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Written by Todd Lamb (SLC) | Thursday, 12 November 2009 16:29 | College Basketball News
Two conference teams play in nationally televised games in first four days of the season
Eight teams take to the hard court Friday to usher in the 47th season of Southland Conference men’s basketball. Two more teams open play Saturday, another on Sunday and the final team, Stephen F. Austin, which won the conference regular season and tournament championships last season, tips off its season on Monday. Conference play does not start until Saturday, Jan. 9, when all 12 teams will be trying to earn a spot for the 2010 State Farm Southland Conference Basketball Tournament, which returns to the Leonard E. Merrell Center in Katy, Texas, March 10-13. It will be the conference’s 30th men’s basketball tournament.
Two Nationally Televised Games for the Southland in Four Days
Two Southland Conference teams will make two appearances on national television the first four days of the season. On Sunday, UTSA plays at Iowa on ESPNU at 5:05 p.m., Central. Then on Monday, Texas State will play Arizona State in the Dick’s Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip Off. That game will tip at 10 p.m., Central.
Same Divisions as Last Year
The Southland Conference went to divisional play in 2006-07. Every two years, Lamar and Stephen F. Austin switch divisions, but this season the divisions will remain exactly as they were in 2008-09. The schools will return to their original divisions next season.
East West
Central Arkansas Lamar
McNeese State Sam Houston State
Nicholls UT Arlington
Northwestern State UTSA
Southeastern Louisiana Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Stephen F. Austin Texas State
Sam Houston State is Preseason Favorite
Sam Houston State earned the most points in the coaches’ preseason poll, while the Bearkats and Nicholls were the top vote getters in the sports information directors’ poll. Both the coaches and SIDs picked Sam Houston to win the West Division. The Bearkats collected 61 points in the coaches’ poll and 58 points in the SID poll. Sam Houston State won the division last season. The coaches tabbed Stephen F. Austin to repeat in the East Division, while the publicists pegged Nicholls. The Lumberjacks won the East Division last year, finishing with the Southland’s best record to earn the top seed in the conference tournament. Stephen F. Austin won its first tournament title to secure the league’s automatic berth into the NCAA tournament, its first ever appearance. Nicholls was the SID pick in the East with 58 points.
The coaches and SIDs predicted the same order of finish in the West Division. Behind Sam Houston are Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, UTSA, UT Arlington, Lamar and Texas State. In the East Division, the coaches picked Nicholls to finish behind Stephen F. Austin followed by Southeastern Louisiana, Northwestern State, McNeese State and Central Arkansas. The SIDs selected Southeastern Louisiana to finish second followed by Stephen F. Austin, McNeese State, Northwestern State and Central Arkansas. Coaches and SIDs ranked teams in each division but could not vote for their own school.
Six All-Conference Players Return
Six players who earned All-Southland Conference honors last season return for the 2009-10 campaign. All six automatically qualified for the preseason all-conference teams. Two first-team all-conference selections return in Texas A&M-Corpus Christi swingman Kevin Palmer and Sam Houston State guard Corey Allmond. UT Arlington swingman Marquez Haynes and Sam Houston guard Ashton Mitchell earned first-team preseason honors along with Nicholls forward Anatoly Bose, a third-team selection in 2008-09.
UTSA guard Devin Gibson is the sixth returning all-conference player from a season ago. He was joined on the preseason second team by Southeastern Louisiana forward/center Patrick Sullivan, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi forward Justin Reynolds, UT Arlington forward Tommy Moffitt and UTSA guard Omar Johnson, who were all selected by a vote of the league’s head coaches.
Sam Houston State, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, UT Arlington and UTSA each placed two players on the preseason all-conference teams.
Southland Tournament Returns to Katy, Texas for Next Two Years
After two great tournaments in Katy, Texas, in 2008 and 2009, the Southland Conference has signed up for another two years, meaning the 2010 and 2011 Southland Conference tournaments will be played at the Leonard E. Merrell Center.
This year’s tournament moves up one day and begins with four women’s quarterfinal games on Tuesday, March 9. The men’s quarterfinals will be played on Wednesday, March 10. Thursday will showcase the semifinal matchups for both the men’s and women’s teams. All four semifinal games will be televised by the Southland Conference Television Network. The women’s championship will be played at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 11 and will be televised by Southland TV. The men’s championship will be played at 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 12 and be televised by ESPN2.
This year’s tournament will be the 11th in league history to be played on a neutral floor. The tournament was played in Shreveport, La., from 1995-2001 and was held in Houston in 2007 before moving to Katy in 2008.
