Restricted Recruiting

[Wayne23]

Hey, any edge is a good one!

[Wayne23]

5/1: I buy West Gold, National Basic.

6/5: Looking at transfers. 2 spots open. Later I’ll have 2 scholarships. I need 3 guards of the four spots. Looking at a few. There’s a PG we really like. We offered to him.

6/12: Didn’t get the PG.

6/26: 4 scholarships. We want at least 3 guards.

8/7: We have some good looking recruits interested.

8/21: We offer to 3 PGs and a C.

9/18: We get our top 2 recruits, #40, Jel More, a PG, and #44, Rudy Will, a C. Hoping to land 2 more PGs.

We’re going to the Palmetto Shootout vs. Missouri ST.

9/25: We lose two.

10/2: We lose another one. First day of practice. There’s definitely some talent here but we’re not very deep.

10/9: We get one, lose one. We get PG Liva Hove, #118.

11/6: 8 man rotation: Junior Nic Gram is at PG. Senior Kyle Will starts at SG, subs at PG. Senior Del Jonn and redshirt frosh Dan Over sub at SG.

Soph Gab Cary starts at SF. Soph Udo Hart starts at PF, subs at C. Frosh Josh Sand subs at PF and SF.

Junior Ged Jaes is at C.

We’ll battle #24 New Mexico and Nevada for the Mountain West crown. We’re picked 3rd.

[Wayne23]

11/20: 2-0 start and we’re ranked #16!

All 3 recruits who committed signed. Hoping to get another guard.

Michigan ST is next, there. That will tell us more about ourselves.

11/24: W beat Michigan ST there, by 15. Headed to the Palmetto Shootout. We’re the #2 seed and we face #7 Missouri ST, 1-2.

11/25: 94-65. Never a game. 17, 18 for PF Udo Hart, 17 for C Ged Jaes. +18 RBs, 9 TOs.

#6 seed Princeton, 1-3, in the semis.

11/26: 81-66. They were never in it. 23, 9 for Jaes, 15 each for SF Gab Cary and PG Nic Gram.

#5 seed, #17 ranked Central Michigan, 5-0, for the title. We’re #12, and we’re also 5-0. If we can play the game inside we should win. We have a big edge there.

11/27: 79-68 and the tournament title. It went back and forth for quite some time, but we eventually took command. 23, 10 for Jaes, and good bench play. Only 10 TOs.

We’re 6-0. Three straight on the road, then two at home before we start conference play.

12/11: We’re 9-0, #12, RPI #26, with 2 home games left before conf. play begins. Jed Gaes is getting 29.9 PPG.

12/25: 10-1, #17, RPI #56. We lost in OT at home to Texas A & M. +16.4 PPG, +13.0 RBs, +5.4 TOs. 28.5 for Gaes, 11.1 RBs for Hart.

[Wayne23]

1/1/2021: 12-1, 2-0. #15, RPI #28. 2 close games to start Mountain West play. They’re not giving anything away in this conference. Next up is #18 New Mexico, there. They’re favored to win the conf.

1/3: 62-83. OUCH!!! They’re good. We were in it for about 25 minutes but then it was lights out. Too many TOs, 2 starters fouled out, we shot 33.3% and let them shoot 52%.
Oh well, we’ll study the tapes and try to beat them at our place in Feb., and more importantly in March.

1/10: We crushed conf. leader Utah ST, 74-63 there. PF Udo Hart led us with 19 and 7. They doubled Jaes (12 and 6) all night and Hart stepped up and got free often, as did SF Gab Cary, 11, 7. Great win. 3 teams tied for 1st in conf., but it’s early.

1/29: 19-2, 9-1, #13, RPI #16. Alone in 1st, 1 up on #11 New Mexico. +13.3 PPG, +9.3 RBs, +5.9 TOs. 25.8 PPG for Jaes, 10.5 RBs for Hart.

