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

[studbucket]

2025 NBA All-Star Weekend: Dunk Contest

This year’s dunk contest participants are:

• D.J. Monroe, SG, TOR, 77 ovr, 1^st year, undrafted out of Duke in 2022 draft.
• Jameer Trammell, SG, ORL, 84 ovr, 2^nd year, 1^st overall pick out of Kansas State in 2023 draft.
• Darrall Gosley, PF, DET, 78 ovr, 4^th year, 4^th overall pick out of Indiana in 2021 draft.
• Josh Mascoll, SG, MIL, 76 ovr, 1^st year, undrafted out of Loyola (MD) in 2020 draft.

Jameer Trammell and Darrall Gosley return after finishing as runners up last year to Jace Tarpley. Unfortunately for them, they are runners up again. In a close competition that saw the winner finish only 4 points ahead of the last place finisher, we se Toronto’s D.J. Monroe win the competition. Gosley has to feel hard done by, while Mascoll got some very generous scores for underwhelming dunks.


Here is the best dunk from each runner up:

And here’s all the dunks from Monroe:

[studbucket]

Feb 23, 2025 Long Island at St. Francis [NEC]

Since we last checked in with Dinko he’s had a number of games. He easily won the first 4 over Monmouth, Sacred heart, Fairleigh Dickinson, and Fake Francis. However, the Red Flash had a crucial stumble just a few days ago as they lost 62-63 to Robert Morris.

That loss puts them at 13-2 in the conference, a full 2 games behind the 15-0 Long Island Blackbirds. Good news for Dinko: they welcome the Blackbirds to town tonight and can get one of those games back and hold the tiebreaker with them. Long Island’s record is not a lie. Led by Jeremie Lalugba (C, 77 ovr) and his 26 points and 7 rebounds per game, they are a handful. He’s surround by 3 talented teammates in Dallas Perry (PF, 78 ovr), Eto Fitzgerald (SF, 76 ovr), and Wilson Barrow (SG, 75 ovr).

If Long Island wins this game, they lock up the conference title. If St. Francis can win, they hold the tiebreaker and are only a game back of Long Island.

The game started off as a barn burner. Both teams were executing offensively and getting exactly the shots they wanted and it was 9-9 after just 2 minutes. St. Francis looks like they had committed to doubling Lalugba every time he touched the ball and it wasn’t clear if that was a good strategy or not.

Then both teams went cold and only 6 points were scored the next 4 minutes. However, the Blackbirds woke up first and went on a 9-3 run to extend their lead to 21-15. Two Bobby Valdez threes helped St. Francis stay in it, but nobody else could score and Dinko looked up and saw his team was down 7 points and needed to call a timeout.

That’s when Dinko decided to rely on the player that had already scored 10 points for them: Chris Thompson. He ran pick-and-rolls with the junior big man to great success, bringing the score to 33-34. After an LIU free throw, the Red Flash tied it up 35-35. The Blackbirds scored with 4 seconds left, but Vern Quick hit a deep three as the first half expired to give St. Francis a 38-37 halftime lead. Chris Thompson was the clear star of the half with 18 points and Dinko would need to keep feeding the best.

Chris Thompson was the star of the game.

Thompson is start with 18 points. Keep feeding the beast. It’s impressive for St. Francis to be up 1 as Long Island is shooting 66% from the field and Jeremie Lalugba has 9 points.

To kick off the second half, Stephane Diakite put on a 1 man show. He blocked a shot, went coast-to-coast for a layup, helped forced a turnover in the full court trap, and finished with a slam dunk. St. Francis was up 42-39 and then quickly extended that into a 46-41 lead.

However, a 5-0 LIU run tied it up at 46 all. From there, Dinko once again went back to the well: all Chris Thompson, all the time. He helped the hosts get a 60-56 lead and the momentum carried on from there. Even though Thompson had to get a breather, the bench mob did their thing as St. Francis went on an 8-0 run with only 1 start (Vern Quick) on the floor, all but sealing the win.

St. Francis started wasting clock and pulled out the 79-68 win. It took a marvelous second half and a small run at the end of the first to make it happen. Now St. Francis is just a game back in the standings and holds the tiebreaker. With a bit of luck they can get the regular season title.

Chris Thompson not only had 34 points, but played through back spasms. This will be a game that the Loretto faithful remember for a long time. St. Francis shot 65% on the game.

