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cograts BlackMouse.

hope you can turn things around!

Congratulations and good luck ;)

cograts BlackMouse.

hope you can turn things around!

I will do my best...

...and I rely on all of you to do great things!

Hello everybody!

Let me give you a quick update after these few (very few) hectic days!

SA U21 staff is almost complete. It's a large, organized, quite enthousiastic staff, with a lot of experience under all perspectives as I promised. All of us are putting a lot of energy in this exciting adventure. Among first results:

- we have reviewed about 100 prospects, including some now in the interest of SA NT (we are of course closely cooperating), refreshing skills and updating DB. About 15 were discarded under a variety of reasons
- we have defined the first bunch of players, that now can proudly show their South Africa flag. Congratulations to all the owners, and a big thank for the good job done so far!
- we are proceeding with a first round of scouts assignment, depending on urgency, skills, plans. If your players are interesting, now or in the future, you will be directly contacted by your assigned scout. A set of guidelines will be published soon to support you in taking the right choices.
- we are preparing for the thrilling first match against Misr. I will soon open a thread for specific comments on our competition

What am I asking you know? Sustain us first: our team, our players will perform better with your support!

Then, for U21 representative owners, keep our player in good shape and train them monorole as much as you can. In most of cases you can do it without losing in team's competitiveness (I did it, I am doing it, my staff is doing the same!), and we can give any suggestion, comment, support you need - we are at your service, in our common interest.

Good night!

Great work!and good luck for the first match agains Misr

(Hard) work is still in progress.

The most evident things are renewed logo and banner, by Rebecca (thank you!). I hope you will appreciate them.

We are still dealing with the first thrilling match: DB update is complete, staff and me are working to consolidate the first set of players. I will probably select 10 to 12 players, to keep free slots for further expansions of the slots. Of course, all of them will become public tomorrow! That will complete the first phase of our program: set up and start!

Now, we will start immediately the second phase, building for the future. Each manager with a talent of potential interest of SA will be contacted by his assigned scout (if not happened yet!), to discuss a suitable training program in common interest. My staff and me are putting our experience at your service, to ensure the best development of promising players. I invite you to openly discuss any option, issue, idea with us. And feel you free to contact myself for any need or question.

The program "building for the future" is expected to bring results not only in next season and beyond, but also in current season, where it could be our critical success factor to boost SA competitiveness. And if a player is good for our U21, it is a great added value for your team too!

Let me thank my staff for the tremendous effort spent so far (and to be spent again).

By next few days, I will post further news about current team and emerging talents. Now, let me go back to plan tomorrow's match!

It is finally the time to unveal South Africa U21, Season 12!

Hereunder you can find the first ten talents included in our roster. Some are just around the corner. I invite all of you managers to train them hard, ensuring they will keep their best shape. A scout should have already contacted you, or will do that very soon: I invite you to openly cooperate with them in our common interest's sake.

Congratulations to all of you, but don't be distracted, this is just the beginning.

Here our magnificent ten:

Guards:
Dingane Kolane: a good, well balanced player. 20 years old, promising a long stay in this team

Sizwe Mofokeng: one season ago, I did not think he could actually be part of the team now. Great job by his manager, very good basis for a fast development this season

Thabo Sehularo: I am sad to see a so good player with a so bad potential. He can play in a variety of roles, will be a precious contributor for at least half of the season. Afterwards, potential will make him dependent on other trainers.

Liod Grumede: some excellences and some major improvements needed, specifically OD and JR. He can become a star if well trained. Please listen carefully to your scout.

Jörg Schartner: the best PG we have. JS to be improved, then other skills. 20 years old, a good potential, a solid cornerstone for the whole mandate.

Floris-Jan Collombon: already part of the team last season, some good skills (and a bad potential too), he will share some minutes with other players almost equivalent, depending on shape and team needs.

Tall men:
Zilindlova Teka: at this moment he his a backup. If trained hard, he can have more minutes, as his external skills can allow him to play as very good forward with no additional training.

Will Burr: a good center, we need him, and we need also to train him hard.

