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Wayne23

DDS:CB3 Dynasty: The Professor

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May 1: Preseason #2.

And we’re off! Once again we buy national gold and international basic.

May 11: Finished recording the album. We both love the sound. It really is just what we hoped it would be. I’m able to make some of Dawn’s concerts and really enjoying performing. We’re even talking about me singing a couple on lead.

May 19: I negotiated with the stats department to go part time. I will continue to do research, will work with one Ph. D. student and one Masters student, and will teach only one class, during the summer. Something needed to go. My research is important to me, and I like working with grad students. This way I keep a little of both. Teaching the summer class, also to grad students, is also something I want to keep doing. This will free up some time and that simply had to happen.

June 5: Looking at a few transfers. We have one open slot.

June 12: We get Ray Hart, a highly rated SG who was at Arizona. Now to get him eligible!

June 25: We have the money so we’re going to the camps.

June 26: Kev Eddy went #5 in the draft, Addy Burt only #21, a steal, Russ Wild #29, Len Fitz #57.

July 1: Can’t believe it. Dave Van Ronk was back in SF. Dawn and I saw him, said hello afterward. He was incredibly gracious and we were with him ‘til daybreak. He showed me a few things on guitar. I just got taught some stuff by one of the world’s best guitar players.

Three scholarships to give. We want at least two big guys.

Looking at 16- 1 PG, 3 SG, 4 SF, 4 PF, 4 C.

July 11: We will do two weeks of kid camps again.

July 22: I think we have a better, deeper team than we had last year. It’s difficult to say that based upon what we accomplished last year, but what I saw this week repeatedly amazed me.

“Dawn- New Morn” comes out Aug. 3. The buzz is pretty loud.

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Aug. 7: The album debuts at #1. How cool is that. I’m on all but two of the songs.

7 on the Norton List: PG Will Rand at #15, SF Ed Jobe at #23, C Rick Jay at #26, C Al Budd at #27, PG Lee Barr at #33, SF Dan Mack at #41, PF Kent Hawk at #42. When Hawk is regarded as our 7th best player I’d say we’re going to be pretty good!

Aug. 21: We offer to three Small Forwards. I know, seems weird to me too, but there it is.

Sept. 11: 5 weeks at #1. The album is a huge success. The single from the album that we released two weeks ago is at #4.

I visit our three recruits plus one other who we’d like to have.

Sept. 18: Got two, lost one. #5 SF Tom Owen and #11 SF Brad Arms committed. Offering to #3 SG Jon Gatt.

We’re at the Las Vegas Winter jam in Dec. Playing almost all ranked teams in the preseason.

Sept. 25: Got Gatt. So we should be through with recruiting. All three are good students so barring a surprise on SAT day we’re set.

Oct. 2: First day of practice. Wow! My second five look like they could finish in the top 10.

The album is still #1 and the single is #3.

Nov. 6: The guys have looked terrific in practice. Two exhibition games this week. Can’t wait.

I’ve had the chance to do several concerts with Dawn. I’m enjoying it more and more. Meeting a lot of people who always seemed more like legends than real people. Most of them are pretty cool. Met "Bob" and hung out with him for a few hours. Yep, he’s about as weird as I thought he would be. It’s hard to tell how much is real and how much is an act. He is clearly kind of… I don’t know if the word is shy, but definitely careful around people he doesn’t know well. Oh, and he’s bright as can be. He asks insightful questions. He wasn’t interested in my coaching. “Are you that football guy?” But he had a lot of questions about statistics, listened carefully to my answers and asked very sophisticated follow up questions for one not in the field. He was willing to discuss the songwriting process as well, which I found fascinating.

Old "Jack" truly does not ever stop “ramblin’.” It’s tough to get a word in. He is very entertaining though.

Lots of others. I’m sure I’ll talk about some of them from time to time. It is certainly not a world I ever expected to be part of.

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Nov. 13: We’re going with a 7 man rotation, at least for now.

We begin at #25 Wake Forest. Not much to go on.

Nov. 14: 71-62. 28, 13 for Rick Jay at C, 15, 6, 2 for Rand at SG (not PG this year), 7, 9, 2 for Jobe at SF. 9 TOs, 39 RBs. We beat a ranked team on the road. I’ll take it.

Home debut vs. #12, 1-0 Syracuse. They appear to be excellent outside and good inside. (Syracuse playing man to man?)
Jay tweaked a shoulder. Day to day.

Nov. 17: 75-58. 18, 9, 3 for Clay Herr at PG, 16, 6, 3 for Jay, 15, 5, 2 for Rand, 11, 2, 4 for Barr from the bench. Our backcourt outplayed theirs, and our inside game was also better. 9 TOs, 35 RBs.

Nov. 20: All of our recruits signed. We are looking at a big guy just in case someone goes pro. He’s the only guy left worth watching for us.

#3, RPI #8.

At #23, 1-1 Duke. They were just crushed by #1 Oklahoma. They are very deep.

