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

[studbucket]

Re: Top NBA Draft Prospects - 2020 NBA Draft

Whoa, this Jarek Kickert kid is INSANELY good. 27 a night, 8 boards, and 6'9"? Sign me up, please. The PF class looks really good, I like the Roberson kid as well out of Rider -- those numbers are really great, I will not complain about either.

Yeah, right now the thinking is that the Kings may try to get him at 3 to pair with Bagley, but we'll see how March Madness and the draft process changes things. There is some concern that he's "college good" but could struggle in the pros (think Adam Morrison).

Roberson is super athletic, but a bit raw. But worst case he should be able to be a Clint Capela-type player.

There are a ton of pretty good point guards in this draft, while the other positions are more shallow. It's getting hard to tell who will be good and who is a pretender.

We'll have another update after March Madness that's more focused on the NBA scouting reports as opposed to the college stats.

[studbucket]

February 20, 2020 Northern Colorado vs Portland State [Big Sky]

With 1.5 weeks and 4 games left in conference play, Northern Colorado find themselves at 7-5 in the conference and in 4^th place. They are welcoming the Portland State Vikings, who are just a game ahead of them in the standings, and a win tonight would pull UNC even with them for a 3^rd place tie.

However, Portland State is the most talented team in the conference, even if it hasn’t shown up in their record so far. Sharpshooter Sam Platt and 6’11” Maarty Pinkalla are both averaging nearly 15 points/game for the Vikings and will be Oggy’s biggest concern. Luckily for Oggy, the team has no other dangerous shooters or giants, but can his team lock those two down?

The game started out close as both teams traded buckets, but it soon became clear that Northern Colorado couldn’t score at the rate that Portland State can. Down 17-9, Oggy called a timeout to get his team to focus. Maarty Pinkalla had already blocked several shots and the Bears weren’t closing down any passing lanes and the Vikings were getting the ball where they wanted it.

There was a glimmer of hope as Delvon Jahnke hit a few threes, bringing the game to within 6, but it was a false hope. The Bears just couldn’t stop Pinkalla, and before Oggy knew what happened, his team was down 13. Even once Pinkalla was subbed out, it didn’t get any better as his wings left Sam Platt wide open. At half, the Vikings had already scored 49 points and there wasn’t much chance for UNC to come back.

In the 2^nd half, they fell behind by as much as 20, before bringing it to a 12-point deficit. At the end of the night, it was an 80-66 loss.

Donovin Mascoll had a lot of points, but they were “empty calories.” He feasted when Pinkalla was out of the game and when it was already out of hand. More concerning were a few other stats: his team shot 27% from three, they had no blocks, only 6 bench points, and were out-assisted 11 to 27. Just awful team play from the Bears.

For the Vikings, Marcel Abbott really controlled the game and was a great passer. Maarty Pinkalla didn’t even have any points in the 2^nd half, but it didn’t matter as the backcourt duo of Abbot and Platt were too much for the Bears.

Around the NBA

• The Clippers have lost Marcus Morris for the season with a torn Achilles.
• The Grizzlies have only won 2 of their last 10 games, including allowing 160(!!!!) points to the Lakers recently. This has caused them to fall out of the playoffs and into 10^th place.
• Since the trade for Blake Griffin, the Heat are 2-4 and have fallen down the playoff picture instead of moving up. However, you can’t put all the blame on the Griffin trade, they lost Jimmy Butler for 2 weeks shortly after the trade and that’s a big reason for their current 3-game losing streak. They are currently the 7^th seed and aren’t in danger of falling out yet (still 3.5 games ahead of the Nets), but they are now 6 games behind the surging Cavaliers.
• Cleveland has made no moves since the trading deadline, and are 4-0 with signature wins over the Clippers and Heat. The Cavaliers are now in 4^th place and just a half game behind the 76ers for 3^rd place in the East. A big reason behind this is a league-best 24-5 home record.
• Boston is 3-7 in their last 10 games, mainly due to Jayson Tatum’s strained groin.
• Minnesota is one of the hottest teams in the West and are now in 5^th place in the West after going 8-2 in their last 10 games.

