Total College Basketball Demo

[Coder]

Originally Posted by SkyDog

That's a fair expectation, I'd say. Good point.

Unfortunately, if you include a reference in a VB-project I'm pretty certain you're stuck with it no matter if sound is optional or not in this case.

i.e. Gary has included some media-player dlls as references (basically re-usable code written by microsoft so that developers don't have to write entire sound libraries) into the TPB and TCB projects. These are not codesnippets that he can "test" around (no if-structures) but they're included by the VB-compiler into the final exe.

To be perfectly honest though, I don't consider this a big deal. The inclusion is not very different from installing Direct X on a computer, something which at least 99.9% of today's games require anyway.

Shoot me down if I'm off base.

[Gary Gorski]

Originally Posted by WSUCougar

One thought would be to have color-coding and columns representing the various elements in spread sheet fashion. For example, the far left column would be the date of the note, and then a green icon in the "Academics" column could indicate that the recruit values academics highly. Perhaps a gray icon in the "Prestige" column would indicate little or no concern for prestige by the recruit. A "p" in the column would indicate parental comments. Colors could get darker or brighter for stronger or repeated sentiments.

That's an interesting idea - I'm not sure I can work something like this in before the game is released but might be patchable

[Recoil]

I hope this is released in the next few weeks.

[Dekanth]

Originally Posted by Dekanth

Who can give a good comparison to FBCB based on this demo?

Anyone?

[WSUCougar]

Originally Posted by Dekanth

Anyone?

As much as I loved FBCB, this game has so much more to offer, at least based on the demo. Depth, graphics, gameplay. IMO, this is FBCB with a lot of polishing.

[Wolfpack]

Here's a question. How does it handle scheduling for 12-team conferences (or larger)? Is it one-size-fits-all or are there multiple methods to choose from? I say this because the Big 12 has "divisional scheduling" without divisions in the standings (i.e. North-South split as in football, but not reflected in standings) and the SEC has full divisions (East-West) and division scheduling. However, the ACC is different in that each team has two "permanent partners" (biggest rivals) and a rotation of three other teams each year that are home-and-home with the remaining games split home and away. This also means there's no divisions in the ACC. Is there a way to duplicate that or would I have to resort to a "Big 12" model and try to replicate at least a majority of the partnerships that way?

[Gary Gorski]

Originally Posted by Wolfpack

Here's a question. How does it handle scheduling for 12-team conferences (or larger)? Is it one-size-fits-all or are there multiple methods to choose from? I say this because the Big 12 has "divisional scheduling" without divisions in the standings (i.e. North-South split as in football, but not reflected in standings) and the SEC has full divisions (East-West) and division scheduling. However, the ACC is different in that each team has two "permanent partners" (biggest rivals) and a rotation of three other teams each year that are home-and-home with the remaining games split home and away. This also means there's no divisions in the ACC. Is there a way to duplicate that or would I have to resort to a "Big 12" model and try to replicate at least a majority of the partnerships that way?

I'll be more than happy to field this one since I spent about three weeks of my life doing it. For the 12 team conferences there are actually 5 different conference play models so yes each one is mimicked correctly with the correct amount of games and the best scheduling model I could possibly make.

In terms of the rotation of games and conferences like the Big East where some teams are played twice and others not at all on a rotated basis those should be modeled accurately as well.

[Wolfpack]

Originally Posted by Gary Gorski

I'll be more than happy to field this one since I spent about three weeks of my life doing it.

I'll bet those are three weeks you'd like to have back.

Seriously, thanks for the quick reply. Frankly, I actually don't like the ACC's current model of scheduling and would have preferred three "mini-divisions" instead (BC-MD-VA-VT, UNC-NCSU-Duke-Wake, Clem-GT-FSU-Miami). Teams in each group go home-and-home for six games, play one rotating team from each other group home-and-away, and then play the remaining teams in a group at home and the other group away. It just makes no sense that State and Duke can't go home-and-home every year anymore. I understand that TV is almighty and ESPN has the craven need to show Duke and Maryland since that's the flavor-of-the-month rivalry right now (aside from Duke-UNC), but it still grates that the Big 4 aren't home-and-home like they ought to be. (I know CraigSca and terpkristin will beg to differ, but they're up in "Alaska" anyway... ) I suppose it would be too late and too much trouble to provide this as a scheduling option for a 12-team league?

