I agree that I make it less attractive, but I only recruit 3 players a year on average. There are still a lot of sim schools around here. If SW Missouri State, Tulsa, Oral Roberts, North Texas etc got taken along with all the other schools like that, it would become even worse.

I still think its better than Vermont.

Of course it's better than Vermont.

man please site mail me with tips IM PLAYIN VALPO IN THE NT!!! i have NO IDEA HOW I MADE IT

corn, the more the merrier in the MVC, but stay out of Southern Illinois looking for recruits. (kidding)

Well I ended up with a 5 seed after going 27-2, with the 26th RPI. I think it was fair, especially since I was ranked #8.

Wichita State makes it to the 2nd round for the second year in a row :)

Just dominated the offensive glass vs. St Joe's, and were able to make a decent number of 3s vs. the 2-3 zone. Very exciting. But now I am starting to worry that some of my good juniors might decide to head to the NBA....either C Pierce, PF Mount, SF Macy or SG Pete are all close enough to maxed out, and Pierce won POTY in the conference, while the other 3 were all 1st or 2nd team all-MVC.

It would be a blow to lose anyone early, but I guess that is the price of success. I was getting excited to have a lot of money (relatively) for my 2 open spots, and if one or two graduate early, I goto a much more normal $/spot ratio. Which makes reaching for a 4 star player much lower odds.

On the good side, we are 28-2, 25 rpi, #8 ranked, won our conf championship, CT, COTY, and I have to figure even if we lose in the 2nd round, our C Prestige will go up, and hopefully more than just to a C+.

On the bad side, the Big 12 is rolling right now, which is going to give a lot of local schools a lot of cash. They got 8 in the postseason, and if everyone loses in the second round they are getting $17,000 extra, while if Creighton and I lose in the second round, each MVC team will get $6,000 extra. And that $11,000 gap is likely to grow. And their success will lead to more NBA picks from the Big 12 which means more open spots close to me....grr. At least K-State sucks.

Our second round opponent is Canisius, the 4 seed in my region. Pretty solid team, and they beat one the teams that beat me (Binghamton) twice in their conference.

On the plus side, I was on vacation when we played Binghamton, and we lost by 4 on the road on autopilot. So I have some ideas on how to give them a good game, but both teams are talented, so it will be a close one. Maybe I can find some advantage to exploit, we'll see.

yeah we suck and canisus beat me by 40. good luck tonight but i think ur season ends here

Tough loss...TOs killed us. 21 for us, 9 for them. No real reason for it, maybe all my starters are juniors and sophomores, so not great IQs (most A-).

I also shot 4-17 from 3 vs. a -2 zone, which is pretty poor. Ended up losing 37-50. Not a bad season though. Hopefully everyone will come back, and I will return the same team to the floor.

We fell to #11 in the rankings, and should end up somewhere around #15 or so. Pair that with a ~25 RPI and a 28-3 record, and my C prestige should go up to a B-?? That's my guess anyway. We'll see. The MVC did ok for NT money, ending up with $75,000, which is an extra $6,250 for me. Time to take a break, hope Pierce comes back, and get ready for another important recruiting season.

All in all, back to back seasons with 20 wins, wins in the NT and improvements in prestige. Only 16 teams had better runs than me, and most of them will lose a starter, so lots of promise....plus most of them had more resources in terms of $$$ and prestige than Wichita State too.

Last thought before the NBA draft.....have 2 openings....Chase my backup PG will be missed, and Kron, my 12th man who won't.

I need a backup PG and then a frontcourt scorer. Its obvious to me that my first class was much better than my second, and the 2 bigs I got the second year are just ok. Hopefully I can find a frontcourt player that can really help. That is where I am planning on spending the warchest. Hopefully I can find a really good player, with my improved prestige and extra money from savings, I am looking in the 3/4 star range.

And finally a question for the peanut gallery....would you rather have a PG with a 90 Ath and a 40 perimeter, or 40 Ath and 90 perimeter, all other things equal?

NBA draft.....and no one from Wichita State leaves early :)

Good news for us as we get all 5 starters and 4 of 5 backups back. Prestige up from a C to a B-. I think that is fair. Now there is almost noone to fear outside the power 6 conferences. Several other good teams in the same prestige level as me, but no one who can steal a recruit from me without spending significant $$$.

Main local competition: Denver (B-), Northern Iowa (B), Creighton (C), Iowa (A-), Oklahoma (A+), Oklahoma State (C+), K-State (B-), Kansas (A-), Iowa State (B-), Nebraska (B-), Missouri (B), Colorado (C).

