hoops can't get here soon enough...

(10-15-2023 09:04 PM)sdcritter Wrote:  

(10-15-2023 08:20 PM)Hart Foundation Wrote:  

(10-15-2023 06:00 PM)sdcritter Wrote:  

(10-15-2023 05:58 PM)purplesanman Wrote:  After finishing with 5 teams in the top 100 last year, zero are predicted this year and only four in the top 150?

That seems a little off.

Welcome to the G5 my friend. You have to earn it every year.

What is G5 in terms of hoops?
All you need to do is pay a strong coach the market rate and you can compete at the top level of NCAA basketball.

If you believe that you probably believe you should easily be ranked in the top 25 as an undefeated team in football. You used to be a third class citizen. Now you're only second class. Embrace the suck.

I made a post recently about the lack of respect for the oldest teams in this conference and what they've put into this fight. After about 10 years of this you'll start to get the picture.

I guess it is tough being an Arkansas State fan and maybe you have given up. For inspiration in hoops, just look at what Florida Atlantic and San Diego State did last year. It is not an exclusive club in basketball at all.

Right now, I see zero impact coaches in the Sun Belt and that is the problem. The coach = the program. But across the Sun Belt coaches are being paid peanuts so you get guys that are not as accomplished.
Each roster in the nation only holds 13 scholarship players. There are so many fish in the sea that a good coach can instantly produce a strong team at any program. It has been proven many many times.

(10-16-2023 07:16 AM)Hart Foundation Wrote:  

(10-15-2023 09:04 PM)sdcritter Wrote:  

(10-15-2023 08:20 PM)Hart Foundation Wrote:  

(10-15-2023 06:00 PM)sdcritter Wrote:  

(10-15-2023 05:58 PM)purplesanman Wrote:  After finishing with 5 teams in the top 100 last year, zero are predicted this year and only four in the top 150?

That seems a little off.

Welcome to the G5 my friend. You have to earn it every year.

What is G5 in terms of hoops?
All you need to do is pay a strong coach the market rate and you can compete at the top level of NCAA basketball.

If you believe that you probably believe you should easily be ranked in the top 25 as an undefeated team in football. You used to be a third class citizen. Now you're only second class. Embrace the suck.

I made a post recently about the lack of respect for the oldest teams in this conference and what they've put into this fight. After about 10 years of this you'll start to get the picture.

I guess it is tough being an Arkansas State fan and maybe you have given up. For inspiration in hoops, just look at what Florida Atlantic and San Diego State did last year. It is not an exclusive club in basketball at all.

Right now, I see zero impact coaches in the Sun Belt and that is the problem. The coach = the program. But across the Sun Belt coaches are being paid peanuts so you get guys that are not as accomplished.
Each roster in the nation only holds 13 scholarship players. There are so many fish in the sea that a good coach can instantly produce a strong team at any program. It has been proven many many times.

Hart, I don't believe FAU started last year in the top 100. They finished 19-15 overall and 11-7 in 2021-2022. San Diego State is another story, they've been consistently good.

If you think about it overall, it takes multiple really good years for a program at this level to stay in the national spotlight. FAU was a virtual unknown nationally entering last season.

(10-15-2023 05:47 PM)Dukes94 Wrote:  We gotta elevate men’s hoops. Multiple bids is a must. Right now we’re a middling hoops conference.

The problem with elevating men's hoops is that getting to that mythical mutli-bid status is almost impossible. You can become a very good hoops league that gets a better seed for your champ and advances farther in the dance and other post season tournaments, but getting a 2nd bid is crazy hard.

What you will likely accomplish is having a bunch of worthy teams left sitting at home in March after beating each other up in conference play each year.

If the NCAA significantly expands the tourney then multi-bids would be a more realistic goal.

(10-16-2023 09:39 AM)freshtop Wrote:  

(10-15-2023 05:47 PM)Dukes94 Wrote:  We gotta elevate men’s hoops. Multiple bids is a must. Right now we’re a middling hoops conference.

The problem with elevating men's hoops is that getting to that mythical mutli-bid status is almost impossible. You can become a very good hoops league that gets a better seed for your champ and advances farther in the dance and other post season tournaments, but getting a 2nd bid is crazy hard.

