#nelke draws | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

naruseii · 5 years ago

Text

Com-Myu-nity survey!

I was tagged by @missemperor to do this hella long survey so here are my answers!! I tag anyone who wants to do this!

1. What is your hobby?

I draw and do cosplay! And I guess making Myu reviews counts too?

2. What is your special skill?

I don’t really think I have any special skills?? Unless you consider my (most of the time) fast reflexes and how my left index finger makes a little click when I bend it :0 .

3. What are your strengths and weaknesses?

I guess my strengths are in my artistic abilities and my way of speaking?? Like the way I handle words and such. And I think giving advice is also one of my strengths. My weaknesses I guess are my wavering faith/belief in myself and how self deprecating I can be at times. Yeah I think that’s all :0 .

4. What is your favorite color?

I actually don’t have one favorite color so I’ll just list colors/color combos I like:

-Red, blue and white -Pink, blue/teal and purple (with either gold or silver accents) (and maybe white)

-Midnight blue

5. What is your favorite animal?

I really like birds but sometimes dolphins are pretty neat :^ .

6. Which food are you into lately?

Ice cream and cup noodles (not together) I think...I’m not really sure, I eat too much R.I.P .

7. What is a thing you never lose to anyone?

I think it’s my pride/dignity. I know, it’s a pretty bold answer but I honestly can’t think of anything else? And I can’t really think of a time where I crashed and burned so hard that I lost either one of those things.

8. What is your most treasured item?

I have too many treasured items but I’d think letters I received from friends and my parents are my most treasured.

9. What is your cooking specialty?

I don’t really cook so I’m not really sure :^( .

10. What is the thing you want the most at the moment?

To de-stress and to be happy/enjoy myself.

11. What is the thing you are most scared of?

Death...

12. What is the thing you were happy about this year?

I’m happy that I got to become closer to some people and I was able to make new friends!! I’m also happy that I got to step out of my comfort zone at times and I got to experience a whole lot of stuff this year.

13. What is the thing you were sad about this year?

Oh there’s a lot but, I don’t wanna mention that on here.

14. What is the thing you regretted this year?

I guess I had some missed opportunities but there are just too many things to mention.

15. What is the thing you were angry about this year?

Too many to mention.

16. What is the job that gave you a sense of fulfillment this year?

I’m still a student so I don’t have a job but, I joined my school’s diplomatic services so I guess that’s it!

17. What has changed about you since you entered the com-myu-nity?

I think my confidence has gone up, especially with making new friends. I think my writing and observational abilities got a bit better too since I started making Myu reviews.

18. Which character would you play in myu?

For an Inner Senshi, I’d love to play Jupiter or Venus. For an Outer Senshi, I’d love to play Pluto or Saturn. As for villains, I’d love to play Zoisite or Black Lady. But to be honest if I were given any role I didn’t mention, it would be pretty interesting!!

19. If you were to form a collab now, who would it be with?

Uhhhhh I’m not sure if this is meant for the com-myu-nity or not but if it is then I’m still not sure because I’d love to collab with anyone!!

20. What do you love about Sera Myu nowadays?

I love how it’s still ongoing and how it never fails to charm people. Sure some people prefer the older Myus than new or it’s the other way around but, I think most people get a certain charm from both sides which makes the world of Myu so fun to be in.

21. Which cast member catches your attention the most at the moment?

A cast member that always catches my attention is Hikari of course but at the moment it’s any of the actresses I follow on Instagram. I don’t really have one in particular because every time they post, it definitely catches my attention.

22. Which cast member would you want as your significant other?

AW GEE I WONDER WHO. My forever love Hikari of course ;v; .

23. If you were to marry a cast member, who would it be?

Same answer as mentioned above :^) .

24. If you would go to a deserted island, which cast member would you like to go with you?

Wow these questions are so specific. I honestly don’t know?? I mean, I would say Hikari but I feel like I’m putting her in too many random situations with myself lmao so maybe I’d bring Momoko (Okuyama). She’d be super fun to be with!!

25. If you were born again, which cast member would you like to be?

Hmm, I’m not really sure. Maybe Anza?? I wanna see how it feels to have a nice voice and to do all sorts of dance moves and of course, how it feels to be Sailor Moon!!

26. Which Sera Myu production would you want to be a part of?

Maybe Saturn Fukkatsu? Because of all the circus stuff?? But maybe a Stars Myu like StarsK or Le Mouvment Final because Stars is such a fun and emotional arc I just, aaaaaaaaaaaaaa. If you haven’t noticed by now, I’m very indecisive on most of the questions.

