The Phenom

Re: The Phenom

Postby Wayne23 » Mon May 10, 2021 11:57 am

3/23: 98-77. We take another early lead and get it to 18 in 9 minutes. Up 18 at the half. And for the 3rd straight game in the big dance, no problem.

Things are about to get more interesting though.

Baky led us with 34, 6, 5, 3 steals. His man got 6. 22, 11 for Sulu, 13, 9 for Palt.

+15 RBs, 10 TOs.

#2 seed, #6 ranked VCU, 32-4, in the Elite Eight. This is a good team, and we'll need to bring our "A" game. They are excellent at PG and SF, and have good inside players. We'll need to control the inside, especially the boards.

The women will play Oklahoma in the national semifinal.
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Re: The Phenom

Postby Wayne23 » Mon May 10, 2021 12:08 pm

3/25: 85-76. They take an early lead. We take our first lead after 11 minutes. Back and forth. Down 7 at the half. I ramp up the D.

Baky led us with 35 and 7 despite major foul trouble. He played with 4 for a long time. He held his man to 3. 17, 11 for Moby, 10, 5, 3 for Palt, 10 assists for Nash.

10 TOs.

We were challenged and Baky carried us to the win.

We're headed to the Final Four against #4 seed, #20 ranked Utah. They upset #1 Seton Hall and #2 Kona to get here. We beat Utah by 22 and 21, but we aren't taking this for granted. They can play. They feature a balanced attack with no one big scorer, and that can make them hard to defend. On D they play a very good man to man and they rarely press. We expect them to double Baky.

The other 3 teams are 2 #4s and a #8 seed so the path is there.
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Re: The Phenom

Postby Wayne23 » Mon May 10, 2021 12:50 pm

4/1: 89-72. We took an early lead, but they stayed close, and even took a lead or two. Up 7 at the half. We took control midway through the 2nd half.

Baky led us with 30, 6, 3, holding his man to 8. 14, 8 for Palt, 13, 3 for Moby. 8 points, 9 assists for Nash.

+9 RBs, 12 TOs.

We shot 45.3%, 8-17 on threes. They shot 38.3%, 37.5% on threes.

#3 seed, #10 ranked Villanova, 30-7, for the title. They beat my old team, UMass, in the semifinal. They may have the best inside game we've faced all season. Their PF can score and both bigs rebound very well. Their guards can score but we think we can turn them over. Our bench is better. Their offense is very deliberate, and they look outside before inside.

On D they play the man and press about half the time. They've played 10 top 10 teams, going 6-4. We need to play well.

The women are in the title game. They play UConn, who beat them by 22 early on.
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Re: The Phenom

Postby Wayne23 » Mon May 10, 2021 2:41 pm

4/3: 84-65 and the national title! Back and forth early. Very intense game so far. A late run put us up 14 at the half. Baky had 24 in the 1st. We were solidly in control in the 2nd half.

39, 6, 3, 4 steals for Baky, who held his man to 5. 25, 16 for Sulu, 12, 5, 3 for Palt.

+9 RBs. We shot 46.6% to their 36.2%. They were 7-25 on threes, and we made 23 free throws to their 16.

The women lost to UConn by 3 in the title game. UConn made 2 free throws to go up by 3 with 4.8 left, plenty of time. The girls brought it down, got it to their best outside shooter, she got an open three off a screen, and agonizingly, it rolled around the rim twice and rolled out.

Post Game Presser (Excerpts):

Q: Coach, this is your 2bd national title, your first here at Oregon. Does the second feel as good as the 1st?

Coach Phee: Honestly, I think there's something incredibly unique about getting the first national title. Every coach or player I've ever talked about this with says the same thing. Having said that, it sure doesn't get old. This feels great. And, like last time, I have no doubt that playing next season as the defending national champ will be very, very special. I really look forward to it.

Q: Can you repeat?

