Way Back When

Way Back When

Postby Wayne23 » Sun Apr 17, 2022 4:29 pm

DDSCB 2022: Way Back When

(Author's Note: I've done an association set in the past once before but that was a long time ago. This is a Promotion/Relegation Dynasty set in 1901. My plan is to make a lot of references to what was going on in the tear we're in, and to incorporate new inventions and such into the game as they happen. The assumption, though not really correct, is that the new thing would become available immediately or almost immediately. While I am not allowing players to leave early, I AM using the Transfer portal, mainly because it's new in 2022 and it should be used. This will take place on a slightly different time line where hoops became popular much more quickly. Obviously some transportation stuff won't be accurate given the time train travel vs. air travel takes, or took.)

4/24, 1901: Jake Last here. I got hired today as the head coach at Bryant in Smithfield, RI. I'm real excited about it. After a year as a grad assistant at UConn, where I played, and then 5 years as an assistant there it's great to have my own program, at the young age of 28.

I don't start getting paid until May 1, but I'm on the train to Smithfield right now.

4/27: I'm here! Office is not so great, small. But plenty of file cabinets, which I'll start filling up right away. The budget will allow me to write all the letter I want, but use of the telegraph will be limited. I hope that don't hurt recruiting.

There's a phone in the A. D.'s office but my budget for using that is tiny, and I've already been told not to forget to log in all calls I make.

#256 recruit class. Not very good.

Bryant is listed as Team Prestige of 8 but that will change on May 1. I'll let ya know. Academics C+, Facilities C.

I set my Ambition and Integrity real high, and my Academics and Discipline High. My temper is a little hotter than average but not much.

We'll go with a quick pace on O and we'll hit the boards HARD on O and REAL HARD on D. Our D intensity will be pretty high. We'll use a full court man-to-man press maybe 1/3 of the time, and not much zone. I'm BIG on man-to-man.

My Skills: 25 on O, 30 on D, 60 on Scouting, 50 each on player Development and Recruiting. I was a damn good recruiter at UConn. It will be tougher here, of course.

My Potential is 85 across the board.
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Re: Way Back When

Postby Wayne23 » Sun Apr 17, 2022 4:51 pm

5/1: Hey, I'm getting paid! Not much mind you, but I can easily afford the room in the boarding house where I'm staying and the fact that breakfast and supper are provided helps, even though I won't be there for meals all that much. It's only about a half mile to the gym so I might walk home for supper and then go back to the office when I can. Might get me one a them bicycles.

No cooking whatsoever in the rooms, but there are 3 diners in town. I'll keep Saltines and peanut butter and such in the room. I get hungry at night sometimes.

TP stayed at 8. Conf. Prestige is 9. Oh, we're in Conf. U, the next to lowest one.

I was just humming, "A Bird in a Gilded Cage." That was very popular last year when it come out, and it still is. EV'RYBODY's hummin' "Stars and Stripes Forever." That one come out just a while ago and it caught on like a fire in an old building. That John Phillip Souza sure knows how!

Ain't got much of a budget but I buy the Atlantic East basic scouting report.

Talked with my coaches- I'll introduce 'em shortly, and on O we're going with Motion and Princeton, about 60-40. On D we're strictly man, like I said, and we'll Press some.

Okay, my assistants:

#1 is my recruiter, Phil Mars. He's young, 39, but he's good, given that i ain't got much to spend on assistants. He lives right here in the boarding house.
Actually all the assistants do so we can meet in my room if we need to.

Cris Cole, my #2, is my Scout. He's young too, only 36.

#3 Ed Morr is 35. He's my bench/practice assistant.

My A. D., Ted Baer- an' boy does he get teased about THAT! Says my goal for the year is ta win the conf'rence tournament. I told him, "Look Ted, ya gotta give me some time ta develop a team here. How 'bout if I just aim to get Promoted to Conf. T?"

He said no, I should win the dang thing. All I can do is try.

The team? We got 5 seniors, ALL of 'em big guys! I think we're gonna be okay if we don't get hit too hard with injuries.

Me? Ain't much ta tell. My life revolves around basketball. Has for years. I played for UConn but didn't play much. By my senior year i was the 2nd big man off the bench. Loved it though, and Coach said I had a "basketball brain." I guess that's why he made me a grad assistant an' then a paid assistant. Last year I got up to #1 assistant.

