College Hoops 2k8: A New Challenge

[Eaglesfan27]

13:03 - Halsch and Quinn collide hard on a dunk attempt by Quinn. Quinn is called for the charge, his 2nd personal foul. Also, Quinn is holding his knee.. it looks bad. We are down 10-5.

11:05 - Beeler gets a 2nd foul on Moye. I rest all of my starters. We are down 13-8.

4:00 - Down 21-18, I bring back all of my starters.

3:20 - Sowers throws down a monster dunk after he beats his man.



Halftime: We are tied at 23. Our shooters are shooting badly, and they are playing very well defensively.

Beeler is the player of the half with 7 points and 7 boards. Halsch leads our team with 7 points.



9:23 - Our starters are very tired. We are down 41-38. I thought we would have worn them down by now. I bring in my 2nd unit..

4:44 - Nelke with 7 huge points. We lead 51-46. I bring back our starters.

They make it 51-49 before Humphrey fakes out his man and drives for the dunk.

2:30 - Mann with a 3 to make it 53-52.

Moye with an open 12 footer, but Barnhill with a quick dunk at the other end.

Sowers misses a dunk, but blocks a shot at the other end.

45 seconds: They steal it from Halsch and get a fastbreak. Moye with a foul to prevent the dunk. Atako misses the first FT... and the 2nd! Halsch with the board. We still lead 55-54.

20 seconds: Moye with a nice hook down low.

15 seconds: They attempt a quick 3 which rims out. Moye with the rebound. They foul him immediately.. he makes the 1st.. and the 2nd.

They hit a quick 3. They foul Galbreath. He misses the 1st.. but makes the 2nd. 60-57. 8 seconds left.

They miss a 3 at the buzzer as Sowers had good defense and made him shoot over him.


We win the game 60-57.


Halsch is the player of the game with 14 points, 4 boards, 2 steals, and a block. He shot 4 of 10 from the floor and 6 of 9 from the line. Beeler had 12 points and 11 boards against him but he shot 4 of 12. A good solid game.

Galbreath with 3 points, 0 assists, 2 steals, and 0 turnovers. He shot 0 of 5. He allowed their PG to score 11 points and 4 assists.

Sowers with 5 points on 1 of 9 shooting. 2 boards, 1 assist, and 2 steals. He played good defense all night long.

Humphrey with 6 points, 8 boards, 2 steals, and 2 assists. He shot 2 of 9. He held Quinn to 0 points, but Quinn's injury had something to do with that.

Moye with 8 points, 13 boards, and 1 block. He shot 3 of 7. Their center finished with 20 points and 10 boards.

Nelke led the bench with 7 points, 2 boards, and 1 steal.

Lang with 6 points on 2 of 3 shooting. Connolly with 2 points on 1 of 3 shooting.

Pait with 2 points on 0 of 4 shooting.

Sead with 3 points, 1 assist, and 0 turnovers.

[Eaglesfan27]

Dec 27, 2030 -

Our last OOC game is an easy one before we enter into the Pac-10 schedule. We host St. Francis (NY.) They are 3-8 with a roster strength of 68.

We beat them 82-56.

Galbreath with a career high 15 points and 8 assists (also a career high.)

Sowers with 12 points and 2 boards.

Humphrey with 6 points, 5 boards, 5 assists, and 6 steals.

Halsch with 10 points, 7 boards, and 2 blocks.

Moye with 11 points, 5 boards, and 2 blocks.


Pait led the bench with 9 points. Lang with 7. Nelke with 5.


We are 9-1 and are 21st in the media poll. I expect that to go up quickly if we keep winning once we start Pac-10 Play. Our first game is at a very good Cal Squad that is 11-1 and 23rd in the media poll. We'll look at them and the rest of the Pac-10 later this week.

[Eaglesfan27]

A look at the Pac-10:

1. Stanford is the class of the league with a 11-1 record and a roster strength of 94. Their new coach inherited the best PG-SG combo in the conference in Dedric Finn and Mustafa Hull. Kurtis Byerson is an excellent center.

2. Washington is right there with Stanford. A 9-2 record with a roster strength of 94. They are a more balanced team with 5 star starters including super sophomore SF Esa Gennie who is rated 88 overall already.

3. Oregon is 10-2 with a roster strength of 91. SF is their only relative weakness. They are very strong at SG with Senior Russ Grimes.

4. Cal is young and talented. They are 11-1 with a roster strength of 91. They start 3 sophomores and could be extremely dangerous in a year or two. They are led by SR SF Daniel N'Diaye who is a well rounded player.

5. USC is 9-1 with a roster strength of 90. I think Halsch has proven that he is better than his ratings.

6. UCLA is 8-2 with a 88 overall roster strength. They are a nice blend of youth and experience with 2 SR's, 2 SO's, and 1 FR. SR PG Jayson Rand is their highest rated player, but I think SR SF Deng Angounou is their most dangerous player.

7. Arizona is 8-2 with a roster strength of 87. They are led by SR SG Thomas Arenas and SR C Tommie Cuic. They are starting 2 FR at SF and PF.

8. Arizona State is 8-2 with a roster strength of 87. They have 3 JR's in the starting lineup. JR SF Mawel Haywood is their most dangerous scorer.

9. Oregon State is 10-3 with a roster strength of 85. They are starting a downright bad freshman at PF, but they have won against a soft schedule and because of 3 solid SR players. SR PG Marcus Blue is by far their best player.

10. Washington State is 4-7 with a roster strength of 82. Their best player is JR PG Brian Benson who is rated 78 overall. Freshman C Denver Fowler looks like he'll be a very good player in the future for them and could be a building block..


Stanford is leading the conference in scoring at 82.4 ppg.

Washington is leading the conference in rebounding at 33 rpg.

Stanford is leading in assists at 17.2 apg.

We are leading in steals at 12.6 spg.

Arizona State leads in blocks per game at 5.2.

Washington's Center Lance Appleby is the leading scorer at 20.5 ppg.

Stanford's Hull leads the league in assists at 7.1 per game.

Humphrey leads in steals at 3.6 per game.

Arizona State's PF Klein leads with 2.7 bpg.


Stanford's Finn is considered the best player in the conference with an overall roster strength of 91.

Oregon's FR C Gardner is considered the best freshman in the conference with a rating of 82.

Washington's SG Kohn is considered the best pure shooter.

Stanford's Hull is considered the best playmaker.

Stanford's Finn is considered the best pro prospect.

Grimes of Oregon is the best defender.

Next up, we play at Cal.

[Eaglesfan27]

15:02 - Balanced scoring. We are down 8-7.

11:45 - Humphrey gets a 2nd foul on N'Diaye. We lead 11-10.

10:05 - We bring in the 2nd unit. We are tied at 13.

2:45 - Sead and Lang with a nice stretch there. We lead 26-23 as I bring back my starters.



Halftime: We lead 33-28. Very nice balanced offense from our squad.

Moye is the player of the half with 8 points, 4 boards, 2 steals, and a block.



15:00 - We are tied at 36. Guys just aren't hitting shots in the 2nd half.

12:05 - Halsch with 4 straight points. We are tied at 42.

10:05 - Galbreath picks up his 3rd foul. We are down 46-45. I bring in my 2nd unit.

4:56 - I put back my starters. We are up 57-56 thanks to some nice outside shooting from Sead!

Halsch with a quick bucket down low.

Their star center, Ballard, answers in kind.

Ballard with a steal from Halsch, he starts the fastbreak which Urbitis finishes. Urbitis has 15 so far. We are down by 1.

3:37 - Moye gets an offensive board, puts it back in and draws the foul! He makes the FT. We lead 62-60.

Moye with a block that starts a fastbreak.. Humphrey is fouled on a dunk attempt. He misses them both.

N'Diaye with a quick 12 footer.

Humphrey responds with a 16 footer after rolling off a screen. Humphrey with a steal at the other end. We lead 64-62 with 2 minutes left.

After we miss a 12 footer by Galbreath, N'Diaye hits a quick jumper to tie it at 64.

53 seconds - Halsch with a nice post move to score. We lead 66-64.

45 seconds left - Galbreath with a steal.

10 seconds left - Humphrey has his shot blocked.

3.8 seconds - They miss a 3 by N'Diaye. Moye with the rebound and is fouled. He makes both FT's to seal it.

They hit a 3 at the buzzer, but it doesn't matter.


We win the game 68-67.


Moye is the player of the game with 15 points, 5 boards, 4 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. Great game with efficient offense (5 of 6 from the field, 5 of 5 from the line) and very good defense against a quality center as he held him to 10 points on 5 of 10 shooting.


Galbreath with 1 point, 4 assists, 2 steals, and 1 turnover. He allowed Urbitis to put up 15 points and 6 assists.


Sowers with 6 points, 2 boards, and 4 turnovers. He shot 1 of 5. He did well defensively against Hornsby.


Humphrey with 7 points and 3 boards. He shot 3 of 9. He did reasonably well against N'Diaye who was 4 of 10.

Halsch with 14 points, 4 boards, and 2 steals. He shot 6 of 7. He held their PF to 4 points on 2 of 6 shooting.


Sead with 7 points on 3 of 3 shooting!

Lang with 7 points on 3 of 4 shooting.

Nelke with 7 points, 3 boards, and 2 blocks on 2 of 3 shooting and 2 of 2 from the line. Nice range on that 3 pointer he shot.

Pait with 4 points and 2 boards. He shot 1 of 6.

[Eaglesfan27]

Jan 4, 2031 -

Our next game is at WSU. They are 4-8.

It's closer than expected, but we beat them 75-64. Pait led all scorers with 11 points on 2 of 9 shooting.

Galbreath with 10 points and 4 assists.

Sowers with 8 points and 5 boards. Humphrey with 10 points, 4 boards, 2 steals, and 2 blocks.

Moye with 9 points, 5 boards, and 2 blocks. Nelke with 7 points and 3 boards.

During the game, Galbreath suffered a hamstring injury that will have D2D for a few weeks. Lang suffered a bruised rib that shouldn't hamper him too much.


Next up is hosting UCLA. They are 8-4.

SR PG Jayson Rand leads the squad. He is 5'9 168 and is rated 84 overall. He is a fast player who is a good defender and has a good handle. He's averaging 14.7 ppg and 4.5 apg.

SO SG Dean Laurie is 6'2 186 and is rated 80 overall. He is a decent shooter, but nothing special. He's a good athlete. He's averaging 7.7 ppg and 1.5 spg.

