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SOUTHLAND
Domination. Webster’s defines the word as “supremacy or preeminance over another”. The Southland Conference defines it as “Stephen F. Austin”. Over the past three seasons, the Lumberjacks have gone 56-4 against Southland competition, winning three straight regular season titles and two straight conference tournament championships. That is domination, pure and simple. Last year, SFA rode their conference title into the NCAA tournament where they fell as a 12 seed in the Round of 64 to Utah, unable to match their 2014 appearance in the Round of 32. The rest of the conference has simply been unable to catch the Lumberjacks. This season a few teams will take their shots, but in the end the Lumberjacks appear to be head and shoulders stronger than the rest of the league again.
In addition to SFA’s NCAA tournament appearance, four other Southland teams received postseason invites last year, all to the CIT. Sam Houston State, Northwestern State, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Incarnate Word all played in that event. For Incarnate Word the postseason invite was of particular note, as the Cardinals were playing a full schedule of D1 basketball for the first time ever and were in only their second of four transitional years to full D1 membership and NCAA tournament eligibility. UIW is one of a fairly large group of teams that could contend for second place behind SFA, joined by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Northwestern State, Sam Houston State, Nicholls State and Houston Baptist. Two teams that will likely not contend and, like Incarnate Word, will be ineligible for the Southland tournament are Abilene Christian and Central Arkansas. Abilene Christian is also in its third of four transitional years, while Central Arkansas is on the APR postseason ban list for the second consecutive season.
Predicted Order of Finish
1. Stephen F. Austin – Who else? Four starters return, led by Thomas Walkup. The only question for Brad Underwood’s team is size, but they should once again be among the elite mid-majors and post an overall record worthy of at-large consideration if things go bad in the conference tournament.
2. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi – John Jordan is gone, but Hameed Ali returns after missing last season and four starters, led by Rashawn Thomas, are back from last year. All the pieces are here to finish second.
3. Nicholls State – Pretty much everyone is back from last year’s team, which featured a balanced scoring attack and a fair amount of depth. The Colonels could be a surprise contender in the battle for second place.
4. Sam Houston State – With four starters gone, the Bearkats might take a step back this season, but they were deep last year and with solid reserves moving into starting roles, there is no reason why they will not be among the league’s leaders again.
5. Northwestern State – The Demons feature a high-octane offense that is always fun to watch, but have never quite figured out how to play defense. Much of the same is expected this season as they will be led by Zeek Woodley and Jalan West, two players that each averaged over 20 points per game last year.
6. Houston Baptist – The Huskies are headed in the right direction as they have the depth, experience and size to contend in the battle for second place. Anthony Odusni and Colter Lasher will lead the way this season, plus a strong recruiting class will give their fans a lot to look forward to in the coming years.
7. Incarnate Word – The Cardinals still have two more years before they are eligible for the Southland and NCAA tournaments, but continue to build their program in the right direction. Even with Denzel Livingston’s 21+ points per game gone, a strong rotation of guards led by Kyle Hittle and Jontrell Walker will keep them in games all season long.
8. McNeese State – The Cowboys will remain competitive this season despite losing three starters as Jamaya Burr should move into a leadership role outside and Craig McFerrin returns from an injury that cost him all of last season down low.
9. Central Arkansas – The Bears are ineligible for postseason play for the second straight year due to their APR, but all is not lost. They return all five starters from last season and are still young, with 5 sophomores holding key spots in their rotation. This group of young players is led by Jordan Howard, who won conference Freshman of the Year last season. Assuming they can get their APR issues resolved by next season, things could start getting interesting by then.
10. New Orleans – The Privateers should be improved with four of their five starters back, but they need to address some significant defensive woes if they want to contend for the top 8 and a spot in the Southland tournament.
11. Southeastern Louisiana – The Lions have a scoring punch in the backcourt with Zay Jackson, Joshua Filmore and JaMichael Hawkins, but there are some serious questions down low with three starters gone and not much size among the newcomers.
12. Lamar – The Cardinals had a .500 record in Tic Price’s second year at the helm last season; however, a slip back in the standings is likely this year with their top three players gone.
13. Abilene Christian – Four starters return from last season for the Wildcats, but the talent level is not here yet to be seriously competitive. They do have two more seasons to get there though, as they remain ineligible for the Southland and NCAA tournaments this year and next.