FBCB Strategy

[Ben E Lou]

Note the first few sections are from a post I made. The recruiting section is from a post by RPI-Fan. Feel free to add your own thoughts on strategy, or to copy and paste from other good strategy comments you've been. I'm linking to this thread in the reference thread under "other text sims."

LINEUP SETTING
My experience has been that this is a very solid, very realistic game engine. The result is that I don't find myself "playing against the game," but merely using what I consider to be sound basketball strategy. Therefore, lineup setting for me is pretty simple and logical. Here's what I look for in each position, in the order of importance for me:

PF & C--I look at these positions together. I want to have the most important bases covered in the post, so I want two starters who compliment each others' skills, so that between the two of them I can count on these bases being covered: inside scoring, defensive rebounding, post defense, shot blocking. Strength and offensive rebounding are nice to have as well, but I look at these secondarily. Once I pick the two, the one who is better defensively starts at Center.

PG--Ball handling, ball handling, ball handling. We can't score if we don't have the ball, and we won't have the ball if we give it to the other team. I'd rather have a guy like my current point guard: 92 ball handling, 39 passing, than 39/92 guy any day of the week. As when I coach church ball, I *hate* turnovers. After ball handling, and then quickness, pretty much everything else is gravy to me at this position.

SG--If, as is usually the case, I have a good ball handler but weak scorer at the point, I want my 2-guard to be a good outside shooter, 3-point guy. When I have the high-skill ball handler at PG, I don't worry as much about this guy's ball handling. I just want it to be decent.

SF--Definitely the "swing-man" for me. Oftentimes my decision as to a starter here is based more upon what skills I am weak in elsewhere, rather than who my best overall option is. In other words, if my post players are suspect defensively, I will value post defense more highly here. If I think I need help rebounding, then I look for that. If neither my PG nor SG can shoot well from the outside, I look for an outside scorer. I have found that a variety of types of players will work here, if you set your strategies accordingly. I do value quickness at this position.

GAME STRATEGIES
Again, the engine is solid, so sound, logical basketball strategy rules the day here as well.

PACE & PLAYING TIME--I mentioned this earlier in this thread, but this depends entirely on my personnel. The two main things I assess when determining how fast a pace I should use are:

1. How many quality players do I have on the bench?
2. How much endurance do my starters have?

I have just adhered to these general rules:

1. Solid reserves + low endurance starters = low playing time for starters and faster pace.
2. Bad reserves + high endurance starters = high playing time for starters and slower pace.

Depending on how good my reserves are, and how high endurance my starters have, I adjust playing time and pace accordingly. I've literally had success everywhere from 0 to 10 on the pace scale.

MOTION--This one's pretty cut and dried, as is stated in the manual: "A higher motion setting will make the team play a more structured game. It would take away some from the individual freedom to score but it will create more opportunities for less talented scorers. A team with many players who lack the ability to create shots would benefit from using more motion." Pretty straightforward. In case you didn't know it, guys with low INS scoring are the ones who "lack the ability to create shots." I have come to value INS in my recruiting and training camp settings pretty highly, so if things are going according to plan, I use a low motion setting. However, I've been stuck with some starting squads that have caused me to have to increase my motion settings. As one would expect, high-motion offenses seem to work best with guys who take care of the basketball well.

OFFENSE FOCUS--Pretty obvious. I go with my strengths. Even in the early going, though, it isn't that hard to field a relatively balanced team. I use "balanced" more than any other, but this for me this is 100% dependent on my personnel.

DEFENSES--I use two: M2M and 2-3. I don't press and trap much, so these two seem to work just fine. I haven't used it much in FBCB, but if, as with the rest of the game, these things work realistically, I'd use 1-3-1 if I liked to trap.

PRESS/TRAP--I don't use these a lot right now. I know someone posted about LOVING to use these in a "40-minutes-of-hell" style team. Because I like to focus more on offensive skills than defensive skills in recruiting, I usually don't have the kind of personnel to make these work for me.

DOUBLE INSIDE/DOUBLE OUTSIDE--I only bump these up if I have a defensive liability in the post or at one of the guards who I think might benefit from some help.

SCHEDULING
I've found that there are three important bits of information to consider with regard to scheduling:

1. One factor in player development is the level of competition they faced last season.
2. There is no tiredness carry-over from game to game.
3. Your team gets better defensively as they play more games.

Taking these factors into consideration, I do the following:

1. Get as many games in as early as possible. When I was an Indy, I'd sometimes play all of my games every other day until I had all 28 in.
2. Even when I completely suck, schedule at least 3 games on the road against schools with Prestige of 90 or better.

NOTE: Some may consider #1 a "cheat" of sorts, but it is definitely risky. If a key player gets hurt or is academically ineligible, he'll miss *FAR* more games this way. If you do consider this a cheat, then an easy house rule would go something like this: "No more than 3 games scheduled in any one week, and no more than 10 games scheduled in any month." It isn't nearly as big of a deal once you get into a conference.

Now that I'm in a conference, here's how I schedule the 10 games (12 if I don't get invited to play in a preseason tourney) at my disposal:

Day 1: Away, school with Prestige <10
Day 3: Away, school with Prestige <10 (These first two are "tune-ups" to get the defense improving just a little.)
Day 5: Away, school with Prestige >95
Day 7: Away, school with Prestige >95 (The next two are to help with level of competition. Plus, now that I'm good, when I steal one of them it is almost always a quality win. If I'm not in a preseason tourney, I schedule a third away game with a school >95 Prestige.)

Then, I start the home games. I sort by last year's record. I want to schedule teams that had good records--in hopes for quality wins at home. I increase the prestige of the teams I'm playing as I go along, as follows:

Day 9: Home, highest-record school with prestige 30ish points below mine.
Day 11: Home, highest-record school with prestige 20ish points below mine.
Day 13: Home, highest-record school with prestige 10ish points below mine.
Day 15: Home, highest-record school with prestige near mine.
Day 17: Home, highest-record school with prestige 5-10 points above mine.
Day 19: Home, highest-record school with prestige 10-20 points above mine. (If I'm not in a tourney, I schedule another home game against a school with Prestige 10-20 points above mine.)

I don't have a full handle on it yet, but I've found that the highest prestige I can get to come to my place usually has prestige 15-20 points above mine. I use the early home games as tune-ups for the more important ones, but by playing teams that had 20+ wins last year, often I end up getting a quality win or two in that stretch, because that team dominates its low-level conference and eeks into the Top 50. I've found that I tend to be playing some of the same teams during that stretch each year.

RECRUITING (FROM RPI-FAN)
Recruiting really varies depending on the type of school you're using. I felt like I got the best value when I was using an average team in a good conference.

