Hereafter

[Wayne23]

3/19: #5 seed, #14 ranked Gonzaga, 26-8, in the Sweet 16. We beat them by 13 at our place in early Dec. Good inside play did it. Inside play should be the key again, and we think we're better there.

3/23: We take an early lead but they're close. Tied after 10. 29-35 at halftime. Shooting 35.3% and Arch has 3 fouls. We finally take a lead with 13 ½ left, then they take it back. Tied with 4 left.

75-68. We escaped. 15, 8, 4 steals, 3 blocks for Sitt, 11, 7, 4, 3 for Akin, 16, 5, 4 for Maye, 18 for Morr. +15 RBs but 19 TOs.

I play an hour of piano to calm down before going to bed.

[Wayne23]

3/24: Our Elite 8 opponent is #2 seed, #5 ranked, #4 NET Vanderbilt, 33-3. They're 5-3 vs. ranked teams. They're better outside than in. If we don't play better than we've been playing they could definitely finish our season.

3/25: It takes a while but we take a lead; up 11 after 10. They come back. 39-41 at the half. 3 fouls each for Morr and Arch. 13 for Akin but no one else is doing much.

“Final Four or go back home guys. It's up to you.”

Up 1 with 10 to play.

74-65. We led by 1 with 2 minutes to play, but we're going back to the Final Four!

19, 3, 3 for Akin, 14, 5, 3 for Morr, 11, 8, 3, 3 for Sitt. Surprisingly, we won it in the back court and from the bench. Our big guys were outplayed, which should NOT have happened.

Alan Morr hurt his foot but the docs say he'll be fine in time for our next game.

[Wayne23]

3/27: We play #3 seed, #13 ranked Xavier, 28-8. We're a big favorite. They're 6-3 vs. Top 25 teams. They're stronger outside than in.

On the other side it's pretty amazing. #1 seed, #3 ranked South Carolina, which is no surprise, but they play New Mexico, a #15 seed! Unbelievable! New Mexico beat #2, #7, #6, and #8, in that order.

4/1: “It's up to you, guys. Play hard and good things will happen!”

Very close. Tied after 10. Then we go on a run. Up 14 at the half, 45-31. 9 players have scored. +10 RBs, and +10 in the paint. But Sitt has 3 fouls. Up 6 with 10 to go, then a big run.

92-68. This is definitely the best we've played in the whole tournament.

23, 9, 2, 3 for Akin, 19, 5 for Arch, 14, 0, 7, 3 for Morr. +20 RBs.

If we play this way in the final we'll take the title home!

[Wayne23]

4/2: #1 seed, #3 ranked, #3 NET South Carolina for the title. We played them in December and beat them by 24 at home. We beat them inside and we beat them outside. 7-3 vs. ranked teams. Better outside than in. But if we play our game we think we'll win.

4/3: Back and forth early. Up 2 after 10. The calls are going against us. 35-41 at the half. Their PF has 15 and 7, and he's the difference right now. Their C has 3 fouls. 12, 5 for Sitt.

“20 minutes left in the season. It's in your hands!”

Up 5 with 10 to play. We get hot late!

90-77 and the national title! 23, 8 for Sitt, 22, 3, 5 for Morr. 12, 7, 3 for Arch, 11, 4, 4, 3 for Akin. +12 in the paint, +9 RBs.

[Wayne23]

4/4: Awards: John Akin is the tourney MOP. I get national COY. In the PAC-12, Luke Arch is Frosh OY, and I am COY. Arch makes the 1st team, Tony Maye makes the 2nd team. I thought Sitt should have been honored.

4/9: I expect to move on. Not sure whether it will be to a place where I think I can bring a fifth team to a national title, or to a lesser team to challenge myself. Let's see what the offers look like!

We visit NC State and Maryland.

I'm going to Maryland in the Big 10.

4/23: I ask for money.

No.

37-3, national title, my 6th, with 4 different teams. After 30 seasons I'm 924-189, .830.

On to a new challenge on a beautiful campus!

