The Legacy of Coach Nolan (ch2k8)

[superjames1992]

Re: Mid-Season Update

WVU isn't very good this year, it seems.

Congratulations on the 11-1 start.

[doncoryell]

Re: Mid-Season Update

Wow! That's not bad. 7 of 9 teams from WAC are in the Mid-Major top 25.

[Deuce2223]

Re: Mid-Season Update

Wow! That's not bad. 7 of 9 teams from WAC are in the Mid-Major top 25.

I love it. Boise State 11-2 and Gonzaga 11-4

[nolan887]

Re: The Legacy of Coach Nolan (ch2k8)

WVU isn't very good this year, it seems.

Congratulations on the 11-1 start.

I think they are better than what they seemed in their game against me. As you know I like to send the ball down low so their big men were in some foul trouble and it happens to be this year that their three leading scorers are their PF, C and backup C. The Big East is like a revolving door with who's good so I'm sure their be on top again within the next few seasons.

Wow! That's not bad. 7 of 9 teams from WAC are in the Mid-Major top 25.

I love it. Boise State 11-2 and Gonzaga 11-4

Definitely interesting to see but now they get to beat the crap out of each other for the rest of the season and knock each other off of the top 25 haha.

[nolan887]

UCF @ ECU

KNIGHTS PUSH WINNING STREAK TO 10, OPEN CONFERENCE PLAY STRONG

UCF Knights 12-1 (1-0) at ECU Pirates 8-6 (0-1)

Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum

Greenville, NC

January 7, 2014

Greenville, NC - The UCF Knights absolutely dismantled the ECU Pirates tonight. The game was out of hand from the start as UCF went up 15-0 in the first two minutes and went into halftime shooting 66% from the floor and a 30 point lead with the score 54-24. Three Knights players had double figures in the scoring column in Bone, Shannon, and Boyce. The Knights' press baffled the Pirates forcing 12 first half turnovers while UCF committed 0. The Knights would slow their offense down in the second half in an attempt to keep the big lead and it worked. ECU was fired up after halftime, but could only cut the lead to 15 by the time the final buzzer sounded. Pearson Shannon had a game high 20 points and the Knights defense held every ECU starter under 10 points.

"We kind of cashed it in during the second half which really got to me, but we did come out on top," Coach Nolan commented. "It is definitely nice to come out with a win in our first conference game especially in this hostile Greenville environment. They eat, breathe, and sleep basketball around here. We did a great job all around of staying out of foul trouble and not turning the ball over. Even the bench players were doing pretty well in those regards. I would really like to see our players play harder even with a big lead and that is something we will be working on this season. Games are 40 minutes long, and when you don't give 40 minutes of effort, you don't deserve the win."

Next up on slate for the Knights are the Rice Owls. Rice is 6-4 on the season, 1-1 in C-USA play thus far. They have a fairly inexperienced lineup with only one starting senior, but are coming off of a big win against Memphis. The Owls play team basketball on offense and have no players averaging double figures, so the Knights will have to play great defense on everyone on the court. Coming back to Orlando on a ten game win streak, the Knights will hope to keep their fans happy with another home victory.

Central Florida (12-1) at East Carolina (8-6)
January 7, 2015 1 2 F Central Florida 54 16 70 East Carolina 24 31 55 Top Performers Central Florida - Stats Pearson Shannon - 20 Pts, 2 Reb, 1 Stl Michael Boye - 12 Pts, 5 Reb, 1 Stl East Carolina - Stats Jakob Cooley - 14 Pts, 5 Reb, 2 Stl Alfred Jegdic - 9 Pts, 3 Reb, 7 Ast, 1 Stl	Team Stat Comparison UCF ECU FG Made-Attempted 22-47 22-55 3P Made-Attempted 4-10 8-17 FT Made-Attempted 22-29 3-4 Rebounds 23 30 Assists 14 15 Steals 12 4 Blocks 1 1 Turnovers 6 16

[nolan887]

UCF vs Rice

KNIGHTS WIN DESPITE EMBARRASSING FIRST HALF

UCF Knights 13-1 (2-0) vs Rice Owls 6-5 (1-2)

