Top 144 preview

[Nidaros]

Re: Top 144 preview

Maybe we are making a knot that will later create some soreness in unmentionable areas. Both our men's and women's teams are quality programs that will show what they can do next season, and these so called experts will soon recognize that. This is something that I don't think its worth worrying about. Maybe we should be more worried about oil developments in Western SD. The experts are finally recogizing what is going on in Western North Dakota, but still they have a image problem amongst the so called experts. Should be surprised about basketball?, Where most of them think the capital of SD is Bismarck and Pierre is the captial of ND.

[scubasteve]

Re: Top 144 preview

This absurd ranking could be the best thing for this team, as noted in Nate's recent quotes about feeling they still need to prove people wrong. I would blow this stuff up on poster board and post it all over the locker room as an incentive to defy the "experts". This type or ranking should be far more offensive to the team then to us as fans and hopefully they do turn heads nationally again.

I am sure Nagy is aware of this and will share it with the leaders at some level to spark this team into continued hard work so they continue to strive for improvement. Full trust that this ranking will be blown out of the water by this team.

[SF_Rabbit_Fan]

Re: Top 144 preview

Also, SDSU finished 2011-12 at #58 in the Pomeroy rankings and #64 in the Sagarin rankings. These yahoos are predicting a hell of a drop for the Jackrabbits from this year's performance.

Who thinks that this kind of drop-off is in any way credible? I mean, Griff wasn't quite chopped liver, but c'mon, really . . .

I appreciate everyone's fandom, but I think that kind of predicted ranking drop is credible and I'm not offended or upset by it. Expecting to finish rankings anywhere below 100 is VERY optimistic.

Last season was very special in a number of ways, replicating that will be extremely difficult.

We only lost 7 games. If we had lost 8 or 9 (WIU and IUPUI come to mind), our rankings would have likely been in the 125+ area or lower (higher?). I'm not sure if we could replicate last seasons rankings, even if we had EVERYBODY coming back next year.

However, all that doesn't change the outlook for the season with a good chance at a conference title, conference tournament title, and NCAA tournament excitement.

[Grizz]

Re: Top 144 preview

You can get mad at me for saying this if you want but the reason is simple. SDSU has never won a regular season league championship and while all you may think your team is something special the facts are you won a conference tournament on what the nation views as your home floor. You beat a 7 seed a 6 seed and a 4/5 seed to do it and you beat Western Illinois in overtime. You didn't beat Oakland or ORU whom the national media view as the powers of this conference, so no one in the media is going to rate you high until you win a season long championship and pound some teams in the league tournament. Can this team you have do that, yea, no doubt, will they, time will tell. Oakland is going to be very good. Yhey have everyone back but Reggie and they have a stud recruit from Detroit. Also they have a guy replacing Reggie who averaged 8 points a game in the Big East and lead the Big east in steals. NDSU is going to be very good. That was a very young team they had and while you guys may hate them they remind me of your team 2 years ago. Young and talented, with a kid at the point who could be a star. So as I read how good you guys think you are (and I believe you are) it is not going to be easy. Trust me, we have been there many times. This is a good league.

[91jack]

Re: Top 144 preview

You can get mad at me for saying this if you want but the reason is simple. SDSU has never won a regular season league championship and while all you may think your team is something special the facts are you won a conference tournament on what the nation views as your home floor. You beat a 7 seed a 6 seed and a 4/5 seed to do it and you beat Western Illinois in overtime. You didn't beat Oakland or ORU whom the national media view as the powers of this conference, so no one in the media is going to rate you high until you win a season long championship and pound some teams in the league tournament. Can this team you have do that, yea, no doubt, will they, time will tell. Oakland is going to be very good. Yhey have everyone back but Reggie and they have a stud recruit from Detroit. Also they have a guy replacing Reggie who averaged 8 points a game in the Big East and lead the Big east in steals. NDSU is going to be very good. That was a very young team they had and while you guys may hate them they remind me of your team 2 years ago. Young and talented, with a kid at the point who could be a star. So as I read how good you guys think you are (and I believe you are) it is not going to be easy. Trust me, we have been there many times. This is a good league.

