New FBCB idea

[collegesportsfanms]

Guys, I'm getting ready to start a new dynasty, and I have an idea for it I hope you guys will like, and interact with. What I want to do is take a mid-major school, probably Butler, and make a storyline where the school was in a huge scandal involving sex and gambling and such, and they have been kicked out of their conference and forced to become an independent, then make them work to get back into a conference. What do you guys think? There would be some initial roleplaying, but not a lot, and the format would be week by week, like I started with one of my other dynasties. Let me know what you guys think, I'd like to get started on it fairly soon.

[Munsonian]

Sounds like a good idea to me, especially with Butler (Indiana resident here). I always love reading this type of dynasty, but I'm too lazy to write one. Be sure that the conference thing isn't too easy though; from what I hear at times FBCB can be very quick in moving teams around into and out of conferences.

Good luck--I'll be watching for it.

[collegesportsfanms]

I'll have limited conference movement on, and I'll have my coaching skills about average, maybe a little over. I'll drop the prestige down a lot. I'll have to do some shuffling around and move teams around a bit. I'm hoping that it takes me at least 2 or 3 years to get out of the independents.

[Munsonian]

Sounds good--I look forward to seeing it.

[collegesportsfanms]

Breaking News!!!



Butler involved in major scandal, punishments handed out



Butler University was making quite a name for themselves in men's basketball, reaching the sweet sixteen of the NCAA tournament just a couple years ago, but all that has come to a sudden halt. In news that is about as stunning as you can get, the Butler University men's basketball program has been found guilty of several violations, including gambling on their own games, throwing games, and changing school records allowing players with subpar GPAs to still play. This violation was pointed out by several coaches in the Horizon League, where Butler formerly played, and an investigation was started. The NCAA found these allegations to be true, and has handed out major sanctions. The NCAA has booted Butler from the Horizon League, forcing them into Independent status and making the Bulldogs play and earn their way back into a conference. Also, all the important administration at Butler has been fired, including the school president, athletic director, and the entire men's basketball coaching staff, including graduate coaches. A new president was announced today, as well as a new athletic director. We don't have the presidents name, but we do know that Brian Johnson of Wichita, KS has been named athletic director at Butler, and he was expected to name his men's basketball head coach later today.

(I had to play a full season in order to get things the way I wanted them. I moved Austin Peay into the Horizon League to take Butler's place, and Texas Pan-Am takes Austin Peay's place in the OVC. Also, this is a work of fiction, so any historical names that are used in this dynasty report are for fictional purposes only)

[collegesportsfanms]

Butler University Press Conference

(athletic director Brian Johnson steps up to the podium)

Ladies and gentleman, as you all know, this has been a very trying time for Butler University. I am appalled and ashamed at the previous events that happened here at this school, and I can reassure you that with me as athletic director, those things WILL NOT happen again. With that being said, I'd like to announce the newest men's basketball head coach at Butler University. He's a personal friend of mine, as we played on the same basketball team in Wichita, KS. He's an excellent coach, as has a 43-7 record in 2 years as a high school varsity coach at West High, including a state runner-up last year, and a 4th place finish his first year. I realize he's only 22 years old, but folks, so am I. Together, we will bring the athletic program, and more specifically, the mens basketball program here at Butler University back to the level where it belongs. Here he is ladies and gentlemen, your new mens basketball head coach, Mike Schaplowsky.

(cheers and applause, as Mike and Brian shake hands)

MS: First off, let me say it's an honor to have this opportunity. I was stunned when I turned on ESPN earlier this month and heard about the tragic events here. I can't promise any kind of quick turnaround, but I can promise you that we will run a tight ship here at Butler, and discipline will be the key word from this point on. Now, I'll take a few question.

reporter: Coach Schaplowsky, what is your first goal here at Butler?

MS: Well, quite simply, I want Butler University back into an actual conference within the next 3 years.

reporter: Coach, how are you going to do that? The NCAA is pretty upset with these actions, and I doubt there is a conference that will give us a chance anytime soon.

MS: It's going to be very tough, but if we earn back the respect of the NCAA, and the Horizon League, as well as other conferences, we should have no trouble getting conference status back. We'll have to do things honestly, fairly, and we'll have to prove ourselves on the court again.

reporter: Coach, what will you do to ensure the integrity of the men's basketball team at Butler?

MS: Well first of all, I am going through the roster and checking grades. If any player has an accumulative GPA of under 2.5, they are off my team. Also, if I catch anybody betting on ANY type of sporting event, or trying to throw a game, they will be kicked off the team immediately. I'm going to keep a tight watch on grades, and if anybodys grades get under 2.5, not only will they be suspended by the NCAA, but after that suspension is over, they'll get an extra game or two suspension from me. The way I see it, grades come first. You don't make the grades, you don't play.

reporter: Sounds good coach, but what if you find that a number of your players are under 2.5 as far as the GPA goes.

MS: As long as I've got 5 players, I don't care. If we have to play with 5,6,7,8 scholarship players all year, then so be it. As Brian said before, the name of the game here at Butler is discipline. All rules and regulations will be enforced to the letter.

reporter: Coach, as of now, you've got quite a roster coming back. Is it out of the question to think that you could be the first independent school to make it to the NIT, or the NCAA tournament even?

MS: It's not out of the question, but I will be shocked if we do, just because we are a target right now. We are not well like at all by the NCAA. Now if we have a good enough record, and have played enough quality opponents, then yes, anything is possible.

(at this point, Brian Johnson steps in)

BJ: Folks, me and coach Schaplowsky have a lot to do, so we're going to have to cut this short. Thank you for attending, and stick with us, as Butler men's basketball is looking forward to a bright future.

(cheers and applause as Brian and Mike leave)

[collegesportsfanms]

(I walk into my new office, where Brian Johnson is waiting for me, with a not so pleasant look on his face.)

MS: What's up buddy? Am I getting the ax already?

BJ: (throws a paper at me) Just shut up and read!

