Now that Union Omaha has released the names of the players that will and will not be returning, it is time to look back at my own predictions and determine how I did determining who would be returning for the 2021 season. I will review this using a system similar to soccer leagues around the world where points are earned, or dropped, throughout a season. 3 points will be attributed to the correct predictions, 1 point for those I was mixed on, and zero points for those that were incorrect predictions.
To begin with, I made predictions on 24 total players from Union Omaha’s first season. These were all of the players listed on the team’s website and that had a contract through at least the end of the season. Using the system from above, my total possible points for this exercise would be 72 points. Let’s review each position group individually and add up the points. In each group I will list the W/D/L for each group, followed by the points earned. I will have a final record and points total at the end.
The first position group I wrote about were our Forwards or Forward/Midfielders. In that group I made predications on 6 players, so a maximum of 18 points are available from this group. Let’s start with my 3 pointers, just to build up some momentum at the start of the season. I correctly guessed that Austin Panchot, Elma Nfor, and Evan Conway were going to be locks. This already has me at 9 points halfway through my opening group, and has me feeling pretty good, but this is where things get a little hairy for me. The back half of the opening group looks like a team hoping to just grab a point on the road, I predicted that Elvir Ibisevic, Juan Mare, and Christian Molina were mixed on returning. 2 of those 3 did not have their options picked up and the other, Christian, did. That gives me 3 more points. For this group I went 3W/3D/0L and was able to attain 12 points.
The second group I wrote about were those listed as Midfielders. In this group I had 8 players I made predictions on for a maximum of 24 points. This is by far the largest group I reviewed, and therefore the best chance to make up points dropped in the Forwards group. Think of this as the middle part of the season where things start clicking. I correctly predicted 6 out of the 8 players in this group, giving me a whopping 18 points to start this stretch, not bad after 3 straight ‘draws’ to end the first group. Devin Boyce, EVD, JP Scearce, and Toby Otieno are all returning for the midfield in the 2021 season, all of which I listed as locks. I also went out on a limb and said the team would not exercise the option on Sebas Contreras, which I was correct on, and I made a less risky prediction on Manny Lira not returning. The other two players I was mixed on, Tyler David and Xavier Gomez, which earns me an additional 2 points. Neither player had their options picked up for the 2021 season. In the largest group, with the most points available, I did very well picking up another 20 points! This portion of the season has me feeling really good about my predictions. I went 6W/2D/0L and was able to pick up 20 out of a possible 24 points, and feeling like nothing can go wrong.
The third group reviewed were the Defenders. This group had the second most players predicted at 7, giving me a maximum of 21 points possible. This is where we get to the later part of the season. People are tired, predictions get lazier, and the team threw me a curveball. In this group I was able to correctly predict that Daltyn Knutson, Dami Viader, Ferrety Sousa, Illal Osumanu, and Jake Crull were locks to return. Those 5 correct predictions earned me 15 points right off the bat. Unfortunately this group features my first full 3 points dropped of this season. I incorrectly predicted that Luke Hauswirth was a lock to return and his option was not picked up. I was also mixed on whether Nathan Aune, the only player I didn’t list as a lock, would return and listed him as mixed, giving me an additional point picked up. I went 5W/1D/1L and was able to pick up 16 points from this group, but I’m limping into the final stretch after taking my first defeat of the season followed by another draw.
The final group, Goalkeepers, represents the end of the season for me. Hoping to lick my wounds a bit and finish the season strong…which didn’t happen. There are only three players in this group (9 points total) and I split all three evenly. I earned a win, after the defeat and draw in the last group, to start feeling good again. Rashid Nuhu was my only correct prediction in this group, earning 3 points. Unfortunately I struggled to finish the season as strong as I had hoped. I dropped another full three points by incorrectly saying that Sam Howard was a lock to return, with his option not being picked up. I also end the season with a draw, listing Brian Holt as mixed on returning. With my 1W/1D/1L record from this group, I pick up a measly 4 points to end the season.
For the 2020 Who Returns? Season Let’s breakdown how my season went. I started the predictions strong with my first two groups going 9W/5D/0L and picking up 32 points. I only dropped 10 points in that stretch. That accounts for approximately 62% of my total points gained for the season. Great start but, it’s now how you start, it’s how you finish. The back half of the season saw me go 6W/2D/2L and picking up 20 points (the other 38% of my points) but most importantly seeing me drop 10 points as the season ended. Not how you would want to see your team finish after such a fantastic start. While I dropped the same amount of points in the last two groups, it’s how I dropped them, by taking my only two losses of the season in the latter half.
My final record for the 2020 season was 15W/7D/2L for a total of 52 points on the season. I was able to earn 72% of the 72 points total points available for the season. I was able to amass more points than any League One team this season, so maybe the USL will just name me the champion too.
Who Gives A Hoot? 