Tx-Arlington @ ASU 3:30 PM HCC

[asu66]

It's Senior Day for Tommy Spagnolo!

Another bunch of tall Texans will be in the house this afternoon; Maverick-types--from UTx-Arlington RPI #172 (16-13, 10-9 Sun Belt). The Mavs have already locked down the fifth seed for the conference tourney and will use this game as a tourney tune-up. Our Apps RPI #266 (11-17, 8-11 Sun Belt and climbing, on the other hand will look to solidify their hold on sixth place in the league, end the season with three straight wins and give lone senior Tom Spagnolo a nice send-off for his many contributions to his team over the last three years. Spagnolo's Apps are tried for sixth with S.Alabama and need to win this afternoon and get a little help from Troy to claim sixth place outright. Not that it'll get them into the tourney--because of the post-season APR play ban resulting from the previous head coach's malfeasence.

A win, however would put a nice ribbon around a season of patchwork lineups, young players learning the college game; holdover players learning a new coach and new sysyem; and everyone adjusting to a new conference, new styles of play; and thousands of miles of travel. Not bad at all for a team relegated to 11th place by polls of coaches and the sports news media in the pre-season.

In fact, but for the rise of GaSouthern's Eagles, Jim Fox would be the Sun Belt Coach-of-the-Year.

By the numbers, factoring in home court advantage, The Mavs should pick up a hard-fought two-point win. RealtimeRPI.com, however, has the Apps winning by 3.

http://realtimerpi.com/cgi-bin/rpi/scou ... date=03-07

UTA leads the series against Appalachian State 2-0. UTA won 81-68 on Feb. 19 in Arlington behind 21 points from Lonnie McClanahan and senior forward Greg Gainey's career-high 19 points. UTA, however, is only 7-8 on the road. McClanahan is averaging 15.4 points, 3.9 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 2.0 steals over the last seven games. Senior guard Jamel Outler is up to fourth all-time at UTA in 3-pointers with 173.

If the Apps are hitting their shots and playing a lock-down defense, this should be a very entertaining and winnable game. If the Apps' true frosh utility-man, Jake Babic, can limit UT-A's McClanahan, the win should be ours.

[SpeedkingATL]

Apps finish strong 72-60 win to finish with 3 in a row and what would have been the 6th seed in the Belt. Nice finish for a team picked to finish last.

Nice finish Apps!

[HeffnerIV]

If objective, this was a really successful season for us. The gauge of a good coach is how much his team improves throughout the season. Fox's team improved drastically twice this year.

[mtnjax]

Picked to finish last in the conference, preseason. Finished 6th I believe. Fox already proving his worth as a coach in year 1

[EastHallApp]

I know we all like to pile on Capel and I understand why, but the postseason ban was not due to "the previous coach's malfeasance." Not to say he is blameless, but in fact the team's APR did improve dramatically in his last year or two, to whatever extent one wants to hold him responsible for that.

Anyway, back to the present - congrats to the players and coaches for exceeding all expectations in year one of the rebuild. Looking forward to better days ahead!

[WataugaMan]

Good finish men, damn good job!!!

[MountainMan]

Not a bad season at all, given the situation. Team really made a big positive push in these last 3 games. Give Fox some time and things could be very good. Proud of this team that never quit and pulled off several very big wins. Go Apps!

[appst89]

Very impressed with Jake Babic and Landon Goesling today. Eaves and Burgess also played very well. Babic hit several big shots and Goesling made numerous hustle plays. This team is fun to watch and they're only going to get better. First time I've been excited about App basketball in years.

[Saint3333]

I know we all like to pile on Capel and I understand why, but the postseason ban was not due to "the previous coach's malfeasance." Not to say he is blameless, but in fact the team's APR did improve dramatically in his last year or two, to whatever extent one wants to hold him responsible for that.

Anyway, back to the present - congrats to the players and coaches for exceeding all expectations in year one of the rebuild. Looking forward to better days ahead!

Happened on his watch, I must disagree with your statement.

Do agree about better days however.

[EastHallApp]

I know we all like to pile on Capel and I understand why, but the postseason ban was not due to "the previous coach's malfeasance." Not to say he is blameless, but in fact the team's APR did improve dramatically in his last year or two, to whatever extent one wants to hold him responsible for that.

Anyway, back to the present - congrats to the players and coaches for exceeding all expectations in year one of the rebuild. Looking forward to better days ahead!

Happened on his watch, I must disagree with your statement.

Do agree about better days however.

I understand the sentiment and agree to some me extent. Just think it was a poor choice of words. Malfeasance implies cheating (if not says it explicitly).

[asu66]

I know we all like to pile on Capel and I understand why, but the postseason ban was not due to "the previous coach's malfeasance." Not to say he is blameless, but in fact the team's APR did improve dramatically in his last year or two, to whatever extent one wants to hold him responsible for that.

