From the ground up, an Al Kaline legacy

[Kaline]

Army hires new coaching staff

Army has hired former baseball great turned basketball genious Al Kaline along with two assistant, Varney Goode and Maurice Bennett.

Kaline has little experience, being an assistant for two years at Grambling. Neither of his assistant are "in the loop" either. The move is a little controversial with basketball legend Bob Knight joblesss. Kaline had little to say in an interview.

[Kaline]

Army Basketball

This is a pretty bare roster. Nearly everyone is a junior or senior, and I have NO backup PF or C.

Starters:
Townsend, 73 ovr, PG. 6'3 178, SR the only thing he can really do is shoot at 10 foot jumper, not really a great passer and not much of a mid-range threat.

Flip Mbyirukira, 71 ovr, SG 6'1 199, JR. Besides having one weird name he's a pretty good option to score. Hes got a good mid-range jumper and can work inside and pass the ball.

Eugene Richardson, 66 ovr, SF. 6'4 183 SO. Hes actually a SG, but I want to give one of the few young guys on the team some PT. He isn't much to brag about, not overly fast, not a great scorer, but he can atleast improve.

Mathew Murray 65ovr, PF 6'7, 199, Sr- He should be able to get some point on the board, but he isn' treally much to brag about. Not a rebounder and sucks in the post...

Thomas Shipp, 65 ovr, C 6'8 238, SO- Atleast hes young, he can score inside and grab some defensive boards, but not a real promising player.

BENCH:

Stephon Warner, 69 ovr, SF, 6'6 200, SR- Hes a decent scorer, but I wanted Richardson to get time, and I need him to be my backup SF/PF/C. Hes an ok scorer, but overall meh.

Raul Geiger 64 ovr, SF, 6'6 199, JR- A clone of Warner without a mid-range jumper, again, meh.

David Petway- 69 ovr, SG, 6'1 205, SR- A decent inside scorer without a jumper, but hey its army, what'd ya expect ? :)

Harold Jackson- 66 ovr, PG, 5'11 190 JR- He really doesn't do much at all, but then again, does anyone?

Mark Toussaint- 66 ovr, SF, 6'6 216 SR- Hes a decent scoring threat inside and out, he'll get time at guard positions as well (he actually has a decent jumper)... but again, shoudn't excite you.

Channing Shaw- ^^^ , just 2 inch's shorter.

Archie Henderson- 63 ovr, SG 5'8 190 SR... He serves no purpose, I doubt he'll get any PT. He cant score or pass and hes 5 foot 8.

What a talented bunch eh?

A little info,

All American with close and midrange shooting sliders bumped 2 notch's for human and computer. I have role-play on and only play the SF.

I really am lost on recruting so if you guys could help me out before I screw things up too much it'd be great.

Ill try and update every two or three games, but this is going to be a LONG season. Heh, the AD wants a .500 record...ha....

[squidpants]

Hey man, cool to see you picked Army, they're a fun team. I was them for a couple years, then moved up to Minnesota. They have a ton of good outside shooters, and your center is good, he rebounds really well. Did for me, at least. The SG was a scoring machine, though maybe not for you if you're doing role play. As for recruiting, get what you can the first year, it'll be mostly 1 star guys. Get some big men, you'll need them, since you have 8 seniors!

[Kaline]

I think Army is the worst team in the game, and I always liked the name.

I run a very inside dominated game, control the boards and paint, the offence goes through my PF and C. Which is funny, since I have no backup PF and C :).

Its going to be a challenge for a few years, I have my eyes on a few decent players (Ill update that fairly soon), but Im not looking for much (I hope to bring in just some big bodys to take space).

I ran a few exhibitions with them last night, it wasn't pretty. Im going to have to use my guards driving the lane as my biggest scorring threat, which is counter too what I usually run. It'll be a fun challenge.

[Kaline]

Columbia vs Army

In a game that I wasn't quite a must win, but would be big for me to win (A team I had a legit chance at beating).

