The Professor

[Wayne23]

13-10, 8-4 California is here. They beat us by 2 at their place. Won their last five. My guys have been very focused at practice. They want a win.

Feb. 9: 71-56. Outside game was hot tonight, 17, 6 for Burt, 12, 3, 3 for Rand. Inside looked good as well, 15, 9 for Hawk, 5, 10, 2 for Eddy, 11, 5, 2 for Wild. 8 TOs, 43 RBs.

Arizona State lost to Colorado so we’re tied again with Colorado one back. Everyone else is out of it. Little used back up guard Earl Ah hurt his toe. Out about two weeks.

Feb. 12: Addy Burt still #1 on the Norton List, and Kent Hawk is #4.

Third place Colorado, #18, 20-4, 10-3, is here. We won by five there. They are 9-1 in their last 10. Starting C is out with broken wrist but they are 2-0 without him. This is a must win. We’re in third place if we lose.

Feb. 13: 83-68. We took charge early and led for the last 38 minutes. 38, 4 for Burt. Good play by all five starters.

Still tied for first.

AT 6-19, 3-11 Oregon. We beat them by 25 at our place. After losing 10 in a row they’ve won their last two. Starting PF lost to grades and first big off the bench tore his ACL. We need to stay focused here.

Feb. 16: 76-67. They stayed with us for a long time. With about 6 ½ left we went on a 12-3 run and that did it. It wasn’t easy though. 10, 13 for Hawk, 16 for Burt. Good bench play did it for us, Wild had 8, 5, 3 and Mack had 14. Barr had 5, 1, 3. I wish the bench were more consistent.

Arizona State was upset by California. If we win our next game we finish first.

Feb. 19: 24-4, #3, RPI # 1.

Our final regular season game is at home against 9-18, 3-12 Oregon State. We beat them by 11 there. Their 1-2-2 confused us some. They’ve lost 5 straight. They are not a very good team.

Feb. 20: 81-66. We never trailed, it was never close. Great work by Burt, Wild, Rand, Barr. 8 TOs. Frontcourt didn’t play that well except for Wild.

Nine songs written. We’re still tweaking all of them but minor changes. They are essentially ready to record and to perform. That’s the question, do we perform before recording. I make the occasional concert but not often.

And it’s the post season. Lots of time off before our first game, more than two weeks. We’ll rest aching bodies for a while, then do enough to stay and shape and walk through all the things we need to do.

Feb. 26: #3, RPI #1.

March 5: Still #3, #1.

Good news, bad news. Burt #1, Hawk #7 on the Norton List. But freshmen Russ Wild and Kev Eddy declare for the draft (And of course, the game, wrongly, does not allow me to recruit their replacements. This needs a fix. The only way now is to cut them and take the hit. Worth it?).

Okay, song writing, song tweaking, piano and guitar practice, singing with Dawn, all about to lessen considerably. Back to full time coaching (and part time research and part time work with grad students).

[Wayne23]

March 9: Play in games. Utah and UCLA both upset victims. We’ll play #9 seed, 19-11, 7-9 Arizona in the round of eight. Beat them by 17 at our place. They are 4-1 after losing 5 straight. We want to be in the PG’s face all night.

March 10: 78-57. We were in control all the way. 24, 6 for Burt, 14, 9, 3 for Hawk, 13, 5, 6 for Rand with 1 TO.

HUGE upset, Arizona State is gone, beaten by USC.

15-13, 9-7, #4 seed California in the round of four. We lost by two there, won by 15 at home. 2-3 in their last 5. They score outside. Not great with the ball.

March 11: 83-63. Again, we were in control all the way. 24, 4, 3 for Burt, 19, 11, 4 for Hawk, 7, 6, 8 for Rand. Barr and Wild played well from the bench.

We’re now #2, RPI #1. #18 ranked, #3 seed, 24-5, 12-4 Colorado for the title. A win could get us #1 overall. Beat them by 5 there and then 15 at home. They’ve won their last 4, 7 of 8, 13 of 15. Starting C out with a broken wrist but it hasn’t seemed to hurt them that much. Makes the bench shorter. This should be a good one!.

March 12: 90-75. 22 each for Burt and Hawk. +7 TO, +4 RB.

Nope. Indiana is #1. We’re #2 overall, #1 in the Midwest (another glitch. Why the h*ll has this never been fixed. The two best teams ALWAYS are set up to meet in the semifinal not the final.)

[Wayne23]

March 13: UCLA wins, Cal loses in the NIT.

