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UTSA’s Linguard dreams of a ‘packed’ home arena setting as he embarks on a career comeback

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Carlton Linguard Jr. at UTSA men's basketball practice on Friday, Sept. 29, 2023, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Center Carlton Linguard Jr. says he hopes to see the UTSA Roadrunners start to win, generate excitement and attract crowds to the Convocation Center this season. – Photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special to The JB Replay

At this time a year ago, seven-foot center Carlton Linguard Jr. arrived on the UTSA campus ineligible to play but with a positive outlook and a desire to kick-start his college basketball career.

As the season progressed, he made the most of a tough situation, trying to be a supportive teammate, practicing when he could and, perhaps most importantly, staying focused and committed to rectifying his ineligibility with hard work in the classroom.

UTSA men's basketball practice on Friday, Sept. 29, 2023, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Hoping to rebound from a 10-22 season last year, the UTSA men’s basketball team has completed five sessions since official workouts began on Sept. 25 – Photo by Joe Alexander

Still, in spite of his efforts, the former San Antonio schoolboy from Stevens High School never got clearance to play, as he had hoped, after transferring into the UTSA program from Kansas State.

Consequently, the Roadrunners never realized the dream of inserting Linguard into a lineup that could — and probably would — have benefited immensely from his presence.

What has changed for Linguard since last summer? Well, just about everything, actually. Most importantly, unlike last year, he is now fully eligible. Also, 10 new scholarship players have entered the program to replace 10 that decided to leave in March.

But with Year 2 of his Alamo City homecoming upon us, one basic tenet of his basketball life remains the same — if the Roadrunners hope to bounce back and become a winning team in NCAA Division I, he will need to play a leading role in the resurgence.

Linguard, a 2019 Stevens graduate, leaned into his new leadership role Friday by discussing last year’s frustrations, his hopes for a brighter day for the Roadrunners and his dream of packing the Convocation Center with supportive fans.

“We’re showing that we’re in shape and that we can run and really get the ball up (the court),” he said. “We’re moving the ball. We’re not selfish. We’re disciplined and buying in — buying in way more. So, we just got to keep doing that.”

Linguard can’t hide his excitement at the prospect of playing in games for the first time since his last season at Kansas State in 2021-22. His eyes lit up a bit when asked if the Roadrunners would employ a more fast-paced attack.

Chandler Cuthrell. UTSA men's basketball practice on Friday, Sept. 29, 2023, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Baltimore native Chandler Cuthrell, a transfer from Odessa College, is competing for playing time at power forward. – Photo by Joe Alexander

“Oh yeah,” he said. “We got guards who can push it. We got guys who can fill in spots and move, actually attack, too. We got (centers and power forwards) who can do the same. So I feel like we can play the fast pace.”

UTSA coach Steve Henson isn’t necessarily looking for breakout offensive numbers from Linguard, but he said the Roadrunners will need him to impose his will as a defensive presence.

“You just notice his wingspan,” Henson said. “He’s not the quickest guy in the world, but he’s quick enough. He’s agile and he looks so natural in all of his movements. You just notice his hands, his (long) arms, his length.

“(Offensive) players get to a spot in a ball screen and try to make a pass out of there, he impacts it with his length. He’s got pretty good anticipation, and he gets to the spot … Carlton, being in that (Kansas State) system, it helped him.

“He’s skilled, he’s talented … We don’t want to put any extra pressure by over-selling him, but he’s a great teammate and he wants to help us win.”

Last year’s 10-22 record was a frustration for everyone in the Roadrunners’ camp. For Linguard, it was rough on a number of levels. For one thing, he wasn’t academically eligible initially.

He had to show a commitment in the classroom just so UTSA could put him on scholarship at the semester break. In addition, he wasn’t fully healthy until late in the season.

Nazar Mahmoud. UTSA men's basketball practice on Friday, Sept. 29, 2023, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Freshman Nazar Mahmoud, who grew up in Leander and last played at Spring Creek Academy in Plano, is expected to give the team length on the wing and three-point shooting. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Initially, it was a knee that slowed him. Subsequently, by December, he started to flash potential, taking over in some practices with his athleticism and above-the-rim capabilities. Just about that time, though, he suffered a concussion.

Though Linguard had progressed past all the physical challenges by February, he still wasn’t eligible to play. So, with the team struggling, UTSA officials elected to drop the appeal to the NCAA, so that he could return in 2023-24 with two full seasons of eligibility remaining.

As it was, the Roadrunners went into the Conference USA tournament with a healthy 7-footer on the bench, and they lost by one point to the Rice Owls in the first round.

Linguard, speaking after practice late Friday afternoon, shrugged off a question about how the course of 2022-23 might have been altered if he had been able to play games in February and March.

“It would have been different,” he said. “That Conference (USA) tournament would have been a lot different. Especially that first game we played. Like, that would have been way different. I mean, you can’t really say because it didn’t happen.”

Regardless, the team’s late collapse precipitated decisions by most of last year’s players to leave the program, looking for other opportunities elsewhere.

Once the dust settled, 6-foot-11 Jacob Germany joined the program at Wichita State, while point guard Japhet Medor landed at Fordham University and John Buggs III turned up at North Texas.

