Superstar 3

[Wayne23]

7-18, 5-7 Brown is in. Beat them by 28 but they’re 4-1 in the last 5.

2/13: 98-57. +20, -1, 68-38%.

75, 15, 1, 0, 4 for Ali, 5, 8, 5 for King.

Kirk is 100%.

We wind up the regular season at 12-14, 6-7 Columbia, alone in 3rd place, 7 games back. Beat them by only 19 at our place.

2/16: 97-65. +14, +1, 75-43%.

70, 8, 5, 4, 4 for Ali, 9, 2, 4, 3, 1 for Kirk, 5, 8, 5 for Camp.

Adam Will, who doesn’t play much, hurt his back. Out about a week.

I believe we’re finished until the NCAA tourney. Last I checked the Ivy League doesn’t have a tourney.

3/5: #2, RPI #2, but the bubble watch has us at #11.

3/12: Dropped to #4 in the polls, still #2 RPI, which makes little sense if any.

[Wayne23]

#4 in the toughest bracket, the East. Oh well. Duke, #1 in the country all year, is #1. Auburn is #5.

We’ll play Kent State, 21-10, 9-6 in the Mid-American. Finished 3rd but won the tourney. Won last 6, 8 of 9. Starting SF, back up PG out with injuries. Some strength.

3/14: Penn beat Wagner in the CHI.

3/16: 76-37. Least points we’ve scored, least we’ve given up, all year. Yes, they played slow down. No, it didn’t help them.

+19, +2, 60-31%.

59, 9, 4, 1, 3 for Ali, 8, 7, 1, 1 for King, 4, 4, 4 for Frak.

#5 seed, #16 ranked Auburn, 23-7, 11-4. Finished 1st, lost in the title game. Starting C will play hurt. Guards are very strong. Highest ranked team we’ve faced all year. We’ve never advanced beyond the round of 32.

3/18: 98-71. They led by as many as 9 early but we took control late in the 1st half.

+16, -1, 62-45%, fouls 16-28. Too many whistles. Fark fouled out in 16 min.

69, 16, 1, 2 for Ali, 14, 3, 1, 2 for Kirk, 5, 3, 4, 1, 2 for Odom as backup PG.

3/21: Penn lost in the CHI.

[Wayne23]

We play #1 in the country Duke in the Sweet Sixteen, which is too early. We should have had at least one more game, maybe 2 before facing them. Oh well, our schedule wasn’t that strong despite the RPI. Duke is 31-1, 15-1, finished first, won the tourney. Terrific starting 5, no bench. They play D, take care of the ball and rebound. Let’s see what happens.

3/23: 50-32 at the half, 86-65 at the end. For the first time, I think we can win it all. Oh, Ali outscored their entire team despite being doubled and even tripled all night.

+8, -9, 65-37%.

69, 15, 5, 3, 9 for Ali, 7, 4 for Kirk. Amazing!

#3 seed, #4 ranked Arizona is next. How loaded can one bracket be! They’re 30-5, 13-3, won the conf. and the tourney, haven’t lost since 1/13. As with Duke they do everything well. The difference is that they are deep, 9 or 10 guys can play.

3/25: 48-28 at the half, 88-68 at the end.

+23, -15 (24 TOs!), 60-36%, fouls 16-25.

52, 17, 1, 1, 4 for Ali, 10, 3, 1 for Kirk, 9, 1, 2 for Odom, Carr had 9 RBs, Camp 8.

On to the Final Four!

[Wayne23]

All the favorites are gone. We’ll play #12 North Carolina State, and it’s #8 North Carolina vs. #10 Indiana in the other game. At #4 we have to be the favorite.

NC State is 28-6, 13-3, and yes, we beat them by 18 in the season opener.
Won 8 of last 9, losing to Duke in the tourney final. Strong inside but score in and out.

4/1: 88-60, it was never close. They worked to limit Ali’s production so the rest of the guys upped theirs.

+11, -4, 66-36%.

41, 14, 5, 2, 2 for Ali, 11, 5, 3 for Kirk, 11, 4, 3 for Odom, 8, 1, 1, 1 for Carr, 5, 3, 4 for Camp. Fark had 10 TOs.

