MVC - Predicted order of finish

[MoValley John]

Just one more example of MVJ ruining a thread. This is Nothing more than more hate, useless drivel and threadjacking by MVJ. They need to ban MVJ by tomorrow, that would be Labor Day and when many posters expected him to be gone. I think some people wagered on that day as well. Ban him now, he's such a troublemaker!

Mvj- go away. You are tiresome and your constant look at me attitude has already killed one board. If you need constant attention, hire a sitter.

Umm, getting back on topic, not attacking others and keeping with the rules of the board, I will say this, Creighton does have the potential to do some really good things this year. But all Creighton really has is potential and you really can't bank on that. We saw what happened to Southern Illinois and all of their potential the last two years. Wichita State could be very, very good this year. They have players back, many showing maturity and a track record as improving with each season. This should be the year that Wichita State finally gets the monkey off their back and beats Creighton in Omaha. But if the potential turns to results in Omaha, it could be interesting.

[BirdmanBB]

I have a hard time trying to figure out where BU might finish. Their guard play needs to come through bigtime for them to have any real legit shot since they do not have any sort of inside presence. It makes me think that teams like WSU, Creighton, Indiana St. and Illinois St. could be a nightmare for them. They could just as easily be playing on Thursday in St. Louis as the could be top 4. I would say 1 injury away from being bottom of the barrel.

I think WSU is going to be sickly good this year. I had high hopes for MSU until the injury. UNI has a lot to replace, but are known for stepping it up when they need to. I agree that Creighton has potential, but the coaching change could be hard on them. ISUred again has potential, but very young and inexperienced.

[Snapshot9]

Aargh, I agree with you on points and disagree on some. We absolutely need the new Juco players to contribute. Hannah was a very good guard, and we still couldn't get it done to win the conference. Plus, our dismal failure in the NIT against Nevada. Williams will be better this year, I have no doubts, but Ragland should contribute a lot too. I have watched him play, and he is very good. He drives fast and finishes very good at the basket, plus his outside shot is very good (an absolute requirement by me for a guard). He looks to be at least as good as Hannah, if not better. And Ragland is not a 4th guard, he is one of 2 true Point guards we have. Murry just fills in at Point guard we absolutely need him there. Ben Smith should be a big improvement at the 3 (behind Hatch) over Ellis, especially on Offense. Having no or little Offense from our backup 3 last year hurt us, as he was open for points a great deal of the time.

I am not going to say we are going to win the conference until we show that we can win on the road, as we came up short last year several times. And every year, there is always a team or two that ends up playing much better than their preseason rating, surprising everyone. Other teams have good recruits too, and some develop into being really instrumental to their teams.

[jayball]

I think WSU will win the conference, but I don't think it is crazy to say that they have a couple of question marks. Namely PG play and 3pt shooting.

Williams did seem to make improvements last year, but Hannah was clearly the guy for WSU's offence. It was really amazing how much better things worked when he ran the show. I mean he played 30 mpg with a 2-1 A-TO ratio......was automatic from the FT line.....avg 12 ppg and over 4 apg. That is a lot of production. I still think the Shocks had a shot against PItt if Hannah was playing. So Williams will now be asked to be the guy full time....something he hasn't done before OR a juco will be the starting point in his first year of D1 ball. Either one of those or both could happen over the course of the season but they aren't proven yet. So I don't think it is wild to say that could be a potential issue.....maybe not....but it is unknown. Last year Korver was dominating practices and couldn't miss from the 3pt line. He was in the starting five at the beginning of the season. Sometimes things don't work out. That being said Ragland sounds like a nice player and it is nice to have couple of options at the PG position. Hopefully one of them will develop into a reliable fulltime PG.

WSU's post is deep with experience and size and phsyicality. You should have the luxury of playing whoever is effective and giving max effort. That is always better than having to play anyone on the roster over 6'5". With the addition of the Nigerian and that RS Hamilton....you also have some additonal pieces to work with. The 4-5 postions should definitely be a strength. One question though....how did Durley have some many TOs last year as a nonballhandler?

