DDSCB23: 20s and UP

[Wayne23]

DDSCB23 20s and Up
5/1: Al Wynn here. I’ve been a head coach for a few years. Moving to UConn, which is a very successful program. My goal is to keep them that way, but not to recruit anyone better than #20. That means I’ll lose fewer players to the NBA draft after a season or two. I think I’ll be able to stay at or near the top of the pack with this philosophy.

Let’s see what happens!

I walk into a team with only the #68 recruiting class.

We’re preseason #12.

I’m going to run Triangle and Flex on O, 100% man-to-man on D, including when we press, which we will as needed.

We meet our expected to spend amount.

[Wayne23]

6/25: We’ll go to the Indy Elite and all of the regional camps. I suppose I should tell a little about myself. I’m 30 years old. While I’ve been a head college coach for 5 years it was at a Div. II school. This is my first time at Div. I and it’s pretty exciting. I was very successful in those five years, winning more than 90% of my games and winning the national Div. II title for the last 2 years.

I feel like I relate better to the players than to adults. I have to make a real effort when I meet with families. But kids like me even though I’m pretty hard nosed. I’ll do my best to recruit guys who follow the rules.

No matter how good you are, if you don’t work hard in practice, be a team player, and follow the rules, you won’t get much playing time.

I’m big on academics and I came here partly because they have great academic support for athletes. I only have one guy whose grades are an issue and we’ll work with him from day one.

When I have free time, which isn’t often, I like to read a book. I’m not opposed to having a beer, but only one.

I’ve never been married or even engaged and I don’t think I ever will be. I like women, and I like the company of women, but I’m too focused on my career, and too much of a loner to be any good at marriage. It’s probably good that I know that about myself.

6/26: 4 scholarships. We want 2 and 2.

7/31: We offer to 2 PGs, a PF, and a C.

8/7: SG Jed Pett is #8 on the Norton list. I thought PG Bob Neel and maybe SF Cal Morr might be named but they weren’t.

I like my staff. Ed Palm is my #1. He’s an excellent recruiter with a few years experience here in the Northeast. #2 is Ivan Wrig, my scouting assistant. He was at UConn last year. I’ve looked over some of his scouting reports from last year and I really like them. They’re concise, but include all the details I’m looking for in a scouting report.

Ben Duke, my #3, was a highly successful high school coach in the area. He’s a real Xs and Os guy and I probably won’t keep him long. He’ll be coaching his own team soon. He’s my bench/practice coach.

8/26: Kids are arriving to start the semester. My guys were here for most of the summer but most of them went home for a few days to spend time with family. I already know all of them pretty well. I encourage guys to drop into the office and most of them do.

9/11: We get a C, #24, lose a PG, offer to another one.

9/18: Jackpot! We get a PG, #22, another PG, #29, and a PF, #35.

Going to the Coaches Classic. All but one pre-conf. opponent is ranked.

10/2: 1st day of practice. Intense practice. I want the players to know what they’re in for. They WILL be in shape and we won’t lose close games because we were tired at the end.

The coaches and I meet after practice to discuss what we ;iked and what we need to work on. We knew a lot of this already but especially with the freshmen, we learned some things. Ben Duke had the most to say, being the bench/practice assistant, but I believe in listening to my assistants and they all had things to say that were worth listening to.

We look really good in the back court but maybe a little thin inside. I’m a guy whose teams usually are inside focused but we’ll probably be pretty balanced between inside and out this season.

11/12: The season starts tomorrow at the Coaches Classic vs. #13 seed Vermont. We’re #4.

Here’s our lineup:

Senior Bob Neel is at the Point. He’s an outstanding ball handler, an excellent defender, and he can score, He gives us an awful lot.

Junior Jed Pett is at SG and will back up at PG, he’s everything Neel is and even more. Definitely our best player.

#3 guard is frosh Jam Macy. We lose a lot when we sub in the backcourt so we’re hoping our starters will stay healthy. Macy will be good but he’s not there yet. Junior Josh Owen, is at about Macy’s level.

Junior Cris Robb is at SF. He’s a decent player but maybe our weakest starter.

Soph Cal Morr has looked very good in practice. He’s a solid all around player. He’s a natural SF but I need his rebounding inside.

Soph Greg Finn is at C. Very good rebounder and good at the rest of the game. Senior Bo Free is our first big off the bench. He’s weak, but we’re thin inside. Soph Bret Noll may move up a spot in the rotation. We’ll see how things go. Finally there’s frosh Mel Chat. He has potential but he’s not there yet.

[Wayne23]

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.

[Wayne23]

#4 North Carolina, 5-1, is here. They do almost everything well but they haven’t played anybody yet. We need to stop their inside game, especially their world class PF.

11/28: 91-77. We’re thrilled to beat the #4 ranked team! We took the lead fairly early on and built it to 10 by halftime. We led by as many as 21 in the 2nd.

Morr outplayed their superstar, 16, 12, 2, 3. 16, 10, 3, 5 blocks for Finn, 14, 4, 5 for Pett, 16, 5 for sub F/C Bo Free. Good bench play again.

At #17 Syracuse, 5-1, next. On paper it’s a close game. We’ll see.

12/1: 67-74. The road can be tough. They took an early lead and held onto it. Down 9 at the half. We got it to one possession a few times in the 2nd but never got over the hump.

14, 10, 5, 5 for Pett, 14, 6, 3 blocks for Morr. They were just a little better.

5-1 Arkansas is here. We think we’re better but they can play.

12/5: 112-63. WOW! We were unstoppable tonight.

59-32 at the break. 33, 5, 9, 3 blocks for Neel, 19, 1, 4 for Pett, 12, 12, 3 for Morr, 14, 1, 5 for #3 guard Jam Macy. +22 in the paint. +16 for the bench.

We’re 5-2 with 3 more pre-conf games to play. Looking good!

[Wayne23]

At #20 Memphis, 6-1. They can play and they defend well.

12/8: 67-45. Our D was unbelievable! Ivan’s scouting report told us they liked to go weak and we anticipated and stopped that all night long.

21, 10, 4 for Morr, 15, 7, 6 for Neel. We held them to 33% shooting, 7-26 on threes. We owned the paint.

Back in the top 25 at #23, NET #6.

7-1 West Virginia is in town. We need to stop their very good inside game.

12/12: 99-77. We shot the lights out tonight. Tied at the half; we didn’t play the kind of D we needed. Then in the 2nd we couldn’t miss shots and we tightened up on D. 26, 10 for Morr, 23, 6, 5 for Pett.

+19 for the bench. +32 in the paint.

We end the pre-conf season with #4 Arizona, 9-1, here. They’re very good outside. We are too, of course.

12/19: 94-81. I LIKE this team! It was back and forth for 15 minutes then we went on a run. Up 8 at the half and they didn’t get closer than that in the 2nd. We led by as many as 22. 34, 5, 3 blocks for
Neel. 15, 11 for Morr. +12 for the bench. +18 RBs.

+16.4 PPG, +5.4 RBs, +5.1 assists. -4 TOs, averaging 11.3.

Bob Neel leads in scoring with 19.1 and assists with 6.0. Cal Morr gets 16.4, and a leading 8.8 RBs. 12.8, 5.0, 4.9 for Pett.

Ben Duke and I discuss where we are going into conference play and all in all we’re pretty happy. We need more from Finn and Robb, but the bench has outperformed expectations. We’re happy with the
O, 2nd in the nation in scoring. The D is acceptable, 72.1.