Southland Conference Basketball

Coming off a blowout loss at the hands of the Texas Longhorns, the Sam Houston State Bearkats will look to get back into the win column in a game against the Colorado State Rams.

The game against the Rams is a much more winnable game for the Bearkats, but it still will be an uphill battle.

For starters, the game is on the road, a long way from home and in the thin air of Fort Collins, Colorado. The high altitude will make it much harder for players to catch their breath when they are on the court.

Generally, coaches like to give their players an extra day or two to get used to the altitude, but that just wasn't possible for Coach Hooten with the Thanksgiving holiday falling the week before the game.

Beyond the conditions, Colorado State presents a stiff challenge.

They are a veteran team that is battle-tested from playing in the underrated Mountain West Conference. The MWC gets overlooked among the top basketball conferences in the nation, but they have five school that have made recent trips to the NCAA Tournament in San Diego State, BYU, UNLV, Air Force and New Mexico.

They finished 16-16 last year and made the CBI postseason tournament.

To boot, they are also off to a 2-0 start with a blowout win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff and a win over a solid Denver program.

The Rams are led by senior forwards Andy Ogide and Travis Franklin. They are both averaging 17 points and 6.5 rebounds per game—talk about getting similarly consistent performances from your top players.

In terms of guard play, Colorado State is led by sophomores Jesse Carr and Dorian Green. Carr leads the team in assists to turnover ratio, while Green has made three of his five three-point attempts in the young season.

For the Bearkats, they have looked to the post to find their points. Gilberto Clavell has had a solid start to the year, a tough game against the Longhorns not withstanding. Antuan Bootle has stepped his game up and has quietly averaged 10 points per game so far. Josten Crow has averaged 12.7 points per game, mostly coming from him finding his way to the hoop when his outside shot isn't falling.

I don't expect that to change with this game. Not only has the post game been successful, but the outside shots have yet to come around. As a team, the Bearkats are shooting 24.6 percent from outside the arc. Only Drae Murray, who has made four of 11 attempts, could be classified as shooting the three relatively well.

On top of that, Colorado State is one of the few out-of-conference Division I teams that Sam Houston State can match up with in terms of size.

Of all the players in the rotation, only 6'9" Andy Ogide is a post threat taller than the Bearkats' best post players.

The Rams have two players in 6'10" Chad Calcaterra and 7'0" Trevor Williams; both would be mismatches but neither of them are in the regular rotation.

I expect the Bearkats to come out playing hard, looking to avenge the tough loss to Texas. Certainly the Rams being on their home court will play a part as well.

I look for the Bearkats to keep within one or two possessions the entire game. The question will be will they be able to close the game out on the road when they desperately need a basket.

The level of competition just took a huge step up. The wins over Mary Hardin-Baylor and Northwestern Oklahoma State were nice to start the season, but this game is a whole different animal.

Not only are the Texas Longhorns supremely talented, but they have been playing as if they are in mid-season form.

Texas has three wins this season, including an early resume-building win against the University of Illinois. They also gave the fifth-ranked Pitt Panthers a scare before falling 68-66.

The Longhorns boast a solid mix of veterans and incredibly talented, high-profile freshmen.

Statistically, the Longhorns are led by sophomore Jordan Hamilton. The 6'7" swingman out of Compton, Calif., leads the team in scoring, averaging 24.5 points per game. He is shooting 42.3 percent from the three-point line and pulls down 7.3 rebounds per game just for good measure.

Leadership also comes from the steady hand of Dogus Balbay at point guard. Balbay is coming off a tough junior year where he struggled to fit in to the offense and he missed a large portion of the season with a knee injury.

This season, he has focused on being a facilitator and distributor. He leads the team in both assists and assist-to-turnover ratio.

Balbay splits the point guard duties with senior Jai Lucas and freshman Cory Joseph. Lucas is more of a shooter while Cory Joseph gives the Longhorns an explosive guard who can attack the rim.

Cory Joseph is one of the two aforementioned high-profile freshmen. The other is Tristan Thompson. Even as a freshman, there have been times when it appears that Thompson is a man among boys on the court.

Thompson is averaging 15 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. He also leads the team in field goal percentage, which gives you an idea of where he is getting his shots. Thompson spends a lot of time above the rim.

