USC In NCAA 53- A real life MP dynasty

muns · 05-08-2015, 02:16 PM

So I got this idea from a real life baseball MP league on here and thought it was a really neat concept. JetsIn06 started a thread called Mastering the GUBA-verse An online OOTP Dynasty and I figured what the heck. I can follow suit. It was a good read, so I might as well go for it.
So this is going to be my own musings in an online FBCB2010 league that a lot of FOFC'ERS are actually in. Now sure how much ill be updating this because I am sure you are asking by now won't others be able to tell what you are doing? It’s honestly a pretty laid back friendly league so yes and no, but I’m doing it Just for fun (my job slows way down in the summers and this will give me something to do in the day time). If some of our wiley FOFC vets read this (I will introduce them all here shortly), that’s fine, I just won’t put everything i'm doing out there right away or something like that.

Alas let’s get into this thing.

I was pretty excited when the league started as Murrayyyyy (the commish) developed a league with FBCB that got me interested. You see I had never done a fbcb league before because DC, YoungDrachma or Ron (whatever you know him by here at FOFC) ruined most of my online leagues with his fast sim concept of OOTP on the boards here at FOFC. With fast sim you basically turn out a season within weeks instead of a season in game taking a few months in real life. I got addicted to seeing guys develop and turn into hall of famers and all the discussions and friendships that formed because of it. So MP leagues that weren’t fast sim didn’t appeal to me anymore.

Then along came Murrayyyy with the concept of starting college basketball in 1953 and all the neat things associated with it. Team names were different, Conference Alignments were different, the Logos were weird and cool all at the same time. While the speed isn’t what I would like, its fast enough, and immediately I was hooked.

As a matter of fact the first piece I wrote for the league was a recruiting piece in order to entice people to sign up.

Quote:

The year was 2015. The college basketball history books have been written. Gone were the days of Wooden and UCLA, the old glory days of Rupp and Kentucky, and the Brillance of Phog Allen in Kansas. Now, you have the one and done’s with Calipari, the game being played above the rim with many teams running and gunning, and what many people see as the decline of fundamental basketball. Is Duke and Coach K the new way to play the game? Is Tom Izzo and Michigan State the model for how coaches should be building their teams? Is John Calipari good for College basketball? On top of those basketball related questions, has the commercialization ruined amateur athletics? I don’t know about all of you, but those questions are enough to make my head spin.

But what if I told you there was a way we could return to a time where the game and its history could be re-written? Want to play as the St. Bonaventure Brown Indians in the Western New York Little Three Conference? Or how about the Hardin-Simmons Cowboys of the Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association? Or maybe you want to try your luck within the Atlantic Coast Conference (with only 8 teams) as Wake Forest? Have you even heard of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute Tigers? Want to try and make them the powerhouse of the Southeastern Conference? There are plenty of teams and storylines to be had, followed, changed and wrote about.

Just imagine if Wooden and the greatest dynasty college basketball has ever seen didn’t happen. What if there was no early entry to the draft and every player graduated from college? How about if Tobacco Road was never important in the basketball landscape? Other than the Ivy Group, what if there were no academic standards? What if Philly and the Big 5 turned into the basketball Mecca of the world?

Enter Murrayyyyy and his vision for a way to rewrite the college basketball history books using Fast Break College Basketball 2010. All the authentic team names and logos. All the conference alignments as it was back in the day with both team and conference movements that occur as they did back then.

NCAA 53 is an opportunity to take the reins of your favorite college basketball program at a time where the NCAA was just starting to get into its groove. Thanks to a win by the CCNY Beavers who won both the NIT and NCAA tournaments in 1950, the NCAA orchestrated a shift in the basketball landscape the following year. Teams would no longer be eligible to play in both tournaments. The spotlight that had always been shone on the NIT and New York were now going to be shut off. Sunny California and the West were going to have their time to shine. Will this shift happen in NCAA 53? Will you let it?

Come on over and check us out. Plenty of spots available with both inexperienced FBCB players and vets alike. Play around and have some fun in a league where every single recruiting action and every single coaching action has a ripple effect on the college landscape. Come rewrite the history books and change everything you have ever hated about college basketball. Do you have the guts to make New York University Violets the next Duke? Do you have what it takes to become the next John Thompson or Pete Carril?

Come show us what you got!
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The second thing that I thought was neat about the league was the fact that when Murrayyyy announced the league on the boards here a lot of guys who were on the beta team for any of Brian's Fast Break series were saying they were interested. I then started to PM some people privately (sorry if I bugged anybody that is reading this now) an invited them to join the league.

For me, playing in a league where some original guys that have helped make the game what it is was, was also a very cool thing. We have about 30 coaches at the moment, with some of the guys having 2 and 3 teams and some sticking to just one.

When I signed up I took USC because there was another human that took California and with the PCC- (The Pacific Coast Conf) only having 9 teams I was hoping that league would fill up first and fast. And that is exactly what occurred.

muns · 05-08-2015, 03:14 PM

The FOFC’ERS that have teams are:

murrayyyyy – Arkansas,
radii - North Carolina State, Idaho, Houston
britrock88 - North Carolina, Oregon, Yale
muns - Southern California
vince - Stanford, Dartmouth
dawgfan - Washington
groundhog - UCLA
balldog - Mercy College of Detroit
zinto - Saint Louis
Izulde - Wyoming
Comey - Notre Dame, Uconn, Penn
Bryan Swartz- Michigan,Harvard, Tulane
Mr.Bug- Indiana, Columbia
Korme- Cincinnatti
Old Giants- Rutgers
Sportsfanmas- Municipal University of Wichita

I might be forgetting a few guys here, and if I did someone let me know. I know I am missing some 2nd and 3rd teams and ill update that as I do some more research.

So the 2 things that we all have learned so far are:
1. We learned that with a smaller league the recruiting pool was smaller. We all had to adjust for what we were used to playing in single player which was weird to see.
2. We learned that we all were pretty conservative on who we went after recruiting wise. For perspective, the number 2 recruit Normand Herbert has no offers yet and it’s way too late in the recruiting game to just switch now.

What I learned:

1. Saving money on coaches to help you scout all of California doesn’t help when you have less recruits. First DOAHHH mistake.
2. I also forgot that academics were turned off, so I didn’t scout guys that could potentially become eligible. 2nd dumb DOAHHH mistake.
3. Recruiting in the PCC was going to be as rough as they come.

With Vince II at Stanford, with Dawgfan at Washington, with Groundhog at UCLA, with Radi at Idaho, with Britrock88 at Oregon its just a hell of a group that knows how to play the game and recruit.

Clearly, I am going to have my hands full at USC.

Brian Swartz · 05-09-2015, 12:22 AM

Excellent! I have Michigan and don't give a rats behind if you put that in the post, three teams to destroy :P.

muns · 05-09-2015, 03:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

Excellent! I have Michigan and don't give a rats behind if you put that in the post, three teams to destroy :P.

I added Michigan to your line. I forgot about Michigan due to the coaching change somehow. And I highly doubt you'll be getting destroyed. Snake in the grass over here

muns · 05-09-2015, 03:57 PM

Recruiting didn’t staff off the way I hoped. Not a lot of interest in USC, as other more prestigious teams are within the PCC. I knew I was going to be behind the 8 ball, but didn’t realize it would start off the way it did. Part of that problem was the lower of number of teams within our universe, there wasn’t as many kids to recruit from within the universe. That meant the hot bed in Cali was down more than usual and the hidden gems that I was counting on being able to find with the extra money that I didn’t spend on my coaching staff wasn’t going to happen.

My Recruiting budget was 29K which if you know anything about FBCB is a decent amount of change. My Prestige at USC is 51 and that is good for 4th out of the 9 teams within the PCC. UCLA and California were both better than I am Prestige wise, and that’s not good for in state recruiting.

I had 4 offers to hand out this year and I tried to identify the lower ranked guys within the state of California. Ya know just to be on the safe side due to where I fall within the structure of the PCC. I did target a few of the top tier guys just to see if I would like their ratings and if I might have a shot.

The first thing I needed to do was identify some post recruits. Post players are golden in FBCB because they do not get generated in numbers as other positions. This is doubly important in this league because as I mentioned earlier there are less recruits being generated.

Now I am playing catch up here since I decided to start this a bit late and we are further ahead in the game than my first few posts, but ill eventually pick it up.

The first Target that I really wanted was C- Derek Busby. An All-American who could flat out play. He looked to be able to do it all on the offensive side of the ball and he projected to be a major rebounder. He wasn’t all that great playing D, but he was average and I would be able to live with that. However as you can see, look who I ran into right away. The 2 big boys that I have already previously mentioned. I had to drop off him right away as there was no way I was going to be able to compete with California and UCLA. Time to sink that money into someone else.

The 2nd target C- Robert Coli. He was undersized at 6’8, but he was a load at 246. He strength was there and I figure with him being ranked 181st in the nation I might have a shot. Wrong again. Stanford had the lead from the very beginning and as you can tell, signed on the dotted line last sim. He wasn’t the typical big man that I would go after, however, he is going to be a force on the defensive side of the boards, and he was average on just about everything else. He wouldn’t have hurt me. But it wasn’t meant to be, and another team in the conf gets a kid that I would have liked to have had.

Ok so third target big man wise, and if you are anything like me you are thinking, 3rd time is the charm. One of these big guys has to pan out for us right? Sigh, sadly once again, it just didn’t happen. C-Hal Myers who is 6’10 would have been a nice fit for us. Tall, could board, has the strength and could play some nice post D. However, I was nervous about going into Utah, especially when a Utah school offered him right away and didn’t look back. While we had the same Prestige as Utah State, and play in a better conf, I couldn’t justify going hard and potentially wasting money.

So after the first 2 recruiting sims I’m in a full blown panic. I don’t have a lot of good young post players so I need to be able to snag at least one. Recruiting for the post was not good at the beginning and finding a solution was not going to be easy.

Vince, Pt. II · 05-09-2015, 04:32 PM

I was thinking about doing something like this as well. Maybe I'll just chime in here occasionally

I had my eyes on Coil from the get go. Thought I may have been aiming too high, but as you noted it looks like we were all a little conservative.

muns · 05-09-2015, 04:45 PM

So as I was not happy about how the bigs were shaping up. The bright spot was 2 guards that we identified from the get go, but just weren’t as important as the bigs. That has now shifted as the guards that were targeted become extremely important as they have the potential to save our class.

SG-Vincent Lincoln- Vincent is a 6’2 shooting Guard who is ranked 98th in the nation and is All state California, and an All American. He committed to us last sim, and we are ecstatic about him coming to USC. As long as our scouts have him rated correctly, he can shoot the J right away, has decent handles, can play some D and is pretty athletic. There is some room from growth, but not a lot. He seems to might be developed already. Either way he should play a role next year.

PG- Allen Stover- Allen is 6’2 PG from Montana, who was selected to the All Montana squad. I do not think his current scouting ratings correct, but if they are real it would be really nice for us. I would like to think we have him wrapped up but Washington right there kind of makes me nervous. I am hoping we are so far ahead that it won’t matter, but you just never know right. He can handle the ball like a student currently, can shoot it from long range, and has the potential to grow into a real shooter. He is a freakish athlete but like I said those scouted ratings might be a bit off. Either way hoping he comes to USC.

So those are the two guards we have identified, and were able to sign 1 out of the 2.

So who were the other 2 guys we ended up targeting since we struck out on the bigs?

C-Vaughn Griffis is the 35th rated recruit out of California. The first sim he was no eligible and once I realized that academic were turned off we jumped on him immediately in hopes nobody else figured that out. Unfortunately for us 2 other schools wanted him the same way. Thankfully, we had the lead and the other schools backed off. He still hasn’t committed and Kansas and West Virginia have now both showed interest this past sim. That doesn’t make me feel good, as they are 2 power house teams. Like Allen Stover, we are hoping that we are so far ahead that them coming up late won’t matter. But goodness if there is a recruit we can’t afford to get swiped on its Griffis. I have no idea who I’d go with post wise if he went somewhere else. He can board, play some good D and has the potential to develop into a low post scorer. He is the gem of the class simply because he is the post and losing him would tank it.

SF- Hernando Hernandez- The 60th ranked recruit that is our 2nd All American and All state California kid to commit to us last sim. I also like the fact that he is our First Mr. Basketball. He is 6’6 and 247. He is going to provide us with some versatility at SF with his size. He is a freak athlete with his ratings but is below average to average in just about everything else but shooting. If his shooting comes in anywhere near what it looks like here, he is going to be an issue for most defenders in the PCC for a few years.

We have 2 kids committed and are hoping for 2 more here shortly to round out a class that has good potential. It would be a good first class for USC

muns · 05-09-2015, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

I was thinking about doing something like this as well. Maybe I'll just chime in here occasionally

I had my eyes on Coil from the get go. Thought I may have been aiming too high, but as you noted it looks like we were all a little conservative.

You should do one as well Vince. Would be interesting to see all the different perspectives on what is going on within the league.

I think Coli will work out nicely for you, and was a nice grab. He should be able to board with the best of em

muns · 05-09-2015, 05:03 PM

The rest of the recruiting scene looks really top heavy. My observation after the 3rd recruiting sim.

Quote:

After analyzing the top 200 recruits this year, it is fairly obvious that there are have and have not’s this year recruiting wise. You have some teams like Kentucky who have a realistic shot at 15 of the top 100 players, and teams like Michigan, Rutgers, Villanova, and St. Joes that have zippo in their top 5 that are ranked in the top 200.
So who has the leg up? Who is going to land this year’s top class? Who has the opportunity to secure the best guys to dominate the NCAA 53 universe in the next 3 years? For that let’s take a look deeper at this year’s top 5 recruiting numbers.

It is obvious to me and frankly anybody else that looks, that this year’s top 3 teams on the recruiting trail are Kentucky, NC State, and Indiana. Which order they will line up in is a tough nut to crack at the moment, but that will eventually shape up in the near future. I have already given you Kentucky’s stats so let’s look at the other 2 teams. NC State has a shot at 12 players in the top 100, and Indiana has a shot at 8 in the top 100. Those are mind boggling numbers folks and I mean just absolutely nutty. To put that in some perspective for you, Notre Dame who is no slouch prestige wise (with their 72 ranking) only has 3 players that they currently have a shot at (in their top 5) but they are all outside of the top 100 ranked recruits. Their first one comes in at #127. Anybody saying holy shit yet??? Recruiting is top heavy this year and those 3 teams will certainly have an amazing chance to take home the first title with their own recruits. Kudos goes to coaches Kyle Kappe, Rob Roberson Jr, and Richard Dixon. Keep up the good work boys.

So who and what else is taking place? Where do the rest of us shake out? It honestly depends on how you look at the rankings. Do you want the totals for the top 200? The top 100, the top 50? By changing each variable, you can change the next 10 schools rankings. So to simplify it we are just gonna go with what I see taking place.

North Carolina, St Johns, Arkansas, Temple, UCLA and California all come in the next tier of teams in that order. Some, however, are stronger than others depending on what you are looking at. St. Johns only has what I call a legitimate shot at 4 recruits right now, but 3 are ranked in the top 50. Arkansas, on the other hand, has a good balance. They have 2 ranked in the top 50 that they have a shot at but 7 others in the top 200. See the difference there? That makes it extremely hard this early to tell who is going to have the better class, but gives you a first look at what potentially might be and how many options coaches and teams have at their disposal.

The next tier of teams as I see it looks like this:

Washington, Tulane, South Carolina, USC, Oregon State, Oregon, Notre Dame and Stanford. Washington takes the cake here simply because they have the highest rated guys of the bunch. Tulane and South Carolina come up 2, and 3 respectively because of depth in the top 200. If they miss on a guy or 2 they have the ability to say screw it and fall back on some other decent players. Their nets are bigger then Washington’s which could potentially vault them not only in front of Washington but into the grouping of teams above them.

The last team I am going to mention here, and it’s because we have a big contention in the Ivy Group is Columbia. Head Coach Aaron Kappe is putting in some work, and I see them as being the top rated Ivey Group team recruiting wise at the moment there. Somehow they have snuck 2 guys in the top 200 where bigger teams that I have already mentioned don’t have a single one. Does that mean they won’t get passed? No, but at the moment they have a heck of a start and are clearly the favorites within that conference at the moment. Aaron might have a leg up in who to scout first, or his top prestige ranking of 54 within that conf might have something to do with it. You tell me. Either way, Columbia looks to be solid on first glance.

Good luck to everybody on the next sim as recruiting will hopefully start to get cleaner. My biggest question so far is who is going to grab all of these recruits that Kentucky, NC State, and Indiana don’t want? Who has to guts to jump in there with some money and say, its ok I’ll be your second tier school, and we are going to clean up because of it. Will it be a computer team like Illinois? How about a Noah controlled UNC? Or maybe just maybe Rutgers, Michigan and company say yep, I got that. We were just saving the best for when everybody fell asleep.

No matter what happens, I am going to be excited to see who does what, and eventually see who lands where. May the recruiting gods ever be in your favor

muns · 05-09-2015, 05:04 PM

My recruiting observations after the 4th recruiting sim.

Quote:

Hey Hey College Basketball fans, we are back with our second installment of looking at the recruiting rankings amongst us human folk.

As with the first article, the haves have stayed in control and are not looking back. Last article I would have predicted a Kentucky, NC State, Indiana battle (in that order) for the best class. In looking at it 2 sims later we start to get a better picture. Rankings wise (remember this has nothing to do with how the actual ratings look),

Indiana has jumped out to the commanding lead as they look to have locked up the numbers 1, 3, 13, and 22nd ranked recruits. That my friends is a bit crazy to me. 3 top 15 players and 4 top 25 players. Have we ever seen that before in the history of “real basketball”? I for one, am actually am excited about it. Remember we are trying to change the history of college basketball, and while Indiana was a power, if they recruit like that, they will leave our universe saying UCLA who!?!?!?!

I have Kentucky coming in second at the moment as they seem to have locked up the 6th, 17th, 18th, and 85th ranked recruits. Not a bad haul at all, and if not for what Indiana seems to be doing we might have spent an entire paragraph on them. I won’t speculate on who has the actual best class yet, but at the moment with their recruit’s rankings I have the pegged squarely second.

Third but not least would be NC State. They seem to have secured the 11th, 12th and 15th rated recruits. Honestly an argument could be made that they could be 2nd, however with Kentucky seemingly having the higher rated top guy at 6, this is why I have State here at 3rd for the moment.

I haven’t named recruits yet because I don’t want to get too personal yet, with some changes that might occur, but for now the top 3 in the league are the haves. It is without question these teams are the major players in college basketball.

Coming in 4th place would be UNC. They seem to have the 4th rated recruit and the 69th rated recruit wrapped up, but are in a recruiting battle with Duke, there in state AI controlled rival for the 61st rated recruit. If they don’t land them, they might drop a few spots going forward, but having the 4th rated guy on any incoming class isn’t exactly a bad thing. I mean can’t we all dream for that?

So with 2 of the top 4 teams recruiting wise coming from the ACC the question on everybody mind is will the ACC start to run the show next year with the influx of top talent?? That is a question only time will tell and final recruit signings will answer.

However what I will say is that the most competitive conference recruiting wise is without a doubt is the PCC.

While I am in that conf, I can assure you that this is where the action is taking place. Every single team has a bead on its targets with the exception of a major major recruiting battle taking place between UCLA and California. Here is what we got so far.

California- In a recruiting battle for the number 29th, 44th, and 125th ranked recruits. They don’t have a single guy locked up yet which could be a bad bad problem. Typically if a team strikes out it is a killer, however looking at Cali's roster, they might be able to miss on one class and still be ok within the conf.

UCLA- In a recruiting battle for the 29th, 44th kids, but seem to have wrapped up the 147th and 179th rated guys. While they are battling California for guys, they seem to have 2 guys locked up which means they won’t strike out. So that is a good thing.

However, the winner of the 29th and 44th battle could very well determine the future of the conf within the state. That is big stakes here folk’s big stakes. I can’t stress that enough and how big that is for any of the PCC teams. Currently I am predicting a sweep for UCLA for both recruits, but we shall see next sim. I think they have just built themselves up a bigger cushion that California can’t recover from if things do go badly.

Oregon- they are in a battle for the 125th rated kid with freaking Portland who is 22 Prestige points behind them. Portland is currently winning the battle. They seem to have lined up the 125th and the 152nd recruit.

Oregon State- They seem to have wrapped up the 45th, the 50th, and the 177th ranked kid. Pretty good for the PCC if you ask me. Nothing Flashy, but clearly have out recruited some bigger dogs out East.

Washington- They seemed to have lined up the 39th and 95th rated recruits. They should have one more offer to hand out which could easily vault them. Let’s be honest, there are plenty of guys out there to go for. The number 2 ranked recruit for god sakes has no offers? I have no idea how the hell that has happened, but a team like U-dub could very well be in a position to make a move for someone like that.

Washington State- is in a recruiting battle for the 108th recruit and is in danger of falling behind big time in the PCC with nobody else in their top 5 being in the top 200. I don’t like what’s going in there. However, we all know hidden gems are bound, and they might have some in the pipeline that we simply don't know about

Biggest surprise of the sim??? Can anybody guess???

If you have guessed IDAHO you need to take over my squad then because you are one lucky son of a gun and I need your recruiting luck. IDAHO who didn’t have squat in the top 200 for the last 2 sims now has somehow become involved in a recruiting battle for recruits 108 and 126 respectively. Hell of a comeback right here people, and that might deserve some attention for recruiter of the year if kids end up going to eat those wonderful potatoes.

USC- has a bead on 4 kids, but I’m not talking about my team. Never will. Just doesn't feel right within an article.

A few other teams that I want to mention.

Arkansas- They seem to have the 21st and 70th ranked recruits locked up. They are in a recruiting battle with the 136th ranked kid with Tulane. Tulane has the lead despite a 16 point difference in Prestige here. Stay tuned for what might occur because Arkansas has a legitimate shot here. Their recruit’s stats also scream we are top 10 so keep a watch on this squad.

Notre Dame- Has a look for the 30th rated kid but is in a battle with Temple, and Temple is in fact winning. They have the 132nd kid pretty much locked up but then are again in a battle with Marquette for the 179th ranked kid and again they are losing. This could obviously make them go up for down, but stay tuned here. The Irish are in flux and that isn't a good thing. Hopefully they have some back ups targeted and ready to go.

Oklahoma City- Are you kidding me here. Where did they come from? They get a new human owner and look out. They are involved in the 33rd ranked recruit which they look to have locked up and the 186 ranked recruit. They are involved in a battle with Washington for the 39th rated recruit which I am currently predicting they lose. However with what they seem to have currently going, all I can say is just damn. They have done a nice job and the new guy seems to know exactly what the heck he is doing.

The last 2 schools which might be in some trouble or might end up in heaven are St. Johns and temple. Boom or bust candidates here guys.

St Johns- are in recruiting battles with the 65th, 34th, and 99th ranked recruits. If they strike out they might be in some major major major trouble here. Not sure how this is going to play out as they are ranked higher than some teams that are above them on these recruit lists, but still aren’t in the top spots. I am certainly concerned for them, but honestly can’t figure out why they are in losing recruiting battles for example to a lower ranked Seton Hall team. I am sure that is quite frustrating.

Temple- Wow, do I like what they have done here. They look to have the 31st and 96th ranked recruits lined up. Nice job there right. But they are in battles with the 30th and 34th ranked recruits. If those recruits change their mind and shift to Temple, holy cow do they have a real shot at being in the top 10. A lot of play coming in here and the next sim has big time implications but upside is the key here.

The last thing to write about is the pesky ivy group. Remember how I wrote about Columbia in the last article and how they are heads and tails above everybody else in the conf? Let’s just say recruiting has taken a turn.

Dartmouth, yes I just said Dartmouth (holy shit right????) somehow has managed to be in contention for the 25th ranked recruit and the 196th ranked recruit. Now there is a lot to happen here, and there is certainly no guarantee, but the simple fact is they are in play for a top 25 recruit. Looking around the Universe bigger named teams don’t have the same results, so this is a huge deal in my humble opinion.

Yale- They are in a battle for the 111th 130th and 196th rated recruits. Like Dartmouth there is a lot in play here, but if you would have asked me if they would have been in play for 3 top 200 recruits I would have told you to pass some of the stuff you were smoking bro. Just no freaking way, but yet here they are. Can’t wait to see the next sim to see where they land.

Columbia- They need to figure this out and figure it out quickly. If other teams in the conf are going to continue to do what they are doing, the times will change real quick on them. How in the word has 2 teams within their conf rated 20 Prestige points lower than them, seemingly out scouted and recruited them?? I would like to continue to hang with them and say they can easily recover, but nothing has shown me that they are right there. Another sim might be telling here.

In the end, nothing is set in stone, but we are starting to get better picture of the nation recruiting wise. The have are still at the top and the rest of us are continuing to fight for the scraps. 1-3 looks solid, however, who ends up being 4-25 is still up in the air. Good luck to all with their pursuit in being that 4th squad!

muns · 05-09-2015, 05:08 PM

An early look at the Top 20 teams in the country wrote by The National Basketball Report

The National Basketball Report: Volume I (1953-54)

Volume I, Issue 1
April 1953

The Super Early Top 20
April, 1953

Quote:

1. Kansas - What isn't there to like about this team? There are blue-chip talents up and down the roster. The combination of C Winfred Hopf and Earle Maldonaldo should dominate opposing big men inside, while Timofei Malakhov can also finish inside very well. Henry McNair has a deadly jump shot, and can pass the basketball like few in the country. They also have several players who can defend well, like forward Alexander Coker and Rudolf Burke. This team will be a favorite to win the national championship and, hence, they are atop the first National Basketball Report poll.

2. North Carolina State - The Wolfpack will be the favorites in the eastern region. They don't score inside as well as the Jeyhawks, but they have Eddie Henry, a burly 6'6 forward whose large frame will give defending players problems trying to get around him. Guards James Durrett and Anton Gonzalez are very capable of scoring from the outside, as their jump shot is as good as there is in the nation. Boyd Walley, a 5'11 guard, will make things go around the court, and make sure his teammates get the best possible shot. On defense, they will be slid inside, with Angelo Parham, who may be the top defensive player in the nation, and Henry Collins. They aren't as tall as other teams, but they are the best in the east.

