I'd be a fan of an SLC/Big Sky matchup or a Sunbelt matchup. Honestly, those conferences are near enough to even in both sports than a football & basketball conference challenge could be arranged.

BigJack85 said:

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I am still mystified that the SLC collectively invites UIW, ACU and HBU in one fell swoop. In retrospect it would have made sense to add ACU skip HBU and UIW. UIW and HBU belong in the WAC.


If we had added only ACU then the next logical step would have been to add Tarleton. A little more elegant than the crappy lineup we have now.

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If I was in charge of resetting the conference, I'd go with this lineup:

• SFA
• Nicholls
• SELA
• Sam Houston
• Central Arkansas
• Lamar
• McNeese St.
• Northwestern State
• TAMU Corpus
• ACU

10 Teams gives you a round robin in all sports, & a home & home in basketball. No more dumb tie breakers, or easier schedules.

I'd have considered UNO over ACU, but not having football would be a dealbreaker if you were just going to 10 teams.

I really don't see what UIW & HBU adds to any conference. I've been pleasantly surprised with ACU's commitment to facilities & improvement since they joined the league.

That said, the next biggest conference change I want to see is SFA to CUSA or another similar conference. 10 more years of winning in basketball, with an elite 8 appearance or two could do it for us.

TallTexan said:

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That said, the next biggest conference change I want to see is SFA to CUSA or another similar conference. 10 more years of winning in basketball, with an elite 8 appearance or two could do it for us.

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I would only move for a two bid league. we are already getting 12-14 seeds in ncaa tournament, Going to C-USA would still be a 12 to 13 seeds. C-USA is a one bid league. It would only make it harder for us to get to the NCAA. Being in C-USA instead SLC wouldn't really sway recruits that much but missing out on tourney would. Our fans can't tell the difference between WKU and UIW... so not much change in the attendance. Middle Tennessee went 31-5 in 2016 and got a 12 seed and this season they missed out on the tourney after going 25-8 and 16-2 in conference.

We would be better off just waiting for a huge conference re-alignment when Texas and OU leaave the BIG 12, Something similar to the American conference

I still like the idea of the Big Sky.
We already have kind of a consistent rivalry with that conference in football, why not bring it over to the hardwood?

SFA_03 said:

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I still like the idea of the Big Sky.
We already have kind of a consistent rivalry with that conference in football, why not bring it over to the hardwood?

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Plus, those are some of my favorite states to visit. I think it'd be a fun trip for the guys to see some of them.

sfa17 said:

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TallTexan said:

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That said, the next biggest conference change I want to see is SFA to CUSA or another similar conference. 10 more years of winning in basketball, with an elite 8 appearance or two could do it for us.

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I would only move for a two bid league. we are already getting 12-14 seeds in ncaa tournament, Going to C-USA would still be a 12 to 13 seeds. C-USA is a one bid league. It would only make it harder for us to get to the NCAA. Being in C-USA instead SLC wouldn't really sway recruits that much but missing out on tourney would. Our fans can't tell the difference between WKU and UIW... so not much change in the attendance. Middle Tennessee went 31-5 in 2016 and got a 12 seed and this season they missed out on the tourney after going 25-8 and 16-2 in conference.

We would be better off just waiting for a huge conference re-alignment when Texas and OU leaave the BIG 12, Something similar to the American conference

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I mean, I don't disagree that CUSA isn't the world's greatest conference, but if we snuck in football too, I think it'd be a win for SFA the School. It would put us on a higher level of awareness within the state playing against UNT, Rice, UTEP, & UTSA vs Lamar, UIW, & UCA.

That said, I think there will be some interesting re-alignments if Texas & OU bolt the Big 12, which I think is about a 50% probability at the moment. Not quite sure where they go, although they could both make bank in football as independents.

I think if Texas/OU bolt, you'd likely see U of H & maybe UCF or Memphis take their place. Maybe even UCF, Memphis, U of H, & USF to get back to 12 teams. Not a bad conference at all.

