How I Spent My Last Formal Night: A CH2K8 Dynasty

[Izulde]

So here it is, the night of my last ever undergrad fraternity formal... and I'm here at the house.

10 girls asked to Formal, 10 nos, all but one for legitimate reasons.

On top of it, the bus left without me.

So I went and had Chinese for supper and I've decided to spend the night starting a CH2K8 Closed Legacy Dynasty.

Using EF27's sliders, I'll finally be playing full 20 minute halves and the second difficulty level, since I suck at this game.

All C-s, save for a B- in Scouting and a C+ in Discipline. I know to get ahead, to max out Charisma, but a) that's cheating and b) I'm in no way charismatic.

My team of choice is the Tennessee-Martin Skyhawks, because they've never made the Big Dance, they suck, I love the team name and I really like the logo.

My assistants:

Russ Johnson (30)
Key Attributes: Charisma (C) Defense (C) Discipline (B-) Ambition (A)

Tyquawn Deberry (39)
Key Atttributes: Offense (C+) Teaching (C+) Ambition (B+)

So yeah, no telling how long these two bozos are going to stay around, but they'll be with me at least a year.

I sim the ABL simply because I can't be bothered with it at this stage in my career.

Our roster looks really, really bad, as you might expect. On the bright side, we're fairly young, with only one senior. Yet, despite just one senior, we have 3 scholarships. Not that I'm complaining.

The first thing that immediately jumps out at me is our lack of height. Our tallest guy is 6'9" and he's our lone SR, a PF masquerading as C.

So the first goal is to get bigger, the quicker the better.

Recruiting Targets
PF Brent Salisbury - 6'8" 210 lbs. 3*
Other Interested Teams: 3 (TNST, WOF, ALST)
Interest Lvl: 42% (4th)

SF Matas Locklier - 6'6" 216 lbs. 2*
Other Interested Teams: None
Interest Level: 48%

And then a 1* C I'm looking at who's 6'10" and then another C 6'8" but 2*. I've also got feelers out on a 2* HS SO C.

Note: All players are Local, because I'm making it a house rule that I have to recruit in the local area until I start having some success.

Midnight Madness
We only have 11 players on the roster, which would explain why we have 3 open scholarships. It'll be the tenative starters, who I'll be controlling, versus the tenative reserves.

The Reserves open up out of nowhere with torrid shooting and unbelievable defense to stake out a 21-2 lead, SG Sidney Chatfield (FR) the warrior with 14 points during that run alone. Then I call a timeout and have the starters double up on Chatfield for the rest of the game and to really work on the D.

Halftime Score Reserves 46 Starters 30

Our field percentage dramatically improved after that disastrous start, but we're still way behind the 8 ball. Sidney Chatfield now has 24 points and 6th man SG Jair Bograkos (SO) leads the starters with 11 points and also has 3 steals. For the reserves PF Alexansander Gray (FR) is doing a bangup job on the boards at C, with 13 rebounds at halftime along with 2 blocks.

There's going to be some major shifts in our projected starters, I think.

It went from bad to worse.

Final Score - Reserves 97 Starters 58

Sidney Chatfield beat us almost by himself with 50 points.

So we make some major changes and here's our new starting lineup for the season.

Game 1 Starting Lineup
PG Dallas Sharp (FR)
SG Sidney Chatfield (FR)
SG Jajir Bograkos (SO)
PF Leandro Zwikker (JR)
PF Lubos Bowen (SR)

We have little to no presence inside and that's going to absolutely kill us. Our defense is looking pretty shabby, too.

It's going to suck having to rely so much on a guards game, because I prefer a conservative, inside setup, but we'll have to deal with what we've been dealt.

[Cap Ologist]

So, how far away was the formal?

[Izulde]

Game 1: @ Memphis (86-86-68)
This should be a blowout.

But we come out competitive and stay that way for most of the first half of the first half. Jajir Borgakos opened scoring with a 3 pointer and we actually held the lead for about 5 minutes before Memphis's superior talent level started taking over.

The talent difference and, it must be admitted, our chemistry difference. They're at 68. We're at 15 chemistry. By halftime we're down 50-31 and the Tigers' backcourt is killing us, combining for 26 points between the two guards. Lubos Bowen is having a great first half, with 6 points and 7 rebounds, but Sidney Chatfield has been ice cold: 1-5 for FGs and Jajir Borgakos is just 1-5 from 3 point range, 2-8 overall.

