By David McCollum thecabin.net Copyright 2010 The Cabin. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

We’ll touch on a variety of University of Central Arkansas subjects in this serving of “David’s Appetizers,” assorted musings and observations on the sports scene:

THE TRANSITION

During Monday’s Bearbacker luncheon, UCA basketball coach Rand Chappell gave what he described as his annual report on NCAA transitional programs in men’s basketball.

UCA is in its final year of transition from Division II to Division I and men’s basketball has been one of the programs that has struggled the most. The Bears are 7-12 this season and have a fight ahead to finish above .500.

Chappell’s point is it is tough all over for teams that can’t offer the chance at postseason play and the NCAA tournament, which is one of the main attractions for Division I basketball recruits.

According to Chappell’s research, there are 12 programs in the pipeline for full NCAA Division I certification.

As of Monday, here are the current records of the other teams with provisional status: Florida Gulf Coast, 6-13; South Carolina Upstate, 3-16; Presbyterian, 3-18; Cal-Bakersfield, 3-15; Houston Baptist, 3-14; North Carolina Central, 4-17; North Dakota, 3-16; Seattle, 9-11; South Dakota, 10-9; Winston-Salem State, 6-10; Bryant, 0-20. That’s a combined 57-181 for the programs in transition.

“We’re struggling, but we still have the third-best record in that group,” Chappell said.

He said the coaching staff at Kennesaw State, which gained full eligibility this season, researched the records of men’s basketball programs making the Division I transition over 30 years and discovered the average wins per year among all those programs in transitional status was eight. 

Chappell said UCA is one of three teams in its final year of transition to Division I. All three, UCA, Winston-Salem and Cal-Bakersfield, are now playing primarily Division I schedules. The Bears have 41 wins during the transition period. Winston-Salem has 31 and Bakersfield 20.

“It’s (the transition) a struggle for everybody,” Chappell said. “This year, our final year, I think we’re getting one of two bricks at a time off our backs.”

CERTIFICATION 

TIMETABLE

Brad Teague, UCA’s athletic director, said the athletic department has filed its final certification report, requiring answers and updates to questions raised during a campus visit by an NCAA committee last fall. The certification committee will review that report and Teague said UCA should receive news in early March if the committee will recommend UCA to be fully certified for NCAA Division I membership.

The next hurdle will be to update the school’s strategic plan and submit a final report to the NCAA in June. If that is approved, UCA will be officially admitted to NCAA Division I in all sports in July.

LOGO

For several months, UCA athletics officials and designers have been working on a new athletic logo. The design will be submitted for approval by the school’s Board of Trustees at its Feb. 5 meeting. If accepted, UCA will hold a news conference that afternoon to unveil the new logo.

PANCAKES

Since 100 percent of the proceeds, as approved by the UCA Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, will go to Haiti relief, UCA officials expect a large crowd at a pancake breakfast at Stoby’s.

Tickets are $5 each and can be purchased from Natalie Shock at the athletic office, 450-3212, or any UCA athlete or at the door. The event will run from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

“We’re going to cook as many pancakes as we can during that time,” Teague said.

THE PIPPEN NIGHT

UCA officials are also discussing how they can generate close to the level of crowds at the Farris Center that happened when Scottie Pippen showed up last week to a packed house.

“Besides Scottie, Kris Allen is the only guy I can think of,” Chappell quipped.

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