The Last WAC Tournament

As soon as the first game of the previous series for the UT Arlington baseball team was in the books, I immediately thought of my last post. I was talking about how well their chances were to go as high as fourth or even third in the upcoming Western Athletic Conference tournament. 

Their chances were high because they were facing a team who had not won a conference series entering the sixth and final one of the season. The Utah Valley Wolverines had been swept three times. UTA's pitching was clearly superior while the offenses were a bit more even with a slight nod to UVU. Pitching usually wins out in these scenarios.

But the one part of the post stood out Thursday and especially after Friday's loss, giving Utah Valley the series win, their first of the year.

In more good news, UTA faces one remaining team in the WAC race, the last place team. Utah Valley, at 2-13 has been swept three times in five WAC series' and has not won a single series to this point. Now the cycnist in me will say this will be the time because their opponent is the Mavs. We Mav fans have seen heartbreak way too often to ever be comfortable. 

The rest of the WAC outcomes didn't favor UTA and as a result, the Mavericks fell to sixth in the standings. Utah Tech swept Abilene Christian, vaulting the Trailblazers to third. That put ACU in a tie for fifth with UTA, but the Wildcats won the series against the Mavs, giving ACU the higher seed. Sacramento State won their series against the regular-season champions in Tarleton State, giving them the fourth seed.

Crunch Time

The 2026 sprint of a baseball season, at least on the conference level, is entering it's last weekend and the UT Arlington squad is in a good position. Not great mind you, and certainly not at historic levels we've seen over this decades, but given the recent history after COVID cancelled the 2020 season, the prospects look promising.

Much of the last post about baseball still ring true: the pitching is above average, the offense is struggling, there have been close wins and large losses. But I'll cut to the chase. At 7-8 in the Western Athletic Conference, UTA has clinched a spot in the WAC tournament, the field is set, the seeding is not and the Mavericks sit in a tie for fifth with Utah Tech, but are a game out of third as Abilene Christian and Sacramento State are tied at 8-7.

The good news, UTA just won their series against the trailblazers 2-1 and have not been swept by any team in the conference. Bad news, the 9-8, 10-inning loss to Abilene Christian on April 25th cost them that series while a 2-1 loss on day one of the previous series against the Hornets cost UTA that WAC three-game set. To really hammer that point, after winning the opening series against the WAC leaders in Tarleton State, who have clinched a tie for the regular season trophy with three games remaining, UTA dropped a 6-4 decision to second place California Baptist that lost them that series. A slightly more potent offense and UTA has an outside shot at a regular season title at this point in the season. 

Softball's Changeover

The regular season has concluded for the UT Arlington softball team and for the first time in six years, UTA will have a winning record. At 24-21, regardless of the results in the upcoming Western Athletic Conference tournament, the Mavericks are guaranteed to have more wins than losses. A late 3-8 stretch last year put the UTA one game below .500.

This year came on the strength of a 12-6 conference mark. With a .667 winning percentage, that is the best conference mark since the COVID year's 2-1 mark. The last in a full season was a 20-10 mark in 2011 during the Southland Conference era. In the Sun Belt, there weren't many winning conference seasons, but 2019's 17-10 mark was the high-water mark. It's the first winning WAC season in five tries, including the lone year in 2013.

The results came on the backs of a relentless offense. UTA hit 59 home runs this year, a program best. In the WAC, second-place Tarleton State hit 42 for comparison. What's impressive, is UTA's 45 games played is last in the WAC. The range is a high of 55 by TSU and California Baptist (the top two teams in the WAC standings) to a low of 47 by sixth-place Southern Utah. Keep that in mind for the following stats.

In addition to being first in home runs, UTA sits second in runs with 304, second in RBI with 268, second in slugging percentage at .519, third in hit by pitches at 35 and third in on base percentage at .390. Had they played the same number of games as TSU and CBU, many of those stat categories see UTA at the top. Also note, these numbers were gathered with one game left for every other team in the conference and are subject to change.

With such a dominant performance, of course there will be some players atop the conference.

What about Softball?

Yesterday, I mentioned the UT Arlington baseball team opened conference play this weekend. The softballers, whose season starts a week earlier, are in the middle of Western Athletic Conference play. The season has been interesting, but not the rollercoaster ride of their male diamond counterparts.

