***** – quit your job and divorce your wife if that’s what it takes to watch this game live
**** – best watched live, but if you must, tivo and watch it tonight as soon as you get home
*** – set your tivo but make sure you watch it later
** – set your tivo but we’ll forgive you if it stays in the queue until 2013
* – don’t waste bandwidth (yours or the tivo’s) of any kind on this game

Brian Otskey is an RTC contributor.

Not much on the schedule tonight but the action picks up on Tuesday and Wednesday. All rankings from RTC and all times eastern.

Davidson @ St. John’s – 9:30 pm on MSG (**)

This is game two of the MSG Holiday Festival with the winner taking on Northwestern or St. Francis (NY) tomorrow night at the Garden. St. John’s is 5-3 but has lost two straight games to teams they arguably should have beaten, St. Bonaventure and Fordham. St. John’s hasn’t tasted victory since December 1, a win over Wagner. Steve Lavin makes his Garden debut tonight as coach of the Red Storm in a game pivotal for confidence moving forward towards Big East play. The keys to this game will be ball protection and inside scoring. Neither team shoots or defends the three well at all, though Davidson has a constant threat in Brendan McKillop. 6’10 big man Jake Cohen can also shoot it well from deep but he does most of his work inside, leading the team with 15/7 per game on 53% shooting. St. John’s has to defend the paint well because they’re not exactly a potent offensive club, either. The Johnnies are a poor free throw and three point shooting team but they do have some talent. D.J. Kennedy is a versatile forward who can score inside using his athleticism against bigger plodders and has a good mid-range game. Dwight Hardy is also a key player for Lavin’s team as he’s the main three point threat but has been dreadful so far this year, shooting just 26%. Hardy has to get going for St. John’s to make any kind of noise this year. When it comes to ball control, St. John’s has a strong edge. The Red Storm are second in the nation in turnover percentage, committing just ten turnovers a game. By contrast Davidson is ranked #220 and averages 15 per game. The Wildcats have to protect the ball much better than they have been doing in order to have a chance tonight on the road against St. John’s. With Cohen in the post, Davidson may have a rebounding advantage and should use that to create more possessions and limit the damage from possible turnovers. St. John’s should win but the two losses to inferior competition have to give you some pause. They’re at home but this game may be closer than you think.

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Russell Burnett is the RTC correspondent for the Southland Conference.

Predicted Order of Finish

East Division

1. Southeastern Louisiana (13-3)
2. Nicholls State (10-6)
3. Lamar (9-7)
4. Northwestern State (6-10)
5. McNeese State (5-11)
6. Central Arkansas (3-13)

West Division

1. Stephen F. Austin (13-3)
2. Sam Houston State (12-4)
3. Texas State (9-7)
4. UTSA (7-9)
5. A&M-Corpus Christi (6-10)
6. Texas-Arlington (3-13)

All-Conference Team (key stats from last season in parentheses)

• Anatoly Bose (F) – Nicholls State (21.1 ppg, 86 three-pointers made)
• Gilberto Clavell (F) – Sam Houston (17.1 ppg, 6.4 rpg)
• A.J. Stewart (C) – Texas State (5.7 PPG in 2008-09 for Kentucky)
• Anthony Miles (G) – Lamar (14 ppg, 3.0 apg)
• Devin Gibson (G) – UT-San Antonio (12.5 ppg, 4.4 apg)

Sixth Man

• Cameron Johnson (F) – Texas State (14.6 ppg, 7.9 rpg)

Impact Newcomer

• A.J. Stewart (F) – Texas State pulled in several transfers, but none bigger than the 6’9 Kentucky transfer. Having played in 29 games for the Wildcats as a sophomore, Stewart could have a big impact in a league not known for fielding a plethora of big men. Stewart led Arlington Country Day (Fla.) High School to three straight state championships.

A.J. Stewart, formerly a bench player with Kentucky, hopes to celebrate an expanded role with Texas State. (ukwildcatcountry.com)

What You Need to Know

• The Southland is a two-division league and made a change during the offseason. Stephen F. Austin moved from the East Division to the West and Lamar jumped from the West to the East.
• The Merrell Center in Katy is the site of the 2011 Southland Conference Basketball Tournament. This is the third straight year the tournament has been played at a neutral site.
• The five-year transition process for Central Arkansas‘ athletic department is over. The school has now gained Division I active membership and will be eligible for postseason play in the Southland Conference and at the national level.
• There was a shake-up on the coaching front of a couple of teams in the offseason. Central Arkansas hired former Razorback great Corliss Williamson as its head coach, while Sam Houston State promoted assistant Jason Hooten after longtime coach Bob Marlin took over the helm at Louisiana-Lafayette.

Predicted Champion

Stephen F. Austin (NCAA seed: #15). The Lumberjacks were beaten in the tournament championship game by rival Sam Houston State last year. Head Coach Danny Kaspar always has his team in contention and this year his team-oriented style of play could reap benefits as the conference is void of any big-time NBA caliber talent. It could be a toss-up with Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston, but both teams should come out of the West bloodied, but not beaten.

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Stephen F. Austin State University Lumberjacks (#14, South, Miami pod)
vs. Syracuse (#3)
Fri., 3/20 at 12:15 PM
Vegas Line: SFASU, +12

General Profile
Location: Nacogdoches, Texas
Conference: Southland, Automatic bid
Coach: Danny Kaspar , 158-103
08-09 Record: 24-7 (16-3)
Last 12 Games: 10-2, won last eight
Best Win: North Dakota State, 112-111 (3OT) on December 12th
Worst Loss: Louisiana-Monroe  60-58 on November 25th
Off. Efficiency Rating: 96.6, 242nd
Def. Efficiency Rating: 88.9 13th

Nuts ‘n Bolts
Star Player(s): Matt Kingsley, 16.2 ppg and 7.8 rpg, Josh Alexander, 14.5 ppg, and 5.4 rpg
Unsung Hero: 5’3” Eric Bell starts at the point and averages 3.6 points and assists per game.
Potential NBA Draft Pick(s): None
Key Injuries: None
Depth: 28.4%, 230th; percentage of minutes played by reserves
Achilles Heel: The offense is awful for an NCAA Tournament team. Low shooting percentage (200^th best) hurts this team because they don’t grab any offensive rebounds for second opportunities.
Will Make a Deep Run if…: SFASU shoots the lights out and Syracuse’s legs are dead from playing seven overtimes in the Big East Tournament
Will Make an Early Exit if…: The Syracuse zone exploits the fact this team can’t shoot and the Lumberjacks lose by 40.

NCAA History
Last Year Invited: Never
Streak: Never been dancing
Best NCAA Finish: First Appearance

Other
Six Degrees to Detroit: SFASU beat North Dakota State who beat Oakland who beat Wisconsin-Green Bay who beat Detroit.
Distance to First Round Site: 1224 miles
School’s Claim to Fame: Stephen F. Austin tried to win a Wikipedia War with Syracuse.
School Wishes It Could Forget: Stephen F. Austin lost its Wikipedia War with Syracuse.
Prediction: This team is one and done. The Lumberjacks didn’t beat anyone in the regular season to make you think they could beat Syracuse.
Major RTC stories: None

Preview written by Jameson Fleming of The Bleacher Report