Nov. 21: 77-65. This was a battle for 29 minutes. AT the media time out I woke the guys up, tweaked the D to try to stop the three. They had hit eleven of them at that point. We definitely woke up and Duke only hit one more three. We brought a 2 point lead to 15 and held on from there. 17, 11, 2 for Jay who has been terrific, 17, 4, 5 for Rand, 15, 3 for Barr, 9, 7, 2 for Herr, but he fouled out in 25 min. Barr and Rand filled in very well at the Point.

#11, 2-1 UConn is here. They’ve become the power in the Northeast. Very good at PG, SG and C, but that is it. Not a great defensive team.

Nov. 24: 79-48. We jumped out to a big early lead and never looked back. 21, 14, 4, with 5 steals for Rick Jay, 11, 5, 9 for Rand, 15, 7, 3 for Jobe, 10, 7 for Hawk, who isn’t seeing the ball on O this year with all of our other weapons, 6, 3, 6 for Barr. +6 TO, +20 RB.

Definitely our best game so far.

#4, RPI #1.

Deciding to ease off the professorial responsibilities was a very good decision. Coaching is a more than full time job, and I am doing more with music all the time. I am writing very seriously now, sometimes with dawn and sometimes on my own. One of my songs is being “shopped” by my agent (Dawn’s agent is now mine as well), and several well known artist are interested. I have a few others that are not quite ready, but I think they are the best I’ve done. As with anything else, there’s a learning curve and I am learning how to write good songs. There is even talk of a solo album. We’ll see.

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#6 ranked, 5-1 Michigan State is here. Very strong outside. Weak schedule though. PF broke his toe.

Nov. 28: 76-59. They stayed with us for a long time but eventually foul trouble did them in. We couldn’t stop their SG, who had 34. We absolutely owned the inside, 19, 10, 2 for Hawk, 17, 11, 1 for Jay, 10, 7, 2 for Jobe, 9, 5 for Budd, +18 RB (+5 TO). 5, 7, 7 for Herr with only 1 TO.

5 games played, 5 games scoring in the 70s.

Not another home game until Dec. 19. Home for three days only, Dec. 10-12, in all that time.

At 4-1 Oklahoma State. They’ve played a very weak schedule. Good with the ball but they don’t seem to play a lot of D.

Dec. 1: 75-70. We led all the way but never by more than 10. We didn’t play great D and bench play almost did us in, 32, 13, 4 for them, 6, 7, 6 for us. 16 TOs, worst of the season (-4), but +8 RB. 29, 2, 4 for Rand, 21, 9, 2 for Jay, 10, 8 for Hawk. PG Herr had 7, 8, 5 but 6 TOs. Not at our best tonight.

George Harrison is going to record my song as a single. I am really excited about this.

At #16, 5-1 Maryland. Played one ranked team- lost. SG is very good. They rebound and they take care of the ball. But except for SG they don’t play much D. It’s a roads game though and if we aren’t on our game we could be in trouble.

Dec. 5: 79-70. We led all the way, and by as many as 19. They came back at the end but the final margin of 9 was as close as it ever got after the first few minutes. 17, 2, 2 for Herr, 16, 8, 2 for Jay, 14, 7, 2 for Budd from the bench, 8, 9 for Mack from the bench, 9, 3, 4 for Barr from the bench. Rand had an off night, 1-8. 12 TOs, 43 RBs.

This victory came at a great cost. Starting SF Ed Jobe tore up his left knee very early in the game. He is out for at least a full year. We’ll start Al Budd, and move Dan Mack up in the rotation, but this will hurt some. I’m glad we’re deep.

At 0-5 Cincinnati. This was supposed to be a good team, ranked #25 in the preseason. They’ve lost badly to 2 ranked opponents and in close games with three cup cakes. They have a lot of trouble scoring points. They seem to take care of the ball, they play decent D, but they don’t rebound well. Trying to keep my guys focused. Surprises happen on the road.

Dec. 8: 70-61. We went down by 11 in the first half, most of the season. At the half it was 8. We reworked the D to stop the outside shot and turned things around. We took our first lead with 3:02 left and scored the last 11 points of the game to win by 9. Rick Jay had a monster game, 26, 20, 2. 12, 6, 5 for Rand. We won it on the boards, +15, and with great second half D, holding them to 19 in the second.

Met George Harrison. He’s a great guy. The single will come out in early January. I have a bunch of songs written now. Dawn says she already has two that she wants to record on her next album. Our agent really does want me to put out an album of my own. Thinking about it.

Dec. 11: 8-0, #1, RPI #1.

Looking forward to that short visit home.

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It was nice to sleep in our own beds for three nights. Now we’re in Las Vega, first vs. UNLV, and then at the Winter Jam. At least we’re not flying from place to place every other day.

UNLV is 6-2, unranked. Weak Schedule. Two bad losses, no quality wins. They rebound well but cough up the ball fairly easily. Good inside D but not as good outside.

