This is probably common sense but you never know how that applies to sims.

My team is terrible. Slow and lacking in athleticism. 7 freshmen. So two questions:

1. I'm transitioning to zone from man to man. If you're slow and unathletic, zone seems easier to hide behind. Correct?

2. I'm going to play the freshmen the most in hopes of maximizing development and to see who will be worth keeping. So, while my upperclassmen are more proficient at M2M, I think it makes sense to start PLAYING zone once the freshmen are as good as it as M2M as they'll be clocking the most minutes. Right?

With this being your first season with them I would not worry about this season at all.

Your goal should be to set up your team long term. This is the perfect time for you to switch your offense and defense, but do not adjust to your current players abilities. Pick for long term, if you plan on staying there.

With your current team all sim recruited I would start the guys with the best potential. Your team won't make the postseason so get the most out of the guys as possible and have them better for next season.

Also many believe that if you play the new defense, your players will learn it quicker. As opposed to teaching zone but running man.

Pull the bandage off quick so to speak. Play max minutes the players for your future, and practice the defense you PLAN to use in the future. At D3, your first season or two will be nothing but transition. Personally, I would totally write off wins for this season and build experience, and set the Off and Def you desire moving forward. I really think hiding in year one at D3 somewhat cheats you Coaching experience. I see you are HoF, so perhaps your experience level is even above mine. However you still should take year one as a step for next year, because the roster recruits the Sim puts on you are pretty bad. Do not be afraid to lose this year....remember build this squad for next year.
AND I agree with the previous post, PRACTICE and PLAY the same Offense and Defense you desire long term!

I love zone, but it's not for everyone. You can hide defenders in zone, but you then need to make sure you've got at least one really strong defending guard, and one strong defending big on the court (and you need high rebounding and blocks from your center). You can steal some wins cutting down to an 8 or 9 man rotation this year, and that zone flexibility allows you to recruit scorers other coaches may ignore because of low defense, so it can be part of your long term plan as well. But if you intend to recruit high ATH/SPD/DEF at every position, you probably want man or press.

Both my freshmen C are 70+ in REB/BLK.

I'm HOF from HBD. I played 26 seasons of HD 10 years ago so I don't know jack about how the new engine works.

"Also many believe that if you play the new defense, your players will learn it quicker"

Disagree

Defense, or the ability to cause a TO or make a FGA a miss, is made up of ATH/SPD/DEF/BLK, the type of defense, and the +/- setting. There are other factors like fatigue,IQ, Double teams and stuff but I don't think you are asking about those.

Each defense has a slightly different weight for each skill. Generally speaking, PRESS values speed more, MAN values ATH more, and ZONE values block more.

It's subtle but it's there. If your guys are bad defenders they will still be bad defenders but if they are low ATH they will be slightly less bad in zone.

Rebounding doesn't have a direct effect in the defensive equation.

Posted by MikeT23 on 11/12/2016 11:15:00 AM (view original):
Both my freshmen C are 70+ in REB/BLK.

I'm HOF from HBD. I played 26 seasons of HD 10 years ago so I don't know jack about how the new engine works.

Anybody know jack? He may be the only guy that understands 3.0.

Just kidding, but you are in good company and a very good time to get in on the ground floor. WIS really missed an opportunity to retain many of the unsatified vets, by not starting a brand new World. Long time Coaches don't want to fail at the highest level, might have been coaxed to stay for a new race to the top.

Posted by mullycj on 11/12/2016 11:35:00 AM (view original):
"Also many believe that if you play the new defense, your players will learn it quicker"

Disagree

I agree with mully

Posted by wvufan76 on 11/12/2016 12:17:00 PM (view original):

Posted by MikeT23 on 11/12/2016 11:15:00 AM (view original):
Both my freshmen C are 70+ in REB/BLK.

I'm HOF from HBD. I played 26 seasons of HD 10 years ago so I don't know jack about how the new engine works.

Anybody know jack? He may be the only guy that understands 3.0.

Just kidding, but you are in good company and a very good time to get in on the ground floor. WIS really missed an opportunity to retain many of the unsatified vets, by not starting a brand new World. Long time Coaches don't want to fail at the highest level, might have been coaxed to stay for a new race to the top.

This will make me sound like an *** but so be it.

Under the new engine, everybody starts somewhat equal(I'm sure a long-time owner still has a huge advantage over an owner who hasn't played in 10 years). So, if all the long-time owners are starting at the same point, why quit? That makes no sense to me.

But starting a new world for those guys to begin anew seems reasonable. Losing long-time customers is bad business when the solution is so simple.

#1 thing is recruit PRIMARILY for D, Mike. Good Sp, Ath, and De is very, very valuable.

OK. Have to ask.

In HBD, if you go counter to the market, you can have a lot of success. IOW, if everyone wants power, you can "small ball" with contact/speed/baserunning, you can win. Can this happen in HD or, if your SP/ATH/DE sucks, are you screwed?

Posted by MikeT23 on 11/12/2016 2:22:00 PM (view original):
OK. Have to ask.

In HBD, if you go counter to the market, you can have a lot of success. IOW, if everyone wants power, you can "small ball" with contact/speed/baserunning, you can win. Can this happen in HD or, if your SP/ATH/DE sucks, are you screwed?

Sort of. Athleticism, defense and speed are always beneficial. At D3, press teams can sometimes sacrifice somewhat on defense and athleticism, as long as they retain lots of speed (80+ for guards, 60+ for sf, 40+ for bigs). By the time you get to D1, you probably can't really sacrifice any of those 3 much and play at a high level. With zone, you are in the best position to play "small ball" so to speak, as long as you have at least a few excellent defenders. Triangle/zone is probably the small ball of HD (I play press/zone combo, but a lot of people think I'm nuts). On offense, you can de-emphasize ATH and SPD (a little) and pick up shooters and passers neglected because they're defensive liabilities. On defense, you can pair excellent defenders with Mediocre defensive players at guard and forward (2-3 pairs guards and forwards, 3-2 pairs pg/sg/sf and pf/c) and get away with some matchups that would be exploited in man or press.

You can tailor your team the way you want, and make it work, if you know your sets, recruit your sets, and gameplan.

You can totally win at D2 and D3 using different strategies.

Most of them rely on high SPD or ATH but you don't need any extreme value to win. Balanced teams do very well also.

OK, as a neophyte, I need to know.

My 7(will be 6) are pretty bad at ATH/SPD/DE. I'll recruit better but I'm not completely screwed because of that class, right? I don't mind losing while I recruit better but, damn, losing for 3-4 seasons will suck.