The Citadel (FBCB 2010)

[Izulde]

So, House of Cards got me in the mood to play as The Citadel in FBCB. Even better is that the Bulldogs have never made the NCAA tournament. So in Frank Underwood style machinations, I've taken over as the head coach of the The Citadel with a lifetime contract that binds me to the Bulldogs for my entire career. Can't be fired, but can't take job offers elsewhere.

Universe Setup
Year Start: 2015
Earliest Turn Pro: Junior year (Since there's no way of splitting it in between Recruits or 3 years, but not freshman and sophomore)
Conference Movement: None
NCAA Tournament and NIT enabled, bottom two tournaments disabled
Transfers: Must Redshirt
Refuse Redshirt: No

Izulde Jestor
All 0 points in coaching categories (Might as well start off at the complete bottom, right?)
Alma Mater: Park, Racine, WI
College alma mater: UNLV

The Citadel has a starting prestige of 18
Recommended Coaching Salary Total: $119,400

As it turns out, our initial staff ends up being two alumni of Virginia schools (Hampton and Liberty) and an alumnus of the College of Charleston, so it's apparent we're going to be recruiting heavily in the South (if that even affects anything - I don't know if it does).



...Ouch. We're going to stink this year, so I'm just going to recruit and speed through the season. I'll also let the AD set the schedule.

Recruiting
When a team starts off this bad, I look first at 3* prospects who have High initial interest in the squad and go from there. With 4 scholarships in hand, we have 7 players who fit the bill, most of whom are quite small for their position, as you might expect.

That's down to 5 after the first month. All of them are Red to start off, but 2 are Red/Green, and 1 is Red/Blue, so those three are going to get the heavy recruitment treatment, and we'll hold off on the 4th scholarship for now.

Target #1 - PF Anthony Holmberg - 6'10, 207 - R/G
R.B. Stall High School - South Carolina All-State
2.42 GPA - 990 SAT
Schools Considering: Citadel, South Carolina State, Coastal Carolina, Winthrop, Appalachian State

Target #2 - SF Herschel Deberry - 6'5, 209 - R/B
Ware County High School - Georgia All-State
2.75 GPA - 940 SAT
Schools Considering: Citadel, Florida, Jacksonville, Clemson, Mercer

Target #3 - SG Earle Vega - 6'2, 180 - R/G
Andrew Jackson High School - South Carolina All-State
2.57 GPA - 930 SAT
Schools Considering: Citadel, Presbyterian, Davidson, Georgia State

Next Month
1. Antony Holmberg - We're still his #1, but Coastal Carolina has also offered a scholarship. South Carolina State is #3, College of Charleston is a new #4 for a potential in-city fight, and Winthrop is hanging around at #5.

2. Herschel Deberry - Still #1, but South Florida, Florida, and South Carolina are still on his list, and Troy has jumped up to #5 with a scholarship offer.

3. Earle Vega - Still #1, and only Presbyterian and the new entry of Jacksonville are on his list.

I see Mr. Basketball Georgia Duane Jenkins has no offers yet, and he's averaged 29.9 points a game for Mays High School, so we immediately go and full press him.

Next Month
SG Duane Jenkins - 6'3, 177 - O/B
Yeah... we have to get this guy. Nevermind his 2.36 GPA and 940 SAT. He'll become our best player right off the bat. Thankfully, we're his #1 choice due to being the only school that's offered him, so the full court press continues.

As for our other players...

1. Antony Holmberg - It's down to us and Coastal Carolina

2. Herschel Deberry - South Carolina's offered him, so they jump to #1, but I'm hoping they'll lay off. Troy has moved up to #4, with South Florida and Florida occupying the other spots.

3. Earle Vega - It's us and Jacksonville, but with no offer from the Dolphins.

Next Month
No surprise, but Herschel Deberry commits to the Gamecocks. Meanwhile, we do land Earle Vega.

And the other pursuits?

1. Antony Holmberg - No changes here.

2. Duane Jenkins - Still no other offers, but the other four schools on his list are Davidson, Georgia State, Alabama, and UNC-Charlotte.

Our next offer is 6'11, 231 lbs Australian center Andrew Peters, who has interest from Villanova, but no offers.

The season starts now, but first, let's take a look at our commitment.



To be honest, I had him rated as the least important of our recruits, but it's still a 3* player making his way to Charleston.

[Izulde]

I have the CPU handle depth chart and strategy for this first season, because I just don't care about our collection of scrubs. 0-3, all home games the first month.

1. Antony Holmberg - No change

2. Duane Jenkins - Still #1 and still only offer. He's waiting for Davidson, Georgia State, Alabama, or UNC-Charlotte to give him a scholarship though.

3. Andrew Peters - R/B, so it's another guy we need to get. We're #1 with only offer, but Villanova's been joined by Marquette, Connecticut, and Clemson. We're too poor to bring him to campus, so this is a long shot, but we'll keep trying.

By January 1st, we're 0-11 (0-1). We may not win a single game this season. That's why I'm not paying particular attention to strengths/weaknesses of our recruits right now. It's just about getting actual talent on the roster.

Davidson offers Duane Jenkins, and we lose him That's a heartbreaker. On the bright side, Antony Holmberg finally decides, and chooses us over Coastal Carolina.

Lifetime Recruiting Battles
Coastal Carolina: 1-0
Davidson: 0-1
South Carolina: 0-1

1. Andrew Peters - Still #1 with only offer, but Marquette, Connecticut, Oklahoma, and Colorado lurk beneath.

PG Paul Davies, a 3* Illinois prospect who has no offers, becomes our next target. One thing about FBCB is that there's always tons of point guards still available deep in the recruiting process.

A look at our latest Bulldog:



We're going to have a lot of turnovers, but we've landed 2 South Carolina All-State players who are 3* prospects. I'd call that pretty damn good, wouldn't you say? Especially since we still haven't won a game.

Miracle of miracles. We get a win our first game in January. In fact, we win 3 games that month to be 3-7 in SoCon play, which puts us ahead of Furman in our division, and well ahead of Western Carolina overall, who have won just 1 game in conference play.

Our late ditch effort for Paul Davies is a miss, as he commits to IUPUI, who had the same idea, and was a lot closer to home.

1. Andrew Peters - Duke, Oregon, Villanova, and Colorado are the sharks churning below our chummy self. Come on, man. Commit to the Bulldogs! We're your only offer!

Next up, SG Earnest Kile from NY, a 2* 6'3 SG prospect who has been putting up great numbers for George Fowler HS, and who I suspect is being criminally underrated.

1 win in February and we're now in last place in the entire SoCon. Oops. We do, however, lock up Andrew Peters for our third commitment of the year.

Everyone else has the idea on Earnest Kile, who is Red/Yellow, and we're in 5th of teams behind American, UMass, Central Connecticut, and Stony Brook. We'll still give him the royal treatment and hope we can pull off the upset. Otherwise, we'll take a look at a couple of international point guards, but will likely roll over the scholarship to next year.



That's going to be a pretty nice complement to Antony Holmberg if the scouting is accurate for both players (not a given, obviously).

As expected, we lose our first round conference tournament matchup, and we're done for the year. Also as expected, Earnest Kile chooses American, and we decide to throw a last Hail Mary at Australian point guard Robin Ludwig, who is a R/G. Brown's offered a scholarship already though, so rollover is likely.

No awards for us this year. What a shock. Not. I don't pay attention to wins the national title or the NIT. Doesn't matter right now. And out of nowhere, Robin Ludwig commits to Louisiana Tech.

Heh. Wisconsin gets the #1 recruiting class.

As for us?



Not bad. Not bad at all.

[Izulde]

Nobody who's interested in us is worth giving a transfer scholarship to, so we'll skip that. Our prestige has dropped to 17, by the way.

Rough recruiting season ahead. No High interest from 3* players, and the only 2* players with High interest are all PGs. 4 scholarships to offer. Because we have absolutely nothing to lose, I throw offers right away.

Target #1 - C Russ Webb - Kentucky Mr. Basketball

Target #2 - PF Elden Rush - Mississippi Mr. Basketball

Target #3 - PG Reed Dryden - West Virginia Mr. Basketball

Target #4 - SG Jacob Marshall - North Carolina All-State

Next Month
Everyone is R/B, save for Rush, who is R/G. We also have no shot on Rush, as Jackson State and Arkansas-Little Rock are #3 and #5 with offers, and we don't rate, so we'll pull the offer on him.

Russ Webb
We're #3 and the lone visible offer, but Cincinnati, Indiana, Morehead State, and Virginia Tech are all around us.

Reed Dryden
Villanova, Ohio, Virginia, Kent State, and Akron as top 5, none of whom have offered.

Jacob Marshall
Furman, Winthrop, South Carolina, Clemson, Gardener-Webb as Top 5, with no offers as well.

Next Month
Russ Webb
Bumped down to #4, and Virginia Tech and Cincinnati have offered, so we're out.

Jacob Marshall
Up to #2 and in a battle with Winthrop, who have also offered a scholarship. We'll hang in here and fight it out.

Reed Dryden
Offers from Akron and Ohio, and we're #4, but we'll do the campus visit and see where things stand.

New Target #1 - PF Colin Ogden - Mr. Basketball D.C.

New Target #2 - PG Tony Engler - Mr. Basketball Massachusetts

Next Month
Jacob Marshall - Two way fight between us and Winthrop, Winthrop with the lead.

Reed Dryden - Down to us and Akron, with Aron ahead.

Colin Ogden - UNC-Greensboro with an offer and #1, but we'll campus visit and see where thing stand.

Tony Engler - Won't even consider us and has an offer from Northeastern, so we pull out.

Next Month
We lose out on Jacob Marshall and Reed Dryden to Winthrop and Akron respectively.

Lifetime Recruiting Battles
Akron: 0-1
Coastal Carolina: 1-0
Davidson: 0-1
South Carolina: 0-1
Winthrop: 0-1

Colin Ogden - Down to us and UNC-Greensboro, but we'll hang in there.

New Target 1 - PG Noel Williams - Florida All-State

New Target 2 - SF Bobby Henry - Indiana All-State

Starting Lineup
PG Stephen Brazil (Sr)
SG Earle Vega (Fr) - R/G
SF Garrett Hackett (Sr)
PF Andrew Peters (Fr) - R/G
C Antony Holmberg (Fr) - O/G

Peters wasn't as good as advertised, but Holmberg had a great offseason training and comes in as our best player and #1 threat on offense. I'm expecting big things out of him.

Recruits By State/Country - Lifetime
Australia - 1
South Carolina - 2

Game 1 - @ Charleston Southern
45-53 L. Ugly game. 12 points, 9 rebounds and a steal from Antony Holmberg, but he also shot just 5 of 15. Our other freshmen had pretty quiet games.

Game 2 - @ Presbyterian
46-55 L. 15 points, 7 rebounds from Antony Holmberg (4/9). Some nice defensive presence from Andrew Peters with 5 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks, and a steal Earle Vega scores 12 points, but is just 2/8 from the floor.

Game 3 - vs Gardner-Webb
Our first home game is a 50-61 L. 13 points, 6 rebounds and 3 blocks out of Antony Holmberg, but Earle Vega's 10 points come at another costly 2 of 8 shooting.

Game 4 - vs Pepperdine
Oh look, another L. This one 43-59. You know it's a bad game when 7 points ([b]Andrew Peters) is your high scorer.

Game 5 - @UNC-Charlotte
55-70 L. 11 points and 2 blocks from Antony Holmberg, and Andrew Peters picks up a career high 10 points to go with 7 rebounds, but there just is not much talent on this roster. Granted, it *is* a lot better than last year's squad, but that's not saying a whole hell of a lot.

[timmae]

Awesome format... great read so far. I know nothing about this game but I may look into picking it up based on your dynasty. Looks fun.

[Izulde]

I wonder if Antony Holmberg has regrets about not going to Coastal Carolina. They're 3-3 and he would have been a starter there, too. The Chanticleers have 20 prestige, and my guess is he'd have been a focal part of the offense for them as well. But I guess the military regimen appealed to him more than the traditional college experience he could have had.

Colin Ogden - We've inched ahead of UNC-Greensboro, and this is why we never bow out in a two school race.

Bobby Henry - 1st on the list with the only offer, but behind is Oral Roberts, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and Cincinnati.

Noel Williams - Offers from Nicholls State, VCU, and Southern, and we're last of the 4, but we'll see how the campus visit goes. Notre Dame is 5th on his list.

Game 6 - @Eastern Kentucky
BULLDOGS WIN! BULLDOGS WIN! 62-52 triumph engineered by 18 points, 6 rebounds and a steal from Antony Holmberg with 5 points, 11 rebounds and a block from Andrew Peters. Holmberg is our first Player of the Game of the season! Last year, we were 1-11. Now we're 1-5, so already a dramatic improvement.

Game 7 - @ #21 South Carolina
A taste of what big time basketball is like, and we lose 40-70. Our freshmen looked completely dazed by Ess Eee See hoops. Herschel Deberry is a redshirt, and my coaches say he's really only R/Y, so we maybe dodged a bullet there?

Game 8 - @ #21 Georgia
My AD is a moron. The SEC roadtrip continues with two straight #21 opponents, and we're clearly the inferior 'Dawgs, losing 38-63. 8 points each for Antony Holmberg and Earle Vega as our leading scorers, and yeah.

Game 9 - @ Liberty
Kick in the teeth. 56-58 L. Earle Vega is a lousy shot (3-9), but accumulates 13 points and a steal thanks to a flawless 7/7 from the line. We sorely need more talent on this team.

Game 10 - vs South Carolina State
They've won just 2 games on the year, so I'm banking on this as a winnable game. Naturally, we lose 51-62, wasting a solid shooting night from Earle Vega for his 14 points.

Game 11 - vs Elon
Huge 61-59 upset win to open SoCon play! After getting shut down the last several games due to fouling out, Antony Holmberg breaks out for 23 points, 6 rebounds and a block, and Earle Vega hits for 16 points. Andrew Peters contributes with 6 points, 8 rebounds.

Game 12 - @ Furman
Damn. 41-52 L. Really thought we had a shot at opening up conference play 2-0. Earle Vega with 16 points and 6 rebounds, most of it at the charity stripe, but he got no help.

One of our scrubs gets academically suspended. Noel Williams opts for VCU. But we get commitments from Bobby Henry and Colin Ogden. Ogden I haven't evaluated yet, but here's Henry.



Lifetime Recruiting Battles
Akron: 0-1
Coastal Carolina: 1-0
Davidson: 0-1
South Carolina: 0-1
UNC-Greensboro: 1-0
VCU: 0-1
Winthrop: 0-1

Roman Kvasha and Dan Scurre, a Russian and a British point guard respectively, become our next targets. We really need to improve our floor general play, and one or both of these guys should be a huge advantage. Neither one has an offer yet, either.

Game 13 - vs Samford
And here's a sweet 53-45 win. 12 points, 7 rebounds and a block from Antony Holmberg. 13 points and 2 steals from Earle Vega, and Andrew Peters adds 7 points, 2 blocks and a steal. I really do like how our post game is developing. Holmberg is PotG.

Game 14 - @Appalachian State
I go in to every game now thinking we have a shot at winning. And of course that means we're blown off the court, 46-65. 9 points and 2 steals from Antony Holmberg is our best showing in this stinkfest.

Game 15 - @UNC-Greensboro
We just beat them out for a recruit, and they get revenge by topping us 59-68 for just their second win of the year. Hate wasting Earle Vega's career high 19 points this way.

Game 16 - vs College of Charleston
The dream of a good season is going up in smoke, 39-69 stomping, and even though this Charleston university is having a great campaign (10-7, 5-1), it's still dispiriting.

Game 17 - @ UT-Chattanooga
Best team in the conference, so I'm not at all surprised by 43-85 blowout. We're getting exposed, after an early good start.

