Hoosier

[Wayne23]

3/6: We play #11 seed Purdue, 11-17, 6-12, first. Beat them by 9 and 18.

3/7: 82-68. 25 for SG Win Hart, 19 for PG Art Sing. +15 RBs. 19 TOs, but they had 17.

#3 seed Ohio ST, 20-8, 12-6, in the ¼ finals. They beat us twice, but I feel like we have a shot.

3/8: 74-66. Amazing!!! 18 for Sing, 14 for backup SG/SF Eric Alan, 12 each for Hart and Hunt. Only 9 TOs (+10).

#2 seed, #13 ranked UConn, 21-7, 12-6, in the semis. They won by 10 at our place. Tough team.

3/9: 63-76. 1 point game at the half. Hunt and Hawk both quickly picked up their third fouls, and then their fourth, and that was that. UConn was bigger and quicker. Most of the foul calls were justified. 21, 12 for SF Kyle Crew, 14, 2, 7 for Art Sing.

18-12, 10-8, RPI #60. We’ll go somewhere.

3/12: NCAA, #11 East. We play #6 seed, #25 ranked LSU, 22-11. We beat them by 16 in early December. They’re already talking about revenge.

3/16: Got ‘em again! 67-60. We never trailed, but it was tied 7 times. 16, 8, 4, 4 for Crew, 10, 9 for Hart. +12 RBs. Rebounding and D (37%) did it.

Never expected this good a year. It’s, of all people, #3 seed, #10 ranked Butler, 26-6, in round 2. Well, I know the personnel… Not telling my guys this, but I don’t know if we can beat this team.

3/18: Ouch! 47-73. We scored the first basket. They got the next 11 and that was that. They were the better team. My guys did what they could.

Better days are coming. 5 blue chip recruits.

4/3: #1 Memphis wins the title.

4/4: Awards: Soph Center Stan Hunt makes Big 10 2nd team.

4/9: I’m not going anywhere.

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

19-13, 10-8, 2nd round of the NCAA. Overall, 252-78, .764.

[Wayne23]

5/1: #2 recruiting class in the country.

We buy National Gold.

#16 preseason.

6/5: Not impressed by the transfer pool.

6/26: 3 scholarships. We probably want 2 bigs.

8/7: Ryan Morr is #4 on the Norton list.

8/21: We offer to a PG, a PF, and a C.

9/18: Got 2, a C, #15, a PG, #28.

NIT vs. #2 Georgia Tech.

9/25: Got a PF, #14.

10/2: 1st day of practice. We’re picked 2nd.

11/6: 7 man rotation:

Frosh Marc Boxx starts at PG. Potential superstar frosh Ryan Morr is at SG.

Soph Eric Alan subs at both guard positions.

Frosh Jess Hays starts at SF, subs at PF. Our only senior, Del Hall, subs at SF.

Frosh Erik Bark starts at PF, subs at C. Junior Stan Hunt is at C.

[Wayne23]

11/13: We start at the NIT vs. #2 ranked, #6 seed Georgia Tech. We’re #11 seed.

11/14: 93-81. One game does not a season make, but potential superstar guard Ryan Morr had 35 and 8. 23, 11 for C Stan Hunt. Nice to start the season by beating
#2 in the nation on a neutral court!

#14 seed Creighton upset #3. They’re an old nemesis of ours.

11/16: 77-71. This team just gives us fits. 29, 8 for Morr, and that was the difference. 10, 10 for SF/PF Jess Hays. 16 for PG Marc Boxx. +17 RBs, but 22 TOs kept it close.

#2 seed, #9 ranked UConn in the semis. This should be a challenge.

11/18: 90-73. They doubled Morr all night and held him to 17, 5, but Boxx got 31, 5, 8, and Hunt had 18 and 12. +12 RBs, 9 TOs.

#8 seed, #7 ranked (as of today; we’re #6) Texas for the title.

11/20: 72-77. Close all the way. 36, 13 for Morr, 20, 7 for Hunt. Their bench got 26, our bench got 2.

All 3 recruits sign.

12/4: 7-1, #3, RPI #1. Ryan Morr leads the nation in scoring with 31.1.

12/25: 11-1, #2, RPI #1. +14.0 PPG, +11.5 RBs, +2.8 TOs. Morr is getting 28.9 PPG. Hunt gets 18.4, 9.4. 12.6 with 6.5 assists for Marc Boxx.

