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

[studbucket]

November 15, 2023 Stetson at Ole Miss [non-conference]

The Stetson Hatters started off the 2023 season at the O’Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic and it started off with a bang. They were in bracket C and beat #25 Georgia Tech in their first game 85-82. This marks the first time that Oggy has ever beaten a ranked team and saw Lennox Evertsen and Jerimie Scott both score 20 points as the Hatters overcame a 5 point halftime deficit by winning the second half 45-37. It was also impressive that the managed to win the game with Brendon Pocius going 0-8.

In the bracket C championship, Stetson then beat Tulsa by 30 points: 89-59. They outscored the Golden Hurricane by 21 points in the second half for the dominant win. Lennox Evertsen had 26 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and shot 5-5 from three. Brendon Pocius redeemed himself with 22 points on 9-14 shooting and the sophomore point guard pairing of Arnaud Dahi and Marko Nevill both showed up: Dahi had 9 assists and 8 points and Nevill had 7 rebounds, 5 assists, and 4 steals.

This put Stetson in the O’Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic finals, where they face USC and then either Miami (OH) or Indiana. This makes the third straight season Stetson has played USC, with the first being the infamous 45-40 NCAA tournament game. Those games will take place after today’s matchup against Ole Miss.

The Rebels are 2-1 on the season and are a solid team led by senior SG DeAngelo Haynes, who is averaging nearly 23 points through three games. Ole Miss has wins over ND State and Eastern Illinois and lost by just 1 point to #10 Louisville. Of their five starters, just two are not freshman: Haynes and 6’11” center Deven Lee. However, they have a collection of good shooters and will need to close out on their shooters and be efficient on offense to win this game on the road at Tad Smith Coliseum.

The first few minutes of the game were the Ray Rowe show. He started the game by grabbing an offensive rebound and getting a putback bucket AND-1. He then followed that up with 11 of Stetson’s first 13 points and an early lead for the Hatters.

Ole Miss started coming back and Oggy quickly called a timeout to settle his team. He made a slight tactical change and put in Marko “Spicy K” Nevill, who immediately ran a pick-and-roll with Rowe for a slam dunk. However, they couldn’t hold off the Rebels who took a 21-19 lead after freshman wing Horace Onyekwe drained his 3^rd three pointer. The Rebels were shooting very well and hitting threes, but Stetson had kept it close by drawing fouls and getting to the charity stripe.

After Ole Miss had pulled ahead 34-28, two straight Lennox Evertsen threes and an Ole Miss turnover led to a tie game. Stetson took that momentum into halftime with a 45-43 lead. It was a high-scoring and quality game so far. Ray Rowe had 21 points already with Haynes and Onyekwe combining for 27 points for the hosts. If Stetson can find a way to slow those two down, everyone else on Ole Miss has had a hard time scoring.

Stetson did not find a way to slow them down.

Ole Miss was nailing three pointer after three pointer to start the second half and was quickly ahead by 10, 67-57. Oggy had to do something. There wasn’t much time left and Stetson had to get back into the game. He decided to go with a lineup that focused on shooters and height: Marko Nevill, Arnaud Dahi, Lennox Evertsen, Jerimie Scott, and Ray Rowe. It worked. After being down by as much as 12, Stetson has cut the lead to 5 points: it was 79-74 with just 2:50 left.

The comeback was helped by Ole Miss going cold, and Stetson clawed all the way back. When Spicy K nailed two free throws with two minutes left, the game was just 1 point. That turned into a 2 point Stetson lead after Lennox Evertsen hit a three pointer with 59 seconds left. Oggy now decided to go with height and make it hard for Ole Miss to score: 6’6” Causey, 6’8” Mulic, 6’11” Scott, and 7’0” Rowe were all in the game. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. Gerlach hit his first three of the game and Ole Miss was up 1 with 5 seconds left.

Ray Rowe missed a shot at the buzzer and Stetson lost by 1. It was tough, but also a very encouraging sign for the Hatters.

DeAngelo Haynes had 32 points and shot 6-9 from three and Ole Miss’ PG Eli Dickerson had 16 assists. Horace Enyekwe added 19 points for the Rebels as well.

Ray Rowe had 35 points and was an offensive juggernaut all game long. Lennox Evertsen had 22 points and we saw both teams shoot nearly 60% from three.

