whatifsports: hoops dynasty

[drzachary]

... they pulled me back in :( :(

I've been coaching Div-II Univ. of North Florida (*UNF* *UNF*) and having a bad time of it. My 2 key recruits signed with conference rivals on the last day of recruiting, and I am running some absolute garbage out there at off-guard and small forward.

[AHF]

Excellent - we will need updates to live vicariously through your masterful team management ala your destruction of the league so far in baseball. (Nice to see you back on the Squawk as well!)

[drzachary]

Excellent - we will need updates to live vicariously through your masterful team management ala your destruction of the league so far in baseball. (Nice to see you back on the Squawk as well!)

My season in a nutshell so far:

Life is hard in the Peach Belt conference.

I took over at UNF with 5 scholarships to fill (that's a lot) and a team with a lot of frontcourt depth but only one guard, a senior point. UNF historically has run the triangle and a zone defense (2-3) so I stuck with that, since my upperclassmen all know it.

I had the difficult task of getting a workable backcourt, but sadly I got in two recruiting battles for two highly-rated shooting guards... and lost out on both. I did pick up a promising young center who I'm redshirting, and two point guards. None of them knew anything about the triangle or playing a zone coming into the program.

So, my team when I started the season:

PG William Burr (Sr), backed up by Ralph Norris (Fr). Burr is great at dishing, but is not a good shooter at all.

SG Marc Thompson (Fr), *a point guard* .. backed up by whoever is available to fill in (Norris, Burr, Allman.) Freshman, no IQ, *awful* right now.

SF David Allman (Jr), backed up by the PFs. Very marginal player. Prone to taking and missing lots of threes.

PF Robert Engstrom (Sr.) My best player. Flawless defender, good in the post, strong rebounder.

C Gary Chenoweth (Sr). 2nd best player. Good in the post, good rebounding, good passing for a big man.

Backing up the PF/C positions I have Ted Starling (Jr-C) who is a slightly less athletic, but stronger, more clumsy version of Chenoweth; John DuFour (So-PF), who is a good rebounder and post scorer; and Harold Berg (So-PF), who is a poor man's DuFour.

Mark Basile is my redshirt center, and I have two walkons who mop up.

I went 2-8 in the BRUTAL non-conference portion of my schedule, with only one quality win... over the coach who left UNF, no less! I went 2-2 early, until my opponents were able to figure out that I have *no* outside threat and started packing the lane. I tinkered with lineups, and benched David Allman early after some 1-9 and 0-8 games. Thompson is just not ready for the college game yet, and only starts out of neccessity. I learned to limit him to less than 3 shots per game, but unfortunately, that just lets defenders collapse on my other players. Burr and Chenoweth's passing games are limited due to having noone to pass to.

(Ideally, a recruit I lost out on -- John Maxwell, who will forever haunt me -- would have started at SG. He played triangle/zone in college, and is a great outside shooter. He looks to be a possible conference Rookie of the Year.)

By the time the conference schedule came around (did I mention that my division in my conf contains the perennial #1 overall team, USC Upstate? He's won something like 5 *national* championships in the prior 10 seasons) my frosh were starting to pick up the offense and defense, but were by no means good. Having only ten players -- you can't realistically play walkons in a game -- killed my depth and led to fatigue issues. Smart coaches have been doubling my post players and camping out in the lane, and Allman and Thompson just keep bricking. Occasionally I'll have a lucky game from outside, but my wins have mostly come from exploiting matchups. Some opponents have had a hotshot small forward, for example, so I started Engstrom at SF to lock him down, which he did admirably. I was able to draw PFs out to the perimeter a few times by playing Allman there. Shaking up my lineup seemed to work a few times, as Starling and DuFour responded well to their spot starts.

My record at this point is 6-8 in the conference, 2-8 nonconf, making me 8-16 overall. I feel pretty good about my conference record, honestly, and am actually looking down on a few teams in my division. There's always the chance for a strong conference tourney run. I have two more conference games before the CT, but I look to lose one for sure, and have maybe a 40% chance of winning the second.

I'll update again later, and post some stats.

Edited June 22, 2009 by drzachary

[shug94]

What world are you in?

I played Hoops Dynasty for around 6 seasons or so. And it is really hard to have a consistently good team in DII.

It is good fun though, looking forward to the next update.

[drzachary]

What world are you in?

I played Hoops Dynasty for around 6 seasons or so. And it is really hard to have a consistently good team in DII.

It is good fun though, looking forward to the next update.

Shug, I'm in Tark, mostly. I played a bit in some other worlds, but settled on the 2/day format (back when I had my successful runs, it was the only 2/day world. That was probably 20 seasons ago though (in Tark years.))

I ended up having a shot to upset the #1 seed in the CT, but ran out of gas. I threw every trick in the book at him, but in the end I just didn't have the depth I needed to keep up, and went on a bunch of fatigue-inspired scoring droughts.

[mattlanta]

What's this all about? Is this a computer game or real life? I can't seem to tell. (Sorry I didn't really read the whole topic, so someone please tell. Lol.)