We really dominated the first half. The bench was surprisingly strong, Toussaint picks up 7 points and some boards, and Murray had a decent half as well. The rest of the offence was balanced was fairly balanced, but we dont exactly score a whole lot either.

Halftime:
36-29 ARMY

We came out strong in the second half, Townsend picked up 4 early points before giving way to the bench. The bench struggled, but luckily, so did Columbia and the scorring died off for a while. Then Columbia got hot, Cunningham, the PG, Sanderson who was a monster on the boards, picking up a lot of offensive rebounds and Bree, the backup PG all started hitting shots. Luckily, Murray, my PF, got hot as well and countered them almost by himself for a nice stretch of time.

But, when he was finally too tired to keep playing, we blew our 10 point lead. Without any presence in the paint our scorring and boards also suffered. A few turnovers didn't help our cause either.

With 1:52 its 56-54 ARMY.

Great, a close game.....
Griffith comes down and hits a big three for Columbia to give them their first lead of the game. Murray hits a jumper from the paint to give us the lead back, then Jackson (backup PG) gets a block and Murray puts in two more. When did I start playing defence?

Columbia comes down and scores, but Townsend hits a long two, (I thought it was a three, but hey is pinky toe was on the line I guess, CONSPIRACY, the Refs hate ARMY). I guess Columbia figured it was a three too, sicne they just died. They miss two shots, foul us twice (we hit all 4 FT) and that is how the game ends.

Army wins....66-59

Army
Murray 18 ppg, 3RB
Mbyrukira 10ppg, 7RB, 3AST,
Toussanint 9ppg, 3RB, 1BLK
Townsend 8PPG, 3RB, 3AST, 1STL
Warner 6PPG, 3RB, 1AST
Shipp 6PPG, 11RB, 1AST
Geiger 4PPG, 5RB,
Richardson 2PPG, 2RB, 8AST
Jackson 2PPG, 3RB, 1AST, 1STL, 2BLK
Henderson 1PPG, 1RB
Petway 1RB, 1 STL
Shaw 1AST


Columbia
Cunningham 6PPG, 5AST, 2STL, 1BLK
Bree 8PPG, 2AST, 2STL
Sanderson 13PPG, 8RB, 1AST, 2STL, 2BLK
Lee 2PPG, 3RPG, 1AST, 1STL
Griffith 5PPG, 1STL
Merritt 2PPG, 4RB
Laurelin 1ppg
Miller 1RB
Munnis 10ppg, 7RB, 2AST
Wade 2PPG, 1RB, 5AST
Benzel 4PPG, 6RB, 1 AST, 1STL
Hood 1RB


*Channing Shaw was injured when Sanderson elbowed him going up for a rebound. Because I had so much depth to begin with....

Game Notes: Sanderson (Columbia center) is a monster (well atleast vs teams like Army) and kicked my *** in the paint. Luckily he didn't get as many minutes as he should of (atleast 3 more he should have had). I had a bad game, a lot of assists (8 by richardson plus 2 or 3 others) but I scored about oh 5 points all game, and had I think 6 turnovers....why the hell did they keep giving me the ball?

But hey I won (dont expect to hear that too often). Only 11 more wins needed to be .500.

[Kaline]

Recruiting update:

First off, Im sorta just guessing as I go....

I have 9 scholarships to offer, and atleast two of these guys will be starting when I get them in.

C:
Konrad McCray: 7'3, 262
power Player.

Im third on the kids list right now, this is a guy I definately want. He'll be comming to my next game (Bridgeport). He doesn't have a ton of interest right now (mid way) but Ill be putting out a lot of effort to get him to come. 7'3 power player is exactly what I need.

PF:
Robert McCalebb: 6'7 191
Low Post Defender.

A three star recrutit, Im #1 on his list right now. He wants PT, Calls and to be close to home. Well hes from NY (my home state), he'll start comming in and I can shower him with calls. This may be my #1 recruit, and I think I can get him.

