College Hoops 2k8: A New Challenge - Page 4

Eaglesfan27 · 02-10-2008, 04:40 PM

Looking through the roster, PG seems to be a huge need, so I start looking at PG's and I see the team has already been heavily recruiting a 3 star junior PG from Niagra Falls, NY who is practically ready to commit to the team! If the book on the kid is right, he is a smooth shooter too! Excellent!

I also immediately start working on a 4 star SG from Toronto who is a lights out shooter. I'm probably overreaching with him, but we won't need many players next year, so why not reach a bit... word is that the SG doesn't care about playing at a big program so maybe we have a shot...

My old school immediately seals the deal on Dexter Grafs a 7'1 240 pound JC Center that I had been recruiting mainly because none of the shooters were interested in coming to play for me and we needed more help inside.

After a week of recruiting, Everett Huffman, the PG from Niagara Falls just told me his #1 priority is staying close to home! We are #1 on his list of schools, and I think we'll be able to get him to sign as an early committ. Buffalo is our biggest competition. This 3 star PG is only a junior right now and therefore isn't ranked, but he is a smooth shooter on tape. I'm thinking about going to the pre-season camps to watch him play.

Buffalo is being very aggressive and the kid is wavering. He is going to be a tough one to lock down. It's going to be a battle to get this PG.

The top 10 recruiting classes of 2010-11:

Cal: 2 5-star players and 2 4-star players.
Louisville: 2 5 stars and 1 3 star.
Michigan State: 2-5's and a 3.
Duke: 2 5's and a 3.
Kansas: 2 5's.
USC: 1 5 star, 1 4 star, and 2 3 star.
Santa Clara: 1 5 Star, 1 3 star, 1 2 star.
Temple: 1 5 star, 1 4 star, and 1 3 star.
UCLA: 1 5 star, 1 4 star, and 1 star.
Texas: 1 5 star, 1 4 star, and a 2 star.

Huffman isn't in the ABL which is a shame since I wanted to see how he played. It's also odd as he is the 213th ranked player and 78th among PG's. He also has skyrocketed up several team's boards now that he is a senior and there is now plenty of competition for his services

He and my other big target aren't participating in the ABL, so I skip it and jump right to the start of the season.

The good news is that Buffalo is down on his list but now we are too as several schools are battling it out for Everett Huffman.

After a few weeks of heavy recruiting during the offseason, Everett has told me he ix 99% sure that he is coming to Niagara!

Even more exciting, early in the recruiting process, Donte Snow, a 6'4 220 pound 4 star SG from Toronto is showing heavy interest in us despite being recruited by Michigan. However, they haven't offered him a scholarship yet and we have... still if we can get him to sign before they offer, we might just steal a great recruit.. He didn't participate in the ABL, but on tape he looks like he would be the best 3 point shooter that I've ever coached at least coming out of H.S.

I didn't plan on playing any more games today, but I think I have to get at least 1 game in with the new team..

I purposefully scheduled an easy one for our first game. We'll play against Chicago State, but at their place. They are ranked 62 in overall team talent while we are at 76. The strengths of our team are shooting (80) and rebounding (82.) Defense is also good at 76.

Eaglesfan27 · 02-10-2008, 05:50 PM

Our Starting 5:

PG Chatman
SG Chatman
SF Andres
SF Santos (will be outsized sometimes)
C Pait

They get Santos into early foul trouble and I bring in Owensworth off the bench.

A great first half in which Andres showed that he can be a dominant scorer at least against a weak defener. 38-21. Andres with 17 points on 7 of 12 shooting as he hit shots from all over the court. He also played solid defense and had 5 boards.

Inside, outside, Andres can't be stopped. He has 25 and he is playing great defense (and is being identified with the hand icon) as we build a 30 point lead, 55-25. 14 minutes to go...

I'll pull my starters soon, but the flaw with this team from looking over the roster and from my experience (admittedly against a cupcake) is the lack of a legitimate bench.

With a 64-34 lead and 10 minutes to go, I pull my starters hopefully for the rest of the game.

We end up winning 78-41. For the first time, one of my teams gets 50 boards in game! We were the heavily favored team but it was still nice to get the blowout. This team lacks depth which means I'll need to be creative in my rotations, but I like the starting pieces. The point guard is a great outside shooter. Both SF's can drill the 3. Andres can hit it from anywhere and is a nasty player around the rim and a good defender to boot. Pait didnt really impress, but he wasn't bad.

78-41 win.

Andres was the clear player of the game: 30 points, 6 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals. He shot 13 of 20, 4 of 8 from the arc. He did all of that in only 24 minutes.

Santos had 10 points and 9 boards. Hodari had 9 points mostly on slashing moves to the hoop but he did hit 1 three pointer. Solomon had 11 points and 5 assists. He is a terrific 3 point shooter who could light it up if Andres is having an off night. Pait is limited offensively but he had 4 points and 11 boards

Off the bench, Owensworth had 10 boards. Hendriks had 8 points and 2 assists. Belser had 4 points and 5 boards. Solomon Chatman is our only senior who is going to be a major contributor so that if we can get Everett, I can see this team doing huge things next year. Then again, I haven't seen how good the conference is yet. For all I know, we are going to get crushed in this conference...

Still, I'm impressed with how good Andres, Solomon, and Santos can shoot after having had to work with some guys that couldn't shoot anywhere near this well. I love Andres pure stroke and elevation as well.

Eaglesfan27 · 02-10-2008, 05:57 PM

Everett is telling me that he is 99.9% a "Purple Eagle!" I like our team nickname and uniforms as well. Despite his assurances, I continue to recruit him hard as Buffalo, Colorado, SBU, and others continue to pursue him.

Even more exciting, Donte Snow is telling me that he is leaning heavily towards becoming a Purple Eagle! If we can get him locked away early, I will have won a huge recruiting coup in my first year here. Michigan is pursuing him hard, but I have a lead on them. Ohio State and George Washington are also coming up on him. I need to get him locked up early before he hears more from them. However, we are still 3 weeks away from the early recruiting signing period.

November 8, 2011 -

We host Lehigh a team with an overall rating of 74 that should be much more challenging for us.. I have told the coaches to keep our bench very short and to rely on our starters...

We win 61-51. Pait led the team with 13 points. Santos had 12 and Andres had 11. Surprisingly Solomon fouled out in 14 minutes and had 0 points. Hendriks had 7 points in big minutes off the bench.

At 2-0, our next game is 2 nights later against an Army team that is also 2-0. They are rated 71 in overall talent with a weak defense of only 69. Their strength is shooting which is rated 75. I'll play that later this week.

Tellistto · 02-13-2008, 06:21 PM

Good luck with the new team and with the recruiting as well. Been following along for awhile now, thought I'd let you know.

Tell

Eaglesfan27 · 02-13-2008, 06:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tellistto

Good luck with the new team and with the recruiting as well. Been following along for awhile now, thought I'd let you know.

Tell

Thanks. I'm looking forward to playing more this weekend.

Eaglesfan27 · 02-16-2008, 12:33 PM

We have a slight-moderate talent advantage at every position, so I'm expecting a comfortable win but Army jumps out to a 5-0 lead thanks to 2 jumpers by Kelly Towe, their SF. Meanwhile Andres misses 2 of our first 3 shots and Santos misses the other.

They start off with a 14-2 run that has the home crowd going insane forcing me to call a timeout.

Over the next 5 minutes after that timeout, we cut the lead to 18-14. Santos and Solomon are our main scorers and everyone is stepping up on defense.

With 5 minutes to go, Andres hits a jumper to tie it at 29 for our first tie of the game since the opening tip.

However, they respond with a nice run and end up leading at the half 43-36.

They are shooting 53% for the game and they really don't have good shooters, but the crowd has them pumped.

I'm going to push the defensive pressure way up in the 2nd half.

Both our PG and SG lead our team with 9 at the half. Andres is a very uncharacteristic 2 of 11 at the half, but we'll tell him to keep shooting early in the 2nd to see if he can get it going.

Andres has caught on fire in the 2nd half. A 3 by him ties it at 51 with 14 minutes to go in the game.

Andres with a 3 to cut their lead to 79-76 with 1:34 to go, but we just haven't been able to take the lead yet. Andres misses his next 3 that would have cut it a 2 point lead after we failed to get a stop. It all goes downhill after that...

We have our first loss of the year to a team that we should have beat, although their homecourt advantage was the difference. 86-78 loss.

Their PG Sargent was the player of the game with 18 points, 8 assists, and 3 steals.

Andres led our team with 28 points, 4 boards, 2 assists, and 2 steals. He shot 9 of 23, 5 of 12, and 5 of 6.

Hodari had 16 points and 2 boards. He shot 5 of 10. Solomon had 12 points and 3 assists. He shot 3 of 8. Santos had 8 points and 3 boards along with 3 assists. He shot 2 of 7. Pait had 2 points, 5 boards, and 2 blocks. He shot 1 of 3.

Owensworth was our main player off the bench today. He had 4 points, 7 boards, 2 assists, and 2 steals in 20 minutes.

Nov 13, 2011 -

We host St. Francis (PA) who are 1-3 and who we should blowout. Instead, we win 58-46. Pait leads out team with 18 points, 9 boards, and 3 blocks. No one else hit double figures which is surprising. Andres was 1 of 9.

On the recruiting front:

PG Everett Huffman continues to tell me that he is 100% Niagara.

Heh. Between his JR and SR year, Donte Snow was downgraded from a 4 star to a 3 star player. I still want him and my staff thinks the 6'4 SG is still a lights out shooter. He tells us today that while Michigan is heavily pursuing him, he is a Purple Eagle.

Nov 19 -

Today we play at 3-0 Columbia. They are rated 72 in overall talent and are a solid team that could surprise us as Army did if we don't play smart basketball. They have a star player in PG J.S. Katelynas who is rated 80 overall and is their leading scorer with 21 ppg and 5.0 apg. He is a burner with a great midrange jump shot as well as an excellent defender.

Eaglesfan27 · 02-16-2008, 01:41 PM

Balanced offense and good team defense in the first half has us with a 36-28 lead at the half.

Hodari leads the team with 13 points, 6 of them on fast break dunks. Andres has 10 points. Solomon has 6 and has held Katelynas to 6 points and 1 assist in the half.

Our worst fear of this team just happened - one of the big 4 goes down as Solomon hurts his ankle driving into the lane with 9:40 to go. We are up 58-48 and 3 of the big 4 including Solomon were scoring well.

With 7 minutes to go, Santos becomes the 4th of the big 4 to hit double digits in scoring.

With 2:20 to go, Solomon is cleared to come back into the game. His ankle has a slight sprain but he can play on it. We are up by 7 and I just want his ball handling and shooting out there now.

They try shooting 3's immediately in the shot clock, but they can't come back as we hit enough FT's down the stretch to maintain our lead.

We win 72-66.

Hodari Chatman is the player of the game with 22 points, 2 boards, 2 assists, and a steal. He shot 8 of 11, 2 of 3, and 4 of 4.

We shot 49% as a team today while holding them to 44%.

Andres had 19 points, 5 boards, 4 assists, and a steal in a great all around performance. He shot 7 of 16, 4 of 8, and 1 of 3.

Solomon had 16 points and 5 assists. He shot 6 of 12 and 2 of 5 from the arc.

Santos had 10 points, 6 boards, 5 assists, 3 steals, a block. He shot 5 of 9.

Pait had 2 points, 6 boards, an a steal. He shot 1 of 1.

Owensworth was the biggest contributor off the bench with 2 points and 8 boards in 21 minutes. Belser had 5 boards in 14 minutes.

Eaglesfan27 · 02-16-2008, 01:46 PM

Nov 23 -

We host Yale who is rated 71 in overall team talent at our place. As expected, we beat them 64-60. Solomon was a bit off his game on his bad ankle as he went 0 for 7 but he did have 7 assists as Andres had his first great game in a simulated game - 21 points, 14 boards, 3 steals, and 4 blocks. Pait had 10 points as did Hodari in the win. Santos fouled out early and didn't do much.

Nov 26 -

Today we host UT-Pan American who are 3-5. They are ranked 70 in team talent and we should beat them without too much trouble. The exciting news is that after this game, the early signing period starts and I'm expecting both Donte and Everett to sign immediately!

Eaglesfan27 · 02-16-2008, 03:06 PM

A first half in which we played relatively uninspired basketball but were good enough to keep the lead. 36-35 at the half, we lead.

Hodari Chatman leads the team with 11 points as is doing it on the break and has also hit a 3 and a few mid range jumpers. Andres has 10 and Solomon has 5.

A very sloppy second half as we turn it over too many times on bad passes and steals gives them a 8 point lead that we never eliminate and they hold on down the stretch.

86-77 disappointing loss at home.

Hunt, their SF had 30 points as I just couldn't shut him down even with Andres going to tight coverage on him.

Andres lead our team with 21 points on 8 of 18 shooting including 3 of 7 behind the arc.

Hodari had 19 points on 7 of 13 shooting, 3 of 5, an 2 of 4. Solomon had 11 points and 2 assists. Santos had 14 points, 6 boards, and 4 assists. All of the big 4 scored well, but we played poor defense. I'm going to get my guys to concentrate on defense more. Andres is rated very good on defense and he should be doing better at that part of his game.

That loss drops us to 5-2.

However, it doesn't stop us Everett or Donte from officially signing their LOI with Niagara and becoming Purple Dragons!!!

Here is the official report on both players as of this point:

Everett Huffman is a 5'8 175 pound enior from Niagara Falls NY. He is ranked 213 overall and 79th among PG's. He is a 3 star player. He is rated A- in shooting, A- in athleticism, B+ in skills, B in IQ, B in Def, B in potential, C in rebounding, and a D for size by our staff. If they are correct, he should be a huge contributor for us. Our scouts believe his speciality is shooting off the dribble. If the tape/staff is correct, he'll be our starting PG next year.

Donte Snow is a 6'4 217 pound SR from Toronto Canada who was being pursued by Michigan. He was a 4 star player who dropped to a 3 star player this year. Still, he is ranked 189th overall and 42 among SG's. He has an A for shooting, a B+ for defense, B+ for athleticism, B+ for potential, B for skill, B- for size, B- for IQ, and a C+ for rebounding. His speciality is posting up where he is very good offensively as well as shooting the 3 where he is the best HS player I've ever managed to land. He is also is a good shot blocker for a SG. If the tape is right, he will add immediate depth to our bench next year and be a key contributor every night and get 20-30 minutes.

The last recruit I'm pursuing who I'm hoping to wrap up in this early signing period is a 6'8 220 pound JC C who is a 3 star unranked player. He is a good passing big man who does everything ok and is a good shot blocker for his size. We need interior toughness and I think Jerel Bogans from Erie,
PA can add it. We are his leading school, and I think we have a good chance of wrapping him up this week which would be the last of our scholarships.

Nov 29 -

We play 66 rated Brown and beat them 76-50. Pait led the team with 26 points on 10 of 11 shooting and 5 of 10 from the FT. Hodari had 13 points, 9 boards, and 5 assists. Solomon had 8 points and 9 assists. Andres only had 5 points and 5 boards.

We are now 6-2 and our next game is at Saint Peter's. They are rated 76 overall and should be an even matchup. I'll play that later today or tomorrow.

Eaglesfan27 · 02-17-2008, 12:14 AM

St. Peter's is 2-4 and without their best player due to injury which drops their overall team talent to 74. We are going to play a very aggressive defense in which we play the passing lanes more and play tight M2M defense. Their best (non-injured) player is their SF Winston Winkfield who is 6'6 200 pounds and is rated 73 overall and is a very good shooter. Andres will have to use his size and play extremely closely on him.

Edit: I just realized that the St. Peters game was the start of my conference schedule! However, I have 2 more non-conference games after this one.

Eaglesfan27 · 02-17-2008, 01:23 AM

I'm not sure if without their star they just lacked good shooters or our defense was just outstanding, but either way we held them to 26% shooting in the 1st half and built a 33-19 lead.

Santos leads our team at the half with 14 points as he is playing well both defensively and offensively. Andres is focusing on defense, but still has 5 points. Hodari has 9 points.

With 6 minutes to go, we maintain our lead 53-39.

With 3 minutes to go, they cut it to a 53-46 lead, so we get our rested starters back into the game.

They come in and put it away with a 11-0 run. When our starters were in this game, our defense was stifling.

64-46 win.

I think Santos played better defensively because we got him involed offensively early and he won player of the game. Santos finished with 22 points, 6 boards, 1 assist, 1 block, and a steal. He had 2 nice slam dunks on fast breaks. He shot 10 of 12, 0 of 1, and 2 of 3.

Hodari had 17 points, 5 boards, and 3 assists. He shot 7 of 11.

Andres shot 5 of 11 and had 11 points, 5 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block as well as playing great defense. Winkfield, their best shooter and Andres main assignment went 1 of 15 from the field and 0 of 6 from the arc!

Hodari who is a good defender did well as his man went 3 of 14 from the field.

Solomon had a poor game as he was 1 of 8 from the field. He had 3 points and an assist. Pait had 9 boards, 3 assists, and a block. Owensworth led us off the bench with 5 points and 7 boards.

That win raises our record to 7-2.

The early signing period ends and while Jerel Bogans is 99% committed to us we don't get him to sign early. Well hope that no one steals him later in the year. Right now, we are firmly at the top of his list. Other schools that are recruiting him include Marshall, Duquenne, and Wright State among 4 others.

Dec 16 -

We play our 2nd to last Non-Conference game against a slightly better foe, Charlotte. They are 5-3 and rated 79 in team talent. We lose at home 79-71. Also, Moran, a backup PG, is hurt for 2-3 weeks with a sore shoulder. Andres led the team with 12 points, 6 boards, 2 steals. He shot 3 of 15. Hodari had 10 points, 7 boards, and 6 assists. He shot 4 of 7.

Our last non-conference game is against my old team, Nicholls State because I wanted to see how they were doing. They are currently 3-8 and their overall talent rating is 66. Their shooting is very poor and they are only shooting 35% as a team. Bose is leading them with 11.5 ppg and Lloyd is 2nd with 11 ppg but he is injured and is questionable for this game.

I'll play it out tomorrow.

Eaglesfan27 · 02-17-2008, 01:39 AM

A preview of the Metro Atlantic Conference in 2012:

Loyola College - Rated 82 overall. The most balanced team in the conference with the best shooting in the conference. They are 8-3 coming into conference play and one of their losses is a 88-84 loss to Maryland.

Siena - Rated 81 overall. A team without any weaknesses but no obvious strengths. They are 6-4 coming into conference play.

Rider - Rated 80 overall. Third best shootng teams in the conference. They are 8-2 coming into conference play so far.

Manhattan - Rated 79 overall. A decent shooting team that has great size inside and is a tough rebounding team. One of the best rebounding teams in the conference. They are 6-6 coming into conference play.

Iona - Rated 79 overall. The 2nd best shooting team in the conference. They are 8-4 coming into the conference. Very dangerous from outside of the arc.

Niagara - We are rated 77 in overall team talent, but our shooting is one of the better ratings in the conference at 81. We should be 8-3 going into conference play unless we have a colossal upset to Nicholls State.

Fairfield - Rated 77 overall in team talent but with worse shooting than us. Their strength is their inside play and team defense. They are 4-5 coming into conference play at this point.

Saint Peter's - Rated 75 overall and one of the few teams below us in overall team talent. Stregnth is their rebounding. They are 3-6 coming into conference play.

Canisius - Another team expected to finish below us that is rated 75 in overall talent. They are 5-5 coming into conference play. A poor shooting team but a decent defensive team.

Marist - Rated 72 overall which makes them the weakest team in the conference. Despite this, they are a decent shooting team, but their defense is horrid. They are 2-10 coming into conference play.

Eaglesfan27 · 02-17-2008, 11:51 AM

Lloyd is out injured and they are using new recruits Grafs at center. Newton is starting PF which is an interesting choice. They have a very small lineup that I expect to dominate. Spencer is at SF. O'Brien is starting at PG and Pekkola at SG.

Spencer has given them their first 7 points and they are up 7-4 early.

