The Last Man

[Wayne23]

3/7: #8 seed Georgia Tech, 13-15, 8-10, won the play in. We beat them by 9 in the season opener at the NIT, and by 12 here.

3/8: 70-62. They gave us a battle. Holi had 18, 4, Birn 15, 5, 3, Barr 12, 8, 9, Tras 11, 5. We never led by more than 11, and it never felt won until the last minute or so.

#13 seed Boston College, 12-18, 5-13, pulled off 2 upsets in a row, and we play them in the semifinal round. We beat them by 30 here, and by 16 there. They have some injuries.

3/9: 97-56. I thought we’d blow them out. It was 59-33 at the half, and was never a game. Everyone played and only one guy didn’t score. +20 RBs, 9 TOs.

#3 seed Virginia, 19-10, 13-5, upset Duke, so we play them for the title. They really have only one scorer, their SF. They rebound well, and they’re good with the ball. We only won by 6 there, but we trounced them by 46 here.

3/10: 87-74. We led all the way, by as many as 27. 26, 12 for Tras, 14 each for Deqq and Birn, 12 each for Holi and Barr.

3/12: 31-2, 17-1, #1, RPI #1.

#1 overall. We play 16-15 Grambling first.

3/16: 60-40. Easy win but a sloppy game. 21 TOs.

#8 seed Michigan, 18-13, in the 2nd round. An off year for a good program.

3/18: 86-62. 20, 9 for sub Mick Wams, 17, 7 for Holi. +17 RBs, +9 TOs.

#5 seed, #9 ranked Western Kentucky, 28-4, in the Sweet Sixteen. They have a very good PG and are strong outside.

3/23: 81-54. 28, 4, 3 for Barr, 16 and 16 for Tras, 16, 6, 8 for Deqq. +13 RBs, 8 TOs.

#2 seed, #5 ranked Marquette, 30-3, in the Elite Eight. We beat them by 6 at our place in November. We think we have a big edge inside.

3/25: 70-77. We shot 28.6%. Only Barr, with 26, had more than 8 points. Just an awful night. A very disappointing end to the season.

4/3: #10 Oklahoma won the title.

4/4: Awards: I won national COY. In the ACC Pat Tras was frosh OY and 1st team along with Kee Deqq and Jam Holi. Kal Barr and Will Birn made 2nd team.

4/9: I’m tempted by an offer from Maryland, but I’m staying here.

4/23: I ask for a facilities upgrade. No.

34-3, but a disappointing season. Overall, I’m 724-173, .807.

[Wayne23]

November, 2157: What I thought would take a month or two took three, but we are now ready to move everyone onto the cruise ship. But I had to overcome a big problem.

I got sick. Now I haven’t gotten sick in well over a hundred years, not since I started the anti-aging treatments so long ago.

Despite all of my precautions, and I thought I had taken all the necessary precautions, I got some sort of infection from all of the toxins on the ship. As soon as I knew I was sick I stayed on board the cruise ship so as not to contaminate the rest of our people. I went into the HC hospital and got the infectious disease holodoctors on the case.

This kind of infection can be very difficult to treat, and it was, but after a week of no success at all they found something that worked, and in another week I was fine. It was a strange feeling to be ill though, and I guess I was dangerously ill for a while.

I got back to work and we completed the cleaning and disinfecting of the ship. We ran every imaginable test and determined that it was safe to move everyone over here.

Moving was a chore, as it has been throughout history.

We moved everything except for 3 printers, 3 HCs, and some robots. Since we’re keeping the 80 footer operational, we’ll need those things. We’ll only check the boat twice a week, but we will check it, and the usual alarm systems will be in place so that we can get over there in a hurry if we need to.

But our new focus, and our new life is on the cruise ship.

Everyone was thrilled to finally get to see the ship. It really is luxurious. We’ll all go from living in cramped quarters to having all kinds of room. It will be great for the kids, and as I said, this ship is all but unsinkable. It would take some really extraordinary conditions to put us in danger. We’re looking forward to our new life!