I think one key thing is to remember that your scout's ability and your own scouting rating are key factors in recruiting. When you're with a low level school and/or coach, you'll realize that your scouting resources are really damaging to your recruiting efforts. That SG with A potential in Jumpers, 3's, and PerD? He turns out to be a total bum. Likewise, you won't find any players that are "steals". You'll be relying almost exclusively on the generic rankings, meaning other teams will also have a bead on your players.

Now, in general, I'm finding it's good to recruit either really close to home (home state or bordering states), or really far from home (Foreign, Hawaii, and Alaska). I haven't really studied whether or not this affects how likely a recruit is to come to your school, but just from a resources standpoint it makes sense. Playing as West Virginia, you can evaluate TWICE as many players in the first month if you stay within your region than if you go to one of the "hotbeds" (New York, Texas, California). Evaluating players is important. There are some 3-star guys ranked in the top-200 who are god awful; likewise, I've found guys ranked in the 400's and 500's who were bigtime players.

One example that comes to mind was a big man from Australia, Fred Anderson. He had fabulous inside and rebounding potential, but for some reason was ranked outside the top 200 (he was a 3-star guy). He had great highschool stats (17 PPG/9 RPG IIRC), so that wasn't a problem. For some reason he had just slipped through the cracks of the generic rankings, and my scouts were able to identify him as a good player. I got him without spending much recruiting money, and he was a 4-year starter on an ACC team.

Generally, the way I start out recruiting, is just go through my home state (or nearby states if you're in a small one) and find guys with Average interest and 3-or-better stars. This only really works for lower level schools, and is generally more effective if you scout selectively based on stats. There's very little reason to waste money and time on a 7/3/2 guy with no steals or blocks - he simply isn't going to be very good, no matter what the rankings say.

Usually, after targetting home-state guys, you'll have some money left-over. Then I like to hit up the foreign countries. You can usually evaluate at least one or two guys, and if you don't shoot TOO high can find some pretty effective players here. Again, it's really important here to choose which guys you'll pursue; only take guys with good stats and academically qualified. The AI is pretty smart re: academics; if someone has a 1.8 with a 680 score, the AI will avoid him like the plague. It's good to keep an eye on these guys for later months, because on the freak chance that they do qualify, you can get pretty good value from them. Remember that they won't develop as well as your other players though.

So now you've probably got a list of mostly locals, with a couple long-distance players, and you can see all their ratings. Obviously, it's time to do some more trimming down. This is where you'll have to find your own strategies - you need to figure out where your team does and doesn't need help.

One thing to make sure you look at are the athletic ratings (Quickness, Jumping, and Strength). If there is an otherwise-mediocre player with great athletic ability, he can be productive for your team. I think these guys are underrated; the AI goes after them pretty heavily (and the majority of the top-100 guys are great athletes), idicating they have a good deal of redeeming value.

My personal strategy for getting guys to sign is to go after 4-or-5 HARD in the first two months, and if the interest isn't progressing, dump them and move on to the next guy on your list (who doesn't have high prestige teams courting him). With a larger recruiting budget, you'll be able to go after closer to a dozen guys with a lot of effort - just pick a nice range of "reaches", "definite possibilities", and "safeties". Sometimes you'll be pleasantly surprised to steal someone you thought was out of your range; likewise sometimes you'll get snubbed by guys you should have easily. Like real life, it's not at all cut-and-dry. You can do things to turn the odds in your favor, but can't guarantee anythign will happen.

I know this isn't very in-depth, but recruiting varies SO much depending on your circumstances that it's impossible to put together a truly comprehensive guide that covers every scenario. These tips are things that I have done and have had moderate success with; I'm sure there are better ways to go about recruiting, but there are also worse ways.

[Ben E Lou]

There's more strategy discussion in this thread.

[IMetTrentGreen]

i use the 1-3-1 trap 100% of the time, with a ton of double teaming. works like a charm

[Buccaneer]

Man, I am already doing things wrong.

[Barkeep49]

For Game Strategies I have found that it helps considerably to have multiple "Key Players".

[Buccaneer]

There's very little reason to waste money and time on a 7/3/2 guy with no steals or blocks - he simply isn't going to be very good, no matter what the rankings say.

I don't know what this means, can someone explain?

[Ben E Lou]

I assume he means 7 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists.

[sjshaw]

I thought he meant a guy with 7 INS, 3 JPS, 2 something else.

[sjshaw]

Here is a bunch of other strategy I have cut-and-pasted together from other sources.

If it's too haphazard, let me know and I will reformat it.

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I read a bunch of threads on the topics and the manual but still don't understand precisely what it does, I understand it in real life but still a little sketchy how to adjust it for my team. I'll just list my assumptions and questions and if you agree or disagree from what you know.

Pace:
Pace will tire your players out more quickly but also the opponents. It will cause more transition points but more turnovers, based on overall passing and dribbling skills and quickness. If you have good passers and but mainly dribblers and good depth or stamina but they are not good scorers this is your best option. Other wise it is good to lower it. The manual says you spend more time looking for a shot if it is low so they're would be more passing and dribbling (depending on motions which one they'll be more of) so then there would be more chance of turnover right? But if you search more for a good shot wouldn't your FG% go up. So what's the better option here. Should depth in athleticism be the only factor.

Motion:

Basically regardless of scoring ability (JS and IS ratings) if you have better dribblers than passers and high quickness go less motion. If you have low motion and bad dribblers you will have high turnovers. If you have better passers then more motion you should have. If it is about equal then about 4-6.

Is any of this right? I would appreciate a response from HR.

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My view on when to use high pace:

a) Team is generally solid offensively at every position
b) team has good rebounding ability
c) no one standout offensive player you want to focus on
d) Lots of depth
e) High stamina, generally
f) Passing ratings aren't very good, ball handling is decent

High motion if:

a) Passing ratings are good, ball handling ratings are good
b) Team is poor defensively
c) Low stamina; little depth
d) High jumpshooting and 3-point rating than Inside and Quickness

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The quickness is what is coming into play most likely. It comes up mainly when looking at defense or trying to create shots.

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With regards to fouls, what are your press and trap settings? If I were having the fouling issues that you are having, I would have them set real low.

With the ball handling problems, what's your PG's handling rating? I use the 1-10 rating scale, and never let a guy handle the role unless he is rated a 6 out of 10 for handling at the very least. I don't recruit anyone to play the spot unless they have 7+ or 6 with a B or greater potential in that area.

If you're guard has decent handling ability, check your motion and pace settings, and increase/decrease. Essentialy, make it the opposite you have it now

I REALLY hate turnovers, and do everything I can to prevent them, so I generally run slow pace games without much motion. This combined with the players I recruit (no poor ball handling SFs, SGs or PGs will ever get a scholorship offer from me) see's me generally ranked in the top 100 schools when it comes to holding on to the ball

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As I understand it, motion will mean your guys are making a lot of cuts and whatnot, leading to a lot of open shots. However, if you're passing the ball a lot, then you're probably going to miss some, too.

