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

[studbucket]

Mid-March NBA Update

There are 4 weeks remaining in the NBA season and it’s both enough time to see plenty of changes, but not enough time for some teams to make the runs they need to make. As we look at the final month, what are the key story lines and standings?

Key Playoff Races
There are 4 races worth monitoring as we close out the season:

1. The top of the East
2. The second spot in the West
3. The East play-in
4. The bottom of the West

Second in the West: Golden State, Hawaii, and New Orleans
By getting second in the conference, one of these teams can avoid Denver until the conference finals and also get home court advantage in the first two rounds. The three candidates for this spot represent 3 very different teams:

1. Golden State – the old guard. They’ve been around and competing for titles for 10 years and despite the age of Steph (PG, 93 ovr), Klay (SG, 82 ovr), and Jimmy (SF, 82 ovr, they are once again a very strong team with great depth and complementary pieces.
2. Hawaii – The Cinderella story. It’s just their second season. They weren’t trying to compete right away, they just wanted cheap contracts and to develop young talent. But somehow the pairing of Tyler Herro (SG, 85 ovr) and Markelle Fultz (PG, 83 ovr) has turned into near superstars and the supporting cast has been good. Despite expectations, this team has been great this year and will get 50+ wins.
3. New Orleans – finally. On the other side of the coin from Hawaii, the Pelicans have been expected to succeed for years and haven’t. Trading for Devin Booker (SG, 92 ovr) seems to have been the thing to finally unlock this team and he and Zion are good enough to beat anyone on any night.

Markelle Fultz and the Honu have been the surprise of the season

Worst of the West: Clippers, Sonics, and Kings
All three of the Clippers, Sonics, and Kings have worse records than the worst team in the East (the Knicks), but not by much. In their quest to stay in the top 3, the Sonics have lost 13 straight. However, the Kings and Knicks should be trying their best to win games: they don’t have their own picks. The Clippers would love to see the Knicks lose more as they have New York’s pick.

Top of the East: Milwaukee, Boston, and Philly
Injuries have unfortunately derailed the Cavaliers but there’s still a tight race for the top seed in the East as Milwaukee doesn’t seem to be the dominant force they once were. However, they’re still in the driver’s seat and ahead of the Celtics who are also without standout sophomore Bruno Radja (PG, 90 ovr). Fortunately for them, they have Damian Lillard (PG, 89 ovr) to play point in his absence.

Play-in positioning East
The Cavs, Pistons, Grizzlies, Magic, Hornets, Hawks, Wizards, and Heat represent a very talented group of teams competing for spots 5-10 in the East. 2 of them will make the playoffs, 4 the play-in, and 2 will be on the outside. If Charlotte or Atlanta miss the playoffs, that will be disastrous given the immense talent on their roster and Hunter Wilson and Frank Vogel should both be fearing for their jobs.


Injuries!
There have been so many injuries this season and that trend continued the last few weeks with these stars all getting injured and missing significant time.

• In a huge blow for the Timberwolves, Karl-Anthony Towns (C, 92 ovr) has broken his leg and will miss the rest of the season.
• Darius Garland (PG, 88 ovr) sprained his knee and will miss a few weeks.
• Boston’s Bruno Radja (PG, 90 ovr) will miss the rest of the regular season and maybe part of the playoffs due to an MCL injury.
• Brandon Ingram (SF, 85 ovr) of the Knicks will miss the rest of the regular season with a torn hamstring.

Bad teams don’t have their picks
With an interesting and widely debated draft class coming up, there seems to be a top 5 that many people are settling on. However, nobody can seem to agree on who the #1 pick should be. Here’s that top 5, which has changed a bit since our last draft preview:

1. Tulane SG Jazz Grace
2. LSU C Andre O’Hara
3. Villanova PF Diamond Barisic
4. Turkish SF Tayfur Izzet
5. SDSU PF T.J. Gogerty

Unfortunately for a number of underperforming and bad teams, they don’t own their picks.

