by 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.
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