Jess Wynn, to do the impossible

[Wayne23]

11/2: First exhibition is against UC San Diego. 31-27 at the half.

70-53. +3, +3, 43-37%. Fouls 10-18.

11/2: 2nd exhibition is against UC San Diego. 45-44 at the half.

92-71. +16, +7, 55-48%. Fouls 15-21.

The exhibitions lead to no changes. This team is solid.

We start at the Coaches Classic vs. #7 in the country, #1 seed North Carolina. We’re aiming to beat them or at the very least to give them a run for their money.

11/13: 24-24 at the half.

We can definitely play with these guys, we are not outclassed. Winning the RB war but throwing the ball away too much, but then so are they. We just need to take better care of the ball and make more shots (33.4%).

And we do, 62-51. Great D and enough O.

+15, -4 (22 TOs which we will work on), 43-36% (52% in the 2nd).

15, 7, 4, 4, 2 for Tark but 5 TOs (4 in the 2st), 12, 8, 2 for Asp, 12, 7, 1 for Young. A great win, now I want the tourney!

#9 seed Providence, 1-0, is next. Decent outside, weak inside.

11/15: 32-19 at the half.

Owning the boards and much better with the ball.

69-51 as we took control.

+20, -1, 46-41%.

16, 4, 2, 1 for Asp, 13, 5, 3 with 7 blocks for Tark, 15, 2, 3, 1, 2 for Lowe from the bench, 6, 14, 3 for Young, 9, 4, 1 for Qual. I’m not getting much from Layt at the 2 spot.

[Wayne23]

#5 seed LSU, 2-0 in the semis. They beat a good Michigan team and they do lots of things well.

11/17: 39-31 at the half.

They kept it close but we scored the last 5. Rebounding is our strength again.

We take control, 77-57. +15, -3 (Only 11 TOs), 46-34%, fouls were 9-27!

24, 5, 6 with 9 blocks for Tark. Who does he think he is, Bill Russell? 21, 15, 1 for Asp, 10, 8, 1 for Qual, 6, 8, 1 for Young, 8, 2 for Lowe. Still not much from Layt.

We’ll play #2 seed, #13 ranked Louisville, 3-0. They played decent teams but no UNC and maybe no LSU. We’ll need to stop their outside game.

11/19: 30-42 at the half.

They’re walking all over us, mainly because they’ve hit 6 threes an we’re throwing the ball away. I diagram lots of stuff at the half.

Well, we won the 2nd half, but not by enough, 67-75.

+1, -3 (15 TOs), 44-44%.

26, 6, 4, 1, 4 for Tark but he had 7 TOS and fouled out. 12, 10, 2, 1 for Young, 9, 6, 4, 1 for Asp, 9, 5, 2, 1 for Qual. Nothing from Layt and I’m going to Lowe at SG.

11/20: #15

[Wayne23]

At #10 Wake Forest, 4-0. This will be no picnic. They haven’t played a strong schedule though. Stop the SF and we stop the team.

11/22: 26-43 at the half.

Terrible with the ball, no D.

Not much better, 60-70. The tough schedule is taking its toll.

+3, -5 (19 TOs), 37-41%.

14, 1, 2 for Lowe but he fouled out, 11, 7, 6, 2, 5 for Tark but 5 TOs, 7, 8, 3, 1, 2 for Asp, 11, 4 for Sigg, 8, 5 for Qual. Nothing from Young. Their 3 killed us, 29.

We need to turn it around.

At #18, 3-0 Pitt so it doesn’t get easier. They haven’t played anybody. The SG is their player.

11/25: 32-35 at halftime.

We need to make some shots and stop the three (They made 6).

We do, 71-65.

+6, +7, 47-53%, fouls were 10-17. We won it at the foul line.

16, 9, 3, 3, 1 for Asp, 17, 4, 4, 1 for Tark but 5 TOs, 12 for Lowe, 8, 3, 1 for Qual, 9 RBs for Young.

4-2 vs. a tough sched.

[CoachC]

Great start! Last season's mediocre finish (mediocre by your standards, not anyone elses! lol you were still a 9 seed in the tournament) was a rarity for one of your teams in any association. I look for Jess and Sammy to both get to the final 4 this season.

[Wayne23]

Yikes! Not sure I can manage that one!

[CoachC]

well as long as jess don't play sammy in the elite 8

[Wayne23]

That would NOT be good!!! Identity crisis!

