We lose to UNO we play the hottest (and I believe) best team in the conference in WKU. Instead we play ASU who has struggled just about like us down the stretch- We're 2-6 in our last 8 games, while they are 3-5. Two of ASU's wins are against UNO, the worst team in the conference. Of course, one of our wins was against UNO, while the other was against ASU. Only problem is WKU is our 2nd round opponent. Still, it will be nice to knock ASU out of the tournament in both the men's and women's brackets (if their ladies beat Troy Saturday).

It'll be fun sending stAte packing.

(03-01-2010 01:11 PM)mjs Wrote:  We lose to UNO we play the hottest (and I believe) best team in the conference in WKU.

You can make a case for WKU for both obviously, but North Texas(10-1 in last 11), MT (11-2 in last 13), WKU (6 in a row), and Troy 8-1 in last 9) are all pretty hot coming into Hot Springs.

We've also won 8 in a row vs 6 for WKU.



****

As to the rest of your post, I certainly give yall a great shot vs ASU. You beat them the last time, and it's a rivalry game. Might be the best game of the day.

(03-01-2010 01:39 PM)CMJ Wrote:  

(03-01-2010 01:11 PM)mjs Wrote:  We lose to UNO we play the hottest (and I believe) best team in the conference in WKU.

You can make a case for WKU for both obviously, but North Texas(10-1 in last 11), MT (11-2 in last 13), WKU (6 in a row), and Troy 8-1 in last 9) are all pretty hot coming into Hot Springs.

We've also won 8 in a row vs 6 for WKU.



****

As to the rest of your post, I certainly give yall a great shot vs ASU. You beat them the last time, and it's a rivalry game. Might be the best game of the day.

UNT has the best shot at the West winning the title. It would be good for Hot Springs. Good luck to you guys.

(03-01-2010 01:39 PM)CMJ Wrote:  

(03-01-2010 01:11 PM)mjs Wrote:  We lose to UNO we play the hottest (and I believe) best team in the conference in WKU.

You can make a case for WKU for both obviously, but North Texas(10-1 in last 11), MT (11-2 in last 13), WKU (6 in a row), and Troy 8-1 in last 9) are all pretty hot coming into Hot Springs.

We've also won 8 in a row vs 6 for WKU.



****

As to the rest of your post, I certainly give yall a great shot vs ASU. You beat them the last time, and it's a rivalry game. Might be the best game of the day.

You make a good point. There are 3 very good, and very hot, teams in addition to WKU. The odds are probably a little better that UNT, MTSU, or Troy will win the tournament since they would have to win one less game. I knew we would not have to play seeds 1, 2, or 3 on the first or 2nd day. I was simply glad to avoid WKU, who I figured would be 4 or 5, with us being either 12 or 13.

(03-01-2010 01:43 PM)Robert C Wrote:  

(03-01-2010 01:39 PM)CMJ Wrote:  

(03-01-2010 01:11 PM)mjs Wrote:  We lose to UNO we play the hottest (and I believe) best team in the conference in WKU.

You can make a case for WKU for both obviously, but North Texas(10-1 in last 11), MT (11-2 in last 13), WKU (6 in a row), and Troy 8-1 in last 9) are all pretty hot coming into Hot Springs.

We've also won 8 in a row vs 6 for WKU.



****

As to the rest of your post, I certainly give yall a great shot vs ASU. You beat them the last time, and it's a rivalry game. Might be the best game of the day.

UNT has the best shot at the West winning the title. It would be good for Hot Springs. Good luck to you guys.

Why would it be good for Hot Springs? I hope you aren't speaking from a crowd standpoint, if history is any indicator, the best traveling fanbases will be WKU, MT and USA, all out of the east.

(03-01-2010 01:43 PM)Robert C Wrote:  

(03-01-2010 01:39 PM)CMJ Wrote:  

(03-01-2010 01:11 PM)mjs Wrote:  We lose to UNO we play the hottest (and I believe) best team in the conference in WKU.

You can make a case for WKU for both obviously, but North Texas(10-1 in last 11), MT (11-2 in last 13), WKU (6 in a row), and Troy 8-1 in last 9) are all pretty hot coming into Hot Springs.

We've also won 8 in a row vs 6 for WKU.



****

As to the rest of your post, I certainly give yall a great shot vs ASU. You beat them the last time, and it's a rivalry game. Might be the best game of the day.

UNT has the best shot at the West winning the title. It would be good for Hot Springs. Good luck to you guys.

