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As soon as Coach John Calipari left Memphis this past March to join the Kentucky Wildcats, many have instantly made Tulsa the favorite to win Conference USA regular season and post season tournament in the 2009-10 season. The Tigers also lost four players to graduation and the NBA. Memphis has plenty of talent on the squad and new Coach Josh Pastner is going to surprise fans this season with how well the Tigers perform. I have Memphis as my favorite to win Conference USA with Tulsa a close second. If the Tigers did not benefit from having former Duke guard Elliot Williams transfer in unexpectedly, I would rank them behind Tulsa.

Conference USA Basketball preseason Rankings

#1 2009 Conference USA Basketball Team – Memphis

Memphis Last Season: 16-0, 33-4

Memphis fans have gone through some significant highs and lows since losing to Missouri in the regional semifinals in the 2009 NCAA tournament. New coach, Josh Pastner’s squad has senior Doneal Mack, junior Roburt Sallie, and Duke transfer Elliot Williams coming in as the most experienced players in the backcourt. Williams coming in, lets Mack play the two guard with Sallie on the wing depending on what mix of offensive style Pastner chooses to use this season. The big question mark for the Tigers is how Pastner intends to use the three players he has on this year’s roster capable of playing the 4 and 5 spots in Pierre Henderson-Niles, transfer Will Coleman, Jr., and Wesley Witherspoon. If the front court stays healthy, look for the Tigers to remain atop Conference USA and make the NCAA tournament again this season.

#2 2009 Conference USA Basketball Team – Tulsa

Tulsa Last Season: 12-4, 25-11

Tulsa coach Doug Wojcik was 0-10 against Memphis during his time at Tulsa. Tulsa will be trying to knock the Tigers out of the top spot in Conference USA with returning post player Jerome Jordan and guard Ben Uzoh. Uzoh averaged 14.0 ppg, 4.9 rbg, and 3.6 apg last season with Jordan chipping in 13.8 ppg and 8.6 rbg. Coach Wojcik has Donte Medder coming in to help out oat the point in his 2009 recruiting class as well. If the Golden Hurricane’s don’t knock Memphis out of the top spot in Conference USA this season, they should be very competitive for a NCAA tournament spot.

#3 2009 Conference USA Basketball Team – UTEP

UTEP Last Season: 10-6, 23-14

UTEP had a strong season last year finishing at 23-14 overall and 10-6 in the conference. The Miners’ leading scorer from last season is guard Randy Culpepper who averaged 17.5 ppg and 1.8 apg. This will be Tony Barbee’s fourth season at UTEP. Gone from last season, however, is the all team leading scorer in Stefon Jackson. He does gain several key transfers in Derrick Caracter, Christian Polk, Myron Stron, and Jeremy Williams for this year’s team. Look for UTEP to have a solid season, but be playing in the NIT in 2010.

#4 2009 Conference USA Basketball Team – Houston

Houston Last Season: 10-6, 21-12

Houston had a solid season last year finishing with 21 wins. Returning guard, Kelvin Lewis scored 18.0 ppg last year and Aubrey Coleman 19.4 ppg. With a few lucky breaks this season, Houston could quickly find themselves in competition for the Conference USA title.

#5 2009 Conference USA Basketball Team – Marshall

Marshall Last Season: 7-9, 15-17

Coach Donnie Jones enters his third year at Marshall. If he can keep the Thundering Herd players healthy this season, he should have a solid season in conference play this year.

#6 2009 Conference USA Basketball Team – SMU

SMU Last Season: 3-13, 9-21

SMU coach Matt Doherty has not finished better than 11^th place in Conference USA during his first three seasons. He does have more experience returning this season along with Georgia Tech transfer Mouhammad Faye who started playing last Decemer. If they can get a solid year out of Papa Dia in the paint, SMU will be in the upper tier of Conference USA.

#7 2009 Conference USA Basketball Team – Tulane

Tulane Last Season: 7-9, 14-17

Tulane has had their first offseason since Katrina that there has not been a significant shift in personnel or the coaching staff. They have several experienced guards returning who should enable the team to shoot for a greater than .500 record this season.

#8 2009 Conference USA Basketball Team – East Carolina

East Carolina Last Season: 5-11, 13-17

Play has been improving under Coach Mack McCarthy the past two season, but a lot of the Pirates’ fortunes will be based on Brock Young’s ability to be the center of the offense this year. Last season he averaged 7.6 assists per game, but will need to score more this year to get East Carolina a shot at finishing in the top half of the conference.

#9 2009 Conference USA Basketball Team – Southern Miss

Southern Miss Last Season: 4-12, 15-17

If Jeremy Wise hadn’t left for the NBA a year early, Southern Miss would be ranked in the top three heading in to the 2009-10 season. Look for Coach Eustachy to focus on finding a consistent point producer on this year’s squad.

#10 2009 Conference USA Basketball Team – UAB

UAB Last Season: 11-5, 22-12

UAB had a great overall season last year finishing 22-12. Coach Mike Davis will be working on a rebuilding year this year after losing four of his seven top scorers from last year.

#11 2009 Conference USA Basketball Team – UCF

UCF Last Season: 7-9, 17-19

UCF lost Jermaine Taylor who scored 26.2 ppg for them last year. With only two juniors on the squad with Michael Jordan’s youngest son being a part of the 2009 UCF recruiting class, the team will likely be in the lower half of Conference USA this year.

#12 2009 Conference USA Basketball Team – Rice

Rice Last Season: 4-12, 10-22

6′7″ freshman Arsalan Kazemi will be the first Iranian-born player to play in a Division I game ever this season. Unfortunately, this may be the only highlight for Rice this year. Try Stanton who previously played for Navy will look to improve on his 8.3 ppg average this season, but look for Rice to remain at the bottom of Conference USA this year.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 at 2:18 pm and is filed under Conference USA, NCAA Basketball Rankings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.