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

[studbucket]

Earlier this week St. Francis had an easy win over Mount St. Mary’s (who are now 2-13 on the year) 85-55, with every starter scoring between 11-15 points and Vern Quick added 7 assists for the Red Flash. Things get tougher this week as they trave to Staten Island to face off against Wagner. The Seahawks are also 2-0 in the conference (7-6 overall) but nobody expects them to really contend for an NEC title this year.

They are led by a pair of seniors: Patricio Stevensen (SF, 74 ovr) and Wayne Berry (SG, 72 ovr) who lead the team in scoring thanks to their ability to get to the basket and score at the rim, though they are competent three-point shooters. However, as a team Wagner is only shooting 38% from the field and scoring 66.7 points per game (11 fewer than St. Francis). Ultimately, this should be a comfortable win for the Red Flash.

Dinko looked up at the huge banner that said “PREPARE TO GET OWNED” and chuckled. He’s glad to see passion from the student section but had a feeling the game may go against their wishes.

The game started very well for the Red Flash. Vern Quick blocked a shot, Chris Thompson got fouled and finished a shot, Erwin Willingham forced their PG out of bounds, and Quick hit a three to give St. Francis a 6-0 lead. After that, St. Francis stayed ahead by a reasonable margin, though Wagner was showing some signs of life and the game was 20-13.

Stephane Diakite finishes off a lob from Erwin Willingham to extend the Red Flash’s lead in the first.

St. Francis hit a cold streak shortly after that, though thankfully Wagner wasn’t much hotter. However, 22-17 turned into 24-20, then 27-27. Dinko put his starters back into the game and their defense made the difference. With a number of blocks, steals, and rebounds the Red Flash extended their lead to 7 and went into halftime up 4, 36-32.

It wouldn’t have been that close, but backup PF Taj Hailey had a bad turnover right before half, allowing the Seahawks to get a cheap basket before the break. Chris Thompson led the way with 11 points and Erwin Willingham had 5 rebounds from the point guard spot. If there was anything to learn from the first half, it’s that Dinko needs to keep his starters and best defenders on the court. Their length and tenacity was making the biggest difference this game.

Wagner came out tough in the second half, keeping it close and then taking their first lead of the game 39-38. Vern Quick hit a three to re-take the lead, but Wagner wouldn’t go away. St. Francis was struggling to score and they found themselves down 7 points late in the game.

Dinko decided to focus on easy buckets and started pounding the ball inside. It worked. With 4 minutes left it was a three point game and then shortly after that Chris Thompson made it a 1 point game. Finally, Chris Thompson kicked the ball out to Vern Quick for another 3 pointer to give St. Francis a 2 point lead with 3 minutes left. Now they just needed to keep it up and not play like idiots.

It’s a 2 point game with under 2 left and Chris Thompson scores his 21^st point on a shimmy and hook shot. After that Akindele makes an up-and-under and St. Francis stole the inbound pass to put them up 4 with less than a minute left.

Wagner made it close, but after Chris Thompson blocked a three it became “foul time” and Wagner had to hope for some missed free throws to get back into it. Ultimately St. Francis won 67-65, though it was a 5 point game before Wagner hit a three as time ran out.

Regardless of what the box score says (2k8 is buggy with blocks), SFU had 7 or so blocks this game and it was a big part of their win. The big guys were awesome. Chris Thompson had 21 points, Floyd Akindele had some clutch buckets, Erwin Willingham played great defense and had 9 rebounds, and Vern Quick went 4-8 from deep.

Wayne Berry had 17 for Wagner and Rodrick Conley went 6-10 from the FT line to finish with 14 points.

Around the NCAA

• Loyola Marymount had 1 game: An 89-71 loss at Utah. Herbert Nashif had 18 in the loss.
• UConn has defeated Villanova 83-75 to take over the number 1 spot in the country and remain undefeated. Only 2 players scored in double digits for the Huskies, with 9^th man Johnnie Pena (PF, 85 ovr) leading the way with 16 points and 8 rebounds. Villanova lost because they couldn’t quite get enough from their bench, but their star Diamond Barisic (PF, 88 ovr) had 23 points and 6 rebounds but turned the ball over 5 times.
• UAB has moved up to #8 in the country as they are a perfect 11-0 led by senior Vidal Scott (SG, 82 ovr) and his 21 points per game. In addition to UConn and UAB, 2 more teams are undefeated: #14 Washington State and unranked Temple.

