Western Illinois, Year 14, 2020-2021

Welcome back to Western Illinois’ quest for greatness in College Hoops 2K8. You can find a full explanation of this series + spoiler-free links to previous seasons on the About page of this website. Also be sure to check out the debut of our new spin-off series on Deke Van and the rebooted Seattle SuperSonics.

Here’s a recap of everything that happened last season:

• We started the year unranked in the preseason polls but rated as a 98 overall. After early losses to Northwestern and two-time defending national champ Louisville, our Leathernecks proceeded to win out and enter the NCAA tournament as a No. 7 seed at 29-2 overall.

• We beat No. 10 seed Pitt in the opening round, defeated No. 2 seed Gonzaga in the round of 32, beat No. 6 seed Memphis in the Sweet 16, defeated No. 1 seed Kansas in the Elite Eight, beat No. 1 seed UCLA in the Final Four, and beat No. 5 seed Florida in the national championship game.

• We signed four new recruits, headlined by four-star point guard Brandin Price (No. 50 overall) and three-star center Sidney Dupre (No. 144 overall).

Hang the banner!

That’s two! Honestly, even winning one national title in by 2020 seemed like a long shot when I started this series. To win two in the first 13 years is just incredible. Right now, the only thing I can think about is bringing No. 3 to Macomb.

Mr. A. Knife🔪 @Ledfloyd13

@SBN_Ricky Western Hall never looked so good.

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Here’s a look at the roster to start Year 14:

We lost four starters to graduation off last year’s national champs, but we’re thrilled that point guard Billy Assel, the reigning Most Outstanding Player in the NCAA tournament, decided to return for his senior year despite being projected as a lottery pick. Let’s run through Assel and the other starters real quick:

• PG Billy Assel, redshirt senior: Most Outstanding Player in the 2020 NCAA tournament and the lone returning starter from last year’s national champs. Averaged 12.6 points, 6.3 assists, and 1.6 steals per game last year on 50.7/47.2/88.0 percent shooting splits. Has A or A- ratings in close range finishing, three-point shooting, dunking, ball handling, passing, and speed. Highest-rated recruit in program history at No. 25 overall. The 6’4 guard is projected as a top pick in the NBA draft.

• SG Diondre Haynes, redshirt junior: Played a key role as the first guard off the bench on last season’s national champs. We’re moving Haynes from point guard to shooting guard, where he goes up two points to 89 overall. Shout-out to reader Abby for imploring me to give Haynes more minutes which inspired the position change. The 6’3 guard is a former five-star JUCO recruit and is projected as a first round NBA draft pick.

• SF Austen Kleinzweig, redshirt sophomore: Came off the bench as a true freshman in Year 12 before redshirting last season. Has great size for a wing at 6’9. Rated as an A- in close range finishing, speed, blocking, and steals while being a B+ in offensive and defensive rebounding. Only a 69 or a C+ in three-point shooting. Former No. 71 overall recruit.

• PF Raymond Harper, redshirt senior: Sixth man on last year’s national champion who averaged 8.8 points and 2.6 rebounds per game. Elite athlete and monster defender. Former five-star JUCO recruit who is projected as a lottery pick.

• C Roberto Djordjevic, redshirt sophomore: Skinny 7’1, 227-pound center who averaged 4.8 points per game last season off the bench. Has A or A- ratings in speed, quickness, ball handling, steals, and defensive awareness. Former No. 171 overall recruit with B- potential.

We’re going with a nine-man rotation. Shooting guard Borislav Grimes (87 overall) is the sixth man and will play 19 minutes per game. He’s joined by redshirt junior Orien Newton (84 overall) who will be backing up both front court spots and getting 15 minutes per game (I’m thinking Kleinzweig can slide over the four at times, too). RS sophomore small forward Garik Frye (85 overall) and RS freshman point guard Kim Kone (70 overall) will each get six minutes per game to round out the bench.

We also welcome four new players to the team this year. Here’s a look at our incoming freshman class:

• C Sidney Dupre, 76 overall. Former No. 144 overall recruit, No. 11 at his position. C potential. Has already grown an inch to 6’10. He’s redshirting.

• PG Brandin Price, 75 overall. Former No. 50 overall recruit, No. 21 at his position. C- potential. The 6’4 point guard is the third highest-ranked recruit in program history, so his ratings are a little disappointing. At least we know he won’t leave early. He’s redshirting.

• PF Cam Medina, 74 overall. Former No. 123 overall recruit, No. 16 at his position. C potential. Has already grown an inch to 6’8. He’s redshirting.

• SF Renardo Verdejo, 68 overall. Former five-star international recruit out of Argentina. C+ potential. He’s redshirting.

Recruiting

We have two scholarships to fill. I think we ideally want one front court player and one backcourt player, but really we’re just looking for the best available talent here.

After filling our target list, we’re using our visits on these two players:

• PG Berry Deane out of Detroit, No. 4 overall recruit and No. 3 at his position

• PF Vernard Fulton out of Los Angeles, No. 30 overall recruit and No. 3 at his position.

