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

[JoshNormanMane]

I glance through the Football Dynasty threads but I watch a lot of CFB25 on YT, it'd be interesting to see you start a dynasty with your level of storytelling. Heck maybe the Bulgarian Brothers has a cousin in the college football coaching ranks for all we know lol.

[studbucket]

Quote: Originally Posted by JoshNormanMane

I glance through the Football Dynasty threads but I watch a lot of CFB25 on YT, it'd be interesting to see you start a dynasty with your level of storytelling. Heck maybe the Bulgarian Brothers has a cousin in the college football coaching ranks for all we know lol.

I don't think I have the energy to storytell another dynasty, but I am sharing my progress on the CHoops 2K8 Discord (we have a channel for CF25). I did 2 seasons at Buffalo, then got hired at Arizona. I am wrapping up my second season there.

My conferences are entirely geographic. No states split. So the MAC is all schools from NE, MO, IA, MN, WI, IL, and IN. The Sun Belt is Florida + Louisiana. Big 10 is Ohio + Michigan, etc.

Here's a 21 point comeback win vs Pitt:



And here's some plays from my season 3 bowl win vs Virginia Tech. Special teams won me the first half:


And defense won me the second:

[studbucket]

Dinko finds himself in a position he didn’t expect to be in: second in the Northeast Conference. Not that it’s especially bad – his team is doing quite well. However with a 79-71 loss to Fairleigh Dickinson and Long Island continuing their hot streak, the Red Flash are a half game back of the Blackbirds in the NEC.

After that loss, St. Francis rebounded in a big way beating “Fake Francis” 87-45 that saw 4 starters score in double digits, including a Floyd Akindele 13 and 12 double-double. This brings them to a matchup with Mount St. Mary’s. The Mountaineers are 4-5 in conference and sitting mid-table. The game shouldn’t be too close, with their previous matchup being a 30 point blowout win for the Red Flash. Head coach Dan Engelstad has done an awful job building this roster and there’s no help for the talented sophomore big man Louis Krymski (C, 76) outside of the injured Terrence Downey (PF, 73 ovr) who cannot play due to an achilles strain.

Meta: only Louis Krymski is above 56 overall for their starters, with the other 4 being between 54-56 overall.

This was a game that made Dinko question if his team is focused or not. They were dominant last year and are a better team on paper this year, but too often they are letting bad teams hang around. They got bit last week against FDU and they should have been punished again today.

To start, they found themselves down 12-15 early on, as they were completely unable to stop this Mountaineers team. And then even when they slowed them down, they seemed to make it their job to miss easy shots. At one point during a first half timeout, Dinko uncharacteristically raised his voice and yelled “nobody on that team but gosh darn Krymski would even sniff our rotations, but you all act like we’re playing UConn. Wake up and play like we know you can!”

Nothing really seemed to work. Bobby Valdez provided a spark off the bench with 11 first half points and got St. Francis up for a bit, but they went into halftime down 28-32. It was a miserable halftime locker room. The two teams were very statistically even, but Chris Thompson, Floyd Akindele, and the bench bigs could do nothing to slow down the Mountaineers’ 7 footers. As a big man himself and a defensively-minded player, Dinko couldn’t believe the lack of focus and effort he was seeing.

After Mount St. Mary’s hit a three to extend their lead to 7 points, Dinko immediately changed things up. First, he decided to hard double any seven-footer who touches the ball. Second, he instructed his team to attack the basket more: stop trying to get post moves and instead use your speed to get layups and fouls. The Red Flash were 12-23 from the paint at that point and 4-9 from the free throw line, so Dinko was desperate to do anything to get them back in the game.

Initially, it looked bad. The Red Flash were down 41-51 and Dinko started to let his mind wander to the next game. Was he going to need to mix up his rotations? Maybe Valdez and McGuire should start and Quick and Akindele should move to the bench, putting Thompson at the 5?

But he was snapped out of his daydream by none other than quiet, hard-working, unsung hero Stephane Diakite. The doubling of bigs and Diakite attacking the basket over and over again was working. Stephane was too strong for guards and too quick for bigs and found himself getting layups and drawing fouls. The score was 48-51 and the home crowd had some nervous murmuring.

A few minutes later it was 54-54 and Krymski had 4 fouls and Dieng had three. The Red Flash were in the bonus and then somehow Bird (who isn’t a shooter) drained a three but Quick finally made a shot, answering the call and tying it at 57.

Shortly after that Diakite was able to get Krymski to foul out and St. Francis was up 63-61 with 2 minutes left and 65-63 with 1 left. They forced a bad pass, got the ball, but Diakite missed the layup on his drive and the Mountaineers had the ball for the last shot.

And what did they do? Make an inside pass to the shortest player on the floor who manages to get a seal on 6’8” Vern Quick and make the inside bucket. How in the world did this happen? What world is Dinko living in?

