The Real Izulde FBCB Coaching Dynasty
 

The Story
Growing up, I loved basketball and swimming as my two favorite sports to play. I also had this weird like/hate relationship with running that still exists to this day. I only ever played in rec leagues, where I developed a reputation as the best defender on any team I played. Coaches usually preferred to have me in the backcourt, where I could generate steals, but weren't afraid to move me in the paint,, even when, as in one game, I went up against this kid who I swear had a full foot and 100 pounds on me. *That* was a rough game, especially since w got physical with the elbows whenever we could get away with it. One coach even named me Dr. D for Dr. Defense (I've probably mentioned this one before. Too bad. You get to hear it again. :p)

Then came high school. Freshman tryouts. Coaches were looking for shooters and offense. Needless to say, I who never scored in a game that I can remember, didn't make the cut. What pisses me off to this day is, had the coach been the same as the guy who took over the next season, I would have been a lock to make the roster, because I could shut down anyone (well... probably not once I started playing more talented players, but just go with me on this, okay?)

The day after I got cut, I was telling my buddy Kevin about it (he would later go on to be this huge, musclebound biker dude), and he's like "Dude, come be a diver." I thought, what the hell?

Next day, I show up to swimming and diving practice. The JV coach, Leslie, asks me about my background. He tells me to forget diving, and get in the pool. Three years later, I had my letter. Senior year, I could only pick one sport because I was working at Best Buy, so I chose my secret love of tennis (which I haven't played since high school, much to my own regret).

Wow, that got way off track.

Anyway, here's the situation. Since we've *CLEARLY* demonstrated that 0/0/0/0 in FBCB is a real fucksnort of a situation, I'm actually going to use the 100 points on my Level 0 coach.

Game Setup
NCAA Tournament: 68 (Fine, fine, I'll let it reflect IRL)
NIT: 40 (I like having more teams in.
CBI and CIT: GTFO.
Earliest turn pro: Sophomore year (since I'm betting that'll happen IRL. Or at least, I want it to. :p) Junior year is no longer realistic unfortunately.
Redshirt: Non-5th year must redshirt
Players refuse redshirt: No. I can't remember the rule off the top of my head, but this is my universe, so if you don't like it, transfer, jackass.

Coach Setup
Name: Izulde Jestor
College: UNLV
High School: Park High School
Hometown: Racine, WI

Recruiting: 1 (I can now and again talk my friends into something)
Scouting: 8 (I can half-ass tell stuff about players individually)
Offense: 20 (Jestorball is all about ball security)
Defense: 72 (I'm Dr. D, yo).

So this is fairly accurate of me as a player. Although I never scored (that's what she said), I was very ball secure, and helluva brills on D.

The Plan
Recruiting players who play defense, block shots, and steal the ball. I never had the hops to be a shotblocker myself, but yeah. Oh, and who won't turn the ball over. :P

What about Jestorball's love of efficiency, you ask? Especially for big men? Eh, I'll try to work that in. I'm still maintaining the #1 core element of Jestorball, which is don't turn the ball over, and generate turnovers yourself. Winning the turnover battle = winning in Jestorball. Plus, it kind of fits the whole aggro theme my most successful Magic decks employ.

The First Job
There are two options:
1. The Midwest (my home region)
2. The West, specifically NV, CA, or AZ.

Fuck it, make it 3.

3. A city I've actually been to that I remember having been to.

Oh, and of course it has to be a bottom feeder. And it has to be in a conference with an NCAA auto-bid. Fuck toiling as an Independent, or in the Great West.


As it turns out, we're able to check every single box with...



That even looks like me beating my head on something when I'm pissed at FBCB and/or FM! It fits all the more because I once almost got thrown out of the Sacramento bus station when going to see a girl in Redding. Picture an Izulde text sim meltdown IRL, and you have about the size of it. Fortunately, the cop still let me on the (very late as fuck) bus. That whole trip was a disaster. No scoring there, either, though her tits were fucking fantastic. She kicked my ass in Pokemon, too, which wasn't fun. Oh, and we discussed Mormonism, which she'd converted to because of this guy she had a huge crush on. Funnily enough, she later became a Taoist agnostic (one who really let herself go, too). Hmm, am I still FB friends with her?

...Yep, yep I am. Oh, BTW, she was an ex-gf when I went to see her that trip, too. We really connected intellectually and RPwise, but I had considerable trust issues with her (as in, I didn't trust her), and we argued about fucking EVERYTHING. She would later make the comment, after hearing about my new girlfriend four years later, "I can tell you love her a lot more than you ever did me. You're actually considering Christianity for her. You never would have done that for me." Which was true, and I never have had an actual girlfriend since that amazing one, though I did have a two month Internet fling with a hotel night auditor from Alabama right around the time of my 30th birthday. Night Girl is the one some of you may remember, flaked out on me, and then said she was absolutely terrible to me. She was right. Haven't even had so much as a fling since then, and have only had a deep attraction once in the last 5 years (Korean girl, well chronicled in the Online dating thread).

Oh wait, Izulde, THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE AN FBCB DYNASTY, NOT YOU GOING ON ABOUT IRL SHIT YOU'VE PROBABLY TALKED ABOUT 90 MILLION TIMES ALREADY! GET.THE.FUCK.ON.WITH.IT.

Right.

Ahem... I present to you... THE PRESTIGE 8 SACRAMENTO STATE HORNETS, WHO WILL BE BETTER THAN ALL THE SUCKY BELOW 5 PRESTIGE TEAMS I'VE TAKEN BEFORE!



...Shit.

Do we care about the assistant coaches? Probably not. I'll mention them anyway.

Hunter Brodeur
Decatur, MS native
Southern Utah alum
26
Recruiting: 36

Stephen Elledge
Chicago, IL native
Sam Houston State alum
41
Scouting: 35

Ronald Campbell
Phoenix, AZ native
Maryland-Eastern Shore alum
57
Coaching Offense: 53
Coaching Defense: 11

I didn't even look at the biography details until after they were hired. Hilarious that we hire a UMES grad, though.

It may not matter who we play this first season, but I'll be damned if I let the AI pull their bullshit. I'll see who offers me.

No recruit decisions come in November after our scholarship musical chairs, though it's probably not going to end well for us. Our schedule goes unfilled - we have 6 games open.

Do I care? No. Am I going to customize the training? No. I'm only going to make sure Man defense is our thing, and rex everything else.

A review of our post-camp All-Suckass roster is up next, and probably tomorrow. Work calls in the morning, and all that. Plus a networking event tomorrow night.

Stick with it and make something of yourself this time! Also, I was reading the help file and I noticed that level of competition the prior year factors into training camp improvement, so you might not want to go on the hobo tour like you did for your last year of the other one.

The more you know... I scheduled sub-40 prestige teams this first season. Not a big deal (and I wonder who will fill the 6 games gap) for this year, because we literally have no one worth paying attention to, but good to know for the future.

Thanks.

Keep recruiting foreigners. My freshman German kid is averaging 20 points a game through his 1st 13 games.

Yeah, foreigners are a well-known semi-exploit for low prestige teams dating back to the original FBCB.

Point Guards


At least he can protect the ball and play some D for this level?


Nothing to see here.


Starter by default. And of course, he's a senior. Intrigued by his 46 block, though.

Shooting Guards

Yawn.


Will we ever find something exciting?


I think this is the guy the AI wants to make our primary option. We're in trouble, as you can tell.


He'll be our starting SG most likely, with Remy at SF to date. This is the first interesting guy I've seen, and luckily he's a freshman.


Dull is right.


File him away as a possible PF.

Power Forwards

Dat 76 block and 43 passing for a big. Fuck yeah.


Our most complete defender?


I like the other options a lot better.

Center

Some of his potentials aren't bad.


Reminds me a little of Edward Yarber, only a lot smaller.


Our best inside guy shootingwise.

Starting Lineup
PG James Sheppard (Sr)
SG Robert Roberto (Fr)
SF Dominic Remy (Jr)
PF Garret Thelen (Jr)
CE Dennis Hart (Jr)

We'll roll with this and see how it goes. BTW, we have at least 12 non-conf games, so the AD went ahead and filled my schedule for me. Which means we'll be playing some good teams after all. I may go with that respond/then AI fill route from now on. Seems a good compromise.

