Fast Break Basketball: UC Riverside

[Godzilla Blitz]

Originally posted by The_herd
Great read so far GB. I'm interested in seeing how the Kyle Kappe era goes.

Thanks! That's right! Kyle Kappe's done redshirting. It is time for the Kyle Kappe era, isn't it! I'll have to post his card once he gets through training camp.

Offhand, I think he's got a lot of strong skills, one correctable weakness (no stamina), and one critical one (no perimeter defense skills and no potential there either) that could ultimately limit his playing time. But since he's such a fan favorite, we'll surely have to give the boy a chance, won't we!

hoopsguy: Thanks! I'm glad you've enjoyed both of them. X-COM is on my list of New Year's Resolutions (to finish it this year). Good luck with TDCB! I'll have to give it a try sometime.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Dynasty Question

I was wondering, would anyone like to see any more information during the seasons? I was thinking about a couple of these...

A. posting standings at the end of each month (or perhaps Dec/Jan/year-end instead of just year-end)
B. posting team stats at the end of each month (or perhaps Dec/Jan/year-end instead of just year-end)
C. posting player cards of key incoming freshmen
D. occasionally posting team/player records
E. posting player cards of outstanding graduates
F. picking one player (this time Kyle Kappe, e.g.) and following his college career in a bit more detail.

...but was wondering what people think. I don't want to clutter the dynasty up with lots of stuff, but I was thinking a couple of things might improve it.

Also, anything else you'd like to see? Is there enough information on the players? Too much information on something? Should anything be shorter? Should anything be expanded on?

[The_herd]

Originally posted by Godzilla Blitz
Dynasty Question

I was wondering, would anyone like to see any more information during the seasons? I was thinking about a couple of these...

A. posting standings at the end of each month (or perhaps Dec/Jan/year-end instead of just year-end)
B. posting team stats at the end of each month (or perhaps Dec/Jan/year-end instead of just year-end)
C. posting player cards of key incoming freshmen
D. occasionally posting team/player records
E. posting player cards of outstanding graduates
F. picking one player (this time Kyle Kappe, e.g.) and following his college career in a bit more detail.

...but was wondering what people think. I don't want to clutter the dynasty up with lots of stuff, but I was thinking a couple of things might improve it.

Also, anything else you'd like to see? Is there enough information on the players? Too much information on something? Should anything be shorter? Should anything be expanded on?

I'm interested in seeing C, E, and F. I'm more interested in the players themselves, and only interested in the stats and standings at the end of the season.

My 2 pennies.

[Travis]

One thing that I did (I know, I know) was a report at the beginning of each season on a player that was about to graduate. That way you could really recap their entire career with you, what possible milestones they may hit that season for people to keep an eye on, and any other odd bits and pieces that made me identify with them. Always nice to see just how into it the writer is through the way they express themselves when writing about a fictional character

[Godzilla Blitz]

Travis, The_Herd: Thanks! I think I'll incorporate a bit more about certain players as I go along.

April 2012

Our first email of the year lets me know that our facilities will get upgraded next year! Wow! Finally! New basketballs!

Despite our disappointing season, our prestige does nudge up one point.

UC Riverside
Prestige: 29 (+1)
2012/13 Goal: Compete for the Conference Championship

The board’s opinion of me drops to “satisfied”. Looks like we’ll need to have a good season if I want to be assured of keeping my job.

Here’s where we’ve been so far:

UC Riverside  Historical Performances

Season    W   L  CW  CL Rank  RPI  Prs  Result
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2011     13  16   6  10  237  231   29  No Postseason
2010     21  11  11   5   85   95   28  Loss in FBIT Preliminary Round
2009     21   8  11   3   95   85   23  No Postseason
2008     22  10   8   6  104  106   17  Loss in NCAA Tourney Round 1
2007     16  14   8   6  215  256   11  No Postseason
2006      9  20   4  10  324  324    8  No Postseason
2005     15  14   7   7  249  293    8  No Postseason
2004     15  14   4  10  242  280    4  No Postseason
2003      4  24   1  17  327  327    3  No Postseason 

UC Riverside  Trophy Case

Season   Trophy                                                           
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2009     Mid-Continent Conference Champion                                
2008     Mid-Continent Conference Champion                                
2008     Mid-Continent Conference Tourney Champion                        

Last year was our first losing season in five years, and our RPI rank drops through the floor because of it.

On a more positive note, our recruiting class grades out at #75 in the nation.

[Godzilla Blitz]

May 2012

They still love me. We get a half dozen emails looking for new coaches, one of which comes from last year’s Ohio Valley Conference winner Georgia State. I pass on all of them. How could I pass up a chance to coach UC Riverside when we'll have new basketballs next year?

I was disappointed with our on-court performance last year, so I fire our assistant right away. We only have one recruiting vacancy this year, so I decide to pour a lot of cash into a new, more balanced assistant. After two attempts to land guys with $80,000 offers, I go up even more on the scale and land an assistant for the ungodly high price of $97,100. Yikes.

Here they are:

2012/13 Staff
Recruiter: Jason Gil (32 years old) Skill: 40
Scout: Jason Brown (45 years old) Skill: 41
Asst. Coach: Frank Moncrief (39 years old) Offense: 62 Defense: 56 (+38 from last year)

Frank Moncrief is the highest rated assistant we have ever had, by far. Boo yah!

[The_herd]

Damn, nice assistant. Congrats.

[JAG]

Nice assistant catch there GB. Glad to hear the facilities will finally be upgraded too. Maybe they needed that losing season to see the error of their penny-pinching ways.

I wanted to second The_herd's votes for C and F, and to a lesser degree E. I don't know if a player's card changes much during the 4 years but maybe posting the card of one or two key players for the current year's team would be cool too.

Thanks again for a great read.

