I was a beta tester, so I had a little time with the new engine, but its obviously a different version that we are currently running, so that experience is kind of out the door. Regardless, after 5 games (including 2 exhibitions) in Rupp I have a couple thoughts about the new engine and I was wondering if anyone else sees the same things.
1) Offensive efficiency seems to be way too high. I have 2 teams: http://www.whatifsports.com/hd/TeamProfile/Stats.aspx?tid=4484 and http://www.whatifsports.com/hd/TeamProfile/Stats.aspx?tid=4007 Tenn has 7 new players and W. Chester has 5 new additions. Neither team has any players that are near as good as previous players on my teams (on the offensive end), yet the offenses are functioning at very high levels. W. Chester, in particular, is shooting 56% from the floor and 45% from 3-land. Despite this, they are 1-2, which illustrates that opponent teams are playing at least as well. Also, last night in my Tenn game vs. Wake, I ran normal tempo vs. his slowdown. The result - 83-74. Now, I definitely hated the old 40-36 barnburners in the old engine, but has this taken it too far? Perhaps tempo isn't affecting the offensive flow enough at all, as my games thus far have involved different tempos from all parties involved, but all scores have remained very consistent. Small sample size? Maybe, but perhaps not...
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2) This is admittedly minor, but my Tenn team is the defending champs and while we had to replace 7 guys in recruiting (and are not good this year), shouldn't we have at least started the year ranked somewhere in the top 25? Shouldn't we have been given the opportunity to earn our way out of the top 25 with losses (which will no doubt come)? Moreover, after 3 games, we are 3-0 (all W's over Big 6 teams) and still not in the top 25 (we are finally receiving votes). That seems messed up to me. I realize the new rankings are based more on ratings and performance (rather than past performance), but still.... this seems a bit of an oversight; this would not happen in real life.