3. Kansas State - The Jayhawks have company atop the rankings in the Big 7, and in their own state. The Wildcats are very big, with 7'1 Kendrick Stone leading the way. He may be the prohibitive favorite for National Player of the Year, as he blends his solid offensive skills with defensive skills that are revolutionary. It will be very difficult for teams to score inside on K-State, as they may be the best defensive team in the nation. There is, very much, a case to be made for Kansas State as the top team in the nation, just on a defensive standpoint. Offensively, they aren't as solid, but Daniel Shippy and freshman Billy Jacob will supplement Stone on offense, while Chase Mease and Ronny Pierece are very good shooters.

4. Kentucky - These Wildcats may be the best in the south, though they are more flawed than the other three teams. Jerry Young is a very solid offensive center, one who can beat you in the post or by facing the basket. He is also Stone's equal on defense, and may be better at blocking shots, despite being five inches shorter. Six-foot-five Murray Dodd is another player who is capable of beating you in many different ways, and Douglas Porter is a sharpshooter of the highest degree. Where this team will falter is on the defensive end. Young and forward Patrick Kramer are great in the post. But they don't have a single standout guard defender. They are also a team that can be out-rebounded. Kentucky may be the best of the flawed teams; but they are that...flawed.

5. West Virginia - Expect the legend of the Mountaineers to be as big as Paul Bunyan. West Virginia plays in the Southern Conference, where they should beat everyone by thirty points. Depending on how difficult they make their non-conference schedule, this could be a team that stays away from the loss column heading into the postseason. Make no mstake, they are very talented. But they are very segmented. Joseph Lucero and Major Ambrose offer post threats on offense, while Elias France is a solid shooter. They are not a good passing team, and may have difficulty getting into a flow on offense. On defense, Clay Metcalf is an extraordinary defender, no matter who he guards, while Lucero, Ambrose, and Tyson Buggs are solid offensively. The issue here is that WVU will have an identity based on who they put on the floor. They, outside of maybe Ambrose, won't have anyone they can make a two-way threat. So, they will lack somewhere based on personnel. It will not matter in the Southern, and maybe they will grow before the NCAA Tournament. But once there, when they have to face a great team early, they may not be able to adjust for the talent they are playing.

6. Indiana - This may be the best rebounding team in the nation. Twin towers Wade Ingersoll and Brian Cox are among the best defensive and most agile centers in the nation, and Rene Eckstein and Fred Erickson are as good at getting rebounds as you'll find in the country. They are good enough at defending the basketball, which is not quite what you want from a national title contender. This team does have two things: a multitude of players who are competent at scoring inside, and nobody, outside of Rupert Maldonaldo, who is particularly adept at it. The same can be said on the outside, aside from guards Mikolas Mares and Erickson, who may be one of the top-five guards in the country. They have height and the ability to secure the basketball. But stopping it from going into the hoop, and putting it in the hoop, may be difficult for this team.

7. Bradley - The Braves are offensively challenged. Antonia Dabney is one of the best guards in the country, a blend of inside and outside ability, and hands that are seemingly made for handling a basketball. Who helps him on offense, though, is a question. James Brooks (outside) and Graham Nance (inside) are his primary options. But after that, it's anybody's guess. And Dabney is an open fence on defense, so he will need to be protected. Thankfully for the Braves, Deandre Skiles is a fantastic outside defender. Against teams that feature outside play, the Braves may need to utilize three guards, losing something on offense, or limit Dabney's place, which will really lose something on offense. David Williams is quite good on the interior. Where this team is not good is in rebounding. This should cost them a few games, and ultimately, their chance at a national title.

8. California - Few teams, especially those in the west, have a 1-2 punch inside like Rolf Fields and Timmy Mathis. Fields is a beast of a man at 6'11, 260 pounds, while Mathis is good facing the basket and with his back to it. Fellow forward John Beers is great at scoring the ball, stopping it from scoring, and getting rebounds, especially on the offensive end. He is one of the more underrated players in the country. This team, however, is not very good at stopping guards. If the outside can funnel the ball inside, where Beers, Fields, Mathis, and Vicente Crawford are waiting, then they'll be set. But they will be crushed by teams who can shoot the ball well away from the basket. Thankfully for Cal, there are not too many of those teams out west.

9. Washington - One of the "smaller" teams, with nbody over 6'9. But they have a few 6'9 players. They are not as universally talented as the teams above them. But they do have a very good backcourt, lead by Ricky Hoekstra and Charles Purdy. Dean Wexler and Murray Hughes are both talented inside defensively, while sophomore Joshua Lopez, a project, may be the most talented. They will have difficulty scoring the basketball, where outside of Wexler and Hoekstra, they lack anyone who can consistently put the basketball where it needs to go.

10. Iowa - There is a severe disconnect from the top six or seven teams and the second tier of contenders. Iowa is a prime example. They lack severely on offense, where outside of the backcourt of Brian Cleveland, Nestor Rowley, and Regis Deleroeuwe, they will struggle to find a consistent scorer each night. They have several legit defenders, in Rowley, Wilton Gonzalez, and Brooks. David Priddy is, but he is not expected to see the floor too much. Here is a team that has talent, but also severe limits to what it can do. They are not in Indiana's class in the Big Ten, but they are capable of making noise and getting to the regional finals. If you're one of the ten best teams in the nation, you're quite good. Iowa could be. They could also be twentieth. That exemplifies the amount of clutter in this part of the poll.

11. Duquesne - The Independent teams are going to have a rougher go of things, because they have to barge their way in. The Dukes have enough talent to do that, but will they have a strong enough schedule? That's not known. The Dukes have Steven Duque on the inside, and John Garrick on the outside. They are also one of the best passing teams in the country, which makes getting good looks at the basket much easier. Their offense should be able to stay ahead of even good defenses, which should shadow over some glaring holes with shooting ability. On defense, Duque and Charles Lewis lead the interior, while 5'9 Shaun Quinones is the chief on the outside. Duque, in particular, is a top rebounder and defender. Bryce Lipps is a quality all-around defender as well, a rarity for a seven-foot player. The Dukes should win the majority of their games, but they'll need to stay away from a top team for as long as possible in the tournament.

12. Duke - The Blue Devils revolve around their guards. Carey Tong is one of the better scoring guards in the nation, while Tony Gross is a solid perimeter scorer in his own right. Justin Brown and The Commissioner, James Gordon (thanks to his namesake in the Bat-Man comic books) are very smooth with the basketball. They lack much of anything on the inside, though Leandro Fall is a very sturdy defender in the post. Duke will get far on their guard play, but will come up short due to the post.

13. Dayton - Another team that is great with the guard play. Dayton has the quickness and defensive ability that could disrupt many teams' abilities to work an offense. Heck, they may have trouble just getting up the floor. Andrew Coleman, Josh Halpin, and Frank Hollinger are the most accomplished players on the squad, and all play in the backcourt. Denver Logan and Josh Gooden are excellent prospects in the post. But they're just that, prospects. The Flyers can make noise this year, but they need those prospects to grow up quickly.

14. Illinois - Another guard-oriented team. Maybe this is a trend. Derrick Proctor may be the best guard in the Big Ten. Deadly with the shot, excellent at handling the ball, as well as passing it, he is an All-American candidate. Jason Davis and James Suttles help give the Fighting Illini one of the deepest groups at one position in the country. A pair of 6'9 sophomores, James Gladden and Charles Aubin, should patrol the post, along with Matthew Coleman. Gladden is a defensive stud, while Aubin is the offensive player. Overall, they are not a particularly great offensive team, but they are great at rebounding. If they are going to make a move, however, it will be with their backcourt.

15. Louisiana State - They might be the tallest team in the nation. Their frontcourt lines up at 6'8, three guys at 6'10, another at 6'11, and one at 7'0. Their also have big guards, one suitably named Billy Sizemore. The Fighting Tigers, though, belong to All-American candidate Austin Rogers, a devastating force inside. Sizemore is slid with the jump shot, and he is good enough with the ball that defenses won't bother him. Junior William Romans will join him at the guard spot, while William Connor and Robert Holmes should be the primary big men alongside Rogers. They lack severely at the small forward spot, which will hurt them against teams like Kentucky and Vanderbilt.

16. La Salle - This is a top-heavy team, but wow, what a top. Glenn Gray and Jason Delapaz form one of the most formidable backcourts in the nation. Timmy McSwain gives the Explorers a great inside presence, as does Olin Branum. Gray and Andrew Moreno are very disruptive on defense, and will be turned loose on opposing guards. The post defense is not particularly good, outside of true freshman Lou Davies, a redshirt candidate. They lack in frontcourt depth, but their guards, and McSwain, may be enough to see them deep in the postseason.

17. Louisville - They are not overwhelming, by any stretch. However, William Bailey is an absolute star, and a potential All-American. They have enough size and playmakers, and a likely easy enough schedule, to make noise. They severely lack on defense, particularly in the post (Bailey projects as their best post defender, and he is 6'4). So, once they run up against skilled big men, they'll be toast.

18. Holy Cross - This is more of a projection selection than anything. They have a great backcourt, led by Jeffrey Deck, a senior guard, and 6'8 junior forward Robert Ventura. Tony Nations can fill it up in the post, as can redshirt senior Armando Ortiz. The Crusaders are not particularly adept defensively, which wil be their downfall. But they will give a lot of teams fits, especially on offense. That will be enough to get them into the tournament.

19. San Francisco - Offense is not their strong suit. But defense is. Especially down low. Perry Wilson, Frank Cornell, and Jeffrey McManus are all great at patrolling the basket. The Dons are not terribly great at perimenter defense, but they are capable of funneling the ball inside, where the trio of doom are awaiting. On offense, Armando Goodwin is their best option, while Cornell is a decent inside-outside threat. They will be offensively challenged, to say the least. Expect a lot of 50-40 games that involve the Dons.

20. St. John's - The best of New York, the Redmen are led by Brendon Price at the point, and enigmatic Lyle Lyle at shooting guard. Marlin Tate is a solid post presence, on both sides of the ball. Garrett Herrin is the defender that will give guards in the Metro headaches. The Redmen have a lot of freshmen, and if they can find spots in the rotation, this year's team will be a lot better for it. They should win the conference quite easily, and can make some noise in the postseason, if they get some contributions from outside the big guns.

muns · 05-11-2015, 09:18 AM

The National Basketball Report was pretty close to nailing the actual game top 25. Someone in the league has a pretty good handle on the Universe. Neat to see

Code:

Top 25


    #  Team                              FPV  Record  Points  Prv  Conference                       
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   1.  Indiana                          (71)     0-0    1799   NR  Big Ten Conference                                          
   2.  Kansas State                              0-0    1727   NR  Big Seven Conference                                        
   3.  Kansas                                    0-0    1651   NR  Big Seven Conference                                        
   4.  Kentucky                          (1)     0-0    1589   NR  Southeastern Conference                                     
   5.  Bradley                                   0-0    1499   NR  Independent                                                 
   6.  North Carolina State                      0-0    1425   NR  Atlantic Coast Conference                                   
   7.  Duquesne                                  0-0    1373   NR  Independent                                                 
   8.  West Virginia                             0-0    1276   NR  Southern Conference                                         
   9.  California                                0-0    1231   NR  Pacific Coast Conference                                    
  10.  Duke                                      0-0    1155   NR  Atlantic Coast Conference                                   
  11.  Washington                                0-0    1081   NR  Pacific Coast Conference                                    
  12.  Louisville                                0-0     978   NR  Independent 2                                               
  13.  Illinois                                  0-0     876   NR  Big Ten Conference                                          
  14.  Mississippi State                         0-0     856   NR  Southeastern Conference                                     
  15.  Iowa                                      0-0     781   NR  Big Ten Conference                                          
  16.  San Francisco                             0-0     747   NR  West Coast Conference                                       
  17.  Holy Cross                                0-0     615   NR  Independent                                                 
  18.  Notre Dame                                0-0     515   NR  Independent 2                                               
  19.  La Salle                                  0-0     468   NR  Independent                                                 
  20.  Oregon                                    0-0     355   NR  Pacific Coast Conference                                    
  21.  Louisiana State                           0-0     266   NR  Southeastern Conference                                     
  22.  Purdue                                    0-0     231   NR  Big Ten Conference                                          
  23.  Saint Louis                               0-0     203   NR  Missouri Valley Conference                                  
  24.  North Carolina                            0-0     148   NR  Atlantic Coast Conference                                   
  25.  Dayton                                    0-0     140   NR  Independent

muns · 05-11-2015, 09:27 AM

Where everybody else falls outside of the top 25

Code:

  Others recieving votes: 
    St. John's Redmen 85     
    Oregon State Beavers 50     
    Idaho State Bengals 37     
    South Carolina Gamecocks 37     
    Saint Joseph's Hawks 25     
    UCLA Bruins 17     
    Alabama Polytechnic Institute Tigers 16     
    Oklahoma A&M Cowboys 15     
    Alabama Crimson Tide 14     
    Southern California Trojans 12     
    Stanford Indians 9     
    Wake Forest Demon Deacons 9     
    Seattle Chieftains 8     
    Connecticut Huskies  7     
    Saint Mary's Gaels   6     
    Virginia Cavaliers   6     
    Yale Bulldogs   6     
    Santa Clara Broncos    5     
    Vanderbilt Commodores    5     
    Seton Hall Pirates   4     
    Virginia Tech Fighting Gobblers  4     
    Cincinnati Bearcats    3     
    Colorado Buffaloes   3     
    Davidson Wildcats   3     
    Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets    3     
    Loyola U of Los Angeles Lions   3     
    Richmond Spiders    3     
    Temple Owls    3     
    Clemson Tigers    2     
    Maryland Terrapins    2     
    Missouri Tigers    2     
    Pacific Tigers   2     
    VMI Keydets    2     
    Florida Gators    1     
    Michigan State Spartans    1     
    San Jose State Spartans    1     
    St. Bonaventure Brown Indians    1     
    Utah Redskins    1     
    Washington State Cougars    1     
    William & Mary Indians    1

muns · 05-12-2015, 05:54 PM

The Roster

Well what can you say here? Not a ton of talent based off of the color system right? Certainly not enough talent to compete in the PCC. We should be able to rebound with the best of them. We also should play some fantastic Post D. Other than that the jury will be out on us this year.

I made a tough call redshirting 2 guys as im sure you have noticed. Since I do don't believe we can compete in the PCC I chose to get them another year of TC. Combine them with what I am hoping to bring in recruiting wise and 6 decent freshman isn't a bad way to start off next year. So that was my thinking process there. Freddy Nation and JC Quiles should play huge parts for us in the future. I just didn't want to waste them this year even if they could have given us some depth and mins.

muns · 05-12-2015, 06:22 PM

As already mentioned with the decision to redshirt 3 freshman (2 that could have played) that is going to leave us a bit short depth wise. Not everybody can play on this roster, and we need to get rid of a few bad apples. So this is the rotation I am going to go with

PG- David Haynes is a no brainer. He can dish the ball, has the best jumper on the team, and is a true athlete. 20 quickness and 17 jump. Being 6'2 with those attributes will earn him some mins at the SG and SF spots for us as well. I expect him to lead us in a lot of categories this year.

SG- Matthew Niles- The AI wanted to use him as the 6th man, and I wasn't really feeling its recommendation. Niles can handle the ball, has an ok jumper, and can play some D. I liked him a bit better than Everett here. Plus he is taller at 6'3. He will get mins at all 3 positions like Haynes will.

SF- Hal Mickelson- Not a great guy, but hopefully will be steady for us. Wont score much, and unfortunately will be a turnover machine, but I don't have a lot of options to start with here. He has decent quickness for the position and can jump so he should be able to board for us here which is ok.

PF- Charles McMullan- Has a shot at being the leading rebound in the PCC. 19 and 20 on the boards ratings wise, and has a 12 in jumping. All good stuff. The bad news, will trip over his own feel on the offensive side of the ball. hoping he doesn't turn the ball over as much a Hal, but defensively he should be able to hold his own. Not gonna play him anywhere else at the moment. Just at the PF sp

C- Garry Karl- Our best option in the post. Should be able to board, hold his own offensively, play some good d, and not turn the ball over. All I can ask for here. He will play both PF and C for us.

The bench isn't really even worth talking about. Not great. But will be able to board and play some decent D.

I have 4 guys that are so bad I don't even want them to get on the court. I didn't give them a position, and gave them 1's in case they do somehow get in due to foul trouble. In doing that I am PRAYING that the 3 that are on Scholarship take the hint that I am giving them and transfer the hell out. I need those 3 scholarships to bring in some better guys. Realistically, one of the 3 will prob go, but it would be lovely if they all went.

An 8 man rotation with not a lot of talent. The basketball Gods really need to bless us this year.

muns · 05-12-2015, 06:32 PM

So how are we going to be this year?

As you can tell by the above schedule, we got some cupcakes on the list. I am hoping that we can a little bit above 500 this year. I don't think we will be able to do much in the PCC, so the bet is winning a lot of OOC games. I also figured I would throw Alabama in there in case by some miracle we were halfway decent somehow. With their RPI being 1, that could only help us and ours.

I have no illusion that will occur but Sims can have some whacky years.

muns · 05-12-2015, 07:27 PM

The The National Basketball Report, Vol I, Issue 2: The 1953-54 Season Preview came out today folks.

Let me tell you this is an awesome read right here. If anyone is interested in a league that has guys that put time and effort into it, geez this is it. Come on over and grab a team. Just a fantastic read right here.

Quote:

The 1953-54 Season Preview

In this, the inaugural season of NCAA men's basketball play, the national landscape looks a little loaded. The game is centered in the Midwest, in Appalachia, and along the Pacific Coast Highway. There are, by our count, 37 teams that are absolutely worthy of making it to the prestigious NCAA Tournament. Seventeen bids are already spoken for (by whom is uncertain); only thirteen teams are considered locks. This means that 24 teams, at least, will have a very persuasive case for inclusion. Only fifteen teams can secure bids after those seventeen, one for each conference, get locked down.

In other words, many teams are going to feel disappointed in March.

The first steps towards that disappointment, and the corresponding adulation of succeeding, start now.

Preseason Top 20
1. Kansas State
2. North Carolina State
3. Indiana
4. Kansas
5. West Virginia
6. Duke
7. Bradley
8. Kentucky
9. California
10. Duquesne
11. Washington
12. Illinois
13. Mississippi State
14. Holy Cross
15. Louisville
16. Oklahoma A&M
17. Iowa
18. Notre Dame
19. Seattle
20. La Salle

Atlantic Coast Conference (Conference Rank: 2)
1)NC State 2)Duke 3)South Carolina
Sleeper: North Carolina
Preseason Player of the Year: G Mike Reinhardt, Virginia
Preseason Freshman of the Year: G Lane McClary, Duke
Best Backcourt: Duke
Best Frontcourt: NC State
Best Offense: NC State
Best Defense: North Carolina
Best Bench: Duke
Best Scorer: G Boyd Walley, NC State
Best Passer: G James Gordon, Duke
Best Rebounder: F Henry Collins, NC State
Best Defender: G Justin Brown, Duke/C Angelo Parham, NC State
Best Sixth Man: G Justin Brown, Duke
NCAA Teams: NC State, Duke
NIT Teams: North Carolina, South Carolina
Preseason All-Conference Team
G: Mike Reinhardt, Virginia, Sr
G: Michael Forney, North Carolina, Sr
F: Edward Henry, NC State, Jr*
F: Henry Collins, NC State, Sr
C: Andrew Caruso, North Carolina, So

Synopsis: This is a top-heavy conference, with two of the best teams in the nation at the helm. NC State and Duke will battle for a top seed in the NCAA Tournament, and top-rank supremacy in the polls, all season long. North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia may provide bumps in the road for the Wolfpack and Blue Devils, but that will likely be all. Expect those two to be the talk of the conference. North Carolina has some nice players, but they are decidedly on the next tier of teams, as is South Carolina. Virginia could be a formidable opponent if they had anything other than statues in the post.

Big Seven (Conference Rank: 4)
1)Kansas State 2)Kansas 3)Missouri
Sleeper: Colorado
Preseason Player of the Year: G Charles Mease, Kansas State
Preseason Freshman of the Year: G Steven Burns, Kansas
Best Backcourt: Kansas State
Best Frontcourt: Kansas
Best Offense: Kansas State
Best Defense: Kansas
Best Bench: Kansas State
Best Scorer: C Wilfried Hopf, Kansas
Best Passer: G Ronald Pierce, Kansas State
Best Rebounder: F Benito Stenson, Kansas
Best Defender: F Isaias Stanley, Colorado
Best Sixth Man: F Daniel Shippy, Kansas State
NCAA Teams: Kansas State, Kansas
NIT Teams: Missouri, Colorado
Preseason All-Conference Team
G: Charles Mease, Kansas State, Sr*
G: Spencer Patton, Missouri, Jr*
F: Benito Stenson, Kansas
F: Bradford Rascon, Colorado
C: Wilfried Hopf, Kansas

Synopsis: Most conferences are very heavy at the top. The state of Kansas rules collegiate basketball at the moment, and rightfully so. The Jayhawks and Wildcats have two of the most talented rosters in all of basketball. Either can win the national championship. Kansas State is, for our money, the most superior team in the country; hence, their ranking atop the preseason list. But only five can play at a time, and if you can't beat the five in front of you...well, it's doubtful anyone goes undefeated. Missouri, Colorado, and Iowa State may have their day this season. But they won't have enough of them to really put a dent into what Kansas State and Kansas will do this season: Dominate the conference.

Big Ten (Conference Rank: 3)
1)Indiana 2)Illinois 3)Iowa
Sleeper: Purdue
Preseason Player of the Year: G Fred Erickson, Indiana
Preseason Freshman of the Year: G Chet Terrazas, Iowa
Best Backcourt: Iowa
Best Frontcourt: Indiana
Best Offense: Indiana
Best Defense: Indiana
Best Bench: Indiana
Best Scorer: G Brian Cleveland, Iowa
Best Passer: G Marcos Godfrey, Indiana
Best Rebounder: C David Shavers, Michigan State
Best Defender: C Wade Ingersoll, Indiana
Best Sixth Man: C Brian Cox, Indiana
NCAA Teams: Indiana, Iowa, Illinois
NIT Teams: Purdue
Preseason All-Conference Team
G: Derrick Proctor, Illinois, Sr
G: Fred Erickson, Indiana, Sr
F: Rene Eckstein, Indiana, Jr
F: Kevin Evans, Purdue, Sr
C: Wade Ingersoll, Indiana, Sr*

Synopsis: It's Indiana, then the rest. The Hoosiers are as good as any team in the country; they take the top spot in the Associated Press poll (though not the NBR one). Illinois and Iowa, as well as Purdue, are capable of beating them on their best day. Ohio State and Michigan State both have talent, incredible fan bases, and should rise as contenders in time. But this year, and probably beyond (judging by Indiana's recruiting chops), the Hoosiers are the kingpin of the Big Ten.

Border (Conference Rank: 12)
1)Texas Tech 2)Arizona 3)Arizona State
Sleeper: None
Preseason Player of the Year: F Tony Starnes, Texas Tech
Preseason Freshman of the Year: G Gunther Lindner, Texas Tech
Best Backcourt: Arizona
Best Frontcourt: Texas Tech
Best Offense: Texas Tech
Best Defense: Arizona
Best Bench: Texas Tech
Best Scorer: G Joaquin Cruz, Texas Western
Best Passer: G Eric Bolinger, Hardin-Simmons
Best Rebounder: F Landon Banuelos, Texas Tech
Best Defender: C Edwin Budd, Arizona State
Best Sixth Man: F Charles Frederick, Texas Tech
NCAA Teams: Texas Tech
NIT Teams: None
Preseason All-Conference Team
G: David Chewning, Arizona, Jr
G: Delmer Lacey, Texas Tech, Jr*
F: Tony Starnes, Texas Tech, Jr
F: Edwin Budd, Arizona State, Sr
C: Jerome Mohan, Arizona, Sr*

Synopsis: This is another conference where there is one clear-cut team, at least on the surface. Arizona has a better inside-out combo in Chewning and Mohan, but the Red Raiders are the deeper team, and one more likely to win out in the long run. Arizona State is capable of making some waves in the conference. The other teams will be bumps in the road for those three.

Ivy League (Conference Rank: 16)
1)Columbia 2)Dartmouth 3)Cornell
Sleeper: Brown
Preseason Player of the Year: F David Houchens, Columbia
Preseason Freshman of the Year: G Justin Root, Columbia
Best Backcourt: Dartmouth
Best Frontcourt: Columbia
Best Offense: Columbia
Best Defense: Columbia
Best Bench: Columbia
Best Scorer: G Robert French, Princeton
Best Passer: G Albert Ogburn, Penn
Best Rebounder: David Houchens, Columbia
Best Defender: C Erhard Schmuck, Brown
Best Sixth Man: G Justin Root, Columbia
NCAA Teams: Columbia
NIT Teams: Dartmouth
Preseason All-Conference Team
G: Burl Abeyta, Cornell, Sr
G: German Vargas, Dartmouth, Sr*
F: David Houchens, Columbia, Sr*
F: Chase Marciano, Dartmouth, Sr*
C: Erhard Schmuck, Brown, Jr

Synopsis: This conference will be on the rise. Mark these words. The Ivy won't stay down long. Columbia stands the best chance, though Dartmouth can give them a run, if everything breaks true for them. Cornell and Brown, if they played exceptional while Columbia played a very substandard way, could spring the upset. Teams like Yale, Harvard, and Penn have some ways to go before they contend.

Metro NY (Conference Rank: 13)
1)St. John's 2)NYU 3)Fordham
Sleeper: None
Preseason Player of the Year: G Jerry Grimsley, NYU
Preseason Freshman of the Year: G Millard Bullis, Fordham
Best Backcourt: NYU
Best Frontcourt: St. John's
Best Offense: NYU
Best Defense: St. John's
Best Bench: St. John's
Best Scorer: G Jerry Grimsley, NYU
Best Passer: G Garrett Herrin, St. John's
Best Rebounder: F Andrew Redd, St. John's
Best Defender: G Jerry Grimsley, NYU
Best Sixth Man: G Titus Anderton, St. John's
NCAA Teams: St. John's
NIT Teams: NYU
Preseason All-Conference Team
G: Garrett Herrin, St. John's, Sr
G: Richard Conner, NYU, Sr
F: Jerry Grimsley, NYU, Sr
F: Andrew Redd, St. John's, Jr
C: Marlin Tate, St. John's, Jr

Synopsis: The Metro will likely be a two-team race, between the Redman and Violets. The guard play between those two teams will be a sight to see, as truly wonderful handlers of the ball, artists of their craft will delight crowds around the City. The rest of the teams will struggle to make in-roads this season. But Fordham has some talent, and can make things uncomfortable for stretches at a time. At their level, though, it is simply the Johnnies and the University.

