Izulde
11-25-2008, 10:40 PM
The Document
We, the undersigned, do solemnly swear that we will do whatever it is in our power to dominate the college basketball world. Wherever and whenever possible, we shall coach in the same league, so that no matter what, one of us shall always be a champion.
Our path will be long and difficult, but we swear eternal brotherhood and pray that we might one day, on the same weekend, on the same year, all play one another in a Final Four.
This is our greatest dream, to be the four legends of college basketball.
####
Jonathan Arcadia
Gerald Middlebrook
Lorenzo Zapata
Thomas Winters
The Coaches
Jonathan Arcadia - 25 years old
Son of the famous Minnesota Timberwolves general manager, Gabriel Arcadia, Jonathan has lived and breathed basketball his entire life. Unlike his father, who loved the overseer role of the GM, Jonathan wants it all--control of who comes, who plays, and to be the ultimate decider of his and his team's destiny.
Hence, there was only one place for this prince of basketball royalty to go. The court of college basketball.
His philosophy revolves around tenacious, hard-crashing, full-court defense, the same sort of toughness that gained his father's Timberwolves all those championships in the mid-late '90s. As a result of his upbringing, he is most knowledgeable about defense and the art of scouting.
Jonathan will probably never be more than an average strategist on offense, nor will be known for developing players. But what he's learned from his father and his own burgeoning charm, a family birthright, will carry him far.
He values academics, but not highly so and he's relatively loose in terms of discipline, believing that too tightly run a team will burst apart from the pressure.
Gerald Middlebrook - 25 years old
Also the son of a basketball luminary, though one far less great than Gabriel Arcadia. Winston Middlebrook, Gerald's father, was GM of the Orlando Magic for just the 1976 season before being ousted by new team owners.
As a result of this, Gerald was largely left to his own devices for developing his blueprint for basketball success and it is one that has not fully been fleshed out yet. What Gerald has discovered, however, is that like Jonathan Arcadia, he has the ability to read players for what they are. He also, unlike his royal friend, has a gift for teaching and while not the master of defense, has a more balanced approach to the game's tactics.
Unfortunately, because Gerald spent all his youth watching people play and learning the game and how to teach it, he never developed the social skills necessary to be a people person. Thus, he will never be a great or even a good recruiter.
The lack of charisma isn't helped by his strong emphasis on academics and discipline, which will turn off many potential recruits.
Lorenzo Zapata - 27 years old
Unlike his two friends before him, Lorenzo can not claim any august basketball lineage. But what he can proudly point to is his ability to convince anyone to do anything. Jonathan may have the potential skills to be a great recruiter, but Zapata, with his intensity and vitality, to say nothing of an accent handed down from his immigrant grandfather, already can bring in recruits with the best of them.
There's flashes of offensive genius in Zapata and he intends on bringing a blazing offense, while absolutely ignoring defense. "Entertain the fans with a high-scoring game and run past the other team" can be said to be his motto. Although he has some ability to scout, he hasn't shown much interest in working on that area.
In terms of his academic and discipline philosophy, Lorenzo doesn't care one whit about how his players do in the classroom. His only concern is how they perform on the court and if anyone dares step out of line even a little bit, he'll explode on them with a temper so fiery, it's like Mt. St. Lorenzo just erupted.
Thomas Winters - 24 years old
The youngest of the Four, Thomas is quiet and hates the idea of recruiting. He's much more comfortable in a film room, breaking down schemes, so much so that he can probably already compete with a lot of coaches in the country.
His cerebral quality and extremely high regard for learning and academia also gives him the foundation to be a good instructor, though his shyness limits his effectiveness. His social ineptitude also means that his teams' disciplines suffer, particularly since he prefers to avoid confrontation and not show any signs of a temper.
Despite all of his brilliance at in-game strategy, Winters has spent so much time researching different systems, that, like Gerald, he isn't really sure what avenue he's most comfortable with.
But he and the others will have time to decide their path.
The Initial Schools
With Lorenzo Zapata's open disregard for academics, the choice of conferences for the four friends was limited. They needed one that would take somebody with such a cavalier attitude towards a university's fundamental mission.
Hence, they scratched off the America East, the Colonial Athletic Association the Ivy League, and the Patriot League. The four knew they didn't want to coach independent teams, so those were out. Yet, in addition to Zapata's requirement, Thomas and Gerald insisted on a league with good quality schools academically.
The latter requirement eliminated the Big South, Big Sky, MEAC and the Southland from consideration. A number of other conferences only had 3 openings and while the Four knew they weren't likely to all be coaching in the same conference once their careers started taking off, they wanted to stay coaching together whenever possible.
So it boiled down to the Big West, the Metro Atlantic, or the Northeast. The Big West was quickly discarded, because that would put all of them in California, where there was too much competition for recruits, a danger for Thomas.
There were four Metro-Atlantic openings, split with wildly different expectations. The Northeast held the attractive proposition of a large number of openings and each coach could go to a school where the expectation was simply not to finish last. The one hitch in the plan? Only two B-rated academic schools and one of them, Quinnipac, demanded a Top 3 finish.
Finally, after further review, they realized that the Summit League would fit all their needs. The only issue would be whether or not Lorenzo could get hired. They decided to chance it and Jonathan Arcadia used his family connections to take the most prestigous, low-expectation job at Western Illinois. Gerald Middlebrook inked with University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC), which ironically had the same prestige as WIU, merely a much higher academic reputation. Lorenzo Zapata actually received four job offers in the Summit and decided to take on the lowest prestige job at South Dakota State, boasting that he would put South Dakota on the map with his recruiting skills. Thomas Winters took the post at Centenary, the other academic school with an opening.
Illinois.
Missouri.
South Dakota.
Louisiana.