Beating the Longhorns isn't about stopping any single player. They have depth that any team would love to have. They have four seniors in their rotation, including their leading rebounder, Gary Johnson.

Nine players are averaging over 11 minutes per game, which speaks to how confident head coach Rick Barnes is in spreading out his minutes.

Texas is going to try to get the ball into the paint at all costs. There is no doubt about that. As a team, they are shooting 29.3 percent from the three point line. Only Jordan Hamilton is shooting it well, and even he tends to shoot an ill-advised three from time to time.

The Longhorns also boast a rather large, deep frontcourt. They have five players in their rotation who stand at least 6'6" tall.

The size difference is going to be the first, and probably most important, challenge the Bearkats will face. Gilberto Clavell is the only post player who is big enough and physical enough to stand up to any of the Longhorns big men.

With the overall skill level of those bigs, though, foul trouble for Clavell will be something to watch. Clavell has to find a way to defend Texas' post players without hacking them. The athletic ability and style of players like Jordan Hamilton and Tristan Thompson make it easy to rack up fouls quickly.

As such, Antuan Bootle has to have a good game. He has all the tools needed to go toe-to-toe with the Longhorns and could play a huge role if the Bearkats are going to keep this one close.

Kelly Lawson and Aaron Thompson have the height to defend the paint, but they likely don't have the strength. If they are going to be effective defensively, they have to find a way to keep the ball out of the post completely and push the Longhorns post players toward the perimeter.

Likewise, the Bearkats will need to look to the post for their points. While the Longhorns have a lot of tall players inside, they don't have a real defensive post presence who they look to do to the dirty work.

Clavell, Bootle, and Josten Crow may be able to have success by posting up with their back to the basket without much fear of having their shot blocked.

Look out for Tristan Thompson, though. He leads the Longhorns with 11 blocks and many of those come from him making freakish athletic plays coming out of nowhere. You have to know where he is on the court at all times.

If the post play isn't getting it done, the Bearkats will have to have crisp ball movement. You don't want the guards handling the ball in a one on one situation against Balbay.

He is a physical defender who drapes himself over opposing guards like a jacket. He can effectively trap a point guard without having to have help.

The Longhorns are talented and athletic, but they are just like any other basketball team. If you have good ball movement and hit the open man, there isn't a defense in the world that can stop you.

The bottom line is that the Bearkats are going to have to be ready to play a near-perfect game. You can't give the Longhorns anything.

If you turn the ball over, they will convert. If you get into foul trouble, they will target you and foul you out. If you miss shots, they will get long rebounds and turn them into transition baskets.

The Bearkats can keep this game close. We've seen them play above their heads before. One only needs to remember the game against Kentucky last season. That team had five NBA draft lottery players on their roster and the Bearkats gave them all they could handle.

Three seasons ago, the Bearkats flat-out beat a Texas Tech team coming off an NCAA Tournament appearance.

That being said, the Longhorns are just playing too well. They already seem to be comfortable playing with each other and they can beat you in a number of different ways.

This game is a good measuring stick for the Bearkats. The environment will be hostile and it will be good to see how the team responds when they are put under pressure.

Will the team respond positively when and if they fall behind big or will they have the look of a defeated team? Will they be in awe of the atmosphere? How will they compete when they are out-manned?

These questions will all be answered come Tuesday night. How they answer them will go a long way toward figuring out what exactly this team will be this season.

The effort put out by the Bearkats in Monday night's game was closer to the performance that we all expected from the start.

Yes, this game was close for a while. The Bearkats only led 46-40 at halftime. That had less to do with poor play by the Bearkats and more to do with a solid gameplan by the Rangers of NWOSU.

The Bearkats came out early and moved the ball very well, but the Rangers had an answer. When the Bearkats looked to move the ball inside to their big men, the Rangers did a fantastic job cutting off the entry passes. The Rangers felt that if they could cut off the pass to the inside, they could force the Bearkats into long range jumpers.

As frustration mounted for the likes of Gilberto Clavell, Antuan Bootle, and Kelly Lawson, the Rangers hung around. Forwards Jonathan Freemeyer and Orren Tims were cutting through the lane and getting to the basket with ease.

The script flipped around with the start of the second half.

Now when the Bearkats hoisted up three pointers, they were starting to fall.

