Test Dynasty: Al Besenya

[PointGuard]

Wayne...not sure what your starting ratings were or your max ratings...but you said in 2 years, you maxed out on all ratings...do you think the annual increase in coach ratings is too great?

[Wayne23]

This is a test dynasty. I did something I would never do in a dynasty that will grow and develop. I started very high. I think he had 85 across the board to start, three 90's, two 95's to finish. SO this is NOT a good test of that.

I'm trying to do all sorts of things I would not ordinarily do during this phase.

[PointGuard]

OK, yeah, I knew it was a test...thanks for clarifying what you did though.

[Wayne23]

5/1: Preseason #21.

We buy the National Gold.

June 12: No transfers worth the trouble.

June 26: 3 to fill. Looking at 12.

8/7: Greg Star is #27 on the Norton List.

We’re down to 8 recruits, 5 of them PGs, 1 PF, 2 Cs.

8/21: We offer to 2 PGs and a C. One of the PGs is a longshot.

9/18: Got one. Center Sel Call, #45.

We’re going to the Hawaiian Shootout again. Awful schedule. If we get to the finals of the Shootout our first 10 games are on the road. Ranked teams want no part of us, even at their home courts. Strange. I am NOT pleased with Rip Lee. We had a little battle in his office when he showed me the schedule.

9/25: Got one, lost the longshot. We got PG Ken Eng, #42.

We offer to another longshot PG.

10/2: Lost the longshot.

First day of practice.

10/23: Got the third recruit, #22 Dar Tomm, PG. We got involved late but he showed a lot of interest. He looks terrific.

11/6: We have a lineup, and it looks really solid! Juniors Dan Brook and Key Suri start at guard with junior Sid Klew and frosh Jay Fox backing up.

Soph Nyah Bakk is at SF with junior Cy Pore behind him, and senior Greg Star and soph Sean Neal start inside with senior Jon Holt and frosh Kam Best backing up.

The sub minutes will likely need adjusting but I think our starters will be hard to displace. I like this team!

[Wayne23]

11/21: 4-0, #5, RPI #25. We won the Shootout. This team is tough to defend. Brook is an excellent outside shooter and a very good ball handler at guard. Bakk is a real presence at SF, and our two big guys are really, REALLY tough. We’re down to a 7 man rotation with Klew and Holt getting most of the bench minutes. I think this team could be really special.

All three recruits signed so we’re finished with that.

11/27: 5-1. We haven’t played at home yet so I’ll take this. We played really well at Tennessee this week, and then road weariness hit at Cincinnati and we got crushed.
It’s ridiculous that we have 5 more on the road before we play at home but it is what it is.

12/11: 8-2. #5, RPI #9. We lost to a mediocre GA Southern team, but again, it was our 10th straight road game (1 more to go).

I’m delighted with how well we’re playing. We were home for a day on 11/21 and that’s it. One day at home since 11/14. Insane. Fortunately, the internet allows my guys to keep up with class work but still, they’re missing a lot. We have two tutors with us and we strictly enforce study time for 2 hours every day, and we have other tutors sitting in on classes and taking notes. All of that helps but I’m stressed about the fact that my guys will miss most of their first semester classes. All of them, really. We get home in time for exam week. Man!

12/25: 10-2, with one pre-conference game to play. 9-2 in our first 11 games, all on the road. #8, RPI #14.

Greg Star leads us in scoring, RBs, and blocks, but Dan Brook, at guard, is playing some great ball, 5.7 assists per game.

Grades came out. My tutors and the rest of those who help our guys academically did an incredible job. Everyone is on the Dean’s List!

1/1: 11-2 for pre-conf. play. #9, RPI #16.

+10.9 PPG, +4.9 RBs, +5.0 TOs (11.5), +1.6 assists. Since half of our remaining regular season games are at home we may improve those numbers. Of course the competition will be a bit stiffer.

[Wayne23]

1/18: 15-2, 4-0. #6, RPI #13. Off to a great start in Conf. C play. We don’t have the overpowering offense we had last year but we are really good on D, and that make sup for it. Make no mistake, our O is still very good.

