Changes within the last 7146 days...
04/09/2020
- Closed loophole where a coach could not renew team, then get full recruiting resources by applying to the same job.
03/21/2019
- Fixed the issue where a coach taking a new job would be associated with recruits signed by the previous coach of Sim AI. Now, the coach at the time of the singing will be correctly associated with each player.
03/19/2019
- Final recruit signing odds are now saved explicitly and used for display on the considering list page once a recruit signs. Previously, the displayed odds were calculated based on points. This was accurate in the vast majority of cases, but didn't account for cases where one or more teams were unable to sign a player due to lack of scholarship openings or class size limit. The signing odds now account for those, and will always accurately reflect the odds used in the decision.
- Expanded the recruit considering list to include all teams that have contacted a recruit.
- Performance improvements on Recruit Home and Recruit Pool pages.
11/01/2018
- Fixed some sorting issues that appeared in Chrome.
- Fixed a bug that prevented two players who share the same first initial and last name from being set as starters.
09/02/2015
- Updated cycle batch processing to run faster, particularly with game simulations.
02/24/2015
- We've released an update that changes the way seasons are handled. Previously seasons were tied to a single world but now users have a pool of available seasons. The pool of seasons is then used for renewing your team. There are two different ways to renew your team - by clicking the action to renew your team it will then set that team as reserved and pull one of your seasons from your pool of available seasons. Additionally, you can set the team to auto renew and when the renewal deadline is reached your team will automatically be renewed as long as you have seasons remaining.
06/12/2014
- Improved the mobile friendly dropdown menus
06/03/2014
- Modified main dropdown menus to work better on mobile. Touching the menu name will now leave the sub items visible instead of going directly to the default page of that menu. This change should not affect desktop behavior.
- Fixed a bug where users who have not played before were not able to view team profiles.
06/02/2014
- Fixed a bug where anyone could see color-coded potential on the Ratings History tab of the player profile. Now a coach can only see that for his own players.
- Updated quick jump menu with recent page additions (User Settings, Player Positions, and Draft Big Board).
05/29/2014
- Made the Draft Big Board page sortable
- Added FT rating to the Ratings History tab of the player profile page.
- Now showing color-coding for potential on Ratings History tab of the player profile page for both active players and historical players. This will only show up for historical players if they graduate from now on, as the necessary data wasn't being saved before.
05/28/2014
- Fixed a bug where recruited position rank on the player profile was showing the incorrect position for players who had changed position.
05/27/2014
- Added a Player Positions page (under the Coaching menu) that allows a coach to specify players' positions. This feature is available each season up until the day of the first regular season game.
05/21/2014
- Added a new Draft Big Board page (located under the Postseason menu). This page will show the current ranking of draft prospects using mostly the same logic as the actual draft.
Note: team season success and player national awards can impact draft status and are NOT included in the ranking for this page.
- Added a minimum win% restriction of .425 for selection into the Postseason Invitational.
05/19/2014
- Moved the "Season End" ratings history line from after offseason changes to before offseason changes.
- Modified the depth chart page to only save the Substitution Method setting (Fatigue or Target Minutes) when the Save button is clicked. Previously, this setting was saved immediately upon clicking the option, which caused some unintentional changes.
05/13/2014
- Updated the FAQ page to pull information directly from the Knowledge Base. This will prevent that page from becoming out-of-date or no longer applicable.
- Fixed a bug that was causing some past ratings history records to be overwritten with current ratings when they shouldn't have been. Unfortunately, existing data that had been stored over the past month or so was invalid, so it had to be deleted.
05/12/2014
- Added a tab to the player profile to show ratings history for the player. This will include a snapshot at the start and end of each season as well as current ratings.
- Changed the Awards tab on the player profile to show by season instead of career totals.
- Rebuilt the player profile for historical players (not on an active roster). It now includes a tab for ratings, stats (by season instead of just career), awards (by season instead of career totals), and ratings history. Note: season-by-season stats/awards and ratings history has only been saved recently, so older players will still show career totals for stats/awards and will not have any ratings data.
04/30/2014
- Greatly improved loading speed for Scoreboard page.
04/29/2014
- Added a User Settings page (located under the Office menu). Currently, there are two settings available: 1) a setting to turn player potential color-coding on or off on the team profile page, and 2) a setting to specify whether to use the standard "Total" or a player role formula for overall ratings throughout the game.
04/22/2014
- Added color coded potential to the Ratings view of the team profile.
- Added an opponent stats table to the Game Log view on the team profile.
- Added a roster view on the main Player Roles page to allow for quick viewing of different player role ratings.
07/25/2013
- Fixed an issue that in certain scenarios would cause recruits to delay signing until the end of recruiting even if only one team was considered.
06/13/2013
- Removed the requirement of a reserved season for redshirting a player for moving seasons among worlds.
04/16/2013
- Removed the ability to withdraw the following actions: Inform of Redshirt, Inform of Non-Redshirt, Promised Start, Promised Minutes. There were situations where submitting these actions had immediate consequences, so withdrawing was causing problems.
01/03/2013
- On the Team Profile - History tab, added SOS rank
- Rearranged Top 25 rankings page to make it more compact like the RPI page, and also added a column for coach
- On the conference RPI rankings page, made the conference name a link to that conference's standings page
- On the Player Profile, added the player's recruiting ranking (by position) next to the name of the coach who signed him
- Added FG% to the roster listing on the Depth Chart page
- On the Coach Profile, added Win% next to the coach's overall, home, road, conference, and tournament records
- On the Team Profile - Records tab, increased number of players to 25
07/18/2012
- Improved the logic to rank players for the NBA draft to provide better balance between the 5 positions. Also some players may be evaluated for a different position than their listed one if their ratings indicate a different natural position.
06/26/2012
- Reorganized some navigation menus. Items under the Archive menu are now under Office. A new Coaching menu has been added. The Forums menu is now a WIS menu and will contain all WIS-related links.
- Removed the recruit message responses specific to international recruits. They will now pull from the same responses as any other recruit.
- Added functionality to view past seasons on all of the conference tourney, NT, and PIT brackets and seeds pages.
- Changed the rule that limits early entries once a team has lost 5 players. The rule will now only kick in if 6 players are lost. Also, transfers who only played one season for the team will not count in that 6.
Note: This won't take effect until the next season that your world rolls over. For example, if you're in the middle of season 45, it won't take effect until the time of the draft at the end of season 46.
- Modified the logic for how a player will react to a redshirt. It will be based on the player's class, his recruiting position rank, and how he ranks on his team (so if he's one of the worst on the roster he's more likely to accept it). Also, his reaction to it will always be the same as it was the first try for a given season. So there won't be any benefit to removing and applying it multiple times.
- Removed booster gifts, psych report, and personality test from the recruiting options. The process to investigate booster gifts will still run normally to account for any actions done prior to this release.
- Modified the logic that handles whether underclassmen will enter the NBA draft. The odds of a player leaving early will be based on the player's class along with where he's projected to be picked. There will still be a chance a highly projected player will stay in school, but those odds will be much less random.
- Adding a new feature called "Player Roles". This boils down to a page where you can define any number of custom formulas that produce an overall rating from 0-100. These formulas can then be used on the recruit search page to order players based more on what you as a coach value instead of the standard overall rating. It's also available to use on the Recruit Compare popup page.
- Changed the logic for determining a team's recent success as applies to prestige so that the weighting of the past 4 seasons will be spread out more evenly, placing less emphasis on the most recent season.
- Improved the logic that ranks players for the NBA draft to address the issue of big guys being overvalued and also to give more emphasis to players from successful, high prestige schools.
- Reduced the impact of baseline prestige and conference strength, and increase the impact of actual team success in the logic that adjusts prestige after the season.
02/15/2012
- Fixed a bug where the sidebar table listing conference tournament championships was not showing up-to-date information.
12/19/2011
- Fixed an issue related to job status changes being too harsh. This will only affect worlds going forward from this point. Already affected worlds should correct after next season. Please contact customer support if you were fired and don't believe it was fair.
12/07/2011
- Made the following tweaks to the postseason selection logic:
- Increased value for winning the game
- Less weight on opponent rank
- Less weight on score margin
- Less weight on last 10 games
- Less weight on conference tournament results (those games are still included in the normal schedule results evaluation)
Also, score margin is now being adjusted for the pace of the game, so a 50-30 margin is considered slightly more impressive than a 90-70 margin.
- Improved new tournament seeding logic to better distribute teams from the same conference, preventing early round matchups.
12/01/2011
- Color coding for potential has changed from green/red to blue/orange to help out our color blind friends.
- Redesigned tournament bracket pages, most importantly the conference tournament to make it easier to follow.
- Fixed game dropdown menus to work in iOS 5.
- Reorganized recruit signings page to allow viewing the top 200 for each division or viewing signings for any conference.
- Slightly reduced the expected minutes of sophomores and juniors related to complaining about lack of playing time.
- You'll now be warned when recruiting a player if your team already is at the max for that player's class.
- Reorganized a few menu items and added a separate Postseason menu. Also added a new Projection Report page, which shows all teams and how they currently rank for the postseason.
- Improved logic for player awards, both conference and national.
- Reduced the amount of variance on player grades, so study hall minutes will have more impact on the resulting grades.
