College Hoops 2k8: 2009 Edition

[Radii]

Santiago broke a finger in one of his recent games and is day to day for the next 20 days. That seems like it might have an impact on his shooting. We might be a little quicker to have him lay off the 3's if he starts out cold until this has healed.

January 17, 2018

#20 Ohio (15-3, 4-0 MAC) at Bowling Green (9-7, 1-3 MAC)

At just 1-3 in conference play I assume Bowling Green has some flaws that will make them easily beatable, but, they're rated 78 OVR which is 2^nd highest in the MAC behind us, so I'm going to play them anyway, espicially on the road. 78 OVR (78 off/79 def/81 sht/81 reb/85 coach).

Ah, their flaw is that they start 3 underclassmen most likely. They graduated their SG and SF last year and started a freshman PG. This year their PG is a soph with some experience and they start freshmen at SG/SF. They have two 7 footers in the front court which makes them potentially dangerous no matter what else happens.

Scouting

PG Alan Mayes – SO – 70 OVR – 88 speed/83 quicknes. 84 defense, poor steals, poor handles, poor passer. 78 close/72 med/73 3/82 off the dribble. 5.4 ppg/4.3 apg. Mayes has gained 3 points in defense since we played him last, he's improving there quite a bit. Not so much elsewhere though.

SG Isaiah Wysocki – FR – 68 OVR – Natural SF and only 6'6”. 77 speed/72 quickness. 79 defense. 72 handles/60 passing, terrible for a backcourt player handling the ball a ton. Only average for a SF. 84 close/75 med/72 3.

SF Cam Yeager – FR – 71 OVR – 6'8”, natural PF, a potential death sentence trying to guard santiago. 73 speed/77 quickness, 64 defense. 87 close/63 med/59 3. 82 in traffic. Poor in the post but a good rebounder. 4.6 ppg/5.3 rpg.

PF Jair Watkins – JR – 78 OVR – dual 7 footers. 84 orb/87 drb. 83 post off/77 post def. 89 close/83 in traffic. 16.3 ppg/7.3 rpg this year, leading the team. He has A- potential and is developing quite nicely.
C Ferdinand Whitehead – SR – 82 OVR – 7 feet tall, always scary to see this talent and 7 foot size paired together. 80 orb/76 drb. 80 post off/86 post def. 91 close/89 in traffic. Great strength(84) hustle (87), dunking, awareness ... the kid can play. 14.4 ppg/5.8 rpg. I expect him to do more against us.

Their roster problems, which sadly seem to be created by a flaw in the AI... they had 7 scholarships available last year, had their only PF leaving, and ended up landing 6 PF's and a SF... anyway, their roster problems seem a critical flaw to a team that could have built nicely around watkins and whitehead. They only have 8 players rated 65+, and 6 of them are PF or C.

We have struggled at times against teams like this, though usually its the all guard teams that hurt us, not the all bigs teams.

Half	Time	OHIO	BGSU	Notes
1	18:40	0	7	Well we commit two turnovers and they hit a 3, a 2 and two free throws... but their PG Mayes comes out injured.
1	15:30	13	11	Timeout Bowling Green. Once we stopped throwing the ball away 2 out of 3 trips down court, we started scoring, imagine that. Jimenez has a 3, Grundy is doing very well in low and I believe has 8. Their PG, Mayes, is back in.
1	11:20	21	16	Backups are in. Its a two man show out there. Grundy has 13, Jimenez 8.
1	8:35	28	24	I call a timeout to avoid a held ball, they just hit an open 3 in transition to get it back under 5.
1	7:35	31	26	They get it to 2, Barker hits a rare 3 on our end, and Bowling Green calls a TO.
1	6:10	37	26	A little run to make it 11 before the starters come back in, looking pretty good.
	HALF	55	37	This is the best half of offensive basketball I have ever played at any level. Its also up there with the best individual halves I've ever had... only House in his 47 point game can top what Nathan Grundy has done in the 1st half today. They've got one solid contributor, PG Mayes. He has 12, 2-2 from 3 and a coupld breakaways on turnovers. No one else has more than 4. They're 14-35 from the field. We are 21-28 from the field, 75% shooting. 3-6 from 3, 10-12 at the line.Jimenez has a solid 8 point half, but only Grundy is worth mentioning. 11-13 from the field, 3-4 at the line, 1 foul, 15 minutes played. 25 points, 3 boards, 2 blocks. Bright is getting all our defensive boards, but Grundy has 2 offensive boards/putbacks. He has a few dunks on the secondary break, he has a few buckets from their defense breaking down on switches, and a few solid post moves... just a masterful performance.
	17:50	57	47	Bowling Green doesn't go quietly. They start the half on a 10-2 run and I get a TO.

My sister got home and I finished the game pretty much on autopilot while talking to her. We quickly ended their run and took the game back over and cruised the rest of the way. I did play this all the way out despite the lead.

Ohio 95
Bowling Green 68

They get 14 from Mayes, 12 from SF Wysocki and their center, Whitehead, only scored 11 today in 29 minutes. He was 4-12 and struggled a lot.

McCully: 5 points/4 assists/2 steals
Jimenez: 13 points/4 assists
Santiago: 3 points/4 assists
Bright: 8 points/11 boards/4 assists
Grundy: 35 points/6 boards/3 blocks

Barker: 13 points
Northcutt: 10 points

Grundy goes 15-20. I shied a little away from Santiago b/c of his injury, his first two three pointers were very short and ugly, I really don't know how reliably that correlates but Jimenez was hot and Grundy didn't miss at all for so long I didn't see the need to keep trying.



Next up, the arch enemy, ball State. They are so so much weaker this year it should just be a beating to make up for old losses. With their coaching change they no longer run a 3-2 defense which we seemed to struggle with like crazy for inexplicable reasons. They're 4-1 in the MAC though so who knows what kind of mojo they'll have going...

[Radii]

January 20, 2018

Ball State (11-6, 4-1 MAC) #20 Ohio (16-3, 5-0 MAC)

As it usually does, this game appears to have a lot of meaning in the conference race. They lost the last of their superstar players last year as SF Fab Minoff graduated. He is the guy that hung 40+ on me in the conference semifinals last year. They have no superstar replacements.

Ball State is rated 76 OVR (77 off/75 def/82 sht/84 reb/85 coach). We have a massive edge in every area.

Scouting

PG Brendan McCarthy – JR – 74 OVR – 87 speed/85 quickness. Poor ball handling(78/C-). 79 close/72 med/86 3. Terrible off the dribble. Leading scorer on the team this year at 16.7 ppg.

SG Cody Clemons – FR – 72 OVR – 85 speed/79 quickness. 80 defense. 85 close/70 med/75 3. Awful off the dribble and in traffic. 85 hustle but other athletic skills are not that good. 7.6 ppg/5.4 rpg. Clemons was the #111 recruit last year and is promising but he has a ways to go.

SF Christano Whitted – JR – 70 OVR – 77 defense/70 steals. 83 speed/83 quickness. 90 close/75 med/69 3, 74 in traffic. If he can get the ball in deep he can do some damage. He's a natural SG averaging only 5 points/game.

PF Max Burns – JR – 69 OVR – Natural SF, only 6'5”. 72 orb/71 deb. 62 post offense/76 post defense. 83 close/80 in trafic. Not at all built to play PF. 6 ppg.

C Alberto Tyler – JR – 69 OVR - 6'10” PF, 77 orb/76 drb. 70 post off/61 post d. 89 close/86 in traffic. His rebounding and post play leaves a lot to be desired still. His close range shooting and in traffic game has improved a lot since the last time we met. 9.2 ppg/5.6 rpg..

They only have 7 players rated 62 and up. Heh, their coach is lucky he left when he did.

Half	Time	OHIO	BSU	Notes
1	17:20	2	7	Certainly not the same start for Grundy. He picks up foul #2 very quickly.
1	17:02	4	7	Santiago drives to the basket and draws a foul, and comes out injured.
1	16:20	4	9	I call a timeout to get my lineup fixed up. Whitted at SF, Withers at C to give Grundy a rest.
1	11:25	16	16	Their SG, Clemons, cannot miss. He has 10 of their 16 points. Jimenez can't miss for us, he has 12. I get our backups in. Santiago is ok so he'll play with the backups. Withers is tiring but still out there, he'll play to exhaustion then Grundy will get back out there and hopefully not pick up foul #3.
1	8:30	25	21	They're still keeping up but we're scoring at a solid clip on offense.
1	5:50	31	28	They are hitting all open 3's so far, we're not allowing many but every one is dropipng. I get the starters back in.
1	2:55	35	35	2 more threes and a free throw and they've tied the game. God I hate ball state.
	HALF	42	43	Its only fitting that they hit a 3 at the end of the half to take the lead. This is the worst defensive effort I've ever seen against anyone and I have little to no explanation for it. They are 17-23 from the field on the half. Their SG Clemons is 8-9, all jumpers, 2 3's and 18 points. So I guess for the second half our goal is to not shit the bed on defense. Jimenez is doing a great job keeing us in the game. He has 3 3s and 15 points. Northcutt 7 off the bench. Bright and Grundy did nto get involved well at all, only 2-4 from the field, but 4 FT's combined as well.. each has 4 points. Withers is 4-7 in deep and has 8 points, he did a good job in low in the first half. One last thing... we have 5 rebounds. 5 total rebounds in the half. They only have 11, neither team is missing a lot, but jesus, 5 rebounds?
2	18:00	47	45	They score first but we've got 5 straight to take the lead back.
2	15:45	56	47	Santiago hits his first 3 and Grundy gets two buckets in a row, the second a big dunk that gets the 6th man going for us. Jiimenez forces a turnover in the backcourt, Grundy cuts to the hoop, Jimenez hits him for another big dunk! 9 straight in a very short period of time. Timeout Ball State.
2	14:20	60	51	Grundy has heated up again, a hook shot down low and he has 14, 10 in the 2nd half. Another Ball State timeout.
2	11:10	67	56	Backups are in.
2	8:45	71	56	Timeout Ball State, looks like we've got it under control finally.
2	4:25	77	63	They score 5 straight and I call a timeout and get my starters in, just playing it safe, there's no need to screw around here and let them get it under 10. Withers with a solid game in the post today.

We did ok inside in the first half but Jimenez was hitting some big shots so we spread it around, butin the 2^nd half we truly showed our dominance inside. With Santiago hurt and not shooting or driving as well as usual, it feels real good to be able to throw an inside game like this at a poor defensive team in the post.

Ohio 87
Ball State 72

Their SG Clemons scores 24. Whitted with 13. center Tyler with 9. They only went 8 deep and we had Tyler in foul trouble at times... they just got worn down and worn out.

After shooting 17-23 in the first half, they finish 28-58. 11-35 in the second half, much better.

McCully: 6 points
Jimenez: 15 points/6 assists
Santiago: 3 points
Bright: 11 points/6 boards
Grundy: 25 points/9 boards

Withers: 14 points
Northcutt: 9 points

I didn't intend to completely shut Jimenez down after a half. But the inside game was working so well I just kept going to it over and over and over. Bright scored 7 second half points, Withers 6, and Grundy 21. That's 34 of our 45 second half points.

I expected that all game, as Ball State has a SF playing PF and a center with a post defense rating of 61... .I wanted to get all 3 of them 20 points. But with Grundy's foul troulbe and their hot shooting early I got out of my rhythm and game plan a bit.

Thank god, we have beaten Ball State. They have a new coach, new system and are a shell of their former selves, but I don't really care, we have finally beaten them.

[Radii]

We're 17-3, #19 in the nation, and have a 2 game lead on the rest of the conference. Unless we start having serious problems I plan on simming out a good bit here, likely our next 8 games. id ont' expect to go undefeated.


First, a Buffalo team that is winless in MAC play:

Jan 23, 2018

at Ohio 91
Buffalo 50

well then. Santiago 40. He almost outscored Buffalo by himself. Bright 15.


Jan 27, 2018

Ohio 79
at Toledo 57

This was one I feared losing, on the road, they were 5-2 in conference play. Bright 18, Santiago 16, Jimenez 11.


We remain 19th in the polls.


I notice a pretty fucked up bug, i'd noticed it during the Ball State game but just doublechecked. Santiago had a day to day injury for 16 more days of a broken finger going into the Ball State game. He hurt himself in the 1st half and was diagnosed with a sore knee that would limit him for 2 days. That sore knee overwrote/erased the broken finger. After 2 days, no more injury.


Road game against an 8-12 W. michigan team:

Jan 31, 2018

Ohio 84
at W. Michigan 64

Santiago 25, Grundy 14, Withers 11, Bright 10. This is our 20th win.


Next we're at home vs an Akron team that is 3-4 in the league, 77 OVR so not entirely terrible. Heh, yeah there it is.

Feb 3, 2018

Akron 82
at Ohio 71

Santiago 17, fouls out near the end. Grundy 11, Bight and Jimenez 7.

backup PF Zachary Hogan goes down for 16 days with a separated shoulder. Bright and McCully both have nagging injuries but are playing through them.



The loss drops us all the way out of the rankings, still 20-4. Our RPI drops from #17 to #35.

10 games into the season we are 9-1 in conference play. We've got a 2 game lead on the field still.

[Radii]

Ok, had to fix up the lineups, any time there's an injury the CPU re-does all my lineup changes.

Two games that should be ridiculously easy this week:

Feb 7, 2018

Ohio 92
at N. Illinois 61

Santiago 28, Grundy 20, Jimenez 11.

Bad news though, as John McCully is out 18 days, also with a separated shoulder. Tim Barker gets his first chance to lead the team. The backups are rather decimated though, Snowden will play SF, Roberts PF (Roberts is the JC big man I brought in that I don't really like at all). Northcutt and Whitted move from SG/SF to PG/SG.


Luckily our next game is at Central Michigan, one of the worst teams in division 1. They are 2-22 and 1-10 in the MAC.

Feb 10

Ohio 101
at C. Michigan 68

Santiago 27, Grundy 24, Bright 15. Barker with 7 assists in his first start.



The first Bracketology is out, and we are listed as a 7 seed. This is what I feared playing in what is, for now at least, a terrible conference that is dragging my RPI down. UNC is listed as a 7 seed too. Our projected opponent right now would be Missouri which would be pretty funny.


