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Stephen F. Austin at Incarnate Word, 8:00 PM Eastern, free streaming at cardinalathletics.com
February 16, 2013. Stephen F. Austin loses at Southeastern Louisiana 54-50. Just two days shy of two calendar years later, on February 14, 2015, SFA lost at Texas AA&M-Corpus Christi, 71-63. Between those two dates, the Lumberjacks had won every single regular season Southland Conference game they played. But with that streak, and any realistic hope of an at-large bid if they slip up in the conference tournament, gone, the ‘jacks will now be looking to simply capture the Southland regular season crown and lock up the top seed for the tournament next month. Given how their trip to Corpus Christi went this weekend, however, winning in San Antonio tonight is by no means a given.
SFA enters tonight’s game at 10-1 in conference play and 20-4 overall, technically half a game behind Sam Houston State (11-1) for the conference lead, though the Lumberjacks did win at Sam Houston earlier this year in dominating fashion. SFA enters tonight’s game with an RPI of 84, BPI of 77 and KenPom of 52 — numbers that will not improve much at all given their remaining schedule. They have no top 50 wins and only two top 100 — with one of those being at home against a Long Beach State team that is barely in the top 100. The other was a road win, but at a Memphis team that, as David likes to say, will only be going to the NCAA tournament if they buy tickets. The top seed in the Southland tournament, and the double bye into the semifinals that comes with it, is however easily within the Lumberjacks’ grasp. They need to bounce back quickly from the loss though if they want to stay ahead of their rivals from Huntsville.
Incarnate Word will not be playing in the Southland tournament at all, as the Cardinals are in their second of four transitional years up to the D1 level. After playing only a partial SLC schedule last season, UIW (along with fellow transitional team Abilene Christian) is playing a full SLC schedule this season. They enter pay tonight a very respectable 7-4 in conference play and 15-6 overall, the best record of the six current transitional teams. Their wins most notably include a non-conference victory at Nebraska back in December. While the overall record and the win over the ‘huskers has certainly turned some heads, being able to hand SFA a second consecutive loss tonight will serve notice throughout the Southland Conference that UIW intends to be a force to be reckoned with as they complete their transition over the next two seasons and beyond.