#picked up 76 to round out the end of the season and oh my god base building has me by the brainstem | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

soapsilly · 4 years

Text

Men with long-ish hair - Bucky Barnes Imagine

Pairings: Bucky x reader (platonic), (slight Thor x reader)

Summary/Request: Hi, could you please do a bucky imagine where the reader and him are like best friends but everybody thinks they are secretly together. And they all are really confused when the reader starts dating Natasha or Thor?

(Y/N/N) = your nickname

(Y/F/D) = your fave Disney movie

And remember: Requests are open!

Do you guys know how hard it is to find a happy gif for Bucky?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Has anybody seen Bucky?”

Steve was looking for his friend for the last one and a half hours but with no luck so far.

“Where do you think he is?” Natasha asked Steve with an amused smile. She always found it hilarious how oblivious he was with all things romantic, when it was so obvious Bucky and (Y/N) were dating for quite a while already.

When Steve sent her a confused look she explained “He’s with (Y/N). Haven’t you noticed how close they’ve become these last couple months?”

“Wait... you mean they’re dating? No way, Nat. Bucky is my best friend, he wouldn’t keep something like that from me,” Steve retaliated, laughing at Natasha’s ridiculous suggestion.

“Okay, see for yourself. They’re in the home cinema on the sixth floor”, she told him.

As Steve was leaving he heard Natasha shout after him, “But don’t forget to knock!”

When Steve arrived on the sixth floor he was about to enter the home cinema when Tony, with a mug of coffee in his hand, interrupted him, “ I wouldn’t go in there if I were you, Capsicle. About half an hour ago I still heard her giggle but since then they’re being suspiciously quiet”

But Steve ignored him and entered anyways.

Inside the room, neither (Y/N) nor Bucky noticed Captain America enter. They’ve been holed up in there the whole day already, watching all the Disney movies Bucky missed since the 40s - which were a lot to be fair. Right now they were watching (Y/F/D), cuddled up on one of the sofas with Bucky’s head resting in (Y/N)’s lap.

“I love your hair, Buck”, (Y/N) told the shaggy haired man.

“I don’t know, (Y/N/N). Maybe I should just cut it again. Have you ever seen me with short hair? Back in the 40s the girls couldn’t keep their hands off of me.”

“Are you kidding? You look great! You know I’m into men with long-ish hair... obviously”, she chuckled.

When Steve cleared his throat both of them jumped up, startled by the distraction.

“Hey, Steve. What’s up? Wanna join?”, the girl offered but he refused.

“No, thank you. Buck... I’ve been looking for you the whole day. I thought maybe we’d get some exercise done for the compatibilty tests tomorrow”, Steve offered his friend. Ever since he returned Steve was anxious to build up their friendship again. Bucky was still a little reserved with him which made Steve feel jealous that he was so comfortable around (Y/N) without knowing her for as long as he did.

“Yeah, sure. I’ll be right there. See you, later (Y/N)”, Bucky was a little hesitant to leave her even though he also felt guilty because Steve really tried to get his best friend back but Bucky wasn’t ready yet. He wasn’t the same person he was in the 40s and he’s still trying to adapt to modern life.

When Bucky moved into the Avengers tower, he was reserved and didn’t come out of his room often. Everybody was a little cautious around him and Steve smothered him with his friendship but (Y/N) was different. She wasn’t wary around him but also gave him enough space for him to open up on his own. And they actually grew closer than they were with anybody else. Whenever he was being insecure or anxious, her relaxed attitude made him feel at ease and calmed him down. Ever since then it was sleep over at his room and movie nights in the home cinema.

*******************************************************************************************

The next morning the whole team had to gather in the gym and labs for the compatibility tests that had to be done once a year.

(Y/N) was giddy. She loved those kind of team execises even though everyone else seemed annoyed to be forced to give up their whole day for it.

The tests contained several made up situations and simulations that required the team to work together. At the end they’d get the results of whom each member works the best with.

(Y/N) estimated her biggest compatibility with Clint, Tony, Wanda and Bucky of course. This time was Bucky's first testing that he'd do with the team but him and (Y/N) prepared for it and apart from some minor failures, they worked incredibly well together.

*******************************************************************************************

After a long day of tests and simulations F.R.I.D.A.Y. announced everybody's results.

No nobody's surprise Clint and Natasha scored the highest, which the two of them acknowledged with a knowing smirk and a simple high-five.

"(Y/N) and Mr. Stark: Compatibility at 76%", it was (Y/N) turn to receive her results. She and Tony did well together during strategy and trust simulations but their fighting style was just to different for a higher score.

"Good job, Kiddo", Tony send her a wink, both of them happy with their score.

"(Y/N) and Bucky: Compatibility at 87%... Congratulations", F.R.I.D.A.Y. teased.

"Hell yeah!", (Y/N) cheered. Both of them grinned at each other and went in for a hug that ended with Bucky almost squishing his partner with his metal arm.

"Woah, easy there. Keep that for the bed room you two. There's children here", Clint interrupted them shielding Wanda's eyes, which earned him a round of laughs and a smack on the arm from (Y/N), who stuck her tongue out at him. Even Steve couldn't hide his laughter.

To everybody's surprise Steve and Bucky got one of the highest results. Neither one of them expected to pick up where they left off so many years ago but as soon as the simulation started they fought alongside each other just like in the old days.

*******************************************************************************************

All of them were tired and exhausted after the tests, so everybody went straight to their respective rooms. Even (Y/N) and Bucky slept seperate for a change because neither of them had the energy for movies or bed time conversations.

It was around 2 a.m. when Bucky awoke from a nightmare. Memories of the war, Hydra experimenting on him, him falling from the train and his doings as the winter soldier haunted his sleep. The combat simulations he did with Steve triggered the memories of all of those things he tried to keep locked away. When he was new to the facility, the nightmares happened almost nightly but as he grew more comfortable around the team they happened less and less frequently.

When he awoke drenched in cold sweat, his body went into auto-pilot and he made his way down the floor to (Y/N)'s room. When they first started to get closer, he'd always try to hide his nightly terrors from her but she made sure he'd always have her as his support system. No questions asked. (Y/N) knew PTSD all to well. Almost every member of Earth's mightiest heroes had something they struggled to get over, herself uncluded, so she knew not to ask but to let Bucky share his thoughts on his own.

When he arrived at the metal door that had her name on it Bucky didn't even bother to knock - he didn't want to cause a scene and rob anybody of their sleep. He entered the room which was like a little entrance hall where you could leave your shoes and coats. As he continued into (Y/N)'s little "apartment" he started to feel more at ease with every step he took. When he was stood outside her open bedroom door, he knocked quietly. (Y/N) didn't have a deep sleep but he didn't want to startle her awake or frighten her.

"Buck... what's going on? Is everything alright?", she wasn't sleepy anymore.

"Nightmares," he grunted.

"Oh, I get it.. you wanna come sit with me? Netflix just got some new movies I'd like to watch," she offered. In her experience light-hearted distraction worked best to calm her friend down.

He didn't say anything but made his way over to her bed anyways.

