Solitary Man

[Wayne23]

11/26: 65-81 at NJIT. This one was disappointing. They really are a lousy team and I expected to beat them. Not even close. They came out and took a quick lead and got it to a dozen at the half. We never threatened them. 23, 3, 6 for Sims, who had a great game, and 12, 7, 3 for Nash. We shot 35.5%, they shot 51.7%. 19 TOs. When we turn it over we lose.

Ben Sims: I was real happy with my performance tonight but when you don;t win it doesn't mean much. We had too many TOs but I only had one.

Troy Grin: I had 9 tonight, my most ever. Played good D, too.

Moe Maxx: Okay, I didn't have a great game tonight, but I had 10 RBs. Not a word from Coach. It's like I don't exist.

Let's talk about the food here at Walpole State Penitentiary. It's lousy, but we do get enough to eat. Breakfast is either the equivalent of two scrambled eggs- they're powdered eggs, two pieces of dry toast, and a bowl of oatmeal, or three pancakes and a bowl of oatmeal. We get salt, pepper and ketchup for the eggs, and some syrup of some kind for the oatmeal and the pancakes. It's not maple though, that's for sure. Coffee and milk are available. Milk for the coffee but no sugar. You get one or the other. And no choices. Some days it's eggs, some days it's pancakes. Take it or leave it, but if you take it you have to eat all of it.

Lunch is a sandwich and usually an apple, sometimes some other fruit. The sandwich is tuna, or cold cuts with lettuce, mustard or mayo, and again, milk or coffee. I'd actually love a peanut butter and jelly once in a while but it doesn't happen. Again, no choice. They put the sandwich on your tray and you get what you get. I do see guys trade off with each other sometimes. Nobody cares.

Dinner is some kind of stew, sometimes beef, sometimes chicken, sometimes fish. Lots of potatoes and carrots, tomatoes, some green veggies in it. A good size bowl and two pieces of bread. Coffee or milk. No desserts ever, and fruit only at lunch. The guys with a sweet tooth have a problem.

And there's no way to buy food or get it from friends or relatives. We can have visitors but they can't bring us anything or give us money.

So we get enough to eat. Lunch could be a little more but breakfast and dinner are fine. Nothing tastes too great but I don't go to bed hungry. The limited choices mean the food gets really boring over time, but what can you do. I hear in the old days prisoners barely got enough food to stay alive, so I guess it's all right. Let me tell you, I clean mu plate at every meal.

[Wayne23]

11/30: 82-69 at North Carolina A & T. We led by as many as 21. This was our best game so far. 21, 11, 3 for Nash, 16, 6, 4 for perl, 12, 6 for sub C/PF Crow.
Only 10 TOs.

Kit Nash: My best game ever. I'm real happy about it, especially since it was in a big win.

Troy Grin: I had 9 again. Coach took me aside after the game. He told me I did really well but now that Mark Rily is healthy again he's going to get the minutes, mostly because he's a better defender. I'm very disappointed but what can I do?

Moe Maxx: I didn't have a very good game tonight. Coach told me Loy Fole is going to get some of my minutes. Gotta say I'm really down.

[Wayne23]

12/3: 77-59 over Cal ST. Fullerton at home. Another sellout crowd.

We're 4-2 and I'm really pleased with the team so far. We led by as many as 22. I took some minutes away from Moe Maxx and he responded with 17 points and solid D. I let him know how proud of him I was. The guy who got his minutes, Loy Fole, had 14 and 6 so it's a win-win. 15, 4 for Perl who has been consistently good at C. 12 TOs.

Lots of road games coming up, 10 of the next 15 into conf. play. But the end of the conf. schedule is mostly at home so that may work out.

Moe Maxx: I decided to show Coach I deserve my minutes back. Don't know if I'll get them but he gave me a compliment after the game.

Scouting Coach Jab Moore: Coach has been making good use of my scouting reports. We let him know that Cal ST Full. Had poor inside D and Coach exploited that weakness all night long, which led to a pretty easy win. It's nice to be heard!

[Wayne23]

12/7: 58-65 at Merrimack. They're not that good but we couldn't get the offense going tonight; 21 TOs. TOs are the key stat for us. When we take care of the ball we win. 16, 3, 5 for PG Sims but 6 TOs. 14, 6 for Perl. 11, 8 for Nash but 7 TOs.

Moe Maxx: I only got 17 minutes tonight, which is disappointing. I have to admit I didn't play well so I can't be pissed at Coach. But Fole and Crow, the guys behind me, didn't do much either. I wish Coach believed in me more.

