Confessions of a clueless HD rookie Topic

kujayhawk
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I was cleaning some files from my computer and in doing so I came across a gem: the spreadsheet I used to assist me in recruiting for my first season in HD.Included were notes I made after every recruiting cycle.I thought I’d share.Turns out I didn’t really know what I was doing.At all.

Crossing my fingers this might be a semi-entertaining read but I’m also hoping (praying?) that folks will chime in with just how clueless they were as well when they first started playing this game.(I don’t want to expose myself as a chump here without at least one of you giving me a bit of solidarity in numbers.)

I know this is quite a bit long but I figured it’s worth it to explain how much I tried to avoid being stupid, yet still found myself shooting myself in the foot again and again my first season.It’s been long enough now that I can laugh at it, but as I slowly learned how many mistakes I made it was quite embarrassing.

And keep in mind that this was all pre-potential.Which means that some of the things that I did that were dumb now were even dumber back then.



Background: I was well familiar with WIS when I started playing HD. I joined WIS back in 2002 and played in 198 simleague baseball leagues over the next three years.But I got bored after three years and took a hiatus.At the time I had 3 more baseball teams (still undrafted) and had a tad over $400 in gift certificates for the site.

After a couple years away I still didn’t have the baseball itch but I also had a bunch of gift certificates that I didn’t want to go to waste.So I decided to give HD a try.And I committed myself to diving into the deep end since I had money to spend on the site.So I wanted to prepare myself well as I started my first team.

Given my familiarity with the site I did my best to take full advantage of the resources available to help prepare for my first season of recruiting.I read everything in the HD help: players guide, FAQ, and every single one of the developer’s chats.I went to this forum and did a subject line search for recruiting and read all of the longer threads (which I assumed had the best content).I even found my way to the oldresorter recruiting thread, which if memory serves correct wasn’t actually in the general HD forum.

So I had myself armed with (what I thought was) a ton of HD knowledge and fully prepared myself to enter the world of HD and take it by storm.I didn’t think I was your typical newbie at all.And I guess I wasn’t but it didn’t help me one bit.



Team Selection: I wanted a team with a lot of open scholarships.After all, I knew what I was doing so why wouldn’t I want to put the biggest footprint possible on my team?So I ended up taking Thomas with five open scholarship spots.In choosing Thomas for the five open spots I neglected to pay any attention to the following:

·The other 7 players were 5 seniors and 2 juniors.So a 5-5-2-0 class distribution.I’d never ever want that situation today.Within three seasons of being at Thomas I desperately wanted a balanced class and it took the better part of the next ten seasons afterwards to achieve that.And got burned along the way when I played a couple of seasons with ten underclassmen.



·Thomas is in Maine which being isolated in the upper northeast of the US makes recruiting difficult.Much easier to have a geographically centered state.Although that didn’t matter all that much at the beginning because I didn’t know what I was doing.





Preparing for Recruiting: The one thing that I knew I needed to do based on all the advice in the forums was to recruit locally.Somewhere along the way I either read or somehow interpreted that recruiting local meant my state only.So while I was at a slight geographic disadvantage being in Maine it never even mattered since I didn’t look past the state’s borders.Finding five quality recruits in Maine is not exactly easy to do.In fact I’m pretty confident that in my 17 combined seasons at Thomas since that first season I haven’t recruited ten from the state.

Somehow I missed (or more likely just didn’t understand) the concept of dropdowns.So I went through the list of Maine’s D3 recruits and found those that seemed best.Those 35 or so players were what I had to choose from and I only had to get 5.How could things go wrong, right?

I ended up finding 18 of the 35 that I deemed to be “best”.I put them all in my spreadsheet so that I could track my recruiting efforts best.



