Duck_Mav

As a former REBEL, I saw this nonsense coming decades ago. You laugh, but the PETA thing is a distinct possibility. Furthermore, if you hate what political correctness has done to sports, you really are going to despise what "Hate Crime" legislation is going to do to freedom of speech in this country. BTW, and this is a minor quibble, the NCAA does have playoffs. It's the money-grubbing BCS schools, conferences and bowl$ that won't allow the "I-A" schools to have a football tournament like Divisions III, II and I-AA.

Also, Troy, Trinity, Abilene Christian & Jacksonville State. Interesting to note, the SLC was division one until 1981, when it became I-AA. NTSU dropped down to I-AA during the Corky Nelson era as a means of survival. It was not a happy time for NT fans, but was better than what the administration did to us at UTA. Lamar took the other route, trying to make it as an independent for 3-4 years before they dropped football. They were out of the SLC for several years. UTA is the only original member still in the SLC continuously since 1964. It would not hurt my feelings if UTA decided to leave for a conference that had swimming and division 1-A football. My impression is that President Spaniolo does not intend to do I-AA, but would want to go to the top division if/when he makes the decision to revive.

SMU could change conferences again, and I'm sure there are plenty of other dominoes waiting to fall. If that meant a couple of 'Belt teams moving "up" to bigger money conferences, I suppose you could expect to see some Southland schools start knocking on the door. How many Sunbelt teams used to be in the Southland Conference? I know of at least a couple of Louisiana schools that used to lose regularly when they were in the SLC, but now that they are I-A, they still lose to Southland teams. All that extra money....

I like Lamar's chances. Unlike UTA, which had a student referendum overwhelmingly pass in April '04, Lamar has a President who really wants football and understands why it would benefit the university. Would you believe President Simmons used to be the drum major in the Lamar band? All four of the Southland conference schools that don't have football have done studies. Lamar and UTSA leaders seem the most motivated. TAMU-CC has the biggest logistical hurdles. UTA could probably do it at the least cost, but President Spaniolo will not do it until he gets a new arena to replace the stage. That is likely to get approved this spring, so UTA and Lamar could both potentially field teams in 2010. An unofficial mantra of the ex-letterman's association (called the Varsity Club): "I hope I'll still be alive when it happens."

Sorry about that. Apparently the entire BBall team has the flu, so I guess your mind is not soothed. As for SMEW, I'm surprised they didn't throw all that money at Gary Patterson. Jones is definitely an upgrade for their program, but they aren't likely to have much of a recruiting class this year. Does he have many of his assistants hired yet? Those are often the key to recruiting, especially for someone who lacks local contacts anyway. He'll just have to make do with whoever is there now and maybe some slim pickings, and hope he can recruit well in the future. That gives TD another year to try and build a beach head in the region before JJ and SMU can bring their resources to bear. The best scenario for NT would be if SMU were to waste full rides on a weak recruiting class, rather than saving a few extra ones to use next year.

Dang. You guys have had horrendous luck this season so far. But it's still too early to give up. UTA finally won a game in our conference. Now we're 1-2, but both of the other "good" teams in our division, SFA and SHS have already lost a game. It's too early to panic, but I hope we don't get exposed to your flu epidemic.

Oh come on. You could mention UTA as well. I agree with the "maybe SMU," because it's hard to tell whether the team that beat TCU will show up on a given night. Or maybe the big variable is TCU. How can you account for them winning at home by 29 over Rice, then losing by five to the same team on a neutral court 6 weeks later? Surely it wasn't home court advantage the first game. TCU doesn't have more than about 500 fans....

Ha Ha. Me too! Seriously, we were lucky to get to OT against the Frogs. UTA played much better against UNT and I presume, Wichita State. If we play this way against OSU it could be pretty ugly. Good luck with Centenary.

We're all wondering, too, but it is way too soon to say which teams on our schedule are "cupcakes." Who would've thought Centenary would loom large for UNT, or that Hartford would've played so tough? Heck, even Southern could pop up and play close. I have a feeling our current last place team, TAMU Corpus Christi will start to win before we see them in January. I'm thinking at least one of their 7 footers has to be a player. Anyway, good luck against your last two non-conference opponents!

