College Hoops 2k8: A New Challenge

[Eaglesfan27]

For those that haven't read the other thread, I was just fired from Princeton in my first College Hoops 2k8 dynasty. Now, I'm starting a 2nd attempt and hopefully with what I've learned, I'll be more successful this time around. I'll be simming the first season, but will probably start playing every other game in the 2nd season. This will really get going after the Missouri-Oklahoma game tonight, but here is a quick look at the settings as copied from the other dynasty. One advantage of having to restart is that I'm going to be able to use the 3rd version of the OS rosters which have named more (all?) of the coaches and also have re-rated some players who are off to great starts.

Play Mode: Simulation
Difficulty: Starter (default)
Half Length: 20
Simmed Half: 20
Game Speed: 40
Player Speed: 40
FT Difficulty: 50
Real FT %: On
Fatigue: On
Injuries: On
Team Unity: On
Sixth Man: On
Clutch Factor: On

All of the rules are at default. Fouls are as follows (may need to be toned down, because I set them with a perimeter based offense.)

Charging: 100
Blocking: 85
Reaching: 85
Shooting: 85
Loose Ball: 100

Shooting Sliders (All sliders are same for User and CPU except for the tendencies which are only for the CPU):

Inside Success: 48
Mid Range: 48
3 point: 48 (contemplating knocking this down to 45)
Dunk success and layup success are at default 50.
Close Shot Tendency: 50
Midrange shot tendency: 45
3pt shot tendency: 45
Drive tendency: 50

Attributes (again these adjustments are for both human and CPU):

All at default except for:

Ball Handling: 35 (I'm thinking about taking it down to 30 to generate more spontaneous turnovers. Not enough turnovers in this version in most games.)

Offensive rebounding: 45

Block: 45 (might take it down to 40 at some point.)


Gameplay adjustments (same for both sides):

Team Unity is at default of 100, but I've considered lowering it to 50.

All others are default except for:

Steal Success at 60

Help Defense and Help recovery both at 55.



Fitness (same for both sides):

I've debated at setting energy fatigue to 52, but I think I like it better at default of 50. Guys with 99 stamina can play a whole game, but will get very tired and play best when they only play 30-35 minutes.

Energy Recovery at default 50.

Injury Frequency and Injury Effects at 60.


As far as my coach, I'm going to be a recruiting genius to start. C- in all of my coaches attributes except for Charisma which will start at B+ and will hopefully help us attract some good recruits for our level. I'm starting at Nicholls State. I hire one coach who is a decent teacher and one who is going to be my primary scouter. Our non-conference schedule is rough, but I'm not going to change it for our first season.

The good thing is that we have a few good outside shooters on this team which should make getting some wins a bit easier. I'm going to sim our non-conference schedule, but if we aren't winning, I'll try to actually play some of the conference schedule to help protect my job this 1st year. I'll look at the roster during halftime of the football game.

[Eaglesfan27]

A look at the roster (in order of best rated to worse rated):

SG Adonis Gray: 6'4 200 pound senior who is a rated 67 overall. He is from Shreveport, LA. A mediocre shooter but he an athletic slasher who is a good passer and a decent defender.

SF Ryan Bathie: 6'6 205 pound junior who is rated 64 overall. He is from Australia. An excellent 3 point shooter who is the best shooter overall on the tam. He is a mediocre defender.

SG Gil Verner: 6'1 180 pound junior who is rated 63 overall. He is also from Shreveport, LA. Another excellent 3 point shooter who is also a good mid range shooter. A decent passer and our best perimeter defender. He is quick and should be able to penetrate.

PG Justin Payne: 5'10 170 junior from New Orleans, LA. He is rated 61 overall. He is a very good passer who is very quick for this level of play. He is a solid defender and is the best hustle guy on the team. His speed should create problems for the opposition. He is a poor shooter which is his biggest weakness.

PF Joshua Johnson: 6'6 195 pounds from El Paso, TX. He is a freshman who is rated 61 overall. He is a decent scorer inside for his size. He is a good dunker if he has an open lane and is suprisingly decent at blocking and playing defense in the post. Very good speed for a PF but his size will be a limitation.

SG Michael Czepil: 6'2 180 pound redshirt sophomore from Australia. He is rated 60 overall. He is a good 3 point shooter and jump shooter. He is a great FT shooter. Good athleticism. Mediocre defensively.

SG Reggie Shanks: 6'4 205 pounds. He is a sophomore from Austin, TX. He is rated 58 overall. Mediocre shooter, but a good defender.

PG Bakari Lewis: 6'0 180 pounds. He is a freshman from Columbus, OH. He is rated 58 overall. Mediocre shooter but the best handle on the team. Decent passer. Good speed and quickness, ok defender.

SG Ben Martin: 6'3 170 pounds. He is a freshman from New Orleans, LA. He is rated 56 overall. A decent defender who is weak at everything else.

SG Anatoly Bose: 6'6 200 pound freshman SG from Australia(why does the team have so many players from Australia?) He is rated 56 overall. A decent defender who is also a decent ball handler. Not a good shooter, yet.

PF Dominic Friend: 6'7 250 pound redshirt sophomore from Australia. He is rated 55 overall. He is a decent inside scorer. He is a very poor ball handler. He is a poor defender. He is a mediocre rebounder. He has poor hustle as well. I just checked ESPN and all of these guys really are from Australia - odd.

