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SOUTHLAND
59 wins. 1 loss. A 98.3 winning percentage. This is what Stephen F. Austin has done against the rest of the Southland Conference between the regular season and conference tournament over the last three years. This has not merely been dominance, it has been complete and utter destruction. But no matter how dominant a team may be, no matter how many games they win, sooner or later in this sport, time catches up to you. And that is especially true at a mid-major school like SFA. Star guard Thomas Walkup is gone. And the man who orchestrated their success, head coach Brad Underwood, is now coaching Oklahoma State. No matter how dominant these last three years have been, which also featured a pair of NCAA Tournament victories including last season’s upset of 3 seed West Virginia, time may have finally caught up to the Lumberjacks and the conference title may be going somewhere else this season.
Three Southland teams other than SFA made the postseason last year – Sam Houston State and Texas A&M -Corpus Christi in the CIT and Houston Baptist in the CBI. Sam Houston State is the team that looks most ready to steal the crown away from SFA, as they return six of their top seven players from last year’s team. McNeese State could also factor into the mix with four starters back and a couple of junior college transfers that should step in nicely in the low posts. Northwestern State looked to be the team to beat at the start of the summer, until star guard Jalan West went down for the second straight season with a knee injury in August. Finally, Corpus Christi will be fun to watch because of the play of their star player, Rashawn Thomas, but he is the Islanders’ only returning starter and may not have the help he needs for the team to contend.
Predicted Order of Finish
1. Sam Houston State – Six of the Bearkats’ top seven players return from last season. The team is heavy on senior talent, led by Aurimas Majauskas and Dakarai Henderson. They appear to be the team to beat in the SLC this year.
2. McNeese State – Head coach Dave Simmons had added the height and size this team lacked last year with a pair of junior college transfers, Hakeem Simon and Howard Thomas. The two of them should work as a strong complement to a solid group of returning guards that could have the Cowboys in contention this year.
3. Northwestern State – The Demons were going to be the team to be this year until Jalan West, who missed all of last season with an ACL tear, went down for the year again in August. They do return four starters from last season, including senior guard Zeek Woodley, and should be much better than last year’s 8-20 record.
4. Stephen F. Austin – It will be amazing to not see the Lumberjacks at the top of the Southland standings, but with Thomas Walkup, Demetrious Floyd and head coach Brad Underwood all gone, this looks like a rebuilding year for new head coach Kyle Keller. SFA was a heartbreaking one point loss to Notre Dame away from the Sweet 16 last year, but is unlikely to have another shot at it this one.
5. Houston Baptist – The Huskies have size down low led by 6-11 Josh Ibarra, but will need to find a way to make up for the loss of top scorer Anthony Odunsi.
6. New Orleans – All five starters return for what on paper appears to be the Southland’s deepest team. The problem is that the Privateers still have a serious lack of size, which will make any huge improvements on last season’s 20 losses tough.
7. Abilene Christian* – The Wildcats return their top two scorers in Jaylen Franklin and Jaren Lewis from a team that went a surprising 8-10 against Southland foes. They could definitely improve on that in their final year of transitioning to the Division I level.
8. Central Arkansas – Jordan Howard should lead the way for a team that will score a lot of points, but the Bears had serious defensive woes last season, surrendering 87.7 points per game, that need to be fixed if they want to improve.
9. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi – Rashawn Thomas is a great scorer and may be the favorite to take Southland Player of the Year honors. That being said, he is the team’s only returning starter, so even coming close to last year’s 25 wins will take a Herculean effort.
10. Nicholls State – Richie Riley, who served as an assistant to Brad Brownell at Clemson, takes over as head coach. Although he does have last year’s top scorer, Ja’Dante Frye, and a seven-footer, Liam Thomas, to help in his first season, just finishing in the top eight and qualifying for the conference tournament would probably be a successful year.
11. Southeastern Louisiana – The Lions lost 21 games last season and then lost their top player, Zay Jackson. This could be a long year in Hammond.
12. Incarnate Word* – Two starters graduated and two other key players transferred, turning this final transitional year into a rebuilding one in San Antonio.
13. Lamar – Only one double-digit scorer returns for a team that probably was not even as good as their 11-19 record last season. Just avoiding the Southland Conference basement may be a victory for the Cardinals this season.
* Abilene Christian and Incarnate Word are ineligible for the Southland and NCAA Tournaments due to being in their fourth and final year of transitioning up to the Division I level.