McNeese State is the defending Southland champion and favored to repeat, but Incarnate Word is not too bad -- picked to finish sixth. It's the league opener for both. UIW's Davion Bailey (20 ppg) and Tahj Staveskie (19.1 ppg) lead the Southland in scoring and Harold Woods leads in total rebounds (59). You'd think this is the biggest home game of the year. UIW played Indiana pretty tough a few weeks ago in Bloomington and scored a school-record-tying 117 points last time out against some nobody foe. The only loss for McNeese State was its lone road game at Santa Clara. This simply feels 3-4 points high.

McNeese State has won four start against the Cardinals. However, Incarnate Word covered those four games and eight of the last nine overall. The Cardinals return a lot of production and experience from last season while also adding Tahj Staveskie in the portal. They lost to a Will Wade NcNeese team last season by two points, on the road, and have their main guys back but we know that the Cowboys lost a lot of production with Wade to NC State. The Cowboys are still the top team in the Southland but Incarnate Word has the pieces to keep this one close.