BuzzerBeater Forums

Our boys blew the match against Iran U21 last night as they fell 87-73 thanks to a dominating third quarter by the Iranians. Game shape was the main culprit of the loss today, as Waleed Khaleque was out with injury throughout the whole week, causing him to not get any minutes of game time prior to the last training update. This resulted Neo Leng Nie in earning a call-up to the team and receiving his first cap. However the youngster had butterflies in his stomach and ended up shooting blanks throughout his 9 minutes on court, scoring only once from the penalty stripe. The poor game shape and the lack balance in defense among our available players had forced me to play a zone defense in an attempt to cover up our defensive weaknesses. However it did not work well.

Ho Jun Kwang was by far the best offensive player of the night. He put the team on his shoulders and scored a game high 32 points with a 60-60-70 splits. He racked up most of our free throws tonight and sent opposite number Saman Tayebi to the bench in the third quarter as the Iranian forward picked up his 6th foul. Despite having awful defensive nights, Kwok Yi Wee and Seet Woon Loong were focused in defense. Kwok Yi Wee rejected 4 shots and picked up 11 defensive rebounds while Seet Woon Loong stole the ball 3 times. However, the lack of rebounding hurt us badly, as Iran U21 outrebounded us 39-60, including 18 offensive rebounds.

Our next match will be against Philippines U21. It's gonna be a tough match, so we will focus on damage reduction. Let's hope our players stay in good shape.

Last edited by BuzzRBeater at 8/18/2020 7:17:27 AM

didn't know they have 50k monster. hard to crack if all of them near superstar level even though they play 6-7 man lineup

Yea but I think it's a well known fact that in BB, depth means nothing and you only need to have 5 top players with a lot of stamina to win. in fact, they played with only 5 players last night and had a lucky fan on court late in the 3rd quarter because their SF fouled out. That lucky fan was somehow amazing tho, scoring from 3 and didn't really foul much when their small forward had troubles containing Ho Jun Kwang in the previous 3 quarters (although maybe it was because it was too bad to even foul him). Lucky fans are supposed to have all skills at disastrous iirc, but they seemed to perform better with it on the field xD

lucky fan scoring... seriously
that should have made the game more tight

We were handed a third straight defeat, putting us at 5th place after Japan U21 pulled off a shocking win against Iran U21. We were terrible against the Filipinos, being outrebounded 25-61, and being shut out most of the game. To make matters worse, starting Center Yap Chu Seng got injured early in the game, although his backup, Neo Ah Lee, wasn't too far behind him. Despite having our best game shape week ever since I became U21 manager, we were steamrolled by a shocking 62 points.

Seet Woon Loong was the only positive spark all night as he hit a game high 30 points. Yap Chu Seng put in a decent defensive show as well, swatting away 2 shots in his short 11 minutes on court. Other than that, there was totally nothing positive about the game.

Our next match will be against our neighbours, Malaysia U21. Judging by Japan U21 and Iran U21's games, we still have a chance to move up in standings on point difference. Let's hope things go our way.

Let go! U21 team

We capped off our season with a miserable 103-90 loss to our neighbours Malaysia U21 tonight.

As our team has generally been seen as an inside team, I was expecting them to run 2-3 as they usually would against inside teams. Hence, it was finally a chance to showcase our team's strength from outside.

However, sadly, things did not go as planned. Ma Kuan Min, the best shooter of our team, had another of his usual streaky shooting days (which makes me wonder if there's a hidden trait where you'd brick every shot no matter how high your shooting is, even though afaik there isn't such a thing), shooting an abysmal 20% from 3. Ho Jun Kwang was another player with abysmal shooting tonight, missing all 5 of his 3 pointers despite being paired up against two inside players.

Our lack of rebounding, which has haunted us for the past few seasons, put us at a disadvantage again tonight, as our opponents outrebounded us by almost 100%. However other than that, we were pretty comparable to them, except that the referees were favouring them by a lot tonight, as free throws were the main decider.

Kwok Yi Wee was once again a standout performer, taking advantage of the mismatch to score a game high 22 points. He was also active on defense, with 2 steals and 4 blocks. Neo Leng Nie also put on an impressive show tonight, with 19 points and 5 assists to his name. Seet Woon Loong had a quiet but efficient night, shooting 5 of 8 to finish the night with 12 points and 6 assists.

Despite the loss, we should still be in 5th due to point difference, however sadly, we missed our target of fourth place. Let's hope next season will be kinder to us.

U21 Graduates
This season has been quite a journey. We had the privilege of having a 47k salary giant in the form of Seet Woon Loong, who has played 3 seasons for us. It's been a long way since his 3 minute cameo debut against Vietnam U21, and his first start against U.A.E. U21. This season, he picked up 4 double doubles, while scoring double figures in 7 games, with 30 points against Philippines U21 being his highest scoring game this season. He started all 11 official games this season, and averages 35.6 minutes, 13.2 points, 8.7 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game this season. He looks poised to join the senior NT soon.

