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

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Quote: Originally Posted by RolePlayer

You guys did more than just a scare, what a win for Dinko. This win will definitely put his talent as a coach on the map and hopefully lead to job opportunities long term but also a boost in recruiting short term. Clearly, Oggy's help in practice played dividend as the Red Flash gave Curry some issues.

Yeah - meta point, probably the first time I've ever had a win like this in the game and I've been playing for years. It all just worked out well.

Agreed on that this is huge for Dinko. It put him (and to a lesser extent, Oggy) on the minds of the nation. You can imagine all the "human interest" segments next game about the twins, life in Bulgaria, the car crash, coaching against each other, etc. Almost makes me wish it was real

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Upset Watch

• #10 Georgia 62 - #7 Wisconsin 48 – Georgia was down 26-21 at halftime, but outscored Wisconsin 41-22 in the 2^nd half to run away with the game.
• #12 Xavier 88 - #5 UCLA 81 – A team effort from Xavier overcame 25 points from talented sophomore Stewart Mobley, as Xavier outscored UCLA by 12 in the second half.
• #10 NC State - #7 Nevada – The wolfpack completely fell apart in the 2^nd half and could barely score as NC State cruised to a 73-59 victory.
• #11 Kentucky 86 - #6 Stanford 58 – It was pure domination from the get go for the 11^th seeded Wildcats. Lottery prospect J. Lamkin led the way with 28 points and shot 5-6 from three.
• #15 St. Francis (PA) 62 - #2 Providence 60 – A scrappy group of unheralded seniors upset a Providence team with title hopes by clinging on for dear life and just outworking the Friars. Senior sharpshooter Casey Tyler had 23 points in the win.

Key Performances

• Nikola Pattrick singlehandedly powered the Utah Utes past St. Louis as he was the only starter in double digits, scoring 35 points in a 77-64 victory. The rest of the starters scored a combined 18 points. The 7’1” senior hopes this helps his draft stock.
• Gonzaga handled Chattanooga thanks to 31 points from PF Winston Works.
• Milos Jeffers scored 33 in a losing effort to Notre Dame, who beat Davidson thanks to 34 points from C Sidney Dunnington.
• Memphis SF Herb Drabyn dropped 33 points on Idaho State thanks to 14-17 shooting from the charity stripe and 9-16 from the field.
• Top 10 prospect Marquis Huffman stepped up for the BC Golden Eagles, hitting 6-10 three pointers and handing out 5 assists in a victory over Wake Forest.

NIT Update

• LSU beat Eastern Kentucky, but Ben Long only had 4 points in 38 minutes on 0-7 shooting. He had zero rebounds, 1 assist, and 5 turnovers. Woof.
• Texas Tech destroyed Winston-Salem St, 86-42. The Red Raiders play a well balanced Wisconsin-Green Bay team in round 2.
• Wagner suffered an embarrassing loss to Marquette, 95-56, showing up much worse than fellow NEC mates St. Francis (PA).
• Kashen Keita scored 31 points off of the bench for Oral Roberts thanks to 7-8 shooting from three as they beat Colgate 86-73.
• St. Joseph’s had 5 players in double digits and 2 score over 20 as they beat Southern Miss 91-67.
• Georgia Tech’s senior center Gus Walcott went off against Texas A&M Corpus Christi as the hometown boy scored 35 points in a 106-70 victory.

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Ognyan was no longer in San Diego, having flown back to Greeley to get busy in the offseason, and the weather had turned and was the beautiful “sunny San Diego” that everyone expects. However, Dinko's mind wasn’t on the weather, but on trying to see how he could beat this Miami team. They weren’t as talented as Providence but they played very differently.

The Hurricanes were 2^nd in the ACC as they were 11-5 in conference, though they were only 19-11 overall. They had the conference’s leading scoring in Julio Bartlett as the shooting guard was deadly from deep and was scoring 19.9 points per game. They had just beat #10 Penn State 78-53 in round 1, with Bartlett getting 21 points, 5 boards, and 5 dimes. Around Bartlett, there isn’t much height, but there is more and more shooting. Trevor Barrett, Geoffrey McFarlin, and Brooks Hughes were all good enough to be the best deep shooter on a decent team, but were second banana on the Hurricanes.

Miami plays a 1-3-1 zone and very aggressively crash the offensive boards. It’s a very different team than Providence and St. Francis will be very fortunate to win, but their style may play into the Red Flash’s strengths if they can hit their threes and play fast.

The winner of this game would face off against the victor of #3 Michigan State and #11 Kentucky, but Dinko wasn’t thinking about that at all.

Just a few minutes into the game, and it looked like Dinko would never have to worry about that as his team found themselves down 10-2. The Red Flash were crashing back to earth; they were missing shots and looking unathletic. After a monster slam from the Hurricanes, Dinko takes a timeout to regroup his team.

