And The Party Never Ends

This will be the first of an on going twelve part series taking a look at each and every men’s team in Conference USA basketball. So fret not sports fans I will be previewing your favorite C-USA team at some point.

The Houston Cougars, from a little town you may have heard of, Houston, TX prepare for their 63rd season of men’s college basketball. The Cougars embark on their second season under the team goal of NCAA Tournament or Bust. The Cougars of course coming up bust on that goal last season and have not seen the NCAA Tourny since the 1992 season, the year they also won their last conference championship way back in their Southwest Conference days.

Coming off a 24-10 season with a 11-5 conference record the Cougars managed a bid in the newly created College Basketball Invitational Tournament. Coach Tom Penders enters his fifth year as Houston head coach and much like the Cougars has a foundation in the Southwest Conference and was the coach of the team that split the championship title with Houston in 1992.

Houston continues to age gracefully as a team with only one senior on the entire squad, Marcus Cousin the center out of Baltimore, Maryland. Not much of a presence on the Cougars bench, aside from spending most of his days on it, Cousin has already seen more playing time in Houston’s two games. Klevin Lewis remains on the Houston roster the junior guard averaged just over 10 points per game last year and should continue to produce for the Cougars. This year also should see the addition of true freshman Desmond Wade, who has given some hints of his abilities in the early season games for Houston.

The Cougars have quite a few players on their roster that have been silent, not registering any minutes over the past few seasons and have rumors of ability. That has yet to be seen but judging by the caliber Houston has seen and has continued to possess I wouldn’t write these perennial bench riders off. The Cougars have been putting together a deccent squad and things have been building, with the CBI bid last year the team should have some proof that they are capable of playing basketball, they will have to build on that though.

Houston Cougars 2008-2009 Men’s Basketball Schedule

Date                (Day)        Opponent Site Time
Nov. 10-11 (Mon.-Tue) 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer Durham, N.C.
Nov. 10 (Mon.) vs. Georgia Southern 3 p.m.
Nov. 11 (Tue.) at Duke or vs. Presbyterian 5 p.m./8 p.m.
Nov. 15 (Sat.) WESTERN KENTUCKY HOFHEINZ PAVILION 3 p.m. (DH)
Nov. 18 (Tue.) ALCORN STATE HOFHEINZ PAVILION 7 p.m.
Nov. 20-21 (Thur.-Fri.) 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer Championship Rounds New York, N.Y.
Nov. 20 (Thur.) vs. TBA (Semifinals) 6 p.m./8 p.m.
Nov. 21 (Fri.) vs. TBA (Championship/Consolation) 4 p.m./6 p.m.
Nov. 29 (Sat.) NORTH TEXAS HOFHEINZ PAVILION 7 p.m.
Dec. 2 (Tue.) at Middle Tennessee Murfreesboro, Tenn. 7 p.m.
Dec. 13 (Sat.) MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE HOFHEINZ PAVILION 7 p.m.
Dec. 20 (Sat.) at Toledo Toledo, Ohio 6 p.m.
Dec. 28 (Sun.) IOWA STATE HOFHEINZ PAVILION 5 p.m. (DH)
Dec. 30 (Tue.) MASSACHUSETTS HOFHEINZ PAVILION 7 p.m.
Jan. 3 (Sat.) at Mississippi State (CSS) Starkville, Miss. 3 p.m.
Jan. 6 (Tue.) TEXAS A&M-CORPUS CHRISTI HOFHEINZ PAVILION 7 p.m.
Jan. 10 (Sat.) * UAB HOFHEINZ PAVILION 7 p.m.
Jan. 14 (Wed.) * at UTEP El Paso, Texas 8:05 p.m.
Jan. 17 (Sat.) * at Southern Miss Hattiesburg, Miss. 4 p.m.
Jan. 21 (Wed.) * EAST CAROLINA HOFHEINZ PAVILION 7 p.m.
Jan. 24 (Sat.) at Arizona (Fox Sports Arizona) Tucson, Ariz. 5 p.m.
Jan. 28 (Wed.) * UTEP HOFHEINZ PAVILION 7 p.m.
Jan. 31 (Sat.) * at Memphis (CBS College Sports) Memphis, Tenn. Noon
Feb. 4 (Wed.) * at UCF (CBS College Sports) Orlando, Fla. 6 p.m.
Feb. 7 (Sat.) * RICE HOFHEINZ PAVILION 8 p.m. (DH)
Feb. 11 (Wed.) * at SMU Dallas, Texas 7 p.m.
Feb. 14 (Sat.) * TULANE HOFHEINZ PAVILION 7 p.m. (DH)
Feb. 18 (Wed.) * at Marshall Huntington, W.Va. 6 p.m.
Feb. 21 (Sat.) * UCF HOFHEINZ PAVILION 7 p.m.
Feb. 25 (Wed.) * at Tulsa Tulsa, Okla. 7:05 p.m.
Feb. 28 (Sat.) * at Rice Houston, Texas (Autry Court) 3 p.m.
March 4 (Wed.) * MEMPHIS (CBS College Sports) HOFHEINZ PAVILION 7 p.m.
March 7 (Sat.) * SMU HOFHEINZ PAVILION 7 p.m.
March 11-14 (Wed.-Sat.) at Conference USA Championship Memphis, Tenn. TBA

The road for the Cougars doesn’t look overly difficult, nor challenging until one remembers that having to play Memphis isn’t fun for any basketball program. Houston is ready to step up and take the challenges that lay before them trouble is, so is the rest of Conference USA. It’s going to be a fun season of college basketball in CUSA this year, I know I’m excited, and good news for the Cougar faithful, there’s going to be a lot for you to be excited about too. My prediction for Cougar basketball in 2008-2009, 26-7 overall and 11-5 in conference. A slight improvement over all but around the same in conference play. Depending on the level of play in the rest of the nation and league it may be enough to get an NIT bid this year, but Cougar fans may have to settle for a repeat trip to the CBI.