Dec. 13: 77-60. 45 rebounds. Lee Barr was terrific. He played 30 min. and had 24, 2, 5. Al Budd was not effective so we gave Lee his chance. Dan Mack is starting to produce, 3, 7, 2 tonight. 14, 5, 4 for Herr, 9, 4, 7 for Rand, 9 and 10 for Jay, 11, 9 for Hawk.

9 games played, 9 games scoring in the 70s.

We’re the #1 seed at the Las Vegas Winter Jam and it’s a pretty good field. We play #8 seed, 4-2 Southern Illinois. They beat Houston by 2 at home. Other than that they haven’t played anyone. They don’t play much D. Good center but not much else.

Dec. 16: 73-60. Closer than it should have been. They stayed with us for about 32 minutes, mostly because we were awful, +1 TO (18), -3 RB and poor D. In the end we had too much talent but we didn’t make very good use of it. Rick Jay was in foul trouble all night, as was Hawk.

#4 seed, 5-2 Florida State in the semifinals. All four top seeds won. D is shaky but they’re good with the ball and they rebound decently. Lots of guys play. We need to play better than we did last night.

Dec. 17: 72-68. Closest game of the season. We’re road weary. Our big size advantage made the difference, +12 RB, 20, 9 for Jay, 14, 13 for Hawk, 16, 4, 2 for Budd.

#2 seed, #5 ranked, 9-0 Oklahoma for the title. They have a solid backcourt and an excellent PF. 8 of their wins were by a wide margin. PG bruised a thigh in the semis and may not play. If he does he will not be at his best. The key is containing the PF. We may pressure the PG, given the injury.

Dec. 18: 69-76. The PG played 20 very good minutes, we contained the PF (15, 5), but the SG killed us (32 points, 8 threes). They had a lot of weapons. We had a season high 21 TOs, -6, were only +2 RB, and no one really stepped up. A disappointing game. First time we score below 70.

We fly home and play #17, 5-3 Georgia Tech with no day off between games. Not good. They are very good at SG and SF. Played three ranked teams, three losses. They play good D. Last pre-conference game.

Dec. 19: 87-84, OT. 18 TOs, -6, +14 RB. We were too tired to get out on the shooters and they made 13 threes. But they took 41. Their SF had 28. Rick Jay outplayed a very good C, he had 23, 8, 2. 13, 13 for Budd, 13, 10 for Hawk, 21, 5, 4 for Rand. Herr was outstanding, 9, 11, 9 with only three TOs. Bench gave us very little. At the end of regulation GT scored the final five points to tie it. In OT we scored the first 9. They hit a three at the buzzer but we were not in danger during the OT.

We really need some rest. Fortunately, 10 days until our next game.

Dec. 25: We’re still #1, #1. Dawn is on the road so I was alone for the holiday. I spent it playing keyboard and writing songs. Had a great time. Never gave basketball a thought.

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We start at 7-5 Arizona State. They are not the team they were last year but they are strong inside and the 1-3- is not a D we see often.

Dec. 29: 60-48. Down 11 at the half. We adjusted and won the 2nd half 39-16. 23 TOs nearly did us in, but +21 RB made up for it. Al Budd continues to play well at SF, 9, 14.

9-3, 0-1 California is here. D is less than great.

Jan. 2: 57-59. Not quite sure how this happened. 11 TOs, 45 RBs. Held them to 33.3% shooting, went to the line five times more than they did. Well, Al Budd and Lee Barr shot 10-13. The rest of the team shot 10-42. That may be part of it. Nothing wrong with the defense but you need to score more than 57. We haven’t been ourselves lately. Hope we can regain our focus soon.

Dust up between little used sub Al Tann and PG Clay Herr. I spoke with both of them.

9-4, 1-1 Colorado is here. Good inside, decent with the ball. This is a good team. We need a win.

Jan. 5: 72-60. We were more like ourselves tonight, scored in the 70s, played good D, 13 TOs, 44 RBs. 21, 5, 3 for Rand, 14, 9, 8 for Herr. Colorado was definitely good inside. We played them even in there though and won it outside.

Jan. 8: surprised to still be #1.

At 10-5, 2-1 Oregon, one of 6 teams tied, one behind Arizona. Four bad losses. Starting PG, first big off the bench hurt. They may play, but how well? D is a little weak. But they win at home.

Jan. 9: 66-47. 13, 19, 4 for Jay, 20, 7 for Hawk, 16, 2, 5 for Rand, 9, 6 for Budd. 11 TOs, 41 RBs.

Harrison’s version of my song is released. Excited to see what happens with it. I sign a contract to do an album. I’ll start recording right after the Final Four ends. I gave this a lot of thought before agreeing but as time passes I want to do it more and more. I will accompany myself on guitar for some songs, piano for others. The songs are written. Still fiddling with a few of them.

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5-10, 2-2 Oregon State comes to town. This is a team we should beat.

