Cary Estes will provide insight and information from the 2008 Conference USA Basketball Media Day in Memphis for the league's official website.
October 16, 2008
Posted at 11:48 am CT
Greetings from Memphis, where the children grow up learning the three Bs: blues, bar-b-que and basketball. We are here for the annual Conference USA Basketball Media Day, previewing what is sure to be another exciting season of C-USA hoops action. Please check back throughout the afternoon as we offer observations, quotes, quips, anecdotes and hopefully some insighful information. So let's get started.
Posted at 12:20 pm CT
Southern Mississippi head coach Larry Eustachy is quick to proclaim that junior guard Jeremy Wise is "the key" to the Golden Eagles' success this season, and with good reason. Wise led USM last season in scoring (18.7 points per game) assists (4.2 per game) three-pointers (41) and steals (39), and he was the team's leading scorer in 20 of 33 games.
"He's come a long way in both mental maturity and skill level. He can take over a game," Eustachy said. "He has the ability to be the best player on the floor and single-handedly take over a game and win it. He's vital. He's our most prized player."
But despite such praise, or perhaps because of it, Eustachy hopes Wise is not with the team next year.
"Our goal is to have him projected in the first round and go in the (NBA) draft," Eustachy said. "If that happens, it means he's had a great season for us."
Posted at 12:32 pm CT
The Memphis Tigers remain the C-USA preseason favorite, despite losing a trio of starters who Coach John Calipari compared to Lawrence Taylor, Earl Monroe (for you old-school fans out there) and Superman. On the Memphis roster their names actually were Joey Dorsey, Chris Douglas-Roberts and Derrick Rose.
"Other than that, we're going to be really good," Calipari said with a smile.
Of course, nobody expets the Tigers to suddenly turn into kittens. Not even Calipari.
"This team, these players, feel like they're going to be really good," he said. "And that's half the battle."
Posted at 12:55 pm CT
One sign of a potential changing of the guard in C-USA is the fact that the preseason player of the year is not from Memphis. Instead, it's UAB senior swingman Robert Vaden, who averaged 21.1 points per game last season.
Vaden, who has dropped nearly 40 pounds since arriving at UAB two years ago and is now a solid 205, is UAB's first-ever C-USA preseason player of the year. But it is the postseason honors that Vaden wants.
"I'm proud to be the first one (from UAB), but I'm not satisified with it. I want to be the postseason player of the year, and I want our team to be the conference champion," Vaden said. "There might be a little bit of pressure, but I don't think it's anything I can't handle."
Posted at 1:23 pm CT
If there ever was a team that needed an offseason to recover, it would be Tulsa. The Golden Hurricane closed the 2007-08 campaign with four games in four days in the C-USA tournament - including two overtime victories - followed by six games in winning the new College Basketball Invitational postseason tournament. All told, Tulsa played 10 games in 24 days and won eight of them.
The whirlwind series of games might have been somewhat draining, but junior guard Ben Uzoh said it also was a bonding experience for the Golden Hurricane, especially the back-to-back overtime victories in the conference tournament.
"You can't get any closer as a team than a victory in overtime," Uzoh said. "The way we put those two victories together in the C-USA tournament was big for us. Winning those tough games helped us in the CBI."
Posted at 1:32 pm CT
Kobe, Lebron and ... Rodney Stuckey?
Those were the three players Tulsa's Ben Uzoh listed as being his favorite NBAers. Kobe Bryant and Lebron James are obvious choices. But how did Stuckey, a second-year player with the Detroit Pistons out of Eastern Washington, make the cut?
"I'm similar to him in certain ways," Uzoh said. "We're both scoring guards. He played at a mid-major and I'm at a mid-major. And I heard where he's a workout freak. That's one thing I take pride in. I like to work out as well. So I just think we're a lot alike."
Posted at 1:50 pm CT
On the women's side, Southern Miss is the preseason favorite, which is understandable considering the Golden Eagles return all five starters and approximately 90 percent of the team's scoring and rebounding from last season.
But while the honor is deserved, that doesn't mean that USM coach Joye Lee-McNelis necessarily likes it.
"We feel very honored that the coaches picked us as No. 1, but when you're No. 1, that target is on your back," said Lee-McNelis, who is beginning her fifth season at USM. "Sometimes it's a whole lot easier to go hunting than be the one who is being hunted. That presents a real challenge for us.
"I'm proud for the players, but they also understand that you want to be No. 1 at the end. That's what really counts."
Posted at 2:03 pm CT
Interesting comment from Coach John Calipari. He said he wants his players to understand how much the team's success means to the city of Memphis. He said if the players are not working their hardest during practice, "then they are letting down a lot of people who are counting on them."
"I want them to know that," Calipari said. "Not to pressure them to win, but to pressure them to prepare. I want them to keep that in the back of their mind. I think it's a good thing."
Posted at 2:48 pm CT
Rice has a new look this season, in more ways than one. After playing their home schedule in three different Houston-area arenas in 2007-08, the Owls return to campus this season to play in the refurbished Tudor Fieldhouse. The 57-year-old facility went through a $27 million renovation and now includes a new academic center, training facility, locker rooms and offices.
The Owls also have brought in a new coach, Ben Braun, who is one of only 17 Division I coaches with at least 500 career victories (he has 552). Bruan guided California to the NCAA Tournament five times in 12 seasons and won the 1999 NIT championship.
Despite Rice's 3-27 record last season, including 0-16 in C-USA, Braun said he is convinced the Owls can become a winning program.
