A new mid-major, the GWAL: An FBCB 2010 dynasty

[collegesportsfanms]

I have decided that I can't wait to hire coaches once I start the head coach movement period, because once I assigned Bryan to Arizona and clicked on head coach movement, Wichita Heights had a new coach and I don't like that. So every time I make a move, I'm going to have to stop and do the hiring process right then.

Here is how I plan on hiring. I will be looking for top head coaches from lower prestige schools, because they deserve to move up the ladder. I will also be looking for recently fired head coaches or coaches without a job. And I will also be looking for asssistant coaches from prestige 4 and 5 schools. More often than not, an assistant at a lower prestige school wouldn't be offered a head coaching job at a high prestige school.

I have made an in-house rule that assistant coaches deserve to be head coaches too, so when it comes to hiring, every other coach i hire must be an assistant at a prestige 4 or 5 school. So for every one coach without a job, or small school coach i hire, the next coach must be an assistant coach. Hope that makes sense.

[ntndeacon]

Originally Posted by collegesportsfanms

bbgunn, basically all I need is a school. You tell me if you want to be a head coach at another GWAL school, or if you want to be a head coach at a non-GWAL school. Right now the GWAL is a conference prestige of 4, so if you want to be a coach at a school with a lower prestige that is fine. If you want to be coach at your favorite college, thats fine too. It doesn't matter to me at all where you want to coach. The only schools that are offlimits are Bishop Carroll, Kapaun, South, and Southeast, because they are coached by other FOFCers. Every other school is fair game.

Also, I would need some ratings. the game has ratings for scouting, recruiting, offense, and defense. Or you can just give me a coaching level and I can randomize your stats. The game has coaching levels of 0-15, with 0 having the least points and 15 would be a coach that has 100 in everything. Bascially you give me an idea for a school, and an idea for ratings or coach level, and I can take it from there. Thanks man, hope I didn't confuse you too much.

I do think I would like another coach as well.
Name: Charlie Woods
Coach level 11
School: Georgia St.

[collegesportsfanms]

So let's look at my choices. First, for current assistants, the only one that jumps out at me is Duke's assistant coach Mike Brown. He is a master of the x's and o's, with an offense rating of 91 and a defense rating of 96. The problem is he is not a recruiter, so if I were to hire him, I'd have to have a damn good recruiter with him.

Another option I'm looking at is Ralph Snowden. He is currently unemployed, spending 2 years at Hawaii before B.B Gunn took over. He has ratings of 20, 100, 100, and 0. The 0 is in coaching defense, which worries me. However, since I'm short on time and I want to get the coach movement period finished for the offseason, I have hired him to be the coach at Wichita Heights.

[collegesportsfanms]

ntndeacon, you the man! Thanks. I'm still in the offseason, so perfect timing. I'll get you in at Georgia State and you'll be good to go for next season.

[ntndeacon]

Excellent bring on the Panthers.!

By the way have we found out the nicknames of our illustious schools?

[collegesportsfanms]

There was one offer to speak of, as James Cole (Wichita East) was offered the job at BYU. I would be a fool not to accept this job for him, as BYU was 26-7 last season, and has a goal to reach the Sweet Sixteen. Their prestige is 81, and their recruiting ranking was 49. Not to mention their roster is stacked! So James Cole is now the coach at BYU.

Since I have to hire a current assistant to take his place (per my rules), this is easy. Duke assistant Mike Brown will be the new coach at Wichita East.

[collegesportsfanms]

What do you mean NTN? Do you mean the GWAL schools? If so, yes I can give you their nicknames. If that's not what you were meaning, you'll have to explain it. I'm a blonde, I'm a little slow sometimes. lol

[ntndeacon]

yes the GWAL.

[collegesportsfanms]

Sure, let me announce those for everybody.

We have:

Bishop Carroll Eagles
Kapaun Mt. Carmel Crusaders
Wichita East Blue Aces
Wichita Heights Falcons
Wichita North Redskins
Wichita Northwest Grizzlies
Wichita South Titans
Wichita Southeast Buffaloes
Wichita West Pioneers.

Alright, unforunately I have some errands to run before I head out of town tomorrow, so I'm going to stop here. My hope is that I can get back to this and at least do a little bit before I go out of town tomorrow afternoon. If not, I will definitely work on getting some done when I get back on Monday

[collegesportsfanms]

We have a new coach in the FOFC group, as ntndeacon has added a second coach. Here are his stats.

COACH DETAILS

 Charlie Woods - Head Coach - Georgia State
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Age:             35
 High School:     South Georgia High School
 Hometown:        Atlanta, GA
 Alma Mater:      Clark Atlanta College
 
 Current Level:   11
 Career Record:   0 - 0
 
 Recruiting:      95
 Scouting:        55
 Offense:         80
 Defense:         90

 
 Coaching History:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season Team                     Position      W   L  CW  CL  Postseason
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 Awards & Achievements:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   Award
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
          No awards won.

ntn, i just randomized your coaches age and hometown and school. I can change it if you're not happy with it. Let me know
Job Movement:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Season Move
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2013 Hired by Georgia State (Head Coach)

[bbgunn]

The Titans.... I like the sound of that!

NCAAs for Hawaii? I guess B.B. Gunn is already out the do'.

[collegesportsfanms]

2013 Season Tournaments

Bishop Carroll is the 6th seed in the Alaska Invitational. Their first round game will be against 3rd seed New Mexico.

Wichita West is the 10th seed in the Coaches Invitational. Their first round game will be against 7th seed Seton Hall.

Wichita North got the 2nd seed in the Orlando Classic and gets 7th seed Binghamton in the first round.

Wichita Southeast is the 5th seed in the Paradise Shootout, and will take on 4th seed Utah St. in the first round.

Wichita South is the 7th seed in the Philadelphia Invitational and will take on 2nd seed Syracuse in the first round.

Wichita Heights is the 4th seed in the Preseason NIT and draws 13th seed Fairfield in the first round.

Wichita East is the 4th seed in the Puerto Rico challenge and gets 5th seed Providence in the first round.

Wichita Northwest is the 5th seed in the San Juan Classic and gets 4th seed Texas A&M in the first round.

