UCF Hoops Summer Prospectus: UCF prepares for 10 extra practices for Bahamas trip

[Knight_Light]

Now that UCF is off NCAA Sanctions, UCF Hoops can once again participate in special international preseason trips, which gives the teams 10 extra practices plus 3 international games.

Here's a quick snap shot look:
http://www.ucfknights.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/072215aab.html

Here's an indepth Summer Prospectus with individual write-ups on each player.
http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/ucf/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/2015-16/prospectus/prospectus.pdf

 

[Knight_Classes_begin_7pm]

Fantastic!

 

[Square Knight]

Did the sanctions play any role in the timing? Standard NCAA rules only allow a team to do this once every four years and I know UCF went to Canada a few years ago...just don't remember which year.

 

[ucf_71127]

Nice write-up and info! I am going to add my conference prediction.
I am hoping that we improve greatly this year. I feel that we are a much better team then last year and we have a lot of pieces but we don't have everything yet. I think we are missing a strong post player. I hope Staphon Blair steps up his game as a senior this year. I like Blair but we really need him to produce more than last year (7.8pts, 5.2rebs and 1.3blks). I think the 5 spot is the only missing piece. It would be amazing if he had a season like Keith Clanton's senior year 14.8pts, 8.5rebs, 2.5ast, and 2.0blks.

The AAC looks much stronger this coming year and there are 4 teams that are pushing to be the champs. I don't think we will beat SMU and UConn this year (we COULD win and we can play with them, I just think they come out with the win). Those are the top 2 teams this year and they will be pushing for the AAC crown.
1. SMU (Nic Moore, Markus Kennedy, and transfers)
2. UConn (Amida Brimah, Rodney Purvis, and transfer Sterling Gibbs)

the next two teams are the "sleepers"
3. Tulsa (returns all starters and was 14-4 in conference last year... not much of a sleeper)
4. Cincinnati (all starters return but not much offensive firepower as nobody scored more than 10.0 points last year. But yes, their D is suffocating!)

I think UCF falls into the next group with Memphis (who fell from the top-4), Temple, ECU, and Houston.
5. UCF (best case scenario (that is realistic) is that we finish 5th and the AAC has 5 bids putting us in the tourney)
6. Memphis (some think they are lower than this because of all the transfer losses but they still have talent and recruiting)
**7. Houston (I'm scared of them because they have "good" talent like us and have all the pieces in place)
8. Temple (I am lower on them than most because I feel that they lost a lot in Cummings and Morgan)
9. ECU (they have their returning 5 with their star player who was on the AAC freshman team. They have 3 returning players who scored more than 12 points, only team in conference that has that)

The next group is Tulane, USF, and do I include Navy?
10. Tulane (lose a lot and don't return much)
11. USF ( they have a lot of unknowns and could improve a lot because of all the youth but they lose their top 2 players)
12. Navy 13-19 (8-10 in conference) and played in the Patriot Conference (23rd of 33 conferences). Their top 2 players graduated.)

Last year we beat Houston both times (by a combined score of 3) but they have a solid starting 5.
Here is Houston's lineup,
PG- LJ Rose (6'4) 9.8pts, 2.5rebs, 5.3ast
SG- Jherrod Stiggers (6'5) 14.2pts, 3.6rebs, 2.5ast
SF- Leron Barnes (6'6) 7.4pts, 6.4 rebs, 1.3ast
PF- Devanta Pollard (6'8) 11.4pts, 6.4rebs, 1.2ast
C- Danrad Knowles (6'10) 9.9pts, 5.6rebs, 1.3blks

Compared to our lineup,
PG- BJ Taylor (6'2) 12.8pts, 3.0rebs, 2.5ast
SG- Matt Williams (6'5) 6.0pts, 2.4rebs, .9ast (sophomore season stats)
SF- Adonys Henriquez (6'6) 10.8pts, 3.3rebs, 2.1ast
PF- AJ Davis (6'9) or Tanksley Efianayi (6'6)
C- Staphon Blair (6'9) 7.8pts, 5.2rebs, 1.3blks

