Hello everyone!
We have already played 5 official games this season, so lets see what we've been through.
The first 3 games weren't much of a challenge to be honest. We managed to easily win against South Korea, Ghana and The Bahamas with nice point differentials and playing varying tactics.
In the 4th game we played against a stronger team than use, Estonia. I tried to catch them with a GDP which unfortunately wasn't successful, and in the end we lost only by 6 points. This made me think that I misjudged the difference between the teams, but also as I analyzed them, their inside offense seemed to be weak and they still played for it, so it was just barely enough to win thanks to the wrong GDP (that went for their stronger offense..).
Yesterday we played against Canada who are currently ranked 20 in the world. I knew that having our home court here could help us win this game and I went for it. With a higher enthusiasm used here we have won by 17 points, an impressive win, and the points differential might also prove important for the next stage.
Our next games will be against Bulgaria, Pakistan and Jamaica, in that order. I expect us to win at least 2 of them, which will guarantee our spot in the knockout stage, which we haven't qualified for since season 61.
So far some of our key players are Ronny Melin, Jaakko Jolkkonen, Johan Oskarsson and Michael Blomlund.
They have provided us with great efforts both on offense and defense and are leading us through this season so far.
It is important to note the Jaako and Johan are only 20 years old! A great sign for next season.
In addition to them we have another two 20yo and even two 19yo in the squad! Our future generations are looking stronger and stronger each weak, and I am very optimistic regarding our future and seasons to come.
We have started the season ranked 53 and now we are at 48. Only going up from here! this might prove important for the groups of next season's European Championship.
I hope that everyone in this community will continue their efforts of training Swedish players for the NT and U21NT, and if you are not doing it yet, then there is no better time to join! Contact us either here in the forum/bb-mail or join the Discord.