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11-23-2003, 03:11 AM
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#1 | ||
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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Fast Break Basketball: UC Riverside
Opening Moves
Well, I bought this game because of Marmel’s dynasty reports and the recommendations of others here, and thought I would record my progress in a mini-dynasty. I know diddly about basketball, so it won’t be long before I get canned, that’s for sure. I create Godzilla Blitz in the game, make him 22-years old, and give him a head coacing job with UC Riverside, a bottom feeder team in the lowly Big West Conference. In a move that is certain to shorten this dynasty even more, I start the game at the hardest level, meaning that I only get 100 points to divvy up over my four initial skill areas. I have no clue what to do with all these points, so I do the following: My Skill Set Recruiting: 27 Scouting: 23 Offense: 25 Defense: 25. I’m guessing that these skills will go up if I win lots. I use real life prestige, but opt for the soccer-like league promotions/relegations option. Sounds like fun. |
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11-23-2003, 03:11 AM
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#2 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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May 2003
Overview I take a look at my team and its conference. It looks like Utah State (prestige 84) is the team to beat in the Big West. It also looks like UC Riverside is a team that will get beat. Get a load of this: UC Riverside Prestige: 2 2003/04 Goal: Avoid Last Place Not knowing what I’m supposed to do, I click on the “sim one month” button and wait for someone to tell me something. After a while I realize that I just missed the entire staff hiring period. Oops. I reload the game and try again. Apparently I’ve got to hire three people: a scout, a recruiter, and an assistant coach. I have no luck at all in landing an assistant coach, which is a bummer, because each time I go back to the pool of coaches, there is less and less talent. After a half dozen guys reject me, I land a pretty crappy guy. 2003/04 Staff Hiring Recruiter: Johnny Belt (48 years old) Skill: 34 Scout: Mickey Marvel (41 years old) Skill: 35 Asst. Coach: Bernie Abrego (47 years old) Offense: 37. Defense: 23 Ugh. That assistant coach is ugly. |
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11-23-2003, 03:11 AM
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#3 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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June 2003
2003/04 Schedule Next I take it I’m supposed to schedule games against non-conference opponents. Not knowing what strategy to follow, I pick lots of games against lousy teams. I figure we can’t beat anything better. I end up with this: Code:
Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 11-23-2003 at 03:12 AM. |
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11-23-2003, 03:13 AM
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#4 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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July, 2003 – October, 2003
Preseason Recruiting I now know, from reading the manual, that my next step is to recruit some players for my team. We only have one scholarship to offer this year, so we can only do so much damage. Armed with some excellent consulting advice from RPI-Fan, I scour the high school talent available to me. Humm, no one that is any good seems to want to come to UC Riverside. I wonder why. However, there is a small forward from Germany, a Clemens Gruber, who is a three-star recruit with high interest in UC Riverside. We spend the $2,000 to fly to Germany and take a look at the guy. We also identify another dozen or so players that may be better than their one-star ratings indicate, and send our staff off to evaluate them. Gruber looks to be a brilliant three-point guy, and most likely that is what has gotten him his three-star rating. However, his defensive skills are weak so I’m not that excited about him. We do find a Center, Andrew Villarreal, who looks to be the real deal. Although we go after him aggressively in August and September, his interest in us never blossoms, and we lose him to Cal State Fullerton in mid-September. As training camp starts, we shift gears to Center David Hart, a defensive standout with a good set of current abilities. We offer him our available scholarship, and head into the first month of the season. |
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11-23-2003, 10:03 AM
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#5 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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November, 2003
I accept the AI’s recommendations for training camp, as I have no clue what to do here yet. We come out of training camp with the following crew: Code:
Roster Evaluation Ideally, I’d like to break down who I think our good players are, but I really have no idea, and I have a nagging feeling that they all suck. Smith, Ortiz, Tucker, O’Neil, and Girard will start, but I’m not sure that means much. Well, on second thought, I do see one player that might be ok: PG Jordan Girard. He’s got what look like respectable skills. Otherwise, we’re awful. And on to the season we go… November Results Code:
We come from behind to win our opener, but blow big leads in our next two games to fall to 1-2 on the year. Recruiting On happier news, Center David Hart commits to UC Riverside! I think this is a good thing, as he is a three-star, 6’ 11’’, 301 lb. mountain of a center. Unfortunately, one thing that slipped my eye: his stamina rating is only an 8. Eek. Probably should have noticed that. I hope this number can increase, or we have just obtained a bit player for our first recruit. As it stands now, he looks to be a strong defensive center with room for growth there. At the offensive end of the court, he looks to be decent, but with little hope for improvement. Here is his current card: Code:
This ends our recruiting for the year. Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 11-23-2003 at 10:07 AM. |
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11-23-2003, 10:05 AM
