The Disruptors (FBCB)
 

Inspired by Emmett13, I've decided to start a new FBCB dynasty. Level 0 coach with Defense at 100; everything else at 0. I decided to go with a lowish prestige school I've actually been to.


Lamar University Cardinals
Prestige: 29
NCAA Tournament Appearances: 6 in real life, 5 in this universe (2012 is after the default 2011 start)
NIT Appearances: 4

The Golden Era for the Cardinals was in the late 70s-1986, which compose all of their NIT appearances and most of their NCAA showings - the highlight being the 1980 squad that made it to the Sweet 16 (the school's only S16 to date). The other postseason tournaments - NCAA in 2000 and 2012, and the CIT this year.

I've shut off the CBI and CIT, cut the NCAA tournament back to the original 64, and expanded the NIT to 40 teams. There's limited conference movement and conference prestige can change. Draft declaration is after the freshman season, and non-5th years have to redshirt if they transfer.

This version of Izulde Jestor is all about steals for perimeter players, blocks for post guys (hence Disruptors).

Perimeter Players
Chris Lehman - 6'1, 203 - Redshirt FR - Pharr, TX
Red/Green, and our lone green potential player. Terrible shooter, mediocre ballhandler, but upside to be a really good passer. Decent post defender, but raw on the perimeter defense.

Larry Mebane - 5'10, 161 - SO - Bogota, TX
Limited skill player, but he's currently our best perimeter defender. But even that is slightly below average. Can't steal the ball, however.

William Kelly - 6'3, 215 - Redshirt SO - Vernon, TX
Flip a coin between who is better floor generalwise between Kelly and Lehman, and while his defense is trash, he's got the best ball-stealing ability of our guards. Granted, that's not saying much, given it's slightly below average, but he's still locked in as our starting PG this year. Oh yeah, he's also got a halfway decent jumper.

Damion Morgan - 6'4, 230 - Freshman - Lewisburg, PA
Literally the only thing to recommend him is that he's not bad at stealing the ball and has upside as a rebounder. Unlikely to see many minutes at all in his career, even with our love of ballthieves.

Mark Akers - 6'2, 182 - RS FR - Plains, TX
Could develop into a great passer and has some 3 point pop. Too bad his handling is mediocre. Not much in the way of defense, but could see time as a combo guard.

SG Aubrey Spring - 6'2, 201 - Sophomore - Lockhart, TX
He can defend in the post and that's pretty much it. Trash player.

Daren Taylor - 6'4, 205 - RS SO - Clint, TX
Walk-on who could be average in most categories, but he's a turnover machine waiting to happen, so I just don't like him.

Jose Noland - 6'8, 250 - Junior - Lamesa, TX
Pure trash.

Gabriel Shankin - 6'6, 229 - Senior - Paoli, IN
Good ballthief with offensive boarding hops and some ability to hit the jumper. Our best player this season, though that isn't saying much at all. Guaranteed SF starter.

Post Players

Tony Romero - 6'11, 257 - Junior - Dallas, TX
Good inside shot and post defender. Can't rebound anything, however, and his blocking ability is bad, too. Our best offensive player, so he might be a reluctant start.

Todd Carruth - 6'7, 213 - Junior - Winona, TX
Not the worst inside shot, solid for a big handling, and decent enough rebounder despite being undersized. Great shotblocker for one so small, and we'll likely go smallball to take advantage of his talents.

Abraham Johnson - 6'10, 247 - Senior - Kannapolis, NC
Our best all-around shooter, but he's pretty bad everywhere else.

Gregory Heady - 6'6, 219 - Junior - Portland, TX
Shotblocking god, but unfortunately he doesn't have all that much in the way of other talents and is really, really small. Okay inside shooting, though, and can hit the offensive boards okayish. We might go *really* small in our lineup.

John Waits - 6'9, 233 - Senior Azle, TX
Trash.

Ervin Francois - 6'9, 262 - Fort MacKay, Canada
Our best all-around rebounder and not awful defensively. Can't do anything else, though.

Starting Lineup
PG Chris Lehman (RS FR)
SG William Kelly (RS So)
SF Gabriel Shanklin (Sr)
PF Gregory Heady (Jr)
CE Todd Carruth (Jr)

Yep, we're running a smallball lineup. We also have our first recruit commitment:

Ryan Farley - 6'5, 209 - Temple HS, Temple TX - 3*
Ranked #426, we beat out Sam Houston State for him. As of right now, if our scouting is even close to accurate, he's our best perimeter defender ever right now, with the potential to be an elite 3 point shot, offensive rebounder, perimeter defender, and ball thief. He will instantly replace Shanklin as our starting SF next season and projects to be a four year starter.

We're invited to the Tennessee Challenge as a preseason tournament. Opening game against Loyola-Illinois, and our highest potential player, Chris Lehman, goes down 2 minutes in with injury and is out 11 days. But then we whip Coastal Carolina 60-48 in an ugly game two days later to finish third out of four teams.

We sang a win over Presbyterian in our last game of the month to finish 2-3. To be honest, I don't really care how we do this first season - I'm all about getting my dudes and my system in. We're expected to have at least a .500 conference record, which I'm not seeing with this roster, but we'll see what happens.

I like the concept and of course, admire you guys with the patience to do this granular team capsules thing. Will be interested to see if you're able to have success with a relatively small lineup. I don't feel like FBCB does a great job of modeling an uptempo offense.

