Wayne23

May 1 There have been some charges of “carpetbagger” right from the start. Since that’s my plan it’s tough to argue. I have publicly committed to be here for more than one season. Preseason #5 June 16 We grab SG Phil Kirk from the transfer pile. He looks very good. Now to get him eligible. June 26 6 scholarships. I’d like to get 4 guards. Lili is already looking at schools where she can get her veterinary medicine degree after she finishes the “pre-“ part here. At that point she will no doubt be away from us. August 7 We have 3 on the Norton list: SG Rob Burt #9, SF Rick Long #22, SF Marv Ward #44. Lou managed to transfer all of his credits here to UNC. He has one year to go to finish his Math B. A. August 21 We offer to 3 PGs, an SG, an SF, a PF. September 18 Got a PG and a PF. Lost an SF. We’re in the Coaches Classic so we’ll see how good we are right away. September 25 We’ve signed another PG, and SG, and a C. We lost a PG. We’ve offered our last to an SF. October 2 The SF has us at #1. First day of practice showed me we have some talent but we have work to do. Papa Joe, Lou, and Lili continue to plot regarding their new venture. No word to anyone else as yet. Kids are growing. Lili is 18, Lou soon to be 17, Ling is 9. Papa Joe and Sing’s kids, Khee is 10 and Mai Li is 7. They are all very bright, and all are interested in sophisticated subjects. Lili and Lou we’ve spoken about. Ling is a reader and a writer. She has already written a large collection of short stories about a cat who roams the world. Khee studies the stars and planets, deeply. He emails with some of the leading astronomers, and he works with the science people in “CoolSmart.”. Mai Li is a musician. Music is her life. She plays violin seriously, piano and guitar for fun. She has a great singing voice. Sing is Sing. She is old fashioned and domestic, and she loves taking care of all of us. We could certainly afford a cook but she insists on making all of our meals, and is a terrific cook. We do have some inside help with cleaning and such but she’s on it. October 9 We get the SF, so if everyone hits our SAT score we’re done. November 6 We’re going with a 6 man rotation and hoping for no serious injuries. We are very short of guards. Only one true guard in the rotation, SG Rob Burt. He’s at 2, and will play some PG. SF Jeff Ledd is our PG, and he’ll play some 2 and some 3. SF Rick Long starts at 3, plays some PG, and maybe a little SG. SF Marv Ward starts at PF and plays some SF. PF John Young is our C. Ed Jeps is a PF and he’ll play 4 and 5. That’s it. We have commitments from 2 PGs, an SG, an SF who handles the ball like a guard, a PF, and a C. And we have Phil Kirk, an outstanding SG who transferred in from California. This year we’ll do what we can. Burt, Long, and Ward are seniors, as is walk on Rey Smith who will play if we have injuries.

March 10 All the favorites won so we play #7 seed Wash. ST, 18-12. We beat them by 18 at our place. 65-32. 23, 5, 5, 2 for Ty Fitz. Ty Robb was in foul trouble all night and got the collar, but our bench came up big. Too many TOs again, 17, but +19 RBs. UCLA won by only 3, but they won. It’s #3 seed Arizona, 19-9, in the semifinal round. We won by 17 in the regular season. March 11 63-69, which may knock us down to a 2 seed. We fell behind, then way behind, 58-41. We came back but the mountain was too high. 17 TOs, -3 RBs. Not a good night. Now we see where we go and how high. As I think more about it I think there’s still a chance of being a #1 seed. We’re 27-4 against tough competition. There’s also the fact that Michigan ST also lost in their semifinal, as did #5 Kentucky. March 12 A couple of other high ranking teams lost today. Let’s see what happens. #1 in the East which is a very pleasant surprise. Frankly, UCLA should have gotten this, but they didn’t even get #1 Midwest, Michigan ST got that. UCLA is #1 West. Minnesota is #1 South. March 16 We play 15-17 Akron. 73-55. 27, 5, 6 for Fitz, 21, 12, 2 for Reed. 7 TOs, +5 on the boards. We didn’t shoot well. Next is 20-10 Iowa, a good outside shooting team. March 19 61-53. Great 1st half but we were sleep walking for most of the 2nd. I emptied my bench at one point. 14 each for Ty Robb and Sal Reed. We’re going to need to play a whole lot better if we hope to keep playing. #12 seed Western Carolina, 25-8, upset UMass so they’re next. They haven’t played many good teams. 2 #1 seeds left, us and UCLA. March 24 67-58. 16, 12, 6 for Robb, 20, 4, 2, 2, 3 for Ty Fitz, 18, 4 for Sal. 10 TOs, but I still haven’t seen our best effort. UCLA won by 1. For the third time this season it’s New Mexico. They beat us in OT early, then we beat them by 13. March 26 78-61. We finally played well. I saw energy and fight. 22, 3, 4 for Fitz, 14, 10 for Reed. Robb was in foul trouble again, but Lem Hay, playing out of position, had 10 and 10, so 5 guys in double figures. It will be #2 seed, #5 ranked Kentucky, 29-6. They have a very solid outside game. We think we’re better inside and we’ll need to be. On the other side it's #1 seed #3 ranked UCLA vs. #3 seed, #13 ranked UConn. April 1 61-60. A VERY narrow escape, but we’re in the final game! We got down by as many as 16 in the 2nd half. With about 11 minutes left I called my next to last time out. I made one small change on D and one big change on O. On D we just played a little more 3-2 to stop the outside shot. On O we decided to have our guards drive on theirs since their guards were in some foul trouble. It worked. We fouled out their PG and their back up PG, and we chipped away. The only lead we had in the entire 2nd half came with .8 seconds left when Ed Dove hit a three. +2 TOs, - 7 RBs. Our guards and Sal got the points. I’ll take it! For a long time I thought that destiny would have us play UCLA for the title if we got that far. Destiny had other plans. It’s #13 seed UConn. They crushed UCLA, 77-61. They shoot very well outside but they are simply not that strong inside. If we are too win this title we need to hold their outside game in check and win the inside battle handily. April 3 81-69. My 5th title at my 3rd university. We hit a 2 to open the game. UConn then hit a three. We got the next 9 and never trailed again. 22, 7 for Sal Reed, who led the way in scoring all year. Ty Robb had 9, 8, 4, 2 in his last college game and Ty Fitz had 11, 5, 3 in his last game. 17 TOs but it didn’t matter. +14 RBs did. April 4 Awards: Sal Reed was NCAA Final Four MOP. I was national coach of the year. Ty Robb made 2nd team All American. In conf. Ty Robb made 1st team, Sal Reed made 2nd. April 9 We’re going to North Carolina. “Blade, how many more moves?” “Mai, this is a great school for you. I want to win a title there then go to a place that has four seasons. One more move after this one.” “Promise?” “Yes, next stop after UNC is our final destination.” “Fine.” April 11 “I’m NOT going!” “Why not, Ling?” “When Strawberry comes back I need to be here.” April 12 “I’m NOT going!” “Why not Lili?” “It’s stupid. If you win the title in one year we move again? I need to be in the same place 2 years to finish my bachelor’s. Nope, not going.” “Okay. We’ll stay a minimum of two years.” “Hmm.” April 13 “Alvin, I’m not so sure I want to go to Chapel Hill.” “Why not, Papa Joe?” “I am very tired of moving, and I am getting old.” Man! April 15 Not to be believed. Ling and Lili were both yelling, calling my name. Extremely scary in view of the abduction. I ran to them in the kitchen. In Ling’s arms was … Strawberry! She looked pretty beat up but not seriously hurt. “I heard something scratching at the door and when I looked it was Strawberry!” “That’s amazing, Ling!” “I told you she’d come back. You didn’t believe me but here she is.” “Full of ticks and fleas I’ll bet. We’ll clean her up and make an appointment to get her to a vet right away.” “Dr. Ferguson is my friend. I’ll call and she’ll take Strawberry today or tomorrow.” “Okay Lili, I’ll leave it to you.” There were a lot of questions but no answers as to how Strawberry had managed to survive in the wild from late January until mid-April. “Okay, Dad, I can go with you now.” “Thanks Ling.” “Yeah, I guess me too, as long as we’re there at least two years.” “I already promised. Now convince your grandfather.” “He’ll go if I do, I’m sure.” I left two days later and thankfully, the whole family would follow. April 17 I was inheriting a team that finished ranked #8, got to the Sweet 16, and was not losing a starter to graduation. Don’t know if anyone declared, or if anyone would transfer. First job is to hire new assistants. Got three I really like. All younger guys who will no doubt move up and away quickly. April 23 We have more than enough money. I ask for a facilities upgrade. Nope. 29 years as a head coach and I’m 773-216, .782. This will be my ninth school, and hopefully the 4th I bring to a national championship. I am told that Strawberry and Bluey are getting along just fine. Papa Joe says he’s not building here. He’ll look for a property that will meet our needs. Security is the biggest issue. Ready for a new challenge!

February 5 65-41 over USC here. 14, 10, 2 for Robb, 12, 11, 5, 3 for Ferd, 6, 10 for Sal. +23 on the boards. 64-68 at UCLA. We got down 19 and had to try to get back in. We got as close as 2 four times but couldn’t get over the hump. WE just didn’t stop the three, they got 16 of them. 17 for Ed Dove but he fouled out, as did his back up Ron Bing. We’re tied with UCLA at 10-1 but they’ll get the #1 seed if we wind up tied. All we can do is try to keep winning and hope that they don’t. This week we’re at 15-9, 5-6 Colorado. We won by 18 at our place. They’re 9-2 at home. Then we host last place Oregon ST. We won by 17 there. Ling won’t hear of a new kitten. “He’s coming back!” February 12 70-52 at Colorado. 15, 8 for Fred Jann and another team effort. Back home we beat Oregon ST 67-38. 20, 8, 3, 2 for Robb. 8TOs, 39 RBs. Still tied with UCLA at 12-1, 4 or more ahead of the rest. We’re now ranked #1, RPI #1. This week 2 on the road. First is 12-12, 6-7 Cal., then 9-15, 6-7 Stanford. Cal is 11-1 at home. Ling is still waiting for Strawberry to return. It’s sad to watch. February 19 Missed opportunity, UCLA lost but so did we. 70-64 over Cal., despite 21 TOs, lots of foul trouble. 19, 11, 3 for Robb, 18, 7 for Sal Reed, 11, 5, 3 for Lem Hay from the bench. +17 RBs made up for the -9 TOs. Then we lost at Stanford, 61-70. We didn’t play good D. They shot 50%, 48% on threes (12). Ty Fitz fouling out didn’t help either. So we remain tied with UCLA with one to play. We host 11-16, 4-11 Arizona ST. We won by 23 there. UCLA hosts USC, a team they should be, especially at home. Lili suggested to Ling that she get a new kitten “to keep Strawberry company when she comes back.” Brilliant suggestion and Ling went for it. February 26 76-40 but as expected UCLA won as well so we’ll be the #2 seed in the PAC 12 tourney. 7 of our guys had between 9 and 15 points. 10 TOs, 40 RBs. Going into the post season we’re 26-3, 14-2, ranked #2 behind Michigan ST, RPI #1. Ling is enthralled with the new kitten, which she named Bluey, for no apparent reason. She still talks about Strawberry, but less and less. Lili has been accepted at all of the colleges to which she applied, and to the Vet program in all of them as well. Wherever she winds up she will be a first semester Junior. March 5 Not surprised to learn that Ty Fitz is going pro. That leaves us with only 2 returning guards but we have 3, hopefully 4 if we get the last one, coming in.

