Registration:

There is a 2-step process to get completely sign-up for this game. First, you must sign-up for a SimulatedSports ID and password. If you have already signed-up for an ID through a different SimulatedSports game, then you can use that ID for this game. There is absolutely no cost for this, and passwords are generally e-mailed instantly (if not received within minutes, use the "Lost Password" link at the bottom of the "New User" page). Once you have an ID, you may request a team (see the "registered players" section of the signup page). Teams are assigned within 48 hours (usually on Mon/Wed/Fri nights and once of the weekend) except under rare circumstances. Once your team is assigned, you will be able to start coaching and recruiting. NOTE: You must attempt a login to see if you have been assigned or not. There is no automated notification. Refer to the "Dates and Times" link (on the "Misc links" page) for more information regarding the weekly schedule. If you have problems or questions with the registration process, first check the FAQs for some common questions. Then, if you still have problems, you can email us.


Overview:

The SimulatedSports.com College Basketball Game is a college basketball simulation where you are the coach of a team of fantasy players. Each fantasy player has been computer-generated and is purely fictitious, but has inherent abilities that determine how well he plays the game. Of course, many factors affect overall team performance, including individual talent level, team chemistry, player maturity, and the coach's coaching ability. Each week, there are 3 games played: on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. At any time before the cutoff (see "Dates & Times" link on "Misc links" page), you may issue instructions to your team for the upcoming game. If you do not provide instructions, the computer will manage your team in what it considers the best manner. Your last set of instructions will carry over for all future games unless you issue a new set.

Also during the course of the season, you must hit the recruiting trail to mine out talent to fill your roster for the following season. You must identify the players worthy of recruitment and then battle all of the other coaches for the recruit's commitment.

Generally, the following are always up-to-date and available for viewing: Statistical Leaders, Conference Standings, Individual Player Statistics, Box Scores, Schedules, and more. In addition, if the Box Score just isn't enough, there is also a special viewer that can be downloaded (along with a Results file) to view a scrolling play-by-play account of each game. We also have an online, non-scrolling play-by-play viewer.

Most importantly, this game is designed to be fun. We would also like to make it the best game on the Internet. With that in mind, we welcome you into the SimulatedSports.com family and welcome all constructive feedback. Thanks for playing!


Deadlines:

Refer to the "Important Dates & Times" link for exact deadlines.


The League:

There are 256 teams per league. Due to that size restriction, there will be concurrent leagues running to accommodate all interested players. A new league will start every week so that new players should never need to wait longer than one week to get started. Each league is divided into 32 conferences of 8 teams each, and each Conference is divided into 2 divisions. Teams will be coached by real-life participants to the extent that there are enough to fill each league. When necessary, the computer will manage teams. Each league is identified by a number (for example, League #1), as is each Conference (e.g., Conference #16). Computer coaches are identified by a name that looks something like: "c*00001006", for example.


The Season:

Generally, new leagues will be closed to new sign-ups on Friday nights (see "Dates and Times" link on "Misc links" page), with games being played on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. That gives everyone at least the weekend and part of Monday to get acquainted with their team and the game. You may also join a league that is still in its first week of games, although we recommend joining "the next starting league". There are 15 regular season games, five of which are non-conference games. Of the 10 Conference games, 6 are against teams in your division (2 games vs. each of the 3 other teams) and 4 are against the 4 teams in the other division. Only the Conference games are used to calculate Conference Standings.

Following the regular season, there will be a Conference Tournament, and 4 separate concurrent National Tournaments (with 64 teams each). Each National Tournament is by invitation (or automatic qualification), and all teams will participate in exactly one. There is a well-defined order of precedence to the tournaments. Tournament selection and qualification criteria are defined in the "Tournament" section of these instructions. The Conference Tournaments will require 3 rounds to determine a winner. However, all tournaments, including the National Tournaments, are such that all teams continue to play consolation games after a loss. Although the championship is out of reach following a loss, every tournament game is additional exposure that may be useful on the recruiting trail. The National Tournaments require 6 games for completion. Therefore an entire season consists of (15+3+6) 24 games, and lasts 8 weeks. Since the season ends on Friday, the next regular season will NOT start the following Monday. Rather, there will be one week of exhibition games. There is an option on the "coach" page to schedule your own exhibition opponents for the following season. Also, this is a good time to do some early scouting.


