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junker-town · 3 years ago

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Western Illinois, Year 40, 2046-2047

The final season of our sim dynasty with Western Illinois in College Hoops 2K8 is here.

Welcome back to our simulated dynasty with the Western Illinois Leathernecks in College Hoops 2K8. You can find a full explanation of this project + spoiler-free links to previous seasons here. Check out the introduction to this series from early April 2020 for full context. As a reminder, we simulate every game in this series and only control the recruiting and coaching strategies. Dynasty mode runs for 40 years.

Before we pick up with the Leathernecks at the start of Year 40, here’s a recap of everything that happened last season:

Western Illinois entered Year 39 trying to three-peat as national champions for the first time in program history. We lost two starters early to the NBA coming into the season, but still had enough talent to be ranked No. 10 overall in the preseason polls.

We ran through the regular season schedule, losing only one game to UCLA during the non-conference season and sweeping Summit League opponents once again. We entered the NCAA tournament at 29-1 on the year and earned a No. 4 seed to the big dance.

We beat Brown in round one, knocked off Georgia Tech in the round of 32, beat Indiana in the Sweet 16, and lost to Florida in the Elite Eight. We know enter the final season of my career tied with John Wooden with 10 national championships.

We added three players in our last ever recruiting class: five-star JUCO SF Jerald Obasohan, four-star SG Erwin Walls, and four-star PF Kenny Butler.

Here’s a first look at our roster for Year 40:

It feels like only yesterday that a fresh-faced, 25-year-old came to the small town of Macomb, Illinois with big dreams. Coach Rick was hired by Western Illinois to do the impossible: win a national championship with arguably the worst team in college basketball. After 39 seasons at the helm, our tiny program has accomplished that and so much more. Now it’s time to hang it up.

Our journey at Western Illinois is finally coming to an end. In literal terms, College Hoops 2K8 forces mandatory retirement upon coaches in dynasty mode after 40 seasons. All good stories need closure either way. As we start our final season, we have some big stakes attached to our swan song.

Western Illinois has won 10 national championships in the Ricky Charisma era. That ties us with UCLA legend John Wooden for the most in history. What started as a mission to win a single national championship has now left us with a different goal: to become the undisputed greatest program in the history of the sport.

While we failed in our bid to three-peat last season — falling to Florida in the Elite Eight — we did bring back all four breakout juniors for this season. We only lost starting center DJ Foster to graduation. Yeah, it’s been a while since we last published Year 39 (thanks for your patience), so let’s go over the roster:

PG Christano Ngounou, junior, 89 overall: Ngounou made major strides after being forced into the starting lineup last season, and now looks like a rock solid contributor going into our final year. An international recruit out of Cameroon, Ngounou is a fast 6’3 guard with lockdown defensive ability and a slightly above average three-point shot. We have bigger names on this squad who will be expected to carry the scoring load, but Ngounou is going to play a huge role because he’s way better than every other point guard on the roster. We need quality minutes from him in the tournament. Former five-star international recruit with B potential.

SG Bernie Doyle, redshirt senior, 92 overall: Doyle is an incredible talent who enters his senior year looking to fully blossom into a superstar. The 6’9 shooting guard uses his immense size on both ends of the floor. He’s elite at getting into the passing lanes and forcing steals (a team-high 1.8 per game as a junior) on the defensive end, and has a sweet three-point stroke offensively. Doyle is such a smooth scorer and dominant defender that it feels like he has the natural talent to develop into an all-great in his senior year. Let’s hope he’s up to the challenge. Former No. 36 overall recruit from Detroit with C potential. Projected lottery pick.

SF Floyd Keller, redshirt senior, 92 overall: Keller checks every box for a small forward. He has good size at 6’7. He has a three-point rating in the mid-80s. He’s the best dunker on the team. He’s an elite offensive rebounder for a wing with a rating in the low 90s, which helps equip him to play minutes at the four. After a tough shooting night in our Elite Eight loss last season — he went 1-for-7 from three — we’ll need Keller to be consistently great if we want one more run through the bracket. Former No. 101 overall recruit out of Dallas with C+ potential. Projected second round pick.

PF Oscar Fray, redshirt senior, 88 overall: Fray enters his third year as a starter with a fascinating combination of size and skill that could set him up for a breakout senior year. The 7-foot power forward is a great three-point shooter for his position with a rating just below 80. Defensively, he’s the top-rated shot blocker on the team, and also does a pretty good job on the glass. Former No. 118 overall recruit out of Lynn, MA with C potential. Projected second round pick.

C Brody Munoz, redshirt senior, 92 overall: Munoz finally gets the spotlight as a senior after backing up DJ Foster — a one-time NCAA tournament Most Outstanding Player — for his entire career up to this point. We’re expected big things, and not just because he’s tied for the highest rated player on the roster going into the regular season. What Munoz lacks in elite size at 6’11 he can make up for with strength, agility, and rebounding. We expect him to be really good at forcing turnovers, grabbing putbacks, and helping fortify the paint. Former No. 169 overall recruit (No. 6 center) out of Nashville with B potential. Projected lottery pick.

We have an incredibly deep bench for our final season. Center Logan Polk (85 overall) will be our sixth man, and should be able to form a three-man front court rotation with the two starters in the tournament. After that, we have a lot of options but not a lot of good options.

Here’s the rest of the bench: wing Jaycee Queen (80 overall), wing Jerald Obasohan (79 overall), guard Archie Howell (78 overall), wing/guard James Haranga (74 overall), guard Edwin Walls (74 overall), and power forward Kenny Butler (74 overall).

This is really it. Year 40. The last dance. What a ride it has been. We start the season at No. 4 in the polls.

How did the regular season go?

For our final regular season, we tried to schedule a good mix of local schools and historic big conference rivals with a couple in-season tournaments thrown in for good measure.

Here’s how the regular season went:

Win over Bradley

Win over Nebraska

Win over UTEP

Loss to Southern Illinois

Win over Florida

Loss to Northwestern

Win over New Mexico

Win over DePaul

That sets up a rivalry game against Illinois. We’ve played the Illini in almost every season, and we don’t want to end this dynasty without one more dub. The losses to Southern Illinois and Northwestern were a real bummer, and we need a palate cleanser. Let’s go!

Big win, 102-68. Look at Cristano Ngounou hanging 17 points and six assists on the Illini. Love seeing both starters in the front court — seniors Oscar Fray (13 points, 10 rebounds) and Brody Munoz (18 points, 11 rebounds) — each dropping a double-double, too. And how about our new five-star JUCO addition Obasohan chipping in 12 points off the bench? Really promising performance from the boys.

We get a big win over Kansas in our next game. That sets up another marquee game with a program we don’t like very much out of the state of North Carolina: Duke. We’ve battling with Duke on the court and on the recruiting trail for 40 freaking years. Can we end this rivalry with a dub?

Ugh, loss, 88-83. Nice games from Bernie Doyle (19 points, four assists) and Oscar Fray (14 points, 12 rebounds), but it isn’t enough. That’s our third loss of the season. Get bent, Duke.

We end the year with three more non-conference games.

Win over Illinois-Chicago

Win over American

Win over Arizona State

While we may have lost the final battle to Duke, I won the war over Coach K with a significantly better career by any measure (more on that in a minute). Now it’s time to jump into conference play in the Summit League.

Did we go undefeated in conference season?

Yes we did, another perfect 18-0 stretch.

Now we enter the conference tournament. Can we punch one more automatic bid to the NCAA tournament?

Win over UMKC

Win over Southern Utah

Win over UL-Calcutta

We’re going to the NCAA tournament for the last time, but that isn’t even the headliner after winning the Summit League. Im taking home the conference tournament championship, I won game No. 1,171 of my career. That currently puts me ahead of Coach K for the most wins all-time.

We have built a great legacy at Western Illinois. Before we enter the NCAA tournament, let’s take a look at our statistical leaders:

What a year for Munoz. Dude sat on the bench for four seasons before finally getting a starting spot, and all he did was lead our team in scoring at 17.2 points per game. Fray was awesome, too, averaging a hair under 15 points per game while chipping in nearly two blocks and six rebounds per game. It’s good to see Keller and Doyle both hit double-figures in scoring. I’m a bit surprised Cristano couldn’t even put up seven points a night after his big game against Illinois, but the assist and steals numbers are solid. We’re going to need him in March.

The Leathernecks are heading into the NCAA tournament at 32-3 on the year. I can’t wait to see what seed we get.

2047 NCAA tournament

Well, we couldn’t end this dynasty without getting swindled by the Selection Committee one more time. We’re a No. 6 seed in the NCAA tournament. I thought we should have been a top-four seed without question.

We’ll open the tournament with a game against No. 11 seed Syracuse. Sheesh. Before we get to the game, let’s check in on our roster one more time:

I’m loving the way this group progressed through the year. We have two awesome wing scorers with an elite combination of size and shooting in Keller and Doyle. We have plenty of beef up front with Munoz, Fray, and Polk. Ngounou entered the program as a 77 overall and shot up to a 92 in three years without a redshirt. The bench also really improved during the season and should give us plenty of different lineup options in March.

This is going to be a tough run, starting with Syracuse. The Orange have knocked us out of the big dance before, and consistently put together really strong teams.

Our last dance starts now. As always, we’re simulating every game, I’m not controlling the ‘Necks.

Let’s go!

Win, 105-73! What an absolute beatdown. We’ve moving on to the round of 32.

Long-time followers of the series will know that our Leathernecks have always been known as a second half team. It happened in a big way in this game. Syracuse ended the first half strong to cut our lead to nine points, but we quickly turned it into a blowout out of the break.

I thought this was a tremendous all-around team effort. Six players hit double-figures in scoring with no one putting up more than Floyd Keller’s 15 points. Everyone who played recorded an assist. I loved this play from the first half when we set two screens for our five-star JUCO Obasohan that helped get him an easy layup.

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Our bench is a big question mark coming into this tournament, mostly because it’s filled with a lot of fresh faces who haven’t played big minutes in clutch spots before. I have to say, the performance of our reserves in our tournament opener was super encouraging. Obasohan in particular looks like a keeper after scoring 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting and knocking down a three. We always need wing depth, and he should be able to provide that on this run.

The clear highlight of Obasohan’s night: this sick two-handed dunk in transition for an and-one.

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We love to turn defense into offense, and Ngounou and Doyle’s ability to get into the passing lanes really helps us out there.

Speaking of Ngounou in transition: he had a beautiful finish on the break to put the game fully out of reach. That’s what you want out of your point guard.

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The win sets up a second round game against Colorado State

The Rams have been a solid program throughout this sim dynasty, regularly making NCAA tournament appearances. We have a decisive edge in talent heading into this game.

