Hereafter

[Wayne23]

12/9: We score the first 9. Tied after 10; we got sluggish again. I'm in their faces. Tied at the half. I never talked to them at halftime, just stayed in my office. Akpo woke up! He's controlling the game, but it is STILL tied with 10 left. I don't get it...

75-67. We scored the last 8 in a game that was much closer than it should have been. 22, 17 for Akpo. Without him we would have lost badly. 13, 3, 3, 4 steals for Huss, 10 and 10 for Hart.

+10 RBs, only 8 TOs. That gave us 15 more shots, and we needed every one of them since we shot only 35.6%. We made 8 more free throws.

We play solid D, and that saves us often; it did tonight.

After the game I stayed in my office. Never said a word to the team. I hope that sent a message, nothing else seems to be doing so.

After 6 straight at home we're off to 3-4 Cal-Poly. They haven't lost at home (or won on the road!). They're decent outside but we should dominate inside. If we actually show up we should beat them but lately...

I was thinking we lost to New Mexico ST because we were looking ahead. The way we played tonight tells me it's a little more complicated than that. The staff and I are working on that. Yes, there are nights when the shots don't drop, and that's part of it, but those two games were more about standing around on O, not working to get open, and not finding the open player.

I've gotten lost in other things and completely neglected the food situation.

You remember that Will Karr's bombs cause a huge issue with food supply. Then we had a minor crop disease which extended the short rations period for several months.

Today was the first day we were off all food restrictions and the food service people put on a banquet, with all of the favorite food featured at all three meals. I haven't seen this many smiles in months.

[Wayne23]

12/13: Early lead. Up 5 after 10. Up 8 at the break but they're staying close. Up 7 with 10 to go.

72-66. Again, much closer than it should have been. We're simply not playing well.

21, 16 for Akpo and 23, 6 for Hart; both of them ARE playing well.

+4 RBs and 12 TOs (to 15). Not much bench with Sims out.

We shot only 37.9%; they shot 38.1%. We won it at the line, 26-35 to 16-21. +18 in the paint.

Our last pre-conf. game is with 6-1 Boise ST here. They won their first 6 before being crushed at NC ST. They'll be looking to bounce back. They're very good outside and they have a solid bench. They play good D. But we should own the boards. This will be a real challenge unless we play a lot better than we've been playing. We need to be up for this one.

The food service supervisors report that food consumption is way up. They say that they think this will level off. Everyone is so happy to have choices again that they're over eating. We're putting out notices about not wasting food (which isn't happening, but it puts the focus on consumption). Healthy eating, and other things.

On the other hand the psychology department says reports of depression are significantly down. Food plays a huge part in people's well being.

[Wayne23]

12/20: They jump out to an early lead. We come back. Up 15 after 10. At every time out I'm urging them to play hard. Up 18 at the half,. Blen is having his best game of the season, and our guards are lighting it up! Up 26 with 10 to play.

95-60. When we play like this we're hard for any team to beat!19, 5, 3 for Jon Blen, 15, 13 for Akpo. 17, 4, 5 for Huss, 15, 1, 4 for PG Tim Smid. Our bench played well.

+18 RBs, only 6 TOs. +14 on 2nd chances.

Our last pre- conf. game is at San Diego ST., 8-2. They can play. They're especially good outside and their SG can light it up. Their D is excellent. We need to control the boards to have a shot but this one will be a challenge.

[Wayne23]

12/27: Back and forth. Mini-run puts us up 10 after 10. Up only 4 at the half. Tough team! Up 4 with 10 left; it's a war! RUN!!! BIG RUN!!!

77-62. Great win! 21, 1, 6 for Huss, who more than matched their best player at SG. 15, 5 for 6th man F/C Cole Shyn. 13, 9 for Akpo, who played great D. 10, 12 for Hart.

Their bench was definitely better than ours except for Shyn.

It was an intense game on D. They forced 17 TOs but we forced 24. We outshot them 48.3% to 39.2%. We scored 8 more field goals.

I'm happy with this one except for the TOs.

We end the pre-conf season at 12-1, #22 (We get a big win and drop two spots?), NET #7, which is great. We're about to see how accurate it is!

+16.2 PPG, +10.1 RBs (WOW!), -2.1 TOs (We're committing too many TOs!), +3.8 Assists.

#3 in PPG, #2 in RBs, #6 in overall Offense, #10 in overall NET. We're only decent shooters but we take a LOT of shots.

Tafa Akpo leads us with 16.9 points and 10.8 RBs. He rarely turns it over and he leads us in blocks. And despite playing decent D he averages only 1.6 fouls per game. Center Flip Hart is #2 in both points and RBs. Jon Blen is #3 in both. Both of our starting guards average more than 10 a game. Cole Shyn is getting slightly fewer RBs and scoring slightly more points than Nat Sims was before he got hurt. Their D is about the same. BUT we're losing depth. Our 2nd big off the bench simply isn't ready.

We start PAC 12 play at a very good Oregon team, 9-2. Another team that is very good outside. Their SG is a star, maybe a superstar. We think we should own the glass. If we do we'll be okay, but this should be a test. With this team it's hard to know. When we're good we're great, but we're not good every night.

The food service people say food consumption has levelled off at a good spot. Everything is great with food supplies.

This month I didn't do well in any of the tournaments, out of the poker tourney on day 2, beat early in 9 ball, out of the pitch tourney before the round of 64 teams. I DID have a great night at bridge though.

[Wayne23]

1/3: They take an early lead. Down 12 after 10. I ramp up the D. Down 12 at the half. We're in trouble. I'm pressing. Down 2 with 10 left. The press is working! Big three by Akpo!

85-89. Damn! We took a lead but they scored the last 6, all by breaking the press, which had worked until then.

We let their big gun go crazy; he had 31. Our D wasn't very good in general; they shot 59.6%. The fact that we took 12 more shots kept us in it but it wasn't quite enough.

16, 6 for Blen, 14, 7 for Akpo, 13, 3 for Shyn, but their guards easily and widely outscored ours, 50-26.

At 9-4, 1-0 Colorado next. They play really solid D but don't score that easily. We need to keep the game inside.

We do NOT want to open conference play with 2 losses!

Things are going smoothly on the ship. Except for that huge, radioactive rock, there are no concerns other than the usual ones we deal with every day. It would be nice if it stayed that way for awhile.

[Wayne23]

1/6: We take an early lead. Up 9 after 10. Blen and Hart are doing the damage early. Up 4 at halftime. It's a battle! Down 1 with 10 left.

86-81. We had to work for this one! 16, 8 for Akpo, 16, 7 for Hart, 10, 4, 9 for Huss. We didn't let their big scorer hurt us; held him to 13.

Stats were close except for free throws, which is where we won it, 30-38 to 17-25. We took fewer shots, which rarely happens.

#21 Arizona, 13-2, 1-1, at our place. They are a really good team and are a big favorite. All 5 starters can start and so can at least 3 guys on the bench.

If we're going to have a chance we need to control the boards and play solid D. It won't be easy, even at home.

[Wayne23]

1/10: It's close early. Tied after 10. Mini-run. Up 15 at the break. Up 15 with 10 left.

91-73. I never expected to win by this much. They decided to stop Akpo, which they did, but we found the open man all night long.

25, 3, 4 for Huss, 18, 4 for Hart, 3 guys had 11. Akpo had 8, 11, 3, not bad considering how they over played him. Their C had 24.

The difference was shooting. We shot 50.8% and they shot 43.9%. We took 4 more shots and made 6 more. Another huge factor was threes; we made a season high 11, they were 4-12. Great win!

Sims will be back for our next game, which makes the bench much deeper.

At #15 Utah, 15-1, 2-1. Arizona crushed them. They are very good at PG and C; we have the edge at PF. It's close at the other two spots and the benches look about equal. Our big edge, as usual is on the boards, and we'll need to exploit that.

Sims is back and he has looked like he's 100% in practice.

[Wayne23]

1/13: Up 4 after 10. Down 7 at the break. Back and forth. Down 1 with 10 to go.

67-77. We missed 7 shots in a row near the end and turned it over twice on top of that.

17, 11 for Sims in his first game back, and 14, 5 for Hart. No one else had more than 8. They doubled Akpo all night and it worked. We lost due to 33.8% shooting, poor ball handling, 16 TOs to 10. We were +10 on the boards but it wasn't enough. Tough loss but they were the better team.

At 9-6, 2-2 USC next. They're good, especially outside. We need to own the boards and get the ball in to our bigs.

[Wayne23]

1/14: 3:30 p.m.: Tragedy struck early this morning. Our Captain always sets foot on the bridge at exactly 7:00 a.m. Every single morning unless he has arrived earlier. This morning he didn't.

At 7:20 he still hadn't shown. At 7:33 the officer in charge hailed the Second in Command, Brad Fredericks, who immediately made his way to the bridge. Brad hailed the captain. No response.

After doing this three times, Brad entered the Captain's quarters. He found him in bed, dead. The ship's Doctor was called. She confirmed that that Captain was dead and asked Brad's permission to perform an autopsy since Brad was now Acting Captain. Permission was granted.

Just a few minutes ago the Doc confirmed that the Captain had died in his sleep of a massive coronary. He died between 3:30 and 6:00, instantly.

