College Hoops 2k8: 2009 Edition

[Radii]

Recruiting Preview

I'm graduating two players: McCants and McClurkin. I'm happy with the bigs I'll be bringing back next year but Devonish worries me a bit, I could see grabbing another big if I can land a top one, espicially if there's one with some size.

Similar things at PG, I've got two on the roster, but Modica isn't great and is only here two years, and Carlisle is suspect.

Additionally, I have to assume that Mayer is leaving, though i don't/won't have a 3rd scholarship to offer until the end of the year.


And, all of that was before I looked at the recruits. After I look at the recruits my first instinct is to offer my scholarships to a SG and a SF.

5* SG Gregg Maye is Mr Basketball in Louisiana. He's the #16 overall recruit. He really likes Florida State. He's got me #1 and at 80%. He likes Texas A&M, Kansas, Ohio State too, but I am #1. Maye is a B+ 3 point shooter, a B- defender, good speed, B- off and def awareness. Maye looks like a total stud that does all the things I want in a SG. I don't think i can pass him up b/c of needs elsewhere. Porter can be a 4 year backup, that's jsut fine.


4* SF JJ Abellard is from Hollywood, FL. The same place Roberto Mayer is from. Abellard is only the #50 OVR recruit but he's the #3 SF. Abellard looks like a good shooter/scorer, an above average defneder, a guy with good awareness and speed... my first instinct is to go here but I'm scouting out some other guys as well.


5* PG D'or Devonish is from Staten Island, NY, but he lists me #1 early on. He likes Ga Tech and Pitt too. I have yet to scout him, he's a definite option.

4* PF Boomer Yeager out of chicago is the #3 PF in the nation, he's 6'9" and he also has me over 80%. We're just scouting him out as well.

A couple other secondary 4* targets get some attention, including a 6'10" post player from Kansas who likes me right along with Mizzou and KSU, and Mr Basketball in Florida, a 4* PG from Ft Lauderdale. He seems to like Miami and South Florida a lot more than me though.


Scholarship Offers

I love the 6'10" PF out of Kansas... sadly, he falls in love with Mizzou. We're hoping to fight it out for him, and Mizzou has him in the 90% range in the first week. We can't compete, and drop off.

After that, I am back to my first instinct.

SG Gregg Maye gets a scholarship offer. Virginia Tech, UNC, Georgia Tech are 2/3/4 on the list for him. I fear what happens if any of them offer.

SF JJ Abellard gets my second scholarship offer. Florida has also offered him and they lead early on. I may have to backtrack quickly if I cannot pass Florida.

The 5* PG, and the 4* PF out of Chicago are still being worked on.


Three weeks into recruiting I decide The SF that i want is going to Florida. I have no shot.

That leaves two targets, a PF and a PG. Both fill needs. The PF though, isn't what I want. His defensive rebounding is a C. His post offense, C. He's not my guy. That leaves the PG, who plays some defense, can shoot, handle the rock, pass and has defensive awareness. He's my guy, if i can get him.

My second offer goes to PG D'or Devonish out of Staten Island. #15 OVR/#8 PG.


I sim my first game vs a poor UNC-Greensboro team:

#21 Florida State 89
UNC-Greensboro 52

McCants 17, McClurkin 12, Day 11. Black 11 off the bench.



... two weeks left before early recruits sign...

SG Gregg Maye is at 99%. Virginia Tech is probably in the 90% range, and they have not made an offer. The only question in the final two weeks of recruiting is, will Va Tech make an offer. Actually, there's a second question... if they do, who wins?


PG D'Or Devonish is at 95%. Georgia Tech is around 90%. Same question here, if Tech makes an offer who wins? UNC is actually around 90% as well it would appear, maybe 2% behind Tech...


I sim out one more game:

#19 Florida State 72
Florida A&M 52

Balanced scoring... Day 14, McCants 13, Mayer 12, Millar 12.



Final Week of Offseason Recruiting

SG Maye is at 100% now. Virginia Tech has not made an offer yet, but they still could before the end of the week.


PG Devonish is at 99%. He'll get to 100% by the end of the week. UNC passes Ga Tech for 2nd. Neither has made an offer. Remember that these are #7 and #8 at their position. It is entirely possible that the other ACC schools are fighting it out over top 10 guys and will leave me to land these two recruits that look extremely good.



And, I'm a sucker, I have a game I'd normally play this week, but I've got to see the recruits, sim time:

#14 Florida State 75
at Ohio State 63

Ohio State is rated 84 OVR. We're better, but its on the road. I'm thrilled, and a little surprised really, to win our first road game. McClurkin, Day, McCants all hit 15 points each.


Early Signing Day


Since I've got both my guys at 100%, there is no point in stopping the sim beforehand to see if anyone else is going to steal my guys away from me. I sim through to the next Monday and check the results.


5* PG D'or Devonish signs with FLORIDA STATE

5* SG Gregg Maye signs with FLORIDA STATE


YES YES YES YES. Two 5*, top 20 recruits!! These guys are ranked around the same area that Mayer, Millar, and Carlisle are. I of course have high hopes that they both come into college looking more like Mayer than Carlisle.

[Radii]

So that was a super long stream of consciousness post as I was going through recruiting, hopefully it didn't get too bogged down in crap not worth reading.

We played 3 games, one of which i might normally have played but I wanted to see the recruits. We're 3-0 and have shot from #21 up to #8 in the polls early on.


We also filled both our scholarships in the early signing period, landing two of our top 3 targets. Here they are:

5* SG Gregg Maye - 6'2" 182 lbs - Baton Rouge, LA - #16 OVR/#7 SG

One of the things that excited me the most is that Maye is one of the best scorers I've ever seen in the ABL. He averaged 20.2 points/game in the ABL, shooting over 42% from the floor, 38.6% from 3.

Shooting: A
Skills: B+
Defense: B+
Athleticism: B+
Rebounding: B-
Intelligence: A
Potential: A-
Size: C+

C+ speed/C- quickness, a little slow(great, lets start off with a negative). B- close/C+ med/B+ 3/C+ off the dribble/C+ in traffic. Looks like a guy who could be a scorer the second he arrives in Tallahassee, and certainly the potential to develop into a dominant scorer. B- defense/B- steals, none of this 78 defense crap that we're getting from Porter. B- off awareness/B- def awareness. I don't expect many guys to be coaches on the floor the second they have enough experience to qualify, but I don't want recruits that come in with both awareness ratings under 70 if I can help it. Like Carlisle, his stamina an durability are low. But there is a LOT here that exites me. He doesn't care about playing time, I might even be able to get away with a redshirt if I want and have him step straight into the starting lineup when Day graduates. Or if he looks good enough he can back up Day next year and be a 3 year starter. I really think I've got a great looking player here.


5* PG D'or Devonish - 5'11" 168 lbs - Staten Island, NY - #15 OVR/#8 PG

12.3 ppg/4.1 rpg/7.6 apg in the ABL. Lots of turnovers too, but a 1.8:1 assist/turnover ratio.

Shooting: A-
Skills: A+
Defense: A-
Athleticism: A
Rebounding: C+
Intelligence: B+
Potential: B+
Size: C

A- Speed/C quickness. C+ defense/C+ steals. B close/b med/C+ 3/B+ off the dribble. B- hands/B passing. C off awareness/B def awareness. I think I'm looking at an above average defender, a guy who can score a little and will develop into a bigger scoring threat down the road, and a very, very good ball handler and passer right out of the gate. The quickness is always a concern, and the offensive awareness might be a little low with a C rating, but on defense he should be set. I'm more exited about Maye than I am this guy, but I'm not really exited about the PG's on my roster right now after McClurkin leaves, so having another option is going to be a good thing.

[RPI-Fan]

Absolutely love this dynasty, keep it up. One thing that appeals to me about big conference power teams like your FSU squad is that you rely less on incoming freshmen that are better each year, and more often have guys backup for a year or two or three before finally stepping in as starters. I just like that kind of progression for some reason.

[gi]

Off season recruiting is my favorite part, keep up the long posts.

[Radii]

RPI: I agree, one and done may be more realistic these days for top recruits but this is definitely more fun. As long as some freshmen can break a lineup on occasion then I'm good with it.

gi: thanks, with so many names getting mentioned that come up once or twice in a recruiting post and then never again once I lose them to another school, I didn't know if there was any value there or if anyone read through that stuff.


Thanks for the comments as always

[Radii]

December 5, 2023

#8 Florida State (3-0) at Cornell (4-3)

TEAM: FSU|CU
OVR: 91|69
OFF: 91|68
DEF: 90|68
SHT: 93:69
REB: 92|79
COA: 91|77

This isn't normally a game I'd play of course, but I've got 5 guys on the roster that I've never controlled before, and four new starters to figure out how to best use. I play a top 20 Louisville team a couple games from now, so I want to get in some practice.

I'm a 91 rated coach now, woohoo!

Scouting

Cornell has a 78 rated SF named Bo Friend. Their SG and PF are rated 68 OVR, the center 57 OVR, the PG 51 OVR. Obviously this game should be more about what we can do, regardless of our opposition.

Our team unity is currently 67, quite nice given our losses last year. Cornell is at 36.

Half	Time	FSU	CU	Notes
1	12:40	16	16	Well, they go out to an 11-5 lead and we come back, its tied up as the backups come in. McClurkin opens the scoring with a 3. McCants is 1-3 inside, Millar is non-existant. Mayer is the early star though, he hits a 3 and drives to the hole 3 times, two layups and 1-2 at the line after drawing a foul. Mayer has 8. Time to figure out the backups.
1	9:50	20	18	Timeout Cornell. We have a fast break layup from SG Porter and a hook from PF Jolly. Backup Notes: Modica and Porter both have 3 point shot animations that are new to me, but both are fine once I get used to them, straight up elevation, no long delays or anything ala Alloway. Porter and Dearman both have slower blowby moves, not as good as it could be.
1	7:00	23	22	Starters are back in. Modica hits a 3. Dearman makes two bad moves, a 3 that is way off(he can make the 3 but probably shouldn't take many) and a drive to the basket that got rejected.
1	1:55	35	27	Timeout Cornell. Mayer with 5 straight, an open 3 and a layup, he's got 13.
	HALF	39	32	They hit a 3 as time expires in the half, we had built the lead up to 10. We shoot 55%, they shoot 44%. We're 4-11 from 3. The story of the half: Roberto Mayer says “look at what you redshirted last year!” Mayer goes 7-7, 2-2 from 3, and 1-2 at the line, he's got 17 points. McClurkin has 8. McCants is 2-4 for 4 points inside. Day is 0-3, all from 3, he has 1 point though from drawing a foul attacking inside.
2	15:00	52	36	Mayer has 25, his defender practically falls over every time Mayer cuts to the basket heh. McClurkin has 10, and McCants is 0-3 this half inside. Timeout Cornell.
2	12:12	58	38	We come out with a 19-6 start to the second half, very solid. Mayer has 27, Day finally hit a field goal(a drive in transition), McCants 2-7 on the game now.
2	8:35	68	45	Timeout Cornell. Porter has a 3 and a deuce inside and has 7 now for the backups. We've gotten Dearman on the board for the first time as well.
2	7:15	72	45	Starters are back in. I'm playing this like a normal, close game as far as the rotation goes. I want to get used to who gets fatigued easily, and to make sure its second nature that I recognize everyone on the court, etc. Standard early season stuff.

#8 Florida State 89
Cornell 60

Easy enough. Mayer has very good speed for a SF. He doesn't have the best quickness, but if he gets the first step on his man, he's great in close and great in traffic, he just has to get to the rim and good things will happen. The question down the road is how much success will he be able to have driving by better defenders? And if he can't drive consistently against everyone, how good a 3 point shooter will he be.

McCants ended up 4-11. I think I'll get some very very strong games from McCants. I expect a 30 point game or two from him this year. His 11 shots today came well within the flow of the offense. I think I owe it to my inside game to try to get McCants 10 shots a game no matter what else is going on.

McClurkin: 12 points (1-3 from 3)
Day: 6 points (0-4 from 3)
Mayer: 35 points (13-18/2-6 from 3/7-11 at the line)
Millar: 5 points/10 boards
McCants: 10 points/9 boards

Porter: 9 points (1-3 from 3)
Modica: 6 points (2-4 from 3)
Dearman: 4 points
Jolly: 2 points/3 boards
Black: 0 points/5 boards

RS Freshman Center Maynard Black is the only player I'm unable to get on the board today.

[Radii]

New polls are out, and some teams have started to play 7-10 games so the polls are worth following:

1. Oregon
2. Florida
3. Maryland
4. LaSalle
5. Florida State
...
9. Georgia Tech
12. North Carolina
16. Clemson
19. NC State
25. Boston College

This'll change drastically still over the next month, some teams haven't really played anyone good yet(we haven't outside of Ohio State on the road), and conference play shakes things up a lot.



As for recruiting, I scout a bunch of 4* PF and SF types. I'll take a look over the next two weeks and pick probably a few to recruit all out so that hopefully I can land someone right away if Mayer goes to the NBA. Aside from that though its time to focus on HS Juniors and below.


I'm going to play one more warmup type game against a terrible team, and then we play #14 Louisville at the end of the week. After that i might just sim the rest of my non-conference games.

[Radii]

Hah I played out the game against Coppin State but its not even worth a full writeup. We lead 48-15 at the half. Mayer scores 10, McClurkin 8, McCants 6 in the first half alone. Modica gets 7, and Dearman 9 in very strong bench efforts.

December 11, 2023

at #5 Florida State 70
Coppin State 43

McCants 13 points/10 boards. Mayer 13, McClukin 12, Dearman 11.

[Radii]

December 17, 2023

# 14 Louisville (8-1) at #5 Florida State (5-0)

TEAM: FSU|UL
OVR: 91|89
OFF: 91|90
DEF: 90|89
SHT: 93|94
REB: 92|92
COA: 91|99

Pitino is going to get his 900^th win this season, he's 895-344. Their loss is to #2 Florida. Their only wins over winning teams are Bucknell and Loyola Maryland. They went to overtime vs Chicago State last game at their place. But, they've got talent and can beat anyone it would appear. The loss to Florida was a 1 point road loss.

We do appear to be catching them at a good time. SF Cory Taft, rated 89 OVR, has a lower back injury and is out for two more weeks. Their backup SF is nowhere close to his level.

Scouting

PG Horace Attaway – SO – 71 OVR - 86 speed/82 quickness. 82 defense/80 steals. 85 hands/75 passing, both C+ only. 84 close/72 med/71 3/78 off the dribble. Awful awareness, 67 off/71 def. 6.3 ppg/7.2 apg, great assists feeding the post I assume.

SG Deron Dye – JR – 86 OVR – 6'6”, actually a SF – 89 speed/86 quickness. 80 defense/69 steals. 86 close/84 med/90 3/83 off the dribble/90 in traffic. 80 off awareness/71 def awareness. WOW. Also, 89 defensive rebounding. A huge huge talent here. Just 6.6 ppg/2.9 rpg somehow, but I expect he'll do a lot more than that against us.

SF Laurie Gray – SO – 76 OVR – 82 speed/81 quickness. 82 defense. 83 close/78 med/66 3/86 in traffic. Really a backup all the way. 3.7 ppg.

PF Brannon Douglas – SR – 88 OVR – 6'8” PF – 91 orb/89 drb. 79 post off/84 post def. 80 blocks, 87 steals(A, wow!). 95 close/89 in traffic. Good str, great awareness, 82 off awarenses/81 def awareness. Douglas is averaging 20.8 points/game, 6.1 rebounds, leading the team in scoring by quite a bit.

C Jerrold McCroskey – JR – 88 OVR – 6'8 PF – 93 orb/83 drb. 86 post off/79 post def. 90 close/85 med/80 3/87 in traffic. Great leaper, good strength, very good awareness (76 off/82 def). A complete player who can go shoot the 3 almost as well as he can hit a hook shot in the post. 13.2 ppg/5.3 rpg.

Two big questions going into todays game. Can Mayer play half as well against a team like Louisville as he has against Coppin State. If they play man, he'll have Gray on him so he'll have a huge edge there, but they have big boys in the post that makes a huge difference when driving the lane. The second... how will our backups do against a good team? Can they hold their own or do they get run over?

Unity is basically even, 69 for us, 63 for them.

Half	Time	FSU	UL	Notes
1	14:00	15	14	McCants picks up two fouls in about 3 seconds, allowing louisville 5 points as they score, draw a foul, miss the FT, get the board, score again, draw a foul, and make this FT this time around. Their 76 rated SF, Gray, is killing us. He has their 3 point play, also two 3's and another bucket.
1	12:50	19	14	Backups are in for us. It is once again Mayer's show, he leads us with 9. McClurkin and Day each have a 3, Millar and McCants each have one bucket inside.
1	7:20	29	25	The backups are doing an alright job scoring, but the defense isn't really there. I get a timeout, the backups are tired out, or very close at least, and the starters aren't quite ready to come back in.
1	6:40	31	25	Starters are back in now. I underestimate how much rest the timeouts give sometimes. The extra half minute does help anyway though. Jolly has a great stretch for the backups here, with 6 points all off solid looking post moves.
1	2:48	40	29	McCants and Mayer are totally justifying the extra looks I'm giving them today, having now combined for 20 of our 40 points in building an 11 point lead. Timeout Louisville.
	HALF	48	32	Mayer scores 6 of our last 8, drawing two fouls on their PF Douglas in transition, once driving right by him for a great looking 3 point play. We're playing good D for the most part, and Louisville went cold in the final few minutes, allowing us to end the half very strong. They're 12-31 from the field, 4-10 from 3. We are 17-29, 3-8 from 3, and have taken 14 free throws. Mayer is very very good at getting to the line when he gets by his man. He is 8-10 at the line. Their SF Gray is 3-4 from 3, 14 points. Other than him they are all doing fairly awful. No one else has more than 5, and that's only SG dye. Past that its all 2 and 4. On our end, Mayer has 18. McCants almost has a double double already, 8 points/9 boards. Day has 5. Jolly is 3-3 in the post for 6 points off the bench. So far so good!
2	15:27	58	40	Timeout Louisville. We're rolling, heh. Mayer is up to 20, though he's probably not going to have a 50% day from the field, in part b/c I have been trying a few “hmmm could he actually do this” type of moves/shots that I would pass up in a close game. McCants has 10 points/13 boards now.
2	12:25	63	49	5 strraight for Louisville to cut the lead back under 15. Backups are in.
2	10:03	65	56	Ugh, we let them cut it back under 10, and I get a timeout and will be taking a lot more time each possession until the starters are ready to go.
2	8:45	67	56	Black hits a tough turnaround and we go back up 11. Timeout Louisville. That pretty much plays into our hands, as McClurkin, Day, and Millar are ready to come back in. McCants could but I know he couldn't go 9 minutes without becoming exhausted, I'll wait. Mayer will be more around the 7 minute mark.
2	7:45	71	56	All starters are back now.
2	5:32	77	58	And we're fully back in control, Louisville with another timeout.

We just have fun for the final 5 minutes, I think the closest they got it was 16.

#5 Florida State 90
#14 Louisville 70

Now, before we get too excited about blowing out a top 15 team, we have to remind ourselves that their top rated player, the player that would have been guarding Mayer instead of the chump they had out there instead, was injured today. That changed everything. Mayer for most of the game had this subpar backup SF, or a PF guarding him out on the perimeter. So we are still waiting to see Mayer perform against a truly quality defender. But still, this is very, very promising. Its not just the SF, its the two bigs standing in the lane behind him. They have quality big men, and Mayer manhandled them. He drew fouls like crazy, getting to the line 12 times. I cannot think of a single time that he attacked the rim and got blocked or otherwise was completely stuffed by their defense. In past years talented players like Barrett or Forte would drive into big men rated so highly and would just practically fall over at the sight of them, without even getting the ball up towards the rim. That isn't happening with Mayer at all.

Their SF, Gray, scores 19 today. This is one of those cases where the worst player on the other team has super high shot tendencies, and is only hitting marginally well. He took 17 shots for them. C McCrosky scored 17 on 8-12 shooting in the post, he was great.

McClurkin: 6 points (2-2 from 3)
Day: 8 points/5 assists (2-4 from 3)
Mayer: 32 points/3 boards/2 assists (11-23, 1-5 from 3, 9-12 from the line)
Millar: 4 points/6 boards
McCants: 20 points/15 boards (9-12 shooting)

Jolly: 8 points
Dearman: 5 points

I'm still running the same offense, same plays as last year. I'm not breaking out of that very often, I'm just more likely to break off a set play if I see McCants get good position in the post, more likely to have Mayer catch and drive instead of continue the play, etc. I'm hopeful this kind of success, maybe not to the extent of having McCants and Mayer combine for 52 points in a game, but this general success can continue in the ACC Season. Having great balance and finding the best shot regardless of the player can be effective like last year for us, but having a guy or two that can take over a game is a lot more fun, when its working at least

[Radii]

We stay #5 after those two wins. I've got 3 games in the next week but they're all cupcakes.

Dec 20, 2023

#5 Florida State 87
Central Arkansas 41

McCants 17 points/11 boards. Mayer 15 points, Porter 14 off the bench, Day 11, McClurkin 10.