Game 18 - vs Wofford
Another fucking frustrating defeat, 68-70. 9 points, 7 rebounds, a block and 2 steals from Antony Holmberg, 11 points from Earle Vega. Our scrubs actually stepped up this game, but to no avail.

Game 19 - @ Wofford
We take out our frustrations on the Terriers, crushing them 58-42. 12 points, 5 rebounds via Antony Holmberg and 6 points, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks and a steal from Andrew Peters. Some bench scrub is PotG.

Game 20 - @ Elon
If we can beat Elon here, we not only sweep the season series, but tie our conference win total from last year. 57-66 L. Our freshmen did nothing of note.

Still, as of February 1st, we've already tied last year's total wins, and here's Colin Ogden's card.



Our talent level is really blossoming, and I thought this was going to be a terrible recruiting year.

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by timmae

Awesome format... great read so far. I know nothing about this game but I may look into picking it up based on your dynasty. Looks fun.

Thanks. To me it's one of those games that's perfect for fast-simming and building up a universe/history quickly (Hence my original Zeroed Out dynasty).

[Izulde]

Roman Kvasha has offers from Mississippi and Arkansas State, and we're additionally behind San Jose State, in 4th. Tennessee is his 5th school, so we'll drop out.

Dan Scurre has offers from us and Villanova, with Tennessee, Notre Dame, and Arizona lurking behind. We'll pay the 10 grand to bring him for a campus visit and hope for a miracle. Our recruiter will also go, which bankrupts us from doing anything else this month.

Game 21: vs Western Carolina
Somehow the Catamounts are 5-5 in SoCon play. Is Mateen Yeaton coaching them? 44-74 L. Ouch. Garbage game is garbage.

Game 22: vs UNC-Greensboro
Whew. 55-50 win, and we've officially surpassed last year's victory total, and tied the SoCon win mark from last season. 15 points, 2 blocks and a steal from Antony Holmberg, but it's Andrew Peters with the 7 points, 7 rebounds and a steal that wins PotG, as he holds his opponent to a 2 of 9 night.

Game 23: vs Furman
Stellar team defense in this one, a 47-32 victory, thereby beating last year's SoCon win mark. 11 points and a steal from Earle Vega in 19 minutes, who wins PotG despite suffering a sprained knee that has him Day to Day.

Game 24: vs Georgia Southern
It's a haves and have nots in the SoCon right now, and Georgia Southern is one of the elite teams. 46-63 L, despite a game effort from Earle Vega for 10 points and a steal despite his injury. Andrew Peters records 0 points for the first time in his college career.

Game 25: @College of Charleston
Highest point total we've given up this year - an embarrassing 90 points, while only scoring 47 ourselves. 14 points, a block and steal courtesy of Antony Holmberg, and a fully healthy Earle Vega adds 8 points and 7 rebounds. A scrub gets hurt and is day-to-day.

Game 26: @ Samford
38-60 loss and we've officially racked up 20 defeats this season. 11 points, 6 rebounds and a steal from Andrew Peters means nothing. Sigh.

Game 27: vs Appalachian State
Another defeat. 52-75. Antony Holmberg with 12 points and 6 rebounds, Earle Vega chipping in 10 points and a steal.

Game 28: @ Davidson
23-6 for the Wildcats so far, and it's 24-6 after a surprisingly competitive 43-53 game. 11 points and a steal for Antony Holmberg, and a second big fat 0 points from Andrew Peters. And the Australian was supposed to be our best recruit. Davidson made it to the 2nd round of the NIT last year, by the way. Sickening note: Duane Jenkins is already Y/B, and in 19 minutes, has 9 points and 4 rebounds.

Game 29: vs Savannah State
Doesn't count for conference standings, and we lose 49-64 anyway. Earle Vega the lone noteworthy player with 10 points and 2 blocks.

Our Dan Scurre gamble was for nothing, as he commits to Villanova.

Lifetime Recruiting Battles
Akron: 0-1
Coastal Carolina: 1-0
Davidson: 0-1
South Carolina: 0-1
UNC-Greensboro: 1-0
VCU: 0-1
Villanova: 0-1
Winthrop: 0-1

Side note: I'm only counting those recruits where we've been battling at least two months. The one month wildcard shots don't count.

Brady Toler from Lewis Porter High School in New York and Richard Ramirez from Youngsville High School in Pennsylvania, both 2* point guards, are our wildcard targets, because damn it, I want a full lineup of my players next year. Neither one has a scholarship offer yet.

We're the 11th seed in the Southern Conference tournament, which is a step up from last place, narrowly edging out Furman.

Game 30: vs Western Carolina (6th seed)
AND WE HAVE OUR FIRST CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT WIN!!! Holy cow! 54-46 upset of the Catamounts as Earle Vega blows up for 21 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and a steal! What a time to have the best game of his freshman season!!! Nothing else noteworthy to report, other than 0 points again for Andrew Peters - the third time this season.

Game 31: vs College of Charleston (3 seed)
We're reminded of who rules Charleston, and it's not us in a 56-72 loss to end our season. 14 points and 8 rebounds from Antony Holmberg. 7-24, 5-13.

Still a huge improvement over last year in a lot of ways, even though we still have a long way to go, as evidenced by this:





Our Points Per Shot was actually good for 6th in the conference at 1.23, so even though we still have a lot of work ahead of us, we were by no means the most awful in everything.

Going to skip the selection show and all that, because we're still too far removed from that constellation for it to matter.

Brady Toler heads off to Indiana State, and we're #2 on Richard Ramirez's list, his only visible offer. Canisius is ahead of us, with UMBC, Winthrop, and St. Bonaventure on his wishlist.

A last ditch effort at 2* PG Lionel Kuhlmann from Upson-Lee High in Georgia, as the last 2* uncommitted player with Average interest in us. He's 5'9, hence no offers, but why not?

Notre Dame beats Duke for the title.

Final season standings:



We're snubbed on the awards. How the hell Antony Holmberg didn't merit at least an All-Conference Freshman mention is beyond me, considering the center who won had 5.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 0.3 steals, 0.4 blocks, and the power forward netted 4.7 points, 5.5 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.4 steals and 0.2 blocks.



So yeah... how you not put Holmberg on the All-Southern Freshman Team over those two guys?!

Lionel Kuhlmann goes to Georgia, but we get Richard Ramirez as a late commit. Unfortunately, he and those other 2 guys we landed? All 3 of them hit campus as a Red/Yellow, not Red/Green or Red/Blue. That's a bitter pill to swallow, and is one of the dangers of having crap scouts.

It's reflected in our rankings as well.

[Izulde]

Big Ten is doing serious recruiting work, by the way. Last year Badgers, this year Michigan State with the #1 recruiting class.

Transfer Period
We have an Orange/Yellow point guard by the name of Jessie Quionez interested in us. He was a 1* walk-on at North Carolina last year, and is an academic dumbass. Still, we'll see if he wants to transfer in. Nope. He goes to Drake.

After that, it's all scrubs, so we pass.

Recruits By State/Country - Lifetime
Australia - 1
Indiana - 1
Pennsylvania - 1
South Carolina - 2
Washington D.C. - 1

Four 3* players interested in us off the jump.

Next Month
Target #1 - Bradley Proffitt -Orange/Green from Snow Hill High in Maryland
6'3, 177 SG - 2.39 GPA, 1060 SAT
Top 5: Old Dominion, Maryland Eastern Shore, Virginia, Norfolk State, William & Mary

Target #2 - PG Trent Buckley - Red/Green from Mid-Carolina High School in South Carolina
6'0, 184 - 2.67 GPA, 1060 SAT
Top 5: South Carolina State, Wake Forest, Presbyterian, Winthrop, Citadel

Target #3 - SF Kory Johnson - Red/Green from Statesboro High School in Georgia
6'8, 220 - 2.7 GPA, 970 SAT
Top 5: Citadel, South Carolina State, Mercer, South Carolina, College of Charleston

All that calling up we did and we end up going with three of the initially interested players. Johnson looks like a huge perimeter defense upgrade, which is why he got the offer over some presumably more talented players with glitzier resumes in awards. Then again, he's also the highest ranked player by far, and in truth, we've mostly recruited in the 400s in terms of successful commitments thus far, with Andrew Peters the biggest at #408.

Next Month

Bradley Proffitt
We're #4 behind Maryland-Eastern Shore, William & Mary, and Stony Brook all with offers, Virginia 5th. We'll try the campus visit, though.

Trent Buckley
Behind South Carolina State and Winthrop, but since there's only 3, we'll keep battling.

Kory Johnson
Amazingly, we're still #1, despite offers from College of Charleston, Presbyterian, and Florida State (the latter 5th). North Florida is #4, with no offer in sight.

Next Month
Bradley Proffitt
Down to 3 - Maryland Eastern Shore, William & Mary, and us, in that order. Keep on keeping on.

Trent Buckley
Also down to 3 - South Carolina State, Winthrop, and us. Never give up.

Kory Johnson
It's a Charleston battle for the kid. It's us vs College of Charleston, and we still have the inside track.

Next Month
Bradley Proffitt chooses Maryland-Eastern Shore, but we snag a huge get in Kory Johnson, beating out the far more prestigious Cougars. That's going to smart quite a bit for them.

Lifetime Recruiting Battles
Akron: 0-1
College of Charleston: 1-0
Coastal Carolina: 1-0
Davidson: 0-1
Maryland Eastern-Shore: 0-1
South Carolina: 0-1
UNC-Greensboro: 1-0
VCU: 0-1
Villanova: 0-1
Winthrop: 0-1

Trent Buckley
Winthrop has taken over the #1 spot, followed by South Carolina State and us.

We've quietly been going after Dino Archer, the Washington D.C. Mr. Basketball center from Bell High, who is 6'11, 231. His only offer right now is Howard, but after we swing and miss on Proffitt, he gets the letter. East Carolina, us, Coppin State, and Georgetown round out his Top 5.

Richard Rameriz flunks a couple classes his first semester, and gets put on academic suspension. Harsh blow, as he was slated to be our starting point guard.

Starting Lineup
PG Jerry Partenau (So - R/Y walk-on last year)
SG Earle Vega (So - O/G)
SF Bobby Henry (Fr - R/Y)
PF Andrew Peters (So - O/G)
C Antony Holmberg (So - Y/G)

Our top scoring options this year are going to be Antony Holmberg and Bobby Henry, as we'll play an inside game. Very young lineup now, and I'm frankly getting a little excited about the future of this program.

Oh, that reminds me:



Yeah. That's right. We just landed a Top 200 player!. Fist pump.

Game #1 - vs Hawaii
46-59 loss to start the year. 14 points and a steal from Antony Holmberg, and Colin Ogden looked great off the bench with 13 points and 3 steals. Andrew Peters goose eggs, but does grab 8 boards.

Game 2 - vs Florida Atlantic
Our earliest win yet, 61-52!!! Andrew Peters wins Player of the Game, just missing a double-double with 9 points, 10 rebounds. Antony Holmberg adds 10 points, 6 rebounds, and a steal. 11 points for Earle Vega, and Colin Ogden chips in 9 points, 7 rebounds and a block in 22 minutes of action.

Game 3 - @ Coastal Carolina
A big chance for Antony Holmberg to show himself he made the right decision in joining us. Yeah, we lose. 70-78. That's going to happen when 4 players foul out. Holmberg - 12 points, a steal; Earle Vega - 12 points, a steal; Andrew Peters 10 points, 6 rebounds.

Game 4 - @ South Carolina State
Is Trent Buckley in attendance? Hope not, because we just lost 75-83, ruining a monster 23 points, 2 steals from Bobby Henry and 14 points from Antony Holmberg.

So we're 1-3 through the first month, but two of our losses were by less than 10 points. Things really are on the upswing here, even if the results aren't quite showing it yet. Or so I want to keep telling myself.

[RPI-Fan]

This is great. Love the fast pace and focus on recruiting -- especially the color re recruiting battles, history, etc.!

[britrock88]

[Izulde]

RPI-Fan: Glad to hear it. I love tracking that kind of stuff, so I can see the patterns over time.

britrock88: Popcorn, indeed. Now watch it all come crashing down.

[Izulde]

I'm shocked when Dino Archer says thanks, but no thanks to our offer. Bro, you're going to a 7 prestige school. 7! But in the next breath, I learn why you never say no as long as you're still in the chase after the campus visit.

That's right.



That awkward moment when you realized you only won because the other two schools pulled their offers, so you can't count it as a recruiting victory. Damn. Oh well, still makes the two highest ranked players we've landed in my short time here.

Since we can't rely on Richard Rameriz to stay eligible, we pursue Tennessee All-State PG Norris Hicks. Make up your own joke about Tennessee Hicks. Plays at Richland High School and is a 3* prospect with no offers. Currently on the board - Pittsburgh, Michigan State, Maryland, Kansas, and Louisville.

Game 5: @ South Florida
New record for most points surrendered at 96. We score 98... psyche! 68. 13 points, 6 rebounds Antony Holmberg, and Bobby Henry adds 14 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 blocks.

Game 6: @Virginia
39-97 L. Evidently our AD wants to see if we can give up 100 at some point this year. 10 points, 6 rebounds, a steal from Bobby Henry, but he has to chuck 4 of 15 shots to get there.

Game 7: @ Akron
Think we can keep the trend going and give up 98 points to a 1-5 Zips squad? Nope, but the losing streak stays alive, 44-56. 12 points, 11 rebounds and a block from Antony Holmberg and 14 points, 8 rebounds out of Bobby Henry are a big fat nothing. Reed Dryden is Yellow/Blue, but he's shooting 32.8% from the floor as the team's 6th man.

Game 8: vs Tulsa
60-89 drop. Foul trouble holds both Antony Holmberg and Andrew Peters to 0 points. Nice work by Bobby Henry with 14 points, a block, and a steal. Colin Ogden does what he can in relief, scoring 17 points with 7 rebounds and 2 steals. Some bench scrub scores 13 for us as well.

Game 9: @ Gardner-Webb
Remember when we were 1-1 to start the year? Yeah, I can't either. No memory restored here, as we fall 46-71. Let's just point out the whole team was lousy and move on.

Game 10: vs Drexel
Oh so damned close. 76-79, and I'm wondering if we really are in any better shape than the first year. Antony Holmberg and Andrew Peters have 100% matching 10 point, 7 rebound lines (bar Peters adding on a steal), and Bobby Henry erupts for 25 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals. I feel like if the kid could just be consistent, he'd be our biggest star.

Game 11: vs Wofford
Our first SoCon game of the year, and it's a 47-58 loss. 14 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals from Bobby Henry and 13 points, 7 rebounds out of Antony Holmberg, but both were horridly inefficient in getting there.

Game 12: @UNC-Greensboro
The Spartans have had as rough a year as we have (2-9), but they did win their first conference game. I don't know what the hell happened here, but we set a new high in points scored with 85, while allowing just 57. Daaamn. Walk-on Jerry Parteneau makes a last-ditch effort to keep his job with 21 points on 8/11 shooting alongside a block and 3 steals. Bobby Henry and Earle Vega each pick up a block to go with their respective 13 and 14 points, and Andrew Peters nabs 6 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocks. Off the bench is Colin Ogden with 9 points and 10 rebounds.

Why can't we play like that every game?!

Good news: Richard Rameriz is off academic suspension.

Bad news: Norris Hicks goes to Virginia. Since it was a one month pursuing, it doesn't count for the stats. It does mean our options are getting rather thin, however. We'll still be looking for a point guard with our last remaining scholarship.

[Izulde]

It's a good thing colorwise that Richard Rameriz is in the lineup because he's Orange/Yellow compared to Jerry Parteneau's Red/Yellow. Does this mean a SoCon surge is ahead?

British point guard Ivan Pugh is a 3* prospect with a ridiculous 5.92 A/TO ratio, so he gets the full press to try and bring him in, while I go and evaluate him and the rest of the point guards still uncommitted.

