Teams like UAPB are schools' money martyrs

By: Curtis Kitchen, 810whb.com senior writer

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Terrance Calvin drives into the lane and swishes a soft 15-foot jumper – a perfect finish to a perfect drive that began on the wing.

It quietly speaks to the senior’s talent.

Calvin isn’t the only skilled player for the Arkansas Pine Bluff Golden Lions, but tonight, against the 12^th-ranked Kansas State Wildcats in Bramlage Coliseum, it is far from enough as the home team comfortably defeats UAPB, 90-76. 

For K-State and its fans, it goes down as just another win.  The Wildcats are 11-1 and one of the top stories of college basketball heading into a holiday break head coach Frank Martin says the team is definitely ready for.  On the other side, UAPB gets some time off after playing its 10^th-straight game on the road to open the season - all losses.

The easy, wrong assumption is UAPB isn’t very good – a poster child for Southwestern Athletic Conference basketball where half of the league’s 10 teams have one win or less.  UAPB is one of three that has yet to earn a victory. 

Despite those numbers, head coach George Ivory’s team has been competitive in its first 10 games. The average margin of defeat is just over 14 points per game, and nobody has beaten UAPB by more than 19.

Are the Golden Lions world-beaters?  No.  Are they much tougher than they get credit for being? Yes.

More than once, opposing coaches have been left trying to explain why they couldn’t shake off a determined UAPB that home fans believed would be the SWAC version of the Washington Generals.

On Monday for example, the Golden Lions out-rebounded K-State 35-30, shot 52 percent from the field and won the second half 47-46. Martin wasn’t surprised and said he respected what he saw from UAPB when preparing his Wildcats for Monday’s game.

“You saw the game.  That’s how they play every night,” Martin said.  “I don’t care, you pick the game.  Watch them on tape.  That’s how they play, and it is a credit to those kids and those coaches.  They’re relentless.”

So, too, is a Golden Lions schedule that, quite frankly, isn’t fair.  After all, how many times through the course of a season will a coach complain about back-to-back roadies, let alone back-to-back months.

Ivory bravely tried to downplay questions about his schedule afterward.

“A lot of people have been asking us about that,” he said.  “When you’re going out and playing basketball, you’re going out and enjoying playing other venues.  This year, we’ve been lucky to play in venues where the crowds have been great. 

“When we get back to our conference, we probably won’t see a team like K-State, Oklahoma State, Missouri, Georgia Tech, especially with their fanbases,” Ivory said. “I want the guys to see different parts of the country and our fans to see how pumped up K-State fans were at the beginning of the game and through the game.”

If the travel wasn’t enough, time isn’t friendly to UAPB either; not when the daunting nonconference schedule featured a gauntlet of three Big 12 and one ACC opponents from Dec. 13-21.

“It’s almost like we’re a member of the Big 12 this year,” Ivory said, chuckling. 

At least the wretched stretch of games is making it worth UAPB’s time.  According to Ivory, K-State paid “about 70” for the game.

Let’s estimate K-State paid a little more and say the average from the 11 away non-conference games pays $65,000 per contest.  It means about $715,000 for UAPB; not just for the basketball program, but for the entire athletic department.*

*For some perspective, ESPN.com just released a report that showed Alabama as having the top athletics budget in the country at $123.8 million. Texas was second at $120.3 million.  The University of Kansas leads the country in team travel expenditures at $8.3 million.

Ivory’s program is UAPB’s breadwinner.

“Unfortunately,” Ivory said.  “We hope that it would all come to us, but we know…”

Ivory stopped his answer with an understanding grin before moving on.

“We do ask the guys to play a tough schedule,” Ivory said.  “We’re going to try and tone it down a little bit next year – try to get a few more smaller schools.  They know we make a lot of money for the athletic department, but they enjoy the competition.”

Men’s basketball is the sacrificial lamb for the school’s 13 other men’s and women’s sports. It means a horrible record, public ridicule from those who see a poor mark but don’t understand the hidden dynamics facing small schools and heightened pressure to perform once conference play begins.

Even so, the Golden Lions are taking the right approach as Ivory said the team isn’t letting its record diminish its attitude.  Instead, they have embraced the two-month stretch as an opportunity to grow.

“That’s something we went into practice at the end of last spring and talked about wanting to accomplish,” Ivory said.  “We could pick up a smaller school and beat them by 20.  But, this level of competition is so much better for us because we get to see what our weaknesses really are and what we need to work on.”

And, if it seems like the Golden Lions are at a disadvantage to others in the SWAC by doing it this way, they aren’t.  Though not as severe as 12-straight non-cons and three SWAC games on the road to start, they all do it. 

It is strictly out of necessity, a means of survival for the athletic departments.  The checks written by larger schools swallow up any amount the teams would make at home against even smaller schools.

In turn, jobs and scholarships are able to continue.

After the break, UAPB has four more road games including its next game at Oregon on Dec. 28.  Then, mercifully, it gets the chance to finally play in front of its own fans at H.O. Clemmons Arena when Southern visits on Jan. 16.

Ivory’s smile at the thought of playing a home game nearly said it all.

“Oh, we can’t wait to get home,” Ivory said.  “I think our guys are going to be ready for it because they’ve been on the road a long time.”


Send your comments to curtiskitchen@810whb.com.  Also, follow him @curtiskitchen on Twitter for game-day reports from Manhattan and other sports news during the week!