Basketball 2111

[Wayne23]

11/17: 1-0 heading to the Hawaiian Shootout. We play #3 seed Texas, 0-1. We’re #6.

11/18: 83-71. We had a rockin’ 2nd half. 17, 6, 5, 3, 4 for SG Kit Stew. 16, 5 for Mell. Great win!

#2 seed, #17 ranked Wake Forest, 2-0, in the semis. They’re excellent inside and very good outside. Tough matchup.

11/19: 69-77. We gave it all we had. Sub Wei Zhao led us with 18 and 6. 18 TOs hurt.

11/20: 2-1.

All 4 recruits sign. Still chasing one.

11/27: 4-1.

Ken Bakk will start at PG and Kit Stew will get more minutes at SG. Main wasn’t cutting it. Ray Heal will start for Duff.

12/4: 6-1, RPI #39. I’m really happy with our D, #39 in PPG Allowed. But Rbs could be better as could ball handling.

12/11: 7-1, RPI #33. 2 more before A10 play starts, both on the road.

12/25: 8-2, RPI #54. +8.2 PPG (#150, #40), +5.3 RBs (#105), -0.6 TOs (#178). RBs seem low all around the association. I guess shooting is improving. Anyway we’re +5.3 with only 33.5 per game. Keb Mell leads us with 15.4, 6.0.

A real shocker on the nightly news tonight. Someone took over the nightly news. Somehow they hacked in. A person in a darkened room, with the voice disguised so you couldn’t tell gender or anything else claimed to be someone who worked for a wealthy family. The story was riveting. S/he said she’d been working for this family for 35 years, and that her parents, and before that her grandparents had worked for the family. No one in the wealthy family had died in all that time. The oldest family members were more than 125 years old and acted and moved and spoke like someone in their 20s or 30s. The darkened voice claimed that every member of the family presented as being young and active, full of energy and vibrancy.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the audience I am telling you that a cure had been found for old age, and possibly for death. These people do not age, and they definitely do not die.
The government is keeping this from us. We, too, could be living long, healthy lives, maybe living forever.”

The series of three weekly shots we had all received when the plague was running wild were actually “immortality shots,” according to the voice.

The person spoke for at least 5 minutes and then the screen went black and soon after went back to the regular news program.

12/27: Anti-aging and immortality is the topic on everyone’s lips for the past two days.

Tonight a government spokesperson said the unseen voice that broadcast on Christmas evening was a scammer. No such drug exists, and wealthy people age just like the rest of us, perhaps a bit more slowly because they live in such excellent conditions due to their wealth. No one is buying it.

I have to say that, at 41 years of age, I’m all for age extending drugs!

[Wayne23]

1/1/2118: 10-2, 2-0. RPI #55. Keb Mell gets all the minutes he can handle but we have 4 guys sharing the other minutes inside. It seems like different guys step up on different nights, but no one is playing consistently enough to grab major minutes.

1/8: 11-3, 3-1. Lost a road game. Two tough teams this week.

1/11: The “voice” was back last night. Here’s some of what s/he said:

“… You may think that since we never see them, they must get terribly bored living in total isolation. Two things about that. First, they’re out in public often, at sports events, entertainment venues, other places. They look like us, so you’d never know you were interacting with an immortal. The second thing? Remember all the talk about virtual reality, and how it never seemed to actually come together? They have it. They have it in huge auditorium size high ceiling rooms. They can run a program designed by programmers who work for them full time and live very, very well. They can drive a race car, ski a mountain, visit anywhere including in space, or so it seems anyway. There are created virtual people; think about the possibilities for that. The adventures that are possible in those chambers are beyond imagination. So no, the wealthy are not bored. I need to go before they track me down, but I’ll be back…”

Wow! Just wow!

1/15: 12-4, 4-2, RPI #44. We need to play better on the road.

1/22: 14-4, 6-2. RPI #33. In a 4 way tie for 1st at the halfway point. Road win, but the team, Fordham, has exactly one win so far this season. Still, we’ll take it!

The wealthy and the disembodied voice talking about them are the talk of the town and the whole country, it seems. The government is going to have to do something. Whether it will be a total clamp down on everybody, or somehow opening things up and admitting what we all know is true… well, who knows.