We are one win away from going to the Sweet 16 and extended our run in the big dance. One time, ‘Necks. Let’s go!

Win, 109-79! We’re going to the Sweet 16!

We didn’t need to be a second half team in this one. Our ‘Necks blew the doors off Colorado State from the opening tip-off. I thought we played a great game offensively thanks to our inside-out ball movement.

We had five scorers in double-figures in this one, but it was senior starters Bernie Doyle and Oscar Fray leading the charge. We know Doyle is capable of taking over a game at his best, and he was awesome in this one: 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field and 4-of-6 shooting from three. The real story was Fray, though.

Fray was probably the least appealing long-term prospect of our recruiting class when he entered the program alongside Doyle, Keller, and Munoz. That was mostly because of his 74 rating and C potential grade. While he’s always been rated a few points lower than his classmates, Fray’s skill set on the court is so important to us. He’s a massive 7-foot power forward who can protect the rim and shoot threes. What more do you want?

Fray went off in this game: 22 points, eight rebounds, two assists, two steals on 9-of-11 shooting. I love watching the big man shoot from deep. This was from NBA range.

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Here’s one more catch-and-shoot three for good measure.

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Fray might get slept on a little on this team, but he’s absolutely critical to our success if we want to win it all.

I also want to shout-out the bench for another solid performance. I liked what I saw out of Obasohan (11 points) and Howell (10 points). Since we already have two Obasohan clips in this post, why not make it three? Love him hitting this triple in the first half to help us open up the lead.

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We’re rollin’.

The win sets up a Sweet 16 game vs. Alabama

We’re now four wins away from ending this dynasty with a national championship. A Sweet 16 game against Bama is going to be an absolute battle.

In our simulated future, the Tide have become a basketball school. This program seems to make the tournament every year, and they’ve given us plenty of trouble in the past.

A trip to the Elite Eight is on the line. Let’s go!

Win, 112-69! We’re onto the Elite Eight!

Say it with me: SECOND. HALF. TEAM. After a tight first half left us with a six-point lead coming into the break, our ‘Necks absolutely torched the nets in the second half to come away with the blowout win. Seriously: we scored 66 points in the final 20 minutes. That was an offensive clinic at its best.

I had a good feeling about the second half when Cristano got this three hit the rim like 50 times before falling. Sometimes you need some good luck on your side.

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A couple possessions later, Floyd Keller came down a ripped another three. We finally had a double-digit lead, and we’d never look back.

It was great to see Keller (15 points) get going from deep. He hit all three of his attempts from beyond the arc.

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While we don’t have any clips of the front court from this game, they absolutely deserve credit for the win.

Fray turned in another incredible performance, this one somehow even better than his last. He ended the game with 25 points, 14 rebounds, four assists, three steals, and three blocks on 10-of015 shooting. He didn’t attempt a three (booooo) but he dominated the game on both ends. His front court mate Munoz was almost as good. The senior center finished with 20 points and 16 rebounds. We kept going inside — Munoz and Fray combined for 35 (!) field goal attempts — and they were making the Bama defense pay.

Not the best Bernie Buckets game (9 points on 3-of-10 shooting), but I clipped this shot from the first half, so I might as well embed it here.

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Elite Eight, here we come.

The win sets up an Elite Eight matchup against No. 1 seed Indiana

Our run in the NCAA tournament has been a breeze up to this point, but I fear things about to get a lot more difficult. Our plucky No. 6 seed is about to run into one of college basketball’s blue bloods: the top-seeded Indiana Hoosiers.

The Elite Eight has been something of a bugaboo for us. We lost in this round last year. We’ve lost in this round many times before. I don’t want it to happen again.

A Final Four trip is on the line. As always, we’re watching a simulated version of this game; I am not controlling the Leathernecks. Let’s go!

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Loss, 96-86. Oh my gosh. And just like that, our dream of ending this dynasty with a national title is over.

I am devastated. I really thought this team was good enough to send me out on top, but it wasn’t meant to be. The Hoosiers’ outside shooters did us in. Indiana’s guard-heavy lineup caught fire from deep (10-of-21 for 47.6 percent), and our perimeter attack couldn’t keep up. We only hit 6-of-22 (27.3 percent) attempts from three.

What happened to our second half team this time? We were only down two going into halftime, but we were outscored by eight over the final 20 minutes. Tough scene.

There were some solid individual performances. Munoz went out strong with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Bernie Doyle dropped 21 points and hit this three-pointer to keep us in it early.

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Floyd Keller just didn’t give us enough on the wing. He shot 1-of-8 from three in the loss. He did give us a little juice in transition, at least.

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Cristano played all 40 minutes, and had eight points and nine assists. I really wish I got another year with him as a senior next season.

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Unfortunately there is no next season. After 40 years at Western Illinois, our sim dynasty is over. Here are some final numbers on the series:

Final record: 1,177-213

10 national championships (tied with John Wooden for the most in men’s college basketball history)

15 Final Four appearances

25 Sweet 16 appearances

Final NCAA tournament record: 113-27

38 Summit League regular season championships

35 Summit League tournament championships

38 seasons with 20+ wins

61 players drafted

The thing I’m most proud of? After we made the NCAA tournament for the first time in Year 3, we didn’t miss it again the rest of this dynasty.

Is Ricky Charisma the greatest men’s college basketball coach ever?

I think so. Here’s how we stack up to other top coaches in NCAA history in important categories.

Total wins

Ricky Charisma: 1,179

Mike Krzyzewski: 1,170

Jim Boeheim: 1,083

Roy Williams: 903

Bob Knight: 899

Dean Smith: 879

Jim Calhoun: 877

Adolph Rupp: 876

Bob Huggins: 828

Eddie Sutton: 806

Tournament wins

Ricky Charisma: 110

Mike Krzyzewski: 94

Roy Williams: 77

Dean Smith: 65

Jim Boeheim: 57

Tom Izzo: 52

Jim Calhoun: 49

John Wooden: 47

Final Four appearances

Ricky Charisma: 15

Mike Krzyzewski: 12

John Wooden: 12

Dean Smith: 11

Roy Williams: 9

Tom Izzo: 8

Rick Pitino: 7

Denny Crum, Adolph Rupp, John Calipari: 6

Consecutive tournament appearances

Western Illinois: 36

Kansas: 31

North Carolina: 27

Arizona: 25

Duke: 24

Michigan State: 23

Gonzaga: 22

Winning percentage

Ricky Charisma: 84.7

Mark Few: 83.44

Sam Burton: 83.33

Clair Bee: 82.444

Adolph Rupp: 82.1

John Wooden: 80.3

National championships

Ricky Charisma: 10

John Wooden: 10

Mike Krzyzewski: 5

Adolph Rupp: 4

Roy Williams: 3

Jim Calhoun: 3

Bobby Knight: 3

Who is the best player in Western Illinois history?

That’s the big question within the fanbase right now. Before we get to it, let’s look back at our greatest recruiting wins.

We landed five five-star recruits out of the domestic high school ranks during my time at Western Illinois. We also signed nine five-star JUCO recruits, and six five-star international recruits from places like New Zealand (shout-out Dave French), Montenegro (anti shout-out Vitor Andrisevic), France (what up, Kim Kone!), and Cameroon.

The highest-rated recruit in program history was Sammy Yan at No. 10 overall in 2032. He was pretty much a disappointment. The program’s all-time leading scorer was center Vinnie Harmon with 2,452 career points during his career. He was the No. 122 overall recruit and the No. 8 center (those that followed the series or played the game know that centers are always weirded underrated on the recruiting trail).

Here are some more numbers during tournament games only (aka, the games we streamed), from the amazing Leathernecks Database maintained by our fans:

The highest rated player in program history is a tie between small forward Nic Cummings and point guard Duncan Martinez, who are the only players to reach 97 overall. Cummings in particular is a great choice for the GOAT. He ended his career with three national titles, though only one as a starter. He’s top-10 for me, but not No. 1.

The people’s choice for the GOAT is Deke Van, the legendary center who helped carry us to our first national title in Year 8. Deke’s turn from from Year 7 goat to Year 8 GOAT is the most memorable we’ve ever had. We couldn’t have done any of this without you, Deke.

When Coach tell you youre guarding @deke_van https://t.co/RDhmDAPRA8 pic.twitter.com/fm2udgvMZT

— Ryan Thomas (@RTtheSID) May 10, 2020

As the series went on, other great players emerged who finished with gaudier stats and better resumes.

My personal favorite might be Bert Draughan, Mr. Basketball out of Chicago (No. 29 overall recruit), who went on to win a title with us in Year 13 and also starred for our Year 11 team that began the season 35-0 before losing to Michigan State in the Final Four. Harmon is another fine choice. Skip Clemmons helped us win three national titles in Year 23, Year 24, and Year 26. Albert Jagla, Clemmons’ former teammate, played a big role in our first back-to-back championship squad, and is arguably the greatest perimeter bucket-getter in program history.

All-time favorite moment? Impossible to say. The first one that comes to mind is Kim Kone’s go-ahead corner three in the 2024 tournament. Najeeb Goode’s steal vs. UCLA in the Final Four to help us win our second title in Year 13 also stands out. There was also the time superstar power forward Allen Cunningham took off his pants mid-game.

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Thank you to everyone who read, watched, and interacted

I started this series on April 11, 2020, a few weeks after the pandemic had shut down all ‘real’ sports. At the time, I was gearing up to cover the 2020 NCAA tournament. That never happened. I had college basketball on my mind, and I always wanted to write something on ‘College Hoops 2K8’, probably my favorite video game ever. This project is what came of it.

I had no idea if anyone was going to read this. I definitely did not think I’d finish out all 40 years like a complete lunatic. I didn’t think I’d write the equivalent of multiple books in terms of total word count.

Just before I dropped the first post in the series, I tweeted this:

Got a real dumb blog post coming

— Ricky O'Donnell (@SBN_Ricky) April 11, 2020

I wrote around 70 posts in the series, counting the inaugural Hall of Fame induction (read a big Deke Van retrospective at that link) and two posts of my Deke Van x Seattle Supersonics spin-off. I’m estimating I wrote 200,000 words in this series. That’s about the length of “The Fellowship of the Ring.”

I still can’t believe everything that came from this series. The Washington Post wrote a profile on it. I went on WGN TV and did a few radio spots promoting it. We sold a Deke Van t-shirt with Homefield Apparel. Our series inspired a new friend in Japan named Thanh Nguyen to write a pair of e-books adding greater depth to our story. Friend of the program Mike Rutherford did an amazing hype video for our first championship run. When I moved the series to Substack for a few months, more than 7,000 people signed up for email updates and still remain. Our first Twitch stream for the Year 8 Final Four drew more than 7,000 total viewers, and had 2,500 concurrent viewers on it at as we were closing out the win. On SB Nation, the series has been viewed more than 500K times.

