04-18-2014, 08:52 PM | #1 | ||
Dark Cloud
Join Date: Apr 2001
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King of the Hill (A Kentucky HS basketball recruiting dynasty) (FBCB)
I adapted my NJSIAA (NJ) high school league to Kentucky. Being new to the state, I wanted to get a better sense of where cities are and a better handle on the demographics and so forth. So what better way than a dynasty?
Since FBCB doesn't allow for a 16-team NCAA tournament, I couldn't mimic the state's single-class Sweet 16 tournament. Instead, I used the KHSAA 16 regions and split them into 32 based on district setups. So basically each region got split in half (Region 1 & 2 = District 1) and so forth through Region 32. The regional tournaments include everyone at least initially, but I might change that to be the top 4 teams from each region (from 1951 when I started through 1959 it's everyone though) and then the winners of each region advance to the Round of 32 tournament to crown a single class state champion. I'm simming ahead to get a bit of history out of it. There's no way to directly import the classes out of the game and into FBCB, but what I'll do is take the best recruits out of the HS simulation and bring them into FBCB as real college recruits. It's probably the only way to make it a bit like a traditional recruiting situation, and we get to watch these guys actually get recruited as seniors which will be fun too and we'll have them at real life high schools except for the one extra high school I created which will serve as my "home" high school. We'll see if I can keep this up. But...I think if I'm doing it right, Kentucky A&T my created team in a separate dynasty will try to recruit some of these athletes on their way to becoming the state's newest basketball power. But right now, we're focused on seeing what schools are dominant players in HS basketball and to recruit these kids to our programs. It'll be as close as I've ever gotten FBCB to true high school recruiting and being able to watch guys play for four years. Plus it'll make importing recruits in FBCB only slightly less tedious since FBCB will have generated all of their stats and stuff, so I get to just throw them in and not having to make stuff up. We'll see. |
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04-19-2014, 12:19 AM | #2 |
Dark Cloud
Join Date: Apr 2001
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So I'm simming to 1977. I'll create a new high school and they'll play in a different region each year for 32 years, with the idea being that I can get a sense of the different regions and the schools within them. It might not create any automatic rivalries, but...the beauty of doing a HS dynasty is that I don't have to do any recruiting and I'm just seeing the games as they are.
I'm mostly interested in geography, so I'm going to focus pretty heavily on the post-season matchups every year and regional tournaments. Perhaps in-season games if there's something of interest to me, but...we'll blaze past most of that. I'll start a separate college league that I can draw into, but recreate Kentucky A&T in an effort to get started sooner, as I have a harder time staying immersed when we get super past modern times, so starting in 1980 or so is good for me. |
04-19-2014, 12:50 AM | #3 |
Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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This is a fantastic idea.
__________________
2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
04-19-2014, 02:56 PM | #4 |
Dark Cloud
Join Date: Apr 2001
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Naturally the game crashes for whatever reason.
Will revisit the same dynasty line somehow, but not sure what the culprit is. Assuming my new schools caused a problem, since I got through a decade with no problems. I think in that case, I'll resim everything to 1978 and then take over an existing school that's already in the db, probably Mason Headley High School since I already created them. Last edited by Young Drachma : 04-19-2014 at 02:58 PM. |
04-19-2014, 03:47 PM | #5 |
Dark Cloud
Join Date: Apr 2001
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This time I started earlier in the 1930s because I wanted more history to work from in terms of seeing how the schools had performed over time. I also am going to run this thing stats only, there's no way to hide ratings, but I can avoid look at them and just use statistics. Seems like basketball is much better to do that than even OOTP where you usually see it.
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04-19-2014, 11:51 PM | #6 |
Dark Cloud
Join Date: Apr 2001
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Here are the best 39 programs in history since I started simming:
Spoiler
Last edited by Young Drachma : 04-20-2014 at 12:39 AM. |
04-20-2014, 09:30 AM | #7 | |
Dark Cloud
Join Date: Apr 2001
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Kentucky has 120 counties and here's the genesis of why, thanks to Wiki.
Quote:
With the rules in place pretty difficult to create a new county, basically you'd have to create a county from pre-existing ones to get the population right and the size right. No easy feat. But I'd like to try to create one somehow, to further the immersion plus the rules they created against county creation were meant to essentially prevent it from happening again without some serious coordination, akin to create "a county house rule" which just makes me want to attempt it. So let's see if we can do it? Ultimately, this is an exercise in geography and learning the state and what better way than to carve out a piece of familiarity within it? ------------ It appears the northwestern-ish county area of Breckingridge, Hardin, Meade Ohio & Grayson counties are going to be the best bet for building my new county by carving out a territory from each to make it happen. So here are the boundaries of county 121: Now obviously if I really wanted to be painstaking, I'd have created even more of zig-zag county to make sure that I got the population right. But no one cares, I'm just messing around and at least knowing that it was in theory possible to do it within the boundaries of these counties was enough for me. Based on my regions, the new high school representing our Northwest Kentucky adjacent county would fall into either Region 6 (which currently has 8 teams) or Region 9 (which has 9 teams). We'll need to figure out what the name of our new county will be -- obviously we're creating a new town -- and then decide which region to put them in. In the end, we took parts of Hardin, Meade & Grayson counties to make this work. Last edited by Young Drachma : 04-20-2014 at 10:08 AM. |
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04-20-2014, 11:09 AM | #8 | |
Dark Cloud
Join Date: Apr 2001
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I almost just spared you the gory details of my drawing the county lines of County 121, because I didn't think it mattered for basketball. But at its core, this is just a Kentucky geography dynasty covered in basketball drapes, so this stuff actually matters as it helps me understand the state better.
