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[PointGuard]

The year is 2030. Following a major scandal within the collegiate basketball world, the NCAA completely reorganized Division I.

All conferences were disbanded and a Promotion/Relegation set up was established. 22 conferences of 16 teams were created (a total of 352 teams), each organized based on historic strength of their basketball programs. But Division I basketball has 357 teams, so the 5 teams with the lowest prestige factor are not included in any conference. Instead these 5 are independent teams.

Under the NCAA’s realignment teams are not frozen within those conferences. They can move up (be promoted) to higher level conferences or drop down (be relegated) to lower level conferences. After each season the top 4 teams in a conference will move up to the next higher level conference and the 4 bottom teams in a conference will drop down to the next lower level conference. If a team that finishes lower than 4th in their conference happens to win their conference tournament, that team will be promoted in place of the 4th place team in that conference.

After the end of each season the Independent team with the best record will move up into Conference V for the next season and the lowest team in the standings in Conference V will drop down to become and Independent the following season.

[PointGuard]

Here’s the alignment of teams for each conference:

Conf A: Arizona, Duke, Florida, Gonzaga, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, Maryland, Michigan State, North Carolina, Ohio State, Texas, Villanova, Wisconsin, Xavier
Conf B: Alabama, Baylor, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Creighton, Florida State, Marquette, Michigan, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Purdue, Syracuse, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia
Conf C: Brigham Young, Butler, Clemson, Georgetown, Indiana, Iowa, Memphis, Miami (FL), North Carolina State, Oregon, Pittsburgh, San Diego State, Seton Hall, Stanford, UCLA, Wichita State
Conf D: Arkansas, Dayton, Georgia State, Iowa State, Kansas State, Louisiana State, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Providence, Saint Marys, Southern California, Texas Tech, Utah State, Virginia Commonwealth, Vanderbilt
Conf E: Arizona State, Colorado, Davidson, Georgia, Houston, Mississippi State, Nebraska, Nevada, Penn State, South Carolina, Temple, Texas A&M, Utah, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Washington
Conf F: Alabama-Birmingham, Auburn, Belmont, Boise State, Boston College, Kent State, Nevada-Las Vegas, Northwestern, Rhode Island, Richmond, Rutgers, Saint Louis, Southern Methodist, St. Johns, Tulsa, Vermont
Conf G: Akron, Buffalo, California, Central Florida, Colorado State, DePaul, Murray State, New Mexico State, Northern Iowa, Ohio, Oregon State, St. Bonaventure, Texas Christian, Washington State, Western Kentucky, Wright State
Conf H: East Tennessee State, George Mason, George Washington, Illinois State, Louisiana Tech, Loyola (IL), Massachusetts, Missouri State, New Mexico, Old Dominion, Saint Josephs, San Francisco, South Dakota State, Texas-El Paso, UC-Irvine, UC-Santa Barbara
Conf I: Bradley, Charleston, Drake, Duquesne, Fresno State, Indiana State, La Salle, Marshall, Middle Tennessee, Northeastern, Pacific, South Florida, Toledo, Valparaiso, Winthrop, Yale
Conf J: Charlotte, Drexel, Georgia State, Harvard, Hofstra, Iona, Miami (OH), North Dakota State, North Texas, Oral Roberts, Pepperdine, Princeton, Santa Clara, Stephen F. Austin, Wofford, Wyoming
Conf K: Bowling Green State, Detroit Mercy, Eastern Washington, Furman, Green Bay, Hawaii, Louisiana-Lafayette, Loyola Marymount, Milwaukee, Montana, NC-Greensboro, Oakland, Siena, Southern Illinois, Weber State, Western Michigan
Conf L: Air Force, Ball State, Boston University, Bucknell, Chattanooga, Cleveland State, East Carolina, Evansville, Grand Canyon, Long Beach State, Mercer, NC-Wilmington, Pennsylvania, Sam Houston State, San Diego, Texas-Arlington
Conf M: Arkansas State, Austin Peay, Coastal Carolina, Fairfield, IUPUI, Illinois-Chicago, Liberty, Little Rock, Manhattan, Morehead State, Rice, Rider, South Alabama, Southern Mississippi, Tulane, William & Mary
Conf N: Albany, American, Cal State Fullerton, Central Michigan, Colgate, Delaware, Denver, Eastern Kentucky, Eastern Michigan, Georgia Southern, Holy Cross, James Madison, Lehigh, Niagara, Stony Brook, Texas-San Antonio
Conf O: Abilene Christian, Appalachian State, Cal State Bakersfield, Canisius, Fordham, Lipscomb, Monmouth, NC-Asheville, Northern Illinois, Portland, Portland State, Robert Morris, Saint Peters, Southern Utah, Troy, UC-Riverside
Conf P: Brown, Cal State Northridge, Columbia, Cornell, Florida Atlantic, Florida Gulf Coast, Idaho, MD-Baltimore County, Northern Colorado, Northern Kentucky, Purdue Fort Wayne, South Dakota, Tennessee Tech, Texas State, Towson, Utah Valley
Conf Q: Army, Elon, Florida International, Gardner-Webb, High Point, Jacksonville State, Loyola (MD), Montana State, Navy, Northern Arizona, Quinnipiac, Radford, Samford, Tennessee State, Wagner, Youngstown State
Conf R: Bellarmine, Cal Poly, Hampton, Jacksonville, Lafayette, Lamar, Long Island, Marist, Mount St. Marys, New Orleans, North Florida, Northwestern State, San Jose State, Southern, UC-Davis, Western Carolina
Conf S: Campbell, Central Connecticut, Eastern Illinois, Hartford, Idaho State, Kansas City, Louisiana-Monroe, Norfolk State, Omaha, SE Missouri State, Sacramento State, Sacred Heart, St. Francis (NY), Texas A&M-CC, Texas Southern, VMI
Conf T: California Baptist, Charleston Southern, Dartmouth, Fairleigh Dickinson, McNeese State, Morgan State, NC-Central, New Hampshire, Nicholls State, SE Louisiana, Saint Francis (PA), Seattle, So. Carolina Upstate, Stetson, Texas-Rio Grande, Western Illinois
Conf U: Bethune-Cookman, Binghamton, Bryant, Citadel, Coppin State, Delaware State, Florida A&M, Howard, Jackson State, Maine, NJIT, North Carolina A&M, North Dakota, Prairie View, Tennessee-Martin, UC-San Diego
Conf V: Alabama A&M, Alabama State, Central Arkansas, Chicago State, Grambling, Houston Baptist, Incarnate Word, Kennesaw State, Longwood, Mass-Lowell, Merrimack, Mississippi Valley, North Alabama, Presbyterian, SIU Edwardsville, South Carolina State