Spencer and Bose keep the lead for them until 10:43 when we take a 19-18 lead on a Hodari slam and the foul.

However, the next play Spencer gets them the lead again!

Spencer was huge in keeping them in the game. I almost wish I was still there to see how many games that kid could win for us. He had 16 in the half to keep them within 6. We are up 39-33 in large part due to an Andres triggered run at the end that started with a block of a Spencer shot followed by him taking it to the other end and doing a pump fake windmill jam that was one of the best I've ever seen from any of my players.

He leads my team with 12 points and 2 boards. He is 4 of 5 from the field. Otherwise our scoring is very balancd with Santos, Pait, Meeking, Hendriks, and Hodari each having at least 4 points. Hodari is 2nd on the team with 6. Solomon hasn't taken any shots yet, but he already has 5 assists. I want our defense to step up in the 2nd half.

First play of the 2nd half, after forcing a Spencer miss, Andres races down the court and does a huge tomahawk dunk after a great pass from Solomon!

Sheesh with 8:36 to go, Spencer hits another 3 to give them a 1 point lead, 56-55. Andres is resting so it was Santos on him. Spencer has 23 at this point.

Solomon responds with 2 3 pointers and then a drive into the lane which opens up a pass to Santos who gets the layup and the foul!

However, Spencer, Bose, and O'Brien are keeping them right there with me.
63-62 with 6 minutes to go, we lead. Then, we bring in a rested Andres.

With 2:40 to go, we go up 69-65 on a 2 by Andres from 12 feet out.

However, Spencer continues to either drive into the lane or hit outside shots and he now has brought it back within 3 thanks to a FT.

Solomon responds by blowing by O'Brien and getting 2 FT's. Unfortunately, he misses the first but makes the 2nd. 70-66 with 1:42 to go.

Spencer with an offensive board and put back to make it 70-68. Spencer now has 31. Sheesh. Andres just can't contain this kid.

O'Brien with a steal.. he passes it to Spencer on the break.. he hits the 16 footer. Tied game. 55 seconds left.

Pait with an offensive board and the putback after an Andres miss! 72-70. 17 seconds left.

Spencer shoots a 3 with Andres on him.. he misses! Solomon gets the long board! They foul immediately. Solomon hits the first but misses the second. 4 seconds left, we lead by 3.

Pekkola gets a desperation 3, but he misses it.

We avoid a very embarassing loss.

Spencer should have gotten player of the game, but since we won Andres gets it.

Andres had 18 points, 5 boards, 1 assist, and 1 block. He shot 6 of 10, 0 of 1, and 6 of 8.

Santos had 13 points, 7 boards, 1 assist, and 1 block.

Solomon had 10 points, 7 assists, 3 boards, and 2 steals. He shot 2 of 5, 2 of 4, and 4 of 6.

Hodari had 9 points and 3 boards. Pait had 8 points and 8 boards.

Meeking led the team off the bench with 6 points.

Eaglesfan27 · 02-17-2008, 11:58 AM

Dec 23, 2011 -

As expected, we lose our game at Rider 88-70. Rider got 24 points and 10 boards from tehir star center Isaac Pompey. Nik Samabaly, their young FR PG who is already highly rated, had 15 points and 6 assists.

Pait led us with 16 points. Andres had 12 points and 6 boards. Solomon had 11 points and 4 assists and Santos had 11 points and 2 boards.

Our next game is at 6-7 Manhattan. We are evenly matached against them and this should be a good game. The key for us will be to stop their impressive inside game and their rebounding.

Eaglesfan27 · 02-17-2008, 01:12 PM

Thanks to a 10-0 run at the end of the half, we are up 40-33 at the half. Very crisp execution from our offense which is helping negate their rebounding edge which is significant at plus 7.

Santos and Andres are our two main scorers. Santos has 15 points on 6 of 7 shooting and Andres had 9 on 4 of 9 shooting.

In the first minute of the 2nd half, Solomon twists his knee driving into the lane

3 minutes later after having his knee wrapped, Solomon returns, it is just a minor sprain.

Andres and Santos were both efficient in their offense in the 2nd half and we maintained a comfortable lead throughout the 2nd half.

We win 73-62 as we shot 50% to their 41%. They outrebounded us 34-29.

Santos was the player of the game. He had 22 points, 6 boards, 2 assists, and 1 steal. He shot 7 of 12, 1 of 4, and 7 of 7.

Andres had 20 points, 3 boards, and 3 assists. He shot 9 of 16, 2 of 7, and 0 of 1

Hodari had 10 points, 4 steals, 3 boards, and 3 assists.

Solomon had 5 points, 4 assists, and 2 steals.

Pait had 7 points and 7 boards.

Owensworth had 4 points and 7 boards.

Jan 3, 2012 -

We win at St. Peter's 53-51. Andres led the team with 14 points and 6 boards. He shot 4 of 14, 2 of 5, and 4 of 8. Santos had 12 and Hodari had 8. This time, Winkfield had 14 points on 5 of 15 shooting as he was their only starter to hit double digits.

We are now 10-4 and have an outside shot at my goal of hitting 20 wins which I thought we wouldn't do until next year.

Our next game is hosting the Manhattan squad that I just beat. I'll play that later today or more likely later this week.

Groundhog · 02-17-2008, 07:54 PM

The strength of the MAC is interesting, out of the top teams at least. I'm in the Atlantic 10 and Loyola would, on strength of Overall rating, be the equal 2nd best team in my Atlantic 10.

Eaglesfan27 · 02-17-2008, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Groundhog

The strength of the MAC is interesting, out of the top teams at least. I'm in the Atlantic 10 and Loyola would, on strength of Overall rating, be the equal 2nd best team in my Atlantic 10.

Remember that this dynasty is "tainted" because I started it pre-patch. All team strengths should come down a few points in a couple of years. I'm not sure if yours was started pre-patch or not, but if so, it is hard to compare the two. Also, I love how I keep discovering new things in this game. Today, I just discovered the report card screen where you can get in season grades on how your team is doing offensively and defensively as well as their averages in a huge number of areas and how it compares to the in-game NCAA average. That is awesome. Best dynasty mode of any console sports game.

Eaglesfan27 · 02-22-2008, 08:46 PM

Today, we host Manhattan. Since we just beat them, I'm expecting a win at home.

A perfectly executed offense the first 5 minutes. 11-11 with Andres and Solomon being our two primary weapons.

At the 10 minute mark, we are down 24-17 as Andres has been resting the last 3 minutes and they have gone on a 6-0 run.

Hodari with a drive and a layup to break that run.

With 6 minutes to go, we are down 34-23 and I get Andres back in.

The next 3 minutes he leads us on a 8-0 run, but they respond with their own mini-run after that.

Still, mostly playing with backups he cuts the lead to 6 before we get our starters back in.

If we weren't missing so many FT's, it'd be even closer. However, our FT woes continue as Hodari misses 2 with 1:19 to go. But, we get a basket from Andres on our next possession. They get the ball for last possession but Andres steals it and throws it ahead to Santos who slams it home just before the buzzer goes off to cut the lead to 3!

39-36 at the half.

We are 6 of 12 from the line so far

Andres leads our team with 16 points, 2 boards, 2 assists, and a steal at the half.

Solomon has 8 points and 4 assists. Everyone else has been quiet except Belser who gave us 6 big points and 3 boards off the bench during the run at the end of the half when Andres was leading the backups.

With 17 minutes to go, Solomon hits 2 FT's to tie the game up at 43.

With 16 minutes to go, Santos picks up his 4th foul.. I'm going to let him stay on the court..

The next 6 minutes is a terrible cold streak for us which they build up a 10 point lead. Finally Hodari ends it with a drive and layup.

With 7:20 to go, a rested Andres and the bench take the court... we are down by 7, 65-58.

With 3 minutes to go, Andres misses 2 FT's that would have brought it within 4

He does force a miss but misses the layup on the opposite end. We get in our starters who are at least somewhat rested.

Down by 6 with 2:20 to go. Santos with a steal and dunk!!

We force a bad pass on their next possession - turnover!

However, Andres blows the opportunity with a missed open 16 footer.

After we get a stop, Solomon with a 3! 78-77 with 55 seconds to go!

We get a defensive stop... With 5 seconds left, Andres passes up a semi-open shot and passes it an open Hodari for a 18 footer.. he misses it! They get the board. We foul with 1.4 seconds left.

Christie, their star SF, hits both FT's.

We set up a play off the timeout to get Chapman a look at a long 3, but Solomon misses it. We lose 80-77.

Christie was the player of the game with 17 points, 4 boards, and 4 assists.

Andres led our team with 24 points, 3 boards, 3 assists, and 1 steal. He shot 6 of 16, 2 of 4, and 10 of 17.

Solomon had 16 points and 5 assists. Hodari had 17 points and 3 boards. He shot 6 of 10 and 1 of 5 from the arc. Santos had 8 pints on 3 of 8 shooting. Pait had 2 points and 14 boards. He shot 0 of 1. Belser led our bench scoring with 8 points and 5 boards.

For the game, we were 20 of 35 from the line.

Eaglesfan27 · 02-22-2008, 08:55 PM

Jan 8, 2012 -

We play at Marist who is 2-15. We are expected to win against them and we do, 83-67. Pait led the team with 15 points. Andres only had 8 points on 2 of 6 shooting. I'm thinking about playing out all of my games during Andres' senior year. He is one of my favorite players that I've ever coached in any version of this game, and I'll miss him when he is gone. However, for this year, we'll continue the play 1, sim 1 pattern until the conference tourney.

Our next game is against Iona at their place. They are averaging just over 70 ppg as are we. They are playing tight defense and are 12-6. Their 3 point shooters are very dangerous and we'll have to pay special attention to them as they are shooting almost 40% as a team behind the arc.

Eaglesfan27 · 02-22-2008, 10:13 PM

Iona comes out with an 8-0 lead on 2 3's and a dunk. They have also blocked 2 of my shots and are playing excellent defense.

4 minutes into the game, Andres with a drive into the lane draws a foul and hits both FT's.

We end up working the rest of the half to recover from that early deficit. We do a decent job of chipping at the lead. 34-28 at the half, they lead.

Collier, their SG, has 12 points and is the player of the half.

Andres leads our team with 15 points. Solomon has 8 and no one else on my team has more than 3. My goal for the 2nd half is to get Hodari and Santos more involved offensively.

With 5:26 to go, we close the gap to 4 points, but all of our starters are exhausted except for Andres who is a little tired. He comes back from the bench and they all rest. 59-55.

With 2:54 to go and down by 2, we get 2 starters back in with Hodari and Santos coming back tired but not exhausted.

With 2 minutes to go, Solomon comes back in as well. Down 63-61.

After Hodari helps force a stop, Andres drives into the lane and gets the foul! He hits the first, but misses the second. 63-62.

After they hit a layup on a nice drive, Solomon responds with a 3 to tie it up! 65 all.

A BS goaltending call on Belser in which I thought he blocked it cleanly gives them the lead again.

With 5 seconds left, Andres strokes a 12 foot jumper! Tied at 67. Good defense forces a missed 3! We are going to OT!

After 2 minutes of no scoring, Solomon with a drive into the lane gets a collapsing defense and kicks it out to an open Andres for a 3! 70-67! Andres now has 30 in the game.

Both teams with tired players and both teams are missing shots. Still, they get into the lane and draw a foul with 1:23 to go.

Fortunately, Stokes misses the first FT. We are up 70-68.

Belser who I kept in for his size gets the unexpected basket on a great play which frees him up for the easy dunk! Santos with the nice assist. 72-68 with 42 seconds left.

They respond with a quick basket and then intentionally foul Andres. Despite being tired, he drills both FT's!!! 74-70.

Solomon blocks their 3 point attempt! He misses both of his FT attempts after they intentionally foul him but Belser gets the board and the slam dunk! 76-70. 22 seconds left.

They miss their 3's down the stretch and we hit our FT's. 79-70 win in a nice road upset that balances out the unexpected home loss earlier

Corey Stokes is their best 3 point shooter. Andres and Santos held the SF to 13 points on 4 of 15 shooting!

Prosper Collier, their star SG, was held to 19 points on 8 of 20 shooting!

Andres was the player of the game with 32 points, 5 boards, 4 assists, and 1 block. He shot 12 of 21, 2 of 2, and 6 of 7.

Solomon had 17 points, 4 boards, 3 assists, and 3 steals.

Hodari had 13 points, 3 boards, 2 assists, and 2 steals.

Santos had 9 points, 3 boards, 3 assists, and a steal. He shot 2 of 8 but was 1 of 1 from the arc.

Pait had 0 points and 6 boards in 29 minutes. Belser who I played all of OT and down the stretch had 5 points, 5 boards, 1 assist, and 1 TO in just 16 minutes. The 7'1 261 pound senior is showing me that he deserves a bit more PT.

Eaglesfan27 · 02-22-2008, 10:17 PM

Jan 16 -

As expected, we lose on the road to Rider, 84-80. Andres led the team with 14 points, 5 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. Pait and Solomon each had 13 points. Santos had 11. Belser had 4 points and 4 boards in very limited time.

Our next game is against 6-11 Canisius who we should beat. I'll play that tomorrow.

Eaglesfan27 · 02-23-2008, 10:05 AM

After the first 10 minutes, we are down 13-12 as Solomon is our only consistent early scorer.

A 7-0 run puts us down 28-21 with 5 minutes to go. I get Andres back in and sit our tired starters.

Down 36-30 at the half.

I decide to come out in the 2nd half with more full court trapping. We have the more athletic team and it is time to put pressure on them.

They are shooting 50% from the field and 44% from the arc.

McCollum their SG has 11 points.

Solomon leads our team with 9 points. Hodari has 7 and Andres has 5 points along with 3 assists. Andres is 0 of 5 from the floor but is 5 of 6 from the line.

After forcing a miss, Pait with an outlet pass to Solomon who gets it ahead to Hodari for a slam and the foul! He makes the FT to convert the 3 point play. 36-33.

5 minutes to the half, we get out home court rocking with some easy baskets off the full court trap. Santos with one huge dunk in particular. 44-42, we lead.

That triggered our best basketball of the year. The crowd was the loudest I've heard it in our home arena all year and our guys completely fed off of it. For the next 14 minutes, they played high energy defense, high energy offense, and efficient execution. I finally pull my starters who didn't need any rest as the crowd was keeping them pumped with 2:20 to go and a 77-57 lead.

At least at home, we'll be going to the full court press against teams that we can match up with athletically more often now. Even though, we didn't generate many baskets off the press, but the higher tempo just seemed to energize the crowd and our team.

We win the game, 79-66.

Solomon was the player of the game. He thrived in the high tempo offense. 24 points, 6 assists, 2 boards, and 2 steals. He shot 10 of 13, 3 of 4, and 1 of 2. He also had 4 turnovers.

Andres had 16 points, 5 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals. He shot 5 of 11, 0 of 2, and 6 of 9.

Santos had 16 points, 4 boards, 4 assists, an 2 steals. He shot 7 of 11, 1 of 1, and 1 of 2.

Hodari had 14 points, 2 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block. He shot 5 of 6, 0 of 1, and 4 of 5.

Pait had 1 point and 13 boards.

Belser had 6 points and 2 boards in 11 minutes off the bench.

Jan 22 -

An unexpected loss to Fairfield at home as we lose 64-54. Pait was our leading scorer with 17 points. Andres was 2 of 10 from the floor. Hodari was 0 of 8 and Solomon was 2 of 6. Santos had 8 points and 10 boards but fouled out in 24 minutes. Solomon fouled out in 28 minutes and Andres only played 26 minutes due to foul trouble.

We are now 13-7 and don't have much of a chance at 20 wins that I was hoping for this season.

In good news, Jerel Bogans, the JC Freshman C from Erie PA has told me that he is 100% sure that he wants to come to Niagara and as soon as he can sign he will do so. The 6'8 218 pound center should be a very good rebounder for his size and rebounding is one of the biggest things we'll need to add to our bench's frontcourt with the graduation of Belser.

Our next two games are against Canisus and Fairfield. I'm going to sim the first and play the second so that I don't play Canisus again just to mix things up.

Jan 27 -

We beat Canisus again, this time 79-62. We had balanced scoring: Hodari with 16, Andres with 16, Pait with 13, Santos with 12, and Solomon with 6. Solomon also had 8 assists.

We are now 14-7 and our next game is on the 29th at 9-11 Fairfield. Fairfield is struggling to score and they don't have the outside shooters that most of the teams in the conference do. However, they are strong on the interior. This will be a tough matchup for Pait and Santos.

Eaglesfan27 · 02-23-2008, 11:22 AM

They quickly get 2 fouls on Pait who is overmatched by their center's size. I put in Belser.

My team has speed, quickness, and length (but not bulk except for Belser.) Going to the trap is working again even on the road. We aren't getting the crowd into it, but we are generating some turnovers and are building a lead late in the first half. With 7 minutes to go and our starters tiring, it is 28-19.

We go into the half up 38-29. We are shooting 48% while holding them to 33%. They are only outrebounding us by 5. Andres lead our team with 18 points and 4 boards. He is 7 of 13 from the floor so far. Solomon has 8 points and 3 assists at the half. Santos has 5 points and 4 assists at the half.

Up 61-48 at the 10 minute mark, I rest Andres.

We are up 69-58 with 5:20 to go as I bring Andres in but give the rest of my starters a brief rest.

We were comfortably up throughout most of the game until they closed within 4 at the 2:20 mark. At that point, I brought in all of my starters. It stayed within 4 until Solomon hit a 3 off a really nice Andres dish to make it a 7 point lead with 50 seconds to go.

They never threatened again. 79-71 win.

Andres was the player of the game. 24 points, 11 boards, 4 assists, 3 steals, and 1 incredible dunk on a fast break alley-oop from Santos. He shot 9 of 19, 3 of 5, and 3 of 5.

Santos also had a great game: 23 points, 5 boards, 6 assists, 1 steal, and 2 blocks. He shot 9 of 19, 1 of 4, and 4 of 5.

Solomon had 12 points, 4 assists, 2 boards, and a steal.

Hodari had 12 points, 2 boards, 2 assists, and 2 steals.

Pait had 2 points, 3 boards, and 2 blocks.

They outrebounded us 46-30. However, we shot 48%. Thanks in part to 24 fast break points! They shot 37%. We'll be going to this uptempo game much more this year I suspect.

Our next game will be at Loyola College. They are 14-8 and should be very challenging with their excellent outside shooting. Still, I'm going to try to run against them as well as it seems to be working well for this team. I'll play that later today.

Eaglesfan27 · 02-23-2008, 02:23 PM

Lester Guasco is a tremendously talented SF that Andres will have to slow down for us to win today.

They start off with a 9-0 run before Hodari hits a 8 footer.

We pulled within 1 but then they go on another 8-0 run and they are up 23-14 when I rest Andres with 9:40 to go.

A strong run led by Andres closes the gap at the end of the half. 38-36, we are down.

Andres has 14 points, 4 boards, 1 assist, and 1 steal at the half.

Oglesby, their SG, has 15 points at the half. He's been driving almost at will into the lane and if we lay off him, he drills 3's.

A fastbreak layup by Solomon gives us a 48-46 lead with 15 minutes to go in the game.

With 6:25 to go, we are down 66-65, but Andres is coming back into the game fully rested.

After missing a shot, Andres pressures the PG coming up the court, steals it from him, and takes it to the hoop for a powerful windmill dunk! 67-66.

Down 70-69 with the ball with 2:53 to go.

We fail to score, but after a defensive stop, Andres with a board and quick pass to Solomon who throws it up the court to Hodari for a breakaway dunk! 71-70. 1:52 to go.

After getting an offensive board, Belser fouls their center. Their center hits the 2nd of 2 to tie it at 71.

Solomon with a drive into the lane off a screen and he takes it to the hoop for a basket. Our trap creates a steal by Andres!

Andres dribbles into the lane with 5 seconds left, they collapse on him.. he kicks it out to Santos who misses the open 3.

Guasco on the other end beats everyone and gets an easy dunk to tie it at 73. 6 seconds left. We call a timeout to set up one final play...

