AJ Rompza: I am Legend

First, you had Kirk Gibson's miraculous pinch-hit homerun, then there was the “Flu game,” after that was the bloody sock, well now you can add the “wounded Knight” to the list of courageous moments in sports history.

Ok. So this wasn’t for a national championship, or even a conference championship. And sure, UCF vs. Tulsa doesn’t necessarily make headlines across the nation. That’s just fine. What we witnessed on February 14^th was nothing short of audacious. If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m talking about AJ Rompza coming off the bench, feeling less than 80% and playing 31 minutes of amazing, real basketball.

The Knights, coming off a 3 game losing streak, found themselves down by 17 points with just 11 minutes remaining, but after a little bit of motivating from 'Bluto' Blutarsky, UCF mustered up the strength to mount one of the greatest comebacks in school history. And while the scorecard will show Jermaine Taylor with 35 points, it can’t show you how big Rompza played this night; they just haven’t come up with a stat that measures the heart of a leader. What you can’t see is AJ’s high-octane, nonstop agility that physically wears defenses down, mentally frustrates even the best defender, and extends plays long enough to find the open shot. AJ Rompza is a senior trapped in a freshmen’s body.

Now, for the story.

For the last 10 days, AJ Rompza has been forced into a cheerleading role on the sidelines. Suffering an ankle sprain that hadn’t even allowed him to practice for the Tulsa game, sitting on the sidelines may have been the most painful part of the injury. “To not be able to play is so hard because I want to be out there encouraging everyone. It's so hard from the bench” Rompza said in an interview with Brandon Helwig, of UCFSports.com.

AJ Rompza is the Derek Jeter of UCF sports. Charismatic, confident, and certainly not afraid to jump into the stands, especially if it’s to reverse the momentum. Are you done laughing? Continue if you want, I mean, I did just compare a 5-9 160 pound college freshman to a New York Yankee legend, and earlier, to maybe the most obnoxious pitcher of this era, one of the finest hitters in baseball history, and one of the greatest NBA players in the history of the league. All legends in their time. And here we have AJ Rompza, again. Time for me to defend myself.

Come, jump into the way back machine with me for a moment.

First stop, October 19, 2004-Game 6 ALCS. Curt Schilling pitches lights out baseball in the biggest do or die game in his career, all this with a torn tendon in his ankle and medical procedure that probably belongs in the middle ages. His strength to go out and pitch with the pain he had to deal with helped motivate and rally his team to clinch the game, and eventually the series.

Next up, June 11^th, 1997–Game 5 NBA Finals. The “flu game.” Michael Jordan was noticeably ill, weak, fatigued and dehydrated. Yet, he walked out on to that court, put up 38 points and helped will the Bulls to a 90-88 victory.

One last stop, October 15^th, 1998- Game 1 World Series. Kirk Gibson could hardly walk, let alone swing a bat, Tommy Lasorda needed a big hit, and the team needed the big run. It’s rumored that Gibson was in such pain in both legs that he was grimacing and nearly collapsing after every swing. Gibson steps to the plate, hits the game winning 2 run homerun. Dodgers go on to win the World Series. Kirk Gibson’s heroic at bat is one of the greatest highlights in sports history.

Saturday night, player introductions. No Rompza. Kirk wasn’t sure he could handle the stress of a full game on his bad ankle. Hell, even AJ wasn’t sure he could handle it, but he knew he wanted it, and he knew his teammates needed him. And like every great star before him, he made sure he got into the game. And like every great star, with the clock ticking down five. Four. Three. He knew he wanted the ball in his hands. Two. He knew he wanted to take the last shot. One.

Silence.

You have just witnessed the birth of a legend.

-Vin

Attention: Wednesday February 4th!

In case you haven’t heard. Wednesday is a HUGE DAY for Knights Nation. Joe Hornstein, Associate Director of Athletics for UCF, has a message to the fan base: “First you have CFB National Signing Day! Then the Sign & Dine party in The Venue (should be the best one yet). Then UCF football student season ticket holders have their chance to grab a limited edition Knightmare t-shirt, football lapel pin and Knightmare placard up until 5:30 p.m.”

Are you excited yet? Oh, you need more? No problem.

Joe Burnett, the first team All-American, #19 in the program, but #1 in our hearts, remember him? Yea. He’s back. SMOKIN’ JOE BURNETT IS BACK! UCF will be honoring him during the Houston game. Arrive early and you’ll have the chance to receive a commemorative Joe Burn poster… and get it signed! The earlier you arrive, the better chance you have to meet the legend.

