College Hoops 2k8: 2009 Edition

[Radii]

December 7, 2024

#6 Florida State (5-0) at Vanderbilt (4-1)

TEAM: FSU|VU
OVR: 93|88
OFF: 93|87
DEF: 91|91
SHT: 95|90
REB: 91|91
COA: 91|95

Our overall and offensive ratings each go up one point with our development. Vanderbilt has a decent lineup, but they lack experience, only their senior SG has more than 3 bars experience, 4 underclassmen starting. Vanderbilt has been one of the best programs of the last 3 or 4 years, making two final fours and an elite 8. Looks like they're rebuilding just a little.

Scouting

PG Taj Osborne – SO – 80 OVR – 92 speed/86 quickness. 88 defense/83 steals. 82 close/72 med/71 3/86 off the dribble. Another guy with strong awareness. 78 off/77 def. 90 hands/74 passing, a terrible passer. 11.8 ppg so far this year.

SG Kentrell Fitzgerald – SR- 86 OVR – 92 speed/91 quickness. 84 defense/85 steals. 85 close/85 med/70 3/86 off the dribble/79 in traffic. Coach on the floor, 79 off/84 def. 90 hustle, a very strong number, average leaper/strength. A solid overall player, 15.2 points/game early this year. He scored in double figures last year.

SF Craig Monroe – FR – 85 OVR - #3 recruit in the nation last year, a 6'4” SG – 92 speed/92 quickness. 84 defense/85 steals. 87 close/76 med/82 3/81 off the dribble. Good awareness for a freshman(75 off/76 def). Freshmen guards usually have low shot tendencies and only shoot when wide open. 7 ppg so far this year though.

PF Jitim Oliya – SO – 79 OVR – 6'6” SF – here is where the holes form. 74 orb/74 drb. 69 post off/67 post def. 82 close/80 med/79 3/86 in traffic. 71 off awareness/82 def awareness. A fairly solid SF, a horrid, horrid PF. 11.6 per game so far.

C Giordan Wooden – SO – 77 OVR – 7 foot center. 78 orb/80 drb. 83 post off/72 post def. 89 close/86 in traffic. 77 off awareness/68 def awareness. 13 points/5 rebounds a game.

They have two legit big men deeeep on their bench, rated 68 and 67 OVR. I wonder if they'll play them or use SF backups at the 4 and 5 spots. We would seem to have an edge here but they have 3 solid guards and this is on the road.

We have a massive 70-39 unity edge. Fitzgerald isn't a coach on the floor, you need more experience than he has I think.

Half	Time	FSU	VU	Notes
1	15:20	16	9	We're going to score a large number this game it appears. Working well in the half court and running real well in transition. Mayer has 9, we've hit a couple 3's. Vanderbilt takes a timeout.
1	13:15	20	17	Modica fouls a 3 point shooter, allowing them to cut a 6 point lead to 3. Backups are in.
1	11:10	22	23	Vandy takes advantage of our backups and takes the lead by 1.
1	9:00	30	23	There we go, go go backups! Carlisle has an incredible blowby move when he gets an open lane. Porter's blowby move has improved a lot this year, I got him to the rim a couple times here. Vandy takes their second timeout.
1	7:50	34	24	We go up 10, Trace Devonish scores for the first time with me controlling him. That won't be happening often though I think heh. Another Vandy timeout.
1	4:55	44	28	I set the starters to queue back in right away, but the game doesn't stop for awhile. Porter absolutely goes off. Two straight 3's, then two solid laypus in transition. Porter being able to be a threat as an outlet man is going to make him a superstar after Day leaves and he gets to start. Porter has 12 now. Starters are back in.
1	HALF	56	42	They hit 3's on 3 straight possessions, that's the only reason we're not up 20+ right now. Mayer hits a 3 as time expires. Their SF Monroe scores 8, backup guard Pope 7. Vandy is 6-8 from 3, just 16-30 overall. Their 3 point shooting is saving them completely. We're 4-7 from 3 though, despite 0-2 from Day. Modica/Mayer/Porter are 4-4 combined. Mayer has 21, he's 8-8 from the field with a 3, and 4-7 at the line. Porter has 12, Dearman 6, no one else more than 4.
2	18:00	56	48	They get 6 straight as we start the half cold, and our lead is under 10.
2	16:25	56	54	Wow. Two straight 3's and now its a 12-0 run. Black misses a couple inside, Mayer drives once and gets stuffed, Day misses a 3 and a couple tunovers, just everything falling apart here. I call a timeout as they get the 6th man going after that last 3.
2	15:33	58	56	They tie the game and Day drives to the basket for a layup on our offensive trip. We score for the first time all half and end a 14-0 run.
2	12:40	61	58	We defend well on a possession where Vandy has a shot at the lead, we've got the ball now up 3 as the backups come in.
2	10:00	64	63	Carlisle with a crazy circus shot for a 3 point play and we're hanging on to a 1 point lead still.
2	9:30	64	65	There's the Vandy lead, 6th man boost, FSU timeout.
2	7:00	69	72	Another 6th man for Vandy as they score 4 straight as Porter attacks the rim and is stuffed, leading to a Vandy layup. I get a timeout and get the starters back in.
2	5:15	75	74	Vandy goes up 74-70, Modica hits a 3, we get a steal and Modica a layup in transition, 5 straight for him and we take the lead back.
2	4:00	77	74	We get a stop, Millar hits a solid turnaround in the post, he's only got 6 today but he's hit a couple nice shots. Timeout Vandy.
2	2:50	80	77	They pretty much immediately hit a 3 to tie it up. Mayer drives on our next trip, misses, but Millar with the auto-tipin. They miss a jumper and we get on the run, Millar goes up for a dunk on the secondary break, he's fouled but hits 1 of 2 at the line, we're up 3. Timeout Vandy..
2	2:15	83	79	Vandy scores inside,but we get Day a big 3 on our end, up 4.
2	1:55	85	79	They miss a quick shot, Mayer a big dunk in transition. Mayer only has 4 this half, but now has 25 overall, up 6!

They don't get closer than 6 the rest of the way.

#6 Florida State 89
Vanderbilt 81

Their SF, Monroe, ends up with 17, the 7 footer scores 16/8 boards/5 assists, and their top rated player, Fitzgerald, gets 13. They end up 10-20 from 3, but they let us get too far ahead.

Modica: 8 points
Day: 7 points
Mayer: 25 points/3 boards
Millar: 13 points/11 boards
Black: 4 points/7 boards

Porter: 12 points
Carlisle: 8 points

Mayer and Porter pretty much were non-existent in the second half. Mayer was 8-8 in the first, but he finished 9-15. Millar came up big in the final 4 minutes and gets a nice double double. We gave up a big lead but on the whole this is a very solid road win for us.

[Radii]

The early recruiting period ends and the PG we're going after has not yet signed. We'll get him to 100% this week and will call him every week the rest of the season, but I'm concerned, because Clemson and Virginia Tech have both offered, and will surely both get him to 100% as well by the end of the year. He does want to stay near home, but Clemson and Va Tech both have been getting the better of us in recent years.

[Radii]

New polls are out:

1. Virginia Tech
2. Clemson
3. Villanova
4. Florida State
5. North Carolina
...
8. Georgia Tech
9. Maryland
23. NC State

Illinois is 16th.


We play 3 cupcakes this week, but next week we get an early season meeting with Maryland, at our place. Any time we get into the top 5, even if its during a cupcake non-conference schedule, I start to have visions of reaching #1 and earning the coaching point that comes with that.

[hoopsguy]

Six of the top nine from one conference is pretty sick.

[Radii]

December 10, 2024

Northern Illinois (5-3) at #4 Florida State (6-0)

TEAM: FSU|NIU
OVR: 93|77
OFF: 93|76
DEF: 91|77
SHT: 95|77
REB: 91|76
COA: 91|84

After a tough road game against Vandy we expect an easy win here.

Scouting

Northern Illinois has a junior center rated 80 OVR. No one else on the team is rated over 75, and their PF is a freshman rated 57 OVR. Dumont, the center, averages 19.3 points/game.

Half	Time	FSU	NIU	Notes
1	14:40	14	13	Well our offense scores pretty much every time we get the ball, but the defense isn't doing well. Their center has 6 or 8 already, and they've hit a 3, and of course their 57 rated PF has a couple buckets. They're scoring mostly inside. Mayer and Modica have 7 each for us.
1	11:20	23	19	Backups are in. A Mayer dunk got us a 6th man boost and a little more time out of the starters.
1	7:20	33	23	The backups go on a strong run and lead by 10. Timeout NIU. Starters are back in.
1	4:10	41	29	Timeout NIU, we're slowly starting to pull away it appears.
	HALF	51	34	Mayer pretty much takes over as NIU starts missing more of their shots and we can get out and run in transition. We shoot 65%, NIU shoots 40% on the half. Their 57 rated PF leads them in scoring with 10 points. SG Giles 9, their star center just has 6 on 2-6 shooting and a couple free throws. For us, as I said, Mayer totally took over the final 4 minutes of the half. He has 27. Modica has 7, Porter and Dearman have 5. Starters will likely play til the first substitution then we'll slow the game down and let the backups run it out.
2	14:30	61	45	Thanks to a 2-3 zone for a stretch, NIU got the lead as low as 13, Modica just hit a 3 to push it back to 16, and NIU takes a timeout.
2	11:45	70	53	Backups are in, hopefully for the rest of the game(if they can hold on to the lead). Mayer hits 2 threes, while Day misses 3 of them, and Mayer is now up over 40 points.

We push the lead up to 25 as Dearman and Porter heat up and easily win this one.

#4 Florida State 95
Northern Illinois 66

Their inside guys kept it close early but we have way too much athletic ability for them. Both their bigs end up with double doubles, 14 and 10 from the talented center.

Modica: 10 points
Day: 3 points (1-6 from 3)
Mayer: 43 points/2 boards
Millar: 0 points/7 boards
Black: 2 points/10 boards

Porter: 18 points (4-9 from 3)
Dearman: 13 points

against teams like this its just too easy to have our shooters and athletes run circles around the opposition, which ends up leaving the bigs pretty much ignored.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by hoopsguy

Six of the top nine from one conference is pretty sick.

yeah it is, I don't look too terribly closely at the other leagues usually but I really wonder if there's some sort of issue with recruit generation or something like that that skews things in the long term like this. Or perhaps its just how the ball bounced in this specific dynasty, I wonder what its like long term in others.

[Radii]

December 12, 2024

Montana (2-7) at #4 Florida State (7-0)

TEAM: FSU|UM
OVR: 93|72
OFF: 93|72
DEF: 91|71
SHT: 95|74
REB: 91|82
COA: 91|75

Montana is terrible. RPI of 300.

Scouting

PF Elmer Hunter is rated 77 OVR. Their Center is only 59 OVR. Guards are in the 60-71 range, with a soph PG and SG. PF Hunter averages 21.4 points/game. Their PG, Horton averages 9, and they're just at 67 per game as a team, so they get a huge % of their scoring from those two guys.

Half	Time	FSU	MU	Notes
1	15:00	5	5	Rough start, Mayer has 4 points, all in transition. Day misses a 3, Black and Millar both miss a couple inside. Millar is 1-2 at the line. Montana's SG has a 3 and a 2 point jumper.
1	11:45	14	8	That's better. Mayer has 13 of our 14 points, they start missing 3's and other midrange and long jumpers, and we get out on the run and score with incredible ease. Early on they were shooting inside and we were picking up tough loose balls/misses inside and not getting to fast break. Backups are in.
1	9:10	18	10	Slow going for the backups too, but Jolly gets 4 straight inside and Montana calls a timeout.
1	6:40	20	16	Backups really don't play all that well, and the starters come back in with a 4 point lead only.
1	4:00	22	24	We just cannot hit a shot in the half court set. Day is 0-4 from 3, Modica 0-2, the post guys cannot score... frustrating!
	HALF	36	29	We score the final 7 of the half. We are 1/13 from 3, shooting 41% from the floor. Mayer has 20, almost entirely in transition. No one else can get anything going anywhere. Day is 1-7 from 3, all wide open. Millar is 0-4 inside. Porter, Dearman, and Carlisle combine for 1-6 from the floor. Montana is 13-33 from the field, slightly worse than us. Their SG, Stevenson, has 11.
2	15:35	49	37	Millar finally hits a couple inside, Day is 2-10 but hits another open 3, Mayer has 7 more and we extend the lead out to 12, timeout Montana.
2	13:35	51	42	Montana goes into a 1-2-2 zone and we miss a few more open 3's. Backups are in.
2	9:25	60	47	They score 5 straight to cut it to 4. Carlisle with a layup, a couple more easy buckets and Porter just drained a 3 to put us right back up 13. Timeout Montana.
2	6:50	68	52	Starters are back in. Seems like we've got it under control.

#4 Florida State 80
Montana 61

Their top player, PF Hunter, has a really good game against Millar. He's 11-19 for 23 points and pulls in 10 boards. Their SG Stevenson scores 16 total, after scoring their first 8 points early in the game. We hold them to under 40% from the field, 7-27 from 3.

Modica: 8 points
Day: 7 points
Mayer: 35 points/4 boards
Millar: 5 points/15 boards
Black: 2 points/9 boards

Porter: 9 points
Jolly: 6 points

We shoot terrible from 3, Day goes 1-8, Porter 1-6. In each of these last two games Mayer wouldn't be such a ridiculously dominant scorer compared to the rest of the team if someone else could have hit some open 3's. Today Millar really struggled inside as well,going 2-8.

But regardless, its an easy win for us in the end, which is what matters most.

[Radii]

We finish this week off with a game vs a truly horrible Colgate team, and then it starts to get more exciting. Georgetown and Maryland next week, a bad Wyoming team, a fairly decent San Diego State team, then the ACC schedule. Georgetown looks like one of the worst big east teams, but better than this other competition we've played lately.

[Radii]

December 15, 2024

Colgate (0-6) at #4 Florida State (8-0)

TEAM: FSU|CU
OVR: 93|67
OFF: 93|69
DEF: 91|68
SHT: 95|72
REB: 91|77
COA: 91|76

Colgate is worse than anyone I've played a game out against in years.

Scouting

They have two players rated 70 OVR, SF Low and PF Christopher. SG Sockwell is rated 67 OVR, their PG and C are under 60.

Half	Time	FSU	CU	Notes
1	13:40	12	12	We're shockingly tied early on, not playing anywhere near our potential. Backups are in.
1	11:40	14	15	They go ahead on a 3, we score, timeout Colgate. Their 70 rated SF, Low, has 12 points so far, 2-3 from 3.
1	7:05	23	27	We actually fell down 27-20, Carlisle hit a 3 to make it 4. The starters are back in. We've given up 3 3-point plays inside. Looks like a classic “struggle against a much worse team” type of game that we're going to have to gut out. Fun.
1	6:05	28	27	Mayer scores 5 straight, has 12 total, and we retake the lead. Colgate timeout.
1	4:40	30	27	Another timeout for Colgate, though we've only added 2 more over the last 1:30ish.
	HALF	38	39	We're shooting a higher percentage, shooting more free throws, and have each made three 3's, yet we're losing by one. Colgate is 16-33, 3-10 from 3,4-7 from the line. FSU is 15-27, 3-9 from 3, 5-10 from the line. I think the difference is that 3 of their free throws are on 3point plays. We lead the rebound game 17-12. Their SF, Low, has 14 on 6-10 shooting, 2-5 from 3. No one else has more than 5. Mayer is 7-8, 1-1 from 3, 5-10 from the line(he has all of our FT attempts heh). No one else has more than 4. The rest of our team is 8-19 from the field. Day and Modica are 1-6 combined.
2	15:35	48	43	They score first, then we go on a 10-2 run. Black has a couple buckets, and Mayer gets going in transition to get to 24 points. Timeout Colgate, hopefully this is a sign that we're pulling away.
2	10:25	67	49	We go on a massive run and take an 18 point lead. Mayer is up in the 30s but Modica, Black and Millar all help out some as well. Backups are in.

We build up an 81-51 lead and there's no reason to bring the starters are back in.

#4 Florida State 81
Colgate 55

We win the second half 43-16.

Modica: 3 points/4 assists
Day: 9 points
Mayer: 36 points/3 boards
Millar: 2 points/9 boards
Black: 6 points/7 boards

Carlisle: 12 points (4-10 from 3, though 3 of those attempts were blindly launching 3's in the final 2 minutes as the shot clock expired, he shot very very well)

I was glad to see the second half go that way, as opposed to a tight game all the way to the end.

[Radii]

December 18, 2024

Georgetown (4-5) at #4 Florida State (9-0)

TEAM: FSU|GU
OVR: 93|81
OFF: 93|83
DEF: 91|83
SHT: 95|84
REB: 91|89
COA: 91|95

Georgetown has one superstar player, 6'11” PF Jeffrey Braxton is rated 86 OVR. He's also hurt and won't be playing today.

Georgetown isn't all that great but its a step up from recent competition, and this is a warmup for our big game at the end of the week against Maryland. John Thomson III is still at Georgetown and his coaching ability is the best thing the Hoyas have going.


Georgetown starts 3 freshmen and 2 sophomores. They have basically zero experience

Scouting

PG Rayshawn Castillo – SO – 78 OVR – 6'7” SF – wow, SF playing the point. 79 speed/78 quickness. 79 defense/79 steals. Not even a good handler for a SF. 75 hands/65 passing. 88 close/77 med/69 3/85 in traffic. 3.9 ppg/2.6 rpg.

SG Roshaun Dukes – FR – 75 OVR – 6'6” SF – a SF playing the 2 should be a good sign for Day. 83 speed/82 quickness. 79 defense/70 steals. 83 close/71 med/67 3/82 in traffic. Terrible awareness. 65 off/68 def. 7 ppg/5.3 rpg.

SF Jared Alpay – FR – 72 OVR - 6'8” SF – 80 speed/74 quickness. 72 defense/63 steals. 83 close/72 med/69 3/79 in traffic. Poor awareness, 65 off awareness/70 def awareness. 2.8 ppg/0.9 rpg.

PF Ted Hess – FR – 74 OVR – 6'9” PF – 83 orb/76 drb. 81 post off/74 post def. 86 close/84 in trafic. Good athlete overall, 67 vert/72 str/86 hustle(B+/B/B+ for a PF). 59 def awareness, about as low as I've seen at a major level. 6.1 ppg/3.0 rpg.

C Stefon Dux – SO – 79 OVR – 7'0 C – 84 orb/81 drb. 79 post off/86 post def. 78 blocks. 89 close/83 in traffic. 83 str. Decent awareness, 79 off/71 def. 6.3 ppg/5.2 rpg.

Backup Center Kim Sneed is a 7'1 250 pound monster, rated 79 OVR. He'll make an impact off the bench.

