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stellarstarwarsimagines · 3 years

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Five Times Din Accidentally Turned You On

Pairing - Din Djarin x Reader

Summary - It’s embarrassing how a man whose face you have never seen is able to turn you on so quickly without even realizing it.

Word Count - 3k

Warnings - brief description of an injury, but that’s it!

When you had agreed to start working with the Mandalorian and met the little green menace, you knew that your life was going to be turned upside down into chaos.

You had expected most of that chaos to come from the bugger, not from your apparent lack of control over your hormones.

It was ridiculous. There was no way that you should be this attracted to a man whose face you had never seen. If your mother could see you right now, she would think that you were crazy. Of course, she thought you were crazy already for traveling with a Mandalorian around the Galaxy, but this would be a whole new level for her.

Yet, here you stood, a little goblin attached at your hip, watching the tension rising with mounting anxiety. You clutched the kid closer to your side as Mando confronted the man, who you now knew wasn’t a Mandalorian, but a Marshal instead, asking him where he got his armor.

“Bought it off some Jawas.” He answered, taking a sip of his spotchka.

“Hand it over.”

Maker he was so damn menacing when he was like this. Even without being able to see his face, you felt a shiver going down your spine from his tone. He was so intimidating; you didn’t see how anyone stood a chance.

You also didn’t see how you continued to find it so kriffing attractive.

“Look, pal, I’m sure you call the shots where you come from, but ‘round here, I’m the one tells folks what to do.” Vanth replied.

“Take it off.” Mando said, stepping forward. “Or I will.”

As soon as he said those words, all you could think about was him saying them in . . . another context. There was no way you could control your response. At least that’s what you tried to tell yourself after you let out the oddest little half squeak / half choked sound. You bit your lip as you watched everyone in the room, the bartender, Cobb Vanth, and even Mando’s helmet tilt in your direction. You even felt the little womp rat’s head turn towards you curiously. Which gave you the idea. “I - the kid - I’m gonna - while you two work this out.” You said, gesturing to him before hurrying outside.

As soon as you stepped out of the bar, you took a deep breath, and then let out a loud groan of embarrassment. Looking down at the kid, he gave you a look that clearly said he was disgruntled at being blamed for a noise you made.

“I’m sorry, buddy, sometimes your dad . . .” You were not about to tell this little guy how hot you thought his dad was. “You’ve got to take one for the team this time okay? I’ll get you cookies to make up for it later.” You added when he didn’t seem like he was pleased with that.

At least bribery worked with him.

____________________

For as long as you could remember, you loved flying. You didn’t know where it had come from, since your mom was scared of heights and you didn’t know anything about your father other than he had been a farmer, but from the moment that you looked up into the sky and saw a ship soaring overhead, you had loved it. Getting the chance to live on a ship and see the galaxy that way was another reason you had said yes to Mando when he asked.

Flying on a ship with a Mandalorian Bounty Hunter was nothing like you expected though.

Your eyes drifted back and forth from the sky to Mando, too captivated by the sight in front of you to be scared. Tie fighters were shooting at you from what seemed like every direction, but you couldn’t bring yourself to be worried. Mando would take care of you. He always did.

You glanced over at the child who was buckled up in a seat next to you, his little green hands in the air as he cooed and giggled in excitement. Despite the situation, you couldn’t help but grin at the sight.

“Hang on,” Mando said to the two of you, and your arm reached out to the kid, close enough to where you could grab him if he went flying. You held your breath as the Crest began to fall for a moment until Mando engaged it once more, spinning it in circles to avoid the tie fighter’s blasts. The Child’s laughter became louder in your ears as you grabbed a hold of his clothes, but your eyes were glued to the sight in front of you, adrenaline pounding in your veins as you came closer and closer -

Then he blasted it out of the sky, as you knew he would.

You let out a cheer, echoed by the gremlin next to you, and leaned forward, finding a bit of Mando’s arm that wasn’t covered in armor and giving it a squeeze. “That was amazing! I’ll never understand how you can do that so easily.” You told him, your voice as breathless as if you had been the one flying.

“Wasn’t going to let anything happen to you.” He said, and by the way his muscles tensed under your hand, you got the feeling he hadn’t meant to say that.

It was no secret that Mando was protective of you. He had been from the start, but hearing him say it like that? Almost . . . possessive? Maker, the way it made you feel. You opened your mouth. You weren’t sure what you were going to say, but before you could, he interrupted you. “And the kid of course. Not too bad, huh kid?” He asked, looking at him over his shoulder.

The little womp rat gagged, expelling the remains of his blue cookies.

____________________

All of this was way out of your league, that was obvious enough. The Jedi, the Force, all of those things had been over your head from the start. They had been legends for so long, it was hard to believe that the little green gremlin you had been looking after, Grogu, you corrected yourself, was one of them.

You watched as the Jedi, Ahsoka Tano, beckoned Din over to her, deciding to use Din to get Grogu to show his powers. The bond the two of them shared had grown even more so over the past couple of months, and you had to admit, if anyone could get Grogu to use his powers, it would be Din.

Sure enough, after some coddling, Grogu made his favorite little silver ball fly from Din’s fingers to his hand. The smile on your face widened as Din spoke. “Good job! Good job, kid!” He exclaimed, stepping towards him. “You see that?” He asked you and Ahsoka without waiting for an answer. He stopped in front of him, bending down to his level, “that’s right. I knew you could do it.” He took the silver ball from him, “Very good.”

Warmth filled your chest at the proud tone in his voice. The way that he interacted with Grogu was one of the cutest things that you had ever seen. While he wasn’t the kid’s biological father, you knew that he was close enough. You couldn’t even begin to imagine how great he would be with his own kids, if he decided to have them one day.

. . . maybe with you.

The intrusive thought had the heat rushing to your face, and you cleared your throat as if it would help get the images out of your mind.

“Are you all right?” Ahsoka asked from next to you.

You nodded, but from the smirk on her lips, you got the feeling that her and her Jedi mind tricks knew exactly why you had gone into a coughing fit.

____________________

“You’re getting better.”

The words should have been a comfort to you. Din had been teaching you fighting techniques for months, but now that the kid - Grogu, had been taken, you were practicing with renewed vigor as you all geared up for a mission to find Moff Gideon’s coordinates. You knew that you were getting better, and Din didn’t say anything he didn’t mean, but you knew it wasn’t enough. “I can’t get the kick.” You mumbled, brushing some of your sweaty hair out of your eyes.

He nodded, and your heart rate kicked up even more as he moved around behind you. He was so close you could hear every slide of that beskar as it moved with him. “You need to widen your stance.” He gave a gentle kick to your left foot, and you obediently spread your leg further apart. “Adjust your hips like this . . .” The cool leather of his gloves landed on your hips, moving them into position. “Now find your center of gravity.” He added, his voice even lower than normal.

It turned your brain to mush. How the hell were you supposed to concentrate like this? The man you desired more than anything was so close to you that you could feel every exhale of that beskar chest piece against your back, hear every breath as it exited his helmet.

“You can do it.” Din said, his hands giving your hips a little squeeze.

You remembered him saying those words. To a little green goblin that had stolen your heart. A child you were determined to get back. The thought managed to snap you back into focus, and with a deep breath you executed the move to perfection.

Well, sorta.

Din caught you as you stumbled back from the momentum, his fast reflexes allowing him to wrap his arm around your waist and catch your back against his hard chest with a soft chuckle. The sound, so rarely heard, made your stomach swirl with butterflies. “Good girl. Just have to work on your balance.”

Good girl? Good girl? Dank farrik was he trying to kill you? You stumbled out of his arms, heat rushing to your face. “I’ve got to - I can’t - I’ve got to go.” You couldn’t be around him for a second longer or you were pretty sure you’d lose your mind and do something stupid like beg him to call you that again. Preferably with no clothes on.

Even if you couldn’t see his face, you could tell by the tilt of his helmet in your direction that he was confused.

You didn’t stick around long enough to give him the chance to ask any questions.

____________________

Everything had happened so quickly it turned into a blur in your mind. Storming the ship, getting shot by a blaster and having to be dragged by Fennic and Bo-Katan onto the bridge while you tried not to scream at the pain in your thigh, Din arriving with Grogu and the dark saber in his hands, and Moff Gideon in his custody. Then there was the DarkTroopers arriving and subsequently being destroyed by a Jedi.

And as soon as you had gotten Grogu back . . . he was gone again.

You didn’t look when Din took his helmet off. Your eyes stayed glued to Grogu as soon as you had seen his hands move to the helmet. It seemed . . . disrespectful to look. This moment was for the two of them, no one else. When Grogu was gone, the helmet went back on, and without anything to distract you from the pain anymore, you let out a whimper.

