Point Guard

[Wayne23]

December 28 Zak:

I said, “Can’t wait.” This I could have waited for. First, the game. We were awful, 50-69. -10 TOs, major foul trouble, no one stepped up on offense. Horn had 8 and 8, probably our best performance, but he fouled out, and Joe Mily didn’t have it tonight. Two of our three guards were in foul trouble all night long. We let Maine score 30 in the paint, our worst performance in that regard in a very long time. They also had 18 fast break points to our 4. Their bench had 29, ours had 6. Basically, they beat us in every area. Hopefully just a bad night and not a sign of things to come.

But the worst part came next. The airport was fogged in so we couldn’t leave until late afternoon the day after the game- today. We decided to have lunch at a local restaurant. There’s not much in the area but there’s one place that’s decent. It has a dining room and a bar.

Halfway through lunch I needed to use the men’s room. I thought nothing of it, just got up, and walked there. On my way out, just as I opened the door to exit the men’s room, I got it. Another shot of whiskey right in the face. Damn!

I walked back to the table. I didn’t need to say what had happened. Dr. Payne reached into her bag and took out the blood draw supplies. She quickly did the draw and called a taxi to take her to the nearest hospital. We won’t get the results until Friday.

Of course Mike Boss and the guy from WNRK were both right there. I spoke to our kids, more to let them know that I was completely sober and completely coherent, than for any other reason. Then I called Wes, and then Dawn, to tell them that it had happened again.

Wes said I would be suspended, with pay and benefits again, until the blood sample came back. I was allowed to fly back home with the team, though.

December 29 Mike Boss The Newark News “The Sports Boss”:

Fun in Maine. I was having lunch at a local spot in Orono on the day after the game. We were fogged in and couldn’t fly home until later in the day. The NJIT hoops team was also there. And guess who wound up smelling like a whiskey distillery again? You guessed it, Zak Zachery. The cover up started immediately but they aren’t fooling me!

December 30 Wes Chino:

“Zak, glad I got you. Listen, the blood test results are in. No alcohol in your system. The suspension is over and you can come on in, and coach the game tonight.”

Tommy Gunn:

71-59 over Stony Brook here. I gotta say, with everything he’s got on his mind, he’s doing a good job here. This one was back and forth for the whole first half. At halftime, as we always do, the coaches got together as the kids got drinks, snacks, used the john, and all that. The outside shot was keeping Stony Brook in it to that point. We were in good shape fouls wise, only Camp had two, so we decided to go all man, at least for a while. That would get a hand in the face of the outside shooter. We felt like we were the stronger team inside and didn’t need the 2-3 to plug up the lane. It worked! Stony Brook made 7 threes in the first half but only 2 in the second, and their shooting pct. went from 63% in the first to 38% in the second. We had a great night taking care of the ball, +10 TOs. Individually, Kris Brew had 17 and 9, and all 5 starters were in doubles. It was a really good night for us.

Wes Chino, Pete Cummings, Zak

“This can’t get out, Zak, but you now have a shadow.”

“How’s that?”

“I’ve hired the services of the Graystone Detective Agency. They will have a man, posing as a member of the athletic department, shadowing you from the time you come onto the campus, until the time you head for home. He’ll go on road trips and room with you.”

“Jesus, I’ve got a baby sitter!”

“It will be more than one guy, of course. They’ll rotate people. The idea is to catch whoever is doing this to you, and then make him tell us who’s behind it.”

“Okay, I guess.”

“The one thing is when you and Dawn go out in public, off the job. If you want him, we can provide that, as well.”

“I’ll talk to Dawn but I don’t know about that.”

“Okay, you need to text a number I’ll give you when you leave home for work. They’ll get the text and have someone in the parking lot when you get here. He’ll stay until you leave. If you decide to do it off the job, same procedure.”

January 1, 2021 Zak:

Dawn and I didn’t make it to midnight last night. We decided we didn’t want the “chaperone” in our lives when I’m not doing anything work related. Then we had a quiet night at home, watched a video. It ended at around 11:30 and we said the hell with watching the ball drop and went to bed.

