Showing posts with label Tulane Basketball. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tulane Basketball. Show all posts

This actually doesn't count as news at all, as apparently this has been out for a couple months. I was looking it up today though, and it was news to me, so there.

Via CBS Connecticut, Tulane men's basketball will bring the following schools to New Orleans (though the dates have not been released):

  • UCF
  • Cincinnati
  • UConn
  • Houston
  • USF
  • Memphis
  • SMU*
  • Temple
  • Tulsa
Additionally, their away opponents will consist of UCF, Cinci, UConn, East Carolina*, Houston, Memphis, USF, Temple, and Tulsa.

The two asterisk teams, SMU and East Carolina, will be the only two squads that Tulane will not place twice in the season. The AAC really threw us a bone there.

On the bright side, Tulane students and NOLA locals will get to enjoy some serious talent coming through next season. Obviously having the national championship-winning team come to your house is pretty sick, but SMU, Cinci, Memphis, SMU, and Temple will all be strong draws as well. Of course, Tulsa is coming off of a tournament appearance as well.

If Tulane was looking for a greater national presence, they certainly have found that. This should be the strongest conference schedule since the last breakdown of Conference USA, for sure.


Last night, the Green Wave managed to pull away from the UTSA Roadrunners en route to 68-56 victory at Devlin Fieldhouse.

While the Roadrunners led at the half, the Green Wave picked up the pace in the second and ultimately notched their seventh Conference USA win of the year.

This marks the first time in the Ed Conroy era that Tulane has had 7 or more wins in-conference, and the Green Wave are on the inside track to a first round bye in the Conference USA tournament.

To top it off, Jay Hook, who was 4-4 from three point land against UTEP, continued his hot streak while putting up 25 points on the Roadrunners.

Tulane picks it up again with a home matchup against Florida Atlantic, who we have at 9th in our power rankings, on Feb. 26.

This also marks another game in Tulane's streak of seven consecutive wins against C-USA teams with a worse record (matched by an 0-6 streak when facing teams with a superior record).

Tulane hosted the conference-leading UTEP Miners at Devlin Fieldhouse tonight. Of course, Miners' coach Tim Floyd brought some New Orleans roots (as a former coach of UNO) in the final in-conference, regular season matchup between these two teams.

It had the potential to be a big game, with UTEP leading our league and Tulane in 6th position in-conference. As a result, Coach Ed Conroy brought out his marketing "A game," offering up free pizzas and dollar drinks to the students in attendance:
The Green Wave has struggled with similar top in-conference talent, so the ability of the Green Wave to stick with UTEP for the first half and much of the second half was a bit of a shock.

However, late in the second half, UTEP managed to build its lead to 20 points as Tulane's three pointers slowed down. Throughout the matchup, the Green Wave was unable to establish any kind of inside game against a much bigger UTEP team.

The Green Wave finished with a 72-54 loss at the Miners' hands.

As Guerry Smith highlights below, this game will be added to the "Tale of Two Teams" year for Tulane:
On one hand, the Green Wave has accumulated a .500 C-USA record, a big feat in light of past years' struggles this time of year.

On the other hand, one can't deny that the team has not been able to show up against better teams, which is highlighted by beatdowns at the hands of UTEP, Middle Tennessee State, Southern Mississippi, Louisiana Tech, and Kansas State.

The Green Wave is still very much in the hunt for a bye in the C-USA tournament, but unless it can play up to a higher level of basketball, it remains to be seen whether the team can do anything with it.


Conference USA is starting to come down to the wire, and it just keeps getting weirder. Southern Mississippi, easily the most dominant team in the league, took two losses in the past week.

The UTEP Miners were on a similar hot streak but fell to the Florida Atlantic Owls this week, as well. So now the question is open: were these teams just due for a loss, or is the middle of the pack closer to the top than it appears.

Here are the Conference USA Power Rankings for Week 16. Click here if you want to see our last edition.

16. Rice Owls (7-17 / 2-9 CUSA) [16th] 
Notes: Stink, stank, stunk. The Owls can't catch a break, and they are tied for last with equally hapless East Carolina.