Off the inbound, Andres comes off a screen running into the right corner.. Solomon finds him.. Andres shoots.. it's good!!! 76-73 win!!!

Andres was the player of the game. 24 points, 6 boards, 1 assist, 3 steals. He shot 10 of 21, 2 of 6, and 2 of 2.

Santos had 18 points, 5 boards, 1 assist, an 1 block. He shot 8 of 19, 2 of 5, and 0 of 0.

Solomon had 17 points, 4 assists, and 1 steal. He shot 6 of 9, 2 of 3, and 3 of 4.

Hodari had 10 points, 1 board, 3 assists, and 1 block. He shot 4 of 8, 0 of 2, and 2 of 4.

Pait had 0 points, 5 boards, 3 assists, and 2 blocks.

Belser led our bench with 2 points, 2 boards, and a block in 12 minutes.

Great upset win for us that makes 20 wins a more realistic goal again.

Next up is Iona on Feb 5th -

Our new scheme (I've made the changes to my coaching scheme so that it should affect simmed games as well) works in this game as we win 79-77!

The new running, trapping attack seems to favor our SF's who finally become our leading scorers. Santos led the team with 17 points and 6 boards. Andres had 12 points and 6 boards but led the team with shots as he went 5 of 17.

Pait was just 1 of 4 as he fouled out in 14 minutes. Belser had 9 points in 12 minutes off the bench. Chatman finished with 10 points and 6 assists. Hodari had 8 points and 6 assists.

We are now 17-7 with 4 games left on the regular season schedule:

11th at home vs Siena - Winnable but will be a challenge.

13th at home vs Marist - 4-22, we definitely should win.

24th at home vs Loyola - We just barely scraped by, but we'll be at home and it's winnable since we won at their place.

26th at Siena - Winnable but will be a challenge.

As of this moment, we are 1st in the Metro Atlantic! Or conference record of 10-4 is tied with Rider and Siena. Loyola and Manhattan are 9-5.

Our conference RPI Rank is 12th right now.

Our team RPI Rank right now is 77.

Siena has no weaknesses in their lineup and I'm hoping that we can get the home crowd going early and rattle their young PG, otherwise, this will be a very tough game.

Eaglesfan27 · 02-23-2008, 03:54 PM

5 minutes into the game, their center is hurt after Hodari collides with him on a layup attempt.

Not much defense in this one. 42-42 at the half.

Hodari Chatman is player of the half. He has 12 points, 2 boards, and an assist. Andres has been ice cold going 3 of 12 in the first half.

We've had the crowd going most of the 2nd half, but have been unable to get a big lead until about 6 minutes to go when we get a 10-0 run with Andres on the bench. Andres has had a poor game today, but Hodari and Santos have picked it up.

Still, with 4 minutes to go, I get Andres back into the game. We are up 73-62 and he is rested now.

We hold on down the stretch and win 78-68.

Hodari Chatman wins player of the game. 26 points, 5 boards, 3 steals, and 1 assist. He shot 7 of 16, 4 of 9 (very surprising although they were all open looks) and 8 of 8 (also surprising for him.)

Santos had 17 points, 6 boards, 3 steals, and an assist. He shot 3 of 10, 2 of 4, and 9 of 10.

Andres had 10 points, 7 boards, 4 assists, 3 steals. He shot 4 of 18, 0 of 5, 2 of 3. He did hold their star SF to 3 of 14 shooting.

Pait had 6 points and 14 boards. Solomon had 9 points, 3 assists, and 3 steals. He shot 4 of 8 and 1 of 3 from the arc.

Feb 13 -

As expected, we beat 4-23 Marist. In fact, we blow them out 81-48. Again with the new offensive and defensive tempo, our SF's dominated the action. Andres was our leading scorer with 16 points, 9 boards, 3 steals, 2 blocks, and an assist. He shot 5 of 11, 2 of 5, and 4 of 8. Santos had 11 points, 4 boards, 3 steals, 2 blocks, and an assist. He shot 2 of 9 but 7 of 10 from the line.

Solomon Chatman had 10 points and 5 assists. Hodari had 7 points, 4 boards, and 4 assists. Pait had 9 points and 4 boards in 30 minutes. Meeking was our best player off the bench with 9 points and 2 boards.

We are now 19-7. The conference standings for the top 5 are now:

Niagara 12-4
Siena 11-5
Rider 10-6
Loyola (MD) 10-6
Manhattan 10-6
Iona 10-6

Watching the National College Hoops Show, I see that we haven't made the list of the top 10 Mid-Major teams yet.

Other interesting tidbits from the show:

South Carolina's coach is on the hotseat. Of course, I can't change jobs since I just arrived here (not sure that I really want to until Andres leaves anyway.)

Next up for us is Loyola at home and then Siena on the road. I'll play the Loyola game tomorrow and finish out the regular season and start the conference tourney.

Balldog · 02-23-2008, 08:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

South Carolina's coach is on the hotseat. Of course, I can't change jobs since I just arrived here (not sure that I really want to until Andres leaves anyway.)

If the coaching progression system is the same as last year you are a job or two away from a big conference job. Last year you had to go from small to mid major to major to big. It's kind of dumb, every year I'd be the #2 coach on everyone's list when I was at CMU. The only jobs ever offered with Majors, like WAC and C-USA.

Eaglesfan27 · 02-23-2008, 08:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Balldog

If the coaching progression system is the same as last year you are a job or two away from a big conference job. Last year you had to go from small to mid major to major to big. It's kind of dumb, every year I'd be the #2 coach on everyone's list when I was at CMU. The only jobs ever offered with Majors, like WAC and C-USA.

You are probably right. Once Andres and the current class leaves, I'll be looking for a major conference job preferably something closer to the west coast since I eventually want to coach USC (the real USC.)

Eaglesfan27 · 02-24-2008, 11:52 AM

Time to play Loyola at home. They are the better of the two teams left on my schedule but with the home crowd, I like our changes better in this game. I want to get 20 wins during the regular season, but of course will have a 2nd chance to get 20 wins during the conference tourney.

Loyola is very talented and this will be a tough game. Again, we must slow down Guasco, their SF, for a chance to win.

An incredibly fast tempo leads to Andres needing to rest after 7 minutes. We are up 16-11.

A back and forth first half ends with an Andres 3 at the buzzer to give us a 40-39 lead. Very high tempo by both sides.

Oglesby leads them with 9. Andres is the player of the half. He leads us with 13 points, 4 assists, 2 boards, and a block. He is shooting 4 of 11, 3 of 5, and 2 of 5.

Hodari has added 9 and Santos has 8.

Early in the 2nd half, Andres draws a 3rd foul on Guasco, but Andres is already sucking air and will have to come probably by the 15 minute mark...

He might have to leave soon, but it is not before he blocks a shot of one of their guards and then takes it all the way for a huge dunk that gets the crowd ignited!

The crowd boost does give him a bit of energy but he has to leave with 14 minutes to go, but only after he went on a personal 9 point scoring run.

Once he leaves, everyone else steps up and we continue the nice run. With 10 minutes to go, we are up 63-53 and the crowd is rocking the arena.

At about the 9 minute mark, they go on a 5-0 run that cuts the lead to 5, but after I call a timeout, Santos hits 3 baskets including 2 3's to rebuild the lead to 12.

Now with 6 minutes to go, we start slowing things down and milking the clock. We also get a fully rested Andres back into the game.

With 3:29 to go, Solomon fouls out. I go with Owensworth off the bench looking to go big for defense since we are already up by 15. Andres will be our primary ballhandler in this lineup.

We win 87-70.

Santos wins player of the game. 25 points, 10 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal. He shot 8 of 14, 4 of 5, and 5 of 5. He was huge in the run that built the lead when Andres went out, although Andres got the crowd going right before that run started.

Nice way to get our 20th win with a convincing display against one of the best teams in the conference

We shot 48% while holding them to 46%. We had 14 fast break points to their 6. We went 15 of 28 from the arc which is our best of the year.

Andres finished with 23 points, 5 assists, 2 boards, 2 blocks, and 1 steal. He shot 8 of 16, 4 of 7, and 3 of 7.

Solomon had 14 points, 4 assists, 3 boards, and 1 steal. He also had 5 turnovers, mostly from trying to force some alley-oops on the fast break. He was 6 of 10 from and 2 of 5 from the arc.

Hodari had 12 points, 3 boards, 3 steals, and an assist. He shot 4 of 10 and 4 of 6 from the arc which was a pleasant surprise. Again, all of his shots were wide open 3's usually off feeds from Solomon or Andres.

Pait finished with 2 points, 2 boards, and 2 assists in one of his more disappointing games.

Belser had 2 points and 2 boards in just 6 minutes.

Owensworth played 22 minutes off the bench and had 7 points and 7 boards including a 3 which he can occasionally hit. He shot 2 of 6 and 1 of 3 from the arc.

Andres got Guasco in foul trouble and he only played 15 minutes this game. In those 15 minutes, he was 4 of 9 from the field for 11 poiints. He also had 3 boards and 2 assists. Their star, Oglesby led them with 15 points on 3 of 12 shooting as Hodari did well against him.

Eaglesfan27 · 02-24-2008, 12:03 PM

A horrific blow in our final game. Solomon Chatman broke his ankle

He will miss 6-8 weeks which means his season is over

We don't have the depth to cover his absence in the tourney I fear. Still, we won the game at Siena very convincingly, 84-54.

Solomon only played 16 minutes before he getting hurt.

Andres led our team with 23 points, 8 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, and 2 blocks. He shot 8 of 10, 3 of 5, and 4 of 4.

Hodari had 18 points, 7 assists, 4 boards, 2 blocks, and a steal. He shot 5 of 9 and 4 of 6 from the arc.

Santos had 17 points and 3 boards along with 2 blocks. He shot 6 of 10.

Pait had 6 points an 7 boards.

Owensworth had 9 points and 9 boards.

With the loss of Solomon, we have a few choices: Go big with Hodari guarding their PG, Andres on their SG, and Santos on their SG and Owensworth on their PF. That gives us no bench depth at PF. Hodari is a very good passer and Owensworth is my best bench player...

- Or I could promote Ike Hendriks to starting PG. I've used him as my bench player at the position all year. He is far from a natural PG but Andres has been the ball handler when he has been in there. The kid can't pass that good, but he is a good spot up shooter and he is a good slasher with speed. He's also played a lot because the staff feels he has potential to become a good starter..

- Or I coul start Casey Shaw who has been griping for playing time. Casey is a true PG who is an ok player. He is a solid passer with decent speed. He is a definite downgrade from Solomon and he can't bury the 3 with any reliability like Solomon could. However, he is 6'3 195 so he at least has some size and he is a decent defender. If I had played him more this year, I'd like this plan the best. As it is, I decide to give him a pep talk and throw him into the starting lineup and keep my fingers crossed...

The good news is that we are the regular season Conference Champions!

Eaglesfan27 · 02-24-2008, 12:16 PM

Our RPI is now 54th and the National College Hoops show said we are officially on the Bubble for the Big Dance!

We need to get at least a few tourney wins, but we don't necessarily have to win it all to get an invite.

We get a 1st round buy in the Metro Atlantic Tourney for being one of the top teams. Fairfield beats Canisus 68-60 and we'll play Fairfield in the 2nd round. If we win, we'll play the winner of Manhattan and Iona.

Fairfield is missing their star SF who tore his ACL.

However, they still have a talented team:

SR Center Mack Jeffries is rated 74 and is a talented inside scorer.

JR PF Tommy Paulding is a smallish player who is rated 73 who is a good mid range jump shoooter. Santos should be a good matchup for him.

PG Teddy Surratt is a 69 rated PG who is incredibly fast and is a great passer. He would have been a tough guard for Solomon. I fear he'll be a very difficult guard for Casey and I might even have to switch from my normal M2M to a zone defense. We'll start off with Casey sagging off him as he isn't that good of a jump shooter.

The rest of the squad is mediocre. I like our chances as long as we can contain their PG.

Eaglesfan27 · 02-24-2008, 01:29 PM

Andres with a spectacular 360 dunk in warmups that gets the home crowd going.. I like that.

First play of the game we force a miss, get out running, Pait fires it to Casey who finds Andres running on the wing who slams it home. The crowd is rocking!

Andres with a steal at midcourt... Santos with a 3!

Andres with another steal! He drives to the hoop and is fouled. After that they settle down, but our building is rocking.

A few minutes later, we get another steal that leads to an Andres breakaway an he does the 360 dunk and gets the foul! 3 point play!!!

A frenetic first 10 minutes as we are tied at 21.

With 8 minutes to go, Andres is exhausted after 12 of the most brilliant minutes of basketball that he has ever played, except for the fact that his outside shot was gone today.

For the next 4 minutes, it was a close game. Then, Andres came back in and the whole team was fired up again. Santos and Andres are playing out of their mind. We are up 42-30 at the half.

Santos is the player of the half. 17 points and 9 boards. He is shooting 7 of 12 and 3 of 5 from the arc.

Andres has 13 points, 3 steals, 2 boards, a block, and an assist. He is shooting 4 of 11, 0 of 4, and 5 of 6. Most of his points have been dunks on fast breaks.

Casey is 0 of 2 from floor but has 3 assists all on fast break dunks by Andres.

Most importantly, he has contained Surratt who only has 6 points and 1 assist.

Around the 14 minute mark, Andres with 2 more dunks off quick steals that gets the crowd going once again. It also extends our lead to 19.

With 11 minutes to go, Andres gets a 4th foul on Jeffries as he dunks on the big man!

With 6 minutes to go, we are up 66-46. I rest all of my starters except for Santos who is currently on fire.

I sit Santos for the final 3 minutes.

We cruise to a comfortable 78-56 win.

Santos is the player of the game. He finishes with 26 points, 14 boards, 3 assists, and 1 steal. He shot 9 of 18, 4 of 6, and 4 of 4.

Andres had 23 points, 4 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. He shot 8 of 19, 1 of 5, and 6 of 7.

Casey finished with 0 points on 0 of 4 shooting, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 1 turnover.

He held Surratt to 14 points and 2 assists.

Hodari had 11 points, 4 boards, and 2 assists.

Hendriks led our bench with 10 points and 2 assists. He shot 3 of 5 and 2 of 4 from the arc.

Our next game will be against Iona who we barely beat twice when at full strength. Their PG is D2D with a strained Patellar but will probably play in this game. Their backup SF is also D2D with a bruised hip.

Corey Stokes is their best player. He is rated 86 overall and is an incredible shooter. However, Andres has done a great job against him twice. Stokes is 3 inches shorter than Andres, but Andres can match his speed for the most part. Their PG Alejandro Martinez better be slowed down by that sprained knee or he also will be blowing by our PG's. This will be a definite challenge and we'll need huge games from Santos and Andres.

CamEdwards · 02-24-2008, 02:21 PM

This is a great dynasty EF. Almost makes me want to take the time to write up what I'm doing with George Mason in my game.

Eaglesfan27 · 02-24-2008, 02:44 PM

It was a close ball game, until we got a run that was started with a Santos block and subsequent dunk. That gave us a 18-11 lead at the 10 minute mark. However, Pait is already in foul trouble with 3.

However, they call a timeout, settle down, and respond with a 8-0 run of their own before we get a fast break layup by Shaw to end it.

Once our starters got tired, their bench worked our bench. 42-29 at the half

Collier, their SG, has 18 points at the half.

Santos has 10. They are playing very good transition defense and we aren't getting many easy fast break points this game. Andres still is struggling a bit with his outside shot. He is 1 of 6 in the first half with 2 points, 2 boards, and 1 assist. He also has 5 turnovers. He has held Stokes to 1 of 9 shooting. However, Martinez is crushing Casey. Martinez has 8 points and 4 assists at the half.

Santos is our leading player at the half with 10 points, 3 boards, 2 assists, and 2 steals.

We start off the 2nd half with a slashing drive by Hodari followed by a steal that allows Andres to draw a foul in the lane.

The first 6 minutes we play terrific defense and we work our way back into it. 46-43 at the 14 minute mark.

Down 52-49 at the 10 minute mark. The amazing thing is that this is mostly Santos and Hodari. Andres is having a poor game. In fact, since he isn't doing much, I sit him before he is really tired to let him get a breather and get to full strength for when he the starters will need to sit in 2 or 3 minutes.

A run for them makes it 60-53 until Santos responds in a HUGE way. First he hits a 3 as time is expiring. Then he steals the ball on our full court press and dunks it! 60-58 with 5:22 to go.

With 3:48 to go, after a few nice driving layups by Hendriks, Santos hits a 3 to give us our first lead in a long time. 65-63 with 3:44 to go!

The crowd is fired up and I've never had to rest our starters as they are riding the energy of the crowd. I get Andres back in and we are set to finish this one off..

Hendriks will remain our PG down the stretch of this game.

After missing a layup, Santos gets a huge block of a layup at the other end.

Andres hits a 3! 68-63 with 2:34 to go.

Stokes draws a foul and hits both FT's to make it a 3 point game again.

Andres is wide open for a 3 and he drills it!

Stokes with a quick 2 to make it a 71-67 lead.

We miss our shot but use the entire shot clock. 34 seconds left.

They shoot an immediate 2 and make it. 71-69. They foul immediately.

Hendriks makes them both. 73-69 with 29 seconds to go.

A careless pass by their inbounder leads to a turnover!

However, Hendriks misses the FT and they get a quick 2 to make it 73-71. 16 seconds left.

Andres hits only the 1st of 2 FT's. 74-71. They get a good look for Collier who has been drilling 3's all night although Santos might have gotten just enough pressure on him as he misses it! 4 seconds left. Pait rebounds it and is fouled. Pait hits the 2nd FT to finish the game off.

Hendriks steals an errant inbound pass and they foul him. He misses them both, but it doesn't matter. 75-71 win!

Santos is the player of the game. 27 points, 7 boards, 3 assists, 2 blocks, and 4 steals. He shot 10 of 20, 2 of 4, and 5 of 6.

Andres had 12 points, 5 boards, 3 assists, and 5 turnovers. He shot 4 of 12, 2 of 5, and 2 of 4.

Hodari had 11 points, 2 boards, 1 assist, 3 steals, and 2 turnovers. He shot 5 of 11, 0 of 2, and 1 of 2. Shaw finished with 4 points, 4 assists, and 2 steals. He only turned it over 1 time. He shot 2 of 5. Pait with 10 points and 10 boards in one of his best games for me.

Hendriks was the best player off the bench as he had 8 points.

Eaglesfan27 · 02-24-2008, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CamEdwards

This is a great dynasty EF. Almost makes me want to take the time to write up what I'm doing with George Mason in my game.

Thanks. I'm enjoying writing it and playing it

Eaglesfan27 · 02-24-2008, 02:51 PM

Siena beat Loyola (MD) 75-66 in the other Semi-Final game. I'm glad as I'd rather face Siena.

Siena is missing one of their top options off the bench as PF Mario Buboltz is out with a strained abdominal muscle.

However, they have tremendous interior players:

C Johnny Lampley is 7'0 240 pounds and is rated 79. He is a shot blocking specialist who is decent at rebounding and is ok offensively.

C/PF Timir Owen is 6'11 240 pounds and is rated 74. He is also a good shot blocker and is a decent rebounder. He is also a good jump shooter for a big man.

SG Demetrik Acasio is a 6'4 205 pound SG who is rated 75 overall and is a slasher. Will be a tough guard for Hodari as he is a bit more physical.

Joe Ross Keeler is a 6'6 200 pound SF who is rated 73 overall who is a good defender.

Ira Starkey, their PG is rated 73 overall and worries me. He is too fast for Casey and he can shoot the 3 well...

This will be a tough Metro Atlantic Final.

The good news is that are our RPI is 53 and most of the bracketology experts believe we are in. However, we are still listed as on the bubble.

Time to see if we can pull off this one last big upset.

Eaglesfan27 · 02-24-2008, 03:57 PM

Starkey is KILLING us despite trying Hodari and Andres on him. We are down 20-12 at the 12 minute mark.

For a team that is supposed to be bad from the outside, they are on fire for the next 5-7 minutes and they build a big lead. 34-17 with 6 minutes to go in the half.

