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Long Beach State at Stephen F. Austin, free streaming at sfajacks.com
Nacogdoches, Texas is the stop tonight for the UTR Game of the Day as the Southland Conference favorite Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks host Dan Monson’s Long Beach State 49ers from the Big West conference. SFA was greatly criticized here at HOOPSHD last season for their schedule, which featured only one top 100 opponent ( a loss to Texas). They only slightly improved that this season, with a home game against Northern Iowa and road contests at Baylor, Memphis and Xavier. Unfortunately, the Lumberjacks could only muster a single win in those games (at Memphis last time out), and winning out all the way to the conference tournament championship game may not even be enough for them this year if they need an at-large bid. Obviously, losing a game like tonight’s could only hurt.
Long Beach State entered the season as a middle of the pack pick in the Big West conference. However, non-conference wins against Western Michigan, Kansas State and Xavier have the 49ers aspiring to loftier heights already. While they are only 5-4 on the season, none of the losses have been bad ones (BYU, Xavier, UCLA and Washington). Dan Monson will certainly have this team well-tested by the time the conference season starts as their gauntlet includes games after tonight at San Diego State, at Texas, at St. John’s, at Syracuse and at Louisville (in other words, just the type of schedule a team like Stephen F. Austin should have put together if they wanted at-large consideration). Long Beach currently has the #20 SOS in the country and they could be among the top 5 in that category by January 1. The wins they have already, combined with the character that will be built this month, could have the 49ers right up there with the likes of UC-Irvine and UCSB in the battle for the Big West’s automatic bid.