What really made the project special was always the community around it. Some quick shout-outs:

The Leathernecks Database is an amazing companion to this series. You can lost in there. Thank you to the diehards to helped maintain it, and reader Evan for starting it.

Thanks to my guy who started the Leathernecks Nation instagram fan page and whoever is behind the wondrous fake Deke Van twitter account.

Thanks to everyone in the Discord who maintained ‘Necks discussion always and forever.

Thank the diehards that came out for every Twitch stream. I don’t want to name names because I’ll forget someone, but you know who you are. I love you all. I also want to thank the readers for keeping up with the recaps, and everyone who emailed me feedback throughout the series. I also want to thank my buddy Scott for introducing me to the game and running through multiple 40-year dynasties with me way before I ever considered blogging through it like this. This series would not exist without him.

What a ride it’s been. As I sim through to the end of the calendar, I’m greeted with this message.

Thank you, everyone. Go ‘Necks.

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thatlastdanceofchances · 4 years ago

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Torchwood fandom survey results - part 1

Thank you once again to everyone who didn’t get scared by that horrendous promotional photo-manipulation and participated in the Torchwood general survey last month. The survey ended with 155 participants! I wasn’t expecting so many, you all are amazing!

As you can imagine, that’s quite a lot of data to go through so I’m making at least two posts. This one is about who the people in the fandom are and the next one(s) will focus on canon and fandom.

All the demographics results are under a cut to save your dashboards!

Disclaimer 1: This is a survey promoted almost exclusively on tumblr and the results are therefore necessarily biased by the demographics of tumblr users.

The first question was Where are you from.

No surprise in the results given that this is a BBC show: the UK comfortably leads the poll. If I’m not mistaken, there are people from all 5 continents, which is nice!

The next question was What is your primary language. Once again, no surprise: English is dominating with 80% of the 155 votes.

Salut aux 6 autres personnes dont le français est la langue principale! :-)

Next, What is your age. This one surprised me a bit.

Given the content of the show (especially some of the Big Finish stuff *side-eyes Corpse Day and Hostile Environment*), I wasn’t expecting so many people under 18.

Also, given that the show is almost 15 years old, I wasn’t expecting the fandom to be more than 60% under 25. I think this can be explained by both the fact that tumblr fandom tends to be in that age bracket and the fact that, as you’ll see in the next set of results, the number of new Torchwood viewers increased significantly after 2018. As @capnjackharkness figured out, it’s when the show became available on a famous streaming service. And it apparently worked in bringing in a new audience that was too young during the original run.

The next two categories were about gender and sexuality.

Disclaimer 2: I am sorry if anyone was offended by the fact that their identity was not mentioned in the survey. I used lists provided by a teen health site and added the option to add your own identity. Still, I definitely understand the frustration of being ignored and you were right in calling me out on this and I’m truly sorry.

Disclaimer 3: You have no idea how much joy it brought me to see so many diversity in the results! Out of the 155 participants, there were 29 unique answers on gender and 44 unique answers on sexuality. That’s amazing news for our fandom. Unfortunately, this means I’m going to have to group the answers to be able to present something other than raw data. I hope that the choices I make do not hurt anyone. If it does, let me know and I’ll take down the following results and only link to the raw data. Also let me know if something should be phrased differently. English is not my native language and I may not be aware that certain terms/phrases have a negative connotation.

For both questions (gender and sexuality), 1% of the 155 participants declined to answer.

The first question was: What is your gender identity? You can pick multiple answers. The list is from a teen health website, feel free to add your own identity.

First of all, 8% used the available Questioning label (alone or with other labels). Given the ages of the participants as seen above, I’m impressed! You guys have your shit more together than I had at your age! :-D

In terms of use of binary genders:

69% selected Woman with or without any other label

7% selected Man with or without any other label

2% selected Cisgender without specifying man or woman

21% didn’t choose either Woman, Man or Cisgender.

Once again, I think the overwhelming majority of people being women is to be tempered by the fact that this is mainly a tumblr survey. But I think the fact that 21% are not represented by the binary genders show the diversity and I hope the tolerance of the Torchwood fandom.

If we look at the data a bit differently to see if and how the binary genders represent the community:

39% selected Cisgender with no other label that falls outside of the binary genders

3% selected Transgender with no other label that falls outside of the binary genders

30% selected either Man or Woman as their only label

25% selected labels that falls outside of binary genders (agender, demi-girl, genderfluid, gender neutral, genderqueer, non-binary)

2% selected Questioning as their only label.

Take that Greeks bearing gifts!

The second question was: What is your sexual orientation? You can pick multiple answers. The list is from a teen health website, feel free to add your own orientation.

Similar to the gender question, 9% used the available Questioning label (alone or with other labels). Again, I’m impressed.

21% selected the Queer label, when 77% didn’t.

As for the ace/aro spectrum, 29% selected labels that fall on that spectrum. This includes: aromantic, asexual, demisexual, grey-aromantic, grey-asexual.

As for who the participants are attracted to:

11% exclusively selected labels that imply attraction to the opposite gender only (heterosexual)

19% exclusively selected labels that imply attraction to the same gender only (homosexual, lesbian, gay)

43% selected labels that imply attraction to several genders (bisexual, pansexual)

26% didn’t select any label that gives an indication as to which gender(s) they are attracted to.

Yep, for the Torchwood fandom, that makes sense! :-D

That’s it for the demographics! Again, given the amount of data, this is an overview of the results. If you have any specific analysis you would like, feel free to ask!

See you in the coming days for results on when we discovered Doctor Who and Torchwood, which extended universe stories we’ve consumed and liked and how we live our best fandom life!

#torchwood #torchwood eu project #hubapalooza #2020 torchwood general survey #organised data is the new sexy #data visualisation is my passion

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sircnss · 4 years ago

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So, you want fill out a bracket

[insert captain america gif here]

attn.

@nctphx @acetrainermj @violagoth @chocolatspring @noonachronicles @uwunnie @little-writing-worm @aerislulu

HELLO AND WELCOME TO KPOP MARCH MADNESS: SEPTEMBER SONG ALBUM SHOWDOWN

I have made what I hope is a cohesive tutorial on how to fill out your brackets and whatnot. If you do have any further questions, please feel free to message me and I can always help out.

Everything will be under the cut to save your dash

But FIRST, why am I doing this again?

We lost all our concerts for the year (ty stray kids and eric nam for being the only in person concerts I got this year), I lost the opportunity to do poorly in the actual college basketball March Madness and we all need a tiny bit of fun in some form this year! All without having to actually leave and it is SUPER low stakes.

In fact, I do all of the work and you guys just campaign your little hearts out for your favorite album because the more votes (voting will take place on a google form, which will be covered later) the better and it makes the races more fun for me to watch.

The idea of a fandom March Madness started from a livejournal community waaaay back in the day and I never did well in that either lmao so the idea is 1,000% not mine originally.

tl;dr I participated in this back on LJ in the 2010s, it was fun and low stakes, I added the prize element in the middle of the March Edition.

WELCOME TO MY WORLD LET’S DO THIS

---

For purposes of this tutorial, I’ll be using a shortened version of the March Madness bracket.

Step one.

I will send you a link to the main bracket which is being done through Google Sheets, what I need you to do is to make a copy and title it [YOUR NAME]’s Bracket and then fill out the entire thing and then share it with me with editing access. I will most likely be making a copy for myself but I will only be editing yours to strike-through the loser of the round and bolding the winner so you don’t have to! Once you make the copy and shared it with me, all you have to really do from there is sit back, relax and vote/promote.

The first bracket, I believe it says Round of 64 on the bottom tab is the one we will be using!

Step two.

Below is what the contenders list looks like! In the case of song showdown, it’s done in groups and then ARTIST - ALBUM TITLE. This gets generated into the brackets!

Step three.

Click on the little check box for the choice you want, it will automatically move that choice to the next round.

Here it is again with the entire second round picked out, notice that nobody has been selected yet for the following rounds

Step four.

Repeat what you did in step three for the remainder of the rounds. Pick your favorite for each round and then repeat until it’s all filled out and you get a champion, your champion. The pick you know is that bitch and everyone else is wrong.

Step five.

Vote! How? You say? I will be obnoxious for approximately 3 days with reblogging a link to a google form where you can cast your votes.I’ll be tagging you in the initial post so you don’t get surprised when you see it the fifth time and your name suddenly has appeared. Share that post, bribe your friends, family, dogs. Campaign if you want! If you do campaign I will reblog it and come up with a tag to follow so you can see the cool campaigns. If I was graphically inclined I would do it for you but...I’m not. Anywho

The points!

If you look at this spreadsheet, you’ll see how many points each round is worth and how I let the spreadsheet do the math from there.

I believe that covers everything! Again, if there’s any questions, comments or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me.

My goal is to have the first round officially start on Tuesday, September 8th. So please expect a message this weekend with the link to the main bracket! Please remember make a copy, fill it out through the end and then share it with me again so I can make my own copy to keep track of the points and make the appropriate notations (bold and strike-through) with each round.

FAQ (these questions aren’t frequently asked but they could be)

1. March Madness made sense, why are we doing albums when it’s called September Song Showdown?

I was going to do this in April as a song showdown and now I realize it could have been April Album A-Something, but albums are easier to pick than songs and it’s September now. Maybe next September it’ll be a song Showdown.

2. You mentioned prizes???

Yes! I had a couple of friends who aren’t into kpop participate and I bribed them with a prize if they won and stuck to it when @chocolatspring won! Even though Gaby didn’t get her prize until like 2 weeks ago but it’s fine, I’ll be more on top of it this time just in time for the December holidays!

3. How do you know who goes in what spot?

Random.org/lists! I shuffle them 5-10 times and then go through and put them on the main spreadsheet, shown above in the actual tutorial.

4. How do you figure the points?

Spreadsheets, baby! Each round is worth a certain number of points, each album you pick that goes on to fight the next round will earn so many points, those points are then added up and triple checked before I put them on a separate spreadsheet. The spreadsheet does the math from there.

5. I won, so now what?

Congrats! You have the best intuition and convinced enough people to vote for your fave! On top of being announced as a winner on the final post, I’ll message you and you let me know what your choice of prize is (an album of your choice, a gift card or something else).

5.2 Wait, is this free?

20 bucks, venmo me. Kidding. The only person this will end up costing money for is me. Which is why when I say an album of your choice within reason, I mean I’m not going to say you're limited to a price range, but like...I can’t do a crazy expensive album.

