Jeez, they really stacked the South region this season- 4 of the top 6 ranked teams are there. My team (Montclair State) is ranked #3 in the country but somehow #5 in the region. That's no way to treat the defending champs! It'll be a brutal road just to get back to the Final Four, much less repeat.

I've been here since season 1 and I'm retiring after this tournament. My wife is 8 months pregnant with our first baby (girl) and it's time to reduce my whatif daily timesuck to just my Hardball Dynasty team. It feels weird knowing that my Hoops Dynasty career could end any day now.

As always, I'm happy to help anyone that has specific questions about this great game. I'll miss it. Good luck everyone.

Congrats on the upcoming baby, Mulder.

Thanks for the congrats, taz. I was definitely worried about drawing a team that had already beaten me this season. But I managed to pull it out and am starting to think a real run is possible. And congrats to you on your victory over the #2 seed. If your team is gonna find a time to click this season, you might as well make it in the NT

Congrats Mulder - you'll be back ;)

Mulder if you win the NT again, I will buy your next season so you can come back and defend... no way you can retire as 2-time defending champ after 30 seasons without a title.

mulder613, even though we never played against each other, just know that you will be miss when you leave, it's always sad to see a long time coach go, at least you got 1 National Championship and all that hard work you put into learning this game payed off at the end. good luck with the new baby.

I think it's fair to say that the next Montclair St. coach will be under a huge amount of pressure.

Also, that will be a coveted job this off-season.

Good luck the rest of the way, Mulder.

Crap... now in my first Final 4 appearance I'm going up against the all-time winningest D3 coach in his final season. It's safe to say the national media is going to be rooting for Montclair St. tonight. Oh well, as Tony Montana would say, "Say hello to the bad guy!"

Thanks for the kind words guys. I stand by my earlier announcement that I'm still retiring, no matter what happens the rest of the way.

And wronoj, thanks for the offer, but it's not about the money, I just have to be more selective with my free time with my first baby girl expected to arrive in less then a month. I'm very happy with my Hoops Dynasty career, now I hope to be as good of a dad.

The one thing I do hope to do is keep an eye on MSU over the next couple of seasons to track how my underclassmen progress without me. While 4 excellent seniors are leaving with me, the remaining 8 players should be a very good nucleus for the next coach. Since I don't think whatif allows access to view the world unless you are in it, I may ask for help from you guys to keep me up to date.

Russ

Russ,

I totally understand, and was mostly kidding-- I am just jealous of your current success. Good luck with the baby.

if you want an update on Montclair, just pop in here with a note, or send me a sitemail...

Josh

Anyone have any advice for a coach playing in his first title game? No chance in hell I'm going to be able to sleep tonight.

Bradshaw, first off, congratulations on kicking my *** and ending my Hoops Dynasty career today. In regards to your question, I'd say don't over-think your strategies. I think you should spend 10-15 minutes to consider some minor tweaking and then leave your team alone. You don't want to "overcoach" and screw things up. You are in the final because your team is excellent and whatever it is you've been doing has been working.

As far as sleep...well, can't help you there. All I know is I normally wake up at about 7:30 AM but the morning of my final game last season I woke up at about 5 AM in the pitch dark without the alarm going off.

And one more thing: send some hookers to the hotel room of your opponent.

I'll be using the hooker strategy, that's for sure. Vegas has set the over/under for my wake-up time tomorrow at 3:45 AM.

Congrats Bradshaw, I'm glad I lost to the Champ. Looks like the hookers were worth every cent. So what time did you wake up today?

You could have tried what I did for my first title game....head to a fish fry, get overserved, pass out well before the game sims, wake up at 6:30 w/ a roaring head ache, check the score, celebrate, pass back out and pray for sweet relief.

I went with: eat an entire large pizza, drink a bottle of red wine, take 2 nyquil... and still not be able to sleep until 3. ALL WORTH IT! I started playing this game a year ago, and reasonably, I expected to have a chance to win a title (read: make a final 4) within 2-3 years real time. To reach the mountain top in my 8th season (2nd cycle of recruits) is beyond a dream.

You know how people do those "My Journey to a National Championship" threads after they win, basically in an attempt to call attention to their own "greatness," but disguised as a how-to manual... well now it's my turn. Just kidding.

Now if I can only get myself on Wronoj's list...