[theclassic]

In my last version of Fast Break Basketball I did quite a bit of editing within the universe. However I could never create my dream college basketball universe because you were locked in how many teams and conferences you could have. Well needless to say I was happy to see that Fast Break Basketball 2010 allowed more customization in regards to teams and conferences. So naturally I went a bit crazy.

The universe I created contains 650 teams, placed in 65 conferences. Gone are the Big Ten, Big East, etc. Teams are now placed in conferences based on what region of the country they are located in. For example all teams in the state of Oregon play in the same conference, regardless of team prestige. The Oregon Ducks match up with the Portland Pilots in conference play.

Winning the conference is a huge deal, and not just for regional bragging rights. With 65 conferences, and 65 places in the NCAA Tournament, this creates a situation in which a team must win it's conference tournament to participate in the NCAA Tournament. The conference tournaments invite the top 8 teams in the conference, with the 1st and 2nd seeded teams getting a two round bye. I did this because the conference tournament is of great importance and I wanted the strongest teams during the regular season to have the best chance of getting into the NCAA Tournament.

There are only 347 teams that play NCAA D1 basketball so I had to obviously add a few teams to reach 650. The teams added are a mix of D2, D3, NAIA, and JUCO teams. I didn't have a set formula for adding teams. I added some of the most successful teams within their classification, I added teams that I thought had cool nicknames and/or logos, and I added teams because I felt their location provided some geographical diversity.

Lastly I started from scratch when assigning prestige levels. I assigned prestige mostly on the teams total history, although some recent history played into it as well. For example Indiana has struggled recently but they still were given a 100 prestige level.

All conferences were given a 3 for prestige, and this won't change. I imagine this will bring teams with 0 prestige up, and teams with 90+ prestige down a bit, but I don't want one conference to start dominating with 5+ teams in the Top 25, while only sending one to the NCAA Tournament. Also if I give one conference a 5, and another conference a 1 it will basically cripple a strong team in the 1 rated conference, and give to much strength to a weak team in a 5 rated conference.

Admission requirements were also tweaked a bit for some schools. Obviously the Ivy League schools will have the Ivy League type admission requirements, schools like Cal Tech, Swartmore, etc. will also have these admission standards. Schools like Duke, Northwestern, etc. will also have tougher admission standards than just the default.

Now to go over some of the league options. I have turned off the 3rd and 4th tournament's. No particular reason except that I don't like them. Transfers are allowed, and the players must take a red shirt year. However everybody in this league is going to be playing 4 seasons, no one is leaving early for the NBA. Just because I don't like it when players leave after only one season in real life, and if I can control it in my league's universe than it won't be happening there either. Injuries and suspensions were set to normal.

I will review each season in one message. The first season will begin in the year 2010. Below is a listing of all teams, and conferences.