[Godzilla Blitz]

June 2012

This is another year where we have lots of home games. We set up our Classics again, but fail to get Georgia Tech to agree to a home-home series, so we pass on playing them this year. Chickens. Also, Gardner Webb, home of Golden Eagle, is already on our schedule. We’ll simply rename the game as the Golden Eagle Classic I, and we’re set.

UC Riverside  2012 Season Schedule

  Date      Opponent                           Result         Record        
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  11/18/12  New Hampshire (Calis Classic IV)                                
  11/23/12  Weber State                                                     
  11/30/12  Navy (Hollmt Classic III)                                    
  12/06/12  IPFW                                                            
  12/12/12  Morris Brown                                                    
  12/19/12  Stephen F. Austin                                               
  12/25/12  William & Mary                                                  
  12/28/12  VMI                                                             
  01/03/13  UC Santa Barbara (Vince Classic IV)                      
  01/05/13  Tennessee-Martin                                                
  01/10/13  at Tennessee-Martin                                             
  01/12/13  Tennessee Tech                                                  
  01/14/13  Harvard                                                         
  01/19/13  Savannah State                                                  
  01/21/13  Gardner Webb (Golden Eagle Classic I)                         
  01/24/13  at Alabama A&M                                                  
  01/31/13  at Austin Peay                                                  
  02/02/13  at Illinois-Chicago                                             
  02/07/13  at Savannah State                                               
  02/09/13  at Southeast Missouri State                                     
  02/12/13  Illinois-Chicago                                                
  02/14/13  Southeast Missouri State                                        
  02/16/13  at Tennessee State                                              
  02/21/13  Alabama A&M                                                     
  02/23/13  Austin Peay                                                     
  02/28/13  at Tennessee Tech                                               
  03/02/13  Tennessee State                                                 
  03/04/13  Binghamton                                                      

[Godzilla Blitz]

July 2011 – October 2012

Preseason Recruiting

We’ve got lots of bullets and we only need to hit one target, so we can afford to aim at things we usually wouldn’t hit. Ideally, I’d like to get a high ranked power forward, but a center would do.

We make our usual bevy of phone calls to anyone that seems vaguely interested in our program. After a month, the #54 player in the nation, PG Lance Lintner, who shows mild interest in our program. He’s a local boy, so we take a chance and offer him our scholarship, even though he’s not at the position we want. After another couple of months, nothing changes though, so we pull the plug on that offer and make one to PF Andrew Harnett, the number #85 player in the land. He’s from Honolulu, and seems to like our program quite a bit. We’ve never had any luck getting guys from Hawaii, but it’s a cool place to visit, so I blow all our recruiting money on trying to get this longshot to come to California. Many trips later, things are looking surprisingly good, and I’ve got a great tan.

Just before training camp starts, we get the good news: Hartnett is coming to UC Riverside! Yahoo! Wow! The #85 player in the land, at a position of strong need for us! He’ll be the highest ranked player to come to UC Riverside (since we’ve been tracking rankings, anyway).
And that wraps up this year’s recruiting:

2012/13 Recruiting Summary

POS Player Name                 Star         National Rank
 PF Andrew Hartnett              ***         85
 

[Godzilla Blitz]

The_herd: Thanks. He was expensive, and I doubt we'll have him for more than one season, but with only one scholarship to fill, I think it makes sense.

JAG: Thanks for the feedback. I think I'll follow Kyle Kappe through his next four years, and also follow one key player each year.

[Godzilla Blitz]

November 2012

Here’s our team this year:

UC Riverside  Roster

 #   Name                  Pos  Cl   Ht     Wt   Hometown
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 0   Sonny Putnam          C    Sr   6' 8"  229  Las Vegas, NV
 1   Jason Hamilton        C    So   6' 8"  254  Lodi, CA
 23  Irwin Spicer          C    Fr   6'11"  263  Belgrade, MT
 31  Ronald Presnell       PF   Sr   6' 9"  260  Birmingham, AL
 30  Winfred Garcia        PF   Jr   6' 9"  228  Compton, CA (reshirt)
 34  Bernard Harrison      PF   Fr   6' 7"  226  Manhattan Beach, CA
 44  Richard Hand          SF   Jr   6' 7"  226  Kendall, NY
 50  Deangelo Perez        SF   So   6' 8"  220  Monroeville, PA
 24  Kyle Kappe            SF   Fr   6' 7"  221  Rifle, CO
 42  Tyson Mestas          SG   Jr   6' 3"  179  Elko, NV
 10  Clement Hagar         SG   Fr   6' 6"  189  Escondido, CA
 5   Loren Muir            SG   Fr   6' 5"  192  John Day, OR (redshirt)
 2   Chris Hernandez       PG   Jr   6' 0"  175  Bellflower, CA
 54  Thomas Welch          PG   Jr   5' 6"  183  Lovelock, NV
 45  Albert Goodwin        PG   Fr   6' 3"  184  Bowmanville, Canada (redshirt) 

Roster Evaluation
There are big shoes to fill with the loss of Huckaby and Whittle to graduation, but C Jason Hamilton may be the one to fill Whittle’s shoes admirably. He has a phenomenal inside game and should get a lot of chances. Sonny Putman, who brings a strong rebounding game, will play out of position at power forward for the third year in a row. Richard Hand gets the nod, by default, at small forward. At guard, our best shooter, Chris Hernandez, will start at shooting guard; PG Thomas Welch, our best ball handler, will start at the point.

Overall, we’ve got a lot of players with good inside games, and will try to emphasize getting the ball into the paint this year. We seem to have good defensive skills as well. Our weakness has to be our outside shooting, where all we’ve got is Chris Hernandez. If he goes down, we’re doomed. If he stays healthy, we could be tough to stop. I’m hopeful that we can be fighting for the title at the end of the year.