[drzachary]

What's this all about? Is this a computer game or real life? I can't seem to tell. (Sorry I didn't really read the whole topic, so someone please tell. Lol.)

Go to www.whatifsports.com

Check out Hoops Dynasty

Say goodbye to your free time

[drzachary]

So, finished at 10-18 overall, 7-9 in conf play, with an RPI of 143, which is almost dead in the middle. I had a brutal schedule. I'm slightly dissatisfied, but not shocked. My biggest mistake was devoting 80% of my recruiting budget to two stud players, both of whom signed elsewhere.

Next season, I am playing a lot less strong teams in non-conf play, so I should have a better record.

My 3 best players (Burr, my senior PG; Chenoweth, my senior C; and Engstrom, my senior PF/C) are all leaving. Since I have two walkons, I will have five scholarships available next season, with a LOT of holes to fill. (I gotta say, I like how my Whatifsports recruiting/signing period meshes with the real-life NBA one.)

Here's what I have going into next season, along with their stats from this season. Their class (fresh, soph, etc) is what they will be next year. Keep in mind that these are Div-II college stats, so they are bound to be pretty low :) I play a slow-tempo triangle, so a good game will be about 50 pts.

Ralph Norris, sophomore PG. 13.65 mpg: 2.2 ppg, 2.3 apg, .393 FG%, .231 3PT%, .733 FT%. WAY too many mpg for a frosh. He has some high ratings in passing and defense, and good ratings in athleticism and speed. Should be fine.

Marc Thompson, sophomore PG. 25.8 mpg: 4.1 ppg, 2.3apg, .341 FG%, .230 3PT%, .750 FT%. This jerk started .. as a SHOOTING guard... out of neccessity, and stunk up the joint, like any freshman who doesn't know an offense/defense will do. He got better as the season went on (he was something like .087% on threes for much of the season. Sadly, he will probably be my SG again next year. I've been developing his perimeter skills, and he's developing a nice touch. He is also VERY, VERY fast, which is something that's hard to teach. I was mad at him all year for his 6-7 turnover games while going 0-8 from 3, but I have the feeling I'll be pleased with him this year.

David Allman, senior SF. 26.7 mpg: 7.8 ppg, 2.6 rpg, .419 FG%, .383 3PT%. He's was my only semi-reliable outside threat last year, but his ballhandling is very suspect. He got only 0.8 apg but 2.0 TO per game. Ugh. I loathe him. Very marginal player, starting most of the games. I often bench him and play matchups with his roster slot, putting good defenders/rebounders at the SF spot, even if they can't shoot. It worked, sometimes.

Ted Starling, senior C. 18.8 mpg: 5.9 ppg, 5.0 rpg, .477 FG%, .796 FT%. I am very excited about this player. He was buried behind Chenoweth last season, and should excel as a starter. 12/10 is a possibility.

John Dufour, junior PF. 19.3 mpg: 4.7 ppg, 4.8 rpg. .408 FG%, .659 FT%. This guy is actually pretty solid. His low FG% comes from playing out of position at SF a lot. He's money in the low post, and hopefully he will be able to stay there this season.

Harold Berg, junior PF. 10.5 mpg: 1.4 ppg, 2.4 rpg. .436 FG%, .600 FT%. This is the poor man's Dufour. He's a whiner, too. He sent me email all season complaining about his minutes. He might even transfer away, which I really don't want! I tried to give him more minutes as the season went on, but they were hard to find.

Mark Basile, freshman C. He was a redshirt last year, but should find maybe 5mpg off the bench this year. He's got promise, but is currently only a mediocre rebounder and low post player. He does, however, have the passing ability of a guard, which is very big in a triangle offense. He also has elite athleticism for a big man. I'm excited about him, but moreso down the road.

My depth chart, before signings, looks like this:

PG Norris

SG Thompson

SF Allman

PF Dufour - Berg - Basile

C Starling - Berg - Basile

I have 5 sholarships, and a lot of backcourt holes. I need to think about my SF starter for next year. If I can get a true stud, I will take another hard season and start him. (Recruits love it if you promise them a start.) The easiest place to hide a poor freshman is at SF. Allman could end up starting at SG, with Thompson backing up both the PG and SG spots.

Bonus content: Here's Allman's stat page, with a CGI headshot. What a goon!

http://whatifsports.com/hd/PlayerProfile/R...amp;pid=1255100

[AHF]

Keep us in the loop on your recruiting saga this period! The emails you get from these guys are usually pretty amusing, as I recall.

[drzachary]

Keep us in the loop on your recruiting saga this period! The emails you get from these guys are usually pretty amusing, as I recall.

Yep, those are the best part! I didn't post to the Squawk this season until it was too late, but here's the best letter I got from a recruit last cycle:

"You crazy.

Patrick Harrison"

[AHF]

Yep, those are the best part! I didn't post to the Squawk this season until it was too late, but here's the best letter I got from a recruit last cycle:

"You crazy.

Patrick Harrison"

I bet he enjoyed his visit to the NF campus!