UCF gave Connecticut a scare yesterday in Hartford. The Knights built up a nine point lead and kept it close until the wheels fell off with six minutes to play. Marcus Jordan had a career high 13 points to lead the away team. That marked the third loss to a Big East opponent this season to Central Florida, the other two being a four point affair at South Florida and the 90-72 beating in the JACC a couple weeks ago.
We're almost into conference play and currently the Big East ranks third in Pomeroy's league standings. Just three schools (Syracuse, West Virginia, and Georgetown) have earned top 25 status so far. The Irish rank third to last.
Showing posts with label Central Florida. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Central Florida. Show all posts
Monday, December 21, 2009
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
Observations
First of all, apologies for not posting yesterday. You see, Jack Swarbrick called and apparently he has this job opening so I had to fly into New York for an interview this morning...
I got an e-mail this morning from a recent ND grad who contributes to this blog and had a very nice write-up on the basketball season yesterday. Thrown-in are a few quotes from Kyle McAlarney and Ryan Ayers. Definitely a worthwhile read.
Finally, a few more comments on the game Sunday. There were a few things I neglected to touch on in the main post. Obviously Tim Abromaitis starting is a very good sign. I've lavished praise on the young man from Alumni Hall enough this season already, but once again it seems that the coaches have found a diamond in the recruiting rough. Our competition for this guy came from strictly academic powerhouses (Princeton, Penn, Yale, Rice, and a very bad Northwestern program), so this just seems to be a good scouting job by our staff. His teeth will be cut in Big East play and it is far too early to annoint him the next great Irish player, but I really like what I've seen so far. Now if he had just gotten any experience in his first two years...
One last note on recruiting, it looks like the football coaches have zeroed in on the guy to replace Manti Teo at middle linebacker.
EDIT: Big mistake. Abro started in place of Peoples, not Nash. I missed the start of Sunday's game and had to ask about the starting lineup. Very sorry about the mix-up.
I got an e-mail this morning from a recent ND grad who contributes to this blog and had a very nice write-up on the basketball season yesterday. Thrown-in are a few quotes from Kyle McAlarney and Ryan Ayers. Definitely a worthwhile read.
Finally, a few more comments on the game Sunday. There were a few things I neglected to touch on in the main post. Obviously Tim Abromaitis starting is a very good sign. I've lavished praise on the young man from Alumni Hall enough this season already, but once again it seems that the coaches have found a diamond in the recruiting rough. Our competition for this guy came from strictly academic powerhouses (Princeton, Penn, Yale, Rice, and a very bad Northwestern program), so this just seems to be a good scouting job by our staff. His teeth will be cut in Big East play and it is far too early to annoint him the next great Irish player, but I really like what I've seen so far. Now if he had just gotten any experience in his first two years...
One last note on recruiting, it looks like the football coaches have zeroed in on the guy to replace Manti Teo at middle linebacker.
EDIT: Big mistake. Abro started in place of Peoples, not Nash. I missed the start of Sunday's game and had to ask about the starting lineup. Very sorry about the mix-up.
Sunday, December 06, 2009
Notre Dame 90, Central Florida 72
Holy Tim Abromaitis, Batman. The most impressive player of the season turned into a star today with 31 points in an incredibly well-rounded performance. LaPhonso Ellis was right all along about this guy.
Tory Jackson played very well in 27 minutes before leaving the game with an injury. Thankfully, the team continued without him and was able to keep up a strong offensive performance throughout. Jackson scored only 4 points, but had 9 assists with zero turnovers on the day. It's hard to have a better day distributing the ball than that.
Ben Hansbrough scored 11, but was a little careless with the ball. I do like him a lot, but he can be a bit of a bad fit with Tory in the backcourt. Of course, we don't really have any other options in the backcourt, so here's to the two guys getting more comfortable as the year goes on.
Jonathan Peoples- 20 MIN, 0 PTS, 1 REB, 1 AST- No reason to waste any more blog space on that...
Abro really was fantastic today. Yes he did score 31, but only nine of those points came on three pointers. Unlike a Ryan Ayers or some other marginal player who has a breakout game, Tim showed an ability to score in a wide variety of ways. He was 8-9 from the line and shot 59% from the floor. Throw in 4 rebounds for a nice well-rounded performance. Keep an eye on this guy in the future, he has the potential to be a star.
Luke Harangody was just as good, but we expect that kind of performance from him. 29 points, 7 rebounds. He was perfect from the charity stripe and very efficient from the floor. Missed a pair of three pointers, but still finished with one of his better performances on the year.
Carleton Scott had another very solid game with 6 points and 7 assists. He has really found a role as a statsheet filler and is starting to earn a much larger role in the rotation. Ty Nash was great, too. 7 points, 5 rebounds. Hard to complain about anyone today. Except Jonathan Peoples... but let's not ruin the moment by dwelling on him.
