Solitary Man

[Wayne23]

#8 seed Marshall, 15-14, 7-9, upset #1 seed South Florida, so we meet them in the semis. We didn't play them in the regular season.

Bench Coach Tim Sales: We need to turn them over often to win this one, and we need to beat their press and find the open man. They play mostly man to man so we need to set and use good picks.

3/8: 61-47. The win ensures that we will move up to Conf. I, and it puts us in the title game. We didn't do a lot of what we wanted on O but we absolutely shut them down. We led by 20 at the half and they never got it to single digits in the 2nd half. Gar Spen led us with 21 and 6.

Arlo Vank twisted an ankle early and only played 13 minutes. The X Rays were negatove and he says it already feels better so we think he'll be fine for the title game.

[Wayne23]

We play #3 seed Hawaii, 21-8, 11-5, for the title. They beat us by 18 there so we're not taking them lightly. On paper it's a toss up, we're favored by 1/2 point.

Tim Sales: Our guards need to get open on the wings and sides and hit their shots; that's how to beat the 1-3-1, that and get it inside.

They don't have a big scorer so we need to defend everybody.

3/9: 65-78. They did what they needed to do and we didn't. 20 TOs, poor rebounding, WAY too many fouls- Spen fouled out, Wilk and Hill had 4 each. That made it hard for us to defend, and they shot 58.1%. 21 each for Wilk and Hill but very little inside. A disappointing game.

Will we go to the NIT?

[Wayne23]

3/12: NIT #5 Midwest. We play #4 New Mexico, 20-12.

Tim Allen: They play a good man to man and score more from outside than inside. We'll need to play a good game to have a shot at winning this one.

3/13: 63-76. Down 17 at the half. They were by far the better team.

Last game for Hill, Vank, and Lutz.

3/20: Met with the lawyer from Born Free again. She says they're working on getting a judicial review but it will take some time. At the end of the meeting she said she had all the info she needed and wouldn't come back until the hearing was scheduled.

4/3: #2 Michigan ST wins the title.

4/4: Awards: Senior Cris Hill is Conf. J POY and 1st team along with Senior Arlo Vank.

4/9: Not going anywhere.

4/23: I ask for money. We get $10,000. We do NOT get that last recruit we were chasing.

21-10, 10-6, final round of the Conf. J tourney. NIT. Not bad for our first season but we need to do a lot better. Overall, 117-42, .736 for 5 seasons.

[Wayne23]

5/1: Recruiting class #78.

6/5: 2 spots for transfers.

6/16: Close with a couple but no luck.

6/26: 7 scholarships to fill. Ugh!

I'm kind of in a holding pattern. I'm working hard on my law courses, playing the game, reading, going to work, exercising, but nothing's new. I know I'll need to be patient regarding the judicial review but that's not easy.

8/21: We offer to 2 PGs, an SG, 4 PFs. I'd be delighted to get 4 of them. We'll see.

[Wayne23]

9/18: We get one, but it's our #1, local Massachusetts boy, Alex Collins, a PG rated as the #34 recruit in the country. He was a long shot but it turns out staying close to home was a must so he's ours!

9/25: Got 3, lost 2. Lost a PG. Got an SG, #153, and 2 PFs, #104, 222.

Steve Brown, Recruiting Coach: Great haul! I never expected to get all 7 recruits that I wanted but getting 4 from my original list is great!

Now we're after one from the original list and 2 we added later.

10/2: We get a PF, #119 (He was in the 300s last month). Lose 2.

Tim Sales, Bench Coach: 1st day of practice. It's early but I think this team is going to be good. We're a little thin up front and will go with three guards often, maybe most of the time.

Jax Blake, Head Coach: My attorney said we can expect a court date after the first of the year. Great news!

[Wayne23]

10/9: Got an SG, #196. Lost 2 others. We have 3 guards and 3 forwards. We may bank the 7th.

11/6: Tim Sales, Bench Coach: Here's the lineup. The only real possibility for change is at SF unless we get a real surprise.

Junior Kev Wilk is back at PG.

Junior Greg Wolf, a transfer from Wright ST, is at SG.