Lance Pevehouse led the way as he hit two of his three treys all within five minutes at the start of the half.

As the long range shots began to go in, things loosened up inside. Clavell found his way inside for two layups and a rim-rattling dunk in the first seven minutes of the second half. He would finish with an even 20 points.

The Kats began to finally pull away beginning at the 11 minute mark of the second half. The Rangers went without a field goal for over four minutes. At the same time, Bootle, Pevehouse, and Josten Crow were getting to the basket at will.

The Bearkats were led by the solid play of point guard Drae Murray. He made four of his six field goal attempts all while dishing out 11 assists.

Josten Crow gave the Bearkats a little bit of everything as he poured in 11 points, grabbed seven rebounds, dished out eight assists, and had three steals just for good measure. He even went through periods where he played the role of pseudo-point guard with a great deal of success.

The defense again came through when they needed to. The Rangers shot 32.8 percent from the field and 22.2 percent from the three point line.

Forwards Freemeyer and Tims combined for 28 points for the Rangers, but they had to take 26 shots to get those points.

Hooten again went with mostly an eight man rotation. Lawson played only nine minutes and Byron Randle played just three. After the Mary Hardin-Baylor game, Hooten said that he wanted to play Randle more. He didn't play any more in this game than he did in the first Certainly the steady play of Drae Murray has something to do with Randle struggling to get onto the floor.

With just under seven minutes left in the second half, Clavell fell into a heap after making a three pointer. He needed help getting off the floor, but later he was walking around behind the bench. It appeared that he was cramping, so hopefully he won't miss any time.

This performance was a big step in the direction of getting to where Coach Hooten wants the team to be. The shooting percentages were up, the ball movement was much better, and the post players took advantage of their greater size and strength.

The Bearkats will now have over a week to rest up and prepare for their next time out. They'll need all the time they can get as they will next travel to Austin to take on the University of Texas on November 23 at 7 PM.

Coming off a fairly comfortable, if not pretty, win against Mary Hardin-Baylor, the SHSU Bearkats will look to iron some things out in game number two.

This time they will take on the Northwestern Oklahoma State University Rangers.

This game is not all that dissimilar from the first one. The Rangers are an NAIA team, but they are a solid squad. Two seasons ago, they qualified for the NAIA basketball championship. Last season, they took a step back and finished 11-18, but they return all but two players from that team.

The Rangers are off to a 3-0 start and are averaging outscoring their opponents by nearly 20 points.

They are led by guard Marshall Bell and forwards Orren Tims and Jonathan Freemyer. Those three are averaging 15.5, 19.0 and 14.5 points per game, respectively.

They look to run an offense very much like the one the Bearkats run. They are undersized in the frontcourt and will take a lot of three-point shots. The Rangers have attempted 237 field goals as a team.

Three-point shots have accounted for 98 of them. It's not just volume, though. They shoot it well from distance as they have made 38.8 percent of their three-point shots.

For the Bearkats, you want to see an effort similar to the one they gave Saturday night. You would just like to see a cleaner version of it.

The Bearkats proved that they were the bigger, faster and stronger team. They turned the ball over 20 times, shot 50 percent from the free-throw line and still managed to have a rather large margin of victory.

That type of play is not going to fly for long. I'd look for a much focused, disciplined game out of the Bearkats on Monday night.

For starters, they've got to shoot the ball better. Some of the poor shooting was caused by the aggressive defensive play of UMHB, but there was also a lot of impatience on offense that led to some bad shot-selection.

Improvement there begins with the point guards. Drae Murray and Marcus Williams combined to make two shots out of 14 attempts. I enjoyed seeing Williams drive into the lane on Saturday, but he either needs to finish more of those drives or kick the ball back out.

Too often, he was forced to throw up a circus shot at the end of a drive. In the opener, that led to a lot of free throws, but you can't always expect the officials to bail you out.

If the Bearkats are going to be successful not just in this next game, but for the season, Gilberto Clavell has to do a better job of staying on the floor.

His early foul troubles not only kept him off the floor way to long on Saturday night, but his lack of court time also kept him from really getting into any kind of rhythm until late in the second half.

Teams are going to target him and they are going to come right at him hoping he commits fouls out of over-aggression. NWOSU is not going to be any exception.