I like a beer now an' then but just one. I don't like bar rooms much so I drink my beer an' get out.

I go for long walks or hike in the woods for exercise. When it's too cold or slippery I do calisthenics indoors.

I read every night before bed, newspapers, magazines, an' books from the library. I like fiction, history, biographies, and stuff about space. We don't know too much about space but some people think there might be people livin' on mars an' Venus, maybe even the moon. I like to read about that.

If there's any kind of music I go if I can. I like any kind of music. I go to plays, too. That's about it.
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Re: Way Back When

Postby Wayne23 » Sun Apr 17, 2022 6:00 pm

6/25: All settled in here in tiny little Smithfield. My room is furnished. I got a twin bed, a desk and chair, and an easy chair. There's electricity here, a light in the middle of the room hangin' from the ceiling. Just pull the chain to turn it on and off.

Heat kind of drifts up from the main floor coal stove but I'm sure it gets real cold in the winter. I got warm blankets and that's in season so I won't do much more than sleep here, won't do that when we're on the road.

The trolley line runs right past here. I won't likely use it much, but then I might now and then. It goes to the depot an' I'll definitely use the train!

Gettin' to know the one an' only secretary in the gym. She's helpful an' nice.

We decide, the staff that is, that we can afford ta go to the Big Apple Camp.

6/26: I decide ta cut a freshman Center who ain't never gonna be any good.

So we got 6 scholarships. I hope ta get 4 bigs, 2 guards but if I don't there's always Transfers next Spring.

Writing letters to all of the recruits we're interested in. It's a big job and we all share it. My signature goes on all the letters an' we just hope ta hear back from as many as possible. We'll keep writing and when we get a hot prospect we'll send a telegram. If a guy gets real hot or lives close we'll Host them, send Cris Cole ta scout 'em, and bring 'em ta campus for a visit. If we're REAL close we go to them, meet the family, the coach, maybe some school people.

But at this stage we're just writin' letters. Wish we could use the phone but likely most a them don't have phones anyways.

7/4: Went ta the parade today. It is HOT. Got the windows open but it's hard ta sleep in this heat.

Still writin' letters. We're scouting, too, and a couple a guys agreed ta come here ta see the campus. Hopin' more will.

7/18: Hot spell won't end. The air is dead. At work we're out back in the shade ta write our letters and telegrams.

7/30: Our top 10 recruits all go ta the Big Apple Camp. We're there and we talk with all of 'em.

8/5: The hot summer won't ease up. Ev'rybody's sweaty and cranky from lack a sleep.

8/21: We offer to 2 PGs, an SF, a PF, 2 Cs. Most are long shots.
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Re: Way Back When

Postby Wayne23 » Sun Apr 17, 2022 8:47 pm

9/4: Well, it's September. We had a couple of cooler days- not cool, but not stifling hot.

9/11: A week on the train. We visited 4 recruits we offered to. We went to Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and right here in RI.

9/18: We get one! A PG, #295.

We have a schedule. I told A. D. Ted Baer I wanted weak teams in the pre-conf schedule and that's what we have.

9/19: Horrible news. President McKinley was shot a few days ago. He is not expected to live.

9/25: We get another PG, #218. We need big men!

9/27: President McKinley is dead. Theodore Roosevelt is President. He's too young for the job, and too undisciplined!

10/2: First day of practice. We're trying lots of combinations.

We lost what was probably our best prospect for landing a big man.

We still have offers out to 4 bigs but it seems unlikely that we'll land any of them. We keep visiting and the reception isn't warm.

Fortunately, we're not riding the train in the heat of summer. That's really uncomfortable. You either suffocate from the heat or they open the windows and you choke on smoke and dust. Not so bad in the Fall.

The meals in the dining car are okay, but just okay. I had a steak that must have been chased across several states before it was caught; really tough!

And the chicken I had on the way home was overcooked.

We didn't have to sleep on the train. The bunks are pretty awful. We'll be dealing with that during the season sometimes.

10/9: We lost another big man. Not adding anyone until Spring recruiting.