SR SF Deng Angounou is 6'7 244 and is rated 83 overall. He's a very good midrange shooter who is a bit reluctant to shoot at times. He's averaging 8.2 ppg, 4.2 rpg, and 2.3 apg.

SO F Henry Greene is starting at PF. He's 6'9 210 and is rated 80 overall. He's developing a nice post game. He's averaging 6.9 ppg, 3.2 rpg, and 1 bpg.

FR C Abe Butch is their rated FR and is starting off the year well. He's 6'9 265 and is rated 77 overall. He's averaging 7.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg, and 2.5 bpg.

The bench is all in the mid to high 70's. I'll play them tomorrow.

[Eaglesfan27]

Before the game, I finally decide who to offer the final scholarship to:

Timon Zimmerman is a massive center from Houston, TX. He is 7'2 271 and is a 3 star player who is ranked 288th overall and 14th among C's. Our staff thinks he will be a great rebounder and a strong post defender and I'll need either a starter or backup C out of this class.

Now, it is time to beat UCLA.



11:06 - Humphrey has been our main scorer early. All of the starters are tired and will come out. We are tied at 14.

4:52 - High tempo from our 2nd unit against their starters. Pait and Nelke were scoring quickly. We are tied at 29 as my starters return.


Great finish by our starters.


Halftime: We lead 44-32.

Humphrey is the player of the half with 13 points, 4 boards, and 2 steals.

Sowers with 7, Pait and Halsch with 5.



16:31 - Moye draws a 3rd foul on Butch. We lead 49-39.

9:31 - Our offense has EXPLODED. We are pounding them inside and that is opening up 3's. We are up 81-50.

6:30 - I left my starters in longer than I planned, but it is the hated Bruins, so I don't feel bad. We are leading 92-60 as I pull my starters. I'll also slow down the tempo finally.


We win the game 105-70.

Humphrey is the player of the game with 27 points, 6 boards, 5 assists, 5 steals, and 1 block. He shot 10 of 13, 2 of 4, and 5 of 5. He played solid defense as well.

Galbreath did a good job defensively and he was excellent offensively with 2 points, 8 assists, and 3 steals. He only had 1 turnover.

Sowers with 17 points, 2 boards, and 2 steals. His defense was decent. He shot 7 of 14, 2 of 3, and 1 of 2.

Halsch with 12 points, 7 boards, 6 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. He shot 4 of 9. He played excellent defense.

Moye with 19 points, 9 boards, 4 assists, and 2 blocks. He played well defensively. He shot 7 of 16, and 5 of 8 from the line.


Nelke led the bench with 12 points and 5 boards in only 12 minutes. He shot 4 of 4 from the field and 4 of 4 from the line.

Pait with 10 points, 2 boards, and 1 assist. He shot 3 of 6.

Rollins with 3 points and 5 boards in 12 minutes.

[Eaglesfan27]

Jan 12, 2031 -

Our next game is hosting Washington. They are 11-3 and ranked 20th in the media poll. Their star C and SG are both injured for the game, but will play through the injuries..


We win the game 80-65!

Moye led the way with 20 points, 7 boards, 2 assists, and 3 blocks. He shot 6 of 14, 8 of 8 from the line.

Pait also had 20 points in 22 minutes off the bench. He shot 7 of 16, 3 of 7, 3 of 4.

Humphrey with 8 points, 6 boards, and 5 assists in 23 minutes.

Lang with 9 points and 2 assists. Nelke with 8 points, 4 boards, and a block in 17 minutes.

Big win for us

Unfortunately, Rollins hurt his back in the game and will be out 1-2 weeks.


We are now 13-1 and 10th in the media poll.

Our next game is at Oregon State. They are now 10-6 (0-3.) Their best player SR Marcus Blue is out with a back strain. Most of their starters are in the mid 70's in overall rating. Their best player is JR PG Jay Woodard who who is averaging 18 ppg and 4.3 apg since he moved into the starting lineup. I'll play them later today.

[Eaglesfan27]

15:00 - We are up 12-5 thanks to good 3 point shooting by Sowers who has 6.

10:02 - We are up 21-11 as I rest my starters. Sowers has 13.

4:52 - We are up 28-18 as I bring back my starters.



Halftime: We lead 40-30.

Sowers is the player of the half with 15 points.



A miserable 2nd half. Our shots aren't falling, Moye is the only player scoring and Woodard is hot and torching Galbreath..

9:58 - I rest my starters as they tie it at 52.

6:15 - We end a 10-0 run with a nice drive by Pait that draws a foul. We are down 60-54.

5:01 - We have a big task ahead of us. Down 64-54 as my starters return.

4:40 - Galbreath with a drive to the hoop off a screen.

4:24 - Moye with a block that leads to a Humphrey fastbreak dunk and the foul.. he completes the 3 point play!

4:04 - Humphrey with a block that starts a Galbreath fastbreak. He is fouled. He misses the 1st, but makes the 2nd. Down 64-60.

2:45 - Halsch forces a miss, but then misses a hook shot down low. The next possession, they score against Halsch. We are down 66-60.

2:25 - Humphrey with a 2 that was just inside the arc.

1:46 - We force a miss and Halsch draws a foul down low. He misses both FT's.

1:23 - Galbreath with a steal, he passes to Sowers who is fouled on the fastbreak. He misses the 1st.. and the 2nd, but Moye with an offensive putback dunk! 66-64.

48 seconds - Halsch with a block. We have a 2-on-1... Galbreath to Sowers for a dunk! Tied at 66.

37 seconds - Moye fouls down low. Their PF hits both FT's.

30 seconds - Sowers blows by his man and is fouled before he can dunk it. He makes the 1st... and the 2nd. Tied at 68.

They miss a contested 18 footer with 4 seconds left, Sowers was on him.. Moye with the rebound, passes it to Galbreath.. he dribbles just inside the arc, time is up.. he shoots just before the buzzer.. and it bounces off the rim. We are going to OT.

Galbreath is exhausted, Sead with play with the starters in OT.


4:26 - Sowers misses a 3, but Humphrey flies in out of no where to get the offensive board.

3:56 - Sowers draws a foul with a nice drive. He makes both FT's.

3:32 - Humphrey with a steal that leads to a Sowers fastbreak dunk on which he is fouled. He gets the FT as well.

Their SG hits a 12 footer. He has 25 points today!

2:16 - Humphrey hits a 3 from the corner. We lead 76-70.

Sead with good defense on a 3 attempt by Woodard.

Sowers misses a shot. Halsch forces a miss at the other end. 1 minute left.

20 seconds left: Their SG, Akingbala, hits a 3 to keep them in it.

They intentionally foul Sead. He makes the 1st.. but misses the 2nd. Humphrey with the offensive board. He makes 1 of 2.

Woodard misses a quick 3. That should end it.


We win the game 79-73.

Sowers is the player of the game with 25 points, 2 boards, and 1 assist. He shot 8 of 17, 3 of 8, and 6 of 10. He didn't do well defensively as their SG finished with 28 on 10 of 18 shooting.

Galbreath with 4 points, 7 assists, and 1 turnover. He shot 1 of 5. He played decent defense, particularly in the 1st half.

Humphrey with 16 points, 6 boards, 2 assists, 5 steals, and 2 blocks. He shot 6 of 10, 2 of 5, and 2 of 3. His defense was excellent.

Halsch with 8 pooints, 5 boards, and 2 blocks. He held his man to 2 points. Excellent job.

Moye with 16 points, 14 boards, 3 assists, and 3 blocks. He played a nearly perfect game. He held his man to 6 points. He shot 8 of 10.


Sead led the bench with 5 points. Pait was 0 of 8 shooting tonight. Whatever happened to that freshman magic?

[Eaglesfan27]

Jan 19, 2031 -

Today, we travel to play ASU. They are 9-5 (1-3) with a roster strength of 88.

*Due to a power outage I lost the original sim of this game. I tried 3 times to get the original result, but now I keep winning it.*


We win the game 82-65.

Galbreath with 2 points, 2 assists, and 2 turnovers.

Halsch with 3 points, 3 boards, and 1 block. He shot 1 of 3.

Moye with 19 points, 6 boards, 2 assists, and 2 blocks. He shot 8 of 12.

Pait led the bench with 11. Sead with 7 points and 2 assists. Nelke with 8 points.


My staff convinces me after the game that since Galbreath is hurt, I should let Sead start a few games..


Our next game is against Stanford at home. They are 16-1 (6-0.) they are 4th in the media poll. However, they recently lost their starting C Kurtis Byerson to an ankle injury that will last 2-3 weeks. They will give the ultimate test to Sead and Galbreath..

JR PG Dedric Finn is 6'1 180 and is rated 91 overall. He has great speed, defense, passing, and is a very good shooter. He's averaging 16.2 ppg, 5.1 apg, and 1.5 spg.

SR PG Mustafa Hull is starting at SG. He's 5'11 186 and is rated 91 overall. He's even faster than Finn and is undoubtedly the fastest guy in the conference. He's a great ball handler, great passer, very good defender, and very good shooter. He's averaging 15.2 ppg, 4 rpg, and 5.5 apg.

SR SG Gerrod Annen is starting at SF. He's 6'3 208 and is rated 86 overall. He's fast, a great 3 point shooter, and is a good defender. He's averaging 9 ppg.

SO F Germain Park is starting at PF. He's 6'6 201 and is rated 83 overall. He's another very fast player who is a very good rebounder for his size. He can stretch the floor. He's averagoing 7.6 ppg and 4.8 rpg.

SR C Kurtis Byerson is rated 86 overall but he is out for this game. Instead, they will start PF/C Randy Stivers. He is 6'8 243 and is rated 82 overall. He's averaging 6.4 ppg and 5.5 rpg.

They are very thin at PF and C, so I'll try to pound it inside this game.

They have 3 guards who are all rated 82-84. The rest of their bench is in the low 70's.


Edit: Byerson isn't hurt on the replay.. This will be a much more dangerous team I face. Stivers slides to his natural PF, Park to his SF, but Hull and Finn remain the starters. This will make things much harder on Humphrey, Halsch, and Moye this game..

[Eaglesfan27]

*You might want to skip this post. Power went out last night just as the final buzzer of the game sounded. It was out for 3-4 hours, so I'm just posting this now. Next post will be the replay. Hopefully it goes as well as the original game below did*


18:02 - Moye already has 2 dunks, one on a nice pass from Sead and 1 on a putback. We lead 6-2.

15:01 - Moye is dominating inside. We lead 13-4! Moye with 8.

Sead has done a very good job on defense.

