Sun Belt

2008 CollegeHoops.net Mid-Major All-Americans

CHN — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 10:12:32 -0700

CollegeHoops.net Mid-Major Player of the Year: Stephen Curry (Davidson)

CollegeHoops.net First Team Mid-Major All-American
G: Stephen Curry (Davidson)
G: Mike Green (Butler)
G: Courtney Lee (WKU)
F AZ Reid (High Point)
F: Jason Thompson (Rider)

CollegeHoops.net Second Team Mid-Major All-American
G: Lester Hudson (UT- Martin)
G: Patty Mills (Saint Mary’s)
G: George Hill (IUPUI)
F: Reggie Williams (VMI)
F: Gyno Pomare (San Diego)

CollegeHoops.net Third Team Mid-Major All-American
G: Al Fisher (Kent State)
G: Bo McCalebb (New Orleans)
F: Charron Fisher (Niagara)
F: Kyle Hines (UNCG)
F: Ryan Wittman (Cornell)

CollegeHoops.net FourthTeam Mid-Major All-American
G: Alex Harris (UCSB)
G: AJ Graves (Butler)
G: Demetric Bennett (South Alabama)
F: Tim Pollitz (Miami)
F: Thomas Sanders (Gardner Webb)

Mid-Major Honorable Mention:
Josh Alexander (Stephen F Austin), Marqus Blakely (Vermont), John Bryant (Santa Clara), J’Nathan Bullock (Cleveland State), Scott Cutley (Fullerton), Jeremiah Dominguez (Portland State), Justin Hare (Belmont), Brandon Johnson (San Diego), Dior Lowhorn (San Francisco), Jason Richards (Davidson), Jonathan Rodriguez (Campbell), Greg Sprink (Navy)

The CollegeHoops.net All-American teams are voted on by staff writers. Up tomorrow are our All-Rookie teams.

CHN 2007-08 Postseason Awards

All-Americans, All-Rookie, Top Coaches & more!

Welser Wonders: WAC Struggles & Sun Belt Battle

Joel Welser — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 07:53:26 -0800

How can you not feel bad for Brody Angley? And it has nothing to do with the hair. The poor guy is in the 1,000 point club and has been a superb leader for Santa Clara for four years, but he might now be mostly remembered for losing the game against Gonzaga this week. Angley was a little over aggressive at the end of regulation and fouled a Bulldog with virtually no time left on the clock. It was a dumb play, but it was an aggressive foul, and it is hard to blame anybody for hustling. But that led the game to overtime where the Broncos lost. The status of UNC’s Ty Lawson dominates what “Welser Wonders…”

…when Ty Lawson will return?

North Carolina is a different team without their point guard. Usually the Tar Heels could survive thanks to quality depth provided by Bobby Frasor. However, Frasor is done for the year. That leaves Quentin Thomas. Thomas has some of that senior leadership in his favor, but he has never been expected to contribute a large amount of minutes.

This goes beyond the Duke game last night. UNC has had an excuse to lose that one and it’s not like it goes down as a bad loss anyway. Yet, if Lawson is out for a larger period of time, it could put a big damper on the Tar Heels record and seeding come March.

…when the WAC will get better?

If you haven’t noticed, the

Western Athletic Conference still exists. It’s just nobody is paying attention. And that is for a good reason. As a whole, the conference is horrible compared to what we have become used to seeing. Being sandwiched between the Metro Atlantic and Big West on the conference RPI rankings is not a good place to be unless you’re the SWAC. The conference is a one-bid league this year and that is a very odd thing to say in early February. Even if Utah State, Boise State or Nevada win out the rest of the year, it will be very unlikely that they will earn an at-large bid.

Those are the only three teams in the league with a winning record. Louisiana Tech is one of the ten worst teams in the nation, being surprised by such powerhouses like Longwood, Presbyterian and The Citadel according to the RPI numbers. The WAC still has an opportunity to save face this season by winning some of the BracketBusters games, but even most are those are pretty bad match-ups that won’t do much for public perception.

…why the race for the Sun Belt title has gone so widely unnoticed?

Maybe it is the lack of television exposure…most of us would need one heck of a dish to pick up WKYU PBS in Bowling Green, Kentucky. But South Alabama and Western Kentucky are both having great years. The Jaguars (that’s USA (that’s University of South Alabama)) are 18-4 overall. They’ve beaten teams like San Diego and Mississippi State and their four losses are at Mississippi, at Vanderbilt, at North Texas and to Miami (OH) on a neutral floor. Besides the UNT loss, who represented the conference in the NCAA Tournament last year, those are all understandable defeats.

Western Kentucky lacks the quality win to get an at-large bid, but they still have beaten everybody they should beat and are 18-5 overall. South Alabama won the first battle between the two

Sun Belt East leaders, but WKU will look for revenge on their home floor on February 21^st. Yet, it will be the third meeting between the two teams in March that will be the most important.