- Improved logic for tournament selection/seeding. The new logic will go through each game and score it based on outcome (win/loss), opponent rank, opponent RPI, margin, and location (home/away/neutral).
- Color-coded player potentials (like what you see in recruiting) are now displayed on the practice plan page.
- Players deciding on early entry to the draft will now decide to stay if their team has already lost 5 or more players to graduation and early entry. Does not count walk-ons leaving.
- Improved the logic for determining loyalty hit for changing jobs, most notably there will be less of a hit for a lateral type move.
- Improved logic to calculate coach success to include more of a coach's history
10/24/2011
- Closed a loophole where players would not complain about promised minutes even though they should have been.
- Closed a loophole where players would not complain about promised starts even though they should have been.
03/09/2011
- Reduced the number of time-outs called in a short time span at the very end of games.
- Further improved logic on outcomes of last second possessions, to include fewer turnovers/fouls at the end of the game.
02/16/2011
- Adjusted assist odds for a team to create more separation between good passing teams and poor passing teams. This does not change the impact of passing on FG%.
- Added an individual player matchup component to rebounding, so that a mismatch will produce better numbers from the player with the advantage. This will in turn create a little more separation between the truly good rebounding teams and poor rebounding teams.
- Adjusted the distribution of players available for the different divisions/prestiges to better match the distribution prior to the 5/12/2010 release. In particular there were too many recruits slotted for the DII level and not enough at the lower levels of DI.
Note: This does not change the actual ratings of the players, it just affects what schools a particular quality of player will consider and so affects also what recruits will show up in the search for a school.
- Added a small bump to the average max value for most ratings for recruits. This will only affect recruits generated after today's release.
- Broke up the Scoreboard page by tournament (e.g. DI NT, DI PI, etc.) for postseason games. Also added a note at the bottom of game capsules to indicate the type of game.
02/03/2011
- Engine Changes (applies to games in all worlds starting 2/3/11 PM)
- Fixed a display bug where a player on the wrong team is listed as running out the clock
- Minor improvements to some last second logic
- Improved logic on outcomes of last second possessions, to include fewer turnovers/fouls
- Slightly lowered FG% on last-second shots
- Increased steals (does not increase turnovers, just percentage of turnovers that are steals)
- Fixed a bug where in certain situations centers were being incorrectly favored to get rebounds
- Lowered 2-point and 3-point FG% across the board
- Small reduction to fatigue rate
- Improved timeout logic
- Double teams are now re-evaluated each possession instead of only on lineup changes to account for the leading scorer changing
- Assists raised significantly
- Adjusted distribution of assists by position
- Fixed a bug where tempo was not reverting back to normal settings at the start of OT if the engine had adjusted it late in regulation
- Recruit Generation Changes (applies only to recruits created after 2/3/11)
- Reduced average FT grade for new recruits
- Increased averages for most individual ratings across the board to raise the overall average
- Added a fix so that recruits won't be generated with very low start rating and average/high potential
- On the Conference tab of Player and Team stat Leaders "Only Conference Stats" now defaults to off instead of on
12/07/2010
- Added Team Ratings and Player Ratings pages under the Rankings menu to view player/team ratings with various sort/filter options.
- Fixed a bug where it was possible to save the depth chart with the same player listed as a starter in multiple positions.
12/01/2010
- Player conference awards will now be based on stats compiled during conference games only instead of total season stats.
- Added the ability to toggle between full-season stats and conference-only stats on the Conference tab of the team leaders page.
- Made several minor logic fixes/improvements based on tickets/feedback.
11/23/2010
- Added the ability to toggle between full-season stats and conference-only stats on the Conference tab of the player leaders page.
- Added the ability for a coach to immediately return to his team during the job period after failing to renew as long as no other coach has applied to that job and of course you weren't fired from the job. There will be a message on the Job page if you fail to renew in time.
- Modified the recruit profile page to be viewable for coaches who are not in that world.
11/09/2010
- Greatly reduced the odds of a player getting his own offensive rebound if the shot attempt was a 3 pointer. Also, removed any chance that a player can tip in his own missed 3 pointer.
- Made a small tweak to distribution of turnover types to reduce odds of offensive fouls a bit.
11/02/2010
- Made some improvements to the gameplanning pages to better handle errors and prevent incorrect settings from being saved.
08/28/2010
- New engine version with the following tweaks:
- reduced single-game variance on rebounding
- reduced single-game variance on shooting
- reduced single-game variance on fouls
- reduced single-game variance on turnovers
- reduced single-game variance on free throw shooting
- changed the performance hit from fatigue so that it won't be as linear, but instead performance will decrease more rapidly as a player gets tired
- reduced offensive rebound odds on free throws
- various minor logic improvements
The end result should be that single-game results match more closely to what you would expect and there will be fewer upsets. There will still be upsets though, so don't expect to win every game you're favored to win.
This will affect all worlds immediately.
08/24/2010
- Fixed a bug where certain long messages would not post correctly in the conference chat.
07/15/2010
- Improved the top 25 rankings logic to give extra weight to postseason games. This should lead to much more realistic rankings during and after the tournament. Regular season will remain the same.
07/12/2010
- Made a change to allow recruiting responses to process first for each cycle (including game cycles). Games will run after that.
07/06/2010
- The issue with delayed game simulations has been fixed. Simulation times for games will now start at 2 am/pm ET. Other processes, such as recruiting responses, will run after the completion of games.
06/16/2010
- Tweaks to the new engine:
- Reduced the effects of home court advantage
- Reduced the extreme number of fouls generated by player mismatches
- Reduced the extreme number of turnovers generated by player mismatches
- Slight increase to 3pt shooting percentage
- Increased the impact of defensive positioning on shooting percentages
- Increased the frequency of putback attempts on offensive rebounds
- Improved the agent feedback on the job page with regards to loyalty and reputation requirements. You will now see clearly whether those areas will prevent you from getting a job.
06/10/2010
- Made some tweaks to shooting percentages. The main difference you'll notice is a reduction in the extreme 3pt shooting for certain players.
- Increased # of recruits generated in Puerto Rico and Mexico.
06/07/2010
- For the new engine, made an adjustment to the number of 3-point shots players will take compared to 2-point shots. The most obvious change will be fewer 3's by players with much higher LP than PER, and more 3's by players with high PER and low LP.
06/01/2010
- Bug fix: Non-qualifiers were not getting credit for study hall minutes in worlds using the new engine. I've corrected those minutes and adjusted up the mid-term gpa for any of them below 2.4. To clarify, this only affected non-qualified freshmen.
05/27/2010
- Tweaks to the new engine:
- Slightly reduced the impact of IQ on performance
- Improved the effect that defensive positioning has on the location of opponent shots
- Improved logic to get the ball to better shooters when the team needs a 3 late in the game and avoid guys set to -2 3pt frequency
- Increase fatigue recovery at halftime
- Minor tweaks to player matchup effect on rebounding
- Tweaks that should reduce fouls some
03/10/2010
- We've made a change to the prizing system. The new details are as follows:
- Lose opening round game: $3 in credits
- Lose second round game: $5 in credits
- Lose Sweet 16 game: $10 in credits
- Lose Elite 8 game: $15 in credits
- Lose Final Four game: $20 in credits
- Lose Championship game: 4,000 reward points
- National Champion: 6,000 reward points
Most importantly, this change allows us to remove the reduction in rewards for previous postseason appearances. So there is no longer any penalty for a coach who wants to stay in DII or DIII and build a dynasty there instead of moving to DI.
The credit amounts are pretty much equivalent in value to the rewards in the previous system. These credits are for HD only and will expire after one year. The reward points for making the championship game remain exactly the same as before.
This change will only affect leagues once a new season starts, so any season that has a signup deadline after 3/10/2010 will use the new system, otherwise the old system will be used.
03/04/2010
- Added a new action link on the history tab of the recruit profile popup page which will allow you to withdraw a recruiting action as long as it's still pending.
- Added a Mark As Read button to the inbox page. You can click the checkbox next to multiple messages and click this button to mark them all as read at one time.
- Added a new action link on the job application page which will allow you to withdraw an application as long as it is still pending.
12/30/2009
- Closed the loophole of redshirting a player to avoid fulfilling recruiting promises. Players who were promised minutes or a starting spot will always be angry now if a coach redshirts them. Also, redshirted players will now be included in the pool of players who may complain if they're not getting their promised minutes/starting spot.
10/14/2009
- Made a tweak to reduce the requirements for experience for coaches in DIII. This will make it a little easier to move up to DII. Will not affect current DII and DI coaches.
05/05/2009
- Scheduling a non-conference game for the next season no longer requires you to keep a season in that world.
03/11/2009
- A few adjustments have been made to the rate of player improvement for those players under the potential system. You'll see the rate of improvement slow down significantly across the board. Work ethic and game minutes will play a more important role in rate of development now than in the previous system.
This change will impact all worlds starting with the 3/11/09 afternoon practices.
01/15/2009
- Engine version 3.8.3 released to all worlds. Changes include enhanced logic for the handling of playing time in blowout and mopup situations, the chances of a player returning within a game after an injury will now vary based on the importance of the game (e.g. less likely to try to return during an exhibition game vs. a national tournament game), the clock will keep running after made baskets except for the last 60 seconds of the 2nd half and OT periods (matching NCAA rules) and teams will be less likely to burn a timeout with only a few seconds remaining to end the first half.
