Colombia next week for the #1 seed. Colombia, as you may recall, is a team from our first round group who we beat a few weeks ago: (14693) Convincing results no doubt but this time should be much more challenging.

Other Pool D Results
Venezuela dropped Chile 96-90 in a likely CT-Normal match. This put Venezuela, Canada and Chile at 2-2 and opened the door for us to advance to the semi's. Colombia was able to handle Ecuador on lower enthusiasm 125-111.

Pool E Results
Brasil once again won, this time 90-81 against Uruguay: (15462) This clinches the #1 seed for Brasil and may push Uruguay out of contention. Panama continues to surprise, beating Mexico 108-103 to put them in #2 place (15464). Finally, Argentina squeaked out a victory against host Peru in a 66-54 defensive showdown (15463)

Results here: (http://www.buzzerbeater.com/world/standings.aspx?teamid=1...)

Xermade's defense was much improved this match as well. Great all around game.

7/18 - Vin Diesel's Birthday Review

USA vs. Colombia
Despite playing at a lower enthusiasm for the second straight week, Team USA rolled to a 28 point victory over the Colombians, besting the 24 point victory from the first round. Game Results are here: (15451). As a result, I am pleased to announce we finished FIRST in our pool at 4-1, our only loss coming by one point to Chile. The team was led by Harris Carson (14602295) and surprise starter Darrick Hayes (14594872), contributing 26 and 17 points respectively. Colombia relied as much as they could on star center Andres Candelo (14901501) but the deficiencies at the other positions were too great.

As a result of the victory we will face off against the #2 seed in the opposite pool in our upcoming semifinal matchup.

Other Pool D Results
After throwing all their chips into the game against us last week, Canada lost in a stunning 70-87 game to Venezuela (15450) dropping them out of the World Championships next season. Venezuela, try as they might, couldn't overcome the point differential gap to grab third place and will also miss the World Championships.

Chile, coming into the game in 4th place, rolled over Ecuador 109-70 (15452), jumping up to 2nd place and a spot in the semifinals against the #1 seed in the opposite pool. Ecuador making the second round was impressive but was clearly outmatched in this stage of the tournament.

Pool E Results
Brasil beat Mexico 105-56 to continue their undefeated streak (15466), including a 2 point victory over USA. They will face off against Chile in the semifinals. Uruguay defeated host Peru 85-69 to clinch 3rd place and a spot in the repechage (15465). Finally, in a battle for 2nd place, Argentina unleashed a gigantic set of brass balls, defeating Panama 108-86 on a TIE-CT (15467) that also allowed them to outlast Uruguay's climbing point differential. After losing to Chile in the Round 1 finale, Argentina dropped its first two games but calmly won its final 3, grabbing 2nd place by 7 points!

The Semifinals will pit #14 Brasil against #20 Chile and #5 USA vs. #12 Argentina. Winner advances to the Finals and locks a spot in the World Championships. Loser goes home but clinches a spot in the repechage, or second chance qualifier.

There is a lot to celebrate, including our best of the round 125 point differential and our average loss of 1.5 points vs. average win of 34 points, but we still need one more win to complete part 1 of our goals this season!

Results here: (http://www.buzzerbeater.com/world/standings.aspx?teamid=1...)

7/25 - Gold Medal Review

On Saturday the United States took on and defeated Argentina 92-81 (15779) after a riveting 2nd half comeback by the Americans. Foul trouble and a key injury left the Argentinians overmatched at Center with 6'10'' Harris Carson (14602295) matched up against 6'5'' Shooting Guard Juan Jose Benitez (14608501) for the final 8 minutes of the match.

Simultaneously the undefeated Brazilians continued their impressive streak by handily defeating the overmatched Chileans 89-62 (15780). Chile went with the 2-3 zone in an effort to stymie Brazil's impressive inside attack but it was no use.

USA and Brasil then faced off in an early gold medal match-up on Monday with both teams having clinched a spot in the Worlds after their semifinal wins. The game pitted two behemoths down low for Brasil in Armando Branquinho (14626464) and Danilo Martinello (14626703) against Harris Carson and the young Mike Merrill (16433183).

The game was back and forth the entire way with 18 lead changes and 14 ties! The US fell behind by as much as 10 points after a pass from José Firmino Corsini (14624782) led to a thunderous Branquinho dunk with 7:41 left in the second quarter. The dunk clearly lit a fire under the team and did not require me to call a time-out so that special junior deputy assistant coach jfarb could attempt a speech. Mike Merrill hit a fade-away followed by a Chris Wilburn (14595028) steal and a Harris Carson hook shot to bring it back to within 6.

The game continued this way for the next 2 quarters with the USA taking a late 1 point lead with 0:43 left in the game as Dean Beverly (14601580) hit Mike Merrill for an inside shot. However, Dean Beverly almost went from Hero to Goat as his 4 missed free throws in the final seconds coupled a Rampelotto 3 allowed the Brazilians to get within 1 point at the buzzer. Fortunately Chris Wilburn's steadiness allowed him to hit a free throw with 7 seconds remaining to stretch the lead to 4.

As a result of hard work from all the coaches and players, the USA was able to hoist its third Americas Tournament Gold Trophy ever in the six seasons it has existed. There were a lot of deserving candidates but the game ball goes to Mike Merrill for his 24 points, 13 rebounds and 2 blocks (all game highs) and his 3 assists and 1 steal for good measure.

We will all be excited to have Mike return to the team next season for the World Championship tournament alongside teammates Merrill Clement and Jimmie Brown. Unfortunately we must bid adieu to the rest of the 17 man team, all of which played crucial parts at some point or another.

Special thanks to all the people who helped out along the way specifically: darkjester11, BFiddy, panic129, Korey, jfarb, Jelme. Thanks to everyone for the advice and participation on the offsite and in chats: FatCurry, Coco, Wozz, brian, namssor, Azariah, Peluin, oriolekid, stauder, smallfrie09.

Finally the biggest thanks goes to all the managers out there who made my job easy by both training their players exceptionally well and keeping them in great game shape the entire way, specifically:

Anthony Edwards Sr. - Cleveland Ballers - Harris Carson (23440)
magicmike - Crazy Kangaroos - Merrill Clement (34332)
Hamstar - Hamstar Hoopers - Mike Merrill (28670)
King Donkey - Donkey Punchers - Darrick Hayes (23496)
J Dizzle - West Lawn Mowers - Jimmie Brown (23207)
LH Fosse - Fosse Designs - Ben Jack (23497)
zekemcdiller - Shameless - Chris Wilburn (28212)
moflaffle - Mof State Squizzes - Hubert Douglas (30462)
are318 - Wall Street Wizards - Forrest Machado (30986)
blid - Swamp People - Dean Beverly (29378)

and again, a hearty amount of praise goes to Jelme (23174) for his success last season which I will try to build upon and for the foundation he helped build at the U21 level.

Last edited by Rambo at 7/25/2011 5:01:10 PM

I trained half of Xerdonnell too. Look out NT!

Are you saying you didnt get enough shoutouts??? ;)