Dysfunctional Dave McGee

[Wayne23]

(Author's note: I LOVE it! Answer sometime tonight; it's a crazy busy day.)

[Wayne23]

(2nd author's note: PG, do I have your permission to send this to GMGames where I also publish this dynasty?)

[PointGuard]

Sure...lol...I do it without asking for permission (my bad I guess).

[Wayne23]

April 30: “The son of a b*tch doesn’t even sign his blog, AND he friggin’ spells my name wrong! If I ever run into the b*st*rd I’ll let him know what ‘taken to the woodshed’ means. He’ll have more bruises than Walmart’s apples! (Author’s note: A former UConn men’s basketball coach who shall remain nameless once made this exact offer, live during a press conference to the illiterate chief sportswriter for the Hartford Courant.) I can’t believe he dragged Margie’s name into this. That was unfair, and I’ll tell ya Red, I actually cried when I read it. I got my faults, fine, but Margie was the best thing that ever happened to me, and I’d give my friggin’ right arm ta have her back.”

“I’m with you on that one, Dave. But Dave, it might be a real good idea if you and Lacy spent a little less time in Rhode Island night spots. You know?”

“Yeah, yeah. I guess I’m leavin’ myself open. But the guy didn’t need ta rip me like that. I’m a good coach. My players like me. If he asked them they tell him- and no, I’d don’t mean only when I’m around.”

“Invite him to a practice. That’s where you’re at your best.”

“Frig him. I wanna invite him to a funeral the b*st*rd! Oh, he likes you okay. How much did you pay him?”

Dave smiled after saying that.

“Hey, you know I’m after your job.”

“That’s the LEAST a my worries!”

“An’ a long line a ex-wives. Two! One that died. If she hadn’t I know we’d a got back together sooner or later.”

“Let it go, Dave. Anything you say will only make it worse. The only way to shut these guys up is to win.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

June 5: 2 open slots. We still need good bigs.

June 12: We get Yi Joo, a good looking PF from China.

June 26: 2 scholarships, 2 bigs? 1 and 1? Looking at 3 PGs, 3 Cs.

None of our guys were drafted. I predict Brad Doss will knock ‘em dead if someone gives him a shot and I predict Luke Myer will get significant playing time in the NBA.

It seems like the party that is Dave’s marriage to Lacy is still going strong but they both are beginning to look older than their years.

August 21: We offer to a PG and a PF, both of whom are showing interest.

September 18: Got one. PG, Ric Green. He was at #286 when we started with him. He’s at #91 now but that will change twice more. Close with the big guy.

No tourney again. We’re still loaded with road games but Dave says get more challenges. No ranked teams but lots of 2 ½ to 3 star teams on the road. None of them will come to us.

Got the big guy, PF Matt Hei, #198 right now.

October 2: First practice, always an exciting day. We’re confident that we can be a better team although we still are short a big guy.

We’re picked 2nd, behind Wagner and ahead of CCSU, Sam Franklin, Rob’t Morris.

“No idea yet. Prob’ly depends how good Jed Ray is. He didn’t look like no 5 star guy today.”

“He’s a freshman. It may take some time.”

“Don’t know if we got time.”

“Dave, you need to get more sleep. You look like my dad.”

“Yeah, I am a little tired. Lacy and me been talkin’ about toning the h*ll raisin’ down a little. She’s tired, too.”

“Good idea.”

November 6: Here’s the lineup, for now: senior Matt Cone, junior Ren Hay, and soph Bic Robb will all get time at the Point. Frosh Jed Ray will play SG. Cone, Robb, and soph Ben Ahab will play SF. Soph Ike Ash, a transfer from OK ST, and frosh Ty Bill will start inside with soph Al Mack backing them up.

We start at Savannah ST, then home with Milwaukee.

[Wayne23]

November 20: 58-57 at Savannah ST. We came back from down 17 to take our only lead of the second half with a 15 footer at the buzzer by Ren Hay. 16, 6, 2, 2 for Ty Bill at C. 13, 7 for Ike Ash at PF.

