FBCB-FOFC: USC Trojans
 

I'm back in the FBCB-FOFC for the third time, and this time hopefully it will be a long time!

I've decided to tackle the USC Trojans for a bit of a challenge, as they are coming off a woeful year at the bottom of the Pac-10 with just 7 wins, are losing their top scorer to graduation, and have a very slim bench, and well... kind of suck! I anticipate a painful season or two, but I'm hopeful I can turn these guys in to a competitive Pac-10 team after I've had a chance to add some of my own recruits.

I don't intend on this dynasty being as indepth as my BBCF one, largely because I just don't have the free time at work to type up TWO dynasties. :D

2019 Pre-Training Camp Roster

A quick glance at my roster pre-training camp (bold indicates 2017-18 starter, last year's stats in brackets):

Centres:

John Walling - Sophomore, 7'0, 283lbs. (14gms, 5.1mpg, 1.1ppg, 0.7rpg, .353fg%)
Delmar Son - Sophomore, 6'9, 245lbs. (28gms, 10.4ppg, 5.5rpg, 0.7bpg, .481fg%)
Theodore Yarbrough - Sophomore, 6'9, 221lbs. (28gms, 8.6ppg, 6.3rpg, 0.4bpg, .461%fg)

Delmar Son and Theodore Yarbrough started inside for us last season and did great jobs for us as freshman. They both possess a nice touch around the basket and should score more this season. Son's a poor defender in the post while Yarbrough is stronger in this area, but improvement needs to be shown here for both as well as in rebounding. They will be our starting PF and C combo this year once again, and have no real threats for their spots on the roster. Walling is a 7-footer with great defensive instincts and surprising quickness, but the rest of his game needs a lot of work. He's still young though, and he will get court time due to a lack of depth.

Power Forwards:

Douglas Barnes - Freshman, 6'7, 250lbs. (#74 recruit in the nation)
Kenny Bess - Junior, 6'9, 229lbs. (3gms, 1.3mpg, 0.7ppg, .500%fg)
David Smith - Freshman, 6'8, 228lbs. (#906 recruit in the nation, walk-on)

Douglas Barnes is the only stand-out here. He has a nice touch inside and is a decent rebounder, but is very green and will redshirt this season. Bess and Smith are both walk-ons and will hopefully not hit the court too often. Neither is particularily good at anything, but Smith may wind up a rotational player in 2 or 3 seasons as he has a little raw talent.

Small Forwards:

Saul Tucker - Junior, 6'10, 256lbs. (17gms, 3.3ppg, 4.6rpg, .365%fg, .355%3pt)
Percy Joshua - Freshman, 6'7, 223lbs. (#612 recruit in the nation)
Timothy Hurt - Freshman, 6'5, 197lbs. (#69 recruit in the nation)

Tucker is a versatile forward, capable of playing any 3 frontcourt spots, and that's just how we'll use him this year. He won't be starting, but he'll generally be first off the bench. He is a perimeter shooter who doesn't like to take it inside, but hits the boards and is the best overall defender on the team. Really needs to work on his handle though, as he is a turnover waiting to happen. Timothy Hurt sat out last season as a redshirt and will see time mostly at SG this season. We expect he'll develop in to a starting-quality player down the road. Percy Joshua is quick and can knock down the odd-three, but doesn't figure to find himself in the rotation.

Shooting Guards:

Deshawn Smith - Senior, 6'3, 183lbs. (28gms, 24.6mpg, 9.8ppg, 5.6rpg, 1.6spg, .376%fg, .293%3pt)
Charles Danielson - Sophomore, 6'4, 201lbs. (18gms, 10.2mpg, 2.7ppg, 0.9apg, .375%fg, .323%3pt)
Larry Gladstone - Junior, 6'6, 214lbs. (#105 recruit in the nation)

Deshawn Smith saw some time as a starter last year, and will fill that role permanently in 2018-19. He is a rough player who hits the boards well for a guy his size and disrupts the passing lanes. Larry Gladstone, a JuCo recruit, is a flat-out scorer, and will step straight in at SF tasked with putting points on the board. Not a terrific shooter, he prefers to use his athleticism to attack the basket, but can also stick the mid-range jumper. He's mediocre-to-poor in all other categories. Charles Danielson is a 3pt shooter, and little else.

Point Guards:

Cordell Bonin - Junior, 5'11, 172lbs. (18gms, 17.4mpg, 2.7ppg, 1.9rpg, 2.7apg, 0.5spg, .237%fg, .097%3pt)
Charles Dashiell - Sophomore, 6'0, 175lbs. (28gms, 16 starts, 4.8ppg, 2.7rpg, 2.5apg, .420%fg, .348%3pt)
Bryce Wray - Freshman, 6'0, 179lbs. (#129 recruit in the nation)

Dashiell started 16 games last season due to injury to the guy ahead of him on the depth chart (since graduated), and did reasonably well. He's a strong ball handler who can hit the three, but his play-making abilities are still developing. His defense needs a lot of work, but will probably never better better than mediocre. Bonin will see time behind Dashiell, and is probably the strongest reserve we have. He had a shocking season shooting the ball last year, but he is a relatively reliable floor-general and a decent perimeter defender. Wray will redshirt, but a couple of seasons down the track he figures to be a high-quality starter. He is already a deadly shooter from long-range and a strong ball-handler.

Predicted Starting 5:

C - Delmar Son
PF - T. Yarbrough
SF - Larry Gladstone
SG - Deshawn Smith
PG - Charles Dashiell
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6th man - Saul Tucker

Overall, a decent starting 5, but a pretty big drop off after that. Defense and depth (particularily bench scoring) are going to be the big problems for us this season. We'll be focusing on defense in training camp to try and get a boost here, but it probably won't be enough to trouble the big boys of the Pac-10.

