The Bulgarian Brothers – A College Hoops 2K8 & NBA 2K20 Dynasty

[studbucket]

After UNC squeaked by VMI they get to take on the Ivy League’s Dartmouth, who dominated Air Force in their own house. However, the Big Green have almost no height in their starting lineup (6'4" and 6'9" frontcourt), though they do have a 7 foot freshman. Can UNC take advantage of their lack of height and mediocre shooting?

The short answer was: not really…but it was still an awesome game.

It started out poorly for the Bears as star shooting guard Delvon Jahnke immediately picked up 2 fouls and went to the bench, giving him no chance to impact the game like he did last night. The whole team looked sluggish with or without Jahnke and found themselves down 18-6 just a few minutes into the first half.

After a timeout to get his thought together, Coach Oggy D told his boys to focus, specifically on big Donovin. Feed the big man the ball and slow things down. Mascoll immediately scored 7 points via three baskets and a free throw to cut the score to 18-13. Things were looking up…but seeing his starters exhausted or in foul trouble, Oggy put in his bench and things fell apart again, falling behind 27-14.

By the time halftime came around, it wasn’t much better. The Big Green were handling the Bears and up 33-27, with Donovin Mascoll scoring 18 of the team’s 27 points. If their wings couldn’t get going, it was going to be a long night.

At the break, Coach Oggy turned to his redshirt freshman shooting guard Brandon North, who was playing in front of his family and friends in his hometown of Colorado Springs. “Brandon – Delvon is in foul trouble, Andres can’t get to the hoop with their 2-3 zone, and somebody needs to help out Donovin. This is your game. This is your backyard. Go out there and light them up. You’ve got 6 points now – get me 25!” Oggy grinned widely at his young guard, but on the inside wasn’t sure if he believed what he was saying.

The words must have worked. North started taking, and mostly hitting, lots of threes helping Northern Colorado claw their way back into the game. With just 2 minutes left the score was 56-53 and Oggy was nervous. His team had shown no discipline all game, could they do it now? Just then Andres Swanson decided to wake up for a moment and make two straight baskets to make the game 58-57. 1 minute later, they found the game tied at 59 with 17 seconds left.

Fortunately for Oggy’s Bears, a contested three from Junior Emerson Balkman fell short and the game went to overtime.

In the first overtime, Dartmouth started to slowly pull away due to good shooting and a cold spell from UNC…but just like with the regulation period, UNC came back (back-to-back threes form Jahnke and North) and tied the game at 71. Dartmouth had the ball last again, and took another contested three (this time from PG Raul Cowens) and missed.

It’s time for the 2^nd OT. Which means it’s Brandon North time.

The 2^nd overtime started with the hometown boy drilling a corner three, and then when Dartmouth missed their next shot, Delvon Jahnke grabbed the rebound and threw a full-court pass to a streaking North who mustered whatever energy he had left to throw down a powerful 2 handed dunk on the breakaway. The crowd exploded, especially the upper decks where his entire family and group of friends were watching together. North screamed, flexed, and pointed up to them as he ran back on defense.

He stayed hot and the Bears cruised to victory, winning 86-77 after a second overtime. North scored 25 second half points en route to 31 points on 9-17 from deep in just the second game of his career. Donovin Mascoll continued his solid performance, getting 16 more second half points to finish with 34 points and 9 rebounds.

Oggy was nothing but smiles and screams after the game, as his players jumped around the court high-fiving, he could be seen lifting Brandon North (who seemed like a toddler in the hands of the bulking Bulgarian).

Around the NCAA

• In his first game as head coach, Dinko Dragomirov managed to pull out a 78-72 victory over American. Junior PG Noah Almond went 5-7 from deep en route to 20 points for the Red Flash.

Jahnke and Mascoll are pumped about the double-OT tournament victory.

[LopaKa]

What a thrilling victory and solid 2-0 start for Oggy’s boys. Solid presentation bro, love the inclusion of the gifs and video highlights! Cool to see Dinko also start his career on the right foot!

[studbucket]

Quote: Originally Posted by LopaKa

What a thrilling victory and solid 2-0 start for Oggy’s boys. Solid presentation bro, love the inclusion of the gifs and video highlights! Cool to see Dinko also start his career on the right foot!

Yeah! In the ~12 years I've owned CHoops...I don't think I've ever played a double OT game. I was resigned to losing several times, and somehow it all just worked out. I did not expect my freshman to step up so huge, but it gives me hope for this UNC team since my 2 best players (Jahnke and Mascoll) are both Seniors.

[trekfan]

Wow, what a HUGE win. Oggy's got his team playing with super confidence.

[djp73]

This is really great so far. Should be a really fun ride!

[studbucket]

Quote: Originally Posted by djp73

This is really great so far. Should be a really fun ride!

Thanks! I'm excited to see where their careers head and how they diverge.

[studbucket]

It’s the year of the guards, with 16 of the top 20 recruits playing shooting or point guard. With this glut of ball handlers, competition is fierce for the few big men available, but that doesn’t mean there’s any less competition for the shooters as the college game starts to adopt the pro style spread and shoot offenses.