I'd use motion if I have a team the _opposite_ of yours - guys who can't do much in terms of creating or sinking a shot, but play smart basketball and are conditioned.

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first thing i usually do is look at their starters. i rate them compared to my starters and see if one of my players have an advantage.

i look at their C and PF and then look at my own and see who is their strongest player and put my best defender on him (i play a man D though) i do the same thing for the SG and PG.

i then look at the defensive ability of their starters and see if i can take advantage of a players bad D in either Post or Perimeter and then make one of my players a key role player for the game. Usually i choose 3, but sometimes ill just do 2 players here.

i take a look at some of the season info stats and see if they excel in any thing that frightens me...like free throw shooting, scoring D, high offense, turnovers, etc. I make the adjustments as i need to by maybe putting even more pressure on a team that handles the ball well. or upping the pace on a team that has a good scoring D. usually if i see that a team has a low offensive output i can tell they run a slow paced game and i dont like that and want to play the tempo of my choosing and will run them to death to wear them out and get them to sub quite a bit.

now during the game i keep an eye out on who is in foul trouble on their team. if i notice someone in foul trouble on the inside, i will obviously switch up to playing an inside game and have my guards slash some and bang it with my big guys. if i notice one of my key players is not shooting well, i will take him off and choose another player who is playing well. if one of their guys is kicking my butt then he gets doubled up on unless i can put a better defender on him, which i usually would of already done at the start of the game.

late game options...once i get the lead i milk the clock in stages...i dont do it all at once, but gradually decrease the pace of the game til it is over.

also, in my conference, after i play a team, then prepare to play them again, i look at the prior game and see what worked and didnt. that is probably the best scouting tool right there is just prior matches.

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When I get serious for an important game, I start making a little chart for each opposing player. Mainly I'm formatting numbers so they stand out. I put the name at the to, then four sets of numbers. Top left is shooting, Inside-Outside-3pt. Don't care so much for FT as I can't effect that. But I want to spot when the opposition has a big inside or outside threat. Top right is defense. Bottom left is passing-handling, especially since I want to know if a pressure defense is going to work on them. Bottom right is steals-blocks. Guess I need more than four, as Rebounding has to go in there. And usually I write Quick-Jmp-Str across the bottom somewhere. The main one I watch is Quick, as I use that as a guide as to when I should press and run on a team.

Don't know if the system is that good, but the idea is to get me an organization to those ratings so I'm not just staring at a row of numbers.

When I'm playing Man defense, I'm mostly concerned about matchups. I need good defenders on their scorers. So those shooting stats are the main thing I look at. On my own offense, if I spot something awful in the other defense, or something really good (9 post def with 9 block), I might tilt my offense towards or away from it. But on offense I tend to watch my team, and then try to spot a hot player and tilt towards them. Since I don't know exactly what's happening with a zone, or if the opposition is double-teaming, that seems to be the best way to go. Seems like you could get into trouble by trying to attack their 3 perimeter defense, but you don't know that your player is being doubleteamed.

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My strategy:
(1) Hire good to excellent assistant coaches
(2) recruit mediocre players that are excellent in steals and their defense (interior for PF/C and perimeter for PG/SG)
(3) recruit players with high inside scoring ability
(4) Press and Trap at 10 the entire game every game
(5) Only use 3 or 4 defenses per season, trying to get them to 100 as soon as possible.
(6) Pace, motion, and 3 point shooting set depending on teams talent
(7) Red-shirt as much as possible
( Play as many games as early in the season as possible (this gets your teams proficiency in playing their defenses higher before the teams you are playing. Watch out for injuries though, because if you bunch too many games together, one minor injury may take out a key player for a lot of games)


How this works: By recruiting for a very specific style of play I avoid competing head to head with teams for players I can not win. A lot of times a very good defensive player (3+ steals with B+ or better in their key defensive rating) will go unrecruited because they can't shoot, rebound, pass or all three. However, because this strategy leads to a lot of steals and fastbreaks, the players shooting rating means very little (a lot of dunks on the fast break). I prefer inside shooting because I want my guys taking the ball to the hoop as much as possible, drawing fouls and taking higher percentage shots because my team is often times only mediocre (or worse) in the half-court sets. With this strategy, I can beat some very good teams, but sometimes I get beat by a team with a very good point guard, who just refuses to turn the ball over (even if his team isn't that good). As my team improves, I'll keep an eye out for those games where I don't think the pressing and trapping will do any good, and drop back into a more conventional setting.

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If I'm ever playing a team that has poor ball handlers (which happens quite often, considering the quality of teams I play mostly), I just press and trap the heck out of them. This has been successful for me, but it does require some bench depth, as your starters tire quite quickly.

Another mistake I have made is playing only a man defense. Most of my starters are good defenders, but to keep a player like my stud Center on the court (who only has a fatigue rating of 4), I need to set his D intensity to low, which means we get burnt every so often by teams with two inside threats. It does keep him out of foul trouble though (he is rated a 3 for fouls). I'd like to be able to mix this up a little bit as my conference has a few teams with good inside players, but it's too late to switch defenses now, as my man D rating is 99, whilst I'm 50 for everything else.

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I've been tending to run 3 defenses. Man-to-Man, and inside zone (2-1-2, 2-3 type) and an outside zone (2-3). For exactly the reason you state, get those proficiencies up.

Too bad they don't carry over year to year. Maybe go up slower during a year, and maybe have the rate of increase depend on the level, ie its harder to go from 90 to 91 than it is to go from 50 to 51.

But it seems like a program like Temple that plays a Matchup Zone for year after year should get some benefit from having Seniors who've played that system for four years. Especially if the coaches stick with the program too.

I keep trying to redshirt, but can't always do much of it. But I definitely look every year when I can to see if I can redshirt.

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C: INS/DRB/PSD Strength
PF: Same
SF: Kind of an all-around player who can play both inside or outside. You can play either a good interior or good outside playere here too as long as you adjust the game plan.
SG: INS/JPS/PRD Jumping and Quickness
PG: Handling and Quickness. Then Passing/PRD.

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motion, lots of 3 pointers, tons of pressing and trapping. '40 minutes of hell' if you will. We have great success and make the Elite 8. Average scores are like 90-80

Year 2: All that talent graduated, well my starting 5 did. The freshman were too raw to use and the top 5 for that year were clearly a step below what I had last year. The AI still recommended a very up tempo game, but 3 of my first 5 games were blowout losses, so clearly a change had to be made. I knew my top 5 guys were good, but I had little depth and was weak at the 3 point shooting, so I set the pace to 0, motion to 10, medium use of three pointers, and set the scoring focus to bang it in the paint. We turned the season around and made the Elite 8 again. Average scores are like 60-50.