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#6 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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December 2003
Sophomore PF Freddie Ortiz, who played well for us in November, gets suspended for academic reasons. He’ll be out for at least a month. Damn. Results Code:
We get blown away in Albany, blow a big lead to lose against Eastern Kentucky, then get steamrolled by Colgate to fall to 1-5 on the year. We rebound with solid wins against Morris Brown and Chicago State. Our first conference game is against Long Beach State two days after Christmas. Unfortunately, they completely outplay us, and we drop to 3-6 on the year. Saint Mary’s beats us silly three days later and we drop to 3-7 (0-1) on the year. Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 11-23-2003 at 10:06 AM. |
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11-23-2003, 12:06 PM
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#7 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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January 2004
PF Freddie Ortiz is back in action for us, after sitting out last month with an academic suspension. Results Code:
We have an absolutely ugly month. We blow a big lead against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, then get destroyed in the last ten minutes of the game to lose. We are never in our next three games, all conference matchups. UC Irvine puts an especially embarrassing loss on us. We hang tough against Cal Fullerton, but a late 10-point run knocks us out of that game as well. Pacific and Cal State Northridge score three points for our two points all night long, and we drop to 3-14 coming into two key matchups with next-to-last Idaho. They bowl us over in Idaho to put them two games up on us in the conference standings. Desperately needing a win, we open up a 15-point lead on them in the rematch, but we fall apart after that to lose our 11th game in a row. We now sit in last place, three games away from Idaho. This could be a very short dynasty. Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 11-23-2003 at 12:06 PM. |
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11-23-2003, 02:19 PM
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#8 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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February 2004
Well, with 9 conference games left, we need to make up three games on Idaho in order to avoid last place in the conference. Considering we’ve lost 11 games in a row, this is one hell of a tall order. Starting Senior Center Chris Smith broke his hip at the end of the month and is lost for the season. Results Code:
We beat Cal State Fullerton to snap our losing streak and gain a full game on Idaho! The joy is short lived though, as we fade in the second half against a beatable Long Beach State and lose PF Freddie Ortiz for the season in the process. We play tough against Cal Poly, but a big run in the second half sends us once again to defeat. First-place Utah State pummels us for two losses in the next week, and Pacific tacks on another as we drop to 4-21 on the year and 1-14 in the conference. Cal State Northridge ends our month with our 6th consecutive loss. With two games left, we still trail Idaho by two games. Things do not look good. Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 11-23-2003 at 02:20 PM. |
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11-23-2003, 03:23 PM
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#9 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Iowa City, IA
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ouch, tough start....
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11-23-2003, 03:44 PM
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#10 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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Tucker: Might be a tough "finish". This could be my shortest dynasty ever.
March 2004 We are pretty much doomed as we head into our last two games. Results We are thoroughly beaten in our last two games. We finish dead last, with a 4-24 record overall and a 1-17 conference record. Yikes. The final numbers: Code:
Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 11-23-2003 at 03:45 PM. |
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11-23-2003, 03:44 PM
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#11 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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2003/04 Final Standings
Code:
Well, we really crapped the bed here. Fully expecting to get fired, I press the “End Season” button… |
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11-23-2003, 08:33 PM
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#12 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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April 2004
We don’t get fired! We do, however, get demoted to the Mid-Continent Conference. I thought we were already at the lowest tier of conferences already, but I guess we’ve found a basement even lower. On yet another positive note, our team prestige increases by 50% from last year’s amount! Wow! We are on the upward move now. Check out these new numbers: UC Riverside Prestige: 3 (+1) 2004/05 Goal: Avoid Last Place The board of trustees is currently satisfied with my performance. Those four wins last year must have really impressed them. Once again, our goal is to not finish last. And a little look at our short history: Code:
If I’m not mistaken, there are 327 teams in the game, right? That would make us, um…nevermind. |
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11-23-2003, 08:40 PM
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#13 |
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General Manager
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: The Satellite of Love
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Don't get discouraged GB. You took over a REALLY bad team. Good dynasty so far.
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11-23-2003, 11:15 PM
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#14 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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sabotai: Yeah, I knew I was getting some garbage. I basically picked the worst team I could find that wasn't an independent. I didn't think they would be 4-24 bad, but my chin's up. Nothing to lose.
