After Dystopia

[Wayne23]

11/11: The Councils meet jointly and cut back about 50% on patrols and go with one escort ship per fishing boat.

11/15: 72-60 over Arizona ST here. 16 for Thor, 13 for Scot, 10 for Hays. +11 TOs. Good start!

11/18: 87-67 over Baylor here. This was a team effort. 14, 4 for Huts, but he had lots of help. +15 TOs.

11/22: 75-58 at Cal Poly. 15 for Huts, 10, 5 for Scot. +9 RBs, +8 TOs.

11/25: 74-54 at Hartford. 13 for Rich, 10 for Thor. +7 RBs, +4 TOs.

Scoring has been balanced and we’re taking care of the ball.

90-68 over Missouri ST here. 16, 3, 4 for Herd, 12, 6 for Scot, 11, 2, 4 for Hays. 7 TOs.

A ship was sighted by the fishing boat and escort from New Philly. It seemed to leave the area as soon as it saw the escort.

Patrols and escorts are back to full strength.

12/6: 85-60 over the first team where I was head coach, New Hampshire, here. 14 for Hays, 11 for Thor. +13 RBs, +5 TOs.

Off to the Sunshine Shootout.

12/10: 78-72 over a scrappy #7 seed Rutgers team in the round of 8; we’re the #2 seed. Another team effort. 9 guys had between 5 and 12. Thor led us with 11 and 6.

12/11: 77-73 over #3 seed Wisconsin. 17 for Hays, 15, 10 for Thor, 10 for Scot.

12/12: The bubble bursts, 63-82 to #1 seed, #4 ranked North Carolina. They were bigger and quicker.

8-1, #14, RPI #33.

12/14: 78-64 back at home vs. Northwestern. 18, 3, 3, 2 for Huts. +10 TOs.

12/20: 79-67 at Campbell. 17 for Scot, 15 for Thor. +10 TOs.

12/22: Another sighting, this one by the New York fishing boat and escorts. The ship again retreated when sighting the escorts.

12/25: We end pre-conf. play at 10-1, #16, RPI #36. +11.6 PPG, +2.4 RBs, +6.3 TOs.

This has been a great first season at Missouri so far. The SEC is a tou8gh conference, so let’s see how we do!

[Wayne23]

12/27: 90-82 over a tough Alabama team here t SEC play. 16 each for Rich and sub guard Al Sand, and 11 for Huts. +14 RBs.

12/30: 58-55 at Vanderbilt. I’ve never seen so many missed shots. We were 21-82, they were 21-64. We hit 10 threes (out of 48), including one at the end by Dan Rich that won it. +7 RBs (53-46!), and +6 TOs.

1/1/2585: 12-1, 2-0, #15, RPI #25.

1/3: 91-61 over Tennessee here. 22, 6 for Huts, 16, 12 for Scot, 15, 2, 5 for Rich, 8, 10, 2, 2 for Thor. +18 RBs, +10 TOs.

1/6: 76-66 at Arkansas. 5 in double figures. D was awful in the 1st 1/2. We made some adjustments and held them to 26 in the 2nd.

1/10: 74-59 over Mississippi ST here. 17, 6 for Knox, 12, 8, 2, 2, 2 for Scot, 14, 3, 2, 2 for Hays, 8, 11 for Thor. 41 RBs, 6 TOs.

1/13: Great road win! 83-80 at #23 Alabama in OT. We were down 12 with 8:17 to play. D wasn’t stopping them inside so I decided to just pack it into a 2-3, which we don’t use that often. We made up the deficit, and were effective enough to win it in the extra session. 24, 6, 7 for Cal Herd, 17, 3, 5, 2 for Dan Rich. They beat us inside, but our guards got it done- 15-34 from behind the arc.

We’re the only undefeated team in the SEC- 1 up on Georgia, 2 on 3 teams. It’s early.

1/15: 16-1, 6-0, #10. RPI #15.

1/17: 79-66 over #17 FL here. Another big win. 17, 3, 3, 3 for Rich, 14, 4 for Thor, 11, 5, 3, 2 for Hays, 10, 4, 4 for Herd. We shot 49.2% and held them to 36.2%.

1/20: 84-67 at Texas A & M. This team is exceeding all expectations at this point. 23, 10 for Scot, 17 for Hays, 10, 9, 3 for Knox. +8 RBs. We shot 50%, they shot 33.8%.

1/22: 18-1, 8-0, #8, RPI #10. 3 game lead in conf., with 10 to play.

1/24: A war at home against Vanderbilt, 78-76. Dan Rich hit an 18 footer for the win. He had 22, 5, 5, 3. 14 each for Thor, Huts, and Herd. +16 TOs. We beat Vandy by 3 there in OT. Hope we miss them in the post season!

1/27: 83-63 at LSU. I am amazed that we just continue to win. Delighted, too! 18 each for Hays and Herd, 35 RBs, 10 TOs, and we shot 51.5% to their 36.7%.

1/29: 20-1, 10-0, #7, RPI #10. 3 up on Ark., 4 up on 5 teams, with 8 to play. +12.1 PPG, +3.5 RBs, +5.6 TOs.

The fishing boats and their escorts are seeing ships off in the distance, but never more than one.

[Wayne23]

1/31: 84-73 over #11 Kentucky here. 16, 7 for Hays, 12, 7, 3 and 3 blocks for Huts, 5 in double figures, and 49 1st ½ points. +16 RBs.

