(http://i43.tinypic.com/14t6jbn.jpg)
View of game from the UCF web page, which declares "the ARC as a tough place to play"; however, with the students gone and the game on a Tuesday evening before Thanksgiving, I doubt there will be a large or noisy crowd.
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) - Last week the UCF men's basketball team picked up another impressive in-state victory under head coach Donnie Jones (http://www.ucfknights.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/donnie_jones_630285.html) when the Knights topped defending ACC champion Miami. On Tuesday, UCF will face another 2013 NCAA Tournament team on the road when the squad plays at Valparaiso.
Tipoff from the Athletics-Recreation Center in Indiana is 8 p.m. Eastern. The contest will air on the UCF IMG Sports Network and WLOQ 102.5 FM in Orlando. The game is the second of three-consecutive contests on the road for the Knights, who will conclude the stretch next Tuesday at FAU.
The Knights (3-1) defeated Miami Thursday, 63-58, in Coral Gables. The win was the first in five tries against the Hurricanes in Miami for the Knights. UCF was led by Calvin Newell (http://www.ucfknights.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/calvin_newell_790437.html), who totaled 19 points. The senior guard is averaging a team-high 18.8 points.
UCF has been one of the nation's top rebounding team's this year. Jones' squad has had an edge on the glass in all four of its games and is averaging 45.8 rebounds while posting a +11.0 rebounding margin.
"The win at Miami was a great win for our program, but it is in the past now," Jones said. "We are trying to get better each and every day and I thought that last week, we got better. Valpo is a very well-coached team and it is a tough place to play. We need to be ready and need to be ready to play together."
The game at Valpo (3-3) is one of 12 for the Knights against 2013 NCAA Tournament teams this season. A year ago, the Crusaders won 26 contests.
UCF and the Crusaders will meet again in Orlando on Dec. 22 as part of the Jackson Hewitt UCF Holiday Classic.
Scott Adams will have the call Tuesday during the radio broadcast. Pregame coverage begins at 7:30 p.m.
UCF QUICK NOTES
• The Knights picked up an impressive in-state road win in its last outing, defeating Miami, 63-58, in Coral Gables. Against the defending ACC champions Thursday, UCF had four players finish with double digits in scoring, led by Calvin Newell (http://www.ucfknights.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/calvin_newell_790437.html) (19 points). The Knights built a big second-half edge and then held off a late rally from the Hurricanes. The win was the first in five tries all time for UCF in Miami and the second in 26 games against ACC programs.
• Early on in 2013-14, the Knights have been one of the top rebounding squads in the country. UCF has outrebounded all four of its opponents and is averaging 45.8 boards, good for 17th in the country. The Knights own a +11.0 rebounding margin and are averaging 16.0 offensive boards. Last year, with Keith Clanton (http://www.ucfknights.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/keith_clanton_449181.html), the program's all-time leader in boards, on the squad, UCF owned just a +2.4 rebounding margin.
• The win at Miami was the latest impressive victory for the Knights under Donnie Jones (http://www.ucfknights.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/donnie_jones_630285.html). After joining the Division I ranks in 1984, UCF won just two games over "power" conference teams until Jones took over the helm of the program in 2010. In just over three years under Jones, the Knights have six wins over "power" conference programs.
• The game is the second of three straight on the road for the Knights. UCF has not had three-consecutive road non-conference games since 2008. The Knights will conclude the stretch next Tuesday back in south Florida at FAU.
• UCF will also meet Valpo on Dec. 22 in Orlando, marking the second-straight year that Donnie Jones' (http://www.ucfknights.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/donnie_jones_630285.html) team has had a single-season home-and-home series. A year ago, the Knights faced USF in Tampa and Orlando.
SERIES INFO
• UCF and Valpo will be meeting for the fourth time and the Crusaders have a 2-1 series advantage
• The teams will meet next month in Orlando on Dec. 22 as part of the Jackson Hewitt UCF Holiday Classic
• The programs also had a single-season home-and-home series in 2008-09 and the home squad took both contests
• In the matchup in Indiana, the Crusaders shot 50.0 percent while limiting the Knights to only 30.4 percent shooting in a 69-52 victory for the hosts
• Jermaine Taylor (http://www.ucfknights.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/jermaine_taylor_239620.html) led the Knights, who shot only 5-of-27 from deep, with 18 points and A.J. Rompza (http://www.ucfknights.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/aj_rompza_354562.html) added 10 points in the losing effort
• UCF is 0-2 all-time in Indiana, having also faced Notre Dame in 2009
UCF GAME NOTES
A Newell Look
• Calvin Newell (http://www.ucfknights.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/calvin_newell_790437.html) arrived at UCF in late 2011 as a transfer from Oklahoma with a reputation of a guard who could score in a variety of ways
• He showed flashes of his offensive ability a year ago when he averaged 11.1 points
• This season, Newell is scoring early and often for the Knights, averaging a team-high 18.8 points
• The senior has scored in double figures in all four games and most impressively for a guard, is shooting 55.8 percent from the field
I think that our home court advantage will carry us again in this matchup.
