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Posted at 4:45 PM EST.

Southeastern Louisiana +15 over TULANE

8:00 PM EST. The Ron Hunter rebuild continues in the Bayou, and while it may not have progressed to the degree that we expected after two years, the 2021 Green Wave did achieve their best KenPom ranking since 2007. Big deal. The stench of the Mike Dunleavy era at Tulane still remains. Two key transfer losses definitely rob Hunter of some offensive creativity, with an incredibly young roster that was 325th in experience last year.

Rob Hunter is a defense-oriented coach. His main offensive weapon is the spread pick-and-roll but spread pick-and-rolls do not work very well if the defense has zero reason to spread out. Tulane’s perimeter shooting was a season-long disaster, finishing 319th nationally in three-point shooting while making below 30% of attempts. Hunter’s system is always a challenge to play against, and with this assortment of capable defenders, SE Louisiana will likely have headaches against the Green Wave but we can’t worry about the X’s and O’s. Tulane’s stock is not high but SE Louisiana’s stock is much lower than it should be, which provides us with this early opportunity. Tulane has finished last and second-last in the American in Hunter’s two seasons so far, thus, we’re going to need to see more from the Greenies before backing off taking back points like this against them with an under-the-radar enemy coming in.

SE Louisiana endured a disappointing 2020-21 season. Expectations weren’t necessarily high for a team that suffered heavy turnover and was led by a second-year head coach with an abbreviated offseason. The Lions finished 5-11 in Southland play, making them 10-26 overall in David Kiefer’s two seasons. That’s not a good look on paper. However, Kiefer brings back his four best players from last season and brings in a super-talented transfer class. The talent on this roster is good enough to compete here. Keon Clergeot leads the way, a former UMass transfer who also spent time at Memphis as a freshman. Clergeot is one of the best scorers and playmakers in the league (frankly, it is a bit shocking he wasn’t on an All-SLC team in 2021), and the very best at earning trips to the foul line. Last season Clergeot led the league in free-throw rate and ranked 6th nationally, attempting a whopping 192 free throws. He’s strong, quick, and able to get past any defender in isolation or off-ball screens.

In the backcourt, Boston College import Avery Wilson hasn’t played since 2018-19, but Kiefer told Blue Ribbon he could have been SLU’s leading scorer last season. Wilson tore his ACL prior to last year but should be good to go this season. Ryan Burkhardt comes to Hammond by way of North Florida where he was a member of the “Birds of Trey”. As the moniker suggests, Burkhardt is a 3-point sniper who has canned 40% of his career three-point tries. In four seasons.

Southeast Louisiana is coming off a horrible year, which is something we’re always on the lookout for the following year. We’re looking for underachievers that got better but are priced like they did not. Talent wise, this one is a lot closer than this number suggests.

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