[studbucket]

February 23, 2020 St. Francis vs Mount St. Mary’s [NEC]

Coach Kostadin Dragomirov had publicly set a goal for the Red Flash of having a winning conference record this season after the team dropped to 5-7 a few weeks ago. They had 6 games left at that point and needed to go 5-1 to meet that mark, or 4-2 to at least go .500.

After making that statement, the Red Flash won their next 2 games over “fake Francis” and Sacred Heart by a combined 52 points…but along the way lost big man Zygis Keita for 2 weeks due to a shoulder separation. They lost their first game without Keita by 9 points to Wagner and were sitting at 7-8 in the conference as they welcomed Mount St. Mary’s to town.

The Moutaineers were 8-8 in the conference (10-17 overall), just ahead of the Red Flash. They were a very young team, starting 2 sophomores and 2 freshman. One of those sophomores was standout point guard Bracey Alvarado, who was leading the team in points and assists. Even though Keita was out, Dinko was not as worried this game, as the tallest players the Mountaineers regularly played were only 6’7”; his team would likely still have a size advantage.

It was a great start for the modest Red Flash crowd, as St. Francis got up 19-7 and Mount St. Mary’s couldn’t make a shot. The Mountaineers called a timeout to regroup, and immediately gave the ball away to Muhamed Payne, who took it down to the other end for a monster slam.

By the time Bracey Alvarado had subbed out, his team was down 31-12 and there was very little hope left for the Moutaineers. In fact, it got so out of hand that Dinko put in his deep bench at the end of the first half, as the frame finished 44-19. Tobias Roberson was 3-3 from deep, as his quick release proved to be too much for Mount St. Mary’s to cover.

The 2^nd half was just playing out the string, as it finished 72-48 and involved many bench players.

Around the NCAA

[studbucket]

March 1, 2020 Northern Colorado at Montana State [Big Sky]

It’s Northern Colorado’s final game of the regular season and the Bears have won two straight games (over EWU by 12 and Montana by 21) and head to Bozeman to take on Montana State University. Oggy’s boys are sitting at 9-6 in conference and are guaranteed at least 5^th place. With a victory, they could finish as high as 3^rd in the Big Sky.

After starting off down 15-10 because UNC once again couldn’t close down the passing lines (just like against Portland State), Delvon Jahnke went off and hit three straight threes, to put the Bears up 21-17, causing the Bobcats to take a timeout. The timeout really cooled off the Bears, as they could barely make a shot as Montana State went up 27-23 and finished the half up 34-30.

Montana State was shooting 60% from the field, almost all from the paint, which was indicative of the poor defense that UNC was playing.

In the second half, that 4 point deficit quickly turned into 9 as the Bears threw up brick after brick. Oggy called a timeout and clearly instructed the team to play through Mascoll, and the Bears immediately scored 8 straight points and were playing disciplined basketball. Just a few minutes later they managed to take the lead 42-41 off of a Donovin Mascoll breakaway layup.

However, that would be the last time that the Bears were up, as the Bobcats slowly pulled away and were up b as much as 11 before the game finished in a 72-64 loss for Northern Colorado.

Mascoll and Jahnke combined for 52 points, but got very little help from the rest of the roster. This has to be a concern for Coach Dragomirov, as he only has at least 1, maybe more, game left with those two seniors.

[dfsJunkie]

Re: March 1, 2020 Northern Colorado at Montana State [Big Sky]

Hard to beat a team shooting over 60% from the field. Those are always frustrating games.

[kibaxx7]

Re: March 1, 2020 Northern Colorado at Montana State [Big Sky]

Oh tough loss to Montana. They shot really well but the refs wouldn't help you either.

[studbucket]

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

Hard to beat a team shooting over 60% from the field. Those are always frustrating games.

Oh tough loss to Montana. They shot really well but the refs wouldn't help you either.

Yeah - can't blame the refs too much. The Bears let them get the ball into the paint over and over again and weren't playing great defense. It's sort of become their achilles heel: they can't stop good distributors.

