Hereafter

[Wayne23]

Haven't had a chance to play for awhile. Hopefully soon. I will give Pat a second look!

[Wayne23]

Since I've been away for months i thought I'd repost a little of the back story:

It seems I died, after a long and decent or better life. Can't really remember a lot about it right now.

It turns out that when I died I was somehow transported to a room (Don't ask me how, I don't know.) In the room was what looked like a middle aged, sort of non-descript man at a computer. Here's how it went:

"Jed Clark, age 94."

"Yes. Who are you?"

"Call me, Pete."

"Pete?"

"Pete."

"Um... as in Saint Peter?"

"As in Pete."

"So, I'm confused..."

"Everybody is. Here's how it works: I'm going to send you to a room, third door on the left. There's a computer in there. Take all the time you need. Figure out what kind of a life you want to live. Anything and everything is possible from living totally by the laws and rules you just left, to living some sort of a fantasy life of your own creation. Tell me what age you want to be, what you want to do with this new life, the physical, mental, and emotional make up you want to have. Whatever. It's all on the form on the computer. Think it over carefully. When you come back to me, whaever you put on the form is what you get."

"I don't understand."

"Yes, I know. You have lived 50 lives. You can't remember any of them. This is #51. In this one the rules change. In the first 50 you got what you got. You lived the way you lived, mostly based on where you were born and what kind of situation you were born in. The first one, you were barely human; it was a long time ago. As tiem went on you lived life after life. Some were short some were long, some were in between. Sometimes things went well, sometimes, kind of good and bad, sometimes not so good, once or twice, horrible. For #51 you create it, set it up, then try to live it. Don't forget to set the Potential levels where you want them, and the characteristics, too."

"This is weird."

"Yeah, yeah. There's a video, with FAQs. Look at it before you fill out the form. It will explain everything, well the video and the FAQs will. If you have questions not listed in the FAQ section you can ask on the computer. Anyway, when you have all the information you need fill in the form and bring it back to me. I'll set you up."

Really, really weird. I think I'll tell a little more about basketball before I go on with this.

So I went to the room. Yes, there was a computer. I watched the video and took notes, but it was hard to believe what I was seeing. I watched it three times and I read all of the FAQs.

So I have free reign to design a new me, which can be as much like the current me as I want it to be and as much different as I want it to be. I then get to choose what age I want to start off at, and I live my life from there. I can "fast forward" through some stuff or just live it day by day. It can be an average lifespan or, I think, virtually forever with the option to terminate and start a new design at any point.

I took a LOT of time to think about what I wanted.

I was able to retrieve memories from the life that just ended. I learned how to do that from one of the FAQs and I'm really glad I did.

To shorten the narrative a little I discovered that there were three things I really, really wanted to focus on. Two were things I could have worked harder to achieve in this past life but really didn't, and one was not possible.

I thought about what I wanted to change about myself. After a long period of thought I decided to stay basically the same but to ramp up my intelligence by 15%, and my determination by 20%. I wnet a few inches taller and in great shape physically. Not a body builder but lean and strong.

Okay, so the three areas of interest?

All of my life, the last one I mean, I had wished I could play the piano. I mean really play it well so that I could, obviously, read music, but also just sit and pick out a song from the notes in my head or from hearing it once if it was a simple song, 2-3 times if it was more complex. For stuff like Mozart and Bach, I'd have to go with sheet music but I'd want to learn enough to be able to play even the rally complex music.

Second, no surprise. I wanted to be a college basketball coach. I wanted to start as a decent player, good enough to be a 6th man or maybe even a starter on a mid-level college team by my senior year, but NOT good enough to go pro.
I also wanted to have first a mentor to teach me to shoot and to do the rest, startiing when I was 8 or 9 years old, and then another mentor to teach mean everything I would need to know about coaching.

Finally, I had always been interested in the universe and how it worked, what it looked like... So I wanted the entire new life to take place on a space ship that would explore space, starting next to home in the solar system and then moving farther and farther away. I'd bend the rules regarding the speed of light, but there would be plenty of time when we were just moving through space on our way to a new discovery. And there would be some surprise discoveries along the way.