[Wayne23]

January 3 Ray D’Io:

38-53 at Binghamton. No offense at all; we shot 28.6%, 22.2% on threes. Our own D was fine. When we hold a team to 53 we should win. Tonight? Not even close. The only ways to fix poor shooting is to get into the paint and make layups, which we were not able to do- only 14 in the paint. The other way is to get guys free for open looks. We did some of that, and mostly the open shots didn’t go in. 11 and 6 for Joe Mily, but no one else did much of anything. Nights like this happen now and then. Not much to learn from them, assuming shooting technique isn’t fouled up. That’s one of Tommy’s jobs and he’s a fanatic about it.

He looks at form nonstop during practices and games, and looks at shooting form on tape more than anyone I’ve ever known. When he sees anything, and if it’s there he will see it, he works one on one with the kid and fixes it. This is maybe the thing he does best.

Mike Boss on the phone with May Knot:

“Something’s up.”

“What do you mean, Mike?”

“There’s someone on this road trip I’ve never seen before. He doesn’t leave Zachery’s side. He even went to the john with him.”

“Okay, back off.”

“No way I was going to try anything.”

“Let’s see what we see. Maybe you can drop in at practice one day, then stop in at Zachery’s office under some pretext. We need to know who this guy is, and how much time he spends with Zachery.”

“I’m on it.”

January 7 Brad Crew, junior guard, NJIT

“Dad? Did you see the game tonight? No? Oh, you had a meeting. Man was I on fire! 24 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists. I held my guy to 6, 3, 3. Oh, and Joe- What? Oh, Joe Mily, you know, the big guy. You met him… Yeah. Anyway, Joe had 16 and 8. Listen to this, we had 42 rebounds, most all season. What? … Oh, 74-53 over Albany. We kicked butt… No, dad, that’s all bull. Stop reading Mike Boss, he’s an idiot. The coach doesn’t drink. Believe me, the way Uncle Jack is, if Coach drank I’d know it. I DO know all the signs… Yeah, we’re home again on the 13th with New Hampshire; they’re in first place. Let me know if you and mom want to come. I’ll get tickets… Okay, love ya, dad.”

January 11 Hardin Sole:

I don’t get to go to many road games because I’m too busy with recruiting. I guess I picked the wrong one to go to. 51-66 at UMBC. It was all about guard play.

Their starting guards got 31, ours got 15. They were 13-31 on threes, we were 2-16; -8 TOs. It really was that simple. We were fine inside, +8 RBs, +10 in the paint.

Mike Boss on the phone with May Knot:

“Okay, this guy- and it’s not always the same guy, never leaves Zachery’s side- in the office, in the gym, on the road.”

“What about at home?”

“Huh?”

“I don’t mean does he sleep with Zachery, although I would LOVE that story. I mean does he stick with Zachery when he goes out with his wife, or out to a convenience store or whatever?”

“No idea. I’ll find out though.”

“All right. Again, don’t try anything for now.”

“Oh, believe me!”

Zak:

We’re 8-6, 2-3, in a 3 way tie for 6th, 1 up on the bottom 2 teams, 1 back of 3 teams, 2 back of the leaders. It’s too soon to worry about that. We need to figure out how to win road games- oh, and we need to keep winning home games.

January 14 Tommy Gunn:

72-76 to first place New Hampshire here. The refs killed us. Our two starting guards were in foul trouble all night- Crew played 11 minutes, and with Gabe Raff still out with an injury we just had to go too deep into the bench. Our #3 guard, Ben Gore, played well, but our #4, who is #5 when everybody’s healthy, was in way over his head and he couldn’t cover his man, either in man to man or in 2-3. That was the difference. Frustrating. Joe Mily had 24 and 5. We gotta get him more minutes, whether we start him or not. And he should be in at the end when it’s close. I’ll talk to Zak.

Sean Flok, an SF who doesn’t play much, stretched a hammie. He’s out for about 10 days.

Zak:

Tommy Gunn convinced me to give Joe Mily more minutes. I’m not going to start him because he gives us a boost when he comes in, but he’ll be there at the end of close games, and in other crucial situations, and he’ll get starter’s minutes. We need to get Gabe Raff back. We’re short a guard. The doc says 2 to 2 ½ weeks.

Dawn starts school on Tuesday. She’s really excited. She volunteers at her friend’s facility and loves it, even though it tears her heart out.

