Walk on dynasty

[Wayne23]

1/8: 2-0! Both were at home but I’ll take it. 4 point win over Hampton. 14 over Marxist.

1/15: Won on the road, lost at home. 8-7, 3-1. RPI #230.

Poor outside shooting and worse outside D lost the home game.

1/22: 2-0 week. 10-7, 5-1. RPI #192.

7 point road win. We didn’t defend well, we didn’t rebound well, we didn’t handle the ball well, but we shot 57.1%, and we went to the line 16 more times.

A 1 point win at home when they missed an open 8 footer at the buzzer.

Little used big man Mo Dess hurt his back.

We’re in a 4 way tie for 1st, 2 up on 5th, but it’s early.

1/29: 11-8, 6-2. RPI #162. In a 3 way tie for 1st at the ½ way point in conf. play. +1.0 PPG, +1.0 in RBs, +0.4 TOs. This is the first time we’ve been + in all 3 categories.

Lost by 4 to a team tied for 1st on the road. Great rebounding, terrible ball handling.

Then we won by 13 at home vs. another team tied for 1st. PF/C Russ Bard has been leading the way.

[Wayne23]

2/5: 1-1 again this week. 12-9, 7-3, RPI #146. Still in a 3 way tie for 1st. 4 teams are 1 game back.

24 TOs in the road loss. 10 TOs in the home win.

4 of our last 6 are on the road, which is not good. We need to split the 4 road games and win the 2 at home.

2/12: We split these 2 road games. 13-10, 8-4, RPI #162. In a 2 way tie for 3rd, 1 back of 1st.

Poor outside D hurt us in the 7 point loss. Then we were +12 RBs and held our own in TOs in the 15 point win.

1 home, then 1 away this week. Crunch time has arrived!

2/19: 2-0! 15-10, 10-4, RPI #142. In a 3 way tied for 2nd, 1 back of 1st.

1 home, 1 away but both are against weak teams.

2/26: 1-1. We end up 16-11, 11-5, RPI #. Tied for 2nd, 1 back, and the #2 seed. +2.0 PPG, +1.6 RBs, +0.8 TOs. We have an excellent chance to move up to Conf. P..

[Wayne23]

3/1: #7 seed South Alabama, 16-13, 9-7, in the quarter finals. They beat us by 7 here.

3/2: Down 6 at the half. Not good. They’re shooting 57.1%. That needs to change. On the up side they are in WAY more foul trouble than we are.

74-81. We played them even in the 2nd, but that was good enough.

Do we advance? I think so, but if So. Alabama wins the tourney, maybe not. Need to wait and see.

3/5: So. Alabama lost by 2 in the title game so I think we will advance to Conf. P.

I’m sure our season is finished.

4/4: Awards: Soph PF/C Russ Bard made Conf. Q 1st team. Soph PF/C Cole Task made 2nd team.

Losing 2 starters, 1 PG, 1 inside player, and our 6th man, another inside player. Also losing 3 who didn’t play.

16-12, 11-5, RPI #169. 2nd place, out in the quarter finals. +1.7 PPG, +1.8 RBs, +0.7 TOs (15.3- way better than last season).

4/23: We ask for that facilities upgrade again. Nope. Not sure what it’s going to take.

Overall I’m 177-97, .646, for 9 seasons.

[Wayne23]

5/1: 3-2, 2.5-4, 2-7.

9/18: We have a schedule.

10/2: 1st day of practice.

We’re picked to finish 15th.

11/6: 9 man rotation.

Starting at guard are returning starters senior Lon Hais and junior Che Toma. Backing up will be junior Greg Cary and soph Mal Whit.

At SF is senior Joel Carr. Backing up is soph Cal Cole.

Starting inside are junior Russ Gard and Senior Jay Gile. Backing up inside is junior Cole Task. As always there will be changes.

[Wayne23]

11/20: 1-1 in 2 road games to start. We played well in the first and terribly in the 2nd- 20 RBs, 22 TOs.

11/27: 1-1. We won the home game by 9. Center Jay Gile had 19 and 10.

Lost the road game by 7. 22 TOs, only 20 RBs.

We make a change up front. Cole Task will start for Russ Bard.

12/4: 1-1. Again, win at home, lose on the road. In the loss we didn’t play badly but we shot horribly, 28%.

Our guards aren’t giving us much at all.

12/11: 1-1. Same story. Lost by 5 on the road due to poor D, more than anything else.

The D wasn’t great at home but we scored 81, and had only 9 TOs.

