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Thank you to all of you South African managers for giving me another opportunity to represent the U21 team! I'm excited to coach the team again and to be able to both defend our title as reigning U21 African champions and to continue to further develop the pipeline for future seasons.

A few things to note,
- I have already completed scouting of all new South African draftees, including identifying all of them drafted in Utopia. I messaged every manager to figure out if they are planning to train their draftees and if they were not going to train, I've encouraged them to sell.
- Every U21 South African prospect has been scouted and our depth chart has been updated, along with training plans for our players. I've connected with Ebene5 so that he's also aware of what our National Team prospect pipeline is looking like.
- I have done initial scouting of our opponents and our first-round schedule to help us begin to prepare as best we can for this upcoming season.
- We now have 10+ managers on our South African Discord, many of which are training current and/or future South African U21 players. As always, feel free to join the discussions around training and game planning here (https://discord.gg/CrzH7AQPYs). We've got a good group of managers involved.
- The pipeline is looking bright! With these additional dedicated trainers alongside all you South African trainers and the increase of draftees found through the Utopia dual citizenship, I believe that we're doing the best we can to continue to set the team up for both short-term and long-term success. And I'm personally right there alongside the group as I'm picking up another batch of 18-year-olds to help train for the future.

We won't underestimate our opponents but we're after another Gold this season and I will do everything I can to help us achieve that goal so let's get to work!

Last edited by A Warrior at 07/06/2021 01:39:00

You're doing a good job. I had no doubt you would be re-elected. Keep it up! :)

Thanks Sandy!

Game 1: South Africa 94 vs. Al Maghrib 78 (60786)

Record: 1-0

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

The first game of this African Tournament season was a rematch of the championship match-up in Season 52! The results played out the same as we were able to pull out the victory and start this season on a good note

- Now a grizzled U21 veteran, Thikhathali Zibi posted 19 points on 7-16 shooting, which was the 2nd highest scoring total on the team, along with 16 rebounds, 6 steals and 0 turnovers. It was masterful all-around game from "Victory".
- Another player who has put in his time with the U21 team, Shafilshuna Machemko, who starts the season as South Africa's 5th place all-time scoring leader, continues to add to his legacy by leading the team with 22 points.
- The team drew a very encouraging 31 free throws and did an amazing job to make 25 of them to shoot 81% for the game as a team.
- Defensively, the team was firing on all cylinders tonight as only one Al Maghrib player shot over 50% from the field.

Player of the Game: Thikhathali Zibi (48727515) trained by A Warrior

Up next is a tough Senegal squad!

Always a good thing to start with a win.

Game 2: South Africa 90 vs. Senegal 73  (60793)

Record: 2-0

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

The team faced off against a tough Senegal team and came out with a well-earned win.

- Shafilshuna Machemko once again led the team in scoring 24 points on 10-23 shooting, including 4-9 from the 3-point line, along with 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals.
- Our starting center, Kamangeni Tloome, muscled his way to a team-high 17 rebounds and 4 blocks as he did battle all game with Senegal's many bigs.
- He started off a little slow but Yera Mji got hot in the 2nd half and ended the game as the team's 2nd leading scorer with 22 points on 8-19 shooting, including going 3-4 from the 3-point line.
- The team as a whole shot a scorching hot 45% from beyond the arc going 11-24 for the game but were a bit cold from inside the arc where they shot 36%. 
- Regardless of how the team was doing offensively, the defense once again locked in as they held Senegal to 31% shooting from the field.

Player of the Game: Shafilshuna Machemko (48727512) trained by A Warrior

Up next is a very young Ghanaian squad that is finally able to boast a team, thanks to the new Utopia dual citizenship draftees, after not having one for several seasons.

Game 3: South Africa 99 vs. Ghana 51 (60795)

Record: 3-0

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

The young Ghanaian squad proved to be no match for our experienced South African crew.

- The offense played through Shafilshuna Machemko today as he dropped 40 points in 34 minutes on 15-26 shooting from the field to continue to display his impressive scoring abilities.
- Vincent "Microwave" McDonna, was on fire in his 19 minutes off the bench as he was 2nd in the team in scoring with 23 points on 9-17 shooting.
- The Baby Boks defense continues to stifle opponents as they kept Ghana to 25% shooting for the game and compiled 18 steals.
- This is the first season since season 46 that Ghana has had enough players to field a team. Thanks to the influx of Utopian dual citizenship players, we expect that this Ghanaian squad will become regular competition in a few seasons.

