Hereafter

[Wayne23]

12/12: At 2-6 Hartford. On paper this is a walkover but they always give us trouble.

12/13: Up 5 after 10; they're staying right with us. A run puts us up 16 at the half. Balanced scoring. +7 RBs, 6 fewer TOs. We're holding them to 27.3%.

+18 in the paint. Up 18 with 10 to go.

72-53. An easy win. 19, 5, 3 for Sams, 17, 1, 6 for Berr. I've always had teams that were stronger inside than outside; not this team.

+8 RBs, 17 TOs which does not please me at all. We outshot them but only by 5%, but 15 more shots, 9 more made. +18 in the paint.

I've been playing a lot of piano lately. The piano is in the holo, and June has come with me lots of times.

“You really ought to learn to play.”

“It would take a long time to get to be any good.”

“You're 10. You've got time.”

“I'll think about it.”

[Wayne23]

12/18: Our last pre-conference game is with #21 Arkansas, 9-2, here. We're slight favorites. They have one scorer, their SF, but he can really light it up! They've played excellent D, but against nobodies. We should have a big edge inside.

12/19: Up 6 after 10. Up 12 at the half. The SF is getting his points but no one else is. 12, 4, 6 for Berr, 10 for Sams, 8, 6, 7 blocks (WOW!) for Tuck. +6 RBs.

“Great start but these guys can play and they're bound to make a run at us. Be ready!”

We get it to 20. Up 27 with 10 to play.

85-75 but it wasn't that close.

20, 10, 8 blocks for Tuck, a near triple double. 23, 5, 3 fro Sams, 16, 10, 3 for Stok, 14, 5, 10 for Berr.

+12 RBs, 12 TOs. +14 in the paint. +10% shooting.

12/25: We end pre-conf play at 9-0, #15, NET #1. +13.4 PPG, +6.6 RBs, -8.1 TOs, a terrific 10.9. Sams leads us with 17.6 PPG. Tuck is 2nd, 15.1, and 1st in RBs with 10.3. Berr is 3rd in points with 14.8, 1st in assists with 6.3. Stok gets 11.4, 7.0 RBs.

[Wayne23]

12/29: At 3-6 Rutgers to start Big Ten play. They give up 8 more than they score and they are poor rebounders.

12/30: It's good to be back on the court after 11 days off for semester break- don't get me wrong, they only had 4 days away from practice, but there's nothing like a game.

Down 4 after 10. Up 6 at the half; we were rusty at first but we eventually got into the rhythm. 10 for Berr, 8 for Hern and Coll. +6 RBs, 3 TOs.

Dominating inside. Up 13 with 10 to go. The lead is more than 20.

91-71. Nice conference road win! 16, 4, 5 for Sams, 18, 1, 3 for Berr, good bench play by Coll and Scot.

8 TOs. +12 in the paint.

Michigan is the only other ranked team in the Big Ten, #22, and they're 0-2 in conf play so far.

June started piano lessons, which makes me very happy.

[Wayne23]

1/3/2040: 4-8, 0-3 Wisconsin is here. Another usually strong team having a down year. They have a lot of trouble scoring and rebounding and they don't take care of the ball very well.

1/4: We fall behind, then way behind. I call a TO, put us on Max D. Down 12 after 10. Tied at the half. 3 fouls for Berr, my bad, I put him in with 2 with 2 ½ minutes left. I shouldn't have (Author's note: When I set play at max speed I WISH there was a way to set it so that the AI did not put a player back in during the first half when he has 2 fouls. As a coach I NEVER did that, and good coaches rarely do.). 19, 3, 5 for Sams, 11, 6 for Tuck. Their PG has 15, 4, 3. 3 TOs. They're shooting 55.6% to our 40%. +12 in the paint. Up 4
with 10 left. Going to man.

97-92 but that's as close as they got in the last 6 minutes or so.

27, 7 for Tuck, 19, 5, 7 for Sams, 19, 4 for Stok, 13, 1, 3 for Berr.

6 TOs to 20. They outshot us by 7% but we took 16 more shots, made 4 more. +9 from the line. An amazing +32 in the paint.

Another failure in oxygen and another life threatening emergency situation. In the middle of the night the alarms went off and the lights flashed. We all (I assume) hurried to our designated spots, after putting on our Hazmat suits. The repairs weren't quick so everyone got into shuttles and the shuttles launched- they need to be operational for the oxygen exchange and production functions to work.

After 15 hours the on board oxygen system repairs were completed but it was several more hours before all shuttles were had delivered their people back on board. For many of us it was a 24 hour ordeal. Then, when everything was back to “normal” the Captain came on and spoke:

“Members of the crew: I am as frustrated and upset by all of this as you are. The ongoing issues with the oxygen system have clearly not been resolved. You need to know that the people working in that specialty are spending every moment they can trying to find out what is wrong so that it can be repaired. They have not yet met with any success regarding diagnostics. The geek squad has recently begun digging deeply into the computer systems and they hope to find the problem soon. I would ask for your continued patience during this difficult time.”

[Wayne23]

1/5: 7-5, 2-1 Nebraska is here. They're better outside than inside. We're a heavy favorite.

