Heart Advice For Difficult Times Topic

I wonder if any more successful HD players (namely: pretty much all of you) might weigh in on my South Alabama team in Phelan whose season just concluded. What a frustrating group: certainly not super-talented, but capable of consistently building big leads against most any foe I played, and then blowing that lead completely in the second half:

http://www.whatifsports.com/hd/TeamProfile/Ratings.aspx?tid=13996

Are there settings of which I'm unaware that can stem the flood of so many close losses that come after blowing big leads? I played around some with tempo, with resting my "stars" (such as they are) in-game a bit more, with double-teaming leading scorers, and with just leaving things alone -- and yet the only consistent thing that team produced was blown leads.

Anyway, if anyone has thoughts, I'd love to hear them.

Thanks.
9/21/2010 10:02 AM
From just a "quick" look at the games you played. I don't think you had your Defense set right. I looked at a few of your losses and from what I saw, you should have played more + defense than you did. The teams I saw that you lost to all had real good Perimeter ratings.
9/21/2010 11:33 AM
i'm sure you'll get some good insight from others, but at a glance i see two things that will help you in the future:

1) for DI, you have bad DEF ratings for man-to-man.
2) you don't really have a "true" PG with great BH/P.

your team isn't bad but you played a weak schedule.  since your conference appears to be on the weak side, i'd schedule the toughest non-conference games you think you can win.  that's a good rule of thumb when scheduling.  you should be much better next year since you only have one senior.
9/21/2010 11:34 AM

as a general point without looking at your team, there is a feature, which imo is not used enough to slow it down with a lead in the second half.  i believe you can do this at about the 6 minute mark.  helps to protect the ball and results in fewer possessions for the opposition and can help to protect a lead.

9/21/2010 11:53 AM
Don't know if you're using it already or not, but using the "auto-adjust tempo" feature on the team game plan page will slow your offense down beginning in the 2nd half if you're winning.
9/21/2010 12:02 PM

While Clifford Murray is an extrodinary player, the PG position isnt right for him at D1 because of his low BH/P ratings.  He is handling the ball the most out of anyone on the team, being that he starts plays, and it will cost you turn overs + bad shots.  For players with solid core ratings (ie: Stanley Tolan, Charles Bane), also have a downfall because their ath/spd combo isnt exactly up to D1 standards.  At that level you need full players, unlike in D2 where you can get away with a guy being one dimensional. Sims and Swingman are great players and should be the center of your offense!

Defensivly, you have some problems as well.  Your defense is low for D1 standards of M2M defense.  Your team speed for the perimeter isnt horrible, but I'd imagine you are getting burned by guys downlow, with more spd/ath.

Recruiting wise:  If you are going to run the triangle, I'd recommend putting a lot of your money into a top end scoring player.  The triangle is designed to be ran around 3 players, while giving other players shots when open.  Right now I only see 2 players that should be a main focus, for now Clifford will do as the third.   Try and recruit a scoring SG.  And get someone to red shirt behind clifford thats very athletic with high bh/p....pe is a last priority, but a 40 pe player wouldnt be bad, since, in essence, he wont be seeing much of the ball for shooting purposes. 

9/21/2010 11:38 PM
Might want to consider going slow down on the road against fairly comparable teams (UL-Laf, Fla. Int., Ark L-R).  Also, if you're playing guys at less than fairly fresh, they might be getting tired at the end (must admit, I didn't check the PBP to see). 
9/22/2010 6:17 PM
Thanks, everyone. Good stuff.
9/23/2010 8:44 PM
Heart Advice For Difficult Times Topic

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