27. If you were to create your own kingdom, what kind of country would you want it to be?

A peaceful one where all people get along and see each others as equals. One where people can enjoy their lives to the fullest.

28. What is an interesting book or manga you read recently?

The Promised Neverland!! Still not done reading it though.

29. What is an interesting movie you watched recently?

I haven’t watched any movies recently :^( .

30. What is your favorite Sera Myu song at the moment?

I haven’t listened to much Myu music as of recent but I always love listening to La Soldier. :>

31. What is your favorite Sera Myu song choreography at the moment?

I never really had a favorite choreography but the one I keep thinking of now is the one for Honoo no Messenger because of that one TLC clip lmao.

32. What is your favorite Sera Myu costume at the moment?

Eternal Sailor Moon (both Bandai and Nelke).

33. What is your favorite Myu at the moment?

I’ve only seen the First Stage so far (and I still have to watch EienK aaaaaa) but my favorite is Stars Kaiteiban/StarsK!!

34. What is your favorite Myu cast?

Stuck between Saturn Fukkatsu and StarsK...

35. Is there something you say a lot recently?

Frick, yeehaw, o and heck.

36. What would you do if you could plan a Fan Kansha?

I’m really not sure of this since I’ve never planned events except for birthdays. I think I’d just keep it as it is?? Well in terms of what’s in the event at least. But maybe I would add in some stuff for engagement with foreign fans? So at least they’ll be able to participate/enjoy the event somehow.

37. What do you hope to see Sera Myu doing in the future?

I hope to see them branching out more to their international audience. They’re beginning to do that with the Super Live but hopefully they do the same with other productions. And I hope they have more audience engagement like Bandai Myu’s Fan Kanshas.

38. What kind of person do you want to be in 5 years?

I want to be a person that I’d be satisfied with. I hope that I’ll be happy where I am and I have some kind of fulfillment.

39. What has been a memorable concert or event this year?

I’ve only been to one concert in my entire life but I think the most memorable event I’ve had so far this year was my very first sleepover with my friends!!

40. What do you want to do in your private life this year?

Relax I guess?? I don’t know, I haven’t thought about it especially since I hardly get to do anything because of school.

41. What kind of job would you like to do in the future?

I’d wanna be an animator or a psychologist! And if those don’t work out then I just wanna be a freelance artist :^) .

42. Do you have a hairstyle you would like to try in the future?

I’d really wanna try and get an undercut.

43. What Sera Myu merchandise would you love to have?

Hm, maybe the Bandai Myu box sets? Or maybe just DVDs in general. Oh and posters too!! I also wanna get a light stick :0 . A.K.A I want too much ;v; .

44. Where would you want Sera Myu to come to?

It would be really nice if Sera Myu was a global thing but, I really hope they come here to the Philippines!! Whether it’s at a con or an actual stage performance, I just really wanna see one/see the cast ;v; .

45. If you could have a holiday with any cast member, what do you want to do?

Same answer as questions 22 and 23. (A.K.A Hikari) ((this is edited because I realized I didn’t even answer the question properly but hanging out is just fine!!))

46. Please say something to your favorite cast member.

Oh gosh uh this is very sudden but!! Keep doing what you’re doing!! I love reading your posts even though I can’t understand majority of them and some really do concern me :’^) . I’m lov u vv much pls remember that and I only hope for the best for u!!

#com-myu-nity survey #sera myu

6 notes · View notes

creativeafterdark · 6 years ago

Text

So I've been playing Nelke and the Legendary Alchemists and I adore Sophie. So I decided to draw her in one of my favorite shirts in Love Nikki :3

#sketch #atelier series #atelier Sophie

9 notes · View notes

crystalelemental · 5 years ago

Text

suitsongirls replied to your post: suitsongirls replied to your post: ...

God that sounds so good!! Having to make sure that the wild pokemon you attract help trainers to train for your gym, or provide them with a bit of an advantage, whilst atracting pokemon of a similar type as your gym so they can train against them, and get a better understanding of them! I’m really excited by this prospect now, damn it.

This gets a little micro-management-like, but coming off of playing Nelke I guess that’s to be expected:

You pick one Pokemon and a type at the outset. That’s your team at the outset. Everything else you need to find and acquire yourself.

