BURN THE HORSE
Everytime
UALR plays Louisiana Tech we get the same question: Why didn’t UALR recruit
Tech’s Raheem Appleby?
 |
BTH MORNING AFTER |
Appleby
had a game-high 17 points as Louisiana Tech beat UALR 75-73 on Monday at the
Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock.
So why
didn’t UALR recruit him? The short answer is that they did. In fact, UALR was
the only school recruiting him for a while. It came down to scholarship
numbers.
Appleby,
who played nearby at Jacksonville High School, was a mid-summer academic
qualifier. By the time he was qualified, UALR had already signed Ben Dillard, Taggart Lockhart, Michael Javes, Reggie Fondren
and Eric Lawton. And the Trojans were maxed out at the NCAA limit of 13 scholarships.
With no
scholarships to give, Appleby still committed to walk-on at UALR. But when
Louisiana Tech lost a signee late that summer, they took a flier on Appleby. He
visited, they offered him a scholarship and he signed. And no one should blame
him for that.
The
real unfortunate part was that Lawton, who was a highly recruited high
school player before going to junior college, and Fondren never really worked out. Both transferred after one year at UALR.
Appleby’s
a nice player and probably would have earned a scholarship this year if he had
stuck with UALR. But UALR followed with a pretty nice signing class of its own.
So it appears to worked out for both sides.
BURN NOTICE
Sun Belt Saturday night we get. It's kind of a tradition in our league. But considering the experience of Monday's officiating crew of Randall McCall, Rick Randall and Hal Lusk, we'd expect a better effort than they gave on Monday.
STAT OF THE GAME
20-3:
Louisiana Tech’s advantage in second-chance points.
KEYS REVISITED
Freedom
rings: Louisiana Tech was 26 of 36 at the free throw line. UALR was 18 of 25.
Nowhere near good enough. Grade: D-.
Relegate
Raheem: Louisiana Tech’s Raheem Appleby had 16 first-half points. Then he had
only 1 in the second half. I suppose you’d give a F for the first half and an A
for the second. Average it out. Grade: C.
Pressure
cooker: Again, UALR had just 4 turnovers in the first half and 13 in the second
half. That’s an A for the first half and an F for the second. Grade: C.
THE GOOD
4
turnovers by UALR in the first half.
THE BAD
13
turnovers by UALR in the second half.
THE UGLY
19
offensive rebounds by Louisiana Tech. With as little size as they had, that
shouldn’t be possible.
VEGAS, BABY
If you
got in at Louisiana Tech by 2 it was a push. You might have been a winner or
loser if you got that half point on either side of that number.
PREDICTIONS
USA
Today’s Jeff Sagarin was the only correct predictor.
UP NEXT
UALR
returns to Sun Belt Conference play as they take on South Alabama on Saturday
afternoon in Mobile, Ala. Both teams are 2-0 in conference play.