C Mitch Boyce: 6'10 250 pound sophomore from Australia. He is rated 54 overall. He is a surprisingly good mid range shooter for a big man and is one of the better 3 point shooters on our team as well! A poor dunker for a big guy, he is a terrible ball handler. He is a poor defender. He is a bad rebounder. He is slow as well. He has horrible hustle.

C Chris Paige: 6'9 210 pound sophomore is rated 51 overall. He is from San Antonio, TX. He is a more physical player down low. He is also quicker. He is a mediocre defender.

With this roster, I plan on using a quick attacking motion offense that will fast break quite a bit. We'll shoot quickly if we get an open shot. We'll play M2M defense against most opponents.

With that roster, we only have 1 scholarship to offer this year. We have so many guards and outside shooters that I decide I'm going to focus on adding a big man inside. One player I will consider and scout more is Ronni Killingsworth, a 7'0 235 pound C from Irving, TX who is a 1 star player. He'll be our fall back option.

We also pursue our dream recruit - Jarrad Warzynski a 6'10 220 pound C from New Orleans LA who is a 3 star player who is ranked 15th among centers this year in the country. He put up 11 boards per game in the ABL and 12 points per game. I doubt we'll get him as he is actively being recruited by LSU. Our only hope is that they'll decide to go a different direction..

[Eaglesfan27]

Our Starting 5:

PG Justin Payne
SG Adonis Gray
SF Ryan Bathie
PF Joshua Johnson
C Mitch Boyce (works better for our motion offense.)

SG Gil Verner will be the #1 option off the bench.
SG Czepil will also be a big option off the bench.
Paige will get some minutes as will Lewis.



Nov 9, 2007 -

We lose at Florida State 80-73. Gray had 24 points on 8 of 14 shooting. Boyce had 15 points on 6 of 9 shooting. Payne had 10 assists.


Nov 16 -

We lose at Tulane 90-70. Bathie led the team with 18 points. Boyce had 15 and Verner had 12.


Nov 19 -

We win at Cal in a nice upset! We won 77-65. Bathie had 15 points on 5 of 10 shooting, 4 of 9 behind the arc. Verner had 13 points. Payne, Gray, and Johnson each had 9 points.


Nov 21 -

We win at UC Davis 91-79. Johnson led us with 16 points and 11 boards. Boyce scored 14, Verner scored 13, Bathie scored 11, and Payne scored 9.

Nov 24 -

We win at Saint Mary's 61-58 but we lose Gray for 2 weeks due to an abdominal injury. Payne led the team with 13 points and 3 assists.


Nov 28 -

We lose at LSU 66-62. Johnson led the team with 15 points and 7 boards.


LSU has stopped recruiting Jarrad Warzynski but Tulane and UNO are serious competitors for him and we are a long shot to get him.

We are the only team interested in Ronni Killingsworth at this point.

[Galaxy]

Any conference info (best player, best pro prospect, ect.) and conference prestige?

Looking forward to the season. Four Australian players? Talk about a big recruiting budget.

Actually, looks like the current assistant head coach used to live and play basketball in Australia. Guess he is tapping into that pipeline.

http://media.www.dailyorange.com/med...-1121798.shtml

[Eaglesfan27]

December 1, 2007 -

We lose at UNO 66-60. McCalebb their star SG had 14 points on 3 of 10 shooting, but 8 of 12 from the line.

Johnson led our team with 16 points and 10 boards. Boyce had 10 points.


Dec 8, 2007 -

We play at 6-0 Alabama. We lose 82-75. Bathie had 19 points and Verner had 17 to keep us in it.

Dec 11 -

We host ULM and beat them 75-72. Johnson had 16 points and 10 boards to lead the way. Bathie had 12 and Verner had 10.

Gray is healed and returns to his role as starter.


Dec 15 -

We lose at Lipscomb 64-54. Johnson led the way with 12 points and 11 boards. Gray had 6 points and 11 boards in his first game back as a starter.

Dec 19 -

We lose to UNC 99-62. Also we lose Gray to a strained Achilles. He'll miss about a month. Ellington had 29 points against us and Hansbrough had 22.

Bathie led our team in scoring with 15 points on 5 of 9 shooting, 2 of 5, and 3 of 3.


Dec 28 -

We lay at 7-1 Minnesota and lose 93-63. Friend had 11 points and 5 boards.


Dec 29 -

We win at UNLV 95-74! Every starter was in double digits and Czepil and Lewis off the bench as well. Payne led the way with 15 points and 10 assists. Johnson had 14 points and 10 boards. The speedy freshman small PF is thriving in our quick attacking offense.


Dec 30 -

We lose at home to Kennesaw State, 52-47. Johnson had 0 points on 0 of 8 shooting this game. Verner was the only player to hit double figures and he shot 2 of 11 but was 5 of 5 from the line. He had 11 points.

We are 5-9 heading into conference play.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Galaxy

Any conference info (best player, best pro prospect, ect.) and conference prestige?

Looking forward to the season. Four Australian players? Talk about a big recruiting budget.

Actually, looks like the current head coach used to play basketball in Australia. Guess he is tapping into that pipeline.

http://media.www.dailyorange.com/med...-1121798.shtml

Thanks for the link. I figured it was something like that.