Pace: 0
Motion: 0
3P: 1
Focus: Outside
Defense: Man
Press: 0
Trap: 0

Yep, this is gonna be ugly.

vs Pepperdine (0-0)

It takes until 13:19 for us to score.

Surprisingly, thanks to great offensive rebounding and solid defense on our part, we're only down by 6 at the half.

But then their full court press takes over and they get hot. And that's all she wrote.


Go to scorer sure would be nice.

vs North Dakota (0-0)
If we can't beat a 0 prestige team at home in the first season, I may as well give up on this game completely. They're as bad as we are... if not worse.

How bad is it? With 7:06 left in the 1st half, we're losing 10-8, due largely to our 7 to 1 turnover disadvantage. Shooting improves for both teams, but we're still down 17-20 at the break.

Two beautiful blocks on one possession by Dennis Hart lead to a 3 pointer by Dominic Remy on the other end to give us our first lead of the game at 3 with 16:37 on the clock.

Our lead grows to double digits, but by 1:14 on the clock, Dominic Remy is injured, and we're staring down the barrel of a 2 point margin. James Sheppard is fouled and converts both free throws, giving us a 4 point cushion and the ability to put in our free throw lineup.

They draw a foul and make both opportunities, so it's 2 points, and George Izzo takes a shot way too early. They get it back with 45 seconds left, go for the 3 pointer, and miss. Ned LeBeau gets the board with 13 ticks on the clock, and though he misses, Hector Shears gets the offensive board and puts his free throws away to seal away the too fucking close for comfort win.


Thankfully Dominic Remy is only an 8 day injury, so he'll only miss one game. Nice to get my first career win out of the way early, at least.

Folks, we've got a problem. The Big Sky, which Sacramento State is in, a Prestige 2 conference. What that means is the Hornets have no shot of anything but last long-term. There's a few different options here:

1) Turn conference prestige updates on and hope the Big Sky becomes a 1.
2) Move Sacramento State to a 1 prestige conference next season, exchanging it for that conference's best team.
3) Make myself unfireable so I last more than the 2-3 years I'll get.
4) Leave things as is, ride it out until I'm fired, and start over elsewhere.

It's a brutal job I've landed myself into, that's for sure.

@ San Jose State (0-1)

On paper, maybe we have an outside shot at beating them. In reality, Zzzzz.

It's a white-knuckle affair until they jump out to 5. I call a timeout, and by halftime, despite poor shooting, including an awful 50% from the charity stripe, we're holding a 22-21 lead. Thanks, defense!

We quickly down by 5, then march back to take the lead, they get it back, and then we seize the advantage again, up by 5 with 4:05 left in spite of shooting issues and a sudden plethora of turnovers.

That lead's up to 6 when they start fouling, so it's time to put in the guys who sort of can hit free throws, because nobody on this team really can. George Izzo misses, they convert a 2 pointer. 4 points, 1:55 left. This time, George Izzo makes both.

Chris Dull's fucking stupid ass commits a foul that gives them a 3 point play and then misses on the other end. Thankfully they miss as well, and Damien Townsend grabs the d-board with 56 seconds to go.

San Jose State opts not to foul, and Ned Lebeau hits the jumper to make it a two possession game. 25 seconds.

They turn it over, and that's that.


That 72 points in head coach defense is sure bailing us out and allowing us to be 2-1 for my first win streak and winning record years ahead of the UMES campaign. Even though Jestorball likes to focus on offense and efficiency, when it comes to actually playing the games out, I much prefer the more relaxing nature of a great defense.

@ Cal Poly (0-1)
They got manhandled 57-29 by Arizona State their first game, and look weaker than I thought they would. Again, possibly a winnable game, much to my surprise.

Our shooting is terrible. Below 20% for most of the half and tons of turnovers. They're hitting their shots too, which gives us a 7 point gap at halftime.

We're able to tie it up midway through the second period, but that's all, as they take the lead back and never let us get any further than 3 points the rest of the game. Very frustrating loss.


At least our defense is keeping us in games. But our shooting is just so bad, we can't take advantage.

Good news on the recruiting front:


If these are at all accurate, he's going to push Robert Roberto for the starting spot next year, and be our best ballthief, jump shooter, and 3 point shot. His handling still has a long, long way to go, but the potential is there. I'm fairly pleased with that pickup.

vs Long Beach State (1-2)

They can score and have some nasty defenders. No shot at winning here!

We're getting hammered, but then our shooting picks up and we're able to tie it at 22 with 8:16 left in the half. And of course they make a buzzer beating 3 pointer at the half to go up by 7 :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

No closer than 5 at any point in the second half, as they run away with it, just as expected. Worse, Dennis Hart is injured and will miss our next game.


The first time our defense really let us down. Disappointing.

vs South Dakota

Leonard Nance, their PG, is a green/blue junior. I don't like this matchup either, especially since they're 2-1 on the road. Damien Townsend will get the start at center today.

South Dakota just dominates us in all facets of the game, and it's never close.


@ Canisius (7-2)

This will be ugly.

And yet, we're only down by 8 at halftime. Pretty good, all in all.

And the second half is all Canisius.


This is getting dull. And the guys we're working on bringing on aren't immediate starters, either.

I'm telling ya, man, fast simming 10 years of history, to get rid of the default player file is the way to go. If you flush out the default file, there are no teams completely in red, and even the worst teams in the nation have at least 4 or 5 guys in the yellow. To me, it makes it 1. Much more realistic. College basketball should (for the most part) be a lot about parity. 2. Actually gives you a chance to have a guy or two worth a shit. Every team in RL D-1 college basketball has at least one guy that can play. The default file doesn't have that.

But, that's just how I like to play it.

Nothing much to do but keep on keeping on. I think I'm going to do the conference switch before the start of next season, because otherwise you guys are going to be treated to season after season of our occupying the bottom of the Big Sky.

@ Princeton (2-6)

Their roster is pretty terrible, so this is a game we can win.

The first half at Nassau Hall is a damned foul fest, but we're able to make enough of our free throws to be up 25-21 at the half. This being FBCB though, I expect us to get wrecked in the second.

Sure enough, we lose the lead. The second half is a fucking joke, with nobody able to hit free throws or shots. It's 43-41 Princeton with 2:59 remaining.

Then, with 1:53 to go, Dominic Remy hits a massive trey to put us up by 3. More missed baskets, and with 51 seconds left, I tell the boys to work the god damned clock.

And of course, with 16 seconds left, there's a shot clock violation on our part.

But they miss their final attempt, and we eke out a win.


10 assist games are so rare in FBCB, so I can see why Sheppard got it, but it should have gone to Remy for his literal game-winning 3 pointer and all around shutdown of Patrick Hunter. Both players did really well with hosing their dudes, however. We shot 42.6% from the charity stripe, so it shouldn't have even come to Remy's heroics. And of course they had a 27 to 17 FTA advantage, which is just silly.

vs Central Connecticut State (4-6)

3 players redshirted, 2 injured, and 2 suspended, but none of the injured guys are starters - just reserves. Izulde has a friend who works at CCSU, so it's pretty cool to be playing them. They'll beat us, though, unless we can somehow eat into their depth with foul trouble.

Our defense does a fantastic job of suffocating them early, and we're able to build up a 17-8 lead before they call a timeout.

In fact, we do get a couple of their starters in foul trouble in the first half, and it's resulted in an amazing 36-18 halftime advantage - something I've never had before in a coached FBCB save that I can remember. Pretty damned cool. And we're able to do it despite foul trouble of his own from Dominic Remy.

Our lead is at 20 for a while, but then we start missing and they start making, so I call a timeout. Dominic Remy fouls out, but Chris Dull has been shockingly effective in relief, and over the last couple of games, is earning himself playing time in the rotation.

We win, and handily.


I'm thinking of starting Michael Edwards the next few games. He gives us offensive rebounding, and a much improved shooting stroke over Garrett Thalen. Not to mention worlds better ball security.

vs UC-Riverside (1-8)

Yeah, this roster is pretty trash. Don't really see us having too many problems with them unless their two big guns suddenly go off on us.

