Hereafter

[Wayne23]

2/16: 77-82 in OT. Our outside game is really getting it done. Up 10 after 10. Up 7 at the break. Up 7 with 10 left. OT. WE led until the final minute of regulation. Tough loss.

16, 8 for Bond,16, 2, 4 for Thop, 9, 18 for Lee.

+9 RBs. We only shot 32.8% to 42.4%. We shut the SF down but their guards outscored ours 47-29.

8-17, 5-7 Albany at our place. We lost by 21 there. Their bench was the biggest factor. We feel like our starters are better, at every position, but that bench! They usually have a lot of trouble scoring but they didn't last time we played them. We need to step up on D.
Now we're in a 3 way tie for 3rd.

Our initial attempt to settle into orbit didn't work. We needed to back the ship out. Eventually we reached a stable orbit, in a spot where we can observe the gigantic violent storm that has been raging for a very long time.

[Wayne23]

2/20: 74-64. Up 10 after only 6 1/2 minutes. Up 16 after 10. Up only 6 at the half. Up 12 with 10 to play. We led all the way.

27, 2, 4 for King. 12, 13, 5, 3 for Wall, 16, 2, 3 for Bond, 8, 12 for Lee.

+6 RBs, 12 TOs. We took 16 more shots and made 6 of them.

Alone in 3rd, 1 back of 1st, 2 to play for us, 3 for the 2 teams in 1st.

At 14-13, 6-7 UMBC. On paper it's a toss up. We won by 18 at our place, without Lee. Our guards were terrific.

The storm is amazing to watch from here, and even more so through in the telescopic view. Nothing on Earth could stand up to that.

[Wayne23]

2/23: 76-83. Up 1 after 10. Down 11 at the half. Down 2 with 10 to play. We needed this one.

18, 8, 9 for Thop, 13, 4, 3 for Bond. 18 TOs. We outshot them, 48.1% to 39.7%, but they made 5 more threes and 6 more from the line. They won it inside.

We're alone in 3rd.

18-10, 11-4, 1st place Binghamton is here for the season finale. We won by 2 there. Our guards led the way. If we're going to win this one it will probably need to be outside.

The red storm on Jupiter as considerably more violent than it appears from Earth and from what other satellites saw. It's all but unimaginable. There's no life down there to be affected by it but it tears up rock formations and levels mountains as it moves along. We've seen what we need to see of the storm and will now focus on the rest of the planet.

[Wayne23]

3/2: 75-68. Up 6 after 10. Up 2 at the half. Up 3 with 10 left. Nice win over a good team.

20, 10 for Lee, 18, 7 for Wall, 10, 6 for Thop.

+3 RBs, a season low 6 TOs. We won it at the line, 33-43 to 15-23.

We finish in a 2 way tie for 2nd, the #3 tourney seed.

18-11, 10-6, NET #139. We're one of the worst shooting teams in Div. I, 332nd.

-0.7 PPG, +1.8 RBs, -2.7 TOs, +2.5 steals.

Our scoring is not at all impressive. Bond leads us with only 13.4. Thop gets 13.3. The next 4 get between 11.7 and 8.2. Lee gets 8.9 RBs.

We play #6 seed UMBC, 16-14, 8-8, in the quarter finals. We won by 18, lost by 7. There's not a lot that separates these two teams. It will depend on who comes to play.

[Wayne23]

3/7: 77-73 and we're in the final. We take an early lead. Up 9 after 10. Up 13 at the half. Up 11 with 10 left. Another great win. We led all the way but they really got close late.

22 for Bond, 13, 5, 3 for King, 12, 7 for Lee.

Only 6 TOs. They outshot us, 38.7% to 44.4%. We won it at the line again.

#8 seed Maine, 12-20, 5-11, has made a run. They won the play in, beat the #1 seed, then beat #4. So here they are in the title game with us. We won by 12 at our place, lost by 7 there. We're better in every statistical category except shooting, and we especially need to stop the three.