The Council will meet at 7:00 to appoint the new Captain. Interestingly enough the appointment of the 2nd in Command is not automatic and the rumors are flying. Brad is a quiet, almost sullen man, and he is not popular. I doubt that anyone denies his competency though. I think he should get the job and I would bet that he will.

The Council has 12 members. The Captain is NOT a member since he reports to the Council. The 2nd IS a member.

11:55 p.m.: What a meeting! It turns out Brad was NOT appointed Captain. Nobody was. There were three nominations, Brad, Chief Navigator Irma Gray, and... me. I immediately jumped to my feet to decline. I was told i couldn't decline. It was a duty that could not be refused. I explained emphatically and in great detail all of the reasons why i did not want the job. I was told to sit down.

A vote was taken: Brad 5, Irma 4, me 3.

Another vote was taken. No change. A total of 15 ballots later there had still been no change.

I moved that one more ballot be taken and that the person receiving the fewest votes should be dropped. The motion passed.

The vote was 4 to 4 to 4. 7 more ballots led to the same result.

On the next ballot there was a change: Irma 5, me 4, Brad 3. Brad was out. My only hope was that 2 of the 3 votes for Brad would go to Irma but there was no way to
know.

The next ballot was 6-6. 11 more ballots were 6-6. The Chair said that we would adjourn until tomorrow night with Brad as Acting Captain until the new Captain was appointed. Then Brad threw a monkey wrench into the works. He refused to serve.

After a discussion the ship's Doctor was appointed Acting captain. She would be an excellent Captain but no one else could do her job as well as she does. She's training several people, but they're not ready yet.

I just got to my quarters. Woke Lacy, and told her what was going on. I also told her what no one on the Council knew- while Brad was still a candidate I voted for him every time. When he was no longer a candidate I voted for Irma every time.

"Change your vote."

"What!"

"Change your vote."

"No chance. I don't want the job and I don't want that life. I love what I do and I love my entire life."

"Too bad. The ship needs you. And frankly, if this were put to the entire crew you'd win in a landslide."

"That's not going to happen and my being Captain is ABSOLUTELY not going to happen!"

"Change your vote."

"NO!"

"Sleep on it."

"I don't need to sleep on it."

"Jed, you have a duty. You need to do this."

"NO! ... Sorry... Look, do you doubt that Irma would do a good job?"

"No, she'd be fine. But you'd be better, and you'd have practically 100% support, which she probably wouldn't."

"I am NOT giving up a job I love, coaching hoops, playing in all the tournaments, time with my family- all of that and more. I'm just not!"

"Sleep on it."

I slept on it.

[Wayne23]

1/15: 6:55 p.m.: It's been a very long day...

When I woke up I had not changed my mind. I still haven't.

Rumors regarding the Acting Captain, and the fact that it was not the 2nd, as well as rumors about the new Captain were everywhere, as one would expect.
Someone on the Council had leaked some info and people seemed to know who the two candidates were. Much to my annoyance I was approached with well wishes by many people throughout the day. I really wasn't able to get much work done. Now I'm about to enter the Council meeting.

"Jed, a word?"

"Oh hello, Irma. Sure."

"You've been voting for me."

"... Why do you think so?"

"It's obvious. I can tell you who the five other votes are from. And I know which six people would not be voting for me. I suspect that you voted for Brad as long as he was on the ballot."

"I think he is the person best suited by knowledge and experience to lead us."

"Surely not by personality."

"Well, perhaps not, but that is less important."

"Doesn't matter. He's out. When he left the race you switched your vote to me."

"Yes I did. I do NOT want this damned job!"

"Interesting."

"And you do. So this should be great news to you."

"I'm happy with my present job but I would be willing to take on the role of Captain."

"Let's convince one of the six to switch to you."

"How do we do that?"

"... I think you should make your best pitch for the job. Then I will support you, say all the reasons why I do not want the job, than say all the reasons why I think you'd be a good Captain."

"That's a good plan but I don't think it will work."

"Why not?"

"Four of the votes against me are about gender."

"In this day and age and among this crew! Nonsense."

"No, it's not nonsense. I've embarrassed every one of them, some more than once, on matters of navigation, and they resent it."

"But if you were right..."

"Doesn't matter. They really didn't like the fact that I was right, and that's at least partly gender based."

"Damn! Well, it doesn't need to be unanimous, only a majority. Let's convince somebody."

"We can try."

We tried.

We didn't convince anyone. At 11:48, after I have no idea how many ballots, all ending 6-6, the Chair adjourned without setting a date for another meeting. She said she'd try to get a feel for things and when something had changed she'd call another meeting. Meanwhile the Doc would be both Captain and ship's Doctor.

I spoke to Lacy again but not for very long. We were both tired.