BuzzerBeater Forums

(38871)
England U21 75 Lietuva U21 93
I think we all knew this was going to be tough. Going in, I wanted to keep everything slow, in order to keep the scores low, and hopefully close.

I'd like to say I'm a genius and played 3-2 in order to restrict their ability to get the ball inside but actually I had a slight feeling they might use an outside offence in the hopes of wrong footing future opponents, and was wrong. Fortunately the 3-2 zone does affect the opponent's passing but as you can see Lithuania's big men scored quite easily and forced fouls.

That said, the game wasn't a disaster. Far from it in fact. The first quarter was astonishing. We played really well, scored freely, forced fouls and really had Lithuania rocking. We led by 8 after one quarter, and by 7 at the half. We just weren't good enough for it to last (no shame there, Lithuania are very good) and with some padding to the score in the fourth quarter that I found slightly annoying we ended up losing by 18.

Another unfortunate situation in the second half was that one of our big men sat out much of the half because of his fouls. Normally I don't make players sit out, but hadn't realised when setting the lineup that it had been set that way. I'd have preferred him to play but its hard to say if it affected the result, as he looked likely to foul out anyway, and its arguable we were better off with him playing late in the game.

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

I often leave changes quite late but this is the first time I've literally made a last second change.

Slight warning today if anyone's here. I've gambled today, and it could go horribly wrong. I felt it was necessary to give us any chance in this game. If it should go wrong I still feel the decision was justified, but of course everyone is entitled to disagree.

Doing something a bit different for the monday discussion (which should last all week!) as I'm going to leave it all to you. Any questions or comments on the draft welcome, especially from newer players who may not have drafted before. The scouting reports should be due soon so this seems timely.

Slight warning today if anyone's here. I've gambled today, and it could go horribly wrong. I felt it was necessary to give us any chance in this game. If it should go wrong I still feel the decision was justified, but of course everyone is entitled to disagree.

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

(38874)
Hungary U21 80 England U21 66
Not the result I was hoping for. As clear above, I felt I had to gamble, and because I'd already used a 3-2 defence more than once this season, I felt I wouldn't see an outside offence used against me, and so the gamble was to set up an inside defence, which ended up against a patient offence.

As I think is clear from how the game went, patient didn't really work that well for them. They didn't get many assists, their shooting wasn't that good. Rebounds and fouls were the big problem for us. The zone defence and bad gdp guess were probably a factor there.

As I said in the quote though, I felt the gamble was warranted and the wrong result doesn't mean I feel it was now a mistake.

Monday will be the last game for the 21yos in the current squad. I hope we'll play well enough to give them a fond farewell.


Last edited by Gully Foyle at 10/22/2016 8:05:20 AM

Meh, don't really like the cheap trick involved, but defensively we played our best game of the season. Thanks, though.

Sorry for being ignorant but, why did a SG and PG start as C in this match?

Not bashing the decision, those two being the top scorers clearly meant the tactic worked a treat but, I just don't understand the reasoning.

Sorry for being ignorant but, why did a SG and PG start as C in this match?

Not bashing the decision, those two being the top scorers clearly meant the tactic worked a treat but, I just don't understand the reasoning.

That's the cheap trick I was referring to. Because centers usually have low to very low OD you can create a massive mismatch by placing a good shooter such as Sanderson to play center, in the hope that the patient offence will lead him to shoot well and shoot often. As you already know, it worked. Defensively the players at center were switched to play SF.

The reason I don't like the tactic is because it is as close to an exploit as you can get when it works. And if your opponent plays 3-2 you're likely in trouble. However, as U21 coach I'm almost forced to do my best no matter how I feel about it personally and so this week I went with our best chance to win.

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

(38879)
Slovakia U21 72 England U21 85
A win for us against a decent opponent. As discussed above the tactics made the difference. I can't say I'm celebrating too much as I dislike the tactic but we ended the season with a win and that's got to be worth smiling about at least.

There were several good performances for us, especially defensively. Andrew Reeve did a particularly good job at SG and Nurrish's 5 blocks obviously pleased me. However, it would be churlish not to say Ethan Sanderson was our man of the match. Our offence was built around him and he delivered in very fine style hitting 8 3s on his way to 38 points. Of course fouling out was a negative and his backup Joel Kearney did an excellent job too.

And so the season ends with us 4th in the group, and with a 4-3 record. I said 4-3 was the most likely finish for us before the season started, but that I was hoping for 5-2. I expected to beat at least one of the other three top four seeds, and hoped to be able to beat the four so called lesser teams. However the Switzerland game worried me in advance of the season and they proved me right by beating us. That was the most disappointing result of the season but that we recovered and still finished with a winning season lessened the disappointment.

This is my first season with the U21s and so the first time I've had to say goodbye to all the 21yos. Some coaches like to play a scrimmage or two with the 21yos still in the squad and still with some enthusiasm, but I'm not interested in that kind of falseness so its on to the next age group for us. So its goodbye to these players and I would like to say thank you to everyone associated with these players:

Kevin Forbes; drafted by Stoneleigh Slags, trained by Audax Pistoia(Utopia) and our own LIDLtallfellas for one game.
Malcolm Lambert; drafted by Team Fusio, trained by Heal天堂(China)
Joel Kearney; trained and drafted by Ipswich Winterwolves(England)
David Farrell; drafted by Mortal Vombats, and trained by Minions 3(Austria)
Andrew Reeve; drafted by Irvine Blackhawks, trained by Orleans Predators(France)
Ethan Sanderson; drafted by Ampliakos BC, trained by CentroAnziani(Italy), schnickser.de(Germany) and Los Santos Heat(Portugal)
Alex Nurrish; drafted by Arsenal 98, trained by El Hospi(Spain)
Julian Wilson; drafted by A Dogs, trained by Spellman(Ecuador)
Matt Coulter; drafted and trained by WTK Trail Blazers(England) and
Stephen Taylor; drafted by BigLex, trained by Victorias Secret(Hong Kong)

Where I've said who drafted each player, I should add not all were sold immediately and so many of those who drafted the players also trained them.

Was a pleasure to train Andrew !

Good luck for next seasons :)

you dislike the tactic? you bombed them for 60% from downtown! such a high amount of 3's is unheard off! Not to mention that the win eliminated them with certainty from being in the top 2 :P

decent run considering what you had at your disposal. now it's time to get ready for next season! i'll be challenging you at the end of the season for a scrimmage.

Would be fun if we managed to do a U21 & NT Belgium vs England game :P