We have a thread about football rivalries, but what about hoopz?

I dont know which is the biggest in the conference but for those of us who came from the 'Belt, the North Texas-Western Kentucky rivalry was great.

From 2007-2013 the Sun Belt Tourney champs were:

2007- UNT
2008- WKU
2009- WKU
2010- UNT
2011- Little Rock (beat UNT in Finals)
2012- WKU (beat UNT in Finals)
2013- WKU

In the 2008 tourney, Western beat UNT in the Quarterfinals. The next year Western beat UNT again, this time in the Semis. We missed each other in 2010 but met again in the 2011 tourney in the Semis, with UNT taking that one. The 2012 Championship game was played between the two teams with Western taking the crown.

Every year we knew it was gonna be us or them with the banner. I loved that rivalry. The Bennett years killed UNT basketball and the rivalry as well as Western's inability to take a CUSA tourney crown.

Now with both teams back to form, hopefully the rivalry will return. Western eliminated UNT in the 2019 tournament and I would have loved to see if we could have gotten revenge last season. Hopefully this year brings more great games.

Still MT/wkcc

I mean, for Marshall it's WKU.

Just from going to all of USM's home games for last umpteen years:

1) UAB. But not really. Usually they've been better than us. There have been some real barnburners at times. UAB fans show up in Hattiesburg for basketball, and they're loud and proud.
2) UTEP. The whole Tim Floyd dynamic. Grew up in Hattiesburg, his dad was a USM coaching legend. But we're about eleventy billion miles from El Paso.
3) Marshall. Still pissed off about Larry Eustachy almost getting arrested at that game in Huntington. I pull for Marshall football all the time, but just can't in basketball.

Before getting drop-kicked, we had a great rivalry with Tulane. And from our end, a rivalry with Memphis, although they almost always won. We were so close in so many games. And Memphis packed the house. Sellout every time we played. Also, we grew to hate UCF. Had some great contests with them.

Before that, we had an intense rivalry with Virginia Tech, and to a lesser extent, South Carolina and Florida St. Yeah, we used to be in the same conference. Now I've got to find my whiskey.

UAB VS UTEP due to some great competition between the two.
ODU VS UTEP due to 2,000 miles of hate plus some good basketball.

For me it’s WKU/Marshal followed by LT and UTEP.

(09-09-2020 07:49 PM)Noodles Wrote:  Just from going to all of USM's home games for last umpteen years:

1) UAB. But not really. Usually they've been better than us. There have been some real barnburners at times. UAB fans show up in Hattiesburg for basketball, and they're loud and proud.
2) UTEP. The whole Tim Floyd dynamic. Grew up in Hattiesburg, his dad was a USM coaching legend. But we're about eleventy billion miles from El Paso.
3) Marshall. Still pissed off about Larry Eustachy almost getting arrested at that game in Huntington. I pull for Marshall football all the time, but just can't in basketball.

Before getting drop-kicked, we had a great rivalry with Tulane. And from our end, a rivalry with Memphis, although they almost always won. We were so close in so many games. And Memphis packed the house. Sellout every time we played. Also, we grew to hate UCF. Had some great contests with them.

Before that, we had an intense rivalry with Virginia Tech, and to a lesser extent, South Carolina and Florida St. Yeah, we used to be in the same conference. Now I've got to find my whiskey.

I was one of the team managers for our bball at the time, and I remembered that game a little differently

Coach E was taking it way over the top from what little I remember...but that was a good time for Southern Miss basketball.

(09-09-2020 08:04 PM)rileylives Wrote:  

(09-09-2020 07:49 PM)Noodles Wrote:  Just from going to all of USM's home games for last umpteen years:

1) UAB. But not really. Usually they've been better than us. There have been some real barnburners at times. UAB fans show up in Hattiesburg for basketball, and they're loud and proud.
2) UTEP. The whole Tim Floyd dynamic. Grew up in Hattiesburg, his dad was a USM coaching legend. But we're about eleventy billion miles from El Paso.
3) Marshall. Still pissed off about Larry Eustachy almost getting arrested at that game in Huntington. I pull for Marshall football all the time, but just can't in basketball.

Before getting drop-kicked, we had a great rivalry with Tulane. And from our end, a rivalry with Memphis, although they almost always won. We were so close in so many games. And Memphis packed the house. Sellout every time we played. Also, we grew to hate UCF. Had some great contests with them.

Before that, we had an intense rivalry with Virginia Tech, and to a lesser extent, South Carolina and Florida St. Yeah, we used to be in the same conference. Now I've got to find my whiskey.

I was one of the team managers for our bball at the time, and I remembered that game a little differently

Coach E was taking it way over the top from what little I remember...but that was a good time for Southern Miss basketball.