I really like Murry. He has a nice game and can contributed in a multitude of ways kind of like a PJ Cousinard. If he can cut down on TOs a bit and do what he's been doing that is a really solid contribution. He seemed to be trying to do a bit too much at times last year, you would hope that decreases with another year of experience.

Hatch is a solid shooter and glue guy, every team likes to have someone like that. Kyles hasn't really made a big impression so far...I've heard he a althetic freak, but it hasn't translated to much on the court...at least not yet. I think Ben Smith will be a great get for the Shocks.....he seems to be a beast. If he can rebound and get to the hoop half as well as he did in juco....he will be a nice bench option.

I think the Shocks will be an imposing physical team and I expect the defensive intensity to be better this year.....I cringe thinking about Marshall's Wintrop teams and I'm just waiting for that hell to be unleashed. However, can they get an offensive flow where people are making shots for each other ala Hannah? I can't put my finger on it exactly but there were times last year when it seemed that WSU just didn't have that "it" as a team. Not sure if it was cohesion or team awareness something just was not quite there to put them over the top.

[jayball]

Umm, getting back on topic, not attacking others and keeping with the rules of the board, I will say this, Creighton does have the potential to do some really good things this year. But all Creighton really has is potential and you really can't bank on that. We saw what happened to Southern Illinois and all of their potential the last two years. Wichita State could be very, very good this year. They have players back, many showing maturity and a track record as improving with each season. This should be the year that Wichita State finally gets the monkey off their back and beats Creighton in Omaha. But if the potential turns to results in Omaha, it could be interesting.

MVJ,

We are all excited about potential for CU to "rebuild" into a conference contender and hopefully NCAA tourney team and National Champion. That being said I don't think anyone is under the illusion that we are likely in the hunt for any of those this year (probably next year for sure though). I don't think other fans really understand why we are excited about having size....we haven't really had much for the past 3 seasons. We have had 3s playing 4 and 3s playing 5 and 0s play 3. It basically meant that we couldn't block shots or rebound for s***. That is a big problem, expecially when you don't have guards that can stop dribble penetration. You guys saw it.

So the fact that we now have a 6'9" widebody to bang around is pretty goddamned exciting. I like K.Lawsons game but he is a skilled big man from Cali.....not a physical dude. We have Wragge as a sharpshooter and two taller frosh...Doug McSchoolswitcher and Wispy Will Artino....both supposedly with skills but likely not physically able to bang with the WSU frontcourts on a daily basis this year. So yeah having someone with the potential to throw his weight around or at least hold his ground will be really nice to see for CU fans.

Then we have a bunch of 6'5ish guys Harriman, Korver, Runnels, and Ashford. All of whom have had relatively low/inconsistent production for a variety of reasons, playing out of position, low confidence, injury/illness, missing time for family death. All in all we don't have a clear frontrunner for wing position but we have some bodies to work with.

At the 1 and 2 we have Antione Young.....athletic guy still getting the hang of playing PG, now learning a new system. Josh Jones....smiling shooter that did some good things last year but took time to learn the system and his role...now he will need to learn a new system and probably handle the ball a lot more. And a true frosh Jawhands Manigat from Canada. No idea what he is bringing to the table. Oh and some people are talking about a walkon PG from Omaha as possibly being in the mix.

We also have a headcoach who will be adjusting back to the MVC and planning for all new opponents.

After last year this is potential. I am excited to watch these guys develop, but maybe now other fans can see why we are holding onto the hope the Gregory E will live up to the hype.

[Shockerfan13]

I think WSU will win the conference, but I don't think it is crazy to say that they have a couple of question marks. Namely PG play and 3pt shooting.

