TexasTerror

From David Barron's column in the Houston Chronicle... Marc Vandermeer lined up air time and sponsors for the Southland Conference men's basketball tournament final, which will air at noon March 16, on KIKK (650 AM). He will call the game with Robert Henslee.

1. Butler (23) 27-3 761 2 2. Davidson (1) 23-6 728 3 3. Gonzaga (3) 23-6 709 4 4. Drake (1) 25-4 701 1 5. VCU 23-6 630 7 6. South Alabama 25-5 607 9 7. Kent State 23-6 575 5 8. Western Kentucky 24-6 557 10 9. Stephen F. Austin 23-4 528 6 10. St. Mary's 24-5 488 8 11. Illinois State 22-8 464 12 12. Robert Morris 25-6 381 17 13. Cal State Fullerton 19-8 303 11 14. IUPUI 24-6 269 14 15. UC Santa Barbara 21-7 266 15 16. George Mason 20-10 253 13 17. Belmont 22-8 228 20 18. Akron 20-8 199 18 19. Morgan State 19-9 187 21 20. Cal State Northridge 19-8 174 16 21. Rider 21-9 137 24 22. Cornell 20-5 123 25 23. Sam Houston State 21-6 111 NR 24. UNC Asheville 21-8 86 NR 25. Ohio 18-10 85 23 OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: Oral Roberts 83, Creighton 73, Western Michigan 59, Southern Illinois 48, Siena 43, Wright State 39, American 38, UMBC 37, Austin Peay 35, Portland State 16, Cleveland State 15, Miami (Ohio) 10, Valparaiso 8, Pacific 7, Wagner 6, Brown 3, San Diego 3, Lamar 2.

Said it before, Lamar is third in line...I do not think the Regents would let them to move up unless Sam Houston State was moving up.

They actually offered James Madison's head coach. That's a proven winner, but he turned them down (and got a pay increase for that one). I think the individual they hired was Div III and he's got a strong relationship with HS coaches in Alabama, having been a successful one himself... Coaching staff-wise, he's done a great job. He hired Les Koennig Jr (formerly of Texas A&M) as his offensive coordinator and former Auburn QB Dameyune Craig as his running back coach. Craig has coached at Tuskegee and LSU as an assistant. Nice pick-ups. Craig has recruited Alabama since he hit the coaching ranks, has a name that many are familiar with in Alabama and should be good for them.

Lamar Cardinals (18-8, Southland 12-1) Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston State were Southland teams that were more impressive than Lamar in the non-conference portion of the schedule, but other than a mid-January loss at SFAU the Cardinals are this close to running the Southland table. I had the honor of watching their Feb. 27 victory over Texas A&M Corpus Christi during which they controlled the majority of the game. F Lamar Sanders (11.9 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 1.7 spg, 1.2 bpg) did excellent work on both ends against the larger Islanders. Leading scorer G Kenny Dawkins (14.4 ppg, 4.7 apg, 2.0 spg, 2.2 3pg) was held to 12 points and zero threes, (Dawkins did share with wealth with eight assists – one below his season high) but fellow G Darren Hopkins (11.2 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 1.4 3pg) picked up the slack with 17 points, five assists, and four threes. Lamar has clinched the top seed in the Southland East, but they hope to continue their 11-game winning streak at McNeese State (Mar. 1) and at home against cellar-dwelling Nicholls State (Mar. 6). [Hidden Content]

