Solitary Man

[Wayne23]

1/18: 67-94 at Kennesaw ST. Admittedly, they're one of the best teams in the league but our D was nonexistent. I tried to ramp it up and the guys couldn't handle the pace. They kept missing assignments. We were down 23 at the half. We did better in the 2nd but it was too late. We allowed 14 threes while going 0 for 9 ourselves, and we let them shoot 51.6%. Perl had 25 and 6, and Crow finally played well with 10 and 7. Nash was completely outplayed at his position.

Kit Nash: I don;t know what to do. I keep feeling like I'm better than this but I'm playing like crap. Maybe putting too much pressure on myself, I don't know.

Ban Crow: I finally felt comfortable starting tonight. I was playing against a real good player and I totally matched him, maybe even outplayed him a little. I can do this!

Rob Perl: Damn! I feel like I'm out here on my own some nights. We NEED Sims and Nash to get it done and it's not happening much at all for Nash, and not consistently for Sims. All I can do is shut up and do my job.

[Wayne23]

1/21: 72-70 over Incoherent Word at our place. Too early for a game to be a must win but this was close and we almost didn't! We had an 11 point lead with 2:29 to play and we damn near blew it. They started pressing and we turned it over three times toward the end. They had the final possession and missed an open three. 13, 6 for perl, 11, 9, 3 for Nash, and 12, 4 for Crow. Sims had 10 assists. We got good bench plat from Fole, Maxx, and Rily.

It's time to give Rily his shot at SG. He'll start our next game.

Scouting Assistant Jab Moore: Damn it, Coach, follow the plan! You didn't and it almost cost us the game! Their outside D is poor. I really emphasized that in my scouting report and we just didn't work to get the outside guys free. I'm going to talk with Coach about it. Hell, if he's not going to listen why do I bother to write a report!

Mark Rily: Finally! Coach is starting me. Watch out world, here I come!

[Wayne23]

1/25: 82-81 at Mississippi Valley. HELL of a game! We blew a 13 point lead late but refused to quite. 4 lead change sin the last minute. We got it, down 2, with 5.3 to play. Sims passed to Rily, then to Nash, back to Sims behind a screen and he hit a 21 footer at the buzzer for the win. He led us with 23, 5, 7, a really good game! 10 and 10 for Crow, who is growing into the starting role. 11, 8 for sub Mo Maxx. 47 RBs (+17) and only 10 assists. The bench was the difference again tonight; our guys had 21, 19, 6 and their bench had 15, 9, 5.

Ban Crow: I'm feelin' it lately. I think I can nail down this starting job with a couple more good nights. I completely outplayed my opponent in this one.

Ben Sims: It feels awesome to hit the winning shot. Gotta say that I knew it was in when it left my hand. I was hot tonight, 8-9, and 5-6 on threes. They made it tough for me to get an open shot but when I did it went in.

Mark Rily: 10 points in my first start! I'll take it!

Reg Adam: Not starting sucks. When Coach put me in I just wasn't feeling it. Not happy.

Coach Blake: I got hit on at work today. That kind of thing happens now and then. I've said before that the guards protect us from being attacked so I wasn't really worried, and guys almost always take no for an answer. This guy did. I told him i wasn't into that and he said it was cool. No big deal, really. In the old days in prison it would have probably gotten ugly.

[Wayne23]

1/28: 88-78 over SIU Edwardsville here. We were down 8 early, 1 at the half but we really turned it around. I used Jab Moore's scouting report to work to overplay their guards and it really turned things our way. As usual Perl and Sims led the way on O. Perl had 23, 6, 3, and Sims 21, 5, 5. Nash had a steady 9 and 7. Reg Adam finally had a good game, 9, 4, 3 as our #3 guard. Crow only had 5 but he had 9 RBs and totally shut his man down. Good game!

We're 4-2, one back of Longwood and Kennesaw ST. We play both of them at our place down the stretch. It's early and I'll take this position.

Crap! Steve Smiley didn't hit our SAT score. Back to the drawing board. The other two did.

Jab Moore: It was nice to have Coach Blake follow my plan, even if it took a half before he did. Even nicer was the fact that it worked.

Reg Adam: So, I'm a psych major. I realized i was going about this all wrong from a psych point of view so i used my knowledge to get my head straight. Let's see if i can keep it up.

[Wayne23]

2/1: 59-72 at North Alabama. Not enough O again. This is a team we should beat. They led by as many as 22 in the first half, 13 at the break. We never got closer than 7.
Their C and PG outplayed our 2 strongest players and we were -8 on the boards. 19 for Nash but no one else did much. Not a good night.

Kit Nash: I had my best game in a while but it doesn't count for much when we get beat.

Coach Blake: As I said early on I work in the kitchen. That's kind of a trustee position. The Warden is very serious about not having anyone mess with people's food so you need to be a very trusted inmate to work in the kitchen. Truth is I've never seen anyone mess with the food. And that's good.

What do I do? Well, I get here at 6:00 sharp. We rotate jobs so everyone knows every job. So sometimes I cook eggs, sometimes I make toast, sometimes i make oatmeal or pancakes. Other times I serve. All of us do dishes and clean up the kitchen after breakfast is over. The inmates can't leave until their tables are clean so we don't need to do that.

After breakfast we start in on lunch. Most of us make sandwiches, which takes a long time, and which is boring as hell. Then we get the fruit and bread ready. As of this week everybody gets a cup of soup with lunch. Just a cup. It's usually vegetable rice, veggie noodle- something substantial. So sometimes I make the soup. The inmates are happy about the addition of soup to lunch. It was the one meal where they felt they weren't getting enough to eat. Now they are. We kind of all help to serve lunch and clean up after, and we eat after clean up.

We start the prep for dinner but the other shift has the main responsibility for that so at 3:00 we're finished with work. I'll tell you how I spend my afternoon and evening later.

[Wayne23]

2/4: 82-76 at California Batfest. We needed this road win. We led most of the way but never by a commanding margin. 16, 6 for Perl., 14, 4 for Maxx, 10, 6 for Crow. We survived 21 TOs.

11-8, 5-3 at the halfway mark, in a 3 way tie for 3rd, one back of Houston Batfest and Longwood. The schedule is pretty favorable the rest of the way. We should go 6-2 with any luck, 7-1 with a lot of luck.

We're doing about as expected, maybe not quite up to my expectations, or maybe my hopes. But 5 of the last 8 are at home.

[Wayne23]

2/8: 74-65 over Arkansas-Pine Bluff here. We were down 11 early in the 2nd half and nothing I tried had worked. I called a time out and just ranted at the guys, which I rarely do. For whatever reason it worked and we turned it around from that point on. 27, 11 for Nash, a really terrific night. 11, 3, 9 for Sims, 11, 4, 4 for Rily. 6 TOs.

In a 3 way tie for 2nd, one back of Houston Batfest.

Kit Nash: I should be playing like this more often. It feels so good to have a night like this. I really thought I'd have a lot more of them. Maybe I've turned the corner.

Recruiting Assistant Marty Buck: Working HARD on a couple of recruits. They won't commit here or anywhere else for a while, most likely, but we need to get at least one and hopefully both of them.

[Wayne23]

2/11: 65-66 at Maryland-Eastern Shore. We blew a 13 point 2nd half lead. I am NOT happy. We weren't aggressive enough on D and we were 1-12 on threes.

The back court gave us 4 points- that includes all of the guards. We had the last possession and we couldn't get a clear shot. Sims put up a wild 22 footer and it rimmed out. We lost to a lousy team. 22, 9 for Perl, 17, 8 for Crow, 14, 7 for Nash.

4 of our last 6 are at home. We need all 4 and at least one of the road games. It's unlikely we can win the conference being 2 back but you never know.

12-9, 6-4.

Ben Sims: I just couldn't make anything work tonight. I don't know when I've been so frustrated. I only had 3 TOs but I felt like my passes were slow and late, and I didn't give the ball to guys in places where they could easily do something with it. Gonna try not to let it get in my head.

Rob Perl: Damn I'm sick of losing games we should win!

[Wayne23]

2/15: 75-60 over Longwood here. Up 18 at the half. 26, 4 for Perl, 10, 6 for Crow, 12 for Maxx. We were good at both ends tonight but especially on D.

1st place team lost so we're one back. We play them next, here.

Rob Perl: Okay, we have a chance to move into a tie for 1st. I intend to work my ass off to make that happen. I need a game like I had tonight.

Jab Moore: My scouting report is in. Hopefully Coach will pay attention and the guys will execute.

[Wayne23]

2/18: 79-72. Perl led us again, with 21 and 8. After the terrible guard play the other day we got great guard play tonight. 12, 5, 6 for Sims, 14 for Rily, 7, 2, 2 for Adam.

We're in a 3 way tie for 1st with 5 teams one game back. That's amazing with only 4 left to play. If we finish 3-1 I think we'll be okay. But 2 of the games are on the road so we'll see.

Rob Perl: I intended to have a great game tonight and I had one. The team needs me to lead even though I'm only a junior, and I plan to lead for the rest of the season. I want us to finish strong. I hurt my arm tonight but it'll be fine.