Diliza Issa: he is part of the team for contingent reasons (injuries, missed trainings). He is 20's, so I hope his monorole training program will continue, boosting his growth and making him one of the best talents for next season.

Juggie Wagana: last but definitely not least. The best Talent we have at the moment. 20 years old and decent potential, he can be a dominant center by end of this season and beyond.

Around the corner:
we have several players that could be included in the team. I will tell you more probably later this week. They are integral part of our core activities, as we need to grow our current skills and set the basis for next seasons. Some 20's are already in the team and are quite promising.
Nevertheless, let me talk you about two players that could be part of this team very soon:

Nani Kxao Magubane could be a precious talent to be added to our pool. He is not part of the current roster as he is just back from a long injury, with a bad shape. He just need good training.

Sifiye Neimand (20) is potentially an impressive performer. However, although I love balanced players, he is too balanced. Also considering his potential not so high, I strongly recommend to unbalance his training to create a good performer, avoiding to have a "I am nothing" player. There is a dedicated thread about him with my staff! Please discuss openly with my scout, in our best interest!

Other players will come, some changes could happen while season will proceed, others will be part of the team next season. This is just the beginning.

The first match is over (9946). Pushed by home field advantage and more attitude, Misr played a great game, confirming to be among top teams (probably best two) in this competition. Al Hana was definitely the MVP.

South Africa lost with honour. We close first half 40-39, sustained by Mofokeng and Kolane. Our zone gave us some expected troubles in rebounding, but some more pressure on circulation. In third quarter, Misr performed a break, but South Africa went back. Only at the beginning of fourth quarter the match shifted eventually towards Misr, a couple of triples brought us at -7 in last 2', but there was no further chance to reopen the game.

I would assign our MVP to Mofokeng, not only for 24 points and 10,0 in evaluation, but also for having kept us in the game till the end. I am quite satisfied of Kolane and Wagana performances, impressed by adhrenalinc contribution of Issa, while Schartner, Burr, Sehularo and Grumede were somehow below expectations, with different individual considerations. This is of course the evaluation of a single match, depending on tactics, opponents, shape, not an evaluation of players in general sense.

3-pointers percentage show a need to improve shooting (our scouts will tell you more), while we need to fully develop our tall men to increase roster depth and front line performances. I hope that Magubane could be recovered soon to increase our options and roster depth.

Looking at other fields:
Al Jazair 105 - Nigeria 120 intense match decided by an impressive forth quarter. Two solid teams, Nigeria looks like superior, but don't underestimate Al Jazair.

Ghana - Tounes 84 - 96: more attitude and rebounds gave victory to Tounes, although Ghana showed a good outside offense

Senegal - Al Maghrib 110 - 104: the surprise of the day. Al Maghrib coach simply did not take over his team! Al Maghrib played with four players, than three + lucky fan in the final. It is impressive that they lost with 6 points gap only! It is not necessarily relevant, in case Al Maghrib will acceed to second round and Senegal not, but it is definitely something you could not figure out.

Second match played (9953), and unlucky second loss, with honour and after an overtime against one of best teams, but a loss at the end.

Match was hectic. Nigeria jumped ahead, we recovered, than a second rush, a second recovery, a point-by-point final, the ball to win the match... and that bad 3-2 pressure that made us to lose the ball with 2" on the clock. I definitely disagree with rotations in the OT, till the end. Although we decided to play man defense to have more chances at rebounding, we left too many offensive rebounds. We will have to pay attention to that.

Nigeria was not in the best shape. We neither. One of our top talents (Schartner) was only 6, Magubane and Kolane 7.

Without any doubt, the MVP title comes to Wagana, with his impressive triple-double. He missed me a lot in the OT
Good performances went from Sehularo (20 points, 9 assists) and Magubane, who suffered as expected defending against Ekuru, but pushed his team to fourth quarter comeback. This time, Mofokeng and Kolane were almost neutralized by aggressive 3-2 zone defense. I expected something more from Burr, some rebounds but lack of concreteness in attack.