How do you figure North Texas being good for Hot Springs? North Texas' doesn't even draw well at home. I wouldn't think they'd bring that many to Hot Springs. I'd think that Western, Middle and Arkansas State will bring the most. After that it falls off drastically. South Alabama might have brought a good bunch if they'd been better. They haven't had that great of a year. I suspect we may have more go this year for the women than for the men.

A match-up between UALR and stAte is very appealing. Plus it's on Saturday evening. Women play at noon on Sunday - tough for the the church-going gang.

I think we'll have more at the men's game than the women's.

(03-01-2010 04:33 PM)Scotto Wrote:  A match-up between UALR and stAte is very appealing. Plus it's on Saturday evening. Women play at noon on Sunday - tough for the the church-going gang.

I think we'll have more at the men's game than the women's.

Reminds me of a football player whose team played an important game on a religious holiday. His father was a very religious man, but he told his son, "you play, and I'll pray". To each his own.

(03-01-2010 04:33 PM)Scotto Wrote:  A match-up between UALR and stAte is very appealing. Plus it's on Saturday evening. Women play at noon on Sunday - tough for the the church-going gang.

I think we'll have more at the men's game than the women's.

You might be right, probably only because we're playing ASU. If we'd been playing most anyone else, I doubt that we'd had that many. We don't have many that will make the trip to Jonesboro, even when we're pretty good. I think most people have given up on this team.

There's a big difference in going to Hot Springs versus Jonesboro. And I ain't talking about the extra 60 miles.

I agree, if it were anybody but stAte we wouldn't draw well. Beating those guys is always a blast.

(03-01-2010 04:37 PM)outsideualr Wrote:  

(03-01-2010 04:33 PM)Scotto Wrote:  A match-up between UALR and stAte is very appealing. Plus it's on Saturday evening. Women play at noon on Sunday - tough for the the church-going gang.

I think we'll have more at the men's game than the women's.

Reminds me of a football player whose team played an important game on a religious holiday. His father was a very religious man, but he told his son, "you play, and I'll pray". To each his own.

Reminds me of Branch Rickey, who was the man who brought Jackie Robinson to the major leagues. Before he went to Brooklyn, he was the general manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, and a very religious man. He never attended games on Sunday.

(03-01-2010 03:44 PM)MTPiKapp Wrote:  Why would it be good for Hot Springs? I hope you aren't speaking from a crowd standpoint, if history is any indicator, the best traveling fanbases will be WKU, MT and USA, all out of the east.

USA didn't travel very well last year.

MTSU and WKU travel great, no question. We don't travel well historically, but we did bring quite a few fans to Hot Springs last year.

(03-01-2010 08:07 PM)CMJ Wrote:  

(03-01-2010 03:44 PM)MTPiKapp Wrote:  Why would it be good for Hot Springs? I hope you aren't speaking from a crowd standpoint, if history is any indicator, the best traveling fanbases will be WKU, MT and USA, all out of the east.

USA didn't travel very well last year.

MTSU and WKU travel great, no question. We don't travel well historically, but we did bring quite a few fans to Hot Springs last year.

I bet ya'll bring a nice crowd to Hot Springs. It's a pretty easy trip and you are the 2 seed. We brought a big crowd to Denton a few years back when we were the 2 seed, but we got upset by FIU in our first game.

(03-01-2010 08:07 PM)CMJ Wrote:  

(03-01-2010 03:44 PM)MTPiKapp Wrote:  Why would it be good for Hot Springs? I hope you aren't speaking from a crowd standpoint, if history is any indicator, the best traveling fanbases will be WKU, MT and USA, all out of the east.

USA didn't travel very well last year.

MTSU and WKU travel great, no question. We don't travel well historically, but we did bring quite a few fans to Hot Springs last year.

Don't get me wrong, the conference could do a lot worse than UNT from a crowd standpoint, but the best case scenario for a good crowd for the championship game in men's has to be MT/WKU followed by MT/ASU.

The only choice for a women's final is MT/UALR. There are probably a good number of men's matchups that wouldn't draw what a women's final of MT/UALR would draw and I'm not talking about men's matchups like UNO vs FIU, but ones that would be somewhat plausible like, hell, if I'm being honest, if the chalk holds I don't know that a men's final of #1 Troy vs #2 UNT will be as big a crowd as women's final of #1 UALR vs #2 MT.

If your season comes down to one game, what better way than to have it be against your arch-rival.

But of course, we wish them luck with the rest of their games should they win.

(03-02-2010 01:59 AM)MTPiKapp Wrote:  Don't get me wrong, the conference could do a lot worse than UNT from a crowd standpoint, but the best case scenario for a good crowd for the championship game in men's has to be MT/WKU followed by MT/ASU.

ASU-MT would easily outdraw WKU-MT in Hot Springs.