Aging: Another reminder that I'm in the afterlife. I set things up so that I would appear to age normally, at least to a point. At this time I am 57, turning 58 on May 1. I'll keep aging as long as it makes sense. When it no longer makes sense I'll reshuffle the cards somehow.

[Wayne23]

5/1: Recruiting class #6.

I buy the National Premium and International Basic reports.

5/29: A new coach usually means some people transfer. Let's see what happens.

1 player leaves.

Round 1: We offer to an unrated PF. No.

6/2: Round 2: We offer to a Center who's an A. No.

Round 3: We offer to a B, a forward. No.

Round 4: We offer to a Center who's a B. DAMN!

Round 5: We offer to a C. Really frustrated.

We're done.

6/25: We're going to all the camps we can go to.

6/26: 7 scholarships! Big order to fill! Given how we did with transfers let's hope we do better here.

Rebuilding here at Maryland is going to take some time. We only have 10 scholarship athletes this year and only 5 of them are good players.

7/3: The water situation is deteriorating. We are barely getting enough water to supply our needs and the quality is acceptable but not much more. We are putting every resource we have into trying to figure out what the problem is.

7/15: One tiny little part, but every drop of water has to go through it. An engineer finally figured it out. We stopped production, drained the part of the system involved, replaced the part, and everything is at peak efficiency again. One tiny little part.

We are in the process of replacing all similar parts but it will take awhile as the entire system needs to be shut down and the section drained. So we get our water needs up to optimal. Shut down, drain, replace, bring the system up, and repeat. It will be about three months until this is finished. But we solved it anyway.

8/7: PF Mal Sarp is #25 on the Norton list.

8/21: We offer to 2 PGs, an SG, 3 PFs, and a C.

[Wayne23]

9/18: Got 4, lost 3. Got an SG, #4, 2 PFs, #11, 20, a C, #5. Offering to 3 others.

Going to the Hawaiian Shootout vs. Arizona ST.

Some challenges in the schedule but it isn't too demanding. The Big 10 will be demanding enough!

9/25: Ugh! Lost all 3. We offer to 3 others.

10/2: Lost 3 more.

1st day of practice. It's going to be a long season...

All sorts of tournaments, contests, dining hall challenges, and spirits remain high. Not sure how long it will last, but no conflicts, no bickering more than minor things.

My stats job is going smoothly. All departments seem to be running very efficiently right now, and I get along with all of the managers. The ship is in fine shape!

10/9: I've given up on recruiting until the Spring. I have 4 very, very good recruits and there isn't anyone else we want right now.

11/12: Here's the lineup: We have one excellent player, one good player, and 3 decent players. After that we're in trouble and an injury to any starter would be deadly:

Senior Jake Will is at the Point. He's a very good defender and a good ball handler. He should do a good job.

Frosh Nate Mott is at SG. He's only decent but he's the best we have.

Junior Dub Wite, an SG, is starting at SF. He's a scorer, a good defender, and a decent ball handler; he's probably our 2nd or 3rd best player.

1st guard off the bench is frosh Mike Hart; he's not ready, and we hope not to have to use him much. Our 5th guard is frosh Cris Liva who isn't ready and probably never will be.

Senior Josh Call is an SF starting at PF. He is a scorer but not a very good player. We hope he'll be adequate.

Our best player is senior Mal Sarp, a PF starting at C. He does everything well, and he is definitely our go to guy. He's a 4 year starter.

First big off the bench is SF Scot Jenn, and he isn't very good. SF Doug File is worse. PF Bill Palm can rebound but that's about it. Finally there's walk on C Matt Donn.

We have very little size.

[Wayne23]

11/14: We start tomorrow at home with Florida ST.

A. D. Bull Mead wants us to finish 3rd in the conference and qualify for the NCAAs. Not gonna happen unless we really improve.

11/15: Back and forth throughout the half which ends with a mini-run, 49-40. 16, 6 for Sarp. 3 TOs. We start the 2nd with a run and keep it going, getting the lead to 20.

86-71. Sarp can play! 28 and 13. 13, 5, 7 for Wite. Mott and Call both played better than expected. We have no bench, but we knew that. 6 TOs.

