Solitary Man

[Wayne23]

2/1: 70-54 over SW Missouri ST here. 27, 8 for Fole, 16, 5 for Grin, 12, 7 for Crow. +14 RBs.

Troy Grin: I had a really good game, 2nd most points ever- 16, and only 2 TOs.

Dar Matt: Worst shooting night of my life, 0-10. Ugh. I played good D and rebounded so I wasn't completely useless.

Coach Blake: The Muslims cornered me yesterday. Same conversation as with the Christians, same result. Pretty much the exact same threats. This won't end well.

[Wayne23]

2/4: 79-77 over Longwood here. Our first close game of the season. They led by 7 early. We led by 10 late, then they came charging back. They missed a three at the buzzer. Fole scored our last 7 points and wound up with 35, 11, 3. 12, 4, 4 for Adam. We didn't shoot well, only 36.2%, 3-15 on threes. But we got the win.

2/6: Coach Blake: I'm writing this from the infirmary. I got blindsided yesterday. No idea who did it but somebody hit me in the back of the head with a blunt object. I'm told the guards found me on the floor in the freezer back of the kitchen. Good thing they found me fairly quickly or I would have frozen to death. I'm trying to decide if someone was sending me a message or were they really trying to kill me to send a general message. No idea.

2/7: Still in the infirmary. Bad concussion but no fracture. I'm being interrogated but I have nothing to say. I truly was blindsided. Never knew what hit me.

Of course I wouldn't tell anyway; it's pretty much a death sentence to rat someone out. I'm not telling about the encounters with the Christian and Muslim gang bangers either. They say I'll get out of the infirmary tomorrow. I'm guessing that sooner or later someone from one or both gangs will pay me another visit. Hopefully they'll want to talk not attack me.

[Wayne23]

2/8: 67-73 at Prairie View and the win streak stops at 19. We never led. They doubled Fole all night and held him to 14, but he had 14 RBs and shut down his man. Troy Grin had a terrific night, 21, with only 1 TO, but it wasn;t enough. None of the other starters did much and we got nothing from our bench.

Poor shooting for the 2nd straight night, 39.1%.

Sometimes a loss isn't the worst thing in the world. We still have a one game lead over Prairie View, 2 games over the next 3 teams.

I'm in solitary confinement in my cell. I'm not allowed to leave the cell for now, and for who knows how long. The word is I'm in danger. I believe it.

[Wayne23]

2/11: 73-57 over North Carolina A & T here. 36, 6 for Fole, 13, 7, 4 for Crow, 8, 11, 3 for Matt. +10 RBs.

Fole is still #2 on the Norton list.

Still in solitary. About every 3rd day someone who delivers one of my meals brings a message. Usually it's about what will happen if I talk, which I won't, but sometimes it's about joining whichever gang he's part of. There are cameras along the entire route from the kitchen to my cell so I know no one is messing with my food so at least there's that.

[Wayne23]

2/15: 77-92 at North Dakota. Ouch! We got soundly whipped in the back court and on the bench. Our inside game won, but not by enough. Once again we shot poorly, 37.5%, 27.6% on threes. They shot over 50%, 12-24 on threes. 26, 8 for Fole, 24 for Matt. Crow was badly outplayed. Perl played 10 minutes and didn't do badly. He'll start from now on.

We're tied with Prairie View for the Conf. U lead, 2 up on 3rd place with 5 to play. 3 of our last 5 are on the road and all three are with the teams tied for 3rd place. So the schedule is NOT favorable.

Ban Crow: It sucks to go back to the bench. I thought I did a good job. I had a bad night tonight but that's just one game. Nothing I can do about it.

[Wayne23]

2/18: 82-46 at Abilene Cretin. That's the way to come back from a loss! 26, 8 for Fole, 13, 14 for Perl in his first start after the injury, 17, 3, 7 for Grin. +26 RBs, 8 TOs.

Still tied for 1st place.

2/19: Back in the infirmary. My food was poisoned. I'm damned lucky to be alive. Once again I was found unconscious, this time in my cell, by a passing guard on his rounds. I was rushed to the infirmary and then helicoptered to a hospital. They pumped me out but a lot of the poison had already gone through my digestive tract and was in my bloodstream. I'm still in some danger, evidently. And I sure feel like it. No idea how long I'll be in here. At least they brought me my computer.

[Wayne23]

2/22: 85-58 over Grambling here. 19, 12 for Fole, 23 for Grin, a career high, 8, 9, 4 for Perl. +11 RBs, 9 TOs.

Prairie View lost so we're alone in 1st with 3 to play. 22-2, 11-2, #14.

Still in the infirmary. The medic here says they should have kept me in the hospital; I would have recovered more quickly. I'm in a lot of pain- cramping, aches all over my body... I can't eat. I'm on an IV and I'm drinking fluids, smoothies and things like that. But it's a little at a time and about half of it doesn't stay down.

They prepare all of my "food" right in here as a safety measure.

[Wayne23]

2/25: 94-91 at Chicago State. 39, 6 for Fole, 14, 11, 6 for Crow, 17, 5 including the game winner for #3 guard Mark Rily.

They led all the way. The first tie after 0-0 was with 37 seconds left when Rily hit a three. They came down, ate some clock, put up a 12 footer that missed. Grin brought it down and with about 2 seconds left got it to Rily who dribbled behind a screen and hit a 23 footer at the buzzer for the win.

Perl was awful tonight. Fouled out playing only 8 minutes. Crow stepped up.

Mark Rily: I wish I got my chance more often. I showed what I can do tonight. I can only hope it leads to more minutes.

Prairie View lost so we're up by 2 games with 2 to play, #12 ranked.

I'm still in the infirmary. The medic says I'm finally out of danger but it could be some time before I'm feeling completely better. I asked him what "some time" meant and he shrugged.

[Wayne23]

3/1: 93-72 over Omaha here and we clinch 1st place. 29, 10, 6 with 4 blocks for Fole, 16, 12 for Perl, 16, 7 for Matt. +32 RBs.

#4 guard Kris Mari banged up a hip. Out for the next game.

At 2nd place NJIT in the regular season final.

I'm back at the hospital, the infirmary couldn't cope with my symptoms. I'm simply not getting better. Cramps, can't keep food down, whole body aches, insomnia...

[Wayne23]

3/4: 79-89 at NJIT. Not the way I wanted to end the regular season. When we shoot below 40% we lose. Tonight it was 38.7%, 7-27 on threes. 15, 7 for Fole, 16 for Grin, 10, 10 for Perl, but we had a very poor 2nd half.

We end the regular season at 24-3, 13-3, in 1st by 1 over NJIT, 3 or more over the rest. #12, RPI #27. +14.8 PPG, +11.0 RBs, -5.0 TOs, 11.2, which is great.
#1 in Offensive Rating, #2 in Net Rating.

Fole gets 30.4, 9.7.

3/5: Fole is coming back! He's still #2 on the Norton list.

I'm still in the hospital and actually beginning to feel better. I still get interrogated every few days. My story isn't going to change and I'm not volunteering any new information.