By reader AJCien.
Now that the semi-finals have ended, it’s time for the ultimate showdown between the best in A Division basketball. Hwa Chong Institution, battling on two fronts, now face off with Raffles Junior College (girls) and Anderson JC (boys) respectively. Here’s an analysis on what’s going to be in store for the final.
RJC-HCI girls final: A battle royale between two most established schools in the A Division with a history of championship titles. With the rivalry spilling over to basketball, this looks like an enthralling match to watch in a battle for the best school in 2008. HCI, by defeating Victoria JC, have effectively removed the very challenger who can seriously threaten RJC in the final. As much as HCI will be backed by a partisan crowd, RJC will prove a stiff challenge. RJC doesn’t seem to have let up in the last few matches, although St Andrew’s JC did give them a scare last time in the semis.
Prediction: RJC to deny a double (and HCI’s title since two years ago) by edging the tight match by a few points.
AJC-HCI boys final: On paper this looks like a no-brainer. In contrast to HCI who are basically on another unbeaten run, AJC have lost in the group stages, albeit having confirmed top spot by the time the matches were played.
The resting of key players for key phases did help AJC sustain its run to the final, with few injury problems plaguing the team. While the stronger HCI players can be pretty hard to stop, AJC has a team captain who can rally his troops. Skeptics may point to their captain Yan Ming being a one-man show, but I’ve a feeling that this is AJC’s year.
Jet-lag may cause HCI’s downfall. With two of their star players being rushed back from overseas just for the match, HCI may need to find a way to help the boys cope with the after-effects of the depressurised air cabin and its consequences of lower oxygen absorption, altitude sickness and fatigue. With a lead time of less than 24 hours from touch-down to match, it might be the trigger factor to a potentially dangerous loss in form in such a high-stakes match. How the HCI bench can backup the starting five remains to be seen. There may be squad depth but it can only be effective if all players have seen action in the season’s matches.
But AJC will also have a few things to face. In their last meeting in 2006, AJC choked at the big stage, when a 3rd quarter romp by HCI deflated the team. And this year, their Jekyll and Hyde form did put off a few, where they lost in supposedly-winnable matches. The real AJC showed up in the semis, but will they do the same in the final? Or they will cower in terror at facing HCI’s partisan crowd?
Prediction: As an alumni I’d like AJC to win, and if they did they would put in their all and edge this closely (<5 points). But with HCI in hot form, a somewhat more realistic prediction would be HCI winning by 6-14 points (assuming their star players recovered in time from jet lag, if not, 5 or less.)
Post-match report
A Division Girls Final
A Division Boys Final
Vance, enough hor.
You said some embarrassing thing on the other page about combined schools right??
Hahahahahahahahahaha.
Well, sorry to disappoint even our very own schoolmate.
We didn’t play as well as we ought to it’s true.
But i see no reason for us to be ashamed of our performance simply because you cannot expect a team to deliver stellar performances day in day out.
HCI won because they are a very strong team, not because we are a lousy team.
If you are keen, maybe you’d like to join AJ basketball to make it a stronger team?
We’ll need the talents. 🙂
I LOVE SHENGYU!!!!!!!
HE IS MY IDOL!!!
[…] I’d like to apologize to readers that I was way off the mark for most of my predictions in my earlier article. Girls final: This being a big match between both giants in A Division sport, the first half was a […]
I’M PROUD OF OUR BBALL GUYS! (: THEY PUT UP A GOOD FIGHT BUT LUCK WASNT WITH THEM..
I LOVE CHONG LIN>>>……(muscle)
To me, the first half was neck to neck when both teams are playing their game-plans well. But with the centre fouled out and Yan Ming being fatigued as he had to play all 40 minutes, it was too much of an ask to chase back. An embarassing scoreline it may be, but that didn’t tell the full story. AJC had to balance between attack and defence, a more difficult task than HCI who can delegate certain players to defend, and leave Shengyu and Calvin to attack (complemented by the others once in a while).
That’s the reason why the defence smothered the AJC attack (reducing them to making dribbles without much fruit) while forcing AJC to turn physical and force them out. We are definitely not ashamed
YanMing is still my idol. HAHAHAHA
well,in case you didn’t notice, the first 5 to 8 minutes of the game was what,I feel,was truly reflective of AJC’s standards and potential. at one point in time,AJ was leading HCI by about 2 to 3 points,so i would say the boys had a chance. but when AJ’s centre got fouled out,the game changed and it wasn’t totally AJ’s fault that they couldn’t really get many rebounds. although they lost,i still think they did their best. so give them a break aye.
Hwachong simply steamrolled us today. AJC bball team should be ashamed of its poor performance today. No.8 was too flashy with his dribbles and did not contribute much. Overall performance of our team was sadly to say very embarrassing.
[…] A Division Basketball Championship Final against Anderson Junior College tomorrow. When asked about a reader’s prediction that HCI would scrape by with only a five-point win, Sheng Yu said: “I disagree very strongly with the five-point margin. I think we’ll do […]
CHONGLIN. U PLAY BASKETBALL THEN WHO PROTECT ME 🙁
Which is why AJC may play the game of their lives to thank their long-suffering supporters who have been waiting for a trophy for the past 2 years.
AJC vs HCI boys will be a tough fight, though i don’t think jetlag will prove to be too crucial a problem, i have total faith in Shengyu and Calvin.
I guess the fate of AJC depends a lot on the form of their captain Yan Ming, without him the AJC team will require a lot more effort to hold up against their opponents, who are more “all-rounder” in that sense.
I won’t say it is a thrashing, but Hwachong should be able to win by a gap of more than 15 points.
Ahbao may be a beast, but my man chonglin has the pecs to dominate all. Peace Up, A-Town Down.