2/3: We finally lose one, 62-66 at Georgia. 14, 7 for Scot, 13, 4 for Knox. The excellent shooting disappeared tonight- 37.5%. That was the story.

Arkansas also lost so still up by 3 over them, 4 over 4 teams, with 6 to play.

2/5: 21-2, 11-1, #8, RPI #9.

2/6: 3 ships sighted in the distance by the New York fishing escorts.

2/7: 60-70 to Mississippi at home. They shot 50%, we shot 37.9%. -19 RBs. They took 29 free throws we took 13. Our first home loss of the season.

2/10: 74-58 at South Carolina. We wanted this one, just to get our momentum back. 21, 5 for Hays, 16, 10 for Thor, 11 each for Rich and Huts. +7 RBs, +6 TOs.

Arkansas lost so we lead them by 3, 4 teams by 4, with 4 to play.

2/12: 22-3, 12-2, #8, RPI #18.

2/14: 70-57 over #25 Auburn here. 15, 8 for Thor, 13 each for Scot and Herd. Good shooting, good D.

2/16: New Philly spotted a fleet of 6 ships, and New York a fleet of 8, both off their coasts but far out at sea. Both communities are on full alert. Something is brewing.

2/17: 80-85 at Tennessee. 19, 8 for Thor, 17, 8, 3 for Knox, 12, 8, 3 for Hays, but our D was nonexistent tonight- 54.9%.

We play Arkansas next, at home. If we beat them that will clinch #1. If we don’t we will need to win our last regular season game on the road.

2/19: 23-4, 13-3, #10, RPI #16.

More sightings of multiple ships off the coasts of New Philly and New York. We remain on high alert.

The Councils approved building more ships. Essentially they are war ships. Trouble is coming. We don’t know who our enemy is, or why they are acting threateningly, but we need to be ready.

2/21: 79-73 over Arkansas here to clinch the regular season SEC title. 6 players in double figures, +8 RBs, +5 TOs. We took 21 more shots. Free throws kept it close. They shot 31, we shot 21.

We didn’t expect this kind of success so soon here; we’re delighted.

2/24: 69-80 at MS ST. A meaningless game but I’m not happy with the loss.

2/28: Ships are appearing daily on the horizon off the coasts of our two Atlantic settlements.

3/5: We end the regular season 24-5, 14-4, #12, RPI #15. +9.3 PPG, +3.4 RBs, +4.7 TOs.

[Wayne23]

3/7: We play #9 seed Tennessee, 15-13, 9-9, in the quarter finals. We won by 30 here but just lost by 5 there.

3/8: 80-62. We led all the way. 19, 10, 7, 3, 2 for Knox, 3 others in doubles. +12 RBs, 55.2% shooting.

#5 seed Florida, 19-12, 11-7, in the semis. We won by 13 here.

3/9: 77-79. Tough loss. We came back from an 18 point deficit to take the lead three times late. They got the ball with 4.1 to play and the score tied, came down, set a great pick and hit a 16 footer for the win as time expired. 19, 9 for Thor, 16, 5, 7 for Rich. 18 TOs hurt us., as did the fact that they took 7 more free throws.

3/10: Ark beat FL by one for the title.

3/12: 25-6, 14-4, #17, RPI #17, going to the selection.

#3 Midwest. That’s great; I thought we’d be a #4. We play 18-13 Western Carolina.

3/16: 70-66. Too close! Never more than a 7 point difference. Scot only played 14 minutes due to foul trouble and that hurt. We had 8 who scored between 6 and 13 points. +8 RBs, but 18 TOs (They had 19). We were 1-15 on threes. Oh well, we’re still alive!

Next is #6 seed, #22 ranked Michigan ST. We’ll need to play better than we did tonight.

3/18: 73-79. They were better but we had one guy foul out, and 4 others with 4. They had no one foul out and one guy with 4. They took 37 free throws, we took 22.

4/2: War! At least a dozen ships bombed New Philly, and another dozen New York.

We spotted them as they approached and we were ready. As soon as the first shot was fired we unloaded- from both communities. The battle was over in minutes. We suffered very little damage and no casualties. We sank 11 ships before the rest retreated.

Our ships rescued 37 crew members from the ships. The highest ranking officer was a 1st mate, and she is being interrogated in New York.

4/3: #4 ranked Stanford won the national title.

I am told that after several hours of interrogation we have learned that the attackers are from Scotland, one of the few populated areas in Northern Europe.

They are ruled by King Trevor, whose aim is to conquer the entire world. We’re told the Scots control all of Europe (which is not much, less than 100,000 people), all of West Coast Africa (another 80,000), and parts of Asia and South America. They have a large navy, and will attack with a bigger force next time.

In an emergency session of the 8 Councils it was decided that we will expand the fleet as quickly as possible, and we will set up shore patrols with cannon and small arms at close intervals from 75 miles south of New York to 75 miles north of New Philly. These patrols will eventually be placed as close to each other as possible, perhaps every couple of miles. This is priority #1. Food production and distribution work will be unaffected, but every other area of work will be placed on as minimal a level as possible with all available personnel involved in ship building, arms manufacture, and patrol duty.

We are on a war footing.

Lots of shifting of personnel, to and from food production and distribution. We want the right people in the right positions.

It was decided that if at all possible next basketball season will happen. It’s a question of morale. It is felt that an entertainment distraction will be needed, and hoops is the most popular entertainment we have.

4/4: Awards: I got conf. COY. Other than that we were shut out. That’s outrageous! We won the conference!

4/8: All is quiet on the war front.