Ren Hay sprained an ankle and is out for 10 days to 2 weeks.

68-48 over Milwaukee in our home debut. We led most of the way. 14, 5, 4 for Ty, 17 for Bic Robb from the bench, 11 each for Matt Cone and Jed Ray. 8 TOs.

“Chew on that you blogger b*tch. Winnin’ will shut you up!”

This week we have a tough one at 0-1 NC ST. then we’re at 2-0 Western Carolina.

November 27: Tough week. 49-52 at NC ST. We couldn’t hit shots in key situations. No one stepped up on O. Highest point total was 10.

65-78 at Western Carolina. D was awful, they shot 54.8%. 14, 8, 2, 3 for Ty, 15 for Matt.

We haven’t found our chemistry yet. Now that Hay is healthy he and Robb are getting Ahab’s minutes.

This week it’s 1-2 Chattanooga here, then we go to #25 UNLV, 4-1.

December 4: 85-54 over Chattanooga. 19, 4, 4 for Jed in his best game so far, but all 5 in doubles. We had only 3 TOs all night.

The injury bug hits again. Jed Ray strained abdominals and is out for about 2 weeks. Hay and Ahab will get his minutes.

80-73 over UNLV. 19 each for Ike and Matt. 13 for Ren. 8, 7 for Al Mack in reserve. 11 TOs.

Injuries are killing us. Ike Ash, starting PF, broke a toe and is out for a month and a half. Big trouble.

Here’s Dave at the postgame press conf.

“Trainer says it’s broken. What can ya do, injuries happen and we’re getting’ clobbered with them right now. Ya gotta play who ya got. Al Mack an’ Ben Ahab will get the minutes. Two starters out for a week and a half is gonna be tough.”

And to me after the press conf.:

“I cannot friggin’ BELIEVE this. Three friggin’ injuries, an’ we lose a big guy. 2 starters out. Sh*t!”

Next week only one game, thankfully. We’re at #25 New Mexico, 5-3.

[Wayne23]

December 11: 46-61 at #25 New Mexico. 19, 13 for Ty, +8 on the boards but except for Ty we just couldn’t generate any offense. At least Jed Ray will be back for our next game.

Next week we host 6-2 Cornell.

Dave is drinking in hotels on our road trips. Lacy sometimes comes on the trips sometimes not. When she has a singing gig she stays home, but her career isn’t exactly taking off outside of the Southern New England area and the geezer communities in FL and AZ.

December 18: 75-52 over Cornell. 19 for Matt, 12, 8 for Ty, 10, 7, 7 for Jed in his return. 8 TOs.

The final pre-conf. game is at 4-5 Mississippi.

December 25: 70-67 at Mississippi. Jed is beginning to show why he’s a 5 star frosh, 31, 5, 3. 10, 7 for Al Mack, 8, 7, 2 for Ty. 12 TOs.

We start conf. play with at old nemesis Sam Franklin, 5-5. Then we host 2-7 Mount Mary.

We celebrated XMas early in the day since we had an 8:00 p.m. flight. It was nice but Dave and Lacy weren’t as into it as usual, and there seemed to be some tension between them.

[Wayne23]

January 1, 2020: 57-68 at Sam Franklin. 15, 4, 4 for Matt, 13, 5 for Jed but we didn’t get it done inside.

“D*mn! We need Ash!”

53-37 with Mount Mary. 24, 7, 3, 5 for Ty. 15. 4, 3, 4 for Jed. 9, 5, 6 for Ren Hay. 4 TOs.

“We just gotta stay close ‘til Ash gets back, 3-4 more games.”

Lacy hasn’t come on the last few road trips. Dave doesn’t talk about her- ever. Hey, he might make a year with this marriage.

Jean just got a promotion. She’s now the lead nurse on first shift. Nice raise too. We can use the money. We’re okay but there isn’t much going into the college fund. Now there should be more.

Next we visit 5-7 Silly Hat and then host 7-4 Wagner.