Our conference doesn't have a rank yet, which is apparently based on last year's total performance. However, it is a small conference.

UT-Arlingotn is the leading scoring team averaging 76 ppg.

Sam Houston is the best rebounding team at 32.4 per game. They are also the best assist team at 15.4 per game.

The best player is center Chris Daniels at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi who is a 7'0 265 pound center who is rated 80 overall.

They also have the best freshman in PF Demond Watt who is rated 63 overall.

Northwestern State has the best shooter in PG Keithan Hancock. He is averaging 10.5 ppg.

Lamar has the best playmaker in junior PG Brandon McThay who is rated 67 overall.

Daniels is the best pro prospect. his current pro buzz is "dark horse." He is averaging just under 20 ppg.

Ryan Bright of Sam Houston State is the best defender. The senior PF is 6'6 210 pounds and is rated 78 overall.

Sam Houston State has the highest rated roster in the conference. We have the worst.

[Galaxy]

Just call it the "Kangaroo Club". Crickey!

[Eaglesfan27]

Stephen F. Austin has the 2nd most talent in the conference and start conference play with a game at home against them on Jan 10th, 2008. We beat them 80-56! Verner led the way with 18 points on 8 of 8 shooting. Bathie had 14. Czepil had 18 points off the bench.


Jan 12, 2008 -

We travel to play Sam Houston State. We win 86-58! Czepil had 21 points off the bench on 7 of 11 shooting, 5 of 7 behind the arc, 2 of 2 from the line. Verner and Bathie each had 12.

Jan 17 -

We lose at UT-Arlington 77-74. Worse, Bathie hurts his knee and will miss about a month. Verner led the team with 21 points on 7 of 11 shooting and 6 of 10 behind the arc.

Jan 19 -

We win at Texas State 78-67. Johnson led our team with 16 points and 11 boards. Verner had 14 points. Payne was 3 of 16 but had 8 points and 8 assists.


It has become clear that we have no chance at Jarrad Warzynski. He is going to sign with Tulane or UNO, mostly likely Tulane. I decide to rescind my scholarship offer to him and go after Andrew Ike. He doesn't offer size, but the #50 PF in the nation is a terrific shooter. He is 6'6 195 and is one of the top shooting PF's in the nation. He averaged 12 ppg and 9 rpg in the ABL. TXST is our main competitor for him and he is responding much better to my recruiting visits. He is also a 3 star player.


Jan 26 -

We host SE Louisiana, the team with the worst record in the conferece. We win 68-62. Gray had 14 points on 6 of 12 shooting and Verner had 11 points.

We are now 9-10 overall going into Feb. More importantly, we are tied with Sam Houston State for the best conference record. If we can maintain this spot, we could get the 1st round bye in the conference tourney.


Jan 31 -

One last game in January as we host Northwestern State. They are 6-10. We beat them 94-89! Verner and Johnson each had 20 points for us. Gray had 13 as did Czepil. We are now 10-10 heading into Feb.

[Eaglesfan27]

Feb 2, 2008 -

We host Central Arkansas who are 4-12. We beat them 65-57. Gray had 16 points and 9 boards to lead us. Johnson had 11 points and 10 boards. Boyce is fouling out too quickly to be a factor in most games. His lack of speed is hurting him in our M2M defense, but we go small when he leaves and it seems to be working.


Feb 7 -

We host Lamar. They are one of the most talented teams in the conference and they are 9-6 overall. We beat them 80-74! Czepil had 18 off the bench to lead us. Paige had 10 points as Boyce fouled out again. Gray and Verner each had 13.


Feb 9 -

We lost at McNeese State 88-55. Gray was 1 of 10, Verner was 2 of 7, and Johnson was 2 of 10 Boye led our team with 13 points on 6 of 11 shooting, but he didn't have enough help.

We are still 2nd in the conference standings.


Feb 14 -

We host Texas A&M - Corpus Christi. They beat us 78-58. Gray was 0 of 8. Verner was 5 of 15 and led us with 15 points.

Feb 16 -

We host UTSA. They are 11-6 and are 3rd in the conference. They beat us 71-68. Verner had 16 points but Payne and Gray were each 1 of 6.

Bathie is healed and will return to the starting lineup.


Feb 23 -

We play at 3-17 SE Louisiana. We win 77-62. Verner led the way with 23 points on 8 of 14 shooting, 5 of 10 behind the arc, 2 of 5 from the line. Bathie had 5 points in his first game back but only shot 4 times. Boyce had 11 and was the 2nd leading scorer.


Feb 28 -

We win at home against Northwestern State 94-76. Payne had 21 points and 7 assists to lead the way. Gray had 19 points off the bench. Verner had 15 points as he was 8 of 9 from the line.


We are now 14-13. Much better than I expected in our first season. We have 3 games left. I'll sim those and then I'll play the conference tourney.

[RPI-Fan]

Which school are you???

[Eaglesfan27]

March 1, 2008 -

We win at Central Arkansas 65-48. They drop to 6-18. We get our 15th win! Johnson led the way with 16 points and 21 boards! He might win freshman of the year in the conference

He is averaging 8.9 ppg and 8.6 rpg. Not bad for a small PF. That makes me feel better about going after Andrew Ike although he is leaning slightly towards TXST. However, we came to him late, so maybe we can make up the last bit of the difference in the offseason.