[Wayne23]

January 17 Tommy Gunn:

74-72 over Vermont here. I have NO IDEA how we managed to win this one. Zak seemed to be trying to find ways not to win. SMH! We were up 12 with 5:42 left and then they went on a 14-3 run. Zak called two time outs to try to slow them down, but not much helped. Crew and Brew were both in there with foul trouble so they couldn’t really play tight D. He should have put Mily and Gore in. I told him that both times, but he didn’t listen. Finally, when the lead was down to one, we got a media time out with 2:09 left, and he pulled the rhyme twins, like he should have done before. Both Gore and Mily shut their guys down, and Mily made two key baskets and a pair of free throws. We had the lead to five when they made a meaningless 3 on their last possession, as the clock ran out.

I understand that the kid is learning, and really, he’s doing great at 9-7, 3-4, but it’s frustrating at times. Ray helps me to cool it but sometimes I GOTTA tell

Zak!

17 and 6 for Miley in only 20 minutes, 8 and 9 for Horn, 13, 4 for Joss. +8 RBs and good shooting helped. Hey, we’ll take the win!

Dawn:

First day of one of my classes. It feels weird to be back in school at age 37, but in lots of ways it feels good, and it definitely feels RIGHT! I’m looking forward to learning lots of new things!

January 20 Tommy Gunn:

No suspense tonight, we got hammered! 69-90 at Hartford. They got 36 from the center position. Strange as it seems that wasn’t really the biggest problem. They went to the line 40 times, we went 18. THAT was the biggest problem. We had people in foul trouble all night, and as the score shows we just couldn’t play defense. Both Horn and Brew fouled out. Joe Mily did his usual solid job, and Buzz Joss and Brad Crew also played well, but we were never in this one. And no, I don’t blame Zak. He did all he could do on a really rough night. He got T’d up for the first time, but he did it to try to slow down the whistles. He wasn’t out of control. I would have done the same. Usually that helps a little, but tonight nothing helped.

January 21 Zak:

It never ends. Dawn and I decided to go out to dinner tonight. Hey, it’s Saturday night. There’s the really nice little out of the way spot just outside of Newark that we go to all the time. Just as the waiter was bringing the check someone came out of nowhere and, you guessed it, threw a drink at me.

We quickly paid the bill. I had Dawn drive me to the local hospital and explained that I needed a blood test to prove I was sober. They gave me a little trouble, no doubt because of the alcohol smell that was coming out of me. Dawn stepped in and used her charm. She explained who I was, the previous incidents, and all of that, and we got the blood drawn. While she was “negotiating” I called Wes to let him know.

“Okay, Zak. I’m sorry but I need to suspend you until the blood test comes back. I hate it, but we need to protect the university. Look, you and Dawn need to seriously consider using that private detective when you go out.”

“Yeah, I guess we do. We’ll talk about it when I get back to work.”

I had a kind of a meltdown later that night, at home. I guess the unfairness of it all hit me. It hit me HARD. I was crying, really out of control. Couldn’t seem to get a grip. Dawn held me when I’d let her, stayed with me when I just needed to pace around and rant and swear. It lasted a LONG time. Finally I fell asleep in her arms on the couch. When I woke up she was asleep in the recliner near the couch.

“Thanks.”

“Feeling better?”

“To be honest I feel like I just got home from a three day drunk.”

“Thank goodness you didn’t!”

“As bad as last night was, I never wanted a drink- I wanted to die once or twice, but I didn’t want a drink.”

She was in my arms in a flash.

“Please don’t ever say that. I know this is terrible but Zak, we’ve been through worse. Whoever is doing this will screw up and we’ll catch them.”

“Whatever. All I can say is I’m the luckiest guy in the world. All the sh*t you’ve put up with for the past nine years and somehow you’re still here. I can’t tell you how much you mean to me.”

January 23 Wes

The blood test came back clean so I reinstated Zak today. Most of the press sees that this is some kind of sick plot, but Mike Boss isn’t the only one fanning the flames against Zak. Red Waggins, over at GSPN, which would ordinarily never cover us ordinarily, runs his mouth against Zak every now and then. He did a phone interview with me earlier today. Here’s the part where I got hot:

“Look, Red, you’re no fool. You know as well as I do that Zak has tested clean every single time. Twice there has been alcohol splashed on whoever was near him. This is clearly a set up. Someone is trying to destroy him for some reason. I’m really disappointed that you’re knocking him down when ALL of the evidence clearly shows he’s clean. Are ratings that low!”

“Whoa! Listen Wes, this isn’t about ratings. This is about a supposedly recovering alcoholic who keeps getting caught smelling like booze.”

“Really? Really! You’re sticking to that lame story? Really! You’re gutless, Red. Don’t call me again!”

