(10-07-2014 06:45 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  

(10-07-2014 03:36 PM)DxfanMiner Wrote:  UTEP vs La Tech in the Tourny final in the "ham" calling it now.

Gutsy call since those are the top two teams picked. Will you go further out on a limb and pick ODU and Charlotte in the semi finals?

I'll take Rice and North Texas.

(10-07-2014 03:40 PM)MT FAN Wrote:  

(10-07-2014 03:21 PM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  

(10-07-2014 03:05 PM)HogDawg Wrote:  

(10-07-2014 01:51 PM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  Where are the other teams?

They said you guys don't need to bother showing up...........




Just kidding, of course. I would say CUSA is a very strong mens basketball conference, and a number of teams not mentioned in the 4 above (including WKU) could make a run this year.

Experience wise we should, but who knows....We are very weak in the post besides Fant and last season he was in constant foul trouble....Hopefully he learns to stay on the court this season....

You guys are going to get killed in the post. CUSA is a big step up as far as the biggs go. A 6-6 post player in Fant and a tall lanky guy isn't gonna get it done in this conference.

Yes that is what I have been basically saying on the local WKU boards about not getting a big JUCO guy who is not skinny and tall like our 2 center...Instead we signed a 6th 6-5 guard who is no longer on the team, I have stated that would come back to haunt us....

I have gotten killed on WKU MB for even questioning almighty Harper and received criticism for essentially comparing CUSA to the Big Ten....I never said CUSA is like the Big 10 in the post but at least last season their were some legit bigger guys down low and not skinny frail white guys in which we have...I believe we really needed to get a guy who at least weight more than 185 lbs and taller than 6-6, and we did not...It may not matter this season but I think it will, especially since our 2 centers have injury histories.......Maybe all of those guys are gone from last season ( I hope so) but that is the one difference I noticed between the 2 conferences at least last season...

(10-07-2014 06:28 PM)Niner National Wrote:  

(10-07-2014 06:19 PM)olliebaba Wrote:  Let me offer this advice for charlotte, odu, and wku. Don't get too ahead of yourselves. Any team in this league can beat you. We certainly found out when in our house FiU took us to the wood shed. MT who was beating it's chest (even though they still wound up tied for first) lost to us in both games. Even though I thought that we were stronger than so.miss their little runts (I say this respectfully) beat us twice too. They had our number. But...(snicker, snicker,) you'll learn.

You haven't followed Charlotte basketball for the last 9 years have you? We Charlotte fans know.

That said, we have more age and talent than we've had on our team since we were last in CUSA.

I'm dreading the Niners making two Thursday-Saturday trips to Texas.

(10-07-2014 03:40 PM)MT FAN Wrote:  

(10-07-2014 03:21 PM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  

(10-07-2014 03:05 PM)HogDawg Wrote:  

(10-07-2014 01:51 PM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  Where are the other teams?

They said you guys don't need to bother showing up...........




Just kidding, of course. I would say CUSA is a very strong mens basketball conference, and a number of teams not mentioned in the 4 above (including WKU) could make a run this year.

Experience wise we should, but who knows....We are very weak in the post besides Fant and last season he was in constant foul trouble....Hopefully he learns to stay on the court this season....

You guys are going to get killed in the post. CUSA is a big step up as far as the biggs go. A 6-6 post player in Fant and a tall lanky guy isn't gonna get it done in this conference.

So true, but we only have Reggie and Rozier as proven inside guys and neither of them are huge. Anything happens to either of them, then we are in BIG trouble down low. We could find ourselves in the same boat.

(10-08-2014 07:31 AM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  

(10-07-2014 03:40 PM)MT FAN Wrote:  

(10-07-2014 03:21 PM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  

(10-07-2014 03:05 PM)HogDawg Wrote:  

(10-07-2014 01:51 PM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  Where are the other teams?

They said you guys don't need to bother showing up...........




Just kidding, of course. I would say CUSA is a very strong mens basketball conference, and a number of teams not mentioned in the 4 above (including WKU) could make a run this year.

Experience wise we should, but who knows....We are very weak in the post besides Fant and last season he was in constant foul trouble....Hopefully he learns to stay on the court this season....

You guys are going to get killed in the post. CUSA is a big step up as far as the biggs go. A 6-6 post player in Fant and a tall lanky guy isn't gonna get it done in this conference.

Yes that is what I have been basically saying on the local WKU boards about not getting a big JUCO guy who is not skinny and tall like our 2 center...Instead we signed a 6th 6-5 guard who is no longer on the team, I have stated that would come back to haunt us....

