Last year’s game against the UCA Bears was absolutely miserable. Played at Central Arkansas, the Red Wolves squandered a shaky 12-point halftime lead to fall to the Bears 72-67. The Red Wolves seemed puzzled by UCA’s inexhaustible supply of effusive energy. Bears were crashing boards, running the fast break, making the key passes! Arkansas State, by contrast, seemed to be waiting on Caleb Fields to bail them out. He did his best, scoring a team high 16 points. Everybody else seemed uninterested.

Flash forward to to the next year. UCA isn’t on the regular season schedule, but the two teams agreed to meet in an exhibition to benefit Wynn, Arkansas’ tornado victims. UCA wasn’t a power hoops team last year – and it isn’t this season. But UCA is a better team than the Red Wolves’ first exhibition opponent, Trevecca Nazarene. And just like last year, the Bears brought the energy.

The Bears hit threes, delivered the extra pass, and crashed the boards with murderous aggression. But this was a different Caleb Fields-led team. Fields was surrounded by weapons – high-IQ ballers who can be relied on to nail a jumper and clean up an offensive rebound. The Red Wolves not only matched the Bears blazing energy, they played at a pace that few humans could maintain for 20 seconds, let alone forty minutes.

Let’s open the observations with the revelation that Freddy Hicks and Derrian Ford are absolutely for real – two stout-body guards who can plow the lane for rebounds and layups, but also reliably pop a three. Fields’ only problem will be deciding who gets first touch.

There’s not a man on the roster that you will regret seeing enter the game. Noah McDavid, a junior transfer from Tarleton State, entered the game late and delivered a firestorm of basketball – as though the team were down two instead of up thirty. It was incredible to witness.

Another new element to the team is Bryan Hodgson, a steel-eyed and ice-cool presence on the sideline. The opposite of Mike Balado’s fire and frenetic energy, Hodgson’s calm projects a confidence that is passed along to his team. Under Hodgson, the team is comprised of players with a high hoops IQ. Everybody knows their role, and not a single pass is thrown untouched into the stands. Rarely (if ever) do you see a player nervously glancing at coaches, wondering what to do next. They already know.

Are you wondering if Izaiyah Nelson has grown and matured? Nelson is going to have a big year. Big. He appears to have governed the emotions that sometimes derailed him last season while maintaining his fire beneath the rim. Are you wondering if Caleb Fields has a role on this team of weapons? Absolutely. Not only did Fields drill 18 points against UCA, this is clearly his team.

This is a loaded team, and we still haven’t seen Terrance Ford, Malcolm Farrington or LaQuill Hardnett. The Red Wolves defeated UCA 112-77. The Red Wolves trounced Travecca Nazarene 112-61. The Red Wolves aren’t likely to dominate Wisconsin, Alabama and probably any team in the Sun Belt in those ways. Arkansas State may be one, Top 100 6’11 big man from truly becoming a championship team.

But this team is real, and it’s spectacular.

PHOTOS: Me