Coach Phee: It's WAY too soon to think about that and the last thing I want to do is to put added pressure on myself, my staff, and my players. We'll give it all we have. Now, we're losing the #1 player in the country, Deke Baky, and a very, very good big man, Key Moby. We have a terrific looking frosh guard coming in and we have two great transfers also coming in, and guys like Marc Sulu, Evan Nash, Eddy Palt, Car Mosh, Josh Jonn, Eric Moss, and some others will make us very competitive. We'll give it our best shot.

Q: Any chance you'll move on to a school that pays better, has a bigger budget, has better facilities?

Coach Phee: I'll be right here next season!

Q: How do you replace someone like Baky?

Coach Phee: You don't. It's impossible. You retool, you make adjustments, you formulate a whole new way to run your offense, your defense, and your transition game, and you come back with a team that operates very differently.

Q: Any chance the incoming freshman, Keith Barr, will be another Baky?

Coach Phee: We have high expectations for Keith but we will never, and I hope you won't either, make comparisons. We expect Keith to be a very, very good player, but he is himself. We don't want him to be anyone else and we won't ask him to BE anyone else.
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Re: The Phenom

Postby Wayne23 » Mon May 10, 2021 3:01 pm

4/4: Awards: Deke Baky is National POY, Norton Award winner, Final Four MOP, and 1st team All American. He did not get Def. POY. He should have. I am National COY.

In the PAC 12: Baky was POY, Def. POY, Frosh OIY, and 1st team, along with Marc Sulu. I thought at least one of our guys should have made the 2nd team but it didn't happen.

4/9: I'm not going anywhere. There were some phone calls but i politely declined even discussing a move.

4/23: I renewed my #2 and #3 and it cost some $ so I'm asking for a budget increase instead of a facilities upgrade.

Kara gave us $60,000. That brings our budget to the point where we'll always be able to compete nationally. Still can't buy the International Gold but we probably don't need it. I can hire excellent coaches and keep the excellent coaches I already have.

40-1, National title. Not a bad season!

In my 10 years as a head coach, my record is 310-54, .852 pct. I'll take it. Can't believe I turn 33 next week!
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Re: The Phenom

Postby Wayne23 » Tue May 11, 2021 10:20 am

5/1: #20 recruiting class. And that was for only one recruit!

Preseason #3.

We buy the same scouting reports we always buy.

6/5: Nobody transfers out, and we have two open slots for transfers. We offer to a guard and a forward.

6/9: We get the forward, and he looks really good!

6/12: We're done.

"This is going to be our year."

"I think it will be, Lu. You've got 6 of your top 7 back and 3 terrific looking frosh. I love your chances."

"Hey, let's join UConn and UMass and win both titles!"

"I'm all in with that!"

6/25: We're going to the Indy and all the regionals.

6/26: 3 scholarships. We're only looking at guards.

Baky went #1 in the draft, Moby went #7.

7/15: Things are really going well here at home. The basement offices are great. My office has the capability of showing video on a big enough screen to really see details, and the big room down here is designed as a theater with a huge video screen. Lu and I often watch and critique video together, of both of our teams and of opponents and potential opponents. At this time of year there's actually time for that. As they did last summer my parents visited for a couple of weeks and stayed in the spare bedroom. Everyone got all very well.

8/7: Eddy Palt is #45 on the Norton list. I thought Sulu would be on the list and pretty high up but nope.

8/21: We offer to 3 PGs.
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Re: The Phenom

Postby Wayne23 » Tue May 11, 2021 12:58 pm

9/4: We hosted two weeks of summer camp and I got to see my guys in action. All of them were hired to work at the camp and, of course, in their free hours they played hoops, 5 on 5. At this very early stage I have to say that Marc Sulu and Rico Beck, a transfer from UMass, are our best players. Palt will be the other starter up front, and Mosh, Moss, and Billy Rice, a transfer from Illinois, will fight for whatever minutes are left. We'll be really string up front.

The back court gives me a real dilemma. I'm thinking I'll start Nash and Cevi at PG and SG respectively, with Jonn as the #3 guard. Brian Evan is #5 on the depth chart at guard. The dilemma involves Keith Barr. He's at #4 right now and the question is whether or not to red shirt him. Of course I have lots of time before i need to make that decision, and our first practice is still 4 weeks away. If I DO red shirt Barr he may go pro before he ever plays here, but if he can't get minutes, that's no good either.