Anyway, back to the present - congrats to the players and coaches for exceeding all expectations in year one of the rebuild. Looking forward to better days ahead!

Happened on his watch, I must disagree with your statement.

Do agree about better days however.

I understand the sentiment and agree to some me extent. Just think it was a poor choice of words. Malfeasance implies cheating (if not says it explicitly).

I know we all like to pile on Capel and I understand why, but the postseason ban was not due to "the previous coach's malfeasance." Not to say he is blameless, but in fact the team's APR did improve dramatically in his last year or two, to whatever extent one wants to hold him responsible for that.

Anyway, back to the present - congrats to the players and coaches for exceeding all expectations in year one of the rebuild. Looking forward to better days ahead!

Happened on his watch, I must disagree with your statement.

Do agree about better days however.

I understand the sentiment and agree to some me extent. Just think it was a poor choice of words. Malfeasance implies cheating (if not says it explicitly).

I think you know exactly what I was trying to convey. I don't think I used a poor choice of words; but you're certainly entitled to your opinion. I could have used as many as six or seven words; but I chose malfeasance. Misfeasance and/or nonfeasance would also have fit the bill.

http://www.gingersoftware.com/english-o ... onfeasance

Capel's failure to carry out his duties in a professional and competent manner w/o causing harm to Appalachian's image, and without causing harm to student-athletes in the mens' basketball program can be characterized by all three words (malfeasance, misfeasance and/or nonfeasance). Cheating does not have to be involved. Although a case could be made that poor discipline, poor oversight, and failure to maintain proper institutional control (with the head coach having direct responsibility for maintaining that institutional control) would be beneficial in summarizing the problem.

[EastHallApp]

I know the meaning of the word. Don't think it applies. If everyone else disagrees, so be it.

Regardless, it's history now. The APR, like other aspects of App basketball, appears to be in good hands now.

[app97]

After attending some Socon tourney games yesterday, I don't feel quite as bad about the last place team in the Socon beating us by 21 earlier this season. The Paladins knocked off a good UTC team yesterday to face Mercer in today's semifinals. I know we've moved on to greener pastures (maybe), but I sure do miss being able to take a 1/2 day on Friday to see App play in Asheville, and then possibly seeing them in later weekend games. I don't foresee myself making it to Nola anytime soon. Maybe they'll have the SB tourney in Atlanta or somewhere a little closer in the near future.

[EastHallApp]

NOLA would be a great trip if you can spare the money and time from work. I wouldn't mind making the trip sometime. The problem is, I don't think I'd try it unless App were one of the top couple teams in the league. Would hate to go all that way and see us lose early. You almost have to plan it as primarily a New Orleans vacation and just have the basketball as one of your activities.

[WataugaMan]

" I know we've moved on to greener pastures (maybe):

Maybe? There's no "maybe" to it!

[app97]

depends no how you define greener pastures. I'm not sure that SB bball is any more exciting than Socon bball. I happen to be a big college basketball fan. I suppose the Ga State-Louisiana championship game was pretty good last year, but I wonder if there were lots of fans from those fan bases in attendance? The WCU-ETSU game was a classic postseason backyard brawl yesterday, partially due to the proximity of both schools to Asheville and the # of fans that they brought...and it was the 4 vs. 5 seed game. The ACC is the best bball conference and has lots of passion involved, partly due to the proximity of schools on tobacco road. I like our future chances in the Sun Belt, just hoping that we end up with some regional rivals in our league one day.

I will say that the Socon tourney was very different without all of the red-clad Davidson fans in attendance. I read that Davidson fans made up 21% of the over 103,000 fans to attend the tourney in asheville in the last 3 years. They travel well because of their success, and probably because their alums have the cash to spend on lodging, dining, etc. when/if they time arrives. WCU had a good amount of fans (lots of alums in the area), but Mercer was the most impressive fanbase...not as many fans as the Davidson crowd, but similar enthusiasm from their students, band, etc. They really get behind their team. I don't know if they've been that way for years, or if its mainly a result of them beating Duke last year in the NCAA.

[WataugaMan]

"I happen to be a big college basketball fan"

And, I happen to be a big college football fan.

[AppinVA]

"I happen to be a big college basketball fan"

And, I happen to be a big college football fan.

And, I happen to be a big Appalachian State fan. Football...basketball...baseball...cycling...quiz bowl...quiddich (or whatever it's called).

(No, I'm not questioning anyone's fanhood.)

[T-Dog]

I saw every home game this year and this saw every league team. Sun Belt hoops more talent than the SoCon hands down. Lots of size that can shoot. The league had a down year, but there's a number of teams with new-ish head coaches and young talent that won't be easy.

[EastHallApp]

Sun Belt is a notch above the SoCon overall, but Wofford is probably the best team in either league.