20s and Up

[Wayne23]

DDSCB24 20s and Up

(Author’s Note: I started this in the 2023 version. Rather than import it I decided to start over.)

5/1: Al Wynn here. I’ve been a head coach for ten years, going 250-45 at BU. I’m 35 years old. I’m 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 the #5 recruiting class.

We’re preseason #5.

I’m walking into a good situation but we’re not quite as good as the ranking indicates.

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

We meet our expected to spend amount.

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 35 years old. I’ve been a head college coach for 10 years, as I said.

I feel like I relate better to the players than to adults. I have to make a real effort when I meet with families, and I should add that a family who thinks their kid walks on water, or who is above the rules- well that means we won’t pursue the kid, no matter how good he is. 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.

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 spend a LOT of time watching video- of us, of Big East opponents, and of out of conference teams we’re scheduled to play or might play in the post season. My scouting coach watches even more of those videos, and my other coaches watch some as well. We coach collaboratively and I welcome ideas.

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.

As to my staff, Jerry Hann is my recruiter. He’s been here for three years and he’s good at what he does. I think he would have liked to get the head coach job but he has shown no resentment, and seems more than willing to work with me and to be a team player.

Jar Edds is my scout. I got him from Providence. He is excellent at what he does, very analytical.

Larry Kell is my bench coach. I brough him with me from BU because we work together really well.

[PointGuard]

Just Wynn Baby!!!

[Wayne23]

6/26: We have 5 open scholarships and we need 4 guards.

We have a solid recruiting budget and we’ll look all over the world for the best players we can find. Jerry Hann usually makes the first contact. Sometimes I do. He and I do almost all of the recruiting
unless another staff member has a connection to the kid, his family, or his high school.

7/11: All of the kids we’re looking at most closely were at Indy.

7/20: Jerry and I are spending a LOT of time talking with and texting with kids, families, high school coaches… We’re starting to focus in on a few kids but still casting a wide net.

7/31: We like to offer early and we offer to 3 PGs, an SG, and a C. All of them have us very high on their lists but we probably won’t land all 5 so we’re still working lots of other guys.

As to this year’s team, I like what I see, and I think we’ll do well this season, but we’re not at the level I want us at.

8/7; Surprisingly we have 4 guys on the Norton list: PF Stew Reys is #10, PG Jem Maye is #38, SG Russ Cant #40, and C Ty Hill #43. The best news about that is 2 of them are frosh and 2 are sophs!

8/18: Our players are all on campus, working together, and dropping into the office often, which I encourage. I want every kid on the team to know he’s welcome in the office and that I’m happy to see him, Practice doesn’t start until October 2 but there’s nothing to stop the kids working out together without the coaches. The upper classmen kind of take charge.

9/9: We should start hearing from our recruits at any time. This is nervous season since you can’t be sure what a kid will do until he actually commits..

9/11: Good news! PG Jim Craw, rated #30 overall, committed to us. We’ll make a strong pitch to each of the other 4 we’re hoping to land. Craw is our best PG so this is big.

9/18: A clean sweep!!! SG Dan Rans, #23, C Dan Cuny, #24, PG Lan Gain, #40, and PG Trav Brod, #48, all commit. We’ll continue to recruit but all of these guys are good students and should easily hit our SAT score.

We’re going to the Preseason NIT vs. TX EP. I asked for a challenging pre-conf. schedule and we got one, mostly ranked teams.

My players are all good students this year. We have mandatory study halls and plenty of tutors but I’m not worried about anyone academically.

10/2: First day of practice. I like what I see. I think we’ll do well if we stay healthy but we’re not deep, especially inside.

10/18: Talking with my bench coach Larry Kell:

“Looks like we’ll go about as far as Stew Reys take3s us, Larry.”

“He’s our guy, that’s for sure. Our guards are good, too.”

“We’re actually in good shape as far as our starters are concerned but we have nothing after the first five.”

“We knew we’d need to rebuild. It will take a couple of years.”

11/13: Our recruits’ final rankings are #23, 24, 30, 40, 44. The C is #23, the other 4 are guards. Pretty good haul. Since we’re not taking any top 20s except in extraordinary circumstances. We’re pleased.

Here’s our lineup:

Frosh Jem Maye is at the Point. He’s a decent ball handler and a very good scorer for a PG. His D needs to improve.

Frosh Russ Cant is at SG. He’s another very good scorer who handles the ball decently. He’s a good defender.

#3 guard is senior Luis Barr. Luis won’t hurt us when he comes in but he’s never lived up to his potential. Senior Shel Blak is #4 guard and is about as good as Barr.

Junior Deon Wats starts at SF. Very good defender, rebounds well, and he can score. He will help us.

Soph Stew Reys is our star. He’s a VERY good rebounder and scorer, and defends well. He may wind up at C part of the time.

Starting C is soph Ty Hill. Ty is an excellent rebounder, and a good scorer.

Then we’re in trouble inside. First up is junior John Reed who is decent but can’t score at all. Frosh Duke Wagg isn’t ready and neither is frosh Alex Werr.

