Re: Coaching Legacy of James Frizzell (CH 2K8)
Well, it's been three real-life years at WVU (approximately), but it's been four-and-a-half years since I started this legacy at Princeton back in March 2008.
This is the first legacy I've really ever managed to progress past the beginning stages in CH 2K, too, which is kind of sad considering I played so much ESPN College Hoops 2K4 in the past, yet never managed to move forward with a legacy (the lack of rotating schedules didn't help).
I could never get into CPU vs. CPU or coach mode for some reason.
As of late, I have started to completely manually substitute, by the way, which may be evident by the differing substitution patterns in recent games.
Well, I started out at Princeton in the 2007-2008 season. We went 18-12 that year, which was a bit of a surprise. We tied for the conference title at 11-3 in Ivy League play, but Columbia beat us out by virtue of a tie-breaker for the conference title and we sat at home for the NCAAs. It was the first and last time a Frizzell-coached team would fail to make the NCAA Tournament (at least up to this point).
We won the Ivy League Title the next two years with an 11-3 conference record, and proceeded as far as the Sweet Sixteen as a #9 seed in year three at Princeton, which was a surprise.
We would go on to dominate during the rest of my tenure at Princeton, usually either going undefeated or only sustaining one loss in conference play. The 2012-2013 season was our best yet as we went to the Final Four as a #3 seeded team and finished 32-5, my first 30-win season.
The year afterwards was a rebuilding one as we "only" went 25-7 and lost in the NCAA First Round, but in the next two years we went 31-4 (Second Round) and 31-5 (Elite Eight), garnering #3 seeds both years.
At this point, I finally decided to move on to "greener" pastures. I had enjoyed my time at Princeton and enjoyed all the greater players I had coached, like Martin Sow, Cassiand Swift, Reynold Gross, etc., but I finally made a conscious decision to move on. However, I didn't want to jump straight to the big leagues, so I decided to move to San Francisco of the West Coast Conference, which had shown itself to be a pretty decent mid-major conference in recent years.
My first year at Princeton was a tough one. The regular season was difficult and we finished sub-.500 in conference play and finished the regular season with a forgettable 17-14 record. Our prospects of making either the NIT or the NCAA Tournament were dim. But we managed to go on a roll and win all three games of the WCC Tournament and finished the season 20-15 after a first round NCAA Tournament loss. All things considered, it was a successful season.
Things really got rolling in year #2 at USF, though, as we went 33-6 and reached the Final Four, the second in my career, as a #3 seed. Year #3 went ever better as we went 35-5 as a #3 seed and reached the Title Game where we were unfortunately blown out by the Maryland Terrapins.
Finally, the long-awaited WVU job opened up as Bob Huggins finally retired and I decided to jump ship and come to Morgantown.
Every year at WVU has been a relative success. We racked up 12 losses in my first year, but we still went 24-12 and got to the Sweet Sixteen. My second season, the 2020-2021 season, was the most bizarre season I've ever had. We started out the season 13-0 and eventually 17-1, but we went on a skid the saw us sputter to 11-7 in conference play and finish the regular and conference tournament season with a 6-8 record from that point on, including an early bounce in the conference tournament. We then entered an NCAA Tournament with upsets galore. We defeated a #1-seeded Texas Tech team in the Elite Eight and advanced to the Final Four. It was a strange Final Four that saw us face a #5-seeded Washington team in the Finals after beating #1 Oregon State in the semis. We promptly beat Washington to win our first National Title! I will admit that it was a little disappointing that we didn't get to beat the so-called heavyweights in the Final Four, but we took what we could get.
The next season seemed to be going even better, but after garnering a career-high #2 seed going into the NCAA Tournament after winning the Big East Tournament, we were bounced in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, which was a bit of a shocker.
The next season, we made another Cinderella run and went 25-11 and, as a #7 seed, advanced all the way to the Elite Eight, before losing to Georgia Tech, the eventual National Champions.
