Tulsa Picked Fifth in C-USA Preseason Coaches Poll
10/11/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Oct. 11, 2007
Memphis, Tennessee - The Tulsa Golden Hurricane men's basketball team was picked to finish in fifth-place in the Conference USA preseason poll of the league's coaches, it was announced today.
With a combined 66-8 record the last two seasons, the Memphis Tigers, picked by several preseason publications as the nation's number-one ranked team, repeated as the unanimous preseason favorite to with the C-USA regular season crown. Houston and UAB were picked for a second-place tie followed by Southern Miss and Tulsa to round out the top five schools.
UCF, Tulane, UTEP, Marshall, SMU, Rice and East Carolina round out the preseason poll.
Tulsa posted 20 wins last year in Wojcik's second year as the Hurricane head coach.
This year Tulsa returns nine letterwinners and four starters who return 70.4-percent of its' scoring from a year ago. The Tulsa lineup was one that saw 10 players average over 10 minutes of playing time per game, while not one averaged over 27 minutes.
Tulsa's nine returning lettermen have each been in the starting lineup during their Hurricane careers, while four returning guards combined to start 89 games in 2005-06. The seniors Earls and McDade combined with Ben Uzoh and Mark Hill to average 32.0 points, 12.1 rebounds and 9.1 assists last year.
Although the frontcourt has some sturdy veterans returning, it's still a young group as Sam Mitchell is the only player to have two year's playing experience for the Hurricane. Senior Calvin Walls, a JC transfer last year, will make an even bigger impact on the team this year, while seven-footer Jerome Jordan has the size, ability and athleticism to become a dominant post player.
C-USA Preseason Poll1. Memphis T2. Houston UAB 4. Southern Miss 5. Tulsa 6. UCF 7. Tulane 8. UTEP 9. Marshall 10. SMU 11. Rice 12. East Carolina
