I'll Be a Son of a Shark
Dec 6: BYU (3-2) @ UNM(4-1)
by CoachC » Fri Jun 14, 2013 9:43 am
Nice big crowd of just under 15,000 tonight. Albuquerque is beginning to get excited about this team. The Cougars offensively are similar to a more talented version of LIU. Very balanced scoring with a lot of perimeter shots. Their top 2 leading scorers come in off the bench. They don't have any impressive wins yet, but their two losses have been to NC St. and Missouri. Taylor and Wilson are finally both healthy and both will start tonight along with Martin, Stetson, and Jackson.
Although we shot well and horsed the boards (16-10, 7-3) we turned the ball over WAY too many times (11) which allowed them to reduce a 17 point lead to 2 by halftime on repeated fast break opportunities.
At the half we barely hang on to the lead 38-36
Holy cow. Apparently we decided to test fate and the patience of the crowd tonight. We continued to shoot ourselves in the foot in the 2nd half with turnovers and fast break opportunities for the Cougars. Combined with a sudden inablity to get the ball into the basket we found ourselves down by 14 by the 10 minute mark as the crowd sat on their hands. We still were trailing by 11 at the 5 minute mark before some truly inspired play by Wilson, Madic, Taylor and Williams stunned the Cougars, got the crowd to their feet and we rocked and rolled our way to the finish line, coming from behind to win by 3.
We did continue to dominate the boards, 45-29, 15-7, and despite turning the ball a dismal 17 times, our smothering defense in the final 5 minutes of the game eventually gave us just a -1 diffential in turnovers as we turned them over 16 times on 10 steals. The crowd willed us to win this one despite ourselves.
Wilson was terrific coming off his injury and wasn't the reason for our ball handling misadventues. He had 8 pts, 7 asts, 4 rebs, 2 stls, and just 2 turnovers in 28 minutes at the point.
Martin and Stetson were out of synch in this one and supplied just 5 points each in reduced minutes.
Jackson had 10 pts, 4 rebs, and Taylor returned to the lineup with a team high 12 points, 6 rebs, and 2 steals.
Once again the bench came to the rescue with fine perfomances by Madic (double double 11 pts, and a career high 13 rebounds), and Kareem Williams who had his best game of the season (8 points, 7 rebs). Durham had just 6 points in this one, but his 3 steals sparked us early, and was the only one we played at the 2 tonight who played much of any D. Conley and Guy also made nice contributions in limited minutes.
This certainly wasn't one to put into a time capsule, but it's always good to learn you can win one under adversity, and was once again proof of why they call this place The Pit.
Final
UNM 69 BYU 66... had em all the way.
Although we shot well and horsed the boards (16-10, 7-3) we turned the ball over WAY too many times (11) which allowed them to reduce a 17 point lead to 2 by halftime on repeated fast break opportunities.
At the half we barely hang on to the lead 38-36
Holy cow. Apparently we decided to test fate and the patience of the crowd tonight. We continued to shoot ourselves in the foot in the 2nd half with turnovers and fast break opportunities for the Cougars. Combined with a sudden inablity to get the ball into the basket we found ourselves down by 14 by the 10 minute mark as the crowd sat on their hands. We still were trailing by 11 at the 5 minute mark before some truly inspired play by Wilson, Madic, Taylor and Williams stunned the Cougars, got the crowd to their feet and we rocked and rolled our way to the finish line, coming from behind to win by 3.
We did continue to dominate the boards, 45-29, 15-7, and despite turning the ball a dismal 17 times, our smothering defense in the final 5 minutes of the game eventually gave us just a -1 diffential in turnovers as we turned them over 16 times on 10 steals. The crowd willed us to win this one despite ourselves.
Wilson was terrific coming off his injury and wasn't the reason for our ball handling misadventues. He had 8 pts, 7 asts, 4 rebs, 2 stls, and just 2 turnovers in 28 minutes at the point.
Martin and Stetson were out of synch in this one and supplied just 5 points each in reduced minutes.
Jackson had 10 pts, 4 rebs, and Taylor returned to the lineup with a team high 12 points, 6 rebs, and 2 steals.