Holy crap. Georgetown has no PG's on their roster. Like 40% of the top 100 recruits are PG's, and you can't find even one? Their lack of guard play should be a massive hole that we can exploit.

Half	Time	FSU	GU	Notes
1	16:30	6	11	Horrid sequence for us, tied at 6, they get a 3 point play try, Modica with the foul. FT is no good, offensive board, putback is off but Millar fouls. First FT good, second off, they get another offensive board, putback no good, Millar with his 2nd foul. This time they make both free throws, 5 point possession.
1	13:45	16	13	Ahh, there we go. Mayer has 11, Black 3, Day 2. We're 6-7 from the field, Modica has a missed 3 for our only miss. Timeout Georgetown.
1	13:40	16	15	Millar with his 3rd foul. I bring the backups in a little early.
1	9:15	23	22	Georgetown immediately goes back ahead of the backups, but Porter gives us 5 and helps us take the lead back. Timeout Georgetown. Dearman has 2 fouls for us.
1	7:45	30	24	We go on a quick run, Dearman hits a 3, gets a dunk, Porter with a layin. Starters are back in. Jolly is in at PF instead of Millar.
1	1:15	43	36	Black commits his 3rd foul too, we've got like 11 fouls in the half. Mayer is going off a bit in transition.
1	0:45	45	37	Black commits foul #4 before I can get him out... ugh.
	HALF	47	37	We shoot 70%, dominating in transition and frequently driving to the hoop past all their SF's. Georgetown shoots 48%, but we commit 11 fouls and allow them to shoot 12-18 from the line. Mayer dominates, bigtime. He's 10-11 from the field, mostly in transition but he's hit a couple in the post, 6-6 from the line, 26 points. Porter is 2nd with 7 points, Dearman 5,no one else has more than 3. Their SF, the one actually at the 3 that is, Alpay, has 9 points. PF Hess has 9 as well.
2	17:20	47	43	Well, we give up 6 straight to start the second half. I take a timeout. Mayer falls over trying to drive by his man, Day misses two free throws, great start.
2	14:15	49	49	Well, we score, finally. This is going to be another game where Mayer is our only scorer, but Day is 1-7, so we're trying! I bring the backups in... and the starting bigs, I had left Jolly and Devonish out there in the 4 and 5 spots.
2	11:30	55	50	We start to get the offense rolling a little and don't allow the Hoyas to take the lead. Millar has 4 fouls now.
2	11:05	58	50	Dearman hits a 3 and Georgetown calls a timeout.
2	7:20	69	58	Porter gets a layup in transition, and then Carlisle hits 3 straight 3 pointers. We lead by as much as 13 and are up 11 now as Georgetown takes a timeout. Starters are back in, Millar/Black are in there til they foul out likely.
2	3:00	82	65	We've got it well in hand now.

Easy win in the end, after a scare early in the second half.

#4 Florida State 87
Georgetown 73

Modica: 0 points
Day: 5 points/3 assists/2 steals
Mayer: 41 points/1 board (16-20 FG, 9-9 FT)
Millar: 2 points/2 boards
Black: 5 points/12 boards

Carlisle: 13 points
Porter: 11 points
Dearman: 8 points

Day went 1-6 from 3 and 2-9 from the field overall, Day really should be a solid second scorer behind Mayer but he is having a hard time getting it going. Mayer's points weren't forced at all today though, if you can shoot 80% from the field, keep shooting!

Our starters were 1-7 from 3(Day 1-6, Modica 0-1), the backups go 6-10(Porter 1-3, Dearman 2-3, Carlisle 3-4).

I can't say I really feel ready to jump into a game with Maryland, but we'll do what we can against them.

[Radii]

December 22, 2024

#9 Maryland (10-0) at #4 Florida State (10-0)

TEAM: FSU|UMD
OVR: 93|91
OFF: 93|90
DEF: 91|92
SHT: 95|93
REB: 91|86
COA: 91|93

Maryland graduated 4 starters last year but as we have seen with the limited number of players going pro early its possible to recruit well and reload even after that. They were rated 93 OVR in February last year, so still being up at 91 says a lot for them.

In fact, their PG is rated better than the one that graduated last year. There are small dropoffs in OVR ratings at all other positions, but nothing too huge. They are starting 3 freshmen, but all 3 are rated 80+. They'll be real good for awhile I assume.

Scouting

PG Austen Lenzly – SR – 87 OVR – 97 speed/90 quickness. 92 defense/85 steals. 87 hands/90 passing. 85 close/76 med/82 3/88 off the dribble. Above average, but not coach on the floor awareness (74 off 78 def). Maryland plays a tight pressure defense so having a strong PG, especially with Modica not being the best player in the world at PG on our end. 13.3 ppg/4.0 apg, leading the team in both.

SG Ian Neale – SR – 86 OVR – 97 speed/91 quickness. 86 defense/84 steals. 90 close/83 med/85 3/86 off the dribble. A natural PG. Average athlete at best, 70 off awareness/73 def awareness, ok but not great there. 8.4 ppg.

SF Spencer Grafs – FR – 80 OVR – 6'5” SF – 83 speed/81 quickness. 81 defense/70 steals. 82 close/74 med/68 3/85 in traffic. An incredible dunker(97/A+), great hustle, great leaper, good strength. Should be the guy playing PF instead of Peavy. 9.6 ppg/5.4 rpg.

PF Bryant Peavy – FR – 83 OVR – 6'6” SF – Last year they started a SF at center, size seems to be a consistent issue for the Terps. 64 orb/77 drb. 64 post off/72 post def. 92 close/80 in traffic. A solid shooter and scorer for a SF, and a very, very good freshman. But a poor post guy. 7.2 ppg.

C Jair Jeffers – FR – 80 OVR – 6'7” PF – 78 orb/80 drb. 81 post off/77 post def. 81 close/84 in traffic. 81 off awareness/80 def awareness, solid numbers there. Poor strength for a big,70/B. 8.5 ppg/5.6 rpg.

Their size and strength inside seems like it should be an issue. I've been trying to rely on Day as a secondary scorer behind Mayer, but at least against Maryland, it seems like I need to give heavy focus to Millar and Black inside in the half court.

Seems like a game we should win, but its our first real test so we'll see. Massive 72-38 unity edge inside.

Half	Time	FSU	UMD	Notes
1	14:50	13	11	Grafs has 8 for Maryland. Black just got a 3 point play and drew foul #2 on Jeffers, so they're out of big men for the rest of the half.
1	13:00	15	16	Backups are in. Mayer leads us with 6, Grafs leads them with 8.
1	7:00	27	30	Maryland leads most of the time the backups are out. Porter scores our last 8 in a row, 3 point play, layup, 3 pointer, and it was tied at 27, a 3 pointer from Maryland puts them back up by 3 as the starters come back in.
1	4:55	33	30	We score 6 in a row and take the lead, an offensive board by Black gets us a 6th man boost, though he misses the putback.
1	3:20	37	32	Black is having a great half against their undersized, out of position players. We're up 5 as Maryland takes a timeout.
	HALF	47	36	Great half against a top 10 team. We shoot 64%, they shoot 48%. We also draw a large number of fouls with our success going inside. Their SF, Grafs, leads them with 10. PG Lenzly scores 8 and has 4 assists. They shoot 15-33, just 3-4 from 3, 3-5 at the line. We're 16-25 from the field, 3-5 from 3, and 12-16 from the line. Mayer leads us with 15, 5-8 from the field, 5-6 at the line. Black has 11, 4-5 inside and 3 free throws, he's doing great inside for us today. Porter has 8, Modica has 5. Day hasn't attempted a 3 pointer heh.
2	15:25	62	42	We get some defense and Mayer gets going big time, he's got our last 7 in a row, including a great 3 point play in traffic.
2	13:55	66	44	Timeout Maryland as we go up 22.
2	12:20	68	48	Backups are in. Mayer has 32.
2	11:00	74	50	Carlisle hits 2 straight threes, we go up by 24, and Maryland takes a timeout.
2	7:50	78	55	Still up big time.

They cut the lead to 18 at the 1:50 mark but I never bring the starters back in and just kill off the clock.

#4 Florida State 85
#9 Maryland 71

We ran off to a 15-6 start to the second half and never really looked back. The 14 point margin at the end is a solid 8-10 points closer than the second half actually played. We end up holding a massive 27-16 edge on the boards and Mayer was able to run in transition over a couple stretches, Black gave us a great half, and it was just too much for the Terps.

Their PG, Lenzly, went nuts in the 2^nd half, ending the game with 25 points total after just 8 in the first half. Neale scored 13, Grafs 12.

Modica: 5 points
Day: 3 points
Mayer: 32 points/4 boards/3 assists
Millar: 3 points/7 boards
Black: 13 points/5 boards

Carlisle: 14 points
Porter: 9 points

This was the freak early season conference game that shows up sometimes, so we still have a couple more non-conference games before the rest of the conference season ramps up. Very good win today!

[hoopsguy]

Very nice start to the season. Always good to win the undefeated showdown with a conference member, even if it is happening in mid-December.

[Radii]

We remain #4 despite our big win, looks like we'll rely on others to lose to move up from here(or the magic reset that occurs in January when the RPI is hashed out and everything resets a bit).

1. Virginia Tech
2. Villanova
3. North Carolina
4. Florida State
5. UCLA
...
7. Georgia Tech
8. Clemson
13. Maryland
18. Wake Forest
21. NC State

Clemson lost last week and fell from #2 to #8. UNC actually jumped over us, I see no reason in their schedule for that to have happened.

