Conference USA Power Rankings: Week 12

Green Wave fans. It's been about a month since the New Orleans Bowl marked the end of Tulane's football season. So I guess it is about time to jump into this exciting Conference USA basketball season...

I kid, but people liked the power rankings throughout football, so I am going to bring them back for the remainder of the in-conference schedule. Let me know what you think on Twitter (@fearthewaveblog) or in the comments, as always.

WEEK 12 - CONFERENCE USA BASKETBALL POWER RANKINGS 

16. RICE OWLS (5-12 / 0-4 CUSA) 
Notes: Rice is real bad this year. An 0-4 start in CUSA is disastrous, and a beatdown by Tulane didn't help matters. Rice will remain a bottomfeeder in this conference, even with some new contenders for that title in the mix this year.

15. MARSHALL THUNDERING HERD (6-13 / 0-4) 
Notes: Marshall and Rice play next to determine who will sink a bit further for next week's edition.

14. UT SAN ANTONIO (6-11 / 2-2 CUSA) 
Notes: Ken Pomeroy actually has this as the worst team in Conference USA. Remember that newly D1-A football team that broke Tulane's season in football, impressive in its youth and potential. Evidently, that narrative doesn't apply at all for the Roadrunners in basketball. The travesty is that the Roadrunners football team and basketball team will have the same postseason hopes in the 2013-2014 seasons...

13. FLORIDA ATLANTIC OWLS (6-12 / 2-2 CUSA) 

12. TULANE GREEN WAVE (10-9 / 2-2 CUSA) 
Notes: What a weird year. First with the exodus of players back in the spring and then the 8 freshmen Coach Ed Conroy had to prepare for college basketball. Tulane just isn't clicking yet. I don't know how to define it, but this week paints a pretty clear picture: the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs held Tulane to the fewest field goals ever for the team... they respond by shellacking an undermanned Rice squad. I expect 2014 to look very similar: win some games against the other scrappy CUSA teams, and get the youth ready for a move to the AAC.

11. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL (10-9 / 2-2 CUSA) 
Notes: Notched a nice win against East Carolina, but they put up 36 points against Old Dominion. What?

10. EAST CAROLINA (11-7 / 0-3 CUSA) 

9. NORTH TEXAS MEAN GREEN (10-8 / 1-3 CUSA) 

8. OLD DOMINION MONARCHS (9-3 / 3-0 CUSA) 
Notes: Did anyone know that they were called the Monarchs? I pride myself on a fair amount of team name trivia, and this came out of nowhere for me. They are 3-0 in conference so far, but this Monarch will prove to be a pretender going forward.

7. TULSA GOLDEN HURRICANE (8-10 / 3-1 CUSA) 
Notes: Tulsa is trying to keep it weird out in Oklahoma. Their non-conference season was easily forgettable, but they have shown some heart in this early conference season. A smackdown of Tulane was pretty unexpected given both teams' records, but Tulsa looks to be a cut above the rest.

6. UAB DRAGONS (12-5 / 1-2 CUSA) 
Notes: UAB still owns a non-conference win over the UNC Tar Heels, which has to be the strongest win in the conference this year. They took a close loss to UTEP this week. That game kind of was a test for me. I am not betting on the Dragons to emerge as a top dog. They will batter the lesser CUSA talent, but I don't thing they can hang with a Louisiana Tech or Southern Miss to contend for the crown in the end.

5. MIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE BLUE RAIDERS (12-6 / 2-1 CUSA) 

4. UTEP MINERS (13-6 / 3-1 CUSA) 
Notes: Took care of Middle Tennessee State and UTEP, two of the stronger threats in the league. Their lone conference loss is to Charlotte.

3. CHARLOTTE 49ERS (12-5 / 3-1 CUSA) 
Notes: I know so little about this new CUSA team, but they are probably peaking too early. They survived an overtime scare on the road against Tulsa, and they even managed to beat a reasonably solid UTEP team. Their conference loss? UT San Antonio... No good.

2. LOUISIANA TECH BULLDOGS (3-1 / 15-4) 

1. SOUTHERN MISS GOLDEN EAGLES (16-3 / 3-1 CUSA) 
Notes: I had Southern Miss as my top pick in CUSA coming into this season, and they deserve to be near the top. Great overall record, but a loss to Tulsa took some of the wind out of the Hurricane in the early season. They did manage to take care of a very good Louisiana Tech team in a home victory last night. To me, that represents a big momentum shift for this team in a "test" type of game. However, I do think Louisiana Tech is going to end up winning the conference when it's all said and done. The Bulldogs are a much more efficient defense than the Eagles, and their offensive firepower is pretty comparable. They won't meet again until the CUSA Conference Championship.

Let me know what you think. We'll check in again next week. @fearthewaveblog