UALR

[trippigs]

Just watched UALR beat Denver to advance to semifinals of Sunbelt. UALR dodged a bullet. Fun to watch big Joe Klein on the bench barking commands. Tourney is in Hot Springs and seems well run.

[Arazorbackguy1]

Steve shields should be the next coach at the uofa

[trippigs]

Tell you what....I think his coaching won the game tonight. UALR was out of sync while Denver was clicking most of the game. Shields went to the press which changed the tempo and complexion of the game. UALR pulled even late in 2nd half and won with a 3 point shot with seconds left. Good coaching!

[Hot_Town_Hog]

Should be 2 good games tomorrow night, with UALR and a very good Western Ky team both playing.

[chiefsfan]

Tell you what....I think his coaching won the game tonight. UALR was out of sink while Denver was clicking most of the game. Shields went to the press which changed the tempo and complexion of the game. UALR pulled even late in 2nd half and won with a 3 point shot with seconds left. Good coaching!

he pressed a princeton offense.  Even Pelphrey knows to do that

[mbgrulz]

I like Pelphrey, but the UA would be doing well to hire both of UALR's basketball coaches. Especially Foley.

[MICHAELSPAPPY]

If cliffhanger finishes provide entertainment value, this team has given its fans their money's worth and then some.

[hoglady]

I like Pelphrey, but the UA would be doing well to hire both of UALR's basketball coaches. Especially Foley.

UA should have hired Foley instead of Susie Gardner years back.
Tom Collin hasn't done anything to lose his job, the program was so far down when he got here. But I think Foley is hands down a better coach.
Gardner was the worst hire ever for any sport - set the girls basketball program back years in terms of recruiting and fan support.

[thirtythree]

UA should have hired Foley instead of Susie Gardner years back.
Tom Collin hasn't done anything to lose his job, the program was so far down when he got here. But I think Foley is hands down a better coach.
Gardner was the worst hire ever for any sport - set the girls basketball program back years in terms of recruiting and fan support.

I will go one further. They never should have let Blair go to aTm.

[ThunderHog]

I like Pelphrey, but the UA would be doing well to hire both of UALR's basketball coaches. Especially Foley.

Shields understands defense...Pelphrey doesn't.

Pelphrey wants to run and gun, which is fun if you win....Shields wants to lock you down and struggle to get a shot off, which they do very well...especially one kid they have.

The Hogs will do better next year.

[hoglady]

I will go one further. They never should have let Blair go to aTm.

I really didn't have a problem with them letting Blair go IF you go out and get someone better. But to let him go and then get Susie Gardner made no sense then and even less now.

I will be rooting on the Trojans and hope to make the men and women's game tomorrow if they win today.

[chiefsfan]

I really didn't have a problem with them letting Blair go IF you go out and get someone better. But to let him go and then get Susie Gardner made no sense then and even less now.

I will be rooting on the Trojans and hope to make the men and women's game tomorrow if they win today.

Cheering for the UALR women is almost like cheering for a lost cause.  Middle Tennessee has won all but 1 conference game.  18-1.   They have been flirting with a national ranking all year and will be about a 5 or a 6 seed in the NCAA tournament.       They are the Gonzaga of Womens basketball

Mens team has a chance but they will have to knock off a good south alabama team, and then somehow beat a western Kentucky team that beat them by 35 at WKU, and 10 at UALR earlier this year

Ive never been incredibly impressed with UALR.  They just play good defense and have just enough ofense to win a close game.    Western Kentucky is hands down the class of the league this year

[Mr. Porkleone]

Steve shields should be the next coach at the uofa

gonna have to -1 you on that one

[MICHAELSPAPPY]

One reason Stan didn't make it was because he had a slow-down philosophy. Folks wanted run and gun. Shields plays at a lower pace. I like it, but most Fayetteville fans do not. I don't think they would take to Shields.

[hoglady]

One reason Stan didn't make it was because he had a slow-down philosophy. Folks wanted run and gun. Shields plays at a lower pace. I like it, but most Fayetteville fans do not. I don't think they would take to Shields.

Don't ya'll think it would be hard for Arkansas to go after a UALR coach even if they wanted to?
They are still the same system of schools.