1/6: We score the first 19! 25-5 after 10. 52-21 at halftime. 15 for Sams, 11, 6 for Stok.+9 RBs, 3 TOs. They shot 23.3%. +16 in the paint. Up 31 with 10 left.

998-61. Ugly. 27, 11 for Stok, 22, 4, 6 for Sams, 10, 12, 3, 3 blocks for Tuck, 13, 4, 5 for Hern.

+21 RBs, 6 TOs. We shot 26% better than they did. +34 in the paint.

I came here hoping it would be more competitive...

[Wayne23]

1/10: At 9-5, 1-2 Michigan. They should give us at least a little trouble, maybe more than a little. Yet another team that is better outside than in.

We're ranked #13.

1/11: Early lead again. Up 7 after 10. Up 8 at the half. 11 for Sams, 8 for Berr. 5 TOs. Shooting only 37% but they're at 32.4%, but they've taken 7 more shots.

“Move without the ball!”

A run puts us up 19 with 10 left.

84-69. 19, 3 for Sams, 16, 3, 5 for Berr, 14, 8 for Tuck.

+6 RBs, 9 TOs. +3.3% shooting.

June is a natural at the piano, maybe a prodigy. She's playing things it took me months to learn. Very cool indeed!

[Wayne23]

1/12: At 9-5, 2-3 Iowa. They don't score many but don't give up many. We think we're much better but it's a road game.

1/13: Slow start, down 11-13 after 10. Still down 2 at the half. -5 RBs. Painfully slow pace to the game. I need to wake them up. Sometimes getting more active on D wakes up the O. We're going to try it. We just don't have it tonight. Down 8 with 10 to play. First lead with 6 minutes left. They come back.

61-70. We were barely here tonight. No energy at all. Our guards had 9 and 5, and 10 TOs. Big guys didn't rebound, -3. We were outshot 44.4% to 50.9%.

Best thing to do after this kind of a night is get back in the gym and work harder. I didn't expect to go undefeated this season and we'll be back.

[Wayne23]

1/17: 10-5, 3-3 Purdue comes to town. They score 7 more a game than they give up; 13.5 for us. They don't rebound well. They have a very good PG but he doesn't get much help.

1/18: “A good team is defined by how they come back from a loss.”

Early lead. Up 27-10 after 10. Up 19 at the half. 12 for Sams, 10 each for Berr and Tuck. Stok has 6 and 11. Up 15 with 10 to go. We're coasting so I wake them up and go max D and man.

86-69. 15, 14 for Stok, 19, 1, 3 for Sams, 12, 9 for Tuck. Both teams shot about the same % but we took 15 more shots.

“She's got her eye on you, dad.”

“Huh?”

“Millie.”

“Millie?”

“(laughs) You don't even know her name and she's been coming on to you for days.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The history professor who's been eating lunch with you in the caf every day that you're in town.”

“Oh her. Nice lady. Easy to talk to.”

“Her name's Millie.”

“Millie, right. I knew that.”

“Uh huh... So she's dropping HUGE hints about you taking her to dinner or a show or something.”

“Nah, she's just being nice.”

“Dad, I know we're traveling through space but what planet are you from?”

“Stop! She's just a nice person.”

“Ask her to dinner. She'll say yes in a flash.”

“Nah.”

[Wayne23]

1/22: 4-12, 1-6 Rutgers is here. I don.t even like to play games like this. They're a terrible team.

1/23: It's close early. Up only 2 after 10. They're sleepwalking. Up 11 at the half but we're not playing well. +6 RBs, 6 TOs. No energy but they're so bad it doesn't matter much. Still, I'm on my guys about it. This is how you develop bad habits. The lead quickly gets to 20. Up 19 with 10 left.

79-58. They played better in the 2nd half.

16, 9 for Stok, 18, 6 for Coll, 14, 4 for Tuck. My guards have both been in a scoring slump lately but Berr had 10 assists and they're both playing good D.

10 TOs, +18 in the paint.

“Ask her out, dad.”

“Nah.”

“Come on, she's attractive, intelligent, she's got a great personality. She's a good one.”

“Yeah, actually she is, but if I didn't have time for your mother how will I have time for her?”

“You've made time for me and it hasn't hurt your coaching at all. You can do the same for Millie.”

“Nah.”

[Wayne23]

1/24: At 12-5, 4-3 Maryland. They're a decent team and it's a road game. They do most things at least fairly well and they don't do anything badly.

We're 15-1, 6-1, tied for 1st, they're 2 back in a 3 way tie for 3rd.

1/25: Back and forth; they're good. Down 2 after 10. Mini-run. Up 3 at the half but we're being challenged, which is great. 16 for Sams, 9, 7 for Hern. +9 RBs. They're shooting 57.1% to our 48.4% . We're +7 from the line.

“You've got to play better D!”

Still close. Down 1 with 10 left.

80-72. We scored the last 8 points.

23, 5, 3 for Sams, 14, 1, 7 for Berr, so my guards are back! 12, 12 for Hern, 11, 8 for Tuck. +10 RBs.

Big win. Minnesota lost so we're alone in 1st place.