11/12: Here's the lineup:

PG is kind of open.

Soph Deon Jack starts but frosh Gar Goss gets equal minutes. One of them will hopefully step up.

At SG is junior Ken Hope, our best guard. He plays PG when Goss is in the game. #4 guard is frosh Curt Chad, who isn't really ready, and #5 is soph Ben Mell who also isn't ready.

It's a little clearer up front,

Senior Jam Tell is at SF.

Senior Greg Meed, probably our best player, is at PF.

Senior Tel Lyne is at C; he's our 2nd best player.

1st big off the bench is senior Clay Mann; if he played D he'd start. #2 is soph Davy Hank who isn't very good. #3, senior Shay Mado rebounds well but doesn't do anything else. Then there's soph Ron Lute; the less said the better.

Going through the squad makes it clear why we're in Conf. U, but I think we have a shot at winning the conf.
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Re: Way Back When

Postby Wayne23 » Sun Apr 17, 2022 11:09 pm

11/13: The season opens tomorrow vs. FL A & M here. I have no idea what to expect but they're not very good.

11/14: Lots of excitement, including mine.

We take an early lead, get it to double digits. 40-26 at the half. Solid D. 8 for guard Ken Hope, 7 for SF Jam Tell, 5, 4, 3 for PF Greg Meed. We held them to 30%. We get it to 20.

83-64. 19 for sub C/F Shay Mado, the #3 big man off the bench! 14, 4 for Gar Goss, our #3 guard. The bench had 42! Greg Meed had 7, 10, 5, 6 blocks. 10 TOs.

What a feeling! The bench amazed me!

I'm writing this on the train to Alabama, which we boarded at 11:48 p.m. I like the rhythm of the train for sleeping but the mattresses are pretty poor. So there's some good and some bad. We brought sandwiches because we knew the players would be hungry and the dining car isn't open that late. The bar car is but none of us are going there!

11/16: At 0-1 North Alabama. This one is considered a toss up but they turned it over all night long and didn't rebound in their opener.

Let's see if we can play on the road.

Ron Lute has been pissy since this summer. The soph has potential but he's real annoying. He seems okay with the players, it's just me. I imagine he'll transfer.

11/17: They take a quick lead. We can't make a shot. We come back but still missing shots. 31-35 at the half. 13 for Gar Goss. We're shooting 26.5% to 52%.

C Tal Lyne has 3 fouls. We need to start making shots. Staying close in the 2nd. They go on a run. OT! Double OT!

88-94 in double OT. +12 for our bench. 18 for #3 guard Goss, 12 for #4 guard Chad, 13, 4, 3 for Hope. It took us too long to get the offense going. We didn't start hitting shots until midway through the 2nd half. -14 in the paint hurt.
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Re: Way Back When

Postby Wayne23 » Sun Apr 17, 2022 11:51 pm

11/20: The 2 PGs sign. Only one big who is showing any interest at all. We'll pin our hopes on Spring recruiting and failing that on transfers.

Long train ride back and sleeping on the train again.

Next is Army, 0-1, at our place. They scored 54 points in their opener but it was away against a ranked team. They didn't rebound or take care of the ball.

Practices have not been physical. A double OT game and long train rides to and fro.

11/21: A loud crowd cheers us to an early lead. 53-43. Not much D by either team so far. 10 for Jam Tell, 11 for #3 guard Goss who is a big time scorer!

We're gonna need to play better D to bring this one home. They catch us; we're still not playing D. Late run!

106-91. No D at all tonight but we sure were hitting shots!

18, 13 for C Tel Lyne, 19, 3, 7 for PG Deon Jack, 19 for Jam Tell, 22 for Gar Goss, 10, 4, 5 for Hope. 40 for the bench. Greg Meed is supposed to be our best player. We won fairly easily with him getting 0 points and 3 RBs. No idea what that means.

11/22: Back on the train, all the way to Louisiana.

11/23: At 0-3 Grambling. They're off to a rough start. A team that needs a win playing at home? Yep, I'm worried. They give up 12 more than they score.

They are better outside than inside.

11/24: Back and forth then they take a lead. 36-39 at the break. 10 for Meed, 8 for Goss. Bench is +12. Hope has 3 fouls. +10 RBs. It's close!