January 8: NOT a good week. 67-72 at Silly Hat. 25, 2, 3 for Ty, 3 others in doubles, 11 TOs, -1 RB. We lost because we let them shoot 51.1%.

51-55 vs. Wagner. 18, 5 for Jed, 14, 6 for Ty. Matt fouled out, both bigs were in foul trouble all night and we mostly played 4 and even 5 guards.

“One more week. We gotta go at least 1-1 or when Ash gets back we’ll be so far behind it won’t matter. Hell, we oughta go 2-0 with the teams we’re facin’ this week.”

We host 5-9 Robert Morris and travel to 3-10, 1-3 FDU.

January 15: 65-51 over Rob’t Morris. The guard really got it done, 16, 7, 4 for Ren, 15, 4, 5, 3, 2 for Matt, 14, 3, 1, 2 for Jed. 11 TOs.

68-62 at FDU. 21, 5, 2, 2 for Jed, 16, 4 for Ty.

CCSU and Stan Franklin this week.

“All right! Ash will be back an’ now we’re in position to make a move.”

January 22: 72-68 over conf. leader CCSU. 25, 4, 6 for Jed, 14. 9 for Ty, 16, 4, 6 for Matt. Down 15 but came back late. Digging holes for ourselves as we did last season.

52-59 at Stan Francis. Ty twisted an ankle and was ineffective. Day to day. Jed was in foul trouble all night. We didn’t get the offense going, 29.1%.

“Damn road!”

2 at home this week, 6-11 LIU, then 11-7, 6-2 rival Sam Franklin.

“We ain’t getting’ along too good.”

“You and Lacy?”

“Yeah. When I stopped wantin’ ta go out every night she kinda lost interest. She’s a party girl all the way. At first she stayed home except when she had a gig but now she’s out every night.”

“Not good.”

“No, I’m thinkin’ about leavin’.”

Not a big surprise but too bad.

January 29: 68-46 vs. LIU. 10, 7, 3 for Ty but lots of guys stepped up.

83-55 over Sam Franklin. 25, 4, 3 for Jed, 13, 8, 2, 2 for Ty, 11, 7 for Ike, who is finally getting back into game shape after the long layoff. 3 TOs all night.

“Love beatin those guys!

We’re tied for 3rd. 2nd is in reach but we’re 3 back of CCSU in 1st.

At 7-12, 5-5 Mount Mary, then we host 8-12, 4-6 Silly Hat.

[Wayne23]

February 5: Another good week, which we needed. 68-44 at Mount Mary. Great team effort, 7 between 7 and 14 points, 34 RBs, 10 TOs. 12 RBs for Ty.

Then a battle at home but we won it 73-68 over Silly Hat. 21, 6, 2, 3 for ty, 14, 7, 5, 4 for Jed, 15 for Ike.

At 12-9, 6-6 Wagner, who beat us at our place, then at 9-13, 5-7 Robert Morris, who we beat by 14, but 2 road games.

February 7:

“I had quite the interestin’ evenin’.”

“It was your anniversary yesterday, wasn't it?”

“Yeah, I bought flowers, you know, the whole deal. Lacy came downstairs carryin’ two suitcases. I figured she had a show somewhere. She put one a the suitcases down, handed me a manila envelope, said, “Happy anniversary, a$$h*le,” and walked out.

“I opened it and it was divorce papers.”

“Nice timing.”

“I guess I wasn’t surprised but what a sh*tty way to do it.”

“Yeah. I called my lawyer from the first divorce. She’s real good. Lacy’s got more money than I have so I don’t want her gettin’ what I’ve worked for.”

February 12: 60-70 at Wagner. Refs don’t beat you by 10 but Wagner went to the line 32 times. We went 17. Of course 4 of those free throws were caused by Dave’s 2 technicals; one came early and the other after the game was decided. 15, 11, 3, 2 for ty, 18, 3 for Jed but we had 3 guys in foul trouble and the bench did not get it done.

“I can’t believe these guys beat us twice this season.”

“They improved a lot this year.”

“We friggin’ didn’t!”