[Careless Whisper]

Glad to be caught up on this after some time away! This really looks like one of Oggy's rougher years ahead with how Dinko's SFU dominated another Drago Derby - being 1-5 against your brother has to be infuriating as much as he doesn't want to admit it. Dinko's Red Flash look to be humming even with the narrow victory against Wagner, and I could easily see them making a Cinderella Sweet 16 run as he says they're on the cusp on.

The monster line when Dinko was reminiscing on Bethel's recruitment was hilarious. Really enjoy the banter between the two brothers and wish they could be coaching in the same conference one day.

[studbucket]

Quote: Originally Posted by Careless Whisper

Glad to be caught up on this after some time away! This really looks like one of Oggy's rougher years ahead with how Dinko's SFU dominated another Drago Derby - being 1-5 against your brother has to be infuriating as much as he doesn't want to admit it. Dinko's Red Flash look to be humming even with the narrow victory against Wagner, and I could easily see them making a Cinderella Sweet 16 run as he says they're on the cusp on.

It is a rough year for Ognyan for sure. Only year that will probably compare to this is the 2nd year at Northern Colorado when he didn't even make his conference tournament.

He's pretty frustrated about his record against his brother, but to some extent he should realize this is largely on him. He had a great team in Stetson - probably good enough to best his brother this year - and left for LMU. It's a fun move, but this roster mostly stinks and he's paying the price for that. Looking ahead, I'm not sure if he can get the win next year either, but we'll see what the offseason brings.

Quote: Originally Posted by Careless Whisper

The monster line when Dinko was reminiscing on Bethel's recruitment was hilarious. Really enjoy the banter between the two brothers and wish they could be coaching in the same conference one day.

Glad you enjoyed it. I love the various questions submitted via the survey. Keeps me on my toes.

And yeah, I'd love both brothers to end up somewhere like the Big East. Maybe Pitt and Georgetown or something like that. Would be awesome.

[JoshNormanMane]

Great game for the SFU Big 3, notably the frontcourt pairing. I've been waiting for all 3 to piece it together but the game was still too close for comfort since nobody produced outside those guys.

[studbucket]

Quote: Originally Posted by JoshNormanMane

Great game for the SFU Big 3, notably the frontcourt pairing. I've been waiting for all 3 to piece it together but the game was still too close for comfort since nobody produced outside those guys.

You're right that the Red Flash really haven't been running on all cylinders this season. They are good enough to get away with it, but it's been a frustration for sure.

[studbucket]

After we reported about the unrest in Toronto a few weeks ago as well as some other rumblings, it all came to fruition. The Toronto Raptors have let their entire front office go, fired head coach Nick Nurse, and traded away their stars. Here’s the moves they made.

Raptors unload Kawhi and Siakam; Detroit and Miami add stars
As previously rumored, the Raptors ownership decided to blow up the team. It started with clearing out the front office, then head coach Nick Nurse, and then – before even hiring a new front office – ownership dealt both of their stars: Kawhi Leonard and Pascal Siakam. The Raptors do not control their own first round pick and these deals are made with the hopes of getting a top 3 pick – thus keeping the pick through protections – and to add a few more picks and start to rebuild.

There were a number of suitors across the league, but two teams were able to offer the best fits for the players and first round picks and possibly young players in return.

The first deal to go through was Pascal Siakam to the Miami Heat in return for two 2025 firsts and Shaddean Christopher. Jusuf Nurkic (C, 77 ovr) and Andre Rice (PF, 76 ovr) were thrown in to help the salaries balance.

Miami made this trade because when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is healthy, the Heat have been a very good team. When he’s not healthy, they’ve been below average. Shai will be back around the All-Star break and Pascal gives them another All-Star level starter and somebody who can help the team be more competent while Shai is out. Pat Riley is banking on the fact that SGA, Juwan Evans, Pascal Siakam, and a cast of solid young role players can be enough to make a run this postseason.


The next deal was with the Detroit Pistons and a little help from the moribund Sacramento Kings. Kawhi Leonard was sent to the Pistons and the Raptors got back two firsts, Andrew Wiggins, and a few other players.

Detroit has been underperforming this year, but nobody is doubting Trevor Merchant’s talent. We’re now in his 5^th season and entering his prime. They cannot afford to waste this and Andrew Wiggins and company haven’t been providing what the team needed to get to the next level. By adding Kawhi Leonard, the Pistons add a true star alongside Merchant and give them a bona fide big three with Merchant, Leonard, and Marvin Bagley III.