6. What happens if I end up tanking just after the first round?

There’s no coming back after a bad round so welcome to...a second chance bracket! I don’t know how to do that yet, but you can continue to vote, promote, whatever your heart desires, but there will be a small thing I haven’t figured out yet for the person with the least amount of points.

7. Are you participating?

Yes! I don’t gain or lose anything from this so my points don’t really count. So if I do end up winning, the next highest amount is the actual winner.

8. Just to be clear, can people not filling out the brackets vote in the polls?

Yes! Share it on your twitter, reblog the post on your tumblrs! The more votes the merrier! Heck, I got my mom to play in March and showed her pictures and she chose based on that alone for her voting.

9. How long is each voting round going to remain open?

5 days. Rounds will be open Monday-Friday, I will make the initial post Monday and share it again throughout the day, a reminder on Wednesday and then finally on Friday with plenty of time before the form closes. Results will be shared Saturday afternoons and I will spend Sunday getting the new round ready.

#September song showdown #kpop March madness #dia makes a how to

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ericfruits · 7 years ago

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A gay-marriage ruling shakes up Costa Rica’s election

A “SLICE of Iowa misplaced on the Central American isthmus”, is how an American political scientist once characterised Costa Rica. He meant it as a compliment. Costa Rica is orderly, relatively rich, and has been a democracy since 1949. But ticos, as Costa Ricans call themselves, are feeling disgruntled. Their sour mood is shaping elections to be held on February 4th. None of the five leading presidential candidates has the support of more than 20% of the electorate, according to the (unreliable) polls. Two are anti-establishment. For the first time in Costa Rica’s democratic history, such flame-throwers could win.

A ruling on January 9th by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights seems to oblige Costa Rica to let same-sex couples marry. That angered its conservative electorate (see article). But it is not the only cause of discontent. The unemployment rate is 9.4% and income inequality is rising. The murder rate—12.1 per 100,000 people last year—is low by regional standards but higher than it used to be. A scandal involving the import of Chinese cement by a businessman with ties to the president, Luis Guillermo Solís, has contributed to voters’ anger.

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Ticos now look enviously upon the two countries that bracket Costa Rica: Panama, which is richer, and Nicaragua, which is safer. Life was better 30 years ago in some ways, admits Rodolfo Piza, the candidate of the Social Christian Unity Party, one of two parties that held the presidency until 2014 (he is in fifth place). “You could walk the streets without fear. There was more equality. There was less unemployment.”

Politics is not providing answers. The 57-seat legislature has nine parties, many of them dedicated to one issue. Its rules, written for a two-party system, allow one deputy to filibuster a law. It takes nearly three years on average for Costa Rica to pass one. That is slower than in any member of the OECD, a rich-country club that Costa Rica has applied to join.

Gridlock has weakened support for democracy. It dropped from 80% of the population in 1996 to 62% last year, according to Latinobarómetro, a pollster (though that is a slight recovery from its low in 2013).

For now, dissatisfaction is showing up as support for unconventional candidates. Fabricio Alvarado, a deputy who was a journalist and an Evangelical Christian crooner, jumped from 3% to around 20% in the polls after he made opposition to the gay-marriage opinion his main campaign issue. That makes him the front-runner. His supporters “want to give the finger to the system”, as well as to gay marriage, says a bewildered veteran politician. In fourth place is Juan Diego Castro, a Trumpian candidate who claims that “traditional” parties are buying addicts’ votes with drugs and cash. Mr Castro has zeroed in on real problems, such as expensive electricity, burdensome bureaucracy and corruption. But his answers are facile. His “very easy” solution to overcrowding in prisons is to force inmates to build more of them.

The strongest hope for avoiding a lurch towards looniness lies with Antonio Álvarez, the nominee of the Party of National Liberation, the other establishment party. He portrays himself as the heir of Óscar Arias, a president of the 1980s and early 2000s who won a Nobel peace prize for helping to end civil wars in other Central American countries. But voters are less impressed with such pedigrees than they would once have been. Mr Álvarez is running second in the polls, with the support of 10-15% of the electorate. Carlos Alvarado (no relation to Fabricio), a confidant of the current president, is just behind him.

The mainstream candidates have more to say than the outsiders about the most pressing problem, the budget deficit, which was 6% of GDP last year. Spending on government salaries, pushed up by pay rises and more hiring, consumes 48% of revenues, more than in any OECD country. The next president will have to cut back. Mr Álvarez promises to reform public salaries and to introduce a value-added tax.

If one of the establishment candidates makes it to the second round, he will probably beat either the pulpit-thumping Fabricio Alvarado or the Trumpesque Mr Castro. That is the best chance to keep Costa Rica Iowa-like.

This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline "Like Iowa, with lots of beefs"

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auburnfamilynews · 5 years ago

Link

John Reed-USA TODAY Sports

Now that non-conference play has wrapped up, it’s time to re-evaluate the SEC.

The 2019 Football Season and year are in the rear-view mirror. Now, it’s time to turn our full attention to Auburn Basketball and if you’re just tuning in, well, you’ve missed out on a lot of fun so far. Auburn is 12-0 and in the Top 10 of almost every poll out there. Auburn is 1 of just 2 teams left undefeated, alongside San Diego State. I thought now would be a good time to re-assess what we saw in non-conference play and re-rank the teams going into league play.

#1 Auburn (12-0)

Right now, the best team in the league is clearly Auburn. The Tigers are 12-0, they sit in the Top 10 of most polls and rankings, and have some solid wins both in and outside of Auburn. The Tigers will lose at some point and when it happens, fans don’t need to panic. This team has exceeded everyone’s expectations so far this year and with the SEC seemingly a little down after the last 2 years, the Tigers have an opportunity to make even more history this season. Samir Doughty is the leading scorer at 16.4 PPG but Auburn has 4 guys averaging at least 10.5 PPG so far this season. Add in great overall team defense, and this Tigers team can go far this year, if it improves on the offensive side of the ball. The scary thing is while this team is 12-0, Bruce has said that they still aren’t very good. I would love to see what a very good Auburn team looks like.

#2 Kentucky (9-3)

Kentucky’s Overtime win over Louisville is exactly what Coach Cal’s team needed and perhaps it is the sparkplug to get this young group of Cats off and running. Kentucky has an inexplicable loss to Evansville on the resume but let’s face it: we go through this every year with the Cats. This team will be at it’s best once we get into SEC play and March, not November and December and we should judge them as such. Tyrese Maxey leads this crop of Kentucky freshmen with 14.3 PPG while Ashton Hagans has played well in his 2nd year in Lexington averaging 13.4 PPG, 7.3 assists per game and 2.1 steals per game.

#3 Florida (8-4)

The Gators are another team that disappointed during the non-conference season but I still think this Gators team will be one of the best teams the SEC has to offer this year. Kerry Blackshear was many people’s pick for SEC player of the year and he’s done well averaging 14.2 PPG along with 8.4 RPG. They’ve looked better recently and we’ll know really quick what to expect from this year as Alabama comes to town on Saturday.

#4 LSU (8-4)

LSU was another team ranked ahead of Auburn in the preseason and the Bayou Bengals have taken a few losses as well so far this year. They lost on neutral courts to both Utah State and USC, at VCU, and lost at home to East Tennessee State, a team I don’t want to see on Auburn’s bracket in March. Skylar Mays leads LSU with 15.8 PPG and Emmitt Williams has stepped up averaging 13.9 PPG this season.

#5 Alabama (7-5)

Yes, the Tide lost 5 games in November and December, but this is a team that’s playing their best ball of the year, scoring over 90 points in their final 3 non-conference games. The emergence of freshman Jaden Shackelford has played a big part in Alabama’s turnaround. Throw in John Petty’s terrific start to the season (shooting 51.2% from 3-point range) and this team is worlds ahead of where they were on November 5th. Petty and Kira Lewis Jr. combine to average 33 points per game. Auburn’s game in Tuscaloosa on January 15th will be one of the most anticipated in the series in quite some time with both teams seemingly on the rise.

#6 Arkansas (11-1)

The Razorbacks were picked to finish 11th in the SEC this season. I feel pretty good saying they’ll finish better than that. An 11-1 non-conference run with their only loss, an overtime loss at Western Kentucky, has caused expectations in Fayetteville to rise quicker than expected. The Hogs also are coming off a win at Indiana on Sunday. Mason Jones is a big reason why. Jones is averaging 19.7 PPG, 2nd in the league, and is a 93.1% free-throw shooter. Isaiah Joe is averaging 17.4 PPG, 4th in the conference. The guard play has been terrific this year and this is a team that will look to surprise more people in conference play.

#7 Mississippi State (9-3)

The Bulldogs are 9-3 to start the year losing to Villanova, Louisiana Tech and New Mexico State. Auburn hands know first hand how tough New Mexico State is. Villanova continues to be one of the best teams in the Big East and Louisiana Tech should be a factor in Conference USA this year. Nick Weatherspoon has returned to the lineup after a 10 game suspension to start the year and you can’t forget the big guys inside Abdul Ado and Reggie Perry. Perry leads the SEC in RPG with 9.8, just ahead of Austin Wiley’s 9.5 RPG.

#8 Ole Miss (9-3)

Kermit Davis lost Terence Davis who is making quite a name for himself with the Toronto Raptors, but still has Breein Tyree, who leads the Rebels averaging 17.1 PPG. They lost by 41 to Oklahoma State in a dreadful performance but their other 2 losses are to Memphis and Butler, teams currently ranked in the Top 11. And we all remember last year that Ole Miss executed the perfect game plan not once, but twice against Auburn.

#9 Georgia (9-3)

Anthony Edwards is as good as advertised, averaging 18.8 PPG, good for 3rd in the SEC. You’ll get to see him in Auburn next weekend for the only time as he has Top 5 pick in next year’s NBA Draft written all over him. Rayshaun Hammonds has also had a nice season for the Bulldogs averaging 14 PPG. Like the two teams above, they sit at 9-3 but their next 3 games are fun: at Memphis Saturday, hosting Kentucky Tuesday and at Auburn next Saturday.

#10 Tennessee (8-4)

Oh Tennessee.... the Vols were going to struggle to score before losing Lamonte Turner and now that Turner’s season is over due to a shoulder injury, it’s even more of a question mark. They lost at home by 20 to a Wisconsin team that has struggled mightily this year and they need guys to step up in a bad way.

#11 Missouri (8-4)

I don’t have a good read on Missouri yet, Their best win is probably at Temple but they lost at home to Charleston Southern. They have scored over 80 points on just 2 occasions so this a team you’ll see play most of their games in the 60s this year. They play at Kentucky Saturday so they’ll be tested right out of the gate in SEC play.