Jan. 12: 61-40. Excellent D and just enough offense. Lee Barr came from the bench with 13, 1, 3, and the front court really delivered. +7 TO, +13 RB.
6-10, 1-4 USC is here. Another team we should beat.

Jan. 16: 67-49. In control all the way. 17, 13 for Jay, 16, 7, 5, 1 TO for Herr.

We’re alone in 2nd place, one behind Arizona. But two very tough road games back to back coming up next. I’d be happy with a split.

At #10, 14-5, 3-3 UCLA. 3-4 in their last 7 games. Strong inside but their guards are vulnerable. We need to make them cough it up. This is a big game.

Jan. 19: 71-63. We did what we needed to do tonight. 16, 2, 5 for Rand before he fouled out, 14, 6, 3 for Barr in his place, 11, 6, 2 for Herr, 9, 12 for Hawk. Their backup SG killed us but they only played him 16 minutes for some reason. He was on fire and should have played more.

Jan. 22: The Harrison single of my song, “Lovin’ Lovin’ You” was at #8 in its first week and is #2 this week. I’m getting a lot of ink as the songwriter.

We’re at 18-2, 6-1, #1, #1.

At #6, 17-2, 7-0 first place Arizona. They are very strong inside and decent with the ball. The strength inside is on O, their bigs don’t defend that well. We’ll try to work it inside, and try even harder not to let them do what they want to do. This will be a real challenge.

Jan. 23: 65-72. We fell behind and then WAY behind early, as many as 22. We had a great second half but we couldn’t catch up. 17 TOs, didn’t help. RBs were even. Bench play was the difference, 30, 13, 8 for them, 8, 7, 5 for us. Our starters played better than theirs. The injury to Jobe hurt us more in this way than any other, it shortened our bench. But, he’s out for the year, that’s the way it is.

When we got home A. D. Rick Stottlemyre told me he thinks my music is affecting my concentration as coach and he is concerned about it. I told him I disagreed and that we’re having a great season. It turned into a somewhat heated discussion. Hm, trouble ahead?

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The schedule actually favors us from here in. Both 1st place Arizona, and tied for 2nd Arizona State have much more challenging schedules than we do.

10-10, 4-4 Washington State is here. Better inside than out but they don’t play a lot of D.

Jan. 26: 77-41. This one was never in doubt.

Clay Herr strained a hamstring. He’s out about a week and will miss at least one game. We’ll start Barr but the bench will be really short.

Jan. 29: Rick Jay is #2 on the Norton list, Will Rand #13, Kent Hawk #25. All of our recruits hit the SAT score.

At 7-13, 3-6 Washington. Another team that’s strong inside but not good with the ball and not great on D. With Herr I’d call it an easy win. Without him, given the short bench, we’ll need to work for it.

Jan. 30: 65-63. We escaped! 9 TOs (+4), +8 RBs. Barr didn’t do much but he played good D and he didn’t hurt us on O. 18, 7, 3 for Rand, 12, 12, 3 for Jay, 11, 7 for Budd, 6, 4, 3 for Mack from the bench.

Herr will be back, close to 100%, for our next game.

Arizona lost so we’re now one back of them and one ahead of Arizona State. Everyone else is out of it with six to play.

#16, 16-7, 3-7 Utah is here. They loaded up on cupcakes in the pre-conf., but have not competed in conference. This is one we should win, even with Herr at less than 100%.

Feb. 2: 68-66. Another escape! Herr wasn’t effective, 7 TOs (as a team we had only 12 though). I would have been better off sticking with Barr. They had foul trouble up front and that made the difference, we were 24-37 from the line, they were 10-15.

I’m spending more and more time playing, singing and composing. I plan to resign my professorship at the end of the school year. I still really like stats but I like music more.

Dawn and I are having trouble finding time together. She is on the road much of the time and when she’s home I am often traveling with the team. We spend lots of time on the phone but it’s kind of frustrating for both of us.

15-8, 10-3 Arizona State is here. This is the battle for 2nd place. We won by 12 at their place. They’re tough inside. Last time we rebounded very well and played good D. We were awful with the ball.

Feb. 6: 55-38. We led most of the way. +6 TO, +13 RB. A good team effort, it seems all 7 who played contributed in one way or another. 15 TOs, but only 5 in the second half.

Arizona won by a single point or we’d be tied. 3 of our last 4 are on the road so it will be difficult for us to move up. We’re two up on 3rd place Arizona State now, so we probably will end up second.

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At 16-7, 7-5 Cal. They won by 2 at our place so this won’t be easy.
They’ve won their last 4, 2 over ranked teams. D is shaky but they’re deep and keep fresh legs in the game. We did not play particularly well last time against them. We need to play much better tonight.

Feb. 9: 74-66. All 5 starters in double figures. 11 RBs for Jay, 8 for Hawk with 6 assists and 3 steals. +12 RBs. We looked good tonight.

