In case anyone has missed it this year, Belmont is beatable. The preseason juggernaut tag has quickly been lost.
Losing to Duke by 1? Impressive, but also could be first game jitters for Duke. Losing to Memphis by 16 now looks mediocre given Murray St beating them somewhat handily.
Yes you blew out winless Towson and near-winless Kennesaw...
Then only a 4 point win over Mercer (at Belmont) and now the loss to MTSU while only scoring in the 60's and crushed on the boards. (Mercer out-rebounded BU too)

Yes, Belmont is good... but no where near the projected level.

Looking forward to seeing the tournament in Macon!

(12-14-2011 02:16 PM)MercerFan Wrote:  In case anyone has missed it this year, Belmont is beatable. The preseason juggernaut tag has quickly been lost.
Losing to Duke by 1? Impressive, but also could be first game jitters for Duke. Losing to Memphis by 16 now looks mediocre given Murray St beating them somewhat handily.
Yes you blew out winless Towson and near-winless Kennesaw...
Then only a 4 point win over Mercer (at Belmont) and now the loss to MTSU while only scoring in the 60's and crushed on the boards. (Mercer out-rebounded BU too)

Yes, Belmont is good... but no where near the projected level.

Looking forward to seeing the tournament in Macon!

Not a Belmont fan, but its early. Lets wait till after the New Year. My reasoning...Belmont went 30-5 last season with three losses coming before New Years.

They lost ONE regular season game after Dec.23rd last year. That was AT Lipscomb.

That same Belmont team had to go to double OT to beat a much worse MTSU team last season (16-16, 10-6 Sunbelt). This year MTSU has a 22 point win over UCLA, another 20 point win over Akron, and is 10-2 with losses to Belmont and UAB.

Last year Belmont also nearly lost AT USC Upstate (5 Pts.) and AT UNF (2 Pts.).

With that being said, Rick Byrd has beefed up the schedule (91st most difficult schedule/261 a season ago) and I still see a couple of losses (mainly two games against vs. Marshall).

All I am saying lets not claim some HUGE drop off for the Bruins just yet. Are they beatable? Yes, but they were also beatable last year as well.

My main point is this year they are supposed to be BETTER than last year. Mercer got blown out of the building at Belmont last year while getting beat on the boards. This year @ Belmont is was a narrow defeat for Mercer while MU won on the boards, blocks, assists, FG %, FT %, and tied in steals. All this from an MU team full of underclassmen against the ALL upperclassmen 3-Senior 2-Junior starting five for Belmont.

All I'm saying is my preseason mindset is no where near my current mindset. I can't wait to see how the season plays out leading up to the tourney @ Mercer.

(12-14-2011 05:24 PM)MercerFan Wrote:  My main point is this year they are supposed to be BETTER than last year. Mercer got blown out of the building at Belmont last year while getting beat on the boards. This year @ Belmont is was a narrow defeat for Mercer while MU won on the boards, blocks, assists, FG %, FT %, and tied in steals. All this from an MU team full of underclassmen against the ALL upperclassmen 3-Senior 2-Junior starting five for Belmont.

All I'm saying is my preseason mindset is no where near my current mindset. I can't wait to see how the season plays out leading up to the tourney @ Mercer.

All I am saying is I think they could be better but with a tough schedule. The Mercer game could be like UpState and UNF a season ago, an enigma.

However, my preseason thought about Belmont must have been different because I never considered them unbeatable.

Plus your Murray State jab is a bit understated. Murray State is 10 and 0 and is vet very good.

In addition...here's the original Coach's Preseason Poll:

1. Belmont (8) 97
2. ETSU (2) 87
3. North Florida 76
4. Jacksonville 72
5. Mercer 51
6. Lipscomb 50
7. Kennesaw State 49
8. FGCU 25
9. USC Upstate 24
10. Stetson 19

I would rearrange that quite a bit already. Based on what we've seen so far:

1. Belmont
2. Mercer
3. North Florida
4. Lipscomb
5. USC Upstate
6. Stetson
7. ETSU
8. Florida Gulf Coast
9. Jacksonville
10. Kennesaw State

(12-14-2011 05:43 PM)Statman101 Wrote:  

(12-14-2011 05:24 PM)MercerFan Wrote:  My main point is this year they are supposed to be BETTER than last year. Mercer got blown out of the building at Belmont last year while getting beat on the boards. This year @ Belmont is was a narrow defeat for Mercer while MU won on the boards, blocks, assists, FG %, FT %, and tied in steals. All this from an MU team full of underclassmen against the ALL upperclassmen 3-Senior 2-Junior starting five for Belmont.

