Early Preseason College Basketball Magazines and Previews

[tornado]

Watch for several issues to hit the newsstands shortly after Labor Day, such as Lindy's, Athlon, USA Today, and Sporting News...





I plan to check them and post summaries...if I can stomach all the drooling over UK and Coach Calipari that I am sure to encounter...

[tornado]

Lindy's is out and I've seen it -- it's OK...can't disagree with a lot of it...but I will mention a few areas where I think differently....
obviously everyone's entitled to their opinion, but the guy writing the Valley section gives the nod as the "Best Playmaker" in the Valley to Sam Maniscalco, yet he doesn't include Sammy on either his 1st team or 2nd team All Conference. That's hard to understand...
I know I am biased, but from a few of the things I'll note below, clearly this guy is over-the-top biased for Creighton...

If Maniscalco does turn out to be the best playmaker, like Adam Emmenecker or Kwadzo Ahelegbe have in the past few years, then why wouldn't any team prize him at a 1st team-level?? Guess we'll have to wait and see.

Oh well....everyone's entitled to their own opinion, and beyond UNI last season, who everyone picked to finish first...the rest of the teams were all bunched 2-9 or so with no spot in that spread separated by more than a game in a close year in the Valley....

But here's where Pivovar has been wrong in the past....he misses on the individual player accolades...
....some of his past comments on other Valley players have been off a bit....

For example -- let me quote his picks for the best players in the league last year...

"-Most immediate impact on his team - Jake Kelly
-Best rebounder - Jordan Myers (SIU)
-Best jump shot - Justin Carter
-Best NBA prospect - Andrew Bock
-Biggest "Signing Coup" - Andrew Bock
...etc..."

a couple years earlier (06-07) he picked Jeremy Crouch as the best NBA prospect above Eldridge, Tolliver, and in 07-08 he picked Anthony Thompson as "Player that will Take You By Surprise"

[Braves4Life]

.....the guy writing the Valley section gives the nod as the "Best Playmaker" in the Valley to Sam Maniscalco, yet he doesn't include Sammy on either his 1st team or 2nd team All Conference. That's hard to understand...

Maybe he thought this implied that Sammy was the POY and left him off as a result. If not, I agree it makes no sense not to include SM on either team. It sounds as if he forgot to proof read as this is a rather glaring omission.

[Out of Balance]

Sammy don't get no respect..but maybe after this year...

Sammy has always had respect here, even when some BU fans (some on here) did not think/give it to him There was those who thought he should of been behine McCain and should of come off the bench Glad he proved them wrong Hoping for a great and injury free year for him

[LittleBrave]

a couple years earlier (06-07) he picked Jeremy Crouch as the best NBA prospect above Eldridge, Tolliver, and in 07-08 he picked Anthony Thompson as "Player that will Take You By Surprise"

Hasn't AT taken us by surprise year after year?
Surprised he doesn't play much I guess.
Hopefully he'll see 10 minutes per game this season.

[shockerfan13]

Lindy's is out and I've seen it -- it's OK...can't disagree with a lot of it...but I will mention a few areas where I think differently....
obviously everyone's entitled to their opinion, but the guy writing the Valley section gives the nod as the "Best Playmaker" in the Valley to Sam Maniscalco, yet he doesn't include Sammy on either his 1st team or 2nd team All Conference. That's hard to understand...
I know I am biased, but from a few of the things I'll note below, clearly this guy is over-the-top biased for Creighton...

If Maniscalco does turn out to be the best playmaker, like Adam Emmenecker or Kwadzo Ahelegbe have in the past few years, then why wouldn't any team prize him at a 1st team-level?? Guess we'll have to wait and see.

Oh well....everyone's entitled to their own opinion, and beyond UNI last season, who everyone picked to finish first...the rest of the teams were all bunched 2-9 or so with no spot in that spread separated by more than a game in a close year in the Valley....

But here's where Pivovar has been wrong in the past....he misses on the individual player accolades...
....some of his past comments on other Valley players have been off a bit....