Marist is projected a 3 seed.


Just a few more games to go.

Feb 13, 2018

at Ohio 80
E. Michigan 58

Santiago 29, Grundy 11. Lots of guys score 6 through 8. Barker with 6 assists today.


Our RPI falls to #37.


Feb 24, 2018

Ohio 70
at Miami OH 56

Bright with 19, Jimenez 13, Santiago 11, Northutt 9.



I was going to play my last two, but other than playing better than i sim(b/c a loss would probably knock me out of at large contention) there is really no reason to. We have clinched the MAC regular season title, and our two opponents, while the more highly rated of the teams we see in the MAC, are not all that great. Bowling Green is 5-9 in league play. We may well play them in the quarterfinals.

So yeha, I'm simming my last two games and getting to the conference tournament.

McCully is back for this last week, lineup is reset again.

Feb 27, 2018

at Ohio 94
Kent State 76

Santiago 17,Grundy 16, Withers 15, McCully 13, Bright 12.


March 4, 2018

at Ohio 95
Bowling Green 66

Santiago 25, Bright 14, Barker 12, McCully 10.


We get back into the top 25 going into conference tournament play.

Wow, late 80s flashback. UNLV is 30-2 and #1 in the nation now. Clemson is #5.

Marist has lost 2 games and is now 26-5. They are #18 in the nation. VCU has come on strong, they're 26-7 and #17. We are #22. That's the 3 top 25 mid-majors.

The mid-major poll is represented the same way.

1. VCU
2. Marist
3. Ohio
4. San Diego
5. Nevada

Gonzaga is #14, having fallen down to 17-11.


The winning streak has pushed us back up to the #23 RPI in the nation. we are 2-2 vs the top 50, 1-1 vs 51-100, 16-1 vs 101-200, and 7-0 vs 201+.

We currently project out to a 4 seed. This is a huge step up from when we had our loss to Akron. Anything above a 7 seed and I'll be thrilled. I just don't want to have to play a 2 in the 2nd round.

[Radii]

Final MAC Standings

1. Ohio 15-1
2. Kent State 10-6
3. Ball State 10-6
4. N. Illinois 10-6
5. Miami OH 10-6
6. Toledo 10-6
7. Akron 9-7
8. E. Michigan 8-8
9. Bowling Green 6-10
10. W. Michigan 5-11
11. C. Michigan 2-14
12. Buffalo 1-15

The teams at the bottom were so bad it allowed this giant cluster of teams to end up 10-6 heh. I would love to face N. Illinois in the semifinals. They look like a team I would have beaten in the MEAC with NC A&T. After development they're 70 OVR, with only one player on the team rated 70.


MAC First Round

9. Bowling Green 80
8. E. Michigan 55

5. Miami OH 77
12. Buffalo 76

6. Toledo 89
11. C. Michigan 70

7. Akron 75
10. W. Michigan 71


MAC Quarterfinals

1. Ohio
9. Bowling Green

4. N. Illinois
5. Miami OH

3. Ball State
6. Toledo

2. Kent State
7. Akron


Bowling Green is the second highest rated team in the MAC. But they have horrible depth and lineup issues, with something like 95 power forwards on their roster. Hopefully we beat them again as easily as we did in the regular season.

[Radii]

March 8, 2018 – MAC Quarterfinals

(1) Ohio (26-4, 15-1) vs (9) Bowling Green (15-14, 6-10)

Bowling Green is still rated 78 OVR (79 off/80 def/81 sht/82 reb/85 coach), same as they were in the game we played out against them. Despite the fact that they have the 2^nd best rated team in the MAC, they are very flawed and seemed pretty easy to beat last time we met up. We beat them by about 30 at their place. In a simmed game on the last day of the regular season we beat them by 29 at home.

Scouting

PG Alan Mayes – SO – 70 OVR – 88 speed/83 quicknes. 84 defense, poor steals, poor handles, poor passer. 78 close/72 med/73 3/82 off the dribble. 5.4 ppg/4.3 apg. Mayes has gained 3 points in defense since we played him last, he's improving there quite a bit. Not so much elsewhere though.

SG Isaiah Wysocki – FR – 68 OVR – Natural SF and only 6'6”. 77 speed/72 quickness. 79 defense. 72 handles/60 passing, terrible for a backcourt player handling the ball a ton. Only average for a SF. 84 close/75 med/72 3.

SF Cam Yeager – FR – 71 OVR – 6'8”, natural PF, a potential death sentence trying to guard santiago. 73 speed/77 quickness, 64 defense. 87 close/63 med/59 3. 82 in traffic. Poor in the post but a good rebounder. 4.6 ppg/5.3 rpg.

PF Jair Watkins – JR – 78 OVR – dual 7 footers. 84 orb/87 drb. 83 post off/77 post def. 89 close/83 in traffic. 16.3 ppg/7.3 rpg this year, leading the team. He has A- potential and is developing quite nicely.

C Ferdinand Whitehead – SR – 82 OVR – 7 feet tall, always scary to see this talent and 7 foot size paired together. 80 orb/76 drb. 80 post off/86 post def. 91 close/89 in traffic. Great strength(84) hustle (87), dunking, awareness ... the kid can play. 14.4 ppg/5.8 rpg. I expect him to do more against us.

Half	Time	OHIO	BGSU	Notes
1	15:55	8	9	We open up 6-0, then 8-2, and they've scored 7 straight. Jimenez has stumbled and lost the ball twice trying to beat Wysocki in transition... I call a timeout to cool their 6th man that triggered after this last basket.
1	12:15	11	14	Backups are in. Jimenez with 3 turnovers, Santiago is 1-4 or so, Bright and Grundy each got early buckets and we've had trouble feeding them in good spots since, not a lot going well.
1	11:05	13	14	Just one bucket, but a blocked shot on the other end gives us our first 6th man boost of the day.
1	9:35	15	17	Bowling Green timeout. Wysocki is 3-4 from three and has 9 for them.
1	7:05	18	19	Starters are back in, Withers scored all but 2 of our backup's points, Whitted had a layup. Northcutt had a turnover too... their transition defense has been solid, we're going to start being much much more selective about when we try to fast break
1	4:15	27	23	A 3 and a 3 point play on consecutive trips by Jimenez and we go from 2 down to 4 up very quickly.
1	3:45	29	23	A defensive board gives us another 6th man boost, Jimenez is fouled and this two free throws, timeout Bowling Green.
1	2:00	33	23	We're on a 12-0 run. Jimenez scored the first 10 of those.
	HALF	36	26	We had a couple chances to extend this more but I'll take a 10 point halftime lead. We have a 19-13 edge on the boards, shoot 50% to their 38% and , while its still close enough that anything can happen, we totally dominated the last 5 minutes or so. Once Wysocki stopped scoring, they stopped scoring. No one else has more than 4 for them (Wysocki has 9). We have 15 from Jimenez, 5 from Santiago, Bright and Withers.
2	15:55	42	37	We score first to go up 12 and they've been cutting the lead steadily down ever since. After Grundy picks up his 3rd foul and they cut it to 5 on a 3 point play, I get a timeout.
2	13:20	50	40	They cut it down to 4, 44-40 before we go on a 6-0 run to pick things back up, all in transition, Santiago with the last 4.
2	9:10	54	49	Backups are coming in, and probably should have 1-2 minutes ago. Wysocki has 14 now and triggers another catchup effort for them. I call a timeout after a score to get the backups in and get the starters some rest they need badly.
2	6:40	61	51	Key sequence here. We're struggling to hold onto a 5 point lead... shot clock running out, Northcutt hits a contested 3 pointer, then Barker forces a turnover in the backcourt and draws a foul going to the hoop. 5-0 run in about 5 seconds and we go up 10.
2	5:15	65	53	Starters are back in to finish the game off.

They never get closer than 10 down the stretch..

Ohio 74
Bowling Green 60

This game is similar to the first game we played except that they shot the 3 pretty well, preventing us from completely pulling away. Wysocki ends up with 14, Whitehead 11, Watkins 10.They hit 7 3's on the game which helps offset their overall 25-61 shooting.

McCully: 2 points/3 assists
Jimenez: 22 points/2 steals (7-8 shooting/3-4 from 3)
Santiago: 9 points/7 boards
Bright: 11 points/12 boards
Grundy: 12 points/4 boards

Withers: 7 points

Santiago was 4-12 today, he was effective driving to the basket but cold from 3, just 1-6. Santiago owns in the simmed games, almost certainly b/c of more developed shooting tendencies than the freshman Jimenez, but Jimenez has long surpassed everyone else on the team as a pure shooter.

[Radii]

MAC Quarterfinals

1. Ohio 74
9. Bowling Green 60

5. Miami OH 71
4. N. Illinois 65


3. Ball State 86
6. Toledo 59

2. Kent State 46
7. Akron 63


MAC Semifinals

1. Ohio
5. Miami OH

3. Ball State
7. Akron


Interesting setup the rest of the way. Miami OH is one of the teams we've traditionally had some trouble with, though we don't expect it this year. If we advance to the finals we either get Ball State, with whom we have a giant history, or Akron, the only team to defeat us in the MAC this year.

[Julio Riddols]

If I might ask.. is this game as enjoyable as it is sounding when I read this?

I admit I could just read a review, but with someone here spending as much time with the game as you are, I figured i would get it from you if possible.

I'm strongly considering buying the game after reading this the last few days.

[Radii]

March 9, 2018 – MAC Semifinals

(1) #22 Ohio (27-4, 15-1) vs (5) Miami OH (18-14, 10-6 MAC)

Miami OH is rated 75 OVR (77 off/76 def/79 sht/79 reb/81 sht). They average 67 points/game and shooot 39% as a team... not very good.

We beat them by 30 at our place early in the year, and by 8 at theirs towards the end of the season. Both were simmed games of course.

Scouting

PG Chas Lemons – SO – 69 OVR – 90 speed/81 quickness. 81 defense/73 steals. 81 hands/78 passing. 80 close/69 med/69 3/80 off the dribble. 7.7 ppg, slightly improved from last year but not enough.

SG Clement Woolley – FR – 68 OVR – Replacing Stan Victor, Miami's 5* JC transfer they pulled a few years back, he was rated 83 OVR and was a great player. Woolley isn't a bad shot but can't defend. 84 speed/80 quickness. 77 defense/62 steals, terrible. 81 close/79 med/78 3. 72 off the dribble... terrible there too. 8.5 ppg.

SF Greg Schultz – JR – 64 OVR – 79 speed/77 quickness. 82 defense, quite good for a SF. 78 close/72 med/51 3, 83 in traffic. 4.2 ppg, just totally outclassed at this level.

PF Rashad Sharp – SR – 71 OVR – 6'9” - taking over for an 80 rated high quality PF that graduated last year. 76 orb/78 drb, 78 post offense/62 post defense(*eyes light up seeing that post defense rating*). 83 close/81 in traffic. 6.0 ppg/4.9 rpg.

C Terry Samuel – SR – 76 OVR – 7 feet tall. 81 orb/77 drb. 82 blocks(B). 76 post off/76 post def. 92 close/80 in traffic. 15.7 ppg/6.5 rpg. Leading the team by quite a bit.

Miami just lost too much and hasn't replaced it well yet. 3 guys rated over 70, 4 more 65-70... just not good enough. It seems they shouldn't even challenge us,but you know how that goes sometimes.

Half	Time	OHIO	MIA	Notes
1	13:15	15	9	We score the first 6, then they get 7 straight, and now we're on a 9-2 run. Samuel has 7 for them. Santiago has 2 3's and has 9 for us, off to a very hot start. Timeout Miami.
1	11:55	19	9	Another timeout miami. With 2 6th man boosts and 2 timeouts, my starters are good for awhile. I bring Withers in for Bright though, as Bright has 2 fouls.
1	9:55	26	13	Another timeout Miami.
1	6:55	30	20	A couple sloppy plays and a couple fast breaks by Miami and they get it back to 10. I call a timeout and get the backups in. Bright will play w/ the backups.
1	5:30	30	26	They've scored like 12 in a row or so... I call a timeout. Bright is 1-6 on the half, Northcutt has two turnovers in the last 1:30.
1	3:50	32	28	Starters are coming back in for the rest of the half, they had it down to 2 before Barker finally got us some points.
1	1:50	34	35	Heh unbelievable, the final 10 minutes of the half for them have mirrored the first 10 minutes for us... they have gotten 4 6th man boosts and just took the lead on a ridiculous contested 3.
	HALF	36	41	Well that was just dumb. After it was 9-9, we went on a 21-5 run and had a 30-14 lead. Then the rest of the way they outscore us 27-6. Just crazy. They are 17-31, 5-12 from 3. Their 7 foot center, Samuel, has 13 on 6-7 shooting. I can accept that, he's not bad, he's big and he's hot. However, their freshman SG, Wooley... 5-9, 3-6 from 3, also 13 points. That's kinda BS heh. On our end Santiago has 13 but he went cold towards the end of the half. Grundy has 6, McCully 7. Bright, primarily being defended by a PF with a 62 post defense rating, is 1-7 in the post. Sure, why not! We obviously fully expect to get out of this funk in the 2nd half and win going away. I put McCully on Woolley, McCully is our best defender and their PG doesn't like to shoot.
2	19:05	40	41	They miss a 3, Bright with a layup in transition. We get a blocked shot and a 6th man boost from that block, Bright with a dunk in transition. This is a better start.
2	15:00	43	45	Things slow down on both sides. After a couple more misses, Bright is officially not allowed to shoot unless its a clear dunk or there is no one guarding him. This includes offensive boards.
2	13:10	47	45	A McCully free throw that puts us back on top triggers a 6th man boost. The crowd is really into this one.
2	12:10	49	46	Grundy saves our asses after a terrible offensive possession, getting a mid range shot to fall with 1 second on the shot clock. This triggers yet another 6th man boost and Miami calls a timeout.
2	9:15	53	48	Our biggest lead in a long damn time, the defense is real strong right now. Starters are still in. Any time we breath on the ball we get the 6th man going. Miami calls a timeout and subs in 4 guys.
2	5:55	68	55	Wow... 6th man stays on for like 2 ½ minutes solid. If Miami was another player he'd be throwing his xbox out the window right about now. They hit a 3 to make it 53-51, we get a deuce, then a 3 from Santiago to go up 58-51. They score on their end, and we fail to score... 58-53. Then we get 2 blocks and 3 steals, all 4 leading to dunks on our end, 1 leading to a ridiculous circus shot by Jimenez. One of the dunks was a high flying windmill dunk that I didn't even know Jimenez was capable of. We go up 68-53 and are starters are still going strong. They finally socre to cut the lead to 13, but it appears about over.
2	5:07	68	58	Momentum turns a bit as Jimenez misses a 3 and Woolley hits one. I immediately call a timeout and get my backups in to stall a bit and rest up the starters.
2	2:30	76	58	Whitted comes up big for us with 8 straight, two threes... he's not a scorer at all for us, or hasn't been so far this year. With his points and the defense holding strong there's no reason to risk injury to the starters.

