Memoirs from the Big East Basement

[bertogarce]

As a long-time reader of the board, I understand the high-quality of writing that goes into many of the dynasties in this section. Because of this, I was a little hesitant to embark on my own attempt at a dynasty. However, I've decided to thrown caution to the wind and give it a shot.

I've decided to start a dynasty chronicling my team, the University of Pittsburgh Panthers, as we compete in the dolphinsim.com college basketball league. For those not familiar with dolphinsim.com, here's a little blurb from the website:

" The Dolphin E-mail Leagues are online (web or e-mail based) sports simulation leagues, dedicated to providing the premier sports strategy experience on the internet. We use the Dolphin Simulation Games game engines, which simulate the games play-by-play offline based solely on the players' abilities and the coaches' game plans. DEL now consists of leagues simulating five professional and three college sports, with over 375 coaches running over 750 teams."

Specifically, this dynasty will cover my career in the CBEL, the college basketball league that boasts approximately 150-200 human-controlled teams. Using an online interface, the human-owners are able to control the various functions of their teams, including recruiting, scheduling, depth charts, game strategy, etc. Those teams with no human-owners are controlled by a computer coach, referred to by players as "Coach Bob".

Teams are classified by a three tier system, with tier 1 being the most elite group of teams. Human coaches must start in tier 3, and meet certain performance levels before they are promoted to a higher tier. Subsequently, coaches of tier 1 teams must maintain certain performance standards or they will be fired. As you read on, you'll see that I am dangerously close to being part of this latter group.

Games are played once a day, Monday through Friday. I will try and update the progress of the team as often as possible. The new season started this afternoon.

I've been playing dolphinsim.com online games for years, and found them to be very enjoyable. Hopefully this dynasty will capture the excitement that comes with coaching a team.

[bertogarce]

The Background:

To be honest, I'm not a very good coach. I'm entering my 9th season as a coach in the CBEL. Here's my career coaching record:

New Orleans: 16-11 (NIT 1st round)
New Orleans: 6-25
New Orleans: 13-19
New Orleans: 18-15 (NIT 1st round)
New Orleans: 26-8 (Sun Belt Conference Champs.; NCAA, 2nd Round)
Pittsburgh: 11-19
Pittsburgh: 8-22
Pittsburgh: 7-24
Lifetime: 105-144

Between my first and second season at the University of New Orleans, I caught lightning in a bottle. I was somehow able to land the #14 recruiting class in the nation. This group of players basically played from Day 1 on campus. By their Senior seasons, we had one of the better teams in the country. We started the season ranked in the top 25 and had a great run, losing to eventual final four participant Ohio State in the 2nd round of the Big Dance.

Based on this monster season, I was promoted to tier 1. In deciding what job to take, it basically came down to a choice between Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. Cincy had a pretty good team, Pitt did not. The lure of rebuilding a moribund basketball program was too much to pass up. I accepted the Pitt coaching job.

Things haven't gone so well at Pitt. I haven't recruited well, I haven't won many games. Frankly, I've been a horrendous coach. If I don't turn things around this season, I'm going to get fired. Hence, this dynasty being called, "Memoirs from the Big East Basement."

[bertogarce]

The team:

In the sim, players are rated on the following categories:
Ps: Passing:
Df: Defense:
Ag: Aggression
Sc: Scoring
Sh: Shooting
St: Stamina
Tr: Training level

Player are also given an overall letter rating, ranging from A to D.

A look at the Pitt Panthers:

Centers: (the computer gives a team talent ranking for each position. We have the #273 talent in the country at the center position.)

Starter: Scott Kudla, 6'10, Junior, talent rating:B. This will be Scott's second year as a starter, as he averaged 7 points a game last season. Scott is by no means a dominant inside presence. We do our best to hide Scott in our 2-1-2 zone.
Backups: Gary Benavides, 6'10, Junior, talent rating:B. Should see significant playing time.
Eddie Simmons, 6'7, Redshirt Freshman, talent rating:B. Still a few years away from competing for playing time.
Eddie English, 6'9, Junior, talent rating:B. Bench player who will likely not be used all that often. (*walk-on)

Power Forwards: (#28 talent in the country)
Starter: Kerry Remsberg, 6'9, Senior, talent rating:A. This star of our team. Kerry is basically the only highly recruited player I've been able to sign in my time at Pitt. Averaged 12 points a game last season and 7 rebounds. We will only go as far as Kerry can take us.
Backups: Grant Theberge, 6'9, Sophomore, talent rating: B.
Gavin Conrad, 6'7, Senior, talent rating: C. Neither backup will see much time playing behind Kerry.

