Solitary Man

[Wayne23]

5/1: Recruit class #23. Promoted to Conf. H.

5/24: The Board approved my request to work for Born Free remotely. Terrific news!

6/5: Damn! Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn! Dave Wood, my best player, has decided to transfer out. There was absolutely no indication at any time last season that he was going to do this.

3 slots open for transfers. We're looking.

6/12: We get two very good looking players, an SF from Clemson and a C from Michigan.

Started work for Born Free today. I'm doing mostly looking up court records, legal documents, things related to pending cases of defendants unfairly convicted or sentenced... I love it.

[Wayne23]

6/26: 3 scholarships. We need 2 guards. We are frightfully weak inside but the two transfers will take care of that.

8/21: We offer to two PGs and a PF.

I'm still enjoying my work for Born Free, and I'm saving money. Some of the money I earn goes to the prison since they are losing money, but I get to keep most of it, after taxes, and I am saving all that I get to keep. I want to be ready to get an apartment, buy clothes, and everything else i will need to do when I am free.

[Wayne23]

9/18: Lots of road games and a few challenges in the pre-conf. schedule.

9/25: We get one, lose one. We get a PF, #263, and lose a PG we really wanted.

10/2: We get a PG, #163. We'd like to land one more guard.

I'm now working full time for Born Free and I'm loving it. I feel that I'm helping people who were wrongly convicted or improperly sentenced to get justice, and that's a great feeling. I'm a little more than six months away from my own release and I am really looking forward to that.

11/6: Here's the lineup. We're thin and we're small:

Frosh Alex Holt may be our best player. He's at PG.

Senior Key Wilk is at SG, subbing at PG.

Frosh Ausi Bron and Soph Cal Mond are behind them.

Senior SG Greg Wolf starts at SF.

Junior Dave Howe, a natural SF, starts at PF.

Frosh Daus Jona, a PF, is at C.

Red shirt PF Cris Holt backs up inside.

We're picked to win Conf. H but I just don't see it. I'll be happy to finish high enough to get to G next season.

[Wayne23]

11/15: The season starts tomorrow at Albany. 9 of 11 pre-conf. games are on the road.

11/16: 58-53 at Albany. We scored all of 9 points in the 1st half and were down 14. I raised some hell and made some changes and we scored 49 in the 2nd half. 19-57 shooting for the game; not good. 13, 4, 4 for Colt, 11, 10 for Howe, 12, 2, 5 for Wilk. We won, but I'm not happy with the way we played.

A serious corona virus is predicted to be coming soon. It is expected to be one of the worst ever. They seem to show up about every 8 or 9 years.

[Wayne23]

11/19: 71-62 at Rider. Up only 2 at the half and it stayed close until very late, 21 lead changes, 11 ties. 10, 12, 5 for Howe, 15, 8, 3 for Wolf, 13, 5, 4 for Jona, 14, 4, 4 for Colt. +9 RBs, 10 TOs.

The government is doing all that can be done to forestall the coronavirus, but it is starting to infect people.

11/20: Both recruits who committed are jucos so no worries about them signing or hitting an SAT score. We're still chasing a recruit.

[Wayne23]

11/23: 75-52 over Siena in one of our 2 home games in the pre-conf season. We led all the way. 27, 7 for Wilk, 17, 11 for Jona, 10, 9, 3 for Howe. +12 RBs.

I'll be working in San Francisco when I am released. I'm making preliminary inquiries into housing. This is very exciting!

I wanted to leave Massachusetts. My fear is that if I stayed there I'd be spending too much time dwelling on what got me in here. I want no familiar streets- a new beginning.

[Wayne23]

11/26: 62-77 at Florida A & M. They haven't lost yet this season. They were very tough inside. 21, 5 for Colt, 11, 4, 5 for Wilk. We let them shoot 53.1%.

A couple of people who work for Born Free in San Francisco have offered to share their apartment. That would make it more affordable. I'm checking in with both. I need my space so I need to see what the layouts of the apartments are like.

This coronavirus is really ramping up. Of course a prison is not a good place to be with this sort of thing. Fortunately, Walpole is taking every possible precaution but it's still worrisome. No cases here yet though.

[Wayne23]

11/30: 80-61 over Middle Tennessee here. 43-22 at the half. 20, 11, 4 for PF Dave Howe. 17, 12, 3 for C Daus Jona. +20 RBs.

We're small, but at least so far it hasn't hurt us. We're +8 on the boards.

Frosh C Daus Jona: I wasn't sure how much I'd like it here at UMass but so far I have to say that Coach is giving me lots of minutes, so that's good. He kind of rides me hard in practice, but I know i have a lot to learn so I guess that's to be expected.

Our next 8 games, including our first 2 in conf., are away.

The coronavirus just hit a million cases worldwide. Didn't take long. About 50,000 deaths, about 5%, which is scary high. So far Walpole is in good shape. But we've stopped allowing visitors, and the vendors who bring food and other things in are highly restricted- masks, gloves, only go where they need to...

[Wayne23]

12/3: 76-63 over Drexel there. We were down 18 early, 11 at the half. Then PG Alex Colt caught fire and hit 4 threes in our first 5 possessions of the 2nd half and we were on our way. They started to overplay him and he found the open man consistently. When they backed off he scored. He led us with 29, 4, 5; not bad for a freshman! 14, 5 for SF Greg Wolf, 11, 1, 11 with 5 steals for Kev Wilk. Great road win.

Frosh PG Alex Colt: I was a little nervous at the start of the season. Being a freshman starting Point Guard is a big responsibility. I was confident that i could do it but I figured it would take some time. Now I feel like, I got this!

The coronavirus just gets worse and worse. It's in every country. 500,000 new cases this week. Our government is working hard to try to contain it and schools and most businesses have shut down as much as possible, learning and working from home as much as possible, but this thing is explosive, and very contagious.

[Wayne23]

12/7: 60-69 at Canisius. They never led by more than 9 but they led for the last 38 minutes. We never quite hit that shot we needed when we needed it. Not one of our better games. We shot 34%, they shot 47%. 16 TOs. We stood around a lot on O. Jona fouled out, playing only 14 minutes and that can't happen, we're too thin inside.

Alex Colt: Very frustrating night. I couldn't dish to guys much because they weren't working to get open. I started yelling. I guess a freshman probably shouldn't do that but hey, I'm the Point. That makes me the leader on the floor. After the game Coach took me aside and thanked me for trying to get the guys going, so i guess I did okay. But I hate to lose.

Coach Blake: We'll be working the guys a little harder at practice, but the road is tough. Still, we can play a lot better than we did tonight. We have a week off so we'll work on things.

Sixth man F/C Chris Holt is starting to show some attitude. Working on it.