AFTER TWO weekends of Conference USA basketball play, there are two unbeaten-in-league teams.
One is Marshall, the other Middle Tennessee. The two collide Thursday in Murfreesboro. That's an 8 p.m. tip, with Thundering Herd fans flocking to Facebook, of all places, to watch on beIN Sports.
The Blue Raiders (13-3, 3-0) aren't ranked in the polls, but are 16th in the Rating Percentage Index. After wins last week over Old Dominion and Charlotte, Marshall (11-6, 4-0) has climbed to 81st.
This should be fun.
The contest stands to be as big a challenge as Ohio State and Pittsburgh, maybe even still-ranked Cincinnati. You probably remember the death of your NCAA tournament bracket, courtesy of the Raiders' 90-81 win over Michigan State.
Dating back to an 83-74 win at home over Marshall, the Raiders are 20-4 and have become the league's gold standard. There are two players with whom Marshall fans have become painfully familiar - Giddy Potts, the long-range bomber with the really cool name, and Reggie Upshaw.
Upshaw didn't have much of a game in Marshall's 82-66 win last January, scoring just six points. But in MTSU's regular-season win and the 99-90 win over the Herd at the C-USA tournament, he racked up 31 points and 18 rebounds.
Potts has been a 3-point terror, once hitting 8 of 11 in a 90-51 bombing in 2014. He has played the Herd three times, averaging 17 points and hitting 10 3-pointers in 16 tries.
The Herd is not yet familiar with JaCorey Williams, the Arkansas transfer who leads the team with 17.4 points and 7.1 rebounds. That will quickly change.
To me, the interesting aspect is how the Herd deals with the adjustments MTSU and coach Kermit Davis made in coping with MU's offense. After the Herd bombed the Raiders in Huntington, leading by 24 at one point, Davis said of his team's defense, "We didn't really guard them. We just kind of chased them around, hoped they missed."
At Murfreesboro, Marshall went on a 21-3 run to wipe out a 16-point deficit before falling. In the C-USA tournament, you couldn't read much into MU's 61-point second half - MTSU took a 39-29 halftime lead and stayed ahead by double digits until there were 4 seconds left.
"I thought the first half, for periods of time, is as well as we've defended all year," Davis said afterward. "You can hold a Marshall team to 29 at the half, by changing of defenses. These guys have a great belief in our 1-3-1 [zone], really it slowed them down."
There you go. How well can Marshall attack changing defenses in what will be a hostile environment?
Thursday's game will serve as a the most telling barometer for the Herd thus far.
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Hey, did all assembled at Cam Henderson Center on Saturday notice those post-up baskets for D'Antoni's Herd, nicely executed by Ryan Taylor?
Yep, those plays that run counter to "Danalytics," which says post-up plays result in 0.78 per such situation. But do remember: That's an average, and personnel will vary.
Charlotte, which fell 110-93, was an opponent susceptible to inside play. The 49ers started 7-footer Benas Graciunas for whatever reason, but he played just eight minutes and scored as basket in four attempts. He was no factor.
"I went against my old rule of not posting up," D'Antoni said. "The thing you have to understand, you think you have an advantage in the post, that score 70 percent of the time, that's where you go.
"'You said not to post up.' We didn't have a kid who could make it 70 percent of the time. We've got one coming that might."
That's the 6-foot-10, 320-pound Iran Bennett, currently at Hargrave Military Academy. I've seen him, and he should be a beast in Conference USA.
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On the other hand, Deon-Tay McManus was not a beast in three years as a wide receiver. He's a man who could outmuscle a C-USA defender for a pass from time to time, but he didn't consistently get open.
If you're going to leave a year early for the NFL draft, you must dominate in college, particularly in C-USA. The last Marshall player who succeeded in making that step a year early is running back Ahmad Bradshaw, who gained 1,523 yards and scored 19 TDs in 2006.
McManus follows cornerback Corey Tindal in prematurely pulling the NFL trigger. Tindal did not make it past the Bengals' roster cutdown to 75, and was not signed to a practice squad. I wonder if McManus will make it past pre-camp tryouts.
I also wonder if these ill-advised departures are partially rooted in dissension, or if those players have a inflated sense of their development. Both Tindal and McManus left with a degree in hand, so they couldn't be blamed for not wanting to sit in a classroom again.
I don't want to discourage ambition, but McManus' decision is a head-shaker.
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And finally, one Conference USA football note: Garin Justice is the only assistant new Florida Atlantic coach Lane Kiffin has retained from predecessor Charlie Partridge's staff.
That item was reported by OwlAccess.com, which I figure is the only media outlet which really cares about FAU football. The former Concord head coach will enter his second season as offensive line coach.
FAU may have been 3-9 and one of two FBS schools that lost to Marshall in 2016, but Justice performed a few miracles with his line. Four starters missed at least one game, with one of those missing the entire season. The backups suffered season-ending injuries at some point.
Still, the Owls averaged 4.8 yards per carry, and tailbacks Devin Singletary and Greg Howell combined for 1,892 yards and 25 touchdowns.
Contact Doug Smock at 304-348-5130 or dougsmock@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @dougsmock and read his blog at http://blogs.wvgazettemail.com/dougsmock/.