All I'm saying is my preseason mindset is no where near my current mindset. I can't wait to see how the season plays out leading up to the tourney @ Mercer.

All I am saying is I think they could be better but with a tough schedule. The Mercer game could be like UpState and UNF a season ago, an enigma.

However, my preseason thought about Belmont must have been different because I never considered them unbeatable.

Plus your Murray State jab is a bit understated. Murray State is 10 and 0 and is vet very good.

Sorry it wasn't meant to be a jab at Murray St! I'm impressed with Murray and what they've done so far. They dominated Memphis. I meant the Belmont loss to Memphis looks mediocre since their peer school Murray crushed Memphis. Showing that Belmont might not stack up to their preseason reputation.

Is Belmont better than last year? Probably, but it's still too early to tell. We have seen huge development in a few players such as Kerron Johnson, J.J. Mann, and even Drew Hanlen since last year. However, last year's team seemed to work like a machine at times, and I don't know if Byrd has found that secret formula that we had last year...yet. I think he will soon, and I definitely think we are by far the best team in this conference.

I could talk for days about why I think this, but so far, Belmont has done absolutely nothing to make me think that they are "simply not as good as I thought."

If you thought Belmont was a top 25 team you were crazy. If you think Belmont is not the best team here you are equally crazy.

And though it pains me to say it.....etsu will finish higher than 7th

"It's hard to win on the road, Jay." Belmont will not lose more than 1 conference game.

Belmont will have its hands full at Lipscomb, at Mercer, at UNF and perhaps somewhere else beyond that (ETSU? FGCU? Upstate?) but there's a long way between "hands full" and losing. The only reason I even put Lipscomb in that sentence is the rivalry, they're nowhere near last year's team.

UNF is now legitimately hazardous to everyone's health, Mercer is considerably better than I expected and don't look now but once-harmless USC Upstate is over .500. ETSU will figure it out at some point. FGCU and Stetson might not do much on the road but can take a bite out of people when it's their turn to take that road weekend. Kennesaw has to integrate its returning pieces; Jacksonville has been a disappointment.

(12-15-2011 01:58 PM)HatterFan Wrote:  Belmont will have its hands full at Lipscomb, at Mercer, at UNF and perhaps somewhere else beyond that (ETSU? FGCU? Upstate?) but there's a long way between "hands full" and losing. The only reason I even put Lipscomb in that sentence is the rivalry, they're nowhere near last year's team.

UNF is now legitimately hazardous to everyone's health, Mercer is considerably better than I expected and don't look now but once-harmless USC Upstate is over .500. ETSU will figure it out at some point. FGCU and Stetson might not do much on the road but can take a bite out of people when it's their turn to take that road weekend. Kennesaw has to integrate its returning pieces; Jacksonville has been a disappointment.

To say that JU has been a disappointment is like saying the sinking of the Titantic was an off-shore mishap. We had 12 1st half points vs Winthrop (home game btw) until Galvin got a traditional 3 at the buzzer. Ugly cannot describe it. Several on this board (me excluded) predicted this.

Jacksonville is in a serious funk and watching them get worked by UNF just felt strange. JU never really fought back.

(12-16-2011 01:45 PM)MercerFan Wrote:  Jacksonville is in a serious funk and watching them get worked by UNF just felt strange. JU never really fought back.

It is very weird

Now Belmont loses to then 2-5 Miami-Ohio. The blueprint is out there. As a conference I really hope we bounce them from the ASUN tournament and send them to the OVC in style.

We are beatable obviously. I am frustrated because I know what kind of talent we have on our team, for whatever reason we haven't gelled yet. We are polar opposites of last year and have no reason as to why. History shows we overachieve with a younger team and underachieve with a more experienced squad, hope that doesnt continue this year. That being said, Mercefan your obsession with Belmont is amusing...

Mercer takes Seton Hall to overtime on the road today but falls 80-77. Bob Hoffman would get my early vote for A-Sun Coach of the Year.

(12-18-2011 09:36 AM)hoosbruin Wrote:  That being said, Mercefan your obsession with Belmont is amusing...

I'm obsessed from one post? I'm just documenting the far and away preseason #1 that's choking.

(12-18-2011 02:28 PM)HatterFan Wrote:  Mercer takes Seton Hall to overtime on the road today but falls 80-77. Bob Hoffman would get my early vote for A-Sun Coach of the Year.

Thanks for the nice comment on Hoffman! I watched that game, it was so close but just couldn't finish them off.

Oh please! Bartow is coach of the year!

On Dec 18th, Mercer lost to Big East's Seton Hall by 3 points in OT. After the game, the Seton Hall coach called Mercer "The best team he's faced this year".