CH 2K8: The UMass Minutemen

[Groundhog]

This thread will chronicle my attempt at turning the Minutemen in to an Atlantic-10, and then maybe NCAA, powerhouse!

I'm playing an open legacy with 20 minute halves, game/player speed at 50, and some slider tweaks. I've bumped most of the shooting sliders down 2 or 3 notches, bumped fouls way up, bumped AI offensive rebounding down, ball handling for both me and the AI is waaaaaay down at 15 to increase turnovers, plus a few other minor tweaks.

[Groundhog]

The 2007-08 Season

In my first year with UMass I led the Minutemen to a 17-11 record, and a middle-of-the-pack finish in the Atlantic-10. We were one of the better scoring teams in the conference, but struggled on defense too often for my liking, which was helped along by a lack of great size in the post. A 5 game in-conference win streak helped things dramatically for us, but it wasn't enough to taste any postseason action.

Rhode Island finished the season on top of the Atlantic-10, but Xavier won the conference tourney, and both teams made the NCAAs. Rhode Island made it through to the field of 32, but Xavier was one-and-done. Winner of the NCAA tournament was a surprising Arkansas squad, a 6th seed.

Our best players were senior SF Gary Forbes, who averaged around 18 PPG to lead the team, junior PG Chris Lowe, and freshman PF Papa Lo, who was the conference freshman of the year.

[Groundhog]

2008-09 Roster
(last season's stats in brackets, bold denotes starter)

PG Chris Lowe: 6'1 junior, 75 overall. (11.3ppg 2.1rpg 4.3apg 2.2spg)
Lowe was probably our second best player last season. He isn't a fantastic shooter from range, but he has blinding quickness and gets a lot of his points from fast breaks following steals. I expect him to score more this year.

PG Garrick Gates: 6'3 freshman, 70 overall.
I only took a real interest in Gates late on in the recruiting year, and I'm glad I did. He's athletic and a decent shooter, and will see time at both guard spots this year. Down the line this guy will be an impact player for us.

PG Mikel Cantrell: 6'0 freshman, 68 overall.
Cantrell was targetted even later than Gates, after I lost out on a couple of swingmen I was after. I didn't need another PG, but Cantrell looked too talented to pass on. He's not much of a shooter but he's athletic and plays great D.

PG Gary Correja: 6'0 freshman, 64 overall. (5.6ppg, 1.1apg, .321 3pt%)
Correja fills out a crowded PG situation. The only thing he does particularily well is shoot the 3 ball, but he did well as the primary backup last year. This year the arrival of Gates and Cantrell means his minutes may take a hit, but you can never have too many shooters.

SG Ricky Harris: 6'3 junior, 68 overall. (7.7ppg, .326 3pt%)
Harris started most of last season, and is a fairly good shooter and a reasonable athlete. Gates will push him for minutes, but right now harris gets the nod.

SG Matt Glass: 6'7 sophomore, 58 overall. (didn't see the court last year)
Glass does one thing well; shoot the ball. He didn't see any time last year but his height combined with our lack of depth at the SF and SG spot means he has a better chance this year of doing so this year.

SF Salim Laurelin: 6'6 freshman, 75 overall.
Salim was by far my biggest score in recruiting last season. Temple and Iowa led me all year but neither school came up with a scholarship offer, so we won out. Salim is an outstanding shooter from mid-range out, and can run the floor and play D to boot. He is not good at finishing inside however, which will be a big change for me at the SF spot after last year's starter. Salim's potential isn't great, but he figures to be a key player for us over the next 4 seasons.

SF Tony Gaffney: 6'8 senior, 64 overall. (0.8ppg, 0.9rpg, 0.2apg)
Gaffney is pretty ordinairy everywhere, and his rating is a bit of a puzzle. I hardly played him at all last year in the hope that he'd transfer and free up a scholarship, but it wasn't to be. He'll probably see time due to lack of depth and his height, but we aren't expecting much from him.

SF Roberto Bass: 6'7 freshman, 54 overall.
Bass is a walk-on, and a terrible one at that. Hopefully he doesn't hit the court.

PF Papa Lo: 6'10 sophomore, 69 overall. (8.8ppg, 8.5rpg, 1.8bpg)
Papa Lo is a defensive machine, and the reigning Atlantic-10 freshman of the year grew an inch over the offseason which will definately help our interior defense. Offensively he's still very raw, and will likely never improve much in that area. He'll be our starting 5-man.