Mar 6, 2008 -

We lose to the tough Lamar squad at their place 82-76. Payne had a great game and finished with 21 points and 8 assists. However, Verner was 4 of 11, Bathie was 3 of 12 and Boyce was 0 of 7.


March 8 -

We finish the regular season with a 82-75 win over McNeese State. Payne had 16 points and 7 assists. Bathie had 13 points on 5 of 9 shooting. Boyce had 10 points and Gray had 12 off the bench.

We finish 4th in the conference in the regular season and don't get a bye.. never mind, apparently, I was mistaken. There is no bye in this tourney. The #1 seed plays McNeese the #7 seed. The #2 Lamar team is playing the #8 seed Stephen F. Austin.

The Southland Standings:

1. Sam Houston State: 17-8 overall (14-2 conference)
2. Lamar 16-9 (11-5)
3. UTSA 15-9 (11-5)
4. Nicholls St. 16-14 (11-5)
5. UT-Arlington 15-10 (10-6)
6. Northwestern 10-16 (8-8)
7. McNeese 13-13 (7-9)
8. Stephen F. Austin 13-12 (7-9)
9. TXAM-CC 12-17 (6-10)
10. Central Arkansas 7-18 (6-10)
11. Texas State 8-18 (4-12)
12. SE Louisiana 3-22 (1-15)



Our first conference game will be against UT-Arlington. Ill play that tomorrow.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by RPI-Fan

Which school are you???

I'm Nicholls State - otherwise known as the Australian Junior Olympic team apparently


Edit to add: This is the team that I started my dynasty with last year in which I left this team for Drexel before going to Duke. I don't recall realizing I had all of this international talent when I played the dynasty last year on the previous version.

[Galaxy]

With one scholarship this year, will you work to "even" out the classes/scholarships?

BTW, what is your school nickname?

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Galaxy

With one scholarship this year, will you work to "even" out the classes/scholarships?

BTW, what is your school nickname?

I'm not going to take any special steps to even it out, but if it makes sense, I'll redshirt guys to try to make it a bit more even. If I don't get this 3 star PF that I've switched to, I'm thinking about going for a transfer player which should make things even more interesting.

I'm in the middle of the game (up early in the 2nd half - pausing the game because one of the cats wants some attention and isn't going to wait for the game to be over ) so I can't check, but I think we are the Colonials.

[Eaglesfan27]

UT-Arlington has a very good PF in Vereen and they seem to have the crowd at Reliant stadium on their side, but we have some great shooters. I'm expecting a high scoring game today.


It is really nice to have so many weapons. We are up 38-34 today thanks to 6 of 12 shooting behind the arc. Bathie leads the team with 13. Gray has 9.


We are up 65-61 with 2:44 to go but they get to the line. Guignard their PG hits both FT's.

After exchanging missed baskets, Payne drives into the lane and draws a foul! He hits both FT's to put us up by 4 with 1:20 to go!

It remains 67-63 as we both miss baskets. With 17 seconds left, we get a board after they miss and they start intentionally fouling. Payne hits 1 of 2, but steals the ball after they rebound it. They foul him again. This time he hits both FT's! 70-63 with 13 seconds left. They miss a 3 and Payne gets the board! He is fouled but this game is over. They miss a last 3.

We win 72-63!

Payne was the player of the game with 15 points, 12 assists, 2 steals, and 2 boards. He shot 2 of 5, and 11 of 12 from the line as his speed allows him to penetrate at will against M2M and draw contact.

Bathie had 18 points on 7 of 21 shooting including 4 of 11 behind the arc. Gray had 13 points on 4 of 6 shooting, 1 of 1 behind the arc, and 4 of 5 from the line. Boyce had 9 points and 11 boards. Johnson was 2 of 8 and had 4 points, 3 boards, 1 assist, and 1 steal.


Darn. The game froze before I could save it in the legacy home screen. I think I had one freeze in this screen before. I have to remember not to go to it...

Just checked and the team nickname is the Colonels. Also, I found a conference rank now. We are 28th.

I'll replay this game later.

[Eaglesfan27]

This time we couldn't stop their junior star PF Anthony Vereen who had 25 points and 12 boards. They win 81-68. Verner led our team wit 17 points and Bathie had 14 points and 10 boards. We end the season at 16-15. Not a bad first year to build on.

[Eaglesfan27]

The 4 #1 seeds: UCLA, Memphis, Kansas, and Duke.

The Final 4: #5 Arizona vs #4 UNC and #1 Kansas vs #2 Auburn.

Kansas beats Auburn 103-71 thanks to 33 points from PF Darrell Arthur.

UNC beats Arizona 104-73 thanks to 39 points from Hansbrough.

Kansas wins the National Championship 85-73. Hansbrough had 36 points and 14 boards, but Kansas got 27 from Arthur and 21 from SF Brandon Rush. Hansbrough didn't have enough support from his teammates as no one else hit double figures.

Tyler Hansbrough wins Player of the Year. He averaged 26.4 ppg and 7.1 rpg.

Bo McCalebb of UNO won mid major player of the year with 24.9 ppg and 7.4 rpg.

Anthony King of Miami won Defensive Player of the Year. He averaged 2.7 bpg.

Hansbrough won Big Man of the Year.

Michael Beasley of Kansas State won Freshman of the Year. He averaged 19.2 ppg, 8 rpg, 2.9 apg, 1.5 spg, and 1.5 bpg.