(I grab the paper, take a seat, and begin to read)

The Butler Herald

Editoral by Jarrett Burns



A Travesty of Justice



OK, so everybody knows about the problems of Butler University. They lying, cheating, and gambling scandal. This, no doubt, is a travesty for a great mens basketball program that was taking a great stride. The decision to eject them from the Horizon Conference and make them an independent is no doubt a good one. Firing the university president, athletic directory, and mens basketball coaching staff is good as well. But folks, there is another major travesty of justice here: Butler University still has a mens basketball team. Now, tell me, how does a team that committed these type of crimes, yes, I say crimes, still be able to play basketball with no sanctions? No postseason ban, no scholarship losses, nothing. Hell, these guys can schedule 28 teams with an RPI of 200 or higher, win them all, and get a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Ridiculous! Butler should not be allowed to play basketball for at least 2 years, should not be able to play in the postseason for at least 5 years, and shouldn't be allowed back into a conference for at least 10 years. Also, what is it with the decision to hire a 22 year old athletic director, and a 22 year old head coach? Absolutely absurd! I hope Butler wins 1 game this season, and both this coach, what's his name, Skapowski or something like that, and athletic director Johnson get the boot. Let's get some older, experienced guys to lead the way, not these 22 year old punk kids who don't know the first thing about their position. I for one, will NOT be watching our mens' basketball team this year, as they don't deserve the attention. Neither should any of you fellow students.

(I throw the paper down, and knock a coffee cup off my desk)

MS: What in the hell is this??!!! This is bull crap!

BJ: We've got a long way to go Mike, a long way.

MS: What's that punk reporters name? Burns? (I stand up) It's time to have a meeting with Mr. Jarrett Burns

(at this point, Brian steps in front of me and throws me on the couch)

BJ: No no no! You're not leaving this room until you calm your butt down! If you go after him, everything he said in that article will just be proved. You gotta beat him. Let's go out, schedule some teams, and win some games. that'll shut him up.

MS: It better shut him up, or I got something that will.

BJ: (chuckles) Man, will you chill? I'm glad you weren't like this when we were at West High. You'd have gotten kicked out of every single damn game. Let's go have a coffee or something.

(I leave the room, taking one last look at the article before spitting on it.)

Folks, I won't give you a lot of roleplay in my dynasty reports, but this was too perfect to pass up. Think about it, a school reporter who absolutely trashes us after what happened. I will have followups on this, and anybody who wants to throw their 2 cents in, or play a character, feel free.

[collegesportsfanms]

May 2003:

Assistant coach period

I've asked 2 of my friends to come on as coaches. Shannon Elliott will be my recruiting coordinator. I've known him for several years, and he's my best friend. He has a way with words, so hopefully he'll be able to convince some solid recruits to Butler. My buddy from West High, Matt McCrary, is on as my head assistant coach. And to round out the coaching staff will be our scouting director, Larry Gruber. Here are the personals on each of these fine coaches.

Code:

COACH DETAILS

Shannon Elliott - Recruiting Coordinator - Butler
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Age: 22
High School: Lebanon High School
Hometown: Lebanon, OR
Alma Mater: University of Oregon

Current Level: 0
Career Record: 0 - 0
Salary: $30,000

Recruiting: 34
Scouting: 21
Offense: 32
Defense: 13

Coaching History:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Season Team Position W L CW CL Postseason
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Awards & Achievements:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Season Award
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No awards won.

Job Movement:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Season Move
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2003 Hired by Butler (Assistant)



Code:

COACH DETAILS

Larry Gruber - Lead Scout - Butler
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Age: 48
High School: Clear Lake High School
Hometown: Lakeport, CA
Alma Mater: Florida

Current Level: 1
Career Record: 0 - 0
Salary: $50,000

Recruiting: 1
Scouting: 43
Offense: 16
Defense: 60

Coaching History:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Season Team Position W L CW CL Postseason
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Awards & Achievements:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Season Award
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No awards won.

Job Movement:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Season Move
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2003 Hired by Butler (Assistant)



Code:

COACH DETAILS

Matt McCrary - Coaching Assistant - Butler
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Age: 22
High School: Wichita West High School
Hometown: Wichita, KS
Alma Mater: Clark Atlanta University

Current Level: 0
Career Record: 0 - 0
Salary: $30,000

Recruiting: 22
Scouting: 21
Offense: 12
Defense: 45

Coaching History:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Season Team Position W L CW CL Postseason
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Awards & Achievements:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Season Award
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No awards won.

Job Movement:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Season Move
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2003 Hired by Butler (Assistant)



Hopefully these guys can help me win a few games.

As expected, we were shut out from any preseason tourneys. Has an independent team ever been invited to a preseason tourney? Well, maybe as the lowest seed in the preseason NIT, as a whooping post to Duke or Kansas or something. Anyways, now it's time to get busy on scheduling.

[Marmel]

Nice, I do something very similar in my solo dynasty(s). It works best if you edit the team down before starting a new league, that way all of your players reflect the players a true 0 prestige team would have. If you start the game then edit prestige, you get decent players and it makes it quite a bit easier. I learned from experience. Good luck.

[collegesportsfanms]

Marmel, I've read your dynasties before, they are great. I actually went through and picked the best 5 players from the team, and cut them. Hopefully it will be a greater challenge since I've done that. I'm scheduling some pretty tough teams too, but if I find it is still too easy, I'll do some more editing.

[collegesportsfanms]

June 2003:

One of the problems with being an independent school is that the scheduling sucks! We have 28 games to schedule, and only 10 of those games can be at home. We were offered 2 road and 2 home games this month. I have declined the road game at Miami-Ohio, and accepted home and home series with IUPUI and IPFW. I also accepted a road game against Eastern Michigan. There are 7 other universities in Indiana, besides us and IUPUI, and I'm going to try to play them all this year. I'm also going to try and play all of the other independent schools at least once. So with that being said, I've sent out offers to play the following schools: Ball St., Indiana St., Indiana, Purdue, Evansville, Notre Dame, Valparaiso, Centenary, Gardner Webb, Lipscomb, Morris Brown, Savannah St. and Texas A&M CC. I don't expect all of those schools to accept, but I'm hoping 75% of them will.

