College Sports Madness Top 144 Preview

[Aargh]

They're up to #76 - Davidson. No other Valley teams mentioned since SIU.

A former Valley coach popped up in an unexpected low position. Bruce weber at Kansas State managed to come in at #79. Just 3 spots ahead of SIU's current coach.

Here's the link to the current reviews:

http://www.collegesportsmadness.com/mens-basketball/top-144-previews

[Cdizzle]

...any other MVC teams pop up recently? Where are they currently at in the order?

Up to #76 (Davidson). Duquesne, LSU, KState, Colorado State and Denver have been named since SIU. I think you have to expect the 3rd place MVC team soon.

They project SIU to the NIT. How stoked would SIU fans be if that happened? Would it convert any of the Hinson-haterz?

[Cdizzle]

They're up to #76 - Dayton. No other Valley teams mentioned since SIU.

A former Valley coach popped up in an unexpected low position. Bruce weber at Kansas State managed to come in at #79. Just 3 spots ahead of SIU's current coach.

Here's the link to the current reviews:

http://www.collegesportsmadness.com/mens-basketball/top-144-previews

I'll jump all over the Kansas teams when given a chance, but that seems like a fairly pessimistic view of KState for this year. If they can put anything around Foster, they'll be a decent team.

[saluki762]

Envy? WSU was a long-term top 5 team last year, has a recent F4, a not-too-distant S16, is a pre-season top-10 pick, and had (and will again have) multiple AA's on the roster. CU has nothing that we can envy on their resume.

Insecurity? WSU has been in this position before and appears to be maintaining its' status year-to-year right now. There's not much for WSU fans to be insecure about.

CU, on the other hand, couldn't make a S16 with a NPoY and a Sr.-dominated team. They've dropped from a top-20 team to a pre-season top-100 team in one year. It's CU fans who should be (and have every reason to be) insecure.

Some WSU fans are just trying to help them understand that. We don't want them to get their expectations too high and then be disappointed.

Since you say it isn't envy or insecurity I guess it means you are just a douche since it was you that trolled the Creighton board?

[mvcfan]

Envy? WSU was a long-term top 5 team last year, has a recent F4, a not-too-distant S16, is a pre-season top-10 pick, and had (and will again have) multiple AA's on the roster. CU has nothing that we can envy on their resume.

Insecurity? WSU has been in this position before and appears to be maintaining its' status year-to-year right now. There's not much for WSU fans to be insecure about.

CU, on the other hand, couldn't make a S16 with a NPoY and a Sr.-dominated team. They've dropped from a top-20 team to a pre-season top-100 team in one year. It's CU fans who should be (and have every reason to be) insecure.

Some WSU fans are just trying to help them understand that. We don't want them to get their expectations too high and then be disappointed.

Since you say it isn't envy or insecurity I guess it means you are just a douche since it was you that trolled the Creighton board?

Does Creighton have a board? How would a Saluki fan know what is going on there? You certainly don't appear to be an MVC fan.

[Aargh]

Envy? WSU was a long-term top 5 team last year, has a recent F4, a not-too-distant S16, is a pre-season top-10 pick, and had (and will again have) multiple AA's on the roster. CU has nothing that we can envy on their resume.

Insecurity? WSU has been in this position before and appears to be maintaining its' status year-to-year right now. There's not much for WSU fans to be insecure about.

CU, on the other hand, couldn't make a S16 with a NPoY and a Sr.-dominated team. They've dropped from a top-20 team to a pre-season top-100 team in one year. It's CU fans who should be (and have every reason to be) insecure.

Some WSU fans are just trying to help them understand that. We don't want them to get their expectations too high and then be disappointed.

Since you say it isn't envy or insecurity I guess it means you are just a douche since it was you that trolled the Creighton board?

Since you obviously visit the CU board, and obviously read it pretty thoroughly, why don't you just link up where you found my post so we can all read it, and read it in the context in which it was posted (it was stated in a positive manner in a similar style to the posts preceding it), so everyone can see the big, bad trolling douche that I really am.

Or maybe you could just shut your pie-hole. Please do one or the other.

[Rollbird5]

The Redbirds come in at #74 not too shabby http://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/9701

[Aargh]

UNI at #61 and picked for 2nd in the Valley. A little disappointing not to see them in the top 50.

http://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/9746

[Cdizzle]

Seemed a little low to me, but perhaps that is just wishful thinking on my part. His analysis seemed pretty spot on.

"Final Projection:
If anybody besides Wichita State is going to compete for an at-large NCAA Tournament bid, it should be Northern Iowa. However, the Panthers have been down this road before where they return so much experience from an average team. And it has not always worked out as expected. The Panthers must take advantage of their returning experience and win some of their marquee non-conference games if there is any hope for an at-large berth. However, there are not many marquee games on the schedule."

[PantherSigEp]

Seemed a little low to me, but perhaps that is just wishful thinking on my part. His analysis seemed pretty spot on.

"Final Projection:
If anybody besides Wichita State is going to compete for an at-large NCAA Tournament bid, it should be Northern Iowa. However, the Panthers have been down this road before where they return so much experience from an average team. And it has not always worked out as expected. The Panthers must take advantage of their returning experience and win some of their marquee non-conference games if there is any hope for an at-large berth. However, there are not many marquee games on the schedule."

Hard time disagreeing with him as well because we were average last year. However, last years schedule was brutal. Discounting the postseason opponents and UNI probably had the toughest schedule and I believe it finished in the Top 30ish for SOS. Considering how inexperienced a good portion of last years team was and also considering that they were just one extra horse, or just one more shot away from turning a mediocre record into another 20+ win season. They were 16-15 but they outplayed a good number of Valley teams for large portions of the game only to let it slip away late because some of the depth just wasn't there like it had been in the past.

Considering we replace an undersized post player who was really supposed to be just a perimeter specialist (Rank) and a feisty, intelligent yet athletically average backup PG (Morrison) with the states best recruit (Lohaus), an experienced and lengthy guard who is an above average Valley player on both ends of the court (Jesperson) and then throw in all of last years redshirt class, who have earned plenty of praise for their play in practice and the Primetime League against University of Iowa players (2 posts: Koch and Carlson; 1 guard: Knar), we will have much more talent and depth hitting the floor than last year. I have the utmost respect for Chip Rank and Matt Morrison but this team will be immensely better equipped for the season with Lohaus, Jesperson and Koch seeing floor time rather than those two. Not counting Knar, Friedman and Carlson, that's 11 guys who will likely see the floor for us on a regular basis. Considering only 4 of those 11 are forwards, you can bet Carlson and Friedman will get in on the action too.

Clearly that's got a hint of wishful thinking added to it but I imagine UNI does a much better job of finishing games than compared to last year. With an "easier" schedule (it'll still be a pretty good one) and better depth I wouldn't be surprised to see them finish with 24-25+ wins