[MICHAELSPAPPY]

I don't think it would ever happen, and for the same reason that Fayetteville won't play other in-state schools.

[mbgrulz]

One reason Stan didn't make it was because he had a slow-down philosophy. Folks wanted run and gun. Shields plays at a lower pace. I like it, but most Fayetteville fans do not. I don't think they would take to Shields.

The problem with stan was that he was too soft on the players. He wouldn't turn Hipsher loose on guys like Brewer and let him push brewer to be better. Stan worried that they would lose RB if someone got on his ass too hard.

You can be a grind it out coach, but you can't be a spineless coach.  Stan was doing the same things as Tom Izzo, but it was two different personalities. That is where the difference is. It's very rarely X's and O's.

[MICHAELSPAPPY]

Yeah, but the call-in shows were really rolling with people wanting another Nolan and the up-tempo style.

[MICHAELSPAPPY]

Of course, one thing you do get with Shields is a profile that would make any gangster movie. He won't win any beauty contests. And he can scowl like Eddie.

[hoglady]

Cheering for the UALR women is almost like cheering for a lost cause.  Middle Tennessee has won all but 1 conference game.  18-1.   They have been flirting with a national ranking all year and will be about a 5 or a 6 seed in the NCAA tournament.       They are the Gonzaga of Womens basketball

Mens team has a chance but they will have to knock off a good south alabama team, and then somehow beat a western Kentucky team that beat them by 35 at WKU, and 10 at UALR earlier this year

Ive never been incredibly impressed with UALR.  They just play good defense and have just enough ofense to win a close game.    Western Kentucky is hands down the class of the league this year

We'll find out tomorrow. UALR women just won in double overtime which sets up a championship game with Middle Tennessee. The regular season matchup went to overtime with UALR losing by 5. Hopefully, they can pull it out tomorrow.

[Wild Bill Hog]

I like Pelphrey, but the UA would be doing well to hire both of UALR's basketball coaches. Especially Foley.

Foley, yes, if there is an opening.  Susie G. drove the women's program through the basement so Collen has a long road to get it turned around.  He seems to be doing the right things.  I'm not that familiar with Shields over all record, but I think this is the best UALR has done under him.

[donewithdale]

Horrible game and an even worse turnout.  Sad when the local team for this tournament is in the semifinals and that is the crowd.  I feel sorry for the UALR players.  The Sun Belt should play this tourney at WKU every year where at least people would show up to watch it.

[vandybuff]

Horrible game and an even worse turnout.  Sad when the local team for this tournament is in the semifinals and that is the crowd.  I feel sorry for the UALR players.  The Sun Belt should play this tourney at WKU every year where at least people would show up to watch it.

I noticed last evening that the late game seemed to have near no one!  Would it not be more profitable to move to a larger metro area?

[donewithdale]

I noticed last evening that the late game seemed to have near no one!  Would it not be more profitable to move to a larger metro area?

Not Little Rock.  Move it closer to WKU or MTSU if they don't make it a top seed is at home tourney. 

[UAfan]

This is what I hate about winner goes to the tourney.  I understand it for the bigger conferences, but teams like UALR and USA don't deserve to play in the tournament.  30 points with 8 to go in the game?!? give me a break.  Don't get me wrong I hope UALR gets it going, but it seems unfair for teams like Auburn and Georgetown who are on the bubble.

[vandybuff]

Not Little Rock.  Move it closer to WKU or MTSU if they don't make it a top seed is at home tourney. 

well 'somewhere' with people  --- last night the coca cola concession was a guy with a two-liter and five cups .... and after half-time that went on sale!

[vandybuff]

This is what I hate about winner goes to the tourney.  I understand it for the bigger conferences, but teams like UALR and USA don't deserve to play in the tournament.  30 points with 8 to go in the game?!? give me a break.  Don't get me wrong I hope UALR gets it going, but it seems unfair for teams like Auburn and Georgetown who are on the bubble.

it supposedly sells tickets to all those conference tourneys.  Heck, we even waited to go to the moon until we had live television ... it's marketing, my friend!   