4/17: Things remain quiet. We are running four shifts, 24/7, 7 days a week, in the ship building and munitions factories.

4/23: We ask for a facilities upgrade. Got it, C+ to B+.

26-7, 14-4. Great first season. After 10 seasons I’m 275-63, .814.

[Wayne23]

5/1: Several ships nearly completed. Munitions and armaments are at the level we want them to be at. This operation has shifted to helping with ship building. It will restart as we need replacements.

We are all shocked that the Scots have not followed up. We are also grateful. Just 2-3 more weeks and we’ll be at a strength level that we want to be at.

5/22: We have the ships, the cannons, the tanks, the rifles, the ammunition we feel we need. The Councils are debating keeping a strong defensive posture or attacking.

5/23: For now we stay on the defensive.

6/5: Looking at transfers. Weak pool but we offer to 2 bigs.

6/9: We lose one. Offer to the other big again, and to a PG.

6/12: We get the PG, Dee Dens.

6/13: The Scottish ships are back, lurking on the horizon. We remain on full alert. The decision is that we won’t wait for them to fire. If they get to a certain point we attack from both sea and shore. They are remaining beyond that point… so far.

6/14: A LOT of ships, but they’re staying far away. More ships than we have, but we feel we have the capability to handle whatever they may bring.

6/23: They crossed the line. We sent our ships after them and attacked from shore. They pounded us back. While they had numerical superiority in ships, our shore attack made the difference. LOTS of ships down on both sides. They eventually retreated. We decided it was too risky to follow them. We picked up their survivors, both for humanitarian reasons, and in hopes that interrogation would give us information. We have a Captain, 3 first mates, and 2 second mates, among others.

Lots of casualties on our side. 11 ships lost, with 134 crew. The rest we rescued. On land, 187 killed in New York, 98 in New Philly, lots of structures damaged, but, fortunately, all seem to be fixable.

6/24: Back in production. We’re going to build up to 50 ships, as well as the other stuff and the ammunition required. We’re moving more of our people from the other 6 communities to New York and New Philly.

6/26: 4 to fill. We probably want 2 or even 3 guards.

7/2: Our interrogations are giving us some important information. It seems the Scots are over extended. They’ve taken on a LOT, and they’ve expanded their territory beyond their means to both protect it and to seek to capture new territory. We feel this info is accurate due to the way we collected it- multiple prisoners talking independently of each other. We have isolated officers from each other completely, fed them some misinformation, used all sorts of interrogation techniques, including … chemical substances. There is no truth serum, but certain substances definitely loosen tongues and relax inhibitions.

Our Councils are considering this new information, and we will adjust plans accordingly.

7/29: We have our 50 ships, and more cannon, tanks, and other armaments than we could ever have imagined having.

7/31: Couldn’t announce it but we attacked Scotland today with everything we had. We put everything we had ashore at dawn. Turns out they didn’t even have guards posted. We advanced to the capitol in no time, and then we took the palace and captured the King. It was a total victory with almost no casualties.

Now we hold on. No doubt all of the many ships and warriors that Scotland has scattered all over the world will be coming home to try to retake their homeland. We’re ready.

8/8: The Scots seem completely uncoordinated. Ships are dribbling into port in ones and twos and we are capturing or sinking them with ridiculous ease.

8/15: We offer to 2 bigs and 2 PGs.

8/23: We think it’s over. As far as we can tell all of the Scottish ships have returned. We have captured or sank every one of them. We are making plans to leave a presence here, both at sea and on land, but lots of our people will be coming home, hopefully by 9/1.

9/2: People from all 8 communities travelled to New York to greet our returning warriors. This isn’t about some nonsensical joy of conquest. This is about men and women who saved us from being conquered. We are peaceful. We only want to be left in freedom. But… we were attacked. We defended ourselves, and then we removed the threat. As soon as humanly possible we will leave Scotland completely. But we need to be sure they will choose to be governed by those who have no interest in conquest. Our hope is that all of that will be in place within a few months.

In Detroit it took some time but now that community is an equal partner with the rest of our communities.

Oh, we sent ships to all of the communities in Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America that Scotland had conquered. We offered only peace and freedom. Trade and travel are both too complicated at such great distances. But internet communication is in the process of being set up.

9/18: We get a C, Ted Lews, #54..

We’re in the preseason NIT, vs. #5 ranked Arizona. Tough draw. We’ve beefed up the home schedule.

9/22: Things are settling down. Scotland is working out their new government, and our people are still there, but there’s no sign of trouble.

We are communicating with people all over the world. It seems like there are communities scattered in lots of places, but it doesn’t seem like there are as many as a million people living on the planet. We don’t know that. It’s a big world and lots of it has not been visited since everything fell apart 500 years ago. We have no interest in exploration. Never know what you might find.

All basketball players stationed away from home are being brought back in time to begin

Practice on 10/2. They will be replaced by others.

9/25: PF Lou Jonn, #44 commits. We need guards and we’re having trouble getting them.

10/2: We get a guard, Al Tray, PG, #86.

1st day of practice.

We’re picked #5 in a tough conf.

10/9: PG Al Menn, #101 commits.

11/1: Things remain quiet and peaceful everywhere.

11/6: Here’s the lineup, and we like it, but there will likely be adjustments:

At guard 4 guys stood out, and we’re going to give them PT to sort it out. Senior Cal Herd and junior Kel Hays will start, but senior Al Sand and frosh Jed DEiss will get plenty of minutes.

