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03-14-2023, 12:17 PM
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Starting Over in the West (FBCB 2K10)
[b]Izulde Jestor - Level 0[/b ]
Recruiting: 50 Scouting: 10 Coach Offense: 10 Coach Defense: 30 A charming recruiter with a sort of knack for coaching defense, I've decided to take on the rebuilding project of the Cal State-Northridge Matadors. They've made it to the Big Dance twice - 2001 and 2009, losing both first round games. As of 2013, when our saga begins, their prestige is a whopping 2 in the Big West. Their roster? Well...a whole pile of trash to be perfectly honest. The best player might well be a 6'7, 235 lbs C with excellent defense (83) but mediocre shotblocking and who can't rebound to save his life. Might actually be a candidate for SF since he has the best handling of a non-guard. I notice in recruiting that UNLV has a prestige of 28. ...Oops. It's got the women's teams prestige settings still but with the guys instead. OH WELL! Call it an alternate universe. Since I don't necessarily trust my scouting (or that of my assistant), my initial passthrough is guys who have either 20+ points, 3+ steals, 3+ blocks, or 7+ assists, 6+ assists with under 2 TOs a game. I'm not worried about if anyone can shoot - I just want disruptors. The first guy who draws my attention is Tacito Rey, a 3* 6'2, 197 point guard out of Gardena, CA, who would immediately be the best shooter/passer/handler on the team. Immediate scholarship offer. Also getting an offer is 2* 6'10, 221 PF Marlin Chevalier from Wittier, CA, who looks to have decent rebounding and post defense with strong shotblocking. Rounding out the list is 2* PF Benton Bouffard, who despite averaging 22.4 points doesn't appear to have natural scoring ability, but post defense and stealing ability look great for the 6'9, 214 lbs forward from Bishop, CA. (Also a good test of stats vs poor scouting vs reality if we land him) Bad news: Loyola Marymount (34 prestige) is going after both Rey and Chevalier, too, but I'm plunging full-steam ahead. Both players cut it down to us in the final two, while with Bouffard, I'm fighting off Boise State (32 prestige) and Utah (60 prestige). Sadly, Bouffard goes to Boise State in November, but we land Chevalier! Code:
The literal Fish Knight won't light up the scoreboard, but if this is accurate, his rebounding potential, shotblocking, and all-around defensive game will be a significant boost. Decent handles for a post player, too. Lack of quickness means he's limited to the post positions. He's a little lightweight to play the 5 in my preferred setup, but has the height. Either way, a pretty darn good first get. In case my dog pulls out the cord, I'm going to post and save now
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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03-14-2023, 01:11 PM
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#2 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Ugh, my post got eaten because stupid mouse extraneous button clicked and went back to a previous section.
Anyway, we go 1-3 in four road games the first month in November, but that includes losses to Top 3 teams in Tennessee and UConn. Our lone victory is 52-38 over Seattle. I'm summarizing because I don't care about the inherited players and neither do you. Tacito Rey commits to Loyola Marymount as expected. No Taco King for us. But at least we split the recruiting battles 1-1 against a much more prestigious team. Our searching (since I didn't love or even like any of the guys on our call list), turned up the following international players we've offered: 3* Canadian SG Angel Moore, who doesn't necessarily wow with upside, but he's a ready-now Northerner in terms of offense. Defense is incredibly raw, but holds some promise. There's a lot of teams sniffing around him but no one has offered yet, so we take the plunge. 2* German SG Gunther Hasenkopf is an interesting duck. Has the makings of a 3&D wing and already great at long-range and stealing, but despite his 26.3 points scored in Deutschland, appears he can't create his own shot. Might just be a catch and shoot guy - his lack of handles supports this as well - that might have us shift to a 3 guard set. No one is on him, so we slip in with an offer. I scheduled some hopefully winnable games in December, and of course we go 1-6. Boy, I can't wait to get any new recruits we land. New Year doesn't bring any news either way, but teams are suddenly discovering Hasenkopf. We're in the lead still on both our international recruits, though who knows how long that'll hold up. We go a respectable 3-5 in January to put us in the middle of the Big West back. #24 UC-Santa Barbara is murdering everyone and is 8-0. Hawaii is sitting at the bottom at 1-7. Still no news from our international recruits, though Hasenkopf cuts his list to our offer and contact from St. Bonaventure (who are also in on Moore), and Princeton. 2-6 February to continue staving off last place. More importantly, we land Angel Moore! Code:
Needs to pump up his stamina of course, but a natural scorer and a player who I think could be very good for us. Might actually redshirt him if he's interested, though he's listed as Orange/Green (Chevalier is listed as Red/Green FWIW). That's two down, one to go.
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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03-14-2023, 01:46 PM
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#3 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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We're a first round exit in the conference tournament, as expected. Final standings:
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We avoided last place. Good enough for both me and the AD. Gunther Hasenkopf commits! Code:
He brings some desperately needed 3-point shooting so teams don't just pack the zone against us. Awful handles and superior post defense, so I might just shift him to SF. Like our other two recruits, he's listed as having high upside (Red/Green). UC-Santa Barbara wins the conference tournament and promptly bows out 71-78 in a tough game as a 14 seed against Fresno State. UC-Riverside is a 2 seed in the NIT and makes it all the way to the regional final, where they lose handily to 5 seed Arizona State. NCAA Tournament Final Four 1 seeds Baylor and Maryland advance to play against 2 seed Rutgers and 4 seed North Carolina respectively. LSU beats Virginia 69-59 in the NIT final. The margin of 10 continues as Baylor tops Rutgers 66-56 and UNC upsets Maryland 85-75. Sorry, terpkirstin! Taking home the championship is Baylor in a thrilling 74-72 game that instantly rates as an NCAA Final Classic. Code:
Aldo Tucker, who I had rated as our second best player, wins Big West Freshman of the Year. Too bad we recruited over you, Aldo! Our prestige bumps up to 5. Recruiting Rankings come in... Code:
Excellent recruiting year for the conference overall. I feel like our class was better than that, but what do I know? What I do know is that the road just got tougher. And then I look at our recruits. Marlin Chevalier looks way worse than I thought, Angel Moore slightly underwhelms. The good news? Gunther Hasenkopf looks somewhat better than advertised. Conference Movement North Carolina A&T moves from the MEAC to the Big South, while Presbyterian suddenly finds itself in an HBCU-dominated conference. I uh, also realize that it's still using the women's file, so for example, we have the Wyoming Cowgirls and UNLV Lady Rebels. Another oops on my part that I'll need to fix before we proceed. Oh, and some scrub center transferred, so we have a scholarship open
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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03-14-2023, 09:44 PM
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#4 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Went through and fixed the team nicknames (including not only the Lady and girls appellations, but rather charming ones like Mississippi Valley State Devilettes and Central Arkansas Sugar Bears), as well as adding the UW to Milwaukee and Green Bay, and shortening Southern California to USC. I also had to fix a few generic nicknames (such as Texas Tech from Raiders to Red Raiders).
But all good now. We don't have a transfer scholarship after all. Must have been a walk-on that transferred. Recruiting I immediately offer a scholarship sight unseen to none other than Cyril Tircuit, an All-State C out of New Mexico. IYKYK. After we scout him, we're feeling pumpy about his shotblocking and post defense potential. But our real pie in the sky hope is to land Winston Reyes, the no 3 pointers 32.3 PPG 3* center from Vallejo, CA. This isn't a catch and shoot guy. This is a legit balls to the wall post scorer. Third on our list is point guard Joseph Velarde, who I smell a lot of smoke in his scouting according to his HS stats, but I can't ignore that the 4.4 steals indeed appears to be legitimate. Cyril looks like he's going to New Mexico State (31 prestige), but we'll still fight like we're Tudors to land him. Reyes is moving us up to second with our offer the only listed. Velarde has us #1, but Southern Utah (13 prestige) also has an offer out and is sitting third. UC-Davis (38 prestige) jumps us on Reyes and I'm frigging fuming. CSU-Fullerton (15 prestige) is trying to beat us to Velarde, too. Cyril Tircuit indeed rejects us for New Mexico State  WHY DID YOU DO THAT TO US?!?! FOFC BROTHERHOOD!Worse yet: Gunther Hasenkopf gets his dumb ass academically suspended to start the year. I ream his butt out and send him to study hall. Anyway... looking only at the freshmen... Code:
Our best rebounder and shotblocker by far. He put on a couple pounds of muscle and will be patrolling the 5 for us this year. I see him as ideally more of a 4 like I said, but there's no question he's the best option at center this season. Our best post defender, too. Code:
The offense will run through our Canadian who is shaping up to be a solid all-around prospect. This will probably change once our Dummkopf returns from suspension, but for now, our Angel is our best hope. Code:
Rabbithead you idiot (that's literally Gunther's last name in English). We're wasting that beautiful 3 point shooting and good ball-thievery because you had to party too much.  @ SIU-Edwardsville They were 8-21 last season but brought in 6'11, 219 lbs C David Langlois in recruiting. Good scorer and offensive rebounder. The Fish Knight is going to have his hands full tonight. We're up 31-26 at the half, overcoming David Langlois' 7 points with balanced scoring, a 17-5 rebounding advantage and Angel Moore scoring 14 points, 9 of them on FT trips. He and Aldo Tucker have combined for 18 FTA already and made 16 of them. And then we go completely ice-cold in the second half, falling 54-63. What a waste of Angel Moore's 23 points, a steal, and a block. Just missing the double-double: Marlin Chevalier with 9 points, 12 rebounds, and last year's Big West Freshman of the Year Aldo Tucker with 9 points, 10 rebounds, a block. We desperately need a legitimate point guard. @ North Carolina Central (0-0) The Eagles were a paltry 5-24 last season, but picked up a promising freshman in Michael Andrade who is a good 3 point shooter and ball-thief. Basically the kind of kid I'd love to have on my team. We do a fabulous job of containing Andrade in the first half, holding him to 2 points, and Angel Moore nets 9. Our late-half heroics put us up 27-22, marginally putting some daylight in what had been a back and forth contest. I switched to Man defense for this one, respecting their 3 point shooting, and it appears to have paid off so far. Our second half starts cold and I start having flashbacks, but then we come alive and win going away, 59-41. Angel Moore puts up 15 points, 5 rebounds, and a steal, but it's Aldo Tucker's 16 points and 7 rebounds on far more efficient shooting that takes home Player of the Game. The next three games are at #2 UConn, #8 Tennessee, and #1 Baylor. I'll spare you the gory details. Angel Moore scored 15 against Baylor and Marlin Chevalier had 14 rebounds and 2 blocks. Another 15 for Angel Moore as we lose 32-98 to the Volunteers. Winston Reyes and Joseph Velarde are both down to us as offers, as the others all pulled out. But neither one has committed. Frenchman SF Florentin Dupretz is next on our scholarship list. Yes, we've a glut of SG options there, so I didn't offer him this past month, but in the end I couldn't resist the all-around game. vs South Carolina State (1-3) They have a couple exciting freshmen in James Cooley and Frances Barraza, but neither one has lived up to the hype - scoring a combined 13 points. I'm feeling the zone in this one. We go down 2-11 early and though we get hot at the end of the half to cut the deficit to 25-30, I'm still switching to a man defense for the second half. It doesn't matter as they clamp down HARD on defense and we lose 47-57, throwing away Aldo Tucker's 14 points and 2 steals and Merlin Chevalier's 10 points and a steal. Cooley and Barraza score 12 points EACH and I'm beyond disgusted. vs NJIT (0-6 This is legit the worst team in the country. If we lose at home to them, I'll resign. We actually lose the lead at one point in the first half, but by halftime, we've righted the ship and are up 33-21. They have no answers for Angel Moore, who has 16 points and 5 rebounds already. 9-21 they were last season, but the Highlanders continue to stink in the second, and we win comfortably the score of 50-38. Angel Moore doesn't make a single shot in the second half, and finishes 4-17 for his 16 points, 7 rebounds. Marlin Chevalier puts up 12 rebounds and a block. Player of the Game goes to Richard Bonin's 10 points because he didn't miss a shot. But really it should have been Aldo Tucker's 9 points and 7 boards. Let's pause here. I still have scouting money to spend and we play Yale next. I always try to end on a positive note.
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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03-15-2023, 01:02 AM
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#5 |
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High School Varsity
Join Date: Sep 2022
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I'm going to be following Angel Moore's career closely, because he's from the town in Ontario where my grandfather was born. Had the Rabbithead not hit the lager quite so hard, Angel might not have had the chance to spread his wings, but I'm pulling for him to play so well he won't give you the chance to shift him aside once Gunther gets his grades back up.
Seeing Rabbithead's GPA and test score makes me worry a bit about Joe Lien, whose academic numbers (2.26, 980) are worse than Gunther's. I'm keeping my eye on the Fish Knight, too...especially when he faces UC Riverside, with their All-Conference center Jesus Dragon. How did the church-affiliated schools let Jesus and Angel get away? |
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03-15-2023, 11:05 AM
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#6 | |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Quote:
Good catch on Jesus Dragon. Man, I love the awesome names sports sims come up with sometimes. Very cool connection between Angel Moore's hometown and your grandfather's birthplace. So far, he's been a scoring machine (if not the most efficient, to put it mildly). The way the AI sets the TC, it's a dice roll whether they'll qualify or not, so you might need to bump the study hall up a notch or two. Probably what I should have done, too, but I decided to chance it since we had Aldo Tucker.
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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03-15-2023, 12:59 PM
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#7 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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@ Yale (4-1)
The Bulldogs were 16-13 (9-5) last season, so they're a respectable, decent team helmed by a pretty darn good junior backcourt of Mitch McGarry and Nathan Greenfield. This is going to be a tough one in New Haven, and it wouldn't be a surprise if we get hammered. Somehow we fight our way back from a major first half deficit to only be down three at the half, 32-35. The second half is a thrilling back-and-forth battle, and it's the following sequence that proves key to how the last couple minutes played out:  The Fish Knight also grabbed the defensive board on the next possession. Unfortunately, Angel Moore bricks the shot on our next two opportunities and the Bulldogs get to within one. Rickie Burns, who made that big-time trey and is our starting point guard for lack of other options, is the one fouled in the closing seconds, and he converts one of two from the charity stripe. Two points down, Yale has the ball with 33 seconds left. They play for the last shot and it's neither of the junior guards who takes it, but redshirt backup senior center block god Gabriel Kelly. The ball clangs off the rim and Angel Moore scoops up the rebound as time expires to prevent the putback. Massive 60-58 upset comparatively speaking and the biggest win to date of my career. Nathan Greenfield shredded us for 19 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 steals on 6/12, 4/9 from 3 shooting, and is the obvious Player of the Game. On our side, Richard Bonin has 10 points, 2 blocks; Angel Moore is again a bricklayer for his 11 points, and Aldo Tucker grabs 8 points and 10 rebounds to just miss the double-double. Marlin Chevalier swipe 2, including that clutch theft, and the Fish Knight is surprisingly averaging a half-steal game. @ Southern Illinois (1-6) This smells like a trap game. The Salukis may have a poor record, but freshman center Denver Aman is a solid all-around player, and freshman SG Eric Miller is a drivestopper with a stellar jumper. Must be nice to have two 3* recruits. They were 2-28 last season though, so who knows? We'll bring back the 2-3 zone for this one, as I'm not scared of their 3 point shooters. The zone is working flawlessly, as we hold them to 29.4% shooting in the first half, but our turnover issues mean we're only up 22-18 at the half. It's still a grind in the second half as we cough up 18 turnovers by the end of the game, but we still shut down their shooting, holding them to 27.5% by game's end. We walk out 47-36 winners for the first three-game win streak of my career and move to 4-5. Richard Bonin is Player of the Game, not missing a shot en route to 12 points and 2 steals. Angel Moore and Aldo Tucker both camp at the FT line for their 10 points, securing 8 and 7 rebounds in the bargain. Most pleasing stat: We hold Eric Miller to a big fat 0 points vs Norfolk State (2-5) 6-24 last season. On paper, the Spartans are a really bad team but their #22 RPI gives me pause. Fifth year senior Donnie Parker is lighting up the scoresheet at 13.7 points a game, but he's also the only 3 point shooter worth a darn on the team. Do I go zone and dare him to beat us? Or do I play it safe and go Man? I decide to zone. If he beats us, he beats us. It's a typical slogfest for our style of play and this level of basketball in the first half. We're barely clinging to a 25-23 lead at the half, but we're also holding them to under 40% shooting and they've yet to make a 3, so we'll keep rolling with it. And then we completely fall apart in the second half. We somehow get a chance to tie it up and force OT, but Aldo Tucker's buzzer-beater trey misses, and we fall 50-53. That scoreline frankly flatters us, as we were complete trash all throughout the last 20 minutes. So frustrating to waste Angel Moore's great night of 50% shooting for 17 points and they were just 1 of 7 from 3 point range. Donnie Parker scored 13, as did reserve David Marlow, who suddenly couldn't miss and was 6/7 off the bench to win Player of the Game. Now I know how Yale felt. But quite simply, no one else came in ready to play. vs Bryant (2-7) These Bulldogs may have been 2-27 last season, but they've already matched last year's win total and have an army of 3 point shooters. We're obviously going Man on this one and hoping we can snap back from that disappointing hosting of the Spartans. We're beating the pants off them early in the half and are up 15-5, so of course we start getting sloppy in our shot selection and are up by a single point - 23-22 - at the half. Ugly shooting - they're at 30%, we're at 26.9%. What few fans we have are probably supremely annoyed right now. I don't blame them. Angel Moore already has 10 and 5, which means he'll shank everything in the second half. Moore must have heard me because he goes off in the second, and we assert our overall talent advantage, winning 50-39. Both teams shot just 33.3%, but Angel takes home his first Player of the Game award, nearly beating the Bulldogs by himself: 22 points (7-16, 4-10 from downtown) with 9 rebounds, a steal, and a block. Aldo Tucker shoots an on-game 33.3% for his 8 points, 9 rebounds, and 2 steals, and Richard Bonin continues to model efficiency with 12 points, 10 rebounds, and a steal on 50% shooting. That loss to Norfolk State tanked our RPI literally 100 places. Feels bad, man. What feels great: Joseph Velarde and Winston Reyes commit and will be Matadors! Code:
I expect there's some false positive in some of these ratings, since Joseph wasn't a great shooter or scorer, but that stealing ability, tho. He'd be our clear best point guard from a passing and handling perspective if this is accurate (though Aldo Tucker is our most ball-secure player and best defensive rebounder interestingly enough). Not the most exciting player, perhaps, but a key cog who, along with Rabbithead, will give us a couple weapons to someday institute a pressing system. He's rated as Red/Green by us. And then the big one (literally): Code:
A bunch of quality teams (including Tennessee!) realize too late that they'd been sleeping on this massive 6'11, 318 lbs giant whose mountainous size calls to mind James "The Big Colonel" Sanders of the Lafayette Leopards in another universe. Still some work to do on the defensive end, though the upside is there. An absolute titan of a young man who imposes his will on the offensive end, but is too slow to be an effective rebounder. No matter, though - if I'm right, he's a transformative player (Orange/Blue!) when he develops. Rabbithead finally comes back from suspension and immediately grouses he wants a starting spot. Sure thing, Hasenkopf. You'll replace Aldo Tucker at the SF spot. The German's insertion also means that we'll be able to press a tiny bit more and actually introduce a bit of trap (2 in both). We also shift our 3 point usage from 5 to 7 and go from a Balanced shooting to an Outside focus. I'm a bit worried about how this will affect our play heading into conference season. At 5-6, we're already well within reach of beating last year's 7 win total. And if we don't, we'll be in last place in the Big West and our AD will be frowning heavily anyway.
