Hereafter

[Wayne23]

1/16: Another insane day. There is a petition going around to elect the new Captain by vote of the entire crew. I refused to sign it. At least a dozen people brought me a copy. Evidently I am the popular choice, as Lacy said. She's usually right.

I talked privately with all six of the people who Irma believes voted against her. I didn't change anybody's mind but I sold the fact that she can do the job HARD.

I'm hoping at least one, possibly more, will reconsider. No way to know.

Brad Fredericks sought me out. He does NOT want Irma to get the job. They have never gotten along well.

"If she's the Captain I'm going back to Communications and the ship will need a new #2. I'm actually thinking about doing that anyway since I'm not wanted as Captain. What's the point of keeping the current job?"

I didn't have an answer except to say that he had gotten my vote on every ballot and he had my full support. He thanked me.

I tried to find a little time to do some of my coaching work but I didn't find much.

[Wayne23]

1/17: Early lead but it's close. Up 3 after 10. Tied at the half. Tied with 10 to play.

80-71. Close one until the last couple minutes. 14, 10 for Akpo, 15, 5 for Sims, 17, 4, 3 with 3 steals for Hart, 15 for Huss. They hit 12 threes, which is what kept them in it. We won it at the line, 31-36 to 11-17. +12 in the paint.

#3 guard Jim Culn strained abdominals. Out about 2 weeks. Flip Hart has bronchitis but the starting C shouldn't miss a game.

#17 Arizona ST, 15-3, 3-2, is here. Tough team, especially at C and SG, and they have a deep bench. They play the best D in the conf. We have our work cut out for us.

No news on the search for a new Captain.

[Wayne23]

1/20: They score the first 7. We come back. Up 2 after 10. Both teams shooting poorly. Down 10 at the half. We can't make a shot. Down 4 with 10 to play. They go on a run. OT after we score the last 10 in regulation.

60-63. Awful shooting by both teams. We shot 34.7% to their 33.3%. They hit 7 threes- out of 31, and that was the difference. 99 total RBs in this game; that's unheard of.

15, 13 for Akpo. 3 guys had 11.

I hate to lose at home.

Our only remaining back up guard hurts his arm. We now have two healthy guards. Starting SF Jon Blen will fill in.

At 14-3, 4-2 Washington ST.

We're struggling in conference, 3-3, We think we're the better team but they're good, and they're tough at home. We absolutely have to control the boards.

[Wayne23]

1/24: Down 5 after 10. Down 7 at halftime. Not looking good, not making shots. Down 11 with 10 left.

74-81. We played catch up all night and never got there.

18, 7 for Hart, 13, 5 for Sims. No one else did much. Their bench destroyed us., 49, 21, 2 to 21, 9, 5. We're turning it over too often and we're shooting poorly. We even got out rebounded by 2. We're really not playing well right now. 3 losses in our last 4, 4 in our last 7.

7-12, 1-6 UCLA, there. They're really having an off year. The usual. They have very good guards, we're better inside. They don't score a lot. They're favored, which pisses me off, but I'm using it as a motivator.

Still nothing on the new Captain. The Doc is doing fine but she's making it clear that she doesn't want this to go on for much longer. I have no idea what will break the logjam.

[Wayne23]

1/27: We take an early lead. Up 8 after 10. Up 13 at the half. We have led by as many as 20, but yet again, focus is a problem. Getting better, up 22 with 10 left.
86-60. Great road win! 17, 7 for our 6th man Nat Sims, who led us yet again. 13, 12 for Akpo, 15, 3, 9 for Huss.

+14 RBs, but 15 TOs to 19. Not happy with our ball handling. We shot 50% to 39.2%, and took 13 more shots. +16 in the paint.

Alone in 7th in the 12 team conf. 16-5, 4-4.

15-4, 6-2, 2nd place Oregon is here. Still another team with a high scoring SG. And once again, we need to control the boards. This is a very good team; not ranked but close. We're no longer ranked, which is no surprise.

Tafa Akpo is #10 on the Norton list.

The Doc has delivered an ultimatum. She' done on 2/15. So the pressure is on.

[Wayne23]

1/31: Early lead again, but we let them back in. Up 7 after 10. Up 12 at the half. Held their scorer to 4. Up 9 with 10 to play.

94-79. Home game but still a BIG win! Maybe we've turned it around.

23, 8 for Akpo, 20, 8 for Sims. Still too many TOs, 17. +3 RBs. But +10 in the paint and our bigs outscored theirs by a lot. We won it on threes, 8-16, 3-16.

10-12, 2-7 Oregon ST is here. If we play our game this is one we should win.