UCF Arena

Orlando, FL

January 14, 2014

Orlando, FL - Coach Nolan must have gave one heck of a halftime speech because his Knights did not show up to play for the first 20 minutes of tonight's game. The UCF defense that we have heard so much about was nowhere to be found and none of the Knights players could hit a shot to save their life. Shooting 20% going into the half, it looked like the Knights would disappoint their first sellout crowd in over three years. The second half was a complete different story as J.J. Bone pumped up the players and fans by hitting a 3 pointer on the inbound pass to start the half. J.J. Bone would go on to hit 3 of his 4 3pt shots to end the game with 11 points. Pearson Shannon had 4 first half points, but really got going in the second half, ending the night with a game high 20. The Owls were deadly from 3 and their starting SG and SF were 3-6 and 2-6 respectively from deep. Although the Knights won by nine points, the game was much closer than it looked. The Knights ended the game on a 20-5 run in their come-from-behind victory.

"Great to see the players respond in the second half like that after an absolutely terrible first half," Nolan commented. "The second half last week and the first half this week were absolute garbage, and I was sure to let my players know that during halftime. J.J. [Bone] really got hot again tonight and fired our players up with that three to start off the second half. They kept leaving Gilbert open when they switched to their 2-3 and he can hit that shot when hes open as he showed with his three three-pointers. Were hoping to play better than this on Saturday at UTEP. If we play like we did today we can kiss the conference title goodbye, but with wins over great teams this season, I think we just had little bump in the road."

The Knight's next game is in El Paso against a solid UTEP team. The Miners are 8-7 on the season and 2-1 in conference play. UTEP has won six of their last seven games and hope to get any of their four starting seniors going to gain their first conference home win. Last home game for UTEP was a seventeen point loss to the Houston Cougars, the number one team in the conference. With a fast paced offense and stellar big man play, this game looks to be an even match and an offensive shootout.

Rice (6-5) at Central Florida (13-1)
January 14, 2015 1 2 F Rice 35 24 59 Central Florida 25 43 68 Top Performers Rice - Stats Wesley Aguiilar - 13 Pts (3-6 3pt), 4 Ast, 2 Stl Fabien Haigler - 10 Pts (2-6 3pt), 1 Reb, 1 Ast, 1 Stl, 1 Blk Central Florida - Stats Pearson Shannon - 20 Pts, 7 Reb, 1 Blk J.J. Bone - 11 Pts (3-4 3pt), 2 Reb, 4 Ast, 2 Stl	Team Stat Comparison Rice UCF FG Made-Attempted 21-53 22-47 3P Made-Attempted 7-17 8-13 FT Made-Attempted 10-13 16-26 Rebounds 23 32 Assists 17 15 Steals 5 7 Blocks 6 2 Turnovers 8 7

[nolan887]

UCF @ UTEP

UTEP CLOSES OUT UCF, SNAPS 11 GAME WIN STREAK

UCF Knights 13-1 (2-1) vs UTEP Miners 9-7 (3-1)

Don Haskins Center

El Paso, TX

January 17, 2014

El Paso, TX -When Pearson Shannon or Michael Boyce get off to a slow start, the other one usually picks up the slack. When both get off to a slow start, the UCF Knights are in big trouble. Both Shannon and Boyce were cold for the first ten minutes of the game today, and the Knights couldn't get anything going on the offensive or defensive side of the floor for most of the first half. UTEP big man Lou Clemmons was a monster on both ends of the floor and took advantage of sloppy UCF post play cleaning up with 22 points and 9 rebounds on the day. Bone and Shannon got going in the second half for the Knights, but it was too little too late as the Miners would not give up the lead in the second half. Shannon ended the night with 30 points, the game high as usual.

"I don't know whats gotten into us," Coach Nolan commented. "This is two games in a row now that we looked like **** in the first half. If we go into halftime down seven points it sure as hell is tough to get back into the game. We really need to step it up on both ends of the floor and I am already feeling sorry for UAB for what we are about to do to them."