Williams did seem to make improvements last year, but Hannah was clearly the guy for WSU's offence. It was really amazing how much better things worked when he ran the show. I mean he played 30 mpg with a 2-1 A-TO ratio......was automatic from the FT line.....avg 12 ppg and over 4 apg. That is a lot of production. I still think the Shocks had a shot against PItt if Hannah was playing. So Williams will now be asked to be the guy full time....something he hasn't done before OR a juco will be the starting point in his first year of D1 ball. Either one of those or both could happen over the course of the season but they aren't proven yet. So I don't think it is wild to say that could be a potential issue.....maybe not....but it is unknown. Last year Korver was dominating practices and couldn't miss from the 3pt line. He was in the starting five at the beginning of the season. Sometimes things don't work out. That being said Ragland sounds like a nice player and it is nice to have couple of options at the PG position. Hopefully one of them will develop into a reliable fulltime PG.

WSU's post is deep with experience and size and phsyicality. You should have the luxury of playing whoever is effective and giving max effort. That is always better than having to play anyone on the roster over 6'5". With the addition of the Nigerian and that RS Hamilton....you also have some additonal pieces to work with. The 4-5 postions should definitely be a strength. One question though....how did Durley have some many TOs last year as a nonballhandler?

I really like Murry. He has a nice game and can contributed in a multitude of ways kind of like a PJ Cousinard. If he can cut down on TOs a bit and do what he's been doing that is a really solid contribution. He seemed to be trying to do a bit too much at times last year, you would hope that decreases with another year of experience.

Hatch is a solid shooter and glue guy, every team likes to have someone like that. Kyles hasn't really made a big impression so far...I've heard he a althetic freak, but it hasn't translated to much on the court...at least not yet. I think Ben Smith will be a great get for the Shocks.....he seems to be a beast. If he can rebound and get to the hoop half as well as he did in juco....he will be a nice bench option.

I think the Shocks will be an imposing physical team and I expect the defensive intensity to be better this year.....I cringe thinking about Marshall's Wintrop teams and I'm just waiting for that hell to be unleashed. However, can they get an offensive flow where people are making shots for each other ala Hannah? I can't put my finger on it exactly but there were times last year when it seemed that WSU just didn't have that "it" as a team. Not sure if it was cohesion or team awareness something just was not quite there to put them over the top.

Good post. I can't argue to much with what you said. It's exciting to think of the possibities with the Shox this year. Just need to stay healthy and stay focused and it should be a heck of a ride.

[valleychamp]

I would agree with jayball's analysis. Solid and logical choice to win the Valley next year, but still has some question marks.

The question that I would ask is, can the shocks play with the pressure of being the favorite? Because there is a difference between sneaking up on people, and being the heavy favorites all the time. I expect them to be picked by almost every publication to win the MVC, and they will be close to, if not in the top 25 at the beginning of the season.

We'll see how they handle that added pressure, with a first year PG.

[SubGod22]

If they can't handle it they're not ready and shouldn't be there. If you have a problem being the bullseye, you have problems.

[WSUbballer]

I also agree with jayball's analysis.. on both WSU and CU. Pretty solid actually.


In regards to being the favorites, Northern Iowa had no problem being the overwhelming favorites last year. I think they handled it just fine. I think it's possible for other teams other than Northern Iowa handling pressure as well. Marshall was down at Winthrop with teams that were picked to finish first on a yearly basis. I think he knows how to handle it and lay it all out for his players.

Of course, that is by no means a guarantee or anything. Who was the preseason top-ranked team last year and how did they do? How any team finishes is totally up for grabs and never a guarantee. But based on potential and for preseason purposes, some choices are pretty clear.

[valleychamp]

UNI had the benefit of being in that postion the year before, winning the MVC and making the NCAA's. Wichita State doesn't have that experience.

Obviously, UNI handled the pressure great this year, but it certainly was a different type of pressure. The spotlight was on all year long. Some teams can handle that, and some teams cannot.