Hereafter

[Wayne23]

11/18: #9 seed Southern Illinois has beaten #8, #1, then #4 to get to the title game. Impressive! On paper this should be a blowout, but they're hot.

11/19: Close early and a shoot out. Down 2 after 10. Down 48-51 at the half. We won't hold this team to 64! 14 for Wall. The problem is D, or lack of it. They're shooting 52.9%. Mini-run puts us up 7 with 10 left.

96-88. A real shoot out. We had the bigger guns and we win the tournament!

19, 3, 4 for Webb, 16, 8, 4 blocks for Craw, 18, 7 for Dunk, the tourney MOP, 16, 9 for Wall.

Dar Dunk: I really want a national title before I go pro, which may be in the Spring.

[Wayne23]

11/20: We climb to #1 in the polls! #2 Kentucky, 3-0, is here. This one could be close. They have the best C in the country, he gets 26 and 14 with 5.3 blocks, and he's a solid defender. We think we're better everywhere else, including the bench and despite their C we're better rebounders. But they know how to win.

11/21: They take a quick lead. Down 3 after 10 but we're working hard. Up 1 at the half. We are switching defenders on their C practically with every whistle and we held him to 11 but he has 11 boards; the good news is that he has 3 fouls. The fresh legs are an effort to wear him out. We're -11 in RBs, but 10 fewer
TOs to even that out. We're leading despite shooting only 26.5% to 45.8%, but we've taken 10 more shots. Down 4 with 10 to play.

69-73. Couldn't quite get there. I hate to lose at home. Dunk fouled out late, which didn't help. We took 20 more shots and lost. That is NOT good. We shot 34.8% to 53.1%. -14 RBs. Only 3 TOs to 18. The difference really was that their shots fell and ours didn't but their D deserves credit for some of that.

Jon Wall, SF: I'm really upset with myself. I played really poorly tonight. If I had played better we could have won.

Exercise is important when you live on a space ship. Artificial gravity helps but if you don't do resistance training your body gets weak quickly. I find time in the day for that no matter what else I'm doing. Just about everyone does.

[Wayne23]

11/23: #8 Syracuse, 3-0, is here. We're a big favorite. They have a very good outside game and if the threes are falling they are very tough to beat. We shoot an abysmal 21.8% on threes. We need to bounce back from the loss.

11/24: We jump out to a quick lead but they come back. Up 5 after 10; Webb is hot. 40-30 at the break. Our guards are doing it for once, 11 for Buck, 9 for Webb. -6 RBs but 8 fewer TOs and +16 in the paint. We were worried about threes but they're only 2-9. We get the lead to 20. Up 19 with 10 to play.

88-68! 20, 7, 9, 3 for Buck, close to a triple double. 17, 4 for Dunk, 10, 13 for Wall. 7 TOs, +28 in the paint.

Every once in a while I like to catch up the newcomers to this tale so here goes:

This is the after life. It seems I died at age 94 and got to design this life. I focused on three things, basketball, which is a huge part of what this story is about, living in and exploring space, which is also a huge part of the story, and playing piano, which is only a small part.

So I designed this life, lived in from about age 8 on- I'm 47 now, in my 15th season as a head coach. One national title at UCLA several years ago.

We're exploring the galaxy and we've seen a lot, encountered other advanced life forms and interacted with them, run into some dangerous, even very dangerous situations.

I'm the ship's chief statistician. My partner, Hali, is my assistant in stats and I have a daughter, June, from a prior marriage; her mom is on the ship but not part of our lives. That's the short version.

[Wayne23]

11/27: #13 Memphis, 4-0, is here. They have 3 subs hurt so their bench is short. They score a lot of points outside and have a very good C. They are #1 in the nation in RBs, and close to #1 in points allowed. They're really good. We're going to need to be at our best.

We fell to #3.

Earlier I misspoke regarding how long I've been coaching. This is my 21st season as a head coach.

11/28: Back and forth. We take a quick lead. Up 6 after 10. Up 1 at the half. Craw has 3 fouls playing their very tough C who has 12 and 7. Up 5 with 10 to play.

81-71. It was tied at 64 so we finished strong.

16, 3, 8, 13 steals for Buck. I've never seen 13 steals before! 17, 9 for Dunk10 fewer TOs, and that was the difference.

We're 6-1, 3-1 vs. top 13 teams.

People love pets. There's simply no way to have a pet on a space ship, except, of course, that there is- a holo pet that lives in a holo chamber. One of the many reasons people wanted more holo chambers was so they could spend more time with their pets. Once we get up to our goal of 57 chambers I suspect that some people will want to spend every free moment in them, in order to be with their pets.

As chief statistician I would love to do a survey on pets- how many people have one, how many have more than one, how many have dogs, cats, other pets... If I ever get free time I just might check on that.

I'm a cat person and June is, too. I don't have a pet but when we're in the holo I often spend time with June's two black cats. Hali is okay with cats but she says she's not big on animals.

Oh, we're up to 29 holo chambers and the others are in progress. We're also up to 11 dining halls, with three more opening in December. People are thrilled.

We can't get any dining hall we want any time we want it but it's easier to go to the dining hall of your choice and will become much easier over the next few months.

[Wayne23]

11/30: At 4-0 San Diego ST. They can play, but they haven't played anybody. They don't score much but only give up 50.8, which is amazing. We'll see what we can do about that! We think we can turn them over.