March 14: USC loses in the NCAA play in.

March 15: UCLA wins in the NIT.

#16 seed, 20-11 UMBC. Finished fifth then won the tourney. This is a team we should beat.

March 16: 67-38. +6 TO, +3 RB. Very good play by all five starters.

March 17: Utah won, Arizona State shocked again, losing by 2, in the NCAA.
#8 seed, 19-12 Kansas is next. Tough season. They have a very good C but he doesn’t get much help.

March 18: 65-46. Rand had 21, 4, and the rest of the starters plus Barr played really well.

Colorado won, Arizona lost in the NCAAs.

March 19: Utah lost in the NCAA.

March 20: UCLA won again in the NIT. They’re in the final four.

No time to even think about music these days except for the hour I set aside for practice.

[Wayne23]

#5 seed, #9 ranked, 28-5 Gonzaga in the Sweet Sixteen. We beat them by 4 there. 6 straight wins and then 14 before the one loss. Yes, they’re hot!
They score outside. Decent but not great inside.

March 23: A battle! Interestingly enough we never trailed and it was never tied after 0-0, but we never led by more than 9. Balance was the key, 8 guys scored between 5 and 16. -3 TO, +9 RB.

On to the Elite Eight! Barely, but we’re there.

#3 seed, #10 ranked, 28-5 Cincinnati. Very good outside. 6 wins in a row, 9 of 10, 13 of 15. Starting AS out with a broken finger. We think we’re the better team, but not by a lot.

March 25: 76-65. BIG game for Burt, 32, 2, 3. 13, 6 for Hawk, 10, 6, 1 for Wild, 7, 3, 6 for Rand.

Costly injury. Lee Barr sprained his big toe and he’s out for at least a week, so probably for the rest of the way.

We’ll face #1 ranked Indiana in the round of four. #3 Georgia Tech plays #4 Louisville so the top four teams made it to the Final Four.

[Wayne23]

#1 ranked, #2 RPI, 34-0 Indiana will be very tough to beat. But their very good starting SF broke his elbow in their last game. That hurts the starting lineup and shortens the bench. They are very strong at the other four spots.

They do everything well. Barr will be able to play some for us but not a great deal. This is my third trip to the Final Four and there’s nothing like it.

April 1: 74-62. 10 lead changes, 7 ties. We were down 2 with 3:45 left, at the final media time out. We outscored Indiana 18-4 from there until the end. At that time out we decided to double the PG who had been killing us all night. He didn’t get another point and we forced 4 critical turnovers. In addition, we didn’t miss a shot from then on.

26, 3, 2 for Burt, who has been the man all season. 7, 13, 2 for Hawk, 10, 4, 2 for Fitz and 10, 3, 2 for Rand. Good bench play. +1 TO, even in RBs.

Really a nail biter for the first 36 minutes. We were there when it counted. Now we get to play for the title.

Kent Hawk has tendinitis but he’ll definitely play. Barr, who played well in limited time is still not 100%, but he too will play.

It’s #3 ranked, #3 RPI, 32-5 Georgia Tech. We beat them by 12 at home. There was a huge disparity in fouls, in our favor, and that was the difference. This is a very good team. If both teams play their best this will be very close. No more to be said, it’s time to play!

April 3: 74-52! We came to play and we PLAYED! 23, 10 for Addy Burt in his last game with us. Great player! 12, 7, 2 for Hawk despite the slight injury. 12, 4, 7 for Rand who was there when we needed him to be. Very steady, and he shut down their PG. 13, 4, 3 for Fitz. 13 TOs, 41 RBs and the title!!!

While there is nothing quite like the first national title, this one feels really special.

April 4: Awards: Addy Burt wins the Norton, WS POY, NCAA Final Four MOP, first team All American. Kent Hawk is 2nd team. I get national Coach of the Year.

In the Pac 12, Addy was POY and 1st team along with Kent. Will Rand made 2nd team and I got Coach of the Year.

April 9: Some very high profile teams want me to coach, including Kansas and Maryland. No thanks.

April 16: No staff vacancies. LOVE my staff!

April 23: I ask for a facilities upgrade. Didn’t get it last year. Didn’t get it this year either!

Season #6 ends with my second national championship. I’m at 169-44, .793.

Off.- 39, Def.- 56, Recruit- 99, Scout- 95, Player Development- 55, Reputation- 76. Not bad at all! We should contend again next year with Hawk, Rand, Barr back and some excellent recruits including 3 top 10 coming in, plus red shirt Lem Span. I think we’ll be fine.