7:35 - I left my starters in too long and now they have given up 5 quick easy points. We lead 29-22 as I bring in my 2nd unit.

I try to keep pounding them inside, but Rollins misses 3 straight attempts including an open dunk.

2:05 - I bring back my starters. We are up 31-29.

Stivers hits a 3 at the buzzer to end the half.


Halftime: We are tied at 35.

Moye is the player of the half with 17 points and 3 boards.


15:01 - Halsch and Moye are dominating down low. We lead 51-39.

10:11 - We lead 61-44 as I rest my starters. Moye and Halsch continued to be my dominant scorers.


Nelke with a few big dunks and they seem completely deflated. We lead 65-46.

My bench finishes out the game as they never get closer than 19 points.



A huge win, 80-59.

SOB! The power just went out (it is stormy outside tonight) in my home before I could save the game.

Moye had 30 points and 8 boards. Hopefully, when I replay the game tomorrow, it will go as well.

I also know Nelke had a great last 10 minutes, hitting a few midrange jumpers and mixing in some dunks. He had 10 or 12 points.


Oh well, I'll have to replay this tomorrow.


Edit: Well crap! Byerson isn't hurt now that I've resimmed those days. Looks like Moye will have a much harder challenge..

[Eaglesfan27]

15:00 - Byerson is doing a very good job keeping Moye out of his favored spots. We are down 9-5.

13:39 - Sowers and Hull collide on a shot attempt by Hull, Sowers is holding his leg and screaming in agony. Lang will come into the game.

9:49 - I turn to the bench. We are down 20-14. Moye is getting shut down by Byerson.

4:00 - We are down 40-26 as I bring back my starters with Mack at SG.



Halftime: Halsch with a very good last 4 minutes. We are down 44-36.

Hull is the player of the half with 14 points. Almost all of his shots are falling.



18:52 - Moye draws a 3rd foul on Byerson. Maybe he can start dominating now..

18:07 - Moye gets a 3rd foul on Stivers. We are down 46-40.

17:44 - Moye with his first dunk of the night.

16:54 - Moye with his 2nd dunk.

16:03 - Sead picks up his 3rd foul. I bring in Galbreath.

14:44 - Moye with 10 straight points. We lead 51-50.

11:24 - Our crowd is going crazy. Moye has 19 points, most of them in the 2nd half. We lead 60-52.

8:44 - Byerson is back, but Moye has it going now and he doesn't want to come out of the game. The crowd is feeding my players with their energy. We lead 66-59.

6:00 - Moye's confidence is sky high now. He just hit 2 14 footers. We lead 74-67.

Byerson is trying to come right back at him, but Moye is forcing misses.

3:04 - Halsch fouls out. We lead 80-67. Nelke comes in for him.

58 seconds - Finn hits a pair of 3's over Galbreath. They steal it and get the ball back. We lead 82-76.

Finn misses this 3 and Moye gets the board and is fouled.



We win the game 86-81.

Moye is the player of the game with 33 points, 11 boards, and 2 blocks. He shot 14 of 20, 0 of 0, and 5 of 9. Could this be his breakout performance on the way to 2nd half MVP style season?

Halsch with 16 points, 5 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. He shot 5 of 6 from the field and 6 of 7 from the line.

Sead with 8 points, 4 assists, and 1 turnover. He shot 2 of 3.

Sowers with 4 points before he was hurt. I hope the injury isn't too serious..

Humphrey with 7 points, 7 boards, 2 steals, and 1 block. He shot 2 of 7.


Nelke led the bench in scoring with 8 points and 3 boards. Galbreath with 6 points, 4 assists, 2 boards, 1 steal, and 1 turnover. He shot 2 of 3.


Hopefully, the MRI will give good news about Sowers..

[Eaglesfan27]

The MRI comes back and while it isn't good news, it could be a lot worse. No tear of his ACL, just a severe strain. Doctors recommend he rest for 3-4 weeks which will keep him out most of the rest of Pac-10 regular season play.

Lang will get a chance to start at SG and show us what he can do.


Jan 25, 2031 -

Today we host Arizona. They are 12-4 (4-2.) We are now 16-1 (7-0.)


We beat them 73-57.

Sead helped cement his spot as the starting PG today. He finished with 8 points, 8 assists, and 1 turnover. He shot 2 of 4 and 4 of 4 from the line.

Moye continues his strong play with 26 points, 7 boards, and a block. He shot 11 of 17, 1 of 2, and 3 of 4.

Lang with a nice debut, 13 points, 3 boards, 4 assists, 2 steals, and 3 turnovers. He shot 4 of 10, 4 of 9, and 1 of 5.

Humphrey with 7 points, 10 boards, 2 steals, and 1 block. He shot 3 of 11.

Halsch didn't take any shots today. He finished with 0 points, 8 boards, and 2 blocks.


Pait led the bench with 13 points on 5 of 13 shooting.

Nelke and Galbreath each had 3. Galbreath had 3 assists as well.



At 17-1, we rise to 5th in the media poll.

Our next game is hosting Oregon. Tjey are 15-6 (5-4.) We both have a 91 roster strength now. They have a well balanced starting 5:

SR PG Nikola Dalgarn is 6'0 197 and is rated 84 overall. His strengths are his defense and athleticism. He is averaging 13 ppg, 4.6 apg, and 1.8 spg.

SR SG Russ Grimes is 6'5 229 and is rated 90 overall. He is strong in every phase of his game. His biggest weakness is his tendency to sometimes get stupid fouls. He is averaging 14.6 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 3 apg, and 1.4 spg.

FR SG Donatas Kleinzweig (who I pursued aggressively) is starting at SF for them. He is 6'3 194 and is rated 79 overall. He is an excellent athlete. He's averaging 7 ppg, 3.3 rpg, and 1 spg.

JR PF Jasper Borchardt is 6'10 270 and is rated 86 overall. He is a great rebounder, a very good passer, and a good scorer. He's averaging 11 ppg, 6.6 rpg, and 1.1 bpg.

FR C Altron Gardner is a very impressive freshman. He is 6'11 235 and is rated 82 overall. He is a shot blocking extraordinaire and a very good rebounder. He looks like he has the potential to become a very good scorer in time. He is averaging 6 ppg, 7.7 rpg, and 2.4 bpg.

The bench is led by a pair of 6'8 SF's - Jomo Chadwick and Brad Sheppard. Both are capable players with overall ratings of 79.

The rest of the bench is in the mid 70's.

I'll play them later today.

[Eaglesfan27]

19:29 - Lang hits his first shot of the game, a 3.

14:20 - We are playing fantastic team defense and every player has scored 1 basket. We lead 11-2.

7:15 - My starters are finally tiring. We are up 23-11.


Grimes lit up Connolly who only hit 1 of his shots.


Halftime: We lead 36-24.


Moye is the player of the half with 6 points, 4 boards, 2 assists, and 2 blocks. Humphrey has 8 points at the half.

Grimes has 13, 10 against Connolly.



8:18 - Very good play from my starters for the first 8 minutes. Sloppy the last 3-4. We are up 66-46 as I rest my starters. Humphrey has been stroking the 3's this half. He has 20 points.

A decent finish from my bench.


We win the game 78-61.

Humphrey was the player of the game with 20 points, 3 boards, 3 assists, and 2 steals. He shot 7 of 11, 6 of 7, and 0 of 0.


Sead with 2 points, 5 assists, and 2 turnovers. He played good defense throughout.

Lang with 3 points, 2 boards, and 2 assists. His defense was average. He shot 1 of 6.

Halsch with 12 points, 6 boards, and 1 assist. He shot 5 of 5 and played terrific defense.

Moye with 16 points, 7 boards, 3 assists, and 2 blocks. He also played terrific defense. We shut down points in the paint today.


Pait led the bench with 11 points on 4 of 6 shooting (3 of 4 from the arc.)

Nelke with 5 points and 5 boards. He shot 2 of 3 (1 of 1 from the arc.)

Connolly with 5 points on 2 of 8 shooting. His defense was bad today. Grimes had 21 points, most of them against him.

[Eaglesfan27]

We are now 18-1 and 4th in the media poll. Here are the top 10:


1. Saint Joseph's (19-0)
2. Pitt (20-2)
3. Alabama (19-2)
4. USC (18-1)
5. San Diego State (19-0) Maybe this is why they are beating me out for players. They have managed to turn themselves into a perpetual tourney attendee. However, they have never made a Final 4. Their head coach is 448-152.

6. DePaul (17-3)
7. FSU (18-2)
8. Stanford (17-4)
9. Xavier (15-2)
10. Siena (23-1)


Feb 6, 2031 -

Today we travel to play at Washington. They are 13-7 thanks to injuries. They are 24th in the media poll. They are without their star SG Tamal Appleby (rated 90 overall) due to a broken wrist.


Despite the injury, they have too much firepower as we lose a shootout, 92-85.

Sead finished with 2 points and 5 assists. His man scored 24 points and 8 assists.

Lang with 11 points, 3 boards, and 3 assists. He held his man to 11 points.

Humphrey with 22 points, 4 boards, and 3 assists. He shot 7 of 17, 4 of 7, and 4 of 4. He held Gennie to 11 points on 4 of 10 shooting.

Halsch with 9 points, 4 boards, and 1 assist. He held his man to 11 points.

Moye with 14 points, 5 boards, and 1 assist. He held their star C to 13 points and 6 boards.

Pait led the bench with 9 points and 2 boards.

Nelke with 7 points, 5 boards, and 1 block in 14 minutes.


Our next game is at UCLA. They are 11-9 (3-7, 8th in the Pac-10.) We beat them 105-74 earlier in the year, and I'd love to see a repeat performance.

[Eaglesfan27]

15:00 - We are down 6-5. Moye has all of our points.

10:06 - Sead is starting to tire and is giving the ball up to their full court trap. We are down 17-12. Moye has almost all of our points and is now exhausted. I rest all of my starters.


4:23 - Good job by my bench. We are down 23-21 as I bring back my starters.



Halftime: We are down 31-29.


Moye is the player of the half with 18 points, 6 boards, and a block.


18:51 - Halsch draws a 3rd foul on Butch who came over to help and block his dunk. Halsch goes down and is holding his knee. We are tied at 31. Nelke comes into the game.

14:41 - Nelke with 4 quick points on interior baskets. Nelke with a 16 footer. Nelke with a block. We are up 41-35.

6:30 - They just hit a 12 footer to end a 6 minute 16-0 run by us. We now lead 63-43.

4:40 - I finally pull/rest my starters as their defense is now breaking down. We lead 69-52.


