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

[studbucket]

March 6, 2020 St. Francis vs Robert Morris [NEC Tournament]

It’s time for the Northeast Conference tournament, and the 3^rd game kicks off in Moon Township, Pennsylvania as St. Francis takes on Robert Morris, Oggy’s alma mater, for the third time this season. In his first matchup, the Red Flash suffered a disappointing loss, 74-61, but rebounded in a big way for a 21 point victory at home. Dinko clearly remembered what got them that victory last time – attacking the basket and feeding the post.

Elsewhere, Wagner beat Mount St. Mary’s and Fairleigh Dickinson upset Central Connecticut to advance to the next round. The winner of this matchup will likely face off against Sacred Heart, who takes on Monmouth at the same time.

While the matchup was one Dinko preferred, he was disappointed about 1 thing: this “neutral” 4vs5 matchup was at Robert Morris’ home court. He was hoping the Flash fans would travel well and that they could quiet down the home fans.

Early on, the Red Flash looked to pounce on Robert Morris and try to keep seniors Will Frandsen and Galen Attaway from controlling the game. It worked at first as they were up 8-1 and the Colonials couldn’t get any good looks.

After St. Francis nailed a three, the Red Flash fans erupted and Robert Morris took some time to compose themselves, and things turned South for St. Francis from there. A few unlucky misses and bad shots later and the game was 8-8.

The rest of the first half was a close affair, with limited impact from Zygis Keita until the very end, with Will Frandsen and Tommy Zwikker having the strongest games for Robert Morris. At half it was 31-28 and anyone’s game. That didn’t change in the second half.

The Colonials kept a small lead until Tobias Roberson managed to get fouled and make the layup on a breakaway to tie the game at 42-42. After that, it was an extremely back and forth game with neither team taking a lead larger than three, which St. Francis managed to have twice. Once after a Casey Tyler three and then again after Muhamed Payne and Noah Almond combined for a steal and a fast break with 2 minutes left.

However, Robert Morris quickly responded with 4 points to take a 1 point lead. From there, the score ping-ponged:

1:00 - Muhamed Payne grabbed his 3^rd offensive rebound of the game and put it back to go up 1 (58-57)
0:50 - Robert Morris gets a layup (58-59)
0:40 - Muhamed Payne hits 2 free throws (60-59)
0:25 - Robert Morris misses a 20 footer (60-59)
0:04 - After several fouls (to try to get St. Francis to the line), Casey Tyler catches the inbounds pass and dribbles out of bounds, giving the ball back to Robert Morris (60-59)
0:00 - Will Frandsen hits a 16 footer as time expires to win the game for the Colonials (60-61)

Robert Morris hits the dagger to eliminate Dinko and the Red Flash

What a gut punch. The Red Flash were in position to win and gave the ball back and then couldn’t stop the full court pass. Dinko’s face was just blank as the game ended; he was unable to process what had just happened.

Keita had a solid game for St. Francis, and Robert Morris started doubling him in the second half, but he did well passing out of it. He and Payne combined for 6 offensive rebounds, compared to single offensive board from the Colonials.

While Robert Morris moves on to face Monmouth (who shocked #1 Sacred Heart 74-73), the Red Flash are done for the year. Sitting in the locker room after the game, he looked at the disappointed faces around the room. “Boys,” Dinko paused for 10 seconds “that sucked. Let’s not sugar coat it. That is not what we wanted to happen and how we all expected this to go. We have to be honest. But,” Dinko raised his voice in volume and in octave, “it’s going to make us better. Almost all of you are coming back next year. I’ll have a second year as a coach and I’ll do a better job. Next season we are going to compete for the conference title. Noah, Casey, and Tobias are going to be our ‘splash brothers’ and nobody is going to work harder on the boards than Zygis and Muhamed. Take some time, process this, and then let’s get started on being better. The coaching staff and I have a list of things we’d like each of you to work on. We’ll get some time with each of you, and let’s make next season awesome.”

[kibaxx7]

Re: March 6, 2020 St. Francis vs Robert Morris [NEC Tournament]

Noooooooooooooooo the worst way to lose... hopefully next year will be better, stud. Fuel to bounce back.

[trekfan]

Re: March 6, 2020 St. Francis vs Robert Morris [NEC Tournament]

Oh, what a gut punch loss -- a critical, backbreaking turnover at the worst time.



I think the team will come back stronger for it, but that loss is gonna be in the back of their minds all next season.

[studbucket]

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

Noooooooooooooooo the worst way to lose... hopefully next year will be better, stud. Fuel to bounce back.

Oh, what a gut punch loss -- a critical, backbreaking turnover at the worst time.

