The Phenom

[Wayne23]

12/1: 80-63 at 0-4 American. Tried to convince my kids not to take this too lightly, but the focus was not great. Still, up 11 at the half. It was kind of a boring game. We led all the way, but we were sort of going through the motions. We had a huge talent advantage.

6 players had between 8 and 13 points. Toma led us with 10, 8, 4.

11 TOs.

12/3: Back home. PG seemed to be fine. Brandi and I ordered take out Chinese and PG wanted some, but I refuse to feed him people food. I feel like if i do I'll never have a peaceful meal at home.

We're 5-0, NET #3 and STILL not ranked. What will it take!

The women are 8-0, #1 in the country. They just beat UConn by 12 there; this was their closest game so far. They've beaten 4 of the top 5 teams (other than themselves, obviously), by between 12 and 28 points. If they stay healthy I don't know if anyone can beat them.

[Wayne23]

12/5: 86-64 vs. 5-1 LSU here. This is a good team; they shoot well outside, have a really good PG, and they rebound. We took an early lead and got it to double figures fairly quickly. Up 12 at the half. We were really sharp tonight.

23, 12 for Hawk, 25, 8, 4 for Toma, 8, 9, 6 for Bree.

+12 RBs, 11 TOs. We held them to 40% from the field.

Deke Juli will be back for our next game. Burr played well filling in.

Post Game Press Conference, Excerpts:

Q: Coach, you guys have been world beaters so far, 6-0, only one win by less than 15. Yet you're not ranked. What's going on?

Coach: No idea. We're playing the third toughest schedule so far. Not sure what it's going to take.

Q: You're on the road through December 19 at West Virginia. How do you prepare for a long road trip?

Coach: Actually, our next is at Harvard, and that's just a 2 hour bus ride, so we don't really hit the road until the 15th, when we head for the Las Vegas Winter Jam.

But we'll be gone for, we hope 4 games, if we go all the way in that tournament, and if we do, we fly to West Virginia immediately after the title game and play the next day.

4 games in 4 days is very tough, and frankly it shouldn't happen. But to answer your question, you know my formula- hard work, harder work, and believe you can do great things. On the road we try to keep things as consistent as possible. We take all meals together, book a room in the hotel for study hall, if there's time and opportunity we visit something- a movie, a play, a science museum, an art museum, all of us together. That's key. That and making sure players get plenty of rest.

It's not easy sleeping in a strange bed, but we tell our players that after 11:00 on non-game nights no video games. They can read, or watch a video, but it should be a quiet video, not an action movie. We can't really enforce that, but our kids tend to listen and I trust them to do the right thing.

On game nights we eat something after the game, and tell them to try to sleep, but if they can't, again, do something quiet and restful.

[Wayne23]

12/13: 66-69 at 2-7 Harvard. Again, it's hard to get a team up for a weak opponent. They're better inside than outside but I don't think they can come close to matching our big guys. They scored the first 8 points and led throughout the 1st half. We were only down 2 at the break though. Very poor shooting was the issue,

33.3%. This is an absolutely inexcusable loss. We should NEVER lose to a team like this.

We shot only 39.3%, 3-22 on threes, 50% from the line. We were out rebounded by 3. We didn't make shots when we most needed to.

No one had numbers worth mentioning except for our two inside subs, Juli had 10 and 8 and Burr had 10, 3, 2 with 4 steals and 3 blocks. In retrospect I should have played both of them at the end.

In the locker room I told the guys that they were playing like they didn't think they could lose, and that's why they did. They didn't wake up until the last few minutes, and they couldn't make it happen at that point.

A loss isn't the worst thing in the world but a loss due to lack of focus is a very bad thing. On the plus side they will be hearing about this for the rest of the season.

Maybe it will serve as a good wake up call. But make no mistake, I am NOT happy!

Arvid Biel hurt his back. Out for a week or so.

Off to the Las Vegas Jam. We had damned well better win it!

Brandi will take PG home with her while I'm away for almost a week.

[Wayne23]

12/15: We're only the #4 seed here. In light of our last game maybe that's accurate. We play #5 seed Colorado State, 6-1. We feel like we're better at every position, and that our bench is better. But they ARE 6-1, and we'd better have more focus than we did against Harvard.

12/16: 74-49. It took us 2 minutes to score, and we looked sluggish early. Up only 2 after a flat first half. We were excellent in the 2nd, outscoring them 43-20; great O and great D.

Hawk had 23 and 14. 14, 6 for Wins.

+9 RBs, 10 TOs. 50% shooting to their 32.1%. We were an absolutely horrible 2-13 from the foul line. I have no idea what to do about this ongoing problem.

#1 seed Kansas State, 5-5, in the semis. They have an excellent C, who may give Abe Hawk trouble, but we feel we're better at every other position.

They have a very good bench. They play a 2-3 and press on almost every possession so our guards will need to be on top of things.

[Wayne23]

12/17: 80-75. We came out with some energy but they hung in. Up 11 at the half. Ridiculous number of whistles. Fewer whistles in the 2nd half but our whole front line ended up with 4 fouls each.

15, 4, 6 for Ward, 15, 1, 4 for Gazu.

11 TOs. We went 9-17 on threes to their 4-12; and that was the biggest difference in the stats. Our bench was a huge factor, 29, 9, 6 to 6, 8, 6.

Finally ranked, #24.

#3 seed California, 8-1, for the title. They score from both inside and out, but we should dominate the boards, and we take much better care of the ball than they do. We just need to play our game.

[Wayne23]

12/18: 86-70 and the title. Slow start for both teams. Up 6 at the half. We came out strong in the 2nd half.

16, 4, 5 for Ward, 16, 6 for Hawk. The bench was terrific, 35, 13, 5 to 23, 7, 4.

Only 9 TOs. We shot 51.6% to their 42.9%.

Now we get on a plane from Las Vegas to West Virginia and then have to play #22 West Virginia tomorrow. Crazy.

West Virginia is 8-2. They are very strong inside.

[Wayne23]

12/19: 82-65. Back and forth. Up 6 at the half, but we're tired. We somehow found the energy to play a great 2nd half.

Toma had 16, 9, Juli 15, 8, Hawk 14, 9, 3.

+17 RBs but too many TOs, 17. We shot 50% to their 39.7%. Great win!

Mike Wins hurt his wrist. He's out for about a week but the docs say he should be okay for our next game. Hope so, it's the AAC opener.

I decided to stay overnight in West Virginia so we'd get a good night's sleep before flying home. We were home the next day at about 7:30 p.m.

I called Brandi and she brought PG home. She knew I was really tired so she didn't stay long. We agreed to go to dinner the next evening. Then I realized I'd better get her a present since the holiday was coming up. Being a typical male I had no idea. I wanted it to say that I cared but didn't want it to be romantic.

I finally settled on what I think is a really pretty sweater. I also got her a couple of books. While I wouldn't dare to get her anything in the realm of literature I know she does some light reading. She'd never read any Louise Penney so I bought the first two Inspector Gamache books. I love the series and I think she will, too.

12/25: We end pre-conference play at 10-1. #19, NET #2.

#3 in Overall NET Rating, #8 in Offensive NET, #33 in Def. NET. #3 in PPG. +16.0 PPG, +4.2 RBs, -6.6 TOs, which is excellent.

Abe Hawk leads us in points with 14.8, and RBs, 7.4. Sam Toma is 2nd in both with 14.2, 7.3.

#3 Memphis is here tomorrow. They're an excellent team. Probably the best defensive team in the country, giving up only 58.3 PPG. We need to turn them over and not let them get open shots, and we need to find a way to get open shots. It won't be easy!

The women are still undefeated, 11-0. Every win by 12 or more.

[Wayne23]

12/26: 75-51. We scored the first 5, they scored the next 6. Then we went on a run and stretched the lead out. Up 13 at the half, but we're not home yet! We just whipped the #3 team in the nation. We scored against their great D and we didn't let them score. This is as good as we've played all season.

18, 8, 4 for Wins, 15, 7, 5 for Bree, 12, 16 for Hawk.

Our D was all I wanted it to be, 323.9%, 5-23 on threes. +11 RBs and only 7 TOs to their 19. GREAT win!

Brandi seemed to really like the gifts. She got me three really nice ties. Yes, I coach in a tie and jacket. She also got me a book on Shakespeare- not his writing, but sort of a book of explanation and analysis of the plays and poems. I actually Am interested. I took two Shakespeare courses in college. I'll never be at her level but I'm looking forward to reading the book.

We sort of moved a little closer to a romantic relationship. But it was only baby steps.

[Wayne23]

12/28: 88-68 at Central Florida, 4-5. They hung with us for most of the half. Up 10 at the break. We romped in the 2nd half.

20, 5, 6 for PG Brian Ward, 15, 10 for 6th man Deke Juli, 12, 10 for Hawk.

+9 RBs, 8 TOs, great bench play.

Brandi is wanting to move faster than I'm ready to move. Not sure how to handle that. I care a lot about her and certainly don't want to lose her but...

[Wayne23]

12/30: 71-78 at 5-7, 0-2 Southern Methodist. WE didn't play with much energy in the 1st half. A late run put us up 7 at the break. I tried everything I could think of in the 2nd half; nothing worked.

1-17 on threes, 16 TOs, poor D (46.7%).

Something has to change. Even when we win we're not really looking that good.

Hec Howe hurt a shoulder. Out a week or so.

We were gone for 4 days and Brandi took PG home with her. He's back now.

Brandi and I are still doing this together and spending time together but things seem... cool between us...