But as previously mentioned, this conference alignment leaves 5 teams out, so they are listed as independent teams. In reality those teams exist in a state of transition between Division I and Division II. Unofficially (and you might well say derisively) they are referred to as “Not Ready For Prime Time”. They will play as many games as they can against Division I teams during pre-conference play but no further games against Division I opponents the rest of the season (during the period of conference play).

These 5 Independent teams are: Alcorn State, Dixie State, Tarleton State, MD-Eastern Shore, and Arkansas-Pine Bluff. The coaches for those 5 teams are: Ramon Montez, Terry Morillo, Ken Yamoto, Mike McMillan, and Dontell Spencer. Let’s see how those coaches do. Who will be most successful?

[Note: Using the new “Universe Mode” just introduced to DDSCB this year, we’re going to assess how each of these teams and their head coaches progress and compare their results.]

Game Setup:

• DDSCB2021
• Universe Mode
• Promotion/Relegation
• Start Yr: 2030
• Allow illegal recruiting
• Brutal Recruiting Difficulty (but it was relaxed to Normal difficulty level in mid-November after the recruiting performance by the teams indicated CPU controlled recruiting with Brutal difficulty level for these 5 teams put them at a disadvantage compared to the other 352 teams for which Brutal level recruiting difficulty didn’t apply.)
• 200% Injury Factor
• High Job Pressure
• So that I won’t favor any one of the 5 teams, I will let the AI handle all chores, I’ll skip summer, and will sim all games.

[PointGuard]

Bio’s of the Five Independent team coaches:

Ramon Montez: Alcorn State Braves (Lorman, MS-prestige 3), Contract: $80K for 3 yrs., Age 46, Dream Job: New Mexico Lobos, High Ambition, Average Academics, High Discipline, Integrity-Avg, Temper-6, Player Preference-6, Player Rotation-4, Offensive Pace-6, Off. Crash Boards-6, Defensive Intensity-5, Def Crash Boards-5, Full Court Defense-6, Zone 8,Defense-2, Offense-33, Defense-24, Scouting-33, Player Development-26, Recruiting-34.



Terry Morillo: Dixie State Trailblazers (St. George, UT, Prestige-1), Contract: $80K for 3 yrs., Age 51, Dream Job: St. Johns Red Storm, Medium Ambition, Low Academics, Low Discipline, High Integrity, Temper-7, Player Preference-7, Player Rotation-6, Offensive Pace-3, Offensive Boards-7, Defensive Intensity-7, Def Crash Boards-6, Full Court Def-4, Zone Defense-6, Offensive-23, Defense-37, Scouting-23, Player Development-39, Recruiting-28.