Small Forwards: (#199 talent in the country)
Starter: Conner Guinane, 6'10, Sophomore, talent rating: A. Conner had a tremendous off-season and vaulted past last year's starter, Kerry Rudolph to win the starting nod. Conner is a great scorer(7) with solid agility (6). Should provide a scoring spark at small forward we didn't have last season.
Backup: Kerry Rudolph, 6'9, Junior, talent rating: B. Last year's starter. Great hands(8). Should get some quality minutes.
Gerry Johnson, 6'7, Senior, talent rating: B.
Chris Olsen, 6'7, Redshirt Freshman, talent rating: C. (*walk-on)

Shooting Guard: (#91 talent in the country)
Starter: Mitchell Cox, 6'2, Junior, Talent rating: A. Mitchell is another guy who had a great off-season. He's turned into a scorer deluxe. He has great ratings at scoring (7) and shooting (5). He will be one of our go to guys this season.
Backups: Chistof Rajasegera, 6'4, Sophomore, talent rating: B. A defensive specialist who will see some quality minutes this season.
Nick Brooks, 6'3, Redshirt Freshman, Talent rating: B. A very good shooter
(5) who has a solid future with the program.

Point guard: (#173 talent in the country)
Starter: Ian Jedrlinic, 5'10, Junior, talent rating: B. The point guard battle was a tight one, as Ian won the job, barely, over Billy Thornton. Ian is a better scorer, while Billy is a better passer. The starting job could bounce between the two all season.
Backups: Billy Thornton, 5'11, Sophomore, talent rating: B.
Jalyn Gyde, 6'2, Freshman, talent rating: B. (* walk-on)

Redshirts: Tony "The Thrilla" Zorrila, 6'10, Center. Rated as the #9 player in the "East" Region.

[bertogarce]

The Schedule:

I very much schedule like a coach who is about to lose his job. I tried to schedule as many lower tier teams as I could. Who cares about RPI and strength of schedule when you're about to get fired.

For the fourth straight season, I will begin the year hosting my own tournament, the Iron City HoopFest. Sadly, I've never won my own tournament. The tournament seeding is a follows:

Round 1:
#1 Pittsburgh v. #4 Akron (rated #134 in the country)
#2 Virginia (#71 in the country) v. #3 UCLA (rated #133 in the country)

The rest of the schedule:



Game Day 3: Pittsburgh at Chicago St
4: Pittsburgh at New Mexico St
5: Pittsburgh at Auburn
6: Loyola Chicgo at Pittsburgh
7: Pittsburgh at New Orleans
8: Pittsburgh at Sacramento St
9: Wright St at Pittsburgh
11: Lipscomb at Pittsburgh
12: #6 Virginia Tech at Pittsburgh
13: Pittsburgh at Syracuse
14: Pittsburgh at Rutgers
15: West Virginia at Pittsburgh
16: Oral Roberts at Pittsburgh
17: #3 Notre Dame at Pittsburgh
18: Seton Hall at Pittsburgh
19: Miami FL at Pittsburgh
20: St Johns at Pittsburgh
21: Boston Col at Pittsburgh
22: Pittsburgh at Georgetown
23: Syracuse at Pittsburgh
25: Georgetown at Pittsburgh
26: Pittsburgh at #3 Notre Dame
27: Rutgers at Pittsburgh
29: Pittsburgh at Providence
30: Pittsburgh at West Virginia
32: Pittsburgh at Connecticut
33: Pittsburgh at Seton Hall

[bertogarce]

The rankings:

We enter the season ranked #229 in the first RPI ranking and #227 in the computer ranking.