July 2003: All of the teams accepted my offers, except for 5: Indiana St., Ball St., Evansville, Purdue, and Gardner-Webb. Gardner-Webb says they are looking for more challenging games. Can you believe the nerve? And the other schools just weren't willing to play us at home, which I can understand. So I'll offer home games to Evansville, Purdue, Indiana St., and Ball St. I also received offers from Washington St., SE Missouri St., San Francisco, San Diego, Missouri, and Northern Iowa. I accepted all of them.

It is time for the recruiting period, and although we have 5 scholarships to offer, we have been told that we can only fill 3 of those scholarships. We were only allowed to have 10 players on our team this year, and we lose 2 scholarships each in the next 3 years, (sanctions handed out by me, not the game). We'll look to sign a PG, SG, and PF, since we have seniors graduating at those positions this year. I filled our call list with 20 players, all 1 star recruits with very high interest, except for 2 players that are 2 star recruits. I figure the best we are going to get is a 2 star, if we're lucky. Next month I'll send Shannon out on the actual recruting trail.

[collegesportsfanms]

August 2003:

Purdue, Lamar, and Wichita St. all accepted my offers to play them, so I've still got 8 games left to fill. I sent out offers to play Gardner-Webb again, as well as UMBC and North Texas. I also sent an offer out to play Hawaii.

Recruiting:

I've sent Shannon out to visit 2 players, and I'm visiting one myself in Kansas. It'll be a chance for me to go back home, at least for a day.

September 2003:

Gardner-Webb accepted our offer this time, although we have to go to their place. North Texas declined, as they don't want to go on the road anymore this season, and we'll take trips to Hawaii and UMBC. I still have 5 games to fill, so I sent out offers to Maine and California. Those were the only 2 teams who seemed to have spots remaining on their schedule.

Recruiting:

Jose Jordan from here in Indiana is very interested in us, and has us as his #2 right now, so I'll go visit him this month and offer him a scholarship. Also, Friedhelm Friedrich from Germany has us as his #1, so I called him to offer him a scholarship. We've offered a campus visit to Dennis Alex, as he's been blowing up my phone wanting to visit. If he is impressed and keeps us as his #1 after the visit, he'll get a scholarship offer as well.

October 2003:

Maine and California accepted our offers, and I'm struggling to fill our last 3 games. I guess the NCAA will have to fill the rest of our schedule for us. Another problem with being an independent, it's tough to fill the schedule because all the conference teams have their conference season to worry about, and trying to schedule 28 games in about 3 and a half months is just too tough.

Recruiting:

We are still #1 as far as Friedrich is concerned, and now Jordan has us as his #1 too. The visit with Alex went beautifully, and he now has a scholarship offer on the table. Also, I've made a bid to the NCAA to be able to use 1 more of our scholarships for the year, I'll hear back on that in a month or so. I let Shannon go home to Oregon to visit PG Dominick Herd this month, as he is very interested in us and has us as his #1. Also, I went to visit Marcus Bordeaux. We still have $3500 in our recruiting budget this month, so I'm going to take a chance and look at some 3 star players, just for the heck of it. I gave a look to PG Jesus Eskew, and went to visit him. I'm not expecting much, as we aren't even in his top 5, but it's worth a try. Stranger things have happened.

November 2003:

I just got an email from Shannon saying that Dennis Alex has signed with us! So I've managed to pick up my first commitment before I even coach my first game. Here are the numbers on Dennis:

[/code]
RECRUIT DETAILS

#25 PF Dennis Alex
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Height: 6'10"
Weight: 241
High School: North Putnam Senior High School
Hometown: Roachdale, IN
GPA: 2.55
Test Score: 910
Rating: *

Attributes:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Type INS JPS FTS 3PS HND PAS ORB DRB PSD PRD STL BLK PFS QKN STR JMP STA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Current: 29 17 46 16 13 18 28 51 30 32 56 22 69 15 50 49 0
Potential: B F C D D D D C C A A D

Season Stats:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PTS OREB REB AST TOS A/T STL BLK PFS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.0 1.0 6.1 1.1 3.1 0.34 2.1 1.1 2.2

Shooting Averages:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FGM FGA FG% FTM FTA FT% 3PM 3PA 3P%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.8 6.8 .407 1.4 1.9 .711 0.1 1.2 .083

Recruiting Notes:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Qualified: Yes
Committed to Butler
Rankings: None
High School Awards: None
Top 5 Schools: *Butler, IUPUI, Chicago State, Morgan State, Binghamton
Code:


More great news, as Jesus Eskew now has us as his #2, so I'll send Shannon to visit him. Also, the NCAA has accepted our request for an additional scholarship, so guess who's getting a scholarship offer? That's right, Mr. Eskew is. No new news on Jose Jordan or Friedhelm Freidrich, as we are still the only school to offer them a scholarship.

The season begins this month, and as usual, I'll do my week by week report where I give wrap-ups on all 8 preseason tournaments, as well as reports on our games during the week, and upsets, near-upsets. Anything else you guys would like to see? Let me know.

[Munsonian]

Good read so far--I'll be following. The first time I ever played this game was with IPFW, and I quit for the sole reason of it taking too long to schedule all of those games.

Best of luck.

[collegesportsfanms]

Nov 10, 2003

I walk into my office, where my athletic director Brian Johnson is sitting, with a stunned look on his face.

MS: What's up dude? Another nasty article?

BJ: Well... (he hands me a piece of paper and I look at it)

Code:

Top 25 Poll

# School FPV Record Points Previous
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Arizona (54) 0-0 1782 NR
2. Kansas (6) 0-0 1697 NR
3. Syracuse (12) 0-0 1664 NR
4. Brigham Young 0-0 1611 NR
5. Oregon 0-0 1495 NR
6. Maryland 0-0 1460 NR
7. North Carolina 0-0 1363 NR
8. Wake Forest 0-0 1261 NR
9. Illinois 0-0 1210 NR
10. Connecticut 0-0 1058 NR
11. Kentucky 0-0 999 NR
12. Gonzaga 0-0 998 NR
13. Notre Dame 0-0 979 NR
14. Georgia 0-0 894 NR
15. Texas 0-0 874 NR
16. Duke 0-0 788 NR
17. Stanford 0-0 568 NR
18. Virginia 0-0 509 NR
19. Oklahoma 0-0 433 NR
20. Florida 0-0 423 NR
21. Missouri 0-0 396 NR
22. Butler 0-0 366 NR
23. UCLA 0-0 269 NR
24. Southern California 0-0 178 NR
25. Iowa State 0-0 67 NR

Others Receiving Votes:
Tulsa 0-0 50
Temple 0-0 4
Indiana 0-0 2
Tennessee 0-0 1
Utah 0-0 1



MS: Whoa! Is this what I think it is?

BJ: Yep, those are this years preseason rankings.

MS: (I drop my water bottle on the floor, and water proceeds to spill everywhere) Holy crap! How in the hell?

BJ: Well, I made a few calls, and from what I can gather, most of the preseason rankings are figured by the previous season. Since we did so good, even though we had all the troubles, I guess they felt we were good enough to be ranked to start the season.

MS: That's crazy. I bet we'll be out in a couple weeks though.

BJ: Quite possibly.

On a serious note, I can't figure out how the hell an independent team is ranked in the top 25, in the preseason no less! Anybody have any ideas?

[collegesportsfanms]

Well, we've got 10 players on this years roster, and our schedule is complete. So let's have a look, shall we?

Code:

Butler Roster

# Name Pos Cl Ht Wt Hometown
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21 Brandon Miller PG Sr 6' 0" 170 Bunker Hill, IN
52 Avery Sheets PG Fr 6' 0" 170 Terre Haute, IN
35 Bruce Horan SG Fr 6' 3" 180 Bluffton, IN
30 Jeff James SF Fr 6' 6" 200 Gillespie, IL
10 Mike Monserez SG Jr 6' 6" 225 Lowell, IN
22 Ben Grunst C Jr 7' 0" 300 Aurora, IN
1 Mike Moore PF Sr 6'10" 220 Richmond, IL
33 Andy Grunst PF Fr 6' 8" 220 Fulton, IN
45 Rob Walls SG Sr 6' 5" 205 Greensburg, IN
5 Ryan Reynolds PG Jr 5'10" 170 Posen, MI



Code:

Butler Player Offense Attributes

Name Pos Ht Wt Ins Jps 3ps Hnd Pas Reb Qkn Str Jmp Sta
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brandon Miller PG 6' 0" 170 38 69 72 82 45 5 70 32 49 100
Avery Sheets PG 6' 0" 170 33 63 65 80 29 11 69 31 40 63
Bruce Horan SG 6' 3" 180 30 59 60 79 18 12 56 36 50 50
Jeff James SF 6' 6" 200 41 59 0 58 7 39 51 46 51 35
Mike Monserez SG 6' 6" 225 31 68 67 69 45 38 47 51 52 100
Ben Grunst C 7' 0" 300 41 38 0 67 2 45 33 68 41 25
Mike Moore PF 6'10" 220 50 40 0 72 7 40 36 53 44 25
Andy Grunst PF 6' 8" 220 41 36 14 67 3 37 38 58 43 25
Rob Walls SG 6' 5" 205 42 38 0 65 6 20 50 39 52 50
Ryan Reynolds PG 5'10" 170 46 0 0 76 6 9 59 28 41 50



Code:

Butler Player Defense Attributes

Name Pos Ht Wt PsD PrD Stl Blk Reb PFs Qkn Str Jmp Sta
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brandon Miller PG 6' 0" 170 17 44 39 4 27 60 70 32 49 100
Avery Sheets PG 6' 0" 170 16 53 45 2 22 78 69 31 40 63
Bruce Horan SG 6' 3" 180 24 34 31 10 26 79 56 36 50 50
Jeff James SF 6' 6" 200 28 16 31 26 36 44 51 46 51 35
Mike Monserez SG 6' 6" 225 28 44 41 0 46 52 47 51 52 100
Ben Grunst C 7' 0" 300 40 11 25 49 39 67 33 68 41 25
Mike Moore PF 6'10" 220 39 15 28 46 42 39 36 53 44 25
Andy Grunst PF 6' 8" 220 46 26 28 31 41 75 38 58 43 25
Rob Walls SG 6' 5" 205 24 37 37 10 27 57 50 39 52 50
Ryan Reynolds PG 5'10" 170 15 37 34 6 18 88 59 28 41 50



So there is a look at our roster, now here is our schedule for the 2003-2004 season:

Code:

Butler 2003 Season Schedule

Date Opponent Result Record
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11/21/03 San Diego (0-0)
11/23/03 at Southeast Missouri State (0-0)
11/27/03 Missouri (0-0)
12/02/03 at Notre Dame (0-0)
12/10/03 at Indiana (0-0)
12/12/03 at Washington State (0-0)
12/15/03 Centenary (0-0)
12/19/03 Texas Christian (0-0)
12/22/03 Morris Brown (0-0)
12/27/03 at IUPUI (0-0)
12/31/03 San Francisco (0-0)
01/03/04 at Northern Iowa (0-0)
01/06/04 Valparaiso (0-0)
01/09/04 at Maine (0-0)
01/15/04 at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (0-0)
01/19/04 at Purdue (0-0)
01/23/04 at Hawaii (0-0)
01/29/04 at Wichita State (0-0)
02/02/04 at California (0-0)
02/05/04 Lamar (0-0)
02/15/04 IPFW (0-0)
02/17/04 Eastern Michigan (0-0)
02/25/04 UNLV (0-0)
02/27/04 at Gardner Webb (0-0)
02/29/04 New Mexico State (0-0)
03/03/04 at UMBC (0-0)
03/08/04 Lipscomb (0-0)
03/11/04 Savannah State (0-0)



After talking with Matt, I've decided on the starting lineup for the first game against San Diego.

C- Ben Grunst
PF- Mike Moore
SF- Mike Monserez
SG- Avery Sheets
PG- Brandon Miller

Our strategy is as follows:

Pace: 5, Motion: 2 3P Usage: 7

Since we seem to have so many strong shooters, our offensive focus will be the perimeter game.

