Jess Wynn, to do the impossible

[Wayne23]

#23, 22-10, 9-7 Virginia is next. Finished 6th, lost in the 2nd round of their tourney. They are strong outside but don’t have much of an inside game.

3/23: 21-16 at the half.

A real defensive battle. We’re playing great D but we can’t make a shot, 0-5 on threes, 6-30 overall. We’re getting to the line, which is giving us the lead.

It stays close all the way. Qual makes an old fashioned three with :24 left to give us a 3 point lead.

They bring it down, call a TO with :11 left, then work for the last shot. They don’t get a clean look and miss badly at the end, 47-44. Escape!

+13, +3, 25-36%, fouls 11-18, +11 free throws. How do you win shooting 25%? From the line, that’s how.

10, 13, 1 for Qual, 11, 10 for young, 8, 9 for Asp. We won it outside, Tark had another lousy game.

#1 overall Arizona is shocked by #16 Louisville, 54-63.

The Elite 8 is farther than I’ve ever gotten. Pretty exciting! Unfortunately we play UCLA for the 4th time. They’re 27-5, 12-4, ranked #7. We beat them by 9, 9, and 7. Since Jan. 13 they have lost to no one but us (twice). Cox, their C and best player has a bad back. He will play, but how effectively. Nothing else new here, just the immensely difficult task of beating a very good team 4 times in the same season.

3/25: 36-31 at the half.

Much like the first 3, this one is a battle. I’d like fewer TOs and a little tighter D in the 2nd. And if we hit a few more shots that would be okay, too.

We do all of that, 75-60. We’re in the Final Four!

+15, +1, 39-42%, fouls 11-18, +12 at the line.

Tark came up very big, 21, 6, 6, 3, 4, no fouls, only 3 TOs. 18, 8, 3 for Asp, 11, 9, for Young, 6, 8, 1, 1 for Qual, 14 for Lowe. We should be the favorite to win it all, which is just a little scary!

We’ll play #5 Florida and #2 CT will play #9 Oklahoma State. Can’t wait!

3/28: USC lost in the round of 4 in the NIT.

We're 33-3.

[Wayne23]

#5 Florida is 30-4, 14-2. Won the conf. and the tourney. Won their last 10, 14 of 15. Their very good PF broke his wrist 3 games ago. That leaves them with three scorers, the 1, 4 and 5. They shifted the SF to PF. We are better at guard and we need to make that work for us and exploit their short handedness inside.
Biggest game of my life by far. Dad’s still not well but he’s here.

4/1: 31-33 at the half. We aren’t intimidated by our surroundings here in New Orleans.

We’re taking care of the ball and owning the boards. I have never seen so many fouls called, 13-16. Their 4 has 3, no one else on either team with more than 2.

We run away and hide in the 2nd, at least partially because of foul calls, 85-59.

+16, +4, 39-38%. Fouls were 21-32. They were 20-32 from the line and we were an unbelievable 40-45. It didn’t account for the differential but it was a huge factor. Frankly, the refs were awful. Only one player fouled out, their PF, but everyone on both teams had reduced minutes due to foul trouble.

19, 6, 5, 1 for Tark, only 3 fouls and 2 TOS. 17, 5, 3, 1 for young, 15, 7, 1 for Asp, 13 for Lowe, 9, 7, 1 for Qual, 4, 9, 1, 1 for Sigg, 4, 5, 2 for Wyck.

It is more than ironic that we will play #2 UConn for the title. They are 33-5, 14-2, they won their conf. but lost in the finals of the tourney. They do not give up points. They are very tough inside and have a terrific PG. Nothing beyond the first four but they’re immense. If they have a weakness it may be ball handling and we’ll test that. We’ll need to contain the inside game and match their rebounding, or close to it. Tough match up. Both teams are healthy.
4/3: 31-33 at the half.
They got it to 10 at one point. Tark picked up two quick fouls which hurt. We need to stop their PG who is killing us. We’re doing pretty well with their other guys.

Tark had to play the last 11:22 with 4 fouls. I couldn’t sit him. He never picked up #5 until the last minute.

At 8:22 we were down 4. At 4:14 it was 3.

At 2:01 the score was tied. We knew their SF was their weak player on D, and we hadn’t gone at him big time, by design. I had hoped to be in this position and to go at him late. This was the time.

Asp scored on him three times in a row before the CT coach called a TO and changed the D. That put us up 6 with :49 left. They hit a quick 3. Up 3, :38.

They fouled and Wyck made both. Up 5, :29.

They shot a quick 3 and it missed. They got the RB and shot another one. It missed, Asp got the RB and they fouled.

He hit both. Up 7, :16. I called a TO just to give my guys a breather and to calm them down. All we needed to do was play smart and the title was ours.

We pressed, which we hadn’t done all game. I wasn’t particularly looking for a steal, I just wanted to use clock. It worked. They called their last TO with :11 left.

We doubled their PG, and they didn’t shoot until :04, and the shot missed.

Asp slapped the RB toward midcourt and the clock ran out as they chased it down. 62-55 and the national title! Pandemonium!

+3, +2, 44-35%, fouls were 16-18 but we were -6 from the line and -1 on threes. But we took 7 more shots and made 5 of them.

Josh Asp was the tourney MOP as he should have been, 26, 10, 2, 2, 1, made the last 8 points for us and controlled the last RB. Everyone else, including three from the bench worked like hell, especially on D, but nobody put up numbers on O. Their PG had 30 but no one else on their team put up numbers except their C, 11, 9, 5, 1. If I’m dreaming, don’t wake me!

We’re losing absolutely everyone next year but I don’t want to think about that right now.