For example -- let me quote his picks for the best players in the league last year...

"-Most immediate impact on his team - Jake Kelly
-Best rebounder - Jordan Myers (SIU)
-Best jump shot - Justin Carter
-Best NBA prospect - Andrew Bock
-Biggest "Signing Coup" - Andrew Bock
...etc..."

a couple years earlier (06-07) he picked Jeremy Crouch as the best NBA prospect above Eldridge, Tolliver, and in 07-08 he picked Anthony Thompson as "Player that will Take You By Surprise"

I believe the notorious Matt Perrault (huge CU elitest/*****) wrote a good portion last year including alot of the "best of" lists. Pivovar is usually pretty decent. Perhaps I'm wrong on which portions Perrault wrote, but I know he had a hand in alot of it last year. I am assuming he may again this year.

[amettrick]

i looked through the sporting news issue the other day. they have BU picked to finished 3rd in the MVC. i didn't have time to do much more than glance though so i can't offer any more detail than that.

[SFP]

I really do not care where we are picked but where we actually finish. If we can play some interior D and and rebound we should contend for the title. If we play soft and decide not to show up occasionally then we are probably in the 4-5 game again. I would have to believe with SM and DD leading this team we will show up each and every game, but will our 4-5 guys be able to play some hard nose tough ball? We will find out what this team is about pretty early. I hope TB has his act together and is ready to act the part as a leader. We'll need him to play big and further more he'll be our go to guy next year so this year is crucial for his development. I will also be surprised if AW does not lead this team in scoring.

[DoubleJayAlum]

I believe the notorious Matt Perrault (huge CU elitest/*****) wrote a good portion last year including alot of the "best of" lists. Pivovar is usually pretty decent. Perhaps I'm wrong on which portions Perrault wrote, but I know he had a hand in alot of it last year. I am assuming he may again this year.

Pretty sure Perrault only wrote a little blurb on recruiting in the Valley. Perrault and Pivovar are not buddies and are not going to be collaborating any time soon.

[shockerfan13]

Pretty sure Perrault only wrote a little blurb on recruiting in the Valley. Perrault and Pivovar are not buddies and are not going to be collaborating any time soon.

Just remember it was Perrault that did the "best jumper/shooter...etc part of the magazine last year. All I'm saying. I doubt Perrault has any kind of "buddy" anywhere.

[Bravesfan]

I really do not care where we are picked but where we actually finish. If we can play some interior D and and rebound we should contend for the title. If we play soft and decide not to show up occasionally then we are probably in the 4-5 game again. I would have to believe with SM and DD leading this team we will show up each and every game, but will our 4-5 guys be able to play some hard nose tough ball? We will find out what this team is about pretty early. I hope TB has his act together and is ready to act the part as a leader. We'll need him to play big and further more he'll be our go to guy next year so this year is crucial for his development. I will also be surprised if AW does not lead this team in scoring.

We have to finish at least top 3 this year if not higher. Sounds like a good pick from Sporting News for what it's worth. I agree that I don't care so much about where a team is picked, but if there is a general consensus that Bradley will finish higher this year, then it shows that their veteran team is becoming noticed by the national pundits. So it is encouraging to see TSN picking them third as most of the major publications have not picked them this high in several years.

[squirrelgotdead]

Just remember it was Perrault that did the "best jumper/shooter...etc part of the magazine last year. All I'm saying. I doubt Perrault has any kind of "buddy" anywhere.

Does Perrault do multiple pubs? The Lindy's did not list any contributor other than Pivovar. However, Perrault is attributed in the TSN pub.

[tornado]

Is it odd or not that none of the many, many preseason publications ever seems to ask for a contribution from the Peoria people??
After all -- in many ways Bradley is the preeminent long standing member of the Missouri Valley, and certainly one of the three largest fan bases.

[squirrelgotdead]

Dave Reynolds did provide the material one year for one of the pubs (can't remember which exactly) but has since refused because he was never paid what was agreed to.

[tornado]

golly -- I'd do it for free...........give 'em my number...