I'm expected to see a different Bearkat team on the court Monday night. After knocking off rust Saturday and getting their legs under them, they will look to round into shape on Monday.

Thanks to a much-improved shooting performance and the signature swarming Bearkat defense, SHSU rolls to an easy victory.

In a way, the opener for the Sam Houston State Bearkats went just as we had thought and nothing like we had thought.

Things went as planned in that the Bearkats pulled out a 72-47 win, Gilberto Clavell and Josten Crow led the team in points, and they shot 26 three-pointers.

This is where the game starts to deviate from the script, though.

Scoring was incredibly hard to come by early on. It didn't help matters that Gilberto Clavell found himself with two fouls two minutes into the game. He spent most of the rest of the first half on the bench.

As a matter of fact, fouls were a theme of this game. In the first minute of play, Josten Crow was fouled hard by the Crusader's Dean Pele going to the basket. Crow jumped up to get in Pele's face. Thankfully, Lance Pevehouse was there to calm Josten down before things escalated.

From that point on, the officials seemed to be on a mission to not let tempers flair. The result was 23 UMHB fouls in the first half.

The Bearkats were largely unable to capitalize on the whistles, though, as they were only able to hit 22 of their 44 free throw attempts. Long time Bearkat basketball fans will know that this is nothing new.

With the players burning a trail to the free throw line, the game had no real pace to it. The Bearkats looked like they badly wanted to push the tempo and run, but they just couldn't get it done.

With nothing in the way of fast break points, the Bearkats were relegated to taking tons of contested jumpers. As such, the Bearkats shot 37.9 percent from the field. The shooting performance was particularly dismal from the point guard duo of Drae Murray and Marcus Williams. Combined, they made just two of their 14 field goal attempts.

The shooting from the three point line was even worse. The Bearkats shot at a 23.1 percent clip.

Even with just one game in the books, it appears that the point guard position is taking shape. While Drae Murray got the start and played 23 minutes, Marcus Williams came off the bench and played 26 minutes.

Williams is incredibly fast in both game speed and foot speed. I also liked his aggression in looking for his own shot. When the shots aren't falling, you need someone who will attack the basket, and Williams did. It appears that he will be looked to as the backup point, not Byron Randle as I had thought.

Being that it was the season opener, I was a bit surprised that Hooten played with a smaller rotation. 10 players saw the floor, but Byron Randle saw only five minutes. Aaron Thompson, Kelly Lawson and Antuan Bootle all saw less than 15 minutes.

As for who picks up the scoring slack with Ashton Mitchell and Corey Allmond no longer around, well, we still don't know. Josten Crow led the way with 21 points, but that was largely a product of put backs and his seven free throws.

Clavell put in 15 points, but his foul trouble kept him from getting into any type of rhythm. He'll have to work on being on the floor more.

Defense was a bright spot. The Bearkats held the Crusaders to 22 percent shooting from the floor and 11 percent shooting from the three point line.

Newcomer Nafis Richardson was a big part of this. He was very active on the defensive end. He'll remind Bearkat fans of Shamir McDaniel, right down to wearing the same number. 

It wasn't very pretty to watch, but it was a win. All you really wanted to see is a victory and a good effort. There's no doubt that the Bearkats played hard. Effort was never a question. The edginess the game had to it made sure of that.

As we expected, though, there are still a lot of things to work on. The Bearkats turned the ball over 20 times. You aren't going to win many games turning the ball over like that.

The Bearkats have one more chance to work some of the kinks out before the schedule gets tougher. They play Northwestern Oklahoma State on Monday before taking on Texas and Colorado State on the road.

The run back to March Madness begins Saturday at 7:30 PM.

At least that's what Coach Jason Hooten and his Sam Houston State Bearkats are hoping to work toward.

You have to start somewhere, and for the Bearkats, that is against the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Crusaders. UMHB is a D-III program, but don't expect the Bearkats to use this game as a championship victory lap coming off of last season.

When facing a lower division opponent, the Bearkats are expected to roll easily to victory, but I can't imagine this group taking this game lightly. With so many new faces and so much senior leadership, this team will be hungry.