Lots to do so no vacation. All the teaching and coaching responsibilities, plus we start recording next week. I love the life I’m leading. At times it is too much and at other times it is WAY too much but I don’t know what I would cut.

Dawn and I have a great relationship we are friends and by now considerably more than friends but she has absolutely no interest in marriage and family, doesn’t want kids. I do, but I don’t want to lose her and the great thing we have going. I suppose at some point that will become a serious issue, but I have plenty of time so I’m staying, for now, maybe for as long as she’ll have me. We maintain separate residences but usually stay together when we’re both in town, sometimes at her place sometimes at mine. She has a gorgeous place just southeast of San Francisco. Like mine it is big enough to suit her needs but not ostentatious, and definitely not a mansion.

[Wayne23]

May 1: Preseason #2.

And we’re off! Once again we buy national gold and international basic.

May 11: Finished recording the album. We both love the sound. It really is just what we hoped it would be. I’m able to make some of Dawn’s concerts and really enjoying performing. We’re even talking about me singing a couple on lead.

May 19: I negotiated with the stats department to go part time. I will continue to do research, will work with one Ph. D. student and one Masters student, and will teach only one class, during the summer. Something needed to go. My research is important to me, and I like working with grad students. This way I keep a little of both. Teaching the summer class, also to grad students, is also something I want to keep doing. This will free up some time and that simply had to happen.

June 5: Looking at a few transfers. We have one open slot.

June 12: We get Ray Hart, a highly rated SG who was at Arizona. Now to get him eligible!

June 25: We have the money so we’re going to the camps.

June 26: Kev Eddy went #5 in the draft, Addy Burt only #21, a steal, Russ Wild #29, Len Fitz #57.

July 1: Can’t believe it. Dave Van Ronk was back in SF. Dawn and I saw him, said hello afterward. He was incredibly gracious and we were with him ‘til daybreak. He showed me a few things on guitar. I just got taught some stuff by one of the world’s best guitar players.

Three scholarships to give. We want at least two big guys.

Looking at 16- 1 PG, 3 SG, 4 SF, 4 PF, 4 C.

July 11: We will do two weeks of kid camps again.

July 22: I think we have a better, deeper team than we had last year. It’s difficult to say that based upon what we accomplished last year, but what I saw this week repeatedly amazed me.

“Dawn- New Morn” comes out Aug. 3. The buzz is pretty loud.

[Wayne23]

Aug. 7: The album debuts at #1. How cool is that. I’m on all but two of the songs.

7 on the Norton List: PG Will Rand at #15, SF Ed Jobe at #23, C Rick Jay at #26, C Al Budd at #27, PG Lee Barr at #33, SF Dan Mack at #41, PF Kent Hawk at #42. When Hawk is regarded as our 7th best player I’d say we’re going to be pretty good!

Aug. 21: We offer to three Small Forwards. I know, seems weird to me too, but there it is.

Sept. 11: 5 weeks at #1. The album is a huge success. The single from the album that we released two weeks ago is at #4.

I visit our three recruits plus one other who we’d like to have.

Sept. 18: Got two, lost one. #5 SF Tom Owen and #11 SF Brad Arms committed. Offering to #3 SG Jon Gatt.

We’re at the Las Vegas Winter jam in Dec. Playing almost all ranked teams in the preseason.

Sept. 25: Got Gatt. So we should be through with recruiting. All three are good students so barring a surprise on SAT day we’re set.

Oct. 2: First day of practice. Wow! My second five look like they could finish in the top 10.

The album is still #1 and the single is #3.

Nov. 6: The guys have looked terrific in practice. Two exhibition games this week. Can’t wait.

I’ve had the chance to do several concerts with Dawn. I’m enjoying it more and more. Meeting a lot of people who always seemed more like legends than real people. Most of them are pretty cool. Met "Bob" and hung out with him for a few hours. Yep, he’s about as weird as I thought he would be. It’s hard to tell how much is real and how much is an act. He is clearly kind of… I don’t know if the word is shy, but definitely careful around people he doesn’t know well. Oh, and he’s bright as can be. He asks insightful questions. He wasn’t interested in my coaching. “Are you that football guy?” But he had a lot of questions about statistics, listened carefully to my answers and asked very sophisticated follow up questions for one not in the field. He was willing to discuss the songwriting process as well, which I found fascinating.

Old "Jack" truly does not ever stop “ramblin’.” It’s tough to get a word in. He is very entertaining though.

Lots of others. I’m sure I’ll talk about some of them from time to time. It is certainly not a world I ever expected to be part of.