January 1 68-50 over Colorado. 7 scored between 6 and 15 points. 4 TOs. At 5-7, 0-1 Oregon ST this week, then home with 7-5, 1-0 California. January 8 A 2 win week and a disaster for the team. Glen Hix, our starting Power Forward, tore his ACL. Out for the season. Fred Jann will step in but we’re thin up front. 61-44 at Oregon ST. 4 in double figures. 7 TOs, 42 RBs. 64-56 over Cal at home. 13, 16 for Ty Robb, 14, 10, 4, 3, 2 for Ty Fitz, 16, 5, 2 for Sal, 9, 7, 3 for Ferd, who stepped in for Glen Hix. Hix was hurt midway through the first half. 6-8, 3-0 Stanford comes to town, then we travel to 9-6, 2-1 Arizona ST. January 15 62-48 over Stanford before the home folks. 19, 6 for Fitz. 9, 5, 2 for Ferd in his first start. +6 TOs, +7 RBs. Then we beat Arizona ST there, 85-62. 23, 11, 4, 3 for Robb, 21, 7, 5 for Fitz, 15, 6, 2 for Sal. 8, 5 for Ferd, who’s looking comfortable in his new role. 8 TOs, +5 on the boards. We’re alone in 1st. Stanford and UCLA are 1 back. 2 at home this week, #17 Arizona, 11-5, 3-2, and 11-7, 2-3 Washington ST. January 22 82-65 over Arizona here. 22, 6, 4 for Ed Dove. We had some fairly major foul trouble but our bench came through, especially Ron Bing woth 14, 2, 3. 9 TOs, 36 RBs. 69-51 with Wash. ST. Ron Bing is really playing well as our 6th man; 11 tonight. For the 2nd time this year the team had 4 TOs. We now average 10.5. On the road this week. First we’re at 11-7, 4-3 Washington, then at 6-13, 1-6 Utah. Lili tells me that all of the applications are out. January 29 73-55 at Wash. 24, 8, 3 for Fitz, good games all around. 10 TOs, +6 on the boards. Then it was 61-42 at Utah. 14, 16 for Ty Robb. Ty Robb is #7 on the Norton list, Sal Reed #12, Ty Fitz #25. Home with 11-9, 5-4 USC, then at #3 ranked, 18-4, 8-1 UCLA. This is the biggest challenge on the conf. schedule and they’re only 1 game back of us. Most important is to keep my guys focused on USC or we’ll get surprised. I’ll worry about UCLA after that. Ferd Jann is doing a good job for us at PF. Not quite matching Hix's numbers but close. The problem is that we are very thin up front. We go with three guards often and that will hurt us against some teams. Major tear fest at home. Ling’s cat somehow managed to get out three nights ago. It hasn’t come back. We live on the edge of some heavily wooded land and I have no doubt that poor little Strawberry wound up as a meal for something or other. We’ll get Ling another kitten in a few days.

November 20 #7 seed in the preseason NIT. We beat #10 Kansas 70-48. Ed Dove led us from the SG spot, with 19, 8, 3. 17, 3, 3, 2 for Glen Hix at PF. 14. 8 for Sal Reed from SF. Back up guard Ron Bing banged up a wrist. #15 seed Ball State upset #2 FL so they were next. 64-31. They shot 20.7%, 3-26 from long range. 20, 10, 3, 2, 2 for Ty Robb at C. 13, 10 for Sal. 7, 7 for Ferd Jann from the bench. 8 TOs, 43 RBs. #3 seed, #12 ranked New Mexico in the semifinal. They can play. Excellent at C and very good outside. 82-83 in OT. 25 lead changes, 13 ties. They had the ball last and they hit the shot. Our top three guards were called for 13 fouls. 23, 8, 2 for Sal, 19, 5, 2 for SG Ed Dove, 8, 16, 3 for Ty Robb at C. They won at the line. They took 36 foul shots, we took 24. I managed not to get T’d up because it was too close, but I was right on the line. All of our recruits signed LOIs. This week we host both #23 Maryland and Oklahoma. November 27 2-0 this week but barely. An easy win over Maryland, 84-54. 18, 9 for Sal Reed, who is off to a great start at SF. 16, 7 for Ty Robb, 12, 11, 3 for Ferd Jann from the bench. We had some foul trouble but he stepped in and really played well. 8 TOs, 39 RBs. Then Oklahoma almost beat us, 68-66. We got it to Sal Reed and he hit a 17 footer with less than a second to go. He had 21, 9, another great game. 13, 12, 2 for Ty, 12 for Ed Dove. After 5 games we’re 4-1. +17.2 Points per game, +6.2 RBs, +0.4 TOs, but I’m happy with 11.6 per game. Ranked #10. This week we’re at #3 New Mexico ST, then at Florida. Definitely will be a challenging week! Kittens are growing. They’re 3 and ½ months old or so. They still rule the roost here but Lili has started inviting friends over again. Pepper sleeps with her and never gives her any chance to do anything not involving Pepper! Lili loves it. Papa Joe says Lili is worth an enormous amount of money even though she now donates almost all her share of the profits from “CoolSmart” to Feed the Hungry. “CoolSmart” is making huge amounts of money, and because papa Joe also plows most of his profits into FtH, hungry people are being fed, and when necessary, sheltered. He will give no hints but he says that he, Lili, and Lou are working up something new. Papa Joe just turned 70 but he certainly doesn’t appear to be slowing down. Sing feels his life is in balance though. He loves his children and spends lots of time with him and he seems to be very attentive to Sing. Mai and I continue to be very close. The near loss of two of our children made us realize more than ever how precious family truly is. We knew that, but now we really know it. December 4 Another 2 win week. We beat #3 New Mexico ST there, 55-48. That is the definition of a big win! Sal had 14, Ed 13, but 4, 11, 3, 2, 1 by Ty was huge. He also held NMS’s very good C in check. +5 RBs but 17 TOs; +4 but I didn’t like it. Then we went to FL and won 72-59. 19 each for Sal and PG Ty Fitz. Solid team effort and +12 boards. 2 at home this week, #11 Duke, and LSU. Duke is tough inside, LSU is tough outside. December 11 Another 2 win week. Duke came to town and took us all the way to the finish but once again, Sal Reed got the final shot and once again he hit it, 72-70. 17 for Sal, and 7 other guys did their job. 9 TOs. Then we went to LSU and won 74-63. Huge game for Ty, 23, 18, 2, 3, 1. 15, 2, 3 for Ty, 9, 9, 4, 2 for Sal. 11 TOs, 43 RBs. We’re 8-1, our only loss in OT, and ranked #4, RPI #4. We’re in the conversation about the best teams in the NCAA. #25 Cincinnati and Indiana both come to town this week. December 14 Pepper has the sniffles and sneezes and Lili has become a full time care giver. Pepper is taking full advantage, too. December 18 68-47 over Cincy but Ed Dove strained a knee and is out for 2 weeks. Ron Bing will move into his spot and Doug Myre will be 1st guard off the bench. Injuries happen. 22, 8 for Sal, 14 for Ferd, 9 TOs, 42 RBs. 61-57 over Indiana. We got the lead to 16 with about 10 min. left, then we fell asleep. They got it to 2, but we got it back to 8 before they took it down to the final margin. Ron Bing had 13, 3, 1, and Doug Myre 6, 2, 3 stepping in for the injured Ed Dove. 12 and 14 for Ty, 12. 6 for Glen Hix. 8,7, 5, 2 for Sal despite being doubled most of the time. 10 TOs, 38 RBs. #8 New Mexico, the only team to beat us, is here this week. Then we travel to #15 UConn. Strange as it seems I think UConn may be the tougher game, but neither will be easy, and Ed will not play in either game. December 25 I was right about which game was tougher but we won both. 72-59 over New Mexico. We led all the way after the first 5 min. or so. All 5 starters in double figures, 7, 4, 1 for Ferd. Ty Fitz led us with 16, 7, 5 from the Point. (Just realize I have two starters named Ty. I am fit to be Ty’ed!) It was a war at UConn, 58-55. They had an open three at the end for the tie but it rolled out. This one was about defense. They forced 18 TOs on us, and I said it that way for a reason. They really played well outside. But our inside guys, including Ferd, had 42, and that got us through. Also, we were +9 on the boards. It’s good to be tested, and better when you’re tested and win! #2 in the country in the latest poll. Behind only Michigan ST and ahead of them in RPI, we’re #1 there. Colorado is here this week to begin conf. play. The holiday was really great, the happiest day imaginable, given what we’ve all been through. That evening I was going over some game tapes when Lili came into my home office. “Hi Dad.” “Hi Lili.” I paused the tape, and moved to a chair not facing the TV so she’d know she had my attention and that I wasn’t impatient to get back to work. The psychologists told us how important that kind of thing is. “It was a nice day wasn’t it.” “Yes it was, hon. I think the cats made out best.” (Laughs) “Yeah. I want to ask you something.” “Go ahead.” “How would you feel about me becoming a vet?” “… That would be great… but it would mean going to an actual campus. Lots of stuff you couldn’t take on line.” “I know.” “Did Pepper suggest this to you?” (Laughs) “No, but he made me realize how much I love animals. I’ve been doing some research. I could do about 2 to 2 ½ years on line before going on campus. I already have those credits if the school will take them, and most schools will take just about all of them.” “We may not be here next year.” “I know, mom told me.” “So…” “So. I’ve been trying to figure where you might go next-” “Ha! I don’t have a clue about that yet.” “I know, but if the goal is to win titles at 5 different schools, if you get one here this year that’s three. I’m guessing you’ll go somewhere where you can get #4 quickly, and then mose to a place where you can finish your career.” “Wow, you’re really giving this some thought.” “Yes. That and the fact that it has to be a place where mom can lead a top flight team in her field, so it really narrows it down to about 6-8 schools.” “Sounds about right but-” “Trust me, 8 tops. Anyway, I’m applying to all of them.” “You really want this!” “I think one of my problems was that I never really, really wanted something. I’ve loved working on the projects with Papa Joe and now Lou, and we do hugely important stuff. I’ll, probably keep on with that. But it wasn’t my passion. I think working with animals is.” “I’m delighted!” “Oh, I’m applying at Oregon too, just in case.” “I couldn’t be happier. We’ll work out the security much better this time.” “I know. I’m not even worried about that.” What a great conversation. My little girl- I know, not so little any more, is back!