Dec 23, 2023

#5 Florida State 78
Long Beach State 70

McClurkin 16, Day 15. McCants 9, Mayer only 6. McCants and Mayer both played less than 20 minutes due to foul trouble.


Dec 24, 2023

#5 Florida State 75
Delaware State 43

McCants 20, McClurkin 14, Day 11.


We move up to #4. And I decide to sim out our last 3 non-conference games. Maybe I scheduled a little too easy this year, I didn't realize how we would be doing to this point!

Dec 28th, 2023

#4 Florida State 76
Fresno State 64

Day 20, McCants 12, Dearman 10.


Dec 31st, 2023

#4 Florida State 78
Wright State 48

Day 24, Modica 11, Porter 11, Black 10, Mayer 9.



Jan 3, 2024

#4 Florida State 72
Kent State 61

McClurkin 17, Day 14, McCants 12, Mayer 7.



WHEW. Heh,like Isaid, maybe I scheduled a bit too easy, I was afraid this would have been much more difficult with 4 new starters and 5 new guys as my backups. But we're pretty damn good apparently!


We play Virginia Tech in our ifrst conference game. After that we have one more non-conference game against Radford, then its all about ACC play.


current media poll:

1. Oregon (14-0)
2. Maryland (12-0)
3. Florida (13-1)
4. Florida State (12-0)
5. Vanderbilt (12-1)
...
10. Clemson (12-2)
14. NC State (14-2)
18. Virginia Tech (9-2)
19. North Carolina (9-2)
23. Wake Forest (10-1)

Wake is pretty suspicious. The rest of these teams are all damn good. And missing from this poll is 92 rated Georgia Tech, they're 13-4.

[Radii]

After non-conference play, McCants is leading us with 13.2 points/game. Mayer has 12.7, Day also has 12.7, and McClurkin 10.7. I'll be playing probably 12 of my conference games, maybe more, so those numbers will start to skew more towards my played game results instead of what I'm getting in simmed games.

I suppose if I *really* wanted to try to get a player of the year award I could have played out all those games and made sure Mayer put up 30 in all of them. But damn that sounds boring.


With so many weeks having gone by, we've had some development. Backup SG Porter has gained two points to move up to a 79 OVR rating. One point each for Mayer (86 OVR), Day (83 OVR), Black (81 OVR), Dearman (78 OVR), and Modica (77 OVR). Day and Mayer have both gained a point in defense, which definitely helps out the starting lineup. No superstars on defense like Barrett(rated 91 on defense by the time he was done) but McClurkin/Day/Mayer are rated 84/84/85, very solid.


And lastly, Mayer and McCants both picked up day to day injuries at some point in all those simmed games. They'll both be slowed for the next 7-10 days. I expected some of that of course, but did it have to be both my big time go-to guys at the same time? bah! No matter, its just a couple games in very early ACC action. Better now than during the tournament.

[Tellistto]

Looking good so far. Would be nice to see Mayer come back for another year but if he's already listed as a lottery pick I can't see him staying in college. Never know, though, maybe he's got some loyalty to him.

Good luck in ACC play!

Tell

[Radii]

January 7, 2024

#4 Florida State (12-0) at #18 Virginia Tech (9-2)

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

We come into this game with both McCants and Mayer dinged up a bit. Millar and Day may both be called on to be much more productive than they have been in previous games. Va Tech returns only two starters from last year's team, but the guys they have pulled in to replace the graduated seniors are all outstanding. The Hokies most notably lost PF Lex Beeler, who averaged about 18 points/game last year and was very very good against us. Their remaining big, Tommie Graves, is a star in his own right though.

Virginia Tech has played a very good schedule so far. They have a 1 point loss at #9 Michigan State, an 8 point win vs last year's national champs, #6 Oklahoma State, and a 3 point win over #7 Alabama. We are the 4^th top 10 team they've played.

Va Tech last year was one of the teams that we simply could not beat in the post. I really wish we had a fully healthy Mayer and McCants for this one, and on the road, without them fully healthy, I've now got a couple built in excuses for a loss.

Scouting

PG Darren Richard – JR – 87 OVR – first year starter – 95 speed/92 quickness. 88 defense/79 steals. A great PG with 90 handling/93 passing. 82 close/82 med/86 3/89 off the dribble/83in traffic. Only an average athlete, but he can score from anywhere and can create his own shot. 7.5 ppg/4.0 apg.

SG Patrick Cuffee – FR – 82 OVR – 90 speed/87 quickness. 92 defense/76 steals. 84 close/84 med/69 3/84 off the dribble. An incredible defender, and a true freshman averaging almost 10 points/game (9.7). Cuffee was the #9 recruit last year and a very good talent. He lacks defensive awareness so we'll have to see hwo the poor awareness but great on ball defense jive.

SF Reece Plummer – JR – 84 OVR – 6'7” SF – 87 speed/83 quickness. 88 close/84 med/72 3/84 in traffic. A good defender, 82 defense/71 steals. He's a very good rebounder for a SF, not much in the post. Just 6.6 ppg.

PF Garry Sherman – JR – 84 OVR – first year starter, 6'8” PF – 90 orb/80 drb. 88 post off/75 post def. 81 blocks. 90 close/87 in traffic. A good leaper(78, great dunker too). Average strength. 86 off awareness/77 def awareness, not enough experience to be a coach on the floor yet, he will be next time we see them though. 10.1 ppg/3.7 rpg.

C Tommie Graves – SR- 88 OVR – 6'10” C – 92 orb/83 drb. 90 post off/92 post def. 76 blocks (B-), 74 steals(A- for a C). 93 close/88 in traffic. Great athleticism for a guy his size, 81str. Coach on the floor, 84 off awaeness/79 def awareness. He's scoring 14.5 ppg and pulling in 6.5 rebounds. Those post ratings and offensive are monstrous.

Backup SF Cameron Aguko is the teams' leading scorer with 16.4 ppg. He's rated lower than plummer but is a great scorer inside and gets a lot of minutes.

Freshman PG Jesse Lavender, the #2 recruit in the nation last year, is rated 84 OVR and first off the bench. A stud defender and shooter, he's already projected as a firstround pick.

They're an outstanding team, by far the best we've faced so far. All their bench players are rated in the low 80s, even if our starters can hand with them I'm very very worried about the backups. Unity is basically even, 72-70 in our favor.

Half	Time	FSU	VT	Notes
1	12:30	12	12	I get a timeout to get my backups in. We're doing fine early on, though Mayer is very cold. He takes our first four shots, an open 3, two drives after defensive borads, and a drive in the half court set... he makes one layup and misses the other 3. Its hard to say whether its due to injury or defense of course. He's getting decent looks but unable to finish. He's 2-6 for 4 points. McCants is 2-2, 4 points, Day has 4 as well. The defense seems fine. Now to try to hang in there w/ all the inexpeienced backups.
1	6:15	20	23	Not a bad job at all, the defense is quite lacking, not really able to stop the Hokies at all but we never fall down by more than 5. Black comes up big twice inside, 4 points, Porter picks up a nice 2 inside and Dearman hits a jumper. Porter missed two wide open 3s which is unfortunate but I'm happy just being down 3 here.
1	5:45	22	23	McCants hits a turnaround inside, Va Tech calls a timeout to get a couple starters back in.
1	3:40	23	25	McCants ties it with a free throw. Va Tech misses two straight shots, on the first Day drives the lane and their backup SF Aguko makes a great block.... on the second McCants catches the ball streaking into the lane and Aguko blocks a dunk attempt. On the other end Aguko feeds their PG Richard who hits a layup and they get a 6th man boost. Incredible stretch by the backup scorer there... no timeout for me, I've already used two, don't want to use any more this half. PG Richard has 8 for them.
	HALF	26	27	Not a bad half, though we came up empty too many times in transition on offense. Mayer was really, really bad. Defense is the name of the game this half. Va Tech shoots 12-32, 1-8 from 3. Many of those 3's are open and we will not get lucky like that in the 2nd half I assume. PG Richard leads them with 8. SG Cuffee 5, their other 3 starters all have 4 points. On offense, McCants was brilliant. He's 4-5 in the paint and 1-2 at the line for 9 points to lead all scorers. Mayer struggled badly, shooting 2-7, 0-1 from 3, and 1-2 at the line. He's got 5. Places where he was scoring or drawing a foul in earlier games were getting blocked or just coming up empty here. However, the good news is he is still able to get to the rim against the better defenders. It won't always be 2-7 of course. We're 11-27, 0-5 from 3.
2	19:50	26	30	Heh, a full 10 seconds into the half they take, and drain, an open 3. Not a good sign.
2	18:40	32	30	Day and Mayer work it inside, Mayer draws a foul and scores! He misses the FT, Millar boards and puts it back though. They miss, and Millar scores again on the secondary break, his first four points of the game and we take the lead!
2	14:35	39	35	Their SF, Plummer, has hit two threes, and they have a layup in transition but that's been in, we're definitely outplaying them this half so far. We've missed 3 or 4 free throws though and could be up more. Timeout Va Tech after a dunk by Day.
2	12:55	41	45	WOW that was bad. PG Richards hits two threes in a row. McCants gets a turnaround for us, then Graves scores for them, we turn it over in the backcourt and foul, allowing them to hit two at the line. A very quick 10-2 run and we trail by 4 all of a sudden. I get a timeout and my backups are in.
2	11:20	41	49	We fall down by 8, another 6th man boost for Va Tech...
2	8:20	48	55	We stop the bleeding, scoring 4 straight to cut it to 4. Its back and forth a bit after that, Dearman gets us a 3 which helps, but we cannot stop them. I get a timeout, all starters but McCants are back in. McCants needs another minute at least. Their PG, Richard, has 20, SF Plummer has 16, those two are really hurting us here. Richard has had a stellar second half.
2	6:25	53	55	McCants is back in. Day scored 5 straight for us with a 3 and a good look in transition. I tried to push that by taking a 3 pointer in transition for the lead, no good. The next trip down Day is fouled... and misses two free throws. So we still trail 2, though we do have 4 stops in a row.
2	4:30	55	62	We keep it at 2 for a bit, then a 3 by Richard(he's up to 23 now...) a turnover on our end on another Hokie blocked shot, and a deuce by Aguko and we trail by 7 again. I call a timeout to stop the 6th man.
2	4:07	57	62	Day misses a runner in the lane, but Millar with the putback. Va Tech timeout, we could use the rest so that's good.
2	2:55	59	67	Day misses a wide open 3, Plummer hits a 3 on their end and we are down by 8... this one's slipping away, we just don't have enough I think. I get a timeout though. There's obviously still a lot of time, it just isn't feeling very good right now.
2	2:20	61	67	Day misses another wide open 3, McCants gets the putback though.
2	1:10	63	70	They hit a 3 to go up 9. McCants gets 2 for us, and then Mayer draws a foul after we get a stop. Mayer misses both free throws. Free throws are killing me.

We each commit quick turnovers, which just helps them as it runs 20 seconds off the clock. Day gets into the lane off a screen and misses a look inside. That pretty much does it. Day and Mayer were just terrible today.

#18 Virginia Tech 72
#4 Florida State 63

road wins over top 20 teams are hard to come by, but our offense REALLY let us down today, big time.

They shoot under 50%, 27-61, 8-23 from 3. PG Richard is brilliant, 25 points on 9-12 shooting(3-5 from 3). SF Plummer scores 19, but I'm fine with that as it was on 6-15 shooting, I'll take that any day. Graves only had 6 points/9 boards.

McClurkin 3 points
Day: 11 points (3-15 shooting, 1-6 from 3)
Mayer: 10 points (3-9 shooting, 0-2 from 3)
Millar: 6 points/13 boards
McCants: 18 points/6 boards (8-12 shooting)

Black: 6 points
Dearman: 5 points

McCants was great, but I wasn't able to force shots with him, he had a very good defender on him. But if I could get good position and get in close he was prety much automatic. Add any degree of difficulty though and Graves shut him out.

Day was just awful. Mayer missed early a lot so I started going to Day more in transition, and Day is also a highly skilled 3 point shooter... but not today. 1-6, and he just got run down iniside. Any time he drove to the basket he just got pushed around, stuffed, and altogether embarrassed. Perhaps I should have recognized that a little earlier and gone back to Mayer more.

Also, despite the horrible shooting, we still could have won it, or at least been in it, if we could make free throws. Mayer goes 4-9 at the line, leading us to a 12-22 day from the charity stripe. Between Day shooting 3-15 and us missing 10 free throws, I feel like we SHOULD have won here. Disappointing loss.

[Radii]

We fall to 8th after our first loss:

1. Oregon
2. Maryland
3. Florida
4. Michigan State
5. Alabama
...
8. Florida State
10. NC State
13. Virginia Tech
17. Clemson
18. North Carolina
22. Wake Forest
24. Georgia Tech


We get our last non-conference game out of the way as well:

January 10, 2024

#8 FSU 80
Radford 58

Mayer 16, Day 12, McCants 11, Modica 10 in the easy win.

Next up, we host 93 rated/9-2 North Carolina. We're injury free for this one.

[Radii]

January 13, 2024

#18 North Carolina (9-2, 0-0 ACC) at #8 Florida State (13-1, 0-1 ACC)

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

UNC has road losses at Syracuse and Siena, neither ranked but both with winning records. Their best win looks like a road win over 11-3 Wisconsin. They have yet to play a top 25 team.

They've got a very talented roster.

Scouting

PG Daryl Troester – SR – 87 OVR – 95 speed/88 quickness – 88 defense/87 steals. 88 hands/90 passing. 89 close/78 med/90 3/88 off the dribble/87 in traffic. Incredible leaper and hustle (93/93, both A's). Ok, but not special awareness, low 70s on offense and defense. 12.1 ppg/2.9 apg. A great shooter who can score from all over.

SG TR Stockman – SO – 84 OVR – 92 speed/93 quickness – 90 defense/79 steals. 94 close/75 med/75 3/85 in traffic. More of a penetrator than a shooter, but he can still hit the 3 if we leave him open. Poor athleticism and just average awareness. 8.3 ppg, the lowest of any starter

SF Nigel Coombs – SR – 88 OVR – 91 speed/81 quickness. 85 defense/74 steals. 84 close/79 med/87 3/82 off the dribble/89 in traffic. Good athleticism and good awareness on both ends. Only 11.6 ppg in their balanced attack, but this is a guy who's going in the Lottery who can go off for a lot of points at any time.

JR Shagari Andres – JR – 85 OVR – 6'9” PF – 85 orb/89 drb. 81 post off/80 post def. 84 blocks, very good there. 90 close/86 in traffic. 80 str, solid there. Good awareness, 76 off/77 def. A complete player on both ends, leading the team in points and rebounds, 13.5 ppg/6.7 rpg.

C Spanky Powers – JR – 83 OVR – 6'8” PF – 87 orb/83 drb. 91 post off/81 post def. 87 close/83 in traffic, good athlete, good awareness. He's not the first option but he is capable of putting up good numbers inside too. Hopefully our size advantage counts for something here with McCants going up against him. 8.9 ppg/3.9 rpg.

Three backups are rated over 80, 84 rate SF Diego Huertas is a great shooter, 84 rated SG Jamie Minor is by far the leading scorer off the bench at 9/game, and 82 rated PF Torris Blassinggame is a solid backup post man.

We're fully healthy, though McCants played great last game anyway. We'll see how Mayer does today against this 3-2 zone that North Carolina plays.

Half	Time	FSU	UNC	Notes
1	18:25	0	7	Well, we haven't taken a shot yet. These guys have very high steal ratings and I apparently need to realize that I cannot make anythign even remotely considered a lazy pass. Their PG Troester is the beneficiary of their fast break chances, with all 7 points.
1	13:45	9	16	We get 5 straight to make it 7-5. They get 9 straight to make it 16-5, and now we're on a 4-0 run. McCants sits, hes tired, the other starters are ok for a little while longer. McCants is 1-3 inside, Mayer only has 1 shot but its a solid drive to the rim against Coombs.
1	11:30	13	17	We get it down to 4, and UNC calls a timeout. Backups are in. Mayer misses 3 straight drives to the basket, so Mayer and McCants are both off to a slow start today. Day has 5 to lead us.
1	7:00	18	28	We cut the lead down to 2, 20-18, on a Dearman 3, before UNC runs off 8 straight, we turn it over once leading to a layup and then just go cold in general no matter who shoots. I get a timeout, starters aren't quite ready yet but will be by the 6 minute mark.
1	5:00	24	30	Porter and Modica hit 3's out of the timeout, and we're able to get the starters back out there only trailing 6.
	HALF	31	39	We are not shooting well at all. Actually, we're shooting 41%, it seemed so so much worse. I guess we are having a lot of success inside, because we're 4-15 from 3. We have so many guys that are capable 3 point shooters and the 3-2 zone has huge holes for 3 point shooters... yet we're cold as shit. Troester has 10 for UNC, PG Stockman 8, both bigs have 6. They're shooting 51% from the floor, just 3-10 from 3. We're led by 6 from Day. McClurkin/Day/Mayer combine for 1-9 from 3, Day has the only one. Mayer, Millar, McCants all have 4 points each. The backups, on the other hand, Modical, Porter, Dearman are 3 for 6 from 3. We need to make a few more shots, get to the rim and thus the line a bit more in the second half and we could be ok here.
2	18:40	31	48	Well that's just great. We have a miss from 3 by Mayer, a miss inside from Millar. They have two threes and a 3 point play and its a 17 point freaking game.
2	15:38	41	48	There goes the offense! Well, the defense really, triggering the offense. Two blocks and a couple stops in general triggers our fast break. Mayer scores 4, including a big dunk, and McCants scores 6 racing through the lane. We get a 6th man boost and have scored 10 straight to make sure North Carolina cannot run away with this thing.
2	14:35	46	51	Troester hits a 3 for them, his 3rd of the half and he has 19 already. But we get 2 more from McCants, 2 from Millar and 1for 2 at the line from Mayer.
2	12:57	46	56	5 in a row from UNC and its a 10 point game again. They are 4-6 from 3 this half now. Our backups are in.
2	11:15	50	60	Porter misses 3 straight wide wide open 3's, but we get lucky and get two putbacks by Black. Black has 8 and is having a solid game off the bench for us. Timeout UNC.

[Radii]

2	7:35	59	67	We get it as close as 7, and the starters come back in down 8. Porter reedems himself with a 3 point play, a good drive and finally making a 3 to get us going here. Troester hits another 3, 4-4 this half, and gets a layup and an alley oop dunk after we throw the ball away in the back court... he's got 26 and seems unstoppable. I don't think he's missed this half.
2	5:35	61	74	We cut it to 6... the push it to 13, getting the last 5 from PF Andres, a 3 point play to cap off this run that is coming close to burying us. We simply cannot stop them consistently. I call a timeout.
2	3:00	65	78	Still 13 with just 3 to go, we need to make something happen fast if we're going to get a shot at the end.
2	2:07	71	79	They hit 1 at the line. Mayer gets a thunderous 3 point play on our end, a two handed dunk going right through Andres, who is called for the foul. We get a stop and Mayer hits a 3, and its down to 8 with just over 2 minutes to go.
2	1:50	72	79	6th man boost after htat last play, UNC throws it away in the backcourt! Mayer attacks the rim and gets fouled. He only makes 1 of 2, the lead is down to 7.
2	1:15	74	79	We play a full possession of good defense and force Andres into a miss in the post. Outlet to Mayer who burns Coombs and dunks it home! Mayer has our last 10 in a row now and has taken over here.
2	1:00	76	79	Another turnover in the backcourt, Troester gets run out of bounds by McClurkin. We run a play that gets McCants the ball and he attacks inside and we trail by 3!
2	0:38	76	80	They gon inside to Coombs. He's fouled going up hard. He makes 1 of 2 and we trail by 4 with 38 seconds left. We have 9 team fouls so assuming we score and need to foul, they'll already be shooting 2.
2	0:18	78	80	I go in to McCants, who kicks it out to Mayer. Mayer misses an open 3 but McCants gets the board and the putback. That took too long.
2	0:18	78	81	We foul Stockman. First good, second off the front rim!
2	0:10	78	81	We push it a bit but don't see anything right away, so I call a timeout. McClurkin, Day, and Mayer are all 80+ from 3.
2	0:03.7	81	81	Day with a lighly contested 3 from the right wing, GOOOD
	REG	81	81	They throw a long pass that we tip away, no last second shot. OVERTIME! What a comeback!!!! We were down 13 with 3 minutes to go and went on a 16-3 run. I've never come back from a double digit deficit that late in a game before, of course we haven't won, but even to force OT. Troester is just killing us. He has 27, he's 10-11 from the floor, 6-6 from 3. PF Andres has 16, SF Coombs 10. After a 3-10 first half, UNC goes 5-9 from 3 in the second half. They're still shooting just over 50%. McCants has another good, consistent game all the way through, he's got 18 for us, shooting 9-12 inside. Mayer starts off 3-11 and makes 4 of his last 5 shots, he's 7-16 from the field, 1-8 from 3 heh. Mayer has 18. Day and Millar have 9 and 8, McClurkin just 2, I need more from him on offense than I'm getting. McCants has 4 fouls. No one else on either team is in foul trouble.
OT	4:45	84	81	WE LEAD!!! Just what the doctor ordered too, McClurkin off a screen, drains a 3. We really need him hitting those 3's, that is the thing we had last year that we are missing the most, the 2 or 3 3's a game from our PG. UNC calls a timeout. We have 4, they have 2, so rest/to's are not a problem.
OT	4:13	84	82	Worst possible result for us. McCants fouls out on our first defensive possession. Black comes in for him. Black has played his best game of the year today, 8 points/10 boards off the bench, which is a silver lining at least. They go 1-2 at the line.
OT	3:45	86	82	Mayer feeds Millar inside who draws a foul. Millar is in double figures as he hits both.
OT	3:25	86	84	They work it around and get an open 18 footer for SG Stockman which rolls around the rim before dropping in.
OT	3:06	88	84	Troester fouls McClurkin. Its their 7th. We make both.
OT	2:59	88	86	We are just foul happy.. Black with a stupid reach in, and he has 3 fouls now heh. They make both.
OT	2:20	88	89	Mayer gets by Coombs but meets resistance inside and misses a tough shot. They get a 3 from Coombs on the other end to take the lead. I get a timeout.
OT	1:45	88	89	I didn't want to use the whole shot clock but we really struggle to get a good look. We end up rotating the ball to Day in the left corner, who misses a 3.
OT	1:30	88	91	Andres basically absuses Black inside. He's got 20 and they lead by 3.
OT	0:48	88	94	Well... they go back to their 3-2 zone, they'd been playing man for awhile now, and I decide that Day won't miss twice in a row, he does. They score. Then I get another wide open look for McClurkin, nope, no good. We foul and they make 1 of 2 to go up 6.
OT	0:40	91	94	Now Day decides to hit one, just down 3.
OT	0:37	91	95	Stockman misses the first... makes the second after we foul right away.
OT	0:24	91	97	Day just cannot hit two in a row to save his life. We foul and they hit both, sigh.