What you will likely accomplish is having a bunch of worthy teams left sitting at home in March after beating each other up in conference play each year.

If the NCAA significantly expands the tourney then multi-bids would be a more realistic goal.

This. Let’s worry about elevating everyone to consistently get our champ on the 11/12 line and occasionally on the 9/10 line before we worry about getting a second team.

(10-15-2023 07:23 PM)GSUALUM17 Wrote:  Year 2 of the rebuild, but I think we'll be better than 201.

It was so ridiculous last season, opponents didnt even guard the perimeter against us, but sold out just to shut down Dwon Odom. We went shopping for multiple elite shooters just for this.

I just hope the trend of 4 titles in 8 years can keep on going. It would be a horrible shame if we don’t get back to the top of the conference after all CRH/CRL accomplished and the new arena that we finally have.

Preseason KenPom rankings last year:
127 JMU
140 Marshall
145 Louisiana
165 Old Dominion
176 Coastal Carolina
178 Texas State
197 App State
199 Troy
220 Georgia Southern
222 South Alabama
234 Georgia State
252 ULM
273 Arkansas State
324 Southern Miss

Final KenPom last year:
83 Marshall (+57)
88 Louisiana (+57)
93 South Alabama (+129)
98 James Madison (+29)
99 Southern Miss (+225)
128 Troy (+71)
177 Old Dominion (-12)
181 App State (+16)
190 Texas State (-12)
209 Georgia Southern (+11)
281 Georgia State (-47)
282 ULM (-30)
287 Arkansas State (-14)
296 Coastal Carolina (-120)

Average team ranked 25 positions higher

(10-15-2023 06:29 PM)T-Dog Wrote:  JMU fans everytime when App is ranked high: This conference sucks.

This makes me laugh! Thanks T-Dog!! As others pointed out I don’t think that was the intention, but it is still funny.

(10-16-2023 09:39 AM)freshtop Wrote:  

(10-15-2023 05:47 PM)Dukes94 Wrote:  We gotta elevate men’s hoops. Multiple bids is a must. Right now we’re a middling hoops conference.

The problem with elevating men's hoops is that getting to that mythical mutli-bid status is almost impossible. You can become a very good hoops league that gets a better seed for your champ and advances farther in the dance and other post season tournaments, but getting a 2nd bid is crazy hard.

What you will likely accomplish is having a bunch of worthy teams left sitting at home in March after beating each other up in conference play each year.

If the NCAA significantly expands the tourney then multi-bids would be a more realistic goal.

This is most certainly true!

(10-16-2023 09:39 AM)freshtop Wrote:  

(10-15-2023 05:47 PM)Dukes94 Wrote:  We gotta elevate men’s hoops. Multiple bids is a must. Right now we’re a middling hoops conference.

The problem with elevating men's hoops is that getting to that mythical mutli-bid status is almost impossible. You can become a very good hoops league that gets a better seed for your champ and advances farther in the dance and other post season tournaments, but getting a 2nd bid is crazy hard.

What you will likely accomplish is having a bunch of worthy teams left sitting at home in March after beating each other up in conference play each year.

If the NCAA significantly expands the tourney then multi-bids would be a more realistic goal.

Rare to see a WKU basketball fan acknowledge this, but you are correct. The selection committee right now does not have a great track record with taking mid major at large bids. Almost every league at this level has a myriad of recent examples of teams with At Large bid type numbers that got snubbed.

Key at present is presenting a team with a strong enough resume they can get a decent seed in the tournament and can make a run that way and bring NCAA Units with it.

(10-15-2023 06:29 PM)T-Dog Wrote:  JMU fans everytime when App is ranked high: This conference sucks.

App is #121. That’s high in hoops for you all? Congratulations! Aim high.

The SBC does suck in basketball. JMU knew the SBC was pretty much a lateral move for hoops.

Until we’re a regular multi-bid conference, we’re dirt.

(10-16-2023 09:39 AM)freshtop Wrote:  

(10-15-2023 05:47 PM)Dukes94 Wrote:  We gotta elevate men’s hoops. Multiple bids is a must. Right now we’re a middling hoops conference.

The problem with elevating men's hoops is that getting to that mythical mutli-bid status is almost impossible. You can become a very good hoops league that gets a better seed for your champ and advances farther in the dance and other post season tournaments, but getting a 2nd bid is crazy hard.

