The Phenom

[Wayne23]

1/18: 78-68. This one's a battle! Down 2 at the half. Their PG gave us fits. We finally went to man to man full time and doubled him, but he still with 23. Only 4 in the late going, which was when we took over. 21 lead changes, 11 ties, and the final score was the only time we took a double digit lead.

20, 13 for Mims, who came up big in a game when he needed to; only 2 fouls. 19, 7 for Eddy Palt, 14, 2, 6 for Jonn, who gets better and better.

We won it inside, +8 RBs, +8 in the paint, +5 on 2nd chance pints. Only 9 TOs.

+8 from the line although we shot poorly there, 57.9%. We held them to 2 threes.

Good road test and we passed it! We're alone in 1st in the PAC 12. 3 teams are 1 back.

13-3, 4-1 Oregon State is here next. They have a good PG and like to take the outside shot and they shoot the three very well; their big guys are decent.

[Wayne23]

1/21: 87-62. Up 12 after 10 minutes. Up 18 at the half; Mims is scoring at will. This was a romp.

Mims stayed hot, getting 27 and 11. He hasn't had a single turnover in the last 2 games. 18, 5, 6 for Haye. 14, 3, 3 for Jonn, who has been in double
figures 8 of the last 9 games and had 9 in the game he missed; the frosh just keeps getting better and better.

+11 RBs, 11 TOs. We shot 50%, 8-18 on threes. +14 in the paint.

Two injuries. Little used guard Brian Evan hurt his calf and is out for about a week. He doesn't play much but it makes us thin at guard. The bad news is that starting SF Eddy Palt strained a hamstring and is out for at least one game, maybe two. Car Mosh will start, but this leaves us with a short bench all around. I'll have to go back to playing Mims full minutes and hope he can stay out of foul trouble.

We play 8-10, 0-6 Colorado in both of the next two games, first here, then there. Weird scheduling. They have a very good SF, and a good PG, but overall we're a lot better.

We have a 2 game lead in the PAC 12.

[Wayne23]

1/25: 83-64. Up 12 with 8 to go in the 1st. Up 19 at the half. It was never a game.

Another very good game for Mims, 20, 12, and again, no TOs. Jonn continues to be hot, 19, 5, 7. 15, 8 for Murl. We got what we needed from our short bench.

+13 RBs, 9 TOs. +24 in the paint, +12 on 2nd chances.

Red Butts, Portland Times: The Ducks continue to play outstanding basketball.

Today I want to talk about senior Point Guard Adam Haye. Haye directs the attack, and game after game he does it extremely well. He gets 11.9 points per game, which means the other team can't back off of him. Leave him open and he'll put up a shot which will probably go in. He averages 5.0 assists, 3rd in the PAC 12, and only turns it over 2.4 times. He even rebounds, getting 3.5 a game. He is a very good defender.

Added to all of this is the fact that he's a coach on the floor, directing the team on both ends, shouting out plays, telling players when and where to move to. It's too soon to tell how far the Ducks will go this season, but however far that is, it will be due in large part to their floor leader, Adam Haye.

[Wayne23]

1/28: 74-55 at Colorado in the 2nd of the back to back games against them. They kept it close. Up 9 at the half. We took complete control in the 2nd.

Mims had a really good game, 34 and 19. 13, 8, 3 for Murl. 11, 3, 3 for Jonn.

+12 RBs. We shot poorly from the line again, 56.1%, but we made 23 and they made 14 from there.

+28 in the paint, +11 on 2nd chance points.

Palt is back, or will be for our next game.

1/29: Mims is #3 on the Norton list.

9-10, 2-6 Cal-Berkeley is here next. We won by 10 at their place. We'd need to be way off our game for them to have a chance.

[Wayne23]

2/1: 78-62. Up 10 with 11 to play in the 1st. Up 19 at the break. We were a bit more laid back in the 2nd half than I would have liked us to have been.

16, 3, 4 for Jonn, who continues to play really well. 14, 10 for Mims, but he fouled out in 21 minutes. 12, 7, 4 with 3 steals for Palt, in his 1st game back. 16, 5 for Mosh.

+13 RBs, but 18 TOs. +20 in the paint.

2 up on Arizona ST, 3 up on 3 teams at the halfway point in PAC 12 play. We're still #1 in the country at 21-2, 9-0.

At 2nd place Arizona ST, 14-6, 7-2. Their SG and PF are both very good players, but we hold the edge everywhere else. We think we can out rebound them by a wide margin and that will be a key.

[Wayne23]

2/4: 88-98. Lots of lead changes early. Down 7 at the half. Their SG and PF are killing us. We got beat up, not just beat. 98 points! Unacceptable. Their SG had 32 and their PF had 18. 4 of our 5 starters ended the game with 4 fouls; none of their guys had more than 3, and they hit 24 free throws we hit 14.

We let them shoot 61.5%, 52.6% on threes.

19 for Jonn, 16, 2, 5 for Haye, 17, 5 for Mims, 14, 5 for Mosh. But terrible D did us in.