To that end, I needed a better map that helped me see where the counties were relative to their cities:
Spoiler
This helped me draw the lines of our county. I moved it further south, so we excluded Meade county, which is under 400 square miles and would ruin what I was doing if I'm following the rules of making new counties. So if we were mapping this, we basically are creating our county out of the parts of Western Hardin County up not including Radcliff, Fort Knox or Elizabethtown. A good part of Southern Breckinridge County extending to the northern part of Ohio County within about 11 miles of Hartford, parts of Eastern Grayson County but at least 11 miles from Leitchfield. Quote:
So the total county population is 13,656 (36th smallest by population) with a square mileage of 698 square miles, making our newly unnamed county the 3rd largest county by area in the state behind Pike (788 sq. mi.) in the east and Christian County in the southwest (721 sq. mi.) Existing cities we took include: Vine Grove, KY Irvington, KY Cromwell, KY Fordsville, KY Vine Grove is the largest city short of me making one up somewhere as a master planned community for one reason or another (not ruling that out, but not doing it now..) Irvington will become the new county seat. All of Kentucky's counties are named after famous people at the time, with a few named after geography and Union county because it was formed by a union of towns coming together to form one. So I could sit around and try to name this forever, but since it's a new county it'd be good to find a way to make the name unique. I wanted to choose a woman since no Kentucky county is named after one. The first woman governor has a highway named after her, so I didn't want to choose her. Plus she's not dead. The first woman Lt. Governor was elected before the first woman Governor, she's dead and she was born and raised in Munfordville until the age of 8, which isn't in our county now but it's less than an hour away. So we'll call our new county Stovall County in honor of Thelma Stovall. Last edited by Young Drachma : 04-20-2014 at 11:11 AM. |
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04-20-2014, 11:44 AM | #9 |
Dark Cloud
Join Date: Apr 2001
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Used Google Maps to come up with a better view of Stovall County, KY.
Vine Grove is 49 minutes from Louisville, so in the upper parts of Stovall County it's well within the "we wanted our own exurb/suburb bedroom community that lets us work in the city, but live in the country and now will explode a lot between now and the next census so the population is low, but is a lot larger in 10 years" area that you see a lot out west in Colorado and Utah. |
04-20-2014, 12:23 PM | #10 |
Dark Cloud
Join Date: Apr 2001
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We're going to do two new public high schools for Stovall County. One for the city limits of Vine Grove, which used to have its own high school anyway called Vine Grove consolidated in 1962 and they'll readopt the old mascot of the Blue Devils. They'll join Region 9 where they'll have rivals from the start with most of the Hardin County schools will still be lingering with hate at Vine Grove rejoining the mix.
Like any good high school, we'll be stealing our logos from colleges. The other two high schools for Stovall County will be in Irvington (Stovall North) who will go to Region 6 and the other school will be in Fordsville (Stovall South) and will be in Region 5. |
04-20-2014, 12:35 PM | #11 |
Dark Cloud
Join Date: Apr 2001
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Starting in 1980, Stovall North and South play a home & home rivalry series against each other on alternating nights on New Year's Day. Seems like the best way to kick off a rivalry between the two schools. Vine Grove also plays them both once during the year.
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04-20-2014, 05:36 PM | #12 |
Dark Cloud
Join Date: Apr 2001
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Every year we'll just do an all-state team that I curate myself from around the state. These players will be the ones I create and put in-game for recruiting by the four-year schools. You have to make all-state your senior year in order to be created, though. The idea of course, is to focus on underclassmen because then we have guys we can follow throughout their careers.
They won't all be the absolute best players based on ratings, we'll use stats to determine the all-state team, as well as results from around the state, because for instance the best player for the state champions only had one offer before they won the state title. UL offered him a preferred walkon spot after the tournament win and he picked up two other offers after. So...I think inserting guys in-game based on team success could be good. |
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Dark Cloud
Join Date: Apr 2001
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Here's this year's pre-season High School All-State team. We'll delve more into the all-county team for my new county in a future post and players to watch out for. After all, what good is a new county if there's no talent in it?
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04-20-2014, 05:52 PM | #14 |
Dark Cloud
Join Date: Apr 2001
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Here are the champions from the start of the dynasty through 1979. Look at Ballard Memorial pulling the Buffalo Bills of losing three straight title games.
Ouch.
Spoiler
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04-20-2014, 05:54 PM | #15 |
Dark Cloud
Join Date: Apr 2001
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What I'm enjoying so far at looking at the champions, is how basically the best teams are the ones winning titles. Not since the early days when top seeds were being knocked out at regionals do we have teams with lots of losses winning state titles. I do like Cinderella's, but in a league like this, it's good to see that the teams that dominate throughout the year resemble the resume of a championship team.
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04-21-2014, 10:00 AM | #16 |
Pro Starter
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Madison, WI
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Excellent stuff.