At first, it seems to work. St. Francis had calmed down and got the game to 12-7. It was short lived as the lead ballooned to 18-7 and then 27-13 a few minutes later. Miami wasn’t even hitting threes, but were playing smart and patient and getting to the basket over and over again.

However, the Red Flash kept working and started hitting their threes. After Noah Almond hit back-to-back threes, the lead was cut to 6 at 30-24. The Hurricanes got two interior baskets right before half to make it 34-24 at half. At the break SFU was only shooting 40% from the field. They had surprisingly held Miami to 0-4 from three, but the 7 seed didn’t need threes as they were getting plenty of inside baskets. If Dinko had any hope of getting back into the game, they’d need to keep hitting threes and start playing better interior defense.

Miami took control early in the second half and for much of the half it was never closer than 11 points as their quality and size shone through. In a desperate effort to get back in, SFU started launching threes and managed to cut the lead from 15 to 9, causing Miami to call a timeout. Immediately after the timeout, the Red Flash trap, cause a turnover, and cut the lead to 7. Then a corner three from Casey Tyler narrows the lead to 4: 56-52. The Hurricanes were getting nervous. Could St. Francis finish a huge comeback in the last 2:30?

To do so, the Red Flash would need to bottle up Miami PG Trevor Barrett, who had 20 points this game, mostly off of driving to the basket whenever he wanted.

With a minute left it was still a 4 point game: 60-56. At this point, a comedy of errors occurred:

1. Julio Bartlett (the best shooter in the ACC) missed a wide open three
2. Noah Almond immediately turned the ball over to Miami off of a terrible pass
3. Miami then tied up and into a jump ball situation
4. On the inbounds, SFU suffered a 5 second violation

At that point Julio Bartlett hit a shot and locked the game up at 62-56. It was a valiant effort by the #15 seed, but ultimately not enough.

Trevor barrett got whatever he wanted this game and had 20 points and 7 assists. Miami won despite going 0-6 from three, which is a credit both to them and St. Francis. The Hurricanes had 36 points in the paint, as they dominated there.

In the locker room Dinko spent some time congratulating, consoling, and praying with his seniors. He was so grateful for the two years he spent with Casey Tyler, Noah Almond, Tobias Roberson, and Zygis Keita and knew they would be sorely missed next year.

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Upset Watch

• #8 Utah 74 - #1 UConn 72 – The best team in the country left the tournament with a whimper, losing 74-72 to the Utes. Big man Nikola Pattrick showed up once again, scoring 25 points in the victory.
• #6 Clemson 73 - #3 Washington 64 – Clemson didn’t play especially well: no player had more than 12 points and they had 11 turnovers, but Washington had 15 of those and only made 3-11 threes.
• #5 Syracuse 81 - #4 Duke 74 – The ACC champions fell to Syracuse thanks to an abysmal 4-22 performance from three, including Emanuel Kruger shooting 0-8. Syracuse’s Rodrick Frye shot 5-5 from three to lead all scorers with 23 points.

Key Performances

• It was the Winston Works vs Abdoulaye Burrell show when Gonzaga beat Baylor. Works had 34 points and 12 rebounds in the win, while his PF counterpart scored 28 and grabbed 11 boards. Neither could guard each other, as both players lit up the scoreboard.
• PG Clifford Collins scored 27 points, had 9 assists ,and 2 steals to lead Villanova to a 196-75 win over NC State.
• Sophomore SG Regis Hobbs led Arizona with 31 points in their runaway victory over UNLV.
• Texas stuffed the stat sheet against Western Michigan. Kody Dieng scored 24, Roy Grady had a 10 point, 13 rebound double-double from the wing, and PF Yakhouba Penigar had 22 points, 12 rebounds, and 4 blocks.

NIT Update

• Ohio State will face Texas Tech in one quarterfinal, with the winner of that game playing the winner of Creighton and University of Illinois-Chicago.
• Ben Long’s college career ended with a thud. The Senior SF shot 1-12, scored two points, and saw LSU lose by 40 points to St. Joseph’s. St. Joseph’s Petie Booker (Senior PF) scored 34 and grabbed 8 rebounds in the win.
• St. Joseph’s will face Temple and will play the winner of Marquette and Alabama State.

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Upset Watch

• #6 Clemson 81 - #2 Indiana 60 – The Tigers scored 52 first half points en route to an easy victory over the Big 10 champs.
• #4 Florida 89 - #1 Tennessee 82 – Florida beat their conference rivals in overtime after the game was 76-76 after regulation. Freshman Britton Wainright scored 26 points for Florida.
• #4 Arizona 88 - #1 Memphis 79 – Another #1 seed bites the dust thanks to an all-around team performance from the Arizona Wildcats.
• #3 USC 100 - #2 North Carolina 87 – There will be no repeat champion this year, as the Tar Heels were knocked out despite 31 points from Willie Shelton.