I imagine you are right about Eustachy. One night at Fogelman against Tulane, I witnessed a USM player cry on the bench. Eustachy was INTENSE. Still think we got hosed at Marshall. Lol. Good times.

Year Champion Score Runner-up Most Valuable Player Site
1996 Cincinnati 85–83 (OT) Marquette Danny Fortson, Cincinnati The Pyramid; Memphis, Tennessee
1997 Marquette 60–52 Charlotte Aaron Hutchins, Marquette Kiel Center; St. Louis
1998 Cincinnati 71–57 Charlotte Kenyon Martin, Cincinnati Myrl Shoemaker Center; Cincinnati
1999 Charlotte 68–59 Louisville Galen Young, Charlotte Birmingham–Jefferson Convention Complex; Birmingham, Alabama
2000 Saint Louis 56–49 DePaul Justin Love, Saint Louis The Pyramid; Memphis, Tennessee
2001 Charlotte 80–72 Cincinnati Rodney White, Charlotte

Football is the only sport that really matters, the rest of sports is just filler to get to the next football season. At least least in Florida.

(09-10-2020 08:13 AM)FAU Connoisseur! Wrote:  Football is the only sport that really matters, the rest of sports is just filler to get to the next football season. At least least in Florida.

Well, news for you. Men's basketball is a thing.

In general though beyond that I agree, it's good when some of your teams are good in the other sports, but football and men's basketball carry the weight.

(09-10-2020 08:13 AM)FAU Connoisseur! Wrote:  Football is the only sport that really matters, the rest of sports is just filler to get to the next football season. At least least in Florida.

Well, the rest of us are grateful that FAU is no longer ignoring MBB even if their fans still are. Dusty May has done some good things with your program. That FL trip is definitely no longer a gimme.

Charlotte v Mediocrity is a good one.

My view as a UAB fan for ~5 years would be that there's nobody I view as a true rival, but these are the schools I usually get excited about when they come to Bartow:
- WKU - This one is far & away #1 for me. I'm a huge fan of Bassey, and I think WKU is such an interesting program.
- La Tech - Here because they're good more often than not so
- Marshall - I like Dantoni

I have also been talking myself into Charlotte & FIU lately because I think they have really solid coaches. I would really, really love for UTEP to get good at basketball again.

(09-10-2020 08:13 AM)FAU Connoisseur! Wrote:  Football is the only sport that really matters, the rest of sports is just filler to get to the next football season. At least least in Florida.

1) Isn't this a basketball conference?
2) Aren't you guys pretty good at a lot of sports? If I remember correctly, when I put together all of that performance data, FAU was usually really good at baseball.

WKU vs. MTSU is WKU's top conference rivalry.

There are some exceptions when one team or the other is really having a down year but for the most part these two teams draw really well for each other. The intensity is something that a lot of fans in this conference would not believe. WKU / MTSU is an event in basketball.

(09-10-2020 02:29 PM)Auburn_Blazer Wrote:  I would really, really love for UTEP to get good at basketball again.

Me too.

(09-10-2020 02:31 PM)Auburn_Blazer Wrote:  

(09-10-2020 08:13 AM)FAU Connoisseur! Wrote:  Football is the only sport that really matters, the rest of sports is just filler to get to the next football season. At least least in Florida.

1) Isn't this a basketball conference?
2) Aren't you guys pretty good at a lot of sports? If I remember correctly, when I put together all of that performance data, FAU was usually really good at baseball.

FAU IS really good at baseball and has been since before C-USA even existed. But, part of the reason is WHERE we are. At least that's what it seems to me, a person that does not really follow college baseball.

Games that matter to me: Middle, Western, Marshall, UTEP, La Tech, Charlotte, UAB, and UTSA/road peckers. And I keep rooting for/expect UTEP to reclaim their former glory.

(09-09-2020 09:44 PM)ghostofclt! Wrote:  Year Champion Score Runner-up Most Valuable Player Site
1996 Cincinnati 85–83 (OT) Marquette Danny Fortson, Cincinnati The Pyramid; Memphis, Tennessee
1997 Marquette 60–52 Charlotte Aaron Hutchins, Marquette Kiel Center; St. Louis
1998 Cincinnati 71–57 Charlotte Kenyon Martin, Cincinnati Myrl Shoemaker Center; Cincinnati
1999 Charlotte 68–59 Louisville Galen Young, Charlotte Birmingham–Jefferson Convention Complex; Birmingham, Alabama
2000 Saint Louis 56–49 DePaul Justin Love, Saint Louis The Pyramid; Memphis, Tennessee
2001 Charlotte 80–72 Cincinnati Rodney White, Charlotte

There was some good basketball played in the early days of CUSA!