BuzzerBeater Forums

Poll: How far do you think we can make it in the consolation tournament?
Response Votes Result
won't survive 1st round 1
first knock-out phase 2
1/8th final 2
1/4th final 1
semi final 0
final 0
win the tournament 2

Those 2 who mentioned 1/8th final, will probably be right ;)

In 5 minutes our game against Serbia will start.
I tried to predict the tactics of our opponent, which was not very easy but I have to take risks if we want to make the best out of it.

This will most likely be the end game of our consolation tournament and my final official game as U21 coach.

Not expected, but we won after OT. Serbia decided to go for a TIE and underestimate our squad!

Belgium U21 - Serbia U21 88-84 (60310)


After our first round victory against Serbia, we were seeking for a bigger surprise and defeat them again in their own house.
S. Watthé, P. Horemans, J. Cornelissens, P. De Paepe and T. Tutenel were our starting five. We had a great start and only got behind for the first time in the 3rd Q. We had more enthousiasm and our GDP was not great, but we managed to go into the lead for the last minute of the game. Just like last week, this was going to be a nail-biting end. With 76-75 and 12 seconds at the clock, R Schreiner (just called up in the squad) made a foul with 2 FT's as result. Serbia missed 1 and we couldn't score before the buzzer beater... OT!

Watthé had 2/2 FT as were were going into lead again. Serbia could score against us but every team was very nervous and it was obvious that the coolest team at the FT would grab the win. And with 79% from the line we left Serbia behind. The crowd went wild against their coach and players, who had to flee from the arena under yelling of boooooos.

Our inside players really did well, we won in the stats with Rebounds, assists, steals and blocks :D Our flow was a bit lower, but our inside scoring was higher. The Serbian coach must have regretted underestimating us so much, thinking he could easily pass.

Good new for the next round, we'll play at home against Poland. W or L, this campaign is noteworthy.

Let's make it a great party (party)

On to the next!
This way you'll never get to retire :)

Nice surprise :)

Let's make a retirement party next week XD

Haha

Saying goodbye in beauty! :)

Meanwhile it's raining with excuses on the Serbian forum, their coach gambled and lost. That's life :)

Now we are with the last 8, here are the matchups:

Australia U21 @ Israël U21

Australia will matchup a stronger team, in their house and that only played TIE so far. Israel is the clear favourite in this one and are eager to make it into the final.

Hungary U21 @ Hellas U21

Interesting matchup, both teams are equal to each other and the winner will face Israel, so enthousiasm cannot be wasted.

Poland U21 @ Belgium U21

Better team, only played TIE so far. Poland is definitely aiming for the trophy. Losing against them is not a shame.
But we will sell our skin at high prices.

Makedonia U21 @ Slovenia U21

Also an interesting matchup. The winner shouldn't waste enthousiasm if they want to win against Poland.

Wow, excellent result ! Serbia is a very strong BB nation, you did great !

What a week it was for belgian BB basket.

@The Great Saloon, home court of our NT coach Joe

Poland U21 @ Belgium U21 101-72 (60359)


We were experiencing the power of Poland, it never became a match. Even with 100% correct GDP we would lose against them. Only in the last quarter could we make the gap a little bit smaller....

But what a party it was (party)

20164 specatators were saluting our squad when entering the arena. Selfies here, autographs there, everyone was thrilled! The interview I had before the game was all about our U21 youngsters, how incredible they were during the entire campaign.

But Poland was not impressed, from start to finish they dominated the match and did not allow us any breathing space. But in the end, our stats were not that terrible.

We had less TO's, more steals and more blocks. But we made a lot of fouls, 23 vs 8. Poland shot 27/30 (90%) FT's, incredibly efficient. That made the difference yesterday.

Of course, this loss was expected. Poland is for sure nr9 in the world, and they have good chances to win in the finals against Israel. And now it has also occurred to me that this was my last official game for our U21.

And what a road it was. The slogan teamwork makes the dream work really made a difference. Throughout the process I had the opportunity to work with managers who wanted to do their best to take our U21 to the next level. It's really hard to compete against countries who have more users, but we fought hard. I think our team developed in a good way and we are ready to aim for better results. I am sure my successor will do at the very least as well. I hereby wish him/her the best of luck.

For the remaining weeks, I will plan 2 games against Holland (home and away). After these games the season will be over and then I'll hand over the torch :)


In the meanwhile, I'll salute you all (BB),


Maarten aka Warriorground.