To kick things off for this upcoming season which will begin in just a few weeks -

Very nice report on this season's ODU Men's Basketball team. Coach Jones seems unusually optimistic. If they can finally knock down some outside shots they could be a very dangerous team with their traditionally strong defense.

https://odusports.com/news/2021/10/11/me...TlTEPGWXJU

This is the most talented team we've had in a very, very long time.

It is uncertain if the kids are buying what the coach is selling though.

UAB was pretty good last season, with Andy Kennedy finding some good players even though he had been out of coaching for a couple of years and had no recruits he had been working. He's added several P5 transfers this season, and we have more talent than we've had in years.

We're going to be very good.

(10-11-2021 12:10 PM)UAB Band Dad Wrote:  UAB was pretty good last season, with Andy Kennedy finding some good players even though he had been out of coaching for a couple of years and had no recruits he had been working. He's added several P5 transfers this season, and we have more talent than we've had in years.

We're going to be very good.

ODU seems to think they will be pretty good. UAB thinks they will be pretty good. WKU, LA Tech, and North Texas look like they should be pretty good. Sounds like it will be a pretty strong season for CUSA Men's Basketball.

(10-11-2021 01:09 PM)ODU BBALL Wrote:  

(10-11-2021 12:10 PM)UAB Band Dad Wrote:  UAB was pretty good last season, with Andy Kennedy finding some good players even though he had been out of coaching for a couple of years and had no recruits he had been working. He's added several P5 transfers this season, and we have more talent than we've had in years.

We're going to be very good.

ODU seems to think they will be pretty good. UAB thinks they will be pretty good. WKU, LA Tech, and North Texas look like they should be pretty good. Sounds like it will be a pretty strong season for CUSA Men's Basketball.

UTEP will be pretty good and better coached than several schools. It's going to be a fun athletic year in El Paso!

(10-11-2021 01:09 PM)ODU BBALL Wrote:  

(10-11-2021 12:10 PM)UAB Band Dad Wrote:  UAB was pretty good last season, with Andy Kennedy finding some good players even though he had been out of coaching for a couple of years and had no recruits he had been working. He's added several P5 transfers this season, and we have more talent than we've had in years.

We're going to be very good.

ODU seems to think they will be pretty good. UAB thinks they will be pretty good. WKU, LA Tech, and North Texas look like they should be pretty good. Sounds like it will be a pretty strong season for CUSA Men's Basketball.

Everyone thinks they are going to ne good, well, almost everyone, before the season starts. Then the 8 to 10 pieces coaches added don't mash together and most of us start to stink it up in OOC play....

then one or two teams finally start playing as a team and win the conference.

Be nice if 5 or 6 schools could come out of the game working as a team. So many new parts for Western (UAB also) wont know what we have till the ball is tipped. Then it could be up one night playing as a team and playing to just get "their" points another.

One of these years its going to click for CUSA. Might be the last year for this group to do that

UTSA coach Henson and some players said in post-practice interviews that we're much better defensively this year. Certainly fair to say that without our tandem of Jackson/Wallace, we'll need to be. How that'll translate onto the court will be the question. Not getting my hopes up though. Too many question marks right now.

We will beat a P5 or 2 in non conference games. Lose a head scratcher or 2 in CUSA games. Finish in the top 4 and lose in the finals once again this year. Rinse and repeat with my Tops.

(10-11-2021 01:09 PM)ODU BBALL Wrote:  

(10-11-2021 12:10 PM)UAB Band Dad Wrote:  UAB was pretty good last season, with Andy Kennedy finding some good players even though he had been out of coaching for a couple of years and had no recruits he had been working. He's added several P5 transfers this season, and we have more talent than we've had in years.

We're going to be very good.

ODU seems to think they will be pretty good. UAB thinks they will be pretty good. WKU, LA Tech, and North Texas look like they should be pretty good. Sounds like it will be a pretty strong season for CUSA Men's Basketball.

I hope ODU is really good. I hope all those other teams are as well. If we can all pick up a decent win or two it will go a long way toward changing what this conference has been in the past. This is the highest hope I’ve had for a UAB team since the Vaden days. I still don’t think we have that one elite player, but I think we have five or six guys that can lead the team in scoring any given night.

We need to win more OOC games from top to bottom. I'm not talking about big "name" wins.

Examples: RICE-- HOME games with Pepperdine and Texas State- win BOTH!! (home losses are a killer in the rating)

FAU-- HOME-- TROY, N. Dakota, Stetson, N. Florida-- win 3 of 4!!

Southern Miss, MT-- show a pulse!


