Another Poll but of Illinois teams only plus Notre Dame

[SFP]

I hope JL is posting this in the locker room. ZERO respect for the team! They will need to earn it and show the media what they are about.

http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/columns/story?columnist=powers_scott&id=4565364

[lefty]

The pick may be suspect at 7 but what he wrote about BU is right on if you are objective of course....

[real fan]

How many times do we have to beat DePaul to get the respect we deserve, polls coming out of Chicago mean nothing as they always seemed to be extremely biased in high school and now college.

[georgethedog]

Respect comes with winning your league, and then repeating. When is the last time BU has done that? When is the last time BU has finished higher than 4th? I think BU is rated where they belong based on what they have done recently. Now let's go out an earn some respect this year.

[Braves4Life]

Respect comes with winning your league, and then repeating. When is the last time BU has done that?

Probably about the same time as Illinois, ND, Northwestern, ISU, and DePaul.

[georgethedog]

Probably about the same time as Illinois, ND, Northwestern, ISU, and DePaul.

But BU is a mid-major and mid-majors have to do more in the league because the league is looked upon as weaker than than the Big 10 and Big Least. That does not explain ISU, but did they not finish higher last year in the league than BU? So, BU is behind 4 BCS schools and 1 school that finsihed higher in the previous year. Again, I ask... When was the last time BU finished in the top 3 in the league? I cannot remember, but it has been a while. This is creating a "recent history" pattern to outside observers that has to stop before there is more respect. That's all I am saying. I hope that happens this year.

[TheAsianSensation]

This is the same site that has a list of links to team pages for local colleges and omitted Bradley completely from the links. And linked to SIU basketball AND football while linking to ISU basketball but NOT football. Doesn't make a lick of sense. Tiered bias?

It's garbage DePaul is above us but no higher for BU than 6, IMO.

[chitown fanatic]

I'm in the camp that preseason picks mean nothing.(I especially liked that one that had UNI as both number 64 and 39!) ditto that for exhibitions. but regardless of the rotations Jim plays, if we revert to the same old chuck a 3 and hope team we've been of recent years, we really shouldn't expect much more than what we've been... a middle of the pack valley team. 5-19 from 3's with no plan of inside-out with our bigs means more feast or famine. Our best year(obviously we had a true center but still) we played inside out. there's no reason we can't throw the ball into Will, Sticks, or even TB and free up Warren, sam ,a nd Edge for open looks. I think if we could get 20 points a game in the paint(not counting putbacks), we'd be in great shape. Jim just has to rework this into the game plans.

[AZ BU Fan]

I'm in the camp that preseason picks mean nothing.(I especially liked that one that had UNI as both number 64 and 39!) ditto that for exhibitions. but regardless of the rotations Jim plays, if we revert to the same old chuck a 3 and hope team we've been of recent years, we really shouldn't expect much more than what we've been... a middle of the pack valley team. 5-19 from 3's with no plan of inside-out with our bigs means more feast or famine. Our best year(obviously we had a true center but still) we played inside out. there's no reason we can't throw the ball into Will, Sticks, or even TB and free up Warren, sam ,a nd Edge for open looks. I think if we could get 20 points a game in the paint(not counting putbacks), we'd be in great shape. Jim just has to rework this into the game plans.

Be prepared to get bashed by all the posters who don't like negative comments about BU/JL or who don't think posters are smarter than JL!

I have a history of this!

[SaintLouBrave22]

Probably about the same time as Illinois, ND, Northwestern, ISU, and DePaul.

Actually to group accordingly, ND, Northwestern, and DePaul haven't finished in the top half in their conference in probably the last decade.

Even the good teams at ND finished 5-6-7 in the Big East.


DePaul didn't even win a game last year in conf. regular season!


Northwestern consistently finishes in the bottom 3.

[chitown fanatic]

Be prepared to get bashed by all the posters who don't like negative comments about BU/JL or who don't think posters are smarter than JL!

I have a history of this!

I don't view what I posted as negative at all. If anything, it's simply a suggestion to running a better offense. Even the kool-aid drinkers won't have any problems with the truth. We have consistently been beat on the boards, the box scores bear it out, though ironically, we do better in this area in the non-con than we do during conference. anybody who follows BU knows that we are weak in the frontcourt...or at best...unproven. Friday will tell us how far we have to go....I love the fact one of our two toughest opponents is our first game. Other than Vegas, my only other fears in the non-con are the trap game in DeKalb and Wofford, who despite their cupcake name, are actually a pretty decent squad that will give us more fits than most realize.

[SaintLouBrave22]

I don't view what I posted as negative at all. If anything, it's simply a suggestion to running a better offense. Even the kool-aid drinkers won't have any problems with the truth. We have consistently been beat on the boards, the box scores bear it out, though ironically, we do better in this area in the non-con than we do during conference. anybody who follows BU knows that we are weak in the frontcourt...or at best...unproven. Friday will tell us how far we have to go....I love the fact one of our two toughest opponents is our first game. Other than Vegas, my only other fears in the non-con are the trap game in DeKalb and Wofford, who despite their cupcake name, are actually a pretty decent squad that will give us more fits than most realize.

Yes, Wofford is in a decent conf. that doesn't get much credit either, but I don't see NIU as a trap game as that team has yet to prove they're better than just mediocre.

I on the other hand don't like BYU in the first game. Reminds me of U of I playing Missouri every year in football to open the season.

Basically put, if we go out on the road and come out flat, that could be completely demoralizing and break confidence right at the outset of the season. I'd rather have that game Dec 13 than Nov 13.

[chitown fanatic]

my hope would be that playing them the first game with their similarly perimeter-oriented offense, their rust might be worse than our rust. Playing them a month into the season on their floor after their fans have digested their football season wouldn't help either. Let's play them when their fan base might not be as jacked up.

[georgethedog]

Be prepared to get bashed by all the posters who don't like negative comments about BU/JL or who don't think posters are smarter than JL!

I have a history of this!

...

[tornado]

..ND, Northwestern, and DePaul haven't finished in the top half in their conference in probably the last decade....

in the first year in memory that people are actually talking NCAA bid and Northwestern in the same sentence, the
Northwestern Wildcats suffer a severe setback...
Their best player and team leader is done for the season...and their other big guy, Kyle Rowley, coming off knee surgery, is not yet ready for many minutes.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/northwestern/chi-17-nu-coble-chicago-nov17,0,4561317.story

but-- this creates a bit of a dilemma...they just signed ex-BU recruit Jerson Cobb...and if Coble stays an extra year,
they will have to open up a scholarship for him...