SFA

Daily Conference Poll: Who Will Win the Southland?

Shawn Siegel — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 11:25:58 -0500

Southland Basketball Preview: 08-09

CHN — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 10:17:58 -0500

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Conference Rank: 21st

10 year average: 27th

All-Southland Team
Pos.	Player	Team	Yr.

G	Devin Gibson	Texas-SA	So
G	Josh Alexander	SFA	Sr
G	Kenny Dawkins	Lamar	Sr
F	Anthony Vereen	Texas-Arlington	Sr
F	Matt Kingsley	SFA	Sr
CHN Award Winners		Returning Leaders
Mid-Major All-Americans Josh Alexander Devin Gibson		Points: Josh Alexander 16.0 Rebounds: Brandon Bush (Tex St) 7.2 Assists: Eric Bell (SFA) 5.7

Southland Standings
Nat'l	Team	League	Tourney

84	Stephen F. Austin	Southland	1	NCAA
133	Lamar	Southland	2
150	Texas Arlington**	Southland	3
187	Sam Houston St	Southland	4
230	McNeese State	Southland	5
242	Northwestern St	Southland	6
250	Texas San Anton	Southland	7
257	SE Louisiana	Southland	8
272	TAMU CC	Southland	9
277	Texas State	Southland	10
294	Nicholls State	Southland	11
312	Central Arkansas	Southland	12

*Click on links for full Top 144 team preview

** returning conference champion

Poll: Who Do You Think Will Win the Southland? (soon)

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Rise & Fall: Southland

State of 08: Texas

State of '08: Texas

Shawn Siegel — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:15:15 -0400

Duke or Carolina? BC or UMASS? Gonzaga or Washington.. or Washington State? What is the best program in each state? While there's not much competition in Hawaii.. there are great debates to be had in loaded regions like California, North Carolina, and Texas. The State of '08 is a ranking of every program in every state.. based mostly on recent success (the last five years) mixed in with subjective factors such as conference prestige, historical success, and overall program direction.

For more info, check out the State of '08 introduction.

TEXAS

TEXAS - Easy one here. Texas has made ten straight NCAA Tournaments under Rick Barnes, and have reached the Sweet Sixteen or better fives times.

TEXAS A&M - From 1988 to 2004, A&M was a horrendous BCS program that managed justt one NIT appearance. But thanks to Billy Gillispie, A&M has won at least 20 games and made the postseason in four straight seasons. The future of the program is a bit less certain under Mark Turgeon.

TEXAS TECH - In Bob Knight's six full seasons, the Red Raiders made 4 NCAA Tournaments and reached the NIT semifinals. Last year's team was destined to miss the postseason regardless of who the coach was, and its hard to project what type of coach Pat Knight will be.

BAYLOR - Scott Drew took over a broken program at the start of the 03-04 season, but has managed to turn things around. Last year the team won 21 games and reached the Big Dance. Many pundits expect a Top 25 squad this year. Not bad considering the 21-53 record from '04 to '07.

UTEP - Since 2004, a year after Billy Gillispied took over, UTEP has made two NCAA Tournaments and the CBI. The Niners should once again make a postseason push (probably NIT or CBI) in 2009.

6. HOUSTON - Its been over 15 years since Houston last made the NCAA Tournament, but Tom Penders teams have been consistently competitive. His four teams have all won at least 9 games in Conference USA, and 3 made the postseason (2 NITS and the CBI last year).

7. NORTH TEXAS - Johnny Jones has quietly transformed UNT from a consistent loser into a consistent winner. The Mean Green made the Big Dance in 2007 after rolling through the Sun Belt Tournament, and were solid last year, going 17-11 against D1 teams. Once again in 2008, North Texas should be dangerous in league play.

8. SAM HOUSTON STATE - Last year's Bearkats fizzled out after a great start, and late-season SLC tournament success has been hard to come by recently. But overall, this has been the most consistently solid SLC team over the last decade, and one of the only league teams capable of knocking off big-name non-conference opponents.

9. RICE - The program finally parted ways with 16-year coach Willis Wilson, whose teams varied from good to horrible and anywhere in between. From '03 to '05, the Owls finished in the RPI Top 100, but have gone steadily downhill since. Last year's 3-27 finish was an unfortunate end to Wilson's tenure.

10. STEPHEN F AUSTIN - SFA's great 26 win season, which included wins over Oklahoma and Top 100 San Diego, came out of nowhere considering the Lumberjacks were a sub-200 RPI team the previous three seasons. SFA is the 2009 favorite to accomplish what they couldn't last year, winning the Southland tournament.

