Oct. 18, 2006

IRVING, Texas - Despite losing two NBA first round draft picks and 56 percent of its scoring from last year's 33-4 NCAA Tournament Elite Eight team, Memphis was the unanimous pick to repeat as the 2006-07 Conference USA regular season champion, the league office announced Wednesday. The Tigers were picked to win the league crown by a vote of the conference's coaches.

Junior Joey Dorsey and sophomore Chris Douglas-Roberts were named to the preseason All-Conference USA Team. The other members of the preseason All-C-USA team were Houston's Lafayette Oliver and Lanny Smith and Rice's Morris Almond. A preseason All-America candidate, Almond was also selected the preseason C-USA Player of the Year.

Memphis returns two starters and 10 letterwinners from its 2005-06 squad that posted one of the best seasons in Tiger basketball history. Memphis swept the 2005-06 Conference USA regular season and tournament titles, and also earned the program's first ever No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers' 33 victories are a school record and also tied NCAA champ Florida for most wins last year.

Dorsey and Douglas-Roberts are two of the Tigers' leaders in 2006-07. Dorsey, a 6-foot-9 forward, led Conference USA in blocked shots (1.78 bpg) and was third in rebounding (7.5 rpg) a year ago. Douglas-Roberts, a 6-foot-6 guard, is Memphis' leading returning scorer at 8.3 ppg.

Houston was picked to finish second behind the Tigers in the preseason poll. UAB was chosen third, followed by Rice and UTEP in a fourth-place tie.

2006-07 Preseason Conference USA Coaches Poll

1.	Memphis

2.	Houston

3.	UAB

4.	Rice

t.	UTEP

6.	Tulsa

7.	UCF

8.	SMU

9.	Tulane

10.	Marshall

11.	Southern Miss

12.	East Carolina

Preseason Player of the Year

Morris Almond, Rice

Preseason All-Conference USA Team

Morris Almond, Rice

Joey Dorsey, Memphis

Chris Douglas-Roberts, Memphis

Oliver Lafayette, Houston

Lanny Smith, Houston