Mid-American (Conference Rank: 14)
1)Toledo 2)Marshall 3)Western Michigan
Sleeper: None
Preseason Player of the Year: G Carl Stearns, Toledo
Preseason Freshman of the Year: C Weston Child, Kent State (7'5)
Best Backcourt: Marshall
Best Frontcourt: Toledo
Best Offense: Western Michigan
Best Defense: Toledo
Best Bench: Toledo
Best Scorer: G Michael Kennedy, Western Michigan
Best Passer: G Carl Stearns, Toledo
Best Rebounder: C Delmer Wells, Toledo
Best Defender: C Gregory Klotz, Ohio
Best Sixth Man: G Taylor Edwards, Toledo
NCAA Teams: Toledo
NIT Teams: None
Preseason All-Conference Team
G: Carl Stearns, Toledo, Sr*
G: Roger Frawley, Marshall, Jr
F: Delmer Wells, Toledo, So
F: Jack Hanna, Miami-OH, So*
C: Gregory Klotz, Ohio, Sr*

Synopsis: The MAC lacks for overall talent, the concentration of which resides in Ohio. The Rockets have the league's most complete player in Stearns, the best rebounder in Wells, and the best man off the bench in Edwards. They are, in terms of this conference, the most complete team available. The other teams might spring a victory, but likely, you're looking at a Toledo team that will rip through conference play without a loss. They do have a somewhat ambitious slate, with Texas Tech, Purdue, Marquette, Michigan and Virginia on the docket. So they won't have an overly loaded win-loss record. But they will be loaded with MAC victories.

Missouri Valley (Conference Rank: 7)
1)Oklahoma A&M 2)St. Louis 3)Tulsa
Sleeper: None
Preseason Player of the Year: G Tommy Smith, St. Louis
Preseason Freshman of the Year: G Matthew O'Bryant, Oklahoma A&M
Best Backcourt: St. Louis
Best Frontcourt: Oklahoma A&M
Best Offense: Oklahoma A&M
Best Defense: St. Louis
Best Bench: Oklahoma A&M
Best Scorer: F Quincy Cates, Oklahoma A&M
Best Passer: G Paul Landry, Tulsa
Best Rebounder: C Freeman Phillips, Oklahoma A&M (best in country)
Best Defender: F Darren Kinsley, Oklahoma A&M
Best Sixth Man: G Freddy Schubert, St. Louis
NCAA Teams: Oklahoma A&M, St. Louis
NIT Teams: Tulsa
Preseason All-Conference Team
G: Tommy Smith, St. Louis, Sr*
G: Paul Landry, Tulsa, Sr
F: Darren Kinsley, Oklahoma A&M, Sr*
F: Freeman Phillips, Oklahoma A&M, Sr
C: Refugio Caffey, Tulsa, Sr*

Synposis: Anyone who has to play the Cowboys will have their hands full this season. Louisville will find that out soon enough, as will Duke. The battle for The Sooner State, between the Cowboys and Oklahoma City, will be particularly intriguing. St. Louis is very capable of being a tournament team, though they were the first team out in this particular version (those who are picked as NCAA teams are considered worthy of making the tournament). The Billikens have a solid roster, and thus, any games involving these two should be heated and highly contested. Tulsa is also capable of beating some very good teams, though they are on the next step down from the aforementioned duo. The rest of the conference is fodder for the have half, but the top shelf is so good, they got a deserved conference ranking.

muns · 05-12-2015, 07:30 PM

Had to break in down into 2 separate threads it was so big

Quote:

Mountain State (Conference Rank: 6)
1)Utah 2)Utah State 3)BYU
Sleeper: Wyoming
Preseason Player of the Year: G Luther Riley, Wyoming
Preseason Freshman of the Year: G Robert Peeler, Utah
Best Backcourt: Utah State
Best Frontcourt: Wyoming
Best Offense: Utah
Best Defense: BYU
Best Bench: Utah State
Best Scorer: G Luther Riley, Wyoming
Best Passer: G Robert Peeler, Utah
Best Rebounder: C Ramon Morrison, Utah
Best Defender: C Felix Shaughnessy, Utah State
Best Sixth Man: C Waylon Wille, BYU
NCAA Teams: Utah, Utah State
NIT Teams: BYU, Wyoming
Preseason All-Conference Team
G: Angel Swinton, BYU, So
G: Robert Peeler, Utah, Fr
F: Luther Riley, Wyoming, Sr
F: Daniel Paine, Wyoming, Jr
C: Kai Kammel, BYU, Sr

Synopsis: Four teams can win this conference. BYU and Wyoming may not have quite the level of talent as what you find in the state of Utah, but they are very good units worthy of the title "contender". The Cougars, in particular, have players with very high potential. If they play to that level, they can beat any team on any given night. Our writers had lively discussions as to who should win this conference, Utah or Utah State. The Redskins got the nod on the basis of their guard, Peeler, and center, Morrison. The combination of those two, the most key positions on the floor, should see them past a team like Utah State, who is somewhat lacking in those spots. Granted, the Aggies have talent equal to that of Utah; it is just in positions that are not as consequential as the one handling the ball, or the one working in the post area. This will be one of the hotbeds of rivalry in the country, however.

Ohio Valley (Conference Rank: 8)
1)Murray State 2)Western Kentucky 3)Morehead State
Sleeper: None
Preseason Player of the Year: G Tony Chau, Murray State
Preseason Freshman of the Year: C Merv Short, Morehead State
Best Backcourt: Murray State
Best Frontcourt: Murray State
Best Offense: Murray State
Best Defense: Murray State
Best Bench: Murray State
Best Scorer: G Bill Gleeson, Murray State
Best Passer: G Grant Kunkel, Western Kentucky
Best Rebounder: G Alonzo Coleman, Murray State
Best Defender: F Randy Chisholm, Murray State
Best Sixth Man: G Danny Vaughn, Murray State
NCAA Teams: Murray State
NIT Teams: Western Kentucky
Preseason All-Conference Team
G: Tony Chau, Murray State, Sr
G: Bill Gleeson, Murray State, Sr*
F: Alonzo Coleman, Murray State, Sr*
F: Guy Berg, Western Kentucky, Jr
C: Trenton Edgerton, Murray State, Jr*

Synopsis: This conference gets their ranking on Murray State and WKU, alone. The games played between these two teams will be discussed for years. The Racers have a team that could contend for the best the conference could offer, even decades from now. The Hilltoppers have excellent guard play and enough size to potentially slow down the Racers. The rest of the conference will be looking up at these two. If they aren't careful, they may put themselves in a position where it takes a long, long time to catch them...if they ever do.

Pacific Coast (Conference Rank: 1)
1)California 2)Washington 3)Oregon State
Sleeper: Oregon
Preseason Player of the Year: G Tommy Guess, UCLA
Preseason Freshman of the Year: G Tyron Crandall, Cal
Best Backcourt: Washington
Best Frontcourt: California
Best Offense: UCLA
Best Defense: California
Best Bench: Washington
Best Scorer: G Chris Zimmerman, Washington State
Best Passer: G Tommy Guess, UCLA
Best Rebounder: F Charlie McMullen, Southern Cal
Best Defender: C Murray Hughes, Washington
Best Sixth Man: F Vaughn Bynum, Oregon
NCAA Teams: Oregon, Washington, Oregon State, Oregon
NIT Teams: UCLA, Southern Cal, Stanford
Preseason All-Conference Team
G: Tommy Guess, UCLA, Sr*
G: Ricky Hoekstra, Washington, Sr
F: Timothy Mathis, California, Sr
F: Dick Allgood, Oregon State, Sr
C: Kraig Levy, Oregon, Sr

Synopsis: The strength of college basketball, in plurality, lies out west. Several teams are strong in the PCC, from the top dogs, Cal and Washington, down to Stanford and even UCLA. This conference will make the headlines all season long, as the coaches are considered among the top in their profession, ones the players flock to play for. There should be a marquee game every night the conference takes the floor. Sure, the headlines may not come in until the afternoon edition of the paper, but they will be worth the read.

Southeastern (Conference Rank: 5)
1)Kentucky 2)Mississippi State 3)LSU
Sleeper: Tennessee
Preseason Player of the Year: G Murray Dodd, Kentucky
Preseason Freshman of the Year: G Ernie Clack, Tennessee
Best Backcourt: Kentucky
Best Frontcourt: LSU
Best Offense: Kentucky
Best Defense: Kentucky
Best Bench: Kentucky
Best Scorer: G Murray Dodd, Kentucky
Best Passer: G Dominick Evans, Alabama Poly
Best Rebounder: F Austin Rogers, LSU/C Jerry Young, Kentucky
Best Defender: C Jerry Young, Kentucky
Best Sixth Man: G Enoch Chong, Mississippi State
NCAA Teams: Kentucky, Mississippi State, LSU
NIT Teams: Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Florida
Preseason All-Conference Team
G: Murray Dodd, Kentucky, Jr*
G: Casey Williams, Mississippi State, Jr*
F: Austin Rogers, LSU, Sr
F: Coleman Dixon, Tennessee, Sr*
C: Jerry Young, Kentucky, Sr

Synopsis: There are talented teams spread out throughout the conference, definitely. Several different teams are capable of beating the top teams in this conference, and while Kentucky and Mississippi State are the bigwigs in the SEC, they are, by no means, infallible. Only Tulane could be considered a pushover in the league. That is considerable, and will make the SEC a powerhouse to be reckoned with. The Wildcats and Rebels are capable of beating any team in the country, and Kentucky is a favorite pick to win the national championship.

Southern (Conference Rank: 10)
1)West Virginia 2)George Washington 3)Virginia Tech
Sleeper: None
Preseason Player of the Year: G Gerard Williams, WVU
Preseason Freshman of the Year: C Len Weinstein, Virginia Tech
Best Backcourt: Georgetown
Best Frontcourt: West Virginia
Best Offense: West Virginia
Best Defense: West Virginia
Best Bench: West Virginia
Best Scorer: G Charlie Armstead, Virginia Tech
Best Passer: G Charlie Barth, Virginia Tech
Best Rebounder: F Thomas Kean, Richmond
Best Defender: F Clay Metcalf, West Virginia
Best Sixth Man: F Joseph Lucero, West Virginia
NCAA Teams: West VIrginia
NIT Teams: George Washington
Preseason All-Conference Team
G: Gerard Williams, West Virginia, Sr
G: Emmanuel Moorer, George Wasighngton, Sr
F: Clay Metcalf, West Virginia, Jr
F: Jack Skipper, William & Mary, Sr*
C: Major Ambrose, West Virginia, Sr

Synopsis: This is West Virginia's roost to rule. Honestly? That's it. George Washington will be a nice team to watch...but this is effectively owned by the Mountaineers. They are one of the best teams in the nation, and it will be a surprise if they are even challenged in this conference.

Southwest (Conference Rank: 9)
1)SMU 2)TCU 3)Baylor
Sleeper: Texas Ag
Preseason Player of the Year: G Blake Hynes, SMU
Preseason Freshman of the Year: G Charlie Garay, SMU
Best Backcourt: SMU
Best Frontcourt: Baylor
Best Offense: Texas
Best Defense: SMU
Best Bench: SMU
Best Scorer: G Charlie Garay, SMU
Best Passer: G Art Freeman, SMU
Best Rebounder: C David Shepard, Texas Ag
Best Defender: F Brad Tweedy, TCU
Best Sixth Man: G Art Freeman, SMU
NCAA Teams: SMU
NIT Teams: TCU, Baylor, Texas Ag
Preseason All-Conference Team
G: Blake Hynes, SMU, So
G: Mitchell Hargrave, Texas Ag, Jr
F: Brad Tweety, TCU, Sr
F: Brady Diep, SMU, Sr
C: David Shepard, Texas Ag, Sr

Synopsis: One of the more intriguing conferences; they don't have the frontline talent of teams in other conferences, but there are some very intriguing situations developing. The Mustangs could be one of the nation's rising giants, if they recruit right. The kid, Blake Hynes, is the real deal at the guard spot. TCU has some intriguing pieces too. And the Agricultural school has a lot of money, and a lot of untapped potential. They could be the biggest program in the entire region by the end of the decade. This is a conference to stash away a bit, watch for the future.

West Coast (Conference Rank: 11)
1)San Francisco 2)Saint Mary's 3)Santa Clara
Sleeper: None
Preseason Player of the Year: G Gary Campell, Saint Mary's
Preseason Freshman of the Year: G Steve Ferrari, San Francisco
Best Backcourt: San Francisco
Best Frontcourt: San Francisco
Best Offense: Santa Clara
Best Defense: San Francisco
Best Bench: San Francisco
Best Scorer: G Gary Campbell, Saint Mary's
Best Passer: G Steve Ferrari, San Francisco
Best Rebounder: Cornell/Wilson/Goodwin, San Francisco
Best Defender: C Perry Wilson, San Francisco
Best Sixth Man: C Perry Wilson, San Francisco
NCAA Teams: San Francisco, St. Mary's
NIT Teams: Santa Clara
Preseason All-Conference Team
G: Gary Campbell, St. Mary's, Sr
G: Steve Ferrari, San Francisco, Fr
F: Kelvin Hedgepeth, St. Mary's, Sr
F: Frank Cornell, San Francisco, Sr
C: Armando Goodwin, San Francisco, Sr

Synopsis: The teams at the top, San Francisco and St. Mary's, as well as Santa Clara, will be competitive. The rest is mediocre, at best. But the Dons are a top group, and the Gaels and Broncos will give them everything they can handle. The Dons are ranked in the AP (16th), while just missing our poll. The others are not far behind.

WNY3 (Conference Rank: 17)
1)Niagara 2)St. Bonaventure 3)Canisius
Sleeper: No other teams
Preseason Player of the Year: F Kurt Williams, St. Bonaventure
Preseason Freshman of the Year: G Curt To, Niagara
Best Backcourt: Niagara
Best Frontcourt: St. Bonaventure
Best Offense: Niagara
Best Defense: St. Bonaventure
Best Bench: Niagara
Best Scorer: F Kurt Williams, St. Bonaventure
Best Passer: G Ben Perez, Niagara
Best Rebounder: F Kurt Williams, St. Bonaventure
Best Defender: F Kurt Williams, St. Bonaventure
Best Sixth Man: G Charlie Gulick, Niagara
NCAA Teams: Niagara
NIT Teams: St. Bonaventure
Preseason All-Conference Team
G: Ben Perez, Niagara, So
G: Aubrey Trout, Niagara, Sr*
F: Curt To, Niagara, Fr
F: Kurt Williams, St. Bonaventure, Sr
C: Percy Mandel, St. Bonaventure, So

Synopsis: There are three teams, in western New York state.

Yankee Conference (Conference Rank: 15)
1) Connecticut 2) Rhode Island 3) Vermont
Preseason Player of the Year: G Cody Nottingham, Connecticut
Preseason Freshman of the Year: G Jessie Calvert, Connecticut
Best Backcourt: Connecticut
Best Frontcourt: Connecticut
Best Offense: Connecticut
Best Defense: Vermont
Best Bench: Connecticut
Best Scorer: G Jim Lee, Rhode Island
Best Passer: G Jim Lee, Rhode Island
Best Rebounder: F Sean Brazil, Massachusetts
Best Defender: F Michael Purser, Vermont
Best Sixth Man: G Jessie Calvert, Connecticut
NCAA Teams: Connecticut
NIT Teams: Rhode Island
Preseason All-Conference Team
G: Cody Nottingham, Connecticut, Sr
G: Jim Lee, Rhode Island, Jr
F: Robert Cleaves, Connecticut, Sr
F: Sean Brazil, Massachusetts, Sr*
C: Charlie Burgess, New Hampshire, Jr

Synopsis: Unless Jim Lee can beat the Huskies by himself, this is Connecticut's conference to lose. This should be an intriguing place to watch basketball in a few years. But right now, there are a lot of teams that are not that competitive. Even the Huskies will not be a part of the continental conversation.

Independents
1) Bradley 2) Duquesne 3) Holy Cross
Preseason Player of the Year:
G Antonia Dabney, Bradley/G William Bailey, Louisville
Preseason Freshman of the Year:
G Chauncey Hinkley, Duquesne/G Gregory Wyman, Seattle
Best Backcourt: Louisville/Bradley/Holy Cross
Best Frontcourt: Bradley/Duquesne/Louisville
Best Offense: Holy Cross/Bradley/Duquesne
Best Defense: Bradley/La Salle/Notre Dame
Best Bench: Bradley/Duquesne/Louisville
Best Scorer: G William Bradley, Louisville/F Robert Ventura, Holy Cross
Best Passer: G Gerald Robertson, Oklahoma City/G Andrew Coleman, Dayton
Best Rebounder: F Kenny Stinnett, Louisville/F Steven Duque, Duquesne
Best Defender: G Kurtis Richardson, Bradley/G Andrew Moreno, La Salle
NCAA Teams:
Bradley, Duquesne, Holy Cross, Louisville,
Notre Dame, Idaho State, La Salle, Seattle
NIT Teams:
Dayton, St. John's, Oklahoma City, Siena,
Temple, Villanova, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati
Players To Watch:
G: William Bailey, Louisville, Sr
G: Antonia Dabney, Bradley, Jr
G: Andrew Coleman, Dayton, Sr*
G: Chauncey Hinkley, Duquesne, Fr
G: Robin Revell, Idaho State, Jr
G: Gerald Olson, Notre Dame, Sr
G: Gerald Robertson, Oklahoma City, Sr*
G: Coy Wilson, St. Joe's, Sr
F: Robert Ventura, Holy Cross, Jr
F: Steven Duque, Duquesne, Sr*
C: Graham Nance, Bradley, So
C: Timmy McSwain, La Salle, So
C: Justin Priddy, Seattle, Sr*
C: Jimmy Callaway, Temple, So*
C: Xu Feng, Villanova, Jr

Synopsis: There are too many independent teams to really comb this through, but Bradley and Duquesne are the cream of this crop. Louisville doesn't have enough off the bench, and while Holy Cross is a very good offensive team, they do not have much defense. Notre Dame, La Salle, and Dayton have to build more. Idaho State and Seattle are sneaky teams to watch. They are going to fly under the national radar; but make no mistake, they are teams that should not be taken lightly, despite their off-the-radar locales

Code:

NCAA Tournament Prediction

1 Indiana  NC State 1 
8 Columbia  Murray State 8 
     
5 La Salle  Notre Dame 5 
4 Holy Cross  Louisville 4 

 East  South  

3 Duquesne  Kentucky 3 
6 St. John's  Iowa 6 
     
7 Niagara  Connecticut 7 
2 Duke  West Virginia 2 
     
1 Kansas State  Kansas 1 
8 Toledo  SMU 8 
     
5 Oklahoma A&M  Seattle 5 
4 Mississippi St  Oregon State 4 

 Midwest  West  

3 Washington  Illinois 3 
6 Utah  Idaho State 6 
     
7 Texas Tech  San Francisco 7 
2 Bradley  California 2

Quote:

At the end, the NCAA Tournament is not where the cream just rises to the top. Matchups matter, and therefore, the top seeds are not guaranteed a spot in the national semifinals. Based on the selections made, here is our projection for those final four schools:

East: Duke over Indiana
Midwest: Bradley over Kansas State
South: Kentucky over Louisville
West: Kansas over California

National semifinals:
Bradley over Duke
Kansas over Kentucky

National Championship:
Kansas over Bradley

muns · 05-14-2015, 10:20 AM

I probably should have done a conf projection post before the season started, but didn’t, and still might at some point.

The first game against Tennessee Tech, went as planned, sort of. We gave up way to many points in the first half, but were able to manage because we scored ourselves. We out everythinged them and I was happy to see that. Shooting 48% and having only 5 turnovers is a good combination for a win any day of the week.

Figuring how to get these damn box scores to line up is a pain in the ass. hang in there as I work through the kinks

Ok I think that should do it so the box score is now lined up properly for gods sakes.

Code:

	 	   	        1st	 2nd	 Total	 	
 
 		 Tennessee Tech
                                 34	 29	 63	 		 
 		 Southern California
                                 42	 35	 77	 		 

 Tennessee Tech
 Player	Pos	         MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	OFF	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS	 
 Frank Hudson	 C	 34	 4-10	 0-0	 0-0	 1	 7	 3	 0	 2	 3	 3	 8	 
 Maurice Huth	 PF	 31	 1-1	 0-0	 1-2	 3	 5	 1	 0	 0	 1	 3	 3	 
 James Turner	 SF	 31	 3-9	 0-0	 0-0	 2	 5	 0	 0	 0	 1	 4	 6	 
 Jorge Sumpter	 SG	 14	 7-10	 0-0	 0-0	 0	 0	 1	 0	 0	 2	 5	 14	 
 Heath Orosco	 SG	 35	 5-11	 0-0	 5-6	 0	 3	 1	 0	 0	 0	 5	 15	 
 Thomas Morrison PF	 14	 1-1	 0-0	 0-0	 0	 4	 2	 0	 0	 1	 1	 2	 
 Charles Reading PG	 29	 3-10	 0-0	 6-6	 1	 5	 3	 0	 0	 1	 4	 12	 
 Jack Leathers	 C	 3	 0-0	 0-0	 0-0	 0	 1	 0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 
 Clyde Normand	 SG	 9	 0-0	 0-0	 3-5	 0	 1	 1	 0	 0	 1	 1	 3	 
 Aron Nash	 SF	 2	 0-0	 0-0	 0-0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 
 Totals	 	  	 24-52	 0-0	 15-19	 7	 31	 12	 0	 2	 10	 26	 63	 
 	 	  	 .462	 .000	 .789	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 

 Southern California
 Player	Pos              MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	OFF	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS	 
 Garry Karl  C	         37	 5-9	 0-0	 1-2	 4	 14	 1	 0	 5	 0	 1	 11	 
 Charles McMullen PF	 32	 3-5	 0-0	 0-2	 5	 10	 1	 0	 0	 0	 4	 6	 
 Hal Mickelson SF	 38	 9-20	 0-0	 4-4	 0	 2	 0	 1	 2	 2	 4	 22	 
 Matthew Niles SG	 36	 5-10	 0-0	 7-8	 3	 6	 3	 1	 0	 1	 4	 17	 
 David Haynes PG	 37	 5-9	 0-0	 9-14	 0	 3	 5	 0	 0	 2	 3	 19	 
 Everett Bartholomew SG	 7	 0-2	 0-0	 0-0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 1	 0	 
 Richard Furlong C	 9	 0-2	 0-0	 0-0	 0	 1	 0	 0	 1	 0	 1	 0	 
 David Clausen PF	 1	 1-1	 0-0	 0-0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 2	 
 Mervin Weiss SF	 2	 0-0	 0-0	 0-0	 0	 0	 2	 0	 0	 0	 1	 0	 
 Totals	 	  	 28-58	 0-0	 21-30	 12	 36	 12	 2	 8	 5	 19	 77	 
 	 	  	 .483	 .000	 .700

Hal Mickelson, who at times this season will be our down fall, played a real nice game. 22 points on 9-20 shooting with only 2 turnovers. The man cant dribble, pass, or hold onto the ball so 2 turnovers was a real nice start.

Overall, I was happy with the way the stats came out, and just as happy about our first victory

muns · 05-14-2015, 10:45 AM

Code:

	 	 Final	            1st	 2nd	 Total	 	
 
 		 Southern California
                                  27	 25	 52	 		 
 		 Vanderbilt
                                  25	 39	 64	 		 

 Southern California

 Player	Pos	        MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	OFF	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS	 
Garry Karl           C	 27	 3-6	 0-0	 0-2	 3	 7	 1	 0	 1	 1	 4	 6	 
Charles McMullen PF	 20	 1-5	 0-0	 0-1	 3	 6	 1	 1	 0	 0	 4	 2	 
 Hal Mickelson SF	 38	 8-14	 0-0	 1-2	 1	 7	 1	 1	 2	 4	 3	 17	 
 Matthew Niles SG	 37	 1-8	 0-0	 2-3	 2	 4	 0	 0	 1	 3	 2	 4	 
 David Haynes PG	 38	 6-12	 0-0	 3-4	 0	 4	 6	 0	 0	 3	 2	 15	 
 Everett Bartholomew SG	 6	 0-1	 0-0	 0-0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 1	 1	 0	 
 Richard Furlong C	 21	 3-5	 0-0	 0-0	 2	 3	 1	 0	 1	 2	 3	 6	 
 David Clausen PF	 12	 0-2	 0-0	 0-0	 1	 2	 1	 0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 
 Mervin Weiss SF	 1	 1-1	 0-0	 0-0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 2	 
 Totals	 	  	 23-54	 0-0	 6-12	 12	 33	 11	 2	 5	 14	 19	 52	 
 	 	  	 .426	 .000	 .500	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 

 Vanderbilt
 Player	Pos	         MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	OFF	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS	 
 Joe Craver  C	         33	 1-9	 0-0	 4-5	 7	 14	 1	 1	 0	 3	 3	 6	 
 Ira O'Connell PF	 30	 5-8	 0-0	 2-2	 4	 5	 1	 0	 0	 2	 2	 12	 
 Andreas Zapata SF	 32	 8-17	 0-0	 3-4	 2	 6	 1	 0	 0	 0	 3	 19	 
 Charles Moe PG	         17	 2-4	 0-0	 0-0	 1	 2	 0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 4	 
 Joseph Bobbitt PG	 19	 2-6	 0-0	 0-0	 0	 3	 2	 1	 0	 4	 0	 4	 
 Brian Gray PF	         12	 2-3	 0-0	 0-0	 0	 1	 0	 0	 0	 1	 0	 4	 
 David Pina C	          5	 0-0	 0-0	 0-0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 
 Brian Absher SG	 31	 1-7	 0-0	 7-8	 4	 8	 0	 1	 1	 0	 2	 9	 
 Lionel Lavergne SG	 11	 0-3	 0-0	 2-2	 1	 3	 2	 0	 0	 0	 1	 2	 
 Norris Fowler PG	 10	 2-4	 0-0	 0-0	 0	 1	 0	 0	 0	 0	 4	 4	 
 Totals	 	  	 23-61	 0-0	 18-21	 19	 43	 7	 3	 1	 10	 15	 64	 
 	 	  	 .377	 .000	 .857

Game 2 was just a comedy of errors for us. We hung tough with them in the first half. Heck we had a lead 27-25 going into half. But that’s about as far as we got. Our FOULS KILLED US. We out shot them 42% to 37% and only had 4 more turnovers than they did. We had 14 to their 10. So how did they end up with a 12 point win?