We've got 3 ranked big 10 teams now. Illinois is 10-2 and up to #11. Indiana is 10-1 and moved from unranked all the way to #17, and Michigan State is 8-2 and #25.

[Radii]

December 29, 2024

Wyoming (2-6) at #4 Florida State (11-0)

TEAM: FSU|UW
OVR: 93|78
OFF: 93|79
DEF: 92|79
SHT: 95|82
REB: 91|84
COA: 91|86

Our team defense is up to 92, all other ratings remain unchanged. Wyoming is not good.

Scouting

Wyoming's PG, Gerard Queen, is rated 76 OVR. The rest of their starters are in the low 70s, except for their center who is 67 OVR.

Half	Time	FSU	UW	Notes
1	12:50	7	14	LOL? Mayer has 3 but is 1-4, Millar is 0-3 inside, Black 0-1, Day has 2 turnovers trying to drive, ugly, ugly start. They have 2 or 3 3's and a 7 point early lead. Backups are in.
1	9:25	16	16	Carlisle and Porter each drain a 3 and the backups are playing a lot better than the starters this half, tie game.
1	8:20	19	19	Timeout Wyoming.
1	6:20	22	23	Starters are back in.
1	3:30	29	27	We take the lead back with a quick 5 from Mayer, a layup in half court, and a fast break 3 point play.
1	1:00	33	29	Mayer attacks the rim and draws a foul... and goes down injured. Dearman is in.
	HALF	36	31	Modica hits a 3 as time expires and we lead by 5. We only shoot 41% on the half, but hold Wyoming to 38%. Wyoming's scoring is balanced, with 4 starters scoring between 5 and 8 points. They lead on the boards 19-16, and my impression from the half is that they absolutely killed us on the offensive glass. They're 4-12 from 3, 1-2 from the line. We are just 12-29 from the field, but 5-10 from 3, 7-8 at the line. Porter leads us with 9, Mayer 8, Carlisle 6, Modica 5. Modica is 2-3, the only player on the team shooting more than 50% from the floor. Day, Millar, Black are all 1-3, Mayer 3-7. I doublecheck team stats coming out of the locker room, Wyoming has a 6-3 edge on the offensive glass, I expected worse.
	HALF	36	31	Worth its own note, Mayer has a high ankle sprain and is hurt for 23 days. That's an OUT injury it appears(I never remember until I check to see if I can bring the guy back in, so far I cannot). That could be annoying as ACC play starts, I'm not sure what games he'll miss in conference play yet though.
2	16:00	41	41	Day looks to take over as our high octane man in transition, he's not as strong as Mayer when it comes to finishing inside but he's quick and does a good job of creating a lane for himself. He's really been cold from 3 lately though and is just 1-5 from behind the arc today, something we need badly, espicially with Mayer out. Wyoming starts strong and ties it up.
2	14:20	44	45	Fouls add up some, Black and Day have 3 each, and Wyoming takes the lead.
2	13:25	46	45	Millar gets 2 at the line, backups are in. Ashton Naymick, our 11th man/3rd string SF, becomes the backup at SF. I don't know at all what to expect out of him, but he is rated about the same as Dearman. Naymick's confidence is real low so I don't expect a lot today. Right now we're just having a very hard time finding reliable scoring. Millar and Black are a combined 2-9, Day 3-8.
2	12:05	51	45	Carlisle hits a 3, Naymick his first 2 points ever under my control on a 10 foot jumper. Timeout Wyoming.
2	8:55	57	57	Naymick has a quick 7, hitting a 3 as time ran out on the shot clock, and hitting a couple free throws. But our defense is just not that strong today and we've allowed them to tie it back up.
2	5:55	64	61	Naymick with 11, maybe he is just shining being given a chance, hard to say., but its certainly an unexpected surprise. The starters are back in. We need to find offense somewhere.
2	5:10	66	61	Black commits foul #4.
2	4:10	70	65	Millar has all 6 of our points since the starters returned and now has 10, nice to see someone has come alive.
2	1:50	72	69	Under 2 minutes we lead by 3, the closest game we've played all year I think?
2	1:00	72	69	Day misses an open 3, we get a stop.
2	0:47	75	69	Modica hits his 3rd trey of the game and we go up 6.

We get a stop and they start fouling. Game over.

#4 Florida State 78
Wyoming 69

Not pretty, but its a win. Wyoming gets a great performance from their SF Brooks, 23 points on the day including 5-10 from 3. They win the rebound battle 36-30, its been awhile since we've been outrebounded.

Modica: 11 points/2 assists (3-4 from 3)
Day: 9 points (1-7 from 3)
Mayer: 8 points
Millar: 10 points/5 boards (4-9)
Black: 5 points/10 boards

Porter: 12 points
Naymick: 11 points
Carlisle: 9 points

We need to get better play out of Day, Milar, and Black if Mayer is going to be gone for a month.

[Radii]

I still don't understand how the days reported in game differs outside the game... Mayer's injury is only 16 days, not 23. We have an entire week off which helps immensely.

It looks like Mayer is likely to miss 3 games:

vs #21 San Diego State (14-1)
at Miami (9-8)
at Boston College (8-2)

Mayer will be back in time for the next game after that...vs #1 Virginia Tech.


We fall to 8th in the polls for reasons I don't get:

1. Virginia Tech
2. Villanova
3. North Carolina
4. Georgia Tech
5. UCLA
6. Clemson
...
8. Florida State
13. Wake Forest
17. NC State

[RealDeal]

Waiting breathlessly for updates to the best dynasty going right now.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by RealDeal

Waiting breathlessly for updates to the best dynasty going right now.

I appreciate the compliment. I've been dedicating a serious amount of time to my poker game over the last month, something that had been on the back burner for quite some time. That's eaten significantly into my 360 time. This isn't going away or anything close to it at all, but it may end up being slow for awhile.

[Radii]

January 7, 2025

#21 San Diego State (14-1) #8 Florida State (12-0)

TEAM: FSU|SDSU
OVR: 91|87
OFF: 91|87
DEF: 91|88
SHT: 94|88
REB: 89|89
COA: 91|84

This is our last non-conference game of the season.

Well, its time to play our first game without Roberto Mayer. Our overall rating drops to 91 from 93 OVR without him. We play a good San Diego State team today. They have two very good players and have small holes elsewhere. They have not played anyone though. Their one loss is to a 7-6 Depaul team, and they have only one win against a team with a winning record.

Scouting

PG Phil Ager – SR – 86 OVR – 92 speed/80 quickness. 86 defense/82 steals. 89 hands/88 passing. 82 close/82 med/76 3/86 off the dribble. Coach on the floor, 80/85 off/def awareness. Outstanding hustle, poor leaper and not very strong. But he's a great ball handler, good speed and a decent shooter, clearly the #2 threat on the team. 9.9 ppg/5.9 apg.

SG Rhett Lloyd – JR – 77 OVR – 88 speed/82 quickness. 77 def/79 steals. 82 close/80 med/82 3/76 off the dribble. Poor awareness, only 68 on offense, 74 defense, a bit better there. Not much of an athlete, he'll score when he's open and that's about it. 6.9 ppg.

SF Jorge Carlson – SR – 86 OVR – 6'7” SF – 85 speed/88 quickness. 85 defense/71 steals. 89 close/77 med/78 3/81 off the dribble/84 in traffic. Outstanding defensive awareness(84), poor offensive awareness(69). Solid athlete, this is a very good player. 10.7 ppg/6.2 rpg.

PF Lance Rowland – SO – 78 OVR – 6'8” PF – 79 orb/85 drb. 79 post off/76 post def. 78 blocks. 87 close/85 in traffic. Decent strength, decent awareness, a good but not great player. 7.5 ppg/5.3 rpg, Millar ought to handle him fine I would think.

C D'or Roberson – SR – 78 OVR – 6'9” C – 79 orb/84 drb. 86 post off/79 post def. 86 blocks. 89 close/82 in traffic. Looks almost identical to Rowland. An ok player but Black is better. Whoa. WHOA, heh. 21.7 ppg/5.5 rpg. Ok, so his post offensive ratings are very good, and his shoting tendencies inside are maxxed out, but Carlson is so much better an athlete. That's a surprise.

These are their best 5 players. Some 76 and 72 rated guards come off the bench, they have big man depth but its poor, 70 OVR or so. We should be in very good shape against their bench.

With a coach on the floor, and with Mayer out/Dearman in, SDSU has a unity edge. Also, they run a 2-3 defense primarily, so that might give us some trouble.