Kapaun Mt. Carmel is the 4th seed in the 4 team Youth Invitational and gets top seed UConn in the first round.

Xavier and Creighton are the top 2 seeds in the 4 team College Classic, and will take on 4th seed Boise St., and 3rd seed San Jose St., respectively.

Arizona is the 2nd seed in the Maui Shootout and gets 7th seed Wichita St. in the first round.

Arkansas is the top seed in the Rainbow Invitational, getting 8th seed Loyola-Maryland in the first round. Hawaii is the 5th seed in this tournament, drawing 4th seed DePaul first round.

BYU is the 2nd seed in the San Juan Classic and draws 7th seed Oregon St. in the first round.

Georgia St. was not invited to a tournament this season.

[collegesportsfanms]

GWAL Expectations

New coaches in the GWAL at Wichita East (Mike Brown) and Wichita Heights (Ralph Snowden) , so they have the 1 year grace period. Possibly 2.

Jobs that are safe for now.

Chris Porter (Wichita North) is safe, but needs to build off last seasons start.

Mitch Linn (Wichita Northwest) really needs to make a deep postseason run this year. He's got the team to do it.

On the Fence- Needs Minor Improvement

Kuji Chagulia (Wichita South) had a great first season, but hasn't done anything since. It's time for South to get back to the postseason this year.

Reggie Taylor (Wichita West) was shut out in recruiting this year. Another shut-out in recruiting this year and he may be out of a job soon.

Shane Kormelink (Kapaun Mt. Carmel)- Same thing applies for him. No more shutouts in recruiting.

Watching close- One step away from the Hotseat

Deacon Palmer (Bishop Carroll) must improve over his 9 win season last year. If he keeps continuing to decline, he won't be here much longer.

On the Hotseat

Rudy Arellano (Wichita Southeast) has got to make the postseason this year, and have a deep run. Southeast should compete for the conference title every year. It's time for him to get back to the basics, or be gone.


That's the GWAL coaches. We have 2 FOFC Non-GWAL coaches.

B.B Gunn (Hawaii) - B.B. already knows what is expected of him, but as of right now his seat is cool, so I don't expect that his job is in danger.

Charlie Woods (Georgia St.) - Charlie needs to stay out of last place in the CAA. As a new coach, he's got a grace period.

[ntndeacon]

how about hometown Montgomery, Al (Sidney Lanier for the high school)
and alma mater Wake Forest

[collegesportsfanms]

Nov. 2013 Wrap-Up

A few of our GWAL and non-GWAL teams played in tournaments this month. Let's take a look at those.

2013 Alaska Invitational

Bishop Carroll opened the tournament by upsetting (3) New Mexico 70-57, then got a break as they played (7) Middle Tennessee St. in the semifinals, beating them 61-58. In the championship, they took on (1) Kentucky and hung with them till the end, but fell short 68-60. All in all, a good run for the Eagles.

2013 Coaches Invitational

Wichita West beat (7) Seton Hall in the first round, 70-65, then battled with (2) Wisconsin for a while, but eventually lost 71-61. Still not a bad effort.

2013 Orlando Classic

Wichita North struggled, but beat (7) Binghamton 82-78 in the first round. In the semifinals, (6) Sam Houston St. upset the Redskins 76-66. North rebounded to take third, beating (4) IUPUI 73-59. The surprising winner of this tournament was Sam Houston State.

2013 Paradise Shootout

Wichita Southeast beat (4) Utah St. 45-38 in the first round, then got beat by (1) Villanova 69-52 in the semifinals. In the third place game, (3) Memphis outlasted the Buffaloes 75-71, as Southeast started strong but finished 4th.

2013 Philadelphia Invitational

Wichita South got hammered by (2) Syracuse 100-69 in the first round, then in the consolation semifinal, took it to (6) N.C. State 102-85. In the fifth place game, it was all (5) Michigan, as they hammered the Titans 82-53.

2013 Preseason NIT

Wichita Heights started things off right with a 64-50 over (13) Fairfield. Then in the quarterfinals, they beat (12) Penn St. 71-51. In the semifinals, the Falcons got by (8) Miami-Ohio 87-67. Then in the championship, it came down to Heights and (2) Pittsburgh. It was an awesome game, but in the end, the Falcons survived to win 87-83. A great job by Ralph Snowden in his GWAL debut.

2013 Puerto Rico Challenge

Wichita East beat (5) Providence 79-64 in the first round. In the semifinals, it was another great game, but (1) Mississippi St. overtook the Blue Aces 56-53. In the third place game, East hammered (7) South Alabama 86-64.

2013 Youth Invitational

Kapaun Mt. Carmel lost a tough one to (1) Uconn 74-66 in the first round. In the third place game, they beat (3) UTEP 74-60.

2013 College Classic

Xavier beat (4) Boise St. 82-54 and Creighton beat (3) San Diego St. 85-48 to set up the championship beat Xavier and Creighton. This was won by Xavier 79-71.

2013 Maui Shootout

Arizona started the tournament by beating (7) Wichita St. 84-61, then won the semifinal matchup against (3) Louisville 61-49. Then they took on (1) Kansas and hammered them 88-68 to win the Maui Shootout! Congrats to Bryan Chadwick.

[collegesportsfanms]

Here are the GWAL standings through Nov. 2013.

TEAM                           CW  CL   Pct  W  L    Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 #8 Wichita Heights Falcons      0   0  .000  4  0  1.000    9        87
 Wichita North Redskins          0   0  .000  4  1   .800   45        69
 Wichita Southeast Buffaloes     0   0  .000  3  2   .600   55        72
 Wichita East Blue Aces          0   0  .000  3  2   .600   72        69
 Bishop Carroll Eagles           0   0  .000  2  1   .667   11        53
 Wichita Northwest Grizzlies     0   0  .000  2  2   .500   28        64
 Wichita West Pioneers           0   0  .000  2  1   .667   46        65
 Kapaun Mt. Carmel Crusaders     0   0  .000  2  1   .667  114        58
 Wichita South Titans            0   0  .000  1  4   .200  177        61

Other than Wichita South, we look to have a fairly strong conference this season.

