The landscape of college sports is set to change with conference realignments underway. The initial announcement that Oklahoma and Texas would join the Southeastern Conference caused a ripple effect through the NCAA.

As reported by the Athletic, Southern Mississippi will make the move from Conference USA to the Sun Belt. The Golden Eagles are the first team reported to join the Sun Belt, but there are expectations  that more teams are to follow. 

Six universities announced that they would be leaving C-USA and joining the American Athletic Conference.  Fellow C-USA teams Marshall and Old Dominion are also expected to follow Southern Miss in joining the SBC. 

The moved are expected to be finalized this week and Southern Miss could begin competing in the SBC as soon as 2023.

While the move has many positive notions for the Golden Eagles, the departure of nine teams from C-USA could put the conference’s existence in peril. For championship bids, conferences are required to have a minimum of six members. Conferences also need a minimum of eight members to be eligible for FBS competition.

Geographically, Southern Miss is located in the middle ground for much of the SBC.

Currently, the SBC has 12 members. Ten of these members are football members. The most recent member to join was Coastal Carolina in 2015.  The SBC lost four members in 2013 and one more in 2014.

Brimzy named to SBC 2nd Team

ULM redshirt junior guard Kierra Brimzy has been selected to the Preseason All-Sun Belt Conference Second Team, as voted on by the conference’s head coaches and announced last Thursday.

The Louisiana native and Natchitoches  Central alumna played in and started 22 games in her first season on the court as a Warhawk in 2020-21, leading ULM with 13.7 points per game while adding 3.1 rebounds and 1.9 assists over 31.4 minutes per game. 

She scored in double figures 15 times and topped 20 points five times. 

She tallied a season-high 24 points twice, doing so at Texas State and at Northwestern State. She finished the season with 22 points, four rebounds and two assists against App State at the SBC Championship.

“We have so much talent in our league and we are thrilled to see Brimzy’s hard work, on and off the court, get recognized,” head coach Brooks Donald Williams said. “I know she realizes she is just getting started and we have much to do but what a great preseason honor.”

Brimzy became the first ULM women’s basketball player to earn preseason SBC honors since Arsula Clark was a Third Team selection before the 2018-19 season. 

The Warhawks face Millsaps in an exhibition game at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 1 before opening the regular season at 6 p.m. Nov. 9 at Grambling State.

Brimzy is the lone Warhawk on the list. 

The Ragin’ Cajuns have the most nominated players on the list with three.

Men’s golf takes 3rd in Little Rock

The ULM men’s golf team shot 2-under-par 286 and moved up four spots to finish third at 2-over-par 866 (290-290-286) Tuesday at the Little Rock Open at Chenal Country Club’s Founders Course.

Sophomore Melan Dhaubhadel’s final-round 4-under-par 68 and sophomore Cody Winkler’s 1-under-par 71 helped the Warhawks fly up the leaderboard as both players picked up Top-10 finishes.

Little Rock won the tournament at 18-under-par 846 (287-277-282). Lamar was second at 1-under-par 863 (287-286-290). Little Rock’s Anton Albers won the individual title at 13-under-par 203 (68-68-67).

Dhaubhadel finished at 5-under-par 211 (72-71-68) to place fourth for his best-career placing. He opened on the seventh hole and fired birdies on the par-4 eighth, par-4 13th, par-4 14th, par-5 16th, par-3 17th and par-4 18th while adding 10 pars. He finished the tournament tied for second in par-4 scoring at 3-under-par.

Winkler tied for sixth at 2-under-par 214 (70-73-71). In the final round, he started on the seventh hole and birdied the eighth, par-5 ninth, par-4 10th, 14th and 16th holes. He collected nine pars. He led all players in par-5 scoring for the tournament at 9-under-par.

Sophomore Jacob Agerschou was 41st at 5-over-par 221 (72-73-76). He shot 4-over-par 76 in the final round. Starting on the eighth hole, he birdied the par-3 11th and 16th and sunk 11 pars.

Sophomore Mikkel Schmitt was right behind Agerschou, shooting a final round 1-over-par 73 to finish in 44th at 6-over-par 222 (76-73-73). He started on the ninth hole and birdied the 16th, par-4 second, par-4 fifth, par-4 seventh and par-4 eighth and knocked down eight pars.

Junior Otto Van Buynder shot a 2-over-par 74 to close in 57th at 10-over-par 226 (79-73-74). He started on the ninth hole and birdied the 16th and seventh holes while picking up 13 pars.

Junior Michael Gilbert played as an individual and finished with a score of 230 (79-75-76). Starting on the 14th hole, he birdied the 14th, 16th, 18th, par-5 first and 13th holes while collecting seven pars.

The Warhawks wrap up the fall schedule at the Hoakalei Collegiate Invitational in Oahu, Hawaii, Monday and Tuesday.