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Belgium NT is next guys and soon I will post (as edit to this post) my pre-match analysis very similar to what I've done for the match against Suomi NT (30761.185). I will post the probable Belgium lineup + tactics as well as our counter lineup + tactics. I hope to estimate right this time :)

Our Tactic and Lineup
I called Daniel Hansen for today's match. His GS 9 together with the high GS of our guards is good opportunity to hit Belgium NT with an outside attack.

PG: Egon Olesen / Stian Alm
SG: Håvard Vartdal / Godtfred Thomassen
SF: Daniel Hansen / Amir Lidal
PF: Karl Einar Hopedal / Svein Hausken
C: Karsten Johansen / Geir Clausen

Belgium NT lineup and tactic prediction
Belgium NT has equal quality to attack us both outside and inside, but in my estimation they will try to go with LI.
Possible lineups are:

LI, m2m
Gérald Thys (9) / Simon Waelput (8)
Tijl Deseure (9) / Charles-Victor Verelst (9)
Mees Freire (9) / Kobus Vercaigne (7)
Ivan Hemerijckx (8) / Cosimo Gallagher (8)
Gerry Fleeton (9) / Sven Marchoul (8)

Princeton/Motion, m2m
Gérald Thys (9) / Kobus Vercaigne (7)
Simon Waelput (8) / Charles-Victor Verelst (9) *
Tijl Deseure (9) / Charles-Victor Verelst (9) *
Ivan Hemerijckx (8) / Mees Freire (9)
Gerry Fleeton (9) / Cosimo Gallagher (8)

*there is a possibility they call Alexander De Piano (9438894) who is in GS 8.

Last edited by Onisifor at 2/27/2012 7:34:23 AM

Fine victory today against Rumenia. Great work! Now some rest against Italy before winning the last 3? :-)

Thanks Borislav. It was a nice win indeed. Btw, congratulations on your purchase of Mr.Alm. You've got a real champion there. Be a good owner :)

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@ALL: Today against Romania we've got the first win in the Euro campaign and the chosen tactic was LI (again) but this time there were some tweaks in it. The LI was logical choice since their best C Ovidiu Popescu had GS 7, their second best C Adrian Croitoru was unavailable due to the recent injury, and also both Florin Mocanu and Puiu Dragomir were in GS 7 as well.

This match was an obvious example how higher GS can overcome the deficit in certain skills. That doesn't mean we should start training GS instead :) I strongly support the skill training and my advice would be keep doing it! The Game Shape can be easily maintained through careful weekly minute management. Keeping them between 48-70 minutes will do the job just fine.

Next Monday we face the group favorites: Italy NT. The difference in the quality and depth of rosters is obvious, but that doesn't necessarily mean we will enter in the game with a white flag; though it's not the most important match of the season.

Roster
There are still 5 spaces available in the Norge NT roster. Please continue to update the (rudimentary) player's database: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHlYQ....

Marvelous rating IS last game, nice!

It's just marvelous (low) :P
Let's try to replicate that against Azərbaycan and set the course for season saving final win against Holland.

As I projected our group turned out to be an interesting and difficult one. Apart from the perfect Italy NT there were some unexpected outcomes. We saw Romania crunching Suomi tonight and with that Belgium has secured the 2nd place in the group. I'd like to congratulate GM-Revo for the amazing achievement.

For tonight's game against Azərbaycan we needed a little reinforcement from one of ours most experienced fellas. Our best guards Olesen and Alm were out of shape for this week so I called Tore Engh to the squad. Though he only played minor role, but it is victory that counts the most. And tonight we did it. Victory No.3 for Norway.

Norge NT is currently with 0.500 record, with -2 PD. Let's try to end on a positive record, shall we?

Last edited by Onisifor at 3/26/2012 1:32:37 PM

Hopedal was too much for the Dutch!

The versatile forward scored 28 points tonight with 10-15 shooting and was perfect from the line. The defensive tactic was set in a 3-2 zone. Instead of the traditional m2m approach I decided to go with a zone in order to put more pressure on Holland's backcourt line who was in superior game shape than ours. Their big man and probable LI tactic never worried me . We are superior in terms of rebounding so my estimation was that it was worth to sacrifice the rebound power for a more tight perimeter defense. It turned out to be truth in the end, but with Holland playing with lesser effort our task was made somewhat easier than expected. Norway 104 - 91 Holland was the final result. A good win.

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With the 3rd straight win Norge ends the European Championship on a positive note. Tonight's win was only by a point shorter for reaching the no.4 place of the group, but it will be Romania holding the fourth place this season. With Suomi's win against Italy there is no unbeaten team in the end. Despite the good run we only managed to reach the 5th place, with equal W/L record as Suomi and Romania, but the worst PD.

Although my initial target for this season was 5 wins, due to the very tough draw and disastrous schedule, in the end we had to settle with a 4-3 record. It's not the perfect outcome, but not that bad either. This is the second best result in the Euros after the Season 7 (5-2) result.

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What is the task for the future?

I will try to earn as more points for the NT and improve the world rating as I can. It is important to keep winning and improve further up to the rating list in order to secure better draw position for the Consolation tournament next season.

The player's base must improve as well. At the moment we are lacking potential for tactic diversity but with few players I'm monitoring we can soon build a more complete squad. There are some players that can jump in next season. The guards: Snorre Petterson, Kasper Bugge, Tor Svendsen, Hendrik Jacobsen, Sven Lundgren, Alf Bergshaven, Olaf Larsen, Yohannes Vatland, Bjørn Hassel, Tore Tang Ellefsen, Stian Erga, Thor Harry Sørvær, Daniel Hansen, Jens Erik Jensen... can become vital part of the NT in the following season. Their training must continue. Add more shooting training to your guards to build a more prolific attacking guard line.

From the C/PF's we have: Emil Breen, Arild Nilsen, Oddvar Hindenes, Svein Hausken, Terje Haugland, Jørgen Duesund... Some of them are already NT players but in order to become regular they have to train further as well.

Together with the current NT backbone with Egon Olesen, Godtfred Thomassen, Stian Alm and Håvard Vartdal from the guards and Åge Guttormsen, Karl Einar Hopedal, Svein Hausken, Aanen Lian, Stefan Tillbrant, Ådne Grindheim, Geir Clausen, Karsten Johansen from the C/PF line Norge can build a respectful NT.

Cheers all and please keep me updated with the training results via the BB Norge NT Player's database add link.

Last edited by Onisifor at 4/2/2012 1:54:07 PM

Friendly match against the neighbors Sweden: http://www.buzzerbeater.com/match/19261/reportmatch.aspx

Last edited by Onisifor at 4/9/2012 9:39:51 AM

Fun to see Nilsen get his debut for the NT. Been a while since i had someone there :)

And a great debut I have to say, doing exactly what I wanted him to do :)
He has still room to improve and could become valuable member of Norge NT for seasons to come.

Let's see whether Mr.Petterson will manage to join him in the NT in the next couple of seasons.

Last edited by Onisifor at 4/9/2012 4:02:09 PM

Tonight, against Island (on an away court) I tried something different in the offense and it worked fine.
It's very important to increase the outside shooting potential of the squad in order for such offenses to be effective on a regular basis. As owners you know best what is important for your players but do consider to include shooting training to your guards.

You can see the post-match statistics on the following link: (19349)

P.S. NT player for sale: (12085566)

Last edited by Onisifor at 4/23/2012 4:48:54 PM