Southland TV Will Televise 10 Men’s Basketball Games
The Southland Conference Television Network will televise 10 men’s basketball games during the 2009-10 season. This is the second year of the network, which will also televise six women’s basketball games. The slate gets underway Saturday, Jan. 9 when the Stephen F. Austin men’s team visits Sam Houston State. The Lumberjacks, who won both the regular season and tournament championships last season, are the favorite in the preseason coaches’ poll to win the East Division in 2009-10, while the Bearkats were picked by the league’s coaches to repeat its West Division title.
Southland TV will televise five games during the 2010 State Farm Southland Conference Basketball Tournament in Katy, Texas. Both of the men’s and women’s semifinal games on Thursday, March 11, as well as the women’s championship game March 12 will be televised by the network. The men’s championship game will be televised by ESPN2.
ESPN Full Court will pick up at least five of the Southland TV games for inclusion on its pay-per-view broadcast package and will simulcast those games on ESPN360.com. More games could be added to the Full Court package at a later date.
Additionally, all 16 basketball games on Southland TV will be streamed live for free on SLC NOW, the live and on-demand audio and video portal on Southland.org, the official Web site of the Southland Conference.
Northwestern State Guard is Semifinalist for Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award
Northwestern State senior guard Michael McConathy is among 30 elite men’s basketball Division I scholar-athletes nationally chosen as semifinalists for the 2009-10 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award.
The group will be narrowed to 10 finalists midway through the season. The award recognizes student-athletes who excel in classroom achievement, community service, character and competition. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award focuses on the epitome of the student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
McConathy, who graduated cum laude last spring with a 3.6 grade point average in industrial engineering technology, had his best season last year with averages of 8.0 points, 4.0 assists and 1.6 steals. He was fifth in the Southland Conference in assists, second in free-throw percentage and eighth in steals.
McConathy was a 2008-09 CoSIDA Academic All-District VI first-team member and a two-year member of the All-Southland Conference Academic team (2007-08 and 2008-09). He was a second-team member of the Academic All-Southland Conference team during the 2006-07 season. Additionally, McConathy has been a Dean’s List honoree four times and an Honor Roll member three times.
Lamar has Three Graduates on Roster
Lamar leads all of Division I schools with three graduates on its men’s basketball roster. Guard/Forward Ashton Hall (general studies), forward Justin Nabors (general studies) and center Lawrence Nwevo (business) have already received their undergraduate degrees. Canisius and Niagra each have two graduates on their rosters. Other Southland Conference graduates include Sam Houston State guard Ashton Mitchell (criminal justice) and Northwestern State guard Michael McConathy (industrial engineering technology).
Texas State to Participate in Dick’s Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip Off
Texas State will play in the 25th anniversary of the Dick’s Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off Tournament in November. The Bobcats are in the West Regional and will play at Arizona State with TCU and Cal State Northridge. The Nov. 16 game against the Sun Devils will be televised by ESPNU.
Southland to Play 24 Games Against 2009 Postseason Teams
The Southland will play 24 non-conference games against teams which reached the postseason in 2008-09. Eleven of the league’s 12 teams will challenge postseason foes from a season ago. Included in that total are 16 games against teams which played in the NCAA tournament and eight games against teams which participated in the NIT. Southland squads will play eight teams that advanced past the first round, including a Dec. 30 game for UT Arlington at Michigan State, which lost to North Carolina in the national championship game. Central Arkansas has the rare opportunity of playing a pair of teams that reached the Sweet 16. On Nov. 19, the Bears will play at Kansas and then five days later play at Memphis. The league plays eight games against six other teams that reached the second round, including two games at Texas and three games at LSU. In addition to UT Arlington’s game against the NCAA runnerup, it also will play the second-place team in the National Invitation Tournament. The Mavs play at Baylor Dec. 20. Baylor lost to Penn State in the NIT final. The Southland will play a total of eight games against the 2009 NIT field, including two other teams to reach the NIT quarterfinals. Sam Houston State plays at Kentucky Nov. 19 and then plays at Auburn Dec. 20.