May 2004 We sack our entire staff because we can. We get new guys. Here they are, these who are better: 2003/04 Staff Hiring Recruiter: Jason Gil (32 years old) Skill: 40 Scout: Jason Brown (45 years old) Skill: 41 Asst. Coach: Justin Hoffman (55 years old) Offense: 48 Defense: 30 Each one of these guys is better than his predecessor. Hoffman represents a significant jump up in talent. Let’s hope this translates to wins on the court. |
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11-23-2003, 11:15 PM
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#15 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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June 2004
We fill up our non-conference schedule with the weakest opponents we can find. We’ll take wins any way we can find them. We end up with this assortment of unheard of schools: Code:
Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 11-23-2003 at 11:16 PM. |
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11-23-2003, 11:16 PM
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#16 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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July 2004 – October 2004
Preseason Recruiting We’ve got our work cut out for us this year. We have four scholarships available, and we’ll need to find two power forwards, a shooting guard, and a point guard. Also, our recruiting budget has been slashed in half, which will make things even more challenging. We take a look at players that might be interested in coming to UC Riverside. Jumping off the board is PG Erasmo Pellegrino, a three-star poing guard with very high interest in UC Riverside. We immediately head off to check him out. We also look over a half dozen other players, and try to get a sense for who our targets might be. Pellegrino looks to be the real deal, a lot of good current skills and a big upside. We immediately offer him a full ride. We make our second scholarship offer to PF Andrew Moss, a two-star recruit with some good defensive potential. We offer our third scholarship to SG Takeo Marquez, a three-star recruit with a sweet jumpshot. He is only mildly interested in us, so I think we’ll be looking elsewhere soon. As we get into the early fall, none of our targets are in the nest. We continue to focus our efforts on PG Pellegrino, who is clearly the best player that we could land this year. SG Marquez has only mild interest in us, so we make an offer to SG Joseph Breault, a kid with a great jumpshot and solid inside skills, but with almost no defensive skill set. There really isn’t much else out there that we could get. PF Moss’ interest in us wanes, and we pour some more attention on him. Just as training camp is ready to begin in November, Pellegrino and Breault commit to UC Riverside! Pellegrino is a nice landing for us, and gives us our second three-star recruit in as many years. Marquez goes elsewhere, and as the season gets under way, we can focus our efforts on landing two power forwards. With Moss’ interest “average” we scour the country for other power forwards that might be interested in playing for us. We take a long shot and offer a scholarship to PF Roland Payne, a three-star recruit with mild interest in us. I doubt we’ll land either Payne or Moss, and will revoke our scholarship offers if we don’t hear from them by the end of November. Here’s Pellegrino’s Card: Code:
Here’s Breault’s Card: Code:
Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 11-23-2003 at 11:17 PM. |
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11-24-2003, 12:57 AM
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#17 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Willow Glen, CA
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Riverside?!?!!
... I don't know what to say... But I'll still follow along  -Vince, UCSB Fan
__________________
Every time a Dodger scores a run, an angel has its wings ripped off by a demon, and is forced to tearfully beg the demon to cauterize the wounds.The demon will refuse, and the sobbing angel will lie in a puddle of angel blood and feathers for eternity, wondering why the Dodgers are allowed to score runs.That’s not me talking: that’s science. McCoveyChronicles.com. |
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11-24-2003, 02:21 PM
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#18 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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Vince: Don't worry. We're gone now. I'll try to get a game against UCSB next year, just for your sake, but we're out of the Big West conference for at least one more year. Thanks for reading though.
Actually, come to think of it, I bet you are sad to see us leave the conference. Two easy wins for you down the drain. November 2004 We come out of training camp with the following 15 men: Code:
Roster Evaluation For all intents and purposes, we’re returning five starters, as graduated C Chris Smith did not play much for us last year. With another year of experience under our belts, we should be able to field a better team. PG Girard is the best player on our team. He’s an outstanding ball handler and the key to our offense. C Staab is a rebounding machine, but has little skill elsewhere. PF Ortiz is decent across the board, but nothing spectacular. SG Tim O’Neil has an above average shot and mediocre skills elsewhere. SF Tucker is a liability. We’re redshirting C Hart and walk-on PG Macomber. Both of these guys need more time before they’re ready, and I think we can get by with the people in front of them on the depth chart. On to the season we go… Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 11-24-2003 at 02:24 PM. |
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11-24-2003, 02:22 PM
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#19 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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November 2004
Results Code:
We get up early on Morris Brown and never look back to win our opener for the second year in a row. Against St. Peter’s, we open with 15-point lead, fall behind in the second half by ten, the storm back to win on a Tim O’Neil three-pointer with 6 seconds to go. We dominate Morgan State completely to win our third game. After that, Quinnipiac runs out to an early 10-point lead; we manage to tie late in the second half, but fade away in the final couple of minutes to lose our first game of the year. At the end of the month, we stand at 3-1, and are only one win away from tying our season total of last year! Recruiting PF Andrew Moss decides to come to UC Riverside! This was unexpected, as his interest in us was luke warm at best, but we are not complaining. A two-star recruit, he’s better than anyone else on our board. Nice. Our visits to PF Roland Payne must have paid off, because he now has “very high” interest in coming to UC Riverside. We pour on the gas; we offer him a campus visit, and I schedule a trip to visit him personally. This guy is another three-star recruit. I would be ecstatic if we could land him. Here’s Moss’ player card: Code:
Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 11-24-2003 at 02:23 PM. |
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11-24-2003, 02:24 PM
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#20 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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December 2004
Results Code:
Tim O’Neil misses a last second three-pointer and we lose to Gardner Webb. We demolish IPFW later in the week to match our 2003 win total, and pull away from Lipscomb late in the second half to win our 5th game of the year and rise to 5-2. We overcome a 16-point deficit to beat Arkansas-Pine Bluff, and then slaughter Sacramento State to end the month at 7-2. This would be impressive if it weren’t for the fact that we are playing high school level teams. Conference play starts next month, and that’ll matter more. Recruiting We land our 4th and final recruit, as PF Roland Payne decides to attend UC Riverside! He’s another three-star recruit, and brings a strong inside offensive game. Here’s his card: Code:
And with this guy, our recruiting comes to an end. Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 11-24-2003 at 02:25 PM. |
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11-24-2003, 03:47 PM
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#21 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Troy, NY
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The 4 and 5 scholarship years are hell on recruiting. You don't really get to have contingency plans. I've taken a Siena team and slowly moven up the ranks, from the MAAC (prestige 2 out of 5), and after 4 seasons there, I moved on to Delaware in the Colonial Athletic Association (prestige 3). After one disappointing year there, though I did bring in a quality (top-60) recruiting class, I moved on to a lower prestige school in a better conference (Missouri Valley Conference, prestige 4). Here I have some talent to work with, and recruiting is going well.
