http://www.whatifsports.com/hd/TeamProfile/Ratings.aspx?tid=3762

It's come to this, as I'm ready to throw my hands up in disgust at this game.  Up until the big engine changes a while back (maybe 6 seasons now in Wooden?) I was getting a pretty good handle on this game.  I was recruiting pretty well, I could beat good teams most of the time, and could play (and win) a tough enough schedule to usually make the NT at-large.  

Since then, with no dramatic changes in approach, I'm terrible.  Barely scraping by at .500 over 6 seasons.  I can't beat teams I should, and can't even remain in the game with tougher matchups that I used to have a chance at with good gameplanning and the right night.  And I can't figure out why -- is it personnel, or depth charts, or game planning, or something else?  I've included my squad above -- I've run triangle/man the entire time.  I use FSS and try (and usually succeed) in recruiting guys with high potential in the key cores, though part of what I've noticed at least to me is that the recruit quality went way down after the upgrade, to where it's almost impossible to find a decent big man with decent cores in LP, REB, and DEF. 

So, I'm looking for general advice - what's wrong with this team?  Or, what's wrong with its coach?

Thanks.

well, keep in mind I'm not a great coach, but here are some very quick impressions.. your team ath and def are very weak. You have no shooters. BH and P are average at best. no one has a LP rating that stands out.

I agree.  Every recruiting cycle has been focused on strong defensive players and perimeter guys.  And they are not there.  After scouting 3 or 4 states with FSS, it's been very frustrating to find very few/no high-potential shooters who can do anything else (or big men who are low-potential in most things and where I have the choice of someone who is a good defender OR a good rebounder OR a good low-post player, but nobody who's decent in all 3...)  I never focused on ATH as a key component when compared to other cores, at least for big men, since (at least in the past) someone with low ath but high def could hold his own.  

Are you recruiting dropdowns and pulldowns from the DII list?

Not lately, the prestige hit the last few seasons has made that exceedingly difficult. In the past I only did so occasionally.

Well that's your problem, then.

You need to. 90+% of your recruits should be coming from DII, if not all of them. 

Prestige hardly matters at DIII. Scour the DII lists before recruiting starts and identify potential targets. Send them a call in the first cycle to see who will talk to you, then move in for the kill after that. I honestly don't think I've ever had someone come in and steal a recruit that was already considering me at the DIII level.

Posted by pjbrankin on 5/16/2011 10:07:00 PM (view original):
Prestige hardly matters at DIII. Scour the DII lists before recruiting starts and identify potential targets. Send them a call in the first cycle to see who will talk to you, then move in for the kill after that. I honestly don't think I've ever had someone come in and steal a recruit that was already considering me at the DIII level.

lucky.

I agree with pj. After a quick look at your roster (maybe you're already aware of this), your team is unathletic and slow. I'd say that be your main focus and be willing to sacrifice other things before those. Obviously at D3 every player is going to have flaws (unless you're La Verne in Knight), but athleticism and speed can make up for a lot of deficiencies.

Ath is very important, so I wouldn't disregard it. I rate the key categories as ath-spd-def, so I would not disregard ath like you are doing.

And you need to pulldown. A+ v. C in D3 means around 15% of effort (possibly less). I have said this before in other threads, the lower your prestige, the more aggressively you need to pull down. You cannot wait for dropdowns with C prestige because the recruits will drop down to A+, then A, then A-, etc. If you wait for dropdown, you are left with the guys that no one else want.

Posted by jnardone on 5/16/2011 10:00:00 PM (view original):
Not lately, the prestige hit the last few seasons has made that exceedingly difficult. In the past I only did so occasionally.

wow! that is your first problem right there. there are soooooooooooooo many threads that teach coaches how to recruit properly and you need to read them thoroughly. Learning how to pulldown players from a high level is essential for any good coach. 

Posted by uglyskunk3 on 5/17/2011 6:07:00 AM (view original):

Posted by jnardone on 5/16/2011 10:00:00 PM (view original):
Not lately, the prestige hit the last few seasons has made that exceedingly difficult. In the past I only did so occasionally.

wow! that is your first problem right there. there are soooooooooooooo many threads that teach coaches how to recruit properly and you need to read them thoroughly. Learning how to pulldown players from a high level is essential for any good coach. 

Maybe so.  I got away with it for a long time in this game with maybe one pulldown per class max.  Clearly (VERY clearly) I can't keep doing that.

Posted by jnardone on 5/17/2011 7:09:00 AM (view original):

Posted by uglyskunk3 on 5/17/2011 6:07:00 AM (view original):

Posted by jnardone on 5/16/2011 10:00:00 PM (view original):
Not lately, the prestige hit the last few seasons has made that exceedingly difficult. In the past I only did so occasionally.

wow! that is your first problem right there. there are soooooooooooooo many threads that teach coaches how to recruit properly and you need to read them thoroughly. Learning how to pulldown players from a high level is essential for any good coach. 

Maybe so.  I got away with it for a long time in this game with maybe one pulldown per class max.  Clearly (VERY clearly) I can't keep doing that.

Oddly enough, I think you can do it in D II (maybe have to now...) My last couple recruiting classes with D II schools have been very weak on D I pulldowns that will even talk to me. I've been poring over the D II lists to find acceptable players instead for about half my 'ships...

Posted by pjbrankin on 5/16/2011 10:06:00 PM (view original):
You need to. 90+% of your recruits should be coming from DII, if not all of them. 

That many?  I get maybe half of my guys from D2.  Possibly even less than that.  Interesting.