Credit the mighty Norchad Omier for reigniting my interest in Arkansas State basketball. The tenacious, soft-handed, wide-shouldered Nicaraguan had me believing in Red Wolves hoops again. My enthusiasm was severely threatened by his defection to Miami, but then Bryan Hodgson’s recruiting and subsequent victories fanned the smoldering coal back to flame. Good times!

This season, we embark on a new era of Red Wolves basketball, and I find myself doing what Arkansas State fans to do best – waiting and seeing. New head coach Ryan Pannone, the Socrates of Basketball, brings a more academic approach that serves as a counter to Hodgson’s blood-on-the-floor methodology. Pannone’s blood type is XO. He dreams of screens and box-outs. A clipboard has been surgically grafted to his left hand.

So far, so goodish. The Red Wolves are 6-3 and unbeaten at home. Despite losing the hoop-and-hustle of Joey Chammaa (busted leg), the Red Wolves have found reliable scoring in Ole Miss transfer Tj Caldwell and Florida State transfer Chandler Jackson. Junior college transfer Christian Harmon, who began the season a frightening 2-26 from the three, has rediscovered his sniper’s stroke, and 6’9″ forward Jaxon Ellingsworth seems impervious to pain when inside the paint. Pannone’s pair of bigs – 6’10” Chudi Dioramma and 7-foot-something Aly Tounkara – have had their dunks and blocks, and freshman Royal Blue Smith is an Enjoy Him While He’s Here kind of talent. The scoring distribution is for real in Jonesboro: the Red Wolves rank 5th in the conference for points scored despite have just one payer topping the SBC Top 25 in scoring (Caldwell currently ranks 24th).

However, we’ve seen some ugly-ass basketball from this group, who are understandably still wearing name tags to team meetings. The 25-point drumming to Stephen F. Austin was tough to swallow. The horrendous 100–69 turnover-fest to SMU was unwatchable. The one-point victory over Missouri State was sponsored by Tums®. The Red Wolves are susceptible to steals, too often fall victim to the lazy pass, and are prone to slow starts. All of that said, the ingredients to a very good basketball team is within Ryan Pannone’s grasp.

Who’s Looking Good in the Sun Belt?

Overall, it’s not looking great for the Sun Belt. Generally at this time, the conference has two or three programs in sub-100 NET territory. At the time of this writing, the SBC features ZERO sub-100 programs, with one-loss South Alabama leading the conference at 117. It’s safe to say that the Sun Belt is receiving next-to-nothing from the SBC/MAC challenge.

The Sun Belt has had opportunities to notch marquis victories. Troy fell by a single point to USC. Southern Miss lost by two buckets to South Carolina. South Alabama’s one failing is an 8-point loss to UAB in Birmingham and both Louisiana and Texas State were single digits from upending Tulane. Failure to close escrow has hurt everyone. The Sun Belt has zero Quad 1 victories and only two Quad 2 wins. For added chagrin, the troika of Louisiana, ULM and Georgia State have just one qualifying victory between them. To quote a much quoted meme: not good, Bob.

All that said, South Alabama looks pretty strong, led by 6’8″ senior forward Adam Olsen, who arrived to Mobile via British Columbia. Also looking strong, James Madison’s combo of Eddie Ricks and Justin McBride. Junior 6’8″ forward Thomas Dowd continues to be Troy’s primary source of menace, and the intriguing Southern Miss Golden Eagles floor the conference’s two top scorers, Tylik Weeks and Isaac Taveras.

Sadly, much of the Sun Belt talent we saw from last season either aged out or transferred. Tis the way of the world! We’ll see few familiar faces during conference play this season,

If the Sun Belt is Bad, is That Good for Arkansas State?

Yeah, maybe? I don’t know. The real question: Is Arkansas State good? As of this very moment? Not particularly. The team has bursts of good, but also long, plodding moments where every lay-up attempt is a struggle, every pass is destined to find the other team, and every three pointer finds nothing but air. But I think we could be good. That’s enough for me.

PHOTO BELONGS TO ME