Football season (what’s that?) is a little more than a month away, but the more important season is coming up faster than people realize, so the previews are about to pick up a notch in swiftness of appearance.
The Southland has been dominated by Stephen F. Austin over the last three seasons. The Lumberjacks have lost three conference games in the last three seasons, including a 17-1 mark last season. They also have won an NCAA tournament game in that span, defeating VCU in 2014’s round of 64. Coach Brad Underwood has seen his name appear on virtually every “hot coaching candidate” list over the past couple seasons. A Kansas native and former player at Kansas State, Underwood is the obvious choice as successor to Bruce Weber. Being an alum might save the Wildcats, as Underwood no doubt could get a better job than the one in Manhattan, but it would be incredibly difficult for him to turn down his alma mater, I imagine.
The Lumberjacks are the obvious favorite next season as well, as the team loses just one senior starter off last year’s conference championship team, as well as three seniors who came off the bench. The depth will take a bit of a hit, but Stephen F Austin will have the best starting five in the league by a laughable margin, and again will be a hot upset pick in the NCAA tournament. Look for Thomas Walkup, who scored 15.6 points per game on a 59.2 percent effective field goal percentage en route to winning conference player of the year, to have a good shot at repeating those honors. His biggest competition might come from his teammate Ty Charles, who shot 54.4 percent from two and 41.3 percent from three as a freshman.
Although Stephen F. Austin is the clear frontrunner, there are some teams who can at least give the Lumberjacks a run in a one game conference tournament scenario. Chief among those is Texas A&M Corpus Christi, who finished third in the regular season last season, but was the lone team to defeat SFA in conference play. The Islanders return four starters, three of whom will be seniors, and they have one of the best players in the league in junior forward Rashawn Thomas, who shot a very efficient 55 percent on 2-pointers despite taking the most shots on the team.
Unfortunately for the contenders, that’s probably where it begins and ends. Six of the league’s teams finished last season ranked 300th or worse in the KenPom ratings, and the only team other than SFA even in the top 200 was Sam Houston State, which finished 81st but also loses three starters off last year’s team as well as reserve Marcus Burwell, who is transferring. Burwell did not play a lot for the Bearkats, but would have provided some senior leadership for a team that will have just one of them next season.
Final Standings Prediction
1. Stephen F. Austin
2. Texas A&M-CC
3. Sam Houston State
4. Northwestern State
5. Incarnate Word
6. Houston Baptist
7. Lamar
8. McNeese State
9. New Orleans
10. Nicholls State
11. Southeastern Louisiana
12. Abilene Christian
13. Central Arkansas
Preseason All-League Team
Thomas Walkup, Stephen F. Austin (POY)
Ty Charles, Stephen F. Austin
Rashawn Thomas, Texas A&M-CC
Zikiterian Woodley, Northwestern State
Jalan West, Northwestern State
