The Phenom

[Wayne23]

1/10: 73-72 at Florida Gulf Coast. We led most of the way. They came back late and made it really stressful. Shawn Sand hit a three with 12 seconds left. They brought it down and we fouled with 3.2 left- a non-shooting foul. The guy hit both ends but we inbounded and played keep away. They couldn't catch up to the ball to foul and the clock ran out.

Sand had 16, 1, 6 with 6 steals. Mert had 14 and 10. The other three starters had 14, 13, and 11. Bench was no help tonight, 5, 7, 4 and 8 fouls. They're usually better than that. We'll talk... individually with each of them who gets minutes.

I have to say that I'm 3-1 in one point games, and winning one of those is a HUGE adrenalin rush. LOVE it!

We're 14-3, 3-0.

1/11: Junior F/C Hank Leon: I'm still pissed about losing my starting spot. Coach says it's affecting my play and I'm not going to get big minutes if I don't get out of my head and into the game. I wasn't happy when he said it but after thinking about it, he's right. I'm gonna work on it.

[Wayne23]

1/13: 82-80. 4-1 in one possession games. This was a wild one. They took an early 12 point lead. We battled back to down 3 at the half then took a lead and seemingly took command in the second, leading by 9 with 3:03 left, and by 5 with 1:01 left. They hit a three, got a stop, hit a 2 to tie it. We came down and got it to Mert who hit a 12 footer with a defender mauling him- no call, but it didn't matter.

19, 9, 4 for Mert, 17, 4, 7 for Hayd, 14, 7 for Owen. Good bench play by both Leon, 10 and 4, and Dens, 9. A season low 8 TOs, which was a big factor.

We're 15-2, 4-0, alone in 1st place.

[Wayne23]

1/17: 60-72 at Lipscomb. The 9 game win streak ends. We took an early 15-5 lead and it was downhill all night after that. Down 13 at the half, and never closer than 7 in the 2nd. Can't win 'em all.

21, 5, 3 for Sand, 13, 13 for Owen. 4-22 on threes and 20 TOs were the biggest reasons.

15-3, 4-1. Still in 1st place but only by 1/2 game.

A little about me. Still living alone. Still not dating. I wake up at 6:00 every morning, put on a pair of shorts and a tee shirt and hit the road. I run about 6 miles in 45 minutes, come in, cool down, shower and have a bowl of cereal for breakfast.

I'm in the office by 8:30. I check my mail and get to work. I usually start by getting to the emails and texts I already checked at home but didn't answer. Starting at 9:00 I return phone calls that have come in. I don't call or text recruits in the morning because if kids aren't in school they're probably sleeping. I leave kid calls for after lunch.

At 10:00 I host our daily staff meeting. Sometimes it's all of us but on some days either my recruiter, Ben Flet, or my Scouting coach Pers Will, is on the road. Sometimes both of them are. Anyway, whoever is not present joins us via Zoom. We talk about whatever we need to talk about, usually starting with recruiting, then the scouting report for our next opponent, or if we did that on another day, we talk about what we need to do to beat the team, and all of that is related to the scouting report. After that we talk about our players, one at a time. We talk about off court stuff first, academics, any personal problems that we may be aware of... Then we talk about how they're playing and what they need to work on. We close by talking about what the team is doing well and what we're not doing well,- how to keep doing the first and how to fix the second. Later I'll meet with my bench coach and we'll talk about game and practice things.

At around noon I go to the cafeteria where the players eat and have a light lunch, usually a bowl of soup and a salad. If any of our kids are there I'll say hi, but I don't eat with them. I leave them to socialize with their friends. Sometimes a player or a bunch of players will come and join me, and that's fine. Often some students who are not affiliated with the team will join me. I always welcome them; it's great for the team to have them interested. Same with faculty and staff members who occasionally join me. That's fine, too. I'm a public figure around here and this is all part of the job.

If I'm on the road I eat at a place that will be likely to have soup and salad because i like to eat a light breakfast and a light lunch. On the road I eat breakfast in my hotel room. I buy a box of cereal and some milk and make the cereal in my room.

After lunch I again catch up on emails, texts, and phone calls, then at 2:00 I meet with Tanner Sitt, my bench coach. If we have practice that night we design the practice, and determine what each of us will do during practice. If we have a game we finalize game strategy.

After the meeting I watch film of us or of our next opponent- I do all of that over and over. Throughout this time more phone calls, texts, and emails come in- from the press, from other schools' coaches and A.D.s... I often call or text recruits during this time.

Study hall is 4:00-6:00, and as I've said, I'm there.

I have dinner at 6:00, on campus. I eat a good meal at dinner time, again, in the cafeteria, but the food is good. They always have soup and salad, and I always have a cup of soup and a small salad. For entrees they have three stations- kid food like pizza, burgers, and that, American food, and foreign food. KSU has lots of Hispanic and Asian students, and some Indian students, so there is an entree of Asian food some nights, Mexican food other nights, and Indian food on other nights. I almost always have the foreign food. There's always dessert and I always have it, either a piece of pie or some ice cream.

If we have a game study hall ends at 5:00 instead of 6:00 so the kids have time to eat and to digest before the game. I go directly from the caf to the gym across the street, and start getting ready for the game.

If there's no game I go back to the office to make a final check of calls, texts, and emails, then I go home. During the season I watch more video and watch a game. Given our conference the game rarely features teams we're likely to play but hey, I'm a basketball coach. I watch games.

I do all of the above Monday through Saturday.

On Sundays, if we don't have a game, I stay home. I take care of calls, texts, and emails as they come in, may call or text recruits, look at videos, take notes on anything that comes to mind. But Sunday is a day to relax. I often call my parents in Massachusetts. I'm an only child so I try to stay in touch. I also exchange emails with them throughout the week. Mom and I text but dad doesn't text at all. A big Sunday luxury is an afternoon nap, usually 45 minutes to an hour. It's the only time I ever nap, but I love it.

That's my week during the season. It varies depending on whether we have a game, and whether the game is home or away, of course, but I do most of the same stuff on the road that I do at home, except the team eats all our meals together. The travelling secretary has made reservations for us for all of our meals.

[Wayne23]

1/20: 88-65 over Loserty here. Never a game. 29, 6 for Owen, 12, 10 for Sage, 12, 9 for Mert. Good guard play with a season low 7 TOs.

PSPN: Hi, Jim Lisle, here at PSPN, the poker, sports, and porn network. We don't often feature a team in a conference as low as the Atlantic Sun, but then the Kennesaw State Owls are not a typical small conference school. They're 16-3, 5-1 in the conference, and they're playing solid basketball. After a total of 27 wins in their last 5 season, A. D. Tank Perkins brought in a phenom- just ask him. 23 year old Dunphy Nomakowski has been phenomenal in his first season at KSU, no doubt about it. There's not a senior on the team but they're playing like experienced veterans, not wilting under pressure and taking everything thrown at them. You don't expect this from a first year coach but the team is 4-1 in one possession games. Interestingly enough, they don't have any freshmen, as well as not having any seniors.

"Coach, how come no freshmen?"

"We switched them all to either academic or hardship scholarships and i cut them all. None of them would have been any help to us."

"Kind of cold, no?"

"Not at all. Every single one of those kids is on scholarship so they'll have every chance to get an education. I wouldn't just cut a kid loose completely."

"What's the secret to your success?"

"Everybody associated with this team will work as hard as they possibly can, and will believe in themselves. Those are the two keys."

"How do you make that happen?"

"We structured our first practices for conditioning and we got our guys into the best shape of their lives. We let them know that we expected their absolute best effort, mental and physical, not just every day, but every minute. We enforced that strictly and we got it. This is a special bunch. I never needed to really ride anybody about working hard or about studying the offensive and defensive sets. They just did it."

"And the second part?"

"That's on me. I had to, again, from day one, convince every one of these kids that I believed they could do the things we were asking them to do, and that they could be successful. The staff and I did that over and over and over again."

"Coach, I want to show some clips. Here's Ren Mert. He's your leader. Isn't he? (Clips roll)

"Yes. He can do a lot of things, and he does them just about every night. These clips are showing him at his best, of course, but he's a good player."

"And here's Gary Owen. Gary started off as your 6th man but worked his way into the starting lineup."

"Actually he was probably our 7th man, but yes. He just made it impossible not to start him. He is very consistent, but he's capable of breaking out. He's had a 33 point night and a 29 pointer."

"So your strength is up front then?"

"We're pretty solid inside but my three guards, Reg Hayd, Shawn Sand, and Joel Dens do a good job outside."

"So you're a well rounded team."

"I like to think so."

"Coach, it's pretty amazing to go from a 3 win season to being 16-3 before the halfway mark in conference play."

"Work hard and believe in yourself and your teammates."

"Good luck with the rest of your season, Coach."

"Thanks Jim."

[Wayne23]

1/27: 91-79 at North Florida. Only up 3 at the half but we led for the entire 2nd half. Double doubles for all 3 starting bigs- 18, 10 for Owen, 12, 11 for Mert, 10, 11 for Sage. 14, 3, 8 with 4 steals for Sand. Good bench play. +11 RBs.

17-3, 6-1, 1 up on 2 teams, Bellarmine and Lipscomb.

Hank Leon, sub F/C: I thought I played well tonight, 10 points and good D. But I only had 3 RBs.

Sub guard Joel Dens: 24 minutes, 13 points and good D. I call that a good night.

[Wayne23]

1/31: 95-87 over Stetson here. We led by 22 late in the 2nd half and then we relaxed too soon and they came almost all the way back, got it to 3. We finally woke up and retook command, but there's a lesson here.

32, 10 for Owen, 17, 3, 3 for Sand. Only 10 TOs.

At the halfway point in the ASC season we're 18-3, 7-1, 1 up on Lipscomb, 2 on Bellarmine, 3 or more on the rest.

F/C Gary Owen: I'm loving the way this season is playing out. I went from being the first big guy off the bench to being a starter. Now I'm the team's leading scorer. I feel like my defense is decent and getting better. And we're winning- a LOT!

[Wayne23]

2/3: 86-65 over North Alabama here. They scored the first basket and that was the only time they led.

Gary Owen led us again with 21 and 14. Mert had 15, 8, 3. +13 RBs.

Excerpts from Post Game Press Conference:

Q: Coach, you just keep winning and winning. What does that mean as far as the future is concerned? Should we expect you to move on at the end of the season?

Coach (pauses): I'm the coach of the KSU Owls. I feel like I'm lucky to be here, and believe me, I'm grateful to be here. I probably won't be coaching here when I retire but I hope to be here for awhile. I'll certainly be here next year.

Q: What's your dream job?

Coach: My dream job. Right now it's right here. Honestly, I haven't thought at all about any other schools. Like any other young coach I suppose I want to end up at a really elite school in a power conference, but that's down the road. Right now I'm enjoying being here very much.

[Wayne23]

2/7: 70-87 at Jacksonville. Not our night. We were never in it. We trailed by as many as 21.

23, 16 for Mert, 13, 5, 3 for Owens, 12, 3, 5 for Sand, but no one else did much. +7 RBs but a season high 23 TOs.

Losses happen. Our job is to turn it around next game.

We're tied with Lipscomb for the conf. lead. They're here in 10 days. Everyone else is at least 2 games back.

[Wayne23]

2/10: 88-77 over FL Gulf Coast here. They hung in all night long, never letting us really put them away. We held the lead throughout but every time we threatened to break it open they came back. But our guys just kept working and it turned out well.

25, 3, 6 with 3 steals for Sand, 22, 7 for Owen, 21, 4 for Mert. Only 8 TOs.

Thinking about our sophomores today. Gary Owen, Rick Sage, and Shawn Sand are all only sophs. They all start and they will all get better over time. I like this team's future.

And of course juniors Ren Mert, Reg Hayd, Joel Dens, and Hank Leon will all be back next year.

Add to that the 3 recruits coming in and we should be tough. Thinking about asking Tank to try to get us into a tougher conference. I think we'll be able to handle it.

[Wayne23]

2/14: 84-86 at Bellarmine. Tough game. Gary Owen was in foul trouble all night and played only 15 minutes before fouling out. That hurt us a lot since he wound up with only 7 and 5. Their C fouled out, too, but he's not the big player for their team that Owen is for us.

We had a chance at the end but we didn't get a good shot. Sand had to throw up a three with a hand in his face. The play was to try to work it inside but that didn't happen. We'll work on this some more in practice.

21, 13, 4 for Mert, 14 each for our starting guards, and 10 each for our top two subs. 19 TOs.

Lipscomb at our place next and that could very likely decide the regular season title. They're up 1/2 game on us right now. Nobody else is going to catch either team.