At 15-17 on the year, the team has done well in some games, then dropped the ball, intended figuratively, in other games. But, the important record, 4-2 in WAC play is good.

At 192 in RPI, UTA is fifth out of the seven team conference race. UTA beat Abilene Christian at their place 2-1 to start conference play, winning the first two before dropping the rubber match. That formula was repeated in Arlington against Tarleton State. ACU is well below UTA in the RPI rankings currently at 235, compared to UTA’s 192. The Texans, however, are 154. That is a good series win.

Like in years past, this team has strengths and weaknesses. I don’t know what it is, but pitching has been problematic. California Baptist leads the conference with a 3.02 earned run average. Utah Valley is under five and in second place. Southern Utah and TSU are third and fourth with ERA’s in the five. UTA is fifth at 6.52. Utah Tech is a quarter of a run behind and poor ACU is last in the nine’s.

The Confusing Non-Conference

The UT Arlington baseball team begins Western Athletic Conference play this weekend and the results have been mixed to say the least. In fact, this may be the most opposite of seasons I have ever seen in my two and a half decades plus of following UTA Mavericks.

At 11-16, the record certainly reflects a year that has been less than stellar, but it's those weird dichotomies that make this one a headscratcher. To enter into the record: 12 times on the year, UTA has scored three runs or less. They are 1-11 in those games, understandably so. But in games where they scored just one more run, they are 2-2. UTA has scored double digit runs six times, all wins. Proving they can score. There are some weird inconsistencies, as caliber of opponent seems to matter little, as I'll get into shortly.

The pitching staff has allowed three runs or less six times. While not as numerous as the 12 times they scored three or less, that is still a wide difference in runs from offense to defense. Their record in that category is 5-1. When they've allowed exactly four runs, they are 0-2. They have given up double digit runs six times, a 1-5 record.

But the real odd one to me that I just can't explain is a head scratcher to everyone.

Basketball Year End Buzzer

As a fan blog, with no ties to any monetary incentive or fear of displeasing any one group, I can run this blog as I want. As a fan, I can succumb to stupid fan superstitions too. I've done a conference tournament post quite a bit in the past. Since I've started this blog, the UT Arlington men's team has not won the conference tournament. So it has to be me right?

Spoiler, it was not. I will not go into details of the games, but both teams won at least one game in Las Vegas. Depending on your viewpoint, it was a success or shoulder shrug. Depending on the team, the outcome could be a success or a shoulder shrug.

Starting with the men's performance, there was no shocker either way. The seeds held for both games. As the fourth seed, UTA beat the fifth seeded Southern Utah Thunderbirds 69-63 before losing to the top seeded Utah Valley Wolverines, 67-65, ending their season at 18-14. Ironically, the end results were roughly what I expected, but the up and down nature of this year's Mavericks squad meant I wasn't comfortable against SUU. 

It was generally a consistent game as the teams battled in the first half. UTA used a late spurt for a five-point lead. In the second half, they built a short-lived, double-digit lead twice before the Thunderbirds reduced the deficit. However, UTA never coughed up the lead before time expired for the win. Had this performance been more common, the Mavs would have won more than 20 games.

As it is, it was a winning season. K.T. Turner has now done that two times in three years. He is 3-3 in the conference tournament. A title game trip occurred in his first year. A one-and-done marred last year. A .500 trip for a team that went .500 in Western Athletic Conference play looks par for the course.

The last game played for this academic season was both a reassuring sign that Coach Turner punches up in March, but a disappointment as well. 

UTA lost to UVU three times in the regular season. And none were close. In two, UTA had a late run that made a laugher look not as laughable, but UVU was comfortably ahead. Scores in Orem include 86-74 and 81-60. The lone game in Arlington was about the same, 66-54. 

To lose by only two to the regular season champs was a marked improvement. UTA made a furious rally to erase a 16-point UVU lead with nine minutes remaining. Senior forward Raysean Seamster just missed on a desperation three that would have won the game as time expired. The shot was on line, but just a bit short.

And that shot really hits at the disappointment portion. I said on X that the shot represents UTA's basketball history. Just missed. And it applies to many different aspects. 