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04-21-2014, 07:01 PM | #17 |
Dark Cloud
Join Date: Apr 2001
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1980 KHSAA FINAL FOUR
--------- STATE SEMI-FINALS 1) University Heights def. 3) Owen County 123-116 1) Southern def. 1) Boyd County 83-71 BOYS STATE CHAMPIONSHIP, 1980 University Heights def. Southern 107-93 Region 4's University Heights won their 2nd state title in three years over Southern out of Region 12 and were gunning for their 3rd title in school history. It's been a rough couple of years for the team from Southern. To tell you how brutal things can be in Kentucky HS basketball, with no at-large bids to the state tournament, not winning your region means your great season end at the regional level. Last year, Southern went 30-1 and their sole loss was in the regional final and the year before that, they missed the state tournament with a 28-3 record.
Spoiler
So for the seniors in this class, they've been so close and can't get it done when it matters most. Meanwhile, University Heights caps their third straight Final Four appearance with their 2nd championship, meaning next year's freshman get to try for a 4th Final Four next year and maybe a third title? 1980 KENTUCKIANA BANK ALL-STATE ROSTER Let's take a look at the best players from this season from around the state based on performance -- both by the players and their teams -- and deviating a bit from how the game generates these teams since honestly the computer looks heavily to seniors over anything else. Code:
Now that the computer has made its selections, let's look at the honorable mention team that I'm curating myself: Tony Davis, PG, Calvary Christian (Sr.) Average 15.7 PPG in his senior year, led Calvary to the Region 19 championship and into the state tournament with a 16-16 record. A playmaker and a leader who could benefit from a firm coach in college. Marcellus Bledsoe, SG, Stovall South (Fr.) Was a big part of why second-year program Stovall County South HS managed to finish the year at 18-13, after winning only six games last year. Average 19.5 PPG to lead all comers in Region 5 this season. Did I mention he's only a freshman? Maybe that's why he got no respect. Left off of the all-region freshman team and no voters for Freshman of the Year either. I'd watch out if I were other teams, you've got three more years of this kid. Only a three-star prospect at the moment, but he's legit. Thanh Hodges, SF, Holmes (Sr.) Another overachiever on a bad team, Hodges was the 3rd leading scorer in the state this year (26.6 PPG) but he had no help as Hodges limped to a 10-18 record in Region 18 play this year, finishing 9th overall, without even a regional appearance to his credit in his senior year. Just at two-star recruit, but I bet he could make a mid-major program very happy. Emmitt Estrada, PF, Adair County (Jr.) This class of juniors and seniors from Adair County are responsible for making two state tournament appearances ('78 and this season) for a program that hadn't made state since 1968. Estrada is a big part of that equation. This 5-star prospect was a 1st team All-Region in Region 10 after averaging 12.6 PPG and 11.8 RPG as well as 2.9 BPG, making his a triple threat. With one more year to go, he should be a very attractive option for top programs. Billy Smith, C, Boyd County (Sr.) If there's a program that's flown more under the radar statewide than Boyd County, I'm not sure where it is yet. Billy Smith is a four-star recruit who many pan as one-dimensional, because he's not much of a scorer (5.6 PPG) but he's a glass eater (10.4 RPG) and a defensive stopper and at 6'11" a guy you can really use to block up in the inside. Maybe that's why Boyd County made it to their 3rd straight Final Four (and 4th Elite Eight and 6th Elite 8 in seven years) thanks to the work of Smith and his teammates who if I wanted to, could make an entire Honorable Mention list filled with Boyd County guys. |
04-22-2014, 03:43 PM | #18 |
Dark Cloud
Join Date: Apr 2001
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None of the last year's seniors were imported into the game. I moved over about a dozen, but failed to save before simming and then it crashed and I'd already simmed ahead in the HS game, so none of those guys are going to make it over.
So I'm going to take a look at this year's crop and bring them in because it doesn't really matter. I wasn't sure how I wanted to do this, but I think what I've decided to do is to alternate between a high school season and then a college season where we basically watch the recruiting of those high school guys take place. We won't import too many, because 1) you aren't invested in these dudes anyway and 2) it'll get hard to follow after a while. I'm trying to figure out where I can create a connection point for you all between the players we've brought over from the high school ranks, while keeping my initial reasoning -- I care about the teams because I can learn state geography -- for doing the dynasty intact. So I've decided that maybe I'll do a pre-season "watch list" of teams I'm interested in, based on players I've discovered or how their region looks. Then we'll go to the state tournament and just do a real brief abstract of the 32 teams that made the field. Over time, we'll start to recognize some of the powerhouse schools without scrolling up. Also, it'll be fun when we see schools make it for the first time, etc., and identify Cinderella squads and maybe players from those teams that we then want to follow in college. So we'll run it that way, because that'll make it easier and it'll also go faster if I'm focusing on the high school part and letting the college thing just be a bit extra. So with that, let's take a look at the 1981-82 season where we've already simmed to the state tournament start. Updates every minute - View full tournament Probably the most interesting stories among the 32 teams who managed to win their way into the Kentucky State King of the Hill Boys Basketball Tournament (Sponsored by Kroger) TM are: First time teams: Doss & Jeffersontown are making their first-ever appearances in the state tournament ending 50 year droughts to make it to Rupp Arena. St. Patrick last made the tournament in 1941, so...40 years is no slouch of a return either. Lucky Losers: Henry Clay squeaked into the Region 21 tournament by one game over three other teams and then managed to upset the top two seeds to punch their ticket to their own backyard barbecue. Hilariously, this team managed to qualify with a 15-17 record, after missing out on the post-season for each of the previous three years. The combined record of those teams? (67-27) including a 28-3 team two years ago that failed to go dancing. So this is poetic justice for the Blue Devils. Three out of Four Ain't Bad: University Heights looks to pick up its third title in four years and make their 4th straight Final Four appearance. This squad only carries three seniors, so it's not a band of brothers who have traveled together for four years, but rather, some senior leadership and good coaching that's brought up a different cast up through the ranks over four years. MY UPSET PICK TO WIN IT ALL: Chalk rules the day at King of the Hill (tm) but if I had to put my money on a non 1/2 seed to win it all, I'd bet on: Ballard Memorial. We're talking about a program that's making their sixth straight tournament appearance. They're a year removed from three straight championship game appearances (all losses) and so, there are kids on this team who are experienced and understand what it's like to get to the promised land and so, this underdog role might suit them well. |
04-22-2014, 09:02 PM | #19 |
Dark Cloud
Join Date: Apr 2001
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So Knott County Central, a real life Sweet 16 team this year won the 1981 King of the Hill Boys Basketball State championship.