Game 13: vs UT-Chattanooga
Excitement is high after last game's blowout and the insertion of our new starting point guard. But it's the same sad story in a 65-84 rout. Richard Rameriz scores 10 in his debut, but Bobby Henry (11 points, 1 steals), and Antony Holmberg (14 points) top him on the scoring chart.

Game 14: vs Appalachian State
70-63 upset pulls us back to .500 in SoCon play. 15 points from Earle Vega, 10 bench points from Colin Ogden, 13 points and 5 rebounds out of Antony Holmberg. But it's Andrew Peters and his 9 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 steals that weirdly earns Player of the Game. Don't care. Won game.

Game 15: @ Georgia Southern
At least we're playing .500ish? 51-71 downing to toss aside Bobby Henry's 13 point, 10 rebound, steal double-double and Antony Holmberg's 10 points and 8 rebounds.

Game 16: @ Samford
Rough 68-76 loss in spite of fabulous 19 points, 8 rebounds from Antony Holmberg, 13 points, a block and a steal from Andrew Peters, and 12 points and 2 steals by Richard Rameriz. Worse - Earle Vega re-sprains his knee and is day to day.

Game 17: vs Elon
What happens when we have a winnable game? We lose, of course! 75-79. 6 points, 10 rebounds, 2 blocks and a steal from Andrew Peters, our best defensive playmaker. Inefficient 12 points, 6 rebounds by Bobby Henry, and 10 points out of Earle Vega.

Game 17: @ College of Charleston
Cougars are still mad about Kory Nelson, and they claw us, 53-83. Nothing good to report, either.

Game 18: @ Western Carolina
65-57 win as we clip the Catamounts. Antony Holmberg with 19 points, Andrew Peters on 6 points, 11 rebounds, Bobby Henry netting 11 points, 7 rebounds and a steal, but it's Richard Rameriz's 5 of 7 night for 14 points that earns PotG honors.

Game 19: vs Wofford
Antony Holmberg rampages for 22 points and 11 rebounds as we pull off a 71-63 upset and have our first win streak in forever, maybe ever. No PotG shenanigans here, as they're all his. Bobby Henry is also great with 19 points. Jerry Parteneau does sprain his ankle, however, and is day to day.

Game 20: vs Appalachian State
Three in a row was too much to hope for in this 45-61 defeat, and only Antony Holmberg's 11 points, 8 rebounds and a steal came ready to play.

Still, through January we've tied the 4 conference wins from our first season, and we're the only offer on R/Y Ivan Pugh. Sniffing behind is Pittsburgh, BYU, Maryland, and Kansas. Pugh's defense sucks something awful, but if the scouting is accurate, he's our best pure floor general right off the bat, and it's not close.

[Izulde]

I fell asleep and my computer restarted itself before I remembered to save, so we have to roll back to the end of November, and repeat December and January Good news is we still keep Kory Johnson's commitment. Bad news is, Trent Buckley's commitment is no longer guaranteed, to say nothing of having 4 conference wins by January's end.

[timmae]

There's no sleeping in this dynasty!! That sucks.. Just when I was digging the 98 point references they are erased from memory!!

[Izulde]

Neither Trent Buckley nor Dino Archer decide in the redux, but we're still the only ones pursuing Buckley now. To be as fair as possible, we'll keep pursuing those players and investigate Ivan Pugh, even if the scoutings show the Brit as worse than expected.

Game 5: @ South Florida
57-88 loss. No record this time. Bobby Henry with 17 points, 0 from Andrew Peters.

Game 6: @Virginia
We lose 68-88. 15 points out of Jerry Parenteau, Bobby Henry 11 points and a block, Andrew Peters with 10 points, 6 rebounds and 2 steals.

Game 7: @ Akron
Unexpected 76-74 upset win! Sometimes a forced re-sim goes your way. Bobby Henry sets a Citadel universe high with 30 points and 2 steals, Andrew Peters muscles his way to 4 points, 13 rebounds and a block, and Antony Holmberg drops in 11 points and a block.

Game 8: vs Tulsa
56-73 walloping, as Antony Holmberg is completely shut out. 13, 12, and 10 points from Bobby Henry, Earle Vega, and Colin Ogden, with Ogden also punching in 7 boards and Vega 2 steals. Not bad considering the Golden Hurricane is now 8-1 on the year (and they were last sim, too).

Game 9: @ Gardner-Webb
Much, much closer game, but still a 54-58 loss. Antony Holmberg with 16 points, 6 rebounds and Andrew Peters with 11 rebounds, 2 blocks and a steal. Some scrub gets a day to day injury.

Game 10: vs Drexel
We're stomped 52-75. And Bobby Henry is out for 37 days with a broken hip. WHAT THE HELL, HENRY?! ARE YOU 80 YEARS OLD?! Ugh. The re-sim giveth and the re-sim definitely taketh. Colin Ogden will start at the 3 until then (AI recommend)

Game 11: vs Wofford
I'm not expecting anything now. 44-52 loss. 16 points from Earle Vega and 10 rebounds and a block from Andrew Peters.

Game 12: @UNC-Greensboro
FML. We lose Henry and we lose our record-setting game, 58-77. Jerry Parenteau dislocates his shoulder and is out 21 days. We better have damn good recruiting luck now.

Trent Buckley commits again, but Dino Archer still goes to Howard. Worse yet, Andrew Peters is academically suspended for the rest of the year. Fuck you, re-sim. Just fuck you.

Earle Vega moves to SF and [b]Colin Ogden[b] to PF. Yeah, this is going to end well. Oh, and Richard Rameriz at PG.

Ivan Pugh is now Red/Blue, so yay? Come to campus, son! Here's a scholly, too.

Game 13: vs UT-Chattanooga
I'm anticipating we'll lose ALL the games. 67-81 L here. 12 points and 2 blocks out of Antony Holmberg, 12 points and 3 steals from Richard Rameriz.

Game 14: vs Appalachian State
From 2-2 to 0-4 with a 37-72 smashing. Stupid Australian getting suspended and stupid Indiana guy getting hurt. 11 boards and a block for Colin Ogden.

Game 15: @ Georgia Southern
71-68 win, but it's hard to get very excited about it, considering our misfortunes and still being way behind the curve. Colin Ogden nets 8 points, 10 boards, a block and a steal, and Earle Vega is player of the game with 14 points and 6 rebounds. 10 points for Richard Rameriz.

Game 16: @ Samford
51-85 rout. 10 points each from Earle Vega and Richard Rameriz

Game 17: vs Elon
Jerry Parenteau is back to day-to-day, and he gets the start at SG here. Doesn't matter. We lose 72-83, tossing away Colin Ogden's 16 points and Richard Rameriz's 16 points, 6 rebounds and 3 steals.

Game 18: @ College of Charleston
64-90 beatdown in the Kory Nelson game. Antony Holmberg finally snaps out of his slump with 19 points, and Colin Ogden scores 11, but the big story is Richard Rameriz with 12 points, 5 assists - the latter the highest I can recall seeing out of a point guard from us.

Game 19: @Western Carolina
Finally back is Bobby Henry but we fall 48-66. Nice 12 point, 11 rebound double-double by Colin Ogden, but no help whatsoever.

Game 20: vs Wofford
Heartbreaking 79-84 loss. We're really missing Andrew Peters, as we're leaking points without him. Pisses me off because of how great everyone played. See image:



Game 21: @ Appalachian State
Aaand that's a 62-71 loss. 20 points and 2 steals from Bobby Henry aren't enough with Antony Holmberg's 10 points and Colin Ogden's 11 rebounds.

Pittsburgh, BYU, Maryland and Syracuse are beneath us for Ivan Pugh, but our offer is still the only one.

Brutal re-sim is brutal.

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by timmae

There's no sleeping in this dynasty!! That sucks.. Just when I was digging the 98 point references they are erased from memory!!

I know... I'd rather have the original sim, rather than what happened to us.

[Young Drachma]

Haha...another good concept. Puts me in the mood to play some FBCB

[Marmel]

Good write up so far. I still play this game all the time. It is my favorite text sim. I wish we could get a new version as things change in college basketball all the time, but this still works great.

That team you started out with is an all-time terrible squad!

[Izulde]

Young Drachma: Thanks I thought it would be a fun one.

Marmel: Seriously! I looked at that roster and laughed for a good 5 minutes. Sad thing is, we might end up with a worse record than that motley crew.

[Izulde]

Game 22: vs Georgia Southern
It's as cold in my apartment as this team is. 50-59 defeat, our 7th straight loss. 11 points, 11 rebounds, 1 block for Colin Ogden. 1 is still our only conference win number.

Game 23: @ UT-Chattanooga
Hello, 20th loss of the year, 46-80. 10 points for Antony Holmberg, 11 for Bobby Henry. Can losing Andrew Peters really have meant this much?

Game 24: vs Samford
Dim hopes for a win dashed. 56-78. 16 points for Earle Vega. Will we even surpass Year 1's total scrub roster's 4 wins?

Game 25: vs College of Charleston
A 20 win team vs a 21 loss one. You know how this goes. 49-68 loss. Bobby Henry goes 4 of 20 for his 12 points, and that's all you really need to know. Colin Ogden with a solid 8 points, 7 rebounds, though.

Game 26: vs Furman
Perhaps our best chance the entire rest of the season to get a victory. At home against the 2 win Paladins. Yep. 67-81 smackdown. Richard Rameriz strains his back. 11 points, 7 rebounds from Antony Holmberg, and Bobby Henry chucks 6 of 20 for 15 points.

Game 27: @ Davidson
43-68. Better shooting night by Bobby Henry for 14 points. Duane Jenkins is now a starter for a 21 win team. Shooting horribly, however - 36.6% on the year. But he's also Green/Blue.

Game 28: vs UNC-Greensboro
We drop this one 54-80. 16 points, 7 rebounds for Bobby Henry and 10 points for Richard Rameriz. I long for the days when Antony Holmberg was a reliable, consistent threat.

Game 29: @ Quinnipiac
Out of conference, out of wins. 61-69. 10 points, 9 rebounds from Antony Holmberg, 13 points, 12 rebounds from Colin Ogden. 12 points for Bobby Henry and 10 rebounds for Earle Vega. We've now lost 14 straight.

A South Carolina All-State PG I had as my backup target commits to College of Charleston, and he's Yellow/Blue, and a better player than still undecided Ivan Pugh. I feel sick.

@ Samford (5 seed): 1st round SoCon tournament
Might as well get this horrible season over with. And of course now is when we pull off a 72-70 upset to match the 4 wins from the 1st season. 16 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists from Bobby Henry, 10 points, 6 rebounds out of Antony Holmberg, but clutch shooting from Earle Vega with 11 points, 6 rebounds gets him Player of the Game.

@ Wofford (4 seed): 2nd round SoCon tournament
Our Cinderella run stops before we get the second slipper on. Game, though, at 69-78. 14 points, 2 steals by Antony Holmberg, and it's another double-double of 12 points, 13 rebounds from Colin Ogden. Leading scorer for our side: Bobby Henry with 16 points, 7 rebounds, despite another 4 of 19 night, and Richard Rameriz chips in 10 points.

We lock up the Brit, but I'm not happy about it, given who we missed out on.



What a rotten year.

[britrock88]

Originally Posted by Izulde

We lock up the Brit.

Hey!

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by britrock88

Hey!

[Izulde]

I'm only going to post selective stats each season, and this year, our horrible team shooting stood out above all the rest. Hopefully that changes next year, but we'll see.



The guy who shoots 35.3% wins Freshman of the Year. What a damned joke.



What's that? A Top 100 recruiting class for The Citadel?! BOO-YEAH! ...Even though, it's, you know, based on ranking of players. It has to be. Because like, in terms of actual talent, I don't see these guys are necessarily BETTER than who we've brought in the last two seasons.

Recruits By State/Country - Lifetime
Australia - 1
Georgia - 1
Indiana - 1
Pennsylvania - 1
South Carolina - 3
United Kingdom - 1
Washington D.C. - 1

We're slowly developing a reputation as a school that recruits mainly in the South and on the Eastern seaboard, with the odd international grab. Of course, this is only three years' worth of classes, so still small sample size. Kory Johnson and Ivan Pugh come in as Red/Green, but Trent Buckley is Orange/Green, so we're going to see some interesting position battles develop.

I can cut a non-scholarship senior to add a Transfer scholarship, so I dump Jerry Parenteau, given how we now have 3 PG options on the roster. I pick an Orange/Green freshman center at random to offer the scholarship to. He goes to Stanford. It's all garbage players after that, so we move on.

Recruiting
4 scholarships on tap. Three 3* players are interested right away, including two South Carolina All-State guys, and the #104 ranked player, a small SG who automatically gets a scholarship offer from us. Let's inflate those recruiting rankings, yo!

...Only we're so far down the list, with Florida his #1 even with no offer and 4 other offers, that we drop him off right away.

Target #1 - PF Earnest Manion - South Florence HS - South Carolina All-State
6'8, 257. 2.41 GPA, 1020 SAT
Top 5: South Carolina, Citadel, East Carolina, Winthrop, Coastal Carolina

Target #2 - SG Joseph England - Seneca HS - Kentucky All-State
GREEN/BLUE and that's all you need to know.
Top 5: Miami (OH)*, Cincinnati, Eastern Illinois*, Western Kentucky, SIU-Edwardsville*

Look, I don't care if he has 3 scholarship offers and that this is a god damned pipe dream. I'm still going to chase after him. He will literally be the single best player we've ever had on campus.

Target #3 - SF George Johnson - King Senior HS - Florida All-State
6'8, 221. 2.79 GPA, 1060 SAT
Top 5: Florida, Florida Gulf Coast, Florida State, Florida International, Miami

He clearly wants to stay in-state, and he's listed as Red/Green, but by the ratings, I would consider him our best player if we landed him. And he has no scholarship offers, so it's worth a shot.

Target #4 - C Jose Mitchell - South Laurel HS - Mr. Basketball Kentucky
7'0, 234. 2.83 GPA 950 SAT
Top 5: Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky, Tennessee, Tennessee Tech, Middle Tennessee

7 feet! 7 FREAKING FEET! No scholarship offers, so we'll throw our hats in the ring. And yes, I know I'm trying to kick way outside our coverage, but the Top 100 recruiting class has me feeling ballsy as hell.

Next Month
Earnest Manion
A familiar foe in Coastal Carolina with a scholarship offer, but we're #1. South Carolina, East Carolina, and Winthrop round out the Top 5.

Joseph England
Down to 3 schools: Cincinnati, Miami (OH) and us. Let's campus visit him and pray like we've never prayed before.

George Johnson
Florida his #1 still with no offer, then Florida Gulf Coast and Florida International with offers, and us. Florida State #5. Campus visit and pray.

Jose Mitchell
Offer from Georgia is #2, and I'm pondering cutting bait since we don't even show up on his list. But screw it. GO BIG OR GO HOME!

Next Month
Earnest Manion
And then there were 2 - us and Coastal Carolina. Let's keep the fight going!

Joseph England
Miami (OH) dropped out, so it's just us and Cincinnati now. Foolish dream continues.

George Johnson
Florida Gulf Coast has moved ahead of no scholarship offer Florida, with us 3rd. NEVER SURRENDER!

Jose Mitchell
Georgia a clear-cut #1, then Kentucky, then finally us. Tennessee and Marquette laze in 4th and 5th, no offer along with the Wildcats. Can we beat the SEC?!

...No. Jose Mitchell is gonna be a Dawg. Woof.

Lifetime Recruiting Battles
Akron: 0-1
College of Charleston: 1-0
Coastal Carolina: 1-0
Davidson: 0-1
Georgia: 0-1
Maryland Eastern-Shore: 0-1
South Carolina: 0-1
UNC-Greensboro: 1-0
VCU: 0-1
Villanova: 0-1
Winthrop: 0-1

Earnest Manion
Still leading Coastal Carolina.

Joseph England
Still lagging Cincinnati

George Johnson
We've fought our way to #2, ahead of no offer Florida, and are currently behind Florida Gulf Coast.