It will be very difficult for us to finish anywhere except second, but a win in our next is vitak if we’re to have any chance at all at 1st place.

Feb. 12: We’re still #1, #1. Rick Jay is #2 on the Norton list and Will Rand is #13.

At 14-10, 6-7 Colorado. We won by 12 at our place. They’ve been very up and down. Balanced everything. They play lots of guys.

Feb. 13: 72-59. Last time it was 72-60. That’s kind of scary! We absolutely owned them inside. 19, 11, 2 for Jay, 10, 10, 1 for Hawk, 14, 6, 2 for Budd, 8, 5 for Mack. +13 RB.

Lee Barr hurt his wrist. He won’t be at 100% for about a week but can probably play some.

14-12, 6-8 Oregon in our last home game. We will honor Hawk, Barr and Mack, and we’ll no doubt lose a couple who go pro early but we don’t know who they are yet. Won by 19 there. They don’t play much D.

Feb. 16: 67-51. It was close for way too long but eventually our superior talent showed. 16, 12 for Hawk, 17, 6, 4 for Budd, 11 each for Herr and Rand. 11 TOs, 40 Rbs.

It’s official, we will finish 2nd to Arizona.

Before we left for our last regular season game A.D. Stottlemyre came into my office and told me he was not at all happy with “the way you’re so distracted by outside interests.”

I answered that we’re still #1 in the country. He replied that he didn’t care about that. He didn’t like it, felt that with what I am being paid I should be entirely focused on coaching. When I pointed out that I never was, that before the music I was a full time professor here, he said that was different. Whatever. I’m guessing if I get to the Final Four he won’t be able to do anything but if I don’t he may go after my job. Not sure how I feel about that. I love coaching and I would miss it, but music is a bigger and bigger part of my life and an ever greater passion. We’ll see what happens.

At 9-17, 6-9 Oregon State. Beat them by 21 at our place. They’ve lost 4 of 5. Starting PG is slowed with a hammy. He’ll play though. They don’t play great D.

Feb. 20: 70-49. 24 for Rand, 13 each for Herr and Budd, 9 and 9 for Jay. 18 TOs though and only 28 RBs. It was an easy win but we were not sharp. Given that it was almost a sure win and the game was meaningless I guess it’s understandable. Not that I won’t use it at practice to focus the team.

We finish 1 back of Arizona, 4 or more ahead of everyone else. 26-3. About 2 ½ weeks until our next game.

Still writing, practicing my instruments. Dawn and I have gotten together 2 or 3 times and just jammed. Love doing that with her. I also get to do it with some other SF area musicians, sometimes on a stage somewhere, sometimes just at somebody’s home. It’s always fun.

March 5: We knew we’d lose some guys. We did: Al Tann, a Junior who doesn’t play, and as expected, Rick Jay. Jay is simply too good not to go. I thought we might lose at least one more, possibly 2 or 3. Not so bad, really.

March 9 is play in day. We'll play 19-11 UCLA in the round of eight.

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We won by 8 there. They’ve struggled against good teams and their starting SF is hurt. If he plays it won’t be much.

March 10: 76-63 and we led most of the way. 26, 3, 3 for Rand, 17, 3, 2 for Herr, only 2 TOs, 11, 10 for Jay. We didn’t get much from our bench. 11 TOs, 30 RBs.

All the favorites advanced so it’s #3 seed, 18-11, 10-6 Arizona State next. Beat them by 12 and 17. They’ve been up and down lately. We think we can turn them over. They’re deep though.

March 11: 67-45. We played well tonight except for Clay Herr. Herr was throwing the ball away regularly (7 TOs) so I went with Barr. He responded with 19, 1, 5 in 25 minutes. 10, 14, 2 for Jay, and the other starters all had 8-10 points. 19 TOs, 46 RBs. We need to do better with the ball in our next game, and for the rest of the way.

It’s Arizona for the title, as expected. They’re #4, 27-3, 15-1, beat us by 7 at their place. We had 17 TOs that night and didn’t rebound well enough. In order to win we need to do better in both areas, and we need our bench to give us more than they did last time, that was a huge factor. They’ve lost once since Dec. 15. The two teams are evenly matched so let’s see what happens.

March 12: 80-63. Clay Herr had 6 TOs but he also had 23, 5, 6. 18, 6, 4 for Rand, 18, 8 for Hawk, 9, 12, 2 for Budd, 7, 12 for Jay, 5, 5, 2 for Barr. We outplayed them for the full 40. 12 TOs, and an amazing 48 RBs. This is as good as we can play and if we continue to play this way I don’t think anyone can beat us. We should be the #1 overall seed.

Selection time: #1 in the East, as expected. We’ll play the winner of a play in game, to be determined. Oklahoma is #2, Memphis #3, Michigan #4, Butler #5.

North Carolina is #1 in the Midwest, Arizona #2.

Florida is #1 in the South.

Indiana #1 West.