Unless of course, you know, James Sheppard gets foul trouble early, and they out-rebound us and we make stupid turnovers. And they're fucking perfect from the free throw line. All of those things add up to 8 points behind at the break.

The second half is even more stupid, which means FBCB decided this is a game we're guaranteed to lose no matter what we do. Fuck you, engine, fuck you.


Even shooting 29.2%, there's no way in hell we should have had our asses handed to us by this team. Fucking pathetic. And at home no less.

The loss rightfully tanks our already shitty RPI, making it one of the three worst in the country.

vs UNLV (6-4)
Don't let the record fool you. My MFA alma mater played #22 USC twice due to a preseason tournament and also lost to excellent Stanford and Iowa teams. They also just beat UCLA at the Thomas & Mack Center.

There's a lot of really neat alliteration on UNLV's squad. We go up 3-2 on Dominic Remy's trey, but by the midpoint of the half, we're down 18-5, with Remy scoring all 5 points.

15 turnovers and down by 21, and that's just the first half.


These things happen when you're an 8 prestige team playing an 80 one.

We lose a big man recruit to UC-Davis that we really liked. Damn.


This is the best we're going to look in the Big Sky standings, so may as well enjoy it while we can.

I hate having history in place, though. I'd rather be a part of its origins, no matter how bad things are. :D

vs Northern Colorado (3-9, 0-1)

If we're to reach a miracle and avoid last place, we need to win games like this. It's doable. Garret Thalen is back in as the starter, BTW. Maybe it's a fluke that we played like ass with Michael Edwards in the lineup the last two games, but I'm not willing to find out.

You know, if we could actually make our free throws, we might be a pretty good team. As is, we're lucky if we make 50%, so we're sitting on a single point lead at halftime. And you know where that's gonna go.

Sure would be nice if we didn't turn the ball over constantly. We spend all half doing that and missing shots, and it's just a hot, disgusting mess of shit.


We're making a change to our lineup. Garret Thalen will move to C and Hector Shears will start, to give us our best possible post defense. Even though like, Timothy Bianco who was shooting less than 32% tore us up comparatively this game. :P

@ Portland State (3-10, 1-1)

Raise your hand if you know the one team in the Big Sky without a conference win. ...Yeah. A couple of their dudes are injured, which will help, but it won't be anywhere near enough.

In which we spend the game getting wrecked on every facet of the floor and they make 8 of 15 from 3 point range.


@ Weber State (8-8, 2-1)
I'm not even going to bother. Let's just get this shit over with.

FUCK YOU!!!! FUCK YOU AND YOUR FUCKING DICKLICKING SCROTUM-SUCKING BULLSHIT LAST SECOND FUCKING SHOTS BEFORE HALF!! FUCK THIS BIASED ASS FUCKING GAME!!!!

That fucking gave them the god damned lead and of course they fucking assrape in the fucking shit tunnel all fucking second half.


I'm starting to think the defense ratings are complete fucking bullshit.

You know, it's a good thing I don't drive. As much as I get pedestrian rage, I'd probably have been in jail at some point by now due to a road rage incident. That non-sequitur aside, let's get through this.

vs Idaho State (3-12, 1-3)

If we don't beat the Bengals, we won't win any games this year in conference play.

OF COURSE THEY SCORE AT THE HALFTIME BUZZER. That puts them up by 3. Whatever. Fuck this game.

Miraculously, we build up a 7 point lead, but that's soon pissed away and they go ahead on a 4 point play with just under 4 minutes left. Garret Thalen and Dominic Remy have both fouled out by that point.

AND OF COURSE THEY MAKE A GOD DAMNED BUZZER BEATER FOR THE BULLSHIT 1 POINT WIN!

FUCK.THIS.GAME.

It's a good thing my keyboard is strong, because I can't snap the fucker in half.


Absolute horseshit.

vs Northern Arizona (8-8, 2-2)
I'm tempted just to sim the whole fucking rest of the season.

Lumberjacks are cutting us down, but then we actually manage to go ahead midway through the second half.

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?! SECOND FUCKING GOD DAMN STRAIGHT GAME WHERE THEY MAKE A FUCKING BUZZER BEAT SHOT FOR THE FUCKING WIN?!


Excuse me while I go beat the everliving fuck out of a water bottle.

@ Montana (10-7, 2-3)
We're lucky in that two of their green players are hurt, but there's two other greens in the lineup, so yeah.

And yet, imagine my shock when thanks to phenomenal defense, stellar rebounding, and hot shooting, we're able to take a 29-16 halftime lead. Dominic Remy is almost singlehandedly outscoring the Grizzlies on his own with 13 points.

I keep waiting for the ball to drop, and with 2:58 left in the game, they've cut the lead to 9, and Hector Shears, who has been living up to his lineup insertion the last few games, fouls out.

1:23 left, it's down to 4 following their 3 point shot. We can't make any fucking free throws (41.7% from the charity stripe). Fortunately, Dominic Remy converts the next two, and they miss 4 straight trey attempts on the same possession.

Does this make up for the last second losses, and the bullshit defeat to UC-Riverside? Not in the least. But at least it's a victory.


Opposing posts continue to abuse our 48 and 54 post defense starters, who are supposed to be really good for this level. I don't get that shit at all, but it is what it is.

@ Eastern Washington (7-10, 3-3)
They have a green junior center, Armand Basile, who is absolutely amazing, and the Big Sky's leading scorer at 15.9 points a game.

We don't score a single basket until 11:04, which puts us at an 8-10 deficit, because they've been fouling us like mad. They're also making everything, but the foul fests eventually result in our taking the lead with 5:28 left in the half.

29-23 halftime advantage, as we're finally the ones who get the benefit of a buzzer-beater score. No doubt the Eagles coach is screaming at his players to stop fouling and get Armand Basile the ball more - he has just 4 points so far.

With just over 2 minutes left, they finally take the lead, because Armand Basile is indeed getting more touches, and making good use of them.

33 seconds left, they're up by 1. We have the ball. Dominic Remy converts with 19 seconds left, which of course means they're going to score and we'll get fucked in the ass for the third fucking game this season.

Miraculously, their 3 point shot (seriously?) misses, and Michael Edwards grabs the rebound to preserve the win.


Dominic Remy just keeps playing above his ratings. Love the dude. It really chaps my ass that we're 2-5. If we hadn't gotten double screwed on those two games, we could be 4-3 right now in conference, and in the middle of the pack. Instead, we're *still* at the bottom.

Nice wins! The game engine can be very, very frustrating at times. When it will seem like EVERY shot goes in for them.. Or, to me, it seems like my team will start off 1-12 from the field every other game. When I figured out calling timeouts can help stop runs, and (only by observation, no real proof) help jump start poor offense.

But, I think it tends to average out over the long run, and I really don't think it favors the AI, no matter how many times I've changed my mind on that. Particularly when you get better talent, there will be games, where you think you'll be lucky to win, and you go out and win by 25, and as non-anger inducing as those are, they are so easy to forget when you're yelling "FUCK THIS BULLSHIT" when you miss 10 shots in a row, and the lead.

My biggest problem with the FBCB engine is that, there can be a tad too bit much randomization at times. But, that might reflect how random actual college basketball can be.

As an aside, my most FUCK THIS BULLSHIT loss of all time: Down by 2 with about 30 seconds left. My guy hits a go ahead three with about 15 seconds left. Gets called for a taunting technical foul. Guy on the other team drains both of them, now down by one, have to autofoul, makes one, misses one, they get the offensive rebound, autofoul, game over. Maddening.

Also, for a while, the game would award free throws to the other team on an illegal screen. Lost some games because of that. Won some too, though!

I'm just naturally prone to text sim rage ;) But yeah it was nice to get those wins. Maybe I won't make the conference switch at the end of the season.

...Maybe.

vs NJIT (3-15)
They've got a dynamite perimeter defender who they'll match up on Dominic Remy most of the game, and one good 3 point shooter. Some good post defenders as well. A more dangerous team than might first appear, despite the red everywhere like us.

It takes them until 14:23 to get a bucket, giving us an early 8-3 lead. Neither team is shooting worth a damn, as you might expect. And we're doing very well the rest of the half, except Hector Shears' stupid ass gets T'ed up on his third foul, giving him four before the second half even begins. Still up 32-24 though, and look good value for our lead.

