Tulsa fans entered this year expecting a rough season. With 9 seniors on the team last year there wasn't many fans expecting a good season, especially after a loss to Jacksonville State and then a blowout to Wichita State to start the year.
The Golden Hurricane have been able to straighten things out. This year they have two seniors, Pat Birt is the only one who gets any playing time and he has been a leader on this team. Tulsa has 10 new comers on this team who were not on it last year.
The Golden Hurricane currently rank 117th in KenPom, their highest ranking of the season. They 3-1 to begin AAC play with wins over Memphis, Temple, and UConn. Their lone loss was a 64-61 nail bitter to Houston. Throw in the fact that the Golden Hurricane were favored in none of these 4 games and that's what makes it impressive. They have been lead on this hot streak by Junior Etou who has had a double-double in their last two games. They most important key in Tulsa's streak has been not turning the ball over.
Tulsa's next three games will come against the worst teams in the AAC; ECU, South Florida, and Tulane. So, Tulsa has a pretty nice shot at being 6-1 in the AAC when they play the league leader, Cincy and SMU back to back. Both the Mustangs and the Bearcats will come to the Reynolds Center.
Another thing from conference play I noticed is that Tulsa has not faltered down the stretch. They went on an 11-3 run in the final 6 minutes to beat Temple 70-68, they went on a 12-4 run to close Memphis out 81-71 to end the game. In their first conference win of the year, they tied UConn late and eventually beat them 61-59 in overtime. You usually won't see young teams like this be so clutch in the closing minutes.
If Tulsa can take care of business in these next three games, you may want to keep a close eye on them. That would put them at 6-1 in the AAC and in a position to get a top three spot in the American Conference Tournament.
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