Around the NCAA

• St. Francis has had 3 games so far this season:
  • A 67-49 win over Navy. Freshman Bobby Valdez led the team with 17 points off the bench.
  • A 90-70 victory over Murray State. Stephane Diakite is out for a week with a tweaked back. Bobby Valdez was the star once again, scoring 28 points off the bench and was 4-6 from three, 10-12 from the free throw line. Willis Holman had 17 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 blocks off of bench.
  • A loss to Idaho, 80-91. St. Francis allowed Eddie Archibald (PF, 77 ovr) to score 36 points, which sealed the deal. Chris Thompson had 16 and 9 for the Red Flash.
  
  
• #3 Michigan State has already played 6 games and is undefeated, having beaten #13 Villanova and #20 Kansas State. Smackey Krayl (PF, 87 ovr) averaged 21 points over the two games.
• #9 Duke was 4-0 with wins over Purdue and Oklahoma before they lost to Tennessee State 61-67.
• Hartford’s J.B. McCroskey (SF, 86 ovr) is leading the NCAA in scoring wit 28.3 points per game. DeAngelo Haynes (SG, 84 ovr) of Ole Miss is right behind him at 27.4 ppg.

Around the NBA

• With the season kicking off several players were signed to the veteran minimum:
  • Philadelphia signs John Wall (PG, 81 ovr)
  • Boston signs Kevin Knox (SF, 79 ovr)
  • Oklahoma City signs Malik Monk (SG, 79 ovr)
  • LA Lakers sign Nassir Little (PF, 78 ovr)
  
  
• Kawhi Leonard (SF, 94 ovr) and Toronto are off to a much better start than last year as they are 8-5 and third in the East. Howeverm they started 7-0 and are only 1-5 in their last 6. Kawhi is averaging nearly 33 points per game and scored 59 in a win over Atlanta and 51 against Miami.
• Charlotte’s opening night loss to Toronto isn’t looking so bad now. The Hornets are 10-2, have the best record in the league, and are seeing Jerry Sparks (PF, 88 ovr), De’Aaron Fox (PG, 88 ovr), Zach Lavine (SG, 83 ovr), and Lonzo Ball (PG/SF, 86 ovr) are effectively sharing the load, combining for about 80 points per game between the 4 of them. Their defense isn’t great, but it’s been good enough and their offense has been great.
• Over time, the Nuggets will probably be fine. In fact, they already are (at 7-2). However, they looked anything but fine as they scored 4. FOUR. Points in the first quarter against the Bucks. Jonathan Isaac had zero points in 29 minutes.
• At 8-3, the Oklahoma City Thunder are on top of the West and their offseason moves are looking brilliant. They have wins over Houston, Milwaukee, and Boston so far this season as Lauri Markkanen (PF, 85 ovr) and Vytas Kowalczuk (SG, 81 ovr) have stepped up and are leading the well-rounded and very deep Thunder.
• Second overall pick Horace Wolfe (PF, 80 ovr) of the Suns has had a rocky start. He’s averaging 6.6 points and 5.8 rebounds per game but has scored 4 or less points in half of the games this year.
• Memphis (4-7), Atlanta (3-8), and New Orleans (2-8) have not been good this season and have no excuses or injuries. They need to get things back on track or we will begin to see major changes or heads roll.
• The expansion Honu (6-6) and SuperSonics (5-6) are very happy with their starts this year as they are both competing for playoff spots, or at least pretending to. For the Honu, Markelle Fultz (PG, 83 ovr) and Tyler Herro (SG, 81 ovr) are both scoring around 25 points per game for Hawaii and seem to be thriving in their roles as the focal point of the Honu offense. The Sonics are being led by the league’s most outstanding rookie, Bobby Drake (SF, 77 ovr). The seven footer is averaging 23 points per game and was sorely missed during a 5-game stretch of being out for a minor injury.
• Spurs PF and 6^th pick of the 2021 NBA Draft Andre Rice (PF, 77 ovr) will miss over half the season with a broken leg.
• The Raptors have lost Devonte Graham (PG, 81 ovr) for 2 months due to a fractured right leg.
• Marvin Bagley (C, 85 ovr) won’t be helping the Pistons until late December as he severely sprained his ankle.
• Rashad Konare (SF, 79 ovr) is also out for several weeks with a sprained ankle.
• Miami’s Jusuf Nurkic (C, 82 ovr) has hurt his knee and will be out for 4-6 months.