Din rushed to your side at once, and you thought he might have been grateful for something to focus on other than your little family of three now becoming one of two. He lifted you into his arms without a second thought, and after some directions from Bo-Katan, carried you to a small medbay where he got to work on your wound.

Watching him was a nice distraction as he ripped open the leg of your pants until he could see all of the wound. The display was already stirring something inside of you, and it escalated as he took his gloves off and touched you for the first time with his bare hands.

They were large, but of course you already knew that. The gentleness they touched you with though . . . it was a sharp contrast to the way he had ripped your pants. He touched you as if he wasn’t worthy to be touching you. Hesitant and soft, every movement of his fingers slow and careful as if you were going to be scared away. When he pressed against the edge of your wound, the whimper that left your lips wasn’t only because of the pain.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured, his voice rough through his helmet as he grabbed ahold of some bacta spray from a table nearby. While the bacta helped the pain, it didn’t help your racing heart.

It was embarrassing. More so than it had ever been, that you couldn’t get your feelings under control. Surely he had to notice. The amount of times you had done something stupid because you had taken what he said the wrong way or touched you was numerous. How could he not know? Had he been humoring you because you were good with the kid?

And now that Grogu was gone, did he even want you around anymore?

The sudden thought made you tense because while it had come out of nowhere, it could be true. Yes, you could do some simple repairs and cook, but your main job had been watching after Grogu. He didn’t need that now. He had survived fine by himself before you got there, what’s to say he wouldn’t want to go back to that? He’d never given you any indication that he didn’t. Was this the last time the two of you would be together?

Attentive as always, he noticed the shift in your mood at once. He spoke your name, soft and almost melodic. “What are you thinking about?”

Of course the one time you most needed to lie to him, you couldn’t bring yourself to do it. Not after what had happened. “Do you want me to go?” You whispered, looking down at the ground. You couldn’t stand to see what his expression might be.

There was a moment’s pause that made your heartbeat pick up, and for the first time around Din, not in a good way. “What?” He asked, his voice sounding a little strangled.

As was your normal response when you got nervous, you started babbling. “I know I mostly looked after the kid. I’m not a fighter . . . I’m not a Mandalorian . . . I’m a nuisance and another mouth to feed. If you want me to go, I can go.” Would it break your heart? Absolutely, but you never wanted to be somewhere you weren’t wanted.

“Stop,” was all he said, so quiet you almost didn’t hear him.

But you continued, unable to keep the words from leaving your mouth. “Bo-Katan or Fett can drop me off at the nearest planet, and you won’t -”

There was a loud clunk as a helmet of beskar hit the floor. You jumped, the sound startling you and you watched as it rolled a bit, stopping a couple of feet away. “Look at me.”

It was the second time you had heard his voice without the helmet, but it struck you harder this time. Maker it was beautiful. Gruff and low, yet somehow he was so . . . soft spoken as well. As if he wasn’t sure how to talk without his helmet, and you guessed he probably wasn’t. You wanted to do what he asked. You wanted to know what he looked like, but it still felt so private . . .

He said your name again, and you almost started crying at how tenderly he spoke it. His hand found your chin, tilting it up to reveal his facial hair covered jaw, his pale, pink lips, and pointed nose, all the way to the most beautiful, most expressive brown eyes you had ever seen.

Din Djarin was in fact, every bit as handsome as you imagined him to be, which made your next words so much harder for you to say. “I have feelings for you.” You gasped out. “Strong - really strong ones, and they’re not going to go away. So if you can’t deal with that I need to -”

His hands cupped your cheeks and all of the sudden, Din was leaning closer. So close that your breath mingled with his and everything around the two of you seemed to vanish. There was nothing else that mattered except this moment. You expected him to say something, anything that would cut this tension that hung in the air, but he didn’t.

Instead he closed the small distance between the two of you and kissed you.

It was soft. Oh, so much softer than you ever expected him to be capable of doing. Then you realized how stupid that was of you to think, because Din had never been anything but soft with the people that he cared about.

For a moment you didn’t move, still surprised that he was kissing you, but then you couldn’t hold back. Your lips moved against his, as lightly as his were moving against yours. Your fingers were itching to touch him, to tangle in those messy brown waves, but you were afraid to scare him off. So they hung by your side at a safe distance while Din continued to kiss you and make sure that you never wanted to kiss anyone else ever again.

After what seemed like hours, and you wouldn’t complain if it had been, he pulled back, but not far enough to put any real distance between the two of you, instead pressing his forehead against your own. “Just because I gave up the kid, doesn’t mean I want to give you up too.” You let out a soft sigh as his lips left gentle kisses across your jaw and cheek. “Stay with me. Stay cyar’ika.” He whispered against your skin.

As if anything could pull you away now.

#din djarin x reader #mandalorian x reader #din djarin x you #mandalorian x you #star wars imagine

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junker-town · 3 years

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Western Illinois, Year 40, 2046-2047

The final season of our sim dynasty with Western Illinois in College Hoops 2K8 is here.

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 2020 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 40, here’s a recap of everything that happened last season:

Western Illinois entered Year 39 trying to three-peat as national champions for the first time in program history. We lost two starters early to the NBA coming into the season, but still had enough talent to be ranked No. 10 overall in the preseason polls.

We ran through the regular season schedule, losing only one game to UCLA during the non-conference season and sweeping Summit League opponents once again. We entered the NCAA tournament at 29-1 on the year and earned a No. 4 seed to the big dance.

We beat Brown in round one, knocked off Georgia Tech in the round of 32, beat Indiana in the Sweet 16, and lost to Florida in the Elite Eight. We know enter the final season of my career tied with John Wooden with 10 national championships.

We added three players in our last ever recruiting class: five-star JUCO SF Jerald Obasohan, four-star SG Erwin Walls, and four-star PF Kenny Butler.

Here’s a first look at our roster for Year 40:

It feels like only yesterday that a fresh-faced, 25-year-old came to the small town of Macomb, Illinois with big dreams. Coach Rick was hired by Western Illinois to do the impossible: win a national championship with arguably the worst team in college basketball. After 39 seasons at the helm, our tiny program has accomplished that and so much more. Now it’s time to hang it up.

Our journey at Western Illinois is finally coming to an end. In literal terms, College Hoops 2K8 forces mandatory retirement upon coaches in dynasty mode after 40 seasons. All good stories need closure either way. As we start our final season, we have some big stakes attached to our swan song.

Western Illinois has won 10 national championships in the Ricky Charisma era. That ties us with UCLA legend John Wooden for the most in history. What started as a mission to win a single national championship has now left us with a different goal: to become the undisputed greatest program in the history of the sport.

While we failed in our bid to three-peat last season — falling to Florida in the Elite Eight — we did bring back all four breakout juniors for this season. We only lost starting center DJ Foster to graduation. Yeah, it’s been a while since we last published Year 39 (thanks for your patience), so let’s go over the roster:

PG Christano Ngounou, junior, 89 overall: Ngounou made major strides after being forced into the starting lineup last season, and now looks like a rock solid contributor going into our final year. An international recruit out of Cameroon, Ngounou is a fast 6’3 guard with lockdown defensive ability and a slightly above average three-point shot. We have bigger names on this squad who will be expected to carry the scoring load, but Ngounou is going to play a huge role because he’s way better than every other point guard on the roster. We need quality minutes from him in the tournament. Former five-star international recruit with B potential.

SG Bernie Doyle, redshirt senior, 92 overall: Doyle is an incredible talent who enters his senior year looking to fully blossom into a superstar. The 6’9 shooting guard uses his immense size on both ends of the floor. He’s elite at getting into the passing lanes and forcing steals (a team-high 1.8 per game as a junior) on the defensive end, and has a sweet three-point stroke offensively. Doyle is such a smooth scorer and dominant defender that it feels like he has the natural talent to develop into an all-great in his senior year. Let’s hope he’s up to the challenge. Former No. 36 overall recruit from Detroit with C potential. Projected lottery pick.

SF Floyd Keller, redshirt senior, 92 overall: Keller checks every box for a small forward. He has good size at 6’7. He has a three-point rating in the mid-80s. He’s the best dunker on the team. He’s an elite offensive rebounder for a wing with a rating in the low 90s, which helps equip him to play minutes at the four. After a tough shooting night in our Elite Eight loss last season — he went 1-for-7 from three — we’ll need Keller to be consistently great if we want one more run through the bracket. Former No. 101 overall recruit out of Dallas with C+ potential. Projected second round pick.

PF Oscar Fray, redshirt senior, 88 overall: Fray enters his third year as a starter with a fascinating combination of size and skill that could set him up for a breakout senior year. The 7-foot power forward is a great three-point shooter for his position with a rating just below 80. Defensively, he’s the top-rated shot blocker on the team, and also does a pretty good job on the glass. Former No. 118 overall recruit out of Lynn, MA with C potential. Projected second round pick.

