17 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals from
Tony Romero off the bench get him Player of the Game honors, and we romp 72-52 over Southern in our opener. I think
Todd Carruth got shafted, personally - 8 points, 13 rebounds, 4 blocks, and 2 steals is a much better all around game. Or even
Al Delk making me look like a genius with 8 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists and a block, a stellar, near-triple double in his first college outing!
We throttle USC-Upstate 78-61 two nights later, and this time
Todd Carruth won't be denied star mention - 16 points, 12 rebounds, a block, and a steal. Shoutout to
Tony Romero with 8 points, 7 boards, a block off the bench.
Our four game win streak over two seasons ends with a close 62-65 loss to SMU. Rough to have that happen, but we're already looking like a far better squad than we did last year. He's off to a slow start efficiency wise, but
Chris Lehman has exploded in stepping up and taking the scoring load in our first three games - averaging a team-high 14.3 points a game.
Since it's only 3 games, I'll keep going.
We also land our first recruit!
PG David Gravitt - 6'1, 175 - Okolona HS - Okolona, MS - 3*
At first blush, he's our best FT shooter and handler right away, and it's not even close. Raw, but with possibly elite upside as a passer. Most importantly, although he still has to develop, he's looking like a great perimeter defender and ballthief. HS Stats: 8.9 points, 7.8 assists, 1.3 TO, 6.1 steals! 6.2 A/TO ratio! 43.4% shooting and can't hit the 3 worth a damn in HS, though our scouting says he should be better. Jump shot looks eh, but he's got decent academics (2.91 GPA, 1160 SAT), and at #325 overall, he's the highest ranked recruit we've ever landed. Could possibly push
John Hallett to the bench next year.
Oh, and while it doesn't look like we're going to expand our Illinois pipeline this year, it's worth noting
Madison, IL and Edwardsville, IL are just 16 miles apart from each other and are near the Missouri/Illinois border:
Another 3 point loss to open December., vs Towson. Argh! We just couldn't hit our FTs, and in doing so, we waste
Ryan Farley's 19 point, 6 rebound and a steal performance. Incidentally,
nobody wanted to give us a road game this year, so it's all homecourt games for the non-conference slate.
Todd Carruth banks in 16 points, 15 rebounds, and 2 blocks in a 66-61 win over Youngstown State, with
Ryan Farley looking great with 12 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 steals. 10 bench points for
Tony Romero, too.
Loss follows, and then a 77-57 beatdown of NJIT fueled by 21 points, 10 rebounds, and a steal by
Todd Carruth, and supporting greatness by
Al Delk (11 points, 8 rebounds, 4 steals) and
John Hallett (17 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals - 10/12 from the line).
This year, we don't let a winless team embarrass us, and we instead trounce then 0-9 North Dakota 71-47.
Chris Lehman gets PotG nod with 12 points, 2 steals, and shutdown defense on his opponent, but it was
Ryan Farley who led our team in scoring with 16 points and a block.
Our RPI, as expected, is in the tank, so we make ourselves sacrificial hosts to Texas, and the Longhorns show us who is best in a 78-46 laugher.
We're still with a 341 RPI at the start of January.
Code:
2012 Southland Conference Standings
EAST CW CL Pct W L Pct RPI Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stephen F. Austin 0 0 .000 9 3 .750 310 37
Central Arkansas 0 0 .000 4 7 .364 198 16
McNeese State 0 0 .000 4 7 .364 257 26
Northwestern State 0 0 .000 3 8 .273 344 25
Southeastern Louisiana 0 0 .000 2 8 .200 183 28
Nicholls State 0 0 .000 2 7 .222 276 13
WEST CW CL Pct W L Pct RPI Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Texas-Arlington 0 0 .000 7 3 .700 135 31
Lamar 0 0 .000 5 4 .556 341 25
Texas State 0 0 .000 4 8 .333 165 15
Texas-San Antonio 0 0 .000 3 8 .273 207 32
Sam Houston State 0 0 .000 3 9 .250 266 51
Texas A&M-CC 0 0 .000 2 6 .250 240 33
Stephen F. Austin has also been playing it safe schedulewise. The biggest shock on this list has to be Sam Houston State. Let's see if we can examine why:
Code:
AM HOUSTON STATE TEAM INFO
Current Performance
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Team Prestige: 51 Record Vs 1-50: 0-0 Poll Rank: NR
Season Record: 3-9 Record Vs 51-100: 0-4 RPI Rank: #266
Conference Record: 0-0 Record Vs 101-200: 0-0
Home Record: 2-2 Record Vs 200+: 3-5
Team Stats CR NR Opp. Stats CR NR Margin CR NR
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Points 60.7 6 213 Points 74.3 12 333 Points -13.6 11 297
O.Reb 10.8 3 138 O.Reb 12.8 12 312 O.Reb -2.0 11 247
D.Reb 20.2 12 324 D.Reb 23.1 5 141 D.Reb -2.9 10 289
Rebounds 30.9 12 273 Rebounds 35.8 8 247 Rebounds -4.9 11 274
Assists 11.5 3 200 Assists 14.0 11 290 Assists -2.5 10 257
Steals 5.3 3 173 Steals 5.9 9 230 Steals -0.6 4 199
Blocks 3.7 2 85 Blocks 2.0 2 28 Blocks 1.7 1 51
Turnovers 14.8 10 259 Turnovers 12.0 8 256 Turnovers 2.8 9 276
Fouls 20.9 10 314 Fouls 19.1 9 133 Fouls 1.8 11 274
FG% .413 4 228 FG% .469 12 322 FG% -.056 11 294
FT% .698 5 103 FT% .747 12 342 FT% -.049 12 298
3P% .225 11 333 3P% .353 10 267 3P% -.128 11 329
PPS 1.17 6 243 PPS 1.35 12 327 PPS -.184 10 307
Adj. FG% .441 7 268 Adj. FG% .519 11 310 Adj. FG% -.078 11 303
Their defense, especially Opp FG %, should be way better than that. Their rebounding issues aren't surprising - in fact, I'm stunned the Bearkats are doing that well on the offensive glass. The biggest culprit in the swoon has to be
Scotty Fang, the senior PG who shot great as a bench player last season, and has been terrible this year. Juco transfer
Curtis Hoag at SG looks great on paper, but has been a big disappointment in terms of production. 3*, #148 ranked freshman
Daniel Davis has been as good as advertised, and is a favorite to win Freshman of the Year.
The other major problem -
Ruben Dulaney and
Charles Glover are efficient big men, but neither one is taking an active role in the scoring offense, and while the senior Glover is good at hitting the defensive glass, they're both awful on the offensive boards.