I've been playing this game for about 10 seasons now (2 teams concurrently for the last 6 or 7) and while I think I'm getting pretty good at building teams, I can't seem to win a postseason game to save my life. (I've made 4 NTs and 5 PIs between Wooden and Rupp, lost the first round game in every single one.)

So the question I'm asking is: is there a jump in gameplanning that I'm missing that I need to learn, or my teams simply not talented enough, or is it just bad luck? (I'd think 3 losses was bad luck, 0-9 seems more systemic...)

Thanks for any advice.

Wooden d3 is tough and your team there is just not talented enough to compete for a top spot. You need to look at the teams that are on the top and stay there and see what type of players win. Im not trying to trash your squad but hoping it will help you get over the hump.

I knew my Wooden team was weak this year, but a little disappointed in the Rupp d2 squad blowing the #1 PI seed.

Your rupp team is only lacking reb. They have good other cores but reb is there weakness I would exploit that if I played you and maybe you could improve that but not at the expense of the other areas You were 2 good rebounders away from a deep nt run

I think 90% of this game is recruiting. Look at your strategies there-- are you signing as good/better guys as the top teams? If not, what can you do to change that?

Wooden team needs - speed, athleticism, and rebounding, ball handling, and low post but 17-12 without all of those isnt bad you will be rebuilding that team with 3 walk on spots leaving and 3 seniors. You might want to infuse with some tools pg's and a mixture of sophomores and freshman.

Jnardone i made the bad mistake of not getting recruiting enough speed and athleticism in my backcourt i get abused by press teams.

cthomas -- good point. Yes, I think recruiting is the trickiest part and what has the best long-term benefit. It's tricky with the tradeoffs on recruits -- very few players are strong in all the core areas, so do you sacrifice speed for LP? perimiter for ball handling?

I sacrifice lp for spd/ath just look at the nt champs I built them and they won 2 of the last 3 titles you need a good mix of palyers that compliment each other. Since not all players in d3 can be great at everything you need a good mix.

I sacrifice spd/ath for cores like LP and PER all the time in D3. But I'm not very good at this game.

One thing that has helped me in the past is to look over the top players nationwide as well as the top teams and observe what jumps out, especially for teams consistently on top. In the past I've felt getting a player that excels at 1 or 2 things at expense of 1 or 2 things works at DIII (just make sure it works for your coaching style). Sometimes however I have to remind myself of this as I drift toward going to better rounded players (which is fine at DI and high DII but at DIII you'll end up with medicore talent with no outstanding areas unless you on the very pinacle).

Quote: Originally posted by l_eustachy on 1/14/2010One thing that has helped me in the past is to look over the top players nationwide as well as the top teams and observe what jumps out, especially for teams consistently on top. In the past I've felt getting a player that excels at 1 or 2 things at expense of 1 or 2 things works at DIII (just make sure it works for your coaching style). Sometimes however I have to remind myself of this as I drift toward going to better rounded players (which is fine at DI and high DII but at DIII you'll end up with medicore talent with no outstanding areas unless you on the very pinacle).

Exactly my problem I have always kinda had at D3!