College Hoops 2k8: A New Challenge

[Eaglesfan27]

In an interesting scheduling quirk, our next 2 games is are against Siena, one of the top teams in the conference. First, we play them at home. Simmons will rest the 1st game against them, but could be 100% by the time the 2nd game rolls around.

Siena is the most talented team we've faced in the conference all year. Their only weakness is a relatively inexperienced and raw PG. However, they have talent at every other position and have a good bench. They are averaging 80.2 ppg and shooting 43%. They love to keep the tempo fast. They have 2 SF's who are their top scorers, Blake who averages 13.2 ppg and Larson who starts at SF who averages 12.5 ppg. They have 5 player in double digits including their very talented PF Logle who averaged 11.8 ppg. Blake is their most dangerous shooter. He averages 53% overall and 47% from the arc. They play M2M defense and Larson is a very good defender who leads the team in steals at 2.2 and blocks at 2.0. They are 31st in offensive efficency and 104th in defensive efficiency. They are only giving up 68 ppg and are allowing opponents to shoot 39%. I'll play this later today (unless something comes up.)

[Radii]

is your current slider set posted anywhere? I pulled this game out for a little while last night and had some fun with it, but need something to make for more realistic play if I'm going to really try to get going with it.

[Eaglesfan27]

No, the most recent set is not listed. I'll post it the next time I can get on my 360 (probably Christmas eve.)

[Eaglesfan27]

Current Sliders, with some thoughts in parenthesis on ones I've recently considered changing:

Everything except speed is equal for human and cpu.

Simulation
All-American
20 minute halves
20 minute simulated halves
Game Speed: 55
Player Speed: 40
FT Difficulty 63
Player Lock: Off
Real FT%: On
Fatigue: On
Injuries: On
All of the options on this screen are on beyond injuries

Shooting:

Inside Success: 45
Mid Range Success: 49 (only very good mid range shooters consistently hit shots, I've thought about going up to 50, but the midrange jump shot is inconsistent in real life so I haven't.)

3 point success: 48 (produces a few games where guys are ridiculously hot, but 47 has too many games where good shooters go 1 for 6 or worse.)

Dunk Success: 48

Layup Success: 50

CPU Shot Tendencies: Close at 38, Mid at 38, 3 point at 35, and drive at 42.)


Attributes:

Offensive Awareness: 55 (makes the CPU work the ball better for shots according to the guy on OS whose sliders I worked from)

Defensive Awareness: 70 (thought about going up to 75 but then defense becomes a bit too dominant. Any lower and there are too many plays where guys are left open for easy 3's.)

Dunk: 50

Ball Handling at 40 (prevents poor players from isomotioning without losing the ball)

Offensive rebounding at 44

Defensive rebounding at 50 (I used to give a boost to human, but guys like Simon dominated too much, now it feels more realistic.)

Block 50

Steal 50 for human but 56 for CPU which doesn't naturally try to steal enough. Makes it more dangerous to pump fake all of the time.

Speed: 50 for human, 48 for CPU. Otherwise, CPU guys with lesser speed will routinely run down faster human players.

Gameplay:

Team Unity at 15 to tone down the effect of the crowds which pump up stamina too much otherwise.

Dunks in Traffic: 100

Screen success: 100 (still don't work too often.)

Screen Strength: 80

Steal Success: 50 for human, 55 for CPU to again make them more threatening.

Help Defense: 25 (I might lower this to 20, key to opening up the ability to drive.)

Help Recovery: 0 (good teams still recover quickly. Bad teams can be beat by drive and dish basketball much more than default.)

Fitness:

Energy Fatigue: 54 (guys can play too many minutes at default)
Energy Recovery: 48
Injury Frequency: 60 (still aren't happening often at all, might go up a bit.)
Injury Effects: 68 (I still haven't seen a serious injury in a very long time.. might go up a bit.)


Edit: Forgot the foul sliders:

Charging: 100
Blocking: 45
Reaching: 60
Shooting: 65

[Eaglesfan27]

With 10:44 to go, we are up 17-13 as our starters rest. Hannan has 10 of our early points.


We are up 22-20 with 4:32 to go as our starters return to the game.


We are up 34-33 at the half and Hannan is having another amazing game. He's really stepped up his game this year.

He leads the team with 19 points, 2 boards, 1 assist, and 2 blocks. He has shot 7 of 9, 4 of 4, and 1 of 2 so far.

With about 18 minutes to go, Clifford starts holding his leg. My assistants convince me to go small and try Cox at PF and Cornette at center.


We are down 52-48 with 11:12 to go as our starters rest. Clifford has a pulled hamstring and might be able to return.

My starters return with 5:44 to go. We are down 61-52.

The last 8 minutes, they just destroyed me down low, constantly working it to the inside and without Clifford we couldn't stop them.

We lose the game 72-59.

No one except for Hannan could score consistently for us this game.

Hannan finished with 33 points, 2 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. He shot 11 of 19, 5 of 7, and 6 of 8.

Waters with 11 points, 5 assists, and a steal. He shot 4 of 8.

Gill with 2 points and 2 assists. He shot 1 of 5.

Cornette with 2 points, 11 boards, and 2 assists. He shot 1 of 6.

Clifford with 2 points and 3 boards.


Bowers led the bench with 3 points. He was 1 of 5 from the field.

Logie, Larson, and Blake each had 14 points for them although Hannan held Larson to 5 of 19 shooting, including 4 of 10 behind the arc.

[Radii]

Awesome, I appreciate it

[Eaglesfan27]

Just 4 days later, we will play them at their place this time. The difference is we'll have a healthy Simmons who will start. Clifford will not play this game. As a result, I've decided Cornette will move to center and Willis will start at PF. When we bring in our 2nd unit, we'll go with Waters, Li, Cox at SF, Bowers at PF, and Ziri.

[Eaglesfan27]

Wow. I never realized Siena has an arena 7 times the size of ours. Too bad I can't get the administration in Niagara to build a new arena.

We are down 14-13 with 10:51 to go in the half. Simmons with a very nice start with 5 points and 2 assists early.


We are tied at 26 with 3:40 to go in the half as our starters return.


At the half, we are tied at 30. Our lowest 3 point effort of the year as we've only taken 3 shots from the arc, but we hit 2 of them. They are pounding it inside again.

Logie their center is the player of the half with 9 points and 4 boards.

Simmons leads our team with 7 points and 2 assists.


1st minute of the 2nd half, Simmons gets a 3rd foul on their starting PG.


I can't believe how badly we are playing now. Hannan can't do anything right this game (even got a charge on a great spin move to the basket) and our offense is just terrible. We are down 51-37 with 10:30 to go. We are getting killed on the inside as their starting center has 17 points.


Our starters come back down 61-43 with 6 minutes to go.


We lose 72-55. Without Clifford, at least against this team, we are getting dominated inside. I sort of took his defense for granted. They had 52 points in the paint without him in there!

Their two interior stars Neal and Logie had 21 points with 10 boards, and 17 points with 13 boards respectively. They had 14 offensive boards while we only had 4. They outrebounded us overall 42-27.

Simmons led our team in scoring with 12 points. He had 4 assists and 6 turnovers. He shot 4 of 10, 2 of 5, and 2 of 4.

Gill with 6 points. Hannan with 8 points, 2 board, 2 assist, and 1 steal. He only shot 3 of 14, 0 of 3, and 2 of 2.

Cornette with 10 points, 8 boards, 2 steals, and a block.

Willis at the PF spot had 0 points, 4 boards, and 1 assist. He didn't even provide the outside shooting that I thought he could - he was 0 of 5.

However, one bright spot.. Cox did very well in the 2nd unit. He led the bench with 6 points and also had 2 boards.

[Eaglesfan27]

Next up is just what we needed as we'll travel to play one of the weakest teams in the conference, Iona. We beat them last week 70-57 but I'm expecting a bigger win even with us resting Clifford. I probably won't play that until later this week.

[RPI-Fan]

Wow. I never realized Siena has an arena 7 times the size of ours. Too bad I can't get the administration in Niagara to build a new arena.

FYI it's not really Siena's arena... is the only major arena in a 2-hour radius of Albany and Siena just has a deal to use it for men's basketball. They have their own normal-sized arena for women's basketball. So the Times Union Center (where they actually play... 13,000 seat arena) is not appropriate at all for the size of the program and the quality of the conference that they are in (and in fact never gets anywhere near full).

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by RPI-Fan

FYI it's not really Siena's arena... is the only major arena in a 2-hour radius of Albany and Siena just has a deal to use it for men's basketball. They have their own normal-sized arena for women's basketball. So the Times Union Center (where they actually play... 13,000 seat arena) is not appropriate at all for the size of the program and the quality of the conference that they are in (and in fact never gets anywhere near full).

Ahh, that makes much more sense.

[Eaglesfan27]

We are now 19-6 as we go for the much needed 20th win to end this bad stretch of play.


Now, we have our worst nightmare. 7 minutes into the game, Hannan goes down with a bad ankle. We are up 19-17 at that point, but I'm very disappointed in our defense.

With 10:50 left, we are up 24-23 as our subs come into the game.

With 8:20 to go, Hannan is cleared to return to the game. It is a mild sprained ankle.

We are up 37-31 with 3:45 to go. Hannan has been ineffective, but will remain in with the starters.

As soon as Simmons comes back, he sets up Hannan for an open baseline jumper that he nails.

A strong final few minutes as our defense finally produced some quality stops. Up 44-36 at the half.

Willis is the player of the half. Against an inferior PF he has 7 points, 4 boards, 1 assist, and 1 steal. He has shot 3 of 3 and 1 of 2 from the line.


A great offensive 2nd half from Hannan but his defense is slow right now and we are playing bad defensively as a team. Still, we are up 62-57 with 11:42 to go.

We let them go on a 6-0 run before we start trading baskets. Down 72-71 with 5:32 to go. This is such a bad team, but our banged up team is playing some poor basketball right now.

Hannan with a 3 and then a breakaway slam after he steals it to put us up by 4.

With 1:13 left, after a missed 3 by Simmons and a missed dunk by Cornette, they hit a 8 footer to put them up 79-78.

They block a shot attempt by Hannan but we get it back.. with 1 second left, Simmons takes a desperation 3 that just misses. They get the ball with 35 seconds left.

We fail to steal it in the backcort, so we foul with 29 seconds left.

They miss the front end of the 1 and 1. We try to get a quick shot, but they are playing smothering defense.. Simmons drives into the lane.. and kicks it out to Hannan for a good look at a corner 3.. he misses it. They get the board with 5 seconds left. They miss both FT's, but we miss a desperation 3 from Simmons.


We lose the game 79-78.


Hannan leads all scorers with 19 points, 4 boards, and 2 assists. He shot 6 of 13, 1 of 4, and 6 of 6. He also had 3 turnovers.

Simmons finished with 8 points and 5 assists. He had 2 turnovers. He shot 3 of 9, 0 of 4, and 2 of 2.

Gill with 12 points, 2 boards, and 2 assists. He shot 4 of 8.

Willis with 9 points and 9 boards.

Cornette with 8 points, 3 boards, and a block. He shot 4 of 9.


Waters led the bench with 11 points.

Bowers shot 2 of 7.


We lose to one of the worst teams in the conference and fall to 19-7 as we've lost 5 of our last 6. After the game, I decide to have a pep talk with every starter to try to boost their suddenly floundering confidence.

[Eaglesfan27]

We get great news after the game. Our team's doctor thinks Hannan will be 100% by our next game. Clifford will be 100% within the next week and will start in our next game which is against Canisus. They are 16-10 and they are the ones that started this free fall. We desperately want to win at home against them and get our 20th win. We've fallen out of both major polls and are now 3rd in the Mid Major Poll behind Nevada ad Siena who has an identical 19-7 record to ours.

[Galaxy]

Hopefully you can pull of this losing slump.

[Eaglesfan27]

With 9:39 to go in the half, we are up 20-16 behind 8 points from Hannan who looks completely healed from his injury.

Our 2nd unit has a great 6 minutes. We are up 34-19 as the defense was smothering.. generating steals, missed shots, fast breaks, and Bowers even started hitting his 3's again as the crowd was roaring.

Our starters finish the half very strong. 42-21 lead at the half that was punctuated by a 2-1 Simmons to Hannan alley-oop. Our best defensive effort of the year as we've held them to 30% shooting.

Hannan is the player of the half with 14 points, 3 boards, 1 assist, and 1 steal. He has shot 4 of 8. He has held their SF to 0 of 6 shooting.


We have a 8-0 run over 2 minutes to re-establish our 21 point lead. 59-38 with 9:45 to go as our starters rest.


Our bench finishes the game. 73-52 win.


Hannan is the player of the game with 27 points, 3 boards, 1 steal, and 1 assist. He shot 9 of 17, 2 of 5, and 7 of 8.

Simmons with 3 points, 3 boards, 5 assists, and 2 steals. He had 2 turnovers as well. He shot 1 of 9, 0 of 6, and 1 of 2. He is the best 3 point shooter in practice, but it obviously isn't translating into big time games this year.

Gill with 10 points, 2 boards, and 2 assists. He shot 4 of 6, 1 of 2, and 1 of 1.

Cornette with 5 points, 8 boards, 1 assist, 3 steals, and 1 block. He shot 1 of 5 from the floor and 3 of 4 from the line.

Clifford with 0 points, 6 boards, 1 assist, and 1 block.


Li led the bench with 9, but Bowers and Waters each had 7. Bowers also had 4 boards, 1 assist, and 1 block.


Nice to have a comfortable win to get to 20 wins. This is my 4th year in a row with at least 20 wins.

[Eaglesfan27]

Our next game is at Loyola (MD), we beat them by 21 points at our place earlier this year, however, they are a talented team that could give us problems if we don't play like we did last game. They are currently 19-6. In fact, our conference may have the most 20 win teams we've ever had. 5 teams could do it this year with Siena, Loyola (MD), Niagara, Rider, Canisus, and Fairfield all in striking range.

[Eaglesfan27]

With 12:13 to go, we bring in the 2nd unit. We are down 14-13.


About 3 minutes later, Li goes down in a collision... he is holding his knee. Bitee comes in to try out our 2 tiny guard lineup. 1st play, he swipes it from their SG and takes it down the court for a slam.

A minute later, Bitee hits a 3 in the corner.. then a 10 jumper after beating his man to get into the lane... Bitee is on fire and making me wonder why I haven't gotten him more PT.

We are tied at 28 with 5:43 to go as our starters return.

A ton of lead changes this game. We go into the half down 43-41. Everyone is contributing scoring this game.

Hannan, Clifford, and Bitee all lead the team with 7 points.

Some horrible breaks in the last 6 minutes, 3's that are barely missing, 3's against us that are getting kind bounces.. and we are failing to stop them from getting multiple offensive boards. They just had 3 second chances on 1 possession and it finally ended with a 3 that puts them up 59-49.

After a timeout, Simmons hits a 3 and then Hannan has a steal and a reverse dunk to try to rile up our team. Unfortunatey, the run ends when we give up 2 offensive boards and they finally hit a 3 to take advantage.

Simmons with another 3 to respond and we are only down 63-57 with 10:11 to go as our starters get a break.

With 7:12 to go, Waters drives into the lane and kicks it out to Bowers who is just on the line as he hits a long shot to tie it at 65.

A minute later, Bitee hits a 3 to give us a 68-67 lead. Bitee has 12 and has earned himself regular PT the rest of the year.. hopefully he isn't so mad about sitting most of the year that he transfers.. we need him as a backup PG next year.


With 5:10 left, we bring back our starters. It is tied at 70.

1st play, Simmons fakes out their PG and draws the foul from him. That is his 4th.

Simmons misses the front end of the 1 and 1. Cornette steals the entry pass into the post and passes it ahead to a breaking Simmons who slams it home!

After a missed basket on each end, Simmons passes to Gill in the post who backs his man down, hits a jump hook and draws the foul which he makes. 75-70 with under 4 minutes left.

Simmons beats their starting PG into the lane who fouls him and fouls out. Next possession he beats the backup PG and hits a 12 foot jumper. That pep talk has really helped his game again.

A minute later, Simmons drives past his man and gets to the rim for a layup.

Hitting those 3's earlier opened everything up for him this game.

We win the game 88-76.

Simmons is the player of the game with 22 points, 3 assists, 1 board, 3 steals, and only 2 turnovers. He shot 7 of 9, 2 of 3, and 6 of 11.

Gill with 10 points, 3 boards, and a turnover. He shot 3 of 7.

Hannan with 14 points, 5 boards, 2 assists, and 5 turnovers. He shot 5 of 12, 0 of 4 and 4 of 6.

Cornette with 5 points, 5 boards, 2 steals, and a block. He shot 2 of 5.

Clifford with 9 points, 12 boards, 3 assists, and a block as we worked it into the post more than we have all year. He shot 2 of 2 and 5 of 6 from the line.

Bitee led the bench with 12 points, 1 board, 1 assist, and 1 steal. He shot 4 of 7, 2 of 3, and 2 of 2.

Waters had 8 points. Bowers and Ziri each had 4. Ziri also had 4 boards and a block.

[Eaglesfan27]

We are now in the final week of in-season recruiting and the final week of the regular season. We are excited that 4 star SG Garik Blizzard has requested to come visit the campus this week. We are still very much in the running for this talented athletic guard who would be a great compliment for Simmons.

Our staff's thoughts on guys who have improved their skill set the most so far this year:

Simmons, Hannan, Willis, Waters, and Bitee.

Everyone has shown some improvement which is exciting. That didn't always happen and I attribute to my better assistant coaches.

Our next game is hosting 7-18 Manhattan. They are the 2nd worst team in the conference statistically. We beat them earlier 87-64 at their place and I hope for another comfortable win at home. I'll play that tomorrow.


Our last game of the regular season is at Rider. We beat them at home 78-51 earlier in the year. So, hopefully we'll be going into our conference tourney with a 23-7 record. Either way, Siena has wrapped up the #1 seed in the conference tourney and the regular season conference title.

[Eaglesfan27]

They start off with an 8-0 lead, before I call timeout and yell at the guys to start playing some defense.

