The Coaching Legacy of Milton Mackay (College Hoops 2K8)

[CalBears]

Game: College Hoops 2K8
Mode: Career Legacy
Difficulty: All-Conference (rspencer sliders)

Well, I'm back. If any of you remember me, I posted my Colby Dabel legacy from the now defunct 2k sports forum here. You can find that here: http://www.operationsports.com/forum...hoops-2k8.html. I'm back now, hopefully for good. This should be a fun ride!

[CalBears]

Texas State tabs Mackay for head job
Following a 15 win season, Texas State lost their head coach Doug Davalos, as he unexpectedly resigned. In his stead, the university announced the hiring of 34 year old Milton Mackay, formerly an assistant at St. Louis.

Mackay is a disciple of current SLU coach Rick Majerus, whose hard man to man defense and team toughness is renowned. Mackay is expected to bring much the same approach to this Texas State team, whose run a variety of different zones, presses, and other defenses. With a Majerus disciple comes a slower pace as well, new to a team used to getting out and running. Majerus, to his credit, was classy about the decision.

“I’m happy for Milt. He basically ran our defense a year ago and he’s excellent at getting the most of our guys. I’m obviously not happy he left but he’ll do an excellent job there.”

Mackay, when asked of the comparison to his old boss, downplayed it in some elements.

“I curse a lot less,” he laughed, “and I’m not a real in your face guy. But stylistically, we’re going to do a lot of the same things. I do like to extend the man to man full court to slow the tempo, and our offense will probably be a little slower than St. Louis’ was a year ago.”

Mackay is not known as a great recruiter, and he even admitted as such in his presser, saying he would delegate much of that responsibility to his assistants. He believes he can extract defense of good, smart kids without the need for oodles of talent. His straightforward, honest, and non-cursing approach should play well in conservative Texas, even if his team doesn’t at first.

[CalBears]

Meet the Roster
Milton Mackay in his first move after his opening presser unveiled his 11 man roster for the 2010-2011 season. The roster features 7 seniors, meaning that the pressure on the team will be immense.

JR PG Eddie Rios (62) (6-0, 190): Rios will run the team at the point guard spot, and he fits the role as he is a calm leader. Rios can hit the three, run the break and is a quality ballhandler on the offensive end. Defensively he is quick enough to pressure the ball and pesky enough to do it for around 20-22 minutes a game.

SR PG Ryan White (61) (5-11, 175): White is an offensive player first and second, which could lead to a clash with the defensively-oriented Mackay. White is a gifted scorer in a lot of ways, with the ability to get to the bucket but not necessarily finish and hit the 3 ball with confidence. He is the prototypical 'irrational confidence' guy, a shooter who does not care whether he is 0-9 or 7-9. Defensively he is undersized for the 2 spot and will struggle at times to contest taller shooters.

SR SF Cameron Johnson (71) (6-7, 215): Johnson is the leading scorer returning from a year ago at 14.6 per game. That number will decrease this year as the tempo slows down. Johnson is a player that thrives running the floor and finishing strong to the basket in transition. In the half court, he is limited to posting up and spot up shooting. Defensively, he is long and strong and can get in the passing lanes for steals.

SO PF Matt Staff (57) (6-10, 220): Matt Staff has a lot of upside, although his offensive game is limited to pick and rolls and dump downs directly under the basket for open lay-ups. Don't expect a whole lot of post ups to him. Defensively he won't block many shots despite his 6-10 frame and he might get bullied by stronger upperclassmen. He can hold his own, however.

SR C Johnathan Sloan (59) (6-9, 230): Sloan is a slightly more accomplished post-up player, although he will not have the offense run through him. He's a strong defensive player and will guard taller 5s due to his weight. Not a rim protector by any means and not a terrific help defender but can contain his own man.

JR SG John Bowman (60) (6-4, 220): Bowman is a one way player; his offensive game is kindly described as non-existant. He can dunk a little bit, but his handle is shaky and his jumpshot is very similar to that of most centers. Defensively he is a menace, physically dominating smaller guards and bumping them off the ball. He can get deflections and can even block shots. Mackay after one practice said, "I love this kid."

SR SG Uriel Segura (57) (6-3, 185): Segura can provide a little bit of shooting off the bench but getting to the hole is not a specialty of his. More of a midrange shooter than a 3 point shooter. Defensively he is not a liability but he doesn't add much either. Mackay would prefer to go for a 3 guard rotation and play Segura as little as possible.

SR SF Tony Bishop (60) (6-6, 205): Bishop is a dead-eye 3 point shooter and can even penetrate after getting defenders to fall for a myriad of pump fakes. He'll often be the middle man against a 2-3 zone to hit mid-range jumpers. Defensively the jury is out; quicker players can go by him but he's solid.

