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Two solid wins for the NT's today.

The leading scorer for the NT came from the bench, and for the U21 we saw a rare (in BB) 10 assists for a single player. Vote here!

NT poll: (https://strawpoll.com/polls/7MZ0zWEKRno)
U21 poll: (https://strawpoll.com/polls/7rnzG0eP6gO)

Luxembourg 90-136 England
Another dominant display against one of the weaker teams in the group, with most of the squad contributing to a resounding win. Seven members of the team got into double figures with three eclipsing the 20 point mark. Sanders and Banuelos were up to their usual tricks scoring at a really good rate whilst Sean Hargreaves and in particular, Bart Leavy-McCarthy provided some excellent offence off the bench. RnG seemed the obvious option with most of the squad at 9GS and to try and boost our points differential as much as we could.

Next up we have Switzerland who have a decent squad, but we should still be favourites, especially if the game shapes are similar to this week. Big thanks to all the managers for their efforts this week, let's try and keep the game shape to these levels for the rest of the season.

Player of the match was Bart Leavy-McCarthy who scored at will when coming off the bench. BLM scored 26 points in 23 minutes, including four from downtown and a huge +/- of +41!

England 107-79 Croatia

Don't let the final points difference fool you, this game was a lot closer than a 28 point game, we were only ahead by 9 with 5mins to go! It was just really a crazy game between RNG and PTB which meant we got a lot of shots and a lot of runs for both teams. But in the end we showed how good we really are. 10s in both defensive ratings shows that our defence is getting to a good level which is key for success.

Matthew Hall once again earned player of the game after another impressive scoring display with 28 points along with 4 steals and 4 assists.

Next we play probably to toughest game on our schedule so far, away against Germany. It's a big game for both teams as we both look to get as high a seed as possible, and Germany already have 2 losses and a 3rd would make qualification very difficult for them. This is going to be the 3rd game against Germany in my u21 tenure, so both me and the Germany manager know each other pretty well. I'll quietly say I'm 2-0 against them, but making it 3-0 will be very difficult.

A nice result for the NT, with several excellent performances. Vote here: (https://strawpoll.com/polls/GPgV3zKvBZa)

On the other hand a tough day for the U21's, with few performances of note. Vote here: (https://strawpoll.com/polls/Q0Zp4BlwDZM)

England 116-99 Switzerland
A dominant inside performance saw us move to 3-1 for the season, shooting an impressive 55% from the field. After establishing a comfortable lead in the first half, we were never really troubled and kept Switzerland at arms length for the majority of the game. Smith continued his great start to the season with another impressive display, limiting the Swiss' star man Foltz to 15 points whilst grabbing 23 points of his own. Cassell got his season up and running with an excellent display, shooting 75% from the field as well as recording 2 blocks and 5 offensive rebounds.

Next up we have Macedonia, who again have a decent squad but I fancy us to get the job done. The game shape of all players the last two weeks has been excellent, so thanks to all the managers for that.

Player of the match was Ad Cassell who battered and bruised the Swiss big men to grab 27 points.

Last edited by js8 at 12/08/2022 17:26:13

England 56-88 Germany

Definitely our toughest game of the draw, and that showed in with how the game went. I had picked out Rober as their main threat given how well he had scored in their previous games, so I went with a plan to try and slow his production. He did have a quieter game than normal, but his teammates showed they are also good players and stepped up. I did consider going all in for the game in an attempt to try and win, but when I saw that Germany had almost perfect game shape it felt like the smart option was to give the game up and focus on the rest of the draw. But the fact that Germany felt they wasn't able to use TIE even with perfect GS and HCA I think shows we are a pretty strong team.

We had joint player of the games this week, with Oliver Boddie and Dale MacLachlan both receiving 2 votes each. Boddie finished the game with a statline of 8points, 16rebounds and 2 blocks while MacLachlan had 10points, 13rebounds and 2blocks.

Now with 2 losses, qualification is now at risk and any more losses will probably be the end of our season. Thankfully, we do have a nicer run to go, and with good game shape I feel confident we will still qualify. We next play Ghana at home, who pose some threats but we should get through pretty comfortably. Our defence has been pretty strong in the games so far, but our offence has been very much underwhelming. Hopefully it improves from now.

A good win in a tricky game for the NT, away from home playing TIE vs CT.

Bañuelos filled the statsheet, Kemp was efficient and Dolan put up a double double before fouling out. Vote here: (https://strawpoll.com/polls/Q0Zp4mQdjZM)

For the U21's, a comfortable home victory after last week's tough game. Vote here: (https://strawpoll.com/polls/ajnENJLWjgW)

England 108-99 Macedonia
After seeing Macedonia go with CT, I did think the game would be tough and very close and it proved to go just like that. The excellent trio of Kemp, Sanders and Banuelos were magnificent once again and all contributed with a few assists and rebounds too. I decided to go with Dolan and Cassell in the big men positions as these were best suited to use a 3-2 zone outside to try and limit the effectiveness of Fotev. Our ratings, especially defensively, were very good throughout and despite Dolan fouling out relatively early, we never looked in a great deal of trouble and kept Macedonia at arms length for the majority of the game.

Next up we have Germany who we will need to beat if we are to have any chance of qualifying.

Player of the match was Jonathan Kemp after another high scoring dazzling display! That's the second time he's picked up the award this season.

An early morning game away to Macau this morning for the U21 team. A comfortable victory, vote for your MVP here: (https://strawpoll.com/polls/eJnv7Y3BEgv)

For the NT, a massive win at home to Germany! Some fantastic performances to choose from, go here: (https://strawpoll.com/polls/PbZqozNJ0nN)

A tough campaign for the NT came to an end with a defeat against Italy.
A comfortable victory for the U21's at home to Panama.

NT MVP poll: (https://strawpoll.com/polls/PbZqolbDWnN)
U21 MVP poll: (https://strawpoll.com/polls/wby5lvQkkZA)

So I guess I got a little behind on these… here’s a round up of the last 3 games for the u21s

England 98-61 Ghana
Greg Chapman picked up player of the game with 25pts, 6rebs, 2stls and 2blks in a 98-61 win over Ghana. As expected a pretty comfortable win, with the game over pretty early on. The shots were shared pretty nicely around the team with 10 players getting up at least 6 shots, not the most efficient way to get baskets but always good to see so many players getting involved. Defensively we were very strong, holding Ghana to only 22% FG.

England 104-57 Macau
An efficient 8-10 shooting in an early morning game for Dale MacLachlan who had 18pts along with 8rebs, 2stls and 2blks against Macau. He was well supported from the other bigs Chapman (18pts), Boddie (15pts) and Allison off the bench (13pts). A very strong offence performance other than the 12-6 3rd quarter which was good to see.

England 94-43 Panama
An all-round dominant performance against Panama propelled by 28pts in 24mins from Matthew Hall who led the way early and set the tone for the game. Overall the offence may not have been the best shooting only 42%, but defensively it was probably our best game of the season. Holding Panama to only 19% shooting, limiting them to only 6 offensive rebounds on 63missed shots and minimal fouls committed.

Over these 3 games we held the opposition to 21% shooting which shows how strong our defence is becoming. Our offence hasn’t been too convincing yet, but if we can maintain good game shape I’m confident in the team to compete against almost any team in the knockouts.

We play Romania away in the last qualifier game which will have a big impact on our seeding. A win will likely put us in the top half of the seedings which gives us a home game in the first round but a loss will put us towards the bottom of the draw and facing a tough away game first up.