C Brody Munoz, redshirt senior, 92 overall: Munoz finally gets the spotlight as a senior after backing up DJ Foster — a one-time NCAA tournament Most Outstanding Player — for his entire career up to this point. We’re expected big things, and not just because he’s tied for the highest rated player on the roster going into the regular season. What Munoz lacks in elite size at 6’11 he can make up for with strength, agility, and rebounding. We expect him to be really good at forcing turnovers, grabbing putbacks, and helping fortify the paint. Former No. 169 overall recruit (No. 6 center) out of Nashville with B potential. Projected lottery pick.

We have an incredibly deep bench for our final season. Center Logan Polk (85 overall) will be our sixth man, and should be able to form a three-man front court rotation with the two starters in the tournament. After that, we have a lot of options but not a lot of good options.

Here’s the rest of the bench: wing Jaycee Queen (80 overall), wing Jerald Obasohan (79 overall), guard Archie Howell (78 overall), wing/guard James Haranga (74 overall), guard Edwin Walls (74 overall), and power forward Kenny Butler (74 overall).

This is really it. Year 40. The last dance. What a ride it has been. We start the season at No. 4 in the polls.

How did the regular season go?

For our final regular season, we tried to schedule a good mix of local schools and historic big conference rivals with a couple in-season tournaments thrown in for good measure.

Here’s how the regular season went:

Win over Bradley

Win over Nebraska

Win over UTEP

Loss to Southern Illinois

Win over Florida

Loss to Northwestern

Win over New Mexico

Win over DePaul

That sets up a rivalry game against Illinois. We’ve played the Illini in almost every season, and we don’t want to end this dynasty without one more dub. The losses to Southern Illinois and Northwestern were a real bummer, and we need a palate cleanser. Let’s go!

Big win, 102-68. Look at Cristano Ngounou hanging 17 points and six assists on the Illini. Love seeing both starters in the front court — seniors Oscar Fray (13 points, 10 rebounds) and Brody Munoz (18 points, 11 rebounds) — each dropping a double-double, too. And how about our new five-star JUCO addition Obasohan chipping in 12 points off the bench? Really promising performance from the boys.

We get a big win over Kansas in our next game. That sets up another marquee game with a program we don’t like very much out of the state of North Carolina: Duke. We’ve battling with Duke on the court and on the recruiting trail for 40 freaking years. Can we end this rivalry with a dub?

Ugh, loss, 88-83. Nice games from Bernie Doyle (19 points, four assists) and Oscar Fray (14 points, 12 rebounds), but it isn’t enough. That’s our third loss of the season. Get bent, Duke.

We end the year with three more non-conference games.

Win over Illinois-Chicago

Win over American

Win over Arizona State

While we may have lost the final battle to Duke, I won the war over Coach K with a significantly better career by any measure (more on that in a minute). Now it’s time to jump into conference play in the Summit League.

Did we go undefeated in conference season?

Yes we did, another perfect 18-0 stretch.

Now we enter the conference tournament. Can we punch one more automatic bid to the NCAA tournament?

Win over UMKC

Win over Southern Utah

Win over UL-Calcutta

We’re going to the NCAA tournament for the last time, but that isn’t even the headliner after winning the Summit League. Im taking home the conference tournament championship, I won game No. 1,171 of my career. That currently puts me ahead of Coach K for the most wins all-time.

We have built a great legacy at Western Illinois. Before we enter the NCAA tournament, let’s take a look at our statistical leaders:

What a year for Munoz. Dude sat on the bench for four seasons before finally getting a starting spot, and all he did was lead our team in scoring at 17.2 points per game. Fray was awesome, too, averaging a hair under 15 points per game while chipping in nearly two blocks and six rebounds per game. It’s good to see Keller and Doyle both hit double-figures in scoring. I’m a bit surprised Cristano couldn’t even put up seven points a night after his big game against Illinois, but the assist and steals numbers are solid. We’re going to need him in March.

The Leathernecks are heading into the NCAA tournament at 32-3 on the year. I can’t wait to see what seed we get.

2047 NCAA tournament

Well, we couldn’t end this dynasty without getting swindled by the Selection Committee one more time. We’re a No. 6 seed in the NCAA tournament. I thought we should have been a top-four seed without question.

We’ll open the tournament with a game against No. 11 seed Syracuse. Sheesh. Before we get to the game, let’s check in on our roster one more time:

I’m loving the way this group progressed through the year. We have two awesome wing scorers with an elite combination of size and shooting in Keller and Doyle. We have plenty of beef up front with Munoz, Fray, and Polk. Ngounou entered the program as a 77 overall and shot up to a 92 in three years without a redshirt. The bench also really improved during the season and should give us plenty of different lineup options in March.

This is going to be a tough run, starting with Syracuse. The Orange have knocked us out of the big dance before, and consistently put together really strong teams.

Our last dance starts now. As always, we’re simulating every game, I’m not controlling the ‘Necks.

Let’s go!

Win, 105-73! What an absolute beatdown. We’ve moving on to the round of 32.

Long-time followers of the series will know that our Leathernecks have always been known as a second half team. It happened in a big way in this game. Syracuse ended the first half strong to cut our lead to nine points, but we quickly turned it into a blowout out of the break.

I thought this was a tremendous all-around team effort. Six players hit double-figures in scoring with no one putting up more than Floyd Keller’s 15 points. Everyone who played recorded an assist. I loved this play from the first half when we set two screens for our five-star JUCO Obasohan that helped get him an easy layup.

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Our bench is a big question mark coming into this tournament, mostly because it’s filled with a lot of fresh faces who haven’t played big minutes in clutch spots before. I have to say, the performance of our reserves in our tournament opener was super encouraging. Obasohan in particular looks like a keeper after scoring 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting and knocking down a three. We always need wing depth, and he should be able to provide that on this run.

The clear highlight of Obasohan’s night: this sick two-handed dunk in transition for an and-one.

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We love to turn defense into offense, and Ngounou and Doyle’s ability to get into the passing lanes really helps us out there.

Speaking of Ngounou in transition: he had a beautiful finish on the break to put the game fully out of reach. That’s what you want out of your point guard.

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The win sets up a second round game against Colorado State

The Rams have been a solid program throughout this sim dynasty, regularly making NCAA tournament appearances. We have a decisive edge in talent heading into this game.

We are one win away from going to the Sweet 16 and extended our run in the big dance. One time, ‘Necks. Let’s go!

Win, 109-79! We’re going to the Sweet 16!

We didn’t need to be a second half team in this one. Our ‘Necks blew the doors off Colorado State from the opening tip-off. I thought we played a great game offensively thanks to our inside-out ball movement.

We had five scorers in double-figures in this one, but it was senior starters Bernie Doyle and Oscar Fray leading the charge. We know Doyle is capable of taking over a game at his best, and he was awesome in this one: 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field and 4-of-6 shooting from three. The real story was Fray, though.

Fray was probably the least appealing long-term prospect of our recruiting class when he entered the program alongside Doyle, Keller, and Munoz. That was mostly because of his 74 rating and C potential grade. While he’s always been rated a few points lower than his classmates, Fray’s skill set on the court is so important to us. He’s a massive 7-foot power forward who can protect the rim and shoot threes. What more do you want?

Fray went off in this game: 22 points, eight rebounds, two assists, two steals on 9-of-11 shooting. I love watching the big man shoot from deep. This was from NBA range.

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Here’s one more catch-and-shoot three for good measure.

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Fray might get slept on a little on this team, but he’s absolutely critical to our success if we want to win it all.

I also want to shout-out the bench for another solid performance. I liked what I saw out of Obasohan (11 points) and Howell (10 points). Since we already have two Obasohan clips in this post, why not make it three? Love him hitting this triple in the first half to help us open up the lead.

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We’re rollin’.

The win sets up a Sweet 16 game vs. Alabama

We’re now four wins away from ending this dynasty with a national championship. A Sweet 16 game against Bama is going to be an absolute battle.

In our simulated future, the Tide have become a basketball school. This program seems to make the tournament every year, and they’ve given us plenty of trouble in the past.

A trip to the Elite Eight is on the line. Let’s go!

Win, 112-69! We’re onto the Elite Eight!

Say it with me: SECOND. HALF. TEAM. After a tight first half left us with a six-point lead coming into the break, our ‘Necks absolutely torched the nets in the second half to come away with the blowout win. Seriously: we scored 66 points in the final 20 minutes. That was an offensive clinic at its best.

I had a good feeling about the second half when Cristano got this three hit the rim like 50 times before falling. Sometimes you need some good luck on your side.

