UE News and Notes for Sept. 28, 2012

UE women’s basketball coach Oties Epps (@CoachEppsUE) tweeted a photo of the Aces figuratively running past their opponents on Friday afternoon, the last offseason workout before official practice can start next week.

—Big news of the day: Ernie Duncan re-opens his recruitment. It means that UE, with four seniors and no juniors on its roster now, has three scholarships to give as soon as this year. Blake Simmons, head coach Marty Simmons’ son, is already committed.

—Official men’s basketball practices start two weeks from today. Until then, UE’s relying on its four seniors not only to run open gyms but teach the underclassmen without coaches present. I wrote about that in today’s paper.

—Here’s more from yesterday’s announcement on UE winning the Missouri Valley Conference’s All-Academic Award. It came as a complete surprise to the student-athletes and made for a good story.

—UE’s opener at Notre Dame will air on ESPN3.com. And if you’re looking for more up-to-the-minute scheduling news, follow Creighton blogger and MVC expert Patrick Marshall (@wildjays) on Twitter.

—Speaking of scheduling, UE has added some game times to its online men’s basketball page. The Aces will play road games against Colorado State Dec. 1 at 3:30 p.m. and Butler Dec. 22 at 1 p.m.

—UE’s volleyball team (5-11, 1-3 MVC) hosts Drake at 7 p.m. tonight and Creighton at 5 p.m. Saturday. Follow me on Twitter (@ECP_Lintner) for updates and final scores.

—Other UE sports in action locally this weekend: swimming and diving’s intra-squad meet Saturday morning, and the men’s soccer team hosts Oral Roberts on Sunday.