General questions from a (relative) newcomer

[Greyfriars Bobby]

Hi, everyone.

I played some DDS:CB a few years back, and I've just bought the 2019 edition. I'm enjoying getting back into the game, but I have some questions that I hope you'll be willing and able to answer.

I'm coaching an Ivy League school with a limited budget, so I have to watch my recruiting dollars carefully. Might I possibly gain some favor with a recruit by scouting him live? Does the game simulate a recruit being pleased that I'd come watch him play?

I've set my depth charts and sub rotation so I'm using four or five guys off the bench. Despite this, when I simulate a game rather than playing it out, seven or eight guys are getting playing time off the bench almost every time. This happens even in close games. The #11, #12, and #13 guys don't usually get more than four or five minutes a night, but those are minutes I'd rather see given to a better player. The AI coaches usually play nine or ten guys per game. Is there something I'm doing wrong?

Any help you could give me would be greatly appreciated--thanks in advance!

[PointGuard]

Welcome to the forums. Glad you're playing DDSCB again.

Re scouting live: This can definitely provide additional tidbits of information in the notes and/or the recruit's preferences, but I think it can also occasionally improve a recruit's interest level in your school. But more often it doesn't...so if your budget is really limited, then I'd suggest you judiciously use this.

Re playing time for the far end of the bench: I seldom sim, so I'm sure there are those who can better answer your question. From my limited experience with simming it seems that those far down the Depth Chart and with 0 minutes on the sub rotation page are not necessarily getting into games unless the game is a blowout or there is significant foul problems or injuries. Make sure the minutes you're allotting to your starters aren't so high that they're reaching the lower limit of their EN and the AI is subbing the fatigued starter out and the minutes you've allotted to your 3 or 4 primary subs have already been met so that the AI then just picks someone off the bench (who may have 0 minutes allotted in your sub rotation). But again, let's see what others have to say.

Keep contributing here in the forum.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

Thanks for the information. There's a lot going on in DDS:CB--which I really like--and some guidance is greatly appreciated.

I think I experienced one of those interest bumps with a recruit I scouted live, which gave me the impression it was a fairly good way to make a recruit more interested. One of the players lists us as his #1 or #2 choice, but he's been unwilling to come to campus for a visit. I was looking for a way to seal the deal before the late signing period.

I went back and looked at the times when the AI coach emptied the bench in a close game. One night, we won 80-71, after leading by 11 at the half. One of the guards ended the game with four fouls, and no other player had more than 3. The starting five played 29, 28, 28, 27, and 30 minutes, respectively. Their ratings for endurance are 8, 7, 5, 7, and 6. The four players with the highest ratings are all seniors. When I let the AI set the depth chart and sub rotation, it will give my point guard 36 minutes, so it doesn't seem to me that the starters are being pushed to the limit of their endurance.

Almost the same thing happened in a game we won 67-59, so I'm wondering what's up. I have my coaching preference set a little closer to "No Bench" than "Deep Bench." I might try playing a few exhibition games with the slider set all the way to "No Bench" and see what happens.

[Wayne23]

I sim and I cut my walk ons and sometimes one or two other players because, yes, the AI puts crappy players in the game when they shouldn't be in there.

Note that cutting a scholarship player usually equals a hit to your Team Prestige rating.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

Thanks for the suggestion, Wayne. I'm thinking about doing that.

[JHopkins19]

I always cut walk on players as well for a variety of reasons. I MAY cut a player or two once I take over a new team to attempt to get a quicker start on the build. I can role play it in my head that they would transfer out due to a new coach coming in (or something. However, once I've been there a season or two, I won't cut any players as that rarely, if ever, happens in CBB and I want to play as real as possible especially if they are guys I've recruited and end up being misses. Live with the bad decisions! It makes the gems and/or diamonds in the rough that much better.

[PointGuard]

I'll ask Gary to take a look at this thread. Maybe it's something he can get a handle on for DDSCB2020.

[CoachC]

Hi, everyone.

I played some DDS:CB a few years back, and I've just bought the 2019 edition. I'm enjoying getting back into the game, but I have some questions that I hope you'll be willing and able to answer.

I'm coaching an Ivy League school with a limited budget, so I have to watch my recruiting dollars carefully. Might I possibly gain some favor with a recruit by scouting him live? Does the game simulate a recruit being pleased that I'd come watch him play?

I've set my depth charts and sub rotation so I'm using four or five guys off the bench. Despite this, when I simulate a game rather than playing it out, seven or eight guys are getting playing time off the bench almost every time. This happens even in close games. The #11, #12, and #13 guys don't usually get more than four or five minutes a night, but those are minutes I'd rather see given to a better player. The AI coaches usually play nine or ten guys per game. Is there something I'm doing wrong?

Any help you could give me would be greatly appreciated--thanks in advance!

I've never simmed other than in beta testing, but I know from coaching games live there are several things you can do to shorten (or lengthen) your bench.

The first consideration is the current endurance ratings of players that you are using. Players with higher endurance fatigue much more slowly.

Your offensive pace and the opponents press frequency have big in game effects on how quickly players fatigue. I generally have a "magic number" (similar to the one the AI suggests in the depth subscreen) for the point at which I substitute. It's generally much higher than the numbers the AI suggests though. When my depth is shortened by injury or foul-trouble I will lower that "magic number" (I rarely substitute below 78% though, and more typically between 84 and 90), and also will lower offensive pace accordingly. Below 78% I find there are just too many turnovers and missed shots. Rebounding starts to suffer as well.

as the season progresses, i constantly adjust the depth roster, and make note gradually of which players I can expect to give me consistent performance game to game and which won't (and the guys that WILL aren't always the guys with the highest ratings). Generally, I try to establish a rotation of 8 or 9 players. On a particularly talented team I might extend that to 10. My pace and fatigue substitution number i gradually adjust so that it's primarily those guys that are getting the playing time, even when I have foul trouble. My starters will usually get between 25 and 35 minutes, with my top 3 or 4 subs getting between 15 and 20 on average. there are usually a couple of guys that will get 5 minutes or less a game to give my top players an extra blow shortly before a media time out.

Getting to work with the AI while simming is difficult, because the AI is much better at subbing out for foul trouble than for fatigue, and most generally only subs out for fatigue at the media timeouts. Still, to get the right number of guys getting the right number of minutes is still dependent on adjusting your teams offensive pace (in coaching philosophy) and the fatigue numbers you set in the depth subscreen. You'll usually wind up playing the same number of guys, but with higher pace/fatigue numbers you may have everyone playing somewhat equal minutes. WIth lower pace/fatigue your starters will usually get the bulk of the minutes, and your top reserves getting most of the bench minutes. You'll have to constantly make adjustments over the course of the season to get the minutes played where you ideally want them. Also, when simming, don't forget that every time you make a change to the depth chart, you need to go to the substitution subscreen and recalculate based on your current depth chart.

I hoped that confused you sufficiently!