Hereafter

[Wayne23]

3/3: 68-74. Up 3 after 10. Up 3 at the half. We're flat. Up 2 with 10 to play. For the 2nd game in a row we didn't get anything going on O, and we were absolutely flat for the last several minutes. Awful!

21, 7 for Thop, but no one else did much.

We shot 40.6% to 47.5%. -22 in the paint, maybe the worst ever for us since I got here.

We win the AEC by 3 over Stony Brook. The way we're playing right now we won't get very far.

At the end of the regular season we're 23-6, 14-4, NET #57.

8th in RBs, 13th in PPG. Awful on D and free throws.

+5.4 PPG, +2.6 RBs, -3 TOs.

Andy leads us with 17.2 points, 6.9 RBs. Thop gets 14.7. The next 4 get between 10.8 and 8.7. Mill is 2nd in RBs with 6.6.

3/5: #8 seed Maine, 13-17, 7-11 in the quarter finals. Beat them by 19 and 10. If we're actually playing our game we should beat them again.

[Wayne23]

3/7: 68-81. Up 4 after 10. Up 1 at the half. It's a battle! Tied with 10 to play. Yet another late fade. We missed 24 free throws (out of 44) and that did us in.

12, 6, 3 for Andy but he was 2-7 at the line. Lee was 5-14. Pathetic.

-3 RBs. We shot 41.2% to 46.2%.

I don't see us making the big dance but we should go somewhere.

3/8: Regular season last place finisher, UMBC, won the tourney.

Amalthea is shaking and bucking and rocking. We've moved the ship away from it and recalled the shuttles. It may be breaking up. Of course whether that will take a day or a millennium is hard to say.

3/12: NIT #1 South. We play #8 seed Missouri, 16-15. The way we're playing I don't see us getting by them. But if we play well we should. They have a lot of trouble scoring and they turn it over. They score inside much more than outside and their PF is very solid, as is their PG.

[Wayne23]

3/14: 55-83. Down 10 really quickly. My guys clearly want this season to be over. -11 after 10. Down 16 at the half. I'm playing my subs in the 2nd. Put the first team back in but no change. Down 23 with 10 to play. Worst ass kicking of my career. Time to move on?

10, 5, 5 for Lee, 7, 11, 3 for Andy.

A season high 26 TOs.

We're losing Andy, Mill, and Murt.

UMBC won the NCAA play in game.

3/16: UMBC lost by only 10 to #1 in the country Villanova! No explanation.

Stony Brook is in the WOL final eight.

3/21: Stony Brook got beat. The AEC is done for the season.

4/3: #12 ranked Syracuse wins it all.

4/4: Awards: I'm guessing it will be a lean year for UMass-Lowell.

Hm, Pete Andy is AEC POY and 1st team along with Rash Thop. I get conf. COY, which I really don't deserve.

4/9: If the right offer came along I would move.

No offers at all. I guess that settles that!

4/23: I ask for $. We had to hire a new #3 and it cost more than the old guy made.

No.

24-8, 14-4, NET #62. Overall, 48-17, .738. Now that I know I'm back here I'm not sure that's a bad thing. Given that we lost 4 of our last 5 and we're losing 2 starters, it isn't great, but I still have plenty to learn and this isn't a bad place to learn it.

Amalthea blew up. We were not hit by any of the debris. We kept moving farther and farther away from it so that when it blew we were far enough away to didge anything that appeared to be coming anywhere near us. I have to say this is the most exciting thing that has happened so far.

We're going to spend the next year or so looking at the rest of the moons. Given that we found 11 new ones that's 90. We've only explored a few. We're going to spend at least a day, and often a lot longer, with each of the others.

[Wayne23]

5/1: #89 recruiting class. I think we may be a little better this year. We'll see but two of the freshmen look like they'll be tough inside players.

We buy the Atlantic East basic.

6/5: No one transfers out. We have room to add a transfer. We haven't had much luck with that in prior seasons.

6/12: We get a PF from Tulsa. Looks like he's going to be a good one!

6/26: 3 scholarships. We need 2 guards.

We're visiting the moons. Nothing to report so far. Some of them are strange- in their construction, in their orbit, in lots of ways, but none so far have really caught us by surprise in any dramatic way. Of course every new discovery is a surprise.

I really like the relationship that's growing with Lacy. We do lots of different things and we're both interested in lots of different things. She doesn't crowd me and I don't crowd her. We enjoy our time together but we both want and need alone time, too. So far so good!

8/21: We offer to 2 PGs and a PF. All are showing interest, and we're in the top 10 for all 3.

A small, unnamed moon seems to have a very strange structure. We're sending a shuttle down to explore.

There has been some debate about including humans in the shuttle explorations, or at the very least in the shuttles that orbit the various bodies. The shuttles get an even closer look than the ship does when orbiting, and, of course, the shuttles that land get the best experience.

I've been trained as a "shuttle explorer" and would be on the short list if people were ever included.

So far the crash of the shuttle on Callisto has discouraged the decision makers.

[Wayne23]

9/18: We get our #1 guy, a PG, #70. We lose a PF, offer to another one.

Mostly away games so all 1/2 or 1 star teams.

9/25: We get a PF, #254. We lose a PG, offer to another one.

10/2: We lose one. Thinking seriously of grabbing a good looking C. We need guards but I don't know that we're going to nab the 2nd guard.

First day of practice.

No idea yet about how I feel about this team or our chances in the AEC. A. D. Frank Barr expects us to win it, and the pollsters predict that we will. We'll see!

10/9: I'm dropping the scholarship offer and widening the search to more PGs.

My year as a grad assistant to the team at UMass just ended. It was great. I was part of the coaching staff and actually felt like a respected member of that staff.

We had another good season, losing in the Sweet Sixteen again. The #2 and #3 both accepted promotions at other schools. I felt like I had a solid shot at the #3 assistant job but was shocked when I was offered the #2 spot. I couldn't accept quickly enough! Coach James is still #1, and now I am an actual, official part of the staff.

11/13: Our season starts tomorrow, on the road. Our first 3, and 8 of our first 9 are on the road. That should be quite a challenge!

Here's the lineup: Soph Del King is back at the Point. He did a good job for us last year and he seems to have improved his D during the off season.

Senior Rash Thop, probably our best scorer, is back at SG.

Euf Miki, a soph, is our #3 guard. He cans core but his D isn't where I want it. We only have 4 guards and #4 is junior Tony John, who has also gotten better, but he won't play much unless we get injuries in the back court.

Soph Wyatt Bond starts at SF but will split his time between the 2 forward positions. We're still experimenting a little. He looks like he is ready to have a really good season.

Frosh Lon Wall starts at PF and will split time between there and SF. He's a freshman with a lot to learn, but he's better then most of our big guys so he'll start.

He plays good D, and he can score, but the rest of his game needs work.

Senior Juwan Lee moves from PF to C. We need him to be a very good rebounder.

Our bench doesn't have much inside. Frosh John Watt is first off the bench inside but he's not very strong. Senior Josh Cobb will get his chance to be first off the bench inside. We'll see if he steps up. Chaz Maer is a junior who has yet to show me much. Soph Ger Sims is a player I would have red shirted if I could.

So our starting five is decent to good, but we're thin. Injuries, especially inside, would really present a problem.

We start at Chicago ST. It's too early to know much but we think we're the better team. But it's a road game.

[Wayne23]

11/14: 64-86. We fall behind early. Down 10 after 10. Down 7 at the half. Down 8 with 10 to play. Never got closer than 6 in the 2nd half. We didn't play very well.

Inside game was particularly weak, -11 RBs, outscored by their inside starters. Our outside game was better but not by enough.

We shot 37.7% to their 51.8%. No one on our team had more than 12 points or 6 RBs- that was Rash Thop, 12 and 6.

The only good news was we got decent bench play from John Watt inside, and from Euf Miki outside.

At 2-0 Alabama ST next. They won their first game by 10, second by 8, so this could be another challenge. They do most of their scoring outside.

[Wayne23]

11/17: 72-63. We take an early lead. Up 5 after 10. Up 8 at the half. Looking much better so far. Uh oh; they're coming back. Up 3 with 10 left. We stepped up late in the game.

Rash Thop led us again with 17 and 12. Not sure it's a great thing that our SG is easily our best rebounder but I'll take the win. 11, 1, 4 for King at PG. 7, 9 for Watt; if he keeps this up Lon Wall will be losing minutes.

+11 RBs which was a good sign after the opening game. We're turning it over too often, 14 in our 1st game, 16 tonight.

We only shot 39.7%, slightly better than last time, but our D held them to 34.5%. My teams have all been high scoring; it doesn't look like that will be the case this season. We were better inside tonight, though.

1-2 Alcorn ST next, still on the road. The stats make this look like it could be tough. We'll need to take care of the ball, rebound, and play the kind of D we did tonight. They have some guys who can score, both inside and out.

We're still exploring moons but we're not seeing much that's interesting. That moon I mentioned awhile back turned out to be nothing special. We named it "22," since it was the 22nd moon we've explored. We're up to 38 now.

[Wayne23]

11/21: 87-79. We take an early lead but it's close. Up 2 after 10. Up 6 at the half. It's a battle! Down 3 with 10 to go. This was a war! The good news is that we showed some O for a change!

29, 8 for C Juwan Lee, 15, 5, 6 for Thop, 14, 4 for Bond.

+5 RBs, but 16 TOs again; they had 21.

We shot a by FAR season high 52.8% to 55.1%. We won it at the line, 29-37 to 18-24. And we dominated inside. Good play from the bench by Watt and Miki again.

Our first home game, against 1-2 NC-Asheville is next. If we play as we did tonight it should be a win, and an easy one, but we need to play well. It will be nice to get home!

I haven't mentioned Jupiter much yet. Yes, our focus is on the moons, but we have a crew looking at Jupiter, taking videos, doing all kinds of long range testing... It is gigantic and fascinating. I think most of us our spending time looking at it in our spare moments.

Lacy and I spend time looking and speculating on what we'll learn here.

[Wayne23]

11/24: 76-66. Full house and they were making a lot of noise even before the game started. But we got behind early, down 6 after 10. Crowd kept making noise though. Down 4 at the half. WE finally got it going; up 8 with 10 left. The very good news is that we despite Thop and # guard Miki being in serious foul trouble all night. Thop played only 17 minutes.

PF Lon Wall had his best game so far, 16 and 9. 14 each for King and Thop, 7, 16, 4 for Lee. 11, 7 for Bond, 8, 0, 4 for Miki. Watt didn't give us much on O but he played good D.

+9 RBs and, yet again, 16 TOs, for the 3rd game in a row. They had 20. We didn't shoot well for the 3rd time in 4 games, 35.8%. But we won it at the line hitting a very good 35-42 to 12-15. Their PG is their best player and King outplayed him.

We're 3-1 headed for a long, long 5 game road trip. When we finally get back home we'll play half our regular season games at home from that point on.

It's Florida A & M, 2-2, to start the road trip. They're pretty good, especially at 1 and 5, and their bench is solid. We need to control the inside and Rash needs a good game.

[Wayne23]

11/28: 55-81. Down early again. Down 2 after 10. Up 5 at the half. Thop has 18. They go on a run. Down 19 with 10 to play. We fell apart.

They held Thop to 1 in the 2nd, mostly due to foul trouble, and King fouled out fairly early. Miki wasn't up to the task. We got hammered inside, their inside starters had 37, 20, and 6 to 14, 15, 2. Not much good news tonight. Watt played well from the bench.

-8 RBs, 17 TOs (to 11). We shot 37.5%; 4 of 5 games well under 40%. That's not the way to win.

I'm hoping to go 3-2 on this road trip, but that just got a lot tougher. Realistically, 2-3 would not be so bad, IF we can do it!

At 2-3 Longwood next. They have even more trouble scoring than we do but their D seems better than ours. They are stronger inside than out.

The hurricane. That's the first thing anyone thinks of when they think of Jupiter. It's gigantic, about the size of Earth, and it has been raging for a very long time. Over the last year or two it seems to be undergoing some sort of change, but it's hard to tell if this is cyclical or something new.
We'll be doing every kind of study we can manage. Obviously we can't land anything in it or anywhere near it, but there's a lot we CAN do, and we hope to get a shuttle into a low orbit over it. That's tricky too, given the gravity well, and we're making very careful calculations regarding the orbit of the ship itself, as well as the shuttles we plan to employ. Fascinating stuff!