Valpo 74
UCF 68
Yes, I think you're correct.
Central Florida's win over Miami in Coral Gables was concerning to me until I noticed that the Hurricanes had to take Georgia Southern (you'll remember we played the Eagles at the ARC early last season) to triple overtime before beating GSU 81-80. Before the loss to Central Florida, 63-58, the Hurricanes did beat College of Charleston 70-54.
This game will end in a 71-71 tie.
Quote from: a3uge on November 24, 2013, 11:00:08 PMThis game will end in a 71-71 tie.
Afterwards, players will confess that they had no idea games could end in a tie.
I'm going to say high scoring matchup, a la Evansville, and I'm predicting WFMT - WXRT.
...
(that's 98.7 to 93.1, and if you didn't have to think about that, then high five! we're friends.)
Seriously, I can't beLIEVE i'm going to be in Orlando tomorrow, and the game is in Valpo.
Then when they finally come to Florida, it's like, what, days before Christmas?
Arrgh. Was working the night of the NIT Miami game too. deepsigh.gif
UCF returns four starters from a 20-win team and, have what appears to be a sizeable and mobile front line, and high-scoring guards so I'll give them the edge as we continue to learn. UCF 84, Valpo 72.
Anyone else worried about that rebounding edge? They POUND the offensive glass...
SERIES INFO
• UCF and Valpo will be meeting for the fourth time and the
Crusaders have a 2-1 series advantage
• The teams will meet next month in Orlando on Dec. 22 as
part of the Jackson Hewitt UCF Holiday Classic
• The programs also had a single-season home-and-home
series in 2008-09 and the home squad took both contests
• In the matchup in Indiana, the Crusaders shot 50.0 percent
while limiting the Knights to only 30.4 percent shooting in a
69-52 victory for the hosts
• Jermaine Taylor led the Knights, who shot only 5-of-27 from
deep, with 18 points and A.J. Rompza added 10 points in the
losing effort
• UCF is 0-2 all-time in Indiana, having also faced Notre Dame
in 2009
QUICK FACTS
UCF Information
Enrollment 59,785 <<{EGADS!}>> (Illinois has just over 32,000)
Nickname Knights
UCF, Not Central Florida
Please refer to the University of Central Florida as UCF when
shortening the title. Also, please note that UCF's
teams are no longer being referred to as the Golden Knights.
Instead, they are simply called the Knights.
I think this will be a good tough match up for us at home. I think we can win if we come out like we did on saturday. I hope we see the same starting line up as saturday.
If lexus williams continues to put up stats like he did saturday and we keep winning, is it possible he stays in the starting line up when carter becomes eligible? Im not saying carter isnt going to start because he probably will. However, if we dont lose another game before he becomes eligible it would be hard to understand why we would change a winning combination. Again, this is just speculation.
Interesting, I didn't know that they are no longer the Golden Knights. I think Golden Knights sounds much cooler than Knights
This seems like a very close game with UCF having the advantage in rebounds and Valpo being able to shoot a higher percentage. The quickness of the guards seems about the same with Valpo having a slight advantage at the FT line. The area I fear the most is the Valpo big men playing good defense against the UCF big man. Evansville was able to kill Valpo down low because the Crusader big men, Fernandez, Gueye and Capo are too slow. If Peters is able to play like he did in the 2nd half in the Evansville game we can pull this game out. Especially since this game is on Valpo's home court despite the student section not being full due to the Thanksgiving break. Valpo is still in more familiar surroundings and will have the crowd, even though it will be smaller, on it's side.
UCF 84 overtime
Valpo 86
Quote from: talksalot on November 25, 2013, 03:31:59 PM
QUICK FACTS
UCF Information
Enrollment 59,785 <<{EGADS!}>> (Illinois has just over 32,000)
Nickname Knights
UCF, Not Central Florida
Please refer to the University of Central Florida as UCF when
shortening the title. Also, please note that UCF's
teams are no longer being referred to as the Golden Knights.
Instead, they are simply called the Knights.