Year 3: We have depth now, so we pick up the tempo a bit. We struggle though and finish 19-13, getting knocked out in the first round of the tournament as a 7 seed.

That is just one example, but the one of my favorite strategies it to recruit all defensive players and play a real grind it out game of ball. Pitt Panther like basketball if you will. The game recommended setting will never give you this from what I have seen, so you have to set it on your own. It is hardly micro-managing. It takes all of 60 seconds to decide what type of game you want to play, and it is just so well done, and something that not a lot of sims do well.

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My favorite strategy is probably run and gun. 10 pace, 10 pressing, 10 trapping, usually high 3-pointers. Just go out and recruit some solid perimeter players with high stealing and then add one or two guys who can rebound. Almost too effective with lesser teams (although that could be due to almost always out-recruiting the AI teams in the lower levels.) I think I'm going to try it with a Top 10/15 team and see if it can be as effective in the power conferences.

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A couple more thoughts on recruiting:

1. Once I get rolling, I only go after high school players, with one exception: if a guy decides to leave school early and I don't have someone waiting in the wings to be a solid starter the next season.

2. In light of only going after high school players, and redshirting practically every single one of them, when I am assessing my recruiting position needs, I only look at players who are Sophs and lower. Because my recruits won't be playing next season anyway, I don't care that much about the talent of the current Junior class.

3. There are useful players to be found amongst the one-star crowd. Check out Donald Kelly from above. Rated #1316 overall, I expect he'll give me some pretty decent scoring and shot-blocking off the bench....and maybe even as a starter one day.

4. Stats are at least somewhat meaningful. Check them! They can be especially helpful in finding guys who might be able to play out of their listed position. If I'm looking for a point guard, I sort first on steals, then I start looking down the page at guys who average more assists than turnovers--even if they are listed at 2 or 3. Some of these guys end up having good ball handling skills and quickness, and can be converted into point guards. A few other ones...
Tall PG's with solid scoring numbers could be 2G's.
Tall SG's with good scoring and rebouding? Perhaps he can fill that need at SF.
Post players with decent steals and Ast/Tur ratios sometimes end up being quick enough and good enough ball handlers to play SF.
Similarly, taller SF's with high rebounds, shot blocking and who are on the heavy side for their heights might just have the skills to get it done in the paint.

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I use stats a decent bit but you have given me some food for thought. I REALLY look at fg%/ft%/3% a lot. If a guy is in the high fours or low fives I consider him a player. Then I match this with his points output to see if I have a scorer or an opportunist who either rebounds well or knows how to play within his game. I don't know if it matters but in the past it's served me well when culling the ones and twos. This is actually the first time to start a low level team where I haven't had to take at least one 2 or less.

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I've found that giving a guy 10 points in stamina for at least his first two training camps general gets them at least passable. As smart as this guy is, you probably won't have to give him any study points. I'd go after him in a heartbeat at this stage of your career. Don't even think twice about it. Yeah, this is the kind of go after heavy early one.

I don't pretend to fully have a handle on playing time yet. Knowing that there are two ways to help control how tired my guys get (pace and playing time) I have just adhered to these general rules:

1. Solid reserves + low endurance starters = low playing time for starters and faster pace.
2. Bad reserves + high endurance starters = high playing time for starters and slower pace.

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The thing I think I like best about this game is that I've found that doing what is simple and logical usually has the expected results. One season in particular really sold me. I had two very good post players, decent ball-handling (but not good at shooting or driving) guards, and an average SF. Also, I didn't have a lot of depth. I lowered the pace to 1 or 2, put the focus on the inside game, and made my two big guys the only offensive focal players. The results were very satisfying. We *crushed* most of the teams we played, even good ones, because they couldn't stop us from scoring nearly every time down the court as we'd patiently get it inside. However, there were a few teams in my weak conference that gave me trouble, and I had two conference losses even. Both conference losses, and all of our close games even, were against teams with good defensive guards, and the losses were high-scoring. I didn't check every game, but in the ones I did check, I saw those teams doing a lot of pressing and trapping. Perhaps other teams tried it as well, but remember, I had decent guards. However, they weren't GREAT guards. The teams with very good defensive guards had a lot of success against us, and ultimately, we lost in the 2nd round of the NCAA's to a lesser team with good defensive guards.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by sjshaw

I thought he meant a guy with 7 INS, 3 JPS, 2 something else.

In context, he was talking about stats:

This only really works for lower level schools, and is generally more effective if you scout selectively based on stats. There's very little reason to waste money and time on a 7/3/2 guy with no steals or blocks - he simply isn't going to be very good, no matter what the rankings say.

And, the statement makes sense if he's talking about stats.

[RPI-Fan]

Originally Posted by SkyDog

I assume he means 7 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists.

This is the correct interpretation. (in FBB dynasties I was a huge fan of the x/y/z notation for stats - very simple and quick way to get a very strong idea of how a player does. In FBCB, with 8 fewer minutes per game and thus fewer stats, and just more "intangible" things, the notation isn't as useful.

[RPI-Fan]

Something else I've really been wanting to discuss are the offense ratings. I'm starting to think JPS means very, very little, while INS means a whole lot more.

Ironically, a big man with a decent JPS rating is a lot more productive than a guard with a strong JPS rating, from what I've found.

Let me provide just one example that really got me on this train of though - look at these two players:

  PLAYER DETAILS

 #54 SG Carlos Herrington - Cornell - Senior
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Height:       6' 5"
 Weight:       208
 High School:  Bay Shore High School
 Hometown:     Bay Shore, NY
 
 Attributes:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Type       INS JPS FTS 3PS HND PAS ORB DRB PSD PRD STL BLK PFS QKN STR JMP STA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Current:    68  41  64  83  36  57  48  52  23  69  12   4  56  71  52  67  82
 Potential:   B   C   B   A   C   C   C   C   D   B   F   F                    

and

  PLAYER DETAILS

 #34 SG Stefan Sandleitner - Cornell - Junior
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Height:       6' 2"
 Weight:       177
 High School:  
 Hometown:     Lubeck, Germany
 
 Attributes:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Type       INS JPS FTS 3PS HND PAS ORB DRB PSD PRD STL BLK PFS QKN STR JMP STA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Current:    24  81  84  40  24  28  29  34   4  43  92   4  34  83  40  93 100
 Potential:   D   B   B   C   D   D   D   C   F   C   A   F                    

Which player do you like better? They both have great athleticism - the first guy is just more of an inside dribble-drive guy. However, the second is a pure shooter with very strong athletic ability, meaning you'd think he can find his own shots.