#12 Vanderbilt (8-4)

I’ve seen Vandy play a few times in person this year and they’ve made some progress from last year. They won’t go winless in the league this year, I’ll guarantee that. Aaron Nesmith looks like a 1st Team All-SEC player, leading the SEC in scoring at 22.9 PPG. He’s also shooting 50% from 3-point range, averaging 4 3-pointers a game. Saben Lee averages 16.5 PPG but one thing I’ve noticed about this Vandy team is they sometimes go into long droughts without scoring. We’ll get to see this Vandy team play Auburn on Wednesday and I’m excited to see how Auburn’s defense matches up with Nesmith.

#13 South Carolina (8-5)

The Roosters have lost at home to Stetson and Boston University. But they’re 2-0 on the road against ACC teams knocking off both Virginia and Clemson.

I saw a stat the other day that in Frank Martin’s 8 years in Columbia, they have 1 Final 4 appearance, an NIT appearance and the other 6 years with no postseason at all.

While Chris Silva is no longer around to dominate against Auburn, A.J. Lawson has emerged as South Carolina’s leader in his sophomore season averaging 15.5 PPG.

#14 Texas A&M (6-5)

Buzz Williams inherited a massive rebuilding project in College Station. T.J. Starks left the program after a few games and like Tennessee, they don’t have a lot of scoring threats. They’ll play a lot of low scoring games in league play as they average just 57.7 PPG while giving up 60.8 PPG. Auburn won’t see these guys until March.

from College and Magnolia - All Posts https://www.collegeandmagnolia.com/2020/1/2/21043733/sec-basketball-preview

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junker-town · 4 years ago

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Western Illinois, Year 30 and Year 31, 2036-2038

The Leathernecks played two instant classic NCAA tournament games in our College Hoops 2K8 sim.

Welcome back to our simulated dynasty with the Western Illinois Leathernecks in College Hoops 2K8. You can find a full explanation of this project + spoiler-free links to previous seasons here. Check out the introduction to this series from early April for full context. As a reminder, we simulate every game in this series and only control the recruiting and coaching strategies. Dynasty mode runs for 40 years.

Before we pick up with the Leathernecks at the start of Year 30, here’s a recap of everything that happened last season:

Western Illinois returned three starters from our national championship-winning team in Year 28. We began the new year ranked No. 10 in the preseason polls.

We crushed the non-conference season, went undefeated in Summit League play, and punched our ticket the big dance by winning the conference tournament once again. We entered March Madness at 27-3 overall and were given a No. 7 seed.

We beat Arizona State in the opening round, defeated BYU in the round of 32, took out Seton Hall in the Sweet 16, and beat Xavier in the Elite Eight. Then we lost one of the wildest Final Four games ever in overtime to West Virginia. Read the full recap here.

We recruited for three scholarships and landed three players: shooting guard Scott Doornekamp (No. 111 overall), point guard Randolph Pompey (No. 134 overall), and power forward Ernesto Mack (No. 108 overall).

Here’s a first look at our roster for Year 30:

We lost our top three big men from last season’s team: true junior Elvin King left to become an NBA lottery pick, while C.J. Cesar and Daron Coulter graduated. While we’ll be green up front, we do return all three starters from last year on the perimeter.

Let’s meet the lineup:

PG Sammy Yan, true senior, 90 overall: Yan entered the program as the highest-rated recruit we’ve ever had as the former No. 10 overall prospect in his class. It would be fair to say he’s been a disappointment so far. For his senior year, we have decided to move Yan from his natural shooting guard spot to point guard. It feels like a better fit for his skill set: he’s the best ball handler and passer on the team, and isn’t a very good three-point shooting. We’re hoping he can rewrite his legacy in his final year with the ‘Necks. Bay Area native with C potential.

SG Duncan Martinez, redshirt senior, 96 overall: D-Mart has been our starting point guard each of the last two years, but he’s always been more of a bucket getter than a natural facilitator. That’s why for his final year in school, we’re moving the 6’3 guard to the two. Martinez goes up two points on his overall rating with the switch, and will give a chance to tie or surpass Nic Cummings as the highest rated player in program history (97 overall). Martinez is an elite three-point shooter with a 95 rating. We need him to get hot and stay hot in March. Chicago native with C+ potential, projected lottery pick.

SF Warren Schultz, redshirt senior, 91 overall: Big 6’9, 240 pound small forward with elite three-point shooting and dunking ability. He’s always been a tantalizing talent, but we’ve never seen him fully takeover. This is his last chance. Jacksonville native with C potential.

PF Mitch Hunter, redshirt sophomore, 86 overall: Hunter is one of the lowest rated recruits we’ve ever taken at No. 201 overall, but we had a good feeling about his long-term potential. This year will put that to the test. Hunter is huge for a four (6’9, 265 pounds) with impressive inside scoring and rebounding ability. He isn’t a threat to shoot from the outside. Atlanta native with C+ potential.

C Thom Towe, redshirt sophomore, 86 overall: We’re excited for Towe to finally get a big role as a redshirt sophomore. While he isn’t the biggest center ever at 6’11, 228 pounds, he projects as a quality rebounder and shot blocker who also has the highest potential rating (B+) on the team. Former No. 5 center recruit out of Garden Grove, CA.

We’ll have four players off the bench. Redshirt sophomores Dave French (6’4 shooting guard from New Zealand) and Rashaun Diggs (5’10 point guard from Colorado Springs) will man the backcourt positions, while two redshirt freshmen Vinnie Harmon (7-foot center out of Cincinnati) and Spanky Fanning (6’5 small forward out of Davis, CA) will backup the front court spots.

We’re redshirting our three true freshmen. Those players are:

SG Scott Doornekamp (No. 111 overall): 77 overall with C+ potential

PG Randolph Pompey (No. 134 overall): 76 overall with D potential

PF Ernesto Mack (No. 108 overall): 76 overall with C potential

Recruiting

We also have four scholarships to recruit for this season. We want two wings and two bigs. After scanning the available options, we decide to offer the following players:

6’2 PG Vidal McCurry, No. 8 overall and No. 4 at his position, from Oak Park, IL

6’3 SG Ransom White, No. 17 overall and No. 5 at his position, from Indianapolis

6’10 C Kendric Morales, No. 127 overall and No. 11 at his position, from Lancaster, PA

6’5 SF D.J. Stapleton, No. 81 overall and No. 14 at his position, from Reno, NV

The created player for this year is 7’3 power forward Ralph Sampson, made by reader Sean as the winner of the last bracket contest. I’m going to make an educated guess that he’ll be incredible.

We begin the year ranked No. 15 in the preseason polls. Let’s go!

Regular season

Do we want to start with the good news or the bad news?

Let’s get the bad news out of the way: We lost to Notre Dame, Baylor, Big Country Reeves Jr. and Washington State, Deke Van Jr. and South Florida, and Marquette.

We did get wins over Northwestern, DePaul, Butler, Eastern Washington, Valpo and UIC.

Needless to say, this wasn’t our best non-conference season, especially given the expectations as a preseason top-15 team.

Summit League play

Can we run the table and go 18-0 again in conference play?

Yes we can. That is nice to see after we uncharacteristically dropped a few conference games in recent years. Now we need to win the conference tournament to punch our ticket to the big dance. Will it happen?

Yes it will. We defeat Southern Utah in the title game to reach the NCAA tournament once again. Before we get to March Madness, let’s check out this season’s stats.

Sorry for the potato quality here, screenshot was taken from the stream. Martinez and Schultz ended up both having great senior years: rarely do we have two perimeter players each average better than 15 points per game, but that’s exactly what they did. Thom Towe also had a great sophomore year that will likely put him in position to jump to the NBA after his junior year. Elsewhere, I really like what Kiwi guard Dave French and backup center Vinnie Harmon were able to give us off the bench.

Tournament time, baby. I have zero clue what seed this team is going to get.

How did recruiting go?

We took two shots at five-star All-Americans and, no surprise, neither worked out. Maybe we’ll see Vidal McCurray and Ransom White in an NCAA tournament game somewhere else down the line.

We didn’t land anyone at the early signing deadline, but small forward D.J. Stapleton is ready to commit on the first day of the spring recruiting period. The three other spots remain open, but we’re making progress on Morales, who was also one of our early targets.

On the created player front, Ralph Sampson commits to Florida. I’m already worried about running into him in the tournament in the not too distant future.

2037 NCAA tournament

Western Illinois is a No. 12 seed in the NCAA tournament. Our first round opponent will be No. 5 seed UConn Cal.

Before we get into the opening round, here’s a look at our roster:

I’ll break it all down for you because, potato quality:

Duncan Martinez goes up to a 97 overall, which ties him for the highest rated player in program history with Nic Cummings.

Yan and Schultz are each up to a 93 overall at point guard and power forward respectively. Reminder that: a) Yan never took a redshirt, b) he went down two points when we moved him to the one to accomodate D-Mart. To this point, Yan has not lived up to his billing as the highest rated recruit (No. 10 overall) in ‘Necks history, but as we all know, legends are made in March.

Towe (90 overall), Hunter (89 overall), and Harmon (84 overall) have the size and the talent to carry us in the front court, but lack the experience. Will it come back to bite us?

The bench improved quite a bit. Our redshirt sophomore guards Dave French (88 overall) and Rashaun Diggs (86 overall) will need to give us a reliable scoring punch off the bench if we’re going to go on a long tournament run. We’ll see what Spanky Fanning (up five to an 85 overall) — yes that’s his real name — can do, too.

Western Illinois enters the game rated as a 100 overall. Cal is rated as a 92 overall.

As always: we’re watching a simulated game, I’m not actually controlling the Leathernecks.

Let’s go!

***

Loss, 88-85! For the first time in 10 years, Western Illinois fails to win at least one game in the NCAA tournament!

I realized we were in for a fight early in the second half. While Cal led by one at halftime behind some hot outside shooting, our ‘Necks have made a habit of running up the score out of halftime. That didn’t happen in this one. Instead, it was Cal who went on a run, opening up an 11-point lead five minutes into the final frame.

We clawed back behind the starters to tie it around 10 minutes to go. From there, it felt like the lead changed at least twice every minute. Buckets were traded, turnovers were forced, every 50/50 ball on an offensive rebound felt like the difference between a win or a loss.

Down two with about 35 seconds left, Martinez drove the lane, drew a foul, and knocked down both foul shots to tie it. Cal inbounded with the shot clock turned off. This is what happened next.

twitch_clip

What a horrible way to go out for our seniors. Martinez (24 points, six assists) was excellent in his final college game. I honestly believe he would have won it for us if we got the last shot. Schultz was also very good — 20 points and nine rebounds on 8-of-16 shooting — but not quite Skip Clemmons-level like I was hoping. Yan was downright good after an up-and-down career: 14 points, nine assists, and five rebounds. He always should have been a point guard.