And here are the polls as we start Dec. 2013

#  Team                      FPV  Record  Points  Prv
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   1.  Florida                  (62)     3-1    1775    1
   2.  Arizona                   (7)     4-0    1732    6
   3.  Vanderbilt                (3)     5-0    1670    4
   4.  Pittsburgh                        3-1    1585    5
   5.  Illinois                          3-0    1471    2
   6.  Connecticut                       4-0    1385   12
   7.  Wisconsin                         4-0    1367   10
   8.  Wichita Heights                   4-0    1262    9
   9.  Kentucky                          3-0    1222   13
  10.  Kansas                            3-1    1168    3
  11.  Georgetown                        5-0    1134   17
  12.  Mississippi State                 4-0     968   19
  13.  Duke                              1-0     924    8
  14.  Oklahoma State                    4-0     903   18
  15.  Villanova                         4-0     827   22
  16.  Michigan State                    2-1     737   15
  17.  Iowa State                        3-2     550   NR
  18.  Nevada                            4-0     477   NR
  19.  Syracuse                          3-1     449   16
  20.  Notre Dame                        2-2     434   11
  21.  Xavier                            5-1     394   NR
  22.  Ohio State                        4-1     239   NR
  23.  Iowa                              4-0     175   NR
  24.  Tennessee                         3-1     174   14
  25.  Maryland                          2-1     114   NR
                                                         
     Others Receiving Votes:                             
     Texas Tech                          3-0      61     
     Washington                          4-0      48     
     Virginia                            2-1      47     
     Texas                               1-1      40     
     Marquette                           3-1      19     
     Georgia Tech                        2-1      17     
     Dayton                              4-0      11     
     Wichita North                       4-1      11     
     Temple                              3-1       7     
     North Carolina                      2-1       1     
     Oklahoma                            3-2       1     
     Wichita State                       5-1       1     

[bbgunn]

We stink... all of us.

[ntndeacon]

Finally Eagles Recruiting are paying off.

[collegesportsfanms]

Dec. 2013 Wrap-Up

There were a couple more tournaments to talk about this month, so we'll start with those.

2013 Rainbow Invitational

We have 2 teams of note in this tournament, Arkansas and Hawaii. Arkansas opened against (8) Loyola-Maryland and struggled big time, but survived on a buzzer beater, 58-57. Hawaii also got a test in their first game, against (4) DePaul, but held on to win 74-69. In the semifinals, Arkansas woke up and pounded Hawaii 87-65. On the final day, Arkansas played (6) Weber St. in the championship and beat them 56-43. Hawaii got (7) American in the third place game, and beat them 63-58. So congrats to Ryan Hujing on another tournament title, but Hawaii played well also.

2013 San Juan Classic

Wichita Northwest started the tournament by losing to (4) Texas A&M 80-65, while BYU opened with an 87-68 victory over (7) Oregon St. In the consolation semifinals, Northwest upset (1) Duke 70-60. This was Duke's second straight loss. In the winners bracket semifinals, BYU crushed (3) Cincinnati 88-59. Northwest played in the fifth place game and finished an up and down tournament with a 74-65 loss to (6) Davidson. Meanwhile, BYU won the San Juan title with an 86-84 victory over a very surprising (8) Central Florida team. So congrats to James Cole on the tournament title.

[collegesportsfanms]

The GWAL standings through December are in, and lets take a look.

 TEAM                           CW  CL   Pct   W  L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 #3 Wichita Heights Falcons      0   0  .000  13  1  .929    6        87
 Wichita Southeast Buffaloes     0   0  .000   9  2  .818   34        72
 Wichita North Redskins          0   0  .000   9  2  .818  160        69
 Wichita East Blue Aces          0   0  .000   8  4  .667   24        69
 Wichita South Titans            0   0  .000   7  6  .538   45        61
 Bishop Carroll Eagles           0   0  .000   7  4  .636   99        53
 Wichita West Pioneers           0   0  .000   7  5  .583  211        65
 Kapaun Mt. Carmel Crusaders     0   0  .000   6  4  .600   85        58
 Wichita Northwest Grizzlies     0   0  .000   5  8  .385  132        64

I could definitely get used to these standings. Every team except Wichita Northwest has a winning record.

Bishop Carroll (Deacon Palmer) is doing some nice things this season. They are quite improved over last year, with tough losses against top 25 teams Kentucky and Maryland. They've had no really bad losses, and have quality wins over New Mexico and Colorado St.

Kapaun Mt. Carmel (Shane Kormelink) hasn't played a real tough schedule, and they were blown out by both ranked teams Iowa St. and Oklahoma St., but they had a tough loss against nationally ranked UConn to open the season. Their best wins are against Houston and Colorado St.

Wichita South (Kuji Chagulia) is currently riding a 4 game winning streak, but haven't beaten anybody of note. They've had a bad loss to Texas-Arlington, but 3 of their past 4 wins have been against Miami-Ohio, SMU, and... you guessed it, Colorado St.

Wichita Southeast (Rudy Arellano) is on an 8 game winning streak. Mr. Arellano is fighting to keep is job, and responding well. Unfortunately, the Buffaloes have only played against 2 teams with winning records since their loss to Memphis. However, they do have a very good win against Auburn, another good win against Tulsa, and the near miss against Memphis. We'll see how they respond when conference play starts.

[collegesportsfanms]

Dec. 2013 Non-GWAL Wrap-Up

Xavier (Shane Dreiling) -- 11-2, 0-0, A-Ten, It's weird to see Xavier not in the top 25, but right now they are unranked. A bad loss to Illinois St. and a tough loss to Illinois are probably the reasons they are unranked. other than that, they've been flawless.

Georgia State (Charlie Woods) -- 2-9, 0-0, CAA, Well, Georgia St. is bad, real bad. Actually, they aren't as abd as their record shows. They've beaten Mercer and Troy, lost by 8 points to Georgia, lost by 3 points to Georgia Tech, and lost by 3 points to a solid Tennessee Tech team. Unfortunately, it gets ugly after that.

Creighton (Marty Frankamp) -- 8-3, 1-0, MVC. Creighton opened the conference season by hammering Drake, and have only 3 losses to Xavier, Nebraska, and Iowa St., all very good teams. Their best win is against Marquette, but beating San Diego St. could qualify as a quality win as the season moves on.

