Hereafter

[Wayne23]

12/12: 5-1 Miami is here. The Hurricanes have an excellent SG, and they've looked good this season.

12/13: Early lead becomes a big early lead. 49-27, so we got as many points in the 1st half as we did in the whole game last time. Weird. 20 for Sarp. Only 3 TOs. We're running away with it.

84-53. 30, 9, 4 for Sarp, 3 fouls. 13 each for Wite and Will. 12, 8 for Call. 9 TOs, +18 in the paint.

12/14: Our last pre-conf game is at 5-5Their starting Sf broke his hand in the first game of the season. Central Florida, and we have a week off before we play it, as we did with the Miami game. They turn it over.

12/20: Tight game early on. We heat up late. 38-30 at the half. 3 fouls for Sarp in 12 minutes. They have 2 starters with 3 each. 4 TOs. We take control in the 2nd.

74-62. 13, 6, 3, 3 for Wite, 17 for Will, 11, 6 for Call, 13 for Mott. 9 TOs to 24.

Scot Jenn, our 6th man, hurts his calf. Thankfully we have 10 days between games so he'll be okay by then.

12/25: We end pre-conf play at 7-2, NET #26.

+13.4 PPG. +4.8 RBs. -7.5 TOs. We only commit 9.9, which is excellent, and a big reason for our success. +4.7 assists.

Sarp leads us with 15.6 and 7.4, but averages 3.9 fouls. All 5 starters average 10.2 or more.

The probe indicates one planet, one moon in the Goldilocks zone.

[Wayne23]

12/29: We start Big 10 play with 7-3 Wisconsin here. They're favored by 2 ½. We think we can turn them over.

12/30: The conference isn't particularly strong this year. Nobody is ranked at this point.

We take a lead and then expand it. 49-30 at the half. Sarp has 20 and 7, Call has 14. 4 TOs.

78-64 but it wasn't that close. 34, 14, 6 blocks for Sarp, 16 for Call. +32 in the paint.

We are in orbit around the planet and it is clearly inhabited and the life forms are sophisticated. Our long range sensors and the probe are seeing lots of buildings, roadways or railways or something like that...

1/1/2054: 7-5, 1-1 Clemson is here. They're good outside, and they have a good bench.

1/2: We take the lead immediately. 47-31 at halftime. 16 for Call, 15 for Mott.+20 in the paint. We start the 2nd with a run and get the lead to 20.

87-79 but they got it that close in garbage time. 21, 7 for Call, 20, 4, 4 for Sarp, 20, 3, 5 for Mott. +32 in the paint.

Bench coach Greg Robb: Jed, we're really doing better than we thought possible.

Jed Clark: Well, Josh Call and Nate Mott are exceeding our expectations, that's for sure.

Robb: We didn't expect to have 5 solid starters but we do. Now if we only had a bench!

1/3: “People of the ship, the Misa welcome you. What is the reason for your visit?”

“Thank you. We come from the planet we call Earth, a very long way from here. We are on a voyage of exploration and discovery. We seek to claim no territory. We wish only to learn.”

“We invite you to send representatives to our planet to speak and to explore.”

Once again, the Captain chose a psychologist, a scientist, and me.. We made plans to shuttle down to the surface.

1/4: We are on the planet and we have met the Misa. We are able to breathe the air while wearing a filtration device in our nostrils and no other protective gear.

The Misa are … well they're almost ball shaped. Their feet, if they have them, are hidden, and they seem to glide. They move quite quickly, faster than a human can walk. They have four arms, two that are rather long compared to their height (about 4 to 4 ½ feet tall, and the other two arms are shorter but functional.

They are very accommodating and friendly. The are showing us everything we want to see and are pointing out other things we haven't asked about.

When we do ask they go into quite a lot of detail.

They have said they are interested in our way of life.

They live in small groups of varying sizes. They are very social. It seems that no Misa is ever alone.

When we explained that some humans are extroverts and some are introverts they did not understand the concept of introversion at all.

More later.

1/5: At Iowa. They have some good players, particularly their SF.

1/6: We take the lead quickly. 43-31 at the half. 11, 6 for Sarp, 12 for Mott. We keep the lead. They keep trying to get it closer and we keep fending them off.

81-70. 22, 9 for Sarp, 23 for Mott.

Greg Robb: We're sure off to a good start in the Big 10.

