(03-20-2018 02:35 PM)NTTHOR Wrote:  

(03-20-2018 02:32 PM)THUNDERGround Wrote:  

(03-20-2018 02:18 PM)NTTHOR Wrote:  

(03-20-2018 01:24 PM)THUNDERGround Wrote:  

(03-19-2018 10:10 PM)NTTHOR Wrote:  hahahha....the teams at the top....

Hahaha if you think UNT will be one.

i don't at all....so hahahaha

Ok, so what was the point of your post? You don't think WKU, ODU, Marshall, MT will finish at the top next year?

nope

Lol! Ok.

Marshall should be the OVERWHELMING favorite based on returnees.

ODU should be up there.

Middle, well that depends on who they hire.

UAB, loved Bryant as a freshman but the young coach did less with more than any coach in the conference imho.

Western? Who the hell knows. I have no clue who will be back and who will actually make it here. But I'm not gonna second guess a guy that had 1 single player coming back...not 1 starter....1 player and got a first day bye in the tourney and was a nice floater and a nice putback from going to the NCAA tourney. He also has picked up P5 scalps from the Big10, the ACC, and now the Pac12. Has a shot at the Big12 but that one might be the toughest one of the bunch. At Stillwater is no joke.

UTSA has some really nice young horses. Definitely a team on the way up.

UNT has Creflo Dollar coaching and his teams nosedived 2 years in a row at 2 different schools. They've rebounded in the postseason tourney. Plus anyone that goes out and snatch up a player like Smart does know talent.

USM did an awful lot with not a lot. They've show they can hurt people. Can they do it for a season?

I can't see any way possible the top is as strong as it was this year. It was borderline historical in Pomeroy. But I could see our bottom not being so bottom next year depending on hires in UTEP and Charlotte.

This is the CUSA we switched conferences for.

(03-20-2018 06:37 PM)dahbeed Wrote:  Marshall should be the OVERWHELMING favorite based on returnees.

ODU should be up there.

Middle, well that depends on who they hire.

UAB, loved Bryant as a freshman but the young coach did less with more than any coach in the conference imho.

Western? Who the hell knows. I have no clue who will be back and who will actually make it here. But I'm not gonna second guess a guy that had 1 single player coming back...not 1 starter....1 player and got a first day bye in the tourney and was a nice floater and a nice putback from going to the NCAA tourney. He also has picked up P5 scalps from the Big10, the ACC, and now the Pac12. Has a shot at the Big12 but that one might be the toughest one of the bunch. At Stillwater is no joke.

UTSA has some really nice young horses. Definitely a team on the way up.

UNT has Creflo Dollar coaching and his teams nosedived 2 years in a row at 2 different schools. They've rebounded in the postseason tourney. Plus anyone that goes out and snatch up a player like Smart does know talent.

USM did an awful lot with not a lot. They've show they can hurt people. Can they do it for a season?

I can't see any way possible the top is as strong as it was this year. It was borderline historical in Pomeroy. But I could see our bottom not being so bottom next year depending on hires in UTEP and Charlotte.

This is the CUSA we switched conferences for.

Good analysis mang.. WKU will be there.. Belie dat!

(03-20-2018 06:37 PM)dahbeed Wrote:  Marshall should be the OVERWHELMING favorite based on returnees.

I'll believe that when I see it. The coaches and the media have never been able to predict the Herd or its players. Year before last when we finished 3rd the coaches in preseason had us at 11.

Unless injuries pile up on someone I think we see the same top 4 next year as we seen this year. In what order I don't know.

As of right now the only 2 we lose is both seniors Ot Elmore an Milan Mijvoic. I know Koljanin isn't coming back he as already informed Dan of his decision to leave, he only played in 22 games for 223 mins and scored 50 points on the season. There are also 2 other scholarship players on the roster that aren't big contributors one a that would be a RS JR and JR next year that will be graduating this spring. I look for Dan to encourage both to transfer. So come this time next month we could have up to 3 scholarships open.

(03-20-2018 06:37 PM)dahbeed Wrote:  Marshall should be the OVERWHELMING favorite based on returnees.

ODU should be up there.

Middle, well that depends on who they hire.

UAB, loved Bryant as a freshman but the young coach did less with more than any coach in the conference imho.

Western? Who the hell knows. I have no clue who will be back and who will actually make it here. But I'm not gonna second guess a guy that had 1 single player coming back...not 1 starter....1 player and got a first day bye in the tourney and was a nice floater and a nice putback from going to the NCAA tourney. He also has picked up P5 scalps from the Big10, the ACC, and now the Pac12. Has a shot at the Big12 but that one might be the toughest one of the bunch. At Stillwater is no joke.

UTSA has some really nice young horses. Definitely a team on the way up.

UNT has Creflo Dollar coaching and his teams nosedived 2 years in a row at 2 different schools. They've rebounded in the postseason tourney. Plus anyone that goes out and snatch up a player like Smart does know talent.