You start with some amount of money, and can develop however you want. You can create facilities to interact with Pokemon, nature areas that attract certain types of Pokemon to it, or areas like contest halls or maybe even a PokeStar studios facility.

Your town starters with a Center and a Mart (or combined Center/Mart, depending on how you want to allocate), and your gym. Initially, that’s all you have. At the Center, Pokemon can be healed, but you also have an area where trades can be conducted. You can trade with other trainers passing through for other Pokemon if you want, or you can leave the town for some time to operate on their own, in search of capturing a Pokemon yourself.

You’d have a few goals to aim for:

Become the top gym leader in the league. I’d actually say have 10 gyms instead of 8, for reasons involving the below. This is largely based on your win-loss ratio. Being unbeaten is probably impossible (the game may throw trainers at you who are overleveled or come packing types that are strong against you intentionally), but you can win well enough.

Make your town a popular location for trainers. The reason I would say 10 gyms is, you only need 8 badges, and trainers can ignore your location if it’s not generally engaging, or doesn’t offer anything unique for them. Starting at 10th place means you need some time to develop and attract trainers with the general facilities. Part of this might include having access to a type that’s good against your team, but if you lose all the time the league feels you’re too easy a challenge and your role is in danger. Maybe tie win-loss ratio to how much money the league offers, and general trainer approval ties to the ability to expand your town and improve facilities further? Like, say at the outset a Pokemon Contest only happens once a week if you have that facility. Lots of trainer approval and traffic for the town makes it so contests can happen twice or three times a week, drawing in more? I’d have to think about the balance there.

Maybe as part of this, have trainers who battle you have extra dialogue, such as comments on things that are missing, or after a battle in which they lose having you, as gym leader, need to offer encouragement they? This can impact approval rating or something.

You can travel to catch your own Pokemon, but this leaves the gym unattended. Being away too long leads to the league itself not approving, and you may lose some of your income based on how long you’re out on your own. It may also impact trainer approval, if no one can challenge you, so being gone too long to look for Pokemon on your own could create trouble in the long run.

As Gym Leader, you can do things other than battle, such as participating in the contests or the like. Involvement here could get you other sorts of prizes, like items for your Pokemon and the like?

Oh man, at higher levels, bring back that tournament thing from White2/Black2, where the gym leaders and sometimes champions can show up and battle each other. Get a feel for your performance there, and potentially upstage other gym leaders. If you lose in the first round, you’re demoted a rank in the league. If you win outright, you automatically go up. Anything in between has no real effect on ranking.

I’m really getting invested in my own idea, now. Pokemon Company, listen, how much are you willing to pay me for ideas? All I need is like $150 a week to feed my gambling addiction in Heroes, I swear I don’t need much.

#suitsongirls

2 notes · View notes

nelkenbabe · 2 years ago

Photo

Well, well. What have we here?

every so often you gotta redo a comic you drew two years ago. let’s see what this’ll look like in 2024, yes?

#da art #dragon age art #morrigan #grey warden #morrigan x warden #morrigan x amell #everett #nelke draws #it's everett hours y'know??

89 notes · View notes

puckbunnies101 · 4 years ago

Note

The guy Kyle from Nelk boys posted late at night yesterday or early this morning for us who live in Toronto and it was just a blank screen and the location oh him in Scottsdale Arizona and him saying “What’s gooood” And then deleted it because I’m sure he’s with Auston now and that’s going to draw lots of attention from fans and media. And people getting upset that he may not be taking covid and the pandemic not so seriously.

I think it’s interesting that his story is all about Trump and Air Force One.

0 notes

palidoozy-art · 3 years ago

Photo

random variety sketches, as a bunch of weird shit has happened over the past few sessions.

context:

1) One of the PCs is determined to become a world-famous dancer, and blew like 3,500 gold on a fancy dress. The player asked me to draw it.

2, 3, 4) Literally 3/4 of the PCs either got pregnant or got their spouses pregnant, with Ellerian rolling triplets. So I drew all their kids. The cool thing is that all of the players are ripshit pumped to play their characters’ kids, meaning this will be a legacy campaign. Also Kelogul’s kid is a fuckin’ half-elf, quarter orc, quarter human.

That said -- the players want their characters to take time off to raise their kids, so they’ll be making new ones temporarily so plots can keep going/the one PC who isn’t having kids isn’t punished into waiting years. Basically Rahadin, Ireena, and Nelke will be running around with a new party temporarily while the rest go be family mans. all i can say is boy im glad my players are into legacy shit as much as I am.

also 100% those kids are gonna get sucked into Barovia at some point too.

