32 points in 5 games, now... up to 707, with a gain of at least one point in every category.

Ha. That might work. Don't know what it is, but he is up 32 after 5 games. Hopefully he doesn't go pro until after his Junior year.

Beat you to it.

Flood was only up 1 last night, 33 points in 6 games. Got a tough road win over Wyoming, 50-42 in one that we trailed most of the way. These are the wins that make or break your season....hopefully tonight we can cash in what should be a win vs. Monmouth. They are ok, but no seniors and its a home game, so our superior athleticism should take over.

Amazingly hard keeping my promise to Barbour with his 52 stamina he can barely play 10 minutes as the primary backup to Norris at center. Norris is really doing well too, being overshadowed by Flood, but he is up 25 points as well. Interesting to see how much his 83 LP (which might be his max) will affect him.

Up to 5-2, and a 80 rpi for a starting point...not bad. Play Weber State tonight, not having a good year at 2-5, but a really good team that has beaten me 3 of the last 4 years. Hopefully I can solve their press this year and use my A+ HCA to help me get a win. Benson had a big game going 7-14 off the bench. Right now I have him backing up SG and SF and he is getting around 20 minutes, and he is really feasting on the backups that are guarding him.

Flood's up 6 today, to a crazy total of 39 pts through 7 games. My freshman centers Norris and Leffler are doing well too up 28 & 22 pts each.

Ug...dropped an ugly road game to Fordham to go to 6-3. Next up is a home game vs. a very tough Lehigh team. A win here will really set me up nicely for a good shot at making the NT.

Too many TOs in that Fordham game, I am hoping that HCA will swing things in my favor tonight.

Got the big home win vs. top 10 rpi Lehigh and moved up to #25 in the Rpi. Conference ends the noncon season at #6, which is pretty excellent.

We really pounded Lehigh on the glass, which is nice since I couldn't do that last year with SG Benson playing SF. With Flood there, we can punish those 2-3 zone teams that try to play a + defense and come out on Jones and Benson.

Time to start conf play....I think one of the keys to this game is being realistic about your goals. I've been pretty consistent, making the NT 15 of my 17 seasons, and my two that I missed were the first year (when I got stuck with a HORRID schedule) and my first year at Wichita state when we just were not good and I started 3 or 4 freshman every game.

My strategy has always been to have a winning noncon record, and then try to go 12-4 in conference. Win the home games and split the road ones. Then a 18-8 or 19-7 type season usually makes the NT. This year the MVC is tougher, #6 in the RPI (yay) so going 12-4 is going to be tougher, but its doable.

Start out the first quarter of the season with 4 games I want to win. Bradley, @ Missouri St, @Illinois St and home vs. Western Kentucky. So 2 home games vs. Sims and then road games vs. the 2 weakest human coached teams. I know I am losing some road games to the tougher human teams, so getting both of these wins would be really good to allow me a loss later on.

The team is really starting to gel as the Stamina is coming around, IQs are going up and Flood is really improving fast. Through 11 games he is up 58 points. Norris, my center is up 38, but I think I am about to give up improving his 83 low post. So he will never be a great scorer, but his 62 ath & 56 speed are both improving quickly and his rebounding, defense, and shot blocking are all heading for 90 by the end of the year.

Well 4 games, 4 wins. 2nd quarter of the conference slate is not going to be as easy. At NIU, my nemesis and best team in the conference, then home for two vs. Gardner-Webb and Evansville, then on the road to SIU. I could easily lose 3 of these 4.

Realistically, I expect to lose the 2 road games. NIU and SIU are just better teams than me right now, so I realy want to win the home games and go 2-2. That would get me to 13-5 (6-2), and then my schedule will get a little easier.

The best thing I have going for me right now is that I am improving quickly (SF Flood is now up 70 points, starting Center Norris is up almost 50). My stars Baker, Benson and Jones are all 2nd year players, so we are just gaining 20-25 pts a day as a team. By the end of the year we are going to be really tough in the CT, and tough in a lot of those coin flip games like:

Home vs. Creighton, Evansville and NIU

Road vs. Gardner Webb.

