Aug. 9, 2011
Read John Denton's Knights Insider | Follow us on Twitter | Get social with the Knights on Facebook
By John Denton
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - When UCF men's basketball coach Donnie Jones worked at the University of Florida, the Gators took a summer trip to Paris in 2000 and ended up in the Final Four, and in 2006 following a jaunt to Canada, they won the national championship.
Now, after having seen the positive effects a summer session can have for a basketball squad, Jones is hoping that his Knights will get a similar bump from this week's three-game, four-day trip to Canada.
Fresh off a season in which they won 21 games and entered the national rankings for the first time in school history, the Knights are hungry for more in the 2011-12 season. That's why Jones jumped at the chance to play three games over a four-day stretch in Montreal and neighboring Ottawa.
The Knights begin play on Wednesday against a Canadian all-star squad and then face Carleton on Thursday in Ottawa and McGill on Saturday in Montreal. Carleton has won seven of the past nine Canadian national championships.
``I hope it will help us a lot and maybe we'll hit the ground running when we come back in the fall,'' Jones said. ``I want these guys to understand the intensity now. I think this is going to help us a lot because it will help us build camaraderie and it will give us a snapshot of what to expect when we come together in the fall.''
NCAA rules allow teams to travel abroad every four years, and this is the Knights' first trip since going to Belgium, France and Holland in 2005. UCF was eligible to travel last summer, but Jones instead chose to wait to this summer when his attacking, pressing system was fully in place. And the Knights can use the 10 practice sessions and games together with three incoming transfer players (Tristan Spurlock, Josh Crittle and Jeff Jordan) and three incoming freshmen (Kasey Wilson, Rod Days and Wayne Martin) joining the six returning players.
``Anytime your guys are together for that period of time and competing against other teams, it helps. We're going to treat this like a conference tournament playing three games in four days,'' Jones said. ``It's the same as the Battle4Atlantis (early next season) when we play three games in a row. It's a mentality of getting ourselves ready to play. We'll treat it just like the season. We'll teach our freshmen how to prepare for scouting, how to watch film and how to game plan. And it will be about getting our veterans back in the swing of things.''
Those veterans will be led by guard Marcus Jordan (15.2 points per game last season) and Keith Clanton (14.2 points and 7.7 rebounds per game). But even some of the returning players will look dramatically different this summer. Clanton, who spent two weeks in China playing with an exhibition team, ha lowed his body-fat index to 7 percent, while fiery point guard A.J. Rompza has added 12 pounds of muscle.
``I feel it out here. I'm in better shape and my agility is good after getting in a lot of extra work. It's really paying off for me,'' Clanton said of his trimmer frame. ``I think this trip will bring the team closer together. Just playing together and learning makes us closer friends on and off the court. That will make us a better team. We're going to be more athletic, faster and we're playing stronger. I feel like we've improved in every area.''
Jones also plans to use the games to experiment. One such move that has flourished so far has been switching small forward Isaiah Sykes to point guard to give the Knights more size in the backcourt. Sykes, who averaged 4.0 points and 0.8 assists last year as a freshman, has thrived being back at his old high school position and he's given opposing guards fits in practice with his gritty, long-armed defense.
``It felt weird at first, but it feels more natural to me now because I'm the type of guy who likes to get others involved in the game. One person passes and then it's contagious with everybody passing the ball,'' Sykes said. ``All through high school, I played point guard and (shooting guard), so it's just getting back used to it. Coach Jones told me to work more on my ball-handling and free throws and it's helping me out now.''
Jones likes the makeup of the roster because the Knights have more overall size and more parts that he can use at several positions. For example, Spurlock - a transfer from Virginia who sat out last season - can play four different positions, while Clanton and Marcus Jordan can each play at three spots. Jones is already dreaming up possibilities for the Knights, and having more size and athleticism will allow him to play more of the up-tempo, trapping style that he wants.
``We're big, long and athletic and I think our press could be really effective for us,'' Jones said. ``We'll have to learn to score different ways than we have in the past. We don't have a lot of guards and we'll play guys at different spots. But I like what we have.''
Sykes feels like the time on the practice court and in Canada will bring the team closer together and give the Knights a leg up the competition heading into next season.
``This trip is going to give a head start on everybody else and it will help us build team chemistry for the season by spending so much time together,'' he said. ``We'll already know the plays and know what to expect. And everybody on our team is so versatile so we'll know a lot of the spots on the floor. It's going to be a really good trip for us.''
John Denton's Knights Insider appears on UCFAthletics.com several times a week. E-mail John at jdenton@athletics.ucf.edu.