The Phenom

[Wayne23]

2/7: 89-79 in overtime. They take an early lead. I ramp up the D with 7 minutes left in the 1st. Up 2 at the half. OT. We're just not playing well. We were lucky to get to OT. We were behind 3 times in the final minute of regulation.

Huge game for Sulu, 27, 27, 3, and his usual solid D. 18, 3, 5, 3 steals for Cevi, 14, 7 for Palt, 12, 8, 3 for Beck.

+22 RBs, and that was a deciding factor, as it gave us 15 more shots than they took. They almost beat us with the three, hitting 15 of them. We were +11 at the line.

+28 in the paint, +11 on 2nd chances.

15-8, 6-5 Utah is here next. This is another team we should beat easily, but given the way we're playing lately...

[Wayne23]

2/10: 76-53. We take an early lead and get it to 12 after 10 minutes. Up 19 at the half. We controlled the 2nd half. This was one of our better defensive efforts.

Sulu led us with 30, 13, 4 steals, 5 blocks, and good D. 11, 11, 3 for Palt.

+14 RBs, 12 TOs. We took 14 more shots and made 13.

We held them to 32.8%, 31.8% on threes.

+24 in the paint.

2 up on #13 USC, 3 or more on the rest with 6 to play.

18-6, 8-4 Washington, tied for 3rd in the PAC 12 is here. We won by 9 there. They have a very strong back court and usually take good care of the ball.

We should have a big edge inside and we need to exploit that.

[Wayne23]

2/14: 92-67. We take the lead quickly and get it to 20. Up 23 at the half. We beat up on a good team.

27, 9 with 4 blocks for Sulu. 17, 14 for Palt, 16 for Cevi.

+9 RBs. We shot 50%, hit 7 more field goals, 13 more free throws.

+20 in the paint.

Lu and I went out to a really nice place for a late Valentine's day dinner. The women are still undefeated at 24-0; still #1 in the polls.

At 10-14, 3-10 Washington ST. We won by 39 at our place. This should be a blowout but it's a road game so...

[Wayne23]

2/17: 94-72. Took 6 1/2 minutes to get our 1st lead. Up 3 at the half. We ran away with it in the 2nd half.

Sulu led the way with 20 and 13. 21, 6 for Beck, 18, 3 for Cevi.

+14 RBs, 10 TOs.

+36 in the paint.

We are in deep, DEEP trouble. Starting SG Sadu Cevi is out for the season with a broken arm. Our starting backcourt is now gone for the season.

We're considering options, given that we have exactly 2 healthy guards.

We decide to go big and put Rico Beck at SG, Carson Mosh at SF.

At 17-10, 8-6 Stanford next. Beat them by 12 in Eugene. Let's see what the 4 big guys lineup can do.

[Wayne23]

2/21: 78-76 in overtime! We fall behind early. Then we're way behind. Down 11 at the half after a rally. OT! We trailed most of the way, by as many as 17 twice. We tied it late in regulation then won it on a buzzer beating inside shot by Sulu.

37, 19 for Sulu; hell of a game! No one else had more than 9.

A horrible 25 TOs. +11 RBs. We won it at the line, 28-17.

+12 in the paint, +14 on 2nd chances.

Not sure I'll keep Beck at SG, but I'll give it at least one more game.

Still 2 up on USC with 3 to play; they're here for the regular season finale.

20-7, 11-4 for UCLA, who's here next. We won by 10 there. This is a game we should win but given the situation at guard, who knows?

[Wayne23]

2/25: 98-63. We take our 1st lead with 9 to play in the 1st half. Then we stretch it out. Up 21 at the half. We looked really good tonight.

27, 11 for Sulu. 23, 10, 4 for Palt, 12, 6 for Mosh. Brian Evan, our sub guard, had 10, 4, 3.

+24 RBs and only 10 TOs. We shot 51.9%.

An amazing +46 in the paint, and +20 on 2nd chances.

2/26: 25-4, 15-1, #4, NET #1. Up 2 on #9 USC with 2 to play.

At Oregon ST. They're 9-18, 3-13, in last place in the conf. This is one we should win easily.

[Wayne23]

2/28: 79-70 but it wasn't that close. Took us awhile to get going. Up 14 at the half. We led by as many as 18 in the 2nd half.

Sulu led us with 21 and 12. 21, 7 for Palt, 16, 3, 6, 3 steals for Beck, and great D! He's certainly going to stay at the 2 spot for now. Back up guard Brian Evan played well, too.

+6 RBs but 18 TOs, 8 by our PG Evan Nash. I have no options at PG. Nash is simply going to need to get it together.

USC and UCLA both lost. We're 3 up on USC, 5 up on UCLA, and up 6 or more
on the rest.

#9 USC, 25-5, 13-4, is here for the season finale. In many ways it is a meaningless game, but in others it isn't. First, I'd like to kick their butts so that we have that going for us if we meet in the PAC 12 tourney finals, second, I'd like us to go into the post season with some momentum, and third, we need to play as well as we can with this new lineup, and with so few guards.

They're a good team, especially at PG, SF, and PF. We'll need to play well in this one.

[Wayne23]

3/3: 77-70. A real battle for most of the 1st half. Down 1 at the half. Early run near the beginning of the 2nd. We had to work for this one but I loved our determination.

Another terrific game for Sulu, 24 and 15 and he shut down his man. 11, 5, 5 for Beck, 13, 0, 4 for Nash, but 6 TOs.

+17 RBs, 12 TOs. We out shot them from the floor but again, we won it on the line, 21-10. +18 in the paint.

3/5: Red shirt frosh PG Keith Barr declares for the draft. Sorry to see him go but not surprised. He wasn't ready to play at the college level. I don't know how the pros will view him. Glad I have 3 PGs coming in. At least one of them simply HAS to be ready to start for us to be any good next season.

3/9: We play #9 seed Arizona, 12-19, 6-12, in the quarter finals. They took us to OT at their place. On paper we're the better team but we were lucky to win last time.

No idea how far this team can go in the post season with both starting guards out for the season with injuries. We're ranked #3, #1 in NET.

[Wayne23]

3/10: 75-83. As they did last time they take an early lead, and stretch it to double figures quickly. Then we come back. Down 7 at the half. Way down for much of the 2nd half. We trailed by 10-12 for most of the 2nd. They hammered us.

The only guy who played well was 6th man F/C Billy Rice, who had 30 and 15. We may start him. Gotta try something.

+7 RBs, but that was about the only bright spot. They shot 51.9% to our 43.1%. NOT a good night and it will drop us a spot or two in the big dance.

We're going to start Rice at SF for Mosh.

3/12: #7 seed vs. #9 seed in the PAC 12 final. #9 Arizona wins it.

Can we hope for a #1 seed? More likely a #2.

#1 South. Happy about this! We play #16 Southern, 19-13. Not the worst bracket...

[Wayne23]

3/17: 68-43. Too close for too long in the 1st half. We finally woke up. Up 22 at the half. Once we got going it was a romp. Terrific D!

Sulu led us with 15, 12, 3, 3, 3. 17, 5 for sub Car Mosh. Seems like both Mosh and Rice like coming in from the bench; Rice didn't do much as a starter though he does give us more on D. 16, 5 for Beck.

+8 RBs, 11 TOs. They shot 34.7%, we shot 50.8%.

The refs didn't call much which is a real asset for us with our short bench.

#9 seed Virginia, 22-10. in the 2nd round. We should win easily and be able to turn them over and dominate inside. But we'll see.

Arizona lost in the 2nd round. AZ ST and Washington both won in the NIT.