We win the game 75-56.

Moye is the player of the game with 27 points, 9 boards, 1 block, and 1 steal. He shot 10 of 15 and 7 of 12 from the line. He also played excellent defensively. He held their center to 4 points for the game.

Sead with 4 points, 4 assists, 3 steals, and 3 turnovers. Rand had 9 points against him, all on 3's.

Lang with 2 points, 5 assists, 3 turnovers. He shot 1 of 7. He also allowed their SG to score 13 points on 6 of 12 shooting.

Humphrey with 12 points, 5 boards, 1 assist, and 1 steal. He shot 4 of 8. Their SF, Angounou also had 12 points.

Halsch with 5 points, 3 boards, and 1 block before he was hurt. I hope his tests come out ok..


Nelke led the bench with 14 points, 11 boards, 3 assist, 3 steals, and 2 blocks. He shot 3 of 5 from the floor and 8 of 9 from the line.

Pait and Connolly each had 4 points. Rollins with 3 points on 1 of 3 shooting. He also had 5 boards.

[Eaglesfan27]

Good news on Halsch! It is just a sprained knee and he'll be able to play through it.

Feb 13, 2031 -

Today we host 12-12 Oregon State.

We beat them 85-75.

Sead with 15 points and 7 assists! He shot 4 of 7 and 6 of 6 from the line.

Lang with 3 points, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks.

Humphrey with 6 points, 5 boards, and 5 assists. He shot 1 of 6.

Halsch with 9 points, 4 boards, and 3 blocks.

Moye with 20 points, 8 boards, and a block.


Pait led the bench with 14 points. Mack with 9 points. Nelke with 5 and 5.


Our next is hosting ASU who we beat 82-65 earlier in the year.

[Eaglesfan27]

15:00 - We are up 11-7. Humphrey with 2 early 3's.

10:00 - Lang and Sead are having their best games as a Trojan! We lead 22-10.

7:04 - Last 2 minutes have gotten sloppy defensively. We lead 29-16. I rest my starters.

5:04 - Pait with a block, gathers in the carom, and a breakaway dunk with a foul. He completes the 3 point play. He has 8 points already. We lead 42-20.

2:45 - Pait gives up a 4 point play. We lead 47-28.

My 2nd unit finishes the half.



Halftime: We lead 52-33. A strong well balanced effort.

Moye is the player of the half with 11 points, 5 boards, and 2 blocks.

Sead with 2 points and 5 assists at the half. Lang with 8 points. Pait leads the bench with 11 at the half.



15:00 - As good as they were in the 1st half, the team comes out completely flat in the 2nd half. 52-44.

9:55 - The offense finally started clicking 4 minutes ago thanks to 2 big shots by Humphrey. We lead 63-50.

5:52 - I rest my starters, possibly for the rest of the game. We lead 69-58.



We win the game 78-68.

Moye is the player of the game with 15 points, 7 boards, 3 blocks, 2 assists, and 2 steals. He shot 7 of 12 and 1 of 1 from the line.

Sead with 2 points, 8 assists, and 1 turnover. He held his counterpart to 2 points and 4 assists.

Lang with 8 points, 2 assists, and 3 steals. He shot 2 of 9. His counterpart had 20 points on 6 of 11 shooting. Their backup SG/SF had 21 points off the bench.

Humphrey with 14 points, 2 boards, 1 assist, 3 steals, and a block. He shot 5 of 11, 4 of 9, and 0 of 0. Their backup SF scored some of his points against Humphrey.

Halsch with 7 points, 6 boards, and 2 blocks. He held his man to 2 points.


Pait with 14 points, 2 boards, 2 assists, and 2 blocks off the bench. He shot 5 of 9.

Nelke and Connolly each had 8 points.

[Eaglesfan27]

Feb 20, 2031 -

Sowers is back from his injury and will start in our next game at Arizona. They are 16-6 and are playing very good basketball right now.

We pull off the tough road win, 78-75.

Moye led the way with 25 points, 8 boards, and 2 blocks. He shot 8 of 16, and 9 of 11 from the line.

Humphrey and Pait each had 8 points. Nelke with 7. A few guys with 4 or 5 points including Lang, Rollins, and Sowers. Sowers was 2 of 9 in his first game back.


We are now 7th in the media poll with our 22-2 record. Our next game is at Stanford. They are 11th with a 20-5 record. Sead has a sore finger, but will still play. They are completely healthy. We pulled off the win 86-81 at home earlier in the year. This will be another tough game.

[Eaglesfan27]

15:13 - Sowers has come out on fire! He has 11 points thanks to 3 3's. He and Galbreath have shown the most growth this year in practice. We are up 14-3.

9:38 - I rest my starters. We lead 24-13. Sowers with 12 points, Moye and Humphrey each have 4.

Their guys dominate my bench, particularly Byerson against Rollins.

3:29 - I have my starters return to the game. We are up 26-23.


Halftime: We lead 30-23.


Sowers is the player of the half with 12 points.

7:45 - I rest my starters. We have a 57-45 lead. Humphrey has been great this 2nd half. He leads all scorers with 22 points.

2:50 - I bring my starters back. It is 59-52.

2:06 - Byerson blocks a Moye attempt and starts a fastbreak which Finn finishes.

1:33 - Sead draws a foul in the lane! He makes both FT's. 61-54.

1:14 - Byerson makes a little hook shot.

44 seconds - Sowers drills yet another corner 3! 64-56.

34 seconds - Sowers steals it from Finn. They foul him. He makes both FT's.

27 seconds - They miss a quick 3. Moye with the board. They seem content to let it run out now.


We win the game 66-56.

Humphrey was the player of the game. He finished with 22 points, 3 boards, 1 assist, 2 steals, and a block. He shot 7 of 9, 5 of 6, and 3 of 5.

Sowers with almost an identical stat line: 22 points, 3 boards, 1 assist, and 2 steals. He shot 6 of 10, 4 of 6, and 6 of 6.

Sead with 4 points, 8 assists, and 1 turnover. Furthermore, he held their star PG to only 5 points and 6 assists.

Sowers owned Hull who finished with 3 points and 3 assists. He shot 1 of 9.

Halsch with 5 points and 8 boards. He did a decent job defensively.

Moye with 8 points, 3 boards, and 2 assists. Byerson scored 14, but at least half of them were against the 2nd unit.

Galbreath led the 2nd unit with 3 points and 1 assist.

Pait with 2 points on 1 of 9 shooting.

[Eaglesfan27]

Franklin Howel, the 6'6" PG who is ranked 34th overall, and who I would really like to be my starter, has made it clear that he is going to select UCLA over us.

So, I withdraw his offer and instead make an offer to Keon McDade, a 4 star PG from Seattle, WA who is ranked 51st overall. Our staff loves his potential and thinks he will be a good shooter with good ball skills.

Meanwhile, we continue to battle for Timon Zimmerman, the massive C from Houston, TX. We are in his top 3, along with Memphis and Louisville.


Our next game is at Oregon. They've been hit hard by injuries this year. They are 17-10.

We beat them 83-70.

Humphrey led our team with 28 points, 4 boards, 4 assists, 1 steal, and 3 blocks. He shot 9 of 13, 3 of 3, and 7 of 9.

Sowers with 12 points, 6 boards, 2 assists, and 2 blocks.

Halsch with 3 points and 8 boards.

Moye with 12 points, 6 boards, and a block. He shot 5 of 15.


Pait led the bench with 15 points. Lang with 8 and Rollins with 7.


We are now 24-2 and 4th in the media poll. Here is a look at the top 10:

1. Pitt (26-3)
2. Florida (25-3)
3. Alabama (25-3)
4. USC (24-2)
5. Siena (29-1)
6. Saint Joseph's (25-1)
7. Iowa (24-3)
8. Xavier (21-3)
9. San Diego State (25-2)
10. DePaul (23-5)


Our 2nd to last regular season game is hosting Cal. They are 19th in the media poll with a 22-6 record. We beat them 68-67 earlier in the year.

[TonyR]

Good luck on the recruiting front and here's to a strong finish to the season!

[Eaglesfan27]

Thanks, Tony. I've got that Championship feeling from this team again. I think if everyone can stay healthy, we are going to be tough to beat. Sowers and Humphrey are developing very nicely this season, Moye is a strong inside scorer now, Halsch provides a great interior defensive presence that is mobile enough to help on the perimeter, and Sead has actually become a good PG in his senior year.


Now, it is time to beat the Bears.

[Eaglesfan27]

18:06 - Humphrey draws 2 quick fouls on Ridnour. We are up 5-2.

12:11 - Halsch hurts his ankle on a dunk attempt. He has to be helped off the floor We are tied at 9.

8:55 - I bring in the rest of the 2nd unit. We are tied at 17.

3:00 - I bring back all of my starters (except for Halsch of course who is done with the ankle injury.) We are up 30-27.



Halftime: We lead 38-29.

Humphrey is the player of the half with 10 points, 2 boards, and a block.

Sead with 6 points and 4 assists at the half! Moye and Pait also each have 6 points.


15:00 - We lead 48-35. Nelke with 5 straight points.

9:43 - Our guys have taken it to another level the last 5 minutes. We lead 65-41. Nelke's ability to hit the 12-14 footer consistently is a big boost.

7:40 - Our starters finish the game off with a flurry of blocks, steals, and dunks. We are up 74-43 as I pull my starters.


We win the game 83-56.

Nelke wins player of the game. He finished with 17 points, 7 boards, 5 steals, 3 assists, and 2 turnovers. He shot 7 of 7 from the field and 3 of 4 from the line. I know he'll do a good job stepping in for Halsch if he is injured for any period of time, but it will weaken our 2nd unit and may call for some creative lineups.

Sead with a very nice game - 11 points, 7 assists, 2 boards, 1 steal, and 1 block. He held the heralded Urbitis to 5 points and 1 assist.

Sowers with 9 points, 2 boards, 2 steals, and a block. He shot 2 of 7.

Humphrey with 16 points, 3 boards, 2 assists, and 2 steals. He shot 4 of 10.

Halsch with 2 points and 2 boards before he left the game with the injury.

Moye with 6 points, 3 boards, 2 assists, and a block. He shot 3 of 8 as Ballard did a good job keeping him away from his comfort spots.


Pait with 8 points and 4 boards. Lang with 7 points and 2 assists. Rollins with 5 points and 7 boards. Galbreath with 2 points and 2 assists.

[Eaglesfan27]

The good news is that Halsch didn't break anything. The bad news is that he has a severe high ankle sprain. He is out for 3-4 weeks and will miss the first two weeks of the Tourney at least.