It’s a huge ship. The alarms will be very important. There’s no way we can do frequent, thorough checks of everything. We will do checks, and we will monitor everything, but we’re going to need to rely on the alarms and the robots more than we did on the boat. Still, we couldn’t be happier.

Next: Settling in. A smooth transition.

[Wayne23]

5/1: We buy the usual reports.

Preseason #1.

6/5: No one of interest in the transfer pool.

6/26: 3 scholarships. We want at least 2 bigs.

Kal Barr went #3 in the draft, Bry Lock #12. Jam Holi was a steal at #34.

8/7: 8 on the Norton list: SG Tony Hart is #2, C Clay Edds #5, PF Pat Tras #7, PG Kee Deqq #9, PF Will Birn #19, SF Mick Wams #29, C Dan Cox #38, and PG Hal Rand #44.

8/21: We offer to a PG, an SF, and a C.

9/18: We get a C, #10. Still chasing the other two.

We’re in the Coaches Classic. Ohio is up first. Challenging schedule again.

9/25: Got the other C, #5, and the PG, #4.

10/2: 1st day of practice. I think this may be our year to win it all.

11/6: Junior Kee Deqq is back at PG, and frosh Tony Hart, who looks like a superstar, is at SG. Junior Hal Rand backs up.

Junior Will Birn is at SF.

Soph Pat Tras and frosh Clay Edds start inside. Senior Mick Wams, junior Jack Geer, and junior Dan Cox back up the bigs.

This is a very strong, very deep team.

We start at the Coaches Classic with Ohio. We’re the #2 seed.

[Wayne23]

February, 2158: We’ve been living on the cruise ship for three months. It was an easy transition, and we see no negatives to the move. It’s fantastic to have all this space. The rooms are great, spacious, and all the amenities.

We try to eat dinner together. We still take turns preparing the meal, and we try to make it special every night. We have different tastes so there are usually two entrees. We know each other well enough to choose the entrees in a way that everyone will get something they will enjoy. We’ve brought the kids up, right from the start, to try everything, and for the most part they are not at all picky about food. There’s always dessert, as well. We work hard enough at staying in shape that we can afford to have dessert every night.

Breakfast and lunch are on our own and we either dial up or prepare our own meal. Whoever has child care duty fixes the kids’ meals.

We’ve started a little school for Lacy and Adam. Max and Amy are too young. School is two hours, four days a week. With only two students that’s plenty. Lacy is an avid reader, so she spends lots of non-school time reading. Some of what she reads is assigned, but most of it is her choice. She’s interested in everything, and reads material designed for much older kids. Adam is not quite three so “school” is mostly organized play in the HC with holokids his own age. We feel this will teach him about sharing, getting along in a group setting… The four kids have plenty of opportunities to interact with each other, as well.

Lacy, at 5, has permission to wander wherever she wants to, but she has a robot with her at all times. She’s reached the age where she isn’t happy about that so the robot keeps its distance. She’s very mature for her age so we’re not at all worried that she’ll get into anything dangerous, but we take safety very seriously.

Adam is old enough to wander so we have a robot “escort” for him, and all of the stairways have gates. We need to keep him on the third deck, except when one of us takes him up higher.

Max, at 1 ½, crawls and walks all over the place and at times his robot sometimes needs to pick him up and move him away from whatever he’s gotten into. The gates are even more important for him than for Adam.

Lynn is just barely a year old. She crawls, and even walks a little bit, so her robot also stays nearby.

We keep one adult on “kid watch” at all times that the kids are awake, but we’ve given the robots more responsibility for this. The only other alternative would be having at least two, and more likely three of us doing child care, and we simply don’t have the resources for that.

There has been talk of us having more kids, but in truth, while we have plenty of room, there just aren’t enough of us to make that feasible. Our thought is that when these four are older, maybe when the youngest, Amy, is 5 or 6, we might revisit the issue of having more kids. All of us love the kids, and we’d love to have more, but we need to be practical. Each kid has their own room, and there are robots on duty outside their doors at night after they go to bed. If one of them wakes up the adult on duty gets a wake up call.