Even our defensive performance was pretty solid today. The stats don't show it, but as a whole our guys showed more intensity on D. We're not going to hang 90 on everyone, so the team has to play well on both ends of the floor.
Very good game against a team that I thought could give us a little trouble. Nice job, guys. Hopefully Michael was impressed.
Tory Jackson played very well in 27 minutes before leaving the game with an injury. Thankfully, the team continued without him and was able to keep up a strong offensive performance throughout. Jackson scored only 4 points, but had 9 assists with zero turnovers on the day. It's hard to have a better day distributing the ball than that.
Ben Hansbrough scored 11, but was a little careless with the ball. I do like him a lot, but he can be a bit of a bad fit with Tory in the backcourt. Of course, we don't really have any other options in the backcourt, so here's to the two guys getting more comfortable as the year goes on.
Jonathan Peoples- 20 MIN, 0 PTS, 1 REB, 1 AST- No reason to waste any more blog space on that...
Abro really was fantastic today. Yes he did score 31, but only nine of those points came on three pointers. Unlike a Ryan Ayers or some other marginal player who has a breakout game, Tim showed an ability to score in a wide variety of ways. He was 8-9 from the line and shot 59% from the floor. Throw in 4 rebounds for a nice well-rounded performance. Keep an eye on this guy in the future, he has the potential to be a star.
Luke Harangody was just as good, but we expect that kind of performance from him. 29 points, 7 rebounds. He was perfect from the charity stripe and very efficient from the floor. Missed a pair of three pointers, but still finished with one of his better performances on the year.
Carleton Scott had another very solid game with 6 points and 7 assists. He has really found a role as a statsheet filler and is starting to earn a much larger role in the rotation. Ty Nash was great, too. 7 points, 5 rebounds. Hard to complain about anyone today. Except Jonathan Peoples... but let's not ruin the moment by dwelling on him.
Even our defensive performance was pretty solid today. The stats don't show it, but as a whole our guys showed more intensity on D. We're not going to hang 90 on everyone, so the team has to play well on both ends of the floor.
Very good game against a team that I thought could give us a little trouble. Nice job, guys. Hopefully Michael was impressed.
Saturday, December 05, 2009
Central Florida Preview
Back to basketball. Central Florida comes to town tomorrow at noon. They have a win over a bad major conference team to their credit (Auburn) and only one loss, so they could provide decent competition.
The Knights have a reasonably deep bench, playing eight guys for 17 minutes per game or more and none more than 30. Last season, almost all of their scoring came from Jermaine Taylor, who scored 26.2 a contest. #11 Isaac Sosa is the highest returning scorer, averaging 8.2 last year in only 19.7 minutes per game. His playing time has increased significantly and he now boasts the most points on the team. A terrific shooter, he is 16th in the country in three point percentage (51.3%).
#15 Dave Diakite will give Jonathan Peoples trouble. At 6'6", 215 lbs., he has a height advantage over our third guard and likes to crash the boards. He has two double-doubles on the season and has pulled down three or more offensive rebounds in over half his games. The Irish better be careful or this guy will single-handedly lead to a bunch of second-chance points.
There are a bunch of other role players in the rotation, with no one really sticking out. #12 Taylor Young and #3 A.J. Rompza are both reliable point guards who see significant playing time. #25 A.J. Tyler and #33 Keith Clanton are their main guys in the post, but look for #13 Jakub Kusmieruk in spurts. He is 7'4" and has played in every game this season but clearly is not polished enough to merit significant playing time (only 6.9 MPG).
Michael's son Marcus Jordan comes off the bench. The only real thing he has accomplished so far this year was wearing his dad's shoes.
The Knights have a reasonably deep bench, playing eight guys for 17 minutes per game or more and none more than 30. Last season, almost all of their scoring came from Jermaine Taylor, who scored 26.2 a contest. #11 Isaac Sosa is the highest returning scorer, averaging 8.2 last year in only 19.7 minutes per game. His playing time has increased significantly and he now boasts the most points on the team. A terrific shooter, he is 16th in the country in three point percentage (51.3%).
#15 Dave Diakite will give Jonathan Peoples trouble. At 6'6", 215 lbs., he has a height advantage over our third guard and likes to crash the boards. He has two double-doubles on the season and has pulled down three or more offensive rebounds in over half his games. The Irish better be careful or this guy will single-handedly lead to a bunch of second-chance points.
There are a bunch of other role players in the rotation, with no one really sticking out. #12 Taylor Young and #3 A.J. Rompza are both reliable point guards who see significant playing time. #25 A.J. Tyler and #33 Keith Clanton are their main guys in the post, but look for #13 Jakub Kusmieruk in spurts. He is 7'4" and has played in every game this season but clearly is not polished enough to merit significant playing time (only 6.9 MPG).
Michael's son Marcus Jordan comes off the bench. The only real thing he has accomplished so far this year was wearing his dad's shoes.
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