The team was led by senior Tony Patrick, who we will recreate and put into the college game and follow his recruitment. Code:
Here are the 1981 Award Winners:
Spoiler
Last edited by Young Drachma : 04-22-2014 at 09:03 PM. |
04-22-2014, 09:35 PM | #20 |
Dark Cloud
Join Date: Apr 2001
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Added one more player to next year's recruit list. A 3-star PG out of Woodford County HS who was first-team all Region this past year.
Spoiler
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04-22-2014, 10:57 PM | #21 |
Dark Cloud
Join Date: Apr 2001
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Tony Patrick signed with Ohio State. John Ebner signed with Kentucky A&T.
It's tournament time again. Let's see whose made it to Lexington in pursuit for a state title! Updates every minute - View full tournament |
04-23-2014, 09:44 AM | #22 |
Dark Cloud
Join Date: Apr 2001
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For those who don't know here, Kentucky A&T are a fictional school I made up in my college league, along with another school Central Kentucky University. Both are mid-majors. Kentucky A&T plays in the WAC and CKU is in the OVC. Ebner being three-star, Kentucky was actually on him, but seems like A&T must've offered something else. Will be interesting to see how he does there, he'll surely get more PT than he'd have gotten at Kentucky probably.
Meanwhile, Ohio State has their 2nd straight elite Kentucky recruit to come to Columbus. Wonder if it'll be a trend over the next few years. Looking at this year's Kentucky State King of the Hill Boys Basketball Tournament (Sponsored by Kroger) TM bracket, here are some storylines I'm looking out for: Do you believe in Lions? Elliott County HS are making their fourth straight state tournament appearance after claiming the Region 31 championship once again. For a solid program, they've never advanced past the Elite 8 in school history, but I think this year might be different. They've got three scorers who average in double digits. Don't be surprised to see them break through and make their first Final Four. They're not heavily favored, but after what Ballard did last year, I think we're bound to see a lower ranked team from a region we don't normally expect break through and go on a title run. Guess who's back? Ballard Memorial, my pick to win it all last year is back again and this time as one of the top four seeds in the tournament. I'll repeat what I said last year, only with more emphasis -- do not sleep on Ballard. They've got so many different ways to kill you with their roster, so...it'll just be a matter of these guys can put it together for four games when it matters most. STOVALL COUNTY REPRESENT: The announcement of a 4th high school for the rapidly growing metropolitan area of Stovall County (aka, the county I've made up) is led by the first time a Stovall County team advances to the state tournament. Stovall North boasts a real play maker in Jimmy Higgins. I doubt they'll get far this year, but at least they've put everyone on notice that you can't ignore the boys from County 121 anymore.
Spoiler
WELCOME TO THE BIG SHOW: Whitefield Academy is making their 2nd state tournament appearance out of Region 12 since 1957. Apollo out of Region 5 are making only their 2nd state tourney appearance in school history, the last one came in 1973. Warren East is back in the big dance for the first time since 1960 and only 4th ever appearance. Beth Haven out of Region 11 is making just their 2nd appearance in the tournament ever, the last time? 1933. TAKE YOUR PICK!: If I had to pick someone to win it all? Ludlow has won ten championships and I think they're hungry. Having lost just one game this year, I think they're going to emerge victorious. It's not an underdog pick, but...the field this year seems as wide open as any year I've seen it. Nothing would surprise me. But when in doubt, I tend to expect chalk in this tournament and I think we'll see a top seed like Ludlow emerge in at the end. |
04-23-2014, 10:09 AM | #23 |
Dark Cloud
Join Date: Apr 2001
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Dissecting the path - APOLLO HIGH SCHOOL (1982-83)
No one had Apollo in the office pool headed to the Final Four. NO ONE.
