DDSCB23: Alone

[Wayne23]

Stonehill is 16-9, 9-3. We won by 8 at home. This could be the battle of the Centers.

2/22: 66-84. We were never in this one. They took a big early lead as we couldn’t make shots in the 1st half. They led by 18 at the break. In the 2nd we played and shot better but we couldn’t catch up.

They beat us both inside and outside.

1st time all season we’ve lost 2 in a row.

12-14, 8-5 ST Francis PA is here. We won by 9 there. We feel we’re the better team.

2/25: 105-97. I remain less than happy with the way we’re playing. We need to get back on track for the post season, which is coming soon.

We led all the way, by as many as 24, but we faded badly late in the game. 20, 4, 5, 6 steals for Lynn, 18, 6 for Hall, 16, 1, 9 for Mury. +22 in the paint.

This was our 20th win of the season.

Stonehill was upset so we’re tied for 1st again.

At 14-13, 9-5 Long Island. This is a good team. We won big, by 21, at home but it won’t be that easy at their place.

3/1: 66-74 and we’re still not on track. We led by 11 at halftime and then let it slip away in the 2nd half. Hall was in foul trouble all night and played only 13 minutes.

One game left and we need to win it to finish 2nd. 1-27, 1-14 Fairleigh Dickinson is here. We won by 16 there and this is a team we should beat easily.

3/4: 88-74. We led by only 5 at the half but we played better in the 2nd half and won easily. 15, 6 for Lynn, 14, 3, 4 for Cary, 14, 5 for Wynn. 7 players with 10 or more. +16 RBs, +22 in the paint.

We finish 2nd in the Northeast, 1 back of Stonehill, 2 up on Long Island. 21-8, 12-4, NET #98.

+6.7 PPG, only +1.9 RBs, -5.6 TOs.

Geof Hall led us in points with 16.3, and RBs with 5.7. Lynn scored 15.1 per game and Mury 10.3, with 4.9 assists.

[Wayne23]

We open post season play with ST Francis NY, 13-16, 6-10. We won by 24 at home then lost by 3 there.

3/6: 85-73. We looked really good tonight. We started fast and built a double digit lead in no time. Up 17 at the half. We then built the lead to 23. They came back at the end against our subs but the game was never in doubt. 19, 3, 9 for Mury but a terrible 9 TOs. 16, 5 for Wynn.

Scared Heart, 14-16, 8-8, upset Long Island so they’re next. Their PF is out with a knee injury. We won by 15 here, lost by 1 there.

3/7: 97-85 and we’re in the title game. They started strong and built a 12 point lead. We got it down to 5 by halftime. We had a very strong 2nd half scoring 56 and won going away. Mury had 22, 2, 7 with only 3 TOs. Lynn had 20. 12, 9 for Hall, 14, 5 for Cary. We won it outside.

ST Francis PA, 15-16, 9-7, shocked Stonehill and we play them for the title. We beat them by 9 and 8. We think we’re better but we’ll need to play well.

3/8: 82-79 and the title! It wasn’t easy. 18 lead changes, 8 ties. We were up by 5 at the half. The 2nd half was back and forth all the way. They took the lead several times. At the end they hit a three with 5.5 to play. We brought it down, hoping to set up for Geof Hall inside but they clogged up the middle. With the clock running out Ben Mury took a 23 footer and it went in. 10, 4, 7, 7 steals for Lynn, 14 each for Mury and Wynn, 12 each for subs Cary and Froy, 10, 7 for Hall. Truly a team effort. +8 at the line but we won this one outside.

Post game press conference (excerpts): “Joanie Webb WCSU here with Coach Wynn. Coach, congratulations. Your guys really had to fight for this one.”

“We never quit and just weren’t going to lose tonight.”

“Coach, your team didn’t play well during the second half of conference play, going 4-4. But you sure came back in the tournament.”

“Yes we did! Most teams go into a slump at some point in the long season and that definitely happened to us. Fortunately, we pulled out of it for the tourney.”

“Any thoughts about the NCAA tournament?”

“First, we’re thrilled to be in it! We probably won’t get a very good seed but whoever we play I can guarantee that we’ll give it our best shot.”

[Wayne23]

3/12: 24-8, 12-4, conference champs, NET #82. We get the #13 seed in the South Region and we play #4 seed Houston, 26-8, ranked #13. This is the best team we’ve played all season. They are very strong inside at all 3 positions. We’ll need to play really, really well to have a chance.

