The Phenom

[Wayne23]

1/11: 99-77. Up 10 with 10 to play in the 1st. Up 13 at the half. Yet another easy game.

44, 6, 3 for Baky. His man had 4, 3, 1. 17, 11 for Moby, who has been playing better lately. The injury he suffered early in the season seemed to linger for a long time. 14, 4 for Sulu.

+8 RBs, 12 TOs.

The difference was at the line again. This team hits their free throws, 90.9% tonight.

At #19 Stanford, 14-2, 2-1 next. Finally a ranked team! I honestly don't see anything that makes me think they beat us if we play our game. Their C is dangerous but we think Sulu can handle him.

Lu and I had a long talk about the future. We think we have a future together but it may be tricky to work out. I've decided that I want to stay at a school until I win a national title, stay there until I lose one, then move on to a program that needs a little building. Keep following that pattern. That means Lu would need to find a job at the same university or one nearby.

"What if I made you my #1 assistant and associate head coach?"

"Really?"

"Hell, the stuff you say helps me more than anything my assistants say and they're all really good."

"I need to think about that. I really like running my own program but that's an interesting idea. Not every A. D. Would go for a woman coaching men, and probably some kids would be hard to recruit with that in place."

"If they want me they get you. I can live with that."

[Wayne23]

1/14: 96-82. They took an early lead and got it to 12 really fast. Down 5 at the half. We came out firing in the 2nd, caught up, took a lead, and got it past 10. We were challenged for really only the 2nd time all season; down 14 at one point. We responded very well.

Baky was his usual amazing self, getting 40, 4, 3. His man got 10. 13, 8 for Palt. Their C is a very good player. He had 25 and 5 and got both Sulu and back up Car Mosh in serious foul trouble.

7 RBs, but 20 TOs, which I am NOT happy about. We shot 53.6%, 10-19 on threes. We took 7 fewer shots but made one more, and made 7 more threes than they did. +5 at the line.

Very unusual stat, -12 in the paint. That says how good their C is, and their PF played well, too. Good challenge and we'll work on the TOs.

9-8, 2-2 UCLA here next. They aren't having a great year but they have a great program and that counts for something. They take good care of the ball but I don't think their D will be able to handle us and we should own the inside.

[Wayne23]

1/18: 98-74. Up 11 after 7 minutes. Up 61-37 at the half. Baky and Sulu are going wild. We were way too laid back in the 2nd half. The kids will hear about that.

24, 14, 3 blocks for Sulu, who is averaging a very nice 15.5 and 7.5. 29, 4, 3 for Baky. He held his man to 6. 14, 4 for Eric Moss.

+14 RBs, 8 TOs, so my harping on taking care of the ball seems to have helped. We took 26 more shots and hit 11 of them.

+26 in the paint, +23 on 2nd chances.

Tied for 1st in the PAC 12 with #22 Utah. Everyone else is at least 2 games back.

At 7-9, 1-4 Oregon ST next. If we stay focused it's a blowout. They don't have enough offense to hang with us.

"So, #1 assistant and Associate head coach. Hm..."

"Think about it."

"Oh, I am. But I won't actually do it until I get at least one national title of my own."

"The way Auro Geniaumma recruits and coaches, that won't be easy."

"I'd LOVE to beat him for a title, and he won't be there forever, he's in his late 70s."

[Wayne23]

1/21: 78-59. up 13 early. Up 14 at the half. They actually played better than we expected, but they just didn't have the horses.

37, 8, 4 for Baky. His man got 14, which may be a season high for an opponent of his. 17, 14 for Sulu, 16, 3 for Palt. 5 TOs. We only shot 37.9% but took 11 more shots and made 4 of them. And we hit our foul shots.

Back to back games against 8-10, 3-3 Colorado. First there, then here. This is another team that won't score enough points to challenge us if we play our game.

[Wayne23]

1/25: 91-73. They're hanging with us. Up only 2 at the half. Big run early in the 2nd half. They gave it all they had and never quit but they didn't have nearly enough ammunition.

36, 7 for Baky, and he held his man to 3. 16, 15 for Sulu, 14, 9, 3 for Palt.

+15 RBs, 6 TOs. We held them to 37.3% from the floor. Threes were their strength, they hit 14 of them.

+22 in the paint.

Colorado again, at our place.

We're still tied for 1st with #20 Utah, 3 ahead of the next teams.

"Yes! We beat Stanford!"

"Great going Lu. They were #2, right?"

"Yeah. We're #3 so we should move up."

[Wayne23]

1/28: 86-57. Took a long time to get the lead to 10, 13 minutes. Up 17 at the half. As expected, an easy win.

28, 4 for Baky. His man had 2. 12, 7, 3 for Palt, 13, 6 for Moby. 12 assists for Nash. +5 RBs, 8 TOs. Ever since that awful game where we had 20 TOs we've really been taking care of the ball. We work on it at every practice.

We shot 51.6%, 7-15 on threes.

Baky is #1 on the Norton list.

Utah lost to Stanford on the road. We're alone in 1st. We play there on 2/11.

At 14-7, 3-5 Cal. They're on a 3 game win streak. We crushed them last time, and if we play our game we should do it again, although they're definitely playing good ball right now.

[Wayne23]

2/1: 95-78. Double digit lead in 3 1/2 minutes. 50-33 at the half. Another easy win.

Baky had 42, 6, 7 with 4 steals. 16, 7 for Moby, 16, 6 for Palt.

26 assists on 31 baskets; impressive! We shot 50%, 9-19 on threes.

Utah lost again on the road. We're now 2 up.

15-6, 5-4 Arizona State is here next. They aren't the team they were last season.

Red Butts, Portland Times: Who can beat the mighty Ducks (Can I use that term?)! They are winning by an average margin of 19.5. That's almost scary. Just one setback all season long. Their ace, Deke Baky, just continues to light it up every night, averaging 32.1, way ahead of anyone else in the country. Evan Nash is now up to a first in the nation 7.6 assists. The big guys get it done inside, and the team has a very talented bench. What's missing? Not the coaching staff, Coach Phee Nom and his staff are absolutely top notch. Coach Phee won a national title at UMass, and is looking for his 2nd one. This could be the year!

[Wayne23]

2/4: 113-64. Went with the 3-2 to start. It's not working very well but I want to stick with it for awhile. Up 5 at the half. We lit it up in the 2nd.

Stayed with the 3-2 all the way. The most points one of my teams has ever scored.

Baky had 42, 3, 5. His man had 3. 18, 7 for Sulu. 19, 6 for Mosh.

+23 RBs. 8 TOs. We shot 54.2%, 7-13 on threes. Held them to 36.9%, 5-21 on threes.

Keyon Moby strained a calf muscle. Out for as long as two weeks.

Back to back games against ranked teams coming up. First is #18 Arizona, 18-6, 6-4, here. They are very good at PG and PF, and their C is pretty good.

We need to play well but if we do we should be fine.

[Wayne23]

2/8: 76-75. Starting in the 2-3 tonight but this is a good team and I'll ditch it quickly if need be. Up 13 after 11 minutes. Up 27 at the half. So the 2-3 is working! And then it stopped working. I switched to the man but we were all out of synch. They took the lead multiple times in the last several minutes and only a 15 footer by Baky with two men on him got us the win. A loss tonight would have been totally my fault.

25, 6 for Baky. His man had 3. 15, 11 for Sulu. 17, 9 for Palt. We knew their PG (21) and PF (22) were good; I should NOT have played games on D.

+5 RBs. We won it on the line in a game where not many fouls were called. We were 14 of 15, they were 3 of 6.

In a way it's good for the team to have to sweat one out right 'til the end.

AT #16 Utah, 20-4, 9-2. There will be no fooling around on D in this one. They have a very balanced attack and all 5 starters can score. They have a very solid bench. It's important that we control the boards and turn them over. If we do, we'll be fine. But this one should be a challenge.

[Wayne23]

2/11: 84-62. We take an early lead and stretch it to 15 quickly. Up 15 at the half. We dominated a very good team on the road!

30 and 5 for Baky. His man had 4, 2, 3. It's important to remember that the SG is usually the 1st or 2nd leading scorer on most teams and Baky holds them down almost every game. 13, 16, with 5 blocks, 3 steals for Sulu. +23 RBs- we thought we could own the boards. TOs were disappointing, 21 for us and 15 for them. Not happy about that.

3 up on Utah, 5 or more on the rest with 6 to play.

Baky is still #1 on the Norton list. He looks like he's going to be national POY. No way to know but he should also be Defensive POY. We'll see.

At 15-8, 7-5 Washington next. We won by 25 here. Their PF is their best player but this is a game we should win.

Lu's team was upset last night. They're still up by 2 in the conference but she is NOT happy about the loss, to UCLA on the road. Only their 2nd loss of the season.