Shhh, we don’t need word to get out…no for real though, Layne’s a beast. Let’s keep building under Schulman. He’s obviously got a good eye for talent.
2024-25 Season - Men's
Tough loss at Stetson. I think Etim missing is hurting, but for some reason teams shoot 3s really well against us. Not sure if it’s defensive philosophy or what.
And another loss against FGCU… Someday maybe they will be able to win a few more of these close games.
Until that happens, I’m having a hard time seeing much difference between this season and previous seasons. 
There is a huge difference! They may not be visible in the W/L column but the effort and quality of players across the team is definitely better than previous years. The issue is we are missing some key pieces with injuries and we are so young. If these guys hang around, we will definitely be building for success in the future.
Yeah I’m optimistic if we can get everyone healthy. Etim being out is hurting our front court rotation and defense, once he’s back I could we us winning more close ones. Also, a legitimate 3rd scoring option would help. I can see McCormick getting better and becoming a consistent threat.
You have to believe this team would be entirely different with Guy-King and Robinson available. Sucks for coach to have built that roster (largely from scratch) and two of the expected key pieces are unavailable for the entire season.
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I agree, bad injury luck this year, but what’s wrong with Guy King? Robinson I heard “lower leg injury” but not anything about King. Robinson a scoring ability would be nice for sure. Fagbemi has been struggling recently.
treyuca Those two, plus Tyler Lee – the freshman from Tennessee who was a 2-time state champion/state tournament MVP and the class 3A player of the year. Seems like coach talked him up pretty good in the preseason, assume they were counting on him to contribute this year as well.
That’s three pieces you’re without completely – 6′4″, 6′5″ and 6′6″ wing players – plus an extended time without 6′8″, 230 lb. Jabari West and now Etim on the shelf. Would definitely look like a completely different team, and record, with the full roster available.
So I don’t really care much about the W/L right now. Sure, it would be nice to win some of these, but I don’t see the results as any sort of indictment on the staff or the guys out there. It’s simply not the team it was constructed to be. Losses by 2, 4, and four by 6 each. And then another by 10 that was a two-possession game under a minute against a team (well, program) that was in the NCAA Tournament 10 months ago. So all the losses not to Arkansas/BYU/Georgia Tech/Oklahoma/Utah are by an average of 5.7 points per game. One additional stop and two more buckets (or vice versa) per game and you’re 12-5.
One thing I do find encouraging is the turnovers. Only committing 11.8 per game – easily the lowest average in over a decade. The last 10 seasons we’ve averaged 15 turnovers per game, -2.3 margin. This year it’s 11.8 and +1.8. The only other time in the previous decade we finished with a positive turnover margin was in 2017-18 when we were +0.8 per game. Coincidentally also the only winning record during that time (18-17).
I feel pretty good about brighter days ahead. Until then, win or lose, I’ll at least enjoy watching the Layne Taylor Show (ft. Elias Cato).
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Some good takeaways from recent games:
1 - We have alot of young talent, Taylor is great, McCormick is promising, a lot of guys that will continue to improve.
2 - these guys fight to final buzzer, looking at kenpom.com, UCA has outscored opponents 105-74 in the final 10 minutes of the last 4 conference games to date, nearly 8 points per game. The problem has just been the hole dug before then. I’ll take that, and as we get more guys back that hard-nosed attitude will start translating to wins.
JoshUCA with coaching changes nowadays near 100% roster turnover is more of the norm it seems. I like a lot of the pieces we brought in.
MountainBear Ahhh there is a pay wall on KenPom.com.
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Yeah I’m a stats nerd so I have access, barttorvik.com is a good free site for advanced bball stats though.
5 days later
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UCA wrapped up a tough 4 game road stretch with a loss at Jacksonville. Played good D the first half but fell off the 2nd half. McCormick had his best game so far with 19 points, but Cato had a goose egg. Seems like Turner has token over the minutes from Etim. I think they should start Turner/Etim and have Cato play just the 4. Hes a little light to be the main big guy. Hopefully they can pick us some wins at home this week.
5 days later
Big game tonight in Conway! The Bears (5-14, 1-5) host Austin Peay (7-12, 2-4) at 6:30 in the Farris Center. It would be nice to have a huge crowd and a chance to get a win at home!
BEARS BACK AT FARRIS TO FACE GOVERNORS
CONWAY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
“OFF THE CLOCK” EVENT
The Conway Chamber of Commerce will host an “Off The Clock” event at the Farris Center on Thursday night, beginning at 5 p.m. on the upper deck on the north end of the Farris Center. They will be giving away 500 free tickets in the lobby on a first-come, first-served basis. The event will feature free food and drinks from various Conway restaurants.
For more information, click here:
Had our chances tonight but gave up too many runs and ran out of gas. Drop the game 71-73.
Hate they gave up that big run. Up 10 with less than 10 to play and losing is rough. Another chance Saturday.
The main thing that gives me optimism for the back half of the year is this team is so young and we had so many injuries. With those Freshman getting better, and now we have some depth back, this team should get stronger. Turner, Fagbemi, and McCormick are all much improved from game 1.