[trekfan]

Re: November 15, 2023 Stetson at Ole Miss [non-conference]

Tough, close loss for Oggy and the Hatters, but damn that looked like a fun game -- can't be too mad about that L, especially as it's so early in the season; I anticipate the team will learn a lot from that game and maybe Oggy will be more willing to stick with shooter-heavy lineups in the future.



Surprised to see Villlanova struggling some at #13 -- not a promising start to the season but they got time to right the ship.


Speaking of promising starts, look out Charlotte! The Hornets are 10-2 thanks to a lineup of ballers; defense is questionable, but they've got to be the most entertaining team in the league night in and night out. The expansion squads are hanging around and Drake seems to be the real deal for the reborn Sonics.

[studbucket]

Re: November 15, 2023 Stetson at Ole Miss [non-conference]

Tough, close loss for Oggy and the Hatters, but damn that looked like a fun game -- can't be too mad about that L, especially as it's so early in the season; I anticipate the team will learn a lot from that game and maybe Oggy will be more willing to stick with shooter-heavy lineups in the future.

It was a fun game. I felt encouraged after it, despite the loss. My biggest surprise was the crunch-time lineup that didn't include senior and team leader Brendon Pocius. Having the quickness and defense of Nevill at point and getting two shooters on the wings. Pocius is strong enough to play the 4, and perhaps putting him in for Jerimie Scott may be the right option depending on the opponent.

Surprised to see Villlanova struggling some at #13 -- not a promising start to the season but they got time to right the ship.

Yeah, there are a few teams with surprising losses early on, but I expect they may right the ship in conference play. Of course, everyone just beats each other up in the Big East.

Speaking of promising starts, look out Charlotte! The Hornets are 10-2 thanks to a lineup of ballers; defense is questionable, but they've got to be the most entertaining team in the league night in and night out. The expansion squads are hanging around and Drake seems to be the real deal for the reborn Sonics.

I am shocked by Charlotte's start. If they can get a top 3 seed in the East, that will both be great for them and a sign that Philly, Brooklyn, Boston, or Toronto failed to meet expectations.

When Drake is healthy, he's been a revelation. He's only played about half the games so far though, and they need to find ways to keep him on the court.

[marshdaddy]

Re: Introduction

Great start from Stetson, and surprised to see them at 80 overall, is that high for mid-majors? I know St Francis is trying to become Gonzaga East, but any chance Stetson becomes Gonzaga Southeast?

[studbucket]

Re: Introduction

Great start from Stetson, and surprised to see them at 80 overall, is that high for mid-majors? I know St Francis is trying to become Gonzaga East, but any chance Stetson becomes Gonzaga Southeast?

The 80 overall is artificially inflated because things like confidence and stuff create variable ratings and the "game time" overalls are always higher than the normal overalls. Stetson is a 77 overall team without those "boosts". But to answer your question - yes, 80 overall is moderately high for a mid-major.

With Oggy likely moving on, unless the next coach is remarkable, it's unlikely Stetson turns into that. However, the Hatters did make the NCAA tourney the year before Oggy and both years he's been here. So if he sets them up with enough talent, they could have a nice half-decade or longer run in the Atlantic Sun.

[studbucket]

College Hoops Tonight November 20, 2023

Here’s a partial College Hoops Tonight for November 20. It features the Iowa Hawkeyes beating UCLA and Smackey Krayl leading MSU to a win over KSU. It froze during the J.B. McCroskey highlights (which it does sometimes when generating highlight reels).

[studbucket]

November 23, 2023 St. Francis vs Butler [Non-Conference]

St. Francis has had a solid start to the 2023-24 season. After going 2-1 in their first three games, they then beat St. Bonaventure 62-52. Willis Holman led the way with 10 point and 9 rebounds off the bench, but it was a well-rounded team effort.

Today they welcome the Butler Bulldogs to Loretto, PA with a chance to be 4-1 before they head to Des Moines, IA for the Drake Iowa Realty Tournament. They face Xavier and then either Evansville or Southern in that tournament. Depending on how this stretch of games goes they could be anywhere from 4-4 to 7-1 before they face off in the Drago Derby. Dinko is aiming for a 6-2 record and knows his team has the talent to do it.