On the plus side, Thom Towe looks like a future star. He projects to be our go-to guy next season.

I thought last year’s tournament loss in the Final Four was the most exciting game we ever watched together on Twitch. This one might have topped it. Leathernecks basketball is still going strong, even if we can’t win them all. To the offseason!

Offseason

Boston College wins the national championship as a No. 1 seed that was rated as a 100 overall.

DEKE VAN JR. WINS FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR AT SOUTH FLORIDA. He averaged 12.6 points and 6.3 rebounds per game.

Yan, Martinez, Schultz all get drafted after graduation. No one leaves early. That means we’re going to have a) no seniors next year, and b) no scholarships to recruit for. First time ever for the latter.

We lose an assistant and replace him coach Yates, who has a B+ rating in teaching and offense, and an A rating in charisma.

I get offered jobs by Cal (!), Virginia, Iowa, USC, and Northwestern, but turn them all down.

Recruiting

Stapleton commits on the first day of the spring signing period. The 6’5 small forward out of Reno, NV is ranked No. 81 overall and No. 14 at his position. A week later, Kendric Morales joins as our second signing of the year. Morales is a 6’10, 227-pound center out of Lancaster, PA rated No. 127 overall and No. 11 at his position. One wing and one big are in the books.

We’ve been going after 6’3 shooting guard Rob Borchardt for most of the season as one of our top backup plans. The Fresno, CA native becomes the third member of our recruiting class.

While Borchardt is ranked No. 137 overall and No. 33 at his position and lacks elite size, his AAU numbers were really solid. He averaged 14.5 points, 9.4 rebounds, and two steals per game on the circuit while shooting 38.6 percent from three-point range. We think he can be a sleeper.

We went back and forth on who we should offer with our final scholarship. After considering another wing, we ended up opting for a big. Stevie Strong — yes, his real name — becomes our fourth and final commitment of the class.

At 6’10, 213 pounds, Strong is rated as the No. 179 overall player and No. 15 center in his class. We’ll eventually move one of Strong-Morales to the four. They should be a promising front line for our future.

Now it’s time to make our schedule for next year. This is what we went with:

@ Northwestern, Great Alaskan Shootout, @ South Florida, vs. Illinois State, @ Florida, @ Washington State, vs. Valpo, @ San Francisco, Gossner Foods Holiday Classic (?), vs. Loyola (IL)

Year 31

Let’s keep this moving, shall we? Yan, Martinez, and Schultz have graduated. A new generation of ‘Necks are about to come into focus.

Let’s meet the starters:

PG Rashaun Diggs, redshirt junior, 87 overall: Diggs is the smallest player we’ve ever had here at 5’11, 165 pounds. He’s also projecting as one of the better three-point shooters we’ve ever had, while not being particularly skilled in passing and ball handling. I assumed Diggs would likely be a sixth man for us when he committed, but he’s developed nicely. Long-time fans of the series will also remember we had great success with another tiny point guard in Koko Reeves many years back. Here’s hoping Diggs follows his path. Former No. 121 overall recruit out of Colorado Springs with C- potential.

SG Dave French, redshirt junior, 90 overall: French was a five-star international recruit out of New Zealand, and enters his junior year projected to be our primary option on the perimeter. A natural point guard, French goes up a couple points on his overall rating at the two. He has grown to 6’4, projects as a skilled shooter with a three-point rating in the low 80s, and is also the best passer and ball handler on the team. Projected first round pick with a B potential rating.

SF Spanky Fanning, redshirt sophomore, 86 overall: Fanning is a 6’6 wing whose best attributes are as a rebounder and defender. He is not the type of skilled three-point shooter we typically like on the wing, but he does have impressive dunking ability. Will he be able to hit enough shots for us to go on a deep tournament run? Former No. 92 overall recruit out of Davis, CA with B- potential.

PF Mitch Hunter, redshirt junior: 90 overall: A massive, throwback power forward at 6’9, 270 pounds, Hunter isn’t a threat to shoot from the outside but impresses as a rebounder and paint protector. He has some nice post scoring ability and will also get a few putbacks each game. We felt like he was undervalued as a recruit, and he has been a nice piece for us so far. Excited to see what he can do as a senior. Former No. 201 overall recruit with C+ potential.

C Thom Towe, redshirt junior: 90 overall: Towe should be poised to jump to the NBA if he has a breakout junior year as expected. He impressed last season in his first year as a starter as a solid two-way big who could score inside the paint and also protect the rim. While he’s not the biggest five man ever at 6’11, 230 pounds, Towe just finds a way to get the job done. Projected lottery pick out of Garden Grove, CA with B+ potential.

Redshirt sophomore center Vinnie Harmon (86 overall) will be our sixth man and should play a big role. The rest of the bench will be rounded out by our redshirt freshmen class: 6’6 shooting guard Scott Doornekamp (82 overall, C+ potential), 6’6 point guard Randolph Pompey (79 overall, D potential), and 6’8 power forward Ernesto Mack (79 overall, C potential) will all get minutes.

We are redshirting our four freshmen. Here’s how they’re rated:

D.J. Stapleton, 76 overall, C+ potential: Rated No. 91 overall and No. 14 at his position. Enters school as a 6’5 small forward out of Reno, NV.

C Stevie Strong, 75 overall, C+ potential: Rated No. 179 overall and No. 15 at his position. Enters school as a 6’10 center from Hammond, Indiana.

SG Rob Borchardt, 74 overall, C+ potential: Rated No. 137 overall and No. 33 at his position. Enters school as a 6’3 shooting guard out of Fresno, CA.

C Kendric Morales, 74 overall, C+ potential: Rated No, 127 overall and No. 11 at his position. Enters school as a 6’10 center from Lancaster, PA who will move to power forward.

We have no scholarships to recruit for this year, so we will be putting a bunch of juniors on our target list. We want a big class a year from now when we’ll have four open scholarships.

We do create a recruit for reader Dave as the winner of last year’s bracket contest: 6’3, 350-pound power forward Biggie Smalls out of Brooklyn.

We’re unranked to start the new season.

How did the regular season go?

We crushed the regular season this year. We earned big wins over Northwestern, South Florida (with Deke Van Jr.!), Florida (with Ralph Sampson!), and Illinois State. Our biggest losses were to Arizona and Washington State, with Big Country Reeves Jr.

We went out to sweep Summit League once again and win the conference tournament.

We entered the NCAA tournament with a record of 31-3 on the season.

2038 NCAA tournament

We were given a No. 6 seed in March Madness. Our opponent in round one is No. 11 seed Virginia. We enter the game rated as a 99 overall. UVA is rated an 87 overall.

Here’s an updated look at our roster:

Towe led the team in scoring at 19.5 points per game, and dropped 42 in one game during the conference tournament. It looks like he’ll jump to the NBA after this season as a projected lottery pick. This could also be the final run for Dave French, who has established himself as our top perimeter threat. French is a projected first round pick. I really like how the bench developed this season. The freshman combo of Doornekamp and Randy Pompey should be excellent in the backcourt for a long time, while Mack looks like the consummate glue guy.

I’m a little worried about our play on the wings and a general lack of experience, but this team is good enough for a deep run.

As always: we’re watching a simulated game; I’m not controlling the ‘Necks. Let’s go!

Win, 87-65! We were up by so much we decided to ‘sim to end’ with about eight minutes left in the game.

We only led by eight points at the half, but turned it up from there. I thought pretty much the whole team looked great. Dave French paced the offense throughout the game to finish 18 points. Diggs chipped in 11 points and tied the program record for assists in a tournament game with 13. Hunter gave us a double-double (13 points and 12 rebounds) and Towe lived up to his billing as a top NBA prospect with 17 points and six rebounds in the win.

The win sets up a round of 32 matchup with Clemson

Clemson is loaded. Both teams enter rated as a 99 overall. I don’t think this is going to be a ‘sim to end’ game.

Sweet 16 berth on the line. Let’s go!

Win, 84-68! This actually was another sim to end game as we held a 20+ point lead with about four minutes to go.

This was a big-time win against a great team. French was wonderful once again, finishing with 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field and 3-of-4 shooting from deep. He’s turning into a great player before our eyes. Mitch Hunter made it two double-doubles in two NCAA tournament games to end his night with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Towe wasn’t super efficient (7-of-16 shooting) but still had 15 points, nine rebounds, six assists, and three blocks in the win. How about backup center Vinnie Harmon with 16 points and nine rebounds off the bench?

The win sets up a matchup with Oklahoma State in the Sweet 16

Oklahoma State is going to be a serious test. They have a 6’10 small forward, talented guards, and enough bigs to compete with us on the glass.

We enter the game rated as a 99 overall. The Cowboys are a 98 overall.

Let’s go!

***

Loss, 107-104! Another heartbreaking ending in the NCAA tournament for the ‘Necks. Oh my god, we lose on another buzzer-beater. How???

The last two minutes of regulation were ridiculous. Towe gave us the lead with a Dirk-like fadeaway. After Oklahoma State answered, Dave French gave us the lead again with a beautiful up-and-under layup. Up two with 30 seconds left, French went to the foul line looking to ice the game. He missed the front end of the one-and-one, but Towe recovered, was fouled, and sank both free throws.

Game should be over up four with 30 seconds left, right? Wrong. Oklahoma State hit a quick three. After Mitch Hunter knocked down two free throws, their shooting guard Stys hit a bomb of a three from NBA range to tie the game. Doornekamp had a clean look from three at the buzzer but missed. We went into overtime.

The two teams traded buckets in OT. French tied the game at 104 all with under a minute left with a corner three. Towe took a three (????) on our final offensive possession and bricked it. That gave Oklahoma State the ball at the end of the game. Here’s what happened:

twitch_clip

Unbelievable. Oklahoma State had some ballers on that team. Sometimes you just have to tip your cap.

There were some truly great performances from our guys even in defeat. French finished with 28 points and seven steals. Hunter posted a double-double for the third straight tournament game. Towe had 21 points. Harmon and Doornekamp each contributed off the bench.

The ‘Necks will be back. It just stings to know we’ve bowed out of the tournament in painful fashion each of the last three seasons.

Offseason

No. 1 seed South Carolina wins the national championship

Towe leaves early for the NBA draft, where he was projected as a lottery pick. Everyone else is coming back. We’re going to be incredibly deep next season with the redshirts coming off last year’s freshmen class. I want a title run for No. 8.

I get offered by Minnesota, Baylor, Oregon, and Northwestern, but turn them all down. WIU 4 Life.

