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and now, the Great 8 conference

Antwerp Giants(89868)
Last seasons achievement: 6th spot and winner of the regulation series that send most unfortunate Obira Dragons back to II
salary: 773 227$ for 17 players
Information: When you have the 4th highest payroll in the BBBL, then you are expected to do better than a 6th spot. Either the players aren't worth their salary, in which case it's time to find some replacements for them, or the manager isn't using the maximum potential of this team. Whatever the reason may be, Antwerp Giants need to get better results. And with a team that is rapidly aging, it is time to weed out the players who just riding allong with the train. Each season that goes buy, the value of the players will decrease even more, but ofcourse, you don't want to throw away all the hard work that went into creating the team and staying the in BBBL. Whatever Timop decides to do, one thing is certain. If no changes are made, the making the top 3 is an absolute must for the Giants. Giants are a ticking time bomb that needs a serious youth injection to defuse it. The longer Timop waits, the harder it's going to get to get young players. It's time for manager Timop to make a some though decisions for the Giants futur. If teams with a payroll of merely 600k ( such as Mizu) have twice the ammount of victories as team with a payroll of nearly 800k, then something has to change, and the sooner the better.
prognosis Battle for the 4th PO spot, allong with Mighty Wizzards and Esterellas Absurdas. Despite having the higher payroll, the projected spot for the Giants is the 5th spot.


Basket Mizu Arlon(89902)
Last seasons achievement: 2nd spot with equal ammount of victories as Vottem Cowboys, but a less good point differential. Lost the conference finals against Vottem Cowboys
salary: 598 410$ for 12 players
Information: This is once again, a very versatile team. Each position is covered with a good strong player and a decent back up, turning Mizu Arlon into a very strong team. It still has a pretty large economical margin for growth thru training or by adding another player or 2 to this very nice looking roster. Expect to see Arlon ontop of their game while often giving their opponent more trouble than that they can handle.
prognosis Battle for the top seed with Vottem Cowboys. Vottem has the better roster, but has announced that this will be a training season more than anything else. Projected spot: 2nd behind whole else than Vottem Cowboys.

Estrellas Absurdas(89923)
Last seasons achievement: 3rd and PO first round exit against Basket Mizu Arlon
salary: 609 996$ for 17 players
Information: Estrellas Absurdas is one of the few teams in the BBBL to be managed by a girl. This charming lady, who answers to the name Angi, also is part of the U21/NT staff aswell as the BB staff (she's one of those GM's on who the burden falls to watch over this great BB game and weed out the cheaters. a highly unthankfull but necessary job). As for her team, she no doubt has the most allround team in the BBBL and has created that team, keeping the most important thing in mind being defense. Estrellas Absurdas are one defensif very though nut to crack. They have been around the BBBL for a long time already. They might not be the strongest team, but it sure is the team with the least defensif weakness (meaning that she isn't especially vulnerable to inside or outside tactic, as most teams are). Estrellas Absurdas fans can expect another exciting season, in which Angi hopes to lead the franchise once again to the PO's.
prognosis Battle for 4th PO spot allong with Mighty Wizzards and Antwerp Giants. Due to her very strudy defence and nearly double line up for each spot, Angi does posses the best chances to succesfully get that 4th spot due to the fact that she'll be able to manage her gameshape more easely that most other managers.


Stonestars(37411)
Last seasons achievement: 4th and PO first round exit against Vottem Cowboys
salary: 811 300$ for 13 players
Information: Home to Belgian top frontcourt players Abu Hassam and De Neef as well as the very promissing PG Viktor Titeux, Stonestars is once again aiming for nice season. With the recent arrival of Andrus Loodus, who is expected to replace the leaving Abu Hassam, Stonestars will once again be aiming for PO participation. Question remains if their frontcourt, which with Abu and De Neef was known to be both injury prown and very agressive players ( they were violent and dangerous, and it wasn't an exception to see one of them throw a punch, or elbow their opponent, to much frustration of their manager NicoNam), which often got them in early faul trouble, will be able to remain on the court long enough to have a big impact in this upcomming season. Maybe the biggest reason that Abu was told to pack his bags, was that manager NicoNam was tired of his agressive temper. Anyhow, their are still a few changes that are expected to be made, but with calm and motivated Titeux at the point guard position, Stonestars have a very young, yet capable man to lead their offence. NT staff is extremely interested in his progress and already praise him for his great yet relentless working spirit. Some of the Nt staff refer to him as the little Derrick Rose from Belgium, yet Titeux still has a long way to go before being as good as DR.
prognosis 3rd spot in the conference, provided that Stonestars don't focus on the cup.


the mighty wizzards(89707)
Last seasons achievement: 5th position
salary: 529 312$ for 13 players
Information: With a much smaller payroll that most of the BBBL teams, this team is yet a pretty strong team to face. However, their exact strength is uncertain, after the roster overhaul during the offseason, which has given this team a whole new face. Some fear that their small bench could be a pretty big weakness for this team, considering that they added 3 rather agressive players to their roster, however, with the more than capable Fille coach ( another member of the U21/NT staff) as manager, this team should once again be in the running for the 4th spot.
prognosis Battle for 4th PO spot allong with Antwerp Giants and Esterellas Absurdas, but due to the lack of bench, Expectation: 6th spot