I feel like this is going to be a bad season, but we'll see what happens. :D Despite 7 teams having the same or lower prestige, we're one of only 3 teams who doesn't even have a single orange guy. So initial RNG screwed us talent-wise.

Two games against winless Rice and Southern pad us to 4-3, but then 6th man multi-position Abraham Johnson is hurt for 11 days. Todd Carruth wins PotG in both victories; the other two PotG in our wins have been Gabriel Shanklin and William Kelly. Needless to say our fake ass 3 game win streak ends with a rout at Denver.

Beating a bad William & Mary team is good, but then we get screwed by the sim engine in a 48-50 L to 0-12 CSU Bakersfield. On our own court no less. The one thing I hate about FBCB is how many bullshit "You must lose this game" 2 point losses it tags you with, and the complaints about the upsets lack of realism in tournaments has a lot to do with that, I think. Then we lose to bad South Carolina State, also at home. So what should have been a good month pisses away to have us 5-6 and a 347th ranked RPI, which might be the worst in the entire country. ...Yep, it is!

Son of a bitch!!!!! We were leading the whole damn way, and were the only team to show him love, but Harland Sargent, an Oregon All-State player, up and takes a last second offer from Gonzaga. I blame you for this, Abe!

Scrubass Jose Noland is crying about lack of PT. Git gud.




Southland.... More like Scrubland, amirite?

Tony Romero earns a promotion to 6th man big, while Abraham Johnson gets demoted far down the depth chart. If the man can't even shoot, he's dead to me, because he's complete ass on defense.

A win over equally awful North Florida puts us at .500 heading into conference play (William Kelly PotG, which should have gone to Gabriel Shanker's double-double IMO).

When just about everyone else has an elite player and you don't, you're screwed in conference play. Drop our first two, then get a massive 65-60 upset over Sam Houston State, who is still pissed we stole Ryan Farley from them. Their star player goes off for 36, but 19 points from Chris Lehman and 11 points, 12 rebounds, and 3 blocks from Todd Carruth save the day and get us on the Southland board.

A 3 game losing streak follows, until we're able to squash fellow bottom-feeder Texas State 60-39 to end the month in our first conference road win. Gregory Heady's 11 points, 6 rebounds, and a block are PotG-worthy numbers.

We also finally land our second recruit!

PG John Haslett - 6'0, 185 lbs - Winder-Barrow HS - Winder, GA - 2*
If the scouting is accurate at all, between him and Ryan Farley, our 3 point shooting and perimeter defense are going to be hugely improved next season. Can't pass worth a damn right now, but his handling is already on par with our starters, and he's got upside in both. He can both steal *and* block to some degree if scouting is accurate. All in all, he looks like a solid all-around player who can potentially challenge for the starting SG spot next year, but even if not, will definitely be in the mix for a combo guard 6th man role. Actually, if I could redshirt him, that'd be even better, to get his passing up and be ready to take over the starting PG spot once his floor general skills are improved.


Very pleased to see we gave Sam Houston State their only conference loss of the year so far.


Given my 100 Defense, it's no surprise our best showings are in the defensive categories. But we're absolutely awful at having anyone who can shoot the ball, and we're especially bad from 3 point range. That's where the incoming recruits are going to be a huge boon to this team if there's accuracy there (no pun intended).

Must win game vs McNeese State is a total bomb and Larry Mebane picks up a week-long injury. Rough 1 point loss to Texas-San Antonio follows, and I'm on borrowed time. Another loss and I'm wondering if I can get fired after one season, but we do rebound for a 78-60 win over fellow doormat Nicholls State in our best game of the season. William Kelly is PotG with 20 points and 3 steals, including a near-flawless 8/9 from the floor. Gabriel Shanklin just misses the double-double with 12 points, 9 rebounds, and a steal, and Abraham Johnson puts up 11 bench points.

An actual win streak as we topple Texas-Arlington 64-50 on 16 points, 9 rebounds from PotG Gabriel Shanklin, while George Heady lights up for 12 points, 9 rebounds, and 2 blocks. That also brings us to 10 wins on the year, ensuring we won't suffer single digit win ignominy. That Sam Houston State avenges their earlier loss to us doesn't even bother me.

That's the start of a 3 game losing streak, but Leap Year is good to us as we beat Texas-Arlington on Feb. 29th, with Todd Carruth going ape for 19 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 blocks in a 62-55 victory before fracturing his cheekbone and going out for 13 days. Tony Romero will start in his absence.

A third recruit commitment!

C James Horner - 6'11, 224 - Madison Senior HS - Madison, IL - 1*
Our first non-1000 recruit (John Haslett was #777), Horner brings sorely needed length to our squad. He's extremely raw right now, but could develop an okay inside game with balls out post defense, good enough rebounding, and okay shotblocking. Awful at passing and a turnover machine, though. Really hoping he takes a redshirt year. #1426.

With a facilities rating of 29, we're right in the middle of the conference at 6th.


We're no longer worst in the conference in RPI! Yay!


A little weird that OReb % is our best category, but sure - we'll take it.

Turns out we had one regular season game left - a 73-71 win over Texas State to guarantee we don't finish last in our division. Tony Romero's 18 points and a steal gets PotG, pitching in relief of Todd Carruth.

