Herd picked for second place in C-USA
HUNTINGTON — Marshall’s Thundering Herd finished fourth last season in the Conference USA men’s basketball regular season race and continued on to win the big prize at the end.
Marshall was 12-6 in the 2018 C-USA regular season and behind Middle Tennessee, Old Dominion and Western Kentucky in the standings before rolling to the conference tournament championship and then advancing into the NCAA tournament second round.
So, maybe being picked for second place in the 2018-19 season isn’t so bad.
Western Kentucky, the team Marshall defeated (67-66) for the 2018 C-USA tournament championship, was picked Thursday as the preseason favorite in a poll of conference head coaches. Marshall was second behind the Hilltoppers followed by Old Dominion. The Hilltoppers received nine first-place votes and the Thundering Herd picked up the other five.
The Hilltoppers, Herd and ODU Monarchs each had two players chosen for the 11-member preseason All-CUSA team.
Western Kentucky ended its 27-11 season in the National Invitation Tournament semifinals at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Leading the Hilltoppers into a new season are preseason all-conference players Taevion Hollingsworth and Desean Murray. Hollingsworth, a 6-foot-2 sophomore guard, made the C-USA All-Freshman Team with averages of 13.3 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists. Murray is a 6-4 graduate transfer from Auburn who put up 10.1 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists as a junior.
Marshall head coach Dan D’Antoni’s high-scoring Herd has most of the key players back from a 25-11 season including preseason All-CUSA selections, 6-3 senior guard Jon Elmore and 6-4 senior guard C.J. Burks. Elmore was the conference leader in scoring average (22.7) and assists (6.8) while Burks chipped in 20.1 points a game.
Old Dominion’s preseason all-conference picks coming back from a 25-7 season are 6-2 senior guard Ahmad Caver and 6-5 senior guard B.J. Stith. Caver, who is joined by Elmore among 20 candidates for the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award, average 14.2 point and 6.2 assists last season. Stith produced 14.2 points and 5.7 rebounds per game.
C-USA MEN’S PRESEASON POLL
(First-place votes)
1.Western Kentucky (9)
2. Marshall (5)
3. Old Dominion
4. North Texas
5. UTSA
6. Louisiana Tech
7. Southern Miss
8. UAB
9. Middle Tennessee
10. FIU
11. UTEP
12. Florida Atlantic
13. Charlotte
14. Rice
ALL-C-USA PRESEASON TEAM
Jon Davis, Charlotte
Daquan Bracey, Louisiana Tech
Jon Elmore, Marshall
C.J. Burks, Marshall
Roosevelt Smart, North Texas
Ahmad Caver, Old Dominion
B.J. Stith, Old Dominion
Zack Bryant, UAB
Jhivvan Jackson, UTSA
Taveion Hollingsworth, WKU
Desean Murray, WKU
HERD MADNESS
WHEN: 7 p.m. Friday
WHERE: Cam Henderson Center
ADMISSION: Free