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03-29-2016, 11:02 PM
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#1 | ||
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Somewhere More Familiar
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Blue Streak: an FBCB Multiplayer Dynasty
  Welcome to Middle Tennessee State University in lovely Murfreesboro, Tennessee - home of the Blue Raiders. Inspired in small part by their miraculous upset of Michigan State recently in real life but mostly by the fact that they are terrible as hell in our game, I've picked the team up in our NCAA 53 multiplayer league run by murrayyyyy and populated by several of us here at FOFC. This dynasty is meant to be a compliment to muns' USC dynasty, which is temporarily on hold while he furthers his education or something (  ). I welcome and encourage participation by other NCAA 53 owners in this thread!We're always recruiting by the way - if you're interested, swing on by our forums over on SimNation (you'll have to register to see anything). We've got nearly 20 active owners and have some of the finest ghost writers I've seen in any online league I've been in. It's currently the off-season and we haven't even revealed the recruits yet, so now is the perfect time to jump in. |
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03-29-2016, 11:50 PM
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#2 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Somewhere More Familiar
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 A brief history of Middle Tennessee State University Opened on September 11, 1911, MTSU was originally known as Middle Tennessee State Normal School. The bulky name was a reference to the fact that it was originally intended as a school to prepare high school graduates to be teachers - the purpose was to establish teaching standards, or norms, hence the name 'normal school.' In 1943 the name was changed to Middle Tennessee State College before the school was granted University status in 1965. Now the university boasts nine different schools, and is most well known for its Department of Recording Industry; the University has five different recording studios on campus and they are each open 24 hours a day. The school is located in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, just southeast of Nashville.  MTSU Athletics Middle Tennessee Athletics go by the name of the Blue Raiders, and their colors are Royal Blue and White. Their logo is Lightning, a winged horse modeled after Pegasus. In 1952, MTSU joined the Ohio Valley Conference, and they were a mainstay there 48 years until the year 2000 when they joined the Sun Belt. Recently in 2013, Middle Tennessee joined Conference USA. |
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03-30-2016, 01:49 AM
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#3 | |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Somewhere More Familiar
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  Screwing around with potential logos...not sure which one I like better. Anyhow, welcome to the NCAA 53! murrayyyyy put this thing together just about one year ago, and it's been a blast so far. In case you haven't followed along with the other NCAA 53 Dynasty... The conceit of the league is that we are doing an historical replay of sorts - we started in 1953 with the actual conference structure, schools, names, and logos of the times. As the years progress we (well, murrayyyyy) would add new schools, process the conference movement/realignment, and generally follow the NCAA as it grows up. We aren't using real player files or anything of the sort, but everything else for the most part is accurate. The league has gone through six full seasons and is just now entering its seventh. This offseason has seen the dissolution of the Pacific Coast Conference (the way precursor to the Pac-8/10/12) due to scandal; Oregon, Oregon State, Washington State, and Idaho have been relegated to Independent status, and now the Athletic Association of Western Universities is formed with only five member schools: Washington, California, Stanford, UCLA, and USC. And that's just one of the many examples of historical movement we get to watch unfold as we play! A brief history of the league, and where things stand now: 1953:
1954:
1955:
1956:
1957:
1958:
Which brings us to our "current day." A brief look around the league as it stands now: There are 170 teams in the NCAA as of 1959. There are 17 conferences:
The big conferences in this league are the AAWU, ACC, Big 8, and Big 10, all clocking in at 5 prestige. The SEC and the West Coast Conference are right behind at 4, and there's a huge jumble in the middle. The BIAA, Metro New York, Mid-American, Ohio Valley, and Yankee are all floundering at the bottom with 1 prestige. There are also 46 independent schools, and some of them are really good. Especially since the PCC just dumped Oregon, Oregon State, Washington State and Idaho into the ranks of the un-conferenced. As evidenced by the title games, the Kansas schools kick ass. NC and NC State are also very strong, and Kirk has built Washington up into a monster on the west coast. The Big 10 is coming up strong as well, with Indiana always strong, but Michigan State, Purdue, Ohio State, Illinois, Iowa, and Northwestern are all threats to challenge them at the top. The Big 8 is extremely top heavy, but the rest of the conference behind Kansas and K-State aren't bad at all. The ACC is also starting to see some depth develop as Wake Forest, Virginia, and even Maryland have shown signs of life recently. Duke is quietly maintaining a good step or three behind the Carolinas, but they're still a foe to be reckoned with. Looking over the have-nots, the league has had a robust ownership group in the Ivy since day one, and has actually pulled the league out of the 1-prestige rank into the 2nd tier. Columbia has had a huge advantage in Prestige and talent from the get-go, and have taken good advantage of it with multiple Elite 8 runs. Dartmouth and Brown have challenged bravely, however, and each has a single conference win to show for it. I even got the Dartmouth Indians the Ivy's first at-large NCAA berth. We lost immediately, but hey it was pretty cool! I'm probably leaving out a bunch of storylines, but that gives you the general gist of where the league sits. If you want to know anything about a team I haven't mentioned, or to further flesh out one of the conferences, feel free to ask! |
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03-30-2016, 09:43 AM
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#4 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Baltimore MD
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Awesome stuff Vince!