Keeping this huge ship going, even though the robots do nearly all the work, is a huge undertaking. We need to check everything, answer any and all alarms, and just be ready for the unexpected. That’s a huge factor in our decision to wait a few years to have more kids. There are certainly concerns regarding what happens to the next generation. These kids will be closely related to each other. Romances and reproduction could be huge problems. That’s a long way off, of course.

There have been some storms, but at least so far, no bad ones. The roughest seas have been moderate at best, and the ship handles that with ease. We’re confident that even a violent storm would not be a serious concern. Again, this boat was designed to withstand even a hurricane. And our weather detection equipment is sophisticated enough so that we can “see” a storm when it’s still far enough away for us to move the ship out of harm’s way if a truly gigantic storm should head in our direction.

So life is good. We’re busy, but not too busy to enjoy our lives.

Next: A big storm

[Wayne23]

11/13: 94-75. 35, 7 for Deqq, 22 for SG Tony Hart, 13, 14 for Center Clay Edds, 15, 11 for Tras. 8 TOs.

#7 seed Kansas in the 2nd round.

11/15: 76-54. 22, 10 for Tras, 19, 10 for Edds. +19 RBs.

#6 seed, #22 ranked Gonzaga in the semifinal round. They’re strong inside but we think we’re stronger. And this game may give our guards a chance to shine.

11/17: 85-50. 27, 8 for Hart. 50 RBs, 5 TOs.

It’s #9 seed Pitt in the title game. They have a solid outside game but we have an edge inside.

11/19: 98-50. 26, 4, 4 for Hart, 16, 2, 7 for Deqq. 47 RBs, 5 TOs.

11/20: If this tournament is any indication we are going to be very hard to beat. We destroyed all four teams.

All 3 recruits signed.

12/4: 8-0, #1, RPI #2. We’re outscoring the other teams by just under 30 a game.

12/25: 12-0, #1, RPI #1. +24.1 PPG, +14.1 RBs, +5.0 TOs. We look really, really good.

[Wayne23]

1/1/2055: A 3 game week to start ACC play. 3 wins, none close. 15-0, 3-0, #1, RPI #2. Tony Hart gets 23.7 per game, and 3 others get 13.4 or more. Clay Edds averages 15.0 and 10.5 RBs; leads the nation RBs by 1.3 per game.

1/15: 18-0, 6-0, #1, RPI #1. Beating clubs by 24 a game.

1/29: 23-0, 11-0. #1, RPI #1. +23.8 PPG, +14.1 RBs, +4.7 TOs. 2 games up in the ACC. #1 in RBs and blocks, #2 in PPG and assists, #5 in TOs, #10 in PPG allowed. Edds is #1 in the nation in RBs by 1.7 per game.

Deqq is #3 in assists. Edds is #1 in double doubles and Tras #3.

Tony Hart is #4 on the Norton list, Edds #8, Deqq #9, Tras #14.

No team is unbeatable but someone’s going to have to play a near perfect game and catch us on an off night.

2/12: 26-0, 14-0, #1, RPI #2. Arizona just edges us in RPI; it’s close.

Tony Hart still #4 on the Norton list, Clay Edds #8, Kee Deqq #13, Pat Tras #20.

2/26: We finish the regular season 30-0, 18-0, +23.5 PPG, +14.8 RBs, +4.9 TOs, +6.5 assists, +2.5 in both blocks and steals. Clay Edds remains WAY ahead of everyone else in RBs, and Deqq is still #3 in assists.

March 5 is bound to hurt this year.

3/5: Not as bad as I feared. We lose Tony Hart, Pat Tras, and little used Dan Cox to the draft. Two starters, but Edds stayed.

Hart is #4, and Edds #8 on the Norton list.

[Wayne23]

August, 2158: Things continued to go really well for 6 months. Then last night we got hit by the biggest storm since we moved onto the cruise ship. Winds gusted into the 80s and there were some huge waves. The boat handled it all beautifully. I watched the storm from the bridge but I left a robot at the wheel. I was strapped in, as were the four robots who were with me. It was something to see, and really frightening at times, but whoever designed this ship has my everlasting respect and gratitude.

After the storm the robots did a thorough check of the entire ship for damage. There was very little.

