Biased opinion is that Belmont is obviously hot right now, but ETSU probably has the most talented team and beating undefeated UNCA was a stout win. Let's talk teams...who hasn't lived up to expectations? who could be a sleeper? Who's the team to beat?

KSU hasn't had anything to write home about as of yet. 2 seniors and 1 junior makes for an unbelievably young program. No one has stepped up to fill the PG spot and numerous other leadership roles on the team.

The OOC wins have been great for the ASun and the respective teams. Seeing a sold-out game in the ASun is a nice chage. Belmont and Mercer will give ETSU a run at the championship this year.

Welcome to the board! We need Belmont (and Lipscomb) fans on here.

At this point, I'd put Belmont and ETSU 1 & 2.

Of course, G-W has been a pleasant surprise. Gulf Coast and Upstate aren't that bad, judging from their scores at this point. They'll get a few wins in conference.

On the other hand, Kennesaw hasn't done much, especially in it's last three games. UNF will finish in last place this year at this rate.

Lipscomb started slow, but was impressive at Purdue and beat Samford last night. Mercer beat USC and played Alabama tough, but lost in Statesboro. I suppose they have a target on their backs after those great early games.

I still don't have a feel for Campbell, Stetson, or Jacksonville.

Are there any player issues (academic, injury, transfer) this year? Will a team suddenly get an impact player that they haven't had at this point? At Campbell, Ruell Pringle is off the roster now.

As of this very moment I would say that Belmont is the most complete team on the court. However I do not see this being the case for the duration of the season. As stated ETSU has by far the most talent in the league. But then again, that is nothing new. We've been the most talented team in each of our three years in this league and what has it done for us? I've stated in the entire off season that ETSU will lose several games early, because it is going to take half a season for them to find themselves. Once found...it should be katie bar the door. Having said that, I believe we are a better team right now than we were this time last year.

Belmont is once again going to be the team that has the most potential to give ETSU a fit. Why? There's not an athlete amoung them. They have a little bit of size, but they aren't what I would refer to as "BIG". Belmont is very akin to the really good Citadel and VMI teams from the southern conference days. Those teams never had superior athletes. They were never overly quick (minus the twins). But they were well coached and they could shoot the lights out of it. Teams of that nature have a history of giving ETSU teams problems. Belmont is without the space filler Boomer Herndon and their very skinny but very sound Andrew Preston. So I do not believe their inside game is going to be what it was last year. But I do look for Byrd to compensate in some way. Bottom line, if you want to win an A-sun tournament championship you have to go through Belmont to do it.

Lipscomb is currently struggling, but I look for them to put it together and make a run for the championship. However I do not expect them to win. But they will improve come conference time.

Gardner Webb had that ego boosting victory over Kentucky. It was a glorious win on all accounts but I do not look for them to run away with things in the A-sun. I saw them play for a few minutes a week or so ago and I wasn't all that impressed. As I stated in the summer I look for them to be improved from last year but they will not finish in the top five.

Jacksonville, I have not seen them play but I expect them to make a run. They will be big and athletic. It all depends on if they have found someone to replace their point guard.

Mercer is going to make a run for it.....but they are not going to be victorious. Not to take the wind out of Mercerfan...There's talent on that team but I don't believe they have it upstairs. I don't believe they have the mentality of a championship style team. Florence is really good...but ETSU had no problems controlling him last year. They had an amazing win over USC but have fallen flat ever since. They've lost to some schools that they should have beaten. And once again the Southern Conference continued to show its dominance over the A-sun last night with a Georgia Southern victory over the bears 80-69.

My own personal view of Mercer....I've never been impressed with their coach.

Kennesaw State...What dissapointment they must be feeling right now. Sugar plums were dancing infront of their eyes all summer long. Of course we all told them that they were overzealous. Bottom line, kennesaw is struggling right now but that doesn't mean they won't finish this season well. From their own admission they need a point guard. If their point guard shows up in december...they could be a real threat in the A-sun. For Kennesaw the time must be now b/c Wooten is no more after this season.

Campbell....I've never been impressed with Rodriguez. I don't look for this team to finish very high. I don't know much about their recruits, but loosing those two guards I think are going to kill the fighting camels. Like I say Rodriguez is good, but not great. Unless I'm completely wrong, I don't see them finishing very high.

Nobody else is really worth mentioning.

At the top is Belmont, with ETSU not far behind.