My last season was another relative mediocre one as went 24-11 as got bounced by Indiana as a #5 seed in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Overall, it's been a fun and successful career. My one real remaining goal is to have a true dominating season in which I run through the regular season as the clear dominant team and win the NCAA Title. Interestingly, I've never been ranked #1 in any poll during the regular season. I've yet to have a real dominating season at WVU and this season doesn't appear to be, either.
As I said above, it was great and it finally seemed that all my efforts had paid off. At the same time, it was a little frustrating to face a #5 seed in the NCAA Title Game. In the end, though, a win is a win and there was no denying that we were in the National Champions! There's no BCS like in college football!!!
PG - Matt Owen (San Francisco) - This one is tough as I don't feel like I've ever truly had an "elite". I've almost always had good point guards, but I don't think a PG has ever averaged more than 15 points per game in my system, though that is partly due to the way I run things. PGs just don't get a lot of shots. Nevertheless, Owen was a good shooter and could drive the basketball.
SG - Dinky Woods (West Virginia) - Woods wasn't exactly a star, but I've never really had a star shooting guard. However, he was one of the highest-rated players I've ever had and he was a great shooter. I don't think he really stacks up against the greatness of Lalugba or Swift, but I still think he's the best I've ever had at this position.
SF - Wendell Lalugba (Princeton) - No question about this one. He lead Princeton to a Final Four his senior season and was one of the best shooters I've ever had. He could spot up anywhere and shoot even when he wasn't open. He was the first true star player I think I've ever had.
PF - Martin Sow (Princeton) - This is a tough one as I've never really recruiting a truly dominating power forward, but this undersized man from Senegal was instrumental in my early going at Princeton. He wasn't big and he wasn't rated all that high, but he got the job done and carried the team until Wendell Lalugba came along. He was a good rebounder and a pretty good scorer. I have my doubts about how well he would have done against Power Conference defenses day in and day out, but he's my pick.
C - Cassiand Swift (Princeton) - The guy came in his freshman year and dominated right off the bat. He dominated, averaging double-digits in points and rebounding each year he was at Princeton and, though Owen Kole and Osei Forney were also very good players, I just don't think they quite stack up to Cassiand Swift's greatness in my middle years at Princeton.
As you can see, I've had multiple very good point guards, multiple star small forwards, and more great centers than I can count, but the shooting guard and especially the power forward positions have always been lacking a bit.
I must say, though, that Len Shields will probably take the title of the best PF I've ever had once he graduates. I just don't want to give him that title yet given that his career isn't even over yet.
My biggest non-championship season was probably my first Final Four at Princeton (2012-2013 season). We were a #3 seed going into that tournament and had went 28-4 (14-0) during the regular season, but I still really didn't expect to make it that far in the tournament. Though we had won a lot of games during the regular season, at that point we still didn't have that much talent at Princeton and certainly didn't have a team with similar talent to what I enjoy now at Princeton We blew out a #2-seeded Duke team in the Sweet Sixteen, which was a shock. I seem to have Duke's number in this game. Finally, we beat #1 Tennessee 76-73 in the Elite Eight.
In the end, we lost to #1 Texas in the Final Four, but it was a great run and we had a lot of great players that year. We had Cassiand Swift, the dominant low-post player. We had Wendell Lalugba, the sharp-shooter and slasher. And we had Reynold Gross, one of the best PGs I've ever had. We lost a lot after that season.
My most disappointing season would probably be the 2021-2022 season at WVU. After making the surprise run to the NCAA Title the previous season, we had high hopes going into the NCAA Tournament after winning the Big East Tournament and attaining a #2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Instead, we struggled to beat #15 Mississippi Valley State the first round (we were tied 33-33 after one half). Then, in the second round, we got the pleasure of facing the best #10 seed I've ever seen in Oregon State, whose 94 OVR rating sidelined me with a 76-70 loss. And that's not even to mention that the game was played in Spokane, making it close to a home game for the Beavers. Just a disappointing outcome...
I'm still at 462-144, but I will be at #500 soon enough, I suppose.
My next goal is to pass Bobby Knight (or Coach K, who probably would have the record for wins by this point).
Thank you! Coach Frizzell once traveled to Italy (Rome and Prima Porta, more specifically, and rode the train up through Florence and into Switzerland).