11. TEXAS A&M-CORPUS CHRISTI - Ronnie Arrow did a masterful job in his tenure at TAMU-CC, turning a green D1 program into a 20-win program. But after making the Dance in 2007, Arrow left, and its hard to tell whether the program can regain a decent level of success under Perry Clark.

12. TCU - In six seasons under Neil Dougherty, TCU never finished over .500 in either the CUSA or MWC, although the 2005 team did sneak into the NIT. Former Kent State coach Jim Christian was hired in the off-season to turn things around.

13. LAMAR - In the last 7 seasons, Lamar has finished .500 or better in the SLC six times, but have never really been able to put together a dangerous postseason run.

14. UT-ARLINGTON - After making the NCAAs last year, UTA is once again one of the league favorites. In the previous 9 seasons though, the Mavs won just a single SLC Tourney game.

15. SMU - The last time SMU was any good was 2003, and the last time SMU was Tournament good was 1993. Matt Doherty was brought in to turn things around, but his teams have gone 7-25 in CUSA play.

16. UTSA - Once one of the more consistently solid Southland teams, UTSA simply hasn't been good the past few seasons. A 2009 .500 finish in the league would be a step in the right direction.

17. UTPA - Considering they've been stuck as an independent for a decade now, UTPA's minimal success isn't that bad. They've been able to beat a good amount of the in-state Southland members over the years, but haven't beaten a Top 200 team since December of 2004.

18. TEXAS STATE - In '06 & '07, this was one of the worst programs in the country, with just 8 D1 wins. That makes last year's 10-16 D1 record shockingly good.

19. TEXAS SOUTHERN - After winning the SWAC in 2003, there hasn't been much to cheer about at Texas Southern. The team has hovered around 300 in the RPI.

20. PRAIRIE VIEW - Like Texas Southern above, Prairie View hasn't been good since 2003.. but unlike Texas Southern who has at least been decent in SWAC play, the Panthers have been atrocious.

*Houston Baptist will also join D1 this season

Last: Tennessee - Next: Utah

State of '08: The Introduction (& State list/links)

2008-09 Stephen F. Austin Preview: #84

Joel Welser — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 09:39:43 -0400

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Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks

Overall Rank: #84

Conference Rank: #1 Southland

2007-08: 26-6, 13-3, 1^st West

2007-08 postseason: NIT

Stephen F. Austin did not get the accolades they deserved last year. This is a team that went 26-6 and beat the likes of Oklahoma and San Diego. An upset in the Southland Conference Tournament kept the Lumberjacks on the outside of the national radar, but that should fuel the fire for the 2008-2009 campaign. With six of the top seven scorers returning, SFA and Coach Danny Kasper should dominate the conference once again. Now they just have to keep that success going in March.

Who’s Out:

Gerald Fonzie is the only departing Lumberjack who played a significant role on last year’s squad. Fonzie was one of the team’s sharpshooters and knocked down over two three-pointers per game and finding another shooter to replace that production would be very beneficial. Austin Falke, Kyle Jacobs, Dean Pele, Jason Rogers and Scott Weaver have also graduated or transferred. Weaver and Jacobs, both forwards, were the only two to even average over five minutes per game.

Who’s In:

Despite returning six quality players, SFA needs the newcomers to provide some depth. A trio of junior college transfers supply more than enough. Unlike any other forward on the roster, Aaron Smith has the outside shooting touch that can stretch out the opposing defense. At 6-8 and 220 pounds, the former Idaho Vandal also has the size to mix it up inside. The other two junior college transfers, Girod Adams and Walt Harris, will do more than just provide depth on the perimeter. Adams is a pure point guard who should play a huge role this year either off the bench or in a starting role. Harris has enough talent to take over for Fonzie without any drop off in production. He is a solid defender, a decent scorer and, at 6-5, has a ton of size for a shooting guard in the Southland Conference. Redshirt freshman forward Jereal Scott and incoming freshmen Jarrod McDaniel and Zach Williams will also join the team this year. McDaniel has a shot to earn some minutes as a backup point guard and Williams, a 6-4 forward, is one of the mostly highly recruited players to come to SFA in quite some time.

Who to Watch:

The scorer on the perimeter is Josh Alexander. The 6-4 wing led the team with 16.1 points and 5.9 rebounds last year and is an extremely prolific shooter. Alexander hit an amazing three three-pointers per game. Most of his shots will come from beyond the arc, but his ability to get to the basket makes him a dynamic scorer. Eric Bell will get the scoring options the ball. The senior point guard averaged 5.7 assists per game and just 2.3 turnovers. That is not a bad ratio and it should get better. Eddie Williams, yet another senior, was the sixth man last year and will likely play that role once again.