And man I hope your health insurance is in order because, just when you thought it couldn’t get any more exciting, The Knights still have the White-out against The Houston Face Stompers @ 7pm! For those who don’t know, this Houston game is bigger than USF, and now, bigger than Memphis. A Knights victory puts UCF all alone at second place in CUSA. If UCF can finish out in second place, the Knights wouldn’t have to face the number 1 seed until the final round of the CUSA tourney...HUGE. For those who don’t know, Houston/UCF is one of those games that never disappoints. The most exciting game I ever attended was not UCF vs. Tulsa in the Triple OT Thriller. No sir. It was UCF vs. Houston in the 06/07 season. What a beautiful game.

So, to summarize:

Wednesday February 4^th, 2009 is the most important day in the history of all history.

1. National Signing Day.

2. Sign & Dine at The Venue + Student Season Ticket holders can claim their gifts.

3. Joe Burnett autograph signing.

4. UCF ARMORED IN WHITE vs. HOUSTON. 7pm in THE DUNGEON.

Fanatics, I beg you, bring your friends. Bring your siblings. Bring your grandparents. Have class? SKIP IT. Working? LEAVE EARLY. UCF Basketball is a great excuse.

Go Knights!

-Vin

UCF @ Rice Owls: Preview

Sadly Vin and I were unable to see the UAB game, as I had class and he was unable to get the Brighthouse channel to work in our apartment. We wouldn’t presume to write about the game when we were unable to see it.

Matt’s things to look out for:
Now, for the Rice game. The Owls are 6-9, with all of their wins coming against smaller schools other than their most recent victory over SMU. Texas and Oklahoma both put a hurting on the Owls, losing by 21 and 12 respectively. Rice begins a very tough road playing the Knights, followed by Memphis and UAB. The Owls gave us a run for our money last year at home. Although they were near the bottom of C-USA in standings, the game was close. This year looks to be around the same for Rice, although there’s no reason to overlook this game. They have a duo of guards who both average over 10 points per game, Cory Pflieger and Rodney Foster. They seem to spread the ball around well, with other scorers averaging 8.8, 8.4, and 7.7 PPG. Their offense is far short of prolific, scoring only 65 points per competition as a team. Foster and Pflieger both shoot just short of 40% from beyond the arc, so we’re going to have to play tough outside defense. Tony Davis should have no trouble on the boards since Pflieger, a guard, leads the team in rebounding. Without watching any of Rice’s games so far this year, I really can’t make any more judgments with any confidence. A win here should bring our confidence back up a bit after losing two heartbreakers to UAB and Memphis back to back.

Vin's game day thoughts:
The Knights head into their game against RICE 0-2 in conference play after losing heartbreakers to Memphis and UAB. Both of those games the Knights had decent size leads in the 2^nd half and let each slip away. I may be going out on a limb, but I’m calling this game a must win. You never want to start 0-3 in conference, and a win on the road is crucial for the guys. Beating RICE could really spark some serious motivation and confidence for the Knights, and we need that now more than ever.

This isn’t just about the team either, if the Knights want to play in an environment like the Memphis game, they need to win. We all know our fan support is called into question a lot, and I fear a loss to RICE could really push the fair-weather fans away. I refuse to miss a home game, unfortunately I’m in the minority when it comes to the student body. Kirk and the rest of the Knights deserve a packed house every game and a win today can help keep the fans in their seats for Southern Miss.

[REMINDER: UCF returns to the KNIGHTMARE for their battle against Southern Miss this Wednesday, January 21^st. Be there! WEAR BLACK!]

Go Knights!

UCF vs Memphis Tigers: Post-game Review

Matt’s views:

I think we can all agree that this game was a heartbreaker. To begin the game, the Knights started by standing almost toe to toe with a bigger, more athletic Memphis team. I was very disappointed with Jermaine Taylor’s defense to start the game, as he constantly lost his man and allowed the Tigers to take open 3’s. There were at least three possessions in a row where JT was caught behind a pick and failed to give enough effort to get through it and back to his man in time to get any kind of defense on. Later in the first half and early in the second half, Kirk switched our defense to a 3-2 zone. This was a brilliant move in my opinion. It shut down the quick movements around the perimeter and helped us conserve our energy by not having our players follow their man everywhere they went. The Memphis inside game, specifically Dozier, was struggling to handle Tony Davis, Zondervan, and AJ Tyler, and so the emphasis went to help the outside defense.