And that ends our season, as only the top 8 teams in the conference get to play in the tournament. Sam Houston State is upset by Central Arkansas in the first round, and the 8 seed Bears run all the way to the final, where they encounter 3 seed Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The Bears come away with a massive 1 point upset win, 51-50, whereupon they draw #1 overall seed Mississippi State, holders of a 32-1 regular season record.

Sam Houston State is a 10 seed in the NIT East, playing Nebraska in the 1st round. Under a 40 team NIT setup, the #1 and #2 seeds in each region draw first round byes.

The Bearkats knock off the Cornhuskers and draw 2 seed UW-Milwaukee, whereupon they stun the Panthers 68-67 to advance to the NIT Sweet 16. I'll be glad to see the back of Daniel Soper and Rod Beard, along with Sam Houston State's other talent seniors. But they still have an incredibly talented RS freshman PF in Ruben Dulaney, who if he can stay academically eligible and grow as a player, will be a force in the Southland sooner rather than later.

I don't need to tell you how badly UCA got their asses kicked. 60-87, if you really care. George Winkleman is their lone good player, and he's a senior. Great job by the 7 prestige school to get that miracle run and even be there, but the cupboard is looking mighty bare for the Bears unless they hit in recruiting.

Sam Houston State's own Cinderella streak ends at the hands of 6 seed West Virginia, who in an 86-48 beatdown, showed the Bearkats they didn't really belong there.

#1 seed Butler is upset in the 2nd round by 8 seed Oklahoma State, and #1 seed Texas falls to 9 seed Tennessee in the same round. Mississippi State made it to the Sweet 16 before recording their second loss all year to 5 seed Duke, and 1 seed UNC also falls in the Sweet 16, to 4 seed Syracuse.

Busted brackets. Busted brackets everywhere!

NCAA Tournament Final Four
2 seed Wisconsin
5 seed Duke
5 seed Gonzaga
6 seed Georgetown

The highest seed to make it to the NIT Final Four? 5 seeds Washington and Virginia. So yeah, horrible job by the committee overall. Only the Badgers can save them from complete embarrassment.

NIT Final
5 seed Washington vs 7 seed Stanford

The Cardinal upset the Huskies 69-66, giving the Cardinal the NIT title.

NCAA Final
2 seed Wisconsin vs 5 seed Gonzaga

Both teams clobbered their respective opponents in the Final Four, but it's the Zags who put on a show, running up the points in a 105-91 victory and get the win they didn't 6 years later in real life.

We filled our recruiting for the year!

C Al Delk - 6'10, 223 - Edwardsville HS - Edwardsville, IL - 1*
We built up a bit of a pipeline to Illinois bigs this year. What fascinates me most about Delk is his fantastic 3 point shot for a post player, though he doesn't appear to have much growth there. Could be a terrific passer out of the paint with strong rebounding, perimeter defense, blocks, and steals. To be honest, he looks more like a combo forward than a true big. Fabulous shotblocker already and the #1380 ranked player is our best academic recruit overall (2.77 GPA, 1210 SAT). Honestly, I'm really intrigued to see what he becomes. Awful handling, however. Maybe a redshirt candidate because of how raw he is defensively outside of shotblocking.





Lot of talent leaving the conference, as expected in a first year shit league. Nice send off for Gabriel Shanklin. We're not going to profile the seniors, because it's only been one year.

In-Conference Recruiting Wins
Sam Houston State: 1-0

In-Conference Recruiting Losses
Stephen F. Austin: 0-1

Recruits By State
GA: 1
IL: 2
TX: 1

Sam Houston State reloaded in a big way, and Stephen F. Austin stole Javier Ringler from us, who looks like a really solid player outside of his inability to play defense outside of shotblocking.

Jose Noland transferred, and a grand total of no one cares.

Our prestige dropped from 29 to 25, though the AD is still satisfied with our performance. Thanks, bro!

We lose a 7'2 Louisiana All-State big man to freaking Nicholls State of all teams. I'm pissed about that, because our post situation is looking pretty grim next season, and yet here I am recruiting guards for a pressure system and trying to find a backup plan in the paint for our third scholarship.

[u[2012 Lamar Perimeter Players[/u]

John Hallett - 6'0, 185 lbs - Winder-Barrow HS - Winder, GA - 2*
Came in as a much better passer than expected, though still terrible. After training camp, he established himself as the best ballthief on our team. Best handler on our team (which says nothing), with some jump shot and 3 point ability. Not the best defender, but some upside there. Recruited as Red/Yellow, came in as Red/Green. I see enough him to go small and start him at SG. Unfortunately, he's a Grade F dumbass, so he won't ever be all he can be, but should be a major minutes guy his entire career here.

Chris Lehman (Sophomore)

Still not my ideal kind of player, but for now, he's legitimately our best starting PG option. Poor shooter, average floor general, and with a smidgen of perimeter defensive ability. Can't steal the ball at all. Best part of his game is how quick he is.

Larry Mebane (Junior)

Should be better at 3 point shooting than he is. Below average floor general skills, though his defensive game is slightly better than Lehman's. Last year was the most minutes he should ever play, as he's pushed further down the depth chart now.

Ryan Farley - 6'5, 209 - Temple HS, Temple TX - 3*
The crown jewel of our recruiting class. Our best 3 point shooter (which is to say average), but with elite perimeter defense. Still growing into his stealing talents. Always a poor handler and has a lot of work to do on his shooting. Considerable upside in pretty much every area, though except inside shooting, post defense, and handling, and should be our program's first star player. Obvious SF starter and for four years, though I'd love to slide him to SG if I can find the right 3.

