Conference Tournament Finals tidbits

 I initially put this on Twitter while I was at a work event earlier today, so those that follow both accounts will find this post redundant. However, those that don't will likely find value in this post as it is certainly deserving of its own entry.

UTA defeated Tarleton State in the 2024 WAC Tournament semifinals earlier this morning in an instant classic, earning a spot in the Conference Finals against Grand Canyon University.

Here are some random UT Arlington men's basketball conference tournament fun facts:

Hoops Accolades

 The Western Athletic Conference announced the postseason awards for both the men and women's basketball teams and for the first time in a long time, I didn't feel a UT Arlington Maverick was slighted. The team also made history as I'll mention in a bit.

The Mavericks scored two -of-the-Year awards with Phillip Russell scoring the Sixth-Man-of-the-Year and Makaih Williams landing UTA's second consecutive Freshman-of-the-Year in the WAC.

DaJuan Gordon was the first Mav to get a first-team all conference award in the WAC. David Azore in 2020/21 was the last conference first-teamer. Shemar Wilson landed on the Second-Team-All WAC. Both Gordon and Wilson landed on the all-defensive team.

Down and Up

 I want to be very careful with this post. After the contest between the UT Arlington Mavericks and Grand Canyon 'Lopes in Arlington, I was ready to write a post blasting the officials in the game. The stir on social media has been very critical of the Western Athletic Conference officials. While UTA committed 25 turnovers (GCU had 19), they won most every other stat category: FG's (19-16), FG percentage (36.5% to 29.6%), 3's (5 to 4), but the free throws were way out of whack. GCU went 31-36 from the charity stripe while UTA was 18-20. The refs determined UTA committed a foul 27 times, the 'Lopes? only 19.

I was ready to write a post about it, similar to what I did after the Lady Mavs lost to Iowa State in the NCAA Tournament. But in the end, I don't want this blog to be a source of negativity or complaints. 

So I brooded a bit after the 67-61 loss and just sat back and enjoyed the ride. After the loss, UTA fell to 9-11 on the year. As of this post, they are now 16-13, having gone 7-2 in that stretch. The two losses were by a combined three points.

Going into the final week, UTA has locked a top-four seed for the conference tournament, securing themselves a first-round bye while the top two get a second-round bye. Seeds five through eight beat each other up in the first round, then three and four get the match-up. UTA would need an upset to get to the Championship game, but unlike years past, there's no team I fear.

Heckuva Turnaround

The UT Arlington women's basketball team was an enigma coming into the season. In addition to the numerous seniors and graduate students, the mysterious departure of Staar Jacobs to Arkansas Pine-Bluff was a plot twist that came out of left field. It was made all the more shocking that it was a Southwestern Athletic Conference school, usually one of the lowest-rated NCAA Division I conferences. They've done decent this year, but that is a historical anomaly. As an aside, unlike other multiple-time transfers, she hasn't logged a minute for the new team after the rule was lifted about sitting out a year.

I heard on the most recent broadcast that the team lost 94 percent of its scoring from last year. Sure enough, when I looked at the stat sheet, only sophomore Nya Threatt scored a point for the Mavericks last year. That's incredible. I knew there was turnover, but not as bad as it was in actuality. In all my years of following college sports, I've never heard that save for a scandal involving a coach. Alas, such seems to be the new reality in a post-transfer-portal and NIL era.

That begged the question, how would this year's version fair? I'm not a big fan of intra-conference transfers, but there were a few of them in the WAC this year. UTA had two in Avery Brittingham and Taliyah Clark from Stephen F. Austin and Seattle U respectively. I heard rumors UTA as a team was looking strong from those in the know prior to the start of the season. 

CPC better than Moody Center?

 I'm about to wade into a topic I don't normally get into, as at the base of it I think it is understood. Any UT Arlington fan will quickly say what a jewel College Park Center is. I know that I do get traffic outside of UTA circles who may not know, but this blog is not intended for them. When someone like WACHoopsNation visits UTA's home, they quickly see CPC for what it is, one of the best NCAA arenas.

While I don't see away games as often as I'd like, I go to a few here and there. I've seen several places when I was a student broadcaster traveling with the various teams. I seen more as an adult traveling to places as well. I rarely find the desire to write a post about opponent's venues, like Tarleton's Wisdom Gym is so far below CPC. I've made lists ranking arenas, like this one for current WAC venues, but that's the extent of it. 

The last time I made a post like this was early in CPC's infancy when I visited Rupp Arena in Kentucky. While CPC's capacity would likely mean it wouldn't be a good fit for the Wildcats, I was thinking the whole time about how CPC was cleaner, had better amenities or how cavernous it was. It was a pride point for me as a Maverick fan that our arena competed with the bluebloods.

Days of Our World Turns

 It has been a soap opera trying to follow the NCAA and the courts last week. Lawsuits from several states targeting the National Collegiate Athletic Association's transfer policy of players looking to transfer to another school a second or more time have made things much different in the course of a week. 