On defense, we'll try a 2-3 zone, it will be a lost less tiring on our guys than straight man.

[collegesportsfanms]

Week of Nov. 10-16

The only thing going on this week is the coaches vs cancer classic, which is now a 16 team tournament, much like the preseason NIT, and all games will be played during this first week, with the first round on Monday, the quaterfinals on Wednesday, the semifinals on Friday, and the championship on Sunday. Here are the seeds for this tournament.

Code:

2003 Coaches Invitational

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seeds
1. Texas
2. Stanford
3. Fresno State
4. Iowa
5. Southern California
6. Mississippi State
7. Louisville
8. South Florida
9. College of Charleston
10. Baylor
11. Marshall
12. Murray State
13. Southwest Missouri State
14. James Madison
15. Northwestern
16. Cornell





Here are the first round results from Monday, November 10th.

#15 Texas- 105 Cornell- 67
#17 Stanford- 87 Northwestern- 68
James Madison- 76 Fresno St.- 73
Iowa- 94 Southwest Missouri St.- 63
#24 USC- 83 Murray St.- 58
Mississippi St.- 92 Marshall- 76
Louisville- 72 Baylor- 65
College of Charleston- 70 S. Florida- 68

The quarterfinal matchups for Wednesday the 12th look like this:

#15 Texas vs. College of Charleston
#17 Stanford vs. Louisville
James Madison vs. Mississippi St.
Iowa vs. #24 USC

Here are the results of those games:

College of Charleston- 87 #15 Texas- 83
#17 Stanford- 83 Louisville- 71
James Madison- 75 Mississippi St.- 72
#24 USC- 84 Iowa- 68

So James Madison is clearly the surprise of the tournament thus far, as the matchups for Friday the 14th are set:

College of Charleston vs. #24 USC
#17 Stanford vs. James Madison

As expected, James Madisons run comes to an end, as they are thoroughly embarassed by Stanford, 78-47. And it will be an all Pac-10 championship as USC got by Charleston 88-78.

Coaches Classic championship

#17 Stanford vs. #24 USC

USC runs through the tournament with ease, pounding Stanford 86-68. Congratulations to them.

Here are the rankings for the week of Nov. 17-23

Code:

Top 25 Poll

# School FPV Record Points Previous
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Kansas (71) 1-0 1799 2
2. Arizona 0-0 1706 1
3. Syracuse (1) 0-0 1623 3
4. Brigham Young 0-0 1562 4
5. North Carolina 1-0 1480 7
6. Oregon 0-0 1421 5
7. Maryland 0-0 1364 6
8. Wake Forest 1-0 1357 8
9. Kentucky 1-0 1239 11
10. Southern California 4-0 1089 24
11. Connecticut 0-0 1044 10
12. Gonzaga 0-0 1013 12
13. Notre Dame 0-0 994 13
14. Duke 0-0 928 16
15. Virginia 0-0 668 18
16. Oklahoma 0-0 589 19
17. Florida 0-0 574 20
18. Tulsa 1-0 574 NR
19. Missouri 0-0 537 21
20. Butler 0-0 444 22
21. UCLA 0-0 335 23
22. Stanford 3-1 309 17
23. Texas 1-1 249 15
24. Tennessee 1-0 155 NR
25. Illinois 0-1 106 9

Others Receiving Votes:
Iowa State 0-0 96
Michigan State 1-0 73
Georgia 0-1 29
St. John's 1-0 18
Temple 0-0 8
Indiana 0-0 6
Miami 1-0 5
Utah 0-0 4
Cincinnati 0-0 1
Oklahoma State 0-0 1



I just don't understand it, an independent team SHOULD NOT be ranked in the top 20, even if I did manually make them an independent. I may have to edit everybodys stats so that this team doesn't get the respect it's getting. In any case, we have 2 games next week, as we host San Diego and travel to SE Missouri St. Look for that report probably tomorrow, as I am pretty tired, and not sure if I want to deal with the hassle of coaching 2 games tonight.

[collegesportsfanms]

Guys, I have a question. Somebody on this message board thinks that I should lower the ratings of the players so that they look more like the ratings of players on an independent team. I thought that maybe I would do this, seeing as how Butler is already ranked 20th in the polls, but I'm not sure what ratings of what players I should drop. anybody want to look at my player ratings from a previous post, and give me some advice?

[collegesportsfanms]

Week of Nov. 17-23

There is one preseason tournament to tell you about, as well as 2 games for Butler this week. First let's talk about the Top of the World Invitational, and here are the seeds for that.

Code:

2003 Top of the World Invitational

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seeds
1. Florida
2. Syracuse
3. Oklahoma State
4. Utah
5. Virginia
6. Vanderbilt
7. Marquette
8. Southern Methodist



In the first day of action:

(1) Florida- 89 ( SMU- 54
(5) Virginia- 87 (4) Utah- 66
(3) Oklahoma St.- 97 (6) Vanderbilt- 67
(2) Syracuse- 92 (7) Marquette- 57

In day 2:

Consolation games:

Utah- 92 SMU- 63
Vanderbilt- 81 Marquette- 80

Winners Bracket Semifinals:

Florida- 85 Virginia- 79
Syracuse- 88 Oklahoma St.- 76

Here is the final day of action:

7th place game- SMU- 68 Marquette- 56
5th place game- Vanderbilt- 75 Utah- 64
3rd place game- Oklahoma St.- 91 Virginia- 83
Championship game- Syracuse- 85 Florida- 67

Congratulations to Syracuse on the tournament victory

We had 2 games this week, first hosting San Diego. We really took care of business in that game, led by some hot shooting by my starting SF Mike Monserez, who had 32 points on 10-13 shooting, and 8-9 three pointers. Wow, that kid can shoot! As a team we shot 53.1% from the field, and did a great job taking care of the ball, committing only 7 turnovers. We won the game by an 83-72 margin.

Our second game we traveled to SE Missouri State, expecting an easy blowout, but what we got was much more than we expected. They actually controlled the game for the most part, leading 47-43 at halftime. Monserez started to heat up in the second half, but we were unable to stop their PG Derek Winans, who had 30 points. We got a big break late in the game however. Winans had just hit a three to put them up by 2, then he decided to taunt our bench. The officials caught him, gave him a technical, and we made both free throws, and worse for them, that was the fifth foul on Winans. They battled however, taking a 2 point lead with 11 seconds left. We were bailed out by Bruce Horan though, who had a great look at a three pointer from the top of the key, and nailed it as the buzzer went off, and we escaped with an 81-80 victory. Definitely a MUCH tougher game than it probably should have been. We moved up to 13th in the polls, and through our first 2 games, Monserez is averaging 32 points a game. He actually has hit the 32 point mark in each game, and we are averaging just 7.5 turnovers a game. Here is a look at the latest polls for the week:

Code:

Top 25 Poll

# School FPV Record Points Previous
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Arizona (69) 2-0 1796 2
2. Syracuse (3) 3-0 1711 3
3. Maryland 2-0 1658 7
4. Oregon 2-0 1600 6
5. Connecticut 2-0 1437 11
6. Wake Forest 2-0 1419 8
7. Kansas 2-0 1403 1
8. Duke 1-0 1308 14
9. Gonzaga 3-0 1175 12
10. Kentucky 1-0 1084 9
11. Southern California 4-0 1070 10
12. Oklahoma 1-0 1004 16
13. Butler 2-0 969 20
14. Notre Dame 0-0 929 13
15. Temple 2-0 698 NR
16. Stanford 4-1 674 22
17. Indiana 1-0 606 NR
18. North Carolina 2-1 604 5
19. UCLA 0-0 478 21
20. Tulsa 2-0 394 18
21. Michigan State 2-0 376 NR
22. Brigham Young 0-1 260 4
23. Miami 2-0 171 NR
24. Missouri 1-1 137 19
25. Illinois 1-2 132 25

Others Receiving Votes:
Boston College 2-0 65
Georgia 1-1 63
George Washington 1-0 60
Texas 1-1 54
Minnesota 2-1 31
Troy State 1-0 9
Colorado 3-0 8
California 2-0 6
Mississippi 3-0 5
Cincinnati 2-0 3
Memphis 2-0 3



Although we are getting respect in the polls, the RPI doesn't respect us, as we have an 80 rpi early on. Still outstanding for an independent team. Although we only have one game next week, a home game against #24 Missouri, the report will be big, as we've got 2 full preseason tournaments to cover, plus the first 2 rounds of the NIT. I'm sure all you loyal readers are looking forward to it.

[collegesportsfanms]

Week of Nov. 24-30

This is the biggest report that you guys will probably see, as we cover 3 preseason tournaments, plus the first 2 rounds of the preseason NIT. We also played one game this week, but I'll tell you about that later. First lets cover the Las Vegas Invitiational, and here are the seeds for it:

Code:

2003 Las Vegas Invitational

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seeds
1. Duke
2. UCLA
3. St. John's
4. Miami
5. Oregon
6. Wisconsin
7. Kent State
8. Hofstra



In day 1 action:

Duke- 100 Hofstra- 60
UCLA- 73 Kent St.- 56
Wisconsin- 80 St. Johns- 76
Oregon- 94 Miami- 62

Day 2 saw these results:

consolation games:

Miami- 105 Hofstra- 65
St. Johns- 76 Kent St.- 73

winners bracket games:

Duke- 75 Oregon- 72
UCLA- 77 Wisconsin- 59

day 3:

7th place game: Hofstra- 88 Kent St.- 66
5th place game: St. Johns- 86 Miami- 82
3rd place game: Wisconsin- 96 Oregon- 89
championship game: Duke- 94 UCLA- 81

So the Duke Blue Devils win the Las Vegas Invitational, and now we get set to talk about the Maui Inviational, always a fun tournament.



Code:

2003 Maui Shootout

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seeds
1. Kentucky
2. Cincinnati
3. Indiana
4. Brigham Young
5. North Carolina
6. Charlotte
7. Louisiana State
8. Arizona State



Day 1 games:

Kentucky- 85 Arizona St.- 47
Cincinnati- 78 LSU- 65
Charlotte- 73 Indiana- 62
BYU- 75 North Carolina- 73

Day 2 games:

consolation games:

Arizona St- 101 North Carolina- 95
LSU- 77 Indiana- 74

winners bracket games:

BYU- 95 Kentucky- 87
Cincinnati- 91 Charlotte- 73

Day 3 games:

7th place game: North Carolina- 69 Indiana- 58
5th place game: LSU- 81 Arizona St.- 64
3rd place game: Kentucky- 69 Charlotte- 55
championship game: Cincinnati- 91 BYU- 77

So Cincinnati returns from Maui with the championship, and now we go from one extreme to the other, as we head to Alaska for the Great Alaska Shootout.

Code:

2003 Great Alaska Classic

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seeds
1. Kansas
2. Oklahoma
3. Maryland
4. Tennessee
5. Notre Dame
6. Dayton
7. Bowling Green
8. Providence




Day 1 action:

Kansas- 100 Providence- 66
Oklahoma- 113 Bowling Green- 53
Maryland- 97 Dayton- 72
Tennessee- 84 Notre Dame- 74

Day 2 action:

consolation games:

Dayton- 95 Bowling Green- 82
Notre Dame- 100 Providence- 52

winners bracket games:

Oklahoma- 86 Maryland- 77
Kansas- 99 Tennessee- 87

Day 3 games:

7th place game: Providence- 101 Bowling Green- 75
5th place game: Notre Dame- 71 Dayton- 68
3rd place game: Maryland- 90 Tennessee- 84
championship game: Kansas- 90 Oklahoma- 78

Alright Kansas! Way to go into Alaska and get a title. Now, we have to cover the first 2 rounds of the preseason NIT, and here are those seedings:

Code:

2003 Preseason NIT

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seeds
1. Arizona
2. Illinois
3. Michigan State
4. Arkansas
5. California
6. Villanova
7. Ball State
8. Texas Christian
9. Richmond
10. Ohio
11. Michigan
12. Bradley
13. Iona
14. Texas-San Antonio
15. Nevada
16. Northwestern State




Here are the first round results: (keep in mind this tournament is only single elimination)

Arizona- 91 Northwestern State- 38
Illinois- 98 Nevada- 67
Michigan St.- 85 Texas-San Antonio- 63
Arkansas- 68 Iona- 58
California- 77 Bradley- 59
Villanova- 72 Michigan- 55
Ohio- 78 Ball St.- 64
TCU- 69 Richmond- 54

And here are the quarterfinal results:

Arizona- 98 TCU- 46
Illinois- 70 Ohio- 59
Michigan St.- 68 Villanova- 52
Arkansas- 68 California- 66

so here are the semifinal matchups for next week:

Arizona vs. Arkansas
Illinois vs. Michigan St.

Should be some good games, as the top 4 seeds hold true to form, and make the semifinals.

Now, we had one game this week, as we hosted 24th ranked Missouri. And let me tell you, we played a first half that I would already like to forget. We gave up 69 first half points to Missouri, and let them shoot almost 70%, while committing 16 turnovers. At one point, we were also being outrebounded 14-3. It's very hard to win games that way, as we were down 69-38 at halftime. The second half was a much better story, as we came out and pressed and trapped the entire half, and really slowed down the tempo. We only committed 3 second half turnovers, ending the game with 19. At one point, we also forced them into 4 turnovers in a row, and we went on 2 different 6-0 runs forcing them to use timeouts. The second half was actually won by us, as we outscored the Tigers 23-21, but lost in convincing fashion, 90-61. Still though, I think we made great strides against a top 25 team. Who knows what would have happened had I made those adjustments earlier in the game. Brandon Miller was actually our leading scorer with 11 points. Mike Monserez only had 6 points, after back to back 32 point efforts. As expected, we are out of the rankings now, but we still managed to receive 5 votes, putting us in the honorable mention category of the polls. Speaking of, here is a look at those polls for the week of Dec. 1-7:



Code:

Top 25 Poll

# School FPV Record Points Previous
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Arizona (60) 4-0 1788 1
2. Kansas (6) 5-0 1713 7
3. Syracuse (6) 3-0 1682 2
4. Wake Forest 3-0 1584 6
5. Duke 5-0 1508 8
6. Connecticut 3-0 1368 5
7. Southern California 7-0 1330 11
8. Maryland 4-1 1305 3
9. Gonzaga 5-0 1264 9
10. Brigham Young 3-2 1118 22
11. Tulsa 4-0 987 20
12. Stanford 5-1 956 16
13. Texas 3-1 931 NR
14. Oregon 3-2 819 4
15. Missouri 3-1 659 24
16. Georgia 3-1 620 NR
17. Cincinnati 5-0 609 NR
18. Florida 3-1 584 NR
19. Illinois 3-2 466 25
20. Notre Dame 2-1 418 14
21. Michigan State 4-0 310 21
22. Temple 2-0 296 15
23. Georgia Tech 2-0 251 NR
24. Iowa State 4-1 236 NR
25. Oklahoma 3-1 183 12

Others Receiving Votes:
North Carolina 3-3 135
Kentucky 3-2 132
Boston College 3-0 68
North Carolina State 2-0 38
Mississippi 4-0 19
Illinois-Chicago 3-0 11
Butler 2-1 5
UCLA 2-1 4
Troy State 4-0 3



There are no preseason tournaments to cover next week, and we only have 1 game, at #20 Notre Dame. More than likely it'll be another loss, but we'll certainly play better than we did against Missouri. Next week I'll talk about upsets and near upsets as they happen.

[collegesportsfanms]

Recruiting report for December:

Well, I got the news that I expected, as Shannon Elliott told me that Jesus Eskew decided to sign with Southern Illinois. I can't really blame him, I knew getting him would be a longshot. So, let's look at the recruiting actions for December.

We still have Jose Jordan and Friedhelm Friedrich as our highest rated interest, both at 2 stars. I sent Shannon out to Germany to visit Friedhelm, and I went to visit Jose. I still have $2000 of recruiting money left for the month, so I made a stop in Ohio to visit Cary Hibbert. I also offered him the scholarship that Jesus turned down. Hopefully I can get Jose and Friedhelm signed soon.

[collegesportsfanms]

Week of Dec. 1-7

Monday Dec. 1, 2003

#20 Notre Dame- 82 Butler- 46

We had one game this week, a road game against #20 Notre Dame. And I really thought we'd play better than we did against Missouri, especially after outplaying the Tigers in the second half. Boy was I wrong! Actually, we didn't play terrible. We just are so short on players, and we are so aggressive defensively, and get called for a lot of fouls. So our guys back off defensively, and give up easy baskets. It's just hard to win games when opponents shoot over 50%. Us shooting 26.8% doesn't help either. On a positive note, we forced 16 Irish turnovers. So we can play defense, we just can't do it consistently. We do have a lot of easy games coming up, and still have to play some pretty tough teams. I really expect this team to be able to play .500 ball, or better. We were led in scoring by PG Brandon Miller, and SF Mike Monserez had 7 rebounds. He just can't seem to find his groove now though. After 2 straight 32 point efforts, he scored 7 against Missouri, and now only 6 tonight. Gotta get him going again. We have 8 days off before we travel to Indiana, which will be another toughie.

Preseason NIT:

The semifinals and finals of the preseason NIT were played this week, and here are those results.

Semifinals:

Arizona- 82 Arkansas- 60
Illinois- 72 Michigan St.- 59

Championship Game:

Arizona- 81 Illinois- 68

The Wildcats of Arizona were never really tested in this preseason NIT, running through it with relative ease, as they continue rolling through their season thus far.

Top 25 upsets:

Keep in mind guys, that my definition of an upset, for the purposes of this dynasty, is simply an unranked team beating a ranked team. While it may not really be an upset, in this dynasty report it will be.

On the 1st, Tennessee beat then #4 Wake Forest 86-80. Wake Forest is now ranked 8th.