[studbucket]

March 1, 2020 St. Francis at Fairleigh Dickinson [NEC]

As Oggy was in the midst of his team falling apart in the 2^nd half, Kostadin and team were tipping off in Teaneck, New Jersey against Fairleigh Dickinson. This was an important game for both teams as they found themselves at 8-9 and jockeying for a higher seed in the Northeast Conference tournament.

After Dinko’s challenge to finish the regular season with a winning conference record, the Red Flash responded well initially, but faltered as Zygis Keita missed two weeks due to injury. After losing to Monmouth by 21 points, they were sitting at 8-9 in the conference and 13-13 overall. A victory would get them to .500 in conference play and a winning regular season record.

This game is important for more than just these two teams, as the NEC standings consist of a top group (Sacred Heart, Central Connecticut, and Wagner) followed by a big logjam in the middle. Here are the current standings for those middle 5 teams:

• Mount St. Mary’s (9-9)
• St. Francis (8-9)
• Fairleigh Dickinson (8-9)
• Robert Morris (8-9)
• Monmouth (8-10)

The previous game against Fairleigh Dickinson was a close 64-60 loss at home, and they’ll need to play disciplined and take full advantage of Keita to get this win on the road.

Dinko could tell Keita was locked in right away, as he won the opening tip, ran down the court, caught a pass in the lane and got the bucket and the foul. Dinko pointed at him as Keita pumped his fist. That good start continued for several minutes as the Red Flash were up 13-8. However, they started playing inconsistently after that and a dry spell found them down 19-16, and then 28-21. The Knights’ 1-3-1 defense did a great job of stripping the ball from players in the post and they turned that into fast break buckets.

St. Francis clawed back and it was 28-26 at halftime. Looking at the scoresheet, Dinko realized he should have been shooting more threes, as the team was getting good looks and was 5-7 from beyond the arc so far.

When the second half started, it looked like both coaches had given their teams the same message: shoot from deep! It was a three point party as the game quickly ratcheted up to 40-37, Fairleigh Dickinson in the lead. A few minutes later, the Red Flash clawed their way back to a 49-49 game, but it was clear Dinko’s team was getting tired. After a timeout, the Knights nailed 2 straight from deep, making it a 55-49 game. St. Francis had chances to catch up for the next few minutes, but was on a cold streak and missing shots.

Just when he thought his team may be resigned to a losing record this year, Casey Tyler and Noah Almond stepped up to hit clutch threes and tie the game at 59. With only two minutes left, it was a real game in New Jersey.

The game got cagey, and with one minute left, the only points had been a Keita layup, giving St. Francis a 2 point lead. On the next trip down, Tobias Roberson’s smooth stroke returned and he hit a dagger, giving Dinko’s boys a 5 point lead with only 45 seconds left. From there, Fairleigh Dickinson had to start fouling the Red Flash, but it took a while as theu weren’t in the bonus. St. Francis couldn’t make their free throws, and found themselves up 3 with only 10 seconds left.

However, they’d escape with the victory and a .500 conference record after the Knights’ last second three clanged off the rim.

It may be missed with all the points and clutch shots made by his teammates, but Muhamed Payne’s well-rounded game was key for the Red Flash: 7 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, and 2 steals for the sophomore.

The victory secures a 4 seed for the Red Flash, who go into the tournament relatively healthy and expecting to win at least 1 game, though hoping to be able to win a second if they get the chance to play Sacred Heart.

Around the NCAA

[trekfan]

Re: March 1, 2020 St. Francis at Fairleigh Dickinson [NEC]

Huge win for Dinko! His team finished the season with a winning record and .500 in conference play, just a great way to end the season (though definitely nerve-wracking, whew).



I'm eager to see how they do in the conference tournament -- they're coming in with some momentum and big mo tips the scales in college in a noticeable way.

[RMJH4]

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

Wow those NEC Standings! Can't wait for the conference tourney now too!!

[studbucket]

2019-2020 Regular Season Recap and Tourney Preview

The 2019-20 regular season has wrapped up for the NEC and Big Sky conferences, and their post-season tournaments are about to begin. While the big conference still have another week of the regular season left, this is a chance for the small schools to be in the spotlight and get some airtime on ESPN or maybe even broadcast TV on a Saturday morning.

