Since a lot of players seem to be joining right now, I thought it would be good to have a thread where experienced players could provide some tips for the new players, on how to be successful. I'll start by saying you want to try to recruit players that are athletic and have good defensive abilities. It would have been nice for me, when I was new, to have a thread like this.
I AM COPYING AND PASTING SUGGESTIONS BELOW - THESE ARE NOT REALLY IN ORDER OF IMPORTANCE:
If you have not yet read the guide that Benis and I put together, this is a great place to start. HERE is a link to it.
1. (this is actually for current coaches) if you have a new coach reach out to them and make sure they can find the forums.
2. Recruiting players that have or will reach good Athleticism and defense is really important. Don't worry about overall rating, but look at cores and what players could potentially reach (2a recruit based on potential): I'd still go with the guideline that cores should at least get close to 60, but may not be possible for all cores to be 60 at D3, may have to take some flawed players.
PG: Ath, Speed, Def, Per (optional) BH, Pass
SG: Ath Speed Def LP/Per, Bh Pass FT if LP is high
SF: Same as SG (Others would disagree, but I find 3 guard line-ups much preferable to three bigs)
PF/C Ath, Reb, SB (kind of) Reb, LP (optional, can win with no scoring big)
If pressing or running fastbreak Stamina is important also.
3. In most cases, redshirt your best recruit each year and don't tell him during recruiting you're going to do it.
4. Put together a team. If one guard can't defend, try to make sure the other can. Same with scoring etc.
5. Schedule 10 wins for your second season. Play young sims at home if need be, but get wins to start. As you and your team gets better, start to branch out to playing sims with lots of Srs and other human opponents.
6. Don't rush to D2. Learn the game at D3 and move up only after having some success. (chapelhillne thoughts are that D2 and D3 are fairly similar but I'd still do a couple of seasons at least in D3. D1 is much more challenging)
7. (this should probably be further up the list) Take a team that was human coached and has human recruits. MOST of these teams will have better players than sims.
8. If you screw up your first two or three season and have a chance to move to a better D3 team, do it. It isn't cheating to change jobs to have success. Just make sure you can have success with your own players before moving up.
9. Don't use the optimize button. For depth chart, play your best players according to the cores. It helps to have a scorer off the bench, but in general let the best players play until you learn the game.
10. For practice plan, try and max the cores first. If a player is red or yellow in a category, and you make his practice time in that skill 0, his ratings in that area will go down slowly, but using those minutes in a Green or Blue or even Black skill will improve much more than you lose with the 0 minutes.
11. Don't switch offenses or defenses, pick a team that runs the sets you want to play.
12. Ask questions, ask questions, and then ask more questions here on the forums.
13. Avoid low WE players (<15ish) until you can understand how to develop players. If you have a very high WE player, they will develop faster, but will stop growing once they do reach their potential. They will just get there faster.
14. Save some scouting money for the second recruiting session. About 5k seems right at D3. Be patient, and see who has fallen through the cracks. Having patience can really pay off and may give you the ability to find a couple diamonds.
15. Durability means nothing in this game.
16. Height is already factored into ratings and is purely cosmetic.
17. PiMan's formula for freshmen study hall minutes: Use 3.6 minus HS GPA times 10. For sophomores it 3.2, juniors 2.8, seniors 2.4 (instead of 3.6). At midterms if a player is below a 2.5 add a minute for every tenth below, subtract a minute for every tenth above.
18. Chapelhillne's formula for study hall minutes: If a player has a HS GPA of 2.6 give the 7 minutes. Subtract a minute for every .1 above 2.7. Add a minute for every .2 below 2.6. Always look at the grade reports and adjust. Don't give minutes to Sophomores through seniors unless their GPA gets below 2.5. I like PiMan's formula for minutes once it drops below 2.5.
19. From WVU - They number one thing I found when I started (way back in 2009) is if you are able to get in a mature Conference with Coaches that have been around a while, do not hesitate to ask questions. Better yet go to the mentor list, and find one. There are a few wise eggs and you will figure out soon enough who they are. But most of us want a better experience. That means if we make you better, we have more fun. I have found that there is nothing better then a full house (Conference filled with humans), and you make each other better.
20.
Here is a worksheet by Hughes on how to figure out who is best for different positions.
21. If a player is listed at a certain position, you can have him play a different position, if you want to. For example, you might have a SG that is good at LP and Reb. He might be a very good SF for your team.
22. Look at
Schedule => World Schedule at any time see where you are in the season, it tells you where you are NOW and what significant events are coming up. For today in Allen, make sure to schedule your exhibition games and you should be Scouting.