Ken Yamato: Tarleton State Texans (Stephenville, TX, Prestige-3), Contract-$80K for 3 yrs., Age 52, Dream Job: Northwestern Wildcats, High Ambition, Very High Academics, Very low Discipline, High Integrity, Temper-3, Player Preference-3, Player Rotation-8, Offensive Pace-6, Offensive Crash Boards-6, Defensive Intensity-6, Defensive Crash Boards-5, Full Court Def-3, Zone Defense-4, Offense-25, Defense-32, Scouting-23, Player Development-29, Recruiting-41.



Mike McMillan: MD-Eastern Shore Hawks (Princess Ann, MD, Prestige-1), Contract $80K for 3 yrs., Age-35, Dream Job: Georgetown Hoyas, Average Ambition, Average Academics, Very High Discipline, Low Integrity, Temper-8, Player Preference-6, Player Rotation-4, Offensive Pace-4, Offensive Crash Boards-5, Defensive Intensity-8, Defensive Crash Boards-5, Full Court Def-7, Zone Defense-9, Offense-21, Defense-40, Scouting-26, Player Development-32, Recruiting-31.



Dontell Spencer: Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions (Pine Bluff, AR, Prestige-3), Contract $80K for 3 yrs., Age-56, Dream Job: North Carolina State Wolfpack, Ambition-High, Average Academics, Low Discipline, High Integrity, Temper-6, Player Preference-4, Player Rotation-3, Offensive Pace-8, Offensive Crash Boards-7, Defensive Intensity-4, Defensive Crash Boards-6, Full Court Defense-2, Zone Defense-2, Offense-37, Defense-20, Scouting-22, Player Development-26, Recruiting-45.

[PointGuard]

Before the season began the five Independent teams’ coaches got together. Here’s some excerpts from that meeting.

Terry: Our schools were odd-man out in this NCAA reorganization. We get to play games against Division I teams from any of the 22 conferences, but once they start playing conference games, we will be excluded from any further games that season against Division 8 opponents.

Ramon: Well, besides everyone thinking our respective programs suck so badly that none of our teams is in any of the conferences there is one thing that is similar among us.

Mike: What’s that?

Ramon: We’re all rookie head coaches. None of us has ever coached a college game. But, to be honest, I’m sort of happy the NCAA got into so much hot water. If they hadn’t we probably would never have been able to move up from coaching at the high school level.

Dontell: A lot of those old-time coaches got to thinking they could do anything…and it finally caught up with them. They brought down the whole rotten mess.

Ken: I think that not being included in the conference alignment and never having coached at the college level means we’re probably the hungriest coaches. If nothing else, our salaries definitely make us hungry.

Mike: True, there’s no where to go but up for us.

Terry: Well, we’ve all had a lot of success coaching high school, so I think we’re gonna surprise some people at this level.

Mike: Coming in at his level where we aren’t even part of the conference hierarchy means we all gotta go out and kick some butts.

Dontell: From here on out we may be opponents when our teams play each other, but let’s make a pact…to get together after each season, no matter how the season has gone or what conference each of us may eventually be in. I’ve definitely got a chip on my shoulder since the five of our teams (and each of us by extension) are being called “Not Ready for Prime Time”. I’m afraid that no matter how high we rise that stigma may be attached to us. So we need to hang together.

Mike: You got it! I think the NCAA not including us in a conference has put a chip on all our shoulders.

Ken: Yeah, I’m for getting together annually.

Ramon: Count me in.

Terry: The motto of the 5 of us should be: “All for one and one for all”. So our keeping tight together makes us the 5 Musketeers.

Ramon: Well, guys, I’m gonna remain friendly with every one of you, but let me tell ya. One of us is going to move from being an Independent to joining Conference V after this first season. And I’m going all out to be the one!

Dontell: [Laughing} Hey man, you may live to rue THAT comment.

Ken: May all of you have good luck, but just a little less good than mine will be.

[PointGuard]

Roster and Recruiting Prognosis:

Alcorn State:
Ramon Montez—"Our strength appears to be up front where we have 3 solid players: PF Will Neely and C’s Don Barnes and Scott Hackworth. We’re weakest at PG. We have a pretty young team so need to will work hard on player development. We have just one graduating senior, but hopefully we can land one good recruit.”

Dixie State:
Terry Morillo—"We have 4 juniors on the team but the rest of our players are underclassmen. With no seniors, that means no replenishment through recruiting this year. I think we have a lot of players with good potential, but they need more experience. PF Cliff Hanavan and C Vincent O’Bannon look to be our best players. O’Bannon is just a freshman but has a lot of talent.”

Tarleton State:
Ken Yamoto—"I like our strength at all positions with the possible exception of SG. We have just 2 seniors but they’re our two strongest interior players, so hopefully we can land a couple talented big men through recruiting. PG Lennox Blackshear is our team leader and together with C Dante Bedford gives us a good inside/outside duo.”

MD-Eastern Shore:
Mike McMillan—"We’re pretty solid at all positions this season, so that makes me optimistic. But we have 5 seniors who will be graduating, 4 of whom are likely to be starters this season. So we need to have a robust recruiting effort or we’ll be hurting next season. My concern, though, is that my assistant coaches aren’t good recruiters and we don’t have the funds to hire a good recruiter so we’ll need to make do with what we have and hope for the best.”

Arkansas-Pine Bluff:
Dontell Spencer—"We’ll only have one scholarship to offer this year. PG Milton Cox is a freshman but comes to us with glowing reports and may well become our best player this season. Another freshman, PF Dexter Thorne, also looks like a star in the making and seems sure to crack our starting lineup.”

[PointGuard]

Scheduling:

Each of the 5 independent teams was able to schedule 15 or 16 games against whatever Division I teams were willing to play them during pre-conference play. The 5 teams’ records in those games will determine which team gets promoted next season. The team with the best record will move up to Division V next season. The other teams will remain as Independent next season. So their fates are on the line during the pre-conference period of the season. Play well or stagnate.

Scheduling will be a factor since while they are playing as Independents since the strength of their schedules may vary substantially and the number of home/away games will also be widely different. But hopefully the best teams will rise to the top. As one of the AD's of the 5 "Not Ready for Prime TIme" schools said, "Getting more established teams to put us on their schedule is like my kids to eat vegetables. And even when they deign to play us, most all of them don't want to play us on our home court. They don't want to take more of a chance of losing to us than they have to. I should be getting bonus pay for trying to create a schedule for our basketball team."

[PointGuard]

Recruiting Results:

Summer and fall recruiting has concluded and the season is about to begin. Here’s some comments from each of the 5 coaches about their recruiting:

Ramon Montez, Alcorn State—"We only had one scholarship to offer. As I’d said earlier, I felt we needed to strengthen ourselves at the point and we landed a PG. Dana Turner is 6’1” and is playing his final year of high school ball in Enterprise, MS. He’s not highly ranked, but the kid is a passing whiz and a solid ball-handler. He needs to work hard on his defense and hasn’t been a big scorer but he’s got a good outside shot…just needs to gain more confidence in it. His coach says he works hard, so while he may not be an instant factor for us, I think he will grow into the job.”

Ken Yamoto, Tarleton State—"OK, I screwed up. I had so many things to do as a new head coach that I left recruiting in the hands of Jason Holmes, my 1st Assistant Coach. He kept saying he was making progress. But lo and behold he wasn’t. He just didn’t get the job done, a total failure. I’ve decided I have to take the reins and try my best to rectify what’s been a total disaster thus far. Our active list of recruits is basically bare. So it’s sort of like starting from ground zero and seeing if I can land a couple of the remaining recruits this spring…hopefully big interior guys. And Jason? We don’t have the money to fire the [bleep]er and rehire right now…but his time with us is growing short. I’m hoping he can help us in other ways for the remainder of his time with us this season but then I got assistant coach shopping.”

Mike McMillan, MD-Eastern Shore—"We lassoed a JC PG from Stratford, CT—6’1” Clayton Davis. He’s a good court general with excellent passing skills but he’s not a scorer or defender. We still have 4 more scholarships to fill so we’ve got a lot of work to do. We need at least 2 more guards. We have a good list of possible recruits who are showing at least some interest. Our problem is that our funds are getting pretty limited. It’s gonna be touch and go. I guess I’ll have to mainly do phone work to try to build interest until spring when we can try to pick up the remaining 4 guys. The difference in our recruiting budgets is likely to ultimately impact how the different coaches in our small group of five do.”

Dontrell Spencer, Arkansas-Pine Bluff—"We only need to pick up one new recruit this year. So while we recruited, it wasn’t our main focus. Instead I mainly worked on getting us ready for the upcoming season which starts this week. We did make scholarship offers to a couple guys, but lost out to other schools. Recruits are definitely skittish about committing to an Independent school. I’ve got no worries about being able to get the right guy this spring though. There’s still some good guys on the board. We’re going to take a new look at who remains available and create a nice little list and build interest slowly through the winter and then pounce in April.”

Terry Morillo, Dixie State—"We got no one, but needed no one. With no scholarships to offer, we simply spent our recruiting budget on making contacts in Utah and nearby states hoping that will help us in the future. I had nothing to really gain or lose during recruiting. But I don’t think any of my fellow 4 coaches really were able to pull away from us during the summer/fall recruiting period. My analysis of their results didn’t indicate that any of them added a star to their team. Ken, Mike and Dontrell have been left with big recruiting jobs during the rest of the season since their summer/fall recruiting was far less than stellar. At this point they can’t truly expect their remaining scholarships will be filled until April.”

[PointGuard]

2030-2031 Season Highlight/Lowlights/Comments:

Ramon Montez, Alcorn State Braves:
 3-game win streak, beating the Rider Broncs 71-59, Sam Houston St. Bearkats 76-69, and Dayton Flyers 72-58 early in season to improve record to 3-1. PG Rudy Johnson scored 60 points in those 3 games.
 Back-to-back losses to the Green Bay Phoenix and New Hampshire Wildcats in which the team gave up 96 and 95 points. Braves’ defense let the Phoenix hit 51% of FG’s and 50% of 3’s and the Wildcats hit 70% of FG’s and 50% of 3’s.
 SG Jimmie Fuller has back-to-back 27-point games, hitting 19 of 29 FGA’s and 5 of 9 3PA’s, and 11 of 12 FTA’s.
 Alcorn State wins 8 and loses 7, averaging 76.7 ppg but giving up 78.9 ppg, NET was 173rd best.
 Top players: PG Rudy Johnson: 16.7 ppg and 5.8 apg and hit 54% of his FGA’s and 42% of his 3PA’s; SG Jimmie Fuller: 15.5 ppg and 4.0 rpg and hit 52% of FGA’s and 39% of 3PA’s; PF Will Neely: 8.5 ppg and 6.0 rpg; C Don Barnes: 8.6 ppg and 5.2 rpg. All 4 will return as seniors next season.
 Recruiting: PG Dana Turner, 6’1”HS Sr from Enterprise, MS, outstanding passer, strong ball handler, nice outside shot but doesn’t shoot much, weak defender.
 Ramon Montez: “Overall we did pretty well. Two losses were against Providence (Conf D and #16 in the polls) and Temple (Conf E) and we beat Dayton (Conf D). With all but one player returning next year I think we’re going to be a force, particularly if we can tighten up our defense.”

Terry Morillo, Dixie State Trailblazers:
 SG Jerry McCutcheon was the Trailblazers top scorer in 10 of their 15 games and he scored over 20 points in 3 of those games.
 Two 3-game loss streaks.
 Dixie State finished their Division I season with a 4-11 record, scoring 67.1 ppg while giving up 73.7 ppg, NET was 350th best.
 Top players: SG Jerry McCutcheon: 15.2 ppg; PF Gregg Linney: 8.2 ppg and 6.0 rpg; C Cliff Hanavan: 8.0 ppg and 5.1 rpg. Entire team returning next year.
 Recruiting: Had no scholarships to offer.
 Terry Morillo: “Tough year and we were over-matched far too often. So a lot of disappointments this season. But we had an extremely young squad with 4 freshmen and 5 sophomores and no seniors. So next year we have a lot to prove, but I’m confide we’ll make a big step forward.”

Ken Yamoto, Tarleton State Texans:
 Won 2 of first 3 games this season.
 But then the Texans crashed as they sustained a 5-game loss streak and later lost 6 straight games.
 C Dante Bedford scored 20+ points in two games and had 10+ rebounds in four games.
 Tarleton State won just 3 games and lost 12, averaging 70.3 ppg while their opponents scored 78.0 ppg, NET was 323rd best.
 Top Players: C Dante Bedford: 10.0 ppg and 6.7 rpg; PF Isaac Canady: 10.6 ppg and 5.7 rpg; SG Mark Jordan: 9.9 ppg and 3.2 apg; PG Lennox Blackshear: 8.5 ppg and 5.7 apg.
 Recruiting: Failed to fill either of 2 available scholarships.
 Ken Yamoto: “The starters did a great job this season, but we lacked depth. We’ll have our 3 perimeter starters back this coming season. But both of our interior starters are graduating, so that could make it tough for us to take a big step forward unless Tyson Chambers and Brett McCoy who subbed at PF and C and will be juniors next year come on strong. Pulling off a recruiting miracle this spring would do wonders for us, but failing to do so could mean another tough year for the Texans.”

Mike McMillan, MD-Eastern Shore Hawks:
 Won 7 of 8 at home.
 But won just 1 of 7 on the road. Our away games were against some much tougher competition though.
 SG Mike Brown and C Ike Dotson each had two 20+ point games.
 Losing 5 players to graduation including 3 of this season’s starters.
 Have only filled 1 of the 5 scholarships that come available next year.
 Won 8, lost 7, averaging 70.5 ppg and giving up 69.1 ppg, NET was 174th best.
 Top Players: C Ike Dotson: 13.5 ppg, 6.1 rpg; SF Josh Delk: 11.5 ppg, 5.2 rpg; SG Mike Brown: 10.7 ppg, 4.1 apg.
 Recruiting: Filled 4 of 5 available scholarships (SF Frank Davis, 6’7” HS Sr from Rossville, GA, Good scorer with excellent outside shooting, weak rebounder; PF Joe Carson, 6’8” HS Sr from Kamuela, HI, Good insider shooting but doesn’t shoot much, strong rebounder and shot blocker; PG David Bradley, 6’0” JC Soph from Delano, MN, Outstanding passer, excellent ball handler, excellent outside shooter but doesn’t shoot much, weak defender; PG Clayton Davis, 6’1” JC Soph from Stratford, CT, great passer, strong outside shot but doesn’t shoot much, poor defender).
 Mike McMillan: “Overall this was a good year. But losing so many seniors is really going to make next year challenging to fill those holes. Ike Dotson will be back, though, so we’re going to have to call on him to take on an even bigger role than he did this past season.”

Dontrell Spencer, Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions:
 We won 3 of our first 4 games.
 Playing 12 of our 16 games on the road was a recipe for disaster. And many of those games were against tough competition, including 8th ranked Gonzaga. Undoubtedly, we had the most difficult schedule of any of the Independent teams.
 Two 3-game loss streaks derailed our season.
 C Chad Boyce had two 20+ point games and two games with 10+ rebounds.
 Losing Chad Boyce to graduation, but freshman C Imari McDonald looked good coming off the bench.
 Final record was 6-10. We scored 78.1 ppg but our opponents scored 83.5 ppg, NET was 202nd best.
 Top Players: C Chad Boyce: 14.1 ppg, 6.2 rpg; SG Henry Edmond: 13.0 ppg, 2.3 apg; PG Milton Cox: 9.4 ppg, 4.8 apg; SF Warren Kincaid: 8.7 ppg, 4.4 rpg; PF Dexter Thorne: 7.1 ppg, 4.4 rpg.
 Recruiting: Failed to fill the one available scholarship.
 Staffing change: After 2nd assistant coach Waitari Thomas retired, hired James Boyce to fill the position.
 Dontrell Spencer: “Our schedule was torpedoed last season by our schedule, but I was proud of how well our guys did while playing on the road so much. Next season we really need to focus more on defense. We’re losing Chad Boyce, but he’s the only senior and it looks like Inari McDonald will be ready to start at C. Along with McDonald, freshman PG Milton Cox was impressive…and a 3rd freshman, PF Dexter Thorne did well starting. Therefore, we should be a much stronger team next season.”

[PointGuard]

2030-2031 Season Highlight/Lowlights/Comments:

Ramon Montez, Alcorn State Braves:
 3-game win streak, beating the Rider Broncs 71-59, Sam Houston St. Bearkats 76-69, and Dayton Flyers 72-58 early in season to improve record to 3-1. PG Rudy Johnson scored 60 points in those 3 games.
 Back-to-back losses to the Green Bay Phoenix and New Hampshire Wildcats in which the team gave up 96 and 95 points. Braves’ defense let the Phoenix hit 51% of FG’s and 50% of 3’s and the Wildcats hit 70% of FG’s and 50% of 3’s.
 SG Jimmie Fuller has back-to-back 27-point games, hitting 19 of 29 FGA’s and 5 of 9 3PA’s, and 11 of 12 FTA’s.
 Alcorn State wins 8 and loses 7, averaging 76.7 ppg but giving up 78.9 ppg, NET was 173rd best.
 Top players: PG Rudy Johnson: 16.7 ppg and 5.8 apg and hit 54% of his FGA’s and 42% of his 3PA’s; SG Jimmie Fuller: 15.5 ppg and 4.0 rpg and hit 52% of FGA’s and 39% of 3PA’s; PF Will Neely: 8.5 ppg and 6.0 rpg; C Don Barnes: 8.6 ppg and 5.2 rpg. All 4 will return as seniors next season.
 Recruiting: PG Dana Turner, 6’1”HS Sr from Enterprise, MS, outstanding passer, strong ball handler, nice outside shot but doesn’t shoot much, weak defender.
 Ramon Montez: “Overall we did pretty well. Two losses were against Providence (Conf D and #16 in the polls) and Temple (Conf E) and we beat Dayton (Conf D). With all but one player returning next year I think we’re going to be a force, particularly if we can tighten up our defense.”