Let's see how they got here: Code:
A program with no pedigree and no real depth of stars rode a bonafide 5-star recruit and a kid who is a three-star on his best day to the Final Four. They had to beat two Top 5 teams just to get here and there's very little in their regular season resume that'd make you think they had this in them. The team is led by Robby Trott, a 60-year old alumnus of Apollo HS who began coaching his alma mater in 1969 after 21 years as an assistant at other Kentucky high schools. He's the winningest coach in school history and the only coach to take the team to the state tournament, now having done so twice. This run will canonize him in local lore. The engines that could on this team? Two guards. Senior Daniel Rodgers transferred to Apollo from out of state two years ago from Colorado and has been a monster. Look at these numbers: Code:
Let's take a look at SG Brian Pace who surely should get some interest from school after the tournament and who we'll be bringing over to the college game for sure after this run: Code:
Take a look at their season scoring:
Spoiler
They've got four double-digit scorers, two rebounders who average double digits on the glass, as well as a point guard who distributes the ball well too. This is as talented and balanced a team as I've seen. Their path to getting here in the state tournament? Showing multiple ways to beat you. Here's how they knocked off Jackson County:
Spoiler
Four different guys in double digits and 18 rebounds from Gar Garry to boot. They were trailing at halftime, but managed to shoot 41% from 3-point land and outrebounded Jackson County to notch the W over the heavily favored team. The Ludlow game is the one that surprised me and why they're getting such attention. Understand that Ludlow probably has six kids who will get D1 scholarships at least. This team had lost one game all year. Apollo didn't just win, they BLEW THEM OUT OF THE GYM.
Spoiler
They shot 63% from the free throw line and 55% from three-point land. Seem like everything they threw up was dropping. Brian Pace, that little engine that could was out of his mind, Daniel Rodgers had a double-double and it got so bad even the bench guys got a bit of play in this one. Ludlow's shooters came up cold, but it didn't matter because Apollo can apparently play up tempo when they need to or can slow it down and beat you that. They're the scariest team left in the tournament, but will the magic run continue or will it end with two games to go? Should be fun to find out. The bracket that's posted is updated live as I sim the games, so..you can see the results as they happen even when I haven't written up about them yet. |
04-23-2014, 10:20 AM | #24 |
Dark Cloud
Join Date: Apr 2001
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STATE SEMI-FINALS
Now that we're invested in Apollo's run, let's see if it continues. Defending champs Knott County Central (32-3, R27) knocked off Danville to advance to the title game for the 2nd straight year. Knott County Central hasn't lost a game since January 20th and have won 25 of their last 26 games including the post-season. Apollo took on DuPont Manual, the latter who were heavily favored. The two teams actually met during the regular season with Manual winning at home 75-60. Interesting fact though, Apollo had the #1 strength of schedule this year in the entire state. Part of that is due to playing in a extremely tough Region 5 Code:
Just for context, the only Region 5 team to advance past the first round of the tournament is Muhlenberg County. Until now. That program has 25 Sweet 16s on their resume, 8 Final Fours and 2 titles in 37 appearances. So no matter what, Apollo is battle tested. But can they manage to finish the job over two more games?
Spoiler
Last edited by Young Drachma : 04-23-2014 at 11:29 AM. |
04-23-2014, 08:18 PM | #25 | |
Dark Cloud
Join Date: Apr 2001
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The college recruits for this year:
Quote:
That's enough for this year for us to follow. I am considering a proposal to expand the tournament from 32 regions to break up all of the regions in half basically and have 64 districts. It'd obviously make more potential for upsets, but the real thing is, splitting the regions in half would mean that teams would win their district, advance to the first two rounds of the tournament which would simulate the real life district tournaments and then leave us with 16 teams to play in the Sweet 16 like what really happens in the state anyway. I'd eliminate all but the conference (district) finals if we went that route too. It'd still be a single class tournament based on region rather than say, sections based on sizes, it'd just be a bigger event than before and if it were real life obviously we'd only invite the Top 16, even though all 64 get credit for participating. But right now, we've got really good teams that aren't even getting a sniff of post-season appearances and I'd prefer 1) more upsets, but also 2) seeing more of these teams have a shot at getting into the main bracket. There won't be any large bids, you'd still have to win your district to get into the main bracket but...I think it might make for a better storyline because right now, 128 teams advance to 16 regional tournaments statewide, with sixteen teams advancing to the Sweet 16. Our bracket would operate the same way and teams would get credit for actually participating in the post-season whereas now they don't. So I think we're gonna give it a go and see how it works. I'll also turn off mandatory districtwide games, so teams can just form rivalries with whoever, rather than being forced into games against their district or region and then having to play them again. I'll do the reorganization and then we'll post the results. |
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04-23-2014, 09:57 PM | #26 |
Dark Cloud
Join Date: Apr 2001
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REALIGNMENT AFTERMATH
With the KHSAA switching to a 64-district model for the 1983-84 season, it'll be a brave new world for the teams vying for the King of The Hill Championship, as the regionals will now become part of the bigger bracket and start counting as state post-season appearances. Only the top two teams -- and only in the event of a tie -- will play in a district title game, regular season district tiles will go to the team with the best record in that district, period. At least for now, it might change later. What teams benefitted from redistricting? Hard to say without running through a season and seeing what teams emerge. But first, let's check on our first two recruits. Tony Patrick (Ohio State) & John Ebner (Kentucky A&T) who are in their freshman year at their respective colleges. For whatever reason, I must not have saved after creating either of them. I just realized this, but either way, they're lost to time except...I've decided to recreate both again for this year, but as JUCO juniors so they'll have 3 years of eligibility. We'll act as if they didn't qualify and so they lost their scholarships. Should be interesting to see where they end up next year, as a result. We'll have the memory of them as monster high schoolers in the case of Patrick, though and maybe Ebner can get a better look upgrade from the WAC where he originally signed before. Patrick is still a 5-star recruit, Ebner a 3-star for the game purposes though. So we'll sim another season in the college game to find out where these guys ended up and then another year after that to see their results, before heading back to the high school game and seeing -- gleefully -- how well our realignment plan will work out. I'm excited about the change after 60 years of using the regional model, it'll be nice to see more teams represented and should be interesting if it affects results, but it should result in more parity which I like. |
04-23-2014, 10:09 PM | #27 |
Dark Cloud
Join Date: Apr 2001
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Actually, I did want to in advance of the next HS season take a look at the new districts to see which ones are comprised historically of teams that have done really well versus districts where in the past the teams within it, would've never sniffed a state tournament bid and are now going to make it to regionals with a chance at a run towards a state title.