[hogbud]

prediction.........there will be more in attendance for class A state overall at Hot Springs than UALR drew on TV tonight.  Just pitiful!

[vandybuff]

prediction.........there will be more in attendance for class A state overall at Hot Springs than UALR drew on TV tonight.  Just pitiful!

Honestly, I have no idea of tickets sold, but on television Sunday night the South Alabama game looked to have a thousand at most ----and sadly that included the four hundred or so players, press, staff, etc.  I think two pans of Jiffy Pop and three pickles would have sufficed for snacks

[Jeffcphog]

Cheering for the UALR women is almost like cheering for a lost cause.  Middle Tennessee has won all but 1 conference game.  18-1.   They have been flirting with a national ranking all year and will be about a 5 or a 6 seed in the NCAA tournament.       They are the Gonzaga of Womens basketball

Mens team has a chance but they will have to knock off a good south alabama team, and then somehow beat a western Kentucky team that beat them by 35 at WKU, and 10 at UALR earlier this year

Ive never been incredibly impressed with UALR.  They just play good defense and have just enough ofense to win a close game.    Western Kentucky is hands down the class of the league this year

Well, they are a lot better than alot of teams.  Say, Arkansas State.

[vandybuff]

Thanks Lazarus -- btw, is Hot Springs the town with the horse track and casino?

[hoglady]

Horrible game and an even worse turnout.  Sad when the local team for this tournament is in the semifinals and that is the crowd.  I feel sorry for the UALR players.  The Sun Belt should play this tourney at WKU every year where at least people would show up to watch it.

Hot Springs will have this tournament for 2 more years.
Next year if UALR is decent they should draw better.
I would have been at the Sunbelt - if the SEC Women's tourney wasn't here. You had the SEC women's, Sunbelt and high school tournaments all competing against each other.

UALR's drawn pretty good at home this year - they had 5,000 for their last home game.

[MountieDawg]

I watched them get thuped by South Alabama last night... I would not want that coach...  I thought UK and Ark looked bad this year...  They could not shoot, they were so boring, they didn't look very athletic and I will never get those 2 hours back in my life...  Plus it was the semifinals of the Sun Belt tourney and I bet Pea Ridge has more fans at their basketball games.

[trippigs]

I don't follow Sunbelt basketball too much but it seems to me that Hot Springs is an attractive venue for their tourney. Geographically, the conference is spread from Colorado to Florida so it is a reasonable location fit although on the western side of things. Most of the schools are in smaller towns so Hot Springs' population is comfortable. The facilities are hard beat...accommodates 6000, almost new and very nice. I don't get the negative comments about the concessions...thought they were fine and actually pretty efficient. Hot Springs is a tourist town with a lot of other things to offer with horses, good restaurants, parks, etc. Don't know official attendance numbers but I suspect they are lower than hoped for possibly due , in part, to this being a maiden voyage for new a venue and a poor economy. I look forward to their return next year.

[MICHAELSPAPPY]

One of the tougher conference geographically, except maybe for the WAC.

[MICHAELSPAPPY]

It's tough when you are a smaller program. You have one of the best years in recent memory, the team really over-achieves, hangs together tough through some adversity, and then because the entire team goes cold at the same time, you probably won't go to any post-season, or maybe an outside chance at one of the buy-in tournaments, which don't really count.

[donewithdale]

I watched them get thuped by South Alabama last night... I would not want that coach...  I thought UK and Ark looked bad this year...  They could not shoot, they were so boring, they didn't look very athletic and I will never get those 2 hours back in my life...  Plus it was the semifinals of the Sun Belt tourney and I bet Pea Ridge has more fans at their basketball games.

Take into account their top scorer was dismissed a couple of weeks ago. 

[hoglady]

Take into account their top scorer was dismissed a couple of weeks ago. 

I have followed UALR since back in the Ron Kestenbaum days - with them through Newell, Platt, Sanderson, Moncrief, Porter and Shields. I don't know why, but they have ALWAYS struggled in the conference tourney. From the TAAC to the Sunbelt. It is frustrating - I am hoping for a Western Kentucky win tonight and then MAYBE UALR can get an NIT bid.