Hi ccavute, I'm pretty new here too and new to Maya, but I can help you with one of your questions, to make the ball move at another initial angle to begin with you need to set the initial velocity (in the channels editor,button on the top right of the screen,right under the close window button on your window) to whatever direction you want the ball to go in, ie; if the hoop is along the z axis to the ball you set the initial velocity to something like 0.05 in the z axis and see how fast it launches, then keep upping the setting fractionally until you have it the way you want it, you can then set the initial velocity in the y axis as well and it'll launch up and to the side. Be very delicate with the amounts as if you go too high to quickly it'll just fly off the screen! This together with the two friction settings and the dampening settings, and how you have your gravity settings all play a part, just remember fractional increases as you try each one out. Not too sure about the making the hoop spring slightly, maybe a hinge constraint with a very small amount of give to it and a tiny bit of bounciness, hope I've helped in some way, and hopefully someone else will give you more to get you on your way, good luck!