Hannan and Simmons in particular respond with a steal each and 2 baskets each. Hannan then hits another shot and the foul, Cornette adds a few baskets, and we end up with a 13-4 run to take the lead.

That turns into an 8-0 run before they call timeout to quiet our crowd down. We are 19-12 with 11:51 to go.

The run continues and we are up 25-12 before they score. We have our crowd going crazy.

They hit another basket which quiets the crowd, but we are up 27-16 with 9:55 to go and Simmons has had a great 1st 10 minutes. He leads the team with 10 points and 4 assists as my starters get a breather.

Li is actually ok from his collision the other day, but we are going to go with the 2 tiny guard lineup to get Bitee some PT.

The bench plays very well. We are 41-21 with 3 minutes left in the half as our starters return.

Simmons finishes off his incredible half by hitting a buzzer 3 from just across the halfcourt line!! We are up 49-21!

Simmons with 13 points, 6 assists, 1 steal, and 3 turnovers at the half.

Hannan has 13 points, 2 assists, and 3 steals already.

With a 35 point lead (74-39), we pull our starters with 9:20 to go in the game. Brilliant games from Hannan and Simmons.

I'm tempted to go for 100, but we slow our tempo way down and just work the clock the rest of the way.

Our offense sputtered as we ran the clock down to 5 or less seconds the rest of the way, but our defense was solid.

We win the game 78-47.

Hannan gets player of the game, but I would have given it to Simmons. Hannan finished with 25 points, 1 board, 2 assists, and 6 steals. He had 2 turnovers. He shot 10 of 13, 1 of 2, and 4 of 5.

Simmons with 19 points, 10 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, and 5 turnovers. He shot 6 of 10, 3 of 5, and 4 of 7.

Gill with 9 points, 3 boards, and 1 assist. He shot 4 of 9.

Cornette with 7 points, 4 boards, and a steal. He shot 3 of 8.

Clifford with 2 points, 12 boards, and a block. He shot 1 of 3.


Bowers led the bench with 5 points. Waters and Bitee each had 4.


Rider is now 17-10. I'll play our last regular season game at their arena later today.

[Eaglesfan27]

3 minutes into the game, Hannan with a drive into the lane gets a 2nd foul on their star center who sits after it.

This forces them into a 3 guard lineup, but we fail to take advantage and they go on a 9-0 run. We are down 14-5 with 11:35 to go as our starters take a seat. Hannan's shot just keeps rimming out early.

Our bench isn't shooting much better. I've never seen so many of our 3's just barely miss. We are down 27-13 with 5:35 to go.

After 1 more miss, I tell the team I don't want anyone shooting a 3 until it comes out of a pass from the inside. We still don't hit any 3's, but we get some interior scoring going and have a 8-0 run before they hit a pair of FTs with 1:01 to go.

We go into the half down 31-23.

We are 1 of 9 from the arc. They are 2 of 10. Tight rims?

Nahra, their PG, is the player of the half with 7 points and 3 assists.


Simmons leads us with 5 points and 1 assist.

Hannan is 0 of 6 from the floor so far including 0 of 2 from the arc.

There is talk of NBA scouts being at the game and that he might be drafted, so I wonder if it is affecting his game.


First play of the 2nd half, Hannan hits a 3 from his usual favorite spot on the left side of the court.

Hannan blows by his man next possession, tries to dunk, but is fouled and misses it. He hits 1 of 2, but Clifford gets the offensive board. 31-29.

After they respond with a 6-0 run, Hannan gets a breakaway dunk and then beats his man off the dribble and gets a layup and the foul.

A careless pass from Simmons ignites another 6-0 run for them.

However, our team responds again. With 11:24 to go, we are only down 44-42. The guys are exhausted though and I'm hoping to rest them until the 5 minute mark.

Not a good 6 minutes for our bench. We are down 52-44 with 5:08 to go.

Our starters aren't close to 100%, but it is time to get them in there anyway.

After a Simmons drive that results in 2 FT's (which he makes), Hannan drills a 3 to pull us back with 3. 52-49.

After a defensive stop, they are double teaming Hannan.. with 6 seconds left on the shot clock, he throws it out to Simmons for an open 3.... it rims out. They get a breakaway dunk. 54-49. 2:18 to go.

A minute later, Hannan hits another 3 to make it 55-52.

We get a stop and Simmons drive into the lane, kicks it out, it is worked around for Hannan to get a good look at a 3... he misses it.

They get a 12 foot jumper. Hannan misses a quick shot in the post, but we get the board. Time is running out.. Simmons tries a 3 and misses. We intentionally foul.

It doesn't work as they hit their FT's and Hannan misses his last 2 shots.

We lose the game 59-52.

Mulic, their backup center who came in due to Benson's foul trouble was the player of the game with 9 points, 11 boards, and 2 blocks.

Hannan led us with 19 points, 6 boards, 2 steals, and 3 turnovers. He shot 6 of 18, 3 of 6, and 4 of 7.

Simmons with 9 points, 2 assists, and a steal. He shot 2 of 7, 1 of 5, and 4 of 4.

Gill with 0 points and 1 board. He did hold his man to 3 of 10 shooting.

Cornette with 4 points, 8 boards, and a block.

Clifford with 10 points and 10 boards as we worked the ball into him repeatedly. He was 5 of 8 from the floor.

Bowers led the bench with 6 points but he was 3 of 9.


After the game, the scout told me that his team was considering using their late 1st round pick on Hannan, but they think he projects as more of a 2nd round pick. They like his combo of size, shooting, and speed. If he has a good tourney, they may consider him in the 1st round. He also says none of our other seniors have a shot at the league.

[Eaglesfan27]

We finish the year 22-8 and 11-7 in conference play. We end up 3rd in the conference standings behind Siena and Loyola (MD.)

Our RPI is still very strong at 9th and we shouldn't have much of a concern about making the Big Dance, but we still want to have a strong showing in the conference tourney.

Our first conference game is against Marist. We beat them 66-61 at our place and lost to them 85-68 at their place.

[Eaglesfan27]

The first 8 minutes, we play the most frenetic high energy defense I've seen all year. It doesn't produce our best results, but the energy is amazing. We are up 17-10 as our starters rest. Hannan is doing everything out there.

The bench lets the energy and the shooting drop

After they let them tie it at 18, I call a timeout and chew out the 2nd unit. They respond with a 4-0 run. 22-18 as we bring back the starters with 6:26 to go in the half.


A very good 1st half. 37-29 lead as Hannan has been incredible again and Simmons has been very efficient in creating shots for guys.

Hannan is the player of the half with 19 points, 4 boards, 2 assist, and 1 turnover. He has shot 7 of 12, 2 of 5, and 3 of 4 in the 1st half.

Simmons with 0 points but he has 6 assists including 3 to Clifford who is 4 of 4 from the floor so far, 2 of them on dunks that were created by Simmons.


Great start to the 2nd half, we don't let them score for the first 4 minutes. We are up 58-40 with 12:53 to go as our starters rest.

I'm not taking any chances, with a 70-55 lead, I'm bringing back my starters. 5:44 left.

I rest my starters for good with 2:21 to go. They absolutely put the hammer down. We are now up 83-55.


We win the game 85-65. This win makes me very optimistic about our chances the rest of the way in the conference tourney.

Hannan was the player of the game. He finished with 34 points, 4 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block. He shot 13 of 22, 3 of 6, and 5 of 7. He also hed Augustine, their SF, to 14 points on 5 of 14 shooting.


Simmons with 5 points, 11 assists, 3 steals, and only 1 turnover. He shot 2 of 4, 1 of 2, and 0 of 0.

Gill with 4 points, 1 board, 1 assist, and 1 steal. He shot 2 of 5. His man had 16 points on 6 of 8 shooting.

Cornette with 9 points, 11 boards, 3 assists, 3 steals, and 1 block. He shot 4 of 6.

Clifford with 14 points, 10 boards, 2 assists, and 1 steal. Many of his points came off easy attemptes as the result of Simmons' passes, but he did have 2 nice baskets that were the result of good work by him in backing his man down.

Bowers led the bench with 9 points on 3 of 6 shooting. Waters had 7 points and 2 assists.



Our next game in the tourney is against Loyola (MD) who we beat 88-76 at their place and 77-56 at our place. If we win, we'll face either Siena or Fairfield in the tourney final.

[Eaglesfan27]

3 minutes into the game, Hannan with a spin move in the post that draws a 2nd foul on their starting SF who sits. We are tied at 7.

2 minutes later, Simmons gets a 2nd foul on Belser, their starting PG. We are now up 11-7.


We are up 20-13 with 12:49 to go in the half as I rest our tired starters who are playing at a very fast pace again. I decide to get Bitee and Cox involved at SG and SF respectively with a very small lineup. Bowers will play PF and Willis won't play this game, unless something unexpected happens.

The 2nd unit started poorly allowing 3 very quick baskets to tie it at 20. They then went on a 18-0 run where every single shot fell for us. Even Ziri hit a 10 footer. Bowers was too fast for their PF and his 3 point shooting came into play for an easy 6 points. Waters and Bitee were too fast for their guards to contain and they penetrated into the lane repeatedly setting up guys and themselves for easy baskets. After the run ends, Ziri responds with a 10 foot baseline jumper which he apparently likes when he is feeling it. 40-22, 6:30 to go.

