CUSA hoops PREVIEW

by **indianmustang** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 8:22 am

http://msn.foxsports.com/cbk/story/4930180

by **EmeraldCityPony** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 9:56 am

I looks like winning in CUSA is going to be a lot tougher than winning in the WAC. And by winning I mean finishing in the top 3. Memphis, UAB, and Houston are definitely head and shoulders above anyone else at this point. At least in the WAC tournament there was always that chance of upsetting someone in the finals to get to the big dance. I don't see an upset happening against the likes of a Memphis or a UAB.

On the plus side maybe playing against a higher level of competition will in turn force us to play better. As long as we can take care of the games we are supposed to win, against the Marshalls and Tulsas of the conference.

by **abezontar** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 10:12 am

you mean there was always a chance for another mediocre team to win the tournament and make it to the big dance....the closeest we ever got was in March of 99 when we made it to the semi-finals of the WAC tourney in Vegas

by **Pony_Fan** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 10:51 am

abezontar wrote:you mean there was always a chance for another mediocre team to win the tournament and make it to the big dance....the closeest we ever got was in March of 99 when we made it to the semi-finals of the WAC tourney in Vegas

I think Hawaii won one year (2 years ago) and didn't have a very good regular season but came on strong in the tourney. SMU has always played horribly in the WAC tourneys.

by **SoCal_Pony** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 2:23 pm

PF,

SMU was 6-9 lifetime in the WAC tourneys, hardly â€˜horribleâ€™ given the fact that we had an all-time LOSING conference record and never, ever competed for a WAC title.

That is pretty amazing considering the overall lack of talent in that conference. Of course much of the criticism was directed at the head coach...surprise surprise.

BTW, the second FEWEST conference losses we ever had in 1 season were 8. That is a sad statistic.

by **Pony_Fan** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 3:38 pm

Maybe not horrible but it sure seemed pretty bad every year when the team would collapse and get knocked out in the 1st or 2nd round. Aside from the early 90's (when the WAC include UNLV), did they ever make it to the semi's or finals? To me, they just seemed to collapse in the tourney and not play well.

1 NIT appearance (if you could call it that) is a joke.

I really think with a different coach the Sasser group might have done better - they were decent group..... (Stallion would disagree of course)

by **EastStang** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 3:22 pm

Did you notice though that the WAC has a better RPI than CUSA this year? What it means is that the conference we left was not all that easy. I suspect that Memphis, UAB and UH will be the classes of the conference. I suspect that the great middle will be SMU, Rice and UTEP. If we can win at home and take care of business on the road against weaker teams, we should be in the top half of the conference. That would mean at least some interesting match-ups in the first round of the tournament. Speaking of the tournament, with 12 teams will there be an entry round with teams 5-12 playing into the round of 8, or will only the Top 8 get to go?

by **mrydel** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 3:56 pm

EastStang wrote:Did you notice though that the WAC has a better RPI than CUSA this year? What it means is that the conference we left was not all that easy. I suspect that Memphis, UAB and UH will be the classes of the conference. I suspect that the great middle will be SMU, Rice and UTEP. If we can win at home and take care of business on the road against weaker teams, we should be in the top half of the conference. That would mean at least some interesting match-ups in the first round of the tournament. Speaking of the tournament, with 12 teams will there be an entry round with teams 5-12 playing into the round of 8, or will only the Top 8 get to go?

I do not like to be negative but do you think the RPI may be like it is because we left the WAC and joined CUSA making WAC go up and CUSA go down?

by **Charleston Pony** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 6:44 pm

the WAC replaced us with Utah St and NM St and both have had pretty good teams in recent years.

by **Pony_Fan** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 8:17 am

Tubbs on the news "I don't mind being picked 7th, we are a young basketball team...."

PRESEASON 2005-06 C-USA COACHES' POLL
Rank Team
1. Memphis (12)
2. UAB
3. Houston
4. UTEP
5. Rice
5. Central Fla.
7. SMU
8. Southern Miss.
9. Tulsa
10. East Carolina
11. Tulane
12. Marshall

by **EmeraldCityPony** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 3:51 pm

Take care of the games you are supposed to win and win some of the ones you aren't. Then I will be happy.

by **jtstang** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 5:28 pm

EmeraldCityPony wrote:Take care of the games you are supposed to win and win some of the ones you aren't. Then I will be happy.

Gonna need input from some rookies to accomplish either of those goals...

CUSA hoops PREVIEW

CUSA hoops PREVIEW

Who is online