A New Tomorrow

[jksander]

Stay tuned. I think we play Incoherent Word soon.

Bloody lovely!

[Wayne23]

11/15: We start with a win! 74-62. We came out of the gate strong. After a few early lead changes, about 6 minutes in we went on a 7-0 run. We built the lead to 12 and led the rest of the way. The pleasant surprise was SG Kin Ree, who led us with a solid 22 points. We kept getting the ball to him and he hit enough shots to make a difference. Walt Pell at PF had 16. We were -1 on the boards, which was acceptable but not great. I wasn't happy with 16 turnovers, but we forced 17. We stayed out of serious foul trouble and all in all I was pretty happy with our performance. It's nice to start with a win!

Back to the tunnels to play at another weak team, Alcorn ST, next. We'd better get used to the tunnels. 11 of our 13 pre-conference games are away.

11/18: 67-64! We jumped out to an early lead and got it to 20 at one point. It was 15 at the half. They chipped away throughout the second half but the final margin of three was as close as they got, and that was by virtue of a three at the buzzer. Again, my guards did some damage. This time it was PG Jay Olen, who had 22. SF Al Stae also had 22, along with 7 RBs. We were +2 on the boards. Again, too many turnovers, 18, but we forced 19. Sub guard Billy Brew had 10, PF Walt Pell had 11 RBs. Center Tim Cobb battled foul trouble all night.

Nothing going on at all on the recruiting front. We're still talking to some guys but we're only in the hunt with that one PG. We still have lots of money, which we plan to spend in the Spring.

11/22: Our first loss, 74-79 at Maryland Eastern Shore. Winning on the road is tough so I'm not surprised. We didn't get off to our usual fast start tonight. They built an early 10 point lead which we cut to 4 by halftime. We caught up and even went a head a few times in the second half but they outlasted us. Once again Tim Cobb battled foul trouble. He needs to learn to play with more discipline. 21 for SF Al Stae, 12 for Cobb, 11 each for Ree and Pell. +1 on the boards. A terrible 19 TOs but they had 25. We lost the game outside, giving up 13 threes.

Finally a home game coming up, against Eastern Illinois.

11/25: 78-63. This was the first game where we really put it all together. We led for the last 35 minutes and just looked very smooth. The only down side was fouls but the three blind mice were whistle happy, calling 39 fouls, 20 on us. 23 and 6 for PF Walt Pell, 12 and 6 for sub forward Brad Runn, and 11 each for Stae and Cobb. 19 TOs again; that's not unexpected and it's about as many as we've been getting, but I'd sure like to cut it down. We were +10 on the boards.

11/29: 72-79 at NC A & T. Again, it's tough to win on the road. We're 3-2 with 4 of the games having been on the road. Pretty good! Fouls really hurt us tonight. Our PG, Jay Olen, fouled out playing only 18 minutes. Walt Pell stepped up big with 19 and 11, but it wasn't enough. Al Stae had 16 and 9. But we were overmatched in the back court and that cost us the game.

We're going to give Bri Brew more minutes at SG. He's playing better than starter Kin Ree right now. Up front Brad Runn is going to get more minutes, taking them from Tim Cobb. Coaching is about making adjustments.

I've been working really hard. There's a shortfall of oats. This is major. We don't grow wheat so oats are a MAJOR crop here. They're very versatile and easier to grow than wheat. Interestingly enough you can actually make a kind of pasta using oats. We do grow rice, so we have some grains. But we need the oats. The Committee discussed solutions at a special meeting earlier in the day. The agronomy team is on it over at S. S. Einstein, where the oats are grown.

[Wayne23]

12/2: 100-98 at Fairleigh Dickinson. What a game! Not OT, all those points were scored in regulation time. We led most of the way, by as many as 13, but they made a real run late, took the lead three times. Then in the final minute we retook the lead, mostly on free throws by #3 guard Bri Brew, who was playing so well that I left him in the game at crunch time. He was 6-6 from the line in the final minute, and they missed a half court shot at the buzzer. 20 each for Brew and Walt Pell, 17 for Al Stae, and 13 for back up forward Brad Runn. Giving more minutes to Brew and Runn really paid off tonight, they both stepped up. Only 10 TOs, our best game of the year in that department. I have to say that a nail biter like this is great but it is also stressful. I was so wired that I wasn't able to sleep until about 4:30 in the morning.