They're starting to close the gap, but then their best 3 point shooter gets a technical of his own, and it's enough to foul him out of the game with 12:26 left. Michael Edwards converts both free throws to put us back up by 8.

Then their starting center gets hurt, but he's able to stay in the game. Doesn't matter though, because squash match is squash.


I've been riding whoever is hotter of Robert Roberto and George Izzo. Lately that's been Izzo. I sure am glad Dominic Remy is only a junior. What a baller.

vs Montana State (4-14, 3-4)
They have a truckload of people who can score, but their defense is pretty bad. We're now out of last, having a tiebreaker edge over the Grizzlies. If we can get one out over the Bobcats here, we'll be in a lot better position.

They murder us on the boards in the first half and make over 60% of their shots, putting us down by 5 points at the break.

Their lead builds out to 10, but with 5 minutes left, we're within two.

And then we miss every last shot in the last 5 minutes.


Ugh.

My computer restarted itself for updates before I could see any recruit success/failure, so now let's see what happens...


We jumped in on him early, and while that's two SGs, a position where we already have a lot of youth that we're okay with, the opportunity for talent upgrades was too much. Plus, this way I can redshirt the other commit, who has a much higher ceiling. Actually, I think I'm going to turn on players can refuse redshirts, just to make my life easier. I've had it before where the game's told me players will accept a redshirt without transfer risk, and then they've suddenly decided to transfer after all.

Finding that third player is going to be difficult. We could use a PG, and we had one target, but everybody offered him last month, so our shot at getting him is null. Hollgruber and Ned Lebeau will battle it out to replace James Sheppard next season, if Hollgruber's ratings are accurate or better in those areas.

I'm also looking at the 1* bigs who are left, because a lot of our bigs are juniors, and while Hector Shears is thankfully a freshman, we could use more depth there for the coming years.


Yeah. Feh.

@ Northern Colorado (6-15, 3-6)
Heh. The team we need to beat. You may recall, they beat us 54-48 at our place, but that was before I went with a Thalen/Shears frontcourt.

It's not until 8:46 in the first half that the Golden Bears score, but we're only up 12-3 at that point, because we're also really horrible at hitting anything. It's 19-13 us at the half, and I totally don't have a good feeling about this game.

They keep chipping away and by 5:25 left, it's all tied up. But then Michael Edwards gets hot, and we're up 6 with 3:40 to go. Then up 9 after he hits the bucket on a foul and makes the free throw. After that, it's just a matter of running out the clock.


They gave it to Remy, but it really should have gone to Edwards.

vs Portland State (10-11, 8-2)
There's a lot of parity in the Big Sky, and I'm going to turn on conference prestige updates, because there's no way in hell we should be considered a 2 prestige conference, and I'm too lazy to want to change it manually. Plus I think it'll make things more interesting. Anyway, the Vikings topped us 70-42 at their place, and I don't imagine this will be any different. What's very curious is that every team but us and Northern Colorado have expectations to finish with a .500 conference record, and the other two are avoid last place. That said PSU and Northern Arizona, sporting 8-2 marks, are dominating.

We're down by 7 at the half, as they go on a late run late in the period that we're powerless as fuck to stop.

Our closest gap the rest of the way is 2, as we can't make free throws worth shit, and their shooting just sparkles.

vs Weber State (12-13, 5-6)
Did I mention they have the conference's only Blue/Blue player? He doesn't act like it though, beyond his godly 96 post defense. Fortunately Richard Scott is a senior. They creamed us 56-30 at their place.

Disaster strikes just over two minutes in as Dominic Remy is helped off the court with a red name. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. Shit just keeps getting worse from there as Garret Thalen and Hector Shears both get tabbed for 2 fouls in the first seven minutes. Oh yeah, we also have 6 turnovers.

Given all that, I'm sure you're not shocked at all to find we're getting our asses kicked 17-32 at the half.


We are just totally and completely lost without Dominic Remy, who because of the weird back to back scheduling, will miss at least 1 game, and possibly as many as 3, thanks to his 9 day injury.

@ Idaho State (8-16, 6-6)
I give us no shot at winning any games without Dominic Remy.

And yet, somehow, we're able to find just enough balanced scoring to be tied at 25 at the half.

The second half is a god damn joke.

So at 8-16 right now, we're better than any of my UMES teams. Would be nice to get a couple more wins to bump up to double digits.

@ Northern Arizona (16-9, 9-3)
We have to play these guys twice this year. Dominic Remy is at 95%, so he'll start. Not that it will matter.

Our first bucket doesn't come until 10:11, and we're down 7-21. And that's with using a timeout much earlier to snap out of it. Of course, having 8 turnovers already doesn't help.


Lots of listless clicking in this one.

vs Montana (15-10, 7-6)
The Grizzlies have everyone back healthy now, so no upsets are on the horizon I fear.

Things are even until late in the first half when they go on a run to have an 8 point lead at halftime.

It only gets worse from there. Late in the game we pull within 8, but another Grizzlies run quickly disabuses the notion of any last minute heroics.


Bleh. I think I will change conferences after all next season.

So I've been spending the weekend alternating between FBCB, Magic 2013: Duel of the Planeswalkers, and catching up on Masterchef. The Magic game has been fun - I've been tearing people up alternating between the mono white tokens deck and the black/white Exalted deck until I hit Nicol Bolas in the first campaign, who is playing a fast black/blue/red control deck. Got him down to single digits with the Exalted deck before he stabilized and kicked my ass. Going to unlock cards for red or blue if I can find a burn or control deck before I try again.

But I also want to get this dreary ass first season over with. I'm so tempted to just sim the rest of the games, but then that'd be violating the coaching aspect of this dynasty.

vs Eastern Washington (11-15, 6-8)
Somehow we're just out of last place because Northern Colorado is as bad as we are. Yay? We beat the Eagles last time by clamping down on Armand Basile.

But this game, they don't need him, and they're up by 4 at the half due to our turnovers and their ridiculously outshooting us.

Eastern Washington increases their lead, but we fight and claw our way back to taking a 1 point advantage after a James Sheppard 3 pointer. He promptly fouls out shortly thereafter, which makes me think this game is over.

4 point lead, and then a 3 point play, and another bucket for them. Dominic Remy scores again to renew our advantage, but then misses ensue, and they get the ball back with 32 seconds. Armand Basile's shot clanks off the rim and Garret Thalen grabs the rebound. We call a timeout with 11 seconds left to get our free throw lineup in and tell our guys to use the clock. Hector Shears hits both free throws to make it a 3 point game with 7 seconds left. In goes our defensive unit.

Their 3 point shot misses, and Ned LeBeau grabs the rebound to finally end our losing streak and give us a sweep.


2 more games to go, and we have a 1 game lead on Northern Colorado. If we don't finish last, am I obligated to stay in the conference if it stays 2 prestige? It's an interesting ethical dilemma.

@ Montana State (9-18, 7-8)
We had a flat second half against the Bobcats in losing to them on our turf, so this will be interesting to watch, and by interesting I mean a click snoozefest where we lose by like 30.

Sure enough, it's an 18-31 halftime deficit thanks to the home cooking. Fuck the refs. We can never get any closer than 8 the rest of the way, as we just get hammered on the boards.


vs CSU-Bakersfield (7-20)
Welp. looks like that was the last conference game of the season, and Northern Colorado lost, so we officially have avoided last place. As for these guys... their 3 point shooting is great, but they have a porous perimeter defense. We've got a real chance at 10 wins in the first season here.

And some truly epic basketball follows. And by epic I mean, [b]it's 13:26 before the game score changes from 0-0, and that's on a single free throw by James Sheppard. It's 1-1 at 12:34 and finally at 11:39 Michael Edwards makes the first basket of the game for a 3-1 lead.

Thanks to an absurd number of 3 point plays (foul + FT), they're up 22-21 at halftime.

More 3 point bullshit happens in the second half, although at least some of it is due to their 3 point shooting teeing up. We get within 2 a couple of times, but can't ever close the game. Our road record is actually better than our home record this year because our own refs hate us. Fuck that noise.


And that's our season, as only the top 6 teams make the conference tournament.