5) the party found out Barov had another kid and met Sturm. Sturm did not believe Rahadin was related to him. Either way they sold all of Strahd’s like 80,000 gold worth of books to that dude, and Kelogul took a bath in his fountain. Also war broke out.

6) i have no comment for this, other than it was like 4 am and please let me have this.

#sketches #d&d #dungeons and dragons #dnd art #curse of strahd #curse of strahd spoilers #technically #all because of that fucking library #palidoozy arts

219 notes · View notes

crsblogger · 4 years ago

Text

Week Three Thoughts

Week three identified our involvement with media personae through four key components. The keys components are transportation, parasocial interaction, identification and worship. I will be touching on the transportation and worship aspect of involvement with media personae. In today’s society, through the use of social media, we are all audience members to many videos, pictures and people’s opinions. I will be displaying real life examples of transportation and worship instances that have occurred in my life. I will also be touching on Sullivan’s three models of audiences: outcome, agent and mass audiences.

During the process of transportation, audiences become emotionally and psychologically involved in both the narrative and with the characters in the narrative, thus, audiences can imagine themselves in the presence of a persona. By drawing upon a travel metaphor of visiting another place, transportation theorists predict that when audiences imagine themselves in another world they derive media enjoyment. The article, “Examining four processes of Audience involvement with media personae: Transportation, parasocial interaction, identification and worship” written by William J. Brown, speaks on transportation. I can relate to this as I always watch the Nelk boys on Instagram and YouTube. The Nelk boys are Canadian content creators that prank different groups and people in society. They are all degenerates but make a lot of people laugh. They go to great lengths and spend a lot of money to create social media content. I felt like I transported into this narrative and felt like in a weird way I am friends with them. I feel as if I can relate to them and like the article said, “I can imagine myself in the presence of the persona”. The persona in this case is the Nelk boys; Kyle, Jesse and Steve. As an audience member, I watch them through social media platforms such as Instagram or Twitter as well as YouTube. I have never met them before but I picked up on their slang, the way they dress and I have even bought a couple of ‘Full send’ t shirts which is a part of their marketing scheme. Through this example, it can be proven that I have transported into a part of their world.

I used to worship Mac Miller who is a famous rap artist. I had all of his music downloaded on my phone/ipod, I had all of his posters on my wall and I was obsessed with him. Like William J Brown’s article states, I was clearly consumed by Mac Miller. I spent over $400 to go and watch his concerts. I had to travel to Michigan to see a concert of his when I was 16. I quickly realized that there are better rap artists and my obsession for Mac Miller slowly lessoned but I was still a huge fan. I was caught up in the transportation phase and I became obsessed. When he died two years ago, those worship like feelings resurfaced and I only listened to his songs for a week straight. I now know my boundaries as to getting transported to the point of obsession. I noticed myself as an audience member that completely engulfed into this world of obsession to one person that I almost forgot who I was.

Another important concept outlined by Sullivan is the three models of audiences. Mass, outcome and agent audiences. Mass audiences are audiences that have large amounts of people. An example of this is concerts where a large number of people go and listen to a musician or a band. The Kenny Chesney concert is an example of this as there was roughly 11,000 people at the Molson Amphitheatre in Toronto. Outcome audiences are acted upon without their knowledge. This theory suggests that we as an audience don’t choose what we are viewing but instead are naturally forced into viewing. The agent theory of Sullivan’s model is the opposite where the audience member chooses what they want to see. We choose to watch a movie, we choose to go and see a play, we choose to go and watch live music.

With both my parents working for Air Canada I am consistently on planes travelling all around the world. Being on a plane I am subjected to being an audience member without my knowledge as the pre-boarding commercials and plane safety videos are mandatory to watch before the plane takes off. In this instance, I am an agent audience member as I want to watch this message to know what my responsibilities are if there in an emergency on the plane and we have to evacuate.

On the other hand, I have been on so many flights that I already know where the exits are and think that the video is a waste of my time. This would be an example of the outcome concept spoken about in lecture that I am subjected to something that I don’t want to view and I am clearly acted upon without my knowledge.

0 notes

junker-town · 5 years ago

Text

We got the greatest simulated video game ending ever with our upstart college basketball team

Western Illinois starts a new era in their quest for a national championship in ‘College Hoops 2K8’. This is Year 6 and Year 7 of the journey.