June 9 Preseason #8. We looked at the transfer pool but no fish worth trolling for. June 26 And we’re off! We need guards. Great news about Lili. If she continues to make the kind of progress she has been making she can come home in a month. Mai and I and the kids are visiting every 2-3 days, and Papa Joe is still there every day, sometimes with a kid or two along. Lili now has the use of a computer for two one hour periods a day. That is tied to her active participation in group therapy. She hasn’t lost the computer privilege once in the past three weeks. July 31 Lili’s been home for a week. She’s kind of acclimating. Part of the deal was that she spend no more than 4 hours a day on the computer. She also needs to socialize- it can be with any of us. The first few days it was with her siblings and with Papa Joe’s kids mostly. She also needs to go to a group therapy session twice a week back at the facility, and one individual session so that’s an hour each way in the car three times a week. She goes with Papa Joe and sometimes brings one of the kids along. She seems to really enjoy her time with the kids. She’s fine with Mai and me but more comfortable with the kids, and, as always, with Papa Joe. August 7 6 on the Norton list: SF Sal Reed #13, PG Ty Fitz #20, PG Ed Dove #33, PF Ferd Jann #38, PG Ron Bing #43, PF Ty Robb #44. August 21 Offered to mostly guards. August 31 Lili continues to do well. She has some ups and downs, thankfully, because the experts tell us that if she seemed to be up all the time that would be worrisome. I don’t think she’ll ever be the life of the party, outgoing type, but she seems comfortable with all of us. A couple of times she has invited friends over, people she knows from group therapy or from the facility. We encourage that (gently). Lou is doing a Bachelor’s on line. He’s not very social either but he has a couple of friends he has over now and then. The three younger children all seem to be normal, if brighter than average, kids. September 18 We have an SG and an SF committed. We’re in the preseason NIT. Everyone pre-conf. is ranked and 3 ranked in conf. October 2 We’re strong and deep. Strong and deep enough to make a run for the title? Not sure yet. Lili has an occasional bad day, and, as I’ve said before that’s more a good thing than a bad. Her meds are down to just low doses and only two meds. The plan is to wean her off of them completely, thankfully. I tell her it’s okay to feel down now and then, “Just be who you are, Lili. No one is happy all the time.” We’re picked 2nd to UCLA in conf. October 14 We’ve never been a pet family but Mai brought home three kittens yesterday, one for each of our kids. It’s really about a pet for Lili, of course, and she was happy than I’ve ever seen her. Fortunately the kitten took to her immediately. October 26 Oh my goodness. Kittens everywhere. But well worth it. Lili’s kitten, Pepper, has transformed her. The kitten even sits on her keyboard to get her attention, and Lili laughs hysterically. The therapists are thrilled. If something- anything, can take her from the computer without her becoming angry, that’s a great sign of progress. October 31 We’re #6 in the latest polls. November 6 We have a lineup, but lots of wiggle room. Except for Ty Robb at C, everything is up for grabs. I’m starting Ty Fitz and Ed Dove at guard, but Ron Bind and Doug Myre will get minutes. Sal Reed at 3, Glen Hix at 4, but Ferd Jann will get minutes. There are guys further down the bench who may also get a look. The lineup might look very different come spring! November 14 Kitten corner is still in full swing, and it’s expanding. Papa Joe and Sing had two get a kitten for each of their two kids. This has done more for Lili than anything else since the whole horror started- for Lou as well. He’s in love with his kitten, too. Sometimes you take a shot in the dark and it works out beautifully.

March 8 Lili is in the new facility. It’s a bit further from us but this has to be. March 10 All the favorites won in the play in round so we face UCLA, 17-13, #6 seed in the quarters. We won by 12 at our place. Mike Kidd is 100%. 75-46. They doubled Mike all night, which made no sense after a certain point. He had 2, 14, 2, 1, 6. 20 for Ron Bing at SG, 19, 6 for Em Spar, 19, 5, 5 for Keb Law. 7 TOs, 41 RBs.#2 seed, #7 ranked, 23-5 California in the semis. They beat us twice in the regular season. March 11 68-73. 22, 14, 4 for Mike, 13, 5, 2 for Glen, 12 for Keb, but 19 TOs (-11). +10 RBs. This team seems to have our number. March 12 Selection time. #2 in the South. Guess who’s #1? Yep, Temple. March 13 Lili is back to being uncommunicative, even with Papa Joe. He goes anyway and just sits there. “She will come around. She’s been through so much that it will take a very long time, or maybe it will happen all at once. It is difficult to say. When I go I speak with here, tell her about our companies, and about my kids and her brother and sister. I ask her questions which she ignores, and I just sit and look at here. Sometimes she turns away, sometimes not. I kiss her on the forehead when I arrive and when I leave. I am not an expert but I do not think she will try to kill herself again. The first two attempts caused her pain, suffering and grief. She was violently ill for many hours from the overdose.” March 17 We start against ODU. They’re 18-14. 73-49. I know that team very well, which may have helped. Of course their staff knows me just as well. 29, 16, 3, 2, 3 for Mike, 12, 5, 3 for Keb, 14 for Glen. 11 TOs, 40 RBs. Next up is 20-11 Tennessee. Finished 3rd in conf. and lost in the title game. They can play, especially inside. March 19 66-54 and we’re in the Sweet Sixteen. It was close through the 1st half. We made some adjustments and it was 33-19 in the 2nd. Mike Kidd played 24 minutes due to fouls. He had 9, 8, 3, 1, 2 but we need him in there. 19, 6 for Ron Bing. It’s Iowa in the Sweet 16. Amazingly enough, in all 4 brackets the top 4 made it to this round. That is extremely unusual. #3 seed, #14 ranked Iowa, 25-8, finished 2nd in conf., but lost in the 1st round. Their Center, arguably their best player, tore his ACL in their last game. We think we can turn them over and with their big guy out we should be able to do well inside. March 24 67-51. You never wish an injury on the other guys and we certainly didn’t, but at the same time, if it happens you try to take advantage. RBs were 46-24. Our guards did the scoring. It was close for the 1st half but we put it away early in the 2nd. We’re in the Elite Eight which is certainly more than I expected in my first season here. Wouldn’t you know we play #1 in the country, Temple. I wish I didn’t have to play this team. I still have genuine affection for the players and for the staff, two of whom were my assistants. But that’s who we’re playing so we’ll do our best to beat them. They finished 1st in their conf., and won the tourney. They’re 31-4, and haven’t lost since Jan. 17. They can do it all, score, rebound, play D, take care of the ball. The only hope we have is to disrupt them, not let them do what they want to do. In the Elite Eight are 7 of the 8 favorites. Amazing! March 26 55-61. We really put a scare into them. In the end they were too deep. Their bench got 17, ours got 5.The two Centers neutralized each other as did the two PFs. Really, it was the bench. They stopped Keb and that’s what they needed to do. We were -3 TOs, +1 RBs. It was a good game. We did all we could. Mike Kidd has played his last game for us and he will definitely be missed. We’re also losing starter Em Spar, our PF, and our 6th man, Keb Law. People have said all year that we were over rated. We finished the season at #9 and made it to the round of 8. Any questions? March 28 And once again, Lili seems to be doing better. We’re afraid to hope at this point. I am strongly considering dropping in on her. The staff at the facility is asking me to wait a bit. They don’t know her that well yet. April 4 I didn’t go to the Final Four. It was in Atlanta and I didn’t want to be that far away. Lili is still doing well, and Lou seems to be doing much better though he still has some fears. He has been in psychotherapy and he says it is definitely helping. They won’t tell us anything other than that he’s working really hard. Anyway, #1 Temple and #2 Duke were both upset in the round of four. In the final #5 Kentucky beat #11 North Carolina by 5. The upsets all came late in this tourney. Awards: Mike Kidd made 1st team All American. In conf., Mike was POY, Defensive POY, and 1st team. Glen Hix made 2nd team. April 9 I’m not going anywhere but there sure are some high powered jobs available this year. “Blade, win your championship next year so we can get out of here. Too many terrible memories.” If I had known Mai felt that way I might have taken one of those jobs. April 23 I asked for a facilities upgrade. Our facilities are not great. Got it. Went from B- to B+. After 28 seasons I’m at 740-212, .777. April 28 Haven’t said anything about Lili for a month because I’ve had my fingers crossed. She’s been doing well, really well, for a long time now. I went to the facility this morning. I did it with their permission. I got there before her first session. She’s actually been going to everything she’s supposed to go to. I walked to her room and just stood in the door. She eventually looked up, saw me and… after the shock wore off started to sob, almost hysterically. I waited a few seconds then gambled. I walked to her, sat on her bed, and took her in my arms. She melted into them and continued to cry. After a bit I said, “We just want you back. Nothing else matters. We love you very much, we know that you’ve been through absolute hell. We just want you back.” The crying continued. Eventually she slowed, then stopped. The therapist who works most closely with her was just outside the door. I spent at least an hour with Lili. We talked about nothing important, just talked. When I got ready to go l said, “Nothing would make your mother and I happier than to have your okay to come and visit you, hopefully often.” “I- I want to go home.” “We want that too, Lili, very much. That’s up to the people here. Keep doing what you’re doing and I hope it won’t be long. Can we visit?” She nodded that we could.

February 5 A 2 win week puts us in a 3 way tie for 1st with Arizona and Cal. We beat USC 80-63 there. 20 for Ron Bing at SG, 15 for Em Spar at SF, 11, 7, 2, 2, 3 for Mike, who had 4 fouls and played only 24 min. 12 TOs, 33 RBs. Then we came home and beat #25 UCLA 58-46. 14, 5 for Glen Hix at PF, 11, 9, 2, 3 for Mike Kidd. 10 TOs, 32 RBs. Return matches with Colorado here and Oregon ST there. We beat Colorado 75-59 last time, and Oregon ST 63-30. Papa Joe sees Lili every single day. He says she is up and down, but not as deeply down as she was. There are still topics that he must either avoid or tread lightly upon. February 12 An opportunity missed as we go 1-1 this week. 63-42 over Colorado here. 20, 9, 4, 2, 1 for Mike but 4 fouls again, 20 and 4 for Glen, 10, 6 for Keb Law from the bench. 9 TOs, 34 RBs. Then we went to Ore. ST and stunk the place up, 48-53. We shot 28.9%and their bench outscored ours 24-8. This is a game we should not have lost. We’re 21-5, 10-3, alone in 3rd, 1 back of Arizona and Cal. This week we’re at home for 2, first against #10 Cal, 19-5, 11-2. They beat us by 16 there. Then it’s 13-11, 8-5 Stanford and they beat us by 19 there. Two challenges. February 19 We assured ourselves of 3rd place by losing at home vs. Cal., 64-72. We shot 33.3% and gave up 11 threes. 19, 20, 6 for Mike, 18, 8 for Keb, but it wasn’t enough. We beat Stanford 69-46. 17, 7 for Mike who was in foul trouble again, 14, 4, 6 for Glen, 10, 6, 3 for Em, 7, 14 from the bench from Ty Robb and 12 from Keb Law. We’re going to put Mike Kidd at PF for about 6-8 minutes a game to see if his fouls go down. Keb Law is already in the game at the critical moments but now he will play more minutes than any other guard we have. We are 2 games back of 1st (AZ and CA are tied for 1st) and 2 up on 4th. One to play. We travel to last place Arizona ST. February 26 62-44 over AZ ST. Mike Kidd bruised his sternum and will probably miss at least one game of the conf. tourney. He played only 17 min. tonight, getting hurt with seconds left in the half. We rallied the troops. 15, 4 for Em, 9, 9 for Glen, 10, 6 for Ty, who got Mike’s minutes. March 3 Lili OD’ed at the facility last night. She’d been “cheeking” her meds, saving them up. She took too many, fortunately, and wound up violently ill. She is in the hospital. We are moving her to a different facility when she gets out. We’re not blaming anyone but she fooled these people too easily. March 5 No one is leaving for the NBA draft. Mike Kidd healed more quickly than expected. He will be in the lineup for our first Pac 12 tourney game.