So I make my halftime adjustments, recommended by the CPU

And what happens?

With just over 7 minutes left in the 2nd half, the Tigers have 102 points.

So yeah, their reserves beat up on us and we go down in flames.

Final: Memphis 119 Tennessee-Martin 84

The Bad
Absolutely no defense to speak of. Atrocious ball-handling. Some of our best shooters having really awful days. Getting punked by their reserves.

The Good
We showed we can score in the second half, with 53 points, even if it was against the Tigers' reserves. Lubos Bowen had 12 points and 14 rebounds, Jajir Borgakos rode a lot of free trips to the foul line for a team-high 17 points and Leandro Zwikker had a nice all-around game of 13 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks and 2 turnovers. Alexsandar Gray had 11 points, 3 rebounds and a block in just 16 minutes of play, but don't look for the freshman to appear in the starting five any time soon, as he also had 3 turnovers.

So I think we'll ride with this starting five for a while. I'm sure things are going to look really ugly in out of conference play, but hopefully by the time the conference season rolls around, we'll be a much more improved and cohesive squad.

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by Cap Ologist

So, how far away was the formal?

About 20-25 minutes by bus.

[Izulde]

Game 2: VS Maine (0-1) (67, 62, 22)
A very winnable home game against the Black Bears, who have slightly better unity, but not as good a talent as we do. This one should be a fun contest.

Halfway through the first half, we're down 15-10. A few stupid turnovers and some terribly icy shooting on our parts has doomed to this, despite getting their star PF, who was giving us fits on defense and rebounding, to pick up 2 relatively quick fouls. Sidney Chatfield in particular has been off the mark with everything he's thrown up. Lubos Bowen started out hot, but then turned cold as everyone else.

We claw back to the lead, but then Maine goes on a 19-0 run and suddenly we're way, way down in the hole. Their hot shooting continues and then they finally cool off, but we're still not doing anything.

I'm changing the sliders for Human back to 50 on the short and medium range shooting. I wonder if I misread EF27's sliders, because I set both human and CPU to the lowered settings and we're shooting 23% against a really crappy team and shot about that against Memphis too.

So sliders are bumped up, adjustments made and we roll on into the second half, down by a big score.

Maine 41 Tennessee-Martin 26

Things are looking bad to start off the second half with sloppy shooting, turnovers and the bane of us all small teams, blocked shots. But our defense calmly shuts down the Black Bears and gets a ton of steals. Our offense starts coming to life as well, as Jajir Borgakos overcomes a cold night to shoot a 3 that cuts the double-digit lead to single digits for the first time and makes another key FG as well.

Through balanced shooting, thievery and lockdown defense, by the halfway point of the second half, we've fought our way all the way back to a 54-48 deficit and continue to keep pace and chip away. F Tim Conley (Jr) is a huge part of our run, with a 3 point play, a FG, an two FTs all in short order. By the time we're within 56-54 with 8:32 left to play and the crowd's going crazy in our favor, the Maine coach has had enough and calls a timeout.

Maine extends their lead following the timeout and we bounce between 3-5 point deficit, suffering a heartbreak when Jajir Borgakos's 3 to tie spins around inside the rim and bounces out. But then Alexsander Gray heats up again and with the scoreline 65-64 with 2:51 left on the clock, Maine's calling another timeout, trying to figure out a way to keep us from seizing the momentum with the lead.

WE GO UP 66-65 TWO PLAYS LATER WHEN JAJIR BORGAKOS HITS TWO FTS!. The momentum is OURS!!! The Black Bears are going crazy, calling timeouts following the lead seizure and again when Lubos Bowen rolls in a layup to extend our lead to 3.

But nothing works. Losing that gigantic lead has demoralized them and Maine goes down with a whimper.

Final: Tennessee-Martin 79 Maine 69

My first win as the Skyhawks coach!!!

The Bad:
Getting into that deficit in the first place, but I blame the fixed sliders. The only question then becomes, does this game turn into a blowout if they were fixed? I'm not sure, but most of our 10 point win was gotten at the free throw line late in the second half. One true negative stat I can point to: PG Bo Downey (Jr) with 4 turnovers in backup minutes. While he made a couple clutch field goals, Downey, who lost his starting job in the midnight scrimmage, may be pushed even further down the bench now.