A look at the conference:

Big East:

Notre Dame RPI: 9 Computer:3
Virginia Tech R: 6 C: 6
Connecticut R: 54 C: 56
Miami FL R: 56 C:58
Villanova R:75 C:73
Syracuse R: 86 C:96
West Virginia R: 107 C:104
Rutgers R:126 C:127
Providence R: 170 C:147
Georgetown R:178 C:183
Pittsburgh R: 229 C:227
Boston Col R:243 C:236
St Johns R: 251 C:252
Seton Hall R:267 C:272

The Top #25:


Writers' Poll
Team W L Votes Rnk FPV
Ohio St 1 0 1250 1 50
Michigan St 1 0 1200 2
Notre Dame 1 0 1150 3
Texas 1 0 1100 4
Georgia Tech 1 0 1031 5
Virginia Tech 0 1 1011 6
Arkansas 0 1 935 7
Kentucky 1 0 916 8
Missouri 1 0 857 9
Vanderbilt 0 1 782 10
Minnesota 1 0 768 11
Marquette 1 0 697 12
Washington 1 0 653 13
DePaul 1 0 600 14
Maryland 1 0 550 15
UNLV 1 0 500 16
Lehigh 0 1 444 17
Louisville 0 1 406 18
Oregon 0 1 340 19
Mississippi 1 0 307 20
Houston 0 0 253 21
Utah 1 0 188 22
Quinnipiac 1 0 160 23
Arizona 0 1 65 24
Kansas 1 0 58 25

Also receiving votes
Team W L Votes Rnk FPV
Hawaii 1 0 29 26

[bertogarce]

The season opener:

Pittsburgh Panthers (0-0) v. Akron Zips (0-0)
1st Round, Iron City Hoopfest


Akron comes into the game with the #38 team talent in the country. They were 28-6 last season. Why the heck did I schedule them for my home opener? Maybe this is why I'm about to get fired. Memo to self: easy opponents = job security.

First half: I've heard coaches say that you can tell how a season is going to go by the first play of the year. First play this season: Akron attempts a jump shot that is blocked by Guinane, rebound by Kudla. Sweet. Akron starts out playing straight man to man, while we employ the 2-1-2 zone. We jump out to an early 8-2 lead led by 4 points and 2 rebounds by Scott Kudla within the first 2 minutes. We continue to play quite well, as we lead 19-9 with 11:37 remaining. We have 3 steals already in the game. Not sure if it's our pressure defense or whether Akron is rusty. We take a 45-31 lead into the locker room at haltime. Not bad. Maybe I should take down the for sale signs from my house! Kudla leads the team with 8 points, while Kerry Remsberg has 6 rebounds. Akron is lead by Hitch, who has 9 points.

Second half: Kudla starts the second half with a block. Wow. What got into him? He's playing like a real center. We improve our lead to 55-37 with 15:53 remaining. It feels weird to be winning by 18 points. May be the first time a team I've coached led by this much since I was at New Orleans. Akron went 4:02 without scoring a basket. However, we went 2:12 without scoring a basket during that time. It's now 64-45 with 9:57 remaining. Uh oh. Akron went on a 12-0 run. Score is now 69-61 with 6:24 remaining. Guinane goes down with an injury. That sucks. Our offense is completely disappearing. Score sits at 77-73 with 1:13 remaining. Akron launches a three pointer with 1:00 left, which of course is good. 78-75. 44 seconds, Kudla shoots from in the paint, no good. Damnit. Akron rebound. Akron get one offensive rebound, two offensive rebounds, and now a three point shot. Figures. Nice of my guys to give them three chances. 78-78 with 13 seconds remaining. Let's see what the Panthers are made of! Not much obviously. Jedrlinic loses the inbound pass from Cox. Akron goes for the game winning shot, miss! Wait a second. The ref called a foul. No way! Come on. Where's the home court call? Akron makes one free throw. We get the ball back. Turnover. Game.

Analysis: There you have it: Pitt basketball in a nuthsell. We squandered a 19 point lead. With the game tied, we can't even get off a last shot. This is why I'll be coaching at Sothwest East West Montana Tech next season.