The game goes to overtime and after each team trades 3s, St. Francis scores 8 straight points and Valdez scores a dagger three to go up by 11 and seal the game.

St. Francis got the win, they survive, but Dinko isn’t feeling great about the game or this team’s chances to make a postseason run.

Stephane Diakite was the difference-maker down the stretch, scoring buckets, getting to the line, and getting the bigs to foul out. Bobby Valdez’s 4-6 shooting from three was also huge.

The team was 7-14 from three and perhaps should have taken more, but when Vern Quick isn’t feeling it the team tends to shy away. They were also only 11-20 from the free throw line, which looks like it could be a problem if not turned around as the season goes on.

Around the NCAA

• Oggy and the Lions had 2 games:
  • Oggy’s 100^th win 88-72 over San Diego. Immanuel Kharimanovic had 22 points. Herbert Nashif had 12 and 17.
  • They then lost to Portland 61-70. Herbert Nashif had 10 points, 14 rebounds, and 4 steals.
• #13 Notre Dame defeated #1 UConn 87-81. Notre Dame was led by Rodney Bowers (PF, 84 ovr) with 19p, 8r, 3s, 3b. Ed Warden (PF, 87 ovr) had 27 in loss for the Huskies.
• Unranked Cincinnati goes into UConn and wins 83-82 in thriller, seeing the top ranked team drop another game. 4 starters had 15+ points, including Kirby Weisse (PG, 75 ovr) with 16 points and 8 assists.
• #2 Louisville destroys #9 Marquette 83-58. Jermaine Faulk (SG, 89 ovr) and Paris Lalugba (PG, 87 ovr) both scored 16 points in the win.
• Georgia Tech beat #7 Duke 85-62. Dominic Guy (PG, 84 ovr) with 16 points off bench to lead all scorers. Derek Matera (SG, 89 ovr) and Jimmy Tran (SF, 90 ovr) average a combined 32 ppg and GT held them to 18 on 7-21 shooting.

[JoshNormanMane]

Good on the Flash to squeak out the win but that's not a locker room I'd want to walk into after the game lol. I'd have to think it's a little encouraging to see guys outside the Big 3 step up. Hopefully the wake-up call aids in the ascension in the Northeast.

[studbucket]

Quote: Originally Posted by JoshNormanMane

Good on the Flash to squeak out the win but that's not a locker room I'd want to walk into after the game lol. I'd have to think it's a little encouraging to see guys outside the Big 3 step up. Hopefully the wake-up call aids in the ascension in the Northeast.

Yeah, it was not a fun game for the Red Flash. Quick has been bad all season, which is crazy. I thought he'd be scoring 20+ per game his senior year. Was great to see Diakite step up, and maybe he and Willingham can contribute more offensively down the stretch.

[studbucket]

For the 2025 NBA All-Star game we had team captains Giannis Antetokounmpo and Luka Doncic. While many of the names in the game are expected, there are at least a few players that can reasonably be upset to not make the game:

1. Darius Garland, PG, Cleveland – the 25 year old point guard is leading the Cavaliers to the top of the East and averaging 24 points and 8 assists per game. While his stats aren’t gaudy or league-leading, the best player on one of the best teams in the East should be recognized.
2. Tyler Herro/Markelle Fultz, PG/SG, Hawaii – Herro is scoring nearly 28 points per game and Fultz is scoring 24 and adding 8 assists as well. The Honu are 4^th in the West and maybe these players split their fans’ votes.
3. Zach LaVine, SF, Brooklyn – LaVine’s teammate Kyrie Irving made the team, but LaVine is scoring 3 more points per game on a lower usage rate. Some assert he’s been their team’s most important player, but that’s up for debate.

Note: Trevor Merchant (3 ASGs), Zion Williamson (4 ASGs), and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (no ASGs) are all injured and unable to participate in the All-Star game. Otherwise, they would have been selections. In their places, R.J. Barrett, Jerry Sparks, and Kawhi Leonard make the game.

[BlindSideNZ]

Ey, so great to see this back.

Woah, that St Mary’s team is awful. At least as far as OVR goes.

21 all star games by Lebron is really quite an incredible feat. Kudos to him.

[studbucket]

Quote: Originally Posted by BlindSideNZ

Ey, so great to see this back. Woah, that St Mary’s team is awful. At least as far as OVR goes. 21 all star games by Lebron is really quite an incredible feat. Kudos to him.

Yeah, St. Mary's is soooo bad. Which makes it extra terrible that they took St. Francis to overtime.

LeBron is amazing, and I am not sure he deserved an ASG last season, but he's bounced back a bit this year and it's tough to argue against him. It's pretty crazy Shai doesn't have an ASG and missed out on it this year due to injury.