After the game dad came down and gave me a huge hug.

He whispered, “I am so glad I lived long enough to see this.” We both had tears in our eyes.

[Wayne23]

4/4: Awards: I got National Coach of the Year. Dad got it 12 times. Brad Tark made 2nd team All America. In conf., Tark made 1st team, Asp and Qual made 2nd. That’s about right.

4/9: Would I move? For the right offer I would. I’m a little surprised, no offers that are even remotely interesting.

4/16: We had 10 scholarships to fill and we managed to fill 9. It will be a completely different team next year. Needed a #3 assistant for practice and game coach position. Got a great one.

4/23: Need a few thousand since I paid a little too much for my #3 assistant. I think we’ve earned it! We get $12,000. That gives me all the $ I will need for recruiting. In future years I’ll go for facilities upgrades.

At the end of my 10th season I get a raise. Now making $154,000 with a contract extension. Record is 282-78, .783.

My #s are: Off. 44, Def. 66, Recruit 73, Scout 9, Player Dev. 55, Reputation 54.

I’m proud of all of that. I expect we’ll slide some next year but the long term future looks bright.

Oh, we wound up 35-3.

[CoachC]

congrats! damn you build programs fast!

[Wayne23]

It's the Jucos, I can get a few top 50s, even some 40s and 30s, which I would never get any other way. Then if I pick up a 4 1/2 or 5 star transfer or two, which can be done if his GPA is in the 1.5-1.8 range, I've got myself a team!

I had a feeling this team had a shot at going all the way. As is usually the case it took a break- Arizona losing, but that's often the case in the real tourney. How often does the fav actually win it all?

Now I need to rebuild, everybody graduated. Oh well, I have a bunch of talented Jucos coming in. We'll win more than we'll lose.

[CoachC]

although i do do that, and have done that...(did that last season at g-w and the reason for their success this season was largely because i left them with recruiting options).. but just don't like it, mainly because it feels like meta-gaming. Plus I get much more satisfaction out of recruiting a blue chip class of freshman and following them til they are seniors. Of course, my current association hampers me a bit because i'm using someone else's philosophies rather than my own.

[Wayne23]

I get that but if you start at a low ranking school there's no way to get blue chip freshmen. I've always been a "whatever it takes" guy- stopping before the point where it is destructive to other people though.

[CoachC]

i understand that too, but it's a lot harder when you are having to buy into a philosophy other than your own! lol

[Wayne23]

Agreed. I usually bite the bullet and switch to at least 50% my philosophy the first year and then more year by year.

[Wayne23]

5/1: A new season starts today. I went home for a few days. Dad is definitely not doing well. Mom says it’s the beginning of the end. She says if he doesn’t get something serious he could have a few more years but they won’t be great years. Damn! Wish I could be here at UConn to be closer. I tell mom and she says she’s been talking to dad about moving to Seattle.

She likes it out here, she could work part time at a very prestigious hospital and it would be good for dad to be near me. Yes, if you remember I have two older siblings but neither is particularly close to the family. They are major, major world changers in their separate fields and that seems to take up all of their time and energy. They check in with mom and dad maybe once every couple of months and visit every few years. I don’t have much contact at all with either of them. There’s no animosity, just not much interest. I encourage mom to move out here.

We buy the Gold National. I don’t see us repeating but I think we can have a good season.

6/5: Going after one transfer.

6/12: Didn’t get him. I thought we would. Oh well.

6/26: Brad Tark #2 in the draft, Josh Asp #8, Nate Qual #26, Sid Young #29, Sam Stin #29, Nick Barr #35, Carl Sigg #37, Mel Layt #39, Jerr Lowe #43, Mel Wyck #46. 10 guys drafted. Yeah, I guess that was a pretty good team!

Three to fill. We need guards. Looking at 14, 6 PG, 2 SG, 1 SF, 4 PF, 1 C.

7/11: Kid camp opens.

7/25: Well, I still don’t think we’ll repeat but I like this team. We’ll do okay.

8/7: Pat Rich is #49 on the Norton List.

9/11: Visits went well, I hope.

Mom called. She and dad will be moving here as soon as they can find a place to live. They’re keeping the house in CT and my sister’s oldest will live there and take care of the place. Great news!

9/18: Got one, #23 PG Dave Will, who was #1 on our list. Let’s see if we can nail down the other two.

We have a schedule. We’re at the Vegas Winter Jam in December. There are 3 ranked teams willing to play us at our place. All in all it’s our toughest schedule ever. Hope I won’t regret it!

9/25: Lost one.

10/2: Finished recruiting, signed #26 PG Jess (Nice name!) Boyd and #34 PG Joe Rain.

First day of practice.

We’re picked to finish 4th in conf.

11/2: 1st exhibition is with UC San Diego. 38-24 at the half. 72-55 at the end.

+22, -5, 43-31%, fouls 8-25.

11/7: 2nd exhibition is with UC San Diego. 43-31 at the half. 86-58 is the final.

+15, +3, 55-40%, fouls 11-11.

No changes in the starting 5. Bosl will get more time.

Dad’s been at practice a few times. He sits and watches, doesn’t say anything. He often has good advice for me. His eye is still sharp and he still sees things from an analytical perspective but his energy is very low and his stamina is lower. We speak every day, in person or by phone, but sometimes the conversations are short. I know that this is the way life is, but I hate it. I have never loved anyone the way I love my dad and seeing this happen to him is very hard. Mom says I’m too isolated and that I should get married and start a family. I’ve never had a lot of interest in that. Maybe I haven’t met the right woman. I date, but it never seems to turn into anything more than fwb.