Hereafter

[Wayne23]

12/2: We take an early lead. They come back. Down 2 after 10. We're not hitting shots and they are. Down 4 at the half. The D has to do better and we need to shoot better. We're playing catch up and that's never good. Down 1 with 10 to go. Late mini-run.

78-70 but it was closer than that. 20, 7 for Blen, who is our go to right now. 11, 6, 7 for Ward, 12, 5 for Sims, 11, 0, 4 for Smid.

+4 RBs but a season high 14 TOs to 18. We shot badly, 37.3% to 50%, but we took 15 more shots. We won it at the line, +10. We had the edge inside. We NEED Maxx back! He'll be back for our next game.

4-1 Minnesota is here. They can play nut we think we're better, especially inside. Let's see how well Maxx plays in his first game back from the injury. He's looked good in practice.

[Wayne23]

12/6: We take an early lead. Up 7 after 10. Up 5 at the half. They're hanging in. Up only 6 with 10 left.

85-81. Our D was not up to the usual standard.

15, 2, 5 for Ward, 16, 2, 2 for Mann. Maxx was rusty but his D was good.

-9 RBs, which is very unusual for us. 10 TOs to 19, which balanced the poor rebounding. They shot 55.3% to our 50%. We won it at the line, +7.

We're winning, 7-1, and against decent teams, but we haven't fully jelled yet.

4-2 Purdue is here. They have a very good PG and they take good care of the ball. We're better inside. But they play very, very good D. They haven't played anybody though.

[Wayne23]

12/9: Slow start. Up 3 after 10. Up 4 at the half. Mini-run puts us up 8 with 10 to play. They take the lead late. We come back. Mann made a key shot,

Ward hit a HUGE three, and Mann hit 2 from the line.

74-70. Tough one! 12, 9 for Hart, 14, 4, 3 for Blen, 12 for Ward. +5 RBs, but 19 TOs, worst of the season.

We shot much better, which saved us, because we committed a lot of dumb fouls. Maxx fouled out in 21 minutes, Blen, Smid, and Milt had 4 each. And most of the calls weren't terrible.

Hopefully all of these close games will make us stronger.

At Cal-Poly, 1-6 next (I keep forgetting to change them out as our home and home rival). This is a team we should beat easily.

[Wayne23]

12/13: Close early. Up 3 after 10. Up 3 at the break. Down 3 with 10 left. NOT happy!

77-74. WAY too close against that caliber team.

21, 4 for Ward, 14, 11 for Mann, 13, 4, 4 for Ward. Their bench kept them in it, 40, 24, 6 to 20, 7, 3.

6 TOs to 16. We shot a lousy 35.9% but took 8 more shots. We won it at the line, 26-36 to 14-18. +14 in the paint.

We're ranked #16.

2 more pre-conf. games, both at home. Next is 9-3 Creighton, ranked #25, after 6 days off, which will help. Very good back court and an SG who can score. We're stronger inside. They could give us trouble.

We're heading for Kepler-452b It's the nearest planet to Earth that has any potential for being habitable. It's a few months away but we launched a probe and hope to start getting info soon.

[Wayne23]

12/20: Close early. Down 5 after 10. Uh oh! Down 8 at the break. Playing catch up again. Up 3 with 10 to play. Late run!

91-78. Best offensive performance of the season.

17, 9 for Hart, 20, 1, 4 for Maxx, 16, 5 for Mann, 10 each for subs Smid and Sims.

10 TOs. We shot better, and were 9-0 on 2nd chances.

We've played very well late in games except for our only loss, in double OT.

A week off and then #20 Brigham Young, 9-2, is here to close out pre-conf. play. They have an excellent back court, but they're weak inside. They play good D. They have not played a ranked team.

We drop to #18, which I do not understand.

[Wayne23]

12/27: Close early. Up 5 after 10. Up 6 at halftime. They're staying close. Run! Up 18 with 10 to go.

88-68. We took charge in the 2nd half. 21, 8, 2 with 4 steals for Mann. 17, 2, 4 with 3 steals for Maxx. 19 for Hart.

-5 RBs but only 7 TOs to 26, and that was a huge factor. We controlled the inside.

We end pre-conf. play at 11-1. Ranked #19, NET #5.

+8.5 PPG, +2.0 RBs, -6.4 TOs, 11.8, which I'll take.

Jon Blen leads us in scoring with 13.0. Mal Mann is 2nd with 12.8; he leads in RBs with 9.2. All 5 starters get 10 or more PPG.

Back up guard Jim Culn strained a calf. Out a week and a half but he doesn't play much.

Conf. play starts with 7-4 Oregon, there. We score more, they defend well. We need to turn them over and think we can.

[Wayne23]

1/3/2032: Early lead. Up 20 after 10. We're on fire! Up 10 at the half. They're back in it. Big run puts us up 19 with 10 to go.

79-65. We were in charge most of the way. 15, 6, 3 for 6th man Nat Sims. 16, 4 for Hart, 14, 4 for Maxx, 6, 11 for Milt.

Only 8 TOs. We didn't shoot well but took 10 more shots. We hit 7 threes, they were 2-15.

Nice to start PAC 12 play with a road win against a good team.

I play three guys at C, Hart starts, Sime, Milt get minutes. I go with the hot hand. It has worked so far.

At 7-5, 1-0 Colorado next. They play good D but have trouble scoring. They take good care of the ball. We need to play the game inside.

The probe to Kepler-452b is sending back a little bit of data but nothing really indicative of much.

[Wayne23]

1/6: We score the first 10. Up 15 after 10. Up 22 at halftime. Up 21 with 10 left. Back court is lighting it up.

95-63. This may be the best we've looked all season.

19, 2, 3 for Smid, 16, 2, 7 for Maxx, 15, 3 for Hart, 12, 6 for Milt. Great bench play.

+17 RBs, 9 TOs. We shot 52.7%, 11-20 on threes. We owned the inside.

10-4, 1-1 Arizona is at our place. They have an excellent PG, and they're good outside, but we should control the paint. They're a good team.

Ranked #14.

[Wayne23]

1/10: Early lead. Up 9 after 10. Up 14 at the midway point. Milt is really playing well. Up 19 with 10 to go.

87-62. We're walking over the PAC 12 so far. I expect it will get tougher.

19, 4, 3 for Milt, 14, 3 for Blen, 11, 4, 4 for Maxx.

9 TOs to 18. We shot 49.2%, 10 more field goals. We dominated inside.

At 10-5, 2-1 Utah. This could be a test. On paper they have a better bench but we're better at every position. But they're 2-1 vs. ranked teams. As usual, if we play our tough inside game we should do okay.

Strange “noises” coming from the probe that's headed for Kepler-452b. They're not really noises, of course, but the signals are like nothing we've ever seen. Not sure what that means but we're monitoring closely.

[Wayne23]

1/13: We trail early. Down 8 after 10. We're not hitting shots. Up 4 at the half; better. Back and forth. Down 3 with 10 left.

66-76. We just couldn't make shots, all night long but especially in the 2nd half, .319, 4-24 on threes. They shot 49.2%.

15, 10, 3 for Mann, 12, 4, 3 for Ward, 11, 6 for Sims.

+6 RBs. You need to put the ball in the basket; we didn't.

At 7-8, 1-3 USC. They have balanced scoring and a deep bench but this is a team we should beat, even on the road.

More “noise” in what we're getting back from the Kepler-452b probe, and the same kind of noise from the two “generic” probes facing most closely to that direction. Something is going on, and people are a little on edge.