Conference USA radically changed its membership in the offseason, but one thing it didn’t change is its refusal to conduct a preseason basketball poll for men’s basketball. It’s an odd tradition for a conference that suffers from an identity crisis. Motto for CUSA basketball: “Hey, we don’t want you to know who might finish where in our conference!”

Well, for the second straight year, I won’t let the conference get off that easy. Rice head coach Ben Braun deserves the opportunity to say to his local media, “It’s an insult to think we are going to finish 16th in our conference.” (Braun, by the way, looks great for a guy that has been coaching for 30 years.) And Southern Miss deserves to post on its web site, “Golden Eagles picked to win Conference USA.” So yesterday, 36 rabid Conference-USA enthusiasts tweeted their predictions for the conference table, and I have tabulated their votes. You can use these results to inform your preseason knowledge, or if nothing else, to learn which teams are competing in Conference USA this season.

Southern Miss was voted by our panel as the pick to win the conference, followed by Louisiana Tech and UTEP.

         1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16   Pts
So Miss 17   7   5   2   2   -   1   -   -   -   1   -   -   1   -   -   516
La Tech  9  10   6   2   2   1   -   2   -   2   1   1   -   -   -   -   482
UTEP     3   6   9   6   5   3   2   -   2   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   471
Mid Tenn 4   4   4   7   4   7   3   2   1   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   452
Char     -   3   2  10   7   4   2   5   1   -   -   -   -   1   1   -   409
UAB      1   2   4   2   2  12   5   1   4   1   -   -   1   -   1   -   388
Tulsa    -   2   4   3   5   2   6   5   4   2   -   1   1   -   -   1   368
ECU      -   -   1   2   5   3   2   7   5   3   3   3   -   1   1   -   315
Marshall -   1   1   -   1   1   2   6   4   8   6   3   -   1   -   2   270
FIU      -   -   -   1   -   1   5   5   3   3   6   2   8   1   -   1   246
N Texas  -   1   -   1   -   -   2   1   5   8   4   5   5   2   1   1   231
Tulane   -   -   -   -   1   -   5   1   5   2   7   3   6   3   1   2   219
FAU      -   -   -   -   1   1   -   -   1   1   6  10   9   4   1   2   176
ODU      1   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   1   3   2   3   3   9  10   4   135
UTSA     1   -   -   -   1   -   1   1   -   -   -   3   2   9   8  10   123
Rice     -   -   -   -   -   1   -   -   -   3   -   2   1   4  12  13    95

Thanks to all who voted. We lost some of the star quality from last season, but we made up for it in increased numbers. Without your participation, there would not be a Conference USA preseason poll in all the land. Those people are (ordered based on their ballot, from most similar to consensus to “that’s a fine randomizer you have there”): @GettFest, @88kcg, @jacobbeckett22, @RandallThomason, @BlazeNBham, @BigH1313, @rpm002, @FearTheWaveBlog, @UltimateCrans, @craigcaswell, @HuffDaddyFlex4, @TulsaHop, @rhettumphress, @ConnorPelton28, @RealRichDouglas, @VinceValence, @Joshua_Riddell, @justinleyendo, @c_pete3, @KyleAshauer, @Nbjar, @SteveLatos, @DonGee01, @RoleModel83, @EdlundDI, @ds_33, @glayton79, @GustavAnderson, @KyDerbyJay, @ToddGerkens,
@Sctvman, @otarmy, @dlhow, @HashTagOnions, @Dangelo_Vickers, and @cprentiss22.

 

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