Player of the Game: Shafilshuna Machemko (48727512) trained by A Warrior

Next week's match-up is against Nigeria and will be the battle of the two remaining undefeated teams in the tournament. Nigeria gave South Africa its' only loss in the team's run in Season 52 and that taste of defeat still lingers for some of these players who were on the team so look forward to it being a good one.

Nice run so far. Time to make some noise tonight.

Last edited by CrazyBob at 08/02/2021 13:49:45

Thanks CrazyBob. The team didn't disappoint!

Game 4: Nigeria 74 vs. South Africa 103 (60798)

Record: 4-0

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

It was the battle of the only remaining undefeated teams and the Baby Boks came out to make a statement.

- Yera Mji took the game into his own hands today as he led the team in scoring, shooting 11-24 from the field, including 4 threes, for 27 points on the night.
- Point guard Tau Ncube, was flawless today as he was second on the team with 22 points, led the team with 6 assists and chipped in 5 rebounds, 1 steal and 1 block with no turnovers for the game.
- Off the bench scoring outbursts seem to be the norm for this squad as Makhaya Mukumana had his turn playing 6th man and pouring in 19 points off of 7-11 shooting, including hitting 3-4 from the beyond the arc.
- The team as a whole was blistering hot from the 3-point line in this one as they shot 12-27 (44%) for the game.
- Keeping Nigeria to 29% shooting for the game is another victory for this defense.
- Playing stout but disciplined defense is going to be a focus for the coaching staff in training as the Nigerian squad was able to stay in the game due to drawing 32 shots from the free throw line compared to the Baby Boks' 13.

Player of the Game: Yera Mji (48754284) trained by A-Dub

The 7th ranked Tunisian team will be the match up in the week to come.

Game 5: Tounes 50 vs. South Africa 105 (60804)

Record: 5-0

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

Another match and another strong performance from the Baby Boks.

- Thikhathali Zibi was nearly perfect in this one. He shot 8-9 from the field, including 6-6 from the free throw line, for a team-high 22 points and secured a double-double by also grabbing 10 rebounds.
- Redhead Tau Ncube was red hot out there as he shot 9-12 from the field, including 4-5 from 3-point range, also for a team-high 22 points. He also had 0 turnovers for the day and showed up on defense with 2 steals and 3 blocks.
- Bench big Nbomandi Mbandi came to make the most of his minutes today as he logged a 20 point, 13 rebound double-double in just 24 minutes of playing time.
- Starting Center Kamangeni Tloome was dominant down low as he grabbed 19 boards and had 4 blocks.
- This team is all about defense, defense, defense as they limited Tounes to shooting only 15-85 (17.6%) from the field in this one.
- All 12 South African players scored this game!

Player(s) of the Game: Tau Ncube (49001256) trained by Cabrusan, Nbomandi Mbandi (49001186) and Thikhathali Zibi (48727515) trained by A Warrior

Up next is an Al Jazair squad that is currently in 5th place.

Game 6: South Africa U21 102 vs. Al Jazair U21 92 (60808)

Record: 6-0

Standing: Currently 1st place and locked into advancing to the 2nd round
(Note: In this initial round robin of games, the top 6 of the 8 teams will advance after each team has played each other.)

This was the team's toughest match of the season. Al Jazair led almost the entire game and was up 75-64 heading into the 4th quarter. The Baby Boks finally found their fight and exploded with a 38-point 4th quarter, while holding Al Jazair to only 17 points. Nothing like a tough opponent to give our team a needed wake-up call. Hopefully, we won't need another one.

- Thikhathali Zibi led the way with 24 points on 12-17 shooting and 18 rebounds.
- Nbomandi Mbandi chipped in another double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds.
- Fouls and free throws were big difference makers in this game. Our team committed 8 more fouls (21 to 13) and gave up 15 more free throw attempts (27 to 12), which really helped keep Al Jazair in the game. We'll need to clean up that up moving forward.
- With the game being so tight, the coach stuck to a 7-man rotation with each of those rotation players chipping in at least 8 points and the team shot over 50% (45-89) from the field.

Player of the Game: Thikhathali Zibi (48727515) trained by A Warrior

Our final game of the season will be against the 5th place Misr team.

Last edited by A Warrior at 08/18/2021 19:10:53