The Mountaineers are 12-10 and 6-5 in conference. Since we played last time they beat Coastal and Ark State, both on the road. So, they are on a little roll, having won 3 of their last 4.

Justin Forrest is still their leading scorer at 19,0 ppg, but he does it by shooting a ton of 3s and not shooting them very well. As a team they shoot bunch of 3s, and miss way too many of them.

Sagarin picks us by 6.
RealtimeRPI has us by 11.

Well, looks like I'll have Tweaky, two grandsons and a future grand-daughter-in-law with me.

If I travel all the way to Little Rock to see them play, and these guys piddle away the game, I am going to be some upset! If you get beat, you get beat; but I don't like paying good money to see teams beat themselves.

What the heck was that shot, Nowell?

Observations from my first visit of the year.

$2 tickets and kiddie performance must have worked, because the end zone was mostly full.

I was glad to see DW getting on the players and jerking them out of the game when they fouled up.

Bankston looks like he will have to lose a little weight before he gets back to playing shape.

Kamani is a very active player. Involved everywhere.

10:39 Coupet posts up, scores with a good, strong move. Their #1 picks up his 4th foul. To me that was the point where we sealed the win.

Walker made some adjustments at half that did the job. We came out, jumped to double figure lead, and never looked back.

Nowell, get off the confounded playground!

I think I got my answer on why Stulic is starting. He is just a good all-round player who doesn't mess up much, and meshes well with the other four starters.

Good to see Dunkum get a couple of minutes.

We shot 72% overall and 63% from the arc. You won't get beat many times when you shoot like that.

However, our defense was porous. We let them shoot 60% overall and 52% from the arc. Most days that will get you killed.

We were plus-4 on the boards.

Ruot did not get a double-double, but he did chip in 3 blocks, 3 steals and an assist.

Ben Coupet was on fire, wasn't he?

This is a team that can go 9 deep without giving up a tremendous amount in quality. We still have some things to work on, but Walker has a ton of talent to work with.

It was a very entertaining game. Well played by both teams. Amazing shooting by everyone. We have a ton of size and talent, Lottie just played a little and Palermo who is very talented didn’t get in the game. I agree Pappy that Stulic plays because he is solid all around and meshes very well with his teammates. One of the most enjoyable games I’ve watched in awhile. We had almost 1800 there, I was expecting 2500 or better but as MJS says it is what it is.

By the way, it was great to see several of you during the break. Like old times.

(02-01-2020 08:15 PM)Karl B Wrote:  It was a very entertaining game. Well played by both teams. Amazing shooting by everyone. We have a ton of size and talent, Lottie just played a little and Palermo who is very talented didn’t get in the game. I agree Pappy that Stulic plays because he is solid all around and meshes very well with his teammates. One of the most enjoyable games I’ve watched in awhile. We had almost 1800 there, I was expecting 2500 or better but as MJS says it is what it is.

Our attendance is sickening and I don't think the 2pm start helps that (obviously it is probably more convenient for those coming from Booneville, Russellville, and Hot Springs Village- I just think we used to draw much better on Saturday nights and believe a 4pm start like ASU would be better). A number of years ago, I "decided" I wouldn't allow attendance depress me- I'd just enjoy the good quality DI basketball in one of the nicest arena's in the country. I have been somewhat successful in this endeavor but it obviously still irritates me. I just don't lose any sleep over it and am much less worried about the program "shutting down" as was threatened during the Newell days. I am still waiting for the "win and they will come" guarantee I hear from many.

Attendance shot up with Chris Beard's epic season. Had three big crowds, with one official sellout @ 5619. This season is not too far off from what that team accomplished. The marketing team needs to get butts in the seats for A State coming in here on Saturday. It needs to be billed as the "most important D1 college basketball game in the state" a must-see event. Anything less than a sellout is a failure.

I'll be shocked if we have anywhere close to a sell-out. Of course, I was shocked when 12K turned out at Alltel Arena years ago for the LR-ASU game. Not sure what happened to all those folks, but they certainly aren't coming to Sun Belt basketball games anymore. Maybe a ton of promotion can get it up close to 4K, on Saturday, but unlikely with a 2pm start time although that is obviously no excuse. I really have no answer how to get folks out to LR basketball. Used to blame Barton Coliseum- now we have one of the nicest arena's in the country. Used to blame playing off campus- now we have a beautiful on campus arena. Used to blame the hogs- years of hog mediocrity haven't helped us. Used to blame ticket prices- $2 tickets couldn't get us to 2K. Used to blame the newspaper- newspapers are on largely irrelevant. Used to blame poor performance on the court- this team is really good. Used to blame lack of exciting basketball- this team plays exciting basketball and has some guys that are really fun to watch. Used to blame lack of local players- Unfortunately, our 2 local guys (Kris and Ryan) are out, but I always thought this was a BS excuse regardless. So I have no more excuses. Little Rock, while a great city. sucks as a sports town and the majority of the population don't care about the local university. Those 2 things are hard to overcome.

(02-03-2020 01:56 PM)mjs Wrote:  . Little Rock, while a great city. sucks as a sports town and the majority of the population don't care about the local university. Those 2 things are hard to overcome.

How many people were at the ua-valpo game?

Attendance at ballgames suffers for the same reason that the streets of Booneville are almost completely deserted on Friday and Saturday nights. When I was young you couldn't get through town for all the traffic. "Virtual" entertainment is a lot easier and cheaper.

(02-03-2020 02:52 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  Attendance at ballgames suffers for the same reason that the streets of Booneville are almost completely deserted on Friday and Saturday nights. When I was young you couldn't get through town for all the traffic. "Virtual" entertainment is a lot easier and cheaper.

I do believe that is a lot of it. That's what the under 40 crowd grew up with- multiple cable channels, movies on demand, and video games. The majority of our crowds are older folks. Not sure there is a good solution to this problem- at least, I don't have one.

Tough to lose when you play like they did Saturday. The only problem was ASU played well too, and shot lights out.