Easy. They went 18-21 from the line while we went 6-12. Both of our starting bigs ended up with 4 fouls on the night and totally they had a whopping 8 points between them. That certainly won’t get the job done, let alone the 16th team ranked in the country.

We didn’t get blown out which I am excited about, however, we showed we can play with a top team in the country. We just need to get our shit together collectively speaking. PF- Charles McMullen can’t play 20 mins and we expect to win. We don’t have depth, so as Vandy just showed. We get in foul trouble we have a greater chance of losing. Hope we can get that correct going forward.

muns · 05-14-2015, 12:50 PM

The third and final game from last sim was another fat loss to Butler.

Code:

	                        Final	 1st	 2nd	 Total	 	
 
	 	 Butler
                                         24	 27	 51		 	 
	 	 Southern California
                                         24	 19	 43		 	 

 Butler
 Playee                   MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	OFF	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS	 
 John Pardo	          36	 3-8	 0-0	 2-3	 2	 7	 2	 1	 2	 3	 0	 8	 
 Mitchell Torres	    35	 1-4	 0-0	 4-6	 1	 10	 0	 1	 0	 3	 3	 6	 
 Jan Butters SF	          38	 4-8	 0-0	 3-4	 1	 8	 1	 0	 0	 2	 4	 11	 
 Daniel Chavarria         36	 5-14	 0-0	 3-5	 1	 4	 2	 1	 0	 1	 2	 13	 
 Dominique Owens      33	 2-6	 0-0	 5-6	 1	 4	 3	 1	 1	 2	 2	 9	 
 David Dillon	         11	 1-2	 0-0	 0-0	 0	 0	 2	 0	 0	 0	 2	 2	 
 Hector Lameran	 SF     2	 0-0	 0-0	 0-0	 0	 0	 0	 1	 0	 0	 0	 0	 
 Kim Gates	 C	 9	 1-1	 0-0	 0-0	 0	 2	 0	 0	 0	 2	 0	 2	 
 Totals	 	  	        17-43	 0-0	 17-24	 6	 35	 10	 5	 3	 13	 13	 51	 
 	 	  	          .395	 .000	 .708	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 

 Southern California
 Player	Pos	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	OFF	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS	 
 Garry Karl       C	 37	 4-11	 0-0	 0-0	 0	 10	 2	 0	 1	 0	 2	 8	 
 Charles McMullen PF	 36	 2-7	 0-0	 0-0	 5	 14	 1	 2	 0	 0	 4	 4	 
 Hal Mickelson SF	 33	 4-13	 0-0	 1-2	 2	 5	 1	 1	 1	 4	 4	 9	 
 Matthew Niles SG	 32	 3-3	 0-0	 2-2	 0	 0	 1	 0	 0	 0	 5	 8	 
 David Haynes PG	 30	 1-9	 0-0	 4-4	 0	 3	 6	 1	 0	 4	 4	 6	 
 Everett Bartholomew SG	 20	 3-9	 0-0	 0-0	 2	 2	 1	 1	 0	 3	 3	 6	 
 Richard Furlong C	 6	 0-0	 0-0	 0-0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 
 Mervin Weiss PG	 3	 1-3	 0-0	 0-0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 2	 
 Michael Womack PG	 1	 0-0	 0-0	 0-0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 0	 
 Totals	 	  	        18-55	 0-0	 7-8	 9	 34	 12	 5	 2	 11	 22	 43	 
 	 	  	          .327	 .000	 .875

And another game where I just shake my head at. We are tied at halftime at 24, then we land in major foul trouble this game with 3 guys having 4 fouls and Matthew Niles actually fouling out. For the 2nd straight game in row the other team killed us on the free throw line going 17-24 as we go 7-8.

Shooting 32% this game did not help, but this fouling business is getting a tad bit irritating. We have no bench. I have it so the game really only plays 7 guys, so 4 guys getting into foul trouble is killer. We ended up playing Marvin Weiss and Michael Womack (both guys I want to transfer the hell out of USC) because we needed more bodies. 11 turnovers on the game isn’t bad but we need to get it together defensively without fouling.

If we don’t I fear this is going to be a very long year at USC

muns · 05-14-2015, 05:54 PM

The National Basketball Report released another issue today. Just more good stuff here

Quote:

The National Basketball Report: November 19, 1953

Our newsletter is published approximately once every two weeks. Since we are accumulating stories from writers all over the nation, and teams do not play every day, it takes time to acquire stories worthy enough of our subscribers. This is a collection of the best few stories from our newsletter.

Top 20, November 19, 1953
1. North Carolina State (4-0, #2 LW)
2. Indiana (4-0, 3)
3. Kansas (2-0, 4)
4. Kansas State (2-1, 1)
5. Kentucky (3-0, 8)
6. Duquesne (2-0, 10)
7. Duke (2-1, 6)
8. Holy Cross (2-0, 14)
9. West Virginia (1-1, 5)
10. Bradley (1-1, 7)
11. California (3-1, 9)
12. Seattle (3-0, 19)
13. Washington (2-1, 8)
14. North Carolina (2-0, NR)
15. Illinois (3-1, 12)
16. La Salle (1-0, 20)
17. Louisville (2-1, 15)
18. Temple (4-0, NR)
19. Idaho State (1-0, NR)
20. Vanderbilt (5-0, NR)
Dropped Out: #13 Mississippi State, #16 Oklahoma A&M, #17 Iowa, #18 Notre Dame

The Opening Tip: Duquesne Knocks Off Kansas State

The past several days have been thrilling across the nation, with many marquee matchups. None, perhaps, made a bigger impression than the Dukes' 63-62 victory against the top team in the NBR poll. The game had no lead bigger than five, many ties, and a moment where only those mentally tough can survive.

With twenty-eight seconds left, Shaun Quinones was fouled by Bill Jacob. The score was 61-60, Dukes, and Quinones would be shooting two free throws. Jacob did not mean to foul, but he succeeded it not allowing the basket. Quinones would have to earn his points.

"We instructed our kids to foul if (Duquesne) had an easy look at the basket," said Kansas State head coach, Domingo Jones, arguably the finest lead man in the country. Surely, he had a stout strategy. They also fouled the right man. Quinones, a proficient free throw shooter, only played five minutes in the game, and shot the ball three times. He had two points as he went to the free throw line. The Naismith Memorial championship was riding on his ability to knock down these free throws.

"I was not worried," said Quinones. "I felt fine, and ready to make them."

Quinones stepped up, the crowd in Kansas City in full on rapture. This was not a neutral crowd. He shot the first one, and calmly sank it. The second went through without hitting anything but the netting.

Quinones had quieted the crowd.

"He went into a pressure situation," said Duquesne coach Jean Weber, "and he did his job. That's all we ask our players to do. Rely on the process, and the product will show."

The Wildcats connected on their final shot, but too much time had run off the clock.

Chauncey Hinkley was the star for the Dukes, scoring 18 on 9-15 shooting. He also procured ten rebounds. The backcourt tandem of the Wildcats, Ron Pierce and Charlie Mease, comybined for 31 points on 14-24 shooting, nine rebounds, and six assists.

But, on this day, it was the little-used, five-foot, nine-inch junior guard from Duquesne, who proved to be the meal ticket.

On any given day, your number could be called. Quinones had his called. He rose to the challenge.

Around the Nation

- Temple has gotten off to an impressive 4-0 start, and the reason for it can be summed up in one word: Defense. They gave up an average of just 55.8 points in their first four games; that can be attributed to a few pasties and their poor offenses, but the last team they played is Mississippi State. The Rebels are no pushover, and the Owls beat them, 66-57. The Philadelphia unit has some teams capable of giving them a game coming up: Syracuse and Georgetown come to mind. But until a true test comes in the form of Holy Cross, the Owls could be one of those teams whose early success puts them ahead in the eyes of the nation.

- Kentucky were the decided King of the Bluegrass, though one team was not impressed.

"We should have beaten them," said Louisville star guard William Bailey, after Kentucky beat the Cardinals, 78-66.

Nevermind that the Wildcats held a 42-24 halftime advantage, one that ballooned up to twenty before Louisville showed any signs of life.

"They shot lucky," Bailey said.

The game's atmosphere could best be described as "strained", with several altercations involving the teams, as well as their fans (both sides deny it, but rumors are that police officers had to separate fans on five separate occasions, leading to three people being arrested). Jerry Young, the top star for Kentucky, was thrown to the ground while shooting a layup. Doctors tended to Young, while Kentucky's bench tended to Louisville.

Truth be told, the Wildcats were not the patron saint of clean play and sportsmanship, either. Patrick Kramer, who came in for Young, bloodied guard Chris Jack's lip as a shot went up. Jack retaliated with a swift elbow to the back of the head. Both players, and benches, were warned after that. It is amazing nobody was ejected.

Needless to say, this has the makings of quite the rivalry in the Bluegrass state. Both are talented, and could see each other down the road. In the NBR Season Preview, we pegged Kentucky as advancing to the national semifinals at the expense of these very Cardinals.

In a way, we do hope they see each other again. We just hope the game is played more like a two-half contest, not one that goes fifteen rounds.

- An instant classic, if one were to exist, played out in the Tournament of Champions. The event, which brings the four teams from the year before who fought for the national championship, lived up to its billing (last year's teams played for the now defunct NBAA, the National Basketball Amateur Association). This inaugural final brought us two contenders for the title this year, Kansas and West Virginia. And they played four years of the most intense basketball any fan will ever see.

With 3:42 left, WVU big man Major Ambrose slam dunked a missed shot by Gerald Williams, bringing the Mountaineers to within three, 66-63. On the ensuring play, Russian import Timofei Malakhov had his dunk attempt blocked, with total grace, by Joe Jenkins. The Moutaineers came down, and got a shot for Ambrose. His attempt rolled off the rim, secured by Benito Stenson. Kansas came back down quickly, but Ambrose blocked Wilfried Hopf's shot. Jenkins gained the shot.

Williams had his layup blocked by Hopf on the other end, which was corralled by Ambrose. Ambrose passed to Elias France, who missed from the corner. Ambrose gained THAT rebound, eventually the ball swing into Harland Crone's hands. Delbert Davis made, perhaps, the play of the game in somehow forcing a jump ball, which gave the ball to Kansas.

Travis Eisele picked up a steal on the following Kansas possession, leading to a 2-on-1 break for WVU. Eisele missed the contested layup, and Clay Metcalf missed the chance at a putback. That was WVU's best chance at getting down to a one-possession game. Instead, they came up empty; Hopf got the rebound.

Joe Lucero blocked Hopf's shot on the other end (that's three blocks late in the game for WVU), giving WVU the ball, down three, with fifty-five seconds left. Metcalf and Wiliams each had chances on the Mountaineers' next possession, but both missed.

"We simply could not get a basket when time called for it," said Mountaineer coach John O'Connor after the game. "If I could go back in time, maybe I would have called for another play. Maybe, if I could."

By the time the Mountaineers got the ball back, after commiting fouls to put Henry McNair at the line, they were out of time. Williams' basket as time wound down was merely irony to the wound.

Hopf was named the Player of the Game for his 16 point, 7 rebound, 4 block night. A handful of Mountaineers scored, but only Ambrose scored in double figures (12). But make no mistake; both teams are for real, and opponents will have to bring their top-shelf effort if they wish to compete with either.

- Of the various injuries to hit teams over the last week, none may be as devastating to a team as Robin Revell's injury could be to Idaho State. His shoulder dislocation will likely set him out until the end of this calendar year.

Revell's injury, suffered ten minutes into the Bengals' 47-31 win over Arizona, could seriously hamper their efforts to get into the NCAA Tournament. Only seven or eight independent teams will get into the tournament, and the Bengals are in that second tier of teams that are capable of getting in, but will have to impress the tournament committee to do so. The Bengals don't have the depth of other teams; they do have impressive players who can step in (notably David Calvert, who came in for Revell), but losing someone as good as Revell puts a strain on that depth.

There's also the matter of their schedule over the time he will miss. The Bengals have games against Holy Cross, Saint Mary's, Columbia, and Oregon at home, and gaves at St. Louis, at Texas AG, at BYU, and at Wyoming. The Oregon and Wyoming games are after he is supposed to return, but he will likely be playing his way back into game fitness then.

If the Bengals lose a few of those games, that will severely hamper their resume of sorts for inclusion into the March party. Their back half of the schedule is not nearly as daunting (only games against Oregon State and Oklahoma City prove difficult, on the surface); but still, they can afford only three or four losses to get in.

In short, for the team who is tucked far, far away from the national scene, losing a player of Revell's stature is probably the worst thing that can happen. Here is hoping the Bengals can weather the storm.

- A tip of the hat to two teams who have looked quite impressive to start the season. Both Northwestern and Vanderbilt found their way into the national polls, the latter of which would up in our own poll. Northwestern won the inaugural MSG Holiday Festival, which wasn't near any official holiday, but brought some tough teams, like St. John's, Texas and BYU. The Wildcats beat Harvard, BYU, Texas, and the Cougars, en route to the championship. They also went to Niagara and beat one of the more underrated teams in the country, 84-74. The Wildcats are using tough defense to do so (55.6 PPG allowed). Chances are they will be undefeated by the time they face Notre Dame early in the new year. If that's the case, they could be a top-fifteen team by then.

Vanderbilt got into our poll with three very impressive wins, against Utah, Southern Cal, and Illinois in the championship of the preseason NIT, winning a tournament that included those teams, as well as Bradley, Notre Dame, and George Washington. In an interesting schedule twist, the Commodores will travel to Illinois coming up. They also have games against Western Kentucky, at SMU, Michigan State, and Louisville, before their SEC schedule. Their schedule is more difficult, but behind 7'2 mountain Joe Craver (15.6 points, 11.0 rebounds), they have proven worthy of the challenge so far.

Mark Your Calendars - Here are some upcoming games taht should get your attention.

11.21
St. Joe's (1-0) at Duquesne (2-0)
Louisville (2-1) at North Carolina (2-0)
Indiana (4-0) at BYU (2-1)

11.22
Duke (2-1) at Utah State (1-1)

11.23
Kentucky (3-0) at Bradley (1-1)
Holy Cross (2-0) at Idaho State (1-0)

11.26
Vanderbilt (5-0) at Illinois (3-1) (the rematch)

11.28-29: Dawkins Invitational (Connecticut, Notre Dame, Penn)

murrayyyyy · 06-18-2015, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by muns

So how are we going to be this year?

As you can tell by the above schedule, we got some cupcakes on the list. I am hoping that we can a little bit above 500 this year. I don't think we will be able to do much in the PCC, so the bet is winning a lot of OOC games. I also figured I would throw Alabama in there in case by some miracle we were halfway decent somehow. With their RPI being 1, that could only help us and ours.

I have no illusion that will occur but Sims can have some whacky years.

I didn't see a response here but the rpi you are looking at during this stage is alphabetical order

muns · 07-16-2015, 09:40 AM

So time to get this started back up. The Girlfriend had a death in the family that put me traveling, and then vacation, yada yada yada....

So back to it.

Last season for USC was simply ok. We finished up 16-13 and went 7-9 in the brutal PCC. We didn't make any tournaments, but I wasn't expecting to. We had seniors that were good at rebounding, but not much else. We redshirted all of our good freshman, in hopes that we would be able to compete for this season, and we hoped we could land a good freshman class to start us off on the correct foot.

Washington, Cal, Stanford all made the NCAA tourney with Oregon State making the NIT. For those counting at home that is 4 out of the 9 teams making it to post-season play which makes us a pretty damn strong conference. For that reason, our budgets went up this year, and I hope that is a trend that keeps on going.

muns · 07-16-2015, 09:44 AM

Recruiting wise last year was good, but I missed out on a Stellar class. Earlier on in the thread I was pretty hyped about a kid we lead on C-Vaughn Griffis. Griffis snubbed us for San Fran, which would have vaulted us from the game ranking our freshman the 21st ranked class to a potential top 10 class.

This is how Vaugn looks now for San Fran

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PLAYER DETAILS

 #30 C Vaughn Griffis - San Francisco - Freshman
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Height:       6-8
 Weight:       254
 High School:  Roosevelt High School
 Hometown:     Fresno, CA
 
 Attributes:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Type       INS JPS FTS 3PS HND PAS ORB DRB PSD PRD STL BLK QKN STR JMP STA    
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Current:    10   6   6   2   8   5   6  11  17   6   7  11   4  17  10  16    
    1953:     9   6   6   2   8   5   6   9  16   6   6  10   4  15  10  11    
 Potential:   B   C   D   F   C   D   D   B   A   C   C   B                

 Health:      Good                                           
 Scholarship: Yes
 Status:      Active Roster                                  
 Academics:   5
 
 Stat Averages:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   G  GS  MIN  PTS  ORE  REB  AST   TO   A/T  STL  BLK   PF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   1954  12   0 15.6  4.0  0.8  3.4  0.4  0.4  1.00  0.2  0.3  1.3
 Career  12   0 15.6  4.0  0.8  3.4  0.4  0.4  1.00  0.2  0.3  1.3

 Shooting Averages:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season  FGM  FGA   FG%  FTM  FTA   FT%  3PM  3PA   3P%  PPS   +/-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   1954  1.7  3.9  .426  0.7  1.3  .533  0.0  0.0  .000 1.02  6.50
 Career  1.7  3.9  .426  0.7  1.3  .533  0.0  0.0  .000 1.02  6.50
 
 Stat Totals:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   G  GS  MIN  PTS OREB  REB  AST   TO  STL  BLK   PF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   1954  12   0  187   48   10   41    5    5    2    4   16
 Career  12   0  187   48   10   41    5    5    2    4   16

 Shooting Totals
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season  FGM  FGA  FTM  FTA  3PM  3PA  +/-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   1954   20   47    8   15    0    0   78
 Career   20   47    8   15    0    0   78
 
 Career Highs:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Type      Pts OReb  Reb  Ast  Stl  Blk   TO  FGM  FGA  FTM  FTA  3PM  3PA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season     12    3    7    2    1    1    2    4    8    4    7    0    0
 Career     12    3    7    2    1    1    2    4    8    4    7    0    0
 
 Awards & Acheivements:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   Award
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1953     High School: Rated **** and #35 overall by the FBCB scouting service

What makes that snubbing even worse is I needed to land a big man last year, and I didn't. So this year, I literally have 2 big guys on the roster. That's not exactly going to get it done in the PCC which makes recruiting for this year even bigger.

muns · 07-16-2015, 09:50 AM

These are the guys I did end up landing

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 PLAYER DETAILS

 #15 SF Hernando Hernandez - Southern California - Freshman
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Height:       6-6
 Weight:       249
 High School:  Bullard High School
 Hometown:     Fresno, CA
 
 Attributes:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Type       INS JPS FTS 3PS HND PAS ORB DRB PSD PRD STL BLK QKN STR JMP STA    
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Current:     6  19  10   9   8   2   7   9   8   5   7   9  14  12  10   6    
    1953:     5  18   9   9   7   2   6   9   7   5   7   9  14  10  10   2    
 Potential:   C   A   B   C   C   F   D   C   C   D   C   C                

 Health:      Good                                           
 Scholarship: Yes
 Status:      Active Roster                                  
 Academics:   6
 
 Stat Averages:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   G  GS  MIN  PTS  ORE  REB  AST   TO   A/T  STL  BLK   PF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   1954   9   9 31.7 13.0  2.2  6.0  1.7  3.8  0.44  0.7  0.4  2.7
 Career   9   9 31.7 13.0  2.2  6.0  1.7  3.8  0.44  0.7  0.4  2.7

 Shooting Averages:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season  FGM  FGA   FG%  FTM  FTA   FT%  3PM  3PA   3P%  PPS   +/-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   1954  5.7 12.6  .451  1.7  2.4  .682  0.0  0.0  .000 1.04  3.00
 Career  5.7 12.6  .451  1.7  2.4  .682  0.0  0.0  .000 1.04  3.00
 
 Stat Totals:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   G  GS  MIN  PTS OREB  REB  AST   TO  STL  BLK   PF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   1954   9   9  285  117   20   54   15   34    6    4   24
 Career   9   9  285  117   20   54   15   34    6    4   24

 Shooting Totals
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season  FGM  FGA  FTM  FTA  3PM  3PA  +/-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   1954   51  113   15   22    0    0   27
 Career   51  113   15   22    0    0   27
 
 Career Highs:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Type      Pts OReb  Reb  Ast  Stl  Blk   TO  FGM  FGA  FTM  FTA  3PM  3PA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season     16    5   10    3    3    1    6    8   18    4    6    0    0
 Career     16    5   10    3    3    1    6    8   18    4    6    0    0
 
 Awards & Acheivements:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   Award
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1953     High School: Rated **** and #60 overall by the FBCB scouting service.
 1953     High School: All-State (California)
 1953     High School: Mr. Basketball (California)
 1953     High School: All-American

Code:

PLAYER DETAILS

 #13 PG Allen Storer - Southern California - Freshman
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Height:       6-2
 Weight:       179
 High School:  Powder River County Dist High School
 Hometown:     Broadus, MT
 
 Attributes:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Type       INS JPS FTS 3PS HND PAS ORB DRB PSD PRD STL BLK QKN STR JMP STA    
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Current:     7   9  10  15  15   7   6   4   6   6   8   4  19   7  16  18    
    1953:     7   8   9  13  13   7   6   4   5   6   7   4  19   6  16  15    
 Potential:   D   C   C   A   A   C   D   D   D   D   C   D                

 Health:      Good                                           
 Scholarship: Yes
 Status:      Active Roster                                  
 Academics:   5
 
 Stat Averages:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   G  GS  MIN  PTS  ORE  REB  AST   TO   A/T  STL  BLK   PF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   1954   9   0  7.2  2.2  0.2  0.4  0.2  0.2  1.00  0.2  0.0  0.6
 Career   9   0  7.2  2.2  0.2  0.4  0.2  0.2  1.00  0.2  0.0  0.6

 Shooting Averages:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season  FGM  FGA   FG%  FTM  FTA   FT%  3PM  3PA   3P%  PPS   +/-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   1954  0.9  1.9  .471  0.4  0.7  .667  0.0  0.0  .000 1.18 -0.44
 Career  0.9  1.9  .471  0.4  0.7  .667  0.0  0.0  .000 1.18 -0.44
 
 Stat Totals:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   G  GS  MIN  PTS OREB  REB  AST   TO  STL  BLK   PF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   1954   9   0   65   20    2    4    2    2    2    0    5
 Career   9   0   65   20    2    4    2    2    2    0    5

 Shooting Totals
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season  FGM  FGA  FTM  FTA  3PM  3PA  +/-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   1954    8   17    4    6    0    0   -4
 Career    8   17    4    6    0    0   -4
 
 Career Highs:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Type      Pts OReb  Reb  Ast  Stl  Blk   TO  FGM  FGA  FTM  FTA  3PM  3PA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season      4    1    2    2    1    0    1    2    3    4    6    0    0
 Career      4    1    2    2    1    0    1    2    3    4    6    0    0
 
 Awards & Acheivements:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   Award
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1953     High School: Rated **** and #78 overall by the FBCB scouting service.
 1953     High School: All-State (Montana)
 1953     High School: Mr. Basketball (Montana)

Code:

PLAYER DETAILS

 #30 SG Vincent Lincoln - Southern California - Freshman
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Height:       6-2
 Weight:       189
 High School:  Century High School
 Hometown:     Santa Ana, CA
 
 Attributes:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Type       INS JPS FTS 3PS HND PAS ORB DRB PSD PRD STL BLK QKN STR JMP STA    
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Current:     5  17  11   7   9   2  15   2   6  12   8   8  17   9  13  14    
    1953:     5  15  10   7   9   2  14   2   5  10   7   7  17   8  13   7    
 Potential:   D   A   B   D   B   F   A   F   D   A   C   C                

 Health:      Good                                           
 Scholarship: Yes
 Status:      Redshirting                                    
 Academics:   14
 
 Stat Averages:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   G  GS  MIN  PTS  ORE  REB  AST   TO   A/T  STL  BLK   PF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Career   0   0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0   A/T  0.0  0.0  0.0

 Shooting Averages:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season  FGM  FGA   FG%  FTM  FTA   FT%  3PM  3PA   3P%  PPS   +/-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Career  0.0  0.0  .000  0.0  0.0  .000  0.0  0.0  .000 0.00  0.00
 
 Stat Totals:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   G  GS  MIN  PTS OREB  REB  AST   TO  STL  BLK   PF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Career   0   0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0

 Shooting Totals
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season  FGM  FGA  FTM  FTA  3PM  3PA  +/-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Career    0    0    0    0    0    0    0
 
 Career Highs:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Type      Pts OReb  Reb  Ast  Stl  Blk   TO  FGM  FGA  FTM  FTA  3PM  3PA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season      0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0
 Career      0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0
 
 Awards & Acheivements:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   Award
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1953     High School: Rated **** and #98 overall by the FBCB scouting service.
 1953     High School: All-State (California)
 1953     High School: All-American

Code:

PLAYER DETAILS

 #0 SG Ronald Mitchum - Southern California - Freshman
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Height:       6-3
 Weight:       192
 High School:  Mount Miguel High School
 Hometown:     Spring Valley, CA
 
 Attributes:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Type       INS JPS FTS 3PS HND PAS ORB DRB PSD PRD STL BLK QKN STR JMP STA    
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Current:    12   5  13  12   4   7   6   6   7   7   9   3  17  13  12  15    
    1953:    10   5  12  11   4   6   6   6   7   7   8   3  17  13  12  14    
 Potential:   B   D   B   B   D   C   D   C   C   C   C   F                

 Health:      Good                                           
 Scholarship: Yes
 Status:      Redshirting                                    
 Academics:   8
 
 Stat Averages:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   G  GS  MIN  PTS  ORE  REB  AST   TO   A/T  STL  BLK   PF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Career   0   0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0   A/T  0.0  0.0  0.0

 Shooting Averages:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season  FGM  FGA   FG%  FTM  FTA   FT%  3PM  3PA   3P%  PPS   +/-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Career  0.0  0.0  .000  0.0  0.0  .000  0.0  0.0  .000 0.00  0.00
 
 Stat Totals:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   G  GS  MIN  PTS OREB  REB  AST   TO  STL  BLK   PF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Career   0   0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0

 Shooting Totals
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season  FGM  FGA  FTM  FTA  3PM  3PA  +/-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Career    0    0    0    0    0    0    0
 
 Career Highs:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Type      Pts OReb  Reb  Ast  Stl  Blk   TO  FGM  FGA  FTM  FTA  3PM  3PA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season      0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0
 Career      0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0
 
 Awards & Acheivements:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   Award
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1953     High School: Rated *** and #162 overall by the FBCB scouting service.

muns · 07-16-2015, 09:58 AM

We ended up redshirting Lincoln and Mitchum because I have enough guards and SF's at the moment.

