I think we will have a top 10 conference in basketball but I think it will even get better after a couple of years. It will take a couple of years for Tulsa to comeback, Houston looks to be on it's way, S. Miss should improve, SMU and Rice should benefit from being in CUSA, Tulane should improve for sure. The biggest change for any of the new CUSA schools will be Cental Florida. After going to the NCAA tourney two years in a row out of the Atlantic Sun, they are in for a big shock. I would be very surprised if they aren't at the bottom or very near the bottom of the NCUSA. I watched them play yesterday and they are like most of the teams we play to get early wins to start the season and that's saying something coming from a team that will probably end up losing 20 games. Central Florida will benefit more than any other new CUSA member because they will be able to recruit more true D-1 players now. They will make tremendous strides in the type of player they will be able to recruit once they are in CUSA!! I don't really know much about Marshall or E Carolina, new coach, but they should improve also. Memphis, UAB and UTEP were all pretty good this year, with maybe UAB being the best!!

New Conference USA RPI as of Sunday 6 March 2005:

*UTEP (24-7): #49
*UAB (20-9): #65
*Rice (18-10): #75
*Houston (18-12): #81
*Central Florida (24-8): #90
*Memphis (16-14): #135
*SMU (14-13): #161
*East Carolina (9-19): #209
*Marshall (6-21): #220
*Tulsa (9-19): #257
*Southern Mississippi (11-17): #260
*Tulane (10-17): #265

-Overall record for the 12 teams: 179-166 (.519)
-Top 50 RPI teams: 1
-Top 75 RPI teams: 3
-Top 100 RPI teams: 5
-150 or worse RPI teams: 6 (half the conference)
-200 or worse RPI teams: 5 (nearly half the conference)


This conference has a lot of work to do. I don't see us being a top 10 conference, maybe top 12.