L5 C14
| League 5 Home | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Previews | NTT Brackets | Recruiting | Season Wrap-Up |
| 68 | Preseason | NTT | HS '68 | Wrap-up |
| 69 | Preseason | NTT | HS '69 | Wrap-up |
| 70 | Preseason | NTT | HS '70 | Wrap-up |
| 71 | Preseason | NTT | HS '71 | Wrap-up |
| 72 | Preseason | NTT | HS '72 | Wrap-up |
| Conferences | ||||
| Conf. 1 | Conf. 2 | Conf. 3 | Conf. 4 | Conf. 5 |
| Conf. 6 | Conf. 7 | Conf. 8 | Conf. 9 | Conf. 10 |
| Conf. 11 | Conf. 12 | Conf. 13 | Conf. 14 | Conf. 15 |
| Conf. 16 | Conf. 17 | Conf. 18 | Conf. 19 | Conf. 20 |
| Conf. 21 | Conf. 22 | Conf. 23 | Conf. 24 | Conf. 25 |
| Conf. 26 | Conf. 27 | Conf. 28 | Conf. 29 | Conf. 30 |
| Conf. 31 | Conf. 32 | |||
| League 5 Conference 14 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S67 | S68 | S69 | S70 | S71 | S72 | S73 |
Contents
Links
North Division: Cleveland * Memphis * Rockford * Canton
South Division: Springfield * Joplin * St. Cloud * St. Paul
Stat Leaders: Pts * Reb * Ast * Stl * Blk * 3PM * FTM * TS%
Miscellaneous: Hall of Fame * Champions * Coach Stats * Archive
The Birth Of The Page Age
In season 31 a nationally unknown kid, Demetrius Page, was drafted out of the small school, St. Paul Technical University by the Charlotte Hornets with the 36th overall pick of the SimBA draft. Page was a 6'8" versatile wing out of Edwardsville High School in southern Illinois who scored 24.6 ppg on 60% shooting while pulling down 6.6 rpg. Those kind of numbers suggested a bright future, but many of the bigger programs were worried about his maturity and defensive efforts. Newly hired coach, Mateusz12 took a chance on him and it paid off with a verbal commitment just 3 weeks into the season. He knew he had a gem, Page never stood out nationally, having been on a DTT team for four seasons. He went on to win conference freshmen of the year and be selected to four consecutive all conference 1st teams before being drafted. Page scored 1882 points in his career (19.6 per game) with 469 rebounds (4.9 per game), and 141 assists (1.5 per game) in his college career while playing SG, SF, and PF, but what every household in America will remember him for is his three point range and supernatural ability to hit prime time shots. Page finished his career at St. Paul with 287 three pointers made: good for 7th all time. With the Charlotte Hornets, the kid from the small technical school broke the all time SimBA three point record while winning six championships, and was eventually elected into the hall of fame in season 57. Page made a 20 million dollar donation to conference 14 following his induction to the hall of fame with the intention of giving the historically poor conference the finances they needed to hire young coaches with elite potential and a philosophy built around the deep ball. Within two weeks of the donation St. Cloud (qbake11), St. Paul (timwhelan), Rockford (samwhelan), and Springfield (rpainter) hired new youthful coaches. The big splash briefly followed with the University of Cleveland hiring Coach Berthel to a long term contract and announcing the construction of a new gym in hopes of ending the curse on Cleveland sports.
Season 58
Gauging Their Playing Hands: The St. Paul Minions were the class of conference 14 at the start of the Page Age (named for the excellent basketball Demetrius Page sparked in the conference with his donation). They were led by the twin towers, 7'1" Juan Runner, and 7'3" Lance Parks. In Coach Timwhelan's first season his massive front court led the newly named St. Paul Adue Dogs to a 13-0 conference season and national attention with a top associated press ranking of #16 in the country. Springfield, Rockford, and Cleveland all had solid PTT programs before hiring their new coaches, but coach qbake11 had a borderline DTT team to work with. That season the new coaches got underway in rebuilding their respective teams the way they wanted them, via recruiting. St. Paul built around their twin trees by securing three ball handlers and eventually shifted their focus to gathering more 7 footers (six recruited in just 8 seasons) and lethal outside shooters. St. Cloud knew from the get-go that they would build on Page's legacy and become the greatest 3pt shooting program in DTL history. Rockford used a conservative approach to build deep and talented teams. Springfield's coach persuaded a number of great defensive combo guards out of high school. Cleveland took another approach, targeting NBA talent and building their success around a few all-americans each season.
