Superstar 3

[Wayne23]

8-1 Texas A & M is here. 1 good win. Talent outside but they don’t play great D.

12/15: 107-80. 3 straight with 100 or more.

+13, -5, 83-52%.

80, 10, 4, 1, 7 for Ali, most points all season.

#8, RPI #1. Hm. Why aren’t we ranked higher?

Big challenge next, 11-0, #4 Arizona, there. Only played 3 ranked teams. Solid at all 5 spots, good bench, they do everything well. This will be a challenge.

12/19: 89-59. Great win!

+17, -9, 65-32%.

70, 11, 1, 0, 4 for Ali. He has now hit 495 straight free throws.

[Wayne23]

7-4 Air Force is in. I don’t see them staying with us.

12/22: 77-37. Low scoring game. +10, even, 64-23%. More D than we usually play.

58, 13, 3, 1, 7 for Ali. 8 RBs for Camp, Kirk played well.

12/25: Still only at #8, #1 RPI. Why aren’t we ranked #1? We’ve beaten 4 top 25 teams, three of them in the top 7, all on the road.

4-6 Louisville is in to close out the pre-conference season. This is not the usual Louisville team. Some strength inside but weak at guard and their starting PG just flunked off the team.

12/26: 91-63.

+3, +1, 56-36% (low shooting pct. for us).

53, 10, 4, 0, 5 for Ali, 9, 7, 3, 1, 1 for Camp, 9, 1, 1, 2 for Smog.

1/1: Still #8. I don’t get it. We’re 13-0.

Ali is #1 nationally in pts., field goal %, blocks, #2 in rebounding. As a team we are #1 in pts. FG %, blocks, #3 in assists.

[Wayne23]

6-7 Yale is in to start the conf. season. The challenge will be to motivate my guys for next 14 games, none of which should be much of a challenge.

1/2: 92-59.

+7, +2, 72-43%.

50, 7, 4, 0, 3 for Ali, 9 for Fark, 7 for Kirk.

At 8-6, 0-1 Penn next. They lost to #4 Kansas by only one but they’ve lost their last three to bottom feeders. Best player is out with a broken elbow.

1/5: 99-74.

+13, -6, 80-55%.

76, 8, 1, 1, 3 for Ali, 8, 2, 13 for Fark, 6, 1, 5 for Smog. Penn’s starting guards had 19 each.

#4, RPI #1. We’re finally climbing.

8-7, 1-1 Brown is here. Some talent at guard.

1/9: 95-67.

+13, +3, 71-45%.

57, 10, 8, 5, 0 for Ali, 11, 1, 3 for Smog, 8, 6, 2 for Camp, 9, 1, 4 for Fark.

[Wayne23]

At 7-9, 1-2 Cornell.

1/12: 95-69.

+9, +2, 76-53%, fouls 13-22.

49, 5, 8, 2, 5 for Ali, 12, 5, 4 for Carr, 11, 8, 4, 1, 2 for Smog, 8, 3, 2, 1 for Camp.

At 8-9, 3-1 Dartmouth.

1/16: 96-67.

+4, +4, 67-47%.

63, 11, 3, 1, 1 for Ali. 567 straight free throws. 8, 2, 4, 1, 1 for Smog, 7, 1, 8 for Fark, 6, 3, 3 for Kirk.

At 5-13, 3-2 Columbia.

1/19: 101-63.

+5, +4, 67-39%.

66, 9, 5, 1, 3 for Ali, 6 each for Camp, Smog, Fark and King.

Not writing much because there’s not much to write.

[Wayne23]

At 7-10, 3-3 Princeton.

1/23: 99-59.

+21, -6, 77-37%.

68, 11, 2, 0, 2 for Ali, 6, 2, 5, 1 for Fark.

We’ve now played and destroyed everyone in the conf. We get to play them all again.

At 7-13, 1-6 Yale. Beat them by 33.

1/26: 97-65. They got 1 point better.

+21, -4, 69-41%.

68, 16, 5, 1, 4 for Ali.

1/29: Ali is #1 on the Norton List.

11-10, 3-5 Penn is in. Beat them by 25.

1/30: 82-52.

+10, -5, 64-32%.

65, 17, 1, 0, 4 for Ali.

[Wayne23]

At 12-10, 5-4, tied for 2nd Brown. Beat them by 28.

2/2: 103-82.

+9, +2, 70-55%.

69, 13, 4, 1, 1 for Ali, 12, 2, 3, 1, 1 for Smog, 8, 2, 7 for Fark. Their SG had 32.

#2, RPI #2. We have a 5 game lead after 10 played.

10-13, 4-6 Cornell is here. Beat them by 26.

2/6: 99-58.

+7, +4, 68-35%.

48, 12, 6, 1, 2 for Ali, 10, 1, 1, 1 for Carr7 each for Smog and Will, 6 for Camp.

11-13, 6-5 Dartmouth is here. They’re in a two way tie for 2nd. Beat them by 29.

2/9: 90-61.

+5, +3, 65-46%.

63, 10, 2, 0, 4 for Ali, 9, 3, 2 for Fark, 8, 2, 2, 1 for Carr.

Ali is still #1 on the Norton List. He’s still #1 in PPG. FG %, Blocks, #2 in RBs. He has made 630 straight free throws. As a team we’re #1 in PPG, FG %, assists per game, #2 in blocks. We’re 25-0, 12-0, with a 6 game lead and two to play.

[Wayne23]

At 7-18, 5-7 Columbia. Beat them by 38.

