Hereafter

[Wayne23]

2/16: 90-80. They take an early lead but it stays close. We come back and take the lead. Up 10 at the half. It's a battle in the 2nd. We lead but they're within range. We didn't lock it up until very late.

6 players with 10-15. Fino led us with 13, 7, 5, and 3 blocks. 10, 8, 3 for Andy, 13, 4, 6 for Swoe, 11, 5, 3 for Jack.

We shot 49.2% to their 43.1%. +5 RBs, only 5 TOs.

These two teams are very evenly matched; we each won by 7 at home. On a neutral court who knows?

Now it's a 2 way tie for 1st with 2 teams 1 game back.

At 12-13, 5-9 Stony Brook. We won by 19 there, leading all the way. But the road is never a given. On paper we're better outside, they're better inside so I am once again challenging my big guys.

[Wayne23]

2/20: 65-71. It's close. Down 4 at the half. Stays close in the 2nd, down 5 with 10 to play. OT. We had our chances. Never more than a 6 point difference.

16, 5, 5 for Mill, 12, 5, 4 for Jack. 11, 8 for Andy, 10, 8 for Fino. 11 TOs to 22 for them.

We shot horribly, 30% to 42.1%. We took 13 more shots and made 3 less; 1-15 on threes; they made 6.

This was a loss we could not afford, particularly with the injury.

Hank Fino hurt his back. Not serious but he'll miss at least one game. NOT a good time for this. We're going small again, with Swoe at SG and Jack moving back to SF.

In a 2 way tie for 2nd. 3 to play.

At 14-12, 10-5 Binghamton next. We won by 24 here, dominating outside and controlling the boards. We should be able to control the boards and we should be able to turn them over, but they're a good team and it's a road game.

[Wayne23]

2/23: 90-76. It's close early. Up 8 after 10 minutes. Down 2 at the half. Up 4 with 10 to play. A late run and terrific guard play brought it home.

21, 2, 5 for PG Rash Thop. 17, 4, 4 in his first start at SG for Lav Swoe. 19, 4 for Andy.

We shot 52%, they shot 54.9%. We won it at the line, 30-43 to 12-18.

-5 RBs hurt us, but 13 TOs to 23 was a big help. +12 on the fast break.

In a 2 way tie for the lead with 2 to play. 1 team is a game back.

9-18, 3-13, cellar dweller Albany is here. We won by 13 there. Fino can play a few minutes but not many. I don't think they can score enough points to beat us; they average only 61.7.

Starting my junior year at UMass. I'm the 6th man, 1st option at SF and SG, 2nd at PF and PG. I expect to get nearly starter's minutes.

[Wayne23]

2/27: 71-84. They jump out to an early lead. I ramp up the D. We're playing catch up. Down 6 at the half. We NEED this game! Down 9 with 10 left.

AWFUL! We were AWFUL! We let the worst team in the conference whip us at home. I don't get angry often but I was too pissed to even talk to the players after the game. I left and went home.

19, 7 for Andy, 21, 3 for Thop. No one else had more than 9.

Only +1 on the boards and 18 TOs. Their bench outplayed ours.

Alone in 2nd, 1 back of Hartford, 1 up on 2 teams. We could finish 4th if we don't win our last game.

At 8-21, 6-11 NJIT in the regular season finale. Struggling with the lineup. After lots of time talking it over with my staff we're going to start Swoe at the Point, move Thop to SG; he's not a PG and it isn't working.

[Wayne23]

3/2: 96-95 in overtime. We take an early lead. It's close and going back and forth. Up 3 at the half. Up 1 with 10 to play. OT. Whew! They missed a 10 footer at the buzzer. We got VERY lucky! Both teams hit 35 field goals. Both teams hit 6 threes. We had 20-29 from the line, they had 19-24.

+11 RBs but 20 TOs. Swoe didn't get it done. We'll leave that experiment.

27, 7 for Cal Mill, 18, 4, 5 for Thop, 18, 7, 3 for Andy, 13, 4, 7 for Jack. We probably outplayed them from the bench but not by much.

We end up in a tie for 1st with Hartford. We'll be the 2 seed in the AEC tourney.

Thop is going back to the Point.

3/5: Wer play #7 seed Stony Brook, 16-14, 8-10, in the quarter finals. Beat them by 19 then lost in OT. This is a team we should beat but we couldn't do it last time.

21-8, 12-6, NET Rank #56. 5th in the nation in PPG, 9th in RBs, 10th in Blocks, 15th in Assists.

Thop is our leading scorer with 16.8. Andy is #2 with 16.3, and he's our leading rebounder.

Pre-game Press Conference (Excerpts):

Q: Coach, your team is 4-4 in your last 8, and it seems to be an unsolvable mystery as to whether the good team will show up or not. What do you see as your prospects going forward?

Coach Clark: Yeah, it's been a rough ride. Look, we finished tied for first playing the last half of the conference season without our starting Point Guard. The PG is the most important player on the team in college hoops. We're doing the best we can with a Shooting Guard at the Point. Frankly, I have no idea how we'll do going forward, but any win from here on is a bonus after a damned good season, as far as I'm concerned. Joon was our 3rd leading scorer and #1 in assists. That's a big loss.

Q: Recruiting isn't going so well. Only one player signed.

Coach: There's time left. We're confident we'll get 2-3 more recruits, and they'll be guys who will help us.

[Wayne23]

3/6: 77-70. They scored the 1st 14 points. Down 10 at the half. We take our first lead with 12 minutes left. WE were down 15 at one point. Hell of a comeback!

16, 8 for Andy, 13, 6, 4 for Fino, 15 for Swoe.

-2 RBs but only 9 TOs.

We shot 42.1% to 32.3%. Great comeback, great win!