Now look at their stats

Stat Averages:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   G  GS  MIN  PTS  ORE  REB  AST   TO   A/T  STL  BLK   PF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   2008  29   0 11.4  6.3  0.5  2.2  0.7  0.9  0.70  0.2  0.0  1.1
   2009  33   0 21.2 13.0  1.3  4.2  1.8  2.2  0.83  0.5  0.1  2.4
   2010  29  25 28.6 18.5  1.8  5.8  2.4  3.1  0.77  0.7  0.0  2.3
      0  30  30 29.2 19.0  1.8  6.5  2.7  2.3  1.19  0.8  0.0  2.9
 Career 121  55 22.6 14.2  1.4  4.7  1.9  2.1  1.19  0.6  0.0  2.2

 Shooting Averages:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season  FGM  FGA   FG%  FTM  FTA   FT%  3PM  3PA   3P%  PPS   +/-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   2008  2.1  4.9  .437  1.1  1.5  .750  0.9  2.2  .391 1.28  0.48
   2009  4.4 10.9  .402  2.3  2.9  .800  1.9  5.1  .383 1.19  5.94
   2010  6.2 15.0  .417  3.5  4.2  .821  2.6  6.5  .392 1.24  5.48
      0  6.6 14.1  .467  2.9  3.6  .796  3.0  7.6  .399 1.35  9.00
 Career  4.8 11.2  .430  2.4  3.1  .800  2.1  5.4  .392 1.27  5.28
 
 Stat Totals:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   G  GS  MIN  PTS OREB  REB  AST   TO  STL  BLK   PF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   2008  29   0  331  182   14   65   19   27    7    0   32
   2009  33   0  701  430   44  140   59   71   16    2   79
   2010  29  25  830  537   53  169   70   91   21    0   67
      0  30  30  877  571   54  196   81   68   23    1   88
 Career 121  55 2739 1720  165  570  229  257   67    3  266

 Shooting Totals
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season  FGM  FGA  FTM  FTA  3PM  3PA  +/-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   2008   62  142   33   44   25   64   14
   2009  145  361   76   95   64  167  196
   2010  181  434  101  123   74  189  159
      0  197  422   86  108   91  228  270
 Career  585 1359  296  370  254  648  639
 
 Career Highs:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Type      Pts OReb  Reb  Ast  Stl  Blk   TO  FGM  FGA  FTM  FTA  3PM  3PA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season     38    7   12    8    3    1    5   15   23    9   11    7   12
 Career     38    7   12    8    3    2    8   15   24    9   11    7   12
 
 Awards & Acheivements:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   Award
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 All      Player of the Game: 31
 2006     High School: Rated *** and #125 overall by the FBCB scouting service.
 2010     1st Team All-Conference (Ivy League)
 2010     Conference Player of the Year (Ivy League)
 2011     1st Team All-Conference (Ivy League)
 2011     Conference Player of the Year (Ivy League)

 Stat Averages:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   G  GS  MIN  PTS  ORE  REB  AST   TO   A/T  STL  BLK   PF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   2006  28  28 31.1  9.5  0.6  4.0  1.6  2.5  0.62  1.4  0.0  2.0
   2007  28  28 26.6  9.6  0.8  3.1  1.7  1.8  0.92  2.3  0.0  2.8
      0  29  29 28.9  9.8  0.8  3.7  1.8  2.4  0.75  2.3  0.1  2.6
 Career  85  85 28.9  9.6  0.7  3.6  1.7  2.3  0.75  2.0  0.0  2.5

 Shooting Averages:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season  FGM  FGA   FG%  FTM  FTA   FT%  3PM  3PA   3P%  PPS   +/-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   2006  2.7  6.4  .417  3.6  4.1  .895  0.5  1.8  .265 1.47 -7.07
   2007  3.3  7.4  .442  2.3  2.4  .940  0.8  2.6  .306 1.29 -2.21
      0  2.9  7.3  .398  3.2  3.6  .903  0.8  2.7  .295 1.35  0.07
 Career  3.0  7.0  .419  3.0  3.3  .908  0.7  2.3  .291 1.37 -3.04
 
 Stat Totals:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   G  GS  MIN  PTS OREB  REB  AST   TO  STL  BLK   PF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   2006  28  28  870  265   16  111   44   71   39    1   57
   2007  28  28  746  269   23   86   47   51   65    0   77
      0  29  29  839  284   24  107   53   71   66    2   75
 Career  85  85 2455  818   63  304  144  193  170    3  209

 Shooting Totals
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season  FGM  FGA  FTM  FTA  3PM  3PA  +/-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   2006   75  180  102  114   13   49 -198
   2007   92  208   63   67   22   72  -62
      0   84  211   93  103   23   78    2
 Career  251  599  258  284   58  199 -258
 
 Career Highs:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Type      Pts OReb  Reb  Ast  Stl  Blk   TO  FGM  FGA  FTM  FTA  3PM  3PA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season     20    5    9    4    7    1    6    7   14   11   12    3    7
 Career     24    5    9    4    7    1    6    9   17   12   12    4    7
 
 Awards & Acheivements:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   Award
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 All      Player of the Game: 9
 2004     High School: Rated *** and #283 overall by the FBCB scouting service.
 2006     Freshman All-Conference (Ivy League)
 2006     Conference Freshman of the Year (Ivy League)

Harrington (first guy) was BY FAR more productive. He was a good 3-point shooter and a good dribble-driver, while Sandleitner was a great jump shooter and a great foul shooter. Yet, Harrington was much, much more productive. (I know Sandleitner's Senior stats don't show up, but they were very much similar to his Junior year).

Again, this guy should be a great scorer - he has above average athletic ability and is a pure shooter... however:

  PLAYER DETAILS

 #23 SF Darryl Williams - Cornell - Senior
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Height:       6' 5"
 Weight:       189
 High School:  Southampton High School
 Hometown:     Southampton, NY
 
 Attributes:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Type       INS JPS FTS 3PS HND PAS ORB DRB PSD PRD STL BLK PFS QKN STR JMP STA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Current:     8  76  80  78  35  12  67  21  47  54  56  42   2  73  63  58 100
 Potential:   F   B   B   B   C   F   B   D   C   C   C   C                    

 Health:      Good                                           
 Scholarship: Yes
 Status:      Active Roster                                  
 Academics:   73
 
 Stat Averages:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   G  GS  MIN  PTS  ORE  REB  AST   TO   A/T  STL  BLK   PF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   2007  28   0 19.0  6.8  1.1  2.6  1.2  1.5  0.79  0.8  0.1  2.1
   2008  29   5 21.7  6.4  1.5  3.4  1.2  1.4  0.81  1.2  0.1  2.3
   2009  34  34 24.1  9.0  2.0  3.7  1.6  2.1  0.77  1.6  0.1  2.4
      0  29  29 22.6  8.6  2.2  4.2  1.4  1.7  0.88  1.3  0.1  2.1
 Career 120  68 22.0  7.8  1.7  3.5  1.4  1.7  0.88  1.3  0.1  2.2