Terry Morillo, Dixie State Trailblazers:
 SG Jerry McCutcheon was the Trailblazers top scorer in 10 of their 15 games and he scored over 20 points in 3 of those games.
 Two 3-game loss streaks.
 Dixie State finished their Division I season with a 4-11 record, scoring 67.1 ppg while giving up 73.7 ppg, NET was 350th best.
 Top players: SG Jerry McCutcheon: 15.2 ppg; PF Gregg Linney: 8.2 ppg and 6.0 rpg; C Cliff Hanavan: 8.0 ppg and 5.1 rpg. Entire team returning next year.
 Recruiting: Had no scholarships to offer.
 Terry Morillo: “Tough year and we were over-matched far too often. So a lot of disappointments this season. But we had an extremely young squad with 4 freshmen and 5 sophomores and no seniors. So next year we have a lot to prove, but I’m confide we’ll make a big step forward.”

Ken Yamoto, Tarleton State Texans:
 Won 2 of first 3 games this season.
 But then the Texans crashed as they sustained a 5-game loss streak and later lost 6 straight games.
 C Dante Bedford scored 20+ points in two games and had 10+ rebounds in four games.
 Tarleton State won just 3 games and lost 12, averaging 70.3 ppg while their opponents scored 78.0 ppg, NET was 323rd best.
 Top Players: C Dante Bedford: 10.0 ppg and 6.7 rpg; PF Isaac Canady: 10.6 ppg and 5.7 rpg; SG Mark Jordan: 9.9 ppg and 3.2 apg; PG Lennox Blackshear: 8.5 ppg and 5.7 apg.
 Recruiting: Failed to fill either of 2 available scholarships.
 Ken Yamoto: “The starters did a great job this season, but we lacked depth. We’ll have our 3 perimeter starters back this coming season. But both of our interior starters are graduating, so that could make it tough for us to take a big step forward unless Tyson Chambers and Brett McCoy who subbed at PF and C and will be juniors next year come on strong. Pulling off a recruiting miracle this spring would do wonders for us, but failing to do so could mean another tough year for the Texans.”

Mike McMillan, MD-Eastern Shore Hawks:
 Won 7 of 8 at home.
 But won just 1 of 7 on the road. Our away games were against some much tougher competition though.
 SG Mike Brown and C Ike Dotson each had two 20+ point games.
 Losing 5 players to graduation including 3 of this season’s starters.
 Have only filled 1 of the 5 scholarships that come available next year.
 Won 8, lost 7, averaging 70.5 ppg and giving up 69.1 ppg, NET was 174th best.
 Top Players: C Ike Dotson: 13.5 ppg, 6.1 rpg; SF Josh Delk: 11.5 ppg, 5.2 rpg; SG Mike Brown: 10.7 ppg, 4.1 apg.
 Recruiting: Filled 4 of 5 available scholarships (SF Frank Davis, 6’7” HS Sr from Rossville, GA, Good scorer with excellent outside shooting, weak rebounder; PF Joe Carson, 6’8” HS Sr from Kamuela, HI, Good insider shooting but doesn’t shoot much, strong rebounder and shot blocker; PG David Bradley, 6’0” JC Soph from Delano, MN, Outstanding passer, excellent ball handler, excellent outside shooter but doesn’t shoot much, weak defender; PG Clayton Davis, 6’1” JC Soph from Stratford, CT, great passer, strong outside shot but doesn’t shoot much, poor defender).
 Mike McMillan: “Overall this was a good year. But losing so many seniors is really going to make next year challenging to fill those holes. Ike Dotson will be back, though, so we’re going to have to call on him to take on an even bigger role than he did this past season.”

Dontrell Spencer, Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions:
 We won 3 of our first 4 games.
 Playing 12 of our 16 games on the road was a recipe for disaster. And many of those games were against tough competition, including 8th ranked Gonzaga. Undoubtedly, we had the most difficult schedule of any of the Independent teams.
 Two 3-game loss streaks derailed our season.
 C Chad Boyce had two 20+ point games and two games with 10+ rebounds.
 Losing Chad Boyce to graduation, but freshman C Imari McDonald looked good coming off the bench.
 Final record was 6-10. We scored 78.1 ppg but our opponents scored 83.5 ppg, NET was 202nd best.
 Top Players: C Chad Boyce: 14.1 ppg, 6.2 rpg; SG Henry Edmond: 13.0 ppg, 2.3 apg; PG Milton Cox: 9.4 ppg, 4.8 apg; SF Warren Kincaid: 8.7 ppg, 4.4 rpg; PF Dexter Thorne: 7.1 ppg, 4.4 rpg.
 Recruiting: Failed to fill the one available scholarship.
 Staffing change: After 2nd assistant coach Waitari Thomas retired, hired James Boyce to fill the position.
 Dontrell Spencer: “Our schedule torpedoed our season, but I was proud of how well our guys did while playing on the road so much. Next season we really need to focus more on defense. We’re losing Chad Boyce, but he’s the only senior and it looks like Inari McDonald will be ready to start at C. Along with McDonald, freshman PG Milton Cox was impressive…and a 3rd freshman, PF Dexter Thorne did well starting. Therefore, we should be a much stronger team next season.”

