Solitary Man

[Wayne23]

3/6: We play #8 seed Seattle, 13-15, 9-7, in the quarters. We won by 17 there.

3/7: 89-79. We never trailed and led by 14 at the half and by as many as 23. 33, 12, 3 for Folke, 14, 3 for Matt. 9 TOs.

Loy Fole: I'm determined that we're going to win this tournament and I'll do whatever I need to do to make that happen.

Coach Blake: I was not particularly happy with our D but the way we were scoring points, it didn't matter a lot. It could in later games though.

Jab Moore: We play #4 seed North Dakota, 15-13, 10-6 in the semis. They crushed us by 15 at their place. If we want to win we need to stop their outside game and contain their long bench. We should beat them despite that earlier game.

[Wayne23]

3/8: 98-76. We wanted to show them that the night they beat us was a fluke. I guess we managed to do that! 54 first half points and we were never challenged. PG Troy Grin had a career high 28, with 4 assists, and only 2 TOs. 21, 11, 3 for Fole, 13, 6, 4 for Matt. 10 TOs.

Troy Grin: I had 28! Amazing! It's great to do that in a big game!

Jab Moore: #3 seed Prairie View, 16-13, 10-6, for the title. They beat us by 6 at their place. Their strength is definitely outside so I am recommending we play man to man and 3-2 zone on D.

[Wayne23]

3/9: 74-66 and the title! Heading to our first NCAA tournament! We led by only 1 at the half, and it stayed back and forth until the 35 minute mark when we hit back to back threes followed by a steal by Adam and a slam dunk by Fole. 21, 8 for tourney MOP Loy Fole, 13, 5 for Matt, 7, 11 for Perl. 10 TOs.

Our ball handling had a lot to do with us winning this tournament.

Loy Fole: It's great to get the MOP trophy. Something to tell my grandchildren.

Coach Blake: I'm back in the infirmary and actually feeling mostly pretty good. I have the occasional attack of cramps and such, but the full body aches are way less than they were and the constant nausea has disappeared. I'm eating light solid foods, which helps. They say I might go back to my cell in a few days.

3/11: A total riot broke out at Walpole today. The Christians and the Muslims seemed to attack each other out of nowhere. I'm getting all of this second hand but it seems that somehow nearly everyone was in the cafeteria. Without any warning everyone rushed at each other and all hell broke loose. The guards called for backup from every guard in the prison and called the state police for more backup but they were so vastly outnumbered that it was quite some time before they stood any chance of doing anything. Most of the guards got the hell out of the cafeteria but a few foolish ones stayed. They were taken hostage, 5 by the Christians and 3 by the Muslims.

That's all I know. The prison has not been secured by the authorities but the violence has stopped as far as I know. The National Guard was called out and everyone is waiting for them to show up.

[Wayne23]

3/19: 59-91. Ouch! We were totally over matched, never had a chance. 12, 11, 4 for Fole.

Last game for Grin, Perl, Matt, and Crow, so lots of talent to find. Still chasing recruits.

4/3: We lost to the National Champs. Ok ST went all the way.

4/4: Awards: Loy Fole is a 1st team All American. In Conf. U, Fole is POY and 1st team along with Dar Matt. I get COY.

Will I move? It would take a really good offer.

4/9: North Texas in Cinf. K wants us. No. I'm not ready for that big a leap and I want at least one more year here, maybe more.

4/16: We get a decent looking PF. Chasing two international players but it's a very long shot.

Things are very calm here at Walpole. They seem to have gotten all of the ring leaders out of here and sent them to several different prisons elsewhere so they couldn't start up again.

I'm back working in the kitchen and my health has returned to normal except that I still tire easily.

4/23: I'm keeping my staff and asking for another facilities upgrade. I'll be shocked if I get it though.

No.

28-4, Conf. champs, ranked as high as #8, 2nd round of the NCAA. Overall I'm 50-16, .758.

[Wayne23]

5/1: In Conference T. #199 recruiting class. Nah. Our guys will be better than that.

6/5: Looking at transfers.

6/16: No luck.

6/26: 5 scholarships to fill. That's going to be tough.

Life continues to run smoothly here at Walpole. I spend a lot of time studying for the law degree. I've decided that I should focus on the degree before I focus on the specifics of my case but if anything related to my case comes up in my studies I'll definitely use it.

The whole "feel" of the prison has changed. It's calm in here and it feels like people just want to do what they need to do and avoid trouble. That's more than fine with me!

[Wayne23]

8/7: Loy Fole is #2 on the Norton list.

We have some recruits showing interest.

8/21: We offer to 2 PGs, 3 PFs.

Marty Buck: As the recruiting assistant I spend my life either on the phone, travelling to meet with a recruit, or talking with Coach Blake about the recruits we're chasing or new guys to chase. It's pretty interesting, all in all, but I want to move up to a #1 assistant position, and eventually to a head coach position.