 Shooting Averages:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season  FGM  FGA   FG%  FTM  FTA   FT%  3PM  3PA   3P%  PPS   +/-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   2007  2.1  5.1  .410  1.7  2.3  .750  0.9  2.5  .357 1.33  2.39
   2008  2.0  4.4  .453  1.6  1.9  .818  0.9  2.4  .357 1.45  0.59
   2009  3.1  6.8  .465  1.5  1.8  .820  1.2  3.5  .353 1.33  5.65
      0  2.9  6.7  .430  1.7  2.0  .828  1.2  3.1  .385 1.29  4.66
 Career  2.6  5.8  .442  1.6  2.0  .803  1.1  2.9  .363 1.34  3.43
 
 Stat Totals:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   G  GS  MIN  PTS OREB  REB  AST   TO  STL  BLK   PF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   2007  28   0  533  191   31   72   33   42   23    3   60
   2008  29   5  630  186   43   98   34   42   35    2   66
   2009  34  34  821  306   69  127   54   70   54    2   81
      0  29  29  656  249   65  123   42   48   39    4   62
 Career 120  68 2640  932  208  420  163  202  151   11  269

 Shooting Totals
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season  FGM  FGA  FTM  FTA  3PM  3PA  +/-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   2007   59  144   48   64   25   70   67
   2008   58  128   45   55   25   70   17
   2009  107  230   50   61   42  119  192
      0   83  193   48   58   35   91  135
 Career  307  695  191  238  127  350  411
 
 Career Highs:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Type      Pts OReb  Reb  Ast  Stl  Blk   TO  FGM  FGA  FTM  FTA  3PM  3PA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season     23    5    8    3    4    2    4    8   12    5    6    4    6
 Career     27    7   10    4    4    2    6   10   16    8   10    4    6
 
 Awards & Acheivements:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   Award
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 All      Player of the Game: 16
 2005     High School: Rated *** and #358 overall by the FBCB scouting service.
 2005     High School: All-State (New York)
 2007     Freshman All-Conference (Ivy League)
 2009     1st Team All-Conference (Ivy League)

Compare that to this guy...

  PLAYER DETAILS

 #42 SF Robert Wagner - Cornell - Senior
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Height:       6' 5"
 Weight:       207
 High School:  Roane County High School
 Hometown:     Spencer, WV
 
 Attributes:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Type       INS JPS FTS 3PS HND PAS ORB DRB PSD PRD STL BLK PFS QKN STR JMP STA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Current:    95  46  68  63  48  62  70  15  52  17  55  18  38  72  53  59 100
 Potential:   A   C   B   C   C   C   B   D   C   F   C   D                    

 Health:      Good                                           
 Scholarship: Yes
 Status:      Active Roster                                  
 Academics:   62
 
 Stat Averages:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   G  GS  MIN  PTS  ORE  REB  AST   TO   A/T  STL  BLK   PF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   2011  30  30 24.8 15.5  1.9  3.7  2.7  1.5  1.82  0.9  0.2  2.5
      0  17  17 28.4 18.6  3.2  6.0  3.6  2.5  1.44  2.1  0.1  2.4
 Career  47  47 26.1 16.6  2.4  4.6  3.1  1.9  1.44  1.3  0.1  2.4

 Shooting Averages:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season  FGM  FGA   FG%  FTM  FTA   FT%  3PM  3PA   3P%  PPS   +/-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   2011  5.4 12.4  .437  3.5  4.3  .828  1.1  2.8  .398 1.25  8.70
      0  7.0 14.5  .482  4.0  4.9  .810  0.6  2.0  .324 1.28  1.12
 Career  6.0 13.2  .455  3.7  4.5  .821  0.9  2.5  .376 1.26  5.96
 
 Stat Totals:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   G  GS  MIN  PTS OREB  REB  AST   TO  STL  BLK   PF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   2011  30  30  744  465   57  112   82   45   27    5   75
      0  17  17  482  317   55  102   62   43   35    1   40
 Career  47  47 1226  782  112  214  144   88   62    6  115

 Shooting Totals
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season  FGM  FGA  FTM  FTA  3PM  3PA  +/-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   2011  163  373  106  128   33   83  261
      0  119  247   68   84   11   34   19
 Career  282  620  174  212   44  117  280
 
 Career Highs:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Type      Pts OReb  Reb  Ast  Stl  Blk   TO  FGM  FGA  FTM  FTA  3PM  3PA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season     27    8   13    7    7    1    7   11   20   11   13    3    5
 Career     31    8   13    7    7    1    7   11   21   11   13    4    5
 
 Awards & Acheivements:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   Award
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 All      Player of the Game: 18
 2009     High School: Rated *** and #314 overall by the FBCB scouting service.
 2011     1st Team All-Conference (Ivy League)

It just seems that I'm finding, time and time again, guards with decent size (6'2" - 6'6") are MUCH more productive if they're good inside rather than outside. I'll be continuing to keep my eye on this and hopefully will later be able to report back with a better supported theory.

[Ben E Lou]

RPI--

A few key stats *REALLY* stand out to me:

CAREER POINTS PER SHOT
Herrington: 1.27
Sandleitner: 1.37
Williams: 1.34
Wagner: 1.26

SHOTS TAKEN PER GAME IN MOST RECENT SEASON
Herrington: 14.1
Sandleitner: 7.3
Williams: 6.7
Wagner: 14.5

In other words, even though Sandleitner and Williams are shooting from the outside, rather than up close like Herrington and Wagner, they're actually a little more effective each time they shoot. However, they aren't shooting NEARLY as often as the big men. Why??? Well, check this out from the manual:

INS: Inside play has the player work on his scoring moves and his rebounding positioning. Players with higher inside scoring ability are better at creating shots.

Read this thread for more info on this. With a guy with extremely low INS like Williams, you HAVE to use a high motion setting and have guys who are good passers to set him up to get his shots. I've found that guys like him are good complementary players when I have a true scorer or two who can draw the double team. Leave Williams open, and he'll drain it, but he can't be the feature scorer most likely.

[Ben E Lou]

Dola...

Here's the key phrase from HR in the thread mentioned above:

INS is factored into the ability for guards to create shots on their own. Quickness is a factor as well. Someone who is low in both would need another player to create the scoring opportunity for them.

[Ben E Lou]

Bump:

Making sure RPI-Fan saw my response.

[Calis]

Haven't read the whole thing, but from what bit I did read great stuff SkyDog. Learned some new stuff from this.

I never knew that players didn't have fatigue carry over. I guess I just always assumed that it would up there chances for injury and such to play too much too close together. Never bothered to check into that though. That's a rather important piece of info to know.

[Buccaneer]

Have a question about who to recruit. If you are graduating, say a PG, SF and a C, are those the positions you recruit (assuming no redshirt)? Or do you look ahead and guess? Do you assume that you will be starting Sophomores?