We start tomorrow as the #4 seed in the NIT. We play #13 Texas El Paso. This will give us our first indication of how good we are. We’re ranked #5 but I don’t think we’re a top 10 team. We’ll see.

[Wayne23]

11/14: We jump out to a BIG early lead, scoring at will in the paint. Up 16 after 10 minutes. We’re running away from them.
49-32 at the half. 14 for Hill, 13 for Cant. We’re shooting better and controlling the lane.

Up by 32 with 10 to go.

99-72. It was never a game. 22, 11, 3, 3 for Reys, who had a great 2nd half. 24, 7 for Hill. 21, 3, 2, 3 for SG Russ Cant. The bench was outplayed but no one got into foul trouble so it wasn’t a factor;

Duke Wagg exceeded expectations. We controlled the inside.

Next up is #5 seed #17 ranked Tennessee inb the round of 16. No major upsets in round 1.

11/16: Tennessee starts fast and opens up a 13 point lead after 12 minutes. Our guards are killing us with fouls, which is what’s causing the trouble. Reys is keeping us in it to the extent that we are. 30-

38 at halftime. I raise the roof at halftime., especially about all the fouls by the guards.

We come out strong and chip away at the lead. We take our first lead after 8 ½ minutes. Up 4 with 10 to play. Then we get hot and take over.

77-65. 15, 13 for Reys, 16, 6, 3 for Hill. Sub PF/C Duke Wagg gets 10 for the 23nd straight game, and #3 guards Luis Barr gets 8, but Barr and the 2 starting guards all wind up with 4 fouls. We won it
inside. The bench played better than expected, and really helped us on a night when we needed it.

Larry Kell: “We’re gonna need to keep our guards in the game.”

“Yeah, that’s a big part of tomorrow’s practice.

#1 seed, #3 ranked Duke in the semis. This will be a big test. They play lock down D and their strength is outside, which will test our guards’ ability to defend and stay in the game.

11/18: Close early. And it stays that way. 34-32 at the break. Reys, Hill, and Cant are leading us but lots of whistles.

It stays close, up 3 with 10 to go.

76-71. Good game and a great win! 19, 7 for Reys, 10, 13, 3 blocks for Hill, 15, 3, 3 for Cant. Sub Duke Waggs gets 9 and our bench holds their own. 30-10 in the paint and that was way more than the difference. Fouls hurt us but no one fouled out.

We’re in the title game against #2 seed, #1 ranked Kansas. They’re very good, especially outside.

11/20: Close early. Down 2 after 10. Their guards are tough. 34-40 at the helf. As usual Reys, Hill, and Cant are leading us but we need to stop their guards.

They start the 2nd fast and we’re not even slowing their guards down. We’re trailing by 17 with 10 to play. .

64-86. Guard play was the difference with their starters getting 40 to only 17 for ours.

20, 7 for Reys, 11, 16 for Hill, 12, 1, 3 for Cant, but he shot 4-17.

Larry Kell: “Tough night, boss.”

“Yeah. We shot 29.9%.”

“We’re taking too many threes.”

“I agree. We’ll work on that.”

3-1 after our first 4.

[Wayne23]

11/21: #4 ranked North Carolina, 4-0, is here for our home opener. They look like they can play but they haven’t played anyone good yet.

11/22: We explode out of the gate and quickly take a 12 point lead. The lead is 17 after 10. 49-29 at halftime. PG Jem Maye is on fire.

We don’t slow down in the 2nd but NC is hitting everything they throw up. We lead by a dozen with 10 to play.

98-90. We had too much O but they scored 61 in the 2nd half. 30, 4, 3 for Maye, 22, 9 for Reys, 14, 7, 5 for Hill, 15, 4, 4, 3 for SF Dan Wats. Not much from the bench. +34 inside. Loved the O but the D needs work.

#15 NC ST is here.

11/25: Good start as we take the lead quickly. Up 7 after 10. 41-31 at the half. Strong inside play.

We extend the lead early. Up 15 with 10 to play.

78-56. Good win over a ranked team. 19, 6 for Reys, 12 for #3 guard Luis Barr, 10 each for Hill, Wats, and Cant. +26 in the paint.

2-2 Tennessee is here next.

11/29: Close early. We’re not shooting well. Tied after 10. 35-36 at the half. We’re sluggish.

We go on a run early in the 2nd and build a 10 point lead. Then we fade. We’re not hitting shots and we’re standing around on O. Down 3 with 10 to play. I can’t seem to wake them up.

76-79. NOT a good night. 19, 3, 3, 2, 3 for sub guard Luis Barr, 17, 12 for Reys, 10, 11, 3 blocks for Hill, but our starting guards were badly outplayed.

4-2 Baylor is here. We need to play a lot better than last game.

12/2: We start fast and build a big early lead. Up 15 after 10. 48-25 at halftime. Stifling D.

We hold the lead in the 2nd and are never threatened.

86-60. 16, 13, 4 blocks for Reys, 16, 7 for Hill, 16, 3, 5 for Cant, 14, 3, 11 for PG Jem Maye.

