Hereafter

[Wayne23]

1/5: At #17 North Carolina, 9-3, 1-2. They score 15.7 fewer than us and allow 3.2 fewer. They got hammered in their only game vs. a ranked team. But they can be explosive outside.

1/6: “Don't lose track of their outside shooters!”

We take an early lead. They come back. Down 3 after 10. 38-32 at the break. Balanced scoring. Gard has 3 fouls against their top scorer.

+6 RBs, 2 TOs, +12 in the paint. -11 from the line. This one is far from over. They start the 2nd with a run. Tied with 10 to play.

68-65. They missed an open three at the end.

15, 11 for Tony, 12, 2, 9 for Webb, 13, 5 for Rich. -14 from the line. If I could have afforded a T, I would have taken one.

We won it inside, +9 RBs, +28 in the paint, +10 on 2nd chances.

This was a real defensive battle.

[Wayne23]

1/10: At 10-5, 3-2 Wake Forest. We won by 17 at our place. They're 2-2 vs. ranked teams, 2-0 at home, 0-2 on the road, so we need to be sharp.

1/11: It's a battle early. A run puts us up 12 after 10. The guards are hitting their shots. 59-41 at the half. Nothing wrong with our O! 15 for Gard but 3 fouls again, 12 for Webb, 9 for Marn, 8 for #3 guard Joe John. 7 fewer TOs. Shooting 57.1% to 48.3%. Up 13 with 10 left.

103-77. We were a scoring machine tonight.

21, 3 for Gard, 16, 4, 9 for Webb, 15, 4, 3 for Marn, 10, 6, 3 for backup F Bri Evan.

We shot 12% better.

Starting SF Nat Gard strained a calf muscle. Out for close to 2 weeks.

Webb is upset that he's not higher on the Norton list. I told him there's nothing he can do about that. He's playing really well but not everything he does shows up on the score sheet. He's a fantastic defender, for one thing.

Don't know what it means but Mick is free. He's not talking; it's not safe.

[Wayne23]

1/12: At 8-6, 4-1 Pitt. Their starting PG has been out for weeks with a broken leg but it hasn't seemed to hurt them much. Pitt is in a 2 way tie for 3rd, one back of us and Syracuse. They're 2-1 vs. ranked teams. They have an excellent C and good guards, but they only score 0.8 more than their opponents. They are the best rebounding team we've faced this year but they turn it over.

1/13: Close early. We're up by 7 after 10. The guards are on fire. They come back. 34-38 at the half. We blew a 9 point lead. 10 for Marn, 8 for Webb. -7 for the bench. They're shooting 48.1% to our 31.4% and that's the difference. They go on a run. We're down 13 with 10 left.

74-73. HUGE comeback. Nat Gard, playing hurt, hit a 17 footer in the final second. We were down 16 with under 5 minutes to play.

18, 4, 5 for Webb, 18, 5 for Marn, 14, 5 for Tiny. Amazingly enough. The only time Gard played was the last 7.3 seconds, I just checked when I put him in. He can have a hot hand. He was our 3rd option on the final play but the first two were covered so he took the shot. Amazing!

-15 RBs, -18 from the line. The refs did all they could to screw us but it wasn't enough; 20 fouls on us, 8 on them. 10 threes helped us.

1/14: We had a blackout in the middle of most people's sleep cycle. We've been through this enough times that we knew what to do but the Romm absolutely panicked. We could hear them literally screaming. Many of them found their way out of the ship, I'm assuming with help from their other ships, but we found 11 dead Romm. When we gambled and went to the bridge their ships were gone.

“I call this emergency Council meeting to order to discuss the fortunate accident of the blackout.”

“It was no accident.”

“What's that, Mick?”

“It was no accident. I pulled the plug, so to speak.”

(pandemonium)

“Please explain, Mick.”

“I noticed, a few weeks ago, that they didn't like dim light. If they were somewhere that was less than brightly lit they looked uncomfortable.

“I started turning out lights in certain areas to see how they would react. Every time, they avoided the dark areas, even if they had to take a very long way around.

“When they arrested me I was trying to pull the plug. I told them there was a power failure on deck 20, where they never go, and I was trying to fix it. They didn't know whether to believe me or not so they locked me up.

“Eventually they turned me loose, who knows why?”

“By that time I was convinced that absolute darkness would freak them out. I watched for patterns of when they were in certain areas. I had never found them near the main power supply at 3:00 a.m. So I went there at that time and pulled the plug. One of them was just rounding a corner as the lights went out. A few seconds earlier and I would have been caught.

“Anyway. Turns out I was right. Seems like they're petrified of the dark. I don't think we'll see them again.”

Mick got a standing ovation!

The Council is having our robotic medics dissect the Romm bodies to see what we can learn.

But the main thing is we are FREE!!! There's no way to describe how great that feels!

