Early Hoops Return

While the early 2-4 record for the UT Arlington women's basketball team isn't appealing on the surface, there's certainly things about this team that should build excitement for the part of the schedule that matters most, conference play.

Looking over the Western Athletic Conference, scores have not indicated a true favorite like there was last year. UTA's schedule was known to be challenging prior to the start of the season. Given the Mavericks recent conference performances the last few years, it seems something is working. The hope is this translates to a success WAC performance.

The Mavs opened the season with two straight losses at Houston (59-76) and at home to Missouri State (53-69). The first win was in College Park Center to Wyoming (64-44) and a second in a row to Tennessee State (78-58). In the one-that-got-away category, UTA suffered a 55-66 loss at Lamar. There, they led the Cardinals 38-26 with less than a minute gone in the 3rd quarter and it ended with the Mavs down 44-45. Most recently in the Hawaii North Shore Showcase, UTA slugged it out with Colorado, dropping another 60-71. In that game, UTA had a lead late in the first quarter before it ended in a tie. UTA was trailing by a point before a basket as time expired gave the Buffaloes a three-point lead at the half. The game was tied again halfway through the third before Colorado went on a spurt to keep the lead for good. UTA trimmed the lead to one with two minutes gone in the fourth, but gave up an 8-0 that was integral to the 11-point defeat.

UTA FB History: Vol. 9 Gm. 12 - End with a High Note

I flip through dozens of games on Saturday afternoon nights during the college football season. I don't remember which broadcaster, but one last week or one prior said they couldn't believe how fast the season had progressed. I echo that as today is the final entry of the 2025 This Day in UTA Football History.

The Maverick Rambler ends with the 1980 season. It's been well established that '80 was a season of promise that came up very short. Maverick Stadium opened and UTA got its first win in their new home last week, a 36-14 win over Arkansas State. With that win, UTA was 1-5 at home for the 1980 season.

Certainly a mark that low was not on anyone's hopes or dreams to start the year. Losses of 17, ten, 12, 20 and 17 didn't give UTA fans much excitement either. The Mavs beat themselves, just as much as the opponent did.

Start Looks Good but ...

The 3-1 start to the 2025/26 looks good for the UT Arlington men's basketball team. And it is certainly better than 2-2 or, heaven forbid, 1-3. But this part of the season makes judging where the basketball team is or what they can be very difficult. 

The mark was attained by beating two non-NCAA schools, not just non-Division I. They opened the season against North Texas-Dallas, which seems to be a regular occurrence of late. They were on the Mavs schedule last year as well as the prior year. The relatively new National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) school has gone 0-3 in those games. UTA won 91-40. A general rule of thumb for me is UTA needs to win these games by double.

Most recently, they played Arlington Baptist, a National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) school that has an enrollment in the low hundreds. UTA played them for the first time and won 117-61.

But I have a thought after looking at those two games.

Disappointing Conclusion

It was a rough end to the 2025 volleyball season for the UT Arlington Mavericks as the team dropped the last three matches of the schedule, losing on senior day to the Utah Valley Wolverines, 0-3, to the last-place Southern Utah Thunderbirds 1-3 and to the Utah Tech Trailblazers, 0-3.

To briefly recap, the Mavs scored 20 or more in each set loss to UVU. I was really impressed with the way they hung in there to the more imposing front line of UVU. They found ways to make their offense work, but were just overpowered in the end. 

They scored 21 and 20 in the first two sets against SUU, before claiming a 25-18 set three win. In the fourth, they only notched 19. That was the most disappointing loss of the three, and was the first all-time to the Thunderbirds. It almost appeared like they were looking ahead.

Against UT, it looked like the Trailblazers clearly remembered UTA won in Arlington (which cost them an outright conference title), as they allowed the Mavericks only 16, 18 and 19 in the three sets. It was less of what UTA did or didn't do, but more that UT was not going to let senior day slip away.

UTA FB History: Vol. 9 Gm. 11 - Bowl Conception

This is not something I do very often, but in this week's edition of This Day in UTA Football History, I want to highlight a specific opponent. It is a noteworthy one that has left a lasting impact to even this day for one primary reason.

At last check in with the 1975 team in this year's edition, the Mavericks lost their third Southland Conference game in three tries to the Southwestern Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns, 35-32. The following week, the team won their first conference game against Lamar, 37-24. That win snapped a two-game losing streak to the Cardinals and was the first of 11 straight wins in the series. The win also snapped a season-high four-game losing streak for the year, a losing streak that derailed an optimistic 2-2 start.

Sitting at 3-6 overall and 1-3 in the Southland, the Mavericks were an improving bunch, but still a few pieces short. With just one win the prior year, the first of an eventual ten season for head coach Harold "Bud" Elliott, it was clear 1975 was a better year.

The bad news? Longtime conference foe Arkansas State was on the schedule today. After going 3-0-1 to start their series as SLC rivals, the Rebels/Mavs had won once in seven tries versus the then Indians, now Red Wolves, since that start prior to 1975. Starting with the slugfest of 1968, UTA had lost four straight. A one-point win in 1972 temporarily stopped the slide before two more losses were added in the subsequent two seasons. The average score was 24 to 10 in favor of the Indians. And that average includes the one-point win in '72 and the one-point loss in '68. And it still was that lopsided.

It was about to get worse.

UTA FB History: Vol. 9 Gm. 10 - The OG's

It's been two weeks since the 1969 UT Arlington Rebels were featured in This Day in UTA Football History. The team picked up a conference opening road win, 34-7 win over the Trinity Tigers. Oddly enough, Trinity would finish with the same Southland Conference record as UTA, despite the lopsided score. The 1969 Rebels were very good on the road, winning four of five.

The week after, the Rebs hosted a higher division school in West Texas State. The Rebels were a member of the College Division, the equivalent of Division II today while the Buffaloes were in the University Division. The result was something that is considered fairly standard in those kinds of games if it were played today, a 41-7 loss. It dropped UTA to 4-3 on the year, all three losses at home. Starting when the team was Arlington State College, the team had a 15-game home winning streak that was snapped in the last game of 1968. Counting that loss, the home winning streak transitioned into four games entering today.

Rebel fans were hoping today would go in a different direction. UTA could go to 2-0 in the conference with a win and it was homecoming. Spoiler alert, the largest crowd of the year would fill Memorial Stadium today, filling the on-campus venue past capacity.

I've always had a soft spot in my heart for today opponent, known then as the Abilene Christian College Wildcats. I grew up in West Texas, a couple of hours west of Abilene and knew of Abilene Christian University as it is known now. I have played a high school football game in their former home stadium, Shotwell Stadium, owned by the Abilene Independent School District. Unknown to me at the time, my future Alma Mater, sans football when I enrolled, had also played there.

Gut Punch

It was another rough week this week for the UT Arlington volleyball squad, made even worse against in-state conference foes that once again resulted in a two-game losing week. The losses pretty much seal UTA's fate in the fifth position based on who is left on the schedule.

UTA hosted Tarleton State on Thursday and lost in five sets. Looking over the rosters, it made sense why Tarleton has had measurable success compared to last year, and their Division I stint as a whole. First-year head coach Jazmyne Johnson revamped the roster, though I was severely disappointed in her and the whole Texan team post-match, more on that in a moment.

The Texans have three returning players who have never enrolled anywhere else, one junior and two seniors. They have two freshmen on the roster. There are two transfers from the Junior College ranks who enrolled at TSU last year. There are ten, yes ten, players who were on a different campus last year within the NCAA, nine Division I players and one Division II. Even in the portal era, that is a high turnover for a volleyball roster.