64-57 at Rob’t Morris. Refs were at us again but we overcame it. Dave only got one T. 16, 5 for Jed, 13, 3 for ty but he fouled out in 22 min. Bic had 11, 2, 2 from the bench.

Dave actually did a good job with this one. RMU closed it to 3 with 96 seconds left and they called a TO. Dave huddled the guys and told them exactly what he thought RMU would do- go inside to their PF. He said for Ren to be looking for it and to step in for the steal. It worked out exactly that way. Ren got the steal, threw it ahead to Jed who laid it in, got fouled, and made the free throw. That was that. He really does know his stuff.

Alone in 3rd, one back of Sam Franklin, 3 back of CCSU, 2 ahead of 4th place team- Wagner.

This week it’s 8-15, 6-8 FDU at home, then conf. leader CCSU there. We won at our place but this won’t be easy.

When we got home Frankie called both of us into his office.

“Dave, this is about you but Red is your #1, and I know how much you trust him.”

“You firin’ me?”

“No. That’s the furthest thing from my mind. I WANT you coaching this team.”

“What then?”

“One ejection, and 7 technicals in 10 games. The refs are on you because of it.”

“That ain’t fair, they’re supposed to-”

“They’re human, Dave. There are 2 or 3 veteran officials that you do well with but you’re all over the a$$e$ of pretty much every other official. “

“Most of ‘em don’t know their a$$ from the basketball. I ain’t gonna-”

“Yes, Dave, you ARE gonna. The people above me are concerned about the reputation Bryant is getting. They don’t like it. I’m under orders to suspend you for-”

“WHAT!”

“Calm down, d*mn it. Let me finish. I’m under orders to suspend you, very publicly, if you get more than 2 technicals in any five game stretch for the rest of the season.”

Dave got up with fire in his eyes. I was really worried that he was going to attack Frankie, and I got up to try to hold him back if need be. Thankfully he thought better of it and stormed out, slamming the door behind him.

“What the h*ll are we going to do with him, Red?”

“He’s under a lot of pressure right now. Lacy is divorcing him and she’s going after everything he’s got, which isn’t all that much, incidentally.”

“Only because he spent most of it raising h*ll with her.”

“Yeah, but, and please keep this to yourself, all of this is a reaction to losing Margie. He truly loved her, and he’s a long way from getting over her suicide.“

“But she dumped him.”

“Frankie, stop reading that f***ing blogger. Margie left because she was heartbroken over the miscarriage and hysterectomy. Dave was working to get her back and he really thought he had a chance.”

“I never knew that.”

“I figured. Look, let him cool down for a day or two. If he doesn’t bring it up with me then, I will.”

“That sounds like a good plan. I’ll let the provost know we’re working on this and that I’m confident we can get Dave to calm down a little. Frankly, 2 Ts in five games is pretty generous.”

“Well, for everybody except Bob Knight and Dave McGee, maybe.”

[Wayne23]

February 16: “I know, we gotta talk.”

“I’m guessing you’ve been thinking it over.”

“I hate ta say it but Frankie’s right. That’s way too many technicals. I gotta calm down. I always believed it’s good to get one in certain situations but I see that I’m way outta line here. You gotta help me though.”

“How do I do that, yell for you?”

Dave laughed. “No, try ta calm me down before I start getting’ too far out of control.”

“Well… I can try.”

“I’d appreciate it.”

February 19: 61-41 over FDU. 19, 9, 4, 2 for Ty, 17, 3 for Jed. 7 TOs and we never trailed.

Dave brought a towel to the bench. I figured he do a Coach Tark and chew on it but he buried his face in it when he wanted to yell. One of the refs he got along with was doing the game. A few minutes in he came over to the sideline. Never looked at Dave but spoke with him.

“What the h*ll is with the towel.”

“I gotta learn ta shut up, Jim. I’m just gonna bury my face in the towel when I get p*ssed.”

“Good idea, Coach Tarkanian. You gonna shave your head, too?”

Dave laughed and said, No, but I ain’t gonna bite your head off.”

“If you did you’d have more brains in your stomach than you do in your head.”