Damion Morgan (Sophomore)
Played all of 1 minute last year. Cried about lack of PT. Keep crying, kid. You suck, and I would love to free up your scholarship, because literally anybody would be better than you.

Mark Akers (RS Sophomore)

Can't shoot and dumb, and despite talent that would make him an okay reserve normally, he's so lacking in any sort of physical shape, I'd like to keep him as few a minutes as possible.

Aubrey Spring (Junior)
Played 10 games last year for an average of 1.9 minutes each. Some defensive ability, but he'll spend the rest of his college career planted firmly to a chair.

William Kelly (RS Junior)

Smartest kid on the team and really deserves to go to grad school/maybe become a coach someday. But he's maddeningly inconsistent - he'll pop out with a game that makes you think he's awesome (3 Player of the Game awards last year), and then stink the next five. Best jump shot by a considerable margin, though even that's only average. Combo guard who is lousy on D, but can force turnovers, so he'll see big minutes still this year.

Daren Taylor (RS Junior)
Trash Panda #3 on the team.

Post Players

Benton Dixon (Walk-On Freshman) - 6'7, 230 - Manor HS - Manor, TX
#1408 overall, and not a horrible player. Was willing to take a redshirt, and maybe I should have given it to him. Can't pass, handle, or rebound, but has defensive ability, including some stealing talent, and has a modicum of post scoring. Will see some time as a backup SF, and it's worth noting that we're so bad, even a 1* walk-on get meaningful minutes.

PF Gregory Heady (Senior)

When you're 6'6, it doesn't matter how gifted a shotblocker you are - you're just not going to get the rejections, especially when you have no vertical. Exceptional technique there, and an okay inside shot. Can hit the offensive glass and generate a few steals, but he's fallen from last season's starter to third PF.

Al Delk - 6'10, 223 - Edwardsville HS - Edwardsville, IL - 1*
Made huge strides in training camp and is a quality defensive rebounder and shotblocker. The bad part? His passing out of the post was vastly overrated, as is pretty much everything else. Also, molasses moves faster. But there's something I weirdly like about him, so I'm going to start him at PF anyway and have him play all three frontline positions. Oh, and he can hit a few three pointers, but boom aside, he's still trash shooting inside.

James Horner - 6'11, 224 - Madison Senior HS - Madison, IL - 1*
Butterfingers inside, but he has a touch of post defense and shotblocking ability, and some hints of rebounding talent. It's all not quite enough to break into guaranteed minutes, but he'll dress every game, and if we flame out in recruiting, he should end up starting next season.

Tony Romero (Senior)

The staff loves him because he's got a good inside shot and plays some pretty tough post defense. But he's only subpar at blocking shots, and while I'm no Rock Hamblin, his complete inability to grab a board makes him toxic to me, 1.34 PPS be damned. As a result, he'll continue to serve as the 6th man big unless injuries happen.

Todd Carruth (Senior)

His post defense is trash, but I love this kid. He can block shots, made improvements in his inside shooting, handle the ball well for a big, and is our best all-around rebounder - also quite good on the defensive glass. Between him and Al Delk, we should be able to control the boards better on defense than just about every other team in the Southland except for maybe Stephen F. Austin and possibly Southeastern Louisiana.

2012 Starting Lineup
PG Chris Lehman (RS Sophomore)*
SG John Hallett (Freshman)
SF Ryan Farley (Freshman)
PF Al Delk (Freshman)
CE Todd Carruth (Senior)*

* - Returning Starter

Looking around the rest of the conference, I think .500 should be a legitimate goal this year. Last season we had 0 orange guys, and this go-round we have 5, including 2 off the bench.

We're playing a 2-3 zone after doing man last year, and we've upticked our pressure slightly, with an Inside focus on offense and really scaling back our double-teaming - especially on the perimeter, thanks to Ryan Farley able to shut down opponents by himself.

17 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals from Tony Romero off the bench get him Player of the Game honors, and we romp 72-52 over Southern in our opener. I think Todd Carruth got shafted, personally - 8 points, 13 rebounds, 4 blocks, and 2 steals is a much better all around game. Or even Al Delk making me look like a genius with 8 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists and a block, a stellar, near-triple double in his first college outing!

We throttle USC-Upstate 78-61 two nights later, and this time Todd Carruth won't be denied star mention - 16 points, 12 rebounds, a block, and a steal. Shoutout to Tony Romero with 8 points, 7 boards, a block off the bench.

Our four game win streak over two seasons ends with a close 62-65 loss to SMU. Rough to have that happen, but we're already looking like a far better squad than we did last year. He's off to a slow start efficiency wise, but Chris Lehman has exploded in stepping up and taking the scoring load in our first three games - averaging a team-high 14.3 points a game.

Since it's only 3 games, I'll keep going.

We also land our first recruit!

PG David Gravitt - 6'1, 175 - Okolona HS - Okolona, MS - 3*
At first blush, he's our best FT shooter and handler right away, and it's not even close. Raw, but with possibly elite upside as a passer. Most importantly, although he still has to develop, he's looking like a great perimeter defender and ballthief. HS Stats: 8.9 points, 7.8 assists, 1.3 TO, 6.1 steals! 6.2 A/TO ratio! 43.4% shooting and can't hit the 3 worth a damn in HS, though our scouting says he should be better. Jump shot looks eh, but he's got decent academics (2.91 GPA, 1160 SAT), and at #325 overall, he's the highest ranked recruit we've ever landed. Could possibly push John Hallett to the bench next year.

