11/13: 84-50. We did a lot of things right. 22, 5 for SF Tav Levy, 15, 11 for C Carl Fing, 16, 5, 3, 3 for guard Kel Will, and 11, 3, 2, 2 for sub guard Cay Crup. +8 TOs.
#4 seed, #23 ranked Memphis in the round of 8.
11/15: 80-74. 22, 4 for guard Bob Pabe, 18, 9, 2, 2, 2 for Fing, 8, 5, 3 for Crup.
#1 seed, #1 ranked FL in the semis. I’m not sure we’re ready for this.
11/17: 60-73. They outlasted us. We were in it for 33 minutes. 27 TOs (-17) was the difference- we shot better, we rebounded better, we committed fewer fouls. They were really quick, and that caused many of the TOs.
11/20: All 5 recruits signed, which means that one we were worried about will hit our SAT score. Great news. Still chasing a 6th recruit.
11/22: 68-52 at Kona. 5 guys with 10, 11, or 12 points, and another had 9 assists. 20 TOs, but they had 28. We’ve been in some sloppy games.
11/25: 74-59 over Oklahoma ST. This game was scheduled before I moved from that team to this one. I would rather not have played them this year. 20, 8 for Fing, 16, 6, 6 for Pabe.
11/27: 4-1, #9, RPI #5.
Cleveland’s grid is down. Until this happened either we all went down or no one did. Our tech crew doesn’t know why it’s different this time.
11/29: 79-60 over Wyoming. 18, 16, with 5 blocks for Fing, 18 for Will, 14, 5 for Robb, 11, 5, 5 for Levy. +11 RBs, +7 TOs.
12/2: 77-64 over #13 New Mexico here. 15, 9 for Fing, 16, 4, 2 for Robb, 13, 5, 3, with 3 blocks for Levy. 42 RBs.
Cleveland is still down. Keeping food fresh, and getting clean, potable water are problems. Medical procedures need to be done in Detroit. Everything is a hassle.
12/6: 78-56 over Gonzaga here. 20, with 6 assists for Will, 19, 4, 2 for Pabe, 16 for Levy. Fing had only 4 but he had 18 RBs, and he completely shut down their C. He is the best player I have ever coached- and he’s only a freshman! 9 TOs (+12), +10 RBs.
12/9: 62-72 to #8 Duke here. They built a 16 point early lead, and we never got it closer than 5. 22, 14 for Fing, 15 for Will, but 18 TOs, and we shot only 32.2%.
TOs are our biggest issue, 15.6 per game.
Cleveland is still down, 12 days on. Life there is a mess.
52-50 at Houston. Slow, sloppy game. They were up 8 at the half and 15 with 13:34 left. At that point we decided to double the ball 100% of the time in half court. They had 13 TOs from that point on. We tightened up our passing and only 4 of our 20 TOs happened from then on. We had been missing shots all night long but started to hit them. Those 2 factors turned it around. Ugly, but we’ll take the win!
12/16: Cleveland is finally back up. We’re told it’s a patchwork kind of a thing and it will be up and down, but for now it’s up. We’re still at least 8-9 months away from the new grid, at best, we’re told.
12/18: 8-2, #9, RPI #14.
12/20: 66-61 over a pecky Nebraska team here. 13, 8 for Fing, 17 for Will, 10, 9, 3 for Robb, 14, 4 for Geo, our first big off the bench. He hasn’t done that much but we’re not deep inside.
12/22: A hot air balloon went down a few hundred miles west of Toronto today. The pilot had time to radio that there was a “bang” and then the air seemed to slowly leak out of the balloon. He stayed in communication during what he described as a slow, steady descent, but we lost him at some point, maybe when the balloon hit ground. We have people rushing to the scene. We feel that we have a very good idea of where the balloon is.
12/23: We located the balloon just after sunrise. The pilot is dead, and the tech person with him is in critical condition with life threatening issues. The balloon is being examined on site.
12/24: There is something that looks suspiciously like a bullet hole in the balloon. Our people are running tests.
12/25: We end the pre-conf. season at 9-2, #10, RPI #9. +9.9 PPG, +4.8 RBs, but only +1.6 TOs, and with a lousy 16.1 per game.
It was definitely a bullet. Our people say it was a very lucky shot. The odds against hitting the balloon, given its altitude at the time, were very small.
The only good news is that we have a focal point for our search now, and we will send 3 balloons to that general area and widen the search parameters. Our other two balloons will travel the rest of the locations where they’ve been flying security flights. We are in the process of building 4 new balloons. It shouldn’t take more than a couple of weeks.
12/27: The tech person involved in the balloon disaster has died. He never regained consciousness.
Weekel use is becoming a real problem, especially in Cleveland and New Boston. Use is widespread and it is leading to all sorts of issues.