BuzzerBeater Forums

Times certainly does fly, and once again, a new season is upon us. This means that we got a new NT games, and so i'd like to give you a little presentation on what you can expect of the upcomming season.

First off, i'd like to thank everyone for having re-elected me. It pleases me very much to see the Belgian managers having so much fate in me, and i'll do my utmost best not to dissapoint them.

Before i give a little preview, i'll quickly give you a little summary of what was achieved the past 2 seasons.

*) in the season 15 european quallifiers, Belgium managed to go for a perfect 7-0 record, beating top ranked teams (Portugal was 9th and Slovenko was 11th on the NT ranking list) to proceed to the european championschip for the second time in it's history, where it ended on the 5th spot in their pool. The Belgian NT had the advantage of being the underdog in the European Qualifier and was underestimated by some teams, which gave us the chance to go to the european championship as pool leader for the first time in NT history. In the european championschip pool games, only one game ended in a victory ( against Eesti) but knowing that top teams such as Germany feared the Belgian NT ( proof is them putting in more effort in the game between Belgium and Germany than we did) shows that even top teams had noticed that Belgium had made tremendous improvements and had become much more powerfull.

*) in season 16, the belgian Nt played a consolation tournament, with losses to Brazil, South Africa ( stupid loss) and England. Never the less, Belgium confirmed that their european campaigne in season 15 was no fluke. In the Knock out stages, Belgium played a good game against South America's top team Mexico, which ended in a narrow defeat 131 -124.


All the results of the last 2 seasons have allowed Belgium to enter the top 25 in the NT world ranking. Currently, te Belgians hold the 24th spot.

For the Season 17 europeans quallifier, we have in our group:
1) Czech NT team ( 17th world ranking, but winner of last seasons consolation tournament and thus, Host for the european quallifier and european championship of season 17. They will have Home Court Advantage in each game)
2) Netherlands NT team (currently 23rd on world ranking list and just above us Belgians. They have always managed to quallify themselves for the european championship except in season 9)
3) Belgian NT team (24th on the world ranking list)
4) Russian NT team (name is Rossiya, they are 40th on the world ranking list, but have a team that has much more potential in it. The past 4 seasons weren't very succesfull for them, but with a newly elected coach from the russian Top league, they should be once more, a force to reckon with)
5) Croatian NT team (name is Sakartvelo. They have a few strong players but lack a depth in their Nt roster. However, the past few seasons, they have made some pretty significant progress and could upset any team that underestimates their strenght. They currently are ranked 42nd of the world)
6) Macedonian NT team (ranked 61st of the world, this is also one of those teams that have finally got everything organized and are starting to get some nice players. Yet the team still seems to have a way to go but again. Don't underestimate them, since they will make you pay for it. One of their PF's, Oli Georgiev, currently plays for Mumu Boy's, who are a team from the BBBL)
7) Romania's NT Team (ranked at 64th place on the world ranking list, and if you've kept an eye on the TL lately, you got to wonder how come the Romanian NT team is ranked so low when having such nice players in their team. They are without any doubt an underdog in this qualifier and seem to have a roster that could even contend for the second place in the quallifier if their Gameshape doesn't let them down)

8) Luxembourg NT team (ranked at the 97th spot, without a player who's salary exceeds 100k, luxembourg is without dought the weakest team in our eurpean quallifier pool and will most likely lose all their games. Question is, who will they try to beat by using all their enthousiasme hoping to get that one victory in this competition. Since the 2nd spot in this quallifier might end up getting decided based on points average, they could hold a vital key by denying a team a big win against them)

Now that we know who are in our pool, one thing is almost certain:
Since Czech NT is the host, they'll have HCA in each game, making it even harder for any team to beat them. Since they are the strongest team of this pool, they should end up winning all 7 of their games and proceeding to the European championship. This means that their will only be one spot for 4 possible teams ( Netherlands, Russia, Romania and Belgium) to quallify for the European championship. It will be a harsh battle without for that second spot, in which the calendre is the most favorable for the Netherlands.

The Belgian Nt will aim for the second spot in our pool, and theirfor, the game against the Netherlands might decide the whole outcome of this tournament. To get the second place, a 6-1 record is more than recommended, Altho, with Russia and Romania being in the pool, it isn't impossible that with a 5-2 record, the second place could still be ours. However, this means that Belgium will need to have all their Nt players in TOP shape if we want to hope to qualify for the european championship.