Heading to the Hawaiian Shootout. We're the #4 seed and we start with #5 Arizona ST.

11/17: AZ ST hasn't played yet so it's tough to know much.

11/18: Very pleasantly surprised in our first game. Tonight?

Back and forth Sarp picked up 3 fouls. He was held to 5 and 6. Our lousy bench is -10, and that's more than the difference. Ouch! We're getting beat up in the 2nd.

74-89. Sarp fouled out in 17 minutes. We need him in the game to have any chance at all. 20, 3 for Wite, 13, 4, 6 for Mott. -13 for the bench.

11/20: 2 recruits sign. The other two should hit our SAT score.

We stayed an extra day in Hawaii. I wanted the guys to have a little fun in this beautiful place. It's about more than just basketball.

[Wayne23]

11/21: 1-1 Wright ST is here. If we can contain their SG we should do fine as long as Sarp stays in the game.

11/22: It's competitive. Sarp picks up 2 quick fouls. 41-39 at the half. Saro has 2 fouls and Call has 3. A run early in the 2nd puts us up 13.

85-67. 16, 11 for Sarp, but 4 fouls. 14, 8, 6 for Wite. All 5 starters had 11 or more. +15 RBs.

11/24: 0-2 New Mexico ST is here. They have looked terrible in their first 2 games.

11/25: Yet again Mal Sarp picks up 2 quick fouls. I don't yell at players very often but I REALLY yelled at him when he got to the bench. I put him in a few minutes later and he immediately picked up #3. We're doing fine without him, 49-23 at the half. 12, 7 for Call, who has been a consistent over achiever! Bench is +8! This one is a rout.

97-51. Sarp played 6 minutes. 18, 9 for Call, 13, 10, 5 for sub F/C Bill Palm who is exceeding expectations by a lot; he plays poor D though. +18 for the bench.

I have a long talk with Sarp in my office after everyone leaves. No idea whether I got through to him.

Mina is really talking up a chess tournament. I watched for awhile the other day. Yep, it's boring!

The pool tournament was more interesting. It was 9 ball. I was eliminated early but I stayed to watch and that was way more interesting. I might have learned a thing or two as well.

11/28: 4-2 UConn is here. They are not off to a great start but they've won their last 2 and they just beat #1 Michigan ST by 15! e need to keep Sarp on the floor to have any chance.

11/29: Sarp commits a foul in the 1st minute. We take a quick lead and build it to 20 very quickly. 44-19 at the half; didn't expect THAT! 12 for Sarp with 2 fouls. They're shooting 30%. They're trying to come back but we're fighting them off.

78-60. Great win! 18, 5 for Sarp but he fouled out. 18, 4 for SG Nate Mott. 9 TOs. We definitely take care of the ball.

Sub F Doug File hurt his hip. He'll probably miss a game. He doesn't play much.

Hali almost won the gin rummy tournament. Finished third.

[Wayne23]

12/1: 2-5 Marshall is here. They score 57.7, give up 12 more than that.

12/2: We take an early lead. 48-29 at halftime. 12 each for Sarp and Mott. Only 2 TOs. We lead comfortably.

80-69. 19, 8, 4 for Sarp and 3 fouls. 16, 6, 5, 3 for Wite, 11, 8 for Call, 15, 2, 4 for Mott. 7 TOs.

Bench coach Greg Robb: Jed, I can't believe what I'm seeing, 5-1.

Jed Clark: If I'm sleeping don't wake me up. It'll get tougher in the conference.

Robb: Hey, let's enjoy it and hope for the best!

12/5: We hit the road for the 1st time since the trip to Hawaii. At 5-1 Vermont. They score inside but they don't rebound.

12/6: Back and forth until they go on a late run. 24-34 at the half. We can't get anything going and we're shooting 33.3%. 1 free throw to their 10. Their crushing us; we can't score.

49-65. 49 points! Awful. We shot 30.3%, 1-12 on threes. 13, 7 but 4 fouls for Sarp. We scored 25 less than in any other game this season.

Probe to our left sees a solar system. Shifting course in that direction.