Southern Miss and Rice have been the two powerhouses in Conference USA. Out of the last 12 years, 10 of the Conference USA tournament titles have gone between Southern Miss and Rice.
The one difference this season is that for the first time in 29 years, Rice will no longer have legendary head coach Wayne Graham leading the program. In June 2018, Rice decided to part ways with its coach and hired Matt Bragga from Tennessee Tech.
In Graham’s tenure, he turned Rice into a college baseball powerhouse, guiding the team to 27 NCAA regional appearances, 11 super regionals, seven College World Series trips and one national championship, just to name a few of his remarkable accolades.