1/29: We are simply dominating Conf. C, 19-2, 8-0, #3, RPI #6, 2 game lead.

All of our guys hit our SAT score. There’s a good looking PG from Finland. If there’s a way to open up a spot later on…

Greg Star is #12 on the Norton list.

2/12: 2-2 in our last 4, but three were on the road. Still in 1st by a game, and 3 of the last 4 are at home.

Greg Star is #9 on the Norton List.

2/26: 25-4, 14-2, we win it by 3 games. #2 in the country! RPI #5.

3/5: Greg did not make the Top 10 in the final Norton list.

No one is leaving early.

+12.0 PPG, +6.8 RBs, +3.6 TOs, +2.8 assists.

Greg and Dan Brook continue to lead the way, but solid team D is a huge factor in our success, and Neal, Bakk, and Suri, our other 3 starters are all in double figures. We don’t lose much when we bring subs in, either.

On to the postseason.

[Wayne23]

3/10: 75-52 over #8 seed Purdue. It was never a game. 27 for Star, 13 and 12 for Neal.

#4 seed Seton Hall in the semis.

3/11: 81-58. 22 and 15 for SF Nyah Bakk.

It’s #2 seed, #7 ranked Alabama, 22-7, 11-5, for the title. We beat them by only 4 at our place. They are very strong at SG and SF but we should own them inside. We’ll need to.

3/12: There goes the #1 seed! 86-98 in OT. It was back and forth, truly a game of runs. They were up 14 early, we were up 10 midway through the 2nd half. They tied it with a three at the buzzer and wiped us out in OT. Brook fouled out on the first play of OT, and that did us in. Shouldn’t have, but it did. The difference? Their Sg and SF combined for 54, and their bench outscored ours 26-11.

We go to the selection show 27-5, 14-2. Ranked #2, RPI #8. I suppose we COULD get a #1; I mean a loss in OT to #7 in the country. We’ll see.

#2 East. I am NOT happy. #2, fine, but #2 in the bracket with the #1 team in the country? Wrong, just wrong!

3/19: Post season blues. We were flat in beating #15 seed UMass, and even flatter beating #7 seed Wake Forest by only 7.

Next is #25 ranked, #6 seed UNLV. They upset #3 seed Illinois. We haven’t gotten past the Sweet Sixteen yet so we really want this one. We feel we’re a much better team.

3/23: Another close one, 74-65. We never trailed but they never went away. +10 TOs, +6 RBs. 22 for guard Key Suri.

The path to the Final Four is clearer than we expected. #4 seed, #8 ranked Indiana upset #1 Syracuse. They’re 24-10. We feel like we have a big edge outside, and an edge inside. They’re SF Pat Starkey, is the best player in the nation. He does it all. Our decision is whether to try to stop him, or to let him go and try to stop everyone else. The staff is meeting on that right now. We have one practice to put our plan into effect, whatever that plan may be.

3/25: 79-63 and we’re in the Final Four! We held Starkey to 22 and 9, below his average in both categories. We just didn’t feel like anyone else on their team could do us in. It worked. No one else on their team had more than 11. Sharkey shot 4-21. 3-19 on threes, mainly because there were two guys on him all night. It didn’t start well. They got out to an early 5 point lead and we weren’t stopping Sharkey. It took two time outs. The second one did the trick. 19 for Brook, and 4 others in doubles. +10 RBs.

#6 ranked Miami next. They were a #1 seed. 27-6.

On the other side it’s #3 ranked, #1 seed KY vs. #5 ranked, #1 seed UConn.

So 3 #1 seeds but we’re ranked higher than any of them. On the other hand they all have a higher RPI.

Miami is a ½ point favorite. They score outside, and strangely enough their guards are their leading rebounders. So bring it inside and stop the guards. That’s the plan!

