I just landed a new job at UMKC and filled all 7 of my spots. I had a D- prestige so I know these guys are not great but they seem to all be good candidates for good growth.

On a side note, back in the day, I was a huge fan of the "Fab Five" from Michigan. I've always wanted to do that here in WIS but never was in a good situation to do so.

So that being said, I know I'm not going to win any championships this season, but I want to remain competitive and not just throw away a season for a pointless whim. All seven of my new guys will get plenty of PT as they are for the most part, overall better than the guys I have returning.

So the question is, how much will it hurt my team to start all freshman and have one or two positions backed up by upperclassmen?

http://whatif.cincinnati.com/hd/TeamProfile/Ratings.aspx?tid=12939

Harmon is better defensivley, but not on the other end of the court.

Faucher seems nothing more than average.

Schmidt is weak at rebounding and BLK.

Ponders is by far my best big, but he is a Jr transfer. This is the one that I'm debating most about. He probably needs to start, but he is gonna mess up my fab five.

I know this is a rediculous thread/request/post/concern/whatever you want to call it but I'm just curious what other who have time might think.

Thanks in advance if you find time to take a look and offer up your opinion.

Beef

beef, without looking too deep at your team,,, I can tell you from experience,,, IQ is still king in HD. Those guys will struggle even with nearly as good of numbers until their IQ's begin to get into the B (mid soph) range. With potential in it's current, frustrating form, I really don't see alot of advantage to playing freshmen that were recruited with a D prestige. (they will max in everything long before they are seniors), whether they start or get 18 mins off the bench.

In my first season at Colorado, I was facing a complete build from nothing. I actually had a really good initial recruiting class. As I cared only about building and not at all about the current season, I started all my new players. I believe that was 1 5-star, 3 4-star, and 1 3-star player. In other words, pretty talented players, relatively speaking.

We won 3 games that season.

You won't win much playing all freshman in HD.

If you wanted to try it at all, I woudl do it with a second year team, so for the year you are starting the freshmen you can set a pathetically easy schedule and keep your Prestige from falling too much, and then as they improve and get their IQ's, schedule a bit tougher in subsequent years.

But, really, I wouldn't.

You will struggle to get to double digit wins starting five freshmen. That's just how it works in HD. Luckily you play quite a few SIMs. If you played all humans you might struggle to get to three wins.

That said, you have a D- prestige and you're team isn't going to be good no matter who you start, so you might as well start the five frosh and get their ratings up quicker.

I agree. i started 4 freshman in my first lousy season at Wichita State, and now we are a 20 win, first round loss in the NT type of team.

In my first season at Charleston Southern, I began the season with 3 freshmen in the starting lineup. Seven games in, I had 5 freshmen starting. In my second season, with 6 sophomores and 4 freshmen, we nearly made the PIT (RPI around 70 before hitting a string of RPI-killers to end the season). We made the NT during that first class's junior and senior seasons. I have no idea if we would have had the same success without starting those guys as freshmen, but it was a fun four-year stretch at any rate. I started with D- prestige.

Quote: Originally Posted By zags27 on 1/29/2010beef, without looking too deep at your team,,, I can tell you from experience,,, IQ is still king in HD. Those guys will struggle even with nearly as good of numbers until their IQ's begin to get into the B (mid soph) range. With potential in it's current, frustrating form, I really don't see alot of advantage to playing freshmen that were recruited with a D prestige. (they will max in everything long before they are seniors), whether they start or get 18 mins off the bench

I am positive I do NOT agree with the idea that "IQ is still king in HD."

After thinking about this, it boils down to one guy, Ponders. I honestly think that the guys I signed are better than everyone else, aside from the IQ. The thing is, the two other freshman have such horrible stamina, Ponders is going to get plenty of minutes.

I guess the question is, how much impact will one guy have on the W's column?

How can anyone say for certain how one guy will affect how many Ws you have? Depends on who your opponents are, how quickly your players' STA and other factors develop. I say go for it. The more you play them the faster they'll max out by their senior year.

Fab Five Update

The Fab Five is 8-2 in Non-con. We had an easy schedule (only two real coaches and I was 1-1) and we seemed to handle the SIM teams fairly easily. I don't think I will know how good/bad this team is until conf play begins and when I start to play some real teams.

My 6 Freshman have had nice improvment as well (36, 33 ,32 ,22 ,21 & 17).

So far this has been pretty fun not really knowing how things will pan out. I hope I have as much success in the second half of the season as I did in the first.