Suggestions to Improve

Suggestions to Improve

Postby Timmuh » Thu Apr 29, 2021 7:40 am

As I’ve written about a few times on this board, I’ve been going through a career, current stop at Auburn.

I’ve been able to consistently make the NCAA but cannot make any sort of run. This shows during the season too as I will take down a top 25 team, only to consistently lose the next game on the road.

Ive mixed between the two easiest schedule builds, as I start realizing beating cupcakes will lead me to loser seeds in the tournament and tougher matchups.

I run motion and triangle only. Man, 3-2 and one zone press.

I’ve recruited well based on camp results, although no 5-star talent and only the occasional 4*

Looking for suggestions on how to get to that next level of results
Timmuh
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Re: Suggestions to Improve

Postby TripLykely » Thu Apr 29, 2021 2:46 pm

I know I've replied to your other posts, and I'm sure you'd like more than just my opinion, but figured I'd share some thoughts. As always, this is entirely based on my anecdotal experience, and while the assumptions made have been casually tested, I don't promise an certainty in my statements.

Making a run in the tourney is tough, and I agree with you on cupcake schedules. Generally after 2-3 seasons I request tough road schedules. My thinking is it will give me the best idea of how good my team actually is before conference play starts.

Generally I simulate all of my games, so if you play them out my process would need to be refined. What I typically will do is divide my non-conference schedule into two sections using the first half of games to potentially tweak strategy for the 2nd half. Ideally when conference games start I have my strategy optimized for the team that season and only tweak set percentage the rest of the way.

I utilize the four factor lineup stats to try and dial in my depth charts while looking at the four factor team stats for possible changes to coach sliders. If I'm turning the ball over too much on offense I might speed up the pace. If we're hitting a low % of shots I might slow pace down. Another thing I sometimes to, although not regularly, is look into the shooting stats for players and make suggestions to tweak tendencies. Maybe a guy is hitting a high % from 3 but barely takes 3s for example.

When I simulate games I check the scouting report and point spread to get an idea of who the game thinks should win and by how much. There tends to be some discrepancy at times between the scouting report and point spread, my guess is the point spread is based on team statistics while the scouting report is based on personnel. Obviously if both say my team should win and we lose there's something probably off, although RNG does allow for upsets (a run I've mentioned with Wisconsin had two 40-1 seasons where I lost the National Championship). Generally I'm not making changes on a game-by-game basis, rather based on how I divide the schedule (typically sections of 5-10 games).

Regarding coach sliders, I have no idea what is optimal, and I'm confident there isn't one correct answer and multiple combinations work, but there are some I keep the same for every team in every run. For ease of understanding I'll talk about the coach sliders as a 0-9 scale starting from the left.

Player preference and rotation I believe play a role in how the AI sets your depth chart, so if you don't do it manually then spending time considering these sliders is important. I set my depth charts manually but still have each at 6. This is arguably the least important sliders on the coach screen in my opinion, its just preference.

In a previous post of mine I spoke about pace, the TL;DR version is your teams passing skill determines how slow you can go and their scoring skill determines how fast. If my team has scorers I lean towards the scoring average, if not I lean towards the passing average (which is 0-9 starting from the right). Generally I'm looking to dial this in before conference play and will set it to a weighted team average at the beginning of the season, tweaking as I go.

Offensive and defensive crash boards have been a trick for me to figure out as I can't seem to get good results anywhere but 5 for each. As the game mentions there is a give and take between fast breaks and crashing boards so I've toyed with a very fast paced offense that tries to capitalize on fast breaks but never figured it out. Regardless, every team I run always has these sliders the same.

Defensive intensity I generally set at 6, although from playing a few games out recently wish there was a situational element to this slider. It depends on personnel but with it set higher I sometimes ran into my top players getting into foul trouble often and playing short of the minutes assigned. Going to 5 or lower doesn't intuitively make sense although I haven't played around too much in that range.

As I mentioned to you in a previous post I only run zone defense so I have that slider all the way to the right at 9. Full court defense I base on average team athleticism as the developers mentioned a correlation in one the streams. If average athleticism is a 6 then full court defense is set to 6.

Set percentage is again a weighted average and I tweak that throughout the seasons as changes are made to the depth chart and proficiencies improve.

All of that brings me to what I'd look at if I were you. You mention you recruit well based on camp results, what specifically does that mean? Are you landing top5 regional talent - top25? Are any of the 4* players top25 or better at Indy? You really need to get some top25 Indy players/top5 regional to make runs in the tourney. The top teams will obviously grab the top ranked talent but there are always players who do well at camps but aren't ranked well a school like Auburn can get. Again not being sure on your threshold for who you offer a scholarship, but I'd really try to stick to top10 or better regionally, never settle for less, and use transfers if you miss.