Thought I'd share as their timeline is similar to yours, outside of making a move to FBS... Phil Paramore: South Alabama football in good shape Saturday, Feb 02, 2008 - 06:00 AM The University of South Alabama will soon have a football coach to go with its first-ever football team. A word of warning: Don’t be so quick dismiss the Jaguars. The president of the board of trustees at South Alabama is Dothan’s Steve Stokes, a physician here who has served on our own city school board. He and his wife made one of the largest contributions in school history to USA last year, and he is firmly in touch with the goings-on in Mobile. According to Stokes, athletics director Joe Gottfried may name a coach for the start-up program as soon as next week. “I think he wants to wait until after signing day (Feb. 6), and then release it,†said Stokes. “I understand we’re down to two candidates.“ One of them is Alabama defensive coordinator Kevin Steele. Stokes confirmed the school hosted Steele and his wife this past Thursday. The other serious candidate believed to be in the running is South Florida assistant Dan McCarney, who is the former head coach at Iowa State. This week, Auburn’s Eddie Gran said the selection committee had informed him he wasn’t under consideration, and then on Thursday, Mississippi State assistant Woody McCorvey and Clemson staffer Dabo Swinney — both ex-Tide assistants — withdrew their names from the search process. Once a coach is named, Stokes said a plan will be set in motion. “Next year we’ll sign 30 players and ‘greyshirt’ all of them,†he said. “We’ll do the same thing the next year. In 2009, we’ll play for the first time, as a club-level team. The next two seasons, we’ll compete in Division I-AA. Then in year four, we’ll play as a member of Division I and compete in the Sun Belt Conference.“ However, residence in the Sun Belt may be relatively short-lived. Conference USA, which has a far more recognizable membership, has already made overtures to South Alabama. “They’d like to establish a relationship because of their tie-in with the GMAC Bowl,†he said. “They are very interested in South Alabama joining their league.“ Stokes said the city and county of Mobile have pledged “significant†financial support. The city will allow South Alabama to use 40,000-seat Ladd-Peebles Stadium free of charge for the first five years of the program’s existence, and nine luxury boxes will be constructed to help raise additional money. At first glance, the USA program wouldn’t be much of a threat to the Alabamas and Auburns of the world, maybe even the Troys. But think about how fertile the Mobile recruiting area is — Nick Saban currently has seven public commitments from the port city and is still awaiting top prospect Julio Jones’ decision — and it’s easy to see how another option for prepsters could be a key. Some kids’ parents simply can’t afford to travel to SEC venues each week — even home games in Tuscaloosa or Auburn — and many of those prospects simply won’t want to leave home. “We’ll center on Gulfport-Biloxi all the way over to Tallahassee and everything between,†said Stokes. Traditionally, there’s enough prospects along that I-10 corridor to stock more than one major-college roster. Soon there will be another one in the mix, and it promises to be anything but a moot point. [Hidden Content]

Talked to some folks at South Alabama -- they are going to be FCS on their way to FBS when they join the Sun Belt (2013, I think). First year is going to be mostly Div II and non-scholarship Div I FCS (which is what I expect of Lamar, as much as you guys don't want that)... They've already talked to a few schools about home-and-homes at the FBS (formerly I-A level) for quite some time down the road.

ABR3 is just bringing them in... You now have the best poster you'll find as far as McNeese goes... When is BearFan101 going to make an appearance? That your next surprise ABR3?

What...not a big fan of the "red beans and rice bowl" are whatever it is you call the UCA-McN game? Once Lamar joins, every team will have a nice rivalry game to finish the season except UCA... McN vs Lamar (Sabine River Showdown) TxSt vs SHSU (K©at Fight) SFA vs NWST (Chief Caddo) SELA vs Nich (Cajun Corner Game -- River Bell)

Lamar has a CSTV web site. The SIDs (and whomever else update it) use a program that CSTV's web development folks put out to update it. Pretty simple process when it comes to articles, a little more difficult when it comes to lay out...