Balke Fields: 6'9 224
Shot Blocker

Another three star guy. Hes a JC Fr, Im 2nd on his list. Anotherbig body, but he's going to be awful tough for me to get. Id love to get him, and I have a chance, but...

SF:
Chad Petway: 6'8 217
Shooter

Wants PT, close to home and a reputable school, I can give him the first two atleast. Im 4th on his list and I would LOVE to bring this kid in. He's a three star prospect from NJ, I have a chance.

Duane Kixon: 6'7 197
Defensive Specialist.

Im second on his list, and could get him. Im going to hold out for Petway (cross's fingers), but he'd make a decent replacement. I can match two of his three criteria as well. Just 1 star

Varney Toussaint: 6'8 222
Slasher

Hes another 1 star, but I like the way he plays. A big slasher, Im tops on his list, can match all his criteria and he'd be a good fit. Im going to go after him, and it shoudl be fairly easy to do so.

SG:
none yet

PG:
Nelson Blalock: 6'1 178
Defensive Specialist.

A three star thats more of a dream than reality. Wants a winning program and reputable school, cant offer either. Im second on his list, but Im not holding out a bunch of hope. Though, I certainly wouldn't mind...


I hope to bring in a 4 big men (Either big SF or PF/C... not sure how many, just wanted talented players that fit my mold, cant be picky). Ill need a guard or two as well. I got a lot of players I need to fill in.

If anyone can offer tips on how to do this it'd be greatly appreciated. When should I offer scholarships ect.

[K Bomber]

Nice work, dude. That one guy is massive that you're looking to recruit

Hopefully he'll fit in the barracks..................

Keep it up, we'll be reading with interest

[Kaline]

Bridgeport Tech vs Army

Recruits watching:
McCalebb (PF)
McCray (the huge C)
Both for Army


Another game I felt pretty good about comming in, BT had better ratings, but with home court I felt I had a decent chance.

My team proved me right for the first half, it was tied 31-31, Flip picked up 12 points for me in the half and my guards played well.

The seocnd half on the other hand....

Well if your paying attention, you would have remembered what I said about Sanderson owning the glass on me last week. Well, new team, same story. Boomer Hall, another Center, just KILLED me in the paint. He picked up 16 rebounds and just killed any hope I had at picking up big second chance points, which I pretty much lived off last week.

This would explain how I blew an 11 point lead in the second half. Of course, I shot all over 37% so I guess I deserved it. We couldn't even score from the paint, we were missing layups, putbacks, everything. We even had 6 shots blocked. We failed to score on the fast break AGAIN.

Just an ugly half of basketball, glad to see it end. When you cant score on put backs, layups and 5 foot jumpers, you just dont deserve to win. Hell, we even missed two layups on the fastbreak.

It did come down to the last two minutes though (not that it should have). 56-54 with 2 left to play, Murray hits a big jumper to tie it up. BT has a backcourt violation, but Townsend miss's a long two (why the hell did he shoot that?), Shipp commits a reach in, but we were in bounus territory. They missed, but Shipp screws up again and miss's a 2 footer. They catch us sleeping on the in-bounds, score. Murray (again) hits the J to tie it up. We trade buckets but, BT socres with 2.9 seconds left to win it.

Final: 60-58

We went 0-9 from behind the arc (they were 3-11), they had 8 fast break points too our 0. Just an ugly game. It wasn't even as close as it looks (we had it lost by 5 minutes left). Next up is Cornell.