While I’m discussing the ship, everything, and I mean everything is cleaned regularly, and as thoroughly as possible. There are a couple hundred robots on the ship and for most of them the main duty is getting into every tiny little corner, every duct, every panel, every conceivable space. Some of the robots are tiny enough to get into the most miniscule places, and we make sure they do. More and more, Joy and Lana assist me in supervision. Redundancy is great, and I want three people who have a solid working knowledge of everything that needs to be done. Marcie and Kevin do the same kinds of things in other areas. As I keep saying there’s a lot to do and a lot to check.

Our 80 foot boat also gets thorough cleaning and regular maintenance, and one of goes over there twice a week to do a personal inspection, and to supervise and need repairs and maintenance to the boat, the robots, the printers, the HCs, and the solar panels, batteries, and cells. We don’t expect to need the 80 foot boat but we want it there just in case.

The kids continue to grow. Max turned two this month, and Amy is 1 ½. Lacy continues to read everything she can get her hands on, and to love learning. Adam is desperately trying to figure out the reading thing. He’s barely three, but I think he’ll break the code before long. He loves numbers and counting, too.

Our friendly basketball coaching league just finished another season. I won my third championship, but it was close.

Next: An accident

[Wayne23]

3/7: #8 seed Pitt, 18-13, 8-10 in the quarters.

3/8: 86-62. 23, 19 for Edds, 20, 9 for Tras, 18, 5, 6 for Deqq, 17, 7, 5, 2, 4 for Hart. +13 RBs, 9 TOs.

#5 seed Louisville, 17-13, 9-9, in the semis. We won by 24 there, 23 here.

#2 seed, #4 ranked Duke was upset.

3/9: 74-55. Never close. 20, 16, 5, 3, 3 for Edds, 17, 5 for Hart, 15, 2, 5 for Deqq. +11 RBs.

#3 seed Florida ST, 21-9, 12-6, for the title. Two of their top 3 bigs are hurt.

3/10: 91-65. 23, 10 for Hart, 21, 11, 4 for Edds, 16, with 8 assists for Deqq. +15 RBs, 10 TOs.

3/12: 33-0. #1, #2. We’ll either be #1 or #2 overall. Arizona has one loss, to us by 17, but their RPI is better.

#1 Midwest, #2 overall. We play Marist, 17-15.

3/16: 79-52. 45-13 at the half, then I let up on them. 20, 7 for Hart, 18, 9 for Edds, 17, 3, 7 for Deqq, 13, 10 for Tras. +27 RBs, +10 TOs.

#8 seed USC, 20-10, in the 2nd round.

3/18: 90-60. Incredible game by Edds, 33, 26. 25, 9 for Hart. 58 RBs! 10 TOs.

#4 seed, #15 ranked Texas, 25-7, in the Sweet Sixteen.

3/23: 108-75. 23, 10, 5, 5, 4 for Edds, 27, 5 for Hart, 3 others with 12 or more. +10 RBs.

#11 seed LSU, 20-13, in the Elite Eight. They’ve beaten the #6, #3, and #2 seeds, so we need to be ready. On paper it’s no contest, but you never know with a hot team.

3/25: 82-64. 50-23 at the half. 33, 7 for hart. 14, 11 for Edds, 12, 6, 12 for Deqq. 53 RBs (+26).

#2 ranked Arizona, 36-1, in the Final Four. We beat them by 17 in December, their only loss. We think we’re better but we need to prove it.

On the other side it’s #6 Duke, 29-3, vs. #10 Houston, 29-5. So it could be an all ACC final.

4/1: 103-73. 27, 3, 9 for Deqq, 25, 4, 5, 4, 4 for Hart, 12, 13 for Edds. +8 RBs, +9 TOs.

#10 Houston, 30-5, beat Duke by three. Balanced scoring, very good rebounding, a deep bench.

We’re 38-0. Virginia lost to us by 1 in Feb., Florida only lost by 4, way back in November. The next closest game was 14, twice. But it’s all for nothing if we don’t win the next one. I’m making that very clear to my guys.

