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Hey everyone! Season 57 is upon us, and after our flawless Americas season, we have a bit of down time since we have qualified straight into Worlds and do not have to participate in the Repechage tournament that is currently going on. Worlds competition should start up in about 2-3 weeks, so until then we are simply putting in the practice time and getting ready. We are excited about the team we are bringing into the competition, and will do everything we can to bring back a gold.

In the meantime, we played a scrimmage last night against Hong Kong. This scrimmage provided a nice result for us, as we walked away with a 21 point victory. Elroy Pool specifically had a stellar game with 32 points, and Cameron Penn grabbed a solid 15 rebounds in their debuts. We do not currently have a scrimmage scheduled for next week, but when the scrimmage window opens we will look to schedule one to get some more experience with each other as a team.

Lets get better this week.
Go USA!

Over the last few weeks, we have participated in scrimmages against Argentina and Hungary, in which we were able to get some great data on our team. I am happy with what I saw from the squad, in particular the FT shooting was fantastic in both games, which was an issue for our team for the entirety of last season. I am feeling very good going into the Worlds competition and speaking of which, the Repechage tournament has concluded and we have been placed into our group and got our schedule! Our group consists of Israel, Spain, Hungary, Hong Kong and Senegal.

Israel is lead by a 2 headed monster in the paint, Elram Shefa and Yehoshua Benin. They went 3-0 in their Repechage group, not really breaking a sweat in any of their games.

Spain also went 3-0 in their group in the Repechage tournament with none of their games being close either. They have a much more balanced roster, with a nice looking group of bigs followed by some good looking guards.

Hungary lost in the Europe final last season and did not have to participate in the play in tournament. We just met them in a scrimmage 2 days ago where we were able to pull off the victory, but in a fairly close game. It will be a nice rematch later in the group.

Hong Kong lost in the Asia final last season by 1 point so they also did not participate in the play in tournament. We met them in our first scrimmage this season and pulled off the 20 point victory, but they have a monstrous 170k salary big that will be a big threat when we match up again.

And lastly, our first matchup of the group this coming week is up against Senegal. They were the Africa champions last season in a 4 point win over South Africa. They are the weakest team in the group but will not be overlooked. They seem to have a nice set of guards but very clearly lack a presence in the paint. We look to come out hot and get a dominating win in our first game of Worlds.

Time to start our journey to gold!
Go USA!

USA 123-80 Senegal

Great first game today in our opener of Worlds. The team ran through Senegal in a convincing 43 point win. The point leaders were both Donnell Ransom and Elroy Pool with 24 points, followed closely behind by Thomas Bunn with 22 points. We shot 53% from both the 3 point line and the field as a whole, and outrebounded the opposition by 19. It was an all around dominating performance.

Next up with go against Israel. Israel is coming off of a stunning loss to Hong Kong earlier today. Their game went into overtime, where Hong Kong managed to pull away late with some clutch free throw shooting. Israel has 2 very strong bigs that top their team at 131k and 83k salary. After that, they have some good looking guards that occupy the 1-3 spots. It will definitely be a good game as we look to get the 2-0 start!

Go USA!

United States 103-75 Israel

What an absolute beatdown that game was! I was definitely expecting a bit of a tougher fight from our opponent coming into this game, but they simply stood no chance. Identical tactics were played from both teams, but we came out wanting to win this game and they clearly did not. Bunn had an incredible performance today, shooting 12-16 from the floor and 4-5 from 3, ending the game with 28 points. Kelly also had himself quite an efficient game, shooting 7-8 with 14 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. We absolutely shut down their perimeter game, holding them to 3-23 from the 3 point line which is a whopping 13% and 33% from the field as a whole. A complete game today and I could not be happier with the team.

Up next we get Spain. Spain currently sits at 1-1, losing the opener to Hungary but pulling off the win today vs Hong Kong. Their best big is currently injured, so it will be interesting to see if he will make it back in time for the game and be in good game shape. They have a very balanced team, with a set of bigs all around the same salary and then their guards starting not too far behind them. Spain is the current world champion, winning gold 2 seasons ago in the last Worlds competition, so this will certainly be a great match!

Go USA!

United States 85-82 Spain

What a thriller of a game! After being down by 15 at the beginning of the 2nd quarter, and then down 7 with about 3 minutes left in the game, we rallied back and was able to pick up the close win! The game was pretty frustrating to watch, as it felt like I just kept seeing either an offensive rebound for them or a foul called on us. Our defense ended up winning us this game, holding them to just under 40% from the field. Chris Polk lead the team with an 18 point performance, but Donnell Ransom went 10-10 from the FT line, which proved to be crucial in a game decided by 3 points. A really good win against a top team.

Next week we have Hungary, who are the other undefeated team in the group at 3-0. They are coming off of an impressive win against Hong Kong, where Hong Kong used more effort but still could not come out on top. They have a very strong 114k salary big that tops their roster who will be tough to deal with for sure. It will be a great game to see who can stay undefeated!

Go USA!

United States 112-100 Hungary

We keep the undefeated streak going! The battle of the 3-0 teams goes to us as we come away with a 12 point victory today. We were incorrect on our inside guess, but our team was simply too superior for Hungary to match. Ransom started the game out shooting a perfect 8-8, but it was Polk who finished the game at the top of the scoreboard with 23 points. However there is always room for improvement, as we shot 19-28 from the FT line. We will certainly look to shoot better from the line going forward. Looking across the group, Israel threw their game today against Spain to drop to 1-3, which is very strange.

We will be finishing off this first group against Hong Kong. They currently sit at 1-3 in the group, but hold the 4th place spot over Israel after Israel's -50 PD from their throw. They are above them by 29 points, so they are likely the 4th team to move on as Israel plays Hungary and that is a lot of points to try and make up. We will be prepared for whatever they throw at us.

Let's close out this group strong!
Go USA!

United States 84-69 Hong Kong

What an ugly final game to the group but we came out with a win! I personally had to stop watching because I could not stand watching us continuously foul and turn the ball over, but as soon as the 4th quarter hit the team took off running and did not look back. We held them to 18-80 shooting, but one of their guys shot 7-13 so if you take that one player away they shot a total of 11-67. Just a completely dominant defensive performance, if it wasn't for all the fouling and FTs they made, this game would not have been even remotely close. Ransom did not shoot very well overall, but was instrumental to the 4th quarter beatdown we handed out. He was repeatedly grabbing rebounds, where he actually ended up tying the team lead at 14 with Penn. Despite the ugliness it is nice to come out on top.

And that does it for the first group! We finish 5-0 and will go into our next group with a 3-0 record. Our opponents will be Italy, Poland, Lithuania and Argentina for the next 4 weeks, but I am unsure who we will play first as the schedule has not yet released. Moving on undefeated puts us in a great spot looking ahead, and we are excited to keep pushing towards the playoffs.

Lets keep the success going!
Go USA!

United States 71-59 Poland

POLK! POLK! POLK! What a game from the man himself as he leads us on a historic 4th quarter comeback to pick up the victory over Poland. We were having a very tough game for the first 3 quarters, struggling to find our footing and had us at a 10 point deficit entering the 4th quarter. Polk went on a streak of 5 shots in a row in the 4th which got the team to rally behind him and complete an incredible 28-6 4th quarter performance. Polk led the team with 20 points, almost double the next closest teammate, as well as the by far best shooting percentage as the rest of the team struggled from the floor. Easily the MVP of the game, but we cant go much further without talking about the defense. What a lockdown throughout the whole game and especially the 4th. Anytime you can hold a team to under 60 points in the game is nothing short of incredible, and that is exactly what that was.

Looking ahead, we have Lithuania next. They currently sit at 2-2 but are in 6th place due to their point differential. They are coming off of a 13 point victory over Hong Kong, and are eager for another victory to get into the playoff picture. We are going to do everything we can to shut that down and stay undefeated.

Following our win and an Italy loss vs Spain, we are the current 1 seed in the group! I am expecting Italy the be in contention for the title, so our matchup with them in 2 weeks time will be an important one for seeding purposes. However, 1 game at a time and we are focused on Lithuania first.

GREAT TEAM WIN!!
Go USA!

United States 101-62 Lithuania

Questionable decision making from Lithuania as their decision to go all in and double guess an offense will put them at the bottom of a tiebreaker now since they got it incorrect. They double guessed motion with a 3-2 defense, so this was an absolute stomp. This game was over from the start and was not really close at any point. Very nicely balanced scoring from the team that saw backup SG Perry leading with 16 points. We were dunking all over their faces and dominated the rebounding category 56-27. Free throw shooting went from a perfect 18-18 last week to 57% this week, so that was not very nice to see. We will be working on that going into our next week matchup.

Next week we have our likely most difficult matchup of the group with Italy. Italy currently sits just below us at 4-1 with a close 2 point loss to Spain 2 weeks ago. They are coming off a comfortable win against Hong Kong, a team that is already knocked out of playoff contention. They have a complete roster from top to bottom, starting with a strong 112k big all they way down to their nice stretch of guards. It will be a great game but we will be coming out with the fire!

Go USA!