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Aaaaaaand we are back! Welcome everyone to Worlds competition in S59. It has been a while since we have gotten to play against some powerhouse nations and I am excited to get back into it. We have been playing a series of preseason scrimmages the last 3 weeks while we waited the repechage tournament to conclude. We came away we 3 victories which is always nice, even though they were just scrimmages. But the groups have now been set, and it is time to kick off our season, and we are kicking it off with a bang.

Our group consists of Lithuania, Hungary, Greece, Australia and Morocco. Lithuania, Australia and Morocco are finalists of last season that did not participate in repechage, while Hungary and Greece both swept their groups these first 3 weeks. I mentioned above that we start our season off with a bang, as we drew Lithuania as our very first matchup of the season.

Lithuania has a very strong roster, topped by a center of 104k salary. They also have a good looking guard pool starting with a 41k PG, followed by another 37k PG. Lithuania made it all the way to the finals of the European championship last season, where they ultimately fell to Poland, but making it to the European final is certainly a nice accomplishment. This will be a very tough matchup to kick off our season, but we will come Monday ready to play.

Lets start of our Worlds right!
Go USA!

United States 92-78 Lithuania

Great start to Worlds competition as the team comes away with a 14 point win against one of the European powerhouses. It was a bit of a slow first half, as we entered it down 2, but after a chat with the team they came out and absolutely dominated the 3rd quarter 35-10. They got some points back on us in the 4th but to hold the 14 point gap is a nice result. Shipman started off the game a bit slow, but turned it on in the 3rd, ending as the leading scorer with 16 points on 5-12 shooting along with 7 rebounds to go with it. We could have came away with a larger victory had we shot better from the FT line, so that will be something we focus on going into next week.

Next week we go up against Morocco. Morocco is your reigning African champion, but currently sit at 0-1 after a loss to one of the worlds best Hungary. They have 2 very strong bigs that have been dominating u21 competition since the beginning of last season, it is going to take a full team effort to limit their effectiveness.

Lets keep the good start going!
Go USA!

United States 96-78 Morocco

Good team win against a solid team. We had a little bit of trouble trying to stop their 2 monster bigs, but the rest of their team fell flat and we had a good offensive game to take us over the top. Hoffman led the team in points this week with 20 on 9-19 shooting, followed by the duo of Parham and Urban scoring 15 points each. We had a good game from the FT line and outrebounded our opponent by 8, both of which were important factors that played into our favor. Not much else to say other than it being a good, clean win for the squad.

Next week we draw Australia. Australia currently sit at 1-1, with a loss to Greece in week 1 and a very impressive win vs Lithuania this past week. We also played them in a preseason scrimmage where we came away with a pretty close win, so this will certainly be a good matchup. Australia has a very good, balanced roster starting with a 65k C, with their guards then starting at 26k and going down from there. Preparation will be key going into this game next week.

Lets keep rolling!
Go USA!

United States 102-77 Australia

The USA dominate Australia despite a slow start. The USA lose the first quarter by 6 and respond by a complete destruction of the aussies in quarters 2-4, outscoring them by 31 points. Australia connected on an inside guess but that simply meant nothing to this game as the USA take care of business. The duo of Urban and Parham had no mercy in this game, both shooting well above 50% from the field and putting together double-double performances. Urban came away with 23 points, 15 rebounds and 4 blocks as well as Parham with 18 points, 14 rebounds and 2 blocks. They were simply too much for the Australians to handle in this game.

The USA draws Hungary next. Hungary is a world powerhouse, matching the USA currently with a 3-0 record coming off a very narrow victory against Lithuania. Lithuania beat Hungary last season in the semi final match to send Hungary to the repechage tournament, so they got their revenge this time around. Hungary has no weaknesses in their roster as it is constructed very well and they are very strong in all levels. This will be a tough game but surely a great watch!

Lets keep the streak going!
Go USA!

