I'll Be a Son of a Shark

[CoachC]

Penn St. Nittanay Lions, Missouri St. Bears, Memphis Tigers oh my?

[Wayne23]

Well that was a lot of work!!! lol

[CoachC]

yeah, it was, i was exhausted!

[CoachC]

All of our recruits scored hgh enough on the SAT to be eligible. With 6 newcomers coming in next year (7 counting the highly talented 6-11 redshirt freshman Michael Alston) some will look at it as rebuilding year. Undoubtedly it will take time to get the newcomers up to snuff with our program, BUT all 7 of these guys have the talent to have an immediate impact in DI. I'm looking forward to the challenge of harnessing them.

Here's a look at what we have coming into the program next year:

6'11 redshirt Michael Alston.. about as agile a 6'11 guy as you'll ever see. was the 12th best prospect in the nation a year ago... he can post, he can hit the intermediate jumper. He can rebound, block shots, and has the mobility to play the 4 and defend it. The decision to redshirt him this year, should pay dividends next season and Michael should be able to slide right into a spot in our big man rotation with Travann Ohl and Marlon Storey.

6-2 G JUCO transfer Jason Johnson from Fowler, CA. Ranked #46 overall. Jason isn't a great shooter, but is strong and can post up his opposite number. What Jason brings is tough as nails defense, and the ability to run all night.

6-9 254 lb C JUCO transfer Gerald Blake. #37 overall. A wide body with the hops to block shots. He can rebound and post up well, and should be able to be a contributor to the big man rotation next year.

6-3 210 lb G Loren Flores... HS senior out of Wooster HS in Reno, NV. Ranked #36 overall. An athletic point who can pass, handle the ball and get into the oppositions numbers on defense. Quick hands, and should love playing out of the Amoeba Zone.

5'6 163 lb G Thomas Tart HS senior out of Spenaway Lake HS i Spenaway WA
ranked #22 overall. Good things come in tiny packages. Despite his size he;s a very good defender and on the offensive end he's a point that can penetrate and make the jaw dropping pass. Quick hands he too will learn to love the Amoeba.

6-6 207 lb F Ruben Scott HS senior out of Morristown-Hamble West HS in Morristown TN ..#30 overall. Can score inside and out. can get to the line and can rebound and defend pretty well out of the 3. The 3 spot will be up for grabs next season, and Ruben may be able to grab a lot of minutes for us.

6-6 222 lb F Curtis Wilson HS Sr out of Albany HS, in Albany, CA. Ranked #20 overall. Has a lot of mental toughness and the ability to post up guys bigger than himself, and the agility to get position on rebounds. A wide body with long arms and terrific hops that plays much bigger than 6-6. A terrific passer out of the double team. Not much of a shot outside of 12 feet, but if he can learn to slash to the goal out of our Princeton set, he could win some time at the 3 next year. Wilson will probably get fouled a lot...hopefully he'll learn to shoot free throws. at the moment he looks like a 6'6 Shaquille O'Neal at the line.

[CoachC]

@San Diego St. W 84-68
POG: Jon Angeli 20 pts, 6 rebs, 4 steals, 1 block
Notable Lines:
Matt Houston 18 pts, 2 rebs
Marlon Storey 14 pts, 5 rebs in 17 minutes

BOISE ST. W 67-41
POG: Jon Angeli 16 pts, 4 Rebs, 1 steal, 1 block
Notable Lines:
Travann Ohl 13 pts, 4 rebs, 1 steal
Matt Houston 13 points
Dominique Webster 7 pts 6 asts

WYOMING W 81-51
POG: Matt Houston 24 pts, 4 rebs
Notable Lines:
Travann Ohl 9 pts , 9 rebs
Martin Ray 10 pts, 6 rebs
Dominique Webster 4 pts, 7 asts, 4 steals
Isaac Garren 11 points, 3 rebs

@Colorado St. W 68-56
Lack of defensive rebounding and 17 turnovers made the final score look closer than it was. It was a 20+ point margin the whole way until the final minutes.