Also, in an effort to minimize possible misuse of scouting information, users who have signed up using a promocode will no longer be able to use the Future Stars Scouting service unless they have also added another season to their account.
01/12/2009
- The Future Stars Scouting "word on the street" will now be updated twice per day instead of once per day. Also, scouting trips will provide more detailed information on potential improvement than a coach would receive via the Future Stars Scouting service.
11/25/2008
- For players that were generated with potential, we have introduced maximum physical daily improvement in addition to the theoritical maximum daily improvements that were already in place. These will apply to stamina, athleticism, speed and durability.
We are also introducing new seeding logic for both the NT and the PIT which will minimize potential conflicts between teams from the same conference. All of the other seeding criteria remain the same.
11/19/2008
- - Total money spent has been added to the recruiting history tab on player and recruit profile.
- Added a "Scouted" option to the state list in the recruit search which will only return recruits in states that you have purchased scouting service coverage on.
- Manage Seasons page has been added to the Office menu. The manage seasons page will allow users who coach in more than world to move seasons around between worlds without submitting a support ticket.
11/12/2008
- Engine version 3.8.2 released to all worlds. Timeout logic was enhanced to in terms of both when timeouts are called and the display of how many timeouts remain. Also, when teams are set to auto-adjust tempo, the auto-adjusted tempo will become the default for the team so in instances where a team goes into and out of their late game settings criteria, the tempo will revert back to the a auto-adjusted tempo. For example, if your late game setting is to play slow down when winning by 2 or more points with 5 minutes or fewer remaining, when that is true you will play slow down, when that is not true, you will play the auto-adjusted tempo.
10/22/2008
- Two new tabs have been added to the team profile page: a team game log (similar to the player game log) and a drafted players tab. Also, a draft history link has been added to the coaching profile page (if a coach has had players drafted that he signed).
10/17/2008
- Engine version 3.8.1 released to all worlds. Changes include a fix for substitutions which were not occurring very early in the 2nd half for tired players, a fix for specific late-game situations in which the best perimeter players were needed but the engine was playing the best defenders and minor end of game logic tweaks.
10/02/2008
- All new recruits generated will now include a growth potential in each skill/attribute. Some recruits will also prefer playing close to home, some will prefer getting away from home but the majority will continue to not have a preference. In addition, newly generated recruits may also have a childhood favorite school that the rooted for. All of this information can be obtained through traditional recruiting efforts (calls, visits, etc.).
In addition, you now have the option of subscribing to the Future Stars Scouting (FSS) service (found under the Recruiting Menu). You may choose to purchase coverage any number of states that you wish - the cost per state is based on the number of unsigned HS and JUCO players in that state (yes, the costs will decline once signings have begun). You can receive discounts by purchasing coverage on multiple states (2-4 states: 10%, 5-7 states: 15%, more than 7: 20%) - discounts are not retroactive.
If you have purchased FSS coverage on a state, you will have access to the Future Stars Notes tab on all recruit profiles from that state. Here you will be able to see the recruit's proximity preference, childhood favorite school and potential grades as well as the FSS Word on the Street which is updated once per day and gives an indicator of the state of a recruit's considering list.
In addition, you will be able to search the recruiting database by proximity and childhood favorite for those states you have purchased coverage. The ratings view in the search and the recruit compare window are now color-coded based on potential (red=low, black=average, green=high) - again, only for states which have purchased coverage.
Each program will receive additional funds added to their recruiting budget ($250 for DIII, $500 for DII and $1,500 for DI) regardless of the number of open scholarships you have. This can either be used to help pay for the Future Stars Scouting service or it can be used to help with your recruiting efforts.
Additional changes:
- you can now see the most recent posts from your coaches corner from your office page, inbox, etc.
- you can now page through all of the postings in your coaches corner
- you can now post in the coaches corner of other conferences in your world
The first class of new recruits will be generated tonight after recruiting concludes in Iba, until then, all recruiting will the same as normal.
09/05/2008
- Engine 3.8.0 released. Changes include an increase to the amount of fatigue incurred when playing fullcourt press and a fix for a bug which would occur in certain late game situations after an offensive rebound when the team needed a 3 pointer.
The new engine will be used beginning with the next game in Worlds 1, 2, 3 and 9. All other worlds will begin using this release starting with their next respective seasons.
08/11/2008
- Engine Version 3.7.2 released to all worlds. Fixed issue with teams reverting back to default offensive tempo inside of 6 minutes even though the auto-adjust tempo setting was on.
07/22/2008
- Rankings voting methodology tweak. The change will result in early season losses carrying a bigger drop in the rankings and late season wins carrying bigger jumps in the rankings. It goes into effect for all worlds immediately.
07/07/2008
- Added National Tournament bids to both the Coach Records page and School Records page. Also added divider lines to make those pages more readable.
- The History menu was changed to Archive and a Past Rosters page was added. It lists scholarship players from any season for any team and provides links to each player's profile.
07/02/2008
- Engine 3.7.1 released to correct issue with altered shot play by play not being displayed correctly in certain situations.
- Added a second table on the Team Profile player ratings page that shows ratings changes over the current season for the team's roster.
- Added a History page that allows you easy access to any CollegiateInsider articles (e.g. preseason all-americans, NBA draft results, etc.) for any season.
06/26/2008
- Engine 3.7.0 released. Changes include:
- the addition of a user setting to auto-adjust pace based on the time remaining/margin of the game
- the addition of altered shots to the play by play
- improved logic to calculate blowout situations
- updating of the play by play for the full-court press to display double-team/open shot text correctly
- IQ will play less of an impact in scoring and more of an impact in turnovers and fouls
- adjustment to the rate of shooting fouls
- stamina was not being impacted by injuries before but will be now
- fixed issue with guys set to 'less aggressive' foul settings being treated too conservatively
- adjusted assist percentages
This engine will be released to worlds after the conclusion of their current season.
A developer chat has been scheduled for Friday, June 27th at 2pm ET to answer your questions.
06/24/2008
- We have made changes which will impact how quickly a coach can be qualified for a DI position when going directly from DIII.
03/28/2008
- The WIS rankings have been adjusted to better account for 'good losses'. This change will go into effect beginning with tonight's games for all worlds.
03/21/2008
- Beginning with the next job change period, all users will receive 4 job applications whether they are returning from the prior season or have taken a season or more off.
03/11/2008
- We are in the process of replacing UT Pan Amercian with the University of San Diego in the WCC.
03/07/2008
- You can now remove recruits from your recruiting summary page by selecting 'remove' from the priority dropdown and clicking save. Recruits that have been removed can be restored by clicking on the 'show removed recruits' link.
03/05/2008
- Engine 3.6.1 released to fix a substitution issue with engine 3.6.0.
02/29/2008
- The ability to control fouls by player has been added to the player gameplan page. This feature requires engine version 3.6 or higher. Worlds 2, 3 and 9 will receive the latest engine release today, all other worlds will receive it starting with their next respective season.
Engine 3.6 also fixes a bug where in rare situations, a player would sub out and then come back in without any time running off the clock.
02/27/2008
- Beginning Thursday, February 28th after the morning games have been played, we will be adding new coaching controls to the player game plan page which allows coaches to instruct the engine on how to deal with fouls on a player by player basis.
Your 3 options are normal (how it is done currently), more aggressive (you're willing to leave the player on the court longer than normal) and less aggressive (you're more conservative and he'd likely come out sooner in the hopes he'll be available for the end of the game).
This change will be accompanied by a new engine release. The only change in this engine release is to deal with the new individual foul controls.
The nature of this change requires that all worlds receive it at the same time. You can leave all players at 'normal' and there will be no change in how your players are handled from the prior engine release.
Also, a developer chat has been scheduled for Thursday from 12:00 - 12:30 pm ET. You may post questions at any time.
02/26/2008
- Beginning with this season in worlds 2, 3, 6 and 9, we will be using a new RPI formula which has two changes - the home/road bonus weights have been changed from 1.2 to 1.4 and .8 to .6 to match the NCAA. Also, the home/road bonus weights are only applied to part I of the formula, not parts II and III.
The new RPI formula will be used in all other worlds beginning with their next respective season.
02/13/2008
- Beginning with recruiting in Wooden (2/14), "considering credit", which was introduced 11/15/07, will start on day 2 of recruiting, not from the outset of recruiting as was the case prior.
02/11/2008
- End of season prestige values have been retroactively added to the history tab for all DII and DIII teams.
02/05/2008
- Beginning with the next recruiting period in Naismith (which is now scheduled to start on Februrary 8th), there will be a few changes regarding recruit IQs.
Like players, recruits will be having varying levels of knowledge of the 4 offenses and 5 possible defenses (man, zone, press, press/man, press/zone). As before, they will be more versed in the offense/defense they ran either in HS or JUCO with the difference being that not all recruits will report to campus with the same starting IQs.
High schools and jucos will also begin running combo defenses so you can possibly see recruits with high starting IQs in both press and man (for example - rare, but possible). This does mean that all of the high schools and JUCOs will potentially be playing different offenses/defenses than what they have in the past.