That could leave an interesting spot in the AAC for more schools, but I think SFA would only get a basketball only invite, & only with if we manage to pull a few elite 8s out in the next few years. But that could give us the chance to take a basketball only invite & park football in an FBS conference so that 6 wins gets you a bowl game. It would take a final four finish, maybe 2 to get us into the reshaped big 12 and a small miracle as well.


That said, there's been chatter about Conference USA & the Sunbelt re-aligning into more regional models(their attendance sucks), & if they were to create 3 conferences out of 2, I think it would be worth making the jump for SFA. (I'm assuming here that an SFA team worthy of being invited has already established ourselves as an NCAA tourney at large bid through our play, which is why we've been invited in the first place. so we'd be the 2nd bid team most years even if we didn't win our new conference).

So the new Southwest Conference(realigned from CUSA & Sunbelt) would look something like this.

Rice, Louisiana Tech, UNT, UTSA, Arkansas State, Louisiana Lafayette, Louisiana Monroe, Texas State & SFA, & UTEP.

I debated that last school a bit. I figure UTEP & New Mexico State will join a more western conference, but they were easiest to add. But a lineup with those teams would be worth it for SFA to join for both the school & athletics & is also a conference we can win in basketball.

Sadly, many people use the conference affiliations in their head to group schools together academically, so as long as we're in the Southland, people will see Lamar, SHSU, Corpus, & HBU, & others as our peers. Essentially, we'll be lumped with small, regional schools. We can & should work to be included with the more known schools of UTSA, UNT, UTEP, Rice within the state.

TallTexan said:

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So the new Southwest Conference(realigned from CUSA & Sunbelt) would look something like this.

Rice, Louisiana Tech, UNT, UTSA, Arkansas State, Louisiana Lafayette, Louisiana Monroe, Texas State & SFA, & UTEP.

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Yeah, I agree. But I would replace UTSA or UTEP with UT Arlington. Middle Tennessee for Arkansas State. The problem is that the people creating these conferences sometimes overvalue a school being in a big market over the school success. That is how you end up with New Orleans and UIW In SLC.

If I was going to replace one with UTA, I'd replace UTEP. It's way out there in El Paso. UTSA is in San Antonio & the University is growing fast. It's well on it's way to being a top school in Texas & will likely hit 40k students in the next 10 years. They've also got pretty good fan support from what I hear.

The reason I left Middle Tennessee out in the first place is I assumed that in a realignment that they would probably join with Appalachian State & other schools in the area for their division.

I think if your CUSA/Sunbelt re-aligning, that you have to pick some up & coming schools so that you have a decent conference that builds up over the next dozen years or so. Hence UTSA, Texas State, & others despite limited recent success. And if it came down to it, I'd drop some of the of the louisiana schools first.

I think people are starting to see past the big market = good market pitch. That's why the Sunbelt & Conference USA schools have considered moving into more of a regional pattern. Sure, Orlando is a good market & Houston is a good market, but if nobody shows up to watch the games, there's not much of a point.

A rebuilt SWC, even with lower level regional schools in Texas, LA, & Arkansas could be interesting. It would be like the Southland rivalries, but with upgraded schools, programs & student bodies.

The following template has been provided to all non-SFA players in the Southland Conference for use in their personal Twitter accounts...

"Dear ______Nation, after careful reflection with my family and a lot of prayer (and after getting absolutely no sniffs from any NBA team at all), I have decided to return for my ____ year at ________ University."

Nice one Ed. And though I'm about a day late, welcome to the 2,000 post club.

Posted in a different thread, but I thought it was appropriate for here also:

Right now, Nicholls has five unfilled basketball scholarships for 2018/19. They recently had a recruit commit to Southern. Southern. Three returning players from last year's championship team.

Currently 12 of 13 in the Commisioner's Cup equaling last year results.

SFAJack_76 said:

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Posted in a different thread, but I thought it was appropriate for here also:

Right now, Nicholls has five unfilled basketball scholarships for 2018/19. They recently had a recruit commit to Southern. Southern. Three returning players from last year's championship team.