Linguard declined to get too deep into his feelings about the exodus except to say generally that transfers have become a part of the equation in the new world of college hoops.

He seemed much more at ease discussing the here and now of a season that will get underway on Nov. 6. For the Roadrunners, who haven’t qualified for an NCAA tournament since 2011, it is their first year as a member of the American Athletic Conference.

Justin Thomas. UTSA men's basketball practice on Friday, Sept. 29, 2023, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Guard/forward Justin Thomas, from Baton Rouge, La., averaged 7.3 points and 4.4 rebounds last season for a 22-win team at Milwaukee in the Horizon League. Coach Steve Henson says that Thomas and Jordan Ivy-Curry will need waivers to be eligible to play at UTSA this season. – Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA will play in a quality mid-major conference against the likes of Memphis, Tulane and Temple. Also against Florida Atlantic, a C-USA program that made it all the way to the Final Four last April.

On a more personal level, the move will allow Linguard to see some familiar faces during the season, notably Germany at Wichita State and Buggs at North Texas. He said, in fact, that he knows people on many of the AAC campuses.

On the home front, he beamed optimism in discussing the opportunity to play home games in the Convocation Center in front of family members and friends.

One of his new UTSA teammates, walk-on guard Juan Reyna, who played in high school at Antonian, also will have that connection to friends within the local basketball community.

With that, Linguard figures that if the Roadrunners can start to win and generate excitement with all the new talent, the size of the crowds and the energy inside the school’s old home arena could start to become a factor.

As the former Big 12 player at Kansas State spoke to a reporter Friday afternoon, he glanced into the upper reaches of the arena and talked about trying to fill the seats.

Said Linguard, “Me and my teammates, we’re kind of promoting (the season) right now. We’re trying to get people to come out. There’s always a conversation. Like, ‘Hey come out an support us this year.’ We’re just trying to push the issue.

“We want to get the (arena) packed up (to the top). That’s the goal.”

UTSA notenbook

The Roadrunners have been working out on a limited basis since the start of the summer. They completed their early fall semester sessions on Sept. 22.

Twice during the last week of conditioning, coaches had the players outside at dawn, one day running on the track and another day running on a road leading out north of the campus. Another session started at 6 in the morning on the court in the Convocation Center.

“We don’t get carried away talking about boot camp,” UTSA coach Steve Henson said. “You know, we’re not going to war. We have people (in the military) that really do go to war. We have people that really do go through boot camp. So we try not to over-do our terminology there.”

Longer workouts, considered official preseason practices, commenced on Monday.

Included in the 30 allowed sessions are two exhibition games set for Oct 24 against Trinity and Oct. 30 against McMurry. Both will be held at the Convocation Center. The regular season opens on Nov. 6 at home against Western Illinois. A four-game road trip commences on Nov. 10 at Minnesota. Conference play starts Jan. 2 at home against UAB.

Positional analysis

Point guards — Adante Holiman, Christian Tucker, Juan Reyna.

Wing players (small forwards and shooting guards) — Isaiah Wyatt, PJ Carter, Nazar Mahmoud, Justin Thomas, Jordan Ivy-Curry.

Power/small forward — Dre Fuller Jr.

Power forwards — Chandler Cuthrell, Blessing Adesipe, Josh Reid.

Centers — Carlton Linguard, Jr., Trey Edmonds, Massal Diouf.

x-Thomas and Ivy-Curry are considered two-time transfers and can play this season only if the NCAA grants them waivers. Reyna and Reid are walk-ons.

UTSA set to join the American Athletic Conference in July 2023

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UTSA is expected to join The American Athletic Conference effective next summer. “Our intent is to join The American on July 1, 2023,” UTSA athletic director Lisa Campos said in a statement on Friday.

UTSA released the statement in the wake of news that the AAC would terminate its agreements with Cincinnati, Houston and UCF, which means that those schools could move into the Big 12 for the 2023-24 season.

Since the first season of UTSA football in 2011, the school’s athletics program as a whole has been in transition. As UTSA football operated as an independent in 2011, the other sports finished their affiliation with the Southland Conference in 2011-12.

After departing the Southland and starting play in the Western Athletic Conference in 2012-13, UTSA promptly moved out of the WAC and into Conference USA in 2013-14.

Now, after a 10th season in the C-USA in 2022-23, the Roadrunners’ 17 Division I teams are headed to the AAC. It’s a move that has been imminent for almost a year. The only detail in question since last October has been the timing, and now it’s official.

Six Conference USA schools are expected to split from the C-USA for the AAC — UTSA, Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice and UAB. The other conference members are expected to include East Carolina, Tulsa, SMU, Memphis, Navy, Temple, South Florida and Tulane.

UTSA, Charlotte and FAU all announced Friday that they would make the move for the 2023-24 season.

Eighmy says UTSA is planning a new basketball arena

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From time to time, it gets pretty wild at the UTSA Convocation Center.

If you need evidence, check out a video taken at the end of a comeback victory for the Roadrunners over the Old Dominion Monarchs (see above) from the 2018-19 season.