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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03-15-2023, 05:11 PM
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#8 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Code:
Don't let that shoddy RPI fool you - the Gauchos are still very much the class of the conference. Senior Jamaal Eddings is the Big West's lone Blue player and junior Lamar Huntley is a tough-nosed rebounder and post defender at PF. Their entire lineup is Orange or better current, which only the Highlanders can match (though the Mustangs come close at 4 out of 5). Deepest team is UC-Riverside, as the Highlanders brought in three 3 star freshmen, all of whom validated their ranking (being Orange/Green). Not all of them can start, but the stage is set for UC-R to become a dominant team and surpass the Gauchos, who only had Larry Sherlock as matching his ranking. Definitely worthy of a borderline Top 50 class for sure. Projected Top 3 Finish 1. UC-Santa Barbara 2. UC-Riverside 3. Cal Poly Our Achilles heel - Rickie Burns is actually a walk-on freshman as our starting point guard. That's on me for not recruiting the position as intensely as I should have last season. vs Long Beach State (3-6) The 49ers were a surprise Top 3 in conference last season, earning Damian Coffman Big West Coach of the Year honors. This year, they're relying heavily on promising freshman Isidro Lopez and his classmate Dominique Larsen, the latter of whom at Yellow/Green is the most prepared freshman coming into the conference. Daniel Utter and Scott Hager are also in the lineup, meaning LBSU is starting four freshmen and junior Sherwood Ransom, who is a incredibly gifted rebounder and the perfect Robin Hood name. We'll go Man here, as I don't like the spread of 3 point shooters they have. I think this team is actually way better than their record indicates, and Coffman has coaching chops. My assessment is accurate as they jump out to an 8-0 lead, but neither team can hit the broad side of a barn (33%/35% at half). Still, we've fought our way back and scraped to a 22-18 halftime lead - due largely to Rickie Burns' 8 points. We continue to frustrate them in the second half, leading the rest of the way and ping-ponging between 6 and 9 points before the buzzer sounds on a 57-46 Matadors victory. Angel Moore shot all 11 recorded attempts from 3 point range and hit on 5 of them. Add in a perfect 6/6 at the charity stripe and you're looking at his second straight 20+ point Player of the Game performance: 21 points and 6 rebounds in just 26 minutes due to fouls. Rickie Burns scores a surprising 10 - most of it at the free throw line himself - while Rabbithead has a solid 10 point, 5 rebound, 1 steal debut. Richard Bonin nets 10 with a steal. Isidro Lopez had a fun fight with Moore, but finished with 17 points and a block. Scott Hager was Bonin-esque in going 4/4 for 10 points, 5 rebounds, and a block. Dominique Larsen didn't shoot well thanks to 1-7 in triple tries, but still had 10 points, a block, and a steal. Sherwood Ransom literally did nothing but rebound - 0 points, 13 boards. And just like that, we're 6-6 (1-0). vs Hawaii: 2-9 (0-1) The Rainbow Warriors finished just below us last season, but they picked up a 3 point scorer in German Dietrich Hirschmann who is their leading point-getter at 9.6 a game. But that's all he does. Hawaii is without their second-leading scorer David Chen, who is out a month and a half. Good news for us, because Chen is a stealing god, and we're turnover prone. Three freshmen start here - including a Canadian, so in some ways they mirror us.  Henri Maton, said Northerner, reminds me a lot of the Fish Knight - solid rebounder, defender, shotblocker, and Thomas Murphy is a decent all-around post for this level. Neither one particularly frighten me, though.What does is that Hawaii packs three decent 3 point shooters with Chen, who can't shoot, out, so we'll stick with Man. RS Junior John Schenk is a defensive stopper at PG, which is something to keep an eye on. We *should* win this, though. It's almost 4 minutes before the ball goes in the basket, but we emerge 28-24 leaders at the break on Angel Moore's 10 points. The Rainbow Warriors have balanced scoring, but are shooting 36.8%. I have to love how our defense is doing. As the teams were heading to the locker room, Gunther Hasenkopf yelled at Dietrich Hirschmann in German. Unfortunately for Rabbithead, I know some German, and what he said was, "Lick me, shithead." I naturally inquired what the hell he was doing once we were in the locker room, to which Gunther replied that Hirschmann had insulted his intelligence in pre-game warmups and referred to the recently completed suspension. Well, Hirschmann came out fired up, and by extension, the whole Hawaii team. They suddenly were red-hot. Angel Moore calmly responded by catching fire himself. A fierce battle ensued, and it wasn't until the last minute that we were able to break the game open:  I would be remiss if I didn't also point out the Fish Knight's clutch heroics again. On the possession after this, he grabbed the defensive board, was fouled, and hit both free throws to make 61-54 and all but put the game out of reach. Indeed, it was a 62-57 victory. Angel Moore was 7/15, 5/8 from downtown for 23 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 steals - his third straight 20+ point Player of the Game outing. The Fish Knight? 10 points, 8 rebounds, a game-high 4 assists, and a block. Richard Bonin had his usually quietly effective 10 points and a block. Dietrich Hirschmann finished with 20 points of his own, and sophomore Weldon Smith scored a career-high 13, but in the end we were just a tiny bit better at the FT line and behind the arc to eke out a victory, even though we were outshot 48.8% to 44.4%. No question, though - this is Angel Moore's team. 7-6 (2-0), riding a 3 game winning streak. @ Cal State-Fullerton (2-10, 1-1) The Titans finished at the bottom of the Big West last year, and while Dexter Coon has promise, he hasn't delivered on it yet, as he's an undersized 4. Joe Newman, his classmate, is their leading scorer at 10.2 points a game. Third freshman Stanton Perez has a solid jump shot and is a pretty good perimeter defender for this level. Nothing about this team especially frightens me offensively, so we'll keep rolling with Man defense, since that's our greatest proficiency (78 as opposed to 68 for the 2-3 zone that my assistants want me to run). Fullerton did beat P5 team Washington State and upset Cal Poly on the Mustangs' court, but the latter was a 45-43 fluke, and the Cougars are without question the worst Pac-12 team - on the level of a mid-tier Big West squad. The one worrying note: they're pretty darn good defensively. We can't buy a bucket in the early going and they're leading, but we finally take over towards the very end of the first half and hold a 26-19 lead. 38.1% from the floor, but the Titans have been truly terrible at 26.1%. Only their 25% from 3 point range to our 12.5% has kept them in it once we started warming up our shooting stroke. And then the nightmare ensues. Until a late barrage, we score just 4 points in the first 15 minutes of the second half. It's a hard-luck 38-47 loss. Stanton Perez scores 17 with 4 boards and a steal to be PotG. What an absolute horror show. Rickie Burns scores 11, but like everyone on the court not named Perez, he throws a lot of bricks. Both teams shoot 26.2% and under. Turning the page... @ UC-Irvine 6-8 (1-2) At 144, the Anteaters have the second-best RPI in the conference. Even with that, they were 6-12 in conference last season and nobody on this squad likes to be the one to shoot the ball. Still, they're good enough defensively to cause concern, and they also beat Washington State. We jump out to an 8-0 lead but fritter it away and need a key late 3 pointer by backup center Rolland Younts to tie at 19. The home cooking is offensively generous - we've been whistled for 12 fouls to UCI's 3. The shooting is garbage as usual, with us at 31% and them at 26%, though Angel Moore has 11 points when time expires in the first. Come out mad at the foul discrepancies and we get our 8 point lead back again, only to lose it again, but then we get it back and the refs finally decide to start whistling the home team for some fouls after swallowing it all game. We emerge 54-44 victors as the Anteaters can't find the right shots (at 39.6% we got close to the 40 line, while UCI improved to 33%). One of the big reasons we kept losing our early lead? The Fish Knight got hurt just over 6 minutes in, and he's out 24 days with a severely sprained ankle. Thing looked like a damn grapefruit it was so blown up. So how did we overcome this crushing loss and a 32-9 FTA disadvantage? If you said Angel Moore, pick up your prize. 18 points and a steal on 7/16 shooting (40% behind the arc) for his fourth Player of the Game award. Also contributing: 10 points and a steal by Richard Bonin, and though he went an unsightly 4-13 (including 2/9 from 3), Rabbithead's 11 points, 5 rebounds, a block, and 5 steals - the latter instrumental in our +7 turnover differential (12 to 19). 8-7 (3-1) to officially better last year's mark. But Phyrric victory indeed. Now to figure out how we'll compensate for the loss of the Fish Knight and determine at what percentage health Marlin Chevalier should be put back in. Because my sense is that it gets awfully ugly in terms of our poor post depth.
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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03-15-2023, 11:18 PM
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#9 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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It gets really ugly in the paint with the Fish Knight out. My assistants want to start 6'5 Rolland Yount, which, no. I refuse to start a center that short. Instead, Richard Bonin moves down to CE and I start Gary Garner at PF, who is the least bad of our awful options.
Upon the recommendation of my staff, we increase the press and trap a little to overcome our loss of rebounding and defense (now at 3 each). I smell bloodbaths coming. vs UC-Riverside 8-5 (2-1) There's never a good time to go up against one of the Big West's two elite teams, but having to go against All-Conference 1st Team CE Jesus Dragon and elite rebounder [b]Lance Hernandez[/b ] without Chevalier is not a good feeling. I can't think of a single advantage we have - maybe at the wing spots, where Angel Moore and Rabbithead can go toe-to-toe and best George Calabrese and Bradley Kropp, but we're so out-classed everywhere else, and the Highlanders are only starting one of their four freshmen... I just don't see how we even keep it close. Imagine my shock when we go out there and blow the doors off them in the first half, shooting 53.8% to their 30% in taking a commanding 38-25 halftime lead. Jesus Dragon is indeed beasting with 10 points and 7 boards, but Gunther Hasenkopf is determined to make good for his faux pas last game and is scorching UCR for 15 points at the break. I don't expect it to hold and that feeling grows as Gunther Hasenkopf gets into quick foul trouble in the second half and is out early, finishing with 15 points and 6 rebounds in 27 minutes. But Rickie Burns the walk-on frosh defies expectations, shooting well for 14 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, and a steal, and wins Player of the Game in a shocking 65-54 upset win! Angel Moore is 4/4 from 2 point range, 0-6 from 3, and finishes with 10 points, 5 rebounds, and a steal. Aldo Tucker steps up big when Rabbithead (who was 3-6 from downtown), with 10 points and 6 boards. And that's with wasting our FTs, where we shot just 48.3% to the Highlanders' 74.2%. Jesus Dragon dominated as expected with 18 points and 8 rebounds, and Lance Hernadez (11 points, 13 rebounds, 1 block) does indeed make mincemeat of Richard Bonin. In counterpoint, my hunch about our wing advantage was correct: Bradley Kropp fouled out after just 17 minutes of court time, and George Calabrese scored just 8 points on 1/4 shots (6 of 8 from the charity stripe), though he did have a game-high 5 assists, a block, and a steal. Rabbithead flat-out torched Kropp, and Moore played slightly better than Calabrese Even give all that, how did we win - by double digits no less? Three factors: 1. We were 46.8% from the floor to their 34.9%. 2. We made 7 treys, they made 1 of 12. 3. The aforementioned perimeter play advantage we enjoyed. Jesse Calabrese is a true freshman as well, but he scored exactly 0 points, and got thoroughly... well... burned by the walk-on Burns. What a fabulous, monumental victory. vs UC-Santa Barbara 12-2 (3-1) So, funny story. CSU-Fullerton and us are tied for the Big West lead at 4-1. We both play grinding, low-tempo basketball, only the Titans have the defensive chops to make it work in this league. The Gauchos are still the class of the league. They were upset 63-66 in a fluke home loss to Cal Poly, but recall that I had the Mustangs as a Top 3 team anyway. Jamaal Eddings, Charles Hubbard, and Lee Chadwick are all in double-digit scoring per game, so we have to hope that we're able to assert a low tempo game again if we want to pull off our second straight upset. Doesn't happen. We make it look respectable for a while in the first half, and there's very entertaining guard play - 22 points and 2 steals for Angel Moore, 15 points and 2 steals for Rickie Burns vs 17 and 15 with a steal each for Ronald Maurice and Jamaal Eddings. But that's about it. We actually held Eddings to just 21 minutes because of fouls. Yet, there was no chance when Charles Hubbard abuses Bonin for 23 points and a block. And Gunter Hasenkopf just could not get anything to fall tonight as we fall 75-59. @ Cal Poly 6-10 (3-2) The Mustangs are way better than this. But starting point guard and #2 scorer Ward Parker is out with injury, and they're having to play a converted SF as his replacement because they have the same lack of bench options that we do at center. But they have balanced scoring and really good players at the wing spots in Mark Crowder and freshman David Montes. And freshman big man Chris Perry should crush Bonin. If the Fish Knight was active, I'd give us a fighting chance, but he's still out. So I think it's going to be like against the Gauchos - we'll have a couple players go off, but center will be the difference. I'll switch to the zone and see if Montes blows up on us. The zone is doing its work as we lead most of the first half, until we collapse in the last couple of minutes and go down 23-28 at the break. Chris Perry is asserting his will with 14 points and 6 rebounds, while both teams are embarrassing at the charity stripe (33%!) They hit everything and we hit nothing in the second half, losing by 20. Disgusting. Chris Perry is PotG with 19 points, 10 rebounds, and 2 steals, while Gary Garner puts up 10 points, 8 rebounds, a block, and 2 steals, as he's the only one who came ready to play. @ UC-Davis 9-7 (3-3) The Aggies have a stud in Ernie Keesee (Green/Green), and Thomas Rowland is having an excellent sophomore season, scoring 11 on great efficiency. I actually think he's way better than the scouts paint him as in the color scale. Solid defenders up and down the lineup. Back to Man on this one. It's another tough ask. Lively back and forth in the early going until they go up by 9. But we claw back and Rickie Burns hits a buzzer layup to put us down by only one 28-29. But we've been hot and they've been cold outside of Keesee, who already has 14 points, so I'm not willing to bet on our keeping it close - much less get on top. Imagine my shock when we stay hot and they stay cold. We seize the lead and never lose it, winning handily, 60-48. Rabbithead and Angel Moore combined to shoot 60% (6-10) from long-range, both finishing with 16 points. Hasenkopf is PotG as he also picks up 7 rebounds and 2 steals, while plucky Rickie Burns has 10 points and a steal. We outshot them massively from the field (54% to 34%), the line (84% to 53%) and behind the arc (57% to 28.6%). Keesee was held to 0 second half points and Rowland was 0 for 8, with 2 points on FTs. It was absolute domination (Side note: Because I have the AI coach games, a lot of times it's Rabbithead at SG, Moore at SF because that's what the AI likes even though I try to force the opposite). Just beautiful. 10-9 (5-3) as we officially have equaled last year's Big West wins just under halfway through the conference season. vs Pacific 4-15 (1-7) Now I have to answer the question: Is 86% of the Fish Knight better than what we've been putting out there? And do I want to risk it at home against the Tigers, who I had slated as the absolute worst team in the conference, and they've lived up to that billing? I don't know the answer to the first, but the second is no. So I hold him out, and because there's zero 3 point shooters on this terrible opponent, we flip back to the zone. I'm looking smart when we're up by 10 and they don't score until 6 minutes in. And it's 8 minutes to go in the half before the Tigers even have 10 points. But then they got hot and it's just 28-25 after they get two free FTs at the buzzer on Frank Ullrich's boneheaded foul. I'm FUMING and rip into the boys in the locker room. Excuse me. I'm going to go throw shit. Like a chair. Code:
Still no decision on our last recruit. Here's the conference standings heading into March: Code:
We could be up there with the Highlanders, but no, we had to suffer a bullroar fluke loss to freaking PACIFIC of all teams to be best of the rest. Ugh. Really, really angry right now. At least the Fish Knight is definitely back next game.
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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03-16-2023, 11:03 AM
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#10 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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vs UC-Irvine 10-10 (5-4)
Heh. The Fish Knight's first game back? Against the Anteaters who ankle-shanked him in the first place. Back to Man because no one frightens inside scoring-wise. UCI starts off hot but then they fall off, while Rabbithead drills back-to-back three pointers at the end of the half - including as time expired - to put us 34-25. He's got 15, Angel Moore has 10, and we're literally riding just those two to paying them back for hurting Marlin Chevalier. Also key: we've forced 7 Anteater turnovers while giving up just 2. We extend our lead to double digits and promptly go in the ice bath. I'm screaming in rage when they tie it up, then go ahead with two seconds left. Not this horse manure for the second straight game! Timeout called, Bonin inbounds it to Rickie Burns... and the walk-on freshman calmly drills the 3 pointer. Horn sounds and the crowd goes absolutely insane. 53-52. We've swept UCI. Great battle at SG for much of the game as Gunther Hasenkopf scores 18 with a steal and Gary Spies has 17 with a steal of his own. Rabbithead gets PotG. Angel Moore can't hit a bucket in the second half, so finishes with 10 points and a steal before he fouls out. We shot just 56.5% from the charity stripe, so nearly blew this one thoroughly and completely. vs Cal State-Fullerton 6-15 (5-5) The bloom is officially off the rose on the Titans, who were 5-1 in Big West play to start. They're on a five game losing streak (OOC loss to Idaho State started the chain), but I'm taking nothing for granted. Only a 3 point buzzerbeater by Rabbithead prevents us from a double-digit deficit at the half: 29-36. They're shooting 76.2%. Absolutely ridiculous. And we continue to fight, but it's not looking good. Until suddenly, we're within 2 points. 25 seconds left. Richard Bonin and Rickie Burns has fouled out. We play for the last shot. Angel Moore can't find an opening, so he gets it to Rolland Yount, who hits the baseline jumper to tie it up and send it to the first OT game of my career! Our first overtime possession, Hasenkopf passes to Moore on the outside. Angelic 3! And the Fish Knight follows up a possession later by sinking the tip-in after a Yount miss. That makes it 59-54 and we never lose the lead the entire rest of the way. I'm just going to show the box score on this one. It's our most productive performance on the season, even if not the most efficient: Code:
Four of five starters in double-digit figures. Amazing. Rabbithead wins his second straight Player of the Game award. @ UC Santa Barbara 19-2 (10-1) Let's be honest. There's no scenario in which we beat the Gauchos, let alone on their home court. We'll switch to the zone to keep our proficiency from dropping off too much, since this is a guaranteed loss. We make it a hell of a game. Only down by 2 at the half and at one point in the mid-second we were only down by 1 point. But then their talent took over. 58-81 L. Rabbithead gets shut out in the second half and just misses a double-double with 11 points, 9 rebounds, a steal. Angel Moore beasts for 18 points and Aldo Tucker scores 14 in 15 minutes. Fish Knight gets in on it too with 11 rebounds, a block, and 2 steals. @ UC Riverside 15-7 (9-3) We stunned the Highlanders at our place, but something tells me we won't have a repeat. They're still ticked about that. But at least we get our Jesus Dragon/Fish Knight battle (it won't end well for us I'm sure). In fact, I literally move Chevalier down to PF so this can happen for part of the game. I look like a damn genius when Fish Knight draws first blood and we're actually up for most of the first half, until the AI does AI things and reverts back. We drop behind by 5 at the break. Consequently, our 33% shooting dooms us and we're never really in it, falling 45-55. Great game by Fish Knight for 11 points, 7 rebounds. Angel Moore does chucker things for 13 points. Jesus Dragon drops 23 points, a block, and a steal on us for Player of the Game. We're now back down to 12-12 (7-6). And honestly, a middle of the pack Big West team is the best I could have hoped for this season, I think. vs UC Davis 12-11 (6-6) We knocked off the Aggies at their place, so they're spoiling for revenge. Our best shooting game of the season was responsible for that road win, and I wouldn't be surprised if Ernie Keesee and Co. curbstomped us in this one. And yet, the Aggies waste their trips to the charity stripe (40% FT), giving us a 30-24 halftime margin. Quentin Norris, who had something like a 14 point, 10 rebound double-double last game after we shut the wings down, already has 10 boards in the first half. It's been that kind of typical Big West slogfest (non-Gauchos games). Most surprising halftime stat: Angel Moore with 0 points. Think that's the first time that's happened this season. Stop me if you've heard this one before. We lead most of the game, then fucking blow it in the last god damned fucking two minutes.  There's absolutely NO DAMN WAY WE SHOULD HAVE LOST THIS GAME. Absolutely none. Zip. Zero. I'm even more pissed about this than the Pacific loss. We outplayed them and goksdfjsdkfjsldfjslkdfjsljkfdjsdalkfjsadlksdlfjasldfa 56-61 BULL.SHIT. So, I've long had this theory that when you have the AI run everything, it tends to doom you to around .500 and you can't win a championship. It will find some way of screwing with you. vs Cal Poly 10-14 (7-6) Mustangs are in a slump of their own, with four injured players, including Ward Parker. Don't worry, we'll wave our red capes and let you through. Tied 22-all at half, but we're shooting 50%, Cal Poly 28%. They'll win by 20 before this is over. And yet, they don't. Richard Bonin, Angel Moore, and Rabbithead all score 14 efficiently, with Hasenkopf PotG with 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and a steal besides (Bonin banged 2 blocks). Rickie Burns added 11 with 2 steals. Sure, the 59-46 win is heavily asterisked and we shut down David Montes (1 of 10) so Marc Crowder (15 points, 1 steal) and Chris Perry (11 points and a steal) had to try and do it themselves... but... a win is a win is a win (Thanks. I referenced Gertrude Stein, whose writing I find obnoxious). Our RP is back in orange for the first time since that disastrous loss to Norfolk State (185). And of course... @ Pacific 7-19 (4-11) I really, really want this win. Like you don't even know how badly I want to declaw *and* defang these guys after that 50-52 home upset. Not only would we get satisfying revenge, we would guarantee a .500 Big West record, which would thrill our AD, who only wanted us to avoid last place (and probably create pressure to repeat that .500 next year, but that's something to worry about later). And of course I forgot to set the zone, so we're down by 9 and the half, 25-34. We make the switch, probably too little too late. It ultimately doesn't matter. They blow us off the court as they can't miss, and we can't hit. Tigers are up by as much as 20 before we ultimately lose by the same 9 point margin. Oh and the Fish Knight is hurt yet again. Out 17 Days. PotG is Rickie Williams (who?) who scores 20 points with a steal in 23 minutes, Toby Shiver chills us for 13 and 8, and Isiah Hyder scores 11 off the bench. We went 3 of 22 from behind the arc. Yeah. 15 points for Richard Bonin and Rabbithead gets 13 and 3 steals. Aldo Tucker adds 11 points, 4 rebounds off the bench. Embarrassing. Getting swept by Pacific of all teams. Let's try Gary Garner at CE this time, since Richard Bonin got repeatedly beat down last go-round. On the bright side, we fill out our recruiting class: Code:
Intriguing player. Looks like a catch and shoot guy like Rabbithead but I'm fascinated by his all-around stats production. Rebounding and shotblocking look really solid for a 3, though the lack of post defense will keep him out of the PF slot. I really, really like his alleged defensive disruptor upside, and he's rated Red/Green in the Color Chart. If this is close to accurate, I could see him pushing Rabbithead to the bench. In any case, between our German, our Canadian, now our Frenchman, and Aldo Tucker, we've got some really good wing depth compared to what we started with. I probably should have gotten another big because the Fish Knight is brittle AF apparently, but Dupretz was clearly the best player still available. @ Long Beach State 7-20 (2-14) One minute you're the toast of the town. The next, you're mired in last place, looking up at everyone else. It's been a tough season for Damian Coffman. Maybe it's starting four freshmen. Maybe he caught lighting in a bottle Year 1. IDK. What I do know is that the Beach is way better than this on paper. Like, ridiculously so. Rabbithead nails a 3 pointer at the buzzer to keep it to single digits, 20-27, but we're playing flat and uninspired. Like we've mentally checked out and are just so ready to move on to next season. Whereas the Beach are battling to bounce out of the basement. We don't get any closer than 5 and repeat the 54-63 scoreline. Isidoro Lopez wins Player of the Game with 16 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals, but it should have gone to Dominique Larsen's 23 points, a block, and 3 steals. Sherwood Ransom banks in 13 boards. Angel Moore (22 points, 3 steals), Gunther Hasenkopf (16 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 steals), and Aldo Tucker (9 points, 4 rebounds off the bench) do everything they can to try and keep us in this, but it just wasn't even remotely close to enough. @ Hawaii 4-24 (2-15) Well, our hopes for a .500 conference record come down to this. Flying out to the Islands to take down the new bottom-feeder in the Rainbow Warriors. Steal god David Chen is healthy again, we're on the road, and we just haven't been playing great down this stretch of the season. And no Fish Knight... Rainbow Warriors come out fired up and they're blowing us off the court... but a bad team is a bad team and we rally back to stun them by taking a half-time lead 32-30 when Angel Moore completes the And 1 play with 3 seconds left. Hopefully that breaks the back of their morale. Nope. They score on a tip-in with 13 seconds left, and Angel Moore has a chance to be the hero, but he's never been clutch. And so he doesn't prove to be here. Gary Garner can't get the rebound fast enough to get the tying shot off. What a waste of Rabbithead's PotG-earning 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 steals, which bettered Dietrich Hirschmann's 18 points and a block, and David Chen's 13 points and 2 steals. Henri Maton has 10 boards and a steal, and some guy named Bernie Cummins - a CE of course - scores 13 points off the bench. I don't care that Angel Moore scored 14 with a steal, or that Gary Garner had 10 boards and a block. Moore disappointed me. Hasenkopf and the Fish King have shown clutch ability. Angel is a damn choker. Still, we finish precisely in the middle (5th) and that's good enough to go to the conference tournament that sees the Top 8 teams play. Cal Poly (Big West Conference Tournament) I don't care that Fish Knight isn't 100%. He's playing. The Mustangs have Ward Parker and Thomas Bonney back, but are still missing a couple reserves. I expect them to stomp all over us. Angel Moore scores 11 of our first 15 points as we lead for most of the half, then look at risk of losing it until Richard Bonin hits the J at the buzzer to put us up 33-31. We've seen this movie before, though. Yep. We manage just 2 points in 10 minutes Since it's the last game of the season... Code:
What a stinker of a way to end the year. We finish the season with four straight losses. Season review and all that next time.
