CUSA is going full swing!

[jon breiner]

Great night in bball tonight (Jan 7th) with the conference getting in full swing.  Is UH's homecourt turnaround for real?  They beat Washington, Texas A&M, and LSU in their past three home games and host Marquette tonight.  On the road, they are the same as ever though which is why they are 6-4.  Marquette is much more beatable this year, but still pretty good.  PG Travis Diener with 17 points and 6.5 assists per game ahs really become their go to guy.  The lack of inside play and a Dwyane Wade type player to take over may hurt them in games against top teams as it did against Arizona and Wisconsin.

Among the other "top" CUSA teams in action tonight, UL hosts Southern Miss and we are well aware of the UC game.  Louisville is ranked below the Bearcats, but has beaten two #1 teams this year in Florida and UK.  The UC game at Freedom Hall in 2 weeks is looming large!  Among the "will have little to no matter at the end of the year" games are ECU hosting UAB and TCU hosting St. Louis.  Actually, if SLU can win these type of games and steal a few at home (and they have played very well at home so far this year), they may stay in contention for awhile.  I just do not think they have the horses to win it all.

Last night there were two games to kick off the conference season.  Don't look now but Memphis is 9-2 with a win over Missouri recently and last night blew out Villanova at Villanova (now 8-4) 75-57.  Memphis at times has been playing to the level of competition (squeakers over Belmont and Oakland for example), but the cardiac kids have been prevailing.  The two losses are at Wake Forest and at Illinois, both tough places and teams.

Charlotte got an early leg up by going into Chicago and beating DePaul 75-70.  Demon Brown scored 34 including 27 and a 3-point bank shot (not called!) in the second half.  Coach Lutz is excellent at stealing a few of these type games every year to get and keep Charlotte in the race.  DePaul has struggled to win these games for way to many years first under Joey Meyer and now Dave Leiato, who I still think will bring DePaul "back" at some point.

Jon