Developing a DePaul Dynasty

[Vann_the_Red]

Chapter Seven – 2023-2024
Okay, fam; this is dire.

The cupboard is bare, y’all. Potential is solid, but junior PF John Bakken is my only big over a single star. He’s going to have to play center this season. Maybe the frosh center can handle backup minutes. I think Binky and newcomer McMillan are going to start in the backcourt pushing senior shooting guard Scott Brown to small forward (at least he can rebound well for his height. Senior small forward Erick Stephens must start at power forward. That leaves a bench mob of freshmen Tony Wheat and Herb Younger. Any backcourt injuries could be catestrophic.
Recruiting season is about to kick off. We’re good at point. We’ll need two shooting guards, probably one a juco transfer. One small forward to replace Stephens and one center. Should consider jucos at both positions since we’ll only have a sophomore at those slots next year. Time to set the recruiting board.
And our first recruit comes in before practice starts!

And then another after the first week of practice! A top camper, even!

And then a third! Another quality camper. Gotta hope he has a good SAT day, though.

The Polar Bears go 5-4 in non-conference play. Still looking for a juco shooting guard. Last year’s Euro center seems unhappy with his lack of PT (he’s a 0 star after the rerate – how much should a center with 10/10 Oreb/Dreb play?), so we’re looking to bring in a second center for next year assuming he’s going to transfer.
Super freshman Oliver McMillan is leading the team in scoring at 18.9 ppg, Binky’s holding it down in assists at 3.3 apg. And senior SF Erick Stephens surprisingly leads the team in rebounds at 8.2 rpg.
We finish the regular season 14-15 completing our objectives of 10+ wins and not last place for the first time. We also got a commit from our juco shooting guard we’ve been wanting. But, Jefferson failed to qualify.

In the Skyline tournament, we start off with Indianapolis hoping for our first ever tourney win. A quick check of the depth chart shows that we’ve now mastered the offense enough to bump up the set percentage a notch. Offers extended to a top 25 camper shooting guard and another center. A quick save and then we’ll check our postseason fate. And our season comes to an end with a 12 point loss. We’ll move quickly through the postseason now.
As a reminder, we’re staying at Youngstown at least until Binky graduates. Quick question for my intrepid readers: should I hold out for DePaul as my next gig or do you think I need to step up a level before they’d be interested? A MAC school, perhaps?
Butler beats Xavier for the natty and we’re off to a new season. Oliver McMillan is the Skyline freshman of the year and makes second team all-conference. Fitting reward for his 15.8/3.5 campaign. Our coaching staff is under contract for at least two seasons, so we’ll skip on to the request stage and, lo and behold, our class gets bigger!


The final stats on the season:

Who has the #53 recruiting class?!? We do! Now the scariest advance of the season wherein we discover how many players transfer out. I was wholly unprepared for the answer to that question to be “none”. I’ll fast forward through transfer season, get you a screenie of the roster entering recruiting with our objectives, and get this posted. Please do weigh in on my job search question!

The cupboard is no longer bare.

[Wayne23]

Quick question for my intrepid readers: should I hold out for DePaul as my next gig or do you think I need to step up a level before they’d be interested? A MAC school, perhaps?

Depends on your "numbers." Do you have good enough ratings to coach at DePaul? If so, then maybe hold out. If not, take a step up and build those numbers!

[Vann_the_Red]

Good answer! I'm not sure. What kind of numbers should I have for a gig at that level?

This is what my coach looks like now:

It would be after next season at the soonest I could leave.

[PointGuard]

To get hired at a new college, I'd say your rep has to be in the vicinity of that school's prestige....maybe a little less, but not too much less.

With regard to taking a new job awaiting the DePaul head coaching job to become available, I think it mainly depends on if you want to continue at Youngstown and watching your players develop of if you want to try a new challenge/building up a new team. But since you're still in the development stage at Youngstown, if it were me I'd stay to see a while to see if I could get them to be in the mix to be conference champs...and maybe get to the NCAA tournament...then move on realizing you brought them from obscurity to prominence.

[Wayne23]

I'll go along with PointGuard.

[Vann_the_Red]

Excellent advice! My preference is to stay. My concern was that the prestige jump was too far for DePaul to consider me. I'd love to win an NCAA tourney game at Youngstown State.

[Vann_the_Red]