Let me guess - some self-appointed, self righteous PC sensitivity police person was concerned that gold is a symbol of the dastardly robber barons among us (a.k.a. "the 1%"), who use and abuse the poor and middle class to get their ill-gotten gains.
I think the new starting lineup continues to gel
Valpo - 76
UCF - 68
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Quote from: bbtds on November 25, 2013, 03:47:41 PMThe area I fear the most is the Valpo big men playing good defense against the UCF big man. Evansville was able to kill Valpo down low because the Crusader big men, Fernandez, Gueye and Capo are too slow.
The great majority of UCF points come from players 6'8" or smaller but because our bigs are slow I see no exploitable advantages in staying with the big lineup for very long unless Bobby can get some open looks from outside. We might also have to zone them with that lineup and that might not work so well either. Still, because of foul management and to avoid fatigue Bobby will need to give us some time at the 4. (nine minutes? maybe more?) His coming off the bench might pit his offense and defense against a weaker opponent but I hate to start 2 let alone 3 freshmen against a team as good as UCF.
Our man and our zone will both have to work to give us a win. Should be interesting!
Quote from: wh on November 25, 2013, 04:17:45 PM
Quote from: talksalot on November 25, 2013, 03:31:59 PM
QUICK FACTS
UCF Information
Enrollment 59,785 <<{EGADS!}>> (Illinois has just over 32,000)
Nickname Knights
UCF, Not Central Florida
Please refer to the University of Central Florida as UCF when
shortening the title. Also, please note that UCF's
teams are no longer being referred to as the Golden Knights.
Instead, they are simply called the Knights.
Let me guess - some self-appointed, self righteous PC sensitivity police person was concerned that gold is a symbol of the dastardly robber barons among us (a.k.a. "the 1%"), who use and abuse the poor and middle class to get their ill-gotten gains.
It was changed with a re-branding of the entire university. Florida Technological University was the original name for the school, and the first mascot was actually a "Citronaut" - which is obviously a cross between Citrus and Astronaut.
(http://www.centralfloridafuture.com/polopoly_fs/1.2748856!/image/3586606187.png_gen/derivatives/landscape_260/3586606187.png)
Cute. But then they became known as the "Knights of the Pegasus" and then the "Fighting Knights" and some references to just "Knights" somewhere in between. In 1993 they officially switched to "Golden Knights" and then changed their mind in 2007 to go back to "Knights" with a complete re-brand. Apparently "Golden" was added to drive merchandise sales and it never really caught on. The re-brand to just "Knights" was a smart one because "Golden Knights" is fairly long and doesn't really have a nice ring to it (like Golden Gophers, Red Raiders, or Mean Green). They are one of 4 schools with a Knight nickname, and are the only school simply known as
Knights. This of course, excludes non D1 colleges (for full list, see this awesome infographic http://www.fastcodesign.com/1672303/infographic-an-amazing-map-of-every-college-mascot (http://www.fastcodesign.com/1672303/infographic-an-amazing-map-of-every-college-mascot)).
Williams exceeds expectations at Valparaiso
http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/basketball/college/williams-exceeds-expectations-at-valparaiso/article_f769d25a-2f04-5e79-a738-acbcdbc7bd3d.html (http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/basketball/college/williams-exceeds-expectations-at-valparaiso/article_f769d25a-2f04-5e79-a738-acbcdbc7bd3d.html)
No classes means more practice for Valparaiso
http://posttrib.suntimes.com/sports/23997745-556/no-classes-means-more-practice-for-valparaiso.html (http://posttrib.suntimes.com/sports/23997745-556/no-classes-means-more-practice-for-valparaiso.html)
The spread: Valpo -4
Won't be an easy game. It's a winnable game and hopefully being at home we can pull it off. It will be close and decided within the last 2 minutes. I think it comes down to who is better at their FTs.
The score will be 81 to 78 either way win or lose.
Valpo 79
UCF 85
Quote from: wh on November 25, 2013, 11:28:36 PM
No classes means more practice for Valparaiso
http://posttrib.suntimes.com/sports/23997745-556/no-classes-means-more-practice-for-valparaiso.html (http://posttrib.suntimes.com/sports/23997745-556/no-classes-means-more-practice-for-valparaiso.html)
He is saying that UCF and Mercer are less challenging than a team we beat by 32?? Also, he mentions that Peters has 'started almost every game.' Do some research people!