You will still determine their offense/defense through calling their existing coach and scouting trips. Both may also now reveal more than just what they ran in high school but their level of knowledge as well.
In addition, we have also incorporated playing time/starts as another variable which impacts the rate of IQ improvement once players get to college (in addition to work ethic, intellect and practice time).
A developer chat has been scheduled for February 7th at 3pm ET
If you are unable to attend the live chat, you may post questions at any time prior.
01/30/2008
- We have added a top 25 scoreboard for all 3 divisions to the scoreboard page. The scoreboard will still default to your conference games but from there you'll see 3 tabs for the top 25 teams. The scoreboard page can be accessed by going to Schedule > Scoreboard from the top menu or by clicking on any date on your schedule.
01/14/2008
- Effective January 17th (the start of recruiting in Iba), it will be substantially more difficult to get the top ranked recruits to be open to being redshirted during recruiting. There is no change for DIII, DII or recruits ranked out of the top 50 at their position.
01/12/2008
- The Sportsbook (whatifsportsbook.com) has been changed to limit maximum bets to $1000 beginning with the next season. Also, the reward point prizes have been reduced to 1,000 for 1st place and 500 for 2nd place effective March 1st, 2008.
01/09/2008
- Engine 3.5.2 released which fixed a bug which was displaying the wrong teams team foul total after illegal screens.
01/08/2008
- During recruiting, players will be much less likely to accept promises of either minutes or starting unless the recruit is at least somewhat familiar with your program.
01/01/2008
- Engine 3.5.1 released which corrects a bug that was preventing the number of team fouls from being displayed after each personal foul.
12/17/2007
- Engine version 3.5.0 released. Changes include:
- fix for shot clock violation issues
- change to ensure that a team's poorest free throw shooter is inbounding the ball when the opposing team begins intentionally fouling
- the free throw shooter may now be subbed out after made free throws instead of waiting until the next dead ball
- adjusted assist distribution to better match NCAA DI averages by position
- decreased odds of desperation shots going in (halfcourt and longer)
- corrected issue with certain players being left in while in foul trouble
- increased injury frequency slightly, but significantly decreased the odds of a major injury
Release 3.5.0 will be used starting with exhibition games in Naismith and will be used for all other worlds at the start of their next respective season.
12/13/2007
- We have made some minor adjustments to recruit distribution which now factor in square mileage for a state as well as the number of bordering states in addition to the number of schools in that particular state.
Also, at DI, you may now see recruits from Mexico (in the list of States for the recruit search, MEX has been added to search only in Mexico). Recruits from Mexico will be treated the same as recruits from Canada and not as other international recruits in terms of how you can recruit them.
12/12/2007
- We have made some additional changes to WIS rankings. Those changes will go into effect beginning with tonight's games.
12/01/2007
- We have made a change to how an injury impacts a player's ratings. When a player suffers a major injury and can not practice - the impact to core skills (ball handling, rebounding, etc.) will be much less severe than in the past but the impact to conditioning related attributes (speed, stamina, athleticism, durability) will be more than in the past.
Once a player begins practicing, declines to core skills will be recovered more quickly than in the past and improvements to conditioning will also improve quicker than in the past.
For players that suffer a minor injury, there will be less of an impact to ratings across the board (both core and conditioning).
11/15/2007
- We are introducing the first of many enhancements to the recruiting process with the addition of "considering credit". The longer a recruit is considering your school, the harder it becomes for another school to enter the picture and woo the recruit away. This won't prevent the practice of "sniping" recruits at the last minute, but it will make it more difficult (and expensive) to do.
This change will go into effect after the current recruiting period concludes tonight in world Rupp.
11/07/2007
- New homecourt advantage system went into effect today for all worlds. Major changes include:
- HCA will be updated after every game
- HCA will be more 'flexible' from season to season, i.e. it won't go back so closely to each school's baseline - success from the prior season will have more of a carryover effect than it does today
- HCA ranges will expand by division, i.e. extended success in DIII or DII will be able to increase a school's HCA higher than is possible today
Each school will start with their old HCA rating but all future games will impact HCA based on the new system.
Changes to the job qualifications went into effect today for all worlds. Going forward, it will be easier to qualify for schools that have had very poor recent success and it will be more difficult to land open jobs for successful programs.
Miscellaneous rankings logic changes have also been implemented based on feedback we've received over the past few weeks.
A developer chat has been scheduled for Friday, November 9th at 4pm ET to answer any questions you may have regarding any of these changes. Questions may be submitted at any time.
10/24/2007
- - Medical hardship waiver requirements changed from allowing a player to play in a maximum of 20% of a team's games to 30% of a team's games to match the NCAA.
- Top 25 rankings adjusted to be more fluid
10/16/2007
- New WIS Ranking logic implemented across all worlds. You will most likely notice more movement from poll to poll - under the old system it was unlikely that Team B would pass Team A if both teams won both of their games - even if Team A played an easier schedule. Under the new system, the strength of the teams played along with the margin of victory (or defeat) and the location of the game will play more of a role and should do a better job of measuring team strength as the season progresses.
Rankings will still be updated after every other game.
10/04/2007
- In order to use booster gifts in recruiting, a coach must have 1 or more seasons remaining for that school.
09/18/2007
- - Fixed issue with printing of boxscores
- Ratings view added to recruit search
- Icon added to search results to quickly add players to your watch list
- Added link to "remove all" recruits from your compare list
- Added 6 rating criteria options to recruit search
09/13/2007
- Engine 3.4.0 released.
Changes include:
- more game situation specific substitutions (bringing in your best perimeter players when you need to have a 3, bringing your best defenders when you need a last possession stop)
- significant reduction in player aggressiveness when the team has no one on the bench due to injuries, ejections, disqualifications, etc.
- when subbing in blowout situations and the 'play backups more' option is checked, the depth chart will be inverted instead of just ignoring the starter
- fixed a bug where players where attempting to go the length of the floor after a steal even when the offense should have been trying to kill the clock to protect a lead
Engine will be used for Naismith and Wooden beginning with exhibition games and other worlds after they conclude their current seasons.
08/28/2007
- Prestige is now visible on each team profile page, the team history page, the jobs page as well as on the RPI by school listing.
Scoreboard option added to the Schedule menu.
The Forums menu will now take you directly to the HD forums, not the main forum page.
A confirmation has been added for scheduling non-conference games.
Links have been added to the bottom of the recruit search results for moving forward and backward in the results.
07/27/2007
- Engine 3.3.0 released.
Changes include: More emphasis has been placed on possessions (trips up and down the court) when calculating player fatigue. There were still certain situations in which players in foul trouble were being left in the game too long and that has been tightened up. In situations in which a player receives his 5th foul and another player is not available to replace him due to injuries, ejections, ineligibles, etc. - the team will be assessed a technical foul on the 5th foul and each subsequent foul by that player (prior it was starting with the 6th foul). The play by play will now show who receives credit for an assist on a made field goal plus a foul.
Engine will be used for Naismith beginning with exhibition games and other worlds after they conclude their current seasons.
07/12/2007
- My Teams page changed to reflect neutral site games. NBA Draft picks added to the coaching records page.
07/09/2007
- We've recently made some changes to the success/job promotion model. Those changes include a new weighting on how we measure success for an individual season, providing additional benefit for consistency (consecutive post-season appearances) and taking into consideration your length of service at the school (for example, making the national tournament with none of your own recruits is not equivalent to making the national tournament with all of your own recruits).
These changes will be in effect with the next job change period in each world. We've also setup a developer chat for Tuesday, July 10th at 4pm ET to answer any questions you may have (you can also post questions now if you can't be on during that time period).
07/06/2007
- Engine 3.2.0 released.
Stats have been re-added to the start of the 2nd half play by play. Foul management has been tightened up when subbing by fatigue. Players will sit earlier and longer before returning to the game in foul trouble.
06/27/2007
- Engine 3.1.0 released.
Each team now receives 6 timeouts during regulation and 1 additional timeout for each OT period. Timeouts do carryover from period to period. In addition to being used to setup final plays and get your starters back in the game as with the prior release, timeouts will also now be used to rest your players throughout the game when they become fatigued. Also, players will now receive rest during an injury timeout.
06/21/2007
- Engine 3.0.2 released. Changes include:
- a modification to the logic used when substituting by fatigue and all the players at a specific depth are below their specified sub-out level - in this instance, the player furthest above their sub-out level will be returned to the game while the other players rest. In the prior release, the #1 player on depth chart was being used which didn't allow that player ample time to recover.
- when subbing by fatigue, there were instances where starters were being pulled late in games with little time remaining since they were so far below their sub out level. This has been corrected.
- when subbing by fatigue, a starter who was still below their sub-out level to start the 2nd half was not starting. This has been corrected - the starters will always start the 2nd half even if below their sub-out level.
- adjusted a late game issue in which teams down by 3 points with little time remaining were running down the clock to take the last shot instead of taking the first good look.
06/08/2007
- Engine 3.0.1 released which fixes Points in the Paint (PIP) display issue in boxscores.
06/05/2007
- Engine Version 3.0 released for Naismith (World 1). Major changes include:
- The ability to sub players based on fatigue. The ability to sub based on target minutes is still an option although you must pick one or the other (you can change per game). These changes are located on your depth chart page.
