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Game 12: Nigeria 71 vs. South Africa 92 (63879)

Record: 12-0 for the season, 10-0 official record 
(Note: After Round 1, only the games against the advancing teams carry over to Round 2)

Standing: Currently 1st place and secured 1st seed in the playoffs
(Note: In this initial Round Robin of games, the top 6 of the 8 teams will advance after each team has played each other.)

Closing out round 2 with a win against Nigeria.

- *Copy and paste from last week* Shooting guard Landuleni Saruchera put up an easy 20 points in just 21 minutes of time on the court. His efficient 7-12 from the field, included shooting 3-6 from deep.
- Thandiwe Majola pulled down 16 tough rebounds and held the opposing center to 0-8 shooting from the field.
- Defense led the charge once again as the team held Nigeria to 29-98 (29.6%) shooting in this one.

Player of the Game: Landuleni Saruchera (49690607) trained by DRoss

Semi-finals up next as we head into another battle with Nigeria! In the other semi-final game, Senegal and Ghana will also have themselves a rematch.

Game 13: Nigeria 78 vs. South Africa 115 (64186)

Record: 13-0 for the season
(Note: After Round 1, only the games against the advancing teams carry over to Round 2)

Standing: Advancing to the Finals
(Note: In this initial Round Robin of games, the top 6 of the 8 teams will advance after each team has played each other.)

Another match-up with Nigeria and a similar outcome.

- *Repeat* Shooting guard Landuleni Saruchera put up an easy 42 points in just 35 minutes of time on the court. This included a blazing hot 8-12 shooting spree from behind the arc.
- Sekgoma Ramasodi and Stephen Buffery both contributed important performances as they dropped in 20 and 19 points, respectively, along with 3 steals a piece.
- The stable presence of Asanda Mbhele and Thandiwe Majola contributed another 23 rebounds in this one.

Player of the Game: Landuleni Saruchera (49690607) trained by DRoss

Onto the Finals to face an extremely tough and well-prepared Senegal side. This one is guaranteed to be an all-out war.

Additionally important, this semi-finals win has guaranteed the South Africa U21 team a spot in the U21 Worlds Tournament next season where they look to go toe-to-toe with the best that the larger nations have to offer.

Game 14: Senegal U21 60 vs. South Africa U21 56 (64255)

Record: 13-1 for the season

Standing: African Tournament Runner-Ups

Tough way to end a great season. Take every game only to lose a close one at the end. It hurts but we'll celebrate a good season nonetheless and prepare for the next.

Player of the Game: Asanda Mbhele (9690632) trained by A Warrior


Last edited by A Warrior at 4/20/2022 1:32:51 AM

A hard-fought season on the backs of players trained over many seasons can't be only seen as a failure so we'll close out with a look back.

Accolades

- Stephen Buffery completes a very successful stint with the U21 team. He was this season's co-MVP, being nominated for 3 Player of the Game awards and he also led the team in scoring (250), was 3rd in rebounds (65) and 2nd in assists (35) this season. He also ends his time ranking as 8th all-time in games (45) and 9th in points (548). Even brighter days may be ahead for him.

- The season's other co-MVP was Landuleni Saruchera after a blazing hot breakout towards the end of the season that also notched him 3 Player of the Game awards. Keep an eye on this rising star this upcoming season.

- Other Player of the Game winners this season were Sekgoma Ramasodi (3rd in points on the team with 180), Thandiwe Majola (2nd in rebounds on the team with 167), Asanda Mbhele (led the team in rebounds with 189 and assists with 52), Cab Scott and Katiza Matsangura (2nd in points on the team with 238).

- Asanda Mbhele had the 6th highest rebounding total of all-time in a season.

- Stuart Murray was 3rd on the team in assists (32) this season.

- The team's 13-1 record for the season is tied for the best season in South African U21 history, which is also shared by the Season 38, 52 and 54 teams, though this team is the only one that didn't end with a championship.


Acknowledgments

- With the end of the season, we have to say farewell to a number of departing players - Stephen Buffery, Stuart Murray, Cab Scott, Xola Beye, Thandiwe Moropedi and Muileki Simelaine!

- Special thanks to all our trainers of players and managers who assisted with gameplanning - 碎心, Afrobasket, boksburg, DRoss, Ezio, mathew13693, McGrady, Rapper, Rhyminsimon, Sandy and spaciulis!


Last edited by A Warrior at 4/20/2022 1:55:42 AM

It's a good season but the last match is disappointing. Tbh I am surprised by the tactical choice (patient) while the team seemed pretty well balanced offensively. Can you explain please?

Sure, and don't get me wrong, I'm certainly disappointed with the outcome too and hindsight is 20/20 so I wish I would've made different decisions and that things would've played out differently. I'm not sure anyone is more upset with how that game played out than me after all the time I've invested in the team.

A few thoughts to try and give you some insight into my thinking,

- I knew this would be a tough match-up as the Senegal team that beat us, though we had an undefeated record until this final game, we barely beat them in other rounds - by 1 in our first meeting then by 5 in our second meeting on more enthusiasm. I knew they had the edge on enthusiasm coming into the game so the margin for error was going to be very slim in deciding the outcome of the game.

- I anticipated a 3-2 zone and/or an Outside guess but we weren't in a place based on gameshape and personnel to go inside, which would've been optimal with that expectation.

- Based on the gameshape of our team, which was unfortunately much worse than theirs as only 2 of our 10 top players were in 9 GS vs their top 6 players in 9 GS, and the personnel available, our team wasn't as balanced as it may've appeared at different points throughout this season.

- Considering all these things, my goal was to get the ball as often into the hands of our best offensive players and things played out how I would've liked with Matsangura taking the most shots, as he was one of our few offensive weapons in 9 gameshape. He just wasn't able to score enough in this one.

- What I think hurt us most is the fact that we were only able to draw 6 free throw shots vs their 12 and the team was only able to muster up 6 assists for the entire game.

- As has been the case with most of my teams, our defense has tended to be tougher and they did their job and our offense actually shot a very slightly better field goal percentage than them.

- I'll also note that there are a handful of managers on our South African U21 Discord, which you're welcome to join as well as I'm always open to hearing other people's thoughts, that chime in and assist in the gameplanning to try and help us think through the various scenarios.

Ultimately though, I was the one who made the decisions that I thought would give us the best opportunity to win at that time. Knowing what I know now, I obviously would've done some things differently but at that time, I'm not sure I would've. Buffery, our best player all season who was unfortunately in 7 GS this game, had a chance to win or tie in the final seconds but was unable to connect so we were very much in this game all along though that doesn't make this loss feel any better. I take ownership for the loss but am now just focused on doing better in the upcoming season.

Thank you very much for this detailed explanation. I still think you're the right man in the right place. :)

Last edited by Sandy at 4/21/2022 8:24:52 PM

Thanks Sandy! I've appreciated your support and all the players you've trained up!