CNNSI.com - 2000-01 Men's NCAA Basketball Preview - CNNSI.com's Southern Miss preview

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Southern Miss Golden Eagles

Eagles will need more than defense to succeed

Last season

17-12, 7-9 C-USA

Coach

James Green (5th season, 65-54)

Projected starting lineup

G Mel Cauthen, 6-0, Sr.
It would help if Cauthen improved his turnovers (72) to assists (79) ratio. He did average 8 points and collect 33 steals.

G Marcus Terrell, 6-2, So.
If Terrell (4.5 points) doesn’t pan out here, Green might turn to 6-4 sophomore Tobias Brinkley. Or maybe hold tryouts.

C Vanderal Jones, 6-9, Sr.
A senior last year, he’s a senior again, earning back a year of eligibility by graduating on time. Jones averaged a steady 9.9 points and 6.0 rebounds.

F David Wall, 6-5, Sr.
JC transfer Wall was the surprise of the National Division last season, showing an ability to score (17.0) almost at will despite being the focal point of defenses.

F Kilavorous Thompson, 6-7, Sr.
After averaging 6.2 points and 4.8 rebounds, he’ll battle 6-8 sr. Carl Henderson for playing time at PF.

Top guy off the bench

G/F Elvin Mims, 6-5, Jr.
Green must find court time for JC transfer Mims, an adept scorer who could take some of the pressure off of Wall.

Key games

Iowa State (Dec. 1-2). They could meet in title game of Iowa State’s tournament.
at Auburn (Dec. 30). The football team could probably win this one.
South Florida (Mar. 3). If they’re out of the race, they could still play spoiler.

Outlook

Last season, Southern Miss played tough, physical basketball, holding opponents to .408 shooting. That won’t change, but there’s not enough offense to challenge the big boys -– the Eagles shot only 42.2 percent themselves a year ago. Basically, Southern Miss looks like its football team out there; plenty of 'D' but very little scoring. Will that be enough to break through against the big boys of the National Division? Probably not.

--Stan Olson