"But be careful with that arm of yours! I bet it's ice cold from walking around in the middle of the night. I don't want to get frost bites," she warned him, which earned her a warm chuckle from the deadly assassine, that didn't look as deadly anymore when he was cuddled into her mermaid blanket.

*******************************************************************************************

Somewhere in the middle of the third season of Americam Horror Story, (Y/N) couldn't keep her eyes open anymore and she dozed off again. Bucky didn't want to risk waking her so he decided to just get up and get some coffee before his morning routine. When he tried to make his way out of (Y/N)'s room and into the kitchen, he stumbled right into Steve's arms.

"God, Steve! Why are you awake? It's barely even 6 a.m." Bucky asked his friend, a little uncomfortable that Steve caught him red-handed.

"You know I don't sleep very much. I've slept long enough for my taste," Steve answered. And it was true. Steve himself wasn't really over what had happened to him 70 years ago and which made him struggle to get a good night's sleep but neither of them wanted to let the other see their struggles.

"Come on, pal. Let's catch up on things. Lately I barely get to see you anymore," Steve suggested.

Bucky send him a nod and they made their way to the kitchen.

Over the course of the next couple hours they talked about old memories and how today's world differs from the world they grew up in. One after one, the other team members started to fill the kitchen.

"Do you remember that one girl... Annie? I used to take her out every once in a while," Bucky reminisced. He enjoyed catching up with Steve after all that time.

"Yeah, I remember. You always had a golden hand with the girls, Buck," Steve agreed laughing.

"Well, he doesn't seem to struggle with female company in this decade either," Tony remarked.

"Huh?" Bucky furrowed his brows.

“Listen, Buck. You’re my best friend and - I won’t lie - I’m a little hurt that you would keep something so important to yourself but I’m really happy for you and (Y/N). I mean I understand that you want to keep your relationship private but we all want you to be happy. You deserve some happiness after all this mess you’ve been through,” Steve smiled at his friend.

“Wait what? You think I’m dating (Y/N)? Do all of you guys think we’re dating?”

The incoherent mumbling confirmed his suspicion.

“I just saw you sneak out of her room this morning!” Steve tried to justify his assumption.

“We were watching Netflix! And besides, (Y/N) is dating that thunder dude. Thor.” Bucky explained, totally gobsmacked by what his friend just told him.

“You can’t be serious? (Y/N) and Goldilocks?” Tony couldn’t believe his ears. He’s known (Y/N) the longest out of all of the team. Now it was his turn to be a little miffed about not knowing something that important.

“I would’ve thought you’d know. With all the surveillance you got going on here, I mean”, Bucky still couldn’t fathom what he just heard.

“What’s going on here?” (Y/N) entered the room, still in her PJs.

“The team just revealed that they’re all convinced we’re dating”, Bucky explained.

(Y/N) raised her eyebrows but before she could say anything Natasha interrupted her “Well, we weren’t convinced. We just made the suggestion”, she back-paddled.

Bucky scrunched his face in a “WTF is she talking about” way.

“Ya know? For a top tier spy I would’ve expected more from you”, (Y/N) laughed.

“Actually, I didn’‘t believe them. I knew that Buck wouldn’t keep something like that from me”, Steve chirped in.

“Now that I can believe” (Y/N) laughed. She was totally amused by what was going on at that very moment. She made her way over to Steve and ruffled his blond hair “Look at what you did, guys. You corrupted our sweet baby Steve.”

Bucky, Steve and herself fell into fits of laughter while the other Avengers grunted and left the kitchen to get away from the situation. Nat and Tony were especially eager to leave since their pride was a little hurt, both not used to being wrong.

“They probably just don’t want to admit it. Easy picking Thor when he’s not even here to confirm or deny,” Tony mumbled with Natasha agreeing.

**************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Epilogue - Two weeks later

“So they thought you and him were in a relationship?” Thor’s thunderous laugh filled the room.

The rest of the Avengers groaned “Can we not just leave that behind? How were we supposed to know anyways?” Clint defended.

“Well, seems like common knowledge to me, my friend. Why would she be with James when I’m obviously the strongest Avenger,” he boomed happily, throwing his arm over (Y/N)’s shoulder.

She grinned, “You guys are never gonna live that down.”

#bucky barnes imagine #bucky x reader #thor x reader #thor imagine #bucky barnes #avengers imagine

174 notes · View notes

junker-town · 3 years

Text

Western Illinois, Year 36, 2042-2043

There’s only five seasons left in our College Hoops 2K8 sim, and we still need two national titles to tie John Wooden’s record.

Welcome back to our simulated dynasty with the Western Illinois Leathernecks in College Hoops 2K8. You can find a full explanation of this project + spoiler-free links to previous seasons here. Check out the introduction to this series from early April for full context. As a reminder, we simulate every game in this series and only control the recruiting and coaching strategies. Dynasty mode runs for 40 years.

Before we pick up with the Leathernecks at the start of Year 36, here’s a recap of everything that happened last season:

Coming off a devastating buzzer-breater loss in the Elite Eight to Florida State the year before, Western Illinois returned only two starters but had four seniors in the starting lineup. We held our own against a difficult non-conference schedule and went unbeaten in the Summit League again to earn our automatic bid to the NCAA tournament at 27-4 overall.

We earned a No. 8 seed to the NCAA tournament and beat NC State in the first round, Seton Hall in the round of 32, Nevada in the Sweet 16, and South Carolina in the Elite Eight, and then lost to Wisconsin in the Final Four.

We recruited for four scholarships and landed four players: No. 6 center Brody Munoz, four-star shooting guard Bernie Doyle, four-star small forward Floyd Keller, and three-star power forward Oscar Fray.

Here’s a first look at our roster for Year 36:

(As mentioned at the bottom of the Year 35 post, these ratings are from the start of our NCAA tournament run because it’s the only clean screenshot we have. The accurate beginning of the year ratings are listed below)

Our goal is to surpass John Wooden for the most championships in college basketball history before the series ends after Year 40. We have eight national championships to Wooden’s 10, and we only have five seasons left before the game forces us to hang it up.

If we win national title No. 9 this year, we’re going to have to do it without any seniors on the roster. On the flip side, our redshirt juniors who were once ranked as the No. 5 recruiting class in the country now fully enter the spotlight. We begin the year ranked as No. 23 in the preseason polls.

Let’s meet the starters:

PG Arvydas Hardy, 91 overall, redshirt junior: Hardy is the second highest-rated recruit in program history (No. 12 overall), and it’s time for him to become a star. The 6’4 point guard is a great three-point shooter (A- rating) and has A ratings in ball handling and passing. He’s capable of stockpiling a ton of points quickly when he gets hot, but his tournament run last year ended on a huge bummer: a 5-point performance on 2-of-10 shooting in our Final Four loss to Wisconsin. This man needs redemption. Projected lottery pick out of Mesa, AZ with C- potential.

SG Augustine Bruthelieus, 88 overall, redshirt sophomore: Bru earned big minutes off the bench for us on our tournament run last year, and now steps into the starting lineup as a well-rounded 6’5 guard. While he only has a mid-70s rating in three-point shooting, Bru is a physical defensive guard who can also handle and pass the ball well for a two. We’re already thinking about putting him at point and Hardy at the two during stretches in the NCAA tournament. Former No. 42 overall recruit out of San Diego with C+ potential.