Ohio 79
Miami (OH) 60

The end was pretty funny. Whitted is a 70 rated 3 point shooter even with a confidence boost, and he hit 3 straight 3's. The last two were desparation contested 3's as I just ran the shot clock to 5, passed to him and launched it, not really caring if they went in or not.

I don't know if the difference in the second half was switching McCully on Woolley and killing their hot shooter, or just luck as Miami couldn't stay hot all game, but we completely shut them down, outscoring them 43-19 in the 2^nd half.

McCully: 11 points/5 boards/3 assists/4 steals
Jimenez: 16 points/4 assists/3 steals
Santiago: 16 points
Bright: 11 points/13 boards
Grundy: 10 points/6 boards/4 blocks

Whitted: 11 points

[Radii]

Originally Posted by Julio Riddols

If I might ask.. is this game as enjoyable as it is sounding when I read this?

I admit I could just read a review, but with someone here spending as much time with the game as you are, I figured i would get it from you if possible.

It definitely is to me. There are holes that i'm overlooking or minimizing for sure. Occasionally I'll mention them, and as I get better I slowly add more and more little house rules to keep things competitive.

Recruit generation is a little annoying, the top 100 is like 75 guards/25 SF, PF, and C combined. There are some gameplay holes for sure that sliders cannot address. i never, ever try to score anymore after beating the press, its too easy to do, I just beat the press and wait for the defense to set up. Turning off backcourt violations because of a small game flaw is annoying and counter-intuitive, but it serves its purpose well and I don't intentionally take advantage of it so it works fine. There are some holes like that, but the game flows so well that I don't really even notice anymore, its just part of the flow of the game for me.


EF27's dynasty is probably a much bigger endorsement for the game than mine is. I got hooked and have been pouring tons of time in a short period of time into this(I'm only working about 10-15 hours/week right now so things are pretty open-ended). But EF27's dynasty has been going on since December 2007 and he keeps coming back to the game to continue it, which seems like a really strong endorsement.

I don't follow or enjoy the NBA at all anymore, so I have no comparisons to offer to NBA 2k9, which would be the only other legit option for basketball console gaming.

[Radii]

MAC Semifinals

1. Ohio 79
5. Miami OH 60

7. Akron 79
3. Ball State 63


MAC Finals

1. Ohio
7. Akron


Wow, I would have bet good money on us running into Ball State one more time this season.

Akron beat us in a simmed game at our place earlier in the season.

Akron has more balanced talent than most teams we've played, and they have a star SG who will be a threat to us. They're severely undersized and don't have near the depth we do, and our starting lineup outclasses them.

I expect to win, and hope to win handily, but they do have the right pieces in place to beat us if they play well and we play poorly.

[Radii]

I won the MAC Tournament in my very first year with the school(not with my own recruits obviously). After 3 years of building back up and stumbling in the quarters or semis of the conference tournament, we hit our stride and have now rolled off 4 straight 20 win seasons and 4 straight conference regular season titles. Sadly, Ball State has won the last 3 conference tournaments in a row. So in my 7 seasons at Ohio, I only have 1 conference tournament championship.

And actually, I never won one in my 3 years at NC A&T either, so in 10 seasons, I have only managed to win my conference tournament one time. So it seems a formality that I've built a dominant team in the MAC and this title should be a foregone conclusion, I'm still quite nervous about it and want this win rather badly.

March 10, 2018 – MAC Finals

(1) #22 Ohio (28-4, 15-1) vs (7) Akron (16-15, 9-7 MAC)

Akron is rated 77 OVR (79 off/77 def/79 sht/78 reb/86 coach). They average 63.7 ppg, so look for them to try to slow things down against us. They beat us in a simmed game in the middle of the season. We're projected as a 5 seed, and we need this win to stay there probably. The last time we lost our RPI dropped by 20 and we went from a potential 3 seed to potential 7 seed...

Scouting

PG Raphael Cobb – SO – 70 OVR – 83 speed/82 quickness. 78 defense/71 steals. 81 close/75 med/59 3. B- hands and passing for a SG... he's a natural SG, not a PG. 7.4 ppg this year. Cobb is a weak link in their back court. Too slow and too poor a defender to hang with us.

SG Godwin Washburn – SO – 77 OVR – 87 speed/81 quickness/84 vert/83 hustle (only 55 str, not strong). Good athlete. 87 defense/81 steals, great defender. 93 close/78 med/71 3/84 off the dribble/77 in traffic. He's got a good clutch rating, 75, which fits for their go to guy down the stretch. Just 10 ppg this year though, as younger guards often have lower shooting tendencies.

SF Tamal Coulibaly – FR – 70 OVR – 6'8” - 80 speed/75 quicknes. Terrible defender, 71 def/63 steals. Decent shot blocker(71/B+). 87 close/73 med/77 3/81 in traffic. He'll develop into a great scorer and will be a threat today, he'll kill us if we leave him open. Just 6.5 ppg.

PF Shema Day – SR – 73 OVR – 6'8” natural PF – 76 orb/72 drb. 73 post off/74 post def. 90 close/83 in traffic. He has great awareness at this level (74 off/78 def). 11.5 ppg/4.9 rpg. His post numbers are a little above average for a PF, but he's a poor rebounder.

C Esmond Jolly – JR – 70 OVR – 6'8”, natural PF. 69 orb/82 drb. 77 post off/80 post def. 83 close/80 in traffic. Jolly is a much better rebounder and post defender than Day, but he doesn't look like a scorer. 7.9 ppg/5.1 rpg.

They have 3 backups rated 65+. A 67” PF and two small forwards. No guards rated above 57. There is certainly the chance that Washburn and Day have career days against us, but we really ought to have a big edge here.

Half	Time	OHIO	AKR	Notes
1	11:55	12	12	They run a 2-3 zone every play, which we struggle against at times. Jimenez is 2-4 from 3, Santiago 0-2. Grundy has 4 points inside, Bright struggling again. Washburn is their star for sure, he scored their first 8 and sat recently and they are having a hard time scoring without him. Backups are in.
1	5:40	19	22	This 3 point Akron lead is the biggest that either team has had. I call a timeout to get my starters back in, except for Jimenez, who apparently tired himself out taking 3's. He'll get back in in another minute.
1	3:40	25	26	Jimenez back in
	HALF	35	30	We finally pull out to a small lead in the last 2 minutes of the half. We shoot 48%, they 46%. Both of us are taking a lot of 3's wihtout huge success. 4-12 for us, 2-10 for them. SG Washburn leads them with 10, 4-8 overall and 2-2 from 3. Their big men, Day and Jolly have 10 between them(4 and 6). They also have a 17-12 edge on the boards. That is offset by the fact that they commit 5 turnovers while we only commit 1.Jimenez leads us with 13 points. 5-7 from the floor/3-5 from 3. Santiago finally made a 3 later in the half and has 5 total. Grundy is doing ok inside with 6 points/5 boards. Bright a bit less, but i've gone to him less. I think all I need to do in the second half is not settle for long jumpers so easily. 3's are great and we shoot the 3 well but no passing to the wing and launching until I at least try a drive or post pass. One final note... the semifinal game with Miami each team had 4 or 5 6th man boosts in the first half and 8-10 total by the time the game was done. There hasn't been a single one today.
2	18:45	35	30	A blocked shot gets them their first 6th man boost of the day.
2	15:00	42	36	They get it down to 3 and have a chance to tie, missing a 3. On our next trip Jimenez hits his 4th three and we're up 6.
2	11:20	49	44	We've led by as much as 8. I get a timeout to get my backups in though, no 6th man help for us at all yet and our starters are exhausted.
2	6:10	55	52	We hold the lead at 5-7 most of this stretch with the backups, Withers gets us two good looks inside for some points. They score on two straight trips though, cutting it to 3, and I get a timeout to get the starters in. They're not fully rested but I've got 3 timeouts, and assuming the fans get excited about the game at some point we'll be fine.
2	4:25	63	54	There we go, Jimenez hits two straight 3's(he's 6-9 from 3 now, 22 points). Next trip down Jimenez misses a 3 but Bright with the board and putback. We're up 9 and get our first 6th man bonus of the game.
2	3:00	66	57	Santiago joins the party with a 3 and its time for us to run out the clock.
2	1:10	66	59	Akron with a timeout, 7 point game, their ball with 1:10 left.
2	1:00	66	61	They score quickly, 5 point game, our ball.
2	0:15	66	64	We run the clock to 15 and start our offense. Santiago misses an open 3. They get it to Washburn on their end who drains a contested 3. I call a timeout. They have only committed 3 or 4 fouls so its going to take a bit to get me to the FT line. I intend to have McCully be the guy that shoots for us.

Hah, McCully is so fast. I've never seen a guy be able to just outrun their defense before. They do get 2 fouls but needed 3 to send me to the line, McCully dribbles through the defense and runs the clock out.

Ohio 66
Akron 64

Too close for comfort, but Ohio has won the MAC Tournament!!!!

Jimenez is the obvious player of the game, scoring 22 on 6-10 3 point shooting. Washburn kept right up with 21 points. Their center, Jolly, scored 11 in support.

McCully: 6 points/5 assists
Jimenez: 22 points
Santiago: 11 points
Bright: 6 points/6 boards
Grundy: 8 points/7 boards

Withers: 7 points

We shoot 9-22 from 3 as a team. Santiago is 3-8. Time to see where we are seeded!

[Radii]

2018 NCAA Tournament Selection


UNLV ends up #1 in the final poll.

Marist is #17, Ohio #18, VCU #24.

Clemson is #4, Maryland #12.


Bubble Teams: lots of major schools. San Diego is the only mid-major. Missouri is 19-14 and on the bubble. Va Tech and Miami both out of the ACC. UAB, Rhode Island and Temple in 'large' conferences.


1 seeds:

East: Louisville
South: UNLV
Midwest: Ole Miss
West: Kansas


East Region

1 seed: Louisville

UConn comes in a 9 seed, 20-12 overall this year.


Ohio is the 4 seed in the East Region!!!!

We will play 13 seed Utah State. That's a perfect matchup for us, we destroyed them earlier in the year.

Assuming we win, we will play either 5 seed Arizona or 12 seed George Mason.

VCU gets in as the 7 seed.

kentucky is the 2 seed here.


South

Marist is the 5 seed here, they'll play Arizona State.

San Diego makes it as a 10 seed here. texas A&M is the 2 here.


Midwest

North Carolina is 22-12 and is the 8 seed here. They'll play Xavier and then Ole Miss if they win.

Clemson is the 2 seed here. Southern Illinois, one of the teams that was usually a top mid-major a few years ago, is the 15 seed at 18-12.


West

Texas Tech finishes 18-13 and is the 9 seed in the west. They'll play Vandy, and if they win, Kansas.

West Virginia is the 2 seed here.



Duke is struggling without Coach K around, and missed the tournament this year.


8 out of the big east. SEC 6, Pac 10/ACC 5.


Missouri, the only team we played this year on the bubble, missed the tournament.


Our first game will be vs Utah State. We beat them 87-65 in the first game of the season. We got 19 from Bright and 13 from Grundy, with all 5 starters getting double digit scoring. They have a talented, though small, center named Monwell Tafo who only averaged 12 ppg this season, but put up 22 points against us in the loss for Utah State.


Looking ahead, Arizona appears the type of team we usually get killed by when we play major conference teams. They're rated 93 OVR and are coached by Mark Few who by now has 500 wins and is a 99 rated coach. We'll be rooting for George Mason to pull the big upset.

Arizona's worst starter is rated 82 OVR, and 4 of their 5 starters are rated higher than anyone on our team. In fact, they have 2 bench players better than anyone on our team and 8 guys rated 80+.

But, we have to take care of business vs Utah State first. And as I mentioned, root for George Mason I have some errands to run and will get to this in a few hours.

[Radii]

March 17, 2018 – NCAA First Round

(4) #18 Ohio (29-4) vs (13) Utah State (18-15)

Utah State is rated 81 OVR (81 off/81 def/84 sht/82 reb/85 coach). By comparison we're at 86 OVR (87 off/84 def/89 sht/90 reb/81 coach).

We beat Utah State 87-65 at our place earlier in the season. They only made the tournament because they won the WAC. The WAC is way down this year, only earning the automatic bid for the first time in awhile... Nevada was 20-8 and the regular season champs but had a poor RPI and missed out.

Their lineup is the same that we faced earlier in the season, plus some development. Center Tafo most notably added 2 points to his overall rating.

Looks like we're playing the first two rounds this year in Birmingham, Alabama.

Scouting

PG Maceo Minard – FR – 75 OVR – 89 speed/85 quickness. 86 defense/75 steals. An exceptional passer... 80 hands/87 passing(B+). 78 close/74 med/87 3. As a true freshman Minard doesn't have his tendencies fully fleshed out so he may pass up some shots. 8.5 ppg/6.6 apg this year.

SG Cleve Werner – SR – 71 OVR - natural PG – 85 speed/80 quickness. 79 defense. 81 close/68 med/76 3/80 off the dribble. 5.7 ppg this year.

SF Milt Matheus – SR – 72 OVR – 6'7”, slow, poor defense, poor handling, terrible passer... 84 close/67 med/70 3. 87 in traffic and athletic, 81 vert/79 str/72 hustle (B-/B+/C+). 8.2 ppg.