Alongside Seet, Waleed Khaleque also debuted in the game against Vietnam U21, and have spent 3 seasons in the U21. However, despite being one of the more skillful players in the squad, his time with us this season was dogged by poor game shape and injuries. He only managed to feature 3 times for us this season, averaging 11 minutes per game.

Jonathan Jokteo has also completed his third season with us. Despite showing promise in the early stage of his career, his training slowed down in the pass 2 seasons, causing him to fall down in pecking order. However, his game shape was always good, hence allowing him to sneak into the lineup from time to time. He played a total of 8 games this season, starting once, and averages 14.1 minutes, 4.5 points and 2.1 assists per game. The highlight of his season was during his sole start of the season against New Zealand U21, where he scored 15 points and dished out 7 assists in 39 minutes.

Trailing our 3 season veterans is Kwok Yi Wee, who is the fourth most senior member of the squad. Debuting at the pre-season friendly against Switzerland U21, Kwok Yi Wee has become a key figure in our team in the past two seasons. Starting out as a PG, he then got shifted onto the wings, before occasionally being played as a PF. He played in all 11 official games this season, starting all but 3, and managed to pick up 3 double doubles in the process. He averages 32.6 minutes, 12.2 points and 7.5 rebounds. His season highlights were both against Malaysia U21, one being tonight (22 points 9 rebounds 2 steals 4 blocks) and the other being in the first qualifying round (19 points 15 rebounds 5 assists 3 blocks), and has scored double figures in 8 matches this season. He also looks to be a future NT player in the making.

The three other graduates this season are Ho Jun Kwang, Ma Kuan Min, and Woo Feng An, all who were brought into the team this season.

Ho Jun Kwang played in all 11 of the official matches this season as well, starting 7 of them. He has scored double figures 5 times, and averages 25.7 minutes, 9.4 points and 4.0 rebounds a game. The highlight of his season was against Iran U21, where he finished the game with 32 points, 5 rebounds and 2 blocks.

Ma Kuan Min played in 8 official matches this season, and started all but 2. He is the best outside scorer of the team, and while he has some high scoring games, his streaky shooting has caused a dent in his numbers. In his two best games this season, he shot 60% from the field and 8 of 12 from the arc, while the rest of his games saw an average 22.9% from field and 16% from the arc. Those are some big differences. He scored double figures 4 times, and averages 29.9 minutes and 13.1 points per game. The highlight of his season was the game against Hong Kong U21, where he finished the game with 34 points and 4 rebounds. He also scored 23 points in 17 minutes off the bench against South Korea U21, with an astounding 71.4% from field and 75% from the arc.

Woo Feng An also played in 8 official matches this season, starting 3 of them. He wasn't much of a shooter, going 1 of 12 in both games which he played major minutes. He averages 19.8 minutes and 2.5 assists per game. The highlight of his season was against South Korea U21, where he finished the game with 11 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists.

Looking ahead
With the U21 season ending, we would probably see more of our youngsters feature in the friendly matches in the upcoming weeks.

We have 7 players eligible for next season:
Front Court
Poon Su Jing - the youngest player in the squad. Towering at 7'2", he looks poised to be another giant in the making who looks bound to dominate the posts in 2 season's time.
Neo Ah Lee - having started several occasions this season, Neo has been very consistent in game shape, and looks to be a regular in the starting lineup next season.
Yap Chu Seng - another youngster being given starting duties occasionally this season. He has also been very consistent in game shape. Expect him and Neo to battle it out for the starting spot.
Seow Ho Cheng - quite an impressive player with a skillset that sets him apart from our other post players. He might not be as dominant as the other 3 players, but nonetheless expect Seow to have his share of the limelight.

Back Court
Dhisna Chaddha - has been our main floor general most of the time this season, but has also shown the ability to play off the ball. Expect him to be a regular starter next season.
Neo Leng Nie - a bit jittery in his U21 debut this season, but this youngster has exploded into the scene in the following games. He looks poised to give Dhisna a run for his money, and looks on track to make it into the senior NT.
Tang Yeow - on and off appearances in the U21 this season, Tang might lack the flashiness of his other two teammates, but nevertheless he can be pretty reliable when called upon. While Neo and Dhisna will probably be our starting guards, Tang is reliable enough to play behind them in either spot.

Despite seemingly having a solid foundation in front court and back court, we lack versatile players who can play on both sides, such as Kwok Yi Wee and Ho Jun Kwang. Well, that would have to come next season, when we finalize our final squad.

In the meantime, have fun watching the new generation lead the way in the coming games.

Good write up and thank you for representing us in International Stage, and all the hard work managing the U21 rosters. I will continue to focus on Seet for senior stage.

Haha, thanks. I also owe it to you for training Seet Woon Loong and Yap Tse Leng so well. Thank you for allowing me to have them in the team for the past 3 seasons. Also, good luck with Seet's training. I am really feeling positive. He's gonna be a great player :D