In my Smith world conference (SUNYAC), we have 9 SIM AI teams. But I've noticed that they are all carrying walkons, some to an alarmingly high degree (SUNY-Fredonia has 7 walkons, Oneonta and Potsdam each have 6). The ones with fewer walkons are the ones that have had a human coach in the last 3 or 4 seasons. This is my 11th season at SUNY-Cortland and the SIM AI teams are worse than they have ever been. Before, I would beat them, but if my team was off, we would be in trouble. But right now, I would have to throw the game in order to lose to Fredonia. I've worked hard to turn Cortland into a consistently good program and don't want to leave just because it is in a SIM-heavy conference.
Is there some way to reduce the number of walkons SIM AI signs? Even if the SIMs were just giving schollies to guys with fairly low overall numbers (<400) who hadn't attracted any attention from human coaches, it would improve their caliber of play and make the game more interesting. Let SIM AI go crazy in the last recruiting cycle and sign guys at the bottom of the pool.
And if it isn't possible to change how SIM AIs recruit, can we see an increase in the quality of the walkons? Can they go from being useless to mediocre?