Why not swing for the fences? We offer both players a scholarship the first day we’re allowed to.

We’re unranked in the preseason polls but rated as a 97 overall. Let’s get this season started and defend this title.

We open the season with the NIT Tip-Off Classic

Our first game is against Missouri.

We win, 78-67. Djordjevic leads the way with 19 points and seven rebounds. Assel drops nine points and nine dimes in the win. We face East Carolina the next day.

Another dub, 87-36. Sheesh, that’s a blowout. Harper with 29 points and seven rebounds in the win. Haynes contributes 15 points and five steals (!). I love Haynes’ defensive activity and I’m feeling really good about having him in the starting lineup.

As we sim to the next week, Deane gets a Kentucky offer. The dream of landing a top-five recruit dies like that. Damn. We offer shooting guard Ralfeal Ramsdell out of New Orleans, ranked as the No. 50 overall recruit and No. 20 at his position, in his place.

Next up: @ No. 1 UConn. I feel like I’ve mentioned this 100 times before, but: I get a coaching bonus point the first time we beat the top-ranked team in the polls. I think I’m something like 0-50 at this point (probably more like 0-for-6-or-7).

Let’s go!

BIG WIN, 80-76! Oh my, Assel just went bonkers: 32 points on 9-of-14 shooting with five triples. I feel like I’m going to mention this game at his jersey retirement one day. What a performance from an all-time great Leatherneck. Finally! Coaching point! We host Penn State the next day.

We lose 74-68. Well, damn. Just when I started to get excited. Assel only scored five points in the loss. Now we play No. 18 UNLV. This is our third straight day with a game. Who came up with this schedule??

Loss, 87-82. Harper goes for 31 points in defeat. After a rare off day, we face Duke at Cameron Indoor. This is the Fats Geiger revenge game everyone wanted. The Blue Devils are 3-1 but unranked in the polls.

Win, 78-70! We needed that. Harper finishes with 20 points and five boards to lead the way. Geiger scores nine points off the bench as Duke’s seventh man. Stay strong, Fats.

Signing week has started. We lead the way for Fulton with 90 percent interest, but I’m not feeling super confident that will be enough to lock it down, in part because his No. 2 priority is “playing at a big school.” Meanwhile, Ramsdell gets a UNO offer he like better than mine, so I ditch him to offer 6’6 point guard Jeremy Caporn, rated No. 46 overall and No. 14 at his position.

We face Northwestern this week.

Loss, 87-62. Jeez, blown out. Why does Northwestern always whoop our ass? We face Valparaiso a few days later and win, 77-57, behind Harper’s 33 points. We have two early conference games the next week and we blow out by Oral Roberts and North Dakota State. We’re 7-3 on the season.

As signing week passes, Fulton is at 96 percent interest but doesn’t commit. USC is gaining ground on me in his recruitment. Also Caporn signs with Georgia Tech. I offer his scholarship to 6’2 shooting guard Hashim Den Boer out of Las Vegas, who is rated as the No. 26 overall player and No. 9 at his position.

This week we have games vs. Iowa and No. 10 Kansas, both at home.

Win vs. Iowa, 72-57. Assel with 19 points, seven rebounds, and six assists to lead the way. Now for the Jayhawks ….

Win, 91-74! Bill Self won’t share his Netflix password. What Northwestern is to Western Illinois, Western Illinois is to Kansas. Great to see Assel with another monster game, finishing with 26 points, eight assists, and six rebounds. Harper adds 21 points in the win. Harp is consistently putting up some huge numbers this year.

As I sim to the next week, USC has passed me for Fulton, but they still haven’t offered him yet. I’m going to hang in this recruitment and hope they don’t have room for him. We have one more non-con game: @ UNLV.

Loss, 81-71. Damn, that drops us to 9-4 overall entering conference season. Assel scores 20 in the loss, and Kleinzweig and Harper each add 17 points.

Can we finish another year of conference play undefeated?

We can, and we do. We enter the Summit League tournament at 25-4 overall. Here are this season’s statistical leaders:

Harper just put up the biggest single-season numbers in program history. What a stud. I also love what Djordjevic did — especially since he has two more seasons of eligibility after this one. Assel’s numbers weren’t as crazy as I hoped, but still very solid.

On the recruiting front: we’re now in third for Fulton behind USC and UCLA, but we’re still at 100 percent interest for him and he doesn’t have another offer as the in-season recruiting period ends. If he decides to sign on the first day of spring recruiting, we should get him. We have more work to do on Den Boer, who is around 60 percent interest with two schools in front of us, even if we’re his only offer.

Summit League tournament

We have Oakland in the first round.

We win, 94-46. Assel with 27 points and six assists and Harper with 33 points in the win. Now we face UL-Calcutta.

We win, 101-34. LOL. Assel leads the way with 25 points. Now we have Southern Utah in the title game. They’re 25-5 on the season.

