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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!

Everyone grab the pitchforks.

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!

We will set down the pitchforks momentarily. Nice win!

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!

United States 70-86 Spain

Our second loss of the season comes at the hands of Spain in a game where we didn't really have a chance from the start. They had good tactic choices against us and got out to a blistering start, winning the first quarter 27-8. We played well in quarters 2-4, outscoring them in those quarters but the 1st quarter deficit just proved to be way too much to handle. They are a very strong team and have the first seed locked up for playoffs. Parham was having a pretty good game at the beginning of the 4th, shooting 7-14 with 15 points and 16 boards and ended the game on an 0-7 shooting slump to finish out at 7-21. The team as a whole struggled mightily offensively, so we are going to go back and watch the film and correct our mistakes.

Our last game of the group is against Chile. Chile sits at 2-4 in the group and are out of playoff contention. However, they are coming off of a nice win vs Greece, a team we lost to. Chile is certainly not a pushover team, they have a nice roster and have a little bit of momentum coming into this final week. We are going to focus up and secure this win to get back on the right foot ahead of playoffs.

Lets finish strong!
Go USA!

The pitchforks are coming back out.

United States 102-66 Chile

A very convincing win for us against a Chile team who did not have much hope other than to try and ruin our playoff chances. We knew that the extra effort along with the double guess was incoming, so as soon as we saw the missed focus guess we knew we had the game secured. The game started off relatively close, with us only being up by 5 after the first quarter, but from that point it was pure dominance. Southwood got injured in the first quarter, but Burton came off the bench to the rescue, ended up leading the game with 21 points. Parham followed him closely behind, scoring 18 points as well as 14 rebounds. There really isn't much else to say about this game, it was a pretty simple, dominant win from the team.

And that concludes the regular season! We are into the playoffs as the 3 seed and will be going up against the 2 seed in Hungary. Hungary finished the season 5-2 and are coming into the playoffs hot off a win against Spain. They have a complete roster from top to bottom, from the bigs down to the guards. It is going to be a tough game, and we will be practicing hard to prepare for this matchup this week.

It is time for the playoff run!
Go USA!

United States 83-76 Hungary

Finals bound!! In what ended up being a very close game, we hold strong at the end and secure the victory to move on to the World final! The game started out heavily in our favor, being up 18 late in the second quarter and going into halftime up 14. We fell apart for the entirety of the 3rd quarter, allowing them to get within 5 going into the 4th. They quickly tied up the game, where I proceeded to look away as I could not bear the pain any longer. I tuned in within the final minute when it became the FT game with us on top. Hoffman started out very hot, scoring 16 points in the first half on very efficient shooting. Southwood also had a fantastic game off the bench, shooting 6-11 with 14 points in just 14 total minutes. Great team win to move us on to the finals!

The other semi final saw a very close game between Spain and Lithuania. Spain held the 1 point lead but Lithuania drained a jump shot to take the lead with 8 seconds left. They proceeded to hold on, so we get Lithuania in the final. Lithuania conducted an impressive comeback this season after losing their first 3 games, and managed to squeeze into the playoffs as the 4 seed. They have a very strong roster, topped with a 100k salaried big who will be tough to contain. It will be a great game, we are going to practice hard this week in preparation for this matchup.

We are at the final step in our journey, let's finish strong!
Go USA!