TOUGHEST DISTRICTS This was a hard one to assess but, based on what I found in terms of consistent post-season appearances, the toughest new districts are: District 1, District 24, District 29, District 38 & District 41. The districts who are happy to have been freed from where they were? District 11, District 32 (where only one team among the five ever made a state tournament appearance prior to redistricting and District 14. Should be interesting to see if more juggernauts and more parity happens over time. In real life, I noticed there was no dominant state title team in Kentucky like in other states, at least in basketball. |
04-23-2014, 10:54 PM | #28 | |
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Had recruiting done and it crashed before I could save, so I had to run it again.
Saving now, so can post these recruits hot off the presses: Quote:
Louisville stacked the deck getting both Higgins AND Patrick. That two-guard combo could be absolutely poisonous to opponents. That said, Patrick can leave as a junior for the pros (I have the three-year rule on) and so, provided he's any good at all, doubtful he stays for his senior year. Anyway, what an interesting set of recruits and the places they're going should be interesting as well. At this rate, Tony Patrick could be the first NBA guy to emerge from our high school dynasty which is fun. The others should be interesting to see how they pan out, not sure who has the potential to go further but it'll be fun to watch. |
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04-24-2014, 10:26 AM | #29 | |
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The next class of recruits from high school are:
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If we find a 5th player that we like during the course of next year's state tournament then we'll insert them into the game as a spring recruit and watch as teams try to draw them in well after they've doled out their scholarships. Last edited by Young Drachma : 04-24-2014 at 10:30 AM. |
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04-24-2014, 11:31 AM | #30 |
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Expanding the bracket was the smartest thing I ever did, because it's not really ruining anything and the matchups are more natural and now really good teams who get stuck simply because of being put in a bad region are now advancing. Gone are the days of 1 and 2 loss teams not making it to the post-season simply because they lose in a regional game against a team they might have beaten a lot earlier in the year while that team dances.
Does that mean any team that wins 20+ games makes the post-season? No. We saw at least four 20-win schools not make the tournament this year for failing to get it done in their district. But at least now we have a more representative state tournament and it's not as if the good teams don't manage to advance because they do, we're just doing a bracket now that's more representative of a real life state tournament than before. The only thing I might change is bringing back a formal district tournament with the top 3 teams in each district playing for the district championship rather than doing what I did this year which was allowing it to go to the team with the best record unless of a tie. 1983-84 REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS ----------------------- REGION 1: Estill County def. Vine Grove 78-62 REGION 2: Pulaski County def. Bethelehem 57-52 REGION 3: Paris def. Stovall North 86-59 REGION 4: Pikeville def. DuPont Manual 98-91 REGION 5: University Heights def. Carroll County 106-47 REGION 6: Owsley County def. Dayton 84-80 REGION 7: Grayson County def. Plainfield Memorial 82-76 REGION 8: Southern def. Western 94-82 REGION 9: Cumberland County def. Bryan Station 102-93 REGION 10: Eastern def. Washington County 94-85 REGION 11: Burgin def. Elliott County 61-58 REGION 12: Campbell Count def. Bell County 83-75 REGION 13: Trinity (Whitesville) def. Conner 92-85 REGION 14: Knox Central def. Frankfort 74-49 REGION 15: Carlisle County def. Lafayette 93-85 REGION 16: Livingston Central def. Muhlenberg County 90-86 |
04-24-2014, 11:56 AM | #31 |
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04-24-2014, 05:45 PM | #32 |
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LET'S CHECK ON OUR RECRUITING AS WE APPROACH THE SIGNING DEADLINE
Jess Barton, PF, Vine Grove (4*) Kobe Bishop, SF, Ballard (2*) Marlin Coleman, SG, Covington Catholic (2*) Nelly Philpot, PG, Apollo (3*) ------- SEPTEMBER Jess Barton has an offer from Kentucky. Ohio State and Tennessee are both interested as his list is down to three now, but neither offered a schollie. A month later, Kentucky still sat #1 and 2/3 remained the same. Pitt and Georgetown were added to the Top 5 after just starting with three. Nelly Philpot has offers from Louisville, Tennessee Tech & Evansville. Indiana and Vanderbilt round out his top five. Nelly gave his verbal to Louisville in October, giving that team a potential lethal in-state combo if he ends up signing with the players we've already sent there from this dynasty. Kobe Bishop has offers from Central Kentucky, Morehead and SE Missouri State. SIU Edwardsville and Eastern Kentucky round out his top five. He narrowed his list to two, when Morehead offered him a schollie to go with Central's. Marlin Coleman has an offer from Kentucky A&T, Miami (OH), Detroit, Indiana State and Valparaiso round out his top 5. He shrunk his list down to 3, with A&T leading the pack in October. And now signing day!