Our last game of the regular season is hosting WSU. They are doing terribly with a record of 6-23.

We beat them 83-58.

Humphrey led the team with 25 points, 10 boards, 2 steals, and a block. He shot 8 of 11, 4 of 5, and 5 of 8.

Sead with 9 points and a career high 10 assists.

Sowers with 6 points, 7 boards, and 5 assists.

Nelke with 8 points, 3 boards, and a steal.

moye with 13 points, 2 boards, and 2 blocks.

Pait and Lang each had 7 points off the bench.


We finish the regular season with a 26-2 record and 4th in the media poll. Here are the Pac-10 Final Regular Season Standings:

1. USC 26-2 (17-1)
2. Stanford 24-6 (13-5)
3. Cal 23-7 (12-6)
4. Arizona 19-9 (11-7)
5. Washington 19-10 (10-8)
6. Oregon 18-12 (8-10)
7. Arizona State 15-13 (7-11)
8. Oregon State 15-16 (5-13)
9. UCLA 13-15 (5-13)
10. WSU 6-24 (2-16)

Guess UCLA isn't that close to us yet, even if they are stealing some great recruits.

Speaking of which, our first game in the tourney will be vs UCLA who beat Oregon state 72-63. I'll play them later today.

[Eaglesfan27]

15:00 - We are up 8-2. Humphrey with 5 points early.

10:00 - We are up 26-6. Moye is dominating on both ends. He has 10 points.

7:44 - I rest my starters with a 30-13 lead.

2:13 - I bring back my starters. The bench struggled for some reason. We are up 32-21.


Halftime: We lead 35-21.

Moye is the player of the half with 13 points, 4 boards, and 2 blocks.



9:21 - Our starters come out strong to finish this game off. We are up 60-30. I pull the starters.

During garbage time, Lang hurts his finger.

We win the game 75-48.

Moye is the player of the game with 22 points, 9 boards, 2 assists, and 2 blocks.

Sead with 2 points and 5 assists.

Sowers with 11 points, 3 boards, and 2 assists, and 2 steals. He shot 3 of 7.

Humphrey with 18 points, 8 boards, 3 assists, and 4 steals. He shot 6 of 7.

Nelke with 9 points, 8 boards, and 2 blocks.

Connolly lead the bench with 5.


Our next game is hosting Arizona. Lang has a broken finger but will be able to play through it. Arizona is completely healthy. They beat Washington 80-70 to advance to this game.

[Eaglesfan27]

16:33 - Moye with a defensive board, quick long pass to Sead who throws a perfect alley-oop to Sowers. The crowd at the Staples Center is going crazy! We lead 8-0.

15:00 - We lead 14-0! Sowers has 9.

13:30 - They finally score a basket. We lead 18-2. Sowers has 13 points as he imposing his will on both ends of the court.

12:19 - A ridiculous play - Our full court trap forces the 3rd or 4th steal of the game, Humphrey throws it to Sead who throws a behind his back alley-oop dunk to Nelke! Nelke is fouled on the play as well. He makes the FT. We lead 23-2.

7:17 - My starters are tiring now and the intensity is way down. We lead 34-12. I rest all of the starters. Since I want to emphasize defense, I go for size and put Hehn in at PF.

2:23 - Bad play from my 2nd unit. We turn it over too many times and play very poor defense. I bring back my starters. We are up 40-26.


Sowers hits a 3 at the buzzer to end a phenomenal half!



Halftime: We lead 47-29.

Sowers is the player of the half with 23 points, 2 boards, 2 assists, and 2 steals. He has shot 9 of 13.




19:11 - Moye picks up his 3rd foul. I leave him in.

15:28 - Moye picks up his 4th. I rest him for Rollins. We lead 55-40.

5:51 - Sowers hits an open 14 footer to give him 41 points this game. We lead 77-48. I pull my starters.


We win the game 82-54.


Sowers is the player of the game with 41 points, 4 boards, 2 assists, and 3 steals. He shot 16 of 24, 6 of 11, and 3 of 4. He also held their SG, Thomson, to 2 points on 1 of 10 shooting.

Sead with 0 points, 9 assists, and 3 steals. Tehir PG finished with 4 points, 1 assist, and 4 turnovers.

Humphrey with 11 points, 3 boards, 5 assists, and 3 steals. He shot 4 of 8.

Nelke with 13 points, 8 boards, 3 assists, 3 steals, and 1 block. He shot 5 of 8. He held their PF to 9 points and 6 boards.

Moye with 4 points and 5 boards. Cuic went off once he left the game. Cuic was their leading scorer with 21 points.


Rollins led the bench with 6 points, 8 boards, and 2 blocks.

[Eaglesfan27]

Stanford takes care of Cal 78-58 to advance to play us. A quick look at our roster's improvement:

Humphrey is now rated 91 (plus 3.) Pait is an 88, Moye is an 88, Sowers is an 85, Lang is an 84, Sead is a 82, Halsch is a 79 overall, Nelke is a 77. They are all plus 2.

Galbreath is a 75 (plus 4!), Connolly, Mack, and Rollins are all 75's as well. Hehn is a 74, not bad for a walk-on.

Stanford's top 8 players:

JR PG Dedric Finn is rated 92 overall. If he doesn't go pro early, I don't know what underclassmen will in this game.

SR PG Mustafa Hull is rated 90 overall.

SR C Kurtis Byerson is rated 86 overall.

SR SG Gerrod Annen is rated 86 overall.

R PG Courtney Videnov is rated 84 overall.

SO SF Germain Park is rated 83 overall.

SO SG Kaylan Sola is rated 83 overall. He is one of the best 3 point shooters on the team.

SO SG Brent Wooten is rated 83 overall. The other great 3 point shooter on the team.

JR PF Randy Stivers is rated 83 overall.

Will be a tough game, but I've beat them twice this year. 66-56 at their place and and 86-81 at our place. I'll play them later.

[hoopsguy]

Hopefully you can keep up this form into the NCAA tourney. It feels like this has been your most dominant team yet, although I don't think (could be wrong) that the talent on paper is off-the-charts.

Just imagine what you would be doing if you were winning the recruiting battles with UCLA, Stanford, San Diego State, etc

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by hoopsguy

Hopefully you can keep up this form into the NCAA tourney. It feels like this has been your most dominant team yet, although I don't think (could be wrong) that the talent on paper is off-the-charts.

Just imagine what you would be doing if you were winning the recruiting battles with UCLA, Stanford, San Diego State, etc

Yes, I agree with you. I don't think this team has the best overall talent that I've had but they are really clicking right now. Once I put Sead back in the lineup that gave a huge boost to my team unity and it really helped us click defensively. Humphrey might be the best ball stealer I've ever had - he's great in the full court trap and 1-on-1 situations. He has tremendously long arms in the game and his steal rating is the highest I can remember having in a player. He really starts a lot of our rallies.

Moye is almost as good of a scorer as Sockwell was, but he has more weapons around him so I don't have to constantly feed him the ball.

Sowers could end up being my best player ever if he stays for 4. He's only a sophomore. Next year, he may get to move to his more natural SF position.

Halsch and Nelke both play better than their overall rating, and I think they are going to have great careers. If Pait could get it going consistently, I would feel even better about this team.

If Rutgers can make this a blowout tonight against UCF, I'm looking forward to getting in the Conference Final game.


Also, as far as the recruiting battles, I think it is time for my long standing recruiting coordinator to "retire." I think I need to get a young coach in who is a great developer of players. Maybe if I have two great teachers as assistants, I'll get these 5 star players that want great coaching. Even if I don't, I'll help develop the rest of my roster a bit quicker I'd imagine.

[Eaglesfan27]

15:00 - We are up 8-6. Humphrey has 6 for us early.

10:11 - We lead 14-11. Humphrey with 8. Sowers with 4. Moye is missing most of his early shots, but has 2. I rest all of my starters except for Nelke.

3:42 - Connolly and Pait with some great offense. We lead 31-25 as I bring back my starters.



Halftime: We lead 36-30.

Humphrey is the player of the half with 11 points and 1 board.


14:00 - We lead 47-39. Sowers has 8 points in this half.

9:57 - We lead 54-48. Finn and Hull are keeping them in it.

7:52 - We rest our starters (except Nelke who might play 40) with a 61-51 lead.

3:39 - I bring back my starters. We lead 64-56.

2:33 - Sowers hits a 3 and then gets a steal.

1:52 - Nelke with an offensive board after Humphrey misses a shot. We'll get to burn off another 30-35 seconds.

45 seconds - They have given up and aren't going to try to extend the game.


We win the game 69-60. We are Pac-10 Champions.

Sowers was the player of the game with 19 points, 4 steals, and 2 boards. He shot 6 of 9, 1 of 2, and 6 of 6. Hull did score 15, but at least 6 of them were against my 2nd unit.

Sead with 2 points, 8 assists, 2 steals, and 2 turnovers. Finn has 12 points and 7 assists against him.

Humphrey with 16 points, 3 boards, and 2 steals. He shot 7 of 14. He held his man to 1 of 8 shooting.

Nelke played all 40 minutes. He finished with 6 points, 10 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 3 blocks. He shot 2 of 6. Hopefully, our first tourney game is a blowout, so he can rest plenty.

Moye with a rough night. 8 points, 2 boards, and 1 block as Byerson neutralized him. He shot 3 of 9.

Connolly led the bench with 8 points on 2 of 6 shooting. Pait with 5 and Galbreath with 4.

Now, it is time for the Tourney selection show. I'm sure we are one of the #1 seeds.

[Eaglesfan27]

The #1 seeds are:

USC. We are the top #1 and are in the East. Saint Joseph's (south), Pittsburgh (midwest), and Iowa (west.)

We'll play the Play-in-Winner first.

Other teams in the East:

#8 Vanderbilt (20-9) vs #9 Oklahoma State (21-12)

#5 Pepperdine (26-5) vs #12 Navy (25-7)

#4 Clemson (26-8) vs #13 Hampton (27-4)

#6 Kansas (21-11 ) vs #11 Old Dominion (23-7)

#3 Stanford (26-7) vs #14 UTSA

#7 Wake Forest (21-11) vs #10 Arkansas (21-12)

#2 San Diego State (29-2) vs #15 Northern Iowa (17-12)


Interesting South Teams:

#8 Arizona (20-10) vs #9 Michigan (21-12)

#6 North Carolina State (23-9) vs #11 Rutgers (21-10)

#2 Siena (32-1) vs #15 F. Dickinson (21-9)


Midwest:

#8 Nebraska (20-10) vs #9 Purdue (21-12)

#7 Georgia State (26-5) vs #10 Duke (20-13)


West:

#5 Cal (24-8) vs #12 Saint Mary's (22-9)

#6 Washington (19-11) vs #11 Miami (OH) 21-8


ACC gets 8 teams in, Big 12 - 7, SEC and Big East with 6, Pac-10 with 5, Big Ten and MAC with 3, A-10, WCC, and CAA with 2.

