NCAA Tourney, Round 1 in ATX

Nice to be at home...did anyone catch the dish on Central Arkansas? Seems like they are on a BIG roll...fingers crossed we get to Kentucky and beyond?

 

Dang. Khaleanne out for tournament with sprained ankle.

 

Aww, man!!

 

She hasn't played in weeks since the ear injury; I didn't think she was gonna be able to contribute in the tourney due to missed practices and conditioning. And, she missed a lot of games early in the season recovering from a different injury. I'm sorry she has to face all these injuries, but some players just can't stay healthy.

 

Where did this news come from?

 

If it is a sprained ankle, poke salad isn't quite out of season yet. Can't one of you in Travis County go to Fiesta or maybe HEB and pick up a few pounds. I shall never understand how we can pay professional trainers so much money and they don't load up on the stuff and keep it in a freezer. At the worst, someone volunteer to drive to South Louisiana and bring back a truck load. Otherwise, how many of you will volunteer to unroll cigarettes for a week?

 

Khaleanne missed almost her entire freshman season at Vandy due to injury. She's had some bad luck.

 

Anyone know where to buy tickets for season tickets holders?

 

Does anyone know if this is really a Texas vs CA broadcast or just whip around coverage? Sense I'm traveling I've got to record it, but I don't want to record 5 min of a game, especially if it's going to the on LHN later.

 

Article from Central Arkansas's WBB page about meeting the Longhorns:

http://ucasports.com/news/2017/3/13...longhorns-in-ncaa-tournament.aspx?path=wbball

 

Lady "Anything" is sexist enough. Now we have the Sugar Bears. While the Central Arkansas women's basketball team is playing here we should liberate them from the 1970's. Bless.

 

My first thought was it sounded like the name of a pimp in a 70s cop drama and then realized I was thinking of Huggy Bear on Starsky and Hutch.

 

Nope, foot, but same difference...no #30...

 

Babhorn..Where are you? Can we get one of your stellar reports on Longhorns vs Sugar Bears? They have won 17 straight, but who did they play to get those 17? Inquiring minds want to know!!

 

I'm doing short and sweet if I do any due to my personal time constraints.
Here's what I got on UCA:


Our Friday opponents are the Central Arkansas Sugar Bears of the Southland Conference.

They come to Austin on a 17 game winning streak.

Their two main losses are to Texas Tech (L 45-79). The Sugar Bears had trouble with the Tech guards. UCA also lost to #23 Texas A&M (L 49-74). The Aggies gave them trouble in the backcourt and frontcourt.

Their best win looks to be over Houston (W 69-55)-edit added cuz: forgot to name the school earlier. .

Central Arkansas played two other common foes besides Tech. UCA and Texas both played Tech (UCA lost; Texas won 67-47 in Austin and 77-57 in Lubbock).

UCA beat Houston Baptist twice in league play: 80-49 & 83-39. Texas won 98-46. Also in SLC play, UCA beat Northwestern State University 76-43 & 62-51. Texas won over NSU by a score of 86-39.

Sugar Bears are led by 5-7 Sr. G Maggie Proffitt, a three time ALL SLC selection & 6-1 Jr. C Kierra Jordan who was a third team All SLC selection. 5-6 Sr. G Brianna Mullins & 5-11 Jr. F Taylor Baudoin were honorable mention All SLC. Mullins and 6-1 Sr. C Raquel Logan were named to the All SLC Defensive team.

The Sugar Bears are a small team, with only two players taller than 5-11. Logan is one of them. Jordan is the other. Proffitt (15.6 ppg), Jordan (13.7 ppg) and Baudoin (11.8 ppg) are the leading scorers for the Sugar Bears. Jordan (6.8 rpg), Baudoin (6.1 rpg) and Logan (5.9 rpg) are the leading rebounders.


UCA has three primary 3pt shooters with two doing most of the damage: Proffitt (67-176; 38.1%) and Mullins (23-59; 39.0%) have taken 235 of the Sugar Bears 318 3pters. Off the bench, the other 3pt shooter is Maddie Goodner (10-29; 34.5%), a 5-8 Fr. G.