Clark: Definitely, but we haven't played any of the good teams yet.

Robb: Wisconsin.

Clark: That's true, and we play there in a couple of weeks. It will be interesting to see how we do with the better teams, especially on the road.

1/10: At 8-6, 1-2 Purdue. They're 2-1 vs. ranked teams. Their D is only so-so.

1/11: It takes some time but we build a lead. Then they come back. 38-45 at the break. 12, 6 for Sarp but 3 fouls. It's tied with under 7 to play.

82-91. They did it in the last 2 ½ minutes. 24, 9 for Sarp, 19, 1, 6 for Will. -13 for the bench, which was more than the difference. -7 RBs, -8 in the paint, +11 on 2nd chances. We let them shoot 55.7%.

Bench coach Greg Robb: The road is tough.

Clark: And the fact that we don't have much of a bench sure was clear tonight!

The Misa truly could not be nicer and more friendly. They have sent a party of three to our ship. They've been everywhere on board. The thing they are most interested in is the holo chambers. This is completely new to them. They asked to send their techies up to speak with ours to see if they might be able to set up holo chambers of their own. This will necessitate our techies going down to the planet, and we're working to make that happen.

[Wayne23]

1/12: 12-3, 4-2 Minnesota is here. They have some realy good players but are only 1-1 vs. ranked teams.

1/13: Back and forth. 50-41 at the half. Both teams are over 50%; we're at 58.6% to 52.2%. 11 for Sarp but 3 fouls again. It's maddening!
We get the lead to 20.

82-65. 19, 6 for Sarp in only 21 minutes, due to foul trouble. 15, 3, 4 for Will.

3 game road trip next. All 3 look challenging and the 2nd and 3rd look REALLY challenging.

We continue to have great communication with the Misa. They very much want holo chambers and our techies are working to make that happen. The difficulty is that the Misa, while quite sophisticated in many ways, never developed anything like computers and everything that followed. Our techies are trying to train their most savvy tech people but it's not going well.

“Jed, if we write the programs they won't come close to working the way the Misa will want them to work. Holo programs work best when they factor in our point of view, personality, personal preference and taste, so much that gets at who and what we are at a very basic level. To get the kinds of programs they want, they will need to learn how to write them, and they don't have anything anywhere near the tech skills and knowledge. It could take years to get them there.”

“The Council should consider how we approach this. Let's take a few days to think it over.”

“Jed, are you seriously thinking about-”

“Mick, I'd like ALL of us on the Council to seriously consider anything and everything related to this.”

“Why don't we just leave robots-”

“Robots can't figure in the personal stuff, thoughts, feelings-”

“Enough! I don't want this discussion to happen until we've thought things through. Meeting adjourned.”

I will never like this job. Too many strong personalities. That's fine, but keeping it under control is damn near impossible!

[Wayne23]

1/15: At 8-9, 3-4 Penn ST. They play well outside but we feel we have a big advantage down low. They're 0-3 vs. ranked teams.

We enter the Top 25 at #25.

1/16: They take an early lead. 36-43 at halftime. 14, 8 for Sarp. We have 11 TOs and are shooting 35.3%; not good. We catch them after 5 minutes and it's back and forth. Up 4 with 10 to go. Tied with 4 minutes left.

88-76. We got hot late. 30, 12 for Sarp, who stayed out of foul trouble. 16, 3, 4, 4 for Wite, but 7 TOs. Only 3 TOs in the 2nd half. +26 in the paint.

An interesting, in some ways amusing interchange with Mi (pronounced MEE) today:

Jed, your people frightened us terribly when we first viewed you. We had to wait a day to meditate and discuss before our fears were brought under control Then we calmed ourselves and reached out to you.”

“How did we frighten you? We did nothing aggressive.”

“Oh no, no. It was your appearance.”

“Our appearance frightened you?”

“Yes. You see, on our planet we have Rindoam- what you would call large spiders, as large as half our size. They are very dangerous.”

“I don't see-”

“Your people, with your long arms and legs, resemble Rindoam. We first called you, “half Rindoam,” or half spiders in your language.”

“We look like spiders to you?”

“Yes.”

“I can see where that would be frightening. I commend you and your people for overcoming this fear.”

“Thank you. Now that we know you we are not much afraid.”

The next two games should be very challenging, especially the next one.