This is going to be a quick offseason because we didn’t have any scholarships to recruit for. Let’s set the schedule for next season:

@ Florida, @ Indiana, vs. DePaul, vs Valpo, @ Oregon State, vs. South Florida, @ Illinois, vs. Wichita State, vs. Dayton

Year 32

I don’t have a screenshot of the roster at the beginning of the year, but I do have one from where we left off: at the onset of the Sweet 16.

It is a deep and talented team. Could we be on our way to our eighth national title? We’re going to be picking up with the Leathernecks in the Sweet 16 by streaming the remaining games on Twitch on Monday Jan. 25, at 8:30 p.m. ET.

Here’s how you can watch.

How to watch Western Illinois’ Sweet 16 run continued in Year 32 on Twitch

What: Western Illinois is in the Sweet 16 in our College Hoops 2K8 simulation. We’ll stream each game in this tournament run until we lose or win the national championship.

Where: On my Twitch channel

When: Monday Jan. 25, at 8:30 p.m. ET.

Go ‘Necks.

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propertycrowd · 5 years ago

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It’s that time of the year again in the City, when bonuses are finally revealed to those of us employed in the finance sector. For all but the most aloof of us, it is a much anticipated event – an affirmation, we hope, of all the hard work one has put in over the past year – the outcome of which sets the tone for the year ahead (and whether or not we’re speaking to headhunters during our lunch breaks for the next couple of months).

But with 2016 having been such a roller coaster for global politics, and global financial markets, what can bankers expect from a bonus season following what has arguably been the most “unexpected” year in recent memory?

We approached crowdsourced pay data firm Emolument.com to shed some light on the matter. While it is still a bit early in the bonus season to provide accurate statistics on actual bonuses received, some of the reports and anecdotes we have come across give us clues as to what to expect, and we should have the first confirmed trends in about 2 – 3 weeks’ time (so remember to check back with us when we update this article).

Here are some of the key factors to take into account when setting your expectations this bonus season:

Overall revenues are down; bonus pools are generally smaller

2016 was not a spectacular year for banks worldwide, with investment banking revenues down almost 10% year on year and the banking industry at large plagued by the spectre of fines, settlements and capital raisings of the sort that caused Deutsche Bank’s shares to whipsaw throughout much of last year. Morgan Stanley set a worrying precedent this year when it fired 5% of its managing directors before bonus season and slashed investment banking bonuses by 15% in January, blaming “a decline in revenue from dealmaking and capital raising across Wall Street.” The move also appeared to corroborate an FT article in December which reported that “global bonus pools are expected to be cut as much as 15 per cent in some big banks — with some senior bankers facing cuts of twice that much.”

Median Bonuses – VP level – Top 5 Banks versus the rest

Greater disparity between the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’

Over the last couple of years, a trend that has emerged from the pay data compiled by Emolument.com is that of increasing polarisation in bonuses, especially in the M&A space (see table above). This is true at the bank level and at the individual level as well – bulge-bracket US banks have taken global market share from their counterparts across the pond, and the relative size of bank bonus pools reflect that, while an increasing number of bankers have reported zero bonuses (a.k.a. ‘doughnuts’) as banks seek to conserve resources in order to reward and retain their rainmakers. Deutsche Bank is reported to have scrapped bonuses for all but the top 10% of performers this year and staggering payments over the next five years, while Goldman Sachs has reportedly given over 100 staff ‘doughnuts’ this year, when in previous years, even the worst performers would have still received something.

Global Investment Bank Revenue Ranking – Full Year 2016

US banks should pay better than European ones

Sentiment across European financial markets has taken an obvious hit from the UK’s EU referendum vote in June 2016, with uncertainty still lingering as formal exit proceedings are only expected to commence later this year. Meanwhile, polls in key European states such as France and Germany have tracked a worrying shift to the far-right (of the kind that drove the Brexit movement) with important elections in both countries due to take place in 2017. European banks generally underperformed their US counterparts in 2016, with steep double digit falls in revenue recorded in the first half of the year. Unsurprisingly, the top 5 banks globally in terms of overall investment banking revenue last year were all American, unchanged from the year before (see table above).

On the bright side, UK-based employees working for US banks may see their bonuses remain stable (or even rise marginally) in sterling terms as the c.15% drop in the GBP/USD rate post Brexit could well offset any decrease in dollar-based bonuses. So what does all this mean for your bonus if you’re a London-based banker this year? Well, if you’re a top-decile performer in your department and you work for an American bank, chances are, your bosses will be keen to (and have the means to) retain you, so you should do relatively well this bonus season. If, unfortunately, you do not fall into that exclusive category, it might be best to temper your expectations and hope to be surprised on the upside. While there are many idiosyncratic factors which could affect bonuses, it is fair to say that banks simply have too many excuses/reasons to not be generous with payouts this year, unless they absolutely have to.

Looking to the years ahead, with considerable geopolitical uncertainty and continued regulatory pressures (e.g. the ongoing roll-out and implementation of Basel III), it may be prudent to invest this year’s bonus to help secure your future, rather than rushing out to buy that bright red Lamborghini, which you know is a liability, not an asset.

Some of the best risk-adjusted investment returns can be found in the world of real estate-backed lending, accessible via the opportunities available on our institutional-grade property crowdfunding platform, Property Crowd. The typical deal offers double-digit yields via short maturity, senior (first lien) debt, secured against an investment grade real estate asset in the UK.

In the current environment of seemingly perpetual low interest rates and lofty market valuations, the strong yields and capital preservation offered by such crowdfunded real estate investments have proved attractive to serious investors, and indeed, our first deal was fully funded and closed in a matter of just 10 days. Register now to access the latest deals we have available, or reach out to us for more details.

The post London’s Bonus Season 2017 – What To Expect And What To Do With It appeared first on Property Crowd.

#finance #investment #property

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zeroviraluniverse-blog · 7 years ago

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Best Phone Under 8000: Meet the Top Rated Mobiles Under Rs. 8,000

Visit Now - https://zeroviral.com/best-phone-under-8000-meet-the-top-rated-mobiles-under-rs-8000/

Best Phone Under 8000: Meet the Top Rated Mobiles Under Rs. 8,000

Looking for a good phone but have a tight budget? You don’t have to empty your wallet to get a phone that will serve you well anymore. Yes, some compromises will definitely exist – the camera of an entry level phone is almost always a weak point – and if taking photos is a priority, then you’ll want to spend a little extra and get one of these phones instead. However, if you’re getting your first smartphone, you may not want to spend Rs. 10,000 or more just yet – and there are some pretty good phones you can get for significantly less than that. We looked at phones that cost less than Rs. 8,000, and came up with four picks we really like.

These Are the Top Rated Phones Under Rs. 15,000

To make this list, we’ve stuck to the phones that Gadgets 360 has reviewed – that’s so that we can ensure that each phone has been put through the same testing process, and can be fairly compared. We’ve also limited this list to phones that are less than a year old – tech moves fast, particularly in the entry level price brackets. While last year’s flagship phone still performs just fine, the same can’t be said for last year’s entry-level phones. With all this in mind, we’ve put together a list of our four favourite phones under Rs. 8,000. Here are our picks.

Best phones under Rs. 8,000

Phone NDTV Rating Infocus Vision 3 7 Smartron t.phone P 7 Xiaomi Redmi 5A 7 10.or D 7

1. InFocus Vision 3 Coming in at just under Rs. 7,000, the InFocus Vision 3 (review) is a decent choice on a tight budget. It falls a bit short in terms of its camera and display when compared to phones that are about one or two thousand rupees more expensive, but makes up for it with long battery life, and it’s also really well priced. That, along with the sturdy construction, make it an appealing pick at this price.

It has a biggish 5.7-inch display, running at 720×1440 pixels. There’s a 1.3GHz quad core processor, and 16GB of storage. You also get 2GB of RAM, and an 8-megapixel front, with a 13-megapixel rear camera. It’s paired with a large 4000mAh battery that keeps it goingrunning on and on.

2. Smartron t.phone P At just under Rs. 8,000, the Smartron t.phone (review) is a solid pick as well. It does well in terms of its display and performance, and it’s a nice looking phone to boot. The phone is a great value for money buy, but what really stands out is the enormous 5000mAh battery, which earned it the highest possible score on our battery tests.

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Apart from that, it’s fairly standard, with a 5.2-inch HD display, a 1.1GHz octa-core processor, 3GB of RAM and 32GB storage, and a 13-megapixel/ 5-megapixel rear and front camera combination.

3. Xiaomi Redmi 5A The joint cheapest phone on this list, the Xiaomi Redmi 5A (review) is a strong budget contender, that does “okay” on so many fronts that its great battery performance – and its pricing – help it hold its own even against slightly more expensive handset. Xiaomi has better phones, but its most exciting options seem to be priced between Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 15,000 these days. If you’re looking for a phone that’s generally good at rock-bottom prices, you can’t go wrong with the Redmi 5A, which comes in at just under Rs. 5,000.

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It’s a pretty basic phone on paper today – it has a 5-inch HD display with 2GB RAM and 16GB storage, along with a 1.4GHz quad core processor, a 13-megapixel rear camera, and a 5-megapixel front camera. Accomplishing that at under Rs. 5,000 is pretty cool though, and the 3000mAh battery keeps the phone ticking along for a long time too. Plus, the Xiaomi brand is well established in India, and it has a large service network in many cities, which could be an important factor for your decision. One downside is the limited online availability. The good news is the Xiaomi Redmi 5A is also available offline for a slight premium compared to its online price.

4. 10.or D The final phone on this list, the 10.or D (review) shares it’s pricing with the Xiaomi Redmi 5A, and a whole lot more besides. The phone has a fingerprint scanner at a reasonable price, and it delivers good battery life, but its camera is only so-so, and it feels plasticky. Despite that, it’s also an incredible value-buy, with great battery life, which makes it worth considering.

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On paper, it has a slight edge over the Xiaomi – though we prefer the Redmi 5A overall. The 10.or D has a 5.2-inch HD display, with a 1.4GHz quad-core processor, 3GB of RAM, and 32GB storage. It also has a 13-megapixel rear, and 5-megapixel front camera, and it has a huge 3500mAh battery. It’s a good option for people looking for a value-for-money buy, making it a good pick overall.

These four phones are our top picks for handsets under Rs. 8,000. There’s a decent price range, and there are some pros and cons to each handset, but depending on what your needs are as a user, one of these will definitely be the right choice for you. Across the board, cameras seem to be one area where budget phone makers should focus next, but as you can also see from the picks above, battery life has steadily improved.

