Wichita West and the GWAL
 

The GWAL has been granted membership to Division I NCAA basketball.
The GWAL will be prestige 5. I decided to try something different, I got an average rating of all the schools that were in prestige 5 conferences, and I have made all GWAL schools start with a team prestige of 76. All head coaches in the GWAL will begin with a coach prestige of 8.

Now obviously that may create havoc for the first season, as conference play could be pretty even. But I expect teams to have a rise or fall in prestige based on w-l record, schedule strength, recruiting results, and assistant coaches. I guarantee not all the GWAL schools will be prestige 76 schools after season 1.

I am taking over Wichita West. For those that need a recap of the GWAL schools, we have:

Bishop Carroll
Wichita East
Wichita Heights
Kapaun Mt. Carmel
Wichita North
Wichita Northwest
Wichita South
Wichita Southeast
Wichita West

I am using the coaches file the korme was nice enough to create for us. The story on the GWAL is they are one of the best high school basketball leagues in my state, and I wanted to make them a prestige 5 NCAA conference and see how they fare. Quite simply, I will be staying at Wichita West (my alma mater) and will not be taking another job at another school unless I am fired from Wichita West.

If anybody wants me to keep track of any teams during this report, I will sure do so. I enjoy giving readers the info they want, and I hope to make this a long term dynasty that keeps everybody interested.

May 2012

Schaplowsky hired as new Wichita West coach

A new era has begun at Wichita West, as the newest NCAA d1 school has hired 32 year old Mike Schaplowsky as their head coach. The GWAL is the newest conference to be in the NCAA, and Wichita West is a part of it. When asked about the opportunity, coach Schaplowsky said he was elated to be a part of it. As far as career goals, Schaplowsky had this to say, "I played here several years ago, and they are gonna have to fire me to get rid of me. Seriously, I don't plan on leaving this great establishment anytime soon, and if I can coach my whole career here, I will." When asked about his goals, here was Mikes response. "Well obviously I want to win titles. NIT titles, NCAA titles, preseason and midseason tournament titles, it doesn't matter to me, I want titles. I also want Wichita West to get to a prestige of 90 or above. Those are my 2 main goals for the program."

Here is a look at Mikes coach card:

June 2012

We weren't invited to a tournament, so we've got 13 non-conference games to schedule. I've sent out offers to the following schools:

Road games: Wichita St., Kent St.
Home games: UCLA, Arkansas-Pine Bluff

I am leaving the other 9 spots open and see what teams come to us. As far as scheduling, I will be scheduling about 3 games with teams of higher prestige than us, about 3 games with teams of prestiges way, way lower than us, a couple games with teams of prestiges that are within 10 of us, and the rest will just be whatever I can get.

July 2012

All our offers were accepted, so we've got 9 games left to fill. We had 5 offers: home games against Kansas, Siena, and Missouri State. I've accepted all those. We were also offered road games at Oklahoma and Oklahoma St. I have decided to pass on the Oklahoma St. game and play Oklahoma.

I have sent 2 offers myself, home games against Georgia State before we start conference play and Bethune-Cookman as our last regular season game.

August 2012

Scheduling

Bethune-Cookman and Georgia State accepted our offers for home games, and we've also accepted an offer to play Detroit at home. Now we have 2 road games to fill. We have sent offers to go to Murray St. and Washington to fill our schedule.

Recruiting

We've got 4 scholarships to fill this season, and I am looking for 2 PG's, a SF and either a PF or a C. PF preferred, but will take the best player we can get for the post. I am thinking big and going after guys I probably won't get, but I threw a few 3 star guys in there that had high interest in us. Here's the initial 17 on our watch list that I am evaluating:

September 2012

Scheduling

Murray State and Washington have accepted our proposals, so our schedule is complete. More on that later.

Recruiting

I have offered scholarships to 3 star recruits PG Gilbert Morales and SF Leon Morelock. Both have very high interest in us and are expected to sign before the month is over.

October 2012

Gilbert Morales didn't sign but still has us #1 on his list, but Leon Morelock is now just average interest in us and has us #3 on his list behind rival Wichita North and Kapaun Mt. Carmel. Looks like he is staying in the GWAL no matter what. A bright note, as nobody is looking at C Mark Reichert. We are the only school on his list right now, and I've offered him a scholarship and a campus visit.

November 2012

Still no signings! Dangit, I hate it when people don't sign when I think I've got them. Kansas, Duke, Florida, and Washington are now showing interest in Reichert, but we are still holding firm as his #1 school right now. No change in Leon Morelock, as its between us, Kapaun, and Wichita North. Also no change in Gilbert Morales. We are the only school he's considering right now, and I've heard rumors that he will commit to us by the end of the year 2012.

Well don't ask me how but apparently I got confused on my dates. It is now November 2012 in my game. I'm not sure how I goofed, but my mistake.

