College Hoops Sim League Thread

[CuseTroop]

I didnt have any scholies either, but have a decent amount of $. I might cut someone, and try to snatch someone late.

 

[Orangepace]

I just posted a few things on the football board and thought that I might do the same here to try to help you guys out.. CuseTroop jekelish

1) Recruiting dominates everything in this game.

• Depending on the number of recruits I need, I adjust my strategy.. I typically will use some of my recruiting funds to at a minimum pay for the scouting service in my state. The more recruits I need, I will consider neighboring states as well.
• If I need 4 or more recruits, I typically will target to lock up 2-3 out of the gate. If you've used the scouting service, you definitely do NOT need to send a scout to visit the recruit. That's useless if you already have the notes. What I'll typically do is send phone calls to 3x the number of recruits I'm looking to lock up out of the gate. This is cheap and usually can help you identify who may be interested. Also, I always stay within 200 miles for this first round.
  
• After the first recruiting rollover, I usually will look to see which of the recruits I called in the first blush that I want to pursue further (usually the ones that don't have any considered schools yet or are only considering a SIM, because battling for recruits gets expensive). The ones I decide to push forward with, I send 1 campus visit. If it's a recruit that is being chased SIM, I send 2 campus visits. Again, I want to reiterate, I will usually only battle a SIM early because it's just not worth the $$$ to go after someone another human team is pursuing. Rare circumstances exist though. If going head to head for a recruit a human team is after, you have to commit right away and send 3 CVs. Yikes.
  
• After the second recruiting rollover, you usually know whether or not a recruit is interested, especially after sending CVs. If someone turns down a CV, back off, because it's just not worth the $$ to keep chasing. I don't use Home Visits. To me, they're just worthless. If I've secured my first wave of recruits, I'm off to a great start. At this point I will target recruits from the next level up (currently Division 1). I usually will send 4x as many calls to these guys. Now, here's the tricky part. Because they're D1 level, they will likely only respond with "you're on the backup option list." This is where patience kicks in and you can really start to differentiate yourself from mid-level teams. Football doesn't have this same option.
  
• At that point, I just wait and watch my "backup option list" recruits. Generally some of these will start considering other schools. If they do that, I'll generally target a few more D1 level prospects 2x phone calls. Again, it's not worth battling and you will likely always lose to a D1 school. As the recruiting periods go on, and it could be right up until the last day, if the recruit still is undecided, they'll generally reach back out to you once they're ready for you pitch. It's worthless to keep fighting for these guys until they're ready to consider you. This is how I typically score some better recruits to set my team up for the future. One thing to note though is that although they started at the D1 level, they may not really be better than guys that started looking at D2. So you should always keep searching your current level because you can find better recruits in about 40% of the circumstances.

Ask questions if you have any and I'll definitely respond. Should have gotten this up before recruiting, but I wanted to try my theory one more time and it seems to be working wonders for me right now.

 

[jekelish]

Well I've pretty much locked up my two guys, a PG and a SG. Hopefully they both sign as soon as that starts.

Annnnnd they both signed. I was torn between two point guards and made my decision based on their names. One was Terry Gregor. One was Robert Fett. Bob Fett. BOBA FETT.

I think you can guess which one I focused on, despite his inferior athleticism rating.

 

[Orangepace]

Well I've pretty much locked up my two guys, a PG and a SG. Hopefully they both sign as soon as that starts. Annnnnd they both signed. I was torn between two point guards and made my decision based on their names. One was Terry Gregor. One was Robert Fett. Bob Fett. BOBA FETT. I think you can guess which one I focused on, despite his inferior athleticism rating.

I was looking at Fett too.

 

[Orangepace]

Here we go boys! I don't expect much this season. The team I took over is good, but not entirely built the way I like to run. This should be interesting. Good luck!

 

[jekelish]

I have literally no clue what to expect from my team. We went 1-1 in the exhibition schedule, and the team average player rating is 562...but coming from D3 I have no idea how good or bad that actually is in D2.