I never understand how, against these zone defenses that allow you to get 3 pointers with no one within 5 feet of you in any direction that 3 point shooters rated 90+ with confidence boosts can consistantly miss time after time, but that's the way it works. I just never seem to learn

#18 North Carolina 100
#8 Florida State 91
OT

We open ACC play with two losses to the better teams in the league. We've got Clemson next, at their house, and are worried about an 0-3 start now. They end up with 28 from Troester and 20 from Andres. All starters in double figures, their Center Powers has 11 points/13 boards on the day.

McClurkin: 7 points/4 assists
Day: 12 points (3-10 from 3)
Mayer: 18 points/4 assists
Millar: 10 points/4 boards
McCants: 18 points/10 boards

Porter: 12 points
Black: 8 points/10 boards

A full half of our shots were from 3 point land today. With McCants shooting 9-12 when we got him the ball, that's totally unacceptable. And that's my fault, I let the 3-2 zone do that to me at times, but its always better to work inside instead of passing around the perimeter for a 3. Even if I take a lot of 3's a lot more of them need to come out of passes from the post, creating even bigger open shots that seem to go down more often.

Mayer had one great stretch at the end of regulation today but has been inconsistent in our two ACC games so far. McCants, however, has been simply outstanding. Mayer seems like he could go for 30 at any time but is going to have terribly off nights. Hopefully McCants can keep up this high level of play.

[Radii]

Our two losses in ACC Play have us dropping quite a bit in the polls:

1. Oregon (16-0)
2. Maryland (14-0)
3. Alabama (13-1)
4. Florida (14-2)
5. Vanderbilt (14-2)
...
12. Clemson (14-2)
13. North Carolina (10-2)
15. NC State (15-3)
16. Virginia Tech (11-3)
17. Florida State (13-2)
20. Georgia Tech (14-4)

A giant mixup as the ACC has 6 teams ranked from 10-20, and Maryland way up there at #2. We only play Maryland once, and its 11 games from now. I'd like to get a shot at beating a #1 team.

Another tough game as we travel to Clemson. We get a little break after that with games against Virginia and Duke. Since I simmed so many of my non-conference games, I might play out all 16 ACC games this year.



In Development News... Prosper Day has gained a 2nd point to his overall ratings. He's now a 90 rated 3 point shooter, shooting 37% on the year. Given that I take so many 3's with him, seeing him shoot 37% is great.

[Radii]

January 17, 2024

#17 Florida State (13-2, 0-2 ACC) at #12 Clemson (14-2, 2-0 ACC)

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

We don't want to fall to 0-3 in league play, but clemson on the road is a hell of a challenge. Their backcourt is likely the best in the ACC, maybe the best in the nation. Two Juniors, one starting for his second year, one a 3 year starter, both rated 89 OVR and #1 and #2 on the team in scoring. They do a great job replacing 91 rated PF Jim Vitelli, they've got an 85 rated true freshman in his place!

Scouting

PG Mark Trammell – JR – 89 OVR – 96 speed/87 quickness. 85 defense/77 steals. 93 hands/83 passing, solid for a PG. 84 close/89 med/85 3/86 off the dribble. Coach on the floor with 75 off awareness/86 defensive. 97 hustle too. 2^nd in scoring on the team with 14.8 ppg. Trammell is in contention for the first pick in the NBA Draft.

SG Darren Bookout – JR – 89 OVR – 91 speed/87 quickness. 94 defense/85 steals. 92 close/83 med/81 3/80 off the dribble/92 in traffic. Great leaper, the strength of a forward, very good awareness(78 off/79 def). This guy has no weakness. 15.8 ppg leads the team.

SF Mose Barnett – JR – 87 OVR – 6'6” natural SF - 84 speed/80 quickness. 78 defense/75 steals. 90 close/76 med/74 3/84 off the dribble/91 in traffic. Good athlete, 94 hustle is great, 81 awareness on both sides. His ratings are bolstered by the fact that he's a great rebounder (89 off/82 def) and a solid post player for a SF (73 off/72 def). But he is weakened by a 78 rated defense. Clemson plays a 2-3 zone mainly so Mayer won't get to take advantage too often. Just 4.9 ppg, this is Barnett's first year starting.

PF Bruce Filipovic – FR – 85 OVR – Actually a SF, which helps us out some here. 6'7” though, and an elite defensive rebounder. 72 orb/88 drb. 83 post off/74 post def. 81 close/76 med/66 3/92 in traffic. 83 off awareness, incredible for a freshman, just 71 on defense. 8.3 ppg/5.8 rpg. Great freshman numbers.

C Jesus Williamson – SO – 78 OVR – 6'6” PF – 83 orb/80 drb. 93 post off/70 post def. 89 close/88 in traffic. Not very strong, awful awareness.

So they run a 2-3 zone which usually makes it hard for us to get inside, but their back 3 are two SF's and a 6'6 power forward. So maybe McCants can mix it up in there. I know I'm going to take a lot of 3 point shots with my highly rated 3 point players, but I'm going to make more of an effort to make more of those shots from inside-out passes and not just pass it around the wing and shoot.

Half	Time	FSU	CLEM	Notes
1	14:20	15	6	Near perfect start, as we're up 9 as Clemson calls a timeout. Day is 2-3 from 3, 6 points. Mayer has 6, 4 in transition and 2 the one possession they went man to man. Millar just picked up an offensive board and got a big dunk and foul for a 3 point play.
1	12:28	20	9	Day with a 2, they get a 3 point play inside, Mayer hits a 3, and Clemson with their second timeout.
1	10:50	22	11	Backups are in. Mayer is back in superstar form today, he's got 11 points for us and looks spectacular. Day has 8, Millar 3, that's all our points. They double fast inside and we haven't seen many plays called that set up good post looks for McCants yet (I always just run CPU plays, not for any sort of house rule, just convenience now that I have a good playbook)
1	9:45	26	11	We get 4 straight from Black, two free throws and then a fast break dunk after a miss(their big was at the top of the key so black was out ahead of everyone, not the usual secondary break type thing for a big) Clemson takes their 3rd timeout.
1	6:30	31	16	Black has 9 and is having his second stellar 1st half in a row(he had 8 vs UNC). He got Bookout mismatched on him twice. The second time he drew foul #2 on Bookout, sending him to the bench.
1	5:50	31	17	I call a timeout and get the starters back in.
	HALF	44	26	That half could not have gone better. We're only shooting 53%, its not like we just went off for 80% or something crazy, but we are limiting Clemson to 33% shooting, and they are ice cold from 3, 1-12. Their only player who has played well is PF Filipovic, the freshman. He's 3-4 for 7 points, he has a couple very nice post buckets. Bookout is 3-9, Trammell 2-7. We're up 20-13 on the boards, which is not unusual when there's such a shooting % disparity. Mayer is the star of the half, 16 points, 2-4 from 3. Day is damn good too, going 3-5 from 3 for 11 total points. McCants is 0-4, missing a putback, a midrange jumper, and two shots in the post, any of which could have easily gone, I suppose he's just off right now. Black, who really is not too far off from Millar in talent, has 9 points, his ssecond solid performance in a row. Since he's going to be asked to take over for McCants next year, I'm thrilled seeing him do positive things against good teams now. They could always get hot from 3 but we'd better put this one away.
2	15:50	49	32	We led by 21 briefly as we started the half on a 5-2 run. Day has all 5 of our points. McCants misses another easy looking turnaround in close. Clemson timeout.
2	12:25	57	39	We go up 21 again, they hit a 3. I get a timeout to get my backups in. Day scored the first 11 points of the half for us before Mayer finally gets a putback to break Day's run. Day has 22, Mayer 18 now. The two of them are beating Clemson by 1
2	9:00	61	44	Again we go up 20, this time they score 5 straight to cut it to 15, and they get 2 chances to get it even closer but we get stops. Black scores his 11th points to get into double figures to push it back up to 17, and Clemson takes a timeout. Modica got our first bucket with the backups, and is now the only guy not named Black that has scored for the backup squad.
2	7:25	61	49	We remain cold with the backups and they hit two in a row and have the lead down to 12. I get a timeout immediately and get the starters back in.
2	5:00	65	51	They get it as close as 11, as Mayer hits 1 of 2 at the line then they get a deuce. McCants finally gets on the board, 1 of 2 at the line himself, then Day with another bucket and we're up 14 with 5 left. McCants is 0-7 now, missing 3 more shots recently, dude is just way off today.

[Radii]

2	5:00	65	51	They get it as close as 11, as Mayer hits 1 of 2 at the line then they get a deuce. McCants finally gets on the board, 1 of 2 at the line himself, then Day with another bucket and we're up 14 with 5 left. McCants is 0-7 now, missing 3 more shots recently, dude is just way off today.
2	4:00	65	54	Bookout with a 3 and they cut it back to 11. They bail us out with a reach in foul late in the shot clock though and we're going to get to run another 30 seconds off if we want.
2	3:00	65	54	We miss two shots ourselves, but Day gets a great block inside as Bookout tries to drive... still 11 with 3minutes left.
2	2:40	65	56	They get a look to their SF inside and cut the lead below 10 for the first time this half.
2	1:50	65	59	Day misses an open 3 in the corner on our end, and they get a fairly quick three by Bookout on their end. He's been cold most of the game but now has 3 threes this half and 15 total points. We are not stalling all the way down really, we're running our offense at the 15 second mark of the shot clock but struggling to get really nice looks. McCants being so cold inside is really hurting, as I kinda feel that is not really even an option right now. I get a timeout.
2	1:44	65	61	Mayer throws a pass away against their press... first time all game that has happened. They attack, we commit a foul and they hit two free throws and its a four point game. Oh boy. I get another timeout as that obviously generated a 6th man boost for Clemson.
2	1:30	65	63	UGHHHHHHHH. McClurkin throws a bad pass against the press, they intercept and get a layup. This one is on me. WOW.
2	1:20	65	63	This update is to note that we succesfully got the ball over half court. I figure after the last 20 seconds that is worth mentioning.
2	0:58	65	63	We get the ball into McCants, they double, he kicks to Mayer who misses an open jump shot. They rebound and have a chance to tie or take the lead.
2	0:52	65	65	Uh yeah. They tie it up right away, Bookout with an alley oop to Trammell before the defense is set.
2	0:47	65	65	HOLY CRAP. McClurkin throws the ball away. This isn't a stick mistake on my part. This is the pass sailling 5 feet wide of its intended target out of bounds. That was the case in the first turnover by Mayer too.. the middle one by McClurkin was a stiick mistake, I threw a pass to a guy that wasn't open. Their ball.
2	0:16.7	65	68	I would have bet this is what was going to happen the second I turned it over. Bookout hits a 3. His 4th of the half, he's got 20, we trail by 3. I am out of timeouts.
2	0:02.6	68	68	MCCLURKIN. He redeems himself for the crappy backcourt play over the last 2 minutes by draining a game tying three.
	REG	68	68	Epic collapse right there. Truly epic. They scored 17 in a row in the final five minutes before we hit a last second three to get it to overtime. Experience must be a factor there, because even though these are upperclassmen for the most part, they are all lifetime backups except McCants. Three turnovers in the backcourt in four possessions is just horrible. They shoot 6-8 from 3 in the second half and are now 7-20. Bookout has 20, Filipovic has 11. Their other 3 starters have 7/8/9 points. On our end, Day has 24, Mayer 19(remember he had 16 at the half). We only managed 24 second half points. We're tiring and only have one timeout, so the backups start the overtime period for us.
OT	4:20	68	68	Porter badly bricks a 3, way short, and we commit our 7th foul on the other end, they're shooting the rest of the way. Filipovic misses the FT though.
OT	3:10	70	68	After each team comes up empty, we take the lead as Porter drives by his man for a layup as they play man to man defense for us for a couple trips. Clemson takes a timeout and we get our starters back in.
OT	2:10	70	72	Williamson hits a 10 footer to tie it. Day works it to Millar who kciks it out to Day, but he misses the open 3. They go ahead on another midrange jumper. 6th man boost for Clemson, our ball.
OT	1:20	70	74	McClurkin misses a great great look at a 3. They get another bucket from Williamson inside, this one on an offensive board, rebound people!!!
OT	0:57	70	74	Come on guys!! We get it to McCants in the post, who is immediately stripped and turns it over. They miss, but get another offensive board, and draw a foul inside. Luckily, Williamson misses both of his free throws. We board and call our timeout for the OT.
OT	0:35	73	74	We get McClurkin another wide open look and he buries this three. It took us too long though and we will have to foul.
OT	0:34	73	76	Trammell is fouled, he makes both.
OT	0:10	76	76	Feed into McCants, kick out to Mayer, Mayer is GOOD from 3. I wanted to shoot early to leave a chance at a rebound, but now they have 10 seconds to go for the win.
	GAME	76	78	They make a couple passes and hit Williamson inside. He hits a one hander over Millar and they go up 2. There's still 3 seconds left but against their tight full court press and with no timeouts the best we can do is launch a 3 from half court that falls short.

We lose our second straight game in overtime. This one is amazingly disappointing, we allowed them to score 17 straight in the final 5 minutes of the game as the entire team went cold and we just choked like we had 5 freshmen on the court with 3 turnovers in four possessions. Unbelievable.

#12 Clemson 78
#17 Florida State 76
OT

As I said before, this has to be an experience/pressure situation on the road thing. Bookout came up HUGE for them, but there's no excuse for a 5 minute scoreless stretch.

Bookout leads them with 20. Filipovic with 13, Williamson scores 6 in OT and has 13 total. Filipovic has 13 as well.

McClurkin: 9 points/4 assists
Day: 24 points
Mayer: 22 points/5 boards
Millar: 5 points/8 boards
McCants: 1 point/11 boards (0-8 from the floor)

Black: 11 points/5 boards

I considered bringing Black in for McCants, I would have shot the ball with McCants in the OT if the time had come up to see if he would come through in the clutch for me, but they double fast and he didn't really get the ball in the right spots, so it was a lot of kickouts. The one time he was in great position to shoot inside they insta-stripped the ball.

[hoopsguy]

Gut punch loss there. I'm sure it is hard to see the good in this game (the first 30 or so minutes) right about now, but hopefully you are able to see the first 30 minute version of FSU a few more times this year and get your ACC record back in order.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by hoopsguy

Gut punch loss there. I'm sure it is hard to see the good in this game (the first 30 or so minutes) right about now, but hopefully you are able to see the first 30 minute version of FSU a few more times this year and get your ACC record back in order.

Yeah, its hard to assess where we are right now. Things get easier, with Virginia and Duke next. The lineup I have right now has a good amount of talent, but all of our backups have zero experience and 4 of the 5 starters had never started a single game before this year. Also, road games against two of the top teams in the league and a home game against a coach/system I've been struggling with for almost a decade now is about as hard as it could get to start the conference season.

[Radii]

January 20, 2024

Virginia (6-7, 0-3 ACC) at #17 Florida State (13-3, 0-3 ACC)

TEAM: FSU|UVA
OVR: 92|82
OFF: 92|82
DEF: 90|80
SHT: 93|84
REB: 92|86
COA: 91|87

Well, we have one thing in common with Virginia, 0-3 in the league. Duke and Wake are also winless in league play. We need to get out of the cellar, there's a long way left in the year and we can still end up near the top of the league, but every game vs the worse teams in the league like this are absolute must wins.

Scouting

PG Ramon Skrocki – SR – 73 OVR – 91 speed/87 quickness. 81 defense/81 steals. 84 hands/74 passing, both C+. 78 close/73 med/76 steals. And awful awareness. 14.1 ppg.

SG Oliver Kounkorgo – FR – 76 OVR – 89 speed/80 quickness. 81 defense/73 steals. 84 close/80 med/74 3/80 off the dribble. Awful awareness, a decent freshman but he has holes. 8 ppg/4.2 rpg/2.7 apg. Solid freshman stats, could easily win freshman of the year starting as a freshman like this.

SF Cheo Bean – FR – 74 OVR – 6'6” SF - 82 speed/77 quickness. 74 defense/70 steals. 80 close/77 med/65 3/81 in traffic. Again, awful awareness, shouldn't be starting. 7.8 ppg/4.2 rpg.

PF PJ Bennett – JR – 79 OVR – 6'8” PF – 81 orb/87 drb. 80 post off/69 post def. 88 close/83 in traffic. He's a leaper, strong, 77 off awareness/72 def awareness. A decent player but weak post defense and nothing exceptional anywhere. The best player on a very bad team, 15.9 ppg/6.9 rpg.

JR Byron Banjo – JR – 72 OVR – 6'8” PF – 80 orb/84 drb. 77 post off/69 post def. 81 close/89 in traffic. Just 3 points/3 boards a game.

This team is awful. I never know when we're going to struggle, but we really ought to just run these guys off the court.

Half	Time	FSU	UVA	Notes
1	15:22	15	6	Yeah this should be easy. Timeout UVA. McCants gets the first points of the game, Mayer runs off 8 straight after that.
1	12:55	19	11	Mayer 9, Day 6, McCants 4 as the backups come in. Day is 2-2 from 3.
1	12:33	22	11	Dearman hits a 3, Virginia calls a timeout.
1	9:15	31	15	Dearman hits a second 3, Porter hits a 3, its nice to have this game after the first 3 in the ACC.
1	7:48	31	24	Right, mention how easy this has been and give up 9 straight. Standard. Starters are back in.
1	4:35	42	28	An 11-4 run and we're back in control. Mayer has 17, he's hit 2 3's in a row and looks like he's going to just take this game over. Our only issue right now I think is that McClurkin has 2 fouls.
1	HALF	58	35	That's better. I was a bit worried when they went off on a bit of a streak against the backups, but we get things back in control. Mayer can score on bad teams like no one I've ever had on any of my teams. Seriously, Wendell House scored 48 in a game once for me in the Ohio days(memorable enough that I can pull the first and last name out without looking back, and don't feel the need to drop any other references for the readers), and he was good for 20+ a number of times. But Mayer... Mayer is capable of going to a whole new level. Mayer is a legit 3 point thread, he has great body control when he drives, just amazing. Anyway... Millar 2, McClurkin 3, McCants 6, Day 8, Mayer 27. Yup, that's for a half. 8-10 from the field, 2-4 from 3, 9-12 at the line. Both teams commit 9 fouls on the half, Mayer drew 6 of those for us obviously. Their PG, Skroski scores 12 for them but its all about our offense and Mayer today. I'll probably play the starters til the 12 or 13 minute mark then let the backups finish the rest of the game.
2	12:50	75	53	The starters take the game under the 13 minute mark and keep the lead over 20, so I'm ok sitting them in theory for the rest of the game now. Of course, another 9-0 Virginia run over the backups could change my mind. Mayer goes 2-2 from 3, 4-6 total now and 37 points. I have to say its tempting to go get him 50, but its really lame to do that outside the flow of the game. Its time to kill the game w/ the backups, so 37 is probably it.
2	9:50	83	57	The backups start out playing well, timeout Virginia.

We don't really slow it down, our freshman backups aren't really that much better than their team, so I just play it out and get a lot of experience for the reserves today.

#17 Florida State 111
Virginia 77

The big story is obviously Mayer. He ran over Virginia in transition, in the half court set, driving to the rim, shooting the 3, at the line... just a dominant game.

But there's another story here that didn't really get mentioned above, and that's backup SF Patricio Dearman. 18 minutes out of our backups today, Dearman shoots 6-8 from 3 and 1-2 from inside, scoring 20 points for the reserves. Also the continued emergence of Maynard Black as a quality big man. 6-7 for 15 points, 6 boards. Black is putting up consistently good numbers off the bench.