January 8 A 1-1 week. Doug Myre got hurt (ankle) in our 63-30 win here over Oregon ST. He’s out for about 2 weeks. 13 each for Kidd, Law, and Spar, and Mike had 13 RBs as well. 9 TOs, 42 RBs. I went on the two game road trip. At #14 Cal we lost 50-66. 29 TOs. Need I say more? This week we’re at 7-7, 2-1 Stanford, and home against 8-7, 1-2 Arizona ST. January 15 And 1-1 again this week. 54-73 at Stanford. 20 TOs, -5 RBs. Mike Kidd was held to 3 points. Only Keb Law, 21, 4, had more than 6. We shot 31%. Much better at home against Arizona ST, 71-56. 28, 14 for Mike, 13, 2, 4 for Keb. 7 TOs. I don’t understand why we can take care of the ball at home but not on the road. Oh well, we’re working on it. This week 2 on the road. At 11-5, 4-1 Arizona, and then to 7-9, 2-3 Washington ST. At this point I plan to travel with the team. When I do we always have the family Lear Jet on standby to take me home if need be. I think my relationship with Mai is stronger and closer than ever. We have always been close but all of the recent events have drawn us even closer to each other. Papa Joe says Lili only gets out of bed to use the bathroom. She’s on a hunger strike, too. The staff watches as she takes her meds, and as she drinks, which they insist upon. They are not forcing her to eat, or to go to therapy yet. She talks with Papa Joe but mostly cries about how miserable she is. Staff tells him to support her and to very gently try to convince her to cooperate but if she is resistant, to just drop it. They continue to say that she will come around in time. He visits every day. January 22 A terrific week in hoops! 2 road wins put us at 16-4, 5-2, tied for 3rd, 1 back of Stanford, 2 back of Cal., ranked #5, RPI #5. We beat a good Arizona team, there, 66-50. Still too many turnovers, 16, but we played outstanding D and shot well. Mike played 7 minutes (!) due to fouls but we won without him, which makes it even better in some ways. 14, 10 for Ty Robb from the bench, 9, 6, 2 for Em Spar at PF, and our guards played well. Then it was 54-45 at Wash. ST. We played great D again. I was very pleased with 7 TOs, and we were +8 on the boards. 12, 9 for Mike, 5, 12 for Em. 2 at home this week, 9-9, 4-3 Washington and then 5-5, 1-6 Utah. I got home to the news from Papa Joe that Lili is eating and that her conversations with him are definitely more upbeat. She agreed to “try” to go to individual counseling, and maybe most importantly, she cried in his arms. January 29 2 more wins. 18-4, 7-2, tied for 2nd, 1 back of Cal., #4, RPI #4. Mike Kidd is #2 on the Norton list. 80-56 over Wash. Foul trouble again for Mike Kidd. He’s trying to do too much; we’re working with him. As a senior he should know better. 17 for Keb, 16 each for Glen Hix and Lem Hay. +6 on the boards but 14 TOs. Then we beat Utah 58-46. 28, 13 for Mike. When he stays out of foul trouble he’s all but unstoppable. 16, 8, 2 for Glen. +17 RBs but 17 TOs. Frustrating. This week it’s at 8-12, 3-6 USC, then at home for #25, UCLA, 13-9, 6-3. Lili saw Lou and Ling this week and Papa Joe says she was really happy to spend time with them. There was lots of laughter. Small steps, but important ones. Some of it’s the “happy juice” no doubt, but she needs that right now. Papa Joe says she isn’t saying much about individual therapy but did say, “It’s hard, but it’s probably good for me.” We haven’t spoken with her since the abduction, which is very hard and both of us.

December 4 Another 1-1 week. We lost a squeaker to #21 New Mexico there, 72-75. Poor shooting again. We took 11 more shots but only made one more. +8 RBs. I don’t like giving up 75 points but the 2nd half was a shootout, 44-51. Then we came home and beat #8 Creighton 66-56. 24, 12, 3 for Mike. We were down by as many as 12 in the 1st half but the 2nd was ours. At UConn and home to #14 Oklahoma this week. We’re giving more minutes to Keb Law at guard. December 11 A 2 win week- barely. 70-69 over UConn there. Lem Hay hit a 3 at the buzzer for the win. 1st bad night ball handling, 17 TOs. Then we came home and beat#14 Oklahoma 72-50[B][/b]. We led all the way. 16, 13, 5, 1, 4 for Mike. 16 TOs. Not happy with the last 2 games in that category. This week it’s at #17 Cincinnati, and home with #18 Indiana. We’re 8-2, ranked #8, RPI #12. We lose a recruit but looking at four guys for two spots. December 18 Another 2-0 week. We beat #17 Cincinnati there, 64-54. Our front court dominated theirs, 36, 16, 6 to 15, 13, 4. 16 TOs again. We’re working on it. Back home for a 59-48 win over #18 Indiana. 15, 10, 2, 3, 1 for Mike. 15 TOs so it’s not getting much better. A one game week, LSU here. I’m talking mostly about basketball but I’m spending a lot of time with Lou, Ling and Mai. Family is vital right now, and far more important than basketball. I’m doing my job, but I am delegating a lot more than usual to my three very competent assistants. December 21 Lili slashed her wrists last night. Papa Joe got there in time. “I had this feeling so I went in to check on her. The bed was full of blood and she was barely responsive. I called 911 and worked to stop the bleeding as I shouted for Sing to come and help and to call you.” She’s in the hospital. They got her in time and there will be a full recovery. She didn’t lose enough blood, and she wasn’t out long enough to cause brain damage. She will be committed to a very exclusive, very expensive facility. Thankfully she’s not 18 yet (16 ½) so we can keep her there as long as necessary. I have no doubt she sign herself out if she could. It will be difficult and I expect Mai and I will be even more the villains to her. She is allowing Papa Joe and Lou and Ling to see her but no one else. December 25 Jed Trey here. The LSU game was the night before Lili hurt herself so Blade coached it. We won 82-55. 31, 13, 7 for Mike. 5 TOs. We end the pre-conf. season 11-2, ranked #6, RPI #4. Coach says he will not be going to Colorado for our conf. opener. I will coach the team. January 1 First game I ever missed but I saw it on TV. 75-59 at Colorado. Jed did a great job. 23, 8, 5, 2, 3 for Mike, 28 points from the bench, 13 TOs, 32 RBs. This week it’s 6-6, 0-1 Oregon ST here, and then we travel to #14 Cal, 9-3, 1-0. I hope to go on the trip but we’ll see. We’re still finding things out about the abduction. Other things we may never learn. The kids were never blindfolded. The detective says that means there can be no doubt that the plan was to kill them. Otherwise they could have identified the abductors, three of whom had long criminal records, while the fourth, the woman, had no record but was well known to the police and had photos on file. These people were career criminals going for “the big score.” As to the $53 million, we may never find it. It is Papa Joe’s money and he says he doesn’t care. If it ever turns up he will donate it to FtH. “I’m just happy we got our kids back.” Lili is now in the expensive treatment facility. She is refusing to cooperate. They tell us that this is not unusual and that most of their adolescent clients- it’s an adolescents only facility, eventually come around. The treatment consists of a combination of medication, talk therapy, both individual and group, and work as therapy. Lili is not allowed to use a computer and that is a big part of her refusal to cooperate. The facility is standing firm. They tell us that she hides from life behind the computer since the abduction, and they need to break the pattern.

November 6 We have a lineup. There are minutes up for grabs but for now it’s Lem Hay and Ron Bing starting at guard with Doug Myre and Keb Law backing them up. Mike Kidd is solid in the middle. Glen Hix is at PF. Em Spar is at SF but Ty Robb wants minutes at both 4 and 3. Let’s see what happens. I ask the family who’d like to go to Hawaii for the tourney and Lou and Ling want to go. They will come. Lili didn’t even respond. I know she’d love to go but not with me, and Papa Joe can’t get away right now. November 13 And we’re off! November 21 Great opening to the season. We opened at home and beat Georgetown 64-37. 21, 18, 2, 1, 2 for Mike Kidd. He’s for real! Then Mai, Lou, and Ling flew with us to Hawaii. We won the first game of the tourney against Houston, 76-61. It was a team effort, 7 guys scoring between 6 and 16, 7 TOs, +8 boards. Semifinal of the tourney was a 63-53 win over Weber ST. 25 for Ron Bing from the SG spot. Mike got in early foul trouble and played only 17 minutes but we were still +7 on the boards. The final was against #13 Providence and we won 65-56. 16, 15, 6 for Mike, 15, 6 for Lem at PG, 6, 10, 4 for Glen Hix at PF. We are ranked #7, which is probably too high, but we’re +12.5 in RBs, and +3.8 in TOs. The trip seems to have been therapeutic for Lou. He relaxed and appeared to enjoy himself more often than not. 2 at home this week, a rematch with Weber ST, and then #8 Texas Tech. November 27 A 1-1 week. Evidently we’re 10 points better than Weber ST because we have now beaten them by 10 twice. 54-44 this time. 18, 16 for Mike, 11 TOs, 38 RBs. Then #8 Texas Tech beat us 57-62. We hung with them for a long time but they were the better team. 16, 9, 4, 2, 3 for Mike, 11, 5 for Glen Hix, and 13, 3 for Doug Myre from the bench. 8 TOs, 39 RBs, but it wasn’t enough. We shot 27.1%, 4-22 from long range, and that’s what did us in. At #21 New Mexico then back home for #8 Creighton so this won’t be an easy week. El Dove, a PG, and rated #39, committed to us. Lili hasn’t changed her attitude toward her parents at all. Papa Joe says she stops him if he tries to discuss us. She is still in a fair amount of pain and is still not walking properly. PT every day and she’s working at it. She missed Lou’s 15th birthday since he was in Hawaii, but he says she emailed him, and then called when she felt certain he would be in his room, which he was. I’m going on our road trips but may still miss a game or more than one. The details of Lili and Lou’s experience and rescue are slowly coming out. They spent the time in captivity with one wrist handcuffed to a bed, in separate rooms during the day. At night they slept in the same room but still handcuffed. Evidently they were fed decent food and were not threatened or hurt physically. As to the rescue, the operative burst into the room, and started shooting. One of the guards had his weapon but was hit almost immediately. The shots that hit the kids were fired as he fell and not aimed at all. The medical helicopter had been alerted and was standing by, in the air, only a couple of miles from the scene. Medical personnel started treating the kids immediately but there was a delay in removing him since it took a bit of time to locate the key to the handcuffs. What a nightmare.

