Game Date: Oct 8th, 2041
Alcorn State
Park Zhao - PF
Team: Alcorn State Braves [ID #271] 
Location: Lorman, MS (South)
Conference: III.1 [Division 1]
President:
Starkvillian
[since February 15th 2023 | last seen October 21st 2024]
Coach: Elton Puckett
Arena: Scalpin Grounds Arena
Rating: 128.42 - Overall Position: #245
Fan Mood: 121.85
Alumni Mood: 73.05
Prestige: 42
Team Notes:
• Oct 03 2041: Rich Prescott was hired as the new assistant coach.• Oct 03 2041: Assistant coach Frederick Banks was let go.
• Aug 29 2041: Promoted to conference III.1.
• Mar 10 2041: Made the national tournament field.
• Mar 08 2041: 1-star prospect Jayson Tanner committed.
• Feb 09 2041: 2-star prospect Alfred Wheeler committed.
• Jan 03 2041: 3-star prospect Manny Beals committed.
• Dec 01 2040: 2-star prospect Jacob Elliott committed.
• Mar 11 2040: 1-star prospect Emiliano Meza committed.
• Mar 09 2040: 2-star prospect James Burton committed.
Record:
Wins: 0 Losses: 0 Pct: .000 Conf Wins: 0 Conf Losses: 0 Conf Pct: .000 Last10: 0-0 Streak: -Pts Ave: 0.0 - 0.0 Pts Diff: 0.0 Team Power Index: 120.0
Press Releases:
Feb 21 2041: Elton Puckett in the midst of another masterpiece - by Starkvillian on October 4th, 2024Elton Puckett is pitching for promotion with a division 1 school in the bottom 3 in the conference in Skill Index. Elton Says "I just like to make beautiful teams and I believe trotting out the 7 footer redshirt freshman is the best way to make a statement." the braves still have a tough challenge if they want to get promoted. they are in the midst of a 3 way tie for second. Sitting at the middle of the three teams in terms of point differential. Notably 1 game ahead of rival Ole Miss.
Jimmy Donaldson the 7 footer in question. Scotty Combs the Slow 6"6 senior guard with transcendant court vision, Joe Castle the 166 si classic SG, and a slew of bigs in Derek Hood the 6'10 development piece at SF, Anfernee Byers The Monster on the boards, and Paul Hartfield the first 13 potential player in Modern Alcorn History and just a sophomore are the players that make up this historic team and hopefully the team is regarded as historic after the final 3 games of the season.
Dec 06 2035: New Season Goal - by Starkvillian on December 7th, 2023
"I understand I stated our goal is to avoid relegation
in a tough trip up to up to division two, but after a white hot 4-0 start in conference play our scope has shifted. We are going to battle for a trip to division one. I took Freshman Big man out of redshirt eligibility when I played him yesterday, but the freshman ads depth to a short staffed big man rotation, and while unpolished he ads value in his size and scrappiness. he battles on every defensive possession." Q: Coach, what about the other freshman? "I understand the guys performed really well statistically during the non conference appearances. Right now we are really deep on the wings, but if we fall into injury trouble I could take them off redshirt status. We are shooting to play in the top division." Q; What can you tell us about recruiting? "We've had a tought time in recent years on the recruiting trail. The Previous head coach Jose Ortega boasted a maxed out recruiting stat. Rumor has it he ran an underground society establishing report with recruits with secret rituals. When he left the program so did the recruits interests. Scott is a promising true freshman big, but with Rodrigo and Washburn leaving we will have a really hard time staying afloat in Division 1 next season. We're trying our best to find the bigs hidden in the grass. It's tough though as their heads poke high above."
Dec 30 2034: Amped Up For a Key Division 3 Matchup - by Starkvillian on October 19th, 2023
I am hopelessly addicted to hardwood right now. It's all I think about. The Braves are 10-1 in conference. Facing their 10-1 conference counterparts at home, Lincoln University MO. Our whole roster is healthy and the game tactics set by first-year head coach Elton Puckett have been electric. Jose Ortega the previous coach would have been 7-4 in conference with a squad like this. Lincoln has some dominating big men who score the majority of their points down low. 17 ppg for both of their 6'11 big men. Alcorn will be running a heavier zone to stop them. and keeping the pace high. Puckett believes the heavy zone strategy will give them enough of a competitive advantage per position. significant competitive advantage = (efficiency per possession/opponent efficiency per possession) * number of possessions.
Nov 01 2034: 3 Things I know and 3 Things I think I know Braves recruiting - by Starkvillian on October 3rd, 2023
3 things I know and 3 things I think I know about Alcorn State’s recruiting cycle.
Things I know
1. Folks around Lorman are very excited about the coaching change. Jose Ortegas outdated and sometimes absent strategies were welcomely dismissed. That being said the coaching turnover has had an effect on the recruits interests. “It seems the boys were bought into Ortega’s rhetoric” Says new head coach Elton Puckett.
2. The new coaching staff looks to win games and bring in big time recruits. The new staff is giving up on landing 4 and 5 star recruits as a division three team. The staff decided to read the game manual and now will spend their points on much wiser recruits.
3. Alcorn State lost a significant advantage it had over many of its top recruits. We are not expecting to get Darnell Wood “the Mesiah of the program, hailing from Olive Branch, carrying the olive branch of justice home to the Braves” according to Ortega. They’ve lost Wood, Woodard, Martin, Mueller, Rudolph, and look to be holding on to Nichols.
Things I think I know
1. I was taking a look at the verticals for our athletes and compare their advanced stastistics and it seems like vertical has a signifcant effect on on-court efficiencies. I notified the coaching staff and it seems like they will be taking this into account when recruiting moving forward.
2. The wisdom gained by the coaching staff after reading the coaching manual has the coaches chasing some recruits that may have been considered a stepback in the Jose Ortega era recruiting rebuild. Puckett is chasing a number of 2 star recruits. Puckett says “These guys we’re looking at aren’t favorites by the national ranking standard, but I believe I have found some key indicators for success in lesser known recruits. We’re looking at how fast these players SI rises or an “avg. growth rate” where we put (SI y4 -SI y1) /4. Another one we look at is POTG awards. we vet the POTG awards against inferred team success by looking at the +/- of the player throught their career. That being said these indicators as well as some more traditional ones have landed us on some 2 star targets” Some people think the coach is scrambling to get some bottom tier guys, but the analytic types have called Puckett an innovator.
3. It looks like the Braves new indicator system has lit up their board with hidden gem prospects. I think this means the Braves can miss plenty of prospects in this class and still put together a roster that could compete in the second division next year.
Oct 14 2034: 1st Irving Morgan Night - by Starkvillian on September 27th, 2023
Irving Morgan's Hall of Fame inductee ceremony. A memorial for the death's at the October 10th HVAC incident. Wear all black for our first annual Irving Night. the Braves are set to face Lenior Rhyne and do not worry the Braves have fixed all HVAC issues.
In unrelated news, Head Coach Jose Ortega has made the decision to redshirt standout Freshman Terek Grace. Coach is quoted saying "I understand Terek's skill index is 130 as a true freshman and I think Terek could be the future of this program. However, the preseason performance from the true freshman showed me he just wasn't ready to contribute to the roster looking to achieve promotion this season."