2/13: 100-62.

+4, +9, 72-42%, fouls 14-22.

61, 7, 2, 3, 5 for Ali, 8, 2 for Mull, 6 each for Smog, Carr. Kirk.

Princeton, 11-15, 7-6, alone in 2nd 6 back, is in to close out the regular season. Beat them by 40 there.

2/16: 103-54.

+20, +3, 71-35%.

61, 12, 6, 0, 6 for Ali, 8, 7, 3 for Camp, 8, 1, 1, 1 for Carr, 7, 6 for Smog, 73, 3 for Fark, 5, 4, 3, 1 for Sass.

Off for a month. Not good but playing only 14 games in conf. and not having a tourney does that.

2/19: #2, RPI #1, bubble watch #6, which would be a 2 seed. #1 North Carolina has 3 losses.

3/5: Ali remains #1 on the Norton List, we’re #5 on the bubble watch.

[Wayne23]

3/12: Dropped to #3? Behind Arizona who we beat by 30 and who have 3 losses?

Selection day. Hoping for a #2 and not sure we’ll get it when we should get a #1.

Not in the East.

#2 Midwest behind Duke. #3 is MD, #4 Gonzaga. We’ll play Air Force who we crushed by 40 earlier. They’re 18-13, 7-7, finished 5th, then won their tourney.

3/16: 93-58. King strained a hamstring, out about two weeks, so maybe for the rest of the season. He doesn’t play much.

+7, +6, 60-34%.

56, 10, 7, 0, 3 for Ali, 9 each for Camp and Carr, 8 for Smog.

#10 seed Buffalo upset #7 Kansas State. They’re 25-7, 13-3, won the regular season and the tourney.

3/18: 94-65.

+14, -5, 66-39%.

59, 12, 3, 0, 6 for Ali, 11, 6 for Sass, 9 for Smog. This was probably our last easy game.

[Wayne23]

#6 seed, unranked UConn upset Maryland. They’re 22-10, 11-5, finished 2nd, lost in the title game. Won 4 of last 5, 8 of last 10. Starting C out with broken ankle. Very strong outside but weak inside with the C gone.

3/23: 90-61.

+2, +3, 58-40%.

72, 16, 0, 2, 5 for Ali.

#1 North Carolina was crushed by #18 FL ST.

#1 seed, #6 ranked Duke in the Elite Eight. They’re 28-6, 11-5, finished 3rd, lost in the first round. 3-2 in their last 5. They play 7 guys, all of whom play D.

3/25: 100-79. They never led but they kept it fairly close for 33-35 minutes.

+6, even, 55-59% (Don’t remember being out shot in the Ali era).

66, 11, 1, 2, 1 for Ali, 10, 3 for Smog.

[Wayne23]

On to our 2nd straight Final Four! We’ll play #7 Kansas, and #2 Arizona plays #3 Indiana.

Kansas is 30-6, 13-5, finished 2nd, won the tourney. Won their last 9. Stronger outside but talented inside. Not deep.

4/1: 72-61. We were down as many as 13 in the first and went in down 11. Didn’t take the lead until 7:07 to go and not for good until 4:53. Rice scored 19 straight points during one stretch, and had 11 straight in the last 2 ½ min. He had only 7 in the 1st half.

+7, -11 (worst TO game of the season), 65-43%.

40, 9, 4, 1, 3 for Ali, 11 each for Sass and Fark but Fark had 11 TOs. Not an easy game.

#3 Indiana, 33-5, 13-3, won by 4 so we’ll play them for the title. Finished 1st, won the tourney, won their last 13. Very solid at 2, 3, 4 but 1 and 5 are shaky and there’s not much bench.

4/3: We had to earn it, 82-78. Once again we went into the locker room trailing, this time only by 3. We quickly built a 13 point lead in the 2nd but Indiana came back. They tied it twice but never took the lead. In the last 2 ½ minutes Ali hit 2 threes and 6 free throws to get us the title.

+2, -8, 62-48%, fouls 24-16.

Ali had 59, 6, 2, 4, 2 but 5 TOs and 4 fouls. He played the entire 40 min. 6 each for Sass and Camp. Last game for Kirk, Carr and Sass.

66 wins in a row, Ali has a total of more than 4,000 points in two years. He informed me on the plane home that he intends to do two Masters degrees here after finishing his B. A. requirements next semester, one in math, one in English, sort of simultaneously. He says he wants to be well rounded academically. Then it’s off to Cornell for the Ph.D. in astrophysics. So he’ll play here for four years.

4/4: Awards: Ali gets the Norton, the WS Player of the Year, the NCAA MOP, Defensive POY, 1st team All American, and I get the national Coach of the year. In conf., Ali is POY, Def. POY, 1st team, and I get Coach of the year.

4/9: #207 PG Marc Walk commits. I get some pretty terrific job offers, none of which I have the slightest interest in. Maybe when Ali graduates I’ll go for the $.

4/16: No staff vacancies.

4/23: I ask for a facilities upgrade. I get it, we move from C level to B level facilities.

4/30: My numbers: 66-0 in the Ali era, Off. 61, Def. 65, Recruit 61, Scout 52, Player Development 63, Reputation 61. Pretty good!

Ali’s numbers for two years are 4,046 points, 742 RBs, 241 assists, 238 blocks, 80 steals, 58n TOs, 1.8 fouls per game. He has hit 794 straight free throws, his FG % is .932, and on threes it’s .947. Best college hoops player ever if he never played another game.