WAC Basketball: Examining the 5 newcomer programs for 2021-22 season

Jan 14, 2021; Phoenix, AZ, USA; GCU women's basketball head coach Molly Miller, men's basketball head coach Bryce Drew and Jerry Colangelo (right) talk after announcing that Abilene Christian, Lamar, Sam Houston State, Stephen F. Austin and Southern Utah University will join the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) during a press conference at the GCU Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rob Schumacher-Arizona RepublicNews /

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WAC Basketball Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports /

Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks

In their raiding of the Southland Conference, the Western Athletic Conference landed the league’s preeminent men’s basketball program over the last decade, the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks. Now granted the majority of this success has since been vacated due to NCAA violations, but the Lumberjacks were the Southland’s most successful program for nearly 15 years.

Since 2008 Stephen F. Austin has won seven regular-season titles and five conference tournament championships that earned them a bid to the Big Dance where they twice pulled first-round upsets. Over the past 13 seasons, they have averaged 25.4 wins and during head coach Kyle Keller’s five-year tenure that number is 20.8, and in 2020 they pulled off one of the most memorable wins of the season when they beat Duke in overtime at Cameron Indoor.

Moving to the WAC, coming off the punishment from the NCAA, having to replace their top four scorers from last season and two other transfers, as well as having to learn about a new set of conference foes will be a tall task, but for a team that has won 44 games over the last two seasons, they will be up for the challenge. Adding a school with the basketball success of Stephen F. Austin will help to elevate the men’s hoop profile of the WAC.