At that point I hung up. I sure miss the old days and the satisfaction of slamming a receiver down.

[Wayne23]

January 24 Pete Cummings:

64-60 over UMass Lowell. I’m usually so busy on game nights when we’re at home- any game, any sport, that I don’t get to see much. Tonight I really wanted to watch. Glad I did, it was a great game. We never trailed but we were clearly tired toward the end and we let the other team make it closer than it should have been. It was never a one possession game, but it was a two possession game about a half dozen times. For once we mostly stayed out of foul trouble and that meant we could play the guys we wanted to play when we wanted to play them. Mily had 12 and 7, Horn had 13, Camp had 11, but good rebounding (+6), good shooting (50%), and good D did it. Not to mention not fouling too often. They made a lot of threes, but never enough to get close enough to tie. Great night!

January 25 Wes, Pete, Dawn, Zak, Bill Klekter, the head of Greystone Detective Agency, Detective Sgt, Harry Pakij, Newark Police:

BIG meeting. The gist of it? One of Bill Klekter’s men will set up in their second favorite Newark area restaurant on a night when it is known Zak and Dawn will be there. He’ll hang at the bar and not let it be known that he has any connection to Zak and Dawn. He’ll see who’s there and what they’re up to.

We all suspect that Mike Boss and May Knot are behind all of this but we have no evidence, and we don’t know how direct a role they play, if they are, indeed, the people behind it. If Klekter’s man sees Boss at the bar that will be a tip off, and he’ll have Sgt. Pakij waiting outside the bar. If it becomes obvious that a move is about to be made the inside man will text Pakij and try to put the arm on the perp while Pakij makes his way inside to make the arrest. We do not think Boss is the one throwing the whiskey. We think he either has a steady man for that job, or recruits someone on the spot, probably the former.

Zak and the team are in town until they fly out on the 30th so we’re thinking Saturday the 28th.

January 27 Zak:

52-69 to Maine here. They beat us by 19 there so I guess there’s no doubt that they’re a lot better than we are. We don’t have a go to guy, a big time scorer. That makes it tough.

I guess Joe Mily is our best scorer but most games he gets himself into foul trouble. He had 13 points tonight but played only 20 minutes due to fouls. D is also a problem for us. Maine shot 50% tonight. The staff and I talk solutions but we simply do not have the personnel. We desperately need to recruit well but so far we haven’t signed a single recruit.

Oh well, keep working.

January 29 Zak:

One problem solved- with a bang! I just now got the word on some of this. Anyway, Dawn and I went to the restaurant last night, as planned, and as known by lots of people. The “private eye” sat at the bar, nursing a drink, making casual conversation. Mike Boss came in and sat two seats away from him, which was perfect.

We had made sure to get a table in a quiet corner of the dining room. We came in late so the bar was crowded but the dining room wasn’t.

When we were about halfway through dinner, I’m told, a man came up to Mike Boss. No words were exchanged but Mike, none too subtly, handed the guy a bill. Our man couldn’t see well enough to catch the denomination but we later learned that it was a fifty. The mystery man ordered a double of the bar brand of whiskey. He took a sip.

By now we were nearly finished eating. We didn’t know what was going on; we were just the bait so it didn’t matter.

As I gave the waiter my credit card, and as he walked away, our mystery man walked slowly in our direction, walked past the table, and threw the whiskey in my face. The private eye immediately tackled him and in less than a minute Sgt. Pakij was inside, had the perp handcuffed, and was taking him outside. Mike Boos saw it go down and was out of there at light speed, probably calling May Knot.

The suspect was a cheap hoodlum with a long record of minor crimes. Sgt. Pakij made it clear that he would walk if he told what he knew. He fingered Mike Boss.

Boss was arrested and brought in. Under questioning, he was told that he would walk if he gave up the person he was answering to. It took some time but eventually he spilled his guts.

May Knot was arrested, and booked on a handful of charges. None of them are particularly serious but they will be a huge embarrassment to a very wealthy, very well known, and very well connected family. Her father, Oscar Yancey (O. Y.) Knot, owns and publishes The Newark News, and he is closely connected to the Governor of New Jersey. Having this go public would be a huge black eye for a lot of very high rollers.

May was bailed out immediately, and O. Y. let Wes Chino know that he would like to meet with us.