Versus 2009 NCAA Tournament Participants
(16 Games)
N16 Stephen F. Austin at Minnesota
N16 Texas State at Arizona State
N19 Central Arkansas at Kansas
N19 Southeastern La. at Mississippi State
N21 Sam Houston State at Cleveland State
N24 Central Arkansas at Memphis
D5 UTSA at Oklahoma State
D12 Northwestern State at LSU
D12 Texas State at Texas
D17 Nicholls at LSU
D29 UTSA at Utah
D30 UT Arlington at Michigan State
J2 Northwestern State at Texas A&M
J2 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at Texas
J4 McNeese State at LSU
J4 A&M-Corpus Christi at Florida State
Versus 2009 NIT Participants
(Eight Games)
N13 Nicholls at Duquesne
N19 Sam Houston State at Kentucky
N20 Nicholls at New Mexico
N27 Nicholls vs. Washington State
D12 Central Arkansas at Tennessee-Martin
D20 Sam Houston State at Auburn
D20 UT Arlington at Baylor
J5 Southeastern Louisiana at Nebraska
Sam Houston State Coach Second All-Time in Wins
Sam Houston State head coach Bob Marlin became only the second coach in Southland Conference history to post 200 victories. In 10 season as coach of the Bearkats, he has averaged 20.0 wins per season and boasts a record of 200-123. Only Mike Vining, the head coach at Louisiana-Monroe from 1983-2005 has more. Vining was 383-291 in the Southland. Coincidentally, Vining gave Marlin his first coaching job. Marlin’s .619 winning percentage is the best among active coaches in the Southland. The percentage is seventh best in conference history for coaches who have served at least two seasons. Stephen F. Austin’s Danny Kaspar has a .603 winning percentage (158-104) in nine seasons to rank eighth all-time. Kaspar’s 158 wins rank sixth in league history, while Northwestern State coach Mike McConathy’s 156 win rank seventh.
Stephen F. Austin Wins First Southland Tournament Championship
Matt Kingsley and the Stephen F. Austin men’s basketball team defeated UTSA, 68-57, in the championship game of the 2009 State Farm Southland Conference Basketball Tournament Sunday at the Merrell Center. With the victory, the Lumberjacks clinched their first berth into the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship and became the 15th team in league history to hoist the tournament title trophy.
Leading the Lumberjacks’ charge throughout the tournament was Kingsley, a fifth-year senior who finished off his Southland career with a 20-point performance en route to being named the State Farm Southland Conference Basketball Tournament’s Most Valuable Player. Also the league’s Player of the Year, Kingsley was joined on the All-Tournament Team by fellow Lumberjacks Josh Alexander and Eddie Williams, UTSA’s Devin Gibson and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s Kevin Palmer.
The final score was in doubt until the final minutes of the game, but Stephen F. Austin never trailed in the second half, building a lead that was as large as 11 points and never fewer than five. And while the Lumberjacks took control of the game in the opening half, it was three back-door cuts in the waning minutes that resulted in a pair of William’s layups and a Walt Harris free throw that pushed them over the hump.
Gibson let his emotions pour out throughout the game as he did his best to keep the sixth-seeded Roadrunners in the fray, but not even his game-high 23 points could keep the Lumberjacks from achieving their destiny of becoming first-time entrants into the Big Dance.
Lumberjacks Succumb to Syracuse
Syracuse ran out to a 20-4 lead and never let the Stephen F. Austin get anything going in its first-ever appearance in the NCAA tournament. Benson Akpan led Stephen F. Austin with 12 points and Nick Shaw added 10 in the first-round game at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Fla. The Lumberjacks missed 12 of their first 13 shots, and did not connect from 3-point range until Walt Harris hit from the left wing with 11:25 to play. It was the team’s 16th attempt from beyond the arc. Stephen F. Austin, which had led the nation in 3-point field goal defense, lived up to that billing. The Orange were 2-for-16 from long range, plus committed 21 turnovers to the Lumberjacks’ six. Syracuse held a 51-32 edge in rebounding and limited Stephen F. Austin to 25 percent shooting.
Southland Teams Finished 2008-09 Among Statistical Leaders
Five Southland Conference teams finished the 2008-09 season ranked in the top 10 in eight different statistical categories. Stephen F. Austin led the nation in three-point field goal percentage defense allowing opponents to shoot only 26.6 percent behind the arc. The Lumberjacks were the nation’s second best team a season ago in field goal percentage defense, limited the opposition to just 37.6 percent from the floor. They also were second in scoring defense. Opposing offenses managed just 56.1 points per game.
Sam Houston State ranked second nationally, averaging 18.2 assists per game, thanks to 6.8 assists per game by Ashton Mitchell. That figure ranked fifth in the nation. Texas State was the nation’s fourth-best scoring offense, averaging 81.5 points per game. UTSA averaged 9.3 steals per game to rank eighth in the nation and averaged 4.0 fewer turnovers per game than its opponents to rank ninth nationally. Devin Gibson finished third in the nation with 3.0 steals per game. McNeese was again among the national leaders in blocked shots. The Cowboys blocked 5.9 shots per game to rank ninth. Kleon Penn averaged 3.5 blocked shots per game to rank fourth. Additionally, Texas State’s Corey Jefferson’s 2.84 assist-to-turnover ratio ranked ninth in the nation.
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