PF Trey Lang: 6'8 sophomore, 67 overall. (5.9ppg, 4.5rpg, 1.6spg)
Lang, the son of former Blue Devil Antonio Lang, started some games last year and will be our starting PF to begin the year. He also grew an inch, and his blend of hustle and athleticism fits in well with our trapping defense. Again though, not a big scorer.

PF Tyrell Lynch: 6'9 sophomore, 66 overall. (2.5ppg, 3.2rpg, 0.4spg)
Lynch is better than his stats show, but again is more of a defensive player than a scorer - a common attribute as far as our big guys go. He'll be our first big off the bench.

PF Marc Dearmon: 6'10 freshman, 66 overall.
I had Dearmon at 100% interest for much of last year's recruiting, but didn't offer the scholarship until I missed out on a couple of other targets. He has height and some skills, and will see time straight away. Overall, a nice consolation prize, even if it was at a position where we are over-stocked with young talent.

PF Matt Hill: 6'7 sophomore, 60 overall. (didn't see the court last year)
Matt Hill probably won't see any time. He is a face the basket guy with range out to three, but he lacks almost everywhere else and doesn't fit my gameplan.

C Luke Bonner: 7'0 senior, 59 overall. (3.2ppg, 2.5rpg, 0.2bpg)
Bonner is a classic example of a guy who would have no business on a basketball court if he wasn't 7 feet tall. He actually started about half our games last year due to his height, but didn't play many minutes and is very limited in what he can do. He figures to less time this year.

[Groundhog]

2008-09 Rotation and Gameplan

Starting 5:
PG Chris Lowe, Snr.
SG Ricky Harris, Jnr.
SF Salim Laurelin, Fr.
PF Trey Lang, So.
C Papa Low, So.
-----------------
6th man - PG/SG Garick Gates, Fr.

We will be running the stock 'Motion' set that comes with CH 2K8. I've been working on a better set of plays for sometime now in the playdesigner, but I only have about 8 full-plays and a couple of quick-hits currently, and I really want to diversify it before I use it in games (especially by adding some zone breakers). The Motion set has a couple of decent plays, but a few very average ones that rarely work for me in games ('Fist' and 'SG Spotup' mainly). I play with the AI choosing plays for me automatically though, so that's probably not a big issue for those that don't.

Defensively we run a 1-2-1-1 zone press every time the other team inbounds the ball. It's my favourite press, but it requires that you get your 5-man back on D as quickly as your can after a basket, or you'll be killed. We force maybe 4 or 5 turnovers a game with this on average, and probably only give up 1 or 2 breakaways a game, so it more than breaks even. When the ball gets over the halfway line we switch to a man defense 95% of the time, sometimes going with a 3-2 or 2-3 depending on the opponent.

[Groundhog]

Game 1: UMass Minutemen (0-0) @ UC Santa Barbara Gauchos (0-0)

We kick the 2008-09 season off against UCSB on the road. The Gauchos are rated a 71 overall to our 79. A trio of combo-guards led by junior James Powell highlight the roster, and the shooting ability of these three will be our biggest danger. Outside of that they rebound pretty well thanks largely to a talented freshman in the middle, but are a very average team in all other areas, particularily on defense.

We should beat these guys handily, but it was teams just like this one that gave us trouble last year.

[Groundhog]

Yuck. It's a terribly ugly first half for both teams. The Gauchos are woeful at defending the perimeter, but our shooters are missing open looks from everywhere. Our PG Lowe gets in to foul trouble very early, and our young guards are struggling to deal with the Gauchos pressing D, and we are bleeding turnovers like crazy... I have never had turnover troubles like these before, not even against ranked opponents! Thankfully our bigmen are playing well, converting on enough offensive rebounds to keep it close, and we enter the half with a 34-31 lead after trailing for almost all of the half. We are 2-12 from behind the arc, and at least 8 of those misses were from wide open gimmees from guys ranked 80 or better in 3pt shooting. We also have 11 turnovers at the half, and most nights I don't end up with that many in an entire game.

The Gauchos go on a bit of a run to start the second half, and 5 mins in I'm down by 4, Lowe is on the bench again with 4 fouls, and my starting C Papa Lo is on the free throw line looking to narrow the deficit for us. But then, nothing happens. Lo is at the line, but the ref is just holding the ball. After 40 seconds or so I go in to replay mode and look at the Gauchos bench. One of their guards subbed in, but is stuck inside his bench, running towards the court but never going anywhere. I wait for a few minutes to see if he'll free himself, but it isn't going to happen, and I can't for the life of me figure out how to free him.