Are you talking about the 2009-2010 team? I guess that year SDSU had 5 juniors. There are only 2 of them that mattered their senior year. AC didn't play because he was injured, Palarca moved back closer to home and Tivis was a walk on. That is one of the few times SDSU has had that many upperclassmen in the DI era. NDSU seems to build 1 big class(junior) and roll with them in hopes they are good their junior and senior years. I'll wait until after NDSU's big class is gone before I don't worry about them. I do think that they should have been better as sophomores but they still have 2 years left. NDSU's point will be a sophomore and his supporting cast is older than him while Nate is older than his supporting cast. It still is a good point and several players that are good around him.
I always look at Oakland as the team to beat in the conference. It was ORU and them and now it's just them. There are teams that have a good year here and there but until they are consistent, I don't know.
I think Grizz is right about the national media. They don't care that SDSU beat the teams that beat both ORU and Oakland. They don't care that SDSU gave Baylor a run. They don't care that SDSU beat Washington on their home floor. They don't care SDSU has 5 of their top 6 back. I did think that because of Nate, they might look into it more but I don't think they have. You have to be good a few years for them to take you seriously.
In the end, win and you'll get some respect. SDSU might not get it this year even if they deserve it but that just the way it is.

[91jack]

Re: Top 144 preview

We only lost 7 games. If we had lost 8 or 9 (WIU and IUPUI come to mind), our rankings would have likely been in the 125+ area or lower (higher?). I'm not sure if we could replicate last seasons rankings, even if we had EVERYBODY coming back next year.

However, all that doesn't change the outlook for the season with a good chance at a conference title, conference tournament title, and NCAA tournament excitement.

I get that we won some games that could of been loses but there are games that we lost that we should have won(UND and USD come to mind). Where would our ranking have been then? That would only have been 5 loses.
I don't know where the ranking will be but we should be a better team next year than we were last year. Weather a better team has better rankings, we'll have to wait and see.

[jackmd]

Re: Top 144 preview

Enjoying the discussion. I like RO's opinions on the topic. Jacks are the favorite to win the Summit League title and I think they've earned that designation. Still have to win 3 games in March to make the NCAA tourney. Every indication is that SDSU will be better than last year and that is really where my expectations stand. I'll be disappointed with anything short of another NCAA appearance and I think this years team will finish better than #126 in the rankings on their way to the SL title. Still going to be darn tough to win on the road at OU, NDSU, IUPUI and even UNO and USD for different reasons.

[Southeast]

Re: Top 144 preview

Maybe this ranking has something to do with predicted RPI ratings. Even if we would pull off the unlikely feat of winning all of our conference games, our RPI will probably not be nearly as high as last year. To get into that 40-60 range I think we will have to knock off a couple of big schools in non-conference games (plus have VERY FEW slip-ups the rest of the way). No matter how good your team is you will have little control over the strength of schedule and losing ORU is bound to have an effect.

[SF_Rabbit_Fan]

Re: Top 144 preview

I get that we won some games that could of been loses but there are games that we lost that we should have won(UND and USD come to mind). Where would our ranking have been then? That would only have been 5 loses.
I don't know where the ranking will be but we should be a better team next year than we were last year. Weather a better team has better rankings, we'll have to wait and see.

I agree completely with your second statement, that's pretty much what I was trying to say.

Every team wins/loses some they shouldn't, but point wise we were closer to 3 more loses(WIU/IUPUI/WIU - 3 points) than we were to 1 more win (USD - 4 points).

[RabbitObsessed]

Re: Top 144 preview

I have a hard time seeing WIU finish the season higher than 4th in the league, unless they have some STUDS coming in. Right now they have Ceola Clark II and their big Parks. Two very good players, but they lost a ton during the off season. Any given night, they will be good enough to beat anyone in the league, but they don't have the horses to challenge over the course of a season. I could be wrong though.

I posted that at 2 a.m. Saturday night. Please take anything I said with a large grain of salt. Or large glass of whiskey, whichever you prefer.

[mitchellrabbit]

Re: Top 144 preview

USD is #118

[mitchellrabbit]

Re: Top 144 preview

The University of San Diego, btw.