3/17: 74-97. We stayed with them for about 25 minutes. It was tied at the half and we led twice early in the 2nd. Then they took off on a 17-3 run and that was that. They were just too strong for us, especially inside; they were +17 on the boards.

13, 3, 5, 4 steals for Mark Lynn in his last college game. We’ll miss him. 14 for Hall. Setz and Froy are also graduating.

Post game press conference (excerpts): “Jack Mays, EPSN sports, here with CCSU coach Jake Wynn. Coach, CCSU had a really good season for you in your first year as a head coach. You must be pleased.”

“I am. This team exceeded all expectations and performed really well. I’m very proud of my guys.”

“Houston is a very good team. Is there anything you could have done to change the outcome?”

“My guys gave it all they had but Houston was just too big and too quick. I’m proud of the fact that we stayed with them for as long as we did, and I’m very proud of the fact that we never gave up, never stopped trying.”

“Will you be back next season?”

“Absolutely. We’re losing some guys but I think we have the potential of being even stronger next season. I’m excited about our chances.”

“Any idea about who might transfer out?”

“Nobody seemed especially unhappy but you usually lose somebody. We just hope it won’t be many and it won’t be any of our key guys. There’s really no way to know until it happens.”

4/3: #1 ranked Duke is the national champ.

4/4: Awards: Mark Lynn is Defensive POY and 1st team in the NEC. I am named Conference Coach of the Year. I’m disappointed that Mury and Hall were not honored.

4/9: The phone rang from some powerful schools but I told all of them that I’m staying here.

4/23: I ask for a facilities upgrade.

No luck. Sam Sims says he’ll try to make it happen next year.

Great first season, 24-9, 12-4, NEC champs. Looking forward to next season!

[Wayne23]

5/1: We move to the Metro Atlantic (MAA). Definitely a stronger conference.

Recruiting class #104.

We meet our Expected to Spend budget number again.

Soph guard Ike Boul transfers out. He really wasn’t part of our plans. We’re looking for a guard.

6/5: We offer to a good looking PG from Wichita.

We don’t get him.

6/9: We offer to a PG from Eastern Washington.

Nope.

6/12: We try a PG from Tenn. ST.

We get him.

6/25: We’re going to the Big Apple and the East Coast Jam.

I never talked about what I did with the 63 corpses after the meteorite. There wasn’t an obvious solution. After giving it a lot of thought I went into the holo and created a mausoleum program. I carried
the bodies into the mausoleum, sealed it, and closed the program.

I think about these people every day, especially Holly and my closest friends but all of them, really. Given the way we were all trained together they were all my friends and I miss them terribly. I deal pretty well with the isolation, at least so far, but it isn’t easy.

[Wayne23]

6/26: Recruiting begins. We have 5 seniors, 3 of them guards, so we want 3 guards and 2 big men.

7/11: We have some good looking recruits showing at least some interest.

7/31: We offer to 3 PGs, a PF, and a C.

9/18: We get 3 lose 1. We get 2 PGs and a PF.

We’re going to the Alaskan Classic.

9/25: We lose a PG.

10/2: We get a guard, lose an SF.

1st day of practice and I like what I see. We’re definitely better than we were last year. More about that later.

10/9: We get a PF. That gives us our 5 recruits, 3 guards, 2 bigs.

10/30: Practice looks really good. We have a couple of positions that are not set. We’ll probably share time for them and let the players tell us who should get more time.

I’m building a robot. Well, I’m getting instructions from videos to build it. I don’t have the knowledge or the skills to do it on my own. In our day and age robots have become fairly common and very sophisticated. Surprisingly, none were included on this mission. I want one to take care of the building since this is not a strength of mine. It’s taking some time, and really testing my skills.

[Wayne23]

11/13: Wea start at Radford tomorrow. They play man and use a lot of pressure. On O they’re pretty free wheeling.

Here’s the lineup for now:

Soph Ruf Onda, a transfer from Tennessee ST, is at the Point. He moves the ball really well and plays solid D.

Senior Ben Mury moves to SG and he’ll be challenged by senior Don Hemp, who has stepped up his game in practice.

Senior Adam Caal is our other guard and he’s not bad. We’re strong in the backcourt.

Senior Phil Cary starts at SF. He’s moved up since last year.

Mal Rand, a juco junior, is at PF. He’s been easily our best player in practice.

Junior Geof Hall is back at C but senior Mick Poly is pressing him and will get lots of minutes.