Andres comes back into the game and he is playing very well. The team seems re-energized and we go on a run that cuts the lead to 37-24.

Once Starkey came back into the game, I couldn't stop their offense, not even with a zone.

Down at the half, 54-36.

Starkey leads them with 8 points and 8 assists although 3 guys have 10 points.

At the 14 minute mark, we cut the lead to 10, 65-55. This has been due to Andres making some steals, dunks, 3's as well as getting some points from teammates.

We close within 10 several times, but we never get closer. I can't help but think Solomon would have made the difference. Oh well, gotta go with what you have.

We lose 99-87.

Andres with 36 points, 5 boars, 3 assists, 2 steals. He shot 12 of 25, 4 of 7, and 8 of 10.

Santos had 18 points, 6 boars, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 4 turnovers. He shot 5 of 12, 0 of 1, and 8 of 9.

Pait had 12 points and 8 boards. I'm starting to see he can hit the little 8-10 foot jumpers if he is open. He was 5 of 10.

Hodari was shut down. 1 of 8. 3 points, 5 boards, 3 assists, 3 steals.

Casey had 6 points, 1 assist.

Their PG Starkey was the player of the game with 16 points and 14 assists.

Owen had 19 points and 12 boards on the inside.

Now to see if we get into the tourney anyway...

Eaglesfan27 · 02-24-2008, 04:13 PM

Our RPI is 53. We are listed as on the bubble still, but most experts are predicting us to be in. Our record is 23-8.

Other Teams on the bubble include Texas Tech, Purdue, and Kent State among others.

#1 Seeds:

Louisville (30-3), Tennessee (26-4), UNLV (32-1), and Michigan State(30-3).

The East is being announced. So far, we haven't been announced. UCLA is surprising at #4. I thought they would be a 3 seed at worst as they won the Pac-10. USC is the 7 seed in the East. Purdue made it in from the bubble and are the 10 seed facing USC. That gives me some hope...

We aren't in the East.

Onto the South:

Notable South Teams:

Duke is a 5th seed with a 22-10 record and will face Princeton who won the Ivy League.

Kent State made it in as a 10 seed. This also gives me some hope... They will face #7 Western Kentucky.

Alabama is the #2 seed. They are 27-4. They get Wagner in the first round at 18-13.

Onto the Midwest:

Notable teams in the Midwest:

Siena is the 12 Seed facing Florida in the first round.

Drexel is a 4 seed! They get San Francisco in the 1st round. Drexel is 27-3.

Texas Tech made it as a 10 seed in this bracket. All of the bubble teams seem to be getting in as 10 seeds.. I hope I'm a 10 seed in the last bracket...

Our last chance, onto the West:

Notable West Teams:

#4 Temple finished 26-5. They will face Illinois-Chicago in the first round.

Stanford got a 3 seed beating out UCLA which is surprising. Providence got the 10th seed. They were also a bubble team

North Carolina is a 2 seed with a 24-5 record.

We didn't make the tourney

2 teams from the Metro Atlantic made it, but we didn't!?!

Did I miss our announcement? 2 teams from the CAA, Sun Belt, WCC, MWC as well. Big East and the ACC had 6 each. Most of the other power conferences had 5. We definitely are out as the bubble summary tells us.

We did make it into the NIT and we have a cupcake matchup against Mount St. Mary's as our first game. I'll play that next weekend.

Eaglesfan27 · 02-25-2008, 11:40 AM

I'm home sick today and don't want to stay in bed any longer. So time to get in a game or 3:

First up we have an easy game against Mount St. Mary's. They are rated 68 in overall team talent. They finished the year 16-13. Their RPI is 224 and they shouldn't give us any problems. If we beat them, we have two great teams that we be facing - either Virginia Tech who finished 17-13 with an RPI of 48 or Wyoming who finished 18-12 with an RPI of 61. Both are very talented teams with overall ratings of 87.

Eaglesfan27 · 02-25-2008, 12:55 PM

Our team comes out flat and they start off with a 7-0 run. Their PG is rated 77 and he is burning us early..

We remain very flat throughout the first half until we turn it on with 5 minutes to go... we end the half with a 17-0 run! We lead 35-30 at the half.

Andres is the player of the half with 14 points and 4 boards. Hodari has 11 and Santos has 10.

However, they won't give up. They take the lead back with 12 minutes to go with a 3 to put them ahead 52-50.

Hodari responds with 3 big baskets in a row to give us a 60-54 lead.

Owensworth also hits 2 3's during the next few minutes to help extend our lead.

That triggers a 19-0 run! We are suddenly up 72-56 with 5:48 to go.

We cruise to an 80-67 win after that run.

Hodari is the player of the game. 27 points, 5 boards, 4 assists, 3 steals. He shot 9 of 18, 5 of 9, and 4 of 6.

Andres had 21 points, 5 boards, and 4 turnovers.

Santos had 20 points, 5 boards, 5 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block.

Pait had 0 points, 7 boards, and 1 block.

Saw had 2 points and 5 assists.

Owensworth had 10 points, 7 boards, 3 assists, and 3 steals in 17 minutes. He shot 3 of 5, 2 of 2, and 2 of 2.

Wyoming beat VT 78-71 and will be our next opponent.

Wyoming's roster is intimidating:

C James Starkey is 6'10 270 and is rated 82 overall. He is an excellent shot blocker and a decent inside scorer.

PF Lacedrick Barber is 6'10 250 and is rated 78 overall. He is a very good shot blocker who is a good inside scorer.

SG Joel Fulton is a sophomore 3 point gunner who is rated 77 overall. He is also a good defender. He is 6'4 200 pounds.

SF Cheyenne Johnson is 6'6 265 pounds and is rated 76 overall. He is a very good defender and is a good jump shooter.

PG Percy Sorenson is 6'1 201 pounds and is the fastest, quickest PG we've faced all year long. He isn't the best passer but he has great moves. He isn't a great outside shooter, so we'll try sagging way off him.

They also have a very deep bench with 5 players on the bench rated 74 higher including 2 SG's, a PG, a SF, and a PF. This will be a very tough matchup. We are big time underdogs.

Eaglesfan27 · 02-25-2008, 02:04 PM

We come out with a fire that I didn't see last game. We get two early steals, 3 big 3's and we quickly start the game with a 15-0 run!!

However, Starkey scores the next 5 points as they pound us inside. We are living on the 3 early, and we'll need our hot shooting to continue.

Starkey draws a quick 2nd foul on Pait, and I sub him out at the 14 minute mark. It's now 15-7.

After that, we respond with another 12-0 run before they have a 6-0 run. 27-13 with 8 minutes to go. Our defense has been brilliant particularly Santos who has been intimidating their outside shooters.

A few things I did this half:

- Sagged way off of their PG. Fortunately, he couldn't hit much of anything going 2 of 11.

- Played very tight on their SG and SF who are good shooters.

- Doubled their big guys whenever they touched it.

- Only tried to fast break if there was a clear opportunity. Otherwise, we slowed it way down going to 5 seconds or less in the shot clock most times.

- Mostly shot 3's, to stay away from their shot blockers in the middle.

It all worked. I thought we had no chance, but we are up 39-19 at the half!

They are shooting 28%. We are shooting 51%.

The only question is I played my starters almost the entire first half. Will we have enough left in the tank to get us through the 2nd half? I'll be going to my bench fairly early in the 2nd half, probably by the 15 minute mark to get my starters a breather.

Andres is the player of the half. We has 13 points, 3 boards, 3 assists, and a steal. He has shot 4 of 8, 3 of 6, and 2 of 2.

Hodari also has 13 points and 3 boards. He has shot 4 of 6, 3 of 4, and 2 of 2.

Santos had 8 points, 4 boards, 2 assists, and a block. He has also intimidated many other shots.

Andres and Pait are the only starters who didn't play 20.

With Belser out of the lineup to start the 2nd half, Starkey immediately starts dominating down low again. He also gets a quick 3rd on Pait. I'll leave Pait in for a few more minutes.

With 13 minutes to go, Pait gets his 4th foul and I bring Belser back into the game. All of our starters except Andres are resting. We are up 49-25.

With a 30 point lead, I get all of my bench guys in there. 55-25 with 7:30 to go.

Wow. I never expected this kind of result. The most talented team we faced all year and we blow them out with our best defensive effort of the year. Of course, I did avoid their strength, the interior shot blocking, by shooting mostly 3's. We win 63-37.

We held them to 29% shooting for the game. We shot 39% from the arc, going 9 of 23. We shot 47% overall going 22 of 47. We had 18 assists to their 12. We outrebounded them 33 to 25 which is also surprising.

Andres was the player of the game, although Santos also could have gotten it. Andres finished with 18 points, 7 boards, 3 assists, 3 steals. He shot 6 of 12, 3 of 7, 3 of 4.

Santos had 18 points, 7 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 2 blocks. He shot 8 of 14, 2 of 4.

Hodari had 13 points, 3 boards, 1 assist, and 1 steal. He shot 4 of 6, 3 of 4, and 2 of 4.

Shaw had 3 points and 4 assists.

Pait had 0 points and 5 boards.

Belser had 6 boards in 22 minutes.

In just 13 minutes of garbage time, Brady a SG, had 9 points on 3 of 5 shooting including 1 of 3 from the arc.

Eaglesfan27 · 02-25-2008, 02:13 PM

Our next opponent is UAB who beat Baylor 80-78. UAB is ranked 85 in overall talent. Unlike our last opponent, they are a great shooting team that is star heavy at the guard position:

Stevin Sola is a 81 rated PG who is 6'1 with blazing speed. He is now the fastest guard we will have faced. On top of that he is a good mid range shooter and a fair 3 point shooter. Still, I see no choice but to sag off him or play zone or both.

PG Ray Foust is also rated 81. He is 6'0 with great speed as well. He is the better passer between the two but isn't as good of a shooter.

SF Mitchell Bogans is 6'6 240 pounds and is ratd 81 overall. He is a good 3 point shooter and a good defender. Still with the height advantage, I like Andres chances against him.

SG Chester Marsh is 6'7 230 pounds with speed, strength, athleticism, and great defensive instincts. Very quick hands that leads to a lot of steals. He isn't a good shooter but he is a good finisher when he gets into the lane. He is rated 78 overall.

SF Omar Guinn is 6'8 240 pounds. He is a bit slow and isn't good defensively but he is a pure shooter. Excellent from mid range or the arc. He is rated 76 overall.

PF Gerry Bernard is 6'9 240 pounds and is a tough interior defender and good rebounder. Rated 75 overall.

They have 4 more players rated between 70-74.

It will be a tough matchup. I'll play it later.

SFL Cat · 02-25-2008, 07:42 PM

Great read so far!

I gave up on the NBA long ago, and have slowly been losing interest in college hoops, but this is really cool, especially those exciting close games. Makes me want to fire up the tube and watch a game or two.

Keep up the good work.

Eaglesfan27 · 02-25-2008, 07:47 PM

Thanks. I'm looking forward to finishing this season later this week. I can't wait to get the new recruits on campus. Hopefully, Everett can fill Solomon's shoes.

Eaglesfan27 · 02-26-2008, 06:17 PM

My wife is hooked on Puzzle Quest for the DS which I got her for Valentines so I get to play a game of this after work:

Time to see if we can upset UAB. I'm going with a similar strategy as last game:

- Milk the clock unless a clear fast break opportunity is there.

- Rely on the 3. We need our shooter to hit those to keep us in it.

- High pressure defense on their SG/SF. Sag off the PG and hope he doesn't kill us with 3's.

We start off with an Andres 3 from the corner. Then, Santos steals it. After that, with 4 seconds left, Andres shoots the 18 footer on which he is fouled and still hits the 2, but misses the FT.

They respond with a basket down low that turns into a 3 point play.

After that, we get 2 more quick baskets off turnovers. They get a quick inside basket, but 2 more turnovers as Andres has 2 quick steals in the game. We are up 14-5 at the 14 minute mark!

Andres and Santos are causing massive disruptions with their speed and length.

I find myself double checking to make sure I haven't accidently messed up the difficulty levels, but I haven't. My team is just having another great start.

Andres with another huge 3 to give us a 19-7 lead with 13 minutes to go. Andres already has 10.

A minute later, Santos hits a 15 footer while being fouled and converts the FT!

Unbelievable. Santos and Andres are playing incredible defense. They are either generating steals are playing suffocating defense, forcing missed shots. 23-7 lead with 10 minutes to go in the half.

To be fair, Pait is doing a great job inside defensively as well. Most importantly their PG is missing the somewhat open 3's that we are giving him.

We end a 16-0 run when they finally score with 6:54 to go. We are now 30-9.

At that point, I rest some of my starters as well.

They are just missing some open shots. Even with our scrubs not playing great defense, they aren't hitting a ton of shots that I thought they would. Of course, I'm not complaining.

We are up 37-17 at the half in another game that I thought we'd struggle to keep respectable. I hope we can play like this next year.

Interesting, my halftime coaches all say that I'm playing too tight of defense for a team that has poor 3 range shooters. I thought their outside shooters were well rated (mid to high 70's) Shrug. In any case, I'm sticking to what I've been doing - sagging off the PG and covering the SG and SF tight. Also, we'll continue to run our full court trap after made baskets. We've forced 10 turnovers and we've had 7 steals which have led to 12 fast break points so far.

Andres is the player of the half. He has 15 points, 1 board, 1 assist, and 3 steals. He has shot 5 of 7, 3 of 4, and 2 of 3.

Santos has 12 points, 3 boards, 3 assists, and 2 steals. He has shot 5 of 8, 1 of 1, and 1 of 2.

UAB is showing more fight in the 2nd half and has a nice run before we respond with a short burst ourselves. 44-24 at the 15 minute mark.

Marsh is heating up from the arc and has hit 2 3's in a row for them and now has 10 points.

Worse, Faust, the PG, is also hitting some 3's now. 44-30. We call a timeout. We don't want to let them back into this one..

After an offensive board by Santos, Andres drives to the rim for a slam dunk to end the run. 46-30. 12:25 left in the game.

With 10 minutes to go, they have cut it 46-34. They are the ones generating turnovers off the press and trap now.

Where both sides were shooting tight, Hodari opened it up with 2 quick layups on fast breaks. 50-34 with 8 minutes to go.

Andres with a fast break dunk a minute later to make it 52-36.

Here they come again.. 52-42 after they hit another 3. 5:22 to go.

Their PG is heating up, so I put Andres on him and he forces 2 misses on the next 2 shots. Meanwhile, Pait of all people gets us the next basket with an open 10 footer. They respond with a fastbreak dunk. 54-44 with 3:34 to go.

They never get closer than 9 and we win 59-47. Another very unexpected win, but I'll gladly take it. We are going to the NIT Final 4. That has to count for something, right?

Andres was the player of the game with 22 points, 4 boards, 4 assists, 3 steals, and 2 turnovers. He shot 8 of 13, 4 of 7, and 2 of 3.

Santos had 16 points, 8 boards, 4 assists, 4 steals, and 3 turnovers. He shot 7 of 15, 1 of 1, and 1 of 2.

Hodari had 11 points, 4 boards, 4 assists, and 1 steal. He shot 1 of 6 from the arc and 4 of 11 overall but made some nice drives when it mattered.

Casey had 0 points, 1 board, and 4 assists.

Pait had 4 points, 8 boards, 4 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block.

We get to rest up a few days before our next opponent, another very tough team, Pitt. They are rated 87 overall and they have the best shooting rating I've seen - 92. I doubt we'll be holding them to under 50, but who knows. They finished the year 24-12 and 9-9 in the Big East and barely missed the tourney. Their RPI was 41 and they were 8th in the Big East. They were behind Louisville, West Virginia, Georgetown, ND, Providence, Villanova, and DePaul. However, they are still a powerhouse team:

SR SG Bucky Hughes is 6'6 233 pounds and he is rated 88 overall and is the star of the team. He is a fast player who can drive to the hoop as well as shoot the pull up jumper. He is also a goo defender and a good passer.

JR PF Rwehabura Jordan is 6'10 215 pounds and is rated 83 overall. He is an excellent inside scorer, a good mid range scorer, and a good shot blocker but can be pushed around on the post.

JR PF Antwan Mulligan is a 6'9 270 PF who is as good at shooting the 3 as anyone on my team! He is their 2nd leading scorer behind Bucky and he can shoot from anywhere on the court. He is rated 83.

SG Grant Lee is 6'2 195 pounds and he is a pure shooter who can shoot from anywhere. He is also very quick and is a good defender if a bit undersized. He is rated 83.

PG is their one weakness as Vandrell Cruz is a freshman who is only rated 71 overall. He isn't that fast and he isn't that goo of a shooter. Casey should be able to guard him ok.

However, their backup PG who is rated 68 is much faster and could give us problems. We'll sag off both of them.

They have 3 guys on the bench who are rated in the mid 60's but who can all shoot the 3 well.

I'll play that later this week.

Eaglesfan27 · 02-27-2008, 06:34 PM

Pitt has Jackette on Andres. Jackette is 6'10 240 and mobile. This will be a challenge for Andres. They have Jordan on Santos which should also be a tough matchup.

We are down 8-5 at the 15 minute mark. Their defense is making us miss most of our shots.

They are forcing a faster tempo refusing to let me slow it down. Still, we are hanging around. 17-13, we are down at the 10 minute mark.

However, Andres has to rest at this point.

Everything falls apart during the next 5 minutes. Their bench kills our tired starters and bench. Down 29-15 when Andres comes back in with 5 minutes to go.

Right after he comes back, we go on a 8-0 run but they respond with a 6-0 run of their own.

Down 43-30 at the half. They have run and we have fallen into the trap of playing uptempo as well. I think our best chance is to slow it down in the 2nd half and hope we can shoot better and only fast break when there is a clear opportunity.

Lee who is playing PG for them in their big lineup is the player of the half with 10 points on 3 of 6 shooting, 2 of 3 from the arc. He also had 2 assists. Huges also had 10 points for them and Jackett has 8.

Andres continues to produce for me despite the big man on him. He has 16 points as we continue to run plays that seem to get him open. He is 6 of 8 from the floor, 2 of 2 from the arc, and 2 of 2 from the line.

Santos on the other hand has been shut down He has 3 points and is 1 of 8.

With 14 minutes left, Andres with a steal, dunk and the foul for a 3 poiint play. He cuts it to a 51-46 lead.

Down 57-51 with 11 minutes to go when Andres has to leave due to exhaustion..

We pull within 5 several times, but a 6-0 run makes it a 11 point lead when I get Andres back in with 5:48 to go. We are down 69-58.

Andres isn't fully rested, but Santos is exhausted and I can't wait any longer to get Andres back in..

They block Andres' first two shots as he is being guarded extremely closely.

We've pulled within 5 a few times, but with 2:39 to go, we are down 71-62 when Andres misses 2 FT's. I get my starters back in the game.

Andres with a tip-in putback to make it 71-64 with a little over 2 minutes to go. He now has 31 points.

Andres misses a 3 that would have made it a 4 point game, but a minute later Hodari hits a 3 to make it a 5 point game. 52 seconds left.

After we get a steal, Andres is fouled on a dunk attempt. He missed both FT's

They hit their FT's when we intentionally foul and our NIT run comes to an end. 77-67 loss.

They had a very balanced performance. Their PF won player of the game. Jordan had 14 points, 13 boards, and 2 blocks. He shot 6 of 8 from the floor and 2 of 2 from the line.

Every starter was in double figits and they all shot at or above 50%.

Lee had 16, Hughes had 12, Jackette had 15, Mulligan had 12.

For us, Andres led the team with 31 points on 11 of 18 shooting. He was 3 of 5 from the arc. He was 6 of 10 from the arc. Santos finished with 9 points, 5 boards, 3 assists, and a steal. he shot 3 of 12, 1 of 6, and 2 of 2.

Hodari had 15 points and 2 assists. Our season ends with a record of 26-9. Not bad for my first year at Niagara.

Now to take a look at the NCAA Tourney.

Eaglesfan27 · 02-27-2008, 06:52 PM

As far as the NIT, Texas A&M bat Pitt in the NIT Final 75-72. Hopefully, I can appear in the more relevant Final 4 in the near future.