At SF Fud Lake, a redshirt soph transfer from Michigan will start. Soph Kyle Huts will spell him.

Up front it’s soph Juma Scot and frosh Cal Wick, but Lew Thor will get enough minutes to take a spot, if he can.

So an 8 man rotation, and again, we like it.

Tough draw in the tourney, #5 Arizona, but we’ll do what we can.

[Wayne23]

11/15: 63-76. 25-44 at the half. We adjusted and won the 2nd half by 6 but it was too late. Things will get better. 16, 4 for SF Fud Lake, 10, 11, 4 with 3 blocks for Juma Scot.40 RBs, but 17 TOs. They took 16 more free throws, which was more than the difference.

11/20: Crap! Our #1 recruit at guard will not hit our SAT score. The others did. Back into the guard pool.

11/23: 78-72 over a tough Air Force team here. We were down 10 with 17:11 to go. Their PG and SF were killing us. We made the changes needed to keep them covered, and that made the difference. +12 TOs, most of that after those changes were made. 19, 4 for sub big man Lew Thor, 11 for sub guard Al Sand, 9 for sub SF Kyle Huts. Bench: 48, 8, 9, their bench: 19, 9,8. 12, 9 for starter Juma Scot.

11/26: 75-64 over Purdue here. 23, 3, 3 for guard Cal Herd, 19, 5, 6 for Lake, 8, 10, 2, 2 for Cal Wick. We took a ridiculous 47 threes, only making 14. It was enough but that’s not how we like to play. They completely packed it in on D though. You take what they give you.

11/27: 2-1, RPI #60.

11/30: 65-49 at FL International. Great D. 18, 7, 2, 2 for Thor. Lots of front court foul trouble but the bench came through.

12/3: 83-75 over a good Memphis team here. 23, 11, 4 for Scot, 12, 6 for Lake and the same for Thor. +7 RBs.

TOs are an issue, 14.8 is too many. We’re +1.4 but still.

12/7: 85-58 over Western KY here. 27, 7 for Scot, 15, 7 for Wick, 17, 5 for Thor. 11 TOs made me happy. +12 in both TOs and RBs.

12/10: 66-57 over Temple here. Balanced scoring. 12, 6, 4, 3 for Herd, 10 each for Thor and Lake, 9, 7 for Scot. But 17 TOs (They had 23).

12/11: 6-1, RPI #55.

I haven’t mentioned it but I’m still driving a truck. I actually like it, although I miss the stats I did in the other two communities. Still, this is low pressure, I get to know lots of people, the hours are regular. If and when a stats position opens up I’ll take it, but I’m good.

12/14: 79-65 at Northwestern. 18, 3, 3, 2 for Thor, 12, 7 for Wick, 11, 8 for Scot, 11, 4 for Sand. 11 TOs.

A ship came sailing into New York harbor, with white flag flying, from, of all places Namibia, which is on the West Coast of Africa. Ship’s officers from a patrol ship boarded while they were at sea, saw that they carried no significant weaponry, listened what to what they had to say, and let them dock.

They want to establish trade with our communities. They live in about as hot a climate as can be lived in, and there are things they need and want that they cannot produce. They are willing to do all of the transport, both ways, and to give favorable terms on the tropical fruits of every variety, and other things we don’t have.

New York brought the proposal to the newly formed Joint Council.

I should have mentioned that there is now a Joint Council, composed of 2 members of each community Council. It meets via internet once a week, and as needed, and live, once a month, rotating from community to community. It has no power to do more than recommend, but given that it does the legwork, research… on proposals that affect everyone, the expectation is that their recommendations will normally be approved.

12/18: Ranked! #24. RPI #18. We’re 7-1.

12/19: After much deliberation we will be trading with Namibia. The deal is too good to pass up.

12/21: 82-59 over Tulsa here. 20, 15, 3 for Scot, 18, 8 for Thor, 18, 2, 4 for Herd, 14 for Wick. +16 RBs, 11 TOs.

12/25: We end pre-conf. play at 8-1, #23, RPI #13. +11.2 PPG, +4.8 RBs, +3.4 TOs, but 13.8 is too high.

[Wayne23]

12/28: 84-69 at Kentucky. Admittedly, KY is having a down year (5-5) but this is still a great win. 3 guys with 16, 16, 14 for Scot, 16, 10, 2, 2, 2 for Wick, 16, 6 for Hays. +21 RBs, 12 TOs.

12/31: 83-62 over South Carolina here. 20 for Herd, 10, 8, 2, 2, 3 for Scot, 12 for Diss.

The guard situation still hasn’t straightened itself out. Cal Herd is the only guard playing full starter minutes. Hays, Diss, and Sand share the rest of the guard time about equally. No one has emerged. Herd and Sand are seniors, and we’re not thrilled about guards coming in so it would be nice if Hays and Diss developed.

1/4/2586: 72-58 at Georgia. 15, 9 for Lake, 14, 4 for Scot, 11, 3, 3 for Herd. 41 RBs, 11 TOs.

Starting big Cal Wick hurt his hand. He’ll miss at least one game. Lake and Huts will get his minutes.

The first trade ships from Namibia arrived. Fresh tropical fruit and other items are being sent to all 8 communities. We are shipping manufactured products there, again, via their ships.

1/7: A war with Tennessee here. 74-72. Lew Thor hit a 12 footer with less than a second to go, for the win. We were up by as many as 18 but we faded late. They never took the lead, and tied it for the first time since early minutes, with 5.5 left. A thin bench up front and foul trouble made it a battle. 17, 8, 3 for Scot, 14 for Thor, 11, 6, 2, 2 for Herd, 8, 7, 2 for Lake. 9 TOs (+8).