PF Preston Ervin – JR – 73 OVR – 6'8” - 76 orb/80 drb. 73 post off/80 post def. 84 close/84 in traffic. 8.1 ppg/5.5 rpg this year.

C Monwell Tafo – JR – 77 OVR – A true center, but only 6'9” - 85 drb is solid, and his post play is solid, 78 o/79 d. 91 close/86 in traffic, very strong (84/A -). 12.5 ppg/5.4 rpg this season.

Their flaw is that they are dominated by big men. They have endless depth to back up Ervin and Tafo, but little to no quality behind Minard/Werner/Matheus. We took full advantage of this earlier in the year. In the firt meeting Tafo scored 22 and Matheus 11.

Our team is full of confidence and flying high. All our starters have confidence of 90% or higher, and when we get onto the court we see our adjusted rating for the game today puts us at 91 OVR, a massive boost over our default. Utah State only makes the leap up to 82 OVR. Bright and Santiago both show the star rating icon in game, which has become common for both

Half	Time	OHIO	USU	Notes
1	12:45	11	13	Utah State scores the first 5 of the game and we're a little out of sync. Santiago gets us on the board with a 3 and its been even from there. Santiago has 7 and seems to be beating Matheus at will. Jimenez and Bright are both off to rough starts, Grundy has our other 4 points. Utah State just called a timeout, backups aren't in quite yet, but will be soon.
1	12:15	11	17	Stupid stupid stupid. Jimenez fouls a 3 point shooter taking a last second shot in the shot clock... the 3 goes in, its a 4 point play and now the backups are in.
1	10:40	13	23	They get a 3 point play on their next trip... that's 7 points in two possessions. We fall behind by 10 and I get a timeout.
1	8:15	20	27	The lead is down to 7. Northcutt has some confidence issues and a pep talk before the game isn't enough to really get him going. He just missed a tough shot in transition... but one he usually makes. Barker with a 3 and a couple other buckets have allowed us to get it back under 10. Timeout Utah State.
1	7:10	25	27	5 straight and the starters are back in. Barker hits his 2nd 3 and is really coming up big for the backup squad.
1	6:50	27	27	We foul them down low but their big man misses both Fts(I didn't catch who... not Tafo heh). McCully draws a foul on our end and ties it up at the line.
!	5:50	29	27	A steal earns us a 6th man bonus for the first time this half. We turn it right back over in transition, but they miss a jumper on their end and Jimenez hits a tough shot in traffic to give us the lead back.
	HALF	37	32	Hah, WHEW! McCully gets out on a break with about 7 seconds left and misses a tough running shot. They pass it to half court and heave up a shot that goes in, but the points don't count, I couldn't tell whether it was off in time or not until I saw the halftime score. We finish the half on a 17-5 run and go into the locker room in good shape. Most of that run came with Tafo on the bench, and he's having a strong game again today, so they are not the same without him. Werner scored 11 for them, more than he scored in our first meeting. Tafo 8, Matheus 7. They shot 50%, 14-28, but just 2-8 from 3. We shot better, 16-26 but turned it over 8 times which helped them out. Barker and Grundy each have 8 for us, and both came up big at key times for us. Santiago with 7. We're 3-7 from 3. Barker is 2-2, Santiago/Jimenez 1-5. Bright has somehow not taken a shot at all. Actually, not somehow. They picked a lot of our post passes that I made a little sloppily. They also picked bright twice when he caught the ball. So yeah, no shots for him.
2	18:45	37	38	They score the first 6 of the half and get a 6th man boost... they just seem a totally different team with Tafo out there, even when he isn't the one scoring. He does have 10 now. Timeout Ohio.
2	14:55	47	47	Their big 3 are killing us. Werner has 18, Matheus and Tafo both in double figures too. Werner is the big one right now though, and I switch McCully to him. Jimenez will guard their sharpshooting PG.
2	13:30	51	49	We're scoring well but they seem to keep finding ways to score on us too. Starters are fine thanks to two 6th man boosts, unfortunately neither really triggered any runs for us.
2	11:50	57	53	They sit Tafo and Minard, who while not a scorer has 6 assists. Two straight buckets by Grundy get us a 4 point lead and the second one is a monster dunk that gives us our 3rd 6th man bonus of the half.
2	8:30	59	57	Well their defense goes crazy for a bit, they get 2 steals and 2 blocks on 4 straight possessions and we're very lucky to be in the lead and not trailing by 4 or 6 right now. I get a timeout and get the backups in. Tight stretch here with only a 2 point lead and our bench on the court. They sit Werner, who has 20, but bring Tafo back in.
2	7:35	63	57	They commit their 7th foul and we are shooting the rest of the way. Barker has all 4 of our points for the backups and has 12, pushing our lead up to 6.
2	4:00	65	63	They get 4 straight and a 6th man boost after a steal leads to a layup. I get a timeout and get the starters in to finish things off.
2	3:30	65	64	Grundy goes up strong on our end but the shot hangs on the rim forever. I mistime my jump for the rebound and Grundy picks up a basket interference call. On the other end Grundy fouls Tafo going up for a shot. His shot just rolls out and he makes just 1 of 2 at the line, our ball, still in the lead.
2	2:30	70	64	Jimenez seems to really hit them when they count down the stretch. Bright with a hard move in the paint, he misses but Grundy is there for the putback. We get a good stop on the other end, and go inside out with Bright and Jimenez who hits a 3 to put us up 6. Timeout Utah State.
2	1:30	72	66	Santiago, not as clutch, at least this time. They cut it to 4, Santiago misses a 3. They go out on the break but take a bad 3 point shot, miss, and we break ourselves, Santiago makes up for the missed 3 with a dunk in transition. Timeout Utah State, 6 point game w/ 90 seconds left.
2	1:20	72	66	McCully forces a bad pass and gets the steal!!

We don't score on our end but we burn the shot clock down, Jimenez missed a contested 3(had santiago open... wrong button passes to the guy who is covered, oops). We force a missed shot and rebound, we make free throws and ice the game.

Ohio 76
Utah State 66

I've won my second NCAA Tournament game, and will have my second chance in my career at a sweet 16 appearance!!

Utah State was ready for a much stronger effort today than they were at our place early in the season. Werner finished with 20, Matheus 15, Tafo 15. The 3 of them shot a combined 22-33. They just needed a little more help and it wasn't there, the rest of the team shooting 8-27 from the field.

Bright came up HUGE on the boards today for us, and shot 3-6 in the 2^nd half, almost getting himself a double double. A meaningless rebound for Grundy in the final 10 seconds of the game did get him a double double.

McCully: 10 points
Jimenez: 9 points
Santiago: 11 points
Bright: 8 points/14 boards
Grundy: 18 points/10 boards

Barker: 12 points

great game off the bench for Barker, generally a non-scorer. Grundy was 7-11 and had a few putbacks on the offensive end. Jimenez and Santiago combined for only 1-8 from 3.

Survive and advance!! Now to see who we play.

[Radii]

No luck on the upset. Arizona crushes George Mason 93-70.


In fact there was only 1 upset of a team seeded 6th or higher... 11 seed Virginia Tech upsets 6 seed Cal in the first round.


At least based on pure OVR ratings, we are facing the best 5 seed in the tournament, a team that could be badly underseeded, maybe they had injuries, or something. They are ranked higher than us in the polls, at #15.


Also, the win over Utah State in the first round is win #30 for Ohio, my first 30 win season!

[Radii]

[Radii]

oh god why isn't this posting haha... table must be too big or something.

[Radii]

Maybe I can break it up into two posts. Preview first:

March 19, 2018 – NCAA Second Round

(4) #18 Ohio (30-4) vs (5) #15 Arizona (24-10)

Arizona finished 2^nd in the pac 10, behind onl Oregon. Oregon got upset in the Pac 10 Tourney and the finals was Arizona vs Arizona State, with the Sun Devils pulling the 95-84 upset. Arizona State ended up a 12 seed and lost in the first round.

They are rated 93 OVR (93 off/92 def/96 sht/95 reb/99 coach).

They have a team unity of 71, ours is 63 at this point in the year.

Scouting

PG Damany Benzel – SR – 85 OVR – 93 speed/90 quickness/80 vert/70 str/88 hustle. All outstanding numbers. 85 handling/82 passing, very good. 87 defense/86 steals. 82 close/75 med/84 3/82 off the dribble. 7.7 ppg/4.4 apg. First round draft pick who has no obvious weakness.

SG Russ Kone – JR – 84 OVR – 90 speed/88 quickness. 85 defense/70 steals. 91 close/74 med/80 3/88 off the dribble/81 in traffic. 9.3 ppg

SF WM Draughan – JR – 86 OVR – 6'7” natural SF – 85 speed/80 quickness. 83 defense/77 steals. Great ball handler(82, A- for a SF). 84 close/91 med/77 3/82 off the dribble/88 in traffic. Spectacular dunker(88/B+). Breat athlete (82 vert/77 str/82 hustle, All B's). 10.7 ppg/5.2 rpg this year.

PF Torris Love – SR – 86 OVR – 7 footer who will dwarf Bright inside. Unbeleiveable speed for a big man... 84 (A-). 88 orb/87 drb, 84 post off/83 post def. 93 close/92 in traffic. 84 mid range/70 3. He can shoot from anywhere on the court. 16.9 ppg/6.8 rpg. Love is projected as a lottery pick in the NBA.

C Kenan Kellar – SO – 83 OVR – 6'9”, natural PF. 83 orb/77 drb. 83 post off/81 post def. 77 shot blocking, very good. 86 close/84 in traffic. 10.2 ppg/4.0 rpg.

Backup PG Jean Francois Munir is rated 87 from 3 and is actually the 2^nd leading scorer on the team with 14 ppg. Backup SF Ralfeal Myers is 6'7” and shoots as well as any guard, shooting from all ranges over 85.

The only weakness on the team is that Love and Kellar are their only big men. But their SF's are in the 6'7+ range so that won't hurt them a lot. We'll need to catch some of them cold and play a flawless game to win I fear.

After in game adjustments we're rated 90 OVR, 91 off/88 def. Arizona shows up 96 off/96 def/96 OVR.

[Radii]

