'Disciplined' Air Force to live and die by the 3-pointer

Discipline has never been a problem for the men's basketball team at the Air Force Academy.

The players live by a different set of rules than most athletes and when it comes to basketball, things are no different.

"It makes us work harder because we only have certain times a day to do things," said the team's Tyrone Wright. "We only have three or four hours to practice, including lifting weights.

"We go to school all day which gives us determination to be better athletes."

Unfortunately, determination doesn't land blue-chip recruits, so Air Force will continue to struggle this season in the newly formed Mountain West Conference.

The Falcons led the WAC last season with 233 3-pointers and averaged nine a game from long distance.

With an undersized team, Falcons coach Reggie Minton says the team will follow the same M.O.

"We're gonna shoot 3s," Minton said. "That's no secret.

"We will be able to shoot the ball, try to get the ball to the hole a little more with the threat of the '3' and trying to defend it."

For a 3-point shooting team, the Falcons averaged a low 76.2 points a game while giving up an average of 80.2.

Wright, the team's leading scorer last year with 18.2 points a game, Jarvis Croff, second at 14.2 points a game and Billy Humphrey are three returning starters.

The team was competitive on the boards, but soft inside with no big bodies to bang around and score.

They'll have even more trouble in the paint since David Schuck, the team's leading rebounder with 8.7 a game and leading shot-blocker with 1.5, transferred to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Minton hopes Thomas Bellairs, a 6-foot-6 freshman out of Mullen High School in Denver, will help.

Bellairs led the state in rebounding twice.

"He is big and strong," Minton said. "The son of a gun is going to battle."

The point-guard position is still a question mark for Air Force, though Minton has been impressed with Vernard Jenkins, a freshman out of Norland High School in Miami.

Talent, not experience, will continue to be a problem for the Falcons in the MWC so the team will work harder to shut down its opponents.

"I think this year we're focused more on defense," Wright said. "We're still gonna run a lot.

"We just want to go into the conference with a different attitude and win some games."

Air Force will continue to play with a blue-collar effort on the court and should be at least more competitive than last year.

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