CUSA Hoops 2016/17

CUSA Prognostication
1. UAB- The Blazers have four starters including William Lee back from a 26-7 NIT team but let's see how new coach Ehsan handles them.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/college/article112870173.html#storylink=cpy

2. WKU- New coach Stansbury will make the most of a  Pancake Thomas anchoring a six deep rotation.
3. Marshall- Small ball rules and Dantoni's tempo is blazing . Maybe a sprinkle of D and a great season from Ryan Taylor will do the trick.
4. La Tech- Erik McCree is a star on the rise on a solid squad
5. MTSU- Potts and Upshaw Jr return  from the squad thnat upset Sparty in the 2016 Dance
6. North Texas- Jeremy Combs are Mean Green crew are solid but will Coach Benford get consistent play.
7. Charlotte- Look for Coach Price to accelerate freshman Quentin Jackson  to starting shooting guard
8. Rice- I made the mistakes of over-rating Rice football so I'm leary about Owls' hoops.  Props to #Marcusevans, but I ain't buying a CUSA title run
9. UTEP- Six freshmen won't make a dent quick enough.
10  FAU- Coach Curry recruited three freshman, two transfers, and three JUCOs which should propel the Owls to the 8 spot.
11. ODU will have a tough time replacing scorer Trey Freeman
12. UTSA: New coach Steve Henson will rely big man, Lucas O'Brien to keep the Roadrunners from stumbling to the basement.
13. Southern Miss.- Coach Doc Sadler has four returning starters and are ceeeping upward from sanctions -era.
14 FIU- No incoming freshmen and rolling the dice on transfers. I see basement but they could land around 7th

May 24,2017

Post season bashing of the CUSA bugs me. JUCO reference to the CUSA and more:
Found this cheap comment about the Rice hoops which hasn't made the NCAA Dance since 1970. An anonymous coach texted: "They have Ivy League admission standards in a JUCO league. MTSU, WKU, UAB, UTEP all can get ANYONE in school.

CUSA football 2016

CUSA is  the most discussed conference at the Other  5 community. USM is getting a lot of hype this 2016 pre-season, but I'm not jumping that train. Instead I'll get on the Rice Owls limb.
EAST
1) Marshall- All signs point to a great Herd  D led by Durant. Can Litton continue to light up the O?
2) FIU: QB McGough will step up in his sophomore season.
3) W. Kentucky: Replacing Doughty will slow down the Hilltoppers in Septemebr
4) FAU: Trey Hendrickson, Owls DE, will get his fair share of sacks.
5) M. Tenn. St. Injury bug has hit the WR corps.
6) Old Dominion: Looks for some strong play from Monarchs LB, T.J. Ricks.
7) Charlotte:Kevin Olsen may be the QB answer

WEST
1) Rice- Stehling will play well enough at QB and the Owls develop a rushing game and surprise in the West.
2) Southern Miss- Coach Monkton's exit will hurt , but QB Mullens will keep them in contention.
3) Louisiana Tech: Trent Taylor and Carlos Henderson. are a nice WR/TE tandem, but QB situation is shaky
4) North Texas :  Alec Morris, Bama QB transfer,  could provide some sparks.
5) UTEP : Shaky QB situation
6) UTSA-Post Coker era starts, Cavill, a transfer WR should be fun to watch.

9/2/16

My Rice  limb cracked quickly -WKU crushed them last night. FIU collapsed after the first half in a loss to Indiana/

CUSA baseball March 26

Three teams tied at 4-1:
USM  : Jake Sandlin batting .386 leads a potent lineup
FAU’s offense has a .305 batting avg and is led by senior Billy Endris and junior CJ Chatham.
Rice 's centerfielder, Ryan Chandler, gets on base often and is stellar in the field and went 3-4  in a win  overODU (3-2)  in game 1 of their current series.
Louisiana Tech and Charlotte are also (3-2)

Marshall (2-3) has a solid lineup led by Sam Hunter &Tommy Lane
Rest of the CUSA:
FIU   2 3
UAB 2 3
WKU 1 3
MTSU 1 3
UTSA 1 4

April 28

USM remains atop the CUSA.

Louisiana Tech, UAB, and WKU are on hot but time is running out as they sit in the middle of the pack. May 3 Rice and USM sit atop the CUSA with 15-6 record. FAU (14-7) and Marshall (13-8) follow them. CUSA Batting leaders: Tommy Lane (Marshall)  11 HR. Tim Lynch (USM)   47 RBI. Danny Hudzina WKU .434 AVG. Corey Bird (Marshall) 23 SB May 13 Southern Miss 18-6  Rice 18-6  Florida Atlantic 17-7   Marshall 16-8 0.667   Louisiana Tech 15-9  Hudzina (WKU) .408 avg. Lane -(Marshall) 13 HR, Shearer (Charlotte) and Lynch USM tied with 49 RBI Byrd( Marshall)  24 SB Salinas (Rice) and Cockrell (USM) tied with 7 wins May 16 #herd feasted on WKU and moved into 3rd. USM still ahead of Rice in a battle for  first. May 22 #Herd took two of three  from ODU to move up to a #2 seed. Rice fell to a #4 seed. Here's opening day schedule for the double elimnation 2016 CUSAT. Game 1 (5) Louisiana Tech vs. (4) Rice 9:00a Game 2 (8) Charlotte vs. (1) Florida Atlantic 12:30p Game 3 (6) Old Dominion vs. (3) Southern Miss 4:00p Game 4 (7) FIU vs. (2) Marshall 7:30p Conference  stat leaders  Danny Hudzina WKU .409 AVG. Tommy Lane (Marshall)  13 HR. Logan Sherer (Charlotte) 52 RBI Corey Bird (Marshall) 32 SB Four pitchers with sevin wins Chase Boster Marshall,Jon Duplantier  Rice, Cord Cockrell Southern Miss, Ricardo Salinas Rice Cameron Ragsdale (FAU) topped the league with 13 saves. May 27 Bracket One:  – Rice, 2-0 – FAU, 1-1 faces LaTech, 1-1 in an elimination game today. – Charlotte, 0-2 (eliminated) Bracket Two: – SoMiss, 2-0: Sandlin's grandslam was the key blow in their win over Marshall 1-1 who now needs to beat  FIU, 1-1 today – ODU, 0-2 (eliminated) May 29 Marshall left too many guys on base again and lost to USM who faces Rice in the final. Rice outslugged (barely) a tough LaTech team.