I need to land 2 Big men recruiting this year though, because as I have already noted, 2 big guys on the roster isn't going to get it done at all. That was a huge miss for us last year.

One of the things that I do like about the above class is that they can score and they are bigger, as we had none of that on the roster before. SF-Hernando Hernandez and SG-Vincent Lincoln will be able to do that. Hernandez hasn't disappointed yet this year so that is a good sign.

muns · 07-16-2015, 10:02 AM

So Fast Forward to this year. Our roster isn't stellar. We have more depth guard wise, but only have 2 forwards.

We scheduled lighter and didn't end up going into any in season tournaments, ( I needed wins) and are hoping to possibly make the NIT this year. It's a lofty goal, but I know I am a few big men away from making a tourney run. Maybe the NIT isn't going to happen realistically, but I can hope and pray.

muns · 07-16-2015, 10:03 AM

This is how the roster looks for the season

Code:

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TROJANS Offense

 Player                 Pos   Ht   Wt   Yr  Ins  Jps  Fts  3ps  Hnd  Pas  Reb  Qkn  Str  Jmp
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 David Haynes            SG  6-2  199  Sr*    6   14   18   16   10   15    2   20   10   17
 Mervin Weiss            SF  6-0  192   Sr    7   13    8   10    5   10    8   14   11   17
 Everett Bartholomew     SG  6-0  195   Sr    8    8    8   19   12   10   10   17    8   13
 Marvin Grasso           PF  6-6  213  Jr*    7    4    8    0   12    2    8    9   18   10
 Michael Womack          SG  6-1  200  Jr*    4    3    9    7   15   10    2   16    9   20
 David Clausen            C  6-8  223   Jr    6    7    9    0    6    7   18    5   17    7
 Matthew Niles           PG  6-3  205   Jr    5   11   14   15   16    9    7   17   10   10
 Orval Tarter            SF  6-5  236  So*    5    3    7    8   16    8    2   11   15   15
 J.C. Quiles             PF  6-8  253  Fr*   10    6   10    0    9    7   16   11   15    8
 Benito Lightfoot        SF  6-7  218  Fr*    9    8   12    6    6    2    9   11   14   11
 Freddie Nation          SG  6-4  218  Fr*    6   13    9    9    7   17   10   14   10   13
 Vincent Lincoln         SG  6-2  189   Fr    5   17   11    7    9    2   15   17    9   13
 Ronald Mitchum          SG  6-3  192   Fr   12    5   13   12    4    7    6   17   13   12
 Hernando Hernandez      SF  6-6  249   Fr    6   19   10    9    8    2    7   14   12   10
 Allen Storer            PG  6-2  179   Fr    7    9   10   15   15    7    6   19    7   16

Code:

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TROJANS Defense

 Player                 Pos   Ht   Wt   Yr  Psd  Prd  Stl  Blk  Reb  Qkn  Str  Jmp  Sta
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 David Haynes            SG  6-2  199  Sr*    3   14   17    6   13   20   10   17   13
 Mervin Weiss            SF  6-0  192   Sr    9    8   14    8    8   14   11   17   15
 Everett Bartholomew     SG  6-0  195   Sr   10   11   11    7    5   17    8   13   18
 Marvin Grasso           PF  6-6  213  Jr*   13    7    8    6    7    9   18   10    8
 Michael Womack          SG  6-1  200  Jr*    5    6    3    8    8   16    9   20   15
 David Clausen            C  6-8  223   Jr   20   12    8   13   13    5   17    7   17
 Matthew Niles           PG  6-3  205   Jr    9   14    8    9    3   17   10   10   13
 Orval Tarter            SF  6-5  236  So*   11    8    7    9    6   11   15   15    7
 J.C. Quiles             PF  6-8  253  Fr*    7   10    6    8   13   11   15    8   15
 Benito Lightfoot        SF  6-7  218  Fr*    2   11    7    6    7   11   14   11   12
 Freddie Nation          SG  6-4  218  Fr*    7   11   11    7    5   14   10   13   16
 Vincent Lincoln         SG  6-2  189   Fr    6   12    8    8    2   17    9   13   14
 Ronald Mitchum          SG  6-3  192   Fr    7    7    9    3    6   17   13   12   15
 Hernando Hernandez      SF  6-6  249   Fr    8    5    7    9    9   14   12   10    6
 Allen Storer            PG  6-2  179   Fr    6    6    8    4    4   19    7   16   18

muns · 07-16-2015, 10:08 AM

Our Team Schedule this year looks like this. We have already had some bad losses, and good win. Our 2 big men cant handle the load we are asking them to handle, and if you get us in foul trouble in the post we are going to lose, and that's exactly what occurred in some of those loses. The PCC schedule is going to be brutal again, so this NIT goal is going down the drain every single sim.

Code:

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TROJANS Schedule

  Date        Opponent               Record  RPI  Result  Score  Record
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  11/14/54    at San Jose State         2-5  147       W  57-56     1-0
  11/18/54    New Hampshire             2-6   56       W  61-53     2-0
  11/22/54    Seattle                   5-6   22       L  68-59     2-1
  11/26/54    at Denver                 2-6   75       L  55-47     2-2
  11/30/54    at Saint Mary's           5-3   53       W  61-51     3-2
  12/06/54    at Gonzaga                4-5  102       L  59-50     3-3
  12/10/54    Colorado A&M              1-6  164       W  58-47     4-3
  12/18/54    at Utah                   5-4   10       L  67-62     4-4
  12/24/54    Arizona State             2-7  141       W  54-29     5-4
  12/28/54    Davidson                  6-7   89                       
  01/02/55    at Arizona                5-3    9                       
  01/05/55    at #13 Idaho State        9-1   60                       
  01/09/55    Cornell                   3-4   74                       
  01/13/55    at Oregon                 6-3   72                       
  01/15/55    Oregon State              5-5  116                       
  01/20/55    Idaho                     5-5  150                       
  01/22/55    at UCLA                   1-8  129                       
  01/27/55    at #17 Washington         8-2   38                       
  01/29/55    #12 California            7-2   31                       
  02/03/55    Washington State          3-5  103                       
  02/05/55    at Stanford               6-3   70                       
  02/12/55    Oregon                    6-3   72                       
  02/17/55    at Oregon State           5-5  116                       
  02/19/55    at Idaho                  5-5  150                       
  02/24/55    UCLA                      1-8  129                       
  02/26/55    #17 Washington            8-2   38

muns · 07-16-2015, 10:13 AM

Standings this year look like this

Code:

1954 Pacific Coast Conference Standings

 NORTH                          CW  CL   Pct  W  L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 #17 Washington Huskies          0   0  .000  8  2  .800   38        69
 Oregon Webfoots                 0   0  .000  6  3  .667   72        43
 Oregon State Beavers            0   0  .000  5  5  .500  116        53
 Idaho Vandals                   0   0  .000  5  5  .500  150        32
 Washington State Cougars        0   0  .000  3  5  .375  103        41

 SOUTH                          CW  CL   Pct  W  L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 #12 California Golden Bears     0   0  .000  7  2  .778   31        69
 Stanford Indians                0   0  .000  6  3  .667   70        49
 Southern California Trojans     0   0  .000  5  4  .556  143        51
 UCLA Bruins                     0   0  .000  1  8  .111  129        59

The battle between Washington and Cal should be fun to watch, but I like Washington to take the conf. They have too much D and take care of the ball.

We have the 4th lowest Prestige in the conf, so We need to start getting to the 20 win category quickly, or we are going to have trouble getting recruits to take us seriously, especially with Cal right down the road, and UCLA still being above us. Makes me nervous.....

muns · 07-16-2015, 10:53 AM

The National Basketball Report: Volume 2, Issue 1 (May 1954)

Quote:

The Too Early Twenty & NCAA Projection
Before we begin, and you'll read about our projection later, we wanted to look back at last year's Too Early Twenty. Kansas was atop our first-ever ranking; they went on to win the tournament, of course. Generally, the teams we ranked in the top ten stayed in the top ten all season. The only team who did not live up to that early proclamation was Iowa, who was ranked tenth, and stayed in the second ten all year. Only LSU (which later fell out in our preseason ranking, pased up by Mississippi State), La Salle, and San Francisco did not make the tournament.

So, if you're on this list, you might be in good shape.

1. Kansas State. They return more talent than anyone in the nation, and more frontcourt depth than anyone. Kendrick Stone and Erich Walton were two of the top defensive big men in the country last year, and they both return. Billy Jacob is arguably the best sophomore player around, and Danny Shippy and Jack Shankle are both top contributors. The onle thing they lack is a true point guard, but Jacob should fit that bill. All in all, nine players who played at least 26 games return, five of whom played at least 12 minutes a game. They should rampage through their schedule.

2. Indiana. The Hoosiers return three key players from last year, led by guard Marcos Godfrey (7.5 ppg, 7.0 apg) and forward Rene Eckstein (9.6 ppg, 7.6 rpg). But the biggest player on this team has yet to see any time on the court. Enoch Horn, a junior college arrival, may already be the best player in the country before he ever steps foot on campus. The 6'1 guard will step right into the starting lineup, a blend of scoring, passing, rebounding and defense nobody else possesses. They have true talent everywhere, depth far more than anyone in the Big Ten. They might very well go undefeated again...and this time, finish the job.

3. Kansas. The nation's top returning player is Timofei Malahkov. He, along with Henry McNair, form the best returning backcourt in the nation. Chris Seay and Delbert Davis also return, as does fellow guard Steven Burns. They have a truly astounding backcourt. But who they put near the basket is another story. Earle Maldonaldo and Rudolf Burke are foregone conclusions; Maldonaldo registered 15 games, while Burke did not get off the bench. Behind them, it's a mystery. This will, ultimately, be Kansas' downfall. But they should press and should force a lot of turnovers, and they do have a loaded, absolutely loaded, backcourt. That will serve them well, as they head for a defense of their championship.

4. Bradley. The 1b to Malakhov's 1a for Nation's Top Player is Antonia Dabney. He returns, along with his 15.1 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 2.6 assists. Kurtis Richardson and Graham Nance, a seven-foot center, return to flank him, as do four players who played in at least 19 games. The Braves also bring in a bevy of redshirted players, led by William Burns, a six-foot guard. Dionisio Vega, a top-25 freshman, also enters the mix. The Braves will definitely have a lot of talent, and plenty of depth, to have a better year than last, when they lost to the eventual champions in the Round of Sixteen.

5. Kentucky. Murray Dodd and John Nagy return from last year's national semifinalist. They are the headliners, and Dodd could be in the running for a National Player of the Year nomination. This is an undersized unit, with Dallas Kovacs the only returning letterman in the frontcourt. They do bring in one of the best freshman classes in the nation, boasting the #6 recruit, 6'11 Scott Moncada, #17 Curt Davis (PF), #18 Stephan Williford (SG), and #68 Abel Williams (C). This team won't be as good as last year's group, but if their underclassmen can round into form, they'll be one tick below. That would be good enough to push for a spot among the nation's final four teams.

6. West Virginia. Elias France and Clay Metcalf return, along with Joe Jenkins. That gives the Mountaineers three starters back, to go along with five others who played every game last year. John Hildebrand was the team's sixth man, so stepping into the point guard role should be easy for him. They don't have as much coming in as one would think, but Harland Crowe, Armand Bellows and Joe Lucero all should have expanded roles. Demarcus Woods is a talented player who sat out last year, and will see time at both guard spots, along with small forward. WVU has plenty to get through the Southern Conference, and should be right there at the end.

7. NC State. The Wolfpack will get pushback from Duke in the ACC, but they are still the most talented, and perhaps experienced, team in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Reigning ACC Player of the Year, C Angelo Parham (6.3 ppg, 9.7 rpg, 2.1 apg, 2.9 bpg) returns, along with forward Eddie Henry and guard Boyd Walley. John Rossi was a valued reserve last year, and will see more time at the power forward spot. And Anton Gonzlaex and Garry Sarmiento are ready to step up in expanded backcourt roles. Add in extremely talented freshmen, like forward Lou Bergeron, and guards John Clawson and Chris Davis, and you have the recipe for another winner in Raleigh.

8. Duke. The Blue Devils return three starters, all frontcourt guys. Leandro Fall is one of the more underrated players in the country, while Lane McClary and Jonathan Fleenor are two of the more talented forwards in the ACC. The team will need James Gordon to become the caretaker of the offense, as they are severely lacking in immediate guard depth. Heralded freshmen Dewayne Jackson, Elisha Oakley and Stefan Jordan are not ready for the big stage. They will all be thrust to the wolves out of necessity, so they will have to figure it out as they go along. If they do, Duke can be a major contender. If not, then this is where the true contenders separate.

9. California. Teddy Layne and Manny Barnard return one of the top backcourts in the nation. They also welcome mystery recruit, Tony Eyre, who shunned every team until the very end, before seemingly reluctantly choosing Cal. Franklin Amaro also returns for the Bears, as do three rotation guys. The Bears lack any talented frontcourt help; the only realistic power guy son the roster are C Craig Kruger and forward Frances Howell. The Bears are going to have major issues against bigger teams, and won't get past teams like Duke, NC State, or either Kansas team without shooting the lights out. They are decidedly on the second tier, but they are good enough to get far.

10. Duquesne. The Dukes, who marched to the NCAA title game a year ago, return John Garrick (12.0 ppg, 5.3 apg, 3.6 rpg, 1.2 spg) and Chauncey Hinkley, who averaged 12.6 points in his 19 games. The super soph is ready to take over the leadership duties of the team, and he won't have to do it alone. Garrick, along with John Granger, head up a solid backcourt. The rest of the roster, though...well, it's very top-heavy. It will necessitate the development of forwards Chris McKeehan, Brent Dampier and Chris Green, along with centers Richard Manion and Mark Fernandez, if they are to achieve what they did last year.

11. Washington. Dean Wexler returns from injury to lead the team in the post, and Danny Fenton looks to build on an impressive freshman season. They return only two other players who had even remotely significant time, and Joshua Lopez was Wexler's backup. The Huskies are a small team, having nobody over 6'9 (Burt Lingle is 6'11, but he is redshirting this season). They managed last year with Wexler, but they'll need, at least, Frank Calhoun (6'9, 260) to step up.

12. Oklahoma A&M. Three starters return for the Cowboys, led by guards Joe Lee and Erwin Plunkett. Damian Ceasar started twenty games last year, missing time with injury. They do have a lot of potential across the roster, and solid size if freshman Tim Bullard becomes something this year. It's more likely he redshirts. The Cowboys have a lot of questions, but have quite a few answers already.

13. Illinois. It is possible they'll move up the list, as they have plenty of talent. They have starters returning from each part of the floor, which is important. And Jason Davis is ready to become a star at the point guard spot. They have depth that needs to grow, but it's likely they will. The Fighting Illini may have overachieved a year ago, but this year, they'll sneak up on nobody. Nor will they have to.

14. Seattle. The Chieftains return three starters, the most important of which is point guard Donald Southard. Southard is one of the top guards in the country, averaging 13.1 points and 4.4 assists a year ago. His stewardship is of utmost importance, as the Chieftains have to replace their center, without a true replacement to do so. Thomas Vanover, a redshirt sophomore, will get the first chance to do so. David Harder, a redshirt freshman, and the heralded Jesus Jones, will be important additions at the forward spots. The Chieftain also have George Schutz returning at the power spot, and Alvin Webber, Southard's backcourt mate a year ago, returning. This is another team who is stacked to the tops in the backcourt, but has a lot of frontcourt issues.

15. Mississppi State. Casey Williams is the nation's leading returning scorer, and will likely be the game's first to notch one thousand points in his career. The Maroons have him and Albert Hardeman, who put up nearly twelve points a year ago, returning. Add in Isiah Vadnais, and you have three solid starters. After that, and guard Everette Anderson, the pickings get rough. There is no good center, and, for that matter, no real good small forward selection. Williams will likely play the three most of the team, as the Maroons will employ three-guard lineups. This team is good enough to get to the NCAA Tournament, but maybe not good enough to win a game, once there.

16. Holy Cross. Robert Ventura is on the short list of best returning players in the nation. The forward averaged 16.2 points and 4.5 rebounds a game a year ago. Expect both figures to go up for the Crusaders, who reached the NIT Championship last year. The team also has Charles Schaub returning at center, and Ian Binder, who started part of the games a year ago. Jerry Seiber and Woodrow Byington offer depth at the guard spots. After that, it's a list of who's that. Nobody else, other than guard Robert Phillips, logged a single game for the Crusaders a year ago. Forward Chuck Tillery is the most promising of the bunch, along with C Carl Moeller and guard Carl Kelley. But if the boys cannot become men quickly, it will be another NIT run for this team, which would be of immense disappointment to supporters of the team, and of Ventura.

17. Saint Louis. This it the projection pick. The Billikens return two starters, and their leading returning scorer is Freddy Schubert, who averaged 9.0 points in less than 23 minutes off the bench. He started just two of his thirty-two games. They have nobody who averaged more than 25 minutes a game last year. But they have talent in the system, many players with potential who, if they pan out, will lead the program to big things. The question is, can they? Burt Ney and Charlie Ortiz, the two holdovers from last year, are solid but unspectacular players. What they need are guys like guard Michael Laguna (4.5 points in 11.8 minutes per game last year), and freshmen players Jody Spring and Jeremy Galan, to step up earlier than expected. It is believed that they can; hence, this ranking. If they don't, it will be a wasted year in Missouri, and one where OkA&M distances itself in the conference.

18. Notre Dame. Got burned here last year, as we picked Notre Dame and they busted because of a schedule too tough to bear. They have that same difficult schedule again, with games against West Virginia (two, actually), Pitt, Cincinnati, Duke, Kansas State, NYU, Holy Cross, Louisville, Idaho State, Kansas, Duquesne and LaSalle. They also only return two starters. But they do have talent, a lot of young talent, and an impressive freshman class coming in. James Adam, Winston Mathews, and Guy Jeter form a solid enough nucleus, and Donnie Dawson is good enough to start as a true freshman. There is ample size and good enough defense up and down the lineup, and enough home games, to give the Irish the benefit of the doubt.

19. Idaho State. The Bengals couldn't overcome Robin Revell's injury, which lasted twelve games at the start of the year. But the tough times that came from that may end up to their gain. They return four starters, as well as Revell's replacement during that time, David Calvert. The pair will form the Bengal backcourt, meaning they essentially have all five starters back. Add in two very capable reserve players in C Warren Marx and forward Errol Redwine, and the Bengals have a far better outlook than a first-round NIT appearance. They don't have much of a bench, but if one or two guys can round into form, they should be okay.

20. St. John's. Marlin Tate returns at center for the Redmen, as does forward Andrew Redd. They also have six others who logged at least 22 games, and impressive underclassmen ready to contribute, like forward Kelvin Denton, and guards Andrew Davis and Columbus Herrera. Titus Anderson, a reserve last year, is the likely new star guard in New York, and he's only a junior. He should provide a steady hand as the Redmen transition from last year's star, Garrett Herrin.

A Note About The NCAA Projection

In last year's Too Early NCAA Projection, we successfully predicted 22 of the 32 teams who participated in the NCAA Tournament. We were correct on the seeding in thirteen of those, and off by one seed, up or down, on another four. We badly missed on Notre Dame, Purdue, BYU, Oregon, and LSU, but narrowly missed on Arizona, La Salle, SMU and San Francisco. All in all, not a bad first try.

That said, we strive to be better.

1 NC State Indiana 1
8 Columbia Vermont 8

5 St. John's St. Louis 5
4 Holy Cross Mississippi State 4
East South
3 Duquesne Duke 3
6 Georgia Tech La Salle 6

7 Niagara Murray State 7
2 Kansas Kentucky 2

1 Kansas State Bradley 1
8 Toledo Texas Tech 8

5 Notre Dame Idaho State 5
4 Illinois Seattle 4
Midwest West
3 Washington Oklahoma A&M 3
6 Oregon State San Francisco 6

7 Arkansas Utah State 7
2 West Virginia California 2

muns · 07-16-2015, 10:58 AM

Just in case anybody needs a refresher, the National Basketball report is done by someone in the league (its not me) and gives articles about whatever is going on league wise. They are always good reads.

The National Basketball Report: 1954-55 Season Preview

Quote:

Last year, we successfully predicted the national champion in our first issue. We ended up recanting on that, but we did it. This year, we hope to do it again. Without further ado...here is the 1954-55 Season In Preview.

Preseason Top Twenty
1. Kansas State
2. Indiana
3. Kansas
4. Bradley
5. Kentucky
6. NC State
7. West Virginia
8. North Carolina
9. California
10. Duquesne
11. Dayton
12. Duke
13. Illinois
14. Holy Cross
15. La Salle
16. Oregon State
17. Mississippi State
18. Washington
19. St. Louis
20. Iowa

National Preseason All-American Team
G: Antonia Dabney, Bradley
G: Enoch Horn, Indiana
F: Robert Ventura, Holy Cross
F: Murray Dodd, Kentucky
C: Kendrick Stone, Kansas State

G: Timofei Malakhov, Kansas
G: John Garrick, Duquesne
F: Clay Metcalf, West Virginia
F: Eddie Henry, NC State
C: Joe Craver, Vanderbilt

Newcomer Team
G: Enoch Horn, Indiana
G: Eddy Jarrell, Arkansas
F: Dennis Sawicki, North Carolina
F: Arthur Brodie, Oregon State
C: Rudolph Burke, Kansas

Atlantic Coast Conference (Conference Rank: )
1) NC State 2) North Carolina 3) Duke
Sleeper: Maryland
Preseason Player of the Year: C Angelo Parham, NC State
Preseason Newcomer of the Year: F Dennis Sawicki, North Carolina
Rising: Maryland
Falling: Wake Forest
Best Backcourt: Duke
Best Frontcourt: NC State
Best Offense: North Carolina
Best Defense: Duke
Best Bench: Duke
Best Scorer: G George Dawkins, Maryland
Best Passer: G James Gordon, Duke
Best Rebounder: C Angelo Parham, NC State
Best Defender: C Angelo Parham, NC State
Best Sixth Man: G Archie Means, North Carolina
Best (Current) Professional Prospect: F Eddie Henry, NC State
NCAA Teams: NC State, North Carolina, Duke
NIT Teams: Maryland, Clemson
Preseason All-Conference Team
G: Boyd Walley, NC State (Sr)
G: George Dawkins, Maryland (Jr)
F: Eddie Henry, NC State (Sr*)
F: Jonathan Fleenor, Duke (So)
C: Angelo Parham, NC State (Sr)
Synopsis: The conference should play out like it did last year, with NC State, Duke, and North Carolina ruling the roost. This year, NC State should be able to see their way to the conference title. They have the most depth, the returning Conference Player of the Year (Parham) and the best guard in the conference in Boyd Walley. North Carolina should take a step up this year, while Duke may slide a bit. Maryland and Clemson are two teams to watch; the former has leading scorer George Dawkins back for his junior year, and loads of talent around him. Clemson has an excellent backcourt, though battling under the basket will be tough. South Carolina had their best chance last year; they will be hard-pressed to keep up. Wake Forest and Virginia are now afterthoughts.

Big Seven (Conference Rank: )
1) Kansas State 2) Kansas 3) Missouri
Sleeper: Colorado
Preseason Player of the Year: G Timofei Malakhov, Kansas
Preseason Newcomer of the Year: C Rudolph Burke, Kansas
Rising: Missouri
Falling: Colorado
Best Backcourt: Kansas
Best Frontcourt: Kansas State
Best Offense: Kansas
Best Defense: Kansas State
Best Bench: Kansas State
Best Scorer: G Delbert Davis, Kansas
Best Passer: G Henry McNair, Kansas
Best Rebounder: C Erich Walton, Kansas State
Best Defender: C Kendrick Stone, Kansas State/Henry McNair, Kansas
Best Sixth Man: G Delbert Davis, Kansas
Best Professional Prospect: Timofei Malakhov, Kansas
NCAA Teams: Kansas State, Kansas
NIT Teams: Missouri
Preseason All-Conference Team
G: Henry McNair, Kansas (Sr*)
G: Timofei Malakhov, Kansas (Sr*)
F: Chris Seay, Kansas (Jr*)
F: Erich Walton, Kansas State (So)
C: Kenrick Stone, Kansas State (Sr*)
Synopsis: The Wildcats and Jayhawks will be at it again. Kansas State is the deepest, most talented team in the nation. But you can only play five at a time. The backcourt of Kansas is why they are ranked #1 by the Associated Press. But the choice of McNair over Billy Jacob is more a coinflip than anything. Both teams are Final Four worthy. Missouri may make noise early, like last year. And, like last year, they will be considered frauds. Colorado, in turn, will not be as good as last year. The rest is fodder.

Big Ten (Conference Rank: )
1) Indiana 2) Illinois 3) Iowa
Sleeper: Northwestern
Preseason Player of the Year: G Enoch Horn, Indiana
Preseason Newcomer of the Year: G Enoch Horn, Indiana
Rising: Purdue
Falling: Wisconsin
Best Backcourt: Indiana
Best Frontcourt: Iowa
Best Offense: Indiana
Best Defense: Indiana
Best Bench: Indiana
Best Scorer: G Enoch Horn, Indiana
Best Passer: G Marcos Godfrey, Indiana
Best Rebounder: C David Shavers, Michigan State
Best Defender: F Lincoln Brooks, Iowa
Best Sixth Man: G Heath Williams, Indiana
Best Professional Prospect: G Joel Williams, Purdue
NCAA Teams: Indiana, Illinois, Iowa
NIT Teams: Purdue, Northwestern
Preseason All-Conference Team
G: Enoch Horn, Indiana (Jr)
G: Regis Deleroeuwe, Iowa (Sr)
F: Mikolas Mares, Indiana (Sr*)
F: Rene Eckstein, Indiana (Sr)
C: Lincoln Brooks, Iowa (Sr)
Synopsis: Indiana rules all, again. Horn is a generational player, it appears. He may win national awards, if all goes right. And the Hoosiers get two more years out of him than anyone else does; that is consolation for him coming in as a junior. Illinois won't sneak up on anybody again, but they won't need to. They are a top-twelve team across the nation. Iowa will be good behind Deleroeuwe and Brooks, but may not be as good as last year. Northwestern lost their chance at glory, and will be hard-pressed to get close to the NCAA Tournament again for some time. Michigan State and Purdue are up-and-comers, and while they may not contend this year, they will in the future.

