Just finished up listening to the Falcons play Richmond on am 1300.  Two words describe the game.  Boat race.

Let's review some of the things the Falcons did right: . . . . . That's all I've got. 

Maybe LTC can find a silver lining in the cloud that was the Falcon non-performance.

72 Eagle Driver

A good friend and fellow Falcon fan and grad put comments on another blog that is a good way to begin here. He described the game and asked me the following question: “Just finished up listening to the Falcons play Richmond on am 1300. Two words describe the game. Boat race. Let's review some of the things the Falcons did right: . . . . . That's all I've got. Maybe LTC can find a silver lining in the cloud that was the Falcon non-performance.” Well, our Falcons did not find any momentum in this game and got smothered by a three-point shooting performance reminiscent of Air Force shooting performances in years gone by. And, while not many good things can be taken from this game, there are a few which I will discuss below.

First and foremost what happened? I heard Coach P say a word for the second time in two consecutive postgame interviews: Intensity. He basically said that his team did not match the intensity of the Richmond Spiders as well as the Florida Gators (in the second half of that game). Cannot match the intensity? I believe intensity can be broken down into different parts of a basketball game. Physical intensity: Getting into your opponent’s face, being the bully not the little kid getting beat up, doing the pushing and the blocking out and not being the one pushed around or dictated to. Emotional intensity: Walking onto the court knowing you have a challenge but telling yourself and your teammates that we are going to go 100%, we will not put our heads down, we will focus, we will cut hard, block out, rebound strong…we WILL be the better team on the court win or lose. Hit the rewind now to last night’s game and ask yourself “were we the tougher team on the court?” or “did we work through the screens to guard the open man outside the arc?” or “did we respect the Spiders and make crisp passes or did we make lazy passes time and time again resulting in turnovers?” and finally (to quote AF grad and head coach of the San Antonio Spurs Coach Popovich overheard in a timeout during the NBA playoffs last year) “did we bring some nasty on to the court last night?”. Huh? Nasty? Let me decipher: Were we the meanest, hungriest, toughest team on the court last night? No.

Quick review of the numbers which gives the statistical point of view. Given all the numbers (except three) you would think AF was in the game at least close at the end.

AF: FG 44% 3pt 29% 4-14 FT 77% (nice) Reb 35 Stl 4 TO 18 PF 18

UR: FG 65% 3pt 62% 16-26 FT 68% Reb 25 Stl 10 TO 12 PF 25

Richmond shot lights out from the 3pt arc last night and that was the biggest factor in the game. Seemed we stayed mostly in our matchup zone. I may be incorrect in the fact that we stayed more in that versus going man to man but the screen on the computer was small so unsure. The first evil number: Bottom line we did not and/or could not rotate to the open man with many of their threes uncontested. Credit goes to Richmond’s Anthony 31pts/7-9 3’s, and Brothers 25pts/6-9 3’s…very nice job gentlemen. Second and Third: 18 turnovers for Air Force on Falcon mistakes and 10 steals by the Spiders. I cannot remember a game when an Air Force team had this many mistakes. And it wasn’t just one person but a ‘team concept’ to give the ball away. Go back to the word ‘intensity’ and or lack of it results in poor defense and not taking care of the ball.

Coach P took the blame for not getting the team ready for the game but, with five seniors on the team I have to say that they are the leaders and the experience and if they cannot focus then who can? Coach tried to make adjustments going through different lineups. Second half starters were Lyons, Coggins, Hammonds, Williams and Green. Postgame Coach P said he started those that showed the most effort in the first half. First shout out goes to Mike Lyons. It was note just another road game, it was a semi-homecoming game for Mike who is from nearby and had over 80 plus friends and family at the game. In 33 minutes he had 19 pts on 7-16 shooting (only 1-5 from the 3pt arc), 4-6 from the FT line, 2 reb and 2 TO’s. Generally I thought Mike took good shots but, as the game got out of hand and not getting a lot of scoring from the team as a whole, maybe took some off balanced shots late in the second half. Fitz was Fitz on the court doing a workman like 9pts and 3 rebounds. We must have him find his grove for our success. Tough night for the nation’s leading assist to turnover leader: Todd had 4 assists but also 4 TO’s (that is 7 TO’s in the last two games).

But where was the ‘silver lining’ I was asked about? (Yes there are some and some that will benefit us later this year). Youth came off the bench and that youth worked hard. Justin Hammonds, back from not playing first semester and having played only 5 minutes at Riverside, gave AF 13 good minutes and 9pts on 2-3 shooting plus 5-6 from the FT line plus 4 rebounds, 1 block, 1 steal and 1 TO. Welcome back Justin. Kam Williams played hard and contributed 6 points. In only 5 minutes Ethan Michaels had 4 points and 1 rebound. Free Throws…a very good night at the line, one bright spot.

Enough of this. It was a game and it was a loss. I think the team needs to look into the mirror and decide what team they are going to be on the court. Are our big’s going to play BIG on offense and defense? Are we going to put a layup up and make it whether we do or don’t get fouled? Are we going to guard the whole court? MWC starts at home in seven days. Time for soul searching before conference play begins. GO FALCONS

AAHEAVY wrote: There were plenty of pilots in the house last night. 2 of the "fab 5" got an earful. The other 3 would have gotten it too, but didn't see them after the game. No excuses. Man Up.