DDSCB23: Alone

[Wayne23]

#1 East, #1 overall. We play#16 NC-Central, 20-13.

3/16: 94-86. 17 lead changes, 6 ties. We trailed by 1 at halftime. We finally got it going with about 8 minutes left but this one was much harder than it should have been. 29, 8 for Feld, 21, 14, 3 for Mile, 11, 10, 4, 3 blocks for Gray, 14, 9 for Wren. +40 in the lane.

#9 seed Tennessee, 23-9, in the 2nd round. They’re good outside.

3/18: 92-68. We were much better tonight but we had 2 injuries- Jed Mile hurt his back and Cris Wren hurt his hand. They’s both play limited minutes for our next game and, if we make it, the one after. We’re getting really thin up front.

58-31 at the half. 21, 6, 4 for Grow, 10, 11, 10, 6 for Gray, a very rare triple double. 16, 9 for Mile, 12, 8 for Feld. +20 down low.

#4 seed, #11 ranked West Virginia, 27-9, in the Sweet Sixteen. They’re a really good team. We seem to be much better inside.

3/23: 66-55. Close for about 25 minutes. Up 3 at the break. 18, 12, 3, 3, 4 blocks for Gray, 18, 8 for Feld.

#6 seed, #19 ranked Seton Hall, 24-12, in the Elite Eight. We score a lot more and we’re better on the boards but they’ve beaten some good teams.

3/25: 79-49. An old fashioned butt kicking and we’re in the Final Four!

Up 15 at the half. 22, 5 for Feld, 14, 4, 3 for Gray, 14, 8, 2, 3 for Wren.+22 down low.

[Wayne23]

#4 seed, #18 ranked Ohio ST in the national semifinal. 6-2 vs. ranked teams. Good inside and out but their D isn’t that great.

On the other side it’s #1 Pitt vs. #7 seed, unranked Michigan ST.

4/1: 79-83. Down 15 early, and by 6 at the half. We never caught up in the 2nd. We got it to one possession 7 times but never tied or led.

17, 6 for Feld, 15, 3, 4 for Grow. We got beat inside, we just couldn’t stop their C.

4/3: #1 ranked Pitt is the national champ.

[Wayne23]

4/4: Awards: Troy Gray makes 1st team in the ACC, Jem Moye makes 2nd. I am both national and conf. COY.

4/9: I’m not going anywhere. TP is at 78.

4/23: I ask for a facilities upgrade.

No.

34-5, ACC champs, Final Four. We lose Gray, Mile, Feld, and Pebb, and that’s a lot! Overall, for 14 seasons, I’m 475-58, .891.

(Tweak to recruiting: 6-20- 1, 20-45-1, 45-65-1. Still only 1 A or B transfer.)

[Wayne23]

5/1: #16 ranked. #19 recruit class.

We have 2 unfilled roster spots before the transfer period starts.

5/29: A guard who would have started leaves. We’re looking for 2 bigs and a guard.

We offer to a C.

Didn’t get him.

6/2: I offer to an SG and a PF.

6/5: We get both. The SG will start, the PF will either start or be first off the bench.

6/25: We’ll go to the usual camps.

6/26: 3 scholarships. We’ll go 2 bigs and a guard if we can.

7/11: Lots of recruits responding positively.

7/31: We offer to a PG and 2 PFs.

8/7: Jem Moye is #37 on the Norton list.

9/11: We lose one, our top pick.

9/18: We get one, lose 2. We get a PG, #31.

9/25: We get a PF, #60. We lose one.

10/2: 1st day of practice. We’re good but I don’t know how good.

10/9: We get a C from Poland. #41.

11/14: The season starts tomorrow with #21 Georgetown here.

Here’s the lineup:

Senior Josh Grow is back at PG. He did a great job for us last season.

Ike Walk, a soph transfer from Ohio ST, where he started last season, is at SG. He can score and defend.

#3 guard is soph Jay Reed. He moves the ball well but his D should improve. Junior Kea Toms is a scorer and ball handler. Frosh Ed Rule isn’t quite ready yet but he’s going to be good. Junior Mano Rami has never been impressive.