McClurkin: 6 points
Day: 8 points
Mayer: 37 points
Millar: 6 points/5 boards
McCants: 6 points/10 boards

Modica: 6 points/3 assists
Porter: 7 points
Dearman: 20 points
Jolly: 0 points/6 boards
Black: 15 points/6 boards

We win an ACC game!

[Radii]

Updated Poll after the Clemson loss/Virginia win:

1. Oregon
2. Maryland
3. Alabama
4. Michigan State
5. Pittsburgh
...
7. Clemson
8. Virginia Tech
9. NC State
14. Georgia Tech
21. Florida State
24. North Carolina

Clemson, Va Tech, NC State all make big jumps into the top 10 this week.

Clemson is 4-0 in early ACC play. Va Tech, Ga Tech, Maryland, NC State are all 3-1. UNC is 1-2 and we are 1-3. Still very early obviously.


Just one game this week,we travel to Durham to take on Duke.

[Radii]

January 24, 2024

#21 Florida State (14-3, 1-3 ACC) at Duke (10-5, 1-2)

TEAM: FSU|DUKE
OVR: 92|85
OFF: 92|84
DEF: 90|86
SHT: 93|85
REB: 92|89
COA: 91|86

Duke won their last game in Chapel Hill beating the Tar Heels. That is their first win over a top 25 team, they're 1-5 vs ranked opponents now. They appear to have one guy that could make it at most of these top ACC programs, and they are really falling badly behind everywhere else.

Scouting

PG Cori Songcuacy – JR – 77 OVR – 92 speed/82 quickness. 90 defense/72 steals. 83 hands/80 passing, just a C ball handler. 81 close/73 med/72 3/84 off the dribble. An ok secondary scorer and solid defender. Average/below average awareness (69 off/74 def). 8.1 ppg/3.8 apg.

SG Dermie Nichols- SO – 77 OVR – 86 speed/87 quickness. 82 defense/78 steals. 85 close/69 med/79 3/76 off the dribble. Terrible awareness on offense(67), much better on D. He averages 12.7 points/game and might get some against us but he's not a particularly imposing player in any way.

SF Garrison Bragg – SR – 85 OVR – 6'7” SF – 82 speed/80 quickness. 81 defense/80 steals, all solid for a SF. 84 close/80 med/74 3/86 in traffic. Coach on the floor with great awareness on offense(84) and solid on defense (77) Great strength(81/A-), very good leaper and hustle. Easily leads the team with 17.9 points and 6.8 rebounds/game.

PF Bernie Strong – SO – 76 OVR – 6'6” SF – 74 orb/77 drb. 67 post off/78 post def. 82 close/79 in traffic. 10 points/5 boards a game but so so out of place. Millar can walk over him.

C Cori George – FR – 73 OVR – 6'7” PF – 73 orb/87 drb. 79 post off/72 post def. 85 close/81 in traffic. 65 defensive awareness. 8.1 ppg/6.1 rpg.

They have backups rated in the same range, 75ish for the guards. In Cameron who knows but we ought to have a massive edge here, inside espicially but all over really.

Half	Time	FSU	DUKE	Notes
1	15:50	13	5	Mayer with 9 early, fouled shooting a 3 and a great 3 point play as he's fouled on a big dunk. McCants and Millar make up the rest. Timeout Duke.
1	15:45	13	7	McCants with two quick fouls. I leave him in for now, being lazy with substutions vs a poor team as much as anything else.
1	14:45	16	8	McCants picks up his 3rd and it looks like Black will get a lot of minutes today.
1	13:18	18	10	Backups are in. Mayer has 14. He is really unstoppable vs inferior opponents, so strong driving inside he almost always scores or gets fouled.
1	7:50	29	19	The backups keep the lead right up between 8-10, Duke takes another timeout.
1	7:25	31	19	Starters are back in. Jolly is at Center, Black will fnish the half at center when he rests up some. Dearman with 8 to lead the backups, its all about the attacking small forwards today.
1	HALF	50	22	Mayer just goes absolutely nuts as they continue to foul and wear down. We end the half on a 19-3 run and this game is basically over. Mayer has 28 points, beating Duke by 6 by himself. He scored 14 of our first 16, then 14 of our final 19. Basically any time they missed he could get to the rim in transition. Any time we didn't get a perfect look for someone else he could drive and score or draw a foul. He's just too athletic and too strong for a team like this. Dearman is our second leading scorer with 8. All 5 starters will play til the 14 minute mark or so then the backups will run the game out.
2	12:00	66	34	Mayer leaves with 34, backups all in.

Another easy one.

#21 Florida State 84
Duke 54

McClurkin: 6points
Day: 5 points
Mayer: 34 points/4 boards (0-5 from 3!)
Millar: 4 points/7 boards
McCants: 4 points/10 boards

Dearman: 14 points
Porter: 11 points (3-4 from 3)

As mentioned above during the game, Mayer can just singlehandedly dismantle teams like this, that don't have someone at SF that can keep with him and without very good defensive players inside, so the SF can't stop him and the bigs just hammer him over and over.

[Radii]

There's a new #1 in the nation after the prior week, and its the ACC's Maryland Terrapins. I've been wanting a shot at a #1 team for awhile, so I'm always rooting for ACC teams to hit #1, but we don't play the Terps for a good long while unfortunately.

1. Maryland
2. Alabama
3. Oregon
4. Michigan State
5. Clemson
...
8. Virginia Tech
11. Georgia Tech
13. NC State
25. Florida State

We drop from 21 to 25 despite a crushing victory, and UNC is out of the polls.

Its a huge week for us as we're now 2-3 in ACC play but play #13 NC State (at home) and #11 Georgia Tech(on the road).

We struggle a lot against the 3-2 defense and style that North Carolina plays. By the same token, NC State plays a very relaxed defense, crashes the boards and usually lets our fast break run wild. So while we lose sometimes to UNC despite a talent advantage, I pretty much always expect to beat NC State even if they are as talented or more talented than us, so we really need to go out and get this first win this week.

[Radii]

February 1, 2024

#13 NC State (17-4, 3-2 ACC) at #25 Florida State (15-3, 2-3 ACC)

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

The Wolfpack look very similar to us from an overall roster strength comparison. NC State has had a very light schedule so far, they lost by 3 to #1 Maryland, but all their other conference games are against the unranked poorer teams at the bottom of the league. They lost to Boston College for their 2^nd league loss, with wins over Duke, Miami, and UVA.

This may be a different Wolfpack team that we're used to though. They are rated as the #2 most efficient offense in the country, and while yes they've had an easier schedule than some, the also average a 22 point margin of victory.

Scouting

PG Joey Couisnard – JR – 85 OVR – 95 speed/89 quickness. 88 defense/80 steals. 85 hands/85 passing. All very good numbers, exceptional speed really. 84 close/74 med/82 3/89 off the dribble. A solid shooter who does an incredible job at creating his own shot. He has one of the highest defensive awareness ratings I've ever seen, at 90. Just 74 on offense, but WOW 90 on defense along w/ good defense ratings. That worries me a good deal. 8.5 ppg.

SG Danko Walls – JR – 87 OVR – Walls has been a star in the league, national freshman of the year two years ago, and a 2^nd team all ACC performer last year, fairly unusual for an underclassman especially in the backcourt. 89 speed/85 quickness. 87 defense but only 72 steals. 89 close/87 med/85 3/85 off the dribble. He can score from everywhere and does with great frequency. 20.8 ppg this year. He's a coach on the floor as well.

SF Gilson Onyekwe – SR – 80 OVR – 6'8” SF – 88 speed/79 quickness, very very good. 81 defense/67 steals. 86 close/76 med/69 3/80 in traffic. Average awareness, 78 off/72 def. Just 4 points/game. I expect Mayer can handle him easily, but my concern as mentioned below is the big men inside on defense.

PF Caron Buboltz – JR – 79 OVR – 80 orb/76 db. 81 post off/86 post def. 91 close/82 in traffic. Solid awareness (80 off/74 def) though not great on defense or anything.. 3.7 ppg/4 rpg.

C Cassiano Hunter – SR – 85 OVR – 6'10” PF – 91 orb/80 drb. 91 post off/77 post def. 87 blocks, a great shot blocker. 91 close/88 in traffic. Great athlete, good speed for a big man, good leaper, strong and a great hustler. Just average awareness. He is a key player this year, averaging 13.6 ppg/6.1 rpg for the Pack. His defense and strength might be good enough to slow down Mayer inside, something that could be a key to the game.

Backup SG Angel McFadgon is rated 80 OVR, he'san inside threat, not a great shooter, just 4 points/game, but like PG Couisnard he has ungodly high defensive awareness at 88.

Backup PG Garland Munns is also rated 84 OVR and is a great scorer One of the fastest players in the league at 97 speed/91 quickness, he's a great scorer inside. He gets a ton of minutes and actually is 2^nd in scoring at 17.6 per game behind Walls.

And backup C Zachary Horton is a very strong post defender, 85 post defense.

In the past we've run VERY well against NCSU and blown them out at home frequently. I hope we can do the same today but their post players are just strong enough that I'm worried about how effective Mayer will be attacking the rim, and a couple of these guys have defensive awareness through the roof, it'll be interesting to see if that creates problems.

Half	Time	FSU	NCSU	Notes
1	16:00	8	8	We're tied early but we've gotten some luck on the offensive glass, we're not really doing well in the half court set. Mayer has 4, McCants 2, Day 2. We have 2 offensive boards/putbacks(Mayer/McCants) and then the other 4 in transition.
1	13:15	10	16	Well, their offense is indeed efficient. I call a timeout and get our backups in, worried that the starters are down 6. Mayer has 6 for us, Walls has 7 for them early on. McClurkin misses 2 wide open 3s, as does Day, that's not helping us. We're 4-12 from the field, Mayer 2-4, rest of team 2-8.
1	8:50	16	29	Its raining 3's... Walls hits his 2nd and has 10 for NC State, Munns comes in for them and drains one, a pull up 3 before our defense is even set, after a score, not something you see often at all. We get a 3 from Porter and a 3 point play from Black, but we're not scoring well and holy crap they are scoring every time they touch the ball. This is a huge issue. Timeout FSU.
1	7:30	16	34	After yet another NC State 3, a turnover on our end leads to a layup. Another miss by us and I commit an intentional foul to get the starters back in, instead of using my 3rd timeout... starters back in and we are in incredibly deep shit here. I had only been playing tight D on Walls, btw. But after seeing that every single player on their team will catch and shoot 3's, I play tight D on all their guards, and hope they don't kill us inside as a result.
1	7:00	16	37	We're down 21 as Munns hits another 3.
1	6:25	21	37	Day finally hits one for us, and then after they miss a 3, we get on the break and Mayer with a slam. NC State timeout. NC State is 7-12 from 3, FYI.
1	2:30	32	46	Mayer takes over on offense, scoring 9 straight for us, he's got 17, hitting a 3, getting another dunk and getting to the line twice attacking the rim. Unfortunately they're still scoring with incredible efficiency.
1	1:20	37	47	The Mayer show continues, as he gets a 3 point play and another layup, now having scored our last 14 points in a row. We briefly cut it to 9 before fouling on the other end. They hit 1 off 2 and its back up to 10.
	HALF	41	52	We get it down to 7 on a McClurkin 3, they score quickly on their end. We can hold for the last shot, but they commit a reach in foul with 12 seconds left. McClurkin hits 1, misses the 2nd, they go down court and Munns hits his 3rd trey and somehow they outscore us 5-4 in the final minute. That's a bit annoying. But, we were down 21 a short while ago. To only trail by 11 has to be a relief right now. They shoot a ridiculous 19-29 from the field, and an even more ridiculous 9-15 from 3, 60%! It seems like if we can slow this down, or if they just go cold, in the 2nd half, we have a good shot to win. But damn we have to slow them down. Walls and Munns both have 11, and are 5-6 from 3 combined. Couisnard has 7. We shoot 14-32, just 4-14 from 3. Mayer is 7-9, 1-1 from 3, 7-7 from the line. He's got 22 of our 41 points. McClurkin adds 6 but is a horrid 1-5 from 3. Day is 1-5 as well, and has only 5 points. We haven't tried to go inside at all. This team was supposed to be Mayer and McCants, but I only got McCants one shot in the first half. They have some solid post defense, but I MUST try to get him the ball more. Black and Porter have 3 each off the bench.
2	18:36	48	54	They turn it over pretty much immediately, and Mcclurkin draws a foul, hitting two Fts. Then after a miss, Mayer misses but Millar gets the board/putback. They score but Day hits an open 3 on our end, and we start the half on a 7-2 run and have the lead down to 6!!
2	16:40	57	58	PROSPER DAY!!!!!! NC State's secondary defense is a 2-3, and Day hits 3 more open 3 pointers over their zone, finally heating up from 3 after missing so many open looks in the first half. He is 4-5 from 3 this half alone, has 17 points total and we trail by 1!!! 6th man boost on the most recent one.
2	12:25	64	66	We miss a couple shots to take the lead, and they go up 3. McClurkin hits a 3 after an inside out from McCants and we tie the game at 62, but their superstar Walls isn't going to let us take the lead back easily, he's got their last 4 and has 19 himself. Mayer gets 4 more for us in this stretch and has 26. Unfortunately though its time to rest the starters, the backups come in on a NC State timeout and we desparately need them to not let the Wolfpack pull way back ahead.
2	8:35	67	69	We've done a good job on D but only have one 3 from Modica on offense. All 3 of their points have come at the line, a really outstanding job on D. But the big issue is that the bakcups have committed 4 fouls and we have 6 as a team total, so NC State will be shooting the rest of the way.
2	7:40	70	69	Black kicks it out to Porter who drains a 3!!!! Florida State takes the lead, 6th man boost and the crowd is going crazy after coming back from a 21 point 1st half deficit!!!

[Radii]

2	6:30	70	69	We get a block as they try to take the lead back, and it triggers another 6th man boost for us. I probably end up killing it off but its ok, I really need the starters back out there, as NC State recently brought Walls back in after a rest. Starters are in for the duration.
2	5:30	74	69	Mayer hits 1 of 2 at the line, and then hits an open 3 and he now has 30, we have a 5 point lead and NC State calls a timeout!!
2	4:08	78	71	We're on an 11-2 run in the last 4 ½ minutes, Mayer with 2 more and McCants gets a good look inside, timeout NC State, we're up 7.
2	2:40	78	76	Two misses in a row for us, they hit an open 3 and then 2 at the line and its a 2 point game, our ball.
2	1:40	78	79	Mayer misses an open 3, Walls misses a 3 for them, but we let them get the offensive board and commit a foul. I notice that the foul is committed by Black, and realize that Millar was injured after committing his last foul at the 2:40 mark. They make 1 of 2 at the line, get the offensive board after the 2nd one misses, and get a putback. Disgusting, 2 offensive boards allow them 3 points they should not have gotten. We trail by 1, and I call a timeout. Mayer has missed his last 3 shots after starting 10-13 from the field.
2	1:00	78	79	Day misses an open 3 over their zone, they turn the ball over pushing it up the court, I feed it into Mayer going to the basket and he misses a little 3 footer off the front rim, UGH!! NC State ball.
2	0:53	78	82	They come down and immediately drain a 3, double ugh. Timeout FSU.
2	0:36	78	83	Day misses another open 3 against their 2-3 zone, we foul. REBOUND UASHGSLFJAEWf. They miss the front end but get another offensive board. They are getting every single rebound on both ends since Millar went down. We're at 10 fouls now. Just 1 of 2 the second time around, we trail by 5.
2	0:24	81	83	Mayer feeds McClurkin who hits an open 3.
2	0:23	81	85	We foul right away. Their PG hits the first, and the second.
2	0:15	84	85	OH MY. McClurkin goes off a screen by Black and is good again from 3! 6th man for us.
2	0:13.7	84	87	We foul their PG immediately. First good again, second... good.
2	0:02	87	87	McClurkin to Day, pump fake, gets his man in the air, shoots a 3, GOOOOOOD!!!! Holy crap what a game.
	REG	87	87	They call a timeout but can't do anything other than launch a half court 3 that is no good. OVERTIME. We never did go to McCants like I had mentioned. Mayer has 32, Day 20, McClulrkin 17. Day is shooting 40% from 3, but that's a rather insane 6-15. Very streaky, there was a 4-5 stretch in there and not very good otherwise. McCants has 4 points/8 boards. Millar has a sprained ankle and is unlikely to return. Black is good, but Millar was leading us in rebounding, and we seem to be struggling on the glass without him. NC State has 19 from Walls, 14 from PG Cousinard, 5 of those at the line in the final minute. Their Center Hunter has 4 fouls. McClurkin has 3 for us, all our other starters have 2. With all the timeouts near the end of the game, our starters are good to go for OT. Each team has two timeouts left.
OT	3:53	90	89	Mayer misses a shot in the post on our first trip after we win the tip. NC State scores on a putback on their end by their SF. Black goes inside out to Day who hits a 3 on our end and we lead by one, their ball. They take a timeout. They sat C Hunter as the OT started and get him back in now.
OT	2:45	94	89	We force a miss, but on our end Black has a shot harshly rejected by their bigs. Walls misses a 3 for them, Mayer is out on the run and slams home a dunk. On the next trip they make a bad pass, McCants picks up a loose ball at the 3 point line and goes coast to coast for a dunk, 5 point lead!!!
OT	1:45	94	91	They go inside to Hunter who scores in the post. We go inside to McCants who misses a hook shot. They miss an open 3, and we have the ball, up 3, 1:45 left.
OT	0:42	97	91	Mayer ends up attacking the rim, taking a very tough shot, and missing. He gets elevates quickly and gets his own board though, kicks it out and we reset. Mayer tries to get free but can't, feeds McCants in the post, who reverses to Day, fires to Mcclurkin who is our most open shooter, and he drains a 3!!! 6 point lead, patience pays off there and we get a great look.

They miss a couple 3's, we ice the game at the line and win a thrilling contest.

#25 Florida State 101
#13 NC State 91
OT

Whew. We trail by 21 midway through the first half, get a monster run created entirely by Mayer(and entirely within the flow of the offense, it never once felt like I was forcing the ball his way). We dominate the second half and lead by 7 with 4 minutes left. Then NC State takes over and scores 12 straight. Down 83-78 with 35 seconds left, we hit 3 straight 3's and they miss just enough free throws for us to get it into OT. The OT is ours, what a crazy game.

Walls leads them with 19, Couisnard 14, Onyekwe 16, and Hunter 14. Munns 11 off the bench.

McClurkin: 20 points/5 assists (5-10 from 3)
Day: 23 points (7-16 from 3)
Mayer: 36 points/5 boards
Millar: 2 points/9 boards
McCants: 6 points/11 boards

Porter: 6 points
Black: 5 points/6 boards

After starting the game 4-14 from 3, we end up 17-36, going 13-22 in the 2nd half and OT. They played a lot more 2-3 zone in the second half than they did in the first, which is why there was a noted change from Mayer attacking the rim to finding Day and McClurkin for 3's.

I'm not sure I've ever played a game with 3 20 point scorers before!

[Radii]

Millar is slowed for a couple more days with a sprained ankle. Since Black is not really much worse at all I go ahead and start Black against Georgia Tech. Millar will be back in the starting 5 next week.

February 4, 2024

#25 Florida State (16-3, 3-3 ACC) at #11 Georgia Tech (19-4, 6-1 ACC)

TEAM: FSU|GT
OVR: 92|91
OFF: 92|92
DEF: 91|89
SHT: 94|96
REB: 91|89
COA: 91|96

Georgia Tech was, last year, to put it mildly, our nemesis. They were #1 in the nation in the preseason polls while we were #2. They beat us all 3 times we played, and I'm convinced we only got to the national title game because another team, Oregon, took out Ga Tech in the Elite 8, preventing a 4^th meeting with them.

But that was last year, they graduated 4 starters. How their 5^th didn't leave is beyond me. SG Femi Shavies was rated 88 OVR at the end of last season. This year, he's back for his senior season, is up to 90 OVR, and is leading the nation in scoring at 25 points/game.

While Mayer only averages 17.1 points/game compared to Shavies 25, Mayer has scored 30 in three straight contests, and the two of them going at it is sure to have the fans excited for this one.

We are extremely lucky in this contest now that I poke around. 87 OVR backup SG Kelenna Day is out for 16 days w/ an injury to his abdomen, and 86 OVR starting PG Koki Humphrey is o ut for 19 day s with a broken toe. We're catching them WAY down.

Scouting

PG Timmy Dawson – FR – 80 OVR – 91 speed/82 quickness. 81 defense/83 steals. 87 hands/81 passing. 83 close/80 med/85 3/82 off the dribble. Great awareness on offense, 81, but poor defense, 67. All of 5'7” tall. 3.6 ppg. A very solid freshman who will be great, the #5 recruit last year. But they miss their starter that's for sure.

SG Femi Shavies – SR – 90 OVR – 89 speed/91 quickness. 82 defense/84 steals. 91 close/81 med/88 3/83 off the dribble/83 in traffic. Good athlete, 79 off awareness/80 def awareness. Has always scored well against us and this year leads the nation in scoring, 25/game. A very serious player of the year candidate.

SF Goran Ravello – JR – 87 OVR – 6'6”, actually a SG. 89 speed/85 quickness. 87 defense/81 steals. 87 close/84 med/83 3/87 off the dribble/83 in traffic. Poor strength and if Mayer can get him in the paint Mayer will have a huge edge. Ravello has the edge when Tech has the ball though. 13.9 ppg, 2^nd on the team.

PF Reginald Franklin – FR – 79 OVR – 6'8” PF – 79 orb/85 drb. 82 post off/74 post def. Poor shot blocker. 88 close/82 in trafic. Another guy who will be very good, but is not all the way there yet. A very solid freshman though. Was the top big last year, #13 overall. I tried briefly to go after Franklin but had no shot as he was from Atlanta. 7.4 ppg/4.4 rpg.

C Clifford McClaren – SR – 83 OVR – 6'7” PF – 92 orb/83 drb. 90 post off/72 post defense. 87 blocks. 85 close/92 in traffic. Serious weakness on defense, and tiny. Decent strength but I need(NEED) to re-focus my efforts in the post today. 7.3 ppg/4.7 rpg.

They look like a poor defensive team all over. Ravello is a solid on ball defender, but Shavies and Dawson are not, while their bigs lack post defense. We need to score well against these guys,and we have to take advantage of the fact that 2 of their top 4 players are hurt and steal a road game.

Half	Time	FSU	GT	Notes
1	13:40	13	13	Tech off to a hot start, they actually lead 13-5 before we go on a run. They have 3 3's already, Shavies is showing us he can hit them no matter how closely guarded he is, draining one with Day draped all over him. We are dominant inside, McCants has 7, Black has 2, with Mayer scoring our other 4. Tech takes a timeout and our 3 scorers are all tired already from the pace, so I go ahead and bring the backups in.
1	10:45	13	21	Georgia Tech is scoring on our backups like they're not even on the court... we're burning the shot clock, mind you, and they've still got 8 in 3 minutes. Modica misses 2 fairly open 3's and we cannot get it going. I get a timeout, but the starters obviously aren't ready yet.
1	9:50	13	23	I use most of the shot clock, Dearman misses a jumper, and Millar goes over the back on a tip in. They score exactly 7 seconds after inbounding the ball. This is just absurd and I get another timeout, getting the starters back on the court. Something has to change.
1	9:10	13	27	Mayer is stripped, dunk Tech. McCants misses a hook inside, they push it, Shavies is fouled an hits 2 free throws. 14 straight for the yellow jackets.
1	8:50	15	27	Thank god. A quick post feed to McCants, he scores his 9th and ends that dreadful run.
1	8:05	15	29	Black commits 2 fouls in about 10 seconds and I bring in Millar.
1	6:00	19	33	Backups come back in, without going on a run and forcing Ga Tech to burn timeouts, they can't go 10 minutes straight here, I've got to rest them more.
1	4:10	20	35	Starters back in to finish the half.
1	3:10	20	40	Shavies has 12 now, 5 straight and we trail by 20. Mayer doesn't have it today. The SG on him is doing an increidble job and Mayer cannot score inside AT ALL, not because of the bigs back there, but because the guards on him are bugging the crap out of him.
	HALF	22	47	Well then. Tech shoots 65%. I always seem to have these types of games vs the Yellow Jackets. I can never seem to hold them under some insane 60% shooting performance. But today we're at 39%. It was tied at 13 6 minutes into the game. In the final 14 minutes Ga Tech outscored us 34-9. Shavies has 10, backup SF Pandov has 8, McLaren 8, Ravello 5, Dawson 5(and 7 assists). 19-29, 5-10 from 3. We're 9-23. Mayer is not getting to the line, he's like, halfway beating his man to attack the rim and then just getting totally shutdown. He's 3-8, 0-1 at the line for 6 points. McCants leads us with 11. Day and McClurkin are scoreless. We need a LOT of offense from somewhere, Mayer presumably, if we're going to have a shot. Of course, down 25 on the road, I can't imagine we possibly actually have a shot here. We need them to go ice cold and we need to go nuts in transition.
2	15:40	30	53	You know you're having a total shit day when you can't even cut down a 25 point lead against the freaking reserves. This is awful.
2	14:10	32	56	Backups are in.
2	8:10	41	73	Hahahaha. We had it down to 22, they've got 10 straight. They're not even substituting. I was honestly trying here, thinking if I could get it down to 15 or so who knows, maybe they go cold and we can be explosive. But no they have, with their reserves, EXTENDED the lead to 32. Starters are back in because fuck it, I'm playing it out now.

At the start of the second half, I assumed that Mayer and McCants could just totally go off on their backups and at least give me a chance. And Mayer did score 8 and get to 14 in that first stretch but we couldn't get the lead under 20. After that I just got annoyed that my starters couldn't outscore their reserves and was determined to prove that I could. That's pretty dumb, risks injury and all that, and there's no point in doing it. Mayer and McCants end up getting their numbers as a result, but we never do cut it below 20.

#11 Georgia Tech 86
#25 Florida State 64

Their backups play every minute of the 2^nd half so the numbers are pretty irrelevant.

McClurkin: 0 points
Day: 4 points
Mayer: 27 points
Black: 2 points
McCants: 21 points/7 boards

Just a terrible game, McCants and Mayer run their numbers up as I just try to get the lead below 20 and refuse to sim out the game, but that's completely hollow in the end. We only outscore their reserve squad by 3 in a game that was totally over long before halftime.

[Radii]

Maryland picks up a loss and only gets to the #1 spot for a week.

1. Oregon
2. Alabama
3. Maryland
4. Michigan State
5. Clemson
6. Virginia Tech
...
13. Georgia Tech
18. NC State
21. Florida State

we move up 4 spots going 1-1 against teams ranked higher than us.


We're not quite at the halfway point of the ACC season yet, but we haven't looked at the standings in awhile:

1. Clemson 7-0
2. Georgia Tech 7-1
3. Maryland 5-2
4. Virginia Tech 5-2
5. Miami 4-3
6. Wake Forest 4-3
7. Florida State 3-4
8. NC State 3-4
9. North Carolina 2-5
10. Boston College 2-6
11. Duke 1-6
12. Virginia 0-7


Only one of our next 5 games comes against a ranked opponent. That ranked opponent is Virginia Tech, a team that beat us by 9 on the road in January, I'm looking forward to the rematch at home. There is definitely a legit chance to win 4 or 5 of our next 5 games and get squarely back in the upper half of the league.

[Radii]

Millar is still slowed with his ankle injury. Black gets one more start.

February 7, 2024

Wake Forest (15-5, 4-3 ACC) at #21 Florida State (16-4, 3-4 ACC)

TEAM: FSU|WF
OVR: 92|88
OFF: 92|88
DEF: 91|88
SHT: 94|91
REB: 91|92
COA: 91|85

Wake has been one of the worst teams in the league for awhile, and they've built up a respectable team this year. We still expect to beat them, especially at home, but its not like previous years where we expect to kill them without trying.

Wake lost their first 3 league games, to Miami, Georgia Tech, and Virginia Tech. They've since beaten Boston College, Virginia, UNC and Duke. They return 4 of 5 starters from last season, but it looks like they've moved a SF to the 4 spot which might give us a nice edge.

Scouting

PG Preston Diakite – SR – 84 OVR – 96 speed/90 quickness. 91 defense/81 steals. 91 hands/76 passing(terrible passer). 90 close/75 med/87 3/91 off the dribble. Below average awareness, 71 off awareness/74 def awareness. 11.8 ppg/2.9 apg.

SG Tre Almanson – SO – 83 OVR – Solid looking as a soph, he's going to have a couple more very strong years. 89 speed/83 quickness. 88 defense/77 steals. 88 close/74 med/85 3/80 off the dribble/83 in traffic. 81 off awareness/77 def awareness. 10 points/game.

SF Robinson Holloway – SO – 77 OVR – 6'9” SF – heh this is the guy that should be playing PF, he can rebound a little at least. 86 speed/80 quickness. 75 defense. 79 close/77 med/74 3/82 in traffic. Just not that great. Just 3.5 ppg.

PF Boo Gregory – SO – 82 OVR – 6'7” SF – 77 orb/73 drb. 69 post off/69 post def. Wow, so bad. 82 close/81 med/84 3/84 in traffic. Just so far out of place as a PF. 7.4 ppg/2.8 rpg.

C Bracey Boddie – JR – 77 OVR – 7'0” C – 81 orb/79 drb. 81 post off/77 post def. Poor shot blocker. 84 close/88 in traffic. Great strength, 73 off awareness/76 def awareness.

SG Luol Crenshaw is rated 83 OVR and is their best reserve by far, he scores 12.7 ppg, more than most of their starters.

Poor in the post, poor rebounding, their guards play good defense but it seems like we look a lot better than they are.

Half	Time	FSU	WF	Notes
1	15:10	12	7	Wake starts out 5-0 before we get going, but things pick up quickly. Wake plays a 2-3 zone primarily and Day is 2-2 from 3. Day has 8, McCants/Black have 2 each. Timeout Wake.
1	14:20	14	8	McCants picks up 2 quick fouls, he'll stay in for now though.
1	12:10	16	14	Backups are in. Wake gets a couple shots to fall and we commit a turnover that lets them get it back down to 2.
1	5:50	24	25	After going up 18-16, Wake scores 9 in a row, a rough stretch for us. Modica bails us out with 2 straight 3's. Wake gets a timeout and the starters are back in.
1	3:37	32	30	We take the lead back after a turnover and a dunk by McClurkin. Wake takes a timeout.
1	2:30	34	30	McCants picks up his 3rd foul and sits. Black and Jolly are our bigs right now.
	HALF	36	35	Its a tight game at the half, just a 1 point lead for us and its been a bit back and forth. Wake shoots 51%, 14-27. They're very cold from 3 though, 3-13. Diakite has 10 to lead them, SF Holloway has 7, and no one else scores more than 4. We shoot a bit worse, 14-31, but we're 6-15 from 3. Wake has only committed one foul so we're just 2-2 at the line. Mayer leads us with 9, Day has 8. Modica 6 off the bench with those 2 big threes. McCants has 4 points/5 boards but has 3 fouls.
2	17:15	39	42	Rough start, a couple turnovers lead to layups and we're settling for, and missing 3's pretty much every time down.
2	15:15	41	50	Wake hits two more threes and we are just struggling to get anything going. I call a timeout as we've fallen down by 9.
2	12:55	42	54	Another timeout for us as we fall down even further, damn. Backups are in. Something's gotta give here.
2	10:15	46	58	Wake calls a timeout, but we're still down 12 here.
2	8:17	50	59	Back under 10, and the starters are back in. Black and Millar are our bigs. I forgot to put McCants back in with the starters, so he played with the backups... and picked up foul #4. Anyway, he'll rest another couple minutes and finish off the game, unless he fouls out.
2	6:50	56	66	Day and McClurkin hit threes, but Wake hits two threes right back and we're down 10, this is feeling pretty bad right about now, we seem to have ZERO offense other than 3 pointers.
2	6:10	60	66	Day is 5-9 from 3 now, and gets out on the break after a miss and draws a foul... and comes down hurt. Day has 20 and is our only productive player today. Porter is in for him. Porter makes 1 of 2, we get the offensive board after the second is missed though and we get the ball back.
2	6:00	60	66	We've still got the ball after a foul, I get a timeout and get McCants back in for the duration.
2	4:05	62	71	5 straight by Wake and we fall behind by 11. McCants with a dunk and its under 10 again, Wake with a timeout. We need stops, and we're not getting them at all.

Not even freaking close.


Wake Forest 82
#21 Florida State 67


Losing the only guy that was giving us any offensive production when we'd cut the lead to 6 with 6 minutes left was pretty damn annoying. We couldn't get anyone else to step up. A 2-3 zone is kryptonite to Mayer, he's 4-13 today for 9 points. McCants did ok but his foul trouble killed his effectiveness in the second half.

Diakite goes 5-8 from 3 and scores 22 for Wake. SF Holloway does a great job near the hoop, going 7-9 for 16 points.

McClurkin: 13 points/3 assists
Day: 20 points
Mayer: 9 points
Black: 2 points/5 boards
McCants: 8 points/12 boards

Modica: 6 points
Porter: 5 points (0-6 from 3)

Well, we are now 3-5 at the midpoint of the ACC season, a very disappointing home loss as we start the “easy stretch” of our season.

[Radii]

Day's injury was short term and we will be fully healthy for our next contest, at home vs Virginia Tech.

We're sitting in 9th place in the ACC after that loss and face a top 10 team next. We're better than this, but wow we need to start showing it on the court real damn fast! Since we went 13-0 in non-conference play, i'm assuming that 8-8 in the conference would be enough for an NCAA Bid. Even if we finished 7-9 we'd be 20-9 overall pending ACC Tournament play. But we've got to turn this around fast.

[Radii]

Back with our normal starting lineup for the first time in about a week.

February 11, 2024

#6 Virginia Tech (15-5, 5-3 ACC) at #21 Florida State (16-5, 3-5 ACC)

TEAM: FSU|VT
OVR: 92|94
OFF: 92|94
DEF: 91|91
SHT: 93|95
REB: 92|95
COA: 91|84

Re-reading the post on the first game against the hokies (a 72-63 loss at their place), I see McCants had a great game, Mayer and Day struggled to score when they attacked the rim, getting blocked/shut down instead of scoring or drawing fouls. We also missed 10 free throws which won't happen again. My confidence is suffering a bit after our last two poor showings but this is definitely a game we can pull off at home.

In the first meeting PG Richard was by far the biggest threat with 25 points and 9-12 shooting. SF Plummer scored a lot too but took a ton of shots. We'll see what we can do better today.

Scouting

PG Darren Richard – JR – 87 OVR – first year starter – 95 speed/92 quickness. 88 defense/79 steals. A great PG with 90 handling/93 passing. 82 close/82 med/86 3/89 off the dribble/83in traffic. Only an average athlete, but he can score from anywhere and can create his own shot. 7.5 ppg/4.0 apg.

SG Patrick Cuffee – FR – 82 OVR – 90 speed/87 quickness. 92 defense/76 steals. 84 close/84 med/69 3/84 off the dribble. An incredible defender, and a true freshman averaging almost 10 points/game (9.7). Cuffee was the #9 recruit last year and a very good talent. He lacks defensive awareness so we'll have to see hwo the poor awareness but great on ball defense jive.

SF Reece Plummer – JR – 85 OVR – 6'7” SF – 87 speed/83 quickness. 88 close/84 med/72 3/84 in traffic. A good defender, 82 defense/71 steals. He's a very good rebounder for a SF, not much in the post. Just 6.6 ppg.

PF Garry Sherman – JR – 84 OVR – first year starter, 6'8” PF – 90 orb/80 drb. 88 post off/75 post def. 81 blocks. 90 close/87 in traffic. A good leaper(78, great dunker too). Average strength. 86 off awareness/77 def awareness, not enough experience to be a coach on the floor yet, he will be next time we see them though. 10.1 ppg/3.7 rpg.

C Tommie Graves – SR- 88 OVR – 6'10” C – 92 orb/83 drb. 90 post off/92 post def. 76 blocks (B-), 74 steals(A- for a C). 93 close/88 in traffic. Great athleticism for a guy his size, 81str. Coach on the floor, 84 off awaeness/79 def awareness. He's scoring 13.9 ppg and pulling in 6.5 rebounds. Those post ratings and offensive are monstrous.

Backup PG Jesse Lavender is a brilliant 85 OVR as a freshman, scoring 6/game off the bench. Backup SF Cameron Aguko is rated 84 OVR and scores 14.5/game, leading the team.

Half	Time	FSU	VT	Notes
1	15:15	16	6	Well this is certainly a nice start. We actually start off 13-2 before they get a couple shots to fall in a row. McCants has 8 inside already, Mayer has 6, Millar 2. The disturbing trend of missing free throws vs Virginia Tech continues, as we've already missed 3, but on two of them got offensive boards and putbacks so its all ok so far. Timeout Va Tech. Fouls are a serious problem early for the Hokies. They committed 3 in the first minute and have 5 total now. PF Sherman and SF Plummer are both out for the half with 2 fouls.
1	12:15	23	12	In our first game against the Hokies, the score was 27-26 Va Tech at the half. Looks like we should surpass that before the 10 minute mark today. Another Hokie timeout, and the backups are in. THIS is the perfect mix of Mayer and McCants today, if I could get them going like this every game we sure wouldn't be 3-5 in the ACC. Mayer is 4-4, just 3-7 at the line, 11 points. McCants has 10 points/7 boards already! 4-6 shooting, 2-2 at the line. Backups are in, now to see if they can hold this lead.
1	7:15	35	24	It was as close as 25-19 as Virginia Tech started off strong against the backups, but Dearman runs off 5 straight(2 straight 3 point plays, missed one of the FT's) and Modica just hit a 3 to put us back up 11, Hokies take their 3rd timeout.
1	6:15	38	28	Porter hits a 3, they score twice in a row to cut it to 10, and I get my starters back in with my first timeout.
	HALF	54	41	The offense is firing on all cylinders today. Mayer hit a 3 apparently just after time expired or it could have been an even bigger lead. Fouls are the story of the game. Va Tech committed 13 in the first half, getting 2 fouls on 4 of their starters by the time it was all done. Richard and Graves played 14 and 16 minutes, the other starters all picked up fast fouls. Graves has 8, backup SG Bowen has 12 and has carried them with the starers in such foul trouble. We shoot 19-28, 3-5 from 3, 13-19 from the line. Mayer leads us with 16, he's 6-7 from the field but has missed 5 free throws(4-9). McCants has a double double, 14 points/10 boards. McClurkin, Porter, Dearman all have 5. We did this to Clemson for a half before an epic failure in the final few minutes of the game, so there's no goofing around or letting up here.
2	18:45	54	47	Timeout FSU as they open the half with two straight threes. Mayer just missed an almost totally open layup in transition. Don't give this lead up this easily guys!
2	16:00	58	56	McClurkin hits a 3, Mayer goes 1-2 at the line to get us to 58. Va Tech has yet to miss a shot this half, and they're on a 15-4 run and trail by only 2. I call another timeout.
2	15:20	63	56	Day hits a 3 out of the timeout, Mayer with a steal and outlet to McClurkin who is fouled and hits two free throws, back to 7 again.
2	12:05	70	63	I get a timeout, both teams seem to score at will now. Mayer and McCants need a break though, Day/McClurkin/Millar are fine for another minute or two I think. Mayer's got 21 points to lead us now, McCants 14, McClurkin 10. Day was scoreless at the half but has hit two big threes for us. Dearman/Black in, other subs still out.
2	10:00	77	67	We extend the lead up to 10 and are on pace for 100 points. The final score of the first meeting? 72-63 Va Tech. Such a contrast. Backups are all in now.
2	7:05	85	70	Porter hits two threes in a row, including a 3 in transition after a long rebound, and the backups give us a 15 point lead!! Timeout Va Tech.
2	6:50	85	74	They score quickly, we turn it over against their press and they score again. I get my starters back in.
2	5:15	85	79	Graves with a two inside, PF Sherman is fouled pump faking a 3 and hits 3 free throws... shades of Clemson as Va Tech is on a 9-0 run. I get a timeout.
2	4:15	85	81	Day misses an open 3, they get a layup. We go into McCants, he misses, gets his own board, misses the putback, and Millar commits an over the back violation going for the putback. That's his 5th, and he's gone. He's the only guy we had in foul trouble and I hadn't thought to mention him heh. Black is in the rest of the way.
2	3:45	88	81	We get a steal on the defensive end, and McClurkin goes off a screen and hits a big three, pushing our lead back to 7 and ending an 11-0 Va Tech run.
2	2:00	91	83	Graves scores for them, he's quietly had a very solid 16 point day inside. Mayer hits an open 3 for us to push the lead back up to 8. We get a couple stops and try to attack with Mayer but no luck. On the second trip though Mayer gets his own miss and we pull it out to burn the clock.
2	1:30	91	85	We get a poor shot and they go inside to Graves again. Our ball up 6.
2	0:28	91	87	I try to go into McCants but he gets doubled, Mayer ends up taking a bad 3 as the shot clock expires, no good. Va Tech hurries but misses 3 shots in a row, getting 3 offensive boards(UGH) before Graves scores his 20th. We are out of timeouts, inbounding and getting doubled immediately, its a held ball which goes to us.
2	0:24	93	87	They double McClurkin but this time he finds Mayer who is fouled. He comes through at the line this time, hitting both.

They miss the next trip down and that pretty much seals the win.

#21 Florida State 94
#6 Virginia Tech 87

Big, big win. After a tough, defensive game where we couldn't attack and couldn't draw fouls at their place, we basically foul out their entire team today, drawing 24 total fouls and taking 38 free throws. Of course, we miss 12, 26-38.

Graves is their rock today, 20 points/9 boards. Backup SG Bowen scores 17. PG Richard gets 27 minutes, only minorly limited by foul trouble, but only scores 6 points today. He burned us for 24 in the first meeting.

McClurkin: 13 points (3-4 from 3)
Day: 8 points
Mayer: 26 points/4 boards
Millar: 4 points/2 boards
McCants: 14 points/16 boards

Porter: 11 points (3-5 from 3)
Black: 5 points/8 boards

We shoot an outstanding 10-18 from 3 today. HUGE win, there is a big difference between 4-5 and 3-6 in league play.