The preview and pre-conference play recap can be read at those links, but both of the Dragomirov brothers outperformed expectations and should be proud of their record and standings in the first season.


Big Sky
Out West, Oggy and the Bears ended up in 4^th place in the Big Sky conference as part of the middle pack of 3 teams. They clearly had issues with the best teams in the conference, but held their own the rest of the time, and Donovin Mascoll took a big step forward his senior year and should be proud of his conference-leading scoring output. There were no real surprises in this conference outside of UNC, as the top three teams were exactly who were projected to be at the top when the season began.

Big Sky
School	Conf Wins	Conf Losses	Conf %	Wins	Losses	%
Northern Arizona	12	4	.750	15	12	.555
Portland State	11	5	.687	18	9	.667
Montana	11	5	.687	17	9	.653
Northern Colorado	9	7	.562	15	15	.500
Weber State	8	8	.500	12	15	.444
Idaho State	8	8	.500	8	19	.296
Montana State	6	10	.375	10	17	.370
Eastern Washington	6	10	.375	8	21	.275
Sacramento State	1	15	.062	2	24	.076

In the Big Sky tournament, only 6 of the 9 teams make the post-season, and Northern Colorado will face off against Weber State round 1, while the winner will get to face off against Northern Arizona, while Portland State gets the other bye. Montana was unfortunate to barely miss out on a bye, but should dominate Idaho State in round 1, before their showdown against Portland State in round 2. For Oggy, his team should be able to make it out of round 1 before a tough round 2 matchup against the Lumberjacks.

Northeast Conference
Quinnipiac came into the season with the best out-of-conference record at 5-2, but managed to go from first-to-worst with a 6-12 conference record. Robert Morris also has to be quite disappointed, as they were projected to win the conference this year and finished at .500. On the other side, Central Connecticut has to be very happy with their 2^nd place finish, because even though they have the conference’s best player, Armond See, they don’t have the best supporting cast.

Dinko should be very happy with the 4^th place, .500 record, given his team’s history and talent and it will be exciting to see what the Red Flash can do next year as they bring back their entire starting lineup.

Northeast Conference
School	Conf Wins	Conf Losses	Conf %	Wins	Losses	%
Sacred Heart	13	5	.722	19	10	.655
Central Connecticut	12	6	.667	19	10	.655
Wagner	11	7	.611	15	14	.518
St. Francis (PA)	9	9	.500	14	13	.518
Robert Morris	9	9	.500	14	18	.437
Mount St. Mary’s	9	9	.500	11	18	.379
Fairleigh Dickinson	8	10	.444	9	18	.333
Monmouth	8	10	.444	10	20	.333
Long Island	7	11	.388	13	16	.448
St. Francis (NY)	7	11	.388	9	20	.310
Quinnipiac	6	12	.333	10	19	.344

In the NEC tournament, 8 of the 11 teams make the field and St. Francis faces off against familiar foe Robert Morris in the first round, with the privilege of facing Sacred Heart if they win.

Conference Statistic Leaders
As the regular season has wrapped up, let’s take a look at who is leading the way in the NEC and Big Sky conferences from a statistical point of view.

In the NEC, Sacred Heart just dominated all team statistics, showing it’s no surprise or accident that they won the NEC regular season championship. However, Dinko’s defensive discipline showed up in the team stats, as no team allowed fewer points per game than the Red Flash. In the Big Sky, Sacramento State led the way in rebounds per game, but it was likely because they missed so many of their own shots.

Category	Northeast	Big Sky
Best offense (PPG)	Sacred Heart (75.6)	Northern Arizona (77.3)
Best defense (PPG)	Saint Francis (PA) (64.4)	Montana (67.4)
Best differential	Wagner (3.5)	Montana (3.6)
Rebounds per game	Sacred Heart (32.8)	Sacramento State (34.3)
Assists per game	Sacred Heart (12.8)	Northern Arizona (14.04)

Amongst players, it’s no surprise to see Armond See leading the way with 20 points/game in the NEC. What is a surprise is Donovin Mascoll leading all scorers in the Big Sky. Some of it was a bit of running up the score in garbage time, but a big part of it is why you see him and Keita leading their conferences in field goal percentage: both Dragomirov brothers believe in post scoring.