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04-01-2016, 10:00 PM
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#5 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Somewhere More Familiar
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Thanks! Hope to get you back soon - hurry up and get back
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04-01-2016, 10:38 PM
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#6 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Somewhere More Familiar
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So now you know a little about the school, and a little about the league. What about me?
I could regale you with stories of the IHOF, GEFL, CFBL, Hattrick, and many others. But this league was my first foray into the world of Basketball text sims. I had never played Fast Break College Basketball, but I caught wind of the league murrayyyyy had been setting up and loved the premise. I picked up the game, messed around with it a little, but really got my feet wet in the league as we went. I have been in the league since its inception, and I had two schools to start: Stanford and Dartmouth. After a little bit of success and a lot of fun, I ended up picking up a third team at the beginning of 1955 (our third full season). This season (1959) will be my first at the helm of Middle Tennessee. Here's a brief history of each of my schools: Stanford 88-93 (38-58) 0-1 in the postseason (NCAA 1st round loss in 1953) Prestige: 59 (originally 49) 1958 record: 16-14 (6-10), no postseason. Stanford has had a rough go of it. We snuck into the NCAAs in the inaugural season, and it's been all downhill from there. A pair of lackluster recruiting classes early saw the entire west coast outstrip us in talent, and while we've made impressive strides since 1956: we've been in the top 25 in recruiting in the nation three times now), the Pacific Coast Conference has been brutally competitive and we've always been inconsistent. We haven't done ourselves any favors by putting together brutal schedules every season (18th, 3rd, 11th, and 16th in the nation in strength of schedule the last four years). We've got the framework of a talented team, but we're just not quite deep enough to compete with the likes of California, Washington, and the Oregon schools. With the PCC now defunct, the conference is smaller...unfortunately, two of the three schools that left were the only two teams that were arguably worse than us. A few more strong recruiting classes and we'll be dangerous...but we cannot afford to swing and miss on prospects, and the West Coast looks crazy thin this year. Dartmouth 106-74 (56-28) 1-5 in the postseason (0-2 in the NCAA, 1-3 in the NIT) Prestige: 46 (originally 33) 1958 record: 21-11 (9-5), #1 seed in the NIT East. 2nd round loss to Ohio State 56-66 Dartmouth has seen tremendous success under my watch, rising to prominence as the #2 team in the Ivy League behind the strength of a titanic recruiting class in 1953. A good bit of that was luck, but I'd rather be lucky than good any time. We rode Sonny Freeman, Charles Smith, Rodrick McFall, and Marin Dutries to 4 postseason appearances, and just this year managed our first ever postseason win after they all graduated. With our more tepid success in recent recruiting seasons, much of the Ivy League has caught up, and we are no longer the clear-cut power we used to be. Time will tell if the prestige advantage I've managed to build gives me the leg up it looks like I'm going to need to stay out in front. Edit: for those who aren't aware, every Ivy League team save 1 started this league with exactly 30 prestige. Columbia started the league with 54 prestige and a decent leg up in roster talent. To be fair, Dartmouth was easily second in the league in terms of roster strength, so it's not as if I've pulled some miracle or something - just had a decent start and got nice and lucky with my first recruiting class. The next few years will really tell whether or not I've got the chops to stay out in front of the pack. Brown has been really strong, and Cornell (under new leadership just last year) is coming up quickly. Columbia is still Columbia, but they've had their own issues lately, so dominance may or may not be a given from them. Purdue 69-56 (27-29) 7-3 in the postseason (All NIT - two Elite 8 losses, one Championship loss) Prestige: 66 (55 when I took over) 1958 record: 20-13 (7-7), #3 seed in the NIT South. 3rd round loss to Duke, 75-85 The Big 10 isn't quite as cut-throat as the PCC, but there is no Indiana in the PCC either. Purdue is one of several teams in the Big 10 rising up to challenge the big dogs of Indiana, Iowa, and Illinois. Michigan State made a huge statement this year making the NCAA Title Game, and has to be considered the leader of that pack rising to challenge. Of the ten schools, we had four in the NCAA tourney (a #1, #2, and two #5's) and three in the NIT (#'s 2, 3, and 5). We've been fortunate enough to have a huge amount of success recruiting: we've been the #5, #5, and #7 class in the nation in three of the last four seasons. I'm of the opinion that this team is primed for big things this year, especially with our extremely talented 1957 recruiting class coming off their red shirts. That being said, Illinois just finished taking a year off by redshirting two of their prominent Juniors to squeeze another year of eligibility out of them once some of their young talent developed, Michigan State was just in the title game, Indiana is still Indiana, and Northwestern and Iowa both finished ahead of us in conference last year. So it will be anything but easy to find success in the Big 10. Last edited by Vince, Pt. II : 04-02-2016 at 02:32 PM. |
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04-02-2016, 04:49 PM
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#7 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Somewhere More Familiar
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The Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders hail from the Ohio Valley Conference, a 6-team conference until 1957, when the East Tennessee State Buccaneers joined to make it a seven team conference.