1/29: 16-4, 8-2, RPI #35. We have a one game lead in the A 10 and we have to be close to being ranked. Gotta keep winning though. +7.7 PPG (#151, #28), +3.9 RBs (#109), +2.4 TOs (#78). Mell leads us with 16.9, 6.5. Still tweaking the lineup.

Everyone was brought in for a shot this week. First time since the plague. No idea what it means or what we got.

2/5: 18-4, 10-2. We beat the 2nd place team- at their place. RANKED!!! #23, RPI #27. Thought it would take longer than my 2nd year here to crack the top 25. Doesn’t mean we’ll stay there, of course. UMass is one back, ST Joe 2 back, everyone else 3 or more.

Nothing more from “The Voice” as he or she is being called. And nothing from the government either, not even a denial.

2/12: 19-5, 11-3, #25, RPI #30. The winning streak ends at 7. But both UMass and ST Joe lost so nothing changed, except that Richmond is now tied with ST Joe.

2/19: 19-7, 11-5. A two loss week but we’re still in 1st, 1 ahead of 5 teams. Our last 2 are at home so we’re in good shape. Out of the top 25, RPI #46.

We play in the Bracket Breaker later today. Wish we could decline. It’s a game late in the season when the players are already tired and banged up. Lousy idea.

2/26: 21-8, 13-5 and we win the A10 by one over LaSalle and 2 or more over the rest! RPI #41. +5.6 PPG (#169, #44), +5.0 RBs (#65), +1.8 TOs (#96). Mell leads us with 17.2, 7.2.

Great regular season!

2/29: Everyone was brought in for another injection. No explanation.

[Wayne23]

3/7: We play #9 seed George Mason, 18-11, 9-9. We won by 12 at home. Favored by 1 ½.

3/8: 73-56. Close for a half. 19, 7 for Mell, 16, 6, 5 for Stew.

#4 seed UMass, 17-12, 11-7, in the semis. They won by 15 there, we won by 20 here. The game is rated a toss up.

3/9: 57-73. We couldn’t score in the 2nd half, 21 points. -15 RBs. 14 for Mell, not much for anyone else. We were awful.

22-9, 13-5, regular season A10 champs. RPI #46. I’d say we’re borderline for the NCAAs.

3/12: NIT, #1 Midwest. We play #8 seed La. Tech, 17-12. If we get it together we could win this tournament.

3/13: 75-52. Terrific D. 17, 8 for Mell, 15 for Stew.

#4 seed NC A & T, 21-8, in the 2nd round. They’re scrappy.

3/15: 92-77. 25, 8, 6 for Mell, 17, 6 for Stew, 16 for PG Ken Bakk. +12 RBs.

A much needed 5 days off then #6 seed Boston College, 19-13, in the round of 8. They’re favored by 1 ½.

3/20: 66-76. We were sluggish in the 1st half and not much livelier in the 2nd. Disappointing.

4/3: #1 North Carolina is the champ.

4/4: Awards: Senior Keb Mell is A10 POY and 1st team. Junior guard Kit Stew makes the 2nd team. I am Conf. COY.

4/9: I don’t think my Reputation rating, 32, is high enough to get me to a significantly better team, our TP is 42, but let’s see if anyone offers.

I was right. Not sorry to be staying here for a 3rd season.

4/23: I ask for $. No.

24-10, RPI #45. +5.7 PPG (#, #), +5.0 RBs, (#), +1.8 TOs (#).

Overall I’m 163-58, .738 in 7 seasons

My brand new #3 assistant, Dev Robb, popped into my office late in the day yesterday.

“Coach, let’s go for a walk.”

I was puzzled but I put on a light jacket and we went outside.

“I couldn’t say any of this where there might be microphones, and Coach, there are microphones everywhere. Probably shouldn’t say it at all…”

“Say what’s on your mind, Dev.”

“… I’m one of those rich people you hear so much about lately.”

“What?”

“Yes. And everything the mysterious voice was saying is true. We have a life extending drug. No one knows how long it will extend life, but my dad is 124, and he plays golf every day, walks the course. I’m 97-”

“But you look about 35 or 40.”

“Exactly. Oh, a side effect of the drug is that it makes women sterile. Not men, for some reason they don’t know yet.”

