whatifsports: norwich commentary

[drzachary]

I haven't kept the board abreast of the goings-on with Russell Grubbs, Lester Hine and the rest of my Norwich U squad on whatifsports.com.

Here's the record since I took over the program:

Season 16: Norwich

11-17 (overall)/6-10 (conf), RPI: 88

Season 17: Norwich

16-12 (overall)/9-7 (conf), RPI: 104

Season 18: Norwich #9

27-4 (overall)/15-1 (conf), RPI: 13

Regular Season Conference Champion

National Tournament At-large Bid

National Tournament - Elite 8

As you can see, last season I really turned things around. I beat the defending national champ (in conference play) and had a win and a loss vs the nationally second-ranked team that eventually made the final. Unfortunately, my two best players graduated. Russell and Lester are seniors this year, and the great Russell "Green Light" Grubbs as point guard experiment will begin!

I have 7 scholarships out of 12 that I am working on this year, and I have some good signings so far (6 of the 7 slots, as a matter of fact.) I'll add on their stats momentarily.

I found that playing fastbreak/man-to-man as my offense/defense style last year worked well on the offense side, but didn't on the defense side. My team was the #1 scoring team in div-iii at around 97ppg, but we couldn't stop anyone. What I also noticed is that my highly-conditioned players never even got close to running out of steam, so, starting with this year... we are going to run a fullcourt press in addition to our fastbreak! It'll be LMU all over again!

p.s. Do you think the Hawks should have drafted Chris Paul or Deron Williams? It's a thought that has never occurred to me.

[skankin_richard]

that's such a sick website... I love that thing. nice 18th season, too.

[joannes3000]

I must admit that instead of getting into HD, I picked up a second GD team. I'm gonna wait and see what updates we see in GD in the next 6 months or so and then I'll probably jump ship to hoops.

[drzachary]

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I must admit that instead of getting into HD, I picked up a second GD team. I'm gonna wait and see what updates we see in GD in the next 6 months or so and then I'll probably jump ship to hoops.

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You moving into HD yet?

I am in the final four with my other team (York-PA)!

That means that my next 2 seasons are free. If I win the championship it could be 3!

[gsuteke]

that looks pretty neat.

if i could do it at work it would be worth the money in gold. unfortunately I'm sure websense blocks it.

do you join a league with other live owners? if so are dead teams an issue?

are there time constraints or do you proceed at your own pace?

it's 7 bucks a season i see. that's introductory or pretty standard?

[drzachary]

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that looks pretty neat.

if i could do it at work it would be worth the money in gold. unfortunately I'm sure websense blocks it.

do you join a league with other live owners? if so are dead teams an issue?

are there time constraints or do you proceed at your own pace?

it's 7 bucks a season i see. that's introductory or pretty standard?

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That's introductory. I think after that it is 13$/season.

The way it works is this. There are worlds, each named after a famous coach (I have teams in the Rupp world and the Tarkanian world). In each world, there are 3 divisions of basketball, which just about exactly copy the real-world placement. There's an ACC with all the same teams as the real world, an SEC, etc. However, you have to start in Div-III, by applying for an open job. You schedule games for your exhibition (2 games) and non-conference schedule (10 games) and then play 16 games vs your conference mates. There are real coaches in most of them, if not, the coach will be listed as SimAI. The Sim coaches are usually easier to beat than human coaches, since they are fairly predictable.

As a coach, you handle recruiting, practice allotment, and game planning. The servers sim the games each night (or, in the case of the Tarkanian world, each night and each afternoon, since it's the only 2/day world.)

After each season there is a conference tournament and then a national tournament (and a national invitational, kind of like the NIT in real life, but it happens post-season in WIS.)

During the season there are polls, RPI is calculated, stats are kept. Awards are given out, etc.

Let me know if you are interested, I think I can refer you for a buck or two. There may be a tour on the site too.

[gsuteke]

there is a tour.

i can't make a commitment to check it every day.

[drzachary]

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there is a tour.

i can't make a commitment to check it every day.

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yeah.. i often forget or can't make it. in that case it just uses the gameplan settings from the prior game. they are adding a feature sometime soon to allow advanced gameplanning!

[gsuteke]

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there is a tour.

i can't make a commitment to check it every day.

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yeah.. i often forget or can't make it. in that case it just uses the gameplan settings from the prior game. they are adding a feature sometime soon to allow advanced gameplanning!

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if you have twists and turns like suspensions, etc you couldn't do that. especially if you are playing against other human players. see what I'm saying?

[joannes3000]

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I must admit that instead of getting into HD, I picked up a second GD team. I'm gonna wait and see what updates we see in GD in the next 6 months or so and then I'll probably jump ship to hoops.

---

You moving into HD yet?

I am in the final four with my other team (York-PA)!

That means that my next 2 seasons are free. If I win the championship it could be 3!

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Not yet. I'm still waiting to see what the GD facelift looks like.

[shug94]

my home PC is broken right now, but once it is fixed, I will sign up to this and try out the college hoops one.