Superstar

[Wayne23]

(Note: Like the association I did with Bill Russell [which I still plan to try again at some point] this is a four year association with one player at its center.)

Every Division I team in the country had been watching this kid since he turned 12. He was the kid who had everything. Tall and rangy (grew to be 6’6 1/2”), a natural Point Guard who could play all 5 spots if need be, incredible reflexes and quickness, a vertical leap that seemed to be four feet (it wasn’t, of course), great defensive instincts, a passer as good as the best in hoops history, and born to shoot, with a range of at least 25 feet.

He was a bright kid who did very well in school, from a family that hadn’t allowed him to become a head case. At 17 he had perspective and good sense that was all but scary. Dad was a professor of Black Studies at a California Berkeley, and mom was a psychiatrist, M. D. and all. She had been an All American Shooting Guard and was her son’s first teacher, in hoops and in most everything else. Dad and son were also very close but dad had never been particularly athletic.

The family understood that their son could pick his school, literally any school in Division I. They insisted that he go to a very good academic school, and that was far more important than was the basketball program. At the same time they wanted their son to play for a good coach, a kid friendly coach, not a hothead, or a win at all costs guy. In the end they chose Tulane, a school that had never been a basketball power. It had the advantage of being mom’s alma mater, and it was considered a Southern equivalent of the Ivy League schools. The fact that Head Coach Wes Carter was a "player's coach" with a great reputation didn't hurt. Berkeley would have been closer to home but young Ali Rice wanted to be a little further from his parents, not because he planned to raise hell, which he didn’t, but because he wanted to spread his wings and make it on his own. Tulane Coach Wes Carter was ecstatic and couldn’t believe his luck.

Make no mistake, Ali Rice was not just the “phenom of the year,” he had the potential of being among the very best to ever play the game.

5/1: Carter chose to go for the National Gold Report.

6/26: Carter had himself a one man team. He had some smalls who could play at least a little but he had nothing inside. He would need to use his 3 scholarships on bigs. He knew he’d need to go after Jucos. He went after 1 SF, 4 PF, 5 C.

[Wayne23]

7/31: Some interest but not a lot.

8/21: Offer to 3 bigs.

9/11: Home visits.

9/18: Some definite nibbles. We have a schedule. Invited to the Alaskan Classic. Carter wanted a strong schedule to test his Freshman phenom. He was able to get a moderately strong sched.

9/25: Bret Will, C #56 committed. 2 to go. Three guys seem very interested.

10/2: Got #53 Ted Oats, PF. Set my rotation at the first day of practice.

We’re picked to finish 8th in a 12 team conf. I plan to win it.

We’ve got our recruits, they all commit.

11/2: First exhibition is vs. Savannah State. 47-37 at the half. Refs are whistle happy.

96-61. +2, +8, 61-45%, Fouls 13-24. Rice and Ely played great. Ely may need to start.

11/2: Second exhibition is vs. Savannah State. 51-28 at the half.

97-57. +16, +7, 64-44%. Fouls 16-17. Rice, Benn, Ely, Jack played well.

Changes: Ely will start at 4. Sky and Kern will split time.

[Wayne23]

(Just as another note, I obviously manipulated Rice's ratings but did absolutely nothing to anyone else.)

We start the season at Nevada. On paper they’re the better team but we’ll see. I’m so excited about Ali Rice that I think he could outplay half of the NBA Point Guards.

11/13: Rice only played 16 minutes due to foul trouble (he’s a freshman), but he did enough in those 16 to win it for us, 73-66. I’ll put Lee at the Point a little more to ease the pressure on Ali, he can play 2 or 3 (or 4 or 5 for that matter, though I will rarely play him at 5).

+11, -4 (Ali had 0 TOs), 48-46%, fouls 10-21. Ali knows how to draw fouls, he was 15-15 from the line.

30, 5, 1, 0, 3 for Ali (again, in 16 min.!), 12, 4, 3, 1, 1 for Benn, 10, 4, 1 for Ely, 8, 2, 1 for Sky, 8 RBs for Kern. A good start.

We quick fly back home for a game with Auburn. Again, on paper they should beat us, but we’ll see. New Orleans is more excited about Green Wave basketball than ever before so we hope for a sellout and we hope to make them happy they came. Auburn seems to be stronger outside than in but given our weak inside game…

11/14: Gonna need to play Ali more at 2 and 3, he played only 16 min. again due to fouls, but as in the last game, it was enough, 85-67.