Our starters return with 5:39 to go and a 42-24 lead.


At halftime, we are up 52-32. We are shooting an amazing 66% from the field, our highest percentage of the year by a wide margin if it managed to hold.


Hannan is the player of the half with 12 points, 1 board, and 1 turnover. He has shot 5 of 8, 0 of 2, and 2 of 3.

Simmons hasn't taken a single shot but has 6 assists.

Clifford with 10 points and 5 boards at the half as Simmons has set him up for some easy shots, but he also surprised me by hitting a 12 foot jumper.

4 guys have 4 points or more from the 2nd string. Some very balanced scoring for us this game.



So much for the hot shooting, we don't hit a basket until 14:31 is left in the half. 54-38 as our defense was solid during the cold shooting stretch.

We go the bench with 11:58 left. 56-42 lead.

I really like how this 2nd unit has played together and will probably give them another try in the next game. We are up 68-53 with 5:21 to go as our starters return.

We win the game 86-67.


Hannan is the player of the game with 20 points, 2 boards, and 1 assist. He shot 9 of 17, 0 of 4, and 2 of 3.

Simmons finished with 4 points, 1 board, 7 assists, and only 1 turnover. He shot 1 of 4, and 2 of 4 from the line.

Gill with 6 points, 5 boards, and a block. He held their SG to 3 of 9 shooting.

Cornette with 6 points and 8 boards. He shot 3 of 6.

Clifford with 16 points and 10 boards. He shot 5 of 6, 0 of 0, and 6 of 7. I wish I had gotten him more involved before now. Simmons is doing a great shot of getting him dunks - he had 4 of those this game.

Bitee led the bench with 10 points and 2 assists.

Waters with 5 points and 2 assists.

Cox with 8 points and 2 boards.

Bowers with 7 points, 3 boards, and 2 steals.

Ziri with 4 points, 5 boards, and a block. Excellent play from all of the 2nd unit who will stick together next game.



Fairfield upset Canisus 62-61, so we'll play them in the Conference Tourney Final! Then again, I shouldn't be that happy. Fairfield is 21-11 and they beat us 98-82 at their place although we beat them 72-49 at our place.


I mentioned earlier that up to 6 teams could have finished with 20 wins.. well 4 did it: Siena, Loyola(MD), Fairfield, and ourselves. Canisus finished 19-13 and Rider finished 18-11.


In an update from our staff, they believe Hannan and Bitee have shown the most progression during a season of any players we've ever had. Simmons has shown a large amount of progression as well according to the staff.

Our staff is still hearing that Hannan is a likely 2nd round NBA pick. Hopefully, he'll become my first player to get drafted which can only help me recruit in the future.

[Eaglesfan27]

Fairfield's 7 foot center Strickland is killing us early with offensive boards and putbacks that are negating our good defense. At the 17 minute mark, Hannan with a drive gets a foul on him. 3 minutes later, Simmons with a drive into the lane gets a 2nd foul on him which leads to him sitting. He already has 8 points and 3 offensive boards. They are 14-7.

Hannan with a personal 8-0 run to get us a 15-14 lead. In fact, he has scored 13 of our 15 point so far.

With 10:23 to go, the starters rest. We are down 20-17.

Down 32-27 with 5:06 to go as our starters return. Bitee had a disappointing 5 minutes.


Hannan picks right up with a quick 3 and then a fastbreak dunk to tie it at 32.

They respond with an 8-0 run as Hannan misses 2 3's and Simmons misses 1 as well.

We then start pounding it inside to Hannan who scores 6 straight points inside 10 feet. They also hit a few shots to keep their lead. Hannan hits a 3 at the buzzer to finish an amazing half.

We are down 44-41, but Hannan is clearly the player of the half with 26 points and 2 boards. He has shot 11 of 16, 4 of 7, and 0 of 0.

Simmons has 7 assists, almost all of them are on Hannan shots.



To start the 2nd half, Strickland gets a 3rd and 4th foul on Clifford within the 1st minute! I have no choice, he is staying in the game. If he goes, we have no one that can come close to matching Strickland's size.

Simmons starts penetrating and working harder to set up Clifford who gets 2 dunks and draws a foul on Strickland. A few plays later, Hannan hits a 3 to pull us within 1 of them.

A minute later, Clifford with a board.. throws a pass to Hannan who throws it ahead to Simmons who is 1 on 1 with their PG.. Simmons with a behind the back move, blows by his man and has the breakaway dunk to put us ahead! 54-53. 15:08 to go.


With 14:46 to go, Clifford fouls out of the game

We are probably going to have to help Ziri out with some double teams.

With 9:29 to go, we tie it at 64, but our starters are exhausted. Right before I subbed them out, Cornette was charged with his 4th foul when trying to help out on Strickland in the post.

Our bench was playing very solid defense (with no offense), but then a very bad stretch started when Bowers blocked a shot, only to have it bounce out to their SG who drilled the open 3. That started an 8-0 run. We are down 74-66 with 5:21 to go as our starters return. I'm going to ask Bowers to play Center as Ziri is getting tired.

Hannan comes in firing again.. first a 3, then a 2, then another 3. However, we aren't getting any stops. The one time Cornette blocked a shot, it again bounced out to their SG who hit another 3. Then, we have Hannan get stripped in the post. Still, we are hanging close. 80-74 with 2:43 to go.

After we finally get a stop, Simmons gets the board and goes coast to coast where he is fouled just before he dunks it. 80-76 after he hits both FT's.

Sheesh.. Hannan gets a block.. it goes to their SG who fakes the 3.. throws it inside to Strickland who dunks and gets the foul. Strickland hits the FT to put them up 83-76.

Simmons with a drive into the lane.. doesn't get fouled, but he does hit a tough layup. After Strickland misses a hook shot, we get a fastbreak and Simmons is fouled. He hits both FT's! 83-80 with 1:13 to go.

Strickland misses another inside shot and we get another quick strike basket, this time Simmons to Gill for a 8 footer along the baseline. 83-82.

Strickland sets up an easy dunk for their PF who has 19 points this game. 85-82. Simmons sets up Hannan with a good look at a 3... he misses it.. Gill gets the board! We reset.. Simmons to Hannan who has an ever better look... he misses it! Strickland gets the board and we have to foul.

Strickland hits both FT's to give them the 5 point lead.

We are going with our big gun.. we set up Hannan for a decent look from his favorite corner.. he misses the 3 again. He has had a career night scoring, but I'm sure he'll be disappointed by these 3 late misses.

Strickland with the board.

Simmons hits a late 3, but it is too little too late. We lose the game 91-87.

Strickland was the player of the game with 22 points, 12 boards, 4 assists, and 2 blocks.

As I mentioned, Hannan set a career high in points. He finished with 43 points, 3 boards, 1 assist, and 1 block. He shot 17 of 28, 9 of 18, and 0 of 0.

Simmons with 16 points, 2 boards, 12 assists, 1 steal, and 4 turnovers. He shot 5 of 9, 2 of 6, and 4 of 6.

Gill with 6 points, 3 boards, and 3 assists.

Cornette with 6 points, 6 boards, 2 assists, and 2 blocks.

Clifford with 4 points, 3 boards, and a block.


Waters led the bench with points. Bowers was 0 of 5 from the floor and had 0 points, but he did have 6 boards and 2 blocks.


I'm fairly sure we made the Big Dance with our high RPI, but we still have a bit of anxiety now as we wait for the Selection Show...

[Eaglesfan27]

We are 24-9 and our RPI is 16th, but we are only 5-5 in our last 10.


Time for the Selection Show:

We aren't listed as a bubble team which makes me feel very confident.

The #1 Seeds are Texas in the East (#1 in the media poll all year long), Duke in the South, Indiana in the Midwest, and Texas A&M in the West.


Interesting Matchups in the East:

#8 Louisville (21-11) vs #9 Xavier (21-10)

We are #6 in the East!! We play Santa Clara first. They are 22-9. I'll post the whole East bracket after the show.


Interesting Games in the South:

#6 Kansas (20-12) vs #11 Iowa (21-12)
#7 Mississippi State (21-10) vs #10 South Carolina (22-9)

Interesting Games in the Midwest:

#8 Nebraska (20-10) vs #9 Pepperdine (22-9)
#4 Siena (nice seeding, 24-8, guess that means 3 MAAC teams made it!) vs #13 Butler (20-11)
#7 Tennessee (22-10) vs #10 Virginia (20-11)

Interesting West Games:

#8 Michigan State (21-11) vs #9 Florida (22-11)
#5 Georgia Tech (21-10) vs #12 Fairfield (22-11)
#6 Stanford (23-9) vs #11 Charlotte (21-13)
#7 UCLA (19-11) vs #10 Saint Mary's (24-7)

[Eaglesfan27]

East Bracket:

#1 Texas vs #16 Lamar (Play-in Winner)
#8 Louisville vs #9 Xavier

#5 Connecticut vs #12 Samford
#4 Seton Hall vs #13 UALR


#6 Niagara vs #11 Santa Clara
#3 Missouri vs #14 James Madison

#7 Miami vs #10 Washington
#2 Oregon vs #15 Wichita State



USC didn't make the tourney. They finished 17-14 (9-9) this year and were 6th in the Pac-10 just below bubble team Washington that made it .