2/7: 62-72 to #8 New Mexico here. I guess they’re just better than we are, but they went to the line 22 times and we went 10. That didn’t help. And Ged Jaes got hurt late in the first half which truly hurt. He played only 3 minutes after that. Not serious, but it happened at a bad time. Oh well. We’re a game back of NM, and 3 up on 3rd place so we’ll undoubtedly finish 2nd in conf.

2/26: We end the regular season at 25-4, 15-3, alone in 2nd in conf., 1 back of 1st, 5 up on 3rd, #12, RPI #18. +12.1 PPG (#5 in scoring), +8.7 RBs (#9 in RBs), +6.3 TOs (#2 in TOs). Ged Jaes’ scoring went way down but he ended at 22.6 PPG. Udo Hart had 10.6 RBs.

Hoping to make some post season noise!

[PointGuard]

Great season. Yeah, you should get a good seed for the NCAA tournament regardless of how you've done against the NM Lobos.

[Wayne23]

3/6: The #7 seed, San Jose ST, 15-13, 8-10, in the quarters. Beat them by 15 at our place.

3/7: 106-97. We led all the way, and they scored the last 7 when I put my bench in, so it wasn’t as close as the score indicates. 24, 3, 8 for SG Kyle Will, 17, 7 for Hart.

#3 seed Wyoming, 17-11, 10-8, in the semis. Beat them by 10 here, 5 there. This is a team we should beat.

3/8: 80-73 in OT. Tough game! 17, 8 for Jaes, 17, 4, 8 for PG Nic Gram, 16, 10 for Hart. It was a sloppy game with 41 YTOs, 18 of them ours. And the refs were awful. They went to the line 34 times, we went 11. I got T’d up in the last few seconds just to send a message.

In a total shocker, #4 seed Fresno ST knocked off #1 seed, #8 ranked New Mexico. They won by a single point in OT. They’re 18-11, 10-8. They’re no pushover. We won by 4 at our place and then lost by 10 at theirs. We feel we’re the better team but we’re going to have to bring it.

3/9: 97-76 and the title. 32, 9 for Jaes, who was really on tonight. 22, 13 for Hart, 16 for SF Gab Cary. +26 RBs.

28-4, 15-3, conf. tourney title. #12, RPI #14. Hoping for a #3 or #4 seed.

3/12: #4 East. We play #13 Lafayette, 22-8. This is one we should win.

3/16: 76-53. 25, 8 for Jaes, 15, 6 for Cary. 41 RBs, 11 TOs. Easy win.

#12 seed Southern Illinois, 21-12, beat #5, so they’re next. We should beat up on them inside.

3/18: 86-68 and a 30 win season. 22, 15 for Hart, 21, 11 for Jaes, and our first inside player off the bench, Josh Sand, had 13 and 7. +19 RBs. My first 30 win season as a coach.

#1 team in the country Duke, 34-1, in the Sweet Sixteen. This would take a miracle. Hoping to be competitive.

3/23: 49-73. We were in way over our heads. Only 10 TOs, but that was the only bright spot. Great season though!

4/3: Our own New Mexico made it all the way to the title game before losing to Duke 61-85, the same 24 point margin we lost to Duke by.

4/4: Awards: Ged Jaes is MT West POY and 1st team along with Udo Hart. They’re both juniors! I get Conf. COY!

4/9: OK ST, LSU want me. OK ST is tempting but I’m staying here.

4/23: I ask for a budget increase. We get $4,500.

Terrific first season at UNLV. 30-5, 15-3, #12, RPI #14. Overall we’re 104-30, .776.

[Wayne23]

5/1: #16 recruiting class. Weber ST joins our conf.

We buy West Gold, National Basic.

6/5: No slots for transfers.

6/25: I redshirt 2 frosh guards.

6/26: 3 scholarships. I’ll take 2 and 1 either way.

8/7: C Rudy Will is #35, and C Udo Hart #41 on the Norton List. C Ged Jaes may be better than either of them. I’m going with three inside players this year, and MAYBE with
my SF, Gab Cary, at SG. So, I may go with a one guard offense. We’ll see.

8/21: We offer to a C, #18, a PG, #47, a C, #130. #18 is a long shot but he’s in state.

