CHN Top 144 Countdown

[LittleBrave]

The outlook for the Valley this season is a bit different from last.

There were a lot of solid middle-of-pack schools like ISU (red), BU, SIU, ISU (blue), and WSU heading into last season that many thought could finish #3 in the conf. This season, I think it's more of which team will keep up with Wichita St., with a few solid teams that have a chance for that:
UNI
MSU
CU
BU

I would say this season is slightly weaker than last. I don't think WSU is as good as UNI as a #1 team. SIU, Evansville, and ISU (red) appear weaker too.
I believe it will be a fun season to follow though, with a couple surprise teams to emerge. And I won't say that BU SHOULD finish 3rd or better, because right now, I think there are 3 or 4 schools better than us...until we prove it on the court.

[tornado]

I agree -- last year the Valley was comprised by UNI in a runaway (but they'll drop back with the rest of the pack this year)...
and then places 2 thru 9 in the Valley were all separated by a single game or less, so all the other spots in the valley were close - and I contend there really weren't a lot of big differences between 2nd place and 6-7th - that couldn't be accounted for by an injury here & there or an overtime result...

So even tho everyone is picking BU 5th, I cannot see if we're healthy that we will be much removed from the upper echelon of the Valley.....

as for his comment about the Valley being not being tough like it was a few years ago -- he must not have noticed that the only Valley team that was given an NCAA bid, was a Sweet Sixteen team and as good as many that were in the top 10-15!

The Valley also had 8 post-season wins last year (8-5) and one of the losses was Creighton's loss to MSU in the tourney that MSU won.....and way more that almost all other conferences (MWC was 2-5, Pac-10 was 3-5, even the vaunted Big East that got EIGHT NCAA BIDS was 10-13 overall in all post-season tourney play!!)

[ph]

When did JP become the "Milk Man"
Pretty lame.

In recognition of Caterpillar's generous support of BU, perhaps JP could be known as "The Bulldozer"

..Got me thinking that Karl Malone had some Cat ties (I think his big rig was Cat powered) but he was the "mail man"

[tornado]

Next batch...

#88 Loyola Marymount - future BU opponent

http://www.collegehoopsnet.com/88-loyola-marymount-2010-11-basketball-preview-168738

#87 Cincinnati
#86 Alabama
#85 Central Michigan
#84 Tulsa
#83 Fairfield

[tornado]

#82 James Madison - what?? these guys were 13-20 & one game out of LAST PLACE in the CAA, AND ONLY BEAT TWO TEAMS whose RPI was better than 250!
#81 Notre Dame
#80 Georgia Tech
#79 North Carolina State - this guy says NC State will finish 8th in ACC, others say they will finish 4th!
#78 Penn State - seriously?? This might well be the worst team in the Big Ten..
#77 Creighton - 4th in MVC

http://www.collegehoopsnet.com/77-creighton-2010-11-basketball-preview-168752

[LittleBrave]

#82 James Madison - what?? these guys were 13-20 & one game out of LAST PLACE in the CAA, AND ONLY BEAT TWO TEAMS whose RPI was better than 250!
#81 Notre Dame
#80 Georgia Tech
#79 North Carolina State - this guy says NC State will finish 8th in ACC, others say they will finish 4th!
#78 Penn State - seriously?? This might well be the worst team in the Big Ten..
#77 Creighton - 4th in MVC
http://www.collegehoopsnet.com/77-cr...preview-168752

Yeah - what's up with PSU???
Did they forget to put a 1 in front of 78? This is ridiculous, unless they have an awesome recruiting class coming in.

[tornado]

Penn State's "star" is Talor Battle...
he's about as good a sub-6-footer guard as Penn State can expect to have, but seriously --

he is not gonna carry this team... In fact, he took 459 shot attempts last year and 493 the year before -- TOPS in the Big Ten both years!
...and his shooting pct. (career 39.5% overall and 32.8% from 3-pt) kinda proves he's only scoring 16-18 ppg because of all the shots he's launching..