I would guess that we have a deeper bench with Tanksley Efianayi , Daiquan Walker, Shaheed Davis and Justin McBride all getting meaningful minutes (they all averaged more than 13 minutes last year- besides Tank).
Our recruiting class is much better than Houston too... I would even say it's better than our previous year with BJ and Adonys
Tanksley averaged 20.3 pts and 5.6 rebs (against "college" players)
Chad Brown 14.7pts, 15rebs, 9.4blks (That's crazy athletic!!)
Tacko Fall 20pts, 15rebs, 5blks (only his 2nd season playing)
Chance McSpadden 24.4pts, 6rebs (lots of points!)

**At the end of this I noticed/forgot that Jherrod Stiggers (Houston) declared early for the draft and is ineligible to play, so I would put Houston at 8 and Temple at 7.

 

[firm_bizzle]

Navy isn't playing in our league.

 

[KNIGHTTIME^]

We definitely just pushed the talent level much higher for our hoops team. I'd like to see a big year out of the Blair/McBride combo and see what Tacko can do. The guards should be solid and we can rotate players finally. I'm not expecting a NCAA team, but I really feel like we will be a solid team. The 2016-17 might be the breakout year for our hoops program.

 

[Knight_Light]

Nice write-up and info! I am going to add my conference prediction.
I am hoping that we improve greatly this year. I feel that we are a much better team then last year and we have a lot of pieces but we don't have everything yet. I think we are missing a strong post player. I hope Staphon Blair steps up his game as a senior this year. I like Blair but we really need him to produce more than last year (7.8pts, 5.2rebs and 1.3blks). I think the 5 spot is the only missing piece. It would be amazing if he had a season like Keith Clanton's senior year 14.8pts, 8.5rebs, 2.5ast, and 2.0blks.

I don't think UCF will see a 5 with those numbers this season...especially since Clanton had to play almost 36 mins per game when UCF had basically zero depth.

Clanton was a talented scorer coming into UCF...as he made All-Conf CUSA Freshmen Team during his first season...and most would agree, AAC is a deeper/improved conf over what UCF faced in CUSA. (Yes, some are the same teams but many have improved...plus the likes of Cinci, Temple and UCONN are all 3 major upgrades).

Blair had a solid season last year...and hopefully he can improve on it again this year.

 

[C-MontCityKnight2]

And why did we have sanctions again? Oh yeah, because CDJ is a big fat cheater. Let's not forget that when we realize how he killed all the momentum started by Kirk in the new arena.

 

[Knight_Light]

And why did we have sanctions again?

Most people (obviously not you), know it started when Tribble came to town...and soon put pressure on Speraw and fairly new head recruiter Asst Coach Mike Jaskulski to push the boundries and get involved in 3rd party sources/help (i.e. non-HS Coaches), which lead to signing AJ Rompza...which eventually made AJ an "illegal player" and UCF had to forfeit all UCF wins that AJ Rompza played in prior to his Senior Year...Tribble was fired....and once Speraw was fired, those avenues opened by Tribble were kept open, and DJ followed suit.

It was certainly an ugly period for UCF Hoops and the recruiting sanctions/scholarship sanctions couldn't have happened at a worse time (UCF was moving up to AAC Hoops).

Hopefully UCF Hoops (whoever will be the AD and future HC) will not be in that situation again.

UCF might play with 12 scholarships this season with Goodwin being gone, but being able to sign max recruits each and every year will help UCF Hoops build back its base...a base that BJ and Adonys started last year.

 

[Knight_Classes_begin_7pm]

We definitely just pushed the talent level much higher for our hoops team. I'd like to see a big year out of the Blair/McBride combo and see what Tacko can do. The guards should be solid and we can rotate players finally. I'm not expecting a NCAA team, but I really feel like we will be a solid team. The 2016-17 might be the breakout year for our hoops program.