If there's a secret to my success I'm convinced it's going after Jucos. I get top 50 guys and that would never happen any other way. The other thing I do is get rid of the deadwood in year one; I justify by saying they are being switched to either academic or hardship scholarships; would I do that in real life? If I could keep them on some sort of scholarship, hell yeah I would! I also go after transfers whenever possible. I can sometimes get transfers whose GPA is below 2.0, even very good ones occasionally. Now that the recruiting rating thing is fixed I will often go with standard first year coach points but instead of going 30 (or even 20) in each category, I'll use the total points but shift my numbers so I'm higher in recruiting and scouting (I made a mistake with Jess on that), and lower elsewhere. Getting players is the key, IMO.

[Wayne23]

At 4-1 Georgetown. They’ve played some good teams. We’ll need to stop the outside shooters.

11/29: 31-21 at the half.

Great D.

We almost let it get away, 51-49. A little closer than it actually was since they hit a 3 at the buzzer but still too close. We couldn’t make a shot in the 2nd.

+9, -1, 33-33%. Fouls were 7 to 18 so we won another one at the line.

18, 4, 4 with 6 blocks for Tark (averaging 4.7!), 14, 11, 2 for Young, 8, 10, 3, 2 for Asp, 5, 5 for Sigg from the bench.

3-1 Cincinnati is in. They do some things well.

12/2: 38-33 at the half.

Their 2 and 3 are scoring too easily and their bench is killing us.

Our bench takes over in the 2nd, 76-63.

+18, +1, 42-48%, fouls were 10-21, and we win at the line yet again.

17, 3, 2 for Lowe, 13, 3, 4, 1, 3 for Tark, 10, 8, 3, 1 for Young, 9, 8, 2, 1, 1 for Asp, 10, 2, 1, 1 for Wyck, 6, 6 for Qual, 6, 3 for Sigg, 4, 4, 3 for Layt so a real team effort.

We’re giving up too many easy shots lately as shown by the other team’s shooting pct.

#16.

5-1 UNLV is in. They’ve played a really weak schedule. This looks like a mismatch.

12/6: 35-41 at the half. They led by as many as 8.

Their 3 had 18 and their PG had 9. D is weak again. I do a major a$$ chewing at halftime.

It works, 72-65. They never did quit though.

Even, +3, 48-46% (Still not playing D the way I want us to).

15 each for Lowe and Layt, 14, 4, 6, 1, 1 for Tark, 13, 9, 1 for Young, 6, 6, 3, 1 for Asp.

We’ll keep working on D. Dad’s flying in to help. He usually doesn’t come out this early but I asked.

We’re 7-2 but I’m not satisfied with the way we’re playing, which is more important than the record.

[CoachC]

That would NOT be good!!! Identity crisis!

If there's a secret to my success I'm convinced it's going after Jucos. I get top 50 guys and that would never happen any other way. The other thing I do is get rid of the deadwood in year one; I justify by saying they are being switched to either academic or hardship scholarships; would I do that in real life? If I could keep them on some sort of scholarship, hell yeah I would! I also go after transfers whenever possible. I can sometimes get transfers whose GPA is below 2.0, even very good ones occasionally. Now that the recruiting rating thing is fixed I will often go with standard first year coach points but instead of going 30 (or even 20) in each category, I'll use the total points but shift my numbers so I'm higher in recruiting and scouting (I made a mistake with Jess on that), and lower elsewhere. Getting players is the key, IMO.

Jess shouldn't worry too much about Sammy. Gary played his team earlier in the year and he couldn't even bother to show up to coach!

With low mid majors and below I'll always grab JC players.. the problem with them is you never get any players who know any skill set higher than 40. As far as transfers go, the game is not entirely realistic . In real life, players transfer a lot more often than they do in CB2 and many of them announce their intention to transfer before the spring signing period is over and therefore the opportunity to recruit transfers should occur BEFORE seasons official end, not after. Also, it seems to me that CB1 was a lot more harsh when you cut scholarship players without justification. At any rate, when Gary took over the Lobos, there was really only one guy who didnt have much chance of seeing any minutes.. i suppose i could have cut him.. a 2nd guy i redshirted because he had an upside. Everyone else I've played! lol

[Wayne23]

I agree about the transfers, Coach. Yeah, sometimes Prestige takes a hit but I figure I can live with that. If a guy is ranked #1153 I don't usually want him.