[Ben E Lou]

I recruit based solely on looking at my freshmen and sophomores, not necessarily on what positions I'm graduating. I write down the starter-quality players I at each position in the freshman/soph classes, and then recruit to fill in accordingly.

[Buccaneer]

Thanks, that makes sense.

[Easy Mac]

I'm more of a "fill the roles you lose" guy. Not very realistic, but it works for me. It allows me to target my recruits to my needs. That way I never have a glut at a position. I carry 3 at each spot. I set up my redshirts so that I have 3 players graduate each year. So I have 3 redshirts at a time, and 3 former Redshirts of each class. I'm sure when I have a player leave early it will mess up my rotation. But I'll be good by then so it is ok. Right now I run a running offense, so my centers ride the pine, but it works.

[Malificent]

Here's a random sort of question: Is the game engine strong enough to handle an extreme sort of set-up offensively? For example, let's say I basically recruited a team where all the players were ball handlers, passers, and jumpshooters. No centers, no real big guys. An extreme motion offense where any player could play any position at any time. Would that have a chance of being successful in the game or would the game treat my "center" as a center and have him hanging out in the post all day regardless?

[Honolulu_Blue]

So, I just bought this game last week, because I am travelling for a month and needed a game on my work laptop (need to unwind after work). I've enjoyed it quite a bit, but felt like I was just rushing through the seasons, without really allowing myself to really get into the game. To this end, I decided to check out the FBCB forum to read up on some strategy and get a feel for the types of things I should be looking at and doing throughout the season and recruiting.

What happens? I follow a link back here. Classic!

FOFC, is there anything we can't do?

Oh yeah, bump.

[Franklinnoble]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

So, I just bought this game last week, because I am travelling for a month and needed a game on my work laptop (need to unwind after work). I've enjoyed it quite a bit, but felt like I was just rushing through the seasons, without really allowing myself to really get into the game. To this end, I decided to check out the FBCB forum to read up on some strategy and get a feel for the types of things I should be looking at and doing throughout the season and recruiting.

What happens? I follow a link back here. Classic!

FOFC, is there anything we can't do?

Oh yeah, we can't have a QOTM...

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Franklinnoble

You've gotta respect the single-mindedness, I guess...

[Franklinnoble]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

You've gotta respect the single-mindedness, I guess...

Eh... it's not really single-mindedness. I'd like to think I contribute a lot more around here on a much wider variety of subjects. But I can't resist an easy opportunity to keep a running gag going...

[The Afoci]

Originally Posted by Franklinnoble

Eh... it's not really single-mindedness. I'd like to think I contribute a lot more around here on a much wider variety of subjects. But I can't resist an easy opportunity to keep a running gag going...

I would say it is fair to say that you are the authority on rectal itches.

[Franklinnoble]

Originally Posted by The Afoci

I would say it is fair to say that you are the authority on rectal itches.

And you're always first in line to scratch...

[The Afoci]

Originally Posted by Franklinnoble

And you're always first in line to scratch...

With both hands tied behind my back.

[QuikSand]

Despite the last few posts, I have gotten quite a lot out of this thread. I have caught the seasonal fever, I suppose, and am amidst a FBCB career myself.

Quick question about the national ratings system. I'm more than a little perplexed how my team sometimes jumps well up into the national ratings, despite not actually accomplishing all that much on the court. It's perplexing, seems like my team is getting votes largely based on the perceived quality of my recruits.

Example - I am coaching Binghamton, who recebntly moved up from the Atlantic East to the Atlantic Ten. In three A10 seasons, we were a #2 conference seed once, and then about a.500 team the last two seasons. This year, I have a great recruiting class coming off redshirt, with two Top 25 players both appearing on my roster. My team, fresh off a pretty mediocre 17-15 year capped by a round one NIT Loss, is a pre-season Top 10 team in the country!?! And even as the season goes on, and we are better but not all that great... our team remains pretty highly considered -- all year long, we are ranked higher than UConn (relegated to the A10 some years ago), even though they have a better record than us inside and outside the conference, and a tougher schedule as well.

I've also seen broad disconnects between the national rankings and the tournament seedings sometimes (though I don't pay much attention to it) -- with teams ranked #8 or #9 in the polls sometimes getting a #1 seed, and the #1 team in the country sometimes being a lower seed... that sort of thing. (Yes, I know there is some of this in real life, I am curious whether there is something inherently skewed in the game)


Anyway - for those who have really invested in this game, just a few curiosities.

[QuikSand]

Oh, perhaps another question...

I have built my team's prestige up into the 70s... and have had some pretty reasonable success. However, I still *never* see any recruits of the caliber that I'm willing to offer a scholarship who start out with any interest in my school. Regionally, they all want to go to Syracuse... *sigh*. But Binghamton isn't even on the top five list for any of the three-star players... as in never. I am pretty sure that I have never seen a single three-star player who listed Binghamton among his top five initial schools.

Is this a bias against the human-run school(s)... or is it perhaps a function of having a school that recently was a low-reputation bottom feeder?

[albionmoonlight]

Sorry I can't answer your second question. My first career, I started an easy career with a fully developed coach. My 100 recuiting points always allowed me a shot at recuits that I had no business getting. In my current career, we are still bottom feeding (just moved up to a 2 prestiege conf.), so I'm not really in the market for the difference makers yet.

As to your first post, I have seen something similar. I think that polls are based initially on how you look on paper but later in the season on how you are doing. I have seen the exact same thing as you--a team with a couple of good freshmen coming in gets rated very highly in the preseason polls.

I have, however, seen the opposite at the end of the spectrum at the end of the season. The first year that my prestiege 1 conference residing Emory Eagles did really well, we got to the end of the season with 3 losses. That was playing all Big South Teams and the lowest prestiege teams that we could find. We had a gaudy record, but it was all a sham because we had not beaten anyone good, nor were we actually that good ourselves. Nevertheless, we were ranked #22 in the end of season poll.

As to tournment seeding, I think that it has a lot to do with RPI. I ran an experiment where I took a low prestiege team (Birminham Southern, I think) and gave them all superstar players to see how the game would react. They started the season unanimous #1 (more proof that preseason polls are mainly about how you look on paper) and won every game by a margain of ~30 points. Sometimes they would win games by 70. They won the Big South and, come tourament time, were an 8th seed. That leads me to think that seeding has a lot to do with RPI--because they were a great team on paper with a lousy RPI because they never played anybody.

FWIW.

[Buccaneer]

Michael, I am gald to see you playing this great game. Here are my thoughts to your questions. I take the early season rankings - both polls and RPI - with a grain of salt. If you look at the RPI at the beginning of the season, they are ranked alphabetically. Slowly then they adjust to a more truer ranking by the time the non-conference portion ends. Even at the start of December, you have teams that have played only 1 game, so I believe it's hard to come up with a normalized ranking.