President Long, NJIT’s most prominent lawyer, Wes, May, Mike Boss, Dawn, and I met secretly at the President’s residence off campus.

After a fairly protracted meeting it was decided that all charges would be dropped, but all evidence would be held by the NJIT attorney, to be publicized if there was another attack, or any harassment whatever of Dawn and me.

No one lost a job over this but Mike Boss was forbidden to mention my name in print, or to cover any news or sports news related to NJIT. His assistant, who has never given us any trouble, will cover the team and anything else sports related at NJIT.

Dawn was not happy. She felt that May and Mike were getting off way too lightly. She’s right, but I just want it to end. If we really went after these people that would just drive May to do something even more devious and more harmful. The way it is right now I think she’ll just back off. Hopefully I can focus on hoops now.

[PointGuard]

I hear that May Knot's grandmother (yes, you guessed it...Granny Knot) was furious and said this IS NOT what she taught her children and grandchildren, so she was writing May out of her will thus giving all inheritance to May's brother (yeah, yeah...that would be...Will Knot).

[Wayne23]

You GET it! Did you figure out the others, too?

[Wayne23]

February 2 Zak:

56-44 at Stony Brook. Gotta love a road win! We led most of the way. +7 TOs. This one was a team effort, 7 players had between 5 and 10 points. Joe Mily played only 20 minutes due to fouls, again. This really needs to stop. He needs to get under control on D. We’re 11-9, 5-6, with 7 to play in the regular season.

Gabe Raff looked rusty in his first game back from the injury. He did get 4 assists in his 7 minutes.

February 4 Ray D’Io:

47-57 to Binghamton here. The refs did us in. We were called for 25 fouls, they were called for 9. Brad Crew had 17 but fouled out. Every time we tried to play D a foul was called. Zak got T’d up again but it didn’t help much. Tough night.

Dawn: I try to get to our home games but I didn’t make it tonight. I’m buried in school work. I love it but it’s a lot of work. Not sure how I’m going to do it taking three courses and doing a 20 hour a week internship in the fall.

February 8 Tommy Gunn:

65-79 at Albany. The outside shot did us in. They made 12 threes. We were -10 in TOs, which didn’t help either. 5 players in double figures but foul trouble again, Mily, Camp, and Crew all wound up with 4, and Camp and Mily played limited minutes as a result. We can’t seem to turn the corner; we’re doing the same kinds of things wrong that we did early on. We practice this stuff every day but it doesn’t seem to help much.

February 11 Tommy Gunn:

The wheels are falling right off this bus. 80-83 in OT to first place UMBC here. We blew a 10 point lead late, after both of our starting guards fouled out, and our #3 guard had 4.
It was pretty ugly. They went to the line 22 times, we went 12. Again, the same old problems, fouls, outside D.

There isn’t anything new to try, really. We’re now at 11-12, 5-9, 1 game ahead of last place. AND… 3 of our last 4 are on the road.

February 15 Ray D’Io:

48-47 over New Hampshire there. A HUGE win. It means we probably won’t finish last. We led all the way, by as many as 13, but it almost got away from us late. They had the ball last, down one. They got it to their Power Forward for an 8 footer but Buzz Joss got just a tiny piece of it, and it went off the rim. 15, 3, and 3 for Brad Crew, 12 and 8 for Ken

Horn who played the best he’s played in a long time. This win was about D though, we stayed out of foul trouble and we held them to 35.6% shooting, 2-19 from three point range.
Part of that was that they were missing, but the other part was that we actually had a hand in the shooter’s face most of the time. That’s something we haven’t done very well.

February 16 Red Waggins, GSPN:

“Our editorial tonight is about former basketball great Zak Zachery. As you know he’s the new head coach at NJIT. It is often said that in sports the former athletes who make the best coaches are the bench warmers, not the superstars. That theory is being upheld by Zachery. His team is pretty mediocre at 12-12, 6-9. They’re not in the cellar, but they can see it from where they’re sitting. His team just hasn’t gotten any better as the season has progressed. The sign of a good coach is that you can see his team improve from
November to March. Well, we’re in February and frankly, the Highlanders are still making November mistakes. This looks more and more like a bad hire by NJIT. Back after this.”

February 18 Tommy Gunn:

Another bad loss on the road, 39-53 at Vermont. I’m not sure I’ll come back next year; this is getting too tiresome. Ken Horn looked good, 18 and 6, but no one else had more than 6 points. The D was decent for once. We held them to #2.7%, 24% from deep. But we couldn’t make a shot, except for Horn. You don’t win when you score 39.