See my dynasty if you want to read more. FWIW, I love the format of yours - very easy to read. Great job so far!
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Quis custodiets ipsos custodes? |
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11-24-2003, 03:50 PM
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#22 | |
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Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: St. Paul, MN
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Good read GB. Looks like you've done a pretty good job with a poor starting situation. Maybe when this year's crop of recruits comes in (if you're still around) you can really start building your team up.
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11-24-2003, 08:36 PM
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#23 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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RPI-Fan: I feel lucky to have gotten what we did this year recruiting-wise. Especially the last guy, who really didn't seem to think much of UC Riverside. Glad you like the format, and I will definitely go check your dynasty out. I thought Marmel was the only person doing one, so I must have missed yours.
JAG: Thanks! Yeah, part of me wonders whether I will ever see how any of these recruits turn out. But so far we're hanging with the rest of the division, so I'm hoping things will turn out ok. January 2005 We play the first half of our conference schedule this month. I’m hoping we can do better than our one win last year. Results Code:
We get a hot start in the second half to pull away from Eastern Kentucky and win our 8th game of the year. In our first conference game, Valparaiso runs away with the game. We bounce back with a gritty win against Oakland two days later to pull us to 1-1 in the conference. We then beat Chicago State at home, but this game is the second game of a home/home series set last year, so the win doesn’t count in the conference standings. Later in the week, we drop a game to them at home. We suffer a heartbreaking loss to IUPUI, but return the favor later by beating them in OT in our next game. Last-place Oakland wipes us out after that, but once again we rebound, this time playing perhaps our best game of the year in beating first-place Oral Roberts in their house. That win ends our month. We sit at 3-4 in the conference, with two teams below us at 2-5. We’re ranked #269, which is a big improvement over where we ended last year. Not only that, but we’re undefeated at home with a solid 10-0 record. Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 11-24-2003 at 08:36 PM. |
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11-25-2003, 12:02 AM
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#24 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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February 2005
Results Code:
Thankfully, we hang on to get a win against Chicago State and pull into a tie with UMKC with three conference games left—and two of them against UMKC. Unfortunately, they beat us soundly both times, then Oral Roberts finishes us off to end our conference schedule and leave us, once again, in dead last place. Damn it. They’ll fire me for sure now. In two end-of-season, meaningless, non-conference games, we lose by three to Colgate, then bury Albany. We're in the conference tournament next month. The top eight teams make it and well, there are only eight teams! Yahoo! 2004/05 Mid-Continent Conference Final Standings Code:
Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 11-25-2003 at 12:04 AM. |
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11-25-2003, 12:03 AM
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#25 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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March 2005
Results We play first-place Valparaiso in the opening round of the conference tournament. They crush us perfunctorily, and our season ends. Sigh. We suck. Still. Well, once again we have failed to avoid last place. We got lucky and didn’t get fired last time, but I have to think that we’re doomed now. Tomorrow I’ll post the stats, then end the season, which could be the end of the dynasty as well. Unless by chance I can get employment somewhere else. Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 11-25-2003 at 12:08 AM. |
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11-25-2003, 12:06 PM
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#26 | |
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Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: St. Paul, MN
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At least outside the conference you were 11-3...even if they were high school girls teams you guys were playing.
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11-25-2003, 02:40 PM
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#27 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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JAG: Hey, some of those high school girls were pretty tough!