1. Projected #3 pick Sacramento is sending their pick to Utah as part of a swap of first rounders made two years ago. Sacramento wasn’t supposed to be bad as they started a team that featured Lauri Markkanen (PF, 82 ovr), Domantas Sabonis (C, 83 ovr), and Bogdan Bogdanovic (SG, 79 ovr) this season, but they’ve been terrible.
2. As part of the Brandon Ingram deal, the Clippers have the Knicks #4 overall projected pick. It was supposed to convey last year, but protections caused it to roll over. Fortunately for the Knicks this meant they were able to draft Kordel Cleaves (PF, 80 ovr) #1 overall.
3. The Raptors’ projected 7^th pick is headed to the Clippers as part of the Kawhi Leonard trade. This gives Los Angeles 3 top 7 projected picks!
4. The Miami Heat sent the Raptors this year’s first rounder for Pascal Siakam (PF, 88 ovr). It’s currently projected to be the #10 picks.

Bronny and LBJ
They haven’t played much together, but it was nice to see LeBron and Bronny on the court together.

Key performances

• Ja Morant (PG, 95 ovr) had 50 + 10 boards in win over hawks
• John Collins (PF, 85 ovr) dropped a career-high 46 points as the 76ers beat the Raptors.
• Shai Gilgeous-Alexaner (SG, 87 ovr) is back (and scored 37) but the Heat lost to the Jazz as Donovan Mitchell (SG, 91 ovr) scored 53. Mitchell followed that up with 59 points in a loss to the Thunder.
• The Nuggets’ winning streak came to an end at the hands of the frustrating Hawks. Atlanta outscored them 40-17 in the 4^th and Trae Young (PG, 89 ovr) scored 42 points and had 14 assists.
• Zion Williamson (PF, 92 ovr) now has 8 games this season with 20+ rebounds after he had 36 points and 25 rebounds in 42 minutes in a win over the Kings.
• In what may have been the regular season game of the year, the Mavericks hung on for a 137-136 win over the Nuggets. Luka Doncic (SG, 94 ovr) led the way with 42 points and 13 assists, while Jamal Murray (PG, 87 ovr) had 40 points and Jokic (C, 94 ovr) had a 26 point and 14 assist game.
• Jayson Tatum (PF, 90 ovr) had 53 points, but the big story was the Hornets only scoring 76 points in a terrible loss to Boston.
• The Nuggets blew out the Pistons and Jokic (C, 94 ovr) had a stat-stuffing 29 points, 17 rebounds, and 12 assists in the win.
• Damian Lillard (PG, 88 ovr) has unsurprisingly stepped into the starting role well. He scored a season high 48 points as the Celtics easily handled the Spurs.

[studbucket]

2025 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 recap

Upset Watch

• #6 Arizona 108 - #2 Texas Tech 89: Arizona scored 52+ points each half and saw a great team effort led by Matt Cranford (SF, 88 ovr) as he had 18 points, 15 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 blocks. #5
• #5 Maryland 88 - #1 California 72: Ralfeal Dux (PG, 90 ovr) leads the Terrapins with 24 points and 8 assists. They got up midway through the first half and never looked back.
• #4 West Virginia 93 – #1 Michigan State 88: Hilton Edwards (C, 83 ovr) led WVU to a big win with 31 points.
• #3 Syracuse 100 - #2 UConn 90: Rudy Chapman (PG, 87 ovr) and Ron Duggins (SG, 87 ovr) combined for 46 points and UConn’s entire starting frontcourt fouled out of the game.

Key Performances

• Jermaine Faulk (SG, 89 ovr) is a star in the making and he showed that in Louisville’s 81-77 win over Kansas State as he had 29 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 steals.
• Freshman and backup Nelson McCleod (PG, 85 ovr) had 11 assists off the bench for the Duke Blue Devils.

NIT Update

• Wichita State booked themselves a spot in the semifinals after defeating Utah Valley State and Florida State.
• Though they got knocked out in the quarters, Florida State’s Mack Buchanan (PF, 86 ovr) had 33 points and 11 rebounds in a win over Navy.
• Marvin Ames (SF, 84 ovr) had 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 9 assists and teammate Grant Osborn (PG, 80 ovr) added 20 points and 6 assists as Xavier beat Utah to make the semifinals.
• San Diego State will face off against Pittsburgh after the Aztecs beat both Alabama and Washington State. Pitt defeated Rice and Middle Tennessee.

[studbucket]

2025 NCAA Tournament Elite 8 recap

Upset Watch

• #3 Duke 93 – #1 Louisville 83: The bad guys are back again. This was supposed to be a transition year full of freshman and sophomores, but they are back in the Final Fourt after defeating Louisville.
• #6 Arizona 99 - #5 Maryland 87: Max Crawford (PG, 89 ovr) outdueled Ralfeal Dux (PG, 90 ovr) and had 28 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, and 2 steals in the win.

