TheTastyGreek

This is bullpoop and an insult to donors and fans. If we were serious about growing and promoting this program, we'd have gotten AT LEAST a dozen puppets, and they would have been Fraggle Rock caliber, minimum. Ideally, name brand Muppet. If I don't see video (before July 4th) of Hank elbow deep in one of the Sesame Street puppets, I'm done with this program. And I won't really be happy unless it's the Count. Someone in a position of authority needs to appreciate the sartorial flourish of a nice cape.

Court ordered. Human wall between the coaching staff and the crowd.

Very California cool.

The student section reacted to something on an inbound pass... And it looked like he'd been poked in the eye or something like that when they brought him over to the bench. Anyone on that end of the floor notice what happened to him?

Now that the year is officially over, it feels more appropriate to post a top 10 list. Smashing Pumpkins: Gish / Siamese Dream (Deluxe Edition reissue) Weezer: Pinkerton (15th anniversary Deluxe Edition reissue) Radiohead: Kid A (10th anniversary Special Collector's Edition) Beastie Boys: Ill Communication (Deluxe Edition reissue) Nirvana: Nevermind (20th anniversary Deluxe Edition) Pearl Jam: Ten (20th anniversary reissue) Goodie MOB: Soul Food (15th anniversary reissue) Also, the Whitesnake comeback album. And whatever album has that "Party Rock" song on it. That song is aces. I'm seriously considering buying one of those hamster Kias. There's your year end top 10. I know that's only 9... But music was better when I was younger. Obviously. Consider the empty 10th slot a constant reminder to everyone that things were better before, and anything you love now is pathetic.

We don't need any more point guards, man. Maybe we could make an exception if it meant Izundu man up on Ray Taylor.

MITCHELL. Great work on Holmen, though. I look forward to next year, when we get a few weeks of posts with the theme "Why don't we put Odoh at the 3?" in the continuing series: Skiver Annually Insisting We Play Our Posts On The Wing. When he came here, I thought he'd play the 3. I thought we'd let him do whatever was necessary to prepare for the NBA. But he was a post in the international tournament, and he's going to stay there for us. He's a tremendous difference maker defensively (when he isn't forcing things and getting whistles) and playing him in the paint where he has to be guarded by a post makes it even more effective on offense when we have him slide out and shoot midrange or deeper.

Dislocated shoulder. No estimate on his return date.

Nobody is more frustrated than us, believe me. The universe keeps conspiring against podcasts. I finally got a week off, and it happened to be CBL's toughest week of the year.

I basically ticked down the list of PGs I could name immediately. K-State's I know by performance but don't remember his name for sure (Spaulding? Something like that). Chris is something special... But most of those teams have 4 or 5 star upperclassmen at the point.

I love Chris. LOVE him. But he wouldn't start over Pierre Jackson, Phil Pressey, Tyshawn Taylor... The only teams I could see him starting for in that league are Iowa State, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma State. OSU, only because Keiton Page spent 3 years as a SG and I think Chris is better than Cezar Guerrero. EDIT: Forgot Oklahoma, maybe.

Someone may have already broken up the Trojans. I listened to most of the 2nd half on UALR's radio feed, and it sounds like they broke Will Neighbour's arm on a play late in the game.

UALR beat Denver in Denver, 66-59. Not bad for a team with (allegedly) no talent. Denver, having done yeoman's work in OOC, can now proceed to go 0-16 against SBC teams before heading off to the WAC. Middle would ideally sustain their current level of excellence, with just 2 more losses on the year (including the SBC tournament).

For anyone who may have vaguely recognized the worst referee on the court... That was Ray Natili. You may remember him from some pretty terrible calls in the SBC Tournament final against UALR last year. Not fond of that guy.

Practically down to his ankle... That thing was like a prop from Robocop.

