Yesterday and today, I sent out all-campus notices about the Trojan men’s and women’s basketball teams’ advances in the Sun Belt Conference Championship Tournament. A handful of replies came in, but one in particular caught my attention. “WHO CARES!!??” the person replied.

I’ve always liked sports, and I particularly like cheering on the Trojans as a UALR alum and now an employee. But why should other PEOPLE CARE?

For starters, our UALR student athletes are students first. They juggle their academic work with their athletic work. Eighty percent of them graduate, and 65 percent earn a 3.0 GPA or better. Senior Asrial Rolfe from Dallas, starting point guard, is a good example, currently earning around a 3.5 GPA.

They are also exceptional athletes who train hard and perform well game after game. Senior Chastity Reed of New Orleans was recently named women’s Sun Belt Student Athlete of the Year and Senior Solomon Bozeman of Magnolia, Ark., was named men’s Sun Belt Student Athlete of the Year.

Not bad reasons to care.

Photos courtesy Nelson Chenault