[Wayne23]

3/8: 76-65 and we're going to the big dance! Up 5 after 10. Then back and forth. Down 4 at the half. Still going back and forth. Up 4 with 10 to play.

Great win. We really stepped up in this tournament!

20 and 5 for Lee, 19, 6 for Bond, 11, 4, 6 for Thop. We stopped their starters cold but their bench played really well.

+3 RBs, 12 TOs. We won it at the line yet again, 25-34 to 11-14. We were +12 in the paint.

We are NOT expecting a very high seed, since we're 21-11, 10-6, Net Rank #91.

3/12: #13 . We play #4 seed, #24 ranked Virginia, 24-8. Better than we expected but still a really tough game for us. We need to turn them over. If we let them get it to their SF and PF we'll be in a lot of trouble. They play very good D, and they've played 9 ranked teams, going 5-4. Tough, tough matchup.

[Wayne23]

3/17: 54-73. We score the first 10 points. They come back. Up 2 after 10. Down 2 at the half; we're playing great. Down 12 with 10 to play. We hung in for 25 minutes, then both Lee and King picked up foul #4, and 6th man John Watt hurt his hip, and that was that.

13, 6 for Bond, 9, 5, 5, with 4 steals for Thop in his last game, only 9 and 3 for Lee in his last game.

-9 RBs and 20 TOs. We scored 35 in the 1st half but only 19 in the 2nd. We were -18 at the line.

3/31: Binghamton won the WOL.

4/3: #2 Memphis is the champ.

4/4: Awards: Rash Thop is AEC POY, Def. POY, 1st team along with Wyatt Bond. Lon Wall is Conf. Frosh OY.

4/9: I would consider a good offer.

No good offers.

4/23: I ask for $.

We get $6,000. That will definitely help. We will be able to go to the Atl. East Camp.

21-12, 10-6, we won the AEC tournament. A good season despite some frustrations. Overall, 69-29, .704.

We didn't spend a lot of time on Jupiter's rings. We did all the testing we could, but we didn't expect to learn anything new, and we didn't. The rings on Saturn offer far more interest.

People know Jupiter is huge but most don't know just how huge. It is 2.5 times more massive than all of the other planets in the solar system combined.

Jupiter's day is only about 10 hours long, which means it is spinning extremely rapidly. This makes it difficult to observe, and one of the issues we have exploring it is that the rapid rotation sends out lots of radiation. Given that I'm in a ... post-mortal state(?) I have no idea if this is something I need to worry about or the crew does, but we adjust our orbit with this in mind. Our ship is protected from nearly all radiation, however.

Another issue is landing a shuttle on Jupiter. We're almost positive it cannot be done, for a number of reasons, the intense gravity, the rapid spinning, the violent storms, not just in the red storm but all over the planet, the terrain itself- or the lack of terrain, the surface is not a surface but is mostly gaseous. Anything we send will sink. Of course we can learn a lot as it sinks if it keeps working and sending. We could probably not recover the satellite.

Despite all of this we are sending a robotic satellite down to explore. We have others, and can make more.

Lacy and I continue to really do well together. We're not rushing to bring the relationship to the next stage though. We both value our freedom and we both need lots of alone time. It's working the way it is and we're not going to mess with it.

[Wayne23]

5/1: Recruit class #286. Only one frosh. We also got a Juco but those don't count in the rankings. We failed to fill our 3rd scholarship.

We buy the Atlantic East Basic scouting report.

6/5: We have room for a transfer. We haven't had a lot of lucking landing transfers.

6/12: No luck.

6/25: We go to the Big Apple Camp.

6/26: 3 scholarships. We hope to get 2 guards and a big. We'll see.

My assistant coaching fortunes took another upturn. My mentor, Coach James, was just hired as the head coach at BU. He took me with him as his #1 assistant.

Because i know what I know, I know that this upcoming season will be my last as an assistant. I intend to learn all that I can.