SF Reece Mascoll, 91 overall, redshirt junior: I really feel like Mascoll has a chance to go down as an all-time great alongside Hardy. A massive 6’9, 250-pound wing, Mascoll is a pretty good three-point shooter (75 rating) who is a load to handle in the paint. He can seamlessly switch to the four and provide matchup issues at whatever position he’s playing: he’s too big for threes, and too quick for fours. He was a consistent double-digit scorer off the bench for us last season, and now we gets a chance to be a star. Former No. 40 overall recruit out of Riverside, CA with C potential. Projected lottery pick.

PF Al Reece, 86 overall, redshirt junior: We’re excited to have a gigantic 7’1, 266-pound power forward like Reece to help us fortify the paint on both ends. Reece is an aggressive offensive player who will let his jump shot fly even if he isn’t the most skilled shooter. Where Reece is really good is as a shot blocker, where his high-80s rating is the best on the team. We love that he can slide to the five in a pinch, and should tower over his matchup regardless of what position he’s playing. Former No. 138 overall recruit from Glendale, AZ with C- potential.

C Felipe Hopes, 89 overall, redshirt junior: Hopes had the highest potential rating (B+) of any member of his recruiting class, and feels like a lock to leave for the NBA draft after this season. We’re just hoping to get one great tournament run out of him. While he’s not too big at 6’11, Hopes is super quick, shows impressive aggression as an inside scorer, and can hit the glass and defend the paint at an above-average level. Former No. 139 overall recruit (No. 8 center) out of Federal Way, WA. Projected lottery pick.

Hopes, Hardy, and Mascoll all could leave for the NBA after this year. We really need to make this season count.

We’re going to have a nine-man rotation with four guys off the bench. Our sixth man will be redshirt sophomore shooting guard Jerald Elliott (86 overall), a quality three-point shooter at 6’6 who looks like he can play 1-3. We have three redshirt freshmen debuting in the rotation after him. Ketshner Evertsen is a 6’8 shooting guard who we’re sliding to the three. Cam Kately is a 6’6 point guard with developing shooting ability. We also have 7’2 center D.J. Foster out of Chicago who will be our lone big off the bench.

We are also welcoming four new freshmen to the team. All of them will redshirt. This is the last recruiting class in school history that will have the potential to stay all five years.

SG Bernie Doyle, No. 36 overall prospect: 76 overall, C potential. Has already grown an inch to 6’8. I’m thrilled to see he already has a 78 rating in three-point shooting.

SF Floyd Keller, No. 101 overall recruit: 76 overall, C+ potential. 80 rating in three-point shooting.

C Brody Munoz, No. 169 overall recruit: 74 overall, B potential. Has already grown an inch to 6’11.

PF Oscar Fray, No. 118 overall recruit: 74 overall, C potential.

With no seniors, we have no scholarships to recruit for this year. This is going to be a quick regular season. Let’s hope it gives way to a long tournament run.

How did the non-conference slate go?

We started the season 8-0 and climbed as high as No. 11 in the polls. Our season-opening streak included wins vs. Michigan, Valparaiso, South Florida, Stanford, and Texas A&M. Then we ran into No. 25 Indiana and lost a heartbreaker, 67-66.

Our next game was against an 10-1 Colorado State team, and damn, we lost that one, too:

Then we had No. 8 Wisconsin, the team that smoked us in the Final Four last year. We won, 87-83, behind 19 points and 10 rebounds from Hopes, 17 points from Reece, and 15 points from Mascoll. Big dub, and suddenly this team is starting to feel special.

We beat Illinois by one the next game behind 19 points from Mascoll, and the 13 and 10 from big Al Reece. We beat Cal next behind 24 points and 12 rebounds from Felipe Hopes. We’re 11-1 as we enter the Summit League play, let’s go!

Can we go undefeated in the Summit League once again?

Uh, what the hell?

After running up a 19-2 record, we faced an 11-9 UMKC team that handed us our first defeat in conference season in what feels like 10 years (someone can check the records for me if they want and drop the exact number in the comments). I honestly can’t believe that happened.

Surely, it can’t happen again, right?

Oh my god. Oral Roberts entered at 5-20 overall, and upset us 62-57. Only Hopes and Foster scored in double-figures, and both only had 10 points. I am stunned. Are we going to lose in the Summit League tournament?

Thankfully not. Despite a close game in the final against UMKC again, we won and punched our automatic bid to the big dance. We’ll be entering the tournament at 28-4 on the year.

Before we sim to the tournament, let’s check out our end of season stats:

Hopes was as good as we hoped: 15.6 points, 7.3 rebounds, and more than an assist, block, and steal per game. Mascoll was excellent too, averaging 14.2 points per game and hopefully setting the stage for a big tournament run. Reece was also awesome with averages of 13.8 points and 6.5 boards per game. Hardy was a little underwhelming, but maybe that will work out in our favor: he’s dropped from a projected lottery pick to a projected first rounder. Mascoll has suffered the same fall, while Hopes remains a lottery pick.

It feels like this is the final run for Hopes, but Mascoll and Hardy could go either way in terms of returning for their senior seasons or turning pro. This isn’t the time to think about next year, though. Let’s go win a damn ship.

2043 NCAA tournament

We’re a No. 7 seed in the NCAA tournament, and draw a matchup against No. 10 seed Colorado State. Yes, the same Colorado State team that beat us in the regular season.

We enter the tournament rated as a 98 overall, while the Rams are a 90 overall.

Before we get to the tournament rematch, let’s take a look at our roster:

While our starters didn’t improve a ton during the season, our bench did. I’m feeling pretty good about the prospect of getting Ketshner Evertsen and Foster and Kately some minutes. Elliott is practically our sixth starter as a 90 overall.

Ultimately, this run feels like it’s going to come down to the four juniors — and especially Hardy and Mascoll. Can they take the next step and become all-time greats within the program like former legends Wilky Henry, Nic Cummings, and Billy Assell? I think they have the talent to do it.

We need revenge on Colorado State to start off this run. Not gonna lie, I’m a little nervous.

As always, we’re watching a simulated game between the computer. I’m not controlling the Leathernecks. Let’s go!

twitch

***

Win, 92-80! We’re going to the round of 32.

Man, that was not as easy as I would have liked for a first round game. Colorado State was leading most of the first half, but we entered the break with a three-point lead after Ketshner Evertsen beat the halftime buzzer.

twitch_clip

Shner was the breakout player of this game, and legitimately looked like a future star in his first NCAA tournament game. He finished with a team-high 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting. A 6’8 natural shooting guard who we’ve moved to the wing, Shner has the size and shooting to be a big time weapon for us. Can’t wait to see what he does next.

Bruthelieus (16 points despite 1-of-5 three-point shooting) and Mascoll (15 points on 5-of-15 shooting) didn’t have their best shooting nights but still contributed to the win with timely scoring. All three of our bigs — juniors Al Reece and Felipe Hopes and freshman D.J. Foster — looked huge and great and each finished with 10 points.

Hardy was not good — six points on 1-of-7 shooting — but did finish with 10 assists. I really expected him to be a takeover scorer, but I’d be okay with him turning into a passing savant, too. Just need a few shots to fall next time.