September 25 Jed Trey again. I was relieved to hear that the kids are safe. Lou, Ben and I are doing all we can to keep things running smoothly here. Practice starts in a week and we’re making plans as if Blade won’t be here, just in case. We lost 2 guys we were chasing this week. The 3rd has us at #2 but we’re visiting him again, as well as 3 other guys, 2 of whom we’ve offered to. September 30 We’re back home. Lili would neither speak with us nor sit anywhere near us on the plane. She will be staying in Papa Joe’s house, which was completed while we were gone. Sing and their two kids, as well as Ling are there. Our house, that is, Mai, Lou, Ling and my house, is just about ready. We’ll stay in our temp house for 2-3 days and then move in. We’ve ramped up security everywhere. I’m not ready to go back to work yet. Neither is Mai. I have no timetable. It’s unfortunate that it’s the first year in a new job for both of us, but we need to take care of our children and each other. Lou is pretty traumatized. He’s full of fears, and not yet healed. He is well enough to be home but he has nurses around the clock. Lili has physical therapy every day. We bring someone in and have rented all of the necessary equipment. She is showing no fear but is still extremely angry- at Mai and me, at the perps, at the world. To everyone except for Papa Joe and her brother and sister, she is incommunicado. October 2 Jed Trey. We’re having a tough time filling those last three scholarships, possibly because Blade isn’t around. Doing what we can. First day of practice. We’re picked 3rd in conf., behind UCLA and Cal. October 5 Lou is in psychotherapy as well as physical therapy. He is healing physically but emotionally he’s a wreck, which is very understandable. Lili should be there too, but she won’t hear of it. She’s buried in work with “CoolSmart” and “FtH.” She talks with her siblings and with Papa Joe. She’s polite to Sing and their kids but not very communicative. Papa Joe says anything he might try now, regarding getting her to open up to us would be counterproductive. He draws her out at times, he says, but she is hiding in her work mostly. I feel like I’m ready to go back to work part time and Mai feels the same. We’re going to work something out so that one of us is at home at all times. Ling is somewhat affected as well, but it doesn’t seem to be too pronounced. Papa Joe and Sing’s kids seem fine. We will watch all of them though. Papa Joe asked what would happen once the season starts and we are on the road. I told him that I would only go on road trips if and when I felt that I could. I told my A. D. the same and he accepted it well.

September 24 It’s over. The perps took our kids to an abandoned factory in a small town in Montana. Papa Joe’s people successfully entered the building and successfully got to the places where the kids were being held, as well as to where the others were sleeping, and they were sleeping, thank goodness. The operatives charged with taking out the sleepers were told to wait until they got a signal or heard shots. They did. They took out the sleeping perps and then rushed to where the kids were being held. The one surprise was that there were two people with the kids. They were both taken out, but before that was successfully completed both of our kids were shot. Fortunately, the shots were not well aimed. Lili took two bullets, one to her left leg, the other to her left hip. Lou was struck in the shoulder and high in the chest, above the heart and lungs. A helicopter came in and rushed them to the nearest hospital. Doctors expect both to recover fully. Lou will take some time to heal and Lili will need therapy in order to be able to walk normally. But they’re safe and Mai, Papa Joe and I are flying to them right now. September 25 Lili is enraged with Mai and me. She screamed at us for a few minutes and ordered us out of her room. She blames us for what happened since we forced her to go to school and Lou joined her. A small sample of what she had to say, “It would never have f***ing happened if it weren’t for you a$$h*les f***ing up my life. I HATE you both.” There was a lot more. I had no idea she knew so many curse words. When she told us to leave we did. Papa Joe, thankfully, is there with her and he is her rock, as he has always been. “Give it time, Alvin. I will wait for as long as it takes for her anger to diminish and then I will try to slowly lead her back to you.” I owe this man everything. I have for a very long time, but now more than ever. Lou is not angry with us and he really wants us to be with him. We are with him as much as possible. Except for when he and Lili are together which is fairly often. She won’t enter his room if we are there, and won’t allow us to accompany him to her room. She walks with a walker but she sends a messenger to tell us to leave before coming to Lou’s room. Needless to say security is tight at the hospital. The police have questioned all of us regarding what happened, and how we managed the rescue. We gave them no information. Finally Papa Joe took the lead detective aside and spoke with him for quite some time. When the conversation ended the detective said to his men and women, “We’re finished here, folks. Let’s go.” I looked at Papa Joe. He smiled and said, “Don’t ask.” I didn’t.

September 22 “There is really nothing in the photos that tells about a possible location except that the room in which they are taken seems quite large. My people think an abandoned warehouse or factory is quite likely, but there are other possibilities. How insistent are they about getting the money quickly?” “They have threatened that there will be ‘unpleasant consequences’ if they do not have the money by the end of the day tomorrow.” Papa Joe told me to wait a moment. He was gone 20. “My people have located the building but they need time. The worst thing would be to storm in. I suggest you send half the money, but not exactly half, some odd portion like 53%. tomorrow morning, saying you need another day to get the remainder.” September 23 I followed Papa Joe’s advice. The abductors were not at all happy and they gave me a 24 hour deadline for receiving the remainder of the money, noon tomorrow. This evening Papa Joe found me again. “We think we have found a weak point in their security. There is clearly very little time. I need your permission for what we plan to do.” Oh man! “We will operate late at night, fortunately there is no moon, and there is one portion of the property that is very isolated, and one entrance that is remote. There are three people on site at all times, sometimes four. We will know how many and where they are. Three of our very finest, skilled operatives will enter the building at about 4:00 a.m. They feel confident that they can do so without being detected unless their luck is extremely bad. They also feel that there is every chance that they can go to the locations where the people are. At this time there will likely be only one awake. From there things will happen quickly but we feel that we have a very great chance of being successful in our rescue. One of our people will take out the guard who is awake and will retrieve the children. The other two will take out the perpetrators who are asleep.” “How can I make this decision? My children’s lives are at stake.” “Do the police have any more information regarding the location of where the children are being held?” “No, none at all.” “Alvin, the drunkard said some very frightening things regarding the fate of the children…” “… Do it.”

September 16 The ransom message came- to Ling’s email account. She’s 7 ½. The detective said to be calm. They’re using her just to try to rattle us. Anyway, they want 100 million, details to follow. Detective says it will be to some kind of blind account that is untraceable. There was a photo of the kids sitting together holding up a copy of today’s San Francisco Chronicle. After very carefully inspecting it the forensic people said it was not photo shopped or altered in any way, and that it was genuine. So we know the kids are still… yeah. Lili looked extremely angry but in control. Lou looked terrified. September 17 Papa Joe again asked to speak with me alone. “Alvin, my people have a very, very tiny lead.” “How in the world-” “No. No questions. Only know that always, ALWAYS, someone talks, at least a little bit. My people have ears everywhere. The lead is not enough but the source drinks alcohol. He will find that he has friends who are happy to buy a round or as many rounds as it takes. My people are skilled and subtle, but it may take a little time and who knows how much time we have?” “Make sure they don’t do anything dangerous for the kids.” He smiled, and then put his hand on my shoulder. “Alvin, this is very delicate, and unbelievably dangerous. My people know what they are doing, believe me, but there can be no guarantees.” The man is incredible. Mai Li is, of course, a mess, as are we all. I only tell her that we are confident and that her father is working through different avenues. She looks at me and then nods. I think she understands, and may know more than I do regarding her father’s “connections.” September 18 Jed Trey here. We got 3 commitments and lost a recruit. SF Sy Reed, #14,. PG Ty Fitz, #20, and PF Fin Jay, #31 all committed to us. None of the three should have a problem with the SAT score although there are no guarantees. We’re invited to the Hawaiian Shootout. Lots of ranked teams. My new A.D. says we’re being too ambitious. Maybe so. I’m trying to do what I think Blade would do and he’s ambitious. September 21 Evidently Papa Joe’s people spoke with the contact again. He got a night off last night. They bought several rounds. Papa says the man was being very careful but without realizing it he spilled something. “My people think that within 24 hours they will know where the children are being held. At that point they will need to learn how heavy the security is. They can only learn this by observing comings and goings, and hopefully seeing through the windows using powerful scopes from long distance. We are getting close.” “Yes, but how much time do we have?” “I understand they only gave details of how to transfer the money today. It is reasonable to say that it will take 2 or 3 days to make the arrangements. That may be all we need. The critical moment will come when they have the money. At that time they will do what they have planned to do regarding the children. They are definitely professionals so they have already decided. You are still receiving a photo every day?” “Yes, with a different newspaper from a different city. The police are watching lots of places where newspapers from other cities are sold but there are so many.” “And the photos are still genuine?” “The forensics people say there is no doubt of that.” Papa Joe is with me except for when he contacts his “people.” He says he needs to know everything that the policed learn, which so far is almost nothing. He asks for and gets copies of the photos every day, his question was just to soothe me or to assess my reactions.

June 6 Adjusting to being at Oregon. The family is here and we’re living in temporary housing. No one in the transfer pool grabs our interest. June 26 6 scholarships. Looking at 20 guys, 6 PGs, 1 SG, 6 SFs, 3 PFs, 4 Cs. Lili will take an advanced computer programming class and a class in topology here at Oregon in the fall. August 7 Mike Kidd, our C, is #11 on the Norton list. August 21 We offer to a PG, an SG, 2 SFs, a PF, and a C. Most are showing interest. 2 are questionable regarding hitting our SAT score. “CoolSmart” is worldwide and enormously successful. “Feed the Hungry” is everywhere it is likely to be any time soon. And it is probably feeding and sheltering 95% or more of the needy in every country where it is allowed to work. Fundraising is never ending but most of the profits from “CoolSmart” or at least our family’s portion, are given to FtH. Papa Joe and Lili’s first company, “BestPrice.com” continues to be everywhere and to provide a much valued service. School starts at Oregon a week from tomorrow. Lou decided to take both classes with Lili and they’re actually sounding somewhat excited about it. Given how famous and wealthy they both are we will, of course, have bodyguards accompanying them, as all of us do, 24/7 on our property (still temporary, but the estate is coming along rapidly), and whenever we leave the property. I find it annoying as can be but I understand the need for it. September 13 Disaster has struck our family. Lili and Lou were abducted as they were walking toward the limo after class today. The limo driver and the four bodyguards were all shot and killed. The police were at the scene in moments. Witnesses described the four abductors and the vehicle they escaped in, a blue van. The van was abandoned less than a mile from campus. Naturally, it was stolen. No prints other than some for Lili and Lou were found. Descriptions of the perpetrators vary somewhat and they all were masked, but it seems to be three men and a woman. The men were all tall and strong looking, the woman, short. Very little to go on, really. We expect a call or some type of contact regarding ransom. I will be away from my job for the time being. Jed Trey, my #1 will be in charge of the team while I am away. September 14 Papa Joe asked to speak with me privately late last evening, or maybe it was early this morning. “Alvin, I have contacted some associates. They are able to do many things and to speak with many people that the police cannot. I believe they will greatly increase our chances of getting Lili and Lou back, assuming… In any case ask no questions. they will contact neither the family nor the police.” "... assuming..." Yeah. None of us can even say it. The police detective heading up the investigation said there’s no way to know whether the kids are… yeah. Still no ransom request. He also said we should hope it's about money, not politics. I didn't need to think about that for long to understand what he was saying.

