Central Florida

[jackmd]

Re: Central Florida

Less than 1600 for a quality D1 opponent?  Where's the attendance?

Not a lot of people are excited about a team with the 332 rpi in the nation, thats the biggest reason. You can't expect your average fan to show up to watch when this team hasn't given them much to be excited about. NFL playoffs are on, local DII schools are playing, students aren't back yet, all of those contribute. However, if people thought we had a better chance to win this game or at least play like they expect the attendance would have been better.

Still doesn't take away from a good performance by the Jacks.

[Grizzled_Jack]

Re: Central Florida

I was looking at the back posts from 2 years ago. No where near as depressing as dropping two games to the Wayne States. Looks like the Jacks have 3 quality players positioned for the Mid-Con.

[jackmd]

Re: Central Florida

I was looking at the back posts from 2 years ago.  No where near as depressing as dropping two games to the Wayne States.  Looks like the Jacks have 3 quality players positioned for the Mid-Con.

Agreed, and I expect we will hold onto these 3. I wonder if Nagy will start gearing towards a 7 or 8 man rotation. He has always liked playing 10 guys but he just can't find the talent to be that deep at the DI level. It could be just a coincidence but I think we are playing better with fewer guys rotating in and out. Just need to condition the shorter bench a little more.

[JimmyJack]

Re: Central Florida

I was looking at the back posts from 2 years ago. No where near as depressing as dropping two games to the Wayne States. Looks like the Jacks have 3 quality players positioned for the Mid-Con.

Just got home from the game. Again, I'm very encouraged. That was a strong, 40-minute effort. Callahan was great. Williams was a force. Cadwell scrapped like crazy, but UCF was just pretty darned good. They've got some really great players. We were undermanned, we didn't shoot well, but stayed in the game.

Think about it. You look at a guy like Cadwell. How good will he be in two years? Callahan and Williams. How good will they be in three years? Hard to say about Bassett, but there are flashes of quality play and if he was able to play his natural position, I'm sure he'd do very well.

After Butler, things are going to get better. Look at the schedule. It gets better. We'll get more wins than last year.

And with a healthy squad and a couple more players next year, we're going to be a solid team in the Mid-Con. Give the coaches credit here. They've held these kids together through some tough breaks, and if you can ignore the win-loss record for now and think about next year, there are some good players to build on. These young players are learning quickly... look at Callahan tonight.

[JackJD]

Re: Central Florida

Just returned home from Brookings.  I agree with other posters:  we had trouble with shooting but otherwise played well against a very good basketball team.  While one can never "like" a loss, I walked out of Frost Arena optimistic about this team.

Boy, those two alley-oop slams by Williams were huge.  The kid's going to be a dominating player....   When I look at the roster, it's pretty easy to be optimistic about the program.  Callahan's [modify: meant Cadwell] shots wouldn't drop but I was glad to see he didn't quit shooting.  Just an off night for him.

[filbert]

Re: Central Florida

Just returned home from Brookings. I agree with other posters: we had trouble with shooting but otherwise played well against a very good basketball team. While one can never "like" a loss, I walked out of Frost Arena optimistic about this team.

Boy, those two alley-oop slams by Williams were huge. The kid's going to be a dominating player.... When I look at the roster, it's pretty easy to be optimistic about the program. Callahan's shots wouldn't drop but I was glad to see he didn't quit shooting. Just an off night for him.

If Nagy can build a front line to take up space in the paint, get some rebounds, block some shots, and hit a basket or two when we need to go down low, then watching Cadwell as a senior and Callahan, Williams, and the other youngsters as juniors driving some major college power absolutely crazy in the first round of the NCAA tournament is a DISTINCT possibility.

Keep working towards the goal, guys!

[thebluehatman]

Re: Central Florida

Let's see what to say about the game...
Crowd = poor, I couldn't really tell there was a crowd. The crowd was pretty much a joke if you ask me.
Field goal percentage sucked. Shot Free Throws exceptionally well. Garrett came up big tonight for us. We stayed in the game the whole time. With what we had we played well. Everyone was tired after the game but they were happy with the results, we've come a long way since the beginning of the year. Caddy struggled a lot tonight, number 3 was all over him, like scenes from Brokeback Mountain, even Caddy was a little nervous of what he might do to him. Taylor had a good game coming off the bench with 26, Callahan said he was just that much faster than him getting to the hole. Callahan, Caddy and Kai played the whole game. And provided double digits in points. We got Kai's mom a little yellow so that = Great. We shot horrible from the field. Cutting down on turnovers. We've got a good team. Even though we lost they played their a$$es off tonight.

[JimmyJack]

Re: Central Florida

[quote author=JackJD link=1167542924/30#34 date=1168148524]Just returned home from Brookings. I agree with other posters: we had trouble with shooting but otherwise played well against a very good basketball team. While one can never "like" a loss, I walked out of Frost Arena optimistic about this team.

Boy, those two alley-oop slams by Williams were huge. The kid's going to be a dominating player.... When I look at the roster, it's pretty easy to be optimistic about the program. Callahan's shots wouldn't drop but I was glad to see he didn't quit shooting. Just an off night for him.

If Nagy can build a front line to take up space in the paint, get some rebounds, block some shots, and hit a basket or two when we need to go down low, then watching Cadwell as a senior and Callahan, Williams, and the other youngsters as juniors driving some major college power absolutely crazy in the first round of the NCAA tournament is a DISTINCT possibility.