Mining the CUSA, MWC, AAC Feb 21

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CUSA: UTEP has won six straight  is getting into solid shape to win the CUSAT . Moore and Winn led the Miners to a win over La Tech yesterday. Meanwhile Marshall got another big game  from Ryan Taylor (23 pts, 12 reb) in a win over ODU and kept the pressure on first place UAB.  CUSA is a decent hoops conference , but I  don't foresee a scenario in which they get two dance tickets.

UAB	11-2	21-5
Marshall	11-3	15-12
Middle Tennessee	10-3	18-7
Louisiana Tech	9-5	20-7
UTEP	9-6	17-11
Old Dominion	8-6	15-12

MWC: San Diego St is dancing regardless of how they do in the MWCT,  and I'm staying on the Fresno St train   led by Marvelle Harris. to win the automatic ticket. WTH New Mexico - losing to AFA  yesterday?

AAC:  Cincy got a big win over UConn yesterday in the muddled AAC which gets three tickets. A fourth is iffy.

Temple	10-3	16-9
SMU	9-4	21-4
Cincinnati	10-5	20-8
Houston	9-5	19-7
Connecticut	9-5	19-8
Tulsa	9-5	17-9

 

CUSA &MAC movement at the top Feb 13

CUSA: McCrees 33 points helped La Tech beat UAB while Marshall got a big game from Jon Elmore to survive WKU in OT. MTSU handled USM easily. UTEP looked shaky beating FAU and  ODU looked terrible in a loss to the  lowly Rice Owls.

UAB	11-2	21-5
Middle Tennessee	10-3	18-7
Marshall	9-3	13-12
Louisiana Tech	8-4	19-6

MAC:  Nice day for the MAC West. Armstead was huge in NIU's win over Akron while E.Michigan kept Kent St from taking advantage of Akron's loss. Ball St beat CMU  and Toledo had  an easy time with Miami (Ohio).

West

Ball State	7-5	16-9
Toledo	7-5	16-9
Northern Illinois	6-6	17-8
Central Michigan	6-6	13-12

East

Akron	9-3	20-5
Ohio	7-5	16-8
Kent State	7-5	16-9
Buffalo	7-5	14-11

Other 5 March madness chances

Time for a favorite american pasttime . If March Madness  started soon: Two conference leaders of of our five will make the Dance even if they lose their conference tournaments. San Diego St  11-1 in the MWC and  Temple 9-3 and tied  in the AAC with  SMU who's  not eligible for a Dance ticket..

CUSA (UAB 11-1), SunBelt (Arkansas Little Rock 11-2),  and MAC Akron (9-2  in the East) aren't considered strong enough to have guaranteed tickets for  their regular season winners. I'm sure one of our regulars is pushing for the Thundering Herd of Marshall. 

AAC could get four  tickets  but it will be scramble after Temple

Cincinnati	8-4	18-7
Tulsa	8-4	16-8
Connecticut	7-4	17-7
Houston	7-5	17-7
Memphis	5-6	14-10

MWC-  Fresno St is my dark horse candidate to get  a second ticket. Impressive 58-57 win giving SD St its first conference loss.

Note to new readers:

Other 5= AAC, CUSA,MAC, MWC, & the Sunbelt and is derived from College football, but I've  carried that thread over to hoops. More at https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/104643398353248786505

Topsy-turvy CUSA , SunBelt, & MWC

CUSA: I've hinted that UTEP needed to get in the gear and they have. After scoring 100+ to beat  Marshall earlier in the week, UTEP behind   Earvin Morris roared back to beat WKU yesterday. The Miners will have to  win the CUSAT to go dancing,  La Tech's  stunning loss to North Texas put them  further out of the regular season race.

UAB	10-1
MTSU	9-2
Marshall	8-3

Top dogs held fast: UAB trounced FAU.  Potts last minute work earned MTSU a one point win over FIU, and  in the year of the trey, Jon Elmore hit seven in Marshall's  road win at UTSA.

SunBelt: It appears ULL (7-3) has the only chance of catching Ark LR (11-1) who sailed by S. Bama yesterday. These two face off on Feb 13.
 WTH happened to Ark St who lost to Troy, and just when I tossed in the cards on UTA, Bilboa  scored 18 and grabbed 11 rebounds in their blowout of Georgia St.

MWC:  Aztecs beat second place New Mexico in OT to remained undefeated and increase their lead to three games. No explanation  for Boise 's loss to AFA which allowed  the surging Fresno Bulldogs  to tie them for third place. Marvell Harris  scored 37 in Fresno 2OT win over UNLV . Maybe Fresno steals  the second MWCdance ticket?

Feb 12 update on the Sunbelt: ULL gets a big win over Ark St. and ULM surprises ARK LR.. And just for my sports bud Franz. South Bama  beat Ga St thx to 27 points from Ken Williams.