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Rookie
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Re: Hoops Dynasty: Career of Hooper15c
Livingstone vs Rollins
Rollins is a solid team on paper, despite being run by a Sim AI coach, and they proved to be just that as their guards started hot and stayed that way the entire game. This was a game that I left Renosky in the starting lineup and he ran into foul trouble as he only played a total of 9 minutes while racking up 4 fouls. The first half came to an end with Rollins clinging to a 44-40 lead. We were keeping it close and really just a couple bounces from finding ourselves in the driver’s seat. Sadly all the bounces went Rollins way in the 2nd half as they outscored me by 13 in the final 20 minutes to cruise to a 86-69 victory. Goss scored 25 in the loss as Livingstone dropped to 1-4 on the season with a battle at Western State coming up next.
Livingstone @ Western State
Renosky has been pulled from the starting lineup as a result of his lackluster play in the starting lineup. That is likely due to his lack of knowledge of the offense and defense that are leading to the numerous fouls when he’s matched up against the other teams top PG, so coming off the bench will suit him best until he gets a better understanding of running the triangle and press that we have adopted as our primary O and D. That puts Moe back in the starting lineup which I do reluctantly and he does a great job of proving that it likely isn’t deserved. Unlike the previous game, this time we hold a 30-29 lead heading into halftime and actually control the action most of the game. It’s back and forth the entire 2nd half and Bradley hits 2 FTs with 1:39 left in the game to give us a 4 pt lead. They drill a 3 with 58 seconds left to cut the lead to 1. Goss gets a decent look at the rim with 31 seconds left but misses his jumper and we’re unable to get an offensive rebound. They have the ball with 29 seconds left when they call a timeout, down by 1. Their possession takes about 24 seconds when with 5 seconds left they knock down the same jumper that Goss just missed. For our last possession Moe gets stripped and that’s how this one ends. Davies, Goss, and Tatum all scored in double figures with 15, 12, and 10 respectively. Moe finished the game shooting 1-3 with 4 TOs and 0 assists in 22 minutes (Renosky off the bench was 3-6 with 3 assists and 1 TO in 14 minutes). This loss dropped Livingstone to 1-5 and pushed the losing streak to 5 in a row. Next up on the schedule was Nebraska, Kearney at home. They were also a 1-5 team and didn’t have much going for them. Looked like just the game we needed to break out of our slump.
Livingstone vs Nebraska, Kearney
After that last game I decided to try a new arrangement of our starting lineup as I placed Bradley at the PG position and inserted Woods into the starting lineup at SG. This is a decision I immediately regret as Woods and Goss both get into foul trouble and Bradley really struggles the entire game at the PG position. So this went from a game that looked like it would be a great slump buster into one that looked like it would pour a giant bag of salt onto the wounds. They took a 34-28 lead into the half, but it was much worse than it looked as the foul trouble against Goss and Woods meant that I was playing with a short bench for much of the 2nd. The 1st half we were able to overcome the fouls in order to keep it close, the 2nd half we weren’t so lucky as they outscored us 39-23 in the 2nd to clinch a 73-51 victory. This was probably the most disappointing loss of the entire season as this opponent wasn’t very good and came into our gym and beat us, dropping our record to 1-6. As I look back I regret making the roster change as I feel like had I just kept the same lineup from the Western St game, we would have likely pulled off the W. Goss did manage to finish with 20 and Tatum contributed 11 in the losing effort. We are looking at back-to-back road games against very solid, human coached teams. Included in this mini roadtrip is a matchup against #21 Grand Canyon, however first up is W. Virginia St.
Livingstone @ W. Virginia St.
Going into this game we were an 8 pt underdog and given our recent showing I was actually pleased it wasn’t worse than that. I decided to give Renosky one more chance as a starter because I felt like he was starting to get the hang of things and this would likely be one of his last chances to impress me before I made him a backup the rest of the season. I feel like this team is a broken record that just continues playing bad songs as this game was so similar to the last 6 games as we just were sluggish and couldn’t seem to ever put any pressure on them as they jumped out to a 42-30 halftime lead. The 2nd half wasn’t any better as they outscored me 45-35 for the 87-65 victory. Goss, Bradley, and Renosky (he did play 20 minutes this game) all fouled out and as a team we committed 28 fouls compared to their 12 (this is a major issue with a general lack of knowledge about the defense we are running). Goss finished with 20, Tatum had 13, and Moe finished with 12 off the bench. The loss dropped us to 1-7 and looking squarely at a top 25 team when we travel to Grand Canyon.
Livingstone @ #24 Grand Canyon
Every single fear I had about this game going into it seemed to ring exactly true. I decided to keep Renosky in the starting lineup for this one as I figured we didn’t stand much of a chance either way and he could use the experience for future seasons. We found ourselves only trailing 40-30 after the first half, but they were just getting started as they came out in the 2nd half and just buried us. We were able to save some dignity at the end but the final score wasn’t pretty. Livingstone left with their tails between their legs after the 88-53 loss. Goss scored 17, Tatum had 14, and Davies finished with 10. This loss drops our record to 1-8 with 2 non-conference games remaining on the schedule and both games look winnable but this team has taught me to be pessimistic.