Thank you for returning to Western Illinois’ quest for college basketball immortality in College Hoops 2K8. We introduced this series a few weeks back and laid the foundation for the program with our first full recruiting class in Year 1. We finally made the NCAA tournament in Year 3, winning a thriller in the Summit League title game. Year 5 saw our program win its first NCAA tournament game.

We’ll have an announcement about the future of the series at the end of this story. But first, here’s a recap of what happened in the last post:

Finished Year 4 at 22-10. Was swept 3-0 by Oral Roberts during the season, including in the Summit League conference tournament semifinals. We ended up making the NIT, where we were blown out by Clemson.

Added two recruits after Year 4: five-star JUCO point guard Damon Hendriks, and five-star JUCO power forward Dawud Byfield.

Finished Year 5 at 28-4. Lost to Southern Utah in the conference tournament championship game, but still somehow got an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as an No. 11 seed. We earned our first NCAA tournament win, beating No. 6 Miami (Florida) in the opening round. The dream ended the next weekend against Florida State, where we lost by one damn point in the Round of 32.

Graduated my first recruiting class, led by one-time Summit League conference player of the year Bud Richards.

Added two recruits: four-star power forward Ira Willis and three-star center Burton Ballinger.

Here’s a picture of the roster heading into Year 6:

Ballinger has B potential, the highest I’ve ever had at Western Illinois. Willis — my first top-100 recruit — also looks solid at 75 overall with C+ potential. I’d love to redshirt Willis, but I would only have eight scholarship players on the roster in that case, so I decide to make him my ninth man and let him backup both forward spots. I’ll likely redshirt him a year from now.

Here’s a look at the rotation:

It feels like we’re not quite as talented as last year, and we certainly won’t have the same team unity — one of the factors teams are evaluated by based on their playing experience together. I still like what we have, though.

You already know Tracy Hehn and Wilbur Messy, a pair of four-year starters who should both be sick scorers on the wing as seniors. I’m super excited about Hendriks — my first five-star recruit as a JUCO player — and the start of his three-year stint as starting point guard. My front court is a little green, with Byfield starting in his first season eligible and Van manning the five as a redshirt sophomore. Ward, a gigantic senior center — at 7’1, 260 pounds — will come off the bench. My eight-man rotation is still pretty damn good.

My team is an 89 overall, clearly the best in the Summit League again. No other team is better than 73 — Oral Roberts and Southern Utah.

I also have six scholarships to fill

We need everything, and we absolutely cannot blow it in recruiting like we did last year when we went 2-for-5 on available scholarships. Following our recruiting struggles last season, reader James sent an email proposing I overhaul my recruiting philosophy to purposefully limit myself to 2-3 open scholarships per year. Here are his words:

As an invested fan, I wanted to volunteer one thing, considering the limited number of recruiting points at your disposal. The approach that you took in recruiting the class which included Damon Hendriks and Dawud Byfield seems like an approach you could take every year: focusing on two or three more talented guys, and utilizing the redshirt religiously. Treating recruiting and roster management this way seems like it should do two big things for WIU:

1. That you never need to land more than three guys in a given year, and can devote more attention/points to fewer and more talented guys in each recruiting class.

2. It gives you a shortcut to developing regular upper-class depth and roster balance — seven or eight rotation-worthy true upperclassmen every season AND two or three redshirt freshmen to draw from.

He then included a scholarship chart:

It’s an intriguing offer — and possibly the greatest email I’ve ever received — but I decide to recruit for all six of our open scholarships instead.

I start off targeting four-star shooting guard Lubos Hatten (No. 66 overall, No. 16 SG) and three-star power forward Denver Lane (No. 158 overall, No. 30 PF). Lane is 6’10, 242 pounds and a 45 percent three-point shooter, so I’m thinking he could potentially play three positions for me if I get him.

Here’s my full slate of offers:

Four-star shooting guard Lubos Hatten (No. 66 overall, No. 16 SG)

Three-star small forward Adham Tyler (No. 107 overall, No. 15 SF)

Three-star power forward Joseph Bowens (No. 106 overall, No. 18 PF)

Three-star point guard Armein Amous (No. 155 overall, No. 61 PG)

Three-star power forward Denver Lane (No. 158 overall, No. 30 PF)

Three-star center Harlan Fullove (No. 195 overall, No. 17 center)

First game: @ Illinois

I’m scheduling these nerds every year until I beat them. As a reminder, they whooped my ass last year. Can I get revenge this season?