There's a short point guard who is raw, but whose potentials look terrific, so I go ahead and offer him the scholarship over a big man who I really like as well, but the PG has High interest in us, the big man only Average.

Aaand I'm kicking myself next month when we get him because I see a lots better point guard who I somehow missed, but we have no scholarships to offer him. :banghead: :banghead: Maybe he'll walk on?

Anyway, the commit:


Will never be able to shoot worth a damn, but could develop into a quality point guard and defensive beast. Definitely needs a redshirt, however. Should be a good system fit.


Great to see a lot of talent leaving.

Our seniors...


We very quickly figured out how trash he was. Won't be missed.


Only foul trouble got him minutes.


Our best two-way rebounder. Maybe should have gotten more playing time.


Believe it or not, we're going to miss him next year. It's one of the biggest reasons why I'm considering switching conferences.



Nice to see we were one of the top defenses in the country. Though granted, our schedule was shit, so that played a lot into it.

Portland State won the conference tournament easily, and as a 16 seed, only lost to Duke by 15 after winning the 16 seed play-in game over UMBC 84-76. Not bad. No one else got a postseason bid, which pissed off Northern Arizona.

I'm undecided yet about conference situation. The Southland and the Great West are the only ones that make even remote sense, but the Southland's not any better, and I hate the two division setup. The Great West has no NCAA auto bid.

What I'm probably going to do is wipe out the 2 divisions in all the conferences and have everything single division. There's a 14 team single division Atlantic 10 and a 16 team Big East, so that would work. Of course, I'm also tempted to break up some of those giant conferences, and engage in some wholesale conference realignment. The default setup is out of order from IRL anyway.

I don't think the readers would stop if I reworked the conference setups, so I'm leaning towards doing it anyway, and capping out the conferences at say, 12 teams each. Maybe even start a new conference, and dump the independents altogether in terms of anyone being such.

While I'm thinking this over...


Damned close to a Top 100 recruiting class. Wow.

Bernie Rhinehart was Orange/Blue when we recruited him, but he comes is as Red/Green, and the athleticism was a *complete lie*, as were most of his potentials. Basically, he's a bust, and a 6'0 wing. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with him now.

Konrad Hollgruber has a far greater floor general game than we anticipated, and he's probably our starting point guard. In fact, he's much more polished overall than I expected, except his perimeter defense was a god damned lie, and his potentials were wrong as well.

Brenton Barros checked in at Red/Orange in the initial scout, but now that he's come to campus, he's a Red/Yellow. Those great potentials a lie of course, like everyone else, but he's a better floor general than we thought, though not hugely so like in Hollgruber's case. And like Hollgruber, some key current ratings were lower than expected :(

Still, I'm thinking we're going to go with a Barros/Hollgruber backcourt, as both are clearly better than Ned Lebeau. Or is it better to have Hollgruber as the PG and have Barros come off the bench? No... Barros is our best perimeter defender.

Hmm. Maybe we'll try a three guard lineup with Rhinehart at the 3. I know it sounds like heresy with Dominic Remy on the roster, but Rhinehart looks far more talent on paper. Or maybe Rhinehart at the 2 and Hollgruber at the 3? That probably won't work... Hollgruber's post defense is complete ass.

So many choices to make!

Personally, I hate the new, mega-conferences. I don't follow college basketball nearly as closely as I once did, and that is a big reason why. I miss the days when I could name every school in the most prestigious conferences, and a lot of the others, too.

I'd vote for a realignment into smaller, more "old school" conferences. Even if they're not the same as they were 20 years ago, they'd still have more of that feel.

Whatever you decide to do, I'll be following.

Yeah I'm thinking back to my observer Zeroed Out dynasty where all the schools were at 0 prestige. I think we're going to see a significant shakeup forthcoming... :D

Concerned about how the consolidation of super conferences would affect college basketball, where relative parity plays a major role in the game's popularity, the NCAA voted to allow football to continue its inevitable path to mega conferences, but dictated that basketball and the non-revenue sports would be capped at 12 teams per conference, and a single division format was to be followed across all non-football sports.

Even before this change came into being, the Atlantic 10, wanting to consolidate into a more concentrated regional power, booted out Southern members UNC-Charlotte and Richmond. In protest, given the nation's capital's proximity to and the close relationship shared with northern Virginia, George Washington left as well.

The three schools agreed that they would join together to form the basis of a new conference. Virginia Commonwealth and Davidson, tired of the mid-tier status of the Colonial Athletic and Southern respectively, agreed to defect to this promising league.

Then the five received word that the Big East, hearing rumors of the law before it was passed, exiled its lowest prestige members - South Florida, Rutgers, and DePaul. St. John's would have been next on the chopping block, but its New York City location saved it, and so Providence joined the homeless. The new conference, which was developing a Southern East coast orientation, quickly offered South Florida a spot, and the Bulls just as swiftly accepted. Seeing what they were forming, to get a South Carolina school, College of Charleston was invited as well, and the Cougars agreed to join Davidson in leaving the Southern.

That meant a connecting chain from D.C. all the way down to Florida, but with a big gap in Georgia. And so, with some reluctance, the East Coast Conference, as the league was named after a vote, took on Georgia State, also from the Colonial Athletic, to be the resident bottom-feeder.

That give the ECC 8 schools, and though they were clearly going to be classified as a 4 star conference, all of the others in their range had at least nine members. Considerable discussion arose over who to invite to be the last member.

The Inaugural 8 ECC By State
Florida - 1
Georgia - 1
North Carolina - 2
South Carolina - 1
Virginia - 2
Washington D.C. - 1

George Mason was considered, but the 3 Deep South states vetoed it, pointing out that the Mid-Atlantic would then have too much power, and the southern states would be reliant on North Carolina's members to be the deciding factor. UNC-Wilmington, yet another Colonial school, was considered as a possibility to form a natural rivalry with UNC-Charlotte. Central Florida was a top choice, but the Golden Knights refused to leave the Conference USA, as it was a lateral move.

Discussion centered around potentially adding an Alabama school, but the conference wanted to stay true to its name, and coastal. And so, UNC-Wilmington became the third North Carolina school to join - meaning the conference was evenly split between the 3 Mid-Atlantic schools, the 3 Deep South schools, and the 3 North Carolina schools.

The East Coast also elected to have a full slate of 16 conference games, but only the top 7 teams would be invited to the end season tournament.

That left the Colonial Athletic with 9 schools, but for the time being, they opted to make no moves to expand, a path the Southern followed as well.

Which still meant DePaul, Providence, and Rutgers needed to find new places to go, as did Denver, which voluntarily left the 13 team Sun Belt due to the travel costs of being in a southern conference.

DePaul received offers from the Horizon and the MAC, and opted for the Horizon due to the presence of Butler and Valparaiso to give it fellow private school colleagues to associate with.

Still, the MAC saw potential to lure in a bigger brand, so they kicked out Buffalo in hopes of getting something better to help their football.

That kickstarted discussions between Buffalo and Rutgers. Could they form an all sports FBS conference? The ECC wasn't one - only South Florida qualified. Maybe they could talk South Florida into breaking its agreement with the ECC? The Bulls were listening - they liked this idea a lot for the consistent branding it would provide.

The ECC got wind of this potential betrayal and were furious at the very notion of their only Florida school reneging. Unfortunately, the conference had been so confident in their powerhouse ability that they forgot to include exit penalties in the contract. All they could do was hope South Florida would stay.

Old Dominion, which had only a few years ago joined the FBS as an independent, was immediately on board. (Note: in the default setup, ODU isn't in Conference USA as they are IRL, and with C-USA already having 12 teams...)

3 confirmed, 1 potential. That wasn't going to be anywhere near enough. But then they reeled in Army and Navy by promising that in exchange for the academies giving up their independence in football, they would be allowed to keep the Army-Navy football game in its current slot.

5 confirmed, 1 potential.

And that's when they realized the Sun Belt had Western Kentucky, Troy, North Texas, Middle Tennessee State, UL-Lafayette, UL-Monroe, Florida International, Florida Atlantic, and Arkansas State.

9 members all by themselves. The new conference started putting its pitch together, only to be blindsided when the Sun Belt, hearing of the forthcoming raid, swiftly acted by ejecting South Alabama, New Orleans, and Arkansas-Little Rock.

