#199 R.P.I. Houston Baptist @ #15o R.P.I. Virginia Tech:

Virginia Tech men’s basketball hosts little ole Houston Baptist of Southland Conference fame this Tuesday night at 7pm on ACCNetwork Extra.

The Huskies arrive at a tame looking 1 up and 3 down already and are generally considered to be the penultimate or last-place team in the last place conference in all the land. As each year I type out: “might be the worst team we face all season” for some roundball impoverished opponents’ squad. Might just be Houston Baptist this go ’round; as at least they beat religious rival Arlington Baptist a couple of games back. Or to put it another way, Detroit Mercy just beat Arlington Baptist by seven in overtime and well, there you go. As this one goes, this one is about as close to a glorified scrimmage as hoopology gets; and that’s prolly just fine, as you’d think coach Buzz has a few things to sort out after going a disappointing .5oo up in NYC.

Houston Baptist Head Coach: Ron Cottrell: age=57, 469-364 overall, same at HBU. Has a rep’ for: longevity, as he’s been at HBU his entire career (27 seasons!). He also has a rep’ for his up-tempo offense and pressure defense.
$147,000.oo + $86,000.oo

Did not find a metric ton of biographical info’ here, though coach Contrell was under Nolan Richardson’s 40-minutes of hell as an assistant coach for the Razorbacks and prior to that he as an assistant at little ole North Dakota State College of Science.

Ron Cottrell is an ex-newscaster for A.B.C., he is also an Industrial Engineering grad’. No doubt hence his impressive 85% graduation rate at H.B.U.edu. He stewarded HBU through a two year basketball hiatus and upwards from the N.A.I.A. level and into Division-I ball. He was full Athletic Director at HBU (now associate A.D.) and with Cottrell at the helm as Athletics Director, the Huskies won 42 conference championships and had teams compete in national tournaments 35 times. HBU won eight Red River Athletic Conference all-sports awards in the nine-year history of the RRAC. HBU produced 99 All-America honorees, 65 academic All-America athletes and 241 All-Conference performers during his tenure. So there is that; and as far as I can tell or R&D, Cottrell the baller never existed; although he sure reads/seems like the happy-go-lucky type or a player’s coach to the nth degree.

And it should be noted the Huskies did some real work at the N.A.I.A. level of ball, as 10 consecutive years in the N.A.I.A. national tournament under Cottrell would hint.

Coach Cottrell is married with two daughters.

Huskies at a glance:

• 10th in offensive rebounding (15.74 o-rpg).
• 30th in scoring O  (90 ppg).
• 30th in FTA’s (1o7).
• 67th in steals.
• 338th in scoring D (90 ppg allowed)!

H.B.U. Returning Starters=2

Houston Baptist Strengths:

• This is a penetrating, drive and shoot or drive and dish for the 3 O; that really hits the offensive glass, hard. (has an extra G in there more often than not as well)
• IF, there is a Huskie who could crack Buzz’s starting line-up, this is it… one hometown #44, Josh Ibarra. Josh is a 6′11″, 255 lb. really thick set looking traditional C who you kinda have to wonder why he’s still at Houston Baptist. As this guy is clearly making a bid for Most Improved and all-Southland Conference all at once. The team lead(s) at 18 ppg, 10 rpg, 1.5 bpg, all on 58% shooting does not suck. And even in the G.State G heavy backcourt era; whole lotta teams wish they had this kinda legit 5 problem down-low. Not half bad work from a kid with a tag(s) of… foul prone, not playing within himself and turnovers.
• David Caraher is one of the bigger ESPN.com recruiting gets for little ole Houston Baptist in a while; maybe even in, ever. David is a 6′7″, 22o lb. turnkey starting S/F or wing in today’s vernacular. Though unlike a lotta other so-called: Wings, he’s more of a Dr. J style player, in as much as his whole entire game is geared inside-out. Now mix in what coach Ron Cottrell called a very high basketball I.Q. and you’ve got a kid in Houston though not at {sic: the} Houston per se. 17 ppg with 7 boards on 53% does not suck for a VHT (very highly touted) nugget year rookie. Neither does his 3-point range at 38% as David is prolly gonna be an all-conference Southland baller, when; not if. And curiously enough, he hails from Chapel Hill, yes the Chapel Hill (Nc.) and yet wanted to go to Texas to get is law career up and running; good on him.