The Illini are ranked No. 13 in the preseason polls and are a 95 overall. Looks like video game Bruce Weber was able to parlay that 2006 championship game run better than real life Bruce Weber.

Oh my. Blown out, 99-57. Ugly start for my post-Bud Richards era.

Next game: UW-Milwaukee. We win, 76-56. Nelke and Messy each score 15. We have local rival Illinois State after that, and get a 95-69 win. Hendriks balls out with 18 points on 4-of-5 shooting from three — his first signature performance in what we’re expecting to be a long line of them. Ward also chips in 13 off the bench against the Redbirds.

We face Texas A&M next. AGGIES GOING DOWN.

Look at my boy Nelke with a team-high 17 points off the bench. Dude is going to be a stud. Unfortunately, the feel-good vibes from that win are short-lived: Southern Utah beats us by three the following week.

Back on the recruiting front, we’re sitting pretty with Hatten but don’t land him at the end of the early recruiting period even though he’s at 98 percent interest. Now I’m going to have to waste points calling him the rest of the year, which could have went to other players. Denver Lane ends up getting an offer from Central Michigan, so I drop him. The tough week for recruiting continues when Tyler gets a UConn offer and Fulllove gets a Penn offer. I need to find three new recruits.

Big game against Michigan this week. We take a 77-74 loss. Tough. That drops us to 4-3 on the year. Here’s the remainder of the non-conference schedule:

We blow out South Florida.

Play No. 24 Duke at Cameron Indoor and lose a heartbreaker, 77-72. Damn. Hehn (18 points) and Van (13 points) both play well in the loss.

Beat Belmont by eight and lose to Ball State by four. The Leathernecks are 6-5 overall.

Back to recruiting, I’ve maxed out interest in both Hatten and Bowens. I’m praying Bowens doesn’t get a North Florida offer because he’s a Jacksonville kid and his No. 3 priority is being close to home. As long as they don’t get a surprise offer late in the process, I should have two really promising recruits locked up as soon as the spring signing period begins.

The rest of my class currently looks less convinced. I’m still working on Amous, a solid but unspectacular point guard I offered on the first week, and I’ve identified three-star shooting guard Ljubisa Copeland as a potential backup plan if I miss on any of my other guards.

Mcgee gets an offer the next week, so I drop him and set out to find a center. I settle on Jordi Geli Holden, who is ranked only No. 24 at the position but has the right mix of size and AAU production. Full blown conference play is about to start.

I win my next seven games in conference, highlighted by Messy dropping 28 points on Fort Wayne and Byfield scoring 21 on South Dakota State. We hang 101 points on hated enemy Oral Roberts the next game, with Hehn going off for 26 points and Van scoring 22 in the win. The Leathernecks are starting to find their stride at 13-5 overall. Next game is at North Dakota State, and we blow them out, behind 29 points from senior star Tracy Hehn.

We win out the rest of the year and finish the regular season on a 16-game winning streak. We’re 22-5 overall and the No. 1 seed in the Summit League entering the conference tournament.

Here’s what my roster looks like entering the conference tournament — some solid internal improvement from the guys this season. Hehn leads the team in scoring at 15.4 points per game.

Summit League tournament

We have South Dakota State in the opening around — and beat them, 78-57, behind 20 points from Hehn. Next up: Southern Utah. Why am I so nervous for this?

We get a huge win, 103-53. Six Leatherneck players in double-figures, led by Van with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Now I have Oakland in the title game.

We beat Oakland, 78-66. We’re going dancing for the second straight year at 25-5 overall.

We’re an 11-seed against No. 6 Washington in the first round.

NCAA tournament

Wow, Washington is a 99 overall. How are they only a No. 6 seed? Classic Lorenzo Romar ball, to be honest. We’re a 92 entering the tournament, with seven players rated in the 80s. My team has come along really well, but I still feel like I’m a huge underdog. Going to need the seniors Hehn and Messy to play the games of their lives.

I settle down to watch this game (reminder: I’m not playing any of the games during this dynasty, just watching the computer sim). That was a big mistake, because I’m never getting that hour of my life back.

Blown. The. Hell. Out. Season over. Memphis wins the title. I don’t even get any new coaching points.

Hehn and Messy both graduate. Love those dudes.