The Teams:

When you sign up to play, you will be placed into a league that is at or near its starting position. You will be randomly assigned to a team (hometown and players pre-determined), but you pick your team's nickname when you sign up. There is no entrance into a league except at the beginning of a season or during the first week. Any teams not coached by real players will be coached by the computer. Once a league is full or nearly full, other concurrent leagues may be opened to accommodate all players. There are 12 players per team (3 of each class: Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior). However, only 10 may dress (be eligible to play) for each game. You alone may view the attributes for your players. When viewing your players, the skill levels indicated are true indications of their abilities although each skill rating covers a range. For example, 3 players with "fair" shooting ability are probably not exactly equal in ability, but rather are closely related in ability. Everyone has access to your players' game statistics, but not their attributes. You will also see your players' physical conditions, which may change after each game. Just as real players do, your players may experience injuries, varying from minor to severe, which will be reflected in their conditions. The condition value ranges from 1-10, where 10 is 100%, 9 is some slight imperfection, 8 is where a player may or may not be able to play (but likely not very effectively), and 7 is bad enough that the player will never recover without rest and should always be rested. Anything lower than 7 definitely deserves full rest until the player has recovered. A player's condition will affect their on-court performance.


Managing Your Team:

You may give your team instructions prior to any game. Your last set of instructions will always be used and will completely supercede any prior instructions. Your instruction options are fairly self-explanatory, but here is a quick rundown:

• Player Positions - decide each player's position. If you need a primer of proper player positioning, visit the "Coach's Corner" for the insights of other coaches.
• Substitution Patterns - decide how often to sub out each player (this is relative to the computer's idea of a "normal" substitution pattern. NOTE: "Sub More" means sub OUT more, NOT sub in more. In other words, "Sub More" means "play less". Also, please note that a player's development is somewhat contingent upon the playing time he receives. This applies to both the long term, as well as in-season development. Note, however, that like the normal maturation process, this effect on maturity does not result in the changing of the attributes (but just a quicker/slower recognition of the full potential, or the player may actually fall short of full potential).
• Individual Shooting Tendencies - decide how much each player should shoot (relative to each player's natural shooting tendencies).
• Team Tempo
• Team Defensive Style
• Team 3-Point Shooting Philosophy

As indicated, some of these options are entirely relative and may take some experimentation to master. Also, remember that all decisions may have impacts that are not obvious. For example, too little playing time may make a selfish player unhappy, while it may not affect a true "team player" at all. Other decisions may have similarly masked effects.

Remember, ultimately a coach can only give instructions. As any basketball spectator knows, those instructions are not always executed perfectly. As you monitor how well your instructions are executed, please keep this fact in mind.

IMPORTANT: After submitting your coaching instructions, you will get a confirmation screen. That screen will also offer the option to verify that your submission was properly received. While there is generally little or no trouble in this area, please be aware that we will not manually examine situations for which you did not verify receipt of your submission.

As the coach, you also have the opportunity to try to improve your team. There is a "Practice" selection on the "Coach" screen. The practice selection will be registered every Friday (at the weekly deadline), and your team may improve in the selected area. Please realize that improvement is intentionally subtle, but is present and can add up over a player's career. Please see FAQs for more info on the "Practice" option.


Is there a Cost?

You may play this game entirely for free. From its 1999 inception through November 2002, that was the only option. However, while you can still play for free, we have had to adapt to an environment that featured rising server costs and a dramatic drop in advertising revenues (in fact, we have dropped advertising altogether -- thus, no annoying pop-ups). Now, if you elect to play the game on a free basis, you will be labeled a "Small Program". For a fee, you may upgrade your program to "Mid-Size Program" or "Large Program". Everything (especially game play and team management) already mentioned is the same for all teams regardless of your Program's size election. However, there is an effect on recruiting. These differences will be discussed in the appropriate places in the remainder of the document. The fee to upgrade to Mid-Size is $2.00 per game season (a game season is 9 real-time weeks). The fee to upgrade to a Large Program is $5.00 per game season.

