Joe Foley would like to rest some of his players. Steve Shields needs just about everything possible out of his.
The UALR men's and women's basketball teams play their regular-season finales tonight at Louisiana-Lafayette, thanks to a Sun Belt Conference scheduling quirk that will leave both teams off Saturday on the final day of the regular season.
Tonight's last chance is important for both teams, but for different reasons.
Foley's women's team sealed an outright regular-season title and the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament with Saturday's victory at Texas-Arlington. That doesn't mean the Trojans (24-4, 17-2) don't have something to play for tonight at the Cajundome.
UALR can break school records with its 25th regular-season victory and an 18th Sun Belt victory. More important is that it can protect its lofty Ratings Percentage Index rating in case it needs an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament.
Because of that, Foley will treat tonight as if it's for a conference title rather than rest players in preparation for the Sun Belt Tournament that starts March 11 in New Orleans.
"If we knew we weren't an NCAA at-large, yeah, I shouldn't worry about it. I'd play a lot of people," Foley said. "But we're still fighting for an at-large I feel like, so I feel like we've got to go to win."
UALR's RPI rating is No. 37, far better than the 56 it was when it earned an at-large bid in 2010. While Foley said his team's resume merits an at-large berth if UALR doesn't win the Sun Belt Tournament, there are no guarantees. The Trojans have victories over two top-50 teams in Oklahoma and Arkansas State and another over LSU, which is No. 68.
Still, Foley remembers when Western Kentucky, then a member of the Sun Belt, was denied an at-large bid in 2006 with an RPI of 20 following the conference tournament.
"There is no way you can tell," Foley said. "If we were in a [major conference] we'd be in in a second. But mid-majors, they're only going to allow so many, and I don't know what the other mid-majors are doing."
UALR's men's team can lock up a spot in the conference tournament with a victory tonight. The Trojans (13-16, 8-11) can still get in with a loss tonight, but Shields said he hasn't thought much about those scenarios.
"We've just got to focus on our situation right now, and that's Louisiana-Lafayette," Shields said.
If UALR loses and finishes with an 8-12 league record, it can still be one of the eight teams to advance to the tournament. Appalachian State isn't eligible because of low Academic Progress Rate scores but will factor into seeding, according to the league office.
There is a possibility of a five-way tie between UALR, Arkansas State, South Alabama, Texas State and Appalachian State. UALR would get in under that scenario but would be in trouble if it ends up in a tiebreaker with South Alabama, which it lost to twice this season.
The scenarios are so numerous and confusing that Shields said there is no use worrying about most of them as he tries to make sure the Trojans aren't left out along with Appalachian State and one other team.
"It's just figuring out what we've got to do to be successful on Thursday night," he said. "You don't want to be left out, but when you're so consumed with what you have to do and what is at hand, you're just focused on that."
Sports on 03/05/2015