Final Projection:

What Alexander does for the backcourt, Matt Kingsley does to the frontcourt. The 6-9 forward was just a touch behind Alexander in the scoring and rebounding categories. With Kingsley and Alexander leading the way, the Lumberjacks have a couple superb scorers. Finding a consistent third scoring threat is the new goal. Power forward Nick Shaw is one of the options after averaging 6.2 points and 5.0 rebounds last year. Benson Akpan can do some scoring, but his ability to play defense and block shots off the bench will be a big asset yet again. Akpan, Alexander, Kingsley and Shaw are all seniors and this is the year for Stephen F. Austin to not just have a great regular season, but to continue their success into the postseason.

Projected Post-season Tournament: NCAA

Projected Starting Five:

Eric Bell, Junior, Guard, 5.8 points per game

Walt Harris, Junior, Guard, DNP last season

Josh Alexander, Senior, Guard, 16.1 points per game

Nick Shaw, Senior, Forward, 6.2 points per game

Matt Kingsley, Senior, Forward, 15.7 points per game

Complete Top 144 Ranking | 2008-09 Preview & Awards | Coach Interviews | Discuss the Preview

2008 NIT Capsule: Stephen F Austin

Joel Welser — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 17:55:29 -0400

Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks

Southland (26-5, 13-3)

Big Wins: 12/8 at Oklahoma (66-62), 12/15 at San Diego (56-50), 2/21 Sam Houston State (79-57)

Bad Losses: 1/10 at Nicholls State (57-58), 1/24 at Sam Houston State (56-58), 3/1 Texas Arlington (65-75)

Last NCAA Appearance: 1987,

Coach: Danny Kaspar

Probable Starters:

Eric Bell, Sophomore, Guard, 6.0 ppg, 5.7 apg

Gerald Fonzie, Senior, Guard, 8.9 ppg, 2.2 rpg

Josh Alexander, Junior, Guard, 16.0 ppg, 5.9 rpg

Nick Shaw, Junior, Forward, 6.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg

Matt Kingsley, Junior, Forward, 15.9 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 1.0 bpg

Key Roleplayers:

Eddie Williams, Freshman, Guard, 4.9 ppg, 1.4 apg

Scott Weaver, Senior, Forward, 2.8 ppg, 2.7 rpg

Benson Akpan, Junior, Forward, 4.0 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 1.4 bpg

Why They Can Surprise:

Stephen F. Austin won a share of the Southland Conference crown with tough defense. Only Wisconsin allows fewer points per game than the Lumberjacks and Coach Danny Kaspar’s squad only allows the opposition to shoot 39.1 percent from the floor. The low point total is in part due to the rebounding presence at SFA. When the opposition finally gets a shot off, you can be sure the Lumberjacks will not make it easy for them to get another opportunity any time soon.

The best rebounder, and player for that matter, on the team is Josh Alexander. Not only does Alexander crash the boards, he also hits over three shots per game from beyond the arc and averages 16.0 points per game. Forward Nick Shaw and center Matt Kingsley are solid on the glass, but it is Kingsley ability to score in the paint that makes him special. At 6-9 and 225 pounds, Kingsley has the body to be a force in the paint against teams that sport bigger centers than he usually saw in the Southland Conference.

Why They Can Disappoint:

If SFA begins to slip behind in a game, they usually have a difficult time coming back. The team as a whole does not shoot a lot of three’s, although Alexander and Gerald Fonzie are certainly big time threats from long range. Yet, this is a not a quick offense that will score in bunches. With their less than stellar free-throw shooting, every point seems hard to come by. However, that is not always the case and as long as Alexander and Kingsley are feeling it, the Lumberjacks are dangerous.

Who To Watch:

Last year at this time Eric Bell was running the point at McLennan Community College. Now the 5-3, yes 5-3, DeSoto, Texas native is leading his team into the postseason. Bell averages 6.0 points per game, but it is his tenacious defense and ability to find his way through the big guys that makes him so dangerous. Stephen F. Austin has plenty of size and depth up front with Scott Weaver and Benson Akpan. Weaver started 28 games last year before being relegated to the bench this season and having experienced and talented big men on the bench is never a bad thing.