Seasons 59-62
The Early Years: Cleveland took off as the conference front runners one season into the Page Age, going 11-2 in conference with Springfield/Rockford/St. Paul battling for a distant 2nd place. In season 60 Cleveland and St. Paul took a back seat to Rockford (20 wins, 12-1 in conference) and top 10 freshmen class (the first of any team in the Page Age) led by small forward Donny Sawyers. The next season fultok09 was hired to coach the abysmal Joplin program, which he never was able to improve. Cleveland leap-frogged Rockford for a 21 win season thats to highly recruited, and future 1st round pick, Jarrett Hall from Toledo, Ohio. The young Cleveland Maaks finished the season ranked #7 in the country, putting conf 14 firmly on the map of league 5. St. Paul, who finished 5th in conference the previous year shot up to their own 21 season, trailed closely by another talented Cleveland team. St. Paul was carried by a trio of shooters--Antoine Roberts, Rob Fisher, and good ole' Morris Borrow. Their two 7 footer forwards made them a force to be reckoned with in the NTT, but they didn't live up to expecations. Memphis used the Demetrius Page money to hire CoachD in hopes of turning their miserable program around.
Season 63
A Season To Remember: The following season was the first time the five prestigious coaches had rosters made up exclusively of their very own recruits. Clark Wilks, Benjamin McCarter, Marshall Rice, and the great senior class of Rockford gave them a deep enough team to snatch the conference crown. McCarter raked in the trophies that year winning C14 and Lg5 Freshmen of the year, C14 player of the year, and 2nd team all american. It was clear his ceiling was limitless. Unfortunately for him his team never reached the NTT final four or even sniffed a C14 title in his tenure. The conference was loaded with talent and making an elite name for themselves: Cleveland's starting five of Randall Griffith, Alejandro Cox, Jarrett Hall, Cody Morrone, and Kevin Bowers displayed themselves as perhaps the toughest lineup in the nation as they blitzed to C14's first Inferno title. St. Paul returned all five of their starters from last season's 21 win campaign, but could only squeeze out a 17-7 run with their rough schedule. St. Cloud brought in a 7'2" Freshmen by the name of Harold Alonso who was an ideal fit for their scheme. He pulled down 10 boards per game as a 18 year old and only got better from there with Frank McMillan, Archie Richardson (30+ ppg in HS), and Adrian Bryant chucking up FORTY threes per game and making a good portion of them. Season 63 was arguably the greatest season in conference history.
Seasons 64-65
Cleveland's Glory Days: In season 64 Coach Timwhelan was hired away to coach middle school girl's basketball and Ngw12 was signed to take his place. Rockford fell apart, dropping to 13-11 without their departed seniors to lean on. Springfield, St. Cloud, and St. Paul all won 15 plus games in the southern division, but it was Cleveland again who topped them all with another 20 win season thanks to the three headed monster of Griffith/Hall/Cox, who were all High School All Americans. They won another Inferno title, and this time the great ROI crown. They then finished #7 in the country after an elite 8 defeat to the eventual champions, the Albuquerque Oldtimers. Returning four starters the next season meant reason for hope and a chance to nab the first league championship in conference history. Cleveland got off to a miserable start losing 3 of their first five in the Inferno, but after a 39 point humiliation against Springfield, a kid named Allen Wing broke out as the x-factor in a 15 game winning streak that gave them a regular season conference title, conference tournament championship, and huge NTT wins over Grand Rapids, Santa Fe, St. Martinsville, Annapolis, and then Toledo. The underdog 6 seed Maaks fell 12 points short of the NTT championship aginst the undefeated Tuscon Court Jesters led by the unbelievable front court of Jay Allen, Amos Sarver and +10 SF Clyde Castro. Allen Wing scored 28 points in the defeat, but the rest of the team was ice cold, leaving the city of Cleveland in great disappointment once again.