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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03-16-2023, 07:18 PM
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#11 | |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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My dog accidentally pulled the computer cord loose so what was an all-chalk conference tournament semi-final turns into UC-Irvine upsetting UC-Riverside. Cal Poly loses a 1-point heartbreaker to UC-Davis, and the Aggies then stun the Gauchos by 9 in the championship game.
UC-Santa Barbara should still be in. They were #22 headed into the conference tournament, though the first round upset likely doomed the Highlanders' chances. NCAA/NIT Tournament UC-Davis is a 16 seed against the top seed Notre Dame Fighting Irish while UC-Santa Barbara is unfairly made a 5 seed... in the NIT. Gauchos got screwed on that one. Aggies get crushed in the first round as expected. Gauchos again fall in the first round of postseason play, 72-78 to UTEP. Guess that wasn't so unfair after all. 3 seed Florida vs 5 seed VCU in the NIT championship. Gators chomp Rams in a thrilling 53-52 contest. Final Four is: 1 seed Tennessee vs surprise 4 seed James Madison 1 seed Notre Dame vs defending champion 2 seed Baylor The Bears wallop the Fighting Irish 97-74 and the Dukes shock the Volunteers 84-76, then James Madison upends the defending champions 86-68 for the national title!. Not that the Dukes are a slouch team, mind you. They won 30 games last year and made it to the Sweet 16, and are a respectable 74 prestige team in this universe. They also have 3 Blue/Blue starters. But still a big upset. Code:
Code:
Frustration at the four-game flameout to finish the season aside, it's hard to be mad about this year. We almost doubled our overall win total, moved up to the middle of the conference, and landed an All-Freshman Big West player in what was a loaded class at the perimeter. And our recruiting went fabulously in my books. We'll see what the rankings think, though. Goodbye, Seniors Code:
Really improved his final season in his two years as a starter, and that's with getting bullied repeatedly in the paint when he started in place of the injured Fish Knight. Not any good, of course, but I appreciated his shooting. Code:
Made a couple brass balls shots this season, and my staff liked him far more than I did. And yes, that's two post players we're graduating. I really should have gone two bigs in recruiting, but oh well. Code:
Shot great last year. Tanked it this season. The variance of college ball bench dudes or something. Anyway, bye. Code:
Last year, UC-Riverside had the lone Top 100 class at #54. This season, there's *4* Top 100 classes coming in. That's a whole lot of talent influx, though I'm happy to see us jump from the 220s to the 170s - that's 50 places. Also jumping is our prestige, which doubles to 10. Our scouting misfired pretty badly on all three of our recruits. I'm not even sure any of them start outside of Reyes and that's only because we literally have no other options. Princeton gets moved to the America East and Maine to the Ivy League and I can't change it back. Ugh. I add Newman Catholic High School in Wausau, WI and The Meadows School in Las Vegas, NV, since both are missing from the database. In fact, I notice that of the private schools listed, they're all on the East Coast. Bishop Gorman isn't even listed. I also notice that Wausau East and Wausau West literally are listed with the exact same latitude and longitude which, LOL, no. This seems like a good mod project for FOFC to collectively tackle, actually. Young Drachma, you in on this? JIMGA, there's no schools listed in Athens, and that's obviously an oversight. Already I can think of three private schools to add in one city I've lived in that have athletic programs. Actually, I wonder if ChatGPT can do this... Quote:
Thanks, ChatGPT. I'm familiar with NAIS, thanks. That's actually probably a good starting point, but it will mean a lot of manual labor hours looking up latitude and longitude - I'd need to get street addresses, cities, zip codes, etc. So we'll just roll with those two for now. Recruiting A lot of schools make offers sight unseen and that causes us to drop one guy we were really interested in, as UC-Santa Barbara already offered him. We make our initial selections: 7'0, 267 lbs C Raphael Taylor, a 2* prospect who looks raw, but averaged 23.3 points a game and shot 64.1%. You can't teach size, and that accuracy appeals, PG Albert Twilley, who appears to be able to pass for days and has upside in stealing the ball. Northern Arizona's already offered him, but I think I can go toe-to-toe with them, and finally, 3* SF Wilfredo Leon, who averaged 5.9 steals, 2.3 blocks, and shot 40% from 3 point range. Yes, another wing. But I can't help it. He's perfect for the defensive disruption squad I want to run if his stats and scouted ratings are accurate. St. Mary's offers Wilfredo Leon, but I was here first, damn it! Sadly, Wilfredo Leon jumps at St. Mary's offer, and Albert Twilley stays in-state with Northern Arizona. We do, however, land Raphael Taylor. Code:
We've been down this road before with an exciting looking center (hi, Winston Reyes). Inside scoring, offensive rebounding, and blocking potential all tantalize, and he moves surprisingly quickly for a guy of that size. Needs to build up his stamina, but we'll get there. Redshirting Aldo Tucker is always willing to redshirt, but Joseph Velarde and Winston Reyes indicate they're happy to sit a year. It's tempting... there's a lot of rawness and considerable upside to be had there. And the AD doesn't expect anything more than avoid last place again... Yeah, let's do it. It'll mess with my perfect 3/3/3 scholarship balance I've had going, but so what?
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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03-16-2023, 07:19 PM
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#12 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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After training camp... only the guys I've recruited and Rickie Burns, who has grown on me.
Code:
He's not a terrible 3 point shot and has some stealing ability, which is how (among lack of other options), he won the job last year and keeps it this season. Not sure if he would have beaten out Velarde or not. Let's look. Code:
Didn't see the big job I was hoping for in his stealing, but our facilities are 1/100, the worst in the Big West and probably the country. He *probably* would have won the job, but I'm glad he gets another year of work. Did bump up to Orange/Green. Our other redshirt? Code:
As you can see, way disappointing compared to what we thought we were getting. Some decent bumps, however - enough to go Orange/Green - and the big lad is the strongest player on the roster. Code:
Just staying eligible is a win, and he's bumped up to Yellow/Green. He's become a sneaky decent rebounder for a guard - which is even more reason to put him at SF, coaching staff! He was our most valuable player by faaaar on +/- last season. Code:
Really great jump for us (+7) in his stealing and we're slowly putting together a squad of respectable ballthieves on the perimeter. I'm liking the increase in his 3 point shot as well. He's also now Yellow/Green. Code:
The Fish Knight had perhaps the best camp of anyone on the roster, though the color movement didn't show it. Looming question is if he can stay healthy or not after spraining his ankle and hyper-extending his knee last season. Code:
Yes, you read that correctly. A 4 post defense player who will be our starting PF. Not that Richard Bonin was any great shakes there. Not a good first camp for the Frenchman. So we have in our starting lineup the following 3 point shooting ratings: Burns - 57 Moore - 58 Hasenkopf - 85 Dupretz - 53 Chevalier - 17 (odd duck) and off the bench Aldo Tucker - 53 We're once again playing glacially (1 Pace), but our 3 point usage goes from 7 to 9. We're living and dying by the longball this season. Our press increases to 5, our trap to 4. We double-teamed constantly in the post and more often than not on the perimeter (ranged between 7 and 9). This year, we're at 10/9, so basically a repeat of last season. Gone is our Man defense (Dropped from 88 to 50, so I might have to keep that in future TCs. Absurd that it drops to the default). We'll be 2-3 zone all the time, where we're currently 77 rated. @ Seattle Perennial punching bag to start the season. They won 7 games two years ago, 5 last season. These indy Redhawks stink, though sophomore Pat Davis was a 1* find last season and ended up Independent 1st Team All-Conference (heh) and Conference Freshman of the Year. Fellow backcourt member John Wilson is a 3&Block true freshman SG. Interesting. But that's literally all he does. This is an all-freshmen and sophomores lineup. Erwin Jernigan was another 1* find last year. Decent scorer and defender for this level. Can't rebound at all. John Wilson already has 25 points at the half and we're down by 5. This was supposed to be one of our easy games. Guess we're dying by the 3 point ball this year. At least we will this game. 6 of 31 from 3 point range in a 49-60 loss. 17 points for Rabbithead, 12 for Angel Moore with 2 and 1 steals respectively. Fish Knight takes down 12 boards and gets a steal but man oh man. Ug.lee. John Wilson scored 36(!) with 3 steals and was 6/9 from 3. IOW he made as many 3 pointers by himself as we did all game.  @ Arkansas-Pine Bluff (0-1) The Golden Lions boast a dangerous-looking defender in sophomore Chester Gresham and freshman James Yamamoto is a defensive rebounder at the 2 who shoots recklessly and often like our two freshmen from last year. Down by 3 at the half. We're shooting 11.1% from downtown. We might not win a game all season. Somehow we find the lead in the 2nd and of course we lose it and have to fight just to get to OT... where we fall apart and lose 57-63. 15 points for Angel Moore, 14 points, 5 rebounds, 5 steals for Rabbit Head. 5 of 23 from downtown as a team. Our annual three-game road trip against juggernauts UConn, Baylor, and Tennessee follow. Rabbithead scores in double digits - barely - in 2 out of 3 games. He's the only one. 0-5, on a 9 game losing streak, and I don't like any of the guys we've scouted very much, though I'll look again. Want to place bets that I get fired after this season?
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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03-16-2023, 08:30 PM
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#13 | |
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High School Varsity
Join Date: Sep 2022
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Quote:
I want to add some private schools into my game, especially the Pennsylvania schools I know about. I'm familiar with many of the independent schools in the mid-Atlantic and northeastern states, and with some of the New England schools, too. It looks like I'll need to work with a database editor to do that, won't I? I'd be willing to help with the private school project, as I have time. I think it's a great idea. |
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03-16-2023, 09:07 PM
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#14 | |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Quote:
Not necessarily. You can use the Edit Default League under tools and just do it that way. For a global project, probably spreadsheeting it works best to compile a master list
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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03-17-2023, 08:26 PM
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#15 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Update: My bad, it's actually under Tools.
Thomas Hadden, a 6'9, 249 lbs 3* big man from Antelope, CA, becomes our newest scholarship offer. A complete zero offensively, but he grabs defensive boards, plays incredible post defense, and blocks all the shots. Everyone is sleeping on him right now, too - we're currently the only school that's contacted him. He signs the scholarship offer immediately. Code:
He's not the strongest player and is undersized for the position - probably more of a PF than a CE, but next year we'll actually have options for rebounding beyond the brittle Fish Knight, and he'll be our first elite post defender since that one senior from the first year who was an 83 defense. *And* he's a ferocious shotblocker (if all of this is accurate, of course). Our next offer goes to 1* SG Reinaldo Gonzalez, another California kid. Despite his star ranking, he's looking like a turnover-generator on defense with ungodly shotblocking for a dude whose 6'4, and a solid perimeter defender already. Can't handle the ball or shoot the 3, but we're loaded with gunners, and I'm hating our glacial 3 point bombing setup anyway. vs Utah Valley (1-4) The Wolverines have an all-freshmen/sophomore lineup as is typical of bad teams. Long Brooke is the star of this squad which boasts three 3 point shooters on the perimeter and have a shutdown post defender in Jewel Shankle. Shades of what we might look like... which, given Utah Valley's record, doesn't portend good things. This one is going to come down to whichever of us is hitting our 3s. How about both of us? Wolverines shoot 63.2%/60% from 3, while we're 50%/52.4% from 3 at the half. Still up 43-34 thanks to winning the turnover battle 3-8. This is such a high-scoring game, it's practically in 20 minutes what we normally put out over a full 40. Angel Moore has 14 already and Florentin Dupretz scored 11 (his career high I think). Raise your hand if you expected our shooting to suddenly go cold and the other team to stay hot? That's exactly what happens. And we miraculously manage to go ahead late after losing the lead, but then Dupretz's game-saving foul turns to naught when they hit both FTs to tie it up again. Angel Moore is given the last shot, and rather than take the 2, he launches a 3 pointer that of course misses because Moore is not clutch at all. So to OT we go for the second straight game and actually try this newfangled thing called defense, ekeing out a 77-73 win for our first victory of the year. Angel Moore scored 26 points with 5 rebounds and a steal to earn Player of the Game. Backing him up was Rabbithead with 16 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 steals, Florentin Dupretz with 15, and the Fish Knight with 10 points in 42 minutes. All three of the Wolverines' shooter finished with 13 points or more and the team shot 56.8% to our 40% (though we were 39.8% from 3). We probably shouldn't have won this game in all honesty, but turnovers (+8 advantage) got us just over the line. vs Presbyterian (1-5) The Blue Hose won 4 more conference games last season after moving to the MEAC, but they're still a 5 prestige team who somehow got the #222 player in the country, James Briggs, to commit. He's averaging 18.3 points on actual good shooting, and is Yellow/Green already. Phenomenal player and these guys overall shoot pretty well. Which spells trouble for our no positional defense chucker butts. As you might expect, the Blue Hose lead for most of the half, but Angel Moore shows rare clutch ability in converting an and 1 to miraculously put us up 23-20 at the break. He has 10 of our points, as you might expect. We then score 4 points in 15 minutes and whimper out 37-49 losers. 15 points and a steal for Angel Moore, 10 points and a steal for Rickie Burns. We surrendered 18 turnovers and it was just... ugly, ugly game. We haven't shot higher than 40% all season. @ Cornell (2-4) The Big Red have their two best players limited by nagging injuries, so maybe we've got a shot? Of course not. 48-72 L. 11 points and a steal for Rabbithead; 10 points and a steal for Rickie Burns. At this point, I'm tempted to just go through the motions. Angel Moore scores 22 against Penn, but we lose by single digits in a rare hard fight. We actually outplay Air Force, but lose by 1 thanks to -10 turnover margin. Every starter except the Fish Knight scored at least 11 points (career highs of 17 and 18 for Dupretz and Burns), while he himself snags 11 boards. We find just enough offense and defense to beat Chicago State at home 56-47. The scoreline flatters to deceive - we nearly blow a double-digit lead entirely despite Angel Moore's 17 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals (PotG), Rickie Burns' 13 points, 6 rebounds, and Aldo Tucker's 9 points, 7 boards off the bench. Code:
Conference season starts early this year. The Big West feels wide open. Yes, UC-Santa Barbara got arguably the most talented freshman to replace Jamaal Eddings in Kenneth Howerton, but UC-Irvine got a pure scorer/shooter in Jose Chacon who is exactly what the Anteaters needed. On paper, UC-Riverside is the most talented team. And there's a lot of talented freshmen walking around. Lot more parity in the league. Projected Top 4 1. UC-Riverside 2. UC-Davis 3. UC-Santa Barbara 4. Cal Poly I think we'll be fighting Long Beach State to avoid the bottom. Even Pacific is a lot better this season. i2i0 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 steals from Rabbithead and 16 from Angel Moore keep it respectable as we only lose 57-69 to the Gauchos at their place. That's far closer than either of the games last year and it's due to USCB's talent drop more than anything else. Code:
We finish our recruiting with a kid we think is a diamond in the rough who got overlooked. If the ratings are accurate, that's three players we've brought in who have pretty darn good defensive game for this level and will really open up a lot of opportunities for us to be competitive on our many off nights shooting the ball. Of course, redshirts could well be a thing and affect the equation, but we'll see.
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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03-17-2023, 10:26 PM
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#16 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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If you'd told me both Rabbithead and Angel Moore would score in single digits and we'd take UC-Irvine to OT at their place, I'd have called you a liar. But we do (losing naturally) as Rickie Burns goes off for 24 points and 2 steals, Florentin Dupretz scores 15 with a block and the Fish Knight just misses the double-double with 8 points, 14 rebounds, and a steal. Predictably, our offense completely evaporated in OT - we didn't score a single point.
Unfortunately, Angel Moore herniated a disc in the game and is out 46 days. Great. I force Rabbithead to play SF only and move Aldo Tucker to SG, over the objections of my staff. We've only won 2 games. Go to hell. We drop our three point shooting slightly, slow the pace down to a big fat 0, and reduce both our press and trap to last season's levels in response to the injury. Time to see what Hasenkopf can do as the Lone Ranger. Lose 3 straight games where we fail to score 40 points, then lose the lead toHawaii on a bucket, then have Frank Ullrich of all people shoot a bad 3 as time expires, for loss 4 in a row, you say? Yep. And in that game against the Rainbow Warriors, Gunther Hasenkopf had 12 and 10, Aldo Tucker scored 14 with 6 boards, and Marlin Chevalier scored 13. This is what happens when you try to make up a spot shooter your focal scorer and run a 3 point gunning game when you move with the approximate speed of a DMV employee who is a literal snail. Irony of ironies, we finally beat Pacific 45-29. Rickie Burns is PotG with 11 points, a block, and a steal. Rabbithead narrowly misses a double-double with 8 points, 10 rebounds, and 2 steals. Florentin Dupretz scores 13 with 2 steals and has actually periodically shown a scoring ability. We're officially out of the basement with the win (CSU-Fullerton has been winless as the Titans' defense isn't as good as it was last year) and have a chance at staying barely above bottom in hosting Long Beach State, who has surprised with a 3-4 mark so far. Naturally they beat us by 16. Our last game of the month is against our fellow CSU bottomfeeder and it's our chance to gain the advantage, but they're riding high on getting their first conference win. Of course we blow a lead, but it goes to OT, where Rabbithead takes over and we get a ton of FTs. 70-60 win on Hasenkopf's PotG 23 points, 7 rebounds, and a block, with Aldo Tucker adding 17 points, 2 blocks, and 2 steals. About time Rabbithead took over a game. Yeesh.
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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03-18-2023, 12:27 AM
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#17 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Let's just get this season over with.
You know how they say when you shoot volume 3s, you can pull off an upset? That hasn't happened all season until it does when we absolutely shock Cal Poly 58-46 for only their second Big West loss of the year - greatly damaging the Mustangs' postseason credibility. Chris Perry did his thing as he does against us with 19 points, but that's countered by Rabbithead's 13 points, 10 rebounds, and a block, and Florentin Dupretz's 12 points and 2 steals. It's such a stunning win that Perry earns Player of the Game. It's also our first victory away from home. And then we pull off another upset when the Aggies of UC-Davis get super aggressive when we visit them. 33 FTAs to 11, combined with Bradley Caldaza having the worst shooting night of his first college season (4 of 18), and we suddenly walk out 52-49 winners. Rickie Burns torches UCD for 18 points and 3 steals, and Florentin Dupretz has his second straight notable game - 10 points, 8 rebounds, a block, and 3 steals. Before our next game, I notice two things: Angel Moore is downgraded to Red/Green from his former Yellow/Green and he's at 82%. It's a gametime decision, but I decide to go ahead and put him back in. He's too valuable. We are not, however, reverting back to our previous setup other than to trap and press as we were and Moore back as a key player. No 1 Pace, no 9 3 pointers. Hawaii and UC-Riverside remind us of who we are by crushing us. Angel Moore is still Red/Green after he comes back from injury, though I don't see any ratings changes.  We evidently just match up really well against the Tigers as we beat them soundly, 62-53 at their place, thereby locking in at least equalizing our first season's Big West wins total in this really strange campaign. Gunther Hasenkopf and Florentin Dupretz each score 15, though it's Rabbithead who is PotG with his 6 rebounds, even though the Frenchman got a block. Rickie Burns chips in 10 points and 2 steals. A win against CSU-Fullerton would guarantee us not finishing last by my math (the spot currently occupied by Pacific, whom we just swept a year after they did it to us). The minute of play sees us literally steal the win:  The Titans waste time trying to find an open 3 pointer even though they're down by 4. They miss, and Burns boards it. Angel Moore finally finds some of his old touch with 15 points and a steal, but he's definitely looked like a different player since coming back from his injury. Player of the Game goes to Florentin Dupretz, who continues his torrid late-season form with 11 points, 7 rebounds, and a block. Dominique Larsen dropped 27 on us and we scored 37. That's all you need to know about that one against LBSU. If we can beat UC-Irvine in the next game, we're guaranteed to avoid last place, which the Anteaters interestingly hold. Unfortunately, every time we get close, they pull away, and we lose 49-57. Fortunately, Pacific lost, so it doesn't matter when the Gauchos- holy shit! We go up 12-0 and are playing our most inspired basketball of the entire year, like it's our national championship! Just when I think we're going to pull off the absolute bananas upset in front of a delirious home crowd, though, we fall 70-75. What a ruin of the return of vintage Rabbithead (25 points) and Angel Moore (20 points, 1 steal), to say nothing of Rickie Burns' 10 points and 2 steals. Code:
We make the Big West tournament for the third straight season - barely. I'd like to point out that I called who the Top 4 teams would be, including the champions (I missed on the order, though). Did I do that last season, too? Sort of. I correctly predicted the champions and the second place team, but whiffed on the #3 squad because the Mustangs were plagued by injuries for part of the season. We actually jump out to a lead on the Highlanders but they've caught up to a tie at halftime and go ahead in the second half. We temporarily get it back but then lose it again. I'm just proud of them. But wait. What's this?     DO YOU BELIEVE?! IN MARCH?!?! 22 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, and a steal for Jesus Dragon 19 points on 7/8 shooting for Gunther "Rabbithead" Hasenkopf, followed by Angel Moore's 10 points and and 5 rebounds. Marlin "The Fish Knight" Chevalier with 11 rebounds and a steal. Nor can we discount Florentin Dupretz's 2 blocks and 2 steals. That it all comes to an end the next night in a 23 point blowout loss to the Gauchos doesn't matter. UC-Davis stuns the Gauchos 69-67 the next night, earning the Aggies' second straight NCAA autobid. What an insane season. And we haven't even started the Big Dance.