The Player of the Game highlight reel for Chris Thompson.

Long Island was 50% from three (8-16) and out-assisted the Red Flash 20-11, but their 12 turnovers and St. Francis’ hot shooting was their undoing. Barrow and Fitzgerald should have shot more threes as they were a combined 6-8 from deep.

Around the NBA

• Luka Doncic (SG, 94 ovr) played 43 minutes and dominated the Suns 114-92 with 51 points, 12 rebounds, and 5 assists.
• The Warriors thrashed the Bucks 156-118 as Steph Curry (PG, 93 ovr) dropped 44 and dished out 11 and DeAndre Ayton (C, 90 ovr) added 31 and 16 boards, while Jarrett Pressley (PG, 84 ovr) had 15 points and 13 assists off the bench.
• Coby White (SG, 79 ovr) scored a career-high 43 points to lead the Clippers to a win over the Wizards.
• In Mikal Bridges first game for the Jazz, they may have gotten their biggest win of the year, heading into New Orleans and destroying the Pelicans 120-96. Bridges only had 14 and 10, but played 40 minutes.
• Giannis Antetokounmpo (PF, 97 ovr) grabbed 23 rebounds and scored 26 points in a win over Portland.
• R.J. Barrett (SF, 85 ovr) got back to his high-scoring ways with a 51 point game in a win over the Cavaliers.
• The Warriors beat the Hornets: nothing crazy – but there were some interesting stat lines. DeAndre Ayton had 28 rebounds and Jarrett Pressley had an 18-10-10 triple-double off the bench.
• Unfortunately, Ayton broke his arm in the next game and will miss the rest of the regular season.

Here’s the college hoops tonight from last week, February 17, 2025:

[JoshNormanMane]

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

Dominant game from the Aussie and big game to take for the Flash.

[studbucket]

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

Dominant game from the Aussie and big game to take for the Flash.

I totally forgot that Thompson wasn't American. But he's a Kiwi, not an Aussie!

He is part of the same HS cohort from New Zealand that brought Marko "Spicy K" Nevill to Stetson. That seems like a fun group for the NZ youth national team.

[studbucket]

2025 NBA All-Star Weekend: All-Star Game

It was a close and fun All-Star game between team Giannis and Team Luka.

Giannis was clearly the main event at this game, especially being at his home court in Milwaukee. However, his 31, 9, and 5 were not enough to win as Team Luka got a 7 point win. They were led by the exciting backcourt combo of Ja Morant and Devin Booker.

[studbucket]

Feb 23, 2024 San Diego at Loyola Marymount [WCC]

After a big win over San Francisco, Oggy and the boys got stomped by Saint Mary’s with only Herbert Nashif playing well. The following game Nashif was injured, only took 4 shots, and saw the team lose big to Pepperdine. Things turned around with a huge 96-63 win over Gonzaga. Herbert Nashif had 26 points and Evan Harris added 17, 9, and 9. However, they dropped their 3^rd game in the last 4 to Santa Clara, 68-72. This puts them below .500 in the WCC (5-6) and tied with Gonzaga and St. Mary’s for 5^th place.

Only San Francisco seems to have pulled ahead with a conference record of 8-3, as everyone else is somewhere between 4-6 and 6-5 in conference play. This means that Oggy and co could finish anywhere between second and last depending on how the games go to wrap up the year.

The San Diego Toreros are 6-5 in the conference and 16-9 overall. They have a lot of experience and are led by the senior trio of Martin Fisher (SG, 83 ovr), Theo Boddicker (PF, 80 ovr), and Taj Bogans (PG, 76 ovr). These three combine for 37 points per game and are the heartbeat of the team. The Toreros play at a very slow place, which allows 7’3” sophomore Randolph Birley (C, 67 ovr) to be more integrated into their team.

The first time these two teams met, it was Oggy’s 100^th career victory as the Lions won 88-72 in San Diego. Oggy will be hoping to repeat that and get his first ever sweep of a WCC opponent.

Loyola Marymount looked great early on, using their speed to jump out to a 9-2 lead and cause issues for San Diego. Unfortunately, that was the last time they’d see a lead. The Toreros clawed back to make it 15-13, and then busted things open and went on a 19-2 run to put the Lions down 17-30.