What you will likely accomplish is having a bunch of worthy teams left sitting at home in March after beating each other up in conference play each year.

If the NCAA significantly expands the tourney then multi-bids would be a more realistic goal.

I'm not sure I'm buying that. The MWC, for example, has had two, four, and four bids the last three years. What's their secret?

(10-15-2023 05:47 PM)Dukes94 Wrote:  I'm not sure I'm buying that. The MWC, for example, has had two, four, and four bids the last three years. What's their secret?

They win a lot of games overall, win enough against Q1, and they don't lose many stinkers against Q3/4. That is a mixture of luck, spending, and scheduling.


https://www.three-man-weave.com/3mw/coll...dgets-2022

https://www.warrennolan.com/basketball/2...ntain-West

They have been putting teams in the "First Four" where they seem to lose because a lot of their success is smoke and mirrors from scheduling well.

If the SBC (or C-USA) wants to replicate that success then everyone has to win the games they are supposed to in OOC play, win a couple they shouldn't, and only lose games that won't hurt them (P5 or good non power teams). That means playing a lot of home games against mediocre teams and winning them. Beating sisters of the poor doesn't help, losing away at mediocre teams doesn't help.

Even then, you have to fight the perception monster. You can't have one good year and get over the hump, you have to sustain it to finally change the mindset of the committee that your conference is worthy of multiple bids.

(10-16-2023 07:16 AM)Hart Foundation Wrote:  Right now, I see zero impact coaches in the Sun Belt and that is the problem. The coach = the program. But across the Sun Belt coaches are being paid peanuts so you get guys that are not as accomplished.
Each roster in the nation only holds 13 scholarship players. There are so many fish in the sea that a good coach can instantly produce a strong team at any program. It has been proven many many times.

Yep. Sun Belt coaches are paid in the middle of the pack on average. AAC and MWC coaches aren’t. There’s a direct correlation between our mediocre results and our mediocre pay.

Last year was lots of fun and very competitive.
That's certainly something.

(10-16-2023 05:08 PM)Dukes94 Wrote:  

(10-16-2023 07:16 AM)Hart Foundation Wrote:  Right now, I see zero impact coaches in the Sun Belt and that is the problem. The coach = the program. But across the Sun Belt coaches are being paid peanuts so you get guys that are not as accomplished.
Each roster in the nation only holds 13 scholarship players. There are so many fish in the sea that a good coach can instantly produce a strong team at any program. It has been proven many many times.

Yep. Sun Belt coaches are paid in the middle of the pack on average. AAC and MWC coaches aren’t. There’s a direct correlation between our mediocre results and our mediocre pay.

Thing is, several years ago most SBC programs put most everything we were taking in on football to grow that to where it is now. I think most of us knew and understood that it would take basketball a while to catch up. The league is just now really starting to put pressure on schools to schedule better in basketball for the first time.

There's going to have to be some patience for basketball to catch up to where we all know it can be.

Joe Lunardi has the Dukes as the #13 seed vs Arkansas. As I said in the JMU boards…way too early for speculation, but that’s what Monday’s in October on a message board are for.

https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/...redictions

Yes, I was right. App State gets ranked No. 1 in KenPom for some reason and JMU fans come out of the woodwork to give reason after reason why the Sun Belt sucks.

And nothing about the Sun Belt coaches picking JMU No. 1 (and App State No. 2).

(10-16-2023 08:42 PM)T-Dog Wrote:  Yes, I was right. App State gets ranked No. 1 in KenPom for some reason and JMU fans come out of the woodwork to give reason after reason why the Sun Belt sucks.

And nothing about the Sun Belt coaches picking JMU No. 1 (and App State No. 2).

When Southern Miss is on top at the end of the season again y'all can commiserate together :)

(10-16-2023 08:42 PM)T-Dog Wrote:  Yes, I was right. App State gets ranked No. 1 in KenPom for some reason and JMU fans come out of the woodwork to give reason after reason why the Sun Belt sucks.

And nothing about the Sun Belt coaches picking JMU No. 1 (and App State No. 2).

Weird take, but ok. I was just sharing Lunardi’s pre-season bracket. Sorry to offend you so much. Maybe I should have started my own meaningless thread.