Jess Wynn, to do the impossible

[Wayne23]

3/1: Play in day. ORU is the only upset winner.

3/2: Play in day #2. The favs all win so the top 4 teams are in the semis.

We play IUPU-Indianapolis, 15-13, 10-8. Beat them by 24 then 8.

3/3: Never a game, 81-58. 23, 6, 2 for Sapp, 24, 2, 32 for Rein.

No. Dak. ST upset So. Utah so we won’t get our chance for revenge,

3/4: 81-65. Close for at least 25 min., but then Sapp took over. He had 22, 8, 1, 1, 6 blocks. Our 3rd conf. title in 5 seasons.

27-2, 17-1, #12, #13. Now we wait.

[Wayne23]

3/12: We are #11 in the final poll before tourney selection day.

Not in the East.

Not in the Midwest.

Not in the South.

#5 in the West, about what I thought. I had hoped for #4. We play #12 Weber State, 19-12. Big Sky. #1 is UConn, #2 Indiana, #3 Kansas, #4 Oregon.

Weber State won their tourney after finishing 2nd. They’ve won 7 straight. Strong outside game.

3/17: We took charge early and built to a 20 point lead. Up 38-23 at the half.

We got it to 26 in the 2nd before winning by that margin, 75-49.

+20, +2, 50-30%.

16, 10 for Alex, 14, 8, 2 for Sapp, 15, 4, 3, 2 for Rein, 8, 4, 6 for Will.

Tough matchup next, #4 seed, #18 Oregon, 22-8, 4th in the Pac 12, then lost in the semis. Tough outside game but not good with the ball.

3/19: Great 1st half. We control everyone except their SG and lead 34-29.

Foul trouble hits in the 2nd and I need to sit my 1, 2 and 5 for extended periods which is simply too much to overcome. 56-64 at the end and our season ends.

+3, -1, 46-48%, 21-13 fouls, which was the difference.

14, 12, 2 for Sapp, 14 for Rein, 12 for Will. We got very little from Alex and Chang, and our bench did not rise to the occasion.

Now I wait for job offers. It is time to move on so I am hopeful. Still, a good season, really.

3/25: All 4 #1 and #2 seeds are left.

3/27: #1 Syracuse will play #2 Arizona and #3Maryland will play #8 Indiana in the final four. I’ll be there.

4/1: #2 Arizona vs. #3 Maryland for the title.

4/3: Arizona by 5. Lots of interesting conversations with A. D.s.

4/4: Awards: Jr. Dan Sapp is Conf. POY, Jr. Rex Alex is def. POY. Joe Rein and Sapp make 1st team, Alex makes 2nd. I get Coach of the Year.

4/9: Offers: Long talk with Dad after visiting a few schools. I’m moving.

I can’t stand the heat and I’m way too liberal for the South but the best offer by far came from Alcorn State down in Mississippi, so that’s where I’m going. It is absolutely a stepping stone and I don’t intend to be there any longer than necessary. They have just about everyone coming back after a 14-14 season. Amazingly enough I take a pay cut.

4/16: Coaches hired and I like my new staff. All veteran coaches. $130,000 left for recruiting so we’ll be able to buy the Gold National, a first for me.

4/23: I managed to pick up 2 late recruits, a C and an SG. Both are B rated.

I ask for a facilities upgrade. Denied. Great start! Oh well. Let’s see what we can build here. Dad says he may winter down here, at least a month or two.

My ratings are: Off. 19, Def. 29, Recruit 28, Scout 5, Player Dev. 24, Rep. 24. My record is 125-34, .786. Hopefully no more than two years in this hell hole.

[Wayne23]

5/1: Three guys bail on me and transfer out. Just great!

6/5: We’re going for transfers with low GPA.

6/12: We get 4, 3 guards.

6/26: 5 to fill (even after snagging 4 transfers!). Looking mostly for bigs. Looking at 20, 5 PG, 3 SG, 6 SF, 3 PF, 3 C.

7/11: We’re running kid camps. Talked dad into coming down to this inferno in July and it worked, sold out both weeks when we advertised that he’d be here. I owe him more than ever.

7/25: Doesn’t look like I’ll have a lot of talent on this year’s team but next year when those transfers become eligible we should be pretty good. Thanks dad, your analysis of both the kids who paid to come here and the guys on this new team was extremely valuable to me and my staff.

8/14: Lots of guys showing some mild interest. Next week will tell us a lot more.

The heat is beyond belief, not to mention the bugs. I do NOT love it here.

[CoachC]

wow! 3 guys transferring out? I don't think I've ever had that happen to me. And I thought Gary Winston was difficult to play for! lol

[Wayne23]

Before I even started! They never met me. I figure it sets me back a year.

[PointGuard]

Maybe you were just too liberal for them.

[Wayne23]

Now that explains it!

[Wayne23]

11/2: First exhibition is against Longwood. 35-31 at the half.

77-65, came on strong at the end. +15, +2, 49-47%. Fouls 7-17. 6 or 7 guys looked quite good.

11/7: 2nd exhibition is also against Longwood.

29-24 at the half.