Army and Navy, seeing the way the wind was blowing, and not really wanting to give up their football independence, pulled out. Then South Florida got a phone call from Conference USA to talk about returning there, because UAB had shut down its football program. Although that decision was later reversed, C-USA no longer trusted the administration, and was willing to sacrifice a high profile basketball program for a more prestigious football team (don't ask me how the Blazers have 74 prestige).

South Florida wasn't sure about going back to an old girlfriend, as it were. But the Sun Belt was football crap, and the Bulls immediately rejected the offer. The same disdain came from Rutgers with the offer. Old Dominion, on the other hand, cheerfully accepted the offer to escape football independence, and joined the Sun Belt.

All looked lost, until over in the Big East, the football schools, having second thoughts about sacrificing their brethren in Rutgers and South Florida, finally broke up the Big East.

7 football schools vs 5 basketball schools at that point. The basketball schools said they wouldn't fight the departures so long as they were allowed to keep the Big East brand, which had long been a blue chip one in college hoops. Fine, said the football schools.

And that was the start of the mega conference chaos....

What We Know So Far
1. The East Coast Conference, which will have 4 prestige ranking, has the following confirmed 8 members:

UNC-Charlotte - 70
George Washington - 56
Richmond - 66
VCU - 70
Davidson - 62
College of Charleston - 56
Georgia State - 38
UNC-Wilmington - 49

2. DePaul (prestige 59) has found a new home in the Horizon, which is weirdly a 4 prestige conference right now. Hence, when they were invited to rejoin a basketball only Big East, the Blue Demons told them to go to hell. Which is pretty funny because, you know, Demons telling someone to go to hell?

3. Old Dominion (65) is in the Sun Belt, which with preseason #25 Western Kentucky may merit an upgrade in prestige, pending what other moves they make. They're at 10 right now, and will try to scoop up the best of the deserted in the impending firestorm.

4. The following football schools are now on the market:

South Florida - 52 (After breaking their agreement with the ECC)
Rutgers - 54
Louisville - 92
Notre Dame - 86
West Virginia - 84
Pittsburgh - 92
UConn - 90
Syracuse - 90
Cincinnati - 77
Buffalo - 39
UAB - 74 (Albeit it'll be a few years before they're back competing)
Temple - 81*
UMass - 60*

5. Non-football school free agents:

Providence - 67
Denver - 29
South Alabama - 51
New Orleans - 30
Arkansas Little-Rock - 40

* - Temple and Massachusetts, seeing the frenzy, left the Atlantic 10 as well, even though UMass is new to FBS play.

The Big Ten was privately interested in Rutgers and Pittsburgh as AAU members, but with only one slot remaining, they had to consider it carefully. Besides which, Rutgers did not have a very successful athletics program, and Northwestern was enough of a doormat. For example, the past season, Rutgers was 5-24, 3-15. Pittsburgh, conversely, was 25-8,11-7 and made it to the Elite 8 . But the conference already had a big Pennsylvania footprint with Penn State. There was more value to be had elsewhere, they felt.

Instead, the first domino was Providence welcomed back to the now fractured Big East. That put the conference back at five members. But there was the Atlantic 10 to consider - could they lure in the high prestige teams with the Big East brand name, given the A-10 was also being raided, albeit at 11 members? And what if they tempted #3 ranked Butler?

The mission was clear - find the highest prestige private schools in the East and upper Midwest, and bring them in to restore luster to a badly shaken brand. The plan worked beautifully, netting the following:

Xavier - 87 (formerly Atlantic 10)
Butler - 83 (formerly Horizon)
Dayton - 81 (formerly Atlantic 10)
Saint Joseph's - 73 (formerly Atlantic 10)

9 members, and more than prestigious enough to keep their top shelf ranking. But they wanted an even 10, and so with a promise of a guaranteed 5 prestige marker, as well as a much more Midwest-friendly orientation, the Big East was able to lure DePaul back.

The Atlantic 10 after the raids was a shell of itself. Saint Louis, La Salle, Rhode Island, Duquesne, St. Bonaventure, and Fordham - Just 6 members, and the NCAA, at the same time they passed the 12 maximum, also required that conferences have a minimum 8 schools (which also put the Great West in danger of a short-lived existence).

Another blow hit, as St. Louis, the last remaining high prestige team (72), packed its bags for the more geographically convenient Horizon, relieving much of Butler's loss. That left Rhode Island (57) as the most renowned basketball brand, and three more schools were needed to even keep the conference going.

A drop to 3 prestige was almost guaranteed, but that would be enough to raid the 2 and 1 prestige conferences. This the Atlantic 10 accomplished by convincing Vermont and Boston University to leave the America East and Robert Morris and Quinnipiac to join from the Northeast. Binghamton was added as a 10th member to keep honesty in the conference name.

Now it was the America East in peril, and they responded by taking Central Connecticut State and Wagner from the Northeast. This left the Northeast with 8 teams, but lacking the juice to pull anyone else in, they stood pat, content just to survive.

Unfortunately for the America East, that couldn't prevent a downgrade to 1 prestige after the NCAA did its reassessment. Still, they'd survived.

This still left Denver, South Alabama, New Orleans, and Arkansas-Little Rock without conferences, to say nothing of the impending power conference explosion.

The Atlantic Sun saw an opportunity to build its powerbase, and promptly let go Florida Gulf Coast, Kennesaw State, and North Florida, wholesale inviting former Sun Belt rejects South Alabama, New Orleans, and Arkansas-Little Rock, which was accepted by all three.

Despite being the lone wolf out, there was little problem from Denver. The Big West wanted to expand its footprint beyond California, and the Great West simply wanted to survive. It was also the very first ripple in the West for what primarily had been an East Coast storm.

Denver accepted the Big West's bid, as the NCAA refused to grant the Great West automatic entry to the conference. That immediately lead to the conference's demise, as the lack of geographic fit and history finished it off. The Big West quickly moved to take Utah Valley State, thus netting Colorado and Utah in its expansion to 11 teams - one short of the maximum. That maximum was reached, and a third state added by securing independent Seattle.

As a protection against further raiding, the Northeast took on NJIT. Atlantic Sun orphans Florida Gulf Coast, North Florida, Kennesaw State resolved to hang together and invited independent Savannah State and former Great West members Texas-Pan American and Houston Baptist. But Savannah State instead accepted an invitation to the all-HBCU SWAC. North Carolina Central and Winston-Salem State, the last remaining HBCU independents, took the final slots in the MEAC and SWAC respectively, ensuring two full all-HBCU conferences.

That left the five in danger of going to the independent ranks, even after a petition to the NCAA where they pledged they would send their regular season champion to the tournament, and eschew the conference tournament like the Ivy League, secured an automatic bid. That is, until fellow Atlantic Sun bottom-feeders Stetson, SC-Upstate, and Campbell, lured by weaker competition and a clear path to the NCAA tournament, agreed to defect.

The new conference called itself the Sun East, and the first five breathed a sigh of relief at having escaped independent purgatory.

A seemingly natural alliance existed between remaining Great West members Chicago State, North Dakota, and South Dakota, and they took the same deal as that given the Sun East. It was this route that allowed them to make similar pitches to shockingly steal 3 prestige Summit cellar dwellers South Dakota State, Western Illinois, and UMKC, in addition to SIU-Edwardsville, one of the last remaining independents.

This led Centenary and Southern Utah, who felt oddballs as Southern and Western schools, to see the Summit had less than the minimum 8, and they promptly left. Oral Roberts exited shortly thereafter, and North Dakota State issued the coup de grace by agreeing to become the new conference's 8th member. believing they could dominate the league for years.

The new Midwestern league called itself the Great Plains League to both acknowledge its Great West and MCC/Summit roots and avoid a potential lawsuit with the Great Plains Athletic Conference, an NAIA association.

Seeing opportunity, the Horizon invited IUPUI and Oakland, the two highest prestige teams left. The writing on the wall was there, and so both schools decided to take the offer. IPFW joined the new Great Plains League. Oral Roberts was able to find a new home in the Missouri Valley. Centenary escaped to the Big South, and Southern Utah made it to the Big Sky, officially dissolving the Summit.