Quote from: valpotx on November 26, 2013, 10:02:48 AM
Quote from: wh on November 25, 2013, 11:28:36 PM
No classes means more practice for Valparaiso
http://posttrib.suntimes.com/sports/23997745-556/no-classes-means-more-practice-for-valparaiso.html (http://posttrib.suntimes.com/sports/23997745-556/no-classes-means-more-practice-for-valparaiso.html)
He is saying that UCF and Mercer are less challenging than a team we beat by 32?? Also, he mentions that Peters has 'started almost every game.' Do some research people!
Yeah JMU is really bad this year... UCF will be okay in the AAC and Mercer should win the ASun over FGCU. I thought it was just out of context or something, but it's clearly not.
QuoteEven better for everyone involved with the team is that this holiday week consists of three more home games against seemingly less challenging competition than James Madison, and no classes.
I think Gorches use of the word
seemingly is a lot like the word
projected or
projections when talking about Lexus Williams and Clay Yeo. He thought James Madison, an NCAA tournament team last year, was going to be better than UCF and Mercer. Many on this board thought Clay Yeo was going to perform a lot better than Lexus Williams. In my view the projections of players and teams get thrown out the window. In Lexus' mind I'm sure he was projecting himself as at the top this Valpo freshmen class. And in the end how he performs is all that matters and not projections. It's also why I find little value in proclaiming someone better than their projections. To me that is just condemning the forecaster and their projection of the player. It's not rewarding the player.
Quote from: bbtds on November 26, 2013, 11:18:32 AM
QuoteEven better for everyone involved with the team is that this holiday week consists of three more home games against seemingly less challenging competition than James Madison, and no classes.
I think Gorches use of the word seemingly is a lot like the word projected or projections when talking about Lexus Williams and Clay Yeo. He thought James Madison, an NCAA tournament team last year, was going to be better than UCF and Mercer. Many on this board thought Clay Yeo was going to perform a lot better than Lexus Williams. In my view the projections of players and teams get thrown out the window. In Lexus' mind I'm sure he was projecting himself as at the top this Valpo freshmen class. And in the end how he performs is all that matters and not projections. It's also why I find little value in proclaiming someone better than their projections. To me that is just condemning the forecaster and their projection of the player. It's not rewarding the player.
Mercer was projected to finish 2nd in the ASun preseason coaches and media poll while JMU was projected 7th in the CAA, so that still doesn't make any sense. I'm sure he saw that JMU made the tourney and UCF/Mercer didn't and made some horrible conclusions from there.
i haven't been a gorches fan since his ridiculous story years ago about why (a Mel Dumezich-led) Whiting shouldn't have to play bigger schools. he prominently featured a quote from an anonymous parent that said b-b-b-but "the girls got so upset when they lost".
He's just not very good at what he does, at least outside of bowling. i'll give him that.
No idea why Bryce stuck Vashil back in there while him and Moussa both had 4 fouls. No trust in Bobby to play the 5?
Everyone looked good tonight in different ways. I really like jubrils post skills. He makes scoring look easy down low. I really didn't care for Coleman shooting so many threes and missing them all.
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What's up with Chadwick wearing a jumper all night
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Well done. UCF may not be a tournament team, but they are quick and aggressive around the basket. Our zone was effective in keeping them off the pace I suspect they'd like to play. Our size led them to play zone most of the game and we did a good job of attacking it most of the night. Despite some silly fouls that could have proven costly, we looked solid. Mercer promises to be another good test. Wish our students could see some of these games but we need home games against decent competition whenever we can get them.
Minor injuries...Chadwick a knee, Yeo a foot.
Quote from: truth219 on November 26, 2013, 10:03:55 PM
Everyone looked good tonight in different ways. I really like jubrils post skills. He makes scoring look easy down low. I really didn't care for Coleman shooting so many threes and missing them all.
Coleman missed 4 threes, Dority missed 4 threes, Adekoya missed 2 threes, Peters missed 3 threes, on the other hand Peters made 4 threes. My point is why are you picking on Coleman for missing threes when other players missed some threes also.
What exactly did Lexus do or say to get the technical that led to his fouling out?
One of the worst officiated games I've seen in a long while. It seemed like one zebra (the balding one) called most of the fouls, some of which WERE actual fouls.
chef, care to elaborate a little more on what happened in the technical sequence. We really did not get a good look at either of the altercations on the video.
Dority and Sykes started jawing, nothing serious. Wilson got right in the middle and thus picked up a technical. Williams, probably feeling we were outnumbered now got in Wilson's face and thus picked up the second technical. Just boys being boys. A Chicago kid is always going to have the back of another Chicago kid. The NCAA's head of officials Mark Adams was at the game. I doubt he was impressed.