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A couple possessions later, Floyd Keller came down a ripped another three. We finally had a double-digit lead, and we’d never look back.

It was great to see Keller (15 points) get going from deep. He hit all three of his attempts from beyond the arc.

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While we don’t have any clips of the front court from this game, they absolutely deserve credit for the win.

Fray turned in another incredible performance, this one somehow even better than his last. He ended the game with 25 points, 14 rebounds, four assists, three steals, and three blocks on 10-of015 shooting. He didn’t attempt a three (booooo) but he dominated the game on both ends. His front court mate Munoz was almost as good. The senior center finished with 20 points and 16 rebounds. We kept going inside — Munoz and Fray combined for 35 (!) field goal attempts — and they were making the Bama defense pay.

Not the best Bernie Buckets game (9 points on 3-of-10 shooting), but I clipped this shot from the first half, so I might as well embed it here.

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Elite Eight, here we come.

The win sets up an Elite Eight matchup against No. 1 seed Indiana

Our run in the NCAA tournament has been a breeze up to this point, but I fear things about to get a lot more difficult. Our plucky No. 6 seed is about to run into one of college basketball’s blue bloods: the top-seeded Indiana Hoosiers.

The Elite Eight has been something of a bugaboo for us. We lost in this round last year. We’ve lost in this round many times before. I don’t want it to happen again.

A Final Four trip is on the line. As always, we’re watching a simulated version of this game; I am not controlling the Leathernecks. Let’s go!

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***

Loss, 96-86. Oh my gosh. And just like that, our dream of ending this dynasty with a national title is over.

I am devastated. I really thought this team was good enough to send me out on top, but it wasn’t meant to be. The Hoosiers’ outside shooters did us in. Indiana’s guard-heavy lineup caught fire from deep (10-of-21 for 47.6 percent), and our perimeter attack couldn’t keep up. We only hit 6-of-22 (27.3 percent) attempts from three.

What happened to our second half team this time? We were only down two going into halftime, but we were outscored by eight over the final 20 minutes. Tough scene.

There were some solid individual performances. Munoz went out strong with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Bernie Doyle dropped 21 points and hit this three-pointer to keep us in it early.

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Floyd Keller just didn’t give us enough on the wing. He shot 1-of-8 from three in the loss. He did give us a little juice in transition, at least.

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Cristano played all 40 minutes, and had eight points and nine assists. I really wish I got another year with him as a senior next season.

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Unfortunately there is no next season. After 40 years at Western Illinois, our sim dynasty is over. Here are some final numbers on the series:

Final record: 1,177-213

10 national championships (tied with John Wooden for the most in men’s college basketball history)

15 Final Four appearances

25 Sweet 16 appearances

Final NCAA tournament record: 113-27

38 Summit League regular season championships

35 Summit League tournament championships

38 seasons with 20+ wins

61 players drafted

The thing I’m most proud of? After we made the NCAA tournament for the first time in Year 3, we didn’t miss it again the rest of this dynasty.

Is Ricky Charisma the greatest men’s college basketball coach ever?

I think so. Here’s how we stack up to other top coaches in NCAA history in important categories.

Total wins

Ricky Charisma: 1,179

Mike Krzyzewski: 1,170

Jim Boeheim: 1,083

Roy Williams: 903

Bob Knight: 899

Dean Smith: 879

Jim Calhoun: 877

Adolph Rupp: 876

Bob Huggins: 828

Eddie Sutton: 806

Tournament wins

Ricky Charisma: 110

Mike Krzyzewski: 94

Roy Williams: 77

Dean Smith: 65

Jim Boeheim: 57

Tom Izzo: 52

Jim Calhoun: 49

John Wooden: 47

Final Four appearances

Ricky Charisma: 15

Mike Krzyzewski: 12

John Wooden: 12

Dean Smith: 11

Roy Williams: 9

Tom Izzo: 8

Rick Pitino: 7

Denny Crum, Adolph Rupp, John Calipari: 6

Consecutive tournament appearances

Western Illinois: 36

Kansas: 31

North Carolina: 27

Arizona: 25

Duke: 24

Michigan State: 23

Gonzaga: 22

Winning percentage

Ricky Charisma: 84.7

Mark Few: 83.44

Sam Burton: 83.33

Clair Bee: 82.444

Adolph Rupp: 82.1

John Wooden: 80.3

National championships

Ricky Charisma: 10

John Wooden: 10

Mike Krzyzewski: 5

Adolph Rupp: 4

Roy Williams: 3

Jim Calhoun: 3

Bobby Knight: 3

Who is the best player in Western Illinois history?

That’s the big question within the fanbase right now. Before we get to it, let’s look back at our greatest recruiting wins.

We landed five five-star recruits out of the domestic high school ranks during my time at Western Illinois. We also signed nine five-star JUCO recruits, and six five-star international recruits from places like New Zealand (shout-out Dave French), Montenegro (anti shout-out Vitor Andrisevic), France (what up, Kim Kone!), and Cameroon.

The highest-rated recruit in program history was Sammy Yan at No. 10 overall in 2032. He was pretty much a disappointment. The program’s all-time leading scorer was center Vinnie Harmon with 2,452 career points during his career. He was the No. 122 overall recruit and the No. 8 center (those that followed the series or played the game know that centers are always weirded underrated on the recruiting trail).

Here are some more numbers during tournament games only (aka, the games we streamed), from the amazing Leathernecks Database maintained by our fans:

The highest rated player in program history is a tie between small forward Nic Cummings and point guard Duncan Martinez, who are the only players to reach 97 overall. Cummings in particular is a great choice for the GOAT. He ended his career with three national titles, though only one as a starter. He’s top-10 for me, but not No. 1.

The people’s choice for the GOAT is Deke Van, the legendary center who helped carry us to our first national title in Year 8. Deke’s turn from from Year 7 goat to Year 8 GOAT is the most memorable we’ve ever had. We couldn’t have done any of this without you, Deke.

When Coach tell you youre guarding @deke_van https://t.co/RDhmDAPRA8 pic.twitter.com/fm2udgvMZT

— Ryan Thomas (@RTtheSID) May 10, 2020

As the series went on, other great players emerged who finished with gaudier stats and better resumes.

My personal favorite might be Bert Draughan, Mr. Basketball out of Chicago (No. 29 overall recruit), who went on to win a title with us in Year 13 and also starred for our Year 11 team that began the season 35-0 before losing to Michigan State in the Final Four. Harmon is another fine choice. Skip Clemmons helped us win three national titles in Year 23, Year 24, and Year 26. Albert Jagla, Clemmons’ former teammate, played a big role in our first back-to-back championship squad, and is arguably the greatest perimeter bucket-getter in program history.

All-time favorite moment? Impossible to say. The first one that comes to mind is Kim Kone’s go-ahead corner three in the 2024 tournament. Najeeb Goode’s steal vs. UCLA in the Final Four to help us win our second title in Year 13 also stands out. There was also the time superstar power forward Allen Cunningham took off his pants mid-game.

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Thank you to everyone who read, watched, and interacted

I started this series on April 11, 2020, a few weeks after the pandemic had shut down all ‘real’ sports. At the time, I was gearing up to cover the 2020 NCAA tournament. That never happened. I had college basketball on my mind, and I always wanted to write something on ‘College Hoops 2K8’, probably my favorite video game ever. This project is what came of it.

I had no idea if anyone was going to read this. I definitely did not think I’d finish out all 40 years like a complete lunatic. I didn’t think I’d write the equivalent of multiple books in terms of total word count.

Just before I dropped the first post in the series, I tweeted this:

Got a real dumb blog post coming

— Ricky O'Donnell (@SBN_Ricky) April 11, 2020

I wrote around 70 posts in the series, counting the inaugural Hall of Fame induction (read a big Deke Van retrospective at that link) and two posts of my Deke Van x Seattle Supersonics spin-off. I’m estimating I wrote 200,000 words in this series. That’s about the length of “The Fellowship of the Ring.”

I still can’t believe everything that came from this series. The Washington Post wrote a profile on it. I went on WGN TV and did a few radio spots promoting it. We sold a Deke Van t-shirt with Homefield Apparel. Our series inspired a new friend in Japan named Thanh Nguyen to write a pair of e-books adding greater depth to our story. Friend of the program Mike Rutherford did an amazing hype video for our first championship run. When I moved the series to Substack for a few months, more than 7,000 people signed up for email updates and still remain. Our first Twitch stream for the Year 8 Final Four drew more than 7,000 total viewers, and had 2,500 concurrent viewers on it at as we were closing out the win. On SB Nation, the series has been viewed more than 500K times.

