Coach Hunt, 'Eaters Featured at NCAA.com
Oct. 26, 2009
UC Irvine head coach Marc Hunt and his Anteater team are featured at NCAA.com this week.
Seventh-ranked UCI (13-6, 1-1 MPSF) travels to No. 2 California Saturday and 14th-ranked Pacific Sunday. Both MPSF games have noon starts.
The story at NCAA.com:
Western Sleeper: The UC Irvine Anteaters are making noise in the MPSF
Oct. 26, 2009
By Trevor Freeman
Special to NCAA.com
Crunch time is rapidly approaching and the race for regular season glory is intensifying. Each game is taking on increasing importance and that was epitomized by some of the contests we had over the last seven days. Highlights included a championship being awarded and a quadruple overtime thriller. We will get into all of that tremendous action in this week's article.
We begin this week's column though by sitting down with the coach of a squad that almost authored the weekend's signature victory. Seventh-ranked UC-Irvine may have lost 8-7 to UCLA on a late Ben Hohl score; however that does not hide the fact that this team is quietly heating up. Marc Hunt took over for the legendary Ted Newland in 2005 and has continued the tradition of success at UC-Irvine. I caught up with Coach Hunt to discuss his squad and their prospects. Below is our interview.
Your team has won six straight games heading into this weekend. That includes wins over UC San Diego, Navy, Long Beach State and UCSB. UC-Irvine feels like it is lurking as an MPSF sleeper. What do the Anteaters have to do to break into the top four of the MPSF?
We have to continue improving. The team needs to remain focused. We have to build on the wins and learn from the losses so that we are at our best for the MPSF Tournament at the end of the season. We need to treat every single game from here on out like it is our last.
You know, we lost in the first round of the UCI Invitational. You never want to not finish in the top eight at your own tournament. We had to deal with not getting it done. I am proud of the team for staying focused and moving forward. We responded well from that first day in defeating a strong Navy and UC San Diego on the second day of that tournament.
In my opinion, Brandon Johnson is one of the more underrated players in the country. I think he is easily one of the top five lefties out there. Can you tell us what makes him such a great player?
Brandon is a cool customer. As good as he is, he understands that he still has a lot to learn. He does have experience though as he was a starter as a freshman on our team that made the MPSF Finals in 2007. Last year, he was one of the leading scorers in the country. This season he isn't scoring as much, however he hasn't gotten down about it. He has accepted a slightly different role and has had a positive attitude in doing that. He brings a maturity to the team, and extends that out as one of our captains. Brandon is very easy to coach.
Cole Bielskis and Tom Kruip are both having big seasons for your team. What makes them so effective?
Cole is our leading scorer right now. In 2007, he had a great season. He's a guy that scored two goals in the fourth quarter of the semifinal MPSF Tournament win over California that season. We redshirted him last year because he had microfracture knee surgery. That's serious. We were worried he might never come back from that. However, he has a great work ethic and has come back and has been solid.
Tom is a transfer from a well-coached Golden West JC team. He has a ton of talent but lacks experience. He's fast, has good size and is a natural outside shooter. What Tom lacks in experience, he makes up for in a desire to improve. I am impressed with how determined he is to correct his weaknesses. He has become a force to deal with in a very short time.
Both Cole and Tom have the ability to play several positions. Their size, speed, and strength allow to them to play inside at two-meters as well as the perimeter.