- New fatigue system
- Enhanced player aggressiveness algorithms
- Fixed issue with teams in rare situations taking a 2pt shot when down by 3pts with little time remaining.
This engine will be used for all other worlds beginning with your next season. To check your engine release, look at the bottom of the 2nd half play by play from any of the games in that world.
A developer chat has been scheduled for June 6th at 4pm ET. If you can not be on for the LIVE chat, you can still submit your questions now.
05/08/2007
- The rate of change for free throw shooting improvement (or decline) was previously incorrect and has been adjusted.
04/24/2007
- We have restored the work ethic ratings (and corresponding changes from the beginning of the season) for those players affected by the data issue with the 4/20 and 4/21 games. We have updated their work ethics through the 4/21 games with the updates from the 4/22, 4/23 and 4/24 games planned for tomorrow which will bring all players up to date. Thanks for your patience.
04/19/2007
- On the practice plan, greatly increased the speed of switching between player profiles on the right side and added back the roster ratings table at the bottom of the screen.
04/17/2007
- HD Release 2.06 which includes the following changes:
- Conference Tournament championship banners added to the conference tournament bracket page
- PIT championship and bid banners added to the PIT tournament bracket page
- NT championship and bid banners added to the PIT tournament bracket page
- Most recent national champion and their road to the championship added to the National Champions page
- Vegas spreads added to your schedule page
- The ability to 'quick jump' to pages added to all page footers
- Top schools by NBA draft picks added to the recruit signings page and player leaders pages
- Most winningest coaches at DI, DII and DIII added to the coaching records pages, exhibition scheduling pages and non-conference scheduling pages
- Conference Tournament championships by school added to the conference tournament bracket page
- Most PIT wins by coach added to the PIT tournament bracket page
- Most NT wins by coach added to the NT tournament bracket page
04/13/2007
- Beginning with season 11, all post-season games (except the National Championship game) will be in the 2 games per day format for World 8 (Tarkanian).
03/29/2007
- HD Release 2.05 which includes the following changes:
- next season's non-conference schedule added to each team profile's schedule tab
- the ability to compare mulitple recruits across all ratings has been added to the recruiting search page
- added a roster snapshot to the recruiting search pages
- recruiting options no longer appear/disappear - they will always be in the same position
- weight added to recruit profile
- fixed bug when searching for signed recruits
- added AM/PM designation to the My Teams page
- active players are now highlighted in the records pages
- team dropdown list now shows which teams have messages (msgs) waiting
- the forums menu now has a dropdown by world for each world that you are actively coaching in
03/27/2007
- Engine release 2.5.1: Formatting changes to make the play by play more accessible for blind users.
03/23/2007
- Fixed a bug with the Team stats against. They should now be correct.
03/20/2007
- HD Release 2.04 which includes the following changes:
- team leaders added - both for and against in the News/Stats menu
- practice plan columns realigned to better match the roster layout
- fixed issue with National Tournament and NIT bracket being pre-populated with the lower team if the game hadn't been played yet
03/19/2007
- HD Release 2.03 which includes the following changes:
- on certain browsers, player ratings were not showing up
- ability to reserve teams for coaches who have a history in that world has been restored
- the considering list in the recruit profile is now always sorted in alphabetic order
- links to logout, sitemail and my locker added to the menu below your list of schools
- ranking removed from the my teams page
- conference champion was not showing in a team's history
- on the player gameplan page, the settings were defaulting to 2-3 zone when your next opponent was playing halfcourt press/man to man
03/16/2007
- HD Release 2.02 which fixed the following issues:
- team player ratings averages were not calculating correctly
- ability to rescind scholarships from your office during recruiting fixed
- recruiting efforts which have not been responded to were not being highlighted
- rebounds were not being displayed properly in the player stats tab
- for some coaches, next game in the office for worlds with 2 games/day was incorrect
03/15/2007
- HD 2.01 Release. Fixes/Changes include:
- Fixed issue of last team in standings being cut off
- Various display issues for IE 6.0 browsers
- School headers should now all be correct
- Corrected statistics tab for transfer players
- Recruited by for historical player profiles now links to coaching resume
- Teams in coaching resume now link to team profiles
- Fixed issue on jobs page were advice was being given as "Well Qualified" when it should have been "Step Backwards?"
- Transfers now show the school and season they transferred in the statistics tab
- Class added to the practice plan page
- multiple recruit and player profiles can be up at the same time
- the player gameplan page now defaults to the defense you will be facing in your next game
- various sorting issues fixed
03/14/2007
- HD 2.0 has been released. This is primarily an interface upgrade providing more functionality and easier navigation.
Significant Changes
==============
- all teams and their corresponding pages carry the team's look and feel throughout
- most columns are now sortable
- new player images
- email indicator visible across all pages
- new navigation
- practice plan now allows for all players to be updated at one time
- promises made to players are now always visible for you on their profile
Known issues:
==========
- the rankings/RPI will use the old formatting until they are published next
- the pbp for past games will not be pretty but still readable. All future games will use the new pbp formatting.
- on some browsers the last team in each division is being cut off
Everything has been paused across all worlds until recruiting begins for Tark (World 8) Thursday at 6pm ET. Games for all other worlds will resume Friday (3/16) morning.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please use the dev. chat to ensure that we see it:
http://www.whatifsports.com/devchat/devchat.asp?chatid=50
02/19/2007
- Engine version 2.4.5 released for all worlds. Changes include a fine-tuning of clock run off for late game (last possession) situations and a fix for a bug which would (under very rare circumstances) not give the ball to the appropriate team after a steal.
02/11/2007
- In addition to the previously announced changes to how AI schools will recruit, we're also implementing the following changes to recruiting beginning with the next recruiting period (Naismith).
- We're decreasing the amount of effort required to get on a recruits considering list.
- The average talent level for DIII players will be increasing by eliminating many of the low level (e.g. 290 rated) recruits. The lowest you'll see should be in the 360 range. This has already begun with the new recruits in both Tark and Crum that were generated last night.
- AI schools will still recruit as they do today (recent changes included), but they will not attempt to fill all open scholarships - they will leave at least 2 open which will leave more undecided players at the beginning of recruiting. This will have the effect of AI schools being able to focus their monies in much the same way humans do in that an AI school with 4 open scholarships (60k in DI) will spend the equivalent of 30k each on its 2 biggest needs. The 2 remaining scholarships will be filled after the conclusion of recruiting with either scholarship players (if any suitable recruits are still available) or walkons.
- Both the type of recruit and the level of effort will increase by division. What that means is that the recruits targetd by DIII AI schools will be relatively less than DI AI schools AND the amount of effort DI schools will be relatively more than DIII schools. In other words, the higher you get, the more of a challenge AI schools will present but no longer will AI schools be able to recruit/sign players that humans can not (assuming identical prestige). This is a significant change from prior recruiting periods.
- We've fixed the issue which was causing some DIII AI schools to have large numbers of recruits considering them which will also increase the number of undecided recruits available at the outset of recruiting.
02/01/2007
- Engine version 2.4.4 released for all worlds. The only change is an adjustment to have plays called within a game even more closely tied to offensive distribution settings.
01/31/2007
- Sim AI recruiting has been changed to behave more inline with human recruiting. Instead of using a "shotgun" approach in which many recruits receive medium attention, AI schools will now use the "rifle" approach in which only a few primary recruits will be contacted. The net effect of this change is that AI schools will be considered by far less recruits at the outset of recruiting. AI schools will be harder to beat in a recruiting battle. The quality of recruits for AI schools should increase. The distribution of the positions signed by AI schools should much more closely match their needs.
01/24/2007
- Academic non-qualifiers can no longer be redshirted to conform with NCAA regulations.
12/19/2006
- Engine Version 2.4.3 released for all Worlds. This revision includes an adjustment to the distribution of assists to more closely match NCAA distributions, a fix for the situation in which the team with the lead and 1 second to play (game is out of reach) will attempt a full-court shot instead of running out the clock, and an adjustment to the algorithim regarding offensive rebounding when 1 or more teammates are being double-teamed.
12/08/2006
- Due to off days, in some instances it was being released before all teams reached 7 games. The RPI will now be released once all teams in that world reach 7 games played so you may not see the initial RPI rankings until you've played 8 games in some instances.
12/05/2006
- Please note that beginning with recruiting in World Iba (5) on 12/11, the following changes will be in place for recruiting:
- the costs of evaluation visits (scouting trips), home visits and campus visits have been adjusted to be more realistic based on distance (are you driving or flying, spending the night or not, etc. - overall, you'll notice that scouting trips and home visits have gone down while campus visits have gone up. It will also make it easier to recruit players who aren't necessarily in our backyard but are in your region (roughly 3 hours away from your campus).
- we are adding an option to notify recruits during the recruiting process of your intent to redshirt them.
- booster gifts will no longer be available as a recruiting tool for DIII schools.
11/16/2006
- Engine Version 2.4.2 released for World 1 (Naismith) and will be used for Worlds 2-8 at the conclusion of the current season. This revision includes a fix which was causing PFs or Cs who were playing at the SF spot to take fewer 3pt attempts (regardless of 3pt setting) than an identically rated player who was naturally listed as a SF.