The NCAA Final 4 is shaping up to be:

#2 Kansas who beat #1 Louisville 88-60 to get into the Final 4.

They will play #1 Tennessee who cruised through every opponent. Tennessee played #7 Maryland and beat them 108-66 in the Elite 8.

In the other bracket, #3 Indiana played #5 Duke (who had just beat #1 Michigan State) and Indiana won 88-74 to advance to the Final 4.

#1 UNLV proved they aren't a paper dragon by crushing every opponent They beat #7 Georgia Tech 100-82 in their Elite 8 game.

In the Final 4:

Kansas beat Tennessee 109-72 thanks to 39 points and 8 assists from JR PG Sergio Klatsky. Sophomore PF Herb Temple pitched in 24 points and 12 boards.

#3 Indiana beat #1 UNLV 102-60 thanks to double digit scoring from all 5 starters and their top 3 bench players. No one had more than 16 but 3 players had at least 5 assists.

Indiana wins the National Championship 75-60. SR SF Phillip Jacobs was the main offensive threat this game. He finished with 16 points, 9 boards, 1 assist, and 1 steal. They end the year with a 34-6 record.

SR PF Will Carrington of WV was the National Player of the Year. He averaged 26.5 ppg and 6 rpg.

SR PF Rubeen Forchion of Pepperdine was the Mid Major Player of the Year. He averaged 23.4 ppg and 6.5 rpg.

Indiana's coach won coach of the year.

SR C Lavoy Allen of Temple won defensive player of the year. He averaged 19.5 ppg, 10.1 rpg, and 3 bpg.

Will Carrington won Big Man of the Year.

PG Lodrick Lindeman of Arizona won Freshman of the Year. He averaged 10 ppg, 4 apg, and 2 spg.

Corey Stokes of Iona from our conference made the National First Team All American Team at SF! He averaged 22.3 ppg, 6.8 rpg, and 2.7 apg. My goal is to have Andres make that team next year..

The rest of the team:

PG Romeo Stephens, MD 19.1 ppg, 4.2 apg
SG Lamar Momplaisir, UVA 20.7 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 3.0 apg.
PF Will Carrington, WVU
C Kelly Mascoll, LSU 23.2 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 1.2 apg, 1.8 bpg.

I was named the Conference Coach of the Year for the Metro Atlantic.

Hodari Chatman was named to the Metro Atlantic First Team for 11.5 ppg, 3.5 rpg, and 2.8 apg.

Solomon made 2nd team.

Andres and Santos were snubbed as Stokes was 1st team (and the conference player of the year - good thing he is a senior) and Guasco (also a senior) was 2nd team at SF.

We lose 3 players this year to graduation:

Solomon Chatman - Our starting PG and a key contributor. Hopefully, Everett is as good as advertised. He should start from day 1.

C Jeremee Belser - Hurts as he was our only size off the bench. We now have no choice but to play small ball.

SG Steve Brady - Became a 3 point contributor late in the year, but too much of a liability to play more than a few minutes.

Eaglesfan27 · 02-27-2008, 06:59 PM

The first day that any recruit can sign, Jerel Bogans signs with us. The 6'8 216 pound JC Freshman Center is a 3 star player and is our 3rd 3 star player to sign with us this year. He is from Erie, PA. Our staff feels that he will be a good shot blocker and a good passer for a big man. Now, I'll spend the rest of the recruiting period (which I'll probably sim tomorrow night as dinner is almost ready) working on soon to be seniors for next year and also in trying to convince one mediocre big man to walk on at our school to give us some size.

Tellistto · 02-28-2008, 03:32 PM

Looking forward to seeing how the team shapes up for next season, and how well the frosh blend with the team. Good stuff all around, keep up the great work!

Tell

Eaglesfan27 · 02-28-2008, 05:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tellistto

Looking forward to seeing how the team shapes up for next season, and how well the frosh blend with the team. Good stuff all around, keep up the great work!

Tell

My wife isn't feeling well (and is a tad annoyed that I gave her my cold but I did offer to sleep in the guest room.) Anyway, the upshot is that I'll very likely finish recruiting tonight as she is 99% going to bed "right after American Idol" and I'll probably start the new season tonight. Thanks for the positive feedback. I appreciate it.

rjolley · 02-28-2008, 06:39 PM

Still following along as well. And still haven't started playing 2K8. If it's as addictive as 2K7 has proven to be, I'll be ok if EA buys Take Two then takes a year off to get CH2K10 out (because we all agree March Madness should just disappear).

02-10-2008, 04:40 PM	#151
Eaglesfan27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: New Jersey	Looking through the roster, PG seems to be a huge need, so I start looking at PG's and I see the team has already been heavily recruiting a 3 star junior PG from Niagra Falls, NY who is practically ready to commit to the team! If the book on the kid is right, he is a smooth shooter too! Excellent! I also immediately start working on a 4 star SG from Toronto who is a lights out shooter. I'm probably overreaching with him, but we won't need many players next year, so why not reach a bit... word is that the SG doesn't care about playing at a big program so maybe we have a shot... My old school immediately seals the deal on Dexter Grafs a 7'1 240 pound JC Center that I had been recruiting mainly because none of the shooters were interested in coming to play for me and we needed more help inside. After a week of recruiting, Everett Huffman, the PG from Niagara Falls just told me his #1 priority is staying close to home! We are #1 on his list of schools, and I think we'll be able to get him to sign as an early committ. Buffalo is our biggest competition. This 3 star PG is only a junior right now and therefore isn't ranked, but he is a smooth shooter on tape. I'm thinking about going to the pre-season camps to watch him play. Buffalo is being very aggressive and the kid is wavering. He is going to be a tough one to lock down. It's going to be a battle to get this PG. The top 10 recruiting classes of 2010-11: Cal: 2 5-star players and 2 4-star players. Louisville: 2 5 stars and 1 3 star. Michigan State: 2-5's and a 3. Duke: 2 5's and a 3. Kansas: 2 5's. USC: 1 5 star, 1 4 star, and 2 3 star. Santa Clara: 1 5 Star, 1 3 star, 1 2 star. Temple: 1 5 star, 1 4 star, and 1 3 star. UCLA: 1 5 star, 1 4 star, and 1 star. Texas: 1 5 star, 1 4 star, and a 2 star. Huffman isn't in the ABL which is a shame since I wanted to see how he played. It's also odd as he is the 213th ranked player and 78th among PG's. He also has skyrocketed up several team's boards now that he is a senior and there is now plenty of competition for his services He and my other big target aren't participating in the ABL, so I skip it and jump right to the start of the season. The good news is that Buffalo is down on his list but now we are too as several schools are battling it out for Everett Huffman. After a few weeks of heavy recruiting during the offseason, Everett has told me he ix 99% sure that he is coming to Niagara! Even more exciting, early in the recruiting process, Donte Snow, a 6'4 220 pound 4 star SG from Toronto is showing heavy interest in us despite being recruited by Michigan. However, they haven't offered him a scholarship yet and we have... still if we can get him to sign before they offer, we might just steal a great recruit.. He didn't participate in the ABL, but on tape he looks like he would be the best 3 point shooter that I've ever coached at least coming out of H.S. I didn't plan on playing any more games today, but I think I have to get at least 1 game in with the new team.. I purposefully scheduled an easy one for our first game. We'll play against Chicago State, but at their place. They are ranked 62 in overall team talent while we are at 76. The strengths of our team are shooting (80) and rebounding (82.) Defense is also good at 76. __________________ Retired GM of the eNFL 2007 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles (19-0 record.) GM of the WOOF 2006 Doggie Bowl Champion Atlantic City Gamblers. GM of the IHOF 2019 and 2022 IHOF Bowl Champion Asheville Axemen.

02-10-2008, 05:50 PM	#152
Eaglesfan27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: New Jersey	Our Starting 5: PG Chatman SG Chatman SF Andres SF Santos (will be outsized sometimes) C Pait They get Santos into early foul trouble and I bring in Owensworth off the bench. A great first half in which Andres showed that he can be a dominant scorer at least against a weak defener. 38-21. Andres with 17 points on 7 of 12 shooting as he hit shots from all over the court. He also played solid defense and had 5 boards. Inside, outside, Andres can't be stopped. He has 25 and he is playing great defense (and is being identified with the hand icon) as we build a 30 point lead, 55-25. 14 minutes to go... I'll pull my starters soon, but the flaw with this team from looking over the roster and from my experience (admittedly against a cupcake) is the lack of a legitimate bench. With a 64-34 lead and 10 minutes to go, I pull my starters hopefully for the rest of the game. We end up winning 78-41. For the first time, one of my teams gets 50 boards in game! We were the heavily favored team but it was still nice to get the blowout. This team lacks depth which means I'll need to be creative in my rotations, but I like the starting pieces. The point guard is a great outside shooter. Both SF's can drill the 3. Andres can hit it from anywhere and is a nasty player around the rim and a good defender to boot. Pait didnt really impress, but he wasn't bad. 78-41 win. Andres was the clear player of the game: 30 points, 6 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals. He shot 13 of 20, 4 of 8 from the arc. He did all of that in only 24 minutes. Santos had 10 points and 9 boards. Hodari had 9 points mostly on slashing moves to the hoop but he did hit 1 three pointer. Solomon had 11 points and 5 assists. He is a terrific 3 point shooter who could light it up if Andres is having an off night. Pait is limited offensively but he had 4 points and 11 boards Off the bench, Owensworth had 10 boards. Hendriks had 8 points and 2 assists. Belser had 4 points and 5 boards. Solomon Chatman is our only senior who is going to be a major contributor so that if we can get Everett, I can see this team doing huge things next year. Then again, I haven't seen how good the conference is yet. For all I know, we are going to get crushed in this conference... Still, I'm impressed with how good Andres, Solomon, and Santos can shoot after having had to work with some guys that couldn't shoot anywhere near this well. I love Andres pure stroke and elevation as well. __________________ Retired GM of the eNFL 2007 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles (19-0 record.) GM of the WOOF 2006 Doggie Bowl Champion Atlantic City Gamblers. GM of the IHOF 2019 and 2022 IHOF Bowl Champion Asheville Axemen.

02-10-2008, 05:57 PM	#153
Eaglesfan27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: New Jersey	Everett is telling me that he is 99.9% a "Purple Eagle!" I like our team nickname and uniforms as well. Despite his assurances, I continue to recruit him hard as Buffalo, Colorado, SBU, and others continue to pursue him. Even more exciting, Donte Snow is telling me that he is leaning heavily towards becoming a Purple Eagle! If we can get him locked away early, I will have won a huge recruiting coup in my first year here. Michigan is pursuing him hard, but I have a lead on them. Ohio State and George Washington are also coming up on him. I need to get him locked up early before he hears more from them. However, we are still 3 weeks away from the early recruiting signing period. November 8, 2011 - We host Lehigh a team with an overall rating of 74 that should be much more challenging for us.. I have told the coaches to keep our bench very short and to rely on our starters... We win 61-51. Pait led the team with 13 points. Santos had 12 and Andres had 11. Surprisingly Solomon fouled out in 14 minutes and had 0 points. Hendriks had 7 points in big minutes off the bench. At 2-0, our next game is 2 nights later against an Army team that is also 2-0. They are rated 71 in overall talent with a weak defense of only 69. Their strength is shooting which is rated 75. I'll play that later this week. __________________ Retired GM of the eNFL 2007 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles (19-0 record.) GM of the WOOF 2006 Doggie Bowl Champion Atlantic City Gamblers. GM of the IHOF 2019 and 2022 IHOF Bowl Champion Asheville Axemen. Last edited by Eaglesfan27 : 02-15-2008 at 05:23 PM.

02-13-2008, 06:21 PM	#154
Tellistto College Prospect Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Whitman, MA	Good luck with the new team and with the recruiting as well. Been following along for awhile now, thought I'd let you know. Tell __________________ FOOL - Ann Arbor Winged Lingerines FOOLX - Portland Axemen Hattrick - Fizzle United (222968)

02-16-2008, 12:33 PM	#156
Eaglesfan27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: New Jersey	We have a slight-moderate talent advantage at every position, so I'm expecting a comfortable win but Army jumps out to a 5-0 lead thanks to 2 jumpers by Kelly Towe, their SF. Meanwhile Andres misses 2 of our first 3 shots and Santos misses the other. They start off with a 14-2 run that has the home crowd going insane forcing me to call a timeout. Over the next 5 minutes after that timeout, we cut the lead to 18-14. Santos and Solomon are our main scorers and everyone is stepping up on defense. With 5 minutes to go, Andres hits a jumper to tie it at 29 for our first tie of the game since the opening tip. However, they respond with a nice run and end up leading at the half 43-36. They are shooting 53% for the game and they really don't have good shooters, but the crowd has them pumped. I'm going to push the defensive pressure way up in the 2nd half. Both our PG and SG lead our team with 9 at the half. Andres is a very uncharacteristic 2 of 11 at the half, but we'll tell him to keep shooting early in the 2nd to see if he can get it going. Andres has caught on fire in the 2nd half. A 3 by him ties it at 51 with 14 minutes to go in the game. Andres with a 3 to cut their lead to 79-76 with 1:34 to go, but we just haven't been able to take the lead yet. Andres misses his next 3 that would have cut it a 2 point lead after we failed to get a stop. It all goes downhill after that... We have our first loss of the year to a team that we should have beat, although their homecourt advantage was the difference. 86-78 loss. Their PG Sargent was the player of the game with 18 points, 8 assists, and 3 steals. Andres led our team with 28 points, 4 boards, 2 assists, and 2 steals. He shot 9 of 23, 5 of 12, and 5 of 6. Hodari had 16 points and 2 boards. He shot 5 of 10. Solomon had 12 points and 3 assists. He shot 3 of 8. Santos had 8 points and 3 boards along with 3 assists. He shot 2 of 7. Pait had 2 points, 5 boards, and 2 blocks. He shot 1 of 3. Owensworth was our main player off the bench today. He had 4 points, 7 boards, 2 assists, and 2 steals in 20 minutes. Nov 13, 2011 - We host St. Francis (PA) who are 1-3 and who we should blowout. Instead, we win 58-46. Pait leads out team with 18 points, 9 boards, and 3 blocks. No one else hit double figures which is surprising. Andres was 1 of 9. On the recruiting front: PG Everett Huffman continues to tell me that he is 100% Niagara. Heh. Between his JR and SR year, Donte Snow was downgraded from a 4 star to a 3 star player. I still want him and my staff thinks the 6'4 SG is still a lights out shooter. He tells us today that while Michigan is heavily pursuing him, he is a Purple Eagle. Nov 19 - Today we play at 3-0 Columbia. They are rated 72 in overall talent and are a solid team that could surprise us as Army did if we don't play smart basketball. They have a star player in PG J.S. Katelynas who is rated 80 overall and is their leading scorer with 21 ppg and 5.0 apg. He is a burner with a great midrange jump shot as well as an excellent defender. __________________ Retired GM of the eNFL 2007 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles (19-0 record.) GM of the WOOF 2006 Doggie Bowl Champion Atlantic City Gamblers. GM of the IHOF 2019 and 2022 IHOF Bowl Champion Asheville Axemen. Last edited by Eaglesfan27 : 02-16-2008 at 03:07 PM.

02-16-2008, 01:41 PM	#157
Eaglesfan27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: New Jersey	Balanced offense and good team defense in the first half has us with a 36-28 lead at the half. Hodari leads the team with 13 points, 6 of them on fast break dunks. Andres has 10 points. Solomon has 6 and has held Katelynas to 6 points and 1 assist in the half. Our worst fear of this team just happened - one of the big 4 goes down as Solomon hurts his ankle driving into the lane with 9:40 to go. We are up 58-48 and 3 of the big 4 including Solomon were scoring well. With 7 minutes to go, Santos becomes the 4th of the big 4 to hit double digits in scoring. With 2:20 to go, Solomon is cleared to come back into the game. His ankle has a slight sprain but he can play on it. We are up by 7 and I just want his ball handling and shooting out there now. They try shooting 3's immediately in the shot clock, but they can't come back as we hit enough FT's down the stretch to maintain our lead. We win 72-66. Hodari Chatman is the player of the game with 22 points, 2 boards, 2 assists, and a steal. He shot 8 of 11, 2 of 3, and 4 of 4. We shot 49% as a team today while holding them to 44%. Andres had 19 points, 5 boards, 4 assists, and a steal in a great all around performance. He shot 7 of 16, 4 of 8, and 1 of 3. Solomon had 16 points and 5 assists. He shot 6 of 12 and 2 of 5 from the arc. Santos had 10 points, 6 boards, 5 assists, 3 steals, a block. He shot 5 of 9. Pait had 2 points, 6 boards, an a steal. He shot 1 of 1. Owensworth was the biggest contributor off the bench with 2 points and 8 boards in 21 minutes. Belser had 5 boards in 14 minutes. __________________ Retired GM of the eNFL 2007 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles (19-0 record.) GM of the WOOF 2006 Doggie Bowl Champion Atlantic City Gamblers. GM of the IHOF 2019 and 2022 IHOF Bowl Champion Asheville Axemen.

02-16-2008, 01:46 PM	#158
Eaglesfan27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: New Jersey	Nov 23 - We host Yale who is rated 71 in overall team talent at our place. As expected, we beat them 64-60. Solomon was a bit off his game on his bad ankle as he went 0 for 7 but he did have 7 assists as Andres had his first great game in a simulated game - 21 points, 14 boards, 3 steals, and 4 blocks. Pait had 10 points as did Hodari in the win. Santos fouled out early and didn't do much. Nov 26 - Today we host UT-Pan American who are 3-5. They are ranked 70 in team talent and we should beat them without too much trouble. The exciting news is that after this game, the early signing period starts and I'm expecting both Donte and Everett to sign immediately! __________________ Retired GM of the eNFL 2007 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles (19-0 record.) GM of the WOOF 2006 Doggie Bowl Champion Atlantic City Gamblers. GM of the IHOF 2019 and 2022 IHOF Bowl Champion Asheville Axemen.

02-16-2008, 03:06 PM	#159
Eaglesfan27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: New Jersey	A first half in which we played relatively uninspired basketball but were good enough to keep the lead. 36-35 at the half, we lead. Hodari Chatman leads the team with 11 points as is doing it on the break and has also hit a 3 and a few mid range jumpers. Andres has 10 and Solomon has 5. A very sloppy second half as we turn it over too many times on bad passes and steals gives them a 8 point lead that we never eliminate and they hold on down the stretch. 86-77 disappointing loss at home. Hunt, their SF had 30 points as I just couldn't shut him down even with Andres going to tight coverage on him. Andres lead our team with 21 points on 8 of 18 shooting including 3 of 7 behind the arc. Hodari had 19 points on 7 of 13 shooting, 3 of 5, an 2 of 4. Solomon had 11 points and 2 assists. Santos had 14 points, 6 boards, and 4 assists. All of the big 4 scored well, but we played poor defense. I'm going to get my guys to concentrate on defense more. Andres is rated very good on defense and he should be doing better at that part of his game. That loss drops us to 5-2. However, it doesn't stop us Everett or Donte from officially signing their LOI with Niagara and becoming Purple Dragons!!! Here is the official report on both players as of this point: Everett Huffman is a 5'8 175 pound enior from Niagara Falls NY. He is ranked 213 overall and 79th among PG's. He is a 3 star player. He is rated A- in shooting, A- in athleticism, B+ in skills, B in IQ, B in Def, B in potential, C in rebounding, and a D for size by our staff. If they are correct, he should be a huge contributor for us. Our scouts believe his speciality is shooting off the dribble. If the tape/staff is correct, he'll be our starting PG next year. Donte Snow is a 6'4 217 pound SR from Toronto Canada who was being pursued by Michigan. He was a 4 star player who dropped to a 3 star player this year. Still, he is ranked 189th overall and 42 among SG's. He has an A for shooting, a B+ for defense, B+ for athleticism, B+ for potential, B for skill, B- for size, B- for IQ, and a C+ for rebounding. His speciality is posting up where he is very good offensively as well as shooting the 3 where he is the best HS player I've ever managed to land. He is also is a good shot blocker for a SG. If the tape is right, he will add immediate depth to our bench next year and be a key contributor every night and get 20-30 minutes. The last recruit I'm pursuing who I'm hoping to wrap up in this early signing period is a 6'8 220 pound JC C who is a 3 star unranked player. He is a good passing big man who does everything ok and is a good shot blocker for his size. We need interior toughness and I think Jerel Bogans from Erie, PA can add it. We are his leading school, and I think we have a good chance of wrapping him up this week which would be the last of our scholarships. Nov 29 - We play 66 rated Brown and beat them 76-50. Pait led the team with 26 points on 10 of 11 shooting and 5 of 10 from the FT. Hodari had 13 points, 9 boards, and 5 assists. Solomon had 8 points and 9 assists. Andres only had 5 points and 5 boards. We are now 6-2 and our next game is at Saint Peter's. They are rated 76 overall and should be an even matchup. I'll play that later today or tomorrow. __________________ Retired GM of the eNFL 2007 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles (19-0 record.) GM of the WOOF 2006 Doggie Bowl Champion Atlantic City Gamblers. GM of the IHOF 2019 and 2022 IHOF Bowl Champion Asheville Axemen. Last edited by Eaglesfan27 : 02-16-2008 at 03:19 PM.