1/15: A thorough inspection of the ship shows that we're in a real mess. The Romm were doing only the bare minimum to keep the ship operational, and nothing regarding growing crops.

The Council has placed the ship in full emergency mode. All hands are working 7 days a week, 12 hours a day in order to get the ship back to where it needs to be, and we are using as much robotic help as we can. The best estimates are that if we're lucky we'll be back to something like normal in a month.

For now, food is limited so food choices will be limited. People are taking this pretty well knowing that in time we'll have our excellent dining halls back up to speed.

Kelly Geer has announced that she hopes to run the dining hall competition in April but that's not certain, by any means.

[Wayne23]

1/17: 12-3, 4-2, NC ST is here. They're 2-1 vs. ranked teams. We're a big favorite but I'm not convinced. They can play.

Syracuse lost a game so we're alone in 1st in the ACC.

We climb to #2 in the new poll. Only undefeated Memphis is ahead of us.

1/18: Early lead. Up 17 after 10; we're rockin' it so far. 50-23 at halftime. 7 players have between 5 and 9. 7 fewer TOs. +12 in the paint. They're shooting 25.9%. +7 from the line (for once!). Up 26 with 10 to go.

80-46. I guess the odds makers were right. 13, 10 for Rich, 10, 4, 4 for Marn, 13, 2, 3 for Webb, 10, 5 for Evan.

+22 RBs, +16 in the paint, +16 on 2nd chances. 10 TOs to 19.

For the third time this season Ric Tony is out with an injury. This time it's a concussion and he's gone for at least a week. Two front line starters are out. Not good! Bri Evan will start and Trev Meil will get major minutes.

#7 Virginia is one back. Everyone else is at least 3 back after only 7 games!

The entire mood and tone on the ship are completely different despite the long work hours and limited food choices. I'm seeing lots of smiles where for 5-6 weeks I saw none. People are upbeat about working hard because they see a return to normalcy as the result.

Some rather surprising information from the autopsies of the Romm bodies. From what the medics can gather the Romm couldn't breathe our air at all but the tiny filters in their nose were incredible at remixing to the proper balance of what they COULD breathe. Also, evidently their vision and hearing are intricately connected. When they lose one they all but completely lose the other. That explains the panic reaction.

The medics are working with the computer experts to see if they can find a way to adapt the filters for our use. There's bound to be places we visit where this would be an enormous help. No doubt this will take some time, if it can be done at all. The parts are microscopic.

[Wayne23]

1/19: 10-7, 5-3 Kona is here. 2-3 vs. Top 25 teams. Ordinarily I would expect to beat this team easily here at the XL Center, but with two starters out, we'll see...

1/20: “Don't lose track of #25; he can light it up.”

Early lead. Up 8 after 10. 50-33 at the half. The bench is +17. Gard is well enough to step in for a minute here and a minute there; he has 11 in 6 minutes.
9 for Meil. +8 RBs, +10 in the paint. We're shooting 10% better. Up 14 with 10 to play.

90-69. 15, 13 for Rich, 17, 2, 5 for Webb, 12, 2, 4 for Marn, 11, 5 in 10 minutes for Gard.

+14 RBs, +18 from the line.

Gard will be starting in our next but Tony is still dizzy from the concussion so he's out.

The Captain announced that getting back to full dining services will take time. Crop growth happens at its own speed and without the crops we're very limited. Fortunately, enough crops were self-sustaining to keep us eating, but just barely. The dining services people need to be focused on providing enough calories and healthy food to keep everyone going. Variety will be awhile in getting here. People are taking it well.

Most of the holo programs are operational, so that helps with attitudes.

It took a LOT of work for the waste disposal and reclamation people to get their programs working reasonably well. This area was totally neglected by the Romm and was on the verge of disaster when the blackout happened. Same holds true for the water supply. We were just days away from life threatening trouble.

The engines needed repair but they were not in bad shape.

Again, the main issue is keeping people fed while crops grow.

[Wayne23]

1/24: 2nd place, #4 Virginia, 14-4, 7-1, is here. This is a big game. Tony can play a minute or two at a time but not a lot of minutes. Their starting SF has missed 11 games with a broken foot. Their SG is an All American, and their PF is at least all conference. They're favored by 3 ½, which is a lot. They're 3-0 vs. ranked teams, 2 of the wins on the road. And they're undefeated at home. This will definitely be a test.

1/25: We start slowly. Down 5 after 10; shooting 25%. 34-42 at the half. Their guards are beating ours so far. We have 6 more TOS and they're +6 in the paint. That terrific SG has 18. We may double him. Down 17 with 10 left; we're in trouble.

71-81 but the final was as close as we got late.

41, 15, 3, 4 for their All American, and we doubled him when we could. Their OPG had 16.

22 for Webb, 13, 13 for Rich. Their starting guards had 25 more than ours+8 RBs but 20 TOs to their 10. +9 from the line. +13 on 2nd chances. Not sure Tony would have made enough difference.