1/8: 12-1, 4-0, #14, RPI #5. Tied for 1st in conf. with #3 ranked Florida.

1/11: Tough home loss, 78-81 to Auburn in OT. We came from 15 down to tie it with a three by Cal Herd at the end of regulation. Then they won it with a three at the end of OT. 21, 5 for Scot, 15, 2, 3 for Herd, 12, 4, 4 for Hays, 10, 6 for Thor. Stats were close. We had an edge in free throws, but their 12 thres to our seven made the biggest difference.

As was inevitable, one of our men has fallen in love with a woman on the crew of a Namibian ship. We didn’t expect it quite this soon but we knew it would happen. Fortunately, he didn’t do anything crazy, like stow away on their ship. They have asked for permission for her to move to our community. We’ll see how complicate this gets, and we have no doubt this is the first, but not the last time this will happen. Race is not any sort of an issue here; we’re multi-racial in all 8 communities. But total personnel, the right numbers of people in every job category- things like that play in. And we have no idea regarding Namibia’s reaction. Theirs is an all black society.

1/13: Namibia is outraged. They sent us a very angry message. It said that the woman will be reassigned to other work and will not make any more trips to New York harbor. They will hold us responsible if any other romances begin.

How we are supposed to stop people from meeting and falling for each other is beyond us. We are rethinking the trade agreement.

1/14: 75-54 over KY here, so we beat them both times this season. 16, 13 for Scot, 15, 7 for Thor, 11, 7 for Wick. 46 RBs, 10 TOs.

Namibia has sent another message. All of their future ship crews will be all male. I await the first romance between two men…

1/18: 74-78 to a very good Vanderbilt team there. We blew a 13 point lead. They outscored us 11-2 in the last few minutes. The difference: We were 15-23 from the line. They were 34-40. -9 RBs, +6 TOs.

1/21: 88-92 to FL here. As has been happening lately we faded late. My guys are in shape. I don’t get it, and I am NOT happy about it. Our offense was terrific. There’s was a little better. We couldn’t; stop them, they couldn’t stop us.
They had a very small edge in each important category, FGs made (28-24), fouls (31 on us, 28 on them), and they shot better from the line. Both Herd and Hays fouled out, but their PG also fouled out. Tough loss.

We dropped to 4th place, 1 out of 2nd, 2 out of 1st, 1 up on 4 teams.

1/22: 13-4, 5-3, #18, RPI #12.

We need some wins!

1/25: We beat a very tough South Carolina team there- easily- 79-64. 21, 3, 8, 2 for Herd, 11, 13 for scot, 12, 9 for Thor. Good bench play and +7 in both TOs and RBs. Great win! It moved us into a 3 way tie for 2nd.

1/28: 73-59 over LSU here. 24, 14 for Scot, who has been solid all season long. He is our leader, and the best news is that he is only a sophomore.

1/29: FL lost. We are one back, in a 2 way tie with Ark for 2nd. We play them here in a couple of weeks.

As expected, the guard did not hit our SAT score. We offer to another guard.

2/1: 74-67 at Mississippi. For once WE made the comeback. Down 10 with 11:33 to play. We felt like we were quicker so at that point we decided to play the in/out game. Kick it in, kick it out, get someone open either inside or outside, take a good shot. It worked. 20, 5, 4 for Hays, 14, 9 for Scot. +6 TOs, +5 RBs.

2/4: 80-51 over Texas A & M. We needed one of these! Best guard play of the season, and everyone played well. 8 TOs, 42 RBs.

2/5: 17-4, 9-3, #20, RPI #16. Alone in 2nd, 1 back of FL. +10.9 PPG, +4.8 RBs, +4.8 TOs. TOs are going down. We are now at 11.8, and I am fine with that!

[Wayne23]

2/8: 73-66 at Mississippi ST. 41-20 at the half. They whittled it down but the final was as close as they got. 22 for Thor, 14, 9, 3 for Scot.

A member of the Namibian crew has jumped ship and defected here. He tells us he is in love with one of our longshoremen and his Captain knows. Homosexuality is punishable by death in Namibia. We have let him stay for now. The Joint Council will meet to decide.

2/9: After listening to the crew member, he and his lover are being sent to our New Boston community where Veetoy will join a Mississippi River fishing crew and his lover, Roy, will work as a longshoreman. No one other than the Council and a very few others know where Veetoy and Roy were sent because we are convinced his life is in danger.

2/10: Namibia has made it clear that they are enraged. They demand the return of Veetoy immediately. We refused. They then demanded to know where we were hiding him. We refused to say.

2/11: 92-53 over Arkansas, here. We beat up a pretty good team. 52-25 at the half. 21 for Herd, 14, 5, 6, 2 for Hays, 12, 6 for Thor, 9, 9 for Wick, great bench play. +13 RBs, +9 TOs.

#3 ranked FL lost so we’re tied for 1st, 2 up on 3rd, with 4 to play.

The King of Namibia sent a scroll- an actual scroll- to our Joint Council in which he ended all trade immediately, and declared war on us.

We’ve been there. They are not very strong militarily.

2/12: 19-4, 11-3, #17, RPI #7.