Half	Time	FSU	SDSU	Notes
1	16:00	7	7	We might be in for a fight here if they stay in a 2-3 all game, depends on our shooting. We can run when they miss though, at least reasonably well. Tight early. Their big man Roberson has 6 of their first 7.
1	13:35	11	13	Backups are in. Roberson has 10, their PF has 2 and they are dominating us inside. Black has 4 for us, Day hit 1 trey.
1	12:10	11	21	We miss two threes by Porter. They hit two threes and get a layup in transition after one of our misses, we're down 10 and get a timeout. SDSU is playing a near perfect game on offense.
1	8:05	19	27	We scored 6 straight, cut the lead to 21-17, then they ran off 6 on their end, 27-17... Porter is getting a lot of wide open looks and nothing is falling, he's 0-4 from 3. SDSU calls a timeout after we score near the 8 minute mark.
1	6:55	24	31	Porter finally hits a 3, they attack very well inside and we can't seem to stop that. Starters come back in.
1	5:00	30	34	We take advantage of a steal and a couple solid looks and cut the lead down to 4. We actually got a second steal and Modica misses a wide open 3 that could have cut it to 1.
1	4:20	32	34	SDSU uses the entire shot clock and misses a bad jumper. We get Dearman on the run and he cuts it to two. Timeout Aztecs.
1	3:30	36	34	Two more misses, two more solid fast breaks and we take the lead! 6th man boost on the last rebound that led to our going up 2.
1	2:45	38	36	Roberson gets his 12th point for SDSU. They just need to score so we can't fast break to limit our edge. Millar with a good post move on our end, timeout SDSU.
	HALF	46	40	We end the half strong and end up going into the locker room with the lead. The key is their missing shots. Even with SDSU going cold late in the half, they're still shooting 62%. Our run gets us up near 60% as well. Roberson is 8-9 for SDSU, he has 16. No one else has more than 5. We have better balance, Day leads us with 11, just 1-3 from 3 but solid in transiton. Dearman and Black both have 8. Carlisle and Jolly lead the backups with 4 each. SDSU has the edge on the boards but has 9 turnovers, lots of bad passes into the post trying to feed those guys. If we can slow Roberson and/or force enough misses that we can continue to run, we will win. If we have to play in the half court the rest of the game, it'll depend a lot on if we heat up from 3 (just 2-10 this half).
2	15:50	53	40	Great,great start to the half. SDSU has yet to score. We've had some tough possessions but just ran off 5 straight in the last 20 seconds. Day has all of our points this half. SDSU timeout.
2	10:25	57	50	Our run slows a bit, but we still lead by 6. Backups are in. Day has 20.
2	9:10	57	56	They hit two threes in a row and all of a sudden its a 1 point game again.
2	8:00	57	58	And we miss again and we trail by one as they score, ugh.
2	4:35	61	65	We tie it up at 61, they score 4 in a row. I get a timeout and the starters are finally ready to get back into the game to try to finish this off. Their man Roberson only has 4 this half to get up to 16, but their talented SF, Carlson, has 12 now when he had 4 or less at the half. We need to get it together quick.
2	3:30	61	65	Still down 4 with 3 ½ to go. Day misses a 3, Black misses a hook and interferes going for the offensive board.
2	2:40	61	69	Day misses two threes in a row and we trail by 8, ugh ugh ugh.
2	2:00	63	69	Day drives by his man and hits a layup. We trail by 6 with 2 left.
2	1:00	63	69	We get two stops in a row, but turn it over once, and Dearman misses a 3 with the other... down 6, one minute left, their ball.
2	0:40	65	69	Block shot by Black, leading to a dunk by Dearman. We're down 4 and its time to foul.
2	0:38	65	71	Their PG makes 1... and 2.
2	0:15	65	72	Day has a quick 3 blocked. They miss the front end, but we miss another 3 on our end, and its going to be all over.

Tough loss, I hate the 2-3 zone!

#21 San Diego State 72
#8 Florida State 65

Day just can't come up as a go to guy at the end, but he did a great job keeping us in the game until the end, so I can't fault him too much. Roberson ends up with 16 for them, Calson 13, their PG Ager has 9, SG Lloyd 8, PF Rowland 7. Solid play all over. They shoot 31-61 on the game, 6-13 from 3.

Modica: 6 points
Day: 22 points
Dearman: 10 points/2 boards
Millar: 2 points/8 boards
Black: 8 points/12 boards

Porter: 7 points

We did ok when we could get it inside in the half court set. But holy crap, 3 point shooting, seriously? 3-26. Porter 1-7, Day 2-11, Modica 0-4, Carlisle 0-2, Dearman 0-1, Naymick 0-1. Shoot a 20% clip and we win. Just a terrible performance there.

[Balldog]

Tough shooting game! Sometimes I settle on 3s to often against a 2-3 zone. Gotta get the ball to the elbow!

[Radii]

January 11, 2025

#8 Florida State (12-1, 1-0 ACC) at Miami (9-8, 1-0 ACC)

TEAM: FSU|MIA
OVR: 91|84
OFF: 91|86
DEF: 91|83
SHT: 94|85
REB: 89|84
COA: 91|86

ACC Play begins in earnest today. We still have a couple games left without Mayer, this one is on the road but hopefully we can handle one of the weaker ACC squads with what we've got. Miami beat Boston College a couple weeks ago.

Scouting

PG Laurence McKinney – SR – 72 OVR – 85 speed/89 quickness. 82 def/70 steals. 84 hands/79 passing, all average numbers here. 85 close/66 med/68 3/84 off the dribble. 8.6 ppg/4.1 apg.

SG Lukasz Danley – SR – 80 OVR – 6'7”, actually a SF, and a big one a that. 83 speed/76 quickness. 86 defense/70 steals. 85 close/78 med/72 3/81 in traffic. Good awareness. 78 off/77 def. 11.9 ppg/5.2 rpg. Interesting matchup with a quicker, but smaller Day here.

SF Clint Blevins – SR – 82 OVR – 6'5” SF – 87 speed/80 quickness. 83 defense/71 steals. 81 close/77 med/69 3/86 in traffic. Solid awareness (79 off/74 def). Blevins averages 10.2 ppg, he doesn't look like a great offensive player or anything but he seems like a guy who can attack the rim pretty well.

PF Diego Bermudez – SR – 78 OVR – 6'9” natural PF – 83 orb/74 drb. 72 post offense/72 post def. Non-existent shot blocking(52). 93 close/90 in traffic. Incredible offensive awareness, 87. 77 def awareness, coach on the floor. 8 ppg/3.6 rpg.

C CJ Laws – FR – 76 OVR – 6'7” PF – 73 orb/74 drb. 80 post off/71 post def. 81 close/84 in traffic. Great awareness for a freshman. 77 off/79 def. His potential isn't that great, and very poor rebounding. 9.2 ppg/4.6 rpg.

Backup SF Patricio Daley is rated 80 OVR and is the second highest rated player on the team. 6 points/game off the bench.

Just not enough talent on this team really. The rebounding is awful.

Half	Time	FSU	MIA	Notes
1	18:30	7	3	We score the first 7 and are looking good.
1	14:00	16	9	Miami calls a timeout. We're not blowing them out but are playing well. Dearman and Day lead us with 5.
1	10:55	22	16	We call a timeout to get the backups in.
1	5:10	30	28	Well, the backups don't really play that well, a couple layups from turnovers and Miami only trails us by 2. I get a timeout and get the starters back in.
1	4:30	30	31	A 3 from Miami gives them the lead and a 6th man boost.
1	3:30	34	31	Day attacks the rim and draws a foul, but is injured. Porter comes in and drains the 2 free throws. Day leads us with 11 and hasn't missed a shot yet, so hopefully he gets to come back in for the second half.
	HALF	43	39	Miami hits a 3 from about 35 feet at the buzzer and its 4 at the half instead of 7, which is a little frustrating. Miami shoots 16-32, 4-7 from 3. PF Bermudez takes a huge percentage of their shots, he's 6-12 and has 13 points at the half. One guy has 5 shots and no one else has more than 3. On our end, we're shooting amazingly well. 17-25 from the field, 2-6 from 3/7-9 from the line. Day leads us with 11, Dearman has 9, Black has 6. Porter and Devonish have 4 off the bench. They're outrebounding us 14-9, which is why the game is close. Day has a sore knee and is going to play in the second half.
2	17:20	43	45	6 straight for Miami, 3 different 6th man boosts, and things just have not started out well this half for us at all. I get a timeout when they take the lead.
2	13:50	49	48	We take the lead back, Day has 6 this half and has 17. Black is strugging badly, we get him a number of solid looks in the paint and he's missed 4 shots in a row. Day's knee has him slowed quite a bit, but he still has a good first step.
2	12:25	54	48	Day strokes a 3 and is really having an outstanding offensive game, he's up to 20. Timeout Miami, backups are in for us.
2	7:30	56	55	Miami had tied it back up at 55, we got a free throw, but Miami has the ball with a chance to go back ahead. This is going to be a common theme all year I fear, the backups are getting owned. Starters are back in, except for Black. All his early attempts in the post tired him out quite a bit, he needs more rest.
2	5:15	61	59	Black is back in. This looks like its going to be close to the wire.
2	4:15	61	64	5 straight from Miami puts us down 3, I call a timeout to kill off a 6th man boost after a 3 pointer. I've got two timeouts left.
2	2:45	66	66	Their PF, Bermudez, picks up his 6th(SIXTH) offensive rebound and a putback for his 22nd point. Day gets us a huge 3 point play and we tie the game up. Miami timeout.
2	2:00	68	68	Their PG gets a bucket inside, we get Millar an open look inside, timeout Miami.
2	1:20	70	68	We get a big stop inside, and Millar hits another open look after going off a screen in a set play. Miami with another timeout(I think they now have 1 left).
2	0:48	72	68	If it ain't broke... another huge stop in the post, and Millar with a good hook in the post on our end. He's got 14, and our last 6 straight as we lead by 4 with less than a minute left.
2	0:27	72	70	They get an easy layup inside out of their half court set.
2	0:22	74	70	Day hits 2 at the line after being fouled.

Miami struggles to get a shot and misses when they finally get one off. We put it away in the end.

#8 Florida State 77
Miami 70

Day gives us an absolutely brilliant performance today, Millar is huge in the post in the final few minutes and we get a road win with our superstar injured, I would have hoped to have been able to win this one easier but I'll obviously take it. Miami PF Bermudez scores 22 points and pulls in 12 boards, shooting 10-19 and getting 7 offensive rebounds. C Laws and PG McKinney both shoot 5-7, 13 and 11 points respectively.

