Surprise, Surprise, Georgia State picked to win it all

1. Georgia State
2 (Tie) Georgia Southern
2 (Tie) Louisiana
4 (Tie) UL Monroe
4 (Tie) Troy
6. Appalachian State
7. South Alabama
8. Texas State
9. Arkansas State
10. Coastal Carolina
11. Texas Arlington
12. Little Rock

All Conference teams:

**Ronshad Shabazz, Appalachian State (Sr., G, Raleigh, N.C.)
*Tookie Brown, Georgia Southern (Sr., G, Madison, Ga.)
*D’Marcus Simonds, Georgia State (Jr., G, Gainesville, Ga.)
**Travis Munnings, ULM (Sr., F, Freeport, Bahamas)
**Jordon Varnado, Troy (Sr., F, Brownsville, Tenn.)

All-Sun Belt Second Team
Zac Cuthbertson, Coastal Carolina (Sr., F, New Bern, N.C.)
***Devin Mitchell, Georgia State (Sr., G, Lawrenceville, Ga.)
***JaKeenan Gant, Louisiana (Sr., F, Springfield, Ga.)
**Rodrick Sikes, South Alabama (Sr., G, Ocean Springs, Miss.)
***Nijal Pearson, Texas State (Jr., G, Beaumont, Texas)

All-Sun Belt Third Team
Ty Cockfield II, Arkansas State (Sr., G, Gainesville, Ga.)
Ike Smith, Georgia Southern (Sr., G, Gainesville, Fla.)
Marcus Stroman, Louisiana (Sr., G, Columbia, S.C.)
Michael Ertel, ULM (So., G, Indianapolis, Ind.)
Josh Ajayi, South Alabama (Jr., F, El Monte, Calif.)

Preseason Player of the Year:
D’Marcus Simonds, Georgia State (Jr., G, Gainesville, Ga.)

I know the team is retooling but I hope the Bobcats finish better than 8th

UTA at 11?

(10-25-2018 04:36 PM)slycat Wrote:  I know the team is retooling but I hope the Bobcats finish better than 8th

Not really retooling too much. We return 4 starters if you count both Davis/Nottingham (even though they played the same position last year). I definitely expect better than 8th out of us.

Probably not good that our basketball schools are 11/12.

Kind of feel for UTA fans. Questionable decision to fire Cross, and now they may free fall without Hervey and Neal.

Another observation:

11 of 15 all-SBC players are seniors. Lot of experience returning on a lot of teams this year. Hopefully that translates into success on the court for our teams.

(10-25-2018 05:38 PM)_x_ Wrote:  

(10-25-2018 04:36 PM)slycat Wrote:  I know the team is retooling but I hope the Bobcats finish better than 8th

Not really retooling too much. We return 4 starters if you count both Davis/Nottingham (even though they played the same position last year). I definitely expect better than 8th out of us.

Probably not good that our basketball schools are 11/12.

Kind of feel for UTA fans. Questionable decision to fire Cross, and now they may free fall without Hervey and Neal.

Lost 8 seniors. No matter who is coaching, there will be a fall-back this year. We shot the wad this past season.

As bad as we have been, I’ll take 6th

Word is...D'Marcus has the 3 point range now. Cant just crowd the basket anymore!

I'm more curious how the team chemistry is.....the new talent infusions are nice but not everyone can be the alpha dog in scoring

(10-25-2018 04:45 PM)EigenEagle Wrote:  UTA at 11?

Lots of off court drama, and they lost like literally every member of their team. It's a complete rebuild in Arlington.

I dunno about other stAte fans but once football season is over the other sports really go on the back burner for me (wish basketball would get more competitive McCasland- spoiled me two years ago when he led us to 20+ wins).

(10-25-2018 12:36 PM)chiefsfan Wrote:  Surprise, Surprise, Georgia State picked to win it all

1. Georgia State
2 (Tie) Georgia Southern
2 (Tie) Louisiana
4 (Tie) UL Monroe
4 (Tie) Troy
6. Appalachian State
7. South Alabama
8. Texas State
9. Arkansas State
10. Coastal Carolina
11. Texas Arlington
12. Little Rock

Little Rock just over two years removed from going 30-5 and upsetting #12 Purdue in the NCAA Tourney...

UTA just came off of three straight 20+ win seasons and a run to the NIT Quarterfinals...

Now both sit at the bottom of the Sun Belt... it's quite sad.

I’ve never talking so openly excited about one of his teams. Have a Wichita St., UAB, and Oral Roberts transfers to go with Munnings and Ertel. Should have very good guards, but we lost 6’11” Sam Alabakis to a professional Australian rules football team, of all things, and our other center is out for the year with injury. Expect big things for ULM basketball.

(10-25-2018 09:08 PM)RamblinRedWolf Wrote:  I dunno about other stAte fans but once football season is over the other sports really go on the back burner for me (wish basketball would get more competitive McCasland- spoiled me two years ago when he led us to 20+ wins).