Horns should dominate inside. But UCA is used to winning and is unlikely to panic or give up. Horns will need put them away early and not let them hang around.


http://www.texassports.com/news/2017/3/13/womens-basketball-to-host-ncaa-first-and-second-rounds.aspx

With the first game tipping off at 11 AM, doors should open at 10 AM. Got my tickets.

 

Thanks Bab what would I/we do without you, BTW i did a bracket and picked the Longhorns to win it all.

 

Uh oh i guess its time to start Hunting Sugar Bears!!

 

We have to be ready, but we should beat the Sugar Bears. I assume NC State will win the other game. I just looked at their website to see their complete record this year. OMG, they are good. They have beaten Notre Dame, Duke, FSU on FSU's court, Louisville at Louisville (overtime game). Louisville won their second game by one point. I do not see why they are only a 6 seed. I don't know anything about the way they play, but, to me, this would be a "pick 'em" game, a challenge which would absolutely require us to be playing very well for.

 

6 seed - They also had some bad losses to Tulane, LSU, 17 point loss to Kansas St...

 

All those losses came early in the season. NC State is a very good defensive team and they run a 4 out 1 in offense. Their power forward will step out and shoot the three. They also have very good guards and run good offense. You can go to YouTube and watch their games against FSU and Duke. The game against NC State will be a tough game that Texas could easily lose.

 

Logically, the #6 team is considered Top 25 in quality. The other #6 seeds were Big 12 schools, OU and WVU; so, neither could come to our sub-regional. The other #6 seed was Mizzou; and, they were sent to our sub-regional last year. I actually think that NC State was a victim of a procedural bump downward from #5 to #6.

Once you take into account that ACC teams, Louisville and Miami were both awarded #4 seeds, there was no way NCSU could be a #5 seed in those regionals (OKC & STOCK). That left them the chance to be a #5 seed in either CT or KY.

But, in CT, there were already 2 ACC teams seeded, with #2 Duke and #8 Syracuse; I think that's where the committee didn't want to place a third team from the same conference (maybe there's an unwritten rule?). Most folks had Texas A&M as a #6 seed paired with #3 Texas; would have made for a short bus trip from College Station to Austin. But, A&M ends up as the #5 seed in CT with NCSU as the #6 seed matched up with #3 seed Texas in the KY regional.

In KY, I think Ohio State as the #5 seed is right. Don't think they were gonna place NCSU above the Buckeyes

 

In looking at the teams, don't forget that, in the last ten games each played, UCA was 10-0; NCS & Auburn 3-7; and Texas 6-4. UCA wants to keep plaing like they have; the rest want to step it up.

 

From Wed's AAS:
http://www.hookem.com/story/dont-let-name-fool-central-arkansas-sugar-bears-sweet-defense/

 

Nice recap of the prep for the season and some highligts all leading to the NCAA playoffs or, as we know it, March Madness.
http://www.texassports.com/news/201...ncaa-tournament-hype-video-march-15-2017.aspx

 

538.com's win likelihood and probability of advancing through the tournament:
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.co...redictions/womens/?addata=espnw:womenbb:index

Texas the highest probability of the non-1 seeds to win the championship - only 1% though.

 

So we got the sixth best odds of making the Final Four, tied with Oregon State.

 

Link to ESPN coverage maps:

 

ESPN preview of the Lexington regional - Brooke listed as 1 of the 3 players to watch:

http://www.espn.com/womens-college-...n-ncaa-tournament-breaking-lexington-regional

 

well, if it's not a Texas based team, we (in Texas) will get whiparound coverage.
Nice props to Brooke.

 

some reading leading up to the games:

http://www.hookem.com/story/wtf-wheres-fans-texas-womens-basketball-trying-address-attendance/

https://www.hookem.com/story/ncaa-austin-notebook-smaller-sugar-bears-face-tall-task-texas/

https://www.hookem.com/story/africa-austin-life-journey-texas-olamide-oborawa/

Heading out for breakfast before going to the FEC!