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Hi all....Air Force fan here. First and foremost, here's to a good game with no injuries this weekend. I posted on your '2012-2013 Schedule' thread back in July after our games was scheduled....my comments included:
Looking forward to the game here at Clune Arena at the Academy. Find the 'mixed' comments above intriguing about the differing views on the matchup....from 'why that bad team' to 'lets not overlook them'.
I think that this will be a game that your coach will not overlook and one the fans should not either. Unlike your team that is rebuilding or reloading (as commented on earlier in this thread with the loss of your top five scorers from last year), Air Force returns all starters from the beginning of MWC Conference play to include 4 senior starters who have been 3 or 4 year starters. Basicly lost one senior that contributed until having a season ending injury at the beginning of January before conference play began. In addition, last year's first five players off the bench for most of the season were freshmen.
Note, these were not freshmen like at most schools. Unlike their counterparts at Wichita St or elsewhere, they were not 3-4 star recruits and they didn't participate in any summer basketball, rather showing up at the Academy in June for two months of basic training then right into academics which begin the first week or so of August. Their basketball conditioning, skills and learning the new system didn't begin until August. Fast forward now this year and you will see a much more experienced team off the bench plus the starters mentioned above. Even with poor experience we had, we managed to endure a mid-season coaching change and still beat a top 25 San Diego State and to take UNLV and Colorado to overtime (all three NCAA teams).
I look forward to the game with you at the Academy and hope we can give you a good game and expect we will. As one poster said above, we do run a hybrid Princeton/Motion offense with backdoor cuts and using the 3-ball. You'll see a combination of matchup zone interspersed with man-to-man, and do that at 7000' altitude. As is often said: Welcome to the Academy where the Air is rare. Our board is not too active during the off-season, but stop by and say hi. Stop by our forum at (click here) Air Force BBall Forum
While I made those comments (in blue) 3 1/2 months ago, we now fast forward to three weeks into the OOC schedule and we find your team at 7-0 (congrats on the good win vs Tulsa) and Air Force at 5-1 (with their only loss last weekend at now #19 CU- we were down by 2 at the half but lost by 10+). Both teams, even with loses to graduation, have strong benches which may be a big part of their success. When you meet our team you'll be faced with the Princeton I discussed above with the addition of a team that pushes the tempo up the court prior to settling into their offense if no transition shots are available. It should be interesting for your team to match up with our Falcon offense. While we got pummeled by CU on the boards, we played and beat an average Jackson State team (Wed) that out rebounded Texas Tech when they played them 45-38 (but lost by 9) and we had a decisive edge on the glass as we 'fixed' some problems from the CU game. The glass and rebounding will be a major key our our matchup. For more info our Air Force team check out my blog at http://ricksfalconreview.blogspot.co...-76-47-if.html
You'll find a team that will respect your players but give you 100% effort for 40mins (or more) of time on the court. Safe travels to anyone heading to Colorado Springs and GO FALCONS
Looking forward to the game here at Clune Arena at the Academy. Find the 'mixed' comments above intriguing about the differing views on the matchup....from 'why that bad team' to 'lets not overlook them'.
I think that this will be a game that your coach will not overlook and one the fans should not either. Unlike your team that is rebuilding or reloading (as commented on earlier in this thread with the loss of your top five scorers from last year), Air Force returns all starters from the beginning of MWC Conference play to include 4 senior starters who have been 3 or 4 year starters. Basicly lost one senior that contributed until having a season ending injury at the beginning of January before conference play began. In addition, last year's first five players off the bench for most of the season were freshmen.
Note, these were not freshmen like at most schools. Unlike their counterparts at Wichita St or elsewhere, they were not 3-4 star recruits and they didn't participate in any summer basketball, rather showing up at the Academy in June for two months of basic training then right into academics which begin the first week or so of August. Their basketball conditioning, skills and learning the new system didn't begin until August. Fast forward now this year and you will see a much more experienced team off the bench plus the starters mentioned above. Even with poor experience we had, we managed to endure a mid-season coaching change and still beat a top 25 San Diego State and to take UNLV and Colorado to overtime (all three NCAA teams).
I look forward to the game with you at the Academy and hope we can give you a good game and expect we will. As one poster said above, we do run a hybrid Princeton/Motion offense with backdoor cuts and using the 3-ball. You'll see a combination of matchup zone interspersed with man-to-man, and do that at 7000' altitude. As is often said: Welcome to the Academy where the Air is rare. Our board is not too active during the off-season, but stop by and say hi. Stop by our forum at (click here) Air Force BBall Forum
While I made those comments (in blue) 3 1/2 months ago, we now fast forward to three weeks into the OOC schedule and we find your team at 7-0 (congrats on the good win vs Tulsa) and Air Force at 5-1 (with their only loss last weekend at now #19 CU- we were down by 2 at the half but lost by 10+). Both teams, even with loses to graduation, have strong benches which may be a big part of their success. When you meet our team you'll be faced with the Princeton I discussed above with the addition of a team that pushes the tempo up the court prior to settling into their offense if no transition shots are available. It should be interesting for your team to match up with our Falcon offense. While we got pummeled by CU on the boards, we played and beat an average Jackson State team (Wed) that out rebounded Texas Tech when they played them 45-38 (but lost by 9) and we had a decisive edge on the glass as we 'fixed' some problems from the CU game. The glass and rebounding will be a major key our our matchup. For more info our Air Force team check out my blog at http://ricksfalconreview.blogspot.co...-76-47-if.html
You'll find a team that will respect your players but give you 100% effort for 40mins (or more) of time on the court. Safe travels to anyone heading to Colorado Springs and GO FALCONS
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