BTW, what are the 12-team arrangements? I believe you have these three covered:
*Two-division, 16-game model (SEC)
*One-division (two phantom divisions), 16-game model (Big XII)
*One-division team parntership, 16-game model (ACC)

What are the other two? Just variants on these with maybe 18 or 14 games?

Also, how much control could you have over the universe? Do I have to have X number of conferences conforming to Y different configurations or could I, for example, chop up the Big East into a football-basketball Big East and then create a "Great East" that consists of only the basketball-playing schools? Also, could I do such horse-swapping in mid-stream, as it were? That is, start in 2005, project a change in conferences five years down the line, and change everything accordingly and have it all run okay or will I be locked into a final design at the start of the timeline?

[WSUCougar]

Gary, another thought for you. The PBP and the 2D are cool, but mutually exclusive (at least for me). I find myself watching the 2D action most of the time and then darting glances at the PBP now and then. However, I really like the little pop-up that comes up when a player scores or rebounds. Any chance of blending that function with the PBP to a greater degree? In other words, rather than a series of descriptive lines stacked in the PBP window, what if each pertinent line popped up near the player in the 2D section. It wouldn't need to be every pass or dribble, but little blurbs would be cool.

Example:
[Pop-up near the point guard]: Johnson brings the ball-up and breaks the press
[Pop-up near the power forward]: Reed snares the entry pass but has no shot
A few passes around the court.
[Pop-up near the shooting guard]: Smith shoots off the dribble...and drains it!

[Icy]

Originally Posted by WSUCougar

Gary, another thought for you. The PBP and the 2D are cool, but mutually exclusive (at least for me). I find myself watching the 2D action most of the time and then darting glances at the PBP now and then. However, I really like the little pop-up that comes up when a player scores or rebounds. Any chance of blending that function with the PBP to a greater degree? In other words, rather than a series of descriptive lines stacked in the PBP window, what if each pertinent line popped up near the player in the 2D section. It wouldn't need to be every pass or dribble, but little blurbs would be cool.

Example:
[Pop-up near the point guard]: Johnson brings the ball-up and breaks the press
[Pop-up near the power forward]: Reed snares the entry pass but has no shot
A few passes around the court.
[Pop-up near the shooting guard]: Smith shoots off the dribble...and drains it!

I propossed it to Gary at GDS forums and by PM with two samples of how could it be done:

First, have a flashing box telling what hapends. For example in this image i just edited and added the STEAL! box.

http://www.prodeportes.com/tcb/pbpsample1.jpg

Second, i find a more natural place to have the pbp under the basket court as i draw it in the following image. That way we have the full pbp at the left, and the last phrase under the court, way more easy to read while watching the pbp.

http://www.prodeportes.com/tcb/pbpsample2.jpg

You can also use both ideas, the flashing text box and the pbp last phrase under the court.

[Gary Gorski]

Originally Posted by Wolfpack

BTW, what are the 12-team arrangements? I believe you have these three covered:
*Two-division, 16-game model (SEC)
*One-division (two phantom divisions), 16-game model (Big XII)
*One-division team parntership, 16-game model (ACC)

What are the other two? Just variants on these with maybe 18 or 14 games?

The fourth is the CAA model - 18 games (there are two groups of 6 and you play your group twice, two non group twice and the other four non group once)

The fifth is the C-USA model - 14 games (three groups of four and you play your group members twice and all non group members once)

Originally Posted by Wolfpack

Also, how much control could you have over the universe? Do I have to have X number of conferences conforming to Y different configurations or could I, for example, chop up the Big East into a football-basketball Big East and then create a "Great East" that consists of only the basketball-playing schools? Also, could I do such horse-swapping in mid-stream, as it were? That is, start in 2005, project a change in conferences five years down the line, and change everything accordingly and have it all run okay or will I be locked into a final design at the start of the timeline?