We win, 73-54. Kleinzweig scores a team-high 19 points. We have finished off another perfect season in the Summit League once again. We enter March Madness as No. 5 in offensive efficiency, and No. 2 in defensive efficiency in the country. Can’t wait to see what seed we get.

NCAA tournament

What the hell. The committee gives us a No. 10 seed in the NCAA tournament and a first round matchup with No. 7 seed Indiana. Where’s the respect for the reigning national champs??? Did they not see me beat top-ranked during the regular season!?

I’m fuming.

We’re rated as a 100 overall. Here’s a look at the roster:

I like how the roster has come along. Assel only going up one point is disappointing, but we have four players rated in the 90s and two great reserves with Grimes and Newton.

Here’s how the two teams stack up:

As always, we’re watching a simulated game — I’m not playing it. And yes, I’m still pissed about the No. 10 seed.

Let’s go!

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Oh my god, 80-77 loss. That is the most disappointing L in program history. No joke, I couldn’t fall asleep after this one. How the heck did we blow that game?

I don’t want to blame everything on the lack of subs, but it was again a huge issue. I hadn’t changed the rotation since the preseason. Grimes and Newton were each supposed to be play more; Frye and Kone didn’t play at all when they’re each supposed to get six minutes per game. Here’s my theory: your starters get less tired when they have the momentum meter in their favor. Because we were up by so much in the first half and carried a big lead into the final 10 minutes, I don’t think the game felt the need to sub. And then as the game was getting close in the final minutes, the game didn’t want to pull all my starters even though they were tired.

Anyway, we still should have won. I really wish I had another chance with Assel. He goes out on such a bummer note. He just didn’t seem engaged most of the game. He still had a chance for redemption: after hitting a MASSIVE and super deep three to make it a one possession game with 19 seconds, he got a wide-open looked on our next possession that would have tied it. But no. Playing 38 minutes probably didn’t help. We got several great looks on that possession, just couldn’t knock one down.

Fuck.

Positive stuff: Djordevic and Kleinzweig both proved themselves on the biggest stage. How about that ridiculous alley-oop Haynes threw to AK33 in crunch time? I honestly thought we were going to win after that. I’ll also say we have four players coming off redshirts next year so we’ll be much deeper. I’m definitely going with a bigger rotation.

This one hurts.

Offseason

• No. 1 seed Gonzaga wins the national title

• Raymond Harper wins Summit League Player of the Year. Seriously a stellar season from him, just wish he saved a few of those buckets for the tournament. Assel (top pick) and Harper (lottery) each get drafted.

• My contract gets renewed for seven years. Damn, I wanted the lifetime contract coaching point. You’re telling me I have to wait seven more seasons for it!?

• I get one coaching point and put it in scouting, where I’m now an A-. Coach Rick’s record through age-39: 359-95.

• I get offered UCLA, Northwestern, and Cal, but turn them down.

• My assistant with an A+ rating in teaching leaves. I replace him with a different assistant with an A+ rating in teaching who is slightly worse overall.

Recruiting

Hell yes, we land Fulton. The four-star power forward from Los Angles signs on the first day of spring recruiting. He’s rated No. 30 overall and No. 3 at his position.

Fulton is now the third best recruit in program history behind Assel (No. 25) and Draughan (No. 29). Dude put up crazy scoring and rebounding numbers on great scoring efficiency while also averaging four stocks (steals+blocks) per game. What a freak. I hope he grows an inch or two, but he’s going to be awesome either way.

After putting all our points on Den Boer for two weeks, he decides to sign elsewhere. Fortunately, I have a few backup plans I’ve been calling all season to keep their interest up.

We decide to offer four-star point guard Angel Keita out of Chicago, ranked No. 58 overall and No. 19 at his position. He signs on the second-to-last week of the recruiting period.

Love getting another Chicago guy in the mix. He’s now the fifth highest-rated recruit in program history by overall ranking, sandwiched between Brandin Price (No. 50) and Lubos Hatten (No. 66). I’m imagining Price moving to shooting guard eventually and Keita sharing the backcourt with him a few years down the line.

Super horrible, no good way to end the season with the loss to Indiana, but at least we rallied back with a very strong two-man recruiting class.

Now it’s time to make our schedule for next year. Check it out. You know I had to get another game against Fats Geiger on there.

Year 15

Here’s a first look at the roster:

To be continued.

Here’s another plug for the debut Deke Van + Seattle SuperSonics series. We’re streaming some Sonics games tonight (Saturday, June 20) at 9 p.m. ET on Twitch.

What: Seattle SuperSonics live stream in NBA 2K20

When: Saturday June 20 at 9 p.m. ET

Where: My Twitch stream

I might just start streaming Sonics games when I have time rather than scheduling them in the previous newsletter, so make sure you’re subscribed to my Twitch channel.

Back with Year 15 on Tuesday or Wednesday.