Mavericks to Play in CPC's Biggest Week

Happy post #100!

With that out of the way, I'll dive into a topic that I rarely venture into for the 100th. Regular readers know I tread carefully into ranking subjective material. For example, rather than say the 1981 UT Arlington Men's Basketball team was the most talented ever, which is my opinion, I'd say they were one of the greatest, allowing others to their opinion of which is the greatest. I know people like lists, especially top ten, but I leave that for others to decide, at least for now.

That said, there are the slam dunks, which only the fringe can deny, like for example to 1967 football team achieved the greatest success, but those are few and far between. I think today's topic qualifies.

In its brief history, CPC has seen some big games, but there has not been the back-to-back games that have the meaning of this week. UTA sits in fourth in the Sun Belt Conference standings at 8-5. Louisiana-Monroe is a half game ahead at 9-5 and Louisiana-Lafayette is a game ahead of them at 10-4. Both teams beat UTA on their home court. The Mavericks were in the middle of a four-game losing streak and five losses in six games, most of that triggered by the loss of Kevin Hervey.

The Inexplicable Fall

A lot has changed since this post, where I explained that UT Arlington may never had had this level of success. The men are on a three-game slide, and have lost four outof five. The women are struggling unexpectedly as well, losing five out of six, with a four-game skid in the mix.

I'll start with the men, where there's an obvious reason, but I think the slide is beyond that.

A deep pit in my stomach occurred when I found out sophomore Kevin Hervey had "tweaked" his knee in warm-ups prior to the Arkansas State game. As a guy who has torn an ACL before, I knew exactly what tweaked can lead to. Sure enough, the forefront of the Mavericks rise was out for the season.

Metroplex Four Tourney

Once again, an idea that has been out there many-a-time made print headlines again. Sportsday's Rick Gosselin, perhaps the highest-profile person to broach the topic, argued for an annual fall tournament among DFW's four area Division 1 schools in a recent Sports Day article.

In it, he argues that other cities have successful local showcases and North Texas should too. I know UTA would be on board. My guess is so would University of North Texas. But TCU hasn't played the Mavericks in years based on the tired argument that they have nothing to gain. From what I've ascertained, SMU is the same way.

In fact, Rick Gosselin quotes that elitist-attitude in his article, and then shuts that idea down:

"We are always open to evaluating options," SMU athletic director Rick Hart said, "but our preference is to play home games and home-and-home series -- like we have with TCU -- which reward our students, fans and season-ticket holders and allow us to showcase our campus and what we believe is one of the best arenas and in-arena experiences in all of college basketball to a national audience."

It's understandable why SMU would prefer to stay at home for its games every winter and out of any local tournaments. The Mustangs have gone national and have the most to lose of the four programs. But this tournament wouldn't be about SMU. It would be about celebrating college basketball in the area. It would be about generating local interest and enthusiasm for the sport. It would be about establishing a tradition.

The idea in the last two sentences is it in a nut shell. The idea from the "bigger" programs is that playing "smaller schools" hurts the RPI if they win, and hurts recruiting if they lose, especially if it is against a school in the same recruiting footprint.

2015/16 Sun Belt Conference Basketball Predictions.

Wednesday marks the start of the Sun Belt conference play for most basketball teams. So that means I roll out my predictions, where I get to exercise the ability to analyze the teams non-conference results and judge where they stand. I'm going to do something bold for the first time, but first, let's start with the men.

The coaches had the following thoughts as to how the final standings would appear:

1	UL Lafayette	119 (9)
2	Georgia State	108 (2)
3	UL Monroe	97
4	Arkansas State	71
5	Little Rock	68
6	Appalachian State	64
7	South Alabama	56
8	UT Arlington	48
	Texas State	48
10	Georgia Southern	28
11	Troy	19

Whoa boy do I disagree. The Sun Belt looks stronger than at any point during UTA's tenure and if the chips fall the right way, have the potential to be a two-bid conference come March Madness.

Non-Conference Play has Concluded

Since I became a Maverick in 2000, there has never been a more exciting time in UT Arlington basketball history than right now. In fact, looking back at the history of the program, I think I can say that with the possible exception of two-three years in the early 1980's, both teams have never been as national competitive as they are now. The men have made national, attention-grabbing wins (after being picked as the eighth best team in the 11-member Sun Belt by the coaches) and the women performed near expectations.

I'll break it down, starting with the men's team.

UTA opened the year with Fordham. They took control early, and looked like they would follow previous year's teams and watch the lead disappear. However, they made stops when they needed to and pulled out a 77-72 win. Fordham is not a powerhouse team, having won only ten games or less each of the past seven seasons and not having a winning record since 2006/07. Yet, they, like the Mavericks, have been more than was expected, as they sport a 9-2 record. It was a solid win, though no one knew it at the time.

2015 Volleyball Recap

Another season in the books, another year without making the tournament. I had high hopes for the UT Arlington squad this year and there were times when it looked like Mavericks would take the world by storm.

I suppose in some ways, the 19-10 season and 4th place Sun Belt Conference (10-6) finish out of 11 teams is good. It certainly beats the 2008 to 2012 stretch with one winning season. But in the end, we are the Mavericks, the most storied volleyball program in the Belt (and still the Southland Conference) with more NCAA tournament appearances than any team in Texas but two. It would be nice to actually be in contention for a conference title in the last week of the season. We haven't been there in a long, long time.

I guess I should come to terms that we haven't had the caliber of team as we had in the 1980's, with their sweet sixteen, elite eights and a final four. In many ways, I think I have, but I can't let go of the fact that we are in the longest tournament drought in the program's history. When I was a student, we were at the top of the Southland Conference and able to make the NCAA's in any given year. I'm hopeful we can now, but don't have the same feeling that we are a dominant team. I felt we had zero chance against Arkansas State, minimal hope versus Appalachian St and not surprised with the Texas State outcomes. That wasn't the case against any team in the early 2000's.

The team looked good this year in some matches. There were times were I really felt the were the dominant team that could impose their will. But it wasn't every match, not even close. When trouble hit, it came in a predictable manner.

Biggest Wins Ever?

In the last entry, the Maverick Rambler questioned whether the Ohio State win two games ago was the biggest win ever. Short answer was no, it was big, but not number one. Someone questioned if I had changed my stance after last night's 68-64 win at Memphis.

No, not really, cause once again, it hasn't changed anything. I still grant they are very, very big wins and likely could be more as the season progresses.

As we saw in the Louisiana Tech game, the only loss on UTA's ledger, when Kevin Hervey missed most of the second half, the team struggled mightily. There is a deep team under Coach Scott Cross, but without his play inside/out and at both ends of the floor, the Mavericks are likely another .500 Sun Belt team.

So at this point, I just plan to sit back and watch something potentially special this year. Maybe when it is all said and done, I'll consider these two games higher.