The Good
PF Lubos Bowen gets his second straight double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. The senior plays a lot bigger than his size at C and we're going to miss him when he's gone. Or maybe we won't, because Player of the Game PF Alexsandar Gray had 14 points, 3 rebounds a block off the bench. It's getting tempting to start Gray, but I prefer to have the freshman remain our 6th man and sparkplug. SG Jajir Bograkos shook off a rough shooting night to finish with 11 points, 3 rebounds and 4 steals, along with maybe some other miscelleanous stats. Those steals were critical to the win. And let's not forget PF Tim Conley, as the junior made a big push for his starting job back with a double-double of 11 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals. But one game does not a starting spot win, especially since we're trying to build our chemistry here.

Still, it feels damned good to be 1-1.

[Izulde]

Game 3: @ Mississippi State (2-0, 83, 80, 53)
Yeah, I see this one as another blowout, though hopefully nowhere near as bad as the Memphis debacle.

We stay close for a few minutes, but then the Bulldogs just rip the boards up, getting offensive rebound after offensive rebound, 3rd and 4th chances even, so we're all too quickly looking at a 17-8 deficit.

At the 10 minute mark, we're down 32-18 as Mississippi State can't miss, especially from beyond the arc. I try and change up to different defenses that will hopefully contain their hotness, but then they just go right back to grabbing boards on offense.

So I'm sure it's no surprise when I tell you that the Bulldog scrubs are in full effect well before halftime and we go in the lockerroom way down.

Halftime: Tennessee-Martin 40 Mississippi State 67

On the bright side, Tim Conley already has 10 points by halftime and Alexsandar Gray is a perfect 4/4 for 8 points in just 2 minutes of play. Less happy, Lubos Bowen is not only 0/8 from the field, but he's injured and will miss at least this game and probably more. That's our lone senior and one of our best players!

The second half, we get within 19 and then the Bulldogs dump their starters back out to beat us up and finally we fall, but it was an exciting, high-scoring performance all around, even as we got pummeled again.

Final: Tennessee-Martin 97 Mississippi State 127

The Bad
We lost by 30. Yeah. Lubos Bowen was horrible before he got hurt and oh yeah, he's out for 21 days. That's 3 weeks without the team's only, lonely senior. Jajir Bograkos also went the way of the do-do bird with just 6 points on 3/10 shooting. On the plus side, he did have 9 assists.

The Good
Sidney Chatfield finally had the kind of breakout game he's capable of with 19 points on 8/15 shooting, a team high for the season. Leandro Zwikker has won the unofficial audition to be our new starting C with a double-double of 15 points and 15 rebounds. Alexsandar Gray finished with 16 points, 8 rebounds and 3 steals, but may have lost the starting PF audition by shooting just 2/6 in the second half. On the other hand, while Tim Conley scored 16 and was flawless from the charity stripe, he doesn't bring the multiple attributes that Gray does, so we'll probably start Gray at PF until Bowen comes back. SG Marty Blevins (Jr) also showed surprising offense with 14 points.

Newly Shuffled Lineup
PG Dallas Sharp (Fr) - Doesn't do much, but doesn't turn the ball over much.
SG Sidney Chatfield (Fr) - Really needed that double-digit game, as I was starting to question his starting spot.
SF Jajir Bograkos (So) - If shooting slump continues, could be relegated to the bench in favor of Conley.
PF Aleksandar Gray (Fr) - Not much of a rebounder, but he can shoot and he can do a lot of little things.
C Leandro Zwikker (Jr) - Montenegro import wasn't even on the starting lineup according to the CPU coaches. He's the one pre-Midnight Madness starter of my choosing that's actually panned out. We'll be relying on him to full Bowen's big shoes for the next 3 weeks.

The good news is, an entire week goes by without games.

Recruiting Update

PF Brent Salisbury
It's down to us vs. Wofford and we hold the very slight lead for his services. If the scouting is right on him, he'd be a pretty big coup for us, especially with his potential. Could even see action as a true freshman, even with our crowded frontcourt.

SF Matas Locklier
Dropped as further investigation revealed him not worth our time.

C Rony Akins - 2*
Looks a far sight better than the other C we were eyeing, so he got the scholarship offer. No competition for him as yet, so I'm hoping we can lock him up in the early period but I doubt it.

PG Horace Lane - 2* (Regional)
Other interested schools: Southeastern Louisiana, Florida A&M, Nicholls State
-Not really interested in anybody, so with just the first burst of attention and scholarship offer, we shoot to the front of the pack, but we've got a long ways to go.

