To Boldly Go

[Wayne23]

11/16: 84-63 over Gardner-Webb here.

PG Ed Howe: As co-captain of the team, along with Cris Stry, I take my responsibilities seriously. I'm hoping for a great Senior year for me and for the team. We jumped out to an early lead and held onto it all night. I had 17, with 9 assists, and felt good about my D as well. 4 other guys had 12 or more and C Mike Morr had 9, 12, and 4. +18 RBs, and 11 TOs. A good start to the season!

11/18: Something is getting through the fence and nibbling on the veggies. We're guessing something in the rodent family, like an Earth rat, rabbit, or whatever. The robots have not found it. We're ramping up their detection abilities, as well as their pest control.

11/19: 66-63 over UC-Riverside here.

SG Cris Stry: We had to work our butts off for this one, 15 lead changes, 10 ties. I felt good about my contribution on O, 20, 3, 3. At then end I was there, hitting threes on our last two possessions. The last one came with 7.2 left and gave us a 6 point lead. They came down and hit a three, but that was the end of it. I held their best scorer to 11. Howe had 16 but didn't really do much else, which is unusual for him. He's usually our best player, which I freely admit. 12, 10, 3 with 6 steals for Mike Rowl. We got nothin from the bench but we're not deep, which kinda worries me. We need to stay injury free, especially inside. We caused 26 TOs so our D was there.

The robots are doing better with the pests attacking our crops.

11/20: All 3 recruits sign. We're chasing two other guys but not much is happening.

[Wayne23]

11/23: 90-70 at Prairie View.

Cory Star, 6th man: I never really got my shot here. I thought I'd be a starting guard but it never happened. I've tried to make the best of it but it's disappointing. Good night tonight though, 16, 5, 8 in 24 minutes. Stry had 23, 3, 4. It was a pretty easy road win, actually.

We have exactly one home game before January 7.

Off to the Palmetto Shootout vs. #5 seed DePaul, 2-1. We're #4.

The Council has decided that scientists can go outside the fenced in area to test plants and lower animal life forms in their natural habitat, and to sedate and test other animals as well. They will be accompanied by both robotic guards and robotic scientists.

[Wayne23]

11/25: 85-65.

Scot Nels, PF: We took charge early and kept control all the way. I had a great night, 18, 12, 3. Stry had 26, 4, 4, and Howe had 21, 8, 5.

Jul Leis, Scout: We play #1 seed Oklahoma ST, 3-1, in the semis. They run a pretty freewheeling attack, and play mostly man with some pressing. We think we're the better team, but we'll see.

11/26: 72-75. We built a big early lead, as much as 13 points. We were up 11 at the half. Then we proceeded to give it away. They took their first lead with 1:55 to play. We tied it twice after that and we had the last possession, down three with 6.4 to play. Cris Stry was having an off night so Ed Howe took the last shot himself but it was long, and that was that. It didn't help that Mike Morr played the whole 2nd half in foul trouble and eventually fouled out. We're very thin inside and that hurt. 19, 7, 3 for Nels, 14 for Howe, 12, 5 for Star. Their bench outplayed ours.

We have a crew of two human scientists and a lot of robots that is six hours overdue to return from the wooded areas surrounding our settlement.

11/27: The scientists and the robots have not returned. We've sent robotic crews to the area to search.

11/28: No word from the search crews.

11/29: The bodies of the two scientists have been found. Something brutally attacked and killed them, and somehow managed to disable their robotic guards. The latter doesn't make sense and shouldn't be possible for any of the animals living in the area.

[Wayne23]

11/30: 84-69 at Coppin ST.

Cris Stry: I was cold vs. OK ST but I had the touch tonight, 26 and 6. Scot Nels had 11 and 11. Good road win.

Including this game, 8 of the next 9 are on the road, as were the last three, well, two were on a neutral court, but hey, they weren't at home.

We have no explanation for what happened to our scientists and robots but the Council has decreed that, at least for now but maybe forever, robots only outside of the fenced in area, and we've 3D printed more robots and doubled the guard along the perimeter of the settlement. The biggest mystery is why the robots were not able to send out distress messages before they were destroyed.

[Wayne23]

12/3: 93-67 at UMass-Lowell.

Mike Morr: We were on fire tonight. It's unusual to play this well on the road, but we did. I had 16 and 8. 17, 4, 5 for Stry, 17, 7 for Nels, 15, 3, 3 for Howe. +19 RBs.

12/7: 98-78 over Milwaukee in our last home game for a long time. We led all the way. Stry lit it up with 28, 7, 5. 17, 4, 9 for Howe, 14, 6, 4 for Morr. Only 7 TOs.

We're 7-1. RPI #31.

There's a debate going on in the colony. We're settlers. That's why we signed up. Everyone here wanted to go to a new planet and settle it. But one faction, not sure how large, is unhappy with us living in a fenced in area. They want to conquer and claim the planet.

The rest of us want to "live and let live" with the lifeforms native to the planet.