02-17-2008, 12:14 AM	#160
Eaglesfan27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: New Jersey	St. Peter's is 2-4 and without their best player due to injury which drops their overall team talent to 74. We are going to play a very aggressive defense in which we play the passing lanes more and play tight M2M defense. Their best (non-injured) player is their SF Winston Winkfield who is 6'6 200 pounds and is rated 73 overall and is a very good shooter. Andres will have to use his size and play extremely closely on him. Edit: I just realized that the St. Peters game was the start of my conference schedule! However, I have 2 more non-conference games after this one. __________________ Retired GM of the eNFL 2007 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles (19-0 record.) GM of the WOOF 2006 Doggie Bowl Champion Atlantic City Gamblers. GM of the IHOF 2019 and 2022 IHOF Bowl Champion Asheville Axemen. Last edited by Eaglesfan27 : 02-17-2008 at 01:25 AM.

02-17-2008, 01:23 AM	#161
Eaglesfan27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: New Jersey	I'm not sure if without their star they just lacked good shooters or our defense was just outstanding, but either way we held them to 26% shooting in the 1st half and built a 33-19 lead. Santos leads our team at the half with 14 points as he is playing well both defensively and offensively. Andres is focusing on defense, but still has 5 points. Hodari has 9 points. With 6 minutes to go, we maintain our lead 53-39. With 3 minutes to go, they cut it to a 53-46 lead, so we get our rested starters back into the game. They come in and put it away with a 11-0 run. When our starters were in this game, our defense was stifling. 64-46 win. I think Santos played better defensively because we got him involed offensively early and he won player of the game. Santos finished with 22 points, 6 boards, 1 assist, 1 block, and a steal. He had 2 nice slam dunks on fast breaks. He shot 10 of 12, 0 of 1, and 2 of 3. Hodari had 17 points, 5 boards, and 3 assists. He shot 7 of 11. Andres shot 5 of 11 and had 11 points, 5 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block as well as playing great defense. Winkfield, their best shooter and Andres main assignment went 1 of 15 from the field and 0 of 6 from the arc! Hodari who is a good defender did well as his man went 3 of 14 from the field. Solomon had a poor game as he was 1 of 8 from the field. He had 3 points and an assist. Pait had 9 boards, 3 assists, and a block. Owensworth led us off the bench with 5 points and 7 boards. That win raises our record to 7-2. The early signing period ends and while Jerel Bogans is 99% committed to us we don't get him to sign early. Well hope that no one steals him later in the year. Right now, we are firmly at the top of his list. Other schools that are recruiting him include Marshall, Duquenne, and Wright State among 4 others. Dec 16 - We play our 2nd to last Non-Conference game against a slightly better foe, Charlotte. They are 5-3 and rated 79 in team talent. We lose at home 79-71. Also, Moran, a backup PG, is hurt for 2-3 weeks with a sore shoulder. Andres led the team with 12 points, 6 boards, 2 steals. He shot 3 of 15. Hodari had 10 points, 7 boards, and 6 assists. He shot 4 of 7. Our last non-conference game is against my old team, Nicholls State because I wanted to see how they were doing. They are currently 3-8 and their overall talent rating is 66. Their shooting is very poor and they are only shooting 35% as a team. Bose is leading them with 11.5 ppg and Lloyd is 2nd with 11 ppg but he is injured and is questionable for this game. I'll play it out tomorrow. __________________ Retired GM of the eNFL 2007 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles (19-0 record.) GM of the WOOF 2006 Doggie Bowl Champion Atlantic City Gamblers. GM of the IHOF 2019 and 2022 IHOF Bowl Champion Asheville Axemen.

02-17-2008, 01:39 AM	#162
Eaglesfan27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: New Jersey	A preview of the Metro Atlantic Conference in 2012: Loyola College - Rated 82 overall. The most balanced team in the conference with the best shooting in the conference. They are 8-3 coming into conference play and one of their losses is a 88-84 loss to Maryland. Siena - Rated 81 overall. A team without any weaknesses but no obvious strengths. They are 6-4 coming into conference play. Rider - Rated 80 overall. Third best shootng teams in the conference. They are 8-2 coming into conference play so far. Manhattan - Rated 79 overall. A decent shooting team that has great size inside and is a tough rebounding team. One of the best rebounding teams in the conference. They are 6-6 coming into conference play. Iona - Rated 79 overall. The 2nd best shooting team in the conference. They are 8-4 coming into the conference. Very dangerous from outside of the arc. Niagara - We are rated 77 in overall team talent, but our shooting is one of the better ratings in the conference at 81. We should be 8-3 going into conference play unless we have a colossal upset to Nicholls State. Fairfield - Rated 77 overall in team talent but with worse shooting than us. Their strength is their inside play and team defense. They are 4-5 coming into conference play at this point. Saint Peter's - Rated 75 overall and one of the few teams below us in overall team talent. Stregnth is their rebounding. They are 3-6 coming into conference play. Canisius - Another team expected to finish below us that is rated 75 in overall talent. They are 5-5 coming into conference play. A poor shooting team but a decent defensive team. Marist - Rated 72 overall which makes them the weakest team in the conference. Despite this, they are a decent shooting team, but their defense is horrid. They are 2-10 coming into conference play. __________________ Retired GM of the eNFL 2007 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles (19-0 record.) GM of the WOOF 2006 Doggie Bowl Champion Atlantic City Gamblers. GM of the IHOF 2019 and 2022 IHOF Bowl Champion Asheville Axemen.

02-17-2008, 11:51 AM	#163
Eaglesfan27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: New Jersey	Lloyd is out injured and they are using new recruits Grafs at center. Newton is starting PF which is an interesting choice. They have a very small lineup that I expect to dominate. Spencer is at SF. O'Brien is starting at PG and Pekkola at SG. Spencer has given them their first 7 points and they are up 7-4 early. Spencer and Bose keep the lead for them until 10:43 when we take a 19-18 lead on a Hodari slam and the foul. However, the next play Spencer gets them the lead again! Spencer was huge in keeping them in the game. I almost wish I was still there to see how many games that kid could win for us. He had 16 in the half to keep them within 6. We are up 39-33 in large part due to an Andres triggered run at the end that started with a block of a Spencer shot followed by him taking it to the other end and doing a pump fake windmill jam that was one of the best I've ever seen from any of my players. He leads my team with 12 points and 2 boards. He is 4 of 5 from the field. Otherwise our scoring is very balancd with Santos, Pait, Meeking, Hendriks, and Hodari each having at least 4 points. Hodari is 2nd on the team with 6. Solomon hasn't taken any shots yet, but he already has 5 assists. I want our defense to step up in the 2nd half. First play of the 2nd half, after forcing a Spencer miss, Andres races down the court and does a huge tomahawk dunk after a great pass from Solomon! Sheesh with 8:36 to go, Spencer hits another 3 to give them a 1 point lead, 56-55. Andres is resting so it was Santos on him. Spencer has 23 at this point. Solomon responds with 2 3 pointers and then a drive into the lane which opens up a pass to Santos who gets the layup and the foul! However, Spencer, Bose, and O'Brien are keeping them right there with me. 63-62 with 6 minutes to go, we lead. Then, we bring in a rested Andres. With 2:40 to go, we go up 69-65 on a 2 by Andres from 12 feet out. However, Spencer continues to either drive into the lane or hit outside shots and he now has brought it back within 3 thanks to a FT. Solomon responds by blowing by O'Brien and getting 2 FT's. Unfortunately, he misses the first but makes the 2nd. 70-66 with 1:42 to go. Spencer with an offensive board and put back to make it 70-68. Spencer now has 31. Sheesh. Andres just can't contain this kid. O'Brien with a steal.. he passes it to Spencer on the break.. he hits the 16 footer. Tied game. 55 seconds left. Pait with an offensive board and the putback after an Andres miss! 72-70. 17 seconds left. Spencer shoots a 3 with Andres on him.. he misses! Solomon gets the long board! They foul immediately. Solomon hits the first but misses the second. 4 seconds left, we lead by 3. Pekkola gets a desperation 3, but he misses it. We avoid a very embarassing loss. Spencer should have gotten player of the game, but since we won Andres gets it. Andres had 18 points, 5 boards, 1 assist, and 1 block. He shot 6 of 10, 0 of 1, and 6 of 8. Santos had 13 points, 7 boards, 1 assist, and 1 block. Solomon had 10 points, 7 assists, 3 boards, and 2 steals. He shot 2 of 5, 2 of 4, and 4 of 6. Hodari had 9 points and 3 boards. Pait had 8 points and 8 boards. Meeking led the team off the bench with 6 points. __________________ Retired GM of the eNFL 2007 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles (19-0 record.) GM of the WOOF 2006 Doggie Bowl Champion Atlantic City Gamblers. GM of the IHOF 2019 and 2022 IHOF Bowl Champion Asheville Axemen.

02-17-2008, 11:58 AM	#164
Eaglesfan27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: New Jersey	Dec 23, 2011 - As expected, we lose our game at Rider 88-70. Rider got 24 points and 10 boards from tehir star center Isaac Pompey. Nik Samabaly, their young FR PG who is already highly rated, had 15 points and 6 assists. Pait led us with 16 points. Andres had 12 points and 6 boards. Solomon had 11 points and 4 assists and Santos had 11 points and 2 boards. Our next game is at 6-7 Manhattan. We are evenly matached against them and this should be a good game. The key for us will be to stop their impressive inside game and their rebounding. __________________ Retired GM of the eNFL 2007 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles (19-0 record.) GM of the WOOF 2006 Doggie Bowl Champion Atlantic City Gamblers. GM of the IHOF 2019 and 2022 IHOF Bowl Champion Asheville Axemen.

02-17-2008, 01:12 PM	#165
Eaglesfan27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: New Jersey	Thanks to a 10-0 run at the end of the half, we are up 40-33 at the half. Very crisp execution from our offense which is helping negate their rebounding edge which is significant at plus 7. Santos and Andres are our two main scorers. Santos has 15 points on 6 of 7 shooting and Andres had 9 on 4 of 9 shooting. In the first minute of the 2nd half, Solomon twists his knee driving into the lane 3 minutes later after having his knee wrapped, Solomon returns, it is just a minor sprain. Andres and Santos were both efficient in their offense in the 2nd half and we maintained a comfortable lead throughout the 2nd half. We win 73-62 as we shot 50% to their 41%. They outrebounded us 34-29. Santos was the player of the game. He had 22 points, 6 boards, 2 assists, and 1 steal. He shot 7 of 12, 1 of 4, and 7 of 7. Andres had 20 points, 3 boards, and 3 assists. He shot 9 of 16, 2 of 7, and 0 of 1 Hodari had 10 points, 4 steals, 3 boards, and 3 assists. Solomon had 5 points, 4 assists, and 2 steals. Pait had 7 points and 7 boards. Owensworth had 4 points and 7 boards. Jan 3, 2012 - We win at St. Peter's 53-51. Andres led the team with 14 points and 6 boards. He shot 4 of 14, 2 of 5, and 4 of 8. Santos had 12 and Hodari had 8. This time, Winkfield had 14 points on 5 of 15 shooting as he was their only starter to hit double digits. We are now 10-4 and have an outside shot at my goal of hitting 20 wins which I thought we wouldn't do until next year. Our next game is hosting the Manhattan squad that I just beat. I'll play that later today or more likely later this week. __________________ Retired GM of the eNFL 2007 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles (19-0 record.) GM of the WOOF 2006 Doggie Bowl Champion Atlantic City Gamblers. GM of the IHOF 2019 and 2022 IHOF Bowl Champion Asheville Axemen.

02-17-2008, 07:54 PM	#166
Groundhog Coordinator Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Sydney, Australia	The strength of the MAC is interesting, out of the top teams at least. I'm in the Atlantic 10 and Loyola would, on strength of Overall rating, be the equal 2nd best team in my Atlantic 10. __________________ Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. --Ambrose Bierce

02-22-2008, 08:46 PM	#168
Eaglesfan27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: New Jersey	Today, we host Manhattan. Since we just beat them, I'm expecting a win at home. A perfectly executed offense the first 5 minutes. 11-11 with Andres and Solomon being our two primary weapons. At the 10 minute mark, we are down 24-17 as Andres has been resting the last 3 minutes and they have gone on a 6-0 run. Hodari with a drive and a layup to break that run. With 6 minutes to go, we are down 34-23 and I get Andres back in. The next 3 minutes he leads us on a 8-0 run, but they respond with their own mini-run after that. Still, mostly playing with backups he cuts the lead to 6 before we get our starters back in. If we weren't missing so many FT's, it'd be even closer. However, our FT woes continue as Hodari misses 2 with 1:19 to go. But, we get a basket from Andres on our next possession. They get the ball for last possession but Andres steals it and throws it ahead to Santos who slams it home just before the buzzer goes off to cut the lead to 3! 39-36 at the half. We are 6 of 12 from the line so far Andres leads our team with 16 points, 2 boards, 2 assists, and a steal at the half. Solomon has 8 points and 4 assists. Everyone else has been quiet except Belser who gave us 6 big points and 3 boards off the bench during the run at the end of the half when Andres was leading the backups. With 17 minutes to go, Solomon hits 2 FT's to tie the game up at 43. With 16 minutes to go, Santos picks up his 4th foul.. I'm going to let him stay on the court.. The next 6 minutes is a terrible cold streak for us which they build up a 10 point lead. Finally Hodari ends it with a drive and layup. With 7:20 to go, a rested Andres and the bench take the court... we are down by 7, 65-58. With 3 minutes to go, Andres misses 2 FT's that would have brought it within 4 He does force a miss but misses the layup on the opposite end. We get in our starters who are at least somewhat rested. Down by 6 with 2:20 to go. Santos with a steal and dunk!! We force a bad pass on their next possession - turnover! However, Andres blows the opportunity with a missed open 16 footer. After we get a stop, Solomon with a 3! 78-77 with 55 seconds to go! We get a defensive stop... With 5 seconds left, Andres passes up a semi-open shot and passes it an open Hodari for a 18 footer.. he misses it! They get the board. We foul with 1.4 seconds left. Christie, their star SF, hits both FT's. We set up a play off the timeout to get Chapman a look at a long 3, but Solomon misses it. We lose 80-77. Christie was the player of the game with 17 points, 4 boards, and 4 assists. Andres led our team with 24 points, 3 boards, 3 assists, and 1 steal. He shot 6 of 16, 2 of 4, and 10 of 17. Solomon had 16 points and 5 assists. Hodari had 17 points and 3 boards. He shot 6 of 10 and 1 of 5 from the arc. Santos had 8 pints on 3 of 8 shooting. Pait had 2 points and 14 boards. He shot 0 of 1. Belser led our bench scoring with 8 points and 5 boards. For the game, we were 20 of 35 from the line. __________________ Retired GM of the eNFL 2007 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles (19-0 record.) GM of the WOOF 2006 Doggie Bowl Champion Atlantic City Gamblers. GM of the IHOF 2019 and 2022 IHOF Bowl Champion Asheville Axemen. Last edited by Eaglesfan27 : 02-22-2008 at 08:46 PM.

02-22-2008, 08:55 PM	#169
Eaglesfan27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: New Jersey	Jan 8, 2012 - We play at Marist who is 2-15. We are expected to win against them and we do, 83-67. Pait led the team with 15 points. Andres only had 8 points on 2 of 6 shooting. I'm thinking about playing out all of my games during Andres' senior year. He is one of my favorite players that I've ever coached in any version of this game, and I'll miss him when he is gone. However, for this year, we'll continue the play 1, sim 1 pattern until the conference tourney. Our next game is against Iona at their place. They are averaging just over 70 ppg as are we. They are playing tight defense and are 12-6. Their 3 point shooters are very dangerous and we'll have to pay special attention to them as they are shooting almost 40% as a team behind the arc. __________________ Retired GM of the eNFL 2007 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles (19-0 record.) GM of the WOOF 2006 Doggie Bowl Champion Atlantic City Gamblers. GM of the IHOF 2019 and 2022 IHOF Bowl Champion Asheville Axemen. Last edited by Eaglesfan27 : 02-22-2008 at 10:26 PM.

02-22-2008, 10:13 PM	#170
Eaglesfan27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: New Jersey	Iona comes out with an 8-0 lead on 2 3's and a dunk. They have also blocked 2 of my shots and are playing excellent defense. 4 minutes into the game, Andres with a drive into the lane draws a foul and hits both FT's. We end up working the rest of the half to recover from that early deficit. We do a decent job of chipping at the lead. 34-28 at the half, they lead. Collier, their SG, has 12 points and is the player of the half. Andres leads our team with 15 points. Solomon has 8 and no one else on my team has more than 3. My goal for the 2nd half is to get Hodari and Santos more involved offensively. With 5:26 to go, we close the gap to 4 points, but all of our starters are exhausted except for Andres who is a little tired. He comes back from the bench and they all rest. 59-55. With 2:54 to go and down by 2, we get 2 starters back in with Hodari and Santos coming back tired but not exhausted. With 2 minutes to go, Solomon comes back in as well. Down 63-61. After Hodari helps force a stop, Andres drives into the lane and gets the foul! He hits the first, but misses the second. 63-62. After they hit a layup on a nice drive, Solomon responds with a 3 to tie it up! 65 all. A BS goaltending call on Belser in which I thought he blocked it cleanly gives them the lead again. With 5 seconds left, Andres strokes a 12 foot jumper! Tied at 67. Good defense forces a missed 3! We are going to OT! After 2 minutes of no scoring, Solomon with a drive into the lane gets a collapsing defense and kicks it out to an open Andres for a 3! 70-67! Andres now has 30 in the game. Both teams with tired players and both teams are missing shots. Still, they get into the lane and draw a foul with 1:23 to go. Fortunately, Stokes misses the first FT. We are up 70-68. Belser who I kept in for his size gets the unexpected basket on a great play which frees him up for the easy dunk! Santos with the nice assist. 72-68 with 42 seconds left. They respond with a quick basket and then intentionally foul Andres. Despite being tired, he drills both FT's!!! 74-70. Solomon blocks their 3 point attempt! He misses both of his FT attempts after they intentionally foul him but Belser gets the board and the slam dunk! 76-70. 22 seconds left. They miss their 3's down the stretch and we hit our FT's. 79-70 win in a nice road upset that balances out the unexpected home loss earlier Corey Stokes is their best 3 point shooter. Andres and Santos held the SF to 13 points on 4 of 15 shooting! Prosper Collier, their star SG, was held to 19 points on 8 of 20 shooting! Andres was the player of the game with 32 points, 5 boards, 4 assists, and 1 block. He shot 12 of 21, 2 of 2, and 6 of 7. Solomon had 17 points, 4 boards, 3 assists, and 3 steals. Hodari had 13 points, 3 boards, 2 assists, and 2 steals. Santos had 9 points, 3 boards, 3 assists, and a steal. He shot 2 of 8 but was 1 of 1 from the arc. Pait had 0 points and 6 boards in 29 minutes. Belser who I played all of OT and down the stretch had 5 points, 5 boards, 1 assist, and 1 TO in just 16 minutes. The 7'1 261 pound senior is showing me that he deserves a bit more PT. __________________ Retired GM of the eNFL 2007 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles (19-0 record.) GM of the WOOF 2006 Doggie Bowl Champion Atlantic City Gamblers. GM of the IHOF 2019 and 2022 IHOF Bowl Champion Asheville Axemen. Last edited by Eaglesfan27 : 02-22-2008 at 10:27 PM.

