I know there's a new SimEngine release coming soon, I was wondering if anyone knew when exactly the worlds would start using it. I haven't looked around much, figured I would ask here first. I'm mostly wondering about my team in Smith. We're in the offseason right now with exhibition games starting Feb 8 and the regular season beginning Feb 10. Will the new SimEngine be up and running by then?

Pretty sure it won't be because the beta world hasn't even started their season they're still doing the preliminary stuff. Probably after that season is simmed using the new engine they'll take feedback from the testers and then make a couple changes and probably release it. They might even do another round of testing after that, I wouldn't be surprised if the new engine isn't released until the summer. I would guess the earliest we could expect it is April.

It is at least 2 months out, likely more.

http://whatifsports.com/forums/threads.asp?ForumID=30&TopicID=406147&PagePosition=1

Also this was just brought up a day ago.

does anyone know if they tweaked with recruits? i was just going over the new database of recruits in knight and they look...different.

THey are tweaking them in the test world, but to the best of my knowledge, not in the real world.

example: california, div 2 search, high schoolers, 1 rebounder over 60, 5 rebounders in the 50's, and just 8 rebounders in the 40's (4 of those start at 40 flat).....doesn't that seem low?

Nothing has been pushed to the production site (Real WIS) Things have been changed on the test site tho.

I thought last recruiting cycle the recruits were low overall. Look at the next Naismith D1 recruits it looks low again in the overall.

I remember there was talk that the overall ratings were getting too high in DI. If you think about real life, it's very unrealistic to have so many players be the best anyone can possibly be at any category (100). And unrealistic that players with these unbelievable ratings can have such poor stats, such as some 100 rebounders averaging only 4-5 RPG. Just think, if you gave the best possible player a 100, Then it would be like Dwight Howard or LeBron with 100 shot blocking, no way should so many other players have that rating, or close (yes i know this is college, but I'm just giving an example).

Sorry all this is just my opinion, and a reason why i like to stay out of DI. I could recruit a 750+ player, with high potential and high ratings in core areas, and start him all 4 years, and never have a 1st or 2nd team all-conference player. Even the best players in real life are not fully developed in their best areas.

I think with so many players reaching 100 in any area is like saying WIS HD is full of Kareems or Jordans.

Feel free to reply to any of this, or anything they think about it, even if you don't agree. I'm kind of curious to what more experienced coaches think of all this.

All of this leads to no great players really standing out from the rest. Just a couple examples:

PPG
HD Smith DI leaders (full season currently finished):
1. Timothy Axelson Sr. SF Xavier 22.0
2. Leo Smith So. SG Tennessee St. 19.9
3. Robert Cassidy Sr. PG Clemson 18.2
4. Robert Eudy Jr. SG Davidson 17.8
5. Christopher Dobson Jr. C Coppin St. 17.1
2008-09 college basketball leaders (ESPN):
1. S. Curry, Davidson 28.6
2. L. Hudson, UT-Martin 27.3
3. J. Taylor, C Florida 26.2
4. D. Holston, Chicago St 25.9
5. S. Jackson, UTEP 24.2

RPG
HD Smith DI leaders:
1. Donald Neary Jr. C Bradley 10.1
2. Valentin Russo Sr. C Vermont 9.8
3. Ryan Sanders Sr. C Coppin St. 9.5
4. Erick Markle Sr/5 C TX State-San Marcos 9.3
5. Jesse Taylor Sr. C Quinnipiac 9.2
2008-09 leaders:
1. B. Griffin, Oklahoma 14.3
2. J. Bryant, Santa Clara 14.2
3. K. Faried, Morehead St 12.8
4. D. Blair, Pittsburgh 12.2
5. L. Harangody, N Dame 12.0

Both stats are full season stats, Smith played national championship games a few days ago, which is why I used last season's real college stats.

If you care to look at any other world, or any other statistic category, you will notice all the averages are significantly lower because there is a lack of skill variation in HD DI. If a majority of post players had mid to high 80s REB, and three or four players with 92-96 (not 100), you would see Rebounding leader boards reflecting real life.

There is also the case of an above average player playing in a below average division, such as John Bryant of Santa Clara (above). But he is still pulling down more boards than any 'great' HD player because he stands out.

You should probably look at MPG as well. In HD, the best teams run 9 or 10 team, with all of them getting double digit minutes per game. Starters rarely play more than 25, even with top rated stamina (I had a 98 STA PF set to getting tired and only played 25.6 MPG last year).

Last year Blake Griffin played 33 MPG; in HD only the SIMs do that. More minutes generally means more stats.

Division three wooden not one of the top 25 in minutes played players has a sim coach. All of them over 33 minutes.

20 of 25 of the top 25 in minutes, 32.6 and up, in DII are human controlled.

15 of the top twenty-five, 31.9 and up, human controlled in DIvision 1.

It is interesting that the higher the division, the less human controlled players are among the heavy minute guys. Still, the humans have more of them in each case.

Easier at higher levels to accumulate depth?

Is there perhaps a higher amount of walkons at the lower levels due to having less recruiting cash to go around, and with the larger budgets of dI teams, walkons are less common, and therefore the minutes are more spread out?