Jim Wynn lost his starting job and is not happy about it. He’ll need to show us more than he’s been showing us. Soph Colt Honn is next on the depth chart but doesn’t figure to play much unless we have injuries. Finally there’s junior Mate Emma. He doesn’t figure to get many minutes.

[Wayne23]

11/14: 102-80. We can definitely score points! We led all the way, by 13 at the half and by as many as 26. 23, 7, 4 for Hall, 14, 3, 6 for Onda, 14, 3 for Rand, 13, 2, 3 for Mury. Good start to the season.

Sub forward Colt Honn sprained an ankle. He’s out for at least a week.

Home with Northern Illinois next. This is their opener. They play man and use a very free offense, not running many plays.

11/17: 67-58. They really slowed it down and kept the score low but we led all the way again, by as many as 21. 15, 5, 3 for Rand, 13, 3 for Mury. We look good but we’re still finding our way. We were a dismal 10-25 from the line.

Coastal Carolina, 0-1, is here. They have a solid PG and do most of their scoring outside. They lost to a top 25 team and played well.

11/21: 69-47. We played terrific D! We were up by 23 at the half and led by 29 late. 18, 10 for Hall, 14, 4, 3 for Onda, 11, 6, 5 for Mury.

Honn will be back for our next game.

[Wayne23]

Off to the Alaskan Classic. We’re the #7 seed and play #2 seed Arizona ST, 2-0. They’ve looked excellent in their first two games, averaging 90 points and giving up only 65, BUT they played two weak teams. Still, we think we’ll need to play really well.

11/25: 84-86. Tough loss. It was back and forth all night. We led by 1 at the half. At the end we missed our last 3 shots, two of them threes. The officiating was terrible. They went to the line 14 times more than we did and both Hall and Cary fouled out, and Rand ended up with 4.

21, 7 for Rand, 14, 7 for Hall, 13, 6 for Mury.

I never got a T because the game was too close, but I was as steamed at the officiating as I have ever been in my career.

2-0 Tulane is here. They have a very good PG and they looked good in their first 2 games.

11/28: 82-64. We were up by 7 after leading through the first half. We put them away in the 2nd and were never in trouble. 23, 6 for Hall, 16, 5, 3 for Mury, 12, 8, 4 for Rand, 12, 6 for Cary. We dominated inside.

On the road vs. 2-3 Delaware ST. Their PF is banged up but he’ll play. We’re the better team but road games are tough.

12/1: 82-92. We got bagged by the refs again. We went to the line 18 times, they went 49. I got a T, then got a 2nd one late and got tossed for the first time in my career. Hall had 18 and 4 but was outclassed by their C. 17, 7 for Rand, 13, 2, 3, 3 for Mury. -13 RBs.

I am not happy. I expect to get fined for my post game comments, chief of which was, “Nothing’s perfect in this world. College hoops would be but there are officials.”

Back home with 2-4 Dartmouth. Their PG is good but he has a calf injury. He’ll start though. We’re much better inside.

12/5: 76-55. Solid D. It was never close. 20, 7 for Hall, 10, 15 for Rand. +24 RBs, +28 in the paint, +16 on 2nd chance points. The refs were awful again tonight but since we were completely in control I didn’t react except for some head shaking.

As expected, the NCAA fined me for my comments about the refs in our last game.

At 2-5 Queens of North Carolina next. They have a very good C but we’re much better. But we’ve been shaky away from home.

12/8: 86-74. We were down 1 after a really poor 1st half. I raised the roof in the locker room and made a couple of changes and we scored 51 in the 2nd half. 19, 12, 5, 4 for Rand, 13, 6 for Hall, 13, 4 for Mury. 10 assists for Onda. +24 in the paint, +14 RBs. We definitely won it inside.

We are dead last in Div. I in free throw shooting, 59.7%.

Mal Rand pulled a groin muscle late in the game. He’s out for 2-3 weeks. That hurts us.

One of the reasons I’m building a robot- two of them actually, is that I’m considering moving into the holo full time, or just about full time. Why? Being completely alone, if something happens outside the holo I’m screwed. An injury or illness that incapacitated me would leave me helpless. Inside the holo I have a program on my phone (Yes, I have a phone) that allows me to call for medical help.

If I can get the robots finished, and I’m not even close, they can take over the tasks of keeping the building running smoothly.

[Wayne23]

3-7 Bryant is here. This is a team we should beat but let’s see how we do without Rand.