March 3 Papa Joe had the talk with Lili a few days ago. She’s still sulking but it’s clear she’s looking for courses and doing other things related to college. March 5 We lost Ed Grey to the NBA draft. With Ayg, Ecks, and Chip graduating that’s four to replace. Great incoming class though. I was worried about losing Kip Brown and I’m thrilled that he decided to stay. Kip is #7 on the latest Norton list. I’m concerned about the post season. We have been beatable this year. We’ll do what we can and hope for the best. March 10 #9 seed Houston, 14-14, upset #8 SO FL, so we’ll play them in the round of 8. Oh, Bret Layn was given his last warning yesterday. He’s one sneeze away from off the team. 58-37. 29, 16 for Andy but he hurt his right arm late. Her got it caught with another player going for a rebound. I think he’s out for the tourney. #4 ranked SMU, 18-11 in the semifinals. We beat them by 30 and 23. March 11 66-50. 15, 11 for Kip Brown playing C, 15, 9 for Dave Chip playing PF, 13, 7, 2 for Jed Mill playing SF. 38 RBs, 11 TOs. Cincinnati, #3 seed, 20-10, upset UConn. We beat them by 19. Andy is out again for this game. March 12 78-56 for the title. 27, 15 for Kip, 13, 8, 2 for Jed. 7 TOs, 45 RBs. We are NOT #1 overall despite being #1 ranked, #1 RPI! Makes no sense. We are NOT #1 in the Midwest! We are #1 in the South. We’ll play Morehead ST, 17-13. March 14 Lili came to Mai and me last night to discuss college. She found a small school that would give credit by examination. She passed every course she needed in order to get a B.S. in math. She paid the fees and showed us the degree. She was upset when we congratulated her and said it didn’t change anything, she still needed to take two classes, live, every semester starting with this fall. We’re surrounded by sulks again. March 17 62-39 over Morehead ST. Andy was back and had 28, 8, 5. 5 TOs, 38 RBs. #9 seed No. Carolina ST, 21-9, won so they’re next. March 19 84-62. 24, 6, 4 for Ed Grey, 6 in double figures. 14 TOs, 44 RBs. Those two teams the committee thought were better than us? They’re both gone. #5 seed MS ST, 22-10 beat #4 Charlotte so we face them in the Sweet 16. We beat them by 21 at their place. March 24 77-62. 28, 9, 7, 3, 1 for Andy, 13, 9 for Kip. 12 TOs, 47 RBs. Jed Mill smacked his head. We kept him out for the rest of the game. Not sure if he’ll play on Sunday. #3 seed #19 ranked LSU, 25-9 in the Elite Eight. They have 2 hurt and a starter who flunked off the team. All 3 were starters. March 26 68-59 and we’re back to the Final Four. 22, 26, 4, 6 for Andy. 16, 7 for Kip, 18, 4, 4 for Ed Grey. 9 TOs, 49 RBs. We’ll play #5 ranked Kentucky. #18 Oklahoma and unranked Arkansas in the Final Four on the other side. Kentucky is as good as anyone we’ve played this year. The key is to not let the PG do what he wants to do. We’ll double him some. April 1 60-61. We scored with 1.2 seconds left to lead 60-58. They got it to their PG at half court. He launched it. It went in. I was convinced he got it off too late, still am. The refs spent a very long time with the video and ruled that it counted and the game was over. We took 18 more shots than they did and lost. That speaks volumes regarding our shooting, 19-78, 8-33 on threes. We got 55 rebounds. Web turned it over only 11 times. And somehow we lost. Tough way to end the season and the defense of our title. Kentucky will play unranked Arkansas for the title. April 4 Kentucky won the title game by 27. Awards: Kip Brown made national 1st team and I got national COY. In conf. Andy Ayg got POY, Kip Brown got Freshman OY and Defensive POY, they both made 1st team. April 9 I explained to Mai a couple of weeks ago that I’d like to be the first coach to win titles at 3 schools, and would love to win titles at 4 or even 5 before I retire. “As long as we go where I can do my work.” We visited Oregon, Purdue, Indiana, Kansas, and Missouri. She said Purdue and Oregon had programs that she would fit in very well with. We’re going to Oregon. April 12 A bomb dropped. Lili, Lou, and Papa Joe all want to stay in Philadelphia. Our first reaction was absolutely not, as far as our kids were concerned. Now? We’re considering it. Sing is great with them and she shares our values. The kids spend most of their time working with Papa Joe and they both idolize him. Lili will be 16 in 2 months and Lou 15 in November. We’re considering it, and we’re trying to talk Papa Joe into moving with us. He says he has moved enough times and does not wish to move again, especially since I intend to move at least once more. We’ll see what happens. We have the routine down. I move immediately. Mai, Ling, and hopefully the rest of the family will follow later on. April 18 Sing wants to move. She feels it is important for all of us to be together. Papa Joe is resisting but I doubt that he can say no to Sing, he never has. April 23 Papa Joe has agreed to the move. The family expects to be here by June 1. I emailed Lili and Mai information about the colleges within a reasonable distance of Eugene. The deal has not changed. Lou is anxious to go to college so no pressure. He could enroll as a freshman now but he says he wants to wait until next year, which is fine with us. Another season finished. Another new challenge. Starting as a head coach with my 8th team in what will be my 28th season. My record as a head coach is 713-204, .778. Let’s see about getting a title at my third university. It will take a few years no doubt. FtH is ever increasing the number of people it is feeding and sheltering. “CoolSmart” is making billions and reaching tens of millions.

January 1, 2018 88-75 at 3-10 Memphis. Ed Grey had 22, 8, 3, Andy 17, 14, 4, 2. All 5 starters in double figures but we should have won by more against this team. January 8 We beat SMU here, 81-51. 27, 12 for Kip Brown, 26, 9, 3, 3 for Andy. 5 TOs, 38 RBs. We played really well. Went to Winthrop and beat them 52-43. Great D but we shot poorly, 29.3%, 0-14 on threes. 18, 7, 2 for Andy. +14 TOs. Ed Grey twisted his back. He’s out for at least one game. Papa Joe says preliminary reports regarding December sales for “CoolSmart” are “astronomical.” “FeedtheHungry” has more than halved world hunger rates. Even though there are still a few countries FtH cannot get to, estimates are that well over half of those who were starving are no longer, and shelters have saved an enormous number of lives during bad weather. This could be the year they win a Nobel. January 15 2 wins, the second took a bit of luck. 68-58 over So FL here. 27, 14 for Kip, 18, 6 for Jed Mill. Andy fouled out, playing only 16 minutes. Good D won this one. Then we went to Central FL and were lucky to escape, 61-59 on a 28 footer at the buzzer by Kip Brown, who doesn’t shoot threes. It was our only three of the night and it was a luck shot. We gave up 13 of them. 31, 14 for Andy. We were flat all night. January 22 We played better this week. 75-51 over Tulsa here. Ryan Prow fouled out, playing only 20, but before he did he got 20 points. Em Ecks got 8 filling in. 6 TOs, 38 RBs, and we were never challenged. Then we went on the road and beat GA Southern 76-60. 23, 7, 3, 3 for Andy, 17, 9 for Kip, +7 TOs, +7 RBs. Only SMU, who we beat by 30, is one back of us. We’re 18-3, 7-0. Challenging week, Cincy here, and then at #13 UConn. January 29 We played well in a 71-52 home win over Cincinnati. 6 guys in double figures. 7 TOs, 35 RBs. Then we went to UConn and lost 68-74. They beat us outside, 15 threes. 47 rebounds 11 TOs, but we didn’t get out on the long distance shots and they made them all night long. We’re one up on UConn and SMU, 3 or more on the rest, with 7 to play. February 5 A good week. 66-44 over Houston here. 27, 10 for Andy, 17, 12, 2, 4, 2 for Kip, 4 TOs, 43 RBs, great D. Then we traveled to Tulane and beat them 73-51. 19, 12, 4 for Andy, 17, 16, 3 for Kip. 6 TOs, 54 RBs. We are a force inside. Up 2 on UConn, 3 or more on the rest, with 5 to play. Final numbers in on December sales for CoolSmart and Papa Joe says he didn’t think they could possibly sell as much as they have. Their programs- lectures, videos, games, seminars, labs in all of the sciences, courses… are selling in incredible numbers. In January they went worldwide and Papa Joe expects big things there as well. They have hired as many experts in gifted education and related fields as possible, and this has made their programs the best available, and that’s according to all of the experts in the field. Mai and I have been trying to push Lili to begin college for several years now. She has never shown the slightest interest. We’re concerned that she has become far too isolated by her work with BestPrice- though she and Papa Joe are no longer involved there, FtH and CoolSmart. We feel she needs to interact with other people, particularly people her age. We’re going to mandate that she take two classes per semester, starting in the fall, either here at UML, at BU, or at any other college in the Boston area. She can choose the courses, but they must be live, with no on line component. That conversation will happen sometime this month and it may appear on the Richter scale. February 12 Another good week and now we’re 2 up on UConn, 4 or more on the rest. We beat Memphis here, 78-53. 24, 10, 3 for Andy, 5 guys in double figures. +12 TOs, +7 RBs. 93-70 at SMU. 5 in double figures again. +15 TOs, +5 RBs. We’re outscoring the other team by 12.2, in RBs it’s +9.0, in TOs +6.3. #1 in the country in RBs. February 19 A 2 win week. 2 up on UConn, 5 on Cincy, 6 or more on the rest with 1 to play. 72-26 over Winthrop at home (Flaw in the game, 26? Come on!). 6 TOs, 48 RBs. Then we beat So FL 67-56 at their place. Andy got hurt 9 minutes in, shoulder. He’s out for our last regular season game but should be 100% for the start of the post season. 9 TOs, 38 RBs. Dave Chip and T. J. Larry did a great job filling in for Andy. We finish with Central FL here. They very nearly beat us at their place. The game means nothing to us. We’ve already clinched/ But we want a win. February 21 That explosion that was felt all over the country was our conversation with Lili. We had it a few days ago. She spent two days in her room sulking. When she came out she was still livid, and absolutely refused to discuss our plan for her to take courses. “Give it a few more days and I will speak with her.” Papa Joe’s idea made sense and he certainly has more influence over her than anyone else. After she calms down a little she may listen to him. She always has. February 26 65-48 over Central FL. 11 TOs, 40 RBs, and Chip and Larry did great filling in for Andy, who will be back in plenty of time. 26-4, 15-1, #1, RPI #1, going to the post season.

