I been in WIS for almost 10 seasons by now. I seem to have very good grasps on alot of areas, particularly recruiting. But something that keeps recurring for me, I keep on losing to teams that I always seem to be better than, and I just can't figure out what it is exactly that makes me under-perform. Am I overlooking how good my players are because of their total ratings, am i misusing the 3pt frequency, do i put the wrong players on the rotation. If I can't be much better than I am then fine, but i'm just trying to figure out why i'm underperforming as a team.

This is the URL to my team:
http://www.whatifsports.com/hd/TeamProfile/Ratings.aspx?tid=4986

My first thought is your ATH and DEF are low.   I really try to get all my DII players to be above 70 in both those attributes.   I'll go down in to the 60's if they are studs else where and in a pinch drop into the 50's.   Anything lower than that isn't worth having in my opinion.

Overall, 70 should be the number you shoot for in all core skills.   I like my PG's to be 70+ in BH/PASS, my 3 point shooters to be 70+ in PER/SPD/BH, my rebounders to be 70+ ATH/REB.   To me 70 is the magic number.  

The only exception I can think of is LP for guards, if they don't have monster speed of BH, a 70 ATH 25 LP 2 guard should be an effiecient scorer.   If they have 70+ SPD and BH they don't really even need LP.

Versus Mars Hill, you probably lost due to your -5 defense. That leads to more fouling and Mars Hill made 21 more FTs in their 5 point win.

 I also prefer Rose at SF over Mcelyzki.  I'd put Joyce at SG

I agree with TrentonJoe, the ATH, SPD, DEF are lower than some D3 teams. You really have no speed at the guard position and I think that is hurting you too.

The "How to Win at D2 and D3" thread will be your best friend here. There's not much more from that thread that can be said that won't help you win. What others have said here s also true. Also, don't game plan yourself out of wins. Until you really grasp it, don't go more than +1 or -1 on your D.  

As others have said, you need ATH in bigs, and SPD at guard, and good D. Your bigs have bad ATH. You've done well getting REB, but without the ATH, you are bringing a shiv to a gun fight. You run man to man, so you cannot take those 30 D guys. Everyone needs to be at least 25-30 points higher in D.

And to answer this question in your original post.
" Am I overlooking how good my players are because of their total ratings?"
If you evaluate players based on their total ratings, then the answer to this question is definitely yes.  Total rating doesn't make a player better.  You have some guys with high WE or high durability, which is nice, but doesn't make them more talented at the point they are at, and just makes them look better than they really are.

Yeah its my 2nd season with my current school, my main reason of moving to another new D2 school was to start fresh all over with try to recruit guys with higher ATH & DEF as i learned that's what the winning teams had. My huge class that's now Sophmore has still alot of room to grow in DEF & ATH they are just not there yet now. Probably been overmatched by ATH & DEF against Mars Hills had to do with my lost. I actually took it more as a shock my loss because I beat teams in the past that i was an underdog when i set the defense to -5 when they took few 3pts and Mars Hills shot no 3pts. I was just looking to see if there were more things into this as to why i lost like my offense/defense IQ being low since alot of my guys are underclassmen but that doesn't seem to factor in too much. Anyways thanks for the responses guys I feel better gripped on this

Iq does matter, and there's "getting simmed over". Sometimes the RNG isn't in your favor. You lost by 4 with a low iq, young team to Mars Hill. It happens.

Without spending a lot of time on looking at your team in depth, I'd check your distribution too. Some guys shoot a lot, with low percentage, and other guys shoot better who aren't getting many shots. I'd tinker until until I found a good mix.

alblack's lineup change will help.

Also - I've learned recently that when to use the -5 is often misunderstood.  against Mars Hill, I think you'd have had a better chance going -2 or -3.  The -5 should only be used if  most of your opponents points come from the paint.  Mars Hill has two big scorers, but one is a guard, meaning that the guard is probably taking lots of mid range jumpers, not shots from the paint (and overall he gets more from his guards than his bigs).  Mars Hill doesn't shoot 3s, but its points are not exclusively from close to the hoop.

And if you look at the box score, I think the numbers back this up.  you did a great job defending the bigs.  his big men went 5/17 from the floor (though they did get to the line), but his guards/SFs went 16/21 from the floor.  a more neutral setting would have allowed you to defend the perimeter players better and foul less.

Sorry about those JRs, that was the recruiting job of the computer's and not mine. I'm glad a human took over that team, that sophmore class will be very good.