I've played HD off-and-on over the years over a couple of different IDs. I've had plenty of E8 runs over that time and several F4 appearances (mostly at D2 and D3), but I never could seem to be able to make that last step to a championship.

For those willing to share, I'm curious...what did you find that it took to get over that hump?

51 D1 seasons in phelan. 0-3 in championships. i have nothing to offer here.

The perfect storm. Some good roll wins, some signings that fall in your lap that you didn't expect to be as easy, lucky break on some green growth, a nice upset of that opponent you're looking ahead and thinking "man I wish they were on the other half of the bracket!", good FT games, and no bad sims.

nothing direct really. But a lot of people lose when they think this is the big year and win when it may not be expected. Gotta keep grinding!

For me, I learned how to sacrifice a little defense for some scoring and PGs types.

I also learned how to build teams that worked well together and weren’t just a bunch of good players.

The final hurdle was to really focus on small differences in O/D. Most of my championships were with Triangle and my early ones were man, the last 5 or so have been running a 3-2.

Posted by ja_tbfl on 2/14/2022 4:20:00 PM (view original):
I've played HD off-and-on over the years over a couple of different IDs. I've had plenty of E8 runs over that time and several F4 appearances (mostly at D2 and D3), but I never could seem to be able to make that last step to a championship.

For those willing to share, I'm curious...what did you find that it took to get over that hump?

Slowdown man teams can be very very powerful and consistent. I've recorded an incredible number of 5 to 10 point wins in the NT over the years.

Hey, i had a long responses but deleted them cuz they were whiney. Lol.

Just want to say i'm 0-3 in National Finals with my Crum UConn team losing at 34-0 when my stud got 3 fouls in first 5 minutes, and played 14 total minutes.

Top put it best with "the perfect storm" I've had teams way better than my title-winning teams go out in the second round because of a bad draw. Even this year I would say my team was considerably better than my title team - but we got a ton of favorable matchups (I run a zone and I think that also helps you be able to get some upsets/beat teams better than you).

Even with recruiting there's that little bit of luck that helps you go from very good to championship level just by the nature of rolls. Plus even more luck is needed once you actually sign a player for them to go above and beyond expected potential. A few extra points in a few attributes takes a guy from all-conference to all-american sometimes

Then just add in some good old-fashioned sim luck on top of the rest. Opponents miss their FTs, their star player gets 3 fouls early, etc.

My one title was actually somewhat of a freak thing, and I feel like I am way better at HD than I was when I won the title. Just haven't gotten ring #2 yet but feel like I'm getting there.

It’s a crazy amount of luck. Almost too much I sometimes think, although that makes any repeats and three peats all that more impressive.

All three of my title teams I don’t think at the time I was even thinking about winning it all. It was always like, it’d be sweet if I won the next round. Wow, it’d be amazing if I won the next round. Wow! And then there were no rounds left.

And then I’ve had 4-5 teams that were light years better and they’ve always come up short and usually well short.

Because this is whatif sports, a site that specializes in simulations, I really wish they’d sim every postseason an additional 1000 times and be like you’re team won .5% of the time or something. Wouldn’t be able to control for coaching and it might diminish the real tournament winner, but I still think it’d be cool.

Two things that I attribute to getting that first title:
Finding a lesser recruited area(s). For me that was D2 Hawaii and internationals from my D3 school in MO.
Finding an elite defender that could play multiple positions and create good defensive matchups: Andrew Cunniff

DIII title I actually got pretty fast. DII for whatever reason I couldn't catch a break for a very long time with multiple appearances including a team that was easily the best in DII that season that ended up upset at elite 8 by a significantly worse team. Then I hit multiple title wins in a short period. The first step was improved recruiting after about 15 seasons. I didn't value Ath Spd and Def as I should have. I changed from a zone to man defense as I like the ability to match players on specific guys.

Getting over the hump for the title was another step in improving my recruiting along with some luck. I learned to stop settling for subpar guys just to fill my roster. You're better off carrying over that opening to the next recruiting cycle to focus on a stud. Keep in mind some guys are perfect for roles/bench/depth, but they can't be the guy you know you'll eventually cut in 1-2 seasons. Lastly, despite what I said above about Ath/Def, some guys are absolute position beasts with a possible defensive weakness. I've had a few championship game appearances and even wins with a pg playing significant minutes with a sub 50 Ath/Def, but 80+ in the remaining cores. You just have to help him out with matchups and double teams or play him off the bench with high distro.