I think we get 5 teams in the tourney this year, with one of tulsa temple or Memphis left out. I personally think it will be temple.

We have Woodard who was listed on the all conference, wright who should have a great season now that he doesn't have to battle for minutes, we brought in more shooting, more size, and more athleticism with our freshman and redshirts. Added to the guys like our PG's and SF/PF's who didn't get deserved accolades... We should battle.

Its quite a thrill seeing so much respect for what Larry Brown has done on the Hilltop. I think the key this year is keeping everyone healthy, and happy with their playing time. There's going to be a whole lot of talent on that bench at any given moment.

SMU lost Shawn Williams (5.1/3.2) and Nick Russell (9.9/3.4). They are replaced by Xavier transfer Justin Martin (11.7/5.2), if eligible Texas Tech transfer Jordan Tolbert (10.7/5.8), as well as freshman Mudiay.

Everyone else returns from the 27-10 team that beat UCONN twice, but had a few inexplicable losses too. I expect the team to play with a whole lot more confidence next year after the NIT experience, and a little something to prove after the NCAA snub.

(07-09-2014 11:29 AM)Cali_Cat Wrote:  Why do ECU fans keep putting all this pressure on this Tejada kid? You realize basically every player on Memphis, UConn and Cincinnati (possibly SMU too) held better offers than the guy you keep pimping as an 1st Team All-American? Delusion at its finest....

Well you have to factor in that he's being coached by 'Lebo The Great.' Slayer of the D2 league.

(07-09-2014 12:08 PM)ECUGrad07 Wrote:  

(07-09-2014 11:29 AM)Cali_Cat Wrote:  Why do ECU fans keep putting all this pressure on this Tejada kid? You realize basically every player on Memphis, UConn and Cincinnati (possibly SMU too) held better offers than the guy you keep pimping as an 1st Team All-American? Delusion at its finest....

I do believe I said he should be on the AAC "Impact Freshman" list. Did I say 1st Team All-American? Hyperbole at its finest.

Go away, troll.

Your fellow ECU fans have been telling us all about him on every basketball thread. Let him play first, don't base it off those amazing Rider, Murray State and FIU offers....

(07-09-2014 12:24 PM)Cali_Cat Wrote:  

(07-09-2014 12:08 PM)ECUGrad07 Wrote:  

(07-09-2014 11:29 AM)Cali_Cat Wrote:  Why do ECU fans keep putting all this pressure on this Tejada kid? You realize basically every player on Memphis, UConn and Cincinnati (possibly SMU too) held better offers than the guy you keep pimping as an 1st Team All-American? Delusion at its finest....

I do believe I said he should be on the AAC "Impact Freshman" list. Did I say 1st Team All-American? Hyperbole at its finest.

Go away, troll.

Your fellow ECU fans have been telling us all about him on every basketball thread. Let him play first, don't base it off those amazing Rider, Murray State and FIU offers....

I listed every school he was offered from. Nobody has said he'd be an All-American. We're just excited to have him.

Go away, troll.

UConn is going to be very interesting this year.

Boatright will be running the team, and he finished the season playing lights out. He was a stud.

Hamilton and Purvis will provide the scoring, while Samuel and Cassell Jr will give them breaks coming off the bench.

The big guys for UConn are back: Brimah, Nolan and Facey.

There may not be a huge dropoff for UConn at all if Purvis and Hamilton can fill it up.

Looking forward to seeing UCF's shooty hoops team face off against the other southern football schools on the squeaky floor for the grand prize...

(07-09-2014 12:34 PM)MechaKnight Wrote:  Looking forward to seeing UCF's shooty hoops team face off against the other southern football schools on the squeaky floor for the grand prize...

Knight for teh win!



My picks:
1-UCONN
Last- everyone else

Tulane will have some games we we lose by 30+, but there is some real solid guard play on the team so we may surprise 1 or 2 teams. Our PG got some frosh all american attention and we have a decent recruit coming in....but we have absolute no bigs. To be honest, my fear is that teams like UCF, USF and ECU having really down years and we finish well outside the basement, this will result in our idiot AD giving our coach another year. It's sad really.