Coach Blake: I have to say that I never thought prison routine would seem so good. It isn't, of course. It's prison. But given everything we went through with the gangs, at least for now it's comforting just to go to my job, go to the gym or out to the yard, and go to my cell and read, study, or coach. Make no mistake though, I want to get that law degree and fight for my freedom. I understand that it's going to take years, but I'm in here for life. If I manage to get out after 20 or 25 years. That's a victory. No guarantee that I will but I want to make the effort, and no one is going to help me so I need to do it on my own.

[Wayne23]

9/18: We have three recruits interested and a 4th showing mild interest.

Beefed up the home schedule a little.

9/25: We lose our #1 guy but he was always a long shot. We get a PG, #136.

10/2: We get a PF, #153. Looking at more recruits. We added 6 to the list- 6 that we're serious about.

1st day of practice. We expect another good season. Fole is back, along with Reg Adam. New starters and subs in the other spots. We're not deep though, especially at guard.

10/9: Lost a recruit.

10/16: Lost another recruit.

10/23: We get a PG but he's a long shot to hit our SAT score. We'll see.

11/13: Bench Coach Marty Carr: Here's the lineup:

PG is Frosh Ivan Jens. He looked really good in practice and we have high hopes and expectations.

SG Senior Reg Adama. Reg is a known quantity. He's not a great scorer but he's a terrific ball handler and a good defender.

#3 guard is Junior Mark Rily, and #4 is Senior Kris Mari. #5 is Stan Sams. None of these three is any threat to start. An injury to a starting guard would cripple us.

SF is Juco Junior Clif Engo. Looks like he'll be our best defender and a good rebounder.

PF is returning 1st team All American Loy Fole. What can I say?

C is Senior Ray Peke. Ray was caught behind some really good players last year. This is his time to shine. Good defender and rebounder.

Back up F/C is Junior Ron Jete. If he could score he'd be a real threat but he is probably the worst scorer on the team. Finally there's Frosh F/C Brad Hook who really isn't ready.

Coach Blake: I was offered the position of head inmate in the kitchen for the 6:00-3:00 shift. That's very cool. They only offer this kind of thing to a trusted inmate- a VERY trusted inmate. I'll get to meal plan breakfast and lunch and decide on who does which jobs on which day, and I'll meet with the civilian head of the kitchen to order food and other supplies. It's administrative, with a fair amount of paper work. I won't be actually working in the kitchen any more, but supervising. I said yes immediately.

[Wayne23]

11/14: The season starts tomorrow. We will play some decent teams at home in the pre-conf. season, and we moved up to Conf. T so we'll probably lose a few this season. That's fine. We're picked to win Conf. T and that's the goal!

11/15: 86-56 over Bradley here. 26, 8 for Fole, so he hasn't lost his touch. 11, 5, 4 for PG Ivan Jens, 14, 5 for sub F/C Ron Jete, 10, 4, 5 for #3 guard Mark Rily. 9 TOs.

C Ray Peke hurt his hand. He'll miss a game. Jete will take the spot.

First day on the new job. I had to get there at 5:30. My new hours are 5:30-3:30. It's a long day, but I really liked the first day. The civilian boss treated me as an equal. We knew each other, of course, since I've been in the kitchen since I got here, but it was still nice to be treated well.

[Wayne23]

11/18: 83-79 in OT at Norfolk ST. Close game all the way. We came back from down 10 with 8:08 to play and tied it at the buzzer on a three by Clif Engo; we wanted to get it to Fole but they doubled him. We took control in the OT and led by 9 at one point. 24, 13 for Fole, 20, 10 for Jete, starting for Peke. 9 TOs.

Norfolk ST is not a very good team so this may not bode well for us.

Peke is back but I'm going to split time equally between he and Jete. Jete earned that tonight.

11/20: Very bad news. Only one recruit of the three who committed signs. That means the other two won;t hit our SAT score. I expected one, but never gave the other one a thought.

[Wayne23]

11/22: 72-63 at Bryant. We led by as many as 21. 25, 6 for Fole, 10, 8 for Jete, who is threatening to steal the starting spot from Peke, who had 9 and 5.

Lots of contributions from lots of players.

Let's talk about my friends and family on the outside. None. Zero. Nada. My parents are both dead. I'm an only child. If I have cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, I don't know any of them.

As to friends, I never had many and they all disappeared when the news hit that I had killed Belle and Mike. So I have no one on the outside. I write to no one. I get visits from no one. The attorney who handled my case? Again, he was incompetent and he let me go down for something I never should have gone down for. Any decent attorney would have got me a way shorter sentence on way lesser charges.

I've tried contacting ACLU and other groups that help people who have been treated unjustly. Again, nada.

So I'm on my own; I'd have to say that I'm about as solitary a man as I can be. It's up to me to find a way. So I'm working like mad on the law degree and researching anything that might help my case. Yes, I go back and forth on the latter; at first I thought I'd do that later, but as I study I find that I'm seeing info that seems to be helpful so I am keeping files of related information.