What really made the project special was always the community around it. Some quick shout-outs:

The Leathernecks Database is an amazing companion to this series. You can lost in there. Thank you to the diehards to helped maintain it, and reader Evan for starting it.

Thanks to my guy who started the Leathernecks Nation instagram fan page and whoever is behind the wondrous fake Deke Van twitter account.

Thanks to everyone in the Discord who maintained ‘Necks discussion always and forever.

Thank the diehards that came out for every Twitch stream. I don’t want to name names because I’ll forget someone, but you know who you are. I love you all. I also want to thank the readers for keeping up with the recaps, and everyone who emailed me feedback throughout the series. I also want to thank my buddy Scott for introducing me to the game and running through multiple 40-year dynasties with me way before I ever considered blogging through it like this. This series would not exist without him.

What a ride it’s been. As I sim through to the end of the calendar, I’m greeted with this message.

Thank you, everyone. Go ‘Necks.

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monstrous-hourglass · 6 years

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Kai’sa: Disconnect Between Design and Story

If you have followed League of Legends in the last month, you must have seen varying amounts of disappointment around the new champion.

Kai’sa’s design isn’t great for a lot of reasons, both on its own and both in relation to her backstory.

Let’s look at her without the distraction of her splash art:

Riot and the sexy lamp woman

Let’s get this out of the way first. Riot has a problem with creating same-faced, stereotypically beautiful white-looking female characters in large quantities and yes, it is a problem. They seemed to have been getting better about it, but she is an enthusiastic jump back into that same mold.

If it wasn’t obvious that she is meant to be eye candy, then I think the cleavage clears that up, that boob window is hardly subtle. Still, just because something is intended to be sexy it should not excuse questionable design decisions.

What her design tells us about her

Ideally a character’s design should convey some information about them by looks alone. They have resorted to very obviously visual shorthands and not much else in the older champions (Miss Fortune is either an unfortunately dressed waitress or a pirate because she’s wearing a pirate hat and someone’s idea of a skimpy pirate outfit) but they were getting better with the recently released one. Looking at the humans alone, Ekko, Taliyah, Camille, Zoe, Illaoi and even Kayn have something in their design that makes it easy to tell where they are from and something about their profession/skills or personality.

Now let’s take a look at Kai’sa’s design, what we can tell about her from looking alone.

Does it give us information about where she’s from? - She looks white - her splash art has the same face as pre-rework Katarina and a lot of other older female champions and her in-game model looks like Quinn in different makeup. Because Riot has predominantly white or white passing characters in every region from the fjords to the desert, she could be from anywhere.

She looks healthy. She has nice curves, good proportions, nice hair and a healthy looking face. No scars, no blemishes, no sign of struggling for survival on her. Without context she looks like someone who lived well, ate good food and worked out regularly through most of her life.

Can we tell anything about her suit? That it’s alive and whether it comes off or permanently attached? - Not really, there really isn’t much indication that the suit is alive and in the AMA the creators said that they haven’t considered whether it can be removed or not.

Can we tell whether she’s a good, bad or neutral person? - I’m only bringing this up because the design team said they made her human and pretty because they wanted it obvious that she is a good person. Unless you equate beauty with goodness then no, we can’t tell that she’s not a particularly creative Void monster posing as an attractive human to lure in its prey. You can’t an you should not be able to tell someone’s morality based on their looks

So what do we know about her from looks alone? She is (most likely) human and she has something to do with the Void. We don’t get any other information from her design alone. She has no personality or personal touches in her character design.

How much of her story is reflected in her design

Well, that could have been better, but let’s approach this from the other end: We can’t tell much about her by looking at her, but surely her story has effect on how she looks like. You might not know what’s the deal with Zoe’s colorful hair when first looking at her, but once you know that she’s an aspect you can say “yes, so that’s why it’s like that”.

Is it apparent that Kai’sa’s Shuriman, from the southern desert? - Fuck knows, Riot has a very obvious race problem in their art design, we can have white passing people everywhere. 6 characters of color in a cast of 140 is atrocious and such a big and influential company should absolutely not be allowed to get away with it because as they have already proven they will not do anything about it otherwise.

Does any of her backstory - 10 years in a nightmare dimension filled with monsters where she had to fight day to day for food, water and basic survival with a parasite attached to her - show on her? That’s a very definite no. She has no signs of ever having to struggle for anything, much less survive by killing and eating whatever she could find in the Void. No scars, no blemishes, no signs of malnourishment, pretty hair and pretty face.

Her design not only isn’t justified by her backstory, at times they even contradict each other. There is a very definite disconnect between how she looks and what her story is.

This is something of a fun fact, but when we first looked at her teaser, without knowing her name, we did some brainstorming with friends about how they could make her design work for the story (because despite how it seems, I do try to give riot the benefit of doubt when I can). We got a very superhero feel from her, mostly because of her suit looks less organic in her model than her splash and we only saw the teaser at the time. A lot of (especially older) super-heroines are wearing skintight costumes, maybe someone found a way to fashion organic body armor from some Void-related stuff. We know that Piltover likes to poke around in the desert looking for stuff they can turn into another industrial revolution, nothing is stopping them from stumbling into the Void and its pollution.

I still wouldn’t have been thrilled about her and her Very Important and Functional cleavage, but I would have been fine with it. Super-heroine parallel and maybe some story about how they discovered the Void - or why she put on the suit in the first place and what if she miscalculated and now can’t get it off, oh the horror. Not the most original story under the sun, but one I would have been okay with.

But to have Kaisa looking as she does with the story she has, I’m not okay with.

Kai’sa could have been an opportunity to add more PoC representation to the game, as she was born in the southern desert.

But she’s been in a dark hole for years! - Yes, time spent in the sun can correlate with how dark somebody’s skin gets, but being poc isn’t only about how tan someone is. If you changed Taliyah’s or Illaoi’s model or art to have light skin (which might happen in Taliyah’s SSG skin, but hopefully it’s just an early concept art) you could still tell that they aren’t European looking.

But she’s Kassadin’s daughter and he’s light skinned in pre-void! - They reworked Swain from an old cripple to Lucius Malfoy lite, it shouldn’t be difficult to make Malzahar, Kassadin and Sivir actually dark or darker skinned. Two out of three have their faces covered, it shouldn’t be difficult to update their textures. Don’t make excuses for Riot to keep the desert filled with almost entirely light skinned people.

They could have made her not traditionally pretty. Make the suit truly monstrous, make her worn and scarred, make it show on her face and body that she’s a fighter who struggled and survived.

But then she wouldn’t be pretty! - Good, we already have plenty of pretty. Her backstory has massive plot holes, but why even have it in the first place if you are going to ignore it in her design?

The Void suit kept her beautiful and healthy! - Everything they established, the entirety of the Void lore repeatedly shows that any contact with the Void is disastrously bad for humans. You can’t make something a deadly poison and then say “Oh it’s lethal to most people, except her. By the power of boob, to her it’s a harmless beauty product.”

People wouldn’t play her if she wasn’t attractive! - I know “sex sells“ is something a lot of people fall back on when justifying things, but League’s champion pick rates are shaped by the meta. If she’s strong in the meta, people will play her. If she isn’t, they won’t.

Kai’sa is a collection of bad decisions for the sake of creating a generic pretty character and I can only hope she isn’t the sign that Riot is returning to the bad old habits.

#League of Legends #kai'sa #long post #very long post #salt salt salt salt

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jonathantabs714-blog · 4 years

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Winning Techniques For Happy Wheels Unblocked

Just How To Install Rar Video Game Data

#toc background: #f9f9f9;border: 1px solid #aaa;display: table;margin-bottom: 1em;padding: 1em;width: 350px; .toctitle font-weight: 700;text-align: center;

Content

Xmas Shop Online.

Gamings You May Not Know Concerning

Gameanalytics Places All Of Our Kpis In One Area, And Also Helps United States To Track Layout Occasions And Maximize Our Video Game Circulation.

The 50 Ideal Gamecube Games Of Perpetuity.

Agos: A Game Of Room.

Mahjong Games.

What is KreekCraft Roblox password?

KreekCraft on Twitter: "My password is oneforrestone. "

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Christmas Shop Online.

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Gamings You Might Not Know Concerning

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Is PUBG banned?

Yes, the government of India has banned both PUBG Mobile and PUBG Mobile Lite application in the country on Wednesday. Both the mobile games are developed by Tencent Games which is situated and registered in China.

Gameanalytics Puts Every One Of Our Kpis In One Place, As Well As Aids United States To Track Layout Events And Also Enhance Our Video Game Flow.

There are excellent building games as well, take Bloxburg for instance.

We agree with Preston and also Cameron that Minecraft is a great deal much better than Roblox.

You can find numerous brain intro applications on your mobile phone and totally free mind games online to maintain you active for hours.

