Tomorrow?

[Wayne23]

5/1: Hm, win the national title and not in the pre-season Top 25? Hm… We buy the National Gold.

6/5: The transfer pool has no one we’re interested in.

Li has finished book 2, and is going right into book 3.

“I know there will be some rewrites, but I feel the story very strongly right now. I also think I have an idea for older children, maybe 10 to 12.”

6/26: 4 scholarships. We need 3 bigs. Looking at 20.

7/17: Li had rewrites, as expected, but they were not extensive. She’s now working on book #3. Her RA gets in the way. She is often in a lot of pain, and the pain meds make her too drowsy to write.

8/7: Io Foge is #35 on the Norton list, and Ray Baer is #41.

8/21: We offer to 2 PGs, 2 bigs.

9/1: Li’s book hit the stands today. The publicity started a week ago. The publisher really put a lot of effort into promoting this book. Presales were more than 150,000, which is insane.

9/18: Got 3: A PG, #40, a C, #43, a PF, #54.

In the Coaches Classic vs. Minnesota. Strong schedule but lots of home games.

9/25: We get the other guard, #49.

Li’s book is flying off the shelves.

10/2: First day of practice. We’re very strong inside but not so much at guard.

11/6: The lineup is unsettled. Here’s what we’re going with for now:

Frosh Herb Holt starts at PG and plays some SG. The rest of the guard time is split 3 ways, senior Cobb mill at SG, red shirt soph Jaq Carr at PG, and frosh Jeb May at SG.

Frosh Tom Reed starts at SF with senior Bo Epps and frosh Jon Rayd backing up.

Soph Ray Baer and senior Io Foge start inside with Rayd and Epps subbing.

Li’s book is at half a million copies. With books for little kids when they say, “Seuss like numbers,” that means it’s a gigantic hit. That’s what they’re saying.

[jksander]

Congrats on the title and on being a member of the ".700 Club"

[Wayne23]

Thanks jk. The stars aligned!

[Wayne23]

11/13: 91-80 vs. #12 seed Minnesota, in the 1st round of the Coaches Classic We’re the #5 seed. 22 for Carr at SG, 21 for Epps.

#4 seed Miami (FL) in the 2nd round.

11/15: 71-82. We blew a 15 point lead. They had 18 threes, and that’s what did us in. 22, 12 for Baer, 10, 18 for Foge, 12, 3, 7 for Holt. 48 RBs.

11/20: One of our guys didn’t sign, a PG. We may go for a big guy. Nothing can be done until 1/29.

11/23: 62-50 over #13 Pitt here. 39-20 at the half. We won with D (30.5%) and rebounding (45 RBs). 14 for Mill, 8 and 12 for Baer.

11/26: 80-65 with Syracuse here. 18, 5 for Foge, 15 for Holt, 12, 3, 3 for Carr, 11 for Rayd, who is now starting at SF. +8 TOs.

11/27: 3-1, Ranked #25.

11/30: 64-51 over #11 UConn. Defense (22.6%), and rebounding (49) won this one. 16, 5 for Rayd, 9, 14 for Foge, 8, 10, 3, 4, 2 for Baer. 20 TOs, but they had 17.

12/3: 75-63 at Milwaukee. 17, 11, 3, 3 for Baer, 17, 7 for Foge, 10, 5 for Rayd. +12 RBs. 19 TOs, but they had 26.

12/4: 5-1, #23.

Li’s book continues to sell fantastically.

12/7: 63-52 at Florida ST. +16 RBs. They shot 34%, 21.1% on threes. 18 for Holt.

12/10: 56-68 vs. Georgia Tech here. 29 TOs (-17). +21 RBs, but it wasn’t enough. We shot poorly, 35.3%, 28% on threes. 10, 12, 5 for Baer12, 5 for May.

12/13: 62-51 at South Florida. And once again the D won it, 32.6%, 23.8% on threes. 13, 12 for Rayd, 14 for May.

12/21: 79-64 over #3 Oregon here. +10 RBs, held them to 30.5% shooting, 25% on threes. But we scored some points for a change. 17, 11 for Foge, 10, 9, 3 for Rayd, 10, 8, 5 for Holt. Great win!

12/25: We end pre-conf. play at 8-2. #21, RPI #5. +7.7 PPG, +11.5 RBs (#1 in the country) and a disappointing 16.0 TOs (-0.1).