Code:
Although Murray State dominates the prestige ratings of the conference, they have only won the thing two of the six seasons we've been around. A quick breakdown of the teams we face regularly: Eastern Kentucky State Colonels (record vs MTSU: 5-8) The lowly Colonels managed to come out on top of a three-way tie for first at 7-5 to represent the OVC in the NCAAs, where they were promptly stomped by North Carolina State. 1958 has been by far their best season to date, as they had never even sniffed .500 before, let alone a winning record. It was in fact just their third double-digit win total in a season. They actually have some decent talent on the roster; their guards in particular are quite talented. It remains to be seen whether or not their front court can stand up to the rest of the conference. Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (record vs MTSU: 7-5) Another one of the most talented teams (on paper) in the conference, the Hilltoppers have fallen from grace over the course of the league. Starting way up at 56 prestige, they have dropped all the way down to 29, and things aren't exactly looking peachy. Since winning the conference and making the NCAA tournament in 1953, Western Kentucky has been on a downward spiral, reaching its nadir in 1957 at 8-22. Time will tell whether last season's 14-15 'resurgence' is a sign of improvement or if it was simply a dead-cat bounce. East Tennessee State Buccaneers (record vs MTSU: 4-0) After a rough inaugural season in the NCAA in 1957 at 5-25, the Buccaneers had a year that had to be classified as wildly successful, finishing tied for the conference lead and boasting a conference all-freshman player in PF Daniel Spicer. Not only that, they have two more coming off redshirts, and they're looking to continue making noise. Unfortunately, the team doesn't look that good on paper, so we'll see if they can capitalize on their recent success. Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles (record vs MTSU: 8-5) Tennessee Tech probably has the deepest team in the conference. Unfortunately for them, all of their talent are seniors, so it's this year or bust. They've been building from humble beginnings in 1953 when they were 6-23, to have finished last year at 15-13 and just a game out of the conference lead. They should be strong contenders again, at least for one more season. Murray State Racers (record vs MTSU: 9-3) The class of the OVC in terms of prestige and history, the Racers have made the post-season in four of six seasons, have boasted twenty wins twice, and have reigning conference player of the year PG Boris Jeffery returning. Unfortunately, the past two seasons have been rough for the Racers, and the roster is getting thinner and thinner. A nice solid incoming pair of freshman leave hope, but the Racers haven't had a winning season since 1956...those freshman better get up to speed quickly if Murray State wants to hold on to that prestige. Morehead State Eagles (record vs MTSU: 9-4) Initially, it looked as if Morehead State was going to emerge as the frontrunner in the OVC. The Eagles stormed their way to the NCAA tournament in 1954 and '55, then came crashing back down with a 12-18 record the following season. They have had some solid recruiting success the past few seasons, however, and have as much talent on the roster as any OVC school. Most of it is undeveloped...but most of it is still young, as well. If Morehead State can get the most out of their youth, they will be strong for the next few seasons at least. |
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04-02-2016, 05:23 PM
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#8 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Somewhere More Familiar
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One thing that is easy to note from the above post: we suck in conference play. Career OVC Standings:
 We're actually not that far behind Tennessee Tech, but their roster is quite a bit stronger than ours. Here's our "history," as it were:  So we've been trending up, but only gradually. Middle Tennessee has been in the bottom half of the OVC in terms of recruiting every year but one, and has finished dead last in the conference in three of the six years they've been doing business. So we've got a lot of work to do. Thankfully, the conference has been a huge pile of mediocrity - even the brand new, all-walk-on East Tennessee State managed 4 conference wins in their first season of existence. Let's take a look at what we have to work with... |
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04-02-2016, 05:41 PM
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#9 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Somewhere More Familiar
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In terms of current talent, only East Tennessee has less than we do in conference. In terms of future potential, we stand alone. At the bottom. Our best player is a walk-on. The roster makeup is crazy, as we graduate NINE seniors this year. It's going to be a nightmare simply juggling my scholarships to get into some semblance of a recruiting rotation.