The Bulldogs are an even matchup with St. Francis but have a much different style. They play at a much slower pace, scoring 13 less points per game and only shoot about 38% from the field. Their best – and only – shooter is SG Russ English. They also have no players over 6’9”. That’s the type of team Dinko has been able to figure out in the past as he locks down the shooter and picks on them in the post.

It was a nightmare start for St. Francis. After just 75 seconds the Red Flash were down 8-0 after Butler has hit 2 threes and gotten a layup off of a turnover. Dinko called timeout, but the deluge continued and St. Francis found themselves down 14-2 as the Bulldogs cannot miss: they are 4-4 from three.

Chris Thompson had missed three bunnies and got subbed off as Dinko needed someone who could finish at the rim if there was any chance for the home team to get back in this game.

St. Francis did start to play better, the score was 24-13 partway through the first half, but Butler could not miss a three pointer. Dinko just threw his hands up. This time wasn’t supposed to be able to shoot! SF Brennon Dahi had 18 points and was 4-4 from deep (author’s note, Dahi is only rated 62 from three). However, St. Francis was crawling back. They started doubling English everywhere he went and forced him into bad passes and got the ball to Akindele in the post. The score was now 31-24.

It got closer at half, with Butler only holding onto a 5 point lead: 39-34. As frustrated as Dinko was, he knows it could have been so much worse after that start from Butler. The Bulldogs are shooting 70% from the field, 80% from three. It’s unsustainable. Dahi has 19 and English has 12 for the visitors. St. Francis is led by Vern Quick with 10, Chris Thompson with 9, and Floyd Akindele with 8 points.

Butler came out hot again in the second half and pulled ahead by 8, but St. Francis buttoned down and pulled the game back to within two, 51-49. Now that they were close, Dinko had to figure out how to get control of the game and finish this out.

As the Red Flash pulled close, the bench got excited and into the game.

Dinko tried to go all-in on size and put in both 7’3” Geary Doss and Floyd Akindele and Tanoris Houston at point guard to get rebounds and run the pick-and-roll. Stephane Diakite was hurt and out for the game with a rolled ankle, so Dinko had to try out different lineups.

With three minutes, it was just a 4 point Butler lead, but things all fell apart for St. Francis. 2 SFPA turnovers and 2 threes from Butler made it a 10 point lead with 2 minutes left. The Red Flash couldn’t close the gap and ended up losing by 13. This was a very disappointing loss for St. Francis, who could have easily won the game but were outscored by 11 down the stretch.

Two stats told the story: 61% vs 43% field goal percentage and 61% vs 30% from three point range. St. Francis was below average and the Bulldogs were red hot. The Red Flash did shoot 91% (vs 33% for Butler) from the free throw line, but that clearly wasn’t enough.

English had 27 points, Dahi had 25 for the Bulldogs. That was a career high for both players as they combined for 11 three pointers.

Around the NCAA

• Stetson has played three games since we saw them last and did quite well.
  • First, they beat USC 58-57. Jerimie Scott had 17 points, Brendon Pocius and Lennox Evertsen each had 13.
  • In the tournament championship game, they lost to Indiana 68-62. PG Tamal Cobb scored 27 points for the Hoosiers. Lennox Evertsen had 15 points while Brandon Pocius added 12 points and 11 rebounds.
  • The Hatters rebounded by beating Chicago State 69-54. Jerimie Scott had 17 points and Ray Rowe had 11 rebounds.
  
  
• Several teams are still undefeated, including #2 Kansas who beat #8 Oregon 81-57. Kansas saw 4 players score between 12-18 points: V.J. Andres (SF, 90 ovr) had 14 and 12 rebounds, Kordel Cleaves (PF, 89 ovr) had 18 points and 7 rebounds, with Walter Borges (SG, 82 ovr) adding 13, and Jarrod Broermann (SF, 84 ovr) scoring 12.
• Michigan State is ranked #3 and is 8-0 with wins over #16 Villanova, #21 Kansas State, Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest. Next up: #7 Duke.
• #14 Boston College handed #11 Iowa their only loss of the season with a 60-59 overtime win. Leighton Byerson (SG, 91 ovr) led the team with 14 points in a very low scoring affair.
• Florida State has dropped to #20 after losses to Siena and Pitt. There are very high expectations for this team with stars like Joey Robbins (SF, 89 ovr) and Cliff Mascoll (PG, 84 ovr).