2nd Tier: Jacksonville, Campbell, Lipscomb, The Webb

3rd Tier: Mercer, Stetson, KSU, FGCU

Terrible Tier: USC Upstate, UNF

ETSUfan1 Wrote:At the top is Belmont, with ETSU not far behind.

2nd Tier: Jacksonville, Campbell, Lipscomb, The Webb

3rd Tier: Mercer, Stetson, KSU, FGCU

Terrible Tier: USC Upstate, UNF

I gotta give mercer the benefit of the doubt that Henry will carry them through at least a few games, he plays agrressive basketball. Therefore i bump them up to 2nd tier.

Also, i think lipscomb is the team that will improve the most as the season goes by, i mean heck they got Brandon Brown who was a standout d-1 recruit from middle tennessee. As he starts producing more their guards will get even more looks from outside.

P.s. Goldfinger, couldn't agree more with your analysis of Belmont. "Athletic" is never a word you could use to describe our basketball program. One reason i'm so fired upthis year though is Alex Renfroe. The first athlete we've ever has i mean he actually penetrates with poise, crashes the boards, and shoots from outside. It's almost like he doesn't belong...

Gold, you mirror my thoughts on the Mercer board where I posted my rant. The coaching has dropped to a level that is embarrassing. Give Rick Byrd this Mercer team!!! That man (and his staff) could win the A-Sun with a high school squad! He's proving that coaching FAR FAR FAR outweighs talent. What a fantastic job he's doing, and what a great asset for the ASun to have a coach that smart.

With that said, I place Belmont in the drivers seat (SCARY!)... with ETSU in a semi-distant second. After that it's a wash out.

I don't know that Rick Byrd would do well with the Mercer group. I don't know that Rick Byrd would do well at ETSU. He's found his niche. He recruits the kinds of kids that he knows how to coach and he gets the best out of them. For example, Andrew Preston, the kid couldn't have made it at ETSU. However he was a big reason Belmont destroyed ETSU in the tournament last year. Byrd has a knack for going out and finding the type of players (usually white) who are often overlooked by other programs but fit in perfectly with his style.

It's a bit like Les Robinson leaving ETSU for NC State. He accomplished glorious things for us but he didn't do anything noteworthy for the Wolfpack.

Having said that, Rick Byrd is the best floor coach in the A-sun at this time. Though I don't know if his style and philosophy would be suited for Courtney Pigram and Andrew Reed. Or in the case of Mercer...Florence and Henry.

ETSU will be ahead of Belmont come conference time. It's just going to take us a month to really put it together.

That is all

Belmont can beat anyone on a given night, JU, and ETSU are right there with them. Mercer, Lipscomb and G-Webb are all about equal.
UNF, Upstate, and Gulf Coast are awful. Might be three of the worst five teams in the nation.

I'm still not a JU believer that they are anything to fear. Not a team to take lightly, but not nearly as tough as ETSU or Belmont. Lipscomb appears to be a joke.

I too think Belmont has the best resume thus far, although they've proven that they can fall apart in games where they shouldn't (BGU and Austin-Peay). But if they can pull off the upset against Xavier they'll be the best team in this conference hands down. ETSU is definitely second but they haven't won any major games (UNC-Ash. was okay, I'll give you that). I'm looking foward to conference play this season, it looks like the level of play from these teams is definitely on the rise!

BTW-my name's Ben, and I'm a Belmont student, nice to meet everyone! I'm glad I finally found a forum where I can talk A-Sun and people actually have a clue what I'm talking about!

MercerFan Wrote:I'm still not a JU believer that they are anything to fear. Not a team to take lightly, but not nearly as tough as ETSU or Belmont. Lipscomb appears to be a joke.

I'm not a believe yet either...they're athletic and relatively big, but I think losing Kimbrough will be tough to replace. He was a solid court leader.

As for Belmont, I just have to give huge props to Coach Byrd. I thought that losing their big men would cause them to fall, but they've only improved--that's coaching.

My inherently biased view is that, as Gold said, we are going to be awfully tough to beat in a month or two. Tiggs is every bit as good as advertised, and is a hellacious matchup for opposing teams. It'll be tough for teams to decide whether to key on Pigram or Tiggs.

Mercer is an enigma at this point. Florence is an amazing talent, and now has some nice talent around him, but I too am becoming cynical of their coaching.

Campbell--one man show, and defense seems to be their achilles heel year in and year out.