We get to play for the title. Beyond my wildest dreams.#10 ranked Indiana, 29-8, 10-6, is the opponent. They finished 3rd but got hot and won the tourney, and their last 8 games. 6 guys contribute, 3 of whom are very good, PG, SF, PF. They play D and are decent rebounders but we think we can turn them over. This is it!

4/3: What a game!!! Indiana owned the first half and went in with an 11 point lead, their biggest of the night and one they held on three different occasions. Their 2 was killing us but all 5 starters were scoring way too easily. Ali got into foul trouble and had to sit out the last 8 minutes of the first half, which was huge, of course, and that’s when the trouble happened.

We came back in the 2nd, and built a 7 point lead. Then Fark, and soon after, Ali picked up foul #4. I tried to play O/D when I could but Indiana came back and took a lead. They were up 3 with :27 left. I called my last TO and put Ali and Fark back in and set up a 3 for Ali, which everyone in the building knew I would do. Despite that fact, he managed to shake off 2 defenders and hit the 3 with the third defender in his face. For the first time all year we were going to OT. Of course Fark and Ali still had 4 fouls.

Fortunately Indiana’s SG fouled out in the first minute of OT. He left with 22 points. The OT went back and forth, with no one ever leading by more than 3. With :44 left we were up 2. They brought it down, going at Ali in hopes of fouling him out. He was careful but had to give ground and his man tied it with :12 left. The season came down to one possession. Indiana decided to foul on the inbounds pass (anyone but Ali, obviously) and they fouled Kirk. He hit both so it was Indiana ball with :09 left. We played tight man to man.

They went for all the marbles with a 3 by their PG, and it missed. Ali grabbed the RB as time expired and we won 76-74. As I said, WHAT A GAME!!! The only one all year where we were challenged and we met the challenge.

+14, -13 (24 TOs almost killed us), 57-46%, fouls 18-13.

52, 12, 3, 2, 5 for Ali but 3 TOs and 4 fouls. 11, 2, 3, 0, 2 for Fark but 8 TOs and 4 fouls. There were a couple of times when I’m not quite sure how I avoided a T, but fortunately I did avoid getting one. Their coach was as close as I was but perhaps because it was for the title, no T was called either way.

Awards: Ali was national player of the year and tourney MOP, as well as Freshman of the year, defensive player of the year and first team. He didn’t win the Norton Award because he wasn’t nominated. I was named national coach of the year. Ali got all of the same awards in conf. I got the coach award. No one else on the team was recognized.

4/9: Still chasing that second recruit.

4/16: Hired a new staff.

4/23: Going for more budget $. Got $10,000.

4/30: Ali finished the year with 62.0 points per, 1.6 RBs, 3.6 assists, 1.4 steals, 2.9 blocks. He hit 340-340 free throws.

Coach’s numbers: 33-0, 1.000. Off. 55, Def. 57, Recruit 54, Scout 51, Player Development 56, Reputation 49.

[PointGuard]

Quite a year coach.

What a surprise! Ali is national player of the year. LOL

Hey wait a minute, HARVARD is going to sign Juco's????

[Wayne23]

Yeah good point about the Jucos. Maybe not.

[Wayne23]

5/1: A new season. We buy the National basic and Eastern Gold.

6/5: We go for one transfer.

6/12: Didn’t get him.

6/26: 5 to fill. Looking at 28, all Seniors, with GPA between 3.4 and 4.0.

8/7: Ali Rice is #1 on the Norton List.

Lots of players interested in us.

8/21: Not offering until next month, I want one more update on ratings.

9/4: Offering to 3 bigs, 2 PGs.

9/11: Home visits.

9/18: Encouraged by the response from four of our recruits. A MUCH tougher schedule this year, 7 ranked teams and most of the others in pre-conf. are three stars or better.

9/25: Got one, #117 SF Art Cook. Looking pretty good for the others.

10/2: Got two, lost one. Got Rick Alt, #195 PF, Mike Lamp, #254 PG. Not impressed with the numbers but they will change once more so we could get lucky with a few. Two more to sign.

First day of practice. I think we may be stronger than last year overall. Smog is a big improvement at SG, or looks to be so far.

Picked first in conf., not a surprise.

10:23: Still chasing those recruits. Picked #3 in a new poll.

11/2: 1st exhibition is vs. Vermont. I decide not to play Ali. I need to see what the other guys can do. Maybe I’ll play him late. Also, Will and Mull seem about useless so they’ll share a spot. So, playing 11 guys as 10.

37-32 at the half.

79-70. +9, -2, 48-41%, fouls 15-7. Carr and King need to step it up, Fark, Smog, Camp, Sass and King looked really good.

11/7: 2nd exhibition is vs. Vermont. 17-26 at the half. Shooting 21%.

I decide to take the loss and not play Ali.

52-69. -17, -1, 32-42%, fouls 13-9.

Biggest change will be Sass will get minutes.

[Wayne23]

We start the season at #23 LSU. They are definitely tough inside but don’t seem to have much at guard. Here we go!

11/14: 85-49. I guess we’ll do okay again this year!

+8, -4, 67-37%, fouls 9-16.

63, 10, 2, 0, 9 for Ali, 6, 3, 5 for Sass.

At #7, 1-0, Florida. These guys can play. VERY strong inside. They may turn it over, that’s what we’re going to try to make happen. This one could end the win streak if we aren’t on our game.

11/17: A real war. It was close for 35 minutes. At that point Ali took over, 66-55.

-4, +2, 46-40%, fouls 15-25 and that was the difference. I think this is the first time we shot under 50% during the Ali Rice era.

47, 6, 0 , 2, 5, 4 fouls for Ali, 9, 7, 1 for Camp, 6, 3, 4 for Carr, some good minutes for Kirk.

#9.

Cincinnati, 1-1, is here for our home debut. We’ll raise the championship banner before the game. They beat a cupcake and lost by 20 to #12 Auburn. Strong inside, weak at guard.

11/21: Solid first half sewed it up, 87-58 at the end.

+12, -4, 76-36%.

52, 14, 3, 0, 10 for Ali, a triple double, maybe his first.

[Wayne23]

It was an unbelievable thrill to see the NCAA Championship banner raised at the Pavilion. Never in my wildest dreams… Of course everyone expects three more now. It isn’t that easy. Oh, half of our home games will be played at the Fleet Center.

At #22, 3-0 North Carolina State, who we beat twice last year, once in the Final Four. They’ve beaten three nobodies, and given up points in all 3 games. They are very strong inside.

11/24: 20 lead changes, 13 ties. We finally iced it very late, 84-77.

+3, -5, 66-46%, fouls 20-27 and we won it at the line, 33-18.

51, 8, 3, 1, 5 for Ali, 12, 2, 1 for Kirk.

#7, RPI #7.

Jim Bray, #201 SG, commits. One to go.

3-4 UNLV is here. They don’t look all that talented.

11/28: 88-62 and it was never close.

+1, +7, 65-49%. Rice had 4 fouls and I had to sit him for a few minutes.

47, 9, 5, 3, 6 for Ali, 10, 5 for Camp, 8, 3 for Carr, 7 for Sass, 6 for Kirk, 8 assists for Fark.

Kansas State, 2-1, is in. They haven’t played anyone.

12/1: 93-68.

+22, -3, 59-40%, fouls 9-19.

62, 16, 4, 2, 3 for Ali, 10, 2, 3 for Smog, 8, 4, 3 for Camp, 10 RBs for Carr.

[Wayne23]

4-2 Clemson is here. Weak schedule. Best player broke his leg in their last game.

12/5: 86-44.

+16, +1, 66-30%.

47, 13, 4, 0, 3 for Ali, 11, 2, 1, 1 for Smog.

A real challenge next, at #6, 7-2 Maryland. Crushed by the two Top 5 teams they played. Very strong inside but weak at guard.

12/8: 100-68. Didn’t expect it to be this easy.

+5, +2, 68-45%.

64, 10, 4, 0, 6 for Ali but 4 fouls again, 8, 5, 4, 1 for Camp, 9, 1, 6 for Fark, 5, 3, 5, 2, 2 for Smog, 6, 3, 5 for Carr.

At 4-3 UConn. Weak schedule. More talent than they’ve shown.

12/12: 100-83. Back to back 100 point games. It was close for about 32-33 minutes, then Ali completely took over.

+12, -2, 65-50%, fouls 13-26.

71, 16, 5, 2, 6 for Ali, 8, 3 for both Carr and Camp.