Gilbert Morales (#278) signed with us, but Leon Morelock signed with Kapaun Mt. Carmel. As far as others on our call list, Mark Reichert still has us #1 on his list. I've extended an offer to 5 star PG Luigi Dean, who has Dayton, Duke, and Louisville ahead of us. I'm expecting him to decline it, but I'm hoping for the best. I also extended an offer to Julius Douglas, who has not received any offers yet.

Let's take a look at the roster for the 2012-2013 season:

And now the schedule: take note of how many non-conference games are sandwiched in-between conference games. I may have made a mistake by scheduling this way, but I wanted my guys to play at least twice a week. I wasn't happy with some of those 5 or 6 day breaks inbetween conference games.

Nov. 2012 Games


We only have 9 available players as we've got 3 on academic suspension and a couple other redshirting, so games through January are going to be tough. Everybody will have a chance to play most likely.

11/19 - lost to #17 UCLA 78-53 (0-1) -- Obviously we aren't ready for the big time yet, as the Bruins dominated us from start to finish. Jimmie Thorton led us with 11 points and 9 boards. We committed 22 turnovers in the loss.

11/23- beat Arkansas-Pine Bluff 83-50 (1-1) -- I get my first win as head coach here at Wichita West, hopefully the first of many. Joseph Crone was POTG with 28 points and 9 assists, big game for him. David Santiago also had 20 points.


11/27- lost to Wichita State 102-91 (2-1) -- If you like defense, this definitely wasn't the game for you. Most people would think with a score like that, the game had to go into OT, but it didn't. Just 40 minutes of basketball. We shot 53.6% from the field, the Shockers shot 56.9%. Joseph Crone had another big game with 24 points, 10 assists. Richard Slaughter had 17 points, 10 assists. Too bad we decided not to play D this game.

Dec. 2012 Recruiting

Mark Reichert (#88) signed with us, and I've picked up my first 4 star recruit. As expected, Luigi Dean shunned us and went with Dayton. However, Julius Douglas, another 4 star recruit, now has very high interest in us and has us #1 on his list. We are going all out for him.

Dec. 2012 Games

12/1 - beat Kent St. 90-63 (2-2) -- A big win against what was expected to be a contender in the MAC. Richard Slaughter led us with 27 points and David Santiago added 19. We shot almost 60% from the field and held them to 39%.

12/3- lost to Missouri St. 93-83 (2-3) -- Just can't seem to put a winning streak together, but at least we are playing quality opponents. Had 4 guys in double figures, but letting them shoot 60% from the field killed us.

12/7- lost to #23 Kansas 101-88 (2-4) -- It's gonna be a long season if we don't learn how to play some defense. 55.2% shooting for the Jayhawks along with being outrebounded 45-30 makes for a tough way to win. A nice game off the bench for Eldon Gordy who ended up with 17 points.

12/9- beat Washington 76-69 (3-4) -- A much better performance tonight, as we locked down defensively, forced 18 turnovers, and never let the Huskies get into a rhythm. Jimmie Thorton was a beast on the boards, collecting 16 and put in 14 points to go with it.

12/12- lost to Siena 61-28 (3-5) -- The only way to explain this game is we came in overconfident and got our butts whipped. It was 15-1 before we knew what was going on. We got it to 22-15 at halftime. Then we just imploded, being outscored 39-13 in the second half. Just a terrible game.

12/14- lost to Oklahoma 86-78 (3-6) -- We had no answer for their SG who lit us up for 37 points. Take away even half his points and we win the game, but once again we fail defensively. 2 games in a row where we missed our chance. Could be a long season.

12/17- beat Georgia St. 71-37 (4-6) -- We needed this win in the worst way. We forced 19 turnovers while committing just 7, and held them to 30.2% shooting. Joseph Weeks had 11 points and 15 boards to lead us.

12/20- lost to Wichita North 77-50 (4-7, 0-1) -- Our conference debut didn't go as planned, as we trailed by 21 at halftime and were completely befuddled. This time we were outrebounded 45-30. Our leading scorer was Richard Slaughter with a measly 11 points.

12/22- beat Wichita Heights 73-51 (5-7, 1-1) -- I certainly like it a lot better when we play good offensively and defensively. The difference tonight was (as it usually is) field goal shooting. We shot 51% and held them to 34.5%. Our leading scorer tonight was Lenard Murphey with 16.

12/25- beat Detroit 83-66 (6-7) -- A brilliant Christmas present tonight as we went OOC to host Detroit and came away with a nice 17 point win. Richard Slaughter had a balanced game with 24 points, 6 boards, and 5 assists.

12/29 beat Wichita South 60-50 (7-7, 2-1) -- Wow how about that? A 3 game winning streak. South is probably the worst team overall in the GWAL this season, so beating them isn't a huge accomplishment, but I'm just glad we didn't overlook them like we did Siena.