I have to quit and replay the entire game. Very dissapointing.

Lucky I saved just prior to tipoff.

[Groundhog]

Take two...

The game starts off much better for both teams this time. SG Harris knocks down a pair of threes and freshman SF Salim knocks down some hoops in his first game for UMass as well, but UCSB has a counter for everything we are doing right now. They are crashing the offensive glass and are doing a far better job of protecting the perimeter.

We enter the half down 40-37. Harris leads all scorers with 10, Salim has 9, and Lo has 7 points and 6 boards.

The second half is much like the first, except with much less defense being played by both sides. Salim is having a heck of a game, knocking down jumpers and getting to the rim, but the Gauchos are running a lot of screens and getting a lot of open looks, keeping the game close.

With under 2 minutes left and a 2 point lead, Minuteman PG Lowe drains a big 3 to extend the lead to 4. It's to no avail though, as Gauchos PG James Powell knocks down a big jumper to make it a 1 point game. We work the clock and hit Salim with a pass, and he knocks down a long J to make it a 3pt game with 40 seconds left. The Gauchos quickly move it up court once again and Powell knocks down another jumper to make it a one point game. We are able to hold on for the 87-85 win after some FTs.

Freshman SF Salim Laurelin led all scorers with 25 points on 11-18 shooting (3-7 from 3pt) to go with 6 boards. Harris ended with 18 points, Papa Lo had 11 points 12 rebounds and 3 blocks, and Lowe had 10 points and 8 assists.

Powell led the Gauchos with 19 points, and they had 5 players in double figures.

[Groundhog]

November 8, 2008: UMass Minutemen (1-0) vs Bowling Green Falcons (0-1)

The very next day we are back home against the Falcons. I'll be simming this game. The Falcons are ranked 73 overall to our 77, and they don't particularly stand out in any one area. They are led by senior swingman Nate Miller.

We win in overtime 72-67. For some reason not related to injury or foul trouble, the CPU plays my bench more than my starters... Lowe led the team with 16 points, and the freshmen Gates (14 points) and Laurelin (12 points) were 2nd and 3rd. Lo had 2 points 2 rebounds and 4 blocks in just 16 minutes of court time.

Freshman Danny McCurry led the Falcons with 16 points. Nate Miller missed the game with an achilles injury.

[Groundhog]

November 9, 2008: UMass Minutemen (2-0) @ Illinois State Redbirds(2-0)

For our third game in as many nights, we are off to Illinois State to take on the Redbirds. I will be simming this game as well because I want to play the game following against St. Mary's. Illinois State are rated a 74 overall and are a solid offensive squad, but terrible on the other end of the court. They are led by junior SG Osiris Eldridge, who is putting up 15.5 ppg.

Progressive fatigue is definitely enabled in this dynasty, as we fall 42-63. No starter played more than 20 minutes or scored in double figures. Dearmon had a solid game downlow for us with 11 points and 9 boards to lead us in both categories, while Eldridge had 20pts and 12rbs for the Redbirds.

I'll have to be far more careful when checking my schedule in future.

[Groundhog]

November 12, 2008: UMass Minutemen (2-1) vs St. Mary's Gaels (1-1)

Our players get a couple of days to recover from that nightmare last week, and take on a very strong Gaels squad at home. The Gaels outrank us in every category and have a 83 overall rating. Sophomore Aussie PG Patty Mills is their best player, but they have talent all over, especially PF Diamon Simpson who is averaging 21ppg this year.

It will be a tough task to take this game out, even at home.

[Groundhog]

Neither team shoots very well in the first half, but the big difference has been my big men. Lang scores 5 points early, and Lo hits the offensive boards all half, and we enter the half time break up 35-29 thanks to these two. Lo has 11 points and 7 rebounds and is our only guy in double figures.

Our starting backcourt is a combined 1-9 from the floor, and Salim Laurelin is 0-5. Mills has 8 points for the Gaels and is 3-3 (2-2 from deep), and we've held Diamon Simpson to just 0-3 shooting all half.

In the second half we are shooting the ball better, but Diamon Simpson has started to come alive. We do our best to hold off the Gaels, but a 11-0 run led by Diamon with 5 minutes to go puts the game out of reach and we lose 70-60. Simpson had 15 points all in the second half for the Gaels, while Papa Lo led us with 14 points and 15 rebounds. No one else was in double figures.