The Phenom

[Wayne23]

3/25: 72-81, but it wasn't that close. We fell behind early. Ramped up the D. We're not hitting shots. Down 8 at the half. They led by as many as 21.

We didn't shoot well until it was too late and our D couldn't stop them, 62.7%. We took 8 more shots and hit 6 less.

18, 1, 4 for Haye in his last game, 15, 4, 3 for Mims in his last game, 12, 9 for Murl in his last game. 10, 6, 4 for Palt.

We didn't play well. Yes, it hurt that we only had Jonn for 14 minutes, but really, we didn't play well. On the other hand, when you get to the Elite Eight, it's a great season.

3/27: UMass got clobbered by Butler so they go out in the same round we did.

Our women made it to the Sweet Sixteen before losing to UConn by 22.

[Wayne23]

4/3: #10 ranked Marquette beat unranked NC ST by 22 for the title.

4/4: Awards: Aub Mims makes 1st team All American and I am named national COY! Quite an honor! In the Pac 12, Aub is POY, Def. POY, and 1st team. Eddy Palt and Flye Murl make the 2nd team. I get conf. COY. I honestly thought that Haye and Jonn should have gotten 2nd team, even more so than Palt and Murl. Whatever, I guess.

The phone will be ringing over the next few days I'm sure. There are almost no schools I would even consider, but never say never.

4/9: Kentucky wants me every year. It's never going to happen. I'm coming back!

4/21: Lu and I have been seeing each other almost every day- I mean aside from seeing each other at work. Things are going well but maybe moving a little quickly.

4/23: I ask for a facilities upgrade. Our facilities are good but not great.

No luck. Kara apologized and said the money isn't there. If we keep drawing the crowds we drew this season she said it would come next year or at the latest the year after. Fair enough.

[Wayne23]

5/1: #1 recruiting class and two good looking transfers. Preseason #1.

We buy the National Gold and International Basic again.

6/5: Jeff Karr transfers. He was never going to get minutes here, and I advised him it would be in his best interest to go elsewhere. That leaves us with 11 scholarship players so we will take a good look at transfers. We have only 5 inside players at the moment.

6/12: We go after 2 bigs.

6/16: We get both, PF Rico Beck, who I recruited to UMass, and Billy Rice, a C from Illinois. They will both help us.

6/25: We'll go to the Indy and all of the regionals.

6/26: Flye Murl went #19, Aub Mims #20 in the draft. Adam Haye went #50.

Only one scholarship. We'll take the best athlete we can get regardless of position.

7/31: Lu and I are definitely close. We're starting to talk about moving in together. She actually owns a 3 bedroom house with a full basement with an office and room for a 2nd office. If we do decide to live together the place would be perfect. She doesn't have any pets but she and PG get along very well.

Lu wants us to be living together before the season starts in mid-November. I'm thinking about it. She knows I like the idea but i want to be completely sure.

[Wayne23]

8/7: Frosh SG Derrick Baky is #1 on the Norton list and I think that's accurate. Frosh C Kevon Moby is #5. These guys will probably be one and done but it could be a hell of a one!

8/21: We offer to a PG. He's #2 in the country and I think he's a long shot, but we're it.

9/18: We lose our guy and offer to another Pg.

9/25: We get the PG, Keith Broy, #6. He's an excellent student so he'll have no trouble hitting our SAT score.

10/2: First day of practice. Yep, I can definitely see this team winning it all. We're very good and we're very deep.

10/15: Moving day. My condo is for sale and I'm moving into Lu's place. It just feels right. There's a certain small discomfort when I think about Midge, and about how much this relationship is like that one was. But Lu and Midge are two very different people. Totally dissimilar in looks, and even more so in personality.

They're both great coaches and both hoops fanatics, but it plays out very differently.

11/5: So far so good between Lu and me. We're getting along great. We're both busy with our teams. She's preseason #8. We look at video of both teams together and plan things together too, always bearing in mind that our assistants will have a voice in the process.

11/13: Season starts tomorrow vs. Wright State in the Preseason NIT. We're the #2 seed. Duke is #1, even though we're ranked #1, they're #8. It doesn't matter.

Here's our lineup: Evan Nash, a transfer from Texas Tech, is at the Point.

Potential superstar frosh Deke Baky is at SG.

Josh Jonn, who started and played very well last season, is our #3 guard. Sadu Cevi, a transfer from Kona, is the #4 guard. Then come senior Andy Dane, our only senior, and junior Brian Evan.

Soph Eddy Palt is at Sf. Last year he started at PF.

Frosh Key Moby, another potential superstar, is at PF.

Marc Sulu, another frosh, starts at C, but soph Car Mosh will get about as many minutes. He will get a real shot at taking the position if Sulu can't get it done.

We're still thinking about moving these guys to PF and putting Moby in the middle. We'll see how it shakes out.

Soph Eric Moss would start for lots of teams in Div. I. He's our #5 big man.

[Wayne23]

11/14: 82-62. We get it to 11 in less than 5 minutes. Then we get it to 20. Up 21 at the break. They won't all be this easy but this one was. Our biggest problem may be that there is only one basketball.