From the Houstonian, the SHSU student newspaper... Sam Houston State University students who attended the basketball game at Stephen F. Austin last week have reported incidents of unsportsmanlike conduct from SFA fans upon arrival. According to student reports, the Lumberjack fans spent much of Thursday's game throwing plastic bottles at SHSU fans, showering them with offensive comments and stealing spirit wigs from the Kat Krazies. "We got bombarded with a ton of language," SHSU student Eric Vento said. "As soon as the second half started, we started getting soda cans and candy and food thrown at us. Some of the girls who were with us kept getting cat calls from a few of their fans. It was just really degrading." As the Kat Krazies made their way to their seats, the opposing fans grabbed the wigs off their heads and began passing them around the stadium. At one point, an SFA student allegedly took out a lighter and attempted to light a Sam Houston spirit flag on fire. "When I found out about it, I lost my temper to put it bluntly," SHSU Student Government Association President Christopher Whitaker said. "Ever since the fight at the football game two years ago, we've tried to make it a more civil rivalry. To hear reports like I heard last Thursday, it's just completely unacceptable." In an attempt to place the rivalry in a positive light, the SGA worked in conjunction with the student government at SFA to reincarnate the Battle of the Piney Woods. The tradition died down years ago but was brought back to life as a way to recognize the rivalry between the two schools. Despite the actions taken by student governments, the rivalry has only become more heated as the two basketball teams remain first and second in the Division 1 Southland Conference. "I had money thrown at me but I was like 'I don't care. I just made 30 cents off the Lumberjacks,'" Kat Krazies President Ryan Bridges said. "There were some [sFA] people that were restrained by cops in front of me because they started throwing punches at a guy. I didn't see the guy actually hit him, but I know there was a lot of shoving and pushing around." As the Lumberjacks pulled ahead of the Bearkats, SFA fans began a string of chants which included vulgarity and obscenities, according to SHSU students. "I was surprised they were saying that because the game was on TV and I'm sure people could make out what they were saying," Vento said. "I'm not going to lie, some of our guys started saying things back at them after a while but we never physically did anything to them. It was mostly their comments and them throwing stuff at us." Though many students have reported abuse at the game, SFA police officials say the game was completely under control. "I wouldn't say it was out of hand," SFA Police Chief Marc Cossich said. "There was some heated discussions between Sam and our people here but that's about it." Cossich did not comment on how many officers he had placed at the game but says he added a couple more than usual to control the estimated 7,000 fans who attended. "We haven't really had any fights break out or any major problems with the fans except for that one football game a couple years ago, but other than that, it's mostly just verbal," Cossich said. "I put officers at the events to make sure that things stay verbal." "If any student, faculty or staff has a problem when they attend our events the can come by and talk to me about it," Cossich added. Sam Houston officials were not available yesterday to comment on the situation.

Always amazes me that Lamar always gets a "big name" field. Big in name alone as none of these schools are particularly great at baseball by any means. Does help a program when you can say you beat school A, B and C -- regardless of the reality regarding those school's baseball prowess... Ark St is 10 of 11 in the Sun Belt, KState is tied for 7th out of 10 in the Big XII -- preseason polls and then Michigan St finished 7 of 10 in the Big Ten. I'm predicting a Lamar sweep...

Wise leadership? Their fan base has been calling for their AD's head for quite some time. In fact, their fans feel like the administration did not even hop into the FBS camp until their student body pushed the issue and it was almost certain that passage was guaranteed. UNLV, sure push my buttons a little, if you want -- but your obviously not been following the situation that closely. The math does not add up as it relates to the money. Their school is going to have overcome a much larger deficit than they can imagine due to football. The students are not going to be willing to shell out more and more money. SHSU's student body is against a fee increase right now because we're already complaining about the high prices of textbooks (among other things) and how can we complain about that if we're going to throw a few hundred more dollars per student into the athletic program? Malleus on the BobcatFans forum posted this...

Another question... Does anyone know what kind of schedule you can put together in 2009 aka "the redshirt season"? I know you can do a intersquad scrimmage, but could you go against like club teams (i.e UT-Arlington has one) or other new teams (maybe you can get a scrimmage against the "redshirt season" squad at South Alabama?)

Do you guys agree that it makes sense for as one article put it -- Lamar vs McNeese, Lamar vs SFA and Lamar vs SHSU as in comparison to a A&M-CC vs SELA or UCA vs Nicholls? If the SLC scheduling folks do it right, it could work. You do need to make sure that the schools far away do make the 'Cajun Corner' swing on the same weekend (Thur/Sat) or what not... The conference is growing (UCA and A&M-CC show that). Some match-ups are not good for the student-athletes on a Weds. There's still plenty of schools close by that are nonetheless...