02-22-2008, 10:17 PM	#171
Eaglesfan27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: New Jersey	Jan 16 - As expected, we lose on the road to Rider, 84-80. Andres led the team with 14 points, 5 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. Pait and Solomon each had 13 points. Santos had 11. Belser had 4 points and 4 boards in very limited time. Our next game is against 6-11 Canisius who we should beat. I'll play that tomorrow. __________________ Retired GM of the eNFL 2007 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles (19-0 record.) GM of the WOOF 2006 Doggie Bowl Champion Atlantic City Gamblers. GM of the IHOF 2019 and 2022 IHOF Bowl Champion Asheville Axemen.

02-23-2008, 10:05 AM	#172
Eaglesfan27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: New Jersey	After the first 10 minutes, we are down 13-12 as Solomon is our only consistent early scorer. A 7-0 run puts us down 28-21 with 5 minutes to go. I get Andres back in and sit our tired starters. Down 36-30 at the half. I decide to come out in the 2nd half with more full court trapping. We have the more athletic team and it is time to put pressure on them. They are shooting 50% from the field and 44% from the arc. McCollum their SG has 11 points. Solomon leads our team with 9 points. Hodari has 7 and Andres has 5 points along with 3 assists. Andres is 0 of 5 from the floor but is 5 of 6 from the line. After forcing a miss, Pait with an outlet pass to Solomon who gets it ahead to Hodari for a slam and the foul! He makes the FT to convert the 3 point play. 36-33. 5 minutes to the half, we get out home court rocking with some easy baskets off the full court trap. Santos with one huge dunk in particular. 44-42, we lead. That triggered our best basketball of the year. The crowd was the loudest I've heard it in our home arena all year and our guys completely fed off of it. For the next 14 minutes, they played high energy defense, high energy offense, and efficient execution. I finally pull my starters who didn't need any rest as the crowd was keeping them pumped with 2:20 to go and a 77-57 lead. At least at home, we'll be going to the full court press against teams that we can match up with athletically more often now. Even though, we didn't generate many baskets off the press, but the higher tempo just seemed to energize the crowd and our team. We win the game, 79-66. Solomon was the player of the game. He thrived in the high tempo offense. 24 points, 6 assists, 2 boards, and 2 steals. He shot 10 of 13, 3 of 4, and 1 of 2. He also had 4 turnovers. Andres had 16 points, 5 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals. He shot 5 of 11, 0 of 2, and 6 of 9. Santos had 16 points, 4 boards, 4 assists, an 2 steals. He shot 7 of 11, 1 of 1, and 1 of 2. Hodari had 14 points, 2 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block. He shot 5 of 6, 0 of 1, and 4 of 5. Pait had 1 point and 13 boards. Belser had 6 points and 2 boards in 11 minutes off the bench. Jan 22 - An unexpected loss to Fairfield at home as we lose 64-54. Pait was our leading scorer with 17 points. Andres was 2 of 10 from the floor. Hodari was 0 of 8 and Solomon was 2 of 6. Santos had 8 points and 10 boards but fouled out in 24 minutes. Solomon fouled out in 28 minutes and Andres only played 26 minutes due to foul trouble. We are now 13-7 and don't have much of a chance at 20 wins that I was hoping for this season. In good news, Jerel Bogans, the JC Freshman C from Erie PA has told me that he is 100% sure that he wants to come to Niagara and as soon as he can sign he will do so. The 6'8 218 pound center should be a very good rebounder for his size and rebounding is one of the biggest things we'll need to add to our bench's frontcourt with the graduation of Belser. Our next two games are against Canisus and Fairfield. I'm going to sim the first and play the second so that I don't play Canisus again just to mix things up. Jan 27 - We beat Canisus again, this time 79-62. We had balanced scoring: Hodari with 16, Andres with 16, Pait with 13, Santos with 12, and Solomon with 6. Solomon also had 8 assists. We are now 14-7 and our next game is on the 29th at 9-11 Fairfield. Fairfield is struggling to score and they don't have the outside shooters that most of the teams in the conference do. However, they are strong on the interior. This will be a tough matchup for Pait and Santos. __________________ Retired GM of the eNFL 2007 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles (19-0 record.) GM of the WOOF 2006 Doggie Bowl Champion Atlantic City Gamblers. GM of the IHOF 2019 and 2022 IHOF Bowl Champion Asheville Axemen. Last edited by Eaglesfan27 : 02-23-2008 at 10:07 AM.

02-23-2008, 11:22 AM	#173
Eaglesfan27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: New Jersey	They quickly get 2 fouls on Pait who is overmatched by their center's size. I put in Belser. My team has speed, quickness, and length (but not bulk except for Belser.) Going to the trap is working again even on the road. We aren't getting the crowd into it, but we are generating some turnovers and are building a lead late in the first half. With 7 minutes to go and our starters tiring, it is 28-19. We go into the half up 38-29. We are shooting 48% while holding them to 33%. They are only outrebounding us by 5. Andres lead our team with 18 points and 4 boards. He is 7 of 13 from the floor so far. Solomon has 8 points and 3 assists at the half. Santos has 5 points and 4 assists at the half. Up 61-48 at the 10 minute mark, I rest Andres. We are up 69-58 with 5:20 to go as I bring Andres in but give the rest of my starters a brief rest. We were comfortably up throughout most of the game until they closed within 4 at the 2:20 mark. At that point, I brought in all of my starters. It stayed within 4 until Solomon hit a 3 off a really nice Andres dish to make it a 7 point lead with 50 seconds to go. They never threatened again. 79-71 win. Andres was the player of the game. 24 points, 11 boards, 4 assists, 3 steals, and 1 incredible dunk on a fast break alley-oop from Santos. He shot 9 of 19, 3 of 5, and 3 of 5. Santos also had a great game: 23 points, 5 boards, 6 assists, 1 steal, and 2 blocks. He shot 9 of 19, 1 of 4, and 4 of 5. Solomon had 12 points, 4 assists, 2 boards, and a steal. Hodari had 12 points, 2 boards, 2 assists, and 2 steals. Pait had 2 points, 3 boards, and 2 blocks. They outrebounded us 46-30. However, we shot 48%. Thanks in part to 24 fast break points! They shot 37%. We'll be going to this uptempo game much more this year I suspect. Our next game will be at Loyola College. They are 14-8 and should be very challenging with their excellent outside shooting. Still, I'm going to try to run against them as well as it seems to be working well for this team. I'll play that later today. __________________ Retired GM of the eNFL 2007 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles (19-0 record.) GM of the WOOF 2006 Doggie Bowl Champion Atlantic City Gamblers. GM of the IHOF 2019 and 2022 IHOF Bowl Champion Asheville Axemen.

02-23-2008, 02:23 PM	#174
Eaglesfan27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: New Jersey	Lester Guasco is a tremendously talented SF that Andres will have to slow down for us to win today. They start off with a 9-0 run before Hodari hits a 8 footer. We pulled within 1 but then they go on another 8-0 run and they are up 23-14 when I rest Andres with 9:40 to go. A strong run led by Andres closes the gap at the end of the half. 38-36, we are down. Andres has 14 points, 4 boards, 1 assist, and 1 steal at the half. Oglesby, their SG, has 15 points at the half. He's been driving almost at will into the lane and if we lay off him, he drills 3's. A fastbreak layup by Solomon gives us a 48-46 lead with 15 minutes to go in the game. With 6:25 to go, we are down 66-65, but Andres is coming back into the game fully rested. After missing a shot, Andres pressures the PG coming up the court, steals it from him, and takes it to the hoop for a powerful windmill dunk! 67-66. Down 70-69 with the ball with 2:53 to go. We fail to score, but after a defensive stop, Andres with a board and quick pass to Solomon who throws it up the court to Hodari for a breakaway dunk! 71-70. 1:52 to go. After getting an offensive board, Belser fouls their center. Their center hits the 2nd of 2 to tie it at 71. Solomon with a drive into the lane off a screen and he takes it to the hoop for a basket. Our trap creates a steal by Andres! Andres dribbles into the lane with 5 seconds left, they collapse on him.. he kicks it out to Santos who misses the open 3. Guasco on the other end beats everyone and gets an easy dunk to tie it at 73. 6 seconds left. We call a timeout to set up one final play... Off the inbound, Andres comes off a screen running into the right corner.. Solomon finds him.. Andres shoots.. it's good!!! 76-73 win!!! Andres was the player of the game. 24 points, 6 boards, 1 assist, 3 steals. He shot 10 of 21, 2 of 6, and 2 of 2. Santos had 18 points, 5 boards, 1 assist, an 1 block. He shot 8 of 19, 2 of 5, and 0 of 0. Solomon had 17 points, 4 assists, and 1 steal. He shot 6 of 9, 2 of 3, and 3 of 4. Hodari had 10 points, 1 board, 3 assists, and 1 block. He shot 4 of 8, 0 of 2, and 2 of 4. Pait had 0 points, 5 boards, 3 assists, and 2 blocks. Belser led our bench with 2 points, 2 boards, and a block in 12 minutes. Great upset win for us that makes 20 wins a more realistic goal again. Next up is Iona on Feb 5th - Our new scheme (I've made the changes to my coaching scheme so that it should affect simmed games as well) works in this game as we win 79-77! The new running, trapping attack seems to favor our SF's who finally become our leading scorers. Santos led the team with 17 points and 6 boards. Andres had 12 points and 6 boards but led the team with shots as he went 5 of 17. Pait was just 1 of 4 as he fouled out in 14 minutes. Belser had 9 points in 12 minutes off the bench. Chatman finished with 10 points and 6 assists. Hodari had 8 points and 6 assists. We are now 17-7 with 4 games left on the regular season schedule: 11th at home vs Siena - Winnable but will be a challenge. 13th at home vs Marist - 4-22, we definitely should win. 24th at home vs Loyola - We just barely scraped by, but we'll be at home and it's winnable since we won at their place. 26th at Siena - Winnable but will be a challenge. As of this moment, we are 1st in the Metro Atlantic! Or conference record of 10-4 is tied with Rider and Siena. Loyola and Manhattan are 9-5. Our conference RPI Rank is 12th right now. Our team RPI Rank right now is 77. Siena has no weaknesses in their lineup and I'm hoping that we can get the home crowd going early and rattle their young PG, otherwise, this will be a very tough game. __________________ Retired GM of the eNFL 2007 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles (19-0 record.) GM of the WOOF 2006 Doggie Bowl Champion Atlantic City Gamblers. GM of the IHOF 2019 and 2022 IHOF Bowl Champion Asheville Axemen.

02-23-2008, 03:54 PM	#175
Eaglesfan27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: New Jersey	5 minutes into the game, their center is hurt after Hodari collides with him on a layup attempt. Not much defense in this one. 42-42 at the half. Hodari Chatman is player of the half. He has 12 points, 2 boards, and an assist. Andres has been ice cold going 3 of 12 in the first half. We've had the crowd going most of the 2nd half, but have been unable to get a big lead until about 6 minutes to go when we get a 10-0 run with Andres on the bench. Andres has had a poor game today, but Hodari and Santos have picked it up. Still, with 4 minutes to go, I get Andres back into the game. We are up 73-62 and he is rested now. We hold on down the stretch and win 78-68. Hodari Chatman wins player of the game. 26 points, 5 boards, 3 steals, and 1 assist. He shot 7 of 16, 4 of 9 (very surprising although they were all open looks) and 8 of 8 (also surprising for him.) Santos had 17 points, 6 boards, 3 steals, and an assist. He shot 3 of 10, 2 of 4, and 9 of 10. Andres had 10 points, 7 boards, 4 assists, 3 steals. He shot 4 of 18, 0 of 5, 2 of 3. He did hold their star SF to 3 of 14 shooting. Pait had 6 points and 14 boards. Solomon had 9 points, 3 assists, and 3 steals. He shot 4 of 8 and 1 of 3 from the arc. Feb 13 - As expected, we beat 4-23 Marist. In fact, we blow them out 81-48. Again with the new offensive and defensive tempo, our SF's dominated the action. Andres was our leading scorer with 16 points, 9 boards, 3 steals, 2 blocks, and an assist. He shot 5 of 11, 2 of 5, and 4 of 8. Santos had 11 points, 4 boards, 3 steals, 2 blocks, and an assist. He shot 2 of 9 but 7 of 10 from the line. Solomon Chatman had 10 points and 5 assists. Hodari had 7 points, 4 boards, and 4 assists. Pait had 9 points and 4 boards in 30 minutes. Meeking was our best player off the bench with 9 points and 2 boards. We are now 19-7. The conference standings for the top 5 are now: Niagara 12-4 Siena 11-5 Rider 10-6 Loyola (MD) 10-6 Manhattan 10-6 Iona 10-6 Watching the National College Hoops Show, I see that we haven't made the list of the top 10 Mid-Major teams yet. Other interesting tidbits from the show: South Carolina's coach is on the hotseat. Of course, I can't change jobs since I just arrived here (not sure that I really want to until Andres leaves anyway.) Next up for us is Loyola at home and then Siena on the road. I'll play the Loyola game tomorrow and finish out the regular season and start the conference tourney. __________________ Retired GM of the eNFL 2007 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles (19-0 record.) GM of the WOOF 2006 Doggie Bowl Champion Atlantic City Gamblers. GM of the IHOF 2019 and 2022 IHOF Bowl Champion Asheville Axemen.

02-24-2008, 11:52 AM	#178
Eaglesfan27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: New Jersey	Time to play Loyola at home. They are the better of the two teams left on my schedule but with the home crowd, I like our changes better in this game. I want to get 20 wins during the regular season, but of course will have a 2nd chance to get 20 wins during the conference tourney. Loyola is very talented and this will be a tough game. Again, we must slow down Guasco, their SF, for a chance to win. An incredibly fast tempo leads to Andres needing to rest after 7 minutes. We are up 16-11. A back and forth first half ends with an Andres 3 at the buzzer to give us a 40-39 lead. Very high tempo by both sides. Oglesby leads them with 9. Andres is the player of the half. He leads us with 13 points, 4 assists, 2 boards, and a block. He is shooting 4 of 11, 3 of 5, and 2 of 5. Hodari has added 9 and Santos has 8. Early in the 2nd half, Andres draws a 3rd foul on Guasco, but Andres is already sucking air and will have to come probably by the 15 minute mark... He might have to leave soon, but it is not before he blocks a shot of one of their guards and then takes it all the way for a huge dunk that gets the crowd ignited! The crowd boost does give him a bit of energy but he has to leave with 14 minutes to go, but only after he went on a personal 9 point scoring run. Once he leaves, everyone else steps up and we continue the nice run. With 10 minutes to go, we are up 63-53 and the crowd is rocking the arena. At about the 9 minute mark, they go on a 5-0 run that cuts the lead to 5, but after I call a timeout, Santos hits 3 baskets including 2 3's to rebuild the lead to 12. Now with 6 minutes to go, we start slowing things down and milking the clock. We also get a fully rested Andres back into the game. With 3:29 to go, Solomon fouls out. I go with Owensworth off the bench looking to go big for defense since we are already up by 15. Andres will be our primary ballhandler in this lineup. We win 87-70. Santos wins player of the game. 25 points, 10 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal. He shot 8 of 14, 4 of 5, and 5 of 5. He was huge in the run that built the lead when Andres went out, although Andres got the crowd going right before that run started. Nice way to get our 20th win with a convincing display against one of the best teams in the conference We shot 48% while holding them to 46%. We had 14 fast break points to their 6. We went 15 of 28 from the arc which is our best of the year. Andres finished with 23 points, 5 assists, 2 boards, 2 blocks, and 1 steal. He shot 8 of 16, 4 of 7, and 3 of 7. Solomon had 14 points, 4 assists, 3 boards, and 1 steal. He also had 5 turnovers, mostly from trying to force some alley-oops on the fast break. He was 6 of 10 from and 2 of 5 from the arc. Hodari had 12 points, 3 boards, 3 steals, and an assist. He shot 4 of 10 and 4 of 6 from the arc which was a pleasant surprise. Again, all of his shots were wide open 3's usually off feeds from Solomon or Andres. Pait finished with 2 points, 2 boards, and 2 assists in one of his more disappointing games. Belser had 2 points and 2 boards in just 6 minutes. Owensworth played 22 minutes off the bench and had 7 points and 7 boards including a 3 which he can occasionally hit. He shot 2 of 6 and 1 of 3 from the arc. Andres got Guasco in foul trouble and he only played 15 minutes this game. In those 15 minutes, he was 4 of 9 from the field for 11 poiints. He also had 3 boards and 2 assists. Their star, Oglesby led them with 15 points on 3 of 12 shooting as Hodari did well against him. __________________ Retired GM of the eNFL 2007 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles (19-0 record.) GM of the WOOF 2006 Doggie Bowl Champion Atlantic City Gamblers. GM of the IHOF 2019 and 2022 IHOF Bowl Champion Asheville Axemen. Last edited by Eaglesfan27 : 02-24-2008 at 11:53 AM.

02-24-2008, 12:03 PM	#179
Eaglesfan27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: New Jersey	A horrific blow in our final game. Solomon Chatman broke his ankle He will miss 6-8 weeks which means his season is over We don't have the depth to cover his absence in the tourney I fear. Still, we won the game at Siena very convincingly, 84-54. Solomon only played 16 minutes before he getting hurt. Andres led our team with 23 points, 8 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, and 2 blocks. He shot 8 of 10, 3 of 5, and 4 of 4. Hodari had 18 points, 7 assists, 4 boards, 2 blocks, and a steal. He shot 5 of 9 and 4 of 6 from the arc. Santos had 17 points and 3 boards along with 2 blocks. He shot 6 of 10. Pait had 6 points an 7 boards. Owensworth had 9 points and 9 boards. With the loss of Solomon, we have a few choices: Go big with Hodari guarding their PG, Andres on their SG, and Santos on their SG and Owensworth on their PF. That gives us no bench depth at PF. Hodari is a very good passer and Owensworth is my best bench player... - Or I could promote Ike Hendriks to starting PG. I've used him as my bench player at the position all year. He is far from a natural PG but Andres has been the ball handler when he has been in there. The kid can't pass that good, but he is a good spot up shooter and he is a good slasher with speed. He's also played a lot because the staff feels he has potential to become a good starter.. - Or I coul start Casey Shaw who has been griping for playing time. Casey is a true PG who is an ok player. He is a solid passer with decent speed. He is a definite downgrade from Solomon and he can't bury the 3 with any reliability like Solomon could. However, he is 6'3 195 so he at least has some size and he is a decent defender. If I had played him more this year, I'd like this plan the best. As it is, I decide to give him a pep talk and throw him into the starting lineup and keep my fingers crossed... The good news is that we are the regular season Conference Champions! __________________ Retired GM of the eNFL 2007 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles (19-0 record.) GM of the WOOF 2006 Doggie Bowl Champion Atlantic City Gamblers. GM of the IHOF 2019 and 2022 IHOF Bowl Champion Asheville Axemen. Last edited by Eaglesfan27 : 02-24-2008 at 12:06 PM.

