Valley Rankings

[tornado]

Here are the various preseason Valley rankings so far (BU has a 3rd, a 4th, and four 6th)

Collegehoopsnet
1-Creighton
2-UNI
3-Bradley
4-ISU
5-WSU
6-SIU
7-InSU
Drake, MSU, and Evansville are 8-9-10 but the exact order not named


Athlon
1-UNI
2-CU
3-ISU
4-WSU
5-SIU
6-BU
7-InSU
8-MSU
9-DU
10-EU


Lindy's
1-Northern Iowa
2-Creighton
3-Wichita State
4-Illinois State
5-Southern Illinois
6-Bradley
7-Indiana Stat
8-Missouri State
9-Drake
10-Evansville


Blue Ribbon
1-Northern Iowa
2-Illinois State
3-Creighton
4-Southern Illinois
5-Indiana State
6-Bradley
7-Wichita State
8-Drake
9-Evansville
10-Missouri State

Rivals
1-Northern Iowa
2-Creighton
3-Southern Illinois
4-Wichita State
5-Illinois State
6-Bradley
7-Indiana State
8-Drake
9-Missouri State
10-Evansville

Collegeinsider.com
1-UNI
2-CU
3-ISU
4-BU
5-10 not disclosed

Hoops Report
1-UNI
2-Creighton
3-10 not disclosed

anyone know of any others...
I know that YahooSports College preseason issue is just out today...

[georgethedog]

Lots of 6's. That's good because those rags are generally wrong.

[DoubleJayAlum]

Gotta wonder if the Jake Kelly news would cause Indiana St to be ranked higher if those publications were released today

[MacabreMob]

Gotta wonder if the Jake Kelly news would cause Indiana St to be ranked higher if those publications were released today

Blue Ribbon musta got the "insider tip".

[tornado]

Curious, but why does the availability of Kelly at InSU (an 11 ppg scorer) cause people to want to rank InSU several spots higher,
but the availability this year of Andrew Warren at Bradley (a 13.2 ppg scorer) has no effect at all,
and not one preseason preview seems to have much hope that Warren will help BU to anything higher than 6th?

[tsguthrie]

They dont know anything untill the season begins.

[SFP]

They dont know anything untill the season begins.

That is why they lace them up otherwise Duke would have over 10 NCAA championships.

[AZ BU Fan]

Perhaps the pessimism from the media is because we don't have a proven center, AW has been out for a year with multiple foot injuries and didn't play in Brazil, Egoff didn't play in Brazil and had very little MVC track record while healthy, Taylor Brown had limited minutes last year, and the rest of the returning guards are coming from a team which finished 4th in the Valley last year and didn't shoot the lights out (41-44% from the field).

We think we have good recruits, but don't know how they stack up vs other MVC teams newbies. Without more track record, hard for prognosticators to push BU into the upper division of the MVC.

Not saying the pols are right, but could understand their lack of optimism for BU...

The MVC Coaches prediction will be more interesting.

Agree with SFP, doesn't matter where you are picked in the pols, just win baby! Everything else will sort itself out.

[tornado]

but AZ...Wichita & InSU also are really weak in the post...and Creighton will be thin there...and even SIU will struggle to fill the contributions that Falker and Boyle have given them the past few years...but nobody seems to mention that.
Even ISU will have serious problems in the paint if Dinma is injured, or in foul trouble...who else do they have?
By contrast, BU has Singh, Egolf, AT, Prosser, TB, and Milos....more depth in the blocks than we've had since we had two 7-footers!!

[georgethedog]

I don't understand the 6th rankings either, but I would agree with any of them that put BU in 4th or 5th because that has been a track record for quite sometime that BU has not been able to break. Maybe this year, maybe not.

Questions: Would a completely healthy Warren and Egolf put us at #1? I mean if nobody on the planet had any doubts about their health, is BU the best in the league, or are we going to have to wait for Mr. Wilkins to arrive for that to happen?

[DoubleJayAlum]

Curious, but why does the availability of Kelly at InSU (an 11 ppg scorer) cause people to want to rank InSU several spots higher,
but the availability this year of Andrew Warren at Bradley (a 13.2 ppg scorer) has no effect at all,
and not one preseason preview seems to have much hope that Warren will help BU to anything higher than 6th?

If I were to guess, it is because Kelly is not coming off of an injury that caused him to miss over a full season. In other words, there are a lot fewer question marks.

[dogsrus]

That is why they lace them up otherwise Duke would have over 10 NCAA championships.

Funny stuff...

[dogsrus]

Curious, but why does the availability of Kelly at InSU (an 11 ppg scorer) cause people to want to rank InSU several spots higher,
but the availability this year of Andrew Warren at Bradley (a 13.2 ppg scorer) has no effect at all,
and not one preseason preview seems to have much hope that Warren will help BU to anything higher than 6th?

A couple things...one legit IMO the other makes me laugh. AW's injury status (yes I understand all reports are good so far) is still a question...like it or not. Thats the legit or at least understandable point to a certain degree...


The laugher IMO is that anyone from the B10 is a step up on any Valley players or player. You come from the B10 and go to the Valley you will dominate. I'm sot saying the kid won't be good...he may....I just don't think its a given.

I saw BU beat Iowa in South Padre and they had some players with identical stats to Kelly's and they didn't dominate BU by any means.....

[georgethedog]

Curious, but why does the availability of Kelly at InSU (an 11 ppg scorer) cause people to want to rank InSU several spots higher,
but the availability this year of Andrew Warren at Bradley (a 13.2 ppg scorer) has no effect at all,
and not one preseason preview seems to have much hope that Warren will help BU to anything higher than 6th?

Possible answers to your question:

Maybe they don't think Warren is that good? (I personally think he is very good)

Maybe they think Jim Les will use a 4 guard offense because of our lack of experience in the post? (I think this is possible, we've seen it before)

Maybe they did not spend much time reviewing the MVC because it is an inconsequential league? (Most likely scenerio)

[Nacho]

Even ISU will have serious problems in the paint if Dinma is injured, or in foul trouble...who else do they have?
By contrast, BU has Singh, Egolf, AT, Prosser, TB, and Milos....more depth in the blocks than we've had since we had two 7-footers!!

While I agree ISU will be in trouble if Dinma gets hurt or in foul trouble... how can you say "who else do they have" when you include BU having AT, Prosser, and Milos in the conversation... they are less proven then Kellen Thornton and Jeremy Robinson... BU and ISU are both pretty deep in the post... but several players that are going to have to contribute for both teams are inexperienced...