Beyond that, the Crusaders are a good team. Last season, they finished with a 22-7 record and qualified for the D-III basketball championship. They return their three leading scorers from last season in senior guard Dean Pele, senior forward Theo Ard and junior guard Sterling Phillips. These three averaged 15.8, 12.6, and 10.8 points, respectively. Ard was also their top rebounder last season with 7.5 rebounds per game.

As good as UMHB is, the Bearkats have a history of putting these teams away like they should. Last season, they beat their lower-division opponents by the combined score of 320-191.

If the game does turn out to be lopsided, which I think most figure it will be, there still won't be any shortage of things to look for.

The first thing I'll be interested to see is how Hooten spreads out the minutes. I expect in this game he will want to get everyone in there to at least get their feet wet. The rotation on Saturday will look nothing like it will at the start of conference play, but it can give you some hints as to how Hooten would like the rotation to look.

If a player finds himself getting 20 or more minutes off the bench, it probably says that Hooten would like him to be a big part of the rotation. On the other hand, if you see a player buried on the bench already, it probably doesn't bode well for his usage later in the season.

Something else to look for is who will split minutes with Drae Murray at the point guard position. Murray is someone I really like if he is getting between 20-25 minutes and is looked at to push the tempo.

If any more is expected of him, I start to like him a lot less. I feel like Murray needs someone to share minutes with that gives you some things that he doesn't. Specifically, you would like to find someone who can defend bigger guards and bring the ball up in the half-court offense to slow the pace down.

While this can't be decided in a single game, someone will have to get those minutes in the opener.

Just going over the roster, Byron Randle looks like the obvious choice to fill the void. At 6'3", he certainly has the size you want. His accolades as all-state, first team all-district, and team MVP fit the bill of the mature leader that you want to step in at point guard. Look for him to get significant minutes at the point, splitting time with Murray.

I will also be looking to see who will be finding their own shot and fill the scoring void left with the departure of Ashton Mitchell and Corey Allmond.

Will the offense now run exclusively through Gilberto Clavell? Will Murray and Lance Pevehouse increase their shots, and more specifically, their three point shots? Will a newcomer to the roster step into a big role immediately?

In a season opener, there is usually a lot of focus on running the fundamentals of the offense and getting comfortable with each other. With that in mind, it will be interesting to see whose plays are drawn up for when Hooten turns to their set plays.

UMHB has depth and size in the frontcourt that is not typical for a D-III team. They have two post players in Michael Archa and Taylor Finley that both stand 6'8". There are several forwards that stand 6'6" or 6'7".

This won't be a cake walk for Gilberto Clavell. He is going to have to work to get baskets inside and that's good for the Bearkats. They have games against the likes of Texas Longhorns, Houston Cougars, and North Texas Mean Green coming up on the schedule. Having to fight down low in these earlier games will prepare him for those battles later on.

As for the outcome of the game, I don't think there is much doubt. I expect the Bearkats to handle the Crusaders with ease.

Don't be shocked, though, if this one doesn't end up being particularly high scoring. When trying to incorporate new pieces in the rotation, there will be times when the offense looks a little sloppy. Nerves from some of the newcomers will lead to some deferring and some bad shots. It's all a part of the process.

Coming off of the excitement from last season, I think I speak for all of us when I say it's great to have basketball back.

At first glance, it makes perfect sense that the Sam Houston State Bearkats would take a step back this season. After all, they won the conference regular season championship, the conference tournament, and put the fear of God in the hearts of the Baylor Bears in the NCAA Tournament. That would be tough to duplicate even with a full arsenal of weapons.

Factor in the loss of the starting backcourt in All-Southland Conference point guard Ashton Mitchell and volume-scoring shooting guard Corey Allmond, and the Bearkats really had an uphill battle on their hands. This is to say nothing of the loss of longtime head coach Bob Marlin, who left Huntsville to be the next head coach of the University of Louisiana, Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns.

The numbers just don’t lie. When you also factor in the loss of post players Preston Brown, Marco Cooper, and the seldom-used Arthur Zulu, the Bearkats will be missing 40 points per game and 13.2 rebounds per game. Mitchell, Allmond, and Brown played in every single game for SHSU and were three of the top five Bearkats in minutes played per game.

Beyond the numbers, the Bearkats have to worry about team chemistry. Last year’s team had a perfect balance. Mitchell played the role of the steady hand at point guard. His four years of experience paid big dividends. He knew when to score and when to defer, and there were times last season when you just knew that there was no way Ashton Mitchell was going to let his team lose.