Next up for UCF are the UAB Blazers. The Blazers are currently in 11th place in C-USA with a conference record of 0-3 and an overall record of 3-9. The Blazers come into Orlando on an eight game losing streak and the Knights will hope to capitalize with a big win. UAB is led by senior center Rick Cannon who averages 16 points and 8 rebounds per game. It will be interesting to see if Nolan has enough faith in his freshman Mike Boyce to match up with him or if he will let senior Shannon Pearson try to lock him down. Something of interest headed into the game next week is that Coach Nolan has never lost back to back games as head coach at UCF during his two year tenure. If the fans are lucky, they will be in for a game of redemption come Wednesday night.

Central Florida (13-2) at Texas-El Paso (9-7)
January 17, 2015 1 2 F Central Florida 27 38 65 Texas-El Paso 34 37 71 Top Performers Central Florida - Stats Pearson Shannon - 30 Pts, 2 Reb, 4 St, 2 Blk J.J. Bone - 14 Pts, 2 Reb, 1 Ast, 2 Stl Texas-El Paso - Stats Lou Clemmons - 22 Pts, 9 Reb, 3 Blk Kordel Bruce - 11 Pts, 2 Reb, 2 Ast, 1 Stl	Team Stat Comparison UCF UTEP FG Made-Attempted 24-58 24-56 3P Made-Attempted 3-11 2-11 FT Made-Attempted 14-26 21-22 Rebounds 29 29 Assists 10 20 Steals 11 10 Blocks 6 4 Turnovers 11 15

[nolan887]

Re: The Legacy of Coach Nolan (ch2k8)

NOTE: to anyone following, don't watch Glory Road while playing UTEP... really bad idea.

[nolan887]

UCF vs UAB

UCF BOUNCES BACK, UAB DROPS NINTH STRAIGHT

UCF Knights 14-2 (3-1) vs UAB Blazers 3-10 (0-4)

UCF Arena

Orlando, FL

January 21, 2014

Orlando, FL - UCF has the #2 ranked defense int he nation, and tonight it finally showed up to play. The Knights yet again held an opponent under 50 points in this 28 point blowout win. Coach Nolan wasn't joking when he said, "I am already feeling sorry for UAB for what we are about to do to them," after their loss this past Saturday. The Knights quickly jumped out to a big lead and were able to contain senior center Rick Cannon by throwing double teams at him all game long. The Knights went into halftime with an eleven point lead, but played their starters part of the second half to get their confidence up a big in the big win. Shannon had a game high 20 points and Michael Boyce is seeming to play better as well, scoring 10 points and grabbing 5 boards while blocking UAB's Cannon twice. The Knights are shooting smarter, especially from deep, and showed that today with a 4-8 (50%) performance from downtown tonight. A big win is very likely when you shoot 53% from the floor like UCF did tonight.

"We weren't running up the score," Nolan explained. "We were just running our offense, if you don't want to get blown out then show up and play some defense. We have been struggling and I felt that my starters needed to be out there for more than just one half of play so that is what I did. If they don't like it, I'm sure they can have their shot at us come conference tourney time.

UCF has the rest of the week off to prepare for the Memphis Tigers in Memphis. Last season the Knights beat the Tigers both times they met, once in Orlando during the regular season, and once in the conference championship game in Memphis. The Tigers are 12-5 on the season, 4-1 in conference play, and have a very talented lineup this year as always. Memphis' leading scorer senior center Terence Ravello who averages 20 points per game is out with a ruptured ACL that will keep him out the rest of the season, but has a very strong supporting cast and will be a very tough match up for the Knights.

Alabama-Birmingham (3-10) at Central Florida (14-2)
January 21, 2015 1 2 F Alabama-Birmingham 25 23 48 Central Florida 35 40 76 Top Performers Alabama-Birmingham - Stats Rick Cannon - 12 Pts, 5 Reb, 2 Ast, 1 Stl, 2 Blk Courtland Hazel - 10 Pts, 3 Reb, 1 Ast, 1 Stl Central Florida - Stats Pearson Shannon - 20 Pts, 4 Reb Michael Boyce - 10 Pts, 5 Reb, 1 Stl, 2 Blk	Team Stat Comparison UAB UCF FG Made-Attempted 21-50 31-58 3P Made-Attempted 1-10 4-8 FT Made-Attempted 5-9 10-14 Rebounds 22 28 Assists 15 20 Steals 8 9 Blocks 6 5 Turnovers 18 8

