Not much news on the women's hoops yet, but the conference has some solid squads. I saw where MTSU (the preseason favorites) lost its opener at Mercer on a buzzer beater (Mercer is decent - they were in the NCAA tournament last year). Tonight, Rice beat SFA (another NCAA tournament team from last year) by 12, 89-77.

Rice was picked 4th in the preseason by the coaches, but I think that's too low. This Owls team may be as good as the Rice teams that won three straight conference titles before sliding back a bit last year as they transitioned with their new coach and a depleted roster. But their roster is full again, and they have a super talented group of freshmen along with some decent returnees. I don't think they'll dominate the conference like they did 2019 to 2021, but it wouldn't surprise me if they win the conference title for the fourth time in five seasons this spring.

It'll be a fun season I'm sure as there are many solid teams in C-USA. I am excited to see how our team responds after the loss because I think this is our best squad in quite some time. We added last year's C-USA leading scorer, Savannah Wheeler, from Marshall.

We've got to get more minutes to our best player, IMO, who is currently coming off of the bench and getting barely 20 minutes like she did last season.

Pretty impressive blowout win by MTSU at Southern Illinois last night (50-plus point win?). I don't know how much SIU lost from last year to this year, but they were the regular season MVC champs last year (and only lost by 1 at MTSU last season). They hired a new coach (from Texas A&M) who was a bit disappointed she didn't get the A&M gig last year after their long time head coach retired.

per the CUSA website:

Standings

Looking forward to a fun season

https://conferenceusa.com/news/2022/11/1...-week.aspx

Charlotte swept the players of the week after their record-setting comeback in their opener (they were down by 21 points with 9:48 to go in the 4th quarter before winning in double overtime I believe). I wasn't aware of that comeback, but that's an impressive 4th quarter to be sure.

The conference did have this odd note on player of the week Dazia Lawrence -- "The redshirt sophomore ranks fifth in the nation with 40 minutes played out of 90 possible minutes."

Somehow, I don't think that's accurate.

Rice picked up a good win over St Mary's last night, congrats!

MT beat Belmont 80-62; Belmont was receiving some top 25 votes.

(11-17-2022 07:38 AM)tyler90wm Wrote:  Rice picked up a good win over St Mary's last night, congrats!

MT beat Belmont 80-62; Belmont was receiving some top 25 votes.

Our women's coach (Edmonds) is legit - I actually think she's an upgrade over Langley (now at Washington, who was a good recruiter but just a so-so game coach). Edmonds can do both - coach and recruit. I just hope the NC State coach doesn't retire anytime soon. I think we'll be able to keep Edmonds until that point.

I really think Rice and MTSU are the class of the conference (although unlike volleyball where it's Western Kentucky and Rice, and then a huge drop off, there definitely can be other schools to challenge those two in hoops like La. Tech and perhaps Charlotte and someone else?).

The Rice women have some other tough NC games, but I think the A&M game in College Station will show me how legit we might be. This isn't a great A&M team, so that's a winnable game - but it's still going to be a big challenge.

MT vs. Western will be interesting this year, with the youngest Hayes sister (out of 4) on the Lady Topper roster.

Hayes' father is a loose cannon.

Two of Hayes' sisters played for MT, and quit (that was a good thing).

Now there are 3 Hayes' on the Miss. State roster

I'd say the women aren't doing quite as well as the men thus far in non-conference play - Middle had a good win yesterday against Missouri State (who has been pretty good in the recent past, although they may be down a bit this year?). But for every okay win (like Charlotte against Cincy), there have been too many blowout losses against top 25 teams to sort of negate the decent wins.

Rice has another chance for a marquee win today at Texas A&M (who is down a bit but they're at home and absolutely the favorite against the Owls). Rice has a current RPI of 14 and is 5-0, but we'll see how legit they are in College Station.

Rice got a very nice win over Texas A&M today to remain undefeated. Wonder if they'll start to receive some top 25 votes now!

MT beats #18 Louisville 67-49!

(12-04-2022 07:09 PM)tyler90wm Wrote:  MT beats #18 Louisville 67-49!

Announced attendance in the Glass House was 5,307 As usual, our most successful athletic team is our WBB. Way to go Lady Raiders!!!

Great win by MTSU! Third p5 win for the CUSA women in a week basically but unlike Rice's two wins (over Texas A&M and TCU), we're not talking about teams that will likely finish last in their conference.

Again, I think Rice and MTSU are the class of the conference. Charlotte has to be hurt by the fact that Mikayla Boykin tore her ACL again (for the fifth time unfortunately) and has ended her competitive career.

(12-04-2022 07:34 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  Great win by MTSU! Third p5 win for the CUSA women in a week basically but unlike Rice's two wins (over Texas A&M and TCU), we're not talking about teams that will likely finish last in their conference.

Again, I think Rice and MTSU are the class of the conference. Charlotte has to be hurt by the fact that Mikayla Boykin tore her ACL again (for the fifth time unfortunately) and has ended her competitive career.

clt says yes, losing Boykin will hurt bigly

MT leads at Memphis at half

42-17

(12-10-2022 03:57 PM)SpaceRaider Wrote:  MT leads at Memphis at half

42-17

FINAL

MT 69-53

Rice won ugly today at home (post-finals blahs) against a struggling Houston team. They managed to win in double overtime to go to 8-0. Houston is 2-8, but was picked 2nd in the preseason in the AAC and now has overtime losses against Florida, Florida State and Rice. I think they have some talent - they just have a bad coach who is Dead Man Walking.

(12-10-2022 06:41 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  Rice won ugly today at home (post-finals blahs) against a struggling Houston team. They managed to win in double overtime to go to 8-0. Houston is 2-8, but was picked 2nd in the preseason in the AAC and now has overtime losses against Florida, Florida State and Rice. I think they have some talent - they just have a bad coach who is Dead Man Walking.

8-0 is a great start to the season, any way you slice it.

BTW, the early conference season showdown between Rice and Middle Tennessee State is a Tuesday noon start (December 20th). That seems to be a crazy start time for a game between two potential NCAA teams (they were both listed last week in ESPN's bracketology as ESPN is now projecting two conference women's teams to make the tournament). But pre-holiday games often have daytime starts for Rice because they have a ton of school kids attending who are still in school and this is part of a fun school trip (they visit various parts of the campus and then get to see a basketball game before going home).