UT-Arlington Basketball Update:

Thursday, February 14: UTA 52, Little Rock 56
Saturday, February 16: UTA 78, Arkansas State 84

Got to see both games on TV, and the it just seemed the UTA offense seemed was a little out rhythm in both games. Arkansas State moved the ball well, hit some outside shots and did a good job getting to the paint for short jumpers and and-one opportunities.

Those two losses knocked us out of first place for time being. The Mavs are now tied for 3rd with Coastal Carolina (luckily we won both games  against them should a tiebreakers be needed for seeding). Meanwhile, Texas State is in first place at 10-3, with Georgia State in second at 9-4. Two very difficult home games coming up this week, against Louisiana-Monroe and Louisiana-Lafayette. Monroe has been playing very well lately and I think they could easily wind up with 9 or 10 conference wins by the time the season is over.

With 5 games left, here are the standings:

Looking ahead…here’s the schedule for the Sun Belt Conference tournament. With UTA winning both games against Coastal Carolina, I think the Mavs would be a 3 seed, only having to win 2 games to advance to the Championship game.

The 1 and 2 seeds only have to win 1 game. If I am understanding this correctly, the 7-10 seeds would have play 4 games to get to the Championship games, and win 5 consecutive games over 6 days to earn a trip to the NCAA tournament. That would be difficult. That shows how important having the 1-2 seeds (or at least placing in the top 6) really is.