USM did an awful lot with not a lot. They've show they can hurt people. Can they do it for a season?

I can't see any way possible the top is as strong as it was this year. It was borderline historical in Pomeroy. But I could see our bottom not being so bottom next year depending on hires in UTEP and Charlotte.

This is the CUSA we switched conferences for.

Yes, really good analysis. I remember you coming on board the GMG forum many years ago when WKU and UNT were battling against each other at the top for about 5 seasons. You were a pleasure to have around.

I don't expect UNT to challenge at the top next year. But, I do expect them to continue to improve as long as McCasland stays around. The man can coach and there is a world of difference between he and Benford when it comes to coaching (Benford was not a bad recruiter).

McCasland turned around ASU in 1 season as we all know (11-20 to 20-12). Then, he came to NT and they improved from 8-22 to now 17-17. The impressive part is that McCasland basically turned the roster completely over. And, they had to deal with injuries and players like Tikhonenko who was forced by the NCAA to redshirt.

NT is going to be tough in the next couple of years, especially when McCasland has a chance to bring in more players. I think they are going to be fielding some really good teams. But, it looks like CUSA overall is going to be good and competitive. So, the the record may not show the improvement that we see.

Anyway, all I know is that this league is getting too little respect.

I am interested to know what the teams on the bottom are doing - it seems like every program is at least trying, whether it's bringing in a new coach or steadily improving. I think what will really make this conference go from #15 to #10 is if the bottom teams continue to rise (the season before we were #21?)

FWIW. Here are the CUSA power rankings over the last 8 seasons. The first 4 were prior to the new alignment. CUSA as a whole made big strides in 2017-2018 (going from 23rd the year before to 14th this year).

2009-2010 11
2010-2011 8
2011-2012 10
2012-2013 11
-------------
2014-2015 16
2015-2016 21
2016-2017 23
2017-2018 14

(03-21-2018 01:04 PM)ClaudeFunston Wrote:  FWIW. Here are the CUSA power rankings over the last 8 seasons. The first 4 were prior to the new alignment. CUSA as a whole made big strides in 2017-2018 (going from 23rd the year before to 14th this year).

2009-2010 11
2010-2011 8
2011-2012 10
2012-2013 11
-------------
2014-2015 16
2015-2016 21
2016-2017 23
2017-2018 14

Are these kenpom numbers? Just wondering where the rankings came from. Thanks!

(03-21-2018 01:09 PM)odu09 Wrote:  

(03-21-2018 01:04 PM)ClaudeFunston Wrote:  FWIW. Here are the CUSA power rankings over the last 8 seasons. The first 4 were prior to the new alignment. CUSA as a whole made big strides in 2017-2018 (going from 23rd the year before to 14th this year).

2009-2010 11
2010-2011 8
2011-2012 10
2012-2013 11
-------------
2014-2015 16
2015-2016 21
2016-2017 23
2017-2018 14

Are these kenpom numbers? Just wondering where the rankings came from. Thanks!

Team Rankings
https://www.teamrankings.com/ncaa-basket...ng-by-conf

(03-21-2018 01:09 PM)odu09 Wrote:  

(03-21-2018 01:04 PM)ClaudeFunston Wrote:  FWIW. Here are the CUSA power rankings over the last 8 seasons. The first 4 were prior to the new alignment. CUSA as a whole made big strides in 2017-2018 (going from 23rd the year before to 14th this year).

2009-2010 11
2010-2011 8
2011-2012 10
2012-2013 11
-------------
2014-2015 16
2015-2016 21
2016-2017 23
2017-2018 14

Are these kenpom numbers? Just wondering where the rankings came from. Thanks!

I subscribe to Pomeroy and this year was the best we’ve had in many years. I tried to find a year where we had 3 teams up like our top 3 this year and quit looking. There were many years where Memphis was way up there and maybe another good team but I didn’t find any where 3 did so well.

As a matter of fact if you go by Pomeroy our top 5 were better than the top 5 in the MVC which gets most of the love in the non power conferences.

Right now in Pomeroy our top 5:

45 Middle
50 Western
63 ODU
106 Marshall
108 UAB

Missouri Valley top 5:

36 Loyola Chicago
121 Mo. State
123 No. Iowa
125 Bradley
134 Evansville

Of course they only have 10 teams and their worst was in the 150’s so the total conference was much higher than us. With 14 teams it’ll be difficult to replicate them but we could pass a couple others. We were solid as hell this year.

Edit: those numbers were actually from a couple days ago. There could be a little difference today but I haven’t checked.

(03-21-2018 02:51 PM)dahbeed Wrote:  

(03-21-2018 01:09 PM)odu09 Wrote:  

(03-21-2018 01:04 PM)ClaudeFunston Wrote:  FWIW. Here are the CUSA power rankings over the last 8 seasons. The first 4 were prior to the new alignment. CUSA as a whole made big strides in 2017-2018 (going from 23rd the year before to 14th this year).