(07-09-2014 10:19 AM)pesik Wrote:  

(07-09-2014 10:11 AM)NYCTUFan Wrote:  A 5th place finish and (most likely) no NCAA tournament for Temple this season and there will be a major uprising in Philly from the Temple fans and alumni. I’m cautiously optimistic but I think they get inside the top 4 in the conference and get a bid.

temple was horrific last year, to say anything less than a top 4 finish and ncaa bid is in essence a failure is silly.
i think temple be improved and if by chance temple made the NIT, not the ncaa, there would be no uprising and temple fans would celebrate that and look forward to 2015/16 season

Pesik I have agreed with much of what you have posted, but on this one I respectfully disagree.

Going into last season Temple made the NCAA tournament 6 straight seasons, 6 of the first 7 seasons Dunphy was head coach. Twice in that run they were the A10 conference regular season champs, three times they won the A10 tournament. In the 2013 NCAAs they were 2 minutes away from beating #1 seed Indiana to advance to the sweet 16 in a game that absolutely no one gave them even a chance of winning. Last season after a 1 and 2 start with losses to Kent State and Towson fans and alumni were screaming for Dunphys head.

Chaney set the bar very high for Temple basketball and it’s a level of success that Temple alumni and fans still expect today. In Chaneys first 19 seasons at Temple he made the NCAAs 17 times. During that run Temple made the Elite 8 five times. He won the regular season conference championship 8 times and the conference tournament 6 times. Temple is the 6th winning-est men’s college basketball program of all time behind Kentucky, Kansas, North Carolina, Duke and Syracuse and the fans expectations are very similar to those of the fans of the programs listed above.

Now whether Temple basketball fans expectations are realistic or not is something that can be debated for a long time, but one thing that is for sure is the Temple basketball fan is a lot like the New York Yankee fan in the respect that they feel it’s their birthright to make the playoffs every year (in this case the NCAA tournament) and anything less is a failure. If Temple isn't in the NCAA’s this season you will be able to count the number of fans on one hand who will be happily looking forward to the 15 / 16 season.

Again, I’m not saying Temple basketball fans are right, wrong, realistic or delusional, I’m just pointing out we are.

I think the team that was 15-3 in conference play will be pretty good next year.

(07-09-2014 12:23 PM)TIGERCITY Wrote:  

(07-09-2014 11:29 AM)Cali_Cat Wrote:  Why do ECU fans keep putting all this pressure on this Tejada kid? You realize basically every player on Memphis, UConn and Cincinnati (possibly SMU too) held better offers than the guy you keep pimping as an 1st Team All-American? Delusion at its finest....

Well you have to factor in that he's being coached by 'Lebo The Great.' Slayer of the D2 league.

Going 15-0 against Division 2 opponents in the last 4 years is nothing to laugh about.

(07-09-2014 12:59 PM)Tigers2B1 Wrote:  

(07-09-2014 12:23 PM)TIGERCITY Wrote:  

(07-09-2014 11:29 AM)Cali_Cat Wrote:  Why do ECU fans keep putting all this pressure on this Tejada kid? You realize basically every player on Memphis, UConn and Cincinnati (possibly SMU too) held better offers than the guy you keep pimping as an 1st Team All-American? Delusion at its finest....

Well you have to factor in that he's being coached by 'Lebo The Great.' Slayer of the D2 league.

Going 15-0 against Division 2 opponents in the last 4 years is nothing to laugh about.

Wow!!! I don't know if UC has played a D-2 opponent in the last 15-20 years!!!!

I see many are disapointed to be at bottom of the standings in the AAC... Let me remind a few, this isn't your normal basketball conference... This is gonna be one tough cookie of a league, if not already... I mean, most coaches in the AAC are some of the best the basketball college world has to offer, this coaches have outstanding backgrounds, they are masters at coaching and can spot talent miles away... You literally will have to bring your A game to almost every basketball arena to earn a W, it wont be easy... Heck, even the last place team could potentially be a top 7 at another conference, IMO.