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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03-18-2023, 03:56 AM
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#18 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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NCAA/NIT Tournaments
Improvement for UC-Davis as the Aggies draw a 15 seed against 2 seed Marquette. The loss to us cost the Highlanders dearly as UC-Riverside is an NIT 7 seed. UC-Santa Barbara gives us 3 Big West bids for the first time in this history, ironically a 6 seed in the NIT. The Aggies fight gamely, but fall 65-71 to the Golden Eagles. UC-Riverside is beaten soundly by UTEP, making it the second straight season the Miners have turned aside a Big West team in the NIT's first round. The Gauchos upset Illinois State 64-63 in a barnburner, only to get annihilated by 20 by North Carolina A&T. North Carolina A&T runs the table to the NIT Final Four but loses there to defending national champions James Madison, who win their second straight national tournament title, beating Northern Iowa 79-75 in the championship. Sure it's the NIT, but that's two straight title banners the Dukes can hang in the rafters. Over in the Big Dance... Final Four 2 seed Oklahoma vs 3 seed Stanford 4 seed UConn vs 1 seed Ohio State The Cardinal cream the Cowboys, but fall to the Huskies, who finally add a title to their trophy case after losing in the Elite 8 the first season, and getting upset in the second round last year. Code:
Crowder 1st Team over Hirschmann is brow-raising and makes no sense for me unless it's efficiency, but I don't care to look. Anyway, a lot of senior talent leaving the Big West - especially in the post. The conference hasn't been great at recruiting replacements. The lone exceptions are probably Chris Perry, whom you all know, and maybe UC-Davis' Americo Alvarez. No Senior acknowledgements. Only Gary Garner played any meaningful minutes, and the less we remember his time covering for the Fish Knight, the better. Code:
Thankfully only one Top 100 class to worry about, though the Gauchos are borderline. CSU-Fullerton has quietly put together strong recruiting classes and it's going to pay off at some point - #171, #81, and #83. I'm surprised to see us essentially equal last year's #177 mark at 180. Evidently the rankers see something here. Raphael Taylor and Reinaldo Gonzalez both come in incredibly raw, but Gonzalez was indeed a 1* find, which we'll get to. Thomas Hadden you'll just have to wait and see on. I will say that my jimmies are tingling and not at all rustled. Lamar drops to the Summit and South Dakota moves to the Southland, which uh... is appropriate from a naming standpoint, if not at all geographically. Coaching Movement - Big West Brendon Armitage, who is a recruiting and scouting god but couldn't coach rec league middle school ball, gets hired at Fresno State from UC-Riverside. Bulldogs might regret that one. 74 Prestige decline incoming. Maurice Barbosa, who is a terrific coach and decent scout who can't recruit, goes from UC-Santa Barbara to Nevada of all teams, which means I'm obligated to hate him. What a steal of a hire by the Wolfpack. Ugh. Smart decision by Barbosa, too, since the Gauchos haven't dominated recruiting like they should, and they were on the downslide. 61 prestige and should go up. Ollie Stauffer, who is a great scout and decent coach who also can't recruit, moves from UC-Davis to St Mary's. Smart move to parlay luck into a job promotion. Decent pickup by the Gaels. 60 prestige is Top 3 in the WCC behind only heavyweight Gonzaga and BYU. I'm looking forward to the Mountain West battles now that two former Big West coaches made the short move there. Fresno State is #1 in prestige at 74, with Nevada tied for #2 at 61 with Wyoming. At 40 is UNLV and the Runnin' Rebels have been mediocre to bad just like right now in real life. Hope I get to coach them at some point - they've yet to make the postseason. UC-Davis goes with Stanford's top assistant, one of the most brilliant offensive minds in the country at 28 years old and a pretty good defensive coach in Kevin Edson. Unfortunately he has almost no ability to discern talent (16 Scouting) and is a pretty bad recruiter. UC-Riverside selects Fresno State's incredibly gifted recruiting coordinator after the Bullldogs staff moves to Arizona State, but James Albrecht is also an offensive mastermind. But the 50 year old also can't scout, and literally doesn't know the first thing about defense (1 Defense Coaching ability!) UC-Santa Barbara you might think made the best hire. Nope, the worst. 44 year old Kristopher Koester is a decent recruiter, which role he occupied with Baylor and North Carolina A&T (he followed his mentor from the latter to the former), but is mediocre everywhere else. The Aggies hit it out of the park with their hire, the Highlanders did... okay, and the Gauchos blew it. Our prestige inches up to 13, meaning we've almost caught the Pacific Tigers.
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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03-18-2023, 03:56 AM
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#19 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Going to be a busy recruiting season for us, as we've four scholarships to hand out. First offer goes to 2* PG Dennis Luther. The Placentia, CA native already looks to be an accomplished ballthief with upside to grow into and incredible passing potential.
3* San Fernando, CA SG Daniel Burkey gets our second offer. Not a stealer, but I'm in love with his shotblocking potential and he appears to have untapped upside in his jumper, handling, and passing. Could end up a three-position player. Can't shoot the 3 ball but that's fine. I'm a little frustrated with that anyway. 6'7, 212 lbs Chris Pigg may be an undersized 4, but I'm seeing potential versatility in his upside and he's already a very good shotblocker. Great name, too, for the 3* Sonora, CA product. 2* C Frank Gilmore is 7', 313 pounds, and the Eugene, OR native is an All-State player with an all-around skillset that reminds me of Angel Moore in that he's just straight up solid. Has no hops and no speed, but he's literally the strongest dude I've ever encountered on the recruiting trail. You're literally not going to be able to move him, so an offer he gets. I pull my offer to Daniel Burkey when I see that UC-Santa Barbara and San Diego (aka University of Spoiled Daughters) have both offered him. No way in hell we can compete - either with those campuses or those programs. Dennis Luther is also interested in spoiled daughters, but we're his only offer so far. Chris Pigg has offers from San Jose State and St. Mary's, but we haven't invited him for a campus visit yet, so we're not giving up. Frank Gilmore really wants to stay in Oregon, but he's being swayed by our charms and scholarship offer. Gross. Daniel Burkey signs with UC-Santa Barbara. Not looking forward to that for the next four years. Glad I pulled my offer. Happily, we sign Dennis Luther. Code:
Could end up a combo guard since his handles are reportedly not that great. Should be a good fit for our pressure system, however, once we're able to fully install it. That's 1 of 4 out of the way. No one is willing to redshirt this year, so the classes are now officially unbalanced. We'll figure that out later. But for now, a review of our training camp results, starters first: Code:
Hasn't progressed as much as I'd hoped in the first two years. Still, he's the starting PG because he's by far the best option. While the rest of The Big West has done quite well with recruiting the position, we haven't. Also can not play perimeter D to save his life, so I will keep trying to recruit over him. Orange/Green Code:
Back to Yellow/Green and apparently recovered from his bulging disc problems. Steady progress on paper, but last year was a total and complete disaster in virtually every way. Can he recover and have a bounce back season? Code:
Being a Dummkopf has limited Rabbithead's growth, but this season portends to possibly be a breakout year, as the system changes should see his stats increase. Yellow/Green. Code:
Surprised to see the big guy at PF? Don't be - he's quicker than any of the true bigs on the roster other than Raphael Taylor. I'm not sure what kind of season to expect from him, to be honest. One of the biggest mysteries on the roster. Best inside game of the starters at any rate. Orange/Green Code:
The Fish Knight had an absolute gangbusters TC: +10 OReb and +9 DReb to go with +8 Blk. Garbage sophomore year like everyone else, but he's now one of the Big West's best combined rebounders and shotblockers. I'm expecting an incredible year from him, as his Orange/Yellow attests Returning Reserves of Note Code:
We all know the Frenchman's late-season heroics but at this point, he's been recruited over. He'll see time as the backup SG this season, shifting over to the perimeter where his height and defense will actually be beneficial, and we'll be well clear of his awful post! Red/Yellow Code:
Nice kid. Finally will end up not starting and be the first point guard off the bench. Has been surprisingly effective, all things considered. Next year, he probably drops to third string, and he'll be just a neat little story. The True Freshmen Code:
I seriously contemplated replacing the Fish Knight with him in the starting lineup. That post defense and shotblocking is absolutely incredible as a true freshman. Already Orange/Yellow. If the season goes south. I might well pull the trigger to see what happens. Very, very happy with this one. Code:
Because his handles are so bad, I'm limiting him to SF, similar to Hasenkopf. The most interesting player I've recruited to date, and he really should have been a 2* recruit at minimum. Super slept on and already Orange/Green. Could push Rabbithead out of the lineup either this season or next. Code:
Bull-strong and bullheaded. Should have taken a redshirt year. Red/Green, though I'm not fond of his inability to block shots. Moves with quickness for his size. We're going with the Matchup Zone defense, though we're starting at 50 for it, which makes me a bit tetchy. Gonzalez joins Rabbithead and Angel Moore as our primary scoring options. Still no motion because we don't have the passers for it, but we're 5 Pace, 5 3 point shooting, and Balanced Offense. Our pressing leaps up to 7 and for the first time, we won't be doubling much inside (4). This is a radically different scheme in every way because we have the deepest bench we've ever had. Ever. I'm actually excited for this year. @ SIU-Edwardsville The Cougars have a pretty good center in junior David Langlois and a shutdown perimeter defender in Daren Harrison, who was a JUCO transfer in 2014 and a starter last year. But overall, I'm not seeing anything particularly threatening here. We're up by 10 at the half and I'm honestly surprised we're not ahead by more. We're dominating in almost every important statistical category. Of course, that probably means we'll implode but... Sure as shit, we let them right back in the game, getting particularly sloppy at protecting the ball, but we escape with the 62-58 victory. Angel Moore is back to his old self with 17 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 steals in earning Player of the Game. Joseph Velarde greets college with 15 points. @ Presbyterian Sophomore James Briggs is a legit great player, but he's a star on a very bad, very short Blue Hose team, though junior Chadwick Carey is a pretty decent all-around defender. God, it feels amazing to actually be able to beat up teams. 44-28 at the half as Rabbithead has already teed off for 15 points and 8 rebounds and Angel Moore has scored 10. Easy 74-61 win with Angel Moore roaring alive in the second half for 23 points, 6 rebounds, and a steal to earn Player of the Game. Rabbithead powered his way to 19 points, 13 rebounds, and 2 steals. Off the bench we have 5 rebounds, 3 blocks, and a steal by Thomas Hadden. We'll get ROFLstomped in our annual three-game road trip against the nation's blue bloods that I'll summarize, but I'm just going to enjoy this moment for now.
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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03-21-2023, 11:56 PM
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#20 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Now that the third quarter grading blitz is done, I can get back to this...
Against Tennessee, Angel Moore scores 13 and Reinaldo Gonzalez scores 11 with 7 boards and a block off the bench. Gunther Hasenkopf nets 15 with 8 boards and a steal in Oklahoma, then 12, 7, and a steal against Baylor. We get blown out in all three games of course. Chris Pigg commits to San Jose State as expected, ruining my great nickname plans for him, but we managed to nab Frank Gilmore for our second recruit. Code:
Another giant of a scorer who can shoot - similar to the disappointing Winston Reyes last year. The difference is, Gilmore comes in with Oregon All-State pedigree. Great-looking passing and handling for a big man with okay defense, stealing, and shotblocking. Super strong and trash at rebounding. Stilll, it's our first All-State nab, which is pretty exciting. Reginald Maze, a 6'3, 174 lbs. 3* SG from Elk Grove, CA with 30.6 points a game, has been sitting on our list for a while but we didn't offer him because he didn't match our pressure system despite his amazing upside (Red/Blue). Nobody has offered him either, but at this point, the talent is getting awfully thin on the ground, so I offer him. vs North Carolina Central (1-4) Don't let the record fool you. The Eagles have two excellent post defenders, an excellent scorer/shooter in junior James Ledford, who has improved every single season, a ballthief gawd at SG, and a pure excellent PG. This is a very solid lineup who could strafe us if we're not careful. Sure enough, they are doing an incredible job of shutting us down. We're shooting just 27.3% at the half (though 33.3% from 3) and they hit a buzzer-beater to go up 2, 31-29. By the time our shooting recovers a little, it's far too little, far too late, and we waste Joseph Velarde's 21 points and Reinaldo Gonzalez's 10 bench points in a 59-66 loss. Rabbithead and Moore were a combined 1-15, and that pretty much tells the story right there. vs Eastern Kentucky (1-5) That loss cratered us almost 100 places in our RPI. The Colonels are a very beatable team. Junior Dustin Vassar is a 22.7 PPG star and his class- and court-mate Kurt Wood is an okay all-around player, but there's a reason this team only won 6 games last year. We're having trouble finding our shooting stroke early, but we recover for a 36-32 halftime lead. Vassar has already ripped up our defense for 16 points - literally half of EKU's scoring. Horrible news: Rabbithead is out for the game right when the second half starts, and Angel Moore continues his shooting funk - 2 of 13 for a deceiving 11 points. But we win anyway, and pretty comfortably 64-52 as Joseph Velarde scores 16 with a steal and Reinaldo Gonzalez chips in 12 points off the bench. Gunther Hasenkopf is out two weeks due to concussion protocols, and Reinaldo Gonzalez steps in as the new starting SF after his strong bench play. We increase our pace a bit and drop our 3 point shooting and press a notch. @ Bryant (1-5) Freshman guard Daniel Parker will be dangerous eventually, but he's not there yet, and the rest of these Bulldogs have no bite. I'm expecting an easy win, even without Rabbithead. We blow a 10+ point lead to let them back in by halftime, but we're still up 44-40 on some amazing perimeter play. Angel Moore already has 14 by himself and we're just unstoppable offensively. And of course, they go ahead. With 16 seconds left, Florentin Dupretz bangs in the 3 pointer to put us back up. They play for the last shot and we thankfully get them to miss to escape with a 75-74 win that never should have been that close. Dupretz's 11 points and a steal, including the game-winner, gets the Frenchman Player of the Game, though Reinaldo Gonzalez scored 15 with 7 rebounds, Angel Moore netted 14 and 6 with 2 steals, and Joseph Velarde contributed 12 points and a steal before fouling out. vs Stony Brook (2-7) The Seawolves have good defenders along the frontcourt, but their backcourt is awful - a rebounding specialist at SG and a guy who manages to score more than he should at PG but offers nothing else. This is a tough one to call. Rabbithead could play, but I'm not going to risk him in a non-conference game I feel like we should win anyway. Neither team is shooting well at all, but we're slightly less terrible for the floor and consequently hold a 29-23 lead at the break. We of course let them right back in and it turns into a see-saw. Tied 59-59 with just under 2 minutes to go, Angel Moore's non-clutch ass of course misses the 3, but the Fish Knight grabs the rebound and dunks the miss to put us up 61-59. Our defense then walls up and doesn't allow a point for the rest of the game, allowing us to escape 64-59. Obviously with 21 points and 7 rebounds, Reinaldo Gonzalez is Player of the Game. Only he isn't! Nor is it Joseph Velarde (11 points, 2 steals), or the Fish Knight clutch though his only basket for 2 points and 10 rebounds was. No, it's Thomas Hadden, who had 12 points and 6(!) blocks. I'm feeling pretty good having him in the paint and I'm still debating whether he replaces Marlin Chevalier in the lineup. vs Northern Arizona (2-7) Warm body at center, defensive specialist at PF, a scorer at SF who can generate steals but isn't efficient, and Albert Twilley, who turns out to suck outside of passing/handling and 3 point shooting, though there's some stealing upside. Yeah I'm feeling good at making Twilley pay for this. Although at 2 wins, the Lumberjacks have equalled what they did last year already so... Rabbithead is at 96%, but I'm really not feeling risking it. They start out ridiculously hot and we're not shooting great, but we're still with a 34-27 halftime lead due to forcing them into 10 turnovers. Hope we discover our shooting form again and make them cool off some more. Nope. They got hotter, we get colder, but we still escape with a 71-67 victory. Angel Moore wakes up for the first time in a while with 19 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 steals to win PotG. Reinaldo Gonzalez has 12 and 8, and the Thomas "Block Gawd" Hadden watch is 9 points, 1 steal, and 1 block., Ronald Young dropped 22 points on us and Albert Twilley had 8 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, and a steal. It's our second time in three years finishing the non-conference portion with a winning record at 6-4, and we did it without one of our scoring stars. Now we've got some tough choices heading into Big West play - our juniors in the Fish Knight and Rabbithead? Or our fantastic freshmen in the Block Gawd and Reinaldo Gonzalez?
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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03-22-2023, 10:47 PM
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#21 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Code:
Despite the wide spread of records, I feel like the overall quality of talent in the Big West is both higher and has more parity than ever before. Hawaii does indeed look really good: Dietrich Hirschmann is in a shooting slump, but has been playing hurt, and Erhard Engelbrecht is a Green/Green as a sophomore. All 5 of their starters are international players, as are 10 of their players overall. The Rainbow Warriors' domestic recruiting has largely been in the Great Lakes region, saving a player reach from those awful winters in Minnesota and Illinois. UC-Irvine's Teddy Shores is my pick for Freshman of the Year to date. Don't raise eyebrows at the Gauchos' record - they have one player suspended and two injured. Plenty of time for them to get back into it. Top 3 Projection 1. UC-Santa Barbara 2. Hawaii 3. UC-Riverside I'm not comfortable picking beyond that - the conference is just too tightly packed. @ UC-Davis (5-6) The Aggies haven't looked like the conference tournament darlings they were the last two years. Bradley Caldaza has been in a sophomore shooting slump and the new coaching staff made the curious decision to move Americo Alvarez to PF. Always tough to win on the road, but I think we can maybe eke this out. After looking at the data, I decide to keep Reinaldo Gonzalez in the starting lineup despite Rabbithead's return from injury. And it's clear that we're simply better with the Fish Knight on the court despite Block Gawd's heroics. We've bumped our pressure game back up to one, but elsewise haven't changed after those choices. This is a tight slugfest, with the Aggies up by 2 at the half, 28-26. Neither team is shooting above 40%, so it's going to come down to who can find their shots the best in the second half. And then my antivirus keeps deleting FBCB because it thinks it's a virus. Unfucking believable.
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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03-23-2023, 12:11 AM
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#22 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Fixed the issue, but in the replay, UC-Davis whips us by 25. It's bullshit, but whatever. Moving on.
@ Long Beach State 1-11 (1-0) The 49ers won their first game of the year last time out. Isidoro Lopez and Dominique Larsen are always a dangerous duo, so I have a feeling we're going to get hammered in this one. Reinaldo Gonzalez beats the 1-3-1 zone on our last play of the half to cut their lead to 2, 27-25. We totally collapse in the second half, and I'm switching back to our old lineup. Reginald Maze bolts to Sacramento State, which is fine. I didn't much like him for our setup anyway. 2* PG Gayle Horton hears a who of a scholarship offer from us. Won't ever score, but looks like a reasonable floor general and a shutdown defender. Can't steal the ball, but I'd like to upgrade our perimeter defense, which isn't that great right now overall. Elsewise I think I'm going to roll the scholarship over - I just don't like what's left in this class at all. vs Hawaii 8-5 (0-2) Color me surprised the Rainbow Warriors have started 0-2 in Big West play and they justify my surprise by having us lucky to lose only in single digits 62-71. Angel Moore with 12, Florentin Dupretz with 11, and 10 boards for the Fish Knight, but we're suddenly hot garbage and I don't understand why. Dietrich Hirschmann dropped 31 on us. vs UC-Irvine 5-9 (2-2) If we lose to the Anteaters, who haven't impressed me, I'm going to be really annoyed. 44-39 Matadors at the half, riding Angel Moore (13 points) and Joseph Velarde (12 points), as our defense continues to be a complete and total mess. We finally get on the board in conference play, Joseph Velarde winning PotG with 14 points and 4 steals. Angel Moore leads us in scoring with 17 points, 6 boards, and a steal. Nice 11/8/1/2 line for Rabbithead (the 2 is steals), and Winston Reyes scores 10. vs CSU-Fullerton 4-10 (3-2) The Titans have turned from a defensive team to one of scorers, but they're not the most efficient at it. I feel pretty good about this one - well, as good as my Eeyore ass ever gets about a game. And yep, we're up by 10 at the break as the Titans are wasting shot after shot after shot. Naturally we let them back in, but eke out a 63-59 win on the back of Winston Reyes suddenly roaring for 16 points to be PotG. Joseph Velarde scores 14 with 2 steals, and the Fish Knight just misses the double-double with 11 points, 9 rebounds. Not too often you see the post win games for us. @ Cal Poly 9-7 (3-2) Another year of Chris Perry, and David Montes is the best player in the Big West. We have a hard time against these guys every single game, so I'm chalking this up as an automatic L. We're shockingly up 37-35 at the half and would be more if Rabbithead hadn't A. got the ball stripped that turned into a breakaway dunk and B. missed the buzzer-beater trey try. Joseph Velarde already has 13 points. Chris Perry of course hits the buzzer-beater at the end of the game to get the 78-76 win. He scored 17, David Montes had 18 and PotG. 24 points for Angel Moore, goose egg in second half for Velarde, Rabbithead with 11 and 2 steals, and 12 and a steal for Reinaldo Gonzalez. This one's going to sting for a long time. @ UC-Riverside 10-7 (4-2) The Highlanders are missing Alex Denny, who is pretty much a better Thomas Hadden, so maybe we can steal this one. Fucking 3 pointer puts us down by 4 at the half. Where's your clutch genes, guys? I don't care if Rabbithead scored 16 with 7 rebounds and a steal. His dummkopf ass gets whistled for the technical and that's the difference in a 3 point loss, 75-78. Ugh. 10 for Winston Reyes, and 14 off the bench for Florentin Dupretz. Two winnable games we've pissed away with stupidity. Jesse Reyes torched us for 27, including the first half trey of note. vs Pacific 5-12 (0-7) If we can't beat the bad Tigers on our court, I deserve to be fired. And of course they're up 30-26 at the break. 15 points, 4 assists, and 3 steals later, it's another Player of the Game for Joseph Velarde as we get mad in the second half finally and win 73-66. Marlin Chevalier played great with 11 points and boards and 2 blocks. Angel Moore is 13/5/2, and Reinaldo Gonzalez shines in replacing the foul-plagued Dummkopf with 15 points, 8 rebounds, and a block. vs UC-Santa Barbara 9-9 (4-4) Remember how I said the Gauchos made a horrible hire? It's playing out in the standings, as an incredibly talented roster is being wasted by a shit coach. How shit? We jump out to an 11-0 lead and are up 40-22 at the half. Of course, this is us, so we'll probably still find a way to blow this one. Lee Chadwick scores 26 with 4 steals and gets them back into it within 6, but we avoid blowing the lead entirely on Rabbithead's 28 points, 7 rebounds, and a steal, winning Player of the Game, but not my heart after his screwups. Angel Moore added 14 points and 8 rebounds, while the Fish Knight has 10 boards and a block. vs UPenn 8-10 (2-2) We have a game against the Ivy League that somehow got scheduled super late. The Quakers have risen to mid-tier Ivy status, but I'm not impressed with this squad. Our offense melts in the closing minutes of the first half, putting us up just barely at 21-17 after we were up by 10+. Typical. So bleeping typical. We just scrape by, 71-68, almost blowing yet another double-digit lead. Angel Moore scores 21, but Rabbithead is PotG for the second one in a row on his 16 points, 6 rebounds, and a steal. Florentin Dupretz adds 10 bench points and a steal as we ride our wings to victory. I'd say fly, but we only won by 3. Everyone and their mother jumped on Gayle Horton as everyone is scrambling to fill their offers with whatever passable spare parts they can find in this trash year. One scholarship open for transfers I can abide. Two and I start getting antsy. So back to the scouting trail we go. The bright side? We're 11-9 (4-5) and could conceivably end up with our best season yet by the time all is said and done: 13-17 (8-10) was our top of my regime so far, back in Rabbithead, the Fish Knight, and Angel Moore's freshman season. And we've already cleared 10 wins twice in three years (just missed it last year at 9-22).