In other words, it sounds like fun Here's the roster: Code:
Code:
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04-03-2016, 12:45 PM
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#10 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Somewhere More Familiar
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Position-by-position Analysis, 1959
We'll break the team down by each position and we'll see where our strengths and weaknesses are. Spoiler alert: our weaknesses are many. Center Technically, we only have one center on the entire roster. We do, however, have six power forwards, so we'll include a couple of them here that I will be playing at the 5 throughout the course of the season. Overall thoughts: this is actually not as bad as it appeared on first glance. Ortega, the senior, is actually pretty decent. Markle, who will be his understudy, is just about the perfect backup center at this talent level: defense and rebounding. We fall off a cliff after that, but I've never really seen major minutes out of a third stringer anyway, so I'm not too worried about it. Unfortunately, our future prospects here are nonexistent, so Center will be a large priority in recruiting this year. We'll likely try to find one JC transfer and one high schooler. C Pat Ortega Sr* (Orange/Yellow) 6'9" 246 lbs 1958: 29 starts, 7.4 points, 7.9 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 1.7 turnovers, 0.3 steals, 0.7 blocks, 3.2 fouls, .436 FG%, .547 FT% Career: 29 starts, 5.2 points, 5.2 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 1.4 turnovers, 0.2 steals, 0.6 blocks, 2.5 fouls, .421 FG%, .523 FT% Ortega has been a solid contributor all three of his years, averaging 16 minutes per game as a freshman and playing an increased role each season. He's turnover prone and can't hit a free throw, but he plays decent defense and has a good interior scoring game. He's the best rebounder on the team as well. He'll start for us at the 5 and will be a big part of the offense. PF John Markle Sr (Red/Red) 6'5" 235 lbs Career: 0 starts, 0.9 points, 1.3 rebounds, 0.3 assists, 0.4 turnovers, 0.1 steals, 0.3 blocks, 0.3 fouls, .500 FG%, .667 FT% Don't let the Red/Red rating fool you, Markle has talent in all the right places. He's undersized at 6'5", but beggars can't be choosers. His 13/C and 14/B Post D and Blocks pair well with his 9/C and 18/A Offensive and Defensive Rebounding to make a player that I love coming off the bench. He's got 15 strength too, so he won't be pushed around underneath despite his lack of size. He's pretty much a zero offensively, but 12/C in Free Throw Shooting means when he gets to the line he should convert. He only got 4.6 minutes per game last season...expect him to hover around 10 this year. PF Daniel Tate Fr* (Red/Orange) 6'8" 218 lbs Tate is hopefully going to see very few minutes. He's a solid rebounder and a middling defender, but he has no hands, can't score, can't pass, and will never steal or block a shot. He may eventually develop a little bit of scoring, and when all is said and done he should be a very good rebounder, but he's always going to be turnover prone and is already as good a defender as he'll ever be. Even moving forward after this year, I hope to be able to bury him on the bench somewhere. Last edited by Vince, Pt. II : 04-03-2016 at 01:12 PM. |
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04-03-2016, 01:10 PM
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#11 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Somewhere More Familiar
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Power Forward
You would think that with six to choose from, fielding a decent depth chart at the 4 would be simple. In the end, we aren't terribly displeased with what we have, but we're also not really all that pumped about it. Rodriguez will be the starter and should be a good defensive compliment to Ortega in the post. I wish he was a slightly better rebounder, but at this level I'll take what I can get. Behind him we actually have a handful of options I'm not terrified of letting on the court, so that's a good thing. Even nicer, one of those options is a freshman! They all have warts though, so it's not all fun and games. Since Uhl is pretty terrible, we may do the same thing here as at center - recruit one JC transfer and one high schooler. PF Tobias Rodriguez Sr (Red/Yellow) 6'9" 261 lbs Career: 29 starts, 5.9 points, 6.6 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 1.4 turnovers, 0.7 steals, 1.7 blocks, 2.3 fouls, .444 FG%, .700 FT% Rodriguez is a JC transfer who started for us all of last year. He is a defensive specialist with a penchant for steals and blocks, but is limited offensively and in ball handling. He's an ok rebounder, but nothing flashy, and his offensive game is pretty terrible. He's the best we got, however, so we'll take what we can get. PF Duane Utter Sr* (Red/Red) 6'7" 226 lbs Career: 0 starts, 1.9 points, 3.8 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.7 turnovers, 0.2 steals, 1.1 blocks, 1.2 fouls, .339 FG%, .536 FT% Yet another JC transfer (I'm starting to see why there are so many seniors on this squad), Utter is a block machine who knows how to rebound and handle the ball. Finding the basket is another matter entirely, however, and his post defense is just ok. He's got a very limited ceiling, but coming off the bench for a bottom-feeder squad like ours, he's pretty decent. PF Kent Uhl Fr* (Red/Orange) 6'7" 238 lbs Uhl is pretty bad. He will hopefully develop into a competent rebounder, but mediocre defense and handling are things he can only hope to aspire to. Offensively he is a complete mess. Hopefully he never sees the floor. PF Gordon Grant Fr (Red/Orange) 6'6" 245 lbs Grant is an Aussie and is the freshman with some potential. Unfortunately he has a huge achilles heel and that is his aversion to rebounding anywhere on the court. As a big man, that's practically inexcusable for me. That being said, he's got tremendous offensive skills already, with the potential to develop more, and will grow into a fine ball handler. His defense is a little raw right now, but should get to mediocre eventually. If he could rebound, he'd be my best prospect. He will probably get a red shirt this year, so we'll see in 1960 if his inability to rebound will be something we can make up for by putting the right players around him. Last edited by Vince, Pt. II : 04-03-2016 at 01:12 PM. |
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04-03-2016, 01:36 PM