Modica: 6 points (2-5 from 3)
Day: 25 points (9-9 FG, 2-2 3, 5-5 FT)
Dearman: 9 points/3 boards
Millar: 16 points/ 5 boards (7-11 FG)
Black: 9 points/5 boards

Porter: 5 points

Perfection from Day, I love it.

[Radii]

We fall to #10 with our loss earlier in the week, but the ACC is dominating the poll going into conference play:

1. Villanova
2. Georgia Tech
3. Virginia Tech
4. Clemson
5. North Carolina
...
10. Florida State
17. NC State
25. Wake Forest

We travel to a 10-2 Boston college team before hosting #3 Virginia Tech this week. Mayer is now back, not really missing much at all in the end.

[Radii]

January 14, 2025

#10 Florida State (13-1, 1-0 ACC) at Boston College (10-2, 1-1 ACC)

TEAM: FSU|BC
OVR: 93|90
OFF: 93|90
DEF: 92|90
SHT: 94|92
REB: 89|90
COA: 91|93

Not the easiest game to come back to CH2k8 after 2 months away, a road game against an solidly rated Boston College team. BC lost a game they shouldn't have to James Madison, and a tough 1 point game against Miami.

Scouting

PG Otis Bradford – SR – 87 OVR – 94 speed/87 quickness, 89 defense/81 steals, 95 hands/84 passing, a very very good all around PG. 88 close/78 med/83 3, 88 off the dribble. An effective shooter as well. Awareness solid, 78 off/74 def. Bradford leads the team in scoring with 15.7 ppg.

SG Zack Hoyer – SR – 87 OVR – 91 speed/86 quickness. 85 defense/81 steals, tough defender. 92 close/74med/86 3. 89 off the dribble/86 in traffic. A great leaper(88/B+) and good awareness(79 off/78 def). No major weaknesses here either, second on the team in scoring with 11.9 ppg.

SF Amit McGuire - SO – 76 OVR – 6'6” SF – 84 speed/77 quickness. 82 defense/70 steals. 84 close/71 med/65 3/85 in traffic. Poor awareness (74 off/65 def). Decent strength and good hustle. His defense worries me some, but hopefully his awareness has him falling over himself as Mayer drives by him repeatedly. 6.6 ppg/2.6 rpg.

PF Damion Konare – FR – 77 OVR – 6'10” C – 86 orb/79 drb. 79 post off/81 post def. 89 close/78 in traffic. Pretty solid for a freshman. Good shot blocker(84/B+). 70 off awareness/75 def, not bad for a freshman either. 7.8 ppg/4.8 rpg.

C Egeman Wofford – SO – 84 OVR – 6'9” PF – 81 orb/91 drb. 88 post off/80 post def. 86 close/95 in traffic, he can step out and shoot too, 85 from 3. Decent strength(74/B), very good athlete for a big, and solid awareness on offense(79/B), defense lacking a bit(67 def awareness). 10.1 ppg/5.5 rpg.

backup PG Greg Dux is rated 86 OVR and is about as good as Bradford. Bradford and Hoyer are as good as anything we can offer, but they lack depth, with some backups rated in the mid-70s, and a backup big rated 70 even. Hopefully we can wear them down, and abuse their freshman SF with Mayer.

Half	Time	FSU	BC	Notes
1	16:45	7	3	Modica with 5 early, Mayer 0-3, my own rustiness I assure you.
1	13:20	12	10	Only two fouls all game either way, but both are on their freshman big man Konare, he sits. Mayer is 0-4 from the field, 1-2 at the line, we give up an open 3 to let them cut it to 2.
1	9:15	20	12	BC scores to tie the game but our backups go on a 8-0 run and give us our biggest lead. Timeout Boston College.
1	7:15	20	15	Starters are back in, our guys went cold here.
1	5:40	24	15	Mayer with his first field goal, BC with their second timeout as we go up 9.
1	3:55	29	17	And another BC timeout, feeling real good about our play here.
	HALF	41	21	We dominate the final 10 minutes of the second half, and in the final five minutes Mayer takes over, after starting the game 0-4 he finishes the half 6-11, hitting his only 3, though he's a bad 3-7 at the line. 16 points to lead all scorers. Millar gives us a great 6 point/9 rebound performance and Modica scored 5 early to help out. BC's SF McGuire leads them with 8, including two from behind the arc. Their two studs, Bradford and Hoyer, are 2-7 with 7 points combined. BC is just not able to shoot at all today really, they are an abysmal 6-25 from the floor.
2	15:55	45	27	BC scores the first 6 of the half, but we get 4 and we're not letting them back in that easily. BC Timeout.
2	14:30	47	29	I get the backups in a bit early, Mayer's tired early from his spurt at the end of the first half and I just sub them all out at once.
2	7:30	50	41	Yeah, Porter hits a 3 and that's the only offense we get, Carlisle misses a couple, Jolly misses a couple, Dearman gets blocked trying to drive... yuck. Hoyer hits two big threes for them and they squeak out a few more baskets and BC has the lead down under 10. I call a timeout and get the starters back in.
2	5:20	50	46	Black misses a hook in the post, Day misses an open midrange jumper, Modica misses a 3... their best big man, Wofford, is hurting us, he's only got 8 but I believe 6 of those are this half, and he's killing the boards, up to 13 now. Another BC 3 and we have big problems only up 4. Timeout FSU.
2	4:50	52	46	Mayer gets our first points in about 8 minutes, his 20th, and we're back up 6.
2	3:10	57	48	Whew. BC scores to make it a 4 point game again. We get a nice turnaround in the post from Black, a stop on defense, and a 3 in the corner from modica, and we stretch the lead back out to 9.
2	2:00	57	54	Bradford with a three for BC, Mayer misses a look in the post for us, Hoyer with a 3 for them and its a 3 point game. Timeout FSU.
2	1:35	60	54	Mayer feeds the post, Millar crosscourt to Modica, who hits another three for us, Modica with 13, a very solid performance.
2	1:25	60	56	Bradford drives, fouled, makes two free throws.
2	0:55	62	56	Millar hits a shot inside, back up 6 with a minute left.
2	0:42	62	58	Good look inside for BC.
2	0:38	65	58	Day with 1 of 2 at the line, Mayer with a clutch offensive board and two more free throws, should be the ball game.

BC can't score any more and we survive a bit of a scare.

#10 Florida State 67
Boston College 58

I have to be careful about slowing down and letting decent teams get back in games on the road, heh. Bradford and Hoyer end up with 25 combined, they come on strong in the second half, it was just too late for them.

Modica: 13 points (3-5 from 3)
Day: 3 points
Mayer: 24 points
Millar: 10 points/12 boards
Black: 6 points/7 boards

Porter: 7 points (2-6 from 3)
Dearman: 4 points

[Radii]

I don't expect this to be back consistently or anything right now, but hopefully a game here and there

[RealDeal]

woot

[kobe360x]

really enjoying this

[Radii]

January 19, 2025

#3 Virginia Tech (17-2, 1-2) at #10 Florida State (14-1, 2-0 ACC)

TEAM: FSU|VT
OVR: 93|96
OFF: 93|96
DEF: 92|94
SHT: 95|97
REB: 90|98
COA: 91|95

Virginia Tech is a top 5 team but check their ACC record... They lose a road game to #2 Georgia Tech and then choke badly at a poor Duke team. They've beaten Virginia but that is their only ACC win.

But don't expect a big easy win here... this team is loaded. Virginia Tech beat us by 30 in the final four last year, and I believe they're better at 4 of 5 positions on the court than they were last year.

Scouting

PG Darren Richard – SR – 89 OVR – 95 speed/93 quickness. 89 defense/80 steals. 91 hands/95 passing. 83 close/83 med/87 from 3/90 off the dribble... a total stud. 9.7 ppg/3.6 apg.

SG Norman Bowen – 87 OVR – 98 speed/89 quickness... yup, 98 speed. 89 defense/82 steals. 91 close/85 med/72 3/88 in traffic. He's not great off the dribble and he's not great from 3, hopefully these things help us. He's 6'6” though and a dangerous slasher and a brilliant athlete and defender. 5.5 ppg only.

SF Reece Plummer – SR – 88 OVR – 6'7” SF – 89 speed/85 quickness. 84 defense/75 steals. 90 close/86 med/73 3/88 in traffic. 7.4 ppg/5.3 rpg. A very strong, quick defender at the 3, a huge worry for me.

PF Cameron Aguko – SR – 87 OVR – 6'9” natural SF. Poor rebounder, 69 orb/76 drb. Average in the post at best for a big, 75 off/77 def. 91 close/78 med/74 3/84 in traffic. We may look to Millar in the post pretty heavily here. Aguko creates huge mismatches though on offense, and he leads them with 17.7 ppg.

C Garry Sherman – SR – 87 OVR – 6'8” PF. 92 orb/82 drb. 90 post off/76 post def. 92 close/89 in traffic. Good athlete, 12.3 ppg/4.4 rpg.

Backup PG Jesse Lavender is every big as good as Richard, and he's only a sophomore. Their worst starter is rated 87 OVR, a terrifying prospect.

We need to try to attack plummer with Mayer and get him in foul trouble, and we need to go inside a lot. They are weak in the post and only average on the boards, Sherman is good but short. We need to dominate on the glass and inside and kick out to Day for the long ball I think.

