I'll Be a Son of a Shark

[CoachC]

Feb 16: With the win last night we clinch at least a share of the conference title heading into the finale at UNLV...the same place Air Force stumbled.

[CoachC]

Our conference finale, while Air Force closes out the conference at 3rd place Colorado St..

Facing yet another zone, lack of effort in any aspect of the game won't get the job done. Conelly has been practicing well at full tilt the last few days with no ill effect, and will return to the starting lineup tonight.

The Shark is sitting behind OUR bench tonight....and Ma is with him!? She didn't even tell me she was going to Las Vegas. I never know about her.

We don't shoot well, don't rebound or play defense or even handle the ball particularly well, but somehow lead at intermission 35-29. Go figure.

Inability to get stops near the end forces OT.

Abysmal defense, here again gone again shooting,and we got what we deserved. Completely unable to get a stop in OT, we stunk.

Only a 12-7 advantage in 2nd chance shots, and a 18-8 edge in transition points even allowed us to make it to overtime.

Frontcourt: B-

Ray had 12 points, 12 rebounds, 2 stls, 4 blocks. Johnson 8 pts, 3 asts, 7 rebs. Angelli was a non-factor and might as well have stayed on the bus. We had some help from the bench but it wasn't enough.

Backcourt:C+

Houston had 17 pts, 4 rebs, 2 stls, but struggled again defensively, but then again so did everyone else. Conley had 5 asts and just 1 turnover in 18 minutes. Thompson and Stetson gave good minutes off the bench, and played at least a modicum of team defense.

Bench: A-
Petion had a career high 14 points, but was out of his realm defensively. Inyo had 4 pts, 5 rebs and a block and probably should have played more than 15 minutes in retrospect. Stetson had 14 pts, 3 rebs, and Thompson had 6 pts, 10 asts.

Overall: D
Despite some good-looking stat lines individually, this was a team loss, and it was poor communication on the defensive end that killed us. Definitely a case where the sum was far less than the parts abd an offensively challenged team put up 89 points against us. Unacceptable.

Final: (OT) UNM 79 UNLV 89

[CoachC]

Feb 18: Air Force takes care of business at Colorado St. and we wind up co-champions. We remain ranked at #7 after the loss, 6tj in RPI. Air Force is at #22(#19 in the coach;'s poll) and their RPI is up to 17th. We both need wins on Sunday to help improve our tournament seeding possibilities.

Matt Houston is MWC Fresh of the week again

[CoachC]

No time to lick our wounds from last night. We need to shake it off and ignore our tired legs after our OT loss. In the marquis game of the Bracket Buster a win would put us over .500 against the top 25 (currently 5-5) and perhaps get us some respect from the committee. We'll be facing zone again (3-2) and a balanced offensive attack. We've got to snap out of our funk, especially at the defensive end.

The Bulldogs are tied for first in the WAC with unranked but talented Utah St. (Air Force's opponent today). They have wins on a neutral court against Wake Forest and Houston while winning the Midwest Invitational in November, and a win at home over Arizona St.

Thompson will return to the starting lineup tonight.

What a difference half a day makes. Our defense in the first half was formidable as we hold them to 13 pts on 4/26 shooting and turn them over 12 times. We also wind up the half shooting 48.4 % from the field against their zone. We just need to get to the boards a little better. At the half we lead 37-13.

Not surprisingly they shoot a little better in the 2nd half, but there was no doubt the game was won by getting back to the thing that lost the game for us against UNLV...team defense. They were held to 32.7 shooting for the game and were never able to get closer than 19.

Frontcourt: B-
In foul trouble much of the 2nd half, Ray finished 8 pts, 6 rebs, 1 stl, and 2 blocks. After another disappointing effort in the first half, Angelli finally came around in the 2nd half and had 9 pts, 4 rebs. Johnson went to the boards and had 9 rebs, 2 stls. Not a lot of scoring from our post players tonight, but they made up for it with defensive effort.

