Superstar 2

[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 has been watching Ali Rice since he turned 12. He’s the kid who has everything. Tall and rangy (grew to be 6’6”), can play all 5 spots if need be, incredible reflexes and quickness, a vertical leap that seems to be four feet (it isn’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’s a natural SF but again, can play anywhere.

He’s an extremely bright kid who does very well in school, from a family that hasn’t allowed him to become a head case. He has made it clear that he has no interest in pro ball. He intends to graduate in three years, then immediately begin Ph.D. work in Astrophysics (which means, if he stays at the same school, he can play for four years). At 17 he has perspective and good sense that is all but scary. Dad is a professor of Black Studies at Boston University, and mom is a psychiatrist, M. D. and all. She was an All American Shooting Guard and was her son’s first teacher, in hoops and in most everything else. Dad and son are also very close but dad has never been particularly athletic.

The family understands that their son can pick his school, literally any school in Division I. They want their son to play for a good coach, kid friendly coach, not a hothead or a win at all costs guy. In the end they chose Harvard, a school that had never been a basketball power, but in retrospect seems like the inevitable choice. It had the advantage of being dad’s alma mater. 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, but Boston was big enough for him to feel separated from his parents, at least a little. He would live on campus, of course. Harvard 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.

[Wayne23]

5/1: Hired my staff, met to discuss what I’m putting in on O and D. We’ll buy the National Basic and East Gold reports.

6/26: 6 scholarships to fill and we need guards more than bigs. Looking at 16, 5 PG, 3 SG, 2 SF, 4 PF, 2 C, mostly either guys with extremely good grades or Jucos. We’ll see.

7/31: 8 guys with at least some interest.

8/21: Offered to 3 bigs, 3 guards.

9/11: Home visits.

9/18: Still working on the recruits. Some hopes for a couple of them. We have a schedule. I wanted it to be tough. Nobody wants to come to our place but the road sched. is tough, 5 ranked teams.

9/25: A couple of guys look close to signing but no one has yet.

10/2: Got 2, lost one. Got #35 PG Will Robb, and #33 SG John Walk.

First day of practice. Rice looks terrific. Hope we can develop some guys to give him a little help.

We’re picked 2nd in the conference.

11/2: 1st exhibition is with Stony Brook. 44-26 at the half.

79-55. +14, -5, 57-34%, fouls 10-9. Rice, Garr, John all had good games.

11/7: 2nd exhibition is with Stony Brook. 44-28 at the half.

84-60. +8, even, 56-44%, fouls 3-5(!). About 7-8 guys played well.

More time for Chad and John.

[Wayne23]

At #17 Stanford to start the season. On paper they look really tough, esp. at 1, 3 and a little at 5. We’ll see.

11/13: 92-72. Ali Rice is a force of nature.

+3,+3, 64-51%.

59 pts., 9 RB, 3 assists, 0 steals, 2 blocks, no TOs for Ali. 13, 1, 6 for Garr, 8, 3, 1 for Hay.

La Salle is here for our home opener. They aren’t even close to as good as Stanford. We’re sold out and I’m told every home game for the season is sold out. There’s talk of moving some games to the Fleet Center.

11/14: 91-48. It should be a very enjoyable season!

+18, +5, 54-30%.

49, 12, 6, 0, 7 for Ali, 13 for Hay at SG, 5, 4, 6, 1 for Garr at PG, 8 RBs for Smak at PF. 19, 1, 2 for backup guard Aree John.

Wright State, 0-1, is in. Some strength up front but they don’t look impressive.

11/17: 91-50. Our offensive consistency is a little scary, 92, 91 and 91 points so far.

+26, -3, 58-27%.

53, 13, 3, 1, 6 for Ali, didn’t miss a shot all night, 6, 8, 1 for Smak, 6, 3 for both Hite and Chad.

Ranked! #17. Harvard has been ranked on rare occasions but never this early.

[Wayne23]

Mississippi State, 0-1, is here. Strength is inside.

11/21: We hit the 100 mark, 100-63.

+20, even, 67-43%.

62, 13, 5, 0, 3 for Ali, 10, 5, 4 for Chad, 7, 6, 3, 1, 2 for Smak.

USC, 1-1 is in. Some backcourt strength.

11/24: 89-65. They doubled and even tripled Ali but it didn’t do much good, we found the open man.

+2, +4, 70-51%.