We are preparing for war. Actually, we are ready, but we called up all nonessential troops, and they are drilling, sharpening their skills. We’ve decided to let the Namibians make the first overtly hostile move. Then we’ll kick their butts. Hoops players were declared essential to morale. If the war is ongoing when a team’s season ends that team’s players will be called up within 48 hours.

2/15: Back in 2nd place. 58-72 at Alabama. We were down 22-38 at the half after shooting 22.2%. We played better in the 2nd, but we were never in it. Scot played 13 minutes and Hays 8 due to fouls. 13, 3, 4 for sub guard Jed Diss. -14 RBs. Ugly night.

We’re still on alert, waiting for the Namibian attack. There are now voices on the Joint Council saying we are giving them time to build a war machine and that we should attack now.

2/18: And this crazy season takes another turn. We win, FL loses, tied for 1st again with 2 to play.

80-77 over GA here. It was back and forth all night. At the end we were there. Down 2 with 22 seconds left Cal Herd hit a three. They came down, got it inside, and Scot blocked the shot. Herd got the loose ball, was fouled, hit the 1 and 1, and that was that. 6 in double figures. +10 RBs.

If it ends this way FL will get the #1 seed.

2/19: 20-5, 12-4, #17, RPI #7.

2/20: Our ships are sailing toward Namibia, 50 of them.

2/21: We bombed the heck out of the three major Namibian communities, but it wasn’t as easy as expected. They fought back, hard. They were outnumbered as to ships, but their ships were well equipped and fought hard. They shelled us from the shore as well.

When the dust cleared we felt we had inflicted massive damage but we lost 11 ships and 79 crew. The rest of the crew were rescued at sea. Of the 79, all are missing in action. It is possible that some were rescued and taken prisoner. Time will tell. We have 133 prisoners.

We’re headed back home, with the prisoners, but we’ll be back there if this does not get resolved. Ship building is restarted. Actually, it was restarted two weeks ago.

2/22: 69-84 at Tennessee. 22-48 at the half. Awful! I played the bench for most of the 2nd.

We will need to beat Auburn at home to finish 2nd.

We sent word to Namibia to tell them the names of the prisoners we are holding. We requested a similar list, and requested a full prisoner exchange, all of ours for all of theirs. No reply.

2/24: Still no reply regarding prisoners. Weird. Don’t they want their people?

2/25: 68-54 and we finish 2nd in conf. 19, 8 for Scot, 16, 3, 4 for Hays, 12, 5 for Thor. 40 RBs, but 18 TOs. This was close most of the way. We broke it open starting with about 6 minutes to play.

We sent another message regarding prisoners.

3/1: We felt we need to find out about prisoners. Since, clearly, Namibia doesn’t care to release theirs, and has no intention of releasing any of ours that they may be holding we sent all 71 of our ships to Namibia and launched an invasion. It was bloody, but we captured all three of their communities.

Now to do interrogations to see what we can learn about prisoners.

3/4: After three days of intense and widespread interrogations, and searches of every imaginable place, we have learned nothing. We will continue with both interrogations and searches.

3/5: 21-6, 13-5, #18, RPI #10. Finished alone in 2nd place. +9.7 PPG, +4.7 RBs, +3.3 TOs.

[Wayne23]

3/7: #7 seed MS ST, 15-13, 9-9, could be a tough first round opponent in the quarter final round. We beat them by 7 here in a war. But they have a starter and their first big off the bench out with injuries. You never hope for that, of course, but it could have been us.

3/8: 79-62. Easier than we expected. 21, 8 from Thor, 17, 4 for Scot, 11, 3, 3, for Sand. -5 RBs, but +11 TOs.

#3 seed Arkansas, 20-9, 12-6 in the semis. Another very good team. We destroyed then a couple of weeks ago but absolutely everything went right. We’re not taking anything for granted.

Still no sign of prisoners.

3/9: 80-71. We took an early double digit lead, expanded it to 21. It was 10 at the half, and we basically traded basket for the entire 2nd half. 23 for Hays, 14, 3, 4 for Herd, 10 each for Thor and Lake. +9 RBs, but a very sloppy game. We had 21 TOs, they had 18.

We’re in the title game vs. #1 seed, #3 ranked FL, 24-6, 14-4. They beat us by only 4 at our place, but we played as good a game as we’ve played all year. We expect to have our hands full.

A breakthrough. The head of their fleet, under duress, said that their ships had taken prisoners. He wasn’t sure how many, but not more than about two dozen. When they were brought ashore the King had ordered them executed, which they were. He assumes that the rest of our missing warriors were killed when their ships were attacked, or that they drowned. We believe that what he has told us is the truth.

He also said that they did not want their people back. To be captured was considered a disgrace. If they were returned to Namibia they too would be executed.

After electronic communication with the Joint Council we will inform the prisoners we have that if they wish to remain with us they are welcome to do so. If they wish to return home to face certain death, we will take care of that.

The Council said that we are to stay here, keeping the communities under very strict martial law. We will destroy all of their ships and all of their military capability, including any factory machinery that might be able to manufacture ships, weapons, ammunition… We’ll be here for a while. The monarchy will end and we won’t leave until a peaceful, civilian government is in place.

Namibia is the first religious colony we have encountered. It makes all of us happy that the rest of the world seems to have discarded the concept.

3/10: 67-76. We never led. They were up 17 after 11 minutes. We calmed down and got it together after that, but 4 was as close as it ever got. We never quit though. Proud of our guys. -12 RBs, 20 TOs (They had 18) didn’t help.

Let’s see how high we go, and where.

3/12: 23-7, 13-5, #15, RPI #11.