[Eaglesfan27]

Our first game will be against Jacksonville (18-15) as they beat Alcorn State 59-57.

They have only 1 player rated over 70, SR SF Hector Madera who is rated 72 overall and is 6'7 217. He is slow, but is a good shooter. The rest of their team is all in the low 60's to mid 50's. We should be able to beat them handily.

[Eaglesfan27]

15:00 - We lead 8-4.

11:52 - Our offense explodes as shots are falling all over the court. We lead 20-6.

8:18 - I rest my starters as we have a 26-10 lead.

2:45 - I bring back my starters after a bad showing by my bench. We lead 36-22.



Halftime: We lead 44-25.

Humphrey is the player of the half with 11 points, 5 boards, 3 steals, and a block.


9:27 - I pull my starters. We lead 80-35! Great balanced scoring. Great defensive effort.


We win the game 92-50.


Humphrey is the player of the game with 21 points, 8 boards, 6 steals, and 5 assists. He shot 7 of 11 and 7 of 10 from the line.

Sead with 4 points, 6 assists, and 5 steals.

Sowers with 15 points, 5 boards, 4 assists, and 4 steals. He shot 6 of 9.

Nelke with 14 points, 6 boards, and 2 blocks. He shot 5 of 8.

Moye with 16 points, 5 boards, and a block. He shot 7 of 10.


Rollins led the bench with 10 points and 4 boards in 16 minutes.

Pait with 7 points.

[Eaglesfan27]

Oklahoma State is 22-12 with a roster strength of 86. They beat Vanderbilt 80-58 to advance to play us.

They are led by their JR PG Christopher Mack. He is 6'6" 196 and is rated 82 overall. He is a strong physical player with great top speed but average lateral quickness. He is a solid defender who is a good shot blocker. He is an above average midrange shooter. He is averaging 11.4 ppg, 5.1 apg, 3.1 rpg, 1.9 spg, and 1.2 bpg.

JR SG Jimmy Paul is a solid teammate for him. He is a 6'6" 229 pound player who is rated 81 overall. He is the best 3 point shooter on the team. He is a solid defender but isn't much of a playmaker. He is averaging 15 ppg, 3.5 rpg, and 1.4 spg.

SR SF Prosper Ames is a solid 6'8" 250 and is rated 76 overall. His strength is his biggest asset. He tends to be slow, and isn't a good defender unless he can lean into his man. He is averaging 5.7 ppg, 4.0 rpg, and 0.4 spg.

SR PF Clent Cook is 6'11" 258 and is rated 74 overall. He is average in most areas and relies on his size. He averaged 8.4 ppg, 5.8 rpg, and 1 bpg.

JR C Rand Brady is 6'9 240 and is rated 75 overall. He is a good passer for a big man but doesn't excel in any other areas. He is averaging 4.5 ppg, 3.7 rpg, and 1.1 apg.

The bench is all in the mid 60's to low 70's.

[Eaglesfan27]

14:42 - Sowers draws a 2nd foul on Paul. We are down 6-4.

8:22 - We are down 19-16 as I rest my starters.

2:25 - I bring back my starters. We are down 29-27.



Halftime: We lead 33-31.

Moye is the player of the half with 9 points and 3 boards. Sowers with 8.


14:06 - We take a 44-37 lead as they call a timeout. Humphrey is lighting it up now..

8:38 - A brief rest for my starters. We are up 53-48.

4:00 - Galbreath hit a trio of threes allowing me to keep the bench in longer than expected. We are up 64-52.

2:13 - I bring back my starters. We lead 64-56.


We win the game 67-56 as our defense clamps down.

Humphrey is the player of the game with 16 points, 3 boards, 2 assists, and 2 steals. He shot 5 of 12, 4 of 8, and 2 of 2. He held their SF to 3 of 9 shooting.

Sead with 2 points, 6 assists, 2 steals, and 2 turnovers. Their tall PG had a big game against him with 18 points and 5 assists.

Sowers with 14 points, 5 boards, 3 assists, and 1 steal. He shot 3 of 8, 7 of 8 from the line. He held their SG to 2 of 10 shooting.

Nelke with 2 points, 6 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals, and a block. He shot 1 of 5. Their PF had 4 points against him.

Moye with 11 points and 6 boards. He shot 5 of 10. Their center had 4 points against him.


Galbreath led the bench with 9 points and 2 assists. He shot 3 of 3 all from the arc.

Pait with 7 points. Connolly with 2.

[Eaglesfan27]

The Sweet 16 Matchups:

#1 USC (31-2) vs #4 Clemson (28-8)

#3 Stanford (28-7) vs #10 ARkansas (23-12)


#1 Iowa (31-3) vs #5 Cal (26-8)

#2 Alabama (28-5) vs #3 Tennessee (28-6)


#8 Arizona (22-10) vs #12 Baylor (21-11)

#3 DePaul (29-6) vs #7 Boston College (23-12)


#1 Pittsburgh (32-3 with the highest overall roster strength I've ever seen 99!) vs #4 FSU (25-7)

#3 Xavier (24-5) vs #10 Duke (22-13)

[Eaglesfan27]

Clemson is a team that has stockpiled talent at both guard positions but left themselves almost bare at the Forward and C positions.

SR PG Derek Yeager will start. He is 6'2 186 and is rated 87 overall. He is an excellent shooter and ball handler. He is averaging 15.7 ppg, 3.3 apg, and 1.4 spg.

G Damien Morton will start at the SG spot. He is 6'1 212 and is rated 85 overall. He is a more athletic player who slashes to the rim with ease. He is averaging 12.3 ppg, 3.0 rpg, and 2.3 apg.

SR SG Trey Gary will start at the SF spot. He is 6'5 210 and is rated 85 overall. He is a fast quick player with extremely fast hands. He is averaging 7.8 ppg, 2.7 rpg, and 1.9 spg.

SR PF Jevon Modica will start at PF. He is 6'8 241 and is rated 79 overall. He is a very good shot blocker and has a nice offensive game from within 6 feet. He is averaging 7.7 ppg, 7.2 rpg, and 2.1 bpg.

So PF Erwin Clarke starts at C. He is 6'7 233 and is rated 77 overall. He doesn't excel in any area, but he is a good midrange shooter for a big. He is averaging 5.6 ppg, 4.9 rpg, and 1.2 bpg.

They have zero backup PF's or C's.

They have 3 high quality backup guards who are all rated 85 or better. They have 2 mediocre SF's who are rated in the low 70's.

[Eaglesfan27]

18:55 - Nelke just got a 2nd foul on Modica (Moye got the 1st on him.) We are tied at 2.

15:04 - Their full court trap is giving us problems. Also, they are doing a good job of denying the post. We are down 10-8.

9:51 - They are constantly running their full court trap and jacking shots ASAP. Very high tempo. We are tied at 24.

5:02 - The crowd is going crazy with this tempo and emotion is carrying my guys. Also, there have been a bunch of timeouts called throughout. We are winning 42-33 as we are breaking their pressure more easily now. Nelke is thriving in this running/dunking style.


Halftime: We allowed ourselves to be drawn into their gamestyle, but we are winning 56-46. All of our starters played the full 20.


Nelke is the player of the half with 22 points, 4 boards, 1 assist, and 1 block. He has shot 5 of 5 from the field and 12 of 13 from the line.


14:13 - I suddenly realize that I need to stop playing their style of ball, it is keeping them in it. I rest Moye who is very tired and Humphrey who is in foul trouble and tired. We lead 67-65. We are going to slow it down now..

9:12 - Pait has missed a pair of wide open 3's and they have tied it at 70. All of my remaining starters are tired. I go with the entire 2nd unit plus Moye at C. We are going to pound it inside with him.

7:23 - Moye with a dunk and foul. He converts the 3 point play. We lead 76-73.

3:11 - We are up 88-80 as my guys have been pushing the tempo again on some fast break opportunities.

2:33 - Moye with a 8 footer and the foul. He misses the FT. We lead 90-80.

1:27 - They hit a quick 3 to make it 90-85. I bring back all of my starters.

44 seconds - We miss a post shot by Moye. They attempt a quick 3 which misses. Nelke with the board and he is fouled. He misses the FT's.

34 seconds - Billings hits a quick 3. 90-88. They foul Sead. He makes the 1st.. and misses the 2nd. Humphrey with the offensive board! They foul him. He misses the 1st.. and makes the 2nd. 92-88.

29 seconds - Humphrey tips a pass and Nelke collects it on the bounce. They foul him. He hits both FT's.

23 seconds - Humphrey blocks the 3. They foul him as he gets the ball. He makes both FT's.


We win the game 97-90.

Nelke is the player of the game with 29 points, 8 boards, 1 assist, 1 block, and 1 steal. He shot 7 of 7, and 15 of 20 from the line.


Sead with 9 points, 7 assists, and 6 turnovers. He shot 1 of 1 from the field and 6 of 10 from the line.

Sowers with 12 points, 4 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. He shot 3 of 10.

Humphrey with 11 points, 9 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, and 5 turnovers.

Moye with 27 points, 8 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, 3 blocks, and 3 turnovers. He shot 9 of 17 and 9 of 11 from the line.

Pait led the bench with 3 points on 1 of 4 shooting.

Rollins, Galbreath, and Connolly with 2 points each. Galbreath had 6 assists in just 9 minutes!

[Eaglesfan27]

The rest of the Sweet 16 Results:

#10 Arkansas beat #3 Stanford 77-65. Finn hurt Stanford by shooting 2 of 15. Arkansas got 13 from their PG and SF and 19 from their C.

#5 Cal beat #1 Iowa 95-60! Urbitis had a huge game with 27 points and 10 assists. Ballard, their center, also had a big game for Cal with 29 points and 7 boards.

#2 Alabama beat #3 Tennessee 100-92. Bama got at least 16 points from 4 of their 5 starters.

#8 Arizona beat #12 Baylor 77-50. Zona got 24 from their C, Cuic and 20 from their PG Arenas.