What did the Kings have to benefit from this deal? Well, they were needed to help balance the salaries and they’ve been miserable this year. This allowed them to unload some players who weren’t great fits on the floor or locker room and add a leader in Ibaka (C, 78 ovr) and an exciting player in 6’10” Timon Fields (SF, 77 ovr).

Detroit has a new big three.

Ultimately the Raptors gave up Kawhi Leonard, Pascal Siakam, and a few role players and they added 4 first round picks (3 of which are in 2025), Andrew Wiggins, Shaddean Christopher, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Jusic Nurkic, and Qi Zhou. They replaced Nick Nurse with Darvin Ham. Nurse has yet to be hired elsewhere.

Here are the lineups for Detroit, Miami, and Toronto (assuming players are healthy):

Detroit Pistons	Miami Heat	Toronto Raptors
Trevor Merchant (PG, 91 ovr)	Juwan Evans (PG, 86 ovr)	Devonte Graham (PG, 82 ovr)
Kevin Huerter (SG, 80 ovr)	Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (SG, 88 ovr)	Spencer Dinwiddie (PG, 81 ovr)
Kawhi Leonard (SF, 87 ovr)	Darrall Lampley (SF, 79 ovr)	Andrew Wiggins (SF, 82 ovr)
Darrall Gosley (PF, 81 ovr)	Pascal Siakam (PF, 88 ovr)	Shaddean Christopher (PF, 80 ovr)
Marvin Bagley III (C, 87 ovr)	Nikola Pattrick (C, 82 ovr)	Stephen Bathie (C, 80 ovr)

Hawks go all-in with Harden and George
Atlanta missed out on adding one of the former Raptors, but they found 2 aging stars to add alongside Trae Young. Houston has had a rough start to the season and James Harden’s contract is set to expire at the end of this year. With Harden showing no signs of returning, Houston decided to get as much as they could for him and dealt him to Atlanta as part of a three team deal.

The Hawks have had the same core for over 4 years now and nothing has come of it. They’ve now unloaded everyone who was here in the 2020 except for Young and are going for their own “big three” of Young, Harden, and George.

With the Lakers struggling so far this season, they were more than happy to unload George’s big contract and get back two possible starters in Hunter and Tyus Jones. Houston receives Nikola Vucevic and 2 first rounders. If the Rockets decide to stay put, they have an interesting team centered on Russell Westbrook, Julius Randle, and Nikola Vucevic.

Harden, Young, and George make an interesting threesome leading the Hawks.

Provided there are no injuries, here are the projected lineups for these three teams.

Atlanta Hawks	Los Angeles Lakers	Houston Rockets
Trae Young (PG, 93 ovr)	Tyus Jones (PG, 80 ovr)	Russell Westbrook (PG, 82 ovr)
James Harden (SG, 89 ovr)	Milos Jeffers (SG, 80 ovr)	Rayjon Tucker (SG, 77 ovr)
Paul George (SF, 81 ovr)	De’Andre Hunter (SF, 84 ovr)	Rudolph Butler (SF, 79 ovr)
Jarrett Culver (PF, 80 ovr)	Anthony Davis (PF, 94 ovr)	Julius Randle (PF, 83 ovr)
Sarunas Dabanovic (C, 78 ovr)	Mfiondu Kabengele (C, 80 ovr)	Nikola Vucevic (C, 82 ovr)

[studbucket]

Oggy kicks off conference play as he welcomes cross-city rival Pepperdine to their arena. The Lions lost a tough one 62-61 to San Jose State as the starters struggled to score (only 31 points total) but Konrad Abbott had 22 off the bench.

Loyola Marymount is 5-8 on the season and Oggy is hoping to rebound from the losing streak and get this team closer to .500. He’s also just 3 wins way from his 100^th win.

It’ll be tough to get a win against Pepperdine as they area decent team. They’re scoring 82 points per game and ranked 18^th in RPI with a 9-5 record. Three of their five losses are to #1 UConn, #3 Texas, and #10 Washington and they have wins over LSU and Ole Miss. They have loads of good three point shooters and they are a deep, exciting, and long team. Yakhouba Minyem (C, 76 ovr) leads the way with 20.4 ppg and 7.2 rpg. He’s supported by Quannas Buggs (PG, 78 ovr) with 12 points and 5 assists per game and freshman Earl Downey (SG, 74 ovr).

