Southland Basketball: Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston State early favorites in 2018-19

In the Southland, Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston State have reigned for the last ten years, and expect one or both of them to battle for the title in 2018.

Just like death and taxes, over the past decade, the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks and Sam Houston State Bearkats could be counted on to be a favorite in the Southland Conference. In the last ten seasons, eight have included either or both in the conference championship game, including three times when the schools squared off for the right to go to the NCAA Tournament. Only once in the last ten years was neither team a top-two seed going into the tournament, in 2017.

Expect 2018 to be no different, both teams should be top competitors to go to the Big Dance once again.

The Lumberjacks are the reigning champs and won 28 games in a competitive conference where 14-4 was only good enough for the third seed. Coach Kyle Keller returns his top three scorers but loses their depth as Ivan Canete, Ty Charles and Leon Gilmore III all graduated. Senior guard Shannon Bogues returns as the team’s leading scorer, averaging over 15 points for one of the nation’s top offenses, the Lumberjacks averaged 81 points per game.

Junior swingman Kevon Harris also returns, the 6-6 Harris was a jack of all trades last season with 14.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 1.3 assists while shooting over 42% from beyond the arc. The last of the returning double-figure scorers is the 6-8 TJ Holyfield who grabbed a team-high 6.4 rebounds and netted nearly 13 points per game.

Stephen F. Austin was also one of the deeper teams in the country last season with nine guys averaging over 12 minutes per contest and the last three of those players all return as juniors and will be looked upon to help fill the void of the graduating seniors. John Comeaux and Aaron Augustin are guards and Samuli Nieminen is a 6-7 forward from Finland. Helping Nieminen in the frontcourt will be the 6-8 Davonte Fitzgerald who averaged 3.7 points and 2.4 rebounds at Minnesota last season.

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Sam Houston State won 21 games last season, made it to the semifinals of the CIT and finished just behind SFA in the Southland last season.

Like SFA, the Bearkats went nine deep, but of those nine only four of them return. The brother guard duo of Cameron and Josh Delaney, who together averaged 12.4 points and five rebounds last season. The other two returnees are also seniors and guards. Marcus Harris is a 6-0 redshirt-senior who dropped 9.4 points in his first season with the team after transferring from San Diego and Albert Almanza is another redshirt senior who averaged 5.2 points last season.

With very few returning players, head coach Jason Hooten has a lot of newcomers he is hoping can fill in the gaps.

The true freshmen are a pair of guards from Texas. Xavier Bryant is a 6-0 guard that played at Greenhill high school in DeSoto and Zach Nutall is a 6-3 shooting guard from Bryan.

The Bearkats also welcome four players from the junior college ranks for 2018-19. RJ Smith has three years of eligibility left after spending a season at Butler Community College in college. The 6-5 swingman began his college career at Oral Roberts before leaving for Butler where he was a 2^nd team all-conference player averaging 13.7 points and 7.5 rebounds. Chad Bowie is a 6-3-point guard who played at Kilgore College in Texas last season where he scored over 13 points, dished out 4.7 assists and had 2.2 thefts. Kai Mitchell, a 6-7 power forward who spent two seasons at Hutchinson Community College where he led them to an NJCAA national title two years ago and the Sweet 16 last season with a team-high 6.2 points and 6.5 rebounds. Lastly, Zaqwaun Matthews is a 6-4 shooting guard who played last season at Cape Fear Community College in North Carolina. Needing a guard to make shots, Hooten grabbed Matthews who scored 14 points and grabbed over five rebounds in 2016-17.

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Both teams have holes to fill but if the last ten seasons are any indication, the Lumberjacks and/or the Bearkats will be playing with an NCAA Tournament bid on the line in early March.