[trekfan]

Re: November 23, 2023 St. Francis vs Butler [Non-Conference]

Tough loss for Dinko and his squad, but it was a close game till the end. If his squad was a bit healthier, I think SFU would have pulled that one out -- still, a solid start to the season for the team.

[studbucket]

Re: November 23, 2023 St. Francis vs Butler [Non-Conference]

Tough loss for Dinko and his squad, but it was a close game till the end. If his squad was a bit healthier, I think SFU would have pulled that one out -- still, a solid start to the season for the team.

Yeah, a couple nagging injuries lowered some guys ratings and it was just bad luck. I've never seen a 62 three-point shooter start a game 4-4. I know I made the sliders harder, but that was a bit crazy.

They'll be OK, but this was frustrating.

Drago Derby will be showing up in a few days, just finished up the preview article.

[marshdaddy]

Re: Introduction

I’m kinda rooting for Oggy to try to stick it out in Stetson now. Playing really good basketball and he’s in Florida, which during the winter is a massive plus. Wonder if he could’ve scheduled a game against Miami, UF or FSU to prove to in-state recruits that the Hatters were viable. Not to say Florida is a hot bed, but with all the academies down here there is still plenty of transplant talent.

[studbucket]

Re: Introduction

I’m kinda rooting for Oggy to try to stick it out in Stetson now. Playing really good basketball and he’s in Florida, which during the winter is a massive plus. Wonder if he could’ve scheduled a game against Miami, UF or FSU to prove to in-state recruits that the Hatters were viable. Not to say Florida is a hot bed, but with all the academies down here there is still plenty of transplant talent.

Yeah, I really like the team he's built in Stetson and if he can sign some of these recruits, the Hatters will be even better next year. Strictly from a talent point of view, the Hatters may be better than some of the offers he gets. We'll have to see how big the step up is.

Scheduling against in-state rivals is a good idea, but Oggy got cold feet after losing by 40 to South Florida last year. Maybe he should be braver and tour the entire state. FSU, UF, UCF, USF, FAU, and then of course he gets FGCU, JU, and UNF in conference.

He's fighting with all those schools for recruits every year.

[RolePlayer]

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

Despite the loss it was a good sign to see Stetson only lose by one to Ole Miss. That win against Georgia Tech is another sign, this has the potential to be a very special season for the Hatters.

For Dinko, hard to get a win when you have two starters scoring zero. Nobody on the bench was really able to step up and replace that lost scoring either.

[studbucket]

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

Despite the loss it was a good sign to see Stetson only lose by one to Ole Miss. That win against Georgia Tech is another sign, this has the potential to be a very special season for the Hatters.

For Dinko, hard to get a win when you have two starters scoring zero. Nobody on the bench was really able to step up and replace that lost scoring either.

Yeah, early signs from Stetson have been very encouraging. I think they are very well set up for conference play. I hope Oggy can be the first brother to win a regular season conference title. No brother has finished higher than third so far.

Dinko has a problem where he only has 2 pure scorers: Quick and Valdez. Outside of that, he has a lot of talent, but you may have some days where none of them show up.

[studbucket]

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

I realize it's been a bit since I've posted. I coached a 3 day basketball camp for 3rd-8th grade girls, went back to work and caught up, am planning for a small vacation, and getting ready to coach soccer. On top of that, I've started playing on a Vanilla WoW private server with my kids, which takes some gaming time.

I actually almost have a few posts ready, but I need to play a game and do some simming before I can get them posted (due to the order of how I wrote them/storytell) so I need to get time to do that. In the meantime, enjoy the other great stories on here.

[RMJH4]

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

I realize it's been a bit since I've posted. I coached a 3 day basketball camp for 3rd-8th grade girls, went back to work and caught up, am planning for a small vacation, and getting ready to coach soccer. On top of that, I've started playing on a Vanilla WoW private server with my kids, which takes some gaming time.

I actually almost have a few posts ready, but I need to play a game and do some simming before I can get them posted (due to the order of how I wrote them/storytell) so I need to get time to do that. In the meantime, enjoy the other great stories on here.

Got to get the real life reps in! Same as that myself, 2 camps coached at with my 9 year old playing the last 2 weeks. Then played some 2k11 on xbox360 with him!! Enjoy man!!