Just for comparison -- the top three shot launcher/gunners in the Valley last year, Kyle Weems, Colt Ryan & Osiris Eldridge -- took only 379, 364, and 432 shots

[AZ BU Fan]

Don't think it would ever happen, but,

How much fun would it be to get someone involved in the CHN Top 144 Countdown to join our Forum on line and take questions/provide awnsers from our posters about their CHN poll selections (like the JL on line interviews)?

[tornado]

#82 James Madison - what?? these guys were 13-20 & one game out of LAST PLACE in the CAA, AND ONLY BEAT TWO TEAMS whose RPI was better than 250!
#81 Notre Dame
#80 Georgia Tech
#79 North Carolina State - this guy says NC State will finish 8th in ACC, others say they will finish 4th!
#78 Penn State - seriously?? This might well be the worst team in the Big Ten..
#77 Creighton - 4th in MVC
http://www.collegehoopsnet.com/77-cr...preview-168752

Moving right along.......

#76 California
#75 Washington State
#74 Duquesne
#73 Colorado State - seriously?? I guess nothing's impossible at this stage -- but they're under .500 in the MWC every year for the past decade, and 11-37 in the past 3 seasons. And the guy they mention as the key newcomer is Wes Eikmeier, a walk-on who couldn't make it or bust into the lineup at Iowa State of all places!
They were also the 5th place team in the MWC last year but were RPI 120, so I doubt the 5th place team in the MWC this year will be top 75.
#72 Texas Tech - also were pretty disastrously disappointing last year, winning their first 9 against the likes of Lamar, Northwestern State, Samford, South Dakota, then losing 15 of their final 23 - and all seven of their final seven regular season games, to end up 8 games under .500 and just 4-12 in the Big East -- and they've restocked with nothing but jucos for this year...
This is a team that went 4-12 in its own conference, but still got an NIT bid !!! If the NIT is taking teams that finish 4-12 in their own conference, then I don't wanna hear any more about the CBI & CIT!

[LittleBrave]

I'm not putting too much stock into the CollegeHoops Insider Top 144 anymore. The teams they put in certain positions is just absurd IMO.
Maybe the Iowa Hawkeyes are coming in at #67.

[tornado]

Another Valley team makes the list......

#71 Central Florida - Marcus Jordan, who started every one of their 16 conference games AND all their tournament games isn't even projected as a starter!

http://www.collegehoopsnet.com/71-ucf-2010-11-basketball-preview-168758

#70 Northwestern
#69 Mississippi State
#68 Miami (FL)
#67 Missouri State - 3rd in MVC - http://www.collegehoopsnet.com/67-mi...preview-168762
#66 Fresno State
#65 UConn
#64 Oklahoma State

[tornado]

next batch...seems like he's hurrying faster to get this thing done...especially jamming all the remaining mid-majors in before he gets to 50

#63 Rhode Island
#62 VCU
#61 Georgia
#60 Southern Miss
#59 Wofford
#58 George Mason
#57 St. Mary's
#56 Louisville

This countdown started July 29, and so he had revealed the first half of his 144 teams (the first 72) by 10/18...or about 2.5 months, and thus averaged almost exactly one team per day (72 teams in ~75 days)

BUT -- he's now released 16 new teams in just the past 48 hours...or ramping it up to 8 new teams every other day!

[tornado]

here's the next batch of teams in their countdown..

#55 Ohio
#54 St. Louis (mustyhave been picked more than a couple weeks ago)
#53 UCLA
#52 Marquette
#51 Murray State
#50 Arizona
#49 Northern Iowa (picked 2nd in MVC)

http://www.collegehoopsnet.com/49-northern-iowa-2010-11-basketball-preview-168787

#48 Maryland

[LittleBrave]

here's the next batch of teams in their countdown..

#55 Ohio
#54 St. Louis (mustyhave been picked more than a couple weeks ago)
#53 UCLA
#52 Marquette
#51 Murray State
#50 Arizona
#49 Northern Iowa (picked 2nd in MVC)

http://www.collegehoopsnet.com/49-northern-iowa-2010-11-basketball-preview-168787

#48 Maryland

UNI at #49?????
Ohio at #55????

[TheAsianSensation]

UNI at #49?????
Ohio at #55????

Seems pretty resonable to me.