Once again the bench came to the rescue with fine perfomances by Madic (double double 11 pts, and a career high 13 rebounds), and Kareem Williams who had his best game of the season (8 points, 7 rebs). Durham had just 6 points in this one, but his 3 steals sparked us early, and was the only one we played at the 2 tonight who played much of any D. Conley and Guy also made nice contributions in limited minutes.
This certainly wasn't one to put into a time capsule, but it's always good to learn you can win one under adversity, and was once again proof of why they call this place The Pit.
Final
UNM 69 BYU 66... had em all the way.
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CoachC - DDS:CB Support Squad
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by CoachC » Fri Jun 14, 2013 9:44 am
That's ok, Sammy. Maybe next season we can schedule a return game, and you can not get distracted by getting married and such and remember to catch the plane. I'll give you a tour of the desert.
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CoachC - DDS:CB Support Squad
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by CoachC » Fri Jun 14, 2013 9:50 am
Dec 7: Air Force lost their 4th straight road game, this time by one to Gonzaga 74-73. I'm sure the Falcons can't wait to finally get back home.
Taylor banged his knee last night and it's stiffened up pretty good today. If he's not ready for our next one we could be in for a long, long night. We kept him in the whirlpool today until he was a 6 foot 9 inch prune.
Taylor banged his knee last night and it's stiffened up pretty good today. If he's not ready for our next one we could be in for a long, long night. We kept him in the whirlpool today until he was a 6 foot 9 inch prune.
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CoachC - DDS:CB Support Squad
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by CoachC » Fri Jun 14, 2013 9:56 am
Dec 9: While we were waiting to board the plane to Florida last night, Stetson and Jackson got into a loud argument. It ended pretty quickly, and since our team chemistry has been pretty good, I decide to let them work it out between them and for now at least will stay out of it.
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Dec 9: UNM(5-1) @ #9 Florida(6-3)
by CoachC » Fri Jun 14, 2013 12:00 pm
Having proven in our last game we could win under adversity, we now have to prove we can at least not embarrass ourselves playing under extreme adversity. Taylor is dressed but his knee is still pretty stiff and I'm not sure how many minutes we will be able to get out of him. Madic certainly deserves to start, but with Taylor's availability up in the air, I can't really afford to have Mad and Inyo on the floor very much at the same time, so Tatum will get another start.
The Gators 3 losses have been in the finals of the Coaches Classic vs Wash. St., by 1 on the road at Montana St., and on the road vs #20 UCLA. They have some impressive wins over Ohio St., Wisconsin, North Carolina, Kansas, and most recently a road win over a good South Florida team. Heaven help us.
Their guards are going to score, but we need to limit the damage, and definitely have to take better care of the ball. With or without Taylor our big man are going to have to play as well as they have recently because that's where we may have an advantage. We'll start in zone in this one to protect the big men, and hope their guards don't have a field day. We'll also have to find a way to keep their insane fans sitting on their hands as much as possible, because we are definitely going to get a taste of what it's like for the opposition coming into The Pit.
I'm very proud of our guys in the first half. Despite getting homered again and again by the officials forcing me to pick up a T, we did a very good job keeping the crowd out of the game, and fight our way to a 38-38 tie at the half. Taylor is only able to give us 8 minutes in the first half, but they were 8 very effective minutes. Our biggest concern is that Tatum picked up 3 first half fouls, and Madic picked up 2. Fortunately Larry Guy came off the bench and gave us quality minutes again. We've gotten no offensive production out of our 3 spot in this one, however, and we may go with a true 3 guard offense at some point in the 2nd half with Martin at the 3, and Durham at the 2, but Martin also has 2 fouls. Stetson has played well defensively, but we need points from him, and Kareem Williams was a ghost in the first half. Perhaps it's Willis' turn to come through off the bench this time. We'd play Guy there, but with the depth problem at the post we won't be able to afford to do that early, and right now, offense isn't Guy's strength either. Hopefully the referees will remember in the 2nd half that they are supposed to have some integrity.
For the first 33 minutes of this game we did a good job keeping their crowd out of the game. Everytime they wanted to make a lot of noise, we'd make a big play to quiet them down and we traded baskets for most of the 2nd half. In the final 7 minutes though, once they finally had more than a 2 point lead for the first time in the game, the crowd willed them to the win, something we are very familiar with. We definitely acquitted ourselves well in this one, and with a healthy Taylor and better officials...who knows. Losses always stink, but our guys have every reason to have gotten some confidence from this one, and we definitely didn't embarrass ourselves. For 33 minutes we traded leads with a great team in one of the nastiest venues in DI, and that's something.
