Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Trojans, Sugar Bears best in Arkansas this season

- Rick Fires can be reached at rfires@nwadg.com or on Twitter @NWARick.

In the sports section Monday, you’ll find the final rankings for high school basketball teams in Arkansas.

But what about the state colleges? Can we rank the five Division I schools in order despite the fact they mostly don’t play each other?

I think so, especially in a year when the commuter school in Little Rock ended the season of a hotshot team from the Big 10.

So, let’s go.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

No. 1 Arkansas-Little Rock: The Trojans will be hard to top as the No. 1 sports story in Arkansas for the 2015-2016 calendar year. What a marvelous job by Chris Beard, who was able to mesh holdovers with newcomers on a team that finished 30-5 with a win over Purdue in the NCAA Tournament. Beard’s success in his first year emboldens fans who are overly eager to fire coaches who don’t meet their expectatio­ns.

No. 2 Arkansas: Not much was expected from Arkansas and the Razorbacks delivered with a 16-16 record from a Power 5 Conference that was embarrassi­ng this year. Help is supposedly on the way at Arkansas in the form of three junior college players with sparkling credential­s. We’ll see.

I know for sure the anticipati­on would be much greater if a marvel named Monk were coming instead of going.

No. 3 Arkansas State: I covered the first game played at the Convocatio­n Center in 1987 when a large crowd watched Memphis nip ASU, 60-59. It’s been mostly downhill since for the Red Wolves, who went 11-20 this season and failed to even make the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.

Folks in Jonesboro weren’t clapping because they had Yale to upset Baylor in their NCAA Tournament bracket. They’re happy because former Baylor assistant Grant McCasland gets a head start in trying to jump-start a stagnant program at ASU.

No. 4 Central Arkansas: A headline on the UCA website reads “Furious comeback falls short on Senior Night.”

Nothing furious about UCA except maybe season-tickets holders, who had to suffer through a 7-21 season, including 6-12 in the Southland Conference. Not even Scottie Pippen could help this team.

No. 5 Arkansas-Pine Bluff:

UAPB is one of those schools that plays top teams for a paycheck to help keep their program afloat. Predictabl­y, the Lions got crushed this season in games against Oklahoma State, Michigan State and Cincinnati.

They also got crushed by smaller schools for far less money and finished 8-25 on the season.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

No. 1 Central Arkansas: The Sugar Bears shattered the excuse that it’s nearly impossible to win on the road.

UCA finished 28-4 overall and won 15 of its 17 games away from the Farris Center in Conway. Not saying the Sugar Bears could beat the larger schools here, but they produced in crunch time and qualified for the NCAA Tournament when the others did not.

Not even a 27-point loss to Louisville in the NCAA Tournament could diminish UCA’s accomplish­ments.

No. 2 Arkansas State: Arkansas State went 19-1 in conference play, which is impressive whether you’re in the SEC, Sun Belt, or 7A-West. But ASU failed again to make the NCAA Tournament after losing to Troy in the league semifinals.

A-State’s overall record of 27-6 would look better had it won an NCAA Tournament game instead of a WNIT game.

No. 3 Arkansas-Little Rock:

UALR still won 20 games and strung together a 15-game winning streak after starting the season 2-7. This program remains solid under Joe Foley, who received a new contract last spring after the Trojans won 29 games and made the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in six years.

No. 4 Arkansas: The Razorbacks said nyet to a possible WNIT bid after going 12-18, including 1-14 in games away from Bud Walton Arena.

Losing to Tennessee in the first round of the SEC Tournament is apparently more bearable than being forced to play ASU or UALR in the WNIT. Some day Arkansas’ policy against playing in-state schools will change and everyone will wonder what the fuss was all about.

No. 5 Arkansas-Pine Bluff:

The good news? The Lady Lions won more games than the men’s team at UAPB.

The bad news? The Lady Lions went 9-21 which, combined with the men, totals 17-46.

Dreadful, for sure.

 ?? RICK FIRES ??
RICK FIRES

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