Just call them the Arkansas State Illogicals this season.
They are 8-7 overall, but 4-0 in conference. Three of their four conference wins have been by 3 points or less. They are 6-1 at home and are on a 5-game winning streak.
They likely will start 6-8, 6-6, 6-5, with tall guards, and can bring Bocoum at 6-10 off the bench. Depth ought to be an issue with them, since they only have 11 players on their roster, but that hasn't seemed to stop them so far. They have four players scoring in double figures, led by Devin Carter with 15.7 ppg. Anthony Livingston is the man inside, averaging 14.1 ppg and 8.7 rpg.
As always with Brady teams, they play tough defense. Opponents shoot only 38% against them, and 33.8% from the arc. They are plus-2 on the boards, with a 1.14 team A/TO. They shoot 72.6% from the line. So, this is a team that plays good fundamental basketball.
Our depth ought to help us against them, especially in the second half, but we shall see. Such things sometimes don't mean much in this rivalry.
RealtimeRPI picks us by 5. Sagarin has us by 8.
I'm hoping they beat AppSt on Saturday. A match-up of 5-0 teams on Monday would be a lot of fun and hopefully generate some statewide interest for Sun Belt basketball.
This game worries me a lot. On the road, rivalry game, and a team defense that can capitalize on our mystifyingly poor shooting starts to games and keep us there. Depth is our advantage, but still, I am a worried man.
You have a right to be worried. It's always tough to win at Jonesboro under the best of circumstances. But on the positive side, this teams doesn't seem to let the road bother them. We have a team of real warriors. Tough and talented kids. I'm going in expecting to win, but I sure wouldn't be taking it for granted.
For the record...we have 8 Scholarship players available...not 11.
Carter is insanely streaky, and he sort of carries the team at times. Against ULL we went the first 8 minutes of the 2nd half without a point, and then promptly scored 12 points in the next 2:30 to quickly erase a lot of that. We thrive on dribble penetration, and either kicking to an open 3 point shooter, or drawing a foul and getting to the line. Carter can go 30 minutes and do nothing, and still finish with 15 points. When Carter's struggling, Livingston and Dante Thomas have to provide us points. If they are not, we go cold quick because Sean Gardner and Frederick Dure, the other two guards, are more role based players, and are at their best when the opponent has their worst defender on them.
Boccoum really is the specific reason we beat ULM and ULL this past week. Livingston got in foul trouble against ULM, and struggled against ULL, so Boccoum came in and was able to bang around inside with the bigs for both teams.
Also, don't sleep on our 9th player, walk-on guard Josh Pierre. He will not play big minutes, but is the captain and floor leader of the team. He won't score, but he plays hard defensively, and seems to settle the rest of the team down. He hit a gigantic 3 late against ULM that got us into an OT situation, pretty much helped win us the game.
(01-15-2016 01:41 PM)chiefsfan Wrote: [ -> ]For the record...we have 8 Scholarship players available...not 11.
Carter is insanely streaky, and he sort of carries the team at times. Against ULL we went the first 8 minutes of the 2nd half without a point, and then promptly scored 12 points in the next 2:30 to quickly erase a lot of that. We thrive on dribble penetration, and either kicking to an open 3 point shooter, or drawing a foul and getting to the line. Carter can go 30 minutes and do nothing, and still finish with 15 points. When Carter's struggling, Livingston and Dante Thomas have to provide us points. If they are not, we go cold quick because Sean Gardner and Frederick Dure, the other two guards, are more role based players, and are at their best when the opponent has their worst defender on them.
Boccoum really is the specific reason we beat ULM and ULL this past week. Livingston got in foul trouble against ULM, and struggled against ULL, so Boccoum came in and was able to bang around inside with the bigs for both teams.
Also, don't sleep on our 9th player, walk-on guard Josh Pierre. He will not play big minutes, but is the captain and floor leader of the team. He won't score, but he plays hard defensively, and seems to settle the rest of the team down. He hit a gigantic 3 late against ULM that got us into an OT situation, pretty much helped win us the game.
Is your start, in conference, generating any excitement in Jonesboro? If you beat AppSt, do you expect a good crowd for a rivalry game between 5-0 teams? I don't expect the 8 to 9,000 we used to see in Jonesboro, but 5000 would be nice.
(01-15-2016 02:25 PM)mjs Wrote: [ -> ] (01-15-2016 01:41 PM)chiefsfan Wrote: [ -> ]For the record...we have 8 Scholarship players available...not 11.
Carter is insanely streaky, and he sort of carries the team at times. Against ULL we went the first 8 minutes of the 2nd half without a point, and then promptly scored 12 points in the next 2:30 to quickly erase a lot of that. We thrive on dribble penetration, and either kicking to an open 3 point shooter, or drawing a foul and getting to the line. Carter can go 30 minutes and do nothing, and still finish with 15 points. When Carter's struggling, Livingston and Dante Thomas have to provide us points. If they are not, we go cold quick because Sean Gardner and Frederick Dure, the other two guards, are more role based players, and are at their best when the opponent has their worst defender on them.