Tony Davis kept us in this game. He is continuing to grow right before our eyes this season. He has been going up strong and either making his layups or drawing the foul just about every time. I’m extremely excited to see him add even more bulk during the offseason and get even stronger going to the hoop. He also surprised me, making some nice moves towards the hoop dribbling between his legs before driving towards the hoop.

Isaac Sosa was clearly hesitant to take his shots, and understandably so. He’s going to have to quicken his release off a pass, but that will come with time and practice. After his 3 pointer was blocked, he seemed to shut it down a bit. He’s also going to have to learn to defend the ball a little better while dribbling, or teams are going to take advantage of that any time he’s got the ball in the back court. That’s just one other thing that should come with time.

As expected, in the second half Memphis took advantage of AJ Rompza’s height and put whoever Rompza was defending inside in the post. Rompza tried his hardest as he always does, but when he’s almost a foot shorter than his opponent, it’s pretty much impossible to compete down low. He was great in outside, open court defense as always, and he was just as quick as ever. He did the one thing that he needed to avoid this game: make bad passes. There weren’t many of them, but he gave up enough turnovers to give them the lead later in the game. The kid is a gamer and his vision is very good to begin with, but it will become stellar. I loved his energy, as well as Taylor Young’s. I always imagined Taylor as a player more quiet than others, but when he came off the bench and gave the crowd the sign to “get the hell on your feet!”, it pumped up everyone. I’m beginning to love Taylor’s play. He’s not a huge playmaker, but he’s got very solid passing and ball handling, and that’s what we need at the point guard position.

Another NBA Scout: Also, another NBA scout sat near us during this game. He was from the Knicks, and he sat close enough to read his name and see the NBA logo on his socks, but far enough where we couldn't get a good look at his notes. His name is Steve Yoder. I'm not sure if he was there to see Jermaine or if he was there to see the Memphis boys.

Overall, one of the best basketball games I’ve ever been to, only second to the triple overtime game against Tulsa last year. Great game by the players and fans, both groups played their hearts out.

Vin’s post-game comments:

I could point out reasons we lost, put blame on certain players, at certain times; but I won’t. I can’t bring myself to write about negatives, not after how incredible UCF played.

1. Tony Davis. Incredible. He has taken some time to develop, but man oh man has he arrived. I said, before the game, Tony would need to play the game of his life. Well, not only did he play the game of his life, but he went against one of the best Forwards in the game (Robert Dozier) and out played him.

2. Jermaine Taylor, thank you. JT could have folded under the pressure of Memphis, like many players have before him. He could have given up. No, Jermaine Taylor saw Memphis and refused to back down. He led the Knights with 24 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 steals.

3. Ok, I said I wasn’t going to write about negatives, but I have to mention Isaac Sosa’s play. I’m very high on this kid, he will be very good, but his lack of confidence is going to hurt UCF in conference play if he can’t find a way to improve on that.

4. The Crowd. All 9800+ of you. Thank you, thank you, and thank you. That atmosphere may have been the best I’ve ever experienced. The sea of black, the hypno-signs, the RECRUITS. All such an amazing experience. Considering the lack of local marketing, a max capacity crowd was not what I was expecting. Let’s repeat this atmosphere again on the 21^st.

5. Lacrosse team, this will be the last time I mention you in this blog. What you did during the national anthem was embarrassing to the UCF family, and disrespectful to your own selves. Be ashamed.

6. On a sad note: It appears Drew Speraw is done with basketball here at UCF. He wants to focus more on his academics. Drew, we wish you the best of luck, and hope you stay with UCF long after you earn your degree. Thanks for that 3 against USF, what a terrific memory to leave behind.

Overall, UCF’s first half performance was one of the greatest halves I’ve ever seen a team play. I remember all the “Re-sign Kirk” chants, and signs that consumed the old arena towards the end of the 2006-2007 season. I was so proud that Keith recognized Kirks talent and importance to our school. This game may have been Kirks best coaching effort yet! Every single player, you could tell, gave it their all.

If you aren’t proud to be a Knight after last night, you might need to get your head checked.

[Reminder] The Knights next two games are on the road at UAB(1/13 @ 8pm) and RICE( 1/17 @ 4pm). The next home game isn't until January 21st @ 7pm, make sure to be there, with friends!