Jan. 2013 Recruiting

I really thought we had Julius Douglas locked up, but at the last second he got an offer from Gonzaga and took it. Now we have 2 scholarships and are back to square one. We've send offers to PG Jamey Bigelow and SG Piero Cuneo.

Jan. 2013 Games

1/1- beat Kapaun Mt. Carmel 68-64 (8-7, 3-1) -- This was a hard fought victory as we had to come from behind, trailing by 7 with 3:30 to go. Jimmie Thorton had a double double with 10 points, 13 boards.

1/5- lost to Wichita Northwest 75-63 (8-8, 3-2) -- 22 turnovers did us in tonight, and 18 of those were steals. Just careless passing, but credit their on ball defense, as they were sharp. Joseph Crone had 19 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists to lead us.

1/10- lost to Wichita East 88-77 (8-9, 3-3) -- Another 20+ turnover game. We ended up with 20 even this game. Gotta start taking care of the ball better and stop telegraphing passes. Richard Slaughter led us with 16 points, 5 boards, and 5 dimes.

- We will be switching things up this game, as the 1-3-1 zone just isn't working. We'll switch between straight man to man and 2-3 zone. Also, I've implored the guys in practice to slow the pace down. Teams get so many steals on us because we pass the ball so quickly that we don't look to see where the defense is. We'll see how next game goes.

1/12- lost to Wichita Southeast 96-72 (8-10, 3-4) -- The losing streak is 3 games. Let's face it, we are not a good defensive team. Southeast shot almost 60% on us. At least we only committed 14 turnovers, that is a slight improvement. David Santiago was our leading scorer with 19 points and 6 boards.

1/15- lost to Bishop Carroll 92-84 (8-11, 3-5) -- Halfway through the conference season and we are a struggling team. BC shot 58.9%, the second straight team to shoot that percentage against us. Going back to the 2-3 zone, it can't do any worse. David Santiago had 22 points and Richard Slaughter had 20.

1/19- lost to Wichita North 74-67 (8-12, 3-6) -- I'm just glad we held a team under 80 points again, but we just can't seem to put a full 40 minutes together. Shooting let us down tonight, as we hit just 33.3% of our shots. Joseph Crone had 20 points and 6 assists for us.

1/24- beat Wichita Heights 83-74 (9-12, 4-6) -- Hallelujah the streak is over! We forced 24 turnovers tonight, doing to them what teams have been doing to us all season. Hopefully this will spark something and turn our season around. 15 points, 5 boards, and 5 dimes for Joseph Crone while Richard Slaughter led us in scoring with 17.

1/28- beat Murray State 90-72 (10-12) -- A good non-conference win as we dominated from start to finish. Richard Slaughter could not be stopped. He was 12-16 from the field including 3-4 from 3p land and finished with 32 points.

1/31- beat Wichita South 81-69 (11-12, 5-6) -- This game was a lot tougher than it should have been, as it was tied at halftime. We found a new potential star tonight in Raul Luis. He had been complaining about playing time so I decided to start him at center tonight and he responded with 19 points and 10 rebounds. I forsee him being in the starting lineup from now on.

January Wrap-Up

Well, I'm happy that we finished the month on a 3 game win streak, but that losing streak in the middle of the month really hurt us. We are 5th in the GWAL right now, but the top 4 teams all have 8 wins, so winning the GWAL may be out of the question. The goal right now is just to make the postseason.

Feb. 2013 Recruiting

Jamey Bigelow has as number 1 on his list but has not committed. He has very high interest.

We are not in Piero Cueno's top 5 yet, and he only has average interest.

Feb. 2013 Games

2/2- Beat Kapaun Mt. Carmel 73-70 (12-12, 6-6) -- Huge win to get us back to .500. No team led by more than 8 in this back and forth game, and there were 14 lead changes and 6 ties. We made 10 more free throws than they did, which is why we were able to scrape out the win. Another big game from Raul Luis with 18 points and 11 boards.

2/7- lost to Wichita Northwest 60-56 (12-13, 6-7) -- Another really close game that we fell just short on. This is a tough month as we are playing the best of the best in the GWAL. Our 30% shooting was the difference. We hit just a couple more shots and we win. Raul Luis was our leading scorer with 13 points and has really been a leader since getting inserted into the starting lineup.

2/9- lost to Wichita East 73-68 (12-14, 6-8) -- Simply put, the first half doomed us. We got off to a very slow start, trailing by 19 at halftime. Our comeback effort just fell a little short. I'm proud that we only committed 10 turnovers this game though, that is an improvement, and our defense is slowly getting better. Joseph Crone led us with 14 points, 7 assists.

