Chris Rock once observed the agonizing drudgery of attending dinner as a single man with a married couple.
Of it, he said, “Oh, it’s just disgusting!”
That about sums up how today’s contest is bound to end up for the Air Force Academy’s women’s basketball team, when the Falcons travel to face the UNM women’s basketball team at The Pit.
The Falcons are a making in Mountain West Conference tragicomedy.
So the plot goes — tragically, they are among the conference’s most inspired inhabitants, playing with an outpouring of gnash, said Lobo coach Don Flanagan, not seen in more talented, less hard-working teams.
Comically, however, Air Force has always been the ganache to — not only the Lobos’ pastry — but to conferences.
And, in particular, the Falcons have been tasty morsels for Flanagan, who is a spic-and-span 25-0 against the Academy.
Collectively, the Lobos are 26-1 against AFA. Of those 26 wins, all have been decided by an average of 24.3 points per game. The Falcons last win dates back to 1992, a 61-41 thumping over UNM in Colorado Springs.
Still, Amanda Best said UNM isn’t looking past the Academy — however difficult that might be.
“They’re going to go after loose balls,” she said. “They’re going to keep playing even if they’re down 40.”
For better or worse, AFA head coach Ardie McInelly, who inherited the sagging program, has remained loyal and committed to building a program at the Academy.
Mitigating circumstances out of McInelly’s control, Flanagan said, have contributed to the institution’s slumping ways, whose conference losing streak has stretched to 21 consecutive games.
“Ardie was coach of the year for two years (in the Big West) prior to coming to this conference,” Flanagan said. “She’s a fine coach and a great teacher. I think first of all the problem is there isn’t a large population of women there. So, they don’t have a big choice. Secondly, there’s a real high qualification to get in there, and there’s also just a select few that do get in. Consequently, she’s limited in her recruiting. I’d say 10 to 15 percent of those players that she recruits actually come to the Air Force Academy, either because they can’t get in or they don’t want to be in a military institution. She’s in a position where she loses a lot, and that’s tough for any coach.”
Even so, Flanagan said the Lobos won’t be puppet masters, pulling strings and exerting their will — Air Force won’t be easy to control.
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“This game could be perceived as easy, but they’re going to play 100 percent as hard as they can,” Flanagan said. “You get some teams that are way more talented that won’t play as hard.”
Amy Beggin said the Lobos will have to contend with Air Force’s matchup zone.
“I think (we’ll) run some more of our man stuff — try to create unbalances,” she said. “Try to overload sides and skip the ball over to the other side.”
The Falcons’ primary scorer, Raimee Beck, is averaging 14.7 points per game, despite AFA’s everlasting struggles.
But the Lobos have Best, who is coming off a career-high 21-point game in a 74-61 whitewash over Wyoming.
Beggin said Best is capable of pouring in points at any given time.
“I think it was a pretty quiet 21 she had,” Beggin said. “She’s a big-time scorer, but, during the game, I don’t think we realized she had that
many points.”
*Women’s basketball vs. Air Force
Today
7 p.m.
The Pit*