Not sure how this will turn out.

[Wayne23]

12/10: 62-70 at Howard. The road is tough sometimes. Foul trouble for 2 starters, Howe, who fouled out, and Rowl, were the big problem. With Howe needing to play cautiously for most of the 2nd half we couldn't get much going offensively. Star didn't play badly in his stead, but there was a difference. 16, 14 for Nels.

We have a group who are threatening to secede from the colony and go off on their own. Bad idea, but it may happen.

[Wayne23]

12/13: 73-59 at Northwestern ST.

Cris Stry: I was really feeling it tonight, 22, 4, 3 with 6 steals. I feel really bad about 7 TOs, but I think I more than made up for that. On D I held my man to 6. Scot Nels had 15, 6, 3. We had a terrible 24 TOS, but they had 26.

"We're leaving and that's it. You can't stop us."

"How many people?"

"128 of us, 64 men, 64 women. No kids. All we need is a 3D Printer and a week to put up some temporary secure shelters then we're on our way and we won't bother you again."

"Where do you plan to settle?"

"Along the southeast coast so we're near water. There's a nice big clear area there where we can put up houses and grow crops."

"You realize the impact you'll have on the environment.."

"The environment? We figured all of that out. We're not going to pollute anything. True, it was too late to save Earth when we found the solutions but it won't happen again."

"I don't mean that. I mean the natural habitats of whatever is living on the land, using the water there, living in the water- all of that."

"Yeah. We've thought about that. We plan to have as minimal an impact as possible and we'll just live and let live."

"Some of them may not. There seem to be some pretty big predators in that region."

"Well... we won't start anything but we WILL defend ourselves and our settlement."

It went on like that for three hours. In the end we couldn't stop them from leaving. It was a question of whether we would help them by giving them a 3D Printer, and the arguments were hot and heavy on both sides. We tabled the matter until our January 2 meeting. The would be settlers were not happy but they decided not to make an issue of it.

[Wayne23]

12/17: 76-65 at Alabama A & M. We're beating most of these teams, but most of them aren;t very good. Still, road wins are great, no matter who they're against.

Bench Coach Ty Jack: All 5 starters had good games, 4 in double digits and the 5th, Scot Nels, had 7 and 11, and shut down his man on D. Only 12 TOs. We worked on that after our fiasco in the last game.

A lot of politicking going on in regard to the 3D printer for the people who want to "go native." Some saying no, let them make it on their own.

Others saying it must be done for humanitarian reasons. They'll get eaten by predators if they go out there without the printer and adequate safety measures.

The reply to that by the first group is, "That's their choice." This is the chief topic of conversation around here these days.

[Wayne23]

12/21: 74-51 at California Batfest.

Ed Howe: I've been playing fairly lousy ball lately. Tonight I actually had a pretty good game, 26, 4, 4 and I held the other guy to 4. Pretty happy! 18, 7, 3 for Stry so the backcourt did our job. 13 TOs, +11 RBs.

We finish the pre-conf. sched. At 10-2, RPI #76. +13.5 PPG, +6.9 RBs, -5.2 TOs. We force 18.8 per game, which is amazing! Stry leads us with 19. PPG. The next 6 guys go from 13.5 to 6.2. Scot Nels gets 8.8 RBs. #3 guard Cory Star leads in assists with 4.4.

Still lots of talk about the folks who are leaving. In private conversations with other Council members we're wondering whether the 128 are bluffing.

If we don't give them the 3D printer will they stay here. They have to know their chances of survival are slim without it. The Jan. 2 meeting and what follows should be very interesting...

[Wayne23]

12/31: 82-72 at Akron. HUGE road win over one of the best teams in the conference. Great way to start. 17 lead changes, 11 ties. We took over with about 8 minutes left. 20 for Howe with only 3 TOS, and he held his man to 6. 12, 14 for Rowl, 11, 15 for Nels. Good bench play. +19 RBs.

1/2/2103: It was quite a meeting. Everything else on the agenda was dispensed with in about a half hour. Then the real issue came up for discussion. One of the Council members moved to give the "settlers" (That's what they're calling themselves) a 3D Printer. It was seconded. Then the Chair spoke:

"Before Council members speak I want to open this up to discussion from anyone NOT on the Council. Your comments will be limited to 3 minutes, and I will allow no insults or inflammatory language."

Discussion from the floor went on for more than two hours. Then the Council members spoke.

The discussion was fascinating. Some were in favor. Some were opposed. Most were articulate in giving their reasons. A few chose not to speak.

When it came time for the vote there was no way to tell whether it would pass or not.

The Chair called for a paper ballot. That led to LOUD objection, as the non-Council members wanted the Council on record. I challenged the Chair and asked for a roll call vote. My motion failed by one vote. That led to more LOUD opposition.

The votes were counted. The motion was defeated, 7-8. That led to a lot of ruckus and noise. Eventually everyone left but few, if any, were happy.