9/18: HUGE recruiting win. We get #15. Center Jack Lane. We went after him HARD because he was in state, but I was never sold on the idea that we would get him. I’m elated!

We’re going to the Coaches Classic. We play #8 ranked Texas, so we’ll get a real test early. We have several ranked teams on the schedule.

9/25: Got the other two: #34, PG Kal Scot, and #235, C Hal Sill, but he’s better than that.

10/2: Surprisingly recruit Hal Sill is dropping farther in the ratings. We may have made a mistake, but I really don’t think so. Time will tell.

First day of practice.

11/6: Hal Sill went to #103 in the final change in recruit rankings. Lane is #17, Scot #36.

Here’s my rotation, at least to start:

Senior Nic Gram is at the Point. Junior Gab Cary starts at SG, subs at both PG and SF.

Red shirt soph Dan Over subs at SG.

Junior Udo Hart starts at SF, subs at PF. Junior Cal Linn and soph Josh Sand sub at SF.

Senior Ged Jaes starts at PF, subs at C. Frosh Rudy Will is at C.

We start at the Coaches Classic as the #11 seed, facing #6 seed, #8 ranked Texas.

[Wayne23]

11/13: 79-72! It was close until the last 5 minutes when we finally stopped their PG, who lit us up for 42, but none in the last 5 min. 19, 16 for Jaes, 10, 11 for Will, 8, 17 for Hart. +15 RBs, only 9 TOs, which considering that we have only one true guard for at least half the game is great!

#16 ranked, #3 seed Louisville is next. They look good outside. We’ll need to keep the game inside to have a shot.

11/15: 81-86. We kept it close all the way, and we led a number of times but we didn’t stop their outside game- 15 threes, and that did us in. 25, 10 for Jaes, 15, 9 for Will, 18, 4, 5 for Cary. It’s early and we’ll get better.

11/20: All 3 recruits sign.

12/4: 5-1. #21. We beat two top 20 teams, both at our place. 22.2, 11.2 for Ged Jaes, 19.2, 11.2 for Rudy Will, 10.5, 13.0 for Udo Hart. 12.7 for Gab Cary.

#2 in the nation in RBs.

12/25: We head to conf. play at 10-2. #14, RPI #5. We lost at home to #21 Utah on a night when we went 4-29 from behind the line. +13.7 PPG, +17.5 RBs (#2), +2.3 TOs. Jaes gets 20.3, 10.0, Will is 18.8, 11.3, Hart is 11.9, 10.9. HELL of a front line.

[Wayne23]

1/1/2023: 11-2, 1-0. We beat a good Air Force team here.

1/15: 15-2, 5-0. We’ve won our first three conference road games including at #21 Nevada. Looking great so far!

1/29: 18-3, 8-1. We just lost to 3rd place Wyoming there. We played lousy D giving up 90 points and letting them shoot 58%. #12, RPI #7. Tied for 1st with New Mexico, 2 teams one game back, but the sched looks good for the rest of the regular season.

Rudy Will is #9 and Udo Hart #27 on the Norton list. +14.8 PPG (#3 in PPG), +15.3 RBs (#1), 12.1 in TOs. Jaes gets 19.2, 9.3, Will gets 16.8, 10.5, Hart is at 11.2, 10.2, Cary gets 11.7, Gram gets 10.4.

[Wayne23]

2/12: 21-4, 11-2, #10, RPI #10. Tied for 1st with NMU, 3 up on 3rd place. Rudy Will is #9 on the Norton list. We lost a road game where we took 21 more shots, had 20 more RBs, and had only one more TO than the other team. Not easy to do, but we shot abominably.

+14.6 PPG (#2), +14.7 RBs (#3), +3.4 TOs (only #29). 18.5 PPG for Jaes, 10.7 RBs for Will

2/26: 23-5, 13-3, #12, RPI #8. We finish tied for 1st in conf. +13.8 PPG, #14.0 RBs, +3.3 TOs. We end up with all 5 starters averaging 10.7 or more.

On to the post season!