BYU (James Cole) -- 11-3, 0-0, MWC. BYU is coming off a mid season tournament championship in which they dominated. They do have a glaring loss to Weber St., but they also have other quality wins against Arizona St. and Colorado.

#2 Arizona (Bryan Chadwick) -- 11-1, 0-0, Pac Ten. Bryan is just tearing it up at Arizona right now. Aside from their championship at the Maui Shootout, they also have great wins against Illinois and Oklahoma. Their only loss was to an undefeated Villanova team that is ranked 5th.

Arkansas (Ryan Hujing) -- 9-2, 0-0, SEC. Ryan is another coach that has put it together this year, winning the Rainbow Invitational, and they've also beaten GWAL teams Wichita East and Bishop Carroll. Their 2 losses were to Wichita Northwest and Tulsa.

Hawaii (B.B. Gunn) -- 7-4, 0-0, WAC. B.B. has made a decent turnaround from last year, almost equalling last years win total already. They opened the season with a tough 3 point loss to Iowa St., and since then have continued to play decent ball. They did lose by 16 points to UNLV in their last game, hopefully that isn't a trend.

Here are the polls as we enter January.

Top 25

# Team FPV Record Points Prv
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Florida (64) 12-1 1783 3
2. Arizona 11-1 1695 1
3. Wichita Heights 13-1 1634 2
4. Connecticut 10-0 1601 5
5. Villanova (8) 12-0 1530 8
6. Georgetown 12-1 1438 10
7. Kansas 10-1 1404 7
8. Oklahoma State 11-1 1256 11
9. Syracuse 11-1 1209 17
10. Pittsburgh 11-2 1125 12
11. Kentucky 12-1 1092 14
12. Illinois 9-2 1013 6
13. Louisville 11-1 1004 13
14. Texas 9-2 844 24
15. Texas Tech 10-1 728 15
16. UCLA 11-2 695 NR
17. Maryland 10-2 610 18
18. Temple 10-2 605 23
19. Memphis 9-2 461 16
20. Notre Dame 10-3 372 25
21. Iowa State 11-3 343 NR
22. Vanderbilt 11-2 327 4
23. Nevada 11-2 297 NR
24. Massachusetts 10-1 138 NR
25. Miami 9-2 91 NR

Others Receiving Votes:
Duke 10-2 71
North Carolina State 9-2 16
Cincinnati 10-2 13
Mississippi State 12-2 5

I'm really surprised not to see a few more of our non-GWAL focused teams in there. I figured at least Xavier and Creighton would be getting votes. Interesting.

[collegesportsfanms]

As the month of January comes to an end, lets look at the GWAL standings, and there is a shocker in there.

TEAM                           CW  CL   Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Bishop Carroll Eagles           7   1  .875  14   6  .700   48        53
 #8 Wichita Heights Falcons      6   2  .750  20   3  .870    9        87
 Wichita South Titans            5   3  .625  12  10  .545   80        61
 Wichita Southeast Buffaloes     5   3  .625  15   5  .750   36        72
 Wichita East Blue Aces          4   4  .500  12   8  .600   49        69
 Wichita North Redskins          3   5  .375  13   7  .650  110        69
 Wichita Northwest Grizzlies     3   5  .375   8  13  .381  134        64
 Wichita West Pioneers           3   5  .375  10  10  .500  169        65
 Kapaun Mt. Carmel Crusaders     0   8  .000   6  13  .316  199        58

Anybody else see the shocker? The lowest prestige team in the GWAL is on top. I'll cover that a little bit more in the FOFCer team capsules.

Bishop Carroll (Deacon Palmer) is on fire. If the votes were taken right now, I would say that Deacon would be GWAL coach of the year, maybe even national coach of the year. Let's hope it continues. The only team they've lost to in the first half of conference play is ranked Wichita Heights but only by 6. They also had a 6 point loss to UMKC as well.

Kapaun Mt. Carmel (Shane Kormelink) is struggling. They've yet to win a GWAL game this season, and have lost 11 straight. Looks like somebody is going to be on the hotseat next season. All but 3 of their losses in January (Northwest, North, East) were by double digits.

Wichita South (Kuji Chagulia) started conference play by upsetting Wichita Heights, then finished the month by hammering Wichita Southeast. In between was an average month, usually a win followed by a loss. They also had a non-conference loss to Nebraska mixed in.

Wichita Southeast (Rudy Arellano) is playing pretty good ball, as they also upset Wichita Heights in the month of January. They also lost to Bishop Carroll and Wichita South. In the GWAL, anything is possible.

[collegesportsfanms]

Jan. 2014 Non-GWAL Wrap-Up

#13 Xavier (Shane Dreiling) -- 17-2, 5-0 A-Ten, 1st. Xavier is doing what they normally do, have a great season in the A-Ten. Their average margin of victory in January was 19.3 points, including a 42 point pasting of Richmond, and a 25 point waxing over a very good UMass team.

Georgia State (Charlie Woods) -- 7-13, 5-4 CAA, 6th. Nice month for Georgia St., who had a goal of not finishing last in the CAA. They are off to a good start. Their mark on the month was a sweep of Old Dominion, including beating them by 25 on the road. I think they can pull off a winning record in the CAA if they keep working hard.

Creighton (Marty Frankamp) -- 14-6, 7-3 MVC, 2nd. Creighton is right behind Wichita State in the standings, and the 2 teams split their regular season meetings, each winning at home. It hasn't been spectacular for Creighton. They've won the conference games against the bottom feeder teams, and split with the other conference contenders.

BYU (James Cole) -- 16-5, 5-2 MWC, 2nd. James has BYU playing good ball, except for a minor setback where they lost their first 2 conference games against New Mexico and Colorado St. They've wone their last 5, including big wins against Utah and UNLV.

#3 Arizona (Bryan Chadwick) -- 18-2, 7-1 Pac Ten, 1st. Arizona suffered a conference loss to UCLA early on, which isn't a bad thing because UCLA is good too. Since then they've been sharp, their biggest game was against Washington St. in which they put up 123 points in a 45 point victory.

