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South Africa doubled last week victory, defeating Al Maghrib with a large gap 96-64. South Africa is now third with same record of Al Jazair and Tounes, with better scoring difference.

Only first quarter gave us some problems against a crazy arrangement (only 5 players in roster, the 50K SG moved as PF but in balanced attack!), probably because different attitude, then freshness ensured by depth of roster and indisputable superiority in all areas pushed South Africa ahead, increasing the gap till the end of the match. It is the largest loss for Al Maghrib, including the first match played with only 3 players!

Juggie Wagana is the MVP: 10/12, 22p, 16r in just 28' against the strangest PF I have ever met, leaving to the opponent 13/28 33p (but including garbage time effect). Solid performances by Teka, Burr and Sehularo, quite satisfactory Kolane off the bench. Magubane performed below expections, probably because his shape. Issa and Schartner contributions have been minimal. I wish to thank Kolane and Mofokeng, starting from the bench but bringing solid contributions.

Let me welcome two new players. Sabata Resha backed Schartner up in the difficult role of PG. He is our third PG, but he's 20's and is working hard. Sifiye Neimand deserves good training to move ahead from incomplete player to solid performer.

The large gap in a much balanced conference pops South Africa up to the third place. Roster will need some arrangement later, but we are moving in the right direction. I wish to personally thank all managers that decided to put South Africa interests above their short terms', selling key players to allow them to be appropriately trained. Thank you again!

Now, we completed phase 2 of the program, that is having a stable roster and well suited players. This has been a quite big effort, performed with the full support of my staff. Now we are moving into phase 3, that is planning intensive programs for all other trainees.

Let me have a look at other matches as usual:
Misr - Al Jazair 102 - 75: although different attitude allowed Al Jazair to close first half with just 8 points of difference, Misr took off in 3rd quarter, closing with a large 102-75 victory, still led by top scoreer al-Hana. A crystal clear victory by home-fielders.

Nigeria - Ghana 96 - 70: Ghana rushed in Q1 trailing by a surprising +12, thanks to a post vs 3-2 zone. Nigeria closed Q1 at -10 with a buzzerbeater, than decided to close the match in Q2 (27-5!), controlling Q3 and dominating Q4 against tired opponents. 25 points by Ekuru. Impressive MR's by Nigeria.

Tounes - Senegal 115 - 103: Tounes spent a MOTS against Senegal PIC: that made the difference in a good starting by winners, that controled the match in second half. The wrong 2-3 zone against Senegal's R&G risked to set the basis for a surprise.

We are where we wanted to be at this stage: two losses more than honourable against leaders, two comfortable victories afterwards, stabilized roster, well estabilished training plan, scouting in progress. The only odd thing at the moment is the 0% in my evaluation as head coach: I am confident I will cancel that too soon!

Good luck for this afternoon !!!! The national team U 21 Senegal will be strong against you!! I hope it will be a good match

Bye

Last edited by Sesegnon_87 at 5/3/2010 10:57:59 AM

Good luck for this afternoon !!!! The national team U 21 Senegal will be strong against you!! I hope it will be a good match

Bye

I missed your post and I regret it! Thank you for that, much appreciated

I just watched the match, the unbalanced defense made the difference, but I am sure we will meet again next "last 6" tournament.

Third victory in a row, over 50 points of difference before garbage-effect, isolated third place two matches before end of qualification tournament!

In first four matches, Senegal played well. However, 2-3 zone chosen to limit inside attack was caught absolutely unbalanced against a solid motion attack, while south african 3-2 zone limited opponents best scorers: this tells the story of the whole match. The match lasted for about 6 minutes, when Kaloga sit in the bench because of fouls, and Mofokeng led South African break. Gap constantly grew over 50 points during fourth quarter, thanks to 60% overall shooting percentage (40% 3pts). Good rebounding and solid defense kept Senegal at a minimum of 69 points.

It is hard to select an MVP in such a match. I personally pick up Sizwe Mofokeng (8/13 overall, 3/6 3pts, 3 rb, 2 ast, 19pts) only because he led the decisive break. Top scorer Resha, top rebounder Wagana, and first quarter of Grumede deserve a mention. All twelve players scored, 5 in double digit.

Al Maghrib - Misr 51 - 98: Al Maghrib tried to surprise Misr with desperate MOTS vs PIC. The impressive defense of Misr made again the difference, while attack looked like not shocked by opponents' aggressiveness (50% shooting). Misr caught almost double rebounds, and shut the match during first quarter. Al Maghrib says goodbye to the tournament, with 0 won and Nigeria next match, to be afforded with bad TS after today's MOTS.

Tounes - Nigeria 83 - 135: last week's MOTS almost killed Tounes' defense, so no problem at all for Nigeria to keep the match under control since the very beginning.