SR SF J.B. Conley (60) (6-6, 225): In many ways similar to Bishop, Conley is a good shooter, although his range is better from 15-17 feet out than from 3 point land. Also capable of sliding into the free throw line spot against a zone. Defensively he will be asked to guard 4s; his weight is up to the task, but he will undersized.

FR SF Basil Brown (54) (6-6, 195): Brown is primarily a player for next year, but he'll fill in at the 4 spot at times with the lack of size. He can shoot a short jumper but other than that isn't an offensive player.

FR C Nic Hinton (54) (6-9, 225): Another big body without much skill. He'll only play in case of foul trouble, and when he does he'll do little more than rebound and protect the rim. He's Mackay's project and he'll play a bigger role next season.

Overall: A perimeter oriented team with plenty of experience. They should finish in the upper half of an okay Southland conference and challenge in the conference tournament. With only a few underclassmen, this team needs to challenge for the tournament or Mackay could be on the hot seat.

[JJ4]

at least you'll have one go to guy to help you out for year one.

[Deuce2223]

Good to see you back. I have always like Texas State and Texas Southern. Good luck filling those 7 scholly's in Year 1. Could be fun brining in your kind of guy's early.

[CalBears]

Quote: Originally Posted by JJ4

at least you'll have one go to guy to help you out for year one.

Yep I'm hoping Johnson can fill that role. White and Rios are both shooters who really fit into what I like to do offensively though. Thanks for stopping in

Quote: Originally Posted by Deuce2223

Good to see you back. I have always like Texas State and Texas Southern. Good luck filling those 7 scholly's in Year 1. Could be fun brining in your kind of guy's early.

Thanks, it's good to be back. Those 7 schollys is the main reason I came in. I want to get my players on the floor and implement the system my team runs in a hurry. Could lead to some tough early seasons, but I'm willing to bear it.

[CalBears]

Schedule Released
The Bobcats announced their schedule today, with one of the most difficult non-conference slates in the country. Here’s the match-ups:

11/9 at Texas Tech
11/14 at New Mexico
11/19 at Maryland
11/21 at Missouri
11/28 at Baylor
12/1 Cal Poly
12/5 at Kansas State
12/8 at Texas A&M
12/11 at VCU
12/16 at Texas
12/23 at Kansas
12/29 at Iowa State
1/10 at Northwestern State
1/12 at Central Arkansas
1/17 SE Louisiana
1/19 Nicholls State
1/24 TXAM-CC
1/26 at UTSA
1/30 at Stephen F. Austin
2/2 Sam Houston State
2/9 at UT Arlington
2/13 at McNeese State
2/16 Lamar
2/21 at TXAM CC
2/23: UTSA
2/27: Stephen F. Austin
3/1: at Sam Houston State
3/4: UT Arlington

Mackey’s comments: “Well, I asked the AD for a tough schedule and I got one. This is a senior team that needs to become battle tested and hardened in a hurry, and there’s no better way to do that than to get our rear end kicked. If we can get 3 or 4 wins outside of league play we’ll be successful. The conference looks tough this year and we certainly didn’t get any favors with a tough conference schedule, playing most of the bottomfeeders just once.”

[CalBears]

Southland Conference Preview
McNeese State is the favorite, with an experienced crew coming back and the most talent in the league. Junior small forward Patrick Richard (71) is the best player, although center PJ Alawoya will give plenty of team’s problems. Right behind them is co-favorite Stephen F. Austin. It would be shocking if one of those two teams didn’t win the conference. Point guard Eddie Williams and post Jereal Scott lead the way, with BEST SHOOTER Downing (61) coming off the bench.

Behind the two favorites lie a bunch of similarly talented teams. Nicholls State leads the pack with BEST PLAYER Anatoly Bose (76) being a star and an experienced backcourt with a pair of seniors supporting him. UTSA is next up with BEST FRESHMAN Tyler Wood (67) sliding comfortably into a starting lineup led by star senior point guard Devin Gibson. Sam Houston State is one team that could surprise for a title, with a solid interior unit. Northwestern State is a balanced squad with the BEST DEFENDER Mosley coming off the bench for interior help. Texas State is the most experienced team in the league and has shooting all over the floor. Defense is a question mark. Lamar has the BEST PLAYMAKER in James coming off the bench and a solid scoring shooting guard in Anthony Miles. Southeastern Louisiana has some solid shooting but a fairly nondescript squad.

Texas A&M Corpus-Christi, UT Arlington, and Central Arkansas bring up the rear, with Corpus Christi's power forward Damond Watt being the top player on the three rosters.