There's another edge here, but we won't know how big it is until we get on the court. Richard and Plummer, two of their crazy athletic starters, have nagging day to day injuries but will play. We'll see if they're slowed any.

Half	Time	FSU	VT	Notes
1	16:45	4	6	Plummer with two fouls and he sits, those are the only two fouls for the Hokies. Virginia Tech gets a couple steals early and they just look way way more athletic than we do.
1	15:11	4	13	Uh-oh... the break is on for the hokies. Millar misses twice inside and Black once, and we are not having any success inside at all yet. We have a 3 from Day and a FT from Mayer, nothing at all in the post. I get a timeout and see shades of the final four beatdown here.
1	13:10	6	15	Backups are in... Porter is going to have to get hot from three and save us basically.
1	12:25	10	15	We get a quick 4 and come out disappointed.. Porter with a 3, they turn it over, we draw a foul but only make one at the line, another turnover and I somehow decide to trust PF Devonish inside, yeah, blows a layup. We just missed a chance to cut the lead down to 1 or 2.
1	11:25	15	15	Jolly with two inside and Dearman with a spectacular 3 point play, tie game! Virginia Tech has brought in some subs and have 5 guards on the court. They're not making their jumpers and our size is dominating the boards on both ends and in the middle with a guy like Dearman we have a nice edge driving to the hoop.
1	6:10	15	23	Well, there's 8 straight from Va Tech. I get a timeout and get my starters back in, as soon as Va Tech started hitting their shots they took right back over. Porter and Jolly and Dearman tried to make something happen but couldn't keep it going.
1	4:35	25	25	This game is crazy... Millar with a 3 point play dunking over a guard, and Mayer has 7 of our last 10, 3 drives attacking the rim and one three point play himself. Timeout Va Tech.
	HALF	33	40	Mayer misses the front end of a one and one, and Va Tech backup guard Galbreath drains a 3 from 25 feet out as the half ends. A very frustrating turn of events, we're down 7. Mayer is the best player on the court, 16 points, 6-9 from the floor/4-6 from the line. But the second best player is a surprise, Va Tech Center Sherman has 10 points/5 boards on 5-6 shooting and the difference when he's in the game is just astounding. Both teams are shooting about 50%, 54 for Tech/50 for us. They have an edge on the boards which is totally unacceptable. Mayer is our only offense. Mayer 16, Dearman 4, others 3... Day has only taken 2 shots, Millar only has two shots which is totally against my gameplan(though Mayer just owning everyone that guarded him when Plummer went out w/ foul trouble changed things). Their SG Bowen has 10 along with Sherman.
2	19:20	35	40	They get the ball first and we get the stop, they get out of position on defense and Plummer ends up on Modica. Modica blows by and draws Plummer's 3rd foul right away. The is huge as it should open up a lot of poorer defenders for Mayer to destroy.
2	14:25	48	47	This game has been incredible. Modica burns his man for a layup and we take the lead for the first time since we led 3-0. Mayer is going crazy, he's up to 23 now, Millar up to 7 which has helped. 6th man boost keeps the starters in a bit longer. Timeout Va Tech.
2	13:10	53	50	Modica with another huge play... tied up at 50 after Aguko drains a huge 3 for them, Modica gets free and drains a huge three himself, back up 3, and another 6th man boost for us.
2	11:15	57	52	God Bless Roberto Mayer, he hits a fadeaway as the shot clock expires after a play breaks down by an almost steal, then draws a foul and hits 1 of 2 at the line the next time down. Mayer has 28 and we're up 5. Backups are in, and we're going to stall as long as we can heh.
2	7:50	61	60	Jolly and Devonish give us two each and we're holding them off while the starers rest, barely. We just committed our 7th foul and they're shooting the rest of the way.
2	6:45	65	62	I call a timeout and get my starters back in, except for Mayer who needs another minute. Jolly has really been big for me here. He has 6 points/7 boards for the backups in 12 minutes, shooting 3-5. Its our ball up 3, I'll get Mayer in at the next break. Each team has 3 timeouts left.
2	5:50	70	62	Whoa! Modica with another 3, then Day with a steal of a bad pass, outlet to Modica for a layup in traffic. Modica has 12 pretty much out of nowhere.
2	5:15	71	62	We get a timeout and Mayer is back in. This run and this lead with 5 minutes left is completely unexpected. No holding up just yet.
2	3:30	79	65	Mayer hits 5 straight including a 3 as the shot clock expires and the game is likely over.

Roberto Mayer, when he's on, is the best basketball player in the nation and its not even remotely close.

#10 Florida State 83
#3 Virginia Tech 71

We dominate the second half in a way I could never have expected. 50-31. Modica, Jolly, Millar all help out in huge ways and Mayer is just unstoppable.

Modica: 12 points (4-4, 2-2 from 3, 2-2 on the line)
Day: 4 points
Mayer: 40 points/5 boards/2 blocks, 14-18 FG, 1-2 from 3, 11-15 FT
Millar: 7 points/4 boards
Black: 2 points/5 boards

Jolly: 6 points/7 boards
Dearman: 5 points

Great, great early win for us. This gives us the early lead in the conference.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by kobe360x

really enjoying this

Thanks!

[Radii]

We take a big leap in the polls, and the level of dominance in the ACC is spectacular, here's the top 25 poll:

1. Villanova (19-0)
2. Georgia Tech (17-1)
3. Clemson (12-2)
4. Florida State (15-1)
5. Virginia Tech (17-3)
6. Kansas (14-2)
7. North Carolina (15-2)
...
19. Maryland (14-4)
23. NC State (16-4)


5 of the top 7 out of the same conference. We'll start beating each other up soon but yeah...

[Radii]

January 21, 2025

#4 Florida State (15-1, 3-0 ACC) at Duke (11-5, 1-3 ACC)

TEAM: FSU|DUKE
OVR: 93|85
OFF: 93|85
DEF: 92|86
SHT: 95|86
REB: 90|88
COA: 91|86

Duke has been down for a little while now, perhaps on the way up a little but we should still have a nice edge here. Duke beat Virginia Tech, but got crushed by UNC, Clemson and Virginia.

I believe everyone that will be on the court for us today will be better than even their starters.

Scouting

PG Cori Songcaucy – SR - 80 OVR – 94 speed/83 quickness. 91 defense/72 steals. 84 hands/81 passing. 82 close/74 med/72 3/86 off the dribble... awareness isnt great, 70/76. 9.5 ppg/6.2 apg. Any duke starter needs to be better htan this by their senior year heh.

SG Dermie Nichols – JR - 80 OVR – 88 speed/89 quickness. 84 defense/80 steals. 86 close/71 med/80 3. off the dribble and in traffic shooting are both under 80, offensive awareness is 69 which is pretty bad. 15.6 ppg, on only 40% shooting.

SF John Sockwell – FR – 80 OVR – 6'5” SF, #74 recruit last year, one of two freshmen starters – 81 speed/79 quickness. 73 defense/69 steals. 86 close/77 med/77 3/83 in traffic. Good awareness for a freshman(75 off/75 def). 9.1 ppg/4.4 rpg

PF Cori George – SO – 74 OVR – 6'8” PF – 74 orb/90 drb. 80 post off/73 post def. 86 close/82 in traffic. Poor awareness(75 off/65 def). 10.1 ppg/5.5 rpg.

C Darien Pope – FR – 72 OVR – 7'0” C – 82 orb/76 drb. 76 post off/72 post def. 84 close/82 in traffic. Awareness on both ends under 70. His size alone will impact the game, but their bigs are not rated well. 5.3 ppg/3.3 rpg.

They obviously have total crap depth inside, with their starters as poor as they are. Their backup guards are in the mid-70s. We should crush them, but we'll see what happens on the floor.

Half	Time	FSU	DUKE	Notes
1	13:30	15	7	We go up 7-0 but allow 5 in a row from Duke. I try to force Mayer a bit too much. Day is doing well.
1	8:45	24	14	Rolling along easily with the backups.
1	6:30	28	16	Starters back in. Dearman leads the backups with 6.
1	HALF	37	33	We commit a few turnovers in the final minutes and Duke hits a couple 3's, it was 35-23, but we only go into the locker room only up 4, 37-33. I definitely lightened up there for a bit. Their PG Songcuacy leads them with 8, they only shoot 35% but hit 2 more 3's than us and force us into 6 TO's and they keep it close that way. Mayer ends the half with 13, but only shooting 5-10, I forced it with him a bit. Day and Dearman have 6.
2	16:30	42	38	Now that we've let them in it we've got a bit of a fight on our hands.
2	15:50	42	43	5 straight from Duke, Day allows a 3 point play with a foul inside and we trail...
2	15:35	45	43	Mayer with a great reverse layup for a 3 point play to put us back ahead.
2	11:30	48	51	Well then. I call a timeout to get my backups in. Their starting SG Nichols has 16 and is hurting us pretty bad.
2	8:35	53	61	We're having a shockingly hard time keeping the ball... We now have 11 turnovers to only 8 for Duke. Duke has 5 straight and is on an 8-3 run due to 3 recent turnovers.
2	5:10	62	66	We get the lead down to 4 before getting the starters back in. We get it inside a couple times and roll in transition. If we can avoid turnovers we'll win, if we can't we won't.
2	4:30	62	70	A turnover allows Duke to score 4 quick ones andgo up by 8.
2	2:50	66	70	Mayer with a great stop in the post on defense but he gets blocked on the other end. We get a couple more stops and cut it back down to 4 again. Duke calls a timeout. We only have 1 left so I appreciate the rest.
2	2:10	69	72	Their SF, Sockwell, hits a ridiculously tough turnaround from the high post. Mayer gets a great three point play after driving by Sockwell on our end. Down to 3.
2	1:45	71	72	Their PG gets inside but gets stuck under the basket and can't make a tough layup. We get Mayer in transition and its down to 1 now.
2	0:48	73	72	Another stop on defense, Modica has a big on him and I try repeatedly to take advantage but can't. Black gets a shot blocked inside, the ball is heading out of bounds, they save it to Mayer and Mayer makes a 10 footer with about 3 seconds lefft on the shot clock for the lead.
2	0:37	73	74	Ick. They run a play with a guard going off a screen to the basket and get an easy layup.
2	0:19	76	74	Inside to Black, back out to Day for a wide open 3 from the left wing, GOOD.

