Letters from Katy: SFA men fall, women face Lamar in semifinals

On the men's side of the Southland Conference Tournament, the story of two semifinals games could've been mostly one and the same.

The higher seeded team, the one making their tournament debut, stormed out of the gate to a big first-half lead. The legs who had played 24 hours prior (and 48 hours, too, in the case of Sam Houston State) were a tad slower. In both games, the lead seemed insurmountable early in the second half. Both games got interesting in the final minutes. Both games, ultimately, saw the teams with a double-bye move on.

For Stephen F. Austin, that means their run of three-straight NCAA Tournament appearances has come to an end. At least in the year 2017.

New Orleans and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, along with their pair of superstar forwards, will battle tonight for a ticket to the Big Dance. The Lumberjacks will likely head to a berth in the CBI or CIT, hardly a consolation prize, but a growing opportunity for the youngest team in the Southland Conference.

In the women's bracket, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Stephen F. Austin made quick work of New Orleans and McNeese. Just a day after watching the Cowgirls wreak havoc on the boards in their demolition of Nicholls, SFA turned the tides. Led by Stevi Parker's 14 rebounds, the game was mostly over at halftime (save a late Cowgirls push).

Some other notes from a Friday at the Merrell Center:

Ladyjacks cannot overlook Lamar, but their demons will likely be lying in wait tomorrow -

SFA seniors Taylor Ross and Adrienne Lewis have been here before. Twice under former head coach Brandon Schneider, the Ladyjacks entered the SLC tournament as the #1 seed. Twice they were eliminated. They may not get the benefit of the double-bye this year, but ghosts of those teams still haunt the hallways of the Merrell Center.

One of the assistant coaches mentioned that Ross and Lewis "are on a mission." Should they find a way to sneak by Lamar today, no easy task, they will likely face a team in the finals tomorrow who twice defeated them in the regular season.

Apparently, folks at the American Press think it's already a done deal:

We'll have a lot more on UCA and their obscene winning streak should SFA manage to find themselves in the championship game on Sunday. One game at a time, though. One game at a time.

Leon Gilmore's defense was fine. Jesus couldn't guard Rashawn Thomas -

The Islanders' forward was nearly unstoppable on Friday night. He scored inside, his mid-range jumper wasn't touching the rim, he even knocked in a pair of three-pointers. Nothing could stop Rashawn Thomas.

I really don't think many SFA fans have really appreciated his greatness over the last few years. Mostly because he hasn't played that well against the Lumberjacks. Early in the season as the Lumberjacks blew out the Islanders in Nacogdoches, Thomas was thoroughly frustrated with the physicality of SFA's defense. After the game on Friday, Thomas said that earlier game helped him make the necessary adjustments.

Whatever they were, they worked.

SFA fans have probably never been fond of the Islanders over the years. They are, after all, the only SLC team that ever beat Brad Underwood when he coached at SFA. But be sure, in all your animosity, that you appreciate a great, smart, articulate, impressive man. Rashawn Thomas is all of those things and more.

Opponents won't miss playing him, but the Southland Conference will bid farewell to one of their all-time great talents after the championship game tonight.

Kyle Keller will never get enough credit for how difficult his job was in 2016-17 -

Although the season probably won't actually end with the loss to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (see above on CIT/CBI), in essence the defeat to the Islanders concluded the first year of Kyle Keller's tenure as the leader of the Lumberjacks.

There are no shortage of morons who take for granted everything that SFA overcame this season. Take this guy, for instance:

So. Many. Problems. I can't even...

The job that Keller did in his inaugural season wasn't lost on one person, though: Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's Willis Wilson. The man who Keller called one of the best in the country a night earlier had this to say about his semifinals adversary:

The Lumberjacks need to find a way to fix the outside shooting woes -

SFA completed the season dead-last in the Southland Conference in three-point shooting. The mid-range jumpers, while better, never fell consistently either. The coaching staff knew it, and SFA put in a lot of buckets at point-blank range on drives and inside dishes - but opponents knew it too, and it made competent scoring very difficult.

Ivan Canete showed flashes of sharp-shooting ability. And then his shot stopped falling, too. Ditto Isaiah Traylor.

Whether from players currently on the roster or newcomers, the Lumberjacks will need to improve on their 31% three point shooting in conference play. Good defense without consistent scoring will carry a team only so far. Great defense, a little farther. I've hyped up defenses a lot this week, and for good reason, but you have to score points to win too.

Here's to hoping that there's a phenomenal offseason shooting instructor on the Lumberjacks' coaching staff.

Fast break points -

- In so many ways, SFA and Sam Houston State were the same team this year. Both played great on defense, struggled for long stretches on the scoring end, and couldn't make a long-ball. One huge difference though: SFA is the youngest team in the conference, Sam Houston State is one of the oldest. Two programs on very different trajectories right now.

- It'll be hard not to be at least a little bit happy for whoever goes to the NCAA Tournament on the men's side. For Willis Wilson and Mark Slessinger, it's been a long time coming. Erik and Rashawn Thomas are both equally deserving veteran players.

- UNO's fan base traveled surprisingly well. It wasn't like there were any huge crowds in the Merrell Center, but I'm not sure I've seen this many fans of a Louisiana school in Katy at least since Northwestern State had some good teams a couple years ago. Makes you wonder why they can't show up for home games at Lakefront Arena.

- The SLC landscape is about to shift dramatically. The theme among most top teams this season has been a lot of experienced, veteran players. You know, the kind that won't be back next year. Look out for Lamar. It would not surprise me one bit to see them as a major contender in a year.

- The discrepancy between the top three women's teams and everyone else is mind boggling. UCA, SFA, and Lamar are on a level all their own. The narrative is that the SLC is a pretty good women's basketball league. That's only true if you separate the top three. These next 24 hours will be fun to watch.