Well Im aiming for you to be able to set it up however you like to start and that kind of locks it in from there. It hasn't been tried but you might be able to add additional conferences in through the default file (although you cannot add teams - 335 is the max). You would have to conform to one of the current conference formats though so 8,9,10,11,12,14 or 16 team conferences are possible with 3 different configurations of the 11 team conference and the aforementioned 5 configurations of the 12 team conference.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by Dekanth

Anyone?

First of all, as I've said many times, FBCB is my favourite game of all time. With that in mind, here are my impressions of TCB.

I played through one season, and my initial impression is that I'm impressed. I like the interface (though it took me some time to figure out where everything was), I like the PbP (especially the moving visual display of the on-court action), I LOVE the game-by-game log available on the player card (something that I loved in Arlie's college games too), I like the extra ratings to do with personality and the results (though I didn't scrutinize them too closely) looked good to me. Stat-wise I noticed a few things that are out of wack, like the steals example that I mentioned earlier in this thread, but everything else seemed fine at a cursory glance.

Overall, this is a very promising first release, but I don't know, maybe it's just because I've been using FBCB for so long and I'm comfortable and happy with it, but I can't see TCB taking me away from FBCB. I love FBCB's simple layout and the ability to tweak the engine, and I'm very impressed with the stats the game produces.

Having said that though I will purchase TCB when it's released so who knows, and I think it's great that there is some quality competition on the market.

[Gary Gorski]

BTW, for the stats issue with people averaging like 5-7 steals per game - it is a bug that is caused by always attributing the steal in the box score to the point guard when playing a zone defense. Those players really arent getting those outrageous amounts of steals each game - its just that every time one of their teammates got one while playing a zone it was credited to the PG. It will be fixed for the release version.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by Gary Gorski

BTW, for the stats issue with people averaging like 5-7 steals per game - it is a bug that is caused by always attributing the steal in the box score to the point guard when playing a zone defense. Those players really arent getting those outrageous amounts of steals each game - its just that every time one of their teammates got one while playing a zone it was credited to the PG. It will be fixed for the release version.

Ah nice, I didn't notice it was just PGs.

[scooter]

I have a question for those of you that have been playing this demo for a while. I'm trying to figure out when is the correct time to start handing out scholarships during recruiting. I'm playing as Holy Cross and I only have one scholarship this year so I need to make it count. I've got a number of potential targets picked out, but none of them have Holy Cross as their #1 school (I've got a couple of MA boys that have us as #2 and #3). When is the best time to offer the scholarship? Should I wait until the Contact period in Sept to visit them and try to push their interest level to #1?

Also, is there a way to change a players position? I've got 4 PG and 2 SG with one of my PG having excellent outside shooting. I'd like to switch him to SG if I can.

Thanks.

[Gary Gorski]

Originally Posted by scooter

Also, is there a way to change a players position? I've got 4 PG and 2 SG with one of my PG having excellent outside shooting. I'd like to switch him to SG if I can.

Thanks.

Just set him as the SG in the depth chart and be sure to check the SG box as one of his positions played and fill him in at the SG positions in the sub matrix and he'll play all the SG you want

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Gary Gorski

Just set him as the SG in the depth chart and be sure to check the SG box as one of his positions played and fill him in at the SG positions in the sub matrix and he'll play all the SG you want

but there's not a way if you're having the computer set your depth chart to tell it to have him play there, is there? it has to be done manually...

[ScottVib]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

but there's not a way if you're having the computer set your depth chart to tell it to have him play there, is there? it has to be done manually...

Just check the SG box in the depth chart screen and the AI will play him there (provided it feels he's a better option then the other players who are checked to be able to play SG).

