KATY, Texas — It's been nearly a decade for some Southland schools since making the finals of the conference tournament championship. For others, it's been multiple decades. For others, it has never happened.
For Central Arkansas, it is happening in Year One.
The Sugar Bears, after defeating the defending tournament champion Lamar, will take on McNeese State in Friday night's championship game of the State Farm Southland Conference Tournament with a trip to the NCAA Tournament at stake.
The game, which begins at 7 p.m., will be shown on Conway Corp. channel 98, SLC-TV, ESPN3.com and on ESPN Full Court.
"You can't put into words the magnitude of what an accomplishment this is," said UCA head coach Matt Daniel, whose teams have gone 42-18 – a .700 winning percentage – the last two years. "You look across the Southland and the history of the programs and there are some who have never been in the game or you see how long it's been and for us to just have a shot, and to do it in this timeframe, it can't be defined by words. If you try, you're cheating it."
It was just two seasons ago, in Daniel's first year, that the Sugar Bears were wrapping up a two-year slump with a 13-45 combined record. Now, fresh out of the Division I reclassification process, the Sugar Bears are 40 minutes away from the Big Dance.
"We're sitting here talking tonight and reflecting on when I first got here and it's like we're reflecting on years and years ago," he said. "And really, it was yesterday – in a program that couldn't do it. It wasn't possible. It was not possible before tomorrow. [Friday] is the first time it's possible, and we're there and we've got a shot. You can try to put it into words, but you don't want to cheapen it with heavy-handed words. You just want to experience it, and that's what we get to do."
The Sugar Bears, winners of 21 for the second consecutive season, will square off against a Cowgirls team that is 25-6 overall and is 17-1 against Southland competition. That one loss came in overtime in Conway, a 74-73 Central Arkansas win. The teams split for the regular season, with McNeese coming from behind to win 65-59 in Lake Charles.
"I think it's a tough matchup," Daniel said. "They're a grind-it-out team with a grind-it-out mentality. But I really don't have much to say about McNeese. It's not about the opponent. I just want to enjoy and compete with us."
Combined, the two teams have won their last 17 games. The Cowgirls have won 11 straight since falling to the Sugar Bears, and UCA has run off six in a row.
"I don't think anybody really understands what we had to do to get here," Daniel said. "And I mean the last two weeks, much less the last two years. I'm not sure even I can grasp it because it's that awing."
For all the wins and winning seasons in program history, the Sugar Bears will be looking for just their second conference tournament title, having won the Gulf South Conference tournament in 2005 in NCAA Division II.
"We won't appreciate this until later," Daniel said. "We're thankful now and excited, but appreciation is different and I just wish everybody would really get behind it and let this momentum carry us. This opportunity alone, win or lose, opens doors that we need to make sure we see and take advantage of. Otherwise, what's the point? I don't know any other way to say it."
