by Wayne23 » Mon Feb 19, 2018 8:42 pm
2/28: We play #8 seed North Dakota ST, 13-14, 7-9, in the quarter finals. We won by 7 both times we played.
3/1: 107-83 and a 20 win season! 41, 9 for Mars, 17 each for starting guards Syr Doll and Scot Jack.
#5 seed South Dakota ST, 11-17, 8-8, in the semifinals. They beat us by 1, then we won by 6.
3/2: 88-98. Horrible D. 22, 9 for Mars, 26 for Doll. I’m disappointed. I felt we could have and should have won this tournament. 20-9, 12-4, RPI #86. Will we go somewhere? Hoping.
3/12: Going to the CHI. #2 seed in the East. We play #7 Incoherent Word, 19-10.
3/14: 85-83. PG Syr Doll took it down on the final possession, worked a screen to get open for a brief instant, launched a 17 footer and drained it as time ran out. Happy to win but not happy with the way we played, especially on D. 22, 7 for Mars.
#3 Monmouth, 19-10, in round 2. They’re a 3.5 point favorite. We’ll see.
3/21: 87-81. 30, 7 for Mars, 15 each for our guards, Doll and Jack.
#5 seed GA Southern, 18-14, in the semifinals. Looks close on paper.
3/27: 91-83. 30 for Mars, 18, 12 for PF Josh Free. We’ll play #2 seed in the West Nevada, 19-14, for the title. They’re favored, mostly because they’ve played a much stronger schedule.
3/29: 85-100. Our poor D did us in, but what a great season. 26 for Mars, 17 for Jack.
Red Lucas, Indy Times: The IUPUI Jaguras came one step short of the CHI title. But what a great season, 23-10, 1st place in the Summit, made it to the CHI title game. Leading scorer and rebounder John Mars, and two other starters plus the first two off the bench are back, and there are some promising looking new players coming in. Can’t say enough about Head Coach Joe Indy!
4/3: #5 ranked North Carolina is the national champ.
4/4: Awards: John Mars is Summit POY and 1st team along with senior guard Syr Doll. Senior forward Josh Free makes the 2nd team. I get COY. It’s a great honor considering this is my first year as a head coach!
Red Lucas, Indy Times: I asked IUPUI Head Coach Joe Indy if he’d be back next year. I got “I can tell you that I don’t plan to leave the state of Indiana.” I hope he comes back. He’s really lifted the program.
4/9: Butler is the only Indiana school that is interested, but their program is in lousy shape. After giving it a lot of thought, I’m staying. I think I owe it to IUPUI for giving me my shot. Next year it may be a different story.
4/23: I ask for money. We have even less recruiting money than we had last year due to my assistant coach hires. We get $4,000, which puts us about where we were last season. I’ll take it.
23-10, 12-4. Great first season!