Historical Association #7 1st season 1977-‘78

[Wayne23]

11/20: 1-1. The first two were on the road. I’ll take a split.

4 of the 5 recruits sign. The foreign guy doesn’t. I’m shocked, really. 2.6, and our score is 900. VERY rare for a recruit with a 2.6 not to hit a 900 score. Oh well.

12/4: 3-2, RPI #91. We’re still finding ourselves as a team and still tweaking the lineup.

12/23: We beat Fresno ST 74-49 in the 1st round of the Big Time Hoops tourney. 21, 8, 6 for SG Cal Mara, our leading scorer. SF Gilo Deni had 22, 7. We’re the #7 seed, they were #2.

#3 seed St. Bonnie, 6-3, in the semifinals.

12/24: 75-73. We led most of the way but they made a late run, and got ahead of us. Mara hit a three with 2 seconds left to give us the win. He had 30 and 7. 15
for PG Ray Radd. +11 RBs, but 17 TOs.

#1 seed West Virginia, 7-3, for the title. They’re tough.

12/25: 63-67. We fell way behind early and couldn’t quite catch up. 16, 9 for C Kal Poly, 16 for Mara, 15 for Deni.

8-3, RPI #20. +9.3 PPG, +0.5 RBs, +4.6 TOs, +1.8 assists, +2.3 steals.

[Wayne23]

1/1/1980: 10-3, 2-0, RPI #22.

1/15: 14-3, 6-0, Ranked #23, RPI #18. 2 game lead in our new conference.

1/29: 18-3, 10-0, #21, RPI #21. +11.3 PPG, +0.8 RBs, +5.4 TOs, +3.1 assists, +3.6 steals. 3 game lead in conf.

2/12: 20-5, 12-2, #18, RPI #22. 2 game lead over Illinois ST, 4 or more over the rest.

3 of our last 4 conf. games are away. We also play Valparaiso here in the bracket Breaker.

2/26: We end the regular season at 24-6, 15-3, #12, RPI #16. We win the conf. by 1 game over Illinois ST, 5 or more over the rest. +9.0 PPG, +0.4 RBs, +5.3 TOs,
+3.3 assists, +3.7 steals. Mara averages 20.6, and Sean Gold gets 7.5 RBs.

[Wayne23]

3/3: We play #9 seed Missouri ST, 9-19, 6-12, in the quarters.

3/4: 75-63. 32 and 8 for Mara. 9 TOs.

#4 seed Bradley, 16-13, 9-9, in the semis. Beat ‘em twice, but only by 1 last time at our place.

3/5: 74-66. 18 for Mara, 10 and 10 for Gold. +10 TOs. BUT we lost starter Gilo Deni for two weeks. BIG loss.

#2 seed Illinois ST, 20-10, 14-4 for the title. We won by 14 at our place, then lost by 10 there.

3/6: 56-66. We couldn’t score points. Would Deni have made a difference? Yes, but probably not a 10 point difference.

26-7, 15-3, #12, RPI #21.

3/12: #5 South. We play #12 Memphis, 16-13. Tough 1st round match! We’re still without Deni.

3/17: 64-69. 13, 10 for Mara. 46 RBs, but we didn’t shoot well, and we just never adjusted to losing Deni.

4/3: #18 Pitt wins it all.

4/4: Awards: Cal Mara is Missouri Valley POY, Def. POY, and 1st team. Center Kel Poly also makes 1st time. I am named COY.

4/23: I ask for a budget increase. No.

26-8, 15-3. Overall, 68-28, .708.

4/25: Disastrously failed attempt to rescue the hostages in Iran.

[PointGuard]

Your all-guard lineup is doing well.

Wayne, have you been able to determine if big opposing PF's and C's are scoring above their season averages when being defended by your smaller guards? Same question with respect to rebounding..are the big guys on opponent's teams out-rebounding your smaller C's/PF's? And...how have your team's total rebounds been in relation to your opponents? My guess is that the game doesn't model all this particularly well.

[Wayne23]

I am keeping team stats but not individual stats. My team is definitely rebounding WAY better than it should, considering that I rarely have anyone taller than 6'4". I think the game sees the position being played more than the person playing it in determining outcomes. I will watch to see how individual PFs and Cs do against my guards. In the first two seasons where I counted stats (Season 1 didn't count) we were -0.4 and then +0.2 in RBs. We do very well in TOs, assists, and steals vs. other teams.

[Wayne23]

5/1: We move to the Atlantic 10.

No reports. We don’t have the $.

5/18: Mount St. Helens.

6/5: We’re looking at some transfers.

6/12: No luck.

6/26: 5 scholarships.

8/21: We offer to 4 PGs and an SG.

9/18: Going to the Hoop Time tournament vs. Texas Southern.

9/25: We get 2, an SG, #54, and a PG, #118.

10/2: We get a PG, 84.

1st day of practice. We’re picked to win the Atlantic 10.

11/4: Sock puppet Ronald Rayguns is elected POTUS, beginning the 8 most disastrous years in U. S. history.

11/6: 8 man rotation:

PG is up for grabs with frosh Rash Finn starting, senior Cal Mara and frosh Tav Howe subbing. Mara starts at SG with junior Gilo Deni subbing.

2 guys are battling it out at SF. Junior Reg Raff starts and subs at PF, and senior Dave Mead gets lots of minutes at SF.

Senior Kel Poly starts at PF, subs at C.

Junior Quin Lean, a transfer from Georgia Tech, starts at C.

[Wayne23]

11/20: 2-0 start. Cal Mara looks like he’s going to be our scorer again.