We’re 2 up on last place UMass Lowell, but we play them there in the last game of the regular season. If we lose our next and they win theirs, that final game could be for last place. Dismal.

Dawn:

Zak is really down. The season has just turned so bad. His guys just don’t seem to get any better. They continue to get into foul trouble. There’s no big time scorer. They either don’t score enough points, or they give up too many. They commit 2 ½ more TOs per game than their opponents. The only bright side has been rebounding. We’re +3.8 PPG there.

But this is not much of a team. And worse, we still have not signed a single recruit.

Wes Chino and Pete Cummings:

“Pete, the only thing that troubles me is recruiting. I knew Zak didn’t have much of a team and frankly, if he finishes out of the cellar it’s a good season. But they have to sign some kids.”

February 22 Tommy Gunn:

72-87 to Hartford here. We got beat up. 4 guys ended up with 4 or 5 fouls and three of the guys were guards. We let Hartford shoot 60.9%, 72.2% on threes. 19 for Camp, 14 for Mily.

The only good news was that UMass Lowell lost so we can’t finish last. Looks like it will be next to last though.

Dawn:

Zak is too quiet. There’s nothing new to try, he hasn’t landed any recruits. He says he is staying positive at practice and during games but it’s wearing him out. He has never been anything less than spectacularly successful at basketball and this is taking a huge toll. I’m concerned.

My courses are both wonderful. I need to work really hard but I’m learning important, useful things.

February 24 Zak:

We end the regular season at 8-18, 4-13 UMass Lowell. Even a loss won’t get us to last place but a win sure would be nice. We only beat them by 4 at our place.

February 25 Ray D’Io:

53-63 at UMass Lowell. There’s really nothing to say. Tonight was the same story we’ve been telling all season.

We finish the regular season at 12-15, 6-12, RPI #301.

[Wayne23]

March 1 Zak:

I’m in the locker room here in Binghamton before our play in game with #6 seed Binghamton, 11-16, 9-9. They beat us by 10 at our place, 15 at theirs. I talked about pride, about shocking people, about keeping the season going, but I don’t know if my guys have it in them. Hopefully they’ll surprise me.

I got surprised! 61-53. After 3 straight losses and 6 out of 7, we finally came to play. We took care of the ball, we stayed out of foul trouble, we made shots. 18, 3, 7, 2 for Brad Crew, in one of his best games of the season. 14,5 for Kris Brew. Unfortunately Kris tweaked a knee. He’ll play tomorrow but it’s hard to say how effective he’ll be. 10 rebounds for Joe Mily.

#3 seed Vermont, 16-11, 12-6 in the quarter final round. We beat them by 2 at home and then lost by 14 there.

March 2 Zak:

In the locker room before the game again. I told my guys to do, what they did last night- play good D, rebound, find the open man. I told them we need a win to keep the season going.

54-61. We controlled the first half but then Brew reinjured his knee, and shortly after that Ken Horn sprained his big toe. After that it was all downhill. It was the last game for Brew and Joss. Brew had 8 and 8 but Joss wasn’t effective.

Now we REALLY need to get some recruits.

March 5 Zak:

Albany won the title game over Maine.

March 19 Zak:

We’ve been evaluating the season as a staff. Not a pleasant task. We’ve also been working really hard recruiting. We expected spring to be the time when we would land some recruits so we are hopeful. Our dismal season didn’t help much.

March 26 Zak:

We got one! Ted Lane, PF, #252. Still working. We have four more to fill. I’d probably be happy to fill 2 of them.

Mike Boss:

I lost my job after we got caught. No big surprise. I knew that bitch would fire me. Trouble is no one else will hire me. 22 years in the business and now I’m out. I’ve been hitting the bottle pretty hard. Money’s running out. Don’t know what to do about all of this. I wish there was some way to get back at Zachery. All of this is his fault.

April 4 Zak: Still working on recruits.

Awards: Ken Horn made the America East 1st team and Joe Mily the second.

April 16 Zak:

We sign three PGs. We wanted bigs but we’ll take what we can get. Bid High, #171, Sis Goil, #232, and Curt Tann, #253 signed. One more but I’m not sure we’ll fill it.

