MVC preseason picks

[tornado]

Paul Suellentrop wrote the Valley segment in this year's Athlon preseason preview...
so since he had to submit that segment a few months ago -- maybe he's changed his opinions in the interval,
but I doubt he had changed very much or else he'd be giving the appearance that his previous piece in Athlon isn't very credible...

In his Athlon piece, here's how he picked the Valley...

1-Wichita State - also predicts they win 2 games in the NCAA before losing
2-Creighton - also predicts they make the NCAA as one of the final four to play off
3-Missouri State - predicted for NIT bid
4-UNI - predicted for NIT bid
5-Bradley
6-ISU
7-Indiana State
8-SIU
9-Drake
10-Evansville

so my guess is that he sticks to this and that his current preview is exactly as he wrote up a couple months ago for Athlon.......

[tornado]

Suellentrop is just rehashing what he wrote several months ago for Athlon...
he has BU at 5th...

http://blogs.kansas.com/shockwaves/2010/10/10/three-questions-for-bradley/

[Future Walk-On]

I keep hearing BU was picked 5th.

What/Whose prediction are we going off of to get 5th? jw


The one on Oct. 26th is the official one right?

[LittleBrave]

Seems to be a lot less defending of BU this season that they will definitely finish no worse than 3rd...well, for good reason I guess, as we learned our lesson last season.
I'm o.k. with 5th in any publication or preseason prediction.

I remember the teams a few years back that were picked 5th in the Valley turned out pretty well. In 2005-'06, WSU was picked 5th and they won the Valley crown. Then the following season, SIU was picked 5th and they did the same.

In fact, I'm picking us to finish 4th. In the back of my mind, I want to say 3rd, but just can't with the trend we've had.
So this year, for once, I'll present my prediction with a bit of skepticism and I'll be happy (hopefully) that I underrated the Braves!

[real fan]

Paul Suellentrop wrote the Valley segment in this year's Athlon preseason preview...
so since he had to submit that segment a few months ago -- maybe he's changed his opinions in the interval,
but I doubt he had changed very much or else he'd be giving the appearance that his previous piece in Athlon isn't very credible...

In his Athlon piece, here's how he picked the Valley...

1-Wichita State - also predicts they win 2 games in the NCAA before losing
2-Creighton - also predicts they make the NCAA as one of the final four to play off
3-Missouri State - predicted for NIT bid
4-UNI - predicted for NIT bid
5-Bradley
6-ISU
7-Indiana State
8-SIU
9-Drake
10-Evansville

so my guess is that he sticks to this and that his current preview is exactly as he wrote up a couple months ago for Athlon.......

This will not be acceptable for this team, too much experience and hopefully pride to not finish top 3 with a chance to win it.

[LittleBrave]

This will not be acceptable for this team, too much experience and hopefully pride to not finish top 3 with a chance to win it.

I think last year a 3rd place finish would have been acceptable for most of us. Even with a mediocre record last season, most fans seem to think that even 3rd place is not acceptable this season.
What we all want and expect is for the Braves to compete for the league title for the 1st time in many years, like you mentioned.
I just can't see DD, AW, and SM ending their college careers with anything less than this.

[cpacmel]

I remember the teams a few years back that were picked 5th in the Valley turned out pretty well. In 2005-'06, WSU was picked 5th and they won the Valley crown. Then the following season, SIU was picked 5th and they did the same.

That WSU team (05-06) that was picked 5th preseason, was coming off an NIT appearance (04-05). The Shockers actually won 2 games in the NIT that year before falling to Vandy by 2.

SIU was picked 2nd preseason in 06-07.

[basketball nut]

This will not be acceptable for this team, too much experience and hopefully pride to not finish top 3 with a chance to win it.

You might want to get use to the idea of a 4th or 5th place finish. The Valley has as much depth in the top 6 teams as they have had in a while. I am not sure about Creighton 2nd but BU could be picked anywhere from 3rd to 5th and I would say 4th is about right. Yes they have some very good players (even great for the Valley) but not enough in the right places.
I would say the possiblity is there for a better finish depending on the 2 things the writer from Witchita brings up-Does TB play up to his potential which is the sky and, even though some disagree, he does have NBA potential (again I said potential-that is the talent level) but is not there yet and how much WE improves in the middle. The one thing each of must remember these 2 guys are only juniors and most players make their most improvememt between their soph & junior years. If they do that we should be competative w/ every team in the MVC this season and yes we could compete for a title but w/o that happening we are a 4th or 5th place team at best.

[tornado]

ESPN previews Wichita State, basically the Blue Ribbon blurb..

http://insider.espn.go.com/ncb/insider/news/story?id=5680767&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fncb%2finsider%2fnews%2fstory%3fid%3d5680767

...interesting that they say Wichita needs to...
"Knock off a power or two in the non-conference schedule .." in order to put themselves in a solid situation for an NCAA bid...
(unless they win the tourney)..and they do at least have a chance to catch a few big boys in Maui (UConn, Michigan State, Oklahoma/Kentucky)..otherwise, the only scheduled BCS team they have is LSU...

[tornado]

Suellentrop finishes his picks with MSU #3, Creighton #2, and obviously Wichita State #1

http://blogs.kansas.com/shockwaves/