Arkansas (Ryan Hujing) -- 14-5, 4-2 SEC, 2nd West. Arkansas was briefly ranked, but then quickly lost that ranking after a loss to Alabama. They have had big conference wins against Ole Miss and Tennessee. The loss to Alabama was not a very good one.

Hawaii (B.B. Gunn) -- 11-8, 4-2 WAC, 4th. Hawaii is looking much better than they did at this time last season, but the loss to a 5 win Idaho team to end the month really hurts. That was a game they had to win, but didn't. They lost by 6 to Gonzaga, but beat conference leader Utah St.

[collegesportsfanms]

GWAL Regular Season (February and early March 2014 Wrap-up

Here is a look at the final regular season standings for the GWAL.

TEAM                           CW  CL   Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 #9 Wichita Heights Falcons     12   4  .750  26   5  .839    9        87
 Bishop Carroll Eagles          10   6  .625  18  11  .621   79        53
 Wichita South Titans           10   6  .625  18  13  .581   81        61
 Wichita Southeast Buffaloes    10   6  .625  21   8  .724   39        72
 Wichita Northwest Grizzlies     9   7  .563  15  15  .500  118        64
 Wichita North Redskins          8   8  .500  18  11  .621   67        69
 Wichita West Pioneers           7   9  .438  14  15  .483  189        65
 Wichita East Blue Aces          6  10  .375  14  15  .483   88        69
 Kapaun Mt. Carmel Crusaders     0  16  .000   6  22  .214  254        58

So Heights has a strong finish to win their 4th straight GWAL regular season title, and we have a 3 way tie for second, including 2 schools with coaches being watched closely. Then we have poor Kapaun. ouch!

Bishop Carroll (Deacon Palmer) didn't have a great end to their season. While they did finish far better than expected, they closed out the conference season with 2 straight losses. They did sweep Southeast, which is big, but they also got swept by Heights, and lost their second game to Northwest.

Kapaun Mt. Carmel (Shane Kormelink) was brutal this year. Absolutely brutal. The first team since I've become the GWAL AD to not win a conference game. Although he wasn't on the hotseat this year per say, Mr. Kormelink may be out of a job after the season.

Wichita South (Kuji Chagulia) finished strong, losing to only Heights, East, and Southeast in the last 5 weeks of the season. They also had a non-conference win against Coastal Carolina mixed in.

Wichita Southeast (Rudy Arellano) has a couple marks against them: Being swept by Bishop Carroll, and a 27 point loss to Heights near the end of the season. Nevertheless, a 20+ win season might just be enough to keep Rudy around.

[collegesportsfanms]

Non GWAL Season Review

#10 Xavier (Shane Dreiling) -- 26-4, 14-2 A-Ten, 1st. Both of their conference losses came in February, once to Rhode Island and once to Dayton, both teams that should be playing in the postseason. Other than that, Xavier was sharp all year.

Georgia State (Charlie Woods) -- 9-20, 7-11 CAA, 8th. Well they accomplished their goal of not finishing last, but February was not very good. They only won 2 games in February. 1 game against Hofstra, and the other win was against Northeastern.

Creighton (Marty Frankamp) -- 22-7, 14-4 MVC, 1st. Only a loss to Northern Iowa kept it from being a perfect February for Creighton. They also had a win against Wichita East to end the regular season.

#24 BYU (James Cole) -- 23-7, 12-4 MWC, 1st. BYU had a 2 point loss to TCU and a 19 point loss at UNLV, but the rest of February and early March was flawless.

#5 Arizona (Bryan Chadwick) -- 24-6, 13-5 Pac Ten, 1st. Arizona could have walked away with the Pac Ten title, but 3 losses in a row to end the season (at Arizona St., at USC, at UCLA) have put a damper on the regular season title. Hopefully they'll pick it up the rest of March.

Arkansas (Ryan Hujing) -- 16-14, 5-11 SEC, 6th West. Arkansas just can't seem to get it done in conference play, as their only wins since January have been Kapaun Mt. Carmel and Auburn. There is already talk that Ryan Hujing could be retiring from D1 coaching to coach a private high school after the season.

Hawaii (B.B Gunn) -- 17-13, 9-7 WAC, 4th. A 17 point win against Louisiana Tech was the quality win in Feb/early March for Hawaii. The bad loss was to New Mexico St. Hawaii also lost to the top 3 teams in the conference, Gonzaga, Nevada, and Utah St.

[collegesportsfanms]

The pre conference tournament bubble watch is out, and there were no teams of note in the overall 15 team bubble watch. Wichita Heights is considered a lock to make the NCAA tournament, while Wichita Southeast is also projected in. Every other GWAL team is projected out.

Xavier, BYU, and Arizona are considered locks for the NCAA tournament, while Creighton is projected in. Hawaii, Georgia St., and Arkansas are projected out.

[collegesportsfanms]

2014 GWAL First Round

(8) Wichita East defeated (9) Kapaun Mt. Carmel 62-60, so Kapaun goes 0-17 in the GWAL this season. Wow.

[collegesportsfanms]

2014 GWAL Quarterfinals

(8) Wichita East stuns (1) Wichita Heights 65-54. Second year in a row Heights falls in the first round.
(4) Wichita Southeast survives (5) Wichita Northwest 65-64
(7) Wichita West beats (2) Bishop Carroll 88-77. Not a good finish for Carroll, lets hope they have some bball left to play.
(3) Wichita South outlasts (6) Wichita North 98-92

[collegesportsfanms]

2014 GWAL Semifinals

(4) Wichita Southeast beats (8) Wichita East 79-66.
(3) Wichita South beats (7) Wichita West 77-59.

[collegesportsfanms]

2014 GWAL Championship

(4) Wichita Southeast beats (3) Wichita South 83-74 to win the automatic bid. With this victory, Southeast also moves up to 25th in the new top 25 polls.

Wichita Heights is still projected as a lock, and should be in.

I'd like to think that Bishop Carroll did enough to maybe get a CBI or CIT bid, but even if they don't, they've had a great season. Wichita South should at the very least be NIT bound, maybe just CBI. Wichita North I think should get an NIT or CBI berth. Due to their losing records, Wichita Northwest, Wichita West, Wichita East, and Kapaun Mt. Carmel are most likely done for the season.