Recruiting begins:Something that I missed along the way was the fact that there aren’t many recruiting cycles and you can/should tag up recruiting efforts.I think I interpreted the fact that you can’t cold offer a campus visit to mean a lot more than it really does.And I also thought in order to sign a player, you needed to do every option possible to get a player – except for the stuff related to dilemmas because I read those weren’t part of the game anymore.So instead of making a typical recruiting push in a single cycle, I thought that you needed to first make some phone calls and send some letters.Depending on how those went you would scout the player.Make a few more phone calls.And if everything works well make a home visit.That works, make the campus visit.And after that seal the deal by offering the scholarship.

So I made some phone calls.And the few of those 18 that were actually decent got scooped by other schools.I did read I shouldn’t battle for recruits if possible so I wasn’t going to go overboard but I wanted to announce to the world that I wasn’t a pushover either.So I didn’t give up on those recruits.And of course I got decent feedback from the first phone calls in the first cycle so I wasted a good amount of cash in the next cycle making scouting trips and then dropping a tiny bit more cash with some phone calls in the cycle afterwards telling me that they weren’t interested in me any longer.I wasted a bit more on some more evaluations but I ended up losing all of those “battles”.Go figure, eh?

Of course I was simultaneously doing the same with a few of the other 18 recruits.Others I had to give up on.I liked the recruits and my assistant liked them when he scouted them, but in a follow up message I was told that the parents didn’t like the neighborhood the college was in.So I had to give up on those types of players.Other recruits said they needed to know more about the school so I sent them a packet.But they told me in the very next cycle that they *still* needed to know more – did they not read the packet I just sent them?Recruiting was a lot harder than I expected.

But I did eventually get five recruits.The star of the class according to my assistant coach was my small forward.According to the assistant, the SF could be a D3 All-American.I couldn’t believe my luck to get such a recruit so to make sure I could get such a good player I felt that I probably needed to promise some playing time to him.I didn’t guarantee a start but told him he would play 15 minutes.Everything seemed good when I offered scholarships to the five.Although when I offered the scholarships to two I was told that the recruits were having a very difficult time making up their mind because there was another mystery school that was recruiting them really hard too.I didn’t see the mystery school on the player’s considering lists but I wasn’t going to take any chances.So I offered another campus visit to try and get the recruits to commit.And they both did!



Here was the all-star recruiting class I ended up with:





I already mentioned how excited I was to get Richardson being that he could develop into a D3 All-American.And I was also quite happy to have won Radar – he was the 2nd highest overall total ranking of the D3 players in Maine.Although in retrospect if a guy has a 95 durability rating and he’s not the state’s highest overall ranked player he’s probably not that good.

All of this only cost me a bit more than $15,000.Fortunately there was some tourney money in addition to the $15,000 I was allotted so I ended up with $101 over.



Preseason:Since I had promised 15 minutes to Richardson I thought it would be best to use target minutes to make sure he played the appropriate amount.I wasn’t going to break my promise to my prized recruit!And I was smart enough to realize that as good a class as I recruited, there were still some holes in some of my recruits games.So I gave lots of extra practice minutes in those categories to make them better.For example, I wanted a strong inside defense and both my centers had defensive ratings of 13.I put twice as many minutes into footwork for those two players as I did for any of the other categories.With that many minutes, the 13 ratings were going to skyrocket for sure.Radar already had a low post rating of 40 so I put very few minutes into practicing that so that he could focus on his other categories.My prized SF alreadyhad good perimeter and low post skills so I put most of the practice minutes into improving the 9 rebound rating.



Regular Season: Funny thing is that while I only inherited 2 human recruited players and 5 Sim AI players, 3 of the Sim AI players were really good players.And one of the human players was the last recruit of Thomas’ best coach ever, cyben5150.And that recruit just happened to be a player that started the season with a 710 overall rating and finished at 755 and probably was the best player in the D3 world.So with those players (and 15 minutes to Richardson) and a poor schedule I actually went 25-6 and finished ranked #25.But no thanks to me at all yet I still got coach of the year.