June 5 Ready to defend our national title, or try to; preseason #1. We’re after a high flying transfer. Soph Ron Barr who started every game at Duke last season and was ranked #5 recruit in his class. Duke wasn’t a good fit and he seems very interested in Temple. June 9 Got him! “CoolSmart thinks they’ll be ready to open for business on about August 15. They want to get a leg up on the back to school market. June 26 4 scholarships. We’d like 2 and 2 but 3-1 either way would be okay. Looking at 10 guys. August 7 4 on the Norton list: PF Kip Brown #4, SF Jed Mill #12, PG Ryan Prow #16, PF Dave Chip #17. August 16 “CoolSmart” hits the market one day late. Ads featuring the kids are everywhere, and the first day response is so overwhelming it almost brings down the site. August 21 We offer to 2 Cs, an SG, and a PG. September 18 Got ‘em all. One is marginal regarding passing the SAT score. We’re in the Coaches Classic and loading the schedule with contenders. October 2 First day of practice and we’re loaded again this year. I’m going with a one guard offense again. This year instead of “Favor Inside” we’re going to try “Heavy Inside.” October 16 On the two month anniversary of opening “CoolSmart” has more than 10 million customers. Some are buying lectures, some are buying courses, some are buying full access. Average amount spent is $145. You do the math. Expanding worldwide in January. November 6 Exhibitions played, ready for the season to begin. #1 seed in the Coaches Classic. November 15 Played one game using “Heavy Inside.” We won by 18 but I didn’t like it. Going back to “Favor Inside.” November 19 #10 ranked Minnesota gave us a scare, a BIG scare, 71-70. #7 seed Arizona upset #2 Kentucky and then #6 California, so we play them for the title. November 20 63-52 for the title. After 4 games we’re +13.5 in points, +7.5 in rebounds, and +8.7 in TOs, averaging 8.3. Considering I’m going with only one guard that’s incredible. Ayg at C, Kip Brown at PF, and Dave Chip at SG are doing the scoring. Ayg, Brown and Jed Mill at SF are doing the rebounding. Ed Grey, my 6th man, is too good not to start but I don’t have a spot for him. All four recruits signed LOI. We just played 4 at a neutral site. Now 6 of the next 7 are on the road. #21 Creighton and #12 New Mexico this week. November 27 The win streak ends at 40. Creighton beat us 58-70. We got 15 more rebounds, took 10 more shots, and we still lost. Shooting 26.6% will do that. We righted the ship at New Mexico, 87-80. We’re giving up too many points. 70 or more in 3 of the last 4 games. At #25 Alabama and home with #16 Michigan ST this week. December 4 It could be a long season. We won 75-57 at #25 Alabama but Kip Brown stubbed a toe and will miss at least one game. 29, 9, 3 for Andy to lead us. Then we came home. With Kip out and Jed Mill in foul trouble all night we managed to lose 65-68. Ayg led us again with 25, 8, 2, 3 but it wasn’t enough. Two losses in our first 8 games. We need to figure this out. At #15 MS ST and Maryland this week. December 11 A 2 win week. 33, 15 for Andy in an 82-61 win over #15 MS ST. 13, 7, 3 for Jed Mill. 75-64 over MD. 23, 11 for Andy, 20, 5 for Dave Chip. I am close to throwing SG Bret Layn off the team. He has been nothing but trouble. Despite our 2 losses we’re still #1, +9.6 ppg, +5.5 RBpg, +5.3 assists pg. At Georgetown then home against #4 UCLA. “CoolSmart” is exploding with growth. Papa Joe thinks the holiday season will be really profitable. Lineup change. Ed Grey is starting. Both Jed Mill and Dave Chip will lose playing time. December 18 The new lineup gives us a 2 win week, fewer points, better D. 53-45 over Georgetown. 41 RBs, 10 TOs. 56-46 over #4 UCLA. 9, 21, 5 for Andy, 16, 6, 2 for PG Ryan Prow. Grey was very effective on D in both games. This week it’s #14 Michigan at home, then we end the pre-conf. season at Oregon. December 25 76-65 over #14 Michigan. 18, 13, 4 for Andy, 16 each for Grey and Brown, 14, 5, 2 for Prow. Then yet another loss, 69-74, at Oregon. 50 RBs, 12 TOs, we took 10 more shots than they did. We shot 33.3%, and gave up 11 threes. 24, 18 for Kip, 13, 15, 4 for Andy. NOT happy with 11-3. Staff is in regular discussion regarding solutions as we head to the conf. season.

March 10 It’s #8 seed South FL in the ¼ final. We beat them by 21 and 33. 62-43. 20, 22, 3, 2, 2 for Keb, 25, 7, 1, 4, 1 for Ev. Cincy, UConn, and Tulsa were all upset. #23 ranked Memphis finished 5th in conf. They’re next. We beat them by 29 and 12. March 11 67-59. 21, 12 for Keb. 10, 2, 7, 5 for PG Tab Kell. #6 seed GA Southern is in the final. We beat them by only 13 at our place but their starting PF is out with a broken leg. March 12 79-55. 20, 6, 4, 2, 1 for Tab, all 5 in double figures. Selected #1 overall. March 16 68-30 over Low Point. 30, 11 for Keb. #8 seed Cincy, our conf. rival, is next. We won by only 5 there. March 18 79-46. A real team effort. 6 guys in doubles including big guy Dave Chip who will figure greatly in our plans next year. Next up is #5 seed, #17 ranked Pepperdine, 25-8. March 23 63-43. 19, 17 for Keb. #3 seed, #11 ranked Mississippi State, 24-8, is next, in the Elite Eight. I am working to keep my guys focused. It has been way too easy and one off night can end it all. March 25 75-53 and we’re in the Final Four. Now the bad news. Keb fell hard to the floor, 6 minutes in, and banged his head. We’re not sure if he’ll be ready for our next game. We won by 22 without him due to some great team effort. We’ll play #9 ranked, #6 seed New Mexico State in the round of 4. On the other side it will be #2 ranked Duke vs. #3 ranked UCLA. NMSU is 29-7. They’ve won their last 11. Their C is the best Keb has faced all year. He’ll play as much as he can. April 1 69-48! 14, 11 for Keb in 21 minutes. 15, 7 for Mick Jones. 11, 9, 2 for Ev. 10 TOs, 42 RBs, and we’re in the title game against Duke, who won by 1. Duke is #2 in the country, RPI #3, 35-3. They’ve won 9 in a row, and the 14 before that. They score more outside than in, they play good D, and they take care of the ball. We need to play good D and control the boards. Keb is 88-90% but he’ll play, hopefully not more than 25-28 minutes. Best team we’ve faced all year. April 3 And the closest score all year, 66-62 and the title! 16, 15, 1, 3, 1 for Keb, 15, 6 for Ev, 12, 1, 5 for Tab. 10 TOs (+9), 37 RBs (+6) Duke was up 16 with 12:22 to play, 38-54. I called a TO at that point and simply said, “This is the season. We worked all year for this and now it’s slipping away. How bad do you want it?” I put in no new formations, changed no strategies. From then on it was 28-8 for us. April 4 Awards: Keb won ‘em all at the national level, Norton, WS, Freshman, Defensive, 1st team. I got national COY. In conf. Keb got ‘em all again, joined on 1st team by Ev Pryz. Mick Jones made 2nd team, and we’re losing all three. Oh well, fun ride. April 23 I ask for facilities. Nope. We’ll have lots of new faces on the team next year but some very good players coming back. Let’s go for 2 in a row. I have 3 with UCLA and now this one with Temple. 36-0. Team Prestige is 96. My record after 26 years as a head coach is 680-199, .774. Reputation is 96. Papa Joe, Lili and Lou have formed “CoolSmart,” an on line resource for “smart kids” and those who live and/or work with them. They have the five leaders in the field of gifted education, from UConn (2), Purdue, USC, and Virginia on their Board of Directors, all of whom are working for a percentage. Given Papa Joe’s business history that’s a pretty safe bet. It will be about 4-6 months before they are available. They’re already planning commercials with Lili, Lou, Ling, Khee, and Mai Li.

January 1, 2016 29 point win over #16 Memphis, our chief conf. rival. 42, 16 for Keb, who leads the nation in rebounding. January 8 Now 3-0 in conf. 25, 20, 22, 15 for Keb. Closest game so far, 9 point win over Michigan. Everything else double figures. The FtH ad campaign worked. Donations and contributions at record levels. The world loves Lili. She is completely unaffected. We don’t allow media interviews or photo ops but they run stories everywhere, pulling stills from the ad campaigns. She doesn’t read any of it or watch it on TV. “It’s stupid, and they make everything up.” #2 in the country committed. Now if he can hit our SAT score! January 15 5-0. TOs are improving we’re +1.0 now. Keb had 19, 9, 8, 4, 2 in a game this week. Lili tells me that in their “spare time” she and Papa Joe are working on some educational programs for “smart kids.” They’re starting with math and the sciences since these are areas of interest, and areas where U. S. kids have the most difficulty. Since Lou is completely absorbed with math and the sciences, he is no part of this fledgling enterprise. January 22 We were not at our best this week, a 9 point win at Tulsa and only by 13 at home vs. GA Southern. At #17 Cincinnati this week and they’re only 1 back of us. January 29 5 point win over Cincy. 20-0, 9-0, 2 game lead on Cincy, 3 or more on the rest. #3 recruit in the country didn’t qualify, let alone hitting our score. Looking at 3 guards. Keb Lee #1 on the Norton List, PF Ev Przy #16. February 5 2 blow outs this week. 44 and 40 for the week for Keb. If there’s a team with a legitimate shot to beat us in the regular season it’s our next game, #15 Memphis, there. February 12 We beat Memphis 67-55. 15 each for Lee and Mick Jones. +10 RBs. At one point they were up by 7, the most we’ve been behind all year. We also beat SMU with Keb getting 28 and 17. +11 TOs, +15 RBs. 3 up with 3 to play. It looks like Papa Joe, Lili and now Lou are planning to start that “Educating Smart Kids” on line business. When Papa Joe and Lili don’t have their heads together with FtH, the three of them do with the new company. February 19 26-0. 4 up with 1 to play. Keb had 52 and 40 for the week. We’re +17.3 RBs, +2.8 TOs. February 26 And we run the table. We head to the post season 27-0, up 4 on Cincy, 5 on UConn. Keb is #2 in scoring, #1 in rebounding, #2 in blocks. Ev Pryz is #2 in shooting pct. As a team we’re #4 in scoring, #1 in rebounding, #3 in blocks, #2 in assists. March 5 We lost 4 to the draft: Keb Lee, Ev Przy, Mick Jones, Marc Topp. Ouch, but about as expected.

June 5 Preseason #1! Slim pickings in the transfer pool. June 26 4 scholarships. I’d like to get 3 guards. Looking at 12. August 7 7 on the Norton list. Center Keb Lee is #1, PF Ev Przy is #4, SF Mick Jones is #7 August 21 Not a lot of guards interested in us. We offered to 2 SGs and 2 PFs. September 18 We got 2 PFs and an SG. No early season tourney this year but lots of contenders on the schedule. October 2 Having trouble getting a guard to fill the last scholarship. First day of practice. We’re going to be hard to beat. Taking a VERY long shot on the #2 recruit in the country. Why long? His GPA is 2.0. We offered. And all hell has broken loose with FeedtheHungry. It appears that someone here at the central office in Philly has managed to slip 250 million dollars out of the corporation treasury. This just broke today. Papa Joe is trying to calm the waters. Computer experts, police and FBI are all working on the case. No one employed by FtH has disappeared so either it’s a long distance computer criminal who hacked the system or someone has very large- ahem. I’m sure there will be a lot more on this soon. Papa Joe is assuring people that all passwords have been changed and new, tighter computer and building security is in place in every facility that FtH operates. He also says he will make up any uninsured losses out of his own pocket. November 1 Despite a massive effort the perpetrator(s) of the ¼ billion dollar theft at FtH have not been found. Cops and FBI don’t seem to have a clue but the computer guys think they may be close. No further losses have occurred but donations are off by close to 50%. Papa Joe made up the loss and said his money will stay even if the stolen funds are eventually recovered. November 20 We beat 2 top 20 teams during week one. We have a very strong starting lineup and Ed Grey, 1st guard off the bench could easily start as well. November 27 Beat #8 Michigan and Dayton this week. TOs are a problem so far but not much else is. Tab Kell at PG, and Mick Jones at SF are our leading scorers but Keb Lee at Center may be our best all around player so far. December 1 3 men in India were arrested yesterday in the theft of $250 million from Feed the Hungry. The money has not yet been found. The men were working together, and this was all done via computer, the largest cyber theft in history. Police are hoping to discover where the thieves placed the money, whether in Swiss bank accounts or in stocks and/or bonds. Evidently if they can locate and recover the money they are willing to make a deal with whichever of the three is cooperative. Papa Joe reiterated his pledge not to take back the money he used to replace that which was stolen. December 4 Beat Oklahoma at home and #22 Indiana there. 22, 23 for Keb Lee against OK, then he got 23, 17 vs. Indiana. We get lots of TOs but we start a PG, an SF, a PF, and 2 Cs. +14.5 in RBs, -2.3 in TOs. 6-0, #1, RPI #1. December 11 Beat #11 Kentucky by 20 and then Oregon, there, by 14. 17, 15, then 14, 15 for Keb Lee, but all 5 starters are playing well. Averaging 41.1 RBs per game. Start of a huge advertising campaign by FtH. They hope to get contributions and donations up to the pre-theft level. They are increasing but not quickly enough. The ads feature Lili and test markets love them. Security is exceedingly tight, both cyber and in house. The belief is that at present only an “inside job” is possible and even that would be extremely difficult. You’re always just a step ahead of the potential perps though so vigilance is vital. December 18 Two 27 point wins this week. Keb had 16 and 24, 29 and 19. One game this week, #5 UCLA, here. December 25 78-60 over UCLA. We go to conf. play 11-0. Average margin of victory 17.1. 42.8 RBs per game, +17.4. Still -1.6 TOs.