On Wednesday, a temporary restraining order was put on the policy, allowing players who were multiple-time transfers to play. That TRO was set for only 14 days. Then, the NCAA said those that did play may lose a year of eligibility if they play and the courts later decide the NCAA's policy should stay as written. Then, a short time later, the NCAA and the States involved in the lawsuit reached an agreement that any player that plays will be granted eligibility through the end of the spring semester. 

And with that, UT Arlington faithful got to see Phillip Russell this weekend against Air Force. I heard many good things about he's abilities, style of play and game smarts. Looking at his stat sheet from the last couple of seasons shows he had the talent as a freshman and sophomore.

UTA FB History: Vol. 7 Gm. 14 - Bowl Season

 I really wish I could have experienced the Arlington State College, later the UT Arlington, Rebels in the 1960's. Not just in football, though obviously they believed that sport was the cornerstone. Men's basketball was a combined 82-163 overall and 14-34 in Southland Conference play from their four-year jump in 1959 to the end 1968/69 season. Their best finish was a tie for second in the SLC in 66/67, where they finished 14-12 and 4-4, both were bests in the decade for the Rebels. I can't help but wonder how much of the current MBB culture stems from this era, especially in the student support side.

Baseball had one season in the decade, a 6-18, 0-8 conference mark. Cross Country finished last in four years and second to last in the other conference meet. Golf had the second-best performance of all he sports, getting second in the conference meet twice and third out of five a separate four times. Tennis was near golf with two runner-up finishes, two third places and one fourth. The track team had one top half finish, a third in 1964. There were three second to last place finishes and two lasts. The women's teams were still years from their first competition.

But the football team was competitive, and in some cases dominant, throughout the decade. Their record was 61-42-1 during the decade. They won a conference title twice, while finishing second twice and last once. The optimism surrounding Athletics at UTA was pretty high during the decade.

When we last checked in with the 1967 UTA Rebels, they were fresh off a 16-14 win over Arkansas State to go to 8-1 on the year. As covered in 2017 in this series, the final game was a convincing 16-10 home win against the defending co-champs in Lamar. It was the first undefeated champs in conference history. All that was next was the waiting.

The team was a strong candidate for a berth in the Pecan Bowl. It was the second real flirt with a bowl, as the 9-2 1960 squad was in the mix for the at-large berth in the Tangerine Bowl before The Citadel Bulldogs got the nod. Later, they had an outside shot in 1968, but Arkansas State won their meeting, the conference and the Pecan Bowl berth.

A couple of days after the Lamar game, it became official. 

From the Dallas Morning News, November 20, 1967

In a twist that I didn't remember, I did not cover this game in 2017. How it slipped my mind then, I don't remember. They were close to several bowl bids in their University history, but this was the only one. It may be the biggest game in the program's history.

Other close misses include 1976, where they lost to Arkansas State, 14-13 at home. Had they won that one, they would have gone to the Independence Bowl. They still had a chance when they beat Lamar to end the season, but didn't get a Southwestern Louisiana win over McNeese State. In 1977, had they beaten Louisiana Tech, they would have been SLC champs and Independence Bowl participants. In 1979, the only home and conference loss of the year was to McNeese State, 14-13. The Cowboys would run the SLC undefeated on their way to a second Indy Bowl. In 1981, the last year UTA won a conference title, the Indy Bowl no longer took the SLC champs.

I can't understate how rare bowl appearances were during UTA's time as a football-sponsoring institution. The 1981 season was UTA's last at the I-A, now Football Bowl Subdivision, level. There were 137 teams in 1-A in 1981 to go with 16 bowls. Less than a quarter of all team made a bowl. Now, there are 133 FBS teams, but a whopping 42 bowls. Almost two-thirds of all teams make a bowl. 

The pinnacle of the decade, and probably the entire program, came in today's entry, the only postseason appearance for UTA football as a four-year school. I even ranked this the fifth best moment in the history of the Athletic Department.

As mentioned in the article above, today's opponent was North Dakota State. They are just one of those programs that have success in whatever classification they are in at the time. They have won or claimed three national titles at the College Division, five in Division II and nine at the Football Championship Subdivision level. They have an all-time winning percentage of two-thirds.

They have played in six bowl games total, all between 1964 and 1970. They went 5-1 in those games. They were heavy favorites coming in, receiving a polling position of second in both the Coaches and the AP polls. UTA, meanwhile, was third in the Coaches, but sixth in the AP.

Both teams had nine wins, while the Bison had zero losses. The Rebels lone loss was to the University Division's West Texas State. 

Pretty impressive to think UTA's company during this time was North Dakota State and San Diego State, who would win the national title in 1967.

In addition to the daunting opponent, weather forecasts leading up to the game proved dire, freezing temperatures with precipitation. A southern underdog team playing a northern squad in freezing, icy weather? Just another typical script confronted by the 1967 UTA Rebels.

On this day in UTA football history, the Rebels play in the postseason for the first time at the four-year level as the North Dakota State Bison await the Rebs in the Pecan Bowl.

Taken from the Dallas Morning News, December 17, 1967.