We're in December. There's no weather on a space ship but the environmentalists adjust the temp seasonally. They make non-living spaces a little cooler during "winter." Of course anyone can go into the holos and experience snow, bitter cold, or whatever else they wish to experience. We have some skiers who love that kind of thing. I like moderate temps. I run in the woods, as I've said. I program the sim to be 45 degrees and overcast when I run. I like to run in cool temps and I hate having sun in my face, probably because I have never experienced an actual sun.

12/6: 77-51 at Incoherent Word. We were really on our game tonight, start to finish. Our super subs led us in scoring, guard Bri Brew with 16, forward Brad Runn with 14. Not sure whether to start them or let them give us a boost coming off the bench. Leaning toward the latter. +8 RBs and only 8 TOs, our best number of the season. Things are looking good right now, we're 5-2 with only one game having been at home.

12/9: 83-91 at SIU-Edwardsville. Our D was awful. We let them shoot 57.4%. Olen fouled out and Pell had 4 so fouls were an issue, too. Pell played well while he was in there, 15 and 9. Brew led us with 15. I'm not starting him (or Runn) but they're both in during key situations, including at the end of the game if it's close. 16 TOs.

Home vs. NJIT next.

12/13: 73-62. This one was close for 30 minutes, with 11 lead changes and 5 ties. At that point we went on an 11-2 run and never looked back. 23 for Brad Runn, 17 and 7 for Walt Pell. We played good D, avoided foul trouble and had 14 TOs (+7). Runn and Brew are not starting but they are getting starter's minutes.

We're 6-3, with 4 more pre-conference games, all on the road, and I need to say that I TOLD you I was a good coach. I am very pleased with our success so far. No one expected this. I feel like I know when and how to make adjustments and substitutions and I feel that all of that is paying off. I may need to eat my words before the season is over, but so far so good.

By the same token I am frustrated as hell regarding recruiting. One guy and only one is showing interest, and he won't commit. We're doing all we can. I had hoped our winning record would help and it may during Spring recruiting, but not so far. If we can't recruit I'll need to leave here as soon as I get a decent offer somewhere else. I'd like to stay three years, to show gratitude to UMass-Lowell for giving me my chance, but I won't do that if I can't get any players. And yes, I'm ambitious. I intend to end up at a top notch school.

[Wayne23]

12/16: 76-80 at Howard. They're a pretty good team but we gave them a battle. They just had a little more at the end. 6 guys had between 9 and 13 points.

12/20: 84-77 at Perverterian. Walt Pell had a double double, 20 and 10. Brew and Runn had 17 each. Jay Olen, our PG, had 7 assists. Only 11 TOs, and +12 RBs. We are now assured of a winning record in the pre-conf. season. I'll take it!

12/23: 69-63 at Grambling. 17 for Bri Brew. 9 TOs, 39 RBs. My guys are playing as a unit and playing with confidence. It will get a little tougher when we go to conference play. We're playing the weakest teams I could schedule right now.

12/27: 73-83 at South Carolina ST. 15 and 9 for Pell, but 22 TOs.

We end pre-conf. Play at 8-5, which is GREAT! Especially considering that all but 2 were on the road. Now half the games will be at home.

To date, +3.7 PPG, +3.0 RB, +1.7 Assists, interestingly enough -1 TO, - is good in this category. We're tossing it away 14.8 times per game which is awful but forcing 15.8. RPI is 165 which is fair considering the quality of our opponents.

On to conference play in the America East Conference (AEC)!

I haven't shared any personal stuff. I turned 27 on May 1, so I'm a really young head coach, one of the youngest. I live alone. Living quarters for a single are pretty sparse. I have a 12x10 room with a bed, a desk and chair, and a recliner. A small chest of drawers and a small closet. Now, we don't need any outdoor clothing so that helps, and we wear uniforms at work, and if we don't have time to change, after work. I do have my own clothes, in limited supply, and a few sweatshirts and sweaters, and of course underwear and socks. We all have computers on our desks, and they're all networked. We have a hub wide internet. We also have the capability to watch videos on the screen but all of those were made more than 100 years ago on Earth, a place none of us have ever seen. Our artistic people do make entertainment videos, but not all that many. Sports are available on the screen as well. But most of our entertainment takes place in the holos. People living in pairs have more living space, but not a lot, and families have two or three adjoining units. No one can have more than two kids; if the kids are of opposite sexes, they get two additional units, otherwise it's one.
I've told you about my interests, coaching, history, and bridge. I date (We don't really date as such, but you know), but I haven't met anyone I wanted to live with or marry, and I don't have a steady girlfriend. Oh, yes, I'm straight. Most of us are, but there is no bigotry on that front or any other. We could never afford that, it's too divisive.

