CollegeHoops.net Top 144 countdown -- 2008-09

[Stryker]

I think 5 teams in the top 100 is pretty respectable, even though we probably won't have a team in the top 50ish. Anyone know how many we had in the top 100 last year?

[isufan]

OR, it may just get better, he was shooting too close to the basket

So Indiana State is being picked to be 6th in the Valley, and that means the MVC
will have probably 5 teams in the top 100 (or so), with presumably Bradley being one of them.

BTW-- Marico Stinson, who shot nearly 40% on 3-pointers as a freshman, dropped to only 35% this past season, and was far less of a threat, and that might get worse as the line moves back a foot.

[MacabreMob]

I think 5 teams in the top 100 is pretty respectable, even though we probably won't have a team in the top 50ish. Anyone know how many we had in the top 100 last year?

6

Last year they had this:

in 8th place- and ranked #124 Indiana State
in 7th place- and ranked #109 ISU
in 6th place- and ranked #93 Missouri State
in 5th place- and ranked #76 UNI
in 4th place- and ranked #64 Wichita State
in 3rd place- and ranked #60 Creighton
in 2nd place- and ranked #44 Bradley
in 1st place- and ranked #24 SIU

[bugregshu]

I thought Bradley was ranked 44 last year. There was a lot of hype around the newcomers.

[MacabreMob]

I thought Bradley was ranked 44 last year. There was a lot of hype around the newcomers.

Yea - I fixed that. I had to search it. But now I am wondering what the heck was so wrong in their minds with ISU and Drake.

[Stryker]

Very very few people saw Drake coming up.

[tornado]

#108 Arkansas - 10th in the SEC

http://www.collegehoopsnet.com/new/200809-arkansas-basketball-preview-108-55100

Recap
108 Arkansas
109 Cincinnati
110 Indiana State
111 Georgia Tech
112 Montana
113 George Washington
114 Hartford
115 Cal State - Northridge
116 Appalachian State
117 Wisconsin-Green Bay
118 North Dakota State
119 Marshall
120 Rider
121 LaSalle
122 Central Michigan
123 Western Kentucky
124 Utah State
125 Georgia
126 Morgan State
127 Cal
128 Northwestern
129 Ohio
130 Virginia
131 Central Florida
132 Rutgers
133 Lamar
134 Wichita State
135 Mt. St. Mary's
136 Oakland
137 Houston
138 UCSB
139 Winthrop
140 Fairfield
141 Charleston
142 St. John's
143 Alabama A&M
144 Colorado

[Da Coach]

Some real bad news for Arkansas

I doubt CollegeHoops.net knew this when they ranked Arkansas #108.--
But their top returning scorer and rebounder Patrick Beverley, who Bradley Coach Jim Les also recruited, will not play at all in 2008-2009. He is reported by Arkansas to be academically ineligible. It is quite unusual to suspend a kid for the entire year before the school year even begins, so Beverley must have some serious deficiencies that he failed to improve over the summer. I would expect to see him drop out and try to get a pro gig in Europe this fall.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=3526421

[tornado]

So-- Bruce Weber was right about Beverley...

There is an undercurrent of discussion on numerous message boards that something very, very wrong is going on at Arkansas...
It ties together with Dana Altman being announced a year ago as new head coach at Arkansas, then within hours
he bolts and begs for his old job back at Creighton. Even then, rumors of serious academic and behavior issues were swirling,
and those rumors have even more legs now. Why, even before school starts, would a kid be announced as ineligible for the ENTIRE YEAR? Wouldn't the kid at least a thread of a chance to get into the classroom, improve grades and still be eligible by midterm?

[isufan]

I find it hard to believe Murray is ahead of Indiana State, ISU went down there and won last season in a bracketbuster game, one of the 2 or 3 road wins ISU had all season. Murray comes back to ISU the night before Thanksgiving this season.

#107 Murray State - the best in the Ohio Valley

http://www.collegehoopsnet.com/new/200809-murray-state-basketball-preview-107-57095

What I find odd here, is that Creighton's Isacc Miles supposedly was one of their better incoming players having transferred there after leaving Creighton.
But this article about Murray State never even mentions Miles, not even as a deep sub!
Do they know something? Is he gone, ineligible?
He is still listed on their roster...but the most recent mention of him on their message board was back on July 1st!

http://www.goracers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=32205&SPID=2583&DB_OEM_ID=6700&ATCLID=1139050&Q_SEASON=2008

One other thing...I went to the Murray State message board, and it is a subscription only board!
You cannot even view the board without applying and being approaved, but I am already signed up so....
(one detriment to having a subscription-only board is how little traffic it gets!
There's NOBODY online, and the most they have ever had online at once is 32, and that's with a fairly active football board, too!
And their most recent 20 threads on the basketball board have taken 2 months to produce!)


The top discussion on their board is how insulting they think "collegehoopsnet" is!!
The collegehoopsnet.com site that just ranked them #107, also has Murray State classified as a "Low-Major"!
This, they believe is insulting....but at least one of the guys (a Racer fan with 3000 posts) responding sort of agrees...
Here is his response...

"Well, yeah. Hadn't you noticed? In such a weak conference,
it would seem probable that the Racers will finish with 25 or more wins this season.
It would be nice if some of those wins are against D1 OOC foes."
(their SOS was 284 last year and hasn't been better than #193 in over f years)


One last comment....the folks at Murray State lay claim to being inventors of the "high five".
Note this entry on Wikipedia

"High Five"
"College basketball player Lamont Sleets is credited with naming and popularizing the gesture during his playing time at Murray State University.[1]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_five

http://www.nationalhighfiveday.com/f...the-high-five/

[Gwright]

With Tulsa coming in at 105, you would have to imagine that BU is coming up rather soon, at least in theory anyway. I figure with the loss of Ruffin and Crouch, the national pundits would have us falling way off...

[Bradleyguy10]

maybe we're not in it at all....


Seriously though...that's really surprising that they don't have Tulsa higher than us considering they beat us and we DID lose our top 2 scorers, and Tulsa has some major contributors coming back. But I guess that's what happens when they are predicted at 5th place in that conference.

[Braves4Life]

Six to go

[MacabreMob]

Six to go

Nope - 4 more then Bradley at 101.

[mportsch]

I agree that Tulsa isn't picked high enough - I think they have a chance to finish 2nd in CUSA and get into the NCAA Tournament. They return their three best players in Uzoh, Jordan, and Reese. Glenn Andrews showed a serious scorer's mentality and still put up a decent efficiency (considering the ridiculous number of shots he took). The big question to me is who will provide the depth. If they can just get decent minutes out of 2-3 other guys, they should be a very solid team.