2017-18 C-USA Hoops

As the kickoff of men’s basketball conference play approaches with four games on Thursday, December 28th, here’s how the teams fared in OOC play. Listed by won-loss record.

Team (Record/vs D-I) RPI # - KenPom # - ESPN BPI # - Sagarin #
[font=verdana][size=1em]ODU (9-3/9-3) 95 - 70 - 71 -79 [/size][/font]
[font=verdana][size=1em]LA Tech (9-4/7-4) 126 - 110 - 107 - 115 [/size][/font]
[font=verdana][size=1em]Marshall (9-4/8-4) 134 - 161 - 171 - 155[/size][/font]
[font=verdana][size=1em]UAB (9-4/7-4) 244 - 120 - 119 - 103[/size][/font]
[font=verdana][size=1em]Middle Tenn (8-4/7-4) 37 - 61 - 53 - 64[/size][/font]
[font=verdana][size=1em]WKU (8-5/7-5) 88 - 84 - 72 - 87[/size][/font]
[font=verdana][size=1em]North Texas (7-6/5-6) 192 - 228 - 225 - 218[/size][/font]
[font=verdana][size=1em]Southern Miss (7-6/3-6) 220 - 249 - 288 -258[/size][/font]
[font=verdana][size=1em]UTSA (7-6/4-6) 242 - 192 - 200 - 192[/size][/font]
[font=verdana][size=1em]FAU (6-6/3-6) 188 - 257 - 230 - 265[/size][/font]
[font=verdana][size=1em]FIU (6-7/3-7) 316 - 300 - 328 - 298[/size][/font]
[font=verdana][size=1em]UTEP (5-7/4-7) 273 - 222 - 211 - 216[/size][/font]
[font=verdana][size=1em]CHARLOTTE (4-7/3-7) 291 - 245 - 269 - 241[/size][/font]
[font=verdana][size=1em]Rice (3-10/1-10) 304 - 304 - 326 - 302[/size][/font]

In addition, here are the POTWs so far:

C-USA Players of the Week
N13: Jon Elmore, Marshall
N20: Nick King, Middle Tennessee
N27: Chris Cokley, UAB
D4: Jon Elmore, Marshall
D11: Nick King, Middle Tennessee
D18: Ajdin Penava, Marshall
D26: Nick King, Middle Tennessee

C-USA Freshmen of the Week
N13: Keaton Wallace, UTSA
N20: Jhivvan Jackson, UTSA
N27: Jake Ohmer, WKU
D4: Keaton Wallace, UTSA
D11: Keaton Wallace, UTSA
D18: Taveion Hollingsworth, WKU
D26: Jhivvan Jackson, UTSA

clt says we are not the worst team in our league!

Thursday, December 28th
Southern Miss @ Marshall
Louisiana Tech @ WKU
Rice @ UTSA
North Texas @ UTEP

Saturday, December 30th
CHARLOTTE @ Old Dominion

Southern Miss @ WKU
Louisiana Tech @ Marshall
Rice @ UTEP
Middle Tennessee @ UAB
FAU @ FIU
North Texas @ UTSA

Reading that 2017 C-USA All-Freshman 6-4 G Jalen Harris has left LA Tech. Sophomore was 2nd leading scorer for the Bulldogs at 15.3 ppg through OOC play.

Also read that WKU still waiting on NCAA to rule on the eligibility of two players - touted freshman 6-4 G Josh Anderson (2017 #60 per 247Sports) and redshirt sophomore 6-9 F Moustapha Diagne. Toppers basically an 8 player team at this point.

Thursday, December 28th - Finals

Southern Miss 66
Marshall 85

Louisiana Tech 68
WKU 69

Rice 66
[b]UTSA 79

North Texas 63[/b]
UTEP 62

Pilotonline.com: With league play under way, here’s what you need to know about Conference USA

Saturday, December 30th - Finals

CHARLOTTE 58
Old Dominion 89

Southern Miss 66
WKU 82

Louisiana Tech 65
Marshall 78

Rice 62
[b]UTEP 80

Middle Tennessee 63[/b]
UAB 60

FAU 57
[b]FIU 58

North Texas 72[/b]
UTSA 71

Niners will be facing the current C-USA POTW when they travel to Denton on Thursday. North Texas sophomore 6-3 SG Roosevelt Smart averaged 25.5 ppg and 5.5 rpg in two road wins for the Mean Green last week versus UTEP and UTSA.

And speaking of UTSA, G Jhivvan Jackson garners his third freshman of week award this season, tying him with teammate Keaton Wallace.

[b]Thursday, January 4th - Finals

[Color=green]CHARLOTTE 70 [/color][/b]
North Texas 68

UAB 75
FAU 44

Middle Tennessee 71 / OT
FIU 66

UTSA 78
LA Tech 76

ODU 82 / OT
Rice 75

UTEP 75
Southern Miss 85

Rice losing in OT doesn’t hurt my feelings at all. I hope they are in a funk tomorrow night.

Per Jon Rothstein, Anderson has been cleared to play, so we’ll see him next week when WKU visits Halton.

Fanragsports.com: NEWS Rothstein | WKU’s Josh Anderson cleared by NCAA

Saturday, January 6th - Finals

CHARLOTTE 64
[b]Rice 73

Middle Tennessee 61 [/b]
FAU 57

UAB 75
FIU 64

UTEP 88
[b]LA Tech 97

WKU 112[/b]
Marshall 87

ODU 63
North Texas 60

UTSA 83
Southern Miss 93

On Saturday the Niners will face yet another reigning POTW in Darius Thompson. The 6-4 SG for WKU had a triple double of 33 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists in the Hilltoppers’ 112-87 win at Marshall.

And UTSA continues its stranglehold on FOTW as Jhivvan Jackson is named top frosh for the third consecutive week and fourth time overall.

Middle Tennessee (#56), WKU (#59), and ODU (#68) make this Jay Bilas list of the best 68 teams this season.

ESPN.com: The Bilastrator wades through the beautiful mess of this hoops season to give you the best 68 teams

Per Jon Rothstein, Anderson has been cleared to play, so we’ll see him next week when WKU visits Halton.

Fanragsports.com: NEWS Rothstein | WKU’s Josh Anderson cleared by NCAA[/quote]
And now Diagne has been cleared to play as well. The one-time Syracuse signee and 4-star high school prospect has taken a circuitous route to D-I hoops and will be joining his WKU teammates on their road trip to Norfolk and Charlotte.

WBKO.com: WKU’s Diagne cleared, expected to join team for Thursday’s game

[quote=“Run49er, post:14, topic:31290”]Middle Tennessee (#56), WKU (#59), and ODU (#68) make this Jay Bilas list of the best 68 teams this season.

ESPN.com: The Bilastrator wades through the beautiful mess of this hoops season to give you the best 68 teams[/quote]

And Jon Rothstein agrees per this tweet:

[Quote]Under-The-Radar game tonight in C-USA: Western Kentucky at ODU. Both are 3-0 in league play. Two best teams in conference along with Middle Tennessee.
7:19 AM · Jan 11, 2018[/quote]
Twitter.com: Jon Rothstein

Thursday, January 11th

Marshall 91
CHARLOTTE 83

LA Tech 57
[b]Middle Tennessee 72

WKU 75[/b]
ODU 68

Southern Miss 75
[b]UAB 86

FAU 73[/b]
UTEP 66

FIU 79
UTSA 76

Saturday, January 13th - Finals

WKU 73
CHARLOTTE 63

Southern Miss 49
Middle Tennessee 69

Marshall 76
[b]ODU 82

North Texas 85[/b]
Rice 78

LA Tech 62
UAB 74

FIU 68
[b]UTEP 72

FAU 73[/b]
UTSA 69

With the season now past the halfway point (and about a third through conference play), here’s where everyone stands as of January 15th.

Team - C-USA - Overall - RPI#
Middle Tennessee: 5-0, 13-4 / 28
WKU: 5-0, 13-5 / 38
UAB: 4-1, 13-5 / 160
ODU: 4-1, 13-4 / 102
Marshall: 3-2 , 12-6 / 142
North Texas: 3-2, 10-8 / 182
FAU: 2-3, 8-9 / 202
FIU: 2-3, 8-10 / 291
Southern Miss: 2-4, 9-10 / 204
UTSA: 2-4 , 9-10 / 284
UTEP: 2-4, 7-11 / 318
CHARLOTTE: 1-4, 5-11 / 297
Rice: 1-4, 4-14 / 323
LA Tech: 1-5, 10-9 / 153

Been looking at the latest Bracketology updates of both Joe Lunardi and Jerry Palm (as of January 15th) and the latter lists Middle Tennessee and WKU in his field of 68.

Of course, I realize the respective RPIs of the C-USA frontrunners are likely to suffer as the season progresses but nice to see more than just one conference rep on a list for a change!