4/3: 96-79 and the title! Undefeated season! 27 for Hart, 18, 10, 4, 4 for Edds, 12, 5, 7 for Deqq, 13, 7 for Geer, 10, 7 for Tras. +11 TOs. What a feeling. It took 6 years, and a lot of near misses.

This is title #5 for me, 4 at UCLA and now 1 here.

4/4: Awards: Clay Edds was the tourney MOP, Tony Hart was 1st team All American, Clay Edds 2nd team. I got national COY. In the ACC Hart was POY, frosh OY, Defensive POY, and 1st team, for a clean sweep.
He’s a great player. Kee Deqq, Clay Edds, and Pat Tras also made 1st team. We did well!

4/9: Some very good teams came courting, but I’m staying as long as Clay Edds does. But I need to get out of here at some point. It’s positively tropical and getting worse.

Society is having a hard time holding together. Climate change is leading to severe water and food shortages in many areas of the country, and it’s even worst in many other countries.

4/23: I ask for a facilities upgrade. Shot down each of the last two years. I’m hoping to get that upgrade this time. No. I can’t believe it. What does it take? My A. D. and I had a screaming match fight over this, which probably won’t help me in the long run. Oh well.

39-0 and the title. Overall, I’m 763-173, .815 after 27 years.

[Wayne23]

January, 2159: Everything was going along very smoothly until yesterday. Lana was up on deck, running. She had just finished and continued running down the stairs. She missed a step right at the top and fell down the stairs while going at a high rate of speed. She hit her head, hard, and was knocked unconscious. A robot found her and sounded the alarm. Joy and I were closest. When we got to her she was still out, and her left leg was at an angle that told me there was serious damage. We wheeled a HC over and had the robots get her into the holohospital emergency room. She woke up screaming in pain from the leg.

As it turned out the leg was broken in two places, and the ACL and MCL were both torn. Worse, she had a severe concussion.

She couldn’t be given pain meds for a while due to the concussion but they spray froze the leg until they could.

Twelve hours later they were able to give her a spinal, so they took her into surgery and fixed all the damage to the leg. There will be a long, complex healing process though. There’s so much that needed to be fixed. As to the concussion she will need constant monitoring for at least a few days. Robots will take care of that but one of us needs to be there as well.

So that leaves three people to do everything- child care, check ins, supervision of robots… We’re really going to be stretched to the limit for a while, and stretched almost to the limit for at least six months while Lana’s leg heals. The fractures will be healed in weeks but the ACL and MCL will take six months if everything goes really, really well.

Next: More problems

[Wayne23]

5/1: The usual reports.

#1 preseason.

6/5: No one in the transfer pool.

6/26: 7 scholarships to fill. That’s a huge number. We want at least 4, and more likely 5 bigs. Looking at 20.

Tony Hart went #2 in the draft, Pat Tras #8, Dan Cox #12, Mick Wams #34.

8/7: All 11 guys on our team make the Norton list: C Al Epps is #3, C Clay Edds is #4, C Dan Datt is #6, PG Kee Deqq is #9, PG Jam Wall is #12, PF Will Birn is #15, C Jack Geer is #22, PG Hal Rand is #24, PF Dee
Hirt is #34, PF Rob Owen is #42, PG Joe Stok is #43.

8/21: We offer to 2 PGs, 2 PFs, 3 Cs.

9/18: We get 4, lose 3. We get 2 Cs, #1 and #5, a PG, #2, and a PF, #13.

Preseason NIT vs. Miami of Ohio. Lots of ranked teams on the schedule.

9/25: We get the other 3: A C, #6, a PG, #21, a PF, #34.

10/2: 1st day of practice. We are loaded!

11/6: Here’s the lineup:

Senior Kee Deqq is back at PG. Frosh Jam Wall is at SG. Senior Hal Rand will back up with junior Joe Stok in the wings.

Senior Will Birn is at SF.

Soph Clay Edds and frosh Al Epps start inside. Dan Datt will push for a starting spot inside, and senior Jack Geer and junior juco Dee Hirt will also get minutes. Senior Rob Owen waits.

Going for back to back titles and we have the team to do it.