The win sets up a round of 32 matchup with No. 2 seed UNLV

UNLV enters at 28-4 and rated as a 96 overall. We’re 29-4 and enter at 98 overall.

This looks like it’s going to be a super tough game. The Runnin’ Rebels are a legit No. 2 seed with great senior guards and some big wings on the roster. We’re really going to need our front court to show them who’s boss.

Sweet 16 on the line. I need a dub. Let’s go!

twitch

***

Win, 90-88! We are back in the Sweet 16.

Wow, that one was close. UNLV dominated early by forcing us into nine turnovers in the first half. We went with our own full court press in the second half to wrestle away the lead, but it was still a one-point game with under two minutes left. Hardy shook free for a layup late to put us up three, and from there Hardy and Bru knocked down enough free throws to ice the win. I was straight sweating in those final minutes. Thank gosh we were clutch from the line, going 21-of-23 on the night.

I thought Hopes absolutely kicked ass, finishing with 16 points, 11 rebounds, and four steals. An absolutely tenacious performance on both ends of the floor — that’s why that man is a lottery pick. Bru was solid again with 18 points and four assists. Hardy finished with 16 points and four assists and did a nice job taking care of the ball late after some early turnover troubles.

Mascoll only had 11 points, but he had some big plays. First, this three-point at the halftime buzzer gave us the momentum we needed going into the break:

twitch_clip

While he didn’t have his best shooting night, Mascoll has always been at his best rumbling his way to the basket. The jumbo forward also had our best dunk of the night:

twitch_clip

Foster gave us really good minutes off the bench, too. As for Shner, he led us in scoring in the first half with eight points and then didn’t score again. Is it possible to hit the rookie wall in the second round of the NCAA tournament?

The win sets up a Sweet 16 matchup with No. 3 seed NC State

Our run to the Final Four last season started with a first round victory over the Wolf Pack. I’m sure they want nothing more than to knock us out this year.

NC State enters at 27-6 overall and rated as a 94. We’re 30-4 and rated as a 98.

We need a win here to continue to hunt for national title No. 9. Let’s go!

twitch

***

Loss, 107-104. A shocking and completely heartbreaking defeat to end our season early.

NC State controlled the game in the first half as Hardy (two fouls) and Bru (three fouls) both had to be pulled for long stretches because of foul trouble. We eventually took the lead and fought to keep it over the final 111 minutes.

With 2:30 left, the ball found Hardy for a quick catch-and-shoot three, and he drained it to put us up five. It was his sixth three-pointer of the game and gave him 20 points on the night. This is the type of performance we’ve been waiting for since he entered the program:

twitch_clip

Unfortunately, we didn’t score after that the rest of the night.

We just couldn’t buy a bucket down the stretch, with Mascoll and Hardy both missing wide open shots that likely would have given us the win down the stretch. We did have one more chance with under four seconds left on the clock, but Shner’s three fell just short.

twitch_clip

I honestly can’t believe we lost that game. We don’t choke down the stretch like that often, but maybe that’s what happens when you have a team without any seniors.

Every tournament loss hurts at this part of the dynasty, and this one feels like it’s going to eat away at us. The one thing that’s keeping me going right now is that we should have a great team next year, depending Hardy and Mascoll’s draft decisions. We may have found a future star in the 6’8 redshirt freshmen Everstsen, who went off for 22 points on 6-of-12 shooting from three in defeat. It was an incredible performance and has me so excited for his future:

twitch_clip

Foster is going to be a great replacement for Hopes as a 7’2 center. I think big Al Reece should be in for a productive senior year, too.

This loss stings horribly, but I know we will be back.

Offseason

Florida wins the national title

HARDY AND MASCOLL ARE BACK! We lose Felipe Hopes to the NBA draft, but everyone else is returning. We’re going to be absolutely loaded next year.

My career record now sits at 1,042-199

We have no scholarships to recruit for, so this is going to be a quick offseason. Let’s set our schedule for next year:

Creighton, NIT Season Tip-Off, Illinois State, Hofstra, @ UConn, Bradley, @ NC State, @ Kentucky, DePaul, Golden Bear Classic

Year 37

Here’s a first look at the roster for Year 37:

We start the year at No. 3 in the preseason polls.

This should be one of the deepest and most talented teams we’ve ever had. Let’s go win No. 9.

We’re going to be streaming the NCAA tournament in Year 37 on Sunday, April 25 at 8 p.m. ET on my Twitch channel.

Watch Western Illinois’ Year 37 tournament run

What: Western Illinois’ Year 37 NCAA tournament run

When: Sunday, April 18 at 8 p.m. ET.

Where: My Twitch stream

For email updates on this series, subscribe here.

0 notes

r-o-se · 7 years

Photo

Produce 101 Season 2 Ep 7 lit lit lit 92 point running commentary

hey whats up squad fam id link where I watched it but it was like 4 different sources so I’m sorryyyyy message me and ask for them later

1. They’re jumping right into it and its BTS Spring Day stage all are pastely beige pink and its cute af this is the youngest group on average and has the small Woojin, Kim Youngjin, Kenta, Seonho and Bae Jinyoung

2. Younjin wants to be center/main vocal eventho hes originally a rapper and I understannd WHY he wants it but to have a rapper as main vocal is…… not clever

3. Holy shit he actually gets to be the main vocal wow I’m shook as hell

4. Seokhoon is making angry eyes at him tho and now Woojin is a shitton better at this checkup and gets to be the new center

5. He has problems hitting the high note though poor baby

6. Baejy gets praised by BoA and he gets cute and smiley as fuck its adorableeeeee

7. SEONHO IS PLAYING PIANO IM PROUD OF MY LIL BABY BIRD

8. Baby Woojin didn’t fully hit the note but he didn’t fully miss ti either so its okkkk

9. Kenta got literally 0 personal screentime though mnet fucking hates him this boy is a GEM you could make so much clips out of him but nooooooooo

10. Seonho made kissy faces at the camera and Guanlin cringed so hard it was beautiful

11. Seonho got first aaaahahahha it’s the piano and the visuals but can we just remember the fact that the kid is only what 15? 16? He’s fuckin SMALL

12. Now the next stage is N Sync-Pop aka the group with one dancer and a bunch of other professions since they got filled also………… WOODAM IS HERE IM SO FUCKING EMO POOR KID

13. They also got Sangbin, Jung Jung, Insoo, Kiwon, Jaechan and Woodam obviously. Jung Jung is the only og dancer there

14. I’m very sad about Woodam but I wanna see others too like please…… I miss Sangbin and Insoo… Show them too they literally choreographed the whole thing and GOT PRAISED FOR IT…. And their teamwork was called the best they had seen IM SO GLAD