People here are very accepting. Some people live in three way relationships. I don't know of any four ways but it could be.

I have a few close friends and I'll tell you about them later.

Work and coaching take up the bulk of my time. I read and view history when I can. Again, I have an eidetic memory so if I read or view it I remember it- all of it. That's mostly positive.

[jksander]

Great start, especially that high-pace win over the Fairly Dickheads! Whoot! Any time you can score a hundo you're on the right path

[Wayne23]

1/3/2178: Happy new year! 86-55 over a dismal (1-13) New Hampshire team at our place. 21 for Brew, 17 for Runn, 10 and 8 for Stae, and our first real blowout. 12 TO.

They won't all be this easy.

1/10: 73-79 at Maryland-Baltimore County. Worst loss of the season. Why? They're 2-14. This was the first time I really socked it to my team. They came in cocky and played listless ball all night. They played like they didn't think they could lose. And I let them have it. We let them shoot 56.9%. Runn played well, 22 and 7, and Stae had 17 and 6 but nobody else did much. This one left a crappy taste in my mouth.

1/13: 84-64 over Hartford at our place. We led all the way and by as many as 22. 23 and 10 for Pell. When he stays out of foul trouble he is our best player. Too bad he's a senior. I haven't mentioned our #8 player, forward Chad Mill, but he consistently gives us good minutes. We were +16 RB tonight.

The kids expected praise afterward. They got a little of that but more of a challenge to play this way on the road. I'm going to use that loss against MD-Balt. for the rest of the season to keep them humbled and focused.

1/17: 66-92 at Maine. OUCH! They were way better than us tonight. I didn't get on my guys very much. There's no point when the other guys are just better. Maybe we'll get them at our place. We'll see.

1/20: 85-67 over Binghamton, here. They're not a very good team. We never trailed. 18, 11 for Pell, 18 for Runn. 47 RB, a season high.

Brew is really the only guard who has been consistently good. And he's only a soph!

1/24: 85-61 over a decent Stony Brook team, there. 26 for Pell, 15 each for Runn and Brew. +9 RB, +4 TO. This was a walk in the park. Unusual for a road game against a decent team.

Next up is undefeated in conf. play Albany, at our place. This will tell us a lot.

1/27: 79-80. Hell of a game! On the down side we blew a 20 point lead and that does NOT make me happy. On the up side we hung in all the way, even when it was slipping away from us, and even though they were the better team. 18 and 8 for Runn, 10 and 10 for Pell. Tough loss but it told me we can play with the best team in the conf.

1/31: 59-58 at Vermont. Two nail biters in a row. It was nice to win this one. Bri Brew hit an 18 footer with a hand in his face at the buzzer. Balanced scoring on both teams; nobody had more than 11 points on either side. Stats were as even as you would expect them to be.

At the halfway point in the conference season the River Hawks are 13-8, 5-3, in a 3 way tie for 2nd. Nobody is catching Albany, who are still undefeated, so it's a race for 2nd place.

I have to say that I am thoroughly enjoying coaching. It's incredibly intense, complex, challenging, and fun. LOVE it!

We had a potentially very dangerous situation on the Fermi yesterday. The engines went critical. Alarms started going off throughout the ship, and people were told to abandon ship. Our engines are nuclear powered. That's the only power source that could possibly power a ship for as long as our ships need to be powered. That's great but when something happens it's not so great.

Anyway, I'm on the crisis response team so while everyone else was getting off the ship to safety I was rushing right to the most dangerous place on the ship. Not that I could do anything. I don't know anything about the engines or how they operate, but crisis response isn't about that.

To make a long story short our brilliant engine repair team managed to solve the problem. Don't ask me how. They said afterward that the engines were absolutely in danger of going critical and it was a near thing, but the problem was solved, the engines are back online, and everyone is back on board.