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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03-24-2023, 12:06 AM
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#23 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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@ Hawaii 9-11 (1-8)
Yep, the Rainbow Warriors only have one conference win... against us. I don't know how a team that good on paper is doing that poorly, but they are. I don't have a good feeling about this one, naturally. Seems like every year, there's a team record-wise we play down to. Sure enough, we're down by a bucket at the half, 36-38. And they get some serious home cooking to beat us 77-74, wasting 19, 17, and 12 from Joseph Velarde, Angel Moore, and Florentin Dupretz respectively. Moore and Velarde also had a steal. Rabbithead had 15, 8, and 4 steals. That, too, was wasted. @ CSU-Fullerton 7-14 (6-5) Titans are having a pretty good conference season. Let's see if we can derail them. 21, 6, and 4 assists for Rabbithead, 14 and 6 for Angel Moore, but they're hot all night, and we're crushed 59-73. @ UC-Irvine 7-15 (4-8) At this point, we're just hoping to stave off last place by season's end. What a disaster of year this once promising season has turned out to be. We go up 8-0 and promptly piss it away, managing to find enough to go up 35-31 at the break. I am not holding out hope that we'll walk out with a victory, though. Sure enough, our offense goes to hell and we lose 57-71. Rabbithead is out 9 days, too, though he should come back in time to be able to play our next game. vs UC-Riverside 15-9 (9-4) The Highlanders are having the solid season I expected from them and we're so cold right now I don't know that we can beat anyone. We're only down by 1 at the half, thanks to UCR shooting 25% from the line while we're at 83% and Rabbithead shrugs off the injury for 10 points in the first 20. Second half is a brickfest. 30 seconds left. They take the shot, and the Fish Knight grabs the defensive board, game tied. Our hero takes it himself, going all the way coast-to-coast for the buzzer-beating layup to steal the 2 point victory!!!! That's his only score of the game, too. 12 points and a block for Winston Reyes, and don't get excited about Angel Moore's 10 points, 11 rebounds, and a steal, because he bricked everything. Rabbithead was shut down in the second half - 12 points, 8 boards, and 2 steals, though. Highlanders have to feel pissed about this one - they absolutely deserved the win. vs Cal Poly 15-10 (9-5) The Mustangs thank us for beating the Highlanders for them and see an opportunity here. They take full advantage, steamrolling us for 80 points. Angel Moore's 15 and a steal and Raphael Taylor's 12 bench points are laughable in the face of that. @ UC-Santa Barbara 12-13 (7-7) The Gauchos just can't get off the mid tier due to their bad coach hire. But we're the cure for almost everybody, promptly losing by 30 points in a game so bad, I'm not even going to mention key stats. @ Pacific 8-18 (3-12) Even if we lose to the Tigers, we won't drop to last place, but I really want to get this win to guarantee that we won't end up in the basement at season's conclusion. We damn near blow a 13-point halftime lead, but scrape by 56-47 in a much closer contest than the scoreline appears. Once again, we have no Player of the Game despite the win and finish the entire month of February without a PotG nod. But we've avoided last place, and not even Gayle Horton going to Washington can spoil the relieved mood that we've once again fulfilled our AD's expectations in our horrible facilities (Rating: 0/100, last in the Big West)
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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03-24-2023, 12:54 AM
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#24 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Clint Monger, a 6'0, 174 lbs. PG out of Pamplico, SC, is our next offer. Absolute aces ballthief who looks to have reasonable passing and handling ability. Not a great shooter by any means, but it's not like we really have those anyway. A 1* of course.
vs UC-Davis 20-7 (15-1) That homerun hire of Kevin Epsom was indeed no mirage, and the 28 year old is one of the hottest rising names of the circuit. The Aggies have already clinched the Big West title, so they don't have anything to play for. 20 points for Angel Moore, 16 and 4 steals for Joseph Velarde, but every time we get close, they pull away, and it's a 76-68 Aggies victory. Hope someone hires Epsom away soon. vs Long Beach State 7-21 (7-10) Well, the 49ers have salvaged an awful season, but I happen to think Damian Coffman could be on the chopping block. Lightning in a bottle the first season and it's been downhill from there. 20% shooting and they're staring down a 10-point deficit after 20 - 16-26. But this is us, and we obligingly lose on a last second tip-in, 63-65. 20 points and a steal for Joseph Velarde and yet more wasteful shooting by Rabbithead and Angel Moore. Once again, we barely make the conference tournament, sneaking in as a 7 seed on some tiebreaker. Cal Poly crushes us 95-49 and that's all our season wrote. Rabbithead is out 22 days but it doesn't matter. Expected UC-Davis vs Cal Poly final and the Mustangs run off the Aggies 93-81 to win the automatic bid. Code:
NCAA/NIT Tournaments Drawing the highest Big West seed to date, Cal Poly is a 12 seed against 5 seed Maryland. UC Davis is a 5 seed in the NIT and falls in the first round to Pepperdine. The Terps maul the Mustangs, leaving the Big West still in search of its first NCAA Tournament win. St Mary's beats Nevada 76-70 in the NIT championship - a battle of 5 and 6 seeds. Always good to see UNR lose. Final Four 1 seed Tennessee vs 8 seed Nebraska 4 seed Iowa vs 9 seed Purdue The Big 10 with a 75% chance of the title that drops to 50% after the Volunteers win by 31 over the happy to be there Huskers, then easily handle Hawkeyes 78-66 to finally get their first national title after two Final Four trips in three seasons. Code:
So redshirt freshmen *are* award-eligible. Good to know. Code:
As you can see, efficiency is a real problem for us
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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03-25-2023, 03:46 PM
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#25 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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We get Clint Monger as a late commit. Not that it matters because...
Code:
Things look mighty dire for us. We were the only team in the conference to fail at landing a 3* recruit and there's another 3-4 Top 100 or borderline classes coming in. Marist moves to the Atlantic 10, while Rhode Island drops to the MAAC. Coaching Movement So far no one's been fired, so everyone is getting a full recruiting class. All the coaching movement has been domino effects from retirement. Just like last season, that meant one of the Big West coaches getting poached. David Kendricks takes the job at South Dakota State, having been lured away from Cal Poly. On the face of it, that looks like a lateral move - going from the 2 prestige Big West to the 2 prestige Summit League and not an appreciably large team prestige jump - 42 to 60. But that's going from one that's 4th in the league to 1st. And the big difference - from 4th rated 28 Facilities to #1 ranked 57 Facilities. That's over double the quality of facilities and likely what convinced Kendricks to leave California for the frozen tundra. Interestingly, the recruiting budget is $10k a month less at SDS, and the Jackrabbits have a far worse roster than the Mustangs. Not a decision I personally would have made, especially he now has the pressure to win the conference championship, rather than merely compete for it at Cal Poly. The Mustangs respond by hiring Stanford's 51 year old Scouting Director, Terry Heywood. Good scout, decent recruiter, and okay at coaching defense, but really bad at coaching offense. Similar strengths/weaknesses to Kendricks, though Kendricks is a much better coach and abysmally bad recruiter. Still a decent enough hire, I suppose. Transfers Emerson Kane transferred out but isn't picked up by anyone, so goes to play Division II ball. That didn't impact our scholarships, so we had just the one to offer. With it, we bring in sophomore SF Patrick Lau, a Maryland native who transferred from Delaware. Doesn't really fit our scheme, but has some passing/handling upside and is a decent perimeter defender. We had another 3 prestige inch up to 16, statistically tying us with Pacific, yay! Now that we have a full cycle of recruiting classes in, some maps of where we're recruiting. First up, the local map:  5 have been in the SoCal region, 4 in the LA-Anaheim area  7 total in California, the other two from the state in the Bay Area and by Sacramento, respectively. 1 in Oregon, so 8 from the West Coast. Our Canadian recruit is from the shores of Lake Ontario, halfway between Hamilton and Niagara Falls, and our South Carolina pickup is from the middle of nowhere.  Our European recruits. Tublingen's nearest major city is Stuttgart, but I wouldn't necessarily call it close or anything, or a suburb. How Good Is Our Talent? 3*: 4 2*: 6 1*: 2 200-300: 1 (299) - Thomas Hadden 300-400: 1 400-500: 2 500-600: 3 700-800: 4 1000-1100: 1 As you can see, we've primarily recruited 2* the majority in the 500-800 range. We're not one to recruit highly ranked guys. Our first scholarship offer is to Mr. Basketball Montana PF Truman Crain. Although only a 1*, the Shelby native looks like a good shot blocker with excellent passing for a 4 and a decent inside game. 3* SG Jose Seeger, an All-State player from Pine River, MN is our second offer. Great rebounding for his size, deadly inside and 3 point shooting combo for our level, and a surprisingly strong defensive rebounder. Kind of a unicorn. We close out our initial offers with Geoffrey Blodgett, a 3* defensive specialist PG from Etna, CA. Jose Seeger, who I didn't really want that much anyway I don't think, commits to North Dakota. Automatically sitting out is Gregory Lau, but thankfully Dennis Luther agrees to redshirt, too. He needs it.
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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03-25-2023, 11:46 PM
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#26 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Code:
The Fish Knight has maxed out his Yellow/Yellow and had another great camp. It should be enough to keep his starting spot and we'll miss him next year. Code:
Much better improvement this season and it looks like he'll be a four year starter. Code:
Still Yellow/Green even though he's maxed out pretty much everything except his inside game. Rabbithead is who he is - a spot-up shooter as a scorer who can rebound and steal the ball some. Code:
Really nice camp for Moore, who becomes our first Green/Green player. There's a lot riding on him in his final season. Code:
Massive 10 point jump in stealing and he helps insurance our ability to generate turnovers will still be fine once our international wingers graduate. He's also become our best floor general in our four years here. And still only a sophomore since he redshirted his first year. Yellow/Green Code:
Definitely going to be an exciting player to watch in the lineup his final two seasons. The shotblocking is just dumb with how great it is as a wing. Yellow/Green Code:
Orange/Green and just keeps right on being a defensive wall while he grows into his rebounding. Our highest ranked recruit ever still - the only one to crack 300, and barely that at #299. Code:
Disappointing player who is pretty much just an average all-around guy. Orange/Green but I don't ever see him cracking the lineup in all honesty. Code:
1* comparative gem at Orange/Green. I could see him fighting Velarde for the starting role next season. A huge upgrade at the bench point for sure. Code:
Quietly and slowly developing into a decent all-around guy. The wing version of Raphael Taylor. I always like having the Frenchman in reserve, especially since we're weak at SG depth. Code:
Should have taken a redshirt. But oh well. He's our third 7', 300+ guy we've recruited who has ended up disappointing once we get a deeper look at him. Pretty much a case of them all using their size to dominate high school and then having it not work out at the next level. The AD expects us to finish .500 in the Big West this season. According to him, the school has shown patience - enjoyed the conference tournament appearances and the upset of UC-Riverside two years ago, their expectations met... and now it's time to start showing true progress. I'm not on the hot seat, though. That's the Hawaii and UC-Irvine coaches. This year, we're playing a pretty fast game (7) with actual motion (2). Our press is up to a whopping 9 and we're trapping above average, too. Quite a bit of depth on this squad, though we're still having to do a lot of help defense on the perimeter. [b]Angel Moore[b] and Reinaldo Gonzalez are our designated key players, dropping Rabbithead. @ Presbyterian. James Briggs is good at SG, and they have a fairly decent frontcourt as far as the defense goes. This should still be a win for us. And of course, we're suddenly down by 4 at the half after being up for most of the first 20 minutes. Not a good look, guys. Not good at all. Even worse, we endure an extending cold shooting streak in the second half and I'm resigning myself to a loss when we have the rare for us late comeback and steal a 74-68 win. Rabbithead went off for 19 points, 12 boards, and 2 steals. He was matched in scoring and steals by Joseph Velarde and in rebounds by the Fish Knight (1 block, 1 steal). @ Brown The Bears are a slightly below mid-tier Ivy League team but they're bruisers with pretty banging defense everywhere except PG. This is not going to be an easy game, and we could very easily lose this one. Especially since we weren't great against the Blue Hose. 25/10 in shooting to 55.6/33.3 and we're down by 16 at the half. Exactly my damn fear. We get stomped 55-72 with only Joseph Velarde showing up with 18 points and a steal. The gauntlet of elite teams comes next, so we'll be 1-4 when we come back to regular play
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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03-26-2023, 01:06 AM
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#27 |
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Dark Cloud
Join Date: Apr 2001
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Love seeing the recruits up close to get a sense of what we're working with.
I wish this game was rebuilt for the transfer portal era, it would be so fun. |
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04-02-2023, 07:23 PM
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#28 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Florentin Dupretz scores 13 off the bench in a blowout loss to #2 UConn, Angel Moore and Gunther Hasenkopf combine for 25 points, 12 rebounds, and 5 steals in a surprisingly competitive loss to #4 Oklahoma, but it's only 10 boards and 2 blocks from the Fish Knight in a blowout 48-point loss to #1 Baylor.
vs Eastern Kentucky (0-4) This will be a tough one. The Colonels are an experienced team, led by the excellent backcourt of Dustin Vasser and Kurt Wood, and Charles Brown is a great defensive rebounder and shotblocker in the paint. Sure enough, we blow an 11 point lead and are down by 5 at the half. Dustin Vasser has 24 points by himself in 20 minutes. Our perimeter defense is super weak despite our turnover generation machine and he's making us pay. By the end of the night, he has 40 points and our top scorer is Joseph Velarde with 16 points and 2 steals. He's the only one who came ready to play in the 69-88 loss. On the bright side, we land our first commit: [coode] #32 PF Truman Crain -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Height: 6-9 Weight: 253 High School: Shelby High School Hometown: Shelby, MT GPA: 3.24 Test Score: 1300 Rating: * Attributes: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Type INS JPS FTS 3PS HND PAS ORB DRB PSD PRD STL BLK QKN STR JMP STA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Current: 43 1 0 25 28 44 30 16 33 34 7 53 33 66 44 66 Potential: B F F D D C C C D B F A Season Stats: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PTS OREB REB AST TOS A/T STL BLK PFS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13.1 2.7 6.6 1.6 2.6 0.63 0.3 3.3 2.1 Shooting Averages: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FGM FGA FG% FTM FTA FT% 3PM 3PA 3P% -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.8 10.3 .563 1.4 3.2 .438 0.1 0.8 .067 Recruiting Notes: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Qualified: Yes Committed to Cal State Northridge Rankings: West Region #24 PF High School Awards: All-State, Mr. Basketball (Montana) Top 5 Schools: *Cal State Northridge, Washington State[/code] Sure, it's the remote, sparsely populated state of Montana, but we add our first Mr. Basketball. Smart, smart kid who can block shots already and has an okay inside game for our level. I think he's better than the Red/Yellow he's projected as. We add SF Earle Owens, a 3* SF from San Diego, CA to our offer list next. Can't steal the ball and is a terrible shooter, but is otherwise a very good defender. And yes, we're starting to break away from our go get turnovers to looking at guys who can actually play defense. We're not seeing success with the pressure system, clearly. vs Longwood (2-5) I'm not sure how the Lancers have a 2-5 team. They're really, really bad. But then again, so are we. We need a win to snap us out of the funk we're in. Our RPI has tanked to 250 as a result of the Colonels vassering us in our face at our place. My instincts are proven correct when we're up by 19 at the half and are in total cruise control mode. Sure enough, we win by 20, finally getting a Player of the Game when Reinaldo Gonzalez rips off 18 points, 6 rebounds, a block, and a steal in just 18 minutes. Adding 14 points and 3 steals is Joseph Velarde, while 10 points each for Rabbithead and Winston Reyes is a nice bonus. @ Grambling State (1-4) The Tigers have a diarrhea soft perimeter defense, which bodes well for us. Their post defense might well be even worse, so this is shaping up to be a shootout, as our own defense is not that good. Yep. 22 point lead at the half, as we score 52 points in 20 minutes. We're just laughing at their toothless efforts. 78-55 final, with Angel Moore scoring 19, Winston Reyes adding 12 with 2 blocks and 3 steals. Player of the Game goes to Florentin Dupretz, who lights them up for 15 points in 16 minutes. 3-5 with our first win streak to speak of, and we're finally looking like a team who might actually meet our AD's increased demands. I sure am tired of coaching a squad that has garbage facilities, though. It's really putting a cap on how successful we can be. By this time, teams like a certain Lafayette Leopards squad are taking conference titles and going dancing. We're out here on that struggle bus just trying to authentically be a mid-tier Big West squad in the same amount of years.
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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04-02-2023, 07:28 PM
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#29 | |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Quote:
Me too, though my trial on the mapmaking site expired. So we'll see if we can have those maps again in the future. Also agreed this game would be even more amazing with a modern day update and some tweaks in a couple areas
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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04-02-2023, 09:31 PM
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#30 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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@ Stony Brook (0-9)
The Seawolves are a better team than their record indicates, with good post defense and a couple perimeter defenders. Their problem is a weak PG and an offense that simply won't happen. Trap game, thy name is this. Sure enough, it's a tight first half that sees us battle from a deficit to a 7 point lead and then lose it. We're up by 1, 42-41 at the half, thanks to a Reinado Gonzalez steal and layup for his only points of the first frame. Winston Reyes had a basket and two free throw opportunities to score points just before the whistle and blew all three. Sigh. Fortunately our backcourt figures out how to attack the weakest link in the second half and we emerge 84-70 victors on PotG Joseph Velarde's 23 points, block, and steal, and Angel Moore's 23 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 steals. The two combined almost beat the Seawolves. We'll definitely take it. vs St Peter's (4-6) The Peacocks boast an efficient backcourt, but literally no one on this team can play defense. I'm a little surprised they're 4-6 TBH. Seems a paper near-.500 squad that we should be able to run off the court - especially on our turf. A Marlin Chevalier jump extends our halftime lead to 5, but by the shooting stats and even with the -3 turnover differential, we should be crushing these guys. My guess is they're volume shooting to keep it that close. Charles Cannon wins Player of the Game with a surprise 27 points out of the SF spot, but we take the 74-68 win that wasn't as close as the line suggests. Angel Moore scores 19 in just 14 minutes before fouling out, and Rabbithead wakes up for the first time in ages - 14 points, 7 rebounds. Just missing the double-double is the Fish Knight with 9 points, 16 rebounds, and a block as we finally find ourselves at .500 again. vs CSU Bakersfield (4-9) Terrific post defense and they have a better than his talent suggests senior in Monty Berrago at SF. But they have absolutely NO perimeter defense and their backcourt is pretty bad overall. Roadrunners should be overrun here to put us with a winning record. And of course they play mistake-free basketball while we couldn't hit a barn the size of the Taj Mahal. 33-42 down after 20 and we're lucky it's not anymore. Wake up, jackasses! We get within a single point so many times I nearly throw my towel at Rabbithead because we never overtake them thanks to 20 fucking turnovers. 91-99 loss that flatters the shit out of their coyoteing our asses. I'm too disgusted to highlight the numerous solid statistical performances we had. No way we should have lost this one. Absolutely none. Code:
Well, we at least sort of LOOK the part of a mid-tier Big West team. Though a large part of that is due to the fact that the talent level has gelled so close together outside of Pacific that I'm having a hard time picking a Top 3 or 4, let a Top 1. Nothing would surprise me, nothing at all. But I'm not betting against wunderkind Kevin Epson, so I'll tab UC-Davis to win it all. @ UC-Riverside (5-7) The Highlanders have a beautiful scoring backcourt in Jesse Reyes and Howard Morton and a post anchor in Alex Denny, and I'm going to tip us for a road loss to open the Big West. Like us they have 3 seniors, a sophomore, and a junior in the starting five. Our press scheme generates a +6 TO advantage by halftime and that's as many points as we lead by despite their slightly outshooting us. 36-30 ain't pretty, but it's the Big West, baby! Of course we lose it, and after the Fish Knight deliberately shanks the second free throw, Rabbithead grabs the offensive board and has a literal shot to tie it up and send it to OT. Of course he misses. 60-62 L. 15 points from Angel Moore and a solid 10/7/1 block line from Winston Reyes, but we failed to capitalize on their soft perimeter underbelly. @ UC-Santa Barbara 4-7 (1-0) The Gauchos have fallen from great heights indeed after their botched hire. I've never liked Larry Sherlock as much as scouts do, and Kenneth Howerton is no Jamaal E. We'll probably still lose, but this is no longer a Scare Bear opponent. Of course they promptly destroy us in the first half, but we strangle their offense in the second half and we storm back from a 15 point deficit to stun them 75-73 after Rabbithead smartly fouls to force them to earn OT at the charity stripe and they fail spectacularly. The Fish Knight is the Man of the Night overall though with a record 16 points to go with his 7 rebounds and a steal. Winston Reyes chips in 10 points and a block, Thomas Hadden is everywhere off the bench with 10 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 blocks, and Florentin Dupretz goes OFF with 18 points and a steal in 12 minutes. Rabbithead taketh away and Rabbithead giveth. Earle Owens bolts to Arizona. Good for him. I hated his shooting anyway. We do land Geoffrey Blodgett, though! Code:
The lack of offense in scouting is a little worrying, but he should be a defensive brick in the wall. And we're pretty well set with decent point guards for a good while now. We still have one more scholarship and I'm going to go for best non-PG available. A wing wouldn't hurt - Reinaldo Gonzalez and Florentin Dupretz will be upperclassmen next year and I'm not that thrilled with Transfer Lau TBH, so building something there would be good.