Now it’s time to restock my roster for the future with these six open scholarships.

Recruiting

We open spring recruiting by landing two studs: No. 66 overall shooting guard Lubos Hatten and No. 106 overall power forward Joseph Bowens. Hatten immediately becomes the top recruit in program history, replacing Ira Willis, who was once ranked No. 82 overall. Bowens looks fantastic, too. Look at that three-point shooting!

A week later, I win a long recruiting battle for 5’11 point guard Armein Amous, who is ranked No. 155 overall. Three-star shooting guard Ljubisa Copeland (No. 140 overall) is another guy I’ve been recruiting since the fall, and I sign him as well. Jordi Geli Holden, the No. 24 center and No. 259 overall player, also signs on as my fifth recruit in the class.

I decide to take a big swing with my one open scholarship: 6’9 small forward Phil Powell, ranked No. 103 overall and the No. 15 player at his position. For whatever reason, this guy has very little interest from other programs, which is just what Ricky Charisma wanted to see.

To be fair, this guy’s offensive stats were terrible in AAU — 7.4 points per game on 25.6 percent shooting from the field and 19.2 percent shooting from three. He has great size though and has to be rated this highly for a reason, right?

I land Powell on the last week of recruiting. Super excited to see what he’s rated and where his potential is at. And with that, I have filled all six of my scholarships.

That’s a six-man class with three players ranked in the top 110 and five players ranked in the top 155. Centers are always lower in the recruiting rankings for some reason, but I landed a top-25 guy at that position, too. Huge class!

Now I have to set the schedule for next year. I decide to play every team in Illinois, because why not? The Leathernecks want to own this state. This non-conference schedule is beautiful:

Ahead to my seventh season.

Year 7

Here’s a first look at the roster.

Nelke is actually an 86 at shooting guard, but we have to move him to small forward because I don’t have anyone else at that position and he’s big enough to do it at 6’6, 217 pounds. Also, my five best players are my five starters, which hasn’t been the case previously in this dynasty.

Waller is my best player despite the fact that he hasn’t been a starter before his redshirt senior year because I’ve had so much depth in front of him. He goes up a couple points when I move him to shooting guard. We’re going to have three natural point guards in the starting lineup this year, which sounds extremely up my alley. Waller, Nelke, and Hendriks are all rated 88 or better as three-point shooters, too. Give me all of the high-IQ ball handlers who can shoot with range. I also decide to abandon my plan to redshirt Willis because I need him as sixth man this year who could play either forward position.

Here’s a look at how the freshmen are rated:

C Jordi Geli Holden: 75 overall, C potential (No. 259 overall/No. 24 center)

SG Lubos Hatten: 75 overall, B- potential (No. 66 overall)

SF Phil Powell: 73 overall, A- potential (No. 103 overall)

PF Joseph Bowens: 73 overall, B+ potential (No. 106 overall)

SG Ljubisa Copeland: 72 overall, C potential (No. 140 overall)

PG Armein Amous: 68 overall, C+ potential (No. 155 overall)

I decide to redshirt Holden, Powell, Bowens, and Copeland. Hatten is going to the first guard off the bench and the last player in eight-man rotation. The plan is to redshirt Hatten next year when I have more depth. I’m also keeping Amous active this year as my ninth man, even though he isn’t in the rotation, just for games when guys get into foul trouble.

Here’s a look at the rotation:

Western Illinois enters the season at a 90 overall. With four redshirt juniors in the starting lineup, we should be even better next year.

I only have one scholarship to work with. Since I’m not totally sure Amous will be good enough to eventually lead a powerhouse team even as fifth-year senior, I decide to put a bunch of point guards on my target list. Eventually, I offer five-star JUCO Darrel Ogunride, a 6’3 lead guard from Chicago.

First game: @ Illinois

An opening night tradition of getting my brains beat in unlike any other. The Illini are already 2-0 and ranked No. 18 in the country when I face them. One time, Leathernecks?

OH, HELL YEAH! 69-63! Holy shit!

Look at those three point guards do work. I’m counting this as a program-defining win. Could I have a chance to crack the top 25 this year?

We beat UIC by 20 (Nelke: 17 points, Van: 15 points, 10 rebounds) then beat Loyola, 62-51, (Van: 19 points) to end the next week. As the early signing period begins, we get revenge on Northern Illinois with a 30-point win (Byfield: 26 points, four blocks) and then beat Bradley, 82-56 (Van: 16 points). We’re 5-0 to start the year.