4/1: They jumped all over us early, building a 15 point lead. It was 13 at the half. We caught up, and the last 7 minutes were a GAME! 11 lead changes, 5 ties in that time frame. When Greg Star got fouled with 1.1 left, and hit both to give us a 76-75 lead, we thought we were in. They threw it to half court. The guy turned and threw up a 48 foot prayer. It was answered. 76-78.

Greg Star had 23 and 9 in his last college game. We’re going to miss him. The other four starters and all but one fo the subs are back.

We lost to the champs. #6 ranked Miami beat #3 KY, 98-87 for the title. It’s frustrating to think that except for a lucky shot we could be cutting down the nets.

4/4: Awards: Greg Star was Conf. C Defensive POY and 1st team. I am enraged that he was not conf. POY. Junior guard Dan Brook made second team, and he should have made 1st.

4/23: Going for a facilities upgrade.

Nope. At least we didn’t drop.

A really successful season. 31-6, 1st in conf., made it to the Final Four. Losing Greg Star will hurt but we have some excellent people coming back and coming in. On to Conf. B!

[Wayne23]

5/1: Preseason #7. The competition in Conf. B should be challenging. We feel we’re ready.

6/5: We don’t go after many transfers but Sean Madg is too good to resist. He’s a 5 star SF/PF who was at GA Tech. Grade issues but if we get him we’ll do our best to get him eligible.

6/12: We got him!

6/26: 4 scholarships. We want either 2 and 2 or 3 bigs. Looking at 18- 4 PGs, 2 SFs, 6 PFs, 6 Cs.

(Author’s note: The Pro Draft is definitely screwed up. Greg Star did not get drafted. He was top 12 in the country each of his last two seasons and he had pro size for a PF/C. PG Dan Brook went #35. He was a very good college player, but not as good as Star. And of course Dan Brook was a junior at the time, and is with my team as a senior right now so…)

8/7: Still looking at all 18 recruits. All are show lots of interest.

2 on the Norton list, guard Dan Brook at #17 and Sean Neal at #47.

8/21: We offer to a PG, an SF, and 2 PFs. All have us in their top 5.

9/18: We get 1, lose 3. We get SF Josh Cox, #9, PF Ted Bail, #17, and PF Lew Chen, #29. We offer to a PG.

We’re going to the Coaches Classic. Strong schedule. Unfortunately, lots of road games.

10/2: We get PG Gene Mars. All 4 recruits are at 3.0 or higher so we should be finished with recruiting.

First day of practice. It looks like we’re going very small this year, 3 guards, an SF and a C look like our starters, at least for now. I’ve got 10 guys who could start.

11/6: We’re going with a 7 man lineup this season, at least for now, and yes, we’re going small. Senior Dan Brook, senior Key Suri, and junior Dan Tomm are splitting minutes at PG, Sg, and SF, backed by soph Fryd Zhar. Nyah Bakk, a junior guard/forward is starting at PF, and junior Sean Neal starts at C- we’re asking a lot from him as the only legit big man in the starting lineup. Backing up inside is soph Kam Best. Let’s see what happens.

[Wayne23]

11/13: 70-68 over FL ST in the 1st round of the Coaches Classic. The game was close all the way. The stats were also close everywhere except in TOs where we had 8, they had 15. Key Suri led us with 13, 10, 5, and 3 steals, and he hot two late threes, the last one with less than a second to play.

We’re the #7 seed and we play #2 seed, #6 ranked Indiana next.

11/15: 71-65. We were up 6 at the half and stretched it to 18. They came back late but it was never in doubt. They hit a three at the buzzer so the final score is not that accurate. 16, 10 for Bakk. Neal and Suri had very good games. We shot 53.2%, mostly because we were quicker and got lots of open looks.

#6 seed Pitt in the semifinal round. Seeds #1, 2, 3, and 5 are gone so we like our chances!

11/17: 95-59. We were on fire all night. 6 guys in double figures and #7 had 9. We shot 50%, again due to quickness getting us open. 28 in the paint didn’t hurt our %.