4 seasons later: So how did those recruits do after 4 later?Well not so well.Thomas went 14-16 the next season with a 161 RPI.And even worse the season after going 11-17 with a 196 RPI since I couldn’t benefit from the Sim AI players any longer.The fourth season I actually did ok and made the PIT but it was because these five recruits were all at the bottom of the depth chart by then.And as you’ll see a lot of these guys never even made it into games.

·Jeffrey Hooker took advantage of a redshirt season and became a so-so player.Only 8 starts in 119 games but he did average 19.4 minutes a game and shot 39.5% from threes.

·William Richardson didn’t become a D3 All-American.Just 6 starts in only 87 games and averaged 8.3 minutes a game.He played more with his guaranteed minutes as a freshman than he did in the next three seasons combined.

·Brian Trimble shockingly didn’t develop with the 1 WE.0 starts in just 78 games and only played 7.3 minutes a game.

·Henry Westerfield started 21 out of 107 games and averaged 17.1 minutes for his career.

·William Radar started 18 out of 121 games and also averaged 17.1 minutes for his career.



Quick postscript: Super quick because this has become way too long.During the first season I learned that dropdowns were actually the best recruits to get.So I was determined to get one the next time around.And as it turned out there was a D2 player available in Maine for the next season.The luck!Next recruiting season I immediately called the player as I learned that is what you do to get a dropdown.He hung up my phone call.Guess he wasn’t going to drop down just yet.So I made another phone call the next cycle and he didn’t answer it.And I made phone calls in every other cycle for the remainder of recruiting.He never once gave me a favorable message so maybe I didn’t have that dropdown thing figured out just yet ….
11/20/2009 1:11 PM
elvis87
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I wish i could go back and see some of my first recruites.
11/20/2009 2:35 PM
sublightd
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Great read. I enjoyed it.
11/20/2009 3:16 PM
tmacfan12
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Great Story!

My first 2 recruits ever were both in the top 10 in D3! (overall rating that is).... I offered both of them starts and 30 minutes and didnt play them at all. I thought nothing was gonna happen about... Also I tried to get a guy to walk on on the D2 screen so I offered him a ton of booster gifts. Guess how that worked out...
11/20/2009 3:57 PM
dalter
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My first team was WConn State in Allen. I selected it randomly w. out knowing a thing about HD. Only had one open schollie the first season, and the HD FAQ said that for a motion offense, I should find guards with strong pa/bh. So I did exactly that, signing a guard with very strong pa/bh for DIII.

He had a 1 ath.

I repeat: The first HD recruit I signed was a guard with 1 ath.

Let's just say he never quite became the Little East POY.
11/20/2009 6:26 PM
furry_nipps
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My first team was Alfred. It was the first team I saw. Recruiting went horrible. I had to sign 7 guys. I did good enough that 4 seasons later we went to the sweet 16 (thanks to coaches telling me to max out mins on ath/speed and stop working on def)


I signed guys with high def, but no skills anywhere else. My prize was a SF with 85 def, but under 25 in both LP/Per/bh/passing. Also, I was not sure of when signings began. I offered everyone promises (7 players) which blew up in my face. I tried to cut a few right as they signed. I also did not know about drop downs, seeing who was also on my recruit or anything like that.
11/20/2009 7:33 PM
wing1319
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Thanks, jayhawk. I'm having flashbacks to my first few seasons!
11/20/2009 8:04 PM
blackdog3377
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I was coached through my first recruiting season by a friend who had been playing for a couple seasons. I only had 1 open spot too but the guy I recruited ended up being top 10 scoring all time at the school so not too bad/
11/20/2009 8:05 PM
reinsel
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My first recruiting session I somehow signed a dropdown, purely after getting the girlfriend is worried he isn't getting a scholarship email.

I promised him a start and 20 minutes and he was a total disaster due to his F IQ in my offense. I was so ticked, but he became a great player, after I Grinnell in Allen (sorry Shawn Monroe, you deserved a better coach). I also remember signing big men based solely on total rating and FT%. My very very first rating system was summing FT% and overall rating, and I signed some really weak players.