 

[Orangepace]

jekelish CuseTroop - Looks like you guys are off to great starts at 4-2 this season! Great job.

I just pulled off a lucky win vs. a tough undefeated team to keep my streak alive. If you guys have any questions, let me know, but this season seems to be shaping up better for me than I anticipated considering I'm without my usual firepower just yet.

 

[jekelish]

4-2? Aw, man. So I lost this afternoon. Dagnabbit.

 

[jekelish]

So my team is pretty much garbage. About to be 5-15 after we lose to cusetroop's squad today. So, I'm just going to give more minutes to my two freshmen and hope they develop for next season.

 

[Orangepace]

So my team is pretty much garbage. About to be 5-15 after we lose to cusetroop's squad today. So, I'm just going to give more minutes to my two freshmen and hope they develop for next season.

Few things:

• You play a Full Court Press, but use your top 5 guys an average of 26+mpg... damn son. You're tiring your guys out. The Press will tire guys out more than the other defenses. If you're playing versus a team that plays uptempo offense, your guys will likely burn out in the first 10 mins into the second half easily. I would suggest taking 3 of your 5 starters and reducing their minutes. Choose your stars and if they have decent stamina, let them play the 24-28 min range, but take your other guys to 19-23. You'll see improved production because your guys will be more "fresh" when they're on the floor, thus improving your efficiency.
• You won't make the tourney unless you win the conference tourney, so you should adjust your target minutes to get guys that will be there next year more time this season. I wouldn't make them starters just yet, but make sure they're getting around 15 mins if they're good recruits in a season that's lost.
• Ok, shot distribution (this may piss you off but whatever):
  • Richard Wheaton should NEVER shoot threes, so adjust your 'Player Game Plan' to -2 for him. He's taken 3's in every game for you, but has a 21 PE rating. YIKES. Rule of thumb for me, if a guy has below 50 in PE, I typically don't let him shoot 3's.
    
  • Like Wheaton, you have pretty much every guy shooting 3's. You need to target some perimeter guys this coming season. You really don't have anyone that I would let consistently extend the floor on my squad. You won't get good efficiency shooting 3's.
    
  • Looking at your roster, I would suggest Michael Johnson to be the focal point of your offense going forward. Move him to PF and adjust it so that he gets the ball inside the 3 pt line and give him at least 25% of your distribution going forward. You'll like what you see. Having 83 LP really means teh guy is a beast down low.
  • Hartley should be backing up Johnson at PF, Wheaton should be your starting C.
    
  • Also, looking ahead to next season, you're going to have to make a really tough choice and that is to start planning for the future. You need to turn over this roster and balance out your classes.. Here's what I see for your roster next season (obviously without including recruits) starters left/backups right:
    • PG - Fett (he's going to be a good one)/??
      
    • SG - Inman (could also be a good one)/??
      
    • SF - Noah/Farmer - split time 50/50-ish
      
    • PF - Johnson/Hisey - split time 60/40
      
    • C - Wheaton/Spivey - split time 55/45
    • Cut before recruiting - Fenstermacher/Hartley - You need to balance classes and can only receive max recruiting money for 6 recruits, so keeping these guys won't help you in any way. Hartley doesn't suck, but you don't really have room for him. Fenster sucks.

 

[Orangepace]

For the rest of this season, I would use the lineup I posted above, but keep your two senior PGs playing PG and move Fett to backup SG behind Inman for the rest of this season. Have them split time 50/50 at SG.

 

[jekelish]

Appreciate that...I actually have barely paid attention to the strategy portion, as I'm not as invested when 10 of the 12 guys are AI recruits. I'm going to get more into it when I actually have guys I worked toward getting into the program myself, who I actually like.

Today was actually literally the first day I sat down and actually looked at the minutes and so forth, and several of the things you suggested are some things I did this morning, particularly when it comes to player minutes.

Thanks!

