Hereafter

[Wayne23]

12/13: They're hanging with us. Up 7 after 10. Up 7 at halftime. We go on a run! Up 19 with 10 left. Bond is having a night.

89-65. D was good yet again. 22, 11 for Bond, 22, 3, 3 for Carr, 15, 3, 6, 4 steals for Shay.

8 TOs to 20. +21 from the line. We were -12 in the paint; unusual!

Coach says he thinks this can be a very special team-

“But I want to see what happens on a down night. We haven't had one yet. And there's always injuries.”

He's right about no down nights. Closest margin is 15.

6-4 Georgetown is in next. Coach says this is one we should win easily.

Coach here. We're in empty space right now and it is just that. No solar system even remotely in sight and it will be some time.

[Wayne23]

12/15: We take the lead but they come right back. Down 2 after 10. Up 1 at the half; we're not hitting shots. Up 6 with 10 to play but we're flat.

76-66 but it was closer than that. We scored the last 8 points.

20, 7, 2, 3 steals for Shay. 13, 4, 5 for Carr, , 12, 5 for Bond.

Good D but the O wasn't there tonight, 37.5%, 30% on threes. +15 from the line saved us. -6 RBs, but 8 TOs vs. 18. +8 on fast breaks; we're not usually a fast break team but it was there.

Closest game of the season, but still a double digit win.

5-3 Illinois is here. Coach says there a good team, especially when the threes are falling.

I'm with Ron Udel.

“HI Ron. You're a junior college transfer from Montana. How in the world did UCLA find you?”

Udel: (laughs) Good question. I was doing well there but I was really surprised when Coach Hale talked to me after a game one night and even more surprised when I saw that they were serious about recruiting me. It was really cool.

“I'm sure it was. How come you went to a junior college?”

Udel: Grades, mostly, but I didn't think my game was ready for the big time either.

“So you got your grades up and developed your grades.”

Udel: The assistant who worked with big guys here was amazing. He taught me all kinds of things I didn't even know existed. And my grades were good. I was never a bad student but I was afraid going from a high school with 83 people in the senior class to a Div. I school would be too big of a jump.

“Now you're clearly ready, as both a student and a player.”

Udel: Yeah, being two years older helps too, I'm more mature and more confident.

“So what's the best part of your game?”

Udel: It might be my defensive rebounding. I'm only getting 6.6 a game but still. I'm a good defender, too, but yeah, rebounding.

“What do you need to work on?”

Udel: My ball handling isn't good enough.

“Are you happy here?”

Udel: Big time! I'm loving it here!

“Great news! Best of luck, Ron!”

[Wayne23]

12/19: JW: Up 11 after 10. We take off. Up 24 at the half; we're doing most of it inside. Up 32 with 10 left.

76-51. Very good D. 22, 11 for Fox, 16, 7 for Carr, 11, 13, 3 for Udel.

+22 RBs, 7 TOs. Held them to 25% shooting, 3-21 on threes. +28 in the paint.

“Coach, who's going to beat you?”

“A good team having a good night when we're off could beat us. Injuries could beat us.”

The last pre-conf. game is with #10, Gonzaga, 10-4. They have an excellent PG and a very good outside game, and they do a lot of things well, but they're 2-3 vs. ranked teams.

[Wayne23]

12/26: JW: Up 16 after 10; slow start then we heated up. 57-30 at the half; we've completely taken over. Carr is on fire! Up 30 with 10 to play.

99-71. D wasn't excellent but the O sure was!

38, 5, 4, 3 steals for Carr. 17, 13 for Udel, 14, 3, 9 for Shay, 14, 4, 4 for Bond.

+11 RBs, 8 TOs. We shot 57.7%, hit 10 threes, 9 by Carr.

1/1/2035: We're #1, NET #1, 14-0.

+20.7 PPG, +5.1 RBs, -8.6 RBs (9.1 per game, #1). #3 NET Rating.

Carr leads us with 21.4 PPG. Shay gets 15.1. Udel gets 7.5 RBs, Bond gets 6.9. Shay leads with 5.6 assists. West VA, Texas Tech, VA Commonwealth are all undefeated.

First in the PAC 12 is 5-6 Arizona ST, here. They're not having a great season and they don't score many points. They turn it over. Coach says this one should be a win.

I'm here with soph starting SF Noel Bond.