Half	Time	OHIO	AZ	Notes
1	15:15	4	4	They get the first 6th man boost of the day as their giant PF Love blocks two shots on one possession.
1	12:30	4	8	Bad sign for us as Jimenez misses 2 open 3's in our first stretch and Santiago another. They have 3 or 4 blocks and a steal when we try to go inside. Both our buckets came from driving to the hoop but we're not getting by their men more often than not. Tough nut to crack so far to find points. Backups are in.
1	9:00	11	14	We fall behind 12-6 and are worried about a double digit deficit so early with all the trouble we're having scoring. Barker comes up huge again with a 3 pointer, and then after a blocked shot Withers gets a bucket inside for us, and we trail only by 1. They score next time down to make it 3 but we're hanging in.
1	6:50	12	18	4 more in a row for Arizona and I call a timeout. Starters are coming back in except Jimenez who is still a bit tired. Barker will play SG for a short period of time.
1	5:50	12	20	Jimenez back in. Santiago whiffs on a wide open 3 and we disparately need those shots falling if we're going to contend here.
1	5:35	14	20	Their center, Keller, has 2 fouls and sits. Bright is good at the line and its a 6 point game.
!	5:15	16	20	Well, we've only drawn 4 fouls all half. 2 on Kellar their center, and 2 on their stud PG Benzel. He sits too. McCully tipped a pass, Bright picked it up at the 3 point line and took it full court and attacked... I love his speed at times. He goes up strong and Benzel with the block.
	HALF	31	36	The downside of getting their big men into foul trouble is that they just put 6'9” SF's in at center and dunk on us every time down. Our offense was great down the stretch, Jimenez hit 2 3's, we drew some good fouls and other than Jimenez missing two FT's we were flawless, had the lead down to 2, 29-27, at one point. But we were totally unable to stop them. I don't think we got a single stop their last 6 trips down. At least 4 were dunks as their athletic SF cut to the basket through/around/by Grundy or Bright. Their PF, Love, has 8. No one else with more than 5, balanced scoring. They shoot 16-27, just 1-4 from 3. We are getting a massive % of our poitns at the line. 14-17 from the line on 8 fouls(fouled twice shooting 3's). We are 7-24 from the field, 3-12 from 3. Jimenez has 10 on 3-9 shooting only. Bright has 6, only 1-3 there. Grundy 0-2, Santiago 0-2... we need to keep attacking the basket as they foul hard and a lot, but we have to make more shots. We also have to stop the early 2nd half run that good teams often make.
2	15:00	40	46	Missed opportunities like crazy. Our offense is really clicking, but we missed two chances to cut it to two and gave them two wide open 3's due to dumb mistakes(playing a passing lane and missing, and just not getting back well after playing tight full court D). They drain both and we are totally outplaying Arizona right now but a few mental lapsses allow them to have a 6 point lead. I had to call a timeout to avoid a held ball earlier and only have 3 left for the game.
2	14:30	42	46	Hmm. McCully drives and draws foul #3 on Keller. He sits. Unfortunatley, McCully sits with an injury. Barker hits both free throws. No word on the injury yet.
2	12:30	42	46	UGH. Bright misses a hook... Jimenez drives but meets resistance and misses a runner inside. Great defense and two chances to get it down to 2, no luck. McCully is good to go, sore knee is all. I bring in the backups for now, McCully will likely come back in earlier than the rest of the starters.
2	12:05	43	46	More great D, and Whitted on the break. Benzel commits his 3rd foul and has to sit. Whitted just hits 1 of 2 at the line, lead down to 3. We have had so many chances, we should be winning and I fear this is going to bite us badly.
2	9:50	43	51	We just cannot get it going on offense, and now they are starting to heat up a bit with a big dunk and a 3.
2	8:50	43	55	Northcutt with two turnovers in 10 seconds, 4 points for them in transition. I call a timeout, down to 2. Starters aren't ready to return yet
2	6:30	50	55	WOW!!!! After the timeout, they use some tight pressure in the backcourt to force a turnover, but can't convert right away. A couple misses and a couple turnovers and we get something working finally. Whitted with a basket inside, Barker with one, and Hogan on a secondary break gets a 3 point play and makes his free throw!!! As soon as they got the steal, at about 8:45, I called for my starters but we got on the break and got moving. We kept on the run and the clock never stopped so they stayed out. 5 point game, starters are in!!
2	6:00	52	55	Oh man, so sad. Great steal by McCully, but he has a sore knee as reported earlier... he's SO slow. He couldn't take it all the way and will be a shell of his normal self the rest of the way if this stays the same...we set up though and Santiago drives by his man and hits a big shot, 3 point game, 6th man for us! Timeout Arizona.
2	5:40	54	55	Holy crap Bright with a beautiful block on Keller down low. Santiago runs the break and takes it himself, drawing a foul. Makes both FT's, one point game. Both teams 6th man down the stretch.
2	4:20	55	55	Two more misses by them. First trip Santiago misses an open 3. Second he draws a foul, misses the first free throw, makes the second and we're tied. Timeout Arizona.
2	2:55	55	55	This is insane. They throw the inbounds pass away. Kinda like Santiago did in an earlier game(Uconn maybe?) where he just inexplicably couldn't hit McCully 5 feet away... they did that, only the 3rd time I've ever seen it now, heh. We turn it over, they miss a shot. We get Santiago a good look inside and he misses. They throw it away in transition. We get a wide, wide open 3 from Jimenez... no good. They rush a shot, no good. We try to run and throw it away in transition. They try to run and throw it right back away. I'm not calling a timeout, but I am pausing it to write this up to remind me to slow this shit down and get a good shot next time down.
2	2:35	57	55	We run a screen play down low, intended to get Bright the ball, but Santiago's man falls over, Santiago with a wide open shot from the free throw line, GOOOOOD. We take the lead. Timeout Arizona.
2	2:20	57	57	They get it inside to Love and finally get a bucket. That was a 6 ½ minute scoring streak. Neither team has the 6th man going now. Getting momentum and a bucket here is key.
2	1:35	57	57	Ugh, we get Bright off a little screen but he can't go up cleanly. He ends up hitting Santiago who has to take a little fadeaway from 18 feet to beat a shot clock violation, and misses.
2	1:20	57	57	They get Love a pretty solid look inside, I'm shocked he missed. Bright with the board, and we call a timeout. We actually had two left(I thought it was just 1). Now we have 1 left, and the TO kills their 6th man. Our ball.
2	0:55	57	57	Weird, weird, weird. McCully gets off a grundy screen and has an open lane. Love from the weakside challenges I guess(he went up clean with a layup animation) and the shot doesn't go. They fast break, throw an alley oop that just falls harmlessly and we pick it up... our ball again.
2	0:41	60	57	I want a 2 for 1 here so I get straight into my offense. Bright catches a lob near the low post, they double fast, Bright gets it out to jimenez who is money on an open 3 pointer. 60-57 Ohio lead!!!! Timeout Arizona
2	0:33	60	60	Nooooooo, I go in to help inside with Jimenez and commit a foul on Love as he makes a shot. 3 point play opportunity. FT good Gah what did I do that for. I call my last timeout to hopefully get them out of their press. No taking any chances here, Santiago or Jimenez at the buzzer.
	REG	60	60	Santiago got a decent, but not perfect look. It rims out but it was at the buzzer at least. OVERTIME.
OT	3:55	64	62	They score first. We get a Santiago basket on our end to tie it. They fall down against our pressure and McCully picks it up, but he doesn't have the speed to get to the basket so I pull it out. Jimenez hits a little shot from 5 feet out after running off a screen. Timeout Arizona. They had 2 starting the OT. Now we both have 1.
OT	2:45	64	64	Benzel drives by McCully late in the shot clock.for a layup. I cannot stress enough how much this injury is effecting him, Benzel went by him like he wasn't there. On our end we get a wide open 3 by Santiago but its no good, their ball.
OT	2:13	65	66	Love scores in deep for them. Keller fouls Grundy on our next trip, that's his 4th, and their 7th. Grundy makes the first, msises the second. Bright with the rebound!!! Love and Keller are right there and I pull it out.
OT	1:50	66	66	Jimenez isolated one on one, drives, and draws a shooting foul on Love. 1st one no good. 2nd swishes through. Tie game, their ball.
OT	1:00	66	66	We get a stop , Bright fucks up in the high post and turns it over, but they miss a 3, Bright with the board(his 10th), and its our ball.
OT	0:37	68	66	Bright about 10 feet from the basket, gets a screen from Santiago and goes up, its not easy at all, a little 6 footer in traffic, contested, it rolls around and IN! Their ball. I wanted to try to shoot sooner but whatever.
OT	0:06.5	68	68	Their SG, Kone, burns Jimenez and goes by him. Bright comes over to help and commits a foul, its enough to force a miss. Kone to the line for 2. 1st is good. 2nd is... good. I get it to half court and call my timeout.

I inbounds the ball to Jimenez. He has Kone one on one on the left wing. He drives and gets a step and goes hard to the basket. Keller fouls him with 2.5 seconds left. Keller has fouled out. Jimenez steps to the line, makes the first, makes the second!!!!

They inbound the ball, throw a pass to halfcourt and Santiago is there to tip it away!!!!!!! Time runs out and Ohio has defeated Arizona to advance to the sweet 16!!!!!!!!

Ohio 70
Arizona 68
OT

For the game Arizona shoots just under 50%, 28-60. They're 4-12 from 3 and 8-8 at the line. We shot 17 first half Fts, going 14-17. We shot 15 more the second half and OT combined, but only made 8, a potentially costly problem.

Love leads them with 15, Keller and Kone 10, Benzel 9, Draughan 8. It seemed when we were coming back that they were constantly trying to fast break and they were very sloppy, seemed like something I'd do in their situation

McCully: 4 points/4 steals
Jimenez: 18 points
Santiago: 19 points
Bright: 10 points/10 boards/5 assists
Grundy: 1 points/7 boards

Barker: 8 points

Santiago was 1-8 from 3, 5-15 overall, but 8-9 at the line. Jimenez was a bit better, 5-13, 3-8 from 3, 5-8 from the line.

What a win!!! That was without question the tightest, most intense game I've ever played. I cannot believe we came back after letting them go up 55-43 around the 8 ½ minute mark.

[Ironhead]

Amazing, congrats on the Sweet 16 appearance!

[Radii]

We have had way more development this year than ever before. We just got another point in team roster strength, up to 87 OVR. Also, for the first time we have players gaining 3 points in season. Grundy has gone from 74->77, but he's graduating. The better news is seeing backup PG Barker advance from 72->75 OVR during the season as a sophomore.

6 players on the team gained 2 points during the season. The most exciting here is also a soph, as John McCully is now rated 79 OVR.



taking a look ahead:

We play 1 seed Louisville next. They are #2 in the nation and have an astounding team roster strength of 97 OVR.


Some upsets in the west, as 6 seed Alabama beat 3 seed Michigan, while 7 seed Penn State upset 2 seed W. Virginia. They'll play each other, winner gets the winner of Kansas and South Florida (1 v 5).

In the South, the top mid-major this year, Marist, beat 4 seed mississippi State to advance and plays overall #1 UNLV next. More upsets here as 7 seed Purdue upset Texas A&M. They've got PAC-10 champs Oregon next.



And in the Midwest, 1 seed Ole Miss crushed North Carolina, 98-72 to advance. 5 seed St. Joes knocks out Maryland.

Clemson is the lone ACC team left as a 2 seed, they'll play 6 seed Florida after Florida upset Syracuse.



Louisville is the highest rated team left and possibly the highest rated team in the country. The other 1 seeds are rated 90-94 OVR.

[Radii]

March 23, 2018 – NCAA Sweet 16

(1) #2 Louisville (29-6) vs (4) #18 Ohio (31-4)

We are now rated 87 OVR (87 off/85 def/89 sht/90 reb/81 coach). Louisville is rated 97 OVR(96 off/98 def/97 sht/96 reb/99 coach). Pitino now has 776 wins, still at Louisville.

McCully's injury apparently was a short term one, I am not showing anyone as injured for this game. That is critical if I'm going to have a chance. It was like he was running through molasses. He has 92 speed/93 quickness, I don't' have anyone even close to that, it makes a huge difference beating the press, driving and dishing, etc.

Louisville has the #1 offense in the nation, and #41 defense. They score 84 ppg and have a 19 point average margin of victory. Fun! Hahah. I open up their roster page and their top 9 players have the superstar icon attached to them. All 9 are rated 87 OVR or better.

Scouting

PG Horace McKnight – SR – 91 OVR – 95 speed/91 quickness. 94 defense/87 stelas. 94 handles(A)/85 passing(B). 87 close/78 med/76 3/89 off the dribble/81 in traffic. Great athlete. 84 off awareness/73 defensive. McKnight is a player of the year candidate I assume, 21.8 ppg/5 rpg/3.9 apg.

SG Chris Kelly – JR – 90 OVR – 90 speed/86 quickness. 83 defense/85 steals. 93 close/80 med/84 3. 80 off the dribble/84 in traffic. 82 off awareness/85 def awareness. 12.1 ppg.

SF Taylor Collier – JR – 90 OVR – natural SG – 89 speed/90 quickness. 89 defense/96 steals(A+!). 88 close/87 med/82 3/88 off the dribble. Only 6.9 ppg this year.

PF Alvin Nystrom – SO – 81 OVR – 6'8 natural center. 83 orb/86 drb. 81 post off/78 post def. 90 close/92 in traffic. Only recently began starting... 1.2 ppg.

C Elyon Lucas – JR – 89 OVR – 6'9”, natural PF – 85 orb/87 drb. 88 post off/84 post def. 87 close/82 med/88 3... yes, natural PF. 92 in traffic. Great leaper and dunker. Offensive awareness 84 (A-), defensive awareness 88 (A). 13.4 ppg/4.5 rpg. Lottery pick.

Kelley and Lucas are both coach on the floor types. Lucas has an amazing 86 average awareness. They have like 7 guys projected to go in the draft if they went pro this year. I'm not sure why Nystrom has not been a starter, they have no big man depth... at least not at their ridculous talent standards, maybe a 4 guard rotation, but I don't know why they'd have changed it recently. They have a 7'2 backup center rated 72 OVR. Every guard and SF they put on the court will be rated 87+.

Louisville is listed with 82 unity, we are at 65

Half	Time	OHIO	UL	Notes
1	11:30	9	16	We have some success driving and some success in the post, but are not hitting our 3's early on. They are hitting lots from all over with everyone. I call a timeout to get the backups in.
1	8:00	15	18	When I can set them up our post guys are all hitting today.... we have 10 of our 15 down low.
1	5:10	16	20	Our last couple shots were really poor ones, but, defense is playing great and they're a bit cold in general. I call a timeout to get the starters back in.
1	3:40	20	20	Santiago with a fast break bucket after a long miss, and McCully draws a foul and hits two at the line and we've tied itup. We're on a 11-4 run over the last 8 minutes now. The offense is about what I expected, but I'm stunned at how well our defense is playing.
1	1:30	22	23	We got another stop and had a chance to take the lead but Grundy missed what turned out to be a difficult turnaround. They hit a 3, we get bright a great look inside to cut it back to 1, Louisville timeout.
	HALF	25	26	We had a chance to take the lead but Jimenez misseda 3 as the half expired. They led by 4 after another 3, Jimenez answered with our only 3 of the half to keep it a 1 point game. They shoot 11-21, 4-5 from 3. Their PG, SG, and SF all have 5 points, a deuce and a trey. PF Nystrom leads them with 6 points on 3-4 shooting inside. We're 9-22, 1-6 from 3, but 6-8 from the line. Almost no fouls in the half, we committed 1, they committed 5. Bright leads us, he's 3-5 inside and has 6 points. Jimenez and Santiago both have 4. Withers has 3 and a few guys have 2. We have the rebound edge 11-10. We committed 0 turnovers all half, a huge need for us. As I've started using my post men more my turnovers have gone up, I make some bad passes in traffic at times. But today no errors. They only have 2 turnovers... very clean game. We've done what we needed for a half. We kept the score low, kept any of their big guns from getting hot, and put ourselves in a position to win the game in the 2nd half.
2	17:05	28	34	They have scored on every trip so far. We drew fouls our first two possessions, hitting 3-4 from the line. Then two empty trips in a row, the last a point blank look by Grundy as his man went for the steal, ugh. I get a timeout to try to keep them from pulling out ahead any further. Their player of the year candidate, PG McKnight, had their first 4 points and has 9 now.
2	14:00	32	39	McKnight is up to 13 for them, but our offense is flowing a little better. We just made a bad pass allowing a dunk on their end though.
2	11:31	41	41	Grundy gets a big 3 point play on our next possession. They get a dunk on their end. Next trip we get a wide open look for Santiago from 3, he misses but Grundy boards. Santiago is standing in the same spot and they crashed the boards, I kick it back out and the 2nd time from the same spot he hits it. They miss an open 3, one of the few they miss like that, and Grundy boards it. We set up our offense and Grundy ends up triple teamed inside, he hits McCully in the right corner who drains an open 3!!! Tie game, our first 6th man boost of the game..
2	10:50	42	41	McKnight misses a wide open 15 footer, we work the clock on our end and Santiago gets his man in the air, drives and draws a foul. He makes the first, misses the second. We now have a lead over a 97 OVR rated opponent.
2	9:20	45	43	They take the lead after two free throws. We get a play just like a few minutes ago.. Santiago misses a 3, Grundy boards, kicks it back out and Santiago drains it from the same spot. 2 point lead, another 6th man bonus! And timeout Louisville. I'm down to 2 timeouts myself from earlier use. I have only committed 2 fouls this half so if I need the clock stopped to sub people in I can commit a foul.
2	8:20	48	45	Santiago fouls their SF shooting a 18 foot jumper with like 3 seconds left on the shot clock... hate that. They tie it up. On our end, santiago has the ball, jimenez sets a screen, Santiago goes by, kicks it back to Jimenez who goes up straight away for an open 3, GOOD! 3 point lead, another 6th man bonus. Another Louisville timeout. We are playing near perfect basketball.
2	6:00	48	47	Santiago misses a 3 and they get a fast break bucket to cut it to 1. Their defensive board triggers their 6th man. I can't call timeouts to kill them, plus they'll be coming every time anyone does anything good. Grundy misses a hook next trip down, but they miss a contested jumper. Our ball again. As long as we keep the crowd in it they can carry us to the end... but the starters have been playing about 20 minutes straight now back to the first half. I hope we don't end the game with them exhausted b/c I haven't rested them.
2	5:10	48	47	UGH. They commit a stupid reach about 25 seconds into the shot clock, letting us run more time. We get Grundy a great look inside, he could have had a 3 point play... but he does draw the foul and misses... then he misses both free throws. Can't do that!!! Their ball.
2	5:50	48	50	Oh lord. Santiago fouls a 3 point shooter.... He makes all 3 FT's.
2	3:00	51	50	Sometimes the ball just bounces your way. We tie it with a good move to the hoop by Santiago. They miss a 3. Jimenez has a shot blocked, but gets to the ball and attacks the hoop, drawing a foul. He makes just 1 of 2 but we're ahead again. McKnight badly misses a 3 and we board again. Jimenez misses another 3, Bright with the board, he kicks it out ot McCully, McKnight gets a hand on it, but it falls right to Grundy. That's a lot of bounces going perfect for us(including missed shots that they might usually make) to keep us in the lead with the ball.
2	2:00	53	50	Grundy gets a good power move inside but cannot finish. They board, get a wide open 3 by Kelly, a 84 rated shooter. He misses, we board. Bright has 11 boards now. Santiago with a good blowby move and a spectacular shot in traffic for a bucket. We have a 3 point lead with 2 minutes left. I'm jinxing myself but it really feels like we're going to pull this off.
2	1:20	55	50	McKnight with a turnover in the backcourt!!!!! We burn the clock a ways, and Jimenez finds Grundy in great position down low, he lays the ball in. 5 point lead, Louisville timeout!!!!
2	1:00	55	53	Wide open 3 from Kelly, he isn't missing this one. We just held the #2 team in the nation scoreless for 4 minutes though so I feel ok.
2	0:32	55	53	Grundy gets the ball in the low post and takes a left handed hook from about 7 feet out. It bounces off the back rim. They rebound.
2	0:06	55	53	I only had 3 fouls on the half so far. They had a 6th man bonus. They called a timeout when they got past half court which helped. Then I used two intentional fouls to try to get them out of rhythm. They ended up taking a long 3 from Kelly with about 8 seconds left. I don't know if it was open or not, he had a step or two separation from Santiago. Either way, NO GOOD!!! Bright with rebound #12. They foul. Bright to the line for 2.