With the minor conferences finally settled (for now), it was time to see the seismic shifts in the power conferences, or the ones television networks and college sport fans *really* cared about.

Football Leagues
ACC: 12
Big 12: 12
Big 10: 11
Pac 10: 10
SEC: 12
CUSA: 12
MWC: 9
MAC: 12
Sun Belt: 10

As you can see, most of the Division I football conferences were already set with their maximum members, and showed little inclination for a radical change.

South Florida - 52 (After breaking their agreement with the ECC)
Rutgers - 54
Louisville - 92
Notre Dame - 86
West Virginia - 84
Pittsburgh - 92
UConn - 90
Syracuse - 90
Cincinnati - 77
Buffalo - 39
UAB - 74 (Albeit it'll be a few years before they're back competing)
Temple - 81*
UMass - 60*

This posed a very real problem for the schools in the East, for it meant joining a substandard league. The Big 10, with its lone slot remaining, elected to invite Rutgers to expand their East footprint, rather than double down on Pennsylvania with Pittsburgh.

Things were looking like the old Big East would reunite under a new football banner, until the Big 12 Revolt. Tired of Texas's imperialism, and seeing an opportunity with so many football free agents, everyone but Baylor, Iowa State, and Texas Tech decided to explore their options.

Colorado received an invite from the Pac-10, which it accepted.

Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Nebraska, Texas A&M, and Missouri decided to band together, and Louisville quickly signed on. Overtures were also made to West Virginia, but the Big 12 swooped in as well, and the Mountaineers took the guaranteed prestige of the Big 12, rather than go a whole new conference.

While the remaining former Big East and Big 12 schools were debating their options, Notre Dame stunned everyone by joining the ACC an all sports but football member. That led Syracuse to getting an offer as well, with Maryland and Georgia Tech frogmarched out, after North Carolina blocked N.C. State's eviction.

The new conference managed to poach Georgia Tech and Maryland by promising equality, rather than the Texas domination of the Big 12, and also talked Cincinnati and Connecticut into joining and clinching a max size. The league was called the Great American Conference to indicate its broad span across multiple states and regions.

South Florida, Temple, and UAB were immediate backup options for the Big 12. Tulsa was raided from the CUSA to bring back an Oklahoma school, but then Louisville suddenly reversed course, when the Big 12 said they would also accept Pittsburgh.

The Great American then took on UMass, and Conference USA filled the Tulsa void with Buffalo.

That left the Big 12 with 11 members, which they were fine with for the time being, and thus ended the Great Conference Realignment Wars.... for now.

Hi. Remember Sacramento State? The actual focus of this dynasty? :D

We lost one of our targets to UC-Davis, and it's probably going to be an ugly recruiting year, as we really need big men.


Not bad, all in all.

Point Guards

Will be our starting point guard as one of our top defenders, in spite of his short height and poor shooting. Love his smartness, as that'll maximize his chances of development hopefully.


Will again be our primary backup PG most likely. Didn't play a lot last season. Could do worse than him, and hopefully he doesn't take too many shots.


Garbage.

Shooting Guards

Actually, I think Konrad will be our starting point guard, the more I look at. Better passer, more reliable shooter, all of that. Plus he's taller, and y'all know I like tall lineups. Might shift to SG later in his career.


Our best ballthief and 3 point shooter, he's a lock to start at the 2, despite his undersized stature and lower than most handling. Could end up a reserve as we get more talent in.


Garbage.


Started last season, but will be moved somewhere in the reserves this year.


Key reserve last season, but that won't be the case this year. Roster fodder for the remaining two years of his career.

Small Forwards

Plays above his ratings, but will remain a backup this season.


Also plays above his ratings, and will reprise his role as a starter. He's being eclipsed as the primary scorer this year, however, replaced by our hotshot freshman backcourt.

Power Forwards

A revelation last season as a starter, he's locked down in that spot until we upgrade the talent. *If* we upgrade the talent.


Our starting center, because I'm all about that defense.


Will again be a valuable reserve, and our top rebounder.

Centers

A gift from the walk-on gods. He will probably see time this year. How much is TBD.


Never generated the blocks we expected, and will again be a reserve.

Strats
Pace: 2
Motion: 2
3P: 4
Focus: Outside
Press: 2
Trap: 1
Double Inside: 8
Double Outside: 6

vs Bryant (0-0)
They have their own sexy freshman SG in Otto Johnson, a 2* Massachusetts recruit, and a strong post defense core. Their perimeter defense is ass, however, and we've a real shot at a win here.

Two quick fouls for Konrad Hollgruber, and we're turning the ball over lots. Neither team can shoot worth a damn, but just like last year, we're riding Dominic Remy, and we're controlling the game because of him. In fact, he has 18 of our 28 points at half, and we're up by 8, with none of our freshmen having scored yet. 30.4% shooting to Bryant's 19%.

It's 7 minutes before we can score, and we've lost the lead by then.

But then Bernie Rhinehart hits a huge 3 pointer to put us up by 3 with 4:45 left, and I'm thinking maybe we can pull this out yet.

We're up by 5, they're fouling, and I'm feeling pretty good until Otto Johnson hits his own mega trey to make it a 2 point game with 1:52 left.

Dominic Remy misses on the other end, they convert, and we're at our first OT game of my coaching career. It's a tight battle, and we're up by 1 after Konrad Hollgruber having made two free throws to get us the lead. The German gets a huge steal with 30 seconds left and is immediately fouled. He hits both! Their 3 pointer misses and Garrett Thalen grabs the defensive board, forcing their top rebounder to foul out. He makes and misses, and Michael Edwards grabs the offensive board, causing their other starting big man to foul out of the game.

They make yet another buzzer beater, but it turns out to be immaterial.


Cold game by Dominic Remy in the second half, after being lights out in the first, but we showed enough grit to come back after blowing the 8 point halftime lead. We shot just 30.8% as a team to their 38.2%, so not pretty at all, but a win is a win is a win.

@ San Francisco (2-0)
Cue up the squash match, where we get hammered.

Shockingly, though, we take an early 16-8 lead as Konrad Hollgruber goes absolutely bananas for 10 points. Naturally that doesn't hold up, because we keep giving them free throws, and they're converting at over 90%, but we steal a 1 point halftime lead by a last second 3 point play on Dominic Remy's part.

It's a back and forth series of momentum swings in the second half, and then Hector Shears has to leave the game with injury. Not cool. We can't come back after that.


Disappointing loss, but the big news is Hector Shears is out 27 days. Ugh.

@ San Jose State (0-1)
Our road trip of fellow Cali schools continues, and we're in trouble with this one, as they've got a great backcourt that will destroy us.

It's 4 minutes into the second half before they have their first turnover, which tells you everything you need to know about how this game went.


I'm starting to really like Bernie Rhinehart. Great job they did taking out Dominic Remy this game.

vs NJIT (1-2)
They don't have any players that are anything more than mediocre at best, so we should be able to win this one handily.

Unless stupid shit happens like getting called for 3 fouls in the first minute. It's the kind of first half where stupid stuff keeps happening like us getting whistled for every foul, their making every God damned shot they want, yet not able to make free throws. We're down by 4 at the break.

It's looking like one of those horseshit games where the AI is stacked against you, as we go down by like 13 or something stupid like that, but then with 36 seconds left, Omar Mayes converts the 3 point play with a foul and free throw, and Dominic Remy nails a trey to put us up by 2.

They turn the ball over, and Dominic Remy is fouled. He misses the shot, but Garrett Thalen grabs the rebound and dunks it in.


Michael Edwards is headed to the bench, and Omar Mayes will get the start until Hector Shears is ready to return.

vs Colgate (2-3)
Quality senior point guard, but their defense is absolutely horrendous. Definitely a winnable game, as there's nothing here that really impresses me, to be totally honest.

We're at home, but we keep getting fucked on the foul calls, and they make every single fucking shot after. We're down by an asston at half time.

Fighting our way back, we get to within 4 points with 3:09 on the clock. But then Dominic Remy is knocked out with an injury, and that's all she wrote.


Oh look, Dominic Remy is gone for 28 days, making that our second major injury in the first month. Such fuckdouchebaggery.

More bullshit as we lose all 3 of our recruit targets.

Fuck this game. Fuck this season.

