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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!

I only really started paying attention to the NT and U21 team during the time when you were elected so I can't compare you to other managers, but I will say that I was really pleased with the job you did. You always answered my bb-mail messages and questions and offered excellent advice and were super welcoming which I think is an underrated part of the job. You did an excellent job scouting, too. You just fell victim to some absolutely terrible luck and no amount of coaching accumen could have overcome the bizarre number of in game injuries to the u21 PGs.

I was really impressed with how quickly the 18 year old player pool was scouted after the draft this season. If we could have a similar effort going into season 12, it occurred to me that we could potentially save a ton of players.

The off-season schedule has been posted today, and the following dates stand out:
Monday, March 22 - draft, elections start for U21 manager
Monday, March 29 - freshly retired prospects hit the transfer list, if placed on the U21 roster before this
Tuesday, March 30 - new U21 manager takes over
Monday, April 5 - enthusiasm reset for U21 team (with additional saved prospects hitting the transfer list)

It looks to me like the entire roster could be filled with prospects immediately after the draft, allowing 18 players that would be retired to go up for sale. It would probably make sense to include some higher potential 19 year olds in this group, along with any interesting 18 year old. HPP would need to add the prospects, and if he was willing to help with this, then a nice infusion of young Canadian talent could be placed in the pipeline (at least in theory).

For the Monday, April 5th date, the new U21 manager would also have the opportunity to save some prospects. I think that the maximum to be saved on this date would be 3 or so, as was done in the past, and these players would be on the roster all season.

Does all of that sound right? Let me know what you guys think. :)

~The Mogul

Last edited by The Mogul at 2/25/2010 2:10:23 PM

Monday, April 5 - enthusiasm reset for U21 team (with additional saved prospects hitting the transfer list)

I would have to check the schedule, the enthusiasm reset is actually on the weekend:

At the start of continental competitions and the consolation tournament, the enthusiasm reset will take place between 18:00 server time on the Saturday before the start of the competition and the tipoff of the first game

Although technically the NT could probably save 18 players, depending on where it is in the competition (if it goes directly to the consolation tournament, for example, there are a couple of weeks before the reset).

I would be surprised if the BBs did nothing to close this loop-hole, though. I suggest not drawing too much attention to it. ;-)


Last edited by HeadPaperPusher at 2/25/2010 2:35:01 PM

I added a few fringe U21/NT prospects to the team who are about to go bot. Once they hit the transfer list, I will post their relevant information here. I will continue this until the end of the season, as I get info. on players about to go bot.

I added a few fringe U21/NT prospects to the team who are about to go bot. Once they hit the transfer list, I will post their relevant information here. I will continue this until the end of the season, as I get info. on players about to go bot.

Awesome, great work. :)