I haven't posted yet but have received a lot of help from reading the walkthroughs and forums post so thanks already.

I was wondering if there were any tips for game planning.  My team is in the second year and I've turned it around pretty well (already doubled last years win total) but I've lost four games where I was favored (heavily favored twice).  Is it just some bad luck or are there some things I'm missing when planning my games?

Thanks for any advice.

I'll take a crack for you. 

In some of the early losses, you got bombed on from deep.  I guess this is the problem of the zone, esp. the 2-3Z.  You should consider playing more 3-2Z vs. perimeter oriented teams and maybe even some "+" defense on top of that.  Also, your guards, while they have good speed, they lack good DEF ratings (imo of course, though it's been so long since I played D3, my calibration may be a bit off).  So when you're playing 2-3Z with poor defenders and aren't playing "+", you're susceptible to teams killing you from outside.

You're getting outrebounded for the season.  Not good.  You have some good rebounders, so you  may want to experiment with playing some of them at the SF slot, either as a starter or as a backup.  Rhoades may be a good bench scoring option for you whereas maybe Rustin or Gardner could play the 3 well enough.  They both have better REB and DEF, so those are options you may want to explore vs. the better teams.  Gardner at SF, Smith at PF, and Dubreil at C???  Perhaps worth a shot.

Lastly, I'd probably increase the distro for Smith and Rhoades.  Looks like they should have a bit more prominent role in the offense imo.

Wow, dude!  I was hoping for a general answer but you gave me a great detailed answer.  Thanks for taking the time.

I recruited Rustin to play SF next season as a Def/Reb"er".  Maybe i'll try him now and let Rhoades come in off the bench, which he did last season.

Good stuff!

just to expand on what jdno said, you need to dramatically increase your team ath and def. I do disagree with him about one thing - I always got burned playing a + 3-2 defense. Go to +2 or +3 playing a 2-3 if you have to, but I always tried to stay away from a 3-2 at more than 0. Cost me a few games doing that.

If you are going to switch from 2-3 to 3-2, make sure that your SF is actually going to raise the average DEF/SPD/ATH when paired with your guards.  It is vital to have a strong defensive SF if you want to strategically play both 2-3 and 3-2 depending on the other team.  If your SF is weak, you are just countermanding the effect of the switch.

Also, many coaches that use the 2-3 consider +2 to be equivalent to the other defenses at 0.