Injuries: Guinane will be out for seven games.

Up next: UCLA (0-1). Lost 47-37 to Virginia in the 2nd game of the Iron City HoopFest.

[bertogarce]

Game 2 preview:

This afternoon, the rag-tag Pittsburgh Panthers host the UCLA Bruins (0-1) in the consolation game of the Iron City HoopFest. Pitt tries to avoid finishing 4th place in their own tournament for the 3rd straight year. A large crowd is expected, more so for the discounted Iron City Beer than the quality of basketball.

UCLA comes into the game off a 47-37 loss the Virginia Cavaliers in the opening round of the tournament. The Bruins are coached by Tony D, who has a lifetime record of 215-189 in 13 seasons of coaching. The Bruins were 18-14 last season. They enter the game with a computer ranking of #133 and a team talent ranking of #170. UCLA is a 1.5 point favorite, with an over/under of 117. (If I was a betting man, I'd take the under. UCLA scored 37 points in their last game for goodness sake!)

The Bruins are led by 6'8 Senior small forward Leigh, who scored 18 in the opening game. UCLA has "A" rated players at center, power forward and small forward, but seems to have a small talent drop off at the guard positions. If you recall, we lost our small forward, Guinane, to injury in the opening game. It will be up to backup small forward Kerry Rudolph to try and keep Leigh in check. Hopefully shooting guard Mitchell Cox can exploit the UCLA outside game.

On the national level, the game of the day features #1 Ohio State at #9 Missouri.

[bertogarce]

If anyone is interested in knowing how your favorite team is doing, let me know. I'll be happy to update the progress of your favorite school!

[BFleming]

Keep it up berto-- fellow pitt panther alum here...still remember losing our homecoming in '98 to rutgers...ugh...different sport i know, but we're due!!

[bertogarce]

Thanks for the kind words BFleming! Hopefully I can turn things around for the Panthers. Thanks for reading.

[bertogarce]

Pittsburgh Panthers (0-1) v. UCLA Bruins (0-1)
Consolation Game, Iron City HoopFest

It's game time! An alcohol-fueled crowd is in attendance to cheer on the hometown Pitt Panthers. Will Pitt suffer the indignity of finishing last in their own tournament yet again???

First half: The game starts with UCLA in a matchup zone defense, while we employ the trusty 2-1-2 zone. We get the opening tip. Turnover. Nice to see we picked up right where we left off last game. 4 minutes into the game and UCLA has yet to score a point. We lead 5-0. I hope people took my advice and bet the under. Unbelievable. 13:54 left in the game and the score is still 5-0. This may be the worst display of basketball ever. Or maybe our defense is just that good. Nah. Probably the former. At the 12:54 mark UCLA scores their first points. Celebrations erupt in the streets of Westwood. At the 9:53 mark the score is still 5-3. There is no truth to the rumor that people are at the ticket counter asking for their money back. Holy cow. Two baskets in a row. The two teams actually start showing some offense. Score sits at 24-20 at the half. Scott Kudla leads us at the half with 7 points. Mitchell Cox has 5 points. Kerry Remsberg has 4 rebounds. There were about 150 turnovers that quarter.

Second half: Kudla starts the second half by getting his second rebound of the game. Good stats for a starting center. UCLA is back to their old tricks. They don't score a basket for the first 4:01 of the second half. Of course, we only score five points during that time. 3rd sting point guard Gyde is in the game for us as we're having serious foul troubles. He promptly hits a three pointer. Interesting. Shooting guard Mitchell Cox decides to get involved in the game. He hits a three-pointer followed by a quick basket. Pitt lead 35-25 with 12:54 remaining. The two teams combine for four straight turnovers. UCLA's Guarnara starts to heat up. 35-28. Mitchell Cox responds with two straight 3-pointers. Sweet. 41-28 Pitt. UCLA brings it to 46-41 with 6:26 remaining. Get ready for a patented Pitt collapse. 52-49 with 1:41 left. Cox responds with a baseline basket. Pittsburgh gets the steal! Remsberg for a layup! 56-49 with 57 seconds. We need to make our free throws. UCLA scores. 56-51. Thornton fouled. He sinks both shots! Steal by Pitt. Pitt wins! Pitt wins! Pitt wins!