[nolan887]

UCF @ Memphis

RIVALRY RENEWED: ADVANTAGE UCF

UCF Knights 15-2 (4-1) at Memphis Tigers 12-6 (4-2)

FedEx Forum

Memphis, TN

January 28, 2014

Memphis, TN - For the third time in three match ups, Coach Nolan walked away from a game with Memphis with a victory. The Knights under Nolan are 3-0 versus Memphis, including the conference tournament championship last year. The UCF-Memphis rivalry was in full force tonight in a very physical battle. In the first half alone Memphis picked up 15 team fouls and UCF picked up 12. With the Tigers' starters on the bench for most of the first half, the Knights capitalized with their deeper bench and led by eight points headed into the half. The Knights came out inspired in the second half and really ran away with the game before Memphis went on a big run to end the game. UCF only committed one foul in the second half, and it wasn't until two minutes left in the game. Memphis surely missed their leading scorer Terence Ravello who is out with a ruptured achilles tendon for the rest of the season. Pearson Shannon led all in scoring with 22 points and Kirstin Cassler had a breakout game with 11 points, up from his average of 2 per game. The Memphis backcourt had a solid game, but nobody from the Memphis lineup had a huge game.

"Three for three against Memphis, anyone noticing us yet?" Coach Nolan joked after the game. "Road wins are great, and road wins at Memphis are even better. Cassler had a career night with 11 points today, but we really need to control ourselves on defense. With a defense ranked as highly as ours, it was really embarrassing to be sending Memphis to the line so many times in the first half. We've got UTEP back in Orlando to prepare for now and hopefully we come out on top this time around."

THE UTEP Miners were the second team to send UCF home with an L on their resume. UTEP sits at 10-9 overall and 3-3 in conference play. If the Knights want to pull out a win, they will have to find an answer for Lou Clemmons who put up 22 points on UCF during their last match up. Freshman Michael Boyce will have his hands full on defense and will hope to stay out of foul trouble against the senior big man for the Miners.

Central Florida (15-2) at Memphis (12-6)
January 28, 2015 1 2 F Central Florida 39 35 74 Memphis 31 35 66 Top Performers Central Florida - Stats Pearson Shannon - 22 Pts, 3 Reb, 1 Stl Kirstin Cassler - 11 Pts, 7 Reb, 1 Ast, 2 Stl Memphis - Stats Lester Archibald - 15 Pts, 6 Ast, 1 Stl Jayson Wisniewski - 8 Pts, 1 Reb, 6 Ast, 2 Stl	Team Stat Comparison UCF MEM FG Made-Attempted 25-54 22-57 3P Made-Attempted 0-9 2-10 FT Made-Attempted 24-38 14-19 Rebounds 34 30 Assists 13 19 Steals 10 6 Blocks 2 4 Turnovers 9 15

[nolan887]

Slider Change

Although I am happy with a big win over heated rival Memphis, I think I need to bump my sliders up a bit. Memphis is rated 92 and my UCF team is rated 74 and I beat them by eight points.

I am going to try out jdaniels' All-American sliders for a few games and see how my results turn out.

here is the link if you are interested

[nolan887]

UCF vs UTEP

KNIGHTS FALTER LATE, UTEP COMPLETES SWEEP

UCF Knights 15-3 (4-2) vs UTEP Miners 11-9 (4-3)

UCF Arena

Orlando, FL

January 31, 2014

Orlando, FL - The Knights under the reigns of Coach Nolan have never lost to the same opponent more than once, but there is a first time for everything. The Knights went out against the UTEP Miners again tonight and the Miners left with another W, dropping the UCF Knights into third place in the conference. The Knights had solid performances from all of their starters, four of them with over ten points, but bench play is what decided the outcome of this game. UTEP's bench scored 37 points compared to UCF's 11 including two three point daggers to tie the game and claim the lead late. Senior sharpshooter Royce Patrick came off the bench in the second half to score a team high 12 points and going 2-3 from deep. The two three pointers he made were to tie the game and to go up by three with a little over a minute left in the game. The Knights tried to respond with a quick three of their own, but missed and were forced to put UTEP on the line for the rest of the game. The Knights defense has been inconsistent this season, and did not look very good today against the Miners.