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04-24-2014, 07:15 PM | #33 |
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Actually Tony Patrick reappeared on the Ohio State roster when I thought we lost him. Not sure how that happened, but no matter, I've decided to edit the name of the Jr with the same name on the Louisville roster. He'll now be Devante Patrick, the older brother of Tony Patrick by a year. Should be a juicy storyline if the two teams manage to meet in the post-season.
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04-24-2014, 10:42 PM | #34 |
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We're not going to include Devante Patrick in our recalling of the players we're following because he's basically a duplicate.
Let's see how everyone's season went: Tito Campos, DUKE Duke lost in the NCAA finals to Colorado.
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Tony Patrick LOUISVILLE Ohio State got upset in the 1st round by 15th seeded UC Irvine
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Jimmy Higgins LOUISVILLE Louisville lost in the Sweet 16 to eventual national champion Colorado.
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Henry Street INDIANA Indiana was upset by 14th seeded Jacksonville State
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So about what we expected in terms of our elite guys playing on a really high level nationally, while our mid-tier and low-level guys are closer to the norm. I think in terms of bringing new guys over, I'm going to bring over fewer elite guys and more of those 3-star types in most seasons. This class has me excited though to see how our incoming freshman from this last high school season do in college. For this next season, rather than pre-create the recruits as we've done before, I'm going to replace some players who haven't been recruited during the spring recruiting season (January-March), edit a few of them with our recruits and see where they end up. It'd be interesting if mid-majors get them or if a major conference team manages to have a scholarship left over waiting for one of them, but it might be a nice way to spread the wealth a bit, but also to see if a solid player from Kentucky -- even a five star guy -- can have an impact on a high level for a lower tiered program. What this means is, I can sim through the college season to around January or so and then go back to high school and almost run them parallel for the first time. Last edited by Young Drachma : 04-24-2014 at 10:44 PM. |
04-24-2014, 10:44 PM | #35 |
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John Ebner CKU
Central Kentucky finished the year 16-14 and lost to Morehead State in the 1st round of the OVC tournament.
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Brian Pace MURRAY STATE Murray State lost in the 1st round of the CIT to Hofstra.
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Daniel Rodgers ILLINOIS Illinois lost in the 2nd round of the NCAAs to eventual champion Colorado
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04-25-2014, 01:49 PM | #36 |
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With a bunch of elite dudes already in the pipeline, the next few years I'd like to experiment with dudes who are not elite and who get inserted into the pool in January/February and then get recruited late. Should be interesting to see where they end up.
So we'll look at non-elite guys from successful teams. 1984-85 REGIONAL FINALS REGION 1: Boyd County def. Atherton 92-83 REGION 2: Owen County def. Metcalfe County 90-66 REGION 3: Eastern def. Conner 84-73 REGION 4: East Jessamine def. Shelby County 65-54 REGION 5: Carlisle County def. Bracken County 77-48 REGION 6: Stovall South def. Ludlow 88-71 REGION 7: Burgin def. Walton-Vernon 86-84 REGION 8: Southern def. Glasgow 92-60 REGION 9: Mason Headley def. DuPont Manual 97-84 REGION 10: Bell County def. Lloyd Memorial 91-54 REGION 11: Knott County Central def. Lafayette 102-93 REGION 12: Highlands def. Bourbon County 85-76 REGION 13: Pikeville def. Greenwood 87-73 REGION 14: Knox Central def. Campbell County 83-80 REGION 15: Muhlenberg County def. Madison Central 86-78 REGION 16: Pulaski County def. Whitley County 89-70 Since two of my created high schools won their regions for the first time ever, I'm going to identify a player from each that we can put into the college process. From Stovall South, here's SF Gerald Moorehead who didn't get to start until his senior year. Perfect guy to try to get recruited to a D1 program on a solid team.
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Our 2nd and final recruit for this year -- we're going sparse this season -- is C Ethan Stockdale from Mason Headley High School in Lexington. He's not a fringe recruit, he'll get a lot of attention but I figure a big man is hard to find and at this point, we've established Kentucky as one of the best recruiting states in the country so we'll jsut go with it.
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Ok, okay one more. Knott County Central are two years removed from a state title. Timothy Smith is a bit player on that team, but has played in games though he's never started. Seems like the perfect kind of guy who thinks because he played on a state champ that he ought to get a chance to play at a D1 school and maybe he can? I'd be curious to see who'd sign him.
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04-25-2014, 01:58 PM | #37 |
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04-25-2014, 02:15 PM | #38 |
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Tuan Gillespie is a sophomore forward at Jackson County HS which is located an hour and 15 minutes southeast of Lexington.
He's only a sophomore, but I can tell you that in two seasons we'll be following him through the college recruiting process because for whatever reason, I'm curious to see how he does.