#3 DePaul beat #7 Boston College 83-80. DePaul got 50 points from their
starting PG and SG (23 and 27 respectively.)

#1 Pittsburgh needed 45 points from their starting PF, Olson, to beat #4 FSU 83-82.

#3 Xavier walloped #10 Duke 100-57. Xavier had at least 20 points from their SG, SF, and C.



Arkansas is missing their best player, SF Marco Carbaugh, due to a broken foot. They have a well balanced, but unspectacular starting 5:

SO PG Odie Nabors is the youngest of the group. He is 6'2 183 and is rated 79 overal. Normally, he is lightning quick but he is playing with a sprained ankle that is sure to slow him up. He is averaging 12 ppg and 5 apg this year.

JR SG Skip Munyagi is a 6'5 218 pound player who is rated 82 overall. He is a very good 3 point shooter. He is averaging 10.1 ppg, 2.8 rpg, and 2.4 apg.

SR SF Vincent Wood is 6'6 229 and is rated 83 overall. He is an excellent midrange shooter with some 3 point range. He is a subpar defender. He is averaging 14.3 ppg and 6 rpg.

JR PF Cassiano Garnett is 6'10 256 and is rated 74 overall. He is a solid rebounder. He is averaging 3 ppg and 6 rpg.

JR C Andry Lagana is 6'10 275 and is rated 79 overall. He has developed a solid offensive post game. He is averaging 12.9 ppg, 5.5 rpg, and 1.5 bpg.

The bench is very thin and is mostly populated by guards. They are all rated in the low 70's.

[Eaglesfan27]

16:20 - Moye has drawn 2 fouls on Lagana. We are up 6-4. They go with an extra guard.

15:32 - Sowers gets a 2nd foul on Munyagi. We lead 8-4.

12:06 - Sowers and Howell, their backup SG, collide on a dunk attempt by Sowers. They both go down.. and Howell is hurt. Sowers makes both FT's. We are up 15-7.

5:18 - I rest my starters. We are up 27-11.


Halftime: We lead 39-15. A great 1st half in every regard.

Moye is the player of the half with 11 points, 9 boards, and 2 blocks.

Sowers has 8 at the half.



9:56 - Couldn't ask for much more than this going into the Final 4. We are up 74-36 as I pull my starters.



We win the game 84-52. We are going to the Final 4!


Moye is the player of the game with 21 points, 15 boards, 1 assist, and 3 blocks. He shot 6 of 8 and 9 of 9 from the line.

Sead with 12 points, 10 assists, 2 steals, and 2 turnovers. He shot 3 of 4 and 6 of 6 from the line.

Sowers with 15 points, 2 boards, and 1 steal on 6 of 11 shooting.

Humphrey with 10 points, 3 boards, 3 assists, 3 steals, and 1 block. He shot 4 of 9.

Nelke with 4 points, 9 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, and 1 block. He shot 1 of 4.

Pait led the bench with 10 points. Galbreath with 3 points and 3 assists.

[Eaglesfan27]

The rest of the Elite 8 Results:

#5 Cal upset #2 Alabma 90-86 to advance to play us! Cal had 24 points and 8 assists from Urbitis. Every starter was in double digits. Ballard with 20 points, 8 boards, and 3 blocks.

#3 DePaul beat #8 Arizona 66-56. DePaul was led by PG Forney who had 16 points and 6 assists.

#3 Xavier upset the #1 team Pittsburgh 74-72. Pitt got 34 points and 7 boards from Olson, but it wasn't quite enough as Xavier's PF Mayes had 21 points, 10 boards. Every starter on Xavier was in double digits.


We've beat Cal twice this year, 83-56 at home and 68-67 at their place in a very tense game.

Cal's Center Ballard broke his nose last game, but he will play through it. Cal has a very talented well balanced starting 5 and features several players they beat me out for:

SO PG Otis Urbitis was heavily pursued by me last year and now he has become a very good player. He is 6'0 190 and is rated 86 overall. He is a great 3 point shooter and is an all around well rounded player. He is expected to go pro this year, but somehow I doubt he will. He is averaging 12 ppg, 5.1 apg, and 2 spg.

JR SG Trey Hornsby is 6'3 203 and is rated 86 overall. He is a well rounded player who doesn't excel in any one area except FT shooting. He is averaging 12.2 ppg, 3.4 rpg, and 3.0 apg.

SR SF Daniel N'Diaye is 6'6 217 and is rated 88 overall. He is their best midrange shooter. He is averaging 11 ppg, 5. 6 rpg, and 1.4 spg.

JR F Ellis Oliver is starting at PF. He is 6'7 233 and is rated 86 overall. He is a well rounded player. He is averaging 6.6 ppg and 4.4 apg.

SO C Bart Ballard is 7'1 266 and is rated 83 overall now. He is a very strong interior player who is a good shot blocker with very good mobility for his size. He is averaging 14.3 ppg, 7.1 rpg, and 2.0 bpg.

The bench is led by JR SF Clifford Violette who is 6'6 211 and is rated 86 overall and JR SF Al Bazin who is 6'6 220 and is rated 83 overall. SO PG Freddy Zuzak is another very good bench player who is the 2nd best 3 point shooter on the team. He is averaging 6 ppg in limited minutes.

[Eaglesfan27]

Halsch is healthy and will start for us. However, Nelke will get plenty of action with the way he has played for us..

15:00 - We are down 8-5. Halsch scored our first 4. Hornsby has 6 for them.

12:20 - Moye has picked up his 2nd foul and he is tired. I rest him and Halsch. We are down 14-9.

9:10 - Galbreath comes into the game. We are down 19-17. Nelke has had a huge block and a few other nice plays already.

6:40 - Seconds after he returned to the game, Moye picks up his 3rd foul. He'll sit for the rest of the half. We are down 25-19. Nelke is going to play some center for us as I'll bring Halsch back.

3:17 - Nelke has hit 3 mid range jumpers in a row. Ballard is slow covering him out of the paint. We are down 32-29.


Halftime: We are down 38-32.


Urbitis is the player of the half with 9 points and 4 assists.

Nelke leads our team with 14 points.


18:52 - Moye picks up his 4th foul! I leave him in.. We are down 40-34.

15:05 - Sead with a drive into the paint gets a 3rd foul on Ballard. We are down 44-42.

10:14 - I rest Halsch and Moye. We are tied at 47.

6:20 - I bring back Moye. I rest Sead, Sowers, and Humphrey. We are down 56-49.

Pait misses a quick 3, but Moye with an offensive putback slam! That is his first basket in this game in which he has been dominated by Ballard.

40 seconds later, Moye misses a fastbreak dunk as it rattles off the back of the rim. Moye gets the offensive board and puts it in.

3:20 - After Ballard misses a dunk, we get a quick basket by Moye on the other end. He is fouled as well. He makes the FT. We are down 59-58. We bring back the rest of our starters.

2:54 - We press the secondary break after a missed 3... Sowers on the wing, dribbles into the lane and is fouled by Ballard. He misses the first FT. He makes the 2nd.

2:44 - N'Diaye with a quick 14 footer. He has 16 points so far.

2:32 - Sead draws a foul in the lane. He makes both FT's.

2:12 - Humphrey gets called for reaching in. N'Diaye makes both FT's.

1:54 - Urbitis steals it from Sead and takes it the distance for a layup. Down 65-61.

1:31 - Moye with a hook shot. He now has 11 points after a very slow start.

1:02 - Urbitis runs a perfect pick and roll with Ballard who slams it home.

43 seconds - They steal it from Sead, but Humphrey steals it right back. He takes a corner 3 a few seconds later... and misses it. They get the board. We have to foul. They make both FT's.

17 seconds left - Urbitis stole it from Sead who stole it back from Urbitis.. he sets up Humphrey who hits a 3. Down 69-66. We intentionally foul. Urbitis makes both FT's.

9 seconds left - Humphrey misses a 3.


We lose the game 75-66. An unexpected and bitter loss in the Final 4.

Ballard was the player of the game as he finished with 22 points and 8 boards. N'Diaye also hurt us bad with 20 points and 5 boards. Urbitis also did well against us with 17 points and 8 assists. Hornsby had 12 more as their starters did almost all of the damage.


Nelke led us with 14 points and 5 boards. He also had a block. He shot 5 of 8.

Moye with 11 points, 7 boards, and a block. He shot 5 of 12.

Halsch with 13 points, 4 boards, and 1 block. He shot 5 of 10.

Sead with 6 points, 3 assists, 3 steals, and 3 turnovers. He was 1 of 8.

Sowers with 7 points, 2 steals, and 3 turnovers. He was 2 of 10.

Humphrey with 9 points, 6 boards, and 2 steals. He shot 3 of 6.


Pait was 1 of 5 with 2 points. Galbreath led the bench with 3 points and 2 assists.

So close.. but not enough.

[Eaglesfan27]

DePaul beat Xavier 62-56 to advance to the National Championship Game..


DePaul beat Cal 78-74 to win it all.

DePaul was led by their backcourt which had 42 points (23 by PG Forney and 19 by SG Slater.)


Here is a look at some of our player's final stats for the year:

Moye led the team with 15.3 ppg, 6.6 rpg, and 1.1 bpg.

Humphrey with 13.5 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 2.6 spg, and 2.2 apg.

Sowers with 11.4 ppg, 2.7 rpg, and 1.5 apg.

Galsch with 8.1 ppg, 4.9 rpg, and 1.2 bpg.

Pait with 8 ppg, 1.6 rpg.

Nelke with 7.3 ppg, 4.2 rpg, and 1.2 bpg.

Lang with 4.7 ppg.

Sead with 4.4 ppg and 4.6 apg.

Galbreath with 3.9 ppg and 3.4 apg.

Connolly with 3.9 ppg.

Rollins with 2.6 ppg and 3.0 rpg.



Rice's SR C Burton Felton won Player of the Year. He averaged 25.1 ppg, 9.5 rpg, and 2.8 bpg.

SR C Allen Greene of Northern Colorado won Mid-Major Player of the Year. He averaged 30.6 ppg (highest I've ever seen!), 9.5 rpg, and 2.6 bpg.

SR SF Kareem Humphrey won Defensive Player of the Year, presumably for his high number of steals.

Felton won Big Man of the Year.

FR SG Kashien Gardner of Florida won Freshman of the Year. He averaged 8.1 ppg, 4.0 apg, and 3.4 rpg.


No Pac-10 Players made either 1st or 2nd team All-American or Freshman All-American Team.

I won Pac-10 Coach of the Year.

