See the full oakland soldiers roster on page 94 start more than a dozen games. So all season long the starting guards were ever-changing for this squad. Guards Bernard Ward, Jordan Ford, and Max Hazzard all started games for the squad this season. However, the Soldiers tended to go forward-heavy the majority of the time, utilizing 6-foot-5 Oscar Frayer, 6-foot-5 Carlos Johnson, 6-foot-10 Metu, and 6-foot-6 Pflueger heavily alongside Rabb and Zimmerman. If the Soldiers hope to advance past these guard-heavy squads in Pool B, Ward, Ford, and Hazzard will have to play to the best of their abilities.
chance points than Mac Irvin. However, the Fire dominated the fast break, and if the Soldiers can prevent this in their Pool B rematch, they could get the victory. Against Houston Hoops, they failed in a number of aspects of
Against Mac Irvin, it was a matchup that could have gone either way. They lost the turnover and rebounding margins, though not by much, and had more second
Team Final, Howard Pulley, and The Travelers all present interesting matchups for the Oakland Soldiers, and it most likely come down to which team can execute with their advantage best. If Oakland’s frontcourt can come together and dominate the paint, its likely that most teams, even beyond Pool B, don’t have the pieces to stop them. However, if opposing teams can utilize a quick and strong backcourt while succeeding in holding back Rabb and Zimmerman to a certain degree, the Soldiers could be facing an early exit. They definitely showed they have a weakness during the season despite a lot of preseason hype because of the Rabb/Zimmerman duo.
Hazzard is the guard to watch for the Soldiers. In addition to being their most experienced backcourt member, he also was their best scoring guard at 9.2 ppg and their best three-point shooter at 42.9% this season. Oakland already struggled with Pool B opponents Mac Irvin Fire and Houston Hoops to end the regular season, losing by 5 and 19 points, respectively.
ing down Houston in the rematch, Zimmerman will have to elevate his game and utilize his 7-foot frame to dominate the glass.
the game, most primarily - and surprisingly - on the boards. Despite their huge size advantage, Oakland was outrebounded by Houston by 18 boards. Zimmerman disappeared in that matchup and if they have any hopes of tak-
But if all goes to plan -- Hazzard can lead the backcourt in scoring, Pflueger can shoot lights-out and Rabb and Zimmerman continue to dominate the paint and the glass, -- and pool play becomes just a formality, look for the Soldiers to make a potentially deep run. There’s a lot that needs to go right for the Soldiers in a highly competitive Pool B, which includes Team Final, the outright winner of the regular season, but there’s no counting out the Soldiers because they’ve been there before.
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