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#12 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Somewhere More Familiar
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Small Forward
We've got an incumbent three-year starter who is extremely mediocre (yet managed to be 1st team All-OVC last year), and a young up-and-comer who I envision as the most talented player on the team. Then there are the two non-entities that I don't ever want to see on the court. If this were real life, this would be a nightmare situation to come into as a new coach. Since I don't have to worry about feelings, I'm benching the hell out of the incumbent and starting the young guy. SF Charles Norton So* (Red / Green) 6'7" 187 lbs Career: 0 starts, 4.3 points, 1.2 rebounds, 0.9 assists, 0.9 turnovers, 0.9 steals, 0.1 blocks, 0.9 fouls, .474 FG%, .654 FT% Norton has a pretty decent ceiling - his jumper is already good and will develop into a lethal weapon, he plays solid defense and is a heckuva ball hawk. He also not only turns the ball over infrequently, he passes well too. I wish he rebounded better, but our post players are both pretty decent there, so I'm not all THAT worried about it. He's not so good at perimeter defense, but he does steal the ball all the time. He's going to develop into our offensive focal point, methinks. SF Jessie Smith Sr (Orange / Yellow) 6'7" 223 lbs Career: 79 starts, 9.8 points, 4.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 2.2 turnovers, 0.8 steals, 0.2 blocks, 3.0 fouls, .448 FG%, .759 FT% The incumbent, and reigning 1st team All-OVC SF Jessie Smith...I'm not that big a fan of, actually. He's inefficient from the field, plays poor defense, and is a middling rebounder. He's done a great job of reducing his turnovers (1.6 per game last year compared to 3.0 as a freshman), and somehow has over a steal per game his last two seasons (7/D in steals and only 0.1 per game his freshman year). He's still one of the better players on the team, will be our 6th man and get heavy rotational minutes...I just want to shift the focus to Norton, who should be a much more efficient scorer. SF Bobby Eberhardt Fr (Red / Orange) 6'8" 242 Eberhardt is a big boy for a small forward, but unfortunately he's got some major issues. He isn't very athletic (11-9-11 in quickness, strength, jumping), and I've rarely seen anyone so poor at defense (3/F 2/F in post/perimeter) - though he's somehow a ball hawk (9/B steals); I guess he tries to jump the passing lanes all the time and never gets back? He's got great offensive ability and should get even better, but that defense is just so terrible that I shudder at the thought of him on the floor. He's got a good handle, but can't pass, and he's meh at rebounding. I'm not really sure what to do with him, to be honest. Half of me is tempted to red shirt him so he can develop that offense, and the other half of me is tempted to get him off the team as soon as possible with that awful defense. He'll be a deep bench rotational player, and next season when half the team leaves to graduation he'll probably see more of the floor. SF Caleb Capps Sr* (Red / Red) 6'6" 210 lbs Capps is a walk-on from 1955 who has literally never been on the floor in a game. He's actually a good ball handler and defender, but that's about it for talent. I won't be terrified if he hits the floor, but we're not game planning much playing time for him, either. |
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04-03-2016, 01:47 PM
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#13 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Somewhere More Familiar
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Shooting Guard
While we have the most concentrated talent on the team in our back court, things are a little dicey as we only have four guards on the roster and each player is either an offensive guy or a defensive guy. And the dichotomy between the talent levels is striking. Even better, all but one guard is graduating this year. So next season we will have exactly one guard who isn't a fresh new recruit. Someone tell me again why I wanted this job? Anyway, we have two SG's on the roster. Shull is a perimeter shooter in a league without a three point line who plays good defense and turns the ball over. Hayes is a fantastic mid-range shooter who takes care of the ball, but plays no defense. If I could meld them into one player, he'd be amazing. Unfortunately, I can't do that, and we're stuck with one of them at a time. SG Walter Shull Sr (Orange / Yellow) 6'3" 180 lbs Career: 0 starts, 2.3 points, 0.9 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 1.1 turnovers, 0.3 steals, 0.0 blocks, 0.9 fouls, .441 FG%, .667 FT% Shull is an 18/A in 3 point shooting, but like I mentioned earlier, the league won't get a three pointer for about 25 more years. He plays excellent defense (11/B), but has the dreaded 'hands of guacamole dip' (2/F). He also can't create his own shot for crap (2/F INS). As mentioned before, damned if I do, damned if I don't with these two. I may have to bite the bullet and let Shull start, especially if Acosta ends up the starter at PG. SG Emery Hayes Sr (Orange / Yellow) 6'3" 210 lbs Career: 35 starts, 8.0 points, 2.0 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 1.5 turnovers, 0.3 steals, 0.2 blocks, 1.7 fouls, .428 FG%, .718 FT% Hayes's 17/A Jump Shot would lead you to believe that the .428 FG% has to go up. He struggles to create his own shot, can't pass, couldn't find a rebound in the dictionary, and plays poor defense. But he handles the ball well! If it were just between Shull and Hayes, Hayes would be the starter. Unfortunately, our perimeter defense is completely atrocious and I can't afford to have no one on the floor who can defend opposing guards. Hayes will likely get plenty of minutes, especially as the only backup, but man we're going to have trouble against teams who have guards with a pulse. Last edited by Vince, Pt. II : 04-03-2016 at 01:50 PM. |
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04-03-2016, 02:11 PM
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#14 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Somewhere More Familiar
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Point Guard
