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

[studbucket]

And that's your Western Conference previews! I will have some college bball content (Dinko vs Duquesne!) and the Eastern conference before I do a key storylines post and we get ready for the Drago Derby.

Do you have any favorites in the West? Any teams that make you excited or teams you want to learn more about?

Based on the previews here's how I have the West finishing:

1. Nuggets 65-17
2. Thunder 55-27
3. Warriors 54-28
4. Rockets 52-30
5. Timberwolves 48-34
6. Mavs 46-36
7. Suns 45-37
8. Pelicans 44-38
9. Lakers 43-39
10. Jazz 40-42
11. Kings 38-44
12. Trail Blazers 35-47
13. Honu 26-56
14. Clippers 24-58
15. Spurs 24-58
16. SuperSonics 23-59

[JoshNormanMane]

Lebron and KD on the same team even at their advanced age (relative to the NBA) is bonkers. I'm not sure if they're a title contender but they'd be a must-watch league pass team just to tell your grandkids about lol.

Booker and Zion teamed up in my old 2k20 file ironically. I feel like Kuzma isn't a good fit for that roster which will ultimately hurt their playoff hopes as you alluded.

[studbucket]

Quote: Originally Posted by JoshNormanMane

Lebron and KD on the same team even at their advanced age (relative to the NBA) is bonkers. I'm not sure if they're a title contender but they'd be a must-watch league pass team just to tell your grandkids about lol.

The rest of that OKC team is so good and complements them so well that I think they have to be considered a strong title contender. The biggest argument against them contending is actually those two, not their supporting cast.

LeBron hasn't led the Lakers to any meaningful success in 4 years and KD's ppg dropped below 20 last season. Will this rejuvenate KD? Is LeBron still great and it was just a supporting cast problem in LA?

Despite having AD, Paul George, DeAndre Jordan, and some scraps, I do think that this is a way better team for LeBron. He should thrive here. Their PG doesn't need the ball and is Ben Simmons-lite. Their SG plays amazing defense and likes to catch and shoot.

So if KD shows up and there are not many injuries, I think they are really scary.

You are totally right about being must-watch league pass. In Bill Simmons' League Pass rankings, they've gotta be top 3 this season.

Quote: Originally Posted by JoshNormanMane

Booker and Zion teamed up in my old 2k20 file ironically. I feel like Kuzma isn't a good fit for that roster which will ultimately hurt their playoff hopes as you alluded.

That's funny that they teamed up too. It's interesting seeing the parallels - like Domas and Lauri teaming up in SAC in both our dynasties.

The wild thing about the Booker trade is that while he's the bigger name - it was Bam who made All-NBA 2nd team last year. The Zag on that move is that Phoenix kept the better player and added 2 solid starters that should complement Bam.

With Kuzma, he's actually been really important for the Pelicans. When he was hurt, they were terrible. They dropped out of the playoff race and only leveled back out to .500 or better once he was back. So we'll see if that continues to be true in this new lineup. The Pelicans are a weird team.

[ChosenOne58]

Devin Booker in NOLA.

Pels finishing top 5 in the West.

[studbucket]

Quote: Originally Posted by ChosenOne58

Devin Booker in NOLA. Pels finishing top 5 in the West.

If he and Zion can finally lead their teams to be contenders, that will be huge for both of them and NOLA. I really am interested to see who finishes higher: them or Phoenix.

[studbucket]

Dinko's game isn't ready yet, so I wanted to share something related to the Western Conference. 2KShare didn't have great options for the Sonics or Honu (compared to what I got from 2K20) so I got connected with Kyu (Kyuu or Kyu#8032) on Discord. He made me custom Sonics and Honu courts and uniforms.

The Honu court had to use an alternate logo because the fiercer turtle was too low-rez, but I'm still happy with things.









And as a teaser he is designing the jerseys and courts for my next two expansion teams . You may have to wait years to see those lol, but you can take guesses at who they will be (hints in this post).

[studbucket]

Dinko had spent a few days pondering the upcoming game against his alma mater. There were a lot of emotions swirling inside of him as he approached the game. Happiness to see his former school; nervousness to perform well against them; frustration to see his brother lose to them; angry motivation to show they were wrong to pass on him.

Stephanie could tell he was stewing and, as much as she cared about the basketball team and his career, she had a way of putting things in perspective. “Stop dwelling on the game. You’ve got other people in your life right now: an 11 year old daughter, two twin boys, and your parents. You’ve got a 3-0 basketball team that looks fantastic. So what if you win or lose. Will it change anything about your family or this season’s expectations? No.”

Stephanie was right and Dinko did his best to put those unproductive emotions and thoughts into a compartment. From a matchup perspective, St. Francis looked pretty good against Duquesne. Oggy lost because he couldn’t stop the post scoring and couldn’t make a three. That will not be a problem for the Red Flash, as Dinko prepared to beat his beloved Dukes for the 4th straight time.

Since we last saw the Dukes beating Loyola Marymount, things haven’t gone so well. That win make them 4-2 on the season, but they are now 4-6 after losing 4 straight games by 11+ points. Freshman center Jackie Goodrich is back for the Dukes, but in this losing streak Trevoy Stepp is only averaging 9 points and under 4 rebounds per game. Maybe it’s just a sophomore slump, but the reigning freshman of the year has not looked great so far this year.