Well Men's Golf season doesn't start for a while, and with football back to mediocrity, I think basketball is our only choice.

I do have faith that Balado is turning the program around though. Most of the Brady guys are gone, ditto for the McCasland guys.

(10-25-2018 05:54 PM)UTArlingtonMaverick Wrote:  

(10-25-2018 05:38 PM)_x_ Wrote:  

(10-25-2018 04:36 PM)slycat Wrote:  I know the team is retooling but I hope the Bobcats finish better than 8th

Not really retooling too much. We return 4 starters if you count both Davis/Nottingham (even though they played the same position last year). I definitely expect better than 8th out of us.

Probably not good that our basketball schools are 11/12.

Kind of feel for UTA fans. Questionable decision to fire Cross, and now they may free fall without Hervey and Neal.

Lost 8 seniors. No matter who is coaching, there will be a fall-back this year. We shot the wad this past season.

I’m convinced we still would have been competitive, but once Cross was fired, four other players said deuces and left too. This team has 12 newcomers and zero starters returning. For those who still do care this year (I’m boycotting all sports this year due to the handling of the Cross firing), the hope rides on the fact that the players are unknown, rather than legitimately that bad. Too many juco transfers on this team for me to believe that though. We may be better than last, but even making the conference tournament is a huge question mark.

A few observations about the poll (which of course, is based mostly on returning players.

1. Louisiana second? Granted, three solid starters return, but they lost THREE 1,000 point scorers and a 1,000 Plus rebounder. That's a lot of production to replace.

2. Ja'Keenan Gant was the Newcomer of the Year AND defensive player of the year. And, he's a second team pick. He'll be motivated.

3. Watch out for both ULM and App State. The Mountaineers will have easily their best team since joining the Sun Belt. And, ULM adds great talent to Munnings and Ertel. Their inside game, however, will be a question mark.

This was a very young league last year. There are a ton of good players returning.

This year, while youth could be served, they could be served as the main course. The team with the really good veterans will be near the top.

And, we are all playing for second place. GSU is a prohibitive favorite. This could be their best team.

Just like football, we are playing with a first year head coach. I had high hopes for Graves, but he just couldn’t get it out together. It’s been to long since we have been on top of the conference in basketball, and it’s time for us to return there, eventually....

(10-26-2018 07:32 AM)FoUTASportscaster Wrote:  

(10-25-2018 05:54 PM)UTArlingtonMaverick Wrote:  

(10-25-2018 05:38 PM)_x_ Wrote:  

(10-25-2018 04:36 PM)slycat Wrote:  I know the team is retooling but I hope the Bobcats finish better than 8th

Not really retooling too much. We return 4 starters if you count both Davis/Nottingham (even though they played the same position last year). I definitely expect better than 8th out of us.

Probably not good that our basketball schools are 11/12.

Kind of feel for UTA fans. Questionable decision to fire Cross, and now they may free fall without Hervey and Neal.

Lost 8 seniors. No matter who is coaching, there will be a fall-back this year. We shot the wad this past season.

I’m convinced we still would have been competitive, but once Cross was fired, four other players said deuces and left too. This team has 12 newcomers and zero starters returning. For those who still do care this year (I’m boycotting all sports this year due to the handling of the Cross firing), the hope rides on the fact that the players are unknown, rather than legitimately that bad. Too many juco transfers on this team for me to believe that though. We may be better than last, but even making the conference tournament is a huge question mark.

I'm feeling the same way, but I doubt my absence in the stands will be noticed. Those that have opposed UTA athletics over the years (and those I blame for the demise of football) will no doubt feel confident that they were right to say "nobody cares about UT Arlington."

USA’s new coach Richie Riley hasn't laid out a 3-5 year plan because he wants to win now and expects to win now. I’m loving the energy he is being back to Jag hoops. I hope it translates into results. We need to go back to being a team that contributes to the Sun Belt’s success.

(10-26-2018 09:11 AM)BirdofParadise Wrote:  A few observations about the poll (which of course, is based mostly on returning players.

1. Louisiana second? Granted, three solid starters return, but they lost THREE 1,000 point scorers and a 1,000 Plus rebounder. That's a lot of production to replace.

2. Ja'Keenan Gant was the Newcomer of the Year AND defensive player of the year. And, he's a second team pick. He'll be motivated.

3. Watch out for both ULM and App State. The Mountaineers will have easily their best team since joining the Sun Belt. And, ULM adds great talent to Munnings and Ertel. Their inside game, however, will be a question mark.

This was a very young league last year. There are a ton of good players returning.

This year, while youth could be served, they could be served as the main course. The team with the really good veterans will be near the top.

And, we are all playing for second place. GSU is a prohibitive favorite. This could be their best team.

Dead on with ULM. Inside game is the question. Should have excellent guard play though.