Ashton also knew how to handle his teammates. All-Conference big man Gilberto Clavell is as fiery as they come. As such, opposing teams always took the opportunity to get him fired up as to bait him into a technical. Who was always there to calm the big guy to keep him in the game? Ashton Mitchell.

When young players like Drae Murray and Lance Pevehouse couldn’t get a shot to fall or were struggling defensively, who was the first guy to pick them up? You guessed it, Ashton Mitchell.

Allmond was the guy that got his teammates and the fans on their feet. His long-range shots followed by throwing three fingers in the air in celebration was often just what the doctor ordered to get energy back in the building when the offense became stagnant. Allmond had no conscience when it came to shot selection, but it was this type of reckless abandon that endeared him to fans. The bigger the moment, the more Corey wanted the ball in his hands.

Yes, his propensity for chucking bombs did lead to some forced shots and bad offensive possessions, but it was all worth it when Allmond was on his game. The Bearkats may be able to find someone who can shoot as well as Corey Allmond, but I’m not sure they will ever find someone who has a sense of showmanship like Corey Allmond.

Losing these players, the Bearkats have a lot to overcome. But they still are well-equipped to make a run at the conference championship again this season.

The roster isn’t exactly bare. They are returning last season’s Southland Conference Newcomer of the Year Gilberto Clavell, who led the team with 17.1 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. He also led the team with 207 free throw attempts. That’s 90 more than the next highest player. He shot 72.9 percent from the charity stripe, nothing to be ashamed of for a 6’6” post player.

Clavell also gave the team something they had never really had under Coach Marlin, an inside threat to go along with the Bearkats' bombs-away three-point shooting style. When the outside shots weren’t falling, you could also dump the ball into Gilberto and let him do work. Being a senior leader now, I’d look for Gilberto to take another step forward and turn the Bearkats into more of an inside-outside offense.

Gilberto will share the role of team captain this season with senior guard/forward hybrid Josten Crow. Crow stands only 6’4”, but plays like he stands much taller. He can guard four positions effectively, and he never gets out-hustled on the boards.

As a do-everything player last season, he had averages of 8 points, 6 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game. He took such good care of the ball that he finished second in the nation with a 3.3 assist-to-turnover ratio. Just as icing on the cake, he finished second on the team with 55 steals, only one steal behind the team leader, Ashton Mitchell.

Still, the success of this team will largely hinge on the question of who from the backcourt is going to put the ball in the hoop. The Bearkats, and specifically new head coach Jason Hooten, believe they have the answers in a couple of guys that are ready to move into larger roles.

Veteran backcourt members Lance Pevehouse and Drae Murray will now be looked at as leaders. Not only can they give what Allmond and Mitchell gave, but they each do something that their predecessors did not.

Murray is a lightning-quick point guard that can run circles around nearly any opposing point guard he plays. Drae also has a knack for being instant offense that he wasn’t really able to show as a reserve. With him likely getting starting minutes, I’d look for him to find his own show more often than in the past.

Coach Marlin loved to use a lineup that included both Murray and Ashton Mitchell. If the Bearkats were working in the halfcourt offense, Mitchell would be used to bring the ball up. If the Bearkats wanted to get out and run, Murray was their man. If the Bearkats can bring along a newcomer like freshman Byron Randle or junior transfer Marcus Williams at the point, they can duplicate the success they saw from the rotation last season.

The role of three-point bomber/starting shooting guard will fall to junior Lance Pevehouse. Last season Pevehouse hit 39 three-point shots, good for third on the team. He did that when he was averaging just over 20 minutes a game. With his minutes likely to increase to around 30 and with a larger role in the offense, those made shots are likely to end up somewhere around 80 three pointers made.

His averages compare very favorably to those of Corey Allmond. His shooting percentage from three point distance was 35.1 percent compared to Allmond’s 37.4 percent. With an opportunity to better get into the flow of a game as a starter, I’d like to believe that Pevehouse can make up that difference. In the Bob Marlin (and now Jason Hooten) offense, the three-point shots for the shooting guard are predicated on the player coming off screens effectively and quickly.