11/11/2006
- Engine Version 2.4.1 released for World 1 (Naismith) and will be used for Worlds 2-8 at the conclusion of the current season. This revision includes a change to how blocked shots are determined to more closely mirror NCAA DI blocked shot distributions.
11/09/2006
- Engine Version 2.4.0 released for World 1 (Naismith) and will be used for Worlds 2-8 at the conclusion of the current season. Changes include:
- enhanced play by play for double-team/open shot situations
- enhanced play calling for 'lopsided' play distribution settings
- corrected issue in which the shot clock was resetting after a blocked shot
- added shot clock violations
11/02/2006
- The top 25 poll will now be updated through the National Tournament. The final rankings will be released at the conclusion of the National Championship game. In the initial poll for the following season the previous rank column will be the final ranking from the prior season.
- Players transferring has been added to HD. There will be 3 possible scenarios which can result in a player transferring:
1. A player’s scholarship is rescinded
2. A player quits (broken promises or players unhappy about playing time)
3. A coaching change
Players who opt to transfer will be eligible to be recruited by all schools and will be available in recruting searches. In addition, they may also contact select schools based various criteria (proximity to home, national recognition, prior recruiting efforts, etc.). We will be adding the years of eligibility remaining to the recruiting search.
If you sign a transfer, he will not have to sit out one year at any division.
Also, as part of this change, the window to rescind a player's scholarship will be limited to between the end of the job change period and the start of signings in the next recruiting period.
- Firings and job status changes have been implemented. Overview:
By default, all new coaches will start with a job status of "ok". Existing coaches are either set to 'Ok' or 'Exceeding Expecations'. At the conclusion of each season (immediately after the National Championship game), your job status will be updated based on how the team performed the prior season. This will occur for all coaches at all divisions even though only DI coaches can get fired. DII and DIII coaches can see their job status improve (exceeding expectations) or drop (boosters complaining). They will never drop to 'in jeopardy' or the dreaded 'fired'.
Any time your job status changes, you'll receive a note from your AD explaining why. If your job status does not change, you won't hear from your AD.
What can cause your job status to change?
Two main factors - success and reputation. The level of success expected is dependent on the program you're at. A low level DI school may be content with a trip to the NIT while an elite school may only be happy with Sweet 16 or better. Reputation is also school-dependent so some schools (e.g. Ivy League, Stanford, Duke) expect more from their coach than a UNLV or Fresno St.
A good rule of thumb is that the harder it was to achieve the job, the harder it will be to keep the job.
What happens if you get fired?
If you get fired, you'll be notified via email that you've lost your job. In addition, from the locker page, you'll see the world you were in listed as 'Unemployed' (this is also true if you've coached at any time in that world but aren't active in that world). Firings will occur immediately after the national championship game so you'll be able to apply for open jobs with the other returning coaches. Taking a new job after you were fired does NOT negatively impact your loyalty. You will have 6 applications (instead of 3) and your application will be considered along with any other coaches applying for that job.
If you do not take a job during the job change period, you can still take a job when the jobs open for new coaches or you could reserve a team if you miss that signup period.
10/03/2006
- Fixed issue with SOS (and subsequently RPI) calculation which was counting opponent winning percentage once even if the opponent was played more than once.
09/19/2006
- Engine Version 2.3.0 released for Naismith now and to all worlds at the conclusion of their respective seasons. Changes include a new algorithm for determining play distribution and a new (quicker) math library.
09/14/2006
- New Top 25 poll voting logic which addresses an issue of 'teams receiving votes' moving up/down differently from those teams that are ranked in the Top 25.
08/31/2006
- You can now search for recruits just in Canada or just internationally by selecting either CAN or INT. from the state dropdown list.
08/30/2006
- Beginning with recruiting in IBA (9/2), colleges will receive additional recognition from recruits within 1 hour of your campus (roughly 70 miles). What this means is that recruits which may normally have considered a school as a backup option, could potentially consider that school at the start of recruiting. For example, Lebron James would still not consider Cleveland St. but Cleveland St. could potentially get on the radar early of the #20 SG from Lakewood, Ohio.
08/28/2006
- Engine Version 2.2.3 released to all worlds - the only change is a rules interpretation change. On a moving pick or illegal screen there are no free throws awarded, only the ball out of bounds, regardless of the bonus situation.
08/23/2006
- Beginning with the next recruiting period (World Allen - scheduled to begin 8/25/06), there will be some changes to recruiting. The new recruiting will entail recruits coming back with a new level of response - now instead of completely ignoring your program, the recruit may add you to his 'backup' list of schools.
Recruits who are not considering any schools will have a gradual openness to additional schools as the recruiting period progresses (for both JUCO2 and non JUCO2 recruits), not a sudden drop on the last day of recruiting.
If a recruit you have contacted prior but had your program pegged as a backup option is willing to consider your school, you'll be contacted by either the recruit or your assistant coach.
A developer chat has been scheduled to answer any additional questions you may have.
08/08/2006
- Fixed an issue with media Top 25 poll that was innaccurately accounting for a team's two most recent games when a team had off days (either scheduled or due to be eliminated early from the conference tournament). This was causing some teams to move up/down more than they should have.
08/07/2006
- The initial media Top 25 poll for each season will not be released until the conclusion of the recruiting period for that season.
08/03/2006
- Engine release 2.2.2 fixes an issue in which teams were not shooting free throws in certain situations after an illegal screen or moving pick.
08/01/2006
- Engine release 2.2.1 will go into effect for worlds 1, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 today and worlds 2 and 3 with the start of their next respective seasons.
Changes include enhanced play by play to show when players are open due to double-teams, lessened impact of double-teams on offensive distribution, fixed substitution logic issue in which players with 4 fouls were being brought back into the game too early in certain situations, and an additional correction to the distribution of 1st and 2nd half fouls to better match NCAA DI averages.
07/25/2006
- Engine release 2.2.0 will go into effect for worlds 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 today and worlds 1, 2 and 3 with the start of their next respective seasons.
Changes include support for halfcourt press/3-2 zone, the ability to gameplan different offensive distribution/3pt. settings for a 2-3 zone versus a 3-2 zone, a correction to the distribution of 1st and 2nd half fouls to better match NCAA DI averages, a fix to the IQ penalty when playing combo defenses (halfcourt press and man or zone) as well as improved end of game logic.
07/13/2006
- Fixed issue in which first year DIII coaches who struggled in recruiting were not having recruits signed by their assistant coaches.
- Increased the ratings improvement in unsigned recruits who play at a Junior College.
07/06/2006
- If you apply for a job and are not qualified, you will be notified within 3 hours now instead of having to wait - including on applications submitted within the first 24 hours of the job change period.
07/05/2006
- Engine release 2.1.0 will go into effect for all worlds beginning with tonight's games The changes are limited to updated play by play and the tracking of additional stats, including halftime team stats, points in the paint, points off turnovers, second chance points, fastbreak points and bench points. There are no logic or statistical changes included in this release.
06/23/2006
- Player profiles now contain both totals and average career stats as well as a game log for the current seasons non-exhibition games.
06/13/2006
- Practice plans can no longer be modified while practice is in progress for that night.
04/17/2006
- The practice plan page has been changed to allow separate control of low-post practice and perimeter practice by player. Now, instead of all big men practicing only low post moves - you have the option of spending time working on a big man's outside game (and vice versa for guards). We like to call it the "Pittsnogle effect".
By default, all guards had their shooting practice time moved to perimeter, all small forwards had their shooting time split between low post and perimeter and all power forwards/centers had their shooting practice time moved to low post.
The new minimum to prevent deterioration of shooting skills is 3 minutes of practice time (was 7). Please keep in mind that these are minimums are based on average players with average work ethics and average playing times. There is not a single magic number that will work for all players equally.
04/07/2006
- You can now schedule your non-conference games for NEXT season. Click on schedule and then use the 'non-conference schedule' link. You may schedule up to all 10 of your open non-conference spots for next season. Any spots not filled will be automatically filled in for you prior to the start of next season.
A scheduling section has been added to the FAQ.
04/04/2006
- Engine update 2.0.44: Fixed bug with stamina's not updating for players on the bench in OT.
03/14/2006
- Working on footwork and conditioning will now begin to help improve shotblocking ability for big men.
03/11/2006
- Engine version 2.0.43:
- when the offense is holding the ball to run clock, the play by play will indicate the team is in a 'spread' offense
- offense/defense changes with under 1 minute remaining will now be displayed in the pbp
- there was a bug in which player substitutions were not occurring on team called timeouts which has been fixed
- engine version will now be displayed at the bottom of the 2nd half pbp
- the defense position being played will be displayed numerically in the pbp, instead of "2-3 zone sagging inside", you'll now see "2-3 zone (-2)"
- Starting with today's exhibition games in Naismith, engine changes take effect (whenever possible) by world at the beginning of the new season. In addition, the engine version you are using will be listed at the bottom of the 2nd half play by play. When a world finishes a season, it will automatically be upgraded to use the latest available engine version prior to the start of the next season. Engine changes, by version number will be listed here in the release notes.
If your game's play by play does not indicate version 2.0.43 then that world is still running under the prior engine release.