Final Stats 2004/05 Here’s the numbers on the team: Code:
Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 11-25-2003 at 02:43 PM. |
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11-25-2003, 02:43 PM
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#28 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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April 2005
Huh? Hey, they love us! Not only do I not get fired, I get the Mid-Continent Coach of the Year Award! No kidding! Wow! Why? Maybe the game considers overall record when giving out these things? Maybe taking the team from 4-24 to 15-14 mattered here? On other news, apparently this is the real bottom of the basketball world because despite finishing last, we don’t get demoted: there is no place lower. We are the lowest of the low. Our recruiting class ranked #92 in the nation, which has got to help us out a lot. Now if we could just avoid finishing last in the conference all the time. Also, continuing this string of amazing successes, our prestige jumps 33%, up to 4! Wow! (For those of you who don’t have the game, I believe this is on a scale of 100. I’m being sarcastic here.) UC Riverside Prestige: 4 (+1) 2005/06 Goal: Avoid Last Place The board of trustees is currently satisfied with my performance. Despite finishing last again, maybe they were happy with our 15-14 overall record? Who knows. All I know is that I’ve got a paycheck coming this year and a team to lead. Yahoo! And a little look at our short history: Code:
Although we did end up finishing last, I’ve got to be happy with the overall improvement we had, and I really am glad they didn’t fire me. I think we’re going places with these new recruits. |
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11-25-2003, 05:45 PM
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#29 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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May 2005
Asst. Coach Justin Hoffman is stolen from us by New Mexico State. Talk about kicking someone when they’re down. New Mexico State, we’re adding you to our payback list. Somewhere, sometime, we’ll get you. Our other two guys stay put. We hire a new guy. He’s not as good as Hoffman was, but he’ll do. I hope. 2005/06 Staff Recruiter: Jason Gil (33 years old) Skill: 40 Scout: Jason Brown (46 years old) Skill: 41 Asst. Coach: Douglas Toliver (35 years old) Offense: 45 Defense: 25 Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 11-25-2003 at 05:45 PM. |
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11-25-2003, 09:58 PM
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#30 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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June 2005
2005/06 Schedule We collect a random assortment of cruddy teams to play during the non-conference portion of the schedule, but here and there we up the ante a bit. Still, you know more than I do if you recognize half the teams on this list: Code:
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11-25-2003, 09:59 PM
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#31 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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July 2005 – October 2005
Preseason Recruiting Well, once again we have four scholarships to dole out. This will be a big year for recruiting, as we’re graduating four starting seniors, and five seniors total. We’re looking to offer scholarships to four of the following five positions: point guard, center, two small forwards, and a power forward. We take a look at the recruiting pool. There are two three-star players, PF Ward Rios and PF William Cartwright, who have very high interest in playing for us. We head off to check them out, and contact and evaluate a handful of other players that have average interest in us. Rios’ interest in us drops and he doesn’t look that good when we evaluate him, but Cartwright looks to be a solid offensive player, so we make him an immediate scholarship offer. We also draw interest from SF Floyd Wilkerson, a three-star recruit with great stats. Sight unseen, we offer him our second scholarship. We also make offers to longshot, three-star players with average interest in us: PG Renato York and C Dorian Pollard. York looks solid all-around, and Pollard has a strong inside game. As we enter the fall, we realize that we have spread ourselves too thin: we lose Cartwright, York, and Pollard to other schools. Aargh! We don’t have enough money to recruit four guys at once. I should have gone hard after two, then looked for others. Damn it. We scramble for more recruits, but this could get ugly. We quickly make offers to three, three-star players with average to high interest in us. I’m not excited about any of these guys, but I have to trust the star-ratings and hope we can start to land a few players. Yuck, this is ugly. We go to training camp with no recruits under our belt. Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 11-25-2003 at 10:00 PM. |
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11-25-2003, 10:01 PM
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#32 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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November 2005
We come out of training camp with the following 15 men: Code:
Roster Evaluation Mellott will take over for Girard at PG, and is a big drop in talent, but elsewhere we’ve got experienced vets back. Redshirt freshman C Hart, our first recruit, will see a lot of action at center behind Staab. At PF, true freshman Roland Payne is talented and may replace Ortiz as things move along: Ortiz had a horrible plus/minus rating last year. SF Tucker brings a much improved perimeter defense game to the table. He lead the team last year in plus/minus category, so he must be doing something right. Tim O’Neil is mediocre at best. We’re redshirting PG Pellegrino, who needs a lot of conditioning, and PF Moss, who could use the development. On to the season we go, seeking once again to not finish last. I can just see it now. “Ok, men, let’s have a great year. Just remember our championship motto: Don’t be the worst!” Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 11-25-2003 at 10:02 PM. |
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11-26-2003, 12:13 AM
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#33 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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November 2005
Results Code:
We pull away from Lipscomb late to win our opener, the blow a big lead to Long Island to fall to 1-1. We soundly beat Eastern Kentucky, then get absolutely crushed by Stephen F. Austin. How do we lose to a school with a name like that? My god. As TMQ says, “How can a whole team lost to just one guy?” We come back with a solid win against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, which leaves us 3-2 for the opening month of non-conference play. Recruiting Phew! We get two three-star commitments, SF Floyd Wilkerson, who we had been hoping to get right from the start, and PG Gustavo Ortega, a guy we plucked out of nowhere. Wilkerson looks to be all offense, and Ortega has weak passing skills, but at this point in time I have to be ecstatic to land two three-star players. Although we’d end up a bit heavy on small forwards, I make scholarship offers to two three-star small forwards. There aren’t many three-star guys left, and locking up either one of these two would really give us a chance to have a solid recruiting class. Here are our committed recruits' cards: Code:
Code:
Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 11-26-2003 at 12:16 AM. |
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11-26-2003, 12:44 AM
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#34 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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December 2005
Results Code:
We lose to VMI and Mount St. Mary’s to open the month, then Jerold Tucker hits a basket with one second left in the game to give us a two-point win over Coastal California. With our record at 4-4, we make some lineup changes, bringing in two of our freshmen as starters: C David Hart and PF Roland Payne. Both have played well in backup roles so far. We promptly blow a big lead against Albany and fall to 4-5. We bounce back, though, and overcome a 13-point deficit to beat Loyala-Maryland. A few days later, we roar out to a 29-4 lead against Morgan State, then keep a comfortable cushion to win and end the month at 6-5. Recruiting We lose one of our three-star candidates, and get no movement from the other one. We throw all our chips at SF Joseph Weidner, the one remaining three-star small forward on the board, and offer a scholarship to C Lazaro McCoy, a one-star candidate that looks surprisingly good, but who we may use more in power forward role. |
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11-26-2003, 05:14 PM
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#35 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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January 2006
Results Code:
We finish off our non-conference with a resounding win against Birmingham Southern in which C David Hart sets a school record for rebounds in a game (13). Freshman PF Roland Payne starts off our conference schedule right: he scores 20 points to lead us in a big road win against Chicago State. Later in the week, we get what might be our best victory ever, beating Oral Roberts in a tense battle. Two days later, at UMKC, both C David Hart (15 days) and PF Andrew Mellott (6 days) go down with injuries. With them out, we lose our lead and our five-game winning streak goes down the drain. A few days later, with Mellot gimpy and Hart out, we can’t hang with IUPUI and lose our second in a row. Mellott comes back to lead us to a key victory over Western Illinois a few days later. Following that, we commit 27 turnovers in an embarrassing loss to Chicago at home, then, with David Hart back in the lineup, return the favor by trouncing Chicago in their house to end the month. All things considered, not a bad month, as we sit at 11-8 overall and 4-3 in the conference. That’s good for second place at the moment, three games back of UMKC, who is 7-0 in conference play and up next on our schedule. If we are even toying with the idea of winning the conference, this next game would be a must win. Recruiting Yes! We land both our targets: three-star SF Joseph Weidner and one-star C Lazaro McCoy. McCoy looks to have a surprisingly good outside game, and I think we’ll move him to power forward. I’m not sure what to make of Weidner. He’s got a bizarre mix of skills that makes me wonder what to do, but he’ll most likely get a redshirt next year so that will give us time to figure out the answer. Here are their cards: Code:
Code:
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11-26-2003, 05:14 PM
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#36 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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February 2006
Results Code:
We play a great game against UMKC, but they take us at the very end, and any hopes of catching them in the conference are dashed. Second-place IUPUI pulls away from us in the second half of our next game, and we drop our second home game in a row. We get back on the winning track with a win over pesky Chicago State, but Oral Roberts is too much for us and we drop into the bottom half of the conference standings with a tough loss. With our season in peril of spiraling out of control, we come up with a clutch home win against last-place Western Illinois. The victory drops them to 3-9 and puts us at 6-6, which means… We won’t finish last! Yahoo! We split a pair against Tennessee State, then split two final non-conference games to end our regular season at 15-13, 7-7 in the conference. Our overall record gives us the tie-breaking edge puts us in third place in the Mid-Continent Conference! 2005/06 Final Mid-Continent Conference Standings Code:
We’ll face Tennessee State at home in the first game of the conference tournament. |
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11-26-2003, 05:15 PM
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#37 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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March 2006
Tournament Results Tennessee State pulls off the upset, beating us at home in the first round of the conference tournament and ending our season. We finish 15-14 overall, identical to last year’s record. Well, I think we won’t get fired this year, as we managed to move up considerably in the conference standings, and once again we finished over .500 thanks to our non-conference games against girls’ high school teams. This year, however, feels much better than last year, as we played respectable ball in the conference, and had a slightly more difficult non-conference schedule. All in all, I have to be happy with the future of the team. The two freshmen, PF Payne and C Hart, held their own as mere youngsters. They could be the anchor of a strong team two or three years down the road. We’ll take a hit with four contributing seniors graduating, but we’ve got more talent coming in. Should be an interesting next two or three years. Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 11-26-2003 at 08:26 PM. |
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11-26-2003, 05:16 PM
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#38 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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Final Stats 2005/06
Here’s the numbers on the team: Code:
Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 11-26-2003 at 08:25 PM. |
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11-28-2003, 12:22 AM
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#39 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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April 2006
Well, this was a less nerve-wracking transition. We get a bunch of information at the beginning of the year, the most important of which is an email telling us that we got the #73 recruiting class in the nation. Considering that we are ranked near #300, I have to be happy with this. And our prestige skyrockets! We gain 100%! We now stand at 8! Watch out world, here we come! UC Riverside Prestige: 8 (+4) 2006/07 Goal: Avoid Last Place The board is satisfied with me, and their goals are modest once again. Cool. Given that we graduated quite a few starters, staying out of last place might be more difficult that it would seem. Here’s our history to date: Code:
