Sam Houston St

Daily Poll: Most Surprising Undefeated Team?

Shawn Siegel — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 08:11:21 -0800

Daily Poll: Who Will Win the Southland Conference?

Shawn Siegel — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 07:52:38 -0700

2007-08 Sam Houston State Basketball Preview

Joel Welser — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 14:10:51 -0700

Sam Houston State Bearkats

Overall Rank: #121

Conference Rank: #1 Southland

2006-07: 21-10, 13-3, 2^nd West

2006-07 postseason: none

Sam Houston State was one win away from holding the Southland title. However, Coach Bob Marlin’s squad lost the regular season finale to Texas A&M Corpus Christi and compounded the troubles by exiting the conference tournament after just one game. The Southland Conference is up for grabs this year and the Bearkats will be right in the middle of the race, despite the loss of three starters. If they want to end up on top this year, Ashton Mitchell may be the most important piece of the puzzle. The 5-10 point guard only averaged 12.3 minutes per game as backup last year as a freshman, but Mitchell will have to do more than simply be a quick defensive stopper; he has to be a leader on the floor.

Who’s Out:

Mitchell’s development is necessary due to the absence of Jejuan Plair. Plair averaged 10.9 points and 5.5 assists during his senior campaign, but he is not the only starter lost. Forwards Aaron Wade and C.J. Hadley have spent their last year playing basketball in Huntsville, Texas. Neither were post scorers, but both were effective scorers facing the basket and combined to average 21.1 points per game. Roleplayer Ryan Griffin, a 6-7 forward, has also run out of eligibility.

Who’s In:

John Gardiner and Barkley Falkner redshirted last year and will give the Bearkats a couple options under the basket. Gardiner was forced to miss his senior season with a knee injury and will give it another go this year. The 6-7, 215 pound British West Indies product averaged 7.8 points and 5.2 rebounds during the 2005-2006 campaign. That was Gardiner’s first year at Sam Houston State after spending a couple years at the junior college level and it his return that will make the frontcourt better this year than it was last year. Falkner is a decent post scorer who will help out on the glass and battle for a starting position. Another junior college transfer, Arthur Zulu, will provide more depth up front. Zulu is still a raw talent despite two years of college experience, but has the potential to continue to develop into a solid contributor. Ryan Bennett, Josten Crow and DeLuis Ramirez will immediately help out the backcourt. Bennett replaced Plair as the point guard at McLennan Community College in Texas and may now replace him at SHSU. Like Plair, Bennett is a good shooter and could play at the two guard spot if necessary. Crow and Ramirez, both 6-4, will add a much needed scoring punch to the perimeter. As a junior college transfer, Ramirez has the experience to make a bigger impact right away.

Who to Watch:

There is no doubt who the star of this team is this year. Ryan Bright, a 6-6 forward, led the team with 14.8 points, 8.1 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 1.5 blocks per game. The versatile Deer Park, Texas native has steadily increased his production from his conference Freshman of the Year campaign and that should continue through his senior season. Bright is a decent shooter from beyond the arc, but does most of his damage inside. With a little better free-throw shooting, Bright would be even more dangerous. There is more forward depth with the return of part-time starters James Barrett and Reggie Rawlins. Like most forwards at SHSU, Barrett and Rawlins can step outside and hit the jumper and mix it up in the paint.

Final Projection:

The most important thing for the Bearkats is getting some points out of the backcourt. With Plair doing some scoring it was not a big deal that Shamir McDaniel only averaged 5.8 points per game. McDaniel started every game next to Plair during the 2006-2007 campaign and the defensive stopper may be asked to do a little more scoring for his senior season. McDaniel’s defense is too valuable to put on the bench, so it becomes imperative that the new point guard, either Mitchell or Bennett, puts some points on the board. Jeremy Thomas has been an important guard off the bench and some of that scoring, especially from long range, will come from him.

Projected Post-season Tournament: NCAA

Projected Starting Five:

Ashton Mitchell, Sophomore, Guard, 3.0 points per game

Shamir McDaniel, Senior, Guard, 5.8 points per game

Ryan Bright, Senior, Forward, 14.8 points per game

James Barrett, Senior, Forward, 7.7 points per game

John Gardiner, Senior, Forward, DNP last season

Complete Top 144 Ranking | 2007-08 Preview | Discuss the Preview

Southland Player of the Week

Press Release — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 00:00:00 -0800

FRISCO, Texas - Sam Houston State's Ryan Bright has picked up his third Aeropostale Player of the Week award of the season, giving him leadership in that category for Southland Conference men's basketball. Southeastern Louisiana's Daryl Cohen and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's Chris Daniels have each won the award twice this season. Following is a look at Bright's week along with others named honorable mention.

RYAN BRIGHT, SAM HOUSTON STATE, 6-6, Jr. F, Deer Park, Texas -- Led by Bright, Sam Houston State ended Northwestern State's six-game win streak to become the hottest team in the Southland with a five-game string. Bright scored 27 points in the win at Natchitoches (going 9-of-9 from the field with 12 rebounds) and led the Kats with 14 points in a home victory over Central Arkansas. For the week, Bright had 41 points (20.5 ppg), 21 rebounds (10.5 rpg), hit 14-of-20 field goals (.700), 8-of-10 three-point shots (.800), had 9 assists (4.5) and 5 steals.