New Target: C Caleb Ludwig - 3* 6'8, 232 Australian, 2.43 GPA, 1190 SAT
We're offering him blind, because we need to get a big(ish) body in here given our two starters are seniors. And he's the only center who doesn't have a scholarship offer yet.

Kory Johnson's stupid ass gets academically suspended . Gonna be another long, long season.

Starting Lineup
PG Trent Buckley (Fr - Orange/Blue)
SG Earle Vega (Jr - Orange/Green)
SF Bobby Henry (So - Orange/Yellow
PF Andrew Peters (Jr - Orange/Green - He's 7' by the way, which I forgot)
C Antony Holmberg (Jr - Green/Green!)

Even with Kory's suspension, on paper, this is the single strongest lineup we've ever fielded here. [b]In fact, we have an 8 man orange rotation). Quite a long way from the days of an All-Red team. Now can we do it on the court, with our first ever Green player?

Game 1: vs Florida A&M
And that's a 58-68 loss to open the year. 16 points, 6 rebounds, a block and a steal for Antony Holmberg, 14 points, 5 rebounds for Earle Vega, and 10 points, 3 steals in his debut for Trent Buckley.

Game 2: vs Quinnipiac
82-69 win, which is a record high for Citadel points scored in my time here! Antony Holmberg fouls out, and Colin Ogden steps up big off the bench, winning Player of the Game with 17 points, 13 rebounds. Bobby Henry scores 15, Earle Vega picks up 11 points, 5 rebounds, and Trent Buckley is a perfect 6/6 for 14 points.

Game 3: @ Central Florida
This is evidently a Florida year or something. 63-81 loss, despite 20 points, 7 rebounds from Antony Holmberg. 12 rebounds, a block and steal from Andrew Peters. Just missing a double-double is Bobby Henry with 12 points, 9 rebounds, and Earle Vega scores 13.

Not the start I hoped for, but not terrible, either. Our longshot bid for Joseph England ends in failure, as he chooses Cincinnati, but we stay perfect against Coastal Carolina with Earnest Manion's commit.

Lifetime Recruiting Battles
Akron: 0-1
Cincinnati: 0-1
College of Charleston: 1-0
Coastal Carolina: 2-0
Davidson: 0-1
Georgia: 0-1
Maryland Eastern-Shore: 0-1
South Carolina: 0-1
UNC-Greensboro: 1-0
VCU: 0-1
Villanova: 0-1
Winthrop: 0-1



Not much of a shooter, obviously, but he'll be one of the better defensive forwards we have and a key piece going forward. We're not yet at the stage where we can redshirt guys, but when we are, he's a potential candidate.

[Izulde]

George Johnson
Everyone dropped out but us, so it looks like we're going to win by default. Yay!

Caleb Ludwig
We're the only offer, but big threats remain - BYU, Texas, Miami, and Arizona.

New Target - SG Ronald Adam - Southside HS - Georgia
6'3, 181; 2.59 GPA, 1130 SAT
Top 5: Alabama State, North Florida, South Florida, Michigan, Kentucky
-The only 3* player left with no offers, and it's obvious he's not really sure where he wants to go to school. We throw him an offer without scouting him, because we dropped all our money on locking up Johnson and making a campus visit for Ludwig.

Game 4: @ Georgia State
Georgia State's unbeaten, and they stay that way, whipping us 57-92. 12 points out of Antony Holmberg as the lone guy who showed up.

Game 5: @ Jacksonville
We have a long, long stretch of road games this month, which doesn't bode well for our record. And a crazy, NBA-like 99-102 loss follows, setting new school records for points scored, points allowed, and total combined points. 15 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals for Antony Holmberg. 15 points off the bench from Richard Rameriz. Great night for Bobby Henry with 18 points, 5 rebounds, but Earle Vega cost us this game by going 4/12 for his own 15 points.

Game 6: @ South Carolina
61-80 L. Very frustrating that we have more talent than we've ever had, but the results aren't showing up in the win column. 14 points, 6 rebounds, 1 block by Bobby Henry, and Colin Ogden does his thing off the bench with 14 points, 8 rebounds.

Game 7: @ Oregon State
Maybe these P5 road games will help us in conference play? Or maybe we can pull off the huge 85-80 upset for our biggest win ever! The Beavers get savaged by 19 points, 6 rebounds from PotG Bobby Henry, a 14 point, 10 rebound double-double by Antony Holmberg, Andrew Peters' 10 boards, and Trent Buckley's 10 points. Wow!

Game 8: @ Hawaii
Close 89-96 loss. Antony Holmberg with 23 points, 8 rebounds; Bobby Henry with 17 points, and 14 and 13 respective points by Earle Vega and Trent Buckley. At least we're playing competitive basketball now.

Game 9: @ North Carolina State
I so want to punch our AD in the dick. What the hell was he thinking, giving us this murderous December schedule? Back to the blowout ways, 57-81. 14 points, 6 rebounds from Bobby Henry the lone noteworthy performance.

Game 10: vs Central Michigan
FINALLY we get home, and it's against a team that looks beatable on paper. And we get the 87-82 victory!!! Antony Holmberg wins Game MVP honors with 19 points, 6 rebounds, though hat-tip to Andrew Peters with 9 boards and 2 blocks, Bobby Henry with 16 points, 7 rebounds, Trent Buckley's 17 points, and in the sneaky good bench performance of the year, Colin Ogden's 10 points, 2 blocks, and 2 steals. Way to be disruptive on D, Colin!

Game 11: vs Texas State
I don't remember if we've ever had a winning streak here, but this is as good a chance as any to get one if we haven't. And of course we fricking lose 58-60. I'm so mad that I don't even look at the box score. That was a real chance to have 4 non-conference wins for the first time in my tenure. And yes, I realize how flipping pathetic that sounds.

Good news. George Johnson and Kory Johnson commits and is off suspension respectively.

Bad news. Kory Johnson is crying about lack of PT. WHAT THE HELL, DUDE? YOU HAVEN'T BEEN PLAYING BECAUSE YOUR DUMB ASS FLUNKED A CLASS LAST SEMESTER! Don't come crying to me about that noise!

Ronald Adam got slammed with scholarship offers last month, and is no longer considering us, so we drop his scholarship. There's another guy I've got my eye on anyway.



If those numbers are accurate, he comes in as our best 3 point shooter and perimeter defender right away. Obviously not a sure thing with how poor our scouting is, but still, an exciting get. In fact, he's our second Top 200 player in school history, and our highest ranked recruit ever gotten. Not to mention, we've finally broken into talent-rich Florida.

[Izulde]

New Target - C Darrell Garner - West Lincoln HS - North Carolina
7', 221 lbs; 2.27 GPA 1020 SAT
Top 5: Wisconsin, Texas, Oklahoma, California, BYU

He's dreaming of the big schools, but he has no scholarship offers to date, and we need another 7 footer, so I'll see if I can sneak him in. And yes, we're going heavy on bigs this class, with the intent of actually using redshirts starting next season probably.

Caleb Ludwig
Still the only offer, with the remainder UConn, BYU, California, and Florida. Funny how often BYU seems to crop up in these lists.

Game 12: @ College of Charleston
Rough non-con for the Cougars at 4-8, and they're definitely looking weaker, as we lose 71-77. Monster game by Trent Buckley for 25 points, but outside of Antony Holmberg's 10 points and 6 rebounds, he didn't get much assistance.

Game 13: @ Samford
The years of poor recruiting classes are starting to catch up to some teams in the league. We trounce 80-65 here, carried by Player of the Game Bobby Henry's 19 points and 6 rebounds. Antony Holmberg chips in 12 points and a block, and Trent Buckley stays hot with 16 points.

Game 14: @ Georgia Southern
3 straight road games to open the Southern Conference season, and all 3 opponents have records under .500. We make it 2 wins in a row, destroying them 86-65. Not a single rebound from Antony Holmberg, but he wins PotG with 19 points anyway. Balanced effort, as Bobby Henry scores 16, Earle Vega 12, and we get 10 bench points from Richard Rameriz in 14 minutes.

Game 15: vs Elon
Seems to be a down year for the SoCon, and we have a real shot here at our first ever 3 game win streak. And we beast mode 95-71! Daaaamn. I'm just going to post the box score for this one, because it's literally the best game we've ever played.



Wow. Just freaking wow.

Game 16: vs Furman
The Paladins are the first overall .500 team we face in conference play and it's back to the same old song, 49-79 loss. This probably starts the long losing streak if past seasons are any indication. We shot 23%, which tells you all you need to know.

Game 17: vs Davidson
And here's perennial SoCon power Davidson, still strong. Call the 71-81 defeat to drop us back to .500 a moral victory. 14 points, 9 rebounds a block for Antony Holmberg, 11 boards for Andrew Peters, 14 points in just 17 foul-plagued minutes for Bobby Henry, and Trent Buckley with 11 points and 2 steals.

Game 18: @ Appalachian State
FML. Nearly pull off the upset, but lose 67-69. I hate 2 point losses, so fuck whoever played well.

Game 19: vs UNC-Greensboro
Getting back to an even record in SoCon play would be great. We get it, 77-70, and clinch a tie with most wins in a season since I've coached here. Player of the Game is Bobby Henry, who singlehandedly took this game over with 24 points and 3 steals, with Trent Buckley tacking on 11 points. The improvement Henry's shown in his shooting this year has been great, and is a big reason why this is the best we've done to date.

Game 20: vs Western Carolina
Can we break some more records? Yes! In a thrilling 90-84 victory, we set a new record with 8 overall wins, and tie our single best season mark with 5 conference wins. Bobby Henry is a god damned man among boys with 31 points, 2 blocks and 2 steals in winning his second straight Player of the Game, though let's give credit to Antony Holmberg's 10 points and Trent Buckley's 17 points and 2 steals.

We lose Darrell Garner to Wake Forest. Damn.

I'm determined to end on a happy note, so here's the end of January standings.



The tables are finally starting to turn! (Maybe).

[Izulde]

So I thought you guys might like to see what a top team in the country looks like.



4 blue guys and able to go 8 deep on green guys. Wisky is still living off that #1 ranked recruiting class (the juniors). They lost in the first round in Year 1 (before that class), made the Elite 8 the next year with the super freshmen, and won the championship last season. And they're still rolling strong this year.

Caleb Ludwig
Still the only offer, with the others in the top 5 California, UConn, Florida, and Seton Hall. He's also the only 3* player with Average or higher interest in us who isn't committed.

New Target - PG Darrin Cole - Warren Central HS - Kentucky All-State 2*
6'1, 178; 2.67 GPA, 1190 SAT.
Top 5: Jacksonville State, Tennessee Tech, Florida International, William & Mary, Loyola (IL)

I'm a sucker for All-State and Mr. Basketball players, so since he has no offers, I'll see if I can snag him, even though we're loaded at point guard. All that's left of the 2* players with Average interest is PGs, so yeah.

Game 21: vs Samford
What's that? Our second 3 game win streak?! Yes, it is! 88-70 powered by 20 points and 3 steals from Trent Buckley, 16 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals by Bobby Henry, and 12 points, 5 rebounds in foul-trouble 15 minutes from Antony Holmberg. No PotG in this one, as their SG blew up for 26 points, 11 rebounds and a steal.

Game 22: vs College of Charleston
Beating our archrival for a first ever 4 game win streak would be amazing, but it's a 72-85 loss. Cougars have really turned it on in SoCon play. 11 points, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks, a steal for Antony Holmberg, 14 points for Bobby Henry, and 16 points by Trent Buckley, who is having an amazing freshman year by our standards. Andrew Peters is day-to-day with a sprained wrist

Game 23: @ Furman
I hit the recommend button and Colin Ogden is starting at PF for this one. Makes me nervous, and sure enough, we lose 65-81. Down to .500 we go Way to ruin 16 points, 10 rebounds, 2 blocks and 2 steals by Bobby Henry, who is becoming the team's star. Colin Ogden picks up a pair of 14s (points, rebounds), and Trent Buckley and Richard Rameriz score 11 and 10 respectively.

Game 24: @ Davidson
Andrew Peters back in, but it's the Wildcats, so... DAMN IT! 81-83 LOSS! SO CLOSE TO KNOCKING OFF THE BEST TEAM IN CONFERENCE!!!!! Usual skip of 2 point losses applies.

Game 25: @ Elon
We left it all on the court in Davidson, and sleepwalk through a 54-70 loss here. The dream of double digit wins and .500 in conference play is slowly but surely slipping away. 16 and 13 points by Bobby Henry and Trent Buckley can't get it done when Antony Holmberg shoots an ice-cold 3 of 14. Did have 8 points, 8 rebounds, 3 steals, 1 block, though.

Game 26: @ UNC-Greensboro
We finally stem the bleeding, the 4 game losing streak stopping with an 85-82 thriller. For the first time in this universe, we crack 10 wins on the year. Coming out of nowhere is Earle Vega with 18 points, 4 assists and 2 steals to earn Player of the Game. 17 points, 8 rebounds, a block and 2 steals for Antony Holmberg, while Andrew Peters pulls down 11 boards. Bobby Henry nets 13 points, 6 rebounds and 2 steals, and Trent Buckley scores 11. Just missing a bench double-double is Colin Ogden with 8 points, 9 rebounds.

Game 27: vs Georgia Southern
Back to .500 in the SoCon with a heart-pounding, nail-biting, and every other damned cliche 68-67 win! Antony Holmberg destroys everyone with 23 points and is Player of the Game. Bobby Henry records 17 points, 9 rebounds on ugly shooting (7 of 19), and Trent Buckley gets 10 points, 5 boards

Game 28: @ Wofford
Win this one, and we can guarantee .500 in the conference for the first time ever. Lose, and it's not possible, because there's no way we win our last game based on our opponent. And it's an 87-50 rout to guarantee an even record in the SoCon!!!!!. Man, oh man. Bobby Henry is the man of the night with 18 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals, Antony Holmberg racks up 14 points, a block and 3 steals, and Trent Buckley rounds out the starters with 13 points and 2 steals. But mad props to Colin Ogden as well with 11 points, 7 rebounds and a block off the bench.

Caleb Ludwig finally signs on the dotted line at the end of the month.



Prime redshirt candidate, even though by the numbers, he'd be our best defensive rebounder and just behind Peters and [b]Holmberg[b/] for best post defender if this is accurate. Could see him ironically be the new Australian starting PF once his countryman graduates next year.

Darrin Cole
We're the only visible offer, and #2 on his wishlist behind Albany. Morehead State, Nebraska, and South Alabama make up the rest of the Top 5.

Game 29: vs UT-Chattanooga
The 20 win Mocs have already clinched the SoCon title, and they actually made the Final Four 2 years ago Last season they were a first round NCAA exit, and the first year they lost in the 2nd round of the NIT. Talk about a George Mason story! More stuff on that later. Anyway, they squash us 58-88, as expected. 11 and 12 respective points from Trent Buckley and Colin Ogden.

So, Davidson has an NIT runner-up two years ago, and a 2nd round NCAA exit last season. Other than that and UT-Chattanooga's shocking Final Four run, it's been a quiet SoCon postseason. College of Charleston did make it to the third round of the NIT last year, and Western Carolina has an NCAA appearance from the first season. Otherwise, not much to say.

Wish I'd known what seed the Mocs were during that Final Four run. While I'm looking through the records, I notice that Duke has made every single Final Four, but lost in the championship two years ago, and ended their run at the Final Four the other two years.

Southern Conference Tournament 1st round: @ Wofford (11th seed)
Sure, we're finally favored in matchup (the #6 seed FTW), and we're technically the away team. I call bullshit. We get mad and flatten the Terriers 79-59. Antony Holmberg, Earle Vega, and Trent Buckley each score 14 points with between 5-7 rebounds, and Kory Johnson scores 9 off the bench. Bobby Henry has 10 points and 5 boards.