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by ScottVib

(provided it feels he's a better option then the other players who are checked to be able to play SG).

there's the real issue. what if i want him to play there even if he's not better. maybe because he might get better with development, or because i'm intentionally trying to tank the season or hell, just because I want to, i don't need a good reason. i ought to be able to, i guess without having to go all manuel and get into the sub matrix and all that (which honestly confuses the hell out of me)

[ScottVib]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

there's the real issue. what if i want him to play there even if he's not better. maybe because he might get better with development, or because i'm intentionally trying to tank the season or hell, just because I want to, i don't need a good reason. i ought to be able to, i guess without having to go all manuel and get into the sub matrix and all that (which honestly confuses the hell out of me)

Just adjust the depth chart and the AI will change the sub matrix to fit the depth chart you set. Personally, I never go into the sub matrix at all. I change the depth chart and let the sub matrix sort itself out. Drop the other SG's below the guy you want to force PT on in the depth chart.

[Buccaneer]

I wish Gary and GDS tremendous success with this game but for me, I have gotten so hooked on FBCB (despite not even liking college hoops) that I can't tear away from it. I really do like the straight-forward interface and one-more-turn feel of FBCB and would not care for 2D animations, pbp sounds or other whistles. But this looks and sounds like a great game for many text simmers and I'm glad it has been done.

[scooter]

Originally Posted by Gary Gorski

Just set him as the SG in the depth chart and be sure to check the SG box as one of his positions played and fill him in at the SG positions in the sub matrix and he'll play all the SG you want

What about for recruiting purposes? If a PG recruit looks at my team and sees that I have 4 guys in front of him, he's probably going to go somewhere else. If the PGs I have are not great ball-handlers and are better outside shooters, I'd like to be able to change them to SG and go recruit a good ball-handling PG (I know I can do this in FBCB, but I was looking to be able to do that in TCB as well).

Now you can see the real root of my original question. I know about the depth chart and the sub matrix, but I'm really most concerned about recruiting right now.

[WSUCougar]

Originally Posted by scooter

What about for recruiting purposes? If a PG recruit looks at my team and sees that I have 4 guys in front of him, he's probably going to go somewhere else. If the PGs I have are not great ball-handlers and are better outside shooters, I'd like to be able to change them to SG and go recruit a good ball-handling PG (I know I can do this in FBCB, but I was looking to be able to do that in TCB as well).

Now you can see the real root of my original question. I know about the depth chart and the sub matrix, but I'm really most concerned about recruiting right now.

I'm with ya on this Scooter. I'm facing this exact situation with the demo right now.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Gary Gorski

BTW, for the stats issue with people averaging like 5-7 steals per game - it is a bug that is caused by always attributing the steal in the box score to the point guard when playing a zone defense. Those players really arent getting those outrageous amounts of steals each game - its just that every time one of their teammates got one while playing a zone it was credited to the PG. It will be fixed for the release version.

Good catch on that quirky bug & I'm glad to know that it's being squashed.

In a similar vein, is there something like that going on with some defensive rebounds somewhere? Purely anecdotal, since I haven't made detailed notes about it, but I've noticed numerous times where the pbp text credits a guard with getting a rebound but the rebound total in the running stats for the players on the court doesn't change. It's persistent enough that I'm 100% certain I've seen it happen, but it isn't an all-the-time thing by any means either since I've had SG's get double-digit rebounds on rare occasions & PG's get as many as 5 or 6; i.e. it's not like they're getting no boards ever, it's just that the text & the stat recording doesn't always seem to match up, leading me to wonder if it was something situational like the PG steals issue.

[Gary Gorski]

Originally Posted by scooter

What about for recruiting purposes? If a PG recruit looks at my team and sees that I have 4 guys in front of him, he's probably going to go somewhere else. If the PGs I have are not great ball-handlers and are better outside shooters, I'd like to be able to change them to SG and go recruit a good ball-handling PG (I know I can do this in FBCB, but I was looking to be able to do that in TCB as well).

Now you can see the real root of my original question. I know about the depth chart and the sub matrix, but I'm really most concerned about recruiting right now.