Tijuana Burrritos(89707)
Last seasons achievement: promotion in II.2 after beating BBC Miamus in the PO finales
salary: 375 881$ for 12 players
Information: TB is the only team ammongst the promovendi, who has already had past BBBL experience. Neither the Mumu boys, nor Amenra or the Angels have had past experience with the BBBL. Yet, from all the teams that promoted, TB still has the smallest arena. No offseason additions have yet been made, yet it is only a matter of time before TB will announce their new players. They seem to have a decent frontcourt, with some decent guards aswell. Things will be interesting to see how they handle themselves in the BBBL after having been here before. Question remains tho: is this squad strong enough to hold it's own against the other BBBL teams?
prognosis Battle to avoid direct regulation with as biggest opponent: Antwerp Angels. Will their experience be the X factor for this campaign? or will an extra player be able to provide the necessary aid for the Burritos in their fight against the Angels. Current expectation: 8th spot due to the slightely superior squad from the Angels.


Vottem Cowboys(37519)
Last seasons achievement: Succesfully defended their champions title for the 3rd consecutive time ( 4th consecutive title)
salary: 773 683$ for 13 players
Information: With 4 top belgian players ( PG Thys, SG Gilmont, SG/SF Vercaigne and SF/PF Mees) allongside with players such as Le quellec or Chorev, just to name a few, this is without dought Belgiums strongest team. Due to his greed ( of winning both the cup and the championship) he will be Belgians only repressentive in the B3 tournament. Altho manager JoeMaverick (the U21 headcoach, and yet another U21/NT staffmember in the great8 conference) has announced that this would be a training season and that his goal isn't the championship, many believe this to be hot air that Joe wishes to use to take pressure away from him and put some more pressure onto his rivals. VC remains to be the team to beat in the BBBL and hopefully, he will have a very succesfull season in the B3. the lesson to be learned? Just ignore Joe's words when he is saying that he ain't going for the championship. But do not mistake this statement that you should ignore Joe's advise, because more often than not, it proves to be very to be a very usefull advise. When facing him home or away, you better expect a defeat, and in the unlikely event that you would be lucky enough to win, then you might aswell celebrate it, because not many teams can hope to defeat VC's team. If anything, VC might have a weakness, but i'll leave that for the other managers to find out ;)
prognosis Battle with Mizu for the top seed in the conference. expectations: first in the conference and once again, BBBL champ after a rematch of seasons 16 finals ( but probably with HCA for Phoenix suns)

Antwerp Angels(37519)
Last seasons achievement: Promotion from II.3 after beating Dexia in the PO finals
salary: 567 835$ for 16 players
Information: Last but not least, the last promovendu from II. The Angels, managed by LA-Revo (NT headcoach for the past 4 seasons and the last U21/NT stafmember in this Great 8 conference) is the home of NT SF Patrick Ottevaere (drafted by Angels) and NT C Gerry Fleeton. Both players are considered to be the go to guy's, and thus far, have been playing together very well. Question remains how the Angels will be able to survive in the stiff competition in the great 8 conference. They have a strong starting 5, and rumor has it that 2 more players will be added to the team to allow a better rotation for the team, but will it be enough? Angels will, without dought, be fighting to avoid direct regulation. The first season often is the hardest one for a promovendus, and it's not uncommon to see them go down after a season. However, manager Revo refuses to go down without putting up a decent fight, so it should be an interesting season for the Angels.
prognosis Battle to avoid direct regulation with Tijuana Burrritos. expectations are the 7th spot, due to what seems to be a stronger team as this point. But TB is expected to make some additions later on in the season, so hard to predict how it will end.





That is my preview of the upcomming season. I'm pretty sure that i'm wrong about a few things and that things will change with the incomming transfers, but as i've always said when i make a preview. If you disagree with me, prove me wrong. I always try to add some humoristic parts to my preview. I hope you'll appreciate them. If any of you would find something insulting, then i'd like to appologize in advance for it and it most certainly wasn't ment as an insult (if you feel insulted, mail me and i'll remove the insulting part). If you like certain parts of the preview, ball the post. that is what that balling system is good for.

And in a preview, i have to fill up spots from 1 to 8. If you were considered to be number 8, then it doesn't mean that you'll be the 8th guy. BB is full of surprizes and in the end, all that matters is that you have fun. So i wish everyone alot of luck for the upcomming season, but more importantly, i hope that you'll all enjoy this season as much as you've enjoyed the passed ones.

LA-Revo


ps: finally, the preview is done.

Last edited by AthrunZala at 7/28/2011 3:12:57 PM

I don't know exactly what to expect of this season.
I am not involved enough in the game and in all the changes of the Game engine within the last seasons to be able to reach the top. This made me do several mistakes those last 5-6 seasons... and put me in a situation where i am in the middle of the river, keep floating but not knowing which edge to reach and just following the flow... but knowing i will never anymore reach the top as 5-6 seasons ago. At the same time, i don't want and don't have time to be more involved in the game and therefore restart with young good ones and so on... So i will just take it as it comes and see what will come out of all that... :)

For the rest, as i could see how easily Joe won the last championship and cup, (despite a more complicated then previous ones configuration) and that he did't change his roster, even if he comes to finish 2nd or 3rd of the conference, i think he will win both gold cups again this season....

It seems that Arlon is on a very great player. If he can get him, he will become the favorite team, even ahead Phoenix

Waelput is only an human ... a big shoot on his knee and he's over :p

I've some money if needed too ;)