[Careless Whisper]

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

Glad to be caught up!

Probably not the season either brother envisioned - SFU certainly had one to be proud of with only five losses, but when three of those are to NEC teams, it falls a little more flat. I'm a tad shocked the Red Flash didn't get a NIT bid, but I guess Long Island also getting upset in the tournament ruined their chances for that.

Without looking, it feels like Oggy's teams fare well as an underdog in their conference tournament, so it didn't shock me that LMU made a run to the title game. Good to see the fruits of his labor be on full display with Stetson making NCAAs, and I think he'll do the same at LMU if he decides to stay in one place for a while like his brother has.

Really interesting offseason coming up. Feel like Dinko has done almost all he can do at SFU, and while I'm sure he wouldn't want to end his time in Loretto with how this season ended, he's probably getting impatient and would be more inclined to take a step up if the right job came around. Oggy, I can't see going anywhere, and I think that's the right move because he needs time to really build LMU into the program it should be and show some loyalty to his current employer.

[koobe]

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

What a run! for Arizona.

Notre Dame, Texas Tech and Maryland. 💪

[studbucket]

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

Glad to be caught up!

Glad you're back! It was fun to see another CMU post earlier this week

Probably not the season either brother envisioned - SFU certainly had one to be proud of with only five losses, but when three of those are to NEC teams, it falls a little more flat. I'm a tad shocked the Red Flash didn't get a NIT bid, but I guess Long Island also getting upset in the tournament ruined their chances for that.

Without looking, it feels like Oggy's teams fare well as an underdog in their conference tournament, so it didn't shock me that LMU made a run to the title game. Good to see the fruits of his labor be on full display with Stetson making NCAAs, and I think he'll do the same at LMU if he decides to stay in one place for a while like his brother has.

I think you're right. It started year 1 at Northern Colorado and he's shown an ability to exceed expectations in tournaments. And you're totally right about Dinko being disappointed. This is 2 straight years of a stacked roster and falling flat in the NEC tournament. To quote Major League, it's just "two in a row", not a streak yet. But he's in danger of making it a streak.

Really interesting offseason coming up. Feel like Dinko has done almost all he can do at SFU, and while I'm sure he wouldn't want to end his time in Loretto with how this season ended, he's probably getting impatient and would be more inclined to take a step up if the right job came around. Oggy, I can't see going anywhere, and I think that's the right move because he needs time to really build LMU into the program it should be and show some loyalty to his current employer.

If Oggy can get a good recruiting class this offseason, next season might be OK. Everyone but Nashif is returning and he'll be bringing in 3 new players and is going hard after at least one 4* recruit. And then next offseason he has 8 (!!!) scholarships to use. So if he chooses to show a little bit of loyalty to LMU, he'll be able to completely shape the team to his liking by his 3rd season.

For Dinko, I think he needs to either start winning some big games or get lucky. Looking at "local" mid-major jobs he'd consider, it's basically:

• Duquesne
• St. Bonaventure
• Akron
• Kent State

That's not a long list. Duquesne won't open up for a few years now, St. Bonaventure may turn over this offseason, and the 2 MAC schools have been pretty stable so far. So he needs to get lucky with one of those jobs opening up, or he needs to go full Gonzaga, start making Sweet 16 runs in the tournament, and get an offer from a Power 6 school, especially if it's an East coast school (Penn State, Villanova, Ohio State, West Virginia, etc would be awesome).

[studbucket]

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

What a run! for Arizona.

Notre Dame, Texas Tech and Maryland. 💪

They're being led by their pair of MCs, just like the Beastie Boys. Max Crawford (lottery projected PG) and Matt Cranford (2nd round projected SF). They are a very talented 6 seed for sure. Here's those two draft prospects:

[studbucket]

2025 NCAA Tournament Final 4 recap

Key Performances

• The Duke Blue Devils have returned to another championship game after a 1 year break. They defeated Villanova 86-77 with 19 points from 6^th man Isaac Evtimov (SG, 89 ovr). First round projection Diamond Barisic (PF, 89 ovr) had 20 points and 11 rebounds in the loss.
  • The Villanova Wildcats will see their entire starting 5 graduate as Steve Defares, Rickey Braun, Wayne McCollum, Diamond Barisic, and Stephan Demond all enter the NBA draft.
  