Luckily, being at Grinnell, there was not much competition and the best overall bigs were actually kind of decent. I do remember getting into a battle with a conference mate and pleading like a little girl on the coaches corner with my opponent to let me have Mr. John Smykowski, who is still D3 Allen's career leader in FT% at like 84%, which was great for a Center with terrible skills.
11/20/2009 8:32 PM
orrdc
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This is my quick first experience with HD, this was quite awhile ago and I did ZERO homework going into it. I blindly picked a team that a few open spots and that was that.

I needed a C so naturally I just brought up the best C I could find in D3 and went after him. Along with 10 other schools. Needless to say I didnt land him (who knows how far away he was) and came up with a big ofer.

After playing a season or so I realized I had taken over a team that had never even had a winning record and was actually in a pretty good conference (meaning I got whooped early and often). The next year I actually did a little research, got a few decent recruits, broke .500 my third season and got the hell out of dodge and on to D2!

11/20/2009 10:20 PM
mizzou77
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My first team was at Martin Luther in Crum. I still have every box score from that season as well as the next few. Before joining the NAC in Allen,,, Good times KuJay .
11/20/2009 11:34 PM
dacj501
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this is an excellent thread...
I can't remember my first class very well, so I went and looked up my school (RIT Knight season 12) to see how they turned out... C George Currant won FOY and went on to be 9th all-time in rebounding, 3rd in blocks and 5th in FT %; SG David Rarick averaged 4.5 ppg for his career but is still ranked 9th all-time in 3 pt % (39.8). I can't remember if there were others, but I know I had a good deal of upper classmen, went 22-9 with an 86 RPI and a 2nd round PIT loss, and moved up to D II after that season. The next season under a new coach they went 29-4 with a 6 RPI, a #6 ranking and a spot in the NT Elite 8, while I offered a kid a throwback jersey and a boombox and got put on 1 yr probation...
11/21/2009 12:34 AM
ryguyrb
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This wasnt all that long ago, but my first season was at Westminster (PA) in Knight. I chose them because they had the best record of all the available teams. I ended up getting a pretty good PG, but freaked out when he was considered by another school and immediately guaranteed him as a starter and 20 minutes a game. My other PG at the time was I think a Jr. and was a very good, high quality PG that I couldnt start. Of course I also used the target minutes to get the starter his minutes.

On top of that I recruited a SG and remembered reading that I could redshirt a guy. So I redshirted him, he didnt accept it and lost around ~15 WE but I had no idea you could remove and reoffer. The guy actually turned into a really good player (for another coach) and I can only imagine what he could have done with the proper work ethic. Needless to say I got out of Westminster after the year and went to the team that beat me in the NT.

After looking at the westminster records, turns out the class wasnt all that bad. #5 scorer, #13 scorer, #4 rebounder, #2 assists, #11 assists, #3/#9 steals. /patsback
11/21/2009 2:16 AM
alblack56
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Before getting my first team, I decided that I'd only play at slow tempo. Therefore, speed wasn't important. I had 6 players on my team with SP ratings of '1'. Needless to say, my defense sucked.

I had a guard, ath '1' and speed '1', who was 84 on defense. He just stood around and waited for his man to dribble over so he could guard him.
11/21/2009 3:25 AM
wronoj
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some good stuff in here. just read the whole thread, and 2 things actually made me laugh out loud:

1) moved up to D II after that season. The next season under a new coach they went 29-4 with a 6 RPI, a #6 ranking and a spot in the NT Elite 8, while I offered a kid a throwback jersey and a boombox and got put on 1 yr probation...

and

2) I had a guard, ath '1' and speed '1', who was 84 on defense. He just stood around and waited for his man to dribble over so he could guard him.

My first experiences were not so terrible, largely thanks to andrewfrance, who recruited me to this addiction but also told me what to look for in recruits. I definitely wasn't great, but i was steered away from total scrubs.
11/21/2009 9:22 AM
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