Tony will start our next so we'll be back at full strength. Tough year for injuries so far. Hopefully we'll get them all out of the way before the post season!

Tied with VA for 1st, 2 teams are 2 games back.

The Council has reduced the work week to 6 days, 10 hours per day for nearly everyone. Crop related jobs are 6 days, 12 hours per day.

There have been inquiries about phasing in diet expansion. The Council, on the recommendation of the Department Head in crop growth, has said no. We hope to be ready by late March, at which time, if all goes well, we'll be back to all 20 dining halls offering the kinds of choices they offered before the Romm invaded.

[Wayne23]

1/26: At 5-13, 2-7 Boston College. They score 7.3 fewer than they give up. This is a game we should win easily, even on the road.

1/27: Back and forth. Down 1 after 10. 35-25 at halftime. Good D! Rich has 3 fouls. We're shooting 8 1/2% better. Other stats are pretty even. Up 14 with 10 left.

76-54. The D was solid throughout. Aqui Marn had 14, 2, 5, 3. 13, 7 for Tony, 12, 3, 5 for Gard. +9 for the bench. 16 fewer TOs.

All recruits hit our SAT score, including the one we're still talking to in case anyone leaves for the draft.

Shay Webb is #10 on the Norton list.

The geeks just found some notes the Romm left on one of our computers, No idea why they used ours when they had their own. One of the geeks said maybe they were seeing how our tech ran and whether they could learn anything from it.

In any case this confirmed that they have an absolute mania about being in the dark. It also shows that, no surprise, they are prone to paranoia. They suspect anyone and everyone they encounter of having bad intentions. They investigate thoroughly and often wipe them out, whether it's a lone ship or a civilization on one or more planets and moons.

They have something they call their “big ship,” which never came here. Evidently it is gigantic and completely a war ship. If their descriptions are accurate it is truly incredible how much havoc it can wreak. It also has the capability to do extremely in depth analysis of a ship, or even a planet and/or moon, or series of them.

Often they encounter a civilization, probably like ours, that they feel is not a threat. When that happens, after a very thorough investigation, they usually just leave. Frightening but fascinating.

[Wayne23]

1/31: #23 Miami (FL), 14-7, 5-5, is here. They're an outside team. Good D. 2-2 vs. ranked teams. We're healthy and we're at Gampel Pavilion. We should win this one.

2/1: Close early. Tied after 10. 31-21 at the half after a slow start. 11 for Webb. 4 TOs, +12 in the paint. We're shooting a pathetic 29.4% but they're shooting 31.8%. Up 15 with 10 to play.

64-46. Not much O but terrific D, which is our strength, really.

24, 2, 7, 3 for Webb, 10, 11 for Tony. 11 TOs to 20. +14 in the paint.

Webb hurt his knee. Out for about a week and a half. That's not good! Joe John will start at the Point. I think Joe will be fine but our subs will struggle. Webb will miss three games, 2 of them on the road.

I never mentioned it but once the Romm left we 3D printed and launched a probe to replace the one they destroyed.

That probe has not quite reached the distance from us that we normally want it to have and it is already seeing a ship coming its way. Here we go again!

[Wayne23]

2/2: 15-5, 8-3 Virginia Tech, alone in 3rd place, is here. Their forwards can play. They score fewer and give up more but they're 4-1 vs. ranked teams. With Webb out they could challenge us.

2/3: It's a battle early. Down 3 after 10. 45-33 at the half after a late run. 10 each for Tony and Marn. John is doing okay. Their C is destroying Rich; he has 16. +14 in the paint and we're holding them to 27.6% shooting. 26 fouls called, which drives me batty. Up 22 with 10 to go.

87-65. 14, 7, 3 blocks for Tony, 14, 4, 4 for Marn, 13, 7 for Gard, 11, 2, 3 for backup guard Gary Syes. 11 TOs to 21. +24 in the paint.

Outshot them by 12.5%.

Virginia lost on the road so we're alone in 1st.

The ship heading for the probe is not alone. It looks like a convoy. The probe reports that there are at least 6 ships, maybe more, and they're travelling at about the same speed that the Romm travelled at, which as I said then, FAR exceeds anything we can do. There's really nothing we can do to prepare. There's a lot of tension onboard.

[Wayne23]

2/7: At #25 ranked, 16-5, 8-4 NC ST. We clobbered them by 34 at our place. Their starting SG and his backup are both hobbled. On paper we win easily, but it's a road game.

2/8: Early lead. Up 7 after 10. 40-26 at the half. Really good guard play. Up 20 with 10 to play.

75-59. 18, 14, 3 for Tony, 14 for Marn, 13 for Gain, 10, 3, 5 for John. +11 RBs.

The ships are getting close. They should be communicating with us soon, assuming that's what they want to do.