  
• UCLA won the battle of the Pac 10 teams 89-80. Their team effort overcame Arizona’s Max Crawford (PG, 89) shooting 6-10 from three.

NIT Update

• In the semi-finals, Xavier beat Wichita State 69-53 and Pitt won a close on over San Diego State 79-73.
• The NIT final game between Pitt and Xavier was a great one, going to overtime, but the Panthers prevailed 79-76 behind Jakob Hutchinson’s (C, 82 ovr) 21 points.

[studbucket]

2025 NCAA Basketball Season Recap

Tell me if you’ve heard this one before: Duke is your national champion. For the 3^rd time in 4 years, the Blue Devils have won the title, each time with an almost entirely new set of starters as Coach K keeps bringing in extremely talented players and helping them reach their potential. Unfortunately for viewers, this game wasn’t an interesting one. The Bruins were outmatched from the opening tip, allowing 50 first half points and eventually losing by 32 points: 89-67. Only Lorenzo Burnett (PF, 82 ovr) came to play, with 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 blocks to cap off an amazing tournament. Fun fact: Burnett was high school teammates in Glendale with Loyola’s own Herbert Nashif, making a terrifying frontcourt duo.

But all the Blue Devils decided to show up and it was a fantastic team effort. Derek Matera (SG, 90 ovr), Jimmy Tran (SF, 91 ovr), Geoffrey Slater (SF, 88 ovr), Clarence Defares (PF, 84 ovr), Nelson McCleod (PG, 85 ovr), and B.A. Linebaugh (SF, 84 ovr) all scored in double digits and only Tran is a senior! Duke will be prohibitive favorites for the title next year, and possibly the year after.

National Player of the Year: Britton Armstrong, PF, Bowling Green
In a move that is unprecedented in recent years, the media chose a mid-major player for NPoY: Bowling Green’s 6’7” PF Britton Armstrong. As a senior he increased his scoring output to 26.9 points per game, leading the nation, and also added 8 rebounds and over 2 blocks per game. It remains to be seen if his game can translate to the pros.

Mid-Major Player of the Year: Britton Armstrong, PF, Bowling Green
There was no doubt about who this would be

National Coach of the Year: Mike Krzyzewski, Duke
There is nobody in college basketball quite like him. 3 titles in 4 years with radically different players. He’s now being mentioned among the likes of John Wooden.

Defensive Player of the Year: Odie Jeffries, PF, Tennessee
The junior from Jonesboro, Arkansas uses his amazing length and athleticism – he’s 6’11” but moves like he’s 6’6” – to cause problems for everyone he faces. He’s not bad offensively either, adding 19.4 points to his 8 boards and nearly 4 blocks + steals per game.

Freshman of the Year: Byron Mbaye, PF, Michigan State
It wasn’t a great year for the Big 10, but the #5 overall recruit from last season had a great year for the Spartans. The undersized PF started the whole season at center for the Big 10 champs and averaged 9 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 2 blocks per game.

First Team All-American
PG: Willie Prillman, Alabama
SG: Jermaine Faulk, Louisville
SF: Byron Westphal, Oregon
PF: Britton Armstrong, Bowling Green
C: Prosper Pippen, St. Joseph’s

Second Team All-American
PG: Ralfeal Dux, Maryland
SG: Jud Francis, North Carolina
SF: Ayinde Famutimi, Texas A&M
PF: Odie Jeffries, Tennessee
C: Micheal Johnson, Texas Tech

Freshman All-American
PG: Kiah Roberts, Kansas State
SG: Jairus Bland, Maryland
SF: Martynas Mitchell, Michigan
PF: Byron Mbaye, Michigan State
C: Jon Paul Casey, Ole Miss

[koobe]

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

NCAA and Coach K, is synonymous with victory. Unbelievable another win for him. I'll admit that the way they've gone, Arizona was my favorite.

[studbucket]

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

NCAA and Coach K, is synonymous with victory. Unbelievable another win for him. I'll admit that the way they've gone, Arizona was my favorite.

Totally, and it's been even more true in this dynasty. Duke is crazy good. I would have liked to see Arizona win as well!

