Is there only one real way to successfully build a team around recruits with certain attributes? In other words, if you don't focus specifically on a certain few attributes, is there a way to win by using another offense, defense, or some other strategy?

IMHO, no, there's isn't only one way. In D3 Rupp, US Merchant Marines consistently has top ten high ath/spd/d ratings. He wins a ton of games, and regularly wins 1-2 games in the NT. Conversly, my Marian team in Wooden D3 recruited at a C- to C+ my 5-6 seasons there. I had 40/40 spd ath and 50+ D and made S16 with 4 90 rebounders and 5 85+ per guards with probably around an average 60 speed. Yes, neither of these teams won the NT, but you can "build a team". The second question is requires so many variables I can't even answer it. I would say every team has to have good to great D.

Because I've also notice this has led to a great deal of recruits being highly coveted for specific skills while others with decent numbers overall are left by the wayside because they lack one or more of these specific ratings being very high.

Again, there are too many variables to answer this without me getting bashed on this forum. Yes, generally overall numbers are unimportant. Building your team with a philosophy in mind around your Off/Def is what is important.

I will name the attributes which seem to lead to success no matter the offense, defense, or strategy  if anyone doubts what they are, but I assume most people already know. The rest of the attributes are like extra sugar on top of an already good food - nice, but if you don't have them in some or most of your players, you can still win or even build a dynasty.

So bottom line, is there one recruiting strategy to win as I suspect, or are there other serious ways to recruit and still win without those specific attributes being rated high in most or all of your players?

It depends on what you consider "success" and "winning". If you mean making S16 / E8 every year, then you can do so without elite ath/spd. For NT's, then yes, you will need elite ath in bigs, and competive ath / elite spd in guards. With D for everyone. And I mean consistent "whole team has great D", not "I have 4 guys with 90 D and 8 with 30 D". I guess what you are really asking is, can I recruit for other stats than ath/spd/d and beat teams that do? The answer is, you have to have least competitive ath, speed is more negotiable, but your D must be dominate.  And your team should be elite in another category to compensate, preferably rebounding and perimeter.

I would argue that both "defensive fundamentals" and "desire to be a 'scrapper'" fit under the umbrella of the defense rating.

Posted by bistiza on 8/28/2012 12:43:00 PM (view original):

?Give me one example bistiza of a team that had below-average defense that won a title.  You don't need elite ATH/DEF to win in this game, but it needs to be good.

I have no idea what teams have won titles or haven't in real life college basketball. But I do know there are many teams which get into the NT and make deep runs without having top notch defense or athleticism. That's usually what they call an upset, and they abound every year, especially early.

And what, exactly, are these other ratings that "create a realistic picture of what good defense looks like in real life?" 

?There is a lot more that goes into good defense than athleticism, and a desire to play defense.  You could take a great athlete and give him desire and he'd be a good but not great defender.

Knowledge is important, especially in positioning and technique.  The fundamentals are the biggest thing no one ever mentions. Yes, the sim has the IQ feature, but I don't think that accurately encompasses things either.

As you mentioned, speed is important, because you can't guard someone you can't keep up with. Strength is also important, although in this sim they roll that into athleticism I guess.

There's also an element I don't think this sim introduces, which is heart or determination to be a defensive "scrapper" by doing things like being the first to dive after loose balls or give the extra effort.

Perhaps work ethic should play a role in defense - the harder worker is a better defender because he is more of a "scrapper".

Knowledge is iq ... Fefense rating just says someone is a good defender; it could be because he is a "scrapper" or whatever other reason.

?

Defense ought to be broken into:
1. Perimeter defense
2. Post defense
3. Shot blocking

Right now, there is no difference in how the game would view Dwight Howard and Tony Allen (besides shot blocking), even though in real life the skills to stop a traditional back to the basket center are totally different from the skills to stop a penetrating wing.

I agree, stevejones.

I think the bottom line is that the "defense" rating needs to be broken down further if the game is to be made more realistic.

I can accept the current system. I just don't think it makes sense to consider some things as under the same umbrella, but that's what we have to do in order to assume they are included at all.

Posted by stevejones16 on 8/28/2012 4:26:00 PM (view original):
Defense ought to be broken into:
1. Perimeter defense
2. Post defense
3. Shot blocking

Right now, there is no difference in how the game would view Dwight Howard and Tony Allen (besides shot blocking), even though in real life the skills to stop a traditional back to the basket center are totally different from the skills to stop a penetrating wing.

To some degree, I think this may be in place already, in a different sort of way.

Begin with the premise that I think we can all agree on - elite defense paired with terrible athleticism and terrible speed does not lead to a good defensive player, right? If you said no, and believe that, I'd love to see an example.

With that understanding, think of Speed as the modifier for Defense to create Perimeter Defense, and Athleticism as the modifier to create Post Defense.

Even low Defense players with top Speed get steals, so I think this makes sense. Likewise, I would be rather surprised if a Low Ath/High Speed/High Def guy is really that effective playing defense on an opposing center. While I've heard that extremely high Ath with good D can cover for lower Speed (but not *low*), I've yet to see that enough to say for sure. In any event, I don't believe the current engine would allow that 99 Ath, 99 Def, 5 Speed Center you have to effective guard the perimeter, so those divisions already sort of exist, even without separate isolated ratings.

Good point zbrent.

Still, I like to think ATH affects more on defense than just the low post.

Sure, more of anything helps, and my explanation was overly simple (intentionally so). Additional Ath helps perimeter defense and additional speed helps post defense, they are just not the primary aspects (IMO).

It really is quite a mystery how the various ratings interact. We can all guess as to what we think it may be (which is largely influenced by how we think those things work and interact in real life), but we don't know, and I guess that's what creates the discussion in the first place.

Posted by zbrent716 on 8/28/2012 10:12:00 PM (view original):
Sure, more of anything helps, and my explanation was overly simple (intentionally so). Additional Ath helps perimeter defense and additional speed helps post defense, they are just not the primary aspects (IMO).

i like the premise in general, and i get what you are saying... but i think ath is very important on the perimeter, while speed is not inside. so its kind of like, per def = def/ath/spd, interior def = def/ath/sb.

i actually am not convinced that spd > ath for perimeter defense, unless you are running the press... and in the press, interior def is really maybe more like def/ath with spd more important and sb less important than in other sets, so sb+spd kind of makes up that third rating.

and of course, reb is very important from a defensive standpoint, in all cases.