Border (Conference Rank: )
1) Texas Tech 2) Arizona 3) Arizona State
Sleeper: None
Preseason Player of the Year: G Delmer Lacey, Texas Tech
Preseason Newcomer of the Year: G Silvio Flores, Texas Western
Rising: Arizona
Falling: Arizona State
Best Backcourt: Arizona
Best Frontcourt: Texas Tech
Best Offense: Texas Tech
Best Defense: Arizona (really, nobody)
Best Bench: Texas Tech
Best Scorer: G Trent Rueta, Texas Tech
Best Passer: G Robert Osterman, Arizona State
Best Rebounder: F Landon Banuelos, Texas Tech
Best Defender: F Irving Frances, Hardin-Simmons
Best Sixth Man: G Robert Osterman, Arizona
Best Professional Prospect: F Tony Starnes, Texas Tech
NCAA Teams: Texas Tech
NIT Teams: None
Preseason All-Conference Team
G: Delmer Lacey, Texas Tech
G: David Chewing, Arizona
F: Trent Rueda, Texas Tech
F: Silvio Flores, Texas Western
C: David Starnes, Texas Tech
Synopsis: Not a strong conference, but, like last year, it is top heavy. Texas Tech and Arizona are the top of the conference, though neither will make a dent on the national radar.

muns · 07-16-2015, 10:59 AM

Was too long so I had to break it down into 2 posts

Quote:

Ivy Group (Conference Rank: )
1) Columbia 2) Yale 3) Brown
Sleeper: None
Preseason Player of the Year: G Lauren Evans, Columbia
Preseason Newcomer of the Year: G Don Simmers, Princeton
Rising: Yale
Falling: Dartmouth
Best Backcourt: Columbia
Best Frontcourt: Columbia
Best Offense: Columbia
Best Defense: Brown
Best Bench: Columbia
Best Scorer: G Robert French, Princeton
Best Passer: G Albert Ogburn, Penn
Best Rebounder: C Cliff Householder, Columbia
Best Defender: C Erhard Schmuck, Brown
Best Sixth Man: G Justin Root, Columbia
Best Professional Prospect: C Erhard Schmuck, Brown
NCAA Teams: Columbia
NIT Teams: None
Preseason All-Conference Team
G: Lauren Evans, Columbia (Sr*)
G: Robert French, Princeton (Jr)
F: Chris Telles, Columbia (Jr*)
F: Lowell Long, Yale (Jr*)
C: Erhard Schmuck, Brown (Sr)
Synopsis: This is Columbia's conference once more. The national quarterfinalist isn't as strong as last year's outfit, but nobody in the Ivy is. How fitting is it, by the way, that the best professional prospect in this conference is named Schmuck?

Metro (Conference Rank: )
1) St. John's 2) NYU 3) Fordham
Sleeper: None
Preseason Player of the Year: C Marlin Tate, St. John's
Preseason Newcomer of the Year: G Dennis Shelby, St. John's
Rising: Fordham
Falling: Manhattan
Best Backcourt: St. John's
Best Frontcourt: St. John's
Best Offense: St. John's
Best Defense: St. John's
Best Bench: St. John's
Best Scorer: G Ambrose Hamilton, St. John's
Best Passer: G Titus Anderson, St. John's
Best Rebounder: F Charles Schock, NYU
Best Defender: C Marlin Tate, St. John's
Best Sixth Man: G Dennis Shelby, St. John's
Best Professional Prospect: F Charles Schock, NYU
NCAA Teams: St. John's
NIT Teams: NYU
Preseason All-Conference Team
G: Titus Anderson, St. John's (Jr*)
G: Ambrose Hamilton, St. John's (Sr)
F: Charles Schock, NYU (Sr*)
F: Andrew Redd, St. John's (Sr)
C: Marlin Tate, St. John's (Sr)
Synopsis: St. John's has more than enough coming back to defend their conference title, while everyone else in the conference takes a step back. In NYU's case, it is more of a leap than a step. The Redmen probably will not be the regional force they were a year ago, when they were a threat in the East. But they will still be the kings of their conference, and have probably distanced themselves from the rest of the pack.

Mid-American (Conference Rank: )
1) Toledo 2) Western Michigan 3) Kent State
Sleeper: None
Preseason Player of the Year: F Delmer Wells, Toledo
Preseason Newcomer of the Year: C Irvin Sullivan, Bowling Green
Rising: Western Michigan
Falling: Miami-OH
Best Backcourt: Toledo
Best Frontcourt: Toldeo
Best Offense: Toledo
Best Defense: Miami-OH
Best Bench: Toledo
Best Scorer: C Irvin Sullivan, Bowling Green
Best Passer: G John Seavey, Western Michigan
Best Rebounder: F Delmer Wells, Toledo
Best Defender: C Jack Hanna, Miami-OH
Best Sixth Man: G Douglas Toler, Toledo
Best Professional Prospect: F Bill Miley, Toledo
NCAA Teams: Toledo
NIT Teams: None
Preseason All-Conference Team
G: Floyd Sneed, Toledo (Jr)
G: John Seavey, Western Michigan (Sr)
F: Delmer Wells, Toledo (Jr)
F: Jack Hanna, Miami-OH (Jr*)
C: Steve Sanderlin, Toledo (Sr)
Synopsis: Toledo sputtered early last year, allowing Miami-OH to gain an early advantage. The Rockets came back to win the conference. The difference between this year and last is, Toledo should run away with the thing. There are some wonderful outside shooters in this conference, and a severe lack of defense. That should make for an entertaining, wide open brand of basketball. In the end, the cream rises to the top. And that is Toledo, which should be in prime position to do it next year, too.

Missouri Valley (Conference Rank: )
1) St. Louis 2) Oklahoma A&M 3) Houston
Sleeper: None
Preseason Player of the Year: G Freddy Schubert, St. Louis
Preseason Newcomer of the Year: G Stefan Witcher, Oklahoma A&M
Rising: Houston
Falling: Tulsa
Best Backcourt: Oklahoma A&M
Best Frontcourt: St. Louis
Best Offense: Oklahoma A&M
Best Defense: St. Louis
Best Bench: St. Louis
Best Scorer: G Erwin Plunkett, Oklahoma A&M
Best Passer: G Peter Anderson, Tulsa
Best Rebounder: C Damian Caesar, Oklahoma A&M
Best Defender: G Matthew O'Bryant, Oklahoma A&M
Best Sixth Man: G Stefan WItcher, Oklahoma A&<
Best Professional Prospect: G Peter Anderson, Tulsa
NCAA Teams: St. Louis, Oklahoma A&M
NIT Teams: None
Preseason All-Conference Team
G: Freddy Schubert, St. Louis
G: Peter Anderson, Tulsa
F: Erwin Plunkett, Oklahoma A&M
F: Charle Ortiz, St. Louis
C: Damian Caesar, Oklahoma A&M
Synopsis: Two team conference for the second year in a row. The Billikens should have a firmer grasp on the championship than a year ago, when the Cowboys overcame early injuries to take it away from them. Both teams are capable of making the NCAA Tournament, though it would not be surprising if only one gets in. The rest of the conference, like so many teams in this region, are merely appetizers for the main course: games that pit the Billikens against the Cowboys.

Mountain State Athletic (Conference Rank: )
1) Utah 2) Utah State 3) BYU
Sleeper: None
Preseason Player of the Year: G Robert Peeler, Utah
Preseason Newcomer of the Year: G Bradley Darby, Wyoming
Rising: New Mexico
Falling: Wyoming
Best Backcourt: Utah
Best Frontcourt: Utah State
Best Offense: New Mexico
Best Defense: Wyoming
Best Bench: Utah
Best Scorer: G Benjamin Doolittle, Utah State
Best Passer: G Robert Peeler, Utah
Best Rebounder: C Kirk Fritz, Utah State
Best Defender: G John Sergent, New Mexico
Best Sixth Man: G Fritz Owens, Utah
Best Professional Prospect: F Daniel Paine, Wyoming
NCAA Teams: Utah
NIT Teams: Utah State
Preseason All-Conference Team
G: Robert Peeler, Utah (So)
G: Benjamin Doolittle, Utah State (So)
F: Daniel Paine, Wyoming (Sr)
F: Les Osborn, BYU (Sr)
C: Kirk Fritz, Utah State (Sr)
Synopsis: Utah is the most complete team, though they are not terribly deep. Nobody in the conference is; there are, however, snippets of talent throughout the conference. It would not be a shock to see either Utah State or BYU win the conference, though Utah's ability to go inside and out should see them through. It bodes well that the conference's top two players, arguably, are sophomores.

Ohio Valley (Conference Rank: )
1) Murray State 2) Western Kentucky 3) Morehead State
Sleeper: None
Preseason Player of the Year: F Guy Berg, Western Kentucky
Preseason Newcomer of the Year: C Nickolas Parker, Tennessee Tech
Rising: Tennessee Tech
Falling: Eastern Kentucky
Best Backcourt: Murray State
Best Frontcourt: Western Kentucky
Best Offense: Murray State
Best Defense: Murray State
Best Bench: Western Kentucky
Best Scorer: G Danny Vaughn, Murray State
Best Passer: G Chris Cornejo, Murray State
Best Rebounder: C Joe Lopez, Murray State
Best Defender: F Randy Chisholm, Murray State
Best Sixth Man: F Victor Phillips, Western Kentucky
Best Professional Prospect: C Trenton Edgerton, Murray State
NCAA Teams: Murray State
NIT Teams: None
Preseason All-Conference Team
G: Danny Vaughn, Murray State (Jr*)
G: Chad McMillin, Western Kentucky (Jr)
F: Guy Berg, Western Kentucky (Sr)
F: Trenton Edgerton, Murray State (Sr*)
C: Nickolas Parker, Tennessee Tech (Fr)
Synopsis: The conference isn't as cut-and-dry as one would think. Western Kentucky has talent. They just don't have the top-shelf talent of the Racers. But if they catch them in the head-to-head, the Hilltoppers can get there. McMillin and Berg are good enough to lead them to victory. But Vaughn and Edgerton should have the edge...er...ton. Regardless, despite the lack of overall talent, there is enough standouts here to make this a fun conference to watch.

Pacific Coast (Conference Rank: )
1) California 2) Oregon State 3) Washington
Sleeper: Southern California
Preseason Player of the Year: G Manny Barnard, Cal
Preseason Newcomer of the Year: F Arthur Brodie, Oregon State
Rising: Southern California
Falling: Washington
Best Backcourt: California
Best Frontcourt: Washington
Best Offense: Washington State
Best Defense: Washington
Best Bench: California
Best Scorer: F Tyler Williamson, UCLA
Best Passer: G Teddy Layne, California
Best Rebounder: F Joshua Lopez, Washington
Best Defender: F Franklin Amaro, California
Best Sixth Man: G Tyron Crandall, California
Best Professional Prospect: G Manny Barnard, California
NCAA Teams: California, Oregon State, Washington, Southern California
NIT Teams: Stanford, Washington State, UCLA
Preseason All-Conference Team
G: Manny Barnard, California (Sr*)
G: Danny Fenton, Washington (So)
F: Tyler Williamson, UCLA (Jr)
F: Dean Wexler, Washington (Sr)
C: Mark Salazar, Oregon State (Sr*)
Synopsis: The conference doesn't have a standout team like the other conferences, but it is deeper than any other in the land. Just about every team in the conference has at least one or two top-shelf players. There will be plenty of personal accolades to be won in the conference, and, if it weren't for the conference being on the west coast, they would be national stars. As it is, they will dazzle and define a legend for themselves. The teams in the East should take notice.

Southeastern (Conference Rank: )
1) Kentucky 2) Mississippi State 3) Vanderbilt
Sleeper: Georgia Tech
Preseason Player of the Year: C Joe Craver, Vanderbilt
Preseason Newcomer of the Year: G Eusebio Williams, Tulane
Rising: Tennessee
Falling: Alabama
Best Backcourt: Mississippi State
Best Frontcourt: Kentucky
Best Offense: Kentucky
Best Defense: Vanderbilt
Best Bench: Kentucky
Best Scorer: F Murray Dodd, Kentucky
Best Passer: G William Romans, LSU
Best Rebounder: C Joe Craver, Vanderbilt
Best Defender: G Daryl Jablonski, Vanderbilt/F David Cohen, Kentucky
Best Sixth Man: G Elroy Worsham, Kentucky
Best Professional Prospect: F Murray Dodd, Kentucky
NCAA Teams: Kentucky, Mississippi State
NIT Teams: Vanderbilt, Georgia Tech
Preseason All-Conference Team
G: William Romans, LSU (Sr)
G: Casey Williams, Mississippi State (Sr*)
F: Murray Dodd, Kentucky (Sr*)
F: David Cohen, Kentucky (Sr)
C: Joe Craver, Vanderbilt (Sr*)
Synopsis: The SEC is brimming with talent, most of it eminating out of Lexington. Dodd and Cohen form one of the most prestigous forward duos in the country, while guard John Nagy barely missed recognition here. Craver is an absolute mountain of a man, and he will be awesome to watch this year, as pro scouts all show up to see what he can do. One wonders if a school can do what Georgia Tech did last year, which is make noise late in the season. Several teams have the talent, but need to put it together. One of those teams? Georgia Tech.

Southern (Conference Rank: )
1) West Virginia 2) Virginia Tech 3) George Washington
Sleeper: None
Preseason Player of the Year: F Clay Metcalf, West Virginia
Preseason Newcomer of the Year: F Demarcus Woods, West Virginia
Rising: Davidson
Falling: Richmond
Best Backcourt: West Virginia
Best Frontcourt: West Virginia
Best Offense: West Virginia
Best Defense: West Virginia
Best Bench: West Virginia
Best Scorer: G Charles Armstead, Virginia Tech
Best Passer: G John Hildebrand, West Virginia
Best Rebounder: F Joe Jenkins, West Virginia
Best Defender: F Clay Metcalf, West Virginia
Best Sixth Man: F Harland Crowe, West Virginia
Best Professional Prospect: F Clay Metcalf, West Virginia
NCAA Teams: West Virginia
NIT Teams: Virginia Tech
Preseason All-Conference Team
G: John Hildebrand, West Virginia (So)
G: Charles Armstead, Virginia Tech (Sr)
F: Clay Metcalf, West Virginia (Sr)
F: Travis Eisele, West Virginia (Sr)
C: Joe Jekins, West Virginia (Sr*)
Synopsis: It's likely now or never for the Mountaineers, who have a senior-laden squad with loads of experience from last year. Hildebrand, the conductor of the offense, is the key; he is merely a sophomore, and while he has a lot of experience running this offense, a lot of teams are going to dare him to shoot the ball. Virginia Tech can surprise people. They have talent, especially in the post. And Armstead can score with anyone. George Washington is predicated on potential; the rest of the conference are merely fall guys for these three.

Southwestern (Conference Rank: )
1) Arkansas 2) Baylor 3) Southern Methodist
Sleeper: Texas
Preseason Player of the Year: G Eddy Jarrell, Arkansas
Preseason Newcomer of the Year: G Eddy Jarrell, Arkansas
Rising: Texas
Falling: Texas Christian
Best Backcourt: Arkansas
Best Frontcourt: Baylor
Best Offense: Arkansas
Best Defense: Baylor
Best Bench: Arkansas
Best Scorer: G Bennett Dougherty, Arkansas
Best Passer: G Arthur Freeman, SMU
Best Rebounder: F Paris Patton, Baylor
Best Defender: F Paris Patton, Baylor
Best Sixth Man: G Seth Wessels, Arkansas
Best Professional Prospect: C John Puryear, Baylor
NCAA Teams: Arkansas
NIT Teams: Baylor
Preseason All-Conference Team
G: Eddy Jarrell, Arkansas (Jr)
G: Charlie Garay, SMU (So)
F: Bennett Dougherty, Arkansas (Fr*)
F: Paris Patton, Baylor (Sr)
C: John Puryear, Baylor (Sr)
Synopsis: The Razorbacks are rejuvenated by the arrivals of Jarrell and Dougherty, who should immediately lead this team. Baylor is solid, led by Puryear and Patton, and will give Arkansas fits. But they don't have the guard play, or enough scoring, to take the conference. SMU has Garay and some interesting options, and the Texas Technical School, as well as Texas, will be in the mix. This conference could go five different ways. We just think all roads lead to Arkansas.

West Coast (Conference Rank: )
1) San Francisco 2) Santa Clara 3) Saint Mary's
Sleeper: None
Preseason Player of the Year: G Stephen Ferrari, San Francisco
Preseason Newcomer of the Year: G Warren Tandy, San Francisco
Rising: Santa Clara
Falling: San Jose State
Best Backcourt: San Francisco
Best Frontcourt: Saint Mary's
Best Offense: Santa Clara
Best Defense: San Francisco
Best Bench: San Francisco
Best Scorer: G Stephen Ferrari, San Francisco
Best Passer: G Stephen Ferrari, San Francisco
Best Rebounder: C Perry Wilson, San Francisco
Best Defender: C Perry Wilson, SF/G Vernon West, Santa Clara
Best Sixth Man: G Daniel Petit, Santa Clara
Best Professional Prospect: G Ethan Marino, Saint Mary's
NCAA Teams: San Francisco
NIT Teams: Santa Clara
Preseason All-Conference Team
G: Stephen Ferrari, San Francisco (So)
G: Gus Thorn, Santa Clara (Jr*)
F: Ethan Marino, Saint Mary's (Sr)
F: Octavio Thibault, San Jose State (Sr*)
C: Perry Wilson, San Francisco (Sr)
Synopsis: The Dons should accomplish this year what they failed to do last. Sure, it helps that everyone in the conference took a step back. And sure, it helps that they have the best offensive player (Ferrari) and best defensive player (Wilson) in the conference. But the experience of failing last year has made them hungry. They should have been dominant last year, and knew it, and used that knowledge to underachieve. This year, that will not happen. The Dons will get to the tournament, and may even win a game or two.

Western NY (Conference Rank: )
1) NIagara 2) St. Bonaventure 3) Canisius
Sleeper: n/a
Preseason Player of the Year: G Ben Perez, Niagara
Preseason Newcomer of the Year: C Grady Waters, Canisius
Rising: n/a
Falling: n/a
Best Backcourt: Niagara
Best Frontcourt: St. Bonaventure
Best Offense: Niagara
Best Defense: St. Bonaventure
Best Bench: Niagara
Best Scorer: G Ben Perez, NIagara
Best Passer: G Ben Perez, Niagara
Best Rebounder: F Jonathan Begin, Niagara
Best Defender: G Bruce Stacey, St. Bonaventure
Best Sixth Man: F Larry Lewis, St. Bonaventure
Best Professional Prospect: F Marty Luu, St. Bonaventure
NCAA Teams: Niagara
NIT Teams: None
Preseason All-Conference Team
G: Ben Perez, Niagara (Jr)
G: John Johnson, St. Bonaventure (So)
F: Curt To, Niagara (So)
F: Marty Luu, St. Bonaventure (Sr)
C: Percy Mandel, St. Bonaventure (Jr)
Synopsis: This conference still has three teams.

Yankee (Conference Rank: )
1) Connecticut 2) Vermont 3) Rhode Island
Sleeper: None
Preseason Player of the Year: G Isaias Lollar, Vermont
Preseason Newcomer of the Year: G Isaias Lollar, Vermont
Rising: Rhode Island
Falling: Massachusetts
Best Backcourt: Connecticut
Best Frontcourt: Connecticut
Best Offense: Vermont
Best Defense: Connecticut
Best Bench: Connecticut
Best Scorer: G Isaias Lollar, Vermont
Best Passer: G Elroy Arnold, Connecticut
Best Rebounder: C Johnny Ferrell, Connecticut
Best Defender: C Charlie Burgess, New Hampshire
Best Sixth Man: G Gary Garfield, Connecticut
Best Professional Prospect: G Jim Lee, Rhode Island
NCAA Teams: Connecticut
NIT Teams: Vermont
Preseason All-Conference Team
G: Elroy Arnold, Connecticut (Sr)
G: Jim Lee, Rhode Island (Sr)
F: Isaias Arnold, Vermont (Jr)
F: Charlie Burgess, New Hampshire (Sr)
C: David Boutwell, Maine (Sr)
Synopsis: Not a good conference, probably the worst "full" conference in the country. Connecticut is much more susceptible to losing this conference than a year ago. They still have the guards, but the bigs are weak. Vermont has Lollar, a junior college add-on who is a wizard at scoring, but yawns on defense. Jim Lee was helpless at Rhode Island last year. The Rams may have gotten him more help, which is important. Lee is a special talent in this conference, and fans of it should revel in watching him during his last go-round

Independent
1) Bradley 2) Duquesne 3) Dayton
Sleeper: Idaho State
Preseason Player of the Year: G Antonia Dabney, Bradley
Preseason Newcomer of the Year: G Cam Perry, La Salle
Rising: Notre Dame
Falling: Siena
Best Backcourt: Bradley, St. Joe's, Duquesne
Best Frontcourt: Dayton, Bradley, Notre Dame
Best Offense: Bradley, Syracuse, Duquesne
Best Defense: Bradley, Idaho State, La Salle
Best Bench: Bradley, Dayton, Notre Dame
Best Scorer: G Antonia Dabney, Bradley; F Robert Ventura, Holy Cross; G Tony Rollins, OK City
Best Passer: G Robin Revell, Idaho State; G John Granger, Duquesne; G Andy Cosme, St. Joe's
Best Rebounder: F Chris Gaytan, Pitt; C Brady Poe, Siena; C Nolan Scala, Dayton
Best Defender: G Andrew Moreno, La Salle; C Leon Tibrighien, Notre Dame
Best Sixth Man: G Shaun Quinones, Duquesne
Best Professional Prospect: G Antonia Dabney, Bradley
NCAA Teams: Bradley, Dayton, Duquesne, Holy Cross, La Salle, Notre Dame, Idaho State, Seattle
NIT Teams: St. Joe's, Pittsburgh, Louisville, Oklahoma City, Miami
Preseason All-Conference Team
G: Antonia Dabney, Bradley (Sr)
G: John Garrick, Duquesne (Sr)
F: Robert Ventura, Holy Cross (Sr)
F: Otokar Schultz, Louisville (Sr)
C: Timmy McSwain, La Salle (Jr)
Synopsis: There are too many good teams to really go around. Bradley is a national title favorite. Dayton and Duquesne can be. La Salle is more on the periphery, while Notre Dame should bounce back from a year ago. Idaho State, if they can stay healthy, should register on people's radar this season. Pittsburgh will be good again, but did they schedule well enough? Miami has talent, but are they this year's Pitt?

NCAA Tournament Picks

As with last year, we will make our tournament selections, based off our own bracket projection.

1 Bradley Indiana 1
8 Columbia Murray State 8

5 Holy Cross Mississippi St 5
4 La Salle Duke 4
East South
3 Duquesne North Carolina 3
6 St. John's Iowa 6

7 Niagara Arkansas 7
2 NC State Kentucky 2

1 Kansas State Kansas 1
8 Toledo Arizona 8

5 St. Louis Idaho State 5
4 Washington Oregon State 4
Midwest West
3 Dayton Illinois 3
6 Notre Dame Utah 6

7 Connecticut San Francisco 7
2 West Virginia California 2

East: NC State over La Salle
South: Indiana over Kentucky
Midwest: Kansas State over Dayton
West: Kansas over Illinois

National Semifinals
Kansas State over NC State
Indiana over Kansas

National Championship
Kansas State over Indiana

muns · 07-16-2015, 11:04 AM

The National Basketball Report: December 13, 1954

Quote:

NBR Top Twenty
1. Indiana (8-1, LW 2)
2. West Virginia (11-1, 7)
3. Kansas (8-1, 3)
4. Bradley (7-1, 4)
5. NC State (7-2, 6)
6. Kentucky (6-1, 5)
7. Kansas State (6-2, 1)
8. North Carolina (6-1, 8)
9. Dayton (6-1, 11)
10. Holy Cross (8-0, 14)
11. Washington (7-1, 18)
12. Louisville (7-1, NR)
13. Duquesne (8-2, 10)
14. Iowa (4-0, 20)
15. Mississippi State (5-1, 17)
16. Miami (8-0, NR)
17. San Francisco (8-1, NR)
18. California (4-2, 9)
19. Illinois (3-2, 13)
20. Idaho State (5-1, NR)
Dropped Out: Duke (12), La Salle (15), Oregon State (16), St. Louis (19)

We are about a third of the way through the season for most teams, which makes for kind of an unfair assessment. Do you believe the starts of the teams, whether good or bad? In many cases, whether it be AP #1 Indiana, or 0-8 Bucknell, yes, you do. But what about where the lines are muddled? What about the teams that flew under the radar? What about those who had expectations, only to see their train stall out of the station?

This, readers, is akin to the stock market. Do you buy stock in teams, or are you getting rid of your parcel? This piece looks at a few of those teams, and will help you decide.

Buy: Maryland. The Terrapins own wins over Washington, Columbia, and Villanova. Their losses, to West Virginia and at La Salle, are no reason for concern. The Terrapins have a bonafide star in guard George Dawkins, and talent up and down their lineup. They do need more production out of their frontcourt, but their backcourt stacks up against anybody. They are not on NC State's level, or UNC's, in the Atlantic Coast Conference. But they are a good bet to replace Duke as the conference's third-best team. That would get them into the NCAA Tournament.

Sell: Duke. The Blue Devils are not as good as last year's outfit. Simple as that. They do have quality losses, even though one was a total blowout (Kansas by 39). The Cincinnati loss is debatable. And they own a win against St. Joe's. They have the talent, but could they beat Maryland in the ACC? There is a pessimistic view about that. Scoring seems to be difficult for the Blue Devils, as they are 51st in the country at it. They turn it over a lot (160th) and allow points on the other end quite a bit (117th). There just doesn't seem to be a lot of answers for a team with so many questions right now.

Buy: Seattle. Yes, they are 3-5. Look more closely, though. They lost to Washington, a top-ten team, but five. They lost to Kansas by four, then had to go to Columbia, a quality team, where they lost by one. They lost to Cal and Miami. Fine. Then they crushed Notre Dame, and own a win over Southern Cal. Outside of Kentucky and Oregon State, they don't have a quality game until a trip to Oregon in February. They should be ranked by then. This team, despite their record, has outscored their opponents on average. And freshman forward Jesus Jones should be the talk of the region. They could be this year's Idaho State, but there is too much evidence that illustrates they should turn this around quickly.