We’ll take a quick look at a few of our players then move on to the season.

[Godzilla Blitz]

In the Spotlight 2012

Starting this year, I thought I’d try to highlight a few of our players to put some names on the faces of the team. For one player, we’ll follow him throughout his four or five years with the team; the other players will usually be the players who we expect to play key roles in the upcoming year.

Key Players

We’ve got two key players this year: sophomore C Jason Hamilton and junior PG Chris Hernandez.

Hamilton saw limited action as a freshmen, averaging 8 points and 5 rebounds a game. This year he’ll take over the center role from graduated Eldrige Whittle. Hamilton brings star potential to the position: he’s got an incredible inside game (87) and powerful rebounding skills (75 off, 54 def). He can’t shoot a jumper to save his life, but we’re hoping to center our offense around getting him the ball in near the net, so with luck he won’t need that jump shot.

While Hamilton is our inside game, PG Chris Hernandez is our outside game. He is perhaps the best pure shooter to ever play for us (91 jump shot, 82 three-pointer), and made a big jump in his play last year as a sophomore, when he averaged over 12 points a game in a backup role. His weak passing skills make him more suited to the shooting guard spot, and that’s where he’ll see action this year. Defensively, he’s improved significantly, and is no longer a liability on the court. We’re looking for big numbers from this guy.

The Life and Times of Kyle Kappe: Vol. I

We’ll start our “follow the career” theme with SF Kyle Kappe, aka Mr. Bug, who will see his first action after redshirting last season. Here’s his vital signs:

#24 SF Kyle Kappe - UC Riverside - Freshman
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Height:       6' 7"
 Weight:       221
 High School:  Rifle High School
 Hometown:     Rifle, CO
 
 Attributes:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Type       INS JPS FTS 3PS HND PAS ORB DRB PSD PRD STL BLK PFS QKN STR JMP STA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Current:    42  45  36  57  46  29  21  33  42   4  31  36  48  42  59  48  44
 Potential:   B   B   C   C   B   C   D   C   B   F   C   C                    

 Health:      Good                                           
 Scholarship: Yes
 Status:      Active Roster                                  
 Academics:   51
 
 Awards & Acheivements:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Season   Award
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2010     High School: Rated *** and #228 overall by the FBCB scouting service.
 2010     High School: All-State (Colorado)

Kappe Scouting Report
Kyle is in much better shape after redshirting last year as a freshman. For a level 2 conference athlete, he has a good overall set of skills except for one glaring weakness: he can’t defend the perimeter. We’ve worked with him over the past year, but nothing we do seems to help. He just can’t get the job done on the outside. As a result of this weakness, he’s lost the starting small forward job to junior Richard Hand. This year, Kyle will backup Hand, but we’re also going to get him some minutes at power forward, where his weakness guarding the outside won’t hurt him so much. Realistically, power forward is where his only chance of developing into a starter lies.

[Godzilla Blitz]

November 2012

Results

UC Riverside  2012 Season Schedule

  Date      Opponent                           Result         Record        
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  11/18/12  New Hampshire                      W 84-80        1-0           
  11/23/12  Weber State                        W 85-74        2-0           
  11/30/12  Navy                               W 72-59        3-0           
 

The Calis Classic against New Hampshire this year is another thriller. We open up a big lead early, but have to fight off numerous comebacks to hang on for a nail biting victory. Guards Hernandez and Hagar each get 19 points, and center Hamilton gets 17 points and 15 rebounds. Unfortunately, PG Thomas Welch breaks his jaw, and will be out for 11 days. We go up 3-1 in the Calis Classic series.

In our next game, Clement Hagar again leads the way with 20 points in a big second half that buries Weber State.

In the Hollmt Classic III, we get a big second half scoring burst to pull away for the victory. Hernandez is red hot, with 23 points, and Hamilton gets 18.

Like last year, we play well out of the gate and go undefeated in November. So far, we’re looking pretty good.

Kappe Update: Kyle has averaged a little over 14 minutes of play per game. Although he’s only averaging 4 points per game, his +/- rating is a team high 13.33! Wow! Good start for the fan favorite!

[RealDeal]

X COMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

[Godzilla Blitz]

December 2012

Results

UC Riverside  2012 Season Schedule

  Date      Opponent                           Result         Record        
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  12/06/12  IPFW                               W 66-60        4-0           
  12/12/12  Morris Brown                       W 86-80        5-0           
  12/19/12  Stephen F. Austin                  L 62-59        5-1           
  12/25/12  William & Mary                     W 79-53        6-1           
  12/28/12  VMI                                W 79-65        7-1           

Hamilton starts off the month hot: he gets 16 points to lead us to a win against a weak IPFW team, then gets a double-double (22 points, 12 rebounds) to spur our victory against a winless yet pesky Morris Brown. Stephen F. Austin finally ends our run, as they pull by us late to send us to our first loss.

Despite some big numbers by Hamilton, it’s surprising to see that he has a plus-minus rating of -1.30 at this point in the season. Thinking that he might be getting too many minutes with his relatively low stamina, I trim his playing time a bit.

We bounce back against William & Mary, as PF Putnam gets a double-double and Hamilton racks up a team high 17 points in a dominating performance. We start out hot against VMI, but play poorly early in the second half. With five minutes to go, we find ourselves down by three, but SG Hernandez leads us on a two-minute, 15-0 run that leaves VMI in the dust.

We end the month at 7-1, and things continue to go well for us. However, the “real” season starts next month, as conference play beckons.

Kappe Notes: Kyle still is getting about 14 minutes and 4 points per game, but is only shooting 35% from the floor and a dismal 7% from the 3-point line. His plus-minus rating is still a solid +5.63. All in all, an unspectacular yet respectable start for the freshman.