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04-25-2014, 02:59 PM | #39 |
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The first guy to sign was Gerald Moorehead, inking with nearby Cincinnati
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Ethan Stockdale signs with Marshall. Timothy Smith signs with Manhattan.
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Aah, midmajors unite! |
04-26-2014, 05:14 PM | #40 |
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1985-86 KHSAA REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
---------------------- REGION 1: Casey County def. Harlan County 90-83 REGION 2: Mason Headley def. Cumberland County 93-86 REGION 3: Henry Clay def. University Heights 71-54 REGION 4: Jackson City def. Cordia 72-60 REGION 5: Knott County Central def. Adair County 103-68 REGION 6: Carlisle County def. Magoffin County 95-71 REGION 7: Muhlenberg County def. Owsley County 81-48 REGION 8: DuPont Manual def. Jackson County 86-84 REGION 9: Knox Central def. Raceland 93-67 REGION 10: Pikeville def. Southern 80-67 REGION 11: Dayton def. Harrison County 94-76 REGION 12: Shawnee def. Warren East 80-55 REGION 13: Metcalfe County def. Owen County 97-79 REGION 14: Ludlow def. Tates Creek 77-65 REGION 15: Grayson County def: Franklin-Simpson 71-65 REGION 16: Ballard Memorial def. Elliott County 99-81 |
04-26-2014, 06:03 PM | #41 |
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04-26-2014, 06:37 PM | #42 |
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Pikeville claims their first title since 1977.
1985-86 RECRUITING ------------------ Decided with this class is to put these players with the spring recruiting class just before the start of the NCAA Tournament , so added them to the pool in March as they're uncommitted and see what kind of action -- if any -- they get as recruits with most teams having filled out their classes. Chance Hayes, SF, Ballard Memorial (3*) Vondell Augustine, PF, Portland Christian (3*) Jordon Love, SG, Holmes (3*) Titus Coleman, SG, Elliott County (3*) I added these players with the freshman class that we've already pre-inputted in the game from last season so they'll all end up playing at the same time unless I turn redshirts back on (tempted) because I was a year behind on the high school import to college and now we're even where I run the HS season concurrent with college so it matches up. |
04-26-2014, 06:42 PM | #43 |
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1986-87 RECRUITING
----------------------- Already pre-inputted these future recruits for college recruiting next year, so we'll be able to see them as committs before the HS season ends, not that it matters for HS purposes. Still... Tuan Gillespie, PF, Jackson County (5*) A'lamar Wilson, PG, Shelby County (4*) Amari Mendenhall, SF, Pikeville (4*) Gold Giroux, PG, Ballard (3*) Toney Amato, PG, OWen County (2*) |
04-26-2014, 06:48 PM | #44 |
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Three of my four HS recruits signed before April. Jordon Love is the only one still waiting for a deal.
Chance Hayes, SF, Ballard Memorial (3*) Code:
Vondell Augustine, PF, Portland Christian (3*) Code:
Jordon Love, SG, Holmes (3*) Code:
Titus Coleman, SG, Elliott County (3*) Code:
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04-26-2014, 07:00 PM | #45 |
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Jordan Love signs with VCU. Love it, with another freshman they picked up should be an upstart team there.
Code:
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04-27-2014, 05:28 PM | #46 |
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JUNIORS
Tony Patrick, Ohio State Code:
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04-27-2014, 05:59 PM | #47 |
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Tony Patrick declared early for the NBA draft. I'm now running a new NBA league that began in 1959 with 34 teams and one foreign league (in Norway) to see where guys end up. We'll run the NBA draft and see if Tony Patrick manages to stick and is the first NBA player from this dynasty.
Meanwhile, we do have a senior. SENIORS John Ebner, Kentucky A&T
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04-27-2014, 06:08 PM | #48 |
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Rather than following the entire state of high schoolers, I'm just going to settle on following one high school for a long period of time and see how they do. I'd been meaning to add a 4th high school to fictional Stovall County because I feel like in its era of growth that the area needs a private school of its own. So that's what we'll do. We'll follow our new high school's players as they prepare to go to the college ranks. The idea initially that maybe it won't be an especially good program, so when we manage to send ANYONE to the college ranks in ANY way at all -- beyond say, walk-on it'll be an accomplishment.
At least until that gets boring, we hire a good coach and the program gets serious about basketball down the road. But could be fun? |
04-27-2014, 06:12 PM | #49 |
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SOPHOMORES
Tito Campos, Duke
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Jimmy Higgins, Louisville,
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Henry Street, Indiana
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Brian Pace, Murray State
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Daniel Rodgers, Illinois
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04-27-2014, 06:23 PM | #50 |
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Because I had to do a bit of catchup, here are the freshman we're tracking. Rather than turn this thing into anymore of a stat dump than it already is, we'll simply follow their guys when their careers end in college. Just makes more sense this way.
I've already got new freshman pre-loaded as mentioned earlier for the season after this one, but after that, the only kids we'll feature (short of the occasional guy who I want to follow are dudes from the new Stovall County private HS. FRESHMAN Gerald Moorehead, Cincinnati Ethan Stockdale, Marshall Timothy Smith, Manhattan Chance Hayes, Illinois Vondell Augustine, Virginia Jordon Love, VCU Titus Coleman, Notre Dame |
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