April 5, 2010
By Marc Daniels
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - If UCF and Marshall were not the best of friends before, how do things stand now? There is no doubt the fan fever will hit new heights with Donnie Jones leaving Marshall to guide the Black and Gold basketball team.
Marshall fans always showed their dislike for UCF going back to the glory days of Mid-American Conference football. You remember. The Herd ran through the league with little opposition after they moved from the 1-AA level, which they had little opposition. Message boarders decided to interpret comments by then UCF football coach Mike Kruczek that the Knights would easily win the league. (He didn't say that. He said he expected UCF to compete in the league for a title. What was he supposed to say that he hoped to finish middle of the pack?).
The two schools became connected by virtue of playing each season in football and twice in basketball. After a few Marshall wins on the football field, UCF has won five straight in the series and last year's finish has only added to the budding rivalry.
The Knights and Herd had little history on the hardwood that connected the two with the exception that each played their first Conference USA game against the other. That changed this year when the two played in front of the second largest crowd at UCF Arena. The Knights held a double digit lead in the second half, but the Herd stormed back to get the win. It would be the rematch in Huntington that became an instant classic. Marshall claimed a triple-overtime thriller in which six UCF players fouled out and the Knights finished the contest with an unorthodox lineup to say the least.
And now with Donnie Jones coming to UCF, the basketball series may just have vaulted to equal billing with football.
Marshall fans are bitter and their views about Jones and why he left will always be skewed. That's understandable. They feel Jones left Marshall for a lateral move. UCF believes otherwise. Bottom line is if Jones didn't think UCF was a better basketball job for today and tomorrow he would not have left. But he did.
And so fans of both schools have a new reason to crank up what has become one of C-USA's biggest rivalries. And if a UCF fan wanted to really show their passion and pride for the Black and Gold, wait for the new basketball schedule to come out. When it does, look down and find the game between UCF and Marshall in Huntington. Then buy a ticket and book a flight (there is an airline that flies direct my friends). If you really want to show Jones and Marshall fans your love for the Knights, be there, on the road for what will be the next chapter in the new rivalry between UCF and Marshal, on the basketball court.
Knights notes and more: Congrats to Cliff McCray who got not one, but two additional years of eligibility. But did his application really have 125 pages? 125? How much more would be needed than "please explain in 500 words or less why the NCAA should grant additional eligibility."...Brynn Harvey's knee injury hurts, but no one has taken advantage of the time in the backfield more than Brendan Kelly. The bruising style of Kelly, gives the Knights another weapon to use in the backfield to go along with Harvey and Jonathan Davis. Kelly could be awfully good in goal-line situations...USA Today did a cover story on the cost of college athletics and their findings showed 14 of 220 public schools studied turned a profit in 2009. And you still wonder why the NCAA is expanding the mens basketball tournament to 96 teams?...I love baseball. I was supposed to be the starting shortstop for the New York Yankees, but something happened. College baseball favors the batter. He gets to use this kryptonite/graphite/aluminum or whatever else the bat is made of. Umps must expand the strike zone or the games can go on too long. One other suggestion; all visits to the mound by a pitching coach or head coach should be no longer than 30-seconds. Whatever you want to tell the pitcher can be done in that time. And no player, with the exception of the catcher, can visit the mound to talk to a pitcher. I think the guy knows you want him to slow down, take a deep breath and throw strikes. Final thought: Times must be tough, the Easter Bunny left IOU's in my kids' eggs this year.
Marc Daniels' From the Press Box runs several times per month on UCFAthletics.com. Listen to Marc during UCF football, men's basketball and baseball radio broadcasts on the UCF-ISP Sports Network. Each weekday, Marc hosts "The Beat of Sports" on ESPN 1080 in Orlando from 9-11 a.m.