[Godzilla Blitz]

January 2013

Results

UC Riverside  2012 Season Schedule

  Date      Opponent                           Result         Record        
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  01/03/13  UC Santa Barbara                   L 81-59        7-2           
  01/05/13  Tennessee-Martin                   W 75-62        8-2 (1-0)     
  01/10/13  at Tennessee-Martin                W 67-59        9-2 (2-0)     
  01/12/13  Tennessee Tech                     W 87-68        10-2 (3-0)    
  01/14/13  Harvard                            W 71-45        11-2          
  01/19/13  Savannah State                     W 67-58        12-2 (4-0)    
  01/21/13  Gardner Webb                       W 80-78        13-2          
  01/24/13  at Alabama A&M                     L 83-56        13-3 (4-1)    
  01/31/13  at Austin Peay                     L 103-71       13-4 (4-2)    

Wild month!

We start off the month with the Vince Classic IV against UC Santa Barbara. They outplay us in every way as we suffer our first blowout loss. We bounce back nicely, though, as Chris Hernandez scores 25 points to lead us to a win over Tennessee-Martin in our conference opener, then five days later Hagar scores 21 and Hamilton gets a double-double to beat Tennessee-Martin yet again. We get bad news in this game though, as PG Thomas Welch, our best ball handler, breaks his wrist and goes down for a month. We’ll really miss his passing skills.

Next, Hagar scores 25 and Hernandez gets 21 as we pull away from a tight game to beat Tennessee Tech. Hernandez continues his hot play in our next game, a non-conference rout of Harvard, but he pulls a hamstring late in the game and will be lost to us for two weeks. We’re down to two guards now. We somehow manage to beat Savannah State in our next game, but SG Hagar pulls a groin muscle to go out for more than a week. Ye gads. What injuries!

We patch together a lineup (we’re down to 9 healthy players and 1 walking wounded) for the Golden Eagle Classic I against Gardner Webb, and one minute into the game C Jason Hamilton sprains his wrist and will be lost to us for more than a week! Oh my! What gives with this? Amazingly, this makeshift team—with Kyle Kappe starting at point guard and only 8 healthy players—scrapes out a win!

We begin a big, make-it-or-break-it five-game road trip with only 8 healthy players on the roster and three players at partial strength. It is too much to ask of our players against Alabama A&M, as they run over us and hand us our first conference loss. Fortunately, we get a week break, and during that time we get our roster back to near full strength, with only Thomas Welch unable to play. It doesn’t help us against powerful Austin Peay, as they paste us with one of our worst losses ever, a 103-71 drubbing that wasn’t as close as the score looks.

We end the month at 13-4, but the two conference losses at the end drop us out of first place and into the middle of the standings. It’s surprising how much I can see us missing the great ball handling that Welch brings to our team. We have a lot more turnovers when he isn’t in the lineup, as we have no one close to his ball handling skills. I’m looking forward to getting him back in the lineup next week.

Kappe Update: Kyle’s playing time (16.8 minutes) jumped with two starts during the injury run we had, but his points per game stay the same (4.1). He still hasn’t found his jump shot (38%), and shouldn’t be even trying the three’s (20%). On a side note, he got a mild concussion mid-month that sidelined him for three days.

[SirFozzie]

Probably from his coach slapping him upside his head after another perimiter mistake

[Peregrine]

Godzilla, I'm thinking about starting a small FBCB dynasty of my own, but I'm not sure how to post the print screen output from the game so it will show up in the posts in the right order, etc. What's the deal with the little /code/ markers by all of your data, do I have to enter it in some special way?

Edited - Hmm, looks like you just add code /code, okay. Guess that was easy after all!

[Godzilla Blitz]

February 2013

Results

UC Riverside  2012 Season Schedule

  Date      Opponent                           Result         Record        
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  02/02/13  at Illinois-Chicago                L 91-70        13-5 (4-3)    
  02/07/13  at Savannah State                  W 111-106      14-5 (5-3)    
  02/09/13  at Southeast Missouri State        L 99-72        14-6 (5-4)    
  02/12/13  Illinois-Chicago                   W 91-75        15-6 (6-4)    
  02/14/13  Southeast Missouri State           W 75-61        16-6 (7-4)    
  02/16/13  at Tennessee State                 W 87-74        17-6 (8-4)    
  02/21/13  Alabama A&M                        L 83-67        17-7 (8-5)    
  02/23/13  Austin Peay                        L 107-81       17-8 (8-6)    
  02/28/13  at Tennessee Tech                  L 91-75        17-9 (8-7)    
  03/02/13  Tennessee State                    W 78-68        18-9 (9-7)    
  03/04/13  Binghamton                         W 89-52        19-9          
  03/05/13  vs. Austin Peay                                                 

We drop our third in a row at the start of the month, as Illinois-Chicago outshoots us from the three-point line to pick up the victory. We badly need a win to stop the slide into oblivion. Thankfully, we’ll have PG Thomas Welch back for our next game. Things don’t change much, though, as we trail by 15 points in the second half against Savannah State. But Jason Hamilton goes on fire, scoring the bulk of his team-record 35 points in the second half, and we blow by Savannah in our highest scoring game ever: a 111-106 victory. This is the first time we’ve ever scored more than 100 points in a game! Wow!

Our optimism is unfounded, though, as first-place Southeast Missouri State crushes us with ease on the road in our next game. We’ve now lost four of our last five conference games and have fallen firmly into the middle of the pack, two and a half games out of first place. With seven games to go, we need to get back on track, and do it now. I take a chance and change strategies for our next game; we switch to a high pace, high press game. I’ve noticed that our bench players seem to outperform our opponents, and I’m hoping that a faster game can get us more time with our bench against our opponents’.