[Wayne23]

2/3: 83-75 at New Hampshire. This went back and forth until the last 5 minutes. We finally got our stuff together at that point. The problems were fouls and TOs. 18 TOs, Olen fouled out, and Brew had 4. We wound up needing to go way deeper into the bench than we want to and those were the guys turning it over. But our front court muscled out the win.

2/10: 81-55 over MD-Baltimore County here. Payback! In truth they are a terrible team (3 wins all season) and we should never have lost to them, but the guys were very happy to pound them. 22 for Brew. +13 RB, 12 TO (+6). And we're alone in 2nd place!

We're working on recruiting, working hard. At this point the recruits we're after have realized that their #1 school doesn't want them, and maybe other schools they want don't want them. We're pointing to our record and telling them to jump on a winning team. No luck yet but at least a few guys are listening.

2/14: 68-72 at Hartford. This figured to be a tough game. 15, 9 for Pell, 14, 8 for Stae, but Brew, again, was the only guard who did anything. We knew the back court was our concern this season and it certainly has been. Without Bri Brew we'd be a cellar dweller.

Still alone in 2nd but Hartford, Stony Brook, and Maine are all right behind us.

Very important home game vs. Maine next.

2/17: 84-70. Big win! Pell, 18, 8, and Stae, 17, 7 came up big for us. 5 TO (+12), by far our best of the season. Only Stony Brook is one game back and we play them here later.

2/21: 65-73 at Binghamton. Damn! They're not a very good team but we were off our game tonight and both Olen and Brew had major foul issues. Given our problems at guard we couldn't overcome that. I got my first Technical tonight. Felt kind of good. Not much else did.

The good news is that Stony Brook lost, too. They're at our place next.

2/24: 80-66. 23 and 8 for Pell, 16 for Brew. Only 10 TO (+8).

Hartford is one back of us.

We have Albany on the road next. No one has beaten them in conference all season so that looks like a tough one. Then it's 9-18 Vermont here, and that will end the regular season.

The issues with the oat crop continue. We're producing oats but not in the quantities we need. Our agronomists are really struggling to solve the problem of small yields. We're substituting, and fortunately the rice yields have been great, but we really need the oats for lots of reasons; again, we grow no wheat.

2/28: 78-88. 13 lead changes, 4 ties. Olen fouled out yet again, which left us thin at guard, and at the end that was a big factor. Their starting guards scored 44, ours scored 11.

Hartford lost. In sole possession of 2nd place with one to play, and it's at home.

3/3: 96-82 and we finish 2nd in the AEC. Pretty damn good for our first season and with not much in the back court! We led by as many as 22 in the first half and never trailed. My guys wanted this one. 22, 12 for Pell, 14 for Runn.

GREAT regular season. Now let's see if we can do something in the post season. Oh, our record is 18-11, 10-6 in conf. We have a shot at a 20 win season.

[PointGuard]

Now THAT was an "out of this world" season!

[Wayne23]

We play 7th place Binghamton, 11-18, in the quarter finals of the conf. Tournament. We won by 18 here, lost by 8 there. The tourney is on Albany's court.

3/6: 58-55. Whew! It was close all the way. We hit a three, by Tim Cobb, with 11 seconds left, our only three of the game (1-17), to give us a 6 point lead. They came down and hit a three, but there was less than a second left and that was that. -10 RB, but +9 TO. Balanced scoring. We survived this one.

On to the semifinal vs. #3 seed Hartford, 16-14, 9-7. We won by 20 at home, lost by 4 there. A win here would give us a 20 win season and get us to the title game, no doubt against Albany.

3/7: 90-77. Big win! It was close for a long time. Finally, with about 8 minutes to play we went on a 7-2 run to open up a 9 point lead, and we stretched it out from there. 20 for Brew, 17 with 10 assists for olen in one of his best games of the season, 16 and 10 for Pell, 12 and 11 for Stae. +15 RB.

As expected it is 25-6, 15-1 Albany, ranked #25, for the title. They beat us by 1 at our place and 10 there. We'll need to be at our very best to have a chance in this one.

3/8: 86-69 and the title. We're going to the NCAA tournament! We had ourselves a game. We led by 13 at the half and then stretched it to 22 before they started to close the gap. They never got it to single digits in the 2nd half. 21 for Walt Pell, and 9 players scored 4 or more. +4 RB, +3 TO. We shot 54.5%, and hit 8 of 16 threes. This may have been our best effort of the season.