HONORABLE MENTION SELECTIONS

Chris Daniels, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi -- Daniels had a stellar week in helping the Islanders win two more games. For the week, he averaged 21.5 points and 10.5 rebounds and hit .577 from the field. He picked up his fourth double-double of the season with 27 points and 13 rebounds against Southeastern Louisiana.

Quennell Green, SLU -- Greeen scored 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting with four rebounds, three assists and a career-high four steals in a win at Texas-San Antonio on Thursday. He came back against SLC West leader Texas A&M-Corpus Christi with a team-high 22 points, including a 6-for-10 performance from behind the 3-point line, and added six rebounds and four assists.

Ro'ger Guignard, UTA -- Guignard went 10-for-25 (40.0) from the field, 7-of-17 (41.2) from 3-point range and 2-2 from the free-throw line and had 4 assists and 3 steals on the week. He scored 17 points and grabbed three steals in the Mavs 76-74 win over Lamar and he had 12 points, all from 3-point range, including a 3-pointer in the final 40 seconds to hold off
McNeese State. His 60 made 3 pointers this season rank 13th in school history.

Southland Conference Player of the Week

Press Release — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 10:04:25 -0800

FRISCO, Texas - Sam Houston State's Ryan Bright has been voted the Aeropostale/Southland Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week after averaging 23 points and 9 rebounds in two games last week. Following is a look at Bright's numbers for the week along with others receiving votes.

RYAN BRIGHT, Sam Houston State, Jr., F, 6-6, 196, Deer Park, Texas -- In a 94-86 loss at Southern Mississippi and 81-78 victory at Alcorn State, Bright totaled 46 points (23.0 per game), 18 rebounds (9.0) and 7 assists (3.5) He hit 16-of-29 (55.1 percent) from the field, including 4-of-5 (80.0) from three-point range, and 10-of-16 from the free throw line. Bright scored 20 points in the loss at USM and led all scorers with 26 in the victory at Alcorn.

HONORABLE MENTION: Josh Alexander, SFA; Kurt Attaway, UTSA; Jarvis Bradley, McN; Quennell Green, SLU; Durrell Nevels, UCA.

Southern Miss Improves to 5-0

Press Release — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 21:54:42 -0800

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Freshman Jeremy Wise led six Golden Eagles in double figures with 27 points, including a key 3-point play that triggered a late run, in a 94-86 non-conference victory over Sam Houston State here Thursday night at Reed Green Coliseum.

The Golden Eagles improved to 5-0 with the victory to match their best start since 2002-03 squad.

“That was a good win for us against a very good team,” third-year coach Larry Eustachy said. “This is the best win that we have had here in awhile and it is a game that, in the past, we would have lost. It was just a terrific win for our program.”

Demar Dotson and Courtney Beasley each collected double-doubles for Southern Miss, as the team has now had that happen in two straight games. For Doston it was his second consecutive double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds off the bench, while Beasley added 13 points and a career-best 13 rebounds.

Jarvis Hill added 16 points, while Andre Stephens poured in 12 and Sai’Quon Stone tallied 10.

It was Wise, though, that made the game-changing play in the contest. With the Golden Eagles trailing 64-63, Wise converted a driving layup and was fouled on the play with 12:24 to play. After a subsequent made free throw, the Golden Eagles eventually went on a 9-0 run to never trail again in the contest.

That lead change was the last of 15 in the contest, to also go along with 11 ties.

SHSU (4-3) had four players in double figures including 27 from Jejuan Plair, who scored 22 in the second half to keep the Bearkats in the game late. He was joined by Ryan Bright, who tallied 20 points, along with 14 from Jeremy Thomas and 12 from Aaron Wade.

The Bearkats, though, could not overcome a 50.8 percent shooting night for the Golden Eagles (32-of-63), as the Golden Eagles converted 22 second-chance points in outrebounding the visitors 47-29.

Southern Miss struggled at the free throw line, hitting 23-of-43 for 55.8 percent, but converted 40 percent from 3-point range, hitting 6-of-15 attempts.

Southland Conference Preview

CHN — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 10:02:14 -0800

Conference Previews | Top 144 | 06-07 Preview Home

Southland Preview

Conference Rank: 29th

Conference Page

All-Conference

Player of the Year - JeJuan Plair, Sam Houston St, G

Dwight Boatner, McNeese St, G

Josh Alexander, SFA, G/F

Stefan Blaszczynski, Nicholls St, F

Chris Daniels, TAMU-CC, C

Nat'l	Team (Click for Preview)	Conf	Tourney
117	Sam Houston St	1	NCAA
161	Stephen F. Austin	2
187	TAMU CC	3
202	Northwestern St	4
208	Lamar	5
224	McNeese State	6
244	SE Louisiana	7
265	Texas Arlington	8
281	Nicholls State	9
288	Texas State	10
320	Texas San Antonio	11
336	Central Arkansas	12

Head Coach Q&A's

Danny Kaspar - Stephen F Austin

Scott Cross - Texas Arlington

Other Preseason Articles

Southland Gets Best of the Deal

2006-07 Preview: Team's #111-120

Joel Welser — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 13:49:42 -0700

Capsules of teams ranked 111th to 120th in CHN's 144 Teams in 144 Days Preview.