Early Preseason 2013-14 Countdown

[tornado]

As always the preseason has these Top - 40 or whatever countdown....

Here's a guy (SportsBank) counting down the Top 111....
His own description of what he does is to include EVERY "power conference team" then add the best 36 mid-majors - as if all the power conference teams automatically belong ahead of most of the mid-majors.

BUT - in the first week of going from 111 down to #104 - he already has me laughing with and DePaul..

TCU & Texas Tech have also had lots of turmoil and should struggle this year...
He wasn't real accurate last year - he had DePaul at #100 - then they proceeded to finish 2-16 in the Big Ten and had an RPI worse than over 200 other teams..

#111 Auburn
#110 Utah
#109 Georgia
#108 Virginia Tech
#107 TCU
#106 Texas Tech
#105 South carolina
#104 DePaul
#103 Mississippi State
#102...

http://www.thesportsbank.net/category/college-bball

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future Bradley opponent South Florida is #102

http://www.thesportsbank.net/college-bball/102-south-florida-bulls-basketball-393/

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SportsBank - #101 West Virginia

But a couple other sites...........

College Sports Madness Top 144 Countdown

http://www.collegesportsmadness.com/mens-basketball/top-144-previews?page=3

Here are some of CollegeSportsMadness' picks...they will have ONLY FOUR MVC teams in the Top 144!! Wow, they are judging the Valley to be way down this year!
#126 Northwestern
#117 Evansville - #4 in the MVC - http://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/6936
#115 Kent State
#100 Western Michigan
#98 Washington - this is currently as far as they have counted down



HoopsReport Top 68 Countdown starts Sept. 1

http://www.thehoopsreport.com/

[tornado]

CHM now down to #86 (Minnesota) but no further MVC teams or future opponents


The Sports Bank now has counted down to #87 and likewise no more MVC

http://www.thesportsbank.net/category/college-bball/

[tornado]

these countdowns do give some chuckles -

count me as a skeptic but ...

I would not have picked Texas Southern as the 61st best team in the nation..

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/swac/2013/08/17/college-basketball-countdown-no-61-texas-southern/2664379/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+UsatodaycomCollegeMensBasketball-TopStories+%28Sports+-+College+Men%27s+Basketball+-+Top+Stories%29

Nor Wake Forest at #89

http://www.thesportsbank.net/college-bball/89-wake-forest-demon-deacons-basketball-831/#more-147366

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#117 Evansville - #4 in the MVC - http://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/6936...

CollegeSportsMadness now rates Northern Iowa at #79 and 3rd in the MVC

http://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/7216

almost certainly they will have Indiana State 2nd & Wichita 1st in the Valley so these guys don't think Bradley will be in the Valley's top four nor the nation's top 144

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CollegeSportsMadness has Xavier (with ex-BU recruits Matt Stainbrook & Remy Abell) at #76 - and 8th in the BIG EAST!!!

http://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/7231

SportsBank is down to #79 Richmond - but they have Manhattan - who were one of only 3 teams to lose in the Bahamas - at #80 - LINK

USA Today has Manhattan at #59, and FGCU at #56!

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/atlanticsun/2013/08/23/college-basketball-countdown-no-56-florida-gulf-coast/2690795/

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Indiana State shows up at #76 in The Sports Bank rankings - tabbed as the only team "that should push the Shockers."
So they think only one MVC team is among the best 75 teams in D-I!

http://www.thesportsbank.net/college-bball/75-northwestern-wildcats-college-basketball-345/

USA Today ranks Long Beach #54...the top team in the Big West Conference -
but a lot of people out west are puzzled --
even with a good team each of the last few years - they ended the season 19-14 - didn't win their conference tourney, missed the NCAA,
..losing in the very first round of the NIT, and ending with an RPI of 139 - no place close to being one of the best 50-60 teams..and they haven't won an NCAA game since 1973!


In the meantime - they have lost just about everything...including top scorer James Ennis to graduation and
they return only one senior who accumulated much of anything at LBSU last year -
they're loaded with new names, but dismissed many of their top players (Tony Freeland, Keala King, Deng Deng, Kyle Richardson - LINK) - plus their top incoming recruit, highly rated Travis Hammonds was not admitted - even tho no mention yet of this on their web site.


BTW -- UC-Davis is named as one of the TOP CHALLENGERS to LBSU in the big West!

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2013/08/27/college-basketball-countdown-no-54-long-beach-state/2705003/

... a lot of optimism for Northwestern - rated #75 by CSM
"Nathan Taphorn could see immediate minutes due to his ability to stroke it from deep"

http://www.thesportsbank.net/category/college-bball

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quite a few of the early preseason articles are picking St. John's very high.
These guys have St. John's inside their Top 40... LINK
These guys go way further and predict St. John's will make a deep run in the NCAA Tourney - LINK

but those same people have said that just about every year since Lavin took over - and tho St. John's has shown flashes of success - and landed tons of high profile and extremely talented players - they have been largely a team of ups & downs & underperformers, multiple ineligible players, many dismissals, massive on-court brawls, suspensions, academic benchings, and turmoil.

Currently St. John's is in Europe and are 3-1 against 2nd & 3rd tier teams in France & Spain..
the mere presence of DePaul & Providence will give them a good chance of finishing well out of the bottom of the new Big East

[tornado]

#71 on CSM is ILLINOIS -- picked 8th in Big Ten and slotted for the NIT

http://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/7268

as always these guys have no clue to anything midmajor as made clear in this stupid statement about Rayvonte Rice who transferred from Drake in Des Moines...

"Expect the offense to run through Rice, which should come natural to
him since he was Drake's focal point in his two years in Ames."

[AZ BU Fan]

Good to see Coach Les build a team in a League he can be more successful in! Could be the season he breaks through his coaching glass ceiling!

UC-D may beat BU to the NCAA Big Dance, unless BCS boys bail out of NCAA and it becomes the 'Little Dance' for everyone else.

[tornado]

HoopsReport Top 68 Countdown starts Sept. 1
http://www.thehoopsreport.com/

HoopsReport countdown has started

http://www.thehoopsreport.com/

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CSM soccer bracketology has Bradley in the NCAA Tourney

http://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/7281

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USA Today has New Mexico State at #50 but doesn't mention Jonathan Wilkins at all - after reports that Wilkins was going to reclassify as a 2013 and enter NMSU to be avaiable this year.
It also talks about their depth in the frontcourt and the likelihood of redshirting at least one of their big men - so NMSU might not be where Wilkins could get much playing time.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/wac/2013/09/02/college-basketball-countdown-no-50-new-mexico-state/2754805/

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the Sports Bank has Long Beach State at #73 but more interestingly - is their different scheduling philosophy
LBSU's head coach Dan Monson doesn't shy away from tough opponents and buy games against big names....like MOST midmajor coaches do...
He simply doesn't mind going on the road to play good teams even if he gets no return game (playing guarantee games)

Look at this schedule - and yet it sure has worked for his team - as they have won their conference year in and year out...

http://www.longbeachstate.com/sports/m-baskbl/sched/lbst-m-baskbl-sched.html

They play AT Mizzou, NC State, Washington, Kansas State, Nevada, and Arizona..
they also play Michigan, VCU/Florida State, then possibly Georgetown/K-State (tourney), and also get Creighton, Loyola Marymount, & USC!!

They could actually be a good team and find themselves 3-11 or 4-10 after their non-conference portion...
Last year against a somewhat similar lineup of opponents they went - 4-7 & the year before, 7-6 (then went 15-1 in their conference).