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The line-up is ready for what could potentially be our last competitive game of the season: (http://bbcanada.forumotion.com/games-f5/slovenija-canada-...).

Basically: we win this game and we are guaranteed home court for the Americas tournament next season. We lose, and we have to hope that Uruguay cannot pull off an upset win.

Last edited by HeadPaperPusher at 2/22/2010 1:01:37 PM

Uruguay lost today, meaning that we are the only team from the Americas still standing in the consolation tournament. So today's game for the U21 is all about pride and trying to improve on our world ranking.

Also meaning you host the next U21 Americas.

Nice! Well done HPP, that is a pretty decent result imo.

Nice! Well done HPP, that is a pretty decent result imo.

Well, I would have been happier with a win today. I can't really explain the result, though. I guess I am not surprised with the loss - how could any team survive without their best two players. However, given our defensive ratings I expected a closer game at the very least.

Last edited by HeadPaperPusher at 2/22/2010 10:21:26 PM

Ok, I just watched some of the game live and now it makes more sense. With the score tied midway through the 3rd quarter, our starting PG (Arel) was fouled and went down with an injury. Danny Southam came off the bench, missed the 2 free throws and after that the game was basically over. With Issa on the bench (game shape at mediocre due to his injury), we had no real PG to replace Arel. Southam is an ok backup but he was still at respectable game shape. Matthews could have served as the PG in a pinch, but I had put him as the starting SG for this game.

The whole lead-up to this game kind of sums up my term as U21 manager, I think. Issa went down with an injury a few weeks ago and was not able to recover his shape in time. Our game shape update on Friday was pretty crappy. Then add to that, Spencer - our best inside player - went down with a 2 week injury on Saturday (he was also in proficient game shape). To add insult to injury, our starting PG gets injured during the game.

Well, that's my analysis anyways. I know in some spots I could have also done a better job setting the tactics. But certainly I could have used some extra luck, too.

Last edited by HeadPaperPusher at 2/23/2010 8:49:42 AM

Now that our run in the consolation tournament is over, I can officially make this announcement. I will be keeping my election promise and I will not be running in the next U21 election.

I know we have some great managers in this country so it should not be hard to find someone who can set better tactics than me. And hopefully we can also find someone with a lucky horseshoe.

Next season our U21 manager will have home court advantage in the America's tournament but if current trends continue they will not have the same level of talent that I had. We will be a strong team inside - with Moran and Perkins almost a lock to return. We should also have a nice batch of SFs to choose from. But it seems our 20 year old pool is fairly weak at the guard position. I expect some of the 19 year olds to seriously compete for starting spots next season, which is not necessarily a good thing.

Over the next few weeks, I will:

-take down the skills of all of the 21 year olds on the team, send them to RIP and drop any that he wants to immediately call up to the NT.
-call up all of the 18-20 year old prospects, assess them and probably write a forum report on each age group (the 20 year old report I will probably put up on the off-site forum).
-setting scrimmages for the team.
-look for prospects to save (RIP, I know you said you could save a roster spot to save prospects, but with the U21 out of the tournament there is no need. Our enthusiasm is going to suck donkey balls, anyways). If you run across someone to save, just let me know.
-think about my future plans for involvement in the Canadian community.

I would like to thank The Mogul, O-Rod and beanerz for their help scouting this season. In the end, they all did a fantastic job and I really appreciated their help. It freed me up a bit to take care of my club team. It will be up to the next U21 manager, along with RIP, to decide how much scouting they can handle and how much they want to pass off to volunteers (if any).

What I will not be doing is:

-running the draft scouting again this season. Depending on what I decide for my future plans, I could scout a few divisions. But I will leave it to someone else to run things.
-checking the off-site forum (at least not often).

Once the next U21 manager is elected, I will pass the 18-20 year old scouting lists to him/her.

Great job running the team. Hope someone as dedicated as you steps up to the plate for the next term.

Thanks HPP for all of the hard work during your term. You put a lot of time into running the U21 team, and did a good job of trying to keep the community involved. My own interest level in the national teams has risen a lot over the past 2 seasons, and you were very active in terms of writing about / discussing the U21 team. I really appreciated that, and I'm sure that many others did as well.

Great work HPP...I (and I know the rest of Canada) appreciate your hard work and dedication to the team and to keeping us all informed.

HPP I think you have done an outstanding job as manger of the U21s. Without a doubt you have been somewhat cursed with bad luck throughout your reign. I also think you have been slightly harsh on yourself on the results of the U21s. I think you got an awful lot out of this team and you have also run the scouting very well too.

I hope you enjoyed your time as manager and on behalf of Canada I salute you!