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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04-03-2023, 11:38 AM
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#31 | |
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High School Varsity
Join Date: Sep 2022
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Quote:
Thanks for the props. To be fair, however, I created Graham Sims with average ratings; he's a level 7 coach at the beginning of my story. Izulde Jestor began at level 0. Lafayette's prestige was 27 in my first year, and the Matadors were something like a 5, if I recall correctly. Your path to respectability is a lot harder than mine was. My first recruiting class at Lafayette included James Sanders, Hubert Song, Venceslás Castillo, and Rhett King. Sanders and Song have been starters from Day One. Castillo has started over 105 games in his career. And King has appeared in 128 games, averaging 18 minutes per game. Song is a Blue player now. Sanders and Castillo are Green, and King is Yellow. A core of players that talented will win a lot of games in the Patriot League. |
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04-04-2023, 03:44 AM
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#32 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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vs UC-Irvine 5-7 (0-2)
Rough start to the season for the Anteaters, who have a weakness at PF with a freshman who only scores... but they have plenty of other scorers. Could be a track meet, and overall I do like our chances to get back on the .500 overall and a little cushion for our AD's target of a .500 conference season. We eat their lunch and play spectacular defense - up 44-19 at the half. Not even we can blow a lead this big this late in the game. We don't, winning 70-47. Joseph Velarde and Angel Moore each swipe 3, scoring 14 and 12 respectively. Rabbithead steals 2, too, putting up 10 and 7 besides. But the player of the Game goes to Winston Reyes with his 12 points, 7 rebounds, and a steal in 20 minutes. Just a solid, balanced all-around victory. More pressure for their embattled coach. vs Hawaii 10-4 (2-1) The Rainbow Warriors are finally winning games after all that glitzy recruiting and Dietrich Hirschmann is having a breakout season in his final year. Still, I feel like this is a winnable game against Team United Nations. Their development of players has been absolutely dreadful because everyone is busy having long ass flights to get to and from campus. An early shooting slump has me potentially eating my words, but we grind our way back and score the last 5 points of the half on a Joseph Velarde trey and Raphael Taylor steal and a dunk to put us up 35-29. No lead is ever safe with us, of course. We're fending them off most of the second half, but then they go up late and it's looking like another doomfest until good Rabbithead shows up and nails a clutch 3 point buzzer-beater to tie it up at 68 and send us to OT! That breaks their spirit and we dominate extra time to walk out 78-72 victors. Bill Crook and Dietrich Hirschmann combined for 43 points, each scoring 20+. but Clutch Rabbit leads the counter and wins the game award with 17 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 steals. Joseph Velarde and Angel Moore were both wasteful as hell in their shooting to double digits, but swipe 4 and 2 respectively, with Moore adding a block. Thomas Hadden is stellar off the bench with 11 points, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 2 steals. @ Cal Poly 8-6 (3-0) The Mustangs still have Chris Perry and David Montes, the latter the two-time reigning Big West Conference Player of the Year. Ariel Norton combines with Perry to make the conference's best post duo. No surprise they're undefeated and I think it'll be a pretty heavy L for us. It is, though we get to single digits in a fightback in the second half before falling 60-78. Reinaldo Gonzalez is great with 16 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 steals. But Angel Moore wastes shots en route to 14 points and 3 steals, and David Montes drops 34 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, and 4 steals on us. @ Long Beach State 7-8 (2-2) The Beach's star never recovered after their first season flash in the pan, but Dominique Larsen is having the best year of his life, averaging 18.8 points on respectable efficiency, and they have seniors at PG, SG, SF. This smells like another loss to drop us back to .500 in the Big West and surrender our cushion. Christ. Isidoro Lopez launches one just past halfcourt at the buzzer to put them up 27-26 and the crowd is in absolute raptures. That smells like a backbreaking dagger in terms of morale. But then Angel Moore comes out pissed off, scoring 15 in the second half on his way to 25 and Player of the Game, and we win an ugly one, 57-47. Fantastic defense and vintage Matadors, with Rabbithead popping up for 12, 8, and a steal. The Fish Knight grabs 11 boards on the back of the brick houses being built. vs Pacific 2-13 (1-5) So the Tigers have a passing wizard in PG Leonardo Menendez, but the junior has no teammates to take advantage of those skills. This team is pure ass. But they've trap game beat us before, so I'm not guaranteeing anything, though this should be a comfortable victory. Naturally, they're up 38-37 at the buzzer and could easily be way in front if they could make their FTs. I'm annoyed that once again, we're playing down to their level. They can't miss a single shot and shoot 51.7%, 40% from the 3 point line in upsetting us 81-78. Dorian Cahoon, a senior reserve center, has the literal game of his life in scoring 20 points and we're all like WTF just happened. So annoying. I won't miss Angel Moore's volume shooting at all next year. He's never shot higher than the 38.6% his freshman year. vs CSU-Fullerton 8-10 (2-5) The Titans actually have a pretty talented team by the color ratings. Problem is, no one can shoot the ball with any accuracy. Which of course means they'll beat us by 30. Weird first half. They're shooting 51.9% from the field and 25% from the charity stripe and behind the arc. It adds up to a 41-31 advantage good guys after Florentin Dupretz scores his only points on a late trey to bring us back to double-digits. No one can shoot in the second half, and we grind out a 68-60 win. Angel Moore gets the honors with 17 points and 3 steals, but it should have gone to Winston Reyes' 13 points, 7 rebounds, 4 blocks, and 3 steals. Weird decision there. 11 rebounds and a block for the Fish Knight. vs UC-Davis 14-4 (7-1) The Aggies have stellar coaching of course and a scoring god in Kenneth Nugent, and those two combined are enough to make them the class of the Big West in results, even though Cal Poly is actually a way more talented squad. Both teams are struggling and we get cold at the wrong time on the back end of 20, surrendering a slender lead to go down 32-35. They'll make adjustments and shred us, of course. Kenneth Nugent torches for 29 points and 2 steals, but the second half ends up a scrappy back and forth affair. Angel Moore tries to give the game away with a typically non-clutch turnover, but we escape with the 74-71 upset as the Aggies can't overcome 30.7% shooting as a team. Our backcourt combines for 22 points on 4 of 15 shooting, but Rabbithead pulls out another clutch rescue - 18 points, 7 rebounds, a block, and 3 steals - including a fourth robbery in taking PotG away from Nugent. And just like that, we're 11-9 (6-3). Three games up on .500, already having tied our Big West win totals the last two seasons and closing in on this year's senior year class's freshman high of 8 conference wins. Even better, at the end of the month, we find a French wing, 2* Papillion Faulvarque, who whilst not great by the rainbow (Red/Yellow) looks like a solid all-around player. He has no offers, so we try to jump in quick and land him, spending every literal last dollar on a campus visit and my flying over to Aubagne. Code:
Talk about a top half/bottom half split so far in conference play. Looking at this, unless the Anteaters win out, Elliott Borrego will be looking for a job next year I bet.
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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04-04-2023, 03:46 AM
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#33 | |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Quote:
Fair point. Coaching matters pretty hugely here, I've noticed. Maybe it's just this level, though.
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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04-04-2023, 02:08 PM
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#34 |
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Dark Cloud
Join Date: Apr 2001
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Nah, coaching matters a ton. I usually run experiments at all levels where I max out my assistants in one category each to see if it helps teams and it almost always does.
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04-04-2023, 10:19 PM
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#35 | |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Quote:
Makes sense! *** @ Hawaii 11-9 (3-6) The Rainbow Warriors are spoiling to avenge their recent defeat to us that started a 5-game losing streak which kicked them out of the contenders tier and into the bottom feeders. They're a good enough squad to do it even with their development problems. And they do, handing us a 52-101 beatdown. Let's just move on. @ UC-Irvine 6-15 (0-10) The Anteaters are officially guaranteed to finish under .500 in the Big West again and we're hoping to continue burying their sadsack coach to the unemployment line. Shake off the doldrums of that Hawaii blowout we do in the first half, comfortably coasting to a 38-22 lead at the break. 16 points *should* be enough, buuuut this is us. And we have a tendency to play down to our crap opponents. Not this time. We're the destroyers this game, 81-50. Angel Moore scores 20 with 2 steals and earns Player of the Game as he so often does in one-sided games. Joseph Velarde has 11 points and a steal, while the Fish Knight has that many boards, a steal, and 3 blocks. It's such an easy win Reinaldo Gonzalez (14 points, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks) and Florentin Dupretz (12 points, a block) get enough court time to record meaningful stats. vs Long Beach State 9-12 (4-6) The Beach are still mad about the homecourt loss to us and I consider them still a dangerous, well-coached team despite their habit of just missing the target of .500 Big West seasons the last two years. I think they get their revenge. But then Joseph Velarde scores 15, Rabbithead 11 in the first half and we're up 44-22 at the break due to shooting 56% to their 26.7%. Once the shots normalize, we might well be scrambling to fight for our season sweep. And that's exactly what happens. Nonetheless, we gut out the 66-59 win on heroic Rabbithead's 22 points, 8 rebounds, and a steal, as Velarde is completely shut out in the second 20 minutes. With the victory, we officially equal the win totals overall and conference of the seniors' freshman year - our best season to date. vs Cal Poly 11-11 (6-6) Shocked by the Mustangs' free fall? Me too. Chris Perry finishes his college career with an ACL tear. That's rough, man. This is still a super-dangerous Mustangs squad I can't see us having the right players to beat. It's almost 5 minutes before anyone scores. Losing Perry really took a lot of the heart out of this team. It's all knotted up at 33 at the break, and while I'm still expecting us to implode, I'm impressed by the grit and determination we've shown. With just over 2 minutes left in what has been a see-saw second half, Winston Reyes gets the steal, breaks away for a dunk that he misses, then grabs his own offensive board and puts the ball in to put us up by 1. We force a shot clock violation on the other end and it's literally free throws from there - ending in a slugfest 62-57 win that was far closer than it appeared. We hold David Montes to 8 points on 2 of 13 shooting, and sure Tyrone McMillian is PotG with 19 points, 12 rebounds, and 2 blocks, but Joseph Velarde should have gotten with 18 points, a block, and 4 steals. 12 points for Rabbithead, and the Fish Knight's 8 points, 10 rebounds, block, and 2 steals were also instrumental in our literal record-setting triumph. @ Pacific 6-18 (4-9) We've achieved all of our goals this season already and our 176th RPI is Orange, the highest our schedule has slated this far into a year. So we're pretty much playing with house money. I still want to beat the team that manages to spoil our fun - who knocked us off earlier this year and swept us in that freshman season despite being one of the worst teams in the Big West both campaigns. 14 first half points by Angel Moore alone nearly tops all of the Tigers, who are shooting cold and staring down a 20-37 deficit. Neither side is what you would call on fire. At least that bodes well that we might not put ourselves in the scary bear second half like against Long Beach State. We don't and stroll out 81-54 winners on Angel Moore's 24 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 blocks. All 10 players who played 10 minutes or more got on the scoresheet. That's how balanced our overall offense was. @ UC-Davis 17-8 (10-5) At 96% is Winston Reyes. Do we risk him? I think we do - this game has seeding implications for the Big West tournament. I don't think we win - it's a Kevin Edson squad after all, and we took them out at our place. But we at least have to put our best foot forward. We absolutely shoot the lights out of the ball and the Aggies again struggle shooting like they did our first game. It's a surprise 48-31 CSN lead when we head to the locker room. Brace for the impact of shooting stabilization on both sides and this seemingly fat advantage evaporating in the second half. Unfuckingbelievable. We lose the lead as expected, get it back, and they're whistled for traveling with 24 seconds left and we're only down one. For some reason, my idiot coaching staff has the reserves in the game, and the moron Reinaldo Gonzalez gets called for 3 seconds in the key without a shot off. 80-81 loss and I'm STEAMED! No highlights. They don't deserve it after pissing this one away on a stupid play. Kenneth Nugent has 30 and a steal, and I bet he breaks David Montes' stranglehold on Big West Player of the Year. @ CSU-Fullerton 14-13 (8-8) Out with injury is Chris Higgins, but I hold no hope of any more wins the rest of the year after the Buffoon Play that clinched the title for UC-Riverside and dropped us to third place. Yes, we were within a possibility of maybe winning the Big West. 41-38 halftime lead, but we're shooting 51%. Implosion incoming. 70-74 loss. But wait, there's more! Raphael Taylor: OUT 56 days Marlin Chevalier: OUT 9 days What a disaster. Papillion Faulvarque has 3 offers. We're tentatively leading on St. Francis (PA) and Binghamton, but it's by no means guaranteed. For our next game, the Fish Knight will be at 88%. Against the team we're tied for in third place. Oh, and we have champions UC-Riverside as our final game. 10-8 and 5th place is looking like a very, very real possibility thanks to our late loss to the Titans...
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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04-11-2023, 12:56 AM
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#36 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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vs UC Santa Barbara 14-14 (10-6)
This game against the Gauchos is a must-win if we want a Top 3 finish. Winston Reyes moves to CE, with Thomas Hadden stepping in at PF. Reyes will also be one of the key offensive focal points alongside Angel Moore and Reinaldo Gonzalez. UCSB is at full-strength, so I'm a little worried at how this one is going to go. 57.7% shooting in the first 20 minutes gives us a 47-36 lead. Rabbithead has 14 already, while Reyes has a big fat 0 despite supposed to be a key part of the offense. Any time we shoot this hot in the first, I expect a second-half ice bath and lead evaporating. It starts that way, but then we're able to stabilize and come away with the 79-69 victory. Joseph Velarde blew up for 23 points and a steal to win Player of the Game. As so often happens with a hot first, Rabbithead is shut out in the second, but does have 7 boards and a steal. Decent first start for Hadden - 5 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 blocks, and holding the Gauchos' frontcourt to a 6 of 19 night. That augers well for what next year's team is going to look like. vs UC-Riverside 20-9 (15-2) This is a dead rubber as far as I can tell. Highlanders sewed up the title already and I *think* us beating UCSB last game means we're third even if we lose and they win. Same as last time, because the Fish Knight is only at 95%. We shoot just 27.6% the first two minutes... and are only down 29-32. Thomas Hadden's godly defense is able to keep us in games we should be blown out of. Can we normalize and storm back to steal the victory? I honestly don't care either way, but it'd be nice. We tie it up at 52-all with 4:52 left in the game and don't score another point the rest of the way. While we lose pretty soundly, we are indeed #3 on tiebreakers. Big West Conference Tournament vs Hawaii 16-13 (8-10) Great. Our reward is drawing the supremely talented but badly coached Rainbow Warriors. This is a recipe for a seeding upset if I ever saw one. ...or not! 54-26 first half, with Angel Moore and Rabbithead each scoring 14 as we shoot 58.8% from the floor. Not even we can blow a 28 point lead in 20 minutes! 90-48 final. No, that's not a misprint. We've never crushed an opponent that badly. Ever. Angel Moore is naturally Player of the Game because he always goes big when there's no pressure - 27 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 steals. Rabbithead with 18, 7, and 2 steals. 9 boards and 4 blocks for Thomas Hadden off the bench. @ 2 seed UC-Davis 21-9 (13-5)[/b] Our run will end here against Kevin Edson's team, I'm sure. But it'll match our deepest conference play since that time we upset top-seeded UC-Riverside. Angel Moore scores 11 in the first and we're up 40-35. But don't get excited - that's with us shooting 54.5% and the Aggies an abysmal 38.7% from the floor. Disparities narrow in the second frame and we'll walk out of here with our heads high despite losing. Kenneth Nugent nails a 3 pointer with 14 seconds left. 85-84 Aggies. Reinaldo Gonzalez gets it to Angel Moore and I'm like WHY?! HE'S NOT CLUTCH! And of course, his 3 point try clangs off the rim. Hell of a game. I'll post the box score. An absolute classic. Code:
It's UC-Riverside in the final and Kevin Edson takes his team to the Big Dance by beating the Highlanders 70-66 after getting relegated to the NIT last season. NCAA/NIT Tournaments It's UC-Davis drawing the 13 seed against 4 seed Nebraska while UC-Riverside is the 12 seed play-in game against UTEP. Does that mean we get a call from the NIT?! Probably not. Nope. I didn't think so. UC-Davis is blown out by 20 against Nebraska, while UC-Riverside drops a 60-68 decision to UTEP. Big West is still out here looking for our first Big Dance win, though we've had a couple NIT runs. Georgia beats North Carolina State in the NIT Final in a battle of 4 seeds, and the Bulldogs do it easily. Final Four 4 seed Gonzaga vs 13 seed James Madison 1 seed Texas A&M vs 2 seed Duke The Bulldogs narrowly avert disaster by beating the Dukes 80-78, while A&M bounces the Blue Devils. That's the lowest seed in real life to make a Final Four, too - where an 11 seed has done it five times (most recent 2021, which we're not yet in this universe). As expected, the Aggies annihilate the Bulldogs 80-59 to win their first title. And we have news! Our last commitment! Code:
The Butterfly Man looks like a decent all-around recruit for our level and despite my pushing the defense more, now that I have questions about the effectiveness of turnover generation, we get someone who fits the pressure scheme I've built. Code:
Our first Top 3 conference finish, first winning conference record, and first winning overall season. Yeah, that's a very successful year for us. Easily our best campaign. But will it net awards? Code:
The utter disrespect. What the actual hell? And I guess voters dig blocks, because there's literally no universe I'd vote for Alex Denny for any award, let alone Conference Player of the Year. We'll profile our seniors in the next post.
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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04-11-2023, 01:28 AM
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#37 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Code:
The Fish Knight always just did his thing - quietly grab rebounds consistently, shoot well for the few attempts he made, and collect some blocks. He had a few clutch moments, too. Records Big West: #6 Offensive Rebounds, #7 Rebounds, #8 Blocks Team: #1 Rebounds, #1 Offensive Rebounds, #6 Points, #4 Assists, #6 Steals, #2 Blocks Yeah, I'm surprised by that team points and assists ranking, too. Just a steady, steady player. Code:
Oh, Rabbithead. Missed half his freshman season for stupid shit and was wildly inconsistent on his way to his lockstep 10 points a game. And for all his boneheadedness, he was one of the most clutch players we had when it came to game time situations. Contributed in a lot of areas to the game, and I'll actually miss the knucklehead. Records Big West: #13 Points, #17 Offensive Rebounds, #18 Rebounds, #16 Assists, #3 Steals, #3 Turnovers Team: #2 Points, #2 Rebounds, #2 Offensive Rebounds, #1 Assists, #1 Steals, #1 Turnovers, #7 Blocks His records testify to his mercurial nature - a whole lot of good things, including a lot of assists out of the SF spot - undone by a whole ton of turnovers. After graduation, he heads back to Germany and becomes a sales rep for Volkswagen. He didn't have any interest in coaching after I told him it'd be a lot of hard work and not much time for partying. Code:
Our first 3* recruit and to date our only Green/Green player. The key scorer every year and wowed enough his freshman season to get on the All-Conference team, but by senior year, he'd been passed up by a lot of other people. Perhaps most famous for great games when it was decided early either way and completely stuffing it up in close/late-game situations. Records Big West: #5 Points, #10 Steals, #5 Turnovers Team: #1 Points, #2 Steals, #2 Turnovers, #3 Rebounds, #3 Offensive Rebounds, #2 Assists, #10 Blocks His 29 points against CSU-Fullerton this year ranks as the highest in school history in this universe. Fitting that it's just shy of 30. Underrated as a rebounder, in all honesty. Still, looking at his career, you have to wonder what his numbers would be like if he actually shot 40% even one season. Just one. After graduation, he stays in the area and actually gets a job in the Admissions Office. As you can expect, he doesn't want the pressure of coaching and is just happy to still hang out and relive what passes for glory days. Code:
Absolute walk-on legend the two years we didn't have a point guard worthy of the designation. Actually won PotG 4 times in his career, more than the Fish Knight. Thanks, Rickie. After graduation, he gets a job as a bartender. He's got plans to open his own Matadors bar if we ever become successful enough to merit it. I've no doubt we'll keep in touch.
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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04-11-2023, 03:13 AM
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#38 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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The AD is absolutely delighted after last year's challenge for the Big West crown and I have actual job security. Maybe I've also done enough to draw some attention from another school? Not saying for sure I'd leave, buuuuut...
Code:
3 Top 100 classes and the Big West's first Top 50 class. Great work by both the Titans and the Highlanders. We also have our highest ranked class in universe history. Our class may be highly ranked, but it looks pretty rough. Geoffrey Blodgett is pretty much saving our bacon. The Butterfly Man looks really pretty bad, and Truman Crain is as projected except he can't rebound at all. Might shift him to SF. He looks a lot like a tweener to me - no jump shot or 3 pointer, can't rebound or steal the ball, but some really intriguing inside and defensive upside. Hartford moves to the Northeast Conference, while Bryant goes to the America East. Elliott Borrego is given a choice of retiring with a benefits package or getting fired. He opts to retire, and seeing the Kevin Edson success, UC-Irvine taps Stanford's Lamar Hartfield. The 49 year old is an absolute god at recruiting (great...) and an excellent defensive coach (...wonderful) but can't scout well and has almost no clue on coaching the offense. That's a pretty darn good hire, all things considered. They could have done a lot worse. Our Prestige leaps 6 points to 22, and we're suddenly on the tails of Hawaii, UC-Irvine, Long Beach State, and CSU-Fullerton. I'm actually building a respectable program here! With only one scholarship, we look at every 3* player who has Average interest in us or higher and go for broke on Don Hass, a stretch 4 out of Pacific Palisades, CA who is ranked #113 in the country. He's one of the most unique players I've seen and if my hunch is right, he would step on campus as the most talent overall player in school history. It turns out a pipe dream as San Diego State comes calling. Back to the drawing board, and we'll figure it out later because Training Camp is coming up. The Butterfly Man is willing to redshirt, so sure. Code:
This is your time to shine, Winston. You're moved over to center and are a Key Player. He's no Fish Knight as a rebounder, defender, or blocker, but should be able to hold his own. If he can't break out this year, he never will. Yellow/Green. Code:
After two years of waiting, the Block Gawd finally steps into the lineup. He's turned into a monster defensive rebounder, and one of the greatest defender/shotblockers the world has ever seen. We don't need him to score. We just need him to shut everyone down. Yellow/Green. Code:
His shooting tanked last year, but Gem who is the best 1* find ever is our other Key Player. Incredible shotblocker. Opponents are going to have headaches trying to get past him and Hadden for sure. Code:
The weak link in our lineup at Orange/Yellow, he does bring some needed 3 point shooting to prevent teams from simply packing the paint against us. And he fits our theme of turnover generation. Glad to see him on the perimeter rather than play the 4 like he did freshman year. He's happy to be back in the starting five for his final season. Code:
Did you think we'd be without a Green/Green player this year? Say hello to Joseph Velarde, who admittedly suffers from the ass shooting of Angel Moore to get his points, and the out of position terrible defense that Dupretz had at PF. But oh, the steals. The steals! Code:
Orange/BLUE. Yep, that's right, out of nowhere he went from Orange/Green to Orange/Blue after camp. He'll be a 6th man his freshman year and people are thrilled about his potential. Can't pass, so I see him as a 2/3 - 2 next season, maybe 3 thereafter? Code:
Orange/Green and between him and Blodgett, I'm feeling pretty good about our backcourt for the next few years after Velarde and Dupretz leave. Another Steals God. Code:
Probably the single most disappointing player I've ever recruited. Orange/Green and a complete bust of a player. Will never sniff the starting lineup. Code:
He's been passed up by more talented players (Orange/Green himself) but another fantastic stealer and in the early days, he'd have been our best floor general. Code:
Sometimes the smart guy just can't cut it on the court. Red/Yellow and not much hope of seeing meaningful minutes as I'm going to try recruiting over him. Code:
Red/Yellow and I like Mr. Basketball Montana better than my staff does. I'd be fine with him in the lineup at some point. Code:
If you squint really hard, you can think maybe this Red/Orange transfer will amount to something. But he's garbage time minutes only. As you can see, we're loaded for bear at the guard spots, but the big man situation is dire. SF should be fine. The Butterfly Man blossomed to Orange/Green after camp, so I'm not worried about that pipeline - especially if Blodgett converts over to the 3, too. @ Longwood The Lancers are not a very good team - they're an independent on a three-year streak of single-digit wins, but they're not TERRIBLE. I think we can win this one and probably should. We'll see, though. I have no idea where our offense is going to come from after Rabbithead and Angel Moore graduated. 40-29 good guys at the half, but we're shooting 51% and they're at 35%. The closest they've been is 3 points. I don't know the character of our squad this year to say how the second 20 minutes will go. 16 points, 7 rebounds, a block and 2 steals earns Florentin Dupretz Player of the Game in an 82-52 curbstomping, but he's also out with injury now. A day-to-day one, but still. Winston Reyes roars for 18 points, 7 rebounds, and a block as he steps up the scoring. The Block Gawd has 11 rebounds, 7 blocks, and a steal in his first start. Damn I'm going to love watching his numbers. 15 points, 8 rebounds, and a block for Reinaldo Gonzalez. 12 points, 5 rebounds, and a block for Raphael Taylor off the bench, too. Nice. Very nice. @ Grambling State (0-1) The Tigers just got their asses handed to them by 30 by UI-Chicago. They're a better team on paper than the Lancers, but they're about where we were when we were struggling to build ourselves up. I feel like this is one we should win. Dennis Luther gets the surprise call at SG over Blodgett due to his godly stealing ability. We dig ourselves a deep hole early and climb out to a 31-28 halftime edge. We're shooting 50%, they're at 38.1%. Our inability to hit free throws is absolutely killing us - if we could make them, we'd have a comfortable lead. Suddenly, I'm not feeling too hot about the second 20. We open up a double digit lead and don't let them get closer than 3 the rest of the way. You'd think with 20 points and 12 rebounds in a 64-55 game that Reinaldo Gonzalez would get PotG, but nope, that goes to Thomas Hadden's 8 points, 3 blocks, and a steal. TBF he completely neutralized the Tigers' frontcourt. We didn't make a single 3 pointer and were just 8 of 19 from the line. Weird game. Dennis Luther had 8 points and 4 steals by the way. I'll take the 2-0 before the gauntlet. See you at 2-3 on the other side.
