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Around the Yard, Sept. 11: Links, notes and Service Academy sports news

Army’s women’s basketball non-conference schedule is out, Air Force-Colorado football is previewed, and footage of high school quarterback Ken Niumatalolo is uncovered.

By Mitchell Northam

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Navy v Cincinnati Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images

There’s a lot of news, notes and quotes in Service Academy sports this week, so we put them all in one place. Here’s this week’s spin around the yard.

Air Force

  • The Falcons’ volleyball team has new threads.

Army

  • The New York Times wrote about USMAPS. Here’s a Kelvin Hopkins quote from the piece: “Rather than trying to squeeze me in at the academy and watching me fail or struggle, it was, ‘Here’s an opportunity for you to understand how the academy works, get a nice baseline of how academics and things like that work.’ It was a period where I got to test the waters.”
  • Army’s women’s basketball non-conference schedule is out. Of note, the Black Knights will open at home vs. William & Mary on Nov. 5. Army will travel to Air Force on Nov. 13, and host TCU on Nov. 26.
  • Some advanced stats from Army-Michigan
  • Banner Society’s Jason Kirk on how data isn’t on your side if you bet against a Service Academy.
  • More from Kirk, who is projecting Army to face Cincinnati in the Birmingham Bowl. He also has Navy in the Hawaii Bowl and Air Force in the Armed Forces Bowl.
  • The Athletic goes behind the scenes in Army’s near-upset of Michigan. Here’s a sample, of Jeff Monken talking to his team after the loss: “I’m proud of ya. It sucks to lose. It sucks to lose like that. There’s nothing I can say to make it feel better. It hurts all of us. But I am so incredibly proud of the effort you gave today. Before we even got here, before we ever arrived here, there was a belief, an absolute belief that we will win the football game. A trust in each other. We didn’t have any doubt. The guys, we just battled our ass off with the No. 7 team in the country, right there with an opportunity to win the game.”

Navy

  • Here’s what Ken Niumatalolo had to say about first-year East Carolina head coach Mike Houston: “His teams have always been tough, hard-nosed teams, and you watch them during their first two games and they are very athletic. We’re not really sure how much of their plans they put out in that game (against Gardner-Webb) or if they kept things close to the vest, but I’ve been impressed... It’s going to be a tough game for us, athletically, because they have always been really athletic and coach Houston is known for being a tough coach.” (The Daily Reflector)
  • And here’s Houston on his team’s preparation for the option this week: “We have a couple quarterbacks who have athleticism, but the hard thing is they are the ones playing. We have some guys who have played in the wishbone at other positions in the past, so we are using them this week. Practice is going to structured a little bit different... It’s all hands-on deck to really prepare.” (The Daily Reflector)
  • More on ECU’s prep for Navy:
  • NFL scouts have been visiting Annapolis lately. According to the Navy Football Twitter account, the Chiefs, Giants, Eagles, Raiders and Buccaneers came by this week.
  • Navy’s men’s soccer team moved to 4-0 on Sunday after beating Saint Peter’s. Matt Nocita and Jacob Williams netter goals.
  • An interview with Navy senior center Ford Higgins, in which he declares that centers are the most attractive football players:
  • The Capital Gazette on Navy’s upcoming game with East Carolina, who is on their third head coach since the Mids joined the AAC.
  • Coach Ken used to be able to throw a pigskin a quarter-mile, sources say: