BuzzerBeater Forums

First off, thank you to those of you who voted for me in the election! I appreciate the support and will work hard throughout my term to bring success to South Africa's U21 team.

My next steps will be to,

- Complete scouting before Saturday and develop a depth chart
- Connect with JuMax on long-term training plans for U21 players
- Prepare for Monday's game against Tunisia
- Reach out to South African managers and trainers to begin building a collaborative network

In relation to that last point, I'd like to try something new to try and facilitate a support network for the team so I've created a Discord channel for South Africa's U21 team which you can join at https://discord.gg/dHJ2ZZ6QMR.

In the meantime, please don't hesitate to reach out to me via BB-Mail or in the Discord as I'd be happy to hear from you all.

Last edited by A Warrior at 12/23/2020 01:21:34

Congrats !

Congrats and good luck!

Thanks JuMax and Sandy!

Welcome. Good luck this season!

Thanks CrazyBob!

Just a few updates:
- All South African players under 21 have been scouted and their skills have been logged in my database
- JuMax and I have connected on National Team prospects and FeelThePressure has joined my staff so that you aren't surprised if he also reaches out to you in the future
- I've reached out to all managers with South African players under 21 to figure out who is being trained (thanks for the responses!)
- Since each manager can only train a few players, I know that training spots are limited since many of you are already training South African players. Because of this, unfortunately, a lot of our new 18 and 19-year-olds don't get trained or are fired so I'm trying to recruit new trainers for South African players in BB's forums, (307694.1), as well as through the BuzzerBeater Discord
- Game planning with our depth chart and for Monday's game has begun on the Discord

Next steps:
- I will take off all players from the roster after Friday's training update then add them back after Saturday's game as injuries and gameshape may impact the initial roster
- Continue to recruit new trainers and develop training plans for players

I'll probably sound like a broken record mentioning the Discord (https://discord.gg/rZP27YpfPD), but would be happy to connect with more of y'all further over it if anyone is interested in checking it out. I will try to post updates here occasionally as well but will limit the depth I go into around game planning since these are public forums.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you all!

Last edited by A Warrior at 12/28/2020 19:39:16

Things have been very busy but we're ready for the African Tournament to begin!

Our starting roster has been called up, tactics have been discussed and we eagerly await our first game against Tunisia. Thanks to those who have spent several seasons already training players on this roster - Abubakar, DonnyTheWay, Giorgio950, JimyW & Lesley1226! Gameshape and training are going to be very important for these players moving forward, so if you have questions on either, please don't hesitate to reach out to me.

If you have a player that is not yet on the team and you want an update on where your player stands in regards to being called up, feel free to BB-Mail me. Please also send me regular updates on your players' skills as they improve. The remaining open spots on the roster will be carefully used based on training, gameshape and the team's needs. Thank you to those of you training these players in the pipeline as well!

On a fun note, I know that coachlambini, who did a great job getting us homecourt advantage this season, had previously referred to the squad as the "Baby Boks". Since it's your country's team, I wanted to open it up to all of you for a chance to name the team moving forward. The response that gets the most +1's will be what we use going forward and if we don't get any responses, we'll just stick with the Baby Boks!

Game 1: Tounes 106 vs. South Africa 119 (58377)

Record: 1-0

Standing: Currently 3rd place
(Note: In this initial Round Robin of games, the top 6 of 8 teams will advance after each team has played each other.)

Great first game by the team against a Tounes/Tunisia squad that put in more enthusiasm. Umi Mugabe led the team with a monstrous 29 pts, 21 rbs, 8 asts and 0(!) tos game. Elphus Siamusiye (26 pts on 12-19, 5 rbs & 6 asts) and Gonasilan Sono (14 pts, 10 rbs, 5 asts & 2 blks) also had strong games. It was an encouraging start to the African Tournament.

Player of the Game: Umi Mugabe (48097274) trained by JimyW

Next week we're scheduled for Ghana who isn't able to field a team so it'll give us an extra week to train. Keep those pops coming!

(And feel free to throw out any name suggestions for the team and/or join the Discord (https://discord.gg/CrzH7AQPYs)!)

Last edited by A Warrior at 01/25/2021 17:54:48

Nice start. Do you think we can get a medal this season?

Game 2: South Africa U21 vs. Ghana U21 50-0 (58381)

Record: 2-0

Standing: Currently 2nd place
(Note: In this initial Round Robin of games, the top 6 of 8 teams will advance after each team has played each other.)

Thanks Ebene. I do believe that we can get a medal this season. With that being said though, there are still a lot of factors that would need to go right this season to make that a reality. I'll certainly be doing my best to make it one.

Now that we've passed this Ghana game, every game matters from here on out so please continue to manage your players' game shapes and send me training updates on any players you think have a chance at making the team. Thank you!

A couple of other updates,
- There are now 5 of us on the Discord (https://discord.gg/EazKVJ5JPe)! It's an easier place to communicate with one another, share updates on trainees, give each other advice and plan for the upcoming games. Feel free to join us!
- I've recruited a couple of new managers, khenry and mathew13693, who were willing to train South African players and we have seen them support the team in picking up seven 18 and 19-year-old players! Big thanks to the two of them as I think they'll help us develop more depth for future teams.

Game 3: Al Jazair U21 82 vs. South Africa 107 (58385)

Record: 3-0

Standing: Currently 1st place
(Note: In this initial Round Robin of games, the top 6 of 8 teams will advance after each team has played each other.)

The Baby Boks picked up a good win against another opponent putting in more enthusiasm against them in Al Jazair/Algeria. The team was led by Asanda Hadebe who scored 25 pts in 25 mins on 12-16 shooting along with 7 rbs and 0 tos. They also saw solid double-double performances from star big man Umi Mugabe (13 pts on 6-8 and 14 rbs in 26 mins) and Thikhathali Zibi (15 pts on 6-9 and 10 rbs in 22 mins) off the bench. Though this win is to be celebrated, their coach reminded the team that the tournament is still early and charged the team to show up early tomorrow for practice knowing that their two toughest opponents in Egypt/Misr (2nd place, 3-0) and Al Maghrib (3rd place, 2-1) loom in the next couple of weeks.

Player of the Game: Asanda Hadebe (48405810) trained by Lesley1226

Last edited by A Warrior at 01/25/2021 17:54:56