The Legacy of Coach Nolan (ch2k8)

[doncoryell]

"What!!!! We get blown out by Central Florida!!!", an angry coach Bob Knight said before hurling a chair across the basketball court.


Good luck at your new home at UCF.

[nolan887]

Quote: Originally Posted by Deuce2223

Congrats again on signing Gundy and the quick start. Sad to see your winning streak come to an end going up against UC Davis..

Thanks, I can't wait to play with a 5 star next year. It might be hard with Simmons and Bone playing great in the backcourt this year and they will both be seniors next year.

You are 1 for 1 on predictions in my legacy so far, we'll have to see if you can go 2-2.

Quote: Originally Posted by doncoryell

"What!!!! We get blown out by Central Florida!!!", an angry coach Bob Knight said before hurling a chair across the basketball court. Good luck at your new home at UCF.

LOL. Thanks, glad to see you have started your new season off on a good note as well.

[nolan887]

KNIGHTS SEND AGGIES HOME WITH THEIR TAILS BETWEEN THEIR LEGS

UCF Knights 9-1 (0-0) vs UC Davis Aggies 3-6 (0-0)

UCF Arena

Orlando, FL

December 10, 2014

Orlando, FL - The UC Davis Aggies had big hopes coming into Orlando to take on a Knights team who was coming off of a week off, but those hopes came quickly crashing down. The Knights came out still red hot and pushed their winning streak to seven games since losing their hope opener against UNLV. Most of the Knights starters only played the first half as they went into halftime with a thirty point 56-26 lead over the Aggies. In this first half of play J.J. Bone turned in a double-double with 14 points and 10 assists and Pearson Shannon had a game high 23 points. All of the Aggies struggled against the Knight's formidable defense and only shot only managed to have two players score more than 6 points on the game. The points leaders for UC Davis were Demarryl Chavis with 11 and Pierre Cowen with 10. The experts are now rating both the Knights offense and defense as an A+ so far this season.

"Defense and turnovers," Coach Nolan repeated after the win. "It has been our mantra going back to last year and we were able to perfect it again today. If you told me we would only turn the ball over one time today I would have told you you were crazy, but that is just what we did. Hopefully we can keep this up all season and roll into the NCAA Tournament in the same fashion we did last year, with a different outcome of course."

Next up for the Knight's last pre-conference home game are the Trojans of UALR. The Trojans come into Orlando with a record of 4-3, their losses coming against solid competition of Hawaii (5-1), #4 Vanderbilt (8-0), and Tulsa (6-4). The Knights will have to focus their stellar defense on shutting down senior cener Kasey Pleiness who is averaging 23.6 points per game shooting almost 50% from the floor so far this season. The Trojans are averaging 73 points per game, so they will look to meet their match in the Knights defense who is only giving up only 54 points per game. The Knights head into this match up with the #22 ranked offense in the nation and the #9 ranked defense. The Knights certainly aren't looking like a team who will finish 11th of 12 in C-USA this season.

UC Davis (3-6) at Central Florida (9-1)
December 10, 2014 1 2 F UC Davis 26 24 50 Central Florida 56 32 88 Top Performers UC Davis - Stats Demarryl Chavis - 11 Pts, 1 Reb Pierre Cowen - 10 Pts, 4 Reb, 2 Blk Central Florida - Stats Pearson Shannon - 23 Pts, 5 Reb, 1 Ast, 1 Blk, 3 Stl J.J. Bone - 14 Pts, 3 Reb, 10 Ast, 3 Stl	Team Stat Comparison UCD UCF FG Made-Attempted 21-51 34-63 3P Made-Attempted 3-16 2-5 FT Made-Attempted 5-7 18-26 Rebounds 25 34 Assists 15 17 Steals 1 15 Blocks 4 2 Turnovers 21 1

[Deuce2223]

I smell something fishy with that game and the score.. The fact we shot only 7 Free throws compared to 26 is just insane. How can the ref's think that even the stupidest of fan's couldn't figure that something is up..

[nolan887]

Quote: Originally Posted by Deuce2223

I smell something fishy with that game and the score.. The fact we shot only 7 Free throws compared to 26 is just insane. How can the ref's think that even the stupidest of fan's couldn't figure that something is up..

Good old home court discount haha. 21 turnovers vs 1 was the key of the game. 15-1 in the steals column sure didn't help the aggies either.