63-65. We faded late after leading for almost the entire game. +7, -5, 47-44%. Fouls 8-15.

Lloyd, Bolt, Dove, Phil played well.

Decisions need to be made regarding the lineup. Lloyd and Bolt are absolutely solid at PG and SG. Holz will move to SF, Tower stays at PF and Dove starts at C. Phil and Peay are getting the most bench time with a little going to Olly and Lopez.

[Wayne23]

We start with San Jose State, here. Not much to go on.

11/14: A back and forth first half as my guys adjust to playing as a unit. All in all we look good and we go in ahead 28-24.

I’m pleased with the D and the rebounding. We need to take care of the ball.
The D continues to be solid, as does the rebounding. We build the lead to 16 which is the final margin, 60-44.

+14, -5 (20 TOs, not good), 38-30%, 8 -19 fouls. This has not been a team that fouls.

20, 5 for Bolt, 12, 7, 2 for Lloyd, 10, 11, 1 for Holz, 8, 10, 3 for Dove. Peay had 6, 5, 1 in 12 min. A good start to the season.

7 of our next 8 are on the road beginning with 0-1 New Hampshire. They did not look good in their opener.

11/17: We worked on O in practice and it paid off in the 1st, 45-32 at the break. PG Ian Lloyd is red hot.

Ball handling is still an issue but everything else is going well.

We hang onto the lead and win 76-60.

+5, +6 (only 13 TOs, 4 in the 2nd), 50-44%. Fouls were 6-13.

32, 3, 3 for Lloyd but 7 TOs, 14, 8, 2 for Dove. Peay again had 6, 5 in 12 minutes- exactly the same as last game.

At 0-2 Hartford. They’ve lost to 2 good teams. They were overpowered in both.

11/21: Not a good first half. They take a lead halfway through after it goes back and forth several times, build it to 11 and go in up 23-15.

We talk about O. We took only 20 shots and made only 4 of them, 3 threes. We were not making crisp passes or moving without the ball.

We control the 2nd half but not by a lot. With 1:12 to go we are down 3.

Lloyd makes a 14 footer and they come down and throw it away, down 1, :22. We work it around getting it inside to Dove who is fouled with :02 left. He hits the first misses the 2nd and it’s OT.

Lloyd makes a 3, Bolt hits another 3, Holz hits one free throw and Tower makes a layup as we take the OT by a 9-0 margin and win 54-45.

+8, +6 (but 17 TOs), 32-38%, fouls were 8-19 which gave us our margin. We went 15-21 from the line and they were only 2-2.

21, 6, 1, 1, for Lloyd (4 TOs), 11, 2, 3, 3 for Bolt, 7, 9, 3, 3, 1 for Dove, 6, 9, 1 for Tower, his first decent game. 7, 4, 1 for Holz.

I had dinner on Sunday, the day before the game, at mom and dad's. Mom is semi-retiring and they will spend all of January and about half of February here. There is a hospital near us that works with charity cases and mom will do surgery there two days a week. Dad will work with us. I’m thrilled, can’t wait.

[Wayne23]

At 2-1 Temple for what should be a challenging game. These guys do most things well.

11/24: We can’t get any O going in the first, 20-34.

Temple is too good for us to fall this far behind. We talk again about moving without the ball and making crisp passes. On D we need a hand in the shooter’s face.

We play much better in the 2nd but never get closer than 5. The final is 61-72.

+7, -13 (21 TOs), 47-47% but they took 15 more shots due to our TOs. Fouls were 8-17.

27, 2, 2, 1 for Lloyd but 6 TOs, Phil had 9, 2, 3 from the bench but no one else had more than 7.

Thankfully we’re back home. It’s only for one game but we need to sleep in our own beds and have a little time for normal routines and classwork.

4-0 Duquesne is in. They’ve played four nobodies. We can beat these guys if we take care of the ball.

11/28: A solid 1st, 33-26 at the break. We had only 6 TOs and we found the open man.

More of the same in the 2nd and the final is 66-54.

+2, +3, 39-38%, fouls were 5-21. Foul differential has been huge for us all season and we’ve avoided having players in foul trouble.

21, 8, 5 for Lloyd, 4 TOs, 11, 4, 4, 3, 2 for Bolt, 13, 4 for Dove, 10 RBs for Tower.

We’ve decided to give Peay more time in the frontcourt, Tower isn’t giving us all that much. The two will share the playing time for awhile.

Back on the road for 4. After this trip it evens out for the rest of the season.

At 3-2 Dartmouth. They’ve played one good team, losing by 7.

12/1: We finally showed some O in the first half but so did they. It went back and forth all the way. 36-35 at the break.

We need to make good passes and RB a little better.

And we do. We never lead by more than 7 but we have the lead most of the way. It’s 61-54 at the end.

+3, +4 (13 TOs, good for us, sadly), 41-42%, 8-18 fouls which wins it for us yet again.

20, 6, 3, 1 for Lloyd but 5 TOs, 17, 4, 2 for Bolt. Peay had 8, 2, Dove 7, 6, 1. Our front could be more productive but I don’t think it will be.

5-1 at this point and with all the road game that’s pretty good!