Junior Matt Rell, a transfer from Kansas where he was a starter, is at SF. He has looked good in practice.

Junior Jem Moye is back at PF. He’s solid.

Juco junior Jero Wane is at C. Good rebounder and defender, and he’ll get his points.

1st big man off the bench is senior Cris Wren who would start for a lot of teams. He’ll get plenty of minutes. Frosh Stro Long needs to work on his D.

[Wayne23]

11/30: We win our 1st 4 by an average margin of about 20, the closest being 15. Jero Wane leads in scoring with 16.8, Matt Rell gets 15.8, 6th man Cris Wren gets 15.3, and Jam Moye gets 12.5. PG Josh Grow averages 7.0 assists with only 1.3 TOs. All 4 were home games and we’re heading for the road so things may change.

12/10: The kids turn 7 and they’re doing all kinds of things. We caught two girls secretly building a small plane which they admitted they were planning to fly. We had a long talk about the wind conditions here on Mars and convinced them to build and fly their plane in the holo under robotic supervision.

The kids who want to explore space continue to work on their ship. It’s coming along really well. What we’ll do when it’s ready to launch is another matter. With the lower gravity here the ship could take off like a plane and fly into space.

We have three young meteorologists building weather instruments so we may be getting weather forecasts before long.

A group of young exobiologists are searching for life on Mars other than the life we brought.

There are lots of other projects happening. I’m being called on to provide help with some of the math and stats stuff they need.

12/21: We won our last 4, 3 of them on the road. We’re 8-0, with our closest game being 12 points.

#1 in PPG, +18.7. #3 in RBs, +10.7. 11.5 TOs per, which is acceptable.

Rell leads us in points with 16.1. Wane gets 15.1. Moye gets 14.1 and leads with 8.6 RBs. 14.0, 7.8 for Wren. 13.6 for SG Ike Walk. Grow gets 7.6 assists, 1.4 TOs.

#16, NET #1.

Heading for the Memorial where we’re the #1 seed. We play #8 South Florida.

12/23: 88-69. Up 19 at halftime. 22, 9, 3, 3 for Walk. +16 for the bench. +22 in the paint.

#5 seed Akron, 5-4, in the semifinals.

12/24: 78-60. Up 12 at the half and we got it to as many as 25. 18, 3, 3, 3 for Rell, 11, 10 for Wren. +22 in the lane.

#3 seed South Carolina, 3-2, in the title game.

12/25: 83-71 and the title. Up 12 at the half. They never got closer than 5 in the 2nd half. 19, 4, 1, 3 for tourney MOP Ike Walk, 18, 7 for Moye. +21 for the bench.

We end pre-conf play at 11-0, ranked #12, NET #2.

1st in PPG, +18.0. +8.2 RBs, -4.0 TOs, 11.1 per game.

15.0 ppg for Matt Rell, 14.5 for Ike Walk, 13.4 for Jero Wane, 13.3, 7.6 for Jem Moye, 12.6, 7.0 for Cris Wren. 7.6 assists for Josh Grow, 1.8 TOs.

[Wayne23]

1/11/2237: 3-1 in our 1st 4 ACC games. 3 of the 4 were close. We lost at #16 Florida ST, 79-83 in a game that was close all the way. They went to the line 41 times, we went 17, and that was way more than the difference. Wlk played only 17 minutes before fouling out and their starting backcourt scored 28 to 13 for ours.

We’re tied for 1st in the very early going.

1/22: 3-1 in our last 4. We lost the 1st of them, giving us 2 straight losses.

#8 Pitt beat us by 8 there. They beat us up inside.

We won the next 3, all easily, 2 of them on the road.

17-2, 6-2, tied for 2nd, 1 back of Duke.

1/29: One of our recruits doesn’t hit our SAT score. Not impressed with the guys who are left. We’ll fill the spot with a transfer in the Spring.

2/4: We win 3 and lose 1 again, losing away to Ga. Tech by 19, our worst loss of the year by far. We were just off, lousy D, didn’t make shots, didn’t play with energy.