No fear. This is the beginning of round 1, we played against home defenders and the best tuned team, two losses on a quite long road.

Looking at other fields:
Al Maghrib U21 101, Ghana U21 107, second loss for Al Maghrib who was leading at the beginning of third quarter, before Ghana comeback

Tounes U21 103, Al Jazair U21 115: Al Jazair lost the first match by 15 against impressive Nigeria's fourth quarter rush. Now Al Jazair defeated Tounes with a solid performance of Saibi and Tabet, facilited by opposition of 2-3 zone against Run&Gun. The good overall evaluation makes of Al Jazair a solid challenger of Nigeria and Misr.

Misr U21 119, Senegal U21 83: Senegal was close to Misr for half the game, then slipped away since end of second quarter. Al Bana still played an impressive match, being the best of his team. Only Watara kept Senegal in the match.

Misr and Nigeria are leading the pack with 2-0. Only Al Maghrib and us are 0-2, while four teams are 1-1. Next match against Tounes.

It will be critical to ensure good shape and solid training to our best talents. My team and me rely on you to do the best. My staff or myself are in touch with all of you managers (whatever your talents are part of team or not), to work with you and find the best arrangement in common interest. Please be open - we are working for and with you.

We won! (9955) No overtime, no decline in 4th quarter as against Nigeria and Misr.

Both teams decide to change something in tactics. I decided a Run & Gun attack, while Tounes changed its defence from an usual 2-3 zone to man.

South Africa started boldly, ruling Tounes' defence shooting close to 100% in first quarter (32-17), gaining solid leadership since the first jumper. Tounes lost by injury its PF Benghouzi, one of its best performers. Everything looks almost perfect. However, a poor performance in rebounding gave too many second opportunities to Tounes, that recovered 10 points gap closing first half trailing by 54-49.

Third quarter was critical. Defences finally were very effective against attacks, keeping scores at a minimum. Unbalancing its attack outwards, Tounes closed the gap to 1 point plus ball possesssion. But Juggie Wagana decided to change the match, with a couple of rebounds and shoots and a block that expanded gap. At the end of third quarter, South Africa led again by 11.

In the fourth quarter, Tounes performed an extra effort in the attempt to close the gap. Decent rebounding and a recoverd efficient attack kept South Africa leading, although impressive ball circulation kept Tounes not so far away to be finally relaxed. At the end, systematic foul allowed South Africa to win by 12 98-86, the firse victory in this competition.

Although evaluating different attitudes, MR's and evaluation tells a quite different story. I have personally never seen such a difference between rebound evaluation (5- vs 4+) and captured rebounds (52-68, 19 OR's left!). There is some suspect that random plays a relevant role, but also took Benghouzi out of the match!

At the end, an important victory, several things that my staff and me are currently analyzing, the need to improve our talents' training.

It is hard to find this game MVP, as per effect of discontinous performances. At the end, I think that Dingane Kolane deserves it: he recorded 10/21 25p 8r 2a, limiting his opponent to 6/19 13p. Far than perfect, but a good performance and points taken in the right moment. A mention to Juggie Wagana, that shifted game momentum in the most critical phase of the game, Thabo Sehularo who took 12p 5r 4a off the bench. I appreciated Schartner's playmaking, although some points are missing, and final rush by Mofokeng.

On the other fields:
Ghana 70 - Misr 107: easy won by host team. Misr forwards ruled the game, with net superiority in all statistical categories and evaluations.

Senegal - Nigeria 104 - 111: after loss against Misr, Senegal played a second tough game against Nigeria, also leveraging different attitude. Nigeria took leadership in last 15' after a quite balanced game. Rebounds made the difference, ensuring 15 more possessions to the winner, as well as the perfect choice of the 3-2 zone.

Al Jazair - Al Maghrib 97 - 90: another exciting match decided in Q4 with Al Jazair comeback. Still rebounds gave critical advantage to Al Jazair, that replicated previous match won against Tounes.

Our record does not show a 0 W anymore. Our championship has begun.

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!