The Bulgarian Brothers – A College Hoops 2K8 & NBA 2K20 Dynasty

[kibaxx7]

Tough shooting from the line but you made up for it with those threes!

[studbucket]

Quote: Originally Posted by kibaxx7

Tough shooting from the line but you made up for it with those threes!

That we did. Valdez and Quick will be very solid most nights, but the rest of the team seemingly can't make FTs. Not something I've focused on in the past, but may need to care about this more when recruting.

[studbucket]

As I play games, I will take time to periodically spotlight some of the fictional players in my NBA. Today we are learning about Hawaii wing Rashad Konare.

College Career and NBA Draft
Konare was a 4 year contributor at Louisville and saw the Cardinals achieve a #1 seed in the 2020 NCAA Tournament but lost to eventual national champion North Carolina in the Sweet 16. In his final season, the Cardinals started the season ranked #5 and he was a second-team preseason All-American. Louisville was not quite as successful during the regular season, managing a 3 seed. For the first two rounds of the tournament Konare played well, but it all fell apart in round 3. Once again Louisville lost to an eventual national champion (Villanova) and it was in large part due to Konare failing to score a single point and only taking 1 shot.

Early in the draft process Rashad was looking like a possible top 5 pick as the #2 small forward in the 2021 draft (which Jerry Sparks headlined). However as the college season went on, he started to be regarded less and less highly, at one point even dropping out of the list of top 5 small forwards. However, as a number of those players decided to stay in college, he found himself back in the rankings and a projected lottery pick. Unfortunately, despite being compared to Danilo Gallinari and James Jones and being mocked at pick 5 to the Thunder, he fell all the way to Boston at pick 22.


Player Overview

Konare’s rookie season in Boston was effectively a redshirt season: he played a single minute the entire season. However, he found himself as an important rotation player for the Eastern conference finalists, averaging 16.5 minutes and scoring nearly 10 points per game.

In the 2023 offseason, the league expanded to 32 teams and Konare was the first selection of the Hawaii Honu as they went with youth and cheaper talent. This was going to give him a chance to shine, and with the addition of Tyler Herro (SG, 81 ovr) and Markelle Fultz (PG, 83 ovr) he isn’t going to need to carry the entire load and feel that pressure.

Konare’s start has been solid so far this season, but a sprained ankle has limited him to only 9 games so far. Fortunately, the Honu have been successful even with his injury and Hawaiian fans look forward to getting him and his running mates back and healthy.

While a relatively well-rounded player that can finish at all three levels, Konare also doesn’t stand out in any areas and is somewhat unremarkable. He’s OK at hitting the three, when given an open path he can finish at the rim, and he’s serviceable on defense and as a passer. He’s shown the most promise as a finisher at the rim and good dunker, though he has just average athleticism. He has started taking steps at creating his own shots, but really struggles from the free throw line and grabbing rebounds.

NBA Stats

Season	Team	GP	GS	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TOPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	PER
2021-22	BOS	1	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
2022-23	BOS	60	0	9.3	1.4	1.2	0.7	0.0	1.1	.492	.426	.769	0.0
2023-24	HON	9	8	13.1	2.2	1.7	0.3	0.0	1.6	.441	.312	.642	8.9
Total		70	8	9.7	1.5	1.2	0.3	0.0	1.2	.482	.406	.656	N/A

[studbucket]

St. Francis is coming off a restful 10 days break which gave them plenty of time to prepare for the nearby Duquesne Dukes. Duquesne was 4-6 on the season, but many of their losses were respectable, with games against the likes of Kentucky, Florida State, and Georgetown.

Among the Pittsburgh media, speculation is growing around what it might mean if Dinko beats Duquesne for the third straight season. The Dukes haven’t made the NCAA tournament since 1977 while coach Dragomirov has led St. Francis to the dance 4 times in 5 years. Many fans in Pittsburgh would love to see Dinko come back to his alma mater and lead them to some sort of success, which has been very hard to find.

