Released TODAY.

Coaches Poll:

1--Liberty--71 points (5)*
1--MT-------71 (1)
3--WKU-----63 (2)
4--La Tech--48 (1)
5--UTEP-----41
6--SHSU----38
7--FIU-------31
8--NMSU----30
9--JAX ST---12

*First Place Votes

These polls are guesswork.

WKU is a mystery. New coach. Mostly new players.

No way NMSU finishes 8th.

If the CUSA games were played in November and December, then maybe NMSU would finish 8th. But I'm pretty sure by January, February, and March, the Aggie team will have closed the team chemistry/development gap with most of their conference peers. I'm not sure where NMSU will finish in 2023-24 but I doubt it will be as low as 8th.

(10-12-2023 04:10 PM)TOPSTRAIGHT Wrote:  These polls are guesswork.

WKU is a mystery. New coach. Mostly new players.

No way NMSU finishes 8th.

I concur. Almost impossible to gauge where WKU will be due to new coach and staff, new system, and mostly new players.

And with the portal, everyone is now a huge guess. Heck, I'd almost be happy to finish top 3 at this point. Hope to be pleasantly surprised.

(10-12-2023 04:53 PM)NMSUPistolPete Wrote:  If the CUSA games were played in November and December, then maybe NMSU would finish 8th. But I'm pretty sure by January, February, and March, the Aggie team will have closed the team chemistry/development gap with most of their conference peers. I'm not sure where NMSU will finish in 2023-24 but I doubt it will be as low as 8th.

You're probably right but there's no way people can be confident enough to rate them any higher.

With UTEP, I'm the opposite. I think 5th place is too high. Last season disappointed me so heavily and I soured on Golding. Hope I am wrong.

I am surprised Liberty is tied for first. Expected them to be a little lower with losing Darius McGhee.

Essentially the rest of the team is back for the Flames. That explains the high regard from fellow coaches.

But I agree that with the portal it has become pure guess work in preseason polls. One or two players can have a huge impact one way or the other.

We may be a little high?

(10-12-2023 08:26 PM)Gemofthehills Wrote:  We may be a little high?

LOL ... I came here to post this.

Jax State is kind of like NMSU... we'll almost certainly be awful in the early going, but by the time conference season arrives, we should be a much better team. (How much better? That's an excellent question, and I'm glad you asked.)

But if I'm voting in a preseason poll ... right now??

Yeah... Last place is optimistic.

The Enemas U. Ugglies always field good teams. They're too low, if anything they should be ahead of Utep. But, knowing how much trouble their program was in last year there may be a few setbacks to be at the level they were in previous years. I hope Utep does better this year. They were a disappointment last year in my estimation. I hope Golding isn't the basketball version of Dimel. He's still got a lot to prove and hasn't done it yet.

(10-13-2023 12:19 PM)olliebaba Wrote:  The Enemas U. Ugglies always field good teams. They're too low, if anything they should be ahead of Utep. But, knowing how much trouble their program was in last year there may be a few setbacks to be at the level they were in previous years. I hope Utep does better this year. They were a disappointment last year in my estimation. I hope Golding isn't the basketball version of Dimel. He's still got a lot to prove and hasn't done it yet.

Jax State normally fields solid teams. We got really lucky with Covid seasons the past few years, with some of our better players sticking around for an extra year here rather than entering the Portal, but everyone exhausted their eligibility together and left the cupboard bare. Last year was rougher than usual, and this year we practically have a brand new team.

I mean, our best OVC/ASUN teams still wouldn't have threatened to win CUSA... but we'd be a force in the middle of the pack. As it is, we're picked last. Meh. Doesn't mean we have to stay there.

Seems accurate. We have a brand new team every year.

(10-12-2023 06:18 PM)sstaedtler88 Wrote:  I am surprised Liberty is tied for first. Expected them to be a little lower with losing Darius McGhee.

I am a little concerned this year without being able to rely on McGhee when needed as well for scoring. Will the LU players be able to step up in big situations? I am looking forward to watching this team gel and grow. I definitely trust Coach McKay to get them where they need to be.

(10-12-2023 05:17 PM)PredatorUTEP Wrote:  

(10-12-2023 04:53 PM)NMSUPistolPete Wrote:  If the CUSA games were played in November and December, then maybe NMSU would finish 8th. But I'm pretty sure by January, February, and March, the Aggie team will have closed the team chemistry/development gap with most of their conference peers. I'm not sure where NMSU will finish in 2023-24 but I doubt it will be as low as 8th.

You're probably right but there's no way people can be confident enough to rate them any higher.

With UTEP, I'm the opposite. I think 5th place is too high. Last season disappointed me so heavily and I soured on Golding. Hope I am wrong.

It took Golding a while to get Abilene Christian turned around. I think he will get UTEP turned around as well. He just needs time to recruit and develop a deep enough roster to successfully run his system. I would put Jason Hooten in the same boat with Golding. There is a lot involved in running both these coaches' aggressive style of defensive.

We should be one of the better teams and have a legit shot at a special season.

Liberty has the most continuity. Do any Liberty fans know how well they did at replacing McGhee? I could see LA Tech finishing higher, UTEP finishing higher, MTSU had some churn with some big gets in the portal. I could honestly see any of those top 5 teams putting it together. FIU had a nice team last year and we'll coached but got decimated by transfers. I honestly don't know what to expect from WKU. We'll look very different on the defensive end and will be in the mix I think. I've booked my hotel for Huntsville. Can't wait to get the season started.