It was a very chaotic start to the game for both teams. There were turnovers, huge slams, back-and-forth action…and it was only 6-4 after a few minutes.

However, before Oggy could blink an 8-0 run from the Waves put Loyola down 12-6 and he saw that the Lions would need to slow things down for his team to stay in this game. They can’t play right into Pepperdine’s preferred style of play.

It worked. Getting the ball into the post and being more patient helped them tie the game up 14-14. The Lions have already forced 6 turnovers as the Waves had a number of errant passes as they attempted to push the pace and make long passes to beat the press. LMU had 3 turnovers themselves and the two teams had combined to shoot 0-6 from three.

After Herbert Nashif scored his 10^th point on yet another dunk to take a 16-14 lead, Pepperdine went on an 11-0 run like it was nothing and made the game 25-16. Oggy used another timeout and was gobbling them up like they were hotcakes. He told his team again, they need to sloooow down.

Herbert Nashif was amazing down the stretch and the Lions started playing much better defense in the half court. After being down 9 they brought it to within 2 points and finished the half down just 4: 38-34. Pepperdine was shooting 58% but were having a tough time slowing down Nashif, who had 12 points. There were some good signs and decent basketball from the Lions in the first half, and they need to remember to keep it slowed down and control the game in the second half.

Herbert Nashif controlled the paint all night long and threw down dunk after dunk on Pepperdine.

They did not control the start of the second half, that was Pepperdine. However, they did manage to hit their three pointers to stay in it and Herbert Nashif continued to play excellent.

Pepperdine was up by as much as 7, but Loyola cut it to 2, 52-50. When Pepperdine gets hurried they do dumb things like threes from their bigs or throwing it out of bounds. So even though they are the better team, the combination of those mistakes and Herbert Nashif’s great play is keeping this close. With 8 minutes left, Nashif gets fouled when down 1 and makes both free throws to give the Lions a 1 point lead.

A few minutes later Reid Christensen hits Kahrimanovic with a skip pass and he drilled a three to put the Lions up 67-64, giving them their biggest lead since early in the first half. We’ve mentioned Herbert Nashif a lot, but he is single-handedly responsible for the Lions being in the bonus as he’s already shot 15 free throws.

Building on that free throw barrage, Immanuel Kahrimanovic hit another three and LMU was up 6 with less than 3 minutes left in the game. It felt good, but the game wasn’t over.

Pepperdine got the game within 4 points twice in the final minute, but despite Evan Harris, Kahrimanovic, and Christensen going 3-6 from the line, Pepperdine won the game 77-71 and started off conference play on a very positive note.

Herbert Nashif was an iron man this game. He played 36 minutes, scored 31 points, and had 7 rebounds. Maybe he’s the winning strategy that Oggy has been looking for this season. Evan Harris also had 10 rebounds to help the Lions get the win.

Loyola Marymount only shot 27% from three – continuing a season-long swoon – but Pepperdine was only 29% themselves. The Lions won the rebounding battle 35 to 26 and the foul battle 8 to 17. The Waves only had 3 free throws the entire game as they didn’t attack the basket.

For Pepperdine Allen Gatling had a 12 point and 10 assist double-double but added 7 turnovers. Minyem had a 12 point, 10 rebound double-double as well. SG Alejandro Finley went 1-6 from three but had 14 points.

Around the NBA

• Zion Williamson (PF, 92 ovr) took the Sonics to the woodshed as he grabbed 28 rebounds, scored 33 points, and dished out 7 assists. Oh, and Devin Booker (SG, 92 ovr) scored 44 points too.
• The Bucks got a big win, 142-121, over the Nets as Giannis Antetokounmpo (PF, 97 ovr) had a near triple-double with 40, 11, and 9.
• After being destroyed by Zion and the Pelicans, the Sonics and Bobby Drake (SF, 80 ovr) responded the next night by dropping 39 points to beat the visiting Timberwolves by 3.
• On the eve before acquiring James Harden, the Hawks beat the Heat thanks to Trae Young’s (PG, 93 ovr) 56 points.
• Ben Simmons (PG, 89 ovr) told the new-look Hawks that they are nothing to worry about as he had 27 points, 9 rebounds, 6 steals, and 23 ASSISTS! The 76ers beat the Hawks 134-104 and James Harden (SG, 89 ovr) only scored 7 points in his Atlanta debut.
• Taquan St. Fort (C, 82 ovr) had the best game of his young career, scoring 28 points and grabbing 21 rebounds in a 40 point win over the Pacers.
• Anthony Davis (PG, 94 ovr) came up huge for the Lakers as they beat the Celtics 141-130. AD scored 46 points on 21-30 shooting and had 13 rebounds, 3 steals, and 3 blocks.
• Trae Young (PG, 93 ovr) scored 49 points as the Hawks beat the Trail Blazers.
• Luka Doncic (SG, 94 ovr) continues his stat-stuffing spectacular season with 44 points, 14 assists, 9 rebounds, and 3 steals in a win over the Raptors.
• The Phoenix Suns got a big overtime victory against the Lakers 131-130 thanks to Bam Adebayo’s 25, 16, and 6.
• The Sonics are bad and Giannis (PF, 97 ovr) decided to rub it in. In a 131-86 win for Milwaukee, Gianis had 46, 12, and 7 on 20-28 shooting. He even fouled out and still put up those stats.
• Things are just getting worse for the Thunder. Kevin Durant (PF, 87 ovr) has broken his right ankle and will miss most of the rest of the regular season.

