Cup Watch
This round proves to be a tougher one as half of the league II.1 teams that are still alive in the cup have human opponents and 2 of them are SBBL teams.
First up, ranked 24 KKTAN is facing vocal manager Dai Kiryu's ranked 43 PROMENADE BASKETBALL CLUB (PBC). PBC''s team is lead by their big 3 consisting of Chris Weston, Abrams Peldinš and veteran Tautrimas Plašcauskas. KKTAN's star C, Zygfryd Kremski (16.0ppg, 10.0rpg), is likely sitting the game out giving PBC an edge in the C position. However, besides the big 3, PBC's players consists of "others" which might not be able to matchup against KKTAN's more balanced team lead by PF Jonathan Tulod. Even if Dai Kiryu does add his shouting and debating prowess to this game by the sidelines, the advantage clearly points to KKTAN and its up to them to exploit it and bring home the victory.
ranked 32 rajons team has been playing against human teams since after the 1st round and this round is no exception. They will be playing against ranked 41 JJLIM. rajons team recently bolstered its front court by selling rebounding extraordinaire Ang Ming Kuan for an even more proficient rebounder and stronger scorer Rudolf Godovnikov (36pts, 22rebs in last game). Together with Chung Wen Xin, rajons team frontcourt is loaded with some of the best players and JJLIM's chances of winning looks even more slim. It would probably be a good experience for JJLIM's young PF Kwok Tse Ze going up against rajons team frontcourt monsters and a painful loss for JJLIM.
For a slightly closer matchup, ranked 18 NEWBak Ku Teh Kings will be going up against ranked 25 Shooting Stars(YOG) with Shooting Stars(YOG) having home court. Kings have been using the same strategy for a few seasons, balanced scoring with ball movement. Vitomil Wolf and his league leading 8.8 apg, will probably be the key person for the offence and the primary person to stop for Shooting Stars(YOG). Zhong Dayou will be counted on heavily by YOG to score and keep the score close. The Kings should exploit YOG's thin frontcourt due to injuries to YOG's bigman Naoum Digkas and control the boards so Wolf has a 2nd chance to set up the offence. This matchup probably can go to anyone.
ranked 34 juntion 9 got the short end of the straw drawing ranked 11 Whampoa All-Stars as their opponent. juntion 9 has added a few new players to beef up their roster but can only hope that all of the team plays lights out and at a seriously high level against Whampoa All-Stars superior squad lead by Konrad Krassowski. The ball is round and anything can happen but it takes 150% effort from juntion 9 players and quite alot of luck if juntion 9 wants to advance in the cup.
Last but definitely not least (probably the most exciiting actually), ranked 17 Hoop Magical takes on the promoted league II.1 team that kicked them out of the conference finals last season, ranked 9 Flyer Sonic. Most league II.1 fans should still recognise Sonic's squad because the only new addition is SG Song Yuankun. Hoop Magical's bigmen Gary Bodhie and Arturo Palma will have their hands full against the twin towers Peh Jian Long (PJL) and Li An Wen (LAW) who both took turns to dismantle Hoop Magical numerous times last season. Luckily for Hoop Magical, Marcell Dobrovits is nursing an injury and is a question mark to play tomorrow. So all the running of Flyer Sonic offence will fall on Władysław Smaruj and getting him to sit by foul trouble is a start for Hoop Magical. Just a start to a difficult game for Hoop Magical. Watch out for Maties Bover who might have something to prove after seeing his team bowing out in the playoffs from the sidelines last season.
Last edited by big_boss_will at 09/12/2012 12:18:07