It will be a few days until final sales are in for the Xmas season and overall, but it looks like more than a million copies sold for Li.

[Wayne23]

12/28: 60-69. at #5 Michigan ST. We shot 28.3%, and took way too many outside shots. 15, 9 for Foge, 14, 5 for Epps.

12/31: 75-67 vs. Rutgers here. They haven’t won a game all season but it took us a while to take control. 15, 4 for Rayd, 14, 4 for Holt, 11, 8, 5, 3 for Baer. +9 TOs. We’re still not shooting well, 37%.

I’ve been getting the star treatment all season. Every interview starts with, “Will Phyte, coach of the defending champion…” The interviews tend to run a little longer, too, and I’m invited to be on more sports network talk shows and things like that.

Li’s new book will be published in late March or early April and #3 on or about Labor Day. She’s working on #5 right now.

1/4/15: 69-65 at Illinois. Still not shooting well, 38.3%, still not taking care of the ball, 19 TOs. +9 RBs. 17 for May, 14, 8 for Baer, 10, 3, 5, 2 for Holt.

We’re not the team we were last year. I think we’ll have a good season, but we lost 4 games during the entire season last year. We’ve already lost 3 this year. We’re dead last in shooting % in the Big 10, and next to last in shooting % on threes. We’re #2 in TOs.

1/7: 81-70 over Nebraska here. We shot better, 43.3%. but 18.8% on threes. We tried to work it inside more, and our bigs did a lot of the scoring, 14, 11 for Baer, 11, 5, 3 for Rayd, 10, 4 for Foge, 13, 7 for Epps. May had 17, 2, 6 outside, and Mill 10. Only 9 TOs.

The staff is discussing going to “Favor Inside.” We’re not quite ready yet.

1/11: 60-70 at Wisconsin. 30% shooting, 18.8% on threes. 13, 11 for Baer.

We’re going to “Favor Inside.”

Little used PF Jay Luta hurt his calf. Out about 2 week.

1/14: 80-63 Penn ST here. 20, 7, 2, 3 for Rayd, 16, 6, 7, 3, 3 for Holt, 13, 8 for Epps. The strategy of going inside worked, we scored 38 in the paint. +9 TOs.

Starting C Io Foge bruised his triceps and is out for two weeks. Ouch! Epps will start at SF, Rayd will move to PF, Baer will move to C, Reed will sub for all three.

1/18: 63-80 at #6 Indiana. They hit 16 threes; we had 21 TOs. 15, 5, 4 for Mill, 12, 12 for Baer, 12, 9 for Rayn. The starting inside guys did okay but Reed was not ready for this.

1/21: 76-53 vs. Purdue here. Great D, 10 TOs. 19, 8 for Rayd, 17, 6, 4, 3 for Epps, 8, 10, 2, 3, 2 for Baer.

1/25: 76-66 at Minnesota. 21, 6, 4, 2 for Epps, 13 for Rayd. +13 RBs, 12 TOs.

1/28: 76-57 over #7 Michigan ST here. 16 for May, 11, 10 for Foge, 14, 5 for Epps, 10 for Rayd, 9, 5, 6 for Holt. D won this game, we held them to 32.7%, 17.9% on threes.

1/29: 15-5, 7-3, #22, RPI #8. +6.7 PPG, +7.8 RBs, +0.5 TOs. TOs are still awful, at 14.9, but we’re causing more than we’re committing. Alone in 3rd place, 1 back of 2nd, 2 back of 1st, 1 up on 3 teams, 2 up on another 3. 8 to play.

Looking at the schedule I can see us going 6-2, or even 7-1.

As we knew would happen a PG who committed did not hit our SAT score. We offer to a PF.

Ray Baer is # 26 on the Norton list.

[Wayne23]

2/1: 85-67 at Rutgers. 16, 4, 5 for May, 15, 7, 3 for Epps, 12, 5 for Reed, 10, 8 with 5 blocks for Foge, 10, 3, 5 for Holt. Rutgers is the worst team in the Conf.

2/4: 68-42 vs. Northwestern here. D! They shot m23.3%, 16% on threes. +11 RBs, +6 TOs. 19, 15, 6 for Baer, 9, 10 for Foge, 14 for Epps, 11, 4, 5 for Holt.

2/5: 17-5, 9-3, #19, RPI #8. Alone in 3rd, 1 back of 2nd, 2 back of 1st, 2 up on 4th.

