Taking the Big East By [Red] Storm - CH2k9

[R1zzo23]

Media Poll Top 25 - December 29, 2015
UNLV drops seven spots to #9 after loss to SMU

RK	LW	Team
1	1	Clemson [12-0]
2	4	Florida State [9-1]
3	3	Florida [12-1]
4	7	Boston College [11-0]
5	6	Kansas [11-1]
6	8	USC [12-0]
7	9	North Carolina [10-1]
8	10	Texas A&M [12-0]
9	2	UNLV [10-1]
10	5	Duke [11-1]
11	11	Georgia Tech [11-0]
12	12	Michigan State [9-2]
13	13	Louisville [9-2]
14	14	Virginia [9-1]
15	15	Ohio State [8-1]
16	17	West Virginia [10-1]
17	20	Oregon [10-2]
18	18	Stanford [9-1]
19	19	Miami (FL) [11-4]
20	21	Saint Louis [10-2]
21	16	Villanova [10-2]
22	22	Mississippi State [9-0]
23	24	Indiana [9-2]
24	25	Seton Hall [11-2]
25	--	Tennessee [8-3]

[VandyRedskins21]

WOW Great win against UNLV!!!!

[R1zzo23]

Quote: Originally Posted by VandyRedskins21

WOW Great win against UNLV!!!!

I was very nervous heading into the game, but I think the extensive research I did before the game instilled a little confidence that we could win. Also, the first time we played them, we jumped out to a big lead so I knew we were capable of scoring on them.

I'm starting to get a good feel for what I have on this roster and that is definitely showing in our last few games for sure. Henson and Cummings are our three-point threats and even though they aren't exactly on fire, they force teams out of 2-3 zones and allow Varney Bright and Dameon Foster to go to work.

The odd men out right now: sophomore Ruben Roberson and Steveroy Bush. Both guys see limited minutes off the bench and are stuck behind the two shooters and Ugonna Munir. Even EJ Dukes cuts into their minutes when he slides to the two.

[R1zzo23]

So since I am on summer vacation (I'm a teacher), and I'm a morning guy, I like to get up early and get a game in before breakfast. Today, I changed that schedule because I was trying to finish reading a book that I'm now going to try to convince you guys to read.

I am a basketball junkie and have been since I was a freshman in high school. I bought a ten-game pack of tickets for the Boston Celtics that year, played high school basketball, played fantasy basketball for the first time and began watching college basketball; another first. Since then, anything that has to do with basketball catches my interest.

My junior year of high school, LeBron James was a senior at St. Vincent/St. Mary's and taking the country by storm. From that point on, I became infatuated with prep stars, recruiting rankings and signing days across the country for future basketball stars. I also love the NBA draft because I see these kids who I have followed since they were in high school finally recognizing the ultimate basketball dream of being drafted.

On top of all of that, I have coached the freshman boys basketball team the last four years in my hometown, so I am around young basketball players all the time. I even go to the middle school traveling team games to check out some of the talent, or lack thereof, coming up to me in the coming years. You could say I live for basketball.

Two years ago, I attempted to get into reading. Being an athlete my whole life, whether on the hardwood, field or in the virtual world, I never put aside time to read, but I was going to try. I bought a couple books, but didn't dive into any of them and they sat in my bookcase for two years.

After reading through the Hunger Games series (give me a break, I'm a middle school teacher and was turned on to them lol), I decided to break into the books I had purchased. The first one I opened is one that I'm sure I'll read again in the very near future.

"Play Their Hearts Out" is about a star basketball recruit and how the AAU and grassroots basketball circle eats him up and uses him. If you ever played, coached or showed any interest in AAU in your lifetime; if you sat there for hours on Rivals.com or any other recruiting website and looked at these kids who could someday play in the NBA; if you cycle through recruits tediously in College Hoops 2k8 and pretend that they are real...this book is for you. I literally could not put it down and read it in about a week. The emotions you feel for the characters throughout the book are real and it is a roller coaster ride. Do yourself a favor and pick this book up!

[VandyRedskins21]

*Immediately checks amazon for price...

I'll definitely check this book out!

[mrblakevincent]

Just spent a good hour plus going through all 92 pages, love what you got going on here man! Lots of work and dedication to the game! After the season you should jump up to a major program, would love to see Norm at a top flight college and becoming a legend ala Coach K, Roy Williams or Boehiem. Hows SJU doing this season anyway?

[R1zzo23]

SMU (6-4) vs. #8 Texas A&M (12-0)
Reed Arena
College Station, TX
December 29, 2015

It was a good ole' fashion show down in the Lone Star State as the up-and-coming SMU Mustangs headed into College Station to take on the 8th ranked Aggies of Texas A&M. Nobody expected SMU to compete two weeks ago, but after upsetting the former #2 UNLV Runnin' Rebels, SMU was to not be taken lightly.

