Hereafter

[Wayne23]

3/27: June's casts are off. She's stiff and itchy and moving slowly but she's thrilled.

4/3: #1 Michigan ST edged #2 Duke by 3 for the title. I figured they'd win it.

Awards: Jan Bowe made the Big Ten 1st team, and Hal Tuck made 2nd.

I'm not looking to move. TP up from 54 to 61.

4/9: Damn! For the 2nd year in a row UConn comes calling. And yes, I'm going to visit again.

4/11: UConn is my dream school but my work here is not finished. I'm staying.

June is back to doing all the things she did before the injuries. And we still do things together- hiking, skating, she's my new pitch partner- other things. I spend a lot of time with her and really enjoy it!

Sadly, her mom has not been back since we had the argument. I feel badly about that.

“Don't, dad. She was only coming out of obligation, not because she wanted to. What good is that!”

4/23: I ask for money again but I don't expect to get it although I made a strong case, based on our success this season and the need for recruiting money for us to continue the success.

Surprise! Got $6,750. Not enough but I'll take it. It allows me to buy East Gold, National Basic and go to the Indy Camp.

27-10, tied for 2nd in the Big Ten, Elite Eight. Not bad. For 16 seasons I'm 455-119, .793.

Starters Sams, Berr, and Tuck are back, as are subs, Hern, Coll, Hunt, and Terl, and we have a good recruiting class coming in. I red shirted two guys. One, a C, could help us.

[Wayne23]

5/1: Preseason #22. #21 recruiting class. I'm excited!

As stated earlier I buy East Premium, National Basic.

6/5: Center Keb Hunt transfers out. He might have gotten some time but he wasn't a major part of our plans. We've got 6 bigs fighting for playing time as it is.

Room for a transfer. We offer to a C from Michigan ST.

6/15: Got him! He looks like a good one!

6/25: We'll go to the Indy Elite Camp.

6/26: 4 scholarships. We want 2 and 2.

7/15: Slogging through recruiting and seeing some interest from the guys we're most interested in, except for our #1, who's not interested. We'll try for awhile longer.

The probe at about 8 o'clock is seeing what looks like a comet except it's much bigger and much more colorful. We'll learn more as it gets closer.

8/7: Hal Tuck is #25 on the Norton list. He definitely has the talent but he has yet to show the discipline or the consistency. If those show up this season he'll be a world beater.

The probe is sending us video and photos that show an enormous, very colorful comet. Biggest comet we've ever seen by far, ans the colors are beautiful. It's still pretty far from the probe.

8/21: We offer to a PG, an SG, and 2 Cs. All of them are showing good interest.

8/28: The comet is within visual range of the probe without using telescopes or the like. It is a thing of beauty and gigantic. The probe is staying out of it's gravity well, which isn't all that huge, but is greater than expected.

[Wayne23]

9/11: We lose the SG. We offer to a PG.

9/18: We get the 2 Cs, #60, #61. Still chasing a guard.

No early season tourney this year.

9/25: We lose the PG, offer to another.

10/2: We lost another PG. 1st day of practice. Lots of competition for every position so we're going to try lots of combinations over the next few weeks.

We're not planning to go near the comet. We'll get our info via video and photos from the probe.

10/9: We lose yet another PG. Frustrating!

10/16: A near catastrophe last night, in the middle of the night. Oxygen system died. This sets off the loudest alarms we have and the brightest flashing lights. Everyone needs to find their hazmat suit very quickly, obviously.

As it turns out everyone did, and those with young children managed to get the kids into Hazmat suits.

That gives us 6 hours of air.

At the 5 hour, 45 minute mark the system was still not fixed. People headed for the shuttles. The shuttles can provide a theoretically inexhaustible supply of air once their launched. Unfortunately, we don't have enough shuttles for everyone on board. It became a children and parents first scenario.

As the first suits began to run out of air the system kicked back in.

The Captain called an immediate Council meeting.