Currently 12 of 13 in the Commisioner's Cup equaling last year results.

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That's absolutely insane. They've skipped like 2 or more postseasons voluntarily at this point. I wonder how long schools like Nichols & also SFA will continue to compete across a broad spectrum of sports. I think the lawsuits will take down most of non P5 football at some point.

Pretty soon, smaller Athletic departments will have to fully embrace that sports=marketing & cut down on sports that don't move the needle I think.

edstile said:

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"Dear ______Nation, after careful reflection with my family and a lot of prayer (and after getting absolutely no sniffs from any NBA team at all), I have decided to return for my ____ year at ________ University."

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Dear Sawmill Nation, after careful reflection with my family & a lot of prayer (and after my 6 lucky numbers refused to come up in the Powerball) I have decided to keep my day job this week.


Am I doing this right Ed?

PurpleOut said:

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Nicholls lost a ton, close to 70 total PPG. They're going to have to grab a bunch of JUCO guys.

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Currently have offers out to seven Juco guys.

SFAJack_76 said:

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PurpleOut said:

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Nicholls lost a ton, close to 70 total PPG. They're going to have to grab a bunch of JUCO guys.

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Currently have offers out to seven Juco guys.

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Their new coach is walking into one hell of a situation...I have no doubt that Riley has prepared to recruit appropriately for this situation, but new blood, building new relationships? I'll pass...

Jacks should be the preseason favorite? Wonder how the other schools other than Nichols will be projected?

TallTexan said:

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edstile said:

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"Dear ______Nation, after careful reflection with my family and a lot of prayer (and after getting absolutely no sniffs from any NBA team at all), I have decided to return for my ____ year at ________ University."

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Dear Sawmill Nation, after careful reflection with my family & a lot of prayer (and after my 6 lucky numbers refused to come up in the Powerball) I have decided to keep my day job this week.


Am I doing this right Ed?

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You got it, Texan! (And other near-future winners in your situation might be comedy clubs.)

nacluth said:

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Nice one Ed. And though I'm about a day late, welcome to the 2,000 post club.

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As I recall, some of those LSU Tiger forum guys when we played them were showing 20,000 or more posts. So we've got a ways to go, Ryan.

edstile said:

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nacluth said:

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Nice one Ed. And though I'm about a day late, welcome to the 2,000 post club.

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As I recall, some of those LSU Tiger forum guys when we played them were showing 20,000 or more posts. So we've got a ways to go, Ryan.

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Nah, they just can't count that well. Might be 20k,might be 200.

Prison Tech's leading returning scorer, John Dewey, is transferring. He averaged 10.1 points and 4.4 assists in 2017-2018.

edstile said:

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Prison Tech's leading returning scorer, John Dewey, is transferring. He averaged 10.1 points and 4.4 assists in 2017-2018.

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And this guy. Stats weren't much, but he did start 21 games.

This is what they have posted for 2018-2019 roster which I suppose is all they have returning. It will be very much a rebuilt team. They have several Juco guys signed.

http://www.gobearkats.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=19900&SPID=11358&SPSID=93024&KEY=&Q_SEASON=2018

That much turnover seems a little odd doesn't it?

Internal problems?

SFAJack_76 said:

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Posted in a different thread, but I thought it was appropriate for here also:

Right now, Nicholls has five unfilled basketball scholarships for 2018/19. They recently had a recruit commit to Southern. Southern. Three returning players from last year's championship team.

Currently 12 of 13 in the Commisioner's Cup equaling last year results.

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Update. Nicholls is down to two open scholarships. Two of the current eleven filled spots will have a red shirt year due to transfer rules, so nine available players today. Of those nine, three were on the team last year.

Wow,that's a lot of turnover.

TallTexan said:

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Wow,that's a lot of turnover.

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Riley knew what he was doing. This was a "Go big or go home" type of year, and they went big. He turned it into a payday and left the program with not a lot to work with. Kudos to the new coach for getting on the ball and working his way through building a roster.