I'll Be a Son of a Shark

[CoachC]

Sep 25: We lose the number one guy on our shopping list a top 20 kid, to the Big 10, but at least we were seriously considered. We do get 2 verbal commitments this week though:

6-2 177 lb G Isaac Garren from Mauldin HS in Mauldin, SC. A terrific shooter with outstanding defensive skills and quick hands. Ranked 28th over all in the nation by the scouting service. He'll be a great addition, but there is some concern about whether he will be academically eligible. We'll keep our fingers cross, but he was just too good a player not to take a chance on him.

6-7 204 lb F Osei Petion from Lake Central HS in St. John, IN. Ranked 61st overall. An athletic defender with a nose for the basket. Needs to work on his shooting, perhaps. There is some slight concern on whether or not he'll meet UNM's admission standards, but we believe he will. We needed to sign a 3 this year, and the pickings were slim. Osei was the best available option.

Still one scholarship to fill and then anxiously wait for test scores in January on the other two.

[CoachC]

THis week of travelling will use up most of our remaining recruiting budget. Hopefully it'll pay off.

[CoachC]

Oct 2: We lose the next prize on our shopping list to Temple.We'll use the last of our recruiting budget for one more trip to Ohio, and to bring in one more kid for an on campus visit. Practice also starts this week and i'm nervous and excited at the same time

[CoachC]

Oct 9: first week of practice went well. Some minor squabbling but nothing at all serious.

We get our 3rd verbal committment:

6-2 193 lb G Matt Houston from Newark Catholic HS in Newark, OH. Ranked 53rd overall. He'll need to work on many elements of the game, but he has a decent outside shot, and likes to score.


Now we just wait til the end of January to see what happens with the other 2 academically.

[CoachC]

Oct 16: Not surprisingly we are picked to finish 1st in the conference ahead of Air Force and UNLV. Wyoming was devastated by graduation and is picked next to last as they rebuild.

[CoachC]

Nov 6: We are ranked #24 Preseason. Which is good enough to make us an underdog in about half of our non-conference games. Sheesh!

Here is the brutal schedule we are facing in the non-conference this year:

Nov 13 vs Illinois in the Coach's Classic. A win would get us a date with top-ranked Arizona!
Nov 21 VCU
Nov 24 Wchita St.
Nov 27 @ Oregon St.
Nov 28 #25 Notre Dame
Dec 1 Oklahoma
Dec 6 Gonzaga
Dec 8 @ #17 Syracuse
Dec 13 @ New Mexico St.
Dec 15 #23 Houston
Dec 19 #19 Stanford
Dec 22 #13 Michigan
Dec 26 @ #7 Duke

Holy Macaroni!

[PointGuard]

Looks like you'll see if it's Santa or the Grinch who shows up for you in December.

[CoachC]

Nov 6: Exhibition game vs Kentucky Weslyan. A large crowd (about 8000) on hand for an exhibition, as everyone anxiously waits to see the 3 highly touted new comers in action, along with the rest of the squad.

After the game there were plenty of looks of concern from the crowd and the media (we lost 80-66 and never led) wondering how a team with this much talent could play so badly. What they didn't understand, and as I tried to explain, the first exhibition isn't about evaluating the team, it's about looking at individuals to see their progress and how they handle playing out of their comfort zone at positions they aren't particularly used to playing. And individually we saw a lot, most of it good. Inyo was very impressive with 11 pts, 11 rebs in just 15 minutes. I believe he'll be much more consistent offensively this season playing exclusively at the 5. He really isn't cut out for the 4 where he played a lot of minutes last season with Taylor on the floor. Our trio of shooting guards, Martin, Durham, and Stetson combined for 28 points in 41 minutes. We'll happily take that every night out. The newcomers all played solidly and will clearly all log significant minutes this season, although Ray looked a bit nervous playing in front of a big crowd here for the first time, especially with all the offseason hype. I have no doubt that he will be more than fine as he learns the system. I also thought Tatum and Willis acquitted themselves well with them each playing largely out of position in this game..Tatum mostly at the 5, and Willis mostly at the 4 and even a couple of minutes at the 5. Tatum played very sparingly at the 5 last season as a freshman, but this year he will probably have to play at least a few minutes there every game as Madic did last year, and it was important to give him some time there. Likewise for Willis, if he can acquit himself well in the low post, especially defensively, there may be more minutes for him, as Larry Guy always appears more comfortable at the 3. Redshirt freshman Pat Bullock, and deep reserve Kurt Lewis still do not appear ready to play significant minutes at this level and will probably largely watch and learn, and try to show us something in practice. Everyone else will be in the mix for minutes and it's going to be competitive. Our 3 point guards did not particularly distinguish themselves in this game, but as long as Wilson is able to give us close to 30 minutes a game as he did last year, the point will be the least of our worries. Next game, the starters and top reserves will be playing much heavier minutes, and we'll be looking to establish our rotation, and it will be a much better gauge of where this team is heading into the season opener.

[CoachC]

PG, our record may not be pretty come january and the start of conference play, but the selection committee won't be able to say we lacked strength of schedule this season, at any rate!

[CoachC]

I'd have to check, but I believe every team on our non-conference schedule played in the post-season somewhere last year.