“As your Captain I need to propose that, as quickly as possible, we 3D print enough shuttles to hold everyone on board.”

“There are 922 on the ship. Where in hell are we going to store all of those shuttles!”

“We'll figure that out, Clarence. It needs to be done. A few more minutes and there would have been 280 people on board. Everyone else would have died.”

“Captain, this is a once in a blue moon occurrence. It may never happen again.”

“And it may happen before I adjourn this meeting. I'm asking the Council to support me on this.”

“Captain, I Do support you but Clarence's point is well taken. We need to solve the problem of storage, a not insignificant problem, before we build all those shuttles.”

“No, Jacqui. We need to start building shuttles. It will take at least a week to build as many as we need. That gives us a week to figure out the storage issue.”

It was a long, heated, and pretty much pointless discussion. Everyone saw the need for the shuttles, and I'm pretty sure everyone knew we'd figure out the details, but still, everyone was heard from, and many were heard from several times.

I finally had had enough:

“Look, I've pretty much lost my night's sleep at this point and we're talking in repetitive circles. I move the question.”

Lots of shouting. It took awhile to restore order. My motion was passed 7-5.

“Okay, that means we vote now. All in favor of building enough shuttles to house the entire crew raise your right hand.”

Everyone did.

“Good. I assign a committee of Clarence, Jacqui, and Jed to find a solution to the problem of storage and to report back to the Council in one week.”

Damn! This was the last thing I wanted. Clarence is difficult to work with and Jacqui has a short fuse.

10/23: We met nightly for the first four nights. Those two both love to hear the sound of their own voice!

On the fourth night we went with a plan Jacqui proposed on the first night, and which I had no doubt would be what we would recommend. Why it took four meetings...

We're going to store the shuttles on the hull, outside of the actual ship. Yes, I know, that's very obvious. But it's not that simple. The hull is vital space and a lot happens there.

First, we store other things, many of them. Second we need space uncluttered for visuals- telescopes and such, to see around us. We can't afford ANY blind spots. So storing 25 additional shuttles on the hull is going to mean lots of adjustments and lots of things being moved. It won't be quick or easy.

Meanwhile, the damned shuttles are in every vacant space on the ship and a royal p.i.t.a. For people to work around.

“Meeting is called to order. We're meeting tonight for the sole purpose of hearing from the committee. Jed, Jacqui, Clarence, what did you come up with?”

Since it was Jacqui's original proposal we let her speak.

The Council was not kind and did not like our solution.

Two hours later no viable alternative had been proposed.

“We need a trailer. We can build a trailer to house most of the shuttles and drag it along behind us.”

“No, Jamal, we can't. That would cause a huge blind spot, and we can't have any blind spots.”

“Put the visual stuff on the far side of the shuttles facing in the direction we need to see. How is that different from having the visuals attached to the hull.”

A long silence...

“As Captain, I don't see a reason why this couldn't work. Let's take three days to think it over and meet again. If we still think this will work we'll start building the trailer. Monty and Rhea, you're a committee to design the trailer. You've got the skills and the experience. Have a plan for us when we meet again in three days.”

10/26: Monty and Rhea came up with a great design that was very efficient. No one had come up with any major obstacles. The vote in favor was 12-0.

We'll be annoyed by the shuttles for a couple of weeks or more before we can get them to the trailer.

We'll start bringing shuttles inside, a few at a time, immediately, if we have another breakdown in the oxygen system.

[Wayne23]

11/13: The season starts tomorrow. We're excited. Here's the lineup:

Soph Trey Berr returns at PG.

Senior Gary Sams is back at SG.

#3 guard is frosh Kay Scot. #4 is senior Kip Terl. #5 is frosh Guy Bara.

Senior Tim Hern starts at SF.

Junior Hal Tuck is at PF, and he's the key. If he plays with discipline and consistency we could go a long way.

At C is frosh Dev Stok, who has huge potential.