He told me the whole story. He has been in coaching for a few years because he finds it to be an interesting challenge. He hopes to work his way up to a head coaching position.

“Why are you telling me this? It must be dangerous to do so- for both of us.”

“It is, but not so much as you’d think. You’re not going to go public. You’ve got a pretty good life and it’s probably going to get better, given that you’ll wind up at an elite school.”

He told me that there are two factions among the people who really run things. One wants the life extending drug to go out to everyone. The other wants to set the plague loose and get the world population down to about 500 million, and the U. S. population down to maybe 25 million. At this point the two factions are about equally split and nothing will happen until there is a clear majority, maybe 60%, maybe 2/3.

And the virtual reality thing? That’s true, too.”

“So if you could do what you’re doing here at URI virtually, why don’t you just do that, give yourself a head coaching job, and stay safe?”

“I want to earn all of it in the real world.”

“But you live in campus housing and eat campus food.”

“My wife and I have a great set up in our apartment. We have a small virtual chamber so we live in a lot of luxury, and we take our meals in there whenever the team’s not on the road. I show up in the dining hall a couple of times a week so people don’t get suspicious, but I don’t eat much while I’m there."

Needless to say all of this almost made my head explode.

Dev said he just needed to share this with someone, and I seemed safe. There was nothing he wanted me to do.

The last thing he mentioned was the injections.

“Don’t fight them. They’re safe. Our scientists are experimenting to see if a series of three shots, a week apart, once a year, will extend life at all. The injections are the exact same ones we rich folks get once a month for life.”

Amazing stuff!

[Wayne23]

5/1: Recruiting class #45. We buy the usual scouting reports.

6/5: 2 spots.

6/12: No luck.

The talk I had with my assistant coach Dev just won’t leave my mind. Are the wealthy going to extend our lives or wipe us out?

6/26: 4 scholarships. We probably need 3 guards but I’d go with 2 and 2.

8/21: We offer to 2 PGs, a PF, a C.

9/18: Lost one but I feel like we’re close with the other 3.

Hawaiian Shootout again, vs. Purdue.

9/25: Got 2, lost 2. Got a PG, #38, and a C, #77.

10/2: Lost one. 1st day of practice. We’re picked to drop to 5th in the A10. We’ll see about that!

10/9: Got a C, #72. One to go, a PG rated #37 who has us as his #1 but hasn’t pulled the trigger. Landing him would be huge.

11/6: 8 man rotation:

Soph Ken Bakk is at PG. Senior Kit Stew starts at SG, subs at PG. Juco junior Wes Higg subs at SG and he’’ get enough minutes to show us what he can do.

SF is up for grabs. Senior Vin Duff, who has been a disappointment in the past, will start, but juco junior Cam Thor will get equal minutes.

We seem pretty solid inside. Soph Wei Zhao is at PF. Frosh Ben Dyer is at C, and junior Gar Caye will sub at both.

Still nothing but silence regarding the wealthy. Dev has not approached me on the subject a second time.

[Wayne23]

11/17: 1-0. Our starting inside guys, Dyer and Zhao looked terrific.

Headed for Hawaii vs. 1-0 Purdue, the #3 seed. We’re #6.

11/18: 50-55. Great D, little to no offense. We shot 29%. If not for our 9 threes it would have been even more pathetic. Disappointing, but too early to make changes.

Dev sat next to me on the flight home and said we needed to talk.

11/20: 1-1.

All three recruits sign. Still chasing one.

Finally got a chance to “go for a walk” with Dev.

“The decision is made… They’re going to cull the population.”

“Jesus!”

“They’re coming up with lists of essential people. Huge numbers of essential people. Those will get the injections monthly, from now on. And the rest… well, the rest will get the plague. The kill rate is about 50% so… Don’t worry, you’ll be on the good list- and your wife and kids.”
Jesus!

11/27: 3-1, RPI #39. We’re looking at the lineup but we’ll wait a week before doing anything.

My family and I were brought in for our injections, which will now be monthly. I called my brother, Rav. I talked about everything except the injections. When he never brought the subject up I did, just in a general way, and not mentioning that we’d had ours.

“No, haven’t had those in quite some time now.”

Jesus!

12/4: 5-1. RPI #75.

