Hereafter

[Wayne23]

We're a #1 seed but maybe not #1 overall after the loss.

#1 East, #1 overall. We're thrilled! We play #16 seed Scared Heat, 19-14.

3/16: We take an early lead. Up 10 after 10. 43-28 at the half. 20 for Brai, which is pretty impressive. I've been telling him for weeks that he will definitely start next season. I'm worried that he may transfer. Wall has 3 fouls. +14 inside, 6 TOs to 14. Up 29 with 10 left; it's a blowout.

86-55. 20, 3 for Bray, 20, 9, 3 for Nat Gard, now our 1st big from the bench, 14, 7, 4, 3 steals, 3 blocks for Craw. 7 TOs, +16 in the paint.

The forward probe is as close to the black hole as it dares to get. It's sending video and still photos as we make our way there.

[Wayne23]

3/17: #8 seed Morehead ST, 28-4, in the 2nd round. On paper it's a blowout. They have not played a ranked team. Their strength is inside.

3/18: They're staying with us early. Down 1 after 10. Up 35-30 at the half. 10 fewer TOs. Brai has 3 fouls. We're shooting 33.3%. We need to wake up. Up 12 with 10 to play.

78-63. 14, 5, 6, 6 steals for Buck. 17, 1, 5, 3 for Webb. Our bigs didn't play that well, but Gard had 10 and 6. 9 TOs to 28.

[Wayne23]

3/22: #4 seed, #15 ranked San Diego ST in the Sweet 16. We won by 18 at their place early on. Their strength is inside.

3/23: Up 4 at the half. They're tough! Their PF has 14 but he also has 3 fouls. Up 7 with 10 to play.

71-64. 21, 8 for Craw, 16, 1, 5 for Webb, 13, 4 for Gard. We had to work for it!

[Wayne23]

3/24: If there's one team we did NOT want to play in the dance it's our Elite Eight opponent, #2 seed, #11 ranked Villanova, 28-7. We beat them badly both times in the regular season and then they beat us easily in the Big East title game. Their bench was +14 in that one and the refs were brutal to us. But we had Dunk, and we won't for this game. Our b ig guys need to step up and our shortened bench needs to hold its own. Tall orders.

3/25: A war right from the start. Up 2 after 10. A lot of whistles. Up 7, 47-40, at the half. 12 for Craw, 9 for Brai. Buck has 3 fouls. Our bench is -8. Our big guys are playing well, including Gard.

“Keep playing hard!”

Down 4 with 10 left.

96-86! The refs damn near did us in again. Craw fouled out, Brai had 4 for the last 7 minutes. I didn't dare take a T because it was a one possession game until under two minutes when we made three straight buckets. They went to the line 43 times to our 28.

18, 10, 2, 3, 4 for Craw, 16, 6 for Gard, 18, 2, 4, 3, 3 for Buck, 12, 5 for Wall, 15 for Brai.

I am SO glad that one is over with! And we're in the Final Four!

[Wayne23]

3/31: Dunk is back! #3 seed, #18 ranked Tennessee, 29-8, in the National Semifinal. We're a big favorite. They're 5-4 vs. ranked teams. They don't have a big scorer but everybody, including three from the bench, can put it in the net. We're a better offensive team and we look about equal on D. This is where it ended for us last season.

On the other side it's #1 seed Kentucky vs. #4 seed Wichita ST.

4/1: It's close early. Up 6 after 10. A run puts us up 11 at the half; the lead was 19 until they rallied back. 14 for Wall 8 and 7 for Dunk, looking great in his first game back, 9, 4, 3 for Buck. +9 RBs. We're shooting 11.5% better.

“I need more from the bench!”

Up 17 with 10 left; looking good!

84-67! 18, 1`3 for Dunk, 19, 6 for Wall, 17, 4, 6 for Buck. Our bench was -18 and Craw had an off game, playing only 14 minutes due to foul trouble. Despite that we won.

In a HUGE upset #4 seed Wichita ST beat #1 ranked Kentucky by 18. They're ranked #9, NET #23. Everybody on both teams is healthy which is as it should be.

We're favored by 2 ½. They have a very good C, so Craw needs to stay out of foul trouble and play his game. They're 4-3 vs. ranked teams. They score fewer than we do but give up fewer. There's not a lot separating the two teams.

[Wayne23]

4/3: I tell the guys I know how it feels to win it all, I did it once at UCLA. There's nothing like it.