[Radii]

The ACC is back on top of the Media Poll as Oregon loses. Alabama seems stuck in the #2 spot, with various teams leapfrogging them each week.

1. Maryland (19-2)
2. Alabama (18-2)
3. Oregon (21-3)
4. Michigan State (22-4)
5. Oklahoma State (17-4)
6. Clemson (20-3)
...
9. Georgia Tech (21-4)
12. Virginia Tech (15-6)
23. Florida State (17-5)

We fall a couple spots with the 1-1 week.


Updated ACC Standings:

1. Georgia Tech 8-1
2. Clemson 7-1
3. maryland 7-2
4. Wake Forest 6-3
5. Virginia Tech 5-4
6. Miami 5-4
7. Florida State 4-5
8. NC State 4-5
9. North Carolina 4-5
10. Duke 2-7
11. Boston College 2-8
12. Virginia 0-9


This next week we face a very poorly rated Miami team who is ahead of us in the standings, and a solidly rated Boston College team that is struggling to a 2-8 conference record. Both are games we ought to win and if we are not 6-5 in league play and back up there in contention for one of the top 4 spots in the ACC after this week I will be pretty disappointed.

[Radii]

February 13, 2024

#23 Florida State (17-5, 4-5 ACC) at Miami (18-8, 5-4 ACC)

TEAM: FSU|MIA
OVR: 93|84
OFF: 92|85
DEF: 92|82
SHT: 94|86
REB: 92|85
COA: 91|86

Our roster improves to a 93 OVR rated roster, with increases in defense and shooting. Miami returns 3 starters from last year's team but they are just inferior position by position to us and most other teams in the league. Miami does have one marquee win, they beat Virginia Tech by 11 last week. They have losses to NC State, Ga Tech, Clemson and Maryland. They lost 73-38 to Clemson, 103-79 to Ga Tech.

Scouting

PG Laurence McKinney – JR – 70 OVR – this is the best they have? 84 speed/87 quickness. 81 defense/69 steals. 83 hands/78 passing. 83 close/65 med/67 3. Just average or worse everywhere. Not a major conference talent. Would not have played on many of my Ohio teams. Would not have even started on all of my NC A&T teams.

SG Lukasz Danley – JR – 77 OVR – Technically an SF, and a big one, 6'7”. 82 speed/75 quickness. 84 defense/69 steals. 84 close/77 med/72 3/80 in traffic. Average awareness, and decent defensive ability but there's no way he can stick to Day..

SF Clint Blevins – JR – 78 OVR – Leads the team with 10.3 points/game. 6'5” SF, 84 speed/79 quickness. 81 defense/70 steals. 79 close/74 med/68 3/85 in traffic. How is he scoring 10/game again?

PF Pearce Rowland – SR – 86 OVR – 6'6” PF, very small guy. 86 orb/86 drb. 75 post off/75 post def. 93 close/87 in traffic. Good strength, good athlete, and good awareness(all numbers over 80, coach on the floor w/ 84 off awareness/80 def awareness). 9.7 ppg/6.5 rpg, good for second in scoring on this low scoring team.

C Diego Bermudez – JR – 75 OVR – 6'9” PF – 82 orb/72 drb. 71 post off/71 post def. 92 close/88 in traffic. Terrible strength, not a shot blocker. Great offensive awareness, average defensive awareness that maybe helps bump up the poor ratings? 4.8 ppg/2.9 rpg.

Its always impossible to tell how things will shake down on the court, but surely we blow them out right?

Half	Time	FSU	MIA	Notes
1	13:20	14	6	Timeout Miami, backups in. McCants is 4-4 for 8 points, Mayer is 3-6 for 6 points. That's all 14 for us. Millar has missed a look inside, Day/McClurkin haven't shot yet. Their center, Bermudez, has all 6.
1	9:50	16	11	Black finally scores for us and the backups get their first points in 3 ½ minutes. Miami takes another timeout.
1	7:30	19	15	Porter with a 3, but Miami has the lead down to 4 with a few more free throws. Starters are back in.
1	2:15	28	22	We're hanging on consistently to a 6 point lead but not doing a lot to run way ahead. Mayer is 1-4 at the line, if he was a better FT shooter he'd be over 20/game easily(17.6 right now)
	HALF	33	24	Day hits a 3 and Mayer gets a bucket and we take a 9 point lead into the locker room. Miami shoots 31% from the field, 1-11 from 3 and our ability to shut down their inferior players is the biggest reason we're winning here. McCants reliability inside a clear #2 behind the defense/bad offense for Miami. C Bermudez scores 6, SF Blevins 4, bacckup guard Schneider 4... lots of others have 2. We're 2-6 from 3, just 3-7 from the line, again thanks to Mayer, who is 1-5 at the line. McCants has 12 on 6-8 shooting. Mayer is 5-10 for 11 points.
2	15:40	44	32	The Mayer and McCants show continues into the second half. Mayer has 7, McCants 4 this half so far. Timeout Miami. We've allowed a couple wide open 3's.
2	13:40	52	34	There's a spurt to put us up 18. And its still all Mayer/McCants,with a miss by Day mixed in. Mayer has 24, McCants 18, and the backups are in.
2	8:45	59	43	Dearman has 5, Black has 2 as the backups keep the lead over 15. Timeout miami.
2	6:30	59	47	Lead down to 12, and I go ahead and get a timeout to get the starters back in, just to be safe.
2	1:50	70	49	Yeah, game over.

#23 Florida State 78
Miami 53

As Miami went insanly cold and started jacking up tons of 3s late, Mayer just ran and ran and ran, its pretty much unstoppable. Miami SF Blevins went 4-21, 2-11 from 3. SG Danley 4-16, 2-10 from 3.

McClurkin: 3 points
Day: 3 points
Mayer: 39 points/3 boards/3 assists
Millar: 2 points/5 boards
McCants: 22 points/10 boards

McCants with a brilliant performance as well, with those two accounting for 61 of our 78 points.

We're now 5-5 in ACC play, having clawed our way back up to .500 again. Time to get above it!

[Radii]

February 17, 2024

Boston College (15-9, 2-8 ACC) at #23 Florida State (18-5, 5-5 ACC)

TEAM: FSU|BC
OVR: 93|90
OFF: 92|90
DEF: 92|91
SHT: 94|93
REB: 92|986
COA: 91|93

BC is rated well but has been just awful in ACC play. They have a win over NC State but 2 losses to Miami and a loss to Duke, etc... so clearly something is going wrong or them on the floor.

Scouting

PG Duane Bowden – SR – 86 OVR – 95 speed/84 quickness. 88 defense/89 steals. 89 hands/85 passing. 85 close/80 med/87 3/81 off the dribble. A very solid player all the way around. Good awareness, 77 off/74 def, not great but solid. He leads the team with 17.6 points/game.

SG Zack Hoyer – JR – 83 OVR – 89 speed/85 quickness. 84 defense/79 steals. 90 close/73 med/82 3/87 off the dribble/84 in traffic. Slightly above average awareness, 75 off/76 def. Great at creating his own shot, and an outstanding ball handler. Only averaging 9.9 ppg which is a little surprising, this seems like a guy that can shoot the 3 and navigate really well inside.

SF Delbert Goss – SR – 81 OVR – 6'7” SF – 86 speed/79 quickness. 81 defense/71 steals. Great rebounder for a SF, 87 drb. 81 close/79 med/73 3/77 in traffic. 77 off awareness/77 def awareness, solid strength, solid leaper... 10 ppg/4.6 rpg.

PF Dotun Obrzut – SR- 80 OVR – 6'7” PF – 75 orb/86 drb. 77 post off/80 post def. 91 close/88 in traffic. 5.9 ppg/4.1 rpg.

C Egeman Wofford – FR – 81 OVR – 6'8” PF – 80 orb/90 drb. 85 post off/79 post def. 85 close/78 med/81 3/94 in traffic. Jesus. Awareness is bad, 76 off/65 def, but those rebound and post numbers are amazing for a freshman big, and he can go out and shot the 3 too. This guy is awesome. Just 6ppg/6.6 rpg, as his shooting tendencies develop he's going to be amazing I bet.

Backup PG Otis Bradford is their second best player, rated 84 OVR, and averaging 14 points/game. He's been hurt much of the year though, only playing in 15 games total.

The rest of their bench isn't that great, but I have to say I'm surprised to see this lineup out to a 2-8 record. I think we're better overall, and with Mayer and a huge size edge for McCants I hope we can do well here but I don't see an easy win. 78-55 team unity edge will help, and most teams in the ACC have coaches on the floor these days, so the 55 unity might be a big part of the problem.

Half	Time	FSU	BC	Notes
1	14:50	15	6	We start this game like we finished the last one, its the Mayer and McCants show. McCants has 6, Mayer 9. Goss has all 6 for Boston College. BC Timeout.
1	12:30	21	10	Mayer with our last 6 points, 4 in transition, two in the half court set as his man flies out of bounds leaping at a pump fake heh. Mayer and McCants tire faster with all the action though, Dearman/Black in with the other 3 starters.
1	9:40	23	16	All backups are in. Day picked up a layup but that was all we could get.
1	8:50	26	16	Modica hits a 3, BC timeout.
1	5:45	31	20	BC with another timeout and we get our starters back in, all of them, I'll probably burn a timeout to make sure everyone is fine the rest of the way.
2	4:00	33	24	Mayer with 17 now, and I get a timeout to rest my guys for the rest of the half.
	HALF	43	26	We end the half on a 10-2 run and lead by a very solid 17. Both teams are shooting over 50% but BC has 7 turnovers to our 2, they make a LOT of bad passes, poor passes to cutters going to the basket, poor post feeds that get tapped away by anyone. Hoyer and Goss both play well for them and have 8 each, C Wofford has 6, and backup guard Dux has 2, that's all of their scoring. We're similarly getting all our points from a small number of guys. Mayer benefits from most of those turnovers as he is dominant on the break. He's got 23 on 9-14 shooting, 1 three and 4-4 at the line. McCants is 5-5 and has 10 points. Dearman and Modica each hit a 3, Jolly and Day each one bucket inside. That's all our scoring. Day didn't get enough rest to end the half, Porter starts the 2nd half. Our other starters are all good.
2	15:45	51	33	Mayer is unstoppable. He has all 8 points this half and has 31. McCants has 2 misses, and also picked up his 3rd foul recently. He stays in for now anyway. Timeout BC. Day is in.
2	13:05	55	39	Heh, Mayer has 35. Day misses a 3, Millar misses a look, Mayer remains unstoppable. Except for the part where he gets tired. Backups are in, except Day at SG.
2	8:30	64	48	Porter back in for Day.
2	7:50	67	49	BC Timeout. Starters may be done for the day here.
2	5:30	69	51	FSU timeout, trying to get the backups enough rest to go the rest of the way. Should not be a problem with 4 more timeouts left.

We just shut this one down, Porter hits a couple 3's the rest of the way, and I resist the temptation to force Mayer to 40 points, seems every time he has one of these awesome games its a blowout and it would seem a bit hokey to bring him back in just for numbers.

#23 Florida State 75
Boston College 56

Goss ends up with 18 for BC, hoyer with 12.

McClurkin: 0 points (0-3)
Day: 7 points/3 assists
Mayer: 35 points/1 board (14-21)
Millar: 0 points/7 boards
McCants: 10 points/4 boards

Black: 6 points/7 boards
Porter: 6 points
Modica: 6 points

For the first time this year we are above .500 in conference play!

[hoopsguy]

Radii, I do not think I would count on Mayer coming back next season with the numbers he is putting up.

[Radii]

I get a chance to earn another coaching point this upcoming week, as we host the Terps on Sunday, and we have never beaten the #1 team in the nation:

1. Maryland
2. Alabama
3. Oregon
4. Michigan State
5. Oklahoma State
...
8. Clemson
9. Georgia Tech
12. Virginia Tech
19. Florida State
22. North Carolina

North Carolina is back in the top 25 after being out for a few weeks as well.


This is the first week for Bracketology. Miami sits on the bubble, the only ACC team there. As for the initial projections:

1 seed: Maryland
2. Georgia Tech
3. Virginia Tech
3. Clemson
5. Florida State
6. Wake Forest
6. North Carolina
9. NC State
11. Miami


We're graded out as a 5 seed right now, and 9 ACC teams are projected to make it. I'm sure that will change heh.


While we're here, its looking like another rough year for our friends in the Big 10. Michigan State is the big exception as they are 23-4 and looking for a 1 seed. Indiana is 18-7, clearly the #2 team in the league and will likely get in. Wisconsin is 16-8, RPI of 49, and they're on the bubble.

That's probably it. Purdue is 14-9 with an RPI of 64, so they could play their way in. Iowa is 16-9 but RPI in the 90s.

For the teams I know we have readers interested in:

Penn State is next to last in the Big 10, 13-10 overall, but just 4-8 in the league.

Michigan is 1/2 game better, 5-8, 14-10 overall. Actually their RPI is 60th so a late run isn't impossible.

Illinois is in the middle of the league at 6-6, and is 13-10 overall, with an RPI of 58. So if they could step up they could make it too.


Conference Rankings:

1. ACC
2. Big 12
3. SEC
4. Pac 10
5. Big 10
6. A-10
7. Big East
8. West Coast
9. C-USA
10. Mountain West

So the A-10 is up again, and is ranked higher than the Big East. The West Coast Conference is a mid-major, so for them to be above CUSA and the MWC is very strong. They have two teams in consideration for tourney bids, Loyola Marymount and San Diego.



Back to Florida State. We just got above .500 in league play but have two big challenges this week. First, a North Carolina team that beat us at our place in overtime. We took WAY too many 3's in that game and let the 3-2 zone really get us out of sorts. We travel to Chapel Hill next.

After that, as mentioned above, we get our shot at the #1 team in the nation, 21-2 Maryland.

Our "easy" stretch is over. Final 5 games:

at #23 UNC (beat us already)
vs #1 Maryland
at NC State (gave us a very tough game at our place)
vs #9 Georgia Tech (beat us already)
at Wake Forest (beat us already)

[Radii]

Originally Posted by hoopsguy

Radii, I do not think I would count on Mayer coming back next season with the numbers he is putting up.

Hah, agreed. He is still listed as a lottery pick. He is now the 4th leading scorer in the ACC at 19.2 points/game. I don't expect him to even be the first team SF though in the league. Duke's Garrison Bragg is putting up 18.1 points/6.1 rebounds/game, and the game seems to *love* rebounders at all positions. Mayer only averages 2.6 rebounds/game. His point production could have been a ton higher if I'd played out my games, he obviously wasn't the focus in simmed games the way he is in the games I play out.


I rarely talk about recruiting in season, but I still have 3 seniors that I have been putting my time into. The guy I like the most is actually a big, PF Dru Zoric, Mr Basketball in Arkansas, #70 OVR/#7 PF. If I lose Mayer I'm really hoping to land this guy, he looks like he can rebound on both ends, play very well in the post, and score inside right away. This might leave me with only Dearman at SF for a little while, who looks like he has a legit shot to turn into an explosive athlete as well btw, not like I'm seeing from Mayer this year mind you, but getting 3 years out of Dearman as a starter is at least some consolation to the idea that I'm going to lose my superstar here.

This is all way up in the air still since I can't offer the scholarship until Mayer is officially gone at the end of the year. I have an SF on my list as well that I like, but we're at the mercy of other teams who might offer before I get a chance to, we'll see how it goes.

[Radii]

February 21, 2024

#19 Florida State (19-5, 6-5 ACC) at #22 North Carolina (15-7, 6-5 ACC)

TEAM: FSU|UNC
OVR: 93|94
OFF: 92|94
DEF: 92|95
SHT: 94|95
REB: 92|91
COA: 91|91

This is a huge game. Every game is huge for us given the level of competition we have left on the schedule, but we're in a 3 way tie for 5^th in the ACC right now. Play well and a top 4 finish and a bye could still be in our future. Play poorly and we could still finish 8^th or 9^th easily.

Our first contest was pretty heartbreaking, but in the opposite way that our horrible loss to Clemson was heartbreaking. Here we came back from 13 down in the final 3 minutes, only to lose in OT. PG Troester scored 28 for them, and PF Andres put up 20 in the first meeting. On our end, Mayer gave us 18 but struggled with his consistency, coming up empty quite a lot, having just one good stretch in the game. McCants gave us 18 as well but fouled out in OT. Their 3-2 zone lulled me into taking tons of 3's, and not getting McCants(who shot 9-12) nearly enough touches. Also we need to try repeatedly to drive and try to draw fouls. The lanes are big against the 3-2, I can't give up if Mayer gets stuffed a couple times.

Their SF Coombs has a dislocated finger coming into the game. Hopefully that slows him a bit.

Scouting

PG Daryl Troester – SR – 89 OVR – 95 speed/88 quickness – 88 defense/87 steals. 88 hands/90 passing. 89 close/78 med/90 3/88 off the dribble/87 in traffic. Incredible leaper and hustle (93/93, both A's). Ok, but not special awareness, low 70s on offense and defense. 12.1 ppg/2.9 apg. A great shooter who can score from all over.

SG TR Stockman – SO – 85 OVR – 92 speed/93 quickness – 90 defense/79 steals. 94 close/75 med/75 3/85 in traffic. More of a penetrator than a shooter, but he can still hit the 3 if we leave him open. Poor athleticism and just average awareness. 8.3 ppg, the lowest of any starter

SF Nigel Coombs – SR – 88 OVR – 91 speed/81 quickness. 85 defense/74 steals. 84 close/79 med/87 3/82 off the dribble/89 in traffic. Good athleticism and good awareness on both ends. Only 11.6 ppg in their balanced attack, but this is a guy who's going in the Lottery who can go off for a lot of points at any time.

JR Shagari Andres – JR – 86 OVR – 6'9” PF – 85 orb/89 drb. 81 post off/80 post def. 84 blocks, very good there. 90 close/86 in traffic. 80 str, solid there. Good awareness, 76 off/77 def. A complete player on both ends, leading the team in points and rebounds, 13.5 ppg/6.7 rpg.

C Spanky Powers – JR – 84 OVR – 6'8” PF – 87 orb/83 drb. 91 post off/81 post def. 87 close/83 in traffic, good athlete, good awareness. He's not the first option but he is capable of putting up good numbers inside too. Hopefully our size advantage counts for something here with McCants going up against him. 8.9 ppg/3.9 rpg.

Half	Time	FSU	UNC	Notes
1	15:00	7	9	Day has a 3, McCants 4 inside. SG Stockman has 2 quick fouls for UNC and sits, that is their only two fouls. Millar and McCants both pick up quick fouls for us.
1	11:50	10	13	We go up 10-9 but UNC scores 4 straight, I have to get a timeout, Day and McCants are exhausted. Mayer has just 1 point, unable to drive to the hoop on his two fast break attempts, 1-2 at the line and 0-1 from 3. Backups are in.
1	6:05	15	23	We had it at 3 just about 30 seconds ago, but 5 quick points for UNC has us down 8. I call a timeout to get our starters back in. SF Coombs and his dislocated finger are burning us for 7 points
1	3:50	18	31	Man fuck UNC. I remember why I took half my shots from 3 last game... you pass the ball into the post and 4 people converge on you so you shoot right away or you kick out for 3's. And when you don't hit those 3's you lose, end of story. A backcourt turnover has UNC getting a 6th man boost, I call a timeout to kill it. But we're down 13 and playing awful.
	HALF	25	38	Horseshit. GAH. We score 5 straight to make it 35-25, Mayer draws a foul on Coombs and is on the line with 2.5 seconds left. He misses both free throws, they rebound, outlet to midcourt and a shot from halfcourt is good as time runs out. UGHHHHHhh. UNC shoots 14-21, 8-8 from the line. They're only 2-6 from 3, which means 12-15 from inside the 3 point line. Coombs has 9, two backups have 6, Andres 5. We are shooting 9-21, and we only have 5 rebounds all half. They have 16... We cannot get away from the 3's. We're 4-12 from 3, not a terrible % but if we're going to take that many we need to make a couple more. And I don't see how to avoid taking that many. McCants is 5-7 but I am working my ass off to get him those 7 shots. So often they converge, they have 5 steals, all of them are in the paint while I try to figure out what to do in the post. McCants has 10, Day 6, Mayer 4. Mayer is 1-3, also 1-4 at the line. Only one shot inside the 3 point line and it was no good. In transition he absolutely cannot drive by their guards that get back, it is not happening at all. He can get by Coombs when he's lined up against him, but not every time and in the course of a play tht doesn't help a lot b/c I usually have guys cutting, etc. So its not always best to try that. I need them to miss a lot more, and I need something to change, but I can't even identify what other than shoot better.
2	17:30	29	46	They get a 3 point play on the first play of the 2nd half, and it looks like its just going to get worse from there. Coombs hits a 3 and I call a timeout.
2	13:50	34	54	The lead is 20 now. McCants has missed his last 4 shots. Day hit a 3, I have no idea where we got our other points, probably UNC scored them out of pity. UNC is 7-11 so far this half. We are 3-9. Our other solid option for offense is to his a cutter around the free throw line and to attack. But we're just getting blocked when we do that, McCants is 1-4 trying that so far, Millar 0-1.
2	13:15	36	56	McCants picks up his 3rd foul. I call a timeout after they score to get my backups in.
2	10:10	47	62	Modica hits 2 straight threes, Porter hits one, and we're not stopping UNC, but we're trading 3 for 2, and have the lead down to 15.
2	8:45	52	62	Two stops in a row! Dearman hits a 3 and we've made 4 straight 3's, then Jolly on the secondary break hits a layin and the lead is down to 10, go go backups.
2	6:00	59	69	We briefly had the lead down to 8, but they get it to 10. I have to get my starters back out, the backups are gassed. But they did a great job cutting a 20 point lead in half, almost entirely by getting hot from 3. If McClurkin and Day stay cold I won't hesitate to bring Modica and Porter in in a couple minutes.
2	3:40	63	69	All of a sudden its all defense. We get 4 straight stops/turnovers, but are having to fight like hell for anything... Day misses a 3, Mayer is stuffed inside, finally Mayer does get a layup in transition, and then McClurkin draws a foul and hits 2 at the line. We trail by only 6 now. UNC takes a timeout.
2	2:42	65	71	We cut it to 4 after a steal and layup by McClurkin. We get a stop and have a GREAT chance to cut it to 2 and McCants dinks a 5 footer off the rim. They get on the run and draw a foul, hitting two free throws, ending our 6-0 run and going back up by 6.
2	1:35	65	71	Mayer gets two good looks in the post but misses both, UNC ball with 1:30 left.
2	1:10	65	73	Heh. They score on their end, and foul Mayer at the top of the key, just a reach in as I'm going through a play. Its their 7th foul, and yeah, remmebe,r Mayer is wildly inconsistent at the line. Miss.
2	0:50	67	73	We get a stop and attack, Mayer draws a foul and this time makes both free throws, we trail by 6.
2	0:47	67	75	They can run the game down to 17 seconds, which we don't want down 6... we start fouling now.Troester makes 2.
2	0:37	70	75	Day hits a big 3.
2	0:35	70	77	Troester hits 1, and 2.
2	0:21	72	78	McClurkin misses a 3, we foul right away, Andres hits just one of two. I rather blindly outlet to Day who catches the ball going to the rim, so I follow through with the layup instead of trying to pull it back out.
2	0:20	72	80	Troester is a great FT shooter. 2 more.

Day misses a 3 and its over.

#23 North Carolina 82
#19 Florida State 72

The backup squad did a great job trying to get us back in the game but we just dug ourselves too big a hole. Very frustrating to play against. I hate feeling like I'm completely reliant on hitting 3 pointers, but the other things that work against the 3-2 zone were simply not working at all. When a team has good post defenders, the bigs in the 3-2 zone can be extremely imposing and prevent one from driving in on them reliably. And that limits things to 3's and post passes, but they converge in the post so fast it is hard to get good post looks.

Solid, balanced play from UNC. Coombs with 17, Stockman 12, Troester 12, though 8 of those were sealing the win. Powers 11, Andres 8. They shoot nearly 60%, 29-51. We're 24-54, though we end up a pretty solid 11-29 from 3.

McClurkin: 4 points (0-5 from 3)
Day: 14 points (4-7 from 3)
Mayer: 10 points (3-10)
Millar: 2 points/4 boards
McCants: 14 points/7 boards (6-14)

Porter: 9 points
Modica: 6 points
Dearman: 5 points

freaking UNC.

[Radii]

Updated ACC Standings:

1. Georgia Tech 11-2
2. Maryland 9-2
3. Clemson 8-4
4. Wake Forest 8-4
5. UNC 7-5
6. Florida State 6-6
7. Virginia Tech 6-6
8. NC State 5-7
9. Miami 5-7
10. Duke 4-8
11. Boston College 4-9
12. Virginia 0-13


Next we get our first look at the #1 team in the nation, Maryland.

[Radii]

February 27, 2024

#1 Maryland (21-2, 9-2 ACC) at #19 Florida State (19-6, 6-6 ACC)

TEAM: FSU|UMD
OVR: 93|93
OFF: 92|93
DEF: 92|95
SHT: 94|97
REB: 92|97
COA: 91|93

Maryland has 4 starters rated 86+, all of them seniors. This definitely looks like their year. They lost by 1 to Georgia Tech earlier in the year, and by 13 in Chapel Hill at UNC. They beat Virginia Tech by 30, Georgia Tech by 7 in a return trip, Clemson by 8, they also beat #4 Michigan State earlier this year, in Lansing.

Scouting

PG Micah Williams – SR – 86 OVR – 95 speed/86 quickness. 89 defense/82 steals. 87 hands/80 passing. 83 close/84 med/92 3/80 off the dribble. 81 off awareness/78 def awarenes. Average athlete overall, but he is a deadly shooter. 10.1 ppg, he's a 43% 3 point shooter on the season.

SG Marko Hancock – SR – 88 OVR – 6'5 SG – 90 speed/88 quickness. 83 defense/77 steals. 84Close/82 med/85 3/85 off the dribble/83 in traffic. 77 off awareness/84 def awareness. He's one of the top 2 or 3 scorers in the league this year, with Shavies at Ga Tech and NC State's great 2 guard Walls. 23 points/game, 5.1 rpg/2.3 apg. Those are national player of the year type numbers possibly, with that much rebounding from a guard.

SF Jeffrey Jackette – SR – 86 OVR – 6'2” SG – 90 speed/88 quickness. 85 defense/91 steals. 95 close/87 med/76 3/88 off the dribble. This worries me quite a bit. Mayer might have a real hard time with Jackette on him. Just 6.6 points/game though, I fear he could burn Mayer as well.

PF Adama Sogdazi – SR – 88 OVR – 6'9” PF – 84 orb/88 drb. 77 postoff/80 post def. Poor shot blocking, but good hands/steals inside. 92 close/83 med/79 3/91 in traffic. Good strength(79/B+), great leaping and hustle. 79 off awareness/90 defawarenses. Hate that 90 defensive awareness, really. 10.6 ppg/6.6 rpg.

C Jordan Bing – JR – 82 OVR – 6'8” SF – A bit of a WTF here. SF at the 5 spot? 84 orb/80 drb. 76 post off/73 post def. Great on ball defender, very good SF. But this is weird. 86 close/90 in traffic. 5.3 ppg/2.9 rpg.

Backup PG Austen Lenzly is rated 85 OVR and is a lockdown defender and good scorer.

I worry a lot about Jackette on Mayer on both ends, and I hope McCants can own Bing inside as much as I'm imagining here. There is no other interior depth.

Half	Time	FSU	UMD	Notes
1	19:23	0	0	McCants goes up for a shot, misses, comes down hurt. Great, great start.
1	15:00	3	4	Well, we're not slowing the game down, neither is Maryland, but there's not a lot of offense so far. McCants has a sprained ankle. Buh. He can come back in.
1	13:22	5	6	Backups are in, McCants at center. Mayer 3, Millar 2.
1	11:05	9	10	Maryland takes a timeout. McCants gets a bucket, Jolly gets a putback.
1	8:45	9	17	Well, Maryland is no longer cold as ice, and the problem is that we still are. I call a timeout and get my starters back in, Black instead of McCants.
1	7:20	15	21	Some good news here as Mayer drives and draws a foul on Sogdazi. That's his second and he sits. He has 8 points and has been hurting us quite a bit.
1	5:00	21	25	Day heats up for us and has 10 now. But, the starters really can't finish the half out. I get the backups in for another minute or two.
1	2:50	23	27	I get the couple minutes I need and call a timeout, starters back in.
	HALF	24	35	Maryland shoots 56%. Florida State 33%. We struggle throughout, McClurkin missing open 3's, Mayer unable to drive, McCants slowed and missing shots, Day hitting some but not enough. Backup guard Hornsby has 10, 5-6 shooting. Sogdazi 8 points, Bing 6, Williams 5... They are 2-9 from 3. Day leads us with 10, 2-5 from 3. McClurkin 0-3 from 3, bleh. Mayer 6 points. Millar 2, McCants 2. McCants 0 rebounds in 8 minutes. Ouch.We are also 2-9 from 3.
2	17:40	31	40	We get it under 10. Day is fouled shooting a 3 and hits all 3 free throws. He's fouled by Sogdazi who sits. Also, McCants misses a very easy layup and still has no boards. He isn't fit to go right now. Black comes in for him.
2	16:00	39	41	Mayer hits a 3, we get a steal and Millar gets a layin. After a foul and 1 FT from Maryland, Mayer attacks, draws a foul and gets a great shot to go in, 3 point play, we're all of a sudden only down 2, and Mayer is up to 13 points.
2	14:30	42	44	Each of us hit a 3, Maryland calls a timeout, still a 2 point game.
2	13:25	47	46	Mayer with a dunk in transition, Day with a 3 and we take a 1 point lead!! 6th man boost, actually our second one.
2	9:35	49	55	Oh man, Mayer attacks the rim and hits a layup, there's a whistle and I actually did a fist pump as it would have put me up 4... CHARGE on Mayer. That totally changes the momentum and we fall behind by 6. I get the backups in with a timeout. Mayer has 18, Day 16, no one else is really effective at all.
2	7:15	57	57	McCants gets 1 at the line, Porter with a great drive, Modica a 3 that ties the game back up! 6th man boost too. Timeout Maryland.
2	5:35	57	60	Maryland hits a 3 and I get a timeout to get the starters back in. I have 2 timeouts left.
2	5:08	60	60	McClurkin goes off a screen and ties it up with a 3. Timeout Maryland.
2	4:10	60	65	They score inside, Black misses a look inside, Mayer fouls and allows a 3 point play on the other end. We trail by 5.
2	4:00	60	65	Mayer easily burns his man as soon as we set up on offense, draws a foul, MISSES BOTH FREE THROWS. Is this what its like being a Memphis fan? We're challenging the number one team in the nation and coming up empty at the line!!!
2	3:25	61	67	Sogdazi scores easily inside... Mayer draws another foul inside, and we're thrilled that he gets 1of 2 this time.
2	3:00	61	70	PG Williams hits a 3 and we are totally demoralized. I get a timeout.
2	2:00	64	70	We come up empty but force a stop. McClurkin hits a 3 on our end.
2	1:45	66	70	A poor pass into the paint is tipped and Black picks the ball up, outlets to Mayer who throws down a windmill dunk! No free throws this time, buddy. Maryland timeout.
2	1:00	66	70	NOOoooooooooo. We get a stop and try to run, Mayer misses a tough up and under acrobatic shot, picks up the rebound, goes back up and gets blocked. ARGH!
2	0:20	68	70	We get a stop, total luck, they miss a wide open 3, and we try to run, McClurkin sets up the offense, drives by his man and hits a layup.
2	0:14	68	73	Alf;aioesfae;sflNOARGHGAGH So yeah, we foul their PG, he misses the front end of a one and one, and they get the board over Black We foul again. This time, firstgood... second NO GOOD. Rebound Bing, their center. Seriously. Oh my god. He hits both. Unbelievable.

Day misses a 3 and its over. Wow. Basic fundamentals. That was shockingly bad. Mayer misses 3 free throws in the final few minutes, and we get them to miss two free throws but cannot box out and allow them to get TWO offensive boards and ice the game. We just GAVE a victory away.

#1 Maryland 75
#19 Florida State 68

This loss hurts,bad. We lose our 7 foot center in the first 45 seconds and he becomes completely ineffective, unable to make layups, or jump to get rebounds. We miss 6 free throws, and allow them to get offensive boards when they miss.

We do a decent job on their top scorer, holding Hancock to 6-14 from the field for 16 points. PG Williams also scores 16, Bing scores 14.

McClurkin: 11 points
Day: 16 points
Mayer: 21 points (6-11 from the line)
Millar: 4 points/11 boards
McCants: 5 points/0 boards

Jolly: 6 points
Black: 0 points/7 boards/4 assists (0-4 shooting)

[Radii]

New Poll:

1. Maryland
2. Oregon
3. Alabama
4. Michigan State
5. Texas Tech
...
8. Georgia Tech
11. Clemson
17. Virginia Tech
18. North Carolina
23. Florida State


ACC Standings:

1. Maryland 11-2
2. Georgia Tech 11-3
3. Wake Forest 9-4
4. North Carolina 9-5
5. Clemson 8-5
6. Virginia Tech 7-6
7. Florida State 6-7
8. NC State 6-7
9. Miami 5-8
10. Duke 4-9
11. Boston College 4-10
12. Virginia 0-14

We have one game this week, in Raleigh, against an NC State team that we're now tied with in the standings for 7th place. Its pretty much a must win if we want to go .500 in league play, because we play Georgia Tech next and I will be shocked if we beat them.


Miami remains on the bubble.


Bracketology:

1 seed: Maryland
2. Georgia Tech
4. North Carolina
4. Virginia Tech
5. Clemson
6. Wake Forest
7. Florida State
9. NC State
13. Miami

We need to finish stronger than this, this isn't a final four team or anything but man we have played some very good teams very closely. If we could avoid a 1 or 2 seed as long as possible, anything could really happen, from a first round loss to a deep run if we get a good matchup. But damn I don't want to see a 7 seed.

[Radii]

March 2, 2024

#23 Florida State (19-7, 6-7 ACC) at NC State (20-9, 6-7 ACC)

TEAM: FSU|NCSU
OVR: 93|92
OFF: 92|91
DEF: 92|91
SHT: 94|94
REB: 92|92
COA: 91|94

We've played a lot of crazy games this year, but our game vs NC State in early February may be at the top of the list. We trailed by 12 minutes in, came storming back and led by 7 with 4 minutes left, watched NC State go on a 12-0 run to lead by 5, and hit a few 3's in the final minute to send the game to OT, where we finally won fairly easily.

NC State SG Walls is one of the best players in the league and led them with 19, though they got fairly consistent scoring from all over. They're a very, very good 3 point shooting team. We took, and made a huge number of 3's as part of our comeback, something that I hope we don't have to do today. NC State does play a lot of 2-3 zone and we'll be actively fighting the urge to launch 3's over it all day long, at least without an inside out first.

Scouting

PG Joey Couisnard – JR – 85 OVR – 95 speed/89 quickness. 88 defense/80 steals. 85 hands/85 passing. All very good numbers, exceptional speed really. 84 close/74 med/82 3/89 off the dribble. A solid shooter who does an incredible job at creating his own shot. He has one of the highest defensive awareness ratings I've ever seen, at 90. Just 74 on offense, but WOW 90 on defense along w/ good defense ratings. That worries me a good deal. 8.5 ppg.

SG Danko Walls – JR – 87 OVR – Walls has been a star in the league, national freshman of the year two years ago, and a 2^nd team all ACC performer last year, fairly unusual for an underclassman especially in the backcourt. 89 speed/85 quickness. 87 defense but only 72 steals. 89 close/87 med/85 3/85 off the dribble. He can score from everywhere and does with great frequency. 20.1 ppg this year. He's a coach on the floor as well.

SF Gilson Onyekwe – SR – 80 OVR – 6'8” SF – 88 speed/79 quickness, very very good. 81 defense/67 steals. 86 close/76 med/69 3/80 in traffic. Average awareness, 78 off/72 def. Just 4 points/game. I expect Mayer can handle him easily, but my concern as mentioned below is the big men inside on defense.

PF Caron Buboltz – JR – 80 OVR – 80 orb/76 db. 81 post off/86 post def. 91 close/82 in traffic. Solid awareness (80 off/74 def) though not great on defense or anything.. 3.7 ppg/4 rpg.

C Cassiano Hunter – SR – 85 OVR – 6'10” PF – 91 orb/80 drb. 91 post off/77 post def. 87 blocks, a great shot blocker. 91 close/88 in traffic. Great athlete, good speed for a big man, good leaper, strong and a great hustler. Just average awareness. He is a key player this year, averaging 13.6 ppg/6.1 rpg for the Pack. His defense and strength might be good enough to slow down Mayer inside, something that could be a key to the game.

Backup PG Munns is their second leading scorer and has an amazingly quick trigger finger with the 3 point shot. We'll keep an eye out for him as much as the starters.

Half	Time	FSU	NCSU	Notes
1	17:50	4	5	Not a problem we've had often here. Mayer commits two quick fouls and I have to decide whether to sit him or not. I leave him in for now.
1	14:00	17	14	The offenses are on fire heh. Backups are in for us. Mayer with 11, 4 in the post, 4 in transition, looking great. McCants with 4 inside as well.
1	9:25	28	22	Porter hits two threes, Modica one and the backups keep the offense going. Timeout NC State at this point.
1	6:50	32	26	Starters are back in.
1	5:00	36	26	We take a 10 point lead as our defense is stellar and Mayer gets 2 straight dunks in transition. Timeout NCSU.
1	3:10	38	28	Mayer attacks the rim and draws a foul, and comes down injured. Dearman is in. We'll find out Mayer's status at the half.
	HALF	40	32	We take a solid 8 point lead into the locker room. We shoot 53%, NC State shoots 50%. McCants picks up a charge with 40 seconds left in the half and has two fouls now. NC State is dominating inside. C Hunter has 10, PF Buboltz has 10. Walls only has 2 in 13 minutes, Couisnard has 4. They're going inside with tons of success. Day and Millar are the only Seminoles with no points. Mayer leads us with 15, 6-7 from the floor/3-3 at the line. McCants has 8 on 4-8 shooting. Porter has 2 threes and has 6, everyone else has 2 or 3. Mayer has a sore knee. I'll bring him back in with the starters at the first break and see how he's running.
2	18:50	40	34	I get a timeout to get Mayer in. Also to rest up McCants, he is more tired than eveyone else on the floor, I've got timeouts saved up so using one for those two guys seems a good idea.
2	14:45	49	41	NC State cut it as close as 3 but Mayer seems fine, he's up to 22 points and has pushed us back ahead. McCants is 5-10 now, he's doing fairly well inside. He's getting tired too thoguh.
2	14:15	51	41	Mayer can't beat his man in transition but finds McCants coming down behind him, McCants scores, NC State timeout.
2	12:35	53	43	Backups are in, and we've still got a 10 point lead.
2	11:50	55	43	Timeout NC State after Jolly hits two free throws.
2	8:20	62	51	Another timeout NC State. Walls is up to 11(7 this half) and they are heating up from 3, we had it up to 14, they cut it back down to 9 before Black got an offensive board and putback.
2	7:30	64	54	We get another bucket from Black(he has 6 now), they get another 3, and I take a timeout, starters are back in still with a 10 point lead.
2	5:50	64	58	We miss a 3 and McCants misses inside, two good looks for the Wolfpack and its a 6 point game. I'm slowing down when they play a 2-3 zone, running my offense like normal when they play man, they're pretty well stuck in the 2-3 now though.
2	4:00	69	58	There we go! McCants a 3 point play in transition, a bad pass by them(trying to pass crosscourt across the baseline and hitting the backboard instead) leads to a Mcclurkin layup. We're up 11!
2	1:45	69	60	They get one bucket but we snag a couple offensive boards and really work the clock.
2	1:05	69	62	McCants misses inside, they push the ball and Walls hits a jumper.

We cant' score on our next trip but we burn 30 seconds off the clock. They miss and have to foul and its all over.

#23 Florida State 71
NC State 62

NC State gets solid scoring all over, with the exception of their PG Couisnard who goes 3-11, 1-5 from 3. Walls leads them with 13, their two bigs both score 12(which is great, both had 10 at the half). We end up holding them to under 50% shooting, 27-61 from the floor, and 5-19 from 3.

McClurkin: 4 poitns
Day: 0 points
Mayer: 22 points/4 boards (7-11 FG, 8-11 FT)
Millar: 0 points/8 boards
McCants: 19 points/9 boards (8-18 FG)

Porter: 11 points(3-7 from 3)
Black: 6 points/5 boards

McCants rarely shoots more often than Mayer... he did today by a good bit but ran at a bit under 50%. Still a solid day from both in a big win, we're back to .500 in conference play.

[Radii]

With just one week left in the regular season, we get our 20th win, and move back up to #21 in the polls:

1. Maryland
2. Alabama
3. Texas Tech
4. Oregon
5. Oklahoma State
...
8. Georgia Tech
11. North Carolina
18. Clemson
19. Virginia Tech
21. Florida State

UNC beat Georgia Tech last week to shoot up from 18th to 11th in the polls.


Miami remains the only ACC team on the bubble, they're 19-12 currently. Illinois out of the Big 10 seems to have run off a few wins in a row, they're now 17-10 and on the bubble with the #31 RPI in the land.


Bracketology:

1 seed: Maryland
2. Georgia Tech
3. North Carolina
5. Virginia Tech
6. Florida State
6. Clemson
7. Wake Forest
9. NC State
12. Miami

Our win last week bumps us back to a 6 seed, which would be perfectly fine, but we still have at least 3 critical games left.


ACC Standings:

1. Maryland 12-2
2. Georgia Tech 11-3
3. North Carolina 10-5
4. Wake Forest 9-5
5. Clemson 8-6
6. Florida State 7-7
7. Virginia Tech 7-7
8. NC State 6-8
9. Miami 6-8
10. Boston College 4-8
11. Duke 4-8
12. Virginia 1-14


North Carolina has had an amazing turnaround. They opened ACC play with a win over us, but then lost 5 straight, Va Tech, Duke, Clemson, Ga Tech, Wake Forest. They stopped the bleeding by beating #1 Maryland and have run off 9 straight conference wins to get up to 10-5 in league play. They finish on the road at #1 Maryland this week.