Bright is a 73% free throw shooter. First one good... second one... GOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!!!!!

They rush down court, I pray we don't do anything stupid. Kelly hits a 2 point meaningless jumper for them.

Ohio 57
Louisville 55

Absolutely everything went our way the entire second half. Every time we needed a miss we got it, every time we left someone open the shot was off, we didn't allow a single defensive rebound. The stretch I mentioned above with 3:00 left was key and a perfect example. They block a shot with about 5 seconds on the shot clock. We manage to not only recover the ball but draw a foul. Then we get an offensive board and throw a poor pass out that they get a hand on, but it falls right in the hands of one of our players...

We outrebounded them 26-23. We did not turn the ball over a single time all game. I have never had a turnover free game before. We only had 3 steals and 1 block, only made 5 3's.

McKnight ended with just 13 points, he went cold late and ended up 6-14 form the field. McCully did a great job on him too. Kelly scored 17 and was real big for them late, but he missed a couple open shots down the stretch.

McCully: 5 points
Jimenez: 10 points
Santiago: 15 points
Bright: 12 points/12 boards
Grundy: 8 points/8 boards/4 assists

Holy crap we are a game away from the final four. I have no idea where this is coming from. I'm playing exactly the same as i did vs UConn earlier in the year, etc, trying to slow the game down vs more talented players. And its worked before(see our upset over Duke a couple seaosns ago) but having this success two games in a row vs two teams as talented as Arizona and Louisville is stunning.

[Radii]

Elite Eight Matchups

East: (4) Ohio vs (2) Kentucky

Kentucky beat 3 seed Seton Hall by 6.


West: (1) Kansas vs (6) Alabama

If we were to beat Kentucky, we would face the winner of this game.

South: (1) UNLV vs (7) Purdue

UNLV beat Marist by 12. Purdue upset Oregon. They've beaten the 2 seed and the 3 seed, just the 1 seed left.

Midwest: (5) Saint Joseph's vs (6) Florida

Saint Joe's upset Ole Miss, Florida upset Clemson.



Arizona... Louisville... Kentucky, 3 of the most successful programs of the last 30 years (well... 40 years now considering its 2018).


After the last two, Kentucky seems perfectly beatable, at least looking at their ratings... just 90 OVR, with Gillespie still there and now a 97 rated coach. No 90 rated guys, a freshman point guard, only one player rated higher than our top player(Bright/84 OVR). They're the more talented team for sure, but I'll be damned if we don't have a shot going into this one.

[law90026]

wow great run!

[Radii]

March 25, 2018 – NCAA Elite 8

(2) #11 Kentucky (29-8) vs (4) #18 Ohio (32-4)

Kentucky is rated 98 OVR (88 off/90 def/90 sht/90 reb/97 coach). Not scary at all as we've risen to 87 and we just beat teams rated 93 and 97 with way more talent. But they're a 2 seed for a reason.

The SEC is the #1 rated conference this year, with 6 teams in the dance, all of them 8 seed or higher.

I didn't mention before, but we're playing in the charlotte bobcats arena in front of 20,000 people.

Scouting

PG Delvon Sweetney – FR – 77 OVR – 95 speed/83 quickness. Elite speed but I'll take McCully's 93/93 over this. 85 defense/77 steals, great for a freshman. 83 hands/79 passing, not bad at all either. 87 close/74 med/78 3/88 off the dribble. A serious threat to create his own shot. 6.6 ppg/4.5 apg. We're thankful to run into him during his freshman year.

SG Harrison Hodge – SR – 86 OVR – 92 speed/92 quickness/81 vert/76 str/95 hustle. Great hustle buddy. 91 defense/75 steals, both very good. 93 close/88 med/70 3/81 off the dribble/84 in traffic. Looks more like a slasher than a 3 point shooter. That's not good as we struggle more these days with slashers. 10.5 ppg.

SF Roburt Mouton – SO – 84 OVR – 6'5”, natural SF. 83 speed/81 quickness. 86 defense(A-, exceptional SF D). 79 steals, exceptional. 87 close/70 med/69 3. 82 off the dribble/85 defense. Great physical skills and a great athlete overall. 92 dunking is spectacular. 8.6 ppg/6.5 rpg. He has solid post and rebound ratings for a SF.

PF Hanif Graves – JR – 83 OVR – 6'9”, natural PF. 88 orb/92 drb. 93 post offense/76 post defense. 90 close/84 in traffic. Elite rebounder and post player on offense. He has an 83 rated 3 point shot too so I'll have to remember to guard him. Leads the team with 14.9 ppg/6.5 rpg this year.

C Luther Jensen – SO – 78 OVR – 6'9”, natural center. 88 orb/83 drb. 85 post offense/80 post defense. 88 close/85 in traffic. Only 6 points/game as I guess Graves takes most of the inside shots, understandably. But he has some strong skills.

They have a backup SG, Demetric Olaiya, who is a 92 rated 3 point shooter. 39% on the year/40% for his career(he's a senior). 6'9” backup SF Raymond Simon scores 10 points/game for them as well. An outstanding rebounder and shooter... both of those guys would be starting for me for sure. They're rated 83 and 82 OVR.

If it were me I'd be starting Olaiya at PG and sweetney would be deadly off the bench. But its not me.

They are weak when it comes to backups in the post, and most of their backups are... 'normal' looking to us, guys rated in the 74-78 range who aren't that great. This is a team that we could kill by getting into foul trouble.

McCully is on Mouton from the start of the game. I don't want him on the 6'9” guy but putting him on the freshman would be a waste of his defensive skills.

Half	Time	OHIO	UK	Notes
1	16:00	5	8	Santiago with two reach in fouls in a row, I get Northcutt in for him for now at least.
1	11:15	9	17	Well the bad news is that they've scored 6 straight and are getting the ball inside or in transition very very easily against us right now. The good news is that their highest rated player just came out hurt, Hodge, their SG. Backups are in for me. I call my 2nd timeout to try to kill their 6th man.
1	8:45	12	21	Hodge is back in, hopefully slowed in some way. Sweetney just picked up a 2nd reaching foul, he's sitting. Two issues so far. 1) they have 3 offensive boards and putbacks on all 3. 2) they run a tough pressure/doubleteaming half court trap about half the time they play man to man defense. This is making it very hard for us to slow the game down and establish control on offense.
1	7:30	13	23	Starters, including Santiago are back in.
1	4:00	20	30	Mouton has 7 for them, and Jensen already had 6 rebounds.
	HALF	26	32	We score the final 4 points of the half and only trail by 6. After feeling like we got outplayed severely for most of the half i'm thrilled ot be this close. Mouton leads them with 11, and Jensen has 8. Hodge is 2-6 and 0-1 from 3 so we've stopped one of their guys at least. On our end Grundy has been getting to the line real well, 5-6, and 2-3 inside, he leads us with 9. Jomenez has 8, 2 3's and a layup. Santiago is cold and just has 2 points. Bright hasn't gotten involved in the offense but has 6 boards. We are struggling from 3, just 3-11. We're right there, just need to keep up the defense and we can sniff a final four at Ohio.
2	17:20	29	39	They start out hot and we are struggling to score, just a 3 point play by Bright on 4 trips so far.
2	16:10	32	39	A couple stops and we get our first 6th man boost of the game. Still trailing 7 but hanging in if we can get things moving.
2	15:00	36	39	4 in a row, including a 3 from Jimenez and we're only down 1 basket. Bright has 3 fouls now, Santiago has stayed clean since his 2 early ones.
2	14:55	36	39	That's real funny. Santiago with a reach, foul 33.
2	13:30	36	42	They hit a 3 and I call a timeout to get my backups in. Bright and Jimenez especially are tired out and everyone could sit for a bit. We had zero offense with the backups last time through, need to make something happen here.
2	10:20	43	44	Withers misses two solid looks and they go up 8. We get it rolling after that, Northcutt with a midrange jumper, they miss, Withers gets a great look inside and hits something finally. We force a turnover and Northcutt hits a 3!!! 7-0 run, timeout Kentucky.
2	9:35	45	44	They miss an open shot on their end, and they get out of sync defensively, Withers ends up posting up their point guard who seems about 2 feet tall in comparison. He hits a little shot in low and we take a lead on a 9-0 run by the backups!!!
2	9:00	47	44	They miss a wide open 3 and Hogan posts up and hits a turnaround on our end. Timeout Kentucky.
2	7:10	49	44	Two more defensive stops and they call another timeout. My starters are ready to go and come back out. On this roll I hope that isn't a mistake or momentum killer. We're on a 13-0 run after they went up 44-36.
2	5:00	49	48	I don't think we killed our momentum so much as stopped the clock, letting them sub in Graves and Sweetney who had been sitting with 3 fouls. They score 4 straight.
2	4:45	52	48	Grundy in the low post, he isn't able to back his man down though, and fires it cross court to McCully in the corner for an open 3, GOOD. Timeout Kentucky.
2	2:40	54	55	Well there is a distinct difference here and our last two wins... Kentucky is not missing shots down the stretch. They get a post look from Graves. We answer with a post shot by Grundy. Then Mouton hits a 3. We try to answer but Jimenez misses a 3. They get pretty up and under from Graves, and they are on a 7-2 run and have taken a 1 point lead. Timeout Ohio.
2	1:40	56	57	We turn it over trying to feed the post and Sweetney runs out for a layup. We get Bright a look inside and cut it to 1. Their ball, 1 point game, Kentucky calls a timeout.
2	0:43	58	57	The ball is bouncing their way this time... two tipped passes on that last defensive possession but neither led to a steal. They end up getting Mouton a solid look from the corner for 3 but it bounces out. I work an inside out with McCully and Bright, I really wanted bright taking the shot but he couldn't get the right look. McCully takes an 18 footer with 45 seconds left, GOOD! I hate those mid-range shots in theory but this is where McCully's 90 mid-range rating comes in. Their ball.
2	0:28	58	57	They find their best big man, Graves, inside. He goes for a hook shot and bright is there with the block!!! Grundy picks it up and is fouled. We've not done a good job drawing fouls this half so they have to foul a bit to get us to the line.
2	0:23	58	57	Mccully to the line. Oh no. front end missed. Their ball.
2	0:00.8	58	59	Oh no. We play good defense, they don't get an ideal shot, they clearly wanted hodge to take it... he's forced to pass to Jensen, their center, at the free throw line. He makes a jumper from about 16 feet away. I call a timeout with 0.8 left. Santiago has a quick enough release for that I think.

Heh, SF takes it in. Luckily I have another timeout. I put McCully at SF and Santiago at PG. McCully passes to half court, Santiago does get it off, and it hits the right side of the rim and bounces out.

Their winning jumper is the game changing performance. Grundy was all over it, in his face, jumping and swiping at the ball. That was an amazing clutch shot by Jensen.

Kentucky 59
Ohio 58

Kentucky shot 3-15 from 3, and was under 50% for the game(25-53). They had their cold stretch in the 2^nd half and let us run out to a lead, but unlike Arizona and Louisville, Kentucky hit huge shots in the final 7 or 8 minutes, where they seemed to all miss for the other teams we beat, Kentucky made a 7-2 run when we had pulled ahead. Our 80% FT shooter misses the front end of a 1 and 1, and they come down and get a great shot to win it.

Their backcourt was worthless, but Mouton scored 16, Graves 13, and Jensen 12 for them in the win.

McCully: 7 points/3 assists
Jimenez: 11 points
Santiago: 2 points (1-6/0-5 from 3)
Bright: 8 points/9 boards
Grundy: 13 points/4 boards

Withers: 6 points
Northcutt: 5 points

[Radii]

What an amazing tournament. 2 point overtime win against Arizona, 2 point win against Louisville, and a 1 point loss to Kentucky. Any of those games played during the regular season would have been thrilling and up there with the best games I've ever played.