02-24-2008, 12:16 PM	#180
Eaglesfan27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: New Jersey	Our RPI is now 54th and the National College Hoops show said we are officially on the Bubble for the Big Dance! We need to get at least a few tourney wins, but we don't necessarily have to win it all to get an invite. We get a 1st round buy in the Metro Atlantic Tourney for being one of the top teams. Fairfield beats Canisus 68-60 and we'll play Fairfield in the 2nd round. If we win, we'll play the winner of Manhattan and Iona. Fairfield is missing their star SF who tore his ACL. However, they still have a talented team: SR Center Mack Jeffries is rated 74 and is a talented inside scorer. JR PF Tommy Paulding is a smallish player who is rated 73 who is a good mid range jump shoooter. Santos should be a good matchup for him. PG Teddy Surratt is a 69 rated PG who is incredibly fast and is a great passer. He would have been a tough guard for Solomon. I fear he'll be a very difficult guard for Casey and I might even have to switch from my normal M2M to a zone defense. We'll start off with Casey sagging off him as he isn't that good of a jump shooter. The rest of the squad is mediocre. I like our chances as long as we can contain their PG. __________________ Retired GM of the eNFL 2007 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles (19-0 record.) GM of the WOOF 2006 Doggie Bowl Champion Atlantic City Gamblers. GM of the IHOF 2019 and 2022 IHOF Bowl Champion Asheville Axemen.

02-24-2008, 01:29 PM	#181
Eaglesfan27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: New Jersey	Andres with a spectacular 360 dunk in warmups that gets the home crowd going.. I like that. First play of the game we force a miss, get out running, Pait fires it to Casey who finds Andres running on the wing who slams it home. The crowd is rocking! Andres with a steal at midcourt... Santos with a 3! Andres with another steal! He drives to the hoop and is fouled. After that they settle down, but our building is rocking. A few minutes later, we get another steal that leads to an Andres breakaway an he does the 360 dunk and gets the foul! 3 point play!!! A frenetic first 10 minutes as we are tied at 21. With 8 minutes to go, Andres is exhausted after 12 of the most brilliant minutes of basketball that he has ever played, except for the fact that his outside shot was gone today. For the next 4 minutes, it was a close game. Then, Andres came back in and the whole team was fired up again. Santos and Andres are playing out of their mind. We are up 42-30 at the half. Santos is the player of the half. 17 points and 9 boards. He is shooting 7 of 12 and 3 of 5 from the arc. Andres has 13 points, 3 steals, 2 boards, a block, and an assist. He is shooting 4 of 11, 0 of 4, and 5 of 6. Most of his points have been dunks on fast breaks. Casey is 0 of 2 from floor but has 3 assists all on fast break dunks by Andres. Most importantly, he has contained Surratt who only has 6 points and 1 assist. Around the 14 minute mark, Andres with 2 more dunks off quick steals that gets the crowd going once again. It also extends our lead to 19. With 11 minutes to go, Andres gets a 4th foul on Jeffries as he dunks on the big man! With 6 minutes to go, we are up 66-46. I rest all of my starters except for Santos who is currently on fire. I sit Santos for the final 3 minutes. We cruise to a comfortable 78-56 win. Santos is the player of the game. He finishes with 26 points, 14 boards, 3 assists, and 1 steal. He shot 9 of 18, 4 of 6, and 4 of 4. Andres had 23 points, 4 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. He shot 8 of 19, 1 of 5, and 6 of 7. Casey finished with 0 points on 0 of 4 shooting, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 1 turnover. He held Surratt to 14 points and 2 assists. Hodari had 11 points, 4 boards, and 2 assists. Hendriks led our bench with 10 points and 2 assists. He shot 3 of 5 and 2 of 4 from the arc. Our next game will be against Iona who we barely beat twice when at full strength. Their PG is D2D with a strained Patellar but will probably play in this game. Their backup SF is also D2D with a bruised hip. Corey Stokes is their best player. He is rated 86 overall and is an incredible shooter. However, Andres has done a great job against him twice. Stokes is 3 inches shorter than Andres, but Andres can match his speed for the most part. Their PG Alejandro Martinez better be slowed down by that sprained knee or he also will be blowing by our PG's. This will be a definite challenge and we'll need huge games from Santos and Andres. __________________ Retired GM of the eNFL 2007 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles (19-0 record.) GM of the WOOF 2006 Doggie Bowl Champion Atlantic City Gamblers. GM of the IHOF 2019 and 2022 IHOF Bowl Champion Asheville Axemen. Last edited by Eaglesfan27 : 02-24-2008 at 01:30 PM.

02-24-2008, 02:21 PM	#182
CamEdwards Stadium Announcer Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Burke, VA	This is a great dynasty EF. Almost makes me want to take the time to write up what I'm doing with George Mason in my game. __________________ I don't want the world. I just want your half.

02-24-2008, 02:44 PM	#183
Eaglesfan27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: New Jersey	It was a close ball game, until we got a run that was started with a Santos block and subsequent dunk. That gave us a 18-11 lead at the 10 minute mark. However, Pait is already in foul trouble with 3. However, they call a timeout, settle down, and respond with a 8-0 run of their own before we get a fast break layup by Shaw to end it. Once our starters got tired, their bench worked our bench. 42-29 at the half Collier, their SG, has 18 points at the half. Santos has 10. They are playing very good transition defense and we aren't getting many easy fast break points this game. Andres still is struggling a bit with his outside shot. He is 1 of 6 in the first half with 2 points, 2 boards, and 1 assist. He also has 5 turnovers. He has held Stokes to 1 of 9 shooting. However, Martinez is crushing Casey. Martinez has 8 points and 4 assists at the half. Santos is our leading player at the half with 10 points, 3 boards, 2 assists, and 2 steals. We start off the 2nd half with a slashing drive by Hodari followed by a steal that allows Andres to draw a foul in the lane. The first 6 minutes we play terrific defense and we work our way back into it. 46-43 at the 14 minute mark. Down 52-49 at the 10 minute mark. The amazing thing is that this is mostly Santos and Hodari. Andres is having a poor game. In fact, since he isn't doing much, I sit him before he is really tired to let him get a breather and get to full strength for when he the starters will need to sit in 2 or 3 minutes. A run for them makes it 60-53 until Santos responds in a HUGE way. First he hits a 3 as time is expiring. Then he steals the ball on our full court press and dunks it! 60-58 with 5:22 to go. With 3:48 to go, after a few nice driving layups by Hendriks, Santos hits a 3 to give us our first lead in a long time. 65-63 with 3:44 to go! The crowd is fired up and I've never had to rest our starters as they are riding the energy of the crowd. I get Andres back in and we are set to finish this one off.. Hendriks will remain our PG down the stretch of this game. After missing a layup, Santos gets a huge block of a layup at the other end. Andres hits a 3! 68-63 with 2:34 to go. Stokes draws a foul and hits both FT's to make it a 3 point game again. Andres is wide open for a 3 and he drills it! Stokes with a quick 2 to make it a 71-67 lead. We miss our shot but use the entire shot clock. 34 seconds left. They shoot an immediate 2 and make it. 71-69. They foul immediately. Hendriks makes them both. 73-69 with 29 seconds to go. A careless pass by their inbounder leads to a turnover! However, Hendriks misses the FT and they get a quick 2 to make it 73-71. 16 seconds left. Andres hits only the 1st of 2 FT's. 74-71. They get a good look for Collier who has been drilling 3's all night although Santos might have gotten just enough pressure on him as he misses it! 4 seconds left. Pait rebounds it and is fouled. Pait hits the 2nd FT to finish the game off. Hendriks steals an errant inbound pass and they foul him. He misses them both, but it doesn't matter. 75-71 win! Santos is the player of the game. 27 points, 7 boards, 3 assists, 2 blocks, and 4 steals. He shot 10 of 20, 2 of 4, and 5 of 6. Andres had 12 points, 5 boards, 3 assists, and 5 turnovers. He shot 4 of 12, 2 of 5, and 2 of 4. Hodari had 11 points, 2 boards, 1 assist, 3 steals, and 2 turnovers. He shot 5 of 11, 0 of 2, and 1 of 2. Shaw finished with 4 points, 4 assists, and 2 steals. He only turned it over 1 time. He shot 2 of 5. Pait with 10 points and 10 boards in one of his best games for me. Hendriks was the best player off the bench as he had 8 points. __________________ Retired GM of the eNFL 2007 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles (19-0 record.) GM of the WOOF 2006 Doggie Bowl Champion Atlantic City Gamblers. GM of the IHOF 2019 and 2022 IHOF Bowl Champion Asheville Axemen.

02-24-2008, 02:51 PM	#185
Eaglesfan27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: New Jersey	Siena beat Loyola (MD) 75-66 in the other Semi-Final game. I'm glad as I'd rather face Siena. Siena is missing one of their top options off the bench as PF Mario Buboltz is out with a strained abdominal muscle. However, they have tremendous interior players: C Johnny Lampley is 7'0 240 pounds and is rated 79. He is a shot blocking specialist who is decent at rebounding and is ok offensively. C/PF Timir Owen is 6'11 240 pounds and is rated 74. He is also a good shot blocker and is a decent rebounder. He is also a good jump shooter for a big man. SG Demetrik Acasio is a 6'4 205 pound SG who is rated 75 overall and is a slasher. Will be a tough guard for Hodari as he is a bit more physical. Joe Ross Keeler is a 6'6 200 pound SF who is rated 73 overall who is a good defender. Ira Starkey, their PG is rated 73 overall and worries me. He is too fast for Casey and he can shoot the 3 well... This will be a tough Metro Atlantic Final. The good news is that are our RPI is 53 and most of the bracketology experts believe we are in. However, we are still listed as on the bubble. Time to see if we can pull off this one last big upset. __________________ Retired GM of the eNFL 2007 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles (19-0 record.) GM of the WOOF 2006 Doggie Bowl Champion Atlantic City Gamblers. GM of the IHOF 2019 and 2022 IHOF Bowl Champion Asheville Axemen.

02-24-2008, 03:57 PM	#186
Eaglesfan27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: New Jersey	Starkey is KILLING us despite trying Hodari and Andres on him. We are down 20-12 at the 12 minute mark. For a team that is supposed to be bad from the outside, they are on fire for the next 5-7 minutes and they build a big lead. 34-17 with 6 minutes to go in the half. Andres comes back into the game and he is playing very well. The team seems re-energized and we go on a run that cuts the lead to 37-24. Once Starkey came back into the game, I couldn't stop their offense, not even with a zone. Down at the half, 54-36. Starkey leads them with 8 points and 8 assists although 3 guys have 10 points. At the 14 minute mark, we cut the lead to 10, 65-55. This has been due to Andres making some steals, dunks, 3's as well as getting some points from teammates. We close within 10 several times, but we never get closer. I can't help but think Solomon would have made the difference. Oh well, gotta go with what you have. We lose 99-87. Andres with 36 points, 5 boars, 3 assists, 2 steals. He shot 12 of 25, 4 of 7, and 8 of 10. Santos had 18 points, 6 boars, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 4 turnovers. He shot 5 of 12, 0 of 1, and 8 of 9. Pait had 12 points and 8 boards. I'm starting to see he can hit the little 8-10 foot jumpers if he is open. He was 5 of 10. Hodari was shut down. 1 of 8. 3 points, 5 boards, 3 assists, 3 steals. Casey had 6 points, 1 assist. Their PG Starkey was the player of the game with 16 points and 14 assists. Owen had 19 points and 12 boards on the inside. Now to see if we get into the tourney anyway... __________________ Retired GM of the eNFL 2007 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles (19-0 record.) GM of the WOOF 2006 Doggie Bowl Champion Atlantic City Gamblers. GM of the IHOF 2019 and 2022 IHOF Bowl Champion Asheville Axemen.

02-24-2008, 04:13 PM	#187
Eaglesfan27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: New Jersey	Our RPI is 53. We are listed as on the bubble still, but most experts are predicting us to be in. Our record is 23-8. Other Teams on the bubble include Texas Tech, Purdue, and Kent State among others. #1 Seeds: Louisville (30-3), Tennessee (26-4), UNLV (32-1), and Michigan State(30-3). The East is being announced. So far, we haven't been announced. UCLA is surprising at #4. I thought they would be a 3 seed at worst as they won the Pac-10. USC is the 7 seed in the East. Purdue made it in from the bubble and are the 10 seed facing USC. That gives me some hope... We aren't in the East. Onto the South: Notable South Teams: Duke is a 5th seed with a 22-10 record and will face Princeton who won the Ivy League. Kent State made it in as a 10 seed. This also gives me some hope... They will face #7 Western Kentucky. Alabama is the #2 seed. They are 27-4. They get Wagner in the first round at 18-13. Onto the Midwest: Notable teams in the Midwest: Siena is the 12 Seed facing Florida in the first round. Drexel is a 4 seed! They get San Francisco in the 1st round. Drexel is 27-3. Texas Tech made it as a 10 seed in this bracket. All of the bubble teams seem to be getting in as 10 seeds.. I hope I'm a 10 seed in the last bracket... Our last chance, onto the West: Notable West Teams: #4 Temple finished 26-5. They will face Illinois-Chicago in the first round. Stanford got a 3 seed beating out UCLA which is surprising. Providence got the 10th seed. They were also a bubble team North Carolina is a 2 seed with a 24-5 record. We didn't make the tourney 2 teams from the Metro Atlantic made it, but we didn't!?! Did I miss our announcement? 2 teams from the CAA, Sun Belt, WCC, MWC as well. Big East and the ACC had 6 each. Most of the other power conferences had 5. We definitely are out as the bubble summary tells us. We did make it into the NIT and we have a cupcake matchup against Mount St. Mary's as our first game. I'll play that next weekend. __________________ Retired GM of the eNFL 2007 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles (19-0 record.) GM of the WOOF 2006 Doggie Bowl Champion Atlantic City Gamblers. GM of the IHOF 2019 and 2022 IHOF Bowl Champion Asheville Axemen.

02-25-2008, 11:40 AM	#188
Eaglesfan27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: New Jersey	I'm home sick today and don't want to stay in bed any longer. So time to get in a game or 3: First up we have an easy game against Mount St. Mary's. They are rated 68 in overall team talent. They finished the year 16-13. Their RPI is 224 and they shouldn't give us any problems. If we beat them, we have two great teams that we be facing - either Virginia Tech who finished 17-13 with an RPI of 48 or Wyoming who finished 18-12 with an RPI of 61. Both are very talented teams with overall ratings of 87. __________________ Retired GM of the eNFL 2007 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles (19-0 record.) GM of the WOOF 2006 Doggie Bowl Champion Atlantic City Gamblers. GM of the IHOF 2019 and 2022 IHOF Bowl Champion Asheville Axemen.

02-25-2008, 12:55 PM	#189
Eaglesfan27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: New Jersey	Our team comes out flat and they start off with a 7-0 run. Their PG is rated 77 and he is burning us early.. We remain very flat throughout the first half until we turn it on with 5 minutes to go... we end the half with a 17-0 run! We lead 35-30 at the half. Andres is the player of the half with 14 points and 4 boards. Hodari has 11 and Santos has 10. However, they won't give up. They take the lead back with 12 minutes to go with a 3 to put them ahead 52-50. Hodari responds with 3 big baskets in a row to give us a 60-54 lead. Owensworth also hits 2 3's during the next few minutes to help extend our lead. That triggers a 19-0 run! We are suddenly up 72-56 with 5:48 to go. We cruise to an 80-67 win after that run. Hodari is the player of the game. 27 points, 5 boards, 4 assists, 3 steals. He shot 9 of 18, 5 of 9, and 4 of 6. Andres had 21 points, 5 boards, and 4 turnovers. Santos had 20 points, 5 boards, 5 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block. Pait had 0 points, 7 boards, and 1 block. Saw had 2 points and 5 assists. Owensworth had 10 points, 7 boards, 3 assists, and 3 steals in 17 minutes. He shot 3 of 5, 2 of 2, and 2 of 2. Wyoming beat VT 78-71 and will be our next opponent. Wyoming's roster is intimidating: C James Starkey is 6'10 270 and is rated 82 overall. He is an excellent shot blocker and a decent inside scorer. PF Lacedrick Barber is 6'10 250 and is rated 78 overall. He is a very good shot blocker who is a good inside scorer. SG Joel Fulton is a sophomore 3 point gunner who is rated 77 overall. He is also a good defender. He is 6'4 200 pounds. SF Cheyenne Johnson is 6'6 265 pounds and is rated 76 overall. He is a very good defender and is a good jump shooter. PG Percy Sorenson is 6'1 201 pounds and is the fastest, quickest PG we've faced all year long. He isn't the best passer but he has great moves. He isn't a great outside shooter, so we'll try sagging way off him. They also have a very deep bench with 5 players on the bench rated 74 higher including 2 SG's, a PG, a SF, and a PF. This will be a very tough matchup. We are big time underdogs. __________________ Retired GM of the eNFL 2007 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles (19-0 record.) GM of the WOOF 2006 Doggie Bowl Champion Atlantic City Gamblers. GM of the IHOF 2019 and 2022 IHOF Bowl Champion Asheville Axemen.

02-25-2008, 02:04 PM	#190
Eaglesfan27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: New Jersey	We come out with a fire that I didn't see last game. We get two early steals, 3 big 3's and we quickly start the game with a 15-0 run!! However, Starkey scores the next 5 points as they pound us inside. We are living on the 3 early, and we'll need our hot shooting to continue. Starkey draws a quick 2nd foul on Pait, and I sub him out at the 14 minute mark. It's now 15-7. After that, we respond with another 12-0 run before they have a 6-0 run. 27-13 with 8 minutes to go. Our defense has been brilliant particularly Santos who has been intimidating their outside shooters. A few things I did this half: - Sagged way off of their PG. Fortunately, he couldn't hit much of anything going 2 of 11. - Played very tight on their SG and SF who are good shooters. - Doubled their big guys whenever they touched it. - Only tried to fast break if there was a clear opportunity. Otherwise, we slowed it way down going to 5 seconds or less in the shot clock most times. - Mostly shot 3's, to stay away from their shot blockers in the middle. It all worked. I thought we had no chance, but we are up 39-19 at the half! They are shooting 28%. We are shooting 51%. The only question is I played my starters almost the entire first half. Will we have enough left in the tank to get us through the 2nd half? I'll be going to my bench fairly early in the 2nd half, probably by the 15 minute mark to get my starters a breather. Andres is the player of the half. We has 13 points, 3 boards, 3 assists, and a steal. He has shot 4 of 8, 3 of 6, and 2 of 2. Hodari also has 13 points and 3 boards. He has shot 4 of 6, 3 of 4, and 2 of 2. Santos had 8 points, 4 boards, 2 assists, and a block. He has also intimidated many other shots. Andres and Pait are the only starters who didn't play 20. With Belser out of the lineup to start the 2nd half, Starkey immediately starts dominating down low again. He also gets a quick 3rd on Pait. I'll leave Pait in for a few more minutes. With 13 minutes to go, Pait gets his 4th foul and I bring Belser back into the game. All of our starters except Andres are resting. We are up 49-25. With a 30 point lead, I get all of my bench guys in there. 55-25 with 7:30 to go. Wow. I never expected this kind of result. The most talented team we faced all year and we blow them out with our best defensive effort of the year. Of course, I did avoid their strength, the interior shot blocking, by shooting mostly 3's. We win 63-37. We held them to 29% shooting for the game. We shot 39% from the arc, going 9 of 23. We shot 47% overall going 22 of 47. We had 18 assists to their 12. We outrebounded them 33 to 25 which is also surprising. Andres was the player of the game, although Santos also could have gotten it. Andres finished with 18 points, 7 boards, 3 assists, 3 steals. He shot 6 of 12, 3 of 7, 3 of 4. Santos had 18 points, 7 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 2 blocks. He shot 8 of 14, 2 of 4. Hodari had 13 points, 3 boards, 1 assist, and 1 steal. He shot 4 of 6, 3 of 4, and 2 of 4. Shaw had 3 points and 4 assists. Pait had 0 points and 5 boards. Belser had 6 boards in 22 minutes. In just 13 minutes of garbage time, Brady a SG, had 9 points on 3 of 5 shooting including 1 of 3 from the arc. __________________ Retired GM of the eNFL 2007 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles (19-0 record.) GM of the WOOF 2006 Doggie Bowl Champion Atlantic City Gamblers. GM of the IHOF 2019 and 2022 IHOF Bowl Champion Asheville Axemen.