Key Performances

• Nikola Pattrick continued to dominate, scoring 32 points, but lost to Gonzaga 78-74.
• The trio of Kody Dieng (24 points, 6 assists), Roy Grady (13 points, 10 rebounds), and Yakhouba Penigar (14 points, 11 boards) led Texas to an easy victory over Syracuse. They are the only #1 seed remaining.

NIT Update

• Texas Tech advanced to the semifinals as freshman shooting guard Markus Freedman willed his team to victory with 20 points. No other Red Raider scored more than 7. The 4-star recruit is already considered the best player and a leader for the team.
• They will face off against the Creighton Blue Jays, who saw Scooter Simms score an astounding 21 points off the bench in the victory over Illinois-Chicago.
• On the other side of the bracket Marquette (90-53 win over Alabama State) will play Temple, who overcame a 14 points halftime deficit to defeat St. Joseph’s 71-69.

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Upset Watch

• #6 Clemson 91 - #4 Gonzaga 63 – Winston Works cooled down and Maurice Kone stayed hot as Clemson coasted to victory and made the final four.
• #3 USC 98 - #1 Texas 76 – The final #1 seed fell as Seth Valsin (26 points) and Brandon Wilcox (21 points, 19 boards) led USC to an easy victory over the Longhorns.

Key Performances

• He may have lost to Michigan State by 1 point, but Sophomore Regis Hobbs had another great game for Arizona, scoring 28 points.

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• Three teams are on great runs:
  • The 56-15 Bucks have won 9 straight and are in control of the East.
  • The 76ers are 52-20 and have won 8 straight games and have 2^nd place in the East in hand.
  • The Warriors have also won 8 straight and are 42-29 and have the 4 seed in the West
• The Pelicans are 2-8 in their last 10 and in danger of falling to the 8 seed. They are just ahead of the Nuggets and Suns, who re-tooled as part of the 5-team mega trade. A big reason for their struggles is the loss of Steven Adams, who dislocated his right patella and is out for 1-2 months.
• The Memphis Grizzlies are 2^nd in the West, but will miss Jonas Valanciunas for the next few months with a knee injury. They hope he can be back in time for the playoffs.
• Trevor Merchant (PG, Pistons) is putting up crazy numbers for the Pistons, scoring 24.4 ppg, grabbing 9 rebounds, and getting 4 assists and 2 steals per game. He won the East’s rookie of the month for the 3^rd time.
• A Thunder player won the West’s rookie of the month for the 4^th time this year, but it wasn’t Dana Bright. Instead it was sharpshooter Vytas Kowalczuk.
• Giannis Antetokounmpo and Steph Curry won Player of the Month.

Projected Playoff Picture
5 teams in the East have clinched a playoff spot, but only 1 team in the West has managed that honor. If the playoffs started today, here would be the matchups.

#1 Milwaukee (56-15) vs #8 Indiana (33-38)
#2 Philadelphia (52-20) vs #7 Orlando (35-38)
#3 Brooklyn (46-25) vs #6 Toronto (40-31)
#4 Atlanta (43-29) vs #5 Boston (42-29)

#1 LA Clippers (52-20) vs #8 Denver (37-34)
#2 Memphis (46-26) vs #7 New Orleans (38-35)
#3 Dallas (45-25) vs #6 LA Lakers (38-34)
#4 Golden State (42-29) vs #5 Houston (41-32)

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Key Performances

• Clemson’s run ended as Villanova made their second straight title game, scoring an astounding 101 points. For Villanova, their shooters showed up, as Brandin Collucci scored 25 and Raoul Caporn dropped 28.
• The USC Trojans have finally made a national championship game. They did so by outlasting the Michigan State Spartans, 77-74 on the strength of Seth Valsin’s 17 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 steals.

NIT Update

• The Texas Tech Red Raiders are in the NIT championship, destroying Creighton 87-60 as they led wire to wire. The winners had four players score 14 or more points and another five with 5 or more rebounds.
• They will face off against the Temple Owls, who won 89-78 over Marquette. The game was over at halftime thanks to a 17 point lead, but the big story was senior SG Skip Hines. The marksman scored 41 points! He shot 15-21 from the field, 6-8 from three, and also added 7 rebounds. He’s currently projected to be a 2^nd round pick, and hopes this performance gets the notice of scouts.
• In the championship game, it was a slaughter. Texas Tech scored 49 first half points and 43 in the second to win 92-62. Skip Hines was held to a measly 4 shots and 6 points as it was the Markus Freedman show. Not only did he shut down Hines, but the freshman also scored 26 points and grabbed 8 rebounds. The NIT isn’t glamorous, but the Red Raiders may have a bright future if they can build a roster around Freedman.