by Wayne23 » Tue Jan 09, 2024 5:54 pm
11/13: 79-67. It’s good to start with a win. As expected our guards, with help from Cal Morr, led the way. We didn’t get much from our bench. C Greg Finn got in foul trouble and stayed there; he only played 19 minutes. Given that he’s our best rebounder, that’s not good. We did outrebound them by 10 though.
24, 5, 5, 3 blocks for PG Bob Neel. 10, 10, 5, 3 blocks for Pett, 16, 11 for Morr.
Ben Duke and I talked for a couple hours after the game while watching video of the game.
#5 seed Virginia in the quarter finals. Our side of the bracket was full of upsets but they got through. Can’t tell much from one game but we’ll need to deal with their very good C.
11/15: 93-94. We were not happy with the D, VA shot 58.1%. The refs were awful, they made 41 trips to the line and we made 27. That was the difference. Finn fouled out late and we couldn’t stop their C at the end. He scored 6 in the final 30 seconds, including the winner. Jed Pett also fouled out late which gave us one less shooter when we needed him. The bench was much better, +10. We got beat inside.
15, 2, 7, 3 for Neel, 14, 6 for Morr, 13, 0, 4, 3 for Pett, 15, 4 for Finn.
Ben Duke thinks we’ll be competitive but probably won’t finish at the top of the Big East unless we improve a lot, which is the #1 goal.
11/20: All 4 recruits sign! Great news since 2 of them have a GPA of only 2.5!
We drop out of the top 25. #10 Wisconsin is here.
11/21: 93-60. HUGE win! We’re thrilled! Love that home cookin’!
We exploded out of the gate and it was a 20 point game in no time. Up 25 at the half. 24, 8, 6, 4, 3 blocks for Morr, 17, 4, 6, 3, 3 blocks for Neel, 11, 1, 7 for Pett. For once Finn stayed out of foul trouble, which helped; +27 in the paint.+13 for the bench, which is giving us more than expected.
Ivan Wrig’s scouting report told us that long possessions would work as they seemed to weaken after 15-20 seconds on D. It worked!
At 1-2 Brigham Young next. Their SG broke his finger in their last game.
11/24: 90-83. Never more than a 10 point margin. We were down 2 at the half and they got it to 7 early in the 2nd before we turned it around. Neel got red hot and ended up with 34 with 5 assists. 24 of the points came in the 2nd half. 11, 7, 6, 3 blocks for Pett, 10, 5 for Finn, who fouled out in 15 minutes. +22 in the lane.
3-1 in our first 4. My staff is giving me great input. Ivan Wrig’s scouting reports are setting us up to play the best way possible and Ben Duke is a great strategist. My recruiter, Ed Palm, helped us get 4 recruits in the top 33.