Wow, that's interesting that the head of officials was at a Valpo game. Has that happened before? I wouldn't think the mid-major games would draw as much scrutiny among head officials.
Glad that we didn't need Chadwick or Yeo in this game, so that they can heal up for other games. Mercer lost to Ohio by 9, so it could be two evenly matched teams going up against each other on Friday. I think our home court advantage will carry us in that game as well.
Great overall effort by everyone, and a special kudos to Bobby for playing up to his abilities like he did several times last year. We need to see more of that! How many teams can rotate 3 guys in the 5, and have each contribute on different nights?? We are blessed in this area, regardless of some of the dumb things that happen occasionally :)
Quote from: sliman on November 26, 2013, 10:14:57 PM
Well done. UCF may not be a tournament team, but they are quick and aggressive around the basket. Our zone was effective in keeping them off the pace I suspect they'd like to play. Our size led them to play zone most of the game and we did a good job of attacking it most of the night. Despite some silly fouls that could have proven costly, we looked solid. Mercer promises to be another good test. Wish our students could see some of these games but we need home games against decent competition whenever we can get them.
Yeah, but that is another what? 400 kids? Yeah, but why can't the City of Valpo get more interested in seeing a team like UCF? 2300? What's up with the complacency??
I said this in the chat at several points: Alec Peters is a great passer.
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Bryce was especially energized in tonight's game, and he was teaching every chance he got to speak with the players on the bench or during time outs. I think the most impressive aspect of the season thus far has been Bryce's ability to blend the freshmen and veterans so quickly. Of course, it helps that we appear to have quality freshmen.
Five players scored in double digits: three veterans (Bobby, LaVonte, Jordan) and two freshmen (Alec and Lexus). Jubril just missed with 8 points. In addition, these six players (three veterans and three freshmen) were on the court the most time, all for 24 minutes or more. In seven games Bryce has done a terrific job creating unity by fitting the new players into the rotation so well. This could pay off big when conference play begins.
The meshing of the freshmen and veterans was really on display, particularly by Bobby and Lexus (especially when Bobby calmed Lexus and led him back to the bench after the technical foul), as well as in the post-game conference.
(http://i39.tinypic.com/13za7wk.jpg)
(http://i42.tinypic.com/2vn07jb.jpg)
(http://i41.tinypic.com/x4hwmo.jpg)
(http://i44.tinypic.com/25hzneg.jpg)
Here is the post game press conference.
Valpo Men's Basketball Post-game Press Conference: UCF 11|26|13 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15b6Fvdusss#ws)
I actually don't remember Capo speaking this much at a press conference. He seemed extremely articulate and had a real grasp of the team concept that the coaches are relating to the players.
Quote from: bbtds on November 26, 2013, 10:21:49 PMColeman missed 4 threes, Dority missed 4 threes, Adekoya missed 2 threes, Peters missed 3 threes, on the other hand Peters made 4 threes. My point is why are you picking on Coleman for missing threes when other players missed some threes also.
truth, don't faint, man, i got yer back.
Season 3FG%:Coleman 21.7Dority 41.2
Adekoya 25.0 (shouldn't be shooting them either)
Peters 48.5
For reference, last yearBroekhoff 41.7
UCF fans feeling insulted by a loss to an "inferior" team/conference:
http://ucf.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=71&tid=168835139&mid=168835139&sid=908&style=2 (http://ucf.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=71&tid=168835139&mid=168835139&sid=908&style=2)
Great game last night. Thought everyone played a terrific game. 5 guys in double figures is great to see, not one player had a spectacular game but everyone played really, really good. The only true complaint I have is missing the on the 3-pointers but we didn't need them and imagine if we had a better night from 3. Like others have said Bryce has done a terrific job blending the freshmen in with the seniors. This team seems to be beginning to fire on all cylinders.
Loved that they jumped out to a big lead and other than one point in the first half where UCF cut the lead to 5, they never let them back in the game. Wouldn't have expected us to beat UCF by 15 and lead from start to end but we did. Great game and it was nice not needing to have a heart attack towards the end of the game like in our 3 road losses.
This team is going to be great. If we keep this up we could tear up the horizon league
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Quote from: wh on November 27, 2013, 08:20:29 AM
UCF fans feeling insulted by a loss to an "inferior" team/conference:
http://ucf.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=71&tid=168835139&mid=168835139&sid=908&style=2 (http://ucf.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=71&tid=168835139&mid=168835139&sid=908&style=2)
Interesting comment on our "high school gym."
