I'll Be a Son of a Shark

[PointGuard]

I often ask for "we'll play good teams, but at home".

Playing at a low prestige school, I seem to get few good teams (mainly 1 and 2 star) at home but some good ones for away games (range of 1 to 4 stars), so while it's probably realistic it doesn't seem to mirror what is asked for.

Home/away number of games is typically pretty even but can be 7/4 some years (with either home or away having more games).

[CoachC]

oct 2: lost another guy I was recruiting heavily to Pittsburgh, but did get my 2nd verbal committment of the season from:

6'8 210 lb F HS senior Travann Ohl from Taylorsville HS in Taylorsville, Utah.
Ranked 39th over-all and 7th nationally at his position, Travann is an athletic power forward who can rebound, defend and score inside. Probably lacks the bulk to play at the 5, but should help this team moving forward.

We still have 2 scholarships to give and it remains to be seen what we will be able to get with them.

[CoachC]

Oct 9: We get our 3rd Verbal Commitment this fall from:

6'6 210 JUCO So. G/F Lataryl Green from Charleston, SC.
Lataryl gives us the swingman with size we were hoping to land to replace Stetson next year. Ranked 67th overall. Lataryl has good floor skills, can hit the jumper and play strong defense and should be a good fit for our system.

One scholarship left, and we are looking hard for a big man. Unfortunately most of the guys we had targeted have already accepted scholarships back east.

[Wayne23]

"Probably lacks the bulk to play at the 5, but should help this team moving forward." Power forward, no doubt. Great pun!

[CoachC]

Nov 4: We get on the court and play our first exhibition against Bellarmine and have a chance to get a look at our newcomers against outside competition.

A pretty good first performance as exhibitions go. They made it a little closer at the end but the final outcome was never in doubt as we won 62-48.

More importantly we were able to get a read on the newcomers, along with holdouts who are looking for more minutes this season. All the newcomers, including big 6-8 231 lb jr walk-on George Fredericks showed us a little something. Fredericks showed that he's not afraid to bang the boards or to post up. and also had a steal and a block along with 5 rebs in 14 minutes, and could manage to get a few minutes here and there in game situations. Most impressive of the new comers was Freshman Matt "The Rocket Man" Houston who had 12 points in 14 minutes, and looks very smooth and mature for a freshman. Isaac Garren showed that he's not afraid to shoot out to 3 point range but needs to develop a better sense of shot selection. Osei Petion had a good showing with 7 pts in 13 minutes and can score in a variety of ways and should give us some good back up minutes behind Angelli at the 3.

Among the holdovers, Stetson was 2nd in scoring with 10 pts in 14 minutes, and this could be his year to shine. No surprise about Ray who scored 6 and grabbed 8 rebounds in 14 minutes. Inyo looked good too at both ends of the court. Conley and Thompson both had good showings at the point. Bullock shows signs of improvement from last year, but is still shaky with the ball at times. We are probably going to need him at some point this season however, so he needs to continue working on it. He did make some nice passes though. Larry Guy went to the boards hard and if he can do that on a consistent basis he may play his way into more minutes this season.

Overall, we do seem to have more perimeter shooting than in the past, but we need to use better judgment and make better decisions.

[CoachC]

Nov 11: Our 2nd exhibition will be against UC San Diego. Time to work out our rotation and see where the freshmen will fit into the scheme of things. It seems unlike we'll be redshirting anyone this year. It would be nice to give Gerren a year to acclimate himself academically but we don't really have that luxury. We've obtained a tutor for him to keep him working hard in the classroom.

In winning 63-50, we rebounded well, and played solid defense in the 2nd half. Shooting 40.6 % from the field though was a concern, and we clearly need to work more on our offensive sets. 14 turnovers were too many as well, but with Michael Thompson limited to just 6 minutes because of foul trouble from the start, i'll give them a pass on that. Conley performed well with 5 pts, 5 asts.

Houston appears to be the real deal with a team high 21 points, to go with 7 rebounds. Petion played very well too, with 11 points, 2 asts, and 3 stls. Ray had a double double with 13 pts, 10 rebs, a stl and a block.

Stetson has been practicing some at the point, and with Thompson in foul trouble the whole game we gave him some minutes there in this one. Although he performed adequately at the point under the circumstances, it's clearly not an idea situation. With Bullock still not ready for significant minutes, Thompson is going to have to use his head and not commit silly fouls.

With Houston and Petion clearly making their case for significant playing time, we'll probably see more of Jon Angelli at the 4 this season as matchups allow. Although Jon was just 1/7 from the field tonight, he had 5 asts, 9 rebs, and 5 stls. Inyo did a nice job as usual in the middle with 5 pts, 5 rebs in 17 minutes.

I still wish we could red-shirt the very talented Isaac Garren this season, but I have a feeling we will need him at times this season especially against the zone. He is just going to have to get smarter with his shot selection.

[CoachC]

Nov 15: Air Force knocked off #21 Kentucky handily last night in the pre-season NIT.

[CoachC]

The Broncos were 19-12 a year ago and lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Their win came at home over Tulane.

Stetson and Conley will start along with Angelli, Johnson, and Ray.

A nice all around performance in the first half leads to a 43-25 half time advantage.

Everyone in the opening night crowd got an eyeful of basketball excellence. It was difficult to find any real negatives in this drubbing.

Conley and THompson combined for 8 pts, 11 asts at the point
Stetson had 16
Angelli 11 pts, 3 asts, 3 rebs, 3 blocks
Johnson pulled down 9 rebs
Martin Ray had a double double with 16 pts, 11 rebs, 2 blocks

Houston was in double figures as well off the bench with 11, Jackson had 6, Petion 6 on a couple of 3s, Tatum had 7 pts, 4 rebs, 2 stls and walk-on Gene Frederick impressed again with 6 pts 2 rebs in just 4 minutes at garbage time.

Blowout Final: UNM 93 Santa Clara 54

[CoachC]

The Pirates were 20-12 last year, advancing to the sweet 16. Their season opening loss was by 22 at Tulsa.

Not too enamored with our defense or rebounding in the first half, but we take the halftime lead 34-29.

Not a great game for us despite the final score. Ray was in early foul trouble and we aren't the same team without the big All-American on the floor. When he came back midway through the 2nd half we were able to systematically pull away.

Angelli led us and filled the stat sheet with 14 pts, 3 asts. 3 rebs. 5 stls, and 2 blocks.
Houston had 13 pts, 6 asts, 4 rebs and 3 stls off the bench proving he's not just a shooter.
Despite the limited minutes, Ray still had 12 pts, 5 rebs, and a block
Michael THompson had a terrific game off the bench with 11 pts, 7 asts, 2 rebs, 2 stls in 24 minutes
Stetson had 9
Inyo chipped in 9 off the bench, and
Johnson had 6 pts, 8 rebs, 2 stls.

Final: UNM 82 Seton Hall 63

[CoachC]

Nov 20: some bad news after the game last night, as Angelli sprained his wrist in the closing minutes and probably be out at least a week to 10 days
Walk-On Frederick sustained a similar injury in a couple minutes play in the first half and the prognosis is about the same. Not an ideal situation headed to South Bend, but it'll give an opportunity for someone else to step up and claim some minutes.

With the two wins we move up to #13 in the polls this week. And as we get ready to leave for Indiana, we get signed LOIs from all 3 of our recruits. We still have one scholarship to give.

Rocket wins Freshman of the week honors in the MWC.