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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04-12-2023, 02:16 AM
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#39 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Thanks to 14 points, 8 rebounds, and a steal from Gem Gonzalez, we have a competitive 51-62 loss to UConn. 15 points and a block from Winston Reyes is part of a stunning 4 point lead on Stanford and we're close for the entire first half before falling 47-62. It's a 12/7/1/1 line from Gem Gonzalez and 8 points, 10 rebounds and a block from Winston Reyes as we have another competitive first half against Tennessee before the Volunteers whip us 59-87.
Pretty encouraging that we're at least showing flashes of being able to fight the elite teams in the country, and our RPI shoots up to 73 at one point - green! We spy 3* William Thrasher, a 6'2 Red/Blue SG from Woodland Hills, CA and offer him because at that point, his talent is just too good to pass up even though we're pretty well loaded at the backcourt. With only one scholarship, we need to try and grab the best player available. We're in a dogfight with CSU-Bakersfield for his services. vs NJIT (0-5) Between suspension, injury, and redshirting, the Highlanders have a pretty ragtag roster. Their backcourt is experienced - both seniors - and pretty good scorer/shooters, but I'm not seeing a lot to be worried about here. A home loss would be demoralizing. And of course they're shooting the hell out of the ball. Where the BEEP is our defense?! We're actually down by two in the locker room, 33-35. There's absolutely no excuse for this. None at all. How the fuck do we lose by almost 20 to this team? I don't get it. There's absolutely no rationale for it. I'm stunned. A narrow loss, sure because screwy things happen. But 54-73 on our own turf? Pathetic. No highlights because none are deserved. 81st in RPI to almost 200. Green to Red. That's how horrible this defeat was. vs Coastal Carolina (1-4) The Chanticleers had one decent 14-16 season back in 2014, but have been single digit big losers ever since (sorry, Thomkal!). Great offensive rebounders, but their perimeter defense is suspect. Here's to hoping we bounce back from that disaster against NJIT. We *should*... Yeah, we've got this on lock. 50-29 at the half and even with the 60%/33.3% shooting disparity, I'm not seeing any pathway for them to get back in this one. Famous last words, I'm sure, but I feel like this team is quite a bit better than last year's edition. 94-63, setting a new universe record in points scored by 12 and victory margin by 1. What a beauty. Joseph Velarde has his first good game of the season with 24 points and a steal, but it's Florentin Dupretz who wins his second Player of the Game nod this season - 25 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 steals. 10 rebounds, 2 blocks, and a steal by Thomas Hadden. @ IUPUI (1-5) By the color charts, it's hard to see why the Jaguars only have one win. And then I dig and their post defense is complete ass. They also have NO ONE who can rebound. Too bad - they were a pretty okay team for a couple years, but their downslide started last season and they're even worse this one. It's a cautionary tale for my bad post recruiting the last couple years. Should be an easy win. We're up 40-34 at the break and would be more if our FT shooting wasn't so bad. To my surprise, it's Joseph Velarde's 12 points that are pacing us. I figured it'd be our frontcourt going ham, but nope. They actually have a couple of great perimeter defenders, too, making it even more a curiosity. 27 points, a block, and 3 steals. Yeah it's the Joseph Velarde Show with his second straight amazing game. He's the only one in double-digit figures in a 73-63 win, though Winston Reyes was just shy at 9 points, 9 rebounds, and a block. @ Coppin State (1-7) I'm just going to need you to peep this: Code:
Not sure what the hell happened. It's the same coach, so that's not it. He's a decent recruiter, too. OTOH, they're really, really bad defensively. Like, as in, they deserve their terrible record bad on defense. Can we score 100? 31-22 at the half. We're shooting 38.5% from the free throw line and I'm really mad at all the wasted points. That may well come back to bite us, because they're hitting just 32.1% of their shots in the first and stabilization rules and all that. Or maybe we're just really good defensively, blip against the Highlanders aside. 69-57 victory to put us on the winning track again. Thomas Hadden is PotG with 8 points, 14 rebounds, 4 blocks. Gem Gonzalez equals him with 4 blocks and scores 12. Florentin Dupretz also scores 12, and Winston Reyes nets 14 with a block. A bit of a breakout game for Geoffrey Blodgett with 10 points and 3 steals off the bench, not missing a single one of his five shots. vs Nebraska-Omaha (1-7) The Mavericks have been a pretty typical below-average Summit League team but for whatever reason, the wheels have fallen off this year. I'm not seeing a bad team here in terms of talent, though only Benjamin Patterson, who is an anchor at center, can shoot, so that's probably it. Smells like a trap game. Yep. They're shooting 50% and it's only a buzzer-beater layup by the Gem that has us down by a bucket, 34-36 at the half. And we were losing pretty handily before that. Snap out of it! You guys are better than this! We take the lead early in the second half and never relinquish it the rest of the way, though they tie it a couple times. Joseph Velarde's 14 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals gets the honors in a 70-62 win, though I'd have given it to Florentin Dupretz's 15 points and 4 steals or Reinaldo Gonzalez's halftime hero shot and 18 points, 6 rebounds, a block, and 3 steals. Thomas Hadden with 10 boards and 2 steals - the rare game he doesn't reject one, and Winston Reyes with 12 points and a block. vs Wofford 2-8 (0-4) The Terriers have a history of getting beat up in non-conference play and doing marginally better in the conference. The lone exception is 2014, when they were 16-14 (9-11), their only winning record to date. They're really, really bad defensively, don't have any truly good rebounders, and have no 3 point shooters to speak of. This should be a rout. Until we shoot 25% as a team in the first half and are down 26-27 at the half. I'm not especially worried unless this is one of those games where everyone decides F it, we're not going to make anything tonight. It's a see-saw second half. They get hot. 74-77 loss and I want to break something. Three of our starters fouled out, so the refs really fucked us over in this one. What a waste of Florentin Dupretz's 22 points and 10 rebounds before he got tossed for fouls. William Thrasher goes to CSU-Bakersfield after watching that hot mess. I don't blame him, but it's more bad news on top of everything else. Our walk-on SG gets an academic suspension. Good. Get the hell off the court. Another walk-on is crying about PT. Get bent. It's after 11 pm here and I have to be up at 5:30 so I'm out for the night or I'll be up until dawn. Let's just say the Big West is looking very interesting this season after skimming the non-conference slate.
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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04-13-2023, 01:21 AM
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#40 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Code:
Don't adjust your screens. That is in fact Pacific sitting second after non-conference play with an elite RPI. Erhard Engelbrecht of Hawaii is a Blue/Blue player, but the talent around him isn't good enough for the Rainbow Warriors to contend. Cal Poly is the class of the conference pretty easily. UC-Riverside must have had some suspensions, because on paper they look great. UC-Irvine has three injured players, so we'll see what the Anteaters look like after those guys come back. Projected Top 4 Finish 1. Cal Poly 2. UC-Riverside 3. Pacific 4. UC-Santa Barbara I figure us for fifth and around the .500 mark the AD is looking for. I also think the Tigers are indeed that legit after having some good recruiting years and seasoning kicking in. @ Cal Poly Well, we get our toughest game of the year out of the way first, at least. Imagine my surprise when we're actually up 37-31 at the half. But we're shooting 52% and they have a weird shooting line of 29.4% from the floor, 44% from 3 point range. It'll straighten itself out and they'll flatten us in the second half, I'm sure. Here's what I didn't anticipate: Joseph Velarde blowing up for a Matadors record 35 points and 2 steals, as we do just enough to fend them off 79-76 and get the stunning upset!!! 11 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 blocks, and 2 steals for the Gem, 10 points, a block, and a steal for Winston Reyes in just 16 minutes, and 6 blocks on the Block Gawd watch. It's also a costly win, as Dennis Luther dislocates his knee 3 minutes in and is out 25 days. Good thing we're stacked at the guard spots. With Luther out, we switch to an Inside focus vs UC-Davis 7-5 (1-1) Not even Kevin Edson's amazing coaching and the deadly Kenneth Nugent/Bradley Caldaza backcourt can overcome an absolute garbage post duo and an absence of perimeter defense. This one should be a fun track meet, albeit one we'll likely lose. Yep down by 10 and we should be losing by more TBH. More Lau is really hurting us. Kind of makes me regret redshirting the Butterfly Man, even though I know it's best long-term. Not seeing a way back here frankly. And there isn't. 66-80 L. 21 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks for the Gem and 14 points and a steal for Geoffrey Blodgett, but we suffer another huge hit - Joseph Velarde out for 31 days. What an absolute decimation of our guards. Back to Balanced, dropping our Pace, Motion, and 3 Point Shooting. Our vaunted pressure defense? That goes from 10 to 7. Geoffrey Blodgett steps in as the starting PG, and we're so, so thin at PG now... vs Pacific 7-6 (1-2) My initial projections on the Tigers aren't looking great! But we're so savaged by injuries that I think we'll lose anyway and make me look smart in the process. Yep. We fight back to get in single digits in the second half, but 65-77 defeat. 16 points and a steal for Florentin Dupretz, 15/8/1/2 line for Robert Taylor, but we're just too limping right now to beat anyone. Hope the AD takes that into account in my yearly review. @ Long Beach State 0-14 (0-4) What a sad program The Beach have turned into. Still, we can't beat anyone for love or money right now. Miraculously, we force OT after being down by 4 at halftime. What's the end regulation score? 50-50. Yeah. Things have gotten that bad. Walk-on Jack Swett takes the final shot for some Fed up reason. Of course he misses. We have nothing left in the tank for OT - too gassed. 52-60. Gem tries to save us with 20 points, 9 rebounds, a block, and 2 steals. It's not enough. @ UC-Irvine 2-12 (2-3) The Anteaters got a guy back from injury. Still missing two, so this is two MASH units going at each other. But like I said, no victories are coming for us. Teddy Shores swamps us for 31 points and that's all you need to know about this 70-77 loss. Too depressed to do highlights. vs UC-Riverside 6-10 (3-2) Highlanders projection isn't looking awesome. We decide to rush Dennis Luther back at 89%. We simply have to. I think it'll be our fifth straight loss, but we'll see. Heroic fightback to take the lead in the second, but we collapse down the stretch. 74-78. Moving on. Oh fuck you. lRaphael Taylor Out 24 Days. vs UC-Santa Barbara 10-7 (4-2) They open with a 12-0 run. Amazing fightback. 72-74 L. This is bullshit. Thomas Hadden Out 8 Days. Suck my fat hairy nuts. @ Hawaii 8-9 (4-3) I don't care if Block Gawd isn't back to full health. He's getting pressed into service. The team plays pissed off and we take a 34-27 halftime lead. I've forgotten what those are like. 70-all at the end of regulation and we're on to OT. 7 seconds left in OT. Dennis Luther evades the press and drives for the game-winning, 83-81 shot, finally ending this bullshit month of misery. 32, 12, and 3 steals for PotG Reinaldo Gonzalez. 12 points and a steal by Florentin Dupretz, while Winston Reyes matches the 12, boards 9, and steals 3. Oh and we landed our recruit. Code:
I think he's a gem like Reinaldo Gonzalez. Bit of a weird current spread and might be better off as a SF? Fitting coda to how our season has gone - start off promising and with hopes and dreams, only to get completely screwed over. Repeatedly. Very, very faint silver lining - we're not in last place in the conference. But at 2-6, we have a 4 game deficit to make up in the back half if we hope to achieve .500 in conference play. Right now, it's questionable if we even make the conference tournament. Code:
Never bet against Kevin Edson. Ever.
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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04-14-2023, 01:20 AM
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#41 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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@ CSU-Fullerton 7-12 (5-3)
A pretty good team even when we're at full health. We only have a two loss cushion to get to .500 in conference play, so this is a rough start. We go ice cold late in the first to abruptly find ourselves down 38-44. 1:16 left in the game, Winston Reyes takes the pin-point pass from Geoffrey Blodgett to put us up 69-67. The Block Gawd gets a rejection on the other end, and though Winston Reyes misses the front end of the one-and-one and they get the offensive board after the time-expiring miss, we escape with the victory. Gem with 19 points, 8 rebounds, and a steal. They award PotG to Winston Reyes though for his late-game heroics: 16 points and a block. Speaking of, the Block Gawd at 98% rustles up 12 board and 4 rejections, including the literal game-saver. Florentin Dupretz picked up a D2D injury because of course he frigging did. @ Pacific 11-8 (5-4) At over 90% but still not fully healthy are Joseph Velarde and Florentin Dupretz. They're starting anyway and we're slowly bringing back more of our pressure game. This is another tough ask, but all we can do is hope. Down by 2 at the break after we piss away an 8 point lead due to a shooting swoon. I hate this whole damn season. The Block Gawd sets what I think is a team record in rebounds with 19, blocks 4, dishes what I think is another team high with 7, and grabs a steal to earn the honors in a tough 74-64 victory. 19 points, 7 rebounds, and a steal for Gem, 16 points for Joseph Velarde in his first game back after a long, long layoff, and 11 points and 7 boards for Winston Reyes. @ UC-Davis 12-8 (6-4) The Aggies have surprisingly lost two straight and Kevin Edson is looking to remind me who the Big West's most beloved coach is. I think this is where our luck finally runs out and we surrender one of our slim cushion. We again get hit with a first-half cold snap to find ourselves down at the break, 37-42. I'm getting real, real tired of this shit. We can't buy a bucket in the second half and fall 59-75 as expected. 14 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 2 steals by Thomas Hadden, but when shots aren't falling, nothing else matters. vs UC-Irvine 6-15 (5-6) Like us, the Anteaters were absolutely decimated by injuries all at once, and major ones. Difference is, they healed up during the conference season and have a very good shot at getting to their .500 conference record goals. Raphael Taylor is at 88%, so he'll dress. We shoot 11% from the field in the first half. Fuck this bullshit. vs Long Beach State 3-19 (3-9) This has important implications for even making the Big West tournament. We also have to win out to get to .500 in the conference on the year. You know and I know that isn't happening. FUCK.YOU. ANOTHER GOD DAMN 8 POINT LEAD DISAPPEARS BECAUSE OF BULLSHIT AND THEY MAKE A FUCKING BUZZER BEATER TO TAKE THE LEAD AT HALF. FUCK YOU! I'm just going to summarize the rest of the season. I'm done with it. We go 0-3 the rest of the month, then beat Hawaii and lose to Cal-Poly. We finish last in the Big West for the time in my entire coaching career, a season after we had our best year ever. We were 3-10 at home, 8-8 on the road. So yeah, it was a completely fucked up season on every single level. CSU-Fullerton won the conference tournament as a 5 seed, beating 8 seed UC-Irvine, the Anteaters an absolute house after recovering from injuries. The Titans technically get our first Big Dance win with winning the 16 seed play-in game, but we all know that doesn't count. UC-Davis and UC-Santa Barbara both make the NIT as low seeds and both lose in the first round. 3 seed Pepperdine beats 1 seed Kent State in the NIT. NCAA Final Four pits 3 seeds Ohio State and Stanford against each other, 1 seeds Michigan State and UConn facing off. Cardinals crush and Spartans squeak by, and it's Stanford winning 77-72 for their first championship. Every single year except one, the Cardinal have made at least the Elite 8, and they've had two Final Four trips and one title. Just a dominant, dominant program. Code:
I'm still pissed. Code:
We didn't get recognized in a winning year, so why in our worst one? Code:
He had a pretty okay career. Too bad his senior year was such a fucking nightmare. Dupretz heads back to France and proceeds to promptly not talk much about his time in the United States. He doesn't even respond to my emails trying to keep in touch.
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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04-14-2023, 10:35 PM
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#42 |
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Dark Cloud
Join Date: Apr 2001
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What a strange career!
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04-15-2023, 08:03 PM
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#43 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Code:
We all knew that was coming. No surprises there. Nor is it a shock that I'm now back to just okay opinions. They don't care about the injuries or that we never were able to establish a rhythm. They only care about the results. What is a surprise: The board finally decides to invest in the facilities. Also, our recruiting coordinator decided to retire. Not that he was any good or anything, so I don't care. Brian Lowry is a massive Red/Orange bust. We're in deep, deep trouble. UW-Green Bay moves to the Missouri Valley Conference while Southern Illinois moves to the Horizon League. We give a 30 year old coach his first job. His recruiting is terrible (31), but what else is new? Coach Movement Kevin Edson finally gets hired away. He end up at Monmouth - a team whose profile of success is similar to UC-Davis, with slightly better prestige, slightly worse facilities, and significantly more recruiting cash. It's an interesting move - one I don't know that I personally would have made if I were him. To replace him, they hired 47 year old Carl Robertson, a practically God-tier Xs and Os assistant coach from USC, but who can not recruit or scout at all. It'll be a fantastic hire for a few years, and then Robertson will likely want to head off for someplace before his bad recruiting catches up with him. Fantastic hire by the Aggies again. Hawaii's coach retired and the Rainbow Warriors got a 100/100 Coaching Offense/Defense, 33 year old assistant coach from champion Stanford - Joseph Cogswell. Cogswell actually has two rings - he won one with UConn, too. Couldn't pick the best player on the court if you gave him hints (4), but a remarkably squinty passable recruiter (36). This is bullshit - an even better hire than the Aggies, and I'm expecting UH to be contenders for the foreseeable future. We have five scholarships to offer, and in November, three of our targets reject us - for Pepperdine, Long Beach State, and Fresno State respectively. The LBSU loss in particular pisses me off. I think I'm going to be fired within a couple years after this.  In lieu of the numbers, I'm just going to show you the above. The most talented roster we've ever had by the color ratings. In fact, no one else even comes close in the Big West - even the top-tier teams have at most two Green/Green. We have FOUR The AD only wants a .500 record, but barring the injury rash, I'm expecting us to at least challenge for the conference title this year. After that, it all goes downhill of course, so if I get a job offer, I'm jumping ship while the going is getting good. @ Longwood Should be easy-peasy lemon-squeezy win. Indeed, even with a last-second shot, we're up 46-26 at the half and are absolutely rolling over this squad. And we walk out 74-45 winners. Winston Reyes, who has moved back to PF, scores 19 and is PotG. Thomas Hadden gets 10 boards and one measly block. Reinaldo Gonzalez puts up 17/9/1/1, and Joseph Velarde scores 12 with 6! steals. We won by almost 30 despite Dennis Luther getting hurt after 1 minute and out 9 days. So the bullshit is starting early. @ Southeast Missouri State (0-1) The SEMO Redhawks are a much better team than the Lancers and are an average Ohio Valley team. We should still be able to wallop them with ease, even though the Butterfly Man is getting his first collegiate start. They're murdering us, 57-43 at the half, and I don't know why. Statistically everywhere except the scoreline, it's a close game. Second half is a thriller, and with 3 seconds left on the clock. They score. I'm swearing. We call a timeout and Gem inbounds to Dennis Luther. Our injured man puts up the shot and it goes in as time expires. 84-83 Matadors win!!!! 19 points and 2 steals for Gem, yet it's Thomas Hadden with a PotG nod - 11 points, 13 rebounds, a block, and 2 steals. 15 points, 2 steals for Joseph Velarde, and Geoffrey Blodgett scores 10 with 5 steals! off the bench. A Scary Hairy 2-0, but a 2-0 nonetheless before The Gauntlet.
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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04-26-2023, 12:10 AM
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#44 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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The Butterfly Man scores 11 and we actually tie UConn 35-all at the half before they take over the second half.