[Wayne23]

3/5: Ryan Morr is still #2 on the Norton list. As expected, he’s going pro.

3/7: We play #8 seed Penn ST, 15-14, 9-9, in the quarters.

3/8: 79-59. 29, 17 for Hunt, 18, 8, 4 for Morr. +11 RBs, 11 TOs.

#4 seed Maryland, 17-11, 11-7 in the semis. They beat us by 19 there. We won by 18 here.

3/9: 78-64. They really pressured Morr 12, 5, and Hunt, 19, 18. The other three starters all had 10 or more. +15 RBs.

#23 Iowa, 22-8, 13-5, for the title. They won by 13 there, we won by 9 at our place.

3/10: 84-68 and the Big 10 title. We were only up by 2 at the half. Then Morr went off. He wound up with 43 and 12, 31, 8 in the 2nd half. 12, 4, 10 for
PG Marc Boxx.

28-5, 14-4, and the title. #6, RPI #3. Will we get a #1 seed?

#1 West. We play Northern Kentucky, 19-13, first.

3/17: 71-56. We were flat all night. Hunt had 25, 11, but no one else, including Morr, did much. The talent differential got us through. We need to be better than this or we’ll go home early.

Next up is #8 seed Texas Tech, 19-11.

3/19: 76-74. We were down 13 early in the 2nd half. Hunt and Morr took charge. 21, 9 for Hunt, 22, 7, 4, 4 for Morr. Morr had the winner, and then Hunt blocked the last shot of the game. We’re just not playing very well.

#4 seed, #25 ranked LSU, 24-8, in the Sweet Sixteen. We owned them last season but didn’t play them this year. We need to play better than we’ve been playing.

3/24: 93-95 in OT. Back and forth all night. A VERY bad call at the end of regulation allowed them to make 2 free throws to send it to OT, and another bad call late in OT fouled Hunt out. Still, if we had played the way we should have, none of that would have stopped us. Disappointing. 27, 12 for Ryan Morr in his last college game. 19, 3, 8 for PG Marc Boxx, but 11 TOs.

4/3: My old team, #3 ranked Butler, won the title over LSU.

4/4: Awards: Ryan Morr was National Frosh OY and 1st team All American. In the Big 10, Morr was POY, Frosh OY, and 1st team, along with junior Stan Hunt. I got Conf. COY.

4/9: Not going anywhere.

4/23: I ask for a budget increase. Got $22,000!

30-6, 14-4, Sweet Sixteen. Overall, 282-84, .770.

[Wayne23]

5/1: #5 recruiting class.

National Gold, International Basic.

#9 preseason.

6/5: 3 guys transfer out. Granted, only one had any chance of getting even minimal minutes, but it leaves us with 9 scholarship players.

6/12: We went after one transfer but didn’t get him.

6/26: 6 scholarships. We want at least 3 guards.

Ryan Morr went #2 in the draft.

8/7: C Adam Rido is #15 on the Norton list. PG Dan Abny is #20, and PG Marc Boxx is #37.

8/21: We offer to 2 PGs, an SG, 2 PFs, and a C.

9/18: Got 3, lost 2. Got a PF, #7, a PG, #10, a PF, #15. Hoping for 3 more but we NEED at least one more guard.

NIT vs. #20 Louisville.

9/25: Damn! We lose three.

10/2: Got a PG, #30. Lost 2.

1st day of practice. We’re picked #1 in the Big 10.

10/9: Lost 2 more.

11/6: 8 man rotation:

Soph Marc Boxx and frosh Dan Abny split time evenly at PG and at SG. Senior walk on Jam Fred subs at SG.

Senior Stan Hunt starts at SF, subs at PF. Soph Erik Bark and frosh Joe Wims sub at SF.

Soph Jess Hays starts at PF, subs at C. Frosh Adam Rido is at C.

[Wayne23]

11/13: We start at the NIT vs. #9 seed, #20 ranked Louisville. We’re the #8 seed.

11/14: 67-54. 14, 10 for Rido, 15, 6, 8 for Abny, 15 for Boxx. We won this one with D.

#1 seed, #1 Ranked North Carolina in round 2. Not sure we’re ready for this challenge this early in the season. We’ll see.