This is a rivalry that has been very interesting to watch over the last few years. Western Kentucky has not made the NCAA Tournament since 2003 when they nearly knocked off Illinois in the first round, but they have continued to be the team to beat in the conference. South Alabama is trying to become the cream of the crop after winning at least 20 games the last two years. But the pundits have always found an excuse to keep the expectations of USA up where they belong. A coaching change and some key graduations have made most of us, myself included, write off USA as a one year wonder. This year proves that they are not going anywhere and another trip to the NCAA Tournament will cement their spot as the new team to beat in the Sun Belt for years to come.

…what everyone is worried about?

Skipping all that Bob Knight stuff, we’ll jump right to new Texas Tech coach Pat Knight. It was not long ago when we were all worried about the nepotism of college basketball. Dr. Tom Davis handed the reins to his son Keno and, one of my all-time favorites, Dick Bennett gave way to his son Tony. Drake is only 21-1 at the moment and we all know what the younger Bennett has done at Washington State over the last year and a half.

There is something to be said about the traditional road to big time college basketball coaching…paying your dues, working your way up…but it’s not like Pat Knight doesn’t know a thing or two about hoops. The guy has spent his entire adult life preparing to be a head coach behind a man who knows more than a thing or two about the college game.

Daily Dribble: Mid-Major Ranking

Shawn Siegel — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 18:47:39 -0800

Following yesterday's "High-Major" ranking, today's "Mid-Major" list contains what I consider to be the usual 13th through 17th ranked conferences: Big West, Horizon, MAC, Sun Belt, and WCC. Of course, some years there are other leagues that squeak into the Top 17, but only once since 2000 (Ivy in 2002) has a league not included in my rankings finished in the top 16 RPI.

1. Butler 7-0 (Hor)

2. Gonzaga 7-2 (WCC)

3. Saint Mary's 6-0 (WCC)

4. UCSB 8-1 (BW)

5. Miami 4-3 (MAC)

6. Kent State 7-2 (MAC)

7. Pacific 6-2 (BW)

8. WKU 6-2 (SB)

9. Valparaiso 6-1 (Hor)

10. Western Michigan 4-4 (MAC)

11. South Alabama 6-3 (SB)

12. Ohio 4-2 (MAC)

13. Cleveland State 6-3 (Hor)

14. CS Fullerton 4-1 (BW)

15. Wright State 2-1 (Hor)

16. CS Northridge 6-1 (BW)

17. North Texas 5-2 (SB)

18. San Diego 5-5 (WCC)

19. UWGB 5-2 (Hor)

20. Cal Poly 4-2 (BW)

21. UALR 6-1 (SB)

22. Detroit 4-3 (Hor)

23. Akron 5-2 (MAC)

24. UIC 3-4 (Hor)

25. Buffalo 5-4 (MAC)

26. ULM 4-4 (SB)

27. UWM 3-4 (Hor)

28. New Orleans 4-1 (SB)

29. Santa Clara 5-2 (WCC)

30. Pepperdine 4-6 (WCC)

31. Central Michigan 2-5 (MAC)

32. Bowling Green 4-3 (MAC)

33. Toledo 1-7 (MAC)

34. UC Davis 4-4 (BW)

35. Eastern Michigan 4-4 (MAC)

36. San Francisco 3-5 (WCC)

37. Youngstown State 3-4 (Hor)

38. Denver 2-4 (SB)

39. Portland 2-6 (WCC)

40. MTSU 2-5 (SB)

41. LBSU 2-5 (BW)

42. FIU 3-3 (SB)

43. LMU 2-7 (WCC)

44. Northern Illinois 2-6 (MAC)

45. Troy 3-4 (SB)

46. Loyola-Chicago 2-4 (Hor)

47. Ball State 0-7 (MAC)

48. UC Riverside 2-6 (BW)

49. Arkansas State 2-5 (SB)

50. UC Irvine 2-5 (BW)

51. Lou-Lafayette 1-4 (SB)

52. FAU 1-7 (SB)

Coming next will be a ranking of the six BCS leagues.

Sun Belt Conference Preview

CHN — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 10:46:45 -0800

Conference Previews | Top 144 | 06-07 Preview Home

Sun Belt Preview

Conference Rank: 18th

Conference Page

All-Conference

Player of the Year - Courtney Lee, WKU, G/F

Kendrick Davis, North Texas, G

Bo McCalebb, New Orleans, G

Isaac Wells, Arkansas St, F

Rashad Jones-Jennings, UALR, F/C

Nat'l	Team (Click for Preview)	Conf	Tourney
75	West Kentucky	1	NCAA
116	Arkansas Little Rock	2
150	New Orleans	3
162	South Alabama	4
185	North Texas	5
198	MTSU	6
204	Troy	7
212	Denver	8
217	Florida Atlantic	9
227	Arkansas State	10
252	LA Lafayette	11
282	LA Monroe	12
303	Florida Intl	13

Preseason Head Coach Q&A's:

Rex Walters - FAU

Kermit Davis - MTSU

Steve Shields - UALR