Ghana - Al Jazair 99 - 85: Ghana entered the match with the enthousiasm of first victory of its history last week. The two guards played imppressively (114 and 108 MR's, 62 points) against man defense. Al Jazair dominated rebounds (62-39) but rebalanced possession loosing too many balls. Match entered fourth quarter with Ghana trailing by just 4, before expanding the gap with a final partial of 25-15.

With Ghana's victory, South Africa is now isolated at third place with 3-2 record, against net 5-0 of Misr and Nigeria, leading by one Tounes, Al Jazair and Ghana. Senegal is 1-4, while Al Maghrib is virtually eliminated by 0-5.

Next week, Al Jazair-Senegal could be a decisive match to proceed to next stage. Misr and Nigeria will be favoured against Al Maghrib and Tounes. South Africa will face the surprise Ghana.

Defeating Ghana, South Africa extends its winning streak to four, gaining a definitive third place in qualification tournament!

After 19" in first quarter Dingane Kolane scored his first free throw, Will Burr grabbed an offensive rebound, and Juggie Wagana scored 3-0. The game was over already. Ghana attempts to close the gap were frustrated by solid defense and acceptable offense. Unfortunately Ghana's coach slightly surprised me with some unexpected tactical choice. However, Sehularo and Wagana scored regularly, while on both sides boards were under full control of our team.

An impressive 32-17 expanded the gap to 24 points at halftime, and Ghana was outscored more than 30 during 3rd quarter. Garbage time allowed our opponents to recover 12 points, till to more than acceptable final score 100-81. With this victory South Africa is mathematically 3rd after qualification tournament, behind Misr and Nigeria. This is the minimum goal I set for the team, achieved one round in advance! I wish to thank all my staff for relentless effort that allowed us to this good result, and all managers for their constant commitment to train our players as needed. And we want to do more.

Without any doubt, MVP is our superstar Juggie Wagana, who scored an incredible 14/15 or 93% (!), 29pts, 17rbs, in just 27'! Great job indeed. Special mention to Thabo Sehularo, preferred to Jurgen Schartner as PG because of his better shape. Not much satisfactory performances by their teammates, specifically on offense side, but today result was the only meaningful thing. Free throws must improve (note to managers: if you want to train FT's this week, I fully agree with you).

Misr - Tounes U21 91 - 65: weaked by two weeks' ago MOTS, Tounes decided to take a chance against Misr playing normally. The match lasted less than 10', than Misr took control of the match, dominating rebounds and punishing Tounes zone.

Nigeria - Al Maghrib U21 115 - 60: Al Maghrib is the first team eliminated by qualification tournament. Still with only six players in the roster and with horrible evaluations, Al Maghrib was unable to oppose any resistance to solid Nigeria, still undefeated.

Al Jazair U21 - Senegal 82 - 98: this is the surprise of the day, creating great suspence for next week's matchs. Probably, for the first time in my experience in BB, shot blocks made the difference! 13-2 BLKs in favour of Senegal shifted shooting percentage while all other statistics were balanced. It is surprising that Al Jazair brought just seven players, but this the story.

It is intriguing to look in advance at next weeks matches: Misr and Nigeria will face to grab first place, bringing some advantage to next tournament. Ghana vs Senegal will probably eliminate the looser in a dramatic on/off match. Tounes should ensure qualification with an easy victory against Al Maghrib, while Al Jazair will try to break a three-game losing streak and catch qualification against us. It is too early to talk about next tournament, as we will bring head-to-head results against other qualified teams. The only thing that matters now is that South Africa will be there!

South Africa extends its winning streak to five, entering second round with a great 5-2 record!

The match lasted few minutes, till Grumede boost South Africa attack with an impressive 5/8 14p in just 8 minutes in first quarter, closed ahead 30-17. The second attack of Africa scored additional 32 in the second quarter, when Al Jazair tried to comeback. Our team kept full control of the match, although some fouls created some thrilling. In garbage time gap expanded of additional 12 points, to a final 118-84 (+32).

Al Jazair defense, 0/15 3 pointers shooting, and -14 gap in rebounding, performed much worse than expected. On our side, solid defense gave us full control of the match, while about 50% shooting brought us to the victory.

This time MVP is assigned to Sabatha Resha, 8/12 21p in only 20 minutes! Another great match played by Juggie Wagana (7/12 18p 16r), although impressive Staiti scored 10/18 23p 9r. I much appreciated Dingane Kolane, Liod Grumede (first quarter only ), Sizwe Mofokeng and Diliza Issa. Only our PG's (impacted by bad shape) and Will Burr (solid anyway at rebounding) played below expectations.

This victory consolidates South Africa in a lonely third place with 5-2 record, that will allow us to enter next round with a quite good 3-1. Now, final four must be achieved. This is a +3 won compared to last continental championship! Let me thank all my team again, and former coach Trex for having left me a well launched team.