Southern Conference Tournament 2nd round: @ College of Charleston (3rd seed)
High pressure stakes against our mortal enemies, and OMG! OMG! OMMMMMMMMMMMGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!! THE THIRD TIME IS THE GOD DAMNED CHARM!!!! 83-78 UPSET!!!!



The biggest win ever for The Citadel in this universe!!! ONWARD, BULLDOGS!!!!!

It's Cinderella time, because UNC-Greensboro finally stopped underachieving (they have 2 green seniors) and upset UT-Chattanooga 74-56 as an 8 seed. Holy crap.

Southern Conference Semifinals: @ Davidson (2 seed)
Real David and Goliath story here. Duane Jenkins, you remember us? Now we're hoping to beat your boys and make you regret, for all of 2 seconds, that you didn't become part of the most amazing Citadel team since ... uh... let me check. 2009-10, when the team went 16-16, 9-9, and lost in the SoCon Quarterfinals.

Oh, and just to give you a sense of the kind of long, mixed history we're dealing with...

List of The Citadel Bulldogs basketball seasons - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Anyway, on to the game. 65-77 loss, but damn, I couldn't be more proud of this team. I'll post the box score anyway, because this is the final game of our best year ever.



The Player of the Game scored 13 points in 12 minutes off the bench btw, and I imagine was a critical juncture scorer. At least we made Duane Jenkins chuck his way to those points.

UNC-Greensboro saw their run end, too, so it's 2 seed Davidson taking on 4 seed Appalachian State in the SoCon final. If the Mountaineers win, they'll have their first postseason appearance in this universe, despite a winning record last year at 17-14 (9-9).

[Izulde]

Appalachian State upset Davidson 80-66 to take home the auto-bid. Now it remained to be seen what would happen to the Wildcats and the Mocs - at-large bid, NIT, or nothing doing?

Appalachian State got a 16 seed, while UT-Chattanooga (4 seed) and Davidson (1 seed) both made the NIT. 3 teams making the postseason - looks like the SoCon is on the rise.

We inch up to #1 on Darrin Cole's list at the start of April, with Murray State, Michigan, William & Mary, and Illinois State his non-offer favorites. Looks like this is going to be a summertime decision.

Davidson makes it to the NIT Final Four, where all the #1 seeds made it. Nice! But the Wildcats lose the next two games and finish 3rd. Oklahoma destroyed everyone in taking the NIT. In the NCAA, Kentucky knocked off Florida State.

Bobby Henry keeps getting the awards, named to the 1st Team All-SoCon. That's our only award winner, as Trent Buckley got screwed out of the All-Freshman team to a god damned redshirt freshman who played 6 games last year while being redshirted. Bug?







Defensive rebounding rate was our big Achilles heel. We scored the most points and gave up the most points because we ran 10 pace all year (I hit Recommend on Strategy at training camps), so our actual margins were middle of the road.

Dat Bobby Henry, though. Indiana kid is blossoming into one of those guys who plays above his ratings and color grade. He was a chuckerass last year, but is really stepping it up now.

Darrin Cole fucks us over, and at the last minute goes to Western Kentucky instead. So once again, we'll be floating a scholarship into the transfer period.

[Izulde]

So close to our second straight Top 100 recruiting class. Even more nauseating to see College of Charleston break the top recruiting class record set by Davidson in Year 1 (#67). It's going to keep making things tougher.

Recruits By State/Country - Lifetime
Australia - 2
Florida - 1
Georgia - 1
Indiana - 1
Pennsylvania - 1
South Carolina - 4
United Kingdom - 1
Washington D.C. - 1

So we're now through a full four years of recruiting, and we've yet to go further west than Indiana, much less go beyond the Mississippi. At least we're doing a great job of keeping in-state talent at home. We're also developing something of a pipeline to Australia.

The bad news? All 3 of our freshmen come in as red/yellow Somebody's going to get redshirted - it's just a matter of who.

Our prestige jumped 3 points to 20 after last season, which is higher than the 18 we started with. Go Bulldogs!

Transfers
Nobody interested in us during the first round, and the usual all scrubs after that, so we're still searching for our first transfer.

Recruiting
4 scholarships available after cutting one of the scrubs, and only one 3* interested initially. Gonna be one of those years. We cast our net far and wide, however, looking for whatever we can get.

Target 1 - PG Chris Culpepper - Jenkins County HS - Georgia
5'10, 155; 2.81 GPA, 1060 SAT
Top 5: Clemson, Mercer, South Carolina State, Furman, Presbyterian

I know we have point guards pouring out our ears, but you don't pass up on upside like he has, when you're in a year where you're fighting for guys. Especially since he's reportedly in to you.

Target 2 - SG Larry Eperson - Indian River HS - Mr. Basketball Delaware
6'3, 186; 2.74 GPA, 1160 SAT
Top 5: Temple, George Mason, Navy, William & Mary, Coppin State

Been a long time since we've recruited an actual SG, and with Earle Vega a senior, recruiting another native one seems like a great idea.

Target 3 - SF Chris Springer - Citronelle HS - Alabama-All State
6'6, 213; 3.14 GPA, 1140 SAT
Top 5: South Alabama, New Orleans, Samford, Jackson State*, Alcorn State*

I don't care that he already has two offers - from our scouts, he's the best player out of everyone we looked at in terms of ready now talent. Nor do I care that this is the position we've had as our best one the last two recruiting classes.

Target 4 - C Jesus Moya - Spain
6'11, 227; 3.00 GPA, 1320 SAT
Top 5: Hawaii, Us

We need to replenish our height badly, and Moya has incredible potential to be a god damned beast defensively. He's also the smartest player we've ever recruited, so he won't need a lot of study hall time, which means more devotion to developing his craft.

Next Month
Chris Culpepper
We're out of the running. Clemson, Mercer, Furman, South Carolina State, Kennesaw State all have offers and all make his Top 5. Cut and move on.

Larry Eperson
Another cut and move on. Coppin State* Virginia*, Rider, Loyola-Maryland*, Princeton*. This is getting depressing.

Chris Springer
New Orleans, South Alabama, Jackson State, Samford and us, in that order, all offering scholarships. It's not great news, but we'll continue to hang in there, because I love this kid and think he'll do great things for us.

Jesus Moya
We're his only offer and Hawaii is the only other contact. We'll keep plugging in assistant visits.

New Target: C Zachariah Wells - Clinton HS - Louisiana
6'10, 212; 2.58 GPA, 1150 SAT
Top 5: New Orleans*, Tulane*, Southern Miss*, UL-Lafayette*, Us

A shot in the dark because we're Top 5 despite no offer yet. Great post defender already, and yeah I realize we've been concentrating on defenders the last few classes. Weird. We need more shooters.

Next Month
Chris Springer
We're #3 behind New Orleans and South Alabama. It's a three way race now.

Jesus Moya
No change here.

Zachariah Wells
Down to New Orleans and us. I hope they don't hire Pumpy Tudors as their recruiting coordinator. We'd lose all the recruiting battles

New Target: C Henry Tierney - Rhode Island Mr. Basketball
7', 233; 3.09 GPA, 1400 SAT
Top 5: Rhode Island*, Northeastern*, Us

Can't resist the height and smarts. I just can't!

Next Month
Henry Tierney goes to Rhode Island, but it's only one month, so it doesn't count. Chris Springer is dazzled by Pumpy and plumps for the Privateers. Been a while since we've lost a multi-month recruiting battle.

Lifetime Recruiting Battles
Akron: 0-1
Cincinnati: 0-1
College of Charleston: 1-0
Coastal Carolina: 2-0
Davidson: 0-1
Georgia: 0-1
Maryland Eastern-Shore: 0-1
New Orleans: 0-1
South Carolina: 0-1
UNC-Greensboro: 1-0
VCU: 0-1
Villanova: 0-1
Winthrop: 0-1

No changes with previous targets.

New Target SGs
Timmy Rogers - 6'3, 177 - Mr. Basketball Kentucky - 2.42, 1080
Top 5: Indiana, Southern Illinois, Ohio, Illinois, Mississippi
Kevin Gulley - 6'3, 175 - Pennsylvania All-State - 2.4, 1020
Top 5: St. Peter's, George Mason, Wake Forest

Let's see if we can balance the roster out some, eh?

Everyone on the roster is willing to accept a redshirt except Ivan Pugh and Earle Vega. After a lot of thought, and hitting the Recommend button, I decide to redshirt both Caleb Ludwig and Earnest Manion, as they're 13th and 14th on the depth chart.

Very cool note. There's an early draft report, and Antony Holmberg, while currently projected to go undrafted, is in the conversation for possibly getting selected.

Starting Lineup
PG Trent Buckley (So) - 6'0, 186 (Yellow/Blue)
SG Earle Vega (Sr) - 6'2, 192 (Yellow/Green)
SF Bobby Henry (Jr) - 6'6, 228 (Yellow/Yellow)
PF Andrew Peters (Sr) - 7', 245 (Yellow/Green)
C Antony Holmberg (Sr) - 6'10, 216 (Green/Green)

For the first time in this universe, not a single freshman has cracked the starting lineup. In fact, George Johnson is the 10th man on the roster, and of course the other two scholarship guys are redshirts (We had a walk-on PG). It's a shame that Peters and Vega never lived up to their potential, but this is still the best lineup we've ever had.

And since we've gone through a full cycle of recruiting classes... remember how we started off with all red that first season? Here's how things look now:



Quite a dramatic improvement. Note also that Ludwig and Manion both jumped up to Green potential after training camp, so it's a fluctuating thing. Also remember it's by colors of the rainbow. Hence:

Red
Orange
Yellow
Green
Blue

from worst to best. Don't think Purple exists in the college game. So you can see just how huge a stride we've made - from all red to a green guy and able to go 9 deep on orange.

I do worry for our post game next year. On paper, this should be the best season we've ever had, and it might be our best for quite some time.

Game 1: @ Murray State
Nice, exciting 70-67 win in the season opener. Earle Vega rips off 21 points, 9 rebounds and 2 steals for Player of the Game, Antony Holmberg scores 15, and Bobby Henry picks up 11 points and 6 rebounds. Too bad it was on 4 of 18 shooting. He's so damned frustrating to watch - phenomenal some games, and shoots us out of others (or nearly shoots us out in this case).

Game 2: vs Kennesaw State
I don't care that we only have two games this month, so this is a cheap ass record, but we have a perfect November, winning 89-80. Good Bobby Henry shows up for 21 points, 5 rebounds, a block and a steal (8 of 15). Rare offensive output of 17 points, 8 boards from Andrew Peters, and his frontcourt mate Antony Holmberg blasts in 13 points and 2 blocks. Earle Vega scores 10 to keep his surprising senior scoring output going.

The Privateers dropped out of the Zachariah Wells chase, so he commits and we win by default. Really wanted to get a .500 record against the Pumpys, but we'll take it!



Not that this means a whole lot, because the Johnsons, who previously held the record, are bench guys, but this is the new highest ranked recruit we've ever landed. We've had a Top 100 class, a Top 105 class, and now we're inches away from a Top 100 player. Good thing I have firing turned off, because I probably would have been canned before I could start bringing this to fruition.

[Izulde]

Jesus Moya
More teams are starting to catch on. Texas, Ohio State, Villanova, and the obligatory BYU are non-offers, but damn it, stay away from my Spanish big man!

Timmy Rogers
Non-offer Illinois is his #1, but we're up to #2, with Western Kentucky, Southern Mississippi, and Wisconsin non-offers in the hunt.

Kevin Gulley
Forgot to offer him last time, so will do it now. We're not in his Top 5, which is now littered with Southeast powerhouses.

Game 3: @ Evansville
58-59 L. There goes our unbeaten streak

Game 4: vs Gardner-Webb
68-64 W to get back on track. 18 points each for Antony Holmberg and Trent Buckley, with Holmberg adding in 6 boards for PotG honors. Bobby Henry also grabs 6 rebounds, and adds 12 points besides.

Game 5: vs Maryland-Eastern Shore
How embarrassing. 72-78 L to a 1 win team. At least it's an authentic loss, not a bullshit one like Game 3. 17 points, 7 rebounds from Antony Holmberg, 14 rebounds for Andrew Peters, and 15 and 11 respective points for Trent Buckley and Ivan Pugh. We lost this one because Bobby Henry was 4 of 16, and we lost Earle Vega for 28 days. Ugh.

Game 6: @ UT-Arlington
Trent Buckley is moved to SG and Ivan Pugh is promoted to starting PG. We also auto-adjust our gameplan. 82-58 stompfest keyed by PotG Trent Buckley's 26 points and 5 steals! and Bobby Henry's 20 points. Interesting side note: Earle Vega has dropped to red/green as a result of his broken foot.

Game 7: vs South Carolina State
Crazy, crazy game. 94-114 L, smashing more records. 22 points for Bobby Henry, 20 for Richard Rameriz, 19 for Ivan Pugh and 14 for Trent Buckley. Our bigs got completely shut down, and all both teams did was shoot, shoot, and shoot some more.

Game 8: @ South Florida
If we lose here, our hot start vanishes into .500 blahness. Granted, even if we lose all the rest of our non-con games, we'll have smashed the record for most wins going into the SoCon part of the schedule, but damn... happily, 97-80 win! What a beautiful 33 point, 1 block, 2 steal game by Antony Holmberg, which beats Bobby Henry's 31 point game from last year, and makes him the first Citadel player other than Henry to score 30+ (Henry also scored 30 against Akron his freshman year I believe it was).

Anyway, Andrew Peters with 11 points, 8 boards, 2 steals, Trent Buckley with 13 points, 5 assists, and 2 steals, and Ivan Pugh with 11 points to round out the scoring. Makes me feel quite comfortable in our backcourt the next couple years, to be honest.

Game 9: @ Savannah State
Or maybe not that comfortable. 63-84 L. Colin Ogden lives at the free throw line for 16 points, 13 rebounds off the bench (10 of 17 from charity stripe), 14 points by Antony Holmberg and 10 for Trent Buckley.

Game 10: vs #7 Georgia Tech
Remember when we had those back to back games against Top 25 SEC teams? Well, say hello to the 9-1 Yellowjackets, who lost their last game and are buzzing mad. They sting us 56-83, and everyone shot ugly except Ivan Pugh, who was 8 of 12 for 20 points. 10 bench boards by Colin Ogden.

Despite the disappointment of the cold snap after the hot start, we have to be pretty damned please with a 5-5 non-conference mark. It's our best by far, and those 5 victories alone would be better than two of our previous years.

But I'm hungry for more. Oh so much more.

Kevin Gullley goes to George Mason, but it's only a one month offer, so he doesn't count against. However, Western Kentucky's getting Darrin Cole last season *does* count, because we pursued him with an offer for more than one month, and I forgot to record it.

Lifetime Recruiting Battles
Akron: 0-1
Cincinnati: 0-1
College of Charleston: 1-0
Coastal Carolina: 2-0
Davidson: 0-1
Georgia: 0-1
Maryland Eastern-Shore: 0-1
New Orleans: 0-1
South Carolina: 0-1
UNC-Greensboro: 1-0
VCU: 0-1
Villanova: 0-1
Western Kentucky: 0-1
Winthrop: 0-1

Jesus Moya finally commits, giving our second genuine big man after all the short guys we recruited the last few years (Ogden, Manion, Ludwig).



Raw, and an obvious redshirt candidate, but the sky is the damn limit with this kid in some key areas if my scouts are right. He could become the guy that Andrew Peters never did.

[timmae]

Holmberg has been fun to follow. Hope that kid gets a look at the next level!

Bonus points for a Pumpy reference!!

[Young Drachma]

Wow getting Moya over those powers has to feel good. You're turning a corner with them especially after the tourney run last year within the conference. Just a matter of time. Seems like your grinding will be rewarded or at least, we'll keep our fingers crossed. Heh.

[Izulde]

timmae: I may buy FBB just to follow the career of Citadel alumni. I don't see Holmberg making it in the NBA, but I think he could possibly find a career in an overseas league (if I can find or make a setup that will allow me to model IRL)

Young Drachma: Yeah no kidding. I got really nervous when all those big schools showed up the month before, scared one of them was going to offer Moya and steal him out from under me. Luckily that didn't happen. I still think we're due for a down year next season unless Buckley breaks out.