I have gotten killed on WKU MB for even questioning almighty Harper and received criticism for essentially comparing CUSA to the Big Ten....I never said CUSA is like the Big 10 in the post but at least last season their were some legit bigger guys down low and not skinny frail white guys in which we have...I believe we really needed to get a guy who at least weight more than 185 lbs and taller than 6-6, and we did not...It may not matter this season but I think it will, especially since our 2 centers have injury histories.......Maybe all of those guys are gone from last season ( I hope so) but that is the one difference I noticed between the 2 conferences at least last season...

There is a good chance that UTEP will have this as a starting five
G- CJ Cooper 6'
G- Julian Washburn 6'8"
F- Vince Hunter 6'8"
F- Cedric Lang 6'10"
C- Matt Wilms 7'1"

All five of them started games last season and did start together several times. All of them have extremely long arms as well and are very good defenders. UTEP only had 8 scholarship players last year and had several walk-ons playing in every CUSA game. By the end of the season our guys were worn out and just couldn't finish strong enough. I have said it many times that I would be extremely disappointed if UTEP didn't win the CUSA regular season and conference tournament. I am not say UTEP will win every game because there are some very good teams in the league but the depth and talent that UTEP has this year should be enough to improve upon last seasons 23-11 record.

(10-08-2014 07:31 AM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  

(10-07-2014 03:40 PM)MT FAN Wrote:  

(10-07-2014 03:21 PM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  

(10-07-2014 03:05 PM)HogDawg Wrote:  

(10-07-2014 01:51 PM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  Where are the other teams?

They said you guys don't need to bother showing up...........




Just kidding, of course. I would say CUSA is a very strong mens basketball conference, and a number of teams not mentioned in the 4 above (including WKU) could make a run this year.

Experience wise we should, but who knows....We are very weak in the post besides Fant and last season he was in constant foul trouble....Hopefully he learns to stay on the court this season....

You guys are going to get killed in the post. CUSA is a big step up as far as the biggs go. A 6-6 post player in Fant and a tall lanky guy isn't gonna get it done in this conference.

Yes that is what I have been basically saying on the local WKU boards about not getting a big JUCO guy who is not skinny and tall like our 2 center...Instead we signed a 6th 6-5 guard who is no longer on the team, I have stated that would come back to haunt us....

I have gotten killed on WKU MB for even questioning almighty Harper and received criticism for essentially comparing CUSA to the Big Ten....I never said CUSA is like the Big 10 in the post but at least last season their were some legit bigger guys down low and not skinny frail white guys in which we have...I believe we really needed to get a guy who at least weight more than 185 lbs and taller than 6-6, and we did not...It may not matter this season but I think it will, especially since our 2 centers have injury histories.......Maybe all of those guys are gone from last season ( I hope so) but that is the one difference I noticed between the 2 conferences at least last season...

USM did fine the last two years without height. They had more depth in the post than you guys did.

I think Fant will do fine in CUSA, Rostov may struggle down low. At least he can shoot the ball though.

You're definitely going to have to rely on your guards heavily, but I think WKU will do well. Not win the league well, but I think you'll finish in the top 6 and I think you'll fall 3-5th.

Not going to get excited until we actually do something.

(10-08-2014 07:31 AM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  

(10-07-2014 03:40 PM)MT FAN Wrote:  

(10-07-2014 03:21 PM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  

(10-07-2014 03:05 PM)HogDawg Wrote:  

(10-07-2014 01:51 PM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  Where are the other teams?

They said you guys don't need to bother showing up...........




Just kidding, of course. I would say CUSA is a very strong mens basketball conference, and a number of teams not mentioned in the 4 above (including WKU) could make a run this year.

Experience wise we should, but who knows....We are very weak in the post besides Fant and last season he was in constant foul trouble....Hopefully he learns to stay on the court this season....

You guys are going to get killed in the post. CUSA is a big step up as far as the biggs go. A 6-6 post player in Fant and a tall lanky guy isn't gonna get it done in this conference.

Yes that is what I have been basically saying on the local WKU boards about not getting a big JUCO guy who is not skinny and tall like our 2 center...Instead we signed a 6th 6-5 guard who is no longer on the team, I have stated that would come back to haunt us....

I have gotten killed on WKU MB for even questioning almighty Harper and received criticism for essentially comparing CUSA to the Big Ten....I never said CUSA is like the Big 10 in the post but at least last season their were some legit bigger guys down low and not skinny frail white guys in which we have...I believe we really needed to get a guy who at least weight more than 185 lbs and taller than 6-6, and we did not...It may not matter this season but I think it will, especially since our 2 centers have injury histories.......Maybe all of those guys are gone from last season ( I hope so) but that is the one difference I noticed between the 2 conferences at least last season...

I think we are going to take a step back this year with loss of Shawn Jones our 6-8 strong post player. We don't have the biggs this year to compete for the championship.

