DDSCB25: Superstar

[Wayne23]

They lead early but it’s close. Up 3 after 10 but Aust has 2 fouls. Close late. We’re shooting well, they’re not. 42-51 as they hit a three at the buzzer. We have 7 guys with 2 fouls; they have 2. They’re

+9 at the line. I’m all over the refs. 14, 2, 4 for Pabe.

“Okay, it’s going to take one of your famous second halves, and we need to stay out of foul trouble. You can do this!”

We’re in trouble early. Down 21. Down 22 with 10 left. Not gonna happen.

78-101. 16, 4, 5 for Pabe, 15, 10 for Aust, 14 for Wort, 12, 2, 3 for Dond.

“You have nothing to be ashamed of. They’re a great team. They just might win it all. I couldn’t be prouder of the season you guys had!”

“Fred Greb, CSB. Coach, tough loss.”

“Every loss is a tough loss but when you face a team that’s just plain better and when you do all you can, there’s no shame in losing. I’m very proud of my team.”

“You’re losing 6 to graduation. How will you make up for that?”

“Well, we’ve got a good recruiting class and we hope to do well in the Portal but the honest truth is that you don’t have a season like this every year.”

“32-5, ranked #12 in the final poll, Sweet Sixteen. Pretty impressive.”

“I know I’m impressed, and pleased.”

“Good luck next year, Coach.”

[Wayne23]

4/3: Villanova is the national champ. We lost to the best!

4/4: Awards: Eric Aust is Conf. Poy and Def. POY, as well as 1st team along with Doug Dond. Beau Wort makes the 2nd team and I am Conf. COY.

4/9: I get lots of phone calls about coaching jobs but I’m not going anywhere.

4/16: We get the sixth recruit!

All of my assistants are staying.

I tried to get Kip to join as my #2.

“Look, I run three businesses and I make well over 100 grand a year working about 18 hours a week. I pay my managers $30 bucks an hour and my help $22.50. They do almost everything except the daily deposits, which I do. I play golf 6 days a week, weather permitting and I bowl 6 nights a week unless I’m watching one of your games. I’ve got life by the balls.”

“I could use you.”

“I appreciate that but I’d need to relocate and totally change my lifestyle. No thanks.”

Oh well. We’ll still consult by phone.

4/23: I don’t like our facilities but I need more recruiting money so that’s what I ask for.

I get $10,000, which will help.

I tell 4 guys that they will never get minutes here and they might want to consider transferring. We’ll see what happens.

What an incredible season!

[Wayne23]

5/1: #37 recruiting class. What we have now is decent but I hope a few guys transfer out as I suggested. That could really make us better.

5/15: “We need to talk.”

“A phrase no man wants to hear.”

“It’s time to break up.”

“Really? Why”

“I have 3 goals in life, first, to be the head librarian at a university, hopefully this one. The current head is 61, and I’m second in command. I think I have a real chance at the job in a few years.

“Second, I want a husband who shares his life with me and puts me first.”

“Three, I want kids, and a husband who is very actively involved in raising them.

“Your #1 priority is always going to be coaching. If I married you I’d move who knows how many times, and that’s no way to get the job I want.

“I think you’d do your best to be a good husband and father but you’d always have a hard time finding the time.”

We talked for quite awhile but it was obvious we were through. We parted amicably.

I will face time issues if I get married and have kids but I’ve always felt I’d find a way. Time will tell, I guess.

5/22: Ray Shaw, Jay Jack, and Bill Wing, 3 of the 4 I suggested to transfer, did. We’ll look for 3 big guys. We’re actually not bad at guard. Pabe is back and 2 of the frosh look pretty good.

We offer to 3 in round one. None of them will accept but they might gain interest.

5/26: We offer to 3 different guys.

6/2: We get 2, C Jay Kosi and C Dan Wats. At this point they would both start.

6/5: We go for a PG.

6/9: We decide to hold the scholarship.

6/25: We’re going to the Big Apple Showcase.

[Wayne23]

6/26: Recruiting starts today. We need 2 big guys.

7/17: We offer to 2 PFs but we’re still working lots of recruits hard.

My romantic life hasn’t picked up again since Leigh dumped me and that’s probably for the best, at least for now.

7/31: We think we have a real shot at our two recruits.

9/4: Less than a month from our first practice. We’re close to the time when players get visited and then commit somewhere.

9/18: We get PF Andy May and we’re close with our other guy.

Pre-conf. schedule is a little more challenging this year. We’ll be going to the Gulf Coast Showcase in December.

9/25: PF Kyle Hall commits. We’ll keep chasing some guys but we’re essentially finished.

10/2: First day of practice. Lots of spots open. We’ll try some things. The only definite starter is Dan Pabe at PG.

11/13: Season starts this week.

Here’s the lineup: Junior Dan Pabe is at the Poinbt.

Frosh Josh Hill starts at 2 but frosh Ted Newn gets equal time. We’ll see who steps up.

#4 guard is Frosh Gar York who is not ready. He’ll only get garbage time.

Up front 4 guys will get about equal time at the 3 positions.

Frosh John Redd starts at SF.

Senior Al Shep is back at PF.

Juniort Jay Kosi is at C.

Soph Dan Wats will fill in and get equal minutes with the other three. Again, let’s see who steps up. Junior Jay Wall will play some at SF and PF, and finally, there’s frosh Bob Harr who isn’t ready. I redshirted a guard and a C.

[Wayne23]

11/14: We open at Canisius later today. Too early to know much.

We start slow then heat up. Up 4 after 10. Double digit lead late. 44-28 at the half. 12, 6 for Wats, 12 and 3 for Kosi. +10 in the paint.

Holding the lead early. Up 14 with 10 to play.

79-68. It was never in doubt. 26, 10 for Wats, 20, 5, 3, 3 for Kosi, 10, 9 for Redd, 8, 3, 7, 5 for Pabe. +10 for the bench. +20 in the paint, 7 fewer TOs.

Good start!

We’re at home vs. 0-1 Texas Southern next. They lost their opener by only 2. They can rebound.

11/17: Full house.

Close early. Up by 5 after 10. Close late. 33-32 at halftime. Neither team is shooting well. 10 for Kosi, 9, 4 for Shep. We’re getting nothing outside. Bench is -13.

Up 8 with 10 left. We’re pulling away late.

80-65. 26, 10 for John Redd, 15 each for Shep and Kosi, 8, 4, 4 for Pabe.

(Author’s Note: The AI is a moron. I play the games out but usually let the AI sub. I change up the O and D as the situation warrants. The Ai subs in WAY too soon for starters even though I have them set up not to need to be subbed for early, and the AI plays the end of the bench way too much, guys who would never play.)

[Wayne23]

11/20: At 1-2 Brown. They score a LOT of points but give up more. Their C is excellent and their SG is pretty good. We think we can turn them over.

11/21: Back and forth early. Up only 3 after 10. 46-45 at the break. Every time we open up a lead they come back. 12 each for Redd and Wats.

Tied with 10 to go. We’re in trouble!

81-86. They went to the line 12 more times and made 11 more. That was the difference. I really feel like the refs did us in tonight and I almost never say that.

19, 3 for Hill, 18, 3 for Newn, 16, 7 for Redd, 15, 5 for Wats, who fouled out. +11 for the bench, +12 in the paint. A very frustrating loss.

Redd has strained abdominals but he’ll play.

This is a 6 game road trip and we didn’t start it well.

11/23: At 1-3 Chattanooga. We score more and give up fewer.

Close early. Up 9 after 10. 42-29 at the half. 10 for Wats, 9 for Newn, 8 for Kosi, 6 and 6 for Redd. +15 for the bench. +16 in the paint.

Up 20 with 10 to go.

74-62 but it wasn’t that close. 18, 6 for Wats, 15, 3, 4 for Newn, 14, 5 for Kosi. +19 for the bench. +32 in the paint.

After 4 games we look at the lineup. We decide to start Newn at SG. We’re going to sit Shep and start Wats.

Kip had some input.

[Wayne23]

11/27: At MD-Baltimore County, 4-1. This could be a challenge.

11/28: We trail early. They have a terrific SG and he’s lighting it up. -15 after 10. Not good! 30-48 at halftime. We’re getting shellacked. 10, 6 for Shep but no one else is scoring. We’re shooting 33.3% to their 54.5%.

Still ugly early. Down 14 with 10 to go. We’re not getting close.

76-96. Ugly night! We shot 39.5% and they shot 53.3%. They were +15 from the line. 16, 11, 3 for Shep, 14, 4, 4 for Kosi.

“Dan Fran, EPSN. Coach, not a good night.”

“It was a horrible night. We couldn’t do anything. I hope we got it out of our system.”

11/30: At 0-4 Northern Kentucky. They give up 90.5 per game, and they don’t hit the boards.

12/1: “The mark of a good team is coming back strong after a bad game. Show me something!”

Down 2 after 10. We’ve lost our shooting touch. 33-36 at halftime. We shot 37.5%. 7, 5 for Wats.

A lot of this game is mental and we’re not in a good place mentally right now.

Looking better early. Up 6 with 10 left after a mini-run. We’re turning them over.

91-84. We needed this win! 21 for Hill, 17, 7, 4 for Wats, 12, 7 for Redd. Great 2nd half!

[Wayne23]

12/3: “What do you think, Kip?”

“I think this team hasn’t jelled yet. You’re young. They need to figure it out. It takes time. By February they’ll be pretty good, maybe sooner.”

12/4: At 1-3 American. Redd is finally over the strained abdominals. On paper we’re better but it’s starting to feel like a long road trip.

12/5: We score the first 11. Up 16 after 10. They come back strong and lead us by 2 at the half. We led by as many as 16. I am NOT happy!

13 for Wats, 9 for Redd, 8 for Hill. They went to the line 22 times, we went 10. I’ve never gotten a T but I’m close right now.

Back and forth early. Down 6 with 10 to go.

79-92. Inexcusable. We just fell apart. 24 TOs, the most in my coaching career.

21, 6 for Wats, 11, 4, 5, 3 for Newn, 15 for Hill. We lost it at the line, -15, and I did eventually get T’d up.

12/6: I didn’t sleep a wink last night mostly due to 24 TOs.

12/11: A week off helped. I even gave them 2 days off from practice. We’re at 3-4 Siena next. We’re better inside if we play our game.

Close early. We’re not hitting shots. Down 4 after 10. Shooting 33.3%. They go on a run. 31-41. Shooting 33.3%. Nobody has more than 5 points. +12 in the paint.

We fall farther behind early. Just not hitting. Down 25 with 10 to play.

67-89. I’m discouraged. 13, 9 for Wats, 12 for Newn. -10 RBs. We gave up 11 threes.

Maybe we’re just tired. I hope so…

We’re 4-4.

[Wayne23]

12/18: Another week off and now finally a home game. 1-6 Purdue-Fort Wayne is here. They’re not good on D which we need to exploit.

12/19: We can’t make a shot early, 2-11. Up by 5 after 10 but shooting 30%. 42-32 at halftime. Only 2 TOs. But we shot 35.9%. 12, 5 for Wats.

“Okay, make some shots. You’re much better than them.”

Big lead early. Up 19 with 10 left.

91-73. We NEEDED this! 20, 9 for Redd, 19, 9 for Wats. 13 each for Kosi and Hill, 12 for Newn. Only 5 TOs. +14 in the paint. We wound up shooting 42.1% as we found our touch in the 2nd half.

Heading for the Gulf Coast Showcase where we face 5-3 Ohio ST. They’re the #4 seed, we’re #5.

This could be a tough one, they play very solid D.

12/23: We score the first 8. Up 16 after 10. 34-25 at halftime. 11 for Newn. We’re -8 in the paint. This one is a long way from over.

Looking good early. Up 18 with 10 to go.

76-56. Best we’ve looked in a long time. Great D. 19, 3 for Newn, 14, 4 steals for Hill, 11 each for Wats and Pabe.

[Wayne23]

It’s #1 seed Alabama, 6-6, in the semis. We’ll need to beat their tough D to win this one.

12/24: Slow start for both teams. Down 1 after 10. Down 10 at the half. Shooting only 36%. Fouls hurt us.

Tied with 14 left. Down 3 qith 10 to play. Close late.

72-77. We played hard but couldn’t quite get there. 16, 3 for Kosi, 13, 6 for Hill, 12, 8 for Wats. Only 4 TOs. +12 in the paint. We lost it at the line. They went there 34 times hitting 25, we were 16-21.

Last pre-conf game is with 3-6 Cleveland ST here. They have a very good SG but we think we’re better inside.

12/26: Back and forth early. Up 7 after 10. Double digit lead late. 49-32 at halftime. 15 for Wats, 10, 6 for Kosi. Only 4 TOs.

Lead goes to 20 early. Up 25 with 10 to go.

87-67. We were in control all the way. 21, 9, 3 for Wats, 14, 12 for Kosi, 11, 5, 7 for Pabe, 11, 5, 3 for Hill. +18 RBs. Good win.

We end the pre-conf season at 7-5, winning 3 of our last 4.

Dan Wats leads us in points with 15.5, and in RBs with 7.0. Kosi gets 12.0 and 5.3, 11.6. 6.0 for Redd, 11.1 for Hill, 10.8 for Newn. Pabe gets 6.0 assists.

+3.1 PPG, +0.9 RBs. -3.2 TOs, only 11.3.

We’re clearly not the team we were last year but I think we’re getting better. So does Kip.