The All-American First Team:

PG Sean Singletary, Virginia 21 ppg and 7 apg.
SG Chris Lofton, Tenn 23.7 ppg
SF Martin Zeno, Texas Tech 17.1 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 4.5 apg.
PF Tyler Hansbrough
C Luke Neville, Utah 24.4 ppg 8.5 rpg.

Interesting Second Team:

PG A.J Abrams, Tex 19 ppg 4.4 apg.
SG Bo McCaleeb, UNO
SF Charron Fisher, Niag 22.3 ppg 9.3 rpg
PF Jason Thompson, Rider 25 ppg 12 rpg.
C Frank Elegar, Drexel, 23.4 ppg 9.8 rpg.

Freshman All American Team:

PG OJ Mayo, USC 14.5 ppg, 5.4 apg. He is projected to go in the lottery. It will be interesting to see if he stays around for a 2nd year this time around..

SG Eric Gordon, Ind 13.5 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 3.0 apg.
SF Bill Walker, Kansas State 14.2ppg 3.9 rpg.
PF Michael Beasley, Kansas State
C Deandre Jordon, Texas A&M 10.8 ppg, 5.8 rpg.


Sam Houston State ended up winning the conference tourney.

Northwestern's Coach was the coach of the year in the conference.

Ryan Bright, a SR SF from Sam Houston State was the player of the year with a 12.2 ppg 8.8 rpg.

Joshua Johnson from Nicholls State won Freshman of the Year in the conference! He averaged 8.6 ppg and 8.2 rpg.

First Team All-Conference:

Shamir McDaniel, SR PG from Sam Houston 11.9 ppg 5 apg.
Matthew Barrow, SR SG from Lamar. He averaged 12.6 ppg and 2.0 apg.
Ryan Bright, SR SF from Sam Houston State
Matt Kingsley, JR PF from Stephen F Austin. He averaged 16.8 ppg and 8 rpg.
Chris Daniels from Texas A&M - Corpus Christi. He averaged 16.5 ppg and 7.0 rpg along with 2 bpg.

Joshua Johnson was the only player to win awards from our team.

[Eaglesfan27]

The 16-15 record has the AD pleased. My job security is good.

Adonis Gray is the only player to graduate. He was an important starter, but we have guys ready to step up.

I gained 4 attribute points. I bump Charisma up to A-, scouting up to a C+, and Discipline up to a C.

Interesting jobs opening up as Texas Tech and UConn's coaches retire.

I'm not in the running for any jobs yet.

Connecticut hires Nevada's Head Coach.

Texas Tech hires Davidson's Coach.

I decide to retain my 2 assistant coaches for now.

We don't get any transfers. Maybe I should have get an open scholarship offer... oh well. Hopefully, I'll get this 3 star PF I'm pursuing.

Actually, no good players transferred. The best player is a 58 rated PF named Ronnie Thomas who left Wright State from Princeton.

[Eaglesfan27]

Darn, Andrew Ike, the 3 star PF I was pursuing chose to sign with Texas State.

As I expected, Jarrad Warynski signed with Tulane.

The 1 star C who is 7'0 235 is now being pursued by 2 additional schools, but I have a huge lead if I decide to offer him a scholarship.


However, their is a 3 star PF who I've been following who now has no other schools pursuing him except for us! He averaged 11.1 ppg and 8.4 rpg. He is ranked 407th overall and 74th among PF's Michal Lloyd is from Waco, TX and he is 6'9 222 pounds. He averaged 1.9 bpg in the ABL. Our scouts think his potential is only a C, but they think he is an athletic player with good rebonding skills and good intelligence who is a superior defender. We make him our top target as I fly out, visit with him, and offer him a scholarship on the spot.

[Eaglesfan27]

After my visit Michal is close to signing with us. However, now Florida, FSU, Tulane, and ULM are all pursuing him I need to wrap him up before they steal him. We are his #1 choice by a wide margin, but I expect that won't last if I don't seal the deal within the next week or so...


I fly out to visit him again. I call him and email him.

Yes, a week later he signs with us!! A closer look at Michal's rating based on our scouts at this point:

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


With the small class complete, we start working on making contacts with some current juniors.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

(why does the team have so many players from Australia?)

Thanks to guys like Bogut and the success of Australia in the junior international basketball ranks teams have started to dig recruiting pipelines downunder lately. There are a number of high profile Aussies in the college ranks (Nevill at Utah, Ogilvy at Vanderbilt, Aaron Bruce at Baylor, and Pat Mills at St. Mary's), but Nicholls State and St. Mary's have really outdone themselves. The two teams met for a two weeks ago (I think) with 9 Aussies in uniform between them.

[Galaxy]

I take it the 360 is ok after the cat scare?

[Galaxy]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

After my visit Michal is close to signing with us. However, now Florida, FSU, Tulane, and ULM are all pursuing him I need to wrap him up before they steal him. We are his #1 choice by a wide margin, but I expect that won't last if I don't seal the deal within the next week or so...


I fly out to visit him again. I call him and email him.

Yes, a week later he signs with us!! A closer look at Michal's rating based on our scouts at this point:

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


With the small class complete, we start working on making contacts with some current juniors.

Sounds like the skill ratings and potential don't match up.