+8, even, 54-43%.

38, 5, 1, 1, 4 for Ali (13-13 from the line, 1 TO), 26, 6, 3, 1, 1 for Benn. The other starters all played well. If we can find a way to keep Ali out of foul trouble we’ll be scary good. It’s early. I will have him on the Point even less in our next game, playing mostly SF and PF.

Three games in the first week, which is too many, esp. with a tourney coming up soon. 0-1 Texas A & M is in. They are tough inside, which will be a challenge. They’re guards aren’t very good though.

11/17: Ali played 30 min. tonight- 95-67.

+14, +1, 59-46%, fouls 10-19.

52, 13, 5, 1, 5 for Ali, and 18-18 from the line (46-46 for the season), 0 TOs.
10, 2, 7, 1 for Benn, 11, 3, 1 for Kern, who has earned more minutes. Great first week!

11/20: Ranked! #12. It’s been a VERY long time since Tulane has hit the top 25 but then we’ve never had a player like Ali Rice!

[Wayne23]

(Yet another note: I may abandon this and have a do over. Ali Rice is amazing but maybe I should have put him with a team that had less than 42 Prestige. I would have liked success to take a little longer. Pondering alternatives. Remember, this came about because my other computer, with the Sammy and Jess associations, crashed and I'm waiting to see if it is fixable.)

1-2 Mississippi is here. This will be our 3rd straight sellout and people are going crazy trying to get tickets. Our A. D. is trying to get some games shifted to the Dome downtown. Another team that’s tough inside but not much in the backcourt.

11/21: 100-62. Ali Rice is getting HUGE media attention. The big national guys were all at this game and he sure didn’t disappoint them!

-3, +4, 71-44% (71%!!!).

58, 9, 5, 2, 6 for Ali, 13 more free throws without a miss (now at 59), 1 TO.

Ely had 11 points and Dark 10 from the bench.

I need to say that this is just a joy to be part of. There’s not a lot of deep thought or intricate strategy involved so far. They double and even triple Ali, we set screens, he peels a defender off and beats the other one (or two).

Tonight he was 19-20 from the field, 7-7 on threes, and I haven’t mentioned his D. The guy he guards is usually scoreless, or gets 2-3 points at most, and Ali is fouling much less.

Off to the Alaskan Shootout.

First up is #25 St. Joseph, 3-0. They beat LSU by 5. Their guards do the scoring.

11/25: Unbelievable, just unbelievable! 92-66. Wait for it.

+19, -11, 67-40%. Here it comes.

Ali played 31 minutes. He had 76, 13, 1, 16-16 from the line (75-75 on the season), 12-12 on threes, 24-26 from the field, 1 TO. As I said, unbelievable!

Rutgers, 2-2, upset Air Force so we’ll play them in the semis. Strength is in the backcourt.

11/26: 104-68. Another incredible, unbelievable performance for Ali.

+16, +4, 54-46%.

76, 9, 1, 2, 2, 0 TOs, 17-17 from the line 92-92), all in 24 min. 9, 1, 8 for Benn, 7, 3 for Dark.

#5, RPI #32.

Okay, a REAL test in the title game, #2 Memphis, 6-0. They are our rival in Conference USA and we’ll play them at our place in the last game of the regular season and probably in the conf. tourney, so let’s see what’s what. They’ve beaten 3 good teams, easily, and no one has challenged them. Very good PG, excellent inside, 7 guys who can play. I don’t know if we have the horses to stay with them.

11/27: Question answered. They decided to foul Ali every chance they got. Stupid strategy, he went 31-31 (123 in a row).

+14, +3, 50-45%, fouls 10-2.

53, 6, 4, 2, 2, 0 TOs for the golden boy, 14, 6 for Ely, 8, 5, 7, 1 for Benn, 11 for Lee, 7 RBs for Kern.

Can anyone beat us? Only if they can stop Ali. Can anyone stop Ali? He’s averaging 54.7 per game with 8.6 RBs, 2.6 assists, 3.4 blocks, 1.1 steals, and .4 TOs, and fouls are down to 2.6 and falling.