Jess Wynn, to do the impossible

[Wayne23]

Again, I don't know how this is happening with my ratings but I'll take it.

[Wayne23]

Dad decides to fly back out here and will to Fargo with the team.

3/1: Play in day. We’ll play #7 seed Western Illinois who gave us a tough game a couple of weeks ago. They’re 14-14, 8-10, but they’ve won 4 of 5.

Their starting 5 has a bad knee. He’ll play, but only at about 80-85%. We’re better, so we need to play that way.

3/2: This game was very much like our last. They went up, we took a lead, they went up 9, then at the half it was 40-41.

In the second they took a brief lead and then we took over. We kept the lead at 6-9 throughout the half and it wound up 78-71.

The stats were close to even in all categories.

23, 6, 1, 1, 1 for Clerq, 15, 4, 6, 1 for Henry, 12, 5, 1 for Smid, one of his best all around games all year, 9, 6, 3 for Slak, 6, 9, 3 for Holden, 6, 2, 1 for Robin.

We’ll meet Southern Utah in the semis. They edged out ORU for 3rd on the last day of the regular season. We beat them by 5 at home and then 8 on the road. They’ve won 5 of 6. They don’t play much D.

3/3: They score the first 11 and we never come close. 16-34 at the half (16?). We shoot 19% for the half.

We play better in the 2nd but never get closer than 8. Just a horrible night, 45-59.

33-39%. Nothing to say, really. We couldn’t make a shot. Giving up 59 should get us a win. Not tonight.

I say nothing in the locker room after the game except, “Practice on Sunday, 7:00 p.m.”, since there’s nothing else to say.

3/5: No. Dak. ST won the tourney. No surprise, they were the class of the league all season.

Our RPI drops to 38 which means we’ll probably go to the NCAA tourney. I’d rather go to the NIT since I think we could go deep, maybe even win it.

[Wayne23]

3/12: As it turns out we are in the NIT. #3 seed in the East. We play Lehigh first. We beat them by 13 in Dec. They’re 19-10, 8-6, finished 2nd in conf., lost in the semis. 2-3 in their last 5. They don’t play a lot of D. their 2 can score.

3/13: Close all the way, 45-43 at the half. No D to be seen. The 2nd half stayed close. 16 lead changes, 4 ties. Near the end we finally built an 8 point lead with 1:02 to go. At the end it was 74-70.

The stats were very close except for fouls. We were 12-15 from the line, they wer 4-7, so that’s where we won it.

Henry was the difference, 27, 7, 3, 2, holding their PG scoreless. Slak had 22, 4, 5, 2, Clerq 12, 7, 2, 1.

Next up is #7 seed Hofstra, who upset #2 Detroit. They’re 19-12, 10-8, lost in the quarter finals. Good teams score on them. Their 2 gets 22.7 per, and their PG scores, too. This will be a challenge.

3/15: A real battle in the 1st half. They held the lead for almost the entire way, but never by more than 5. At the half it was 37-38. They had a lot of guys scoring so we couldn’t focus on any particular one.

I told the guys to stay in the zone but play it tight and try not to give up open shots. I told Henry I wanted him driving more, and ready to shoot or dish when he got inside. He’s terrific at that but wasn’t doing it in the first. I also told the guys I couldn’t believe we were only +2 in RBs.

We hit the floor galloping in the 2nd. Jumped to a 7 point lead in a minute and a half and stretched it from there. Henry seemed to score or dish to an open guy every time down. It got to 19 at 3:12. 80-64 at the end.

+14, +2, 44-39%.

Henry had 22, 10, Clerq 17, 7, 3, 1, 1, Slak 17, 5, 5, 3. 8, 9 for Smid, 8, 4, 3 for Holden, 6, 7, 2, 2 for Evans.

No. Dak. ST upset #4 seed Pitt in OT in the 1st round of the NCAA.

[Wayne23]

3/19: No Dak ST lost in the 2nd round. Dad flies in.

We play #8 seed Gardner-Webb, 19-11, 11-5, from the Big South. They lost in the 1st round of their tourney. 6-1 in their last 7. They played a weak schedule. They have a balanced attack.

