The Nippon U21 National Team secured an important first victory over Khazakhstan in this year's Asia Championships by a final score of 91-81 avenging a loss to this same team in the last Asia Championships. Our team jumped out to as much as a 17 point lead in the first half but were unable to completely put the game away. Khazakhstan's relentless inside attack led to some serious foul trouble as starting our C and PF both fouled out of the game. However, the superior depth on Nippon U21 prevailed in the end.
SF Mitsuo Shibukuji of Sapporo Fighters and PG Shinya Umari of Kotets both led the way with 20 points each. Umari also had an impressive defensive performance with 6 steals on the night. With 11 boards, Norio Funaki from Yokozuna led the rebounding effort.
Next up for the team is Malaysia U21. This will be another important game for us. Malaysia has already lost one game to Prathet Thai and still have to face dual Chinese Juggernauts Hong Kong U21 and China U21. Losing this game will have Malaysia facing a minimum of 4 losses and likely out of the next round.
For Nippon U21 winning this game almost ensures us of advancing to the next round. With Malaysia, Khazakhstan, and Vietnam each facing at least 4 losses, by winning against Malaysia we would expect to be secure to advance if we attain a minimum of 3 wins. Our last two games are against Prathet Thai U21 and group powder puff Vientam U21. We would only need one of those two, but would have a good chance to win both.
As mentioned before, I have started a Federation where I will share what I've gathered about our opponent and some thoughts on the upcoming game. I invite the any of the active local managers to come share their thoughts and insights on our strategy and learn more about the team.
You can join the group here: [link=http://www.buzzerbeater.com/community/fedoverview.aspx?fedid=18353 .]
From the election debates it seemed there was alot of interested in such a discussion and I want to make sure that anyone who wants to be involved has the opportunity. Also if anyone wants to participate in U21 Nippon in any other way please let me know. I truely believe that we can always accomplish more as a group than any one of us individually.