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I'd try to get in time and write some predictions of the Group Of Death.

Which group is actually Group of Death?

I spent a lot of time by all the work in my club and our NT. So I havn’t enough time analyse in deep way more than our group. And there are some reasons why I don’t want to make public my predictions of games in our group.

Last edited by rwystyrk at 2/28/2011 9:47:23 AM

I'd try to get in time and write some predictions of the Group Of Death.

Which group is actually Group of Death?

Pool A
Team W L PF PA %
1 Italia 5 0 572 400 1.000
2 Hrvatska 5 0 607 465 1.000
3 Türkiye 4 1 582 471 0.800
4 Latvija 2 3 604 569 0.400
5 Bulgaria 2 3 549 531 0.400
6 Belarus 2 3 528 568 0.400
7 Norge 0 5 414 506 0.000
8 Luxembourg 0 5 410 756 0.000

Italia, Turkey, Latvia and Croatia are pretty strong teams. Bulgaria can also make an upset to anyone. So, 5 top-class teams are here..

I see just 4 strong teams. Almost everyone (in any group) can make an upset to anyone by using CT (or even normal against TIE).

Ok, I'll try some predictions for the Pool A.

52 Belarus -- 96 Luxembourg
The game which has no intrigue. The question is: How much? Let's see if inside oriented Belarus destroyes the worst by rating NT in Europe. Belarus has some injury troubles but still has Rakau (8240002). Luxembourg is one of the NTs that can afford having 6th man potential player (11109668)
Last time Belarus has lost to Luxembourg few years ago, but this was the football match.
Belarus +35

50 Bulgaria -- 64 Norge
The must-win game for Bulgaria as in case of loosing they will be left at the 6th place in the group this season, which is not good at all for them. Bulgaria is the other example of inside oriented team. This should be the tough game. Norway has nothing more to lose, they have the last game against Luxembourg and today they should obviously put CT. Bulgaria is in the difficult position here. Probably playing normal should be the best decision as they still have the battle with Belarus in the last round. TIE vs CT will defenitely mean Norway's victory. Normal vs TIE is more difficult to predict. Norway has some GS problems this time and their main hope is the superb defensive skills of all the players, guards especially. I'd choose Norway beating Bulgaria with CT vs normal. Norway +2

24 Italia -- 33 Latvija
Ragans has 2 or 3 dull seasons with his club. They all are going to be dedicated to the training and collecting some cash. Having such a perspective the current B3 winner has decided to try and check his tactical abilities with the Nt Latvia. And he failed. The difficult win over Norway playing with the higher enthusiasm in the first round.. And upset after loss to the highly motivated Belarus. Looks like the community is not satisfied enough with the current performance. And nothing's gonna change after this game. Italy is too strong playing at home court.
2 italian 300k+ centers are a little bit ill and having only averahe GS, but they have good substitutes + the capitain Gabriele Turbato ((6769986)). I don't think that Latvia with huge, extra-huge problems with the roster(2 injured, other top-salary players having GS=6-7) can do something.. Italy wins +30.

And the most important game in this group during all the qualifying tournament:
25 Hrvatska -- 40 Türkiye
Croatia has the last game against Italia and they must-win it in order to book the 2nd place. Turkey being led by GM-Lloyd meets unlucky Latvia in the last round and it should not make huge problems.
SO this game decides it all. I won't be surprised much if one or both of the teams play CT today.
Turkey has some out of GS players, but still good choise. Croatia has only 3 players in proficient GS and that makes Turkey the favourite of the game. Anyway, that's the manager's decisions that will decide how the game finishs. My prediction is Turkey to win +12.

This is too late probably, the games are starting in 30 minutes. But at least there will be smth to read during the big break ;)

Italy had some what nice RB-rating with 3-2 zone!

