BuzzerBeater Forums

Hi mate,
Thanks for the feedback. A handful of managers and myself had a quick conversation about this prior to the game and there were two views on it, but in the end it was my call and I'm of the opinion that if there is hope why not chase it. Belgium slipped up against you guys after you put in extra enth against them so I backed that they might not completely blow out Egypt. If they hadn't and we nailed it against you guys we might have snuck in, but Belgium did go hard at Egypt and it put us out of contention.
Can I suggest that you also crunched in our game, though, and if we had chosen to lay down with a TIE it would effectively be deciding the outcome of the pool untruthfully. If all four sides play to win we get the most honest result - Belgium was the better team of the four of us, so they go through. It's not like I sucker punched you on this one, we both played the same enthusiasm. The missed GDP was probably the difference in the end, so I'm glad I picked you'd do that.
I know not everyone agrees with that thinking process, including some Aussie managers, but I try to be open with my community about what I'm thinking and I seek feedback from them and use that in decision making. I did that again in this game. I also play each game to give us the best chance of progressing the team further.
It didn't work out this time, but that's the nature of the game.

Best of luck in the Consol. From what I can tell we'll each go in with the same enth, so you're right, we'll both have our work cut out for us, but you've got a pretty nice draw so you should be a chance. I hope it goes well for you.

Id like a bit more information on why you CTing us was the right move for you, but because we did it, it was a poor decision. We were both in the same position and a good win would have pushed the strong winner in.

For what it's worth, the Belgium manager has been campaigning for getting rid of the qualifiers altogether because it creates situations like this where to get to the world cup you have to be willing to sacrifice your chances at the world cup itself. Not to mention whoever draws the African team first has a much easier time in the group. Personally I agree, it really should be a larger world cup instead.

True, there’d be merit in that. Why not 24 teams, 4 pools of 6, top three go through to make 2 pools of 6, that’s 10 games, top 4 go through to play 1v4, 2v3 etc, then a semi, then a final. 13 games total.

We got our Consolation Cup under way last night with a solid win over Belarus.
We had a really solid team performance to get the win, with Gibbins and Dawes producing double doubles, new big fella Biglands pulling down 14 boards and our bench really coming to the fore.
I think that's a real strength for us this season, our bench depth, but we'll need it in the coming weeks as we've got a tough draw, so game shape will help massively!

Finland! yikes!

Yikes indeed. That result certainly didn’t go to plan.

Well, Season 54 didn't pan out the way we would have liked so scouting will likely be starting a little earlier this season. There could likely be some changes ahead of the squad heading into season 55 with two big guys about to turn 35 and three other regular starters about to turn 34. Pending on skill drops in the new season all 5 may struggle to hold their spots, meaning there will be opportunities for guys to get a look in that have either been on the fringe or who have been doing the hard yards and developing in the wings.
If you think you have a guy who might be getting close for Season 55 make sure you put them on my radar, because I'll be doing some scouting in the coming weeks to try and get an idea for what options are around to move forward with. Particularly if you have a big guy who can hit the boards and defend the key - we'd love to see where he might fit in the squad.

With Season 54 officially at an end it is time to award the MVP award. It should be noted, scrimmages after our last live game have not been counted as the squad was being trialled in different shapes, making it unfair to include votes from those games.

In season 54 we had a new winner - and once again it went to a big man.

1st: Omu - 10 votes
=2nd: Gibbins, Houghton, Dawes - 8 votes
5th: Duffield - 6 votes
6th: Honjing - 5 votes
=7th: McFlynn, Laga-aia - 3 votes
=9th: Grunter, Payne - 2 votes.

Congratulations to Hard Ball Getz' MP5 for his management of Omu this season - a well deserved MVP award for a well rounded player in what was a close season of polling - which probably reflected the changing nature of the side this season.
Season 55 will likely be a season of change, with three of our top 4 in the MVP count being 34 or older at the start of Season 55.

There are positive signs, however, after the initial phase of scouting and competition for spots - particularly from SF-C - will be hot. If you have a guy on the fringe or even in the team game shape is going to have to be important to maintain a regular spot on the court.

Things of note from this season:
U21 manager Whitewind's Dwayne McFlynn became the first Aussie player to bring up 150 National games and also broke the record for most career rebounds. Huge effort thanks to consistent game shape over a long time and great training.
Homer Dawes became the equal second on the games tally with 133. Dawes has truly been a warrior for the Aussie team and also features on the all time rebounds list despite playing a large portion of his career as an understudy to McFlynn and Simon Thomas.
Both players are likely to retire in the coming season as, with both turning 35, father time is likely catching up on them.

If you think you have a player close or a young guy who might get there one day, send his details through to make sure he is on the radar.
We are finishing this season currently ranked 16th in the world, which is quite higher than our rank in terms of active users, once again proving that we Aussies punch well above our weight range. Thanks to everyone who has helped keep us in that top-20 spot and here's to pushing inside that top-15 in the near future.