Well, it's been three real-life years at WVU (approximately), but it's been four-and-a-half years since I started this legacy at Princeton back in March 2008.
This is the first legacy I've really ever managed to progress past the beginning stages in CH 2K, too, which is kind of sad considering I played so much ESPN College Hoops 2K4 in the past, yet never managed to move forward with a legacy (the lack of rotating schedules didn't help).
I could never get into CPU vs. CPU or coach mode for some reason.
As of late, I have started to completely manually substitute, by the way, which may be evident by the differing substitution patterns in recent games.
Well, I started out at Princeton in the 2007-2008 season. We went 18-12 that year, which was a bit of a surprise. We tied for the conference title at 11-3 in Ivy League play, but Columbia beat us out by virtue of a tie-breaker for the conference title and we sat at home for the NCAAs. It was the first and last time a Frizzell-coached team would fail to make the NCAA Tournament (at least up to this point).
We won the Ivy League Title the next two years with an 11-3 conference record, and proceeded as far as the Sweet Sixteen as a #9 seed in year three at Princeton, which was a surprise.
We would go on to dominate during the rest of my tenure at Princeton, usually either going undefeated or only sustaining one loss in conference play. The 2012-2013 season was our best yet as we went to the Final Four as a #3 seeded team and finished 32-5, my first 30-win season.
The year afterwards was a rebuilding one as we "only" went 25-7 and lost in the NCAA First Round, but in the next two years we went 31-4 (Second Round) and 31-5 (Elite Eight), garnering #3 seeds both years.
At this point, I finally decided to move on to "greener" pastures. I had enjoyed my time at Princeton and enjoyed all the greater players I had coached, like Martin Sow, Cassiand Swift, Reynold Gross, etc., but I finally made a conscious decision to move on. However, I didn't want to jump straight to the big leagues, so I decided to move to San Francisco of the West Coast Conference, which had shown itself to be a pretty decent mid-major conference in recent years.
My first year at Princeton was a tough one. The regular season was difficult and we finished sub-.500 in conference play and finished the regular season with a forgettable 17-14 record. Our prospects of making either the NIT or the NCAA Tournament were dim. But we managed to go on a roll and win all three games of the WCC Tournament and finished the season 20-15 after a first round NCAA Tournament loss. All things considered, it was a successful season.
Things really got rolling in year #2 at USF, though, as we went 33-6 and reached the Final Four, the second in my career, as a #3 seed. Year #3 went ever better as we went 35-5 as a #3 seed and reached the Title Game where we were unfortunately blown out by the Maryland Terrapins.
Finally, the long-awaited WVU job opened up as Bob Huggins finally retired and I decided to jump ship and come to Morgantown.
Every year at WVU has been a relative success. We racked up 12 losses in my first year, but we still went 24-12 and got to the Sweet Sixteen. My second season, the 2020-2021 season, was the most bizarre season I've ever had. We started out the season 13-0 and eventually 17-1, but we went on a skid the saw us sputter to 11-7 in conference play and finish the regular and conference tournament season with a 6-8 record from that point on, including an early bounce in the conference tournament. We then entered an NCAA Tournament with upsets galore. We defeated a #1-seeded Texas Tech team in the Elite Eight and advanced to the Final Four. It was a strange Final Four that saw us face a #5-seeded Washington team in the Finals after beating #1 Oregon State in the semis. We promptly beat Washington to win our first National Title! I will admit that it was a little disappointing that we didn't get to beat the so-called heavyweights in the Final Four, but we took what we could get.
The next season seemed to be going even better, but after garnering a career-high #2 seed going into the NCAA Tournament after winning the Big East Tournament, we were bounced in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, which was a bit of a shocker.
The next season, we made another Cinderella run and went 25-11 and, as a #7 seed, advanced all the way to the Elite Eight, before losing to Georgia Tech, the eventual National Champions.
My last season was another relative mediocre one as went 24-11 as got bounced by Indiana as a #5 seed in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Overall, it's been a fun and successful career. My one real remaining goal is to have a true dominating season in which I run through the regular season as the clear dominant team and win the NCAA Title. Interestingly, I've never been ranked #1 in any poll during the regular season. I've yet to have a real dominating season at WVU and this season doesn't appear to be, either.
