IBC 31: FLAWLESS FIRST QUARTER
Written By: Emily Jackson and Chuck Paul
Let's get this out of the way first. Through the first half of the first group stage, Drawkland is currently 5-0. Perfect record, near-perfect performance in each of the games, and thankfully Drawkland looks to still be a contender for the later stages of this IBC. The last two IBC group stages for the Net Corps yielded a loss in the first half (both to Kriegiersien, actually), which they avenged in the second half. This time, no games were dropped, and the Corps looks on to hold serve going into the second half of the group stage.
The reason the title is "Flawless First Quarter" is twofold. Firstly, one could argue that this IBC is divided into four quarters of competition. The first half of the first group stage, the second half of the first group stage, the second group stage, and the playoffs. Sure, the first group stage halves are five games each, the second group stage is four, and the playoffs are three games at most, but you could argue that the higher level of competition and the intensity of the matchups make up for the fewer games.
The second reason for the Flawless First Quarter actually relates to the play of the Net Corps on the court itself. In each of the five games played so far, Drawkland's national team has been nearly impossible to beat in the first quarter of play. Cody Morgan's strategy for this IBC has appeared to be playing balls-out, high-octane basketball for the first quarter, to build a fortuitous lead and grab all the game's momentum. For all five of the matchups so far, this has been played to perfection.
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@ JUVENCUS
It wasn't the home match against Omerica that would be the most anticipated matchup of the first half, but rather the away match against Juvencus. Once again, the Corps only had a short flight across the sea to travel, and they would be in top form for the coming matchup. Similarly, the Juven squad was fresh off a tight home win against Southwest Eastnorth. With momentum on both teams' side, the travel part of the equation being nonexistant, and undisputed power over Group E at stake, it was set to be a hard-fought match between the friendly Sonnel rivals.
Similar to the game against Oscioru, the Net Corps tried to bring their FFQ tactics to play against Juvencus, but they didn't have the effects they'd hoped. Drawkland only led 18-15 at the end of the first quarter, as i Cavalli's defense proved to be more strict than expected. The Juven tactics are to crowd the inside of the arc and force teams to beat them up top with the three-pointer. Unfortunately for Juvencus, the three-pointer comes naturally to sharpshooters like Autumn Trallen and even Taveon Holland. While the shooting for Drawkland was less consistent than usual, props had to go to the defense put up by Juvencus to keep the game tight.
Despite the back-and-forth nature of the scoring, the actual score margin remained solidly in Drawkian control. Juvencus would get within a few points, even tie the score, but the Corps would come right back down the court, score, and open the margin again. It was a crazy close game, but Drawkland held the lead for the entirety of the game. Juvencus even had a chance with a bit over a minute left to take the lead, but Romain Amatore missed the three-pointer which kept the score at 63-65. The taller Drawkian players always have an advantage under the basket, so the Corps got the rebound. They drove down the court, sucked away as much of the clock as they could, and Trallen sank another clutch three-pointer to make the score a nearly insurmountable 63-68 scoreline.
With time no longer on their side, i Cavalli had to sprint up the court and try to get an open three, but the Corps were playing hard defense around the arc. Gualterio Belluomo tried to get a shot off himself, but Will Accursio was there for the block and slapped the ball away before it could go anywhere. The ball bounced back towards halfcourt, where Holland was able to sprint to pick it up. All alone on an isolated fastbreak, Holland strode down the court and jammed a fancy dunk to make it 63-70. With little time left on the clock, Juvencus had no chance of coming away with the win, and their final shot fell short to keep the score as-is. Despite the unfortunate end to the game, it was a fantastic effort by i Cavalli, and they were still second in the group at 3-1.
vs SOUTHWEST EASTNORTH
The final game of the first half would be the home game against a midmajor squad in Southwest Eastnorth. The Frontiersmen run with a light 10-man roster, and a defensive strategy. A far cry from the deep roster and offensive powerhouse of Drawkland, but they came to Sonnel with high hopes. They did better than expected, all said and done, but it wasn't ever a close game.