I'd say we would be picked last. We'll be everyone's tune up game. No where else to go but up.

(10-08-2014 11:01 AM)SVHerd Wrote:  I'd say we would be picked last. We'll be everyone's tune up game. No where else to go but up.

unless you play WKU, you guys handled us last season..

ODU will have a team and will win games. 20 is a realistic goal.

The most important question is how many CUSA teams make the NCAA tourney?

(10-08-2014 12:49 PM)monarchoptimist Wrote:  The most important question is how many CUSA teams make the NCAA tourney?

I think 2 this year.

If we can't get multiple bids this year, I don't think we can ever count on it.

Lots of teams this year have great depth, experience, and talent.

What about Southern Miss? Seems like they had a very strong team last year.

(10-08-2014 01:12 PM)GO_MONARKS Wrote:  What about Southern Miss? Seems like they had a very strong team last year.

They lost a ton of players, they lost their coach, and their coach took some of their commits with him.

I'd be really shocked to see USM in the top 4. If they finish in the top 4, their coach deserves a raise.

(10-08-2014 01:02 PM)Niner National Wrote:  I think 2 this year.

If we can't get multiple bids this year, I don't think we can ever count on it.

Don't agree. CUSA is capable of getting multiple bids every season. From what I have seen with the OOC schedules of certain programs, the opportunity is definitely there to build a strong resume before conference play starts. Up to the programs to take advantage of the opportunities.

(10-08-2014 01:02 PM)Niner National Wrote:  

(10-08-2014 12:49 PM)monarchoptimist Wrote:  The most important question is how many CUSA teams make the NCAA tourney?

I think 2 this year.

If we can't get multiple bids this year, I don't think we can ever count on it.

Lots of teams this year have great depth, experience, and talent.

Is 2 the cap? CUSA eventually needs to start putting 3-4 teams in the tourney on occasions.

(10-08-2014 02:38 PM)monarchoptimist Wrote:  

(10-08-2014 01:02 PM)Niner National Wrote:  

(10-08-2014 12:49 PM)monarchoptimist Wrote:  The most important question is how many CUSA teams make the NCAA tourney?

I think 2 this year.

If we can't get multiple bids this year, I don't think we can ever count on it.

Lots of teams this year have great depth, experience, and talent.

Is 2 the cap? CUSA eventually needs to start putting 3-4 teams in the tourney on occasions.

No, of course it isn't the cap, I just think we get 2 in this year. LT plays Temple (who should be much improved, Syracuse, and NC State. Temple and NC State are very winnable games. Syracuse will be tough, but La Tech's experience should give them a chance at a win.

La Tech is great and they actually have some opportunities OOC for quality wins.

Charlotte has a solid OOC schedule, playing Penn State (and maybe 1-2 more P5 teams in the Charleston tournament), Miami, Georgetown, George Washington, Georgia Tech, and Davidson.

UAB has a great schedule and talent, although I'm afraid the loss of Frasier may hurt them a lot. Almost nothing UAB does this year will surprise me. They could be great and I wouldn't be surprised and they could be mediocre and it wouldn't surprise me. The only thing that would surprise me is if they are single digit win bad.

WKU has a lot of of experience and several talented players. Depth and size may be an issue though. Still, I wouldn't be shocked if they could make the tournament. They have opportunities for statement wins against Minnesota, Louisville, Ole Miss, and St Joes.

UTEP has a lot of opportunities for wins against power conference teams (Washington State, Arizona, NMSU x2, and I think their preseason tournament is solid too). Obviously UTEP has a lot of talent and with a few big OOC wins and no bad losses in the conference, they could get an at large bid.

ODU's schedule lacks a lot of power conference teams, but they do play a lot of solid A10 level schools and LSU. Richmond, Georgia State, and VCU may not wow the general public like ACC teams, but they're all solid.

I don't think anyone else really has a realistic shot at an at large, but you never know. Marshall has an at large caliber schedule, but I fully expect them to be awful again this year. You don't go from as bad as they were last year to at large bids in a single season very often. If that happens, they need to rename the arena in honor of their new coach.

Yeah we aren't expecting a whole lot this season. The hire was "underwhelming" to put it lightly.

My unscientific guess is that these teams will be in the top half in the conference in some order: Charlotte, La Tech, MTSU, Old Dominion, UAB, UTEP, and Western Kentucky. I think any of those teams could make a run to the tournament. All could have winnable quality OOC games.

La Tech, MTSU, and UAB have to replace a lot of talent, although La Tech getting Appleby for the entire season should help. WKU has to adjust to a new conference. Makes me think that UTEP, Old Dominion, and Charlotte are the likely favorites.