I have always wondered why the Scouting Service does not scout Puerto Rico.

• It is a Common Wealth of the US
• There are three D2 schools there
• It is cheaper to fly there than many places on the mainland.  In fact it is cheaper to fly there than many parts of Florida for me
• You can scout Alaska and Hawaii which are much more expense and much further from the Midwest
• Even in real life D1 teams do play tournaments there and throughout the Caribbean in part to recruit

I could make the same argument about Canada, (as far as expense), but Canada is not part of the US, you need a passport to go there, and there are no NCAA schools there.

Is there anywhere harder to coach then the D2 Puerto Rico schools?

how hard - depends some on whether the other schools are empty or full - if full, baaad

logic?  hard to say - there are some quirks about what works and doesnt for intl, can, mex, PR......it is what it is

at DI level, Puerto Rico belongs to the florida schools if they have good prestige - D2 PR schools hope for guys who DI doesnt want.....and if you are alone in PR it is nice....at least it was looong ago when I was there

a bit like Hawaii

of course, the rum, the women, the beaches are compensations!

Kind of along the lines of the thread, quick question.

I was thinking about starting another team in another world (I wanna stay in D3 in Phelan) so I can end up at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks (since I live here). Is it hard to recruit being so far away? I cant imagine there are very many recruits in a 300 mile radius of Fairbanks... Denali doesnt even have a basketball team!

Alaska-Fairbanks, Wooden went (in seasons 49-59):
E8; S16; F4; F4; round 2; NT; E8; [coach change] PI; PI; round 2; National Runner-up

It can't be unplayably hard if two different coaches can go to the national title game.

Posted by commish118 on 8/8/2013 3:56:00 PM (view original):
I could make the same argument about Canada, (as far as expense), but Canada is not part of the US, you need a passport to go there, and there are no NCAA schools there.

In real life Simon Fraser University is the only NCAA school in Canada but it's not in HD.

Posted by andrewp97 on 8/8/2013 9:16:00 PM (view original):

Posted by commish118 on 8/8/2013 3:56:00 PM (view original):
I could make the same argument about Canada, (as far as expense), but Canada is not part of the US, you need a passport to go there, and there are no NCAA schools there.

In real life Simon Fraser University is the only NCAA school in Canada but it's not in HD.

Interesting.  I did not know that.  I just looked it up and they joined D2 in the NCAA in the 2011-2012 season.  Thanks!

I coached awhile in D2 Alaska. It's where I tried 5 or 6 years in a row the 3 point shooting team. At all 5 positions. It actually wasn't as bad of an idea as it seems. Won a game or two even. But anytime I faced a coach who actually game planned and went + defense that was a sure loss. Sooo... not many (any!) conf tourney championships.

Recruiting in Alaska is a three edged sword.
A) The other Alaska team must be simai to even have a chance.
B) Alaska is 1000+ from everyone else so you gotta lock up even marginal local(?) talent.
C.a) International is the way to go though the D2 budget makes it really difficult and last...
C.b) Instead of International you can go low budget- wait until after signings start, find a maybe target, and do a cheaper FSS then.

I've never coached Puerto Rico. Seems like it would be extra tough what with having to spend so much of the budget on refinishing the court and all those extra basketballs. Peg legs and hooks make mincemeat of the equipment.

I coached in Puerto Rico. The most difficult part was communicating with the referees.  I'd get  right in their faces and speak very loudly and slowly.  THAT....WAS....A....FOUL....REF!, and they STILL couldn't understand my English

Posted by commish118 on 8/8/2013 11:11:00 PM (view original):

Posted by andrewp97 on 8/8/2013 9:16:00 PM (view original):

Posted by commish118 on 8/8/2013 3:56:00 PM (view original):
I could make the same argument about Canada, (as far as expense), but Canada is not part of the US, you need a passport to go there, and there are no NCAA schools there.

In real life Simon Fraser University is the only NCAA school in Canada but it's not in HD.

Interesting.  I did not know that.  I just looked it up and they joined D2 in the NCAA in the 2011-2012 season.  Thanks!

Well this explains it...HD was created in 2004 and they've never adjusted teams/conferences to my knowledge.

Wouldn't that be interesting: You are coaching D2 Northern Kentucky and you find out that next season your NKU team will be in the D1 Atlantic Sun Conference; or your team moves from one conference to another, with all new coaches.  It might be fun, but then again, many stay in conferences because of the other coaches.

But back to the start of the thread, why can't you scout Puerto Rico? There is no logical explanation.

Perhaps a dumb question, can you scout from Puerto Rico?  Like if you coach Cayey or Bayamon, you can buy FSS for the 50 states, right?

Posted by colonels19 on 8/10/2013 2:05:00 PM (view original):
Perhaps a dumb question, can you scout from Puerto Rico?  Like if you coach Cayey or Bayamon, you can buy FSS for the 50 states, right?

Yeah u can but u just cnt scout Puerto Rico makes sense lol