Oh well, this isn't supposed to be an easy job.

The women also hosted two weeks of summer kid hoops camp. They look really, really good!

9/18: Got all 3 PGs, #8, #24, #25. We probably had a shot at the overall #1 and #2 but both were a gamble. I felt like the three we got were pretty much sure things, and felt that all of them would help us.

We're in the JAG Holiday vs. Winthrop. We should have been invited to the Coaches Classic or the NIT. Every opponent in the pre-conference schedule is a top 25 team, including, currently, #1, #2, #6, #8...

10/2: First day of practice. I'm going to give Barr lots of minutes in practice. If he can cut it, he'll be prominent in the rotation. If he can't, I'll red shirt him.

Lu and I don't seem to have the kind of territorial issues that destroyed my relationship with Brandi. Lu is laid back and on the rare occasions when any sort of problem or disagreement comes up we resolve it pretty seamlessly. We're both willing to compromise, and we sort of take turns yielding when a compromise isn't possible. This is a very comfortable relationship.

10/9: Now Barr is causing problems. Damn!

11/6: I am red shirting Barr and if he continues to cause trouble I'll cut him.

11/14: Season starts tomorrow. Here's the lineup:

Senior Evan Nash is back at the Point. There's no one in the country who does a better job of taking care of the ball and dishing it to the right player.

Juniors Sadu Cevi and Josh Jonn will split time about equally at SG and spelling Nash at PG. Cevi is a little better on D so he will start. One of them will earn more minutes. We'll see which one.

#4 guard is senior Brian Evan. He'll only get garbage time unless there are injuries.

Junior Eddy Palt and soph transfer Rico Beck will share time at SF and PF. The one who rebounds best will wind up at PF but both will start no matter what assuming they're healthy.

Soph Marc Sulu is back at C.

Juniors Car Mosh and Eric Moss will get minutes at SF and PF. Soph Billy Rice is good enough to play but there are no minutes left to give.

We're preseason #3, behind Duke and Texas, and I think we have a shot at repeating as national champ if we stay healthy and if we reach our potential.
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Re: The Phenom

Postby Wayne23 » Tue May 11, 2021 5:00 pm

11/15: 86-72 vs. #23 Florida here. It took awhile but we eventually took a big lead. Up 11 at the half. We looked good but we certainly miss having the #1 scorer and player in the nation.

Marc Sulu led us with 23, 14, 3, 10, 8 for Beck. Terrific bench play- 17 with 4 assists for Jonn, 13, 4, 3 for Mosh, 10 for Moss.

+18 RBs.+22 in the paint.

#19 Georgetown, 1-0, there. They're the only team that beat us last season. Hard to tell so early in the season but we think they have a very good PG and a deep bench. They rebounded very well in their only game.
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Re: The Phenom

Postby Wayne23 » Tue May 11, 2021 5:12 pm

11/18: 78-64. We take an early lead. Up 13 at the half. We led all the way.

Sulu looks like he's going to be our go to guy. 29, 14, 4 blocks. 14, 8 for Palt, 12, 10 for Beck. Nash isn't dishing the way he did last season but it's early.

+12 RBs. +22 in the paint.

#9 Xavier, 2-0 is here next. Their SG is a big time scorer, but we should own the inside.
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Re: The Phenom

Postby Wayne23 » Tue May 11, 2021 5:20 pm

11/22: 88-73. They're playing us tough early. 10 minutes in and it's tied. Then a big run put us up 15 at the half. As expected we owned the inside.

25, 16, 3 for Sulu, who is playing great ball. 17, 10 for Palt, 13, 11 for Mosh, 13 for Cevi.

+21 RBs. +24 in the paint.

We're turning it over way too often, 19 tonight.

My old team, #14 UMass, 4-1, there. They have an excellent C and he will challenge Sulu. They're good inside.

I haven't been back to the UMass campus since I left. It will be nice to be there again. Great memories.
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