AFA looks for perfection

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Dec 13, 2006 | by JAKE SCHALLER THE GAZETTE

Air Force players and coaches have treated their entry into The Associated Press Top 25 like a mile marker in a marathon.

It's nice to see, but it doesn't call for slowing to a walk and throwing up arms in celebration.

"As a coach, you're looking for perfection," said Air Force's Jeff Bzdelik, whose 24thranked Falcons play host to Norfolk State at 7 tonight at Clune Arena. "And you keep pushing them for perfection."

In recent practices, the Falcons (10-1) have focused on perfecting their defense. Air Force has led the nation in scoring defense the past four years, and they rank 11th this year, through Sunday's games, allowing 54.5 points per game.

But Bzdelik disliked the Falcons' defensive performances in their past two games against Division I teams -- victories over T e x a s - P a n American and Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne.

IPFW and Texas-Pan American shot 51 and 48 percent from the field, respectively. And that reminded Bzdelik of his team's last two losses -- to Duke in November in the semifinals of the College Basketball Experience Classic and to Illinois in March in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Duke made 61 percent from the field, including 74 percent in the first half. Illinois made 58 percent.

Those numbers more than offset fine shooting by the Falcons. Against Duke, Air Force hit 49 percent, and against Illinois, which at the time was the Big 10's top-ranked team in defensive field goal percentage, the Falcons made 51 percent.

"So what's the story? The storyline is to beat those kinds of teams, offensively we're good enough," Bzdelik said. "Defensively, we're not."

Bzdelik said players need to do everything just a little better all the time, and he pointed to a pair of plays in the Illinois game as examples. An Air Force player failed to box out an Illinois player leading to a dunk. A late rotation after double-teaming a pick-and-roll resulted in an open jump shot.

"Those two possessions they got four points and we lost the game by nine," Bzdelik said. "To get to the very, very next level, it has to be right every time defensively."

Players said they need to talk more and work harder on each possession.

"If no one's talking and communicating and letting your teammate know where a guy is, there's going to be lapses there," senior guard Matt Mc-Craw said. "Also, looking at the film, it looks like we kind of took possessions off. And against great teams you're not allowed to do that because they're going to burn you."

Air Force beat Colorado College 82-31 on Saturday. The Division III Tigers are not a great team, but Bzdelik saw it as a step in the right direction.

"I thought the fundamentals coupled with the energy was there," he said. "They took pride in it for most of the game. You need to just keep getting better, and that's my goal as a coach -- just keep getting better."

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0365 or jake.schaller@gazette.com

3 QUESTIONS

1. WILL AN AP TOP 25 RANKING AFFECT AIR FORCE?

Unlikely. The Falcons have veteran leaders on the team, including six seniors, and they expected to have success this season. So the ranking -- Air Force is No. 24 in the Associated Press poll that was released Monday -- isn't too much of a surprise, even though it is just the second time in school history the Falcons have cracked the AP Top 25. Air Force coach Jeff Bzdelik said Monday he didn't even need to talk to the team about staying grounded. The AP ranking "was never even mentioned," on Monday, Bzdelik said. "I don't know if half of them even know about it to be honest with you."

2. HOW WILL McCRAW AND FRYE PERFORM?

Air Force senior guard Matt McCraw, a starter, and senior center John Frye, one of the Falcons' top bench players, both are expected to return after missing two games each. McCraw has been nursing a sprained ankle, while Frye has been recovering from viral pneumonia. Both practiced on Monday and Tuesday.

3. WILL AIR FORCE CONTINUE ITS HOT SHOOTING?

Air Force is making 54.3 percent of its shots from the field, including 44.2 percent of its shots from 3-point range. Those figures rank second and fifth, respectively, among 325 NCAA teams through games played on Dec. 10. In three of their past four games, the Falcons have shot 59.5 percent from the field or better. Four of Air Force's starters are making more than half of their shots from the field -- senior forward Dan Nwaelele (61.4), junior guard Tim Anderson (58.3), senior center Nick Welch (57.0) and senior forward Jacob Burtschi (52.3).