Oh, and while it doesn't look like we're going to expand our Illinois pipeline this year, it's worth noting Madison, IL and Edwardsville, IL are just 16 miles apart from each other and are near the Missouri/Illinois border:



Another 3 point loss to open December., vs Towson. Argh! We just couldn't hit our FTs, and in doing so, we waste Ryan Farley's 19 point, 6 rebound and a steal performance. Incidentally, nobody wanted to give us a road game this year, so it's all homecourt games for the non-conference slate.

Todd Carruth banks in 16 points, 15 rebounds, and 2 blocks in a 66-61 win over Youngstown State, with Ryan Farley looking great with 12 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 steals. 10 bench points for Tony Romero, too.

Loss follows, and then a 77-57 beatdown of NJIT fueled by 21 points, 10 rebounds, and a steal by Todd Carruth, and supporting greatness by Al Delk (11 points, 8 rebounds, 4 steals) and John Hallett (17 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals - 10/12 from the line).

This year, we don't let a winless team embarrass us, and we instead trounce then 0-9 North Dakota 71-47. Chris Lehman gets PotG nod with 12 points, 2 steals, and shutdown defense on his opponent, but it was Ryan Farley who led our team in scoring with 16 points and a block.

Our RPI, as expected, is in the tank, so we make ourselves sacrificial hosts to Texas, and the Longhorns show us who is best in a 78-46 laugher. We're still with a 341 RPI at the start of January.


Stephen F. Austin has also been playing it safe schedulewise. The biggest shock on this list has to be Sam Houston State. Let's see if we can examine why:


Their defense, especially Opp FG %, should be way better than that. Their rebounding issues aren't surprising - in fact, I'm stunned the Bearkats are doing that well on the offensive glass. The biggest culprit in the swoon has to be Scotty Fang, the senior PG who shot great as a bench player last season, and has been terrible this year. Juco transfer Curtis Hoag at SG looks great on paper, but has been a big disappointment in terms of production. 3*, #148 ranked freshman Daniel Davis has been as good as advertised, and is a favorite to win Freshman of the Year.

The other major problem - Ruben Dulaney and Charles Glover are efficient big men, but neither one is taking an active role in the scoring offense, and while the senior Glover is good at hitting the defensive glass, they're both awful on the offensive boards.

Still three more games to go in our nonconference schedule. We get blasted by North Dakota State as it's brick after brick, but rebound for a nice 61-49 road win over Bucknell - our first away trip of the year. 13 points in 15 minutes by Tony Romero earns PotG, but Todd Carruth had 11 points, 12 rebounds, and a block, and Ryan Farley was ever-present with 12 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists.

And we finish non-conference play with a winning record, dropping Rice 79-69 by playing nails defense and watching Ryan Farley blow up for 21 points and 9 rebounds as Player of the Game. Todd Carruth did his thing with 14 points, 11 rebounds, and a block, while Al Delk had a multi-faceted game with 7 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, a block, and a steal.

Flush with confidence (and a comparatively impressive 304 RPI), we march into Corpus Christi for our Southland opener, where we promptly fall flat on our faces against then 2 win Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 45-57. In fact, we lose all 6 of our conference games in December, undone by terrible shooting, especially from the FT line.


I'm frankly at a loss. There's no reason we should suddenly be bombing like this.



Time to put William Kelly back in the starting lineup it looks like. John Hallett is killing our offensive efficiency. Hopefully we can find a way to salvage this disaster of a season.

Recruiting, we're doing a lot of scouting, trying to figure out which 1* guys we want to make our final two offers to.

William Kelly lasts just two games as the starter before he's pulled again, because yeah, he's bad. After our third loss of the month, I move Tony Romero to starting PF, benching Al Delk. It's a switch I should have made earlier, as we play better, but maybe it doesn't matter, because we keep losing. How bad? We don't get our first nonconference win until the end of February, a narrow 58-56 victory over Central Arkansas. Player of the Game is Al Delk with 13 points, 9 rebounds off the bench, finally ending the 13 game losing streak.

As per policy, we'll carry over through March. We beat Nicholls State 53-43 to put together a two game conference win streak. Ugly game, with Todd Carruth's 14 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocks and a steal earning PotG nod, but it really doesn't even matter because we're guaranteed to finish at the bottom of the division and probably the league anyway. It's Todd Carruth as Player of the Game again in a narrow 66-65 victory over Texas State - 17 points, 10 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 2 steals. Al Delk with 6 points, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks, and a steal off the bench.

We close out with a 60-54 road win over Northwestern State and Todd Carruth has his finest hour in his final college game - 27 points, 15 rebounds, a steal, and a block. Benton Dixon has a surprise 10 points and a steal off the bench as we finally end this miserable season.

Chalk holds in the conference tournament as #1 seed Texas-Arlington plays #2 seed Southeast Louisiana in the final, with the Lions upsetting the Mavericks 58-48.

