Preseason Mid-Major Top 25

[tornado]

There are three Valley teams in the Top 10..


1. Butler (16) 0-0 752 1
2. Gonzaga (15) 0-0 723 7
3. Wichita State 0-0 651 13 4. Old Dominion 0-0 636 5
5. Murray State 0-0 527 6
6. Wofford 0-0 477 10
7. Northern Iowa 0-0 418 2 8. Oakland 0-0 396 9
9. Missouri State 0-0 390 24 10. Fairfield 0-0 360 NR
11. St. Mary's 0-0 333 3
12. UC Santa Barbara 0-0 300 25
13. Ohio 0-0 298 NR
14. VCU 0-0 294 21
15. North Texas 0-0 273 17
16. George Mason 0-0 266 NR
17. Western Kentucky 0-0 236 NR
18. Creighton 0-0 212 NR
19. Weber State 0-0 209 16
20. Siena 0-0 190 8
21. Loyola Marymount 0-0 189 NR
22. Coastal Carolina 0-0 170 14
23. Detroit 0-0 153 NR
24. Appalachian State 0-0 145 23
25. Cleveland State 0-0 127 NR

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: Long Beach State 106, Iona 104, Akron 61,
Pacific 57, Princeton 55, Sam Houston State 53, Kent State 51, Morgan State 50,
Stephen F. Austin 49, College of Charleston 48, Belmont 47, Morehead State 47,
Ball State 42, East Tennessee State 40, Portland 35, Montana 33, Stony Brook 31,
Milwaukee 29, Wright State 28, Quinnipiac 27, Boston University 26, Cornell 26,
Illinois State 24, Davidson 23, Central Michigan 22, Harvard 21,
Bradley 20, Lipscomb 17, Denver 16, IUPUI 15, Jackson State 13,
Northeastern 13, Valparaiso 13, William & Mary 12, Green Bay 12, James Madison 10,
Texas-San Antonio 10, South Alabama 9, Lafayette 8, Miami 7, American 6,
Middle Tennessee 5, Western Carolina 5, Florida Atlantic 4, Lehigh 4, Eastern Michigan 3,
Arkansas-Little Rock 2, Arkansas State 2, Montana State 2, Northern Colorado 2,
Robert Morris 2, Cal State Fullerton 1, Holy Cross 1, South Dakota 1.

[amckillip]

Haha, ILSU over BU. The only way that should be true is if Wilkins is as good as people said he was when he first chose BU (which I doubt because he still ended up at ILSU).

[Buesch N Chips]

Ouch. Respect is earned, not given.

[thefish7]

Ouch. Respect is earned, not given.

Evidently not in ISU's case.

Edit: Or Creighton's for that matter. I guess you could say they've got some respect inertia that they "earned."

[TheAsianSensation]

lol that's terribad. We often as a fan base rip on disrespect, going over the line. But we can't rip this one enough. There is no logical evidence that ISU should be above BU on any preseason poll this year.

[Bravesfan]

Wow! When a mid-major poll only has us as the 52nd best mid-major team in the country, that's not saying a lot for us! Hopefully we will rapidly ascend this pole early on.

[amckillip]

Wow! When a mid-major poll only has us as the 52nd best mid-major team in the country, that's not saying a lot for us! Hopefully we will rapidly ascend this pole early on.

Agreed 100%

[LittleBrave]

Wow! When a mid-major poll only has us as the 52nd best mid-major team in the country, that's not saying a lot for us! Hopefully we will rapidly ascend this pole early on.

To bring this up again, not many know of all the weapons we have this season other than BU followers. Our Bigs haven't proven anything to anybody. Of course, they will ascend - it would be a huge shock if they didn't. I can somewhat understand why we're so low - why ISU (red) is higher than us is baffling - probably based on last 3 seasons.

[shaunguth]

To bring this up again, not many know of all the weapons we have this season other than BU followers. Our Bigs haven't proven anything to anybody. Of course, they will ascend - it would be a huge shock if they didn't. I can somewhat understand why we're so low - why ISU (red) is higher than us is baffling - probably based on last 3 seasons.

isu has always finished top 3 in the conference under Jank. Why wouldn't they do that again? I mean......it's only logical, right?

[LittleBrave]

isu has always finished top 3 in the conference under Jank. Why wouldn't they do that again? I mean......it's only logical, right?

I didn't think they would last season, and they did. Gotta' credit Jank for doing pretty well in the Valley...at least better than Les.
Hopefully the tables will reverse this season.

[ISUBirds]

To bring this up again, not many know of all the weapons we have this season other than BU followers. Our Bigs haven't proven anything to anybody. Of course, they will ascend - it would be a huge shock if they didn't. I can somewhat understand why we're so low - why ISU (red) is higher than us is baffling - probably based on last 3 seasons.

I can understand ISU being so low, but Bradley should be a bit higher although not necessarily as high as other Valley teams. You hit the nail on the head. You have had no bigs the past few years and nobody else is going to believe that is changing until they see it. However, the guard play should be enough to get some decent respect in this POS poll.

I also think many Valley teams could have their way with a lot of teams in this poll. Don't necessarily agree with Valley teams paying attention to this poll as every Valley team and fan aspires to be in the real top 25. Being ranked in the MM Top 25 does no favors come March.

[tornado]

ISUBirds -- thanks for your input -- but I am not all that convinced we can write off ISU as a 2nd tier team this year..
Both Carmichael & Austin Hill had monster games against us and showed consistently they are solid Valley players, then there's enough talent among the rest to at least be at the same level as MSU and Creighton...
I won't bet anyone, but if ISU finishes behind five other Valley teams I will be very surprised.......

[ISUBirds]

ISUBirds -- thanks for your input -- but I am not all that convinced we can write off ISU as a 2nd tier team this year..
Both Carmichael & Austin Hill had monster games against us and showed consistently they are solid Valley players, then there's enough talent among the rest to at least be at the same level as MSU and Creighton...
I won't bet anyone, but if ISU finishes behind five other Valley teams I will be very surprised.......

There is just too many question marks. Everyone has heard great things about Ekey, but no one has seen it. The team is just too young to make a solid prediction. However, there will be times this season that ISU looks like a contender for the Vally and times where they look lost. Hopefully more of the the contender, especially against BU .

[LittleBrave]

ISUBirds -- thanks for your input -- but I am not all that convinced we can write off ISU as a 2nd tier team this year..
Both Carmichael & Austin Hill had monster games against us and showed consistently they are solid Valley players, then there's enough talent among the rest to at least be at the same level as MSU and Creighton...
I won't bet anyone, but if ISU finishes behind five other Valley teams I will be very surprised.......

I see them finishing 5,6,7. Anything else would surprise me. They DO have an advantage over UNI with the inside game IMO to contend for Top 5 in the Valley...provided UNI doesn't make a surprise run at the title.
UNI is the mystery team for me heading into this season, since they lost 3 key players, but return some core guys from the Sweet 16 team.