Not sure if this reply is too long or too short so I'll leave it at that unless you'd like me to clarify anything.
DDSCB21 Let's Play - Chasing the career milestones of the legendary UCLA coach John Wooden - Chasing Wooden Playlist --> https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIVfxNP1tD6mNwqSbZK-ZtxC5ntyd1uiq
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Re: Suggestions to Improve

Postby Timmuh » Thu Apr 29, 2021 5:27 pm

Thank you again for the great post.

I had mostly done simming but started playing games out in my season I started back up today. Messing around more with the refs, calling timeouts and plays, I would imagine, gave me a small advantage if used well. I’ll lean that way because my team is doing exceptionally well. Granted…my recruiting landed two back to back strong classes that had just hit their junior and senior years as well.

One other nice detail with playing games is that I was able to get weaker recruits in blowouts to hopefully keep them happy with playing time.

Landing good coaching has been a bit of a struggle…I’m pinching pennies too much and occasionally end up with a bad staff. I’m sure that has had more impact then I realize on recruiting, development and even just scouting my own team.

In only rare cases am I pulling in “top 25”…I target the top 5 and 10 aggressively but just started having luck with 4*s so haven’t hit the Indy camp yet. I do think I need to focus more on specific stats. I’m so focused on that too 5 or 10 guy and realized my stud PG had a terrible handle. Having him play more SG likely really helped.

I look a lot at PER to get a general idea of how my players are performing. I’m sure there are much better metrics I should be paying attention to.

It’s interesting to me that you would speed up the offense with more turnovers…I would think the opposite?
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Re: Suggestions to Improve

Postby TripLykely » Thu Apr 29, 2021 6:55 pm

Definitely agree, if done well, the in-game options allow the best chance to win. My personal issue is I'm not confident I make the right adjustments, but it is the best way to immerse yourself in the universe as well so I've been doing it more lately.

If budget allows, I'd spend the money to go to Indy. You may not quite be pulling the talent from there but there are always top25 guys who are outside of the #25 ranking. Since you're getting 4* now you should be in position to start leveling up your program. A few classes with an Indy player means almost a starting lineup of the top25 players in the country which is key to beating the big schools. In my run as 100 rated coach starting at Wisconsin I can attest the recruiter position on your staff is key to landing talent. Without a good recruiter, despite having 100 prestige and 80+ conference and a perfect coach I struggled to land top25 talent on brutal, once I had a good recruiter I consistently land top national talent (although I still miss sometimes).

PER is good to look at, really there isn't one metric to check. The main thing is that you have metrics in place to determine if your team is exceeding or failing expectations as the season goes along. Generally speaking, if I'm looking to make a macro change like coaching sliders I look to team stats, if I'm looking to make a micro change I look to player stats. Generally I find the shooting stats, advanced stats, and four factors the most helpful but traditional stats have value as well. I certainly claim no expertise but it feels like I'm doing something when my analysis and changes lead to improvement.

Regarding pace, my thinking is a slow pace involves more passes which create more opportunities for TOs. Speeding up and limiting passes therefore limits TO opportunities. Of course there is a give-and-take as the quicker you go the less open shot opportunities a team will get. As long as your team is competent at rebounding a slightly worse FG% is negated by 2nd chance opportunities.
DDSCB21 Let's Play - Chasing the career milestones of the legendary UCLA coach John Wooden - Chasing Wooden Playlist --> https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIVfxNP1tD6mNwqSbZK-ZtxC5ntyd1uiq
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Re: Suggestions to Improve

Postby Timmuh » Fri Apr 30, 2021 4:12 pm

Turns out I won the championship! After years and years of first/second round outs…I won the whole thing!

Roster definitely peaked with my best classes of seniors/juniors.
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Re: Suggestions to Improve

Postby TripLykely » Fri Apr 30, 2021 6:34 pm

Nice - keep stacking good classes and you’ll consistently make runs
DDSCB21 Let's Play - Chasing the career milestones of the legendary UCLA coach John Wooden - Chasing Wooden Playlist --> https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIVfxNP1tD6mNwqSbZK-ZtxC5ntyd1uiq
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Re: Suggestions to Improve

Postby Chris » Fri Apr 30, 2021 7:13 pm

Timmuh wrote:Turns out I won the championship! After years and years of first/second round outs…I won the whole thing!

Roster definitely peaked with my best classes of seniors/juniors.


join a league, cbgm
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Re: Suggestions to Improve

Postby Timmuh » Sat May 01, 2021 11:28 am

How does a league work…as far as forwarding through recruiting periods and games with multiple users
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