"Our bench was very sloppy today," Coach Nolan explained after the loss. "We usually have Eddie [Carlson] or [Armando] Ross come in for Pearson and Mike, but they just could not get anything going on offense. It is hard to leave guys in when they can't score from under the bucket and aren't making stops at the other end of the floor. We had solid performances from all of the starters: Bone and Simmons with 13 a piece, Pearson with the game high 23, and Mike with 12, but we really can't win with no bench contribution. It is definitely something we will have to work on this week in our preparation for Rice."

The Rice Owls gave up a ten point halftime lead to the Knights last time around and allowed UCF to score 43 second half points. The Owls sit at 7-8 on the season, 2-5 in conference play. The Owls barraged UCF with three pointers int heir last match up and the Knights will look to play better defense and clamp down on the outside shots. UCF will surely look to get J.J. Bone going on the outside against Rice's 1-1-3 zone defense. With wins over some big name teams this season, a loss for Nolan's Knights against the tenth place Rice Owls would be a big embarrassment for the program.

Texas-El Paso (11-9) at Central Florida (15-3)
January 31, 2015 1 2 F Texas-El Paso 44 39 83 Central Florida 40 37 77 Top Performers Texas-El Paso - Stats Royce Patrick - 12 Pts (2-3 3pt) Moe Jelenic - 11 Pts, 5 Reb, 6 Ast Central Florida - Stats Pearson Shannon - 23 Pts, 9 Reb, 2 Ast J.J. Bone - 13 Pts (3-7 3pt), 1 Reb, 4 Ast	Team Stat Comparison UTEP UCF FG Made-Attempted 35-67 30-64 3P Made-Attempted 6-21 4-11 FT Made-Attempted 7-13 13-21 Rebounds 36 32 Assists 23 18 Steals 7 6 Blocks 2 1 Turnovers 10 9

[Deuce2223]

Re: UCF vs UTEP

Tough loss to UTEP. But it looks like your Sliders gave you a close game..

I am still struggling with finding the right sliders as well. I like to play on MOP, but my issue is that I will shoot close to 60% for a 3 or 4 game streatch then make adjustments and shoot 30%. I would like to find something were I get more consistant. Same with the Computer..

My biggest complaint right now is I can't figure out how to get the computer to miss FT's. They shoot 90%+ every game I play.

[nolan887]

Re: UCF vs UTEP

Tough loss to UTEP. But it looks like your Sliders gave you a close game..

I am still struggling with finding the right sliders as well. I like to play on MOP, but my issue is that I will shoot close to 60% for a 3 or 4 game streatch then make adjustments and shoot 30%. I would like to find something were I get more consistant. Same with the Computer..

My biggest complaint right now is I can't figure out how to get the computer to miss FT's. They shoot 90%+ every game I play.

Yea, just played another game and am not liking these sliders. CPU shot ~60% in both games and shot waaaay to early in the shot clock. I think I'm gonna go back and try my original sliders on All-American difficulty rather than All-Conf and see how that goes. I really liked the stats from my other games, but they were almost always blowouts and I was beating teams that I shouldn't have beat.

[superjames1992]

Re: UCF vs UTEP

Tough loss to UTEP. But it looks like your Sliders gave you a close game..

I am still struggling with finding the right sliders as well. I like to play on MOP, but my issue is that I will shoot close to 60% for a 3 or 4 game streatch then make adjustments and shoot 30%. I would like to find something were I get more consistant. Same with the Computer..

My biggest complaint right now is I can't figure out how to get the computer to miss FT's. They shoot 90%+ every game I play.

I made the switch the MOP for a few games, but the CPU seems to always shoot amazingly. It's kind of reminiscent of the Robo-QB of EA's NCAA Football series to me.

I just don't like the flow of the game on MOP as much as All-Conference or even All-American.