12/1: They're staying right with us early. Up 2 after 10. 43-38 at the half. We're not having much trouble scoring on them but our D isn't doing the job. Dunk has 3 fouls, as does his man. Too many whistles. It's helping us as we're +9 from the line, but I hate it when the zebras don't let teams play.+6 RBs and we're shooting better, but this one is far from over. We quickly take a double digit lead. Up 19 with 10 to go.

79-61. Good 2nd half D, and we absolutely destroyed them inside. 19, 5 for Wall, 17, 10 for Craw, 15, 5 for Brai, and 13, 5 for Dunk. 64 for our bigs. +12 RBs, +22 in the paint, +15 on 2nd chances.

Even though I could probably control a lot of this afterlife I play it straight. I fly with the team, sleep in the hotels when we're on the road- all of it. And I still manage to do my chief statistician job. The one thing I do manipulate is that some days take longer than a day. In other words while I'm away from home with the team, I also do the stats job. So it would really be more than a 24 hour day doing all of that.

We've been moving through space with no solar systems in sight for awhile now. Our probes aren't showing us anything so it may be some time before we have another adventure. On the other hand our experience on the ship makes it clear that things can change quickly.

[Wayne23]

12/4: Michigan ST, 4-3, is here. We beat them by 22 in the Coaches Classic semifinal. They were #10 at the time but now they're not ranked.

We're a big favorite. They only score 61.6 and give up .1 more.

12/5: Slow start for both teams. It's 19-0 after 10 minutes; hard to believe! 36-17 at the half. Is our D this good? It is so far! 14, 5 for Craw,
9, 10 for Dunk. They're shooting 11.1%, 1-12 on threes. Up 31 with 10 left.

69-46. A laugher. 22, 10 for Craw, 18, 15 for Dunk. +11 RBs, +18 in the paint. They shot 21.4%.

[Wayne23]

12/7: 5-2 UCLA is here. We're a big favorite. They have played a weak schedule. We're 8-1, NET #1.

12/8: We take an early lead. Up only 3 after 10 as they come back. 47-35 at the break. 11, 10 for Dunk, 10, 6 for Craw. Buck has 3 fouls but 2 of their guys have 3. +15 RBs, 3 TOs. Up 16 with 10 left.

84-64. 17, 15 for Dunk, 18, 6 for Craw, 14, 4, 4 for Webb, 11, 10 for Brai. +21 RBs, +20 in the paint.

The 12th, 13th, and 14th dining halls opened today. 6 more to go.

People are really happy with the variety of food choices available and it will only get better. It's still not unusual to be shut out of the dining hall you really want to go to on a given night, but that will become very unusual in just a few months. In April all 20 dining halls will be fully operational.

People are spending more time in the holos since there are now 35 open. Target date for all 57 being open is also April.

[Wayne23]

12/12: 2 pre-conf games to play and they both look very tough. We're at #9 Texas, 7-2, next. We're favored by 1 ½ but I'm sot so sure. The edge we have is that we think we can turn them over and we turn it over less than 10 times a game, but they can play. On the other hand they're 0-2 vs. ranked teams.

12/13: Close early. Up 5 in a defensive battle after 10. 34-20 at the half. Our D is truly lock down. 12, 8 for Craw, 10 for Webb. +8 RBs, 3 TOs, +16 in the paint. They're shooting 28%. Up 10 with 10 to play.

70-61 but we were never in danger. 18, 12, 4, 4 for Craw, 20, 4, 4 for Webb.

+20 in the paint, +11 RBs, 8 TOs.

[Wayne23]

12/18: Our last pre-conf game is with #3 Arizona, 10-1, here. Their starting Sf and best player broke his foot in their last game. This one is rated a toss up by the odds makers. They are very good outside.

We're #2.

12/19: It's close early. Up 8 after 10. 49-37 at the half. We're shooting 50% to 27.6%, and that's the difference. Their C has 3 fouls. Up 18 with 10 left.

94-72. We beat up the #3 team in the country! 20, 11 for Dunk, 12, 14, 5 for Craw. +20 RBs, +18 in the paint, +15 on 2nd chances.

My teams tend to be strong inside and this one is no exception.

We have a week off, which is much needed.

[Wayne23]

12/25: We end pre-conf play at 11-1. #2, NET #1. +15.4 PPG, +8.3 RBs, -4.9 TOs, +4.1 assists.

Dunk leads us with 16.0, 9.2. Craw is 2nd in both with 15.2, 9.0.

#8 Marquette, 10-1, is here to start Big East play. They have a very good PG. We think we have a big edge inside.

12/26: Full house here at Gampel Pavilion; there usually is. The game hasn't started yet and they're already loud!

We take an early lead. Up 20 after 10. 47-25 at the half. 4 TOs to 13. +10 in the paint. That very good PG has 4 TOs, 3 points, 1 assist so far. Up 23 with 10 to go.

84-63. We beat up on the #8 team in the nation.

13, 4, 8 for Buck, 13, 4, 5 for Webb, who out played their highly touted PG. 12, 4, 3, 5 assists, 4 blocks for Craw, 15, 7 for Dunk. A real team effort. The bench was +7. 7 TOs, +20 in the paint.

It's hard to remember the details of the life I lived before this. I was, as I am now, a statistician, with a Masters in stats. I coached, but at the high school level. I never did learn to play the piano. I had a deep, passionate interest in all things related to outer space and the universe. I lived to be 94. Other than that, no recollection. Don't know where I lived, if I was ever married or had kids...