All 3 recruits signed but we’re still after 2.

10 of our first 12 are away, if we get to the Hoop Time final.

Off to the Hoop Time tourney vs. Texas Southern. We’re the #3 seed. They’re #6.

Gang of Four trial begins in China.

11/21: 69-66. Close all the way. Mara had 23 and 6, PF Kel Poly had 8 and 13.

#2 seed NC-Wilmington, 2-1, in the semis.

11/22: 67-46. Terrific D. 7 TOs (+15). 22 for Mara.

We play #1 seed Oregon ST, 3-1, for the title.

11/23: 78-66. We had a very fast start and built a 22 point lead. They never got back in it. 24 for Mara, 15, 6, 4 for Poly, 11, 7, 4, 3 for SF Reg Raff. +15 TOs.

12/4: 7-1, RPI #43. Our only loss was at Hartford on a night when we were sloppy (15 TOs, and played lousy D (48.1%).

12/8: John Lennon is shot and killed.

12/25: 9-2, RPI #. +8.0 PPG, -1.5 RBs, +8.7 TOs, +2.6 assists, +4.7 steals.

[Wayne23]

1/1/1981: 11-2, 2-0. Good start!

1/15: 5-1, RPI #26. In 1st, 4 teams one game back. It’s early.

1/29: 18-3, 9-1, #18, RPI #17. +10.5 PPG, -0.7 RBs, +8.5 TOs, +4.5 assists, +4.4 steals. 2 game lead in conference. Mara averages 17.3, 4 others get 10.0 or more.

2/12: 22-3, 13-1. #12, RPI #9. In 1st by 3 games with 4 to play, 3 of them at home. We also have the Bracket Breaker vs. Western KY.

2/26: We end the regular season at 27-3, 17-1, #8, RPI #6. But starting SF Reg Raff hurt a knee and is out for the A10 tourney. Dave Mead will start and we’ll go small the rest of the time- even smaller than usual.

We win the A10 by 4 over Duquesne, 6 over VCU, 7 or more over the rest.

[Wayne23]

3/7: We start the A10 with #8 seed UMass, 12-16, 8-10.

3/8: 73-64. 23 for PG Gilo Deni, 17 for PF Quin Lean. Mead had 9 and 8 in his 1st start.

#4 seed George Mason, 16-13, 10-8, in the semis. We split two regular season games.

3/9: 77-80. Outscored in bench points 26-9. We gave up too many points. When we score 77 we should win. Not having Raff hurt. 18, 10 for Center Kel Poly, 15
each for Lean and Mara, 16 for Deni.

Raff will be back for the NCAA tourney.

28-4, 17-1, #10, RPI #6. Hoping for a #2 or at worst a #3.

3/12: #4 seed South, and we play George Mason, 18-13, which is just weird. We have Raff and we feel like that will make a big difference.

3/17: 73-52. We had something to prove, and we sure proved it! 22 for Mara, 13, 11, 7 for Poly, 13 RBs for Lean. +9 TOs, +8 RBs.

#5 seed, #16 ranked Stanford, 21-10, in the 2nd round. This should be a challenge.

3/19: 96-83. They couldn’t stop us tonight. Our D was nothing special, but we just kept scoring. 29, 13 for Poly against a guy 5 inches taller (who had 5 and 1), 18
for Mara, 15, 4, 5 for Deni, 17, 7, 4 for Raff. +15 RBs.

1st trip to the Sweet Sixteen. We play #8 seed Wisconsin, who shocked the #1 seed. They’re 20-11.

3/24: 60-71. We couldn’t get any offense going, shooting only 31.6%. 17 for Mara, 13, 6 for lean. Giving up 13 threes didn’t help.

3/30: Missed! Just barely!

4/3: #13 Michigan ST wins it all.

4/4: Awards: Kel Poly is A10 POY, Def. POY, and 1st team, along with Cal Mara. Quin Lean and Reg Raff make the 2nd team.

4/12: First space shuttle.

4/23: We ask for a budget increase. We get $9,400.

30-5, 17-1. Overall, 98-33, .748.

[Wayne23]

5/1: No reports this year.

We move to the Mountain West.

5/13: Missed! Barely!

6/5: 2 transfers we’d love to have.

6/12: No luck.

6/26: 6 scholarships.

7/29: Largest tax cut in U. S. history ruins the world economy.

Two twits, one of them a Crown Prince, get married in England.

8/5: The sock puppet in the White House follows the orders of his puppet masters and fires 11,500 air traffic controllers. Aviation in the U. S. still hasn’t recovered.

8/12: IBM-PC.

8/21: We offer to 3 PGs, 3 SGs.

9/18: We get an SG, #233.

Tip Off vs. Western Carolina.

9/21: Sandra Day O’Connor becomes first woman SCOTUS justice.

9/25: We get 2, lose 1. We get an SG, #51, and a PG, #145.

10/2: We3 lose one.

1st day of practice. We’re picked 2nd to UNLV.

10/6: Sadat is assassinated for trying to be reasonable.

10/9: We get a PG, #164.

10/16: We get a PG, #746, but we think that # will come down.

11/6: 9 man rotation:

Soph Rash Finn starts at PG, frosh Joe Coal is at SG. Soph Tav Howe backs up at both guard spots.

Senior Gilo Deni starts at SF with frosh Phil Tins backing him.

Senior Reg Raff is at PF with junior Troy Hawk in support.

Senior Quin Lean is at C, with soph Will Dalo behind him.

We start at Chi ST, then go to the Tip Off, where we’re the #5 seed. We play #4 Western Carolina. #1, 2, and 3 are all tough teams.