Recruits don't look by position, they look at the player who occupies the spot they play and consider if they could beat him out and also consider where they would currently fall on the depth chart. You could have your four point guards and the recruit will still consider whether or not he will start at PG based on who plays PG now and not how many PGs there are

[dunkem]

While I think TCB is much deeper in player ratings, recruiting, and playcalling, I think I have to agree so that the recruiting process could be made a little easier and may require too many filters and screens. Perhaps Gary could make a "recruiting summary" page similar to that of FBCB. The summary page could be one that lists all the recruit's ratings, top 5 schools (if known) while also allowing you to select recruiting actions on the very same page. Basically, a less cosmetically appealing page, but more informational packed than the others.

That's the beauty and the speed of FBCB I think in that you can see almost all of what you need on one page as well as select your actions on the same page. In TCB, you have two look at two different pages to see the all the A-F ratings, a page listing the schools being considered, and another screen to choose recruiting actions. With one summary page, I think it'd help with the speed of recruiting. If we want to look at more details like notes, all ten schools (instead of top five), or the national rank of the recruit, we'd be able to go to the existing pages.

Great game so far with much more variables and factors involved in all processes. Those who like to play faster seasons will probably like FBCB more, but I like a lot of the things TCB is bringing to the table.

[DaddyTorgo]

okay, i'm jonesing for this game right now. Had an incredible game as Alabama State last night (prestige 27). Won something like 10 games and managed to recruit two top-100 players by waiting until after the first LOI signing period to go after them. Now I can't wait to see how I can do with an entirely new backcourt!

C'mon Gary!!!

[dunkem]

Great job on recruiting DaddyTorgo. However, this makes me take a step back in buying TCB if Alabama State with prestige 27 could land two top 100 recruits. Are your recruiting ratings for your coach and assistants really high? I'd be really stoked if I were you too, but if this happens often, I'm going to be disappointed. If lower prestige schools can land even one top 100 recruit each season, recruiting will be too easy and/or there are loopholes in it.

I guess I'll have to do some testing with lower level teams to see how difficult recruiting really is.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by dunkem

Great job on recruiting DaddyTorgo. However, this makes me take a step back in buying TCB if Alabama State with prestige 27 could land two top 100 recruits. Are your recruiting ratings for your coach and assistants really high? I'd be really stoked if I were you too, but if this happens often, I'm going to be disappointed. If lower prestige schools can land even one top 100 recruit each season, recruiting will be too easy and/or there are loopholes in it.

I guess I'll have to do some testing with lower level teams to see how difficult recruiting really is.

bad news is that my staff are all pretty horrible at recruiting. of course i've already passed the point where i can look and see what the guys final ratings are, but I know that both of them didn't sign with me until the 2nd letter of intent signing period (gave verbals maybe a week, two tops before that).

looking back at a save I had from mid-january (before i changed the name)

PG Paul Judd from Arkansas is ranked 49th overall (17th at his position) and I am his #1 overall choice.

SG Abe Armstrong from Kentucky is ranked 54th overall and 11th at his position (although he did say in his first call that playing close to him is his top concern) and I am his #2 overall choice

maybe it helps that i am a very undisciplined coach at an academically poor school so i'm picking up a bunch of malcontents and idiots? One of the two (just closed the game so i don't remember which) just got an 800 on his SAT's, and the other was a JuCo player. So that could very well have something to do with it...

[WSUCougar]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

maybe it helps that i am a very undisciplined coach at an academically poor school so i'm picking up a bunch of malcontents and idiots? One of the two (just closed the game so i don't remember which) just got an 800 on his SAT's, and the other was a JuCo player. So that could very well have something to do with it...

This definitely plays a part in it.

[dunkem]

Maybe their their middle names are Artest and Sprewell and want to cause havoc in Alabama State. One of em's gonna start the fight in the stands and the other one's gonna hit the coaches.

*groan* Poor recruiting ratings, bad prestige, top 100 recruits. This will definitely have to be tweaked to pull me away from FBCB now. FBCB's recruiting could be improved too, but at least I knew I couldn't land top 100 recruits with a 27 prestige school. Top 200 maybe but not the 49th and 54th best players in the nation.

