2012-2013 Top 144 Countdown

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This countdown used to be done by College Hoops Net..but it's now done by a site called..
College Sports Madness...same guy just a different site...

And it's already started ...so here are the first few teams revealed....

144 - St. John's
143 - Texas Southern (oh come on - these guys would finish 10th in the Valley plus their coach just quit)
142 - Denver
141 - LSU
140 - Indiana State - 7th in the Missouri Valley....LINK
139 - Savannah State
138 - Manhattan
137 - George Washington
136 - Princeton
135 - Charleston Southern
134 - Cal State Fullerton
133 - Sam Houston State - Coach Alvin Brooks III no longer there
132 - Boston University
131 - Penn State
130 - Cleveland State
129 - Jacksonville State - really?
128 - New Mexico State - mention of ex-BU recruit Matej Buovac - LINK
127 - Weber State
126 - South Dakota State
125 - Oral Roberts - now in the Southland Conference

...so there's six more Valley teams in the Top 124...my guess is CU, WSU, ISU, UNI, UE, and MSU in spots 1-6, with BU, Drake, and SIU bringing up the 8-10 spots

http://www.collegesportsmadness.com/mens-basketball

[BUFanatic]

...so there's six more Valley teams in the Top 124...my guess is CU, WSU, ISU, UNI, UE, and MSU in spots 1-6, with BU, Drake, and SIU bringing up the 8-10 spots
http://www.collegesportsmadness.com/mens-basketball

That's a wee bit optimistic even for you innit T? hahaha

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I wasn't trying to lock in any team in any position just guessing which ones are going to be ahead of Indiana State and the ones behind

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#124 Tulsa - Danny Manning's first year but a couple of the top players left & transferred...
#123 Mercer - Top A-Sun team

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#122 Washington State
#121 Long Beach State - they were good in 2011-2012 but lose 4 starters - I still think they'll be better than #121
#120 Hofstra - 10-22 last year and only 3-15 in the Colonial -
#119 Air Force - 3-11 in MWC and eight new faces - so I don't think they'll be this good
#118 San Diego - 13-18 last year but they lose their PG Darian Norris

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#117 North Texas
#116 Georgia
#115 Stephen F. Austin

[TheGuy]

getting pretty close to the top 100. The valley should bode very well if we end up having 6 teams in the top 100. Lots of quality wins in conference.

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114 Niagara
113 Charleston
112 St. Bonaventure - the predicted 10th place team in the A-10!!
111 George Mason
110 Villanova - 13th best Big East team!!
109 Drake - they think Drake will be better without Rayvonte Rice. Maybe - they could become a better team ...
(Drake's RPI was 133 last season)

... some of the quotes ....
-"Four starters are returning" - sure, but the other SIX of the top ten players are all gone

-"Rice was never much of a shooter" - I somewhat agree as far as long range accuracy, but only 2 players in the league attempted or made more FG than Rice

-"Drake may not find a guard to immediately replace all of his production" - duh....ya think?

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#108 Green Bay
#107 Loyola Marymount
#106 Toledo (#3 in MAC)
#105 Tennessee State (#3 in OVC) - several players that are familiar - Robert Covington who played well here in Peoria back when he was still a HS senior at Proviso, but still got no offers except Tennessee State - where he's averaged nearly a double double since his freshman year. DeShawn Dockery - cousin of Duke's Shawn Dockery - who was originally from Lansing, IL but went to Hillcrest, HS then bounced around many places (prep, juco, Fairleigh Dickinson) since. Bawa Muniru just left having finished his career doing absolutely nothing, and ISU's Kellen Thornton is now a senior and actually pretty good.
#104 Auburn

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#103 Boise State
#102 UTEP
#101 LIU-Brooklyn
#100 Clemson
#99 Seton Hall

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Yet another countdown - Yardbarker

#111 Nebraska
#110 Utah
#109 Mississippi State
#108 TCU
#107 Wake Forest
#106 Texas Tech

http://network.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/article_external/105_texas_tech_red_raiders_college_basketball_111_in_111/11380324

also continuing the College Sports Madness..
#99 Robert Morris

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Yet another ranking of the Top 53 - only one MVC team...

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/andy_glockner/08/06/Twitter-college-basketball-roundup/index.html?xid=si_ncaab

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another Valley team in the Top 144 Countdown...

#98 Robert Morris
#97 Valparaiso (several transfers, Bobby Capobianco from Indiana, Lavonte Dority from USF, Alex Rossi from Cal, and more..)
#96 Evansville - http://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/4566
But - they make a bad error in counting Marty's son Blake Simmons on Evansville's roster this fall, as the kid is still just a high school senior and won't play for Marty until 2013...and one of their projected starters Jordan Jahr may be out for a while with his injury
#95 Delaware

[LittleBrave]

another Valley team in the Top 144 Countdown...

#96 Evansville - http://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/4566
#95 Delaware

I feel like UE's RPI will hover around 100 this season. The lack of a big man other than Sawvell (not sure of this spelling) will be their downfall, though some of their bigger guards play bigger as far as rebounding.
I project them finishing 5th in the Valley, and Colt will be runner-up POY in the league, completing a fine college career for the Aces.

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...
#95 Delaware...

#94 Montana
#93 University of Illinois - http://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/4584

"Coach Groce??™s ability to develop players may turn Illinois into a true team that
can play together and win some games, but that will likely take a couple more
years to come to fruition."