Previewing next years MVC

[rbus]

Yes, i'm as big a BU homer as anybody, and I'm very excited about this year's recruiting class, but I think a projection of Bradley in the 6-8 spot is very fair. Of course, I expect them to do better than that, but I can't really fault any unbiased observer for a very low pick.

[mvcfan]

You can all have a love fest regarding Thursday night at the MVC Tournament. All I care about is having multiple 50-100 RPI teams after non-conference games. If you're not there, you still have a long ways to go.

[Cdizzle]

You can all have a love fest regarding Thursday night at the MVC Tournament. All I care about is having multiple 50-100 RPI teams after non-conference games. If you're not there, you still have a long ways to go.

That's true. I do think there is a transition year though, between avoiding Thursday night, and having a Top 75ish RPI after the non-conference. An infusion of new talent usually doesn't really start to show marked improvements until halfway through the season. Those are the teams that might struggle through the non-conference portion of the schedule, and then cause some trouble in league games, which sucks for teams trying to build an at-large resume. The real key is that a program only has one of those transition years, and follows it up the next year with a non-con schedule and results that land them in the Top75 RPI entering league play.

[mvcfan]

You can all have a love fest regarding Thursday night at the MVC Tournament. All I care about is having multiple 50-100 RPI teams after non-conference games. If you're not there, you still have a long ways to go.

That's true. I do think there is a transition year though, between avoiding Thursday night, and having a Top 75ish RPI after the non-conference. An infusion of new talent usually doesn't really start to show marked improvements until halfway through the season. Those are the teams that might struggle through the non-conference portion of the schedule, and then cause some trouble in league games, which sucks for teams trying to build an at-large resume. The real key is that a program only has one of those transition years, and follows it up the next year with a non-con schedule and results that land them in the Top75 RPI entering league play.

No argument but then they have a long ways to go. If I were them, I'd still have a goal to strive for 100 RPI.

[Cdizzle]

You can all have a love fest regarding Thursday night at the MVC Tournament. All I care about is having multiple 50-100 RPI teams after non-conference games. If you're not there, you still have a long ways to go.

That's true. I do think there is a transition year though, between avoiding Thursday night, and having a Top 75ish RPI after the non-conference. An infusion of new talent usually doesn't really start to show marked improvements until halfway through the season. Those are the teams that might struggle through the non-conference portion of the schedule, and then cause some trouble in league games, which sucks for teams trying to build an at-large resume. The real key is that a program only has one of those transition years, and follows it up the next year with a non-con schedule and results that land them in the Top75 RPI entering league play.

No argument but then they have a long ways to go. If I were them, I'd still have a goal to strive for 100 RPI.

But that doesn't make sense as a team, or a fan base. RPI, though somewhat useful as a metric to compare teams, isn't something tangible that a team can chase after. Avoiding Thursday night, giving yourself a chance to win the Valley tourney and reach the NCAA tourney, is.

[Redbird23]

1- Shox
2- Birds
3- Panthers
4- Salukis
5- Bears
6- Ramblers
7- Aces
8- Sycs
9- Braves
10- Dogs

[Cdizzle]

1- Shox
2- Birds
3- Panthers
4- Salukis
5- Bears
6- Ramblers
7- Aces
8- Sycs
9- Braves
10- Dogs

Interesting take.

One team wearing red with a bunch of highly-touted newcomers with no experience gets 2nd, another team wearing red with a bunch of highly-touted newcomers with no experience gets 9th. Methinks there might be some bias involved.

[Redbird Recon]

One team wearing red with a bunch of highly-touted newcomers with no experience gets 2nd, another team wearing red with a bunch of highly-touted newcomers with no experience gets 9th. Methinks there might be some bias involved.

I think Bradley finishes 6 or higher, but, to your point, ISUred returns more talent than Bradley.

[Cdizzle]

One team wearing red with a bunch of highly-touted newcomers with no experience gets 2nd, another team wearing red with a bunch of highly-touted newcomers with no experience gets 9th. Methinks there might be some bias involved.

I think Bradley finishes 6 or higher, but, to your point, ISUred returns more talent than Bradley.

That's fair, and I would pick ISUr to finish ahead of Bradley next year, as things stand right now. I wouldn't even argue too much about ISUr in 2nd. I just think it's interesting when fans look at their incoming recruits and think "we're going to get so much better," but look at another group of recruits (say, Bradley's) and conclude that they will get worse. Obviously it can be difficult to predict the impact of incoming players, but I thought this looked like a pretty extreme example.

[ptownbraves]

One team wearing red with a bunch of highly-touted newcomers with no experience gets 2nd, another team wearing red with a bunch of highly-touted newcomers with no experience gets 9th. Methinks there might be some bias involved.

I think Bradley finishes 6 or higher, but, to your point, ISUred returns more talent than Bradley.

That's fair, and I would pick ISUr to finish ahead of Bradley next year, as things stand right now. I wouldn't even argue too much about ISUr in 2nd. I just think it's interesting when fans look at their incoming recruits and think "we're going to get so much better," but look at another group of recruits (say, Bradley's) and conclude that they will get worse. Obviously it can be difficult to predict the impact of incoming players, but I thought this looked like a pretty extreme example.

No way Bradley losing Lemon Jr., Pickett and Prosser and gaining Cunningham, Sutherland, Shaw, etc. will equal them going from 7th place to 9th. The league did not improve that much in the off-season. Sure Lemon Jr. got his points since he was the offense, but as we all know, the reliance on him was also one of the team's biggest detriments. Bradley will be much more well-rounded this coming season. I don't know how anyone can logically argue they will be worse.