Defending champion Gonzaga goes 31-1 and gets a 2 seed, as does 31-1 Utah State. Got to love that P5 bias. Southeastern Louisiana draws a 15 seed against Virginia because there were a lot of small conference upsets. Texas-Arlington is a 9 seed in the NIT East. where they're destroyed by 8 seed Winthrop. Southeastern Louisiana is similarly squashed by the Cavaliers.

NCAA Final Four
3 seed Wisconsin
1 seed Pittsburgh
5 seed Stanford
1 seed Georgetown

Well, guess the committee deserves some slack here. Huge leap for the Cardinal, going from NIT champions last year to Final Four team this season. The Hoyas and the Badgers are in their second straight Final Fours.

NIT Final
2 seed Vanderbilt vs 3 seed Richmond

The Commodores conquer the Spiders 92-84 for the second straight P5 member NIT championship.

NCAA Final
3 seed Wisconsin vs 5 seed Stanford

Can the Cardinal, who upset Georgetown by 3 points, pull off the dream? In a barnburner of a game, they fall just short, the Badgers taking it 71-68.


Why Todd Carruth is listed as PF, I'll never know, as he played CE his two years here. *shrug* But it's the second straight year where we have a senior make the All-Conference team.


I'm so on the verge of getting fired.


We were just bad all around.



We lose our two top scorers to graduation, and I have a feeling next year is going to be ugly, 3* recruit notwithstanding. There was a 1* big who would have been great for fixing those woes, but we found him too late and lost him to Texas Southern.

Still have a couple offers out on recruits that we need to wait for the summer to see if we landed.

You ever consider the JUCO route to keep things kinda stocked?

Considered it? Yeah, but that's not my style. Then I only get two seasons of TC molding, even if they're at higher initial ratings. I'd rather go the transfer route.

Speaking of which, Damion Morgan is so salty, he transfers, opening up a scholarship for our own transfer. As for recruiting, we snagged those two guys we got in late on.

SF Wesley Kern - 6'8, 235 - Madison HS - San Antonio, TX - 1*
#1219 overall. Can't play defense, but he's a disruptor for sure, with solid potential to block shots and steal the ball. Passing and handling are great for a forward, and if he could rebound better, he might be a hybrid forward. Seems limited to SF though. One of the better all-around shooters as well. We'll see how he looks after TC, but he could start at the 3, pushing our prized recruit last year to SG.

C Abel Perrott - 6'8, 205 - Okehampton, UK - 1*
The strongest player on the team right now, with decent shotblocking from the get-go and tremendous upside. Also a good passer in the paint. Rebounding is not great right now, though, and while he's a decent inside shot, we're just bad there overall. How much PT he gets will depend on TC. #1127 overall, and our first overseas recruit.

In-Conference Recruiting Wins
Sam Houston State: 1-0

In-Conference Recruiting Losses
Nicholls State: 0-1
Stephen F. Austin: 0-1

Recruiting By Location
GA: 1
IL: 2
MS: 1
TX: 2
UK: 1

Our prestige tanked to 20, but the AD is still okay with me.


Higher ranked class than last year, which is a bit surprising. Texas-San Antonio has done an amazing job - two borderline Top 100 classes, including last year's Southland Freshman of the Year Robert Larochelle, the only blue potential recruit to come through the conference in the first two years. In fact, there's only one other blue potential guy in the Southland period - Sam Houston State's Ruben Dulaney.

How have the Roadrunners done it? By convincing local talent to stay home - Both Larochelle and Aubrey Bickerstaff are San Antonio natives, as is Marcelo Iglesias - all three from different high schools. Larochelle - #236 and a 3*; Bickerstaff - #254 and a 3*; Iglesias (also a freshman) - #257 and 3*. So they've done a phenomenal job at tapping into the deep local high school talent in the Alamo City.

Of course, with that recruiting success comes added pressure. The Roadrunners are expected to make the NCAA tournament this year. Admittedly, a handful of ADs all have those demands, given how much parity is in the conference. Thankfully, we're just expected to again finish with a .500 conference record.

Coaching Changes - Season 1 I missed
So the head coach at Pittsburgh retires after a Sweet 16 season. This kickstarts a domino effect - San Diego State coach goes to Pittsburgh (netting a Final Four and Top 10 recruiting class in his first season), Fresno State coach heads to San Diego State, UC-Santa Barbara coach moves to Fresno, and Sam Houston State's head coach parlays the NIT run to the gig at UC-Santa Barbara, where he has a second straight 20 win season, but isn't invited to the postseason and has the worst recruiting class in the Big West.

Meanwhile, Sam Houston State tapped Texas' recruiting assistant after the Longhorns' NCAA second round exit. As you can see, the Bearkats didn't make the best hire here from early returns. Drop to a .500 record, though I think the class is better than he's gotten credit for.

Conference Movement
Winthrop earns promotion to the Atlantic Sun after two postseason appearances
Florida Gulf Coast gets punted down to the Big South

Coach Changes
Northwestern State's coach retires after two ho-hum seasons, and the Demons make a homerun hire, grabbing the recruiting coordinator from the NIT Champion Vanderbilt Commodores. Although he was in charge of recruiting, the 28 year old is great at coaching up offense, and that's his strongest attribute. Not happy to see that kind of talent come in.

Transfer Period
There's two undersized PFs who are interested in joining our school that look a cut above the usual chaff, so I pick the one I like best and offer him. He refuses, going to shitlord Howard instead. :( We only have 3 scholarship seniors this year, so we'll pass on the rest of the junk ass players.