Category	Northeast	Big Sky
Scoring	Armond See, PG, CCSU (20.3)	Donovin Mascoll, C, UNC (17.4)
Rebounds	Toree Arnold, PF, FDU (10.3)	Ko Bailey, PF, NAU (10.9)
Assists	Jose Blizzard, PG, WAG (6.9)	Karl Lloyd, PG, NAU (6.3)
Steals	Rod Cruz, PG, FDU (2.6)	Altron Snipes, PG, SacSt (2.7)
Blocks	Toree Arnold, PF, FDU (1.7)	Maarty Pinkalla, C, PSU (2.0)
FG%	Zygis Keita, PF, SFU (58.5%)	Donovin Mascoll, C, UNC (56.4%)
3P%	Kelvin Hale, PG, WAG (50%)	Will Darag, SG, IDST (49.1%)

[kibaxx7]

Re: 2019-2020 Regular Season Recap and Tourney Preview

Best of luck in the conference tournaments. Can't wait until I reach that part.

[RolePlayer]

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

Betting one of the Brothers is able to cook up a tourney run to make it to the dance in their first season.

[studbucket]

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

Best of luck in the conference tournaments. Can't wait until I reach that part.

Betting one of the Brothers is able to cook up a tourney run to make it to the dance in their first season.

Yeah, it's do or die time for the brothers. Dinko has 1 more year left with all his guys, but this is the last run for Donovin Mascoll, Brandon Stiles, and Delvon Jahnke, so I really hope Oggy can get a few more wins out of that group.

[studbucket]

Power Conference Updates

As we head into the last week of play and have conference tournaments kicking off, let’s take a look at where the major conferences stand and who is likely to make it into the NCAA tournament.

Conference Standings
ACC: Unranked FSU (18-12) leads at 11-4. Followed by #9 Clemson (21-5) at 10-4 and #10 Duke (20-8) at 10-5. #4 North Carolina (21-9) is struggling in conference at 8-7 and in 6^th place.

Big East: The Big East has 4 teams in the top 10, all vying for the top of the conference. #5 UConn (24-5) is 13-3, #8 Georgetown (21-7) is 13-4, and both #3 Marquette (24-5) and #2 Louisville (25-5) are 12-5 in the conference. Poor South Florida is 0-17 is conference play.

Big 10: #11 Indiana (22-7) and #22 Wisconsin (20-9) in 1^st place tie at 12-5. #19 Michigan State (21-8) is sitting at 11-6.

Big 12: #7 Kansas (21-7) is the only ranked team and on top of conference at 11-4. Baylor (20-8) is right behind them at 10-5.

Pac 10: It’s a two team race at the top, with #12 Washington State (24-5) at 13-4, just a half game ahead of #6 Oregon (23-5) who is 12-4.

SEC: #24 Kentucky (18-10) has clawed their way back into the top 25 and is atop the SEC at 11-4. Right behind them are #17 LSU (21-8) and Georgia (17-9) at 10-5. Pre-season favorite #20 Tennessee (20-9) is struggling at 9-6.


Top 25
Here’s the top 25 the week before the big conference tournaments kick off. Memphis is on a great streak and has vaulted up to #1 in the country, with UConn, Duke, and Indiana also significantly moving up the ranks in the last month. Louisville has the worst record in the last month of any team at 5-5, as they have only gone .500 since their undefeated start.

Projected Bracket and Bubble Watch
With a little less than 2 weeks to go, UConn, Memphis, Washington State, and Oregon are our 4 projected #1 seeds, which seems very generous to WSU, while North Carolina would be quite upset about their 3 seed given they are ranked #4 in the country right now.

On the Bubble are the falling Florida State Seminoles, as well as mid-major darling Davidson, whose early wins should be enough to propel them into the tourney (they are currently projected to be a 12 seed).