#4 seed, #15 ranked Illinois in the title game. Their SG is a scoring machine but we think we’re stronger at every other position. We’ll probably throw fresh legs at him all night and see what happens.

11/19: 92-81 and the title! The bench was terrific, 18, 8 for Kam Best, 17, 3, 3, 2 for Fryd Zhar. Sean Neal had 20. We shot 54.4%. We are small and very quick, and we get lots of open looks. Their SG had 21 but he had to work for them.

11/20: Guess who’s #1 in the country? Yep, the Washington Huskies. I have to admit I got goose bumps when I heard the news.

All 4 recruits signed.

5 of our next 6 are on the road, 2 against ranked teams. So we may not be #1 for long. Again this year the road is ridiculous, 1 of our first 10 is at home.

11/27: 2 road wins by wide margins, including one over #21 UNLV. We shot 50.4% and 48.4%. We’re shooting 48.5%. +16.8 PPG, +4.8 RBs (with a small lineup!), +3.0 TOs, +6.2 assists. We’re quick and we play very good D.

We’re 6-0, RPI #1, but we dropped to #2 in both polls. Not a big deal at this point.

At #11 Texas next. That will be a challenge.

12/4: 7-1. Texas beat us by 5. Our lowest point total had been 70. We had 58 against Texas. They held us to 32.9%. Part of it was good D but we missed a lot of open shots. 17, 11 for Bakk, 14, 8, 4 for Brook, and not much for anyone else. Our bench didn’t give us much either. We bounced back with a comfortable 23 point win at Colorado.

Still #2, RPI #2.

Home for the first time with Tennessee, then at Chattanooga.

12/11: 9-1. Two easy wins, by 30 and 21. We’re not shooting well though. We need to get back to the things we were doing earlier in the season. That’s what practice is for. We’re on it.

#3, RPI #3.

3 at home to end the pre-conf. season.

12/25: 12-1. We won by 22, 16, and 27 over Boise ST, Arizona, and Tulsa. Still not shooting well but holding opponents below 30% in 2 of the 3 games.

All 5 starters average in double figures. Best and Zhar give us great minutes from the bench.

+17.9 PPG, +6.6 RBs, +4.5 TOs, +6.9 assists. And this is against solid competition with 4 at home, 9 away.

#3, RPI #4.

This conf. is TOUGH! 9 against ranked teams, 6 of them away.

[Wayne23]

1/8: 3 ranked teams, 2 on the road and #1 Kansas here. We won 2, including a 19 point win over KS. The refs beat us at Mich. ST. Both of our starting guards fouled out, mostly on touch fouls, and Best had 4. They had 11 more attempts from the line and that’s where it was decided. I got T’d up late, after it was decided. I don’t do that very often but a message needed to be sent.

We OWNED the #1 team in the country. They never led, and the only tie was at 0-0. 14, 8, 6 for Neal, 12, 13 for Bakk, 17, 4, 3 for Brook. +10 TOs. We held them to 17.1%, 5-31 on threes.

14-2, 2-1, #3, RPI #1.

3 of the next 4 are at home, 2 against ranked teams. We need all 4 to be wins. Tougher times l.ie ahead.

1/22: Got all 4. 18-2, 5-1. #2, RPI #1.

The game with #8 OK here was strange. We shot 29.5% but they shot 19.2%. We won by 25 shooting that badly! We’re tied with them for 1st place.

We played really well against #23 Seton Hall here.

The game at Michigan was a struggle, 9 point win, but we hung tough and answered every run.

Missouri was a blow out.

At #10 MD this week. That should be a challenge. Then home with ‘Bama.

1/29: Lost by 10 at MD. They jumped out to an early lead and got it as high as 23. We played really good ball the rest of the way but the hole we dug was just too deep. 21 TOs was the real problem. That’s unusual for us.

Alabama was tougher than it should have been but we won by 6.

Despite the 1-1 week we’re back at #1 in the country. RPI #1. Still tied with OK for 1st in conf.

All 4 recruits easily hit our SAT score.

Dan Brook is #16 on the Norton List and Sean Neal is #22.