Transfer to the Title

[Wayne23]

12/5: #22 Mississippi ST, 4-0, is here. We should have a big edge on the boards.

We're #6.

12/6: It's close early. Tied after 10. Up 5 at the half. 12 fro back up C/F Fero Miri. +6 RBs, 3 TOs, +22 in the paint. The refs aren't calling much but what they are calling is against us. Up 8 with 10 to play.

80-64. Good D. 21, 12 for Miri; I'm impressed! 12, 3 for Witt, who filled in brilliantly for Cole, who is now 100%. 8 TOs to 17. +36(!) in the paint.

We're 9-0.

"HI Ali. What's up?"

"Just wanted to let you know that I'm in pretty serious talks with Cal-Berkeley about their A. D. Position."

"About that. This might be a good time to let you know that if I can manage it, this is my last season as a head coach. Now that I'm a dad I want to do less
travelling. If you actually do leave I'll be applying for the A. D. job here."

"Wow! That's a shock! Hey, if I get the job at Berkeley I'll do what I can for you here."

[Wayne23]

12/8: 3-2 Stanford is here. They have a very good PG, but Cole's back, and they don't have much else.

12/9: We take a quick lead. Up 13 after 10- they've scored 5 points so far! 36-22 at the half. 12 for Miri who has been on fire. 8, 2, 3 for
Thom, who I know is happy to be back at SG. 7 fewer TOs. Up 23 with 10 left.

67-47. Excellent D! 15, 8, 4, 3 for Brad, 16, 4 for Miri, 14, 5, 3 for Thom. 11 fewer TOs.

[Wayne23]

12/12: 5-3 UMass is here. They're our new home and home opponent but they aren't strong enough to offer us competition. Maybe we'll switch again next year.

12/13: We take the lead. Up 8 after 10. 49-38 at the half. 13 for Cole, 9 for Thom. +9 RBs, 5 TOs, +16 in the paint. Thom and Savo have 3 fouls each though. Up 18 with 10 to play.

94-66. Another blowout. 20, 2, 5 for Thom, 16, 1, 8 for Cole. 31 for the bench. +17 RBs, 9 TOs, +28 in the paint.

[Wayne23]

12/15: 4 more pre-conf games. The next one, and last on the road is vs. 6-4 Gonzaga, having a down year. Only 3 points a game better than their opponents.

12/16: We score the first 12. 21-4 after 10 minutes. 47-20 at the half. Balanced scoring. +8 RBs, 10 fewer TOs, +22 in the paint. Up 30 with 10 left. The subs will get in early.

85-61. 19, 12, 3, 3 for Suli, 14, 9, 2, 3 for Savo. +9 RBs, 11 TOs to 23. +24 in the paint.

Fero Miri hurt his shoulder. Out for at least 2 weeks. He's our first big off the bench. Will Kili will get his minutes.

Jess never went back to work after Russell was born. We decided we didn't want Russell and his future siblings farmed out to day care and such. Jess is working part time from home for the Athletic Department. She's loving being with the baby, and she says the work is a good diversion. Busy as she is she'd be bored without having some outside work.

[Wayne23]

12/19: #21 Maryland, 7-0, is here. This could be a challenge. They really shoot the three well and their C is very good. Their D is as good as anyone's. But they haven't played anybody. We'll see.

We're #3.

12/20: Slow start for both teams. Up 6 after 10. A run puts us up 15 at halftime. Good bench play, Witt has 10, Kili has 6 and 7. 6 TOs to 15. +8 in the paint. Another run and we're up 22 with 10 to go.

80-63. 16 for Witt, 12, 7 for Suli, 8, 12 for Kili. +11 RBs, 11 TOs to 29, +22 in the paint.

Closest game so far is 11 over Oklahoma.

[Wayne23]

1/22: 5-3 Michigan is here. They only win by 4.3 per game. We're a big fav.