Hopefully it's a fluke.. but at least your Alabama State's gonna be the cinderella team of the TCB tournament.

[DaddyTorgo]

hopefully Gary can weigh in on this and let us know that it's not something that needs to be tweaked but it's some combination of southeastern recruits who receive little attention from big schools choosing to stay close to home and play for a coach who lets the players run wild at a school where they won't have to attend classes. I did wait until after the first LOI signing period, so maybe there was not a lot of attention given to them.

This does have me a bit worried though, if I was to send the file to you Gary is there a way you could open it up and check out what exactly went on with them from a recruiting standpoint, like what their choices are and why they picked me? To reassure the masses...

and hopefully they underperform on the court due to their stupidity and the scouting error from my scouts?

[ScottVib]

They signed with you almost certainly because of the academics. The 800 SAT guy probably had 0 interest from any other school, as any school with a C or higher academic rating (which most of the "majors" have) could not get him in, so they don't waste their time. For example: as I'm CCSU I can't get anyone into Central without at least a 880 SAT and I only have a C for academics.

The other thing with the 800 SAT guy, is he's almost certainly a candidate to be academically ineligible almost his entire collegiate career, so he's far from a sure thing (sorry to be a bit of a downer).

[DaddyTorgo]

that's fine. as long as there's a logical reason for it. as for being a downer...i don't look at it that way. we'll see.

[CraigSca]

You could be the UNLV of the east, DaddyTogo!

[MizzouRah]

After reading your post Scott, I'm really wanting this game. I'm still going to hold out until I have more time with BBCF, but I've been reading a lot of good talk about this game. Heck, I would have bought it on the merrits of TPB 2005 alone anyhow.

College basketball is fun from a recruiting standpoint because there's a lot less players than in football... makes me really get into my recruits.

[Gary Gorski]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

hopefully Gary can weigh in on this and let us know that it's not something that needs to be tweaked but it's some combination of southeastern recruits who receive little attention from big schools choosing to stay close to home and play for a coach who lets the players run wild at a school where they won't have to attend classes. I did wait until after the first LOI signing period, so maybe there was not a lot of attention given to them.

Yes, you got players nobody wanted. The guy who scored an 800 on his SAT did not qualify to play at any school other than the poorest academic ones which Alabama State falls into in the ratings. You will be extremely lucky if he plays more than one semester in his career. The JuCo is probably another kid none of the big schools in the area wanted to deal with (especially just for two years).

If you want to send me the save file I'd be happy to sim ahead and report the results. I highly suspect that when its all said and done Alabama State isn't going to be a national powerhouse

[Gary Gorski]

dola

academic ratings of the school also factor into the chances of becoming ineligible - so a kid who gets bad grades will want to go to an easier school because he will have less chance of his GPA going down - however even the worst schools in academics aren't low enough to save some of the recruits.

Also when kids are suspended for grades and realize they can't handle the academics at the school they will transfer to a lower academic school so many times the AI won't even bother with those guys in the first place

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by CraigSca

You could be the UNLV of the east, DaddyTogo!

oh damm. I miss the UNLV of the late 80's / early 90's with Tarkanian and Larry Johnson.

Hell there could be a lot worse things than being the UNLV of the East.

[DaddyTorgo]

dola

no need to sim ahead for me like that Gary. I'm just pleased to see there's logic to it that holds up.

I don't mind taking a flyer, it's not like these guys can sink this program, it's already fairly well sunk.

besides, I'd much rather you didn't waste that time simming ahead in my game and instead got the full version out soon so I can pay you sir!

[DaddyTorgo]

double dola

don't know if anyone cares, but i found this interesting "where are they now" piece on those early-90's UNLV teams

hxxp://www.casinomagazine.com/managearticle.asp?c=400&a=306

[Gary Gorski]

Well to be honest DT if you wouldnt mind I would like to see the files (I need the .tcb file and the corresponding folder all zipped of course). I can sim a year in just a couple of minutes plus it would give me a chance to make sure the demo saves will work with the retail version.

