The Redux -- R.J. Delic --

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The legacy defined

San Marcos, TX - On a warm Monday morning, Texas State University got some rather odd news. Their new head coach would be coming in for his first ever fulltime coaching job after pursing athletic based degrees, their choice coming from R.J. Delic, the graduate from the University of Cincinnati will be making the long trip from the midwest to the south.

The press conference to announce the change went along without much noise, a new coach whose only capability seemed to be his ability to persuade was never much to get very excited over, especially one from abroad. The mentality in Texas was no where what the mentality was in Cincinnati or the Midwest.

In the south, especially in Texas it was football the ruled with an iron fist over all other sports. Some considered high school football to be more passionately followed in the south rather than collegiate basketball. In some cases, such as Texas State it could be held true. To say that schools like Texas A&M and Tech are in the shadow of the Texas Longhorns is an understatement when compared to Texas State's situation.

Texas State is so far under the radar, some people probably might not even know they actually exist. They don't play in the Big Twelve, they don't even play in the FBS for football, why care? That made the coaching change occur even more quietly. No one questioned it, their basketball program was non-existent, not even being in the tournament in 14 years.

Playing in the Southland conference opens up several instate rivalries for the school, Sam Houston State, Stephen F. Austin, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi - UT Arlington - UT San Antonio and Lamar all share the same home state of Texas. The rivalries in the Southland can be considered just as heated as those in the Big Twelve, the fight for state power amongst the small schools grows and elevates especially when tournament time draws near and the opportunity for a small shot at a little bit of the national spotlight being shined upon their school.

Expectations aren't high, the situation is dire, such that they couldn't attract any coaching talent aside from an unproven college graduate. There is a lot of work to be done, Texas State needs to emerge from the shadows.

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Roster Breakdown

Texas State Bobcats Depth Chart - 2007
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
PG	Eddie Rios (62)	Deron Belford (55)	Jordan Kirschke (W)(54)	Steve Rogers (52)
SG	John Bowman (61)	Wesley Davis (58)	Brooks Ybarra (W)(48)
SF	Luke Mergerson (63)	Travis Jones (55)	Basil Brown (54)	Reid Koenen (53)
PF	Dante Bachus (61)	Corey Stern (60)	Matt Staff (57)
C	Corey Stern (60)	Matt Staff (55)	Nic Hinton (54)

12 Players are from Texas
1 Player is from Washington, Wisconsin and Louisiana

7 Freshman
2 Sophomores
3 Juniors
3 Seniors

The starting line up will consist of two freshman and seniors and a one junior. Senior Eddie Rios will take the helm at point with little depth under him aside from a freshman in Belford that won't provide anywhere near the similar level of production. Starting center, Corey Stern out of Seattle, Washington is an extremely undersized player to be a center, at 6'7 his height will be a big disadvantage, yet he will be slightly more agile than his taller counterparts and will most likely use post moves that involve drifting to the sides rather than trying to knock them back.

Mergerson is a power forward convert to make up for the complete lack of small forwards on the roster, his mid range jump shot is average, but he has very little capability to shoot from the outside and is essentially more of a second power forward on the floor. None the less his contributions still should have him playing towards the top of the team.John Bowman is a 2 guard that can't shoot and will rely on his defensive abilities to keep him in the starting line up. The main issue with this squad is outside of Rios, there isn't anyone who can consistently score which could make things difficult if Rios starts seeing double teams.

Season Schedule
11/16 @ Colgate - 100 Club Classic
11/21 @ UT-Pan American
11/29 @ Prairie View
12/5 vs Rice
12/8 @ Texas A&M
12/15 @ Texas
12/17 vs Binghamton
12/18 vs Kennesaw State
12/30 @ SMU
1/2 @ Liberty
1/4 vs Vermont
1/5 vs UT-Pan American
1/10 @ Northwestern State
1/12 @ Central Arkansas
1/17 vs SE Louisiana
1/19 vs Nicholls State
1/24 vs TXAM-CC
1/26 @ UTSA
1/30 @ Stephen F.Austin
2/2 vs Sam Houston State
2/9 @ UT-Arlington
2/13 @ McNeese State
2/16 vs Lamar
2/21 @ TXAM-CC
2/23 vs UTSA
2/27 vs Stephen F. Austin
3/1 @ Sam Houston State
3/8 vs UT-Arlington

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The recruiting shortlist

The Texas State coaching staff has been recruiting across the board and have seemed to have set their mind on three prospective candidates to fill their three scholarships.