And then we're unexpectedly up 29-8 on Stanford at the half. Granted, the Cardinal are shooting 9.7%, so it won't hold up but holy crap! And then... Code:
That's right - we just upset the #1 team in the country and defending national champions on their own turf!!!!. One of those nights where all the chips lay on our side of the table - the flukest win of all possible fluke wins. They have three Blue/Blue starters! It'll be a long time, maybe never, before I get a win this big. Our RP is a whopping 50 - Green for the first time in the history of the universe. And of course we immediately lose a big man recruit to UC-Davis and are fishing in the 1* pond. That's 0 for 4 in a year where we have 5 scholarships open. Joseph Velarde scores 31 with 3 steals, and Reinaldo Gonzalez (12-7-2-1), Winston Reyes (11 points, 1 steal), and Thomas Hadden (13 rebounds, 2 blocks) put up a game effort against #3 Tennessee, but we fall 72-81 in a game we never had a true shot at. vs Seattle (3-4) Our 26th RPI (Blue for the first time ever!) is going to take a hit no matter what happens this game. This year's Redhawks are far outplaying their talent levels and we're on a high after our recent tough play against two elite teams. Hopefully we don't let down the home fans in our first performance in Northridge. 41-26 lead at the half and we're looking fairly comfortable. Any time you see a huge shooting disparity (22% differential) you always get nervous about what the back half is going to look like. 29 seconds left. They go up 75-74 and I'm swearing my ass off. We call a timeout and play for the last shot. It's Joseph Velarde and he sinks the dish from Winston Reyes, scoring from the top of the key as top expires. 76-75 nailbiter win. Winston Reyes did the heavy lifting with 20 points, 10 rebounds, and a block - including that game-winning assist. Gem led in all scorers with 26 points and 2 blocks. Thomas Hadden was his usual self with 13 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 2 steals. Joseph Velarde and Raphael Taylor each score 10 with a steal and a block, 2 steals respectively. vs Houston Baptist (2-4) Our RP is still Blue at 33. Don't sleep on these Huskies - they have a lot of promising underclassmen who are still growing into their game and they play tough defense. This could be an upset. Winston Reyes and Gem combine for 27 first half points and a cold streak late in the first by our opponents has us up 43-25 - a margin that frankly flatters how we've played outside those two. Nailbiter incoming, I'm sure. Except it isn't. We hold them to one player in double-digit scoring with 12 points and take the 72-49. Winston Reyes wins his second PotG nod with 22 points, 10 rebounds, 2 blocks, and a steal - finally becoming in his senior year what we expected ages ago. Gem Gonzalez barely misses the double-double with 14, 9, and a steal, and Raphael Taylor continues his surprisingly strong bench play with 10 points. @ UNC-Asheville 0-7 The Bulldogs are off to their worst start since the 2014-15 season, when they had 5 wins all year. A couple talented scorers, but their defense is absolutely atrocious - as awful as our 23rd RPI is amazing. A trap game is always possible, but I just don't see it happening, bar the bad luck Stanford sustained against us. They shoot 60% from 3 point range and we're down by 11 at the half. Hello, bad luck. We lose by 20 and Winston Reyes is out 51 days. Fuck.you. Same BULLSHIT as last season. @ North Dakota State (4-4) Our RPI craters to 88 on the back of that shit loss. The Bison have an absolute star in senior Travis Larson of the 7'2 height and have strong post defense. I'm scared for what this means. Raphael Taylor is inserted into the lineup, but our offense is riding heavily on Reinaldo Gonzalez now. We're losing by 5 at the half despite a 7-0 run to open the game. We're absolutely lost without Reyes. Second half sees us get absolutely killed, and I'm so over promising seasons getting fucked over by major injury bullshit like this. vs Albany (2-6) On paper, we should be able to murder the Great Danes. In reality, you know what's going to happen. We eke out a 30-24 halftime lead, but both teams are shooting absolute piss. Joseph Velarde is trying to keep us going with 11 points at least. 13, 12, 11 by Joseph Velarde, Raphael Taylor (2 steals), and [b]Geoffrey Blodgett (1 steal) are just *barely* enough to scrape out a 68-66 win that guarantees a winning record no matter what happens our last nonconference game. vs Weber State (5-5) The Wildcats have a star scorer, but their defense is suspect. It won't matter - they'll win by 15-20 because we've had ridiculously hard luck with injuries the last two years that have ruined the two most talented teams I've built in my years here. 28-22 lead after 20, but 20% shooting differential says we lose this in the second half. 24 points and 3 steals by Joseph Velarde, 12 rebounds, 4 blocks, and a steal by Thomas Hadden as we actually cruise to a 63-48 win. But guess what happens? JUST GUESS?! REINALDO "GEM" GONZALEZ OUT 51 DAYS. WHO THE FUCK CURSED THIS TEAM THE LAST TWO YEARS?! WHOO?!?! 0 FOR 5 on the recruiting trail. Well, it's actually 1 for 6 after we finally get a commitment and of course it's a shooting guard. Whatever. Code:
Screams converted SF in the tradition of Rabbithead and Reinaldo Gonzalez. I suspect that stealing current is heavily misscouted. Red/Green player by our initial look as we finally get another 3* guy to sign with us. Still no big men.
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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04-26-2023, 01:11 AM
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#45 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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So we go to a 4 Pace, 7 Motion setup, which is unlike anything we've had before. The Butterfly Man steps in as the starting SF. We also have Joseph Velarde, Raphael Taylor, and the Butterfly as our three new focal points on offense for the next month+. I have no idea how this is going to play out.
Code:
Enjoy seeing that because it won't last. UC-Riverside is looking like the best team this year, followed by UC-Santa Barbara. Our injuries will prevent us from challenging for the title, but hopefully we can squeeze out a .500 record in conference play. @ Pacific (3-8) Really talented center in Armando Sherlock, but the backcourt is two freshmen, neither of whom look that great at this stage in their careers. Time to see what we're made of. We're getting slightly outshot, but the Butterfly Man's 13 first-half points carry us to a 36-30 edge. I'm not going to hope for anything really while we're so decimated, but it's nice to see us showing we can compete against a team that clearly has the best player on the court. 50 seconds left. They hit a 3 pointer. We lose 60-62. Fuck all of this. So 2 point loss to Pacific 4 point loss to Fullerton 2 point loss to Cal Poly (blowing a 13 point lead) 1 point loss to UC-Davis (on a 3 point buzzer beater) Finally a 5 point victory over UC-Irvine on Raphael Taylor's 18 points, 13 rebounds, 2 blocks and Joseph Velarde's 15 points and 2 steals, but we sure tried hard to lose that one, too. 16 points and 3 steals by Raphael Taylor, though Joseph Velarde's 17 points is PotG in a flattering 10 point win over Long Beach State. 12 boards, 2 blocks for Thomas Hadden as we score a flurry of points late to steal the game we were losing. 20 points, 7 assists, and a steal for Joseph Velarde in a one point win over UC-Riverside that sees them nail a 3 point buzzer beater. It's our first nail-biting victory of the Big West season. No PotG for any of our guys here, though Papilion Faulvarque scores 13 with 2 steals and Thomas Hadden pulls in 16 boards with 2 blocks and 2 steals. Winston Reyes is playable at 93% against UC-Santa Barbara, so he goes back in the lineup and takes the third scorer slot from Raphael Taylor with a chance for us to somehow end up at .500 to end the month. We get our asses handed to us and Geoffrey Blodgett is questionable for our next game. You can't make this up. We finally get our first big man recruit. Code:
Shotblocking specialist with some defensive potential. Meh. It's our usual garbage Mountain All-State 1* pickup when all our other options are exhausted. Red/Yellow. Screams Truman Crain, and that's not a good thing. UC-Riverside is indeed running away with the Big West title at 7-1, their only loss to us. Can you see why I'm so fucking frustrated? We've been snakebit six ways to Sunday with injuries and close losses the last two seasons. Without all those injuries, we're probably a title contender. Not one of three 3-5 teams sitting second to last and ahead of only Long Beach State.
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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04-29-2023, 02:11 AM
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#46 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Our offense completely falls apart down the stretch in Hawaii and we lose by 17.
We blow a 15 point lead against Cal Poly but win 61-59 on a Joseph Velarde buzzer-beater. About damn time something goes our way. Velarde scores 21 with a steal, Thomas Hadden does his god things with 16 boards, 5 blocks, and 4 steals, but Winston Reyes is inexplicably awarded PotG with 17 points and 2 blocks. Yeah, I don't get it either. But a W is a W is a W. Reinaldo "Gem" Gonzalez comes back early at 82% and we sprint out to a 9-0 lead at CSU-Fullerton, winning in OT as Gem hits a shot with just 2 second left on the clock to take the 90-89 win. He scored 10 in his return with a block and 3 steals, and Joseph Velarde scores 26. It's Winston Reyes with a deserved PotG this time at 23 points, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks, and a steal, while Thomas Hadden has 12 boards, 5 blocks, and a steal. With a chance to get to .500 in Big West play, we take full advantage, crushing UC-Irvine by almost 20. Dennis Luther wakes up for 17 points, 6 assists, and 5 steals to win the top honors, Joseph Velarde has 12 and a swipe, Gem scores 22 with 3 steals, and Winston Reyes produces 17/9/1. It's probably too late to get into title contention, but it's nice to finally see what this team might have been. Such as 25 points, a block, and a steal from PotG Winston Reyes in a 69-59 victory over UC-Davis. 17 points, a block, and a steal from Gem, 15 points and 6 steals by Joseph Velarde, and 10 rebounds and 2 blocks by Thomas Hadden. Joseph Velarde sinks the final two free throws in a road upset of UC-Riverside. He scored 21 inefficiently but had 3 steals. Thomas Hadden has 14 rebounds, 4 blocks, and a steal, but the real talk is PotG Gem and Winston Reyes each scoring 18 with 6 rebounds. Gem's 4 assists were the differentiator. And of course the worst team in the Big West kicks our asses from open to end to end our win streak. Effing Long Beach State, man.9 points, 10 rebounds, 3 blocks, 4 steals is good enough for Thomas Hadden to win PotG as we take out our frustrations on Hawaii and lock down the expected .500 in conference play. 12/11/1/1 for Gem on a bad shooting night. Our offense comes from Raphael Taylor (15/7 off the bench), 14 and 3 steals from Joseph Velarde, and 10 bench points from Geoffrey Blodgett. Bad FT shooting nearly blows it against UCSB in a game we dominated for most of it. Check the grim stats from the line: Code:
I'm worried for our offense next year. But at least we have our second winning season in the Big West and second winning record - both in three years. We nab our second recruit. Code:
Love his turnover generation. Can't rebound or play D but beggars can't be choosers at this stage. Red/Green so a steal of a find perhaps. I *think* we have third place locked up even without beating Pacific, but I'd love the win to make it not a tiebreaker issue. 15/8/1/1 by Gem and 17 points with block and steal by PotG Winston Reyes get us there. 11 boards, 2 blocks, 2 steals by Thomas Hadden, too, as we lead 15-0 and never look like blowing it. But you know what I forgot to also ask for? No bleeping injuries. The Butterfly Man is out 39 days, Frank Gilmore 16. Of course that happens. Of course. Big West Conference Tournament vs UC-Davis 12-17 (9-9) So of course we have to completely change our gameplan and switch to an Inside focus for the rest of the tournament because of the frigging injuries. We'll probably get beat now too, because our SF depth is destroyed. 16 points, 6 rebounds, a steal, and a block for Gem, 11 points each for Winston Reyes and Joseph Velarde, the latter with 3 steals, but it's Thomas Hadden's 10 rebounds, 5 blocks, and 2 steals with his elite defense that gets the nod in an ugly, ugly 47-37 victory. @ UC-Irvine 15-15 (13-5) Hell of a season for the Anteaters in shocking everyone by finishing second in the Big West. BET THEY DIDN'T HAVE AN ASSLOAD OF INJURIES! They did, however, lose Teddy Shores, their best player, in the opening round win. It's not enough. Our depth is too ruined and we lose by 10, shooting just 35% from the field in a 62-72 loss. One win shy of our first 20 win season. Tournaments UC-Riverside is a 13 seed in the West, drawing 4 seed Iowa. The Highlanders fall to the Hawkeyes by 9. 1 Louisville vs 2 Kentucky and 1 Nebraska vs 2 UConn in the Final Four. NIT is 2 seed Butler vs 4 seed Ole Miss, the Rebels adding the banner 72-69. Title game is Louisville-UConn in an all-Big East matchup and the Huskies win their second championship 88-80. Three guys are unhappy about playing time, including PG Clint Monger and PF/CE Truman Crain. Yikes on all the bikes.
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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04-29-2023, 02:36 AM
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#47 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Code:
REDEMPTION!!!!! It's the first time we've ever had players on something other than the Big West All-Freshman team and the voters finally recognize I overcame all those injuries to guide the Matadors to their best record in years and best finish in the conference since two years ago. Too bad all my recognized guys are seniors, but what can you do? Code:
Still a season of what could have been in many respects. Without all the injuries, we probably win those tight games early in the season and capture the regular season title to at least punch an NIT ticket. Man, that upset of #1 Stanford is still the highlight of my career thus far. Code:
We were one of the best teams in the country at generating turnovers, which is exactly how I intended to build this team. That - TO margin is actually +3.2 (for some reason the stats flip). That's precisely the construction I wanted and we were pretty good defensively overall. Our offense was not great, to put it mildly. But that's okay. A lot of seniors to say goodbye to, which we'll do in a separate post.
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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04-29-2023, 02:18 PM
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#48 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Code:
The Block Gawd finished 1st All-Time in the Big West and tied for 29th nationally with 269 career blocks. His 875 rebounds is also good for 4th in Big West history and he's tied for 13th-all time with two players (including our own Angel Moore for Big West steals. CSU-Northridge he's 10th in career points, 1st in rebounds, 3rd in offensive rebounds, 3rd in assists(!), 4th in steals, and obviously 1st in blocks. His basketball career will continue, as Florentin Dupretz got the Block Gawd a tryout with a low-level French league team and he'll play for Les Sables Vendee Basket, which are an NM1 team - the third tier of French basketball. Code:
He was supposed to be the star player but didn't reach what he was capable of until his senior year despite being a four-year starter. Finished 5th in Matadors' current universe history in points, 4th in rebounds, 2nd in offensive rebounds (12th Big West), 3rd in blocks. Reyes majored in elementary education and gets a job teaching 4th grade. He'll never be heard from again. Code:
#4 scorer, #5 rebounder, #8 offensive rebounder, #7 assists, #7 steals, #4 blocks in CSU-Northridge history. Just a solid all-around player who indeed was a Gem and flourished his two years as a starter. After graduation, he gets accepted into an MBA program, where he'll focus on raising capital for Latino/a-owned businesses. Code:
The most decorated Matador ever, and the Big West's career steals leader. If it wasn't for injuries last year, he'd be the top scorer in school history in my reign, but instead he's #2. Northridge's top assist getter and first one to break 200 dishes (12th all-time in the Big West). Couldn't play defense worth a damn and didn't find a shooting stroke until his last year. Decides to go into seminary and join the priesthood. Code:
Never lived up to his potential on the court and goes straight into a career as a personal trainer.
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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04-29-2023, 04:14 PM
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#49 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Code:
Kevin McKenzie is our lone saving grace. The recruiting class looks terrible at first blush - including a Red/Red I badly misfired on scouting. We got a couple very late commit big men - one of whom looks like a SF or even SG - but their Red/Green scouting turned out Red/Orange. Not good at all. If I get a job offer, I'm taking it. The AD is thrilled with me, but says, "Now I expect you to play in the Big Dance." Excuse me, sir? I JUST LOST MY MOST TALENTED CLASS EVER AND HAVE GARBAGE TO WORK WITH! WHY ARE YOU JUMPING FROM .500 IN THE BIG WEST TO THE NCAA TOURNAMENT APPEARANCE?! Prairie View A&M moves to the Summit, Western Illinois to the SWAC. Coach Movement James Albrecht of the 100 Recruiting and Coaching Offense gets hired by San Diego from UC-Riverside. The Toreros have never made the postseason and their best record is a .500 finish two years ago. Their facilities (29) are 5th best in the conference, and they're a 53 prestige mid-tier WCC school. The Highlanders have way better facilities (43) and virtually the same prestige, but the WCC is a 4 prestige conference to the Big West's 2. The Highlanders hire 61 year old Gerald Yarbrough from USC. A recruiting god (100) but literally can't do anything else. And it's not like the Trojans are a powerhouse squad - they've made the Tournament 5 times out of 7 seasons, but have only made it as far as the Sweet 16 once. Very, very odd choice. No offers for me, sadly, so we'll have to plow ahead with this scary roster and demanding expectations. Our prestige jumps to 27, which places us 7th out of 10 in the Big West. Keep on climbing, keep on climbing. There's a lot of fantastic players who have interest in us, including some guys who are pretty big fish comparatively speaking, so we fire off our three offers and hope we can land them all. We miss on two, losing to UC-Riverside and UNLV respectively, but are still the only ones in on a foreign recruit. Tony Salazer and Kevin McKenzie are willing to redshirt, so we take advantage of that to try and space out our recruiting classes a little more.  We have probably our best backcourt in school history, but our depth is terribly weak - hence why we're going from 9 Pace to 2 and using a lot of motion. We're also switching from our Matchup Zone defense to a 3-2 zone for what I think is the first time. Definitely bringing the pressure all the time. Nice to see the Truman Cain leap in color potential, but our frontcourt is the worst it's been in some time. Our post defense in particular is TERRIBLE outside of shotblocking, so I'm scared to see what's going to happen. I'll probably still be here next year, and we'll have to see if we can update our recruit map. @ Western Illinois For the first time, we have a 6/5 home and road split rather than the 4/7 from all the previous years. I suspect that's tied to prestige. The Leathernecks have been so bad, they demoted to the SWAC, but I think they still look better than us on paper. I'm writing this down as an L. Shooting differential of like 30% gives us a 29-25 edge at the half and it turns into a 64-53 win when transfer Gregory Lau scores 12 points in 11 minutes to win PotG. Dennis Luther scores 11 with 3 steals. @ Stony Brook (0-1) They're built a lot like us - on turnover generation. No rebounders to speak of and their post defense is also bad. I like us to beat the Seawolves, actually. They've had a run of three straight seasons with exactly 10 wins, which is their most successful streak to date. We're up just 34-33 at the half. Our 53.3% at the line to their 90% is killing us and preventing a takeover the game, which should have happened. Luckily their shooting hits the skids in the second half and we grind out a 72-65 win. The Butterfly Man scores 15 with 5 assists and 3 steals, but Geoffrey Blodgett is PotG with 12 points and 4 steals - part of a 24 turnover forcing. Truman Crain scores 13 with 2 blocks and a steal. Nice imitation of Winston Reyes in his good year there. So it's a nice 2-0 before the gauntlet of three losses comes on the road. Then we're all home games the rest of the non-conference schedule. I've been quietly impressed that this team has performed the way it has so far. We've had excellent shooting differential
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04-30-2023, 12:36 AM
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#50 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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I forgot to note - the Butterfly Man and Truman Crain are our key offensive players this year. They score 12 and 11 respectively in a blowout loss to Maryland (You're welcome, TK) with Crain adding 2 blocks and a steal. They reprise their scoring numbers in the hammering by UConn. A block and a steal each for Butterfly Man and Frank Gilmore to go with their 17 and 13 points as we actually lead #4 Stanford briefly in the second half before the Cardinal wake up to prevent their second straight embarrassment and beat us by 22.
Another recruit gone, off to Loyola Marymount, but we're now in the lead on two foreign recruits. I didn't intentionally pursue them - that's just how the calculus worked out after our domestic targets kept getting sniped. vs Longwood (1-4) The Lancers are a team that scare no one and I'm shocked they actually have a win under their belt. That we're only up by 7 at the half is a wee bit disconcerting but FT shooting continues to haunt us because I haven't recruited well there. It gets a little scary at points, but we take the 63-54 win on Truman Crain's 19 points and 2 blocks, Papillion Faulvarque's 14 points, 5 assists, and 3 steals, PotG Geoffrey Blodgett's 13 points and 5 steals, and 13 rebounds by Frank Gilmore. vs Savannah State (1-6) Another garbage independent team. This one has great post defenders but their perimeter defense is just asking to get eaten alive, and we should be able to do that to these Tigers. They do a great job in the paint defending us, but can't muster anything themselves as we never look like losing - 63-45. Dennis Luther scores 19 with 3 steals to earn top honors and Truman Crain puts up 11 with 2 blocks and a steal. Shoutout to Brian Lowry with 7 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 steals off the bench in the garbage sophomore's best-ever showing. vs Mount St. Mary's (1-5) This Northeast team has a stud scorer in senior Chris Venegas and overall, the Mountaineers are far more talented than their record suggests. Wouldn't shock me to see us lose this one. We force Chris Venegas into a 3 of 18 night and 7 points - 11 below his season average - and win 76-56. Frank Gilmore goes off for 17 points, 9 rebounds, and a block as the best player on the court. 12 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals for Geoffrey Blodgett, and though he had a horrible shooting night of his own, the Butterfly Man scores 14 with a block. vs Bucknell (3-4) The Bison have a horrible PG and no depth to speak of. I'm a little surprised they're within shouting distance of .500 because they don't look that good. Winning season two years ago at 17-14 (8-6) but that's been their high point. Should be a win. It had to happen at some point, but we start off cold - down 2-10 before we're able to fight our way back to 27-all at the break. FT shooting is again hurting us and maybe I should start recruiting with an aim towards that. We lose by 27. Ouch. Wheels just completely fell off our shooting. No one in double-digit figures anywhere. vs Charleston Southern (2-7) We catch a lucky break as they're dealing with injuries, including their star freshman out. That alone should see us right the ship after our stinker against the Bison. Have teams solved us? That's the question I'm asking after we find ourselves down 7 at halftime. We should be taking them to the woodshed, not the other way round. We're playing like I expected us to at the beginning of the season now. 13 point loss. It's too demoralizing to do highlights. Our RPI is now tanking. vs Elon (3-7) The Phoenix have three Green/Green starters. Their talent way outclasses us and I don't see us getting anything out of this game. We build a 9 point lead at the half thanks to their completely bricking free points (28.6% at the line). Maybe we can snap out of the funk and beat a better team? We do, but only after Truman Crain hits the buzzer-beater to steal the upset win. Very weird game as you'll see by the box score: Code:
Code:
Not a terrible preseason - honestly about what I expected considering we just aren't a good team by my lights. AD is smoking that good good when he thinks we're an NCAA tournament worthy team. vs UC-Riverside (3-5) The Highlanders have the Big West's best player in Hoyt Belisle, the reigning Big West Player of the Year and 1st Team All-Conference the last two seasons. That alone is reason to regard this as the first of many Ls this season. Yep. We're down by 9 at the half, fight back and lead most of the second... only to lose in the last 30 seconds by one fucking point. Geoffrey Blodgett's buzzer-beater fails. Ugh. Heart-ripping. But we get a recruit. Code:
Red/Blue by our scouting. Will cough up more turnovers than he gets with that poor handling and he can't shoot FTs. But he should be otherwise pretty good in the offensive half and decent on the defensive side of the ball. Not looking like a world-beater or anything, but should give us much needed depth at SG/SF
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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