By the way, I've changed house rules to allow myself one regional recruit chased per season, because we need a PG and there's nobody local who would even consider us, so I pursued Lane until after I remembered my local only rule.

Whoops. Oh well.

This is proving fun, though and I can't believe it's already 4 am.

[Izulde]

6 hours later and I'm awake again. Walked out into the common area that my room branches off of and there's one of my fraternity brothers, sleeping on the couch with some naked girl. Way to go, Big D, I thought to myself on my way to the can.

My formal night wasn't a total bust. I went downtown to snag some Jimmy John's before heading to the bar where I met up with one of the alumni who was one of the biggest reasons why I joined this chapter. We drank and chatted and it was good times. Then I went back to the house to catch one of the other alumni and see how things were with him, but he'd already started home by the time I got back because he had to be to work at 9 am tomorrow. Just missed him by 5 minutes, too. It's cool, though, because he said he'd roll back into town for graduation. Considering I'm the only one in my chapter that's graduating this year, I thought it was pretty awesome he said that.

Oh yeah and I went back to playing CH2K8, obviously. Speaking of which, back to the game.

I've decided to do this by the week for each post, which, starting this turn, means two games a post rather than the one I've been doing till now.

Game 4: @ Arkansas State (3-2, 74, 68, 32)
This'll be a good challenge for us, as the Indians are definitely a better team, but by the same token, they're not so far ahead of us that it'll be a blowout.

...Or maybe not a good challenge. We're down by effing 20 points at the 10:00 mark. No matter what defense, no matter how much I switch up the defenses, the Indians are hitting shot after shot after fucking shot. Ugh! Of course, then we get sloppy and start pressing so that we look like idiots out there.

The final insult is a 3 point buzzer-beater. Unfucking believable.

Halftime: Tennessee-Martin 42 Arkansas State 74

We're just getting our tails kicked left and right, end of story. There's no salvaging this pitiful, pitiful game.

Things go from bad to worse and yeah.

Final: Tennessee-Martin 86 Arkansas State 128

The Bad
Arkansas State shooting 55% from the floor, 41.9% (13/31) from downtown range. We got killed inside, we got killed outside. Lubos Bowen really needs to heal up and quick. Two Indians with 20+ points, 5 in double figures. 20 turnovers, highlighted by new starting PF Tim Conley

The Good
13/14 from the charity stripe. Leandro Zwikker showed he can take over in Bowen's absence with 26 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, a block and a turnover. Aleksander Gray had 16 points and 7 rebounds off the bench, but also 3 turnovers. Jajir Bograkos seems to have found a little scoring touch again, with 16 points.

[b]Game 5: @ St. Peter's (2-3 70, 68, 35)
Normally I'd say we've a shot here, but *snort*. Fat chance.

But then we open up with a 2-0 lead on Sidney Chatfield's nailing a tough fadeaway jumper. St. Peter's comes right back and we spend the entire first 10 minutes coming damned frustratingly close to taking the lead again, but every single effing time we get within 1 or tie it up, suddenly we can't hit a damned bucket. I'm going into major Tourette's mode here.

My swearing increases and I'm punching the wall and throwing my bed in rage when we can't fucking make a god damned shot to save our fucking lives and we go down the fucking drain by halftime.

Halftime - Tennessee-Martin 41 St. Peter's 50

Fuck it.

Dynasty's done.

By the time we go down 14 2 minutes into the half, I'm made a complete 180 flip and more stuff has crashed down from the shelves.

kind of like how we can't fucking crash the fucking god dmaned boards or the protect the god damned fucking basketball.

[korme]

Best dynasty ending ever! LOL i hope everythings ok Izulde

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by Shorty3281

Best dynasty ending ever! LOL i hope everythings ok Izulde

Thanks Yeah, everything's fine now, but I was so freaking ticked off my eyes literally had that crackling feeling they get when I'm that mad and it took me a good 20 minutes to straighten out the mess I made of the room in my fury.

I may or may not start another dynasty for CH2K8, but if I do, I'm taking a closed legacy team that doesn't blow so hardcore in team unity. I may also take control of my own scheduling to lineup some cupcake teams so I get some wins in there or at least some close games to make myself feel better.

It's one thing to go on a losing streak of semi-close games, it's another thing entirely to keep getting blown out game after game after game. I may dial down the CPU shooting sliders some more, too.