This season hit a road bump for me when I forgot to set the lineup for a scrimmage and left all my starters to play a full three games for the week--that really screws up your game shape. I've also experimented with some training that is paying dividends but is taking longer than I expected. We played a good game against Spikefierce, but have been flat since. Of course the fact that the Lightninng are clearly the better team, has nothing to do with the analysis :-)
I was looking forward to a better performance. I did not like the way the game engine handled the substitutions I set up for the game against the Lightninng; It's difficult for me to get the SIM to make the correct substitutions; It's either feast or famine. I like to get the bench involved, but I don't always like the one for one substitution pattern the GE insists on. You can get it to move players around, but not with the consistency I would like. The GE probably calculated that my way gave us no chance to win; the SIM coach got us to two overtimes. The Lightninng took over the boards when it counted, and hit clutch free throws down the stretch. As the fourth quarter wound down, my best inside player was forced to commit two fouls in succession to put the Lightninng in the bonus in case we had to foul down the stretch. It put him at 5 fouls and the ending was pretty predictable once he fouled out. Bacon held his own, but committed a key foul and turn-over in the first OT; that was probably our best chance to win it. He made some key plays in the second OT, but their inside defense, rebounding, and Scola proved to be too much in the end.
Now we have to face your squad the last game of the season (?) on the road. I'm hoping Eppinger is back to full GS by then, but even if he is I think Las Vegas has us the underdogs going into that one. San Louis Obispo has some good things going on and I am not looking past the High Flyers. The era of the walkover in our conference is over. Next season is going to be tough if everyone sticks around.