Nobody runs there mouth about playing the Maui classic. That's a tiny gym.
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The 4 of us were home sick last night..my wife and boys with fevers me still recovering from a concussion. Watched on hLN and thought the team looked and played fantastic. A couple thoughts: 1. I wonder who is going to see fewer minutes when Carter can play. I think it will be Jubril and Valpo will go a bit smaller, but I don't think it should be Lexus going by how he has performed so far. 2. I like the zone defense, Valpo doesn't seem to have the quickness, especially when 2/3 big guys are in to play man consistently. I did notice that UCF was able to get the ball to the high post vs our zone pretty easily which I think Valpo can fix with a bit practice.
Excited for Fridays game!
I think clay and Lexus might lose some minutes. Adekoya will lose some too but he's effective in the paint. Points in the paint are vital. The more minutes he gets the more upside I see. Besides missing three pointers his shooting percentage is almost perfect
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I know this wasn't the longed for win against a BCS conference, but must be pretty close. UCF plays in the same conference as National Champ Louisville, U Conn, Cincy and Memphis, and is the seventh ranked conference in the Sagarins.
Quote from: VULB#62 on November 27, 2013, 09:38:36 AM
Quote from: wh on November 27, 2013, 08:20:29 AM
UCF fans feeling insulted by a loss to an "inferior" team/conference:
http://ucf.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=71&tid=168835139&mid=168835139&sid=908&style=2 (http://ucf.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=71&tid=168835139&mid=168835139&sid=908&style=2)
Interesting comment on our "high school gym."
Think of the education most probably get at UCF, and it might explain their lack of knowledge ;). The AAC may not end up too much higher than the HL in RPI this year, with all the crap teams they added (including UCF)!
Quote from: vu72 on November 27, 2013, 12:15:17 AMQuote from: sliman on November 26, 2013, 10:14:57 PMWell done. UCF may not be a tournament team, but they are quick and aggressive around the basket. Our zone was effective in keeping them off the pace I suspect they'd like to play. Our size led them to play zone most of the game and we did a good job of attacking it most of the night. Despite some silly fouls that could have proven costly, we looked solid. Mercer promises to be another good test. Wish our students could see some of these games but we need home games against decent competition whenever we can get them.
Yeah, but that is another what? 400 kids? Yeah, but why can't the City of Valpo get more interested in seeing a team like UCF? 2300? What's up with the complacency??
If Valpo woulda picked up one or two road wins, especially that Illinois game the "community" woulda been more fired up for it. There were a LOT of season ticket folks who weren't there. The "sky is falling" weather forecast kept people away.
The area can be pretty fickle about Valpo Basketball IMO. Once these freshmen are more "stars" (that we know they will be) it will be a much easier draw.
Quote from: wh on November 27, 2013, 08:20:29 AM
UCF fans feeling insulted by a loss to an "inferior" team/conference:
http://ucf.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=71&tid=168835139&mid=168835139&sid=908&style=2 (http://ucf.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=71&tid=168835139&mid=168835139&sid=908&style=2)
That's cute. Almost as cute as UCF's pinstripe uniforms. UCF had been in C-USA the past couple years (a 1-2 bid league) and the A-SUN before that. They had 0 NCAA appearances in the C-USA and 4 in the A-Sun... they've never won a tournament game. Their last appearance was 2005 when they lost as a 15 seed. Their highest seed is 14. To be fair, a couple of posters set him straight, but the entitlement of power conference fans is astonishing. This isn't even Georgetown getting blown out by FGCU. It's a team with virtually no basketball success playing against a team with a fairly good basketball tradition. So now they play in the soon to be diminished AAC, they're superior to anyone in the Horizon League? Give me a break. Maybe if we spent an extra $2 million per year on our basketball team and admitted 56,000 more students, we'd be on UCF's level.
I have posted a set of 34 photos from the game, including the three here, at the link below. I hope everyone enjoys the pictures and all have a great Thanksgiving!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/96208998@N05/sets/72157638120589553/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/96208998@N05/sets/72157638120589553/)
(http://i39.tinypic.com/261dxde.jpg)
(http://i39.tinypic.com/ayn8kx.jpg)
(http://i42.tinypic.com/2vaxvu9.jpg)
There were two technical fouls called. LaVonte got into it with one of the UCF players and freshman Lexus steps in and receives a technical foul. Good to see the two Chicago kids having each others back. I wonder if LaVonte knows some of the UCF players from when he was at South Florida?