So how would I manage the piano and the hoops stuff on a spaceship? Through a holographic chamber. I mean absolutely top quality so that not completely simulated reality to the nth degree.

Now that I had my plan I needed to bring it back to Pete.

Okay. Last report I was exploring Saturn's moon, Titan, and we'd found some life forms.

I'm coaching at Wright ST.

[Wayne23]

2/13: We fall behind at Illinois-Chi early. Down 11 after 10 minutes. Down 15 at the half. Doesn't look like it's our night. Down 17 with 10 to play. We're going nowhere.

72-79. We never got closer than 6. They outshot us 48.2% to 38.7%, and that was the big difference. We were better in side but not by enough.

18, 4 for Forward Roy Star, 13, 7 for C Gary Ball. The bench held its own but we were outplayed.

Not a good night and it drops us into a tie for 2nd, 2 games back of Oakland.

At 12-12, 8-7, Milwaukee next. We won in OT at our places which probably doesn't bode well for this game, especially since Kevin Love was a HUGE factor in the win and he's still out with a broken arm.

On paper we need to stop their outside game and make our free throws.

We've moved on from Titan, and we're orbiting Uranus. So far it seems pretty dead.

[Wayne23]

2/16: We take an early lead but can't hold it. Back and forth for most of the half. They go on a late run. Down 11 at the break. They run away with it early in the 2nd; down 21 with 10 to play.

57-76. No offense at all and the D was only fair. Their SG had 27 despite the fact that we doubled him most of the way.

They outshot us by 8.6%, and were +12 in the paint.

15 for PG Dens, 12 for Cora.

We need to turn it around but that's not likely to happen until we get Love back and that's 3 weeks from now. We're in a 3 way tie for 2nd, 2 back of 1st, one up on 2 teams.

Cleveland ST, 8-17, 3-13, is here next. We won by 20 at their place. We like our chances in this one.

We're looking at the various moons around Uranus, and at the planet itself, but we're seeing no signs of life.

[PointGuard]

Welcome back from your hiatus. Couple of rough losses but seems as though Cleveland St. will help turn things around.

[Wayne23]

2/20: We take an early lead. Our inside guys are doing a great job. Up 12 after 10 minutes. This is turning into a romp. Up 17 at the half. 22 point lead with 10 to play.

We win it 89-66. It was never in doubt. Shooting % were about equal but we took an amazing 24 more shots than they did. +26 in the paint, +14 on 2nd chances, +14 on fast breaks.

A terrific 31 and 6 for Gary Ball. 12. 8 for sub C/F Dave Hemp.

We're now 19-7, 11-6, alone in 3rd place with 3 to play. Unfortunately, 2 of the 3 are away and the home game is against the first place Oakland Golden Grizzlies.

We're at 12-14, 7-20 Green Bay next. We won by 24 here without Kevin Love. On paper we ought to have a definite shot at this one. We need to control their outside game, rebound, and make our free throws. Turning them over would be good.

We're heading to Neptune. No expectations regarding life on Neptune or any of its 14 moons, but you never know. The planet has a heavy methane atmosphere and it is COLD!

No, I don't know why we left Titan and Saturn so quickly. This is the third such mystery since the voyage started. There has never been any word as to why we left either Phobos or Callisto.

So in three different places something mysterious has happened and the people in charge decided to just get outta town. Hm...

[Wayne23]

2/23: We take an early lead. Up 9 after 10 minutes. Up 6 at the half. We're not hitting free throws; giving away points. Up 10 with 10 to play.

91-79! Huge road win! YAY!!! It was a team effort, especially a bench effort. Our bench had 37 points to their 27. Back up C/F Dave Hemp had 20, 4, 3, and back up guard Jay Heno added 10 and 4. 17 for starting SG Josh Mill. Star had 13, 5, and Ball had 11, 7.

We were +9.2% in shooting pct., and +9 in free throws made.

Still in 3rd place and we'll be lucky to split our last two games.

Next up is 1st place Oakland, 18-10, 14-4, here. They won by only 3 at their place but Kel Love was a big factor and he's still out with a broken arm.

On paper we need to contain their bench, play solid D, hit our free throws, and turn them over. Easier said than done!

There's something weird going on with the grains. My stats are showing something, but I haven't quite figured out what. Given that we're still a long way from Neptune I have some time to dive into the stats and hopefully figure out what's going on.

Lacy and I are overdue for a night out. We both need lots of space, seeing as we're both very introverted. We're good about respecting that but it's time for a "date."

[Wayne23]

2/27: Back and forth early. We go on a run and lead by 13 after 10 min. Up 11 at the half. It's tightening up. We're down 3 with 10 to play.

87-86! Whew!!! Sub C/F Dave Hemp hit a six footer at the buzzer for the win. He was in because Rich Cora had fouled out, but probably would have been in anyway since he was really playing well on both ends- 16, 7. 16, 4, 4 for Josh Mill. 3 others were in double figures. They outshot us, 56.3% to 43.1% but we took an amazing 24 more shots.

+16 in the paint, +13 on 2nd chances and both stats were huge. This one was a real battle from start to finish and a great win!

We're in a 2 way tie for 2nd, one back of 1st, one ahead of 4th with a road game against 7th place Youngstown ST, 16-12, 10-9 left. They're tough at home.

This is our first meeting of the season. On paper we're the better team but it's a road game. We'll need to play solid D and rebound well. I think we need to try to force the game inside as much as possible.

It looks like Kel Love won't be available for the conference tourney, except maybe for the finals if we get that far. That is not good news.

Lacy and I went dancing. I'm not big on that but Lacy loves it and it made her happy.

Still exploring the weirdness with the grain stats. More on that soon.

[Wayne23]

2/27: Back and forth early. We go on a run and lead by 13 after 10 min. Up 11 at the half. It's tightening up. We're down 3 with 10 to play.

87-86! Whew!!! Sub C/F Dave Hemp hit a six footer at the buzzer for the win. He was in because Rich Cora had fouled out, but probably would have been in anyway since he was really playing well on both ends- 16, 7. 16, 4, 4 for Josh Mill. 3 others were in double figures. They outshot us, 56.3% to 43.1% but we took an amazing 24 more shots.

+16 in the paint, +13 on 2nd chances and both stats were huge. This one was a real battle from start to finish and a great win!

We're in a 2 way tie for 2nd, one back of 1st, one ahead of 4th with a road game against 7th place Youngstown ST, 16-12, 10-9 left. They're tough at home.

This is our first meeting of the season. On paper we're the better team but it's a road game. We'll need to play solid D and rebound well. I think we need to try to force the game inside as much as possible.

It looks like Kel Love won't be available for the conference tourney, except maybe for the finals if we get that far. That is not good news.

Lacy and I went dancing. I'm not big on that but Lacy loves it and it made her happy.

Still exploring the weirdness with the grain stats. More on that soon.

[Wayne23]

3/2: It's a battle! Down 2 after 10 min. They go on a run. Down 17 at the half. We're getting beat up. Down 19 with 10 minutes left. Nothing I try is helping.

69-91. Ouch! Their bench killed us, 52, 18, 11 to 19, 2, 8. We thought our strength was inside but we were -12 on the boards. They outshot us 64.6% (!)
to 47.2%. So our D was nonexistent.

16, 4 for Ball, 14, 1, 4 for Mill, but no one else did much.

We wind up alone in 3rd, 21-8, 13-7. Our NET Rank is 23, which is very good. We're weak on D, last in the country in free throw pct., and near the bottom in threes.

We play 6th place, 18-12, 12-8, IUPUI in the quarter finals. We won by 22 at our place in our only meeting. We were especially good inside in that game but again, Love was a big factor. Our PG had 20. We outshot them and took care of the ball.

Good D will be important and it's NOT a strength.

It seems highly unlikely that Love will be able to play if we make it to the title game.