“Just play your game and everything will work out. You guys have what it takes!”

They take an early lead. We come back. Down 1 after 10. WAY too many whistles. We go on a run. 47-35 at halftime. Buck has 10, Wall has 9 but 3 fouls, Brai has 8. Their PF has 3 fouls. Craw got in immediate foul trouble and played 4 minutes. Thankfully Brai is playing very well. 4 TOs to 10.

“20 minutes to go guys. Play within your selves and no dumb fouls.”

We get the lead to 20! Up 23 with 10 to go! The bench is in!

82-55 and the championship! 16, 5 for Wall, 10, 6, 4 for Buck, 13, 1, 4, 3 for Webb, 12, 6 for Bray. +14 in the paint. 6 TOs to 17. But defense won it, they couldn't score on us, especially in the 2nd half when we held them to 20.

Both Craw and Buck sustained minor injuries but kept playing.

Post Game Press Conference (Excerpts):

“Congratulations Coach. What was the key?”

“Defense and poise. We played within ourselves, played our game, and we made it really difficult for them to score. 20 points in the 2nd half! How's that in a title game.”

“Your best player, Craw, didn't do much and your 2nd best, Dunk, didn't do a lot and you still won the biggest game of the season. How does that even happen?”

“We're a team. We emphasized that all year long. If one guy wasn't on someone else would pick it up. We did that all year. And, for the record, I looked it up, Craw was +22 and Dunk was +12, so they did a lot!”

“Talk about the tournament Jan Wall had.”

“Wow! You can make a very good case for him being Final Four MOP. He was immense.”

“Didn't have that great a season but he came up big.”

“He's a big game player. The bigger the game the better he plays. And for the record he had the 3rd best NET for the season, .1 behind the #2 guy.”

“I love how you defend your guys. This is your 2nd title. How does it compare to the first?”

“There's something very special about winning it all for the first time, but this one feels pretty damn special, too.”

“How will you celebrate?”

“With the team! We won this together, we're going to celebrate it together!”

[Wayne23]

4/4: Awards: Kev Buck got tourney MOP. I got National COY. Doy Craw made first team All American.

In the Big East Craw was MOP and 1st team, Webb was Frosh OY, Buck was Def. POY. Dunk joined Craw on the 1st team, Webb and Buck made the 2nd team. I got Conf. COY.

We're losing a LOT! Craw, Buck, Wall, Brai all graduate and Dunk is turning pro. So 4 starters and our #1 sub are all leaving. It's a good recruiting class, but that's a lot of holes to fill.

As much as I want to go to that little school and build it up I'm staying for another season, at least.

I want us to move to either the Big Ten or the ACC.

TP goes from 79 to 85.

4/23: I ask for money.

We get $18,500. Not enough to buy the International Premium but a step in the right direction.

38-3, my 2nd national title and 1st here at UConn. Overall, for 21 seasons, 606-154, .797.

We're almost close enough to the black hole to study it directly. Being very careful not to get too close. Our probe is ahead of us but not by a lot. If it starts to get sucked in we back off immediately.

[Wayne23]

5/1: Preseason #1. Are they serious? We lost our entire front court and our first sub inside, as well as a starting guard!

#4 recruiting class.

We're going to the Big 10!

We buy National Premium, International Basic.

5/29: We had 3 guys go pro and one is transferring, Deon Sund, who would have started; but we have 5 open slots. We need a guard and 4 bigs, or possibly 2 and 3 bigs.

Round 1: We need bigs and there aren't a lot of them who look good... We offer to an A guard, a B and a C, both bigs. 0-3.

Round 2: We offer to a B in the Top 5, a big, 2 SGs who are Bs, 2 Cs, both bigs. 4-5. 1 guard, 3 bigs, 2 Bs, 2 Cs. One of the bigs will definitely start, another will get time. The SG will get minutes, may start.

6/5: Round 3: 1 spot to fill. I'll take the best available or pass. Offering to an SG, a C. Got him.

We're studying the black hole. As amazing as we knew it would be it is even more amazing at relatively close range. I'm not sure that we'll learn anything new from this observation, but I wouldn't miss it for anything.

Dining is a great experience. Prudent people look at the website before venturing out for a meal. That way they are never turned away, or stuck in long lines. At times, if someone is REALLY craving something, and one particular dining hall does it better than anyone else it's worth the wait, but usually people can find a top choice without having a long wait.