[collegesportsfanms]

Other 2014 Conference Tournaments of Interest

Atlantic Ten

(1) Xavier got a bye into the quarterfinals, where they beat (9) La Salle 85-75. In the semifinals, they beat (4) Richmond 86-64. And in the A-Ten Championship, it was a repeat final from last year, but the results were different, as (2) Temple beat Xavier 71-68.

CAA

(8) Georgia St. beat (9) Hofstra 73-68 in the First Round, then got hammered by (1) UNC Wilmington 65-32 in the Quartefinals, ending their season.

Missouri Valley

(1) Creighton got a bye into the Quarterfinals, where they beat (8) Indiana St. 80-65. Then they beat (4) Missouri St. 64-53 in the Semifinals, and in the MVC Championship, they routed (3) Illinois St. 79-58 to get the automatic bid.

Mountain West

(1) BYU beat (8) Colorado St. 74-53 in the Quarterfinals, then beat (4) UNLV 101-90 in the Semifinals. Then in the MWC Championship, they beat (6) New Mexico 92-76 to get the MWC Automatic Bid.

Pac Ten

(1) Arizona beat (8) California 95-90 in OT, in the Quarterfinals. In the Semifinals, they beat (5) Stanford 64-53. And in the Pac 10 Championship, they beat (3) USC 63-54, getting that Automatic Bid.

SEC

(11) Arkansas was hammered by (6) Vanderbilt 81-54 in the First Round, most likely ending the Razorbacks' season and Ryan Hujing's coaching career in D1.

WAC

(4) Hawaii lost to (5) Louisiana Tech 77-74 in the Quarterfinals, and will wait to see if they will be playing in the postseason.

[collegesportsfanms]

2014 Selection Sunday

GWAL

Wichita Southeast gets the 8th seed in the NCAA West Region and will take on (9) Colorado in the first round.

Wichita Heights gets the 4th seed in the NCAA Midwest Region and will take on (13) St. Johns in the first round.

Wichita South gets the 4th seed in the NIT West Region and will host (5) Belmont in the second round.

Bishop Carroll gets a reward for an unexpected good season, getting the 4th seed in the NIT South Region and will host (5) Wright St. in the second round.

Wichita North gets the 5th seed in the NIT East Region and will travel to (4) Utah St. in the second round.

So I was right on cue for the teams I thought would get in, and to no surprise, Wichita Northwest, Wichita West, Wichita East, and Kapaun Mt. Carmel are done for the season.


Non-GWAL

Xavier gets the 3rd seed in the NCAA West Region and takes on (14) San Diego in the first round.

BYU gets the 6th seed in the NCAA Midwest Region and draws (11) N.C. State in the first round.

Creighton is the 7th seed in the NCAA South Region and gets (10) Seton Hall first round.

Arizona is the 3rd seed in the NCAA East Region and gets (14) Central Connecticut St. in the first round.

Arkansas does sneak into the postseason, getting the 8th seed in the NIT East Region and will host (9) Oakland first round.

Hawaii gets the 14th seed in the CBI and travels to (3) VCU for their first round game.

[collegesportsfanms]

OK guys, this is my stopping point for the night. But before I go, I have questions. Obviously the focus is on the current GWAL and definitely the FOFC coaches, but as far as Non-GWAL coaches, should I keep focusing on the former GWAL coaches like Bryan Chadwick, Shane Dreiling, James Cole? Or should I not focus on them as much? I'd like to keep focus on all of the original 10-12 GWAL coaches no matter, but eventually with more coaching movement, I could end up having 20-25 coaches that I'm keeping track of. what do you guys think? Obviously, other than Deacon, Kuji, Rudy, and Korme, I'm probably not gonna have anybody else participting in this dynasty, so it looks like it's just us 5. Thoughts? Opinions? Let me know.

[bbgunn]

First of all, I like how the format is working in this dynasty. Keep it up!

While it is kind of cool to see how the former, non-FOFCer GWAL coaches do with other teams, I prefer just following the FOFCer coaches. So if you are short on time, go for the FOFCers.

[collegesportsfanms]

Thanks bbgunn, I appreciate that. I like the new format as well. It's definitely a keeper.

I think I'm going to focus more on the current GWAL and all FOFCer coaches. I wish I could get more FOFCers involved, right now I only have 6 FOFC coaches and 4 followers. 2 of the followers are running 2 teams. I would love to get more feedback from other people.

The list of non-FOFC coaches that I want to follow are as follows:

Shane Dreiling
Bryan Chadwick
James Cole
Ryan Hujing (if I decide not to retire him)
Marty Frankamp
Reggie Taylor
Mitch Linn
Chris Porter

Starting next season, if any of those coaches are in the GWAL I will continue to follow them as normal. However, if they are not in the GWAL, I will turn them off as human coaches, and let the AI have full control over the hiring and firing of them, since they won't be my responsbility anymore. I also will not do month by month reports on them, but rather a team capsule at the end of the regular season, and any postseason results they may have. I think that will work better, save some time, and some typing. What do you guys think of that?

[ntndeacon]

That Sounds like a plan. Kinda a compromise from having to watch everyone. I like it.

[collegesportsfanms]

NIT First Round

(9) Oakland defeated (8) Arkansas 75-68. The possible retirement of Ryan Hujing hangs in the balance.

NCAA First Round

(8) Wichita Southeast defeated (9) Colorado 53-48.

(14) San Diego pulled the upset of the year, beating (3) Xavier 82-79. Wow, didn't see that one coming.

(4) Wichita Heights hammered (13) St. Johns 94-52.

(6) BYU got by (11) N.C. State 89-79.

(7) Creighton beat (10) Seton Hall 76-65.

(3) Arizona beat (14) Central Connecticut St. 83-55.

[collegesportsfanms]

NIT Second Round

(4) Wichita South beat (5) Belmont 80-73.

(5) Wright St. survived against (4) Bishop Carroll 65-63.

(5) Wichita North beat (4) Utah St. 77-72.


NCAA Second Round

(1) Miami handled (8) Wichita Southeast 82-65.

