Watch Out for the Bearkats

No, that is not a typo. The Bearkats of Sam Houston State in Huntsville, TX wear that unique spelling proudly on their bright orange jerseys. I think the combination of the loud color and the odd spelling is creating havoc in the minds of Southland conference opponents. SAMHOU has begun conference play with 9-straight wins, all of which were also ATS wins.

At 9-0, SAMHOU now enjoys a 2-game lead in the Southland and may force me to change my conference tournament pick from my original choice, Abilene Christian. Here is a quick look at the ‘Kats 9 conference games. Those at the bottom are the most recent.

Opponent	Score	SAMHOU Line
vs Abilene Christian	71-68	+2.5
@ Central Arkansas	78-69	+2
vs Incarnate Word	66-52	-12
vs Texas A&M CC	72-50	-5.5
@ Houston Baptist	71-65	EVEN
@ NW State	78-64	-7.5
vs Lamar	69-59	-7
@ SE Louisiana	62-52	-3
vs Stephen F Austin	94-72	-6.5

This streak has taken the Bearkats from 5-8 to 14-8 and primes them for a top seed in the Southland conference tournament, where I think SAMHOU is built to succeed. The ‘Kats 3 leading scorers are senior twin brothers at guard Cam and Josh Delaney along with junior center Kai Mitchell.

Huntsville’s own splash brothers, the Delaneys are the only brothers to each make over 75 3-pointers in the NCAA. The Bearkats shoot plenty of 3s, ranking in the top-85 in the nation in attempts. Teams that rely this heavily on the long ball tend to be a little inconsistent. When they are falling, though, these teams are unbeatable, like SAMHOU has been through January and now into February.

Having your best scorers be upperclassmen will be huge for the Bearkats come tournament time. This is one of the reasons I do not see a huge collapse in the team’s future. The other is their body of work put in before conference play began.

Small conference schools often take one of two approaches to the early season. Either schedule a bunch of cupcakes for a morale boost or schedule thrash-for-cash games to gain “experience” against talented teams and make the program money.

HC Jason Hooten brilliantly decided to orchestrate a schedule that combines the best aspects of the two. Earlier in the season, the Bearkats tangled with LA Tech, Clemson, Georgia, East TN St, Central Michigan, Colorado St, and Little Rock – all of which resulted in losses for SAMHOU. These teams are good, not great.

By not scheduling the Duke’s and Virginia’s of the world, Hooten allowed his team to play in competitive games while still facing teams better than them. This medium-strength schedule is paying dividends early on in conference play. Much like Murray State, I do not see Sam Houston State making a deep run in the NCAA tournament. Realistically, SAMHOU gets a #15 or #16 seed and gets massacred in the first round.

A 9-0 SU and ATS start to conference play means something, though. It means that while the Bearkats cannot compete on the national stage, they are currently playing at a level that their small-conference opponents simply cannot match. Get in while the gettin’ is good! Small conferences are where sharp bettors can absolutely clean up. I’m all over SAMHOU to win the Southland.

Watch out for inflated lines! Even if you bet SAMHOU SU, there may come a time over the next week or two when it is wise to bet against the Bearkats ATS if the spread becomes ridiculous.