Showing posts with label southern mississippi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label southern mississippi. Show all posts

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.

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It might just be that our Tulane Green Wave suffered a pretty dramatic smackdown on its trip to Hattiesburg this week... but has anyone considered that there are too many teams in this conference?

On the real. Just remembering who is in Conference USA at this point is a feat in itself.

But more importantly, Conference USA has to be one of the more interesting non-major, non-mid major conferences around. Why? Well, it's weird. There are four pretty clearly divided and totally different tiers of teams in this Frankenstein of a league:

Tier Four: The Young and the Hopeless: Rice, ECU, Marshall, and probably North Texas are just getting practice time at this point. Winning 4+ games in conference is probably a goal for these squads.

Tier Three: The Three Win Wonders: Next up, there is a huge group of teams that are almost identically shaky: Tulane, UTSA, Florida International, Florida Atlantic, and UAB. They win against each other and then typically suffer pretty catastrophic drubbings against the next two tiers.

Tier Two: Shoulda Coulda Woulda: Tulsa, Old Dominion, and Charlotte all could be contenders in this type of conference in the future. But not yet. They are a pain in the neck for the better in-conference opponents, but they are all saddled by stupid losses, either out of conference or to lesser squads in the good ol' C-USA.

Tier One: Sure, every conference has this. I truly think this is a three horse race, at best, but you can make the argument that Middle Tennessee could be a Cinderella in the league tourney.

Every conference is going to have a spread of teams; I just find it funky that C-USA has this eclectic bunch of teams either just joining a superior or conference or desperately fleeing it for greener pastures in the AAC.

Here are the rankings. Last week's ranking is next to each.
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16. Rice (6-15 / 1-7 CUSA) [15th] 
Notes: Started from the bottom, now we're here. The Owls are in an all-out fight for last place with the Pirates of East Carolina. The bowl of sadness between the two teams will be on Feb. 22. 

15. East Carolina (12-10 / 1-6 CUSA) [16th]  

14. Marshall (8-15 / 2-6 CUSA) [14th]  
Notes: The Thundering Herd have not been a threat against any competent team so far this year.

13. North Texas (11-10 / 2-5 CUSA) [11th] 
Notes: Two losses this week. Plus, they suffered a 31 point drubbing at the hands of Tulsa. Stock falling.  

12. UT San Antonio (7-13 / CUSA 3-4) [13th] 
Notes: Snapped a 3-game losing streak with a win over Rice. They get to move up one, but at least they have the tough part of their schedule in the books.  

11. Florida International (11-11 / CUSA 3-4) [9th] 

10. Tulane (11-11 / CUSA 3-4) [10th] 
Notes: Probably should defense this, since the Green Wave took a beating from Southern Mississippi this weekend. Like a big one. Very similar to what we saw against Louisiana Tech earlier this year. So why keep them in the same place? None of the teams below in the rankings would have fared better, and FIU took two weaker losses. So hey, we aren't moving backwards.   

9. Florida Atlantic University (8-14 / CUSA 3-4) [12th] 
Notes: Whatever happened with their football coach? I kind of blocked that part of the football season out of my mind immediately afterward. FAU beat Marshall and stuck around a better Charlotte team. Stock rising slightly above the rest of these teams.  

8. UAB (14-7 / CUSA 3-4) [7th]  

7. Tulsa (10-11 / CUSA 5-2) [8th] 
Notes: If you want a deep sleeper pick in this conference, it should be Tulsa. They are using in-conference games to pad their winning column. They even have a win over a tourney team (home vs. Southern Miss). Good start to this half of the season. Let's see if they can keep it up.  

6. Old Dominion (10-12 / CUSA 4-3) [5th] 
Notes: Last week, I said Old Dominion's descent was about to commence. And it did. They suffered double digit losses against both Middle Tennessee and UAB. Their stock is starting to fall.

5. Charlotte (14-7 / CUSA 5-3) [6th] 

4. Middle Tennessee State (15-7 / CUSA 5-2) [4th]  

3. Louisiana Tech (18-5 / CUSA 6-2) [2nd] 
Notes: This is where I draw the line of contenders and pretenders. Louisiana Tech is a quality team, but they had a big test against UTEP, and the Miners finished the job. Only two tough games left are Tulsa and Middle Tennessee. The bigger dogs are all out of the way.  

2. UTEP (16-6 / CUSA 6-1) [3rd] 
Notes: Time to believe in the Miners of UTEP. They are riding a 6 game winning streak with victories of Louisiana Tech, UAB, and Middle Tennessee State. The matchup with Southern Mississippi on Feb. 22 is going to be a great game.  

1. Southern Mississippi (19-3 / 6-1 CUSA)
Notes: The team from Hattiesburg continues to control their own fate. They rocked our Tulane Green Wave by a margin of 31 points. They outrebound you. They outshoot you. They outplay you. One more week of this, and USM should have a chance to cracking the Top 25.

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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.

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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 

Tulane Baseball is in Houston, TX for the Conference USA Baseball Championship. I'm going to keep updating this post over the weekend to keep up with the action. But first...

THE STORY ON TULANE 

The Green Wave's storied baseball program has been in trouble this season. Coach Rick Jones faces the possibility of ending the season with the fewest wins in his 20-year career as head coach. That's never good.

Likewise, 11 seniors will graduate without a single postseason appearance during their time in Uptown --- that is, unless the Green Wave pulls off some magic this weekend.

The top eight C-USA squads make the tournament, and Tulane is seeded a modest #7. Each team is placed in a pod with three other schools - Tulane thus has #2 Southern Mississippi, #3 East Carolina, and #6 Houston on the docket. You can see the whole breakdown on C-USA's Championship Central page.

The top team from each pool advances to the final and plays for a berth into regionals.

GAME 1: TULANE VS. #2 SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI 

 Tulane lost its series against USM's Golden Eagles this season after a trip to Hattiesburg. The Green Wave will look to upset a vulnerable squad in Texas.

This is officially a wild one. Tulane scores in T6 to tie it at 7-7 after giving up 5 runs in the 5th inning.
Southern Miss trying to mount a comeback. 6-4 with Tulane leading in the bottom of the fourth.
Southern Miss at bat in B4 --- Tulane pulls pitcher.
Southern Miss homers, still trailing 5-2.
Greenies score twice in 2nd to move lead to 5-1.
Tulane gets to 3rd inning with 3-0 lead.
Texas is hot.

Green Wave fans, unfortunately, I missed a week of new power rankings last weekend while I was taking my finals. My B. Luckily, most teams had a little mid-December break in their schedules anyway, so we didn't really miss much.

Here's what the Conference USA landscape looks like with only a few games left before the conference schedule begins. Short story: the power teams are starting to emerge while some early risers have begun their descent. Here's what I'm thinking. At number 12...

12. Rice (3-8; W6 - 12th) - The Owls aren't having a good year. They are definitely the bottom feeder of the C-USA. No doubt. They took drubbings by the LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds (not a joke name) and a team called Hartford. The Owls picked up a rare win against Chicago State, but nothing else to write home about here.

11. Tulsa (6-5; W6 - 10th) - Tulsa took a bit of a beating against a solid (and ranked) Creighton team, so that's not a big deal. Giving up a big loss to U-Arkansas-Little Rock definitely hurts. Consistency has remained an issue with this team, and I don't see much upside yet with Tulsa.

10. UAB (6-6; W6 - 11th) - After a pretty devastating series of losses to start December, they haven't rallied back much. UAB took a loss to Ruters and squeaked out a win against ULouisiana-Monroe. They don't really have a signature win or anything like it that points towards a run in C-USA, so don't expect much from this team moving forward.

9. Houston (8-2; W6 - 8th) - The good news? They boast the best record in the conference right now. The bad news? They don't look good. They took an extra overtime to beat a bad Texas Southern team at home. They took a loss to Prairie View earlier this year, and they have won by two points or less to San Jose State and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. I think this team looks worse by the week, and in spite of a great non-conference record, they will see a sharp drop once we get into conference play. Think about Tulane last year after starting off with a 10-0 run. I'm not betting on Houston right now.

From MinerRush.com
8. UTEP (4-5; W6 - 9th) - UTEP is one of only two losing teams in C-USA. But it's the same old story. UTEP played a few good teams and were outmanned big time early this year. And as we know, most in-conference teams didn't play anyone yet... ya-da-ya-da-ya-da. BUT. UTEP is starting to show some life. They took the Oregon Ducks to three overtimes a couple nights ago to pick up a hard fought win. They also lost 62-60 to the #21 UNLV Rebels. Make no mistake, UTEP isn't a powerhouse, but they are picking up speed and will look to improve in conference play.

7. Marshall (7-5; W6 - 7th) - Though UTEP will soon overtake Marshall in the power rankings, I'm going to hold them at 7th this week. Since the last rankings, they took care of Coppin State and Savannah State and suffered a loss to a great #11 Cincinnati team. They lost to the team they were supposed to and beat the teams they should beat. So we'll keep them there for now.

6. SMU (8-3; W6 - 3rd) - December hasn't been good to Larry Brown's Mustangs. After starting the season 8-1, they haven't won since Dec. 1. The Mustangs took a beatdown against Rhode Island on the road and lost a relatively close one to Utah. SMU is poised to keep sinking as their schedule gets tougher.

5. East Carolina (7-2; W6 - 6th) - The Pirates get a little bump this week. Since last ranked, they went 1-1. They beat Gardner-Webb at home and also took a struggling but #21 ranked UNC to the wire in a 93-87 loss. That said, we've seen the Tar Heels falter this week against a rough Texas team, so don't get too excited. ECU is playing solid basketball on par with the middle-weights of Conference USA.

4. UCF (7-3; W6 - 2nd) - I'm not liking the Golden Knights right now. They took a 22 point defeat at home to Miami (of 'the U' variety), which is necessarily killer. Miami is a good team. But UCF isn't a bracket buster this year, at this point. That's not really the problem though. They have played a close home game against Bethune-Cookman and barely beat Old Dominion on the road. So far, UCF looks much more vulnerable than in years past, and they haven't shown much spark yet.
Josh Davis in action. From NOLA.com
3. Tulane (9-3 - W6 - 5th) - Tulane is on a bit of a hot streak right now. They smoked a bad Texas Pan-American team but did it in style: the entire bench was able to hit the floor in that game. They followed it up the next night with a 15 point home win against an alright Pepperdine squad. The Green Wave is 9-0 in its new fieldhouse. They are solidly beating middle of the road teams, especially those that can't stack up against the talents of Josh Davis and sharp shooter Jordan Callahan. There are two big questions for the Green Wave as they try to ascend into the upper echelon of C-USA. 1) Can they win on the road? So far, the answer has been no. They are 0-3 after underperforming against Georgia Tech and giving up winnable matchups against San Diego and Nebraska. 2) Can they play tough ball against UCF, Southern Mississippi, and Memphis? Last season, an injury-plagued Green Wave had nothing left for the conference schedule. For Tulane to establish itself as a top-notch program in this conference, it will need to rattle these teams for the first time in years.

2. Southern Mississippi (8-3; W6 - 3rd) - Right now, it's Memphis/Southern Mississippi and then everyone else. They had a tough run with losses against a ranked Arizona team and a solid Louisiana Tech. They battled back with big wins against Grambling and Georgia State. The next two games will show us what kind of team the Golden Eagles are: Wichita State and bracket buster Morehead State.

1. Memphis (7-3; W6 - 1st) - You want to think that Memphis has finally got it. They fell apart at the Atlantis Tournament, looked bad for a bit after that, and then finally got some steam. Then they do something like last night: make a game against the Lipscomb Bisons into a close battle... Even good teams falter, but inconsistency is killing the Tigers. Anyway, the Tigers showed their teeth a bit in a fairly close game against rival Louisville. That said, Conference USA is lacking a powerhouse team this year. Simple as that. Nevertheless, it's still Memphis's conference to win at this point.

That's my breakdown this week. Thoughts? Disagreements? Leave comments on our Facebook or on the post.


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