4-4, RPI #164. We’re experimenting at SF, trying three guys to see if anyone will claim the position. No answers at guard. We have only 4 guards on the squad, and only Hais is dong much, and he’s not doing a lot.

Only one game, on the road, this week.

12/18: We lost by 13. 4-5, RPI #216. We lost it at the line, and with a lack of scoring.

2 more before conf. play. Both are at home, one this week, one next.

12/25: 14 point win at home. 25 and 12 for Center Cole Task.

One more pre-conf game, here.

1/1/’26: 13 point win. 16, 9, 2 for PF Jay Gile, 14, 7 for C Cole Task. Good bench play.

We end pre-conf. play at 6-5, RPI #199. +1.9 PPG, +1.9 RBs, +0.3 TOs (14.6, which is not horrible for us.

The SF position is still being split three ways but we’re set at the other 4 spots.

[Wayne23]

1/8: 2-0. Won easily at home and by 3 on the road. 23, 7 for Task, +16 TOs in the home win.

22, 7 for inside sub Russ Bard, 16, 10 for Task, +8 RBs, 16 for Carr, but poor ball handling (18 TOs) in the road win.

8-5, 2-0, RPI #140.

1/15: 1-1 week; 9-6, 3-1, RPI #123. Lost on the road when we let them shoot 61.7%.

The D was awful at home too, 50.9%, but we went to the line 39 times, they went 17 (and made 7).

A couple of lineup tweaks. Bard and Carr are getting Cole’s minutes at SF, and Cary is getting some of Toma’s minutes at PG.

1/22: Another 1-1 week. 10-7, 4-2, RPI #123. 1 back of 1st (with 6 other teams).

32% shooting, -10 RBs in the loss.

+10 TOs, decent D and shooting, 43 points by the starting front line in the win.

2 road games this week.

1/29: 1-1 week. 11-8, 5-3, RPI #119. In a 4 way tie for 3rd place, 2 back of 1st, 1 back of 2nd.

1 point win in the 1st game on a 6 footer by Task with 1.2 left; he had 21 and 6. +13 RBs, -10 TOs.

Then we gave up 85 points in the 2nd and got crushed. They shot 59.6%. 26 TOs.

[Wayne23]

2/5: 0-2 week. We knew we were in trouble when we lost the home game, by 10. We scored 48; you won’t win many when that happens. Carr had 20, the rest had 28.

Then we lost by 6 on the road when the refs called twice as many on us as on the other team.

11-10, 5-5, RPI #168. In a 7 way tie for 6th. We need a major turnaround. 4 of our last 6 are at home. We need to finish at least 5-1. It could happen; the teams we’re facing are not the top on conf.

2/12: 2-0. 13-10, 7-5, RPI #138. In a 6 way tie for 3rd, 1 back of 2nd. 1st is out of reach.

4 point win vs. Hartford here. We had 7 threes, they had 2. The other stats were even. Gile, Carr, and Hais led us.

Then a rare blow out, a 25 point win. The best game we’ve played all season.

2 on the road this week. We need at least one of them.

2/19: 1-1. I’ll take it. 14-11, 8-6, RPI #140. In a 3 way tie for 4th.

18 TOs did us in in the first game. The 2nd was a battle. We got hot late. Our front court did just about all the damage.

2 to play, both at home. We need them both. One should be easy but the 2nd is against one of the teams we’re tied with.

2/26: We won the first by 14. We played like we wanted it and led most of the way. Task and Gile dominated inside and we forced 25 TOs.

The starting PF and leading rebounder for Harvard, our opponent in the final regular season game, broke his leg in the previous game.

75-66! A HUGE win. We were down 10 early, but got it to 3 at halftime. We made a couple of adjustments at controlled most of the 2nd half. 16, 13 for Gile, 16, 10 for Task, 15, 3, 2 for Carr. +14 RBs.

We end the regular season at 16-11, 10-6, Rpi #115, in a 3 way tie for 2nd, #4 seed. +1.8 PPG, +2.3 RBs, +0.6 TOs.

[Wayne23]

3/1: #12 seed Elon, 13-15, beat #5 Boston. It’s a break for us but Elon did beat us by 10 there.

3/2: 72-56. We were down 6 at the half but came roaring back to lead by as many as 19. 35, 6 for Joel Carr, 9 TOs (+11), 13 threes (They had 4.).

#8 seed Lehigh, 18-12, 8-8, beat #1 in a HUGE upset. The #1 team had won the conf. by 4 games. They’re next. We beat them by 13 at our place. Their starting PF is out with a broken elbow.

