Sporting News Preseason Preview

[tornado]

our issue will have Illini's Tracy Abrams & Iowa's Devyn Marble

https://www.streetandsmiths.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=store.cover&year=2013&catid=4&thisOne=9

Their Top 10:

1- Kentucky
2- Michigan State
3- Louisville
4- Duke
5- Arizona
6- Kansas
7- Michigan
8- Syracuse
9-North Carolina
10- Oklahoma State


Cleanthony Early & Doug McDermott get their own COVERS!!

https://www.streetandsmiths.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=store.cover&year=2013&catid=4&thisOne=12

https://www.streetandsmiths.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=store.cover&year=2013&catid=4&thisOne=13

https://www.streetandsmiths.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=store.covers&catid=4&year=2013

[lightsout]

Got a copy today of the 2013-2014 Sports News College Basketball Preview... thought I would post their overview for the Valley.

Top 10 Players in The Valley

1.) Cleanthony Early - WSU
2.) Jeff Odum - ISU(B)
3.) Walt Lemon Jr. - BU
4.) Seth Tuttle - UNI
5.) Ron Baker - WSU
6.) Marcus Marshall - MSU
7.) Manny Arop - ISU(B)
8.) Desmar Jackson - SIU
9.) Fred VanVleet - WSU
10.) Christian Thomas - Loyola

Top 10 Newcomers

1.) Darius Carter - WSU
2.) Milton Doyle - Loyola
3.) Ron Mvouika - MSU
4.) Omari Grier - BU
5.) Emmanuel Addo - MSU
6.) MiKyle McIntosh - ISU(R)
7.) Bola Olaniyan - SIU
8.) Chris Caird - DU
9.) Wes Washpun - UNI
10.) Brenton Scott - ISU (B)

Predicted Order of Finish

1.) Wichita State
2.) Indiana State
3.) Northern Iowa
4.) Missouri State
5.) Evansville
6.) Illinois State
7.) Bradley
8.) Southern Illinois
9.) Drake
10.) Loyola

[Da Coach]

I mostly agree, except I don't think Bola Olaniyan will have much of an impact at SIU.

[tornado]

anyone else see McIntosh as redshirting at ISU?? These guys think he's going to be a major factor --

[tornado]

The Sporting News preseason issue is on the newsstands....


Here's how they see the Valley for 2013-14

1 Wichita State
2 Indiana State
3 UNI
4 Missouri State
5 Evansville
6 ISU
7 Bradley
8 SIU
9 Drake
10 Loyola

They rank the league's top ten players...
#1 is Cleanthony Early, #2 is Jake Odum, #3 is Walt Lemon, Jr..

Omari Grier is rated the #4 best Newcomer otherwise they seem to think very little of Bradley's chances of finishing in the upper half...

lmk if you have any other ?'s

[mvcfan]

anyone else see McIntosh as redshirting at ISU?? These guys think he's going to be a major factor --

McIntosh redshirting would be a huge shock. I look for either Lee or Wills to maybe redshirt.

[tornado]

just stumbled on this old thread from 2013...
had to laugh a bit at Sporting News' projections...

-that Manny Arop was better than Fred Van Vleet
-and that Omari Grier, Emmanuel Addo Chris Caird & Bola Olaniyan were better than Wes Washpun!

Got a copy today of the 2013-2014 Sports News College Basketball Preview...


Top 10 Players in The Valley
...6.) Marcus Marshall - MSU
7.) Manny Arop - ISU(B)
8.) Desmar Jackson - SIU
9.) Fred VanVleet - WSU

Top 10 Newcomers
... 4.) Omari Grier - BU
5.) Emmanuel Addo - MSU
6.) MiKyle McIntosh - ISU(R)
7.) Bola Olaniyan - SIU
8.) Chris Caird - DU
9.) Wes Washpun - UNI

btw - still no word yet on what SIU's Bola Olaniyan is going to do...
this is a very unusual time of year to leave and perhaps he even must finish summer courses to actually be able to transfer or be eligible-
so we might not know where he's headed, whether DI or DII or NAIA...until late this summer...
But I am sure there's schools who still have open scholarships and need a big man.
If you recall, Bola was a Nigerian who first enrolled at Mt. Zion Prep then played at Richmond, IN High School just like our Joel Okafor did.
He was ineligible his first year at SIU (2012-13) but can get that year back (partial qualifier) if he graduates - so he must be on track to get his degree this summer. If he's a graduate then he would be eligible right away this fall but he might not want to aim too high as he is somewhat of a unidimensional player whose strong suit is rebounding. He did get to play a little over 20 minutes per game at SIU but only because they don't have a single other big man who averaged over 3 ppg/1 rpg.