SFA vs. Tulsa: Q&A with Reign Cane Sports
The Lumberjacks are in Hawaii this weekend for the 2016 installation of the Diamond Head Classic tournament and will get their shot at a rebuilding Tulsa team on Thursday. The Golden Hurricane was an NCAA Tournament team last season (at-large) but with just one returning starter are in a situation much like SFA, trying to get quality minutes from talented players who haven't had to produce at the college DI-level until now.
Still, Tulsa has had some good moments. In just their last two games, the Golden Hurricane nearly upset former SFA coach Brad Underwood's Oklahoma State team before finishing the job against another former SFA coach, Danny Kaspar, versus Texas State.
This Golden Hurricane team may not be all it's been the past couple years but it would still represent by far the biggest win of the season if the Lumberjacks could pull off the upset tomorrow.
To learn more about this contest from the Tulsa perspective, we went behind enemy lines to Reign Cane Sports and co-creator Hunter Hart (@hart_attack35). Here's what he had to say:
Like SFA, Tulsa is dealing with legions of newcomers in the on-court rotation. Has there been visible signs of growth as the season has progressed?
Hunter: Absolutely. Even from each of the preseason scrimmages, improvement has come across the board. We opened the season with a loss to Jacksonville State, which is definitely someone we would hope to beat in most other circumstances, but since then have played much better, with two of our three losses (Wichita State and Oklahoma State) being to teams that we were expected to lose to (Arkansas-Little Rock being the exception).
We’ve begun to find a flow on the offensive end, the plethora of new guys are starting to find their roles, a handful are beginning to step up, and the defense is opening up to communication and buying into coach Frank Haith’s scheme.
Despite an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament last season, there wasn't a lot of preseason optimism that Tulsa would be competitive in the American Athletic Conference with the likes of Cincinnati, UConn, and SMU. With the latter two having some of their own growing pains this fall, is there any new confidence that the Golden Hurricane could make a push in league play?
Hunter: Although we over Reign Cane Sports remain cautiously optimistic about making a run at the end of the year to secure a spot in the NCAA Tournament this year, we understand that, realistically, this year is about transitioning to the new guard, and growth across the board for all the new pieces, finishing in the top half of the conference would certainly be a success. As fans, we’d love to see our improvement continue at the same pace it has thus far this season, but that’s unlikely. The 2016-17 season is mostly about identifying who we have on our roster, how they can contribute, and how we need to tweak the formula to be effective going forward. Everything else is icing on the cake.
Who is one Tulsa player SFA fans may not know who you expect everyone to be familiar with after tomorrow? What is favorable for them about this matchup?
Hunter: Eleven games into the season, even most TULSA fans don’t know everyone in the Hurricane jerseys yet, but there have already emerged some standouts. Look for senior and returning leading scorer Pat Birt (#11) to continue to find his shot and get back into the groove of last year, when he started most of the last stretch of games. Also, Rutgers transfer Junior Etou (#0) has the physical gifts and talent to make his mark, with his size and shooting touch able to give opponents problems.
The one guy who will likely stand out to everyone watching, however, is Tulsa’s James Harden: Jaleel Wheeler (#13). Not only does he somewhat resemble the Houston Rocket, he plays a similar brand of patient, probing, ball dominant basketball that is reminiscent of the NBA All-Star. Wheeler is able to drive the ball effectively, and initiate and finish through contact. He is able to shoot the three ball, and, as a junior college transfer and thus one of the older guys on the team, creates many plays with his passing that our freshman are not capable of yet. He is our leading scorer and also emerging as our early season leader for this brand new, bright eyed team.
Former SFA coach Brad Underwood's OSU squad was very nearly upset by Tulsa just over a week ago. What was the strategy against Underwood's pressure defense and will it translate to similar defensive looks SFA gives them tomorrow?
Hunter: Although this young Tulsa team makes many mistakes that come from being, well, a young team, ball control is not something we struggle with. Turnovers are an ugly obstacle we have yet to fully overcome, but almost none of those occur due to the ball handler’s dribbling proficiency. The aforementioned Jaleel Wheeler and returning member of the Hurricane, sophomore point guard Sterling Taplin (#4), will function as the primary dribblers, and both are more than capable of taking care of the rock. Despite the high intensity pressure coach Underwood brought to the Reynolds Center, very few turnovers were due to dribbling errors, but rather lazy passes, which we are prone to. Part of this is due to a bunch of new pieces trying to work together as one unit, but it is also partly due to the fact that for more than half our roster, Stephen F. Austin will be their 10th Division I basketball game.
Regardless, teams such as the Lumberjacks worry me. Although we have dealt with pressure relatively well so far, many of the on court mechanics and decisions do not bode well moving forward. We haven’t really been punished for these bad decisions yet—such as cutting to the near corner to get open when the opponent is running a full court press—but I am not looking forward to the game where we are. As a Tulsa fan, I’m worried about this next game.
Which player(s) for SFA scare you the most in this matchup and why?
Hunter: Tulsa is one of the worst teams in the country, 208th to be exact, at defending the three ball. So far this season, we have had guards from New Orleans and Illinois State hit 5+ three pointers on us. For that reason, Ivan Canete scares me the most. Canete is shooting 45% from behind the arc, and has 8 three pointers in his last 2 games. The long forwards of TJ Holyfield and Leon Gilmore are certainly talented, but I know that Tulsa has enough size and athletes to minimize their impact.
What is your prediction for this game?
Hunter: Before examining this game, I was leaning towards picking your team because Tulsa has struggled with turnovers this year (336th in the nation), and I know the Lumberjacks will eat that up. However, so far this year the Golden Hurricane has looked like the better team with a top 100 RPI win over Illinois State and a close loss to OSU. We have played well of late, and that is with arguably our best player, Pat Birt, playing the worst basketball of his career. I think he gets back on track this week, and I’ll take TU 76-71.
To read the Reign Cane Sports' full preview of the Diamond Head Classic tournament, click here.