Diamond Disappointments

 Between the conference tournament drop off in men's basketball and the situation surrounding the passing of my dad, I'm not going to post much regarding the spring sports this year. Congrats to the men's tennis team on the defense of their Western Athletic Conference title. They will be the only sport to bring a title and play in the postseason this year. The track teams performed well in their outdoor meets as well. Both golf teams were top of the bottom half with some marked performances that give cause for hope.

But the baseball and softball teams had less than stellar seasons in 2024. Despite the hype I heard regarding the baseball team heading into the year, they earned 22 wins versus 34 losses. I didn't hear much about the softball team in the preseason either way. They earned one more win than their baseball counterparts against the same amount of losses.

There's quite a bit to break down with the baseball results. First, UTA performed poorly in mid-week games. Once conference play started in the second weekend in March, they went 2-10 in non-conference play. Factoring out Houston, which was a weekend series due to the WAC having an odd number of teams, they were 1-8 in mid-week games during that stretch. I don't know what has happened to UTA baseball, but that's the second time in three years with that bad a non-conference stretch. Last year's wasn't much better either, just not this bad.

But the losses weren't blowouts. There were six total one-run losses, eight losses by two runs, two losses by three runs and six losses by four runs. That's 22 of 34 losses by a grand slam or less.

Don't let the Door Hit Ya

Big news broke out of the constant reshuffling of the conference realignment game this week. Just a couple weeks after my previous post about the problems Grand Canyon University brings to the Western Athletic Conference, they, along with Seattle University, accepted an invitations to the West Coast Conference, made notable by Gonzaga's domination the last couple of decades. There's a lot to unpack here and with everything else in conference realignment, the end result depends on other factors outside the WAC's and UT Arlington's control.

My first reaction was ecstatic, but it left me a little confused. I'm a firm believer that GCU is a cancer within the conference. As I detailed in the last post, their funding model cannot be replicated and they shovel a lot of money to athletics from online degrees. They outspend everyone overall but California Baptist in the WAC. Similar to an inflation adjuster, CBU spends more just by being in California and would spend dollar for dollar less than GCU were they in Arizona, or get more bang for their buck if spending was the same. However, in men's basketball, GCU almost doubles second-place CBU and is nearly 500 percent higher than last place MBB budget. 

Now I've taken flack on social media because I'm told the real reason I dislike GCU is because UTA just can't compete. The reality is that their funding mechanism creates a competitive unbalance where UTA's only shot is to win is via an upset (made even harder by the perceived officiating issues). I said it last post and I'll say it again, I don't believe GCU was the better team last year. When UTA couldn't get past Georgia State while in the Sun Belt Conference, I never despised the Panthers like I do GCU.

 But that's all the WCC's issue after next athletic year, even if I don't understand why they were selected over CBU. 

Men's Basketball Wrap

The nice thing about having a fan blog that is purely a hobby is the lack of a hard deadline or need to post something to meet a monetary goal. After the UT Arlington Mavericks played in a travesty of a Western Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament championship game, I was defeated. I've never been so embarrassed to be a part of a conference before, and I'll bring some receipts in a bit. Also, not long after, my Dad had a stroke, there's been some work milestones that needed to be met and the kids are in full on spring sports season.

I don't like posting about officials, particularly in basketball as that is a game where officials have a big impact and get a lot of attention. I usually feel they do their best and like any other job, there are those good at what they do and those that are not. I usually feel UTA plays against the other team and win or lose based on those merits. Sure a call in a close game draws attention, but was every shot made before that, every assignment kept or no blown defensive adjustments?

But after this year's basketball season, I've never been so disgusted before. It is also not related to the outcome, as when I watched California Baptist beat the women counterparts, I left feeling the ladies had a good season and went up to a team that was just better. They gave it their best shot but came up short and a better team won. After watching the Grand Canyon game in Arlington in person and the conference final on TV, I don't feel Grand Canyon was markedly better and I don't feel the Mavericks will have a fair shot in the WAC.

Conference Tournament Finals tidbits

 I initially put this on Twitter while I was at a work event earlier today, so those that follow both accounts will find this post redundant. However, those that don't will likely find value in this post as it is certainly deserving of its own entry.

UTA defeated Tarleton State in the 2024 WAC Tournament semifinals earlier this morning in an instant classic, earning a spot in the Conference Finals against Grand Canyon University.

Here are some random UT Arlington men's basketball conference tournament fun facts:

Hoops Accolades

 The Western Athletic Conference announced the postseason awards for both the men and women's basketball teams and for the first time in a long time, I didn't feel a UT Arlington Maverick was slighted. The team also made history as I'll mention in a bit.

The Mavericks scored two -of-the-Year awards with Phillip Russell scoring the Sixth-Man-of-the-Year and Makaih Williams landing UTA's second consecutive Freshman-of-the-Year in the WAC.

DaJuan Gordon was the first Mav to get a first-team all conference award in the WAC. David Azore in 2020/21 was the last conference first-teamer. Shemar Wilson landed on the Second-Team-All WAC. Both Gordon and Wilson landed on the all-defensive team.

Down and Up

 I want to be very careful with this post. After the contest between the UT Arlington Mavericks and Grand Canyon 'Lopes in Arlington, I was ready to write a post blasting the officials in the game. The stir on social media has been very critical of the Western Athletic Conference officials. While UTA committed 25 turnovers (GCU had 19), they won most every other stat category: FG's (19-16), FG percentage (36.5% to 29.6%), 3's (5 to 4), but the free throws were way out of whack. GCU went 31-36 from the charity stripe while UTA was 18-20. The refs determined UTA committed a foul 27 times, the 'Lopes? only 19.

I was ready to write a post about it, similar to what I did after the Lady Mavs lost to Iowa State in the NCAA Tournament. But in the end, I don't want this blog to be a source of negativity or complaints. 

So I brooded a bit after the 67-61 loss and just sat back and enjoyed the ride. After the loss, UTA fell to 9-11 on the year. As of this post, they are now 16-13, having gone 7-2 in that stretch. The two losses were by a combined three points.

Going into the final week, UTA has locked a top-four seed for the conference tournament, securing themselves a first-round bye while the top two get a second-round bye. Seeds five through eight beat each other up in the first round, then three and four get the match-up. UTA would need an upset to get to the Championship game, but unlike years past, there's no team I fear.

Heckuva Turnaround

The UT Arlington women's basketball team was an enigma coming into the season. In addition to the numerous seniors and graduate students, the mysterious departure of Staar Jacobs to Arkansas Pine-Bluff was a plot twist that came out of left field. It was made all the more shocking that it was a Southwestern Athletic Conference school, usually one of the lowest-rated NCAA Division I conferences. They've done decent this year, but that is a historical anomaly. As an aside, unlike other multiple-time transfers, she hasn't logged a minute for the new team after the rule was lifted about sitting out a year.

I heard on the most recent broadcast that the team lost 94 percent of its scoring from last year. Sure enough, when I looked at the stat sheet, only sophomore Nya Threatt scored a point for the Mavericks last year. That's incredible. I knew there was turnover, but not as bad as it was in actuality. In all my years of following college sports, I've never heard that save for a scandal involving a coach. Alas, such seems to be the new reality in a post-transfer-portal and NIL era.

That begged the question, how would this year's version fair? I'm not a big fan of intra-conference transfers, but there were a few of them in the WAC this year. UTA had two in Avery Brittingham and Taliyah Clark from Stephen F. Austin and Seattle U respectively. I heard rumors UTA as a team was looking strong from those in the know prior to the start of the season.