Another Bad Night

[Censored by Laurie]

Last night was a particularlly difficult night to stomach. It seems at this point we can consider UNT, UNO, WKU and USA as the teams to beat in the Sun Belt. I think your bottom tier will be UL-L, Troy and maybe Denver or UL-M. Its those middle of the road teams though, like these four who played last night, that can absolutly make or break a conference's RPI. The conferences we lost to last night: Big East, Atlantic Sun, Summit and the Ohio Valley...the SBC should be better than all, save the Big East. Winning games like this don't neccessarilly get you at-large bid consideration, but losing them can take that opportunity away.

FAU - 66 UMKC - 77 - FAU's second leading scorer, Paul Graham III, did not make the road trip due to team violations and the Owls who are already struggling to find scoring fell to 1-5...and almost assuredly 1-6 when they match up with Kansas on Weds. Carlos Monroe continues to excel, scoring 26 and grabbing 13 rebounds for his third double double of the season. Jeff Parmer add 12 points up front.

FIU - 69 South Florida - 77 - Kenneth White had his best game as a Golden Panther, putting up 15 points, but shot a mediocre 6-21 from the field. Three others chipped in double figures for FIU, but the Panthers allowed South Florida to shoot 54% from the field.

ASU - 67 Murray State - 81 - Arkansas State finally got something of a balanced offensive effort, led of course by Adrian Banks 18, but Ryan Wedel added 11 and Yima Chia-Kur 10 in the loss. Murray State shot 55% from the field for the game, led by as many as 20 in the first half and held an 18 point advantage at the break.

MTSU - 62 Belmont - 85 - MTSU gave up 51 first half points and fell to 2-4. Center Theryn Hudson led the Raiders with 15, Kevin Kanaskie added 14 and Demetrius Green 12.

Five games tonight:

UL-Monroe vs. Alcorn State

Troy vs. Ole Miss

Denver vs. Colorado

UA-Little Rock vs. Rice

UL-Lafayette vs. UAB

Alcorn St is 0-3 and has lost their games by an average of 29 points...Ole Miss is undefeated and 2-0 vs. the Sun Belt...Best chance for a big upset could be Denver; Colorado is 3-2 but has a narrow victory against D-1Independent Savannah State at home...Rice sucks...UAB is 1-3 on the road as they travel to Lafayette

[CMJ]

Belt seems really top heavy this year. UNT, WKU, USA, New Orleans, & UALR 19-5. Even with some wins like ours over Cameron - that's solid.

But everyone else is just tanking. MTSU, ASU, ULM, ULL, FAU, FIU, Denver & Troy all suck right now.

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

UT-Arlington is now 5-0... We are their best win but they have Wichita State, TCU and Okie State soon.

Sam Houston is 4-0 with a win over TxTech who has defeated Gonzaga.

One thing I like about basketball is a lot of what are considered smaller schools can do very well... it doesn't take many really good athletes to excell in basketball.. unlike football.

[Got5onIt]

UT-Arlington is now 5-0... We are their best win but they have Wichita State, TCU and Okie State soon.

Sam Houston is 4-0 with a win over TxTech who has defeated Gonzaga.

One thing I like about basketball is a lot of what are considered smaller schools can do very well... it doesn't take many really good athletes to excell in basketball.. unlike football.

I don't think it has anything to do with a limited number of good athletes, but more to do with the limited roster spots available in Division 1 basketball as a whole. Also, it's not like football where physical strength has to be developed on top of talent over a period of years. Pure talent can come in from high school and make an immediate impact.

[CMJ]

Belt goes 2-3 on the night. Lafayette's loss stings - they seemed to have the lead for most of the second half, but lost it at the end of regulation.

Alcorn St. 75

LA Monroe 105

AR Little Rock 59

Rice 52

Troy 76

Mississippi 102

In Overtime

UAB 78

LA Lafayette 72

Colorado 54

Denver 44