That looks to be the only major top 25 upset this week. There are a few possibilities for potential upsets next week however. As expected, we're now out of the rankings completely. Hopefully we can win at Indiana and build somewhat of a winning streak. Here are the polls for the week of Dec. 8-14:

Code:

Top 25 Poll

# School FPV Record Points Previous
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Arizona (59) 6-0 1787 1
2. Kansas (8) 7-0 1727 2
3. Syracuse (5) 5-0 1670 3
4. Duke 7-0 1566 5
5. Connecticut 5-0 1481 6
6. Maryland 5-1 1455 8
7. Southern California 9-0 1333 7
8. Wake Forest 5-1 1217 4
9. Notre Dame 4-1 1170 20
10. Brigham Young 4-2 1153 10
11. Oregon 5-2 1076 14
12. Texas 4-1 1012 13
13. Cincinnati 7-0 938 17
14. Georgia 4-1 729 16
15. Gonzaga 6-1 723 9
16. Missouri 4-1 599 15
17. Kentucky 5-2 531 NR
18. Georgia Tech 3-0 517 23
19. North Carolina 5-3 482 NR
20. Boston College 4-0 431 NR
21. Oklahoma 4-1 407 25
22. Iowa State 5-1 372 24
23. Mississippi 5-0 230 NR
24. UCLA 3-1 209 NR
25. Oklahoma State 4-1 136 NR

Others Receiving Votes:
Florida 5-2 122
Memphis 4-0 92
Georgetown 4-0 86
Virginia 4-2 65
Illinois 4-4 28
Saint Joseph's 6-0 20
Tulsa 4-1 13
Pittsburgh 6-0 10
Colorado 4-0 7
Auburn 4-0 5
Stanford 5-3 1



We have 2 games next week, starting with the game at Indiana on the 10th. Then we have to go to the other end of the country, as we play at Washington St. on the 12th. Whew! That'll be tough. I'm hoping we can steal at least one of those games.

[collegesportsfanms]

Week of Dec. 8-14

We had 2 games this week, first traveling to Indiana, and then traveling to Washington St. All I have to say is I can't wait to go back home.

Dec. 10, 2003

Indiana- 93 Butler-80

We CAN NOT beat teams when we let them shoot 59.3% like we did tonight. Pitiful effort defensively. Sure, we can force turnovers, but it doesn't matter if teams shoot over 45-50% on us, every single frikkin game. I'm almost sorry I cut my 4 star players now. You can definitely tell the difference from the sweet 16 team a couple years ago. Anyways, we did a great job coming back in the second half, as we were down 48-21 at halftime. We scored 59 points in the second half. Not bad at all. We were led tonight by Avery Sheets who had 18, and Brandon Miller had 16.

Dec. 12, 2003

Washington St.- 70 Butler- 54

Another pitiful first half, in which we were outscored 41-19. This team has got to wake up and realize that it's also hard to win games when we let the opponents get a 20 point halftime lead. A little bit better defensively, as the Cougars only shot 52% on us, but still ridiculous. Brandon Miller was our leading scorer tonight with 11. We finally had another single digit turnover game, only committing 9. We have a long ways to go however. We'll get there, but I'm starting to think a .500 season isn't going to happen.

Upsets:

on Monday the 8th, Fresno St. beat then 7th ranked USC by a score of 85-76. The Trojans are now ranked 11th.

There were 2 upsets on Tuesday, as Miami beat Cincinnati 75-64. The Bearcats were ranked 13th, now they are 21st. And Louisville upset Kentucky 79-72. Kentucky is now ranked 20th after being 17th last week.

And finally, the Volunteers from Tennessee ended the week with yet another upset, this time beating this time beating 18th ranked Oregon 91-82. Oregon was ranked 11th.

Here are the new polls for the week of the 15th through 21st. We no longer receive any votes. The way we're playing, we're lucky to even still have a basketball team.

Code:

Top 25 Poll

# School FPV Record Points Previous
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Arizona (71) 8-0 1799 1
2. Kansas (1) 9-0 1727 2
3. Duke 10-0 1658 4
4. Syracuse 6-1 1553 3
5. Wake Forest 7-1 1507 8
6. Brigham Young 6-2 1419 10
7. Notre Dame 6-1 1399 9
8. Gonzaga 7-1 1157 15
9. UCLA 6-1 1087 24
10. Maryland 5-2 1025 6
11. Southern California 11-1 994 7
12. Georgia 5-1 968 14
13. Iowa State 6-1 919 22
14. Boston College 6-0 908 20
15. North Carolina 7-3 819 19
16. Missouri 6-1 774 16
17. Virginia 6-2 623 NR
18. Oregon 6-3 597 11
19. Tulsa 6-1 398 NR
20. Kentucky 7-3 354 17
21. Cincinnati 9-1 332 13
22. Oklahoma State 5-1 314 25
23. Memphis 7-0 281 NR
24. Connecticut 6-2 222 5
25. Florida 6-2 153 NR

Others Receiving Votes:
Colorado 5-0 112
Saint Joseph's 7-0 80
College of Charleston 8-1 66
Illinois 5-4 65
Michigan State 7-1 58
Georgetown 6-0 26
Minnesota 5-1 5
Texas 4-3 1




We have 2 very winnable games next week. We are back at home for both of them. First, on Monday the 15th we take on Centenary. Then on Friday the 19th we host TCU.

[collegesportsfanms]

Guys, I know I said that I'd keep with my next dynasty, after reading some comments that people were getting frustrated because I never finished a dynasty, but I just don't have the passion for this particular dynasty. Instead, I'm thinking of another idea. This is an idea that is used on the TDCB forum, and it's more interactive than any of these I've done. What I'm thinking is that I'll let you readers give me names of fictional players, and I'll edit them into the game, and I'll track their recruiting progress, their college progess, and so on. These players will be edited as the top player in their state, at their position. I'll keep doing this every year until I don't have anymore players. Does this sound like a fun idea to you guys? I think it'll be fun, and it'll take away the stress of me doing my own coaching dynasty for a while. Give me feedback, and if you want, start giving me some players. Give me this format if you're interested:

Player Name
Weight/Height
Position
High School
City, State

Hope to get this going soon if it gathers enough interest.