As far as tournament seedings (and seeing a surprise team ranked high late in the season), I have noticed what you are seeing at times. I following the polls and rpi each Monday in February and into March (this along with the bubble watch and the anticipation of March Madness are my favorite parts of the game). The top seeds generally do follow spot on in relation to conference tournament success and rpi. Even further on down, I generally see a predictable logic. For instance, I now have my team (Colgate) into the Big East where we would place 6-7 teams in the tournament. Even though you would see seedings 1-2 higher/lower than expected (just like in real life), they do consistently follow the expected pattern relative to each other. Even if a low seeded team wins the Big East, they get a seed that makes sense.

As far as matching the polls, there is some work that needs to be done on that because I see too much variation from week to week later in the season. It's funny that in the last season that I played in my career, UConn ended up being ranked in the top 15 with a 16-14 record (and an rpi that is not in the top 15). That bugged me since they had they had my 21-8 Red Raiders at #27 despite a top 15 rpi. But here's the funny part, UConn ended up making it to the Sweet 16 (don't remember what their seeding was).

Recruiting. When I started my current 33-year career (first with NH, then with SU and now with Colgate), I put most of my points into recuiting and scouting. NH had prestiges in the 50-60s and I was able to get nothing but 3-star recruits (usually the good ones available in NE and NY, as budget allowed). I took over SU when its prestige was 54 and because of budget, I was able to get a mix of 3- and 4-star recruits - never any 5-star recruits though. With Colgate starting out at 19, I still got the local 3-stars and now with their prestige at 76, it has not changed (even though I do get more interest from 4-star recruits). The reason is, as far as I can tell, is Training Facilities. When I took over Colgate, I switched to Conference Movement and with my emphasis on recruiting and playing fundamentals, I was able to have great success in moving up the relegation chain. But the Training Facilities did not keep up (even with a couple of improvements). I would start off with a rating of 3 which was pretty good for the Patriot League (prestige=1) but now in the Big East (prestige=5), a rating of 5 really sucks. SU, by contrast, was and still sitting at 10 - they have had no problems getting interest in the best recruits. By the way, I have basically ignored in the in-game recruit rankings in favor my own analysis that emphasize the types of players I want for my team (generally great handling and defense with good shooting abilities). Some of the best players I have had (including a couple of AllAmer) had rankings in the 200s nationally.

As an aside, I want to publically acknowledge Brain again for developing such a masterful game. There had been times in the past month in following real-life college hoops (and SU) that it felt like watching a FBCB season. I would sometimes say to myself that the real-life season is matching pretty well with FBCB.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

Michael, I am gald (sic) to see you playing this great game. Here are my thoughts to your questions.

Michael?

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

Michael?

Sounds weird, doesn't it?

[Buccaneer]

Sorry, just a carryover from IHOF. FOFC is not IHOF.

[Franklinnoble]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

Sorry, just a carryover from IHOF. FOFC is not IHOF.

IHOF = Fucking Elitists
FOFC = Fucking Elitists, and those who wish they were Fucking Elitists

[Balldog]

Anyone know if there is any kind of penalty for changing positions of players?

[TargetPractice6]

Originally Posted by Balldog

Anyone know if there is any kind of penalty for changing positions of players?

I wouldn't think so. If the player doesn't have the right skill set or physical abilities for that position then I'm sure his play would suffer. However, I do it all the time. I mix players up at the guard and post positions quite frequently. I'll also move and SF up to SG or down to PF, but not as often.

[Peregrine]

I move my players around between positions a lot, and though I do think certain players play better at their chosen positions, it may depend on their particular mix of skills or their athleticism.

[Balldog]

What is sad is I just realized this morning that you can change a players "regular" position in training camp.

[Peregrine]

You can? Hmm, I'll have to try that next time I'm playing the game.

[Balldog]

Originally Posted by Peregrine

You can? Hmm, I'll have to try that next time I'm playing the game.

Yeah, that is what sparked my question. Almost every year in the FOFC FBCB I always end up having at least one guy in the starting lineup playing out of position. I didn't know if there was a penalty/reward for changing it.

[Peregrine]

I thought you were asking about just playing people out of position, I'm not sure about changing positions. Can't you check their before and after scores and see if there's any impact?

[Buccaneer]

But doesn't it cost quite a bit of points to change in camp, at the expense of development in key areas?

[Ben E Lou]

What game are you people talking about??? It sure doesn't sound like FBCB. Without opening the game, I'm 99.9% certain that both position switches and playing out of position are purely cosmetic. If the guy has the quickness, ball handling/shooting/perimeter defense skills to play 2, it doesn't matter if his position is listed as 4. Further the position listing can be changed simply in the training screen at any time without any penalty whatsoever. This isn't football or baseball where there is a significant difference between playing LT and RT, or 2B and SS. Even a 1 man generally knows how to post up, drop step, block out, etc. If he's good at it, he's good at it. If he's not, he's not. Position is most important for walk-ons and perhaps for recruiting, not for performance.

[Buccaneer]

I hadn't seen the Training screen in a while and there is no position switches except a drop-down box. It is cosmetic, as SD said, for I don't take legal position in consideration at all when setting Depth Chart. Even for recruiting, it's just a way of sorting and ranking.

[jbmagic]

is heavyreign still supporting the game?


i havent seen him post here or at Fast break Basketball forum for a long time now.

[Icy]

Originally Posted by jbmagic

is heavyreign still supporting the game?


i havent seen him post here or at Fast break Basketball forum for a long time now.

I know he has fixed some stuff for the fofc fbcb league when we had any issue, but i that was emailing him directly. I think he is not supporting the game anymor eon the forums. It's really sad as FBCB is probably one of the best text sims ever made and i would love that he could keep working on the series to keep improving the game. also he has dissapeard from FOFC forums lately, i hope all is ok with him and this is just because he is bussy with work etc.

[albionmoonlight]

Reminds me of the time I wasn't paying enough attention to keeping all of my positions filled and ended up with an abundance of talented centers and power forwards and ONE decent ball handling guard. I played my shortest, quickest center at shooting guard, and he got KILLED that season in turnovers.

Even though my record sucked, that season made me like the game even more. It was SO realistic. I think I'll fire it up right now.

[Balldog]

Originally Posted by Icy

I know he has fixed some stuff for the fofc fbcb league when we had any issue, but i that was emailing him directly. I think he is not supporting the game anymor eon the forums. It's really sad as FBCB is probably one of the best text sims ever made and i would love that he could keep working on the series to keep improving the game. also he has dissapeard from FOFC forums lately, i hope all is ok with him and this is just because he is bussy with work etc.

I agree but the game is 3 years old or so, so I don't think we should expect much more support. For those years he didn't an incredible job, you could report something and he would fix it in no time and post a patch. HR did a hell of a job, if there is ever a FBCB 2 I am buying it.