#4 Midwest. We play MD Eastern Shore, 24-6, but this should be no challenge. The #1 seed in this bracket is #1 ranked, #1 RPI Georgetown. How does that happen? Oh well.

3/14: Three of our occupying troops and 27 locals were killed by a suicide bomber. Our troops are now restricted to base except when on a specific assignment. Barricades and barriers will make it next to impossible for our bases to be attacked by anything short of an armed insurrection, and the only arms available are those that we never found or homemade stuff.

3/17: 75-56. 19, 12, 3 for Scot. 14, 5 for Thor. +11 TOs. A walk in the park, as expected.

#12 seed Duke, 17-13, upset #5 Maryland. Their starting PG went down with a torn MCL after game 15 and they nosedived from there on. But they’re still Duke.

3/19: 79-59. 39-39 at the half. In the locker room the staff felt that they would not deal with pressure well. We were in no foul trouble so we decided to put the pressure on. They cracked like an eggshell- 18 TOs in the 2nd half.
20, 7, 7, 3 for Hays, 16, 6 for Scot, 15, 5 for Thor, 41 RBs, +8 TOs (They were even at the half.)

And #1 Georgetown was upset by #8 Virginia, 93-92 in OT. They are 23-8, 12-6, but unranked. We play them in the Sweet Sixteen. Florida is also out.

Turmoil in all three Namibian communities. We have not restricted their religious practices in any way. We have not limited their daytime movement. There is a dusk curfew, except where work needs to be done after dark. When that is the case we have heavily armed guards on site, in large numbers. There are protests, rock throwing, all sorts of things. We have made it clear that any attack on our troops will be met with gunfire, “shoot to kill.”

Unfortunately, that has happened a few times already.

3/24: 81-69. An ugly, foul plagued game- 26 called on each team. The refs were awful, wouldn’t let either side play. Our bench won it for us, 30, 15, 5 vs. 6, 7, 5. Our D came up very big as well, holding them to 31.4%, 1-13 from long range.

And we’re in the Elite Eight! 3rd time for me, 1st time here. It’s #2 seed, #12 ranked North Carolina, 25-9.

We actually don’t match up too badly. We think they’re stronger outside, we’re stronger and deeper inside. It’s about who will impose their will on the other side.

3/26: 68-60 and my and our 1st Final Four! It went back and forth for about 15 minutes. We then went on a 12-1 run, which gave us a 12 point lead, our biggest of the game. The closest they got after that was 3. 17, 2, 4 for Herd,
12, 7 for Thor, 11, 4 for Scot. +4 TOs (8), which was a huge factor. Their guards outscored ours but they didn’t necessarily outplay them. -8 RBs, but we had a 15 point edge inside. This is exciting!

#3 seed, #14 ranked Memphis upset #1 seed, #2 ranked Arizona. We play them in the round of 4. We played them in December, winning by 8 here. That was a long time ago.

On the other side it’s #5 seed New Mexico vs. the only #1 left, #8 ranked Louisville.

We got the guard we’ve been chasing!

4/1: We’ve done all we can to prepare. We feel we’re ready, and we feel we have a chance. Both teams are healthy.

77-67! But our 2nd best big guy, Lew Thor is out of the title game with a sprained wrist. We were down 12 early, cut it to 6 at the half. They had 3 people with 3 fouls each at that point, so we decided to go right at those people on
O. It worked. None of them fouled out, but all wound up with 4, and all had to be too careful to be able to efficiently stop us. When their coach sat them we went at the subs, and that worked, too. 19, 8, 5 for Scot, 19, 6, 3, 2 for Thor. +10 TOs, +4 RBs. Threes kept them as close as they were.

Lake will get most of Thor’s minutes, and Huts will get the rest.

#1 seed, #8 ranked, #6 RPI Louisville, 29-7, for the title. They are healthy, and an 8.5 point favorite. We’ll see.

4/3: 75-83 in OT. We had our shot. We were up by as many as 17 early, 11 at the half. Then came the whistles. Wick fouled out. Herd fouled out. Scot and Hays wound up with 4 each. By the OT two of our guys were gone- one of theirs but he was their worst starter, and his sub normally played as much as he did. A healthy Thor would have made the difference but you play with what you have. In the OT they just out legged us. We were tired, and it showed.

+6 RBs but -8 TOs. 17, 9 for Lake, 12, 12 for Scot, 19, 3, 2 for Hays, 15, 5 for Huts.

Great season!

The only starter we lose is Cal Herd but it’s a big loss. Sub guard Al Sand is also gone, as is seldom used sub C Jim Gibs.

All of our players are called to active duty as of Friday. Some will go to Africa or the waters around it, some will stay on our shores. All of the college players have been in training since the war started.

4/4: Awards: We played for the title but were shut out in national awards. In conf., Juma Scot made the 1st team, I got COY. We finished 2nd, and that’s it? Not happy.

4/6: We just learned to our sad surprise that there are communities in Mozambique. They have a navy and about 3 dozen of their ships sailed around the horn and attacked us here in Namibia. We fought them off, but they managed to land a large number of troops. We engaged with and defeated some, but most “headed for the hills.” Our military leaders have no doubt that they will engage in guerilla warfare against our occupying force.

4/8: We sent 25 ships to Mozambique, put large numbers of troops ashore, destroyed their military capability just about totally, and sank all of their ships. It was a rout. They weren’t expecting us and they had evidently sent all of their forces to Namibia. Mozambique will launch no more attacks from their home for a very long time.