38, 8, 5, 3, 1 for Ali, 18, 2 for Chad who is making a case for starting, 10 for Smak, 8 each for Garr and How.

#16.

0-6 Utah State is next. They’re having a rough time.

11/28: 97-60.

+12, -2, 71-39%. We shot 71%?!

53, 5, 2, 0, 2 for Ali who hasn’t missed a free throw all season, 89-89. He’s shooting 94.3% from the floor and is 25-25 on threes. 12, 4, 2 for Hay, 10, 9, 2 for Smak, 6 each for Hent and Crow.

Smid hurt his hand, day to day. He shouldn’t miss a game.

We have 3 ranked teams in the next 5 games, 2 of them top 10. That will tell us if we’re as good as we think we are.

[Wayne23]

At 2-2 Arkansas. They haven’t played anyone. Very good at 2 and 3 and solid at the other spots. Not much bench. This could be a challenge.
12/1: 82-53. Ali outscored their entire team- by 16!

+13, -1, 57-40%.

69, 9, 5 blocks for Ali, 106 straight free throws. 4, 8, 3 for Howard. They double and triple Ali and he finds a way to fight through screens, to fake the defenders, and he is pretty much unstoppable.

#13, RPI #11.

At #20 Purdue, 6-2, the second ranked team we play. 1 good win, 1 embarrassing loss. 6 guys score, they rebound well. They’re sloppy though, and only 3 guys play D.

12/5: 86-59. For the 2nd straight game Ali outscores the other team.

+14, -3, 61-40%.

61, 8, 0, 2, 3 for Ali. 6, 1, 9 for Garr but 6 TOs.

129 free throws, not a miss.

Ben Robb has the pukes. Hope it doesn’t spread to the other guys.

Biggest challenge on the whole schedule, at #6 Wisconsin, 8-1. They won the Coaches Classic. Only loss was to #10 Pitt, by 1 point. They play very tough D. Good with the ball and they rebound. Not much depth. This team is for real.

12/8: 79-53. They kept the score down but the end result was the same, and Ali outscored their team- 3 straight games he’s done that.

+16, -4, 73-39%.

59, 9, 3, 0, 3 for Ali. He’s averaging 55.9 per game and shooting 94.2%. He also leads the country in blocks with 3.6 per.

139 free throws without a miss.

#12, RPI #4.

[Wayne23]

3-5 Charleston is here. We shifted this one to the Fleet Center and sold it out. We managed to get 3 other games at Fleet later on and all of them are sold out. This looks like a mismatch- more than usual.

12/12: 84-50. 4th time in a row Ali outscores their team.

+19, +3, 60-44%.

62, 11, 2 with 2 blocks for Ali. 6, 6, 2 for Smak, 6, 4, 1, 1 for Chad.

155 free throws without a miss.

Last big challenge for the regular season, at #14 LSU, 7-2. 1 good win but 2 very bad losses. Solid inside game and the guards aren’t bad.

12/15: 97-65. Ali did not outscore them- he tied them, 65-65.

+14, -6, 61-36%.

65, 9, 3, 1, 5 for Ali, 9 for Smak, 7, 2, 6 for Garr, 6, 4, 1 for John.

173 free throws, no misses for Ali.

Smid strained a calf, out about 2 weeks.

#10, RPI #4. Quite a thrill to be top 10!

4-6 California is here. 0-3 vs. ranked teams. Strength is inside.

12/19: 90-64. Ali outscored them.

+12, -1, 56-48%. Fouls 14-30.

68, 13, 3, 2, 3 for Ali.

44 free throws for Ali. He made them all so he’s 214 for 214.

Last preconf. game is at 7-4 Georgia. PF is vwery good but he doesn’t get much help.

12/22: 91-66. They overplayed Ali and held him to 50.

+10, even, 69-50%.

50, 5, 1 for Rice. He fouled out in 27 minutes; first foul out. 12, 6, 4, 2 for Chad, 13, 3 for Smak, 5, 4, 6 for John.

225-225.

#9, RPI #4. Ten days off.

13-0 for the preconf. schedule.

[Wayne23]

I'm aborting this one, too. Gonna try one more time to get it right. Too much focus on recruiting really good players. The "superstar should have an average supporting cast. I'm going to downgrade his teammates and recruit poorer quality players in the 3rd version. I'll get it right with #3 or give up on the whole idea.