15. But their team is all very low numbers it makes me really really sad ugh

16. Their clothes are so 90s I LOVE IT HOW CUTE

17. They all dance so well especially for a group of people who aren’t actually dancers

18. SANGBINI IS SO GOOD I LOVE HIM SO MUCH FUCK

19. Junghung unzipped his sweater and flipped around OBVIOUSLY

20. Everyone are clapping in circles aaahahahahah round of applause LITERALLY

21. Oh my gooooosh WOODAM HAS ASTHMA POOR BABY KID

22. If Woodam won’t make it I’m going to riot

23. SANGBIN IS LAST AGAIN LAST HERE AND LAST IN THE GROUP EVALUATION WHAT IS THIS BULLSHIT JUSTICE FOR SANGBIN HES A RANK AND INDIVIDUAL TRAINEE AND AN EXCELLENT RAPPER FUCKING VOTE FOR HIM ASSES

24. NOW ITS TIME FOR A-TOM, EUIWOONG AND MY PINK RAPPER FLUFF WOO JINYOUNGGGGGGGGG THEY ARE DOING

25. Ajlahlskadf they asked Jinyoung ‘whos the best’ and hes like ahh everyone are good in their own way and they they asked again from Sanggyun and he’s like ‘I’m the best lol’

26. Wait is this the stage where Ha Minho was…….. because lmao they really did a good job editing him out I’m dead ‘they can’t edit better evil editing isn’t a thing’ MY GUY THEY DELETED A GUY WHO WON A BATTLE!! WITHOUT IT EVEN BEBING NOTICED IF WE DIDN’T KNOW HE WAS THERE!! GODDAMN

27. Jinyoung is the centerrrrrrrr love my babe but obvi I’m sad for Sanggyun

28. Also yall Minho won this battle with an Mnet diss

29. Sanggyun has problems coming up with lyrics poor babe I hope he’s alright OH NO BABY MESSED UP HIS WORDS TWICE

30. KAKLKFNAWKNN MINHO IS BLURRED OUT ON STAGE WHY IS THIS SO FUNNY

31. SANGGYUN AND EUIWOONG GOT PRAISEDDDDDDD AND OBVI WOOJY TOO IM SO PROUDDDDD

32. THEIR STAGE IS SO GOOD THE ENERGY IS SO GOOD WHAT THE FUCK THEY ALL ON FIRE AS FUCK

33. Cheetah is feeling herself big time

34. Euiwoong looks so much better here than with the BIL team he looked like a fetus there but rn HES FUCKIN AMAZING

35. Imagine ranking 4th out of 3 people wow that seems like something that would happen to me lmao poor Euiwoong

36. A group with no first place how tragic

37. ITS TIMEEEEEE OFR RHYTHM TA ok but why choose the same song for two years in a row lol

38. This team is Gwanghyun, Yoojin and Taewoo

39. Yoojin hated being a leader back in Be Mine days and now he’s stuck again because Gwanghyun and are submissive fucks

40. GWANGHYUN IS NERVOUS AND WENT TO ASK JINYOUNG FOR HELP THIS IS SO CUTE AND JINYOUNG BABE GAVE HIM ADVICE INSTEAD OF SENDGIN A RIVAL AWAY

41. This groups teamwork is seriously amazing I love it so much their dynamic is so amazing

42. Their energy is so good they sereiously seemed to just fuckin get such a high out of being on stage

43. Poor Baby Yoojin is last, Taewoo is second and Gwanghyun got first poor baby is crying and the others are cheering him up this is so sweet

44. BoA Amazing kiss is up next with Dongsu, JELLY HEESEOK WHO I HAVENT SEEN IN WEEKS LOVE YOU BABE DO WELL, Seunghyuk and Gunhee. Gunhee is the leader yet they have problems choosing the center

45. THEIR VOCALS ARE ALL SO GOOD WHAT THE FUCK GUNHEE IS AMAZING

46. Heeseok really wants to be center and is being kind of pushy but in the end Gunhee got the center part too

47. THEIR HARMONIES ARE SO GOOD

48. AND VOCALS SO STRONG AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

49. Gunhee looks………. So good…….. I cant take it…… with the choker and everything just fuck me upppp

50. Jahldfhaan gunhee shook his ass on stage while appealing time

51. Gunhee is bringing up Hyunwoo too goddamn im weakhearted don’t do this to me

52. Heeseok got last place….. I’m emo as fuck…… fuckin stab me…… My Jellyfish son…. Seunghyuk is third, Dongsu second and Gunheeeeeeeeee is FIRST!!! Proud of my kid

53. Now its I.O.I Downpour team, Hyunbin, Jisung, Minhyun, Jaehwan and Sungwoon aka ALL THE KIDS I LOVE!!!!

54. They chose Jisung as leader my babe looks so good with purple hair GOD BLESS

55. Sungwoon is so pretty godddamnit ‘I’ve heard it often I’m not good enough for main vocal’ I’ll beat up whoever said it

56. HE IS GIVING UP MAIN VOCAL TO JAEHWAN!!!!! WHAT THE FUCK!!!!! WHAT AN ANGEL!!!!!!! I’M SHOOK!!!!!

57. Hyunbin got a lot of hate and I’m very salty over it I love my tall boy very much SAME GOES TO JISUNG!!!! THAT KID HASN’T DONE A SINGLE THING WRONG HE IS SO SWEET AND SO INSPIRING AND I LOVE HIM SO MUCH MMO BETTER FUCKING DEBUT HIM WITH THE MMO SQUAD ONCE ITS DONE!!!!!!

58. Hyunbin messed up a bit and Jisung comforted him poor lil baby I’m so sorry for my tall child and thank you so much Jisung for taking care of my baby kid

59. Anyways they asked if they can change and having Jaehwan play guitar instead of having the teachers play piano

60. Minhyun looks so fine in pastel pink fuck me up

61. Cut to Baekho and Jonghyun lookin like ‘damn right’

62. JAEHWANS VOICE DOES THINGS TO ME I DIDN’T EVEN SEE ITS HIM BUT WHEN HIS VOICE STARTED I GOT SHIVERS SAME WITH SUNGWOON I LOVE MY POWER VOCAL CHILDREN

63. Oh my fucking god everyone in the crowd and the other trainees AND HYUNBIN are all bawling

64. JAEHWANS VOCALS SAVED MY LIFE! FUCKING G O S H THIS IS SO EMOTIONAL I DON’T EVEN KNOW THE LYRICS BUT I FEEL LIKE CRYING

65. Sakjfbakjsablkfjn Hyunbin and Jisung are holding hands

66. Hyunbin is 5th and Jisung takes his hand and comforts him a lot and tells him it’s okay this is too precious and Jisung himself is 4th and Sungwoon third, Minhyun second and JAEHWAN FIRST HE DESERVED IT BEST FUCKING VOCALS IN THIS ENTIRE SHOW IF HE WONT MAKE IT I AM RIOTING!!!!!!

67. Jinwoo ranked super low in vocals……. I’m so fucking sad when will people learn to appreaciate true talent…..

68. Gunhees mouth can open so wide its amazing honestly also HE GOT OVERALL VOCAL FIRST PLACE IM SO PROUD!!!!! FUCK!!!!!!!!! BABE!!!!!!!!!! U DESERVED IT U WERE A GREAT CENTER AND LEADER

69. Now its only the dance teams left starting with Gete Ugly. The subber seems to love him and tbh same bless Danik

70. Ong is so fuckin funny I love him lmao

71. It’s Daniels team and he’s like ‘I’m sorry I was a bad leader’ and Ong is like nah fam ALSO FUN FACT REVEALED BY ONG Jonghyun inspired him to be the leader this is so fuckin cuteeeeee

72. Afnhlna what is going on why are they showing them in the result room before the stage I’m????

73. This team has all of the alpha bitches like seriously Jihoon, Samuel, Ong, Daniel, Hyungseob are 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th and then poor baby Park Woojin is 24th.