First big off the bench is Ken Coll, a senior. 2nd is frosh Kris Cole. Finally there's frosh SF/PF Mal Bult.

We open with #20 Creighton here. We think we're better but it's early and it's hard to know. We're ranked #20, picked to win the Big Ten, which I think is way too optimistic; 6 ranked teams in the conf including #3 Michigan ST.

The trailer is built and at long last the shuttles are being placed in it.

That comet has passed the probe and is continuing on its long journey. The study was deep and intense. No way to figure out what was causing all of those rich colors without launching something to penetrate the surface, probably deeply and at several points. We opted not to do that.

11/14: Their SF is #3 on the Norton list.

We take an early lead. Up 10 after 10. Big run and up 17 at halftime. 19 for Sams. Tuck and Berr have 9 each. Hern has 3 fouls but he's guarding the superstar who has 14, 4, 3.
Only 2 TOs. +11 from the line.

Up 12 with 10 left.

86-73. We were never seriously threatened.

21, 1, 7, 4 for Berr, 21, 3 for Sams. Our starting guards outscored theirs by31. 16, 10, 4 for Tuck, 16, 5 for Stok.

6 TOs to 21.They outshot us 39.7% to 51% but we took 17 more shots and were +12 from the line. +14 in the paint. A good start to the season!

[Wayne23]

11/16: 1-0 Clemson is here next. They looked very good against a weak team. Their PF got 26 and 8. Their PG looks like he can play. We're heavily favored.

11/17: “Stop their big guy but no dumb fouls!”

Back and forth early. Down 3 after 10. 53-50 at the half in a real shootout! Our guards are doing ti again, 12 for Sams, 11 for Berr. Coll has 9 from the bench. Their big guy has 12 and 7. 5 TOs. Shooting 50% but they're shooting 55.9%.

“You need to play some D!”

We start strong. Up 16 with 10 to go.

93-80 but it wasn't that close.

18, 9 for sub Ken Coll, 17, 10 for Stok, 16, 4, 5 for Berr, 16, 1, 4 for Sams.

It's taking some time to get the shuttles into the trailer. Evidently it will be a tight squeeze to fit them all in and there's some very careful piloting being done. About a third of them are in. And we're told it will take at least 4 hours to get them back inside. If there's an emergency we'll need to act immediately.

[Wayne23]

11/20: The two recruits who committed signed. Still chasing two guards.

We're #17. Next here is 2-0 Kona. They haven't played anybody but cupcakes and we're a big favorite.

11/21: We take an early lead. Up 8 after 10. They come back and lead by 5 at the break. Their bench is +12 over ours. They're out shooting us by 8.5%.

“I need to see more effort. These guys aren't as good as you're making them look.”

Up 3 with 10 to play. It's too close!

84-80. WAY too close. 23, 1, 6 for Berr, 21, 4, 7 for Sams but he had 8 TOs! 14, 10, 3 for Tuck.

+13 RBs. +12 inside. Their bench outscored ours 32-9 and that's what kept it close.

The oxygen system failed again. This time it was in the evening. Remember, about half of us work the traditional “first shift,” and about a quarter work each of the other two shifts. People in leadership positions worked much longer than a normal shift, and their work time varies so that they can be active on the ship at all hours of the day and night, at least from time to time.

Anyway, 17 of the 26 new shuttles were in the trailer so 14 trailers were on the ship, counting the old and new ones.

There was some real confusion and disorganization involved with the effort to get everyone into a shuttle and it turned out to be necessary as it took nearly 12 hours to get the system operational. The last people into the shuttles were literally holding their breath as they entered. That's how close it was.

“As Captain of this ship I am disgusted by the inept performance of the people whose job was literally to keep people alive. There will be daily drills on shuttle movement until further notice.”

I've never seen the Captain so angry.

[Wayne23]

11/23: At 1-2 Pepperdine. They have real trouble scoring but they play good D, or have so far. I don't think they can score enough points to give us any real trouble.