(5) Nevada got by (4) Wichita Heights 84-79.

(3) UConn beat (6) BYU 80-61.

(2) Florida humiliated (7) Creighton 101-62.

(3) Arizona beat (11) UNC Wilmington 83-60.

[collegesportsfanms]

NIT Round of 16

(4) Wichita South beat (1) Wichita St. 62-59.

(5) Wichita North beat (1) Washington 69-66.

So it's been a good run for our GWAL teams in the NIT so far.



NCAA Sweet Sixteen

(2) Tennessee easily takes care of (3) Arizona 94-74.

So this ends the NCAA tournament wrap-ups, as all the teams of interest have been bounced. Dissapointing!

[collegesportsfanms]

NIT Round of 8

(7) Rhode Island beat (4) Wichita South 72-69 in OT. Good effort, but there's only 1 GWAL team left.

And now there are none, as (7) Tulsa defeated (5) Wichita North 83-70. So another season goes by, and all we can bring home are a couple in season tournament titles. We need to step it up as a conference and bring home some postseason titles.

[collegesportsfanms]

2014 Postseason Wrap-Up

In the NCAA Tournament, (2) Syracuse beat (5) Vanderbilt 100-90 in the first semifinal. In the second semifinal, it was a battle of #1 seeds, as Kansas defeated Villanova 85-67. Then in the national championship, Kansas defeated Syracuse 80-74.

The NIT Final Four saw a battle of #7 seeds in the first semifinal, as Tulsa beat Rhode Island 83-75. Then a battle of top seeds in the second semifinal, as Charlotte beat LSU 82-69. Then in the NIT Championship, Tulsa beat Charlotte 72-67.

The CBI Championship featured the top 2 seeds, as (2) Dayton defeated (1) New Mexico in 3 games. In the first game, Dayton beat New Mexico 87-77. Then in the second game, New Mexico evened the series 91-80. And Dayton won the third and deciding game 60-50 to be crowned CBI Champions.

The CIT Championship saw (1) Utah Valley out of the Great West Conference beat (3) Miami-Ohio 57-46.

[collegesportsfanms]

Wichita Heights' had the national Freshman of the Year in Joseph Hickson, who made the NCAA All Freshman team along with Cristobal Gutierrez from Wichita Northwest. Wichita Southeast put Brian Baum on the All NCAA Second Team. Congrats to him.

Here is a look at the GWAL Awards for the 2013-2014 season.

Player of the Year:

JR SF Brian Baum Wichita Southeast 15.4 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 4.1 APG 2.1 SPG, 0.8 BPG

Freshman of the Year:
FR SG Joseph Hickson Wichita Heights 14.7 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 4.2 APG 1.0 SPG, 0.1 BPG

Coach of the Year:
Deacon Palmer Bishop Carroll 19 - 13 (10 - 6)

All-league 1st Team:
C SR Brian Walker Wichita Heights 10.1 PPG, 10.0 RPG, 3.0 APG, 0.6 SPG, 0.3 BPG
PF JR Andrew Amin Wichita East 7.7 PPG, 11.3 RPG, 1.5 APG, 0.5 SPG, 3.3 BPG
SF JR Brian Baum Wichita Southeast 15.4 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 4.1 APG, 2.1 SPG, 0.8 BPG
SG SO David Miller Wichita West 17.5 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 3.2 APG, 1.1 SPG, 0.3 BPG
PG SR Burt Shipp Wichita South 20.0 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 3.2 APG, 1.1 SPG, 0.1 BPG

All-league 2nd Team:
C SR Charles Richey Kapaun Mt. Carmel 12.4 PPG, 11.3 RPG, 1.3 APG, 0.4 SPG, 2.5 BPG
PF SR Scott Woodring Bishop Carroll 6.6 PPG, 10.6 RPG, 1.9 APG, 0.6 SPG, 1.4 BPG
SF JR Brian Darden Wichita West 13.5 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 3.8 APG, 1.0 SPG, 0.1 BPG
SG SR Sylvester Valadez Wichita Southeast 13.9 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 3.7 APG, 1.3 SPG, 0.1 BPG
PG SR Arthur Wooten Wichita Heights 14.4 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 5.4 APG, 0.6 SPG, 0.1 BPG

All-freshman Team:
C FR Cristobal Gutierrez Wichita Northwest 12.4 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 1.6 APG, 0.2 SPG, 0.5 BPG
PF FR Wendel Grundler Wichita South 7.2 PPG, 7.6 RPG, 1.1 APG, 0.3 SPG, 0.2 BPG
SF FR Ismael Patrick Wichita North 1.9 PPG, 1.5 RPG, 0.5 APG, 0.2 SPG, 0.0 BPG
SG FR Joseph Hickson Wichita Heights 14.7 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 4.2 APG, 1.0 SPG, 0.1 BPG
PG FR Nicodème Batailles Wichita North 6.1 PPG, 1.8 RPG, 2.6 APG, 0.9 SPG, 0.1 BPG


As expected, Deacon Palmer took home the GWAL Coach of the Year Award, and well deserved.

In the CAA, Bernard Smith was named to the CAA All Freshman team for Georgia State.

Hawaii got 2 players with awards in the WAC. Senior PF Gerald VanLandingham was name to the All WAC Second Team, while Aime' Willocque was name to the All Freshman team.

[ntndeacon]

We expect only better things from the boys next season at Bishop Carroll. Nothing short of the NCAAs will be expected.

[bbgunn]

NIT Round 8? Good season to build upon.

[collegesportsfanms]

2014 Recruiting Rankings

      # Team                 Conference            Best Player   Rtg  5*  4*  3*  2*  1*
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    33. Kapaun Mt. Carmel          GWAL       PG Alfonzo Green   ***   0   0   3   0   0
    38. Wichita South              GWAL          SG Marc Dawes  ****   0   1   1   1   0
    73. Wichita Northwest          GWAL       SF Charles Cobos   ***   0   0   2   0   0
   120. Wichita East               GWAL       SG Lyman Forsyth   ***   0   0   2   0   0
   150. Wichita North              GWAL        PF Gordon Roche   ***   0   0   1   1   0
   201. Wichita Heights            GWAL         PG Kevin Gomez   ***   0   0   2   0   0
   208. Wichita West               GWAL       C  Edgar Pointer   ***   0   0   1   0   0
   211. Wichita Southeast          GWAL    PG William Carrillo   ***   0   0   2   0   0
   342. Bishop Carroll             GWAL  SG Cristopher Emerson     *   0   0   0   0   2

Wichita South has the only 4 star recruit of the league, and Kapaun responded well with the best overall recruiting class in the GWAL.

