January 24 Bud Idotit, The Newark News:
The hot and cold NJIT Highlanders were hot last night, beating Binghamton 57-49 here before the usual sellout crowd. Selling out a 1500 seat arena is no big deal but it’s way better than NOT selling out a 1500 seat arena! Albany lost at home so NJIT is in a 1st place tie. The team’s star player, Jude Idit, had 22 points and 6 rebounds. When he’s on, this team usually wins. The “you never know what you’re gonna get” guard, Curt Tann, had a good game, 12 points, 7 assists, 4 steals. This kid has never found a way to be consist on O, and it’s a shame. He has so much potential. He is a good defender though, so he’ll stay in the lineup for that reason. Center Mai Bro, who is usually a rock, was off tonight. He did have 9 boards, but he hit only 3 points. The SF and PF spots are a crap shot. But, hey, at this level you can win with one star and two good players.
Coach Zak Zachery works hard, and he seems to get a little better every year. He gets big points for listening to his experienced assistants. I think he has the potential to coach at a big time school at some point.
Zak: We’re at the halfway point in the conference season. We’re 15-3, 7-2, RPI #24. We’re tied for 1st with Albany, 1 up on UMass Lowell and Vermont, with 2 other teams two games back. So it should be an exciting 2nd half. Jude is the leading scorer in conf., and Mai the leading rebounder. Curt is way, WAY ahead of the next guy in assists. As a team we’re +11.0 PPG, +3.0 RBPG, +3.7 TOPG, +3.7 in assists PG, +2.6 steals PG. Seems like we should be dominating the conf., but we haven’t jelled as well as last year and the year before. We’re working hard though. We’ll get there.
January 27 Jude Will:
58-66 at UMBC. We were awful. We shot 34%, they shot 44%. They took 12 more shots. Don Summ gave us nothing at PF, and the guys behind him gave us less.
We’re having our usual in flight staff meeting soon and I’m going to bring up going to the four guard thing we used so effectively last year. Idit can play SF and Huey PF. It might be the solution.
Zak:
It was an interesting flight home. After a long discussion we decided to go back to the four guard lineup. For most of the game Ed Huey will shift to PF, Jude Idit will shift to SF, and Coli Bark will start at SG. We’ll get more offense, better ball handling, and we’ll lose a little on the boards. Against really physical teams we’ll lose something on D, too. But on balance I think we’ll gain a lot. This worked beautifully last year. Let’s see what happens.
January 29 Zak:
Jude Idit is #19 on the Norton list!
First place Albany is here next. That’s one we need to win. Hope the new lineup is up to it!
January 31 Zak:
73-59 and we’re tied for 1st again! Curt Tann led the way with 16, 7, 6. Coli Bark had 17, 2, 2, 2 in his first start. 15, 6, 2 for Bro, 12, 7, 3 for Idit. Huey was the odd man out. 11 TOs, and +7 RBs.
Unfortunately, Mai Bro hurt his leg. He is questionable for our next game. There are 6 teams within a game of each other at the top so every game is big.
February 3 Zak:
We decided to spot Bro. He could go for a few minutes at a time so we thought we’d use him in key spots, but not for a lot of minutes. We know rebounding will be a
problem but we’re sticking with the four guard set up, not for as many minutes as we would with Bro in the lineup, but for at least half of the game.
73-63! Don Summ was terrific, 15, 5, 2 in 23 minutes. 23, 2, 2, 2 for Idit, 11 for Bark. +4 TOs. -6 RBs but we expected that. -6 was definitely acceptable without Bro, who actually played 16 minutes. He had 4, 3, 2. But he didn’t reinjure himself and he’ll be back to 100% for our next game.
Albany lost. That puts us alone in first, 1 up on 3 teams, 2 up on another 2 teams.
February 7 Art Wall:
69-61 over UMass Lowell here. There’s nothing like teamwork! +13 TOs and -7 RBs, which is kind of what we expect from a 4 guard lineup, but hey, that’s a big net gain. 16,
6, 3, 2 for Bro, 15, 3 for Bark, 12, 4, 5, 4 for Idit, 7, 4, 4, 4 for Tann, 8, 5 for Huey. It seems like whenever we needed a stop we got it. In the last 10 minutes it was never a one possession game.