Now comes the slow, steady work of trying to eradicate the guerilla forces from Mozambique. We have tripled our force here, and 1/3 will go out looking for nests of guerillas. It will take time and we will suffer casualties, but we’ll get them.

4/9: Deep, long, hard deliberations about an offer from Oklahoma ST of the Big 12. Much bigger budget (+$80,000), better facilities, a decent #1 assistant. Team Prestige is lower but they were13-15, 9-9, and have a lot of talent coming back.

We’re taking the offer. The Big 12 is in Toronto so we’re in yet another new community.

Lots of work to do! Oh, Toronto has settled in to their new form of government very easily. Things are calm and going well.

4/16: We hire a staff and go after some late recruits.

Sad to report that two roster spots opened when two of our roster players who had volunteered as front line troops were killed in action- on their first day over there. Sad. The slow, dangerous, difficult process of rooting out the guerillas goes on. It’s costing us lives, but it has to be done.

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

28-8, trip to the title game. Overall, 303-71, .810 (POST)

4/28: The battle continues. Sniper attacks, suicide bombs. Guerillas, our fight with the guerillas... We’re making progress but we’re losing some good people and spending a lot of resources.

[Wayne23]

5/1: We know we’re facing a rebuilding job here. A .500 season would be good this first year.

5/9: We feel we’ve wiped out most of the guerillas. We have a rough idea of how many there were at the beginning, and confirmed kill and capture numbers have us at >97% of that. We may not go after the rest. Thinking it over.

The suicide attacks are down, too. We are now going to start helping to rebuild the infrastructure here. The hope is to isolate the crazies and get the rest on our side. It will take time.

6/5: Looking at transfers.

6/12: We get Jam Well, a PF

6/26: 3 to fill. We need two guards.

7/9: Over the past two months we feel we’ve made lots of progress in Namibia, and also in Mozambique. The situation is calm, the infrastructure is coming together. The people are living much better and have hope for their futures.

We are helping them to reorganize their governments. We are hopeful.

7/27: We’re still making progress in Africa. I’m back to doing stats here in the Toronto community. Part of the reason I took the OK ST job was that the stats position was open. I loved driving a truck but I missed stats terribly. This job puts me on the Council, and that’s time I’d rather spend doing other things but, it is what it is.

8/11: The honeymoon is over. We were attacked in multiple places in multiple ways in both Namibia and in Mozambique, and it seems to have been coordinated. Too soon for exact numbers but it seems at least 200-300 of our people were killed, others injured, some very seriously. We fought back against all but the suicide bombers- no way or need. And we killed all of the other attackers, but now we know. We may be making progress, but the fight is not over, by a long shot.

8/16: Death toll 289, 24 in critical condition and will either die or suffer wounds that will render them seriously damaged for life, 192 with less severe injuries. Major property damage to our military property and to property in both countries. We are trying very hard to keep close ties with those locals we see as allies.

8/21: We offer to 2 PGs and a C, and we like our chances.

College hoops players on active duty will be back home to join their teams by October 1. It has been decided that morale demands the continuation of play. 86 players have been killed, and another 119 wounded in the line of duty, with about six weeks to go.

9/11: We NEED PGs, so of course the Center commits. Tom Mack, C, #33. Looks like he’ll be a good one, and we’re glad to have him.

9/18: We get a PG! Bill Barr, #35. Still after that other PG.

Preseason NIT vs. #6 ranked North Carolina. NOT a good draw! Oh well.

9/25: Got the PG. Jao Deng, #50. We think they should all hit the score. Only the C is even iffy.

10/2: First day of practice. We have some good players, but we are NOT deep.

Things are calm again in Africa. Rebuilding, stabilizing.

10/19: An attack from the sea. At about an hour before dawn the bombs from offshore started coming in. We had boats on patrol, of course, but the attackers were running dark, and we didn’t see them until the firing started.

At that point we launched a counter attack, and put all of our ships out there. In the end we sank a lot of ships and took some captives from lifeboats, or just from the water.
Interrogation and damage assessment are underway.

10/22: As it turns out, the ships were from the island of Madagascar. That country built a navy just to attack us. They don’t have much other military capability. We are going over there and expect little trouble in subduing them- but we aren’t taking any chances. They tell us they felt they had to come to the aid of their countrymen. They couldn’t do anything on land, but bombing the two countries was something they could do.

Many civilian deaths, and a we have a dozen dead and 27 wounded, some seriously.

The price keeps going up on all of this, and it’s getting to be more than we want to pay. BUT… if we don’t restore calm they’ll just attack us again later so we have no choice. Now we’ll be occupying 7 communities in three countries.

11/6: We have a lineup- sort of. We’re pretty much set at guard, but we have 6 players who will share time at the three inside spots. Hopefully, this will sort itself out in time.

Senior Kurt Grow will get major minutes, all he can handle, at guard, mostly at SG. Junior Bo Hay and soph Reg Sims will share the rest, mostly at PG.

Soph Ted Hemp is the only inside player getting full minutes, most of them at SF.

5 players will share the rest of the big man minutes. Soph Lem More will start at C, and senior Kris Chad will start at PF, but getting as many minutes in most cases will be soph Matt Camp, mostly at C, and frosh Quin Burk at SF and
PF, and Hap Cole at PF. Let’s see how it plays out!

We’re still at the “rule with an iron fist” stage of occupation, but by the same token we are trying to treat everyone decently, and trying to be welcoming and inviting. But it is absolute zero tolerance.