It’s a good time to move ahead
WORCESTER, Mass. – Teams seeded 15th in a particular region aren’t necessarily expected to have close games against the No. 2 seeds. Upsets in that matchup have only happened four times, so the casual observer isn’t figuring to even see a close game most of the time.
Against that backdrop, UCF definitely acquitted themselves well and served notice that the program is very much on the rise. The Knights will enter Conference USA next season on the heels of back-to-back Atlantic Sun championships and the second-highest win total in consecutive years with 49 (one off the record of 50 from 1976-78). They have the right leader to get them there, as Kirk Speraw has led them to the only four NCAA Tournament appearances in the program’s history and has the second-longest tenure of their five head coaches.
Speraw just completed his 12th season as the head coach and has won 195 games. The program has clearly become one of the perennial powers of the Atlantic Sun, which means that the move up to Conference USA next season will not be entirely painful, though it is certainly a step up and there are always growing pains when stepping up in conferences. Each of the last two seasons, they lost by single digits to a team from the Big East, with Friday’s 77-71 loss to Connecticut showing what this team was capable of. It was certainly enough to draw praise from the opposing coach.
“I think Kirk does a terrific job with them to find his good players,” said Jim Calhoun. “They’re a well-coached basketball team that wouldn’t quit. They had all the reasons, score-wise, to quit, but there was no quit in Central Florida.”
Early on, Connecticut’s big front line abused the Knights. In the first half, both Charlie Villanueva and Rudy Gay torched them for 14 points on 6-7 shooting. It looked at times like the Huskies would run away with it, especially in the second half when they boosted their lead in the early minutes. When the more talented team gets a lead at a point in the game like that, talent often takes over and they pull away.
But the Knights mounted a furious comeback, sparked by the play of guys like Gary Johnson, who simply wouldn’t quit. Johnson is used to winning; in junior college, his team went 65-3 in two seasons. He finishes his college career with his teams winning 114 games and losing just 18, and he was the Atlantic Sun Tournament MVP this year. Johnson signed with the school two years ago because backcourt mate Kingsley Edwards, whom he knew in junior college.
“We both came from winning programs and we both know how to win, and we felt like we could share that with the rest of the guys,” said Johnson, who had a career-high 29 points in the loss. “I feel like we’ve been successful here.”
Losing their two starting guards will be tough, but Speraw has consistently replaced his top players, so there’s no reason to expect that trend won’t continue. He also has good building blocks like Josh Peppers, who made a big jump as a sophomore. The 6’6″ guard struggled with foul trouble against the Huskies and had a season-low three points, but is primed to become the cornerstone of this team the next two seasons. Peppers jumped from averaging under 12 minutes and four points per game as a freshman to a first team All-Atlantic Sun player this season. He led the team in scoring at 13.5 points per game and made 37 percent of his three-pointers.
Peppers got started right after the season, as he spent a lot of time working on his game. He went home to Memphis and played over the summer. Speraw likes that he’s a more consistent shooter, and certainly, the numbers reflect his consistency as his scoring numbers are similar in conference play and non-conference play. His percentages actually dropped off in conference play, but Speraw doesn’t see that trend continuing, and that’s the primary reason Peppers should continue to be one of their top players.
“He’s been a great listener, and he’s very easy to coach,” said Speraw. “Anything that we’ve told him that he needed to do, he’s tried his best to improve on. He didn’t care whether he was starting, not starting – he just wanted to be the best player, the best contributor to his team that he could be to help his team in any way. Because of that approach, he’s going to get better next year just as much as I think he improved over this last year.”
Other key building blocks are junior forwards Anthony Williams, who struggled in Friday’s loss, and Will Bakanowsky, who played well. While Williams simply couldn’t get a shot to drop – he had good looks but was just 1-11 from the field – Bakanowsky scored 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds, and finishes the season second on the team in three-point field goal percentage. Williams was the team’s leading rebounder and top frontcourt scorer. They will be two of five seniors on next season’s team, so they won’t be lacking for senior leadership.
The Knights have three players sitting out as transfers this season, all of whom will be sophomores. North Carolina State transfer Mike O’Donnell should inherit the point guard position, as he started seven games for the Wolfpack as a freshman. Carlton Christian (Marquette) and Dave Noel (UNC-Wilmington) will join Justin Rose in the backcourt, giving Speraw plenty of options. They are also very high on junior forward Marcus Johnson, who had his right arm in a sling after falling hard on it during Friday’s game.
The school also has a new arena under construction that will help as they move into Conference USA. In the fall of 2007, construction should be complete on a facility directly in front of UCF Arena, where they currently play. It will be a 10,000-seat arena, nearly doubling the capacity of UCF Arena.
Teams come to the NCAA Tournament to win, whether seeded first, eighth, 16th, or in UCF’s case, 15th. The Knights didn’t get a win on Friday, but they showed that the program is well on its way to even better times in the future.