3/3: 79-76. We had it with 12 seconds left and wanted to get it in to Task. They played great inside D. Finally, Toma had to take a 20 footer. He drained it at the buzzer. 11 more fouls, 4 more RBs, 4 fewer TOs. 20, 5, 2 for Task, 13, 2, 3, 3 for
Toma, 14 for sub guard Greg Cary.

#2 seed Cal ST Fullerton, 19-11, 10-6, for the title. We did not play them in the regular season.

3/4: 74-66 and the title. We didn’t take control until the last 2 minutes or so, when their PG fouled out. 21, 2, 4 for Carr. Hais, Bard, and Task also played very well.

3/5: 19-11, 10-6, RPI #85, and the conf. tourney title. Considering we were picked to finish 15th, not bad!

We’ll be a #15 or a #16 I think.

3/12: #15 West. We play #2 seed, #4 ranked, #8 RPI Florida, 25-6. It’s not going to be pretty.

3/17: 53-81. The talent gap was too great.

4/4: Awards: Junior Cole Task made Conf. P 1st team. That’s it; the bias against walk ons continues.

4/9: LSU and Nevada want me. I’m staying.

4/23: We ask for a facilities upgrade yet again. And yet again we are denied.

19-12, 10-6, conf. tourney champs. +1.4 PPG, +2.0 RBs, +0.8 TOs. We’re losing 3 starters, SF Joel Carr, C Jay Gile, SG Lon Hais.

Conf. O next year.

Overall I’m 196-109, .643, for 10 seasons.

[Wayne23]

5/1: 3.5-1, 3-3, 2.5-3, 2-7.

9/18: We have a schedule.

10/2: 1st day of practice.

11/6: The lineup: At guard senior Coy Ball and sophs Rik Jupe and Ime Horn will share equally for now.

At SF juniors Cal Cole and Marq Jann will share equally.

Inside seniors Cole Task and Russ Bard, and soph Mat Land will share equally. We’ll see who steps up.

Can we compete in Conf. O? We’re picked to finish 11th.

[Wayne23]

11/20: 1-1. We won the home game by 9. Good play at guard except 18 TOs. 2 of our 3 inside players played well. Neither guy at SF did.
We lost by 20 on the road. Guard Ime Horn had 20, and no one else had more than 5; awful. 18 TOs again.
2 on the road this week.
11/27: 1-1. I’ll take it! Now at 2-2.
83-76 in the 1st game. 22, 6 for guard Russ Bard, 11, 12 for Task, 10, 2, 2, 0, 2 for guard Ime Horn. +15 RBs, but 17 TOs.
Then we lost by 16. -12 RBs, 19 TOs.
We’re looking at the lineup. We’re happy with guard play so just a little more at PG for one guy, a little more at SG for another to balance it.
We’re NOT happy with SF. Giving Stan Reed a shot.
Just some tweaks inside. I’m sure we’re not finished.
2 at home this week.

12/4: 2-0. Now at 4-2. Home cookin’!

We won the first by 12. 6 players had between 7 and 10 points. Still got nothing from the SF spot. 18 TOs (sigh).

Then a 10 point win. 9 TOs! Our previous best was 17. Good play inside and out, but nothing from SF. Cal Cole has been doing better than the other 2 we’ve used there. We’ll give him the start for now.

12/11: 1-1. We’re 5-3, RPI #167.

Lost by 23 on the road. +14 RBs but 19 TOs. Good play from Task, Land, and Jupe. Cole was decent at SF, better than we’ve been getting.

Then a 7 point win at home. 21, 4 for Land, 20, 5 for Task. Good guard play but 22 TOs, most of which did not come from the guards.

We’re giving Ball and Jupe all the minutes they can handle at guard. Horn has been turning it over lots more than the other two. Toma will get his minutes.

3 more before Conf. O play; all are at home.

12/18: 1 game week. We won by 16, here. 20, 6, 4 for guard Rik Jupe. Only 10 TOs. 12, 6, 3, 4 from the SF spot (Cole and Jann combined.).

12/25: 62-51, here. Land, Task, and Jupe led us again. Toma played well. BUT… 24 TOs. +15 RBs helped.

7-3, RPI #109. 1 more pre-conf. game.

1/1/’27: 120-123 in the longest game in my DDS hoops history I think- 5 overtimes. 24 TOs but that’s not bad considering (-7). +12 RBs. They hit a long three to end it. 23 each for Task and Bard, 20, 6, 6, 3,
4 for Jupe, 14, 7, 4 for Cole, 10, 7 for Land.

We end pre-conf. play at 7-4, RPI #. +0.9 PPG, +7.5 RBs, -1.8 TOs (18.0, but only -1.8).