6-2, ranked #6, NET #9.

[Wayne23]

#10 Illinois, 6-1, is here.

12/6: Back and forth early. Tied after 10. It stays close through the half. 37-36 at the break. This is a battle. Both teams are in foul trouble.

We go on an early run and break it open, leading by 20 with 10 to play. Then they come back but they never get closer than 6.

69-61. 17, 5, 6, 3 for Maye. Hill fouled out and Reys ended with 4.

Larry Kell: “Close one.”

“We expected it to be.”

“We’re outscoring the other teams by 9.2, and we’re +7.7 on rebounds.”

“Yeah, we’re doing okay, all in all. We knew it would take us a couple years to be the team we want to be.”

At #11 San Diego ST, 6-2. This should be a challenge.

12/9: We start fast and build a quick double digit lead. Up 12 at halftime.

They come back in the 2nd as we battle foul trouble.

77-77 at the buzzer and OT! Reys and Hill start strong in OT then Hill fouls out. Reys keeps hitting shots and getting RBs, and Cant hits three threes in a row.

95-83. Great road win! 29, 4 for Cant, 19, 13 for Hill, 17, 12 for Reys, 12, 2, 7, 3 for Maye. +16 RBs.

6-1 Memphis is here. They’re tough inside, they play solid D, and they rebound.

12/13: We’re on fire early and we stay that way. Up 12 after 10. 56-42 at the half. Not crazy about our D but we’re hitting everything we put up, especially the bench.

We’re holding our lead in the 2nd.

100-85. 19, 12 for Reys, 18, 2, 6 for Maye, 15, 4, 6, 3 for Luis Barr, 12, 4 for Wagg, 11, 2, 5, 3 for Cant. We shot 51.4%.

We end pre-conf play at 7-1 UCLA. They play exceptional D. We’re better on the boards. But we’re going to have to work for this one.

12/20: UCLA starts fast and builds a 16 point lead. We get it down to 9 at the half.

We spend the 2nd half chipping away at their lead but we never quite get there.

74-77. Their guards outplayed ours pretty badly and that did us in.

18, 9, 3 for Reys, 13, 13 for Hill, 14, 7, 3 for Wats but nothing outside.

Russ Cant hurt a knee. He’s out for about 10 days.

We finish pre-conf play at 9-3. Ranked #5, NET #1.

+8.9 PPG, +7.8 RBs, -3.9 TOs.

Stew Reys leads us with 17.6, 9.6. Russ Cant gets 12.7. Ty Hill gets 12.4, 8.9.

I spend evenings when we don’t have a game watching videos. There’s a terrific amount to learn from doing this whether I’m watching games we played or games opponents played. And yes, I take notes. Usually around midnight I stop and read for a short time before I go to bed, usually murder mysteries.

[Wayne23]

1st Big East game is with 3-7, 0-1 DePaul, here. Cant is back.

12/28: Fast start and a lock down D. Up 12 after 10. 36-21 at the break.

We start the 2nd where we left off in the 1st and build the lead to 30. They never really make a run at us.

76-53. 15, 1, 3 for Barr, 14, 3, 5 for Maye, 11 each for Hill, Reys, and Cant.

Larry Kell: “Are you worried about who’s going to go pro?”

“It’s inevitable that we’ll lose people. Hope it’s not too bad. Reys will probably go, and Hill, more than likely. Could be one or two others. Hard to say.”

“We’ve got some good guys coming in. Dan Curry really looks good inside.”

“And we’ll need him to be.”

“Dan Rans looks like a great shooting guard and Jim Craw looks good at the Point.”

“We should be better next year, assuming we pick up 1 or 2 in the transfer portal, unless we really get slammed with transfers and guys going pro.”

8-3, 2-0 Creighton is here. They’re very good, both inside and outside, but they lost to the only ranked team they’ve played.

12/30: Close early and it stays that way through the half, 28-27. Neither team is hitting shots.

They heat up at the start of the 2nd and we don’t. Down 16 with 10 to go. We don’t get any better.

61-77. Ugly loss. We shot 37.1%. 22, 9 for Reys, 12, 8, 2, 4 for Wats.

At 5-8, 1-2 Georgetown next.

1/2/2024: Back and forth early. Up 3 after 10. 29-30 at halftime.

We play really solid D in the 2nd and take the lead. Up 9 after 10.

66-55. We didn’t shoot well but we took 16 more shots. 25, 12 for Reys, 13, 6 for Wats.

At 12-2, 1-2 St Johns.

1/4: They start fast and build a 12 point lead. We cut it to 6 at the half but we’re in foul trouble. Back and forth in the 2nd. Wats fouls out with 1:37 left and the score tied. Hill and Maye both have 4 fouls. We miss a three at the buzzer.

73-75. Poor shooting and foul trouble beat us. 22, 15 for Reys, 11, 16 for Hill.

We’re going to give #3 guard Luis Barr more playing time. We’re not getting enough from our guards.

11-5, 2-2.