We whiff spectacularly on most of our initial recruiting targets, so we're probably not going to bring in any 3* players this season.

2013 Lamar Perimeter Players

David Gravitt - 6'1, 175 - Okolona HS - Okolona, MS - 3*
Made huge booms in his handling and stealing in training camp, and did just enough in passing to claim the starting spot as a true freshman. Ball secure AF with stealing ability. Could be a four year starter, depending on how his shot and perimeter defense develop, both of which could use refinement.

Chris Lehman - RS Junior

Two year starter has finally been pushed out of the lineup, as even the staff wanted William Kelly over him. Third string PG/SG who is the quickest player on our roster, but more and more looks like a kid who will never realize potential, despite being the most highly acclaimed on the initial roster.

Larry Mebane - Senior

Probably deserves more PT than he's gotten, but I just don't see him as being quite good enough to finish his college career as anything more than a scrub minutes guy.

William Kelly - RS Senior

With appropriate TC (I only customize my recruits and transfers), he might have blossomed into somebody truly worthwhile. But he took a big step back his junior year, not even showing the flashes of brilliance from his sophomore season. He'll still get playing time as the first guard off the bench, but he's been clearly surpassed.

John Hallett (Sophomore)

He was due to get demoted to the bench this year, but he worked his ass off in camp, making huge strides in his awful shooting, and he's stepped up as a good ballthief. That, along with someone else's disappointing game, was enough to win his starting job back. I have a feeling he's going to be fighting his whole college career for his spot. Ratings wise, he should be much better this season, but we'll see.

Mark Akers - RS Junior
Scrubadub.

Aubrey Spring - Senior
Scrub #2

Wesley Kern - 6'8, 235 - Madison HS - San Antonio, TX
Had a chance to win the starting SF spot in camp and kinda did not great. Excellent passer/handler for a 3, and really improved his shotblocking in camp, but that's the only area he wowed in. Will be the backup SF and I'm still hoping he can eventually improve to starter-level status.

Benton Dixon - Sophomore
Academically suspended. The staff wanted him to start at PF and I was like um, no. As far as I care, despite some authentic talent, he can rot on the bench.

Ryan Farley - Sophomore

A bit disappointing freshman year from a shooting perspective, but he put in some work on that side of the ball. I tell you what, though - he's the BEST PERIMETER DEFENDER IN THE SOUTHLAND! Only Kenneth Kocher of Sam Houston State comes even in the same ballpark as him, and Farley's a much better thief. He'll be our #1 option this season, and how our year goes depends on how quickly he can get to the star status I think he's capable of.

Daren Taylor (RS Senior)
Scrub #4

Post Players

Chris Wright - Freshman
Walk-on and Scrub #5

Abel Perrott - 6'8, 205 - Okehampton, UK - 1*
Broke out as a shotblocker in camp and is our single strongest player. Our Brit is also our most intelligent guy and he did enough to unexpectedly win the starting PF spot. Respectable blocker, great passer in the paint, and defensive rebound decently. Eventually I'd like him to be a reserve, but because bigs are always #1 targets for the AI in recruiting, we've had an awful time trying to get actual decent players there.

Al Delk - Sophomore

A second straight strong camp, especially in shotblocking and defensive rebounding has turned him fantastic in those categories, and I'll say it right now - he's the best rebounder we've had since I've been on campus. He's definitely going to take away Todd Carruth's career rebounding title by the time he's done, and I'm hoping he can wrest the career blocks as well. Still a great passer in the paint, and though I didn't intend to start him at center, he's earned that distinction.

James Horner - Sophomore

Very disappointing camp for him, and while he'll see a major boost in minutes due to lack of other options, I think he'll be stuck as a bench player, unlike his fellow Illini state native, who has commanded a starting role.

Overall, I think Sam Houston State is unquestionably the class of the conference on paper, and I think Texas State could be the biggest surprise. Genaro Yoon was a great find last year, and Jeffrey Groves looks like a 1* diamond, to say nothing of the highly heralded Barton MacDougall.

We're running a grinding game this year, with more 3 point mentality than we've ever had. Also the most pressure ever too - above average, demonstrating that my recruiting efforts are finally starting to take shape. I do think this is going to be a bad season, however. Our OOC schedule is tough, and I think Todd Carruth's graduation will hurt us hugely.

Oh, I forgot to mention, we're also going full motion - we have the passers to pull it off, and don't have the guys who look to create their own shots.

Opening loss to Texas A&M is surprisingly only by 9, but Abel Perrott is day to day. But we manage to beat CSU-Bakersfield 66-63 two nights later, Ryan Farley leading the way with 16 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 steals. David Gravitt has been a shooting god and here puts up 15 points on 2 steals - he had 17 points and 2 steals in the season opener, both shooting 50% or better. Al Delk brings in 11 boards, 4 assists, and 2 blocks, doing what he's capable of.

Recruiting continues to be an unmitigated disaster. Onwards to December.

David Gravitt's good shooting disappears, and we go on a long losing streak, made all the more vexing by Ryan Farley picking up a day to day injury. But after 4 straight defeats, we stun Louisiana-Monroe on the road 58-47, Ryan Farley fighting through injury for 17 points, 6 rebounds, a steal, and a block.

