Ive decided to move from Gridiron to Hoops.

1.Does anyone have any advice on choosing my 1st team (Prestige, Conference, History/Record, Location, Current Roster, Off/Def Sets, etc.)

2. Is it a good idea to wait until after coaching changes to apply for a coaching job, in hopes of starting with a team that had a previous coach that did a good job recruiting (not as much of a rebuild)?

3. On a teams main page, what are the players listed under the recruit tab? I noticed they are also on the roster. Does this mean they were recruited last year? Are being recruited this year?

4. How do I find out how many scholarships I will have to work with my first year? (# of seniors graduating?)

Welcome Rcavers.

First, what world are you playing on going into? That makes a difference. If you want to move up to d-II and d-I quicker, you might want a weaker D-III in a world, or if you want to stay in D-III for a long time, might want to be in a strong D-III world.

Anyhow, to answer your questions.



1. That's really up to you. I'd suggest not taking a team too low in prestige nor too high. As far as current rosters, something balanced in class size, until you learn how to recruit, recruiting really large classes is a BAD idea(as I found out with my first d-III team.) Off/Def sets depends more on what you like to run and what sort of players you want to recruit.

2. Sometimes, yes.

3. Last Year, until coaching changes are completed, then it cycles over.

4. 12 scholarships are allowed. So subtract number of non 5th year elligible seniors.

Quote: Originally Posted By rcayers on 1/27/2010

Ive decided to move from Gridiron to Hoops.

1.Does anyone have any advice on choosing my 1st team (Prestige, Conference, History/Record, Location, Current Roster, Off/Def Sets, etc.).

2. Is it a good idea to wait until after coaching changes to apply for a coaching job, in hopes of starting with a team that had a previous coach that did a good job recruiting (not as much of a rebuild)?

3. On a teams main page, what are the players listed under the recruit tab? I noticed they are also on the roster. Does this mean they were recruited last year? Are being recruited this year?

4. How do I find out how many scholarships I will have to work with my first year? (# of seniors graduating?)

I would look for a team with solid prestige that is coming back with a solid roster in place (most likely this means you waiting for a coach to move up D2). The good team/presitge will help you recruit better players and also provide you a template of the type of guys you should be looking for in recruiting.

Also, don't be afraid to take a walk on or 2. You can use the additional recruiting monies that would be allocated towards your 11th and 12th players to go after better recruits (though I would advise against getting in any battles at DIII off the bat). Additionally, by taking those walk-ons, it makes it easier to balance your classes out quicker. For example (assuming a 6-1-2-3 class set-up as an example), instead of filling a large 6 person class, you fill a much more manageable 4 spots. Then next season, you get money for the 2 spots and again, and you could have a nice 3 person class, which is a much better balance (imho).

RE: Offense and Defense - don't change the settings from what is already in place. However, I would look for a pressing team in my search as I do think it is the most effective defense in the current engine (just make sure you recruit and ath/sp for it).

RE: Location. I honestly think you can be successful anywhere in the lower 48 states. But I have found that Louisiana seems to have an inordinantly large number of good players respective to the schools in the states for D1 recruiting. I think Pennsylvania is solid. East coast is generally good on the whole, but given the number of teams in the region, you may have more competition for recruits too, so it all balances out.

Also, feel free to sitemail me with any specific questions once you are making actual decisions; its hard to give blanket generalized statements, as there are so many factors that go into making these decisions.

I know many other people on these forums feel the same way, so they would be accessible as well.

All of the other things people said, plus I'll throw out the obligatory - if you plan on staying in D3 for awhile, and you want to build a team, there is no world even comparable to Wooden.

If you want to move up to D2/D1 quickly, you might want to look somewhere else. But I still say come to Wooden! By far the most active D3 world.

Personally, I like the two a day worlds (although Wooden is the best D3, they are only 1 game a day.) I'm in Tark in the ODAC at D3. I'm a very active owner the other elite team in that conference is coached by udm_mike, a guy who is in the top 10 all-time in D3 wins. We have some younger coaches and it would be a great place to learn the game. I know I'll be sticking around there for a while and we'd love to have you.

This will help ya win right away and learn to recruit after.

When normal signups occur after the season:
1.) Sort all the teams by their records
2.) Look only at schools with B or higher for prestige
3.) Click on any team with with 3 or fewers scholarships
4.) When looking at the team try to find teams that have the least amount of starters leaving (hence they could have 2 seniors leaving but neither one really produced)

This is how I chose my first team when i started back up last year after 2 years off and it really helped. You will win right away and you don't have to not recruiting good the first year or two. Plus, you can jump up to D2 faster if you wish, even just in your second year.