Although we didn't win the battle of the boards in this one, it was a stalemate 31-33, 10-7. Although we still turned the ball over too many times (14) we did still manage a +4 turnover differential with 10 steals.
Tim Wilson had another nice game with 12 pts, and 6 asts, 3 rebs, and is clearly our best option at point right now. I am confident Michael Thompson will eventually gain confidence at the DI level, but at the moment we need to get about 30 minutes per game out of Wilson.
Martin had a nice comeback game and led us with 16 points, 3 rebs. It helped his game that we didn't use him at the point in this one.
Stetson took just one shot in 20 minutes, and went scoreless. He seems to have lost confidence in his shot which is a concern, because the 3 spot is our weakest link right now. I'm not sure how we are going to address this, but appears Stetson needs some time coming off the bench to try to get his confidence back.
Tatum committed 4 fouls in 8 minutes and did next to nothing, but it's unfair to the freshman that we keep getting forced into starting him at the 4.
Jackson played well with 12 points, 4 asts, and 7 rebs.
Off the bench, Madic was limited to to just 13 minutes because of phantom foul trouble but had 6 pts and 2 stls, and Taylor was likewise limited to 13 minutes because of his knee but managed 8 pts, 5 rebs, and a block. If both of those guys had been available for their usual minutes we might have seen a different outcome. We need Mad to stay out of foul trouble, and Taylor to stop finding ways to hurt himself, because along with Jackson, they give us tremendous presence in the posts at both ends of the court.
Durham had 7 points, 3 rebs, and played good defense. We love having his offense off the bench, but may need to put him in the starting lineup. Unfortunately, neither he nor Martin are comfortable at all playing at the 3.
Larry Guy continues to play well, and his contributions tonight were much better than his line of 4 points, 2 asts, 2 rebs, and 2 stls in 21 minutes. Larry keeps getting better and better as his freshman year rolls along, and if we can stay healthy in the post long enough, he could give us an answer at the 3 spot. His offense will come eventually, but what he does for us defensively right now means a lot. Those spider-like arms and legs of his, plus his ability to anticipate and get into the passing lanes tend to make the opposition very nervous.
John Willis gave us a few good minutes in the 2nd half, but Kareem Williams was a big disappointment tonight. We need more consistent play from both of them, as well as from our back up point guards.
A noble effort, and no reason to hang our heads. For 33 minutes at least we made the Gators very very nervous.
Final:
UNM 65 FLA 77
The Gators 3 losses have been in the finals of the Coaches Classic vs Wash. St., by 1 on the road at Montana St., and on the road vs #20 UCLA. They have some impressive wins over Ohio St., Wisconsin, North Carolina, Kansas, and most recently a road win over a good South Florida team. Heaven help us.
Their guards are going to score, but we need to limit the damage, and definitely have to take better care of the ball. With or without Taylor our big man are going to have to play as well as they have recently because that's where we may have an advantage. We'll start in zone in this one to protect the big men, and hope their guards don't have a field day. We'll also have to find a way to keep their insane fans sitting on their hands as much as possible, because we are definitely going to get a taste of what it's like for the opposition coming into The Pit.
I'm very proud of our guys in the first half. Despite getting homered again and again by the officials forcing me to pick up a T, we did a very good job keeping the crowd out of the game, and fight our way to a 38-38 tie at the half. Taylor is only able to give us 8 minutes in the first half, but they were 8 very effective minutes. Our biggest concern is that Tatum picked up 3 first half fouls, and Madic picked up 2. Fortunately Larry Guy came off the bench and gave us quality minutes again. We've gotten no offensive production out of our 3 spot in this one, however, and we may go with a true 3 guard offense at some point in the 2nd half with Martin at the 3, and Durham at the 2, but Martin also has 2 fouls. Stetson has played well defensively, but we need points from him, and Kareem Williams was a ghost in the first half. Perhaps it's Willis' turn to come through off the bench this time. We'd play Guy there, but with the depth problem at the post we won't be able to afford to do that early, and right now, offense isn't Guy's strength either. Hopefully the referees will remember in the 2nd half that they are supposed to have some integrity.
