This is my second season and I have a pretty good understanding of all the basics - I've read the Players Guide and spent some time reading stuff on the forums. However, I have a pretty terrible track record against human-coached teams. In some cases they just have better teams than me - I get that and don't expect to be undefeated anytime soon. But if I'm consistently losing pretty even matchups I assume the other coach is doing a better job game planning than I am. Any suggestions for intermediate level resources I can tap into?

For example, I've read things like I should be checking the opponents ratings and possibly adjusting my depth chart to take advantage of certain matchups. Well, I run a zone so I don't know if that really applies. I don't know that my SF is always going to guard the opposing SF. Maybe I just need to find an experienced coach who runs what I do and ask that person to analyze some of the decisions I've made.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Oh, and my team is Christopher Newport in Rupp (www.whatifsports.com/hd/TeamProfile/Default.aspx).

Thanks!

just from a quick look, you NEED to emphasize both ATH and DEF A LOT more, and the results will follow

If you play zone, don't worry about your defensive matchups, but if you're playing a team that plays mtm, you should look at your opponent's DEF and SPD ratings and adjust your depth chart and distribution based on that.  For example, if your SG is your best scorer and your opponent's PG has a terrible DEF and/or SPD rating, you might switch your SG to PG and up his distro. 

Other than that, I agree with backboy's comment about ATH and DEF.  Meek and Livingston have decent SPD, PER, BH and PASS ratings, but their ATH and DEF ratings make them liabilities.  Not the end of the world though.  Learn from your mistakes and improve.  That's how we all did it.

I was under the impression that ATH and DEF were less important in a zone than, say, mtm. And since the flex requires SPD, P, and PER I put more focus there. Since I'm not going to get high ratings in all of the above in D3 with a C prestige I let ATH and DEF go. I guess I should accept lower ratings in the offensive areas in order to jack up the ATH and DEF?

Really appreciate the input - I'm having a blast with this!

Defense IS less important in a zone than mtm, but I still would try not to go under 20 for any player.  Athleticism is important for just about everything.  I try to stay above 40, but  like you said, you can't get players who are good at everything, so some ratings have to suffer.  Again though, I wouldn't go under 20 for athleticism. 

Posted by mroylanc on 2/25/2012 11:07:00 PM (view original):
I was under the impression that ATH and DEF were less important in a zone than, say, mtm. And since the flex requires SPD, P, and PER I put more focus there. Since I'm not going to get high ratings in all of the above in D3 with a C prestige I let ATH and DEF go. I guess I should accept lower ratings in the offensive areas in order to jack up the ATH and DEF?

Really appreciate the input - I'm having a blast with this!

can't let ATH and DEF go regardless of offense/defense
in D3, a team with high ATH will get you in tons of foul trouble if you don't have matching/respectable ATH and DEF, so the other ratings won't matter with your players sitting on the virtual bench

One more thing: I have heard that in D2, when looking at guards, don't settle for a guy who will be below a combined 120 SPD/ATH combo. In D3, I'd recommend don't take a guard who will end up below 90. That way, you can always have the kind of ATH necessary.

When running the zone and flex, I would contend that speed is a little less important. So, if necessary, be completely willing to give up some points in SPD for some in DEF. That is how you build your D3 team.

Also, the bulk of your team is very young, so you're IQ disadvantage probably has a lot to do with those losses.

And even though you run zone, Ath/spd and DEF are still very important. Ath/spd are an important part of offensive efficiency, even in the flex. And you can't afford to have too many liabilities on defense either

just because ATH and DEF are less important in a zone doesn't mean that they should be neglected - it just means that you can get by with one or two guys that have weak ATH or DEF, but high cores. However, you can't survive with a whole team like that. 

Ath and Defense ARE NOT LESS IMPORTANT IN A ZONE.

Regardless of the defense you run, you need good ath, defense and also speed ratings to be good at it. I you want a good team, recruit for those ratings and you will pile up wins.

OK, makes sense. To help me recalibrate, let's say I'm recruiting guards and I'm going to require ATH of about 45 and SPD of about 45. I assume that would give me a DEF rating in the same ballpark. How high can a D3 team with C prestige expect to get on PER, P, and BH in that case?

if you have ath/speed/ and def then the other ratings don't matter as much in DIII....

Posted by mroylanc on 2/26/2012 10:41:00 PM (view original):
OK, makes sense. To help me recalibrate, let's say I'm recruiting guards and I'm going to require ATH of about 45 and SPD of about 45. I assume that would give me a DEF rating in the same ballpark. How high can a D3 team with C prestige expect to get on PER, P, and BH in that case?

i haven't played d3 in a long time, so ill give u the generic answer. look at a half dozen of the top 25 teams in your world. their upperclassman guards should give you a very good idea of what you can shoot for.

especially in d3, you need to be cautious about having "minimums" or "requirements" (except maybe work ethic and stamina). most players in this game have a bald spot or a black eye. but they can be great nonetheless. and in any division, finding players who mesh together well is very important, possibly the most important thing in the game. so defense may be a priority, but that doesn't mean you shouldnt be willing to let a couple guys slide, to be sub-par on defense, if they are great on offense. remember the law of diminishing returns - the first super star on offense with bad defense is going to be your 1st offensive and 5th defensive player. he is basically going to reap huge dividends on offense (if used properly) while having marginal impact on defense. the biggest problem i see with a lot of defense minded top 25 teams is they weren't willing to sacrifice 2 players on defense to get a tremendous boost on offense - and subsequently, they are inferior. they might be the 3rd in the nation defensive team, and 100th on offensive - you are way better off to be 10 on defense and 25 on offense!