The Aggies have two big men who can be terrors on the inside and two sharpshooters on the outside. The entire game, Norm Roberts decided to play straight up man and refused to double anybody. The Mustang defenders were expected to hold their own without any help, and it seemed to be working in the first half.

The Aggies came out firing away, but the SMU defenders did a great job getting a hand out on shooters and the bigs did not give up many easy buckets. Another important aspect of the game Roberts has told his team to focus on game in and game out: rebounding. Roberts always says "if you control the glass, you control the game" and that has been true lately for SMU.

The hero of the first half was the new sharpshooter off the bench, Tarick Cummings. He came in and knocked down his first shot from beyond the arc. The next play down, he was hit on a cut from the top of the key to the left elbow, pulled up from 15 feet, knocked it down and got fouled. Next possession, he knocks down this three from the corner:



In the first half alone, Cummings finished with 13 points on 5/6 shooting from the floor. His only miss was a three known in the business as a "heat check". With his lift off the bench, the Mustangs led 36-29 going into the break.

Just like against UNLV, Coach Roberts told his team to not let up because they were just as potent a team as the Rebels. At times, the Aggies would hit a big three to pull within seven or eight points, but then Engin Henson put on his best Tarick Cummings display and got red hot as well. Henson finished with 19 points (7-10 FG, 5-7 3PT) and carried the Mustangs in the second half in which SMU outscored Texas A&M 39-30 to bring the final score to 75-59!

Back-to-back games against top-8 teams in the nation and the SMU Mustangs have won both convincingly. Can the magic continue as they head on the road to take on the 21st ranked Villanova Wildcats? Stay tuned Mustang fans!

Player	POS	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	FG	3PT	FT	PF	MIN
E. Dukes	PG	8	1	5	0	0	2	3-7	2-4	0-0	1	23
E. Henson	SG	19	2	1	0	1	1	7-10	5-7	0-0	0	23
U. Munir	SF	9	3	5	1	0	0	4-5	0-0	1-3	2	23
D. Foster	PF	7	8	1	0	1	0	4-10	0-0	1-2	2	22
V. Bright	C	9	6	0	0	1	0	4-10	0-0	1-2	2	22
V. Sayman		2	1	0	1	0	2	1-3	0-1	0-0	0	14
R. Roberson		0	0	0	0	0	0	0-1	0-1	0-0	0	3
K. Lawrence		2	5	1	0	0	0	1-2	0-0	0-0	0	10
S. Bush		0	0	1	0	0	0	0-2	0-0	0-0	0	6
T. Cummings		16	0	0	0	0	0	6-8	2-4	2-2	0	11
R. Johnston		3	3	0	0	0	0	1-1	0-0	1-1	0	6
O. Krayl
TOTAL		75	29	14	2	3	5	29-52	9-17	8-11	9
Player	POS	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	FG	3PT	FT	PF	MIN
D. Brazzle	PG	17	1	3	1	0	0	6-12	3-7	2-2	1	23
K. Laurie	SG	12	6	1	0	0	1	3-7	2-4	4-6	0	25
J. Simon	SF	6	3	5	1	0	1	3-6	0-1	0-0	1	29
J. Prato	PF	10	4	1	1	1	0	2-9	0-0	6-7	1	22
M. Gibbs	C	6	5	0	0	3	0	3-9	0-0	0-0	3	23
C. Barber		2	0	1	2	0	0	1-1	0-0	0-0	1	10
H. Stanley		0	0	1	0	0	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	1
G. Erickson
A. Morandais
C. Hutchinson		2	1	1	0	0	0	1-4	0-2	0-0	2	16
A. Goodwin		4	0	1	0	0	0	2-3	0-0	0-0	0	11
W. Chatman
TOTAL		59	20	14	5	4	2	21-51	5-14	12-15	9

[R1zzo23]

Quote: Originally Posted by mrblakevincent

Just spent a good hour plus going through all 92 pages, love what you got going on here man! Lots of work and dedication to the game! After the season you should jump up to a major program, would love to see Norm at a top flight college and becoming a legend ala Coach K, Roy Williams or Boehiem. Hows SJU doing this season anyway?

Thank you for taking the time to read through the entire thing. This is like my baby and I take great joy in documenting this legacy. I've tried a couple others with this game and even for NCAA football but always lose interest a couple seasons in. With this game, I'm still enjoying it as much as I did the first time I played.

As for Coach Roberts' status, I would like to get back into a major conference at a low level school and build them up. This past offseason, four big jobs opened up an I wasn't even on the list of top-6 or 7 candidates. I'm hoping that this next offseason that changes and I at least get a look at a low level team in a major conference, but my coach rating is still low (B I believe) so we'll see.

St. John's Is going OK, 7-4 right now. Ulrich Lamkin is doing a lot of the dirty work for them so far this year, but I think they will be in trouble when conference play begins. They are just such a young team right now.