Chapter Eight – 2024-2025
First thing I think of as I look at that roster is that I finally have depth. I played a 7-man rotation all season last year. I don’t think I’ve ever done that before. I’m also redshirting the big Englishman because his defense is still crap. Maybe he improves, maybe he transfers. So, what do we need in recruiting this season? We’re set at point with the reigning FotY and Binky. We have a junior and a freshman shooting guards, so we’re good there this season. Tony Wheat played very well off the bench last season, but will probably lose out on the SF job to our highest ranked recruite, Fausto Assante. Herb Younger looks very good as a sophomore, but we’ll have to replace senior stalwart John Bakken at power forward. And … that’s it? Weird after the scrambles we’ve been going through. Time to set the recruiting board.
Random chance smiles on me and there are two, nice in-state power forwards. Humorously, the highest ranked one of them has a parent who is an alum – and his parents don’t feel we’re the right school for him …
The good news? I signed a top 25 camper at power forward in Phillip Williams out of Greenwood, Indiana. Forgot to inset a screenie.
The bad news is that John Bakken is out for 38 days with a broken hand. He’s our starting center, though he’s a natural PF. The silver lining is early playing time for the freshman centers and some more minutes for Tony Wheat which may make him after after he was surpassed as the starting SF by a freshman.
No early signing for Williams, so I’ll have to fret until 30 January.
Bakken came back, played 2 games, and left for 56 games with a back injury. The Bakken era at Youngstown State may be done. Or not. He’ll be back for the second game of the tourney (if I get past the first game for the first time). Here’s the problem, though. We’re playing really well without him. And he’s gone after this season anyway. Do I risk a chemistry problem to put him back in? At the end of the season attitude check, it looks like Justin Jackson’s unhappy. Maybe I need another SG in case he transfers?
We wrap the regular season at 21-8 (16-4) for first place in the Skyline! That gives me a bye into the second round of the conference tournament. At which pont Bakken will be healthy and I have to decide whether to unseat an underlassman now accustomed to playing time. Reluctantly, I give him back sixteen minuted divided between the big slots at the expense of Tony Wheat (who had been playing all the backup forward minutes) and freshman Issiah Williams at center. Which maybe backfires as we’re upset by UIC in the first round of the tournament.
But, I make the NIT! Where I play Robert Morris who finished 2nd in the Skyline behind us. Hate it when you face a conference rival early in the tourney. And they knock us off 76-73 after we held a 5-point halftime lead. Season over, but it’s the first good one in my tenure here. Eager to see what the postseason holds. Ominously, after he committed, our prized recruit’s HS coach informed us he’s had some discipline and attitude issues.
Louisville defeats North Dakota State (???) for the national title. Robert Morris falls to Auburn in the NIT quarters. Freshman center Michael Fuller wins Skyline DPoY. No Polar Bears on 1st or 2nd teams all-conference. I achieve my goal of not finishing last in the conference. I add another SG in case Jackson transfers:

Binky hasn’t graduated, so we skip over new jobs. I extend my scout so my whole staff has 3 years to go. Got a whopping $7,500.00 budget increase. Only two recruits this year, so as expected the class ranking plummets to 177. Now to find out who is leaving. As expected, the big Englishman (Robinson) and the disgruntled Michigander (Jackson) left. But in a stunning turn of events, Michael Fuller – fresh off being named Skyline DPoY – leaves the program as well. That’s rough.

[Vann_the_Red]

Chapter Nine – 2025-2026
Let’s take a look at what we have for this year and what we need to recruit for next:

Losing Fuller’s going to hurt for a while, but at least Washington gives us servicable depth. We’re going to have to replace Binky at point guard, Weston at the two, and get another center. Time to build the recruit list.
At the outset of the season, my rotation will be:
PG: Oliver McMillan backed up by Binky
SG: Freshman Finidi Agbebi backed up by Weston
SF: Fausto Assante backed up by Wheat
PF: Freshman Phillip Williams backed up by Younger
C: Issiah Washington also backed up by Younger
I also bumped up the degree of difficulty on my schedule this season. Fingers crossed. The increased difficulty showed up as we went 5-4 in non-conference play. The stretch game was at Indiana State and they thumped us 80-61. Only one recruit thus far:

But the point guard we’re chasing – our first 4-star target – is listed as hot and the center we need just agreed to visit the campus. Fausto Assante and Finidi Agbebi are neck and neck for the team scoring lead, Oliver McMillan is averaging nearly 6 assists per game. And Issaih Williams is pacing the team at 6.7 rpg. Next sim will take us to 30 January and the big SAT reveal.
Bad news on SAT day: Obaretiri did not qualify. Back to my board. The team is 11-8 (6-4) and dead center in the Skyline. Not having Fuller has hurt. I’ll sim to the conference tourneys next. Except I have to stop for the second incident between a walk-on and last year’s prized recruit. Well, I warned him last time. I’ll suspend him this time and cut him next time.
We close the regular season 18-11 (13-7) for second in the conference behind Robert Morris. And we land our first 4-star player!

We face Oakland in the first round of the conference tournament. And behind 22 points by Oliver McMillan, we finally get a tourney win. On to face the 3 seed, Wright State. To whom we fall. We’ll have to see what our postseason fate is. Another postseason tournament! The CIT this year against Charlotte. To whom we lose… Well, getting to the postseason is better than not, I guess?
Texas defeats Oklahoma for the title. And my recruit class is finally full:


Final stats leaders are:
Points: C Issiah Williams, SO, 11.5; SF Fauso Assante, SO, 10.4; SG Finidi Agbedi, FR, 10.3
Assists: PG Oliver McMillan, JR, 5.3; SG FInidi Agbedi, FR, 3.1; SF Fausto Assante, SO, 1.7
Rebounds: C Issiah Williams, SO, 5.8; PF Phillipp Williams, FR, 5.7; SF Fausto Assante, SO, 5.0
Steals: SG Finidi Agbebi,FR, 2.4; SF Fausto Assante, SO, 1.3; PG Oliver McMillan, JR, 1.2
Blocks: C Issiah Williams, FR, 1.1; SG Finidi Agbebi, FR, 0.5; SF Fausto Assante, SO, 0.5
Disappointingly, no all-conference performers or award winners. The DePaul gig is not open. Advancing to the next season. We’ll check transfers and call it a day.
Ninety-fourth ranked class! Not shabby. Vermont has joined the Great Atlantic Conference. And both FInidi Agbebi and Phillipp Williams transfer because they didn’t like their teammates. Guess I should’ve cut that cancerous walkon earlier. Live and learn. And we’ll be recruiting yet another PF this season.
I’ll close with a screenie of the post-summer travel plans roster. The cupboards are not bare, but we don’t look as good as we did the past two seasons.