3/20: They owned the first half, leading all the way. It was 40-32 at the half. Slak and Henry both committed #4 early and we were lucky to keep it as close as we did.

In the 2nd Slak got in early foul trouble again and Slak followed soon after. For once our bench came through. Both Robin and Lepore played as well as they have all year.

Clerq and Holden dominated inside and shut their men down. We took a lead and built it, even without our back court. With 5:22 left we were up 18. At the end it was 81-68.

+9 RB was the big stat.

20, 8, 1, 2 for Clerq, 17, 10, 3, 2 for Holden, 12, 3, 1, 1 for Lepore, 8, 2, 1 for Robin. Definitely a strange and unlikely way for us to win but I’ll take it. In tourneys you try to find a way- any way to win.

In the NIT final four.

23-9. Amazing!

[Wayne23]

We’ll play Texas Southern, 24-9, 12-4 in the Southwestern. They finished 2nd and lost in the title game. 9-1, 14-2, so they can play. Their 2 has the whole game. If we can contain him we’ll be okay- IF we can stay out of foul trouble.

3/28: 1st half is a battle. We take a lead, they take it back. Their 2 is hot but Henry is hotter. 25-28 at the half but we’re right in it and no foul trouble.

We need to shoot better and to take care fo the ball. The D is fine.

It stays close for 6-7 minutes and then the wheels fall off. Two of their subs get hot and we’re slow to react. Before we know it we’re down 12, 7:53.

At the media time out I tighten the D to 10 but it doesn’t help, the deficit goes to 16, then to 22. I make adjustments, use a couple of time outs but the D simply can’t get it done and the O isn’t scoring.

I eventually pull Clerq and Smid so they can get their end of career ovations; they’re my only Seniors. The final is 53-68. A tough way to end it, but it was a great season and I couldn’t be prouder of my team, 23-10.

The shooting % told the story, 31-46%.

33 for Henry, who’s only a freshman. 13 RBs for Holden.

I don’t get to go to the final four, we can’t afford it. Truck tells me he’ll definitely take me with him next year.

4/1: #5 UCLA vs. #1 North Carolina, and #2 Kansas vs. #6 Arizona.
UNC vs. KS for the title.

4/3: UNC wins by 8.

4/4: Awards: Lance Henry was POY, Freshman OY, 1st team, along with Clerq. Slak and Holden made 2nd and I got Coach OY. We did great.

4/9: We met our goals. Still chasing recruits.

Job offers but I’m not expecting anything even a little interesting. I’m right, nothing at all, not even as an assistant. Didn’t matter.

My numbers are Off. 7, Def. 11, Recruit- 6, Scout- 3, Player Dev.- 9, Reputation- 11. Making progress, but slowly.

I’m 44-21, .677.

4/16: #39 PF Rex Alex signs. Hoping to get 1 or 2 more but not confident.
No coaching vacancies.

4/23: Dave Bean, #54, SF signs.

Goals for next year, win 15+ games, win conf. tourney. I hate that 2nd one, it’s a crap shoot. I think we can do it, but I’d prefer win the reg. season as a goal.

I’m asking for a budget increase. I get $2,000. Oh well, better than nothing.

I’ll fly to CT for a few days then we’ll start all over again. We should have a terrific team next year. Looking forward to it. We went as far as we did without a legitimate big man, playing SFs at 4 and 5. Next year we’ll have at least one big.

[Wayne23]

5/1: We buy the Great Plains Gold and the National Basic.

6/9: We land Rick Burke, a 3-4 star PF.

6/16: We land Ed Nelson, a PG with 4 star potential.

6/25: No camps.

6/26: 3 to fill. We need guards. Looking at 12, 9 PGs, an SG, a PF, a C.

7/11: We were able to advertise that Dad would be at both weeks of camp- sold out both weeks, and lots of guys we’ll be interested in going after next year and after. One more thing to thank Dad for.

7/17: Nobody’s talking to me on the recruit front.

7/25: I have to say I like what I see from my team. We won’t set the world on fire but we should do all right in conference. Dad was great. Wish I could get him and mom to move out here but as he keeps saying, I’ll only be here this year and maybe one or two more.

8/14: A couple of guys are answering the phone but the response is not very impressive.