Quote from: vu72 on November 27, 2013, 10:22:15 AM
I know this wasn't the longed for win against a BCS conference, but must be pretty close. UCF plays in the same conference as National Champ Louisville, U Conn, Cincy and Memphis, and is the seventh ranked conference in the Sagarins.
72 is right on this (as he usually is) -- this was a rather convincing win against a team that is likely to have a solid RPI just by virtue of who they play. Still not a BCS win, but it is going to look even better at the year end.
This was our first power conference win since Washington. It's safe to say that. The BCS moniker no longer applies to college basketball teams since the conference realignment. The AAC is by no stretch of the imagination a mid-major conference. The BCS moniker does not apply to the Big East anymore, but it would be crazy to call them a mid-major conference. This conference is going to produce 3 or 4 tournament teams.
To say that beating Louisville or UConn is not a 'BCS win' would be kind of ridiculous.
Quote from: HC on November 27, 2013, 09:50:34 AM
The 4 of us were home sick last night..my wife and boys with fevers me still recovering from a concussion. Watched on hLN and thought the team looked and played fantastic. A couple thoughts: 1. I wonder who is going to see fewer minutes when Carter can play. I think it will be Jubril and Valpo will go a bit smaller, but I don't think it should be Lexus going by how he has performed so far. 2. I like the zone defense, Valpo doesn't seem to have the quickness, especially when 2/3 big guys are in to play man consistently. I did notice that UCF was able to get the ball to the high post vs our zone pretty easily which I think Valpo can fix with a bit practice.
Excited for Fridays game!
Quote from: truth219 on November 27, 2013, 09:58:01 AM
I think clay and Lexus might lose some minutes. Adekoya will lose some too but he's effective in the paint. Points in the paint are vital. The more minutes he gets the more upside I see. Besides missing three pointers his shooting percentage is almost perfect
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The issue when Carter starts to play will be the position that gets filled and the particular game situation. We would be getting
much smaller and less physical with Lexus and Clay taking Adekoya's minutes. I really like Jubril's ability to get to the rim when he flashes into the paint. He has the hands, body and athleticism to receive the pass and get to the bucket with a decisive move. It happened twice last night and was a thing of beauty. Clay seems to guard pretty well so if the other team has a midrange scorer then he maybe called upon for defensive reasons. Lexus is a point guard and I don't see him playing anywhere else. Unless Carter is a disappointment, he is going to take those point and some 2 guard minutes (if he and Lexus are on the floor at the same time) and I really don't see any other way this works without minutes being shared by Carter, Lexus, Dority, Yeo and even Coleman.
Clay only played a few minutes, he is probably odd man out most nights. I suppose this is a good problem to have.
I think chef said that he has had some nagging minor foot injury issues that kept his minutes down last night.
Everything depends on how good carter is. We all have high hopes. Regardless, Lexus Williams is on my "what I'm thankful for" list this year.
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Quote from: a3uge on November 27, 2013, 12:32:24 AM
I said this in the chat at several points: Alec Peters is a great passer.
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I also saw him move toward a pass once. Greg Tonagel would have been proud.
Quote from: wh on November 27, 2013, 08:20:29 AM
UCF fans feeling insulted by a loss to an "inferior" team/conference:
http://ucf.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=71&tid=168835139&mid=168835139&sid=908&style=2 (http://ucf.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=71&tid=168835139&mid=168835139&sid=908&style=2)
*Some*. Others scolding them for it.
The interesting thing will be to see how it affects--hopefully improves--our offensive flow.
Make no mistake, we are humming offensively. We are 31 in the country -- out of 351 teams! -- in ORtg.
We have 3 players basically each averaging 15 ppg (Dority, Peters, Coleman). Right now of course. There have been YEARS we didn't even have one that high.
Will be interesting to see what changes, that's for sure. Meanwhile, let's mow these suckas down.
Quote from: valpotx on November 27, 2013, 12:12:47 AMa special kudos to Bobby for playing up to his abilities like he did several times last year. We need to see more of that! How many teams can rotate 3 guys in the 5, and have each contribute on different nights??
Last night our three bigs played a total of 54 minutes which is about their season average. Of that Bobby put in about 12 minutes at the 5 and 14 minutes at the 4. So why did that work pretty well last night and not on other nights?
Lets look at the stat sheets just like UCF would and did. Capobianco----with a 64% season field goal number and 8 out of 11 from 3--needs a close defender wherever on the floor he is. So he was closely guarded outside which helped give Mousse some space inside and allowed Bobby some dribble penetrations against an equally slow defender. Even though his play at the 5 might have been slightly better, his play and development at the 4 is still important to this team.