Only two guys here as well. We've got a 'talented' youngster in Acosta and a cagey veteran in Duran. Duran can't pass, but plays solid defense and has a decent shot. Acosta REALLY can't defend, but passes well and is a plus offensive player. This is pretty much Shooting Guard all over again - if this were Voltron, we'd have a hell of a team when our powers combined. PG Howard Acosta So (Orange / Green) 5'11" 173 Career: 29 starts, 7.6 points, 2.7 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1.9 turnovers, 0.5 steals, 0.1 blocks, 2.6 fouls, .410 FG%, .679 FT% Howard isn't exactly the first name I think of when I hear the last name Acosta. He's young and raw, but he should end up a nearly elite passer and scorer when all is said and done. Unfortunately he plays defense like James Harden (2/F 3/F 5/D 2/F for the defensive categories) - actually, Harden isn't a bad comp for Acosta. Scoring, passing, turnovers, and lack of defense. That's about right. He's still got some growing to do offensively, but with his lack of defensive talent we won't feel bad allocating ALL of his training time to scoring and passing. He'll start for us and hopefully help to fuel the offense with his combination of passing and scoring. PG Alejandro Duran Sr (Orange / Yellow) 6'0" 201 lbs Career: 2 starts, 3.7 points, 1.7 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 1.0 turnovers, 0.4 steals, 0.0 blocks, 1.3 fouls, .428 FG%, .735 FT% See, if it was Howard Duran and Alejandro Acosta, that would make MUCH more sense. Well, at least a little more sense. Anyway, Duran is a solid player - he's got a good jump shot, doesn't turn it over TOO much, and plays solid defense. Unfortunately he can't pass, and I really like my PG's to be able to distribute the ball - especially when we have a shortage of INS ratings for my other players to create their own shot. As it goes, Duran will make a good solid option off the bench - we're going to have a decent bench unit, surprisingly enough - though they won't be able to score at all. |
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04-03-2016, 02:27 PM
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#15 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Somewhere More Familiar
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Our starting five:
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Ugh. That there is a whole lot of mediocre. Remember that we still have training camps to go through, so that should get at least a little better before the season starts. We are going to turn the ball over a ton, struggle to score, and will give up a boatload of points to opposing guards. We should be ok on the interior defensively, and we might even hold our own on the rebounding front. I'm actually more confident in our bench: Code:
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04-03-2016, 02:54 PM
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#16 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Somewhere More Familiar
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Recruiting! This should be very interesting. Next season we will have a total of six players on our roster after graduations. Two of those six players are guys I hope I never have to play. So we will have a LOT to work with. In fact, we have 8 scholarships to give out this year. I will probably give out a maximum of 6, but I will not be afraid to hold over the scholarships if I can't find players that I think are worth my time. I'd like to develop a rotation where we are never recruiting more than 3 or 4 players at a time. So the goal this season will be two JC transfers and four high schoolers. Where do we need them? Omitting the two useless players, we have:
1960 Roster composition: 1 PF 2 SF 1 PG So we'll need two Centers, one Power Forward, two Shooting Guards, and one Point Guard at a minimum. I'll go with this as my target: 2 Centers (1 JuCo) 1 Power Forward (1 JuCo) 2 Shooting Guards (1 JuCo) 1 Point Guard Getting three JC's in will give us 5 juniors next year, which is a bit much...but one of them is a non-scholarship player anyway, so with 4 scholarships graduating in 1961 we won't be overloaded with turnover again. That also means we have 3 sophomores and 4 freshman for 1960, so a nice balance. Now how does the recruiting situation look? Well, we've got the bare minimum of $10k per month, and it looks like we somehow have a plethora of recruits who are chomping at the bit to become Blue Raiders. Four *** recruits are Very High in interest in us, one as high as #131 in the country, and another four ** recruits. Of the three star guys, we have two PG's (one academically ineligible thus far), one PF, and one C. We'll scout all of them and throw them on the call list - with our limited budget, crap prestige and terrible recruiting ratings on our coaches, we are pretty much only in on guys if they are interested in us right away. As soon as their interest wanes or someone more interesting comes along, we're going to have to bail. Which means scouting EVERYONE is going to be the name of the game. Cast the net wide, try to find something useful. That being said, we're also going to throw scholarship offers around like they're candy. We have 8 to play with, and I only intend to use 6, so we will bludgeon potential recruits with them, get in early and try to build a lead before anything else happens. All of the Very High *** recruits are getting an offer (except the ineligible one) immediately, sight unseen. It won't take much to be an improvement over what is on our roster next season because there is almost literally nothing on our roster next season. Holy crap does $10,000 run out quickly. Wow. This is going to be...difficult. |
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04-05-2016, 11:39 PM
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#17 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Somewhere More Familiar
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1959: July