For the first 33 minutes of this game we did a good job keeping their crowd out of the game. Everytime they wanted to make a lot of noise, we'd make a big play to quiet them down and we traded baskets for most of the 2nd half. In the final 7 minutes though, once they finally had more than a 2 point lead for the first time in the game, the crowd willed them to the win, something we are very familiar with. We definitely acquitted ourselves well in this one, and with a healthy Taylor and better officials...who knows. Losses always stink, but our guys have every reason to have gotten some confidence from this one, and we definitely didn't embarrass ourselves. For 33 minutes we traded leads with a great team in one of the nastiest venues in DI, and that's something.
Although we didn't win the battle of the boards in this one, it was a stalemate 31-33, 10-7. Although we still turned the ball over too many times (14) we did still manage a +4 turnover differential with 10 steals.
Tim Wilson had another nice game with 12 pts, and 6 asts, 3 rebs, and is clearly our best option at point right now. I am confident Michael Thompson will eventually gain confidence at the DI level, but at the moment we need to get about 30 minutes per game out of Wilson.
Martin had a nice comeback game and led us with 16 points, 3 rebs. It helped his game that we didn't use him at the point in this one.
Stetson took just one shot in 20 minutes, and went scoreless. He seems to have lost confidence in his shot which is a concern, because the 3 spot is our weakest link right now. I'm not sure how we are going to address this, but appears Stetson needs some time coming off the bench to try to get his confidence back.
Tatum committed 4 fouls in 8 minutes and did next to nothing, but it's unfair to the freshman that we keep getting forced into starting him at the 4.
Jackson played well with 12 points, 4 asts, and 7 rebs.
Off the bench, Madic was limited to to just 13 minutes because of phantom foul trouble but had 6 pts and 2 stls, and Taylor was likewise limited to 13 minutes because of his knee but managed 8 pts, 5 rebs, and a block. If both of those guys had been available for their usual minutes we might have seen a different outcome. We need Mad to stay out of foul trouble, and Taylor to stop finding ways to hurt himself, because along with Jackson, they give us tremendous presence in the posts at both ends of the court.
Durham had 7 points, 3 rebs, and played good defense. We love having his offense off the bench, but may need to put him in the starting lineup. Unfortunately, neither he nor Martin are comfortable at all playing at the 3.
Larry Guy continues to play well, and his contributions tonight were much better than his line of 4 points, 2 asts, 2 rebs, and 2 stls in 21 minutes. Larry keeps getting better and better as his freshman year rolls along, and if we can stay healthy in the post long enough, he could give us an answer at the 3 spot. His offense will come eventually, but what he does for us defensively right now means a lot. Those spider-like arms and legs of his, plus his ability to anticipate and get into the passing lanes tend to make the opposition very nervous.
John Willis gave us a few good minutes in the 2nd half, but Kareem Williams was a big disappointment tonight. We need more consistent play from both of them, as well as from our back up point guards.
A noble effort, and no reason to hang our heads. For 33 minutes at least we made the Gators very very nervous.
Final:
UNM 65 FLA 77
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CoachC - DDS:CB Support Squad
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by CoachC » Fri Jun 14, 2013 12:04 pm
Yep, it is. Not only is it nice to be close to home, for the first time in DI i have a team with a bench longer than my pinky, and 3 really dangerous post guys who like to take the ball to the basket. And man is it nice to have that kind of home court advantage. Every game the opposition has to use up all of it's 30 sec TO's in the first half. UNM is fun, and has a higher prestige than most of the lower half of the BCS conferences. The fired coach from here actually took a big step down when he was hired by Villanova.
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by CoachC » Fri Jun 14, 2013 12:24 pm
Dec 11: The intial RPIs are out and we weigh in at 48th. A reasonable number I'm thinking with 2 quality losses, 2 road wins, and a home victory against BYU, and we have the highest RPI at the moment in a very good conference. Colorado St. is at 77 largely on the basis of their upset win over Texas A&M and Wyoming is at 63 with a couple of quality losses on the road and a win Mich. St. Air Force is at 154, because of the 4 road losses, but won't stay down long. Despite a 7-3 record TCU is at 130 because of a weak schedule.
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