Inspired by
Emmett13, I've decided to start a new FBCB dynasty. Level 0 coach with Defense at 100; everything else at 0. I decided to go with a lowish prestige school I've actually been to.
Lamar University Cardinals
Prestige: 29
NCAA Tournament Appearances: 6 in real life, 5 in this universe (2012 is after the default 2011 start)
NIT Appearances: 4
The Golden Era for the Cardinals was in the late 70s-1986, which compose all of their NIT appearances and most of their NCAA showings - the highlight being the 1980 squad that made it to the Sweet 16 (the school's only S16 to date). The other postseason tournaments - NCAA in 2000 and 2012, and the CIT this year.
I've shut off the CBI and CIT, cut the NCAA tournament back to the original 64, and expanded the NIT to 40 teams. There's limited conference movement and conference prestige can change. Draft declaration is after the freshman season, and non-5th years have to redshirt if they transfer.
This version of
Izulde Jestor is all about steals for perimeter players, blocks for post guys (hence Disruptors).
Perimeter Players
Chris Lehman - 6'1, 203 - Redshirt FR - Pharr, TX
Red/Green, and our lone green potential player. Terrible shooter, mediocre ballhandler, but upside to be a really good passer. Decent post defender, but raw on the perimeter defense.
Larry Mebane - 5'10, 161 - SO - Bogota, TX
Limited skill player, but he's currently our best perimeter defender. But even that is slightly below average. Can't steal the ball, however.
William Kelly - 6'3, 215 - Redshirt SO - Vernon, TX
Flip a coin between who is better floor generalwise between Kelly and Lehman, and while his defense is trash, he's got the best ball-stealing ability of our guards. Granted, that's not saying much, given it's slightly below average, but he's still locked in as our starting PG this year. Oh yeah, he's also got a halfway decent jumper.
Damion Morgan - 6'4, 230 - Freshman - Lewisburg, PA
Literally the only thing to recommend him is that he's not bad at stealing the ball and has upside as a rebounder. Unlikely to see many minutes at all in his career, even with our love of ballthieves.
Mark Akers - 6'2, 182 - RS FR - Plains, TX
Could develop into a great passer and has some 3 point pop. Too bad his handling is mediocre. Not much in the way of defense, but could see time as a combo guard.
SG Aubrey Spring - 6'2, 201 - Sophomore - Lockhart, TX
He can defend in the post and that's pretty much it. Trash player.
Daren Taylor - 6'4, 205 - RS SO - Clint, TX
Walk-on who could be average in most categories, but he's a turnover machine waiting to happen, so I just don't like him.
Jose Noland - 6'8, 250 - Junior - Lamesa, TX
Pure trash.
Gabriel Shankin - 6'6, 229 - Senior - Paoli, IN
Good ballthief with offensive boarding hops and some ability to hit the jumper. Our best player this season, though that isn't saying much at all. Guaranteed SF starter.
Post Players
Tony Romero - 6'11, 257 - Junior - Dallas, TX
Good inside shot and post defender. Can't rebound anything, however, and his blocking ability is bad, too. Our best offensive player, so he might be a reluctant start.
Todd Carruth - 6'7, 213 - Junior - Winona, TX
Not the worst inside shot, solid for a big handling, and decent enough rebounder despite being undersized. Great shotblocker for one so small, and we'll likely go smallball to take advantage of his talents.
Abraham Johnson - 6'10, 247 - Senior - Kannapolis, NC
Our best all-around shooter, but he's pretty bad everywhere else.
Gregory Heady - 6'6, 219 - Junior - Portland, TX
Shotblocking god, but unfortunately he doesn't have all that much in the way of other talents and is really, really small. Okay inside shooting, though, and can hit the offensive boards okayish. We might go *really* small in our lineup.
John Waits - 6'9, 233 - Senior Azle, TX
Trash.
Ervin Francois - 6'9, 262 - Fort MacKay, Canada
Our best all-around rebounder and not awful defensively. Can't do anything else, though.
Starting Lineup
PG Chris Lehman (RS FR)
SG William Kelly (RS So)
SF Gabriel Shanklin (Sr)
PF Gregory Heady (Jr)
CE Todd Carruth (Jr)
Yep, we're running a smallball lineup. We also have our first recruit commitment:
Ryan Farley - 6'5, 209 - Temple HS, Temple TX - 3*
Ranked #426, we beat out Sam Houston State for him. As of right now, if our scouting is even close to accurate, he's our best perimeter defender ever right now, with the potential to be an elite 3 point shot, offensive rebounder, perimeter defender, and ball thief. He will instantly replace Shanklin as our starting SF next season and projects to be a four year starter.
We're invited to the
Tennessee Challenge as a preseason tournament. Opening game against
Loyola-Illinois, and our highest potential player,
Chris Lehman, goes down 2 minutes in with injury and is out 11 days. But then we whip Coastal Carolina 60-48 in an ugly game two days later to finish third out of four teams.
We sang a win over Presbyterian in our last game of the month to finish 2-3. To be honest, I don't really care how we do this first season - I'm all about getting my dudes and my system in.
We're expected to have at least a .500 conference record, which I'm not seeing with this roster, but we'll see what happens.