[Izulde]

So... Earle Vega is up to 92%, but he's still showing red/green. What do I do here? First off, hit the Recommend button. Oh wait, now he's back to orange/green, and the starter. After hemming and hawing, I leave it. He's our best all-around perimeter defender, and the fact he's up to orange/green again tells me the color shift was temporary and injury-related. Trent Buckley is back to PG.

Oh, by the way...

New Target: PG Prince Hampson - Hernando HS - Florida
6'3, 198; 2.67 GPA, 1170 SAT
Top 5: Southern Mississippi, Wake Forest, Georgia, Niagara, Oklahoma

No discernible offers, and it never hurts to add more to the PG and Florida pipelines, especially since he has SG size. Not to mention, best.name.ever.

Game 11: @ UNC-Greensboro
Line probably would have been worse than the 66-70 loss, I suppose. Damn. Earle Vega scores 14 with a block and 2 steals, but it kills me that Antony Holmberg's 24 points and 11 rebounds were wasted.

Game 12: @ Elon
88-79 win to get up to .500, both overall and in SoCon play. By the way, the AD expects us to be .500 in conference again, which is a reasonable expectation. 28 points, 6 rebounds, 1 block and 3 steals for Antony Holmberg, who has been in beast mode so far. 12 boards and 2 steals for Andrew Peters, 11 points and 2 steals for Trent Buckley, and two great bench performers. Colin Ogden tears it up for 16 points and 13 rebounds, and Ivan Pugh scores 10 in just 14 minutes.

Game 13: vs College of Charleston
Rough non-con for the rival Cougars again, but they're 1-1 so far, and always dangerous in the real part of the season. And yep. 97-119 loss. 22 points and 2 blocks for Antony Holmberg's third straight 20+ point game, and 16, 12, and 19 points for Bobby Henry, Earle Vega, and Trent Buckley. Too bad the bench did squat this game.

Game 14: vs Georgia Southern
76-82 loss, and it's looking the wheels are falling off on this team. 17 points a piece for Colin Ogden and Trent Buckley, which means Antony Holmberg finally gets held to 10 points, 7 rebounds. 14 points from Bobby Henry on a great shooting night, but it wasn't enough.

Game 15: @Furman
Third straight loss, 69-78. We're in a tailspin that can't be solved by Colin Ogden and Bobby Henry each scoring 13, Ogden adding 6 boards and 3 assists off the bench, or Earle Vega's 11 points.

Game 16: @ Western Carolina
The hole goes deeper and deeper, 67-88. The non-con was a lie. 21 points, 6 rebounds by Bobby Henry, 14 points, 6 rebounds by Antony Holmberg, and Earle Vega's 13 points look nice, but we're so, so cold.

Game 17: vs Appalachian State
UGH! 90-101 L. What a fucking awful year this is turning into. All five starters and Ivan Pugh reach double-digit scoring, with Andrew Peters slamming in 12 rebounds besides, but we had 4 players foul out in this one - Holmberg, Peters, Vega, and Pugh, and the rest can't get it done.

Game 18: @ Samford
I wish I knew what the hell is going on. 65-73 defeat, our 6th in a row. 13 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals by Antony Holmberg, 10 points, 7 rebounds from Earle Vega, 16 points by Trent Buckley, and the guy I think is a bad luck charm, Colin Ogden, with 10 points, 7 rebounds off the bench. Seems like whenever Ogden does well, that's a sign we're going to lose.

Game 19: @ Wofford
We lose this one, and we're just about mathematically eliminated from .500 in SoCon. The drought *finally* breaks, 70-55, but there's no feeling good right now, even as Bobby Henry dominates with 24 points, 7 rebounds and 2 steals, Andrew Peters snatches 11 boards, and Antony Holmberg drops in 12 points and 2 blocks.

On the bright side, we get our first Mr. Basketball since Colin Ogden when Timmy Rogers commits.



If this is accurate, I see him as a PG in the future.

At this point, we're ahead of only Elon, who has just 1 conference win on the year. Sure hope February sees a quick turnaround.

[Izulde]

Prince Hampson
We've got competition now. George Washington has also offered a scholarship, though we remain in the lead. Behind are Florida and Seton Hall, and a third offer from Sam Houston State. So hopefully we can pull this out.

Game 20: vs UNC-Greensboro
61-64 loss. I'm about to consider changing our coaching staff next year. 17 points, 7 rebounds from Antony Holmberg, 10 points by Bobby Henry, and an appropriate 13 points, 13 rebounds from Colin "Bad Luck" Ogden.

Game 21: @ Georgia Southern
54-89 shellacking, and we now need to win out to reach .500 in SoCon. 11 points by Bobby Henry and 12 points from Colin Ogden, who I'm giving serious thought to cutting.

Game 22: vs Furman
At least it takes a shorter time frame now. 72-63 win, buoyed by 18 points each from Antony Holmberg and Bobby Henry, Holmberg making it a double with 10 boards.

Game 23: @ College of Charleston
It's going to be fitting when our rivals knock us out of .500 hopes completely. And they do, 78-86. God, how damned frustrating it is to see Antony Holmberg's college career go down like this - 26 points, 6 rebounds, with aid from Trent Buckley's 18 points. Bobby Henry goes 4 of 12 for 11 points, and I'm glaring.

Game 24: vs Western Carolina
66-58 win and maybe we can salvage something respectable yet. 21 points, 8 rebounds, 2 blocks by man of the night Antony Holmberg, and a rare 12 point, 6 rebound night by Andrew Peters. There's Ivan Pugh with 10 bench points, too.

Game 25: vs Samford
We lock up our second straight 10 win season, 79-70, on the back of Andrew Peters' 12 points, 15 rebounds, 2 blocks and a steal. Antony Holmberg adds 19 points, 6 rebounds, and Trent Buckley scores 17.

Game 26: vs #25 Davidson
Yep. Finally a SoCon team in the Top 25. 82-90 loss, but at least we were competitive. Duane Jenkins drops 20 points, 11 rebounds on us, and I'm just glad he's a senior so I don't have to watch this again. We never did beat his Wildcats. Trent Buckley goes off for 22 points and 2 steals, and Antony Holmberg does his thing with 15 points before fouling out. Bobby Henry chucks for 4 of 14 before fouling out with 11 points and 7 assists, which is a Citadel school record, and shows how bad we are at passing.

Game 27: @ UT-Chattanooga
At this point, I just want one more damned conference win to have the second most Southern Conference wins. Not here. 81-86. Sigh. A goose egg in scoring from Andrew Peters (0 for 7) doesn't help, though it was fun to see Bobby Henry fly around for 22 points and 13 rebounds. 13 points for Earle Vega, and 18 points by Antony Holmberg. And of course Colin Ogden scores 11 bench points.

Game 28: vs Elon
FML. 79-84 loss and that was our best shot at 6 conference wins. Fittingly, it's February 29th. 18, 10, 13 points for Earle Vega, Trent Buckley, and Richard Rameriz right in a row. And guess who has 11 bench rebounds? That's right. Colin @#$%@#$@ Ogden.



Prince Hampson takes George Washington's offer.

Lifetime Recruiting Battles
Akron: 0-1
Cincinnati: 0-1
College of Charleston: 1-0
Coastal Carolina: 2-0
Davidson: 0-1
George Washington: 0-1
Georgia: 0-1
Maryland Eastern-Shore: 0-1
New Orleans: 0-1
South Carolina: 0-1
UNC-Greensboro: 1-0
VCU: 0-1
Villanova: 0-1
Western Kentucky: 0-1
Winthrop: 0-1

And there's no one left to throw a quick scholarship at either, so we'll roll one over to the transfer period, where once again we won't find anyone.

Game 29: vs North Dakota State
I want to cry. That last game was our last conference match of the year, and we're in last place with 5 conference wins. I'm so damned sorry, seniors, by whom I really mean Antony Holmberg. We lose 101-104, and some PilotMan goes absolutely nuts in the stands. What a fucking brilliant last home game by Antony Holmberg with 17 points, 7 rebounds, 5 blocks and 3 steals, earning a place in the Citadel record books for most blocks in a game. Oh yeah, we also finally break 100 points scored and we still lose.

Other performances of note: Andrew Peters with 10 points, 10 rebounds, Bobby Henry costing us the game AGAIN on a 4 for 15 night with 13 boards, Trent Buckley with 13 points and 6 assists, and... wait for it... wait for it... Colin Bleeping Ogden with 19 points, 10 rebounds, 3 steals off the bench.

Southern Conference 1st round: vs UNC-Greensboro (5 seed)
Dimwit that I am, I think I just realized that *every* postseason game is considered an away game. No miracles here. Just a bitter, heart-ripping 78-82 loss.



I'll do the recap later. Too bummed to right now.

[britrock88]

Two things: even with firing off, your coaching thermometer (I forget what it's called exactly) should still accurately represent your AD's satisfaction with your job performance. Also, the red/blue coding of the schedule shows all neutral-site games as away--that's probably what you're seeing.

[Izulde]

Thanks for the info I guessed those things after a while, but ADs can be finicky in their firing decisions sometimes.

Will pick this up again before I fall asleep tonight. Last couple of days I've been getting to campus early to play Commander variant Magic, as I've skipped a few weeks due to being busy with stuff.

[Izulde]

This is still alive - it's just been a busy week, and I leave in 5.5 hours to go to my parents' for Spring Break, and haven't packed yet.

I'll pick it up sometime during the week when I get back (I have to finish an 8 week class prep when I return to Vegas next weekend).

[Izulde]

Time to say goodbye to our 3 seniors of my first ever recruiting class. No Citadel awards this season, which is understandable.

 PLAYER DETAILS

 #53 PF Andrew Peters - Citadel - Senior
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Height:       7-0
 Weight:       245
 High School:  
 Hometown:     Albany, Australia
 
 Attributes:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Type       INS JPS FTS 3PS HND PAS ORB DRB PSD PRD STL BLK QKN STR JMP STA    
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Current:    40  20  30  33  28  24  34  63  65  19  35  46  23  90  28  47    
    2018:    37  19  29  32  27  23  32  59  59  18  33  42  23  86  27  42    
    2017:    35  18  28  31  26  22  31  56  55  17  32  40  23  82  26  37    
    2016:    32  17  27  30  25  21  29  51  49  16  30  36  23  82  25  32    
    2015:    30  17  27  30  25  21  27  47  45  16  28  32  21  82  23  22    
 Potential:   C   D   D   C   D   D   C   B   B   D   C   C                

 Health:      Good                                           
 Scholarship: Yes
 Status:      Active Roster                                  
 Academics:   16
 
 Stat Averages:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   G  GS  MIN  PTS  ORE  REB  AST   TO   A/T  STL  BLK   PF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   2016  31  31 26.2  4.9  1.3  5.6  0.8  1.6  0.53  0.5  0.3  2.0
   2017  12  12 27.1  4.5  2.0  7.8  1.1  1.0  1.08  0.7  0.3  2.7
   2018  32  31 24.8  5.5  1.3  7.3  1.6  1.2  1.41  0.5  0.5  2.3
   2019  30  30 28.1  5.9  1.6  7.9  1.3  1.4  0.95  0.5  0.3  2.8
 Career 105 104 26.4  5.3  1.5  7.0  1.2  1.3  0.95  0.5  0.4  2.4

 Shooting Averages:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season  FGM  FGA   FG%  FTM  FTA   FT%  3PM  3PA   3P%  PPS   +/-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   2016  1.6  4.2  .389  1.5  2.1  .682  0.2  0.9  .222 1.17 -7.61
   2017  1.5  3.8  .400  1.3  2.3  .571  0.2  0.8  .200 1.20 -9.42
   2018  1.9  4.8  .401  1.4  2.2  .643  0.3  1.6  .180 1.16 -1.38
   2019  2.3  5.7  .395  1.0  1.6  .625  0.4  2.0  .183 1.03 -2.83
 Career  1.9  4.8  .396  1.3  2.0  .642  0.3  1.4  .190 1.12 -4.55
 
 Stat Totals:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   G  GS  MIN  PTS OREB  REB  AST   TO  STL  BLK   PF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   2016  31  31  812  153   40  175   26   49   14   10   63
   2017  12  12  325   54   24   93   13   12    8    4   32
   2018  32  31  793  176   42  234   52   37   15   16   74
   2019  30  30  842  177   48  238   40   42   14   10   85
 Career 105 104 2772  560  154  740  131  140   51   40  254

 Shooting Totals
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season  FGM  FGA  FTM  FTA  3PM  3PA  +/-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   2016   51  131   45   66    6   27 -236
   2017   18   45   16   28    2   10 -113
   2018   61  152   45   70    9   50  -44
   2019   68  172   30   48   11   60  -85
 Career  198  500  136  212   28  147 -478
 
 Career Highs:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Type      Pts OReb  Reb  Ast  Stl  Blk   TO  FGM  FGA  FTM  FTA  3PM  3PA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season     17    4   15    4    2    2    6    7   15    4    5    2    5
 Career     17    6   15    5    2    2    6    7   15    7    8    2    5
 
 Awards & Acheivements:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   Award
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 All      Player of the Game: 3
 2015     High School: Rated *** and #408 overall by the FBCB scouting service.

Andrew Peters was a solid rebounder and defender for us, but never had a major impact on games, despite being considered our top recruit that season. He also missed half a season due to failing a class. That said, his 740 rebounds ranks 1st in school history, his 131 assists 3rd, and 40 blocks 2nd.

 PLAYER DETAILS

 #32 SG Earle Vega - Citadel - Senior
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Height:       6-2
 Weight:       192
 High School:  Andrew Jackson High School
 Hometown:     Kershaw, SC
 
 Attributes:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Type       INS JPS FTS 3PS HND PAS ORB DRB PSD PRD STL BLK QKN STR JMP STA    
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Current:    30  52  69  65  21  11  51  13  20  46  50  19  79  70  68  50    
    2018:    28  50  68  62  19  10  47  12  18  42  46  17  79  68  67  44    
    2017:    26  48  65  59  17   9  44  11  17  38  42  16  78  66  66  39    
    2016:    24  46  62  56  16   8  41  10  16  34  38  15  77  64  65  34    
    2015:    22  44  60  54  14   8  39  10  16  32  36  15  75  60  64  22    
 Potential:   C   C   B   B   D   F   C   F   D   C   C   D                

 Health:      Good                                           
 Scholarship: Yes
 Status:      Active Roster                                  
 Academics:   43
 
 Stat Averages:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   G  GS  MIN  PTS  ORE  REB  AST   TO   A/T  STL  BLK   PF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   2016  31  31 27.1  9.8  1.5  3.2  1.5  3.1  0.48  0.4  0.1  1.8
   2017  31  31 26.7  7.7  1.5  3.5  1.5  3.2  0.48  0.5  0.1  2.4
   2018  32  32 25.3  7.9  1.8  3.6  2.3  2.7  0.85  0.9  0.2  2.3
   2019  25  25 26.2  9.2  1.6  3.4  1.8  2.2  0.82  0.8  0.1  2.2
 Career 119 119 26.3  8.6  1.6  3.4  1.8  2.8  0.82  0.6  0.1  2.2

 Shooting Averages:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season  FGM  FGA   FG%  FTM  FTA   FT%  3PM  3PA   3P%  PPS   +/-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   2016  2.7  6.7  .402  3.4  4.4  .770  1.1  3.3  .327 1.46 -7.19
   2017  2.2  5.9  .379  2.2  3.3  .676  1.0  3.2  .327 1.31-10.81
   2018  2.4  6.3  .388  2.1  2.6  .807  1.0  3.5  .274 1.26 -0.38
   2019  2.8  6.6  .428  2.1  3.0  .716  1.4  3.8  .354 1.38 -1.84
 Career  2.5  6.4  .398  2.5  3.3  .744  1.1  3.4  .319 1.35 -5.18
 
 Stat Totals:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   G  GS  MIN  PTS OREB  REB  AST   TO  STL  BLK   PF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   2016  31  31  841  305   47   98   47   97   11    3   57
   2017  31  31  829  239   46  110   48  100   15    2   75
   2018  32  32  810  254   57  116   72   85   30    6   72
   2019  25  25  654  229   40   85   46   56   19    2   55
 Career 119 119 3134 1027  190  409  213  338   75   13  259

 Shooting Totals
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season  FGM  FGA  FTM  FTA  3PM  3PA  +/-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   2016   84  209  104  135   33  101 -223
   2017   69  182   69  102   32   98 -335
   2018   78  201   67   83   31  113  -12
   2019   71  166   53   74   34   96  -46
 Career  302  758  293  394  130  408 -616
 
 Career Highs:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Type      Pts OReb  Reb  Ast  Stl  Blk   TO  FGM  FGA  FTM  FTA  3PM  3PA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season     21    6    9    4    2    1    7    8   13    5    7    4    7
 Career     21    6   10    6    3    2    7    8   13    9   13    4    9
 
 Awards & Acheivements:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   Award
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 All      Player of the Game: 6
 2015     High School: Rated *** and #449 overall by the FBCB scouting service.
 2015     High School: All-State (South Carolina)

Earle Vega's 1027 points is 3rd in school history, and he also ranks 3rd in rebounds and 2nd in offensive boards. His 213 assists and 75 steals are both #1 in Citadel history, but he also ranks 1st in turnovers with 338, and his turnovers are 3rd all-time in Southern Conference history. Oops. I'm actually glad to see that he's graduating, as I think he cost us quite a few games. Oh, and he also ranks 1st in 3PM and 3PA, but his conversion rate was pretty ordinary.