Wes Higg is going to start at SG over Kit Stew. Higg is playing really well. Gar Caye has also been playing really well, so he’ll start at SF over Vin Duff.

I haven’t told Nell a thing about my conversations with Dev or anything about what I’ve learned. When she brings the subject up, as she does, since everyone is talking about it, I evade or play dumb.

12/11: We lose to #9 Gonzaga, by 7, in our only game of the week.

12/25: 7-2, RPI #76. +10.0 PPG (#167, #14), +8.6 RBs (#17), +0.9 TOs (#103). PG Ken Bakk is our leading scorer, 15.3. C Ben Dyer gets 9.2 RBs. FYI: RBs are way up in the NCAA this year.

12/27: Reports of plague all over the world. It sprang up very quickly and seemingly everywhere. Nell, the kids, and I are getting our injections, got them today actually, so we’re safe but MANY are not.

I’m really worried about Rav and his family but no word of trouble from them. Evidently athletes and artists are on the “good list.” I see those people in the lines when we get the injections.

[Wayne23]

1/1/2119: 8-3, 1-1. Lost at home, won on the road. Not happy with the home loss; 18 TOs.

1/8: 9-4, 2-2. We need to do better than a split for the week. I feel that we’re playing our best lineup.

Rav’s wife and his older daughter are ill. The word is that many millions are dying around the world. The cull is on.

1/12: Rav’s wife died this morning, and his older daughter died late this afternoon. I’m going to U. Hart. with Nell and the kids for a few days to support Rav and Lila, his youngest daughter. Neither of them has gotten sick, so they probably won’t. I’ll miss at least one game.

1/15: 10-5, 3-3, RPI #82. My #1 assistant, Ron Cove, didn’t do any better than I did. He lost on the road. I’ll be back for our next game.

I really like the way we’re rebounding. That is our greatest strength. Ball handling is not good, but I have the two guys I want starting and frankly, again this year I only have three guys I can put in when the game has any meaning at all. The fourth guy just isn’t ready. Should have given him a red shirt.

Up front we’re solid at PF and C. SF and subs are less so, but I don’t have many options. I look for the hot hand and go with that guy, but it’s a different guy every night among the three I rotate in and out.

There’s a vacancy here at URI for a head of supply in the cafeteria, exactly the same position Rav is filling at U. Hart. I’ve encouraged him to apply. We feel that he and Lila should be here with us.

“Yeah, but you’ll move to another school in a year or two.”

“I probably will, definitely will at some point, but this is a better place than U. Hart. The food and the housing are both better.”

“I’ll think about it. Too much to deal with right now.”

1/22: 11-6, 4-4, RPI #94, same story. We’re in a 5 way tie for 5th, 2 back of 1st.

1/29: 12-7, 5-5, RPI #92. In a 3 way tie for 6th, 2 back of 1st. We jelled at just about this point last season and things got a lot better after that. Not sure it’s going to happen this year, but we’ve played all of the toughest teams on the road so a couple of road wins are definitely possible.

+5.1 PPG (#177, #45), +7.2 RBs (#38), -0.4 TOs (#187). C Ben Dyer leads us with 15.1, 8.5.

Rav has decided to stay where he is, as least for now.

The plague seems to have run its course. No estimates of how many died or of how many are left. In the U. S. there have been lots of… interruptions of supplies. Lots of long haul and big rig drivers died. Not sure why they weren’t on the protected list. The farmers and other suppliers of vital items were all protected but there was no way to get things to where they needed to go. That happened off and on for a few weeks. We never starved but there were a lot of very marginal meals, and shoes and some other items were simply unavailable. Shoes have been an ongoing problem for years.

2/5: A breakthrough! 14-7, 7-5, RPI #81. Tied for 4th, 2 back of 1st. We won the road game outside with great games from Higg, Bakk, and Caye- 17 threes.

2/7: Dev and I went for another walk.

“Estimates of the world population are about 500 million. U. S. population about 32 million. Everything seems to have leveled off and everyone in the U. S. and everyone we can get to in the world will get the longevity drug from here on… unless the council has a change of heart-”

“WHAT!!!”

“Calm down. I don’t see any sign of that. I’m not on the council but I have two very good connections. Looks like there will be some improvements in living conditions, too. For the worst off things will definitely get better, shorter work week, better food, better housing. For people like you the changes won’t be as dramatic but there’s talk of virtual reality chambers for the fairly well off. That would make a difference. You’ll love that if it happens.”