22, 8, 3, with 4 blocks in his debut for Baky. 14, 10, 3 for Sulu, 12, 13 for Moby, 20, 6, 4 for Palt.

+17 RBs, 8 TOs (None for the frosh). We didn't shoot all that well but we took 25 more shots.

+22 in the paint, +12 2nd chance points.

Eddy Palt bruised his hip and he's out for the rest of the tournament. Mosh will start for him. Josh Jonn sprained a toe and is out for about two weeks; Cevi and Dane will split his minutes.

#10 seed Dayton is next. Not much to go on this early but we see this as a game we should win easily.

[Wayne23]

11/16: 90-68. Up 11 seven minutes in. Up 21 at the half. Another blowout.

33, 6, 4, 4 steals for Baky, 19, 5 for Sulu, 14, 6, 3 for Mosh, 12, 7, 3 for Moby. Nash isn't scoring but he had 10 assists.

+7 RBs. We shot 50% to their 49% but we took 15 more shots.

Keyon Moby strained his calf. Out for about 10 days. Injuries are hitting us hard. We have 3 players out. Cevi will start at SG and Baky will move to SF.

All 4 top seeds advanced to the semifinal. We play #3 seed, #12 ranked Xavier. Their SG is their best player; he gets 20.5 a game. Their PF is a glass eater. They take good care of the ball. We have an advantage on the boards and we'll need it.

[Wayne23]

11/18: 91-81. Early lead but they're hanging in. Up 13 at the half. It wasn't as close as the final score indicated. We were fully in control and led by as many as 22.

Another big game for Baky, 30 and 9. 18, 8 for Sulu, 13 for Cevi.+11 RBs but 21 TOs. I think the pressure of having a short bench may be part of the problem with this.

We took 12 fewer shots tonight but made only 4 less. We won it at the line, going 34-40 to their 11-16. The other coach got T'd up late, but really, they fouled a lot because we were much quicker.

Eddy Palt healed a little quicker than expected and he'll be back for the final.

We face #1 seed, now #2 ranked Duke for the title. They have an excellent PG, an SG who is almost as good as Baky, they rebound well, and they have a solid bench. This will be a great early season test.

[Wayne23]

11/20: 95-76. They took an early lead. We came back. Too many whistles! Up 3 at the half. Baky was the difference. He's incredible!

40, 4, 2 with 3 steals for Baky, and he plays great D without fouling- 2 fouls and he held a guy who was averaging 29.3 to 10 points. He leads the nation in scoring. 15, 6 for sub F/C Eric Moss.

Only 8 TOs. Way, way, WAY too many fouls called, 57! ridiculous, particularly for a match up between the two top teams in the country.

We're headed home for a rematch with #13 Xavier. We won by 12 last time with three players out, two of them starters. Starter Keyon Moby will miss the game and probably the next one, too.

[Wayne23]

11/23: 91-77. Back and forth. Tied at the half. In the 2nd half we slowly, steadily built the lead.

34, 6, 2, with 3 steals for Baky. Marc Sulu had a terrific game, 31 and 12.

We shot 52.8%, 9-19 on threes. As seems to happen regularly we had a big edge at the line, 26-35 to 8-13.

+27 in the paint, 8-0 on fast breaks.

We're 5-0, #1 in the country and we've played every game with at least one starter and our #3 guard out of action. The next one will be the last of those unless and until we get other injuries.

Next up is #22 Wisconsin, 2-1. They're very good at SG and PF, their PG is good. They play good D and take care of the ball, and they rebound well. But they really haven't played anybody.

[Wayne23]

11/26: 75-51. We went on a run midway through the first but they came back. Then we went on another run. Up 15 at the half. We stretched the lead out in the 2nd half.

25, 4, 4 for Baky, his 2nd lowest total of the season, but the man he was guarding had 8; he averaged 30 coming in. Baky is a legit superstar. 13, 11 for Mosh, 13 for Cevi.

+11 RBs, 8 TOs to their 18. We held them to 34%, 6-22 on threes. We shot only 38.5% but took 15 more shots.

+12 in the paint.

We'll be at 100% for the first time in our next game!

Post Game Press Conference Excerpts:

Q: Coach, you're 5-0, #1 in the country, #1 NET. You've done all of this with 2 or 3 guys out of the lineup, including your 2nd best player. Can you be beaten?

Coach: Absolutely! First we could get more injuries. Second, we could have an off night. Third, we don't know how good we are yet; we've got a tough schedule and play some very good teams, some of them on the road.

Q: Talk about Deke Baky.

Coach: With pleasure! He is quite simply the best player in the country, maybe the best in a decade. He does it all- scores, passes, plays terrific D without fouling much, rebounds... He's a real leader, too, always encouraging the rest of the guys, and singing their praises. If he has an ego I haven't seen it.

Q: How long will you have him for?

Coach: That's up to him, but however long we have him we'll be pretty hard to beat.

At 1-1 Tennessee next. They beat #25 Gonzaga then lost to a nobody. Hard to figure them out this early. They like to work it inside and their PG is good with the ball. Their PF is a big time scorer but they don't rebound well and nobody except the PG is good with the ball. If we play our game we shouldn't have any trouble, especially with everyone finally healthy.