I love HD, but one of the things that's always bothered me about the game is the lack of opportunity to exploit certain on-court circumstances the way one would in real life (say, by running a play specifically designed to get the ball to the guy being guarded by the defender with 4 fouls...)

Here's one change I think they could do in that regard. Let the five fatigue categories represent a point total (for argument's sake...Fresh =5, Fairly fresh=4, Getting tired=3, Tired=2, Very tired =1) and add the total together at all times for the five players currently on the floor to get a "team fatigue" rating. Then give me a dropdown menu on the team game plan page that reads something like "When team fatigue rating exceeds opponent's by (dropdown menu for point margin here), run (offense) at (slowdown/normal/up tempo)."

This would allow coaches to take advantage of specific on-court circumstances that currently can't be accounted for with the tools we're given. I might not want to run uptempo against a team for a full game because I lack a sufficient stat advantage in my eyes. But if I can exploit a sub rotation situation where for a 2-3 minute surge my guys are fresher, then heck yes I'd like to be pushing it while my opponent's tongues are dragging the floor for that limited period of time.

Just a thought on a Tuesday morning...throwing it out there to see what others think.

There are a lot of other things that need fixing before we get to that.  Its not a bad idea, just not high on the priority list.

I think there are some interesting things you could do using this basic methodology, but I wouldn't be supportive of this specific example.

It's pretty rare that fatigue really comes into play in a serious way in college basketball, unless there's some kind of 40 Minutes of Hell defense or really uptempo offense being employed. These are 20-yr-old kids in peak physical condition.

There has been an adjustment made for HD that does not reflect reality in this regard, and I'm actually supportive of it because I feel like it greatly deepens the strategy/gameplanning aspect. That said, to zero in on it any more would be a big mistake and go too far, in my opinion.

But, I do think there are other nice applications (unrelated to fatigue) with a similar rationale that could be used.

I like this idea, the ability to attack a player with 4 fouls, any similar gameplanning possibilities to these, and any others that can be integrated properly that would add to gameplanning strategy.

There needs to be a penalty or alternate option to temporarily pushing your Offense towards a tired or foul troubled defender. Because who wouldn't do that?

Foul trouble I agree.

Although it drives me bonkers how rarely coaches actually take advantage of this in real life. Amazingly little.

Here's the thing ... if we can target a guy in foul trouble, there's gotta be a way to be able to move that defender off a primary scorer and on to a lesser player, as they'd do in real life. Otherwise, fouling out key players becomes way too easy and gimmicky. Until both can be accomplished, I don't think they should consider implementing the first part.