	Prospect	Position	Hometown	Top 3 Schools
1	Malcolm Nahra	PG	Los Angeles, CA	UCLA, Texas A&M, Texas
2	Marcello Barber	PF	Houston, TX	Duke, Ohio State, Texas
3	Roland Mayes	PG	San Diego, CA	UCLA, USC, Arizona
4	Leighton Byerson	SG	Bronx, NY	Maryland, Boston College, Villanova
5	Sheldon Newman	SG	Cincinnati, OH	North Carolina, Duke, Maryland
6	Curtis Bitee	SG	St. Paul, MN	Wisconsin, Kansas State, Florida
7	Danko Matthews	PG	Sioux Falls, SD	Arkansas, Creighton, Ohio State
8	Mason Delgado	PG	Cape Coral, FL	Duke, Florida State, North Carolina
9	Keston Mendoza	PF	Mountain View, CA	UNLV, Oregon, California
10	Gerard Engle	SG	Boston, MA	Maryland, Villanova, Boston College
11	V.J. Andres	SF	Albuquerque, NM	Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma State
12	Wilt McCully	SG	Houston, TX	Auburn, Kansas State, MOST(?*)
13	Duane Parker	SG	St. Louis, MO	Marquette, Kansas, Texas
14	Reid Ziri	C	Vancouver, Canada	Oregon, Washington, Gonzaga
15	Britton Wainright	SG	McAllen, TX	Florida, Mississippi State, Texas
16	Randy Vignale	SG	Clovis, CA	Washington State, California, Pepperdine
17	Bobby Reed	SG	Flint, MI	Pittsburgh, Wisconsin, Maryland
18	Paul Clifton	SG	Huntington Beach, CA	California, Washington State, Arizona
19	Jonas Shavies	SG	Chicago, IL	Wisconsin, Maryland, Villanova
20	Dan Diaz	PG	Phoenix, AZ	Texas Tech, Arizona, UCLA

*I have no clue what school MOST is. Missouri State? Why are they in the running for a top 20 prospect from Texas?

Leading the way are 2 point guards from SoCal: Malcolm Nahra and Roland Mayes. Both have UCLA at the top of their list, and it will be interesting to see if Mayes still chooses to attend if California’s Mr. Basketball (Nahra) commits their first, or if he goes to USC to re-kindle the cross-town rivalry in basketball.

Duke doesn’t find themselves as frontrunners for many of the top 20, but Coach K would be thrilled to get the #2 prospect in Marcello Barber along with Mason Delgado, the PG from Cape Coral, Florida.

With the initial signing period just a few weeks away, some of these players may come off the board, leaving coaches to scramble to find the next best option for their squad.

[studbucket]

Kostadin’s brother Ognyan was off to a hot 3-0 start, including an easy victory over tonight’s opponent Eastern Illinois. Dinko had a victory, and a few injuries, after just 1 game this year but found himself a bit envious of his brother having already played 3 games and won a tournament. His team was supposed to be in one of those tournaments, but the travel arrangements fell through, and it was frankly for the best. The more time he can spend around Stephanie, the better.

Oggy and the Bears handled Eastern Illinois through a double-double (19 points, 13 boards, 4-4 from three) from Andres Swanson and 26 more points from Branden Stiles and Donovin Mascoll. EIU is a similar team to St. Francis, with limited height but some good shooters; Dinko will need his boys to be disciplined and play within their means to pull out this victory.

The game started off with the Red Flash controlling the offensive board and looking like they’d cruise to victory. However, the hot start that saw them up early cooled off as both teams struggled to score as many points in the last 3/4s of the half as they did in the first few minutes. The half came to an end with St. Francis up 27-23, though Coach Dragmirov had to be feeling like they should have been up more given their advantage in the rebound and field goal % departments.

The Red Flash started the 2^nd half off well but cooled off, just like the first half. After finding themselves up by 9 early on, Dinko blinked and saw the game tied up. With 4 minutes left it was a 1 point game (41-40) in favor of the Red Flash.

However, things quickly turned in favor of St. Francis, with a bucket and a foul, a three-pointer, and a 3-second violation by the Panthers. With 2:30 left, the Red Flash were up by 8 and just needed to hold on, which they did for a 57-49 victory.

It was ultimately a comfortable victory, but one that should have been so much easier and was quite sloppy for the home team. The Red Flash shot 18% better from the field and outrebounded them by 11, but kept them in the game by letting Eastern Illinois take 11 trips to the line.

For next game, Coach Kostadin will need to not only keep his team more disciplined, but work through Zygis Keita more often. The big man worked the glass and wasn’t rewarded enough for his efforts.

Around the NCAA

• Davidson beat North Carolina by 18 points, led by Milos Jeffers (27 points and 12 rebounds). 2 of their next 4 games are against #9 Duke and #8 UCLA.
• Only 5 teams have played 5 games and won all 5: UMass, Georgia Tech, Rhode Island, and #22 Stanford – how many will be in the tournament by the end of the season?
• Oggy and the UNC Bears suffered their first loss of the season, falling to regional rival Denver by a single point, 67-66.

Around the NBA

• We’re 4 weeks into the season and Giannis Antetokounmpo has won 3 Player of the Week awards, with Kyrie Irving the lone exception. Giannis is leading the league with 32.2 points per game.
• The Boston Celtics have the best record in the East at 11-2. They and the Milwaukee Bucks are both on 5 game winning streaks.
• Out West the LA teams are leading the standings with the Clippers at 11-3 and the Lakers at 10-3.