Seasons 67-70
The Illinois War: Cleveland's run was history with the departure of Alejandro Cox. The Maaks dropped to just 13 wins the following season--good for 5th in the conference. It was at that time the final C14 program hired Deaconch to coach their team. He only lasted three seasons with the program before they decided to look another direction. In the absence of the Maaks' dominance Springfield and Rockford foreshadowed a long battle for the top of the conference. Rockford had a shiny new 1/1 class led by future #1 pick and 2 time first team all-american, Gayle Kocher, They both went 11-2, but Springfield took the regular season and tournament titles thanks to a brilliant senior year by Raymond Wend. In season 67 St. Cloud fired Qbake11 after he failed to reach the NTT 9 straight seasons. Replacing him was coachMike who would fare even worse in three seasons. Freshmen, Earl Abramson took over for Springfield in place of the departed Wend, but it was Kocher, Chico McFarland, and Terrance Tanner who dominated the conference, going 13-0 with an undefeated regular season and 22 overall wins. Following that season coach Ngw12 was hired away to coach Anaheim in Conf 30--Conf 14 would later get their payback. In season 68 coachfila took over, but found St. Paul in the cellar for the first time in the Page age, tied with St. Cloud. Rockford and Springfield fought for the conference again, with 12 wins each and a split in the season series--but again the Gnomes came away with both titles thanks to the fantastic play of Earl Abramson. In season 69 Springfield lost their first 6 games, giving Rockford an easy path to the regular season title, but then they caught fire, blazing into the NTT with a losing record where they shocked the world, beating Lorenzo Speer and the New Haven Ghost Wolves in the first round. Gayle Kocher suffered an injury in the conference championship against Springfield that forced him to sit out the first two games of the NTT, ruining his final chance at cutting down the nets. The following season Coach Krueger took over in St. Cloud and Springfield leaped back on top of the Gayle Kocher-less Ambassadors. It was Abramson's senior year and he led his team to their first elite 8 appearance, a #5 national ranking, and a secured a lottery pick in the SimBA draft.
Seasons 71-Present
Becoming The Greatest In The Land: Demetrius Page's investment in C14 led to rich TV and apparel deals with the likes of ABC, NBC, CBS, Nike, and Underarmour. This, and a government grant from the destructive tornado allowed the failed program Joplin to go out and hire a big named coach. They found a keeper in bobby11 who is known for bringing in and developing NBA talent like SimBA MVP, Charlie Smith. His NTT resume was short, but the potential for conference titles was undeniable. To not be outdone, the once great University of Cleveland hired bobby11's arch nemesis coach Kcxmt8 to restore their program to an elite level. Kcmxt8 was never able to make a winner in conf30, but in the discussion for best matchup coach in the entire league. With these two signings C14 finally had 8 active and capable coaches, making the future as bright as any conference in the USA. Joplin and Cleveland struggled, as was expected for the next several years, and Springfield/Rockford continued to duke it out. Rockford won the regular season title, but Springfield took it to them in the conference championship; a reoccurring trend. Both teams had down years with their standards, but advanced to the 2nd round of the NTT. Canton's nasty duo of Herbert Kraus and Jack Edwards won 15 games, putting Canton on the NTT bubble for the first time in the Page Age. In Season 72 Springfield had another slow start in the Inferno while St. Paul and Memphis both began to make some noise in conference, but it was Rockford's best season ever as Lg5 player of the year Allen Ball exploded for the best season in C14 history. Rockford's team was deep as ever with freshmen, Dane McWilliams playing Robin to Ball's batman. The Ambassadors won the Inferno and ROI, giving C14 the highest total of both prestigious titles. Then they won 20 straight games, becoming the #1 overall NTT seed and eventually getting shut down by Santa Fe in the sweet 16. To be continued...