Two things of note have happened since I took over MTSU: scheduling and the first month of recruiting. Let's tackle them in order... Scheduling We are a crappy team. We are ranked 174 (out of 180) in terms of prestige. We have a team full of seniors and we have extremely little talent on the roster that will still be here next season. With all that in mind, we are going to try to schedule the cupcakiest schedule that ever cupcaked. If you don't know the mascot of a team, we're probably playing them this year. St. Francis-NY, Montana State, Bucknell, Texas Western, Texas Christian, William & Mary. Veritable titans in the NCAA 53 landscape. A .500 record is still going to be a titanic achievement, but at least this way we have a fighting chance in most of our games. Recruiting Like I mentioned last update, we're going to wield our scholarships like bludgeons. In July we offered 7 of our 8 scholarships to prospective recruits, fully expecting to swing and miss on many of them. We reached a little high in going for JC transfer C Lou Diaz (#114), and although we made his top 5, Ole Miss and Arkansas are in ahead of us with offers, so we're out of there. Also predictably, #131 C Chris McSwain still likes us (#3 and Very High interest), but we have two teams ahead of us and one is 57 prestige Vanderbilt, so we bid McSwain adieu despite the fact that we really like his projected array of talents. #162 SG David Hair, probably another reach, has all sorts of offers ahead of us (though again, we make his list @ #5) so we bow out immediately. Finally, #334 SG Jason Billings is so bad that even we are not willing to put a scholarship on him, so away goes his scholarship offer. As a side note, I may start to hate Vanderbilt - they seem to be in on every recruit I'm looking at. I must say, though, I'm heartened that we are appearing on all these Top Schools lists - there's no way in hell we win any recruiting battles at this point, but that bodes well for when we start improving the program a little (hopefully). That leaves us with three scholarship offers outstanding, to a PF and two PGs. If our scout (who is terrible) is correct about one of them, we are ecstatic, and just waiting for a big school to pull the rug out from under us. We're completely all in on this guy and will be until he (hopefully) signs with us. The other two are pretty decent as well, so the question becomes how much of our budget we're willing to throw at each of them. We literally cannot afford to go all out on both of them, so the question is will a piecemeal effort work? As long as no one else finds them, sure it will. But here's the other problem...we need some of that budget to keep scouting other players. Eesh. What to do? In good news, we lead on all three of them and are the only school offering a scholarship to this point. We've got 5 free scholarships now, so we pick one of our call list players that we liked and offer him a scholarship. We sit now with 4 scholarships offered, covering these positions: C (JC), PF, PG, PG. Both PGs would work out fine at SG, so we're not worried there. The PF is a high school kid, but we're also not that bothered there. Which means we need a few JuCos to offer scholarships to. We're not going to turn away High School students we like, but we'll lean toward JC kids. We work our way through our watch list, pruning liberally, then we add some more to the call list. We offer a few scholarships to academically ineligible players hoping to garner some love for showing faith in them - what does it hurt us to have a scholarship tied up when we have 8 of them to work with? We make it all the way to a full complement of 8 offers before calling it a month. We'll see what happens come Thursday. Last edited by Vince, Pt. II : 04-05-2016 at 11:41 PM. |
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04-08-2016, 11:38 PM
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#18 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Somewhere More Familiar
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1959: August
Recruiting! We've been able to spend some money on recruits now, sending coaches out, offering campus visits...this has been the first chance the recruits have to update their leanings in a meaningful way, so we learned a lot last sim. What did we learn? That this recruiting thing is weird. While my other, much higher prestige, schools are struggling, Middle Tennessee seems to have found some kids that absolutely love us, and we're not getting much in the way of competition for them. I don't really know what to make of that...but we're going to stay the course and see what it gets us. Of our 8 offered scholarships, we're only punting on two - we offered a scholarship blindly to #146 PF Daron Brooks, just for kicks...Xavier, Cincinnati, and Dayton all offered him as well, and he's still Low interest in us, so that ends quickly. We've been in on #143 SG Mark Ramirez a little bit longer and with a little more commitment, but Alabama Poly (Auburn), Georgia Tech and Tennessee Tech are in on him now and all above us, so we bail there too. Which means we still have six kids that are interested in us enough that we aren't scared off. We have some competition for our main squeeze now, but we still lead and the recruit is Very High in interest...despite the fact that the other suitors are crushing us in prestige. He does essentially live around the corner from campus, so that's working in our favor. We pour on the love again, and hope like hell we can stay the course. Strangely enough, one of our offers is to a JC center who we will be in a recruiting war to win if we stay - and we're going to stay. Which makes absolutely no sense, especially since I mentioned at the beginning we are going to have to run away at any hint of a battle. We did jump up to High interest and 3rd on the list on the strength of just a phone call, so we'll offer him a campus visit (which is fully 18% of our monthly budget) and see if that can get us up to Very High and/or overtaking Eastern Kentucky State, who has the lead at the moment and is not very much better than us prestige wise. We have one Center we are courting who is actually quite highly rated, seems to like us at least a little, and has us on his top five. We're going to give him a campus tour to see if we can sneak our way up his list, but he's definitely someone we'll easily be able to walk away from with any hint of competition next month. Next, we have a trio of point guards we are after. They're all high school kids, one of them isn't even qualified yet, and there is no competition for any of them (yet). Each of the qualified guards will get an assistant coach visit, but nothing else...this budget is super thin. Finally, we found a power forward we're rather enamored with, and he's as of yet unknown to the world at large. We've offered him a scholarship and sent both our assistant and head coaches over to his place to pay him a visit. He rebounds like a champion, has a good inside offensive game and can block shots like crazy, although he doesn't play much other defense. We've got 7 scholarship offers out there, we're in a battle from behind for one, in a battle we hold the lead on another, and have three that we don't have any competition for. One isn't qualified, and one is a new offer that we don't have any information on. It's really interesting having such a lack of resources - combine that with 8 open scholarships, and it's a unique situation where I'm not afraid to aim higher than I normally would because I never intended to use all these scholarships, so missing on one or two isn't much of a deterrent. Current scholarship offers: 2 C (1 JuCo) 2 PF 3 PG (1 not yet qualified) Last edited by Vince, Pt. II : 04-08-2016 at 11:38 PM. |