Hardin Sole is the only assistant returning. Tommy Gunn was clearly not happy here, and Ray D’Io was happy, but his health started to suffer due to the hard work involved in the job. I promoted Sole to #1. My new #2 is Jude Will. He’ll scout, which he did at UMass Lowell. He was #3 there so he was happy to take the promotion. #3 is Art Wall, and he’ll be my bench/practice coach. Art was a very successful high school head coach. His team went to the state final in each of the last three seasons, winning twice. I figure he has to know strategy pretty well.

April 23 Zak: I was right, we didn’t fill the last slot. Oh well, maybe a transfer.

Our facilities are dismal. I ask for an upgrade.

Wes Chino:

I really would have loved to upgrade the facilities for Zak, but the extra expenses with the detectives and all of that pretty much drained the budget. I told him I’ll do everything I can to have money available for this next year. We certainly need to do it.

Zak: 13-16, 6-12, 9th place. Not the season I was looking for. Hopefully the experience our returnees have gained, and the infusion of new blood with our recruits will lead to a better year next season.

My numbers: Off- 4 (from 1), Def- 6 (1), Recruit- 10 (1), Scout- 61 (61), Player Development- 5 (1), Reputation- 7 (1).

[Wayne23]

May 1 Zak:

Dawn and I went to dinner to celebrate my 30th birthday. It was nice not to worry about a drink to the face.

We bought the Gold report for the East.

The only goal Wes Chino set for us is to finish in the top 3 in conference. That’s a little scary since we were 9th last year but we’ll do what we can.

Dawn got A in both courses. She’s taking a course during the summer session and volunteering as well.

June 5

We’re looking at a bunch of transfers.

June 12 Zak:

BIG pick up. Jud Dean, a junior SG/SF from Kansas. He left there because he couldn’t handle the academics, so the first thing we need to do is to get him eligible, but we have a year. Great work by Hardin Sole to find and get this kid. We’re hoping to land one more.

June 19 Hardin Sole

We land another SG/SF, Ed Huey, who played at East Carolina. This kid is a bit more of a gamble but East Carolina is a better team than ours in a better conference, and he started there.

June 26 Hardin Sole:

We have 6 scholarships. We need bigs more than guards. We hope to do better, earlier than we did last year.

July 4 Art Wall:

I’ve been here two months and I have to say that I know the Highlanders had a pretty poor season but I don’t think it’s because of Zak Zachery. He’s organized, he’s enthusiastic, he’s hard working, and he definitely knows what he’s doing. I’m guessing they just didn’t have a whole lot of talent. I think we’ll do better this year.

Jude Will:

I like working for Zak. My job is scouting and I look at a LOT of game tapes. I like breaking things down, looking for patterns, analyzing everything. Zak reads everything I send him and listens when I talk. He asks very good questions. I think we’re gonna get along just fine.

July 31 Dawn:

It’s 3:30 a.m., and I’m here at Beth Israel in Newark. Zak and I were just leaving the restaurant after dinner. A man ran up and shot Zak. I don’t know how many shots were fired. It happened very quickly. Zak went down and it looked bad. A couple of people ran to us and someone dialed 911. Fortunately an ambulance got here very quickly. They took Zak here to Beth Israel and I followed in the car.

Zak was immediately taken into surgery. While he was in there Detective Sgt. Pakij found me in the waiting room.

“What can you tell me, Dawn?”

“It all happened so fast.”

“Try to think about it for a minute. I realize that it’s a painful, horrible memory, but go back. Think about what you saw.”

“It was a man… not too tall but he was kind of hunched over so I don’t know how tall, really. I don’t know, not fat, not thin- oh, he was white. Hair looked dark, a little thin on top… I can’t remember anything else.”

“What was he wearing?”

“Sgt. I don’t know what-”

“A tie? A jacket? A sweater? Come on, Dawn, anything you remember will help.”

“… He was wearing a golf shirt kind of thing, you know, short sleeves, solid color, collar.”

“What color?”

“I don’t know… green maybe, but it was a pastel, not bright.”

“Pants? Shorts?”

“I don’t know… pants, dark. Brown, maybe black, I don’t know, dark.”

That’s a huge help, Dawn. Thanks. Where did he come from?”

“Well, we like to park away from wherever we’re going. Leave the close spots for the old folks and people who can’t walk well. He came from between some cars, to the right. After he shot- don’t ask me how many times, I don’t know- he ran back the way he came. I think I saw a car drive off but Zak was on the ground and he was all I was paying attention to.”

“Did anyone else see it?”

“I don’t think so. When we left the restaurant the parking lot was empty- I mean there wasn’t anybody there; there were lots of cars. It was around 9:30, I think.”

“I’ll check at the restaurant, of course. The man, he wasn’t anyone you know?”

“I just don’t know, Sgt. I’ll try to think about it, but again, it all happened really fast.”

“When you were in the restaurant did you see anyone you knew?”

“No- wait! Mike Boss was at the bar. I didn’t see him but Zak did, and he mentioned it to me.”

“Was Zak able to say anything to you?”

“No, he seemed to be conscious, or semi-conscious, but he was moaning, didn’t say anything that I could understand. I don’t even know if he was aware that I was there.”

Sgt. Pakij left. He said he’d be back when Zak was well enough to talk. At that point I didn’t know if Zak would be well enough to talk. I’d heard nothing about his condition. I know that he was bleeding from the chest, kind of high up, on the right, and from his right shoulder, or maybe upper arm. I wasn’t exactly focused on that.

Oh, here comes a doctor…

The doctor, he was the surgeon, just told me that Zak is going to be all right. I burst into tears. I hadn’t cried up to that point. When I got under control the doctor said there were two wounds. The first was, as I thought, high up on the right side of the chest. It had clipped the lung, barely. The doctors were able to re-inflate and patch it, and they say it will be fine. That bullet passed through Zak’s body. The doctor said there would be a large ugly wound in his upper back, where the bullet exited.

The second bullet lodged in his right shoulder. It was difficult to dig it out and he said Zak would be in a lot of pain for a few days, but it would heal. He couldn’t say whether Zak would regain full use of the right arm.

“It depends on how many nerves were hit. No way to know until he tries to move the arm.”

“How long until he’s awake?”

“I’d say another hour or two. We’re bringing him to Recovery now. If you’d like to wait there, I’ll have someone take you.”

“Yes, please.”

Thank goodness! As bad as this is it could have been so much worse.

It never occurred to me to call anyone. Neither of us has family. Somehow, Wes Chino must have gotten the word. He showed up at 5:30 a.m., just before Zak woke up.

“I got up at 5:00 for my run and heard the news while I was getting dressed. I came right over. Why didn’t you call?”

“Oh Wes, I was so shaken it just never entered my mind. I’m sorry.”

“No, no. I completely understand. I’m sorry you had to be here alone, that’s all.”

Zak was a little groggy when he woke, of course, but he was able to understand where he was, and he knew both of us. He remembered what had happened. The pain in his shoulder was severe. A nurse came in with some medication for it.

I asked Zak if he recognized the shooter.

“It just happened too fast. I saw a blur, heard shots, and that’s all I remember. I don’t even recall the feeling of being shot.”

Sgt. Pakij came back at about 10:30. He was disappointed that neither of us had any more information for him.

“I got Mike Boss out of bed after I left here. We’re having him tested for paraffin. That will tell us if he fired a gun. He insists he’s clean. Says he was at the bar, and he’ll be able to prove it when we talk to the bartender and the waitresses. He went outside when he heard the shots, he says, but when he realized who it was he went back into the bar, paid his tab, and went home. He says he knew he’d be a suspect so he made sure the bartender and the waitresses recalled seeing him at the bar when the shots were fired. Frankly, I think he’s clean as far as the actual shooting is concerned. I’ll follow up, of course. That doesn’t mean he isn’t involved. If you remember, he paid guys to throw whiskey at your husband. His style is to have someone do the dirty work for him. Still, that’s just speculation. There’s no sense in going to the restaurant until maybe 6:00 tonight. The people who were there- working, or just at the bar, won’t be there until at least that time. Mike gave me a few names, and the bartender and waitresses will be able to give me other names. When I know something I’ll check back in. Both of you need to keep thinking about this. Often people will remember something a day or two, even a week later. You have my card. You look like you should get some sleep.”

No doubt! I wasn’t going to leave Zak, though. We got him a private room and I was able to sleep in a chair for a few hours, on and off. Zak was also awake now and then. Whenever he woke up he was in a lot of pain. The doctors said they wanted the shoulder immobilized but that he should try to move his fingers, make a fist, things like that. He was able to move the fingers but he couldn’t make a fist. He could close the hand a little, but only a little.

[PointGuard]

You GET it! Did you figure out the others, too?

Yes, several of them at least.