Shoot our way to success

[RandyR17]

Hello. My name is Mike Dantoni. No relation to Mike D'Antoni, the current Houston Rockets head coach

I have a very low reputation as head coach, which is why I can only land a job at a school with very low prestige in their basketball program - the Kennesaw State Owls.

Here are my coaching philosophies:

1. Offense. If you are open, shoot it!
2. Pace. Run. Don't waste time. Take the first available shot.
3. Long ball. The 3 is always greater than 2. Either you take the 3, or drive to the basket. Let's forget the midrange game
4. Press. Harass everyone, everywhere, every time. So we can get the ball back and shoot more. Heck, if the opposition breaks our press, that's fine - it just means we can be on offense quickly again, and shoot more
5. Defense. The best defense is offense. If we score a bunch of points, then the opponent will feel the 'pressure' to score more
6. Recruitment. Do you think you can shoot? Come and visit us


My starting (rookie) skills:
- Offense: 85
- Defense: 5
- Recruiting: 25
- Scouting: 15
- Player Dev: 20
- Reputation: 10

[RandyR17]

All-Time Record: 84-229 (0.268)
0 Conference Championships
Never Appeared in any postseason tournament
Team Prestige: 2

[PointGuard]

Nice start. Looking forward to seeing how this works out!

[RandyR17]

Starters
1. Jr PG Mark Collier, 6-4
2. Sr SG Joel Woods, 6-2
3. So SF Adam Gaines, 6-7
4. Jr PF Austin Florence, 6-6
5. Sr C Dupree Eschmeyer, 6-10

- Collier, Woods, Gaines, and Florence can all shoot from the outside.
- Eschmeyer is strictly a post player. I was thinking of discarding the C position, but he seems to have the highest SCR rating among all players. Besides, having a legitimate threat at the low post could be an advantage in the style that I want the team to play

Main Subs
6. So SG Cedric Takaki, 6-2
7. Fr SG Frank Rickey, 6-0
8. Jr C Xavier Jefferson, 6-9

- Rickey can play 1 and 2; Takaki can play 2 and 3. They can play with Woods on a 3-guard small lineup, with Gaines playing the 4
- Aside from Collier, Takaki maybe our best pure shooter in the lineup. I am excited about his potential
- Jefferson is a 'stretch-5', which is the complete opposite of Eschmeyer. That will give me flexibility on my lineup (e.g. when using 5-out), depending on the opponent and game situation

Garbage-time crew
9. Jr PF Mike Brown, 6-7
10. Fr PF Bradley Brinker, 6-7
11. Jr PF Ross Leath, 6-6
12. Fr SF Carson Walker, 6-5
13. Fr PG Patrick Grandison, 6-3

- I would have preferred more guards in my lineup. I should be able to address that during recruitment for the next 2 years perhaps
- Brown and Brinker can shoot from the outside. But unless there are foul trouble on my 8-man rotation, I don't see much playing time for this crew

Walkons
14. So PF Steve Walls, 6-7
15. Sr PF Antonio Green, 6-7

-Hopefully, we can have a sweet-shooting walkon guard to replace Green next year

[Serafino74]

I wish you good career!

[RandyR17]

My reputation is 10. School prestige is 2. Brutal recruitment setting. How hard can this be? :-)

Just being realistic. My initial watch and call list are strictly those from GA. There is quite a good number of them, but around half are 1-star.

I have 2 scholarship spots this year. My tendency is to look for 2 guards to add to my arsenal of long range shooters. But our lone low-post threat, Eschmeyer, is graduating. I think I should find someone who has the same style of play as he is (strictly score from low post), as I might find that type of player useful in some instances. So my targets are
- A shooter, of course. As long as you are at least rated D in Defense, and can shoot from the outside (A or B), then you are on my shortlist.
- A center (or a tall PF) who can score from the inside and decent rebounding (at least D on Defense also)

[RandyR17]

The advantage of recruiting in-state is that it only takes a couple of hundred dollars to scout and invite recruits.

But even for in-state players, it is still difficult to get their interest. Even the 1033rd-ranked recruit is running away from my calls, for crying out loud

But I have to be patient, Calls every week, sorting and filtering out players, watching tapes, etc.

Top rated recruit from GA is 6-3 SG Charlie Redden, #9 National (5-stars). He would have been perfect in my system. But safe to say he's not going to sign with us.

Around end of July, I got news from my assistant that #67 recruit (4-stars), SF Kirk Martin from Cochran GA, had us as #1 in his Top Ten Schools. Wow! I am salivating at his scouted ratings: OUT: A, SCR: A, ATH: A (never mind his DEF: D rating)

Problem is, Martin has a 1.8 GPA. Minimum SAT for our school is 900. Do you think he can make it? Probably not. Oh well ….

[RandyR17]

Start of September. Time to get those grades up

12 out of 15 players in my roster have GPAs below 3.0 Highest is PF Mike Brown with a 3.8 GPA

[RandyR17]

Even the 1.8 GPA kid has lost interest

If I cant sign anyone during this Fall period, I'm sure there will be plenty more available during the Spring. And I have plenty of budget remaining, as I never had to leave GA yet.

We'll try our luck in convincing whoever are the highest-rated recruit left in my shortlist

After 1 week of home visits:
- PG Adrian Hicks (Milledgeville, GA), rank #100, put us at #3 in his list. Crossing our fingers.
- PF Brooks Channing (Fairburn, GA), rank #131, put us at #6 in his list
- SG Nate Mitchell (Conyers, GA), rank #274, put us at #7 in his list

Our priority is Hicks! He is a combo guard that can shoot the lights out. Channing can score both inside and outside. Both are rated B in ATH. Mitchell is not a bad alternative also

After week 2
- We're still #3 on Hicks' list. Channing having us at #2. We have pending scholarship offers for both of them. Continue convincing them!
- We're #2 on Mitchell's list

After week 3
- Good news!!! Hicks and Channing decided to play for us. Nice. They have decent enough GPA (both 2.9) to most likely pass our academic requirements

[RandyR17]

Initial (default) strategies

Offense
- Favor Outside
- Set Usage: 50% (5-out)

Defense
- Man: 58%, 1-3-1: 42%

Press
- Man: 72%, 1-2-1-1: 28%

Philosophy:
- Pace: 10!
- Off Crash: 7
- Def Crash: 9
- Def Int: 8
- Press: 10

In-Game
- Shoot 3: Check