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[Wayne23]

7/3: Jess is at the totally uncomfortable stage. Due on 7/29.

7/27: Russell Jesse Lowe was born today. Mother and son are doing great. Why Russell? I wanted to name my son after the greatest
winner in the history of team sports, Bill Russell.

8/7: Earl Thom is #36 and Tare Suli #47 on the Norton list.

8/21: We offer to a PG, an SG, and 2 PFs. This is the nervous portion of recruiting. There's nothing major we can do until 9/11. We text and call, but it's a long stretch.

Russell doesn't cry except when he's hungry or wet so we're not losing a lot of sleep so far. He's an easy baby. But I can definitely see that I don't want to be on the road all the time. I'll miss too much. And we both want at least two more kids.

9/11: We make our 4 visits, one in Australia. LONG flight, and then right back, so two very long flights almost back to back. But 1 in Vermont, the other 2 in PA.

9/18: We get 2, lose 2, but we get our #1, an SG ranked #33. The other is a PF, #119. We offer to another big and another guard.

Challenging schedule including the WS Midwest vs. Fresno ST.

9/25: We get one, lose one. We get the Australian PG, #100. We offer to a PF.

10/2: We get a local PF, #67.

1st day of practice. We're at least as good as we were last season.

[Wayne23]

10/8: Russell continues to be an easy baby. He's still not doing much but he seems to smile.

11/13: Here's the lineup:

Senior Marc Cole is back at PG.

Junior Earl Thom is back at SG.

#3 guard is soph Will Witt, a transfer from South Carolina who looks VERY good. #4 is senior Jar Jonn, a transfer from Pitt who also looks very good. #5 is junior Marv Lyle from GA Tech, and he can play as well. #6 guard is frosh Earl Tayy; I should have red shirted him.

Senior Lon Brad moves from PF to SF.

Senior Tar Suli moves from C to PF.

Soph Kam Savo starts at C.

1st big off the bench is frosh Fero Miri, who looks very good. 2nd is frosh Will Kili, who can play. 3rd is soph John Nell, a transfer from Iowa, who isn't that great. Finally, we have frosh Reg Mury, and I probably should have red shirted him.

We're very good and we're deep.

[Wayne23]

11/14: We start tomorrow with #6 Virginia here. Not much to go on but they seem to be very good outside. Nothing like a test right off the bat!

As part of the major facilities upgrade 1,200 seats were added here. Even noisier!

11/15: They take an early lead. We come back. Up 1 after 10. We go on a run. Up 54-35 at the half. 21 for Thom, 11 for Savo. +15.4% shooting. +11 RBs, +16 in the paint, 6 TOs. We're looking great! Up 17 with 10 to play.

92-71 over the #6 team in the country! 31, 4 for Thom, 19, 13 for Suli, 14, 8 for Savo. +6 RBs, +20 in the paint. Held them to 32.8% and we shot 43.8%. Ridiculous # of fouls called, 48.

"We're going to be even better than last year, Mack."

"Could be, Jess..."

[Wayne23]

11/17: At 1-0 Kona. We're a big fav. They won, but scored only 53 in their opener.

11/18: Early lead. Up 5 after 10. 44-27 at the half. They're doubling Thom so Cole has 14 and Brad has 13. Savo has 3 fouls. +15 RBs, 4 TOs. Up 20 with 10 left.

77-64. It was never in doubt! 22, 2, 9 for PG Marc Cole, 13, 4, 4, 3 for SF Lon Brad, 11, 8 for PF Tare Suli, 13, 3, 3 for #3 guard Will Witt. 6 TOs, +12 from the line.

[Wayne23]

11/20: Round one of the WS Midwest. We're the #3 seed. We face #6 seed Fresno ST, 1-1. They just lost by 16 to a nobody. This should be a walk in the park.

The one guy I'm worried about re SAT score did not sign. We're working with him, his family, and his school to get him prepared.

"I wish I could go to, the tournament but with the baby, there's no way."

11/21: Immediate lead and up 16 after 10. They make a strong comeback and we only lead by 4 at the half. 3 fouls for Thom. Brad has 13 points. +8 RBs, +12 in the paint. Up 15 with 10 left.

91-69. 20, 8 for Suli, 20, 4 for Brad. 32 for the bench. Thom was in foul trouble all night.