I am not too concerned with our guard and small forward (includes Alec) play because as the year progresses it should get even better. The opportunity that we have this year that we have never had before is for a functional, deep go-big lineup that might match up much better against a 2013 Michigan State type team than we were able to with last years bunch. So my conclusion is that Bobby needs to continue to play maybe 8 to 15 minutes of 4 right up and into conference and maybe longer. At this point in time he has much better potential for improvement at the 4 than he does at the 5 so why not go for broke? This should still allow Jubril enough playing time to develope on schedule for a late season run.
Your turn. :-[
Quote from: LaPorteAveApostle on November 27, 2013, 07:13:35 PM
The interesting thing will be to see how it affects--hopefully improves--our offensive flow.
Make no mistake, we are humming offensively. We are 31 in the country -- out of 351 teams! -- in ORtg.
We have 3 players basically each averaging 15 ppg (Dority, Peters, Coleman). Right now of course. There have been YEARS we didn't even have one that high.
Will be interesting to see what changes, that's for sure. Meanwhile, let's mow these suckas down.
I know it is early as well, but boy is it nice to have more than just one or two guys on the court who can score regularly. Not to take anything away from the guys last year, but Buggs, Bogan, Kenny, and Boggs where inconsistent at best and really couldn't be counted on to score. It was great to have five guys out there last night putting up double digits. Hopefully this scoring continues.
Also I hope we keep using that ally-oop play to Fernadez. If he could just catch the ball it would work every time.
Quote from: justducky on November 27, 2013, 10:40:17 PM
Quote from: valpotx on November 27, 2013, 12:12:47 AMa special kudos to Bobby for playing up to his abilities like he did several times last year. We need to see more of that! How many teams can rotate 3 guys in the 5, and have each contribute on different nights??
Last night our three bigs played a total of 54 minutes which is about their season average. Of that Bobby put in about 12 minutes at the 5 and 14 minutes at the 4. So why did that work pretty well last night and not on other nights?
Lets look at the stat sheets just like UCF would and did. Capobianco----with a 64% season field goal number and 8 out of 11 from 3--needs a close defender wherever on the floor he is. So he was closely guarded outside which helped give Mousse some space inside and allowed Bobby some dribble penetrations against an equally slow defender. Even though his play at the 5 might have been slightly better, his play and development at the 4 is still important to this team.
I am not too concerned with our guard and small forward (includes Alec) play because as the year progresses it should get even better. The opportunity that we have this year that we have never had before is for a functional, deep go-big lineup that might match up much better against a 2013 Michigan State type team than we were able to with last years bunch. So my conclusion is that Bobby needs to continue to play maybe 8 to 15 minutes of 4 right up and into conference and maybe longer. At this point in time he has much better potential for improvement at the 4 than he does at the 5 so why not go for broke? This should still allow Jubril enough playing time to develope on schedule for a late season run.
Your turn. :-[
My turn for what? I was saying it is a blessing that we can rotate 3 guys in at the 5, and have each contribute on different nights...not many teams can say this is a strong point for them
I think it's safe to say that when Keith Carter becomes eligible a handful of players will lose about 3 - 5 minutes of time per game. There's no way Clay Yeo will be the odd man out. Let's say Carter plays about 25 mpg, which seems like a safe assumption. If everybody but Alec Peters losses about 3 minutes, then there will be ample minutes for everybody. Since everybody but Lexus, Moussa and Vashil can play multiple positions, there's no need to worry about Carter just taking minutes from the guards. There will be a trickle down effect.
Quote from: valpotx on November 28, 2013, 01:07:38 AMYour turn.
Quote from: valpotx on November 28, 2013, 01:07:38 AMMy turn for what? I was saying it is a blessing that we can rotate 3 guys in at the 5, and have each contribute on different nights...not many teams can say this is a strong point for them
Sorry tx. Just quoted you as my best lead in to a rebuttal directed to the "Ban Bobby from the 4" crowd. Not only do I agree that he is a valuable back up 5 but his outside shooting as a center should also open up all kinds of late game opportunities and adjustments. As I have said previously we can put five guys on the floor in the late game that as a group are bigger, quicker and much better shooting than last years normal lineup. When you can put five guys on the floor who are still big, quick (as a group) but can all hit the 3 pointer then we should never be out of a game until the final buzzer sounds. Yes much of my "best case" thinking is based on many details falling into place (including Carter) but this team is well ahead of schedule.
Try to avoid the 3'rds on the desserts but other than that everybody have a good day and a good dinner. :)