By the Numbers:

Scoring Offense: 67.5 (202^nd in nation, 7^th in conference)

Scoring Defense: 55.2 (2, 1)

Field-Goal Percentage: 45.4 (110, 4)

Field-Goal Defense: 39.1 (14, 2)

Three-Point Field Goals Per Game: 6.7 (165, 4)

Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage: 37.5 (73, 2)

Free-Throw Percentage: 66.9 (237, 3)

Rebound Margin: 3.3 (66, 6)

Assists Per Game: 13.2 (167, 8)

Turnovers Per Game: 12.2 (22, 1)

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Seven Day Stretch: Few's Future & Officiating Issues

Rob Carpentier — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 10:30:39 -0500

The “Curse” seems to have finally been eradicated…at least for a week. Davidson, Marquette, American and even Indiana had pretty good news last week. Does that mean that teams can stop worrying about the Seven Day Stretch or will it be a double-strength whammy this week?

Seven Day Savior (Team): Indiana Hoosiers

Considering what the players on this team went through over the course of the past ten days, the fact that they have gone 4-0 since the Kelvin Sampson/NCAA news broke is highly commendable. The Hoosiers defeated three of the top five teams in the Big 10 Conference, and even though those victories took place in the cozy environs of Assembly Hall in Bloomington, it was and is impressive, nonetheless. Indiana was able to beat both Purdue and Michigan State as the Sampson issue was front page news. That says a great deal about the character of the kids on that squad, many of whom Sampson recruited or had to talk into staying when Mike Davis was fired. Let’s remember that these are, at best, young men in their early 20’s, with many of the players on the squad under 20. It took a lot of maturity to get past the controversy swirling around the team and to focus on the business of actually playing the games. While it’s true that some of the players threatened to miss the game against Northwestern last Saturday, the bottom line is that they didn’t. Kudos to the Hoosiers.

Admittedly, there is a close second this week; the Kent State Golden Flashes. Their win over St. Mary’s in their BracketBuster game last Saturday night was a huge boost to Kent State’s at-large bid should they not win the Mid-American Conference Tournament. There are more than a few bubble teams from the “power” conferences that are hoping that Kent State wins the Mac Tourney.

Seven Day Savior (Player): Al Fisher, Kent State

If I don’t give the team award to Kent State, I can certainly give the player award to one of its players. Fisher, a junior guard, scored 28 points in the win over St. Mary’s and won the MAC Player of the Week award for the second week in a row. Fisher, who started his collegiate career at Siena, is a quick and smart point guard who plays a pass-first game, but knows how and when to score when the Golden Flashes need someone to step up. While he leads the team in both scoring and assists, Fisher’s biggest games have come in some of Kent State’s biggest wins, including St. Mary’s, George Mason and Illinois State. Fisher has all the qualities of a young man who will step up in the NCAA Tournament and break the heart of fans of a big school.

News of the Week: Northern Illinois Returns to Competition

The Huskies returned to game action this week for the first time since the disastrous shooting at the school that took place on Valentine’s Day. Six students died in the attack, including the shooter, and the campus has been struggling with the event ever since. Although the scope of the shooting was much less, in terms of numbers, than what happened at Virginia Tech, the strain on the school community was enormous and will be for some time to come. While athletics aren’t all that important in the grand scheme of things, they can provide a necessary distraction in times of stress as well as a rallying point for a community in need of something to get its mind off of a tragedy. The Huskies lost their home game against Western Michigan, but chances are that many NIU supporters don’t care. For Northern Illinois and the people directly related to the school, it probably was more important that the team simply played the game. As with any difficult situation, a return to normalcy helps to get past it. This week, the lives of those people at NIU became a little bit more normal.

Game of the Week (The one you DON’T know about): Pittsburgh at Syracuse

Once again, Jim Boeheim’s Orange find themselves skirting dangerously close with the wrong side of the bubble. Unexpectedly, now Pittsburgh is getting to the point of having to worry about the bubble, albeit not very much. In Syracuse’s case, the struggles the Orange have endured were somewhat expected considering the injuries that Syracuse has had to deal with this season. Pittsburgh also suffered injuries, losing starter Mike Cook for the season and guard Levance Fields for a large portion of the season, however Pitt has lost their last two games with fields back in the line-up. The Big East will probably get up to eight bids come Selection Sunday and Syracuse, (definitely), and Pitt, (maybe), will be fighting for one of the final ones. The game at Syracuse on Saturday will go a long way towards either team feeling much more comfortable about which side of the bubble they will come down on. Pitt is looking for a decent victory, especially on the road, while Syracuse needs wins badly. In the case of the Orange, their profile is looking quite a bit like last year’s and last season they missed the NCAAs.

