Under the Radar Game of the Day: Stephen F Austin at Houston Baptist, 8:00 PM Eastern, hbuhuskies.com
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Before I get to the UTR Game of the Day, I need to say this. I am not a Louisville fan. I don’t have any hate for the Cardinals, nor do I have any great love for them. I do respect the program and what Rick Pitino has built there over the past 15 years. I honestly have more love for most Under the Radar programs, and always have, than for most of the major programs. Schools like Drexel. And Cleveland State. I also, however, fully understand when a kid’s lifelong dream is to play in the NCAA Tournament for a team with the chance to make a Final Four run. I understand finishing your degree with one year of eligibility left at an Under the Radar school, being a star player, and wanting to transfer for your senior season to get that one chance. I understand getting that exact oppurtunity, jumping at it and a chance to play for one of the greatest coaches of our time. I understand the excitement when that team being among the top teams in the nation. What I don’t understand is pulling the carpet out from under these kids for nothing they did wrong. I don’t agree with Gary Parrish from CBS all the time, but he nailed it here and I would just suggest you all read his article which I agree with 110%. I couldn’t feel worse right now for Damion Lee and Trey Lewis, and I have no respect left whatsoever for the administrators at Louisville that made this disgusting, selfish choice. But on to the games that matter from schools that don’t screw over their own players.
Two teams that have not decided to selfishly punish their seniors are Stephen F Austin and Houston Baptist, and they meet tonight in our Under the Radar Game of the Day with first place in the Southland Conference on the line. SFA enters plays today with a record of 15-5 overall, undefeated in Southland play at 8-0. They have the conference’s best RPI (144), BPI (108) and KenPom (93). The Lumberjacks continue to be led by Thomas Walkup, who had a team high 17 points in their huge win last weekend at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Demetrious Floyd also needs to be watched out for, as he can be deadly from behind the arc. He nailed three from long range against Corpus Christi and has had five or more four times already this season.
Tonight, the Lumberjacks will be in Houston to take on the Southland’s most surprising team this year, the Houston Baptist Huskies. The Huskies got out to an 8-0 start in Southland play this season including a huge home win last weekend over Sam Houston State. The chance for today to be a battle between two teams that were undefeated in league play was lost during the week, however, as they suffered an upset loss at Abilene Christian, 79-72. That loss does not diminish what they have done so far this season though, as a program that has never had a winning record at the D1 level is only a few wins away from clinching exactly that. In fact, their 14 wins already on the year ties their best ever season since moving up to Division I in 2009. Anthony Odunsi and Josh Ibarra lead the way offensively for this year’s HBU team, though it was Reveal Chukwujekwu and Colter Lasher who were the top two scorers in last weekend’s win over Sam Houston. If the Huskies can find the same magic they had last weekend, they may have a chance to defeat Stephen F Austin for the first time ever tonight.