I think the team will come back stronger for it, but that loss is gonna be in the back of their minds all next season.

Yeah, it was killer. Really rough. Hopefully the new recruit(s) are good enough to start or play off the bench next year, because the team should have a solid starting 5. If Dinko gets the big man he wants, they can even move Keita to the 4 and put Tyler or Roberson on the bench as a 6th man.

I haven't played Oggy's game yet, hopefully it goes better. May be able to get to that tonight.

[XxVal_MarXx]

Re: Introduction

Incredible story, really a shame it ended like this, I hope the next year is better

[dfsJunkie]

Re: Introduction

Noooooooooo! What a way to end it. That's a heartbreaker.

[Careless Whisper]

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

What a heartbreaking loss. That adds a little fuel to the RMU/SFU rivalry for next season.

[studbucket]

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

Incredible story, really a shame it ended like this, I hope the next year is better

Noooooooooo! What a way to end it. That's a heartbreaker.

What a heartbreaking loss. That adds a little fuel to the RMU/SFU rivalry for next season.

Thanks! While it sucked to lose that way, it is certainly good for the story and I totally agree with the RMU/SFU rivalry comment. They already had a bit of a friendly rivalry because it is Oggy's alma mater, but given the way the 3 games have gone this season, there's definitely going to be some additional motivation next year.

[studbucket]

March 8, 2020 Northern Colorado vs Weber State [Big Sky Tournament]

His brother’s season was done after a disappointing loss to Oggy’s RMU Colonials, and the disappointment and pain he heard from his brother on their Skype call made him even more motivated. Oggy was going to ensure he got everything he could from his players, especially his seniors.

Before the game, he made sure that Delvon Jahnke and Donovin Mascoll knew that, if they lost, this was their final game of their college careers. Don’t let that be the case. Take the great regular season and turn it into conference success.

They were 2-0 against Weber State, though both games were close. This game was at a neutral site, at the Walkup Skydome, the home of the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks. Oggy wondered why they didn’t choose somewhere more centrally located in the conference, but at least the weather was nice.

The Wildcats were a team of good shooters, but you couldn’t tell early on as they threw up brick after brick and the Bears got out to a 16-5 lead, thanks to 8 points from Delvon Jahnke. Weber State had small comebacks throughout the rest of the first half, but every time they got close, Delvon Jahnke would nail a key shot. He was a monster in the first half, scoring 18 points and leading the Bears to a 36-29 halftime lead.

In the second half, Weber State came fighting back. Despite senior center Piotr Stelmach getting into foul trouble, the Wildcats clawed back and tied the game at 40, then took a 43-40 as UNC started falling apart. Oggy called a timeout, tried to get the team composed and things got better for UNC as they slowly worked their way up to a 5 point lead with 4 minutes left.

That’s when the game started getting nervy. After two straight turnovers, Northern Colorado was only up 62-61, but Jahnke stepped up big twice in a row to get a 68-63 lead. Weber State brought it back to 68-66, but a Mascoll up-and-under and an Andres Swanson steal helped seal the 71-66 victory.

The Bears were alive for another day!

Delvon Jahnke had 28 points and shot 6-10 from three and was absolutely clutch all game long for the Bears.

The Bears will be taking on conference champ Northern Arizona, while Idaho State dominated higher seed Montana 68-44 and will be taking on Portland State.

[kibaxx7]

Re: March 8, 2020 Northern Colorado vs Weber State [Big Sky Tournament]

Good! Both brothers out would have killed me!

[studbucket]

March 11, 2020 Northern Colorado vs Northern Arizona [Big Sky Tournament]

After a solid win against Weber State, the Bears of Northern Colorado are just 2 wins away from making the NCAA tournament, but they first must get through conference champion Northern Arizona. The Lumberjacks are a well-rounded and well-coached team and Oggy will need his players to be at the top of their game and play disciplined. Karl Lloyd is the junior point guard with great court vision and is the kind of player who has dominated the Bears this season.

Portland State is waiting for the winner of this game, after a dominating 81-59 victory over Idaho State.

Once again, Northern Colorado started out hot. The champion lumberjacks looked sloppy and sluggish, as PG Branden Stiles had 3 steals and 3 assists in the first five minutes and the rest of the team followed his lead. After starting off 8-2, they found themselves winning 21-10 halfway through the first half. During a timeout, Oggy implored his team to pour it on and put the game out of reach at halftime. It didn’t quite happen that way, though UNC maintained a 35-26 halftime lead despite only shooting 1/4 from deep.

The 2^nd half started out really well for the Bears as they extended their lead to 15 point, and that’s when it started falling apart. The Lumberjacks started working their way back into the game, taking advantage of cold shooting from Northern Colorado. After a small UNC run, the Lumberjacks took control and made it a 1 point game, 59-58.