“HI Noel. Having fun?”

Bond: Well, we're 14-0, every win by 10 or more so, yeah!

“Do you worry that you get lost in all the hype surrounding Carr and Shay?”

Bond: Not really. The coaches know what I'm doing and how I'm playing, and the pro scouts see it, too.

“Pro scouts. Are you thinking of going pro?”

Bond: I mean, you have to think about it. I don't obsess about it but it's always possible.

“So, you're not happy here?”

Bond: I'm happy here. They treat me good and I get along with most of the guys okay, but again, I have to think about what's best for me.

“I get that. What's the best part of your game?”

Bond: I like to think my whole game is solid but I'd have to say my D. Guys don;t score much on me.

“What could get better?”

Bond: I mean you can always get better. I try to work on everything.

“Thanks Noel.”

[Wayne23]

1/2: JW: I just wanted to say that my Professor gave me an A for the journal for Fall semester. He says that during Spring semester I need to focus more on my comments and reactions, but continue the interviews and continue the game recaps. I can do that!

So I'll start with a prediction: We're gonna go undefeated until the post season, and maybe for the whole season!

I sat next to the A. D. again tonight. During time outs we talked a lot, mostly about the team.

This looks like it's going to be a romp early on. Up 12 after 10; 7 guys have scored already. Up Up 17 at halftime. Up 22 with 10 to go. Kinda boring, actually...

79-60. 21, 2, 4 for Carr. 9 other guys scored. +7 RBs, 7 TOs. Not much to say about this one.

At 3-9, 0-1 Washington ST. The guys at the end of the bench should see lots of time.

Coach says we're recruiting hard. No scholarships to fill but we could lose guys, maybe even a few guys to the NBA, so we need guys in the pipeline.

Coach is kind of disappointed that the PAC 12 is weak this season. Nobody else is ranked.

“We need good competition in conference. This will hurt us in the NCAAs.”

[Wayne23]

1/5: Up only 6. The guys are taking this one for granted. At every stoppage Coach is yelling at them, trying to wake them up. It finally worked, up 23 at the half. Up 31 with 10 left. Midway through the 1st Coach cleared the bench and kept the starter's out for about 3 minutes. When they got back in they were awake!

86-64. Scot Shay had 16, 5, 7, 4 steals, but 5 TOs. Fox had 15, 12, 4, Bond 16, 11, 4.

14 TOs. Coach didn't like that, he didn't like that we let them shoot 47% while we shot 36.9%, and he didn't like that they scored 64. He really let the guys have it.

“You guys are starting to believe the press. If you think you can't lose you WILL lose, and it will probably come in an important game! Keep your damned focus or I'll sit you down. If you think I'm kidding, test it. You won't be happy. Being good isn't good enough. You need to be at the top of your game or try to be, every single second you're on the court!"

Later he told me, “Never kick your team when they're down. Kick their butts after a win, never after a loss. I didn't talk a lot about missed shots; I never do. You can't make the shots fall. I DO yell about poor shot sele4ction, and not working to get open because those are things players have control over.”

Coach has been really good to me all the way through this project. I never expected him to give me as much time as he has and it's awesome.

10-4, 1-1 Oregon St is here. They're one of the better teams in conf., and they have a solid SG, but they can't hang with us.

[Wayne23]

1/9: JW: OMG! I'm sitting next to the Governor of California. She's a UCLA grad and she says she's a huge fan. This is so cool!

Up 4 after 10; they're playing well. We go on a run and break it open. Up 26 at the half. Up 18 with 10 to go.

74-49. Coach was really happy with the D. Bond had 17, 4. Fox had 10 and 9 with 4 steals, 3 blocks. Ston played really well from the bench.

11 TOs to 21. Only 15 fouls called all night; I don't ever remember that few calls.

Savo reinjured that ankle. Out for 2 weeks or so.

The Governor was yelling and cheering for the team all night long and when she wasn't she was talking to me. I really like her. If she runs again she's got my vote!

10-6, 0-3 Washington is here. They looked good in pre-conf play but there getting beat up in conf. Coach says they don't score enough to threaten us.

Ston and Carr went at it a little bit in the locker room after the game. There was some pushing and yelling but the Coaches broke it up before it got real bad. Coach talked to them separately in his office.

