Way Back When

[Wayne23]

1/1/1911: Another new year. I am living in a boarding house in Willimantic, CT, taking the trolley to work every day, and back home in the evening. New location, but the same kind of life.

1/8: 3 more wins.

86-58 over Florida here. 22, 3 for Brit, 12, 10 for Burr, 13, 8, 4 for Varo. +19 rebounds.

Then we embarrassed Indiana here, 88-49. 23, 3 for Brit, 14, 6, 3 for Burr, good bench play. +14 rebounds, 6 turnovers.

73-51 over Brigham Young at home. 10, 18, 4, 3 for Burr, 17, 5, 3, 4 for syb F/C Mark Mell. +28 in the paint, +16 rebounds.

We end pre-conference play at 12-1, #11, NET #5.

+22.9 PPG, #1 in margin. +12.4 rebounds, -6.9 turnovers, averaging a very respectable 11.0. +6.6 assists.

Jeb Burr leads in scoring with 14.5 and Ivan Brit gets 13.8. Burr leads in rebounds with 10.2. Varo gets 8.8 and Arms 8.4. Brit gets 5.2 assists.

15 of our 16 ACC games will be against ranked teams.

[Wayne23]

1/22: We start Conf. A play 2-2.

66-87 at #2 Kansas. We were in over our heads. 13, 10 for Varo, 13, 6, 6 for Brit.

Then we were NOT over our heads with #1 Michigan ST here, defeating them 83-68. 24, 13 for Burr, good D- they shot only 36.4%.

A frustrating 71-72 loss at #7 Texas when PG Alex Camm missed the first of a one-and-one with under a second left. Texas got the rebound and threw it down the court as time expired. We had lots of opportunities to win this game, 18 lead changes, 9 ties, most of them late. 16, 10, 3 for Burr.

We beat #11 Baylor 82-67 on our court. 22, 8 for Burr. +12 in the paint.

Clearly home court advantage is playing a huge role here, although we almost won at Texas, and should have.

The year got off to a bang musically with the song, “Put Your Arms Around Me Honey.”

[Wayne23]

2/5: 2 and 2 in the latest 4. Considering that 3 were away, this is good!

67-75 at #3 Kentucky. We were in it late but faded at the end, due at least in part to poor shooting, 32.7%. They out played us inside as well.

83-77 over #15 Alabama here. Up only 1 at the half. We got the lead to 13 and they started chipping away, but we held on. 19, 7, 2, 3 for Burr, 14, 11, 5 for Varo. We turned them over 22 times.

75-67 at Bryant. Up 2 at the half. 17, 4 for Camm, 12, 12 for Burr.

An ugly loss at #6 Villanova, 50-71. We simply never got the offense going., 31.3%. 12, 12 for Burr.
In the Villanova game starting C Dane Arms strained a calf muscle. He's out for 2 weeks and will miss our next 4 games. Duja Varo will move to C and Mark Mell will start at PF.

We're 16-5, 4-4. I think if we finish at .500 in conf. play, that's about as much as we can hope for.

Jeb Burr is #14 on the Norton list.

[Wayne23]

2/19: 3-1 in the latest 4.

80-68 over #17 Michigan here. Tied at the half, then we took over. 23, 14, 3 for Burr, 22, 3, 2, 3 for Brit. 11, 7, 3 for Varo.

69-87 at #2 Gonzaga. It was close for about 25 minutes. 20, 6, 1, 4, 3 for Burr, 18, 5, 4 for Camm. They were stronger inside.

77-54 over Wake Forest here. This was never a game, we held them to 17 in the first half. 12, 12, 6, 3 for Varo, 17, 4 for Camm, 13, 9, 6 for Mell. +20 in the paint, +16 RBs, 7 turnovers.

In a very strange game we defeated Maryland 50-37 here. They shot 25.5%, we shot 30%. 18, 15, 3, 4 for Burr. It was a sloppy game, we had 19 turnovers and they had 22. We were better inside.

Arms is back. He will move from C to PF and Varo will stay at C.

We're #9, NET #11, 19-6, 7-5, tied for 7th in conference A with 4 to play.

Jed Burr is now #13 on the Norton list.

It is reported that Raold Amundsen has reached the South Pole. As I said when the North Pole was reached some time ago, so what!

There are reports that aeroplanes have, for the first time, been used as weapons of war in a war between Italy and Turkey.

[Wayne23]

3/5: 2-2 in our last 4.

