CONFERENCE USA MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL:
- Western Kentucky
- Kennesaw State
- Liberty
- Sam Houton
- Middle Tennessee
- New Mexico State
- Jacksonville State
- Missouri State
- FIU
- Delaware
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL-CUSA TEAM:
-Teagan Moore – G – Western Kentucky (Preseason Player of the Year)
-Tijan Saine Jr. – G – FIU
-Trey Simpson – F – Kennesaw State
-Amir Taylor – F – Kennesaw State
-Jahvin Carter – G – Middle Tennessee
-Trey Williams Jr. – G – Missouri State
-DJ Dudley – G – New Mexico State
-Justin Begg – G – Sam Houston
-Jacobe Coleman – G – Sam Houston
-Armelo Boone – G – Western Kentucky
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COMMENTS FROM DAVID:
-UTEP and Louisiana Tech have left the conference, so we now have just a ten-team league, which really is the perfect size for basketball!!
-Western Kentucky won a respectable 19 games last year in Hank Plona’s second year as coach and the expectations are high this year. Teagan Moore is definitely a player to watch for as he is able to score and is a major presence in the frontcourt. He gives them a strong presence out on the perimeter in addition to being very solid underneath. Armelo Boone is another solid frontcourt player who averaged double figures in his freshman year.
-Kennesaw State was a so-so 10-10 in league play last year, but they won the conference tournament, which put them in the NCAA Tournament. There is a lot of preseason love for this team, but I also think there are a lot of question marks. Just one starter is back and while they do return some solid bench players and add a couple of solid newcomers, I am a little surprised they are picked to finish this high.
-Liberty has been the dominant team the last two years, and it is odd to say this about a 1st-place team that won 26 games overall, but the Flames may have actually underachieved last year given how good their roster was. And, they flamed out (no pun intended) in the conference tournament. This year they have an entirely new roster, but it has some talent on it. The Campbell brothers (Cooper and Cobi) transfer in from what was a good (although inconsistent) Troy team last year, and they have added some guys who were standout players at non-D-1 schools. Coach Ritchie McKay has always been able to find talent.
-Sam Houston had a solid 22-win season last year, but like a lot of other teams they are tasked with replacing some key players who have moved on. Coach Chris Mudge has looked to guys who put up big numbers at non-D-1 schools a year ago to step in and contribute for the Bearkats.
-Middle Tennessee is also having to replace quite a few key players. Kevin de Kovachich comes in from North Alabama, and Ofri Naveh comes in from Oral Roberts, both of whom were double-digit scorers a year ago. They also add some guys who put up big numbers in JUCO, so I actually like their roster this year and think they can be a bit of a dark horse. I would certainly have them picked higher than 5th.
-New Mexico State still has not gotten back to being anywhere close to the level they were a few years ago, but Coach Jason Hooten is making progress. They were a respectable 16-16 overall last year, which was their best season since things sort of fell apart for…reasons we will not rehash. Two starters are back, and in addition to that DJ Dudley transfers in from Louisiana Tech, who was a CUSA member last year. Gabe Warren also comes in after a solid year at Holy Cross (at least as an individual player), and Mark Lavrenov comes in as a solid frontcourt player from Sacramento State. I actually like this roster and I liked how they were playing at the end of last season. I think they will do much better than 6th place. In fact…they may win the league!
-Jacksonville State is having to start completely over after going .500 in conference play a year ago. They did pick up a smattering of players who put up reasonable numbers at other Under the Radar schools, so it is not as if they do not have any experience, but they will need players to step up if they are going to be competitive in the league this year.
-Missouri State has Trey Williams coming back after a very solid freshman season, but they do not have much else back. They’ve looked heavily to D-2 and JUCO to fill out their roster and they did get some guys who put up impressive numbers, but they are also new to D-1.
-Joey Cantens takes over at Florida International, which is a program that has struggled for several years running. Actually, they have struggled for about as long as I can remember. They do not have much in the way of D-1 experience so it could be another long year for the Panthers.
-Delaware struggled in CUSA last year (to put it mildly) and won just ten total games. Just one starter is back from that team, and while they did pick up a nice player in the portal in Devin Dinkins from Manhattan, all indications seem to be that they will struggle again this year.
