Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

Arkansas State Coach John Brady isn't one to over-sell his basketball team.

"I wasn't going to stand up here three years ago when we were picked last and tell you we were going to win the conference. I'm not that kind of guy," Brady told a Red Wolves booster club meeting in Little Rock on Thursday. But Brady will happily tell you he has the parts in place to deserve the Sun Belt Conference coaches' nod as the preseason pick in the West Division.

"I told our guys that we don't have great players but we have 8 or 9 good players, and if things work out right and we don't have any major injuries, the last two weeks of the season we can be in the hunt for a championship," Brady said to the ASU supporters at the Pleasant Valley Country Club ballroom.

His Red Wolves won the West and the top seed in the Sun Belt Tournament in Hot Springs last year, but were upset in the quarterfinals by UALR, which went on to win the tourney and gain the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Still, eight of 12 Sun Belt coaches tabbed the Red Wolves to win the division.

"The other league coaches respect what we've done over here," Brady said. "The next step is to go to the conference tournament, win for three days, and go to the NCAA Tournament."

ASU was rolling before Little Rock Parkview product Trey Finn, a guard/small forward who has a knack of always being around the ball, tore up his knee in practice leading into the league tournament.

The Red Wolves missed the spark Finn could provide on both ends in a 59-54 loss to the Trojans, a team they had handled twice in the regular season.

It's Finn's late injury that has Brady wary as he approaches this season. Plus, two years ago he saw shooting guard Donald Boone go down at the start of the year with a knee injury as well. Some tough luck has been following Brady around since he left LSU in early 2008 after leading the Tigers to the 2006 Final Four.

He admits that ASU's nod to win the West is at least attributable to the Red Wolves having an experienced front line returning. First-team All-Sun Belt pick Martavius Adams, a 6-8, 255-pound senior, was ASU's big threat inside last season, but Brady noted that during the last month the Red Wolves were getting as good or better play from 6-8, 265-pound Malcolm Kirkland inside. Also, athletic 6-7 forward Brandon Peterson is back.

The rest of the West, including UALR, has numerous key players to replace. In the East, Coach Mike Jarvis and Florida Atlantic return four starters and two players, guards Raymond Taylor and Greg Gantt, who were named first-team All-Sun Belt.

Finn, one of those type of athletes who plays bigger than his listed 6-foot-2, has healed but can't practice too much in the preseason without wearing on the knee, Brady said.

"He's one of those intangible guys a team needs to win close games," Brady said. "Our team needs Trey Finn to be healthy."

In the backcourt, the Red Wolves have to replace Boone, who was granted an extra year by the NCAA last year and had a good season, and point guard Rashad Allison, whom Brady says was the best point guard in the league last year.