No one does a better job of that than Pevehouse. Lance never lets himself get out-hustled and won’t allow himself to get beaten to his spot on the court. As a part of his aforementioned aggressive style, Pevehouse will give the Bearkats rebounds from the guard position like Corey Allmond never did. Last season he averaged 3.9 rebounds per game, the most of any guard.

Just for the sake of playing devil’s advocate, let’s say that Murray’s production doesn’t increase proportionately to his increase in minutes and Pevehouse can’t fill it up like Corey Allmond could. The onus would seem to fall on the broad shoulders of Gilberto Clavell. Last season, that might have been too much, but this season, he has more help. The team returns three post players that were on the roster last season.

The first, and probably most important, is Antuan Bootle. The 6’7” junior from the Bahamas has the size and strength to take over any game in the post. Conditioning has always been the question with Antuan. This season he has reportedly come into training camp 20 pounds lighter and with more lean muscle.

As it was last season, he had a rebounds per minute average that extrapolated to 15 rebounds over a full game. He was also fourth on the team in blocked shots, even though he missed eight games completely and only averaged 12.8 minutes per game.

The other post players are bigger question marks. Aaron Thompson is a 6’9” sophomore who has the size of a center, but the shooting touch of a guard. He has the skills to be a guy you can run the offense through, but he has to put on more weight to effectively work both on the perimeter and inside.

Trying to work in the post when you weigh 210 pounds is going to be tough sledding. Secondly, he seemed too reluctant to mix it up on the boards when he generally had a size advantage with his opponent. His per game average of 1.6 rebounds was next to last on the team and tied with Drae Murray, who is listed very generously as 5’9”. Defense was an issue last season too, as he looked unsure of where to be often times.

Kelly Lawson is a wild card on this team. He redshirted last season as a freshman and is now ready to make his debut. He worked hard on putting weight on and the work seems to have paid off. He is now up to 245 pounds on his 6’8” frame. The other rookie in the frontcourt will be junior transfer Marcus James, a lean, lanky player who at 6’7” projects as a guy who can guard multiple positions.

Making these pieces fit together will be the job of new head coach Jason Hooten. “New” probably isn’t the best way to describe him. He was an assistant under Bob Marlin for six years before being named head coach following Marlin’s defection. Hooten is the ideal coach to keep SHSU playing at a high level. He already has a relationship with the returning players and he will continue the teachings that made the Bearkats so successful under Coach Marlin.

For those keeping tally, the Bearkats are returning their leading scorer in Gilberto Clavell, a do-it-all guard/forward hybrid in Josten Crow, a lightning quick point guard with a nose for the basket in Drae Murray, a shooting guard that hits the three-pointer at roughly the same clip as Corey Allmond in Lance Pevehouse and depth in the frontcourt with guys like Marcus James, Antuan Bootle and Kelly Lawson. Not exactly a full rebuilding year if you ask me.

With as much turnover as the Bearkats have faced, there are going to be some uncertainties. With a Sam Houston State team coached by Bob Marlin’s protégé, there are also many things that are certain. The Bearkats will never be out-hustled, they will play tenacious defense and they will play better than their talent would lead you to think they could.

You know what, go ahead and write them off. They relish the role of the underdog. Just don’t be surprised if you look up six months from now and there are the SHSU Bearkats, bringing that much more madness to the month of March.

UCLA vs. Houston
Prediction: UCLA +4 -110 betting odds
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5* graded play on UCLA as they host Houston set to start at 10:30 EST. Our proprietary sports handicapping model and simulator shows a high probability that UCLA will lose this game by fewer than three points and has an excellent opportunity to win the game. The model also shows that UCLA will score more than 28 points and will gain a minimum of 450 yards. Houston is just 2-11 ATS (-10.1 Units) in road games when they allow 28 or more points over the last 3 seasons. UCLA is a solid 68-28 ATS (+37.2 Units) when they score 28 or more points since 1992; 18-6 ATS (+11.4 Units) when they gain 450 to 500 total yards since 1992. Houston is an imperfect 0-7 ATS (-7.7 Units) in road games after 2 or more consecutive straight up wins over the last 3 seasons; 0-7 ATS (-7.7 Units) after out gaining opponent by 125 or more total yards in 2 consecutive games over the last 3 seasons. Let’s face facts, Houston has played two very weak teams in Texas State University and Texas El Paso. Those opponents are vastly different from the first two that UCLA played in Kansas State and Stanford. I call that seasoning and that will play off mightily for UCLA in this game. Supporting this graded play is a system that has produced a record of 63-14 making 45.2 units since 2004. Play on a home team versus the money line in non-conference games and in the first month of the season and after closing out last season strong with 4 or more wins in last 5 games. Take UCLA. Get more NCAA football picks from John at Touthouse.com