Here's how this election procedure works. For your convenience, any money sent to the site (we accept credit cards, debit cards, checks, and money orders) will be credited to you as "Game Credits" ($0.01 = 1 credit). These will appear on your private "coach" page. You will then be able to carry these credits forward as long as you like, or else "spend" them on things like upgrading your program size. Other features that credits can be spent on are mostly "fun" things. Examples include submitting names for the simulated players, holding scrimmages against other teams, etc. More information on these things can be found elsewhere. As a thank you to those that choose to support the site by upgrading their programs, we will actually credit back a portion of the fee in the form of what we call "Pseudo-Credits". These pseudo-credits can be spent just like regular credits, but there are 2 differences. Pseudo-credits cannot be transferred to other teams (yours or otherwise), and they cannot be used to make another Program Size election. Any time you elect to spend credits (other than the Program Size election), the fee will be paid from pseudo-credits first if you have them. The Pseudo-credits awarded for electing to go Mid-Size are 100 ($1.00 worth). For going Large Program, you will receive 300 Pseudo credits.

Thankfully for all of us, there are a few coaches out there that have above-average financial means to support the site, combined with a desire to do so. For these coaches, there is a special recognition class called "Sponsor Class". These programs operate much like Large Programs will a few exceptions mentioned later. The cost to be a "sponsor" program is 2500 credits per season. Sponsors will receive 3000 pseudo-credits.

In summary, the game gives you the ability to play for free or on a pay basis. Some coaches run multiple teams, and some of them go totally one way or the other with their teams, while others choose to divide their teams between the classes to enjoy the different challenges each one presents. Regardless of your election, I thank you for playing, and we should all be grateful to those that can and do support the site financially.


Recruiting:

Recruiting is one of the cornerstones of college basketball. This game attempts to capture that fact. To succeed on a regular basis, you will need to be a good recruiter. Only high school seniors are available for recruiting, and they may be viewed at any time. For your convenience, they are grouped by regions numbered 1-32, and each region corresponds to a conference. For example, all recruits from Region #1 are from hometowns represented by the teams in Conference #1. All recruit signings take place at the end of Week #8 (i.e., after game #24).

NOTE: The recruiting link is located on your "coaching" page (the "coach" link once you are signed-in).

Recruiting centers around "Recruiting Points," or RPs. Your team is allotted a weekly allowance of recruiting points to spend as you choose. There is a base amount of points allotted, plus a positive or negative bonus. These RPs represent the way you give a recruit your attention. This is the dominant factor in recruiting. There are also lots of other secondary factors, all to be explained shortly.

More about RPs:

• You may spend between 1-17 RPs per recruit per week.
• If you spend less than 17 at one time on a recruit, you may spend the remainder (up to 17 total) at any later time that week, assuming that you have unspent RPs to do so.
• Base RPs vary by Program Size:
  • Small Programs receive a base allotment of 68 RPs.
  • Mid-Size Programs receive a base allotment of 75 RPs.
  • Large Programs receive a base allotment of 83 RPs.

There is a "Delete Actions" option that allows you to delete points spent, but only until the points have been processed. Once processed, an action cannot be undone.

Recruiting efforts may be tabulated daily or every other day, but the allocation of another week's worth of RPs only occurs weekly. This facilitates those that do not have everyday access to the Internet. RPs can be carried over (from week to week, not season to season) if not spent, but this may not represent a desirable strategy since you will face the 17-point limit in future weeks.

Recruits' decisions are influenced by several factors, including (but not necessarily limited to):