So take care of your minutes of your NT players, and then the Belgian NT will have a shot at that second Position. At the moment, i fear that the Dutch NT is just slightely stronger than the Belgian NT, and theirfor, are the favorites to get that second spot in this European quallifier.

current expectations:

1) Czech NT
2) Netherlands/Belgium
3) Belgium/Netherlands
4) Russia
5) Romania
6) Sakartvelo
7) Makedonia
8) Luxembourg.

The number 2 to 5 positioning should be a very close one. Each of those teams has a very strong roster. The big difference with season 15 is that we won't be underestimated anymore, so it will be much harder to qualify for the next round this time. I hope all the managers will keep their players in great shape.

I'm looking forward to this NT season, and hope that i'll have the same GS on my players as in season 15. Our first game is against Romania, a team which might be able to create an upset. Let's hope for a good Belgian GS update, cause a win against Romania is a must if we wish to contend for the second spot in this european quallifier round.

LA-Revo

+1
i came too late

first game is starting in 2 minutes. I'm hoping for a win, but i have got some concerns on the GS tho.

Romania added a PG and seemingly a big rebounding/attaquing C to their squad, yet that leaves them with 1 PF, 2 C's in strong gameshape, 1 C in respectable gameshape, and the rest with less.

I'm expecting them to attack outside and have made a line up to use it to my advantage in the best possible way, given the GS available.

Let's see if it's enough.

LA-Revo

despite their pretty bad gameshape, Romania managed to play LI. what was very weird, is that their Guards kept making lay-up after lay-up after lay-up. they just couldn't miss any lay-ups.

Also very distrubing is that we were playing very well, untill Deseure got injured. From that point on, we just kept taking bucket after bucket after bucket.

Despite the inside attack, i couldn't have fielded any better big men to stop their inside.

Right now, Romania and Russia are the 2 teams with the biggest chance of getting that second spot. The Netherlands lost their game, due to a very bad gameshape of which Makedonia took advantage of.

As mentioned before, their are 4 teams in this pool that can compete for the second spot: The Netherlands, Russia, Romania and us.

it's likely that it will all come down to who can get 5 wins and who will have the best point average. At this point, the second spot isn't in our hands no longer. Belgian NT will have to play each game as if it's their last game, and if we even lose one more game before facing the czechs, then this qualifier is over. Right now, we've still got a small chance. I played the tactic to our fullest. If our best player shooter ends up injured, then their isn't much that you can do about it.

It's going to be a tough qualification. Enthousiasme and gameshape is going to be a key for the 4 teams that i mentioned earlier. however, the team that takes 2 losses (game against Czech not included) will be eliminated from contension for that second spot. The only luck that the Belgian NT has, is that the Dutch NT lost it's game, and that the Russia NT took a real beating from the czechs.

From here on out, it's do or die.

first off: seeing the ratings, the result is prety normal.

second, to comment on

what was very weird, is that their Guards kept making lay-up after lay-up after lay-up. they just couldn't miss any lay-ups.

you say it's weird.
it's possible that it IS weird, but it's also possible that it's not so weird. I have no clue on the ID of our guards, and especially their block skill. But if the combo ID/block, is rather low on our guards, then it's perfectly normal that with a look inside tactic and guards with decent IS/driving (in which I believe driving is the more important one, and many guards tend to have high driving!!), a lot of lay-ups succeed.

having good big men to defend inside only helps aganist this when you play zone (even 3-2, as then the 2 big men do defend the inside, and keep the guards from scoring easely inside). If you play man to man, it's our guards versus theirs, and then this isn't realy so weird if you understand how it works...

so the solution against inside attacking teams is either: play zone, or have a team with players that all have some ID/block skills.

the smallest lvl of ID on the guards that was playing today, is a 5. average of above 6 on Id of all those guards. So unless all their guards had IS 9, which, some how, i rather doubt it, then it remains inexplaniable.

SB lvls are in the same range, but average is just a bitt lower. Their is no way, that all their Guards had an IS of 8, 9 or more.

So i still don't get why they kept making so many lay's.

Also, if you look at our C and PF. They got hammered. Despite having high ammount of ID/SB lvls, they just got completely hammered. Defensifly, we looked like cheese, and we defo got enough defense.

Worst of this all, is that as soon as Deseure left the game, we couldn't do anything anymore. They also kept hitting all their FT's, which caused the score to ballon in the end...