2/8: 76-59 at Iowa. -11 TOs but a whopping +29 RBs. We held them to 31%. 13, 13 for Foge, 11, 8 for Rayd, 7, 11 for Baer, 10, 4, 7 for Holt, 13 for Epps, 12 for Mill.

We’re now alone in 3rd, but 1 back of 1st, Indiana and Maryland are tied for 1st.

2/10: We’re 7-1, 6 in a row, since we went to Favor Inside, but this is the biggest challenge during that time.

2/11: 64-73 at #12, 1st place Maryland. We led by 11 early. Then they got hot. They shot 48.1% to our 36.8%. We were +8 RBs but gave it back with -8 TOs. 23, 5 for May, 14, 10 for Baer. It’s not easy to beat a very good team on the road.

2/12: Our new recruit signed- PF, #52.

2/15: 93-90 in double OT #17 Michigan here. We led by as many as 13 early, but they closed the gap and it went back and forth the rest of the way. We got a buzzer beater at the end of regulation; they got one at the end of the 1st OT. Then we started the 2nd OT 7-0. The three point margin was a s close as they got in the 2nd OT. 13 RBs each for our three inside players. 18, 5, 7 for Holt, 18, 5, 3, 2 for Mill, 15, 7, 2 for Reed, 12 for Rayd. 45, 18, 10 for our bench, 23, 12, 6 for theirs. Great win!

2/18: 67-78 to Illinois here. I understand that you can’t win them all but we should have won this one. We were pretty awful, falling behind by as many as 18. Our starters shot 11-32. 17 for Mill. This drops us into a 2 way tie for 3rd. A win would have made it a 2 way tie for 2nd.

Ray Baer hurt a knee. It’s not serious but he’ll miss at least one game.

2/22: 70-62 at Nebraska. 21 for May, 16, 4 for Epps, 15 RBs for Foge, 9, 10 for Baer in limited minutes (I rolled the dice). +8 TOs, +7 RBs.

May hurt his hand. Both he and Baer will be less than 100% for our last regular season game. We need a win for undisputed possession of 3rd place.

2/25: 92-65 over Wisconsin here. We scored 59 in the 1st half. 24, 7 for Epps, 13, 11, 3 for Foge, 12, 7, 5 for Baer, 1, 4 for Rayd. +17 RBs.

2/26: At the end of the regular season we are 21-7, 13-5, #17, RPI #8. +7.5 PPG, +9.0 RBs (#2 in the country), even in TOs (15.0). Alone in 3rd, 1 back of 1st.

Heading to the post season. I think any of at least 5, maybe 6 teams could win the Big 10 tourney. I’m also reminded of last year’s post season, and how great it was.

Li's 2nd book hit the stands today. Presales were terrific. She's on book 8, and says she's about 2/3 finished with the book for older kids.

[Wayne23]

3/7: We play #6 seed, #19 ranked Michigan, 21-7, 11-7, in the quarter final round. Tough draw! We beat them in double OT here.

3/8: 72-83. 54 foul calls. They took 10 more free throws. Our starting backcourt fouled out, Holt in 11 minutes. Why? Why do the refs think anyone wants to watch a game when the whistles never stop. It reached the point where the fans were booing every time the whistle blew. I got an early T and then a late one- on purpose, after the game was out of reach. That gave me a chance to REALLY go off on the idiots before I left the court. I’m not saying the refs beat us but I AM saying, there’s no way to know because neither team could play its game. I said most of that in the post game press conference, which I’m sure will cost me some money. 18, 8 for Baer, 14 each for Foge and Mill.

It leaves a bad taste to exit this way, and it will cost us on selection day.

3/11: #7 ranked Indiana won the Big 10 tourney.

3/12: 21-8, 13-5, #20, RPI #13. 3rd place. We’re hoping for a #3 seed.

Ouch! A #5 seed in the East. We play #12 Tennessee Tech, 21-10.

3/16: 77-61. 15, 9 for Rayd, 14 for May, 12, 4, 3 for Mill. +8 TOs. It was never close.

#4 seed, #14 ranked Maryland, 24-7, in the 2nd round. They won by 9 there.

3/18: 62-73. We never led. 16 for Mill, 43 RBs- that’s it for the good news.

I realize the magic can’t strike every year but it would have been nice to get a little deeper into the tournament.

Li asked if I would accept a position at another school this year. There aren’t a lot of schools that would put me in a better position to win, but if one of them offered, I’d go. If UConn offered again this year I’d go in a heartbeat.