#3 seed UMBC, 17-13, 11-7, in the semis. Lost by 7 there, won by 7 at our place. The teams are very evenly matched. It's going to come down to who executes, and maybe to who gets better bench play.

The top 4 seeds all advanced.

[Wayne23]

3/6: 77-70. They scored the 1st 14 points. Down 10 at the half. We take our first lead with 12 minutes left. WE were down 15 at one point. Hell of a comeback!

16, 8 for Andy, 13, 6, 4 for Fino, 15 for Swoe.

-2 RBs but only 9 TOs.

We shot 42.1% to 32.3%. Great comeback, great win!

#3 seed UMBC, 17-13, 11-7, in the semis. Lost by 7 there, won by 7 at our place. The teams are very evenly matched. It's going to come down to who executes, and maybe to who gets better bench play.

The top 4 seeds all advanced.

[Wayne23]

3/7: 87-83. Up 5 after 10 minutes. Up 5 at the half. Up 2 with 10 to play. The a run for us! Great win! 20 lead changes, 11 ties, never more than a 9 point spread- us, in the 2nd half.

21, 4, 3 for Jack, 20, 4 for Thop, 11, 1, 4 for Swoe, so our guards had 52 of our points. Only 8 TOs. We definitely won it in the backcourt.

We shot 51.8%, to 45.6%, but the big difference was at the line, 23-42 (Awful!), to 10-15. -12 in the paint.

No surprises, we play 20-11, 12-6, #1 seed Hartford for the title. They beat us by 8 at their place and again, by 12, at our place. They held us to 57
and 69. We need to score more. We also need to stop their bench, which was a huge factor for them both times.

On paper we have an edge, particularly on the boards, but it hasn't worked out that way. Third time's the charm?

[Wayne23]

3/8: 77-72 and the title! Down 5 after 10 minutes. Down 6 at the half. Down 3 with 10 to play. We were down 8 with 3 minutes left. Hell of a comeback!

21, 1, 3 for Thop, 17, 6, 3 for Swoe. Our bench came up BIG: 25, 17, 6 to 22, 6, 2. Not the points so much as the RBs.

+11 RBs. 22 TOs nearly did us in, but good shooting saved us, particularly outside, 48.1%, 7-13 threes to 36.1%, 6-23 threes.

Post Game Press Conference (Excerpts):

Q: Coach, you shocked a lot of people with this win, and with the whole AEC tourney run. The odds said you wouldn't get past the first round.

Coach Clark: This team has sort of mystified me since Brett Joon went down with the broken finger. It's been a long period of tweaks, adjustments, false starts, restarts. When it counted we were there.

Q: Talk about guard play.

Coach: Guard play was the key, last night and tonight. Thop, Swoe, and Jack did all we could ask.

Q: Lav Swoe is much better coming off the bench than he is starting. Any explanation for that?

Coach: Some guys need to watch the action and figure out what's going on before jumping in. That seems to be how he works. In any case it's always good to have a guy who lights you up when he comes in. Cal Mill did that very well until the injury made him a starter. Now Swoe is doing it.

Q: How far can you go in the NCAAS?

Coach: No idea. We'll give it all we have, hope for a decent seed, and hope for the best.

Q: Any idea how high you'll be seeded?

Coach: Nope. We'd love a #10 but a 12 is probably more likely.

3/12: #12 East. We play Brigham Young, 27-6, #5 seed, #12 ranked. Really tough first round draw.

On paper we're better outside, they're better inside, but they're a 4 1/2 point favorite, and that's a lot in college hoops. They're 4-2 against ranked teams and they've beaten #2 and #5. Yikes!

We'll need to take care of the ball, turn them over, and rebound. They're tough to score against so go D will also be important. But honestly, this is not going to be easy!

[Wayne23]

3/16: 74-80. We fall behind quickly. My guys are playing hard but it's a tough climb. Down only 2 at the half. Tied with 4 min. Left. Very proud of the effort my kids showed.

20, 5 for Andy, 19 for Thop, 8, 10 for Fino.

+7 RBs but 17 TOs. The bench kept up with their bench.

Great first season, 24-9.

We're losing starters Brett Joon, Tom Jack, Hank Fino, and sub Lav Swoe. We need to lasso a couple more recruits.

3/26: 2 guys seem like real possibilities.

4/3: #1 Alabama is the champ.

4/4: Awards: I get AEC COY. Very cool considering it's my first year as a head coach! Rash Thop and Pete Andy make the 1st team. They'll both be back! Senior Tom Jack makes the 2nd team.

4/9: Got a couple of exploratory calls about coaching jobs. Not interested.

4/16: (Totally weird occurrence. A coach who is NOT on my staff showed up in an email saying he's leaving to take another job. I dunno?)

A PG, #98, and a PF, #163, sign. I've got 3. Love to get one more.

4/23: I ask for a facilities upgrade. Our facilities scream "high school."

Got it. Up from D to C. Happy about it.

I had a great junior season at UMass. Started 7 games played as the 6th man in the rest. Averaged 24.5 minutes, getting 8,3 points, 5.2 RBs, and 2.4 assists. I only turned it over 1.1 per game. The head coach says I'm a big part of his plans next season.

My mentor, Coach James, got me a summer job with the Athletic Department, and he says we'll talk most every day. He says I should be thinking about landing an assistant job year after next, or getting a Master's and staying on here as a Graduate Assistant Coach. Sounds great.

Still playing piano every day and taking lessons twice a week.

We're in a quiet part of the asteroid belt right now but we're still on the alert at all times.

Our people are analyzing the videos of the rocks we've filmed. We got soil or rock samples from the ones that looked weirder than most and that stuff is also being analyzed.