The strategy seems to work against Illinois-Chicago, as we get 27 points from Hernandez in our first easy win in a long time. Next up, first-place Southeast Missouri State comes to Riverside in a must-win game for us, and we get equal results this time: our pressing defense forces 24 turnovers and we win comfortably. The win leaves us one game behind Tennessee Tech, who sits in first place. With four games to go, our hopes are soaring.

Alas, it was not to be. Alabama A&M, Austin Peay, and Tennesse Tech absolutely destroy us in our next three games, as our high pace game seems to wear us out more than them, and our conference championship hopes are crushed. The three losses are a devastating end to what had started out as such a promising season.

With nothing but pride to play for, the team rebounds for big wins against Tennessee State and non-conference Binghamton to end our regular season. We end the year at 19-9, but our 9-7 conference record is only good for fourth place.

We draw fifth-place Austin Peay in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament. Their powerful inside game scored over 100 points against us in our two regular season match-ups, both of which games were never close. A conference tourney title would do a lot to put a shine on this season, and to do it we’ll need to find someway to stop them.

[Vince]

Wow, tough for you to come back after those injuries...hopefully next year will be a bit of a better year.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Sir Fozzie: Poor Kyle really can't defend the outside, but he's been playing well at power forward. Depending on how the new guy that we recruited there looks, Kappe could see a lot of action up there next season.

Peregrine: Glad you figured it out.

Vince: The frustrating part is making it through that stretch and still being in contention, then blowing those three games at the end when we were healthy. I can't help but think that my "high pace, high press" strategy matched up well against a the two teams we beat, but was probably the wrong choice against the other teams.

I think, though, that we're capable of beating anyone in the conference if I can just hit on the right strategy. I'm hoping we have a good run in the tourney.

[Godzilla Blitz]

March 2013

Ohio Valley Conference Tournament Results

Round 1 vs. Austin Peay

Austin Peay has a monster center and a monster power forward. They are scoring machines from the paint and shut down the inside game at the other end. The two games we have played them during the season were disasters: they shut down our inside game and rolled over us on offense, winning 103-71 in the first game and 107-81 in the second. We radically alter our game plan to try to meet the challenge. We bring our best three-point shooters into the game, switch our offensive focus to outside shooting, and plan to drop three-point bombs over their human wall. On defense, we’ll exclusively run a 2-3 zone, double down on their scoring machines, and get our best post defenders into the game as much as possible. If we can hit threes and slow down their inside game, we might have a chance.

The strategy starts out hot, as Hernandez threads the needle with threes, and we jam the middle with bodies on defense. We quickly get a big 11-point lead. But before long, Austin Peay starts dropping in shots from the outside, and our hot hand goes cold. They blow by us to take a double-digit lead of their own, and things look grim. We hit some shots, though, right before the half and manage to close within two points at the break. We have hope, though, as the ones scoring for them are their guards, from the outside: their big men inside have only a handful of points. In the second half, their big center runs into foul trouble, and Hernandez gets hot for us. He hits everything, Hagar starts slashing through their weakened inside defense, and their outside shooting goes cold. Their game disintegrates, and we pull away to an easy 93-80 victory! Hernandez ends up with 33 points. The strategy worked!

[tucker342]

Great stuff as usual GB. It's about time that they upgraded the training facility!

[JAG]

Wow GB, good strategy. You've come a long way from not knowing what SF stands for. Hope you can keep it up for the rest of the tourn!

[Eilim]

Just wanted to chime in with another "great job" post. This dynasty inpsired me to pick up the game even though I'm pretty much lost when in comes to anything beyond the basics in basketball.

Hopefully I can lead Boston U. to greatness. First thing I did after taking over the team was schedule a home and home with UC Riverside.

[Peregrine]

Eilim, the coaching assistant who I am following in my dynasty, A Would-Be Head Coach, did two seasons with BU. Didn't have much of a chance to lead them to greatness though, hopefully you'll have better luck!

Great game against A-P, keep up the good work Godzilla.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Tucker: I am very excited about the new nets and balls. Who knows, maybe we'll even get hot water in the showers!

JAG: Thanks! That Austin Peay game was the most satisfying win for me in the dynasty to date. Having lost the two previous games so badly, I figured I had nothing to lose by trying a new strategy. It was fun trying to figure out what might work. I was surprised we won, but it sure felt good to beat them like that. There is still a lot I don't understand about the defenses, but I feel like things are starting to make more sense.

Eilim: I'm glad you've enjoyed the dynasty. Thanks. I hope you enjoy the game. I found that the "recommend" button is very helpful when learning the game, even if you only use it as a starting point. Good luck!

Peregrine: Thanks!

[Godzilla Blitz]

March 2013

Ohio Valley Conference Tournament Results

Semi-final vs. Tennessee Tech

Conference winner Tennessee Tech is a much more balanced team than Austin Peay, but I like how we match up against them on paper. During the season we won the first game handily, but lost the second game playing our fast pace game. I can see that the fast pace was a mistake: they are in better shape than we are. However, I think a balanced game on both offense and defense should put us in a good position to win: across the board we have better players, and our top five should be able to overwhelm their defenses. We change our game plan accordingly.

The first half is a back-and-forth game with neither team able to open up any kind of a lead. It ends with us down by two. Early in the second half, Tennessee Tech’s big center—their whole inside game—picks up his fourth foul, and with that, the tide swings. We start cutting through their defense and their inside offense grinds to a halt. By the midway point in the half, we’ve got a 10-point lead, and we never look back. We hold the lead and go on to win 74-66. We’re heading to the final! A win there will take us to the tournament!

[JAG]

Looks like someone might be in line for another coaching award this year... Good luck in the final!

[Godzilla Blitz]

JAG: Thanks!