15. East Carolina Pirates (13-13 / 2-9 CUSA) [15th] 

14. University of North Texas Mean Green (12-13 / 3-8 CUSA) [13th] 

13. Marshall Thundering Herd (9-17 / 3-8 CUSA) [14th]
Notes: The Thundering Herd had only one road win on the entire season. So it would be tough to pick them when they came to Charlotte this week to face the 49ers. However, the struggling Marshall grinded out a victory against Charlotte, who is in a free fall at this point.

12. UT San Antonio  Roadrunners (8-16 / 4-7 CUSA) [12th] 

 11. Florida International Panthers (13-13 / 5-6 CUSA) [11th]
Notes: Honestly, it's kind of lazy to put FIU at 11th again this week. But this team oozes boring. They won on the road against the UTSA Roadrunners but then followed it up with a loss to UTEP. They are definitely above UTSA at this point, but even some of these teams with quirky losses have some fairly exciting wins (see Charlotte). So I will leave FIU a step below this next part of the list, I guess.

10. Charlotte 49ers (14-10 / 5-6 CUSA) [5th] 
Notes: Yeah, this is a huge drop. But the 49ers are falling apart. For starters, they are on a three game losing streak. A 23 point loss on the road to USM is whatever, but they also dropped to Tulane and the struggling Marshall. Yikes. They also have in-conference losses to Rice (the league's worst team) and UTSA. After this nightmare, I am not giving the 49ers the benefit of the doubt until they can turn things around on the court again this year. Did I mention they beat the Michigan Wolverines too? What?

9. Florida Atlantic Owls (10-16 / 5-6 CUSA) [9th] 
Notes: A home win over UAB with a crazy, upset of the UTEP Miners on the road had the Owls stock moving up. Unfortunately for them, they killed their momentum with a 13-point loss to mediocre UTSA.

8. UAB Blazers (15-10 / 4-7 CUSA) [8th] 
Notes: UAB picked up its second win over an NCAA tournament team this week after thoroughly crushing the Golden Eagles of Southern Mississippi (their previous tourney quality win was over UNC, by the way). So what gives? This seemingly helps you overlook the 1-4 run they are on. Who would have guessed that against Tulane, Florida Atlantic, East Carolina, Florida International, and USM, USM would be the lone win in the bunch?

7. Tulane Green Wave (14-12 / 6-5 CUSA) [10th] 
Notes: The Green Wave has positioned itself in a tie for sixth place with Old Dominion. The big victory came against UAB, the first win at their court since 2007, actually. Tulane is 3-1 in its last 4 games and 6-5 in the league this year. They have a shot at a decent seed in the conference tournament, and I don't think many folks expected that. However, another major loss to a decent team (this time against Middle Tennessee State) forces us to limit our expectations for the team. Until they can hang with the Big Dogs, it's tough to see them challenging too much down the stretch. They will get a chance in this next game against the UTEP Miners on Feb. 20.

6. Old Dominion Monarchs (12-14 / 6-5 CUSA) [6th] 

 5. Tulsa Golden Hurricane (13-12 / 8-3 CUSA) [7th] 
Notes: I am really liking this Tulsa team. They literally just crossed the .500 threshold on the season, but they are crushing teams in Conference USA. They are 4-1 in their last 5, and they just beat 6th place Old Dominion 76-37. That isn't a typo. When Tulsa is shooting well, they put up points. Fast.

4. Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles (21-5 / 8-3 CUSA) [1st] 
Notes: This is a pretty extreme drop, but the Golden Eagles had a pretty extreme week. A 24 point beatdown loss to UAB (in the midst of a huge slump) isn't all that damning, but failing to get it together and taking a second loss really hurts. The second defeat came at the hands of Middle Tennessee State, which puts the Blue Raiders a game above USM with a short season remaining. Moreover, the Golden Eagles likely have let their bubble burst and will need to win the conference to get in, given their lack of solid non-conference wins.

3. Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (21-6 / 9-2 CUSA) [3rd] 
Notes: With these next three teams tied at 9-2, it's pretty tough to split them up at this point. Louisiana Tech gets the short straw. They have been winning, but they definitely drew the easiest schedule of the bunch. With only one above .500 team left for the year though, you have to expect the Bulldogs to be a serious threat for the top seed.

2. UTEP Miners (19-7 / 9-2 CUSA) [2nd] 
Notes: I continue to think the Miners are a better team than Middle Tennessee State. However, UTEP lost to Florida Atlantic, while Middle Tennessee wrecked both Tulane and USM (both above .500 teams). So I will give the Blue Raiders a nod this week, but I expect UTEP to be the better team in the end.

1. Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders (19-7 / 9-2 CUSA) [4th] 
Notes: This is the first week that I have picked MTSU. They are riding a seven game winning streak, and they took care of business against the Golden Eagles. They will get a chance to defend their right to be at the top with a road matchup against Louisiana Tech on the horizon.

Make sure to follow FearTheWave.com on Facebook, too. 

Winning on the road in Conference USA has never been a strong suit of the the Green Wave. Last season, armed with all-conference players like Josh Davis and Ricky Tarrant, they only managed the feat a grand total of two times.

On Saturday night, the Green Wave held on for a clutch 86-80 victory against UAB to find its first win in Alabama since 2007. Additionally, they managed to hold the lead for much of the game and ultimately grind out a victory with several players in foul trouble.

Tre Drye had a breakout game, highlighted by 21 points at 7-9 from the field (he also grabbed 9 rebounds and 3 steals). Louis Dabney nearly matched him with 20 points. Freshman Cameron Reynolds even came off the bench to add another 11.

This marked a solid all-around performance for the team after a disappointing 27-point loss to Middle Tennessee State.

It also brought the Green Wave back into sixth place in Conference USA at 6-5 on the season. Their next matchup will bring a strong UTEP Miners squad back to Devlin on Feb. 20.

As Tulane has beaten every team with a worse record (6 victories) so far this year, the Green Wave should be able to handle the UTSA, Florida Atlantic, and FIU games that follow. However, the regular season will end with another matchup against the dreaded Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles.

UAB has shown flashes of greatness this year, upsetting the UNC Tar Heels while they were still ranked and most recently crushing USM by 24 points. While UAB isn't a contender in the conference, this was definitely a needed boost after some tough defeats.

For tonight, great work to the team, and roll wave.

Also, check out the sick UAB locker room in the picture above... just a side note. But yeah, go Tulane!

The Marshall Thundering Herd are in town today for a 1 PM matchup against Tulane. The Green Wave will look to seize an opportunity to boost their 4-4 in-conference record above .500 on the year.

Of course, Tulane is coming off of a great home win against the Charlotte 49ers, perhaps the most erratic squad in the conference this season.

Let's put it this way... Charlotte (now 5-4 in CUSA) has wins over Kansas State, UTEP, and the top-10 Michigan Wolverines. The flip side: their losses on the road now include both Tulane and Rice.

The Green Wave definitely established some momentum against a competent opponent in that game, capped off by Jay Hook nailing two go-ahead free throws for the win. Although, it should be noted that the 49ers almost hit a crazy buzzer beater. Check out the fan video below.


So turning to the Marshall Thundering Herd, here is the breakdown.

1. Marshall isn't very good this year. Their record of 8-16 is pretty reflective of the season they have been having. They have only two wins in-conference so far, over the struggling Rice Owls as well as Florida International. We had them ranked 14th coming into this week in our Power Rankings.

2. Senior forward Elijah Pittman is a prolific scorer. His 21.1 points per game makes him the biggest threat on this squad, hands down.

3. Marshall has only won one game on the road this season (a Jan. 23 victory over Rice). Other than that, they have not had success away from West Virginia.

4. That said, the Thundering Herd are coming off perhaps the best game they've played this year... They took the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles to the wire in Hattiesburg, ultimately falling 60-57. As you probably remember, USM mauled Tulane in Devlin last week.

This should be a good opportunity for Coach Conroy to notch another win with several tougher games coming down the road. Roll wave.

Hope everyone back in New Orleans is enjoying the snow day... It's -10 in Michigan right now. Every day is a snow day.

Anyway, we are getting deeper into the Conference USA season, and the contenders and pretenders are starting to separate. The clear surprise of the season so far has been Old Dominion, but the Monarchs are about to come back to earth.

The bigger mover, in my opinion, is the UTEP Miner squad. They are starting to make a case for a "group of three" sitting atop the league.

Here are my power rankings for Week 13 of the college basketball season. You can see last week's rank next to each listing.
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16. East Carolina (11-9 // 0-5 CUSA) [10th] 
Notes: According to Twitter, some World Wrestling event referred to East Carolina as the "Harvard of the South." Sadly for the Pirates, they don't even stack up to Harvard's basketball team this year.

15. Rice Owls (6-13 // 1-5 CUSA) [16th] 

14. Marshall Thundering Herd (7-14 // 1-5 CUSA) [15th] 

13. UT San Antonio (6-12 // 2-3 CUSA) [14th] 
Notes: The Roadrunners are on a three game losing streak. They luckily will place the Rice Owls on Jan. 30 in a bottomfeeder frenzy. Something's gotta give.

12. Florida Atlantic (7-13 // 2-3 CUSA) [13th] 

 11. North Texas (11-9 // 2-4 CUSA) [9th] 
Notes: UNT will probably move up a bit, as they are coming off losses to Charlotte and Middle Tennessee, two of the better team in-conference. At 1-5 so far though, the Mean Green will be most irrelevant this year.

10. Tulane (11-10 // 3-3 CUSA) [12th] 
Notes: The good? Tulane picked up some needed momentum with a home win against Rice followed by a road win against ECU. The bad news? They couldn't pull out a comeback over Old Dominion, and they head to Southern Mississippi next. The Green Wave will have to stay strong in their weaker games if they want to reach .500 in-conference.

9. Florida International (11-9 // 3-2) [11th] 

8. Tulsa (9-11 // 4-2 CUSA) [7th] 
Notes: What a crazy team. Their stock fell after a home loss to UAB, but they have wins over Middle Tennessee and Southern Miss... and an overtime loss to Charlotte wasn't bad. Tulsa doesn't have the consistency to go for the title, but they are dangerous when they're on.

7. UAB (13-6 // 2-3 CUSA) [6th] 

6. Charlotte (12-7 // 3-3 CUSA) [3rd] 
Notes: The 49ers are another team that makes no sense this year. They took down a Michigan team that later toppled an extremely talented Michigan State this past weekend. Would they throw down in-conference? Not looking like it. They suffered a loss to a good Louisiana Tech team... but then they inexplicably dropped to the Rice Owls this week. Yikes.

5. Old Dominion (10-10 // 4-1 CUSA) [8th] 
Notes: My prediction is that this will be the highest I rank Old Dominion this year, as they continue to exceed all reasonable expectations. They take care of business against weak teams, and their only loss is to USM. My guess is that they don't have the talent to handle any of the top tier in this league but will pad their record against the bottom two thirds of the conference. No disrespect, but the Monarchs just don't seem to be a contender team right now.

4. Middle Tennessee State (13-7 // 3-2 CUSA) [5th] 

3. UTEP (14-6 // 4-1 CUSA) [4th] 
Notes: The Miners' stock is rising. They have usurped Charlotte as the scrappy dark horse this week with the 49ers various failings. That said, the Miners have done some good in their own right. Four game winning streak? Check. But Louisiana Tech is next for their first big test in-conference.

2. Louisiana Tech (17-4 // 5-1 CUSA) [2nd] 
Notes: Laid a 20 point smackdown on Charlotte. Lousiana Tech basically has a road trip to El Paso followed by a whole lot of nothing after that. If they get past UTEP, it wouldn't be a shocker to see the Bulldogs run the table.

1. Southern Mississippi (18-3 // 5-1 CUSA) [1st] 
Notes: The Golden Eagles are in "don't shoot ourselves in the foot" mode. They already beat Louisiana Tech, so they just need to take care of business this week against Tulane and Marshall. USM is still the clear front runner for the top seed going into the conference tournament.

Follow fearthewave.com on Facebook too. 

Tulane's two-game win streak was snapped last night by the Old Dominion Monarchs on a road trip to Norfolk.

For virtually the entire game, the Monarchs possessed a solid lead over the Green Wave, yet Tulane managed to make it a two-possession game in the last 60 seconds following a Jonathan Stark three pointer.

The magic wasn't there, however, and the Monarchs were able to make enough free throws to escape the Green Wave's comeback attempt. The conclusion was a 70-64 loss on the Monarchs' court.

With the loss, Tulane drops to 3-3 in Conference USA while Old Dominion moves to 4-1 (and 10-10 on the year, weirdly enough).

The Green Wave's shooting struggled throughout the game, nailing only 19 of 49 field goals (38% from the field). In addition to Stark's team-leading 21 points, Jay Hook posted 14 and Louis Dabney put up 17.

Tulane has a short break until its final game of the road trip: a brutal matchup against a strong Southern Mississippi team in Hattiesburg on Feb. 1. The Green Wave is now 11-10 on the year.

Follow Fear the Wave on Facebook. 

Tulane basketball continues its road trip with a stop at Old Dominion today to face the Monarchs. Here's our preview of the game.

Team Records: Tulane (11-9 / 3-2 CUSA) @ Old Dominion (9-10 / 3-1 CUSA)

 Game Time: 6 PM Central

Tulane Storyline: The Green Wave is actually on the upswing. A calamitous non-conference schedule gave way to a decent start in Conference USA at 3-2. Tulane will look to notch another rare road win to keep a two game win streak alive.

Old Dominion Storyline: The Monarchs took a lot of losses in November and December, yet Old Dominion managed to make its C-USA debut with a 3-0 start. A loss to Southern Miss brought them back to earth, as the Monarchs are a middle-of-the-pack team at best.

Rankings (KenPom.com):  Tulane (#269) vs. Old Dominion (#160)

C-USA Ranking (Fear the Wave): Tulane (#12) vs. Old Dominion (#8)

Guys to Watch: Jay Hook drained three huge 3 pointers in the final two minutes to take down East Carolina on the road. Tulane will need to make this a close game on the road and grind in the final minutes to find another victory. On the Monarchs' side, Aaron Bacote is the guy. He leads the team in scoring at 17.6.

Spread: Tulane +8.5
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 

Here's your weekend link roundup of Green Wave stories. Since last week...

1. Ed Conroy gets another addition to next year's freshman class. LA Times reports that Josh Hearlihy, a Harvard-Westlake product, will be taking his talent to New Orleans. He's 6'7" and formerly was headed to play for Utah. Here's the full story on JH.

2. Yulman Stadium, the new on-campus football facility, is on its way to 2014 completion, according to the Times Pic. Pretty aggressive construction schedule, all things considered. Couple of interesting quotes on the new stadium as a recruiting tool.

3. Tulane QB Ryan Griffin made the front page of NFL.com. See that here. In a story about the "diamonds in the rough" of this year's draft class, they cite Griffin as a talented passer who could make waves in his NFL future.

4. Roll Bama Roll announces that former Tulane guard Ricky Tarrant is officially signed to the Crimson Tide. So it goes. That's all I have to say there.

5. Here's Peter Woullard's Instagram announcing his decision to play football for the Green Wave. Woo social media. Full story on the St. Augustine recruit here.
Coach Ed Conroy has signed a fourth 2013 recruit for Tulane basketball. Josh Hearlihy, a 6'7" prep school prospect, has committed to join the Green Wave.

Hearlihy originally committed to Utah earlier in his senior year, but eventually his college search turned to Davidson, Tulane, and Santa Clara.

Adam Finkelstein, northeast recruiting czar for ESPN, confirmed it here: 
Make sure to follow Fear the Wave on Twitter. 

Check out the video below of Hearlihy from his season at Northfield Mount Hermon. He previously played out west for the Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles. 

Kid is a scorer inside with some mid-range ability to boot. Looks like a much-needed late signing period addition for the Green Wave.

Other Buzz:

In a move that will likely shock no one... former Tulane star Ricky Tarrant announced that he will be taking his talent to Alabama.
Tarrant told an Alabama paper that: "It was about representing the state of Alabama and coming back to play basketball in my home state." Whatever that means.

Unlike some of his transferring comrades, Tarrant is a sophomore and thus will have to sit out the 2013-2014 season for the Crimson Tide.

As a former runner-up for Alabama's Mr. Basketball title, Tarrant drew interest from the likes of Butler, Ohio State, and Marquette. Nonetheless, there was little doubt for outsiders that Tarrant was headed to 'Bama.

After the Tulane guard appeared at Alabama's NIT matchup last month, fans figured a move could be in the works.

Scott Kushner of The Advocate pretty much hit the nail on the head with this one.
So it goes. But still...



Basketball season is over, and the 2013 baseball campaign continues on... So mostly Tulane made headlines for football news this past week. Here is a link roundup.

1. Tulane might be sporting a new helmet look, according to SB Nation. Players showed off 7 new potential helmet designs with a few new logo schemes for the football team.

2. From NOLA.com, the Tulane matchup against new conference foe Louisiana Tech will be moved to a Thursday night (Sep. 12) for a national TV broadcast.

3. Tammy Nunez reports that ex-Tulane guard Ricky Tarrant is making his anticipated visit to Alabama this weekend. The CUSA second-team guard confirmed that report via Twitter.

4. Former Tulane QB merited some attention after his Tulane pro day, held at the Saints practice facility, the Hullabaloo reports. CB Travis Smith laid it down, as well.

That's all for now. Follow Fear the Wave on Twitter.

So... if you know anything about Tulane basketball, you are aware that today was crazy. The Green Wave program - fresh off its first postseason appearance in 13 years - was rocked by a rapid series of transfers by key members of the program.

You can read a million articles with news of the unexpected exodus from Ed Conroy's program. Like here, here, here, and finally... here too. Conference USA first team selection Josh Davis, second team selection Ricky Tarrant, redshirt senior Ben Cherry, and Lotanna Nwogbo are headed out of the program.

Here's a little breakdown of the action on Twitter.

First, Ricky Tarrant declares that he's transferring out of the program:
Tulane beat writer Scott Kushner confirms that Tarrant would be granted a release and announced two other departing players:
Graduating senior Kendall Timmons - after retweeting several messages about the transfers - tweets:
Big man Lotanna Nwogbo follows with the announcement of his departure with his take on the situation:
Marc-Eddy Norelia, a current member of the team, comments:

And finally... a Green Wave fan pretty much hits the nail on the head with this one:
So there you have it. In spite of a pretty promising season, the team has changed its dynamic dramatically. Worse yet, it's pretty evident that it wasn't a coincidence that these players left at the same time.

Tulane men's basketball doesn't take the court again until Feb. 23 against a fairly horrific Rice team. So in the meantime, it's worth taking a look at where the team is, at this stage, compared to previous years.

At 17-9 with five games left in the regular season, it is clear that the Green Wave came back to earth after a dominant non-conference season against weak teams. We all knew that would happen, at some level.

That said, four of the last five games this year are against teams in the bottom half of the Conference USA standings: Rice, UAB, Houston, and East Carolina. The fifth game will feature Tulsa, a team Tulane already beat on the road.

If Tulane were to finish 3-2, this would give the Green Wave a 20-win season, a feat that the team hasn't achieved since 1999. Yep. Take that in. No Tulane squad achieved 20 or more wins in the first decade of this millenium.

Worse yet, in that span, no Tulane team achieved more than 17 wins in a single season. As a result, with five games remaining, the Green Wave has already tied its best mark in quite a while... Here's a breakdown of Tulane's record, all-time.

Wow. While there is certainly more work to be done, it is evident that Tulane is heading in a different direction as it prepares for Big East entry in 2014. And of course, that's good news.

UTEP - from MinerRush.com
Green Wave fans. Your 12-3 Tulane men's basketball team takes on its first conference rival tomorrow: UTEP. If you haven't seen my posts on Twitter or Facebook (meaning you aren't following FTW yet and totally should), the game is at 7 PM on Wednesday at the Devlin Fieldhouse.

Tulane hasn't lost a game yet in its rebranded home gym. Let's keep that going. If you live in NOLA or have returned from break, be there. Here's why:

1. UTEP is going to be the toughest home game Tulane will play. They are a top 100 RPI team, and they played the 22nd hardest schedule so far. They have been tested, and they can stick with anybody (they almost upset UNLV a couple of weeks back).

2. Tulane's on a roll. Alabama was a monster road win. UTEP's own fan blog puts Tulane as the top team in the conference right now. To keep that momentum going, Tulane needs to take care of UTEP.

3. This should be the biggest home crowd since Georgia Tech last year. So if you have the chance to see a rare solidly attended Tulane event, why would you miss that.

And to that end... here's my prep sheet for the student section for some reasonably tasteful cheers and jeers.




Josh Davis defends against Alabama 
The road hasn't treated Tulane well much this season. Luckily, the Green Wave has boasted a perfect home record so far.

While winning close road games has proven somewhat elusive, Tulane arrived in Tuscaloosa with an opportunity to turn the tide.

And that they did. Tulane downed a solid but slumping Alabama Crimson Tide in a 53-50 thriller. The offense struggled: a 36% field goal percentage proved that. Nonetheless, clutch shooting and lockdown defense buoyed the team in this grinding matchup.

In the end, Jordan Callahan took the game into his own hands. He nailed back-to-back threes in the final two minutes to hold on to a narrow lead. Josh Davis showed his superstar ability with another clutch double-double: 18 points and 12 rebounds. Rather than fouling Alabama (who held the final possession), Tulane forced Rodney Cooper of Alabama to miss a final opportunity to tie at the buzzer.

All in all, this game thematically represented a big shift from earlier losses against Nebraska and San Diego. In the final ten minutes - on a court outside of New Orleans - the Green Wave traded blows and refused to surrender the lead.

So what does this mean for Tulane's big picture? Depends how you look at it. As the Alabama blogs noted before this win, Tulane's 10 wins all were previously against teams ranking 221st or worse in Ken Pomeroy's analysis.

Fair point. Tulane has succeeded largely by rocking lesser competition with a great level of consistency. This win definitely changes that perspective a little bit. Alabama ranked 68th in that same measurement of offensive/defensive efficiency and schedule strength. So if nothing else, Tulane acquires a little credibility and confidence.

Photo of the win from @CoachAndyFox on Twitter
That said, Alabama's early season 7-0 rise (which was even highlighted by a few weeks receiving votes in the polls) gave way to a pretty abysmal December. They lost 4 out of their last five (two to tournament teams, Cincinnati and VCU, admittedly). So basically, the Crimson Tide was definitely on the ropes. They needed this win badly.

They aren't playing like an elite team right now, but they had the weapons to win on their home court. They badly needed to win a game like this to route the ship back on course. However, Tulane showed up ready to win this game. Plain and simple. And I don't think you can really diminish the value of that.

Tulane will finish its non-conference season this week with a Jan. 4th matchup against a weak Wofford team. If they can maintain this level of play, they will enter Conference USA with a 12-3 record, 9-0 at the remodeled Devlin Fieldhouse.

While the Green Wave will have to answer some big questions against teams like Memphis, Southern Mississippi, and UTEP down the road, they have established momentum in this midseason. The players don't control scheduling. They took care of business when it counted and will look to translate this into a solid start in conference play.

Tonight, it's all about the roll wave.

Reax on Twitter:



The Big Easy brought its A-game to the Big Apple. Tulane laid a second half smackdown on Hofstra for an 83-62 finish in a road matchup at the Barclays Center - the home of the new Brooklyn Nets.

The story of the day? Another slow start followed by a hot second half. But unlike unfortunate losses at Nebraska and San Diego on the road, the Green Wave showed its mettle and lit up the second half.

Guard Ricky Tarrant was the headliner in this game, stealing the limelight from Josh Davis in a stellar 28 point performance.

Davis continued his trend of consistent great play with 18 points and only a rebound short of a double-double. Jordan Callahan also finished well with 15 points.

Hofstra hasn't been a strong team, for sure. They were 3-7 coming into this matchup. However, they did pull off a nice upset of C-USA's Marshall Thundering Herd earlier this year. Getting out of the Barclays Center with a nice road win was critical to building momentum as the tougher schedule approaches.



The team will have an 8 day break before heading to Tuscaloosa, AL to take on the Crimson Tide. Alabama, of course, had a hot start this season and earned some poll votes in the process. Tulane will have a chance to upset a good team on the road and gain some confidence. Good win, and roll wave.


The middle of the pack isn't giving up much ground as Conference USA continues to improve its collective record against weak non-conference opponents. That said, here's my breakdown of C-USA in week 6:

12. Rice (2-5; W5 - 12th) - The Rice Owls aren't looking any better. This week, they added a home loss to Drexel and an 8 point victory over Houston Baptist to their resume. On the bright side, they doubled their season win total, so that's pretty legit... Nothing to see here. Moving right along...

11. UAB (4-5; W5 - 9th) - UAB's stock continues to drop. A blowout defeat against UNC is not a season ender, but UAB failed to rebound four days later when they suffered another blowout loss against Middle Tennessee State. At this point, UAB's dragon lacks teeth, and it's starting to show as their schedule gets tougher.

10. Tulsa (5-3; W5 - 11th) - Tulsa gets a slight bump since they didn't shoot themselves in the foot. They went 1-1 this week. Their blowout victory against Missouri State was nice, but they took a loss against a pretty solid Wichita State Shockers team. We'll see what Tulsa has down the road, but they haven't shown much fight thus far, to be honest.

9. UTEP (2-4; W5 - 8th) - UTEP was off this week, but Houston is starting to look like better squad after adding a few nice wins. The Miners will take on Idaho State this week, so don't expect them to post a big time success immediately. They will take a shot at both ranked UNLV and Oregon after that, so we'll watch the Miners for later this month. We won't really know how good UTEP is until we get into conference play. Their non-conference schedule was way tougher than most teams in C-USA; that said, they didn't capitalize on any upset opportunities. Lot of questions left here.

8. Houston (6-2; W5 - 10th) - They finished this week 1-1. They took a loss against Texas A&M, but a win against TCU makes their resume look a little bit brighter. Houston's record is good, but the team still has some work to do to show its strength. Ken Pom rates their schedule strength as the second easiest in basketball so far. Not good.

7. Marshall (5-4; W5 - 4th) - Marshall's early season strength is looking more like a mirage. They took a beating against Charlotte and narrowly pulled out a 3 point win against a mediocre UNC-Wilmington team this week. Even some of their early successes look a little less valuable at this point. They beat Villanova early, but so did everyone else now. Two overtimes to beat a bad Hofstra team that SMU just rocked also doesn't do much for me. I'm thinking Marshall's stock is falling.

6. East Carolina (6-1; W5 - 7th) - East Carolina is up to 6-1. Even Ken Pomeroy's computer sees Tulane and East Carolina in a dead heat, so I am going to give my Green Wave the benefit of the doubt here. ECU has some spark; they are nationally in the top 30 for scoring. They have a week off while they prepare for an in-state game against their enemies at Chapel Hill.

5. Tulane (7-2; W5 - 6th) - Tulane went 2-0 this week with solid wins over Navy and Nicholls St. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Neither Navy nor Nicholls St. had much to contend with. BUT. Tulane is still perfect on their home court. So there's that. At any rate, Tulane has some cupcakes on the schedule before a tough road matchup at Alabama on Dec. 30. That game will give us a better sense of where Tulane is in the grand scheme of things.

4. Southern Mississippi (6-2; W5 - 2nd) - I'm only going to drop the Golden Eagles a couple spots despite going 0-2 this week. Their loss against a lame New Mexico State team was pretty disappointing. That said, they rebounded and stayed close with #8 Arizona until the final minutes while on the road. They kept it interesting, and that's pretty good for Conference USA.

3. Southern Methodist (8-1; W5 - 5th) - The Mustangs like to win. Larry Brown's team improves to 8-1 after a beatdown victory at Hofstra and another victory against Utah. Not too shabby. There's not much to say about a relatively bland offense and defense, but the Mustangs have clicked so far. They'll keep racking up non-conference wins against a Mickey Mouse schedule while they're at it. Good stuff.

2. UCF (4-2; W5 - 3rd) - The Golden Knights added one more win in a blowout against a nobody Florida Tech team. So there. Until SMU plays someone or UCF decides to throw a wrench into their season, I don't think there will be much movement at the top.

1. Memphis (5-2; W5 - 1st) - Memphis wrecked a fairly solid Ohio Bobcats squad in a game that finally made the Tigers look like a team that deserved to Battle For Atlantis. Or Battle 4 Atlantis. Or #Battle4Atlantis. Or whatever the stupid reality show name tournament they faltered in early this season was called. So the Tigers have that going for them. On the 15th, they will take on a stellar Louisville team though. We'll see how that goes.
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