Roblox is a gaming system with countless high quality video games, as well as the games themselves are distinct.

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Roblox is playable on Xbox and also COMPUTER, as well as you can construct as well as discover on Roblox Studio.

Intermingle a playlist with great beats and begin relocating. Have your partner include their favorite dancing celebration tracks as well. Place on some strobe lights, and also quickly you'll be wrecking the cooking area dancing floor.

What are the top 10 online games?

Top 10 Online Multiplayer GamesApex Legends.

Overwatch.

Minecraft.

Dota 2.

Grand Theft Auto V.

Sea of Thieves.

League of Legends. Another old school title which is still being played by millions of users around the world.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Also known as CS: https://unblocked-games.online GO, this is a legendary 1stt-person shooter released on PCs and Macs.

More items

The 50 Ideal Gamecube Games Of All Time.

Can you die of boredom?

Research over the last decade has shown that boredom alone won't kill you. However, long-term boredom may increase your risk for an early death. This is because boredom may increase stress hormones in the body, which can lead to a higher risk of cardiovascular disease.

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Modern Times Group Promotes Redin To Chief Executive Officer.

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Agos: A Video Game Of Room.

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chipotlepepperspokemonandother · 4 years

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Synonym Swap Series Part One: Great

According to www.espressoenglish.net, “Great” is one of the most common adjectives in the English language. Using it frequently in your writing can make your prose seem redundant, unspecific, or even cliché.

Try out these adjectives to further illuminate your writing and ameliorate your lexis (and that of your readers).

As is true with all synonyms, my advice is to not flood your writing with uncommon words—some might leave your readers confused, especially if you use many obscure words. You don’t wanna flip your style and become inconsistent. Also note that most of these are ‘near-synonyms’, meaning they cannot replace the word ‘great’ in every context, which is why I included the formal definitions.

- Great (as in ‘excessive’ or ‘remarkable’)

1. Acest (definition: exhibiting expertise in some activity)

2. Adroit (definition: dexterous or skillful)

3. Ample (definition: fully sufficient or more than adequate for the purpose or needs; plentiful; copious)

4. Arrant (definition: being notoriously without moderation; unmitigated; thorough)

5. August (definition: marked by majestic dignity or grandeur; having great importance, especially of the highest social class) – note that this word is only capitalized if it is being used as a name.

6. Behemothic (definition: of enormous size and power; colossal)

7. Brobdingnagian (definition: of huge size; giant) – note that this word is always capitalized.

8. Bunyanesque (definition: of, relating to, or resembling the legends about Paul Bunyan; of immense size or stature, as ascribed to Paul Bunyan or to the other characters, exploits, etc., in the legends about him; noting, pertaining to, characteristic of, or suggesting the allegorical style of John Bunyan) - note that this word is always capitalized.

9. Capacious (definition: capable of holding much; spacious or roomy)

10. Consummate (definition: ultimate; best)

11. Countless (definition: too many to count; innumerable)

12. Daunting (definition: tending to overwhelm or intimidate; to lessen the courage or resolution of)

13. Dignified/Dignifying (definition: showing or expressing dignity; controlled, serious, and calm, therefore deserving respect; characterized by dignity of manner or appearance; stately)

14. Egregious (definition: outstandingly bad; extraordinary in some bad way)

15. Eleemosynary (definition: of or relating to alms, charity, or charitable donations; charitable; derived from or provided by charity)

16. Elephantine (definition: pertaining to or resembling an elephant; huge, ponderous, or clumsy)

17. Estimable (definition: worthy of esteem; deserving respect or admiration)

18. Exemplary (definition: worthy of imitation; commendable; serving as an illustration or specimen; illustrative)

19. Gifted (definition: having exceptionally high intelligence, talent, or ability)

20. Gigantesque (definition: of huge or gigantic size; of or suited to a giant)

21. Grand (definition: impressive in size, extent, appearance, or general effect; important or large in degree)

22. Gratuitous (definition: given or granted without recompense or return; unwarranted)

23. Grievous (definition: causing tremendous grief or sorrow; burdensome or oppressive)

24. Hellacious (definition: remarkable; astonishing; formidably difficult)

25. Inordinate (definition: exceeding reasonable limits; immoderate)

26. Herculean (definition: requiring the great strength of a Hercules; having enormous strength, courage, or size; of or relating to Hercules or his labors) – note that this word is sometimes capitalized; it depends on the context.

27. Immeasurable (definition: too big to be measured)

28. Immoderate (definition: exceeding just, usual, or suitable bounds)

29. Impeccable (definition: faultless; flawless; irreproachable; not liable to sin; incapable of sin)

30. Imposing (definition: impressive in size, bearing, dignity, or grandeur; having an appearance that looks important or causes admiration)

31. Impressive (definition: making or tending to make a marked impression; having the power to excite attention, awe, or admiration; having the ability to impress the mind)

32. Incalculable (definition: impossible to calculate or reckon)

33. Inculpable (definition: not culpable; blameless; guiltless)

34. Inimitable (definition: incapable of being imitated or copied; surpassing imitation; matchless)

35. Innumerable (definition: too many to be numbered; countless)

36. Inspiring/inspirational (definition: having an animating, quickening, or exalting influence; imparting inspiration)

37. Intimidating (definition: to make timid; to fill with fear)

38. Laudable (definition: deserving praise; praiseworthy; commendable; in medicine/obsolete usage: healthy; wholesome; not noxious)

39. Lordly (definition: suitable for a lord, as trappings or ceremonies; grand or magnificent; insolently imperious; haughty; arrogant; overbearing; of or relating to a lord; having the character or attributes of a lord; befitting a lord, as actions)

40. Magnanimous (definition: generous in forgiving an insult or injury; free from petty resentfulness or vindictiveness: high-minded; noble; proceeding from or revealing generosity or nobility of mind, character, etc.:

41. Magnificent (definition: great in deed or exalted in place; marked by stately grandeur and lavishness; making a splendid appearance or show; of exceptional beauty or size)

42. Majestic (definition: having or exhibit majesty; beautiful, powerful, or causing great admiration; of lofty dignity or imposing aspect; impressive or beautiful in a dignified or inspiring way)

43. Masterly (definition: like or befitting a master, as in skill or art; very skillful) – note that this can also be used as an adverb meaning “in a masterly manner” and is seamlessly swappable with the word “masterful”.

44. Meritorious (definition: deserving praise, reward, esteem, etc.; praiseworthy) – note that this is effortlessly exchangeable with the word “meritable”.

45. Munificent (definition: extremely liberal in giving; characterized by great generosity)

46. Notable (definition: worthy of being noted; something or someone who is interesting and/or important)

47. Paradigmatic (definition: describing something that is ideal or standard)

48. Palmary (definition: having or deserving to have the palm of victory or success; praiseworthy)

49. Phenomenal (definition: highly extraordinary or prodigious; exceptional; of or relating to phenomena; of the nature of a phenomenon; cognizable by the senses)

50. Philanthropic (definition: of, pertaining to, engaged in, or characterized by philanthropy; benevolent)

51. Prodigious (definition: causing amazement or wonder; extraordinary in bulk, quantity, or degree)

52. Proficient (definition: well-advanced or competent in any art, science, or subject; skilled)

53. Protracted (definition: lasting for a long time or being made to last longer than is necessary, normally involving something unpleasant)

54. Puissant (definition: powerful; mighty; potent)

55. Punctilious (definition: extremely attentive to punctilios; strict or exact in the observance of the formalities or amenities of conduct or actions)

56. Pythonic (definition: of or relating to pythons; gigantic or monstrous)

57. Quintessential (definition: of the pure and essential essence of something; of or relating to the most perfect embodiment of something)

58. Refulgent (definition: shining brightly; radiant; gleaming)

59. Resplendent (definition: characterized by a glowing splendor; brilliant)

60. Righteous (definition: characterized by uprightness or morality; morally right or justifiable; acting in an upright, moral way; virtuous)

61. Splendiferous (splendid; magnificent; fine) – note that this is perfectly interchangeable with the words “splendid” or “splendorous”.