Our site is back up now. They say it looked like a denial of service attack. Thanks for the hospitality! http://www.utamavericks.com/forum/

Yes, but yours is much better. Sorry to be a bother.

Hmmm. Make that 3-7. McNeese beat ULL 67-62. Now if we could just find someone to beat LSU.

The Belt is 3-6 against the Southland so far this year, but ULL could pick up one against McNeese tonight. I think the Belt is doing better against the Big XII than the SLC. Southland teams have 3 wins against the Big12, one against Ttech another against OSU and that huge upset at OU by SFA. So far, I think SLC teams have lost 4 to them. That would all look pretty good, but the eastern half of the SLC is getting killed by the Southeastern conference...and I'd rather not dwell on that.

Good find! I hope they still like us in February.

Hey, that's ok. We all talk smack - that's what loyal fans do. As for banners, you definitely have us there. Only our women and our wheelchair athletes have any banners, except for the one NIT banner from when Jimmy Carter was young, boring and irrelevant. (Editorial: He's not young anymore, but otherwise hasn't changed much.)

Sorry. It can't happen until UTA replaces its sorry-ass excuse of a gym. There - I said it first to save you all the trouble. Hope is high and we are optimistic Arlington will finally get a new arena soon (maybe not next year, but sooner than Fouts II will be built) and a local foursome round-robin will make sense. The other issue keeping us from such a tournament is that the church schools' teams are not good enough lately to draw well. It's natural for all four programs to have their ups and downs, but to get a tournament started, we will have to have the basketball equivalent of a total eclipse - four great teams and four great arenas. Right now, UNT is the only one of the four that is anywhere close to being ready.

That's very kind, and of course, very pragmatic. If we win more than 20 games and get some banners (like UNT has) to put in our rafters, it will be a very good season. We have two other very good teams in the western division of the SLC, plus that sleeper in TAMU-CC, so nobody is taking success for granted.

Good win. It would've been a shame to lose to an insurance company.

Texas Hall will be rocking. If it's anywhere near a sellout, most of us won't know where to park. Last sellout I can remember at Texas Hall was against a Billy Tubbs Lamar team, when both schools still had football teams (speaking of which, Lamar is doing a student vote in January to raise fees for football startup in 2009). That was so long ago, I think the NTSU football coach was Rod Rust. It was so long ago, SMU had never been on probation. It was so long ago, we still had Rebel flags. It was so long ago......ahh, you get the picture....

Yes, it looks like the Lumberjerks have a team this year, as does Sam Houston. The team that should've been tough, TAMU-CC only has one win so far. "Go figure," as the yankees say. Hopefully, the (real) Mavericks will continue to take care of business against TCU and OSU, but as with UNT, conference is all that really matters.

Asians? That's funny. Not more than 93% of male UTA students are Asian. The other 7% are either basketball players (black) or former baseball players (white) who are trying to regain eligibility. Prerequisites for the basketball players are that they are good students and have no fear of heights. Obviously, there are no indoor prerequisites for baseball players. All seriousness aside, you make a good point about prestige and perception. Both of those tiny schools have spent huge amount$ to keep the perception alive, but no amount of investment or promotion can make up for a legacy of losing. It must be particularly urgent for SMU to somehow find a winning coach to reverse their football fortunes. TCU has less of a problem, although it should come as no surprise that their current basketball coach is running out of time. I've heard from some of the TCU fans that Dougherty needs to get at least an NIT bid this year to get a contract extension.

We came close against them last time, but failed to complete the deal like UNT did this year. Anyway, we can't look past our local rivals, TCU and their referees. Wish we and you were playing SMU this year, but I think the Ponies are avoiding serious D-1 opponents. Good luck against Hartford.

WOOHOO!!! 8-0

Not a gambler, but if UNT beats Texas, I'll wear green the rest of this year!

I think it's too early to matter. If we beat Wichita State, then maybe......