I do take it into account, like to myslef, I guess I don't write about too much and thats my fault, but this week I was rushing a bit trying to get it done. Anyways I like any and all criticism because it will allow me to be better at these writeups :)

The only group without a dominant 6-0 team is pool B. And what a dramatic matches were played there yesterday- losses for both 5-0 teams (Nederland in consecutive overtime) and now it's all up to last round. 4 teams have theoretical chance for top 2 and no team is secure.

Pool A:
1.Italia(1) 6-0 681 496
2.Hrvatska(3) 5-1 702 569
3.Türkiye(2) 5-1 686 566
4.Bulgaria(5) 3-3 642 605
5.Belarus(7) 3-3 676 657
6.Latvija(4) 2-4 700 678
7.Norge(6) 0-6 488 599
8.Luxembourg(8) 0-6 499 904

Italia 109 Latvija 96
Italia put up a good rebounding rating while using their 3-2 defense. They also put up a wondrous(low) inside scoring rating. They fully dominated Latvija and if Latvija hadn't used more ffort this one could of been real ugly. Good win for Italia as it basically secures them a spot in the next round. POTG: Ruggero Marsili had 28 points, 11 rebounds and a 19.0 rating in this one.

Hrvtaksa 95 Turkiye 104
Nothing really sticks out in this game, it was a fairly average NT game. Turkiye did manage to put up some good ratings, but overall nothing to special. It was a huge win for Turkiye though as it keeps their hopes alive. Theyll still need to win their next game, but this win was still monumental. POTG: Fadil Akdiken had a game high 34 points, 6 rebounds and a 17.0 rating.

Bulgaria 93 Norge 74
Both teams put up some impressive ratings, but Bulgaria pulled out the sound victory and are now 3-3 and in the 4 spot right now. Norge lost again and it has just not been their tournament as they drop to 0-6. POTG: Marin Kanchev had a team high 19 points, a game high 17 rebounds and a game high 19.0 rating.

Belarus 148 Luxembourg 89
Belarus were given the free win of the week and they really crushed Luxembourg, by scoring 30+ points in each quarter and 38 points in three of the quarters. Belarus are now 3-3 and battling for that 4th position. POTG: Alhierd Laurynkovich had a team high 30 points, a game high 20 rebounds and a 16.5 rating.

My predictions:
Luxembourg(96) at Norge(69)
Both teams are 0-6. Two teams walk in with no losses, but only one will walk out with a win and a good way to end their tournament. Both teams will CT, they have nothing to lose and a win is just what they need. My pick: Norge. It's not really how good Norge is, it's more how bad Luxembourg is.

Belarus(42) at Bulgaria(45)
This should be a really really good game, the teams are fairly similiar talent wise, they had fairly similiar GS updates, they both cannot advance so it should be a CT vs CT game and the winner gets fourth in the group. They both look like they'll be going with inside tactics. My pick: Bulgaria. I like them in an inside battle.

Turkiye(39) at Latvija(35)
Turkiye is definetly stronger talent wise, but latvija probably had the better GS update. However Latvija's GS will probably make them go with an inside tactic. This makes it more predictable for Turkiye who need a win. Also Latvija has nothing to lose so you can expect a CT out of them.The question for this game is effort for Turkiye. Do they TIE and hope they can still squeak out a win? Do they play normal and trust that their talent advantage will make up for the effort difference? Or do they straight up CT them back? My pick: If Turkiye Normals or CT's then I think they'll win, if the TIE, then Latvija should win.

Hrvatska(24) at Italia(19)
Both teams had good GS updates, especially Italia who had a great GS update. Mijo Topic is still at awful GS for Hrvatska which sucks, cause they really could of used him in this one. Anyways, Italia has the talent advantage and HCA. This is a huge game. If Turkiye beats Latvija and Hrvatska beats Italia then all three teams are 6-1 and it goes down to PD. Also choosing what effort to use at this point is tough, I think both teams will Normal, but Italia could TIE... My pick: Italia, unless it is a TIE vs CT game, Italia will win this one and advance.