83-76! A road win! 22, 2, 3, 5 for Goss, 20 and 9 for Meed. 19 lead changes, 8 ties. +13 RBs, +14 in the paint.

And a long train ride back home. We're sure learning about sleeping on trains. I take an upper with Phil Mars taking the lower. Most guys work out the upper or lower berth thing. I haven't heard any complaints from anyone about it. We travel with the players and coaches, the trainer (no doctor), and two student helpers- 20 people. A. D. Ted Baer will come along in the post season.
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Re: Way Back When

Postby PointGuard » Mon Apr 18, 2022 12:33 am

1901, huh. So brave of you to start an association in your actual birth year. So for you this will be current events rather than history. :rolleyes:

(This comment was made in honor of CoachC who WOULD have made it if he were still visiting the site.)
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Re: Way Back When

Postby Wayne23 » Mon Apr 18, 2022 12:46 am

I miss CoachC. But yes, I just need to go to my diary to report on what was happening in the world at any given time.
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Re: Way Back When

Postby Wayne23 » Mon Apr 18, 2022 2:27 pm

11/27: We host 2-2 Incoherent Word. They turn it over a lot, don't rebound, and give up exactly as many as they score.

Seems like a lot of petty stuff going on in the locker room. I'm trying to address it quickly when i hear about it. I wonder what I'm NOT hearing about!

We're 3-1, NET #241. I don't care about the NET, I care about wins. They help a lot with recruiting, and we need all the help we can get!

11/28: We take a lead midway through the 1st, then expand it. We get it to 20; Jam Tell is hot. 54-34 at halftime. Tell has 20, sub Davy Hank has 11. 3 TOs, +18 inside. We're holding the big lead.

95-75. 22, 3 for Tell, 16, 8 for Lyne, 15, 2, 3, 3 for Goss, 13, 3 for Hank, 12, 1, 4 for Jack. +24 in the paint, only 3 TOs. Easy win!

Just read in the papers about something called a vaccum cleaner- not sure i spelled that right. It's supposed to work better than a broom but it runs on electricity. Not sure how that works. The only electricity in my room at the boarding house is the electric light. Anyway, it's a brand new invention. Let's see if it catches on.

Mrs. O'Brien runs a tight ship here but she's a good cook and she's not stingy with portions. I eat breakfast here before work whenever we're not on the road, and supper, too. I have lunch at the Bryant cafeteria.

11/30: At 2-3 ST Thomas. It's considered a toss up. Their SG is their best player. Let's see if our bench can pull us through.

12/1: Behind early. We come back. 47-34 at the half. 11 for Tell, who has been hot lately. +12 in the paint and we're shooting 56.3%. They get back in it. We get it back to 10.

81-77. They got it to one possession, with the ball, twice.

15, 7 for Lyne, 13 for Tell, 11, 3, 2, 3 for Goss. -10 RBs but +18 in the paint. 10 TOs to 22.

1 done on a 4 game road trip. We took the train all the way to Minnesota, and now we're going to Arkansas, then closer to home, New Jersey and finally Maryland.
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Re: Way Back When

Postby Wayne23 » Mon Apr 18, 2022 2:36 pm

12/4: At 4-1 Central Arkansas. This could be a tough one. They can really put up points outside. We'll need to be sharp.

We're 5-1, NET #183.

12/5: They grab the lead right away. 33-46. They know how to score! Our bench is +8 but their starters are beating ours up. Lyne has 3 fouls, as does his man. We get close and they pull away again.

73-83. 15, 6 for Hank. -13 from the line incuding my first T as a head coach. The refs hosed us. -18 RBs. Are best scorers, Meed and
Goss, went a combined 5-22, add Jack's 1-7 to that.

We expected a tough game and we're certainly not gonna win 'em all.

Back on the train.

I had another very tough steak. I'm told that I'm better off ordering meat loaf anf other dishes that feature hamburger. It's worth a try.

It was a one game week with 8 days off so instead of taking the train to Jersey we went home to Smithfield.

Ted Baer and I discussed it and we came to the conclusion that the extra train fare was cheaper than hotels would have been, which was only part of my thinking. I wanted my boys at home. But if he's satisfied, that's good!
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