McCollum's Column: Plenty of questions out there for UCA basketball

University of Central Arkansas teams begin Southland Conference play Saturday still under a shroud of mystery.

The Sugar Bears may not be as far along as their 10-3 record would indicate on the surface.

The Bears could be a tad farther along than their generally unimpressive 6-8 mark.

With a couple of exceptions, the SLC women’s race might have a jumble of teams in both divisions.

The men’s race could be wide open with one of the best teams being the seemingly unimposing 5-8 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi team that comes to Conway tomorrow.

Here are things in a couple of nutshells that still have to be fully cracked.

SUGAR BEARS

Second-year coach Matt Daniel knows the situation, and he gets it. He designed it.

The UCA women, a struggling, overscheduled team the last couple of years, are better and have more marquee players and quality depth. 

Daniel has replaced every player with a better player after he virtually cleaned house last season.

With one of the youngest teams in America, Daniel has built an exciting team whose style is fun to watch and they play together well.

Now, the perspective:

There are 346 teams in NCAA Division I. Going into this week, the Sugar Bears’ strength of schedule is ranked 338th. UCA’s RPI is 249, up nicely from 300-plus of the last couple of years.

UCA’s 10-3 record has been fattened with an assortment of cream-filled cupcakes. UCA’s nonconference opponents are a combined 48-112 and six of them have won fewer than three games. It’s a tossup whether any of the 13 will finish wth a winning record.

Here are the non-conference marks going into Thursday: Houston Baptist, 2-13; Belmont, 7-5; Lipscomb, 3-11; Eccelsia, 2-10; Jackson State, 1-11; Central Methodist, 6-7; Tulsa, 6-5; Wiley, 2-9; Southeast Missouri, 5-8; Wiley, 7-6; Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, 2-15; Chicago State, 5-11.

With the youngest Division I team in the country dotted with freshmen and sophomores, Daniel set the nonconference slate to try to rebuild a winning tradition, confidence and cohesiveness and also give young players a buffer to adjust to the college game. 

“We’re probably due for a wakeup call,” Daniel said. “I’m aware of that. I’m not sure the players are. But I expect it and I expect it quickly.”

Possibly beginning at Corpus Christi on Saturday.

The Lady Islanders, who took Baylor to overtime before losing in the NCAA tournament last season, are 8-5 this season, 5-1 at home and have an overtime victory over Alabama and wins over Houston and Colorado State.

“Our future is not here yet, but the future is bright,” Daniel said.

Stay tuned.

BEARS

The nonconference opponents for the UCA men are 93-80 that includes 14-0 Kansas and 10-4 Memphis.

Going into this week, the RPI for the UCA men is 316. Of 347 Division I teams, the Bears’ strength of schedule is rated 333rd.

UCA has a loss to an NAIA team (Central Methodist), a 9-4 team that may actually be one of the best teams the Bears have played, certainly outside of Kansas and Memphis. What on paper has been their best victory (Cal State Fullerton) has faded. The Titans are currently 5-7.

Going into Thursday, here are the marks of UCA’s nonconference opponents: Hendrix, 4-5; Tennessee Tech, 5-7; Kansas, 14-0; Western Illinois, 6-8; Memphis, 10-4; Oakland, 9-7; Cal State Fullerton, 5-7; Southern 2-11; Tennessee-Martin, 2-10; Harris-Stowe, 8-4; Missouri-Kansas City, 8-6; Central Methodist,p 9-4; Eccelsia, 9-7.

A&M-Corpus Christi, Saturday afternoon’s opponent at the Farris Center, has defeated Oregon State in a tourney game but is 0-7 on the road. But that includes losses to Texas Tech, Ole Miss, Houston, Kent State, Texas and Florida State. Going into this week, the Islanders were seventh in the country in strength of schedule.

A&M-Corpus Christi lost to Texas 76-70 then was drummed by Florida State, 94-54.

That’s typical of the mystery surrounding the SLC men’s race. Last weekend, four Southland teams struggled with lower-division teams: UCA losing to Central Methodist, Southeastern Louisiana struggling to a six-point win over William Carey, Stephen F. Austin downing Texas College by nine and Texas-Arlington surviving the University of Dallas (a Hendrix opponent) by eight. Earlier this week, Northwestern State lost to Southern, a team UCA defeated.

However, Sam Houston has a victory over Oral Roberts, Nicholls played LSU within three points and the University of Arkansas struggled to a three-point home victory over SFA. And Sam Houston State owns a 22-point victory against Auburn.

“Just about every team has had highs and lows,” UCA coach Rand Chappell said.

UCA, in a 76-63 victory over Ecclesia on Tuesday, played with good intensity and seemed to reflect more team chemistry and less personal drama than any group on recent years. A&M-Corpus Christi will be a good gauge.

“This team is made up of a bunch of pretty good guys who want to be a good team,” Chappell said. “I don’t know if they’ve figured it out or accomplished it yet, but I think they want to be there.”

For both men and women, the nonconference results are skewered with different philosophies of scheduling. Most teams need money games. Some play softer schedules to fatten records and build confidence. Others take on tough challenges with the hope of better preparing a team mentally for the conference grind.

The bottom line is the Southland Conference is a one-bid league (to the NCAA tournament) for both men and women, so RPI and strength of schedule don’t mean as much as preparing a team to win the postseason tournament, which results in the automatic NCAA bid.

So all the stats, records and comparative scores lead to only one evaluation right now for both men and women.

Inconclusive.

(Sports columnist David McCollum can be reached at 505-1235 or david.mccollum@thecabin.net)