Dec. 7, 2005
Southland Conference men's basketball teams raising eyebrows
Exposure growing following early-season upsets by league members.
PLANO, Texas - In Tuesday's edition of USA Today, Bucknell University's men's basketball team was the "In Focus" feature as the Bison were preparing to play No. 4 Villanova last night. USA Today writer Malcolm Moran wrote about Bucknell's rise in prominence, which started with an improbable win over Kansas in the NCAA Tournament last year. Now, the Bison are off to a 5-1 (after losing to Villanova) start this season with a win over Syracuse.
While mini-mite Bucknell, a 3,350-student institution in the Patriot League, is stealing the headlines in the nation's paper, Southland Conference men's teams are not without mention. Within the story, a break-out box lists 16 notable upsets in NCAA Division I men's basketball through the first four weeks of the 2005-06 campaign. Four of those knockoffs belong to Southland Conference schools.
It all started on Nov. 14 when Sam Houston State traveled to Missouri and handed the Tigers an 80-77 loss in the first round of the Preseason NIT.
Twelve days later, Northwestern State won an overtime affair, 76-75, at Mississippi State, snapping an 82-game losing streak dating back to 1993-94 by Southland teams in games against Southeastern Conference foes.
Not to be outdone, Southeastern Louisiana went on the road two nights later and beat MSU, 57-46.
Northwestern State was back at it on Monday (Dec. 5), winning, 68-64, at Oklahoma State. Senior forward Clifton Lee scored 24 points and snared nine rebounds as the Demons grabbed the lead late in the first half and never trailed again in a landmark win at OSU's storied Gallagher-Iba Arena.
Northwestern handed Oklahoma State (6-2) its first homecourt loss to a non-conference opponent since 1998, snapping a 44-game Cowboys winning streak. It was only the second Gallagher-Iba loss to a visitor outside the Big 8 or Big 12 conferences for Oklahoma State in 107 games during 16 seasons under legendary coach Eddie Sutton. For Sutton, it was some Demon deja vu. Before returning to coach at his alma mater, Sutton was head coach at Kentucky when the Dan Bell-coached Demons stunned the Wildcats in Rupp Arena on Dec. 7, 1988.
In the latest Sagarin Ratings Index, produced by computer rating's guru Jeff Sagarin, Northwestern State ranks 70th among 334 Division I programs with a strength of schedule that is touted as the 15th-toughest in the country.
Furthermore, in today's Shreveport (La.) Times, Sports Editor Scott Ferrell writes of the Southland's, and in particular, Northwestern State's shot at an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament, assuming the Demons do not garner the league's automatic bid.
Ferrell writes, "The Southland Conference hasn't earned an at-large bid to the NCAA men's basketball tournament since 1973. Although three months still remain in the 2005-06 men's basketball season, the Northwestern State Demons are trying to take the suspense out of the conference tournament. The Demons are 4-2 and already have road wins over Mississippi State (76-75) and Oklahoma State (68-64)."
The Southland is putting together a pretty nice resume in the early going and will have plenty of opportunity to build on that with four weeks of non-conference play remaining.
Northwestern State will take on Oregon State of the Pac-10 in the first game of the Rainbow Classic in Hawaii just before the holidays. Other teams in that event the Demons may face include Iowa State, South Florida, Colorado State, Loyola Marymount, Western Michigan and Hawaii. After returning from Hawaii, Northwestern will play at Texas A&M on Dec. 31 and then embark on SLC play Jan. 5. In mid-February, Northwestern will play in the ESPN Bracket Buster event versus an opponent to be announced.
Sam Houston State will also look to build on its list of impressive wins with contests against Southern Mississippi (Dec. 7) and Houston (Dec. 10). The Bearkats will take on Arizona in the Dec. 19 Fiesta Bowl Tournament and face either Central Florida or Western Kentucky two nights later in that event.
Southeastern Louisiana still has games at Auburn (Dec. 14) and Mississippi (Dec. 21) before league play starts. In addition, the Lions will play St. Mary's (Dec. 17) and either Cal-Davis or future SLC member Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Dec. 18) during a holiday tournament.
Other notable victories by SLC teams this year include a win by Stephen F. Austin at Tulsa to open the season and a win by Louisiana-Monroe over Southern Methodist, both of Conference USA.