Sell: Miami. Their win over NYU, another team you should sell, is their only against a team with a winning record. They get St. Mary's soon, who is a 4-2 pretender, before a date with struggling Duke. The truth here is, while the Hurricanes have talent, their #12 ranking is the most inflated in the country. And this is a team that cannot afford too many losses. They're going to have to beat quality teams like Mississippi State, Duke, Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech to give themselves a shot at the NCAA Tournament. They also have games against Niagara and Syracuse. If they lose more than three games, we're not sure how anyone could consider them a quality NCAA team. They are this year's Pittsburgh.

Buy: Oklahoma A&M. The Cowboys opened with games against Indiana and NC State. The Virginia Tech loss was a fluke. Granted, they cannot afford many losses going forward, but the only games they truly have coming up are Duke, Oklahoma City, and Villanova. They should win all of those games. By the time they get into conference play, they should be one of the hottest teams in the nation.

Sell: Texas. They haven't played anybody, and lost to 2-8 Furman. There is nothing that instills faith, or belief, that Texas is nothing more than a product of the Lone Star media machine. How they are ranked by the Associated Press defies logic. Arkansas is the class of the Southwestern Conference.

Buy: Columbia. They beat Illinois before falling to a hot Maryland team. And they have dusted everyone since, with the exception of a loss to LSU, which is no reason to fret. The Lions are making the most of their national quarterfinal appearance last year, and are showing signs of getting that far again. Their defense is solid, and they keep teams off the glass. They also shoot free throws well (tenth in the country), something not many teams do.

Sell: NYU. They have one reasonable win, in the opener against Oklahoma City. Their losses, to San Francisco and Miami, are fine. But they haven't played anyone, and won't for some time. North Carolina should dust them in a few weeks, as should Connecticut, Villanova, St. Joe's, and Notre Dame. The Violets are a far cry from last year's team, and we still think St. John's is the team to beat in the Metro, despite their 1-4 start.

Buy: Robert Ventura, Holy Cross. He is the nation's leading scorer, at 23.1 points per game, despite averaging less minutes than the two behind him, Kentucky's Murray Dodd, and Kansas' Timofei Malakhov. Ventura also set the NCAA record for points in a game, with 44 in a 96-77 win over a very quality Utah team. His line from the game is amazing. He shot 14-16 from the field, and 16-17 from the line. He is a model of efficient basketball. Although he was already on the national landscape before this, he has arrived as a full-fledged star. He will get a big test against Indiana tomorrow. Even if he doesn't have his best game against the Hoosiers, Ventura, who is six-foot-eight, stands to be the clear top pick in next season's NBA draft.

Sell: Lincoln Brooks, Iowa. The center is playing well, averaging 9.3 points and 5.8 rebounds a game. But he has not made the leap in ability that many thought he would. He is shooting much worse from the field this season, at 46%, down from 52%. Of course, this is a small sample size, just 24 shots. But he has taken some ill-advised shots, including ones from a distance where he looks uncomfortable. It is understandable that the senior wants to set a tone for his team, but that is not his role. Eventually, it may hurt the Hawkeyes.

Recruiting Interview with the National Recruiting Bureau

Recently, we sat down to speak with the fellows at the National Recruiting Bureau, an agency that looks more in-depth at the other season or college basketball, the one of securing players for the future.

Q: What is the biggest story you see in this year's recruiting period?

A: The biggest story that I see occurring is not with recruits at the moment, but what coaches are actually doing. With so many top recruits looking at and declaring that they want to play for Kansas, Kansas State, Indiana, NC State, and Kentucky, who are going to take the gambles by waiting and potentially passing up lower rated recruits within their own backyards, to swoop in on the top talent at the end? Cal nabbed PG-Tony Eyre last year doing it, will other coaches follow suit? If this becomes the norm, how will this affect teams that normally wouldn't be able to get top to mid-level talent? Will they then be able to jump up and steal the players that would normally be looking to go to the teams that are in the holding pattern? This domino affect could have a potential huge ripple on the College Basketball landscape, and I for one cannot wait to watch it play out. As the readers all know, all it takes is one recruit for the hopes and dreams of a school to shift from their debate team, to the squad running the hardwood.

Q: Which schools, not among the ones you listed, stand the best chance of nabbing some of these elite players? What is your initial impression of the class itself?

A: In terms of who might have the best shot at landing the elite players other than those top schools, its hard to tell at the moment. I see a lot of talent coming out of the West, so I would expect one of those schools to be able to be up there. California, Washington and UCLA come to mind. The West has so many teams that its hard to say which one is going to come out on top. I also see a lot of talent in the South East this year. I would expect North Carolina to mop that up and then the other Carolina schools should do well if they play their cards correctly. I wouldn't count out Alabama Poly Tech or Vanderbilt down there either. The class itself is guard heavy. There are only 3 real Elite Forwards/Centers this year in my opinion, and two of them are 7'0. The other is the number 1 recruit in the land in Chris Arenas. 6'7 and 6'8 are on the smaller side to be playing those spots. So while they might have the attributes or skills to play down low, when they go up against taller guys who might have similar attributes and skill sets they are going to lose the battles. Its hard for me to call those smaller type guys elite. I also need to mention that there are 5 foreign guys ranked as a four or five star recruits. Foreign guys don't always understand the lingo coaches throw at them all the time, so they are wildcards. If someone comes at them with a whacky recruiting pitch watch out, they can go any which way the wind blows. If a team such as Arkansas, or Oregon State lands a kid like that, especially, over any of the big boys that will vault them up the recruiting rankings for sure. Keep and eye on 2 guys that have received little interest so far in 6'10 Johannes Adleman and PG- Dez Phillips. Phillips ranked 6th in the nation could be a game changer that surprisingly nobody really has taken a look at. That's where wild card teams can come into play and why its so hard to get a read on what could take place.

Q: Why do you think nobody has looked at Phillips yet? Is there a trend where some kids, even as talented as he, fall through the cracks?

A: I think the reason nobody has really looked at Phillips yet is because he was ranked so high and coaches didn't want to spend more money recruiting him (because he is foreign) only to find he likes the big boy schools. Coaches can spend less money and end up with more bang for their buck by staying home. I don't think this is a trend, and I don't think he will fall through the cracks. Coaches need to just feel comfortable spending money and it seems coaches are still being stingy on what they have.

Q: Which of the so-called elites has the most to lose this year? Which will have the toughest path to a successful recruiting class?

A: The Elite school that clearly has the most to lose this year is Kansas. With Malakhov, Davis & McNair all graduating this year, they need to be able to bring in high level talent to replace them. Kansas has high expectations all the time, and if recruiting doesn't go the way that it should, the basketball power could find itself in an unfamiliar place in a year or 2.

As far as who has the toughest path on the recruiting trail this year, that is hard to answer. I think the Elite schools have their pick of recruits, even if they might battle at first for a few. There are enough top 25 guys to go after for their secondary recruits to keep them all happy. I then think it goes to which region is the toughest and that is clearly the West. With over half of the PCC being mid level prestige schools, and with the addition of San Francisco, Seattle and other smaller schools with more Prestige the West is a total crap shoot. Until somebody emerges as the big dogs out there I don’t see that trend changing anytime soon. They will just continue to battle each other as best they can and hope their school comes out on top of the recruiting pile. So anybody that’s in the West has the toughest challenge recruiting wise this year, and quite possibly the next decade.

Q: So, if you could rank the top three schools in the west, in terms of recruiting power, who are they?

A: I would say the top three schools in the West in terms of recruiting power are California, San Francisco and then Washington. I give the nod to California because they are the big school in the state of California and that’s where most of the big time kids learn towards. Why look elsewhere when they play in one of the hardest conferences in the nation and your family can see just about every game they want to? It also doesn’t hurt that they have been the most successful in the PCC since the inception of college basketball. San Francisco would be second even though they play in a lower rated West Coast conference. They run the WCC and have a shot at making tournaments because they all they do is win as well. They would be the 2nd school in the State that the top kids look at. Washington would then come in third. Washington’s reach will only continue to grow with runs like they had last year, but they come in third simply because there are other 2 schools in Cali that kids look to that are comparable to them at the moment. If we are being honest, the distance from California hurts. Why a state away go when you can go right down the road and your family can watch all the home games and away games in the state? How this potentially changes in the next few years will be interesting. Will San Francisco over take California? Will another PCC school rise up and replace California? Will Washington be able to go farther than anybody tournament time and be the favorite school of choice? The West is hard to tell and the recruiting battles to come should be a lot of fun to watch.

Q: Do you think San Francisco can, or will, overtake Cal?

A: I do not think they will. However, if anybody is going to do it now, they would be the team that I would say would have the best chance. With the other PCC teams scratching for any type of berth in any tournament they can get to, San Fran should be able to soar to the National Tourney year in and year out which should then give them more exposure to the recruits. They would be able to look at a kid and say would you rather play in the PCC or would your rather play in the National tourney each year with a shot at a title. You can easily see where they could go. I think Rob Roberson over at Cal has enough at his disposal to prevent that from happening, but time will tell on that one.

Q: Is there any player you think schools will regret not recruiting, when it is all said and done?

A: I think everybody here is looking for a top recruit to be the answer. Yes, there are a few top recruits that might show up on this list that seem to be getting passed over by everybody. The first one would be the #12 recruit Charles Pugsley who’s only offer comes from Pacific. Yes, Pacific. Honestly, even if his ratings are graded out terrible for some coaches, he is rated 12th for a reason right? There is no way the 12th rated recruit should end up at Pacific, but hey time will tell on that one.

The real guy that I want to talk about is the 170th rated recruit Andrej Sedlacek. Andrej is a 6’7 Shooting guard with average stats. However, at 6’7 I think every team that has passed up on him has made huge mistake. St. Joeseph’s is the team that looks to have him wrapped up and boy do we think he is going to be a gem. With his long frame he should be able to play both the SF and the SG spots obviously, however if he grades out and has any athletic ability at all, he has a chance to be a huge match up problem. He should be able to get in the lane and shot over people, bowl over people, and has the length to help jump over people. Don’t get me started on the problems he could create on the defensive end. 6’7 will shut down a lot of the guys rated a lot higher than he is. We are very much looking forward to seeing how he comes in rated as that is the recruit we have targeted as being the guy that everyone should have had and didn’t.

The NCAA Tournament Projection

1 Bradley West Virginia 1
8 Connecticut W. Kentucky 8

5 St. Joe's Miami 5
4 Duquesne Iowa 4
East South
3 North Carolina Louisville 3
6 Illinois Arkansas 6

7 Niagara Marshall 7
2 NC State Kentucky 2

1 Indiana Kansas 1
8 Columbia Arizona 8

5 California San Francisco 5
4 Oklahoma A&M Mississippi St 4
Midwest West
3 Dayton Holy Cross 3
6 Oregon Idaho State 6

7 NYU Utah 7
2 Kansas State Washington 2

muns · 07-16-2015, 11:15 AM

So that should catch up us on current events. In case anybody was wondering. None of the human teams won the NCAA or NIT tourneys last year. Kansas beat Duquesne for the first title.

Bug- Had a hell of a run with Columbia last year which I needed to note. Ended up losing in the elite 8. Not bad for an Ivy group team. They once again seem to be going in the same direction this year at 10-3

Vince- Also had a nice run with Stanford which I wouldn't have guessed. They made the NCAA going 19-12. They look to be right on the same path this year at 6-3.

Both were real nice stories last season

muns · 07-16-2015, 11:21 AM

On the recruiting front, the recruits this year are being stubborn. Not a ton of signings like we would be hoping.

I have 3 schollys to give out this year. I started on 3, then switched two. I wasn't feeling comfortable on where we were headed and I couldn't drag out a recruiting battle on big guys, only to have them sign with someone else leaving me in the lurch. That simply cant happen, as I need big men in a bad bad way.

We did end up signing one which I am excited about. Meet the newest member of the Trojan class.

Code:

RECRUIT DETAILS

 #14 C Dante Douglas
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Height:       6-10
 Weight:       227
 High School:  Coolidge High School
 Hometown:     Coolidge, AZ
 GPA:          2.57
 Test Score:   990
 Rating:       ****
 
 Attributes:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Type       INS JPS FTS 3PS HND PAS ORB DRB PSD PRD STL BLK QKN STR JMP STA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Current:    12   3   7   3   9   4  13   7   7   4  10  12   6  14   8  12
 Potential:   C   C   A   F   C   C   A   B   C   F   C   C                
 
 Season Stats:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  PTS OREB  REB  AST  TOS   A/T  STL  BLK  PFS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 16.0  3.4  7.7  0.9  1.7  0.55  0.9  2.5  3.3

 Shooting Averages:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  FGM  FGA   FG%  FTM  FTA   FT%  3PM  3PA   3P%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  6.1 10.4  .589  3.8  5.5  .697  0.0  0.2  .000
 
 Recruiting Notes:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Qualified: Yes
 Committed to Southern California                                               
 Rankings: #53 Overall, #11 C, West Region #12 Overall, West Region #2 C
 High School Awards: All-State, Mr. Basketball (Arizona), All American
 Top 5 Schools: *Southern California, UCLA

I am pretty excited about Dante. Another All-American (our 3rd total so far in our first 2 seasons) and at 6'10 he will help with our forward issue, and also are height issue. I would love to be able to redshirt him, but I don't see that being able to happen. I cant do another year of 2 forwards on the roster. i also like the fact that he can rebound on the offensive side. In a year I think we are going to be a hell of an offensive rebounding team, which should really aid us.

I lead on my other 2 guys, but decided not to post them until they are signed. Not trying to screw or jinx myself

Young Drachma · 07-16-2015, 05:45 PM

Neat stuff!

Vince, Pt. II · 07-17-2015, 02:05 PM

Some looks at Stanford and Dartmouth from the NCAA 53 league I recently posted:

Stanford
6-6, 49 Prestige

12 games into the season, Sophomore C Andreas Fontes has been a bit of a disappointment - for a guy who was projected to go in the 2nd round of the draft before the season started, his 7.5 points per game are much lower than we anticipated from the 7'0" 270 pound bruiser. He is averaging over 7 rebounds per contest, which is good, but we were hoping his inside presence on offense would open things up for Granados and Winner at mid range and from the outside. Speaking of, Senior SG Aldo Granados has been everything we hoped he would be. Leading the team and the PCC in points per game at 17.5 (and 13th in the nation), he also gives us 5.7 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.7 steals per game, filling the stat sheet nicely. Junior PG Mark Bingham has been an excellent distributor as well, leading the PCC in assists (6th in the nation) and contributing a solid 8.9 points per game as our third leading scorer. Unfortunately, despite our prodigious talent on the front lines, our depth is practically nonexistent. Walk-on Major Clarke (who is somehow listed as a PG despite being 7 feet tall...I find this humorous) is getting more minutes than some more established players like Mariano Falcone, who is such a liability on the defensive end that he hasn't seen fit to get on the floor at all this season (which is weird because he's actually #8 on my depth chart...several people below him are logging more minutes than him). Looking at individual stats and team stats, it's hard to be too disappointed with the team. We're +5.0 in point differential, and our players seem to be playing well - outside of the fact that there are only a handful of teams in the nation who foul more than we do. Unfortunately, we're 6-6 and have losses to such standout teams as Tennessee (6-5, 42 Prestige), Santa Clara (5-7, 45 Prestige), Wyoming (3-8, 44 Prestige) and San Jose State (6-5, 37 Prestige). Not only that - every single one of those losses was at home. This team has talent, but I'm afraid we already have too many borderline losses to hope for a repeat NCAA tournament appearance unless we have a miraculous conference run...and in the PCC, that's a very tall order.

Recruiting has been...interesting. We found that the #100 recruit in the nation liked us off the bat and we jumped on him. PG Chris Mohler was All-State in Arizona, and he looks to be a fantastic defender with a great shot, a decent handle, and very little ability to create his own shot. The major drawback? He's 5'8". Our scouts grade him out as quite athletic (18 Quickness, 14 Jump), but it remains to be seen if his height will preclude his apparent talent. We've also already netted the #133 recruit, SF Stan Dyer out of Australia. Our scouts peg him as a terrific rebounder with a fantastic outside shot and the potential to grow into a plus defender. I should probably point out at this point that our scouts are completely awful. With one scholarship left, we are pretty much scrambling at this point. We tried to aim high and went after the #33 recruit in the nation early on - PG Elroy Stamper. Despite the fact that he was the #7 PG and that four different PG's rated higher than him had Kansas State as their #1 on their list early on...Kansas State picked him as well. And we can't compete with that. So since the second or third month of recruiting, we've been bouncing this offer from recruit to recruit, not having much success at all anywhere we went. And in the west, this is the sort of thing I have to deal with (thanks to dawgfan for compiling the list):

Team (Overall Ranking of Committed Recruits Thus Far)
---
San Francisco (#11, #49, #99)
Oregon State (#14, #69)
Cal (#15, #21, #63)
USC (#29, #53, #92)
Colorado (#31, #37, #51)
Washington (#41, #44)
UCLA (#73, #86)
Stanford (#100)

I guess the moral of the story is to aim higher? But I'm already aiming way higher than I did last season, and it's been...difficult.

---

Dartmouth
4-7, 33 Prestige

Strangely enough, Dartmouth is one of the few teams in the nation that fouls more than Stanford does. Freshman SF Sonny Freeman has been wonderful, with 17.2 points per game to go with 6.5 rebounds...but he's averaging literally over 4 fouls per game. He has fouled out of 4 of our 11 games, and has had less than 4 fouls in only one of them. I'd imagine it's his lack of defensive skill combined with his high rebounding numbers and good raw talent scores. I'm not really sure what I can do about that, but I wish there was something. Fellow front court freshman Charles Smith has been pretty fantastic as well, with 12.7 points and 6.6 rebounds per contest. He's a little foul happy as well, though not quite on Freeman's level (3.2 per game). Tony Buford and David Bratcher have been slightly disappointing - I was hoping Bratcher could be a sort of Mark Bingham light for Dartmouth, but he's turning the ball over much more than his Handling stat would seem to indicate, and he's similarly disappointing on the assist front despite a halfway decent passing score. Buford has been our 6th man, and while he hasn't been completely disappointing, I was hoping for a little better defensive effort from him.

On the recruiting front, we've already sewn up the #134 (C David Omara), #201 (SF Christopher Morehead) and #204 (SG David McMullin) recruits and we have one scholarship outstanding at this point. Sure enough, our scouts like the #204 guy best at this point and absolutely hate Omara despite his much higher recruit ranking. I'm actually disappointed in him a little as well, because I failed to realize that he's only 6'7" - and after our C recruit from last year (6'9" Charles Smith who is our starting PF this year)...that leaves us with very little size moving forward. When you consider that our only players over 6'9" are graduating this season...I wonder how well small ball is going to play in the Ivy, especially without a three point line...and I also wonder how I'm going to find playing time for three solid PF's in Smith, Dutries (another recruit from last year who is redshirting this year) and now Omara. I guess that's a good problem to have...

muns · 07-17-2015, 06:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

Some looks at Stanford and Dartmouth from the NCAA 53 league I recently posted:

Stanford
6-6, 49 Prestige

12 games into the season, Sophomore C Andreas Fontes has been a bit of a disappointment - for a guy who was projected to go in the 2nd round of the draft before the season started, his 7.5 points per game are much lower than we anticipated from the 7'0" 270 pound bruiser. He is averaging over 7 rebounds per contest, which is good, but we were hoping his inside presence on offense would open things up for Granados and Winner at mid range and from the outside. Speaking of, Senior SG Aldo Granados has been everything we hoped he would be. Leading the team and the PCC in points per game at 17.5 (and 13th in the nation), he also gives us 5.7 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.7 steals per game, filling the stat sheet nicely. Junior PG Mark Bingham has been an excellent distributor as well, leading the PCC in assists (6th in the nation) and contributing a solid 8.9 points per game as our third leading scorer. Unfortunately, despite our prodigious talent on the front lines, our depth is practically nonexistent. Walk-on Major Clarke (who is somehow listed as a PG despite being 7 feet tall...I find this humorous) is getting more minutes than some more established players like Mariano Falcone, who is such a liability on the defensive end that he hasn't seen fit to get on the floor at all this season (which is weird because he's actually #8 on my depth chart...several people below him are logging more minutes than him). Looking at individual stats and team stats, it's hard to be too disappointed with the team. We're +5.0 in point differential, and our players seem to be playing well - outside of the fact that there are only a handful of teams in the nation who foul more than we do. Unfortunately, we're 6-6 and have losses to such standout teams as Tennessee (6-5, 42 Prestige), Santa Clara (5-7, 45 Prestige), Wyoming (3-8, 44 Prestige) and San Jose State (6-5, 37 Prestige). Not only that - every single one of those losses was at home. This team has talent, but I'm afraid we already have too many borderline losses to hope for a repeat NCAA tournament appearance unless we have a miraculous conference run...and in the PCC, that's a very tall order.

Recruiting has been...interesting. We found that the #100 recruit in the nation liked us off the bat and we jumped on him. PG Chris Mohler was All-State in Arizona, and he looks to be a fantastic defender with a great shot, a decent handle, and very little ability to create his own shot. The major drawback? He's 5'8". Our scouts grade him out as quite athletic (18 Quickness, 14 Jump), but it remains to be seen if his height will preclude his apparent talent. We've also already netted the #133 recruit, SF Stan Dyer out of Australia. Our scouts peg him as a terrific rebounder with a fantastic outside shot and the potential to grow into a plus defender. I should probably point out at this point that our scouts are completely awful. With one scholarship left, we are pretty much scrambling at this point. We tried to aim high and went after the #33 recruit in the nation early on - PG Elroy Stamper. Despite the fact that he was the #7 PG and that four different PG's rated higher than him had Kansas State as their #1 on their list early on...Kansas State picked him as well. And we can't compete with that. So since the second or third month of recruiting, we've been bouncing this offer from recruit to recruit, not having much success at all anywhere we went. And in the west, this is the sort of thing I have to deal with (thanks to dawgfan for compiling the list):

Team (Overall Ranking of Committed Recruits Thus Far)
---
San Francisco (#11, #49, #99)
Oregon State (#14, #69)
Cal (#15, #21, #63)
USC (#29, #53, #92)
Colorado (#31, #37, #51)
Washington (#41, #44)
UCLA (#73, #86)
Stanford (#100)

I guess the moral of the story is to aim higher? But I'm already aiming way higher than I did last season, and it's been...difficult.

---

Dartmouth
4-7, 33 Prestige

Strangely enough, Dartmouth is one of the few teams in the nation that fouls more than Stanford does. Freshman SF Sonny Freeman has been wonderful, with 17.2 points per game to go with 6.5 rebounds...but he's averaging literally over 4 fouls per game. He has fouled out of 4 of our 11 games, and has had less than 4 fouls in only one of them. I'd imagine it's his lack of defensive skill combined with his high rebounding numbers and good raw talent scores. I'm not really sure what I can do about that, but I wish there was something. Fellow front court freshman Charles Smith has been pretty fantastic as well, with 12.7 points and 6.6 rebounds per contest. He's a little foul happy as well, though not quite on Freeman's level (3.2 per game). Tony Buford and David Bratcher have been slightly disappointing - I was hoping Bratcher could be a sort of Mark Bingham light for Dartmouth, but he's turning the ball over much more than his Handling stat would seem to indicate, and he's similarly disappointing on the assist front despite a halfway decent passing score. Buford has been our 6th man, and while he hasn't been completely disappointing, I was hoping for a little better defensive effort from him.

On the recruiting front, we've already sewn up the #134 (C David Omara), #201 (SF Christopher Morehead) and #204 (SG David McMullin) recruits and we have one scholarship outstanding at this point. Sure enough, our scouts like the #204 guy best at this point and absolutely hate Omara despite his much higher recruit ranking. I'm actually disappointed in him a little as well, because I failed to realize that he's only 6'7" - and after our C recruit from last year (6'9" Charles Smith who is our starting PF this year)...that leaves us with very little size moving forward. When you consider that our only players over 6'9" are graduating this season...I wonder how well small ball is going to play in the Ivy, especially without a three point line...and I also wonder how I'm going to find playing time for three solid PF's in Smith, Dutries (another recruit from last year who is redshirting this year) and now Omara. I guess that's a good problem to have...

Nice read Vince. Feel free to post more or chime in whenever you want here. It was a nice break from my crappy writing style

muns · 07-17-2015, 06:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Young Drachma

Neat stuff!

Thanks Ron

muns · 07-17-2015, 07:04 PM

So yesterday's sim had some good news bad news in it.

The bad news.....

We go 0-2 which drops us to an even 6-6 on the year. The Arizona loss was brutal. They whopped up on us to the tune of 65-38. Once again (it has been a reoccurring theme to the year) the way to take us apart is to get our 2 big men in foul trouble. In that game both ended the game with 4 fouls a piece and Center David Clausen only played 17 mins. He averages 33.

Our 2nd loss was to Idaho State who is ranked 21st in the country right now. We played a good game with the exception of putting the ball in the hoop. We basically led in every category except field goals. We shot 38% to their 55%. If we shot normally i'm confident we would have beaten a 2nd top 25 team this year. But should of doesn't count here, and nobody cares.

I am going to make a lineup change for Sunday's sim. Senior Everett Bartholomew has played himself right out of the lineup for me. He has played terrible this year, and if he is going to shoot 31% and end up with a plus/minus rating of -2.33, that's enough to get me to play one of my freshman. The jackass.

Freshman Alan Storer and Freddie Nation will get a bump in mins and split Bartholomew's 18 mins a game.

muns · 07-17-2015, 07:22 PM

The GOOD NEWS.

We signed our last 2 remaining recruits.

RECRUIT DETAILS

Code:

 #3 PF Michael Fanning
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Height:       6-9
 Weight:       202
 High School:  Atascadero High School
 Hometown:     Atascadero, CA
 GPA:          2.64
 Test Score:   1060
 Rating:       ****
 
 Attributes:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Type       INS JPS FTS 3PS HND PAS ORB DRB PSD PRD STL BLK QKN STR JMP STA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Current:     8  11  15   0   9   2  16   4  10   7   8  10   9  15   8   8
 Potential:   D   C   B   F   B   F   A   A   C   D   B   C                
 
 Season Stats:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  PTS OREB  REB  AST  TOS   A/T  STL  BLK  PFS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 17.7  4.0 11.0  1.0  2.4  0.43  2.3  1.5  2.8

 Shooting Averages:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  FGM  FGA   FG%  FTM  FTA   FT%  3PM  3PA   3P%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  7.6 12.8  .596  2.5  4.3  .588  0.0  0.0  .000
 
 Recruiting Notes:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Qualified: Yes
 Committed to Southern California                                               
 Rankings: #92 Overall, #16 PF, West Region #17 Overall, West Region #2 PF
 High School Awards: None
 Top 5 Schools: *Southern California, California, UCLA, Saint Mary's, Kansas State

Michael will team nicely with Dante and should give us depth next year. As I have already hammered home, having 2 post players on the roster sucks, and next year we will have 4. I can work with that. The other beautiful thing about Michael is his 16 rating on the offensive boards. Dante has 13. On the current roster David Clausen has 18 and JC Quiles has 16. All 4 big men should have A's on potential there and should help us get more possessions in the PCC.