@ UC-Davis (1-4)
We're going with a Barros/Rhinehart/Hollgruber/Edwards/Thalen up for this one. These guys stole a recruit from us, so we really want to kick the asses of this thoroughly bad team we should be able to take down.

An 8-0 lead is quickly squandered, and three of our big men have two fouls. We manage to stay in front, however, even with the bullshit 3 point buzzer-beater they make to cut the lead to 35-30.

All of a sudden, we can't make a single damned shot, even after a timeout to try and get us going. We finally manage to tie it back up at 44 after a Brenton Barros 3 pointer.

Then Brian Rhinehart makes the 3 to put us up by that many, but he gets hit with a bullshit taunting technical and fouls out. Just fucking great.

With just over a minute left, Garrett Thalen grabs an offensive board following a Robert Roberto miss, is fouled, and makes both free throws to make it a 3 point game again.

Misses on both ends, and they have the ball back with 22 seconds. We decide to foul them so they can't go for the 3 pointer. They make both, and it's a 1 point game. The foul happens, and Robert Roberto only makes one of the two. They get the defensive board with 12 seconds to go.

Shot goes up... and MISS!!!!


We haven't had too comfortable a win yet, and I'm still trying to figure out what to do when Dominic Remy comes back - put him back in, even though he's struggling this season, or go with the three freshman lineup? Tough decision. But we're back to .500 at least.

vs Central Arkansas (2-3)
While he's at 85%, I'm going to keep Hector Shears as a bench option for this one. They've got some great inside shooters, but are turnover prone, and poor at perimeter defense. Still going to be a rough matchup.

It's a very close game throughout the first half, but we manage to pull away a little bit late in the first half to go into the locker room up 30-22, thanks to great work by our three freshmen - Konrad Hollgruber with 7 boards, Bernie Rhinehart and Brenton Barros with 10 and 9 points respectively.

They never get to within closer than 2 points the rest of the way, and finally we have a solid victory that we can be proud of.


Lot of big 3 pointers by Bernie Rhinehart, and I personally would have chosen him or Brenton Barros as PotG over Edwards, but not complaining! Don't remember when our latest winning record was last season, but it's still nice to have it once more.

@ Idaho (3-3)
First of a four game road trip. Great shotblocker and dynamite ballthief. Good handling team that plays a slow pace. We'll probably lose this one, even with Hector Shears back in the lineup.

It's an early 2 foul sit for Bernie Rhinehart, but we're still holding a steady lead in spite of that. Stellar defense, turnovers forced, and surprisingly good shooting puts up by 11 at the half.

6 fouls called on us in the first two minutes of the second half, and we keep getting slapped by foul calls. They're shooting over 92% from the line, and our lead gets chopped to just 4 points.

1:26 left, we're up by 1 after two Ned LeBeau free throws. Brenton Barros has fouled out. LeBeau gets a steal on the other end, and Konrad Hollgruber is fouled with 44 ticks to go. Both free throws go in, and we're up by 3. Their 3 point attempt misses, and LeBeau grabs the defensive board to secure our third straight victory!


The benefits of a near-Top 100 class are already making themselves evident. At this point, Dominic Remy has lost his starting spot. The three freshman lineup has netted three straight wins, including two road victories. Granted, the RPIs were lousy at 267, 324, and 307, but considering our own RPI was 343 last season, we'll definitely take it.

@ CSU-Bakersfield

Their #2 leading scorer is without injury, which will be a big help for us. Essentially, they're a team that lives and dies by the 3 ball, and have one super elite player at it. These kinds of games can go either way, really.

7 seconds into the game, Hector Shears goes out injured. He just can't stay healthy this year. We shoot terribly all throughout the first half (36/57.1/27.3), and they're hitting 50% of their shots from downtown... and yet, somehow we're up 25-18 at halftime. Go figure.

Our shooting flatlines in the second half, and we lose the lead with a little over 7 minutes left. We also keep giving them trips to the line, which they fucking keeping hitting.

All of our 3 point attempts fail in the last minute, and that's exactly what we fucking lose by. :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:


No fucking excuse for losing this game. Hector Shears is out another 20 days. We can't catch a fucking break this year.

@ Seattle (3-4)
We're toast. We can't win without Hector Shears playing.

They kick our asses in the first half because we keep getting called for fouls on shots. I think this AI is a cheating fuckface.

We tie it once, but then it's all them the rest of the game. Such horseshit.


I love how OPPONENTS MAKE ALL THE FUCKING FREE THROWS AGAINST US! We're dead last in the conference in OPP FT % and that's not a stat you can do shit against. It's called getting fucked over again and again right up the ass with a wasp stinger dildo.

@ Pepperdine (3-6)
I don't know how they're 3-6, because they've got a good roster. Cue the buttwhipping we are about to receive.

SO MANY FUCKING BULLSHIT 3 POINT PLAY CALLS ON FOUL SHOTS!!! FUCK THIS FUCKING ENGINE THAT KEEPS GIVING THEM FUCKING FREE THROWS AND MAKING THEM LIKE IT'S FUCKING NOTHING!!!! I AM SICK OF GETTING DICKED OVER BY EVERY FUCKING OPPONENT MAKING ALL THE FUCKING FREE THROW SHOTS THEY WANT!!!!

The trend continues... HAVE A 10 POINT LEAD IN THE SECOND HALF?! LOLOLOL HERE YOU GO, OPPONENT! LOTS AND LOTS OF FREE THROWS FOR YOU OF COURSE OF WHICH YOU'LL MAKE 90 FUCKING MILLION!!!!

One minute to go, and we're just barely hanging on, up by 2. Of course Dominic Remy misses both free throws, and of course they score a bucket on the other end.

Konrad Hollgruber is fouled as time expires, and while he only makes 1 of 2, it's enough to get us the 1 point victory.


So fucking frustrating... our defense is awesome, but it's like the engine cheats to give them free throws and a fucking bonus so you don't blow everyone out of the water.

If we lose our last two non-conference games like I think we will, we'll end up 6-7, which, if we match last year's 4 conference wins, will give me double-digit wins for the first time in my FBCB coached out career.

vs Central Connecticut State (2-11)
Back to full health is Dominic Remy, but we'll keep him as a bench option due to his turnover-prone nature. CCSU is better than their record suggests - a couple of good 3 point shooters in the backcourt, and some great post defenders. Not sure why they're doing so poorly.

Sure enough, more foul trouble, and our defense has completely deserted us. We also can't shoot to save our lives.

Claw back to within 2 by just over 4 minutes left in the game.

1:36 left, Brenton Barros converts a bucket to put us up by a pair. Misses on both sides, and Michael Edwards hauls in a defensive board, forcing their most productive player to foul out with 32 seconds left. Both shots fall in, and we're up by 4.

Their 3 pointer misses, and Konrad Hollgruber snags the rebound, getting another of their starters to foul out. The German makes both, and we can finally rest easy.


One thing this team has is motherfucking grit. And we're also guaranteed to finish with a winning non-conference record. Last year? 5-8, and we're playing somewhat higher prestige teams this season.

@ Boise State (7-5)
Suspensions and injuries have hit Boise State pretty hard. They're still way too talented for us to hope to compete with on the road though.

And yet, we're actually up by 3 points at the half. Don't ask me how - probably the switch to the 2-3 zone, which I've been doing the last few games when they other team can't miss anything.

And OF COURSE, WE SUDDENLY GO COLD AND DOMINIC REMY'S FUCKING STUPID CHUCKLEHEAD ASS GIVES THE GAME AWAY WITH FOULS.

Ugh. ANOTHER FUCKING GAME WE HAD AND PISSED AWAY.


We lose yet ANOTHER recruit. Horrible recruiting season is horrible. I really feel like snapping my keyboard in half or throwing it right now.

Enjoy it, folks. Might be the only time in a long time we see the Hornets leading the Big Sky.

@ Weber State (5-9)
They have a deadly 3 point shooting junior and senior backcourt, and an elite defender who is a senior playing SF. A redshirt frosh and a true frosh are are manning the post, and they look okay - not exceptional, however. We also finally have Hector Shears back.

Shooting 12.5% at half, and I'm suddenly bored with this game and dynasty so I sim the rest of it, and we shoot just 20% en route to losing 35-47.