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CONFERENCE USA MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL:
- Liberty
- Middle Tennessee (tied in overall points but received fewer 1st place votes)
- Western Kentucky
- LA Tech
- UTEP
- Sam Houston
- FIU
- New Mexico State
- Jacksonville State
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL CONFERENCE USA:
-Arturo Dean – SO, G – FIU
-Isaiah Crawford – SR, F – LA Tech (Preseason Player of the Year)
-Kyle Rode – SR, F – Liberty
-Elias King – SR, G – Middle Tennessee
-Camryn Weston – SR, G – Middle Tennessee
-Cameron Huefner – JR, F – Sam Houston
-Tae Hardy – SR, G – UTEP
-Calvin Solomon – SR, F – UTEP
-Dontaie Allen, SR, G/F – Western Kentucky
-Brandon Newman – SR, G – Western Kentucky
COMMENTS FROM DAVID:
Conference USA has been completely overhauled with several of the previously top programs bolting to join the American Conference, and four of the current nine members being brand-new to the league.
-Liberty is the preseason favorite and it is hard for me to see how it could possibly be anyone else. This was a team that finished in the top-50 in the KenPom rankings last year, and while the Atlantic Sun is not packed with bluebloods, it does have some good teams. With four starters back from a top-50ish caliber team, they have the kind of team that can not only win the league but blow through it and perhaps land near the bubble. They are tasked with replacing their best player, but virtually all of their other contributing players are back. They return enough to where guys can step into new roles and to where this could be a really strong team.
-Middle Tennessee is getting a lot of preseason love from the media. They were a modest 17-14 against D1 teams last year, and 11-9 in conference play. Three starters are back so they do have some experience. Their season ended with what was legitimately a great game and tremendous effort against Florida Atlantic in the semis of the conference tournament, and perhaps that is what has people so excited. I like them and think they will be much closer to the top of the league than the bottom, but I do not see them keeping pace with Liberty.
-Western Kentucky is starting completely over. They have a new head coach in Steve Lutz (who had a great two year run at TAMUCC and took them to two NCAA Tournaments) and will have five new starters this year since all the ones from last year are gone. I do like Lutz and think he will have some great years with the Toppers, but when I look at the pieces WKU has this year I just do not see it happening.
-After back-to-back 24-win seasons LA Tech digressed last season with just 15 overall wins and was a disappointing 7-13 in CUSA. They went 1-7 in their last eight regular season games after their leading scorer was dismissed from the team. Talvin Hester is in his second year as head coach and he has his work cut out for him. Just two starters are back but they did go into the transfer portal and have multiple players from P5 level programs coming in so I think they will be able to get things turned back around. I know this is a bit of a dark horse pick but I kind of like this team this year.
-UTEP is another team that was really bad in the last few weeks of the season, and even though three starters are back including Tae Hardy/Calvin Solomon (who received preseason all-conference honors), the expectations are not high.
-Sam Houston not only has a new conference but a new head coach in Chris Mudge who takes over after being an assistant with the program. The Bearkats had a great year last year with 26 wins including 1 in the postseason NIT, but just one starter returns from that team so there are a lot of unknowns about them. They do appear to have some decent transfers and freshmen coming in and it would not shock me to see them exceed expectations, but I cannot see them contending for a league title just yet.
-FIU had a stretch early in the first half of conference play where they won five out of six and beat some pretty notable teams. After that they just absolutely fell apart down the stretch. Three starters are back including Arturo Dean, who was the freshman of the year in the conference last season, so they do have some pieces and some potential.
-I am not going to get into the specifics because you probably know them already, but New Mexico State had to twice deal with extreme off-court issues last year which resulted in several games being cancelled, and they now have a new coach in Jason Hooten and almost an entirely new roster. They are heavy on transfers, including multiple grad transfers, and the likelihood of seeing them be highly successful is highly unlikely. At this point it is probably more important to reestablish their culture, rebuild a positive identity, and start to get their program back on track. This was a team that 2 years ago won 27 games including a game in the Round of 64, so the opportunities to build a successful program certainly exist.
-Jacksonville State is joining their third conference in the past four years! It is once again a transfer-heavy team, and while they appear to be bringing in a couple of quality JUCO guys I am inclined to think it will be a long year for the Gamecocks.