[Wayne23]

1/12: JW: Coach is going with a 3-2. Up 8 after 10 so the D is working. Up 7 and the half. Coach is going to mix up the D in the 2nd. Up only 5 with 10 to go.

81-64. They were in it for 33-34 minutes. Then we went on our only run but it was a good one.

18, 13, 3 for Udel, 14, 5 for Carr, 11, 5, 4, 3 steals for Fox. Ston played well.

8 TOs to 20. +18 from the line.

Coach said, “Well, it was a test for most of the game, and that's good. We don't get enough of those. We finally got that run and opened it up, but it took a long time.”

I went out to dinner with the team after the game. We don't usually do that after a 7:00 game but our reservations for our pre-game meal got screwed up somehow and all we wound up with were sandwiches so the Coaches took us out. It was fun. The team totally accepts me now.

11-5, 3-1 Oregon, #25 (2 teams ranked other than us now. The other is #22, Cal.) tied for 2nd, is here. This is a team that could well give us some trouble inside.

Coach says, “I think we'll beat them here but when we go to their place it could be a battle.”
My last player interview is with Scot Shay, the junior SG superstar playing mostly PG.

“Scot. How's it going at the Point?”

Shay: You know, it's going pretty good now. I hated it at first but now I like it, and I think it will help me in the pros to have had experience at both guard spots, and actually, some experience at SF as well.

“So does that mean you're going to enter the draft?”

Shay: I haven't decided yet. I almost went in the Spring but then decided with Carr coming in we had a real shot at a national championship[, and I'd really like to have one of those- or two...

“So maybe you'll go pro, maybe not.”

Shay: Honestly, I'm not sure. I'll talk to Coach, my parents, and other people I trust.

“Undefeated season so far. Can you run the table?”

Shay: Coach says you need to have a little luck to go with the talent. He also says the best team doesn't always win it all. While we're taking it one game at a time that's on our minds- it's on mine, at least.

“Scot, you're a world class player. Is there an area of your game that you'd like to improve?”

Shay: I'd like to improve my whole game! I work on every area of my game every chance I get. I don't shoot free throws as well as I could, and that makes me a little crazy. An open 15 footer? That should be automatic.

“But it's a pretty common problem. Hey, thanks Scot, and best of luck!”

Coach: The probe directly in front of us (WAY in front) is picking up something. It's maybe about as big as Mars, we think, but we're seeing it at an odd angle so maybe not. Not much else to tell yet.

[Wayne23]

1/16: JW: Fox is chewing up their C. Up 10 after 10. Up only 7 at the half; Fox got hurt with like 2 seconds to go in the half. Not sure how bad yet but he's done for the night. Both teams are shooting over 60%. We ramp up the D. Up 14 with 10 to go.

106-96. Matches our smallest margin of victory. 22, 10, 3 for Bond, 21, 5, 7 for Shay, 19, 3, 7 for Carr, 14, 3 for Savo, playing hurt (He was at the very bottom of my depth chart with no assigned minutes.).

+9 RBs, 7 TOs. We shot 55.7% but they shot 61.4%, which Coach was NOT happy about. He called it our worst defensive game all season, which it was.

We won it at the line, +22.

This one came at a price. Fox bruised his triceps. Out for about a week and a half, and Savo is still out. We'll go with a three guard set. Jay Winn will have to play lots of minutes and he's only averaging 9 a game. Savo will miss another 2 games and Fox probably 4 but at least 3.

Coach said what I thought he'd say, “Injuries are part of the game. It's tough when they pile up in a place where you're not all that deep, but for some reason that's how it usually works.”

12-6, 2-3 Stanford, there. They're much better outside than inside, which is a break with us having two big guys out. They turn it over a lot.

[Wayne23]

1/19: They take an early lead. We come back. Down 5 after 10. RBs are an issue with the small lineup. Up 2 at the half. A run! Up 12 with 10 to go. Another run!

85-67. Udel came up very big, 22 and 11. 18, 3, 6 for Shay, 9, 3, 9, 3 steals for Ston.

-4 RBs but 9 TOs to 21. We shot better, took more shots, and made 8 more baskets. We held our own in the paint.

8-9, 2-4 USC is here. This should be a walk in the park.

Savo surprises us and is ready. He'll start.

Coach: That thing we're seeing way ahead of us is smaller than we thought. Actually, we now think it's a rest station, probably not the same one we saw before. Still too far away to know much.