Final score: Pitt 58, UCLA 51.

Further analysis to follow. I need time to celebrate!

[bertogarce]

Game 2 analysis: How can this rare victory be explained? I'm not sure how much of it was our doing or simply UCLA having a horrendous game. Credit has to be given to our defense, which held the Bruins scoreless for the first 5 minutes or so of the game. UCLA's star player, Leigh, was held to 2 of 10 from the field. For the first time in a long while, we didn't choke down the stretch. With the game on the line, the team came through in the final minutes. That doesn't happen very often! The key stat of the game: the two teams combined for 32 turnovers.

Stat leaders:
SG Mitchell Cox, 16 points (4 off 11 three-pointers)
PF Kerry Remsberg, 13 points, 10 rebounds.

Up next: at Chicago State (0-2); computer rank: 266.

National games of interest:

#1 Ohio State escapes at #9 Missouri, 59-56.
#17 Oregon upsets #10 Virginia Tech, 71-60.

[bertogarce]

Can Pitt make it two in a row???

We start our three game road trip this afternoon with a matchup against Chicago State. The Cougars (I had to do a google search to find the Chicago State mascot) enter the game with a record of 0-2. They have a computer ranking of #256 and an RPI of #266. Chicago State has not played to their potential thus far, as they have a team talent ranking of #120. The Cougars, who were 18-11 last season, lost to #11 Missouri 55-40 to open the season and were blown out by Nebraska yesterday 66-49. The strength of their team is small forward Leon, who averages 12 points a game. If there is one weakness for the Cougars, it appears to be inside play. This should bode well for our star power forward, Kerry Remsberg. Vegas has Pitt as 1.5 point underdogs with an over/under of 122.5.

National Games of Interest:

#7 Kentucky at #1 Ohio State: What's up with the Buckeye's schedule? Can't say they don't take on all comers.

#3 Notre Dame at #5 Georgia Tech.

[bertogarce]

Pittsburgh Panthers (1-1) at Chicago State Cougars (0-2)

Live from the Dickens Center, it's Pitt v. Chicago State. Here's a little bit of trivia: did you know Chicago isn't even a state? Both teams start the game playing a 2-1-2 zone. First possession, State scores. Guess we won't be holding our opponent scoreless for the first five minutes today. With the score 4-2 Pitt, Chicago State takes a shot, Kerry Rudolph gets a block. Another shot, Scott Kudla gets a block. Sweet! Ian Jedrlinic has a fast break. Turnover. Not so sweet. Even game so far. Score sits at 10-10 with 14:31 remaining. Chicago State is fouling quite a bit. With 13:31 left in the game we're already in the bonus. Lucky for Chi-Town State, we can't hit free throws. Chicago State opens up a 17-10 lead with 11:14 remaining. Center Scott Kudla takes a hard foul at the 10:33 mark and leaves the game. Uh oh. We may miss his 2 rebounds a game. Kudla's replacement, Benavides scores 4 straight points. 8:18 mark Kudla recovers enough to return to the game. Good thing. Benavides was playing too well. 7:49 Mitchell Cox hits a 3-pointer to tie the game at 19. Kudla blocks another shot. He must have heard me making fun of him. We lead 30-23 with 4:48 remaining. We don't score again. 30-30 at halftime. Cox leads us with 9 points, Kerry Remsberg has 6 points and 3 boards.

Second half: For some reason, we decide that we can only shoot 3-pointers as we attempt four in a row (and none of the them are actually good.) 16:53, Remsberg gets a breakaway slam. 38-34 Pitt. Remsberg and Jedrlinic both pick up their 4th fouls and have to sit. Chicago State takes advantage and leads 42-38 with 11:53 remaining. We can't buy a basket. 50-38 with 10:03 remaining. Remsberg comes back in. Maybe he can stop the bleeding. He does a good job of getting us back in the game. 53-47 with 5:53 remaining. 55-51 with 4:00 left. We're still in this game!!! With the score 55-51, we get two scoring chances and convert on neither. That's it. We had our chance. Chicago State scores 7 straight points. We're done.