74. Awwwwwwwwww the populars are all thinking that Woojin could kill it this is so cute

75. Danik is the MMO maknae apparently and volunteered and FUCK SUNGWOO JUST SAID JONGHYUN INSPIRED HIM TO BE THE LEADER MY SORRY SORRY AND ONGNIEL HEART CANT TAKE IT

76. Samuel keeps being eaten up by Jihoon save my boy those two want center and WOOJIN WANTS TOO!!!!!!! I LOVE WOOJIN!!!!!! PICK HIM!!!!!

77. AAAAAAHAHAH FUCK SAMUEL JUST SAID THAT HES LIKE A SKINNY DEER NEXT TO JIHOONS TIGER THIS IS THE CUTEST

78. Jihoon?? Recommended Sameuel now?? FUCK CUTE!!! Poor Woojin tho aw

79. They are a bit lacking in the dance section though which makes me a bit sad and Danik egets a bit flamed from Kahi since he is the only one who has problems with the choreo

80. Samuel, Danik and Woojin are all choreographing it but they all have very different styles so it’s a bit hard to learn

81. Anyways Danik is so cute and he has NICE ASS FUCKIN THIGHS HOLY SHIT LOOK AT HIM B-BOYING

82. The whip sound effects are so funny idk why but THEY ARE

83. Ong and Jihoon are poppingggggggg and its GREATT

84. Dabbing fuckers I stg

85. Samuels legs are so thin OH MY GOD DANIEL TWIRLING ON HIS HANDS HOLY SHIT

86. WHO DID THAT HALF SPLIT WAS IT ONG??? THAT WAS FUCKIN COOL

87. Hey yall I love Kang Daniel and Park Woojin and I’m not gonna waste my fingers typing out all of the members here BUT I LOVE THEM ALL FUCK

88. Jihoon did goddamn aegyo on that goddamn stage and Samuel gave half of a heart miss me w that cuteness

89. Everyone think Samuel won it but goddamn?? No?? He ranked last? How the fuck did that happen I’m literally…… what?? Why on earth? Anyways yall remember when Samuel called his mom and she called him a puppy

90. DANIK GOT 5TH IM ANGRY!!! AND HE SAID ITS WHAT HE DESERVES!! NO!!!!!

91. Hyungseob is 4th, Ong is 3rd and Woojin is SUPER NERVOUS AND NOW THEY CUT IT OFF!! FUCK YOU MNET!!

92. If Taehyun isn’t getting the best dancer I’m going to scream right here right now

93. Pop got really low votes I’m emo

94. TAEHYUN WRECKED IT HE IS FIRST!! HE DESERVES IT FUCKIN HELLL HE DOESSSS

95. Ok cut back to get ugly votes WOOJIN GOT FIRST HE REALLY DID IM SO PROUD HE REALLY DID IY MY FOX BABY HE DESERVED THAT FIRST CENTER PLACE FROM A RANKS AS WELL BUT NOW HES HERE AND BEAT UP!!!!! THE ENTIRE TOP TEN!!! FUCKIN GOD IM PROUD

96. TAEHYUN STAYED THERE HE REALLY DID WOOOJIN IS 5TH BUT TAEHYUN MADE IT HE IS FIRST HE BEAT ALL OF THE AVENGERS F U C K

97. Samuel and Daniel are ranking really low…… this is…. This is really sad wow holy shit….Poor children…. To drop from second to second to last??? Poor kid

98. Anyways the golden trio is now Gunhee, Jonghyun and Taehyun I am satisfied and have no objections to that

Good night yall buy nuest albums theyyre good for your health also happy debut to ace and merry comebacks to map6, ikon, got7, knk, b.i.g,, 24k and anyone else that I forgot

87 notes · View notes

junker-town · 4 years

Text

Western Illinois, Year 20, 2026-2027

The Western Illinois Leathernecks begin Year 20 in our simulated dynasty in College Hoops 2K8.

Welcome back to our simulated dynasty with the Western Illinois Leathernecks in College Hoops 2K8. You can find a full explanation of this project + spoiler-free links to previous seasons here. Check out the introduction to this series from early April for full context. As a reminder, I simulate every game in this series (even the ones we watch on Twitch) and only handle the recruiting and coaching strategies.

Before we start Year 20 of Coach Rick’s tenure at Western Illinois, here’s a recap of everything that has happened last season:

Coming off three straight seasons that ended in the Elite Eight, the Leathernecks enter the new year with two returning starters and a team rated as a 97 overall. We went 6-6 against a difficult non-conference schedule before going undefeated in conference and again claiming the Summit League tournament championship. We enter the NCAA tournament as a No. 12 seed at 26-6 on the season.

We faced No. 5 seed Cal in the first round of the NCAA tournament. We lost, 90-87, when our potential game-tying three at the buzzer fell short. Read the tournament + offseason recap here.

We landed three new players on the recruiting trail.

Western Illinois, Year 20, 2026-2027

Here’s a look at our roster coming into Year 20:

It feels like a new era at Western Illinois with only two returning starters and just one senior on the roster. This squad might not have the experience we’d ideally prefer — reflected in the game’s ‘team unity’ ranking — but we do have size and shooting at every position with some emerging young depth on the bench. If nothing else, I’m hoping we can set the table for an even better season a year from now depending on few NBA draft decisions.

Let’s run through the starters real quick. As something new this year, click on the names for a link to their player cards with full ratings.

PG Tron Whaley, redshirt junior, 87 overall: Tron enters the starting lineup for the first time as a junior after being a key piece off the bench last season. He’s grown two inches to 6’4 since committing and now looks like a steady lead guard with size and shooting ability. Has a 86-rating in three-point shooting, which is tops on the team. Former No. 128 overall recruit with C+ potential.

SG Mathew Alloway, redshirt freshman, 82 overall: The former Mr. Basketball out of Minnesota becomes the rare freshman starter for the Leathernecks. The 6’6 shooting guard doesn’t have a signature skill yet, but looks solid across the board. Rated as a 94 in speed and a 78 in three-point shooting. Former No. 31 overall recruit with B- potential.

SF Wilky Henry, redshirt senior, 93 overall: Henry needs to be a superstar this year for this team to play up to its potential. I think he can get there. Moving back to his natural position of small forward after starting at shooting guard last season, Henry is a massive 6’8, 242 pound wing who can shoot from three, rise above the rim for monster dunks, and handle the ball like a guard. We need him to be our go-to scorer on the perimeter. Former No. 80 overall recruit with C+ potential.

PF Allan Cunningham, redshirt junior, 89 overall: Cunningham is already on his way to becoming one of the most beloved players in program history. A standout in NCAA tournament games since his freshman season, ‘Ham’ is preposterously large (6’11, 289 pounds) with a refined skill set that includes legitimate three-point range. He’s a skilled inside scorer and rebounder while having an A grade in three-point shooting and an A- grade in speed. He should be a stud this year. Former No. 67 recruit with C+ potential. Projected first round pick.