UTSA president Dr. Taylor Eighmy addresses the media Thursday, explaining the school’s move to the American Athletic Conference. — Photo by Jerry Briggs

Alas, the nights of passion in the ‘Bird Cage’ may be numbered.

UTSA president Dr. Taylor Eighmy on Thursday acknowledged the school’s long-range plans to build a new, 10,000-seat competition arena on campus for basketball and volleyball.

“That is a downstream project that we want to develop, using a public-private partnership,” Eighmy said.

The president made his comments after a campus news conference, during which he announced that UTSA would move all of its 17 NCAA Division I athletics programs to the American Athletic Conference.

The school’s move from Conference USA to the AAC is expected to be made after the next two or three years.

The arena is part of a bold facilities push for UTSA, which first fielded intercollegiate athletics teams in 1981-82.

Since then, both men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball have played their games at the Convocation Center on campus.

Over the years, officials in past UTSA administrations have talked about the need for a new arena to replace the aging ‘Bird Cage,’ but nothing of substance has been discussed until now.

The arena report came nestled in a Thursday morning AAC news release that announced UTSA as one of its six new members.

A paragraph in the release started off by saying that the school in August opened the Roadrunner Center of Excellence, a 95,000-square foot facility that houses offices and training areas and is considered as the home for the school’s 24th-ranked football program.

In addition, the AAC release said, UTSA “is embarking on an expansive” capital campaign to develop several other projects, including:

*A new 10,000-seat arena for basketball and volleyball;
*New baseball and softball stadiums;
*A dedicated basketball/volleyball training facility;
*Also, a “standalone” facility for track and field and soccer.

Estimated cost for all of the above could run into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

The administrative wheels are already moving on one of the projects.

Eighmy said UTSA has submitted a request to the City of San Antonio in an effort to gain assistance in funding the basketball/volleyball training facility.

The request is tied to the next city’s next bond project. Eighmy said it would be built adjacent to the RACE building.

“So,’ he added, “we’re already starting on systematic approaches to find resources, or mechanisms, to proceed with adding additional facilities.”

Eighmy declined to estimate what it would cost to build the basketball/volleyball competition arena or when he would like to see the teams move in.

“It’s obviously on our plans to get going,” the president said. “We have a bunch of things we have to tackle. We have to finish Park West (where the track and soccer teams compete).

“We really want to get this practice facility built, for men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball, but (the arena) is on our horizon. In my lifetime. How about that?”

UTSA men’s basketball coach Steve Henson said he’s excited about the pending move to the new conference and also about the talk of a new arena.

In regard to the challenge of playing in the revamped AAC, and competing against the likes of Memphis, Wichita State and SMU, he admitted that UTSA would be embarking on a league filled with teams that play “high level” basketball.

“The challenge will be great, but the excitement behind it will be great, as well,” he said.

Memphis, under coach Penny Hardaway, has been ranked 12th nationally in the preseason Associated Press poll. Moreover, teams in the AAC play in high-caliber arenas.

Memphis plays in the FedEx Forum. Wichita State plays in the sparkling Charles Koch Arena.

Told after practice that the AAC had sent out information on UTSA’s proposed 10,000-seat arena, Henson smiled and said, “Awesome. I look forward to seeing those plans.”

Henson said he knew about the proposed training facility but acknowledged that he had not heard specifics on UTSA’s arena project.

“I know our people are working like crazy to put us in this position (to change conferences),” he said. “I assumed we had to have some other things in the works to make it happen.

“But, no, I had not heard (about the arena).”

Henson admitted that an arena for his program would supply a boost for a program that has posted winning records in three of the last four seasons but has yet to break through with an NCAA tournament appearance.

An arena, he said, “would do wonders.”

UTSA athletic director Lisa Campos said a combined cost for the basketball/volleyball training center and the baseball and softball stadiums could range from $70 million to $80 million.

Campos added that the arena could cost “a couple of hundred million” dollars to complete.

Clearly, it will be a tall order for UTSA to raise that kind of money.

It could take years to do it, considering the magnitude of the investment and the current economic climate locally coming out of the pandemic.

“We’re going to be strategic about how we could find revenue sources,” she said. “Of course, we’re going to capitalize on the momentum for our philanthropic endeavors, and, winning breeds winning, and folks want to be involved in that.

“Someone had asked me earlier about fundraising, and really, our fan-base, our donor-base has continued to give to UTSA athletics.”

A UTSA master plan published in 2019 pinpoints the location of the proposed arena on the west end of campus. Eighmy said he wants it to be used for “multiple” purposes.

Asked if such a building of that scope could host NCAA tournament games, Eighmy didn’t rule it out.

“Those are the things we have to consider as we develop this public-private partnership,” he said. “We’re advocating all the time why our athletics programs benefit the entire city.”

Eighmy said he wants to invest in programs led by the likes of Henson, Karen Aston (women’s basketball) and Laura Neugebauer-Groff (volleyball) who work in the Convocation Center on a daily basis.

“Our Convocation Center is not a suitable facility for either practice or intercollegiate competition,” Eighmy said. “I mean, it served its purpose in its day, but we need to move on.”