With 347 schools participating in Division I college basketball, it is easy for a team or player to get lost in the shuffle. However, by giving the Southland Conference a look, one would soon realize how great a player Corey Allmond is for Sam Houston State.

The Bearkats are currently 23rd in Division I in scoring at 79.8 points per game, and Allmond leads the team with a 16.6 scoring average. Last season, he finished eight in the Southland Conference in scoring at 15.3 points per game. That total marked the highest scoring average for a Bearkat guard since Jeremy Burkhalter in 2000.

Although Allmond is a lethal shooting from anywhere on the floor, he is particularly proficient from three-point range. Currently, Allmond leads the Southland and ranks seventh in Division I with 3.2 made three-pointers per game.

It is unfortunate that Allmond's best performance of the season was obscured by people who focused on Kentucky beating Sam Houston State by just 10 points and giving up 92 points in the process instead of individual accomplishments. In that game versus the Wildcats, Allmond exploded for 37 points and converted on 11 three-pointers.

The senior guard's best attributes are his consistency and the ability to perform in clutch situations. Only three times this year has Allmond failed to record double-digits in a game. In one of those occasions, he only played 19 minutes in a blowout victory over Mid-America Christian.

Along with his individual success against Kentucky, Allmond scored 17 points in a come-from-behind victory against Oral Roberts and scorched Auburn for 25 in a 107-89 victory for the Bearkats. Just recently, he provided 24 points in a game against Lamar in which Gilberto Clavell, Allmond's statsheet stuffer teammate, was in foul trouble throughout the game and recorded zero points.

Not only is Allmond a tremendous player, he is likable outside of the basketball universe. For those of us who love to eat, Allmond says his favorite food is "everything." He is even a big Martin Lawrence fan. See, that just shows he isn't perfect.

Sam Houston State is currently 13-5 and 5-0 in conference play. This is the first time in the 23 years that the school has been in the Southland Conference that the team has stayed unbeaten this long.

Sam Houston State fans are hopeful that Allmond can lead the team to a Southland Conference Tournament Championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament in March. What they know for sure is what a joy Allmond is to watch.

Photo Credit: Southland.org

Over the course of the year, many colleges are looking to push forward and to raise their football programs up to another level.

In 2007, both Texas State University and the University of Texas-San Antonio have made it clear that they will be Football Bowl Subdivision teams by 2013. As of press time, UT-San Antonio has already heard from the student body that 73% of the students voted for the move to the FBS level.

Texas State is a bit farther behind, as on November 26, 2007, University President Denise Trauth gave the go-ahead to draft the FBS referendum that will be published to the student body in the Spring of 2008. Voting is expected to take place around March or April 2008, with proponents of the move expecting an overwhelming vote of approval from at least 4-5,000 University students.

Texas State is currently a Football Championship Subdivision team that plays in the Southland Conference. UT-San Antonio, on the other hand, does not even field a football team—but it's athletic programs also compete in the Southland Conference.

Texas State has already won two national football championships while in Division II. Those two championships were won back-to-back in 1981 and 1982. Their most recent title came in 2005, when the Bobcats shared the Southland Conference crown with Nicholls State University.

For those who remember back to 2005, it was Texas State that came back in the D-I AA (now FCS) playoffs against Georgia Southern with a furious 4th quarter comeback. They also beat Cal Poly the following week to advance to the National Semi-Finals against the current #2 FCS team, Northern Iowa.

The question now of course becomes: with the move, which conference will absorb these two universities? 

The general consensus among fans in San Marcos, home of Texas State University, is that both these schools will join Conference USA in 2013. This has yet to be stated by Conference USA, Texas State, or UT-San Antonio officials.

FBS be warned: The Roadrunners and Bobcats are coming—and they are hungry for championships.