[Wayne23]

Nov. 13: We’re going with a 7 man rotation, at least for now.

We begin at #25 Wake Forest. Not much to go on.

Nov. 14: 71-62. 28, 13 for Rick Jay at C, 15, 6, 2 for Rand at SG (not PG this year), 7, 9, 2 for Jobe at SF. 9 TOs, 39 RBs. We beat a ranked team on the road. I’ll take it.

Home debut vs. #12, 1-0 Syracuse. They appear to be excellent outside and good inside. (Syracuse playing man to man?)
Jay tweaked a shoulder. Day to day.

Nov. 17: 75-58. 18, 9, 3 for Clay Herr at PG, 16, 6, 3 for Jay, 15, 5, 2 for Rand, 11, 2, 4 for Barr from the bench. Our backcourt outplayed theirs, and our inside game was also better. 9 TOs, 35 RBs.

Nov. 20: All of our recruits signed. We are looking at a big guy just in case someone goes pro. He’s the only guy left worth watching for us.

#3, RPI #8.

At #23, 1-1 Duke. They were just crushed by #1 Oklahoma. They are very deep.

Nov. 21: 77-65. This was a battle for 29 minutes. AT the media time out I woke the guys up, tweaked the D to try to stop the three. They had hit eleven of them at that point. We definitely woke up and Duke only hit one more three. We brought a 2 point lead to 15 and held on from there. 17, 11, 2 for Jay who has been terrific, 17, 4, 5 for Rand, 15, 3 for Barr, 9, 7, 2 for Herr, but he fouled out in 25 min. Barr and Rand filled in very well at the Point.

#11, 2-1 UConn is here. They’ve become the power in the Northeast. Very good at PG, SG and C, but that is it. Not a great defensive team.

Nov. 24: 79-48. We jumped out to a big early lead and never looked back. 21, 14, 4, with 5 steals for Rick Jay, 11, 5, 9 for Rand, 15, 7, 3 for Jobe, 10, 7 for Hawk, who isn’t seeing the ball on O this year with all of our other weapons, 6, 3, 6 for Barr. +6 TO, +20 RB.

Definitely our best game so far.

#4, RPI #1.

Deciding to ease off the professorial responsibilities was a very good decision. Coaching is a more than full time job, and I am doing more with music all the time. I am writing very seriously now, sometimes with dawn and sometimes on my own. One of my songs is being “shopped” by my agent (Dawn’s agent is now mine as well), and several well known artist are interested. I have a few others that are not quite ready, but I think they are the best I’ve done. As with anything else, there’s a learning curve and I am learning how to write good songs. There is even talk of a solo album. We’ll see.

[Wayne23]

#6 ranked, 5-1 Michigan State is here. Very strong outside. Weak schedule though. PF broke his toe.

Nov. 28: 76-59. They stayed with us for a long time but eventually foul trouble did them in. We couldn’t stop their SG, who had 34. We absolutely owned the inside, 19, 10, 2 for Hawk, 17, 11, 1 for Jay, 10, 7, 2 for Jobe, 9, 5 for Budd, +18 RB (+5 TO). 5, 7, 7 for Herr with only 1 TO.

5 games played, 5 games scoring in the 70s.

Not another home game until Dec. 19. Home for three days only, Dec. 10-12, in all that time.

At 4-1 Oklahoma State. They’ve played a very weak schedule. Good with the ball but they don’t seem to play a lot of D.

Dec. 1: 75-70. We led all the way but never by more than 10. We didn’t play great D and bench play almost did us in, 32, 13, 4 for them, 6, 7, 6 for us. 16 TOs, worst of the season (-4), but +8 RB. 29, 2, 4 for Rand, 21, 9, 2 for Jay, 10, 8 for Hawk. PG Herr had 7, 8, 5 but 6 TOs. Not at our best tonight.

George Harrison is going to record my song as a single. I am really excited about this.

At #16, 5-1 Maryland. Played one ranked team- lost. SG is very good. They rebound and they take care of the ball. But except for SG they don’t play much D. It’s a roads game though and if we aren’t on our game we could be in trouble.

Dec. 5: 79-70. We led all the way, and by as many as 19. They came back at the end but the final margin of 9 was as close as it ever got after the first few minutes. 17, 2, 2 for Herr, 16, 8, 2 for Jay, 14, 7, 2 for Budd from the bench, 8, 9 for Mack from the bench, 9, 3, 4 for Barr from the bench. Rand had an off night, 1-8. 12 TOs, 43 RBs.

