Biggest surprises thus far

[tornado]

In the MVC - there really are none -- teams are kinda lined up where most thought they'd be except ISU doing a little better and Evansville a little worse..
BU was picked last - but I really thought (and still do) we had the talent to do better...


In the Big Ten both Indiana & Illinois are surprises doing better than expected...
Wisconsin and perhaps Northwestern doing worse.


Big East Seton Hall doing way better than expected after being picked at the bottom of the 16-team league...and Louisville, Pitt, and Villanova doing considerbly worse.


Big 12 Baylor is even better than expected, Texas A&M was co-pick to win the league and sits in last at 0-3.


ACC & SEC - few if any surprises


Pac-12 has the most surprises - the entire league has been bad and the team picked to win, UCLA has been really surprisingly bad.
Colorado is a positive surprise sitting in 1st at 3-0


A-10 LaSalle & UMass sitting atop the conference are early surprises..and of course Xavier's fall....
Saint Louis starting only 1-2 surprises some...


Other big surprises - Murray State is really good but even SIUE sits at 3-1 in the OVC...
There's WIU in the Summit (Go Mo!), and Ball State at 11-4 & 2-0 in the MAC.
and on the bad end - Loyola is really bad in the Horizon at 0-6 thus far, and although nobody expected much of NIU - still nobody expected them to be this bad - 1-13 with 13 D-I blowouts and one weak D-II win.
finally - whoda thunk it ...Chicago State is 0-16 even with ISU reject Jeremy Robinson having a pretty good year...where'd they be without him!

[cpacmel]

In the MVC - there really are none -- teams are kinda lined up where most thought they'd be except ISU doing a little better and Evansville a little worse..
BU was picked last - but I really thought (and still do) we had the talent to do better...

ISU doing a little better? We were picked 8th and we are alone in 4th! I would say that is more than a little better!

How about Mo State? Picked 6th and currently reside in a 3 way tie for FIRST!

[Da Coach]

Posters are welcome to post their own impressions of "biggest surprises".
But please refrain from the usualy popular sport on other boards of critiquing others' impressions.

[TheAsianSensation]

Posters are welcome to post their own impressions of "biggest surprises".
But please refrain from the usualy popular sport on other boards of critiquing others' impressions.

What's wrong with critique as long as it's done with respect? (of course there's some who go too far)

ISU doing a little better? We were picked 8th and we are alone in 4th! I would say that is more than a little better!

Maybe tornado thought ISU would be better than others thought



My biggest surprise is the Pac-12. You're just not supposed to be this bad. I wasn't expecting the Big East West but I did expect competency.

Also surprised Virginia has funneled to the near top of the ACC in profiles.

[real fan]

ISU doing a little better? We were picked 8th and we are alone in 4th! I would say that is more than a little better!

How about Mo State? Picked 6th and currently reside in a 3 way tie for FIRST!

ISU has some good players with a lot of depth, Jankovic is a decent recruiter but an average coach.

[tornado]

ISU is a game from being .500 in the Valley - that and a dime can get you a piece of bubble gum
They have bad losses (SIU) but have yet to beat anyone I suspect will be in the NCAA..
They have an RPI over 100 and a SOS that's one of the worst in the Valley...
SIU was picked last or next to last byu everyone and ISU is a soft game ahead of them (but SIU currently owns the tiebreaker)

add to all that - they still haven't impressed many fans as they draw ~3000 with exaggerated "announced attendance" figures...

...so tell me again how they are world-beaters??

[45otseoj]

...so tell me again how they are world-beaters??

Who told you that?

[Tulsa Brave]

UC Davis going 0 for D-1 thus far has to be a real shocker. Who would have thought with Les at the helm that this team couldn't beat a single D-1 opponent given the schedule they've played thus far?

[Da Coach]

The only people surprised would be people who never looked at what Jim was left with in Davis. It was a team that finished dead last in one of the weakest conferences in the country, despite not having any significant injuries or players out. He was left with possibly the least talented, least athletic group of players along with inheriting the worst recruiting class of any team in D1. And he was hired a month or more after nearly every other D1 coach last spring, and well after the signing period began so there were almost no available recruits to go after. So Jim knew he'd struggle this season. Jim has already recruited a couple kids for next year that are better and more athletic than any player in UCD history, so they'll get a lot better.

[tornado]

why are we bringing up JL in this thread?? Ya wanna bring up Sammy & Remy, too?

[Air Petey]

why are we bringing up JL in this thread?? Ya wanna bring up Sammy & Remy, too?

You funny!!! Don't lose that sense of humor.

[tornado]

..and I can show you several news articles and links to their fans' sentiment on their message boards...

and you will find it strangely positive, optimistic, upbeat, and a whole lot of positive sentimens -- which some might find amazing for a team that hasn't got a D-I win yet...
There's even fans who are ecstatic that despite losing, their team has hope and is competing hard --- Link
Compare that to some of the rage and anger by fans more locally where we have a new head coach....I dare say we have more "satisfied" Aggie fans than we appear to have satisfied Braves fans

http://www.theaggie.org/2011/05/09/column-les-is-more/

http://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/aggies/aggie-duo-hope-to-give-opponents-the-blues-and-golds/

[it's boogie time]

and you will find it strangely positive, optimistic, upbeat, and a whole lot of positive sentimens -- which some might find amazing for a team that hasn't got a D-I win yet...

You must be reading a different Aggie board than me. There are some brutal posts.

[Old Coach]

You must be reading a different Aggie board than me. There are some brutal posts.

Every team has at least two meaasge boards boogie. One with the "real fans" and one with the "haters". You must be reading the wrong one.

[lefty]

Every team has at least two meaasge boards boogie. One with the "real fans" and one with the "haters". You must be reading the wrong one.

You can also find posts that will support what you want it to as well.

I hope Jim does well there as time goes on but I'm not going to get to wrapped up whether the fans like him or not.

I waste enough time here