The Phenom

[Wayne23]

3/9: 90-86. Back and forth 1st half. Up 3 at the end. A real battle until about 8 minutes left when we went on a 15-2 run to open up an 11 point lead. They never quite caught up after that. Great win for the title!

30, 9 for tourney MOP Gary Owen. 19, 3, 6 for Sand. 11, 2, 7 for John. +9 RBs but 22 TOs. They made 14 threes but we had 9, which helped.

On to our 3rd straight Big Dance!

3/12: #5 West. We face #12 Nevada, 21-11.

Scout Pers Will: This is a team we should beat. We're stronger across the board.

They run a very quick O, and look more to the outside shot than inside.

On D they play man and rarely press.

[Wayne23]

3/17: 87-70. We scored the first 7 points but they hung in for about 15 minutes. Up 21 at the half. We were never challenged in the 2nd half. +26 RBs, 11 TOs.

19, 8, 5 with 3 steals and 3 blocks for Celk. 16, 8 for Owen. 13 each for Weat and Howe.

Pers Will: #4 seed, #20 ranked Vanderbilt, 24-10, in Round Two. They've played a dozen ranked teams. They live and die with the three, so that's what we need to contain.

On D they play man and rarely press. They have a good bench.

[Wayne23]

3/19: 85-87. They took an early lead. We caught them late then they went ahead again. Down 3 at the half. It was close all the way, never more than a 9 point difference. We just didn't quite get there.

Threes- they hit 11, we had 6, and the bench- 23 for them, 12 for us, were the difference.

28, 5 for Owen, 20, 7 for Weat.

Was this my last game coaching KSU? If I get the right offer it was. If not, I'll be back.

3/26: We get the PG we were after.

4/3: #17 UConn wins it all.

4/4: Awards: Gary Owen is a 1st team All American. In the OVC, Owen is POY and 1st team along with Johnny Brom and Brian Weat; Weat is Frosh
OY.

4/9: Lots of phone calls. I'm visiting 2 schools, both in the A10, UMass and George Washington.

I'm going to UMass. It's going to be a challenge; they're not very good. But I'm going home and I'm confident I can rebuild quickly.

[Wayne23]

4/10: Press Conference, Amherst, MA:

Q: First, welcome Coach. UMass has not been doing well for the past few seasons. How do you plan to turn that around?

Coach: The same way I did at KSU. We're going to start working today- already have. We've sent a playbook to everyone returning and to the recruits who will be here in the Fall. It's full of explanations and underlines and highlights. Our expectation is that the kids will study it, practice the things they can practice, and come in ready when practices start in the Fall. We're building confidence and self-belief. I've started the process of getting to know the players. I'm bringing them in to the office one at a time and talking with them. We'll look at lots of video over the next few days and weeks, evaluate strengths and weaknesses and work from there.

Q: All three assistants are returning. Talk about them.

Coach: I'm very pleased to have them back. Tony Berg is a proven recruiter and we look forward to bringing some quality players in.

Tyson Well is an excellent scouting coach. He can really break down video.

Luke Jora is my bench/practice coach and I look forward to planning practices and strategizing with him.

Q: Do you think you can turn things around as quickly here as you did at KSU?

Coach: That's the goal. Hard work and belief in self and team can turn things around quickly.

Q: The recruit class is not highly rated. Comments?

Coach: I've barely had time to look at the recruits but we'll work with them. My players exceed expectations and outperform their ratings. That's what I expect.

Q: Returning players?

Coach: Again, I'm just getting the office organized. It looks like we have a lot more experience coming back in the back court than in the front court. At KSU I had a solid, deep inside game. We'll see if we can make that happen here but at least for now we may need to rely more on our outside game. That may change. It depends on how quickly we can develop our players.

4/23: I ask for a budget increase. We don't have enough money to recruit the way I need to.

No. One of these years my damn A.D. Might say yes to a request. Not happy.

I'm settling in. Amherst is a couple of hours from the Boston area, where I grew up, and where my parents still live. I'm going to try to have my A. D. Schedule a couple of games with some teams in the Boston area, if possible, and I'll drive over there on Sundays when we don't have games. The past three years away from family and friends have been rough. Of course i expect family and friends to come to our games now and then. My parents never made it go a game at KSU, which is understandable. They're still in their 50s so a drive to a game here is something they can do. I want to buy a small house so they can stay over when they come to games and drive back home the next day. Dad runs his own business and has reliable help. If he gets to the agency late it won't be an issue. Mom works part time as a nurse, and her schedule has some flexibility.

Oh, big salary increase coming to UMass. Money doesn't mean much to me but the ability to buy my own house and upgrade to a new car is good. But I don't have any expensive habits or hobbies.

[Wayne23]

5/1: I buy the National Basic and the Atlantic East Basic.

#207 recruiting class.

6/5: My best big guy is transferring out. Damn!

Looking at transfers.

6/12: We get 2. F/C Sam Toma was with me at KSU. He didn't play a lot but I think he'll help us.

Jason Bree started at PF for Nebraska. We have high hopes for him.

6/25: Going to the Indy Elite and Big Apple.

6/26: 2 scholarships. We need two guards.

Looking at a few international players.

7/25: Hard at work. We're doing a lot with recruiting, 'tis the season. We're down to 6 serious recruits but still looking at some others.