Things got better when Oggy put his starters back on as they are able to play reasonable defense and play with more skill, but the drop off from the starters to the backups is too huge for this team to overcome.

Herbert Nashif is the best and most consistent Lion. Here he is throwing down a dunk over Theo Boddicker.

It was a respectable 32-39 score at halftime thanks to a bit of a Lions comeback. San Diego was shooting 61% from the field and LMU needed to stop all the easy baskets. Herbert Nashif had 9 points, Reid Christensen had 8, and Kahrimanovic had 8 as well at halftime. Skip Salow’s tweaked hamstring was clearly bothering him as he was largely ineffective.

San Diego started the half on another run, getting up 48-35 and never looking back. Loyola Marymount was down by as much as 26 at one point, but finished with a 14 point loss, 66-80.

SD was 53% from three. 64% overall. 32-2 bench point differential.
Nashif with 16, 8, and 3 steals.

Around the NCAA

• It’s been very chaotic at the top of the polls lately:
• #3 UConn’s swoon continued as they lost to #2 Villanova and Pitt, giving them 5 straight losses before managing to win 2 straight.
• #2 Villanova was feeling great after the big win over UConn, but they fell to Cincy 1 week later, 68-64.
• #6 Texas lost twice in a row to unranked Kansas and Oklahoma.
• #7 Washington was bested by unranked Oregon 94-91.
• #9 Duke lost twice in a row to Clemson and #19 Maryland.
• #10 Michigan State also dropped 2 straight to #18 Illinois and Northwestern.

[Tovarich]

Re: Feb 23, 2024 San Diego at Loyola Marymount [WCC]

Is Oggy properly utilizing all his timeouts so his starters are fresh and his bench can play fewer minutes? Because they look useless.

[studbucket]

Re: Feb 23, 2024 San Diego at Loyola Marymount [WCC]

Is Oggy properly utilizing all his timeouts so his starters are fresh and his bench can play fewer minutes? Because they look useless.

"Properly" is a bit subjective here, but Oggy definitely uses all of his timeouts every game. Ideally he's only using 3 in the first half, 4 in the second, but sometimes he's usually 4+ in the first.

The bench is fully useless. In reality, only Nashif is good and Christensen, Kahrimanovic, Harris, and Salow are hit or miss. Then the whole bench is useless.

This team won 4 games last year (1 in conference play) so the fact that Oggy is 10-16 and has 5 conference wins (with 1 game remaining) is a huge improvement. I'm just worried that this offseason may not bring impact recruits.

[studbucket]

The Inside Scoop – Post-All-Star Edition

The Inside Scoop is based on TheDominator273's awesome spreadsheet to add random events to your MyLeague.

Andre Rice is looking to become a defensive specialist
Andre Rice (PF, 77 ovr) is on his second team in the NBA (having been drafted by the Spurs 6^th overall in 2021) and is struggling to find minutes in Miami after being a key player on a series of bad Spurs teams and sent to Miami as salary filler from Toronto in the Pascal Siakam trade.

Side note on Rice: it was just 2 seasons ago that the Spurs had Juan King (Sonics), Rice (Heat), Dejounte Murray (Magic), and Michael Porter Jr (Spurs) as 4 of their starting 5. It’s interesting to look back and see how much that team has changed.

With a desire to improve and get more minutes, Rice has spent time working on his footwork and learning the intricacies of perimeter defense from teammates Darrall Lampley (SF, 80 ovr) and Pascal Siakam (PF, 88 ovr). The results have started to pay off as the coaches know they can switch the under-sized PF onto 4 of the 5 spots on the floor.

Raitis Engle is already past his prime
Engle (SF, 77 ovr) is a 28 year old out of Texas Tech once had a promising future being drafted 19th overall in the 2020 NBA Draft by the Jazz. Unfortunately he’s not done much with that career – having only played games in 3 of his 5 seasons in the league – and is currently stuck deep on OKC’s bench. There was some hope that he’d finally be ready to step up, but reports from inside OKC state that he has gotten worse as the season has gone on and it’s hard to imagine he’ll be in the league much longer.

Looking back at that 2020 NBA draft, Engle was picked ahead of Bruno Radja (PG, 90 ovr) and Londrick Helms (PF, 78 ovr) – both picked by the Boston Celtics, though Helms is now on NYK.