1/19: We're at #24 Michigan, 13-3, 6-0. They are favored by only a half point. They're better outside, we're better inside. They are 0-1 vs. the only ranked team they've played.

1/20: They go on a run about 6 minutes in. 38-53. Our D can't stop them, 57.6% to our 44.1%. They're winning big outside, 9-22 for starting guards. They have shut Sarp down completely. We can't stop them in the 2nd; it's a rout for the first 8 minutes or so. Every time we make a little run they answer.

75-92. We were in way over our heads. 17, 11 for Sarp after a good 2nd half. 13, 5, 6 for Wite, 13, 3, 3 for Mott. Their SG had 38! -14 RBs.

This puts us at 12-4, 5-2, alone in 3rd place in the Big 10.

1/22: Another tough one, rematch with Wisconsin, 11-5, 4-2, there. We won by 14 at home. Sarp had a great game and PF Josh Call was very good. They beat us outside but we won big inside. It will be tougher at their place. We need to turn them over and we need Sarp to stay out of foul trouble.

Greg Robb: This one could tell us a lot about ourselves.

Clark: Yes it could.

1/23: It's close, up 5 after 10. 35-27 at the half. Call has 3 fouls as does Mott. Wite stepped up with 13. We're winning inside again, and losing outside again, but by a small margin re the latter. We're outshooting them by a big margin, 48% to 32%. We get the lead to 15 after 6 minutes. They mount a fierce comeback; down 3.

67-57. We came back at the end. Big game for Dub Wite at SF, 20 and 6. 14, 9 for Sarp but he fouled out in 21 minutes. Call also fouled out, as did Mott.

The bench held their own and played good D when the chips were down. 40-15 for the starting front courts. +10 RBs.

Robb: Great win!

Clark: Definitely. Don't know if we can beat Michigan but we can play with everyone else.

Robb: I actually wish we played Michigan at our place.

Clark: I kind of have mixed feelings. If we're lucky we just might play them in the Big 10 tourney title game!

We're still alone in 3rd place.

[Wayne23]

1/24: 11-7, 4-4 Iowa is here. We won by 11 there. Inside vs. outside again. We're the inside.

It's nice to be back home!

1/25: It's a battle! 45-44 at the half. Not much D being played by either team. Threes are keeping them in it, 7 for them, 1 for us. 16 for Sarp, 9 for Call.

Their PG and bench are doing the scoring. 2 of their starters have 3 fouls. +18 in the paint. It's close, up 6 with 6 to play.

82-75. 22, 9 for Sarp, 15, 6 for Call, 10 or 11 for each of the other starters. -10 for the bench. 8 TOs to 21, +20 inside.

1 back of Nebraska and Michigan.

We laugh about the “half spiders” thing, and with the thinner members of the crew, it actually kind of fits.

Things continue to go very well with the Misa but our techies say they have never been exposed to the kind of math needed to program the holo so it's going to be a long haul.

“We're trying to come up with some kind of work around, where they can program without the math. The trouble with that is sooner or later there are always errors, and eventually there's a total crash. By then we're a very long way from here and they're screwed without the math.”

“I know robots can't do the programming in any way that will make the holos as real as they need to be, but couldn't they handle the math stuff, including errors and crashes?”

“... Ooh. Not exactly and not completely but maybe... Spike,. What do you think?”

“I'm thinking... You know it could work! It's a really interesting problem and it could have major applications for us as well as them.”

They gushed on as only techies and geeks can gush.

1/31: Finally hopefully an easy game, 3-16, 2-8 Rutgers is here. They give up 11 more than they score.

Mal Sarp is #13 on the Norton list.

2/1: Quick lead. 44-32 at the half. 17 for Sarp, 13 for Wite. Call has 3 fouls. Only 3 TOs.

75-62 but it wasn't that close. 25, 10, 4 for Sarp, 17, 5, 8, 3 for Wite.

In a 3 way tie for 1st place with 9 to play. 15-4, 8-2.

The techies are working on the idea of Misa coming up with the ideas, describing them as completely and deeply as possible, and then the robots doing the programming. Another team is doing the same with our people here on the ship. No verdict yet on how well this will work.

“My geek sense tells me this will work for games and things like that- physical challenges, boat trips, remote visits to faraway places... but it won't work for anything that involves emotional involvement at a deep level, certain kinds of decision making, interaction with other people or with 'holo people.'”