I had the skills on plural of their players, including their guards. Burtea's IS = lvl 3, DR 17. yet he just kept laying em in.
Thys has got IS 1. Yet, he lay's em in at a pretty fast rate. And a zonal defense wouldn't have helped here. 2-3 is asking for trouble when you are facing a team with shooters with JS 17 JR 13 or better. 3-2 wouldn't have helped either, because we would have simply been dominated on the boards (we already were dominated in a MTM defense). 1-3-1 is a kamikaze outside defense where rebounding is cut down even more. And their was no reason to play Full Court Press. OD minimum is high on our NT (mail me if you want to know the exact number) yet we hardly got any turn overs from them. And despite having high SB lvl players, all we got were... 2 blocks... i call that pretty darn small ammount of blocks for the lvl of SB that our NT has.

anyhow, a loss is a loss. No matter how many times i'm gonna relook at that game, i'm gonna feel as if we should have won it. And considering how the team just completely lost it after Deseures injury, where as De Piano is defensively just as good as Deseure (he's even got more ID/SB than deseure). It just doesn't add up.

That Romanian pulled away in the end, is kinda logical. If you go into money time, against players who are all between 27 and 30, then they've got a tremendous advantage in terms of experience, and you just know that they'll hammer you, their and then.

It's going to be interesting to see how this qualifier will unfold itself, but with the Netherlands losing, and Russia taking a very hard beating, i can't help but say that we've lost a golden opportunity to put ourselves in a good position for that second spot.

Next stop will be against Macedonia. If we lose against them, then this qualifier is over.

don't know, there's always a random factor, but if they make 7 out of 10 shots, there might be 3 or 4 by the random factor, but there will be definatly 3 or 4 that hit because they suposed to.

I repeat: for lay-ups the driving on the attacking player is most important, and the block on the defender is most important.
Guards tend to have high driving (12 and higher), so unless our guards have SB of 7+ , we can expect at least half of the lay-ups to go in.
Don't forget their look inside tactic also boosts the chance of hitting inside shots!

with a rather close win over Macedonie, where i was forced to alter my gameplan due to the injury of Lahure, we still managed to win.

This was without any dought the weirdest game i've seen, yet againt a princeton attack, it seemed like a good plan to put up a line-up to defend against it as well as possible, but let the coach decide option kept on, just incase if one of the players would get into early faultrouble.

This left us with a very weird game, where some players played on the weirdest positions (Waelput, Deseure and De Neef ended up on the SF spot at some point) which ofcourse wasn't always very great. ( Having a C vs an SG on the SF, playing man to man when you know that opposing SF ( SG) is a good shooter, isn't exactly what i had in mind). Yet, somehow, we managed to pull through, despite Macedonia putting in more effort than us.

However, this all could very well be in vain, because Russia has beaten the Netherlands. That means that the Preliminairy is over for the Netherlands, and since we are their last though opponent ( before an unwinable game against the Czechs) that we'll most likely end up facing a CT, which, no matter how you look at it, will end up costing us dearly.

The Russians remain unbeaten and from what i've seen, seem to have build up their enthousiasme as good as possible, playing 2x TIE in their past 2 games. Thus, even if the Belgian Nt would be able to beat the russians, we'd still take a beating from the Czech NT ( that is certain) aswell as a most likely CT from the dutch team. In the highly unlikely event that the Belgians would be able to win either against the Dutch or the Czech NT team, then the second spot still would be out of reach, because we wouldn't be able to get a good point difference going...

With Romania wasting enthousiasme on Sakartvelo, it seems that the top 2 for this qualifier round are already known, being Russia and the hosts, the Czechs...

That first game against Romania reminded me of the qualifier round in season 11, where an early loss against the Cypriotic team in the first game ended up costing us the second spot in the division...

Their is an expression saying that it ain't over till the fat lady sings, but no matter how i look at it, Russia is in a perfect possition to secure the second spot. The only way russia could end up missing it, would be if they'd lose another 2 games, but i don't see em losing 2 games... It's not in our hands anymore.

They have gotten a good manager for a change, and they always had a good roster. They just underachieved the past few seasons...

Ow well, i guess we might as well go for the 3rd spot then, since Russians will be securing the second one. Atleast we'll be able to rpevent a slide in the Nt rankings that way and thus hope for a good draw the upcomming seasons...

As things stand now, the ranking will most likely be:

1) Czech
2) Russia
3) Belgium
4) Netherlands
5) Macedonia
6) Romania
7) Luxembroug
8) Sakartvelo

Netherlands paid the price for having a bad Gameshape which will end up proving to be costly in their first 2 games... And we are going to pay the price for losing against romains in that first game...

LA-Revo

I think your calculation of 7-0 for Czech rep. is problematic. If some match is played TIE vs. CT we can lose easily. And I think you in 6th round and Nederland in last round should be forced to use CT if beating us stays only way to next phase of EC. Also if I go to match against Nederland with 6-0 I have no reason to play anything but TIE.

Last edited by rwystyrk at 8/19/2011 12:45:43 PM