Hopefully UConn and Texas Tech got good coaches.

[Eaglesfan27]

The top recruiting classes:

Arizona, Maryland, Florida, Duke, and UCLA.


I decide to customize my schedule to be easy. We aren't getting in on RPI anyway, we need to win our tourney. I'd rather try for a strong record against some relatively weak teams.

I decide to attend the ABL and scout out the talent. I'll be playing every other game this year.

I decide to watch a game of a SF that I like to see if he could be a contributor on our team. I won't watch the whole thing but will watch part of it.


I watch a few minutes before simming to the end. Braxton is a good looking SF for a 2 star player. He finished with 11 points and 8 boards on 4 of 12 shooting.

The ABL is interesting, but it will be more interesting I think when I'm at a bigger school. I decide to sim it after all.


We have 3 scholarships to fill this year as Bathie, Verner, and Justin Payne are all seniors. We'll need to get some good outside shooters to replace them or we'll fall off.

A look at our roster:

PF Michal Lloyd comes into the season as our best player! He is rated 67 overall and has grown to 6'10 231 pounds. He is a better inside offensive player than I would have expected and is now our best inside scorer. He is a poor mid range shooter and terrible from the arc. He is a poor ball handler. He is by far our best post defender. He is a very good shot blocker already as well. He is a good rebounder but Johnson despite being smaller might be better. He has decent spped for his size. His potential is worse than we thought as it is now a D. However, he is good enough already to be a main force for us on the inside. He'll start despite Johnson's great year last year.

SR SF Ryan Bathie is now rated 65 overall. The best 3 point shooter on our team.

SG Gil Verner is also a senior. He is rated 65 overall, too. He is the next best 3 point shooter on the team.

Michael Czepil is a junior who is rated 62 overall. A good outside shooter but not of the same caliber as Verner or Bathie.

PG Justin Payne is rated 62 overall and his best asset remains his terrific speed.

PF Joshua Johnson is rated 62 overl.. He is now 6'7 205. He has surprising speed for his size that rivals some guards. He is a good rebounder despite his size. He is an explosive dunker. He'll get a lot of time off the bench.

Reggie Shanks is a junior who is now rated 60 overall. He is becoming a bit better at outside shooting.

Ben Martin is now rated 59 overall and has shown the most growth on our team. He has become a decent jump shooter.

PG Bakari Lewis is rated 59 overall and is a very sound ball handler.

SG Anatoly Bose is rated 58 overall and is showing signs of growth as he enters his sophomore year. I decide to redshirt him and see if he can develop into a good player by his Senior year.

C Mitch Boyce is now 6'10 265 and is still improving. He is rated 56 overall and remains a surprisingly good shooter for a big man. He may be the 3rd best shooter from outside the arc on the team.

PF Dominic Friend is 6'7 260 and is rated 56 overall now. He has really developed his offensive post game and is proficient at it now.

Chris Paige is 6'9 216 and is developing slowly. He is rated 53 overall.

Scooter Mallory is a walkon JR PF who is rated 50 overall. I don't expect him to get any PT.

Oliver Minyem is a walkon center who is rated 48 overall. He is 6'9 220 but I don't expect him to get any PT.

Adama Markham is a walkon freshman SF who is rated 48 overall. I doubt he'll ever play for us.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Galaxy

I take it the 360 is ok after the cat scare?

No, it is dead. I went out today and bought one of the newer ones. It is much quieter than the old one was, I think even when it was new.

I'll offer the old one to a friend who might pay to get it fixed.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Galaxy

Sounds like the skill ratings and potential don't match up.

Hopefully UConn and Texas Tech got good coaches.

I think the skill ratings are a measure of where he is currently. They are often off, but now that I've gotten a look at this kid, I think they were fairly on base with him

Except for his potential, which is worse than we thought.

[Eaglesfan27]

A look at the Pre-Season top 10:

1. Duke
2. UNC
3. Memphis
4. Texas
5. Michigan State
6. Tennessee
7. Arizona
8. UCLA
9. Providence
10. Syracuse

USC is 15th.

Texas Tech looks like they got a good coach from Davidson.

Connecticut also made a good hire it appears.


The Pre-Season All-Americans

PG D.J. Augustin, Texas
SG Josh Shipp, UCLA
SF Tasmin Mitchell, LSU
PF Darrell Arthur, Kansas
C Kevin Love, UCLA

[Eaglesfan27]

The Early recruiting is going very good as I've focused on a 2 star SF that I liked from McAllen, TX. Dante Newton is one of the best shooting players outside of the 4 and 5 star players. At first he was leaning towards UTPA or Texas A&M Corpus-Christi, but two visits later and an early scholarship offer have him moving us to #1 on his list. I think I might get him to sign during the early signing period in a few weeks. My high rating in Charisma is definitely making a difference in recruiting. The only bad thing is this kid is reluctant to shoot at times, but in 14 mpg in the ABL he averaged 6 ppg on 43% shooting.


I'm also heavily pursuing Van Plavich, a 2 star SF from New Orleans who is a good shooter. ALST and UNO are my top competition for him.


Our first game is on November 7th at Stony Brook. I swapped out a lot of games but will still be playing a lot of road games in non-conference play. Stony Brook is 0-2. Stony Brook is equal in talent to our team which has improved it teams talent rating to a 70. Our offense is better than theirs while our defense is slightly worse. Our team unity is better. We'll play this later this week.