7/7: Here in Lowell we're about to run summer camp. It starts on Sunday, 7/10. We have 2 one week camps, and kids from nearby high schools and middle schools attend. We teach them the fundamentals if they're beginners, and add depth and sophistication to their game if they know the fundamentals. We have teaching and practice sessions, and we have them play games against each other in 4 divisions, 2 at the H. S. level and 2 at the middle level. One of each is for beginners, and the other for players with some skills.

My players coach, referee... and they have some time to play their own pickup games. They've already finished summer school so they have no academics to worry
about during these two weeks.

7/22: The camps ended today. Great fun, and a great chance to look at my players. I just may start an SF at SG. We'll see.

8/21: We offer to a PG, and SG, and a C.

[Wayne23]

9/18: We get a PG. #128, lose an SG.

A little more challenge in the schedule.

We're leaving Jupiter. We gathered a lot of data but there really were no surprises here, but one unsolved mystery. As to the shuttle we tried to land on the planet, it failed. We got some interesting data as it descended but the signal broke up very quickly and it seems like the shuttle was destroyed.

It's tricky to weave through all of the moons but our navigators know what they're doing.

On our way to Saturn. It will take us a year to reach the outermost ring and moons.

9/25: Lost another PG. Offered to another one.

10/2: 1st day of practice. Lots of questions.

We're picked to win the AEC. Maybe we can do that.

10/9: We get a 2nd PG, #121. We lose a C, offer to a PG. No big guys we want out there.

10/23: We get the 3rd PG, #194. All 3 are good students so we should be finished with recruiting.

11/13: Season starts tomorrow. Here's the lineup:

Junior Del King is back at PG.

Senior Chuck Maer, a natural SF, is at SG.

#3 guard is senior Tony John, and #4 guard is junior Euf Miki. #5 is junior Jem Camp.

Soph Lon Wall starts at SF but will play some at PF.

Junior Wyatt Bond starts at PF but will play some at SF.

Corey Heng, a soph transfer from Tulsa, is at C. He may be our best player.

Frosh Jo Bank is the first big off the bench and soph John Watt is 2nd. Last man on the bench is junior SF Ger Sims, who will only play if there are injuries.

1st game is here vs. American. We're favored but there's very little that we know about them this early on.

We're on the long trek to Saturn. There's not a lot to see way out here so far from the sun, but there are things. There are no windows, as I've said, but we can access the views from the various portals that navigation uses. I think most of us do that from time to time. It's very cool to be farther from Earth than any human has ever gone.

There are all kinds of things being organized to keep people busy. There's a "Space Series of Poker. Everyone is given the same amount of "money" and the rules are just like the "World Series of Poker."

There are all sorts of games and sports, I've told you that Lacy and I met playing bridge and we still play once or twice a week, most weeks.

I practice the piano, and occasionally play when we have any sort of entertainment on board.

And, of course, I'm still coaching at BU under Coach James. The season is about to start there, too. This is the last year I'll have that distraction so I plan to enjoy it.

Lacy is a big reader, as am I, when I can find the time, which I always do, at least a little. Lacy also runs 45 minutes with me every morning. She knits. Lots of crew members have sweaters she has made. They come in handy in lots of holo environments, and some people just like to wear a sweater. I don't wear one often, but if I do, it's the one she made me!

We also cook together now and then.

[Wayne23]

11/14: 106-88. We take an early lead. They come back. Down 1 after 10. Up 4 at the half. We go on a run! Up 14 with 10 to play. What a 2nd half! No doubt we can score. Hopefully our D improves.

36, 0, 6 for King, 16, 4, 9, with 4 steals for Maer. 16, 5 for Heng. The other two starters had 14 and 13.

Only 5 TOs to 14. Both teams shot over 50%.

+12 in the paint, +8 on 2nd chances. +16 at the line. Great start to the season!

Next up is 0-2 Bellarmine, here. Still not much to go on but they turn it over a lot, and they have a lot of trouble scoring.