The Scott Cross firing. He is a coach who won on Texas Hall and still holds so many records and milestones. And he was fired after three twenty-win seasons. 

Or the fact that UTA has played in a conference tournament 39 times since the first SLC postseason event in 1981. They have missed the field six times. They have won it once in 44 eligible seasons. That's a percentage of 2.3 percent. They have won it once in 39 participations, a percentage of 2.6 percent. 19 different teams have won a conference tournament UTA participated, 20 if you count the Mavs lone win in 2008. Their all-time conference tourney record is 24-38.

By round, they are 13-17 in the quarterfinals, a decent 8-8 in the semis and a paltry 1-7 in the finals. That's a winning percentage of 12.5 percent. That's about as close but nope as it gets. If they won it 50/50, they quadruple the all-time tourney appearances. Instead, it was 1/8th of the time. Close but nope.

Now we transition to watching the team get whittled away in the portal. In my chat with the Athletic Director this summer, Jon Fagg said they approach it as an opportunity to get these talented kids for one year, similar to Kentucky from a couple of decades ago. 

And that is the right approach from an administrative level. The portal isn't going away. I wish the one-year sit out rule after the first transfer was still in place, but that's not current events.

But as a fan, I hate it. So mixed with the emotional loss of watching the shot just miss, the immediate thought went to the portal and how bad the roster turnover will be this offseason. While typing this, sophomore guard Cash Chavis has already declared. What could this team have done this year if Chendall Weaver, Makiah Williams and Kade Douglass were still on the roster? I'd wager that is a championship caliber team. 

As it is, the sample size is small, but Coach Turner has fielded competitive teams in this era and Mav fans will cling to the hope it continues.

As for the ladies, a season chock full of disappointing close loss with one bad quarter ruining a good output culminated in a 2-1 run through the WAC tournament. In the first game, the seed held as the sixth-seed Mavs beat the seventh seed Utah Tech Trailblazers 77-73. In the quarterfinals, UTA upset the third seeded Thunderbirds, 70-65. In the semis, Abilene Christian showed they were just a tier above the rest of the WAC, defeating the Mavericks 70-50.

In both wins, it looked like the formula for the season was on the verge of repeating itself. Against UT, they built a 15-point lead in the first quarter, but then coughed it up in the second. By the end of the third quarter, the Mavs trailed for the first time. In most games this season, UTA would play a tough fourth, but just not have enough overall. However, this game was different a s six-point UTA advantage led to a four-point one. Halfway through the final quarter, the Trailblazer lead swelled to seven points. I knew UTA was done. But they proved me a cynicist and went on a 13-5 run to get their first lead of the frame. The Mavs made all seven free throws attempted in the last thirty seconds to keep the lead and seal the win. 

Against SUU, UTA trailed early, but chipped away until a free throw from senior point guard Nya Threatt gave UTA their first lead early in the third. SUU regained it to start the fourth and built a multi-possession lead. Like the previous game, UTA's opponent had a lead under five minutes remaining. Again, I just knew UTA, like they had done many times this year, was about to finish a game on the short end. And again, they proved I was a cynicist when they initiated a 7-3 run after a tie ballgame with two and a half minutes left in the game. Defense won the last 35 seconds as the team only shot four of eight from the free throw line. The defense didn't allow a basket on three shots while also getting a turnover in that time to guarantee they won more games than they lost in the WAC Tournament.

ACU, as expected owned their game start to finish. I thought there clearly was a delineation between the top two teams in the WAC and the remaining five. ACU proved that with the 20-point win. California Baptist proved that on their end as they would win the whole thing.

Historically, this is where I'd point out the potential this team would have in the coming years. While the women don't have the roster turnover by percentage the men do, there's still a lot of movement. UTA lacked a scoring guard this year who could consistently put up points. Former Mav Gia Adams was 11th in scoring for Tarleton State this year. Her 11.7 points per game would have put her second on the team, 2.5 points ahead of Threatt. Since she is a point guard, it is safe to say Adams would have added about three more points for UTA on average at that position. That certainly would have cut into the negative scoring margin of just over six.

But at least the 2-1 run in Las Vegas let Mav fans go to the offseason with a small sense of confidence.