United States 124-106 Hungary

A scoring masterclass out of the team today as they absolutely manhandled Hungary to an 18 point victory. Hungary went with the 3-2 defense which gave Parham and Hoffman a good laugh as they completely dominated the opposition. Parham shot 15-22 from the field resulting in 30 points, with 15 rebounds to go along with it. Hoffman shot 12-20 from the field with 29 points, also grabbing 2 rebounds and 2 blocks from the SF position. The team as a whole shot 60% from the field and I mean what can I even say on that effort, just sensational work offensively today. The team also rebounded well which was good to see and shot 89% from the FT line which is a positive.

To close out the group we get Greece. Greece currently sit at 2-2 in the group as the 4 seed, picking up wins against Morocco and Australia. They are fighting for the final spot to move on to the next round, but are in a bit of an interesting spot. They have the lowest PD of the teams they are battling with but have the leg up on Lithuania who are 1-3. We are expecting a strong effort from them to try to make it in, so we are going to fight back best we can.

Lets close the group strong!
Go USA!

United States 85-97 Greece

We fall to defeat to the Greeks following a CT from them in order to make it into the 2nd group. Tactics worked how I was expecting, although I thought they were going to guess once and maybe even twice. Even then, the game was going clearly in our favor with Hoffman starting out 7-7 with 16 points in the first quarter from his C position. The Greeks saw this and injured him, which sent our offense into a tremendous downward spiral, the GE did not know what to do and started playing players at the C position that were not listed there. Even with this, we stayed in it until the 4th, but it got to be too much and a rough 4th quarter results in the loss. It is very unfortunate as this loss now carries over into this 2nd group, but there was simply no reason for us to put in more effort to try to avoid it. We did our best with tactics but ultimately the injury was the deciding factor.

We conclude the group at 4-1, with our record for the 2nd group at 2-1. Our opponents in order for the next 4 games are Poland, Israel, Spain and Chile. We get no time to dwell on this loss as we have Poland next week. Poland is a world powerhouse, and have a very strong overall roster starting with their bigs starting at 70k and their guards starting at 24k. This is going to be a tough matchup coming off the loss, but we are going to practice hard for a different result next week.

Lets get back on track!
Go USA!

Seriously. This drops him to what a 96% win rate with the U21 team? I’ve seen enough. Embarrassing for the USA, honestly.

United States 97-90 Poland

What a game!! We go into overtime against the world powerhouse in Poland and pull away with the close win. We were leading by 18 towards the end of the 3rd quarter, and the offense forgot how to shoot the ball in the 4th and allowed them to get back into the game. We gave them the lead with 10 seconds left following a dunk, but Donnelly gets fouled with 2 seconds left attempting a hook shot. He made both of them and sent us into overtime, giving us another chance to win the game in which we took advantage of. Southwood had himself a game, scoring 30 points with 5-9 shooting from the 3 point line. Parham seems like the inevitable at this point, as he still dropped 18 points and 17 rebounds in a game where the tactics did not favor him whatsoever. A sloppy game, but a great win to get looking ahead in the group.

We draw Israel up next. Israel currently sits at 2-2 in the group as the 5 seed coming off a win vs Greece. Their other win is against Poland, while their 2 losses being Spain and Chile. While their team on paper is not as great as previous seasons, they have that impressive win against Poland and we certainly will not take them lightly.

On to the next!
Go USA!

United States 70-42 Israel

A complete masterclass on defense as we hold Israel to 42 points for the whole game. That is less than a point per minute. They got us on the tactics, going 2-3 and guessing inside, so our offense was a little staggered but it did not matter because they could not score on us. They shot 21% from the floor, including 1-19 on 3. We outrebounded them despite their 2-3, and it was just simply an overall domination. Our 1-3 played strong this game, with all 3 starters leading the team and scoring double digits. Rod had himself a day on defense, with 20 rebounds and 5 blocks. A complete and impressive performance from the team.

Spain is who we battle next, who currently sit at 4-1 and are coming off of a beatdown of Greece. They swept their first group but then opened up this second group with a loss from Lithuania. They have an overall very nice looking roster, and it will be a our toughest game we have left before playoffs. Practice will be important this week in preparation for this game.

Let's finish down the stretch strong!
Go USA!