Boccoum really is the specific reason we beat ULM and ULL this past week. Livingston got in foul trouble against ULM, and struggled against ULL, so Boccoum came in and was able to bang around inside with the bigs for both teams.
Also, don't sleep on our 9th player, walk-on guard Josh Pierre. He will not play big minutes, but is the captain and floor leader of the team. He won't score, but he plays hard defensively, and seems to settle the rest of the team down. He hit a gigantic 3 late against ULM that got us into an OT situation, pretty much helped win us the game.
Is your start, in conference, generating any excitement in Jonesboro? If you beat AppSt, do you expect a good crowd for a rivalry game between 5-0 teams? I don't expect the 8 to 9,000 we used to see in Jonesboro, but 5000 would be nice.
The only real talk is about the overall streak in general. (Between Football, Volleyball, and Men's and Women's basketball we're 35-0 in SBC Play.)
I think as fans, we're happy that the team is coming together, but it's still not noticed in Jonesboro. We've seen a slight attendance bump, going from roughly 750 at the North Dakota State game to 2,000 against ULL, but that's it.
I don't expect a big crowd.
(01-15-2016 02:53 PM)chiefsfan Wrote: [ -> ] (01-15-2016 02:25 PM)mjs Wrote: [ -> ] (01-15-2016 01:41 PM)chiefsfan Wrote: [ -> ]For the record...we have 8 Scholarship players available...not 11.
Carter is insanely streaky, and he sort of carries the team at times. Against ULL we went the first 8 minutes of the 2nd half without a point, and then promptly scored 12 points in the next 2:30 to quickly erase a lot of that. We thrive on dribble penetration, and either kicking to an open 3 point shooter, or drawing a foul and getting to the line. Carter can go 30 minutes and do nothing, and still finish with 15 points. When Carter's struggling, Livingston and Dante Thomas have to provide us points. If they are not, we go cold quick because Sean Gardner and Frederick Dure, the other two guards, are more role based players, and are at their best when the opponent has their worst defender on them.
Boccoum really is the specific reason we beat ULM and ULL this past week. Livingston got in foul trouble against ULM, and struggled against ULL, so Boccoum came in and was able to bang around inside with the bigs for both teams.
Also, don't sleep on our 9th player, walk-on guard Josh Pierre. He will not play big minutes, but is the captain and floor leader of the team. He won't score, but he plays hard defensively, and seems to settle the rest of the team down. He hit a gigantic 3 late against ULM that got us into an OT situation, pretty much helped win us the game.
Is your start, in conference, generating any excitement in Jonesboro? If you beat AppSt, do you expect a good crowd for a rivalry game between 5-0 teams? I don't expect the 8 to 9,000 we used to see in Jonesboro, but 5000 would be nice.
The only real talk is about the overall streak in general. (Between Football, Volleyball, and Men's and Women's basketball we're 35-0 in SBC Play.)
I think as fans, we're happy that the team is coming together, but it's still not noticed in Jonesboro. We've seen a slight attendance bump, going from roughly 750 at the North Dakota State game to 2,000 against ULL, but that's it.
I don't expect a big crowd.
"Big" is relative in the Sun Belt and most midmajor leagues at this point in time. Hard to imagine that you won't have over 3000, if you had 2000 for ULL. Over 3000 is still a "big" crowd for us in Little Rock. Still, I remember the days you would be disappointed if you didn't have over 8000 for a game against us. Times have really changed. Still, if you get the right coach, and ours sticks around for a little while, maybe we'll see big crowds for our games once again. Geez, we had well over 12,000 against you guys at Alltel one year. Still can't figure that one out- I guess the stars were just aligned or something like that. It would take 3 straight "great" crowds at Stephens to equal the crowd that night at Alltel.
(01-15-2016 05:17 PM)mjs Wrote: [ -> ] (01-15-2016 02:53 PM)chiefsfan Wrote: [ -> ] (01-15-2016 02:25 PM)mjs Wrote: [ -> ] (01-15-2016 01:41 PM)chiefsfan Wrote: [ -> ]For the record...we have 8 Scholarship players available...not 11.
Carter is insanely streaky, and he sort of carries the team at times. Against ULL we went the first 8 minutes of the 2nd half without a point, and then promptly scored 12 points in the next 2:30 to quickly erase a lot of that. We thrive on dribble penetration, and either kicking to an open 3 point shooter, or drawing a foul and getting to the line. Carter can go 30 minutes and do nothing, and still finish with 15 points. When Carter's struggling, Livingston and Dante Thomas have to provide us points. If they are not, we go cold quick because Sean Gardner and Frederick Dure, the other two guards, are more role based players, and are at their best when the opponent has their worst defender on them.
Boccoum really is the specific reason we beat ULM and ULL this past week. Livingston got in foul trouble against ULM, and struggled against ULL, so Boccoum came in and was able to bang around inside with the bigs for both teams.
Also, don't sleep on our 9th player, walk-on guard Josh Pierre. He will not play big minutes, but is the captain and floor leader of the team. He won't score, but he plays hard defensively, and seems to settle the rest of the team down. He hit a gigantic 3 late against ULM that got us into an OT situation, pretty much helped win us the game.