Livingstone vs Presbyterian
Yet another game we go into as the underdogs and to be honest, after these first 9 games I can’t blame anyone for not having any faith in us. This game marked Moe’s return to the starting lineup and I also decided to slow the game down a bit to hopefully mask some of our roster deficiencies. I also hope that by slowing the game down a bit, it will help cut back on the # of fouls we commit over the course of the game. Of course Presbyterian is unfazed by any of that as they cruise out to a 31-20 halftime lead. However, for the first time since I can remember we showed actual signs of life in the 2nd half. We actually won the 2nd half 31-30 and despite losing 61-51, this is the first time in a week that I’ve actually seen the team moving in the right direction and actually look pretty good. Goss finished with 23 and Tatum tossed in 12. The loss dropped us to 1-9, but I could sense the tides turning after that 2nd half and I didn’t realize how right I was…
Livingstone vs Nyack
This is another game we go into as the underdogs but like I said, I could sense something different with this group in the 2nd half of that last game. They show me that my feelings were correct as they jump all over Nyack in the 1st half and have a 31-18 lead heading into half. As I read the play-by-play I had to do a double take since I hadn’t had a sizeable halftime lead in what feels like an eternity. We keep the pressure on in the 2nd half and outscore them 33-26 to get the win by a final score of 64-44. Goss had 23 while Davies finished with 14 and 10 boards. Moe had 5 assists to go with 2 turnovers and Renosky had 3 assists off the bench. This win pushes the season record to 2-9 and wraps up the non-conference schedule. We open the conference schedule against Winston-Salem St. who has 1 win so far on the season and looks like it could be the start of our first winning streak of the season.
Livingstone vs Winston-Salem St.
This is the first time since the 2nd game of the season that I didn’t come into the game as an underdog (the spread was even). That roll that we’ve been on over the last 3 halves just keeps right on a rolling as we finally demolish a bad team the way we should have been doing all season long. We jump on them early and cruise into half with a 38-23 lead. This is the best I’ve been feeling about this team all season, and yes I realize it’s against likely the weakest team that we’ve played all year, and they do nothing to diminish those feelings in the 2nd half. The 2nd 20 minutes is even more domination than the 1st as we outscore them 36-19 and finish with a 74-42 victory. Goss, Davies, and Bradley all finish in double figures with 17, 13, and 12 respectively. This is the balanced scoring I’ve been tweaking and playing around with the team to achieve all season. We may have a better record had I let Goss go for 35+ a game, but I think that once we played any decent teams they would shut him down and my entire team would get rolled. This way we have Bradley, Goss, Tatum, and Davies who can all go for double figures at any time. The more balanced scoring I get, the more confident I get. This win boosts us to 3-9 (1-0) on the season and we travel to play N. Carolina Central, one of the human coached teams in the conference next.
Livingstone @ N. Carolina Central
Despite the 2 game winning streak, we still find ourselves as 3 pt underdogs entering this matchup. The guys just politely told the oddsmakers to get bent as they came out of the gate with guns blazing yet again as they jumped out to a 37-26 halftime lead. Despite a better showing in the second from NCC, we still managed to put more distance between ourselves and them, outscoring them 40-33 and win 77-59. Goss led all scorers with 23 and Bradley chipped in 11. Moe is still struggling with turnovers as he had 5 this game, but as long as he is able to lock down their starters on defense and Renosky is able to come off the bench and get assists (3 assists, 0 TOs this game) and not foul out we’ll be set. We currently sit at 4-9 (2-0) as we just had one of our two off days this past evening. Next up we travel to Bowie St who currently sits at 1-11 (0-2)
Player Stats (to date)
M. Goss – 21.3 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 29.5 MPG
B. Tatum – 11.0 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 1.3 BPG, 26.0 MPG
A. Davies – 9.1 PPG, 7.2 RPG, 1.2 BPG, 28.4 MPG
R. Moe – 6.0 PPG, 1.8 RPG, 1.8 APG, 2.5 TOPG, 23.5 MPG
S. Bradley – 5.5 PPG, 2.5 APG, 1.6 TOPG, 24.2 MPG
E. Renosky – 3.1 PPG, 2.0 APG, 1.1 TOPG, 12.2 MPG
G. Woods – 2.7 PPG, 13.2 MPG
L. Calvert – 2.1 PPG, 1.1 APG, 9.6 MPG
R. Smiley – 1.8 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 16.1 MPG
G. Gross – 1.7 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 12.6 MPG
T. Dorazio – 0.7 PPG, 1.2 RPG, 10.5 MPG
Conference Standings
North
Fayetteville St. (human coach) 7-5 (2-0) RPI:50
Livingstone (ME) 4-9 (2-0) RPI: 233
Elizabeth City St (Sim AI) 4-8 (1-1) RPI: 240
Johnson C. Smith (Sim AI) 7-6 (1-2) RPI: 135
N. Carolina Central (human) 4-9 (1-2) RPI: 221
Bowie St. (Sim AI) 1-11 (0-2) RPI: 204
South
Shaw (Sim AI) 9-4 (3-0) RPI: 22
St. Augustine’s (Sim AI) 9-4 (2-1) RPI: 159
Virginia Union (human) 9-4 (2-1) RPI: 118
Virginia St. (human) 9-4 (1-2) RPI: 113
St. Paul’s (Sim AI) 6-7 (1-2) RPI: 213
Winston-Salem St. (Sim AI) 1-12 (0-3) RPI: 239
Livingstone Next 5 Games
@ Bowie St
vs Shaw
@ Elizabth City St
@ Virginia St
vs Johnson C. Smith
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12-03-2012, 01:56 AM
