The Phenom

[Wayne23]

3/18: 79-71. They took an early lead and we chased them for quite awhile. Then we made our run. Up 11 at the half. They made a late run. The game wasn't nearly as close as the final score indicates.

6th man Chris Burr led us with 16, 9, 3. 19, 2, 4 for Ward, 12, 14 for Juli.

+16 RBs, but 18 TOs. We held them to 41% from the floor.

#3 seed, #7 ranked Seton Hall, 30-6, in the Sweet Sixteen.

Yaph King: On paper we're stronger outside, they're stronger inside but frankly, we're about as good as they are inside even without Toma, although his loss hurts us.

On O they push it inside as often as they can. Our lack of depth inside will hurt us if the refs call a tight game.

On D they don't press unless they need to, and they play man most of the time.

Our bigs need to stay out of foul trouble while playing tough D. Our guards need to turn them over.

I've never made it past the Sweet Sixteen; hoping this is the year.

[Wayne23]

3/23: 89-81! It was close for awhile. We went on a run and took a good lead and led by 9 at the half. We led all the way, by as many as 16, but the refs called it tight and both Hawk and Juli fouled out. That meant I had to use Toma; I had planned to spot him for maybe 5-8 minutes but he played 16. Fortunately, he did not aggravate the injury and he should be 100% on Saturday.

25, 2, 6 for Wrad, 18, 3, 7, with 3 steals for Wins. Good play for all of the bigs except Hawk, who really did not have a good night.

#8 seed, unranked UCLA, 26-9, shocked #1 seed Georgetown, and then upset #4 seed UConn. We face them in the Elite Eight.

Yaph King: We feel like we're better at every position. They have a very good bench and they play a lot of minutes, so our bench will need to try to match them.

They run a very fast paced offense with a lot of freewheeling. They look outside first but their C can score..

On D they press about half the time and play mostly man with a little 3-2.

In order to win we need to play our best defensive game, and get the ball inside on O, as well as taking care of the ball.

This is about a trip to the Final Four. We're excited.

[Wayne23]

3/25: 80-73 and we're in the Final Four! We took an early lead, but they took over with about 8 left in the 1st. Down 5 at the half. It was a real war until about 6 minutes left when we went on an 8-1 mini-run; we led from that point on. But we had to work for it!

As was the case last game our guards came up big. 16, 2, 3 for Ward, 11, 6, 3 for Wins. 14, 8, 3 for Bree, 14, 3 for Juli. Toma played good D but his shots wouldn't drop (1-7).

9 TOs to their 22. -4 RBs.

Biggest win of my career!

#1 seed, #10 ranked, but #3 NET Kentucky, 28-8, in the national semifinal.

Yaph King: On paper we're in trouble, a 3 1/2 point underdog.

Guard play look to be about even. They have very good players at SF and PF, but their C is weak.

On O the y freewheel most of the time, running a pro style offense, and they try to get it inside to the SF and PF.

On D they rarely press, and they play a really tight man to man with the 3-2 thrown in on occasion.

We need to play solid D inside without committing too many fouls, and our inside O needs to be better than it's been. In the battle of the backcourts our guys need to play the way they did in our last two games. We think we can turn them over and we'd better rebound.

[Wayne23]

4/1: 87-73! We took an early lead and held it. Up only 2 at the half. We broke it open with an 11-0 run midway through the 2nd and stretched the lead to 17.

We won it with a balanced attack. Brian Ward, who has had an excellent tournament, led us with 18, 4, 5 and only 1 TO. Mike Wins had 16, 3, 6, and he also had only 1 TO. . 14, 5, 4 for Bree but he had 7 TOs and fouled out. Our bench stepped up and matched theirs, but our starting guards won it for us.

We shot 55%, 42.9% on threes, and 75% from the line. They made only 3 threes (on 16 attempts).

Gigantic win!

Post Game Press Conference:

Q: Coach, how does it feel?

Coach: (Smiles) I mean, we're going to play for the national title. I couldn't be prouder of my kids, no matter what happens. And how does it feel? There are no words. It's incredible!

Q: You actually dominated one of the best teams in the country. How did you do it?

Coach: You know my mantra, work as hard as you can and believe in yourself and in your teammates. We had a few days to prepare for Kentucky, and we knew what they did well and focused on not letting them do it. But really, our ), especially our guards, won it for us. Ward has gone to a whole other level in this tournament and tonight he was world class. He did it all on O and held his man to 5 points. Mike Wins had a very tough defensive assignment and I have to say he outplayed his man. We led just about all the way, and every time they came at us we got a stop or hit a key shot. This one played out the way you always hope they will.

Q: Purdue for the title. They're as good as anyone in the country, they play the best D in the country going by PPG Against. Their PG and Power Forward are both superstars. What do you do?

Coach: We work harder than they work and believe in ourselves and our teammates. I want the ball in Brian Ward's hands, and the way he's playing I have a lot of confidence in him making the plays we need him to make. I don't know as much about them as I'd like to and the staff will be up all night figuring out a plan, which I don't have now, but we'll be ready, and we'll give it all we've got.

Yaph King: We play #1 seed, #3 ranked, #6 NET Purdue, 33-5, for the title.

We don't match up as well as we'd like with them, and we don't have a meaningful statistical edge in any category. They are really strong at the Point so Brian
Ward has to play the way he's been playing. Sam Toma needs to defend a very, very tough PF. Abe Hawk needs to stay on the floor rather than sitting with foul trouble. Our bench looks better than theirs and they'll need to play that way.

They run a very quick offense, and score more inside than out, but their guards can score.

On D they only press when they need to. They use the man but throw in the 2-3 fairly often.

This is the game of our lives so everyone, including the subs, needs to step up big.

[Wayne23]

4/3: 88-79 in OT and the national championship! Slow start for both teams then they jumped out to a big lead and got it to double digits. We fought to come back but were down 10 at the half. OT! We fell way behind early in the 2nd, by 18 points. I called my next to last time out with 16 minutes left and gave them the "it's now or never" speech, put in a press, which we don't use often, and told them I believed that they could win this thing. And damn if they didn't go out and do it!

The final score was our biggest lead.

Brian Ward and Sam Toma were the keys. Toma had 21 and 13, and Ward had 19, 3, 7 with 5 steals and only 2 TOs. Sila Gazu had his best game of the year, 15, 0, 5, with 4 steals; Wins was in foul trouble all night and Gazu saved us. 14, 9 for Hawk. Their PF lit us up for 27, but he had only 2 in the last 15 minutes.

We shot only 41.9% but held them to 40.9%. We made 10 threes to their 7, and we hit 72.7% of our free throws. +1 RB, 4 fewer TOs. Whatever the numbers say, we won the game and have the trophy!

4/4: Awards: Brian Ward was named NCAA tournament MOP, and it was richly deserved! In conference Abe Hawk was named AAC POY, Defensive POY, and first team along with Sam Toma. Brian Ward and Jason Bree made the 2nd team. I was named conference COY again.

The women's team finished an undefeated season by beating defending champion UConn by 11, our closest game of the year! I was there, sitting right behind the bench. In the post game press conference the team dedicated the win to Midge, which brought a tear to my eye. Della Bates was National POY and tourney MOP. The big girls, Smith and Wirz, also made 1st team All American.

The moment of truth is at hand. It's hard to leave a national championship team, especially with my top three guards coming back as well as Hawk and Juli, and a terrific PF, and at least two other good looking bigs coming in. But then the lure of an elite program is there, and the salary and facilities here are weak, and not likely to get much better. Let's see what the offers look like.

[Wayne23]

4/9: Turned out to be an easy decision. The only world class program that came calling was North Carolina and I am not moving back into the stifling heat and the bigotry of the South. I'm staying.

Nothing's ever easy. A HUGE fight about the location of the victory parade. The Governor put a lot of pressure on the school to have it in Boston. That's ridiculous.

We have nothing to do with Boston and it's more than two hours away. Not many students would be able to be there, and we don't have a fan base there.

I dug in my heels and amazingly enough Rick Hopeless supported me. The parade will be in Springfield, the stat capitol. It's 45 minutes away and the school will run buses for students who want to be there.

4/11: I called Brandi. We're going to dinner tomorrow.

4/12: I think Brandi and I are an item. I told her I'm willing to try my best to make this work as a romantic relationship, and with no limits. That doesn't guarantee anything, but I'm ready to give this my best shot. I missed her terribly over the past few months.

4/15: The parade was wonderful. Great crowd all along the route to greet and cheer on both the men's and women's teams. We're the first school other than UConn to achieve this double title. They did it twice. Anyway, it was a very special day.

4/16: We've been chasing a Juco C for months. He finally committed.

4/23: I ask for a facilities upgrade.

Got it. C+ to B.

At some point I will move away from UMass, maybe. It would be nice to have the kind of salary coaches at elite schools get. It would be nice to have the kind of recruiting budget coaches at elite schools get. Those are the main reasons. But the schools I would be willing to go to are few in number- UCLA, UConn, Michigan ST, Indiana, maybe Kansas... Not many others. I won't go South, I won't go where the political climate is too far right, thus the maybe with Kansas, I won't go to a
religious school. So maybe I'll never leave at all. Time will tell.

What a season! 35-5, #6 rank, national title. Over my 7 seasons, 202-44, .821. All of this and I don't turn 31 until next week. I really am a Phee Nom!!!

[Wayne23]

5/1: Ranked #18 in the first poll. I think this team can go a long way, maybe all the way.

#14 Recruiting class.

We move to the Big East which will definitely be a challenge.

We buy the National Basic scouting report.

6/5: We have a spot for a transfer since we were unable to fill a scholarship last season. Looking at a PF from Memphis, among others.

6/12: No luck.

6/25: We'll go to the Indy Elite Camp.

6/26: 4 scholarships. 2 and 2 would be great. If 3 and 1 it would be 3 guards.

Brandi and I have definitely heated up the relationship. Too quickly? I don't know but I don't think so. We're good together in many ways.

"So, you're going to move at some point..."

"Yes, I probably will do that."

"So..."

"Yes?"

"So where does that leave us?"

"I've given that a lot of thought... Here's what I'm thinking. I've already told you that there are very few schools that make my list. Maybe I'll never get an offer from any of them, but if I do, most of them are big to very big schools, and the rest are in areas where other schools are nearby. I won't take a new job unless we're pretty sure we can find you a position you want at the same school, or one near enough to make our commutes reasonable."

"That's fair. So you see me in your future then?"

"Absolutely, assuming that's what you want."

"Okay, your place or mine?"

"What?"

"If you feel as strongly as I do, and it seems like you do, should we live in your place or mine? It's crazy to stay separate. I don't think we should buy anything new since we'll be leaving at some point, but why aren't we living together?"

"... You're right. I think it might be a little soon, but then if I think a little longer, yes, let's move in together. Your place is a little bigger. I think we should go there."

"I was hoping you'd say that."

"I'll call my realtor and put my place up for sale."

[Wayne23]

6/29: Turns out that for tax reasons and other reasons it makes more sense for me to rent out my condo until we're both ready to sell. So it's for rent.

7/6: A visiting professor, her husband, and their daughter will rent my place starting August 1. I'm packing and getting ready to move.

7/19: I've moved. Now living in Brandi's condo. PG is transitioning well.

Making progress with recruits, but it's early.

8/7: PF Marq Feld, #14, and PG Brian Ward., #19, are on the Norton list.

8/21: We offer to 2 PGs. A PF, and a C.

I'm settling in nicely with Brandi. We're still getting in each others' way a little, since this is so new. We'll adjust and be fine. But we really need more room. I need a room to view videos of games, take notes... She was using the 2nd bedroom as her office and I don't want to take that away from here. It's unrealistic to share that room. For now I'm using the living room, or part of it, but that's less than ideal. She needs to view videos of Shakespeare's plays fairly often as part of her work, as well as videos about The Bard, videos that discuss the time period... and the living room TV is the biggest and best for that. We'll work it out, but we haven't done that yet.

[Wayne23]

9/11: We lose the recruit we wanted most.

9/18: Got the PF and the C. Of course I need guards and I lost one of those. Hoping to get the other one.

Going to the WS Midwest vs. Illinois. My most challenging schedule yet.

9/25: Got the PG and the SG. All 4 recruits who committed ar good students so I should be finished for this year.

10/2: First day of practice. We are DEP in the backcourt. We have 4 excellent players up front but after that it thins out quickly. A serious injury in the frontcourt would mean deep trouble.

Brandi and I had a big fight this evening. It was about work space. This has been building for a while and it came to a head tonight.

Neither of us acquitted ourselves very well, and we didn't resolve it. I was banished to sleep in the recliner in the spare bedroom- NOT the one in the living room since the fight was over access to the TV in there.

My side of the story? I am willing to concede the living room TV to Brandi but she's a slob, and leaves the spare bedroom in a mess constantly, making it very difficult for me to work in there.

Her side? It's her office and the way she keeps it is her business.

Strange. She is a completely reasonable person in all other ways, but she doesn't seem able to see my difficulty with this.

I'm thinking I'm going to need to stay late at the office and view the videos there. I suspect that will put pressure on the relationship, too, since she will complain about my being away from home so much.

Not sure what the fix is for this.

10/6: We're still not speaking. I've tried a couple of times but Brandi isn't willing.

10/10: FINALLY. I've been working late every night because I absolutely need to view these videos and have a clean space to be able to take notes.

I got home, she threw herself into my arms in tears. When she could speak she said she'd cleaned the office and would try to keep it clean. We talked about the need to compromise and discussed the fact that this place is too small, and that buying something bigger doesn't make a lot of sense since we may be moving in the Spring. No idea how this will play out over the coming months. It really is our only serious issue so I'm hoping we can work it out.

11/13: The season starts tomorrow:

Here's the lineup:

Seniors Brian Ward and Sila Gazu share PG, each getting 20 minutes, and they both spend the rest of their minutes at SG.

Junior Mike Wins, who started at SG last season, is our #3 guard. Soph Brian Davy is good enough to get minutes but there aren't any. Frosh Koh Duna is out of luck.

Senior Abe Hawk and junior Deke Juli share equal time at SF and both sub at PF and C. I wanted to start Juli this season but two new guys have just been amazing-

Frosh Marq Feld is at PF, and junior Gabe Stan, a Juco, is at C. The only other big guy is frosh Agelo Tria, and he's really not ready. I red shirted Centers Hurem Suic and Izy Pilu who are REALLY not ready. Again, injuries up front will mean big trouble.

[Wayne23]

11/14: 92-44 with #24 Oklahoma here. Up 10 in less than 5 minutes. Up 26 at the half. Hell of a win over a top 25 team!

18, 12 for Feld, 13, 10 for Juli, 14, 4, 3 for Abe Hawk.

+17 RBs, 11 TOs. Our D was amazing, 25.4%, 4-33 on threes. Great start!

Brandi is still not great about keeping the office clean, and it bothers me. I'm trying to be patient. It doesn't help that if I move her things out of my way so I can work, and fail to put them back exactly where they were that she pitches a fit. But relationships are never easy, and we truly are simply too crowded in this place.