POG: Kendrick English 16 pts, 3 sts, 5 steals
Notable Lines:
Matt Houston 18 pts, 2 steals
Matt is playing his best basketball of the season coming down the stretch
Martin Ray 6 pts, 10 rebs, 1 steal, 3 blocks
Martin was alone in this game going after defensive boards
Dominique Webster 9 pts, 9 asts, 2 steals
Wish we had Dominique for a couple more years. He's a coach's dream
most nights at the point

We have now won 16 straight since that dark night in Memphis. 4 game lead in the confernce with 3 games to go means we've clinched. 2nd place Air Force is the only team left in the conference with post season hopes still alive (95th in RPI). For once the bracket buster can actually help us...we'll be playing #3 Gonazaga in the season finale. We are still ranked #4 and 3rd in RPI.

[PointGuard]

Big wheel, keep on turning
Proud Mary, keep on burning
Rolling, rolling, rolling on the river

[Wayne23]

And if there was ever a college hoops coach who might have known Proud Mary personally, it was the Shark.

[CoachC]

Dad says he knew Mary, but they were just friends. She couldn't get a handle on the Amoeba zone.

[CoachC]

TCU W 76-48
POG: Matt Houston 16 pts, 3 rebs
Notable Lines:
Travann Ohl 10 pts, 4 rebs, 2 asts. 1 st;
Dominique Webster 9 pts, 5 asts, 1 stl , just 2 tos in 25 minutes
Nate Betts 8 pts in 9 minutes.

@Air Force W 66-58
As expected the return game was a hard fought victory. The Falcons led for much of the game before we finally stopped turning the ball over and made some shots down the stretch.

POG: Martin Ray 14 pts, 10 rebs, 2 stls, 4 blocks
Notable Lines:
Travann Ohl 12 pts, 3 rebs
Jon Angeli 11 pts, 4 rebs, 6 stls
Nate Betts 6 asts, no turnovers in 17 minutes
Isaac Garren 14 points, 5 rebs

UNLV W 77-49
We run the table in conference with a nice performance on senior night. Led by as much as 35 and began emptying the bench with 9 minutes to go.

POG: Dominique Webster 14 pts, 7 asts, 2 stls
Notable Lines:
Jon Angeli 13 pts, 5 rebs, 2 asts, 2 stls
Martin Ray 4 pts, 11 rebs, 2 blocks
Nate Bett 10 pts, 2 asts, 2 rebs in 10 minutes

#3 GONZAGA W 77-53
A decisive win over the number 3 team in the nation in our regular season finale as we finish the season with 20 straight wins. We hold 1st team All-American and top candidate for Player of the Year, Jeff Williams, 6 points below his average, and outplay him and everyone else.

POG: Martin Ray 12 pts, 13 rebs, 4 blocks
A nice way to finish in the final home game of his career.

Notable Lines:
Matt Houston 13 pts
Nate Betts 14 pts, 2 asts. 1 block in 16 minutes. Nate finishing his freshman season with some of his best basketball which bodes well for the future
Isaac Garren 12 pts, 2 asts, 1 stl. Garren and Houston outplayed the All-American at both ends of the floor.


After beating the #3 team decisively we STILL remain at #4 while Gonzaga remains at #3 as we head into the conference tournament. We now have the top RPI in DI. Despite that, as unholy and as deranged as it sounds, CollegeInsider.com has us as no better than a 3 seed because of the conference weakness this year (Wha? Our non-conference success means nothing?) and about 50/50 to get a 4 seed if we get upset in the conference tournament. Clearly there is nothing we can do to get a number 1 seed in any season. Air Force raised their RPI to 81 after beating San Francisco in the Bracket Busters, and still has hopes alive of post season if they don't win the conference tourney.

[PointGuard]

[Coach...Real Life what ifs:

(1) if Wichita State wins the MVC tourny to stay unbeaten, will they be a #1 seed in the NCAA Tourny?
(2) if Wichita State stays unbeated AND.....#3Arizona wins Pac-12 tourny, #1Florida wins SEC tourny, #6Villanova storms thru Big East tourny, and either #4Duke, #5Virginia, or #7Syracuse wins big in ACC tourny...and Wichita State stays unbeaten, do you think Florida, Arizona, Villanova, and ACC winner would be the #1 seeds with Wichita State relegated to a 2 seed?
(3) if Wichita State were to pick up a loss in the MVC tourny, what do you think their seed in the NCAA Tourny would be?]