So I am still below the average prestige, and really have to respect Kansas, Iowa, and Oklahoma. There are 5 or 6 Texas schools that can compete or dominate me in Oklahoma too, but only Texas could really bother me in Kansas.

Congratulations, you're officially a mid-major.

Yay, I am Gonzaga of the plains.

Wow, lots of new coaches in the south/southwest. Going to be tougher to recruit.

Northern Arizona, UTEP, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Centenary (LA), Arkansas State & LSU all got human coaches.

Arkansas is going to be very competitive with 2 more humans and not a ton of talent there. And UTEP/North Arizona will fill the void by New Mexico State going sim. Only other human=">Sim" in my area was UT-San Marcos.

Wow, long time since my last update. So recruiting was not very exciting. I had $55,000 or $60,000, 2 open scholarships, and I just did nothing. Sat on it. I just never found a guy that was worth going all in for.

My top 2 targets were targeted by Kansas (6 open A prestige) and my B- prestige seemed like a waste of money when KU had a bankroll of 120,000.

So I just waited and took the best second tier players available. I am pretty happy, but it was a "avoided a big mistake" recruiting season, rather than "made great moves" season.

So my Recruits:

PG Vernon Canchola from Catoosa, OK 77th PG, 1-star

Ath 69+, Speed 79+, Reb 9, Def 69+, Blk 10, PER 42-, BH 75+, Pass 92, WE 27, STM 82, FT 62.6% (high), GPA 2.9

I think he was a real steal for $3500. No one ever bothered me for him from the first cycle I was on him. I bet he ends with 90 Ath, 95 Speed, 90 Defense, 90s in BH and Passing. And who knows how high his FT shooting will go to help ice games. Only limitation is he cannot shoot 3s. That is a weakness, but I usually take SFs that are more perimeter players than post players, so I think it will be ok. He is going to backup Hummel for 2 years and probably start his Junior and Senior Seasons.

My second recruit was about $12,000 since he was 400 miles away and an ineligible. I had to fight off Eastern Washington for him, but it wasn't really a battle. I was a B- and they were C-, and I had a 400 to 800 distance advantage too. So by the time I spent $7500 they were gone.

PF Donald Baker, #63rd PF, #255 overal 2-star from Hatch, NM

Ath 71+, Speed 51, Reb 72+, Def 55+, Blk 68+, LP 77+, Per 33, BH 19, Passing 23, WE 28, Stm 69, FT 75.1% (high), HS GPA 2.1

I am so pleased that Baker showed up on campus. He has a ton of high potential areas, and I think he could end up with a 90 ath / 60 speed to go with 90s in Rebounding, Shot Blocking and Low Post. Plus his PER/BH/Pass skills all have room for improvement, and he is a good FT shooter. I really hope I can get him for 5 years, because with his low (28) WE it is going to be hard to develop him, especially when he will need a lot of Study Hall. He came in with a D+ in Man to Man.

So not too bad, 2 useful players and I only spent $18,000 on them. Throw in a wasted $5,000 on some KU targets, scouting internationals, etc. and I saved around $34,000, which gave me an extra $8,500 for next year. I am going to spend about half of it on FSS and then use the rest for some battles. KU has 6 to recruit though, which sucks, because they will have $100-$120k, vs. my 90-105 and they will have a prestige advantage. But hopefully with a good year it will be less than the A vs. B- it is today. Or else I just have to get out of the way.

So far this year it has been a real grind. 6-4 in noncon about 90th RPI. Hopefully we can get it going in conference play and go 13-3 or something and make the NT for the 3rd straight year. I have 5 open scholarships, and would really like the extra $$$ and prestige.

Well so far not so hot. 2-1 with a unexpected home loss to SIU. Both my bigs fouled out, and SIU went 16-18 from the foul line in a 67-72 loss.

Nothing seems to be going right for us right now. And we play arch-rival Northern Iowa on the road tonight. I am just lost on my strategy.

My backup SG stewart got really hurt (50%) and is limping back, missed 6 games completely, now at 87%, and that has hurt the rotation, and I still cannot decide if Mount or Crowe is the better PF. Crowe wins in Rebounding, LP, BLK, def, but Mount wins in Ath, Per, Passing, FTs. Hard to judge, but it really hasn't mattered because of Stewart's injury, I have been forced to play Mount as a backup SF.

I really am hoping I can pull an upset tonight, but even if I don't, I still think a 12-4 season in conference play is doable, and that would get me to 18-8. That would put me on the NT bubble I think, but i need my noncon opponents to do well.