Washington's Lance Appleby won Pac-10 Player of the Year. He finished with 20.1 ppg, 7 rpg.

Halsch won Pac-10 Freshman of the Year.

Humphrey was 1st team All Pac-10.

The rest of the team:

SR PG Mustafa Hull 15.0 ppg, 4.7 apg, 4.4 rpg. Stanford.

SR SG Russ Grimes, Oregon 14.7 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 2.4 apg.

SR PF Tommie Cuic, Arizona 17 ppg, 6.3 rpg.

JR C Appleby, Washington.

Moye was 2nd team Pac-10.

Galbreath and Halsch made the Freshman team along with:

SG Kleinzweig, Oregon 6.9 ppg, 3 rpg.

SF Jacobson, Arizona 6.8 ppg, 3.7 rpg.

C Butch, UCLA 8.3 ppg, 5.5 rpg.

[Eaglesfan27]

Humphrey was drafted in the 1st round. Moye was drafted in the 2nd round. Sead graduated. No other players left the team.


A bunch of programs offer me a job including Seton Hall, Oregon, and Louisville. I turn them all down.

Oregon hires the head coach from Applachian State. Hopefully, he won't be such a good recruiter..

As planned, I encourage my long time recruiting coordinator Lance Collum to retire. I hire Tyler Grove, a veteran coach who is considered an elite developer of talent. Guys who want to be coached up to help them reach their potential, can't pick too many better places now..

I've got two great teachers, who aren't great recruiters, but I'll focus on being the sole closer when it comes to recruiting battles. Hopefully, this works better in helping me land the truly elite players.

[Eaglesfan27]

Cal lost the highest profile transfer as SO PG O.J. Payne transferred to CS Fullerton.

Now, it is time to close in on some recruits who can round out my class.


As expected, Howel signs with UCLA. The big PG could be a thorn in my side for years. Fortunately, by turning my attention away from him, I did secure a very good PG as Keon McDade signed with USC on the 1st day of the 2nd signing period.

Keon is 6'0 159 and is rated 51st overall. He is a 4 star player. He is from Seattle, WA. He is graded out as follows by our staff: Shooting A-, Skill A+, Defense A-, Athleticism B+, Rebounding C, IQ B+, Potential B+, Size C. He averaged 10.8 ppg, 5.4 apg, and 1.5 spg in the ABL. He shot 44% from the arc in the ABL.

Things look very good for Timon Zimmerman to come to USC. If so, he'll close out the class. I fly to his home to see if I can get him to sign his LOI.


2nd week:

I think one more visit to Zimmerman's house is going to close out the deal. Hopefully, my scouting is right on this massive center.


3rd week:

Center Timon Zimmerman is now a Trojan! He's 7'2" 271. He is from Houston, TX. He is ranked 288th overall and 14th among C's. He is rated as follows by our staff: Shooting C, Skills C+, Defense B, Athleticism B-, Rebounding A, IQ B+, Potential B+, Size A+. He averaged 10.5 ppg, 13.8 rpg, and 1.4 bpg in the ABL. I think if we can develop him to his full potential, he'll be a monster for us in 2-3 years.

That finishes this year's class. Now, time to get to work fully on next year's class.


A reminder of our early commit:

4 star SG Jerald Dillard is 6'2 178 and is rated 27th overall. He is from Santa Ana, CA. Shooting A-, Skills B+. Defense A-, Athleticism A-, Rebounding B-, IQ B+, Potential A, Size C+.


A look at the top classes:

1. Saint Joseph's with 3 All American 5 star players!
2. Stanford with 3 5 star players, 2 All Americans.
3. Pitt with 3 5 star players.
4. Texas A&M with 2 5 star players and 1 4 star player.
5. Iowa with 2 5 star players.
6. Clemson with 4 4 star players.
7. UCLA with 4 4 star players.
8. Georgia Tech with 3 5 star players.
9. Kansas with 2 5 star players.
10. Mississippi State with 5 4 star players.

We are 24th this year. Washington is 12th, the only other Pac-10 team above us in recruiting.

Oregon finished 32nd with 1 4 star and 2 3 stars. I guess the new coach might not be the recruiter their old coach was.

Now, to get a look at our roster..

[Eaglesfan27]

At PG, we are full of potential, but we are young and inexperienced:

SO PG Rashard Galbreath is a player that our staff is very high on. He's had a very good offseason and our new coach thinks he can turn him into a very high level player soon. As it is, he is rated 76 overall with strengths being his quickness and speed. He is now 6'1 184. He needs to work on his outside shot and ball handling. He is the likely starter this year.

FR PG Keon McDade will get immediate PT and may push for the starter role. He is 6'0 167. He is slower than Galbreath and isn't as good of a defender, but he is a much better passer, ball handler, and shooter. He is rated 76 overall as well.

JR Mitchell Hodge will only get significant PT if there is an injury. He is 6'5 208 and is rated 72 overall.


SG is a position in flux as well, but we have one player who may be ready to step up into a star role:

RS SR Friedrich Lang has improved greatly under the new staff. He is now 6'5 220 and is rated 85 overall. He is a very fast SG, but doesn't have good lateral quickness or burst. He is a solid defender, a decent shooter, and an excellent dunker when he has an open lane. His defense will make him a strong contender to start at SG.

SO SG Keon Connolly is the likely main contributor off the bench. He's 6'3 195 and is rated 77 overall. He doesn't excel in any area, but as he showed last year, he can light it up when he is on a hot shooting streak. His defense needs work.

RS SO Bernard Mack is also in the mix at 6'4 233 and rated 77 overall. He is a bit more physical as a defender, but is more limited as an offensive player.

FR SG Jerald Dillard is a bit of a disappointment on first blush. He's rated 74 overall and is 6'2 178. He doesn't excel in any area and his defense is weak. Hopefully, he'll show some rapid improvement.

SF is my clear position of strength and leads me to the dilemma of whether or not Sowers should start at SG again:

RS SR Branden Pait is ready to start and deserves it despite his inconsistency. He's shown that he can be a steady scorer when he starts and he is now rated 89 overall, which is my best rated player. He's 6'6 221 and has finally shored up his defense. He now has no weaknesses to his game and he has many strengths. I expect him to be my first 20 point scorer in some time..

JR Teddy Sowers is 6'5 209 and is rated 86 overall. He's our most explosive dunker, our best midrange shooter, and a decent 3 point shooter. His defense isn't as good as Lang's, but he would be a reliable starter at SG.

At PF, we have 2 talented sophomores:

SO Gerrod Halsch is 6'9 254 and is rated 80 overall now. He is a beast of a shot blocker who compliments his physicality with a few nice post moves. He also is a truly great hustle player. He'll start for us.

SO Dameon Nelke is 6'10 210 and does a bunch of things well for us. He can spread the floor with his midrange shot. He is a good rebounder, a good shot blocker, and he has the best speed of any of our big men. He has a tremendous vertical as well. He'll get a bunch of minutes this year.

At C, I have a tough decision:

JR Wallace Rollins is 7'0 258. He's rated 76 overall. He doesn't have much more room to grow in our coaches' opinion. He has developed a nice offensive game in practice, but it hasn't showed up reliably in games yet. He is a good but not great rebounder. He'll be pushed by the freshman..

FR C Timon Zimmerman is now 7'3" 285. He's slow, but so is Rollins. He's already a GREAT rebounder. He's a very good post defender right now. He needs to work on his offense, but his sheer size will allow him to do some damage and as expected, he is a great dunker when he gets position. His strength is off the charts. I think I'll go ahead and let him start. We are young at so many other positions, that the PT will be worth it for the future..

JR C Bennett Hehn has developed very nicely for a walk-on. He is 7'0 250 and is rated 75 overall. He'll get some minutes this year as well. He is best at rebounding.


Guys that will definitely be leaving after this year: SF Pait and SG Lang. Possible early departure: SF Sowers.

Recruiting goals for this year's 2 scholarships:

1. Starting SF
2. SG or SF (likely will go for another SF.)

[Eaglesfan27]

Early recruiting targets:

SF Troy Toussaint doesn't have the elite accolades of some of the big names, but he is a 4 star who I've identified as a potential superstar in the future. I think this kid has an extremely high roof. He is ranked 64th overall and he is 6'6 221 now. He is a local kid from Cerritos, CA. Best of all, he has USC #1 on his list. However, SDSU is right with us. If I lose him to them, I might have to get my other coach to "retire" as well.

SF Dexter Del Rosario is the best player in the nation. I've never gone after #1 before, but this seems like a good player to pursue. He is from Queens, NY. He has USC in his top 3, and he is a player that my staff believes will live up to his props. Others in his top 5: Saint Joseph's, Siena, Niagara!, and UConn.

[Eaglesfan27]

I've gone back and forth on it, but I'm going to redshirt SG Jerald Dillard.

I've just had Troy Toussaint in for a visit. He loves the USC campus. His top priority is getting good coaching and I think he really likes my new assistant. We are now his #1 by a wide margin. I'll be surprised and very disappointed if I lose him to anyone. He should be ready to sign as soon as possible.

Dexter is going to be a much tougher battle. However, he assures me that being close to home isn't a priority. His top priority is playing time with good coaching being a 2nd priority. Hopefully, I can convince him that we have playing time for him... NC State has entered the picture and has vaulted to #1 on his list. UConn is going to be tough as well.


Our first game is at Niagara. I look forward to returning to my old campus and I'm sure they'll enjoy the revenue boost. They have a tough squad that is rated 81 overall. They are led by SO SG W.C. Krauser who is their best player at 78 overall. He's 6'6 220 and is very quick. SO G Jacques Truscott is a dangerous 3 point shooter. If I can shut them both down, this should be an easy victory. Their center is undersized and not very skilled, a nice first opponent for Big Timon to go against. I'll play them tomorrow.

[hoopsguy]

Bummer losing to Cal, but the NCAA games up to that point seemed a little scary for your guys. It seemed like this may have been a case of a team peaking just a little bit too early in the year. Either that, or the results finally started aligning with the talent (very good, but not elite).

My impression of that team was that they were at their best when Humphrey was having big games alongside Moye. But Humphrey seemed to fall to 3rd banana status in the latter parts of the year more often than not.

Best of luck with the new staff and the upcoming season.

[Eaglesfan27]

Thanks. I agree with you that when Humphrey was playing great on both ends, those were our most dominant performances and we may have gotten too focused on feeding it inside.

With the current group, I think Pait is going to be the #1 option and Sowers or Halsch will be the #2 option. Hopefully, the young guys will be able to gel quickly although I think this could be a re-loading year.