UCAFANS.COM | GO UCA BEARS!

I was looking at the Men's BBall roster from bother ucasports and ucafans and they look very different. The one on ucasports seems to be more updated with the Freshmen, but what happened to some returnees like Matt Williamsom, and Nedzad Biiberovic?? Looks like we got a very tall 7' transfer from UALR?!
Just curious if anyone knows what is up with the returning players?

Matt Williamson was gone before school ended back in the spring. Combination of things there, but I think grades may have been an issue. Nedzad was a senior. Jarrell Walker is also gone from last year's squad.

Your right on Williamson, King, however, there was apparently a chance at one point during the summer that he was going to return and it didn't work out. Don't know what happened on Walker.

I went by to watch practice on Tuesday. Let's just say it is WAY to early to see what direction this team is headed. Lots of new faces, but no apparent floor leader. It will be interesting to see what transpires in the next couple of weeks. I was not impressed by the big kid from UALR. Terribly slow.

Burly Bear

I don't think anybody should expect a whole lot from the big Russian. He's a project, but he's tall. At UALR last season he only appeared in 10 games and scored a total of 2 points and had 6 rebounds.

I wouldn't expect to see him logging huge chunks of minutes this year.

I have to agree with you....I kept asking myself, who is going to step up in this group. I realize that it is still somewhat early in fall drills, but you would think there would be at least one person going to step up and be a leader. I may be missing something, but I just don't see it.

Burly Bear

Sad to see Williamson go. He was a great player that I've watched since high school. Plus we share a last name

I don't know if I would call him a great player, but he did fill a nice roll as a five minute player. To be honest, I'm not sure I would call him a good player. But I'm sure you think he is a great guy.

Your right Bigtime...Williamson was a good roll player, but I understand he hated every minute of it because he wanted to start. That more than anything may have been his biggest downfall that he could never handle.

Burly Bear

Well, it would be ridiculous to be Matt Williamson and expect to start over Lamar Grimes and Chris Gray.

What doesn't make any sense is crapping out and hitting the road once those two are gone when you might've actually had a decent chance to start or at the very least see a spike in playing time.

I think Matt could've been a good player in this conference. He usually performed pretty well in his brief stints, including a 12-point outburst at UAM last year in just a few minutes of action. He hit a couple big shots at a critical juncture that really put the Bears over the top in that one.

He was probably the best outside shooter on the team, but given his size he was limited in what he could do otherwise. He's got some hops, but he's not as broad and thick as Lamar and Chris were. Pretty solid defender, too – again, on the perimeter. He'd get shoved around if his guy took him low, but he was plenty quick enough to guard anybody outside.

Having spent two years in the program and physically and mentally maturing, he was just about to enter the part of his career where he could've been a key contributor. But, I guess that's not really what he wanted.

I wonder how big a role, if any, his dad played in it all.

King, you are absolutely right. He could have had a a VERY good year. I'm kind of like you...I wonder what influence his dad had in all of this.

Burly Bear

Who is his father, and why would he be so influential (other than the fact that some men still listen to what their father says)?

He's father use to sit behind the bench and shout everything under the sun you could think of at Matt...the coaches and the bench. It got to be pretty degrading at times.

Burly Bear

I never saw that. Not saying it didn't happen, but I never saw it. At least, not at home. Just about every game Earl was posted up on the side opposite the benches, on the end of the court opposite UCA's bench. He did plenty of yelling though, and while he was loud and unwavering, most of it was just cheering – especially for Chris Gray. The rest of it was typically coaching and playcalling.

Just thought it would be cool to have my name showing as the last post. Trying to catch up with my new buddy - Bear Fan 101

The Bears played Arkansas-Ft. Smith this afternoon in for lack of a better term an exhibition game.

I left at the halft...it was tied at 24-24.

Ft. Smith is ranked #1 is several junior college polls, but I don't if that means much.

Three things that struck me immediately.
1) No go to guy...no one to take control in a tight situation
2) Diffculty in scoring
3) No rebounding.

On the other hand, the Bears were playing VERY hard. The effort is there.

I know it's somewhat early, but I was not crazy about what I saw. By the way, there were several fans out for the scrimmage/exhibition game.

Burly Bear