2/14- lost to Wichita Southeast 91-75 (12-15, 6-9) -- Southeast is a good team, a really good team. We just can't stop them defensively. What's even more frustrating is that we put up 50 points in the first half and led by 7. Then the second half came and we were outscored 48-25. Frustration! David Santiago was our leading scorer with 18.

2/16- beat Bishop Carroll 85-73 (13-15, 7-9) -- We finish GWAL play on a good note, beating one of the top teams. Offensively we couldn't miss, shooting 54.5% from the field and 50% from three point land. David Santiago scored 21 to lead us.

2/20- beat Bethune-Cookman 94-50 (14-15) -- This was nothing more than a feel-good game heading into the GWAL tournament. We led by 25 at the half and never looked back, shooting 56.7% from the field and only turning the ball over 8 times. Granted, this win does nothing for us other than give us a confidence boost.

February Regular Season Wrap-up

We had a great chance to finish in the top half of the GWAL, but a couple near misses and a couple bad halves are the difference between us being an 18 win team and a 14 win team. Pretty simple, we are going to have to win the GWAL tournament to make it to the NCAA tournament. I guess there's a chance we could slide into a lesser tournament, even with a quarterfinal loss, but I highly doubt it. I think we gotta win our first tournament game to even have a chance to sniff postseason.

2013 GWAL Tournament

I am definitely going to have to edit the conference to move the tournament back a couple of weeks, as our tournament runs a good 2 weeks before anybody elses. Oops. As it stands, lets look at the final GWAL standings for the 2012-2013 season.




First Round

(9) Wichita South beats (8) Kapaun 72-43. Didn't expect that result.

Quarterfinals

2/22/13 - beat (2) Bishop Carroll 79-60 (15-15) -- We might have played our best game of the season tonight, committing just 7 turnovers and forcing 23.
Joseph Crone scored 23 points and 7 assists as we move into the semifinals.

(1) Wichita East beats (9) Wichita South 66-39
(4) Wichita Southeast over (5) Wichita Heights 83-46
(3) Wichita Northwest over (6) Wichita North 60-52

Semifinals

2/23/13 - lost to Wichita Northwest 76-61 (15-16) -- Just not enough steam to compete in this one. We actually led by 8 early in the game but couldn't hold the lead, and finish our season with a whimper. David Santiago finishes his Wichita West career with 14 points.

Wichita East over Wichita Southeast 72-65.

Championship

Wichita Northwest beats Wichita East 61-57 to win the GWAL title

March 2013 Recruiting

Jamey Bigelow signed with us, but Piero Cueno signed with BC. Still got one more schollie to fill.

GWAL in Postseason

NCAA

Wichita Southeast (10th seed West), Bishop Carroll (12th Midwest), Wichita Northwest (10th seed East)

NIT

Wichita East (5th seed Midwest)

CBI

Wichita North (12th seed)

2013 Postseason Wrap-Up

GWAL Results

Bishop Carroll lost their first game in the NCAA tournament to Minnesota 81-80.

Wichita Northwest also lost their first game in the NCAA tournament, 81-57 to Memphis.

Wichita Southeast made it 0 and 3 for the GWAL in the NCAA tournament, losing their first game to Tennessee 70-47.

Wichita East won their first round NIT game against Miami 59-41, then lost in the second round to St. Louis 72-69.

Wichita North won their first round CBI game, beating Missouri St. 78-55, then lost in the second round to Milwaukee 70-60.

Not a good performance overall this season for the GWAL who came into NCAA division 1 with a conference prestige of 5. That could change.

NCAA Championship

(1) Duke beat (1) Kansas 80-69

NIT Championship

(1) Clemson beat (1) St. Louis 89-79

CBI Championship

(1) Arizona St. beat (2) Michigan 2 games to 1. Game 1: Michigan 62-50, Game 2: Arizona St. 53-46, Game 3: Arizona St. 62-55

CIT Championship

(9) Iona beat (14) Santa Clara 68-57

2012-2013 Summary

Final Stats


Season Awards

PG Joseph Crone was GWAL player of the year.
PG Joseph Crone and SF David Santiago were all-GWAL First Team

Graduating Class

PG Joseph Crone (starter)
SF David Santiago (starter)
PF Jimmie Thorton (starter)
SF Gaylord Wallace

Comments: We are losing almost 40 points a game from this years team, along with about 13 rebounds a game. Crone and Santiago are going to be tough to replace.

Final Recruiting Class

C Mark Reichert (****, #88)
PG Gilbert Morales (***, #278)
PG Jamey Bigelow (***, #344)

We ended up, surprisingly, with the 53rd best recruiting class in the nation. Only Wichita Heights had a better recruiting class than us in the GWAL. This bodes well for next year, as Reichert should be able to contribute immediately.

Everybody started with a prestige of 76 in the GWAL, lets take a look and see how things opened up after 1 season.

Here's a look at all the coach moves from the 2012-2013 season: