The Phenom

[Wayne23]

7/15: Getting along really well with A. D. Kara Fosse and women's coach Lu Branz. Anything that needs to be discussed is discussed quickly and resolved equitably.
My assistants know their stuff. I include them in everything we do.

8/7: C Aub Mims is #5 on the Norton list.

My parents just returned home to MA. They loved it out here and definitely will resettle if, as expected, this becomes my permanent job.

8/21: We offer to an SG, a PF, and a C. All blue chip, and all very interested.

9/4: The Fall semester has begun. We have, as do all Div. I schools I'm guessing, tutors in place, and mandatory study halls, two hours a day, six days a week.

Not mentioning names but we have two (ONLY 2!) students who struggle academically. They are both excellent players so we're going to be very proactive in making sure they stay eligible. They'll get lots of help beyond the 2 hour study halls.

9/11: We get our #1, an SG, #2 overall recruit. Great catch! We lost a PF.

9/18: Got a C, another excellent prospect, #9 in the country. We lost another PF. We offer to a C who may be a risk of not hitting our SAT but he's worth the gamble. We're after another big guy and 2 guards for our final scholarship.

Going to the Preseason NIT vs. Rider. We have a very challenging pre-conference schedule but most of the games are here.

9/25: We got the C, #11. Again, we're hoping he will hit our SAT score. He is being tutored already, even though the test isn't until January. All of our other prospects signed elsewhere so we're widening the search.

10/2: First day of practice. Based on only one practice, well, and a LOT of video viewing, I think this could be a very good team if we stay healthy. The worries-

1. We start three frosh, though all of them look really good. 2. We are not deep, injuries would really make things difficult. But if we stay healthy I think we'll really make some noise!

10/9: Hopefully that guy we're worried about re the SAT score hits it because there aren't a lot of decent prospects left. All of ours signed elsewhere. We're widening the search yet again but not impressed with who's left.

11/13: Season starts tomorrow. We're the #3 seed in the Preseason NIT.

Here's our lineup:

Senior Adam Haye is at PG. He should be one of our very best players.

Frosh Josh Jonn is at SG and subs at PG. We have high hopes for him.

Frosh Eddy Palt is at SF. He is a natural inside player so we'll really be focused inside with him at the 3 spot. He has looked great in practices.

Flye Muri, yet another frosh, is at PF. He's a good shooter. He needs to pick up his D but he has everything else.

Aub Mims, a senior, is in the middle. He's our best player and he has the whole game. One of the best glass eaters in the country.

#3 guard is Andre Dane, a junior. He's looked really good in practice. #4 guard is sophomore Brian Evan. He'll have trouble getting minutes if our guards stay healthy.

Our 6th man is C/F Car Mosh, another frosh. His D is not up to our standards and it needs to get better, but he's the best big on the bench. Next inside player is frosh Eric Moss. If I could have, I would have red shirted him. He's a good rebounder but the rest of his game needs work.
Last real option is SF frosh, Jeff Karr, who would also have been red shirted if we hadn't had all of those guys transfer out. He is simply not ready, and will only play in blowouts or if we have a rash of injuries.

As I said, our starting five is impressive but we are NOT deep!

[Wayne23]

11/14: 94-73 vs. Rider but it was close for nearly 35 minutes. They took a lead midway through the first half and we had to work hard to catch them. We didn't. Down 6 at the break. We had to work for this one.

Starting guards combined for 40, 25 for PG Adam Haye, and 15 for Josh Jonn. Aub Mims came up big with 18, 14, 3 but he was in foul trouble for most of the night and played only 20 minutes. 17, 5 for SF Eddy Palt. 6th man Car Mosh had 12.

Only 4 TOs, which led to us taking 17 more shots than they took, and we made 7 of them. We shot 77.8% from the line. Is it possible I'm coaching a team that can shoot free throws! +11 2nd chance points.

Again, it took a long time for us to play well, and aside from Mosh the bench gave us very little.

#6 seed, #10 ranked Gonzaga is next.

It's so early that there's not much to go by for our scouting coach, Danny Peer, but he sees it as their backcourt vs. Our frontcourt. Hoping our guards play like they did against Rider.

The #1 and #5 seeds both lost in the first round.

[Wayne23]

11/16: 92-75. Close 1st half until we went on a late run. Up 10 at the half. Our bigs did some excellent work, as did our bench. The guards took good care of the ball but didn't score and didn't play much D.

35, 12 for Mims, who is all we expected him to be so far. 16 for #3 guard Andre Dane, 13, 5 for Mosh, 10, 11 for Palt.

+9 RBs, only 9 TOs so we took 11 extra shots and made 8 of them. 22-33 from the line which is not great, but better than I'm used to.

Starting SG Josh Jonn sprained his wrist. Not really serious but I'm not sure how effective he'll be in the semifinal.

#3 ranked, #2 seed Marquette. They are strong in the back court and at SF, and we'll have our hands full. We're the underdog in this one.

[Wayne23]

11/18: 77-56. We took an early lead, then got it to 10 with 8 min. Left in the 1st. Up 12 at the half but it's not over yet! I expected a real test in this one and it simply didn't happen. We stretched to lead to 23 early in the 2nd and coasted home from there.

Aub Mims had a terrific game, 18, 20, 3, 5 blocks. 16 for Jonn, who was playing hurt; that both impressed and encouraged me. 13, 2, 5 for PG Andy Haye, 10, 4 for #3 guard Andy Dane who is exceeding expectations. Our bench did a great job.

+23 RBs. We knew we had the edge inside but not this much of an edge. A season high 16 TOs, but it didn't really hurt us much. 24 fouls called on us to only 18 on them but we hit our foul shots again, 18-25.

+14 in the paint, +6 on 2nd chances.

#8 seed, #12 ranked (We climbed to #2) San Diego State got through an upset laden bracket to reach the final.

We're a strong favorite in this game. They feature balanced scoring in a slow paced O.

On D they rarely press, and they play mostly man.

If we don't let them go crazy with threes we should be all set.

All 3 recruits hit our SAT score. Yay!

[Wayne23]

11/20: 74-50. We took an early lead, and got it to 10 in less than 10 min. Up an amazing 26 at the half. A walk in the park.

C/F Car Mosh, our 6th man, led us with 21 and 7 in 26 minutes. Both Aub Mims and Flye Murl were in foul trouble all night and Car bailed us out. 14, 6 for Haye, 14, 4 for Murl. Excellent bench play.

Mims' foul trouble held him to season lows of 6 and 9. I kind of climbed all over him. This is the 2nd game when he's had foul trouble. He's a senior; that shouldn't happen. He took it well.

+7 RBs, only 8 TOs, which led to us taking33 more shots, making 15 of them. We shot 10-12 from the line. I couldn't be happier with our foul shooting.

+22 points in the paint, and 11-0 on 2nd chance points.

Post Game Press Conference (Excerpts):

Q: Coach, you walked through this tournament with an average win margin of just under 21 points, against 3 ranked teams. Are you that good?

Coach: We had a really good tournament after the first half of the first game. We're good, but it's way too soon to know how good. Time will tell.

Q: Your next 3 are against #6, #5, and #14, in that order. They're all home games. What do you think?

Coach: I think it will be a great test. I hate to lose at home, but this is a big challenge.

Q: How do you like the Pacific Northwest?

Coach: So far I love it. It didn't get terribly hot all summer and I detest the heat, and it's been mostly pleasantly cool since summer ended. Yes, it rains a lot, but I really don't mind the rain. Most rainy days I run in it and I find it refreshing. When you live here you quickly learn to have a change of clothes or two in the trunk, but that's okay. I couldn't be happier.

Q: Are you here to stay?

Coach: I'm happy here and I have no plans to go anywhere. The job's great, I love the climate, the A. D., the women's coach and the entire staff, mine and the athletic department's are all easy to work with and great people.

[Wayne23]

11/22: #6 Michigan, 2-0, is next. Their SG may be the best player in the country. He's certainly the best scorer (30.0). We think we're better at every other position. We'll double him if we need to. Our SG, Josh Jonn, is back to being 100% healthy and that's a big help. Michigan does play great D, but we should own the boards.

11/23: 71-83. They took am early lead. Down 18 at the half, and their SG isn't the reason. We got close a few times in the 2nd but every time we did they hit a shot, or 2, or 3.

15, 4 for Palt, 13, 3, 5 for Haye, no one was particularly impressive and Mims was awful. He was in foul trouble all night yet again and wound up with a dismal 7 and 4. We can't win without him in the lineup for most of the game.

They shot 52.1% to our 39%.

This was NOT a good night. We need to turn it around and it's going to be a real challenge to do so.

#5 Ohio State, 3-0, is next, here. They have an excellent PG. We have confidence that Adam Haye can handle him. We're better inside. Their D is stifling. But they haven't played any good teams. We should have a big edge on the boards if Mims stays in the game.

[Wayne23]

11/26: 88-75. We took an early lead and stretched it. Up only 1 at the half in large part due to some awful calls, LOTS of them. No idea what to do about Mims. He fouled out in 21 minutes tonight. I'm fuming.

22, 8, 3 for Addy Palt, 11, 10, 3 for Murl.

+9 RBs. We shot 56% and held them to 38.5%.

#10 Indiana, 5-0, here next. They are tough, especially at SG, SF, and PF. We need to play excellent D in this one, and hope the refs don't call it too tightly.

[Wayne23]

11/30: 79-55. Back and forth. We took a lead fairly late and expanded it. Up 21 at the half. We never let them get close in the 2nd half.

16, 15, 3 for Mims, but he had 4 fouls; still, he played 33 minutes, which is what we need. 16, 12 for Murl, 15, 5 for Palt. We needed to come up big inside and we did.

+15 RBs, only 8 TOs. We took 23 more shots and made 12 of them. We heled them to 36.5% from the floor and 3-19 on threes.

+10 in the paint, +12 on 2nd chance points.

Post Game Presser (Excerpts):

Q: Coach, you won 2 out of 3 against three tough teams. Are you satisfied?

Coach: Of course I'm not satisfied! We were awful against Michigan. I won't forget that one, and I certainly won't let my players forget it.

Q: Coach, how does that fit in with the whole "believe in yourself and your teammates" thing?

Coach: It fits in very well. I point out where we fell short of that, because we didn't work hard enough mentally. I then tell them I have every confidence that they can and will fix that, and I show them how to do it. Being positive is vital, but it doesn't mean you don't point out flaws and work to correct them. High expectations are a given.

Q: The next 4 are against unranked teams. Will you sweep?

Coach: If we play our best, work our hardest, and believe in ourselves and our teammates we have a shot at doing that. But we take the games one at a time. All I want my kids and my staff thinking about right now is Wisconsin.

[Wayne23]

12/3: 78-66 vs. 3-4 Wisconsin here. They gave us a battle in the first. Down 2 at the half. It was anybody's game for 37 minutes. Then we went on a 12-1 run.

Mims played 3 minutes in the first half. I'm going to sit him more, preventively. This just isn't working. Maybe he'll get the message.

15, 5, 9 for Haye, and he played very good D as well. 6 others had between 7 and 11.

6 TOs. +16 in the paint.

#1 in the country! #1 NET.

We hit the road for the first time since 11/21.

[Wayne23]

12/7: 62-45 at 4-3 Utah State. We took an early lead. Up 19 at the half. We were in charge all the way.

19, 3, 5 for Haye, 11, 13 for Mim; in 29 minutes he didn't commit a single foul. I remain mystified.

+12 RBs. We shot only 36.4% but they shot 35.4% and we took 18 more shots. Our first poor night at the foul line, 7-13. I'm not even going to mention it. I don't want anything to get into their heads. +8 in the paint, +9 2nd chance.

We're 8-1.

#23 Duke is next. After a rocky start with 2 early losses they have turned themselves around. They have an excellent outside game. We think we're a lot better inside. If we let them get open shots outside we'll be in trouble.