March 10 #8 seed GA Southern won the play in so we play them. We won by 17 there, scoring 101 points. 70-48. 16, 8, 4 for Andy, and all 7 contributed in this blow out. #5 seed Memphis in the semifinal. We beat them by 14 and 19. March 11 78-59. A triple double for Andy Ayg, 15, 10, 12. 23 for Em. It’s #17 Cincy for the title. They beat UConn by 3. We beat them by 28 at our place. March 12 72-49 and the title! 24, 9 for Chaz, 24, 6, 2 for Andy. 8 TOs, 39 RBs. We expect to be #2 overall since we’re ranked #2, RPI #2. #1 in the Midwest. We’ll play 18-12 Central Arkansas. March 16 80-50. 24, 10, 3 for Andy, 19, 2, 3 for Tab, 13, 2, 2 for Mo, 11, 6 for Keb, 6, 4, 3 for Em. 6 TOs, +5 RBs. #8 seed Auburn up next. They’re 19-10. They have a very good SG. March 18 62-40. 21, 8, 2, 2 for Andy, 18, 7 for Tab, 8, 8 for Chaz. 9 TOs, 42 RBs. We’re in the Sweet Sixteen and we’ll play #5 seed, #19 ranked Oklahoma which just beat Cincy. They’re very good outside. March 23 And the ride ends, 67-70. 1-16 on threes, 31.9% over all, Andy fouled out in 20 minutes. He still managed to lead us with 18 and 8, 19, 6, 3 for Tab, 10, 7 for Em, 11, 7, 3 for Chaz. -3 TOs, but +16 RBs. Some nights it just won’t go in the basket and unfortunately, this was one of them. If it’s any consolation, #1 UCLA and #6 Texas Tech also lost today. “FeedtheHungry” has won several humanitarian awards over the past few months. I understand they have even been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Wow! Just Wow! April 4 Mai and I went to the Final Four. #9 ranked MS ST played #14 KY, and unranked Stan Jones played #4 New Mexico. The path was wide open for us but we didn’t walk it. #14 KY won the title. Awards: WS Player of the Year: Andy Ayg. He didn’t make either 1st or 2nd team but Tab Kell made 2nd. My assistant at CLA, Art Black got National Coach of the Year. In conf. Andy was POY and 1st team along with Tab, Chaz Sork made 2nd team and I got COY. April 23 I ask for a facilities upgrade. I don’t get it. We end up 31-5. Team Prestige is 88. At the end of my 25th season I’m at 644-199, .764. Reputation still at 96.

January 1 A one game week. We beat Memphis, there, 57-43. Team effort. Andy had 13, 17, 3, seldom used Ed Grey had 10 and 10. Khal Green bruised abdominals and is out for 10 days to 2 weeks. January 8 We beat SMU 78-61 here. 29, 13, 5 for Andy. 5 TOs- for the team. Then we traveled to Winthrop and got surprised, 64-67. A 12 point 2nd half did us in. We blew a 12 point lead. 32, 11 for Andy and not much for anyone else. 0-12 on threes, 3-26 in the 2nd half. The middle of winter and Papa Joe is generally pleased. “I know there are people we are unable to help but we estimate that about 95% of those who were without food in the U. S. when we began are now being fed regularly. About the same is true in my home country. Very few people do not have access to a shelter in the cold weather here. We want to do even more, of course, here and throughout the world.” Lili is 13 ½. She is in many ways a typical teenager but in so many others she is anything but typical. She spends lots of time with friends but even more time working. She does not seem to need much sleep which is good, since she doesn’t get very much. January 15 67-48 over So. FL here. 21, 4, 4 for Tab, 10, 9, 3 for Andy.16 for Chaz. We went to Central FL and won 77-67. 28, 8, 3 for Andy, 11, 4, 7 for Tab. January 22 Beat Tulsa here, 62-51. 16, 9, 4 for Andy, 10, 9 for Keb, 12, 1, 5 for Mo. Then we went to GA Southern and won 101-84. Crazy game, obviously. Tab had 33, , Andy 17, 6, 2, 4, Mo 16, 2, 5, Chaz 12, Ted Day 10 and 5. This week it’s undefeated in conf. Cincy at home and UConn, tied with us in 2nd, on the road. January 29 69-41 over Cincy here. 16, 14, 2 for Andy, 16 for Em Ecks. 11 TOs, 43 RBs. Then went to UConn and lost 64-65 in OT. Back and forth all night. Andy fouled out with 1 ½ to go in OT. They outscored us 6-2 from then on and that was that. +8 TOs, -8 RBs. 19,7 with 6 steals for Andy, 13 for Em, 11, 5, 5, 2 for Tab. We shot 2-13 on threes and only 66.7% from the line. Those two things did us in more than anything. Cincy and UConn are tied for 1st and we’re one back. 7 to play and we need to win ‘em all. Everyone made the SAT score. Tab Kell is #3 on the Norton list. I will never understand that list. Why in the world wasn’t Andy nominated either last year or this? February 5 Beat Houston at home, 75-51. 31, 6 for Andy, 14, 5, 5 for Tab. 6 TOs. Beat Tulane there, 61-51. 28, 13 for Andy. UConn lost so we’re tied for 2nd, 1 back. February 12 Tied for 1st with Cincy, 1 ahead of UConn with 3 to play. Beat Memphis at home, 75-56. 29, 14, 3 for Andy who has been red hot. 3 TOs! 41 RBs. 78-72 over SMU on the road. 33, 11 for Andy. +14 TOs, +8 RBs. February 19 Alone in 1st! We beat Winthrop here 74-52, to avenge a 3 point loss at their place. Andy tweaked his knee early and played only 11 minutes. It doesn’t seem serious. 16,3, 6 for Tab, and Ted Day and Keb Cobb did a good job of filling in for Andy. 7 TOs. We went to So. FL and won 62-56. Andy played only 16 minutes but got 10 and 4. 10 and 6 for Khal, 13, 4, 3 for Chaz. 10 TOs. One to play, at home against Central FL. We won by 10 there. February 26 And we win our final game. Cincy and UConn are 1 back of us, tied for 2nd. We beat Central FL 80-67. Andy was 100% and got 30, 14, 6, 4. 6 TOs. We end the regular season #2, RPI #2, 26-4, 14-2. +13.9 PPG, +6.5 RBPG, +6.0 TOPG, +3.1 steals PG, and +1.9 assists PG. Andy is 4th in the nation in scoring, 2nd in rebounding. The team is 3rd in RBs nationally. In conf. we dominate the individual and team categories.

November 13 We’re rated at #2 or #3 in the polls and we’re the #7 seed in the Coaches Classic? #15 ranked Texas Tech up first. 62-51. Excellent D against a really good team. Held them to 30.1%, 14.8% from long range. 11,11, 3 for Tab, 8, 13, 2, 2, 1 for Andy, 9, 8 for Khal, 14 for Mo. Next up is #15 seed Gonzaga who upset #2 or #3 ranked Kentucky. They look really good at 2 and 5. November 15 62-52. I call that consistent! 16, 13, 4 for Andy, 16, 2, 3 for Tab, 6 TOs. We were -9 on the boards though. #3 seed, #4 ranked Mississippi ST is next. They are strong inside. November 17 81-62. 20, 10, 4 for Andy, 12 each for Tab and Mo, 6, 10, 2 for Khal, 14, 3, 3 for Em, 8, 5, 2 for Chaz. +12 RBs. Next up is my old team, #1 in the country UCLA. This game will tell us a lot but it’s early. We’ve played really well but I don’t think we’re as good as we will be in Feb. and March. We’re expecting a very tough game. UCLA is #1 for a reason- lots of reasons! November 19 63-78. They are a very good team. They exploded out of the gate and we never caught up. We never quit though. +5 TOs, -4 RBs. Great bench work, Chaz had 15, 9, Em 13 and 5. Tab had 13, 6, 3. We were over matched. I expect to get better and if we see them in March I expect a stronger showing. I was going to say a stronger effort but there was nothing wrong with our effort. All 5 recruits who committed signed. We’re #2 in the country. 8 of our next 9 are at home. November 27 2 wins this week. We beat Charlotte 71-53. Chaz and Em have been really strong from the bench, as have Andy and Tab at C and PG. 8 TOs, 39 RBs. #9 Minnesota came to town and we won 82-50. 22, 14 for Andy, 20 and 6 for Em, 13 each for Tab and Chaz. 6 TOs, 49 RBs. We’re +12.5 PPG, +5.8 RBPG, +3.5 TOPG, + 3.5 in steals per. The staff discussed lineup changes. No changes at present. We really like having Em and Chaz on the bench. When they come in we don’t lose a thing. There’s only one basketball. Sometimes having your 5 best on the court at the same time isn’t the most effective way to play. Papa Joe and Lili are working hard. This is a very busy time of year. Cold weather is starting in the Northern hemisphere and the race to provide shelters is on. I spoke with Sing and she isn’t as worried this year as last. Papa Joe seems to have struck a healthier balance. December 4 We beat 2 top 10 teams this week. #10 Creighton came in and we won 70-52. Andy was inhuman- 38, 16, 3. +24 RB. Then it was #4 Oregon, 73-49. 15, 16, 3 for Andy, 17, 5, 2 for Tab, 12, 6, 2 for Keb, 13 for Chaz. 7 TOs, 37 RBs. December 11 We beat #25 Duke 69-44. 18, 9, 3, 4 for Andy, 23 for Tab. 9 TOs. Then #8 Kentucky came in and beat us, 84-90. Nobody played D in this one but we played less than they did. Two teams have scored more than 58 against us, KY and UCLA. Our only 2 losses. We were +2 TOs, but -8 RBs. Our outside D was awful, they shot 16-33 on threes. That’s what did us in. 30 and 9 for Andy, 11, 3, 9 for Tab, 12, 4, 1 for Chaz. And #1 UCLA is here this week. December 18 We won a road game then came back home and beat #1 UCLA 78-57. It was a balanced effort on O, 17, 6, 4 for Tab, 14, 8, 2 for Andy, 15, 3, 1 for Em, 11 for Mo, 7 and 9 for Khal, 8, 7, 3 for Chaz. On D we held them to 26.2%, 27.3% on threes. +3 TOs, -1 RBs. This was my biggest win since coming here. December 25 We beat #9 Dayton at home, 67-54. Our two leaders did the job on O, 28, 13, 4 for Andy, and 24, 8 for Tab.9 TOs, 35 RBs. Then we traveled to Brigham Young and won 68-54. 24, 13, 1, 3, 2 for Andy, 12, 7 for Khal, and everyone else contributed. 41 RBs, but an uncharacteristic 18 TOs. We end the pre-conf. season 12-2, #2, RPI #1.