2/12: 15-8, 8-6, RPI #84. In a 3 way tie for 5th, 1 back of 3rd, 2 back of 1st. It was a tough road game.

We get the PG, #37. Awesome news!

2/19: 17-8, 10-6, RPI #70. Another 2 win week! In a 2 way tie for 4th. 2 more conf. games to play plus that annoying Bracket Breaker.

2/26: 19-9, 11-7, RPI #68. In a 3 way tie for 4th, the #6 seed.

Nothing new to report on the changes that are supposed to be coming regarding life style and such. Rav and Lila seem to be doing as well as can be expected.

[Wayne23]

3/6: We play last place George Mason in the play in round.

3/7: 92-74. 21, 5, 11 for SG Wes Higg, 19, 5 for Dyer, 18, 2, 5 for PG Ken Bakk. The win gave us a 20 win season.

#3 seed GW, 18-11, 12-6, in the quarters. They won by 9 there, then we won by 19 at our place. We’re favored by ½ point.

3/8: 63-54. Big win! 14, 6 for Higg, 11, 7 for Dyer, 12, 3, 3 for Bakk, but it was good D and +9 RBs that won it for us. We had a terrible 20 TOs, but they had 16

Every game in this round was won by the poorer seeded team.

We play #10 seed LaSalle, 12-17, 7-11, in the semis. We won by 16 at home. Lost by 18 there. The game is rated a toss up.

3/9: 76-66. We led most of the way, by as many as 24. 25, 6 for Dyer, 12, 9, 3 for Caye, 12, 7 for Zhao who have been quietly efficient all season. +10 TOs.

#5 seed Dayton, 20-11, 11-7, for the title. We lost by 17 there in our only meeting. Gotta contain their inside game. They’re favored by 2 ½. I’d love to get this title!

3/10: 72-83. We managed to stop, or at least contain their inside game but their SG lit us up for 26. 20, 7 for Caye, 12, 3, 6 for Bakk, but they shut us down other than for those two.

22-10, RPI #59. Back to the NIT, I guess.

3/12: NIT. #@ South. We play #7 Pepperdine, 18-12. I thought we could have won this tourney last year and we went out early. This year? I don’t know.

3/14: 95-70. We played really well. 30, 8, 6 for SF Gar Caye. 20, 3, 11 for Ken Bakk. 13, 10 for Wei Zhao. 15 for Higg. Only 6 TOs.

#3 seed Boise ST, 19-11. I think we have a slight edge inside and maybe the same outside, but they are DEEP. We’re favored but only by ½ point.

3/16: 63-69. We were spectacularly mediocre tonight.

4/3: #7 GA Tech is the champ.

4/4: Awards: Frosh PF Ben Dyer is A 10 POY, Frosh OY, and 1st team along with soph PG Ken Bakk. I am Conf. COY.

4/9: Again, I am not convinced my Reputation rating, 35, is high enough for me to get an offer from a school that is significantly better than this one (TP #43).

And I am correct!

We lost all 3 assistants. I told Dev I was immensely grateful to him. He whispered 2 names to me as potential assistants who “know what is going on.” Dev got the #1 assistant
job at Fordham.

4/23: Asking for $ again. We spent a lot on assistants. Oh, my new #3, Al Jolly, is my new “connection.” Wow! We got $11,000!

23-11, RPI #59. +5.3 PPG (#149, #52), +6.6 RBs (#46), +0.7 TOs (#164).

Overall, 186-69, .729 for 8 seasons.

Two great PGs coming in and the two bigs look like they could be good, too.

4/28: Rav called. He tells me the food in the cafeteria at U. Hart. has been much better lately. So it looks like things have started.

[Wayne23]

5/1: #60 recruiting class. Disappointing, and hoping they’re wrong. We buy the East Gold and the National Basic.

6/5: Room for a transfer.

6/12: We get a PF from Georgia.

6/26: 3 scholarships. We’d like 2 bigs.

8/21: We offer to a PG, a PF, and a C.

Rav called and said URI called him, offering the job of head of maintenance for the whole campus. He’s coming for a visit.

