Othe Sbc Games 1/3 & Some Unt/ua

[Censored by Laurie]

Arkansas-Little Rock @ Western Kentucky

Middle Tennessee @ South Alabama

New Orleans @ Arkansas State

Denver @ UL-Lafayette

Florida International @ Troy

Union College @ UL-Monroe

Top two games are definently of the most interest...WKU just blew the doors off Troy while UALR struggled to get past ULM...right after losing to Rice...UALR could quickly find themselves on a UNT-like slide as they head for a matchup together next week.

Both MTSU and USA are on mini-winning streaks...but this game is probably bigger for USA as they have already lost a home game to WKU...losing two home games to the top two teams in your division, needing to win on their floor later in the season, would make the season considerably harder for the Jags.

UNO/ASU is an interesting West division game...for UNT's sake an ASU win would be nice to keep their division foes conference records bunched together...UNO wins, goes to 3-1 in conference vs. UNT's 1-2...plus a head-to-head victory already and thats a steep early hole to dig out of.

Randell Diagle returned two games ago for the Cajuns...he scored 16 @ Tennessee, then 24 @ LSU, only a 2 point loss for ULL and the first time all season they had Gradnigo, Bureau and Diagle together in the backcourt. ULL is about to be scary good.

FIU snapped a 6 game losing streak with a win over a bad Fordham team...but more importantly Alex Galindo made his season debut, scoring 19. Galindo is the first of a massive list of MIA players for FIU to return...center Russell Hicks and PG Josue Soto were expected back around the same time as Galindo...no word on Tremayne Russell, J.C. Otero or Nikola Gacesa, key players who have all missed time for the Panthers.

I really don't care about that last game.

As for UNT/Arkansas...even with the loss of Collin Dennis I think we match-up well with the Hog's backcourt...and JJ's love of the Dom and Josh backcourt won't kill us in terms of size match-ups as UA's guards Courtney Fortson and Rotnei Clarke are both 6'0" or less. My concern is how on earth we might slow down 6'9" 240 Michael Washington who is currently averaging a double-double for the season (15.9ppg, 10.4rpg)...UNT has been dominated in the post it's last two games by UTA's Anthony Vareen (19 points on 8-11 shooting) and Tommy Moffitt (17 points on 7-10 shooting) and MTSU's Desmond Yates (25 points on 10-13 shooting)...and all three of these players are smaller than Washington.

Once a source of pride...UNT hasn't won a rebounding battle since it's last win over ULL. The insertion of Harold Stewart into the starting line-up helped (7 rebounds, 5 offensive vs. MTSU, but man he needs to make those bunnies) but he needs some more bulk up front than what Tramiel can provide. If Odufuwa is healthy I think he's the best frontcourt compliment to Stew vs. UA.

[CMJ]

Monroe beats Union College 97-41

[CMJ]

ULL beat Denver by 1 in overtime.

[CMJ]

MTSU 82

South Alabama 67

[CMJ]

New Orleans 56

ASU 71

[CMJ]

FIU 62

Troy 69

[CMJ]

UALR 47

WKU 79

[CMJ]

Standings after today:

EAST

Western Kentucky 3-0 9-4

Middle Tennessee State 3-0 9-5

South Alabama 2-2 9-6

Troy 2-2 6-9

Florida International 0-3 5-11

Florida Atlantic 0-3 4-10

WEST

Arkansas State 2-1 10-4

Arkansas-Little Rock 2-1 9-5

Louisiana-Lafayette 2-1 5-8

New Orleans 2-2 6-8

North Texas 1-2 8-6

Denver 1-2 6-8

Louisiana-Monroe 1-2 5-9

Our next two games are huge. If we can get both - suddenly we're right back in the race.

[CMJ]

RPI Update

44 WKU

108 Arkansas State

144 UALR

163 MTSU

177 South Alabama

221 North Texas

260 FIU

264 New Orleans

275 Troy

279 LA Monroe

285 FAU

288 Denver

293 LA Lafayette