Good write-up...it does sound rather risky! The students are paying for the shortcomings of the athletic department in San Marcos. The article provides math that does not paint a rosy picture for the folks there... ============================== Pain, or Gain, For Texas State? The students at Texas State University approved a fee increase two weeks ago for the purpose of supporting big-time football, thereby encumbering future student generations with a feast or famine scenario. It’s not right or wrong. It’s not bad or good. It’s feast or famine. That’s major college football, which separates winners from losers like no other business – and don’t fool yourselves, it is a business. If you’re going to play this game, that’s the first reality you need to internalize. It’s serious business involving big money and gains or losses that run to multiples. Do not expect an understanding nod when you rhapsodize about college football’s enhancement of the educational experience. Expect nothing less than ridicule and derisive belly laughter, because that’s the biggest joke in sports or academia. College football is about marketing the university first, second and third. A well-turned college football program places the university’s name in higher profile, attracts students to the university and stimulates contributions from the alumni. Everything else is smoke and mirrors, including the true underlying motive, which is that big college football is fun. But fun for who? And when? Colleges began promoting football about 100 years ago as a draw for students, since institutions offering “campus life†held an edge over those that merely produced solid education and prestigious degrees. Perhaps, listening to the present discussion about football at Texas State, that sounds familiar. By the 1920s, college football helped feed America’s burgeoning mass culture and grew into such an obsessive force on campus and society that universities soon faced serious decisions. College football escalated into an arm’s race. The tail started wagging the dog. The popular imagination began seeing the university as a pretext for spectator sports. Institutions wanting to pride themselves on training minds were judged for assembling football teams that could crack heads. On one hand, football basically built Notre Dame, which, by Knute Rockne’s marketing genius, eased the path for Catholicism in America. On the other hand, Ivy League schools found football too intrusive and refused steps to stay competitive on a national level. The University of Chicago discontinued its successful program in the 1930s, saying football compromised the university’s mission. Universities recruited students who could play football, but couldn’t hack academic work. Alumni pressured coaches so intensely to win that academic performance declined to secondary status. Boosters routinely pay players under the table or set them up with phony jobs in the interest of winning. College football now is so large, so unwieldy, so impossible for universities to control that we’ll never see a national championship tournament. Administrators simply can’t monitor the activities of their football programs under the present circumstances, and a tournament would raise the stakes so high that all hope for oversight would be lost forever. It speaks directly to the absurd influence of college football that college-educated commentators can’t grasp that simple reality. The stakes for winning college football programs fly off the charts. The most avaricious oil company or consumer credit bank might claim 25 percent of its revenues as profit. But a college football program operating in the black by mere percentages is a weakling. If your college football program isn’t making multiples on its expenses, you almost can’t matter. According to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Postsecondary Education, the University of Texas spent $17.6 million on football and generated $63.8 million in football revenues for the reporting period ending on Aug. 31, 2007. That 3.6 to 1 ratio of revenues to expenditures is almost the rule among the traditional powers. On the flip side, once you get out of the big leagues, we find places like North Texas. For the reporting year ended on Aug. 31, 2007, North Texas lost multiples on football, spending $4.2 million against revenues of $1.4 million. Attempting to turn that around, North Texas made a coaching change entering last season, hiring Todd Dodge away from Southlake Carroll. Dodge made an immediate impact on fund raising, but not on winning. A Conference-USA school, which is the level to which Texas State should aspire, spends around $7 million on football. Some programs can balance those expenditures with revenues, and others can’t. The question at Texas State is how to make it work. For the reporting year ending last Aug 31, Texas State ran its athletic department slightly better than even – $13.3 million in revenues against $12.6 million in expenditures. Student fees deserve nearly all of the credit, and football deserves none. Texas State football generated a mere $639,253 after expenditures of $2,346,453. Even at its lower level of large college football, Texas State spent nearly four times the money it generated to line up and kick off. Now, Texas State is looking to basically triple its football expenditure when it’s already losing four times what it makes. Sounds like a pretty risky proposition. But the students are kicking in with more fees. Last week’s election result means students will double their fees for the athletic department to $10 million annually in 2012-13. If all that extra $5 million goes to football, then Texas State has the $7 million for a Conference-USA budget in today’s world. By 2012, probably, the requirement will come closer to $10 million. If Texas State quadruples its football budget to approach $10 million in five years, can it also increase football revenues 12-15 fold to break even or stay fairly close? What’s at stake for other athletic programs if Texas State starts losing $5 million per year on football? The University of South Florida started a football program in 1996 and bled money for years. Finally, South Florida broke even in 2005. The true reward came in mid-October 2007, when South Florida climbed to No. 2 in the national rankings. South Florida made $9.2 million in football revenues against $7.6 million in expenditures for the reporting year ending last Aug. 31. Last season, South Florida probably did much better. That program appears to be on its way. South Florida worked with certain geographic advantages, including a populous Tampa area without a major college program nearby. Texas State might be able to leverage San Antonio as its major market, but it will always operate in UT’s shadow. The risks are huge, and the rewards also are huge. If the will exists among Texas State students, alums, administrators and financial supporters, then no one else can argue against the university shooting for the college football big time. But the path is strewn with years of big money losses. Going for the college football big time means you know that going in. Get your stomach ready. It’s going to hurt for a while. Pain, or gain, for Texas State? By Bill Peterson Football Review of Texas Editor [Hidden Content]

Noticed there was mention of the Kats pitching... Here's a nugget from our own LeftyDad on KatFans.com, a father of a former Bearkat hurler... "On the mound, four hard throwing true freshmen (Zach Neal, Cody Springer, Justin Jackson and Dallas Gallant) combined to throw 14-1/3 innings, allowing only 10 hits, ONE earned run, 4 BB's and 18 K's. Neal and Jackson both picked up wins."

Wanted to bring this discussion over here... Two things -- Lamar and SFA flip flop divisions (which we all knew about beforehand) and that Billy Tubbs apparently pushed through something that would make for Weds/Sat games in the Southland. My thought on Weds/Sat is that it's really taxing on the student-athletes. I've traveled with a Div I basketball team. Not sure many of you can say the same. I'm not a fan of Weds/Sat, whether your out on the road or have to come back and then go back on the road. It's very taxing. If you have to go away on Weds and home on Sat (or vice-versa), it means your on the road every week and I'm not a big fan of that either. Weds is also a big night around the nation -- so your not going to get good officials, while Thursday you have a better chance to do so -- I used to see some Big XII officials come into Huntsville to work games. Not sure what your thinking, but I'm not a big fan based upon my own experience of traveling with a basketball team (especially when it means your away from Tuesday through Sunday for two out of three weeks in a row). Here's some thoughts on it from various angles... ----------------------- UCA's town fishwrap [Hidden Content] ----------------------- Gary Laney (Lake Charles American-Press) from the McN board... I think it is strictly a players and coaches argument. One day between games leaves little prep time for the second game of the week. Ideally, you would give teams at least two days to prepare for games. I would assume Tubbs' argument is that playing Thursday-Saturday sends the message that you are so "small time" that issues concerning money take precedent over issues concerning maximizing your product. There's a lot wrong with that line of thinking, but that's my guess. Here's what's wrong: 1. This is a small-team league where money issues matter. You think playing on Wednesdays is really going to fool people into thinking it's the Big 12? 2. The officials situation. You can't complain about the availability of officials if you are going to cut down on your pool of available refs. 3. The passive fan factor. You are trying to win over the passive fan who will just as easily be persuaded to sit at home and watch LSU or the Longhorns on ESPN. Makes no sense to play on the night those schools are playing. What I hate about this year's McNeese schedule is I'm traveling every week, just about. Instead of playing Thursday and Saturday at home one week, then Thursday and Saturday at Arlington/Nacogdoches, or San Marcos/San Antonio, they almost always play one at home, one away in the same week (this week at San Antonio, at home vs. Lamar; last week at Northwestern, home vs. Central Arkansas; next week home vs. SLU, at Nicholls). You never get to spend a whole week at home. I'm sure that's as annoying to the players and coaches as it is to me. Wednesday-Saturday isn't the only reason for it. Divisional scheduling has eliminated the UTSA-Texas State swing (you only play one a year at those schools; the other comes to you), but it has hurt. I say let the schools decide. It's no problem for McNeese and Lamar or McNeese and Northwestern to play on Wednesday, especially if the road team is at home on Saturday. But if UCA has to go to Lamar and McNeese, like they did last week, the league should allow UCA to play a Thursday-Saturday to cut down travel time (which is what happened last week). Here's the thing. Let's say Nicholls and Southeastern are scheduled for a mid-week game. If, between the two schools, they decide they want to play Wednesday to maximize their rest/preparation time for Saturday's game, fine. But if they want to play on Thursday so they don't get stuck with the D-list officials, that should be fine too.

The "model" to do it makes sense as a reason. To me, money issues would not have any influence as you'd want to build up scholarships (if you throw all your scholarships in year one into the pot or even do it in two years, your going to have some recruiting issues) anyway. Then again, year II of football would be year III overall. Would Lamar even be at the full allotment of 63 scholarships by the SLC year, would they even want to be for recruiting and spreading out the classes, purposes? Seemed to me that SLU did what they did in an effort to spread out the scholarships so they wouldn't take a big hit in a few years and slowly work their way into a more competitive schedule as they did so (granted, they did get the big win over McNeese)...

