CUSA - Preseason Poll & All-Conference

Coming off a No. 1 seed in the 2006 NCAA Tournament, Memphis repeated as the unanimous preseason favorite to win the 2006-07 C-USA men's basketball regular-season crown. Rice’s Morris Almond, a preseason All-America candidate, was the unanimous selection by coaches as the Preseason Player of the Year.

Following Memphis in the voting were Houston at No. 2, UAB at No. 3, Rice and UTEP in a tie for fourth, Tulsa at No. 6, UCF at No. 7, SMU at No. 8, Tulane at No. 9, Marshall at No. 10, Southern Miss and East Carolina rounding out the selections at No. 12.

Almond was joined on the preseason all-conference by Oliver Lafayette and Lanny Smith of Houston, and Chris Douglas-Roberts and Joey Dorsey of Memphis.

The league will hold its annual Media Day in Memphis, Thursday, which is the site of the 2007 Aéropostale Conference USA Championship at the FedEx Forum, Mar. 7-10. For full coverage of media day via the web, go to conferenceusa.com.

Preseason PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Morris Almond, Rice, G, 6-6, Sr., Powder Springs, Ga.

2006 preseason all-conference TEAM

Oliver Lafayette, Houston, G, 6-3, Sr., Baton Rouge, La.
Lanny Smith, Houston, G, 6-2, Sr., Missouri City, Texas
Chris Douglas-Roberts, Memphis, G, 6-5, So. Detroit, Mich.
Joey Dorsey, Memphis, F, 6-9, Jr., Baltimore, Md.
Morris Almond, Rice, G, 6-6, Sr., Powder Springs, Ga.

PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH
1. Memphis
2. Houston
3. UAB
4. (tie) Rice
UTEP
6. Tulsa
7. UCF
8. SMU
9. Tulane
10. Marshall
11. Southern Miss
12. East Carolina