"We're really making an effort," Braun said. "That's what attracted me to Rice. With the proper support, Rice has the potential to be very successful. We do have to improve on what was a very poor record. That's not going to happen overnight, but it's going to happen."
Posted at 3:44 pm CT
There will be a sense of sadness surrounding UTEP basketball this season, as the Miners mourn the recent passing of legendary coach Don Haskins. The UTEP players will wear a patch with Haskins' initials on their uniforms this season in honor of the coach who led the Miners to the 1966 national championship, the first title with an all-black starting lineup.
"He meant so much to us and this program," current UTEP head coach Tony Barbee said of Haskins, who died Sept. 7. "It's important not just from a basketball standpoint but also from a societal standpoint. The impact that he's had on our society is about more than just basketball. It's special for our guys to be a part of that tradition and history."
Posted at 4:23 pm CT
Haskins' passing was felt well beyond El Paso. Southern Miss head coach Larry Eustachy was one of a number of members of the coaching faternity who attended the memorial service for Haskins.
"Coach has been described as (being like) John Wayne, and he was," Eustachy said. "But he was also the most interesting, the most intelligent, the most logical person who I've ever been around. He'll be misssed."
Posted at 4:34 pm CT
East Carolina made 232 three-pointers last season, the most in school history. But the numbers that stood out to ECU head coach Mack McCarthy was 11-19, which was the Pirates' record in 2007-08.
"We didn't make enough (three-pointers). We needed to make more," McCarthy said. "The three is the great equalizer. When you can shoot the ball deep, it really helps you. Shooting three is better than shooting two sometimes. We have post players who can benefit from those guys stretching the defense a little bit."
McCarthy originally was hired at ECU as an interim coach, but the interim tag has been removed from his title for this season.
"We tried to look at it last year as if we were going to be there (more than one season), and that's how we made our decisions," McCarthy said. "Because of that, I think we're probably further along than had we treated it as an interim situation."
Posted at 4:58 pm CT
SMU took an exhibition trip to Africa during the offseason, making the Mustangs the first Division I men's basketball program to play on the continent, according to Coach Matt Doherty. The Mustangs spent time in Senegal, where three of their players are from, and South Africa.
"It was a great opportunity for our guys to get an education, we were able to market our program, and it was good team-building," Doherty said. "It was a terrific, terrific trip. Just to understand the culture and see how fortunate we are here. We went to South Africa and got to see where Nelson Mandela grew up. It was an eye-opening experience."
Posted at 5:10 pm CT
One of the themes making the rounds today has been that Memphis has taken a slight step backward, providing an opening for several other teams to knock the Tigers off the top of the C-USA ladder.
UTEP head coach Tony Barbee agrees that there could be more of a race for the conference championship this season, but he said it has nothing to do with the Tigers' alleged demise.
"There a fallacy out there that Memphis is coming back to the pack. That's not happening," Barbee said. "But what is happening is the rest of the league is starting to catch up. There are now six or seven teams in this league that all have a shot to establish their programs as forces to be reckoned with."
Posted at 5:10 pm CT
One team that appeared poised to break into C-USA's upper echelon last season was Tulane. The Green Wave jumped out to a 15-6 start and was 5-2 in league play. But that was followed by an eight-game losing streak, and Tulane limped to a 17-15 final record. "We really thought we had turned the corner with our program," Tulane coach Dave Dickerson said. "Then we had a rash of injuries and we didn't play well late. We became one-diminsional as a team, where we just could not produce enough perimeter points."
Posted at 5:32 pm CT
The award for worst-dressed player goes to Marshall senior swingman Markel Humphrey. There wasn't anything wrong with his outfit, but rather it was his footwear. Humphrey showed up at Media Day with a stabilizing boot on his left foot.
"I hurt it in a pick-up game a couple of weeks ago," said Humphrey, who averaged 13.1 points and 5.6 rebounds per game for the Thundering Herd last season. "I just landed on somebody's foot and twisted my foot."
The injury is a stress fracture, and no surgery is needed. Humphrey said the doctors told him he would be out four to six weeks, and he hopes to be back in time for Marshall's season-opener on Nov. 16.
Posted at 5:50 pm CT
The one C-USA team that might be flying under the radar this season is the Houston Cougars, who went 24-10 last season but lost four of their five starters and have only two seniors.
Replacing Robert McKiver and his 23.6 points per game would be difficult enough, but the Cougars also lost their top two rebounders in Dion Dowell (6.8 rpg) and Tafari Toney (6.3). As a result, Houston has been virtually invisible this preseason.
"I haven't talked to a single (preseason) publication about our team," Houston head coach Tom Penders said. "But this is the most talened team that I've had. It's just that we're going to have a lot of new players in the lineup.
"It's kind of a fun year for me, because nobody is picking us. Our kids read the magazines and nobody is picking us, so they're ticked off. It's good motivation."
Posted at 6:06 pm CT
The Media Day ended with the host school making an appearance on CBS College Sports Network. Memphis head coach John Calipari used the occasion to take one final look back at last season's heartbreaking overtime loss to Kansas in the national championship game. And he is not looking back in anger.
"What a wonderful, wonderful game it was," Calipari said. "Would we have liked to have won? Yeah. But we never stopped trying. We missed some shots, and (Kansas) made every shot. And it got away from us that way. But I'm proud of what happened last year."
However, Calipari admits that he has yet to watch a replay of those final, frustrating few mintues.
"We refuse to watch the tape," he said with a smile. "We turn it off with two minutes to go."
And now it is time for Memphis and the rest of the teams in Conference USA to make some new memories. Ones that they can enjoy until the very end.
So that's it for Media Day. The season starts in a month. We'll see you at the arena.