02/12/2006
- When a player takes the SAT and does not pass, you will be notified of both his SAT score and the minimum SAT score required for him to be eligible at both DI and DII. You will only be notified if that recruit is on your watch list. In addition, the minimum SAT score required for eligiblity to play at DII has been changed from 820 to use the sliding scale that is used by DI.
02/09/2006
- While pending recruiting efforts are being processed, coaches will be unable to recruit during that time (normally 60 seconds). A message will be displayed indicating that recruiting efforts are currently being processed.
01/29/2006
- Beginning with this recruiting period in the Rupp world, the next seasons' recruits will be available for scouting as soon as the recruiting period ends. You will not be able to contact them until the following recruiting period although you will be able to add them to your 'watch list' and start scouting while the current season is in progress.
- In addition, not all players will pass the WCAA Initial Eligibility Clearinghouse requirements - even into the following recruiting period. What that means is that for DI and DII recruits, they must meet both GPA and SAT score requirements. In DI and DII, the requirements are on a sliding scale, the lower the GPA, the higher the SAT score requirement. To play at DIII, the recruit must only have a GPA of 2.0 or higher (same as today).
If a recruit does not qualify, he may or may not still attend your school as they have to pay their own way the first year. They can not be on scholarship and they can not practice. At DI schools, the player will only have 3 years of eligibility (depending on their collegiate gpa, they may be granted a 4th year of eligibility). At DII schools, the player will have 4 years of eligibility.
A recruits profile will show if they are eligible or not. Recruits who are not eligible will be taking the SAT throughout the season leading up to the next recruiting period.
01/16/2006
- During recruiting, efforts made will begin to lose value with recruits if a corresponding scholarship offer is not made within 5 recruiting cycles (roughly 15 hours).
12/30/2005
- International players will be available for recruiting beginning with Crum recruiting which begins today. International players can be recruited the same as a normal recruit with a few exceptions - you can not call the player, offer campus visits, or do any type of personality assessment.
12/21/2005
- Dilemmas have been turned off temporarily. It will be reactivated once you are able to hire/fire your assistant coaches who will be able to make decisions in your absence.
12/20/2005
- Beginning with next season's recruiting in IBA (starting 12/21/05), we will be generating approximately 10% more recruits. In addition, names will better correspond with faces and ratings have been better distributed by position (e.g. you'll be much less likely to see HS PGs with a speed of 1 or Centers with a rebounding of 1, etc.)
- We have begun tracking historical records versus both schools and coaches. This information is now displayed in the 'next opponent' section of the team game plan page. We may try to recover all of the historical records since the inception of HD, but we can't guarantee it.
12/09/2005
- Recruiting changes have been finalized as follows:
Budget caps: The maximum amount you can receive for recruiting will be limited to the equivalent of 6 open scholarships (this does not count post-season money but does include any monies carried over - see below).
Budget caps will be introduced for the following seasons:
Naismith - 14, Wooden - 14, Rupp - 13, Smith - 13, Iba - 12, Allen - 11, Crum - 8
Assistant coach signings: How it will work is that the assistant coach will fill all but 2 of any open scholarships (maxium of 5). The assistant coach will only sign players for a coach who has 3 or more open scholarships and has not made any recruiting efforts.
This change will be introduced immediately for all worlds.
Assistant coach team setup: the asst. coach will setup the team (depth charts, target minutes and practice plans) for any teams in which the asst. coach signed at least 1 recruit (see above).
This change will be introduced immediately for all worlds.
Carryover recruiting money: 25% of unused recruiting money can be carried forward to the following season IF the coach has filled all of his/her scholarships.
This change will be introduced going forward for all worlds. If you already had cash rolled over under the old rules, you'll keep it.
Practice impacts of carrying walkons: carrying more than one walkon will begin to impact the rate at which practice impacts player improvement.
This change will be introduced along with budget caps (see schedule above).
Click here to review the developer chat regarding these changes.
- Teams on WCAA probation are no longer eligible to receive votes in the media poll.
12/01/2005
- When giving booster gifts, you will now only be able to give one of each, for example, you could only give each recruit a single stereo, throwback jersey, TV, etc. - you could not give the same recruit 5 TVs.
11/20/2005
- On the team profile, the 'Signings' link was changed to 'Recruiting' and will now show both recruits that have been signed as well as recruits which are considering that program (and distance that each recruit is away from the school's campus).
11/16/2005
- A new engine was released today and will be used beginning with this afternoon's exhibition games in Crum. Changes include:
- improved in-game logic, including new substitution/lineup logic and enhanced end of game decision making
- a halftime adjustment option for defensive positioning was added
- removed tempo from the next opponent information and added it to the boxscore
- new play by play formatting
It's important to note that there were no algorithim changes in this release - it was strictly game logic.
A developer chat has been scheduled for today at 2:30pm EST to address any specific questions you may have. You do not have to be on at 2:30 to participate in the chat - you can post any questions you may have now.
11/07/2005
- In conjunction with players leaving early for the NBA, there will be an NBA draft just after the job change period concludes. Players drafted will help your recruiting ability.
11/02/2005
- Fixed two bugs:
1. There was an issue which was causing a portion of the recruits that were generated in one world to be generated (nearly identically) in another world.
2. Some psychologist opinion calls were being cut off (even though he nothing else to say) and that issue has been corrected as well.
10/18/2005
- A couple of changes to double-teams:
- "Doubleteam if leading scorer" will now activate either if the player is the leading scorer on the floor (not necessarily in the game) or if he's tied for the scoring lead (does not have to be the outright scoring leader).
- Doubleteam criteria will be check on each change of possession instead of at each dead ball.
10/05/2005
- 3 new recruiting options have been added:
- call the coach: allows you to call the recruit's current coach
- psychological opinion: have the recruit spend 30 minutes on the phone with national recognized sports psychologist Dr. Phil Marcelli.
- personality test: receive a complete personality breakdown from KnowThySelf.com
As an aside, the high school coaches were assigned from our existing users so you, yes you, may be a high school or JUCO coach in HD!
10/04/2005
- Conference and National Coach of the Year Awards have been added. Conference COY will be named with the All-Conference Awards and the National COY will be named with the All-American Awards. Both awards have been given retroactively for all seasons, all worlds and are now reflected in your resume.
10/03/2005
- We have made two changes to the WhatIfSportsBook - you will now be limited to a maximum of 10 bets per calendar day but you will now be able to bet up to 10% of your total cash per wager.
09/23/2005
- A new option has been added to your Coach's Office - Decisions. This option will flash (similar to your Inbox button) when you have a matter that needs your attention. You'll also be able to see your history of decisions as well on this page.
In addition, your level of discipline has been added to the coach's office. All coaches begin at moderate.
Click here for the developer chat.
09/12/2005
- Announcing the grand opening of the WhatIfSportsBook! If you are an active coach in HD or GD, you can sign in at www.whatifsportsbook.com with your existing username/password. You'll receive $2000 WISBucks to gamble with. You can place wagers on spreads and over/unders for all games (except your own). The top 3 finishers at the end of the season will receive a small reward point prize. See the sportsbook FAQ for more information.
09/08/2005
- Fixed an issue with the 'use backups when winning/losing' option that would bring in a player who was listed as a backup at a position even though he started the game at a different position. For example, my #1 center is also my #4 PF - he was being brought in at the PF spot during blowouts. That has been addressed.
08/29/2005
- SimEngine upgrade released to address the effectiveness of the full-court press defense. The full-court press has been leading to higher turnovers (in general) than other defenses but leading to less team fouls (in general) than other defenses. This release addresses that issue by increasing the impact of the aggressiveness of the press when determining foul calls and by increasing the rate of fatigue for teams playing full-court press.
08/28/2005
- Agent's advice updated to differentiate schools which are lateral moves and you are qualified for and schools which are lateral moves that you are not qualified for. A lateral move is any job change in which your new program has a prestige lower than or not signficantly higher than your previous program.
08/04/2005
- Rescinding a scholarship of a player which you did not recruit will have much less of an impact on your reputation than rescinding the scholarship of a player which you did recruit.
- New simengine release which includes revised/enhanced out of position logic, improved guard penetration logic, and more standardized shooting percentages across divisions (most noticeably improved shooting/scoring in DIII).
07/25/2005
- Fixed a bug with homecourt advantage (HCA) that was allowing schools go above (or drop below) the minimum and maximum HCA for that given school.
07/13/2005
- New SimEngine released. Includes changes to reduce game to game variability as well as miscellaneous end of game logic improvements.
07/03/2005
- The Vegas line is now available for all games by clicking on today's date from your schedule page. Lines are released on the morning of each game so you'll only be able to see lines for today's games and past games (not future games).
07/01/2005
- Inundating a recruit with letters and phone calls may start to annoy the recruit and could possibly start hurting your recruiting efforts (depending on the recruit).
06/28/2005
- Non-conference scheduling changed to eliminate power schools playing in tiny gyms (Duke at Stony Brook). This will most likely result in more non-conference road games for smaller DI schools, following real life scheduling.
- Media Poll Ranking adjusted to place slightly less emphasis on a program's prestige.
06/26/2005
- Medical hardship waivers are now in effect.