 PLAYER DETAILS

 #31 C Antony Holmberg - Citadel - Senior
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Height:       6-10
 Weight:       216
 High School:  R.B. Stall High School
 Hometown:     North Charleston, SC
 
 Attributes:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Type       INS JPS FTS 3PS HND PAS ORB DRB PSD PRD STL BLK QKN STR JMP STA    
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Current:    96  15  55   0  19  12  16  47  57  21  31  60  28  80  48  76    
    2018:    86  14  54   0  18  11  15  42  53  20  30  54  28  78  47  70    
    2017:    77  13  51   0  17  10  14  37  49  19  29  47  28  76  47  64    
    2016:    68  12  49   0  17  10  13  33  45  18  28  41  27  73  46  55    
    2015:    62  12  47   0  17  10  13  29  41  18  28  37  26  69  45  41    
 Potential:   A   D   C   F   D   F   D   C   C   D   D   B                

 Health:      Good                                           
 Scholarship: Yes
 Status:      Active Roster                                  
 Academics:   38
 
 Stat Averages:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   G  GS  MIN  PTS  ORE  REB  AST   TO   A/T  STL  BLK   PF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   2016  31  31 26.9  9.6  0.7  4.5  0.6  1.7  0.36  0.5  0.5  3.4
   2017  31  31 27.8 10.5  0.9  4.3  0.8  1.5  0.55  0.5  0.4  3.5
   2018  32  32 28.0 12.9  1.6  5.6  0.9  1.5  0.60  0.8  0.5  3.2
   2019  30  30 28.7 15.7  1.1  5.8  1.1  1.6  0.71  0.5  1.0  3.8
 Career 124 124 27.9 12.1  1.1  5.0  0.9  1.6  0.71  0.6  0.6  3.5

 Shooting Averages:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season  FGM  FGA   FG%  FTM  FTA   FT%  3PM  3PA   3P%  PPS   +/-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   2016  3.5  7.5  .457  2.6  4.1  .646  0.0  0.2  .167 1.27 -6.52
   2017  3.6  8.2  .447  3.2  4.8  .660  0.0  0.2  .000 1.28 -9.87
   2018  4.6 11.0  .422  3.6  4.8  .758  0.0  0.1  .000 1.17 -2.81
   2019  5.5 11.7  .467  4.7  6.5  .732  0.0  0.1  .000 1.34 -0.73
 Career  4.3  9.6  .447  3.5  5.0  .704  0.0  0.1  .059 1.26 -5.00
 
 Stat Totals:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   G  GS  MIN  PTS OREB  REB  AST   TO  STL  BLK   PF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   2016  31  31  835  297   22  141   19   53   17   15  106
   2017  31  31  861  325   29  132   26   47   15   11  108
   2018  32  32  897  412   52  179   29   48   24   16  102
   2019  30  30  862  470   34  174   34   48   16   29  114
 Career 124 124 3455 1504  137  626  108  196   72   71  430

 Shooting Totals
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season  FGM  FGA  FTM  FTA  3PM  3PA  +/-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   2016  107  234   82  127    1    6 -202
   2017  113  253   99  150    0    5 -306
   2018  148  351  116  153    0    3  -90
   2019  164  351  142  194    0    3  -22
 Career  532 1189  439  624    1   17 -620
 
 Career Highs:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Type      Pts OReb  Reb  Ast  Stl  Blk   TO  FGM  FGA  FTM  FTA  3PM  3PA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season     33    3   11    3    3    5    6   10   21   16   20    0    2
 Career     33    5   11    3    3    5    7   10   21   16   20    1    2
 
 Awards & Acheivements:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   Award
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 All      Player of the Game: 13
 2015     High School: Rated *** and #457 overall by the FBCB scouting service.
 2015     High School: All-State (South Carolina)

The most underappreciated player in the entire Southern Conference. He's 1st in school history in career points, 3rd in rebounds, 2nd in steals, 1st in blocks, 2nd in turnovers, 1st in FGM, FGA, FTM, and FTA.

Antony Holmberg also really knew how to draw contact down low. He's 1st all-time in the Southern Conference in FTM and FTA, and 14th and 17th respectively in NCAA history. Needless to say, he's tops in both categories in Southern Conference history, and is 4th in points scored, 3rd in FGM.

And despite that greatness, he got shut out of awards year in and year out. We're really going to miss him.

All three players went undrafted.



Recruits By State/Country - Lifetime
Australia - 2
Florida - 1
Georgia - 1
Indiana - 1
Kentucky - 1
Louisiana - 1
Pennsylvania - 1
South Carolina - 4
Spain - 1
United Kingdom - 1
Washington D.C. - 1

Our best class in school history, and just 3 off the record class of 63 set by College of Charleston last year. Unfortunately, Caleb Ludwig got mad about his redshirt and decided to transfer.

We don't get anyone in the transfer period, but Caleb Ludwig goes to Davidson. Asshole.

After cutting 2 worthless walkons, we have 5 scholarships available. Our prestige also dropped back down to 19, so it's going to be tough sledding ahead.

Target #1 - SG Barney Houser - Whiteville HS - North Carolina
5'11, 179; 2.32 GPA, 990 SAT
Top 5: North Carolina, UNC-Wilmington, Citadel, College of Charleston, Elon

Target #2 - SG Garland Penner - Indiana All-State
6'5, 189; 2.85, 1060
Top 5: Illinois, Indiana State, Butler, Indiana, Purdue

Target #3 - SG Joseph Stokes - Berkshire HS, Ohio
6'4, 203; 2.71, 840
Top 5: Kent State, Cleveland State, Michigan, Ohio, Detroit

To be fair, given their heights, these guys are really PG, SF, SG rather than all SGs, and I'm temporarily going to stick with trying to land all 3 of these, rather than overextend ourselves.

Next Month
We're #1 on Barney Houser's list, but he has offers from VCU and Winthrop as well, so we really need to keep up the pressure.

Joseph Stokes has an offer from Detroit, and they're his #1, followed by non-offer Michigan, offer Ball State, us, and offer from Miami (OH).

We have no shot at Gerald Penner, so he's a drop.

New Target - SG Gerald Neal - Connecticut Mr. Basketball
Fordham and Delaware have offers and are in the Top 5, so we're behind the 8 ball to start on this one, but it's worth a shot.

Next Month
It's Detroit, non offer Michigan, and us down to final 3 in the race for Joseph Stokes. We're ahead of VCU for Barney Houser, and right now we're the only two left.

Providence leaps ahead on the offer to Gerald Neal, and we're #4, behind the Friars, Fordham, and Delaware in the fight to secure his signature.

Next Month
Fuck. 0 for 3. Detroit, VCU, and Providence all win.

Lifetime Recruiting Battles
Akron: 0-1
Cincinnati: 0-1
College of Charleston: 1-0
Coastal Carolina: 2-0
Davidson: 0-1
Detroit: 0-1
George Washington: 0-1
Georgia: 0-1
Maryland Eastern-Shore: 0-1
New Orleans: 0-1
Providence: 0-1
South Carolina: 0-1
UNC-Greensboro: 1-0
VCU: 0-2
Villanova: 0-1
Western Kentucky: 0-1
Winthrop: 0-1

Worse, all that's left of 3* who have no offers is a PF who doesn't look that good, and PGs. We make an offer to the not good PF, and one of the PGs. This is going to be a horrible recruiting year.

Starting Lineup
PG Ivan Pugh (Jr - Yellow/Green)
SG Trent Buckley (Jr - Yellow/Blue)
SF Bobby Henry (Sr - Yellow/Yellow)
PF Colin Ogden (Sr - Yellow/Yellow)
CE Jesus Moya (Fr - Orange/Green)

A less talented lineup than last year, but in Moya, our first true freshman starter since Trent Buckley 2 years ago, we have a faint hope for a success story.

Game 1 - @ South Florida
Massive, massive 94-92 upset win to start the year. Trent Buckley scores 17 with 5 assists and 3 steals for PotG honors, Ivan Pugh is great with 10 points, 7 assists, and 6 rebounds, and Jesus Moya makes a big impact in his first college game - 13 points, 2 steals, 2 blocks. Zachariah Wells scores 15 off the bench in his own collegiate debut, so our young bigs are already paying dividends.

Game 2 - @ East Carolina
73-92 L, and it's eerie to see us allow the exact same number of points twice in a row. 14 points for Bobby Henry, 12 for Colin Ogden. Zachariah Wells contributes 12 points, 5 rebounds off the bench, and Jesus Moya continues his block party with 3.

Game 3 - vs Liberty
The other shoe hits and we lose 73-75 in our home opener. Fuck 2 point losses.

Game 4 - vs Niagara
We should have had a bigger margin, but I'll take this 82-79 win. Trent Buckley destroys everyone with 29 points, Bobby Henry scores 15, and Jesus Moya just misses a double-double with 8 points, 10 rebounds. Nice work by Colin Ogden in 11 rebounds and 4 assists.

2-2 isn't a bad start, all things considered. Would've liked 3-1, but oh well.

We throw more scholarships at point guards, as this class appears really deep in them. I'm not going to go through them all. If we land them, great. If not, oh well.

[Izulde]

Game 5 - @ South Carolina
47-79 L, because yeah. 10 points Trent Buckley, 11 by Richard Rameriz. Gamecocks look really good again this year. They were a first round NCAA exit last year, and have made the 3rd round of the NIT twice.

Game 6 - @ Eastern Illinois
Wow!!! 107-98 W, as we knock off a 4-1 team, and finally win with 100+ points scored. Colin Ogden scores 20 and 10 to win PotG, but Bobby Henry has 23 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 steals, Trent Buckley scores 19, and Ivan Pugh puts up a great 14 point, 7 assist, 7 rebound, 3 steal line. Kory Johnson adds 14 bench points.

Game 7 - @ #13 Clemson
We sure have a lot of road games in our non-con schedule. Surprisingly competitive 79-90 L, our game effort keyed by 21, 12 and 14 points from Bobby Henry, Trent Buckley, and Ivan Pugh respectively, Pugh also netting 6 assists.

Game 8 - @ UNC-Charlotte
A 70-60 victory over a team that was 5-1 going into this. Colin Ogden with 11 points, 14 rebounds, as five players score double-digit figures. The rest? Bobby Henry, Trent Buckley, Ivan Pugh, and Richard Rameriz. 3 and 2 steals from Henry and Rameriz, while Jesus Moya grabs 10 boards.

Game 9 - vs #18 Duke
The Blue Devils just lost their first game of the year, so they're pissed. AND WHAT THE FUCK?! OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!!! FIRST TOP 25 WIN IN CITADEL HISTORY!!!!!!!!!

Citadel 73, Duke 72

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Duke  (6-2, 0-0):
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
James Byrum       C    32   4-7  5-11   1   5   2  3  13
Daniel Williams   PF   34   0-7   4-6   3  11   1  4   4
Rich Libby        SF   30   3-9   0-0   0   2   3  3   7
Truman Waldrup    SG   31   3-8   0-0   4   7   2  2   8
Sterling Ruppert  PG   28  8-12   5-6   0   3   3  4  25
Hal Najera        PG   17   1-1   2-2   0   0   2  2   5
Dick Mitchell     SG    3   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  2   0
James Hopkins     PF   15   2-5   6-8   4   6   0  0  10
Peter Spraggins   SF    6   0-1   0-0   0   0   0  0   0
Harold Zarate     SF    3   0-0   0-0   0   0   0  0   0

Turnovers: 10 (J.Byrum 3, R.Libby 2, T.Waldrup 1, 
 H.Najera 2, J.Hopkins 1, P.Spraggins 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (J.Byrum 1)
Steals: 3 (J.Byrum 1, S.Ruppert 1, H.Najera 1)
3P FGs: 8-16 (R.Libby 1-5, T.Waldrup 2-4, S.Ruppert 
 4-5, H.Najera 1-1, P.Spraggins 0-1)

Citadel  (5-4, 0-0):
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Jesús Moya        C    24   1-3   0-0   3   5   1  4   2
Colin Ogden       PF   17   4-4   4-6   1   6   2  4  12
Bobby Henry       SF   26  4-11   3-6   3   5   3  2  12
Trent Buckley     SG   32  4-14   3-4   2   3   1  3  13
Ivan Pugh         PG   28  5-10   3-4   0   2   3  0  16
Richard Rameriz   PG   16   0-2   4-5   0   1   0  2   4
Zachariah Wells   C     9   1-1   0-0   1   1   0  4   2
Kory Johnson      SF   25   2-6   2-2   2   7   3  2   6
Timmy Rogers      SG    4   1-1   0-0   0   0   0  0   2
George Johnson    SF    1   0-0   0-0   0   1   1  1   0
Earnest Manion    C    13   1-3   0-0   1   2   0  0   2
Graig Goodloe     C     5   1-1   0-0   0   3   1  2   2

Turnovers: 7 (C.Ogden 2, T.Buckley 1, I.Pugh 2, 
 T.Rogers 2)
Blocked Shots: 6 (J.Moya 2, C.Ogden 1, B.Henry 1, 
 E.Manion 2)
Steals: 4 (B.Henry 1, T.Buckley 2, K.Johnson 1)
3P FGs: 6-16 (B.Henry 1-1, T.Buckley 2-7, I.Pugh 3-5, 
 R.Rameriz 0-1, K.Johnson 0-2)

Player of Game: PG Sterling Ruppert (DUKE)

Total team effort!!!!

We also now have a winning record at 5-4, which I think is the latest in the season we've been over .500. Amazing!!!

Game 10 - @ Winthrop
I'm expecting a hangover, but we win 70-62 for what is I think our first 3 game win streak ever for Citadel under my watch. 19 points, 6 rebounds, a block and 2 steals for PotG Bobby Henry, with Colin Ogden hauling in 14 boards and Richard Rameriz scoring 12 bench points. By the way, our RPI is 16!!!

Game 11 - @ South Carolina State
This has been a weird dream season so far, which means we should have a Southern conference crash. 86-96 L to end our victories for now, throwing away Trent Buckley's 20 points, Bobby Henry's 16 points, 6 rebounds, Colin Ogden's 12 points, 10 rebounds, Richard Rameriz's 12 bench points, and the 13 points, 10 rebounds, 3 steals by Kory Johnson.