C Pat Giddens, redshirt junior, 91 overall: Giddens is tied for the best potential rating in program history, per reader Evan’s Leathernecks Recruiting Database. This is his big chance to translate that potential into production on the court. Giddens moves into the starting lineup after being sixth man last season. He’s a bit short for a center at 6’9. but he’s impossibly strong at 290 pounds. Him and Ham up front is a supersized front court we’re hoping will be a great advantage for us all season. Former No. 115 overall recruit. Projected lottery pick.

There was some thought given to starting Henry at shooting guard again (where he goes down one point) to get sophomore Wilbur Ager in the starting lineup, but we prefer putting Henry at his best position, throwing Alloway into the fire, and letting Ager be one of the the better bench players in the country.

We’re going with a nine-man rotation this season: Ager and freshman center Kevin Brazzle will each get about 15 minutes per game, while freshman point guard Jamie Burke and freshman power forward LF Neal each get about 10 minutes per game. That means junior guard Vitor Andrisevic (79 overall) is out of the rotation. He will go down as the biggest recruiting bust in program history.

We also welcome three new incoming recruits to the team. All of them will redshirt.

PG Koko Reeves out of San Antonio, No. 52 overall recruit: 73 overall, C potential. Reeves is the smallest recruit we’ve ever had, but he’s already grown an inch to 5’11 since committing. His C potential grade is disappointing, but he looks like an absolutely elite shooter, already rated as an 82 from three-point range.

SF Jitim Dupre out of Chicago, No. 91 overall recruit: 76 overall, C+ potential. Dupre is a tall, lanky wing at 6’9. He’s a bit disappointing as a three-point shooter with a 72 rating.

C Artie Snipes out of Riverside, No. 177 overall recruit (No. 10 center): 75 overall, B+ potential. The 6’11 center is the heaviest recruit we’ve ever had at 282 pounds. Looks like he’s going to be another outstanding big man for the Leathernecks.

Recruiting

We only have one scholarship to recruit for this year. I want to hit the JUCO market to find a five-star shooting guard or power forward to join timeline of last year’s three-man class. I use my first two visits on these players:

6’2 shooting guard Edwin Wolfe out of Federal Way, WA

6’4 shooting guard V.J. Roberts out of Chicago

JUCO recruits aren’t numerically ranked and don’t have AAU stats, but Wolfe is the top shooting guard among JUCO players when the class is sorted by recruiting stars, so we offer him the scholarship.

Also we have to create a player for the winner of last season’s bracket contest, Isaac Springer. I asked Isaac to give me some details the player he wanted to create, and this is what he hit me with:

I actually had a small idea if I won: would it be possible to create Jon Bois instead? I’m not a huge college basketball fan (or much of a basketball fan in general), so I don’t really know anything about stats or positions or what’s good. But Jon is my favorite content creator online, and he’s what’s helped me find SB Nation and all of the great work that everyone is doing there. I think it’d be fun to introduce him into the Leathernecks universe.

Say no more, my man. Jon Bois, five-star shooting out of Louisville, is officially in the Leathernecks Universe. We’ll follow Jon’s recruitment and his career wherever he ends up. As a reminder, we don’t go after created players at Western Illinois to preserve the integrity of the game.

Finally, it’s time to begin the season. We start the year unranked in the polls and rated as a 96 overall. Let’s go!

First game: @ Illinois

I’ve had this game circled on my calendar since the Illini shocked us in the opener last season. We run this state, and we’ve proven it multiple times in the last decade. It’s time to issue the Illini an emphatic reminder of that.

Loss, 83-62. Oh my god. The Illini smacked us from the opening tip-off and there was nothing we could do to recover. That is not how we wanted to start the season. Ager had a good game and pretty much everyone else struggled.

Next up we have Georgetown. The Hoyas are rated as a 91 overall.

Win, 76-50. There we go. Look at Cunningham ball out with 23 points and six rebounds on 3-of-4 shooting from three-point range. That’s why this man is an icon. Read our beat writer Matthew Morrow on what makes Cunningham so special. I’m gonna need my guards to do better than shoot 1-of-13 from the floor, but thankfully it’s a long season and they should improve along the way.

As I sim to the next week, I noticed that my backup option on the recruiting trail V.J. Roberts really likes us. If he commits by the early signing period, we’d get a coaching point for landing our first five-star recruit in season. I decide to pull the scholarship from Wolfe and give it to Roberts. If he doesn’t accept it, I will probably re-offer Wolfe, assuming he doesn’t hate me now.

Next game is against Louisville, who enters at No. 1 in the polls. We decided to watch this game on the Twitch stream. The Cards enter at a 96 overall. The game will begin when you press play:

youtube

***

Loss, 111-105. Damn, we almost had them. I feel a lot better about my team after watching them go toe-to-toe with No. 1 in the country on the road. My freshman shooting guard Mathew Alloway looked terrific offensively, finishing with 24 points on 1-of-18 shooting. He also picked up a nickname on the Twitch stream: All Day. Let’s just decide not to talk about his defense. Cunningham was again phenomenal, Wilky Henry was solid, and we found a new breakout player in backup center Kevin Brazzle. He’s huge at 7’1 and was immediately more effective than our starter Giddens, who got into early foul trouble.

Our defense was just terrible all around. Louisville shot 50 percent from the field and 43 percent from three. They also forced us into 18 turnovers with their press. We’re going to need to close-out on shooters and take care of the ball if we want to make a deep run.

As the early signing period begins, we have a rematch with Cal, who knocked us out of the NCAA tournament in the first round last year. I’ll take one hot serving of revenge, please.

Win, 91-63. Eat it, Bears. Cunningham carried us like always with 20 points, Henry puts up a 9-9-9 line in a game where he shoots 2-for-11, Tron goes 5-for-5 from deep to score 18 points, which I believe is a career-high. Hell yeah. We’re 2-2- on the year.

We have our two early conference games on the final week of the early signing period. We blowout both UMKC and IUPUI to make us 4-2 on the year. Unfortunately, we don’t land the commitment we were looking for from Roberts. Since Wolfe appears to be the higher rated prospect and still doesn’t have any other suitors, we pull the scholarship from Roberts and re-offer Wolfe.

In other news, Jon Bois commits to Dayton!

Next up we have Stanford. The Cardinal are 3-4 on the year and enter as an 87 overall.

Loss, 77-75. Woof. Giddens and Henry played well, but that’s a team we should beat. It’s tough to get an at-large bid in the Summit League when you’re losing to likely non-tournament teams like Illinois and Stanford, so we’re probably going to need to win the conference tournament again to punch our ticket.

We have a tough week coming up, too: we travel to face Michigan and Duke in true road games.

The Wolverines are No. 17 in the polls and the defending national champions. Can we get back on track?

Loss, 86-74. Ugh. My center Giddens only playing seven minutes because of foul trouble wasn’t ideal, and neither was his backup Brazzle also getting into foul trouble. Great game from Henry with 23 points — we need more of that. It’s become apparent that this team isn’t as good defensively as we typically are.