What's working against Lamar is that their overall record was not so "attractive". These coaches do not have enough time to lay it out there. I know that in some sports that do mid-major polls (thinking specifically about swimming), they have a weekly talk where people can say things from their region. Not sure if that's the case here, but I bet it's Marlin that continues to give them the 'nod', if you will...

Must say that I have been confused about Southeastern La. versus Lamar in how they started up. Same process in place too that you would be going through. They did not get into the SLC until year three. This is why I'd assume that Lamar would do the same thing, but I've seen the same things from your folks as you posted -- conference play in 2011.

I am convinced that SFA is going to make their first-ever NCAA tournament. Quite frankly, I think they could be a #13 or #14 seed (you heard it here first). I want them to beat Lamar or whomever it may be in the final as I think SFA could cause some problems for some teams in the NCAA tournament. Lamar will get their NIT bid and maybe we get SHSU in the NIT or CBI (remember they have that third tournament now?). The more teams in the post-season for the SLC, the better. Time to make some noise as a conference!

Butler falls out of the top spot, SFA gets a first-place vote and moves up three spots...SHSU is out of the top 25. Is this the first time this season we've been on the outside looking in? I think so... 1. Drake (27) 24-3 770 3 2. Butler 25-3 739 1 3. Davidson (3) 21-6 702 4 4. Gonzaga 21-6 657 5 5. Kent State 23-5 654 8 6. Stephen F. Austin (1) 22-3 640 9 7. VCU 21-6 602 7 8. St. Mary's 23-4 564 2 9. South Alabama 22-5 517 10 10. Western Kentucky 22-6 441 6 11. Cal State Fullerton 18-7 410 18 12. Illinois State 20-8 373 20 13. George Mason 19-9 355 11 14. IUPUI 22-6 336 13 15. UC Santa Barbara 20-7 295 17 16. Cal State Northridge 18-7 271 12 17. Robert Morris 23-6 206 24 18. Akron 19-8 198 14 19. Wright State 20-7 171 16 20. Belmont 20-8 130 21 21. Morgan State 17-9 127 25 22. Creighton 19-8 101 NR 23. Ohio 18-9 99 NR 24. Rider 19-9 96 NR 25. Cornell 18-5 77 NR OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: Sam Houston State 74, Oral Roberts 73, Austin Peay 59, Cleveland State 44, Bradley 43, Southern Illinois 39, UNC Asheville 38, Siena 34, Winthrop 30, UMBC 25, Loyola 22, Portland State 12, American 10, Alabama State 8, Lamar 8, Western Michigan 8, UNC Wilmington 7, Georgia Southern 5, Wagner 5, San Diego 4, Niagara 3, Pacific 2.

Since this Lamar board is hopping and apparently, I've been clued in that a few of you like to talk about the pigskin sport, what are your realistic expectations for your first schedule as a football school? Keep in mind that you will be Independent, though one would assume the SLC would do their part in helping you guys out in filling the slate. Here's a glance at Southeastern La. and their schedule in year one (please note I am referring to it as I-AA as that's what it was then): Home vs Ark-Monticello (Div II) Home vs Lambuth (NAIA) Road vs Henderson St (Div II) Road vs Troy (Transitioning from Div I-AA to I-A) Road vs Texas State - San Marcos (I-AA) Home vs McNeese State (I-AA) Road at Northwestern State (I-AA) Home vs Webber International (NAIA) Road vs St. Mary's (I-AA -- now a defunct program) Road vs Alcorn State (I-AA) Home vs Jacksonville (I-AA non-scholarship) Home vs Prairie View A&M (I-AA) Six home games in the opening season. That was one of those 12-game years. They did go on the road to a Div II (same Div II that the SWAC's Ark-Pine Bluff is going on the road to this year). The rest of the slate was pretty good. Started out with teams they could get wins against. Old Dominion, another team that is starting football is beginning with teams that are low scholarships (NEC), give grant-in-aids (Patriot League) or no scholarships (Pioneer, the leftovers from the MAAC). So, what do you guys think? Also, what year do you want in the SLC?

It's been great seeing the Southland Conference continue to get recognition this late in the season. It was nice earlier in the year seeing Sam Houston State get their fair shake, but this is the first time we've seen coverage outside of the recent success (NWST) in the NCAA tournament. I do not think SFA can get an at-large unless they win out and lose in the SLC tournament final, but even then -- it'd be a stretch. An NIT berth is more likely than anything and I really think they can make some noise. SFA @ the Univ of Houston anyone?