As I said above, it was great and it finally seemed that all my efforts had paid off. At the same time, it was a little frustrating to face a #5 seed in the NCAA Title Game. In the end, though, a win is a win and there was no denying that we were in the National Champions! There's no BCS like in college football!!!
PG - Matt Owen (San Francisco) - This one is tough as I don't feel like I've ever truly had an "elite". I've almost always had good point guards, but I don't think a PG has ever averaged more than 15 points per game in my system, though that is partly due to the way I run things. PGs just don't get a lot of shots. Nevertheless, Owen was a good shooter and could drive the basketball.
SG - Dinky Woods (West Virginia) - Woods wasn't exactly a star, but I've never really had a star shooting guard. However, he was one of the highest-rated players I've ever had and he was a great shooter. I don't think he really stacks up against the greatness of Lalugba or Swift, but I still think he's the best I've ever had at this position.
SF - Wendell Lalugba (Princeton) - No question about this one. He lead Princeton to a Final Four his senior season and was one of the best shooters I've ever had. He could spot up anywhere and shoot even when he wasn't open. He was the first true star player I think I've ever had.
PF - Martin Sow (Princeton) - This is a tough one as I've never really recruiting a truly dominating power forward, but this undersized man from Senegal was instrumental in my early going at Princeton. He wasn't big and he wasn't rated all that high, but he got the job done and carried the team until Wendell Lalugba came along. He was a good rebounder and a pretty good scorer. I have my doubts about how well he would have done against Power Conference defenses day in and day out, but he's my pick.
C - Cassiand Swift (Princeton) - The guy came in his freshman year and dominated right off the bat. He dominated, averaging double-digits in points and rebounding each year he was at Princeton and, though Owen Kole and Osei Forney were also very good players, I just don't think they quite stack up to Cassiand Swift's greatness in my middle years at Princeton.
As you can see, I've had multiple very good point guards, multiple star small forwards, and more great centers than I can count, but the shooting guard and especially the power forward positions have always been lacking a bit.
I must say, though, that Len Shields will probably take the title of the best PF I've ever had once he graduates. I just don't want to give him that title yet given that his career isn't even over yet.
My biggest non-championship season was probably my first Final Four at Princeton (2012-2013 season). We were a #3 seed going into that tournament and had went 28-4 (14-0) during the regular season, but I still really didn't expect to make it that far in the tournament. Though we had won a lot of games during the regular season, at that point we still didn't have that much talent at Princeton and certainly didn't have a team with similar talent to what I enjoy now at Princeton We blew out a #2-seeded Duke team in the Sweet Sixteen, which was a shock. I seem to have Duke's number in this game. Finally, we beat #1 Tennessee 76-73 in the Elite Eight.
In the end, we lost to #1 Texas in the Final Four, but it was a great run and we had a lot of great players that year. We had Cassiand Swift, the dominant low-post player. We had Wendell Lalugba, the sharp-shooter and slasher. And we had Reynold Gross, one of the best PGs I've ever had. We lost a lot after that season.
My most disappointing season would probably be the 2021-2022 season at WVU. After making the surprise run to the NCAA Title the previous season, we had high hopes going into the NCAA Tournament after winning the Big East Tournament and attaining a #2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Instead, we struggled to beat #15 Mississippi Valley State the first round (we were tied 33-33 after one half). Then, in the second round, we got the pleasure of facing the best #10 seed I've ever seen in Oregon State, whose 94 OVR rating sidelined me with a 76-70 loss. And that's not even to mention that the game was played in Spokane, making it close to a home game for the Beavers. Just a disappointing outcome...
I'm still at 462-144, but I will be at #500 soon enough, I suppose.
My next goal is to pass Bobby Knight (or Coach K, who probably would have the record for wins by this point).
Thank you! Coach Frizzell once traveled to Italy (Rome and Prima Porta, more specifically, and rode the train up through Florence and into Switzerland).
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