12/13: 113-104. Rand being out didn’t hurt us on O but it sure did on D. Up only 7 in a very fast paced 1st half, 62-55. It cooled down only a little in the 2nd, 51-49. We never trailed, and led by as many
as 22, but we didn’t play D. 32, 3 for Hall, 12, 5, 4, 3 for Mury, 14, 6 for sub Jim Wynn in the first game where he got significant minutes, 11, 4, 5, 3 for Cary. +22 in the paint, +11 RBs.

At 2-5 Alcorn ST. We’re much stronger inside.

12/15: 74-59. We opened the game with a 19-2 run and never looked back. 20, 8 for Hall, 13, 4 for Cary, 11, 7 for Mury14 assists for Onda. +26 in the paint.

We’re 8-2, NET #70.

2-7 Austin Peay is here. We should win easily.

12/19: 74-69. It didn’t turn out to be that easy.

Rand will be back for our next game.

At 5-6 Howard. We’re the better team.

12/22: 79-64. Great road win! The first half was close, with several lead changes. We went into the locker room up by 4. We came up strong in the 2nd half and built a good lead. 23, 12 for Rand, and it was great to have him back! 19, 3 for Hall, 11, 9 for Cary. +22 in the paint, +12 RBs, so we won it inside.

Our final pre-conference game is with 6-4 Louisiana Lafayette here. They’re stronger outside than inside.

12/26: 110-82. We scored 57 in the 1st half and led by 16 at the break. We ran away from them in the 2nd. 24, 2, 9 for PG Ruf Onda, 23, 10 for Geof Hall, 18, 4 for Phil Cary. 14, 2, 5 for #3 guard Don Hemp. We ruled the paint.

We end pre-conf play at 11-2, NET #75.

+12.7 PPG, +7.3 RBs, -3.6 turnovers, averaging a terrific 10.1.

Geof Hall leads us in scoring with 19.5, 2nd in RBs with 6.8. Mal Rand gets 13.5 and leads in RBs with 7.3. Ben Mury gets 12.1 PPG. Ruf Onda leads in assists with 6.8, and only 2.1 TOs.

If I'm still at CCSU next season I'm going to have Sam Sims put together a tougher pre-conf schedule.

Still building the robots. Actually, I changed my plan a little. I’m building the first and I will have the first one build the second.

[Wayne23]

1/1/2224: First MAA game is at 6-7 Iona. We think we’re a lot better.

1/5: 72-71. The first half was very close all the way. We were down 2 at the break. We started the 2nd half strong and quickly built a 12 point lead but they came storming back and actually took the lead a couple of times, the last time by hitting a three with 5.5 seconds left to take a one point lead. We managed to get it inside to Hall who hit a contested lay up. There should have been a foul called but whatever. They had only 0.8 seconds and couldn’t get a shot off.

29, 5 for Hall. Rand was in foul trouble all night, for the 2nd game in a row.

+20 in the paint.

This was the kind of game that fans love and coaches lose sleep over.

7-7, 1-0 Marxist is here. They have a very good PG but we’re a lot stronger inside.

1/9: 77-68. We took an early lead and never trailed. Up by 14 at the half. They got it to one possession twice in the 2nd but we widened the lead at the end. 16, 9 for Hall, 13, 4, 3 for Mury. +12 RBs.

At 5-10, 1-1 Fairfield. They have a decent outside game but we’re better inside.

1/12: 85-74. The fdirst half was close, up 5 at the break. We make a couple of adjustments and built an 18 point lead in the 2nd. 21, 9 for Hall, who has been outstanding. 17, 4, 3, 3 blocks for Mury,

15, 6, 3, 4 for Cary, 10, 7, 9, 4 for Onda. +30 in the paint.

5-11, 1-2 Canisius is here. Their PF and C are both banged up but they’ll play. This is a team we should beat.

1/16: 91-73. Easy win. It was never in doubt. 25, 12 for Rand, his first really good game in some time. 17, 17 for Hall who is rock steady. 17, 4 for Mury, 14, 2, 3 for Hemp. +20 RBs, +20 in the paint.

We’re the only undefeated team in conference play but it’s early. 15-2, 4-0. 3 teams on game back. NET #35.

Still struggling to get the robot built. I’m just not technical and the videos explain things but the explanation is often a bit much for me. Oh well, the progress is slow but I’m making progress. I spend a couple hours on the project in the morning and a couple more in the afternoon. I really hope to have it fully operational by 2/1. We’ll see.