(07-09-2014 09:32 AM)NBPirate Wrote:  LMAO. There is no way we finish last.

Just curious who you think we'll finish ahead of. Other than Tulane and maybe UCF I can't find anybody.

(07-09-2014 12:59 PM)Tigers2B1 Wrote:  

(07-09-2014 12:23 PM)TIGERCITY Wrote:  

(07-09-2014 11:29 AM)Cali_Cat Wrote:  Why do ECU fans keep putting all this pressure on this Tejada kid? You realize basically every player on Memphis, UConn and Cincinnati (possibly SMU too) held better offers than the guy you keep pimping as an 1st Team All-American? Delusion at its finest....

Well you have to factor in that he's being coached by 'Lebo The Great.' Slayer of the D2 league.

Going 15-0 against Division 2 opponents in the last 4 years is nothing to laugh about.

Yes it is.

(07-09-2014 10:25 AM)ECUGrad07 Wrote:  Yeah, I just don't see how Terry Whisnant & Lance Tejada were left off the "Impact Transfer" and "Impact Freshman" lists, respectively.

Terry Whisnant
SG - 6'3" 180lbs
Avg 5.2 PPG in 17 MPG for a very good FSU team back in '12-'13.


Lance Tejada
PG - 6'1" 175lbs
Offers from: ECU, Alabama, Butler, FIU, Florida State, George Mason, Miami, Murray State, Rider, South Florida, UCF, Virginia
2013 Avg 23.3 PPG, 4.5 APG, 2.9 RPG



Oh well. The American will find out soon enough.

WE haven't even found out yet. The kid hasn't played a D1 game yet and some ECU fans have anointed him savior. Fact is other schools in the conference are getting like that on the regular.

(07-09-2014 09:09 AM)invisiblehand Wrote:  From his twitter account:
14-15 Power Rankings:
1. SMU
2. UCONN
3. Cincy
4. Memphis
5. Temple
6. Tulsa
7. Houston
8. USF
9. UCF
10. Tulane
11. ECU

Preseason POT: Mudiay (SMU)
Sleeper: Temple

All Conference 1st Team:
Muddiay (SMU), Boatwright (UConn), Woodard (Tulsa), Kennedy (SMU), Goodwin (Memphis)

Impact Freshman:
Muddiay (SMU), Hamilton (UConn), Powell (Memphis), Magee (Memphis), Clark (Cincy), Moore (Cincy), Dew (Tulsa), Enechionyia (Temple), Guerrero (USF), Henriquez (UCF)

Impact Transfers:
Martin (SMU), Purvis (UConn), Cassell Jr. (UConn), DeBerry (Cincy), Ellis (Cincy), Bond (Temple), Morgan (Temple), Pollard (Houston), Baker (Houston), Morillo (USF)

Breakout Players:
Thomas (Cincy), Brimah (UConn), Perry (USF), King (Memphis), Wright (Tulsa)

I think he's pretty spot on with everything, though I think the battle for the 4-6 slots is going to be pretty close this year as Temple adds good transfers, Tulsa returns good players, and Memphis is breaking in good Freshman.

I'll take a 'wait and see' approach to Temple. A wining record and an NIT bid would be a good bounceback from last year's horrible season.

(07-09-2014 01:11 PM)blunderbuss Wrote:  

(07-09-2014 09:32 AM)NBPirate Wrote:  LMAO. There is no way we finish last.

Just curious who you think we'll finish ahead of. Other than Tulane and maybe UCF I can't find anybody.

I was thinking the same thing

I don't think we finish last but I will not be surprised if we do

(07-09-2014 10:11 AM)NYCTUFan Wrote:  A 5th place finish and (most likely) no NCAA tournament for Temple this season and there will be a major uprising in Philly from the Temple fans and alumni. I’m cautiously optimistic but I think they get inside the top 4 in the conference and get a bid.

I think I'll disagree. Not enough talent to challenge for the top 4. NIT would be more realistic, whether or not Temple fans like it or not.