11/16: 81-90. 29, 17 for Rido, 17, 7, 5 for Abny, 14, 8 for Jess Hays. The game had no flow because the refs called 39 fouls, but UNC was the better team. We hung in, and I think we’ll get better. Good enough to take down #1 in March? Too soon to tell.

11/20: 1-1. We drop out of the top 25, but we’ll be back.

All 4 recruits sign. We may not be able to fill the other two slots.

12/4: 5-1, #10, RPI #2. Adam Rido is our go to, 19.7, 11.8. Our guards also do well, Abny gets 16.0, Boxx gets 13.3. Sub forward Erik Bark, who is about to get lots more minutes, gets 11.2.

12/11: This team REALLY takes care of the ball, 9.3 TOs, 19.1 assists per.

12/25: 9-1, #9, RPI #2. +16.8 PPG, +11.8 RBs, +4.0 TOs. Rido gets 22.3, 11.2. Abny gets 14.8, Boxx 11.6, PF Jess Hays, 11.7, 7.5.

[Wayne23]

1/1/2030: 10-2, 1-1. Tough loss at Ohio ST.

1/15: 14-2, 5-1, #9, RPI #1. In a 3 way tie for 2nd, 1 back of #13 Maryland, who we play here this week.

1/29: 17-3, 8-2, #9, RPI #1. In a 2 way tie for 2nd, 1 back of Maryland. +14.8 PPG, +9.1 RBs, +4.0 TOs. Rido leads us with 20.2, 10.9.

Rido is #7 on the Norton list, and Dan Abny is #17.

2/12: 21-3, 12-2, #7, RPI #1. Alone in 1st, 1 up on #13 Maryland, 3 or more on the rest.

Rido is #7 and Abny #18 on the Norton list.

2/26: We end the regular season 23-5, 14-4, #7, RPI #2. We win the regular season Big 10 title, 1 game over both #15 Maryland and #23 Michigan. +13.4 PPG, +8.3 RBs, +4.2 TOs. Rido is at 19.0, 10.7. Abny gets 16.8, Boxx gets 13.4. 10.6, 8.0 for Jess Hays.

3/5: Adam Rido is #6 on the Norton list.

PF/SF Joe Wims is the only player going pro.

[Wayne23]

3/7: We play #8 seed Illinois, 17-13, 9-9, first. We won by 14 there.

3/8: 78-73. We never trailed, and I played the bench for the last 10 minutes. It wasn’t as close as the final score. 20, 9 for Rido, 16 for Boxx, 14 for Abny.

#5 seed Michigan ST, 17-12, 10-8, in the semis. They won by 14, there, in our only meeting.

3/9: 71-58. Again, we never trailed. We led by as many as 22. 16, 8 for Rido, 11, 11 for Hays, 14, 8 for Boxx.

#2 seed, #15 ranked Maryland, 24-7, 13-5, for the title. We crushed them by 32 in our only meeting. It won’t be anywhere near that easy this time, I’m sure, but we feel like we can win if we play our game.

3/10: 83-65. I’m amazed to say we never trailed at any time in this tournament. 22, 10 for Rido, 11, 4, 10 for Boxx, 18 for Abny.

26-5, 14-4, #7, RPI #2. Looking for a #1 seed!

#1 West. A great bracket. We feel we should get to the Final Four from this bracket. We play 10-22 Columbia first. They had a dreadful season and then won their tournament, somehow.

3/17: 93-56. 31, 7, 6 for Abny, 17, 8, 6, 5 for Rido. A walk in the park, but we kept the focus we showed in the Big 10 tourney, and that’s what I’m looking for.

#8 seed Kansas ST, 21-10, next.

3/19: 87-72. This one was close for 30 minutes, and that’s probably good for us. We worked for it and came out on top. Balanced scoring by all 7 of our guys.

#5 seed, #19 ranked Stanford, 24-10, in the Sweet Sixteen. They score a lot of points.

3/24: 83-65. We never trailed, led by as many as 26. 19 for Boxx, 14, 17 for Hays, 14, 12 for Rido. 28 for the bench. We’re really playing well. Keep on doing it!

Our old nemesis #3 seed, #9 ranked Creighton, 30-6, in the Elite Eight. They have a VERY good PF, and two good guards.