Santa Clara was 2nd in the West Coast Conference and is 1 of 3 teams to make the tourney. They finished 22-9 (11-3.) They have averaged just under 72 ppg, shooting 42% from the field and 35% from the arc. They have a solid lineup with good players at every position, but none are better than ours except their center. They are a veteran team with 4 seniors starting and 2 more coming off the bench. Their biggest win was a 86-79 win at Auburn.

Boatner, their PF, is their leading scorer at 15 ppg. Their PG, Strawberry, has scored 12 ppg but only 3 assists per game. They don't have any other guys in double digits. Strawberry is their best 3 point shooter at 40%. Boatner is their leading rebounder at 9 per game and their best shot blocker at 1.5 per game.

They tend to play a slower tempo game despite their decent scoring average. They play M2M defense and occasionally run a full court press. Their offensive efficiency is 55th, but their defensive efficiency is 207th. They are allowing teams to shoot 43% but holding them to 67 ppg.

[Eaglesfan27]

We are leading 21-17 with 9:53 to go. Hannan and Cornette have been our main scorers with Simmons setting them both up.

I decide to leave Bitee on the bench and go with Waters, Li, Cox, Bowers, and Ziri this game.

We are tied at 27 with 3:48 to go. Li had a few nice shots.

Hannan explodes for 10 points in the last 3:48. We go into halftime 39-32.

Hannan is the player of the half with 21 points, 2 boards, 1 assist, and 1 steal. He has shot 8 of 12, 3 of 3, and 2 of 3.


First minute of the 2nd half, Simmons gets a 3rd foul on their starting PG. After that, he starts blowing by their backup PG.

That starts the blowout, but we give up an 8-0 run with some sloppy passing and suddenly it is a game again. 57-48 as I go to the bench to give the starters a quick breather. 12 minutes left.


We are up 59-55 with exactly 7 minutes left as our starters return.

Gill beats his man off the dribble and is fouled in the lane but misses both FT's. After we get a stop, Hannan drives to the hoop is cut off by their PF who is providing help defense but lobs a perfect pass for an alley-oop to Cornette who is fouled on the play! 62-55 after he makes the FT.

After we exchange baskets, Simmons hits a huge 3.

Hannan with our next 4 points. We are up 70-64 with 3 minutes to go.

Hannan misses his next 2 shots, but Cornette provides a tough inside basket. Defense is playing well, but they still close within 3. 72-69 with 1:28 to go.

With 59 seconds to go, Our play gets Simmons a wide open look in the corner... he takes it.. and makes it!!

They miss their first shot, but get an offensive board and make an inside shot. 75-71 with 36 seconds to go. They intentionally foul Simmons.. he makes both FT's!

They miss the quick 3. Cornette gets the board and is fouled. He hits both FT's which should seal it.


We win the game 84-74.


Hannan is the player of the game with 32 points, 3 boards, 3 assists, a steal, and a block. He shot 11 of 18, 5 of 7, and 5 of 7.

Simmons with 12 points, 8 assists, 1 board, 1 steal, and 2 turnovers. He shot 3 of 5, 3 of 4 and 3 of 4.

Gill with 6 points, 3 boards, 4 assists, and 3 turnovers. He shot 3 of 6.

Cornette with 18 points, 10 boards, 3 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks. He shot 4 of 8 from the field and 10 of 12 from the line.

Clifford with 8 points, 10 boards, and a block. He shot 3 of 6.

Li led the bench with 4.


Now to watch the Missoui-James Madison game to see who we are playing.

[Eaglesfan27]

Missouri takes care of James Madison easily as they win 86-62. Their PF, Arturs Atchinson is an absolute beast. He is a 7'0 315 pound PF with skills including absolutely ridiculous speed. He is a tremendous post scorer with great dunking ability. He is also a tremendous shot blocker and a good passer. The senior is one of the highest rated players in the game this year with a 91 overall rating. He had 24 points, 12 boards, and 3 blocks in his last game. He is averaging 18 ppg and 10 rpg along with 1.5 bpg. He is a prime exhibit on why I may leave a scholarship open. He played his 1st year with LSU before transferring to Missouri. As if all of his physical talents weren't enough, he is a smart player who is considered a coach on the floor that makes the guys around him more cohesive.

As if he wasn't a big enough problem, their starting center is also a 7 footer, albeit a leaner player. Milos Chavez is 235 pounds and is another athletic guy who is a tremendous shot blocker. He doesn't have the scoring touch at least. He is averaging 8 ppg, 9 rpg, and 2 blocks per game.

Behind them, they play 3 guards which should give me an advantage with Hannan who could be facing a guy 3 to 4 inches shorter than him if they stick with that plan. Their PG Tracey Stafford is only a Sophomore and is the weakest of the group. He doesn't shoot well and is primarily there to set up the other guys. He does average 5.8 apg.

SR SG Hardy Dudley might be the best 3 point shooter we've faced all year. He is shooting almost 50% from the arc and is averaging 19 ppg.

SR SG (who plays SF due to the lack of a better player for the position) Brody Frandsen is also a great 3 point shooter but seems to be a 3rd or 4th option. He is shooting 44% from the arc but only averaged 10.2 ppg.

The only brightside is that their bench is fairly shallow outside of the top 2 guys.

As one can imagine with these weapons, they are 5th in NCAA Offensive Efficiency. They average 88 ppg! They are shooting 45% as a team. Defensively, they are 112th in efficiency. They are giving up 72 ppg and allowing teams to shoot 41%. They have some very good wins including at Texas A&M, although they did lose to Texas both times they faced them.

They play a very fast tempo and love to fast break which fits in the with amazing speed of their big men (seriously a 7'0 315 pound guy with 85 speed - WTF!?! It almost makes me want to play NBA 2k8 to see how this guy translates into that game. Not to mention he actually has a high dunk rating at 95 and a standing dunk of 80. I'm not sure I've ever seen such a dominant big man in this game. Amazingly he has a good mid range jump shot and a very passable 3 point shot. Looking back on his H.S. rating, he was the 44th player overall and 6th PF. He was only a 4 star player. Makes me want to track down the other guys to see what they became.) Not surprisingly, he is expected to be a lottery pick.

Defensively, they play very tight M2M defense and constantly press with a full court trap.

I'll play this very challenging team tomorrow.

[Eaglesfan27]

Our only hope.. or at least my main strategy was to get their best stars in foul trouble. 1st play of the game, we got Hannan on Atchinson's side of the court.. he pounded it inside against the smaller man and then spun off him and drew a foul from Atchinson. 2nd play of the game, Simmons blew by their smaller PG and it was Atchinson who came over to help.. Simmons and him collide and a 2nd foul on Atchinson in the 1st minute!

Unfortunately, their top bench player comes in.. a 6'10 225 center/PF with a very good 3 point shot. He drills his 1st shot of the game from the arc.

The 1st 5 minutes go well as we are only down 10-9, but then Chavez blocks Hannan's shot on an attempted dunk.. they get a breakaway 3 on the carom.

It seems to effect Hannan's confidence as he misses his next 3 shots including 12 footers that he is normally money on and a semi-open 3. They go on a 12-0 run with 3 3's.

We score but then they block another shot inside (this time Cornette's)and go on another 6-0 run.


As our starters rest with 9:25 to go, we are down 29-15.

With 6:08 to go, we get a 2nd foul on Callahan their backup PF and he sits for a bit.

Our bench did well. 40-29 with 4:14 to go in the half as our starters return.

Dudley is killing us with his 3's. I'm trying to get fouls on him, but he is just letting Gill beat him knowing that he has Chavez behind him. Meanwhile Dudley has 15 points already, all from his 3's except 1 basket where Gill played him very tight and he blew by him for the dunk and the foul.

Meanwhile, Hannan doesn't hit a shot this trip on the floor until only 1:44 to go in the half. He has been ice cold and we need to get him going if we are going to have a shot at winning this game.

At the half, we are down 50-39.

They are shooting 50% from the arc, 7 of 14.

Dudley is the player of the half with 15 points and 2 assists.

Hannan leads our team with 9 points, but he is 4 of 11 from the field.

Simmons has 3 points, 4 assists, and 3 turnovers. He has 0 of 2 but 3 of 4 from the line.

Cornette with 8 points, 2 boards, and a block. He is 3 of 6 from the field and we'll try using him much more this half.

Clifford is getting shut down by Chavez. He is 0 of 3.


The 2nd half starts off very poorly. Atchinson with a dunk after being part of a pick and roll with their PG. That ignites the crowd and starts a 13-0 run.

Hannan and Simmonss are trying to drive inside to get a 3rd foul on Atchinson or Chavez but it doesn't happen until only 13 minutes are left in the game.

Their defense is suffocating while Dudley and Stafford are lighting us up from outside. We fall behind 76-50 before our starters rest with 10 minutes to go.

We never close the gap. We lose the game 99-68.

Dudley is the player of the game with 29 points, 5 boards, 6 assists, and 5 steals. He shot 10 of 20, 4 of 10, 5 of 8.