Lipscomb--Coaching will make them a mediocre ASUN squad, but they'll struggle this year.

Gardner Webb will be tough. In addition to their monster win at UK, they seem to be playing well together. I noticed that they had a nice OOC win against High Point tonight

KSU seems to be falling apart at the seams, but with Wooten and Stegall, who knows.

FGCU, Stetson, UCS-Upstate, & UNF will have dreadful seasons.

I think Bucfaithful has nailed the A-Sun in that post.

I just want to be clear that although I give belmont an edge right now, I do not give them that edge in a little over a month from now.

Goldfinger Wrote:I just want to be clear that although I give belmont an edge right now, I do not give them that edge in a little over a month from now.

I respectfully disagree. I think people are quick to criticize Belmont for their guys not being athletic or tall enough. Pardon me, but those guys ARE athletes. They just beat two BCS schools. I'm not a fan of the perception that being black and huge are the only factors that constitute athleticism. And furthermore, when has ETSU shown up for a big game in the past few years? If they have, it wasn't in either of the previous two conference tournaments when it would've mattered the most.

Bottom Line: Rick Byrd is the best coach in this conference and while he may not have the best individual players, he has the best overall team. However, I suppose none of us can be sure of anything until the conference season gets under way. Best of luck to ETSU though, here's to a great and competitive season and may the best team win.

B HURB Wrote:I respectfully disagree. I think people are quick to criticize Belmont for their guys not being athletic or tall enough. Pardon me, but those guys ARE athletes. They just beat two BCS schools. I'm not a fan of the perception that being black and huge are the only factors that constitute athleticism. And furthermore, when has ETSU shown up for a big game in the past few years? If they have, it wasn't in either of the previous two conference tournaments when it would've mattered the most.

Bottom Line: Rick Byrd is the best coach in this conference and while he may not have the best individual players, he has the best overall team. However, I suppose none of us can be sure of anything until the conference season gets under way. Best of luck to ETSU though, here's to a great and competitive season and may the best team win.

We're not saying that Belmont players aren't athletes, we're saying that relative to other teams/players in the league they're not as athletic. Let me crystal clear though: I don't believe that athleticism always equates to better players. Multiple factors make a good player. Let's take Kennesaw State for example. I don't think anyone on here would disagree that KSU is more athletic than BU, and Wooten is arguable the most athletic person in the league. However, Belmont will likely clean their clock this year, and I would take a player like Hare over Wooten, even though Wooten's the better athlete. As for Belmont's big wins, they didn't beat 'bama and Cincy on athleticism, they beat them on superior execution.

You could disagree with the fact that two plus two equals four if you wanted to, but that doesn't make your opinion valid.

However one doesn't have to be black and huge to be athletic. There are white athletes in college basketball...just none at belmont. I wouldn't take the above as offensive or a put down. Belmont has quality basketball players who seem to know how to unravel their more athletic opponents.

As far as ETSU not really showing up over the last two years...You are right. They haven't. The first year in the league they had the talent to drop everyone by twenty, but they were a team that hated each other and so they suffered. Last year we had an average in talent etsu team and they handled the A-sun pretty well for most of the season and for some reason decided not to show up in the championship game. I say that taking nothing away from belmont who seemed to of had the game of their lives on that day.

Best overall team this year....ETSU once it properly develops. We have too much talent.

Bucfaithful is correct...Athleticism doesn't always translate in to better players.

I would rank the teams as follows

Belmont and ETSU are the favorites

Jacksonville, Mercer, Lipscomb and Garder Webb could all contend and have a shot at moving up to challenge this year.

Campbell and KSU are both young and will win some games and may have a few upsets but will finish in the middle of the conference

I agree that Stetson, UNF, FGC and USC Upstate will all be seeing who will be in the cellar. If any of the other teams in the conference lose to any of these four teams they should be ashamed of themselves.

Goldfinger Wrote:You could disagree with the fact that two plus two equals four if you wanted to, but that doesn't make your opinion valid.

However one doesn't have to be black and huge to be athletic. There are white athletes in college basketball...just none at belmont. I wouldn't take the above as offensive or a put down. Belmont has quality basketball players who seem to know how to unravel their more athletic opponents.

I'm a faithful Belmont supporter and it's easy to understand that gold is right and the consensus of this board is true. Belmont has one true athlete on their basketball roster, but coaching carries in the end