Backcourt: B+
Thompson had 9 pts, 3 asts, 1 stl, and Houston was our leading scorer as usual with 13 pts, 3 asts, 4 rebs, 2 stls. We had lots of good play off the bench from several people.

Bench: A-
Gerren had a career high 11 points off the bench in 14 minutes as our only player other than Houston in double figures. Stetson had 5 points, 3 asts, 4 stls, and Conley had 5 pts, 4 asts. Jackson and Petion also gave good minutes off the bench.

Overall: A-
Solid defense and solid play from the bench led us to victory. We were even with them on the boards 33-33, but Ray sitting a lot of minutes on the bench had something to do with that. It was also nice to see Isaac Gerren do something with his minutes tonight.

Final: UNM 72 Fresno St. 53

[PointGuard]

The Shark is sitting behind OUR bench tonight....and Ma is with him!? She didn't even tell me she was going to Las Vegas. I never know about her.

Sort of reminds me of that old country western song, "Don't let your Ma grow up to be Shark bait".

Sorry, Coach, just couldn't resist.

(and who says I don't read your posts????)

[CoachC]

You may be the only one at this point! lol

[CoachC]

Feb 26: After a week of sitting out and waiting and watching lots of upsets, we are now at #6, and our RPI is now at 2 behind only top-ranked Memphis! Despite that CollegeInsider.com still projects us as no better than a 4 seed. Air Force now being projected as a 6 seed. Never mind that though... time to take care of business in the conference tournament and get the automatic bid.

Because of strength of schedule we get the 1 seed in the conference tourney.

!st round matchups will be as follows:
(1) UNM vs (8) Wyoming
(4) UNLV vs (5) TCU
(3) Colorado St. vs (6) SD St.
(2) Air Force vs (7) Boise St.

[CoachC]

Mar 5: after a long, long, way too long 2+ week layoff we arrive in Las Vegas ready for action! Too ready maybe..i had to curtail some of our scrimmages this week because I was afraid some of our guys were gonna decapitate each other! The Commissioner needs to work out the conference schedule better.

[CoachC]

Time to get down to business.

I really like our energy in the first half from everyone we played. Now if we can just harness it a little more. At the half we lead 43-29

A good systematic finish

Frontcourt: A-
Martin Ray had another double double with 11 pts, 3 asts, 10 rebs, 1 stl, and 2 blocks, but again had some problems defending the bigger McClinton (16 pts) who always seems to save his best games for us. Angelli had one of his best games of the season (season high, game high, 22 pts, 6 rebs, 1 stl, 1 blk). Vernon Johnson had his typical stat-filling line 5 pts, 6 asts, 5 rebs, 2 stls, 3 blocks. Inyo had a nice game off the bench.

Backcourt: A-
Houston had 19 pts 5 rebs. Thompson had 4 asts, but struggled defensively against their pg Rayner (16 pts). very good help off the bench

Bench: A
Stetson (9 pts), Inyo Jackson (10 pts, 2 asts, 3 rebs, 1 stl in 10 minutes), Conley (4 pts, 4 asts, 1 stl and good defense against Rayner before getting into foul trouble), and Bullock(7 pts, 1 reb, in 4 minutes when the bench emptied) all gave a big lift.

Overall: A
Sustained effort and good team play from just about everyone in the rotation. the kind of effort we hoped for after the long layoff. 40-15 points in the paint, 19-11 2nd chance, and 26-4 fast break points all good numbers

Final: UNM 89 Wyoming 67

[CoachC]

Mar 6: other first round results:
Air Force 64 Boise St. 41
San Diego St. 97 Colorado St. 83
UNLV 69 TCU 59

Our next opponent is the host UNLV...I hope we have some big payback for them! I call Ma and tell her that if she is here with Jerry tomorrow night to sit in the rafters where I can't see them. They were too much of a distraction last time around.