DDSCB25: Superstar

[Wayne23]

3/12: #1 seed Midwest. We play #16 seed Maine, 14-18. Should be a breeze.

3/16: Back and forth early. Up 6 after 10. Double digit lead. 43-26 at the half. 12, 5 for Sitt. +18 in the paint.

Big early lead. Up 19 with 10 to play.

87-67. 20, 6 for Deay, 16, 10 for Sitt, 12, 4, 6 for Jeff, 10, 6, 3 for Gate. +24 inside.

#8 seed Syracuse, 21-12, in the 2nd round. We beat them by 26 and 10.

3/18: Close early. Up 1 after 10. 42-34 at halftime. 16 for Sitt. 3 TOs.

Good lead early. Up 10 with 10 to go.

86-67. 20, 5 for Sitt, 20, 3 for Jeff.

[Wayne23]

#4 seed, #18 ranked Providence, 25-10, in the Sweet Sixteen. They play good D.

3/23: Early lead. Double digit lead. Up 14 after 10. 49-28 at the break. Great D. 13, 3, 3 for Jeff.

Holding our lead early. Up 13 with 10 left.

70-59. 18, 10 for Sitt, 15, 4, 3 for Jeff.

#3 seed, #16 ranked Colorado, 25-9, in the Elite Eight. They can play.

3/25: Slow start for both teams. Tied after 10. 10 point lead late. 28-25 at the half. We shot 30.8%.

Early lead. We get it to 10. Up 15 with 10 to play. Low scoring game as both teams are shooting poorly.

69-47. Terrific D. Balanced scoring.

We’re back to the Final Four!

[Wayne23]

We play #1 seed, #1 ranked Kansas, 35-3. We’ll need to be at our very best to have a chance in this one.

4/1: Close early. Fast paced game. Up 3 after 10. Double digit lead. They come back. 42-41 at halftime. 13, 3 for Sitt. +16 in the paint.

Back and forth early. Up 3 with 10 to play. Close late.

85-78. 23, 8 for Sitt, 13, 3, 6, 3 for Jeff. +24 in the lane.

#2 seed, #6 ranked UCLA, 33-6, in the title game. This won’t be easy.

4/3: “Dan Fran, EPSN, here with Coach Jess Wynn an hour before game time. What’s it like getting ready for the national championship game, Coach?”

“Kind of a helpless feeling actually. When I was here as a player I knew there were lots of things I could do, and I was very confident that I would do them. As a Coach I can’t score any points or get any
rebounds. It’s kind of stressful.”

We fall behind early. Down 10. Down 11 after 10. 35-49 at halftime. We’re shooting poorly and fouls are hurting us.

They’re holding their lead early. Down 9 with 10 to play. Behind late.

67-79. It wasn’t our night. They outplayed us.

4/4: Awards: Fred Jeff is ACC Def POY. Al Deay makes the 1st team. Jeff and Sam Sitt make the 2nd team. I am conf. COY.

[Wayne23]

4/9: And it’s official. Today I accepted the head coach job at UConn.

“Dan Fran, EPSN. Coach, back home.”

“Back home. It’s a dream come true to be coaching UConn and I hope to be here for the rest of my career.”

Another big plus.

“Yeah, I guess it’s time. I’ll come coach for you.”

“Great news, Kip!”

Kip will be my bench/practice coach. My recruiter is 45 year old Rob Prue who has been here for three years. Art Jonn, also 45, is my scouting coach. This will be his 2nd year here. And Kip, Clifford
Witt, age 53, is my 3rd coach.

4/23: I ask for money.

No.

Duke finished the season at 36-5, 16-4. Overall, for 10 seasons, I’m 276-82, .771.

Von and I are looking at houses. Mostly she is since I’m crazy busy getting started here. In the meantime we’re staying at her condo.

[Wayne23]

5/1: Recruit class #54.

We’ve seen a few houses we liked but we want one we love. Still looking.

5/22: 4 guys leave. One hurts. We’re looking for big guys in the transfer pool.

5/24: “I found it!”

“What?”

“Our house.”

“Tell me about it.”

“It’s perfect. Four bedrooms, a finished basement where our offices can be, 2 car garage, on 45 acres. It’s a little more than we wanted to spend but it’s perfect.”

“Where?”

“East Hartford. About equal distance between Bristol and UConn.”

“Put a down payment on it.”

“Don’t you want to see it first?”

“I do, but I trust you.”

5/26: We offer to 3 bigs and a guard.

5/27: I see the house. I agree with Von. It’s perfect.

5/29: We don’t get anybody. We offer again.

6/1: Our offer on the house is accepted.

6/2: Nobody. We try again but only with one big guy. Everybody else we want is gone.

6/5: We strike out in the transfer pool. Very disappointing.

“I think we’ll be decent but landing a couple of players would have helped.”

“I’m frustrated as hell, Kip. Though I had a couple of those guys.”

6/25: We close on the house. Now we need to move in. We’re buying a lot of furniture.

We’re going to Indy but none of the regional camps. We don’t have the money.

[Wayne23]

6/26: First day of recruiting. We need 3 guards and 3 bigs.

7/1: We’re settling in to the new house. We both love it but it will be awhile before we’re fully unpacked and settled.

7/17: We offer to 6 guys.

It’s the off season for Von so she’s cooking most nights. Other nights I work late and eat in the school caf. Sometimes we go out. We’re learning the restaurants in the area, mostly on advice of the people I work with.

8/7: PF Al Bant is #31 on the Norton list.