Senegal - Ghana 110 - 107: this was the most dramatic match of the week: the winner could step into second round, the loser seriously risked to be eliminated and not included in next season world cup qualification. Senegal took leadership since the beginning, led by Kaloga (38p). Ghana center Ndiour played only 23 minutes before being fouled out. At the beginning of fourth quarter, Senegal was trailing by 17. Ghana increased rythm and 3-pointers, under the leadership of its PG Sina (7/9 3pts, 38p!). Although Senegal was leading by 5 at 20", Ghana had the last shoot with Sina on the buzzer. Sina missed his third 3-pointers shot, closing with a still impressive 70%. Senegal advances to second round. However, the combination of this result with South Africa-Al Jazair left Ghana with best points difference (-77 vs -85!). So Ghana advanced to next round, while Al Jazair is eliminated!

Al Maghrib - Tounes 98 - 116: the match was relevant to Tounes only, as Maghrib was already eliminated. Al Maghrib brought 11 players, but only 7 actually entered the court. Tounes played with higher attitude, but match was well balanced until begin of fourth quarter, thanks to final 55 by Yousif. In the final minutes, Tounes performed a final rush 38-22, closing ahead of 18 points. Tounes great ball circulation was converted into 31 assists, and 50% shooting (in 3pts too!). Tounes joins us in second round.

Nigeria - Misr 66 - 83; this was the match of the game between the two undefeated teams. Misr played with higher attitude to ensure first place advantage. In the first quarter, Nigeria took first advantage in a point-to-point game, closing with +5 gap thanks to a very solid defense (18-13). Since second quarter, the difference in attitude became evident, Misr defense Al Hana moved to next gear, till final victory. Great match, looking at both teams evaluation, ruled by Misr impressive defense.

Tonight, it is time to celebrate. The first result, the minimal I could accept, was already achieved. Waiting for official confirmation, second round should start with Misr 5-0, Nigeria 4-1, South Africa 3-2, all other ones 1-4. This is a good starting point to aim to final four. We have now to wait for second round scheduling to start our planning, as done for this first round.

Last edited by GM-BlackMouse at 5/17/2010 5:13:54 PM

Congratulations for your round!!!!

We hope you win the title of African Champion's

Congratulations for your round!!!!

We hope you win the title of African Champion's

Thank you very much! Unfortunately both Nigeria and Misr still have something more than us but I can promise we will do our best!

Gotta say, you've done a wonderful job on this. Sorry Sehularo hasn't improved much.

Gotta say, you've done a wonderful job on this. Sorry Sehularo hasn't improved much.

Thank you very much. But we hope that will be only the beginning! Although our opponents are big-bad-ugly!

About Sehularo, the only thing I ask him is to be in good shape (recently he haven't been). Considering his potential, he is a little miracle, and I could hard figure out anything more in the same conditions! I don't think he will be able to pops anymore - but any training will be of course appreciated.

He is also a solid performer, so shape is the only things that matter now for him!

Final tournament starts with our 6th victory in row, that expands the gap and points difference against competitors.

Senegal tried to surprise us with an innovative Look Inside, hoping in a 3-2 zone on our side, and defending M2M to avoid any surprise from our side. However, I stayed conservative and opposed a M2M defense, that almost shut opponent's attack down. A solid 9-2 starting closed immediately the match, then gap always expanded till garbage time. A wide set of attack options and a passable ball circulation allowed us to take always good shots (50/95, 31 assists!), while Senegal hit our good defense. The game flew quick and quiet, with a final 112-71.

This time too my MVP is Juggie Wagana, 6/11 13p 19r 4a. In fact, nobody shined more than others, as you should also notice Will Burr (7/7 16p but only 5r), Dingane Kolane (6/13 14p 6a), and Sabatha Resha (8/14 17p, our top scorer). Not all the team performed at the same level (Schartner with 5 fouls in first half, Magubane with 4/14), but it was not the game to take much care of statistics.

Ghana - Nigeria 62 - 127: After last week's the terrible effort that allowed them to enter top 6, Ghana afforded Nigeria in very bad shape. Nigeria doubled rebounds (58-25), keeping full control of the match after balanced Q1, and showing impressive final evaluations.

Tounes - Misr 61 - 119: it was stunning to see Tounes leading after half of Q1 against Misr that decided to play R&G instead of usual Look Inside. However, the match was over since the beginning, when Tounes set a 2-3 zone trying to change ground rules against the first candidate to final victory. Misr showed very high evaluations in spite of having changed usual approach. Tounes showed an incredible 8 in ball circulation, at the level of top world teams (Spain did one sublevel better today, Italy just 7). However, Misr defence was too hard to Tounes, leaving 14 combinate points in Q2+Q3.

Next round, South Africa will face Ghana, Senegal vs Misr, and Tounes vs Nigeria.