This victory came at a great cost. Starting SF Ed Jobe tore up his left knee very early in the game. He is out for at least a full year. We’ll start Al Budd, and move Dan Mack up in the rotation, but this will hurt some. I’m glad we’re deep.

At 0-5 Cincinnati. This was supposed to be a good team, ranked #25 in the preseason. They’ve lost badly to 2 ranked opponents and in close games with three cup cakes. They have a lot of trouble scoring points. They seem to take care of the ball, they play decent D, but they don’t rebound well. Trying to keep my guys focused. Surprises happen on the road.

Dec. 8: 70-61. We went down by 11 in the first half, most of the season. At the half it was 8. We reworked the D to stop the outside shot and turned things around. We took our first lead with 3:02 left and scored the last 11 points of the game to win by 9. Rick Jay had a monster game, 26, 20, 2. 12, 6, 5 for Rand. We won it on the boards, +15, and with great second half D, holding them to 19 in the second.

Met George Harrison. He’s a great guy. The single will come out in early January. I have a bunch of songs written now. Dawn says she already has two that she wants to record on her next album. Our agent really does want me to put out an album of my own. Thinking about it.

Dec. 11: 8-0, #1, RPI #1.

Looking forward to that short visit home.

[Wayne23]

It was nice to sleep in our own beds for three nights. Now we’re in Las Vega, first vs. UNLV, and then at the Winter Jam. At least we’re not flying from place to place every other day.

UNLV is 6-2, unranked. Weak Schedule. Two bad losses, no quality wins. They rebound well but cough up the ball fairly easily. Good inside D but not as good outside.

Dec. 13: 77-60. 45 rebounds. Lee Barr was terrific. He played 30 min. and had 24, 2, 5. Al Budd was not effective so we gave Lee his chance. Dan Mack is starting to produce, 3, 7, 2 tonight. 14, 5, 4 for Herr, 9, 4, 7 for Rand, 9 and 10 for Jay, 11, 9 for Hawk.

9 games played, 9 games scoring in the 70s.

We’re the #1 seed at the Las Vegas Winter Jam and it’s a pretty good field. We play #8 seed, 4-2 Southern Illinois. They beat Houston by 2 at home. Other than that they haven’t played anyone. They don’t play much D. Good center but not much else.

Dec. 16: 73-60. Closer than it should have been. They stayed with us for about 32 minutes, mostly because we were awful, +1 TO (18), -3 RB and poor D. In the end we had too much talent but we didn’t make very good use of it. Rick Jay was in foul trouble all night, as was Hawk.

#4 seed, 5-2 Florida State in the semifinals. All four top seeds won. D is shaky but they’re good with the ball and they rebound decently. Lots of guys play. We need to play better than we did last night.

Dec. 17: 72-68. Closest game of the season. We’re road weary. Our big size advantage made the difference, +12 RB, 20, 9 for Jay, 14, 13 for Hawk, 16, 4, 2 for Budd.

#2 seed, #5 ranked, 9-0 Oklahoma for the title. They have a solid backcourt and an excellent PF. 8 of their wins were by a wide margin. PG bruised a thigh in the semis and may not play. If he does he will not be at his best. The key is containing the PF. We may pressure the PG, given the injury.

Dec. 18: 69-76. The PG played 20 very good minutes, we contained the PF (15, 5), but the SG killed us (32 points, 8 threes). They had a lot of weapons. We had a season high 21 TOs, -6, were only +2 RB, and no one really stepped up. A disappointing game. First time we score below 70.

We fly home and play #17, 5-3 Georgia Tech with no day off between games. Not good. They are very good at SG and SF. Played three ranked teams, three losses. They play good D. Last pre-conference game.

Dec. 19: 87-84, OT. 18 TOs, -6, +14 RB. We were too tired to get out on the shooters and they made 13 threes. But they took 41. Their SF had 28. Rick Jay outplayed a very good C, he had 23, 8, 2. 13, 13 for Budd, 13, 10 for Hawk, 21, 5, 4 for Rand. Herr was outstanding, 9, 11, 9 with only three TOs. Bench gave us very little. At the end of regulation GT scored the final five points to tie it. In OT we scored the first 9. They hit a three at the buzzer but we were not in danger during the OT.

We really need some rest. Fortunately, 10 days until our next game.

Dec. 25: We’re still #1, #1. Dawn is on the road so I was alone for the holiday. I spent it playing keyboard and writing songs. Had a great time. Never gave basketball a thought.