Central Arkansas Bears (Southland, 8-2)
While the Southland East has received some deserved press for their nice start (Sam Houston State and Texas-Arlington are 8-0 and Stephen F. Austin is 7-1), the Bears have been mostly left out of the limelight. As I’ve mentioned before, I like players who can average more than a steal and a block per game. Durrell Nevels is just such a player (1.4 spg and 2.5 bpg). The 6-6 junior has only had two games with less than two blocks. He adds 10.2 ppg and 10.3 rpg to his stat line as well, but he should really let the guards take the threes (1-12 on the season). Those guards include leading scorer Nate Bowie (14.9 ppg, 3.9 apg, 1.9 3pg) and 5-11 sparkplug Marcus Pillow (14.0 ppg, 3.4 apg, 2.8 3pg). Neither guard will wow you with their shooting accuracy (Bowie 41.1% from the floor and Pillow 38.2%), but both have the green light to shoot whenever they want. Bowie has scored 20+ points twice, including most recently in the Dec. 9 loss to Tulsa (22 of the Bears 52 points). Pillow hit seven threes in the Dec. 5 win over Idaho.
CAU plays Div. II Central Methodist on Dec. 15 before playing the return game in Idaho on Dec. 18.
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