Starting at ground zero, literally

[SteveVictory]

Just getting into this game again after several years away. Taking over a team with ZERO prestige! What am I in for? Any tips for getting this program out of the basement? My AD only wants me not to finish last in my conference.

[jksander]

I'm back as well, ready to try out the new edition as well ... in my experience, you can't screw up starting that low, though be ready for a lot of trial and error as well as a ton of pain and suffering.

[PointGuard]

The difficulty level you set for Recruiting makes a lot of difference on how quickly you develop/improve the team. "Easy" makes it go much more quickly than the higher degrees of difficulty. Also doing well in the Transfer Portal can definitely accelerate your success.

[SteveVictory]

I made it "Easy" this go around ... still having problems getting folks interested during the first few months of recruiting ... only 2 people have enjoyed their visits, and one is like bottom of the barrel bad (what did I expect?) ... Only have two scholarships to fill so I am going to aim high, and if I don't hit, oh well ... there is a 7-2 center from out of state who talks to me and whom I love but he wants to play close to home, won't even visit ... having fun so far!

I am a little confused what to trust: the player's stats, which say he averages 9-10 rebounds per game, 2-3 blocks per game or the ratings which say he is D- as a rebounder/defensive player?

[PointGuard]

I'd lean more toward the ratings since the rpg were at the HS level (and being 7'2", he's nearly a foot taller than many of his HS interior opponents and the HS shooters are much less able to get off clear shots)...but if the ratings for your coaches are low, they might be making poor assessments re the ratings.

[jksander]

I made it "Easy" this go around ... still having problems getting folks interested during the first few months of recruiting ... only 2 people have enjoyed their visits, and one is like bottom of the barrel bad (what did I expect?) ... Only have two scholarships to fill so I am going to aim high, and if I don't hit, oh well ... there is a 7-2 center from out of state who talks to me and whom I love but he wants to play close to home, won't even visit ... having fun so far!

I am a little confused what to trust: the player's stats, which say he averages 9-10 rebounds per game, 2-3 blocks per game or the ratings which say he is D- as a rebounder/defensive player?

I have my recruiting set to hard, and initially got a borderline three / four star guy to show interest early, but he blew us off as expected in September when he started hearing from schools like Purdue and Butler. Wound up getting a good two-star defender in his place. In my experience with DDSCB in past iterations, a zero prestige school has to stick with in-state recruiting and should rarely expect to get players above two stars, unless you get the right mix of "play close to home" and "I'll play for anyone who will give me 40 minutes a game" kind of gem.

I will say I like that the recruiting seems more dynamic in '24 ... I liked that we got to see who had offered scholarships among a player's top ten, and teams tended to move up and down on a player's list weekly which is nice to see (the old versions were WAY too static on this, you only got updates on a player's top teams at a couple junctures).

Gonna be interested to see how transferring works ... I'd expect that I shouldn't lose a lot of players to the transfer portal at our level, but you never know. I certainly don't expect to be able to lure top transfers to Evansville, Indiana, to play for a team that has far less prestige than even the mediocre University of Evansville lol

[SteveVictory]

Have enjoyed recruiting as well, though it is comical now that every out-of-state prospect I invite for a visit to little ol' Stonehill College in Massachusetts says "declined!" ... I don't think there is anyone else who is going to visit my campus since I have exhausted my in-state opportunities ... we may be hitting the portal hard ...

[jksander]

Have enjoyed recruiting as well, though it is comical now that every out-of-state prospect I invite for a visit to little ol' Stonehill College in Massachusetts says "declined!" ... I don't think there is anyone else who is going to visit my campus since I have exhausted my in-state opportunities ... we may be hitting the portal hard ...

I do campus visits on in state guys early and then make out of state offers after early signings, targeting guys without scholly offers or whose top schools have already signed players.

[SteveVictory]

Latest questions:

If you've asked a prospect every question there is to ask, and have gotten answers, should you keep texting him?
Is there value in watching film of a prospect multiple times?
Is there a way to ask prospects what types of offense/defense they are familiar with? Seems like this would be an obvious question (and obvious from watching film), but I am dependent on my assistants unearthing this information.

[jksander]

Latest questions:

If you've asked a prospect every question there is to ask, and have gotten answers, should you keep texting him?
Is there value in watching film of a prospect multiple times?
Is there a way to ask prospects what types of offense/defense they are familiar with? Seems like this would be an obvious question (and obvious from watching film), but I am dependent on my assistants unearthing this information.

No, same as once you've scouted a guy you won't get better information by scouting him again or watching more film. Once you have the answers, you're best off asking the questions of others who haven't answered ... the more players you have the most info on by the time you do your coaching visits in person, the better your odds are of targeting those visits well

The second part of your question, I'm not sure on ... but it would be cool to be able to ask them questions like that. Any extra info you can get is good info in my book lol!