I agree KT!

 

[ucf_71127]

The AAC looks much stronger this coming year and there are 4 teams that are pushing to be the champs. I don't think we will beat SMU and UConn this year (we COULD win and we can play with them, I just think they come out with the win). Those are the top 2 teams this year and they will be pushing for the AAC crown.
1. SMU (Nic Moore, Markus Kennedy, and transfers)
2. UConn (Amida Brimah, Rodney Purvis, and transfer Sterling Gibbs)

the next two teams are the "sleepers"
3. Tulsa (returns all starters and was 14-4 in conference last year... not much of a sleeper)
4. Cincinnati (all starters return but not much offensive firepower as nobody scored more than 10.0 points last year. But yes, their D is suffocating!)

I think UCF falls into the next group with Memphis (who fell from the top-4), Temple, ECU, and Houston.
5. UCF (best case scenario (that is realistic) is that we finish 5th and the AAC has 5 bids putting us in the tourney)
6. Memphis (some think they are lower than this because of all the transfer losses but they still have talent and recruiting)
**7. Houston (I'm scared of them because they have "good" talent like us and have all the pieces in place)
8. Temple (I am lower on them than most because I feel that they lost a lot in Cummings and Morgan)
9. ECU (they have their returning 5 with their star player who was on the AAC freshman team. They have 3 returning players who scored more than 12 points, only team in conference that has that)

The next group is Tulane, USF, and do I include Navy?
10. Tulane (lose a lot and don't return much)
11. USF ( they have a lot of unknowns and could improve a lot because of all the youth but they lose their top 2 players)

**At the end of this I noticed/forgot that Jherrod Stiggers (Houston) declared early for the draft and is ineligible to play, so I would put Houston at 8 and Temple at 7.

ESPN just had an article come out with their "Bracketology with Joe Lunardi" and they gave the AAC some respect giving us 4 bids.
SMU #5
Cinci #8
UConn #10
Tulsa #11

Bracketology Link

 

[Knight_Light]

ESPN just had an article come out with their "Bracketology with Joe Lunardi" and they gave the AAC some respect giving us 4 bids.
SMU #5
Cinci #8
UConn #10
Tulsa #11

Bracketology Link

While Memphis is a mess...they are still bringing in their 5-star magical player (and his Dad on the coaching staff).

I wouldn't be surprised if Temple makes another strong run this year as well.

With the AAC Tourn in Orlando come March...hope UCF can make a tourn run...as anything can happen (i.e. win and you are in).

 

[ucf_71127]

KL, I always think your post are insightful and well thought-out. How do you see the conference panning out in rank 1-11? Who do you think makes the tourney based on how rosters look today. Thanks! (and anyone else can chime in as well)

 

[Knight_Light]

KL, I always think your post are insightful and well thought-out. How do you see the conference panning out in rank 1-11? Who do you think makes the tourney based on how rosters look today. Thanks! (and anyone else can chime in as well)

While anything is possible, I would definitely add Temple and maybe Memphis to the.original 4 as

KL, I always think your post are insightful and well thought-out. How do you see the conference panning out in rank 1-11? Who do you think makes the tourney based on how rosters look today. Thanks! (and anyone else can chime in as well)

I think the top of the conf (i.e. those 6 teams mentioned) might be easier to rank than the remaining 5, especially with a lot of roster moves amongst those 5 teams.

The other 5, along with some of the Top 6 teams, got some instant needed help with some P5 transfers over the last year, some which will play this season so some teams will get some instant help (like hopefully AJ Davis will do for UCF).

USF has another big influx of new players, same obviously for UCF, Houston and others have some new upperclassmen and the Cougs are going on an International Trip to China t his month, so they too, were able to get the extra 10 practices (and upcoming games) to help them prep for 2015-2016 season.

With so many new faces, I think the AAC race should be pretty exciting this season as there probably aren't (at least on paper) any "gimmie" games, especially on the road.