After a few minutes in which nobody could control the game, the game was 65-63 with just 90 seconds left after Northern Arizona hit 1 of 2 shots from the foul line. What happened next?

1:10 – Jahnke had his three blocked, but the ball was recovered by Mascoll, who scored: 67-63
1:00 – NAU got an easy bucket inside, 67-65
0:42 – Mascoll with a strong finish inside, guaranteeing at least 1 more possession for the Bears. 69-65
0:37 – Karl Lloyd finally shows up for NAU and nails a three, 69-68
0:32 – NAU starts fouling and Branden Stiles makes both shots. 71-68
0:25 – Donovin Mascoll fouls Jean-Baptiste Pekkola, who misses his 1^st free throw but makes the 2^nd. 71-69
0:23 – Branden Stiles is intentionally fouled again and makes both shots. 73-69
0:10 – Karl Lloyd strikes again, nailing three to make it 73-72
0:09 – Branden Stiles is fouled again, but misses the first of the one-and-one!
0:00 – As time runs out, Karl Lloyd takes an open three, but it clangs off the front of the rim. The Bears win!

The Bears won despite a bad three point shooting night, going 2-9. It was their defense and interior play that got them the victory, and they’d need the same, and more, to compete against Portland State tomorrow night.

[kibaxx7]

Re: March 11, 2020 Northern Colorado vs Northern Arizona [Big Sky Tournament]

What a game from Mascoll!

[studbucket]

Re: March 11, 2020 Northern Colorado vs Northern Arizona [Big Sky Tournament]

What a game from Mascoll!

Yeah, 20 of those were in the second half. He was key to getting the victory, though I wish he was more of a force on the defensive end (Swanson averages more blocks per game).

[studbucket]

March 12, 2020 Northern Colorado vs Portland State [Big Sky Tournament]

Oggy has not had the best of time against the Vikings of Portland State, but he wasn’t too worried about that. His team had made the Big Sky Conference tournament finals, and if things went their way, they’d be in the tournament. He was going to impress the importance of this game to his Seniors – a chance to get to the dance, to extend their careers – but he didn’t feel that same urgency. This was year 1, and the fact he’d made it this far was gravy. He would make it to the dance, probably win it someday. Maybe he’d only be in Greeley 1-2 more years and he could move to a better mid-major, maybe a conference with multiple bids. Now he was getting ahead of himself. He hadn’t signed any recruits for next season, and a win here and tournament berth would be huge for the recruiting circuit.

That thought helped him focus back on the task at hand: how to stop Maarty Pinkalla.

It turns out Oggy didn’t need to stop Pinkalla; the senior stopped himself. 2 fouls in the first few minutes meant that he sat most of the first half. With Pinkalla out, the Vikings had no rim protector and the Bears went to town.

Within 5 minutes of the half starting, the Bears were up 30-19, and every time Sam Platt pulled his team closer, Andres Swanson and Donovin Mascoll would answer. At halftime the Bears were up 43-34 and were shooting an amazing 75% from the field. The only reason that the Vikings were in the game was because of Sam Platt’s 13 points.

At halftime, Oggy took a page from his brother’s book and only had 2 instructions:

1. Brandon North was going to shadow Platt and keep him from getting any open looks
2. The team should look to control the game and the ball

Pinkalla was back in the game, but the big man was invisible. UNC started creeping ahead, and probably sealed it with a crazy sequence that started with 9:36 left in the game: Andres Swanson had an ill-advised pass to North that was stolen by the Vikings, but Swanson hustled back and knocked the ball free on the layup attempt. Stiles picked up the ball, got it to North, who tried to feed it into Jahnke for a layup. Instead it was picked up by Pinkalla, who passed it upcourt. However, the Vikings’ next pass was deflected by Swanson and stolen by Stiles, who handed it off to Swanson. Andres Swanson drove into the lane and kicked it out to Brandon North who hit a 23-footer from the wing to put UNC up 57-36.

From that point on, it was domination and resulted in a 30 point victory for Northern Colorado. It was onto the Big Dance for the boys from Greeley!

Maarty Pinkalla did not manage to take a single shot. It was an amazing victory and gameplan by Coach Dragomirov, and one that he’ll probably never forget: his 1^st conference title and berth into the NCAA tournament.

[dfsJunkie]

Re: March 12, 2020 Northern Colorado vs Portland State [Big Sky Tournament]

Big time coaching success when the main focus of your game plan is to stop Pinkalla and the guy doesn't even get a shot up! Congrats on the title and NCAA tourney berth