All of the dining halls have the appropriate décor for what they serve, and that adds to the experience. Service is always excellent. And the FOOD! I have not ever had a bad meal at any of the new dining halls. The food was good before all of this happened. It is excellent, almost all the time now. And there is every imaginable choice. The desserts are a real specialty. Most of us eat them but given that we all work out it's not a problem.

6/25: We'll go to Indy and to all of the regional camps.

6/26: 3 scholarships. We probably want 2 bigs.

The probe is... wobbling. We're wondering if the black hole is sucking it in. We thought it was WELL clear but... We're moving our ship farther away from the black hole, and the probe as well.

6/29: We lost the probe. Best guess is the pressure caused by the black hole reaching out for it caused it to explode. We're backing up even further.

[Wayne23]

7/3: We're having trouble getting out of the black hole's gravity well. We're doing all we can to get as far away as possible but feeling lots of resistance. We're gaining but a lot more slowly than we wish. Of the 8 probes we have out at various “compass points,” three have exploded and we may well lose two more.

The other three are behind us and moving farther behind us, and they appear to be safe. We hope we are!

7/6: We think we're free. The ship is finally able to accelerate- still not at full speed, but close to that.

7/7: We're definitely free of the black hole's gravity well. We will NOT be messing with any black holes in the future.

We're printing 5 new probes, preparing to get back to our full complement of 8, and we're heading in a new direction. There is some damage to the hull from the pressure of resisting the pull of the black hole and we have crews working on that. We're printing what we need to replace what we cannot repair. What an adventure, and we never really were able to get close enough to learn a thing. Oh well. This is a voyage of discovery and we know there will be questions we will never have answers for.

7/31: We're on our way and things are back to normal. We're all enjoying the food, enjoying having enough holo chambers to keep people reasonably well satisfied. Some people would live in them full time if they could, and some spend every minute not working or eating in the holos.

8/7: 3 Norton candidates: PG Aus Howe is #2, PG Shay Webb is #10, PF Mike Hasi is #34.

8/21: We offer to a PG, an SF, and a C. The C looks like a really good shot, the PG, we're confident we have a shot at, and the SF is a gamble, but he's the #1 recruit in the country and he has a little interest in us. And we have a back up who is a good bet if we lose the SF.

[Wayne23]

9/11: We make our 4 home visits. We talk to the recruits, their families, their coaches, and in 3 cases, some school personnel.

9/18: We get the one we expected to get and lose the other 2. We get the C, #23. We offer to another C, #25, but we need to look at some other guys for the guard spot we need to fill. All of the guards on our short list are gone. I think we'll get the C we are offering to right now.

We offer to a PG, but it's a very long shot.

Coaches Classic vs. Morehead ST to start the season. Very tough pre-conf schedule. Almost all ranked teams. But most games are at home.

9/25: We get the C, #25, lose the PG. We offer to another PG who has us at #2.

10/2: The guy we offered to dropped us from #2 to #10. Not good and not a lot of decent alternatives.

1st day of practice. I like this team!

10/9: We get the PG, #44. We should be finished with recruiting.

10/11: A tragedy in the holo. Two brothers decided they wanted to do some NASCAR type racing. They took the mandatory safety course needed for all activities rated as dangerous. But the video records show that they didn't do anywhere near the amount of practice necessary before travelling at the very high speeds NASCAR reaches. They got into a race, tried to keep up, and both were killed in a pileup that one of them caused.

The Council will do a full investigation but the cause of the deaths is obvious.

The parents are blaming the Council, of course.

10/18: The Council investigation ruled that the cause of death for the two brothers in race cars was “negligence and lack of proper training.” The parents are not accepting this. Well, they're not accepting that their sons did anything wrong. Instead they are saying the restrictions were not tight enough. It should not have been possible for them to race at those speeds without doing the proper practice.

“They're not completely wrong, Madam Chair. I think we need to put a 'proper practice and pass a test' clause into all activities labelled as dangerous.”

As always there was a fair amount of debate. In the end it passed 9-3. A committee was formed to determine what “proper practice” would entail in every scenario labelled as dangerous, to train the robots who would be in charge of this, and to come up with a fair test in each category. The latter would be mostly done by the robots, but supervised by the committee. Big job and it will take some time. Happily, I am not on this committee! Oh, we're suspending all activities labelled as dangerous until all of this is in place.