Solitary Man

[Wayne23]

12/7: 100-86 at Mississippi Valley. 39, 7 for Fole, 19, 1, 7 for Grin, 11, 7 for Crow.

An expensive win. Rob Perl broke his left wrist. Out until mid-February. I guess that settles the playing time issue but not the way I wanted to. Ray Peke will get the sub minutes. We have a week off, which is helpful. We'll work the new lineup in practices.

Rob Perl: Damn! I didn't need this! Out for a couple of months. I'm really bummed.

Ban Crow: I'm happy to get my chance but Rob is my friend and I really feel bad that he got hurt. All I can do is step up and get it done though and I'm going to give that my best shot.

Recruiting Coach Marty Buck: We're nowhere on recruiting right now, just standing still. I think we should be going after guys but Coach says no, we need to save our money for the Spring, or at least until after SAT scores get posted. He's the boss but I don't have to like it. I feel like there's not much for me to do.

[Wayne23]

12/14: 86-71 over Fordham here. 28, 15, 5 for Fole, 10, 12 for Crow, 15, 6, 5 for Matt. 8 TOs.

8-0. Closest game so far was 12 points. We're a powerhouse. I'm thinking we may be good enough to go somewhere in the NCAA tournament if we don't have any more serious injuries. I never expected to get this good this quickly.

Ban Crow: That's the way to do it! I was pretty happy with my first game as a starter.

Dar Matt: Wow! Coach praised me in the locker room after the game. Amazing!

Coach Blake: A MAJOR incident in here earlier today. Two dead bodies found down in laundry. The guy who did it tried to hide but there's nowhere to hide in here. Someone found him before the guards did and whatever they did to him, he was carted off to the hospital, supposedly in critical condition.

This is the first serious violence here since I arrived. They put us all in lock down in our cells. No work, no recreation. They brought in packaged meals and the guards bring them to our cells. They hired people to do the necessary jobs like laundry, cleaning... No idea how long they'll keep us confined to our cells. Fortunately, I had just checked out two pretty long books, and I have the basketball game, so I guess I won't be too bored. I'll miss the chance to exercise though.

[Wayne23]

12/21: 81-67 at Howard. 38, 7 for Fole, 15, 12 for Matt, 15, 4, 3 for Crow.

Ban Crow: Still sorry for my friend Rob but I'm loving starting. I had another good game.

A.D. Ray Wray: Never expected a basketball powerhouse with a U Conference team but we seem to have one. I can see us going to the NCAA tournament undefeated and maybe winning a couple of games there. Amazing!

Coach Blake: Still on lock down. It's been a week. When you're stuck in your cell 24/7 time can sure drag. We can't order books from the prison library, we have our meals delivered, there's no work, no gym, no anything. I'm playing the basketball game a lot and doing some writing and that's about it.

Word is they won't ease up until they feel like they know what the double murder followed by the assault was all about.

[Wayne23]

12/28: 77-53 at North Alabama. 22, 10 for Fole, 14, 8 for Matt, 10, 6 for Crow, 11, 7 for Peke, 13 for Grin. 10 TOs. Solid win.

One more pre-conf. game.

We're still on lock down but we're going to be able to get books from the library starting tomorrow, a max of 2 at a time. That will help. I've decided to start on the law studies. I've got nothing but time and maybe I can find a way to get myself out of here with an appeal. That's probably 10-20 years down the road, given the time it will take me to get a law degree in here, if i even do, but what the hell, it's worth a shot.

[Wayne23]

1/4/2046: 81-64 over Alcorn ST here and we finish the pre-conf season undefeated! 39, 6, 3 for Fole, 16, 9 for Matt, who has been playing great ball lately. 10 TOs.

Dar Matt: Man, I have FOUND my game. I'm feelin' it most every night!

We're 11-0. +18.1 PPG, +10.8 RBs, -5.5 TOS (10.6) which is awesome! Fole leads us with 35.0 PPG, #2 in the nation. He's 12th in the nation in RBs with 10.1.
Dar Matt gets 10.3 and 6.6 and is our best defender. Crow gets 9.3 and 7.2. The guards aren't scoring much but they're dishing well and taking care of the ball very well.

Coach Blake: Lock down has ended but there are some pretty severe restrictions regarding how and when we move to where we need to go. Lots of guards everywhere. They either hired more or the guards are getting lots of overtime. Maybe both. Anyway, it's actually good to be back at work and it's very good to get outside or into the gym. All of that breaks up the day and makes the time go by. I'm taking my first distance learning law course. I have a B. A. In
Business Administration, incidentally so I don't have to start at that level. The school I'm going to has a great online law degree program. I'm going to take it one course at a time to start with but I'll go to two fairly soon. This program is self-paced so I'm not restricted by the school semester calendar.

[Wayne23]

1/14: 82-61 at Omaha. They were 1-11 going in so if there was ever a road game we expected to win this was it. 44, 8 for Fole, 13, 3 for sub F/C Ray Peke, 6, 12 for Crow. 10 TOs.

Our D is okay but we're #1 in the country in PPG, so we can light it up, mostly because of Fole.

Loy Fole: There's a guard at Baylor who gets 36.5 PPG. I'm at 36.0. Not worried about it, the #3 guy gets 23.7, so I'm good.

Jab Moore: Coach isn't paying enough attention to my scouting reports lately. I think he figures with Fole we can't lose if we just play our game. I'm guessing that one of these nights he'll get a surprise. Maybe then he'll listen.

Coach Blake: Tensions are really high around here. There are guards everywhere and not a one of them looks anything but mean, and ready to kick butt if anyone gets an inch out of line. This was a pretty mellow place until that incident where the two guys got killed and the guy who everybody thinks did it got beat half to death or more. He hasn't come back since they carted him off to the hospital. It's not mellow any more, probably because they don't think they've figured out what caused the incident or what's going on and may go on in the future.

I just want to go about my business and stay out of trouble. I truly don't know what's going down but I want no part of it and I won't take sides, if it turns out there are sides to take. Leave me out.

[Wayne23]

1/18: 75-57 over NJIT here. 18, 18, 5 for Fole, 18, 12, 5 for Matt. 13 each for Grin and Peke. +16 RBs.

Ranked! #24. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect this but we're 14-0, 3-0 and Fole makes us a really tough team. It's early but I'm wondering if he'll go
pro. I'm guessing he will. Lots of scouts at our games.

That leaves me with my decision if he does go pro. Will I move up if I get the chance? All that is best left until the Spring, I think.

[Wayne23]

1/21: 78-61 at Seattle. It was 34-33 at the half. We came out and scored the first 8 and that was that. 26, 8 for Fole, 16, 12, 5 for Crow, 12 for Grin.

I really should talk about each of our players for a minute. I'll start with Loy Fole, of course. His shooting and scoring are absolutely world class but people don't seem to notice that he's a terrific rebounder, and that most nights he completely shuts down the man he's guarding. I won't see another player like him for a long, long time.

Dar Matt: A solid, solid SF. He'd average 15-20 if Foel wasn't on the team. Good defender, good rebounder.

Ban Crow: Took over when Rob Perl got hurt and he's been everything we want from a Center- scores, rebounds, defends, and he's a really good passer.

Troy Grin went from last man on the bench to staring PG. He did it with hard work, and he's earned the spot. He really takes excellent care of the ball.

Reg Adam, our SG, is kind of the forgotten man. SG is usually a spot you want points from and Reg doesn't score much. But he dishes even better than Grin does and he's a great defender. He and Fole are juniors and the other three are seniors.

Ray Peke is an excellent 6th man at F/C. He wouldn't hurt us if he started.

Mark Rily is a good #3 guard. I'm very comfortable about putting him in the game.

And we're doing all of this without Rob Perl, who would be one of our very best players if he were healthy.

[Wayne23]

1/25: 81-69 over Florida A & M here. We led all the way but they defended us pretty well. They held Fole to 13, 7, 3, his lowest point total of the season. 18 for Matt, 13, 6 for Crow, 11, 6 for Peke. 8 TOs.

I got cornered in one of the hallways. No idea where the guards were.

"Which side are you on, Blake?"

"I'm on my side."

"You know what I mean."

"Actually, I don't. I have no idea what's going on in here, and I don't want to know."

It went on like that for awhile and no guards showed up which is really weird. Anyway, it turns out it's the Jesus freaks versus the Muslims. I tried to explain that I'm an atheist and I don't have a horse in this race. The guy, who I know but choose not to identify, told me I had to pick a side. I told him I didn't and I wouldn't. He told me that I'd be hearing more about this and that I'd better think about which side I was on because I'd need to pick a side.

Trouble ahead, I'm sure.

[Wayne23]

1/28: 93-69 at ST Francis. 32, 9 for Fole, 11, 6, 6 for Adam, 11, 5, 3 for Crow. +21 RBs, 10 TOs.

17-0, 6-0. Tied with Prairie View for 1st, 3 up on 3rd place. #19.

Loy Fole is #2 on the Norton list.

Looking at more recruits.

Waiting for the other shoe to drop. No one has approached me again regarding what is, let's face it, gang stuff. I'm not going to pick a side, which probably means I'm going to catch hell from both sides.