We’re 29-3, #1, #1. Won our last 11.

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The focus has been very much on basketball but I manage a couple hours a day with my music.

March 13: UCLA won in the NIT.

March 14: Oregon won in the NIT.

March 15: UCLA won in the NIT, Colorado won in the CHI.

We play 18-13 Fairleigh Dickinson. They won their tourney after finishing 6th. This should be ugly.

March 16: 72-57. Closer than I thought. We were never in any danger but FD played with poise and never stopped working. +6, +8. 24, 12 for Hawk. Will Rand was awful so I put Barr in at SG. He had 15, 4, 7 in 26 minutes. Mack had 7, 5.

Arizona and Arizona State won in the NCAA, Oregon lost in the NIT.

March 17: California lost in the NCAA.

#8 seed, 19-11 Florida State is next. We beat them by only 4 in the Las Vegas Jam. 3-3 in their last 6, lost in the opening round of their tourney. D is weak. We simply didn’t play well against them last time. This is a team we should beat without all that much trouble.  

March 18: 68-65. Whew! We led most of the way but it was never easy. These guys have our number! 13 TOs (-1), 43 RBs (+11), a huge advantage at the line, and they still stayed with us. Clay Herr had a good game again, 16, 6, 4, 3 TOs. 11, 13 for Budd, 11, 11 for Hawk, 11, 5 for Jay. I’ll take it, on to the Sweet Sixteen!

Arizona won, Arizona State lost in the NCAA.

March 20: UCLA won in the NIT and they’re in the round of four.

March 22: Colorado won in the CHI. They’re in the round of four.

#4 seed, #13 ranked, 23-10 Michigan. Finished 5th in the Big 10, lost in the round of 8, but 6-1 in their last 7. They can score points, especially outside. Inside D is weak- inside GAME is weak. That’s where we need to put the ball on O. On D, get in their faces.

March 23: 78-66. 18 TOs, and it was all 5 starters. +5 RB. 29, 7, 2 for Jay saved us. We did not look good. This level of play will send us home so we need to refocus, and fast!

Arizona won in the NCAA.

We play #2 seed, #2 ranked Oklahoma, 32-3. How do the #1 and #2 seeds (in both polls) play in the round of 8! They beat us by 7 in the title game at Las Vegas. We had 21 TOs, only 29 RBs, let them shoot 46.2%. We need to do better. Their SG had 32. That can’t happen either. They’ve won their last 10. We have our work cut out for us! Their starting PG broke his leg in their last game though, and that will certainly change the equation.

March 25: 57-55! We took an early 12 point lead but it evaporated in the second half when there were 9 lead changes and 7 ties. Both teams played really tough defense. We were -1 TO (13), -3 RB. We shot 34.5%, they shot 30.4%.

With 1:01 left they were down one with the ball. They hit a three at :47 to take a two point lead. We raced down the floor and got it to Jay for a layup with :39 left to tie the score. We practice scoring quickly in order to not let the other team have the ball without needing to take a shot before the clock runs out. They made a mistake and shot too soon, with :09 left. The shot missed, Hawk go the RB, passed to Herr, who passed to Al Budd, who hit a 12 footer with a hand in his face. And that was it! Final Four! 12, 11 for Jay, 13, 9, 2 for Hawk, 12, 3, 4 for Rand.

Lucky? Definitely a little lucky, but we never quit.

Arizona lost to North Carolina.

So we’ll play #6 North Carolina, and #15 Louisville will play #5 Indiana in the Final Four.

March 27: Colorado wins in the CHI. They will play Gonzaga for the title.

March 28: UCLA lost in the NIT.

March 29: Colorado won the CHI title, 71-69.

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Well, we made it back to the Final Four. I’m guessing that means my job is safe but you never know.

I’m thinking mostly about hoops but I must admit, the fact that I go into the studio on April 10 to start recording a solo album? That’s definitely on my mind. I make small, final tweaks to some of the songs I wrote in my music time, which is still an hour or two a day. The producer has said twelve songs. I’m doing 8 originals, one Dylan song, one Blind Willie McTell song, and two by Johnny Mercer, just to add a  different flavor. The producer didn’t like the final idea but when I sang the songs, accompanying myself on keyboard, he wound up loving both songs.

#6 ranked, #4 RPI, 28-5 North Carolina. They are a very good team but they’ve lost a couple to teams they should have beaten. They’re good at everything, but not great at anything. We think we’re the better team and if we can stay focused and prevent them from easily doing what they want to do we like our chances.

April 1: 82-65. NC jumped out to an early 10 point lead, 5 minutes in. At the first media time out we did two things, first, we tightened up the D on their outside shooters, and second we decided to go right at their inside players. The first took care of the easy baskets they were getting and the second got their bigs in foul trouble, allowing us to score easily inside.

