We're young...we'll get better....

[dogsrus]

I keep hearing that from fans from the last 2 teams we have beat. While I don't doubt both SIU AND WSU will get better are they any younger then us.

I haven't looked at all the team rosters yet but it would be interesting to see just who is the youngest and what teams have the most experience........

[audacious_aficionado]

evansville is without a doubt the oldest/most experienced team.

missouri st. is old.
ISU is old.

UNI, Bradley, SIU, InSU, Drake, and Creighton are middle.

Wichita St. is young.


That's just off the top of my head.

[audacious_aficionado]

now that i think about it, i judged some of those teams (like ours) on freshmen contribution. if you take into account all new players Bradley and UNI get a little younger.

[dogsrus]

I'm still digging up info in between the Hawks Classic....I'm sure some one faster will put out the full rosters before me.

[brocks]

If you look at what BU could be in a couple years, it's scary. AW might still be around. SM a senior. Egolf back. EM, DN, AT, TB as juniors. JP and MK with a year in. Harris in the fold. That could be a ranked team.

[georgethedog]

If you look at what BU could be in a couple years, it's scary. AW might still be around. SM a senior. Egolf back. EM, DN, AT, TB as juniors. JP and MK with a year in. Harris in the fold. That could be a ranked team.

How about Wilkins??? Add him (if he gets here) to the mix and I agree. That is barring injuries, defections, etc. Don't mean to put a damper on your enthusiasm, but lowered expectations will always lead to more happiness.

[Braves4Life]

If you look at what BU could be in a couple years, it's scary. AW might still be around. SM a senior. Egolf back. EM, DN, AT, TB as juniors. JP and MK with a year in. Harris in the fold. That could be a ranked team.

That should and BETTER be a ranked team..... with Sweet 16 potential.

[Bradleyguy10]

Wow talk about pressure. I never expected that team to be ranked.

I do however expect an NCAA appearance and hopefully a victory from it.

Do we have the potential with that team to be ranked? I think so, but I wouldn't go so far as to get greedy like that. If we aren't ranked that season are we going to call for JL's head?

[real fan]

They have the potential to be a very good team but they also need to improve each year and not have the injuries that have hurt us the last several seasons.

[Braves4Life]

If we aren't ranked that season are we going to call for JL's head?

I would not call for his head, but I would be disappointed.

[lefty]

I would not call for his head, but I would be disappointed.

This is silly talk. We have won two games back to back and now we are talking about Sweet Sixteen and rankings in a few years.....let's win a conference or an MVC tourney first

[tornado]

would be interesting to see just who is the youngest and what teams have the most experience........

well, this is at best close but inexact, since I am uncertain on several counts...
--should walk-ons be counted, too (I didn't)
--how about the redshirting and/or injured players (I DID count them as they are still there and gaining experience)
--does a juco junior or senior count any different than a regular junior or senior (I didn't think so - I only counted the years spent at DI)
--should we take playing minutes into account (I didn't that would take an ungodly amount of time,
but all three teams played a considerable amount of time with freshmen and newcomers)

but "irregardless" for georgethedog's sake...here it is..........with info taken direct from their website rosters

BU-
Ages: 19.2, 21.0, 18.7, 23.6, 20.1, 21.8, 19.5, 19.5, 20.9, 21.5, 20.5, 23.1 -- total age in years.months is 247.6 - average age per player is 20.7
Years of experience on this present team: 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 2, 1, 4 -- total 12 prior years of experience. (12 players counted - we have one open scholarship)
*** I did not count John Wilkins as he is not yet on the roster, but had he been counted, since he is only 18 and has no experience, it would make BU even younger and less experienced)



SIU-
Ages: 20.8, 20.3, 19.3, 23.0, 23.0, 22.11, 19.9, 19.9, 20.3, 19.4, 22.0, 22.0, 18.6 -- total age in years.months is 270.9 - average age per player is 20.8
Years of experience on this present team: 0, 1, 0, 4, 4, 2, 0, 1, 1, 0, 3, 3, 0 -- total 19 prior years of experience. (13 players counted-but I am hearing some may be leaving)
***(I counted Brandon Allen but since he is a walk-on, had he not been counted it would have made NO difference as he has zero yrs. experience and his age is precisely 20.8, same as the average already)

WSU-
Ages: 21.4, 21.2, 23.1, 22.2, 19.11, 19.2, 19.1, 23.0, 20.4, 21.9, 23.8, 18.11 -- total age in years.months is 253.7 - average age per player is 21.1
Years of experience on this present team or another DI: 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 3, 2, 3, 1, 0 -- total 13 prior years of experience (12 players counted they have one open scholarship)


CONCLUSION...
our 12 present scholarship players have a YOUNGER average age and fewer total years of
experience at DI than either of the two teams we have played thus far in the Valley.
So we are the younger and lesser experienced team and yet we beat them both....maybe better recruits and/or better coached?

[braveatheart]

Pomeroy comes up with an experience rating for all 344 D1 teams. They use a much simpler formula than Tornado. It appears Pomeroy just gives sophmores 1 year experience, juniors 2 years and seniors 3 years experience. They then total up the years experience and divide by the number of players on the team. He didn't count WE on our team so our experience totals 14 years and 9 players for a average of 1.6 years. This ranks BU 189/344.
Here are the 10 mvc schools ranked by Pomeroys years of experience and the corresponding D1 placement.

Illst....2.4.........11
Drake.2.4..........13
Evans.1.7.........151
Creig..1.7.........169
Bradl..1.6.........189
MisSt..1.5.........209
NIowa.1.5.........232
SoIll...1.4.........247
WchSt.1.3.........281
IndSt..1.2.........307

So as you can see according to this measure both SIU and WSU are more inexperienced than BU. As we all know a redshirt junior who has been in your program for 3 years is much more experienced than a first year juco transfer yet Pomeroy counts them the same. I don't know enough about the other teams rosters to help with that calcutation. Also as Tornado points out there are many ways to measure experience.
One other thing to keep in mind is if we include Will Egolf in the calcutation we go from 1.6 years experience to 1.5 years. That small change drops us pretty far down the list.
My opinion is that we are not as experienced as Pomeroy implies. DC and TW count for 6 of our 14 years experience and they have only been at BU for a total of 2 years. Likewise DD and CR count for 4 more years and they are new to BU.

[lefty]

I think you shoud figure jucos differently than freshman in regards to experience. That's why you recruit them

[audacious_aficionado]

Also, I think the fact that our starting lineup last night had a total of 3 years DI experience should say something. McCain 0, Maniscalco 1, Roberts 0, Wilson 1, Collins 1.

Wichita St.- 3 years DI experience
SIU- 10 years DI experience
ISU- 8 years DI experience


None of these figures count redshirt years.