Midway through the PAC-12 season we're 17-5, 5-4, tied for 7th, but with a favorable remaining schedule. We should be able to move up.

+11.7 PPG, +7.6 RBs, -1.5 TOs but an awful 13.6; simply unacceptable. #12 OFF, #17 NET.

Akpo leads us with 15.6 PPG, 10.4 RBs. He's a terrific ball player. Flip Hart gets 13.2, 6.9. Nat Sims is doing excellent work from the bench and he gets starter's minutes.

No Council meeting scheduled yet but a lot of behind the scenes talk. Several Council members have privately urged me to take the job. I have made

it very clear that I absolutely do not want it, and would refuse it if I were voted in. Every one of them said I could not refuse it. My reply,

"Watch me!"

Hopefully that will change at least one mind.

[Wayne23]

2/3: Good start! They get back in it. Up 1 after 10. Up only 5 at the half. Big early run! Up 8 with 10 to go; they're coming back. Mini-run.

88-72. We OWNED the inside.

19, 10, 3 for Hart, 15, 10 for Akpo, 15, 9 for Sims, 14, 4, 3 for Blen. +11 RBs.

+18 in the paint and +12 on 2nd chances.

Starting C Flip Hart bruised a knee. Day to day.

We move up to sole possession of 6th place, one back of 5th, 2 back of 2nd.

AT 13-8, 7-3 Stanford. This could be a challenge and it's a game we need if we hope to move up in conf.

2/5: Nothing new on the Captain situation.

2/6: Still lots of talking about the Captain's job but nothing has changed.

[Wayne23]

2/7: I'm starting Sims. Hart will play but he's not ready for starter's minutes. Going 3-2, Favor Inside, Max D.

Back and forth. Up 1 after 10. Both teams shooting the lights out. Down 11 at the break. Damn! Down 1 with 10 to play. We go on a run!

85-74! YES!!! 16, 9, 2 with 4 steals, 3 blocks for Sims. He was HUGE! 13, 8, 4 with 5 blocks for Akpo. He fouled out, but after it was decided. 20, 4 for Huss. Good bench play.

+13 RBs, but 16 TOs (to 20). We shot 50% to 48.2%, took 4 more shots made 3 of them. We were +6 from the line.
In a 4 way tie for 3rd place!

Two that we should win at home coming up next. First is 9-15, 4-4 Washington. They have a steady backcourt but they turn it over some. They have trouble scoring.

2/8: Meeting scheduled for 7:00 tomorrow evening.

2/9: 6:55 p.m.: Things have been stirring all day long. No one has spoken to me but I've seen Council members huddled together throughout the day. Hopefully, they're figuring it out.

"Hey Jed."

"Hello Irma. Any news?"

"No."

"Any thoughts?"

"I think it ends tonight. I really think that if you're loud and clear, yet again, that you don't want the job, somebody will change their vote."

"I hope you're right and I plan to be very loud and very clear."

I was. I repeated that if elected I would not take the job. The pressure was HEAVILY out on me about that but I stood firm.

Finally, Brad spoke up:

"Members of the Council. I have voted for Jed on every ballot since I was eliminated. It seems pointless to continue to do so. I move that we take another vote and i plan to vote for Irma."

Two other Council members echoes those remarks. Three others said nothing.

As expected the vote was 9-3 for Irma. I'm off the hook!

Brad resigned effective when a replacement was named.

I was immediately nominated. Here we go again!

I declined. After another long debate the head of communications got the job.

I have my life back!

[Wayne23]

2/10: Forgot to mention that we're back in the rankings at #25.

Down 7 after 10. Not good. Down 16 at the half. Awful. Down 16 with 10 left. I just don't get it.

68-92. Unbelievable! They shot 52.5%, hit 9 threes. We shot 39.4%.

17, 11 for Akpo but no one else did a thing.

Worst day of my coaching life.

11-13, 3-9 Colorado is here. I have no idea what to expect.

Akpo is #9 on the Norton list.

That big radioactive rock really is a threat. We've altered our course to get as far away from it as possible, and we're hoping it's far enough.

[Wayne23]

2/14: Early lead. Up 6 after 10. Well, so far we're better than last game. Run! Up 12 at the half. Up 20 with 10 to go.

80-61. That's more like it, but this was a lousy team.

17, 10 for Sims, 16, 6 for Blen. Akpo fouled out in 16 minutes.

+11 RBs. We took 15 more shots, made 9. We controlled the inside.

5 to play, 3 against ranked teams, 2 of those away.

At #19 Arizona, 18-7, 9-4. On paper we're in trouble. We need to really play well, especially outside. We beat them by 18 at our place but we were playing much better then.