Four states. Four coaches. One united dream.
We, the undersigned, do solemnly swear that we will do whatever it is in our power to dominate the college basketball world. Wherever and whenever possible, we shall coach in the same league, so that no matter what, one of us shall always be a champion.
Our path will be long and difficult, but we swear eternal brotherhood and pray that we might one day, on the same weekend, on the same year, all play one another in a Final Four.
This is our greatest dream, to be the four legends of college basketball.
####
Jonathan Arcadia
Gerald Middlebrook
Lorenzo Zapata
Thomas Winters
The Coaches
Jonathan Arcadia - 25 years old
Son of the famous Minnesota Timberwolves general manager, Gabriel Arcadia, Jonathan has lived and breathed basketball his entire life. Unlike his father, who loved the overseer role of the GM, Jonathan wants it all--control of who comes, who plays, and to be the ultimate decider of his and his team's destiny.
Hence, there was only one place for this prince of basketball royalty to go. The court of college basketball.
His philosophy revolves around tenacious, hard-crashing, full-court defense, the same sort of toughness that gained his father's Timberwolves all those championships in the mid-late '90s. As a result of his upbringing, he is most knowledgeable about defense and the art of scouting.
Jonathan will probably never be more than an average strategist on offense, nor will be known for developing players. But what he's learned from his father and his own burgeoning charm, a family birthright, will carry him far.
He values academics, but not highly so and he's relatively loose in terms of discipline, believing that too tightly run a team will burst apart from the pressure.
Gerald Middlebrook - 25 years old
Also the son of a basketball luminary, though one far less great than Gabriel Arcadia. Winston Middlebrook, Gerald's father, was GM of the Orlando Magic for just the 1976 season before being ousted by new team owners.
As a result of this, Gerald was largely left to his own devices for developing his blueprint for basketball success and it is one that has not fully been fleshed out yet. What Gerald has discovered, however, is that like Jonathan Arcadia, he has the ability to read players for what they are. He also, unlike his royal friend, has a gift for teaching and while not the master of defense, has a more balanced approach to the game's tactics.
Unfortunately, because Gerald spent all his youth watching people play and learning the game and how to teach it, he never developed the social skills necessary to be a people person. Thus, he will never be a great or even a good recruiter.
The lack of charisma isn't helped by his strong emphasis on academics and discipline, which will turn off many potential recruits.
Lorenzo Zapata - 27 years old
Unlike his two friends before him, Lorenzo can not claim any august basketball lineage. But what he can proudly point to is his ability to convince anyone to do anything. Jonathan may have the potential skills to be a great recruiter, but Zapata, with his intensity and vitality, to say nothing of an accent handed down from his immigrant grandfather, already can bring in recruits with the best of them.
There's flashes of offensive genius in Zapata and he intends on bringing a blazing offense, while absolutely ignoring defense. "Entertain the fans with a high-scoring game and run past the other team" can be said to be his motto. Although he has some ability to scout, he hasn't shown much interest in working on that area.
In terms of his academic and discipline philosophy, Lorenzo doesn't care one whit about how his players do in the classroom. His only concern is how they perform on the court and if anyone dares step out of line even a little bit, he'll explode on them with a temper so fiery, it's like Mt. St. Lorenzo just erupted.
Thomas Winters - 24 years old
The youngest of the Four, Thomas is quiet and hates the idea of recruiting. He's much more comfortable in a film room, breaking down schemes, so much so that he can probably already compete with a lot of coaches in the country.
His cerebral quality and extremely high regard for learning and academia also gives him the foundation to be a good instructor, though his shyness limits his effectiveness. His social ineptitude also means that his teams' disciplines suffer, particularly since he prefers to avoid confrontation and not show any signs of a temper.
Despite all of his brilliance at in-game strategy, Winters has spent so much time researching different systems, that, like Gerald, he isn't really sure what avenue he's most comfortable with.
But he and the others will have time to decide their path.
The Initial Schools
With Lorenzo Zapata's open disregard for academics, the choice of conferences for the four friends was limited. They needed one that would take somebody with such a cavalier attitude towards a university's fundamental mission.
Hence, they scratched off the America East, the Colonial Athletic Association the Ivy League, and the Patriot League. The four knew they didn't want to coach independent teams, so those were out. Yet, in addition to Zapata's requirement, Thomas and Gerald insisted on a league with good quality schools academically.
The latter requirement eliminated the Big South, Big Sky, MEAC and the Southland from consideration. A number of other conferences only had 3 openings and while the Four knew they weren't likely to all be coaching in the same conference once their careers started taking off, they wanted to stay coaching together whenever possible.
So it boiled down to the Big West, the Metro Atlantic, or the Northeast. The Big West was quickly discarded, because that would put all of them in California, where there was too much competition for recruits, a danger for Thomas.
There were four Metro-Atlantic openings, split with wildly different expectations. The Northeast held the attractive proposition of a large number of openings and each coach could go to a school where the expectation was simply not to finish last. The one hitch in the plan? Only two B-rated academic schools and one of them, Quinnipac, demanded a Top 3 finish.
Finally, after further review, they realized that the Summit League would fit all their needs. The only issue would be whether or not Lorenzo could get hired. They decided to chance it and Jonathan Arcadia used his family connections to take the most prestigous, low-expectation job at Western Illinois. Gerald Middlebrook inked with University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC), which ironically had the same prestige as WIU, merely a much higher academic reputation. Lorenzo Zapata actually received four job offers in the Summit and decided to take on the lowest prestige job at South Dakota State, boasting that he would put South Dakota on the map with his recruiting skills. Thomas Winters took the post at Centenary, the other academic school with an opening.
Illinois.
Missouri.
South Dakota.
Louisiana.
Four states. Four coaches. One united dream.