The Red Flash are hosts and slight favorites for this game, but it should be a close matchup. Duquesne fans are excited by freshman Trevoy Stepp (PF, 77 ovr), who has been looking like their best player already. He and the country’s best-named shooting guard, Majak McGrath (72 ovr), are both averaging 10 ppg and are supported by Romas Toussaint (SF, 70 ovr) and his 11 ppg. This is a better team than last year. They aren’t great outside shooters, but they have solid size and do well finishing near the basket.

Unlike last game where the 2-3 zone was tough to break down, St. Francis started this one out red hot and was up 12-5 quickly, having made every shot. Every single starter was getting involved and the hosts looked great. However, Duquesne, normally a poor outside shooting team, had gone 3-3 from deep and quickly made the game 14-11.

With the Dukes getting a little momentum, Dinko mixed things up with a small-ball lineup: 6’7” Willis Holman at the 5, Stephane Diakite at the 4, Vern Quick at the 3, Bobby Valdez at the 2, and Tanoris Houston at point. This immediately works as the three-quarter-court-trap results in a 3-point play for Diakite. Shortly after that, the Red Flash went on an 8-0 run that involved 5 points from Vern Quick and a three from Bobby Valdez.

Stephane Diakite and Tanoris Houston celebrate after Diakite’s “and 1”.

With the game getting out of hand coach Dambrot was forced to call a timeout and figure out how to recover from the red-hot Red Flash start as his team was down 26-14. The home crowd was going crazy and it wasn’t just for the Red Flash. Both teams had combined to shoot 8-9 from three. It seemed like everything was going in and the basketball was a joy to watch.

At halftime, the game was 49-32. Duquesne was fine on offense, but the Red Flash were unstoppable and shooting 74% from the field. Vern Quick led all scorers with 13 points, meaning that the rest of St. Francis had combined for 36 points: the scoring was well-distributed. The Dukes liked to play fast, but St. Francis liked to play even faster and they were winning this matchup.

Duquesne’s 7-foot center A.W. Kavaliauskas was playing very well in the second half as the Dukes fed him the ball. The game got back to within 10 points and Dinko could feel the game slipping away from him. Glancing down the bench, Dinko saw redshirt sophomore Geary Doss sitting at the end. He hadn’t been used much since he was starting as a true freshman two years ago, but now may be the time to bring him in. Dinko chatted with him and explained what he needed the 7’3” center to do: make life hard for the Dukes’ Greek-American 7-footer and bring some energy.

Doss subbed in and gave us the full Geary Doss experience: a great running layup that was called off due to him interfering with the basket on his own shot. Coach Kostadin couldn’t help but laugh, he knew what he was getting when subbing in Doss.

Duquesne continued to play well, but Doss’s size was helping. He was grabbing rebounds, scoring a few baskets, and when he was subbed off the Red Flash were up by 15 points and Doss had scored 6.

The crowd gave him a loud cheer and the Red Flash cruised to an easy 87-64 victory. This was a great win for St. Francis and it was special for Dinko to get a third straight victory over his alma mater.

Vern Quick had 26 points and scored from everywhere: near the hoop, from the line, and from three. It was a great game from the Red Flash’s scoring leader. Overall, it was a well-rounded performance from the Red Flash that saw every player on the active roster contribute in some way. They also played smart, as evidenced by 44 points in the paint against a 2-3 zone that was meant to stop that.

Around the NCAA
Here’s a partial College Hoops Tonight from December 11. It froze while generating the highlights for Rhet Shimokawa (SG, South Dakota State), so it’s only about 80% complete.

