I'll Be a Son of a Shark

[CoachC]

Martin Ray is conference player of the year, defensive player of the year, and again an honorable mention All-American. Matt Houston is named to the conference 2nd team.

[CoachC]

Despite our crash and burn at the end of the season, the university board shows good faith and again increases our budget for next season.

[Wayne23]

Tough way to finish, Coach. Oh well.

[CoachC]

yep, knew that lack of perimeter defense was gonna bite us in the butt eventually. Oh, well. With most of the team returning, including all 5 starters, there's always next year.

[CoachC]

This season with 6 scholarship players graduating, recruiting was a headache. But we manage to get verbal commitments for all 6 scholarships by the first week of practice. 4 high school seniors, and 2 Juco transfers ranging from 15th to 41st nationally. Only one of the High school recruits is any danger of not making academic eligibilty, but amazingly enough there was over 15k left in the budget, so I should be able to pursue another player in the spring if things don't work out with that kid.

[CoachC]

After the exhibitions, several things stand out. We are offensively far ahead of where we were a year ago this time. Isaac Gerren and Osei Petion both have gotten more confident with their shots, and Kendrick English as extended his range out beyond the arc making him extremely versatile. Pat Bullock appears much improved thus far, and freshman Nate Betts has great point guard instincts if he can avoid the silly reach in fouls that plagued him in the exhibitions. Massive 6'10 freshman Marlon Storey looks poised and confident in the posts and rebounds with abandon. Our biggest problem has been what to do with 6'11 freshman Michael Alston. He has enough talent to help us this year, but I really don't like the chance for him to get a lot of significant minutes with our mix of bigs this season...he's caught in the numbers game and his upside is far to valuable to waste a year of it with him sitting on the pines. After discussing it with him, we've decided to red-shirt him this season so that he can work on his studies, learn the offensive and defensive sets and be confidentaly ready to step in next season when we'll be flooded with newcomers. Hopefully it'll be the right decision for both him and our program.

[CoachC]

While returning all 5 starters from a year ago and a number of key reserves, big things are expected from this senior-laden team. If our perimeter defense improves a great deal from a year ago, we can make good on that promise. We are ranked 9th nationally in the preseason polls. We have at least 5 ranked teams on our schedule again this year, 3 of them on the road, and we begin the season in the prestigious Coach's Classic.

In the Mountain West Conference it is no surprise we are picked first again. Air Force finally graduated Paul Hines, but are still loaded and look to contend and have been picked 3rd. A much improved UNLV team has been picked 2nd.

[CoachC]

non conference season:

@ Coaches'' Classic ST. LOUIS W 62-47
Didn't shoot particulary well, but a good enough effort in our season opener.
POG: Travann Ohl 11 pts, 10 rebs, 3 stls
Notable lines:
Isaac Gerren 16 pts
Marlon Storey 10 pts, 10 rebs

@Coaches' Classic #25 TEMPLE L 60-62
Travall Ohl had to sit this one out in street clothes in this one because of a
mild concussion suffered in practice, that that probably was the difference
in the game as the Owls won on a 3 pt shot at the buzzer.
POG: Martin Ray 9 pts 10 rebs.
Notable line: Matt Houston 12 pts, 3 rebs, 2 asts, our only double scorer in
the game.

]TEXAS TECH W 68-44
Offense still wasn't gelling yet but our defense was outstanding
POG: Travann Ohl 20 pts, 6 rebs, 2 blks 3 stls
Notable line: Dominique Webster 9 pts, 8 asts, 1 to

#23 ]UCLA W 60-54
POG: Martin Ray 17 pts, 11 rebs, 7 blocks
Notable Lines: Travann Ohl 10 pts, 9 rebs.
Dominique Webster 10 pts, 6 asts, 5 stls

@ Arizona St. /B] W 77-55
Solid win in our first true road game.
POG: Matt Houston 20 pts, 3 rebs.
Notable Lines:
Jon Angeli 17 pts, 4 rebs, 3 stls
Dominique Webster 12 pts, 5 asts, 1 to

[B]#4 OKLAHOMA ST. W 85-57
Tight game in the first half. In the 2nd half mounting foul trouble for the
Cowboys combined with our superior depth overwhelmed them as they
coughed the ball up over and over
POG: Martin Ray 16 pts 4 rebs, 3 blocks
Notable Lines:
Travann Ohl 11 pts 7 rebs
Nate Betts 10 pts, 2 asts
Kendrick English 8 pts, 8 stls, 2 rebs, 2 asts

@ Illinois W 73 - 64
POG: Dominique Webster 17 pts, 6 asts
Notable Lines:
Travann Ohl 14 pts, 7 rebs
Isaac Garren 14 pts, 4 rebs

@ Fresno St. L 62-83
For the second year in a row we get tripped up playing in Fresno. This time
we played no defense whatsoever, and the Bulldogs shot 62% from the field
and all of their starters were in double figures.
POG: Martin Ray 13 pts 10 Rebs
Notable Lines:
Matt Houston 14 pts, 3 rebs
Osei Petion 10 pts in 9 minutes
Everyone else other than Ray stank at BOTH ends of the court.

@ Memphis L 67-78
Our defense was almost as bad in this one, while our offense struggled as
well and we couldn't get to the boards.
POG: Nate Betts 10 pts, 7 asts
Notable Lines:
Travann Ohl 13 pts, 4 rebs
Matt Houston had 11 pts but took 17 shots from the field to get there.

After two straight games where we looked hopeless on defense we made
some changes, spending much more time in practice on defense, and
moving Houston and Angeli to the bench in favor of Garren and English who
have been more consistent.

NEW MEXICO ST. W 80-53
The changes appeared to have a good effect. Garren and English both
played well in the starting lineup, and Angelli and Houston responded the
way you like to see coming off the bench. Our defense was much improved.
POG: Travann Ohl 9 pts 5 rebs, 6 stls, 2 asts.
Notable Lines:
Matt Houston 15 pts, 4 rebs
Jon Angeli 12 pts, 3 stls
Martin Ray 10 pts, 8 rebs, 2 stls, 2 blocks

@ #14 Kansas W 71-50
A real test to see if we are moving in the right direction and we passed in
flying colors. We played mostly man for the first 30 minutes of the game
to keep their high scoring freshman point guard under control. Despite
mounting foul trouble, we had great play off the bench to withstand it, and
kept their point 6 pts below his season average and allowing no one else
to hurt us while the Jaywawks to 31.9% from the field as a team.
POG: Isaac Garren 15 pts, 2 rebs, 2 stls
Notable Lines:
Kendrick English 9 pts, 7 rebs
Martin Ray 9 pts, 11 rebs, 3 blocks, 2 asts
Jon Angelli: 13 pts, 3 rebs, 3 asts, 2 stls

[CoachC]

Through mid December we are Ranked #12 with an RPI of 20 with an 8-3 record (that road loss at Fresno St. may haunt us for a while). The loss to Temple(ranked # 22) was excusable, and Memphis is now ranked # 13. Our last 3 non-conference games will really put us to a test. Next up is #1 and undefeated Duke at the pit, followed by road games against Michigan and #14 Louisville.

[Wayne23]

Uh oh!