Collucci takes the fall
Third year PG Brandin Collucci (76 ovr) has been let go from the Grizzlies after reports of a locker room altercation recently surfaced. It appears that Collucci, the 26^th pick in the 2022 draft out of Villanova, has been frustrated by his lack of playing time recently and it all boiled over into a verbal and physical altercation between Collucci and several other players, including 4^th year pro Freie Holt (PG, 79 ovr). It appears that some of his frustration was driven by Holt getting significantly more playing time than him.

Collucci had only seen the court in 13 games this year, averaging 5 points, 1 rebound, and 1 assist per game. Holt has played in 56 games, grabbing 2.5 points, rebounds, and assists per game in those appearances as the 5^th guard off the bench.

Memphis did not delay in taking action, waiving Collucci immediately. He was the 4^th PG on their roster, behind the previously mentioned Holt, Issa Leslie (PG, 81 ovr), and Ja Morant (PG, 94 ovr).

[BlindSideNZ]

Re: The Inside Scoop – Post-All-Star Edition

Dominant game from the Aussie and big game to take for the Flash.

Gotta be careful with your Aussies and your Kiwis. It’s bit like calling an American, Canadian or vice versa 😂

The Inside Scoop is based on TheDominator273's awesome spreadsheet to add random events to your MyLeague.

Andre Rice is looking to become a defensive specialist
Andre Rice (PF, 77 ovr) is on his second team in the NBA (having been drafted by the Spurs 6^th overall in 2021) and is struggling to find minutes in Miami after being a key player on a series of bad Spurs teams and sent to Miami as salary filler from Toronto in the Pascal Siakam trade.

Side note on Rice: it was just 2 seasons ago that the Spurs had Juan King (Sonics), Rice (Heat), Dejounte Murray (Magic), and Michael Porter Jr (Spurs) as 4 of their starting 5. It’s interesting to look back and see how much that team has changed.

With a desire to improve and get more minutes, Rice has spent time working on his footwork and learning the intricacies of perimeter defense from teammates Darrall Lampley (SF, 80 ovr) and Pascal Siakam (PF, 88 ovr). The results have started to pay off as the coaches know they can switch the under-sized PF onto 4 of the 5 spots on the floor.

Raitis Engle is already past his prime
Engle (SF, 77 ovr) is a 28 year old out of Texas Tech once had a promising future being drafted 19th overall in the 2020 NBA Draft by the Jazz. Unfortunately he’s not done much with that career – having only played games in 3 of his 5 seasons in the league – and is currently stuck deep on OKC’s bench. There was some hope that he’d finally be ready to step up, but reports from inside OKC state that he has gotten worse as the season has gone on and it’s hard to imagine he’ll be in the league much longer.

Looking back at that 2020 NBA draft, Engle was picked ahead of Bruno Radja (PG, 90 ovr) and Londrick Helms (PF, 78 ovr) – both picked by the Boston Celtics, though Helms is now on NYK.

Collucci takes the fall
Third year PG Brandin Collucci (76 ovr) has been let go from the Grizzlies after reports of a locker room altercation recently surfaced. It appears that Collucci, the 26^th pick in the 2022 draft out of Villanova, has been frustrated by his lack of playing time recently and it all boiled over into a verbal and physical altercation between Collucci and several other players, including 4^th year pro Freie Holt (PG, 79 ovr). It appears that some of his frustration was driven by Holt getting significantly more playing time than him.

Collucci had only seen the court in 13 games this year, averaging 5 points, 1 rebound, and 1 assist per game. Holt has played in 56 games, grabbing 2.5 points, rebounds, and assists per game in those appearances as the 5^th guard off the bench.

Memphis did not delay in taking action, waiving Collucci immediately. He was the 4^th PG on their roster, behind the previously mentioned Holt, Issa Leslie (PG, 81 ovr), and Ja Morant (PG, 94 ovr).

Not gonna lie, this events sheet is actually one of the things I miss most about running a dynasty!

[studbucket]

Re: The Inside Scoop – Post-All-Star Edition

Yeah, Mr. NormanName is looking to alienate his readership down under!

And yeah, the random events sheet is awesome. Love the ways it changes things up. Also is a small way for me to highlight and show off some of the fictional players.

[BlindSideNZ]

Re: The Inside Scoop – Post-All-Star Edition

Yeah, Mr. NormanName is looking to alienate his readership down under!