Jab Moore: Damn! My scouting report on Merrimack mentioned their lousy D at SG and SF and we didn't go to those two guys nearly enough. I'm gonna talk with Coach about this.

12/8: Coach Blake: My scouting assistant, Jab Moore, cornered me in my office this morning. He felt like I ignored his scouting report. I explained to him that I didn't. Yes, we should have gone to our SG and SF more. I showed him the films of the guys at those spots not working nearly hard enough to get open. PG Ben Sims looked for them regularly but they weren't open. I told Moore I value and appreciate his work but when the guys don't execute what can I do. He seemed to understand.

We have a week off before our next game. That's good. We'll heal the little nagging aches and pains and we can work at practice on the little things.
4 more pre-conf games and 3 are on the road.

[Wayne23]

12/14: 64-59 at Florida A & M. Glad to have the road win but O is starting to be a problem. We need to score more points. Ben Sims was on fire with 28, almost half our points, but no one else had more than 8 (Loy Fole 8, 11). We only shot 36.5%. Kit Nash had a particularly disappointing game, no points, 5 RBs, 3 assists, and his man had good numbers. We expect and need more from Nash. He was in foul trouble all night, which didn't help.

Kit Nash: I'm really pissed at myself. Worst night I've had all year. I need to do better than this. Oh well, at least we won.

Ben Sims: I was feelin' it all night. Career high 28! It's fun when the ball's going in the hoop!

Jab Moore: I hammered home to coach that A & M's PG couldn't play D and he told Ben Sims to shoot it all night. Ben did, and we won!

Coach Blake: I think about my life on the outside a lot. I'll never get it back, of course, and I try not to let that get me down. I had a good life right up until that last day. I worked in an office in an insurance company as a middle management guy, not in sales but in service. At 23 years old I already had some guys under me and I was moving up the corporate ladder. I didn't love it but it was okay, and the pay was good.

At home I had no idea Belle was cheating on me. We'd only been married 16 months on the day I killed her. If anyone asked I would have said we had a really good marriage. Shows what I knew.

So anyway, I thought my life was about how I wanted it to be until I opened that bedroom door. People don't realize that everything can change in a millisecond. It did for me. I spend too much time thinking about what I should have done instead, but if I hadn't seen Mike's gun and if I had hit the road instead, everything would be different now and I'd be a free man. That's a hard thing to live with.

But again, you need to get your mind right in here and you can't let those kind of thoughts bring you down because they will destroy you. This is my life now. It sucks but it could be a lot worse. Focus on what you have, Jax, not what you don't have.

A week between games for each of the next 4. That's good!

[Wayne23]

12/21: 95-72 over Low Point here at home with another sellout crowd. We have yet to play before an empty seat at home. The place only seats 2,100 but it's nice to have it full. 21 for Sims who is red hot right now. 11, 7 for Nash against a really tough opponent. He worked hard all night. Our big guys on the bench both had good nights, 17 for Crow, and 9, 11, 4 for Fole. Maxx is going to sit. I'll split the minutes between Fole, who will start, and Crow.

We're 6-3 and will have a winning record in the pre-conf portion of the season.

Moe Maxx: I feel the starting job slipping away. I'm not playing well and Coach seems to pull me every time I make a mistake. My confidence is shot so I'm making lots of mistakes.

Damn! Coach just told me I would not start our next game. I'm totally depressed.

[Wayne23]

12/28: 62-72 at Coppin ST. They're one of the better teams on our schedule so I'm not shocked that they beat us. They lad by as many as 21, and we really were never in it. Our poor point production is a problem. 21, 4 for Nash but no one else had more than 8 and we shot 35.5%. Only 12 TOs but when you don't hit your open shots bad things happen.

First semester grades came out and all of my guys did well. That makes me happy. None of these guys are going to play pro ball so academics is the key for all of them. We work that pretty hard and help them all we can.

Troy Grin: Kind of interesting that I didn't mind sitting at the end of the bench before I got my chance to play some, but now that that is gone I hate just sitting here. Nothing I can do but keep working hard but it's not fun.

Loy Fole: Well, I finally got that starting spot I've been hoping for. I did okay but I was a little nervous and I think it affected my play. Hopefully Coach will give me a few games, but I'm fully aware that Ban Crow is right behind me on the chart and he's playing good.

[Wayne23]

1/4/2045: 67-68 at Bethune-Cookman. Damn! Our first one possession game and we lost it. It was close all the way. They got it, down one, with 4.4 to play. We defended well and they had to go to a backup guard but he managed to hit an off balance 16 footer for the win. Very disappointing. 17, 11, 3 for Perl, 13, 3, 8 for Sims. Only 10 TOs.

We go to Conf. V play at 6-5. I wanted a winning pre-conf record and I got it. With only 3 of 11 at home that's not bad.

+3.5 PPG but we're #169 in PPG. +5.2 RBs, our strength. -1.5 TOS, which is good but we're averaging 14.1, which is not good.

Three guys do our scoring and really, only 3- 13.5 each for C Rob Perl and PG Ben Sims, and 11.5 for SF Kit Nash. After that no one gets more than 7.2, and that's a problem. SG is supposed to be a position that gives you points. Our starter there, Reg Adam, averages 5.3; not good. We're going to give back up Mark Rily more minutes and see how he does. They're about the same on D. We're also going to start Ban Crow at PF. Neither Moe Maxx nor Loy Fole has gotten it done.

Perl leads in RBs but with only 7.2 Nash gets 6.1. Crow is a glass eater so his stats will hopefully shoot up now that he is starting.

Ben Sims leads in assists with 5.4, which is not bad.

Our hopes for the conference? First place and winning the tourney. I'd LOVE to go 12-4, but I'd be happy with 11-5, and not terribly upset with 10-6. Anything less would be really disappointing.

We get another week off and then it's conference season.

When I discussed food I should have talked about meal times. Breakfast is from 6:30-7:30. For all meals the guys are assigned times to report to the dining hall. A few prisoners get meals in their cells. That only happens if they're confined to theri cell for disciplinary reasons. Lunch is from 12:00-1:00, and dinner is from 6:00-7:00.

Lunch is delivered to people who are off on job sites, which some are. Again, the rule is, if you take it you eat it, but you only take what you want. No food is forced on anyone. 99% take all they are allowed to take. Seating is at tables for 12. It is not assigned in most cases but guys usually sit in the same spot. Those of us who work the early kitchen shift, like me, eat breakfast as we're working. That shift is 6:00-3:00. 2nd shift in the kitchen runs from 11:00-8:00. I'll talk more about kitchen work later.

Ban Crow: It looks like my hard work is paying off. Coach just told me I'll be starting at PF. I'm thrilled, and I intend to make Coach happy that he made that decision.

Mark Rily: The guy ahead of me at SG, Reg Adam, hasn't done much. I've been expecting more minutes, maybe even the starting slot, for some time. I don't get to start but Coach called me into his office and said I can expect a lot more minutes starting now. No idea what the hell took him so long to figure this out, but I'll take it. He also said i could earn the starting spot if I played well. That's my goal!

A.D. Ray Wray: I took a chance when I hired unknown Jax Blake. I have to say that so far it's working out. The guy is doing a lot of things right. He's made some rookie mistakes but not nearly as many as I had expected. I need to remind myself that we're in the very lowest conference, which means he went 6-5 against teams that were in higher conferences and presumably better than us.

I wish we were recruiting better but we don't have a lot to offer recruits and the recruiting assistant isn;t very good. At a place like this we can't afford good assistants.

[Wayne23]

1/11: 65-56 over Grambling in our home conf. debut. 40-24 at the half and we were never in danger. 14, 8 for Perl. Looks like I lit a fire at SG, both starter Reg Adam, and back up Mark Rily had 10. Looks like they both want those minutes. Good! Crow didn't show me much but I'll definitely give him a few games. Kit Nash continues to be inconsistent. Frankly, I expected more from him this year. He's a hard guy to motivate. When I praise him he seems to slack off and when I kick his ass he sulks and doesn't play well. So I've mostly left him alone lately. Rob Perl has turned out to be our main man, not Nash, and Ben Sims is probably our #2 guy.

It's nice to start the conf schedule with a win. Gotta get those home wins and try to steal a few on the road.

3 of the next 4, 5 of the next 7 are on the road. If we can get through that in decent shape we'll do well. It's a tough stretch though.

Kit Nash: I know Coach isn't happy with me. I'm not happy with myself. It's my senior year and I wanted to go out with a bang but it isn't happening. It's not too late. I'll just have to work harder.

[Wayne23]

1/14: 57-65 at Howard. Can't often win scoring 57. Damn! +17 RBs but 19 TOs. We shot only 34.3%. 16 for Sims. Nash had a good game with 11, 7, 4 but his D could have been better. I got nothing from SG and PF.

I'm going to play the D a little harder. I'm a little worried about fouls, but if this works it may create more offensive opportunities.

I'm about 2-3 games from just dividing the minutes evenly among Crow, Maxx, and Fole. That way I'll always have fresh legs in there. I'll give Crow a little more time before i do that though.

We got a PG to accept a scholarship, #198. He's iffy for getting the SAT score he needs. Fingers crossed.