Our 2nd signing is

Code:

RECRUIT DETAILS

 #54 SG Edmund Nelson
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Height:       6-3
 Weight:       192
 High School:  Redlands Senior High School
 Hometown:     Redlands, CA
 GPA:          2.38
 Test Score:   1040
 Rating:       ****
 
 Attributes:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Type       INS JPS FTS 3PS HND PAS ORB DRB PSD PRD STL BLK QKN STR JMP STA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Current:    12   9  14  11   7   4   9   8   8   6   8   0  17  11  17  15
 Potential:   A   C   B   B   D   F   B   C   D   C   D   F                
 
 Season Stats:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  PTS OREB  REB  AST  TOS   A/T  STL  BLK  PFS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 23.1  2.8  6.2  3.1  3.4  0.93  0.7  0.1  4.2

 Shooting Averages:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  FGM  FGA   FG%  FTM  FTA   FT%  3PM  3PA   3P%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  9.9 18.6  .531  2.5  4.8  .526  0.9  3.1  .295
 
 Recruiting Notes:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Qualified: Yes
 Committed to Southern California                                               
 Rankings: #29 Overall, #8 SG, West Region #8 Overall, West Region #2 SG
 High School Awards: None
 Top 5 Schools: *Southern California, California, North Carolina State, Duquesne

Edmund is another taller guard and he has some athletic prowless to him. He will red-shirt, as I have enough guards for next year, but being ranked 29th, and having the attributes grade out they way they did, I had to make room for him.

It feels good being done recruiting wise, but 2 decent classes wont get it done in the PCC.

Cal has a real nice coming in this year, UCLA should fix its scoring issues with the class they have wrapped up, Washington is steady as they come and the rest of the PCC has some good coming in as well.

I still say Washington State is going to play giant killer here in a season or 2. I love JUCO Don Russel they pulled in. This conference is just crazy. The lower prestige teams are pulling in guys that can play. They might not have the rankings that Vince and Dawgfan pointed out earlier in this thread, but don't let that fool you. I cannot wait to see the landscape when every single guy on the roster was recruited by us.

That's when the real fun will start

murrayyyyy · 07-17-2015, 09:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by muns

It feels good being done recruiting wise, but 2 decent classes wont get it done in the PCC.

Cal has a real nice coming in this year, UCLA should fix its scoring issues with the class they have wrapped up, Washington is steady as they come and the rest of the PCC has some good coming in as well.

I still say Washington State is going to play giant killer here in a season or 2. I love JUCO Don Russel they pulled in. This conference is just crazy. The lower prestige teams are pulling in guys that can play. They might not have the rankings that Vince and Dawgfan pointed out earlier in this thread, but don't let that fool you. I cannot wait to see the landscape when every single guy on the roster was recruited by us.

That's when the real fun will start

Enjoy it while you can because in 4.5 seasons... four of us are out of here!

Brian Swartz · 07-17-2015, 10:00 PM

That's nothing -- Tulane can't wait to get out of the SEC and that won't happen for 12 years

murrayyyyy · 07-17-2015, 10:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

That's nothing -- Tulane can't wait to get out of the SEC and that won't happen for 12 years

I get 1 season of not having to schedule 30 non conference games before Oregon St. bolts. I really don't enjoy filling out the schedule for St. Joseph's every year. I think I ran out of east coast teams this year trying to do it. I don't want to imagine doing it on the west coast (Unless I schedule every Big5/AAWU team.

muns · 07-18-2015, 08:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by murrayyyyy

Enjoy it while you can because in 4.5 seasons... four of us are out of here!

Uggggg I keep forgetting about that. That is actually going to really hurt the rest of us staying behind in the conference budget wise. I will be interested to see if it hurts you guys leaving budget wise as well. I am of course assuming that both you and Oregon will be contenders with the rest of us and the strength of the PCC will take a massive hit. Heck Idaho if they haven't been rebuilt yet will take a massive hit.

I am not looking forward to that at all. How many years to you guys come back? Is it like 10ish, and then the big 5 conf schedule, do we all just play each other twice and the rest are OOC games?

muns · 07-18-2015, 08:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

That's nothing -- Tulane can't wait to get out of the SEC and that won't happen for 12 years

I don't know Brian. If you keep pulling classes like you did last year with Tulane, you aren't going to be very far off from being at the top of the SEC and changing the college landscape from the beginning.

muns · 07-18-2015, 08:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by murrayyyyy

I get 1 season of not having to schedule 30 non conference games before Oregon St. bolts. I really don't enjoy filling out the schedule for St. Joseph's every year. I think I ran out of east coast teams this year trying to do it. I don't want to imagine doing it on the west coast (Unless I schedule every Big5/AAWU team.

One of the things on the list is to ask for is a way to try to figure out how to get the AI to pick games for you. I believe DDCB has this, but trying to keep the products without having the same kind of things is always a fun challenge

murrayyyyy · 07-18-2015, 12:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by muns

Uggggg I keep forgetting about that. That is actually going to really hurt the rest of us staying behind in the conference budget wise. I will be interested to see if it hurts you guys leaving budget wise as well. I am of course assuming that both you and Oregon will be contenders with the rest of us and the strength of the PCC will take a massive hit. Heck Idaho if they haven't been rebuilt yet will take a massive hit.

I am not looking forward to that at all. How many years to you guys come back? Is it like 10ish, and then the big 5 conf schedule, do we all just play each other twice and the rest are OOC games?

Not bad as Oregon St leaves for 5 years. I think you guys will be okay prestige wise as it's 5 good teams staying and no door mats.

Oregon State Beavers Index | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com

07-16-2015, 11:15 AM	#36
muns Pro Starter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Baltimore MD	So that should catch up us on current events. In case anybody was wondering. None of the human teams won the NCAA or NIT tourneys last year. Kansas beat Duquesne for the first title. Bug- Had a hell of a run with Columbia last year which I needed to note. Ended up losing in the elite 8. Not bad for an Ivy group team. They once again seem to be going in the same direction this year at 10-3 Vince- Also had a nice run with Stanford which I wouldn't have guessed. They made the NCAA going 19-12. They look to be right on the same path this year at 6-3. Both were real nice stories last season Last edited by muns : 07-16-2015 at 11:16 AM.

07-16-2015, 05:45 PM	#38
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	Neat stuff! __________________ Current dynasty: OOTP25 Blitz: RTS meets Moneyball \| OOTP Mod: GM Excel Competitive Balance Tax/Revenue Sharing Calc \| FBCB Mods on Github

07-17-2015, 02:05 PM	#39
Vince, Pt. II Pro Starter Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Somewhere More Familiar	Some looks at Stanford and Dartmouth from the NCAA 53 league I recently posted: Stanford 6-6, 49 Prestige 12 games into the season, Sophomore C Andreas Fontes has been a bit of a disappointment - for a guy who was projected to go in the 2nd round of the draft before the season started, his 7.5 points per game are much lower than we anticipated from the 7'0" 270 pound bruiser. He is averaging over 7 rebounds per contest, which is good, but we were hoping his inside presence on offense would open things up for Granados and Winner at mid range and from the outside. Speaking of, Senior SG Aldo Granados has been everything we hoped he would be. Leading the team and the PCC in points per game at 17.5 (and 13th in the nation), he also gives us 5.7 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.7 steals per game, filling the stat sheet nicely. Junior PG Mark Bingham has been an excellent distributor as well, leading the PCC in assists (6th in the nation) and contributing a solid 8.9 points per game as our third leading scorer. Unfortunately, despite our prodigious talent on the front lines, our depth is practically nonexistent. Walk-on Major Clarke (who is somehow listed as a PG despite being 7 feet tall...I find this humorous) is getting more minutes than some more established players like Mariano Falcone, who is such a liability on the defensive end that he hasn't seen fit to get on the floor at all this season (which is weird because he's actually #8 on my depth chart...several people below him are logging more minutes than him). Looking at individual stats and team stats, it's hard to be too disappointed with the team. We're +5.0 in point differential, and our players seem to be playing well - outside of the fact that there are only a handful of teams in the nation who foul more than we do. Unfortunately, we're 6-6 and have losses to such standout teams as Tennessee (6-5, 42 Prestige), Santa Clara (5-7, 45 Prestige), Wyoming (3-8, 44 Prestige) and San Jose State (6-5, 37 Prestige). Not only that - every single one of those losses was at home. This team has talent, but I'm afraid we already have too many borderline losses to hope for a repeat NCAA tournament appearance unless we have a miraculous conference run...and in the PCC, that's a very tall order. Recruiting has been...interesting. We found that the #100 recruit in the nation liked us off the bat and we jumped on him. PG Chris Mohler was All-State in Arizona, and he looks to be a fantastic defender with a great shot, a decent handle, and very little ability to create his own shot. The major drawback? He's 5'8". Our scouts grade him out as quite athletic (18 Quickness, 14 Jump), but it remains to be seen if his height will preclude his apparent talent. We've also already netted the #133 recruit, SF Stan Dyer out of Australia. Our scouts peg him as a terrific rebounder with a fantastic outside shot and the potential to grow into a plus defender. I should probably point out at this point that our scouts are completely awful. With one scholarship left, we are pretty much scrambling at this point. We tried to aim high and went after the #33 recruit in the nation early on - PG Elroy Stamper. Despite the fact that he was the #7 PG and that four different PG's rated higher than him had Kansas State as their #1 on their list early on...Kansas State picked him as well. And we can't compete with that. So since the second or third month of recruiting, we've been bouncing this offer from recruit to recruit, not having much success at all anywhere we went. And in the west, this is the sort of thing I have to deal with (thanks to dawgfan for compiling the list): Team (Overall Ranking of Committed Recruits Thus Far) --- San Francisco (#11, #49, #99) Oregon State (#14, #69) Cal (#15, #21, #63) USC (#29, #53, #92) Colorado (#31, #37, #51) Washington (#41, #44) UCLA (#73, #86) Stanford (#100) I guess the moral of the story is to aim higher? But I'm already aiming way higher than I did last season, and it's been...difficult. --- Dartmouth 4-7, 33 Prestige Strangely enough, Dartmouth is one of the few teams in the nation that fouls more than Stanford does. Freshman SF Sonny Freeman has been wonderful, with 17.2 points per game to go with 6.5 rebounds...but he's averaging literally over 4 fouls per game. He has fouled out of 4 of our 11 games, and has had less than 4 fouls in only one of them. I'd imagine it's his lack of defensive skill combined with his high rebounding numbers and good raw talent scores. I'm not really sure what I can do about that, but I wish there was something. Fellow front court freshman Charles Smith has been pretty fantastic as well, with 12.7 points and 6.6 rebounds per contest. He's a little foul happy as well, though not quite on Freeman's level (3.2 per game). Tony Buford and David Bratcher have been slightly disappointing - I was hoping Bratcher could be a sort of Mark Bingham light for Dartmouth, but he's turning the ball over much more than his Handling stat would seem to indicate, and he's similarly disappointing on the assist front despite a halfway decent passing score. Buford has been our 6th man, and while he hasn't been completely disappointing, I was hoping for a little better defensive effort from him. On the recruiting front, we've already sewn up the #134 (C David Omara), #201 (SF Christopher Morehead) and #204 (SG David McMullin) recruits and we have one scholarship outstanding at this point. Sure enough, our scouts like the #204 guy best at this point and absolutely hate Omara despite his much higher recruit ranking. I'm actually disappointed in him a little as well, because I failed to realize that he's only 6'7" - and after our C recruit from last year (6'9" Charles Smith who is our starting PF this year)...that leaves us with very little size moving forward. When you consider that our only players over 6'9" are graduating this season...I wonder how well small ball is going to play in the Ivy, especially without a three point line...and I also wonder how I'm going to find playing time for three solid PF's in Smith, Dutries (another recruit from last year who is redshirting this year) and now Omara. I guess that's a good problem to have... Last edited by Vince, Pt. II : 07-17-2015 at 02:08 PM.

05-08-2015, 03:14 PM	#2
muns Pro Starter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Baltimore MD	The FOFC’ERS that have teams are: murrayyyyy – Arkansas, radii - North Carolina State, Idaho, Houston britrock88 - North Carolina, Oregon, Yale muns - Southern California vince - Stanford, Dartmouth dawgfan - Washington groundhog - UCLA balldog - Mercy College of Detroit zinto - Saint Louis Izulde - Wyoming Comey - Notre Dame, Uconn, Penn Bryan Swartz- Michigan,Harvard, Tulane Mr.Bug- Indiana, Columbia Korme- Cincinnatti Old Giants- Rutgers Sportsfanmas- Municipal University of Wichita I might be forgetting a few guys here, and if I did someone let me know. I know I am missing some 2nd and 3rd teams and ill update that as I do some more research. So the 2 things that we all have learned so far are: 1. We learned that with a smaller league the recruiting pool was smaller. We all had to adjust for what we were used to playing in single player which was weird to see. 2. We learned that we all were pretty conservative on who we went after recruiting wise. For perspective, the number 2 recruit Normand Herbert has no offers yet and it’s way too late in the recruiting game to just switch now. What I learned: 1. Saving money on coaches to help you scout all of California doesn’t help when you have less recruits. First DOAHHH mistake. 2. I also forgot that academics were turned off, so I didn’t scout guys that could potentially become eligible. 2nd dumb DOAHHH mistake. 3. Recruiting in the PCC was going to be as rough as they come. With Vince II at Stanford, with Dawgfan at Washington, with Groundhog at UCLA, with Radi at Idaho, with Britrock88 at Oregon its just a hell of a group that knows how to play the game and recruit. Clearly, I am going to have my hands full at USC. Last edited by muns : 05-09-2015 at 10:44 AM.

05-09-2015, 12:22 AM	#3
Brian Swartz Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2006	Excellent! I have Michigan and don't give a rats behind if you put that in the post, three teams to destroy :P.

05-09-2015, 03:57 PM	#5
muns Pro Starter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Baltimore MD	Recruiting didn’t staff off the way I hoped. Not a lot of interest in USC, as other more prestigious teams are within the PCC. I knew I was going to be behind the 8 ball, but didn’t realize it would start off the way it did. Part of that problem was the lower of number of teams within our universe, there wasn’t as many kids to recruit from within the universe. That meant the hot bed in Cali was down more than usual and the hidden gems that I was counting on being able to find with the extra money that I didn’t spend on my coaching staff wasn’t going to happen. My Recruiting budget was 29K which if you know anything about FBCB is a decent amount of change. My Prestige at USC is 51 and that is good for 4th out of the 9 teams within the PCC. UCLA and California were both better than I am Prestige wise, and that’s not good for in state recruiting. I had 4 offers to hand out this year and I tried to identify the lower ranked guys within the state of California. Ya know just to be on the safe side due to where I fall within the structure of the PCC. I did target a few of the top tier guys just to see if I would like their ratings and if I might have a shot. The first thing I needed to do was identify some post recruits. Post players are golden in FBCB because they do not get generated in numbers as other positions. This is doubly important in this league because as I mentioned earlier there are less recruits being generated. Now I am playing catch up here since I decided to start this a bit late and we are further ahead in the game than my first few posts, but ill eventually pick it up. The first Target that I really wanted was C- Derek Busby. An All-American who could flat out play. He looked to be able to do it all on the offensive side of the ball and he projected to be a major rebounder. He wasn’t all that great playing D, but he was average and I would be able to live with that. However as you can see, look who I ran into right away. The 2 big boys that I have already previously mentioned. I had to drop off him right away as there was no way I was going to be able to compete with California and UCLA. Time to sink that money into someone else. The 2nd target C- Robert Coli. He was undersized at 6’8, but he was a load at 246. He strength was there and I figure with him being ranked 181st in the nation I might have a shot. Wrong again. Stanford had the lead from the very beginning and as you can tell, signed on the dotted line last sim. He wasn’t the typical big man that I would go after, however, he is going to be a force on the defensive side of the boards, and he was average on just about everything else. He wouldn’t have hurt me. But it wasn’t meant to be, and another team in the conf gets a kid that I would have liked to have had. Ok so third target big man wise, and if you are anything like me you are thinking, 3rd time is the charm. One of these big guys has to pan out for us right? Sigh, sadly once again, it just didn’t happen. C-Hal Myers who is 6’10 would have been a nice fit for us. Tall, could board, has the strength and could play some nice post D. However, I was nervous about going into Utah, especially when a Utah school offered him right away and didn’t look back. While we had the same Prestige as Utah State, and play in a better conf, I couldn’t justify going hard and potentially wasting money. So after the first 2 recruiting sims I’m in a full blown panic. I don’t have a lot of good young post players so I need to be able to snag at least one. Recruiting for the post was not good at the beginning and finding a solution was not going to be easy. Last edited by muns : 05-09-2015 at 04:48 PM.

05-09-2015, 04:32 PM	#6
Vince, Pt. II Pro Starter Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Somewhere More Familiar	I was thinking about doing something like this as well. Maybe I'll just chime in here occasionally I had my eyes on Coil from the get go. Thought I may have been aiming too high, but as you noted it looks like we were all a little conservative.

05-09-2015, 04:45 PM	#7
muns Pro Starter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Baltimore MD	So as I was not happy about how the bigs were shaping up. The bright spot was 2 guards that we identified from the get go, but just weren’t as important as the bigs. That has now shifted as the guards that were targeted become extremely important as they have the potential to save our class. SG-Vincent Lincoln- Vincent is a 6’2 shooting Guard who is ranked 98th in the nation and is All state California, and an All American. He committed to us last sim, and we are ecstatic about him coming to USC. As long as our scouts have him rated correctly, he can shoot the J right away, has decent handles, can play some D and is pretty athletic. There is some room from growth, but not a lot. He seems to might be developed already. Either way he should play a role next year. PG- Allen Stover- Allen is 6’2 PG from Montana, who was selected to the All Montana squad. I do not think his current scouting ratings correct, but if they are real it would be really nice for us. I would like to think we have him wrapped up but Washington right there kind of makes me nervous. I am hoping we are so far ahead that it won’t matter, but you just never know right. He can handle the ball like a student currently, can shoot it from long range, and has the potential to grow into a real shooter. He is a freakish athlete but like I said those scouted ratings might be a bit off. Either way hoping he comes to USC. So those are the two guards we have identified, and were able to sign 1 out of the 2. So who were the other 2 guys we ended up targeting since we struck out on the bigs? C-Vaughn Griffis is the 35th rated recruit out of California. The first sim he was no eligible and once I realized that academic were turned off we jumped on him immediately in hopes nobody else figured that out. Unfortunately for us 2 other schools wanted him the same way. Thankfully, we had the lead and the other schools backed off. He still hasn’t committed and Kansas and West Virginia have now both showed interest this past sim. That doesn’t make me feel good, as they are 2 power house teams. Like Allen Stover, we are hoping that we are so far ahead that them coming up late won’t matter. But goodness if there is a recruit we can’t afford to get swiped on its Griffis. I have no idea who I’d go with post wise if he went somewhere else. He can board, play some good D and has the potential to develop into a low post scorer. He is the gem of the class simply because he is the post and losing him would tank it. SF- Hernando Hernandez- The 60th ranked recruit that is our 2nd All American and All state California kid to commit to us last sim. I also like the fact that he is our First Mr. Basketball. He is 6’6 and 247. He is going to provide us with some versatility at SF with his size. He is a freak athlete with his ratings but is below average to average in just about everything else but shooting. If his shooting comes in anywhere near what it looks like here, he is going to be an issue for most defenders in the PCC for a few years. We have 2 kids committed and are hoping for 2 more here shortly to round out a class that has good potential. It would be a good first class for USC Last edited by muns : 05-09-2015 at 04:46 PM.

05-12-2015, 05:54 PM	#14
muns Pro Starter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Baltimore MD	The Roster Well what can you say here? Not a ton of talent based off of the color system right? Certainly not enough talent to compete in the PCC. We should be able to rebound with the best of them. We also should play some fantastic Post D. Other than that the jury will be out on us this year. I made a tough call redshirting 2 guys as im sure you have noticed. Since I do don't believe we can compete in the PCC I chose to get them another year of TC. Combine them with what I am hoping to bring in recruiting wise and 6 decent freshman isn't a bad way to start off next year. So that was my thinking process there. Freddy Nation and JC Quiles should play huge parts for us in the future. I just didn't want to waste them this year even if they could have given us some depth and mins. Last edited by muns : 05-12-2015 at 05:58 PM.

05-12-2015, 06:22 PM	#15
muns Pro Starter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Baltimore MD	As already mentioned with the decision to redshirt 3 freshman (2 that could have played) that is going to leave us a bit short depth wise. Not everybody can play on this roster, and we need to get rid of a few bad apples. So this is the rotation I am going to go with PG- David Haynes is a no brainer. He can dish the ball, has the best jumper on the team, and is a true athlete. 20 quickness and 17 jump. Being 6'2 with those attributes will earn him some mins at the SG and SF spots for us as well. I expect him to lead us in a lot of categories this year. SG- Matthew Niles- The AI wanted to use him as the 6th man, and I wasn't really feeling its recommendation. Niles can handle the ball, has an ok jumper, and can play some D. I liked him a bit better than Everett here. Plus he is taller at 6'3. He will get mins at all 3 positions like Haynes will. SF- Hal Mickelson- Not a great guy, but hopefully will be steady for us. Wont score much, and unfortunately will be a turnover machine, but I don't have a lot of options to start with here. He has decent quickness for the position and can jump so he should be able to board for us here which is ok. PF- Charles McMullan- Has a shot at being the leading rebound in the PCC. 19 and 20 on the boards ratings wise, and has a 12 in jumping. All good stuff. The bad news, will trip over his own feel on the offensive side of the ball. hoping he doesn't turn the ball over as much a Hal, but defensively he should be able to hold his own. Not gonna play him anywhere else at the moment. Just at the PF sp C- Garry Karl- Our best option in the post. Should be able to board, hold his own offensively, play some good d, and not turn the ball over. All I can ask for here. He will play both PF and C for us. The bench isn't really even worth talking about. Not great. But will be able to board and play some decent D. I have 4 guys that are so bad I don't even want them to get on the court. I didn't give them a position, and gave them 1's in case they do somehow get in due to foul trouble. In doing that I am PRAYING that the 3 that are on Scholarship take the hint that I am giving them and transfer the hell out. I need those 3 scholarships to bring in some better guys. Realistically, one of the 3 will prob go, but it would be lovely if they all went. An 8 man rotation with not a lot of talent. The basketball Gods really need to bless us this year. Last edited by muns : 05-12-2015 at 06:23 PM.

05-12-2015, 06:32 PM	#16
muns Pro Starter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Baltimore MD	So how are we going to be this year? As you can tell by the above schedule, we got some cupcakes on the list. I am hoping that we can a little bit above 500 this year. I don't think we will be able to do much in the PCC, so the bet is winning a lot of OOC games. I also figured I would throw Alabama in there in case by some miracle we were halfway decent somehow. With their RPI being 1, that could only help us and ours. I have no illusion that will occur but Sims can have some whacky years.

07-16-2015, 09:40 AM	#24
muns Pro Starter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Baltimore MD	So time to get this started back up. The Girlfriend had a death in the family that put me traveling, and then vacation, yada yada yada.... So back to it. Last season for USC was simply ok. We finished up 16-13 and went 7-9 in the brutal PCC. We didn't make any tournaments, but I wasn't expecting to. We had seniors that were good at rebounding, but not much else. We redshirted all of our good freshman, in hopes that we would be able to compete for this season, and we hoped we could land a good freshman class to start us off on the correct foot. Washington, Cal, Stanford all made the NCAA tourney with Oregon State making the NIT. For those counting at home that is 4 out of the 9 teams making it to post-season play which makes us a pretty damn strong conference. For that reason, our budgets went up this year, and I hope that is a trend that keeps on going.

07-16-2015, 09:58 AM	#27
muns Pro Starter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Baltimore MD	We ended up redshirting Lincoln and Mitchum because I have enough guards and SF's at the moment. I need to land 2 Big men recruiting this year though, because as I have already noted, 2 big guys on the roster isn't going to get it done at all. That was a huge miss for us last year. One of the things that I do like about the above class is that they can score and they are bigger, as we had none of that on the roster before. SF-Hernando Hernandez and SG-Vincent Lincoln will be able to do that. Hernandez hasn't disappointed yet this year so that is a good sign.

07-16-2015, 10:02 AM	#28
muns Pro Starter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Baltimore MD	So Fast Forward to this year. Our roster isn't stellar. We have more depth guard wise, but only have 2 forwards. We scheduled lighter and didn't end up going into any in season tournaments, ( I needed wins) and are hoping to possibly make the NIT this year. It's a lofty goal, but I know I am a few big men away from making a tourney run. Maybe the NIT isn't going to happen realistically, but I can hope and pray.

07-17-2015, 07:04 PM	#42
muns Pro Starter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Baltimore MD	So yesterday's sim had some good news bad news in it. The bad news..... We go 0-2 which drops us to an even 6-6 on the year. The Arizona loss was brutal. They whopped up on us to the tune of 65-38. Once again (it has been a reoccurring theme to the year) the way to take us apart is to get our 2 big men in foul trouble. In that game both ended the game with 4 fouls a piece and Center David Clausen only played 17 mins. He averages 33. Our 2nd loss was to Idaho State who is ranked 21st in the country right now. We played a good game with the exception of putting the ball in the hoop. We basically led in every category except field goals. We shot 38% to their 55%. If we shot normally i'm confident we would have beaten a 2nd top 25 team this year. But should of doesn't count here, and nobody cares. I am going to make a lineup change for Sunday's sim. Senior Everett Bartholomew has played himself right out of the lineup for me. He has played terrible this year, and if he is going to shoot 31% and end up with a plus/minus rating of -2.33, that's enough to get me to play one of my freshman. The jackass. Freshman Alan Storer and Freddie Nation will get a bump in mins and split Bartholomew's 18 mins a game.

07-17-2015, 10:00 PM	#45
Brian Swartz Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2006	That's nothing -- Tulane can't wait to get out of the SEC and that won't happen for 12 years

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