[Galaxy]

How many scholarships do you have to offer this year?

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Galaxy

How many scholarships do you have to offer this year?

3 - as the starting PG, SG, and SF are all graduating after this year. I'm focusing on getting two good outside scorers at SF/SG first and then I'll start focusing on trying to get the PG that I've been scouting. I'm looking for another speedy playmaker if I can find one.

[korme]

I don't know how you feel about this, people might consider it a cheap tactic, but if you target a World recruit, say a **** one, that's even 30% interested in you by the start of the season, and continually phone him until offseason recruiting if no one else is interested, I'll almost guarantee you can sign him.

Just sayin'.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Shorty3281

I don't know how you feel about this, people might consider it a cheap tactic, but if you target a World recruit, say a **** one, that's even 30% interested in you by the start of the season, and continually phone him until offseason recruiting if no one else is interested, I'll almost guarantee you can sign him.

Just sayin'.

I actually looked at several world recruits considering our current roster of Australians. There are only about a dozen world recruits in this year's class and except for one who is a 1 star player, they are all being recruited by multiple big schools. I'm pursuing one in case the big names drop off. He is a PG from Australia which seemed appropriate with the heavy Australian presence on the team.

[Bee]

It seems to me your recruits are better this time around. Are you just going after better players or do you think it's just the luck of the draw?

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Bee

It seems to me your recruits are better this time around. Are you just going after better players or do you think it's just the luck of the draw?

I think maxing out charisma helped quite a bit. Also, I think I got lucky that the 3 star PF slipped through the interest of other teams until it was too late for them.

[Eaglesfan27]

So, I just confirmed that the standing dunk bug is causing problems in my career. My young star PF has a standing dunk of 0 as do all recruits once they get on teams. Oh well, I'm going to continue this career despite that, but I'm now much less anxious to finish this season in a hurry as I'd like to minimize the number of draft classes that are effected and hopefully a patch will be out by the time that I get through this season.


The first game of the season is against Stony Brook.

[rjolley]

Has a patch been confirmed, or is it just an assumption?

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by rjolley

Has a patch been confirmed, or is it just an assumption?

It's been mentioned by people "in the know" at OS, so I'm sure it will happen. Especially with 2ksports' track record of patching games in recent years.

[rjolley]

Ok, so CH2K8 and NBA2K8 are definitely on my purchase list. Kool.

Hope there's a sale on them in the next few weeks.

[Eaglesfan27]

Down 44-38 at the half. We are shooting 40% while allowing them to shoot 51%. Bathie leads our team with 10 points but he is shooting under 30%. We need to play much better defense. Our PG, Payne, is in foul trouble at the half with 3.


Payne picks up his 4th foul early in the 2nd half. I decide to try to let him play through it... he fouls out 2 minutes later with 16 minutes to go

We go with Czepil at the point.


With 3 minutes to go, Bathie hits a 3 to tie it at 76.

With 2:11 to go, Johnson gets an open lane and gets fouled on a dunk attempt. He hits 1 of 2 FT's to tie it at 77.

Their center Pitt hits a 2, and Bathie misses a 3 at the other end for us. They draw a foul and hit both FT's to take a 81-77 lead with 1:18 to go.

Bakari Lewis gets a basket on a nice drive down the middle of the lane. We get a stop with 44 seconds left. With 12 seconds left, Bathie drives the lane but has his shot blocked. They get it back and we have to foul.

They drill both FT's to make it a 4 point lead

Bathie hits a 3 with 3 seconds to go to make it 83-82. We foul immediately. They miss the first FT, but they get an offensive board! They miss the putback, but we get it as time is expired


We lose 83-82.

Their PG, Nick Carter, was the player of the game with 14 points and 10 assists. He shot 3 of 9, 3 of 5, and 5 of 7. He was faster than our PG and got us into a lot of foul trouble. Michael Tyree their SG had 19 points on 7 of 14 shooting including 3 of 5 behind the arc.

Bathie led us with 18 points, 6 boards, and 2 assists. He shot 5 of 17 including 4 of 11 behind the arc. Boyce had 17 points and 8 boards as he shot 7 of 10. Freshman Michal Lloyd had 9 points, 9 boards, and 3 assists in his debut as he shot 3 of 6 and 3 of 4 from the line. Payne had 2 points and 5 assists in his 18 minuts of PT before he fouled out and Verner added in 14 points.


Nov 14, 2008 -

We play at 1-0 Belmont. We beat them 101-71! We had 4 starters in double figures and 6 overall. Payne had 14 points and 7 assists. Verner had 16 points and 3 assists. Bathie only had 4 on 1 of 10 shooting. Lloyd had 10 points and 5 boards in his 2nd game. Boyce had 11 points. Johnson had 12 points and 8 boards off the bench and Czepil had 16 points in 16 minutes off the bench!


Our next game is a very winnable game at Savannah State.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by rjolley

Has a patch been confirmed, or is it just an assumption?

2ksports developers periodically post on OS and here is the latest post from one on the College Hoops team that officially confirms a patch is in the works. This post was in a thread about the Ivy League Bug:

Hey guys,

We have looked into this issue and a fix is on the way. The Ivy League bug where the same team makes it to the tournament is resolved in the upcoming patch.

[Galaxy]

I wonder when it will be released.