Be nice to improve on these results this season, but a lot will depend on how well our new guys play. Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 11-28-2003 at 12:23 AM. |
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11-28-2003, 12:24 AM
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#40 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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May 2006
Chattanooga steals our scouting director. We hire a new guy, but he’s not quite as good as the last one was. We stick with the other two, as there are no opportunities to move up. 2006/07 Staff Recruiter: Jason Gil (34 years old) Skill: 40 Scout: Derek Robinson (37 years old) Skill: 35 Asst. Coach: Justin Hoffman (55 years old) Offense: 48 Defense: 30 Also, I make a formal request to the board to improve our training facilities, which are rated at a “0”. This doesn’t seem to be a good thing. Does a zero mean we don’t even have a gym? Maybe we don’t even have our own basketballs? We need a gym and balls, and I tell my athletic director so. |
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11-28-2003, 12:24 AM
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#41 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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June 2006
The athletic department has approved our request to upgrade the training facilities! This sounds like a very good thing. The improvements will be online next year. Excellent, just excellent. I schedule a couple of games above the garbage level, but mostly I just pick the worst teams I can find for a given date. We quickly get things in order. One of the smart things I did (completely by accident) was schedule a lot of away/home two-year sets last year, when we had a stronger team. That means that we get 19 home games and only 9 away games this year. Might help us if our inexperience makes things rough on us. Here they are, this year’s games: Code:
Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 11-28-2003 at 12:37 AM. |
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11-28-2003, 09:30 AM
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#42 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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July 2006 – October 2006
Preseason Recruiting Well, once again we have four scholarships available. However, we’ll have none available next year so I think I will try to find three players, then hammer a long shot four-star player for our fourth recruit, if I can find one. If I don’t land the longshot, I’ll just save the one scholarship for next year, as each year there seems to be at least one decent player that likes us. Looking at our graduating seniors, we’ll need to pick up a center, two shooting guards, and a small forward. We’ll badly need shooting guard help next year, and that’s where we concentrate in the early months. Two three-star players, SG Adam Maier and SG Joe Loera, show a strong interest in us after we evaluate them, and we make scholarship offers to both of them. We also offer a scholarship to C Benny Garrett, a three-star center with mild interest in our program. Garrett’s interest drops through the floor after he visits our campus, and Loera’s drops to mild after he does likewise. Maybe they saw us trying to borrow balls from the local high school teams? Maier’s interest stays very high, and we offer our fourth scholarship to SG Alphonse Huckaby, a three-star recruit whose interest perks in us for no apparent reason. In early November, SG Huckaby commits to UC Riverside, giving us a badly needed shooting guard in the fold for next year. Maier and Loera are still on the fence. We revoke our scholarship to Garrett, who is clearly not impressed with us, and pour on the gas to a three-star center, Eldrige Whittle, whose interest in us rise to mild after we take a chance on a quick evaluation. As we head into training camp, we’ve got one good player in, and are looking fair to good on a couple more. Much better than last year. Here is Huckaby’s card: Code:
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11-28-2003, 09:31 AM
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#43 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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November 200x
We break training camp with the following fifteen men: Code:
Roster Evaluation There year is a tough one to call. Of our 15 players on the roster, 11 are freshmen or sophomores. Clearly, we lack experience. However, I think the players we’ve brought in are markedly better than most of the players we inherited. How this all works out is anyone’s guess. At Center, returning starter David Hart is the only player of worth, and we badly need depth here. Losing Staab to graduation hurts us at this position, as incoming freshman McCoy is nothing special, and Pugliese sucks. At PF, Payne returns after starting last year as a freshman, and Moss will provide decent backup. We’re inexperienced at small forward, but talented Freshman Wilkerson will start here. Bates will provide a weak backup. Three-year starter Tim O’Neil will return for his fourth and final year at shooting guard; behind him is a fair Breault and a poor Rakes. We’re thin at this position. At PG, redshirt freshman Pellegrino will start and walkon Macomber will back him up. Ortega is talented, but I want to let him develop for a year. On to the season we go… Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 11-29-2003 at 02:43 AM. |
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11-28-2003, 09:32 AM
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#44 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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November 2006
Results Code:
The season starts horribly. We can’t put down anything and Lipscomb shoots lights out to blow us away in our opener. We roar out to a 15-point lead at halftime against Bethune-Cookman only to end up losing by eight after a disastrous second half. In our third game, Sacred Heart jumps out to a 17-point lead; we can never catch up. Our fourth game is no better: we blow a 7-point halftime lead and lose by ten. We end the month at an embarrassing 0-4. We are not scoring on offense and giving up gobs of points on defense. We look inexperienced and overmatched. Something has got to change or this will be a long season. Recruiting SG Loera turns us down, which we expected. Everyone else stays put. We’re still optimistic regarding SG Maier, and hopeful regarding C Whittle. However, if we don’t start turning around our play on the court, we might never be around to see these guys. Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 11-28-2003 at 09:34 AM. |
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11-29-2003, 12:05 AM
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#45 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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December 2006
The AI has had us run a man-to-man defense this year, but we are getting killed on defense. I switch to a matchup zone, despite the team’s lack of talent at this defensive scheme. This is pretty much a random choice, as I have little clue as to what defense would best fit our personnel. Results Code:
We finally break into the win column with a see-saw overtime win against Gardner Webb. Unfortunately, we open up a big lead against Morris Brown, drop back into a tie, then fade away in the last couple of minutes of the game to lose yet again. We now stand at 1-5, and I shuffle the lineup a bit. PF Andrew Moss replaces PF Roland Payne, who has not played well. This however, does not help. In our next game we suffer a humiliating loss to Nicholls State, who comes from 15 points down in the last ten minutes to beat us in overtime. A few days later it happens again: we lead the entire game until we blow the lead late and watch VMI sink a shot to win by two as time expires. Things turn around a bit in our next game, though, as we run out to a 21-point lead by halftime, then hang on to win against Mount St. Mary’s. In our final game of the month, we pull away from Albany in the last couple of minutes to win our second in a row. We finish the month at 3-7, but on an upbeat as we head into conference play. Recruiting Bingo! We hit the jackpot! Both SG Maier and C Whittle commit to play for us next year! Both are three-star recruits at weak positions for us. This couldn’t come at a better time. With our remaining scholarship offer, we take a longshot chance on a four-star recruit, SG Stuart Bennett. The chances are low, but it’s worth a shot, as we can always save our scholarship spot for next year if we don’t land this guy. Here are our new recruits’ cards: Code:
Code:
Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 11-29-2003 at 12:14 AM. |
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11-29-2003, 01:10 AM
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#46 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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January 2007
Well, it’s show time. Conference play. We’ll need to Cowboy Up here. I’m afraid that I might get fired if we finish last. Results Code:
Well, so much for Cowboy Up. We start off conference play with a surprising win against 7-3 Oakland in their house. Things turn sour quickly, though, as we fall behind and can’t catch up to IUPUI two days later, lose to 2-13 Western Illinois in a terribly played game on our part, follow it up with a crushing defeat at the hands of Oral Roberts, and then get blown away by Western Illinois on the road. Tennessee State beats us in overtime next, Oakland pulls away from us in the second half to hand us our sixth straight conference loss, and despite leading by ten late in a game against Morgan State, we self-destruct and lose yet again. We end the month 4-14 overall, and 1-6 in the conference. Needless to say, we own last place. This is not good. I think this really might be the end of our run at UC Riverside. Recruiting Bennett turns us down, but we continue our strategy of making scholarship offers to top players. Maybe we’ll hit a cord and land a star. |
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11-29-2003, 01:59 AM
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#47 |
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Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Little Rock, AR
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Good luck I am following along. Hopefully you will not get fired, but I will admit, if I was the athletic board, I would give it a long hard look.
__________________
Xbox 360 Gamer Tag: GoldenEagle014 |
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11-29-2003, 02:05 PM
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#48 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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Golden Eagle: I think if we finished last I would be gone, that's for sure. But...
February 2007 Well, this could be it. Realistically, we’re going to need to win three conference games to have a chance of avoiding the cellar. 3-4 in conference play the rest of the way? Have we got it in us? Results Code:
Texas A&M Corpus and Chicago State beat us easily to start the month. Finally, PG Pellegrino sinks a last second shot to beat Stephen P. Austin and end our long losing streak. Things go back to normal after that, though, as Oral Roberts pulls away from a close game to beat us by ten and drop us three games into last place with four to go. Things look dire. We once again juggle our lineup, as we have been doing all year, but this time replacing PG Pellegrino with PG Macomber in the starting lineup appears to trigger something good: we put a hurt on Texas A&M Corpus, Tennessee State, and then win a squeaker against Chicago State to take three consecutive conference games and vault into a tie with Tennessee State for last place with one conference game to go. In the last conference game, IUPUI demolishes us, but Tennessee State loses as well. With two non-conference games and the conference tourney to go for us, we are tied with Tennessee State in conference record, and up by a half-game on them overall. With my job on the line, we come back from a 17-point deficit to beat a tough Coastal California team and go a game and a half up on Tennesse State, who loses their last game. Wow! We lose our last non-conference game to Long Island, to leave us one-game in front of Tennessee State coming into the conference tournament next month. If we win or they lose we’ll have dodged the bullet and finished seventh. The strong finish may just be enough to save my job. God, my guys must love me. Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 11-29-2003 at 02:07 PM. |
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11-29-2003, 02:05 PM
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#49 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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March 2007
Mid-Continental Conference Tournament Results Oakland absolutely destroys us to end our season, but fortunately for us Oral Roberts beats Tennessee State to hand us the badly needed seventh place in the conference. We have successfully avoided last place! 2007 Final Conference Standings Code:
Recruiting I make my third trip to Hawaii in as many months to try to convince Charlie Brown to join our program, but Charlie never does make up his mind. The season ends and we have no idea what happens to him. He just kind of falls off the face of the planet, I guess. We end up with three three-star players on the team, and our one open scholarship will carry over to next year. Wrap Up Well, we needed that miracle finish to avoid last place in the conference, but I’ll take it any way I can. I’m hoping the hard part is over, as we’ll have much more experience next year and we will have cleared out all the junk we inherited from before we got here. Now it’s all my team. I'll post stats then move on to next year... Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 07-10-2004 at 02:09 AM. |
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11-29-2003, 02:06 PM
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#50 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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Final Stats 2006/07
Here’s the numbers on the team: Code:
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