11/24: Up 3 after 10; shooting.250. Up 2 at the half, shooting 25.7%. They're shooting 50%. 15,5 for Tuck. No one else is doing much of anything and our guards, who have been explosive all season have a combined 7 points and 1 assist. Once again our bench is being badly outplayed. +6 RBs, 7 fewer TOs but the dismal shooting and D are the issues. +12 at the line or we'd be in huge trouble.

“That team is 1-2 against unranked teams. Wake the hell up!”

I ramp up the D 3 minutes in. Up 8 with 10 to go.

65-62. It wasn't quite that close, they hit a three with 1.7 left, but it was way TOO close!

19, 12 for Tuck, 12, 7, 3 for Stok, who hurt his knee. He's day to day. He may or may not miss our next game.

Our guards didn't do much and our bench did less.

10 TOs to 27. +12 at the line. They outshot us by 12% but we took 19 more shots. +12 in the paint.

“You need to be way better than you were tonight.” We'll work on it in practice.

Max Webber, head of water supply, suffered a fatal heart attack this morning. He was one of the very last people to get into a shuttle the other day and people are speculating that it was a factor. Max was 52 and a bit overweight.

We're still having daily shuttle drills which is disrupting everything and putting everyone on edge.

[Wayne23]

11/27: 1-2 UConn is here. Their C is hurt but will probably play. Our C, Stok, will play as well; he's close to 100%. They don't play much D and they don't hit the boards.

11/28: Early lead. Up 9 after 10. Up 16 at the half. Our guards have 11 and 9, Tuck has 9 and 6. +6 RBs, +8 in the paint. We're shooting 7% better than they are. Up 16 with 10 left.

89-66. Easy win. 25, 7, 4, 3 for Sams, 18, 9 for Tuck, 11, 4, 9 for Berr. +8 RBs. 14 TOs but they had 24. +14 in the paint, +16 on 2nd chances.

The Captain announced that today is the last day of daily shuttle drills but they will be held regularly, announced and unannounced. People are more than sick of this. I agree that we need to be absolutely certain that we can handle an oxygen emergency but it's good that the daily drills are ending. People are really testy.

[Wayne23]

11/30: 2-2 Akron is here. They're better inside than out. They may score inside but we should own the boards.

12/1: Up only 4 after 10; they're hanging with us. Late run puts us up 10 at the half. 16 for Berr, 13, 7 for Tuck. +7 RBs, 6 TOs. We're shooting 7% better.

Taking charge, up 20 with 10 left.

91-65. 21, 15, 3 for Tuck, his best of the season so far. 16, 1, 8 for Berr, 12, 9 for Stok, 12, 4, 4 for Sams. +19 RBs, +12 in the paint.

Things feel normal again without the daily drills. I'm sure the Captain will do an unannounced one soon.

[Wayne23]

12/4: Toughest team on the pre-conf schedule is her next, #6 ranked Brigham Young, 6-1. They score 15.1 more than their opponents, but 0-1 vs. top 25 teams. We have the edge on the boards, or should. They have an excellent PG and a very good PF.

12/5: Here we go!

We fall behind early. Down 6 after 10. Down 6 at the half. They're outshooting us by 8%. -5 RBs but only 3 TOs. Stok has 3 fouls, played 11 minutes and Berr 2 in 9 minutes. Their PF has 16 and 6.

“Wake up guys. You need to play harder.”

Up 2 with 10 left. It's a war! We go on a run.

83-73! Great win! We were down 16 in the 1st half. 21, 5 for Hern, 16, 3 for Coll, 12, 10, 3 for Tuck, 11, 4, 4 for Sams. Berr played only 20 minutes and Stok 21 and we survived it. #3 guard Kip Scot had 8, 2, 5. -8 RBs, which we did not expect, but 6 TOs to 15. We outshot them by 5% and were +15 from the line.

8 days off.

Unannounced shuttle drill after lunch today. It actually went quite well.