March 2013

Ohio Valley Conference Tournament Results

Final vs. Southeast Missouri State

We split the season series against third-place Southeast Missouri State. We lost badly playing a straight up game with Welch injured, then won handily by playing a fast paced game with lots of pressing on defense. We’ll lean towards what worked for us last time, and plan to press as much as we can; they have weak passing skills, and with luck we can force a lot of turnovers like we did the last time we met. Otherwise, we’ll stay balanced, as we seem to match up fairly well against them in all other areas. If we can pick up a dozen extra possessions and play them evenly elsewhere, we should win.

We start out shooting hot, and quickly pull out to a 10-point lead. Southeast Missouri State fights back, though, and our pressing defense seems to only be getting us in foul trouble. By the half they are right back in the game, our lead is down to three, and we’ve got a handful of players on the verge of foul problems. In the second half they start pulling away. With 12 minutes to go, they’ve got an 8-point lead, and everything is going in the wrong direction. However, from that point on, Hernandez starts landing shot after shot, and within a few minutes we’ve swung the score 15 points and opened up a 7-point lead of our own. We cruise from there, and end up with an 81-70 victory! Hernandez is our high scorer, with 25. We’re going to the dance! Yahoo!

We learn a few days later that we’re the #13 seed in the Midwest, and will face 23-8 Texas, at the #4 seed. They’ve got an RPI-rank of 9, and rank #2 in the polls. Yikes. Looks like we’ve got our work cut out for us. I don’t think we’ll be at the dance very long.

[The_herd]

Wow, great season. You turned around a season that looked like it was quickly headed down the crapper.

[JAG]

Time to pull a Gonzaga!

[Godzilla Blitz]

The_herd: Thanks! It felt good to win that tournament. That took the edge off those three losses that cost us the conference.

JAG: We'll try, but Texas is, like, um, really good.

[Godzilla Blitz]

March 2013

NCAA Tournament Results

Round 1 vs. Texas

In many ways Texas resembles Austin Peay. They both have outstanding inside games led by a center and power forward that can dominate at both ends of the court. However, Texas is different in two other ways. First, they have an outside game to complement the inside game, and second, all of their players are much better than the players on Austin Peay. Their two inside men have ratings over 90! Yikes! On paper, we are clearly outmatched in every category. We have to attack their relative weaknesses, though, and if anything, their outside game is a level below their inside game. We set up a strategy similar to the one we employed against Austin Peay: plug up the middle on defense and shoot from the outside on offense. We’ve got to make their shooters beat us on the perimeter. There is no way we can play with this team on the inside.

It’s apparent early on that we are in trouble: by plugging up the middle, we are leaving too much open on the outside. Texas is getting open shots and making us pay the price for plugging up inside. It’s also apparent that we can’t stop them inside even if we double down on people: their inside game is clicking as well. Inexorably, despite good shooting on our part, they pull out to a 10-point lead by the half. Things disintegrate more in the second half. We start turning the ball over, they continue to score at will, and we run into foul trouble. When the dust settles, we’ve lost 94-60, and our season comes to an end. They end up shooting 67% from the 3-point line, and we barely slowed them inside. They were simply a much better team than us.

[Godzilla Blitz]

2012/13 Wrap Up

All things considered, I’m happy with this year. Bouncing back to win the conference tournament was a big plus, as it was nice to make our second trip to the NCAA tournament, albeit short-lived. There is some frustration that we let a good chance to win the conference slip away, but we’re only graduating one scholarship, so with luck, we should be right back there next year.

I’ll post the final figures, then move on to next year.

[Godzilla Blitz]

2012/13 Final Conference Standings

                                CW  CL   Pct   W   L   Pct
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Tennessee Tech                 11   5  .688  19  11  .633
 Tennessee-Martin               10   6  .625  19  12  .613
 Southeast Missouri State       10   6  .625  16  15  .516
 UC Riverside                    9   7  .563  22  10  .688
 Austin Peay                     9   7  .563  17  12  .586
 Illinois-Chicago                9   7  .563  13  16  .448
 Alabama A&M                     6  10  .375   9  20  .310
 Savannah State                  5  11  .313  11  19  .367
 Tennessee State                 3  13  .188   7  22  .241 

[Godzilla Blitz]

Final Stats 2012/13

Here’s the numbers on the team:

UC Riverside  Player Averages

Name                Pos   G GS  Min  Pts OReb  Reb  Ast  Stl  Blk   TO   Fl
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Chris Hernandez     PG   29 29 29.0 17.9  1.0  2.4  3.2  1.2  0.2  2.0  2.5
 Jason Hamilton      C    32 31 24.1 13.2  2.5  8.5  1.3  0.3  0.0  1.5  2.5
 Clement Hagar       SG   32 11 20.4 11.4  0.8  3.4  1.8  0.5  0.1  1.6  1.5
 Thomas Welch        PG   25 23 25.0  6.8  0.8  2.3  4.7  0.9  0.0  1.5  2.2
 Tyson Mestas        SG   32  3 13.2  6.2  0.6  2.0  1.2  0.6  0.1  0.8  1.3
 Sonny Putnam        C    26 26 29.1  5.6  2.2  9.7  1.6  0.9  0.7  2.0  2.7
 Richard Hand        SF   32 28 21.4  5.5  0.5  4.0  1.3  0.4  0.1  1.5  1.8
 Irwin Spicer        C    32  1 13.1  5.1  1.2  3.3  0.8  0.5  0.2  0.8  1.8
 Kyle Kappe          SF   32  3 15.9  4.1  0.8  2.8  1.4  0.7  0.2  0.6  1.7
 Bernard Harrison    PF   32  5  8.5  1.8  0.6  1.9  0.4  0.1  0.1  0.4  0.8
 Deangelo Perez      SF   32  0  6.2  1.8  0.1  1.0  0.5  0.2  0.1  0.5  0.7
 Ronald Presnell     PF   32  0  8.0  1.3  0.7  2.2  0.7  0.3  0.7  0.5  0.9
 Winfred Garcia      PF    0  0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0
 Albert Goodwin      PG    0  0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0
 Loren Muir          SG    0  0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0