[Galaxy]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

I actually looked at several world recruits considering our current roster of Australians. There are only about a dozen world recruits in this year's class and except for one who is a 1 star player, they are all being recruited by multiple big schools. I'm pursuing one in case the big names drop off. He is a PG from Australia which seemed appropriate with the heavy Australian presence on the team.

Does the game develop state/country pipelines?

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Galaxy

I wonder when it will be released.

Originally Posted by Galaxy

Does the game develop state/country pipelines?

I posted this in the general forum College Hoops class, but there is a thread that has been posted in by a developer on OS and they said the patch is "coming soon."

I'm not sure. I think there are pipelines, but I'm not sure. I'll check tomorrow night.

[Blade6119]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

Thanks to guys like Bogut and the success of Australia in the junior international basketball ranks teams have started to dig recruiting pipelines downunder lately. There are a number of high profile Aussies in the college ranks (Nevill at Utah, Ogilvy at Vanderbilt, Aaron Bruce at Baylor, and Pat Mills at St. Mary's), but Nicholls State and St. Mary's have really outdone themselves. The two teams met for a two weeks ago (I think) with 9 Aussies in uniform between them.

Interestingly enough, the top article on the SI NCCA mens BB page is about the St. Mary's Aussie Pipeline...didnt see a mention of Nicholls, but it thought it was related none the less.

[Eaglesfan27]

From reading the boards at OS, I think I may have made a mistake on lowering the gamespeed and player speed to 40. I thought that would slow down all of the action and both sides would do less each possession keeping scores down even with 20 minute halves. However, multiple people on OS have pointed out that the game speed slider affects the speed of the game clock slowing it down and I see that in the help file as well. So, I'm raising that back up to 50 along with player speed.

Also, lots of the slider makers are turning up defensive awareness and I do think this is a good idea. Most are going with 70 or 80, but I'm going to start with a boost to 60 for both sides.


Now for our game at Savannah State. They are 1-3. They are a weaker team talent wise and team unity wise. Their offense is poor and their defense isn't any better. We should beat them without too much trouble.

[Eaglesfan27]

We are up 33-27 at the half. We shot 39% for the half while they shot 32%. Czepil leads our team with 13 points off the bench as he is 4 of 4 from the field, 3 of 3 from the arc, and 2 of 4 from the line. Bathie has 9 as our other main scorer. He is 3 of 6 from the fiel, 3 of 5 from the arc.


I definitely like the feel of the quicker game and shot totals seem good. They have shot 25 times at the half while we have shot 23 times.


We end up taking control early in the 2nd half and never give it up. A solid road win as we beat them 68-44!

We held them to 29% shooting for the game while we shot 44%. We were 11 of 24 from the arc. They were 5 of 23. We were 9 of 16 from the line while they were 13 of 17. We had 50 shots while they had 51. We each had 14 assists and 5 turnovers (I might turn up steal success some more.)

We had 3 blocks to their 1.

Bathie was the player of the game. He finished with 20 points, 6 boards, and 2 assists. He shot 6 of 12, 6 of 10, and 2 of 2. Czepil finished with 15 points, 1 board, and 1 assist. He shot 5 of 7. Lloyd, our freshman PF, finished with 16 points, 10 boards, 2 assists, and a block. He shot 6 of 7, 1 of 2 behind the arc, and 3 of 5 from the line. Boyce and Payne each had 6 points and Verner had 3.

[Eaglesfan27]

Nov 19, 2008 -

We lose our simulated game at CS Northridge 86-74. Worse, we lose Joshua Johnson to a toe injury. He'll be out 3-4 weeks. Verner led our team with 14 points. Lloyd had 7 points and 11 boards.

Our next game is at 1-2 Portland.

[Eaglesfan27]

Portland is a slightly more talented team than we are but their team unity is the worst I've ever seen. Hopefully, that will help us get the road win. Their best player is PG Marin Jackette who is a terrific freshman PG who we need to slow down.

[Eaglesfan27]

An exciting first half in which we led by 8 at one point ends with a run for Portland that gives them a 5 point lead. We are each shooting 47% as both teams are better offensively than defensively. We are down 37-32. Bathie and Verner are our main scorers. Bathie has 14 and Verner has 11.


In the 2nd half, Bather and Verner both cool off from outside and their 7'0 center takes over the boards and that helps them control the game. They win 71-61.

Nik Raivio led them with 18 points on 6 of 15 shooting including 2 of 4 behind the arc. Their 7'0 center had 8 points, 10 boards, and 2 blocks.

Verner led us with 24 points on 6 of 13 shooting. He shot 3 of 4 behind arc and 9 of 9 from the line. Bathie had 21 points and 4 boards. He shot 9 of 18, 3 of 10 behind the arc. Boyce had 6 points and 10 boards. Lloyd had 6 points and 6 boards.

They shot 43% as a team while we shot 38%. They outrebounded us 37-32 including 12 offensive boards to our 5.

[Eaglesfan27]

November 26 -

We win at Louisiana Tech to advance to 3-3. They drop to 1-3. We won 81-61. 4 guys with at least 15 points: Verner had 15, Bathie had 17, Boyce had 16, and Czepil had 19 off the bench. Payne had 8 points and 9 assists on 2 of 10 shooting. Our next game is on the 29th at Florida Atlantic. They are 2-1.