Hello From an Air Force Fan

[rpmGator]

My brother was in the Air Force. A couple years ago, I went over to his house and he was watching the Army-Navy game.

I asked him who he was cheering for and he said. "Air Force!"

He has passed on since then but I remain a fan of the AF. I watch for him now.

If you know where I can get a hat with that lighting bolt on it, let me know...

[candymanfromgc]

Over at GH=Fitness , I met a tall white guy who played hooops all the time. Got to talking with him and turns out he played at AF several years ago. I bet someone on here knows who he is. I moved so don't go to GH+F anymore. Nice guy and pretty good outside shot.

[tupacbiff]

Everyone I have ever met in the air force is just a great person. I don't think they take you unless u pass some greatness test. Here is my ode to the air force...
A=awesome
I=incredible
R=respected

F=frightening
O=Opus
R=rolling
C=cute
E=effervescent

[bleedorangeblue]

Originally Posted by rpmGator

My brother was in the Air Force. A couple years ago, I went over to his house and he was watching the Army-Navy game.

I asked him who he was cheering for and he said. "Air Force!"

He has passed on since then but I remain a fan of the AF. I watch for him now.

If you know where I can get a hat with that lighting bolt on it, let me know...

http://goairforcefalcons.cbscolleges...3&store_id=309

[Bazza]

Originally Posted by DoctorGator

Finally, someone said it.....I, too, thank you for your service. God bless you - and all the Falcons on the court tomorrow that will serve our country.

^^^this^^^

Rick - welcome, belated holiday greetings as well, and thank you for your comprehensive insight on the game.

Navy family here but we enjoy & support all service academy teams - except when they play Navy.

[co_gator89]

I live in Colorado Springs and know one of your starters (Taylor, #34). Gonna pull for him and our Gators.

[tupacbiff]

I've got to give my props to the coast guard.

[don23lucia]

Originally Posted by tupacbiff

I've got to give my props to the coast guard.

Thanks! I'm in the Coast Guard.

[ltcpilot]

Well, wanted to stop back by and say 'Good game and good luck'. My hopes of giving you a good game were there for 20 minutes + of the game but we just couldn't keep it going and close. The physical play of your team was just too much down the stretch. I hope you were 'entertained' and at least concerned during the close first half. Take care and good luck for the rest of the season. I did make the game and had a great time.

Here's my take from my blog...enjoy....ltcpilot

Postgame: Air Force basketball loses to #14 Florida

What can I say except I watched an Air Force game played against a top caliber ranked #14 in another "Tale of Two Halfs", a book I have read before. Sitting in the stands with 12,000 basketball fans (maybe 25 Air Force fans in the crowd, the rest either Florida or Florida State fans) for the two game Orange Bowl Basketball Classic, I watched a Falcon team battle a bigger and stronger Florida team while playing team ball and never giving up, down by two at the half but losing 61-78 (Note: Only two other teams besides Air Force have scored more than the 61 points on Florida this season).

Looking at the two halfs of play you see differences not so much in the coaching, rather in the play of the team and players on the court. Our Falcons came out early and made the statement that they were there to play and to play to win. They were not intimidated by Florida's vaunted press, took good care of the ball (on 10 turnovers in the game), looked inside out and scored. The Falcons took an early lead with good passing and three point shooting while battling Florida's bigs on the inside. AF went to the locker room down by two at the half and looked to be poised to make it a game in the final twenty minutes of the game. In that first half AF shot well at FG 11-23 48% and 3pt 6-13 46% (they did struggle in both halfs at the line shooting only 63% on 14-22 FT for the game...but FTs were not a deciding factor in this game as Florida shot very similar to the Falcons at the line finishing at 65% on 15-23 shooting). I liked seeing a balanced look at the basket with basically 50-50 looks 2pt shots versus 3pt shots. Defense did well that half holding the Gators to 41% FG and 27% 3pt shooting.

Fast forward to the second half and the physical nature of the Florida seemed to overpower the Falcons. The Gators seemed to make a more concerted effort to use the strength of their bigs along with better three point looks and makes when the opportunity presented itself. Read between the lines and my poor attempt at and explanation as 'our team got beat inside by Florida's physical play'. We
just could not or did not keep up with the battle inside to protect the lane and got out scored 38-20 in the paint (we did get out rebounded 36-25 but second chance points were not the factor in the loss as AF had 7 and Florida 6 second chance points). Bottom line was Florida scored and scored often in the second half on 16-23 70%FG shooting.
One of my keys to this game was balanced scoring for the Falcons. We did get that with 7 players having 5 or more points this game. This will benefit us as the season continues (and give us experience for those returning next season). I love what Coach P has down bringing Kyle off the bench. I believe it has

motivated Kyle (11 pts, 4-4FT, 2 reb in 21mins) and allows him to be used to his strengths and also brings experience off the bench for the Falcons. While we want balanced scoring, we want and need our leader to be strong. Florida played Mike Lyons tough resulting in a sub-par 3-11 11pt night for Mike. But he contributed mightily in other areas with 7 reb, 1 asst, 1 stl and no TO's. Taylor and Marek Olesinski battled hard and play well on the offensive end with 11 and 6 pts respectively (Oly a nice 2-3 3 pt shooting), but neither could stop the Florida bigs inside. Fairly solid guard play overall by Todd (7 pts) and Tre' (8 pts) but both had three turnovers in battling the press. (Note that both teams took care of the ball with only 10 turnovers each and low points off turnovers with AF 9 pts and Florida 10 pts).

Looking at personnel we need to get Mike Lyons to be more consistent (and I mean more consistent in percentage not necessarily more points...need good shots/makes or pass up that shot for later or for a better shot by a teammate). We need Fitz to find his shot and some (any) consistency. Fitz brings so much energy and desire to the team, plays great defense, hits the boards 4 reb today) but has lost that stoke with the ball. We need him to find that. In addition to these guys, we need to get Max, Kam, Cam and DeLovell into the scoring column of the scorebook. This will be imperative for us to succeed.

Tidbits to finish this up:
- Great coaching by Coach P and staff on one out of bounds play after time out and great AF execution. Obviously they saw something, put a play in, players actioned, screened and Kyle wide open on long pass across the half court for end pass to catch to layup.
- Oops. I saw a potential for this earlier in the game with all AF defender's back to the passer on an inbound play under the basket and said to myself 'watch out Falcons'. Three minutes later with same setup by AF, the Florida player throws the ball in off the AF defender's back, gets the ball on the pass back to himself and scores. Ouch, saw it coming, 2 easy points for Florida.
- Next up Richmond has lost 3 straight. The Falcons will definitely be going to a hostile environment in Virginia.





GO FALCONS

[gatorbogey]

good luck to you too. watch out for richmond, we lost to them a couple of years ago in the orange bowl classic.