I'm going to play my next non-conference game against Binghamton, then sim my last two against Campbell and Duke so that I can get rolling with my conference schedule.
One of my goals this year, in a year when I'm trying to rack up as many coaching points as possible, is to get through the season with no unhappy players. I've used 4 pep talks so far and they seem to work really well since my Charisma is A+. All of my players but one have a confidence of above 50% for now. I just used 3 on guys that were hovering near 30%. I've been trying to rotate my 11
th and 12
th man into the games a little bit more often lately to keep them happy, and that just leaves my 4 inactive guys. I'm hoping I can keep them all happy without too much trouble.
December 18, 2009
NC A&T (5-4) at Binghamton (3-6)
Binghamton is rated a little lower than us and we hope for a good road win here. Our team unity is flying high at 48, about where it has been at the end of the last two seasons. We've got a big edge there as theirs is 31.
Binghamton has a 7'1” center that we will have to worry about. Their PG, Darshan Trammel is rated 69 OVR and is a pretty good scorer. He's not excessively fast or a particularly good defender, so I am not real worried about him. Their SG is a very good defender for this level, again not super fast so we can hopefully get out on the break a bit. He's not a big 3 point threat either, and only averages 8 ppg. The rest of their guys look fairly terrible. The 7'1” C is rated 56 OVR and is a terrible defender. Their 6'7” PF isn't much better. I am going to be looking for Coleman to have a monster game here.
Half
| Time
| NC A&T
| BING
| Notes
|
1
| 11:00
| 21
| 19
| We should blow these guys out and I'm a bit worried that we're not already. We led 12-6 early and looked to be on the verge of running away with it but they fought back to tie itup at 19. Coleman has 10 already. Backups are in.
|
1
| 6:00
| 25
| 34
| WOW our backups got owned. They scored layups off every missed shot, every steal(and there were a couple) and when they didn't get fast break buckets they drained open jumpers... starters are coming back in.
|
| HALF
| 33
| 46
| Just... wow. I'm stunned. Their SF, McBride, is launching 3's atevery opportunity, and he's only 2-7 but he has a few 2's as well and has 12 points. But really its the rebounding which is blowing my mind. They have a 20-10 edge on the boards. Right, we have 10 boards in the first half. They've missed 15 shots... how do we only have 10 boards as a team.
Coleman has 12 points/6 boards. Hayes has 4 points. Alston has 8.
|
2
| 16:00
| 38
| 57
| I still look at these two teams and swear I'm way better. I figured I could run away with this game on the break, or inside... and I'm getting blown out badly. Coleman started the second half a little tired and ice cold so I subbed him out early. Ewing a little later... working on a rotation here though it seems like nothing is helping.
|
2
| 12:15
| 49
| 63
| I'm able to run off a few quick points here and cut the lead back down to 14. Alston and Ewing are both sitting now, Coleman and Cruz in the post.
|
2
| 9:40
| 53
| 67
| Ewing coming back in. Coleman has just gone insanely cold.
|
2
| 6:00
| 64
| 74
| Alston pretty much single handedly got the lead back down to 10 with all our other starters resting. At the 6 minute mark we burn a time out and get our starters all on the court together.
|
2
| 3:30
| 68
| 80
| A couple poor possessions and we fall behind by 14. A putback by Coleman makes it 12. Their ball and we're running out of time.
|
2
| 1:50
| 77
| 85
| Just awful luck on the defensive end. We have the lead down to 7, they throw the ball into a crowd of A&T defenders as they try to find a cutter going to the basket, but their guy comes out with the ball and finds an open man for 3. Ewing is fouled on the other end and sinks two free throws to get it back down to 8 again.
|
We fall apart in the final two minutes. No chance.
Binghamton 91
NC A&T 77
Seriously looking at the rosters I would have predicted that we would win this game by 20. They just didn't miss,and they defended inside a lot better than I anticipated.
They shot 56%,hit 9 3's(despite only having one player I would have deemed capable of being a good 3 point shooter), and outreboundedus 34-29. Just terrible.
Alston:19 points
Ewing: 12points/4 assists (3-14shooting... awful)
Shiloh: 1 point
Coleman: 23 points/9 boards
Hayes: 15 points/9 boards
Alston was awesome when he was able to get out on the break. He abused his man and scored every time he got the ball. 8-8 from the field. But there was no secondary break on those long rebounds and Ewing was ice cold, forcing us to score inside every time we were in the half court set.