Sockwell, their rookie SF, makes a 3 pointer with 7 seconds left, Duke goes up 77-76. I want to get it to half court and call a timeout. But as we have all game, we struggle against their press and Modica throws a bad pass, turning the ball over. We foul, they make one/miss one, get the offensive board and seal the win.

F'ing Cameron.

Duke 80
#4 Florida State 76

I feel like we had a chance to blow it open and got complacent(the game was a bit boring with a 10-13 point lead in the first half). We wake up but they're getting 6^th man boosts left and right and we just turn it over way way too much. FSU 14 turnovers, Duke 8. Their three 80 rated starters all have solid games in the end... 12 for PG Songcuacy, 18 for SG Nichols, 12 for SF Sockwell, including the game winning 3 pointer.

Modica: 7 points
Day: 9 points
Mayer: 29 points
Millar: 2 points/6 boards
Black: 2 points/8 boards

Porter: 8 points
Dearman: 6 points
Carlisle: 6 points

They had their 7 footer inside(8 points/9 boards despite a 72 rating), which was enough for me to not try to go into the post all that much.

[Radii]

That was our only game of the week, updated polls:

1. Villanova
2. Clemson
3. Texas
4. Virginia Tech
5. Georgia Tech
6. Florida State
...
11. North Carolina
13. NC State (up from 23rd)
16. Maryland
25. Wake Forest

Indiana is 16-2 and up to 12th, Michigan State is 15-3 and 17th. Illinois is 3rd in the conference, 14-5(4-3) with an RPI in the 30s.

[Radii]

January 28, 2025

#25 Wake Forest (14-3, 3-2 ACC) at #6 Florida State (15-2, 4-1 ACC)

TEAM: FSU|WFU
OVR: 93|90
OFF: 93|90
DEF: 92|89
SHT: 95|93
REB: 90|94
COA: 91|86

Wake lost their first two ACC games, vs Ga Tech and at Miami, and have since rolled off 3 solid wins, at #2 Clemson(88-85 win), vs #11 UNC, and vs Duke (notice how a win over Duke is now a good win since they've beaten me )

Scouting

PG Bobby Patrick – SO – 80 OVR – 90 speed/86 quickness. 87 defense/79 steals. 91 hands/81 passing, a great ball handler. 78 close/77 med/83 3, 85 off the dribble. Not great but with the other starters on the team he looks like a good distributor. 8.9 ppg/4.4 apg.

SG Tre Almanson – JR – 87 OVR – 90 speed/86 quickness. 90 defense/79 steals. 91 close/75 med/87 3. A great 3 point shooter. 82 off the dribble/86 in traffic. Very good awareness(83 off/79 def), just an average athlete. 14.4 ppg, only 3^rd on the team.

SF Luol Crenshaw – JR – 86 OVR – 6'5” SG – 91 speed/89 quickness. 87 defense/76 steals. 85 close/78 med/85 3. 85 off awareness/82 def awareness. Good leaper but not strong or a good hustler. His great on ball defense is going to be tough for Mayer. 15 ppg.

PF Boo Gregory – JR – 84 OVR – 6'7” SF – 78 orb/75 drb. 69 post off/70 post def. 83 close/85 in traffic. 85 med/85 3, a really strong SF, but not strong in the post. 10.3 ppg/5.9 rpg.

C Bracey Boddie – SR – 80 OVR – 7 footer, 83 orb/80 drb. 84 post off/79 post def. 85 close/89 in traffic. Good ratings and those ratings + 7 foot height makes him great. 94 str, which is incredible (A+). Boddie averages 21.2 ppg, easily leading the team. He has a career high of 35 points.

Depth is an issue here, they only have one backup rated 80 OVR(backup SF, surely a backup post guy here though, 6'9” SF Holloway). We have an inside edge over Gregory but Boddie inside might be such a presence that it won't matter.

Wake has a new coach I believe, they're now a team that runs a 2-1-2 zone defense, with a 2-3 as their backup D. That's going to be a problem.

Half	Time	FSU	WFU	Notes
1	17:30	2	9	Wake seems more athletic than us and I'm already struggling against the zone. This is going to suck. They're doubling inside very fast and giving me problems.
1	15:00	6	14	We scored 4 straight and then Wake follows with a deuce inside and an open trey. Urgh!
1	13:00	8	21	Yeah this isn't just the zone... Wake Forest is destroying us in every facet of the game. I call a timeout to get the backups in. If Wake isn't going to miss any shots from anywhere on the floor I can't run at all and I really need fast break points here.
1	10:00	19	24	There's some defense! Dearman hits a 3 in the half court set, a couple near turnovers break down their defense and give us some freak buckets, and two turnovers give us easy buckets, and we're right back in it.
1	8:25	22	24	Carlisle hits a 3 and Wake has gone cold.
1	7:40	24	26	Starters are back in.
1	3:55	30	29	And we finally take the lead on a Mayer layup in transition. We're on a 22-8 run in the last 9 minutes now after almost giving the game away in the opening minutes.
	HALF	39	37	The biggest story, potentially at least, is that Mayer picks up his 3rd foul with 3 seconds left in the first half. We do go into the locker room with the lead, which I would not have guessed after our start. Mayer leads everyone with 13, Black scores 8, another surprise with their big man inside. Carlisle 7, and no one else has more than 3 for us. We're 3-8 from 3 but doing great inside, 14-26 overall. Wake is 13-31, which is absolutely stunning. They were 10-14 early on. That's really the difference in the game. Boddie only has 4 points/4 boards, he's not getting a lot of shots for Wake (just 2-4). PG Patrick and SF Crenshaw both have 9 to lead them. I'm going to sit Mayer for a few minutes to start the second half just to make sure he doesn't pick up foul #4 early on.
2	15:30	45	45	We went up by 6 and Wake has scored 6 straight. Boddie is up to 10 and has come out very strong this half.
2	13:30	49	49	Backups are in. Mayer hasn't been on the court yet. I bring in Naymick at SF.
2	9:20	59	56	Wake runs off 5 straight, then we score 8 straight and we lead by 3. Carlisle and Porter hit threes for our last 6. Porter's 3 earns us a 6th man boost.
2	7:50	64	61	Wake with a timeout after another Porter three.
2	7:00	64	62	Starters, including Mayer, are back in.
2	5:00	67	66	We lead by 1 with 5 minutes left
2	3:40	67	71	Wake with a 3, mayer has a shot blocked inside and they score again, Wake by 4.
2	2:30	68	71	Modica goes 1 for 2 at the line and Day misses an open layup... ugh!! shoulda been tied here.
2	1:35	70	73	Day gets a bucket driving to the basket, Wake misses a 3, but they get a putback and still are up by 3.
2	1:15	72	73	Modica misses an open 3 but Mayer is there for the board and putback.
2	1:00	72	75	Very easy bucket for Wake.
2	0:25	72	75	We struggle hard to get a shot, Mayer takes a not so great 3 and misses. We have to foul.
2	0:19	72	77	We only had 4 fouls so it takes a bit... Their PG hits both.

Modica misses a 3 and we lose.

#25 Wake Forest 78
#6 Florida State 72

After the early lead for Wake and our comeback, we couldn't ever pull far ahead, and Wake puts together just a little 5-0 run around the 4 minute mark and they hold that small lead the rest of the game.

SF Crenshaw leads them with 17, C Boddie ends up with 13 points/13 boards, PG Patrick and SG Almanson both score 13.

Modica: 2 points
Day: 11 points
Mayer: 16 points(5-14 FG/1-5 from 3)
Millar: 2 points/4 boards
Black: 10 points/9 boards

Carlisle: 10 points
Porter: 8 points

As always against a zone, Mayer struggles a bit. We did better here than we have against teams that play the 2-3 primarily, but there were definitely stretches where we struggled a lot.

[hoopsguy]

Ouch - that is a couple of tough losses in a row against teams in games you pretty much need to beat in order to take the conference title. I'm not sure if that was on your goals list going into conference play; if so, then probably time to re-calibrate.

[duckman]

Any plans of resurrecting this now that your NBA dynasty is dead?

[Radii]

Originally Posted by duckman

Any plans of resurrecting this now that your NBA dynasty is dead?

Just saw this. at the moment I just purchased FM10 and am full of soccer hype, I may well start a FM Dynasty as a result, we'll see. But no immediate plans for this one... I think at this point its more likely that we'll have a NBA2k11 dynasty rather than picking this one back up. Now that I've played the 2k10 game and seen how amazing they've made the on the court play, any time I think about CH2k8 I just imagine myself getting mad at all the things they've fixed on the court that I can't have b/c they canceled the series.

Perhaps once college basketball season rolls around that will change though

[duckman]

That makes me a sad panda...