[PointGuard]

End of 2030-2031 Season Odds-and-ends

All 5-Coach Team:
PG-Rudy Johnson, Alcorn St., 16.7 ppg, 5.8 apg (also MVP amongst the 5 teams)
SG-Jerry McCutcheon, Dixie St., 15.2 ppg
SF-Josh Delk, MD-Eastern Shore, 11.5 ppg, 5.2 rpg
PF-Isaac Canady, Tarleton St., 10.6 ppg, 5.7 rpg
C-Chad Boyce, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, 14.1 ppg, 6.2 rpg

Tournament Champs:
NCAA: Alabama
NIT: California Baptist
CBI: Maryland
CIT: Illinois

Probation:
Northern Illinois: 1 season with no scholarships, head coach Walter Mitchell fired.

Promotion:

Alcorn State was promoted to Conference V replacing the Alabama A&M Bulldogs who were relegated to be an Independent.

Other movement in conferences:
• Marquette, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Purdue promoted to Conf A and Wisconsin, Villanova, Illinois, and Florida relegated to Conf B.
• UCLA, Clemson, San Diego State, and Seton Hall promoted to Conf B and Creighton, Michigan, Cincinnati, and Oklahoma State relegated to Conf C.
• Arkansas, Louisiana State, VA Commonwealth, and Providence promoted to Conf C and Stanford, Indiana, Pittsburgh, and Iowa relegated to Conf D.
• Arizona State, Virginia Tech, Utah, and Houston promoted to Conf D and Mississippi, Saint Mary’s, Dayton, and Southern California relegated to Conf E.
• Southern Methodist, Belmont, Rhode Island, and Boston College promoted to Conf E and Wake Forest, Texas A&M, Nevada, and Penn State relegated to Conf F.
• California, Saint Bonaventure, Washington State, and Buffalo promoted to Conf F and Rutgers, Vermont, Kent State, and Richmond relegated to Conf G.
• East Tennessee State, Loyola (IL), UC-Santa Barbara, and Texas-El Paso promoted to Conf G and Western Kentucky, Wright State, Texas Christian, and Ohio relegated to Conf H.
• Yale, Winthrop, Drake, and Fresno State promoted to Conf H and New Mexico, South Dakota State, Louisiana Tech, and Massachusetts relegated to Conf I.
• Wyoming, North Dakota State, Hofstra, & Santa Clara promoted to Conf I and South Florida, Middle Tennessee, Marshall, and La Salle relegated to Conf J.
• Loyola Marymount, Green Bay, Milwaukee, and Western Michigan promoted to Conf J and Princeton, Iona, Wofford, and Drexel relegated to Conf K.
• Evansville, Bucknell, Air Force, and Cleveland State promoted to Conf K and Eastern Washington, Siena, Detroit Mercy, and Furman relegated to Conf L.
• Illinois-Chicago, Rider, William & Mary, and Coastal Carolina promoted to Conf L and Long Beach State, East Carolina, San Diego, NC-Wilmington relegated to Conf M.
• Texas-San Antonio, Holy Cross, Lehigh, and Georgia Southern promoted to Conf M and Morehead State, Manhattan, Arkansas State, and Little Rock relegated to Conf N.
• UC-Riverside, Cal State Bakersfield, Abilene Christian, and Portland State promoted to Conf N and Denver, American, Albany, and Niagara relegated to Conf O.
• Utah Valley, MD-Baltimore County, Brown, and Towson promoted to Conf O and Monmouth, Troy, Canisius, and Saint Peters relegated to Conf P.
• High Point, Youngstown State, Army, and Elon promoted to Conf P and Northern Colorado, Cal State-Northridge, Tennessee Tech, and Idaho relegated to Conf Q.
• Marist, San Jose State, New Orleans, and Northwestern State promoted to Conf Q and Navy, Quinnipiac, Tennessee State, and Northern Arizona relegated to Conf R.
• Texas Southern, Idaho State, Norfolk State, and Louisiana-Monroe promoted to Conf R and Bellarmine, UC Davis, North Florida, and Jacksonville relegated to Conf S.
• Charleston Southern, Texas-Rio Grande, SE Louisiana, Saint Francis (PA) promoted to Conf S and Omaha, VMI, Campbell, and SE Missouri State relegated to Conf T.
• Prairie View, North Carolina A&T, Tennessee-Martin, and Delaware State promoted to Conf T and Morgan State, McNeese State, Western Illinois, and Nichols State relegated to Conf U.
• Grambling, Incarnate Word, Mississippi Valley, and Mass-Lowell promoted to Conf U and Florida A&M, Howard, Bethune-Cookman, and Binghamton relegated to Conf V.