Final Score: Chicago State 64, Pittsburgh 53

[bertogarce]

What happened? We couldn't buy a basket this afternoon. We were 19-51 from the field (37%) and 4-17 from 3-point range (23%). I take the blame for a poor gameplan. I should have instructed the team to try and shoot from the inside to exploit the Chicago State front-line. However, I set the shooting emphasis for "straight", which basically means the team uses their best judgement. Apparently, the team will jack up 17 threes when left to their own judgement. We were out rebounded 36-28, which included some key offensive rebounds by Chicago State late in the game.

Stat leaders:
Mitchell Cox: 14 points
Kerry Remsberg: 10 points, 6 rebounds
Backup center Gary Benavides has 8 points in relief.

Up Next: at New Mexico State (2-0)

National Games of Interest:
#1 Ohio State was upset 73-71 by #7 Kentucky.
#5 Georgia Tech pounded #3 Notre Dame 85-64.

[bertogarce]

We travel to Lac Cruces this afternoon as we face the New Mexico State Aggies (2-0). This is going to be a tough game for us. The Aggies enter the game with a computer ranking of #113 and an RPI ranking of #135. They have a team talent ranking of #213. This is our first game of the season against a computer-controlled team (Coach Bob). Vegas puts the Aggies as 11.5 point favorites and an over/under of 216.5. The Aggies are led by a shooting guard named Vignovic, who averages 12 points a game. They have been out-rebounded badly in their previous two outings. I'm going to try and exploit the inside game this afternoon, and set the shooting area as "inside" with a high emphasis. Let's see if PF Kerry Remsberg can have a strong outing.

National Game of the Day:

#6 Arkansas hosts #3 Notre Dame in what should be a very good matchup.

[ShagVT]

As the coach of CBEL Virginia Tech (Preseason: #6, Current Record: 0-2), I'll be interested to see how my conference competitor fairs.

You definitely have a tough road ahead of you this year. With my Hokies' pathetic performances so far, I won't presume to have any advice to offer - at least none that you would want to follow.

The only suggestion is you might want to consider a low motion offense, so your PG will drive more. He's got a good eye for the basket but he has no touch out there behind the line.

[bertogarce]

Thanks for the advice! I welcome any suggestions on how to turn this program around. When you refer to us as "conference competitors", I think you're being overly-generous!

[bertogarce]

Pittsburgh Panthers (1-2) v. New Mexico State Aggies (2-0)

Due to time constraints, I'll have to do an abbreviated write-up today. Don’t worry, you didn't miss much.

The first half was pretty even, with New Mexico State leading 25-24. Kerry Remsberg was our leading scorer at the half with 9 points. Early in the second, Kerry picked up his fourth foul. With Kerry on the bench, New Mexico State went on a 13-2 run. We never recovered. Honestly, it looked like we basically gave up. We were outscored 39-20 in the second half. Embarassing game.

Final Score: New Mexico State 64, Pittsburgh 44

Analysis: We were completely dominated on the boards, as we were out-rebounded 37-20. I thought we had a better inside game. Shows you what I know. We only had 3 rebounds from the center position. We hit 13 of 40 shots from the field (35.7%). NMS was 55% from the field. We only made 50% of our free throws. We got 0 points from the point guard position. Overall, an absolutely horrible effort.

Next game: at Auburn (3-0).

[bertogarce]

This one could get ugly. We travel to face the Auburn Tigers (3-0) this afternoon. Auburn has a very good team. They have four players averaging double-digit points. They seem to have better talent at every position, even at power forward, where they have a 7'0 Junior who can't be stopped. Vegas agrees with my assessment, as we're 21 point underdogs. Auburn is currently ranked 47 by the computer and 35 by the RPI. They were 16-15 last season, although I suspect they will greatly improve on that record this year.

I'm going to take ShaqVT's advice and lower the motion setting for our offense. I'm also going to bench Scott Kudla, and insert Benavides as the starting center. We need to get some more production from the center position. Honestly, though, I don't know how much these changes are going to effect today's game.