The first few minutes of the game seemed to be both teams trying to outdo one another in effort – sometimes at the expense of quality. That frenetic pace led to a 10-10 game and several starters already looking gassed and needing subs. Dinko didn’t make those substitutions and paid for it as several turnovers from his team led to a 17-10 deficit. He called a timeout and made a few rotations, hoping it would help out.

In the short term, it did. Bobby Valdez came in and shot 2-2 from deep and pulled St. Francis back to within 2. Unfortunately, Duquesne got control back and was up by as much as 10. The Red Flash couldn’t score and were playing poor defense. Dinko found himself wondering “what is going on?”

A small run before half helped cut the lead to 6 and the teams went into the break with Duquesne up 40-34. The Red Flash needed to be more disciplined on both ends of the court. They were lazy on defense and had committed 7 turnovers on offense. To make things worse, the team wasn’t shooting well, hitting only 2 of 8 three pointers. Fortunately, the frontcourt had come to play as Akindele and Thompson had combined for 18 points.

The second half started with some great defense from the Red Flash to cut the lead to just a few points, but they lost control and the game got hectic again with Duquesne pulling ahead by 8. Dinko got his team to slow the game down and start feeding the two starting big men and attacking the basket. That strategy worked as they got the game back to 55-54, within just a single point.

A minute later they found themselves up 58-57 after getting a steal off the press. This was their first lead in a while, but they immediately lost. Fortunately, they were able to get the lead back and extend it thanks to Stephane Diakite and Willis Holman attacking the basket. With St. Francis up 68-62, coach Pope called a timeout to regroup his players. Dinko stressed defense: shut down their team and keep attacking the basket.

With 4 minutes left, Trevoy Stepp picked up his 4^th personal foul and the Dukes’ 6^th team foul of the half. It’s been a rough game for Stepp and free throws have helped St. Francis regain control of this game. However, the game wasn’t over as Duquesne cut the lead to 71-70 after Collier Battle hits a three.

From there, it was a cold stretch. For 2 minutes the Dukes and Red Flash traded bricks, missing a combined 7 shots before the stretch was broken by an emphatic Floyd Akindele slam. He roared and flexed as he ran back up the court with a 73-70 lead.

Floyd Akindele gives the Red Flash a 3 point lead with a big dunk.

To close out the game, Dinko went with a more defensive lineup. It’s a bit smaller, but they are more fundamentally sound and tenacious: Willingham, Valdez, Quick, Diakite, and Akindele. His hope is that this group can close out the game.

After Vern Quick missed a wide-open floater that would have sealed the game, Erwin Willingham bailed him out by stealing the ball and slowing things down. St. Francis was wasting time and were up 75-72. If they timed the shot right, even if they missed Duquesne would only have ~10 seconds to make a 3 pointer to tie the game.

What happened next wasn’t pretty, but it worked. Valdez caught the ball on the wing, had a guy right in his face, but launched it up anyway and drained the three. 78-72, and that was the dagger. Duquesne managed to get off 3 shots, making the final one to have the game finish at 78-75. It’s Dinko’s 4^th straight win over Duquesne and it took heart and persistence. From the moment they were down 40-30, St. Franics outscored Duquesne 48-35 and managed to stay undefeated.

St. Francis had several big performers: Willingham had 11 assists, 6 rebounds, and 3 steals and was supported by 20 and 7 from Akindele and 16 and 4 from Thompson. Stephane Diakite had several clutch baskets down the stretch en route to 12 and 5.

After a first half that saw St. Francis turn the ball over 7 times to Duquesne’s 4, things flipped in the second half and the Dukes had 10 turnovers to the host’s 4. St. Francis also had an astounding 60 points in the paint.

Trevoy Stepp only scored 2 points the whole game, but did manage to grab 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and 5 turnovers. Jackie Goodrich scored 19 and Packevicius had 17 points and 8 assists.

Around the NCAA

• Oggy and LMU took part in the Drake Regency Classic in Des Moines, Iowa. It was a good weekend as Oggy was able to grab his first wins as Lions coach and improve to 2-4.
  • 87-62 win vs NJIT. Herbert Nashif led the way with 19 points and 13 rebounds.
  • 86-52 win vs Jackson State. Both Skip Salow and Immanuel Kahrimanovic had 20 points.
• #10 UNLV fell to unranked Oklahoma 72-66. The Sooners won in a team effort, but sophomore Anil Winter (PF, 75 ovr) had 13 points and 10 rebounds while freshman Dawin Dawn (PG, 75 ovr) had 8 points, 5 rebounds, and assists. The future is bright for this young Oklahoma squad that starts 3 freshman and a sophomore.
• #12 Texas Tech defeated #17 UCLA 77-49. The Red Raider blowout was led by senior Michael Johnson (C, 80 ovr) and his 24 points. NBA hopeful Tony Temple (SG, 86 ovr) was held to 6 points.
• Unranked Ohio State beat #2 Duke 87 – #2. The loss drops Duke to #6.
• In a big upset, Cincinnati upset #6 California, 72-49. O.J. Bridges (SF, 79 ovr) led the way with 20 points and 8 rebounds. The loss drops Cal to #15.

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[ChosenOne58]

Woooooow.

Down to the wire. Way to pull out the win.