  

• Ian DuBose and Jalon Gates both add offensive pop here for the Huskies; though Jalon is now subbin’ in off the bench. Ian is a 6′3”, 220 lb. combo-G who nets you 13.4 ppg and scrambles for 6.5 rpg on a pretty suspect looking 34% overall and 28% from downtown. As this is a true penetrating G who lives at the charity-stripe with 33 FTA’s already where he is a barely serviceable 67% on his FTA’s.
• Braxton Bonds is the other returning starter (along with Ibarra); who is basically the Qb of the team and he is pass first, second, and third true Pt.G. 6′2″, a buck-seventy-five (175 lb.) third year One who leads HBU in dimes with 7.5 apg and tallies 9.8 ppg on very limited range. 0% from deep and 31% from the floor both conspire to say so, although Braxton is not out there for his O as his team leading 2.7 spg and 5.3 caroms would agree.

Houston Baptist Weaknesses:

• a high school looking 1,000 seat home gym is warm and cozy enough; though that’s not a good 2017 fb.com ethos recruiting look.
• HBU departed six kids from last years surprising Southland Conference silver-medalist runner-up that merited the Huskies a C.I.T. tourney post-season look; and the C.B.I. in 2016.
• Just not a lotta Huskie defense here and basically viewed as being the hind-dog or the zeta male in Southland terms.

Huskies Bench: (depth=2 or 3 play real minutes, tho’ they go 5 deep per night)

Jalon Gates, who prolly could start a few lowercase D-1 places is nearly all there is to see here. Gates is a 6′ 154 lb. second year bomber from the outside. 91% FT’s and 39% from beyond the arc is pretty decent marksmanship. And Jalon’s 12.3 ppg in relief is not too bad considering how often he shoots from the outside.

The Huskies nearly have a legit 1 through 5 off their pine as 6′10″, 245 lb., Jr. Edward Hardt gives you some muscle/size in the paint and the Huskies have a couple of shooters here as well —though HBU has limited scoring options from the bench.

Illation, conclusion (s) and OPT digits:

Number of Huskies who could start @Tech=maybe 1.

the takeaway:
The takeaway here is… as fun as coach Cottrell and his style of ball are to cover, and as well as he N.A.I.A. once did?

This ain’t Whichever Baptist Mercy, or North Dakota Wherever or anything else he’s facing on Tuesday night. As coach Buzz and Atlantic Coast Virginia Tech basketball would seem a Bridge Too Far here to me. (and yes I hope coach Buzz ran their tongues out when they got home at .5oo on Gotham)

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Though this sure is a likeable coach… I read several articles highlighting just how highly coach Cottrell is thought of as a person and as a big whistle and in a blow the whistle for a touch-foul on every single real or perceived social-infraction and cry wolf at all times society? America itself could use more -not less- Coach Cottrell’s.

Still yet, Houston Baptist is about to get dunked in more ways than one if I may mix my hard-court and Religious metaphor here. Last years Huskies might tried to take a bite outta a sleepy Thanksgiving Hokie campus though not this years.

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As coach Buzz and Co. roll here, the H.B.U. tempo and everything else says so as this one has beat-down written all over it.

Though three cheers for coach Cottrell; and his two quality ballers; and here is hoping he goes out really well when he does decide to hang-up his clipboard down in H-town.

As this is the kinda guy who would have all kinda game of life and
coaching stories to tell.

(97% confidence interval)
Virginia Tech=115, Houston Baptist=81

“LETS GO!”

“Hokies!”

 bourbonstreet**