Here are some NBA highlights from early January:

[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 Cleveland rookie star and DePaul alum Taquan St. Fort. I don’t normally highlight rookies, but he’s been so exciting that it seemed worth it.

College Career and NBA Draft
Taquan St. Fort grew up in Peoria, Illinois playing high school basketball at Peoria High School, home of former NBA guard Shaun Livingston and 5 time Illinois State champions. Despite his size and talent, he was a lightly recruited 3 star prospect who chose to attend DePaul over Drake or hometown Bradley. After being redshirted his first season, he played in 5 games his freshman year and then became a starter for his final three seasons on the Blue Demons.

Over those 3 seasons he saw his scoring rise from 14.5 to 20.1 points per game, and averaged 7 rebounds and 1 block per game for his career. This culminated in his senior season where he was second team All-American, the Big East Player of the Year, and the top center in the NBA draft.

Despite those individual accolades, St. Fort never tasted postseason success. The Blue Demons were in an extremely difficult conference in the Big East and the only postseason play he got was in the 2024 NIT. Especially attentive readers of this dynasty may remember what happened there: DePaul lost to Oggy and Stetson 70-67. St. Fort played through a broken finger to score 17 points and grab 7 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough. Jerimie Scott outdueled him, scoring 21 points and grabbing 6 rebounds.

St. Fort’s entire senior season he was considered the top center prospect in the draft. There was reasonable competition from Eric Valencia, Andre O’Hara, and Darius Lovelace, but he stayed #1 wire-to-wire. Though some were arguing that Angelo Braswell (technically listed as a PF) should have been considered a center and is a better prospect.

As the draft got closer, it became a lock that Kansas PF/SF Kordel Cleaves was going first overall to the Knicks, but it was anyone’s guess what happened with the next few picks. Orlando, Cleveland, San Antonio, and Seattle were all projected to take 10 different players across mock drafts and St. Fort could have seen himself falling to 10 or going second. After Orlando took UNLV’s Braswell, Cleveland pounced on the opportunity to grab the big man at #3.


Player Overview

St. Fort is a traditional big man, though with a touch of finesse. He prefers shots in the paint with the occasional mid-range shot. He has no problem banging down low but tends to finish with a bit more finesse than power. He’s a good rebounder, has great defensive instincts, and quick feet and hands. Despite his size, he can also hold up OK in switches and is a better perimeter defender than some of his lazier wing teammates, but generally he acts more as a rim protector for the Cavaliers.

St. Fort has been the Cavaliers starting center for most of the season when healthy – he missed 3 games and came off the bench once – and has partnered with Darius Garland to shock the league by leading them to the top of the East after 40 games with a 28-12 record, a half game ahead of the Celtics and Bucks.

The Cavaliers stellar start is the biggest reason why St. Fort is being featured here today and it’s also why he’s the clear leader in the Rookie of the Year race.

NBA Stats

Season	Team	GP	GS	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TOPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	PER
2023-24	CLE	37	36	15.2	10.4	1.4	1.1	1.5	1.6	51%	29%	83.7%	17.5
Total		37	36	15.2	10.4	1.4	1.1	1.5	1.6	51%	29%	83.7%	17.5

Bonus quiz question: which former NBA player’s cyberface did I re-use for St. Fort?
Hint: he was drafted by the Kings and played for 5 NBA teams.

Bonus factoid: St. Fort was actually Mac Koshwal in the original 2K8 rosters.