62. Sterling (definition: of the highest standard)

63. Sublime (definition: elevated or lofty in thought, language, etc.; impressing the mind with a sense of grandeur or power; inspiring awe, veneration, etc.; supreme or outstanding)

64. Superb (definition: admirably fine or excellent; extremely good; sumptuous; rich; grand; of a proudly imposing appearance or kind)

65. Superlative (definition: of the highest kind, quality, or order; surpassing all else or others; supreme)

66. Thankworthy (definition: deserving of gratitude)

67. Transcendental (definition: being beyond ordinary or common experience, thought, or belief; supernatural; abstract or metaphysical)

68. Unmitigated (definition: not mitigated; not softened or lessened; unqualified or absolute)

69. Unstinting (definition: very generous; not selfish)

70. Unwarranted (definition: lacking adequate or official support; lacking justification, authorization, reason, or sanction)

71. Venerable (definition: commanding respect because of great age or impressive dignity; worthy of veneration or reverence, as because of high office or noble character; extremely old or obsolete)

72. Virtuosic (definition: requiring a high level of technical skill; impressive and sometimes flamboyant, usually used to describe musical performance)

Informal/Slang:

A-1

A-OK

All right

Batting a thousand

Bee’s knees

Best-ever

Big-name

Big time

Bueno (an actual Spanish word that means ‘good’, sometimes used by English speakers as a slang word)

Bull

Cat’s meow

Cat’s pajamas

Crack

Dynamite

Fab

Fat

First-class

First-rate

Hunky-dory

In limelight

Jumbo

Major league

Number one

Out-and-out

Out of sight

Out of this world

Santa Claus

State-of-the-art

Soft-touch

Solid

Super-duper

Very cool

Very good

Top drawer

Well-thought-of

World-beating

Zero cool

The next common adjective I am going to write about is ‘awful’.

Please add your own synonyms to ‘great’ via reblog:)

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myrle251gaming-blog · 5 years

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The supreme Mystery Of SPORTS

Gaming Weblog Jobs

Twitter is where game publishers, the gaming media, well known game streamers and entertainers, esports leagues, teams, players and commentators interact with their most engaged fans and with 1 a further. Like when thinking of which guns to obtain in CS:GO or which champions to play in League of Legends or Dota2 for the upcoming match, preparation is crucial in small business too (and you are going to construct a company if you want to earn funds gaming, it does not matter Click here to find out more if you are a pro player or not -Â you will still be a business enterprise your self in the most simple sense). You frequently never want to bring a knife into a gun fight, for the reason that the a single with the gun normally wins.

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Immediately after all, console and Computer gaming are witnessing a revival, with fascinating new titles such as Fortnite, PUBG and Overwatch combining with veteran franchises such as FIFA, Contact of Duty, Battlefield and GTA, not forgetting booming hardware sales from Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4, and emerging trends like esports. This is a guest blogpost by Thomas Sorenson. Thomas Sorenson spent a week with us at White Wizard Games as a Wizard for a Weekâ€ Kickstarter supporter, and he writes detailed strategy articles about Epic Card Game on his weblog, Tom's Epic Gaming Weblog This blogpost originally appeared there.

My writing isn't the finest, but by way of trial, error and the comments of readers I strive to increase it so I can supply fair reviews. My ultimate objective is to prove that not everybody in the gaming media are corrupt idiots intent on delivering false evaluations. Occasionally this takes the kind of testimonials, exactly where suggestions to designers is offered in the context of a critique of an current game, but largely they offer an exploration of game style components without having assessment or gaming context.

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ratingleaguewithoutcontext · 3 years

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#varus #varus league of legends #league of legends #out of context league #rating league of legends without context

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kieranturnbullkingston · 5 years

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V&A - Interaction Design - To what extent do these different contexts of production and reception echo or overturn existing cultural and industrial practices?

Today we visited London’s V & A museum and more specifically it’s ‘Design/Play/Disrupt’ exhibition where my classmates and I became more familiar with the techniques and processes involved with a market that is currently being consumed by more than a quarter of the world’s population. Yet, despite being fascinated with the story lines and realistic visual effects achieved by huge video gaming companies such as ‘Naughty Dog’ and ‘Rock star Games’, it was in fact the content by smaller, independent studios that were far more radical and interesting to me. An example of this was ‘Wobble Yoga’ by Jenny Jiao, an online game where you as the player have to arrange a single meal on a plate whilst at the same time making sure you don’t go over the calorie limit as well as potential for future hunger. With her bright and bold characters what initially attracted me to this specific piece, when you truly delve deeper you as a viewer realise that the artist is illustrating a far wider issue that affects many around the world, body image. Having this been an insecurity of Jiao’s for many years, the artist one day decided to overcome this pain by documenting it within a series of small drawings. Through a variety of media and text experiments, it wasn’t until the artist animated these quick examples that the basic concepts of the game actually came about.

My photographs of the research and experimental processes of Jenny Jiao’s ‘Wobble Yoga’.

Thanks to Jiao’s bravery to use this controversial issue in such a manner, it showcases the demand and need for more games like this as well as the lack of basic knowledge and information of how to deal and overcome body image as a whole. Furthermore, by the messaging being purposely subtle, it subconsciously communicates this current problem without you as the viewer to truly realise and as a result, along with its visuals, results in ‘Wobble Yoga’ being assessable to all. This is particularly important, as in the future games like this are and will play a vital role in educating the youth the essentials of life in a creative and interactive way.

My photographs of the sketching processes and varying merchandise from ‘Splatoon’.

These characteristics were also present within many of the exhibitions other popular games, but most namely within Nintendo’s ‘Splatoon’. Produced by Hisashi Nogami, ‘Splatoon’ is a third person shooting game based on Tokyo’s notorious graffiti culture. With players given the option to either shot with coloured inks or disguise themselves with the same media, although its varying accessories and maps are desired, it is in fact the games ability to make realistic artwork that have proved to be far more in demand. Rather than fighting in the many battles that the game offers, a section of ‘Splatoon’s’ players rather create or recreate their own street art and as a result have now created a new type of customer for the brand. With many of its back shots and silhouettes having been computer animated from varying location drawings, it has resulted in players having a deeper connection to their artwork and thereby more of an incentive in investing time and effort to create well thought out and finalised designs. Therefore, it was no surprise that the game’s clothing has become a phenomenon whereby players can now physically wear their designs that they had virtually produced.

Examples of ‘Halo’ Gaming's many toys.

Merchandising like this is something that is additionally becoming more and more popular with other infamous games such as ‘Minecraft’ and ‘Halo’, whereby these brands toys are almost as popular as the actual game that they originated from. This incredible impact can equivalently be showcased within the film industry too, especially with the release of 2017’s ‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’, whereby not only was its plot based around four teenagers being transported into the world of a videogame, but ultimately it was a critical and major financial success that grossed over $1 billion dollars at the box office.

My photographs of the London V & A’s Design/Play/Disrupt big screen showcasing of the ‘2017 League of Legends Finals’ Highlights.

Although these are significant examples of how the gaming market is overturning existing cultural and industrial practices, it wasn’t until I saw the final area of the exhibition that I realised that this way of consuming media is truly the future. This was due to the fact that two years ago, the finals of the ‘League of Legends World Championships’ took place to a sold-out crowd in Beijing’s National Stadium. Nicknamed ‘The Bird’s Nest’, this 80,000-capacity arena was the centrepiece to China’s 2008 Olympic Games and was now host to a video-gaming competition with a main prize of $1 million dollars. Even the intensity of the atmosphere that could be shown visually on screen felt like that of a World Cup Final, where reporters from all around the world came to cover the major event as well as paid viewing parties being able to be accessed at cinemas to those who could either not make it or wanted to consume the Championship Finals in a similar fashion.

A link to the ‘2017 League of Legends Finals’ Highlights - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAwV4JRBuYY

Yet despite this industry being a worldwide phenomenon, ‘Design/Play/Disrupt’ also illustrates how those who are making and producing these games do not accurately represent the general audiences that consume them. This can be showcased by the fact that in 2017, figures taken from the International Game Developers Association, surveyed that 68% of characters were White/European compared to 1% of characters being Black/African. Although these figures were not as drastically low for women being represented in video-games, they were however still at a shameful rate as well as a large percentage of this gender purposely being characterised in a misogynistic manner. Popular games such as ‘Grand Theft Auto 5’ were noted as prime examples of this where players can even ask female characters to perform sexual acts in return for money. This is even more shocking to think how witnessing this type of behaviour normalises the mindsets of millions around the world, especially young people who ultimately are still the largest consumers of video-games overall. Although legally you must be 18 years old to buy games like this, many simply either give money to their parents to buy it at their local Toys “R” Us store or even easier, order it online.

Varying images of London V & A’s Design/Play/Disrupt exhibit discussing issues within video-gaming.