Hoops, Track and Diamond Updates

It's been a while for the Maverick Rambler, there was a perfect storm of factors the last month or so. First, as happens every year, February and March has the most activity from the UT Arlington Athletic Department than any other point. Both basketball teams are in the final stretch, baseball and softball started their seasons as did the tennis teams. The Western Athletic Conference meet occurred for the indoor track teams. That is 8 of the 15 programs (17 now I suppose with the wheelchair basketball teams). I don't really cover golf, as I'm not much of an enthusiast and covering them would be generic at best, but I believe their seasons have started too. I always get paralysis of options this time of year. Several ideas at once ironically leads to less coverage and writer's block.

Secondly, I volunteer at my son's school to do public address for the basketball teams. He just finished his first year on the varsity team in the playoffs and that took a lot of my personal time. These are moments I won't get back as a dad as I walk the path so I'm doing my best to treasure it while it goes on.

Third, I had a personal matter pop up a couple of weeks ago that both required lots of my time and attention, while also stifling my motivation to write.

And the fourth reason... Candidly, things just haven't been going well as a whole. I'll touch on each team in this post, something I generally don't like doing. But I've seen the blasé feeling is shared by other Mav fans too. Some good things are happening as well, so I don't want to sound all bad.

The Basketball Race is now a Soap Opera

It was a big week last week (as it seems every week is) in the race for the Western Athletic Conference men's basketball regular season title. UT Arlington split the week with a dominant win against Southern Utah and an overtime loss to California Baptist, both at home. That loss did not give separation in the standings. Then this week, news broke that could have a huge impact on the race.

First, the Mavericks hosted the Thunderbirds last Thursday. UTA never trailed in the game as they throttled SUU. The lead went as high as 25 a couple of times in the second half as UTA won 80-61. UTA shot 43.3 percent from the field, 35.3 percent from three-point land while allowing a similar field goal percentage and 33.3 percent from beyond the arc. Senior forward Raysean Seamster led all scorers with 16 while freshman forward Amari Reed had nine rebounds to lead all players.

That set up a battle between 6-2 UTA and 5-3 California Baptist. Utah Valley was 6-3 entering the day meaning a UTA loss would put a three-way tie for first and a UTA win would put the Mavericks in sole possession of first by a full game.

First-place UTA Mavericks

Back in a past life when I used to work at a popular local sports radio station, the Texas Rangers were in the midst of another losing season. They were last in the four-team AL West from 2000 to 2003. They were third place from 2004 to 2006. All but one of those seasons resulted in an overall losing record. During one of those years, they had a great April and either the end of that month or the start of May, the Rangers receptionist was answering the phone “first-place Texas Rangers.” The radio station got that audio and saved it and would use it often. It was an occasional jab at the Rangers, as the schedule to that point when the audio was recorded was quite easy, but it transitioned to just a general descriptor of the team. Then, after I left the station, it became an accurate way, perhaps even a proud way, to describe the team as they made their runs in the early teens.

I give that long intro to relay the first thing that came to my mind after an epic game between the California Baptist Lancers and the Utah Valley Wolverines. UVU entered the day half a game ahead of the UT Arlington Mavericks in the Western Athletic Conference standings. When CBU won, one easy phrase popped into my head.

First-place UTA Mavericks.

First Week In - the Good

With a slight hiccup at home, the 3-1 start for the UT Arlington men's basketball team was about as perfect a start to Western Athletic Conference play as there could be. Even with the loss, the start is as good as could be expected by Maverick fans. Excitement is building and the players are clearly showing confidence.

It has helped that UTA has played three of the four games to open WAC play at home. As I've watched the season unfold, both non-conference and the first two weeks of Western Athletic Conference play there are legitimately five teams that could win the regular season and six have a realistic shot. The lone road game to this point was versus the one team that I don't think can make a case they will finish near the top and are currently in last place. 

With road games this week against two competitive teams, we'll have a better idea of where UTA could be to start the conference tournament in Las Vegas. But before I get into that, let's look into the first two weeks of conference play.

First Week In - the Bad

The UT Arlington women's basketball team was given a gauntlet of a schedule by the Western Athletic Conference to open conference play and the record reflects it. At 0-4, UTA has a hole to climb out of the rest of the way.