59-75 at #12 Tennessee. Weak offense and we were never in this game. 14, 15 for Burr, 18, 7 for Varo, 14, 6, 5 for Brit. 23 turnovers!

85-60 over #3 Kansas at home. 15, 13 for Burr, 20, 4, 3, 3 for Brit, 17 for sub guard Tim Brax. 8 TOs to 17.
a frustrating 59-63 loss at #7 Michigan ST. We could have won this game but just could not quite get there. Once again, our offense was weak, 31.3% shooting. 16, 19, 4, 3 for Burr.

76-67 over #6 Texas here. They were up 12 at the half and we came roaring back in the second. 23, 8, 4, 5 for Brit, 22, 13, 4, 4, 3 for Burr. This was an exhilarating win!

We end the regular season 21-8, 9-7, tied for 8th in conference with the #8 seed. Ranked #9, NET #11.

Jeb Burr is #8 on the Norton list.

+11.5 PPG, +8.8 RBs, -4.3 turnovers but a dismal 13.3.

Jeb Burr leads us in scoring with 15.5, and in rebounding with 10.8.

I have no idea how we will do in the post season. It is very difficult to predict.

[Wayne23]

3/8: We play #11 ranked, #9 seed Baylor, 21-8, 9-7, in the quarter finals. We won by 15 in Storrs. We think we're better but we'll need to play well.

3/9: Slow paced start. Then we take the lead. Up 12 after 10. 42-24 at the half. 20 and 8 for Burr. Up 16 with 10 to play. Burr is going wild!

79-59. 44, 12, 3, 3 for Burr. 11 turnovers.

The boarding house here in Willimantic is a bit more upscale than the one I was in before. The food is no better but it is no worse, but the furniture is very new, the mattress in my room is quite comfortable, and there is a fan in my room. No heat. I understand some places now have small coal stoves in the rooms, which would be nice.

[Wayne23]

3/10: #1 ranked, #1 seed Kentucky in the quarter finals. They beat us by only 8 in their gym. On paper they are much better but I believe that if we play our best game we have a chance.

Game time: We take an early lead. Up 12 after 10, surprisingly enough! 42-29 at halftime. We are playing extremely well! 12 for Burr, 10 for Brit. They are fouling a great deal and we are +14 from the line. We have 8 fewer turnovers. We're holding our own, up 15 with 10 to play.

80-69. This is the best we have played all season! 21, 15 for Burr, 23 for Camm, 10, 5, 7, 3 for Brit. +17 from the line. They never looked good all night.

[Wayne23]

3/11: #3 ranked, #5 seed Kansas, 25-6, 10-6, in the semifinals. Their starting SG is out with a broken leg. They beat us by 21, we beat them by 25. They are heavily favored. We'll see.

Game time: They lead early on. Down 1 after 10. 34-29 at the half. Balanced scoring but 3 fouls for Arms. Neither team is shooting well. We have an edge inside. Up 7 with 10 to go. We're looking good late!

74-63. 15, 11, 3, 4, 7 blocks for Burr, 17,m 3, 3 for Brit. +23 at the line, and +15 for the bench.

[Wayne23]

3/12: #11 ranked, #10 seed Alabama, 24-8, 8-8, for the title. We beat them by 6 at home. We're heavily favored but they can play.

Game time: Back and forth early. Tied after 10. 28-30 at the half. 10 lead changes, 8 ties. Arms has 3 fouls. Both teams are shooting poorly but we're shooting VERY poorly, 25.6%. Up 6 with 10 left. We go on a run!

65-46 and the Conference A title! Excellent defense in the 2nd half, holding them to 16 points. 18, 5 for Brit, 12, 14, 4 for Varo, 13, 10, 4 blocks for Burr. They shot 25.9%, 16.7% in the 2nd half.

It will be very interesting to see what seed we get, #9 ranked, #8 NET, but conf. A champs.

[Wayne23]

3/12: #2 South. We play #15 seed Coastal Carolina. This is a game we should win.

If we stay as hot as we were in the conf. A tournament we could go far.

3/17: Up only 4 after 10. 39-29 at halftime. 13 for Brit, 11 for Varo. We're not playing very well but they are not very good. Up 18 with 10 to play.

79-53. An easy win. 23, 7, 2, 4, 3 blocks for Brit. 15, 10, 3 for Varo. 8 turnovers and we controlled the paint.

Happy new song, “Alexander's Ragtime Band.”