To have all 3 come back to back to back in the NCAA Tournament is just epic.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by law90026

wow great run!

Originally Posted by Ironhead

Amazing, congrats on the Sweet 16 appearance!

thanks Those games were incredibly fun to play.

[Radii]

Before anything else, lets finish up the tournament.

Final Four



1 seed Kansas crushes 6 seed Alabama to get to the final four.

UNLV does the same to 7 seed Purdue (both 20+ point wins)

6 seed Florida beats 5 seed St Joes 72-70.


Kanses beats Kentucky 84-73 in one semifinal, and #1 UNLV goes down to the 6 seed Florida Gators 85-82.

Florida completes the surprising run to the title by taking down their second 1 seed of the weekend, beating Kansas 88-74 to win it all.

[Radii]

Graduating Seniors

PF Lloyd Bright - 6'8" 238 lbs - 84 OVR

Only in Bright's senior year did I finally begin to focus on post play seriously. And in my in game experiences, Grundy with 5 more inches of height, seemed often more effective, despite Bright's far superior ratings.

Bright was still key to this elite 8 team with 10.1 ppg/7.8 rebounds per game. Over his career he averaged 7.7 points/7.1 rebounds a game. He was a 4 year starter, missing about 10 games due to injury his junior season, starting 122 out o122 games he played.

bright was the #94 recruit in the nation, and the #13 PF, top 100 big men are quite hard to land at a mid-major because of the recruit distribution, so this was a huge score for me at the time. And, he developed into the highest rated player I've ever coached. For his career Bright shot 46% from the field, but most notably when I had a team that was shooting in the low to mid 60% range from the free throw line, Bright was the first guy I brought in that consistently shot over 70%, 74% for his career.


PF Nathan Grundy - 7'1" 274 lbs - 77 OVR

Gundy averaged 11.4 ppg and 5.7 rpg his senior year. For his career he aveaged 8.2 ppg/5.0 rpg. He had B- potential and developed quite nicely, by his senior year he was a legitiately talented big man, not just a 7'1" giant. He shot 53% from the field for his career, but was just a 65% free throw shooter. Grundy didn't become an everyday starter until his senior year, playing 126 games and starting 45 of them.


SF Dwight Snowden - 6'8" 230 lbs - 71 OVR

Not much to say here. Snowden came in as a JC transfer and just was rated far worse than I expected. He got some time as a backup SF his senior year as I bounced between him and Whitted for the backup SF spot at times. For his career he was a 385 shooter averaging under 2 points/game.



The loss of Bright and Grundy may have a lot to do with my decision to stay or leave Ohio this year. I'm going to have backcourt strength that will certainly matchup with any mid-major program in the nation and probably many major programs as well. But Withers and Hogan as my starting front court... with unknown quantities backing them up. I would not be surprised if we were less consistent and struggled more vs similar teams next season because of these losses inside.

[Radii]

2017/18 Ohio Stats

Graduating our #2 and #4 scorers this year, losing them hurts our balance quite a bit, though Santiago and Jimenez are legit scoring threats and both could put up some huge numbers next year. Withers and Hogan will have a lot of weight on their shoulders next year.

Pos	Name	Class	Points	Reb	Assists	FG %	3P %	FT %
SF	Rodney Santiago	JR	17.2	3.4	0.8	44.0	38.6	77.9
PF	Nathan Grundy	SR	11.4	5.7	1.3	54.3	45.0	72.8
SG	Quincy Jimenez	FR	11.3	1.3	2.3	45.2	40.6	78.6
PF	Lloyd Bright	SR	10.1	7.8	1.0	46.0	25.4	72.3
PG	John McCully	SO	7.3	2.5	3.3	45.9	36.0	84.1
SG	Erkan Northcutt	JR	6.1	1.2	1.5	44.4	39.5	75.3
C	Darryl Withers	SO	5.0	2.6	0.3	45.8	36.8	60.0
PG	Tim Barker	SO	5.0	1.1	2.2	41.6	30.4	73.8
SG	Sidney Whitted	FR	3.4	1.1	1.6	41.0	33.3	62.1
PF	Zachary Hogan	FR	2.5	2.5	0.1	60.0	20.0	77.2
SF	Dwight Snowden	SR	2.2	1.3	0.3	38.5	30.4	44.0
C	Bernell Roberts	FR	1.4	1.2	0.2	30.5	33.3	52.9

So I wasn't upset at all about missing the final four, my team really wasn't final four talent. But going through the stats it sinks in that if my 84.1% free throw shooter had not missed the front end of a 1 and 1, we are likely a final four team. That stinks.

[Radii]

2018 Awards

Florida's national title squad is rated 96 OVR, just 1 behind louisville. They started an 83 rated freshman center and an 88 rated SG soph. hll, a 92 rated SF that is only a junior.


The national player of the year this year comes from Vanderbilt. 7'1" Center Demetris Keeler scored 24.6 points and got 7.6 rebounds per game. He was only rated 79 OVR.


VCU's Senior Center Johnny Cesar, rated 83 OVR, is the mid-major player of the year. He averages 23.0 ppg/5.4 rpg.

Bill Self earns the coach of the year nationally, one of the few times I've seen it go to someone other than the coach winning the national title.


First Team All Americans

PG Horace McKnight - SR - Louisville - 94 OVR - 21.6 ppg/4.9 rpg/3.9 apg
SG Jerrad Walters - SR - Maryland - 84 OVR - 21.0 ppg/4.8 rpg/2.9 apg
SF Francis Tucker - JR - Baylor - 86 OVR - 18.0 ppg/5.6 rpg
PF Antone Diarra - SR - Duke - 87 OVR - 25.1 ppg/6.9 rpg
C Demetris Keeler - SR - Vanderbilt - 79 OVR - 24.6 ppg/7.6 rpg

I had mentioned when I scouted Louisville that McKnight seemed worthy here. Nice.


MAC Awards

We're the MAC champions obviously. Since this represents the regular season champs this is our 4th in a row.

I win the MAC coach of the year award for the 3rd straight yera I think. Maybe 4th?

SF Rodney Santiago is the MAC Player of the year. This is the 2nd year in a row he's won the award. 17.2 ppg/3.4 rpg. No reason he shouldn't win it 3 years in a row either.

SG Quincy Jimenez is the MAC Freshman of the year. No surprise here at all either. 11.3 ppg.

First Team All-MAC Awards

PG Brendan McCarthy - JR - Ball State - 75 OVR - 15.3 ppg/3.0 apg
SG Godwin Washburn - sO - Akron - 77 OVR - 10.3 ppg/4.6 rpg/3.8 apg
SF Rodney Santiago - JR - Ohio - 82 OVR - 17.2 ppg/3.4 rpg
PF Lloyd Bright - SR - Ohio - 84 OVR - 10.1 ppg/7.8 rpg
C Terry Samuel - SR - Miami OH - 76 OVR - 15.7 ppg/6.5 rpg


Second Team All-MAC

PG Femi Janiszewski - JR - Ball State -73 OVR - 10.7 ppg/4.0 rpg/3.7 apg
SG Quincy Jimenez - FR - Ohio - 77 OVR - 11.3 ppg
SF Stanley Wagner - FR - Buffalo - 73 OVR - 7.2 ppg/6.4 rpg
PF Pierre Bartlett - SO - N. Illinois - 69 OVR - 10.7 ppg/7.3 rpg
C Ferdinand Whitehead - SR - Bowling Green -82 OVR - 15.4 ppg/5.8 rpg

[Radii]

Its no surprise, but Bright does not get drafted.


looking at my coach screen, this is my 5th straight 20 win season, and 5th straight trip to a postseason.

Last 5 years:

2013/14: 23-8 - NIT
2014/15: 22-9 - NIT
2015/16: 24-8 - NCAA 2nd Round
2016/17: 29-5 - NCAA 1st Round
2017/18: 32-5 - NCAA Elite Eight

hell of a run. I'm 225-121 in my career now.


I have 2 coaching attribute points to use this year. I'm torn as always on where to use them. I could max teaching or defense, I could become a less sucky offensive coach, I could start to learn how to scout players. I still am unsure how big the timeout boosts from Discipline are, I wonder if I'm missing out there...

In the end, I cannot resist pretty numbers. Teaching grants the most overall development from what I understand.

Offense: C
Defense: A
Teaching: A+
Scouting: C-
Charisma: A+
Discipline: C

Overall: B+

That second point... the one I got from making the sweet 16, is the difference between my overall coach rating being a B or a B+. Based on the fact that I saw a lot of B+ coaches at higher levels and almost no B rated coaches, that seems important.

[Radii]

Coaching Carousel

Roy retired one year too early. Or, I made my elite 8 run one year too late. I am *the* hot coach this year.

The top job in the nation is in West Virginia. They were a 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament and were rated 93 OVR. I assume Bob Huggins retired. They are graduating a 91 rated SG but return 4 starters from a team with a 2 seed.


Texas missed the tournament this year. They went 6-10 in the big 12 and haven't been to the big dance in three years. Texas would be a fun state to recruit in. They're rated 89 OVR this year but graduating 3 starters.

Florida State is rated 87 OVR. They finished 12-16 this year and have not made the tournament since 2013. Taking them over would bring about a very unusual situation. They started 5 juniors this year. They have 1 senior and 8 juniors on their roster. 3 sophs and 1 freshman.


St Johns is rated 82 OVR, their head coaching job was available not too long ago I think. Based on their starting 5 I think Ohio is betterthan them.


St Johns has Marist's coach listed first. The other 3 all want me. they're all offering 2 year deals.


West Virginia is a powerhouse, and they likely will be next year. Texas is... well,its in Texas. And Florida State is in Florida, but most importantly, they're in the ACC.

Anyone who knows me knows what I'm debating right now. The ACC job is obviously the one I want to take. But am I really going to turn down a national power for a school who will have 8 seniors on the roster when I walk onto campus? I'm not really building artificial suspense here either, i'm genuinely asking myself this question heh.



I'm just too big an ACC fan. And ever since the mid-80s when I was a kid in ACC Country and the Big East was getting so much attention(rightfully so of course), I've disliked the Big East. If it was one of the fake ACC schools, Miami/Va Tech/Boston College, I probably go to WVU. But Florida State is good enough for me.

Plus, 8 scholarships open gives me a great shot at a top 20 recruiting class, right?


I am the new head coach at Florida State University


West Virginia took Marist's coach. Nevada's coach(2nd generation here, Fox left awhile back) went to Texas. St John's hires Detroit's head coach.

Ohio is the top job on the board after the major jobs pass by. It goes to coach O'Brien out of Indiana State.


Huggins, Barns and Hamilton(WVU/Texas/FSU) all retired. I'm surprised FSU let their guy hang on so long with no tournament bids.

[Radii]

My assistants follow me to Florida State.

There is an 'A' rated scout available, but my 'B' rated scout is also a B+ teacher. the A scout is decent with defense and pretty good with offense... but a D teacher.

I decide to hang on to what I've got. If I see things different at FSU with a bigger budget and presumably more in state recruits that i want to scout and such,then I'll make a change next year.

[Radii]

Now that I'm at Florida State, I'm reasonably close to the pinnacle for me as far as jobs in this game. Well, I mean that in the sense that there are not many jobs I would leave FSU for. Not that Florida State is "close enough" to the UNC job so whatever, heh.

If the UNC job opened I would obviously leave it in a heartbeat no matter what the situation.

If the Georgia Tech job opened I would leave it unless I thought there was a legitimate chance that the UNC job might open the next year.

I would give very serious consideration to Wake Forest and NC State, the two other ACC schools worth a mention in my home state.

Maryland, Clemson and Virginia in my mind are upgrades over Florida State. But they are pretty marginal upgrades, and, silly as this may sound, the orange backgrounds in this game annoy the hell out of me, so I probably would consider a move to Maryland if conditions were favorable, but that's it.


So that's it, that's the list. There are only 5 jobs i would leave Florida State for by my own volition(if I can't recruit next year and get fired its a bit different obviously ).

[Radii]

One other random thought. After 1 empty victory over Ball State, I follow their old head coach to the ACC and set up shop. And since I want the UNC job more than anything, beating North Carolina and doing whatever I can to keep them down is a very high priority for me. Kinda fitting how all that has worked out.

[Radii]

Transfers

The ACC isn't involved in any transfers. Arizona State lost 3 guys this year. 81 rated SG goes to Texas Tech, an 80 rated PG goes to Idaho State and a 72 rated PG goes to Buffalo.

[Radii]

Offseason Recruiting

FSU has already filled its scholarship. Heh, their only recruit is a 3* C ranked #316 OVR. #21 ceter. Looks average at best.


Since I was basically done with my recruiting at Ohio, I had about 10 juniors on my target list to call every week. One of them is a 4* PF from Fort Myers, Florida. He's got 89% interest in FSU. Nice to see that at least some of the work I did at Ohio may benefit me here


Ok, here is what FSU is losing next year:

82 rated PG, 77 rated PG
82 rated SG
80 rated SF, 80 rated SF (another one), 79 rated SF
79 rated PF

There are no underclassmen worth a damn. A soph PF rated 73 OVR. two other soph's under 70 and a freshman SG rated 67 OVR.


So basically, next year, I need to recruit an entire team, starters at all 5 positions.

I wonder if I can redshirt a senior without pissing him off and having him transfer? I could redshirt a couple guys next year. I've got 3 SF's! Might as well sit one, etc.

Oh wow, FSU has 5 juniors with 90%+ interest in them. 4 of them are 4*, all local kids. Maybe this won't be so terrible after all. I get a few of them to 100% through 5 weeks of calls and hopefully enough of them are legit 4* prospects that we'll have something to work with.


So here's my one recruit:

3* C Benjamin Slater - 6'9" 228 lbs - Pompano Beach, FL - #316 OVR/#21 C

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

11.3 ppg/8.4 rpg in the ABL, 46% shooting, so that shows a bit of potential.

Its these individual skill ratings that bother me. C orb/C drb, C post off/C post def, C close/C+ in traffic. Those are the primary ratings I recruit for in a big man. He is a decent athlete, a B- dunker, B- vert/B+ str... not bad. B+ shot blocking so that could be very good. But the rebounding/post/scoring grades bug me, a lot. I'm not expecting much.