• How well you recruit them (e.g., points spent). This is definitely the most important factor in recruiting.
• Competition from other recruiters
• Consideration given to those getting in early on a recruit (A one-time early attention bonus starts at 15 RPE in week 1 and declines by 2 each week. It is earned in the first week that you spend points on, or offer a scholarship to, a recruit.)
• Recruit's Region - Each recruit's profile lists his preferences regarding playing close to home, indicated with a "None/Poor/Fair/Good/Exc" rating (to be consistent with player attribute ratings). An "exc" here indicates a strong desire to stay close to home. A "fair" means "neutral" and a "none" actually represents a strong desire to move away from home. There is an important playability adjustment necessary here. "Close to Home" is measured as follows:
  • All teams in the same number conference as the recruit's region (e.g., Conf 1 & Region 1), are considered equally close (even compared to the hometown).
  • Teams from conferences numbered +1 or -1 from the recruit's region are considered equally close to the recruit, but are not as close as the previously mentioned class.
  • Teams from conferences numbered +2 or -2 from the recruit's region are considered equally close to the recruit, but are not as close as the previously mentioned class.
  • Trading reality for playability, we make the assumption that conferences 1 & 32 are "next to each other".
  • An example: If you are a conference 2 team, your best "close to home" advantage is with Region 2 recruits. You have some advantage with Region 1 and 3 recruits also. You have less, but still some, advantage with Region 32 and 4 recruits
• Recruit's desire to play for a winning program. Each recruit expresses this desire as an attribute also. Here, an "exc" means "really want to play for a winner". "Fair" means "gives moderate consideration to playing for a winner". "None" means "this doesn't factor into my decision". This does NOT mean "want to play for a loser".
• Recruit's desire to be able to make an Impact on a program. Each recruit expresses this desire as an attribute also. Here, an "exc" means "really want to be able to make an impact". "Fair" means "gives moderate consideration to making an impact". "None" means "this doesn't factor into my decision".
• "Winning programs" will be measured based on 55% Last year's results, 35% the prior year to that, and 10% the next prior year. The exception is that if there is 3-year trend of improvement, the 10% "next prior" will be ignored and "last year" will get 65%. This rewards winning most recently, but allows for (a) a single bumpy season to be less than catasrophic and (b) recognition of a trend towards winning. A year's performance is measured as your highest Power Ranking after games 19-24. Rather than just using the final rankings, this feature does not penalize the "#64" seed that gets into the championship tournament and goes 0-6. We would not want to create a situation where this team would be better off dropping down to the next-lower tournament.
• A recruit's ability to have an "Impact" for recruting will be based on:
  • The recruit's self-perception of his talent level.
  • The recruiting team's performance in the just-ended season (assuming, generally, that bad teams need help the most).   However, there is some recognition that better recruits can still make an impact at better schools.
  • Graduating/Returning talent (NOT position-specific).
  • Graduating/Returning height (NOT position-specific).

Please note that any RPE total at the season's end which is lower than 28 is likely to fail to impress the recruit, and the recruit's decision will be more sporadic than usual. You can expect many of the top recruits to receive 17 RPS each and every week from someone, and you will probably have to keep pace to go after the top-notch recruits. On the other hand, since competition is so fierce at the top, you may choose to cast your fate with the 2nd tier recruits where you have a much better chance of earning a commitment.

A recruit must be offered a scholarship before he will sign with your team. A maximum of 14/17/20 scholarship offers may be extended by Small/Mid/Large programs, respectively, and no scholarship offer may be retracted once offered.

IMPORTANT: At signing time (end of the 8th week), all recruits will sign with teams. You have the opportunity to rank your recruits by allocating "priority" points to them. From the recruiting screen, you can elect to allocate 1, 3, 5, 7, or 9 priority points at a time. The recruits with the most priority points should be those that you want the most. There is no limit to the priority points you can designate, except that the maximum is 99 for any one recruit. NOTE: The absolute number of Priority Points you allocate is immaterial. All that matters is the relative number. For example, if you allocate 1 PP to player A and 99 to player B, or if you allocate 1 PP to A and 2 to player B, the result is exactly the same --> you have ranked player B ahead of player A. Also, there is no "cost" to allocating the points. The 99-PP limit is arbitrary. Most coaches will only need to use 10 or less. You will sign the 3 highest-ranked recruits that are willing to sign with you. If you do not submit points, or if you have ties in your rankings, the computer's rankings (unpublished) will be used to select your preferences.

Also, you need to realize that sometimes a recruit may be unrecruited (or available because the team(s) that recruited him signed 3 other players) that is better than 1 of the recruits you would otherwise sign. If you do not want to accept these more highly-ranked "walkons" over your other recruits, then you need to allocate at least 1 PP to anyone that you want to have preference over any walkon. If a higher-ranked "walkon" wants to sign with you, he will supercede any of your recruits that have zero PPs.

There will always be a delicate balancing situation between trying to get star recruits and trying to get "solid" recruits, since you will lose control of who signs if you do not fill your roster from your scholarship offers. My advice is this: in true life, a coach can never know a recruit's thoughts, intentions, or future actions. This is true in this game. Follow your gut feelings and hope to land the big one. If not, make adjustments the following year.

IMPORTANT: After submitting your recruiting actions, you will get a confirmation screen. That screen will also offer the option to verify that your submission was properly received. While there is generally little or no trouble in this area, please be aware that we will not manually examine situations for which you did not verify receipt of your submission.