20-3, 9-3, tied for 1st with Duke 2 teams one game back with 8 to play.

#3, NET #1.

[Wayne23]

2/18: 3-1 yet again. We lost by 11 at #7 Duke in the battle for 1st place.

23-4, 12-4, #2, NET #2.

3/5: And 3-1 again. We lost to #12 Pitt by 10 in Storrs. I HATE home losses and this one cost us sole possession of 1st place.

We end the regular season at 26-5, 15-5, in a 3 way tie for 1st with #7 Duke and #8 North Carolina. We’ll be the #2 seed in the ACC tourney.

#2, NET #2.

+14.0 PPG, #1. #2 in RBs, +8.2. -4.2 TOs, a terrific 10.2.

5 scorers in double figures led by Jero Wane with 13.0. Moye gets 7.8 RBs. Grow gets 7.0 assists, 1.9 TOs.

Back up guard Jon Reed, who probably would have started next season, declares for the draft.

On to the post season.

[Wayne23]

3/9: We play #7 seed, #25 ranked Florida ST, 21-12, 10-10, in the quarter finals. They won by 4 there, then later we won by 20 in Hartford.

3/10: 89-76. Close for nearly 30 minutes, then we went on a run.15, 4, 3 for Walk, 6 guys scored 10 or more. +34 in the paint.

#3 seed, #8 ranked North Carolina, 26-6, 15-5, in the semis. We won by 33 at home.

3/11: 91-92. They had us by 17 early in the 2nd then we came all the way back and took the lead three times. They had the last possession and got it to their best shooter who drained a 15 footer off a screen for the win. Tough loss.

20, 4 for sub C/F Stro Long, 17, 3 for Walk.

Matt Rell hurt his back. He’ll play limited minutes for two weeks or so if we’re still playing that long.

[Wayne23]

3/12: #1 West. We play #16 seed San Jose ST, 17-18.

3/17: 98-55. It was never a game. 20, 12 for Wane, 22, 3 for Grow, 19, 6 for Moye. +18 RBs, +32 in the paint.

#8 ranked South Carolina, 22-11, in the 2nd round. We won by 12 in December.

3/19: 87-67.

Jero Wane sprained his toe. He’ll be on limited minutes for as long as we’re playing in the post season, most likely. Fortunately, Rell will be ready for our next game.

#4 seed, #11 ranked UCLA, 28-8, in the Sweet Sixteen. We beat them by 19 early in the season. They’re 5-5 vs. ranked teams.

3/24: 91-81. We led all the way, by as many as 18. It was 15 at the half. 19, 11, 4 blocks for Wane, 17, 3 for Walk. +24 in the lane.

I like the way we’re playing so far.

#3 seed, #10 ranked Providence, 30-7, in the Elite Eight. Their C, like ours, is playing hurt.

3/26: 98-79. 17 lead changes, 10 ties. Up 4 at halftime. We broke it open in the 2nd, leading by as many as 29. 18, 5, 8 for Grow, 20, 7 for Wren, 17, 6 for Wane. +12 for the bench.

[Wayne23]

It’s #3 seed, #12 ranked Oregon ST, 32-4, in the national semifinal. They can play!

It’s Ohio ST vs. Pitt in the other game.

4/1: 81-60. We never trailed but they cut it to 3 by halftime. Then we started the 2nd on an 11-0 run and that was that. 16, 5, 2, 4 for Walk, 14, 8, 2, 4 for Wane, 18, 4 for Rell. +30 down low.

We’re playing really well. Need to do it one more time!

It’s #2 seed, #5 ranked Ohio ST, 32-7, in the title game. On paper we don’t match up well with them. But I like our chances if we play the way we’ve been playing.

4/3: 80-100. Well, we didn’t play the way we’d been playing. The only lead we had was 2-0. Their back court overwhelmed ours, and our bench was -18. 15, 7 for Rell, 15, 2, 4, 3
for Walk, 14, 10 for Wane. Not a good night but what can you do!