Keep working towards the goal, guys![/quote]

I found myself thinking: What if we had a player like Payne from UCF on our team? We just need a little beef or athleticism (Payne) in the middle and it would change things tremendously. Even just being able to run Engen in for some minutes last night would have helped a lot.

[89rabbit]

Re: Central Florida

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs...34/1002/SPORTS

SDSU men fall short again
Central Florida uses its height

By Terry Vandrovec
tvandrovec@argusleader.com
PUBLISHED: January 7, 2007

BROOKINGS - In the opinion of coach Scott Nagy, the South Dakota State men's basketball team played well enough to win Saturday.

But for the 12th time in 16 games, it didn't, falling 72-61 to Central Florida before an uninspired crowd of 1,587 at Frost Arena.

Considering the Jackrabbits' lack of experience and health, is being close in the first home game against a major-conference opponent at this point in the season and the Division I transition enough ?

"It is what it is," said Nagy, whose club plays at No. 13-ranked Butler next Saturday. "I don't know if it's enough. There's a kind of pain we had last week against Idaho, which is regret, because we were absolutely no good at all. Then there's this kind of pain, where you put everything you have into the game and you don't win. I'd rather have it this way then feel like we did last week."  .  .  .  (read more)


Go State!  

[1bunnies]

Re: Central Florida

My own opinion about the game is that if we shoot the way we normally do, we win. We are just as good a team as UCF. We had plenty of great looks. We just didn't get the shots to fall. I agree that the future looks bright. We do definitely need more inside play. We stayed with UCF all and at times had Kai and four guards in the game. Callahan and Caldwell took approximately 60% of our shots but were a combined 10-33 from the field. Both of those guys are much better shooters than that. The fight, fire, and passion is there and will only continue to bet better.

[Jacks02]

Re: Central Florida

To anyone who at the game, whats the story with Yackley? Is he hurt or just losing playing time?

He seemed to score points in bursts earlier in the year and looked very good, albeit a bit tentative at times. Is he just losing minutes in the rotation because of his tentativeness or is there an injury or something else keeping him from playing much?

[Jacks#1Fan]

Re: Central Florida

Agree with most of the previous posts on the UCF game. Jacks laid it all out on the floor and just came up short. Just a little better shooting night would have made up the difference, but give some of the credit for that to UCF defense...they were quick and closed fast on shooters.

Now for a couple of other follow up thoughts:

UCF started two seniors and two juniors...we started three freshmen and a sophomore...experience shows in tight games at the end.
Bassett was sick all week. Didn't practice for three days. I talked to him after the game and he was feeling pretty bad yet, which was reflected in his play. That didn't help with a short bench.
In talking about next year and beyond...don't forget that Anthony Cordova will be eligible next year. He's doing fine in school, and while he can't practice with the team, I think the coaches are happy with where he is at. He will be a big, strong addition.
Met Kai's folks. She's Bball54 to posters. Dad said, despite the need for an 11 hour drive to Brookings, that he's happy with Kai's choice to come to SDSU. We're glad he did too!

Finally, I remember Coach Nagy talking about the season in November, when he said that we shouldn't judge this year's team by wins and losses, but on improvement...and we are improving, despite some really rotten luck (Loney knee, Kleinjan knee, Engen stress fracture). And by the way (this may be on another post that I haven't seen), but if you haven't read the excellent story in the Argus Leader about the Nagy family, make sure you do. I don't have the link, but if it isn't somewhere else on the board, I know one of our sleuths will get it (do you hear me Filbert?)

[Jacked_Up]

Re: Central Florida

The Jacks really played really hard but were under-sized and under-manned. Had Michael Loney and another guy with some inches been available (someone like the departed Mario Brandon, perhaps, or even a healthy Mark Engen), this could have been a win. Williams, Callahan and Cadwell played almost the entire game. Callahan looked very good. Williams' two power dunks brought back memories of Matt Jones at his best. Kai and Garrett are going to be great. Cadwell is solid. But you can't hang with bigger, deeper teams like Central Florida with seven guys and little size. Recruit, recruit, recruit.

[Jacked_Up]

Re: Central Florida

To anyone who at the game, whats the story with Yackley?  Is he hurt or just losing playing time?

He seemed to score points in bursts earlier in the year and looked very good, albeit a bit tentative at times.  Is he just losing minutes in the rotation because of his tentativeness or is there an injury or something else keeping him from playing much?

I wondered about Yackley, too. He started both halfs, as I recall, but seemed to struggle. The size and speed of the guys he was matched against probably didn't help. Don't know how he felt. Some team members apparently have been sick lately. Maybe he just had an off night.

[BTownJack]

Re: Central Florida

[quote author=Jacks02 link=1167542924/30#40 date=1168193440]To anyone who at the game, whats the story with Yackley?  Is he hurt or just losing playing time?

He seemed to score points in bursts earlier in the year and looked very good, albeit a bit tentative at times.  Is he just losing minutes in the rotation because of his tentativeness or is there an injury or something else keeping him from playing much?

I wondered about Yackley, too. He started both halfs, as I recall, but seemed to struggle. The size and speed of the guys he was matched against probably didn't help. Don't know how he felt. Some team members apparently have been sick lately. Maybe he just had an off night.[/quote]

Others have commented on UCF's quick defense and how they closed out well on shooters. This isn't good for Yackly who I feel needs to be open to get his shot off. He doesn't have the quick enough release to get a shot off against a defense like UCF's.