2019 Coaches Cup - Round 1

The Coaches Cup is a pre-season tourney run prior to training camps amongst the human controlled teams. We are in Group E and squared off against Kentucky U in round 1. I hadn't set any orders for the game, but the AI chose the same starting 5 I would have gone with.

Box Score

A solid debut from Gladstone, and some great rebounding helped overcome our turnover woes to pick up a comfortable win. 14 points from our bench is a bonus, but Hurt's 5 turnovers in just 11 minutes is a worry. Not sure what settings the AI chose for my lineup, but Yarbrough and Son took just a combined 13 shots, which is something I intend on tweaking.

2019 Coaches Cup - Round 2

Once again I hadn't set a strategy for this game, and I hope I'm able to clear up those turnover problems when I do. Still, we hit the boards hard and got another big game from Gladstone, but we couldn't pick up the win.

2009 Coaches Cup - Round 3

I set the strategy for this game and I'm MUCH happier with the results, though we fail to qualify for the elimination round. Gladstone continued to shoot the lights out and finishes averaging 27.8ppg over the three games. Glad to see us keep our turnovers down as well, while also getting scoring from my bench.

2019 Coaching Staff

Head Coach - Angus Haynes (117-28, .807)

Recruiting - 80
Scouting - 70
Offense - 70
Defense - 80

I've been strangely successful in the 3 short seasons I've been in the league, earning a Final Four appearance with Utah back in 2008, and a Sweet 16 finish in 2014 with Memphis. Wins won't be nearly so easy to come by in the Pac-10...

Recruiting Coordinator - Charles Donahue

Salary - $138,267
Recruiting - 81

Donahue is a carry-over from the last coach and has 1 previous season at USC. Prior to that the 51 year old Tulane alumni spent 7 seasons at Louisville. He's not one of the greatest recruiters in the country, but he's well above average and is probably as good as I'd look to go with at a school like this.

Lead Scout - Antony Rizzo

Salary - $135,850
Scouting - 91

Another carry-over, 40 year old Rizzo has spent 2 seasons in USC after numerous stop before hand. He's very good at what he does, so we'll be looking to keep this Rider alumni on campus as long as we can.

Coaching Assistant - Jonathan Poisson

Salary - $123,617
Offense - 54
Defense - 72

Brining in Possion was the only change I made to my coaching staff, and he wasn't my first choice. The guy we had last year was all offense, but Poisson brings a little more balance to our team - and hey, with a surname like that, how could we go wrong? The 50 year old Kent State alumni was on a struggling Virginia squad last year, a surprising Southern Miss squad the year before that, and has spent several years at Pacific and Wyoming, amongst others.

2019 Recruiting

Well, we had just 1 scholarship this year which, when considering our lack of depth, was far from ideal.

Our best perimeter defender by far, SG Deshawn Smith, graduates this year so we were targetting mainly perimeter guys, though also gave a long look at any top-100 recruits who had an interest in our school.

After the first few recruiting sims I had narrowed my list down to four players - a top-100 C, a top-100 SG, and a PG and SF ranked in the top-200. I had tough competition on 3 of those players, and elected to not gamble and offered my scholarship to the one player I appeared to have a clear lead on, #66 ranked Edwin Amaya, a 6'9 C out of Washington. He commited on the very first day he was allowed to.

C is not a need for us with two developing bigmen and a redshirting freshman PF also on the roster, but we are looking for talent first and foremost, and we feel that Amaya was the best talent available to us. He needs to work on his rebounding and might never be a great post defender, but he knows how to put the ball in the hoop and is a solid shot blocker blessed with decent athleticism, and he can even hit his FTs - a skill not shared by far too many of my current players.

Fight On!

2019 Schedule

A horror 6-game road trip is evened out by a 7-game home stretch. As for expectations, I think a 13-15 record is achievable, an 8-20 record is possible, and a 16-12 record is unlikely. Anything less than 8 wins and you'll find me swinging from a rope somewhere near the USC campus.

2019 Lineup

Training camp is over, and the starting 5 and main rotation has been set:

C: Delmar Son, 6'9, 249lbs, So.
PF: Theodore Yarbrough, 6'9, 221lbs, So.
SF: Larry Gladstone, 6'6, 214lbs, Jr.
SG: Deshawn Smith, 6'3, 183lbs, Sr.
PG: Charles Dashiell, 6'0, 175lbs, So.
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6th: C/PF/SF Saul Tucker, 6'10, 256lbs, Jr.
7th: PG Cordell Bonin, 5'11, 172lbs, Jr.
8th: C/PF John Walling, 7'0, 283lbs, So.
9th: SG/SF Timothy Hurt, 6'5, 197lbs, Fr.
10th: SG/SF Charles Danielson, 6'4, 201lbs, So.

We don't anticipate - barring injury or suspension - to dip any deeper in to our depth chart. Scoring wise, we'll be relying on Gladstone - who may wind up the best scorer I've coached in FBCB - a whole lot, but I believe that Son and Yarbrough are capable of putting up double figures on a regular basis. Yarbrough in particular stepped up his game this past offseason, and we'll be trying to get him more shots this year.

Defense is not going to be this squad's strong point. Yarbrough is OK from down low, Smith is good on the perimeter, and reserve Tucker is solid from all-over, but everyone else is mediocre to bad.

So, we figure to be able to put points on the boards at an above average rate, while defending at a below average rate. Should make for an "interesting" season for us in the Pac-10!

Just 2 more days until games commence!