I've gotten to know my kids and we're going to be better than people think. Love my staff. New A. D. Rick Hope has been welcoming and helpful. He says he'll try to get me more money next Spring.

8/21: We offer to 2 PGs.

Got a lead on a house. It's less than 10 minutes from campus. I see it tomorrow.

[Wayne23]

8/23: Made an offer on the house.

8/24: Offer accepted. I'm living in faculty housing right now and I'd really like to get into this house as soon as possible.

9/18: We get a PG from Greece, #86. Still after the other guy.

We get invited to the Hoops Tourney. Weak schedule, generally. In year one here I want wins.

9/25: I get the other PG, #93. I'm pleased with my recruits and my transfers!

10/2: First day of practice. I'm starting with an 8 man rotation:

Junior Vashon Herd starts at PG. He's probably our best player and our best scorer.

Chris Hobs starts at SG; he's a junior. Frosh Arvid Biel will get every chance to take Hobs' job. I see the two of them as quite close in ability. I think Biel is a better offensive player and Hobs is better on D. We'll see who wants it more.

Junior Lydell Risi is at SF. We think he can be a go to scorer, and he's our best defender.

Senior Captain Nick Stow starts at PF. He's a natural SF but he can rebound, and I don't have a lot of guys who can so I need him inside. He's very athletic.

Frosh Chris Burr is at C. He's a good defender and a scorer, our best inside scorer. I hope he can rebound, but junior Gary Demo is waiting in the wings and will get enough minutes to prove himself. We'll see.

Our 8th man is Len Barn, another junior. He'll play PF and maybe some SF. He can defend and score.

I'm not as confident as I'd like to be about our inside game which is why 5 guys are getting minutes inside.

We're picked to win the Atlantic 10. I think that may be based on my reputation. I'm always optimistic but if we finish in the top half I think that will be a good year for us. It depends on how quickly and thoroughly these guys learn the things we're teaching.

10/4: I moved into my new house in South Deerfield. Nice neighborhood, beautiful view, near the slopes at Sugarloaf (I don't ski, but the view there is gorgeous, as
it is in this entire region, not that I'll have much chance to see it.). It took me 8 minutes to drive to work this morning.

11/13: Season starts tomorrow, here at home. We're still learning and we have a ways to go. I hope we're ready.

[Wayne23]

11/14: 83-70 vs. Georgia Southern. We started strong and opened a 10 point lead, but they came back at us. Up 5 at the half. Totally different team than what I had at KSU. This is an outside team. We took 32 threes, which was about 3 games worth! We made 13 of them (40.6%).

I was pleased that we got 40 RBs and only 11 TOs. Our D was decent, but not great (45.8%). We didn't foul much; maybe we need to be more aggressive.

27, 5 for Risi, who looked great. 16, 4, 8 for Herd. I want him to shoot more. As our PG he wants to dish and that's fine, but I need him to score. 17, 5 for Burr at C; he gave us an inside presence, as did Stow, who had 8 and 11.

Excerpts from the Post Game Presser:

Q: Coach, great win to start the season. This team showed both inside and outside potential.

Coach: I need to get used to a team that is more about the outside game, but yes, I was pleased with the way we played inside.

Q: Big adjustment from those inside focused Owls?

Coach: Yes, definitely. But it's nice to see those threes go in.

Q: What are you working on in practice?

Coach: Everything (laughter)! I just got here. It takes time to fully get everything in. I think the guys are doing a great job, considering how much there is to learn.
You can't force feed it or throw more at them than they can handle, but they're a great bunch and I'm thrilled with their work habits.

[Wayne23]

11/17: 87-82 with Holy Cross here. We led by 10 halfway in. Up 14 at the half. The 2nd half was a real battle. We you play the outside game the threes need to drop and tonight we won despite the fact that they didn't drop (7-20). But our top three guards combined for 45, so they hit a lot of twos and a lot of free throws.

16, 5, 3 for SG Chris Hobs, 16, 0, 6 for Herd, 13 for #3 guard Arvid Biel. Sub forward Gary Demo also had 13.

Again tonight the D could have been better (48.4%).

We're 2-0, and I'll take that, but we're not where I want us to be yet.

Mom and dad were at the game and are staying at my house tonight. They have their own key since I'm here at the Memorial Center until way after the game.

11/18: Brought mom and dad to breakfast, and they left for home from the restaurant, and I headed into work.

[Wayne23]

11/20: Both recruits sign.

5 game road trip coming up. I'd be thrilled with 3-2.

11/21: 80-60 at Hartford. We took an early lead in the the 1st half. Up 16 at the break. We dominated the 2nd half, never letting them get back in it.

Lydell Risi was a force with 34, 1, 6. 14, 7 for Burr, 10, 9 for Stow. 11 TOs. Our outside game was Risi and only Risi, but our big guys played their best game of the season. I was very happy with our D (40.0%). Great road win!

[Wayne23]

11/24: 74-58 at UMass-Lowell. We scored the first 13 points. Up 18 at the half. Never a contest.

19, 7 for Burr, 19, 6 for Stow. Our inside game is getting better all the time.

Last two games we gave up 60, then 58. Maybe it's that we're playing weak teams but i hope some of it is because we're learning to play good D.

Mom and dad were at the game.