(10-15-2023 09:23 PM)Hilltopper2K Wrote:  Liberty has the most continuity. Do any Liberty fans know how well they did at replacing McGhee? I could see LA Tech finishing higher, UTEP finishing higher, MTSU had some churn with some big gets in the portal. I could honestly see any of those top 5 teams putting it together. FIU had a nice team last year and we'll coached but got decimated by transfers. I honestly don't know what to expect from WKU. We'll look very different on the defensive end and will be in the mix I think. I've booked my hotel for Huntsville. Can't wait to get the season started.

There will be a lot of active defenses in CUSA this coming season. Looking at last season's stats, we can see a prelude to our new CUSA coaches' defensive philosophies.

It's probably information overload...

Team Steals (2023)
#12 Florida International (Jeremy Ballard)............ 9.1 spg
#14 UTEP (Joe Golding)...................................... 9.0 spg
#27 TAMCC (Steve Lutz)..................................... 8.5 spg
#39 Sam Houston (Jason Hooten & Chris Mudge)... 8.2 spg
#54 Louisiana Tech (Talvin Hester)....................... 7.9 spg
#65 Middle Tennessee (Nick McDevitt).................. 7.5 spg
#199 Liberty (Ritchie McKay)............................... 6.3 spg
#277 Jacksonville State (Ray Harper).................... 5.5 spg

Turnovers Generated by Defense (2023)
#12 UTEP (Joe Golding)...................................... 16.8 TO/gm
#13 Sam Houston (Jason Hooten & Chris Mudge)... 16.6 TO/gm
#15 Florida International (Jeremy Ballard)............. 16.5 TO/gm
#33 Louisiana Tech (Talvin Hester)........................ 15.2 TO/gm
#36 TAMCC (Steve Lutz)...................................... 15.1 TO/gm
#39 Middle Tennessee (Nick McDevitt)................... 14.9 TO/gm
#136 Liberty (Ritchie McKay)................................ 13.0 TO/gm
#272 Jacksonville State (Ray Harper)..................... 11.5 TO/gm

Defensive Field Goal Percentage (2023)
#7 Sam Houston (Jason Hooten & Chris Mudge)... 39.1%
#63 Liberty (Ritchie McKay)............................... 41.9%
#168 Jacksonville State (Ray Harper).................. 43.6%
#224 Florida International (Jeremy Ballard)......... 44.5%
#233 Louisiana Tech (Talvin Hester).................... 44.6%
#240 UTEP (Joe Golding)................................... 44.6%
#255 TAMCC (Steve Lutz).................................. 44.8%
#256 Middle Tennessee (Nick McDevitt)............... 44.8%

The new CUSA might be a little soft on the 3-pt defense...

Defensive 3-Point FG Percentage & 3-Point FG Made against the Defense (2023)
#119 Sam Houston (Jason Hooten & Chris Mudge)... 33.0%... 7.7 3PM
#145 UTEP (Joe Golding)...................................... 33.3%... 6.7 3PM
#153 Liberty (Ritchie McKay)................................. 33.4%... 6.4 3PM
#164 TAMCC (Steve Lutz)..................................... 33.5%... 8.2 3PM
#246 Jacksonville State (Ray Harper)..................... 34.7%... 9.3 3PM
#288 Middle Tennessee (Nick McDevitt).................. 35.5%... 6.5 3PM
#323 Florida International (Jeremy Ballard)............ 36.3%... 8.7 3PM
#344 Louisiana Tech (Talvin Hester)....................... 37.2%... 8.5 3PM

The new CUSA looks to be a fairly strong as a rebounding conference...

Rebound Margin (2023)
#12 Sam Houston (Jason Hooten & Chris Mudge)... +6.1 rpg
#51 Jacksonville State (Ray Harper)..................... +3.9 rpg
#57 TAMCC (Steve Lutz)..................................... +3.7 rpg
#70 Liberty (Ritchie McKay)................................ +3.5 rpg
#117 UTEP (Joe Golding).................................... +2.1 rpg
#128 Louisiana Tech (Talvin Hester)..................... +2.0 rpg
#138 Middle Tennessee (Nick McDevitt)................ +1.9 rpg
#356 Florida International (Jeremy Ballard)........... -6.5 rpg

While these stats are interesting there is no way for newcomers to fully grasp how good this league was last year. I truly believe that there were multiple teams in this league capable of winning games in the NCAA. CUSA teams from last year that have a lot of key returning players will have an advantage. Which is a reason why I could see La Tech, UTEP, and MTSU outperform expectations.

(10-15-2023 09:23 PM)Hilltopper2K Wrote:  Liberty has the most continuity. Do any Liberty fans know how well they did at replacing McGhee? I could see LA Tech finishing higher, UTEP finishing higher, MTSU had some churn with some big gets in the portal. I could honestly see any of those top 5 teams putting it together. FIU had a nice team last year and we'll coached but got decimated by transfers. I honestly don't know what to expect from WKU. We'll look very different on the defensive end and will be in the mix I think. I've booked my hotel for Huntsville. Can't wait to get the season started.

I don’t know if we will replace all that McGhee brought to the team, but I have heard that Coach McKay is really high on 5’ 11” G Kaden Metheny. He’s a transfer from Bowling Green. Metheny appeared in 64 games over the course of 3 seasons for the Falcons, starting 63 of them and averaging around 30 minutes per game. He still has three years of eligibility remaining.

Heard Tech has a very good big man that came in