Post Game Presser (Excerpts):

Q: Coach, you got lit up for 98 tonight. That's 31 more than your average. What happened?

Coach: We seriously underestimated Arizona ST. I'll take some of the blame for that. If we meet them again, which would be in the post season, we'd play it differently. I mean those two guys are good, but we let them be really good. It won't happen again.

Q: So you're predicting a win if you play them again.

Coach: No, I'm just saying we'll go about it differently on D. We scored 88. That should be enough for a win. It's about being more effective on D.

Q: You go to #6 ranked Arizona next. How will you play them?

Coach: Hopefully better! ... They're a whole different kind of challenge. They have exceptionally good guards and we'll need to play solid outside D. They also play
a very tight man to man, so we'll need to move without the ball. We've got to control the boards and work the ball inside. It won't be easy.

Q: Thanks coach.

#6 Arizona, 20-3, 15-1, there.

[Wayne23]

2/8: 54-75. We started in a 3-2. It's keeping the game close, but they're working it inside. Down 6 at the half. Switched to a man in the 2nd but we're in trouble. Not going to win scoring 54 points and shooting 33.3%. Mims was awful, fouled out in 23 minutes while being outplayed by a C who isn't that good. Murl and Haye were also in foul trouble all night, as was our 6th man, Mosh. Back to back terrible games. I'm not happy.

No one scored more than 10, or had more than 7 RBs.

-1 RB, 17 TOs. We took 11 more shots and made 3 FEWER. They had 22 from the line to our 10. They had more points in the paint-6, and were even on 2nd chance and fast break points.

In short, we didn't do any of the things we usually do well.

Tied for 1st place with AZ ST, with Arizona 1 back, and UCLA 2 back. 7 to play and we need to win them all.

2/10: We're talking positive in practice. Focus is on all the things we do well, and in believing in ourselves and in our teammates. There's a time to kick ass as a coach, but it's not when you've lost 2 in a row. That only makes the negatives look more powerful. Having said that we desperately need a win.

10-13, 3-8 Utah is at our place next. They're 0-4 against ranked teams.

[Wayne23]

2/11: 79-66. I told them to come out strong. They didn't. Down 11 with 9 minutes left in the 1st. Down 3 at the half. We finally went on a run in the middle of the 2nd, but they came back and narrowed the gap. I'll certainly take the win but we didn't play all that well.

18, 14 for Mims, who DID play well on both ends. 20, 5, 6, with 5 steals for Jonn, who also played well. 18 for Haye.

+5 RBs, 11 TOs. They shot 37.5%. +20 in the paint. Despite the above numbers it took until late in the game before we put them away, and they're a mediocre team.

Mims is still #3 on the Norton list. Lately he's looked that good, but fouls are still a problem.

14-11, 6-6 Washington is here next.

2/12: Had an interesting conversation with Lu Branz, the women's coach.

"So Phee, I think we should watch some video of our teams together and talk strategy and stuff."

"Sounds like a great idea."

"I think so. Why don't you come over tonight. I'll order take out Mexican."

"Oh... Okay."

I think this might be something like a date. I won't lie. I'm definitely attracted to Lu, and have been since we first met. But is this a good idea? I guess I'm about to find out!

2/13: Dinner and videos went well with Lu. I have to say she's not shy. As I was about to leave after watching and discussing game videos she said,

"So, Phee. I think we should start seeing each other."

"It won't be easy with our crazy schedules."

"That's true, but what do you think of the idea?"

"I probably wouldn't have done anything about it, but I've kind of felt that way for awhile."

"Great! So think about when we can see each other again in a non-basketball way."

"I will do that. I will absolutely do that."

[Wayne23]

2/15: 88-67. Got the lead to 10 in 6 1/2 minutes. Up 11 at the half. Not a lot to criticize tonight. We played well.

20, 13 for Mims, 16, 9, 4 for Palt, 14, 3, 9, with 3 steals for Jonn, 10, 3, 8 for Haye.

+22 RBs. We shot 50.7%.

+14 in the paint, and 14-0 on 2nd chance points. -12 on the fast break but it didn't hurt us. Still, we'll work on stopping the fast break.

Still in a 2 way tie for the PAC 12 lead with AZ ST, with AZ one back.

At 11-15, 4-9 Washington ST next. They're not a very good team but it's a road game.

Lu is on the road when I'm home and vice versa, so we haven't had a chance to see each other again yet, but we've talked, and we're looking for a time.

[Wayne23]

2/18: 96-76. I decided to work on my zone D. Played the 2-3 throughout the first and will play the 3-2 in the 2nd. Up 19 at the half. A walk in the park.

23, 13, 3 with 4 blocks for Mims, 14, 1, 5 for Jonn. 16, 6, 4 for Palt, 12, 5, 5 for Haye.

+21 RBs. We shot 62.1% to their 40.6%. +18 in the paint. -8 on fast break points, so we still have work to do there, but we played well, and the zone Ds worked. I'll try it again, I'm sure.

No change in the PAC 12 standings.

At 9-16, 4-10 Stanford next. We won by 19 here. This is another game we should win easily, but it's on the road so you never know.