We’re pretty much settled in. 2 of the bedrooms have no furniture yet. No hurry. Every other room is ready. We hired people to take care of the property and to plow in the winter.

8/15: Von is back to work on Sat. and Sun. It will be Sat., Sun., and Mon. soon.

9/4: School started up awhile ago and study halls are 2 hours a day, 6 days a week. No one is in academic difficulty and we want to keep it that way.

9/11: We lose a big guy.

9/18: We get 4 recruits, lose 1. We get 2 guards and 2 bigs. We offer to 2 guys.

9/25: We get a big guy lose a guard. Chasing a guard.

10/2: First day of practice. We’re thin inside.

We lose another guard and offer to one more but he’s the last guy we have any interest in.

10/9: We lose the guard. We’ve got 5 great recruits.

It’s nice that Von is home a few days every week, actually she comes home every night, but sometimes it’s around midnight. She does the desk, at EPSN on Sat., Sun., and Mon., and that ends at 11:30 for her.

11/14: We start play tomorrow. Here’s the lineup:

Senior Cris Mast is at the Point. He started there last season as well.

Senior John Pipe is at SG. He started there as well last year. He is one of our best players.

1st guard off the bench is frosh Coy Malo. He’s decent but still developing. Senior Mark Shan has never lived up to his potential. Frosh Nic Bark isn’t ready.

Soph Kam Shin is at SF. He’s a transfer from Cleveland ST where he started. His D is weak but he’s a good rebounder.

Junior Al Bant is at PF and backs up at SF. He’s our best player.

Junior Nick Garr is at C. He has looked very good in practice.

Soph Jess May is first big off the bench. He started last year. Junior Cal Wall is not ready. Probably never will be.

[Wayne23]

We open against Iowa. We’re ranked #25 preseason.

11/15: Both teams are shooting poorly. Up 1 after 10. 40-29 at halftime. 12, 2, 4 for PG Cris Mast, 8 each for Pipe and Bant.

“Bant needs to work harder to get open, Jess.”

Good lead early. Up 8 with 10 to play. They close the gap.

79-70. We finished strong. 19, 12 for Al Bant, 16, 4, 13, 3 for Mast, 14, 4, 3 for Pipe. +24 in the lane.

“I thought it was a good start. We haven’t jelled yet though.”

11/17: Nebraska, 1-0, is here. They played tough D in their opener.

11/18: Close early. Up 2 after 10. 39-37 at the half. 9, 3, 3 for Pipe, 10, 4 for May. The calls are going against us.

Double digit lead early. Up 10 with 10 to go. Good lead late.

100-79. 16, 3, 5, 3 for Mast, 16, 7 for May, 14, 4, 6 for Pipe.

“We’ve got 6 guys scoring, maybe 7. We’re better than I thought we’d be, Kip.”

[Wayne23]

11/21: 2-0 West Virginia is here. They’ve played excellent D in their first 2 games.

11/22: Back and forth early. Down 6 after 10. 36-39. We shot 32.3%. Fouls in the back court hurt us.

We take the lead early. Double digit lead. Up 14 with 10 left.

86-64. 17, 6, 3 blocks for Bant, 12, 3, 4 for Mast.

“I have news.”

“Promotion at EPSN?”

“No, it’s not work related.”

“What is it?”

“We need to get one of the bedrooms furnished…”

“Wait! Oh!... Wow, that’s great! When?”

“Late May.”

11/24: 0-1 Memphis is here. They scored only 51 in their opener.

11/25: Close early. Down 4 after 10, we’re 4-21. 35-31 at the break. We shot 28.6%. 3 TOs, +12 in the paint.

Close early. Down 12 with 10 to play. We’re not making shots. Close late.

69-74. We didn’t shoot well and we didn’t defend well. 15, 7 for Bant, 12, 0, 6, 4 for Mast, 11, 7 for Shin.

[Wayne23]

11/28: 4-1 Mississippi is here. They’ve looked good so far.

11/29: Back and forth early. Up 11 after 10. 44-31 at the half. 11, 0, 3 for Mast, 8, 5 for Bant. +14 in the lane.

Lead goes to 20. Up 16 with 10 to play.

88-81. 24, 2, 7 for Mast, 21, 7 for Garr, 15, 10 for Bant.

The pregnancy is going well early on. Von feels fine. No morning sickness. She’s continuing to work.

12/5: 3-4 ST Mary is here.

12/6: Both teams are cold early. Then we take the lead. Up 9 after 10. 36-31 at halftime. 10, 10 for Garr.

Close early. Up 10 with 10 left.

66-58. 16, 3, 1, 3 for Pipe, 13, 12 for Garr.

“What do you think, Kip?”

“I still think we’re a good team but not a great team. We’ll win a lot of games.”

[Wayne23]

12/12: At 2-5 Boise ST. Our road debut.

12/13: They take the lead early. Up 1 after 10. 39-50 at the half. Lousy D.

Back and forth early. Up 5 with 10 to go. Double digit lead late.

89-70. 19, 7, 2, 3 for Pipe, 18, 5 for Shin, 13, 2, 7 for Mast, 13, 8 for Garr.

Sub Nic Bark hurts his leg. Day to day.

12/19: #11 Creighton, 8-2, is here. Best team we’ve played so far.

12/20: Close early. They take the lead as we shoot badly. Down 4 after 10. 30-47 at the half. We’re getting beat up. Shooting poorly, not defending at all.

They get the lead to 20. Down 19 with 10 to go.

72-92. We were never in it. The only guy who did anything for us was Al Bant, 19, 18.

“We can’t compete with the top teams, Kip.”

“We’re at least a year away from that.”