You will finish the season with a 3-person recruiting class (no carryover scholarships). If you do not sign 3 players, you will accept onto the team randomly assigned players to bring your total recruit count to 3. This is equivalent to accepting unsigned players already enrolled in school to fill open spots. The risk of having recruits randomly assigned is an additional risk of holding out for only top-notch recruits. If you come up empty, you lose control of who you sign.

Remember that the talent evaluations you see for recruits are not true ability levels like you see for your own players. You can only evaluate the recruits based on what your scout "sees." And of course, there are always some players overlooked, while there are some blue-chippers who are busts. To give you a better "feel" for your scouting evaluation, you will find on each individual player's recruiting page an entry titled "Scout". This tells you how confident you can be in your talent evaluation for that player. After the 3rd week of the season, the "Your Top 35 Recruits" page will list some additional information about each recruit on the list: (a) the most RPE for any team (titled "Top RPE"), (b) the number of teams (excluding you) within 3 RPE of you for this recruit (titled "W-3"), and (c) the number of teams (excluding you) within 12 RPE of you for this recruit (titled "W-12"). If you are not the Top RPE team, then this value includes those teams within 3/12 RPE below you, plus all those equal to or above you.

You can "flag" a recruit for inclusion on your "Top Recruits" page with the "Flag Recruit" option. This option neither costs nor credits RPs. It is simply a way to make a "short list" of potential recruits. A flagged recruit will move ahead of all other non-flagged recruits with equal RPE. This is most useful for getting players to appear on the list for future reference without spending points on them.


The National Tournaments

Following the regular season and Conference Tournaments, there will be 4 separate, concurrent 64-team National Tournaments. In order of prestige, these tournaments are, along with qualification information:

• The National Title Tournament (NTT). All regular season Conference Champions plus all Conference Tournament winners qualify. In the case of regular season Conference Title ties, the 1st tie-breaker is Overall Record, and the 2nd tie-breaker is Power Ranking. In the case of 3 or more tied teams, a team must survive the 1st tie-breaker to be considered in the 2nd. All other openings will be filled with at-large bids, with the exception of the final spot. Click HERE for more information on an opportunity to earn your way into the tournament regardless of record.
• The Provincial Title Tournament (PTT). All regular season Conference Runners-up will be invited, as will all Conference Tournament Runners-up. Teams invited to the NTT will not be considered. Tie-breaker applies as described for the NTT. All remaining spots will be filled with at-large bids.
• The Regional Title Tournament (RTT). All spots filled with at-large bids. Teams invited to the NTT or PTT will not be considered
• The District Title Tournament (DTT). All teams not invited to a different tournament will be invited to this tournament.

All tournaments are round-robin, meaning you will play in every round whether you win or lose the previous round. Of course, Tournament Champions and Runners-up are determined in the normal "must-win" fashion.

The Champion of each Tournament is awarded game credits. The awards for the 4 tourneys are 500/400/300/200 credits, respectively.


The Play-by-Play Viewer:

You can download a special viewer and Game Results Files to view a scrolling play-by-play account of any game you would like. The viewer and downloading instructions are provided under the "More Options" link.


Inactive Teams:

Abandoned teams will be returned to computer control. To maintain active status, you must meet the following requirement: at some point after the 3rd week of games, you must perform some coaching action, either a roster move or a recruiting action. Please note that use of the Auto-Recruitier does not maintain active status.


Frequently Asked Questions:

There is a separate section titled "Frequently Asked Questions", or "FAQS". The FAQs section may contain additional information that is not obvious from this set of Instructions. You are advised that the FAQs are considered part of the documentation to our site/games, and you will be responsible for knowing the information presented there.


New Game Information:

This game is a work in progress. New features and rule/procedural changes are sometimes necessary/desirable. There is a link on the main basketball page titled "New Game Info". That link will document any new information that you should know. Please monitor that link closely.


All Rights Reserved:

We reserve the right to make all decisions concerning this game at our discretion. By playing this game, you consent to being bound by our decisions. While all decisions are intended to be in the best interest of the game, that may not be obvious to all players at all times. Inappropriate behavior may result in cancellation of your account. Above all, this game is still a game and is intended to be fun. Enjoy it.