[studbucket]

Dragomirov Conference Recap

We’ve covered all the national awards, now let’s look at Oggy and Dinko’s conferences. How did the coaches do in their sixth year and who had performances of note in their conferences?

Northeast Conference
By no means was it a bad season for Dinko and St. Francis, but it was quite disappointing and with a senior-heavy roster and a team largely intact from last year, more was expected. Long Island deserves their success, but for the Red Flash to only get 3 awards is a disappointment: coach of the year and two 2^nd team all conference bids. Vern Quick was one of those awards, and it is good for him to get recognized, but this season was undoubtedly disappointing for fans. After he looked like a future star and possible NBA player in his freshman and sophomore seasons, he ended up being just “pretty good” these last two.

A for the rest of the conference, there is some real talent. The Blackbirds obviously did well led by Lalugba, Fitzgeraldn, and Pritchard, but Dinko also has a team to watch out for in Sacred Heart, who miraculously won the tournament, have the freshman of the year, and a pretty good player in Martin Harvey. Lalugba was the story of the season though, increasing his scoring to nearly 26 points per game dominating night after night in the NEC.

Award	Winner
Regular Season Champions	Long Island Blackbirds (17-1 conference record)
Conference Tournament Champions	Sacred Heart Pioneers
Coach of the Year	Kostadin Dragomirov, St. Francis (PA)
Player of the Year	Jeremie Lalugba, C, Long Island 25.8 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 0.2 apg, 1.1 spg, 1.6 bpg
Freshman of the Year	Ira Wheless, PG, Sacred Heart 9.0 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 4.0 apg, 1.6 spg, 0.1 bpg
1st Team All-Conference	PG: Tron Callans, Central Connecticut State SG: Austen Iti, Monmouth SF: Patricio Stevenson, Wagner PF: Russ Ba, Central Connecticut State C: Jeremie Lalugba, Long Island
2nd Team All-Conference	PG: Rich Pritchard, Long island SG: Vern Quick, St. Francis (PA) SF: Eto Fitzgerald, Long Island PF: Chris Thompson, St. Francis (PA) C: Martin Harvey, Sacred Heart
Freshman All-Conference	PG: Ira Wheless, Sacred heart SG: Thomas Lalugba, Fairleigh Dickinson SF: Eric Koundjia, Wagner PF: Curtis Chapman, Robert Morris C: Joemal Bozeman, St. Francis (NY)

West Coast Conference
San Francisco and Gonzaga were the most talented teams in the WCC and it showed up in the end of season awards. They split the regular season and tournament championships and half of the all-conference players. However, the sneaky surprise was Pepperdine who had both he player and freshman of the year. For Oggy, Herbert Nashif deservedly got a second team all-conference nod.

Award	Winner
Regular Season Champions	San Francisco Dons (11-3 conference record)
Conference Tournament Champions	Gonzaga Bulldogs
Coach of the Year	Todd Golden, San Francisco
Player of the Year	Yakhouba Minyem, C, Pepperdine 18.4 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 1.2 apg, 0.6 spg, 1.2 bpg
Freshman of the Year	Earl Downey, SG, Pepperdine 9.5 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 2.6 apg, 1.0 spg, 0.6 bpg
1st Team All-Conference	PG: Jalon Jeanpierre, San Francisco SG: Alan Meyer, San Francisco SF: Benjamin Barley, Gonzaga PF: Eduardo Clarke, Gonzaga C: Yakhouba Minyem, Pepperdine
2nd Team All-Conference	PG: Chadd Van Weerdhuizen, Portland SG: Martin Fisher, San Diego SF: Joshua Berrelleca, San Francisco PF: Herbert Nashif, Loyola Marymount C: Dale Glover, Saint Mary’s
Freshman All-Conference	PG: Jerry Alloway, Gonzaga SG: Earl Downey, Pepperdine SF: Al Buckman, San Diego PF: Gerardo Sloan, San Diego C: Jud Hurley, Portland

[BlindSideNZ]

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

Another one for Duke. Coach K is basically inevitable at this point.

A lot to catch up on, but that’s just how I like it!
Happy New Year!

[studbucket]

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

Another one for Duke. Coach K is basically inevitable at this point.

A lot to catch up on, but that’s just how I like it!
Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Coach K definitely is inevitable. Even when his entire roster turns over and he doesn't have a great regular season, he makes a title run.

[kibaxx7]

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

Coach of the Year for Dinko!!