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MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL:
- UAB
- Western Kentucky
- North Texas
- Middle Tennessee
- Florida Atlantic
- Louisiana Tech
- Rice
- UTEP
- Charlotte
- FIU
- UTSA
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL-CUSA TEAM:
-Alijah Martin -SO, G – Florida Atlantic
-Cobe Williams, JR, G – Louisiana Tech
-Teafale Lenard – SO, G – Middle Tennessee
-Tylor Perry – SR, G – North Texas
-Quincy Olivari – JR, G – Rice
-Eric Gaines – SO, G – UAB
-Jordan Walker – SR, G – UAB (Preseason Player of the Year)
-Emmanuel Akot – SR, G – Western Kentucky
-Dayvion McKnight – JR, G – Western Kentucky
-Jamarion Sharp- SR, C – Western Kentucky
COMMENTS FROM DAVID:
Conference USA is home to what is perhaps the greatest tradition in the entire history of sports, and that is…THE CURTAIN!!!!! If you can go to one conference tournament a year, it should be CUSA!! No other league has a curtain!!
-Andy Kennedy has done a fantastic job at UAB since taking over two years ago, and now has them as a fixture at the top of this conference and looking good enough to make it to the NCAA Tournament even without the automatic bid. Jordan Walker is a scoring machine. He is probably the best player in the conference and can probably play with just about anyone in the nation. Two other starters are back along with some good bench players from a year ago as well as some really good looking transfers. UAB is good enough to not just win the league but to be inside the bubble come Selection Sunday.
-Western Kentucky is another team that looks to be really stacked with talent. Two of their top players return in Jamarion Sharp/Dayvion McKnight, and they have some other key returners and good looking transfers as well. WKU is always talented, but they also have a tendency to rack up a few head-scratching losses during the season as well. If they can avoid that they could really be in the mix come March.
-North Texas just missed the NCAA Tournament last year, and had it not been for an early loss to a somewhat weak opponent in the CUSA Tourney a year ago they likely would have been there. A lot of key players from that team are gone but they still have enough pieces that they will likely be a tough team to beat.
-Middle Tennessee was a team that was routinely playing its way onto the bubble, into the NCAA Tournament, and even winning games once they got there. They have since totally hit the skids but now they seem to be bouncing back. They won 26 total games last year, tied for first place in the CUSA East Division, and have four starters back. It would not shock me at all to see them finish higher than where they are being picked. In addition to some key returners, they also have some guys back who were out with injuries last year so they could really be dangerous.
-Florida Atlantic was a modest 19-15 last year overall and 11-7 in league play. With four starters back that experience should help them and we should see some improvement out of them this year. This is a program that may be on the brink of taking a big step forward.
-Louisiana Tech won an impressive 24 gams last season and while a lot of the key pieces from that team are gone, two starters are back who averaged double figures and they have some decent looking additions to the roster.
-Rice had a modest 7-11 record in league play last year and should be at the top of the bottom half again this year. I don’t think they will be the league’s doormat, but I do not think they will be solid contenders either.
-UTEP won 20 total games last season, but just one starter is back and the Miners are in rebuilding mode. They hit both the portal and the JUCOs to put together the roster for this year.
-Charlotte just cannot seem to get their program going. They were improved last year, but the problem is they lost so much from that team that they’re once again back to the drawing board and once again looking like a team that will finish outside the top-200.
-Both FIU and UTSA also look to be in for some very long years. These are programs that seem like they should be better than what they are. I am not saying they should be competing for conference titles, but they routinely fail to finish in the top-200 of most of the metrics and it seems they should at least be able to do that.