Seven Days Under the Radar: Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks

This is a team that is truly under the radar. In the last twenty years, how many teams that have gone 22-3, including a win over Oklahoma, and have had an RPI of 47 or better been this inconspicuous? The Jacks aren’t in first place in their conference, but they have defeated the conference leader, (Lamar), in their only meeting this season. They have won at SMU and San Diego, the latter a pretty difficult victory for any team, as well as the win in Norman. They have two solid “go-to guys” in junior guard Josh Alexander and junior forward Matt Kingsley, both of whom average around 16 points per game. If you think the Jacks are good now, they lose only one senior of consequence and only three players overall. This team is going to be tough if they make the Big Dance, and they will be even tougher next season. Imagine the sleeplessness in Big East, Big 12 and Pac-10 countries if the Jacks go 24-4 and lose in the Southland Conference title game. That will make for a very interesting Sunday night.

Seven Days on the Hot Seat: Mark Few, Gonzaga Bulldogs

Alright, so Few isn’t really on the hot seat, but there is now a very real possibility that he will leave Gonzaga at the end of the season. Here’s the deal; right now the heat on Oregon’s Ernie Kent is enormous, especially after his Ducks blew both games on their L.A. road trip last week. Oregon had double-digit leads in the second half of both games. The likelihood of Kent’s dismissal after the season is quite high. Multiple big money donors have already made it clear to the Oregon athletic department that they want and expect Kent gone. The newspapers in Oregon are now openly talking about replacements for Kent. The name at the top of the list is Few’s. Few is obviously a good coach and recruiter. He knows the kind of players he needs for his system and he knows the recruiting scene in the Pacific Northwest. Few has stated in the past that Oregon would be one of the very few, (no pun intended), jobs that would get him to leave Gonzaga. The reason that this hasn’t garnered more attention yet is because Kent does have an opportunity to save his skin. If Oregon gets to the NCAA’s, then he will gain a reprieve. It doesn’t matter if he gets there as an at-large or by winning the Pac-10 Tournament, (which the Duck accomplished last season), just as long as he gets there. If he and the Ducks see their bubble burst, expect Gonzaga to be looking for a new coach in the spring.

Seven Days of Head Scratching: Officiating

It started long before the blown call by the Big East officials at the end of the Villanova/Georgetown game; a call that handed the Hoyas the victory. It started long before the inconsistency that was seen throughout many of the BracketBuster games last weekend. The officiating this season has been among the most inconsistent that I have seen in the last decade. There was a time not so long ago when I would watch a full week’s slate of games and be shocked to see one or two blatant screw-ups on the part of the zebras. Now it seems as if I see at least one per game. Even certain conferences seem to have more of an officiating issue than others. The Pac-10 is notorious for having the most inconsistent set of refs in any of the “power leagues”. The joke around the Pac-10 is that you’ll know what kind of game you’ll get from the refs if you know what “mood” they’re in before the game. Say what?!? These goofs on the part of the officials go beyond simple blown calls; calling a charge when it should be a block or missing a travel. Now officials are starting to make calls against the rule books of various conferences. That came to a head this past weekend when the officials in the Big Sky contest between Montana State and Idaho State refused to use video monitors to determine when a time-out had been called at the end of a key conference game. If the officials had gotten the rule right they would have awarded two technical foul shots to Idaho State. There would have been barely enough time for Montana State to have gotten a shot off to tie or win the game if ISU had made even one of the free throws. As it was, Montana State won in overtime. The Big Sky Conference noticed the blunder and called the officiating crew to the carpet, suspending each official for one game. This should be used more by conferences to be sure that the officials are at the top of their games. Nothing needs to be said about specifics when it happens, and I understand that conferences are reluctant to do this sort of thing because it admits error. However, as time has gone by, officials have become more and more emboldened to become part of the game focus rather than calling the game. Remember, the best officiated games are the ones when you don’t remember the refs.

Southland Conference Preview

CHN — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 13:02:14 -0500

Conference Previews | Top 144 | 06-07 Preview Home

Southland Preview

Conference Rank: 29th

Conference Page

All-Conference

Player of the Year - JeJuan Plair, Sam Houston St, G

Dwight Boatner, McNeese St, G

Josh Alexander, SFA, G/F

Stefan Blaszczynski, Nicholls St, F

Chris Daniels, TAMU-CC, C

Nat'l	Team (Click for Preview)	Conf	Tourney
117	Sam Houston St	1	NCAA
161	Stephen F. Austin	2
187	TAMU CC	3
202	Northwestern St	4
208	Lamar	5
224	McNeese State	6
244	SE Louisiana	7
265	Texas Arlington	8
281	Nicholls State	9
288	Texas State	10
320	Texas San Antonio	11
336	Central Arkansas	12

Head Coach Q&A's

Danny Kaspar - Stephen F Austin

Scott Cross - Texas Arlington

Other Preseason Articles

Southland Gets Best of the Deal