8/21: I offer to 3 based on the hope that they won’t hit the SAT score the schools they really want will require.

9/4: Visits next week.

9/11: I visit the three I offered to and a guy who’s actually interested in us.

9/18: Nothing to report on the recruit front.

The schedule will be a little more challenging, especially at home. We’ll play 2 ranked teams on the road.

9/25: Some interest is being shown. I’m a little bit optimistic.

10/2: Feels like we’re getting close to a couple of recruits.
First day of practice.

10/23: Picked 1st in conference. That’s nice. I think we can do it.

[Wayne23]

11/2: 1st exhibition is against Savannah State. 39-23 at the half. 87-60 at the end.

+13, +5, 53-41%. Fouls- 11-6. Rein and Joel had great games.

11/6: 2nd exhibition is against Savannah State. 35-28 at the half. 73-62 at the end.

-5, +7, 43-42%. Fouls 12-14. Alex and Boozer played well.

We decide we need to give Joel and Boozer some time to prove themselves.

11/13: The season is about to begin. We start with 3 of 4 at home so Dad decides to come here for that stretch of games.

Baylor is in first. Not much to go by but they don’t seem to play much D.

11/14: I decide to play lots of guys for lots of minutes in these first few games to see who will emerge. In a way it backfires as the 1st half is really close. Down 38-41 at the half.

Outside game is going well but we’re getting beat up inside.

Things go better in the second. We finally take a lead and stretch it out to 9 at 8:47. From then on it stays between 4-9 for the rest of the way. 81-73 at the end.

-2, even (11 TOs), 46-37% shooting, which made the difference, and 11-19 fouls which really made the difference, 26-31 to 13-15.

22, 6, 8 for Slak, 19, 2, 1, 1 for Rein, 9, 1 for Henry. The back court looked great.

Henry strained a hamstring, out for a week to 10 days.

1-1 Hawaii is in. They are very tough inside.

11/17: Very much a rerun of our 1st game, back and forth in the 1st and we went in down 36-38.

In the 2nd it took awhile but we eventually grabbed a lead, and then we held it. The final was 66-61.

-2, +2 (9 TOs), 43-38%, fouls were 15-6, which hurt us.

17, 1, 1, 1 for Rein, 14, 9, 2 for Bean, 13, 1, 4 for Slak. We missed Henry.
Matt Moon hurt his calf, day to day.

Next up is 1-1 Denver. Outside strength.

11/21: Our best performance of the young season. We took an early lead and built it to 20. 44-28 at the half.

We played even in the 2nd. They never got it to single digits.

+14 (About time we rebound!), -4, 49-35% (We’ve outshot every opponent).
18, 5, 1 for Rein, 14, 8 for Alex (his 1st good game), 11, 3 for Bean. This was a team effort, 11 guys got double digit minutes.

[Wayne23]

0-4 Central Florida is in. They aren’t as bad as they’ve been playing, which makes this a dangerous game for us. I’ve been hammering that point, hope my guys are listening.

Dad is leaving day after tomorrow. He’s such a help when he’s here. He’s very careful not to take over but his insights are a huge help. They are even when he isn’t here since he sees all of our games via TV, but seeing them in person is much better, and he’s also at practices. He’s taught me an awful lot and I feel confident in my ability, but I’d be crazy not to listen to the greatest coach in history.

11/24: As I feared these guys came ready to play. 34-34 at the half. At the half we adjusted. Their 2 was hitting all kinds of shots so we got a little closer to him. We also felt we weren’t working hard enough for RBs so we put some emphasis on that.

It stayed close for almost 10 minutes then we finally put on a run. The lead was between 4-9 from then on. 65-56 at the end.

+9, -4, 39-31%.

21, 9 for Rein, 12 for Slak but her really didn’t play all that well, 9, 7, 1 for Carth, 4, 10 for Alex, 9, 5 for Bean.

At the start of the season we had decided to give it four games then make some adjustments. Since Henry’s been out for three of the four it’s tough to know what to do. Still, given that this was Dad’s last day with the staff we met and discussed things.

No changes to the starting 5 but we didn’t really expect any. Carth isn’t giving us a lot at 5 but I don’t see a better alternate unless we decide to go really small and start Henry at 2, moving Rein to 3 and Bean to 4. We may consider that later on, but not yet. We are going to give Henry lots of minutes now that he’s finally healthy.

At 0-4 North Texas. They’ve lost to 4 nobodies but I’m leery. This is a dangerous situation. They haven’t played much D though.

11/28: Strong 1st half. Josh rein is on fire, getting 20. Not much D by either team, 41-35.

I talk about D. They have some foul trouble which could help us, both their 1 and 2 have 3.

We get the lead to 12 and hold it between 6 and 12 for the entire 2nd. Their 1 and 2 both foul out. 73-65.

All the stats are about even except fouls, 15-25. We go 25-32 and they’re 12-18, so that’s the difference.

30, 9, 2, 1 for Rein, who had an immense game.

At 0-5 Troy, 2 bad losses. No standout players at all. Always need to be careful on the road.

12/1: We come out very strong and dominate the 1st half. Rein continues to have a hot hand. We have trouble taking care of the ball though.

I talk about ball handling at the half.

We continue to turn it over but Troy never makes it a game, 69-56 at the end, and it really wasn’t that close.

+9, -6 (19 TOs), 52-33% shooting. 23, 4, 3, 3 for Rein, 19, 5 for Bean, 9, 10, 3, 2, 1 for Alex, 8, 4, 5 for Henry.

[Wayne23]

Henry needs to get more minutes but we haven’t figured out a way to do that.

At 4-2 Boston College next. They are one of the two strongest teams we’ll play this year, at least unless we make the NCAA tourney. No good wins and 1 bad loss but they lost to #2 Arizona by only 2 on the road so they can play. 2 and 3 combine for 36.5 per. Their weakness is ball handling but this will be a tough game.

12/4: They just roll over us in the first half. I need to use three time outs but nothing stops the onslaught, 22-44 at the half.

I talk about pride and not giving up. We’ll double the 2 and 3 because they lit us up for 31 in the 1st.

We play much better in the 2nd but the margin was too much to overcome. 62-75.

+5, +2, but we shot 39% they shot 51%. We held 2 and 3 to 15 in the 2nd. We’ll focus on the good 2nd half in practice.
19, 4, 4, 2 for Rein, 15 for Henry, 8, 12 for Alex. Lots to learn from this one and I don’t feel that bad. Dad and I talk. He says I should have gone to the man and the double team earlier but that we weren’t going to beat this team tonight, they had hot shooting hands and they were quicker than us so we weren’t going to stop them, really. We have a week off to prepare for one of our easier opponents, at home. We’re 6-1.

North Carolina A & T is 5-3, but they’ve played nobody at all. 1 and 4 are their best but I don’t see them staying with us if we play.

12/12: Rein got hurt early. Not sure how serious it is but he played 13 minutes in the 1st and he won’t be back. 33-38 at the half.

I try to settle my guys down. Rein is our leading scorer and a leader. I tell them that Henry can and will get it done and that I expect a win.

We’ve done a lousy job on their PG and we need to fix that. I put in a plan which should work. We’ll double him but not every time, we’ll try not to tip it. He has 2 fouls so Slak and Henry will try to drive on him, depending on who he’s covering. If we take care of him we should be fine.

Dave Bean comes out hot and hits 2 threes and 2 twos in the first three minutes and we grab a lead. Then we get #3 and soon after #4 on their PG (He fouls out late in the game) and it’s all over, 72-59 at the end.

+10, -2, 50-38% (55-31% in the 2nd).

19 and 7 for Bean, 17, 2, 4, 1 for Henry, 9, 11 for Alex, 7, 5, 2 for Carth. A good win under tough circumstances.

Rein will miss a few days but he shouldn’t miss a game. Slak has a sore leg but he shouldn’t miss a game either.

#10 Memphis, 11-0, is next. This is the toughest game on the schedule. 3 good wins but not a really strong schedule.

They have two subs hurt so the bench will be short. They play great D and their 2 and 3 can both score. We’ll need to be at the very top of our game to have any chance. Last game before the start of conference play.

12/19: The 1st half goes back and forth with 13 lead changes and 8 ties. We’re right in this one. Up 33-30 at the half.