4/3: #2 ranked Oregon won it all.

4/4: Awards: Ray Baer made Big 10 2nd team. That’s it. Can’t believe Foge didn’t make it.

4/9: Ha! UConn offers again. I accept!

I just took over a team with 11 seniors, including walk ons. Yikes! The four returnees are all juniors. Quite the rebuilding project!

I have an excellent #1 assistant, and #2 and #3 are pretty good as well.

4/23: I ask for money but don’t get it. Speaking of money I got a salary increase of just under a million a year.

22-9, 13-5 for the season. Overall I’m 323-134, .707.

A new challenge!

Li’s dad informed us that he and his wife are moving to Connecticut. He will open a real estate business in the Glastonbury, West Hartford area. Li’s sister Su will stay in Ohio for now, but is contemplating coming East as well. Li is thrilled. She loves the idea of being close to both New York and Boston.

[Wayne23]

5/1: We have 8 players on scholarship. 3 look like they’re excellent, 3 look decent, and the other two look awful. We’ll be using some walk ons; no choice.

Somehow we’re preseason #23.

6/5: Hoping there’s some talent in the transfer pool.

No. We look at a couple, but no.

We’re settling in. Somehow Li’s dad managed to get a booming real estate business going in next to no time. He’s working very high end homes and condos.

6/26: 8 scholarships.

8/7: PG Aah Raed is #32 on the Norton list.

8/21: We offer to 4 guards, 4 bigs.

9/1: Li’s third book is published.

9/18: Got 2 bigs, 2 guards, lost a PG.

No in season tournament. Fairly challenging schedule.

9/25: Got an SG and a big. Lost 2.

10/2: First day of practice. I have some talent here. Not much depth though.

10/16: We get a guard. One to go, and we have a lead on a C.

11/6: Here’s the lineup:

Senior Ad Olt is at PG, frosh Aah Raed is at SG, and subbing at guard are senior walk on Flip Jons and frosh walk on Omar Paul.

Junior walk on Bo Byrd is at SF.

Senior Gary Gray is at C. Junior walk on John Bail is at PF. Subbing inside is soph Cap Aram.

[Wayne23]

11/16: 65-45 at Colorado ST. Great D! +9 TOs. 15, 5 for PG Ad Olt, 10, 6, 8, 3 for SG Aah Raed.

11/19: 67-53 at Western Kentucky. Great D again. 15, 8 for Center Gary Gray, 15, 4, 3 for Olt, 12, 7 for SF Bo Byrd, 11 for Raed. 10 TOs.

6th man Cap Aram bruised abdominals. Out for about 2 weeks. Matt Gart will get his minutes.

All 7 committed recruits signed. Still after that big man.

11/23: 66-47 over #13 Syracuse here. Held them to 31.4%. +14 RBs. 15, 8, 3, 3, 3 for Raed, 12, 4, 8 for Olt, 12, 6 for Gray, 8, 11 for PF John Bail.

The D has been terrific.

11/26: 82-68 vs. Auburn here. 32, 6, 6 for Raed, 13, 2, 5 for Olt. D wasn’t quite as good but still good, but we shot the lights out, especially Baer- 9-12 on threes.

11/27: 4-0, #8.

11/30: 80-67 at Air Force. 14, 3, 3 for Olt, 12, 6, 4, 2 for Byrd, 10, 7, 2 for Bail, 9, 7, 4, 5, 2 for Gart. +11 TOs.

12/3: 68-56 #14 North Carolina ST here. Great D again, they shot 33.3%, 28.6% on threes. +7 TOs. 17, 4, 5, 4 for Olt, 11, 5 for Raed.

12/4: 6-0, #6, RPI #4.

Aram is back.

We’re basically doing this with 4 scholarship athletes, Olt, Raed, Gray, and Aram. Amazing!

4 game road trip now though. We’re 3-0 on the road but still.

12/7: 53-65 at Missouri. It couldn’t last forever, and Missouri is undefeated. We didn’t make shots, 34%, 26.1% on threes. Let’s see how this team reacts to a loss.

Bo Byrd hurt his wrist. Day to day.

12/10: 87-78 at Valparaiso. 13-26 on threes and that saved us. 32, 5, 9, 2, 3 for Olt who was 8-13 on threes. 11, 10 for Aram, who is now starting at PF. 11, 2, 7 for Raed, 10, 5 for Bail. Most points we’ve given up all year (by 10).