Stafford with an efficient 20 points and 6 assists. He shot 6 of 9, 2 of 4, and 6 of 6.

Frandsen with 10 points and 2 assists.

Atchinson with 10 points, 4 boards, and a block in just 18 minutes.

Chavez with 10 points, 8 boards, and 3 blocks.



Hannan was our leading scorer with 21 points, 2 boards, 1 assist, and 1 block. He shot 6 of 18, 2 of 6, and 7 of 7.

Simmons finished with 3 points, 6 assists, and 4 turnovers. He shot 0 of 7.

Gill with 3 points and a board. He shot 1 of 6.

Cornette with 16 points, 3 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, and a block. He shot 6 of 9, 2 of 2, and 2 of 2.

Clifford with 7 points and 7 boards. He shot 3 of 8.


Waters and Bitee led the bench with 7 and 6 points respectively.


It's a sad ending to the Hannan Era. Hopefully, he goes on to become our first NBA player in my era.

[Eaglesfan27]

The Sweet 16:

#1 Texas vs #4 Seton Hall
#3 Missouri vs #7 Miami

#8 Michigan State vs #4 Illinois
#2 Kentucky vs #14 Sacramento State

#9 Saint Joseph's vs #4 George Washington
#2 Arizona vs #2 Vanderbilt

#1 Indiana vs #5 Maryland
#2 Clemson vs #6 Marquette


The Results:

Texas beats Seton 80-70
Missouri beats Miami 93-67

Illinois beats Michigan State 83-69
Kentucky beats Sacramento State 95-70

George Washington beats Saint Joseph's 90-77
Arizona beats Vanderbilt 95-62

Indiana beats Maryland 82-73
Clemson beats Marquette 93-72


Elite 8 Results:

Missouri beats Texas 83-74! Atchinson has best game of the tourney. 28 points, 12 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. He shot 9 of 17, 4 of 6, and 6 of 9.

Kentucky beats Illinois 88-70

George Washington beats Arizona 93-83

Indiana beats Clemson 92-58


Final Four Matchups:

Kentucky vs Missouri
Indiana vs George Washington


Results:

Kentucky edges by Missouri in a classic, 92-91. Atchinson got into foul trouble and fouled out in only 16 minutes. Despite the limited time, he had 11 points, 3 board, and a block. He shot 3 of 7, 1 of 2, and 4 of 5. Dudley had 42 points for them! He shot 13 of 19, 10 of 11, and 6 of 9. I guess I did a good job of holding him to 4 of 10 from the arc.

Kentucky had balanced scoring with their SG, PF, and Center each having 20 points.

Indiana beat George Washington 85-73 with 46 points coming from their center and SG.


In the National Championship Game, Kentucky beat Indiiana on a last second shot 74-72.

Kentucky was led by their star SG Wes Filipovic who had 23 points on 8 of 12 shooting, 5 of 5, and 2 of 2.

[Eaglesfan27]

Year End Awards:

Player of the Year, Center Maceo Salisbery of Texas Tech with 25.1 ppg, 8.8 rpg, and 1.7 blocks per game.

Mid-Major Player of the Year: T.J. Hannan!!! He finished the year with career bests in 3 stats. He averaged 23.6 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 1.4 apg, 1.7 spg, and 0.3 bpg.

Indiana's Coach won Coach of the Year.

Roy Frisby, Duke, won defensive player of the year. The 7 foot 1 inch center averaged 22.3 ppg, 10.3 rpg, and 2.1 blocks per game.

Salisbery won Big Man of the Year.

PG Austin Ibikunle, FSU, won freshman of the year. The 6'6 210 PG averaged 11 ppg, 4 rpg, and 5 apg.


First Team All-American:

PG C.W. Roller, Kansas 22.7 ppg and 4.6 apg.
SG Monwell Todd, Arizona 22.9 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 4.1 apg.
SF Frederick St. Clair, Alabama 22.7 ppg, 6.7 rpg.
PF Frisby
C Salisbery


MAAC Awards:

Siena was the regular season conference winner.

I won the MAAC Coach of the Year Award.

T.J. Hannan was the MAAC Player of the Year.

Israel Simmons was the MAAC Freshman of the Year. He finished with 11.5 ppg, 6 apg, and 1.5 spg.

First Team MAAC:

PG Simmons
SG Belser, Loyola (MD) 11.6 ppg, 4.2 rpg, and 4.8 apg.
SF Hannan
PF Sweeney, Marist 13.7 ppg, 7.9 rpg.
C Benson, Rider 20.5 ppg, 9.2 rpg.

MAAC All Freshman Team:

PG Simmons
SG Gill 7.4 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 1.8 apg.
SF Allen, Fairfield 5.7 ppg, 4.5 rpg
PF Ballard, Iona 9 ppg, 9 rpg.
C Karangwa, Rider 4.9 ppg, 5.1 rpg.

[Eaglesfan27]

Players Leaving:

T.J. Hannan has been drafted!! (Anyone familiar with a way to see who drafted him in the game if you don't use the class in NBA 2k8? I'm going to export this class in case I ever get an odd itch to run a NBA 2k8 franchise again.) His overall as he leaves our program is an 84.

All of the following gradated:

Cornette (81), Waters (79), Clifford (74), Bowers (74), Ziri (72), and Jenkins (58 - walkon)

Unfortunately, Bitee has decided to transfer He has an overall of 76 now. We now have a total of 7 scholarships to fill (I'm definitely leaving at least 1 open for a possible transfer who wants to come play with Simmons.)

[Eaglesfan27]

Coaching Carousel:

Duke is hiring and has me 4th on their list (which of course isn't good enough to get me the job as the 1st choice accepts.) They hire the head coach from Arkansas.

Cal has me 3rd on their list, but they hire the head coach from SIU.

I always said I would leave for a major school... sadly, I'm leaving Simmons



I'll miss him, but Wake Forest has offered me their head coaching gig. They are considered the 3rd most prestigious job offering any coach, and the top place to offer me. Other places that are offering me are 3 Conference USA teams with Southern Miss being the best, as well as George Mason which had their head coach retire.

Wake Forest went 11-20 (4-12) last yea. They had worst talent than what I had at Niagara so it will be a tough rebuilding job. They haven't been in the tourney in 13 years. Their best player is PF Andre Brickens who is rated worse than Cornette at 76. The talent is all worse than what I have at Niagara and of course the conference is much tougher.. In fact that is giving me pause, but I have faith that I can turn them around. My coach's recruiting acumen in a big time program should help me get some difference makers.

I'll be in an arena that seats over 14k and will have many more resources. Not the ideal big program to offer, all things considered, but an opportunity that can't be passed up. Wake Forest is giving me a 2 year deal which I sign.

[gi]

Congratulations on the Wake Forest opportunity!

[Balldog]

Tough loss, I think I'm going to have to check out those sliders. The ones I am using now there doesn't seem to be much of a difference in tempo between teams.

[Balldog]

Congrats!!! I was wrong about the advancing of coaching jobs, which is good news!

[Eaglesfan27]

Interestingly, after I leave, Niagara becomes the most prestigious school on the coaching carousel. I guess I really raised their profile. They hire the head coach of UVM.

I take both of my assistant coaches with me. One is a teaching genius and the other is also a great recruiter.


We don't get any transfers at Wake Forest. Bitee chose to go to Central Michigan. Time to quickly peruse my roster. I'll take a more indepth look in a bit at the training camp, but I need to have a quick grasp to see who I should try to get in the late recruiting..


Although this squad is talent depleted for this conference, they have some good players inside. The best player is soon to be SR Center Davon Lamptey. He is a 6'11 285 pound center who is fairly athletic, a good shot blocker, and a solid low post scorer. Our offense will likely flow through him this year.

We are overloaded with inside players with 4 of our top 5 being PF"s or centers. CRAP!!! The old staff already gave away our only 2 scholarships! They correctly gave them to perimeter playes, but what the heck were they thinking. They gave it to 2 SG's who are a 2 star and 3 star player. Couldn't they do better at Wake Forest?

Dylan Crawford is a 6'3 185 pound SG who is a 2 star player from Jacksonville Florida. He is rated 700th overall and 166th among SG's. He is a poor shooter with no athleticism. I wish I could yank his scholarship.

Martin Daniel is a 6'2 182 pound SG from Cincinatti, Ohio who is ranked 375th overall and 103rd among SG's. He is a mediocre shooter who is at least somewhat athletic.


Worse yet, Garik Blizzard actually surprised everyone and signed with Niagara. I'm suddenly wishing I didn't go. That 4 star SG along with Simmons will be a nice backcourt for 3 years

In fact, Niagara got 4 very solid players to sign on the 1st day even though I left.

This is going to be a VERY rough year. Hopefully, the staff gives me a 2nd year to turn things around.


With the AD refusing to let me yank anyone's scholarship, I start working on recruiting the juniors for the following year.

[Eaglesfan27]

A few interesting juniors who I plan on pursuing very aggressively this year:

#1 Target J.R. Sockwell. He is 7'0 250 pounds as a Junior. 4 star player right now, but I wouldn't be surprised if he elevates to a 5 star. Our staff thinks he is incredibly athletic.

