Carbonell McCormick - Stats Recruiter

[Tim Moungey]

I was 39 years old when I decided I want to pursue a life-long dream of college basketball. But I couldn't leave my day job, teaching literature and writing to high school students who acted like squirrels, until I found something. I didn't that first year I made The Decision, though I did watch 1 seeds USC and Purdue - ranked #2 and #3 respectively in the country - fall to 16 seeds Louisiana-Monroe and Wagner respectively. Insanity - pure insanity - though the championship saw 3 seed Cincinnati fall to 2 seed Boston College as the Eagles won their first ever national title and Final Four - their previous high the Elite 8, last accomplished in 1994.

Coastal Carolina had a head coach job opening, and thanks to some guy named Thomkal making a special donation, I got the job with the Chanticleers despite no formal coaching experience. A 19 prestige team following a 13-18 (5-13) record last year that saw them tied for second for last in the conference, Coastal somehow finished that badly despite a senior-laden lineup, including 1st Team All-Sunbelt Rickie Petion and a freshman phenom center, Steve Gill, who took 2nd Team All-Sunbelt honors.

The AD told me he wanted 10 or more wins again, but to also finish in the Top 3 of the conference.

That was going to be a tall order - the team was decimated by graduations and what I believe was one guy transferring out, leaving us with Gill as the only returning starter.

Guards
LaMarr Bennett (SR)
Our only truly noteworthy ballhandler. Shot at a decent 43.8% as a reserve last year. Some stealing ability, but not much. Big body at 6'4, 213, and our obvious starting PG this year.

Drew Harper (SO)
A waste of a scholarship. Will never see court time if I can help it.

Tavaras Douglas (JR)
Wicked 3 point shot, but an undersized 2 guard at 6 feet flat. Will be in the mix for possible backup PG duties.

Chris Gates (SO)
I don't know why this kid got so little playing time last season (4.3 minutes, 1 start). He's the most well-rounded guard we have, and he shot over 55% from the floor and 3 in limited minutes. What an amazing class he and Gill made. Shame he got buried last year. 6'2, 176 is a little small for the SG spot and I'm almost tempted to have him start at the 1.

Perry Starkey (FR)
There's a lot of upside here, but he's the laziest son of a gun I ever met. He's nowhere near ready to contribute right now, so he'll be redshirted.

Isiah Nichols (SR)
Whoops. Turns out *two* starters are returning. Do I go with a Nichols/Gates backcourt? He's much more well-rounded than Bennett, save for the handles. I think I'm going to go with that - then I can have Bennett come off the bench.

Forwards
Ronald Goolsby (FR)
Another kid who isn't ready to play right now, but has enough potential that he'll get a redshirt.

James Dove (SO)
Trash.

Teron Hughes (FR)
6'7, 206, yet thinks he's a PF. One of our best defenders and foul drawers (not that that's saying anything in either category). Some really nice upside, especially on defense. He'll be the starting SF by default.

Marlon House (SR)
Classic tweener - 6'6, 191 but is our best rebounder and defender (not saying much yet again). He's too in love with the outside shot, so my first call to him is to start posting up more (he was a 56.3% shooter, less than 28% from downtown) and get out of the habit of 3s. He cheerfully accepted it, and I'm going to stay on his butt all summer to keep that going. We'll have to play smallball with him at the 4.

Adam Mosley (JR)
Our backup PF due to lack of any other options.

J.T. Wilkins (JR)
Walk-on trash.

Centers
Steve Gill (SO)
The BMOC. 6'9, 262 lbs is perfect big man weight. Our best blocker by a trillion (usual caveat applies). Shot just under 50%. His handles are incredible for a big, too. I'm building the offense in a Triangle, Extreme[ Focus Inside to get him the ball.

Dan Abney (RS FR)
The redshirt year didn't help him. Will try to avoid giving him minutes, though might not be able to.

Overall Synopsis
We've got a few decent players and this team grossly underachieved last year. Heading into the summer, we need to recruit point guards and big men hard. We have no cover behind House and Gill and the former is a senior tweener. Wouldn't mind looking at SF either perhaps as a third priority.

Systems
100% Offensive Set - Triangle
I don't believe in letting people freelance. Saw what happened with that with my parents - aging hippies who smoked pot all day and named me Carbonell after their favorite olive oil. Growing up it was a real Family Ties situation and I was Alex Keaton. Still makes me mad when I think about it. Discipline, discipline, discipline.

100% 2-2-1 Halfcourt Trap
Nobody has any experience with this, but I'm going to force-feed it to them. I like pressure without tiring my guys, and with Gill back there to block shots, I think we can get away with it.

Recruiting Philosophy
Stats, stats, and more stats. I don't want high upside guys who aren't ready (see most of our freshmen and Abney). I want kids who have already shown they can produce. I'm not here for developing and molding young minds - I went through that squirrel crap teaching. I want young men who will be able to step in and contribute from Day 1, whether it's in the lineup or off the bench.

Coastal Carolina has recruited exclusively from the home state of South Carolina, which is fine I guess. I wouldn't mind looking further to get rid of this backwoods redneck mentality.

Transfer Period
Although it diminishes our status among the world (drop 1 prestige to 18), I cut James Dove to free up a slot in the transfer window. We find Nate Crumble, who was a starting PG as a freshman at Gardener-Webb. 9.6 points, 5.1 assists to 2.8 turnovers per game, shooting 51.3% from the floor, 49.2% from 3 point range. Steals aren't great at 0.7, but you can't have everything. Although initially not interested in us, we contact him and offer him a scholarship. It took two weeks, but he finally accepted, and we find that he'd be our best all-around point guard from the jump by a slight margin. There's not much upside here - save in discipline and basketball IQ - but at least those are good areas to have potential in.

Since he's ineligible, we slap a redshirt on him. Needs to learn the triangle, but he's already proficient in the 2-2-1 HC Trap (47%), so that eases some of the pressure on us when looking at point guards in recruiting. He can step in as a starter next year. Red flag with his personality admittedly, but I'll do my best to keep him in line.

[Wayne23]

Welcome back!

[Tim Moungey]

Welcome back!

Thanks!

Long story short, we got wrecked in summer recruiting, we get blown out 2 out of 3 games, frittering away a lead in the second, and I quit.

I will just never understand this game, no matter how much I try to. I have no idea why this is so hard compared to the pro game, but *shrug*.