[nolan887]

KNIGHTS SLAY TROJANS IN YET ANOTHER BLOWOUT WIN

UCF Knights 10-1 (0-0) vs UALR Trojans 4-4 (0-0)

UCF Arena

Orlando, FL

December 12, 2014

Orlando, FL - Coming off of only one day's rest, the UCF Knights looked to extend their winning streak in a home game against the Arkansas-Little Rock Trojans. This game ended up being more of the same for UCF as they held the Trojans to less than 50 points on the day and leading the entire forty minutes. Pearson Shannon put up 18 points in his limited play, as most of the Knights starters were rested during the second half. Kasey Plainess was the only threat UCF had to worry about, and they did not do a very good job shutting him down. Plainess ended with a double double, 16 points and 11 rebounds. Most of Plainess' points came in the second half when he was being defended by bench players.

"We are playing great so far this season," Coach Nolan commented. "I was worried with the loss of our two starters last season, but we really haven't missed a beat. I can't imagine what kinds of numbers J.J. and Pearson would be putting up if they actually played an entire game. We've got a tough match up against WVU coming up next week. They have 4 seniors returning this season and just beat two very good teams. If we can keep up our tenacious defense, we should be able to lock them down and head into conference play on a big streak."

Next up for the UCF Knights is a very tough WVU Mountaineer squad in Morgantown. UCF is undefeated on the road this season and has been playing very well against stiff competition. So far this season the Knights have knocked off #1 Florida and #25 Miami while also beating a very good unranked Florida State team and losing in a very close bout against the UNLV Rebels. West Virginia is sitting at 5-4 on the season and are coming off two quality wins at #16 Oregon and at home against Texas. The Mountaineers have three players averaging double figures in points per game, so the UCF defense will have their hands full trying to lock down senior big men Johnny Diogu, M.C. Koundjia, and their sixth man Dan Callahan.

UALR (4-4) at Central Florida (10-1)
December 12, 2014 1 2 F UALR 24 24 48 Central Florida 31 34 65 Top Performers UALR - Stats Kasey Plainess - 16 Pts, 11 Reb, 1 Stl, 2 Blk Gilson Patterson - 7 Pts, 5 Reb, 4 Ast, 1 Stl Central Florida - Stats Pearson Shannon - 18 Pts, 2 Reb, 3 Stl Nicholas Simmons - 13 Pts, 3 Reb, 3 Ast	Team Stat Comparison UALR UCF FG Made-Attempted 19-52 23-49 3P Made-Attempted 5-15 2-7 FT Made-Attempted 5-10 17-21 Rebounds 26 31 Assists 13 13 Steals 7 10 Blocks 5 2 Turnovers 14 7

[nolan887]

KNIGHTS HOLD ON TO PUSH WINNING STREAK TO 9 HEADED INTO CONFERENCE PLAY

UCF Knights 11-1 (0-0) at West Virginia Mountaineers 5-6 (0-0)

WVU Coliseum

Morgantown, WV

December 17, 2014

Morgantown, WV - The latest in the Knight's string of wins has proven to be much different. UCF headed into Morgantown on a hot streak recording four blow out wins in a row, but WVU would prove to be a great test for the Knights. West Virginia came out hot and took an early twelve point lead, but the Knights stepped their game up on both sides of the ball and headed into the half with a ten points lead. Coach Bob Huggins rallied the troops in the second half and the Mountaineers cut the lead to as little as four points, but the Knights would lead the entire half and go on to win by six points. Coming into the game WVU had three players averaging over ten points per game and the Knights were able to contain two of them. The only Mountaineer with a decent performance was senior center M.C. Koundjia who had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Senior Pearson Shannon again lead all in scoring with 21 points and Junior PG J.J. Bone is turning into a solid contributor this year with 15 points, 3 rebounds, and 4 assists in the winning effort.

"It was nice to be brought back down to earth," commented Coach Nolan. "We were flying high atop four blowout wins and were feeling unstoppable, but WVU exposed some of our weaknesses, and now we have some things to work on during our time off. These next two weeks will be dedicated to recruiting and practice. We have one more scholarship this year, and I would like to find another big man to add to our roster. If not, we will have seven scholarships to offer next year and we will hope to make a big splash in the recruiting pool."

Nolan will likely be looking for a replacement for senior PF Pearson Shannon this year. Armando Ross and Eddie Carlson are both viable options off of his current roster, but both will be graduating seniors next year and Nolan will likely want a long term solution to losing his top scorer this season. After their two week break the Knights open up conference play with a game in Greenville, NC against the Pirates. ECU was picked to finish second in the conference this pre-season and has a very experienced team with four starting seniors. Nolan's Knights beat the Pirates twice last season and will hope to leave ECU with a ten game winning streak.

Central Florida (11-1) at West Virginia (5-5)
December 17, 2014 1 2 F Central Florida 34 30 64 West Virginia 24 34 58 Top Performers Central Florida - Stats M.C. Koundjia - 12 Pts, 10 Reb, 1 Ast, 1 Stl Dan Callahan - 3 Pts, 6 Reb, 4 Blk West Virginia - Stats Pearson Shannon - 21 Pts, 1 Reb, 2 Stl J.J. Bone - 15 Pts, 3 Reb, 4 Ast	Team Stat Comparison UCF WVU FG Made-Attempted 21-51 20-51 3P Made-Attempted 1-6 6-16 FT Made-Attempted 21-34 12-17 Rebounds 27 34 Assists 12 15 Steals 16 5 Blocks 0 8 Turnovers 6 21

[nolan887]

MID-SEASON UPDATE

Orlando, FL - With conference games starting all over the country, we take a step back to see how the first half of the season went. UCF has been hot thus far only dropping one very close game and knocking off both ranked opponents on their schedule. The Knights will look to stay hot and take home a second straight Conference USA championship. The next update will be half way through conference play, followed by another update before the NCAA tournament.

Conference USA:
UCF Knights: 11-1
Tulane Green Wave: 10-3
Marshall Thundering Herd: 8-3
Memphis Tigers: 8-4
Houston Cougars: 8-5
East Carolina Pirates: 8-5
Southern Miss Golden Eagles: 7-5
Southern Methodist Mustangs: 7-6
UTEP Miners: 6-6
Rice Owls: 5-3
UAB Blazers: 3-6

Media Top-25 Poll:

NCAA Basketball Rankings - AP Top 25
RK	TEAM	RECORD
1	Arizona Wildcats	14-0
2	Georgetown Hoyas	13-0
3	Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets	14-1
4	Vanderbitl Commodores	11-1
5	Wisconsin Badgers	11-1
6	Syracuse Orange	11-1
7	Oregon Ducks	12-2
8	Texas Tech Red Raiders	11-2
9	Indiana Hoosiers	11-2
10	Seton Hall Pirates	12-2
11	Iowa State Cyclones	12-2
12	Miami Hurricanes	12-1
13	Michigan State Spartans	12-3
14	Maryland Terrapins	10-2
15	Illinois Fighting Illini	11-2
16	Florida Gators	12-4
17	Saint Louis Billikens	11-4
18	Arizona State Sun Devils	10-3
19	Pittsburgh Panthers	9-3
20	USC Trojans	10-3
21	UNLV Runnin' Rebels	12-2
22	Oklahoma State Cowboys	12-2
23	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	12-2
24	Xavier Musketeers	9-3
25	Washington Huskies	10-2

Mid Major Top-25 Poll:

NCAA Basketball Rankings - Mid Major Top 25
RK	TEAM	RECORD
1	Gonzaga Bulldogs	11-4
2	Wisconsin-Green Bay Phoenix	12-1
3	Boise State Broncos	11-2
4	New Orleans Privateers	12-3
5	New Mexico State Aggies	10-4
6	Nevada Wolf Pack	8-3
7	Rider Broncs	11-2
8	Troy Trojans	11-5
9	Pepperdine Waves	13-3
10	Fresno State Bulldogs	9-4
11	San Diego Toreros	12-3
12	Idaho Vandals	12-4
13	Drexel Dragons	9-4
14	Illinois-Chicago Flames	9-4
15	Manhattan Jaspers	10-3
16	Hawaii Warriors	9-4
17	Bradley Braves	10-2
18	George Mason Patriots	7-6
19	Akron Zips	7-5
20	Ohio Bobcats	8-5
21	Fairfield Stags	8-5
22	Iona Gaels	10-3
23	San Francisco Dons	9-5
24	Bowling Green Falcons	7-5
25	Utah State Aggies	6-7

Other Notables:
Princeton Tigers: 3-8
Wofford Terriers: 2-9
UALR Trojans: 5-8
UNF Ospreys: 8-9
UC Davis Aggies: 5-9
Army Black Knights: 2-12
WVU Mointaineers: 8-6
SC State Bulldogs: 7-3
St. John's Red Storm: 10-3