Around the NBA

• In a big win over the Heat, Jerry Sparks (PF, 88 ovr) scored a career high 52 points as the Hornets moved to 14-7 and stayed near the top of the East. Only 15 of Sparks’ 52 points were from three, with 13 coming from the line and 24 from inside the arc.
• The Milwaukee Bucks look nigh-unstoppable and this was evident as they beat the Magic by 50 points, scoring 157. Their worst quarter of the game was a 31 point first quarter. They are currently on a 19-game winning streak.
• With big stars Kawhi Leonard and Pascal Siakam coming to town, the Wizards decided to show off their own two stars: R.J. Barrett (SG, 84 ovr) and Goga Bitadze (C, 80 ovr) – no, it’s not a joke, at least not on this night. The two Wizards combined for 80 points on the evening as the Wizards comminated the visiting Raptors.
• After Milwaukee won by 50, the Mavericks said “hold my beer” and beat the Thunder by 60 points, 168-108. Kristaps Porzingis (C, 87 ovr) had 49 points and Luka Doncic (SG, 97 ovr) had a 33 point triple-double.
• Jimmy Butler (SF, 87 ovr) has seen his scoring drop to 11.6 ppg and Klay Thompson (SG, 84 ovr) has dropped to 16.3 ppg, but Steph Curry (PG, 96 ovr) has not let the Warriors slip at all. Despite being 35 years old, the sharpshooter is still going strong and just dropped 48 points on the West-leading Trail Blazers.
• Trevor Merchant (PG, 88 ovr) is an amazing player, but somehow the young Piston only had a single triple-double through his entire career to this point. That changed in a win over the SuperSonics as Merchant grabbed a 45, 12, and 13 for his second career triple-double.
• Markelle Fultz (PG, 83 ovr) missed 2 weeks of games and hated every moment of it. As soon as he came back he led the Honu to a big way over the Cavaliers by dropping 31 points.
• The Grizzlies were on a 5 game winning streak before Ja Morant (PG, 90 ovr) pulled a muscle in his back and missed a week. Memphis went only 1-3 in that stretch and find themselves struggling in their first season in the East.
• The Timberwolves have won 7 straight games and have vaulted from 9^th to 2^nd place in the West. The drafting of Arnold McNurlin 2 years ago seems to have finally altered the fortunes of this team. However, they must stay sharp as only 1 game separates the top 6 teams in the West.

[marshdaddy]

Good to see this back in the rotation. At this point, what is stopping the Dukes from actually pursuing Dinko?

[studbucket]

Quote: Originally Posted by marshdaddy

Good to see this back in the rotation. At this point, what is stopping the Dukes from actually pursuing Dinko?

A lack of ambition. Their last conference championship was 1981, their last NCAA tournament appearance was 1977, and it's even been 14 seasons since they made the NIT.

Even bad teams accidentally make the NCAA tournament once every 20 seasons. It's been almost 50 years for the Dukes - it's just an organizational rot. Norm Nixon was their star when they last made the tournament.

They do get a smidge of credit for 2 years of T.J. McConnell (before transferring to Arizona) and for producing 12 year NBA veteran Mike James. That's about it.

[marshdaddy]

Quote: Originally Posted by studbucket

A lack of ambition. Their last conference championship was 1981, their last NCAA tournament appearance was 1977, and it's even been 14 seasons since they made the NIT. Even bad teams accidentally make the NCAA tournament once every 20 seasons. It's been almost 50 years for the Dukes - it's just an organizational rot. Norm Nixon was their star when they last made the tournament. They do get a smidge of credit for 2 years of T.J. McConnell (before transferring to Arizona) and for producing 12 year NBA veteran Mike James. That's about it.

Had to look it up since the winning their conference in 1981 and making the NCAA tournament last in 1977 was weird, but they won their regular season, lost the conference title game and then got dropped by Michigan in the NIT that season. Did they make the NIT at some point in your universe, cause I didn't see anything on their basketball-reference page about them making it.

[studbucket]

Quote: Originally Posted by marshdaddy

Had to look it up since the winning their conference in 1981 and making the NCAA tournament last in 1977 was weird, but they won their regular season, lost the conference title game and then got dropped by Michigan in the NIT that season. Did they make the NIT at some point in your universe, cause I didn't see anything on their basketball-reference page about them making it.

Yeah, it was weird, but less teams made it back then as well. No NIT berths in my universe, but Wikipedia says they made it in 2009.