Army
Townsend 12 pts, 8 brd, 2 ast
Mbyirukira 16 pts, 2 reb 3 ast 1stl
Warner 2 pt, 3 brd, 6ast, 1 stl
Murray 7pt, 7brd 1stl
Shipp 7pt, 10brd, 2ast, 1stl
Jackson 4pt, 2brd
Richardson 2 pt, 5 brd, 4ast
Geiger 4pt, 5reb 1ast

Bridgeport Tech
Dunn 12 pt, 3ast, 1blk
Elliot 12 pt, 3ast, 1stl, 1blk
Fordham 8 pt, 4 reb, 1 ast, 1stl, 2blk
Baker 7pt, 2 reb, 1ast
Hall 2pt, 16rb, 1ast
Sutton 8pt, 2 reb
Brown 2reb 1ast
Turek 4pt, 1reb 3ast
Bodden 2pt, 3 reb, 2stl, blk
Green 2 pt, 1ast
Kou 2pt, 2 reb, 1ast
Adams 2 reb, blk

[Kaline]

Cornell at Army

I really felt this was a must win. Gotta stay over .500, this is a home game vs a bad team.

Oh, wait, Murray goes out for 6 weeks 1 minute into the game. That ****s up my plans a little...

Do you realize how hard it is to stop a team when you have no PF? Its pretty tough. On the bright side.... na there is no bright side.

Well we did win the rebounding department, by a lot. Of course, that would be because we kept getting our own rebounds. My replacements for Murray went an amazing 5-21, Shipp went 8-15 and Townsend went 2-7, produces a lot of rebounds.

Just an ugly game through and through. I dont see how Im going to win any games for the next 6 weeks. I have 10 players on my bench I can use, no PF and just 1 center. I have no defence in the paint, none. My defence stunk as it was and I turn the ball over constantly. But hey theres hope...to maybe beat Navy....

Im starting to feel like 1 win was an accomplishment.

But, Flip did have a nice game, Shipp was a monster on the boards (it wont be enough), but I lost. Only by 4 (it was 10 points most of the game, I got some fluky shots at the end to make it close, I actually made a three and got a 3 point play). I would have crushed this team with Murray, but, it was not too be.

Oh well, 1-23 here I come.

Final: 75-71
Army
Townsend 5 pt, 2 reb, 9ast, 1 stl, 2 blk
Mbyirukira 24pt, 3reb, 4ast
Toussaint 10 pt, 3 reb, 2ast 1stl (5-14)
Warner 10pt, 3reb, 2 ast, 1st
Shipp 19pt, 15reb, 1ast
Geiger 4reb, (0-7 FG)
Richardson 4pt, 5reb, 3ast, 2stl, 2blk

Cornell
Richards 4pt, 3ast, 2stl
Ramsdell 2pt, 1 reb, 3ast, 1stl
Wellington 9pt, 2reb, 1stl
Lampley 10pt, 4reb, 1ast, 1stl
Erwin 4pt, 9reb, 1stl, 2blk
Sullivan 14pt, 1 reb, 3ast, 1stl
Fellows 14pt, 7ast, 1stl
Smith 2pt, 9reb
Gibson 4pt
Causwell 12pt, 1 reb, 4ast

(Despite the negative tone I am having a lot of fun on this, its refreshing to get your *** handed too you on occasion).

[Kaline]

Army at Albany

This is a must win. Im not big on saying that (especially with such a horrid team with no real expectations), but if I want to have a shot at smelling .500 this year, this is a must win. Albany is a bad, undersized teams that I should be able to beat. With a almost guranteed loss vs Connecticut next week, dropping to 1-4 means Id have almost no chance at .500 (thats a lot of catching up for a bad team).

The team played well the first half, Shipp had 14 and Townsend put in 7. We led by 8, 40-32.

Then, as always, the second half means bad things happen. We, again, couldn't score from the three feet out. We shot .400 for the night, despite shooting 53% in the first half.

We of course blew the lead, giving up some pretty nice runs (getting some three point plays to stay in it). The game, like always, came down to the last two minutes. Down by 4, Shipp gets a three point play. Townsend hits a huge jumper from the top of the key, Richardson (playing SG) even got two points off free throws. We give up a shot since the damn AI wouldnt foul the guy, but Warner comes down and gets too free thows as well too cement it.