We finish with a home game against Georgia Tech, a team who has really owned us in the last couple years, it'd be nice to turn that around on our home floor, and then we travel to Wake Forest, a very surprising 9-5 in league play. They beat us rather soundly at our place earlier in the year.

[Radii]

March 5, 2024

#8 Georgia Tech (24-6, 11-3 ACC) at #21 Florida State (20-7, 7-7 ACC)

TEAM: FSU|GT
OVR: 93|94
OFF: 92|94
DEF: 92|93
SHT: 94|97
REB: 92|93
COA: 91|96

I've grown to hate seeing Georgia Tech. They have really embarrassed us the last couple years. They won by 20+ last time, and their starting PG was hurt for that game, PG Koki Humphrey is rated 86 OVR, replacing the 80 OVR backup they had.

We're just going to slow things down and try to get Mayer and McCants in good spots, try to get McClurkin and Day 3's using the inside-out game and just find the hot hand, but no forcing anything against these guys.

Scouting

PG Koki Humphrey – SR – 86 OVR – 94 speed/88 quickness, 87 defense/75 steals. 92 hands/84 passing. 86 close/86 med/70 3/86 off the dribble. 7.2 ppg/4.8 apg.

SG Femi Shavies – SR – 90 OVR – 89 speed/91 quickness. 82 defense/84 steals. 91 close/81 med/88 3/83 off the dribble/83 in traffic. Good athlete, 79 off awareness/80 def awareness. Has always scored well against us and this year leads the nation in scoring, 25/game. A very serious player of the year candidate.

SF Goran Ravello – JR – 87 OVR – 6'6”, actually a SG. 89 speed/85 quickness. 87 defense/81 steals. 87 close/84 med/83 3/87 off the dribble/83 in traffic. Poor strength and if Mayer can get him in the paint Mayer will have a huge edge. Ravello has the edge when Tech has the ball though. 13.9 ppg, 2^nd on the team.

PF Reginald Franklin – FR – 81 OVR – 6'8” PF – 79 orb/85 drb. 82 post off/74 post def. Poor shot blocker. 88 close/82 in trafic. Another guy who will be very good, but is not all the way there yet. A very solid freshman though. Was the top big last year, #13 overall. I tried briefly to go after Franklin but had no shot as he was from Atlanta. 7.4 ppg/4.4 rpg.

C Clifford McClaren – SR – 84 OVR – 6'7” PF – 92 orb/83 drb. 90 post off/72 post defense. 87 blocks. 85 close/92 in traffic. Serious weakness on defense, and tiny. Decent strength but I need(NEED) to re-focus my efforts in the post today. 7.3 ppg/4.7 rpg.

Half	Time	FSU	GT	Notes
1	15:45	13	5	Outstanding start. They miss a couple jumpers an we are firing on all cylinders. Mayer has missed once in transition, blocked by Shavies. But he has 6, Millar has 2 inside, McClurkin hit a 3 and Day got a transition layup. We've only missed one shot, aren't allowing offensive boards, and are doing great.
1	14:00	19	10	Ga Tech takes their second timeout as we continue to play very well.
1	12:40	20	10	Mayer and McCants are out. Other starters still in for a little more. McCants is decidedly cold so far. Mayer, on the other hand, has 11 and is drawing fouls reliably when he attacks the rim.
1	11:45	27	10	Day with 5 straight, then a steal gives us a 6th man boost, Millar with a dunk in transition, holy crap go go!!!
1	9:42	31	15	All backups are in now. Shavies has 10 of Tech's 15 heh. They take their 3rd timeout.
1	3:50	43	25	I get a timeout to get the starters back in. Black is playing like a freaking superstar, 8 points total, 4 of them on second chance points. Dearman hit two 3's, and Ga Tech has started scoring but the backups kept up and kept ahead every step of the way.
	HALF	53	33	So who saw this coming? Not me! We shoot a ridiculous 17 free throws, making 15 of them. Mayer draws 6 fouls on them by himself and is 11-12 from the line. Tech is led by Shavies and backup SG Day, 10 and 8 for them. Only two of Tech's starters have 2 fouls and they have great depth, so that isn't really an issue, and they only have 8 total fouls committed. We are all about Roberto Mayer. 19 points, 11 at the line, 4-5 from the field. In the first meeting against Tech every time he drove he got stuffed. Things are just going our way at home I guess. Day has a solid half w/ 7. Black was outstanding for the backups, 4-5 for 8 points, 4 boards to lead everyone. Dearman hits 2 3's and has 6 points as well. They're explosive so I'm not convinced its over quite yet, but we can put it away if we just don't let them go on a huge run early.
2	13:00	59	48	Oof, 15-6 run, and it came fast really. Slow start to the half for both teams, we led 59-41 about 1 minute ago, quick 7-0 run for the yellow jackets and its all of a sudden an 11 point game. I get a timeout and get my backups in for a change of pace.
2	10:35	61	50	Worth noting that we finally scored again, its been awhile. Shavies missed a wide open 3 that could have cut it down to 6. Black is really coming up huge today, he hits a pretty turnaround to put our lead back up over 10. Tech calls a timeout.
2	10:00	61	53	They hit a 3 out of the timeout and halfway through the 2nd half they have cut 12 points out of our 20 point halftime lead. UGH.
2	7:30	64	53	After a number of possessions where neither side can do anything, Porter comes up with a huge 3 for us. Timeout Tech.
2	6:20	64	55	I get a timeout and bring the starters back in.
2	5:00	66	55	McCants with a pretty little hook shot and we're up 11 with 5 left.
2	3:00	72	57	McClurkin and Mayer with 2 more, then McCants with a beautiful fadeaway(I love these touch shots in the post, they look so good). It looks like we've fully taken control back here.

We're able to easily finish out the final 3 minutes.

#21 Florida State 77
#8 Georgia Tech 62

This is a great feeling win today, after all the struggles we've had lately against Georgia Tech. They get 16 from backup SG Day, 15 from Shavies, and 12 from PF Franklin. The only guy that ended up with 4 fouls was their PG, Humphrey. No one else picked up more than 3 in the game. Our ability to drive to the rim won the game for us today. In Atlanta that ability was non-existent. I don't know what changed, just some home luck or a die roll or something that determines these things, but we dominated this one.

McClurkin: 5 points
Day: 10 points/3 steals
Mayer: 27 points
Millar: 6 points/7 boards
McCants: 10 points/8 boards/3 assists

Black: 10 points/5 boards
Dearman: 6 points

Great win! We guarantee ourselves a .500 finish in league play with this one.

[Radii]

ACC Standings with 1 game left:

1. Maryland 12-3
2. Georgia Tech 11-4
3. Wake Forest 10-5
4. North Carolina 10-5
5. Florida State 8-7
6. Clemson 8-7
7. Virginia Tech 8-7
8. NC State 7-8
9. Miami 6-9
10. Boston College 5-10
11. Duke 4-11
12. Virginia 1-14

We travel to Wake Forest for this final game.

Maryland has clinched the 1 seed in the ACC Tournament(tiebreaker over Ga Tech). If Wake beats us and Ga Tech loses Wake will finish 2nd. If we win, we are guarenteed 5th and would play either Wake or UNC (assuming we beat 1-14 Virginia in the opening round).

If we lose we could finish anywhere from 5th-7th depending on how Va Tech and Clemson end up. We have tiebreakers over them all with our overall record. We also have the tiebreaker over NC State so we cannot finish 8th behind them, its 5th, 6th, or 7th for us.

Boston College has actually worked their way up to the bubble, they're 18-11 overall. Miami is still on the bubble as well. Illinois wins again, they're 18-10 and are looking more and more like a tournament team.

Wake, Clemson, and Florida State are all projected 6 seeds right now, I'd love to work my way up to a 5, or maybe even a 4 if we have a good ACC Tournament run.

[Radii]

March 9, 2024

#21 Florida State (21-7, 8-7 ACC) at Wake Forest (22-7, 10-5 ACC)

TEAM: FSU|WF
OVR: 93|88
OFF: 92|87
DEF: 92|87
SHT: 94|89
REB: 92|91
COA: 91|85

Wake Forest is without a doubt the biggest surprise in the ACC this year. At worst they will finish 4^th in the league, and possibly as high as 2^nd. They've been in the cellar for quite awhile and 9 other teams in the league have higher OVR roster ratings than them.

Our loss to Wake was certainly my most surprising loss this year. They run a 2-3 which I struggle against, too often relying on 3s and nothing but 3's. Since I last played Wake, I've learned that Mayer has some very nice post moves and hope to use that to our advantage a little today,and we'll try to simply force McCants on them.

Oh wow. WOW WOW. Wake PG Preston Diakite, rated 84 OVR, a 87 rated 3 point shooter, went 5-8 from 3 against us last game and scored 22 in their 15 point win. I go look at Wake, and I see a 76 OVR freshman PG... Diakite is out for a week, he's going to miss the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament too. That might change everything here.

They make one other lineup change too. Boo Gregory, their best SF, is actually slated at SF this game. He was listed in the 4 slot last game where he is not effective. They still have a SF playing the 4, but Gregory playing the 3 makes a big difference. This is a totally different team than we played last time.

This will be Patrick's 4^th start at PG. Without Diakite they're 2-1, beating Clemson, losing to UNC, beating Miami.

Scouting

PG Bobby Patrick – FR – 76 OVR – 88 speed/83 quickness. 85 defense/76 steals. 89 hands/80 passing. All are ok, good on ball defense actually. 76 close/75 med/80 3/84 off the dribble. Poor awareness overall, 66 off/71 def. Not a bad freshman, but out of place as a starter. 5 ppg.

SG Tre Almanson – SO – 84 OVR – Solid looking as a soph, he's going to have a couple more very strong years. 89 speed/83 quickness. 88 defense/77 steals. 88 close/74 med/85 3/80 off the dribble/83 in traffic. 81 off awareness/77 def awareness. 10 points/game.

SF Boo Gregory – SO – 82 OVR – 6'7” SF – 85 speed/83 quickness. 73 defense/70 steals. 82 close/81 med/84 3/84 in traffic. Poor on the boards, poor in the post which will matter in a 2-3, but he can score much better here. 7.8 ppg this year.

PF Floyd Callans – SR – 81 OVR – 6'7” natural SF – 65 orb/76 drb. 74 post off/79 post def. 60 blocks, 86 close/84 in traffic. Out of place but he's not nearly the offensive talent Gregory is so putting him inside helps them anyway. 9.4 ppg.

C Bracey Boddie – JR – 77 OVR – 7'0” C – 81 orb/79 drb. 81 post off/77 post def. Poor shot blocker. 84 close/88 in traffic. Great strength, 73 off awareness/76 def awareness.

Half	Time	FSU	WF	Notes
1	15:00	8	4	We're slowing it down when they play zone, speeding up against man defense. They play zone way more often than not though, so we're taking it slow. Mayer 4, Mcclurkin 3, McCants 1.
1	10:30	20	12	Timeout Wake. They hit two threes and make it a one point game, 13-12. Then Day hits a 3, Day a layup in transition and Mayer a great leaner in transition, 7 straight for us. The backups are in now, the starters should have come out 2 minutes ago or so as far as fatigue levels go, so the backups might get a good long look out there today.
1	7:30	20	19	Ugh, 7 straight for Wake.
1	6:10	22	21	They take the lead before the backups finally score, Dearman gets a 3 point play try on a putback. Unfortunately he misses the FT, but we're on the board at least.
1	4:30	25	25	They score 4 more straight to go up 3, Dearman again, tying it up w/ an open 3. Wake takes a timeout and I get the starters back in.
	HALF	29	31	They score with about 5 seconds left in the half to go into the locker room with the lead. Both teams shoot around 47% from the floor, but very few free throws and its a very slow paced game. Almanson leads them with 7, 76 rated PG Patrick hits two open 3's and has 6, backup SF Dooley has 6 as well. They are 3-8 from 3, 13-27 from the field. Turnovers are about even, we have a small rebounding edge. Day and Mayer both put up 8 for us. Dearman has 5, no one else has more than 3. We're 4-11 from the 3 point line, so we're still managing half our shots from 3, we're only 11-23 overall. We're only 3-7 at the line,Mayer 2-4.
2	15:00	37	39	We speed the pace up just a little, but its still going about the same. McCants is solid when I can get a good look but he gets doubled damn fast.
2	13:00	39	46	Wake extends the lead to 6. In our first meeting this is exactly when they went up 10 and never let us get close again.
2	11:45	42	48	Backups are in. I get a timeout to keep the starters from going til the 10 minute mark again.
2	9:45	46	53	We score 4 straight to make it a 2 point game, they get the next 5.
2	7:30	46	58	Its a 10-0 run and this is just frustrating as shit. Timeout FSU. The main frustrating thing is how fast the doubleteam comes insidein the 2-3. I catch, take one step to back into my man and then take a turnaround with Black, and he's doubleteamed(which ends up in a shitty never goes in force the ball at the basket shot animation). He doesn't look doubleteamed! But mainly we just aren't hitting shots consistently and are letting a team that feels inferior get up by double digits.
2	6:45	47	58	Starters are back in. Dearman goes 1-2 at the line to end our slump.
2	5:45	48	62	We get one more free throw to make it 10, then give up 4 straight. We've missed 7 free throws, 10-17. A turnover gives them the 6th man and I get a timeout.
2	3:45	53	66	The standard things that start to come up when we're about to lose a game... potential runs cut short by allowing 2nd chance poitns for the other team, missed free throws, just killing us. Mayer has our last 5 but we're not getting any closer. I get another timeout. Also, McClurkin and Day(and Porter when the backups are in) are ICE COLD from 3. We have no reliable scoring option right now.
2	2:20	57	66	Tough defense and Mayer getting out on the break two straight plays gets it under 10.
2	2:03	59	66	McCants with a great block, Mayer draws a foul on the break,hits both free throws. We're trying!
2	1:40	59	68	Major, major turning point I think. We force a turnover, they try to save the ball but tip it out of bounds. Day takes a WIDE OPEN 3 but he's just not making anything at all... they get on the break and get an open J. 9 point game instead of 4.
2	1:20	61	68	McCants with an offensive board when Mayer misses a 3, McCants is fouled, hits two at the line.

They hit a 3 on their next trip to make it 10. I bring Porter in for McClurkin and he does hit 2 straight 3's, but they aren't missing any free throws and we have no shot at the end.

Wake Forest 79
#21 Florida State 72

Well, I kinda expected to lose to Georgia Tech and beat Wake Forest. Instead I beat Tech and get swept by Wake. They get great offense all over. All 5 starters in double figures, with Almanson and Gregory with 15 each. They end up hitting 7-19 from 3, 12-12 at the line(note: ZERO MISSES).

McClurkin: 3 points (1-6 from 3)
Day: 11 points (3-7 from 3)
Mayer: 29 points/5 boards
Millar: 4 points/5 boards
McCants: 9 points/12 boards

Dearman: 8 points
Porter: 6 points (2-6 from 3)

We shoot 10-29 from 3, not terrible really but we just could not make any when we had to. The double teaming thing inside REALLY threw me. I put up 5 or 6 shots where the animation was desparation crap over a doubleteam that I thought were good looks, and was stunned to see I was doubleteamed. But that isn't the only reason why I lost, I lost because we missed 9 free throws and my PG who shoots over 40% from 3 on the year went 1-6. I wanted to go into the ACC Tournament on a better note than this, oh well.

[Radii]

Final Regular Season Poll:

1. Alabama
2. MAryland
3. Texas Tech
4. Oregon
5. Arizona
..
7. Georgia Tech
16. North Carolina
18. Virginia Tech
21. NC State
22. Florida State
23. Clemson
25. Wake Forest

Heh. NC State and Wake are new to the polls this week, while Clemson fell a ways. so we have 6 teams rated 16-25 out of the ACC. Interesting.


Final ACC Standings

1. Maryland 13-3
2. Georgia Tech 12-4
3. Wake Forest 11-5
4. North Carolina 10-6
5. Virginia Tech 9-7
6. Florida State 8-8
7. NC State 8-8
8. Clemson 8-8
9. Miami 6-10
10. Boston College 5-11
11. Duke 4-12
12. Virginia 2-14


Maryland lost to Boston College in the final week of the season to fall out of the #1 spot in the polls.

I end up the 6 seed in the ACC Tournament. The 3 seed, Wake Forest, gave us two very frustrating losses this year. I guess I shoudl look forward to another shot at them?


There are zero ACC teams currently on the bubble. Indiana is on the bubble at 20-10 out of the Big 10 (35 RPI). Illinois is no longer on the bubble, that has to be good for them. Yup, they're 19-10, having won their last 6 straight.


Bracketology:

1. Maryland
2. Georgia Tech
4. UNC
4. Virginia Tech
5. Wake Forest
6. Florida State
7. NC State
7. Clemson


Miami and Boston College are nowhere to be found, presumably they each need something big to happen to get in. Illinois is listed a 9 seed, Michigan State is still a 1 seed. Ohio, who I have not mentioned this year, is having another great season, they're 24-3 and in line for a 7 seed.

We're a low 6 presumably, we need a good run to make sure we don't fall into the dreaded 7/8 range.

ACC First Round

8. Clemson
9. Miami

5. Virginia Tech
12. Virginia

6. Florida State
11. Duke

7. NC State
10. Boston College


We beat Duke by 30 at their place in our only meeting this season. hopefully that is a good sign for us.

[Radii]

March 13, 2024 – ACC First Round

#22 Florida State (21-8, 8-8 ACC) vs Duke (13-15, 4-12 ACC)

TEAM: FSU|DUKE
OVR: 93|85
OFF: 92|84
DEF: 92|86
SHT: 94|85
REB: 92|89
COA: 91|86

We destroyed Duke at their place earlier in the year, which I hope will end up repeating itself here. This was one of the games where Mayer had 35ish with 10-15 minutes left but we were ahead by so much I just brought him out.

Scouting

PG Cori Songcuacy – JR – 78 OVR – 92 speed/82 quickness. 90 defense/72 steals. 83 hands/80 passing, just a C ball handler. 81 close/73 med/72 3/84 off the dribble. An ok secondary scorer and solid defender. Average/below average awareness (69 off/74 def). 8.1 ppg/3.8 apg.

SG Dermie Nichols- SO – 78 OVR – 86 speed/87 quickness. 82 defense/78 steals. 85 close/69 med/79 3/76 off the dribble. Terrible awareness on offense(67), much better on D. He averages 12.7 points/game and might get some against us but he's not a particularly imposing player in any way.

SF Garrison Bragg – SR – 86 OVR – 6'7” SF – 82 speed/80 quickness. 81 defense/80 steals, all solid for a SF. 84 close/80 med/74 3/86 in traffic. Coach on the floor with great awareness on offense(84) and solid on defense (77) Great strength(81/A-), very good leaper and hustle. Easily leads the team with 17.9 points and 6.8 rebounds/game.

PF Bernie Strong – SO – 77 OVR – 6'6” SF – 74 orb/77 drb. 67 post off/78 post def. 82 close/79 in traffic. 10 points/5 boards a game but so so out of place. Millar can walk over him.

C Cori George – FR – 73 OVR – 6'7” PF – 73 orb/87 drb. 79 post off/72 post def. 85 close/81 in traffic. 65 defensive awareness. 8.1 ppg/6.1 rpg.

Half	Time	FSU	DUKE	Notes
1	15:30	14	4	Duke calls a timeout. Seems like things are going the same as the last game. Mayer/McClurkin have 6 each.
1	13:50	15	7	Mayer and McCants sit, the other starters are good for another minute or two.
1	11:10	26	14	Duke cuts the lead to 3, 17-14, we quickly roll off 9 straight, Dearman a 3 point play, a 3 and McClurkin hits his 3rd three. Timeout Duke.
1	9:45	28	16	Duke takes another timeout, all backups are in finally.
1	6:35	35	18	Dearman has a great run, he's leading the team with 12, but its time for the starters to come back in.
	HALF	54	28	Yeah, running away with things. Duke is 10-33, 3-17 from 3. We're 18-31, 5-13 from 3, 13-17 from the line. Mayer 18, Dearman 12, McClurkin 9. Wheeeee

I haven't been quicksimming much but this is silly. We're up 35 with 15 minutes left, sim to end.

#22 Florida State 102
Duke 67

McClurkin: 9 points
Day: 10 points
Mayer: 32 points/4 assists
Millar: 7 points/10 boards
McCants: 17 points/13 boards

Dearman: 12 points

[Radii]

ACC First Round

9. Miami 102
8. Clemson 81

5. Virginia Tech 82
12. Virginia 81

6. Florida State 102
11. Duke 67

10. Boston College 68
7. NC State 60


ACC Quarterfinals

1. Maryland
9. Miami

4. North Carolina
5. Virginia Tech

3. Wake Forest
6. Florida State

2. Georgia Tech
10. Boston College


Wake Forest is just not that good! I made some progress in figuring out how to play well against them last time, so hopefully we'll get it this time around.