Subject: UK U19's Season 9

Hi Guys,

Firstly, I'd like to thank Jim(Apolinaire) of The Whitefall Dragons for doing such a solid and well organised job before me. I believe he is very busy outside of PPM and I'm sure if he ever wanted to take on the same or a similar role he would get my vote. So, thanks Jim.

On my part. With about a week to go last season I saw no-one opting for the U19's/U17's. I felt a bit sad about this and I know I said that I'd prefer to just concentrate on my league teams - I thought I'd give it a shot anyway. If only to keep things going for us all. I have some time available for the role and what the hell, why not.

Anatoli(Dallas Mavericks) said he would try and rebuild a structure for the 17's and between us all. Mark(C.I Seagulls), myself and Anatoli we would attempt to get somekind of thread running though the Nt's.

Ok, the U19's don't look in too bad a shape. We have a handful of very useful players, although we have some skill shortfall in some area's. I'd like to thank at this point the managers that have got in touch and who have responded to me about their players involved. It makes the job that much easier when guys get on board. At the end of the day, were not likely to win any major prizes at this point - although we have great spirit and I think we can push on fairly strongly, even from a low team count here in the UK.

The 19's last night played their opening game for me and I was pleased with the synergy. We edged past the Canadiens which is no small feat! So, yes very pleased. Key players, this season for us being Allen(PG), Anthrobus(SG) and Parkin(SG), Fox(SF), Tolson and Sheldon (PF) and Lock at C.

I've added a few new faces into the team to give us a bit of strength. We have a lot of skilled players which is great but sometimes you need some real bruisers in there to mix it up. I haven't finished all my scouting as yet and I am looking at few more faces. If you feel that I have overlooked a player of yours, then please get in touch. I'm open and available to all.

Thanks for reading guys and here's to a sucessful season 9.

Nigel

Update:

The next game saw us take on France. This was a game that I put time pressures on certain players against very good players. - Nevertheless we lost the game and to be fair, I was expecting it. I also made some changes in the line up. I wanted to see young Dane Gallear in action and Andrew Lock's return.

Players who are not in the line up are not forgotten. I am moving the training around to be as fair as possible. Certain players are main and will get the regular call up as to be expected.

Next up is a double-header against Greece. Should be two very interesting games as I hone the line up and try and get us set for some sort of qualifying campaign.

Team chemistry is fairly low, so I'm upping the effort slightly. I'll see how this pans out nearer the time.

Additional call up today for Rhys Bird (Cannon Fodder) - PF - We have a few similar types in and around the PF area. And no reason why Bird shouldn't be in the squad.

Also, Rob Morley. (Lincoln Canadiens) - PG - lots of good qualities, but needs to focus on his pass a bit more. Should be a very decent option next season if not this.

Also, in the week, Dane Gallear(Club 77) - SF Mentioned. and
Daniel Bentley (Dallas Mavericks) Also SF

I am still looking over a few more players. At the end of the day the squad is ok. I hope to get a few results, see what happens eh.

All the best,

Nigel

Good luck with the NT, it will be hard as other teams in group looks strong.

Hey Jonas !

I feel with the group that were 'in the mix'. Yes, Germany are strong. The Canadiens will be tough as will Iran and Romania.

We may have a chance to qualify, it would be nice.

Ok, now. Tonight we played game one of the two friendlies against Greece. We were away from home and we travelled very well indeed. We won the game. The thing here really was the players played very tight. I was impressed by the whole team. Defensively we did very well. We didn't concede an inside shot for 15 mins of gametime.

The guys tonight went out in a better and more trusted minute rotation. I am still unsure about one or two rotations in the squad. I will change things slightly in the next game, which we may well lose, but the info gained will be more important.

I also pushed the Intensity to Normal. I need to get the new players off the ground chemistry wise. I may back off slightly next time.

Such a short time span to gel a team. I feel if I get any results it's a bonus. :/ '''

So, for the record. Mason Tasker(C) played a great game tonight, along with Jon Fox(SF). Parkin(SG) chipped in well enough and Allen(PG) held things together nicely.

Tolson(PF), played reasonably, as did Anthrobus(SG). Sheldon(PF), did his thing and shook things up. He hit a great 3 when we were really under the cosh in the third.

Overall I'd give the team a 7/10

Tactically, wasn't too bad. I threw in some Setplays in the third which backfired badly but the team got past my error and they got it back towards the solid game they had been playing to save their dinner.

I'm enjoying the challenge and I'm going to make mistakes but one thing for sure is, I'm giving it a good go. Thanks for reading , I'll update after each game, good n bad !!!!!

Laters,

Nigel

Game 2 against Greece was rather a tetchy affair. Neither team really got going. The guards on both sides were pretty much shut down.

Nevertheless the game proved to have some merit as I was again impressed by MasonTasker(C), and particularly Lloyd Ridley(SF) showed nice quality on the wing.

Allen also played a nice game from the PG and on the whole the team looks solid enough.

Tactically, I cycled around the three defensive sets to get a feel for where were at. It looks like we have no real concerns there - although defensive and offensive chemistries are obviously very low.

Next up is the Canadians in Game one of the qualifiers. We travel away in what is going to be a very tough game. They have great strength and any kind of near score would be great.

I have a general idea what the full team looks like now. I have some nice options. So, we'll see. Thanks for reading and I'll update again after the next game.

Canada Away

The team lost by half a dozen or so points.

I threw a hat at it. Went all out. The Canadians seems to favour the MtM defence so we looked to run inside. The first quarter went superbly and we raced into an large early lead.

I didn't expect this. Looking at their team, they usually go inside with their superb Nash and the other BIgs. So anyway, we played around the zone area defensively.

We lost Tasker & Tolson early which certainly hindered us.. Sheldon and Lock did their absolute best to withhold them but in the end we were under a barrage and they came back and won it strongly in the last couple of minutes.

It was a good effort to be fair, and well played Canada.

Anyway, on we go.

nice game you nearly got them offguard Looks like all UK NT teams was close to victory tonight.

Hi Jonas,

Were all all pretty close indeed. I think there is a marked improvement generally in the players.

Although, personally I dislike the notion of 'Clones' Whereas a positional player has to be trained in a certain way. I.e All PG's on the same ratio's all across the game.

After a time with all the active managers in Basketball PPM trying to get their players on spec the best I would surmise that these 'Set Builds' are not far away, if not already in evident as in the other sports.

I find this a bit disheartening as I remember that the preview to the sport was that the players would be more 'dynamic' and with the added height factor there would be more variation.

I'm not sure this is particularly true. And yet again it becomes more a race of numbers and less of tactical input, both in training and in game-play.

I thought I'd update here as I haven't for a while.

Well, qualifying is shot. No excuses, I think we had/have a good team. It was fun putting the lads together. I have identified a few that was off the radar and I feel they will be in with a good shout to go further in the set up. So, that's something.

I'm not going to run for re-election and it's nothing to do with the teams etc. Rather things are a bit up in the air out of PPm and I'd rather see someone in place who can give it a bit more time.

Thanks for your support guys and hopefully I will turn things around and have another blast sometime.

Best Wishes,

Nigel )

thank you for effort, so many games lost by few points, thats much more than my expectations was.