J.P. Howel (C) *** Garland, TX, #135 OVR #11 POS
Dante Wood (PG) *** Bryan, TX, #134 OVR #41 POS
Schafer Quick (SF) *** Dallas, TX, #311 OVR #67 POS

Three players from Texas will help further the locality of the squad and bring a greater level of unity as the team comes from a common state, Howel and Wood figure to be difficult recruits to pull in while Quick coming in the 300's will be less of a battle but no less a need for Texas State to focus on.

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Colgate escapes with victory on buzzer beating three

The essence of basketball being a team game was thrown out the door for Texas State when it quickly became apparent that this teams offense would be only between a select few. Freshman Deron Belford lit up the scoreboard on 11-18 shooting, going 5-5 from the charity stripe while missing both attempts from three. His 27 points would account for just shy of half the teams scoring. John Bowman would add 12, but his points would mainly come from fast break dunks, notoriously missing five wide open shots prompting coach Delic to make a change to the lineup after this loss.

Mitch Rolls led the Raiders at point with 12 points on .400 shooting and hitting 4 threes, Venezia (SG) would score all of his points on three point shots, mainly including the game winning three to give Colgate a one point escape against the Bobcats. Pascale would add 10 rebounds on a day where the Colgate Raiders would outrebound the Bobcats by six and effectively prevent any form of offense from brewing.

"It was disappointing. No one wanted to hit shots. We had open opportunities, we were missing good shots..the issue wasn't shot selection, the cast just isn't the best. We have to work on scoring throughout the season otherwise we won't be a factor. Colgate is good on their own right, but we shouldn't be struggling this badly against them" Spoke Delic. Texas State went 0-9 from beyond the arc and shot .387 from the field.

The Bobcats announced that Belford would be moved to starting point guard and senior guard, Eddie Rios will move to the two as his jump shot is very capable. Bowman was made the back up point and 2 guard and will be looking to influence games with his defensive abilities. "You can't be a shooting guard without being able to shoot, especially in my system. We will work him in, but we can't have him at the 2" Said Delic.

TEXAS STATE 31-24-55
COLGATE 25-31-56

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Owls finish last in their own tourney

Deron Belford is quickly proving himself to be a major factor in Texas States' season and only two games into the season he has already made a name for himself. This time by lighting up the Owls for 30 points on 13-19 shooting, with 5 rebounds and 7 assists, notching an additional three steals to bolster his totals. Eddie Rios had some issues with consistency going 3-9 with 9 points, but had seven assists even despite playing at the two slot.

Luke Mergerson made some big plays at small forward including a three in overtime that propelled the Bobcats to a 12-2 run to close out the game. This coming after yet another scare, after being down by one with ten seconds left, the Owls Romain Henry would knock down a three to give a two point lead with seconds remaining.

This was enough time for Belford to drive the lane and knock down a layup to tie the game at 70 a piece. The overtime period was just a disaster for the Owls who despite keeping at pace with the Bobcats for nearly half of it showed signs of the weariness and started allowing mismatches to form. This loss knocks Kennesaw State down to 1-3 while the Bobcats improve to 1-1 and finish third in the tournament.

"Third is never ideal but we made the best of our situation. I do feel that if we had this level of performance against the Raiders we would be enjoying a championship right now, but we have to take what we can. We are 1-1, with a whole lot of season left we can't grind on one loss" Spoke Delic.

Texas State 43 - 27 - 17 - 87
Kennesaw State 38 - 32 - 11 - 81
Top Performers
Points: Belford - 30
Rebounds: Bachus - 9
Assists: Dixon - 10

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Belford led Bobcats keep Pan-American winless

His scoring total fell below twenty for the first time in his career but that isn't a horrible thing. Texas State proceeded to knock off Pan-American 66-49, Urbanus shut out against Belford, whereas Rios would struggle against Brandon Provost who would score 11 points, but on the positive side, Rios did hold him to 3-11 from the field, a clear majority of his points coming from the charity stripe.

