FGCU 6-5
6-5 FGCU’s stats are atypical so far this year – only .389 from the field, 3rd in the ASun; only .620 from the line (worst in the ASun); worst rebound margin in the ASun (-9.1); a negative scoring margin (-0.4). But this is skewed by the fact that, more than any other ASun team, FGCU seeks out ranked teams from power conferences to play (#6 Stanford, #12 LSU, UVA). Common opponents give them a clear edge. USF beat Stetson 72-68, but lost to FGCU 60-55. Stetson beat Bethune Cookman 77-63; but FGCU beat them 71-38. Stats be damned – until somebody beats them on the floor, they are tops in the ASun. Losses from last year have been partially offset by the return of 6’3” Rs-So guard Whitney Knight from ACL surgery (with 12.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 2.8 blocks per game)and the addition of VCU transfer Kaneisha Atwater (7.0 ppg, 3.2 rpg). But also by the improvement of So. Stephanie Haas (13.4 ppg, 3.5 rpg) and R-Jr Jenna Cobb (7.8 ppg and 3.5 rpg). As this team, composed mostly of sophomores, gets more experience, they should improve.

STETSON 8-4
8-4 Stetson has a better overall record, but does clearly worse against common opponents USF and Bethune Cookman. This is true even though they have better stats: better rebounding margin (+3.9) better scoring margin (+8.5) better field goal percentage (.449 to .389) etc . . They have made up for severe losses with freshmen – guard Brianti Saunders (15.5 ppg on .377 from 3, 5.2 ppg) and 6’3” Fr post Amber Porter (12.1 ppg, 8.6 rpg, and 4 blocks per game). As well as from the improvement of players like Sasha Sims (18.6 ppg and 4.4 rpg). Lynn Bria is becoming a name as well known as Karl Smesko in coaching circles.

MERCER 7-4
7-4 Mercer is the other ‘good’ ASun team, with an excellent 75-72 near miss against Wisconsin on neutral turf. But they lost to a Georgia Southern team that was beaten by North Florida, and did no better against Furman than USCU, and no better against Jacksonville State than a weak Lipscomb team. Their stats are also not that strong: negative rebounding (-0.4), negative scoring (-1.0), only .374 from the field and .241 from 3. From here, it’s a big drop to the rest of the ASun.

NORTHERN KENTUCKY 4-7
4-7 for Northern Kentucky doesn’t sound like much: but they started the season by beating Cincinnati 77-61 and Illinois State 61-48, both on their home court. And although they’ve only won twice since (Robert Morris and UT Martin on neutral turf), they’ve had an excellent string of opponents: Western Kentucky, Miami of Ohio, Butler, IUPUI, Ball State, Youngstown State, etc.. The ladies are a lot like the guys – on paper, it looks like you should kill them. On the floor, it turns out to be a lot harder than it looks. Melody Doss is a strong candidate for POY, with 18.1 ppg on .429 from 3, and 7.6 rpg. Kayla Thacker is an all conference candidate with 12.3 ppg on .370 from 3 and 5.7 rpg.

USCU 5-6
5-6 USCU has had an interesting December, beating 6-6 Furman and 3-8 UNC Asheville, and coming within 65-62 of 9-2 Virginia Tech in Blacksburg in their last 3 games. Their overall stats are not strong (.364 from the field, .267 from 3; negative rebounding -5.7, and negative scoring -8.7). But they may be finding a new gear. Or they may just have caught the Lady Hokies on an off night.

ETSU 4-7
4-7 ETSU has changed remarkably from last year – rebounding has dropped (-0.8) as have blocks, but scoring is much more efficient (.432 from the field up from .374 and .343 from 3 up from .264). December has been a busy month, closed with wins over Indiana State and George Mason, and a strong showing against 10-3 UTC (5th ranked Midmajor, having defeated Auburn and Alabama, and lost by 9 to UT). They are playing smarter and more efficiently, even without Destiny Mitchell. Serena Clark is putting up all conference numbers, averaging 12.7 ppg on .543 from the field with 10.9 rpg (3rd in the ASun) and a block. Cara Bowling is shooting .378 from 3, Chandler Christopher .375 and Briana McQueen .357, as well as 4th in the league in assists with 4.2 per game. There is room for improvement as new Coach Ezell and the players learn about each other. FGCU and Stetson may be hard to reach without Destiny – nobody else is clearly better.

JACKSONVILLE 3-8
3-8 Jacksonville has done better than UNF against common opponents Tennessee State, Georgia Southern and Edward Waters.

UNF 4-7
4-7 UNF’s wins are all against weak teams: D-IIEdward Waters, 3-8 Samford, 1-9 Air Force, 3-9 Georgia Southern. Of course, their losses are mostly all against strong ones (with one ugly home loss to Tennessee State), so it’s hard to predict how they’ll do against the middling ASun. This is a strong rebounding team (+4.5) that doesn’t shoot that well (.379 from the field and .308 from 3).

LIPSCOMB 3-7
3-7 Lipscomb has already beaten Tennessee State (UNF did not), Jacksonville State and Gardner Webb. So this year is already better than last.

KENNESAW STATE 1-9
1-9 Kennesaw has beaten Tennessee State, UNF did not. So they’ve got that going for them. However they lost to Gardner Webb and Jacksonville State. Nowhere to go but up.