Georgia State had the 119th overall recruiting class, and 3rd best in the CAA.

Hawaii had the only 4 star recruit out of the WAC, and had the 62nd best overall class. Only Boise St. had a better overall recruiting class than Hawaii in the WAC.

[collegesportsfanms]

2014 Coach Evaluations

Deacon Palmer (Bishop Carroll) -- What a difference a year makes. Last season at this time I was close to giving Deacon his walking papers. All he did this season is win 19 games, finish tied for 2nd in the GWAL, and take home the GWAL coach of the year. While I'm dissapointed that Carroll lost a winnable game in the NIT 1st round, Deacon has coached himself off of my radar, for now.

Shane Kormelink (Kapaun Mt. Carmel) -- Shane was already on the radar, and he didn't help his standing this year by losing every single GWAL conference game KMC played. Even though he had the best recruiting class in the GWAL last season, he's still firmly on the hotseat this year.

Kuji Chagulia (Wichita South) -- Kuji took Wichita South back to the postseason last year, which is what I expected from him. I think he's got the talent to go even deeper into March next year. Right now though, his job is safe.

Rudy Arellano (Wichita Southeast) -- Rudy was the only GWAL coach on the hotseat last season, and he responded in a big way, with a tie for second finish in the GWAL, a 26-9 season, and a win in the NCAA tournament. That's big. He's not only off the hotseat, he's back in my good graces. Still though, he's got to continue that success.

As for B.B. Gunn (Hawaii) and Charlie Woods (Georgia State), nothing has changed there. Hawaii went to the postseason, and while it wasn't the NCAA tournament, it was enough to please the board. Georgia State stayed out of the cellar, which was their goal.

[collegesportsfanms]

There were 2 conference shake-ups in the offseason. College of Charleston was invited to the Sun Belt Conference, while Louisiana-Monroe was demoted to the Southern Conference. Also, Saint Marys was accepted into the WAC, and Idaho was kicked out of the WAC, where the WCC picked them up.


Coaching Movement

The only coach that got offered a new job in the first round of recruiting was Rudy Arellano. He got offers from Detroit, Indiana St., and TCU. In my opinion they are all laughable, and Rudy thought so as well. He turned them all down.


In the second round of head coach offers, Rudy got some significant offers from Tulsa, UAB, and Butler. He was intrigued by Tulsa, but wasn't sold on leaving his fate to the hands of the game AI. He likes me to make the decision on whether he gets fired or not. After some consideration, he wants to stay in the GWAL and have me be his boss, so he told me to reject all coaching offers he gets.

[collegesportsfanms]

All the other coaches (Marty, Bryan, James, Ryan, and Shane) stayed put at their respective jobs. I decided not to retire Ryan because since I will no longer be focusing as much on those 5 coaches, I wanted him to ride it out and turn Arkansas around.

[collegesportsfanms]

2014 Season Tournaments

Kapaun Mt. Carmel is the 6th seed in the Anaheim Invitational. They'll take on 3rd seed USC in the first round.

Wichita East is the 9th seed in the Coaches Invitational. They get 8th seed Milwaukee in the first round.

Wichita North is the 2nd seed in the Island Invitational. They'll get 7th seed Southern Utah first round.

Wichita South is the 5th seed in the Las Vegas Shootout. 12th seed Central Florida will be their first opponent.

Wichita Southeast is the 5th seed in the Maui Invitational. They get a tough draw in 4th seed Stanford.

A very intersting development in the Philadelphia Invitational, as 2nd seed Wichita Heights will take on 7th seed Hawaii in the first round.

Wichita West is the 5th seed in the Puerto Rico Challenge, getting 4th seed Missouri State first game.

Bishop Carroll draws the 6th seed in the San Juan Classic, getting 3rd seed Iowa St.

Wichita Northwest gets the top seed in the 4 team Vision Classic and will take on 4th seed Northern Illinois.

Again, no tournament for Georgia State.

[collegesportsfanms]

2014 GWAL Expectations

Safe Jobs

Ralph Snowden (Wichita Heights) had a great season last year, and is expected to be in the NCAA Tournament again and compete for the Sweet Sixteen.

Chris Porter (Wichita North) was a game away from making it back to the NIT Final Four. The NIT is good, but I'm hoping this year they will get into the NCAA Tournament.

Deacon Palmer (Bishop Carroll) is not going anywhere. He was the GWAL coach of the year last year and had a postseason appearance.

Rudy Arellano (Wichita Southeast) finally took his team to the NCAA tournament last year after 3 years with dissapointing results. Nothing less than a trip back to the Big Dance will be acceptable.

Kuji Chagulia (Wichita South) had his best season with the Titans, taking them to the NIT Elite Eight. I would hope that he can improve on that performance this season.

On the Fence- Needs to Improve

Mike Brown (Wichita East) had a dissapointing first season, with a sub .500 record. The Aces made the NCAA tournament 2 years ago. They better at least make the postseason this year.

Mitch Linn (Wichita Northwest) had his worst season with the Grizzlies. A sub .500 won't cut it this season. Hopefully his 73rd ranked recruiting class will produce good results.

On the Hotseat

The game AI actually has Reggie Taylor (Wichita West) on the hotseat this year, and I have to agree. After 2 NIT appearances in his first 2 years, the Pioneers have had 2 sub .500 seasons. That needs to change. A losing record this year will cost Mr. Taylor his job.

I don't think it's any surprise that Shane Kormelink (Kapaun Mt. Carmel is on the hotseat this year. After an 0-16 finish in the GWAL last season, and only winning 6 games overall. Kapaun has seen the worst prestige drop since the GWAL became a mid-major, and changes have to be made. The game thinks Kapaun should be in a postseason tournament this year. I would just settle for a winning record.