[Wayne23]

11/22: #17 ranked, #2 seed Arkansas, 4-0, in the semis. 2 guys hurt. The SG won't play, the SF probably will. We should have a big edge inside and we're a big fav, but we're not taking these guys lightly. They can play.

Game time: Close early. Up 5 after 10. Up 5 at halftime. 28 fouls called; this will never NOT bother me. 24 of our 37 points scored by the bench. Back up C Fero Miri has 12. +7 RBs, +6 in the paint, +8 from the line. Up 15 with 10 to go.

82-68. They never got close late. 16, 6 for Savo, 14, 5 for Miri, 11, 3 for sub guard Will Witt. For the 2nd game in a row Thom was in foul trouble all night.

10 fewer TOs. +12 in the paint.

The baby has a cold. Given that he's not quite 4 months old that's worrisome and Jess isn't getting any sleep. This is the kind of thing that makes it clear to me that I need to be home more.

Starting PG Marc Cole sprained his ankle and is out for two weeks. Thom will shift to PG and Will Witt will play SG. Jar Jonn becomes the #3 guard.

[Wayne23]

11/23: #1 seed Iowa, 3-0, in the title game. Their starting SF is out. We're a big favorite but they're beating teams by 14.3.

Game Time: Back and forth early. Down 2 after 10; Thom seems uncomfortable at the Point. Up 4 at the half. 15 for Brad, 10 for Witt. Not much D, they're shooting 64.3% to our 51.5%. We took 5 more shots. Thom has not scored; he's having an awful tournament. Up 5 with 10 left. We're on a run!

99-79. We scored 54 in the 2nd half. 24, 3, 2, 4 for Witt, 24, 3, 2, 3 for Brad. 30 for the bench. Thom didn't score much, 4, but 11 assists and 6 steals; but 9 TOs.

Can't wait to get home since the baby is still sick and Jess is exhausted.

[Wayne23]

11/24: 2-1 Northern Iowa is here. They score 64.7 a game. Not sure why we scheduled this team...

I'm home. I was up all night with the baby because Jess needed to get sleep. The doc says it's only a cold, nothing to be alarmed about.

11/25: They're hanging with us early. Down 3 after 10. 47-42 at halftime; not much D again. Thom is not a Point Guard and he isn't happy there. 10, 6 for Savo. 22 for the bench. 4 TOs, shooting better. Big run and we're up 18 with 10 to play.

88-58. 41-16 in the 2nd half. 14, 12 for Savo, 13, 7 for Miri.

+6 RBs, 8 fewer TOs. +22 in the paint.

11/28: 3-2 Oklahoma is here. They seem to have a good back court but they score 19 a game less than we do.

We're ranked #11.

The baby is finally getting better. We're both exhausted.

[Wayne23]

11/29: Close early. Tied after 10. A mini-run puts us up 53-43 at the half. This year's team certainly scores a lot of points. I like my teams to play tough D; we don't but we sure put up the points.

10 each for Savo and Thom. Suli, who has been quiet this season, has 3 fouls. +9 RBs, 5 TOs. +14 in the paint. Up 7 with 10 left; they caught up at one point.

93-82. 18, 12 for Savo, 18, 6, 3 for Witt. 13, 3, 6, 3 for Thom in his best game at the Point. +30 in the paint.

Cole is out for 2 more games.

The baby is healthy again, completely over the cold and happy.

[Wayne23]

12/1: 3-2 South Carolina is here. Their D is weak and they don;t rebound but their C can score.

Several of the teams we scheduled have not lived up to their pre-season expectations so our schedule isn't as strong as we expected it to be.
12/2: We jump out to an immediate lead. Up m16 after 10. Up 50-35 at the break. 15 for Witt, 13 for Brad. +6 RBs, 4 TOs. Shooting 55.3%.

Up 15 with 10 to go.

84-61. 15, 12 for SF Lon Brad, 18, 2, 4 for Witt, 13, 9, 6 for Savo, 13, 1, 4 for Thom.

+10 RBs, 9 TOs, +12 in the paint.

Earl Thom: I like to think I'm a team player but I HATE being out of position. I'm not a Point Guard. Coach says it will help me when I go pro if the scouts know I can play PG as well as SG, but this is hurting my stats so I think playing the Point will hurt me more than it helps me. Only one more game until Cole comes back.