This was an absolutely beautiful defensive showcase from Delic's squad. "Rarely will you have a day where you can rely only on your defense, at least with the talents our squad has but they proved to anyone that you can't underestimate their abilities on the defensive end of the court" Spoke Delic.

Belford who was one assist shy of a triple double, would score 13 from 4-9 shooting, 12 rebounds, 9 assists 4 steals and three blocks his role playing huge in the victory for Texas State. Rios continues to show some struggles at the two guard going 0-6 from the field and 0-3 from beyond the arc his only two points coming from the line.

"It was just one of those days man, I couldnt hit anything luckily the rest of the guys picked up the slack and we won comfortably" Spoke captain Eddie Rios to a school journalist. The Bobcats are now 2-1, with an easy matchup against winless Prairie View on the horizon. Texas State sits at 1-0 in the state of Texas, a good start but a lot of games remain as they look forward towards March and beyond.

Texas State 28 - 28 - 66
UT-Pan American 25 - 24 - 49
Top Performers:
Points: Belford 13
Rebounds: Belford 12
Assists: Belford 9

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Rios and Davis return to form lighting up the scoreboard against Prairie View

In a battle with another Texas school, it was Texas State showcasing their dominance with a huge victory over Prairie View. Traveling to Prairie View, Texas it was the Bobcats putting a show on for the home crowd. Oddly enough, point guard Belford would get 12 more rebounds, his point total dipping to only 8 on .666 shooting as he focused more on distributing the ball to the hot hands.

Eddie Rios scored 18 on 5-9 from the field shooting .500 from beyond the arc, while Wesley Davis scored 19 off .800 shooting from the field and .666 from three. It was a beautiful game where the full offensive unit came together as a single cohesive unit. It didn't take Belford putting up thirty to escape and the team played as a joint whole. Corey Stern, the junior power forward has quietly been having a good season at the center slot, putting up another 11 point game with seven rebounds, the second most consistent player behind Belford.

Michael Griffin lit up the scoreboard for Prairie View, the California native however got almost not other help, his 19 points were tied for a game high, while no other player managed to break into the double digits, the next closest was Meadows and Duplessis with six a piece. Prairie View shot an awful 15-50 from the field, nearly .250, where as Texas State went 29-55.

Prairie View had 15 team rebounds, Texas State had 40, led by Bachus with 14, Stern adding 7. Byron Rimm II spoke to reporters after the game saying "We deserved to lose after this one, its embarrassing, its unacceptable. A team finishing with fifteen rebounds? Making only fifteen shots? A single player could pull off either of that. That was our whole team. It explains where were sitting at 0-5 we need to fix things, fast."

Texas State (3-1) 46 - 39 - 85
Prairie View (0-5) 23 - 27 - 50

Top Performers:
Points: T- Michael Griffin (PV) & Wesley Davis (TST) 19
Rebounds: Bachus 14
Assists: Belford 7

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Texas State inks two recruits

The initial targets were misguided but with a new slew of recruits selected, Delic managed to get two to sign their letter of intent to play at Texas State next season. Both are Texas natives, small forward, Trace Caskill (SF) comes in as a three star and ranked 65th at his position. His height of 6'5 will most likely mean he will be moved to a 2-guard, a spot of need for next season, as his skill set closer mirrors that of a 2-guard in college than a small forward. He is somewhat athletic and a decent shooter, he is as average as you could get, expect him to start down the road.

Bubba Fitch of San Antonio, Texas comes in as a three star power forward who is only 6'5. His height will make it a need to move him to small forward if his skillset permits once he transfers to the college level. Although the same height as Caskill, his skill set as a power forward would be remotely similar to that of a small forward albeit being slightly undersized.

The Bobcats have one scholarship offer still extended, Mitch Niang out of Senegal, is a 5'9 point guard that will be expected to step into a starting role next season at either guard spot. Niang is a relative unkown but his passing and defensive skills are well above average making it clear he should be a day one starter assuming the rest of his skills translate just as well.