Entries Tagged as 'Basketball'

UCF Basketball is Best Value in Town

Kirk appears to have done an amazing job in recruiting. We have one of the youngest teams in the nation but we have one bright future. I think we’re going to have a surprisingly great year even though we have 8 freshman and only 2 upperclassmen. Sure we’ll have some lumps with all the youth, but I like this team…I like them a lot. We had two of the greatest dunks in UCF history in the same game courtesy of Dave Diakite and Jermaine Taylor. Here are pics of Diakite’s dunk courtesy of Brandon at UCFSports.com.

Let’s pack the Arena for USF on Dec 6th! We owe the Bulls big time.

Knight Vision Fan Appreciation Video

Thanks to KnightVision and UCF for getting this video up on YouTube! Great stuff from the basketball crowds this year, especially Biggie dancing!

Basketball Senior Night Pics & Sign Issue

Sorry I’m a little late on this, I actually just flat out forgot. Here are just a couple pics I took of Senior Night / Sign Protest ’08. Honestly I was too involved in the game and even the events in the student section to remember to take many pics. However there is a set of crowd shots (5,600+) and pics of the Helmet-Man/Rowdy Knight sign protest, as well as one of our own. Exciting game that went down to the wire with UCF beating Rice in front of an electric crowd.

First off a huge thank you to the seniors. I am REALLY REALLY going to miss watching MOD and Dave Noel play. I can’t say enough great things about what they’ve meant to UCF as we moved from the A-Sun to C-USA. No one expected much from UCF making that giant leap, but a 5th, 2nd, and now possibly 3rd/4th place finish in the past 3 seasons can be attributed heavily to their contributions. Chip, Stanley, and Mike B were also absolutely instrumental over the past twos and especially this year. Stanley has flat out exceeded expectations this year, Chip is a magician with the ball, and no one has a smoother shot that Battle. It’s too bad that Billings and Battle had some injury problems during their career here.

As for the whole sign issue. I put 100% of the blame on the UCF Administration for letting the issue get out of control on Saturday night. Anyone could have seen that coming from a mile away. They created so problems this year, that didn’t exist. They have no one to blame but themselves. I sincerely hope that the re-evaluate their policies over the off season and come back with a better game plan. There is no reason for signs to be banned, end of story. Not only that, they really need to lose the us vs them mentality if it does exists. Let’s work as a team- coaches, players, students, and administration to make UCF basketball the best experience it can be. Oh and lastly Helmet Man will go down in history for his masterful plan to sneak in 50 signs. GREAT JOB!

Back to the important business, the Knights play two final games this season and if they win out they will get 3rd place which is huge considering it means not playing Memphis until the Champ game. It all starts this Wednesday night at Houston, it doesn’t get much bigger of a game than that…

GO KNIGHTS!

Note: I’ll be skiing in Colorado for the next week so this may be my last post in awhile.

The UCF NFA – No Fun Administration

It’s been one heck of a great year for UCF Sports maybe the best ever, but that doesn’t mean things are perfect in Knight-land. There’s been some real head scratchers all year that has put a sour taste in my mouth more than a few times. Here are some things that give some credence to sayings such as U Can’t have Fun University and the No Fun Administration.

  • Banning of SIGNS in football and basketball. Umm, isn’t this college sports? There is no excuse in my book for this. NO EXCUSE
  • My 6 year old niece having her pom-poms being confiscated at a football game because they can be used as a weapon. Funny considering they are the same pom-poms being sold by the UCF store under the stadium.
  • The banning/limiting of Zombie Nation in both football and basketball. There are some valid concerns, but we need solutions not excuses IMO.

Why do I bring this up now? Because quite frankly I’m not happy that I can’t bring a sign thanking MOD, Dave, and our other seniors on Senior Night like we have in years past for players like Dexter, Gary, and Josh.

I sincerely hope that the UCFAA understands that just because we have these top facilities, great coaches, and improving teams doesn’t mean we won’t speak our minds when something occurs that we as fans don’t like. And we don’t like some of what’s going on right now.

Here’s a signature floating around on Rivals that I find to be funny, although I don’t agree with the clueless comment.

Honor the Basketball Seniors on Saturday

UCF basketball handily defeated Tulane last night to remain in contention for 4th place in C-USA. Getting in the top 4 is key as it means earning a first round bye in the C-USA tournament.

Be sure to come out on Saturday at 7pm to watch UCF play Rice and honor the senior leaders on this basketball team. They’ve given us so many wonderful moments over the years so they deserve our support. These players will play their final home game at UCF:

#4 Mike O’Donnel
#3 Dave Noel
#21 Stanley Billings
#5 Chip Cartwright
#11 Mike Battle

THANKS SENIORS for all your hard work and effort. You all will be missed!!!

Also be in your seats 10 minutes before tip for the senior night ceremonies!

UCF Basketball Returns Home Wednesday

It seems like forever since UCF basketball last played at home, but the wait is over as the hated ECU Pirates come to town. Any conference game is big, but winning this game is almost a must if we want to have a chance to sneak into the 3rd place in C-USA. 3rd place could mean a lot considering if we are in 4th place it means we’d have to face Memphis BEFORE the finals, while 3rd place means if we play Memphis it will be in the finals on CBS!

Also keep in mind for Wednesday game if you are in the YAC (Young Alumni Club) they are having a pregame party at Wackadoos that I believe starts at 5:30pm. One prize given away will be court side seats!

On another note, it seems like forever since I last posted both her and my personal blog. I’ve made some adjustments in my schedule and the time I usually blogged I can’t now, so I’ve got to get on a new schedule.

Pardon the interruptions in service until then :)

Great story on Stanley Billings in USA Today

He has a top of the fold picture and article in USA Today sports section for being an Iraqi war vet collegiate athlete. Great story on Stanley, good pub for the school, but best of all was the news that Stan the Man will be back next week in service for us. Oh how we’ve missed him dearly!

USA Today: Billings was game for challenge

Jermaine Taylor Reverse Windmill Dunk

Props to UCF for getting highlights like this up fast after the games on their UCFAA YouTube page. Checkout this breakaway dunk by Mr. 1000 points himself, Jermain Taylor! UCF beat Marshall 77-63 and will now face the #1 team in the land with the Tigers of Memphis.

Tough loss to Houston, here are some pics & videos

Very exciting basketball game, Houston’s McKiver just couldn’t miss on any of his 3′s towards the end which made winning this game very difficult. Hopefully the fans and players will bounce back because we’ve got a much improved Marshall team coming to town on Wednesday before we go play the #1 team in the land at Memphis.

Here are some pics and two quick videos showing the crowd and atmosphere. Oh and as you will see we got a “sign” into the game! Woot…
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Let’s pack the UCF Arena on Saturday

Sure we’re all sad about losing Wednesday to UAB, but we’ve got to push that past us because we’ve got another huge game this Saturday versus Houston who is tied for 2nd in C-USA. It will be another tough test but I have a good feeling this team is going to be ready for it.

For the football fans out there, you have a big reason to come out as well even if you don’t like basketball. This is a huge game as 4 star recruit Brandon Harris will be at the game as part of his official visit. This is the #3 rated cornerback in the NATION! He has us in his top 5 along with Miami, Ohio St, Florida, and LSU. Not bad company, so let’s get out there and pack the Arena and beat Houston!