With the fall beginning and college basketball just around the corner, it's time to look back at what our favorite teams did during their summer vacations. Some did some good things; some had a bad time. So let's look back at who did what in our How I Spent My Summer Vacation series. Today's look is the Conference USA.
There is a lot of love here for Conference USA. As a fan of a one-team conference (old school Big West), it is easy to relate to similar conferences. Memphis gets all of the love -- and they deserve the recognition -- but this league is not devoid of talent. Not at all. Especially at the coaching level. Wow, Conference USA is a place for second (and sometimes third) chances for coaches. And that's a good thing.
There are a number of teams that could take a run at Memphis this season. Can they beat them for the top spot? No. But don't look for the Tigers to extend their 33-game conference win streak this season, either. Somebody, however, needs to take run and make Conference USA an annual, multiple bid conference.
Let's take a look at what was shaking this summer.
East Carolina
The Pirates eventually gave the coaching job to Mack McCarthy -- moving him up from "acting" head coach -- who did a good job at Chattanooga, where he even notched a Sweet 16 appearance in 1997. McCarthy has won a lot of games where he's been and he should do a pretty good job at East Carolina. Just not right away, as the Pirates will be very young.The question is will Terry Holland give him enough time?
Houston
The Cougars are going for their four postseason appearance in five years, but Tom Penders lost four starters from last year and added a bunch of JC guys to keep the Cougars at the top of the conference. The team added guard Aubrey Coleman along with former St. John's starter Qa'rraan Calhoun and Sean Coleman.
Marshall
Also known as bounce-back U. The Thundering Herd will welcome former Purdue guard Chris Lutz, former Florida guard Brandon Powell and former Georgetown guard/forward Octavius Spann into the fold this year. One man's trash, right? But having watch Cal State's Bob Burton and New Mexico State's Reggie Theus successful use a similar strategy, it seems that second-year coach Donnie Jones is on to something. Plus Marshall returns most of its firepower, including Markel Humphrey who played most of last season with a stress fracture in his foot.
Memphis
Robert Dozier and Antonio Anderson return to the starting lineup after flirting with the NBA draft. That's huge. But the biggest news was getting Tyreke Evans into school. Not that Evans is a bad guy or anything like that. He's not, he's a good kid. But with these guys who are going to school for only one season, there's always a concern that they could jump to Europe. Not that it was ever a real threat for Evans, it's just something that creeps into my mind. A number of players from Memphis made up a Conference USA all-star team that traveled to China to play a series of exhibition games against the Chinese National Team.
Rice
The Owls play basketball? Thought they only played baseball. However, bringing in a coach like Ben Braun and having a new (sort of) home at Autry Court should help Rice start to build a basketball tradition. Having Rodney Foster return from a broken hand helps, too.
SMU
Love what this athletic program is doing, having a guy like Matt Doherty as hoops coach, and bringing in June Jones to run the football team. Doherty has a very nice, young team and is building a nice pipeline in Senegal. Mouhammad Faye will be the third Senegal native on the roster, joining Bamba Fall and Papa Dia. The Mustangs took a 12-day trip to Africa during the offseason that included the Senegal and South Africa.
Southern Miss
Larry Eustachy is the butt of a lot of jokes, but this guy can certainly coach. In fact, it's hard not to wonder what would have happened to Cal State's program all of those years ago if they had hired Eustachy instead of Brad Holland? Moving on, the Golden Eagles have a lot of returning talent including all-star Jeremy Wise, who became the second-fastest player in school history to 1,00 points. Wise and Andre Stephens played on that previously mentioned Conference USA All-Star team that traveled to China. Wise had a team-high 13 points and two assists in the opening game of the trip.
Tulane
Dave Dickerson spent his summer butching up the Green Wave's schedule. Tulane has nine postseason teams on its schedule. Perhaps Dickerson is toughing up his guys to avoid another eight-game conference losing streak.
Tulsa
Ben Uzoh spent his summer on the C-USA all-star team, and spent his time longing for Snickers bars. He evidential became a big hit in China, and he's starting to become a big hit in the conference, too. Tulsa is coming off a win in the inaugural College Basketball Invitational last year. Rioting went on for weeks. Kidding, but the Golden Hurricanes had a taste of success, let's see how that translates this year.
UAB
Robert Vaden did the dance with the NBA, but returned to school. And really, that probably wasn't much of a surprise to anybody. But Vaden's return means that the Blazers have one of the most experienced teams in the conference with four starters and nine letter winners (six seniors) coming back. Terrence Roderick is eligible and ready to go.
UCF
Jermaine Taylor is back after working his tail off getting ready for the upcoming season. Taylor led the team in scoring, but the team is pretty thin after that. Taylor adn Kenrick Zondervan are the only returning seniors. The team will have six freshman. UCF has finished in the top five in the conference in each of the past three years and will need a big year from Taylor to do it again.
UTEP
Claude Britten and Julyan Stone joined the other Conference USA all stars traveling to China. The Miners are expected to be one of the top teams in the conference and have been projected as a tournament team by some media outlets. The team returns nearly 70 percent of its scoring from last year, including Stefon Jackson.