 

[Orangepace]

Appreciate that...I actually have barely paid attention to the strategy portion, as I'm not as invested when 10 of the 12 guys are AI recruits. I'm going to get more into it when I actually have guys I worked toward getting into the program myself, who I actually like. Today was actually literally the first day I sat down and actually looked at the minutes and so forth, and several of the things you suggested are some things I did this morning, particularly when it comes to player minutes. Thanks!

No prob man. Just wanted to try and help. Happy to answer questions if you have any. I found what works for me and it's definitely not the law of the game, but there are some generic things I wanted to get out there.

 

[Orangepace]

I'm actually surprised I'm undefeated right now. The guys left me some decent athletes, but not players that fit my system well.

 

[jekelish]

No prob man. Just wanted to try and help. Happy to answer questions if you have any. I found what works for me and it's definitely not the law of the game, but there are some generic things I wanted to get out there.

Yeah, once I get my own guys in I'm positive I'll pay much closer attention. It's always good to recruit the kinds of players you want.

For the next game I just switched things up and put my starting lineup as:

PG - Powers
SG - Fett
SF - Farmer
PF - Johnson
C - Wheaton

We'll see how that works out and if it matters in the slightest.

 

[CuseTroop]

Ahh jek, for some reason I thought you were W Alabama this whole time.

I need to spend more time on my team, but with the new job, its kind of been pushed to the back burner. I should have some time today to mess with it a little bit

 

[Orangepace]

Ahh jek, for some reason I thought you were W Alabama this whole time.

I need to spend more time on my team, but with the new job, its kind of been pushed to the back burner. I should have some time today to mess with it a little bit

I'll try and take a look and offer advise later today for you Troop.

 

[Orangepace]

Yeah, once I get my own guys in I'm positive I'll pay much closer attention. It's always good to recruit the kinds of players you want.

For the next game I just switched things up and put my starting lineup as:

PG - Powers
SG - Fett
SF - Farmer
PF - Johnson
C - Wheaton

We'll see how that works out and if it matters in the slightest.

Biggest thing that will help your production is to stop like 90% of your guys from shooting 3's.

 

[Orangepace]

CuseTroop- good luck in game 2 today! You win and you're the #1 seed out west! I am trying to put a bow on an undefeated season...

 

[CuseTroop]

CuseTroop- good luck in game 2 today! You win and you're the #1 seed out west! I am trying to put a bow on an undefeated season...

Man, I messed up... I've been starting my Senior PG all season. My JR PG started complaining about minutes late last week. I upped his playing time a little, and he told me he would prolly transfer at the end of the season. I tossed him in the starting role, and the kid is a beast. Hopefully I started him in time, and get some post season games to get his minutes up...

I should have had this kid in all season. Damn you new job!

 

[CuseTroop]

CuseTroop- good luck in game 2 today! You win and you're the #1 seed out west! I am trying to put a bow on an undefeated season...

You and me tomorrow, brotha!

 

[jekelish]

Well, I'm now 7-17. But hey, 2-2 in the last four so since actually changing some things up so, uh...small victory?

Oh well. Robert Fett has improved by 55 points so far, and I'm looking forward to getting more of my own guys in. In Boba Fett I trust.

 

[Orangepace]

Man, I messed up... I've been starting my Senior PG all season. My JR PG started complaining about minutes late last week. I upped his playing time a little, and he told me he would prolly transfer at the end of the season. I tossed him in the starting role, and the kid is a beast. Hopefully I started him in time, and get some post season games to get his minutes up...

I should have had this kid in all season. Damn you new job!

Try to get him some extra minutes vs. Rockhurst and Drury... weird that a JR would transfer.

 

[CuseTroop]

Try to get him some extra minutes vs. Rockhurst and Drury... weird that a JR would transfer.

Ya laid the beat down on me. If I can win the next two, and a game or two in the conference tourny, I have a shot at making the dance!

 

[Orangepace]

Ya laid the beat down on me. If I can win the next two, and a game or two in the conference tourny, I have a shot at making the dance!

This is getting quite interesting... Tomorrow's game should be it for the undefeated regular season...