Embarrassing loss to Texas Southern next game kills our RPI, and we narrowly beat fellow suckass team NJIT 58-57, Abel Perrott winning Player of the Game by earning all 15 of his points at the FT line. Hat tip to David Gravitt for 10 points and 4 steals too, I suppose as we overcame a 35.5% to 53.8% FG differential, or almost 20% disadvantage. South Carolina waxes us as expected, and John Hallett is day to day now, too.

Three guys we thought sure we could land all spurn us, and it's just like fuuuuuuuuuck. That tough schedule we put up for ourselves? Guess what it did to our RPI:


...Yeah. To be honest, I have no fucking clue how to find good shooters, apparently. Everyone I go and get stinks. Our top shooter this year is at 42.9% of guys playing considerable minutes :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:


At least the entire conference is shit? Fuck Nicholls State, though. The guy they stole from me is their second leading scorer and rebounder, and he's shooting 60% from the floor.

I've decided to shift focus from steals for perimeter players and blocks for bigs to steals entirely - Shotblocking doesn't seem very effective with the guys I have, even with high ratings. I'll still leave the offer out on the one recruit I have though, just because bodies are needed at this point. I'm also going to bump up press/trap both to 10, because we haven't looked competitive enough with the AI default settings.

We finish 3-9 in nonconference play after dropping the last two games. But after we get waxed by 30 against Sam Houston State in the opener, I switch back to recommended, and we top Texas State 61-53 on the road behind a balanced effort with no standouts and one of their dudes as PotG. Ugh, heartbreaking 1 point loss to Texas-San Antonio next.

We don't win a single game the rest of the month, and I'm just waiting for the axe to fall at this point. On the bright side, we land our first recruit.

C David Boggess - 7', 238 - Vernon HS - Vernon, TX, - 1*
Same HS as William Kelly. The biggest player we've ever landed, and #954 overall. Shotblocking god from the beginning if it's right, with a honed defensive boarding game. Also shot 62.3% from the floor and averaged 20.3 points, 10.9 rebounds, a steal, and 3.8 blocks his senior season. By the statlines, he's been criminally underrated.

I accidentally clicked Sim Day, so this is on the start of February 1st:


Yeah. Life is just bad. But the good news is, after my inevitable firing, I'll have a better idea of how and what to recruit (maybe).


We still stink.

Four straight losses in February before we complete the sweep of Texas State, 60-48. 12 points, 5 assists, 1 block, 2 steals for John Hallett on way to Player of the Game honors, while Ryan Farley puts up 13 points, 7 rebounds and 2 steals. 10 points and a steal for William Kelly off the bench.

Loss and then our best game of the year, a 76-66 firm beat of Texas-San Antonio. David Gravitt ignites for 18 points, 6 rebounds, a block and 3 steals, while Ryan Farley camps on the charity stripe for 15 points and 4 steals. Unfortunately, we hit 20 defeats for the year in our last game of the month. And James Horner is out for 40 days. Not that it matters.

We're guaranteed to finish last in the conference, but even one more victory will match our Southland record from last season. And it does in our second last to game, a narrow 57-55 escape over Texas-Arlington. Ryan Farley with 17 points and a steal as Player of the Game, though Al Delk picks up 11 points, 11 boards, 2 blocks, and a steal. Our year ends with a 3 point loss to McNeese State.

Sam Houston State validated my perception of being the top in the conference, but they're upset by Texas-Arlington 55-73 in the tournament final.

Texas-Arlington is a 15 seed against 2 seed Dayton, while the Bearkats are a 9 seed against 8 seed College of Charleston in the NIT. The Bearkats destroy the Cougars 73-52, but are in turn dropped by 30 against Utah the next round. Texas-Arlington of course drops in the first round.

Two more recruit commitments come in.

PF Donovan Metcalfe - 6'10, 215 - Prairie HS - Cedar Rapids, IA - 1*
#1181 recruit, averaged 17.6 points, 11.1 rebounds, 2.4 steals, and a block, shooting 63.2% from the floor. Has the most natural scoring inside instinct of any player on the roster it appears, with strong offensive rebounding. Very raw overall, and may be best suited to SF.

SG Merle Jorge - 6'5, 180 - Alleghany HS - Sparta, NC - 1*
5.4 steals a game! Unfortunately, that appears to be the #1392 recruit's only skill, but his upside may have him developing into a combo guard further on down the line.

NCAA Final Four
3 seed Wisconsin
2 seed Mississippi State
3 seed Arizona
2 seed Georgetown

The defending champion Badgers and the Hoyas are here for their third straight Final Four, and you have to wonder if Georgetown will ever break through, or if they'll be the college basketball Buffalo Bills.

NIT Championship
5 seed Florida vs 3 seed Nebraska

In a P5 matchup, the Gators chomp the Cornhuskers 69-58.

NCAA Championship
3 seed Wisconsin vs 2 seed Georgetown

Great story matchup - the two teams who have been the most consistently dominant the last few years finally meet in the title game. And it's the Hoyas finally exorcising those demons, winning 74-66.


David Schrader was the guy Nicholls State stole from me. Still pissed off about that.


Yeah.


Still trying to figure out how to get those shooting numbers up.


Trash roster is trash.

No goodbye for the seniors. I'm all about recapping my own guys' careers, bad though they may be.

Man, you guys are bad. Maybe you need to get a pass-first guard or a 1* ballhog who can get those scoring numbers up.

My computer restarted itself, and it's been a while since I've saved, so I'm just going to bin this and start over. Ugh.