Although budget handsets like these still come with constraints, no one can deny that things are a lot better than they were just one year ago, and there are good picks to choose from in the under Rs. 8,000 segment. Which of these phones would you go for? Use the poll below to tell us – and if you picked ‘Other’, do tell us and the other readers which phone you’d go for via the comments.

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#8000 #Meet #Mobiles #phone #Rated #Rs #Top #Gadgets #Tech

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thedeadshotnetwork · 7 years ago

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Trump and Philippine President Duterte showcase their 'great relationship' before face-to-face meeting

Trump in Asia

Trump and Philippine President Duterte showcase their 'great relationship' before face-to-face meeting

7:39 a.m. ET

On Monday, President Trump said he and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte "had a great relationship," before the two men held their first bilateral meeting on the sidelines of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Manila. Neither Trump nor Duterte answered questions, and Trump laughed as Duterte half-jokingly called reporters "spies" and Philippine security personnel "jostled some of them roughly" before ushering them out of the room, The New York Times reports. The two leaders did not discuss human rights much or at all, depending on who you asked.

After their 40-minute meeting, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said "the conversation focused on ISIS, illegal drugs, and trade. Human rights briefly came up in the context of the Philippines' fight against illegal drugs." Duterte spokesman Harry Roque said "the issue of human rights did not arise; it was not brought up." Duterte had discussed his country's "drug menace," Roque said, and Trump "appeared sympathetic and did not have any official position on the matter and was merely nodding his head, indicating that he understood the domestic problem that we faced on drugs." Duterte had faced international criticism for encouraging the extrajudicial killings of at least 6,000 drug users and dealers.

Also attending the meeting was Jose E.B. Antonio, a Duterte trade envoy and and real estate developer who is also Trump's partner on a $150 million luxury tower in Manila. The meeting highlighted Trump's much warmer relationship with Duterte than Duterte had with his predecessor, former President Barack Obama. Still, Roque said that Duterte's main focus is improving relationships with other Asian nations, especially China. Duterte had politely rebuffed Trump's offer to mediate the dispute between China and the Philippines over the South China Sea, explaining, "Today, China is the No. 1 economic powerhouse, and we have to be friends." Peter Weber

death and taxes and more taxes

House Republicans could pass their tax overhaul plan as soon as Thursday

7:41 a.m. ET

House Republicans who stand opposed to the GOP tax reform bill say they haven't heard from leadership in weeks, signaling confidence by House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) that the legislation will pass without difficulty in a floor vote later this week. "I think they've made the calculation that they have 218," Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) told Politico.

Scalise and his team will officially count votes Monday night; House Republicans can lose up to 22 votes and still pass the plan. The bill includes new tax brackets and rates, but would not change the rate for married Americans making more than $1 million dollars. Additionally, the House version of the overhaul bill would add an expected $1.457 trillion to the federal deficit over the next decade, a problem for many Republicans who oppose the bill.

The House Rules Committee will review the bill on Wednesday, although no major amendments are expected, Politico reports. A floor vote could come as early as Thursday, although Republicans are leaving open Friday as potential wiggle room, in case any problems arise.

The legislation could face more obstacles in the Senate, where the margin for passing the overhaul is even slimmer. Additionally, the House and Senate bills have a number of major differences, including that the Senate version leaves seven tax brackets, versus the House proposal's four brackets, and lowers the top rate for wealthy individuals to 38.5 percent from 39.6 percent.

"The House will pass its bill, the Senate will pass its bill, and then we will get together and reconcile the differences, which is the legislative process," Ryan reassured last week. Jeva Lange

Nature's Nightmares

The deadly Iran-Iraq earthquake struck during a live newscast

6:23 a.m. ET

The death toll from Sunday's 7.3-magnitude earthquake near the Iranian border in northern Iraq has risen above 300, including six reported deaths in Iraq and 336 in Iran from the strong, shallow quake. Iranian state television, which reported the deaths and nearly 4,000 injuries, said both numbers are expected to rise as emergency responders reach remote areas hit by the earthquake. The epicenter was 217 miles north of Baghdad, but tremors were felt as far away Pakistan, Turkey, and Israel. You can see some of the wreckage, and an Iraqi Kurdish broadcaster experiencing the earthquake on live TV, in this BBC News roundup:

And for more information on the earthquake itself, you can watch the CNN report below. Peter Weber

alabama special election

The Roy Moore allegations have turned Alabama's Senate race into a tossup

5:07 a.m. ET

Four polls public polls have been released of the Senate race in Alabama since The Washington Post reported allegations by four women on Thursday that Republican nominee Roy Moore initiated inappropriate relationships when he was in his 30s and they were teenagers as young as 14. They point to a tight race, ranging from a 4-point Moore lead (44 percent to 40 percent for Democrat Doug Jones, Change Research) to a 4-point Jones lead (48 percent to 44 percent, JMC Analytics and Polling). In the RealClearPolitics average of polls conducted Thursday and afterward — which includes an unpublished Emerson poll with Moore up 10 point — Moore leads Jones by 2 points.

"Each of the new polls has potential shortcomings," Politico reports, and "instant polls are often misleading barometers of how sudden, negative news coverage can impact a campaign." Before Thursday's bombshell, the five previous public polls found Moore ahead of Jones by 6 points, 48 percent to 42 percent, FiveThiryEight notes, which isn't great for a GOP candidate in a state President Trump won by 28 points. Sex-related scandals have sunk some candidates but not others, and Politico suggests that until more reliable polls come in, if they do, watch "the decisions made by both parties over the coming week." Peter Weber

Johnsplaining

John Oliver explains the real dangers of Trump's trolling and 'whataboutism,' proposes some defensive tools

3:56 a.m. ET

On Sunday's Last Week Tonight, John Oliver spent the bulk of the show on President Trump and how Americans must avoid following him into a nihilistic cul-de-sac. "I honestly know that the prospect of talking about Trump yet again feels exhausting," he said, suggesting that every room in America have a clock that counts the minutes since someone mentioned Trump's name. But "Trump's presidency is like one of his handshakes: it pulls you in whether you like it or not," Oliver said, and you need to be prepared.

Trump is often staggeringly incoherent, but "the real damage isn't in how he says things, but from three key techniques that he uses to insulate himself from criticism and consequence," Oliver said: Delegitimizing the media, "whataboutism," and trolling. "Despite Trump's few real policy accomplishments to date, he has consistently achieved one thing, and that is making his enemies unhappy," he noted. "And for many Trump supporters, that itself counts as a major victory."

Thanks to Trump, these techniques are spreading with a patina of legitimacy, Oliver said, pointing to Sean Hannity's pivoting from the allegations against Alabama senate candidate Roy Moore to Bill Clinton's alleged sexual misconduct. "Even if you believe that Democrats are guilty of a double standard, the solution is not to have no standard whatsoever," Oliver said. "That is why it's so important to train ourselves to identify these three techniques, because their natural endpoint is the erosion of our ability to decide what's important, have an honest debate, and hold one another accountable."

Oliver acknowledged the bleakness of that pronouncement then listed a few bright spots to keep people going, "because the Trump presidency is basically a marathon: it's painful, it's pointless, and the majority of you didn't even agree to run it." He ended with some new Trump-focused ads from his "Catheter Cowboy" character. Watch below — but be warned, there is NSFW language throughout. Peter Weber

It wasn't all bad

Baltimore book lovers come together to rebuild charity destroyed by fire

2:19 a.m. ET

It doesn't matter if customers at Baltimore's The Book Thing take home one book or 100, as it all costs the same: $0.

Every book inside The Book Thing is free, and there's no limit to how many books people can walk out the door with — some teachers are known to fill up several boxes to use in their classrooms, while casual readers might just grab one or two tomes off the shelves. Russell Wattenberg has been running The Book Thing for 17 years, never charging a dime for anything. "It cuts down on robberies," he joked to CBS News' Steve Hartman. "We encourage shoplifters."

In March 2016, a fire ripped through The Book Thing, with all of its inventory going up in smoke. It didn't take long for the community to rally together, bringing Wattenberg cash donations and holding fundraisers to help rebuild; so many books have been donated that Wattenberg still has 7,000 boxes to go through. The Book Thing reopened in October, and there's never a shortage of customers. "I don't have the patience to teach somebody to read," Wattenberg said. "I don't have the diligence to be a writer. The only way I see to contribute to the written word is by doing this." Catherine Garcia

sexual misconduct

Harvey Weinstein publicly defended Roman Polanski in a now-removed 2009 op-ed

2:14 a.m. ET

In 1978, director Roman Polanski, then 43, accepted a deal to plead guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl who accused him of drugging and raping her in Los Angeles, but then fled to France when he learned that the judge was leaning toward rejecting the plea deal and order him to return to jail. In 2009, as Polanski was detained in Switzerland and fighting extradition to the U.S., where he remains a fugitive, producer Harvey Weinstein wrote an op-ed in Britain's The Independent urging "every U.S. filmmaker to lobby against any move to bring Polanski back to the U.S., where he could face life in jail."

"Whatever you think about the so-called crime, Polanski has served his time," Weinstein wrote. (Polanski spent 42 days in a California state prison.) "I think the reason we can all be on Polanski's side over this is not to do with what happened in 1977. It's to do with the fact that the punishment for what happened so many years ago had already been decided." Weinstein name-dropped some other Hollywood notables, including Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese, who would probably rather be left out of this now that Weinstein has been accused of rape and serial harassment by numerous women. Luckily for them, The Independent has pulled the op-ed from the web.

Since Samantha Gailey pressed charges in 1977, four more women have publicly accused Polanski of sexually assaulting them when they were young girls — one came forward in 2010 and three more this year, most recently Marianne Barnard, who said Polanski molested her when she was 10 and she couldn't remain silent anymore now that "all these women are bravely coming forward" with accusations against Weinstein and others. Peter Weber

totally normal

Watch the president of the Philippines sing a love song to Trump

1:08 a.m. ET

They'll always have Manila.

President Trump and Rodrigo Duterte, the president of the Philippines, shared a moment Sunday during a dinner at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit. Duterte, accompanied by singer Pilita Corrales, got on stage and began to croon the pop song "Ikaw" (You), filling the room with such lyrics as "You are the light in my world, a half of this heart of mine." When he was finished, Reuters reports, Duterte told the crowd, "Ladies and gentlemen, I sang uninvited, upon the orders of the commander-in-chief of the United States."

It's rare for Duterte to show such a soft side — he's quick to insult people, and since taking office last year, more than 3,900 Filipinos have been killed in his war on drug dealers and users. It's unclear why Trump would ask Duterte to sing, if he had requested "Ikaw," or if Justin Trudeau was taking notes for the next time he sings "Endless Love" to Angela Merkel. Catherine Garcia

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Tags: November 13, 2017 at 12:55PM Open in Evernote

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