Our first loss comes during one of these weird early conference games, where I somehow lose to South Dakota State, 65-62. We scored 16 points in the second half. Was there a killer party in Macomb last night that no one told Coach Rick about?

As early recruiting ends, I have a lead for Ogunride but Illinois is now hot on his trail, too:

Two local heavyweights on the schedule this week: Northwestern and DePaul. First up is the Wildcats.

It didn’t go so well:

DePaul also beats me, 68-66. I really thought we could go undefeated two weeks ago.

I got Southern Illinois next, and win, 83-62. Unfortunately, that didn’t impress the point guard I’m recruiting: we go from first to third for Ogunride in the course of one week. Bummer, because he seems super good. I drop him and extend an offer to my backup plan, Nikola Stockman, a 6-foot point guard from local Peoria ranked No. 104 overall

I beat Illinois State and Eastern Illinois by 21 points each. Waller pops off for 19-5-5 against EIU. I’m 11-3 as I get into the thick of conference play. Can I run the table?

We start out 5-0 with my closest win being 19 points. I end up winning out. A lot of red dubs on the schedule this year:

We enter the conference tournament at 25-3 overall. Van somewhat surprisingly leads the team in scoring (15.2 points per game) and rebounding (6.4 per game). Waller (13.1) and Nelke (12.0), and Byfield (11.7) are my other double-figure scorers. Hendriks averages 9.9 points per game.

Summit League tournament

We have Southern Utah in the first round of the Summit League tournament. And we win, 64-59. Uh, that was kind of tight?

I play Fort Wayne next in the conference semifinals. Another win, 65-53. The only team standing between Western Illinois and another NCAA tournament berth is my old nemesis, Oral Roberts. I’m a 92 overall and they’re a 70 overall, so I probably shouldn’t be as nervous for this game as I am.

We win, 82-61. WE’RE DANCING AGAIN.

This is our third straight NCAA tournament appearance. The team is 28-3 on the year. Could I finally get a seed that isn’t in the double-digits?

To find out, I actually watch the Selection Sunday show, hosted by virtual Greg Gumble. Remember when I said this game is, like, insanely deep in terms of features in Legacy mode? This is one of them. Even after I eventually start skipping ahead, the show still runs for over nine minutes.

Please, enjoy this ridiculous video game TV show with me:

youtube

NCAA tournament

We get a No. 10 seed — our best ever — and draw a first-round matchup with No. 7 seed NC State. Winner is likely getting second-seeded Georgetown in the Round of 32.

Before I do this, I check out my roster again. Waller is now a 90, making him the first player in program history to hit that mark. I have seven guys rated at least in the 80s.

My team is pretty nasty: lots of shooting and ball handling in my three-point guard lineup on the perimeter, my lowest-rated starter is an 84 overall, and I have two guys in the 80s coming off the bench.

I think I have enough to make a tournament run this year, but NC State looks tough.

Of course I’m watching this one. Music is again provided by my bud Patrick Cosmos from his album Tonal Rotors.

Let’s do this.

youtube

***

I think I’m going to throw up.

I asked my forever colleague Mike Prada to GIF my fucking heart breaking.

Manning absolutely killed me all night (37 points on 15-of-24 shooting), and he ends up hitting a 35-foot dagger at the buzzer to win it. Unreal. We end the year 28-4 overall. I’m going to need a couple days to get over this.

Maryland wins the title. Van wins Summit League Player of the Year as a junior. Here’s a look at Coach Rick’s resume after seven seasons:

I get offered the Wichita State job and turn it down. I only have one available scholarship and that gets wrapped up in the first week when Stockman accepts my offer.

Time to set my schedule for next year. I figure I’m going to have a loaded team with four redshirt senior starters, so give us a real test before conference play? I’m going at UCONN, at Michigan State, at Arizona, at North Carolina, at Notre Dame, and at Wisconsin.

Year Eight

This is going to be a special season. Here’s a first look at the roster.

To be continued

This is unfortunately the last post on Western Illinois’ chase for a championship at SB Nation. I’m going to continue writing the series entirely for free over here. Please sign up to follow along.

If you signed up for email updates here, you should be transferred over. Year 8 is going to run Saturday or Sunday at the new site. I can’t wait to see what next year’s roster can do. I hope you continue following along. Thanks for reading and engaging.

0 notes