Soph Dave Howe, a transfer from Campbell, is at SF. We feel like he can make the jump to this level but Senior Cory Kest, a natural PG, is ready to step into the spot. He will get about equal minutes with Howe, since he is also backing up at both guard spots.

Senior Gar Spen is back at PF, backing up at C.

Frosh Dave Wood is at C. We have high hopes for this rookie!

Senior Cory Ward will back up inside.

#8 on the depth chart is Senior guard Art King. After that it's a real problem. We need to stay healthy, especially inside.

Jax Blake: I'm really prepping for my law exams. This will complete my studies and get me the degree, I take the exams in mid-December.

11/13: The season starts tomorrow. We're picked 5th in Conf. I, but we hope to make the top 4 at the very least. We'll see.

[Wayne23]

11/14: 66-46 over Central FL here to start the season. 33-19 at the half. 15, 5 for PF Gar Spen, 14, 2, 4 for PG Kev Wilk, 12 for SF Dave Howe. -8 RBs but only 10 TOs (They had 25!).

Still studying hard for the law exams. I'm really stressed. They're tough tests.

[Wayne23]

11/17: 82-60 at Jacksonville ST. We never trailed but we were up by only 3 at the half. 24, 8, 4 for frosh Dave Wood in only his 2nd game. Great sign! 17, 9 for Spen, 16, 7 for 6th man Cory Kest. +16 RBs, 7 TOs.

11/20: One of our recruits, a PF, didn't sign. That means he'll fail to hit our SAT score. Interestingly enough his GPA is 2.7, which seemed pretty safe. The other 5 did sign.

No idea what it's about but almost no one reported for work or for breakfast this morning. It has to be some kind of a strike. Naturally, I was not informed by the other inmates since I'm "management."

No one showed up for lunch either. Inmates are all refusing to leave their cells. I'm not sure what the issues are. For a maximum security prison the conditions in here are really pretty decent. And the food has been getting better since I've been in this job. I guess at some point they'll deliver their demands.

[Wayne23]

11/21: 69-55 over San Jose ST here. We led by 13 at the half. Wood had another big game, 22 and 8. 12 and 12 for Spen, 11, 6 for SG Greg Wolf. +12 RBs.

Gar Spen hurt his knee. He'll play in our next game but I'm not sure how much.

Can't wait for the exams to get here. I'm sick of spending every spare minute studying.

We've stopped preparing meals as the hunger strike is in its second day. They can't hold out for too long. Seems like they need to let the Warden know what this is about.

11/22: The demands were presented to the Warden by a committee of three prisoners. They wanted to send a dozen into his office but he limited them to three.

So they want four things:

1. Shorter work hours. Most prisoners work ten hour days, six days a week. They want 5 eight hour days.

2. More and better recreation opportunities and equipment. Weight lifting equipment is out, and they know that, but they want basketball, volleyball, and a few other sports to be available, and they want table games in the rec hall- chess, cards, scrabble... I'm impressed with that one. I didn't see this as an intellectual crowd.

3. More and better opportunities for education and training in a trade. They say the only hope they have of making it on the outside is if they have an education or a trade. Again, I'm impressed with the clear thinking.

4. Snacks, at afternoon break and in the evening. They say the food is okay but there isn't enough of it.

The Warden said he would be happy to negotiate all of this when the inmates go back to work and go back to eating. He said he would set a meeting
with the three representatives at supper time tomorrow if that has happened by then.

[Wayne23]

11/24: 76-54 over Florida Atlantic here. Dave Wood is growing by leaps and bounds, 30, 19, 4 tonight! 12, 5 for Spen, whose injury didn't bother him much. +16 RBs, 7 TOs.

Negotiations are ongoing between the inmates and the Warden. He said that he couldn't change the work schedule. That's determined by the prison Board of Governors, but he promised to bring it up at next week's meeting. He agreed with #2 and #3, more and better rec equipment, and more and better opportunities for education and job training. Again, the Board makes those decisions but he will advocate for positive change. He agreed to evening snacks but not mid-afternoon snacks.

The prisoners said they would trust him to keep his word and speak for them before the Board and asked that their representatives be allowed to speak at the meeting.

The Warden said the agenda was set. He would ask, but it was more likely to happen at the following month's meeting.

Things have returned to normal... for now.