[Izulde]

After a long discussion with Cortez, Malcolm, and John, I decide to go ahead and pursue Ian Oswalt. He does fit the over 1000/under 2.5 category, and, as John pointed out, "At this point, we simply don't have much choice for big men."

We go the full court press on PG Hollis Odum, since he didn't commit to Hartford and we send Oswalt a scholarship letter. After the press on Odum, we only have enough money to either send Cortez or Malcolm, and with our desperate need for bigs, Cortez gets the nod.

Training Camp
Nobody's willing to redshirt. Not that I would have anyway; I want to get my guys in here, no offense to the athletes already on the team. Since I'm still new to this, I listen to my assistants on their suggestions for what to do as far as training schedules go.

I find out just before the start of the season that PF Ervin Vanzant failed a class and he's out for the fall semester. Great, like we weren't thin in the post already.

Our starting lineup isn't too hard for me to figure out, even if John objects to some of my choices.

PG Dennis Seymour (RS Senior)
Easily the best combination of passing and handling on the roster. I'm feeling good about our bringing in some new blood here next year, even with the hotshot underclassmen we have. He's been elected the team captain and we'll be relying on his leadership. Not a great ballhandler, but his passing ability is unreal for this level.

SG Andrew Hinshaw (RS Fr)
One of the star underclassmen point guards, at 6'2, 207 he's big enough to play the 2 guard. A poor passer at this point in his career, but already the single best handler on the team. Definitely part of the future.

SF Douglas Alberts (RS Sr)
Originally a SG, we're essentially going with a three guard lineup, something that might become a mainstay given our recruiting so far. The best all-around shooter on the squad, he projects as our #1 option on offense. I'll miss him next year.

PF Kerry Penn (RS Jr)
Not a great option by any means in terms of scoring, but he really knows how to hit the glass on offense and his post defense is phenomenal. A little thin at 6'9, 229, but beggars not choosers and so on.

C Roger Redman (Jr)
The Australian is the only non-American native on the roster and his handling ability is what wins him the starting spot over the other contenders. Incidentally, almost all of our players are from Rhode Island, the exceptions being one from NY, one from PA, and one from TX.

As it turns out, the only point of disagreement John and I have is over our starting SG. That makes me happier about my choices and gives me confidence in my ability to be a head coach.

John recommends that we run a pretty fast paced offense with quite a bit of motion and three point shots and a balanced look on offense, with no pressing and no trapping on defense. He also argues we should discard last year's man to man defense and run the 2-3 zone as our base defense. I'm fine with all that.

He also thinks Alberts and Duncan Kumar, a junior who is easily our best three point shooter, should be the primary focal points. I'm a little leery of Kumar because of his terrible handling, but eventually I agree.

Fun Fact
We have 2 players from Providence, RI, 2 players from Tiverton, RI and 2 players from Warwick, RI. Only the two Tiverton guys, Kumar and sophomore Charles Valencia, went to the same high school and played together, though.

The Regular Season
I take a page from football and allow John to be our offensive coordinator, calling the plays. He's a lot better at it than I am, and I largely serve as the motivator and director.

When putting the schedule together, I tried to find as many easy opponents as possible. We're a 2 prestige school. Just trying to get wins is what's important. We're not even close to dreaming of any sort of postseason.

Our first game of the season is also our home opener, and it's against South Dakota, the bastards who stole two of my preferred assistant coaches. And we show the Jackrabbits what for, murdering them 97-72! Douglas Alberts has an unreal game - 29 points and 10 rebounds. Roger Redman just misses a double-double, posting 17 points and 9 rebounds. Kerry Penn surprises me with 11 points to go with his 8 rebounds. And then was Lawrence Fogg, who accepted his 6th man role with grace, hitting all 4 of his shot attempts for 10 points. It was a fantastic victory and it felt good to have a 1-0 career record.

"Hell of a win", John says afterwards. "Hell of a win", I agree and everybody's smiling; coaches, players, fans. It's a beautiful moment.

Next up, Howard, who also won their season opener. This time we're on the road and we crank out a solid 89-76 win to go to 2-0. Douglas Alberts is Player of the Game again with 22 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and a steal. He's really blossomed at the 3 spot so far. Roger Redman continues to show surprising offensive ability, scoring 18. Dennis Seymour scores 16, and our bench was very quiet this game.

Off to the bright lights of New York we go and I really, really want to kick the shit out of the 0-2 Columbia Lions. Fuck them and their overinflated reputation and fuck their non-financial aid giving selves. And of course, we lose a 60-59 heartbreaker. Still 2-1, but damn does this loss hurt. Hell of a game by Kerry Penn with 14 points, 16 rebounds and a block, but they totally shut us down, holding us to 31% shooting. It's a very silent bus ride home, as our unbeaten bubble is popped.

Two nights later, we're back home in our biggest game of the year, but the reason it's the biggest has nothing to do with on-court play. It has to do with recruiting. Hollis Odum is visiting campus today and we're playing against Hartford, our big rival for him in recruiting. Both teams play ugly, but we grind out a 56-47 win. Douglas Alberts has been Player of the Game in our previous two victories and he is here, too, putting 13 points and 9 rebounds to lead our team in scoring, #2 in rebounds behind Kerry Penn's 13 boards.

After the game, Hollis said he was definitely still considering us. Those feel like hollow words to me. Not that I blame him. It was putrid basketball, with nobody able to make a damn shot anywhere. But hey, we're 3-1.

Make that 3-2. IUPUI comes to town on the last day of the month and hands us our first bad loss of the year, 78-61. The score honestly wasn't that close; the Jaguars kicked our asses up and down the court. Everybody was off tonight and it's a sour close to November, even if we still hold a winning record.

My worst fears were right. PG Hollis Odum went with his hometown university, Hartford, anyway. PF Ian Oswalt also opted to stay in-state, choosing UNC-Greensboro over us.

"How's the board look now?" a tired-looking Cortez asks me on a too damn cold December 1st.

"Dead," I answer glumly.

Things are so bad, we offer C Graham Seng (incorrectly reported as Song earlier) a scholarship and the full court. I hate, hate, hate finesse centers, but our need is too great. We're also in a situation where it's getting harder to find guys who meet our academic criteria. There's a SG who falls just short at 2.41 and 1000 SAT and there's a PG whose 2.37 and 1020 SAT who fills our under/over requirement. This sets off another debate and eventually we agree that SG Loyd Gage has worked harder in the classroom and we'll make an exception to the 2.5/1000 rule for him. He gets a letter and Malcolm and Cortez go to talk to him.

Northeast News
Just a few quick hits here. Monmouth was 4-0 in November, Robert Morris 4-2. The two winless teams so far are St. Francis (PA) and Long Island, both of whom went 0-4. I'd have to call Monmouth the favorites right now and not just because of their unbeaten record. They have some great players, like senior PG Weldon Phillips, who's scoring 19 points a game, and RS senior PF Ivory Desouza, who's putting up a ridiculous 13 points, 11 rebounds, steal, and 1.5 blocks a game.

I'm glad both those guys are graduating, or the Hawks would be a Northeast power for years to come, I bet.