Because of Troy's lineup... I bet Zo and Niko sub for Tony, with Franklin and Holmen splitting time at the 2nd forward position. Ideally, Alzee guards Weathers to try and disrupt the flow of their offense. Put Franklin out there to start so we have another lockdown-type defender on the floor who matches up well with their F/G hybrid heavy rotation. Franklin and Holmen can match up with a perimeter forward a lot better than Alonzo or Niko can. If Troy still starts hot shooting 3's, sub Holmen in for Franklin and put on the full court pressure and trap. That trap seems most powerful when Holmen is the front man on it. If we can man up Alzee on Weathers and make it hard for the offense to flow through him, with Jordan and Chris off the ball to jump in passing lanes (Troy is about the easiest team to predict floor position in the Belt... Maestri loves Pop-A-Shot from 4 or 5 spots on the perimeter) we could force a lot of turnovers and make it hard for them to make their offense work. They make more than 10 3-pointers a game (and attempt just under 30). Make life hard for Weathers, through tight man or full court trapping, and we can survive bad shooting by our own team. We have to force the ball inside against these guys. It won't get much easier than our posts against their interior defense. This should be a big day for Tony. If it isn't, it'll probably be a dogfight or another loss.

Photo by Rick Yeatts.

Part of the reason for this was that Chris Jones was sucking wind at the end of the game... We couldn't sit him, especially with Tony already fouled out. But 35 minutes on the floor and a steady run of press/trap in the 2nd half... I don't think he had the legs to continue pressing.

UNT came into the game in the top fifth nationally shooting free throws. We had a bad game shooting free throws. We are not a bad free throw shooting team. UALR came in to the game ranked 307th in the nation in 3 point percentage. They had a good game shooting 3 pointers. They are not a good 3 point shooting team. This sucks. Terribly. TERRIBLY. No need to make it worse than it actually is, though. This game doesn't need any help or exaggeration to make it a painful disaster. Happy New Year to you, too.

Anyone who thinks UALR is untalented is smoking crack or completely unaware of who they have on their team. This loss sucks, and we should have taken this game. But calling UALR untalented is stupid.

.727 Tied for 63rd in the country. Top 18% nationally.

Wieden + Kennedy for the win. Sometimes. I know a lot of people who spent a lot of time in the 90's watching Sportscenter. Not many people who bought Subarus, though.

I don't know if you guys realize what they were charging for tickets... I expect a lot of folks would have sat the games out, even if we'd been involved. Lower section sideline tickets cost more than some of our full year season ticket options. 2nd level baseline cost $40-60 on Stubhub.

In the past 12 years, very few SBC teams have made it to the NCAA tournament (at-large or SBC tournament win) with sub-.500 OOC records vs. D1 opponents. UALR last year was a rare exception, with a 6-7 mark against D-1 schools. The only other schools to do it since 1999 (finding OOC records before then is very difficult and time consuming, so I transfered at that point) were ULL in 2004 (5-6) and 2005 (4-5). And as far as the official record books are concerned, ULL didn't play in the tournament those years. For the past 12 years, no team with a D-1 OOC record worse than 1 game below .500 has won our tournament. If the trend holds, your contenders for the auto-bid this year are: Middle Tennessee: 10-2 Denver: 10-2 South Alabama: 7-3 North Texas: 5-6 Arkansas State is 5-7 with OOC games remaining against Kent State and Seattle. If they win both, they would be in that mix, too. If Vegas offers early SBC tournament lines... Don't put your money on anyone but those 4 (maybe 5) teams. EDIT to add: Nobody in that period has done it with a sub .500 overall OOC record. Doesn't affect the pool of teams that meet the historical criteria.

John Brady and Kermit Davis eliminated their teams from last year's SBC tournament with 2 of the most ill-timed technical fouls I've ever seen. Davis had a bad one... Brady's was absolutely inexcusable. Davis blew up at a ref over a foul call with under 5 minutes to play. Middle was within 4... Solomon Bozeman hit all 4 free throws (2 for the personal foul, 2 for the technical) and put the Trojans up by 8 points. Middle couldn't rally back (never got back within 6), UALR won by 9 points. The night before, Brady did the same thing, but worse. 1:30 to play, ASU had fought back to cut an 8 point deficit to 2 points, then gets whistled for a non-shooting foul. Brady flips out at Joe Kleine, gets a technical. Takes what would have been a 2 point deficit and a chance to defend an inbound pass, and turns it into a 4 point deficit after Bozeman hits his 2 free throws. UALR also maintains possession, and milks the clock down to about a minute before dropping in a layup. Because of that technical, ASU wound up down by 6 with 1:03 to play. Cost them the game.