Cody Morgan's FFQ tactics once again proved to be effective, this time resulting in a 22-10 margin at the end of the first quarter. At this point, with a 12 point margin and half the group stage to go, Morgan decided to rotate in some backups and give them more minutes. Now, with a roster like Drawkland's, the bench players are still all-star level talent, but the semo-disrespect of pulling most of the starters seemed to fuel the Frontiersmen and motivate them to play their hardest.
The defense still stood strong throughout the game, and the offense was passable. SWEN played with guts, their defensive strategy starting to have an effect on the Corps, but the 12 point deficit suffered in the first quarter was simply too much for them to play catchup all game. When the match was all said and done, the Frontiersmen came away with a loss and Drawkland moved to 5-0. Props to their defense for managing to limit the Corps' output, something Omerica and the United Volcano Isles. At 2-3, SWEN is the best non-Sonnelian team in the group right now. Who knows? They may prove a thorn in our collective Sonnelian sides come the second half.
THE NEXT STEPS
In case you didn't notice, Drawkland's path through the first half of this group stage was extremely easy, travel-wise. Through five games, the Net Corps travelled out of Drawkland twice, and out of Sonnel zero times. The "space lag" that can sometimes result by taking rapid spaceflight or traveling by portal was never a factor for the Net Corps. To add to this, both Juvencus and Oscioru are directly south of Drawkland, so the jet lag via time zone was also a non-factor. In short, this was probably the easiest set of games, travel-wise, that any team in the IBC has dealt with so far. While this has absolutely been great for our court play and record, it also wouldn't surprise anyone if the Net Corps' production starts to tail off in the second half.
With all the non-regional squads playing at Drawkland in the first half, this means the Corps will be traveling offworld for three of the next five matchups. Their only two home matchups will be against regional rivals in Juvencus and Oscioru. Both of these matchups will be sure to have a large amount of fans traveling into Drawkland to support their team, as this is by far the shortest distance to travel for the Juven and Osci. One of Drawkland's biggest advantages is their huge crowd presence, especially at home, but this will definitely be mitigated in their only home matches of the second half. Not enough to be a disadvantage, but enough that it'll be noticeably different.
In any case, the Corps defense has been incredible impressive over the first half. Even with their close matches against Oscioru and Juvencus decided by only a few points, they still held every team to less than 70 points (regardless of offensive production). It's anybody's guess whether this will hold over to the second half, or the second group stage. For now though, it's clear that the Corps has developed their defensive prowess and are looking to shut teams out early.
The "Flawless First Quarter" tactics, which are now being called the FFQ, are starting to have a marked effect on the Corps ability to win games early. Cody Morgan has done a good job implementing the new strategy and dimension to the Net Corps' game, but now that every team in the group has seen it in action once, will they be able to gameplan to counteract it? I only hope that Morgan and his staff have more tricks up their sleeve in case this one starts to falter. If they start dropping games to inferior opponents in the second half of this group stage, it spells danger for us going to the second group stage or the playoffs, playing against much more powerful squads.
The good news is that, win or lose, we're in solid control of the group and a couple wins away from ensuring qualification to the second round. As a pleasant surprise, our regionmates in Juvencus are doing just as well, sitting at 4-1 with their only loss being to us. While Oscioru dropped a close one to Southwest Eastnorth on the road, they also sit tied for third place at 2-3 (2-1 against non-Sonnelians). Omerica's disappointing start is starting to spell "consolation group stage at best", while the hot form of the Corps, Cavali, and Tauri seem to suggest that Group E will yield two Sonnel squads to the second stage. The only threat to this possibility right now is Southwest Eastnorth, who managed to beat Oscioru to nab the H2H tiebreaker for now, as well as draw them even on wins.
There's still a lot of basketball left to play. But right now, it seems that the Sonnel squads have Group E as their oyster. It's our group to lose ... so let's hold on tight and take it to the next round. An Omerican comeback, a Drawkian or Juven collapse, or even a shock run by SWEN, are all still on the cards. These next 2-3 matchdays will be the most important to how the group plays out. Let's just watch and enjoy the ride while the sailing is smooth. On Corps ... and Forza Juve!