Is your start, in conference, generating any excitement in Jonesboro? If you beat AppSt, do you expect a good crowd for a rivalry game between 5-0 teams? I don't expect the 8 to 9,000 we used to see in Jonesboro, but 5000 would be nice.
The only real talk is about the overall streak in general. (Between Football, Volleyball, and Men's and Women's basketball we're 35-0 in SBC Play.)
I think as fans, we're happy that the team is coming together, but it's still not noticed in Jonesboro. We've seen a slight attendance bump, going from roughly 750 at the North Dakota State game to 2,000 against ULL, but that's it.
I don't expect a big crowd.
"Big" is relative in the Sun Belt and most midmajor leagues at this point in time. Hard to imagine that you won't have over 3000, if you had 2000 for ULL. Over 3000 is still a "big" crowd for us in Little Rock. Still, I remember the days you would be disappointed if you didn't have over 8000 for a game against us. Times have really changed. Still, if you get the right coach, and ours sticks around for a little while, maybe we'll see big crowds for our games once again. Geez, we had well over 12,000 against you guys at Alltel one year. Still can't figure that one out- I guess the stars were just aligned or something like that. It would take 3 straight "great" crowds at Stephens to equal the crowd that night at Alltel.
Date hurts. For the life of me I cannot understand why the Sun Belt refuses to put this series on a Saturday...
What is up with that?
There are few match ups that would generate this kind of interest, so why would you put it on a monday night?
Is that espn3 package that big a deal? Are more than a couple of thousand people really going to stream that game?
I think we win this game. It looks to me like we match up well against State, and this is a team that has not been particularly bothered by playing on the road. On the other hand, no where that we have played on the road will have exhibited the intensity of dislike that State fans will show, especially if a good crowd shows up, so we have to be ready for that, and even Beard has not been to Jonesboro yet. Thankfully we have a few oldtimers on the team who have who can tell the others what to be ready for.
State plays good defense, but we have not relied on a high-powered offense to win, anyway. Our depth should play well with State's lack of it, especially in the second half. This is a veteran group which has been around the Horn, so they should weather the storm well. We just do not need a slow start.
Amen about the slow start. We did better this last game. Didn't dig ourselves a giant hole to begin the game. If we can get out to a lead and hold it, our depth should kick in late in the game and put the game away. But having been around for a lot of ASU games, they are not going to lie down and roll over. We'll have to play hard to win this game. But I have no doubt Coach Beard will have the team prepared for this game.
You can usually throw out the records in this game. But, this time we both may be tied for first with 5-0 records so there isn't much to "throw out". I make no predictions on this game, especially in Jonesboro.
With regard to the day of the game, Monday is a state and federal holiday. Isn't it a school holiday as well? Why not start the women's game at 3pm and the men at 5:30? Even working folks would be able to get to the men's game and kids would be home before bedtime. As it is now, the men's game won't be over until, at least, 9:30 pm. I figure to get home to west LR about 1 am, before all is said and done. Getting up a 6:30 am won't be easy.
I don't have a schedule handy, so what day of the week is our home game with ASU?
(01-16-2016 01:04 PM)LRTrojan Wrote: [ -> ]I don't have a schedule handy, so what day of the week is our home game with ASU?
Tuesday night.
I wonder if Ga Southern and Ga State play on weeknights? That would be interesting to note.
I apologize, folks, for kicking off this pregame thread too early. For some reason I was thinking the game was today (Sat). Anyway, there should be a lot to talk about leading up to battle with our traditional rival, so maybe it was for the best.
Talked with Mark Mouzy today. He and Matt will be there rooting for the Trojans Monday night. Look forward to seeing those guys.
(01-16-2016 08:57 AM)insideualr Wrote: [ -> ]What is up with that?
There are few match ups that would generate this kind of interest, so why would you put it on a monday night?
Is that espn3 package that big a deal? Are more than a couple of thousand people really going to stream that game?
This specific game was one that was left up to the 2 schools to decide. The SBC assigned the game at the Stephens Center to a Tuesday night. I know we actually tried at one point to play this game on a Saturday in Mid December (ULM-ULL did that this year) but Beard didn't seem to think it was a wonderful idea for the Jonesboro game to be on a Saturday and the LR game on a Tuesday.
This was the pitfall of having travel partners. That being said, this game is never on a Saturday for some reason. It's almost always middle of the week, and that just kills attendance.
ESPN3 thing is unrelated. Each school had the option to provide video of their home games games to ESPN3 this year, AState chose to do so, you guys did not.
(01-16-2016 02:11 PM)outsideualr Wrote: [ -> ]I wonder if Ga Southern and Ga State play on weeknights? That would be interesting to note.
Coincidentally, they play this coming Tuesday.
By the way, as a side note, I noticed we are billing this as AState and Little Rock. (We don't do that for ULL) I don't know if it will stay that way, I fully expect our PA guy to call you guys UALR all night out of habit.