February 10 John Bonn:
I don’t get to see many road games but I was scouting a kid in Connecticut. 78-57 over Hartford. We were pretty impressive tonight! +13 RBs, +7 TOs. 16, 5, 5, 3 for Tann, 15, 4, 4, 3 for Bark, 14, 6 for Bro, 13, 6 for Summ. We led wire to wire.
That gives us a 2 game lead over 3 teams with 4 to play. We’re in good shape!
The CT kid wasn’t worth the trip. I saw him play the next night and he was spectacularly mediocre.
Dawn:
When does it end! When I left the building to go to the parking lot at work, I saw that there was something under the driver’s side wiper. I got it.
It was a note:
“Dawn,
Being in this business you should know better. Interracial adoption is racist. It assumes that black kids can only be successful if raised by white people. It’s b*llsh*t and it makes you a racist b*tch.”
Short and sweet.
I called Ella. She took the note, said she’d have it checked for prints but with mine all over it she doubted they’d find anything. She asked if there were people of color at work.
There are, of course, about half of the employees. She said she’d get back to me but not to get my hopes up.
I am so angry. Yes, we’re white and the kids are not. So what! They come into contact with probably more non-whites than whites. Zak has one assistant coach who is not white, and Pete Cummings, the assistant A. D., too. 9 of his players are black.
At least half of my friends are non-white- blacks, Hispanics, Asians… The kids choose their friends, and they are of all races and colors.
My kids’ lives are about as multi-racial and multi-ethnic as they can be.
Zak didn’t get to read the letter since Ella has it. He said whoever wrote it has a chip on their shoulder. We have nothing to feel except proud.
February 12 Zak:
Jude remains #19 on the Norton list. I hope that gets him drafted into the NBA. I know that’s his dream.
We’re ranked! #24, RPI #16.
February 14 Zak:
62-37 over Stony Brook here. +11 TOs. 19 for Idit, 14, 7 for Bro, 14 for Summ, who is exceling as a 6th man. We’re at the top of our game right now.
I got my honey a big bouquet of flowers for Valentine’s Day. She is truly the light of my life. Valentine’s Day is her 40th birthday so hopefully the flowers took some of the sting out of that!
February 17 Jude Idit, text to his mother:
Hi mom. I had another really good game, 21 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and I shut my man down. We won 70-55 at New Hampshire. Mai and Coli did real good too, and we had only 8 turnovers (That’s good!).
I have to say I hate to see my senior year come to an end. It’s been a kick. We only have a small gym, but it’s always full, and it’s always rockin’! I get cheered like crazy whenever I make a shot at home, and on campus everybody knows me. They smile, or wave, or yell, “Good job!” It’s so cool.
A couple of NBA scouts have been around and coach says I’ll see a lot more of them in the post season, especially in the NCAA tourney. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that I get drafted.
Love you!
Zak:
Two to play and we’ve clinched. We’re 2 up on UMass Lowell but we beat them twice so that means we’ve got the home court for the tourney again. Wes Chino loves me.
This brings in lots of extra revenue.
February 21 Jude Idit:
Senior night. 66-51 over Maine. What a great way to go out! My parents and my little brother were here and I had 24 points, 5 RBs. Mai is not a senior but he kicked it too, 22, 14, 3. Actually, I’m the only senior. Gabe Raff would have been but he left the program because he wasn’t playing.
We’ll be playing at least one more, hopefully two, on this court in the conf. tourney.
February 24 Zak:
We ended the regular season in style, 78-59 at Binghamton. 29, 4, 3 for Idit, 16, 3 for Bark, 14, 4, 9 for Tann. (POST)
We’re 8-0 since we went to the 4 guard lineup.
We end the regular season 23-4, 15-3, in 1st place by 3 games. Ranked #20, RPI #12. Idit leads the conf. in scoring (by 3.4 PG), Bro leads in RBs (by 1.8 PG), Tann leads in assists be an astounding 2.1 PG. As a team we are +11.7 PPG, +3.3 RBPG (up 0.3 PG since we went to 4 guards), +4.0 TOPG, +3.2 assists PG, +2.3 steals PG. We truly dominated!