DDSCB25: Superstar

[Wayne23]

We start at Conf. play at 6-5 Towson. They score more but give up more. They’re pretty good outside.

1/2/’26: We come out strong but they’re right with us. Down 9 after 10. They’re good. 42-49 at halftime. Very few teams are quicker than us but these guys are. 8, 8 for Wats, 10, 3 for Kosi, 9 for Hill.

We’re falling behind early. Down only 4 with 10 left.

83-85. We came back hard but it wasn’t enough. We were down 17 early in the 2nd half. 16, 10 for Wats, 15, 10 for Kosi, 17, 3, 3 for Newn, 13, 3, 5 for Hill. Bench was -7. We don’t have the depth we had last year.

1/4: 7-5, 0-1 NC A & T is here. They’re strong outside but we think we’re better inside.

1/5: Early lead. They come back. Tied after 10. 50-40 at the break. 9, 2, 5 for Shep, 9, 2, 3 for Newn. +26 for the bench. +10 RBs. Only 4 TOs.

“Okay, good ball handling. Watch the fouls.”

Holding the lead early. Up 13 with 10 to go.

93-87. They came back late but it wasn’t enough. 19, 4, 4 for Newn, 14, 9 for Shep, 15, 6 for Wats, 12, 4 for Redd. +17 for the bench. +17 RBs.

“Your kids are getting there but they’re never gonna be what last year’s team was.”

“Looks that way, Kip."

[Wayne23]

1/8: At 8-5, 2-0 Hofstra. They’re tough inside.

1/9: Early lead. Tied after 10. 43-35 at halftime. Wats and Pabe are leading us. Wats is getting to be our go to guy. +16 in the paint. It’s a sloppy game, we have 8 TOs and they have
14. We’ll press a little more.

We’re holding our lead early. Up 9 with 10 to play.

90-84. They hung tough all the way. 19, 4 for Wats, 14, 13 for Redd, 15, 3, 3, 3 for Pabe, 10, 3, 3, 5 for Hill. 7 fewer TOs. +8 RBs, +8 in the paint. A good win.

1/11: 6-8, 2-1 Stony Brook is here. We feel like we’re better, especially inside.

1/12: Up 8 after 10. Big run! 43-37 at halftime. They came back from down 21. 12, 3, 3 for Wats, 11, 4 for Redd, 10, 4 for Kosi. We’re getting nothing outside. Only 2 TOs. +12 in the paint.

Up 15 with 10 to play. They make a run.

102-90. They took a lead briefly. 34, 8, 3 for Wats, 20, 10 for Redd, 18, 7 for Kosi, 11, 6, 7 for Pabe. +14 RBs, +22 in the paint.

We’re 10-6, 3-1. Tied for 1st.

[Wayne23]

1/15: At 7-8, 2-2 Delaware. We’re better but it’s a road game.

1/16: Close early. Up 8 after 10. We go on a run. 41-28 at the break. 12, 3 for Wats, 8, 6 for Shep. Too many TOs, 12. +15 RBs.

Up 5 with 10 to go. We go on a late run!

88-71. 23, 9 for Wats, 15, 3 for Newn, 10, 5 for Kosi, 8, 8 for Shep. +19 RBs. Not happy with 19 TOs.

“You guys are hitting your stride.”

“Yes we are, Kip.”

1/18: 10-6, 2-3 Campbell is here. They have a good C and hit a lot of threes.

1/19: Both teams cold early. Down 1 after 10. Shooting less than 30%. Then we heat up. 48-34 at the break. 13, 6 for Dan Wats who has definitely become our guy. 9 for Hill. +10 RBs, +10 from the line.

Up only 5 with 10 left. Close late.

88-95. Damn! We led most of the way and then went ice cold late, and stopped playing good D. They shot 55.4%.

26, 9 for Wats, 16, 1, 3 for Hill, 8, 14 for Kosi. +13 RBs, +17 on 2nd chances, but it wasn’t enough.

In a 3 way tie for 1st despite the loss.

[Wayne23]

1/22: At 6-11, 2-4 Elon. This is a team we should beat but we’re so inconsistent.

1/23: Early lead. Up 17 after 10. 50-31 at the break. Solid 1st half. 12, 5 for Redd, 11 for Newn. Wats picked up 2 early fouls. +12 inside.

Wats picks up another foul. Up 21 with 10 to play.

81-63. We led all the way. 21, 9 for Redd, 14, 3 for Shep, 13, 3 for Newn, 10, 7 for both Wats and Kosi. +11 RBs.

“Ellie Vann, WNEU campus radio. Coach, you press a lot. What happens when it’s not working.”

“Good question. If the other team keeps breaking the press we need to stop pressing and just play good, hard, man to man D. It happens.”

“Compare this year’s team to last years.”

“… Well, instead I’d like to talk about the current team. We have 4 solid inside players, a good PG, and 2 Shooting Guards who can score and play D. Those are our strengths. We had 3 big time stars last year and we rely more on balance this year.”

1/25: 9-9, 4-3 Monmouth is here. We score a lot more but they give up fewer.

1/26: Close early. Up 10 after 10. 53-45 at the break. Newn, Redd, and Wats are doing the scoring. Only 1 TO to their 8. +14 at the line. We’re quicker, which is making them foul.

We get it to 20. Up 18 with 10 to play. They’re coming at us.

96-87 but they cut the lead to 1 late. Then we came back. 19, 3 for Wats, 16, 5 for Redd, 17 for Newn, 13, 4, 5 for Hill, most of it in the 2nd half. Only 7 TOs.

13-7, 6-2, in a 3 way tie for 1st.

Wats leads us with 17.4, 7.0. 12.5, 6.5 for Redd. 11.6 for Newn. 11.2, 6.4 for Kosi. 11.0 for Hill. 5.5 assists for Pabe.

We’re #19 in PPG, +4.8. +4.5 RBs, -2.6 TOs. At 11.9 we’re under 12, which I like, but barely.

[Wayne23]

At 5-14, 2-6 Wm & Mary. On paper we’re a lot better.

1/30: Back and forth early. They go on a run and lead us by 8 after 10. We’re not playing at all well. 39-47 at the half. They led by as many as 16. 9, 4 for Pabe, 11 for Hill, 8 for Redd. -8 RBs.

“You’re better than this; show me!”

They’re holding their lead early. Down 17 with 10 left. Not good. It’s not happening. I clear the bench early.

76-93. Awful. We were never in it. 16 each for Redd and Hill, 13, 8 for Wats, 11, 5, 10 for Pabe. -9 RBs, -10 in the paint.

Just when I think we’re making progress we lose to another lousy team. I’m very frustrated.

2/1: 11-9, 5-4 Towson is here. We lost by 2 there in a game we should have won. There have been too many of those. They’re good outside and that’s where they beat us last time.

We fall behind early but it’s close. Up 6 after 10. Double digit lead. 53-36 at the half. 16, 6 for Wats, 15, 4 for Redd. Only 2 TOs. +10 from the line, +11 boards, +16 in the paint.

The lead is 21 early. Up 19 with 10 left.

89-71. 28, 15 for Wats, maybe his best game of the season. 21, 6 for Redd. They beat us big outside but we beat them bigger inside. +16 RBs, +22 inside.

Tied with Drexel for 1st in the CAA.

I met someone. I was in the library looking at a doc thesis on Lear when I heard a female voice say,

“Excuse me. Will you be working with that for long?”

“I’m about halfway through it. Do you need it?”

“Well, yes, actually. I teach a course and I need it to help me prep for tomorrow’s lesson.”

“Okay. I’ll give it to you. I’ll come back when I’m free and pick it up again.”

“Are you a doc student?”

“I hope to be one day, but no, I coach the men’s basketball team.”

“Oh. I don’t know anything about sports. Glad to see you interested in this though.”

“I have an MA in English Lit.”

We talked for awhile and made a date to meet for lunch in the caf on the following day. Oh, her name is Emma.

[PointGuard]

Who knew the library was such a hook up site?

And you're not even in the stacks...that could really be trouble.

[Wayne23]

For nerds like me the library has always been the place to meet women!

[Wayne23]

2/5: At 11-10, 4-6 NC A & T. We won by only 6 at our place. We’re better, especially inside, but we’ll need to show up!

2/6: They take an early lead. We come back. Up 2 after 10. 47-38 at the break on a late run. Both Kosi and Wats picked up 2 fouls early. Our bench stepped up. 10 for Redd. +8 RBs, +10 in the paint.

Holding our lead early. Up 22 with 10 to go.

95-82. We led almost all the way. 25, 9, 4 for Redd, 20 for Wats. +18 in the box.

2/8: Still tied for first with Drexel. They’re 14-9, 8-3. We score more but give up more. They’re an outside team. We’ll need to be on our game.

2/9: Early lead. We get it to 10. Up 12 after 10. Looking good so far! 46-36 at the break. 11, 3 for Redd, who has been playing well. +18 RBs.

They’re catching up. Up only 4 with 10 left. Close late.

85-81. Hell of a game! They never led but they sure came close a few times late. 15, 7, 3 for Redd, 17 for Newn, 14, 5 for Wats, 10, 5 for Hill. We won it at the line, +18. +19 RBs, +12 on 2nd chances.

We’re going after a REALLY good C, hoping someone will transfer out and we’ll have a scholarship for him.

Emma and I had to postpone our lunch. It finally happened yesterday. She made some things very clear:

“Look, Jess, I find you interesting. I think we could have fun together and really enjoy discussing literature. But, you need to know a few things. First, this won’t be long term; I don’t ever plan to leave Boston for one, and I have zero interest in basketball for another. As long as we make that clear from the beginning we’ll be fine.”

That gives me a lot to think about but I’m hungry for intellectual conversations so I think I’ll go along with it, for now.

[Wayne23]

2/12: At 6-17, 5-7 Hampton. We score a lot more and give up fewer. We think we have a big edge inside.

2/13: Early lead. Tied after 10. 38-33 at the break. Balanced scoring. +10 RBs, +14 inside.

Close early. Then we go on a run. Up 14 with 10 to go. Big lead late.

85-66. We were in control late. 21, 10 for Redd, 16, 10 for Wats, 15, 4 for Kosi. +25 RBs, +16 inside.

2/15: At NC-Wilmington, 11-13, 7-6. We’re the better team but it’s a road game.

2/16: Both teams shooting poorly early. Up 8 after 10. 41-33 at the half but Wats has 3 fouls and Kosi, Shep, and Harr have 2 each. Harr leads us with 11.

“Watch the damn fouls!”

Holding our lead early. Up 10 with 10 left. Close late.

84-73. We finished strong. 16, 7, 3 for Redd, 17, 7 for Wats, 15, 7, 5 for Pabe, 10, 5 for Newn, 11 for Harr. It was a sloppy game with 49 fouls called.

Still a game lead in Conf. with 4 to play, 3 at home.

[Wayne23]

2/19: 6-19, 5-9 Charleston is here. On paper it’s a mismatch.

2/20: We start slow and fall behind. Down 3 after 10. We’re shooting 25%. 39-32 at the half but shooting 35%. Balanced scoring. Only 4 TOs. +9 RBs, +12 inside.

We’re holding our lead. Up 15 with 10 to go.

83-72 but it was never in doubt late. 16, 7 for Redd, 12, 10 for Wats, 12, 4 for Newn. +18 RBs, +18 on 2nd chances. Only 7 TOs.

I’m really enjoying my intellectual relationship with Emma. It’s refreshing and stimulating. There’s a physical side to the relationship too, but that’s none of your business. She won’t budge on sports, just not interested.

2/22: 14-12, 8-7 Hofstra is here. We won by 6 there. They’re a pretty decent team.

2/23: Both teams cold early. Up 4 after 10. Double digit lead late. They come back. 41-35 at the break. 14 for Hill. +10 in the paint.

“Put them away. You’re losing focus at times.”

10 point lead early. They come back. Up 3 with 10 to play.

86-77. 20 for Hill, 15, 11 for Kosi, 16, 8 for Wats. +12 for the bench.

Jay Kosi has a sore back but he’ll play.

The lead in conf. is still 1 with 2 to play.