An ugly win, but its still a win. Townsend shot .357 and Flip shot .250. The guys had mixed results in the paint (real hot in the first, real cold in the second), but a win is a win is a win.

I have some very odd substituions as well. Of coruse, playing with a 10 man bench with only one center and no power forwards can do that. Of course, Petway sucks (he just cant shoot) and Henderson...is well...5'8...so I have NO depth.... this is going to be a long season.

Next, I get to get my *** handed to me by the Huskies....yuck.

Final: 64-61.

Army
Townsend 15pt, 5ast
Richardson 2pt, 9reb, 4ast
Toussaint 7pt, 6reb
Warner 12pt, 5reb, 1ast, 1blk
Shipp 19pt, 6reb, 2ast, 1stl
Jackson 1reb, 1blk
Petway 4reb, 2ast, 1stl
Mbyirukira 5pt, 3reb, 1ast
Henderson 1reb
Geiger 4pt, 7reb, 1ast, 1stl, 2blk

Albany
King 10pt, 7ast, 2stl, 1blk
Wallace 8pt, 3reb, 1ast,1stl, 1blk
McKnight 2pt, 6reb, 1ast, 1blk
Gordon 2pt, 2reb, 1ast
Mooore 12pt, 7reb, 2ast, 3stl
White 2pt
Wright 4pt, 6reb 3ast
Mathis 3pt, 5reb
Strickland 2pt, 1reb, 1ast, 2blk
Fox, 15t, 1ast

[Kaline]

Army #338942 vs Connecticut #1

Funny thing, reading the scouting report, I should run a zone to stop the pick and rolls twice, double team two players, run a tight man to man full court press three times....damn, thats a hard defence to call.

Hmmm, how one sided will this one get. It was a 20 point game at the half. 45-25... they got one helluva defence and just OWNED the boards. It was sorta funny to watch, they steal the pass's, shoot a three, make that about half the time, the other half their monsters up front would take the rebound and dunk it....I hope nobody else gets hurt...they steal the imbounds and repeat the cycle.

It ended (thank god) 89-52, thanks too a 14-2 run late in the second half by me (they took out their big men and I started getting a few boards and running a fast break). It really wasnt even that close. They were winning by 44 at one point in the second half. I thought they would score 95 atleast, but they missed a lot of threes towards the end (adding insult to injury or what, why are they taking threes?). The good news, noone got hurt.

I really thought I was only going to lose by 35-30....not 37 (and like I said, 44 at one point). Yuck.

Final 89-52

Rebounds: 47-33
Blocks: 8-3
FG: 39%-48%

Townsend 5pt, 1reb, 4ast, 1stl, 1blk
Mbyirukira 4pt, 4reb, 2ast
Richardson 12pt, 5reb, 6ast, 1stl
Toussaint 13pt, 4reb
Geiger 13pt, 4reb, 3ast 2blk
Warner 2pt, 1 reb, 1ast
Shipp 6pt, 11reb, 2ast
Petway 4pt, 5reb, 1stl
Henderson 2pt, 1reb

Cole 1pt, 3reb, 2ast
Wells 11pt, 2 reb, 1ast, 1blk
Carter 2pt, 2reb
Lampley 2pt, 4reb, 1ast, 1blk
Lube 2pt, 10 reb, 1ast
Bracy 23pt, 2reb, 2ast, 1blk
Long 6pt, 3 reb, 1ast
Carroll 12 pt, 10 reb, 1stl, 1blk
Hobson 9pt, 1 reb, 3ast, 1stl
Anderson 4pt, 3ast, 1stl, 2blk
Coly 9pt, 9reb, 2 ast, 1stl, 2blk
Kirkland 8pt, 7ast, 3stl

[squidpants]

Tough stuff man. I would use a 6'6 guy as my backup C, but he had a different name so I don't remember who. He was servicable though, while my starter was on the bench.

[Kaline]

Oops, forgot to update this (im doing it on two boards), ill get too it tommorow or tonight.