Finally, the exhibition additionally exposes how ‘authenticity’ is another fundamental problem lost within these major franchises. The likes of ‘Battlefield 3’ may have the budget of $100 million dollars to create a hyper realistic game, but ironically don’t bother to spend enough time making sure that the actual cultural languages that they are depicting are the correct ones. This is especially apparent within African and Asian cultures, whereby companies such as the ‘Electronic Arts’ use these continents societies and customs, but in a detrimental way that subconsciously reaffirms the Western stereotypes that the West is the ‘Hero’ and the Middle Eastern/Arab is the so-called ‘enemy’. “By thinking of the U.S. audience first’ Imad Khan, ‘The Current State of Muslim Representation in Video Games’, writes ‘it creates stories that favour one side over the other’ and thanks to many like Khan, there are now varying movements that are forcing these vast video-gaming companies to change the way that they are constructing their content. Thanks to platforms such as ‘Facebook’ and ‘Twitter’, it has given people the confidence to expose these uses of cultural appropriation that will heavily assist in creating story lines that are not only well-rounded and balanced, but more importantly all audiences that consume video-games.

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junker-town · 3 years

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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.

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shervonfakhimi · 4 years

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The 2019-20 Los Angeles Lakers Appreciation Post

Just the other day, as I hunkered down buried by blankets flipping through Bill Simmons’ ‘The Book of Basketball’ with the swipe of my finger on my Google tablet, it had me thinking about this NBA season that has been put on pause as if franchise mode from NBA 2K had come to life. He talked about ‘the secret’ to winning championships, a secret he learned from NBA legend Isiah Thomas. How the key to winning basketball games is not about basketball. How a team needs star players and to then be surrounded by players who not only fit those stars but accepted the roles designed for them. It was a quick and depressing reminder that this season’s Laker team had all of those ingredients, yet might not be able to have the opportunity to go hoist the golden Larry O’Brien trophy. And if they can’t, I wanted to take some time to thank and appreciate them for arguably the most fun Laker season I’ve ever experienced.

As last season’s team floundered from a chemistry perspective from paralyzing trade rumors, this year’s team seemingly made it their quest not to follow suit. Head honcho Rob Pelinka made it his mission to find veterans to fit the team this summer after acquiring Anthony Davis, and nailed it, adding the likes of Danny Green, Jared Dudley, Avery Bradley, Dwight Howard, and others to the mix. The team gelled instantly, despite dealing with plenty of turbulence from the start of the season with plenty more (sadly) coming along the way. Danny Green, a man who has been around the block plenty during his NBA career, said on Zach Lowe’s podcast that this year’s team has been the most fun he’s had off the court. Jared Dudley, another player who knows his way around the league, echoed similar sentiments. This team genuinely loved each other and played like it. It was infectious (maybe not the best word choice right now but hey it’s the best I got) and permeated all the way into my room whenever I’d watch the games. That wasn’t more evident than this play in January against the Detroit Pistons, where Alex Caruso gets a deflection, Kyle Kuzma recovers the loose ball then throws it back to Caruso for him to throw down another ruthless dunk. Yet, behind him, two future first-ballot Hall of Famers in LeBron James and Dwight Howard are flying right there with him to celebrate and bask in the joy with Caruso. It’s my favorite play of the entire season. It perfectly captured the fun and joy this team has playing together.

Yet, as fun as this team was to watch, they were just as good as they were fun. They were just beginning to peak as a team. Every night it seemed someone not named LeBron James or Anthony Davis (more on them in a second) would step up. After coming back from injury, Avery Bradley added offense, like his 24 point performance against the Clippers where he gave Patrick Beverley a taste of his own medicine, to his crippling on-ball defense, shooting 41.8% on catch-and-shoot threes since January first. Danny Green always brought his defense. While his jumper waxed and waned, it didn’t stop him from hitting big shots like this against Dallas in November. Dwight Howard went from un-signed in August to dominating MVP candidate Nikola Jokic in his own building and giving the Lakers numerous sparks like that off the bench. Alex Caruso was both an analytics darling and fan favorite, routinely giving the Lakers a boost off the bench as he did in that same game against the Nuggets that was highlighted when talking about Dwight. JaVale McGee was playing the best defense of his Lakers career that’s been 1.5 seasons long now. Though Rajon Rondo and Kyle Kuzma were enigmatic this season, they both showed out for some big performances, against Oklahoma City (without James, Davis, and Green) and at home against Boston.

And then there are the stars. Let’s start with Anthony Davis, who was absolutely sensational. He literally made greatness look routine. Some games, like his 40-20 masterpiece against the Memphis Grizzlies or dropping 41 points and 9 rebounds in his return to New Orleans, felt louder than others, but he was just as impactful regardless. His chemistry with LeBron was palpable and frightening from the beginning and seemed to get even more devastating as the season progressed. Perhaps, even more, frightening: since January 1st, Anthony Davis shot 40.5% from three on 3.3 attempts per game. Not only was he more comfortable taking those shots, but he was unafraid to fly in clutch moments, hitting some big shots from three to either seal games or keep the Lakers in it. Maybe it was confidence, maybe it was getting over the shoulder injury that nagged AD the first half of the year off a missed dunk against Charlotte, but regardless, he was already a devastating scorer without the three-ball, and he was just beginning to add that to his repertoire. And adding that would’ve meant Davis could exploit his abnormal handle to go with his extra-terrestrial frame and athleticism as he did here against Al Horford. Davis has never shot above 34% from three for a season in his career. The thought of Davis as a lethal weapon from all three levels of the floor is… yeah, absolutely terrifying.

We haven’t even begun to talk about AD’s defense. He added Defensive Player of the Year caliber defense to a hefty offensive stat line. It didn’t matter who Davis guarded. Have him run around defending guards or banging against bigs, he’d shut them down. When LeBron and Anthony Davis shared the floor without Rajon Rondo or another big man, the Lakers boasted a robust 17.6 Net Rating, per NBA.com, including a staggering defensive rating of 92.1 points per 100 possessions. For context, the Milwaukee Bucks’ league-best defensive rating was 101.6. The Lakers’ defense, when it wasn’t weighed down by inconsistent bench play, turned absolutely dominant because of Davis’ dexterity to cover any hole presented to him. On top of that, not only would Davis routinely stifle possessions but he’d bring the ball up and just do the damn thing by himself to generate easy offense for the Lakers. While the Lakers had a negative net rating with Davis on the floor this season, they were beginning to turn it around once he played without James on the floor with him. Over the course of the season, the Lakers had a -3.2 Net Rating without James while Davis was on the floor, but had a +6.6 Net Rating in 169 minutes from February 1st on in that exact scenario. It wasn’t always pretty but it did the job in big games late in the season, and Davis was the biggest reason why. Davis’ future regarding another contract has suddenly become a little cloudy as to when and how that extension will come because of the financial impact this hiatus will have on the league, but this season proved Davis was worth all the trouble to acquire him and will be worth every penny he gets in the future. He was undoubtedly dominant.

Davis was dominant, yet he still wasn’t even the best player on the team. That honor would belong to the King. Obviously, as a Lakers fan, I’d love nothing more than to win a championship and for LeBron to win MVP, but that award is likely Giannis’ to lose. However, had the season not been postponed, there was an avenue for LeBron to swipe the MVP from the Greek Freak’s clutches after the roll LeBron went on after the All-Star break. He began that spree with a 32 point, seven assist win against the Grizzlies, a near triple-double against the Celtics and this game-winning Kobe-esque fadeaway post jumper over Jaylen Brown, sonning Zion Williamson’s New Orleans Pelicans not once but twice, outplaying Giannis Antetokounmpo and accepting the challenge of guarding him to the tune of a 37-8-8 masterpiece and win over the first place Bucks, and ending the streak with this Klutch And-1 bucket to beat the Clippers. Had the Lakers managed to swipe the best record in the NBA from the Bucks (they were only three games behind the Bucks with Giannis on track to miss 1-2 weeks. I’m not going to use this space to make an MVP argument, but one could certainly have been made for LeBron had he maintained that pace. LeBron led the league in assists. He showed up defensively. A good portion of the team’s chemistry could be attributed to James and his leadership, both on and off the floor. He showed again he’s the best player in the NBA (in my opinion).

Everything that championship teams need, this year’s Lakers team showed time and time again that they have it. Whether this season was the best chance the Lakers had at winning a title with this group is debatable, but the window was there. Those windows are so precious in the NBA and could go in the blink of an eye. Yet, due to extremely unfortunate circumstances, that window this season may get shut for nothing that has to do with basketball. That is nowhere near the top of the list of priorities to deal with right now as a society, but the uncertainty regarding the immediate future of the NBA and its potential champion is really disappointing as a fan. I hope a cure can be cultivated soon to not only save the numerous that are sick right now but get our beloved NBA back up and running. If it can come back, then great. But if it doesn’t, I thought it’d be prudent to show some love and appreciation to the most fun Laker team since the 2010 Championship team, because they deserve it for spreading their love and joy to the millions of Lakers fans across the globe, myself included.

P.S.: I hope everyone is safe and well during this tumultuous time. We’ll get through it. But in the meantime: STAY THE FUCK AT HOME!

Ok, Take Care!

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