From then on we took control. We built the lead to as many as 21, and cruised to a 17 point win. 23, 11 for Jay, 15, 7 for Budd, 14, 6, 2 for Mack from the bench. Herr and Rand did enough, outplaying their opponents. Barr had a big game from the bench. We really looked good tonight, 11 TOs, 40 RBs.

It’s #15 ranked Louisville, 25-10, for the title. One loss since Feb. 4. SF and PF are their players. Starting SG lost to grades. They turn it over regularly. If we can get turnovers and win, or at least hold our own with the inside game we should be fine.

April 3: 58-64. A huge disappointment. The shots simply would not drop, we shot 29.2%, 0-12 from three point range. We lost the game outside. Their starting PG and SG combined for 37 points, and the team shot 11-22 on threes.

Still, when we give up 64 we should win. The offense simply wasn’t there. We got nothing from the bench. +6 TOs, +4 RBs, we went to the line 38 times, they went 23, and still we lost. This was a very disappointing way to end the season and the careers of Rick Jay, Kent Hawk, Lee Barr, and Dan Mack.

A sleepless night. I am really frustrated by this loss. When the shots won’t drop there is simply nothing to be done. Go inside? We did. Jay was 4-12, Hawk was 2-8, Budd was 2-12. They were missing layups. True, Louisville was all over us, playing excellent D, but we missed a half dozen to a dozen shots that nobody ever misses. Make four of those and we win the game.

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April 4: Awards: Rick Jay is national freshman of the year and 1sdt team All American. I get national coach of the year. In conference, Jay is player of the year and freshman of the year, first team along with Rand. Hawk and Herr make 2nd team. I get conf. coach of the year. Awards do not make up for losing the title game.

April 9: Not interested in any job offers.

April 15: A week in the studio and I have an album! I really enjoyed the process. Six of the songs were just me, singing and playing either guitar or keyboard. Two were duets with Dawn, with some studio musicians playing alongside my guitar or piano. Four were soloes with studio musicians playing alongside my guitar or piano. My agent and the producer both say the record label is going to promote the album nationally. We’ll see. It should come out some time in June. I will do some limited live concerts and some TV shows.

April 16: No staff vacancies.

April 23: I ask for a facilities upgrade for the third straight year. Rejected again.

My end of season numbers: 203-48, .809. Off.- 42, Def.- 61, Recruit- 99, Scout- 95, Player Development- 59, Reputation- 81. Team Prestige 91, Conf. Prestige- 78.

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May 1: I’m concerned about our inside game. With graduations and guys leaving for the NBA we have four decent big guys. Ed Jobe is the fifth but we won’t have him until January.

We buy the usual reports.

June 5: Nothing in the transfer pool.

June 13: “Hart and Soul” is out. Let’s see if the album sells!

June 18: The album debuted on the charts at #19. I’ll take it. I’m told it’s getting a lot of play on the radio. I’ve been invited to appear on lots of TV shows. We’re scheduling those we can fit in.

June 25: Again, we have the money, we’re going to the camps.

June 26: Rick Jay goes #4 in the draft. Al Tann goes #18. Kent Hawk is an absolute steal at #21, Dan Mack goes #22. Three scholarships to fill. We’re going for all bigs.

Aug. 7: It’s been an exciting six weeks or so. I’ve done eleven concerts and sang on 9 television shows, most of them also including an interview. The first concert where I was the person the people had come to see was a thrill. The most nervous I’ve ever been but once the first song started it was incredible. I even managed to talk with the audience, tell some stories about the songs, talk about Dawn and how we started doing music together and that kind of thing, a very little bit about basketball, and even one statistics story. The audience seemed to enjoy it. After the first concert it was a lot easier but every one was fun. Takes a lot of energy though. Afterward I just wanted and needed to read- and eat! Can’t eat before the concerts. I’ll only manage a few concerts once practice starts on Oct 2.

The album got to # 7 and I’m pretty proud of that. My agent says we’ll do another one so start writing. Dawn and I are writing alone and together, for ourselves, for each other, and just writing. We spend time together when we can but it isn’t really a romantic relationship. I’d like to be in one of those but of course it isn’t that easy.

Loving my music and really loving the fact that I’m starting to be a pretty decent guitar player. First love is keyboard though.

Six on the Norton list: SG Jon Gatt is #4, PG Will Rand #14, PF Ray Hart #15, C Al Budd #25, PG Earl Ash #28, SF Ed Jobe #30. Jobe is hurt, out until January.

Aug. 21: We offer to three bigs: #4 Jed Tyl, C, #7 Al Ford, SF, #12, Rae Sims, C. We think we have a shot at all three.

Sept. 11: Got one! #4 Jed Tyl. Visiting the other two and two others with whom we are speaking.

Sept. 18: Got the other two! And we have a schedule. We’re at the Preseason NIT. We play lots of home games for a change and again this year we play lots of ranked teams.

Oct. 2: I’ve done a few more concerts, some on my own, some with Dawn. Loving it!