[Radii]

2018 Recruiting Class Rankings

1. Florida
2. Texas A&M
3. Kentucky
4. Kansas
5. Auburn
6. W. Virginia
7. Arizona
8. Ole Miss
9. Seton Hall
10. Nevada

13. Clemson
20. North Carolina
25. Maryland
27. Duke
**34. Ohio **
50. NC State
59. Virginia Tech
87. Wake Forest
98. Miami


We're somewhere pretty low, 150-200 range I think.

[Radii]

The CPU schedules pretty light already. I delete a tournament sadly, I like those. But it started on a Sunday in november. Can't have any sunday november games.

In fact, we only have two november games at all

[Radii]

Florida State starts the year rated 88 OVR, I'll do the roster overview later on of course. We'll be decent but I don't expect to be a tournament team. We've got 5 guys rated 80 OVR, but none rated above 83 I don't think.

The center comes in pretty crappy. More on him during the roster overview too.


Recruting is going to be fun. This may have been an accidental gold mine as far as pulling a top 20 class and hell with the volume here could push us to the #1 class maybe? Maybe not, I dunno how rankings work.

Anyway, the guys on my target list... they all know that i'm losing my whole team so they're all interested. 5 4* recruits have 85% or higher interest in us, 3 of them 95% or higher. #27 OVR SG, #36 OVR PG, the #6 and #7 PF's in the country(both top 70). #69 OVR SF.

Some of them have interest in other schools too of course but any of them in florida, and any of them that want playing time we have a huge leg up. If I wasn't so damn tired I'd want to see how this turns out right now. I think we have a serious shot at landing 5 4* recruits in the early signing period.

Two of the guys turned out 5*, one a HS All-American. they are right around 70% interest. They're national guys, not from Florida. They seem a bit unlikely but will probably get an offer anyway.

[hoopsguy]

Great run, congrats on the new job.

Let the ACC poundings (on FSU, for now) commence!

[rjolley]

Congrats on the move. Have fun pounding UNC.

[Radii]

I screwed up my scheduling, bleh. I only checked the November Calendar for 2018 to make sure I didn't have any sunday games. I have a sunday game on Dec 2nd, which is the first day of the early signing period, so I'll need to lock up as many visits as I can prior to that. I'm going to sim through at least the first day of the early signing period, which will mean simming my first 3 games.



But first, Rosters:

2018/19 Florida State Roster

This is the AI recommendations for now.

Starters

PG Joey Summers - 6'1" 173 lbs - SR - 83 OVR

Summers looks awesome. 93 speed/88 quickness. 88 defense/76 steals, very solid. 87 hands/92 passing. That passing rating is A- quality, very very high. 82 close/81 med/83 3/81 off the dribble/79 in traffic. It looks like he can score from anywhere on the floor and does a reasonable job creating his own shot. Summers averaged 9 points/game as a junior.

SG Darrell Crosswhite - 6'2" 185 lbs - SR - 83 OVR

84 speed/87 quickness. 8 defense/80 steals. 88 close/84 med/80 3/81 off the dribble/87 in traffic. He's a good athlete, a leaper with a lot of strength, quality dunker. A JC transfer last season, he averaged 10 ppg. This'll be his second and last season with Florida State.

SF Tron Watson - 6'7" 231 lbs - SR - 81 OVR

Well, first off,his name is TRON. 83 speed/84 quickness. 83 defense/74 steals, I like having SF's that are reasonable on ball defenders. 82 close/78 med/77 3. He's a pretty good all around athlete, though he might struggle a little to create his own shot compared to the guards. Watson was a leading scorer with 14.4 ppg last year.

SF Kyile Weisse - 6'6" 228 lbs - SR - 81 OVR

Natural SF, slated to play the PF position. As a SF he's outstanding. 82 speed/84 quickness/81 defense/71 steals. 85 close/76 med/79 3/84 in traffic. 95 vertical... huge leaper and a great dunker as a result. His post skills are strong... 78 post offense/74 post defense, but his rebounding is weak. 76 orb/76 drb. I'll see if there's a true big man I can play here.

PF Randy Pugh - 6'7" 242 lbs - SR - 79 OVR

Slated to play center, pugh is a slightly undersized, though very skilled, power forward. 80 orb/91 drb. 83 post offense/73 post defense. The defense isn't great but he could be a great scorer inside. 90 close/91 in traffic. 85 clutch rating(A-), and a shot blocker as well(not that those two things are related, just where my eyes are catching hold going through the screen heh). 8.7 ppg/4.1 rpg last year.


BENCH

PG Simplice Duncan - 6'2" 194 lbs - SR - 78 OVR

88 speed/86 quickness, 90 defense/81 steals(spectacular). 87 hands/80 passing. 83 close/74 med/72 3/82 off the dribble. Duncan is a pretty solid PG, I love his defense and steals and handling ability. A career backup, 3 ppg last year.


-- The CPU recommends Crosswhite as backup SG too, meaning they don't have someone to fill the slot... we'll check out our reserves in a bit


SF Henry Shiloh - 6'6" 245 lbs - SR - 80 OVR

81 speed/78 quickness. 81 orb/80 drb. 76 post offense/71 post defense... 93 close/83 med/66 3, 80 in traffic. He's only got decent strength, but he's much better in the post and on the glass than Weisse, the recommended starter at PF. I'm going to play someone out of position as a big, its going to be Shiloh here.


PF BB Locklier - 6'11" 234 lbs - JR - 74 OVR

That's right its a non-senior!! 86 orb/78 drb. 73 post offense/82 post defense. Solid strength and hustle for a PF. 83 close/87 in traffic. A JC transfer that came in as a soph, 5.4 ppg last year. Locklier isn't great and is probably severely outclassed by ACC quality big men... but starting a 74 rated 6'11 PF seems to make more sense than a 6'6 SF.

C Benjamin Slater - 6'10" 228 lbs - FR - 71 OVR

This is the recruit I was given last year. 76 orb/78 drb. 75 post offense/74 post defense. 83 close/86 in traffic. He is a great shot blocker, 85/B+. He has solid hands too, 74 steals. He's strong(78/B+) but his other athletic type ratings suffer. Not much to look at but on this team he'll obviously get minutes.


Ok, so those 9 guys are what the CPU recommends. What's left on the bench?


PG Dusan Moss - 6'3" 193 lbs - SR - 72 OVR

87 speed/81 quickness - 87 defense/73 steals. 79 close/74 med/73 3. 80 off the dribble. He's ok but he lacks the athletic skills and secondary talents that the guys rated way higher have. As a senior the plan is pretty much to let him rot.


PF Marshall Osimani - 6'7" 216 lbs - JR - 70 OVR

89 orb/69 drb, potentially useful for rebounding purposes alone. 71 post off/68 post def... 84 close/84 in traffic. Not useful otherwise.


C Oscar Delic - 7'0" 214 lbs - FR - 68 OVR

71 orb/77 drb. 71 post off/68 post def. 68 blocks. 88 close/79 in traffic. A decent rating in close, some size... since I *really* prefer a 10 man rotation, and I prefer 7 footers over non 7 footers, Delic might see some action this year.

[Radii]

Looking over everything, I think I'm going like this:

Starters:

PG Summers
SG Crosswhite
SF Watson
PF Pugh
C Locklier

Backups:

PG Duncan
SG Weisse
SF Shiloh
PF Slater
C Delic


I have enough experience by now to know that I am awful at managing subs myself outside of a 10 man rotation. If I go less than 10 I have to put AI Substitutions on, and then I just end up annoyed at how the AI is managing my lineup. So I'd prefer to have a slightly weaker overall rotation that I can manage myself until I recruit my own players.

That's right, I'm just the kind of asshole coach who is going to come in and force you to play MY system and refuse to bend to the talent I have available to me

[Radii]

Alright, time to go recruit a whole new team.

Ok, 2 weeks in(November 6th), i've offered my 8 scholarships. We have 4 weeks to lure recruits. The 4th week we have a sunday game and cannot visit that week. So we have 3 weeks to cram in as many visits as possible. Here are our initial offers, in order of current interest:


4* SF Kueth Ozier - Houston, TX - #69 OVR/#13 SF - doesn't care about close to home. He wants to feel wanted and wants playing time. Trust me buddy, have you seen my roster next year? It has about 4 names on it. You're wanted. And you'll play. He is at 100%. LSU,Houston, Mississippi,and Texas are potential competitors.


4* PF Otis Sneed - 6'8" out of Mobile, AL - #64 OVR/#7 PF - We're competing primarily with Georgia Tech. Tulane and LSU are in the picture but far behind. He wants to play at a big program, but also wants playing time and to feel wanted as #2/#3. We have him at 100% already.

4* PG Damon Alloway - 5'11 out of Jacksonville, FL - #35 OVR/#19 PG - Looks like Georgia Tech is a potential frequent competitor of ours. Feeling wanted and playing time are his top two priorities. We have him at 100% already.


4* PF Brice Sanders - 6'10" - Fort Myers, FL - #63 OVR/#6 PF - Here we are likely competing with Wake Forest. He is more interested in playing time and a big program than being close to home. We have him at 100% already.


4* SG Ike Barrett - 6'3" - Miami Beach, FL - #27 OVR/#10 SG - Barret wants good coaching and a big program. We have him at 95%. South Florida, Florida and Miami are a good ways behind us.


5* PG Damien Forte - 6'1" - Toronto, CN - #21 OVR/#10 PG - Forte wants playing time, but he also wants to stay near home. We have him at 82% only so far. Villanova, West Virginia and Virginia Tech are all around the same range.

4* PG Eddie Benzel - 6'2" - Peoria, IL - #40 OVR/#22 PG - Benzel is probably a long shot and I may not spend a ton of time on him. He wants to be close to home and he is the only guy we don't lead on after offering a scholarship. Indiana, Louisville, and Kentucky are his top 3 before us.

5* PG John Mohammed - 5'10" - Brooklyn, NY - #23 OVR/#12 PG - Another long shot, we have him at 75% and Villanova is likely to sign him if they want him.



These are the 8 guys that had the most interest in us early. I'm assuming/hoping I can land say... 4 of them in the early signing period, might lose some too, and then I can round out my class based on what's left. For now these are the best 8 players that it seemed like i had at least a potential shot with.


Having this many targets and this many scholarships is just weird. I may not be able to redshirt some of my guys as freshmen next year, but I can assure you I will be pulling some shit with redshirts to even this out over the next 5 years.

[Radii]

Our first game is November 15th, vs Northeastern:

Nov 15, 2018

at Florida State 71
Northeastern 69

We're rated 88 OVR, they are 79. Good going guys. Crosswhite with 16, Weisse 10, lots of guys with 8.


With two weeks left in the early recruiting season before signing begins, we have 5 4* guys at 100%. The 5* guys there's no way to land in the early signing period. Still no clue what to expect if Georgia Tech or Wake offers late to some fo these cats.


Time to sim two games and then see where we stand.


Nov 27, 2018

at Florida State 65
Illinois 55

Locklier, backup PF, is out for 11 days, our deep bench PF Osimani will step in just fine.

December 2, 2018

at Florida State 80
William & Mary 69

Watson(SF) 13, Summers(PG) 12, Delic(C) 10. And lots of guys with 8ish points.

[Radii]

Ok, here we go...


4* SG Ike Barrett - 6'3" - Miami Beach, FL - #27 OVR/#10 SG - SIGNS WITH FLORIDA STATE


4* PG Damon Alloway - 5'11 out of Jacksonville, FL - #35 OVR/#19 PG - SIGNS WITH FLORIDA STATE


4* PF Brice Sanders - 6'10" - Fort Myers, FL - #63 OVR/#6 PF - SIGNS WITH FLORIDA STATE


4* PF Otis Sneed - 6'8" out of Mobile, AL - #64 OVR/#7 PF - SIGNS WITH FLORIDA STATE


4* SF Kueth Ozier - Houston, TX - #69 OVR/#13 SF - SIGNS WITH FLORIDA STATE


So far, not a single one of our targets signed elsewhere. I don't expect that to last of course. The 5* guys could be gone by the end of the week if someone else offers.

So basically, instead of walking into a school where my job would be on the line instantly because we were losing everyone, what i've really done is come into a school where I got a free fab 5 without even trying because my roster was essentially going to be empty next year. Feels a bit hokey. But eh, we'll play with redshirts and do what we can do even out our classes while I'm here.

I assume this will guarentee me a top 20 class and another coaching point.

As far as scouting goes, I went pretty blind here, basically deciding that all these top 100 guys are interested and I'm going to land as many as i can.

[Radii]

Its a bit much to digest all at once, so we'll throw in some recruit reviews throughout the season. First, the big men:


PF Brice Sanders - 6'10" 219 lbs - Fort Myers, FL - #63 OVR/#6 PF

16.5 ppg/12.9 rpg in the ABL. 2.6 blocks, and a 41% shooter.

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

orb/drb both are C+, that'll be good but not great. C+ post offense/B post defense. B blocks which should be awesome. B- close/A- med, C in traffic. Good strength, vertical, dunking, and good defensive awareness, not so good offensive. Overall I'm thinking we are getting a guy with good size, above average rebounding, solid post skills and inconsistent but strong scoring numbers. I like it.


4* PF Otis Sneed - 6'8" - Mobile, AL - #64 OVR/#7 PF

Sneed looks like more of an offensive talent. 12.4 ppg/9.8 rpg in the ABL. shooting 58% from the floor in his games.

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

orb/drb C+, just like with Sanders. B- post off/B post def. B close/B in traffic. He might have a reasonable mid-range and even outside game as well. Looks like a very solid athlete. Again here I'm expecting some decent rebound numbers and a very skilled scorer inside. Starting at 6'8" its likely he comes in 6'9" and there's an outside chance he grows into a 6'10" frame, but 6'9" for most of his career is most likely.

[Radii]

Next up we play a horrible howard team. And we don't really beat them soundly, but that's ok.

Dec 6, 2018

at Florida State 75
Howard 64

Delic 14, Pugh 10, Weisse 13.

Next up is a random early season ACC contest. We'll play that out.