Hereafter

[Wayne23]

12/17: My guys are antsy in the locker room before the game. Don't know if that's a good sign or not, but I sense energy and I KNOW that's good. Sometimes it can be too much though. We'll see in just a few minutes.

Close early. Tied after 10. It's an intense game so far. Mini-run! Up 9 at the half. Uh oh. They're coming back. Up 7 with 10 to go. We're answering
every time they get close.

93-81. VERY big win! We were a scoring machine, 50% from the floor and from behind the line. -10 from the line, which kept it reasonably close. Maxx fouled out but the issue was decided when he did.

19, 3 for Free, 16, 0, 4 for Maxx, 13, 8, 3 for Ruck, 11, 8, 4 for Mann. +8 RBs. When we needed a stop we got one, every time. 13-0 on 2nd chances.

Their bench kept them in it. Tuck twisted an ankle. Moro did okay spelling him, but it wasn't the same.

Tuck is day to day. It's not serious and he won't miss any games. We were a little thin inside for the entire half though.

At 6-3 NC ST next. They can play. Solid inside game, especially in the middle, and a really good bench. All 5 starters can score, as can 3 subs.

Interestingly enough they don't rebound that well. And we think we can turn them over.

Not much new from the probe. Whatever is coming after them is big and fast. That's about all we know so far.

[Wayne23]

12/21: Back and forth early. Down 7 after 10. We're not making shots. Down 5 at the half; we shot .345. Down 15 with 10 to go. We're in trouble. It's getting worse.

65-83. The ball wouldn't go in, and our D wasn't there. We shot 36.7% to their 58.7%. No way to win when that happens. -10 RBs, which just doesn't happen to us. 16 TOs, which is too many. They were +14 in the paint, +9 on 2nd chances. No one scored more than 13 for us. In short, we lost in every category. Just didn't have it tonight.

Sometimes the best way to deal with this kind of thing is to ignore it, move on, and prepare for the next game. That's my plan.

Our last pre-conf. game is home, against #10 Texas Tech, 11-3. And we have 6 days to prep for it. This won't be a walk in the park! They are very good outside and have a very good C. They play solid D but don't score the way we do. They can hit threes. We think we have a good chance to control the boards, and we need to turn them over.

We fall from #8 to #12 after the loss.

[Wayne23]

12/28: Back and forth early. Up 1 after 10. We're not hitting shots and they're REALLY not hitting shots. Up 10 at the break. Mann, Ward, and Maxx are shooting better now. Up 15 with 10 left.

71-67. They managed to come back and tie it with under 2 minutes left. We almost threw this one away!

19, 5, 4, 4 steals for Ward. 12, 9 for Mann, 14, 3, 4 for Maxx, 12, 4 for Free. We didn't get much from the bench.

11 TOs. We shot only 41.2% to 46.2% but we took 16 more shots and made 4.

You never want to let somebody back in. The guys will be hearing about that for the rest of the season.

We end pre-conf. play at 10-2, ranked #15, NET #1. +10.6 PPG, +4.7 RBs, -4.7 TOs, but 12.3, which is more than I like.

Kent Maxx leads us with 15.0 PPG. Reg Free gets 14.0. Mal Mann leads us with 7.4 RBs, Free is 2nd with 6.4. Nobody turns it over more than 2.0 times per game.

Tuck is going to start at C with Free moving to SF, and Ruck will be our 6th man.

1st up in the PAC 12 is 8-5 Oregon, here. They are strong inside. They turn it over. They play good D but have trouble scoring.

The probe now says that whatever is chasing it seems to be completely natural. No sign of anything manufactured. Sure is moving fast, though. The probe has altered course to get out of its path.

[jksander]

Where do you come up with this stuff? lol love it ... gonna take a bit to catch up on all this

[Wayne23]

Frustrated writer.

[Wayne23]

76-60 but it was closer than that. 23, 3 for Maxx, 14, 3, 3 for Ruck, 12, 7 for Moro.

-11 RBs but 10 TOs to 23. We shot better and hit 7 threes; they had no threes.

Tuck hurt his shooting hand early on and didn't play much. It's not serious and he won't miss a game.

6-6, 0-1 Colorado is here. This is a team we should beat. They play solid D though.

[Wayne23]

1/7: Early lead. Up 4 after 10. We go on a big run! Up 19 at the break. Up 16 with 10 to play. They live and die by the three and the threes aren't falling for them.

103-78. Did I say they play solid D? Not tonight!

19, 3, 5 for Maxx, 18, 6, 3, 3 steals for Mann, 18, 5 for Free, 10, 5, 5 for Ruck.

8 TOs to 20. We shot an amazing 64.9%! +16 in the paint.

Tuck isn't doing all that well starting. I'll give him one, or at most 2 more games. Milt is out for 4 or 5 more.

Big challenge next. We're at #18 Arizona, 11-2, 1-1. They have a nice outside game and can hit the three. They play very good D. We'll need to be at our best for this one.

The probe is still tracking the big, fast moving object. The object did not alter its course when the probe did, which lends further credence to the belief that it is a natural phenomenon.

We are definitely on the lookout for intelligent life, now that we know it is out here, but no sign since the Envoy.

[Wayne23]

1/11: We fall behind early. Then we come back. Up 3 after 10. Up 18 at the half; Maxx, Ward, and Free are doing the damage. Up 18 with 10 to play.

95-81 We took charge early and beat up on a really good team.

26, 3 for Maxx, 22, 5 for Free, 20, 0, 6 for Ward. 10 TOs to 19.

Both teams shot really well. We were 10-20 on threes and +15 from the line. Big win!

Back to back ranked teams as #23 Utah, 12-4, 3-0, is here. We're the only 2 teams undefeated in conf. play. We definitely have an edge outside, for a change, and we think we'll hold our own inside. This is a good team, 2-1 vs. ranked opponents.

[Wayne23]

1/14: Exchanging buckets early. Up 4 after 10. Up 12 at the half after a run. They're staying close. Up only 5 with 10 to go.

92-84. A shoot out. We had just a few more guns. 20, 7 for Free, 14, 9 for Mann. 5 others had between 9 and 13. +8 RBs, 8 TOs. They shot slightly better but we took more shots. +8 at the line.

We're ranked #8, still #1 NET. USC, 5-10, 2-2, is here. This one should be a little easier than the last couple were although you never know. They have a lot of trouble scoring, and they turn it over.

Big surprise in space. Well, two surprises. First, th big, quick object exploded. The probe was very far away but it got video of the explosion. Seemed natural.

Another probe caught sight of a small object which seems like it might possibly be a spacecraft.

[Wayne23]

1/16: Up 7 after 10. up 13 at halftime; Ward and Free are doing the work. Up 25 with 10 left. We have taken control.

84-70. Not our best defensive effort. We shot 52.5% to 44.4%. 11 TOs.

22, 8 for Free, 17, 1, 6 for Ward, 16, 4 for Ruck.

#17 Arizona ST, 13-5, 2-3 there. They're really struggling in conf., 3 back of us, so this is a must win for them. Only Utah is 1 game back. They don't score easily but they don't give up points either. We think we can turn them over.

The spacecraft that the probe has spotted seems to be moving toward the probe.