2/2: At 13-6, 6-4 Indiana. They're a good team and they're heavily favored, which I don't understand- favored, maybe, but heavily? They are very good inside, especially at C.

2/3: It's very close early. Then they take the lead. 36-54 at halftime. Ouch! They went on a big late run. Their C is world class and he is destroying Sarp, who has 3 fouls. We're shooting 27.3% to 66.7%. I don't see us catching up. They're up by 22 with 10 left.

75-97. I can't believe 4 teams in conference have beaten them!

18, 5, 4 for Wite, 14 for Sarp. -17 RBs, -18 in the paint. We were totally out played.

[Wayne23]

2/5: We're in a 3 way tie for 2nd, 1 back of Nebraska who are here next. They're 16-7, 9-3. This looks like a toss up. The team that plays harder will win.

2/6: We take an early lead. They come back. 35-31 at the half; as close as we expected. 10 for Sarp. Mott has 3 fouls. Up 6 with 10 to play. We get hot late.

84-70. Big win! 22, 10 for Wite, 22, 7 for Sarp, 15, 3, 7 for Will. +12 RBs, +12 in the paint.

Alone in 2nd, one back of Michigan.

2/9: At 11-13, 5-8 Michigan ST. This is not a typical Michigan ST team. But they're better than their record, very good inside and they can score outside.

They have trouble scoring so we need to play good D.

2/10: Close early. 22-30 at the half. We're shooting a pathetic 22.6%. Our D is fine but we need to score! Call has 3 fouls. -7 RBs. We take the lead after 5 minutes. Up 1 with 10 left.

48-54. Terrible O! 27.4%. -15 RBs. Just an awful game on O. When you give up 54 you should win.

2/12: 12-12, 7-7 Penn ST is here. We won by 12 there. They can score outside but we think we're the better team.

2/13: We take the lead early on. 54-29. We're scoring very easily. 15, 6 for Sarp, 12 for Will, 10 for Mott. This one is over early.

97-65. 15, 12, 4 for Wite, 17, 9, 3 for Sarp, 19, 4, 4 for Mott, 17, 2, 5 for Will. +19 RBs.

In a 3 way tie for 2nd, 1 back of Michigan.

Mal Sarp is #12 on the Norton list.

Greg Robb: “What do you think, Jed?”

“About what?”

“Can we win? Finish 2nd? 3Rd?”

“If we play well and stay healthy, top 3. After that it depends what the other teams do.”

The geeks are making some progress with creating holo programs via robot/human interaction, but only some.

[Wayne23]

2/16: 16-7, 9-5 Indiana is here. They crushed us by 22 there. They are heavily favored to do it again. We'll need to play much better than we did last time, especially inside, to have a chance.

2/17: Close for awhile then they take the lead. 33-40 at the half. Their C is really, really good. 3 fouls for Call, who has done nothing. They're holding the lead in the 2nd.

70-73. We made a late run and missed a 28 footer at the end.

4 of our starters were in double figures but Call did nothing. They won it inside.

“These guys have our number, Jed.”

“Greg, if we play them in the Big 10 tourney we'll beat them.”

“Really?”

“I really think so!”

“5 to go. We kinda need to win them all.”

“4-1 at the worst, but every one of these last 5 is winnable.”

2/19: At 10-15, 4-11 Clemson. We won by only 8 at our place. We think we're better but they can be tough at home.

2/20: We start slowly then take a lead. 43-33 at the half. We're winning big inside. 13, 5 for Call, 10 for Sarp. +12 in the paint. We're holding the lead in double figures in the 2nd.

78-63. 17, 8, 3, 3 for Wite, 14, 9, 3 for Call. +16 RBs.

Costly win. Mal Sarp badly bruised his shoulder early in the 2nd half. He'll miss the rest of the regular season. We're going to gamble and go with Bill Palm in the middle.

“Well, I guess that's that.”

“Let's see what happens, Greg. Not good though, that's for sure. Fortunately we're not playing anybody that good. Let's hope Palm can do the job.”

2/21: At 9-16, 4-12 Ohio ST. They're 0-4 vs. ranked teams but they're favored. They play well at home.

2/22: Close early. Then they go on a run. 29-38 at the half. We're doing nothing on O and we're getting beat inside. It's not happening in the 2nd. This one is over early.