And don't worry, you won't have to wait much longer at all to pay me. I don't want to delay that process either

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Gary Gorski

Well to be honest DT if you wouldnt mind I would like to see the files (I need the .tcb file and the corresponding folder all zipped of course). I can sim a year in just a couple of minutes plus it would give me a chance to make sure the demo saves will work with the retail version.

And don't worry, you won't have to wait much longer at all to pay me. I don't want to delay that process either

sent Gary. but gmail was being wonky so if you don't get it quick let me know (if you're still up) and i'll run up and do it on a real mail account

[Gary Gorski]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

sent Gary. but gmail was being wonky so if you don't get it quick let me know (if you're still up) and i'll run up and do it on a real mail account

Got it and loading it up - should have some results pretty soon (so long as theres no unexpected issues using a demo file on my version)

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Gary Gorski

Got it and loading it up - should have some results pretty soon (so long as theres no unexpected issues using a demo file on my version)

that's fine. like i said, i'm not asking you to do this, i'm satisfied with the answer that you gave that there is a logical reason why i was able to land these two recruits, and i honestly just wanted to fiddle with a demo as a low-prestige team to see what the experience was like. i have no attachement to making Alabama State a powerhouse.


but here's hoping it runs fine on your machine and you don't discover any problems that require correcting so that we can get this baby in our hands soon.

[Gary Gorski]

ok, the results are in. Alabama State put together an impressive year going 13-5 in the conference and 23-8 overall winning the conference tournament good enough for a 13 seed in the big dance where they got waxed by 4th seed Temple 75-48.

On an individual level Judd averaged 7.9 PPG and 4.0 APG starting every game (although only scored 1 point in the NCAA tournament game). He also averaged almost 3 and a half turnovers per game running the point.

Armstrong (the JuCo) was solid scoring 14.7 per game with nothing really else of much note.

Both are carrying 2.2 GPAs (and two other players were suspended for academics during the season with a 1.9 and 1.6) and there are five additional players at 2.2 or below - a total of 9 players who are or are close to being academically ineligible so this situation could get very ugly in the future.

Why I think Alabama State got these guys. Academics is obviously the big reason but there's a few others. I don't think Judd is going to be much to shout about. He had a decent frosh campaign playing for one of the better prestige and talent teams in a weak conference but who knows how long he's going to stay eligible.

Armstrong is a solid scorer but a headcase as expected. His personality leans towards the disruptive end of the scale so had things gone badly during the season he could have been a real headache to deal with - couple that with the fact he's a JuCo so he only has two years to play anyways and I can understand why bigger schools stayed away.

Basically it was what IMO it should have been. A roll of the dice that is certainly worth taking at an Alabama State but probably not something you're going to risk a scholarship or more important the happiness of the rest of the team over if you're a bigger school.

[DaddyTorgo]

works for me. hell of a lot better than the first year I put together where I was sub-.500. Glad to hear that the logic stands up then in the recruiting and demo saves work in the full version.

so now that that is known...we can expect the full version when...in a couple hours?

so in conclusion guys: recruiting works fine in instances like this. nothing to freak about.

[Gary Gorski]

nope - cause I want to see what happens in the next season

[DaddyTorgo]

yeah okay. go have fun with my savegame Gary. Don't worry about getting us all a playable retail version so we can put food on your table and buy diapers for the lil Gorski!

haha. i can't wait to get my hands on this! which is saying something, cuz basketball is my least favorite sport. but this game certainly makes me forget that

[jbmagic]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

yeah okay. go have fun with my savegame Gary. Don't worry about getting us all a playable retail version so we can put food on your table and buy diapers for the lil Gorski!

haha. i can't wait to get my hands on this! which is saying something, cuz basketball is my least favorite sport. but this game certainly makes me forget that

Total Pro Basketball is very solid too. i cant wait for Total College Basketball too.