Pre-season love

[tower912]

http://msn.foxsports.com/cbk/story/8253908/Tar-Heels-stand-as-national-title-favorite-in-


http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=katz_andy&id=3446170


Katz has us at 14, Fox at 18.   

Assuming that everybody returning produces as expected, and we get something from Mbakwe, Fulce, Butler, and OTule, we could be very good, indeed.

[Phi Iota Gamma 84]

Interesting that at 18 we are the SEVENTH ranked team in the BE

[tower912]

Yeah, 7th place probably means 10-8 in conference, so to stay top 20 we are going to need to be undefeated OOC.    But, it is only June after all so all this is a conversation starter.   Plus, we are still assuming Buzz can coach.    For the record, I feel better with him coaching this coming year's team than I would if TC had stayed.

[4everwarriors]

This ranking and a dollar will get you a can of Diet Pepsi right now.

[wadesworld]

Is it me or are those first set of rankings way off?

[MUFanInGreenBay]

Is it me or are those first set of rankings way off?

I agree they're way off. Teams like Pitt and ND are way overrated. They're both good teams, but not Top 5 material. People are still high on Pitt from their run in the BE tourney last year. That gave them a lot of publicity and it's carried over into these preseason rankings. Pitt is more Top 10-15ish than Top 5. They have a very nice core in Young, Blair, and Fields. However, besides those 3 guys they're not loaded like your typical Top 5 team with big time talent. ND as a Top 5 team is just a complete joke. They simply lack the overall speed/athleticism/quickness to be a Top 5 team. MU is better than ND. IMO, Louisville and UCONN are the only legit Top 5-10 teams in the BE. Both teams can play at a high level in a half court game or push the tempo and run you out of the gym in an umtempo game. In other words, they have that great balance with their personal that national championship teams have. And those are the only two teams I feel are more talented and better than MU going into this season.

[wadesworld]

I agree they're way off. Teams like Pitt and ND are way overrated. They're both good teams, but not Top 5 material. People are still high on Pitt from their run in the BE tourney last year. That gave them a lot of publicity and it's carried over into these preseason rankings. Pitt is more Top 10-15ish than Top 5. They have a very nice core in Young, Blair, and Fields. However, besides those 3 guys they're not loaded like your typical Top 5 team with big time talent. ND as a Top 5 team is just a complete joke. They simply lack the overall speed/athleticism/quickness to be a Top 5 team. MU is better than ND. IMO, Louisville and UCONN are the only legit Top 5-10 teams in the BE. Both teams can play at a high level in a half court game or push the tempo and run you out of the gym in an umtempo game. In other words, they have that great balance with their personal that national championship teams have. And those are the only two teams I feel are more talented and better than MU going into this season.

I would agree with everything you just said.  To add to what you said about Pitt, they do that EVERY year (make a deep run in the BET) and then they run out of gas and lose in the first week of the NCAA Tournament after everyone hypes them up a TON based on their BET run.

I also meant the rankings as a whole, not just BE teams, are really weird to me.  MSU just lost their best player, and no matter how talented of an incoming freshman group they have, they aren't going to outproduce what Nitzel brought to them.  I can't see them as the 2nd best team in the nation.  Duke will be good, but #4?  Gonzaga at 5?!  Like you said, ND at 6 is a joke, we clearly were the better team and both of us are pretty much the same team as last year.  Purdue at 9?  You touched on Pitt at 10 (although they could get up there at points during the regular season).  Tennessee lost way to much to be #11.  If Texas can't find a solid pg to fill in for Augustin they aren't #12.  I really don't think GTown is a top 15 team.  Memphis will only be up there because they're in CUSA, they lost a ton.  Miami at 15?  Arizona State at 16?  I doubt Florida will be top 20.  Wake forest at 21?  Can't see Wisconsin being ranked, but I guess Bo always makes something out of nothing (by keeping the game in the 40s).

Looking through it it just looks weird.  Obviously that's a ton of teams to change, I guess it's just not the teams from the past year you'd expect in some spots.  I also would expect WV, Davidson, Kentucky, Xavier, and Kansas (I don't understand how they aren't on the list just based on the fact they are National Champions) to be in the rankings.

[RawdogDX]

I'm not sure if the last post was sarcastic but it was funny.  the problem with rankings is that you have to put ten teams in the top ten and 25 in the top 25.
you follow the big east much closer than other leagues so you know weaknesses.
mu fan in gb. yes mu will match up well and beat pit.  but not being able to match up against one very tough opponent doesn't mean you aren't top ten. our quickness will destroy a lot of teams.  it seems like most the complaints about these rankings have beast teams to high.  do you really think you can name that many ooc teams that you would pick to beat pitt or nd on a neutral floor?

[THEGYMBAR]

The preseason rankings are useless in most regards. However, being ranked is great selling tool in the recruiting front. For five months your name is mentioned with the elite programs. Better to be ranked in useless poll than not ranked.