These are the kinds of games the conference needs to win so we are not rated 15th or 17th. Winnable games AT HOME.

Add in Rice to the list of teams who think they will be very good. I've been around Rice basketball since 1987, and this has the potential to be Rice's most talented team ever (offensively). Rice was 4th in the conference in scoring last year, and returns all 5 starters plus two talented grad transfers of their own. For a change, we didn't lose anybody that important.

The big key will be the defense. Rice was next to last in the conference in defense last year.

I'd rate UAB and La Tech the clear two front-runners. And then there is a group of about 5 or 6 teams that might be right there (Rice, WKU, UNT, ODU and Charlotte - perhaps UTEP although they did lose one good player to the portal)

Proof it---- win at home against Texas State AND Pepperdine (I hope you do).

This should be a very good year for CUSA basketball. Lots of good additions to teams. Which teams pieces can gel together? UAB, La Tech, and WKU are my top 3. ODU or Marshall would probably be #4 for me.

(10-11-2021 04:19 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  I'd rate UAB and La Tech the clear two front-runners. And then there is a group of about 5 or 6 teams that might be right there (Rice, WKU, UNT, ODU and Charlotte - perhaps UTEP although they did lose one good player to the portal)

That's how I would rate them at this point too: LA Tech and UAB at the top, with WKU, UNT, ODU bunched at the 3,4, & 5 spots. I'm not sold on Rice, and I don't know much about Charlotte or Marshall. I do know that it seems like Rice get's oversold to us every preseason.

I know Kennedy recruited some strong transfers into UAB's program this past off season. Can someone from UAB bring us up to speed on the new additions?

I honestly believe LA Tech's Kenneth Lofton Jr, (a/k/a "JUNIOR") has the inside track for CUSA's Player of the Year.

As for Tech's team, the Bulldogs return 4 starters from the 2021 team (Crawford, Lofton, Archibald & Williams), and lost their #5 and #6 players Jacolby Pemberton & Kalob Ledoux, to graduation. Ledoux averaged 11 pts per game and will be replaced by sophomore transfer shooting guard Keaston Willis. Willis averaged 19 pts per game last season at Incarnate Word, and was named to the 2nd Team All Southland Conference team. Willis' scoring ranked 2nd in the SLC, and 47th in the country.

UAB: Andy Kennedy worked the transfer portal this offseason harder than a bachelor works a dating app while spending a long weekend in South Beach. UAB added six transfers — Tyreke Locure (South Alabama), Jordan Walker (Tulane), KJ Buffen (Ole Miss), Justin Brown (South Florida), Josh LeBlanc (LSU), and Jamal Johnson (Auburn) — of significance to a program that went 22-7 in its first season under Kennedy’s stewardship. The Blazers also return four of their top six scorers from a year ago in Michael Ertel, Tavin Lovan, Quan Jackson, and former Clemson big man Trey Jemison.

https://collegehoopstoday.com/index.php/...22-season/

I expect Southern Miss to be improved, but not sure how much (if any) improvement that will show in the CUSA standings. I'm hopeful that this Golden Eagle team can move toward the middle of the pack. St Johns transfer Isaih Moore (6'10) is garnering some good comments from the coaching staff.

I think UAB has got to be the favorite, really impressed with Kennedy last year, and as others have said he brought in some serious talent.

Really deep field this year. Maybe the strongest CUSA since realignment. It's going to be tough for whoever eventually wins it.

Tops scheduling really well again. Shot at a couple P5 wins in Minnesota, South Carolina, Memphis, Louisville, and Ole Miss plus a home game with Buffalo. Excited to see this years group compete and think we have a chance to be pretty special.

So by my count:

UAB, La Tech, ODU, UNCC, UTSA, UTEP, Rice, and WKU should be good.

What about FAU, FIU, MTSU, USM, and North Texas?


As for Marshall, they will be okay.... Andrew Taylor will replace West at PG, we will miss West D, but Taylor seems to run the offense better, Kinsey is back (he's ok), plus six other players who have either started or saw significant playing time during their career.

(10-12-2021 08:46 AM)Herd6993 Wrote:  So by my count:

UAB, La Tech, ODU, UNCC, UTSA, UTEP, Rice, and WKU should be good.

What about FAU, FIU, MTSU, USM, and North Texas?


As for Marshall, they will be okay.... Andrew Taylor will replace West at PG, we will miss West D, but Taylor seems to run the offense better, Kinsey is back (he's ok), plus six other players who have either started or saw significant playing time during their career.

You can move North Texas up a line. I mentioned them earlier (post #4) as being pretty good.