Their 2 and 5 are doing the damage, with help from 3, but our guys are matching them. I decide to stay in the zone but to raise the intensity to level 7 since no one is in foul trouble.

We’ve shown balanced scoring and we’ve dominated the boards. We need to take better care of the ball. Just before we go back out I remind the guys to move without the ball, and then I tell them that this game is ours for the taking, which it is.

It’s back and forth for the first 5 minutes or so. They’re up 3 at 14:57.

Then we go on a 13-2 run, and we hold the lead from then on. It gets to 2 three time and 3 once, but then they need to foul late and we hit 9-10 in the last couple of minutes to win it by 71-65. An incredible win. We just beat the #10 team in the country!

+14, -11 (20 TOS but we somehow survived that), 45-38% shooting.

We did it with balance, 17, 4 for Bean, 16, 5 for rein, 14, 7, 5 for Slak, 11, 11, 4, 3 for Carth in maybe his best game for us, 6, 4, 1, 1 for Alex, 5, 4, 4, 1 for Henry. We didn’t stop their 2, 3, 5 but we contained them, and stopped everyone else.

Dad and I talk long into the night and he’s full of compliments for my strategy and for my mid-game adjustments. 8-1 for the pre-conference schedule. Jumping for joy!

[Wayne23]

We have the whole team on the Dean’s List. Great tutors, academic advisors, and careful course selection.

We start with 7-2 UMKC at home, our toughest conference rival. The bad news is that we’ll play there later on. Their schedule was a little weaker than ours. Their starting SF just flunked off the team. Their good with the ball but they don’t rebound well and they aren’t deep, 4 guys, really.

12/26: They play us tough in the first, going up by as much as 9. I need to burn 2 TOs but the 2nd one helps. We go in down 34-38.

In the 2nd they get the 1st 5 points. I call another TO and rip into my guys, and then change the D, going to level 8. From then on it’s all us. We go at their PG and get him in foul trouble, which opens up our O. Our guys move without the ball and we get back door cuts, open jumpers and a couple of slams. 75-62 at the end.

+9, -3 (11 TOs), 49-39%.

16, 5, 7 for Alex, 15, 6, 6, 1 for Rein, 12, 1, 7, 1 for Slak, mostly in the 2nd, 13, 4 for Holden. Carth, Henry and Bean also play well.

Dad says I was a little slow to recognize that I needed to bring the intensity on D up. We weren’t in foul trouble so we should have started the 2nd half at 7 or 8. He’s right as usual.

At North Dakota State, 4-6, 0-1. Lost their last 3. They’re decent. If we play well we should win but if we aren’t sharp we’ll pay a price.

12/29: The lead goes back and forth, they never lead by more than 3, we never leads by more than 5. At the half we’re up 33-28. Carth has 2 fouls as does their PG.

We hold an edge in RBs (+6), both teams are turning it over way too often (-3). We’ve given up 6 threes, which we’ll try to stop doing. We’ve hit 3.
The lead gets to 1, I call a TO, set the D at level 8, and we take charge. We build the lead to 10, and before long, to 16. They never get closer than 11 after that and the final is 73-59.

+14, even (18 TOs, not good), 47-37%.

25, 6, 2, 2 for Rein, and the rest of the starters plus Lance Henry play well. 10-1,

2-0 at this point.

Western Illinois is in, 3-8, 1-1. Sloppy, and having a tough season.

1/2: First half went back and forth the entire time, 10 lead changes 5 ties. At the half we were up 34-33. We simply didn’t play very well.

At the half I bumped up the D to level 7 and prepared to move it higher if need be.

Back and forth until the 1st media time out. I went to level 9. At the 2nd media TO we were up 2, so I went level 10, 10:34. We started to do better at that point but never put a lot of distance between us and them. Eventually the lead got to 10 but it was back to 5 quickly. The final was 66-59. Just a flat night.

+3, +6 (but 17 TOs). Shooting and fouls were even.

16, 7, 2, 2 for Rein, 14, 2, 4, 2, 1 for Slak, 11, 5, 1 for Bean who got hurt late. I think he’ll miss our next game.

Henry will start for Bean, playing 2, and Rein will move to 3.