Conference USA media day primer

[Harry]

And so it begins.

The buildup toward the kickoff of UNT’s 2013 season starts tomorrow with Conference USA Media Day down in Irving.

This will be UNT’s first season in the reconstituted league after 12 years in the Sun Belt.

So what are the storylines this year? Here are some thoughts:

1. How does UNT fit in?

The big benefit of the move to C-USA for UNT is it will finally be in a league with three other Texas schools in Rice, UTEP and UTSA. It will be an interesting mix, especially for the first few years because there really hasn’t been any kind of pecking order established, nor a feeling of how those teams will match up nor an idea of how they will approach competing for recruits in the state.

UNT has struggled since 2004. Does the move to C-USA provide the boost it needs?

Can new head coach Sean Kugler give UTEP a boost and make the Miners competitive right away?

And what about Rice? Do the Owls have an edge now as the lone Texas private school in the league after the departure of SMU and the impending departure of Tulsa and Tulane? There are always a handful of players who prefer the private school environment and it seems like more and more top players are gravitating to private high schools.

UTSA has a huge local base to draw from in San Antonio, but has little history. Can the Roadrunners ramp up their program that fattened up on lower division teams and do it quickly due to some inherent advantages?

Read more: http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2013/07/conference-usa-media-day-primer.html/