I expect to lose at SIU and at NIU, win my games vs. the sims, home vs. GW, Illinois St and Missouri State, so these 4 games will determine if I go 21-5 or 17-9 or something in between. Will B IQs be enough? I don't have the minutes to improve them that much with a combo defense. At least my starting guards have the best offensive IQs on the team (A- and B+)

Ouch, lost to NIU 59-29 on the road. I expected to lose, but not get doubled up. Still a long way to go with this team before I can beat a good time like that on the road I guess.

Now I have 2 home games against mid level teams, Gardner-Webb and Evansville. Will be important to defend the home court. Flood is now up 75 points in 15 games, and I think will be allowed to start shooting a bit with his B- IQ.

Happy to report that we bounced back nicely from the NIU debacle and have won 3 of 4, including home vs. against Evansville and Creighton. We lost at SIU, but they are undefeated in conference and top 25 in the rpi, so that's ok.

Now its going to be important not to lose at sim Western Kentucky before the big game hosting Northern Iowa.

Flood is playing better, now up around 90 points, and Norris was 10 for 10 from the line in the Creighton game. Depth at guard is still an issue, but I am starting to scout guards for next year to fix that. Kansas recruited a PG last year, so hopefully they go after bigs this season.

I am thinking I am only losing my 1 senior, as my 2 juniors are PG Canchola doesn't score and was a 1-star, and PF Baker who was a 2-star ineligible. If we get 9 players back (2 walkons) we'll be really tough next season. But this year we are still in the running for a 3/4 type seed if we can finish strong, and maybe even a #2 seed if we run the table and win the CT.

Tough loss 52-59 vs. NIU, falling to 8-3 in the conference, and pretty much out of the conference title race with NIU up to 10-1, and they swept me. Donald Jones met his match, and his name is Brickner.

Oh well, I am still 15-6, top 20 RPI and my worst loss is on the road at 45th RPI Wofford. Plus the rest of my schedule is 5 games I really should win. At Gardner-Webb (beat em at home 72-40), Illinois State (beat em on the road), at Indiana State and Drake (weak sims) and home vs. Missouri State (beat them easy on the road).

So 20-6, 13-3 in conference and the #2 seed in the CT wouldn't be too bad. That would set up a 2/3 game against Evansville probably that I could win, and then I need to beat Creighton or SIU, and with the way my team is improving, its possible. Flood is up 97 points and Norris is up 68, and both freshman have their IQs up to B-'s, so I am hoping I can get the offensive IQ to a B before the end of the year.

I put a few more min into offense than man and more into man than press. I think that is the way to go with a combo defense, but you never know. Didn't work vs. NIU when I committed 20 fouls to their 10.

I have a pretty interesting and consistent NT resume this year.

17th rpi

0-6 vs. RPI top 50

6-0 vs. RPI 51-100

8-0 vs. RPI 101-200

5-0 vs. RPI 201+

So I have zero good wins, the best is probably home vs. 60th RPI Creighton. I also have zero bad losses....maybe worst is on the road vs. 41st RPI Wofford. So am I good or not? Obviously not elite, but most (5 of 6) of my tough games were away and my 1 home loss was to a top 15 rpi team (NIU).

Well beat 82nd RPI Evansville to get to 21-6 and move into the CT semi's vs a very talented Southern Illinois Team that beat me by 11 at their place last time.

Positive sign in this one was I got 10+ points from 4 players instead of relying on Jones to do all my scoring. We are going to be really good next year with SG Benson, SF Flood, PF Baker all able to really score. And C Norris is just a great rebounder/defender with 70 ath, 62 spd and 90 reb/def/blk. The only weakness is the maxed 84 LP, but he can still average 8-10pts a game off tip ins I think.

Lefler will probably be my 6th man, and Canchola will be a nice Senior PG with Ath/Spd/def/BH/Pa all above 90. I wish I had scheduled Kansas I my place though. That game is going to be near impossible to win, even with my stacked roster. They are top 5 in the country good, not mid-major good.

Surprise CT win after beating SIU and NIU :) Got up to #22 rank and the 9th rpi, which gets me a 4 seed. I play the deep, talented Sacramento State who lost to Montana 3 times, and is a really tough pressing team.

Wish I wasn't so short of guards.

Anyway, this is the biggest game of the year. 1st rnd NT vs. 2nd is big prestige and this would be a very successful year if I can just get this game. Ratings are pretty even, I have a 6 point lead in Athleticism to his 8 point lead in rebounding, everything else is close.