3/11: As we wait for the "Selection Show" I've been giving things a lot of thought. If we can snag 2 or 3 recruits I'll definitely stay here. But we haven't gotten a single recruit yet. If we don't get at least two, if I get a decent offer I'll leave. Our entire starting front court is graduating, for one thing. I hope I'll be able to stay though.

3/12: #13 West. We play #4 Western Kentucky, 27-6. On paper we have a chance but not a great one. We're a 3.5 point underdog.

3/17: 51-60. They exploded out of the gate and built an early 19 point lead. We played really well from that point on but never got closer than 6 points. They had great guards and forced us into 27 TO and we just couldn't overcome that. Oh well, great season! Now to see what comes next.

3/29: Maine made the final four of the WOL.

Still no recruits signed.

4/3: #9 ranked UConn is the national champ.

4/4: Awards: Walt Pell is AEC POY and first team. Al Stae and Brad Runn make the second team.

4/9: I am being flooded with offers, some of them more than a little interesting.

4/10: After some really deep and troubled thought I'm staying here at UMass Lowell. I think we're really close with some recruits and I'm gambling.

4/16: We land three recruits: #198, PF Cal Mann, #201, C Nick Maze, and #531, PG Kent Minz. We're still in the hunt for one guy.

4/23: We don't land the other guard we were hoping for. But all of my guards are coming back so hopefully they'll be better next year.

I ask for a facilities upgrade. Our facilities are terrible.

We didn't get the facilities upgrade but we DID get Jay Camm, SG #145. He's our best looking recruit so that's great news!

What a terrific first season. I couldn't be happier. 21-12, AEC tourney champs.

Let's see what next year brings!

[Wayne23]

5/1: 76th best recruiting class after all the trouble we had. Persistence pays!

We buy the Atlantic East Scouting Basic report again.

Very early indications are that this team will be better outside, not as good inside. We'll adjust our game accordingly if that turns out to be the case.

I cut a soph. There was no way he was ever going to help us.

6/5: So we have room for a transfer if we can land one.

6/12: We get a transfer, a soph PG from New Hampshire. I think he'll help us.

6/26: Time to begin recruiting. Hopefully it will go better than last year. We have 3 slots to fill.

8/21: We offer to a C from France, a PG from Sweden, and an SG from in state. The in state guy is showing a lot of interest and the other two are showing a little interest.

Some reasons why I didn't move... First, as I've said, I'd like to spend three years here at UMass-Lowell. They gave me my shot and that just seems like gratitude. If I got a great offer I might take it after this year, but probably not, if we're doing well and if I've been able to recruit. I had feelers from two good schools last spring and decided not to pursue them.

Another reason not to move is that it gets complicated. Most likely I'd need to leave the Fermi and move to another ship. Except for upper management we're required to live on the ship we work on, so that means I'd need to find someone willing to trade ships, take a lower echelon position in my field, or something else less than terrific like work in a different field. None of that is appealing. I'd also need to leave my friends. Sure, I could come to the Fermi to see them or they could come to my new ship, but that's complex and it's a hassle. I will move, most likely more than once as I advance in the coaching ranks, but it will be under the right circumstances.

9/18: Going with a weak non-conference schedule again. I'd like to schedule one good team with one of those famous historical coaches. We'd get beat up but it might be worth it to pick his brain. Maybe next year.

Our conf. went to a 14 game schedule so 15 non-conf.games, only 4 of them at home.

9/25: We get a commitment, #167, PG Tron Blom from Sweden.

10/2: We get our second commitment, SG Mike Will, #1204. We think he's better than that. Now we need a big. The guy we're after has completely backed off so we're going to widen the search.

The one thing about chasing foreign players is that it sure eats up the budget quickly.

First day of practice. I see four guards who will be fighting for minutes. Not sure how good they'll be yet. Up front we probably won't be as strong as last season but I think we'll be okay. Time will tell.

10/9: A PF from Italy has us at #5 on his list.

10/30: Damn! We lost the recruit. Chasing a guy from Australia and courting one from Greece.

11/12: Time to get ready for the start of the season. My lineup is in place but I'm betting there will be adjustments as we move along.