Credit to Derryl Trujillo on Twitter, or X, for getting to this stat first as teams in the WAC are 11-4 when they play on their home floor. That's not a terribly good stat for this squad as their schedule has three of the first four conference games away from the friendly confines of College Park Center. The lone home game featured a team that has a legitimate chance to win the conference regular season title. 

The losing streak was also exacerbated by the injury report. The good news for UTA is much of that slump came with senior point guard Nya Threatt out. She was back on the floor after missing the first three WAC games to start conference play. She returned to action against Abilene Christian on Saturday.

The Season that Counts, Men's Version

This year's version of the UT Arlington men's team has had the best start to a season since 2017/18 when they had an equal 8-4 start en route to a 21-win season. I don't know what fortunes this year holds, but it has been a pleasure to watch the non-conference season.

The last Maverick Rambler post was just two games prior to the completion of the non-conference schedule and the results went the way my optimism was hoping.

UTA's lone-Power Conference game was in California against Stanford. UTA hit a cold streak in the first half while the Cardinal did not en route to a 25-40 Maverick deficit. UTA played toe-to-toe and was on the verge of getting the score within single digits on more than one occasion in the second half, but ultimately it was a 76-60 loss. UTA kept its fairly strong three-point defense going, allowing only five of 16 shooting for Stanford beyond the arc. Conversely, UTA was porous in the paint, where Stanford did a lot of damage.

The Season that Counts, Women's Version

Since I've rotated between weekly UT Arlington men's and women's basketball teams, non-conference games come at a sporadic pace, I haven't really covered the Lady Mavericks this month. As we exit the Christmas break, the non-conference portion of both teams schedule has concluded and there's no better time to check in with the UTA women's team.

UTA had just successfully competed in the North Shore Classic, going 2-1 against two P4 teams and an A-10 squad. In that time, they have compiled a respectable 2-2 record, defeating Little Rock in Arkansas, 62-55, losing in Houston to Rice, 75-54, defeating Texas Southern at College Park Center, 81-73 and closed out non-conference in Baton Rouge to the fifth-ranked Louisiana State Tigers, 110-45.

In the wins, UTA beat who they should have with the Trojans 30-40 spots below UTA in the NET ranking while the Tigers are 150 or so. In the losses, there wasn't anything shattering either.

Starting Strong

If you asked the average UT Arlington fan about their expectations for the 2025/26 men's basketball season, I'm not sure there would have been a consistent consensus. I know some eternally optimistic fans who believe every year is UTA's year. Conversely, I've seen the opposite end of the spectrum where some are of the opinion this will be a disaster.

For those in the middle or those like me who give it an honest attempt at as close to an unbiased look as possible, it is difficult. In the portal era where UTA has seen over 80 percent roster turnover in consecutive seasons, having any kind of expectation either way is increasingly less certain than a Las Vegas roulette table. 

This summer, Athletic Director Jon Fagg told me he thought the team had a high ceiling and would get some wins. Well, the early returns show he may have had the best take. To be fair, I don't get to watch practice and see how the new team looks. 

End of November Quick Hits

I wanted to touch on a number of sports for this week, so instead of doing half a dozen separate blog entries of varying lengths, I'm going to wrap all of them into this is one single entry. I don't normally do that, but I suspect that will prevent a post overload that I feel would have happened with six in a short period of time. I'll go in chronological order to avoid confusion.

-THE WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL season ended a week ago. Prior to the start of the Western Athletic Conference tournament, the All-WAC teams and postseason accolades were given. Even though there were two Maverick players leading the conference in their respective stat categories, I wasn't expecting a player of the year honor for the team, given its fifth of seven finish in conference. Junior setter Mira Ledermueller was first in the WAC in assists with 896 and assists per set at 9.05 to conclude the regular season. Second place had 860 and 7.89 respectively. Junior libero Samantha Glenn had 422 total digs in the regular season, good for second in the conference and had 4.18 digs a set, good for first. 

What irked me is neither made an all-conference team. Senior outside hitter Jalie Tritt was a second-team member. There were two freshmen on the All-Freshman team: middle blocker Sophia Krichev and middle blocker Camryn McMinn.

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.