Gut check time: 6 games in 18 days against AAC's best!

[UCFProf]

Beginning Sunday, UCF plays 6 games (4 on the road) against the best of the conference:
at Cincy, SMU, at Houston, Memphis (twice), and at Tulsa. And UConn and Tulsa the following week. A killer schedule. Ideally, Dawkins' overachievers will try to somehow win 5 of those 8. Or if they go 4-4, they then must win the final 4. Either scenario is a tall order, but not infeasible. Will need some luck.

Thank goodness we seem to be starting to peak at the right time, at full strength, distributing the ball, gotten our offense back, holding down turnovers, and getting larger and louder home crowds. Each opponent tries to take one or two parts of our game away. Tonight they cut off BJ's drives and parleyed their bigs to stop Tacko's game around the basket. Houston shadowed Matt with their best player and mobbed Tacko.

 

[Knight_Light]

It's actually an 8 game gauntlet....as anything can happen.

Hope UCF can protect its home court and hopefully go 3-1 in those games.

at Memphis
SMU
at Tulsa
at Houston
MEMPHIS
at Cinci
UCONN
TULSA

 

[UCFhonors]

This 6 or 8 game gauntlet will shirley determine our postseason fate.

Here is something that just I just realized. We have only played 5 road games (going 3-2) in our first 18 games. Everyone agrees that road wins are way way way harder. For example - Realtimerpi predicts us to lose to Memphis away but beat SMU at home. SMU is >> Memphis. Heck it has us beating Cincy at home. The only road games they have us wining game is at ECU and usf.

So of our last 12 regular season games, 7 of them are away. After wins against ECU and usf, we need at least 1 big road win, probably at least 2 to get real at-large consideration.

at Memphis
at Tulsa
at Houston
at Cinci
at Temple

I don't see us having a chance against Memphis or Cinci away. The other 3 seem like real possibilities for wins. Realtime has us going 8-4 for the rest of the season making us 22-8 (13-5).

In sports anything can happen. Would you trade a bad home loss for a good road win? I would.

 

[UCFhonors]

Here is what think we need to see from the team to get some of the key wins we need for a postseason chance:

• Clearly Tacko needs to avoid early foul trouble.
• Continue the dominating Defense
• Spread the Love. We had 4 players in double digit points (Chad had 9) BJ only had 7 pts but had a whopping 8 assists
• Nick, Tank, and AJ to step up scoring when other teams focus in on BJ, Tacko, and Matt. - They can and when they do, we typically win.

I don't think we matchup well against Cinci and Memphis - they force turnovers and get tons of fast break points. I expect ugly games from us in those. I'm really interested to see how we play / matchup against the very talented SMU. I like our matchups against Houston, Tulsa and Temple.

I'm so darn excited for this season!

 

[muckdawg24]

 

[Central Floridave]

One game at a time people...focus...LOL...

Beat Memphis!

 

[UCFProf]

I don't think we matchup well against Cinci and Memphis - they force turnovers and get tons of fast break points. I expect ugly games from us in those. I'm really interested to see how we play / matchup against the very talented SMU. I like our matchups against Houston, Tulsa and Temple.

I'm so darn excited for this season!

The most exciting thing is there's still a big opportunity left for individual player growth and for improved teamwork! Dawkins called BJ's game against USF his best of the season (in spite of or perhaps because of NOT thinking like a shooter, and instead seeing the whole court and distributing the ball the way a point guard should). We can't be stopped if everyone is a scoring threat on offense!

BJ mentioned post-game how AD finally seems comfortable in his role (the two have only played a half dozen games together). Tank is slashing, getting to use his pull up jumper again, and matured as a starter. Chad is improving every single game and still has a lot more to learn. Nick was hurt and in a shooting slump but always invaluable because of his all around game, experience, and great fundamentals.

SMU's deliberate offense and smothering D, as continued by Larry Brown's former asst coach, always gave UCF its greatest frustration. We'd be lucky to beat the shot clock or penetrate the 3-pt line. It was always pass-pass-steal-fast break SMU score. Cincy's defense this year is as good and their offense is a lot better. Pre-season, those were 3 guaranteed losses for us. Houston away is definitely gonna be a problem as well as UConn at home. Which leaves Memphis and Tulsa, beatable on paper, but unrealistic we could ever win all 4 -- three is a stretch. But if our guys are playing selfless Johnny ball, I wouldn't bet against us in any AAC game.

 

[UCFhonors]

The most exciting thing is there's still a big opportunity left for individual player growth and for improved teamwork! Dawkins called BJ's game against USF his best of the season (in spite of or perhaps because of NOT thinking like a shooter, and instead seeing the whole court and distributing the ball the way a point guard should). We can't be stopped if everyone is a scoring threat on offense!

BJ mentioned post-game how AD finally seems comfortable in his role (the two have only played a half dozen games together). Tank is slashing, getting to use his pull up jumper again, and matured as a starter. Chad is improving every single game and still has a lot more to learn. Nick was hurt and in a shooting slump but always invaluable because of his all around game, experience, and great fundamentals.

SMU's deliberate offense and smothering D, as continued by Larry Brown's former asst coach, always gave UCF its greatest frustration. We'd be lucky to beat the shot clock or penetrate the 3-pt line. It was always pass-pass-steal-fast break SMU score. Cincy's defense this year is as good and their offense is a lot better. Pre-season, those were 3 guaranteed losses for us. Houston away is definitely gonna be a problem as well as UConn at home. Which leaves Memphis and Tulsa, beatable on paper, but unrealistic we could ever win all 4 -- three is a stretch. But if our guys are playing selfless Johnny ball, I wouldn't bet against us in any AAC game.

Great breakdown.

• Tank's and Nick's contributions don't get the credit that they deserve.
• Chad's development and had positive energy deserve huge praise.
• I hope AJ finds his niche like last knight. He can contribute in so many ways - get him involved more.
• Hopefully BJ continues to take what the other give to him - either open shots or opportunities for assists.
• Tacko is exceptional one-on-one. He has to figure out how to deal with the double team - sometimes go straight up and take the foul. Sometimes he needs to dish it right back out.
• Matt ability to drive and dish is so critical for him to get open 3 looks. He can be our most dangerous offensive threat when he is doing all 3: shooting, driving and dishing.

This is fun team to watch. I agree, I think we can beat anyone if we put what each player has to contribute together and we play as a team.

 

[BlakNGoldAllDay]

Too many highs and lows on here. Just a few games ago the offense was terrible. Now they have it all figured out and playing best basketball of season. Never mind it was against one of the worst teams in conference.

 

[UCFProf]

Too many highs and lows on here. Just a few games ago the offense was terrible. Now they have it all figured out and playing best basketball of season. Never mind it was against one of the worst teams in conference.

Don't forget Houston on Saturday. We confronted an elite AAC team at the top of its game. Nobody's saying they have it figured out or peaked, and that's a plus. They need to get even better the rest of the way.

 

[goodknightfl]

So in other words, (WE ARE DOOMED!!)

 

[Central Floridave]

UCF Basketball: Fall, defense vital to Knights’ solid AAC start
http://bustingbrackets.com/2017/01/18/ucf-basketball-fall-defense-vital-to-knights-solid-aac-start/

 

[UCFProf]

UCF Basketball: Fall, defense vital to Knights’ solid AAC start
http://bustingbrackets.com/2017/01/18/ucf-basketball-fall-defense-vital-to-knights-solid-aac-start/

One article after another along with a parade of NBA scouts is getting us noticed. The other dynamic is recruiting: once a coaching staff (and Dawkins has assembled one of the finest) gets the rep of developing pro prospect bigs, 4-star centers will start considering us more.