Alright, Duke time. The Blue Devils are ranked No. 9 in the polls entering the game.

Loss, 99-60. Zero combined points from my backcourt seems less than great. This regular season is not going how I had hoped.

Next up we have Dayton, who enter at No. 11 in the country. The Flyers are led by Matt Boswell, the player we ever created for the first ever winner of our bracket contest. Dayton has not made the tournament yet since Boswell’s arrival, but it looks like they’re going to do it this year. This would be a nice win if we can get it.

Loss, 74-60. Boswell with 14 points in the win. We have left ourselves zero margin for error in the conference tournament.

We only have one more non-conference game left: @ Vanderbilt. The Commodores are led by one-time Leathernecks recruiting target Stane’s Hobson, who is a 93 overall as a senior point guard.

Win, 106-102! Hell yeah. We really needed that heading into conference play. Cunningham killed it (23 points on 9-of-14 shooting), Tron Whaley is turning into a dynamic point guard (18 points, six assists), and Brazzle gave us a nice lift off the bench with 10 points. I love the three-point shooting and the assists. Let’s keep it going to finish out the year strong.

It is now time for Summit League play. We have gone undefeated in the Summit the last two seasons. Can we do it again?

Yup. We finish off the perfect slate in conference play to enter the conference tournament at 21-6. Here’s a look at the end-of-season stats:

Great year for Cunningham. He’s just so damn good; the fact that he’s our primary option on offense is the thing that has me feeling optimistic about our tournament chances. Having four starters finish in the teens in scoring average feels pretty good, too. I also have to note our three-point shooting numbers were through the roof this year. Here’s what we did from deep:

Tron Whaley: 47 percent on 117 attempts

Wilky Henry: 40.3 percent on 114 attempts

Allan Cunningham: 47.2 percent on 74 attempts

Mathew Alloway: 50.7 percent on 63 attempts

I wish there was a way I could tell my team to shoot more threes. Getting up enough 3PAs is going to be a big key going into the postseason.

But first, we have to win the Summit League conference tournament again. We again enter the field as the top seed. As I’ve noted, I really don’t think we’ll have enough juice to get an at-large bid after our shaky non-conference schedule. We can’t have a letdown here.

Summit League tournament

First game is against Oral Roberts. They enter at 7-22 on the season.

Win, 123-62. Henry scores 24, Giddens scores 22, and Cunningham scores 20. We hit 12-of-19 threes in this game, too. We have UMKC next.

Win, 81-61. Henry plays arguably his best game of the season, finishing with 28 points on 12-of-17 shooting in the win. We out-rebounded them 36-19. Seems good. Now we have Fort Wayne in the title game. Why am I so nervous about this?

Win, 86-52! Tron just crushes it with 26 points, seven assists, and 6-of-8 shooting from three. Ham put in work like always, too. I am more relieved than excited — but hell yes, we’re going dancing again. I’m hoping for a single-digit seed, but I doubt our resume was good enough for it.

2027 NCAA tournament

We’re a No. 12 seed against No. 5 seed Minnesota in the first round. Wow. We haven’t faced the Golden Gophers in this simulation before, so that should be fun.

Here’s a look at our roster heading into the tournament:

It’s going to be Wilky and Cunningham leading the way. We just need Alloway to not actively hurt as our lowest rated starter in years as an 85 overall. For the record, I liked what he showed in the Louisville game and I’m super optimistic about his future. We also need Giddens to finally play up to his rating, especially as a projected lottery pick and what appears to be the highest rated junior in the country.

Here’s a link to the Minnesota roster. The Golden Gophers enter the game as a 98 overall — just like us. Here’s how the two teams matchup:

This is going to be a really tough test for a first round game. We’re going to watch the simulated game together on Sunday, Aug. 16 at 8:30 p.m. ET on Twitch. We’ll talk about that more in a second. But first, let’s get to this year’s bracket contest.

2027 NCAA tournament bracket contest

We’ve been running a bracket contest for the last few seasons, and it’s been a ton of fun. We’re opening it up to anyone who wants to enter as long as you turn in your bracket before we stream our first NCAA tournament game on Sunday, Aug. 16 at 8:30 p.m. ET on Twitch.

This is everything you need to know:

How does scoring work?

We use a standard scoring format. You get one point for correctly guessing the winner in a first round game, two points for correctly a winner in a round of 32 game, four points for correctly guessing a winner in a Sweet 16 game, eight points for correctly guessing a winner in an Elite Eight game, 16 points for correctly guessing a winner in the Final Four, and 32 points for correctly guessing the national champion.

Can I see the rosters for the other teams?

Yes. You can find the rosters for every team on the right side of the bracket in the East and West regionals here. You can find the rosters for every team on the left side of the bracket for the South and Midwest regionals here. Just arrow over to scroll through the rosters.

How do I enter?

1. Click this link to open the interactive bracket.

2. After opening, in the top left select File > Make a Copy

3. Make your picks

4. In the top left, select File and either “Share” and share with [email protected] or “Email as attachment” and email as an Excel file (not PDF please!) to [email protected]

Once your picks are entered, you can track scoring with Sean’s Blog Team app that works on desktop and mobile.

What does the winner get?

The winner gets to create themselves or a character as a five-star recruit ahead of next season. We won’t go after the created recruits at Western Illinois to preserve the integrity of the game, but we’ll follow the career of your character throughout our series.

Readers David, Matt, and Josh made an NCAA tournament preview show

I love the Leatherneck community so much. Please watch David, Matt, and Josh breakdown this year’s team and the entire NCAA tournament bracket in a 25-minute selection show.

This is the best.

youtube

The old clips got me choked up a little bit. Amazing work by them.

You might have noticed Boswell and the Dayton Flyers would likely be our opponent if we can reach the Sweet 16. I would love nothing more than to make it happen. Especially after Boswell said he would drop a cool 28 points on Giddens on the bracket show.

We need to win two games on Sunday night first, though. Here’s how you can watch Western Illinois in the 2027 NCAA tournament.

How to watch Western Illinois vs. Minnesota in the first round of the 2027 NCAA tournament

Game: No. 12 seed Western Illinois vs. No. 5 seed Minnesota, first round, 2027 NCAA tournament

How to watch: My Twitch channel. You don’t need to sign up for anything to watch, but you do need to register for an account to comment. Do it, it’s fun.

Date: Sunday, Aug. 16

Tip-off time: 8:30 p.m. ET

If we win: We’ll face the winner of No. 4 seed Ole Miss vs. No. 13 seed Yale in the round of 32 immediately following the first round game.

Here a couple bonus links:

Join the Leathernecks Subreddit started by reader Evan.

Reader Thanh Nguyen in Japan wrote a fan-fiction e-book on the first eight seasons of Leathernecks basketball under Coach Rick. Spoilers ahead, but this is absolutely incredible and I highly recommend buying it.

We now have a fan-started Leathernecks Twitter account. There will be spoilers on there from the Twitch stream before the recap post goes out.

Come hang out and watch our Leathernecks take on Minnesota in the NCAA tournament on Sunday, Aug. 16 at 8:30 p.m. ET on Twitch. Thank you and go ‘Necks.

0 notes