56-74. Without Sarp we just don;t have an inside presence. 16, 7, 4 for SF Dub Wite, 15 for Will. Palm had 10 RBs but he couldn't score. Both Call and Mott fouled out.

“They have a guy who's getting the math. It was like a breakthrough. Suddenly it clicked for him.”

“Great! Who is he?”

“His name is Oomili, like ooh-mee-LEE.”

“Can he program?”

“Not yet. We have a way to go, but he's the first one who shows any sign that he might actually get there.”

[Wayne23]

2/23: 14-14, 8-9 Michigan ST is here. We lost by 6 there. With Sarp out this won't be easy. Hopefully the home court will help.

2/24: Up 6 after 10. 42-29 at halftime. Our D is doing great and we're actually showing some O. 10 for Wite, 3 starters have 7 each. Up only 5 with 10 left. OT!

87-83 in OT! Whew! 21, 2, 5, 6 for Wite, 15, 6, 3 for Call, 14, 6, 5 for Will, 12, 9 for Mott. We probably got all we can expect from Palm, 9 and 2 with 4 fouls, badly out played by their C who had 23 and 20. We were -20 in the paint.

Tied for 4th, 1 back of 1st. 2 to play.

2/28: “A break, Jed? Our last road game is with the last place team.”

“Yeah, Rutgers is 3-24, 2-16. We won by only 13 at home. We really need this one.”

3/1: It's not going to be easy. Back and forth form the whole half. 35-34 at the break. We take the lead early in the 2nd. Looking good late!

76-56. We won it outside. 19, 4, 3 for Mott, 15, 3 for Will, 11, 5, 6 for Wite. 11 TOs to 21.

In a 2 way tie for 2nd, 1 back of 1st, with 1 to play.

“Yikes! This is stressful, Jed.”

“Hey, we're doing way better than we thought at the beginning of the season.” “Yeah, that's true. One game left and we could finish anywhere from 2nd to 5th. Hell of a lot riding on one game.”

“That's what it's all about!”

3/2: 16-13, 10-9 Illinois is here. They're a big favorite but I'm not so sure. We need to over achieve inside though.

Sarp is healing but he's not ready. He could play a minute here and there but that's it. But he WILL be ready for the post season.

3/3: It's close for most of the 1st then we rally late to lead 44-31 at the break. Our walk on C has 10 points! We're winning it outside though; both guards in double digits, 5 TOs to 13. Up 22 with 10 to play!

79-66! 16, 4, 1, 4 for Mott. 6 players in double figures including Palm and our walk on C Matt Donn.+12 in the paint, 11 fewer TOs.

3/5: We finish the regular season, amazingly, in a 3 way tie for 1st. We'll be the #2 seed in the tournament.

We're 21-8, 14-6, NET #23.

+8.1 PPG, +2.7 RBs, -5.1 TOs.

Sarp leads us with 16.9 and 7.8. 4 others get between 10.0 and 13.2. But no bench, #6 scorer gets 4.9.

SF Doug File declares. He had a lot of potential.

“Oomili just might get there. We're not pushing him too hard, just kind of letting the new learning sink in at its own pace. He's very interested though. Still no indication that any other Misa are getting the math. Maybe eventually he can teach some of them. This is still going to take awhile.”

[Wayne23]

3/8: We play #7 seed Penn St, 18-13, 12-8, in the quarter finals. We beat them by 12 and 32. With Sarp back, as long as we play well we should be okay.

3/9: The most exciting time of the year!

Tied after 10. Then they get hot. We come back. 39-40 at the half. The calls are going against us, Mott has 3. 11, 7 for Sarp. Up 10 with 10 to play after a run.

91-83. 21, 18, 6 for Sarp, terrific game! Good games by all 5 starters. +9 RBs, 7 TOs. Not much D but we sure did score points!

[Wayne23]

3/10: #11 seed Iowa, 18-15, 8-12, in the semis. They are strong outside. 2-2 vs. ranked teams. We won by 11 there, 7 at home.

#5 vs. #9 in the other game. LOTS of upsets!

Game time: Early lead. Up 6 after 10. They catch up. 37-39 at the half. Their best player is their SF; he has 14. 10, 6 for Sarp, 11 for Mott.

Down 6 with 10 to go. They go on a late run and put us away.

66-80. We just fell apart late in the game. 16, 12 for Sarp, 15, 5 for Mott, 14 for Call. We shot only 37.3% to their 50%.