UC Riverside Player Shooting Stats

Name                  Pos   FGM  FGA   FG%  FTM  FTA   FT%  3PM  3PA   3P%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Chris Hernandez       PG    177  396  .447   75  103  .728   89  206  .432
 Jason Hamilton        C     158  307  .515  106  196  .541    0    2  .000
 Clement Hagar         SG    133  277  .480   59   91  .648   40   99  .404
 Thomas Welch          PG     58  161  .360   39   67  .582   15   58  .259
 Tyson Mestas          SG     68  158  .430   28   47  .596   34   84  .405
 Sonny Putnam          C      62  142  .437   22   40  .550    0    1  .000
 Richard Hand          SF     67  187  .358   26   43  .605   16   71  .225
 Irwin Spicer          C      61  124  .492   41   57  .719    1    1 1.000
 Kyle Kappe            SF     51  118  .432   19   29  .655   11   46  .239
 Bernard Harrison      PF     20   54  .370   18   28  .643    0    0  .000
 Deangelo Perez        SF     18   33  .545   10   13  .769   12   20  .600
 Ronald Presnell       PF     16   42  .381    8   12  .667    0    0  .000
 Winfred Garcia        PF      0    0  .000    0    0  .000    0    0  .000
 Albert Goodwin        PG      0    0  .000    0    0  .000    0    0  .000
 Loren Muir            SG      0    0  .000    0    0  .000    0    0  .000 

[Godzilla Blitz]

Kyle Kappe Update

Kyle ended up averaging almost 16 minutes a game, which should help him develop for next year. His scoring stayed the same, and it is clear that he needs to work on his offensive game. On a positive note, his shooting did improve over the back half of the season. His plus-minus rating took a dive during that time, but so did everyone else’s, so that is not a big concern.

Looking toward the future, with power forward Sonny Putman graduating, there is an opening at the position, and Kyle will get a chance to prove himself. However, our lone recruit—power forward Andrew Hartnett--was the #85 player in the land, and Winfred Garcia is a talented power forward that spent the season redshirting. To start, Kappe’s will either have to beat out these two players, or somehow find a way to defend the perimeter so we can start him at small forward.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Player Awards

We pick up three minor awards and two bigger ones. PG Chris Hernandez makes 1st-team All Conference, and Clement Hagar gets Conference Freshman of the Year. Fan-favorite Kyle Kappe makes the Conference All-Freshman Team!

 
  JR.  PG Chris Hernandez    First Team All Conference
  FR.  SG Clement Hagar      Conference Freshman of the Year

[SirFozzie]

I'd consider running a 2-3 or other zone type, have him drop at a PF

[Calis]

Alright, back and finally had a chance to catch up on everything.

Looking good, nice work this season, congrats on the NCAA Tourney appearance!

As for Kappe, that's a tough call, is there any chance that Hartnett will be redshirted this year? With Garcia and Kappe both being pretty decent, it might be worth it to give him another year to really become Riverside's Uber player.

Then again, I'm always redshirt happy. I try and redshirt every guy I can who is worth a crap.

Good luck!

[JAG]

Ah well GB, good try for the Texas game. Looks like next year should be a strong one for Riverside.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Sir Fozzie: Thanks! I might give that a try, but I'm going to see what everyone looks like next season first.

Calis: Welcome back. I'll take a look at Harnett's card once he gets into camp, but I'm guessing that, yes, he will redshirt next year.

JAG: Texas was awesome. They ended up losing to Temple, who went on to win the tourney.

[Godzilla Blitz]

April 2013

A new season dawns, and we get a slew of emails…

Wow! We got the Ohio Valley Conference Coach of the Year Award! That’s our fifth such award in a decade. Unfortunately, it does not come with any coaching skill increase. I was hopeful, but I’m guessing you’ve got to be higher up in the conference standings to have that happen.

Also, I am stunned when I read the second email: The Board of Directors has decided to improve the facilities yet again this year! Wow! I’ve got a pile of new Wilson basketballs here, new white net strings on our rims, and shiny wax on the court, and now they are going to do even more! Luxury! Our facilities make a jump to 10 during the offseason, and we can look forward to even more next year! I’m feeling the love!

We also see our prestige jump four points. Slowly but surely, we’re making progress:

UC Riverside
Prestige: 33 (+4)
2012/13 Goal: Compete for the Conference Championship

Apparently we were close enough to the top of the standings that the board is once again delighted with my performance. I decide to push the issue, and put in a request for more money in the budget this year. I’d like to try to hang on to our assistant, but with four scholarships coming up, I won’t have enough left in the recruiting pool if I do so. You’ve shown me the love, now show me the money!

Our history so far, which now spans a decade:

UC Riverside  Historical Performances

Season    W   L  CW  CL Rank  RPI  Prs  Result
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012     22  10   9   7   77   80   33  Loss in NCAA Tourney Round 1
2011     13  16   6  10  237  231   29  No Postseason
2010     21  11  11   5   85   95   28  Loss in FBIT Preliminary Round
2009     21   8  11   3   95   85   23  No Postseason
2008     22  10   8   6  104  106   17  Loss in NCAA Tourney Round 1
2007     16  14   8   6  215  256   11  No Postseason
2006      9  20   4  10  324  324    8  No Postseason
2005     15  14   7   7  249  293    8  No Postseason
2004     15  14   4  10  242  280    4  No Postseason
2003      4  24   1  17  327  327    3  No Postseason 

UC Riverside  Trophy Case

Season   Trophy                                                           
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012     Ohio Valley Conference Tourney Champion                          
2009     Mid-Continent Conference Champion                                
2008     Mid-Continent Conference Champion                                
2008     Mid-Continent Conference Tourney Champion   

Although we only landed one player last year, we end up with the #91 class in the nation. The scouting bureau really liked Andrew Hartnett, our new freshman.