1/23: Big early lead. Up 10 after 10. Up only 6 at the half; we kind of fell asleep. 12 for Savo, 9 for Witt. 5 TOs. Stats are close. Up 13 with 10 left.

74-62. They stifled our O but we didn't let them score much.

17, 13, 4 blocks for Savo, 12, 2, 4 for Witt, 13 for Thom, 10, 8, 2, 4, 3 for Suli.

+12 in the paint.

[Wayne23]

12/26: Last pre-conf game is here, vs. Wichita ST, 7-4. Big fav again. We think we're better at every position.

We're ranked #2, behind Georgetown, NET #1. 6 Big East teams in the Top 25.

12/27: Close early. Tied after 10. run puts us up 51-32 at the half. Thom has 17. 5 TOs to 18, +16 in the paint. They're shooting well but we've taken 16 more shots. Up 18 with 10 to play.

83-51. 21, 4 foir Thom, 12, 6 for Savo, 10, 4, 6, 5 for Witt. 15 fewer TOs, +26 in the paint.

1/1/2026: We're 15-0, #3, NET #1. +20.2 PPG, 4th in scoring. +7.8 RBs, 6th in boards. -8.6 TOs, #1 in TO margin.

Thom and Brad each get 12.3 PPG; Thom's numbers are down because of all those games he played at PG. 8 guys score 6.7 or more, 5 in double figures, including #3 guard Will Witt. Savo gets 8.0 RBs, Suli gets 7.4.Cole gets 6.2 assists, 9th in the country, 1st in the Big East.

[Wayne23]

1/5: It's about to get more competitive! 1st in conf. is #13 UConn, 10-4. They only beat the other guys by 2.9. Their strength is outside.

1/6: Big early lead. Up 8 after 10. 49-34 at the break. 17 for Thom, 11 for Brad. But Cole has 3 fouls. 4 TOs. Up 25 with 10 left.

90-69. Easy win. 20, 2, 6, 3 for Thom, 18, 7 for Brad, 16, 5, 6 for Cole. 6 TOs, +20 in the paint.

Kam Savo hurt his knee. Out about a week. He'll miss at least one game. Miri will start.

"Are we going to go undefeated?"

"That's almost impossible, Jess."

"How about the national title?"

"We're good enough, but we were good enough last year and we went out in the 2nd round. Hard to say. And it takes a little luck."

[Wayne23]

1/9: At 9-5, 0-1 Seton Hall. We're a big favorite again.

1/10: We're sluggish early. Up 4 after 10. Up 48-31 at the half after a run. Balanced scoring. +9 RBs, 6 fewer TOs, +18 in the paint. They took only 16 shots! Up 6 with 10 left. We fell asleep; trying to wake the guys up.

80-69. Matches our closest game of the season; not our best effort.

13, 7, 4, 4 for Thom, 11, 7 for Brad. 30 for the bench. +15 RBs but a season high 22 TOs, 12 of them Cole's. +20 in the paint.

We're #1 in the polls!

Savo is back.

[Wayne23]

1/12: At #8 Georgetown14-4, 1-1. They've lost 3 of their last 4; in a real slide. The best inside team we've played all season. We have the edge outside. Let's see how this plays out! There's nothing more dangerous than a really good team in a slump, because they just might choose this game to come out of the slump!

1/13: They take an early lead. Down 8 after 10. Down 5 at the half. Both our starting PF and C have 3 fouls. NOT good! Their PF and C have 30, ours have 2. +9 for our bench. We need to step it up in the 2nd half. Down 6 with 10 left. We're not catching up. They go on a run.

63-80, and the win streak ends at 17. I hate to lose at home. They absolutely destroyed us inside; Savo and Suli each played only 13 minutes due to fouls, mostly dumb fouls. Only Kili and Brad did anything inside, 17, 10 for Kili, 13, 3 for Brad. Our guards were better, but not much.

We shot a pathetic 31.8%.

2nd big off the bench Will Kili hurt his knee. Not serious but he'll miss a game.