There are also several interchangable SG's.

Actually, I decide to work on a few of the seniors who I'm hoping might walk on for us. Top of that list is Iker Yeager, a 3 star SG from San Antonio TX. For whatever reason, he doesn't have any scholarship offers, so I think we have a good shot. He is rated 91st among SG's and 356 overall and is a better shooter than either of the guys who committed to us.

I'm also working on JC Clifton Mombollett a 6'7 205 pound smooth shooting SF. He also doesn't have any scholarship offers. He is a 3 star player who could play for us this year if he is as good as our staff thinks.



The recruiting period is over. Niagara has the 18th best class with 1 4 star player (Garik Blizzard) and 5 3 star players. They also took a 2 star player rather than keep a scholarship open as I would have.

Our class is about 110th. I'll look at the roster a bit later today. I'm considering just simming this 1st year and to get to the next offseason when I can put my stamp on the team. Even if I play them out, I expect to lose a lot in this tough conference with my current talent level.

[rjolley]

Congrats on moving up to Wake. Funny thing, in my dynasty, I moved up to....Wake Forrest. Been there for 10+ seasons, won a championship, and usually send 1 or 2 players to the NBA a year.

And, to my knowledge, there's no way to know who selects your player in College Hoops. You have to go to NBA 2K8 to do that. I'm currently playing through some season on NBA to see where my players are going. None have become stars, but some have become solid starters.

Good luck at Wake.

[Eaglesfan27]

One other question for those with NBA2k8 importing experience. Do the years of the class have to match up? I'm in my 11 or 12th year of College Hoops and don't want to play that many years of NBA2k8 to see what Hannan and the great PF do.

[Galaxy]

Congrats on the Wake Forest job. Hopefully you can bring them back to their glory.

Hopefully, once you get some better talent in on your team, we'll see a Niagara-Wake Forest game in two years or so.

How good is the V&M coach that accepted the Niagara job?

[hoopsguy]

Been reading along over Christmas break, looks like you have done a nice job progressing up the ranks. Good luck with Wake.

How good are UNC and Duke at this point? Has another team broken into the upper ranks of the ACC?

[Eaglesfan27]

I've decided I'm going to sim this season since either way our record will suck. These sliders realistically have me lose to better teams and almost everyone in conference is going to be better than us this year. I want to get some of my guys on the team. However, since I actually have a good shot at 4 star guys now, I'm going to attend at least a few minutes of a bunch of games at the ABL to see some of our targets. I'll put my my thoughts on them in this post:

SG Jomo Sterley - He was just an interchangable part a few months ago, but this SG who I have already started recruiting has completely blossomed into a 5 star stud. He is ranked 12th overall and 2nd among SG's. We are a very long shot to get this Mr. Basketball in Ohio. His leading schools are Marquette, Duke, UL, and Pitt. Despite that, I'll go watch his game on the 10th day of the camp..

Oh yeah, I have 4 scholarships this year, so I could have a big turnaround in our 2nd year if we can land even 1 stud and some quality guys around him.

The 4th day of the camp has the 1st guy that I've actually targeted as a possible stud to get. Filiberto Callans has also blossomed from a 4 star player to a 5 star stud. He is a 6'7 211 pound SF from Yonkers, NY. We are a longshot with him right now. His leaders are Rutgers, Pitt, MD, and BC. As expected, he does everything well in the ABL game. He is more of a defensive stud, but he has a solid shot as well with 3 point range in the corners at least. He finished with 15 points and 7 boards. I really liked Alan Bates who wasn't on my radar before but is now. He was on Callans' team. He is a 6'0 168 pound SG from Jersey City, NJ. He is lightning quick with a good outside shot. Smaller than I'd like from a SG, but I might make an exception for him. His leading schools are UVA, Syracuse, and Rutgers, but we are in the mix.


10th day of the ABL: It's time to watch Sterley. I'm sure he'll shine, but I wonder what other players on the court I will like.

As expected, Sterley is amazing. Great handle, great speed, great shooting ability. His only downside is that he has a funky shot.. it's incredibly quick, the quickest I've seen, but it will be difficult to use at first. Still he finished with 19 points which led all scorers and it is easy to see why he is so highly rated. The other player that I really liked on the court is a 2 star SG from Baltimore. I can't see actually giving him a scholarship unless it is out of desperation, but I will keep an eye on Nathan Pleiness who is a hard nosed defender.


Next up is day 14. We'll look at a 4 star PG that I'm very interested in... Donny Bosley is a 4 star Mr. Basketball from Idaho who is 5'10 162 pounds. His top schools are BYU and Washington. He is a true elite speed guy. In his game, Bosley didn't impress as much as I thought he would. He isn't as fast as my coaches had me believe and his handle isn't great. Not a good outside shot either.

I did see a few impressive kids:

Cory Strong is a very good shooting PG from Portland Oregon. He is expected to remain close to home.

Kenneth Kohn is only a Junior but he is a 6'9 200 pound center who is extremely athletic.


That will end the ABL experience for this year as there aren't any more targets in games this year.


Next up is a summary of the roster as it is currently construed.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Galaxy

Congrats on the Wake Forest job. Hopefully you can bring them back to their glory.

Hopefully, once you get some better talent in on your team, we'll see a Niagara-Wake Forest game in two years or so.

How good is the V&M coach that accepted the Niagara job?

I definitely would like to play Niagara in a year or two. I want to see Simmons one more time and see what he does without me controlling him. This year, I didn't touch our schedule.

He seems like he has a good record, so hopefully he'll keep them on the upswing.

Originally Posted by hoopsguy

Been reading along over Christmas break, looks like you have done a nice job progressing up the ranks. Good luck with Wake.

How good are UNC and Duke at this point? Has another team broken into the upper ranks of the ACC?

Duke is bad, at least for this conference. They don't even have the talent level that I had at Niagara. I don't know what has happened to them, but their overall ratings of their PG, SG, SF, and PF are all below what I just left at Niagara.

UNC just had a bunch of guys graduate and they are very young and not very good either. In fact, they are starting 4 freshman who all have overall ratings lower than what I had at Niagara. Maybe my squad won't struggle as much as I thought they would this year.. I'm still going to go ahead and sim this year.

The Powerhouses of the conference are:

Florida State who is ranked #6 in both pre-season polls. They have a stud sophomore PG and a very good senior SG along with solid interior players. Very deep bench as well.

Maryland is ranked #21. They have the most balanced starting 5 who are all very good. The only freshman is SF Taj Christian who is a bonafide stud.

Georgia Tech is ranked #24. A solid Sophomore PG and an excellent SR SG. Weak at PF. A very good freshman at SF who will probably have growing pains.

Miami is ranked 25th. They have a very experienced squad starting 4 seniors who are all talented players.

I'd say North Carolina State, Virignia, VT, and BC ll have better starting 5's than North Carolina. I think we and Clemson are the only teams weaker in terms of talent on the roster than Duke and UNC.

[Eaglesfan27]

A look at our roster:

PG JR Kason Bennett is a 5'10 173 pound player from Roswell Georgia. He is a terrible outside shooter. He has decent speed. He plays decent defense. He is a very good passer. Rated 74 overall. Low Potential for improvement.

SR PG Damien Bowman is a 6'2 207 pound player from Margate, FL. He is a good outside shooter, but is slow and just an average passer. He is a liability on defense. Rated 72 overall and terrible potential for improvement.

JR PG Hendrik Dixon is a 6'4 201 pound player from Atlanta, GA. He is slow, terrible defensively, but is a decent shooter. Bad passer for a PG. He is rated 71 overall and has horrible potential for improvement.

JR PG Tony Collins is a 6'1 184 pound PG from Durham, NC. He is a slow, lousy shooter, who can't do anything well and will never see the court for us again. He is rated 58 overall. He has terrible potential.

Brody Turner is a 6'1 190 pound walkon PG from Palmdale, CA. He is rated 54 overall and will never see the floor.


PG is a VERY high priority to upgrade this year via recruiting.


Freshman SG Iker Yeager is a guy I convinced to walk-on. He just happens to be the best SG on the roster now as 1 of the 2 that my predecesor gave a scholarship to is laughably bad. Iker may start. He is the best 3 point shooter on the team and isn't a terrible defender, but he is very slow. He is 6'4 201 pounds and he is from San Antonio, TX. Sadly, he is the only player I could convince to walk-on. He is rated 67 overall and has poor potential for improvement.

FR SG Martin Daniel is a 6'3 191 pound player from Cincinatti, Ohio. He is a mediocre shooter who can't defend or run well. He is a good passer. He is rated 65 overall with moderate room for improvement.

FR SG Dylan Crawford is an embarassment to the prior coaching staff. The 6'3 191 pound player from Jacksonville FL is slower than many forwards. He is a terrible shooter from any range. He can't defend, he can't pass, he can't do anything. He is rated 50 overall!! His potential is poor. What the heck were they thinking in giving him a scholarship. Ahh! I couldn't cut players from the team during the recruiting process, but I can now. I hate to be a classless jerk, but I'm yanking this kid's scholarship. I wonder if that move will hurt me in any way.

SG is a top priority for improvement this year.


