This year’s Southland Conference basketball season tips off as last year’s ended — extremely muddled.

Six teams finished within two games of first place, and 2015 promises more of the same.

The only team close to a sure thing is Stephen F. Austin, which was the preseason pick by conference coaches and sports information directors to win the title, and gets Southland play started against McNeese State at Burton Coliseum on Saturday afternoon.

“I don’t think there’s any question (they’re the favorite),” said McNeese coach Brooks Donald Williams. “Porsha (Roberts) is one of the best post players in the conference and one of the best in the whole region. It’s maybe the best supporting cast they’ve had around her. They’re as tough as they’ve been.”

The Ladyjacks (7-4) have the Southland’s top nonconference win with a victory at Arizona.

But Donald Williams said she thinks her Cowgirls (6-5) can be one of the teams in the mix for one of the four all-important byes in the conference tournament, and maybe even one of two elusive double-byes for the top two seeds.

“That’s our ultimate goal,” she said. “I don’t think the young kids understand (the importance of getting byes), but the veteran kids are trying to get them to.”

Continued consistency is paramount for a Cowgirls team with four freshmen averaging more than 10 minutes per game.

“Where we’re improving is we aren’t getting frustrated when we make mistakes, and it causes less mistakes after the first one,” Donald Williams said. “It’s not turning into mistakes two or three plays after. We’re able to stay in games. That’s the biggest difference.”

Her young squad will get two of its biggest tests right off the tip. Houston Baptist (6-5) visits Burton on Monday night, and is also looking like a potential contender after taking traditional power Texas Tech to the wire in a 60-59 loss to close out its nonconference schedule.

“We scheduled our nonconference tough so we can be ready for this scenario,” Donald Williams said. “We’re excited about playing the best right off the bat.”

Donald Williams said there are also teams who have underwhelming records because of tough schedules that should be in the mix, such as Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Nicholls State.

“I have a lot of respect for Royce (Chadwick) at Corpus. I don’t ever count him out,” Donald Williams said. “If Nicholls gets some injured players back, they’ll be in the mix. Some of these records are a little bit deceiving.”

Basically, it sounds like another typical Southland season is about to begin.

“I think it’s wide open,” Donald Williams said. “Even as strong as SFA is, teams can beat them on any given night. There is not an off night in our league.”

The McNeese State University Cowgirls open their Southland season against pre-season favorite Stephen F. Austin Saturday at Burton Coliseum. (Rick Hickman)

Rick Hickman