2009-2010 11
2010-2011 8
2011-2012 10
2012-2013 11
-------------
2014-2015 16
2015-2016 21
2016-2017 23
2017-2018 14

Are these kenpom numbers? Just wondering where the rankings came from. Thanks!

I subscribe to Pomeroy and this year was the best we’ve had in many years. I tried to find a year where we had 3 teams up like our top 3 this year and quit looking. There were many years where Memphis was way up there and maybe another good team but I didn’t find any where 3 did so well.

As a matter of fact if you go by Pomeroy our top 5 were better than the top 5 in the MVC which gets most of the love in the non power conferences.

Right now in Pomeroy our top 5:

45 Middle
50 Western
63 ODU
106 Marshall
108 UAB

Missouri Valley top 5:

36 Loyola Chicago
121 Mo. State
123 No. Iowa
125 Bradley
134 Evansville

Of course they only have 10 teams and their worst was in the 150’s so the total conference was much higher than us. With 14 teams it’ll be difficult to replicate them but we could pass a couple others. We were solid as hell this year.

Edit: those numbers were actually from a couple days ago. There could be a little difference today but I haven’t checked.

Yep, raising our profile as a conference isn't just about having good teams at the Top that can win the in the post-season. It is about getting the bottom teams out of the 300's and maybe even out of the 200's. It is hard to do because of just how difficult it is to get anyone decent to play you at home. You end up playing @ the big boys and losing, and then @ whichever little guys you have home and home deals with and dropping a few. Then you beat the Sister's of the Poor at home and end up with a terrible rating. The thing is you aren't bad, just had a bad schedule, so you still spoil the party for the top teams in the conference when they have to play at your place.

Who knows with UAB. Cokely and Lee will be hard to replace and I'm not sold on Ehsan as a coach. But he recruits well so I like our incoming pieces even though we'll be a lot younger. Norton and Bryant are solid guys to build around. I expect us to play opposite of this year in that we'll be more guard dominant unless we get a solid grad transfer to play the post.

This conference is way to good to only be getting 1 bid per year. We should be 2 every single year with the occasional 3+ imo.

Some will say I'm crazy but I think that should be our goal. No reason not to have gotten 2 bids this year. If bottom teams were better then WKU/MTSU might have gotten at large bids while Marshall stole the auto bid.

(03-21-2018 09:39 PM)herdfan129 Wrote:  This conference is way to good to only be getting 1 bid per year. We should be 2 every single year with the occasional 3+ imo.

Some will say I'm crazy but I think that should be our goal. No reason not to have gotten 2 bids this year. If bottom teams were better then WKU/MTSU might have gotten at large bids while Marshall stole the auto bid.

or it the muts won a game, cusa would have been a 2 bid league...it's on them this year

Not just that. They lost two games the last 10 days of the season. That's on Kermit the frog.

Just two?!?!...That ought to have given them at least a six seed in the Tournament...(Oklahoma)

(03-21-2018 09:39 PM)herdfan129 Wrote:  This conference is way to good to only be getting 1 bid per year. We should be 2 every single year with the occasional 3+ imo.

Some will say I'm crazy but I think that should be our goal. No reason not to have gotten 2 bids this year. If bottom teams were better then WKU/MTSU might have gotten at large bids while Marshall stole the auto bid.

Add in ODU who finished 2nd in the conference, won a conference tournament game, and didn't get an NCAA or NIT bid with a 25-7 record.

Some of you haven't been paying attention. We weren't getting in even we lost on a buzzer beater to wkcc in the tournament title game. We were a freaking 3 seed in the NIT. We weren't even in the first eight teams out of the NCAA Tournament. I'm telling you again because it seems to not be sinking in the NCAA basically came right out and said no more schools like this in the tournament. March 11, 2018 was a watershed moment. In five years (maybe less) there won't be a single mid major get an at large.

I was in a van with 3 or 4 ACC guys Tue and they were all UVA grads or other such fans. They were talking about the tournament. I expressed my frustration with the system. I said look, 9 teams in the ACC and how many bounced in 1st round? They were all very familiar with Stith and Jones since they went to UVA while he was there. So I told them about the radio interview he had last week and how Florida St was looking for a game and we had Fordham drop and a agency called and said they had a neutral site game with FSt that would be perfect. Called back a day or 2 later and said "they won't play you." I told them how does the NCAA expect us to build a resume when all the P5 teams won't play us, then you get confused when we get angry at tournament time? They all agreed but brought in the old "it's lose lose for us" saying.

Hell, we won 30 games last year with a top 20 non-conference schedule and were still seeded in the high 40s.

It simply does not matter anymore. We virtually have no chance unless some of us get invited to more "preferred" conferences.