Not to pile on, but I wouldn't be in a hurry to try and move up. I had Florida Gulf Coast in that conference (seasons 81-84 ... RPIs were 211-142-29-35) and any of my last 3 teams would have been heavily favored over the current Miles setup. Despite the quick build, I should have stayed longer in DII to learn a bit more instead of racing to DI. It's a different animal up here.

I'd definitely take a long look at recruiting if your seniors and juniors are your best classes. None of your seniors are even at an all-conference level and your best underclassman looks like he's close to maxed out at a pretty meh level.

I was never a great recruiter (still am working out the kinks) but still ended up with decent enough DII products. Take a look at the past rosters page and look at FGCU's Season 84 roster to see every guy I recruited there. My worst four players would be about on par with the top players you have. Players like Scanlon, Redding and even McGinn, Herman and Calkins are head and shoulders above anything you're putting on the court and anything you'll develop on this roster. Even with those guys, we didn't make the Sweet 16.

I'd take the next couple seasons to work on your recruiting method -- there are high-caliber guys available, even to a lower-middle DII program -- then take those guys to a tougher schedule -- something in the top 50, heck even top 100 -- to see how you you stack up outside of that easy conference. You don't necessarily have to dominate or go to the Final Four to prove you're ready for DI. But I'd at least build a team that doesn't lose more than a game or two against a soft conference and can hold its own vs. teams in the Top 25.

I like the enthusiasm and hope to see you up a level in the future. Best of luck!

Posted by coach_dunham on 1/30/2017 12:52:00 PM (view original):
Not to pile on, but I wouldn't be in a hurry to try and move up. I had Florida Gulf Coast in that conference (seasons 81-84 ... RPIs were 211-142-29-35) and any of my last 3 teams would have been heavily favored over the current Miles setup. Despite the quick build, I should have stayed longer in DII to learn a bit more instead of racing to DI. It's a different animal up here.

I'd definitely take a long look at recruiting if your seniors and juniors are your best classes. None of your seniors are even at an all-conference level and your best underclassman looks like he's close to maxed out at a pretty meh level.

I was never a great recruiter (still am working out the kinks) but still ended up with decent enough DII products. Take a look at the past rosters page and look at FGCU's Season 84 roster to see every guy I recruited there. My worst four players would be about on par with the top players you have. Players like Scanlon, Redding and even McGinn, Herman and Calkins are head and shoulders above anything you're putting on the court and anything you'll develop on this roster. Even with those guys, we didn't make the Sweet 16.

I'd take the next couple seasons to work on your recruiting method -- there are high-caliber guys available, even to a lower-middle DII program -- then take those guys to a tougher schedule -- something in the top 50, heck even top 100 -- to see how you you stack up outside of that easy conference. You don't necessarily have to dominate or go to the Final Four to prove you're ready for DI. But I'd at least build a team that doesn't lose more than a game or two against a soft conference and can hold its own vs. teams in the Top 25.

I like the enthusiasm and hope to see you up a level in the future. Best of luck!

Looks like a well-written, thoughtful post full of solid advice. Prepare of the inevitable defensive response.

Posted by benrudy on 1/30/2017 11:08:00 AM (view original):
CoachWard - if one of your goals is to evenly space out your classes to even out the success, i would try to focus a bit more on evening out the positions within those classes... 75% of your PGs are SRs, 100% of your SGs are SOs, 100% of your SFs are JRs, 100% of your PFs are freshmen, 100% of your Cs are JRs. You're going to run into problems with lopsided rosters like next season when you have WAY below average passing across your roster since you dont have any PGs and all your SGs and the freshman PG have low passing or arent starting caliber. This can be overcome with careful game planning and recruiting, but its probably best to avoid it

I would say you should either:
1-try to space out the positions so will always have a JR or SR starting at each position every season
or
2-try to recruit diverse players so that if you dont have any PGs, your SG can slide over and fill the hole

I like smoke screening my roster.

Posted by CoachWard95 on 1/30/2017 3:35:00 PM (view original):

Posted by benrudy on 1/30/2017 11:08:00 AM (view original):
CoachWard - if one of your goals is to evenly space out your classes to even out the success, i would try to focus a bit more on evening out the positions within those classes... 75% of your PGs are SRs, 100% of your SGs are SOs, 100% of your SFs are JRs, 100% of your PFs are freshmen, 100% of your Cs are JRs. You're going to run into problems with lopsided rosters like next season when you have WAY below average passing across your roster since you dont have any PGs and all your SGs and the freshman PG have low passing or arent starting caliber. This can be overcome with careful game planning and recruiting, but its probably best to avoid it

I would say you should either:
1-try to space out the positions so will always have a JR or SR starting at each position every season
or
2-try to recruit diverse players so that if you dont have any PGs, your SG can slide over and fill the hole

I like smoke screening my roster.

fair. but that doesnt really resolve the issue that all your playable guys with good passing are SRs

lol y'all crazy!!!

Posted by BergPride on 1/30/2017 10:07:00 AM (view original):

Posted by cubcub113 on 1/30/2017 9:43:00 AM (view original):

Posted by bathtubhippo on 1/30/2017 8:44:00 AM (view original):
wrong. class structure > winning games. ward should be mentoring all of us with this wisdom.

guys I figure it out. if you get 3-3-3-3 class structure in hoop dynasty and all you bigs men either have under 20 work ethics or less then 60 Ath+De you automagically inherit a nationals championship on your record

now the first part acheived so when I leave sim ai coach can recruit the bad bigs

it just a alternative way to get national championship

You matched his logic and his grammar, solid imitation!

I'd take your Heidelberg DIII team over Wards DII team any day.

Whoever challenge me with that Moravian team you're team is trash. I can easily go plus 5 on your best player and win easily not worthy of game in value!

Damn.....Just when I thought this thread couldn't possibly get funnier.

Ward trash talking now? I didn't think this could get more entertaining

Posted by kashmir75 on 1/31/2017 7:29:00 PM (view original):
Damn.....Just when I thought this thread couldn't possibly get funnier.

I was laughing too when I seen he challenge me he has nerve's!

Posted by CoachWard95 on 1/31/2017 7:34:00 PM (view original):

Posted by kashmir75 on 1/31/2017 7:29:00 PM (view original):
Damn.....Just when I thought this thread couldn't possibly get funnier.

I was laughing too when I seen he challenge me he has nerve's!

Post his team. I want to see a D2 team worse than yours that's also human coached.

Posted by kashmir75 on 1/31/2017 7:49:00 PM (view original):

Posted by CoachWard95 on 1/31/2017 7:34:00 PM (view original):

Posted by kashmir75 on 1/31/2017 7:29:00 PM (view original):
Damn.....Just when I thought this thread couldn't possibly get funnier.

I was laughing too when I seen he challenge me he has nerve's!

Post his team. I want to see a D2 team worse than yours that's also human coached.

its division 3 lol ok I will

LOL. Never mind. Dude just called you out about it.

Posted by kashmir75 on 1/31/2017 7:59:00 PM (view original):
LOL. Never mind. Dude just called you out about it.

Sh*t just got real.