That will all slow down now since today was the first day of practice. I really like what I see. We’re a little thin up front until Jobe gets back but as long as we stay healthy we’ll be fine.

Nov. 6: Exhibition games this week. The guys have looked good. We’re ready to face opponents. We make some changes. Mike Wyck earns lots of time he didn’t have before the exhibitions.

Ready to start the season!

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We’re the #4 seed in the preseason NIT, which is interesting since we’re preseason #1 ranked team in both polls. We play #11 ranked Temple. We know they have a very good C but don’t know much else.

Nov. 14: 76-52. First half score was 60-16! We quit at halftime though. 7 TOs, 43 RBs. 24, 4, 2  for SG Jon Gatt, 13, 8 for Wyck at PF, 9, 6, 2 for Herr despite foul trouble, 7, 2, 9 for Rand backing him up. We were very inconsistent tonight.

#5 seed, #16 ranked Oklahoma in the round of eight. Excellent outside. Inside game was not impressive in their first game.

Nov. 16: 89-63. 51-26 at the half. We had a much better second half than last time. 26, 6 for Hart at SF, 21, 5, 5 for Gatt, 14, 9, 2 for Owen from the bench, 8, 6, 5 for Herr. 10 TOs, 39 RBs.

#1 seed, #2 ranked North Carolina, 2-0. VERY tough inside but good everywhere. This will be a challenge.

Nov. 18: 71-67. NC took an early lead, built it to 11. We chipped away and at the half it was 3. We kept chipping in the second, took the lead, very slowly stretched it to 8, then hung on to win by 4. This was a heavyweight fight and we won it with patience and discipline. 7 TOs (+13), 44 RBs (+6). We had trouble making shots all night (28.4%) but got to the line often enough to eke out the win (27-35 vs. 17-19). 17, 8 for Gatt, 14, 5 for rand, 8, 6, 4 for Herr, 13, 3 for Hart, 6, 10, 5 for Budd.

Ranked #2. All three of our recruits sign.

#4 ranked, #3 seed UConn for the title. All 5 starters are in double figures. They do everything well. This one will be a real challenge.

Nov. 20: 69-57. We took an early lead and never relinquished it. 7 TOS again tonight, and 41 RBs. Those numbers will get a lot of wins. 19, 15 for Al Budd, 23, 11 for Gatt, 14, 3, 4 for Herr. Very good D and we didn’t foul. We looked very good tonight.

Not a lot of time for music but I’m practicing every day, as always, and finding a little time to write. At this point a bunch of my songs. Both those I’ve written alone and those Dawn and I co-wrote, have been recorded by other artists, some folk some pop, some blues.

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Michigan, 0-1, is here. They didn’t look good against LSU.

Nov. 23: 73-52. 37-16 at the half. 28, 5, 4, 2 steals for Gatt, 18, 11, 2 for Budd. Herr and Rand also played well. 5 TOs, 39 RBs. We are averaging an amazing 7.2 TOs per game, and an equally amazing 41.2 RBs.

A rematch with #5, 3-1 North Carolina here. We won by 4 at the NIT. They beat us up inside last time but our outside game was terrific and we turned them over 20 times. We’d like to repeat that and do a better job inside.

Nov. 26: 89-76. A foulfest with the three blind mice blowing their idiotic whistles 45 times. Ridiculous but we benefited- 33-40 to 23-30. They outscored us inside again this time but we were +4 RB. Outside it was 48-17 so that is clearly where we won the gamer. TOs were 12-12. We were the better team but all the whistles made for an unsatisfying win. Still, we’ll take it.

Nov. 27: 6-0, #1 ranked, #5 RPI.

At #14, 4-0 Ohio State. They haven’t played anyone. Good outside game and great outside D but they are weak inside. We need to keep going to our big guys all night long, and we need to contain their very good guards.

Nov.30: 77-54. Much easier than I expected. Gatt was unstoppable, 33, 8, 3. 17, 10, 2 for Budd, 14, 9 for Wyck, his best game of the season. PG did not help us, Herr did little and Rand had 8 TOs. 17 TOs for the team, our worst in that category, but +8 RBs.

At 3-2 Butler. Good at PG, decent inside, but we seem to have considerably more talent. It’s a road game and they play well at home.

Dec. 3: 82-69. 15 lead changes, 8 ties. It took almost 35 minutes but we finally opened up a lead. 18, 13, 2 for Budd, 20, 8 for Gatt, 13, 4 for Hart, 10, 3, 6 for Herr. Rand is still off his game, 6 TOs this time. 13 TOs (even) and +12 RBs. We won it inside.

8-0, #1, #2 RPI. Ed Jobe is getting healthier but still 3 ½ to 4 weeks away. He’ll start at PF when he’s ready.

Still limited time for music, still writing. I not to do two concerts with Dawn over the past few weeks. We also spent some time in the studio. She’s recording another album. I’ll be doing the same, We’re home until Dec. 20 and we hope to complete an album before the team hits the road.

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