Game 12 - @ Elon
Our Southern opener and it's a disappointing 67-76 loss. 16 points by Bobby Henry, and Ivan Pugh's 13 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals can't save us - nor can Kory Johnson's 10 points off the bench.

Earnest Manion is suspended the rest of the year due to failing a class. Not a huge deal - he was a 9.1 mpg reserve.

Let's keep going.

Game 13 - vs Samford
74-57 win over one of the weaker teams in conference. Bobby Henry scores 21, Colin Ogden doubles for 11 points, 10 rebounds, Ivan Pugh gets 10 points, 2 steals, and Zachariah Wells overcomes a pukey 1 of 7 night for 11 bench boards.

Game 14 - vs Appalachian State
At one point, the Mountaineers were a team to be feared. Now they have just 1 win. Competitive game, but we prevail over the Mountaineers, 79-71.
22 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocks and 2 steals from Bobby Henry, who is having an amazing senior year. 13 points, 3 blocks by Jesus Moya, who hasn't had quite the impact I expected out of him. Ivan Pugh scores 11, and Zachariah Wells, who has been better than Moya, puts in 12 points, 6 boards to lead the second team.

Game 15 - vs Wofford
Nail-biter of a 76-75 win to keep us over .500 in Southern play, and our second three game streak of the season. Colin Ogden has always been a double-double machine, and he gets 15 and 13 here, though it's Trent Buckley's 21 points and 7 rebounds that earn MVP honors. 12 points, 7 rebounds for Ivan Pugh, and 10 points for Richard Rameriz, who has become a quietly productive bench scorer in his senior year.

Game 16 - @ Western Carolina
A shot to get 10 victories at the earliest point in the season ever, but we fall 72-78, also denied what I'm sure would have been our first ever four game win streak. Our front court was awful, leaving stranded 20 points, 10 rebounds by Bobby Henry, 20 points by Trent Buckley, and 12 points, 7 assists by Ivan Pugh.

Game 17 - @ Georgia Southern
Sigh. 55-70 loss, and we drop to .500 in conference play. Here comes the losing streak to fuck up our promising start, like always happens. Everyone played like shit.

Game 18 - vs College of Charleston
Our mortal enemies are having a down year at 6-12, but they're 4-2 in the league. Naturally they win, 83-88, and I'm too depressed to report on noteworthy performers.

Game 19 - @ UNC-Greensboro
And just like that, we lose 58-74. Below .500 for the season, and fuck this bullshit. 14, 14, 10 for Colin Ogden, Trent Buckley, and Ivan Pugh, with Ogden getting 9 rebounds.

Game 20 - @ Appalachian State
58-69 loss and I'm ready to snap my board in half. 30.4% shooting. WTF, guys?

Game 21 - vs UNC-Greensboro
Our 5 game losing streak becomes 6, 70-90. WHY DOES THIS SHIT HAPPEN EVERY SINGLE FUCKING SEASON?! Wasted: Trent Buckley's 17, Bobby Henry's 13 points, 10 boards, 2 steals, Colin Ogden's 10 and 10.

One of our five trillion point guard offers is accepted. Another is rejected, and so is the scrub power forward we offered. I'll do that later. Too damned pissed at how we fell apart AGAIN.

[muns]

Our best class in school history, and just 3 off the record class of 63 set by College of Charleston last year. Unfortunately, Caleb Ludwig got mad about his redshirt and decided to transfer.

We don't get anyone in the transfer period, but Caleb Ludwig goes to Davidson. Asshole.

Its is the worst feeling trying to build up a program and having that one class that you think is going to get you there, and then you get hit with a guy transferring out.

Freaking gut punch!

[britrock88]

wooooo beat duke

[timmae]

Beating #18 Duke is worth the rest of the lumps... That was huge!!

[Izulde]

muns - You aren't kidding! Although realistically, he wasn't likely to be a huge factor for us... maybe.

britrock88: Yep! Always brings a smile to my face to beat them.

timmae: I'm not so sure. It's getting frustrating having these losing seasons.

Next update coming shortly. It's been a busy week, what with this being rough draft week, and I'll be grading all this next one. So I wanted to at least get a couple updates in before the paper storm hits.

[Izulde]

Whoo! Our first recruit. Don't remember now if anybody else offered, though.

We lost two guys to Lamar and George Washington respectively, though. Another George, George Johnson, is crying about lack of PT. Sorry, George. This here is AI Depth Chart Country. Get over it.

Lifetime Recruiting Battles
Akron: 0-1
Cincinnati: 0-1
College of Charleston: 1-0
Coastal Carolina: 2-0
Davidson: 0-1
Detroit: 0-1
George Washington: 0-2
Georgia: 0-1
Lamar: 0-1
Maryland Eastern-Shore: 0-1
New Orleans: 0-1
Providence: 0-1
South Carolina: 0-1
UNC-Greensboro: 1-0
VCU: 0-2
Villanova: 0-1
Western Kentucky: 0-1
Winthrop: 0-1

It's going to be an All-Point Guard class it looks like, if we get everyone to sign. We'll be dipping heavily into the 2* pool, too. Ugh, ugh, and triple ugh.

Game 22 - vs Elon
57-65 L. Why do I play this game again? 10 and 12 points for Ivan Pugh and Bobby Henry, 10 boards for Colin Ogden. I think I'm going to turn on coach hiring/firing after this season and see what happens. Oh great, Trent Buckley gets an injury and is 81% day to day. Awesome.

Game 23 - vs Western Carolina
THANK FUCK THE LOSING STREAK FINALLY ENDS! 87-77 win to at last get us our 10th victory of the year. We've only been waiting for that, what, 7 or 8 games? 18 points in 19 minutes for Bobby Henry, but it's Ivan Pugh's 20 points, 6 assists and 2 steals that takes home PotG bacon. 12 bench points for Richard Rameriz, 10 bench boards for Kory Johnson.

Game 24 - vs Georgia Southern
Sigh. 61-69 L. We just can't have a winning streak, nosir! I'm getting disgusted now, and may just summarize the remaining games.

Game 25 - @ UT-Chattanooga
78-86 L. I turn on job firing and job offers.

Game 26 - @ Samford
63-64 loss.

Game 27 - @ Furman
Game is rigged, yo. Second straight 1 point loss, 84-85.

Game 28 - @ Wofford
At this point, I'm not too upset. I actually WANT to be fired. Give me a fresh start somewhere new, man. I'm not a fan of the whole military college thing, anyway. And of course we win, 88-72, for the second highest total win total of my tenure. 14 points, 13 rebounds, a block and 2 steals for PotG Colin Ogden. 17 points, 7 rebounds by Bobby Henry, 16 points from Trent Buckley, and 10 bench points by Zachariah Wells.

Game 29 - vs Davidson
79-87 loss, because the Wildcats are still good even without Duane Jenkins. Oh, and somehow Caleb Ludwig gets a second redshirt. What's up with that? Nevermind. Don't care.

We lose two more targets. At this point, I'm going to quit if they don't fire me.

Game 30 - (10) @ (7) Furman - Southern Conference Tournament
Evidently somebody gave a Win One For the Izulde speech, because we win 86-72. 0 points, 10 boards for Jesus Moya, but mad props to Colin Ogden with 22 points, 14 rebounds in the game of his life. 16 points for Bobby Henry and 17 for Richard Rameriz, as the seniors poured it all out on the line.

Game 31 - (10) @ (2) Davidson
Okay, we can say bye now. 79-87.

Forget the end season recap. Recruiting has been a god damned disaster, and none of those seniors deserve a finale.

Bobby Henry and Colin Ogden both make the All-SoCon 2nd Team, which is a frigging joke. But then, the voters have always loved Henry, and Ogden has always been a damned stat stuffer who causes loss after loss.

Oh, and Jesus Moya makes the All-SoCon Freshman team. Must have been a weak year for centers. We pick up a second commitment too.. a 3* Australian PG who is Red/Green at first blush.



Our worst class by far. And my seat is now Warm, but that Australian is a red/blue....

...Fuck it. I quit. Let someone else deal with this mess.

Shit. I thought there would be more than one round. I can't quit now. Well, I could...yep I do.

Citadel brings in 3 transfer scrubs, which I never would have done.

They go with the following lineup:

PG Ivan Pugh (Sr - Gr/Gr)
SG Trent Buckley (Sr - Gr/Bl)
SF Kory Johnson (Sr - Or/Gr)
PF Zachariah Wells (So - Ye/Gr)
C Jesus Moya (So - Ye/Gr)

The guy they hired was the 49 year old scouting and recruiting guru from Oklahoma, who won the national championship two years ago. Good luck, fella!

First Month
Citadel goes 3-1, opening the year with 3 straight wins over South Dakota, UNC-Wilmington, and Mercer, by a combined 7 points, before falling to 10 to Hawaii. Narrow victories are narrow.

Second Month
Trent Buckley gets dinged up and the Bulldogs lose 5 straight before winning their last two, including a 63-51 SoCon opener over Western Carolina. So far, they're doing about what they'd do under me most years.

Third Month
I feel sick. They stun Davidson in the first game of the month, and while they drop a couple, by the end of the month, the Bulldogs are 11-9 (7-3) and on the verge of smashing my 8-8 SoCon highest mark.

Fourth Month
Record gets tied with the first game, a road win, but in the next contest, Jesus Moya breaks his leg and is out over a month. Nonetheless, Citadel guarantees its first winning Southern Conference season in this universe by the third game of February. Then, late in the month, Trent Buckley is lost for 45 days, or what will probably be the rest of his senior year. They go in a tailspin and enter tournament play 14-15 (10-8)

March
The loss of Trent Buckley is too much to overcome, and the Bulldogs fall in the first round of the SoCon tournament as the 5 seed. Sucks for Trent and the other seniors, but I feel better now... because that's the best this team is going to be for a long, long time, unless the new coach pulls off recruiting miracles.

Which he kind of does... lands the #115 recruiting class, which is #1 in the conference, ahead of #122 College of Charleston, grabbing two 3* and a 1*.

Job Offers
Round 1 - Hampton
Thanks, but no thanks. Roster isn't bad, but they're just coming off a fluke NCAA appearance, and the AD expects a conference championship.

Round 2 - Alcorn State
Cupboard looks as bare as Citadel did when I first started. Why are all these HBCUs pursuing me? Tempting, because there's no expectations, but eh... not feeling it.

[u]Round 3 - Holy Cross[/b]
A couple promising freshmen, but they're coming off back to back NCAA appearances and expect to win the conference. Don't want that pressure.

Round 4 - Charleston Southern
A couple of good juniors (for this level), avoid last place in conference, and record win total is 8. Plus, I wouldn't have to move. Okay, I'll take it.

[Izulde]

Not the best roster to start with, but not the worst, either.

Starting prestige is 4, which means after $30k for each of our coaches, we're looking at just $7,000 a month for a recruiting budget. Ouch.

A lot of Average interest 3* players, but there's a High interest 3* player who draws our attention immediately, and we offer him.

C Ellis Sheehan - Georgia All-State
7', 226, 2.77 GPA, 1140 SAT
Great all around stats, so I think he can be a cornerstone for us going forward.
Top 5 Schools: Georgia Southern, South Carolina State, Savannah State, South Carolina, College of Charleston

I'm also going to reset the Lifetime Recruiting by the way.

Next Month
Although his scouted ratings are kind of eh, I don't trust my shit coaches, so we'll keep on him. We're #1, with South Carolina State, Savannah State, College of Charleston, and Mercer trailing.

Next Month
Savannah State jumps in with an offer, but we're still leading. South Carolina State, Miami, and Mercer are the other three.

Next Month
Not good... Savannah State pulls in front, and Miami is still hanging around. We won't give up, though.



Lifetime Recruiting Battles
Savannah State: 0-1

We move on to another target - a 6'2 SG I think can be the focal point of the offense.

I'll speed through the first season. When our first game is #1 UConn, you know it's not going to end well. 55-91. And for some insane reason, we have 5 straight road games this month and promptly lose all 5, with only one game less than like 15 point margin. Despite being 0-5, our RPI is like 17 at month's end. Hard to get a read on the team yet.

We lose the SG to North Carolina State. So we dip into a 2* 5'9 PG who is a great scorer and shooter with an okay 2.86 A/TO ratio by the stats. Oh hai, we have 10 straight road games to open the year. Fuck this AD, seriously.

Our last road game before we finally get to play at home?

Citadel 72, Charleston Southern 50

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Charleston Southern  (0-10, 0-0):
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
John Billington   C    27   2-9   2-2   2   6   1  2   6
Malik Cummings    PF   22   1-2   0-2   2   3   1  4   2
Lambert Aschoff   SF   31   2-4   0-0   0   5   3  2   6
Werner Stewart    SG   25  6-16   0-0   0   0   1  4  17
Venceslav Soucek  PG   25   1-3   0-0   1   4   3  4   3
Werther Ippi      PG   18   1-1   1-3   2   3   0  0   3
Raul Coyle        SG   14   4-6   0-2   0   1   1  2  11
Agustin Daggett   C    20   0-1   2-2   0   2   0  3   2
J. Wentworth      PF   11   0-4   0-0   3   3   0  2   0
Emmanuel Brulois  SF    6   0-1   0-0   0   0   1  1   0

Turnovers: 15 (J.Billington 2, L.Aschoff 1, W.Stewart 
 5, V.Soucek 1, W.Ippi 4, R.Coyle 1, A.Daggett 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (J.Billington 1)
Steals: 3 (J.Billington 1, R.Coyle 1, A.Daggett 1)
3P FGs: 11-21 (L.Aschoff 2-4, W.Stewart 5-9, V.Soucek 
 1-3, R.Coyle 3-4, E.Brulois 0-1)

Citadel  (1-8, 0-0):
Player            Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Jesús Moya        C    29   5-8   1-1   3   4   1  3  11
Zachariah Wells   PF   30   5-7   5-5   1   7   1  1  15
George Johnson    SF   27   2-4   2-2   0   6   2  3   7
Timmy Rogers      SG   29   4-8   2-3   0   3   3  1  12
Claude Clegg      PG   25   3-5   1-1   0   2   0  4   7
Earnest Manion    C    14   4-6   0-0   2   4   0  0   8
Graig Goodloe     PF    6   0-2   1-2   1   1   0  1   1
Ted Baker         PG   14   0-0   0-0   0   1   0  1   0
Charles Ballard   SG   14   1-3   2-3   1   1   1  1   5
Neal Brent        SF   10   2-4   2-5   0   2   1  0   6

Turnovers: 9 (J.Moya 2, Z.Wells 3, E.Manion 2, T.Baker 
 1, C.Ballard 1)
Blocked Shots: 3 (J.Moya 3)
Steals: 8 (J.Moya 2, G.Johnson 2, T.Rogers 1, C.Clegg 
 1, E.Manion 1, G.Goodloe 1)
3P FGs: 4-10 (G.Johnson 1-3, T.Rogers 2-4, C.Clegg 0-1, 
 C.Ballard 1-2)

Player of Game: C Zachariah Wells (CIT)

...Kill me now.

[muns]

Well that was a great laugh to start my morning at work! That certainly was an ouch moment. I think you made the right call to move on though. Looking forward to the turn around here shortly

[Brian Swartz]

Originally Posted by Izulde

can't quit now. Well, I could...yep I do.

Another good example of why I love your dynasties. Keep going -- and you've convinced me to take the plunge on FBCB to scratch my sports-gaming itch.

[Comey]

I, just....wow. Your last post is a thing of beauty. Art, really.

[Izulde]

muns: Glad I could entertain. Trying something different for recruiting this go-round.

Brian Swartz: Thanks. And I will - though it's grading weekend on one of the major paper assignments. Let me know what you think!

Comey: Seriously... getting my butt handed to me by 22 points from my old team for their first win of the year... I was like "...You have *got* to be kidding me."