“Did you have anything to do with this, Tor?”

“I saw the opening and I mentioned you to the head of the hiring committee.”

“Thanks. This looks like it could be a really good thing for me.”

8/25: Rav came and visited. He loved the campus and Kingston, and he liked the job description. They hired him and he starts in two weeks.

“This is a real step up. Beautiful apartment too. Lila and I should be really happy here.”

It will be great to have them so close.

9/18: We get a C, #72, and a PG, #73. Lost a big.

Coaches Classic vs. #16 ranked UCLA.

I get offered a new place to live. Nell and I take a look at it and we love it. Moving in a few days. My assistant Al, the wealthy one, had told me that the Council was ready to beef up working and living conditions. Their feeling was that it takes a lot of people in a lot of capacities to support the wealthy people. They'll do a better job if they're taken care of. That makes sense to me. I don;t feel that I'm working for the wealthy but I guess in a way I am. I provide entertainment to the sports fans.

9/25: Got a PF, #398. But he’s better than that.

10/2: We’re picked to win the A10. I think we will. We look good this season.

11/6: 7 man rotation:

Juco junior Jon Happ starts at PG. Junior Ken Bakk starts at SG, subs at PG. Senior Wes Higg subs at SG.

Senior Gar Caye starts at SF. Senior Cam Thor subs at SF and PF.

Soph Ben Dyer starts at PF, subs at C. Junior Wei Zhao is at C.

We start the season at the Coaches Classic vs. #4 seed, #16 ranked UCLA, We’re the #13 seed. Tough way to start the season. They’re favored by 4 ½.

[PointGuard]

"spectacularly mediocre"-----Good one!

[Wayne23]

11/13: 82-65 against the #16 ranked team! 8 players scored between 14 and 7. +15 RBs, we led almost all the way.

#5 seed, #11 ranked Temple in the 2nd round. They have a great outside game and are a big favorite.

11/15: 75-65. 17, 9 for C Wei Zhao, 12 each for starting guards Jon Happ and Ken Bakk, and 11 for #3 guard Wes Higg. Our guards stepped up!

#1 seed, #5 ranked Kansas in the semis. Great team. This is going to be very tough.

11/17: 75-66! 19, 10 for Zhao, 15, 6 for Bakk, 12, 6 for Higg. WOW!!!

#6 seed, #23 ranked Texas A & M for the title. They’re only favored by ½ point. Their strength is outside. Can we do it?

11/19: 59-70. 16, 13 for 6th man Cam Thor, 12, 11 for Zhao. 17 TOs.

11/20: 3-1. Ranked #20. All 3 recruits sign.

11/27: 5-1, #19, RPI #12. We’re playing excellent D and rebounding very well but the O is sluggish and the ball handling could be better.

We’re looking at the lineup and we’ll at least tweak some things, but not yet.

Lots of new info on what’s going on, most of it from my new assistant, Al Jolly.

It seems there’s a lot being done to try to get robotic workers into areas where they haven’t operated successfully. Self-driving vehicles have been tried for a century or more but the technology has never been perfected. There are almost no private vehicles but a lot of people are employed driving trucks, particularly big rigs, and buses. The accident rates are getting to be very low now that the vehicles are being properly maintained, which is very recent.

This is part of a bigger, more ominous plan, according to Al.

“They pretty much are toying with the idea of making people obsolete- well, except for the wealthy people. They don’t like the rest of us much. I don’t know if the majority of the wealthy feel that way but a significant number do. If they can get more an more, eventually all jobs done by robots instead of people, why keep people around?”

As to sports and the arts, Al didn’t have an answer about that but I suppose they could invent robots that play hoops or dance ballet…

12/4: 6-2, #23, RPI #22. Lost a road game to a team that should never have beat us. NOT happy. Higg will start for Happ, and Cam Thor will get more minutes.

12/11: 8-2, not ranked. 2 wins with the new lineup but we aren’t there yet offensively. The D is great.

12/25: 10-2, RPI #17. +8.6 PPG, (#167, #22), +5.2 RBs (#16), +2.2 TOs (#64). Highest scorer gets only 12.7 (Zhao), but #7 gets 7.3. So offense by committee with no go to guy.

Hard to know what the future holds. It’s stressful. And no, I’m not talking about basketball.