By JOE VOZZELLI
Sports Editor
Around this time of year, politicians are consumed by polls. Whether they're up or down, it's always good to know where things stand.
If the Texas State men's basketball team consulted a poll that tracked its progress in the weeks leading up to Tuesday's tilt against UT Arlington, the graph would resemble the steep decline of a plane in a nosedive.
With that said, every one of the 3,408 fans who showed up inside Strahan Coliseum wanted to believe that the Bobcats were ready to rise to the occasion on national television.