I was surfing around on Facebook on Saturday afternoon when I came across something that caught my eye.
It was a post from John Brown University head women's basketball coach Jeff Soderquist, just minutes after the Golden Eagles lost to No. 4 Bethel (Tenn.) on a buzzer-beater in the College of the Ozarks (Mo.) Classic in Point Lookout, Mo.
"Lost a heartbreaker to the #4 team in the nation," Soderquist wrote. "I am so proud of these girls. I would play anybody with this bunch."
It was really the final seven words that caught my attention. Coaches just don't say things like that out in the open for everyone to see unless there's really something to it.
And Soderquist isn't the most active of coaches on social media, so in my mind for him to say something like that really spoke volumes about the potential of this Golden Eagles team.
As of this writing I've only seen JBU's women's team once in person and planned to see them again on Tuesday night against Ecclesia. Of course some of these early-season games are tough to judge, but it won't be long until JBU opens up Sooner Athletic Conference play at home against Wayland Baptist on Dec. 3.
We'll know a lot more then about what kind of team the Golden Eagles are. Until then though, Soderquist's statement should be a huge vote of confidence for this year's women's team.
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On the men's side, I've seen JBU play several times this season and my general thoughts have centered around this. JBU is not going to have trouble scoring the basketball. Heading into Tuesday's games at the College of the Ozarks (Mo.), JBU was averaging 89.1 points per game.
The key -- especially when conference play starts is -- will be can this team stop other teams from scoring in big numbers? I know defense is something second-year coach Jason Beschta stresses, and the Golden Eagles need to buy into that if they're going to finish high enough in the league to make the NAIA National Tounament.
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Keeping with the basketball theme, you'll notice we have season previews in today's paper on the Siloam Springs basketball teams.
Both the Panthers and Lady Panthers open their season on Thursday at Benton County neighbor Gravette. The girls game should start around 6 p.m., followed by the boys game.
And of course, the ninth-grade teams started their seasons on Monday in the Allen Classic, and the seventh- and eighth-grade teams are starting soon as well.
As much as I'd love for Panther football to still be playing, it is fun to see basketball starting up.
-- Graham Thomas is the managing editor for the Herald-Leader. He can be reached at [email protected]. The opinions expressed are those of the author.
Sports on 11/18/2015