12/13: 72-52 at Alabama. Great D. 7 of our players scored between 6 and 14. +8 RBs.

John Bail, our #1 big man off the bench, tore an ACL. He’s out for the season. Matt Gart will get his minutes, but he hurt his back. He’s day to day.

12/17: 91-86 at #13 Weber ST. It was a shootout. We led most of the way, and we hung on. 20, 6 for Aram, 18, 6 for Olt, 17, 3, 3 for little used Flip Jons. +11 RBs.

12/21: 70-59 with #22 New Mexico here. 20, 2, 5, 4 for Raed, 17, 7, 2, 3 for Aram, 9, 10, 4, 3, 3 for Byrd.

12/25: We end pre-conf. play at 10-1, going 4-0 vs. ranked teams. #5, RPI #2. +11.3 PPG, +2.9 RBs, +4.2 TOs.

[Wayne23]

12/31: 75-61 at SMU. 20 for Aram, who has responded well to starting. 17, 5 for Raed, 12, 4, 4 for Olt. +7 RBs. Good start to conf. play.

1/4/16: 73-47 over Central Florida here. 43-25 at the half. 15, 5 for Raed, 15, 4 for Olt, 11, 4, 5 for Aram. +8 TOs.

Li’s latest sold better than either of the others. The book for older kids will go on sale in mid-March.

Water wars are breaking out in many areas of the world. Rising seas, pollution, and climate change are wreaking havoc everywhere. The water purification system in use here and in other wealthy and moderately wealthy countries is too expensive for the rest of the world.

1/7: 73-72 at Houston. A late rally, and some key free throws, including 2 with .2 seconds left by Aram, gave us the win. Aram had 25, 13, 5. 14, 6 for Byrd. +11 RBs. Great road win against a good team.

1/11: 74-67 at East Carolina. Close game and they really battled. +8 TOs. 13, 4 for Gart, who is getting more time. 11, 9 for Raed.

My plan is to not use walk ons at all next year, but they’ve been essential this season. Guys like Epps, Gart, Paul, Jons, and Bail, before he got hurt, have all bee essential role players, filling the gaps. Raed, Olt, Gray, and Aram, my scholarship players, all get max minutes, but there are so many other minutes!

Olt has bronchitis, but he should be ready for our next.

1/14: 63-57 vs. Cincinnati here. Great D, they shot 29.5%, 21.1% on threes. We shot about the same (27.3%, 19.0%). +7 TOs, gave us 11 more shots, and that was the edge we needed. 10, 10 for Olt, 12, 5 for Byrd.

I’m delighted with how well we’ve done given the fact that we’re playing with 4 guys, and a bunch of role players. We substitute carefully, try to stay out of foul trouble, fill the gaps as best we can. Losing Bail for the season really took away our depth, but we’ve adjusted. One more injury to one of our top six would really make things challenging.

1/15: 15-1, 5-0, #5, RPI #2. Tied for 1st with #20 Temple, with #6 Memphis one game back. We play them back to back at the end of the month, one here, one away.

1/18: 60-64 at Tulane. It was close all the way. They stretched the lead to 6 with 92 seconds left. We did what we could but we had to foul and they made their free throws, 7-8. 14, 4 for Gray, 11 each for Raed, Olt, and Aram, 10 RBs for Epps. +9 RBs, but we only shot 32.7%. 9 game win streak ends.

1/21: 86-58 over Tulsa here. 24, 2, 5 for Olt, 13 for little used sub guard Omar Paul. +8 TOs. We shot 55.7%.

1/25: 82-59 South Florida here. We’re really shooting it, 54.7% tonight. +12 RBs, +7 TOs. 21, 4 for Byrd, 17, 2, 6, 2 for Olt, 15, 7 for Aram.

Our second big off the bench, Dai Avy, strained abdominals. Out about 10 days.

1/28: 65-77 at #17 Temple. 24-45 at the half. We did much better in the 2nd, but it was too late. They shot 47.4%, we shot 37.7%, and that was the difference, pretty much. 16, 3, 5 for Raed, 14, 5 for Aram, 12 for Gray.

1/29: 17-3, 7-2, #8, RPI #3. 3rd place, 1 back of 2nd, 2 back of 1at, 2 up on 4th.

Raed is #25 on the Norton list.

Everyone hit our SAT score. Still chasing that PF.