3/26: 71-68 and the Final Four!!! This was our first post season challenge. 17 lead changes, 5 ties. We scored the last 6 points for a come from behind win. 21, 7, 9 for Abny, 19, 5, 3 for Boxx, but the real hero was PF Jess Hays who matched numbers with their superstar, and scored 4 of the last 6 points, 2 on free throws and 2 on a put back. He also blocked the superstar’s shot in the last minute- twice!

#1 seed, #3 ranked Kentucky, 32-5, in the national semifinal. We’ve been drinking in the atmosphere of the Final Four here in New Orleans, and it’s been great.

We’ve also been working hard to try to be ready for a very solid team. They’re strong across the board, but especially at SF and C. We’ll need to play solid D to have a chance.

4/1: 75-79. We did something we hadn’t done in the post season- we fell behind early. We were down 8 at the half. We quickly turned that around and took the lead, and it was back and forth throughout the second. When Jess Hays fouled out with a little less than 2 minutes left, that hurt. In the end they were better, but not by much. 25, 15 for Rido, 15, 6, 6 for Abny, 12 each for Hays and sub forward Erik Bark.

Great season! Let’s see if we can win it all next year!

4/3: #1 Texas is the champ. They beat KY by 18.

4/4: Awards: Frosh Adam Rido is a 1st team All American. In conf., Rido is POY, Frosh OY, and 1st team. Abny and Boixx make the 2nd team. Abny should have been
1st. I get Conf. COY.

4/9: I extend the contracts of my #1 and #2 assistants.

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

30-6, 14-4. Final Four. Overall, 312-90, .776.

[Wayne23]

5/1: We buy national gold.

Preseason #4.

6/5: Will Jarr transfers. He wouldn’t have played much but this leaves us with 8 scholarship athletes. 7 are outstanding but we’re thin.

Looking at transfers.

6/12: Nobody worth pursuing.

6/26: 6 scholarships. We want 3 and 3, but 4 and 2 either way would do.

8/7: Adam Rido is #13 on the Norton list. Jess Hays is #18, Marc Boxx is #22, and Dan Abny is #29.

8/21: I offer to 2 PGs, an SG, 2 PFs, and a C.

9/18: Got 3, lost 2. Got a PG, #6, a C, #7, a PF, #11.

NIT vs. Purdue.

9/25: Got a PF, #18, a PG, #30. Lost a guard. Hoping to land a guard.

10/2: We get a PG, #52.

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

11/6: 7 man rotation:

Junior Marc Boxx is back at PG, and soph Dan Abny is back at SG, subs at PG.

Walk on Alex Wall subs at SG.

Frosh Sean Moro is at SF.

Junior Jess Hays starts at PF, subs at SF.

Soph Adam Rido is at C. Junior Erik Bark subs at PF and C.

[Wayne23]

11/13: We start the season at the NIT vs. Purdue. We’re the #2 seed, they’re #15.

11/14: 81-56. 21, 9 for C Adam Rido, 16, 4, 4, 4, 3 for SG Dan Abny. +16 TOs.

It’s #10 seed, #23 ranked Creighton, an upset winner, in round 2. We seem to meet this team every year, one way or another.

11/16: 67-64. This team always gives us fits. Never more than a 6 point margin either way. 15 lead changes, 9 ties. We won it when Dan Abny hit a three, then knocked their in bound pass away. It rolled along the floor as the clock expired. Abny had 16, SF Sean Moro had 14 and 7, PG Marc Boxx had a dozen.

#6 seed, #6 ranked Stanford in the semis. This should be a battle.

11/18: 72-82. They went to the line 34 times, we went 10. I got T’d up late in the game, and almost went for the 2nd one.17 each for Boxx and #3 guard Alex Wall, 15, 4, 6 for Abny. I won’t say the refs beat us, but they were a factor.

11/20: All 6 recruits sign.

12/4: 6-1, #7, RPI #8.

12/11: Tough home loss to #13 OK ST, 80-81. They hit a half court prayer at the buzzer. But we let them shoot 55.4%, so in a way we deserved to lose.

12/25: 9-2 going to Conf. play. #7, RPI #3. +12.5 PPG, +10.1 RBs, +4.2 TOs. Rido gets 16.8, 8.8, Boxx gets 16.3, Abny gets 13.9.