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04-15-2016, 12:28 AM
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#19 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Somewhere More Familiar
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1959: September & October
September was rather boring. We jumped off a few players because of interest from other teams, stayed in a few ill-advised recruiting battles that we already said we would avoid, and stayed the course on several players that seemed promising. With the end of October, we get the first opportunity for players to sign with schools. Middle Tennessee got some good news in our first effort: our "Main Squeeze" becomes the first recruit in the Scooter Davis tenure in Middle Tennessee! Code:
#230 in the nation, a *** recruit whom our scout absolutely loves, and has since the very beginning. If he's half the player our scout thinks he is, he'll be a stud in the Ohio Valley for all four years he is here. He's got offensive chops, can hit a free throw, doesn't turn the ball over, plays defense, and blocks all of the shots. His high school stats also lead me to believe that there might be some truth to those ratings! He's probably not quite as good as our scout thinks, but even worse than advertised he should be a star for our team for a good long while. As for the rest of recruiting...it's not so rosy. We still have the lead on a pair of point guards (a trio if you include the non-qualified one) with no resistance apparent, so we're confident we'll get at least one (if not both) of them. Neither plays defense as well as we would like, and both will only be 'good' passers when all is said and done, but both have very good handling, solid offensive skills, and both are ball-hawks. That's the end of the happy look on our recruiting trail, however. We had a pair of offers out to JuCo big men, and while both are interested (High or better) and have us at #2 on their lists...we're still behind schools with better prestige who are offering scholarships. We are going to prudently back off of these players and focus our efforts elsewhere, as much as it might hurt. We have two more scholarship offers outstanding, although neither make us extremely confident. The first is a nearly-top-100 recruit who has High interest in us and no other offers...but since he's not 'Very High' and schools just found out this month that they've lost out on players for the first time, it is really easy to imagine a bigger school jumping on him after losing out on a better-rated recruit now that recruits have started to sign. Still, with the interest from the recruit and the lack of interest from any other schools, we're almost forced to invest in him. Maybe we get lucky and he decides quickly this next month...then again, maybe not. The second offer outstanding is another recruit who has High interest...unfortunately on this one we are not in the lead. Western Kentucky is the #1 school on the list, has a 13 prestige advantage on us, and we're only High, not 'Very High' in interest from the recruit. We've also already burned our big ace in the hole in our Campus Visit - all of which should be an immediate abandonment on our part. For some reason, we're sticking with him. Which is horribly ill-advised with only $10,000 in budget and 7 scholarships left to try to fill. With the dregs left in our recruiting budget, we scout a few more players. We also refrain from offering more scholarships; a lot of our budget has been tied up in wooing potential recruits, so we're running out of previously scouted players to jump on to. We've got four new recruits we are scouting this month, and we'll keep our scholarship offers where they are...so how we stand now: Committed: 1 PF Outstanding Scholarship Offers (7 remaining): 1 C 1 PF 3 PG (1 academically ineligible) |
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04-15-2016, 12:43 AM
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#20 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Somewhere More Familiar
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1959: November, Part 1 (of 2)
We start our coaching career at Middle Tennessee State playing a game @ the Tribe of William & Mary. Out of the Southern Conference, W & M have struggled in the NCAA recently. In the last six seasons, they only have one in which they bested a .500 record, and have failed to reach double-digit wins in three of the six seasons. On paper, this is a team we should be able to hang with; the closest thing they boast to a stand-out player is PG Issac Dandridge, who has never started a game and hasn't averaged better than 3.8 points per game since his freshman year back in 1956. Of course they come out and dispatch us handily, winning 67-57 after jumping out to a 14 point half-time lead. They beat us in nearly every facet of the game, out-rebounding, out-shooting, out-passing, and even out-fouling us. Our starting backcourt of Shull and Acosta both fouled out, and despite a solid effort from C Pat Ortega (9 points, 12 rebounds), only one player scored in double figures for us, and even he was barely there at 10 points. Also, he wasn't even a starter. Things had to get better at home against Texas Western (modern day UTEP), right? Unfortunately no. They again beat us in nearly every category, though it was admittedly much closer this time around. We really just couldn't shoot. .369 from the field, and it's safe to say that's exactly what did us in. Texas Western starting SG Morriss Hartnett was concussed exactly 1 minute into the game, and it might have been the worst thing that could have possibly happened, as his replacement Cameron Forrest went off for 18 points to lead all scorers (by a lot). After only two games, the statistics are pretty weak. Leading Scorers: PG Acosta (10.0), SF Norton (9.5), SF Smith (9.0) Leading Rebounders: C Ortega (9.5), PF Markle (8.5), PF Rodriguez (6.5) Leading Assists: PG Acosta (2.5), SF Norton (2.5), C Ortega (2.0) Rough start to the year, but there's a lot of basketball left to be played. |
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