Q: What is a medical hardship waiver?
A: A medical hardship waiver can be given to a player by the WCAA who has missed a significant portion of the season because of an injury. It provides for an extra year of eligibility for the player similar to a redshirt.
Q: Who is eligible for a medical hardship waiver?
A: Players are eligible if they have participated in less than 20% of the scheduled season (5 games) and the illness or injury occurs in the first half of the season. The illness or injury must result in an incapacity to compete for the remainder of the season. Players who have already had a redshirt season or a prior waiver are not eligible.
Q: How does a player apply for the medical hardship waiver?
A: An application on the player's behalf will automatically be submitted to the WCAA by his school's member conference. No action is required by the coach, nor is it his decision. The waivers are handed out by the WCAA at the conclusion of the season.
06/17/2005
- Homecourt advantage will no longer be reset from season to season - there will be some carryover effect.
06/15/2005
- Recruiting will now begin at 6:01 pm EST instead of 12:01 pm EST.
06/14/2005
- Players who are injured can now play at less than 100%. Depending on the type and severity of the injury, you'll see the player's health drop. If a player's health drops below 50%, he'll be forced to sit out until his health is at least 50%. While he is sitting out, he will not practice. Once his health is over 50%, you'll have the option of playing him in games at less than 100% or resting him (he won't dress for the game). To rest a player, simply set his target minutes to 'rest' - this option is only available for injured players. He'll return to practice even if he's not dressing for games once his health is at least 50%.
In addition, while you can see the exact health for your players, you can not see the exact number for other teams - only a general idea of their condition.
Players that were already injured prior to today are not impacted - they will return to action at 100% on the date listed.
05/31/2005
- 2 new options added to the team game plan page. When selected, your backups will receive more playing time in games which are out of reach (e.g. down/up by 30 with 6 minutes to play, etc.). If not selected, target minutes will still be used except for mopup players (if any players are designated as mopup).
05/28/2005
- Players will now reach average IQs in an offense/defense much faster, but going from average (C/B) to A will take quite a bit of practice/experience. Also, players will not "lose" knowledge in an offense or defense so once you get them to a certain level, you can reduce minutes to zero for practice without seeing a drop in IQ.
- Hoops 101 page updated.
- FAQ updated
- We have also added the following new defenses:
- Zone can be played either 2-3 or 3-2 now. Prior to this change, zone was played in a 2-3.
- Half-court press/Man to man: This defense is a press until the offense crosses mid-court and then the defense matches up in man to man.
- Half-court press/Zone: This defense is a press until the offense crosses mid-court and then the defense sets up in a 2-3 zone.
- Individual 3 pt. settings have been added to the player game plan page within your office. The possible 3 pt. settings are:
+2: Always look for the 3 pt. shot first
+1: Take more 3 pt. shots than normal
0: Take a 3 pt. shot as part of the flow of the offense. That is determined based on numerous factors, including a player's position, skills, the style of defense and the positioning of the defense.
-1: Take less 3 pt. shots than normal
-2: Never take a 3 pt. shot unless it's a desperation shot
In addition, 3 pt. frequency and offensive distribution settings can now be saved for each defense (zone, press, man). The settings you have entered will be used any time you face that defense - even if your opponent switches defenses during a game. If you do not enter any offensive distribution settings (all zeros), the computer will determine BOTH who should shoot and whether or not he should take a 3 pt. shot. It's highly recommended you set these values yourself.
There are still 3 pt. frequency 'adjusters' based on situation which are still found in the team game plan page within your office. These will work the same way by increasing or decreasing the amount of 3 pt. shots in certain situations.
05/19/2005
- RPI calculations will no longer use a 1.4 (road wins) and .6 (home losses) factor and instead use a 1.2 and .8 factor respectively. This is in response to the lack of non-conference scheduling control. This change goes into effect today for all worlds except 5 (Iba) and 7 (Crum). They will begin using the new factors at the start of their next seasons.
05/17/2005
- Added Homecourt rating to the school information on the job application screen.
05/13/2005
- The WhatIfSports media poll will now be released every other day as opposed to daily. This will coincide much more closely to the weekly poll release schedule used in real life. The RPI will continue to be updated daily.
05/11/2005
- 2nd year JUCO players will now become even more open to playing options as the end of the recruiting period approaches.
- Added positions to boxscores.
05/09/2005
- Future recruiting periods have been shortened by 24 hours from 131 hours to 107 hours.
04/27/2005
- Added GPA and 3 Pt. FG% to recruit search options
04/12/2005
- The homecourt advantage (found in the Coach's Office) indicates the level of an advantage your team receives by playing at home. These ratings range from A+ (best) to F (worst) and are relative to all schools in all divisions. As your team progresses through the season, your homecourt advantage can change based on the performance of your team. If your team starts off the season at 10-0, you can bet there will be a buzz on campus and it will be hard to find tickets (improving your homecourt advantage). While on the other hand, if your "Fab 5" isn't so fabulous and you start the season at 1-9, you can bet your homecourt advantage will drop.
04/01/2005
- Added ability to get a user's profile from their HD coaching history page by clicking on their username.
03/25/2005
- Added over/under to the team comparison breakdown.
03/23/2005
- Fixed bug with late game losing defensive positioning.
- Both conference and national news have been improved to include more game to game coverage and highlights of great performances.
03/04/2005
- If you rescind a scholarship inseason, the player will now be removed from your team and replaced with a walkon as opposed to staying on the team until the end of the season.
02/18/2005
- A 32 team NIT type of post-season tournament has been added for all worlds. The format will be similar to the actual NIT. The first 3 rounds will be played on one team's home court. The last 2 rounds will be played at a neutral site. NIT participants will not receive any additional recruiting money, only experience and success for their resumes.
- New SimEngine is being used for Allen World exhibition games today and unless otherwise noted, for all worlds beginning tonight. Changes include:
- a better use of mopup players
- fatigue colors will more accurately indicate a player's condition
- better free throw shooters will be brought in (if available) if your opponent begins intentionally fouling
- more double-teaming play by play
- new player aggressiveness logic (players become less agressive as they accumulate fouls)
- better handling of players picking up their 2nd foul in the first half
- improved substitution logic
02/17/2005
- Following the lead of the NCAA, the RPI formula has been updated to weight wins and losses based on location. A road win is counted as 1.4, a home win as 0.6, and a neutral site win as 1. A road loss is counted as 0.6, a home loss as 1.4, and a neutral site loss as 1.
02/06/2005
- Player and recruit skill ratings have been reorganized to group the offensive skills together and the defensive skills together. In addition, a health rating has been added which will be used in conjunction with injuries in the near future - currently all players are at 100%. We will announce when the health rating is activated.
02/03/2005
- New SimEngine is being used for Wooden exhibition games. Changes include a better use of mopup players, fatigue colors will more accurately indicate a player's condition, better free throw shooters will be brought in (if available) if your opponent begins intentionally fouling.
02/01/2005
- New recruiting search option to display recruits who are undecided.
- Booster gifts available now vary by division, i.e. DI schools can offer more/better inducements than DIII schools.
01/23/2005
- The coaching profile page has been updated to allow next and previous page functionality so a coach's entire resume may be viewed, regardless of the number of seasons.
01/20/2005
- When existing coaches are applying for jobs, your agent, Simmy Simpkins, will now offer advice as to which schools he thinks you'd be qualified for.
01/17/2005
- If you take one or more seasons off, you do not have to restart at DIII - the list of jobs you can apply for will include ALL jobs you are qualified for, including DII and DI jobs
12/15/2004
- How recruiting classes are ranked has been adjusted. Additionally, recruiting classes will now be ranked by conference.
12/13/2004
- Added new National stat category - FG% Allowed
- Recruits will not (necessarily) report to campus with 'F' IQs in all the offenses and defenses. Based on their age (High School, JUCO1 or JUCO2), they'll have various levels of knowledge in a particular offense and defense. Through the recruiting process you'll be able to determine played in high school/junior college.
12/09/2004
- Added career player records for each school, located on the team information popup
- Added coach, school, and career player records by division, located off of the News/Stats page
- Fixed problem that was causing certain popup windows to not appear on Mac browsers.
12/03/2004
- The ability to redshirt players has been added. Check the FAQ for more information.
12/01/2004
- RPI rankings can now be viewed by team or by conference.
11/26/2004
- Play by play will show when players are getting double-teamed. Also, the positioning of the defense will be indicated.
11/05/2004
- Scholarships will now remain 'on the table' until one of the following happens: the recruit accepts your offer, the recruit accepts someone else's offer, the scholarship offer is withdrawn by you or the recruit rejects your offer. Also, your $100 is not returned to you under any circumstance.
11/04/2004
- Added loyalty rating.
Added Field Goal Percentage Allowed to the conference stats page
10/20/2004
- Added ability to schedule up to 2 exhibition games after the recruiting period ends and before the season starts
10/15/2004
- Fixed issue with national tournament seeding that would allow teams from the same conference to potentially meet before the Sweet 16
10/12/2004
- New in-game controls added: ability to adjust your 3 point frequency, adjust the position of your defense, double team opposing players and set your offensive shot distribution
Please note: Release notes can become stale. Please rely on the product's Rules, FAQ and Player Guide for official details and information.