JR SF Laurence Kou is a 6'6 213 pound player from Pittsburgh, PA. He is a mediocre shooter, but he is a hardnosed defender with a bit of athleticism. He is rated 72 overall. He has little room for improvement.

SR SF Ricky Medina is a 6'5 200 pound playerfrom Winston-Salem, NC. He is a decent outside shooter but is poor defensively and has limited athleticism. He is rated 70 overall and has little room for growth.

Sophomore SF Roscoe Radenovic is a 6'6 209 pound player from Marietta, GA. He is the most athletic of the 3 but is the worst defender and is a subpar shooter. He is rated 70 overall and has limited room for growth.

High priority in recruiting.


JR PF Andre Brickens is one of the few bright spots on the team. He is a 6'8 253 pound player from Baltimore, MD. He is a good defender and a capable rebounder who isn't a bad scorer inside. He is a great hustle guy. He is rated 77 overall and has decent potential for growth.

JR "PF" Clyde Riddick is 6'9 205 pounds. If he had more speed, I might start him at SF.. heck I still might. He isn't bad athletically and he is a good defender. He is a poor shooter but is a good passer. He is rated 75 overall and has poor potential for growth.

SR PF Kyle Malone will be our primary big man off the bench. He is a 6'10 240 pound player from Atlanta, GA. He is a good rebounder, ok defender, and ok inside corer. His best attribute is excellent dunking ability. He is rated 73 overall and has good potential for growth.


The only position that isn't a priority to upgrade. Probably won't recruit a PF this year.


SR Center Davon Lamptey is our other brightside. He is 6'11 299 now. He is from Raleigh, NC. He is our most dominant inside scorer. He is a very good shot blocker with surprising athleticism for his size. He has the most potential for growth. He is rated 77 overall.

JR Center Andre Fulton is a walkon from Houston, TX. He is 6'11 232 pounds with no athleticism. Runs slower than any player I've ever seen. Soft rebounder for his size and can't score. Terrible passer. Will never see the court. Rated 52 overall with terrible potential for growth.


With Davon graduating, this is another high priority. Now to look at the recruits post ABL and some of the key ones we are targeting.

[Galaxy]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

I've decided I'm going to sim this season since either way our record will suck. These sliders realistically have me lose to better teams and almost everyone in conference is going to be better than us this year. I want to get some of my guys on the team. However, since I actually have a good shot at 4 star guys now, I'm going to attend at least a few minutes of a bunch of games at the ABL to see some of our targets. I'll put my my thoughts on them in this post:

SG Jomo Sterley - He was just an interchangable part a few months ago, but this SG who I have already started recruiting has completely blossomed into a 5 star stud. He is ranked 12th overall and 2nd among SG's. We are a very long shot to get this Mr. Basketball in Ohio. His leading schools are Marquette, Duke, UL, and Pitt. Despite that, I'll go watch his game on the 10th day of the camp..

Oh yeah, I have 4 scholarships this year, so I could have a big turnaround in our 2nd year if we can land even 1 stud and some quality guys around him.

The 4th day of the camp has the 1st guy that I've actually targeted as a possible stud to get. Filiberto Callans has also blossomed from a 4 star player to a 5 star stud. He is a 6'7 211 pound SF from Yonkers, NY. We are a longshot with him right now. His leaders are Rutgers, Pitt, MD, and BC. As expected, he does everything well in the ABL game. He is more of a defensive stud, but he has a solid shot as well with 3 point range in the corners at least. He finished with 15 points and 7 boards. I really liked Alan Bates who wasn't on my radar before but is now. He was on Callans' team. He is a 6'0 168 pound SG from Jersey City, NJ. He is lightning quick with a good outside shot. Smaller than I'd like from a SG, but I might make an exception for him. His leading schools are UVA, Syracuse, and Rutgers, but we are in the mix.


10th day of the ABL: It's time to watch Sterley. I'm sure he'll shine, but I wonder what other players on the court I will like.

As expected, Sterley is amazing. Great handle, great speed, great shooting ability. His only downside is that he has a funky shot.. it's incredibly quick, the quickest I've seen, but it will be difficult to use at first. Still he finished with 19 points which led all scorers and it is easy to see why he is so highly rated. The other player that I really liked on the court is a 2 star SG from Baltimore. I can't see actually giving him a scholarship unless it is out of desperation, but I will keep an eye on Nathan Pleiness who is a hard nosed defender.


Next up is day 14. We'll look at a 4 star PG that I'm very interested in... Donny Bosley is a 4 star Mr. Basketball from Idaho who is 5'10 162 pounds. His top schools are BYU and Washington. He is a true elite speed guy. In his game, Bosley didn't impress as much as I thought he would. He isn't as fast as my coaches had me believe and his handle isn't great. Not a good outside shot either.

I did see a few impressive kids:

Cory Strong is a very good shooting PG from Portland Oregon. He is expected to remain close to home.

Kenneth Kohn is only a Junior but he is a 6'9 200 pound center who is extremely athletic.


That will end the ABL experience for this year as there aren't any more targets in games this year.


Next up is a summary of the roster as it is currently construed.

What is your interest level in these players?

[Eaglesfan27]

I've already talked about Jomo Sterley a bit, but he is our top wish recruit. We'll offer him a scholarship right away and hope we get lucky. He is 6'1 201 pounds now. He is a 5 star SG ranked 12th overall and 2nd among SG's. He is a dynamic player who can shoot from anywhere.

Center J.R. Sockwell dropped to a 3 star player but that won't stop us from recruiting the big man. He is 7'1 250 pounds, he is a tough rebounder, he can block shots very well. He is ranked 113th overall and 6th among centers. He is from Indianapolis and Indiana is likely to get him, but we'll try to pry him away.

Dominick Vanttaja is a 5 star SF ranked 10th overall and 2nd among SF's. He is the Mr. Basketball of PA. We are now a distant dark horse. His leader is Rutgers. He is 6'5 221.

Stetson Abbott is a 6'1 182 pound 4 star PG from Buffalo, NY who really likes us, so I'm working on getting more info on him. Several other players in that boat as well..

However, I just noticed that Center Marion Peterson is VERY interested in our program. He is a 4 star center from Newark NJ who is a 4 star player. I need to find out more about him immediately. These targets might change very quickly..

[rjolley]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

One other question for those with NBA2k8 importing experience. Do the years of the class have to match up? I'm in my 11 or 12th year of College Hoops and don't want to play that many years of NBA2k8 to see what Hannan and the great PF do.

No, the years don't have to match up. Except for the first two years, since I started out with real players and wanted to see them drafted, I only export classes with my players in them. That definitely wasn't every year when I was at small schools. NBA 2K8 imports them with no problems.

[Eaglesfan27]

Our interest level is "relatively high" for most of these kids. However, even after the full court press, Sterley is only at a 77%. Pitt almost has him locked up. If they offer a scholarship, it is a done deal.

Time for me to start shifting targets to those 4 stars who are really interested in coming here as I need some quality guys this class and will focus more on dream guys once I get a solid base built.

Center Marion Peterson is showing the most interest, so he just jumped to the top of my list to work on even though I'm still learning about him. However, Rutgers is competing hard for the local kid.

None of the PG's out there want to come to my school which could be a disaster. Jimmie Dobbins from Queens, NY is the only quality kid showing some interest, so we shift a great deal of attention to him. He is a 4 star 5'10 158 pound player who is ranked 46th overall and 18th among PG"s.

I wonder if my location has any sway on these kids. Sylvester Hollis, a 4 star SG from Toronto is very interested in our team. I fly up there to meet with him and am amazed at his shooting. He just became a top priority. He is ranked 51st overall, 17th among SG's. He is 6'4 213 pounds.

SF Garrett Falls is very interested as well. He is a 6'6 210 pound player from Reading, PA. He is another great shooter at least from my visit up to his game. We have 15 teams we are fighting with for him including Rutgers and VCU.


Another week passes.. it is now going to be time to decide who to offer the early scholarships to...

[Eaglesfan27]

Center Marion Peterson is up to 86% interest and is the highes of any of my targets. I don't know much about him yet except he is a great shot blocker. He didn't play well in the ABL though. Still, there are 12 teams interested and it will be very hard to stop him from playing for hometown Rutgers. I offer him 1 of my 4 scholarships (apparently I don't get the scholarship back for cutting that guy.. maybe I will next year.) He agrees to come to the campus for a visit right after I offer him the scholarship.

Sterley looks like a done deal to either Marquette or Pitt. Duke is also an outside player in the hunt. I decide to offer Sylvester Hollis a scholarship at SG instead. Hopefully, my estimate of his shooting skills is accurate since he didn't play in the ABL.

The third kid I offer is SF Garrett Falls since he is the 3rd most interested in our school and is also a great shooter according to my visit.


All 3 of these kids agree to come to our campus this weekend. It's great to actually have the resources to fly them all in.

We offer the 4th scholarship to PG Jimmie Dobbins. My staff thinks he has elite athleticism and a good shot. I hope they are right since he wants to come play for me. However, Pitt and Syracuse are very much in play for him. I don't have the money to fly him in this week, but we will next week.


Our first game is in a pre-season tourney. We get East Tennessee State first. They are ranked much worse than we are and I expect an easy win.