They both laughed.

57-70 at CCSU. They went to the line way more often than we did but even Dave could see that was because our guys were half a step slower than CCSU. He did some yelling but it was at the players. They just never executed the fixes he put in. Tough night. 14, 10, 3 for Ty, 15, 3 for Jed, but 18 TOs, our most for the year.

Matt fell to the floor and came up dizzy. It was late in the game so we sent him to the locker room. He’s day to day but he was talking clearly after the game; seemed fine.

Last week of the regular season. We host Stan Francis, 6-19, 5-11. They managed to beat us there. Then we’re at 10-15, 7-9 LIU. We won by more than 20 at our place. We need a 2 win week.

We’re 16-9, 10-6, RPI #58, so we should play in one of the tourneys.

We’re in 3rd, one ahead of Wagner, one back of Sam Franklin, and we actually could still move up or down.

February 26: 59-41 over Stan Francis. We played with determination. 13, 8 for Ty, 14, 3, 3, 2 for Ren, 15, 2 for Ike. 4 TOs.

Big win! 59-43 at LIU. Again, we were really focused. 14, 14, 3, 2 for Ty, 16, 6 for Ike, 17 for Jed.

We end the regular season at 18-9, 12-6, alone in 3rd, RPI #52. +6.8 PPG, -1.4 RBs, +4.5 TOs, + 2.9 assists.

We play 9-18, 7-11 FDU, the #6 seed, in the 1st round. Beat them twice. Oh, Dave has one T since the meeting with Frankie. That was three games ago so he has to behave for 2 games. Trust me, he is VERY aware of it.

March 1: 74-65 over FDU. They hung around but never really threatened us. 20, 2, 3 for Matt, 16, 3, 4 for Jed, 17, 3 for Ty, but the whole front line was in foul trouble all night. Al Mack played well filling in and our guards had hot shooting hands. 8 TOs.

We can never seem to dodge Sam Franklin, 20-9, 14-4, and the #2 seed. We split with them. We’d love to win this one. Their starting SG and leading scorer tore up a knee yesterday and he’s out for the season. One of their bigs is also out. The door is open.

March 2: 65-45 over Sam Franklin! 19, 4, 3, 2 for Matt, 14, 8, 4 for Ren, 15, 2, 2, 4 for Jed. 9 TOs.

The title game is against CCSU, the #1 seed at 24-5, 15-3. We won at home and lost there.
March 3: 71-58 and the title! 18, 7, 3, 6 for Ty, 17, 8, 2, 2 for tourney MOP Jed, 11, 13, 4, 2 for Ren. 12 TOs, 36 RBs and we’re going back to the Big Dance!

[Wayne23]

March 12: #36 RPI. Dare we hope for an 8 or a 9?

#12 East. We play #5 seed, #17 ranked Georgetown, 23-8. I kind of like our chances. At least I think we have a chance.

March 16: 75-60! Ike had 20, 3, 2, 4, Jed had 17, 4, 2, 13, 3, 3 for Ren, 13 for Bic, and 6, 6, 4, 5 for Ty. We jumped out quickly and never trailed.

Matt twisted a knee. Not real bad but he won’t be at 100% for our next game.

It’s #4 seed, #5 ranked Gonzaga, 31-3, 16-2 next. We need to play really good ball to have a chance in this one.

March 18: 67-81 to Gonzaga. 16, 10, 2 for Ty but he fouled out. The starters played fairly well but their bench beat ours.

Great season, and we’re only losing Matt Cone. He’s been a great one for us though.

April 4: #1 Oklahoma won it all.

Awards: Ty Bill, POY, freshman OY, Ike Ash Defensive POY. Jed Ray and Ty made 1st team. Matt made 2nd team.

April 9: “I’m stayin’ in Rhode Island.”

April 23: We ask for money and get $2,000.

22-10, 12-6, tourney title. 91-61, .599. Off-17, Def-27, Recruit-65, Scout-3, Player Development-22, Reputation-17.

Team Prestige is up from 6 to 11.

We're feeling good about next season!