Well, on to the season we go. We’ve got most of our team back, and could be a threat this year. Our staff/recruiting balance could be a problem, but we’ll find that out next…

[Godzilla Blitz]

May 2013

We are swamped with job offers. Wow! Most come from level 3 conference teams, and although the offers are tempting, now that we’ve got two facility upgrades in the works, I’m sticking around here. I politely turn down all offers.

We turn to our staff, where we are faced with a big decision. I’d love to keep Frank Moncrief, our talented assistant, but his salary in nearly $100,000, and that doesn’t leave us left to recruit four scholarships effectively. With no answer yet on the budget increase, I decide to make the move to enable us to recruit effectively: I fire Moncrief. We go after a guy roughly half his salary, with significantly less skill, and land him on our first try. We also lose our recruiting coach, and end up paying $10,000 more to get someone of comparable quality. When it’s all said and done, we’ve saved roughly $35,000 this year to get the following crew on board:

2013/14 Staff
Recruiter: Albert Gonzalez (46 years old) Skill: 40
Scout: Solomon Porch (41 years old) Skill: 41
Asst. Coach: Ronald Ansley (33 years old) Offense: 46 Defense: 56 (-16 from last year)

I can live with this. Ansley is not as good as Moncrief, but still much better than we’re used to.

[Godzilla Blitz]

June 2013

With so many FBCB dynasties running at FOF, I decide to schedule Classics against teams from dynasties that are currently active. That will help keep them to a manageable number. That means, this year we’ll have: Govols Classic I, Hollmt Classic IV, Pearl Floyd Classic I, Peregrine Classic I, and the Vince Classic V (special exemption). As dynasties come to life and fade away, I’ll keep modifying this lineup.

We try to bump our schedule up a notch this year. We schedule a few games against level 3 conference teams. We end up with this:

UC Riverside  2013 Season Schedule

  Date      Opponent                           Result         Record        
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  11/17/13  Liberty (Govols Classic I)                                      
  11/21/13  Navy (Hollmt Classic IV)                                       
  11/25/13  at UC Santa Barbara (Vince Classic V)                          
  11/29/13  at Arkansas                                                     
  12/03/13  at Towson (Pearl Floyd Classic I)                           
  12/07/13  Lafayette (Peregrine Classic I)                            
  12/09/13  UC Irvine                                                       
  12/11/13  at Morris Brown                                                 
  12/15/13  La Salle                                                        
  12/18/13  Long Beach State                                                
  12/22/13  at Idaho State                                                  
  12/31/13  at Southeastern Louisiana                                       
  01/04/14  Savannah State                                                  
  01/09/14  at Illinois-Chicago                                             
  01/11/14  at Savannah State                                               
  01/18/14  Sam Houston                                                     
  01/23/14  at Oral Roberts                                                 
  01/25/14  Southeast Missouri State                                        
  01/30/14  Illinois-Chicago                                                
  02/01/14  Austin Peay                                                     
  02/06/14  at Sam Houston                                                  
  02/08/14  Alabama A&M                                                     
  02/11/14  at Southeast Missouri State                                     
  02/13/14  Tennessee-Martin                                                
  02/15/14  at Tennessee-Martin                                             
  02/22/14  at Alabama A&M                                                  
  02/27/14  Oral Roberts                                                    
  03/01/14  at Austin Peay                                                  

[Godzilla Blitz]

July 2013– October 2014

Preseason Recruiting

We’ll graduate four key players this year, three of them top notch guards. Our targets this year will be: PG, PG, SG, and SF. If I see something really good elsewhere, I might swap one of these targets out. We’ll have our work cut out with four scholarships.

We take an initial look at the recruiting pool, and things look a bit better than they have in the past. We’ve got four three-star recruits that like us from the start, and all of them are ranked in the 200’s. We aim a bit higher though, and scour the country for talent. After a while we settle on three guards that express interest in our program: PG Paul Powers, PG Timothy Room, and PG Alvin Tyler. Unfortunately, we are having trouble locating a small forward scholarship candidate. As we enter the fall, we are looking good on all three of our point guard prospects until Arizona comes hunting after Powers. His interest in our program drops to average. Crap. We stick with our three targets, though, and continue to look for a small forward, or someone that we can use.

Just as we head into training camp, PG Alvin Tyler commits to us, and that makes one down, three to go. We’ll continue to work on other targets, but the focus on the three point guards has sucked up most of our funds so far, and there doesn’t seem to be too much left out there. This might be an off-year for us recruiting.

[JAG]

How highly ranked are the guys you've mentioned?

I know once you tried going after a 4-star recruit, but is that basically hopeless? Do all the 4-stars flock to the bigger better-funded programs?

[Godzilla Blitz]

I'll have to check the game when I get on my computer later, but they are all three-star, probably ranked in the 100's or so, except for Room, who's somewhere around #50. There aren't many four-star recruits, and they all hate us, every year, all the time. I've tried enticing a few of them at different times over the past decade, but even the best hookers and fastest cars don't get them to budge.

I think we've got a good chance to get guys ranked in the 100's because the AI for the lower conferences seems a little soft on recruiting. Realistically, we should really have to fight for guys in the 200's, I would think. The guy (Hartnett) we got last year was ranked better than 100, but he was from Hawaii, and I think the computer is still a bit less aggressive in going after those guys. This year, Room is from overseas as well.

I think we need another coaching level jump or two, more budget money, and a bit more school prestige to make a big jump in quality of recruits we're getting. This is going to be a long journey.