And yeah, the random events sheet is awesome. Love the ways it changes things up. Also is a small way for me to highlight and show off some of the fictional players.

Lmao, I’m boycotting him until we get a formal apology.

Oh for sure, it’s perfect for that actually. Which is key considering how difficult it is to keep people engaged with a fictional cast.

[studbucket]

March 2, 2025 St. Francis at Sacred Heart [NEC]

It’s St. Francis’ last game of the regular season and it’s ultimately for nothing more than pride. They defeated Central Connecticut 90-68, led by Erwin Willingham’s 18 points and 10-11 points from the quartet of Thompson, Akindele, Hailey, and Holman. However, Long Island beat Monmouth and Wagner and have locked up the #1 spot in the conference, denying Dinko back-to-back conference titles.

The Sacred Heart Pioneers are not a great team. They are 8-9 in conference (12-17 overall) and led by Martin Harvey (C, 74 ovr) who has been playing through back spasms. Leslie Larranaga (SF, 71 ovr) is a promising sophomore. Outside of that, there’s not many players to worry about.

This is the end of an era for the Red Flash though, as Dinko’s best recruiting class ever fully graduates. 4 year starters Stephane Diakite and Vern Quick as well as big men Floyd Akindele and Von Felder will be done after this year’s postseason play. The fans and community in Loretto will miss them greatly.

Early on Sacred Heart looked very dangerous. Their first 4 baskets were nothing but three-point-plays: 3 three pointers and an And-1. For the Red Flash, it was all Chris Thompson as the big man continued his hot streak.

Some better defense, especially from Stephane Diakite helped St. Francis even it up, and then the visitors went on a bit of a run led by E.F. McGuire, Bobby Valdez, and Chris Thompson to give the Red Flash a 34-27 lead. After that they went smallball with Willingham, McGuire, Valdez, Diakite, and Akindele. With Diakite at the 4 and shooters on the court, it was really hard to Sacred Heart to handle and the lead was extended to 10.

E.F. McGuire gets the block and Bobby Valdez finishes strong.

A couple threes from Sacred Heart made it closer, but it was still 39-33 at halftime. St. Francis was shooting 62% from the field and Chris Thompson already had 17 points.

However, the second half started with 5 quick Sacred Heart points to cut the St. Francis lead to 1. After Dinko made some subs, E.F. McGuire, Floyd Akindele, and Chris Thompson got the lead up to 10 and it was all over from there.

The 4 Red Flash seniors close out their regular season career

From there Stephane Diakite, Bobby Valdez, and others took over and turned that 10 point lead into 15 and then to a 75-52 lead after a 19-2 run.

As the backups closed out the game, it finished 84-66 for the Red Flash, closing out a successful, though slightly disappointing, regular season.

Chris Thompson had 23 points but was barely needed in the second half after his huge first half. St. Francis had 10 steals and 3 blocks and their defensive really helped turn the game around.

After a hot start, Sacred Heart finished only 9-24 from three.

Around the NCAA

• #1 Louisville defeated #4 Villanova in a big-time Big East showdown. The 4-point win was led by junior Terrance Delgado’s (PF, 87 ovr) 25 points and 6 rebounds and Jermaine Faulk’s (SG, 89 ovr) 20 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 steals. Louisville now has 9 straight wins.
• #8 Washington has dropped their 4^th game in the last 7, falling to Oregon State 69-80. The Beavers then turned around and beat #3 Cal 75-63 as well! Junior Ka’Ron Holman (PF, 80 ovr) had 46 points, 18 rebounds, and 5 blocks across the two games.
• #2 UConn has moved up from #3 despite losing 6 of their last 10, including a 79-92 loss to #18 Syracuse (previously ranked 24) this week.

[Tovarich]

Re: March 2, 2025 St. Francis at Sacred Heart [NEC]

You played that game? 26 FT's would very possibly be a record for Coach Tovarich.

[studbucket]

Re: March 2, 2025 St. Francis at Sacred Heart [NEC]

You played that game? 26 FT's would very possibly be a record for Coach Tovarich.

I did. I even got fouled on a three point shot (which never happens). The secret to getting FTs is attacking the basket. Pick-and-rolls or an athletic wing are the best way to get layups in traffic and get fouled.

I don't get nearly 30 FTs often, but it can happen in games like this.