BuzzerBeater Forums

It's Coco and the #1 Lake Merritt Arrows vs that jerk jfarb and the #16 AirBallers in the USA Cup Finals!!! In honor of SpF I will be posting interviews shortly!

jfarb - AirBallers

1) What's your thoughts on your first trip to the Cup Finals in AirBallers history?

Its been fun! I finally got into the top 16 in the country rankings, I feel like I belong in the NBBA now. I have 900k in player salary, so its one of those things where if I win it was all worth it, if I lose....it was a huge waste of $ that could've been used to improve my arena or find some trainees.


2) Did you expect to reach the Cup Final this season?

That was the goal when I took on all of this salary, not sure if I truly expected it. I thought I had a fighting chance against anyone outside of the top 5 or 6 teams in the NBBA. Around midseason I became more confident because I was in a position to tank league games to save starters for the cup.


3) What are your thoughts on your finals opponent?

Coco is arguably the best manager in the US. He's also a professor of Philosophy. I hope he believes in defeatism. I will need some luck to win this one.


4) What would winning a first USA cup title mean to you?

Its less of an accomplishment than winning a NBBA title, but it would definitely be the biggest accomplishment in my team's history. I think every manager hopes to add their name to the list of teams with "rings".


5) Who or whom have been your "star" player(s) in this cup run?

There's this one guy on my team who I kind of have a hate/hate relationship with. He's had his moments. Other than that there's Castro-Girona and my new addition Milian Velamines who have had big games for me.


6) Who was your toughest match-up this season on the road to the finals?

Definitely stogey and the Bulls. I haven't had much success against him since entering the NBBA. Stogey has run into some bad luck with injuries the last two seasons and thats probably the reason I made it this far.


7) If you win the USA cup, what are you going to do next?

Forgive Ricky Logsdon.

Coco - Lake Merritt Arrows

1) What's your thoughts on being back again in the USA Cup Final after a 2 season hiatus?

It's quite interesting. The amazing thing about the cup is that anyone can kick you out. In some respects getting to this point is harder than making it to the league finals: in that case, you either know it or you don't whether you'll get there. In the cup, anyone can kick you out. I've also been lucky this year because I haven't had much to go through too many senseless CTs.


2) Did you expect to reach the Cup Final this season?

I never do, for the reason above. I did and do think that my team is the strongest in the US; so I was hoping I'd compete for something, but I know from experience at this point that I have won trophies with something less than my best team (ahem, last season's NBBA title...) and lost other trophies with an amazing team.


3) What are your thoughts on your finals opponent?

They are a bunch of annoying bums.

No, just kidding. Part of me thinks this: I am happy to be playing a final series in which (i) I have a shot at winning and (ii) I am not playing the Bulls. The only other time I played a final series against a non-Bulls team, I was shredded by the Heathens. The other part thinks: I really don't want to lose a trophy to a team that has started playing this game four seasons after me.


4) What would winning a second USA cup title mean to you?

I like to win trophies. I want to be Kobe to KDB's MJ (if that comparison makes sense!). Right now I'm more like Tony Parker, if you see what I mean.

Anyway, a few people I've talked think I'm only looking for a ticket to B3. That's not true! I'm in for the shiny gold trophy.


5) Who or whom have been your "star" player(s) in this cup run?

I have kept Ramos mostly off of my league roster to have him play in the cup. He's averaging only 23 minutes/game in the league. It has probably even costed me some games. If I had been a little less risk-averse and played a lesser palyer, I wouldn't be in this silly mess that I am with my league games.

Ramos is averaging 22 points/game in the cup.


6) Who was your toughest match-up this season on the road to the finals?

I've had a pretty lucky draw, actually. BMG and Morton Miners were my closest games, and in both game I had some distinct advantage or other (against wozz better game shape, against MM the financial resources offered by being a NBBA team).

7) If you win the USA cup, what are you going to do next?

Well, I'll aim for the double!