It's August 1st, so the pre-season Coaches Poll dropped today with 2 ranked SBC teams receiving 1st place votes. Kentucky starts the season ranked #3, while Marshall will begin at #11. SBC members WVU and USC also received votes. Outside of the top 4 in the poll, Marshall did receive 1st place vote, so someone paid attention to our international trip over the summer!
https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/rankings...aa-di-men/

UCF joins the league this season as an affiliate. Coupled with the likes of Georgia State, JMU, and WVU, we had a large group that were within about 10 RPI spots of making the NCAA tournament last year. JMU, ODU, and South Carolina had young squads last year that should be even more developed this season. I think 8 of the 10 squads in the league this year are coming in optimistic about what their year could hold (Coastal really seems to be lacking offense after losing Garcia-Pascual, Georgia Southern has a new coach but likely needs a roster turnover before being able to compete with the rest of the Belt).

My on-the-record prediction for 2023 SBC - I feel like 4-8 is going to be a dogfight... I think all these teams see a goal of competing for the NCAAs. I think this will be a very fun league to follow this year.
1. Marshall
2. Georgia State
3. Kentucky
4. JMU
5. UCF
6. WVU
7. ODU
8. South Carolina
9. Coastal
10. Georgia Southern

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As for my Herd, I expect us to be a serious national title contender this year. Grassie brought in 14, which included conference award winner transfers and international players. Our starting unit actually beat the undefeated Palmerias U-20 academy squad on the summer trip in the half we played against them. Generation adidas candidate and MLS Collegiate Showcase participant Matthew Bell returns, but he's moving from striker to midfield to allow him to be more creative and impactful around the field. Coastal Carolina transfer Alvaro Garcia-Pasual will play up from with Aoumaich and Veiga, and this should be Marshall's most explosive offense ever.

I'll be shocked if we don't make a serious run at the college cup.

None of y’all can beat Southern Miss.

Just wondering, how severe should my herd on be?

Having the most explosive offense yet? Giggity giggity.

I agree that Marshall should at a minimum win the SBC title. We have a several returning this year and made some great off-season pickups. WVU being ranked last year at #3 and blowing it is uniquely similar to what the poll has UK this year. They lost so many players i’m uncertain why they have them ranked so high.

As for my dark horse pick this season, I have to say that goes to the Gamecocks! They made some great pickups and have a good squad this year if they can get it to click.

South Carolina is an interesting team... Tony Annan is about to start his 3rd season there. We saw a different USC last year as they were a very young team, but they were also one of the few sides that tried to play their game and didn't park the bus against the big guns in the league. They may have lost to UK and Marshall by a combined 6-1 margin, but they were playing for possession and aggressively attacking, thus just lacked experience and skill against two of the strongest teams in the country. I think that mentality and their style and experience -as well as their improved recruiting- will eventually pay off for them... my gut is that it's one more year away. The other problem for them this year is who would they be leapfrogging? ODU and JMU were also young squads who made more favorable results- I think that whole middle group is on the rise. But it wouldn't surprise me South Carolina finally clicks this year, they are definitely trending in the right direction.

IMO the game to watch that’s gonna bring some entertainment and excitement is the Georgia St vs Marshall. That’s shaping up to be a big rivalry. I recall last years game in Atlanta where GA State’s Carlson was on the ground and Bell leaned over and spit on him!! It’s gonna be a heated battle that’s for sure….lol

I’m really excited for this years team. We picked up some major transfers and also picked up some great international talent. The cool thing about SBC soccer is our league is so good, we get at large bids. Someone can slip up in regular season and/or tournament and still get an NCAA bid.

Here’s to hoping we do better this year than last. This is definitely a league which can consistently get 3-4 bids if we take care of business.

I live in lexington, UK country. And in general fans here are very nice, although the reputation holds true for some of them. But the most surprising and satisfying thing is when we start talking about soccer in general. I always find it funny when I bring up the fact that Marshall is actually in the same conference as UK, and they both are soccer powerhouse programs. They're generally first of all intrigued that UK is good at soccer, and then equally shocked that they're in the same conference as Marshall, but the most satisfying aspect is the fact that none of them know how much of a powerhouse Marshall is in soccer.

We're going to win a lot more than 1 game this season. Our new coach is legit.

(08-01-2023 07:04 PM)FairwayEagle Wrote:  None of y’all can beat Southern Miss.

Its sort of like how JMU is the only Sun Belt team to beat our softball program...

My annual “who should I bandwagon for since USM doesn’t have a Men’s team” post is now open for business. (Marshall has won the last two years).

Make your pleas now.

(08-02-2023 07:17 AM)EigenEagle Wrote:  We're going to win a lot more than 1 game this season. Our new coach is legit.

I think GATA made a solid hire, Squires has won ALOT of games. I also think he's inherited a roster that was wholly uncompetitive with the rest of the conference. He'll need a few recruiting classes to bring in some talent, but definitely with his track record you should expect a program turnaround should he get the support he needs.

JMU had an exhibition game against UNCG today. Still ongoing I believe. Real game starts against UNC next Friday.

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(08-11-2023 07:31 PM)hburg Wrote:  JMU had an exhibition game against UNCG today. Still ongoing I believe. Real game starts against UNC next Friday.

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That would be a good quality win for the SBC. Hope you all can beat UNC next week.

All the SBC schools played an exhibition this weekend. Not all published results. I know Marshall at Michigan ended in a 1-1 draw, with both teams substituting alot of reserves in the action. I saw ODU defeated UNCW, 2-1. I didn't see results from any of the other games.

One more week of exhibitions for men's soccer (FYI, the JMU vs UNC match referenced above is an exhibition, not a regular season game).

The coaches' picks for pre-season all-conference and standings were just released.

https://sunbeltsports.org/news/2023/8/14...-poll.aspx

Defending champion Kentucky got 1st over Marshall by only 2 points despite UK racking up 6 of the first-place votes, which means the 4 coaches who didn't pick Kentucky first picked them a bit lower, which is in line with my thinking above.

Kentucky Sophomore goalkeeper Casper Mols is Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, which was a slam dunk pick. A huge surprise for Preseason Offensive Player of the Year as they went with Casper Grening of Kentucky, who was second team last season. I thought Matthew Bell or Garcia-Pascual, who both tied first-team last year, would get that honor, but this seems to be a bit of a middle-finger from the coaches toward Garcia-Pascual for transferring from Coastal to Marshall.

This has fired me up, I'm ready to get this 2023 season going now...

Matthew Bell scores 96 second into the season, and then quickly gets the brace a few moments later. Bell has hit the crossbar and post on subsequent shots and almost had a hat trick in the first 18 minutes.

Herd is up 2-0 over Oakland, a team that's expected to contend for an NCAA tournament bid from the Horizon this year. Our possession has been exceptional thus far.

Bell finished with a hat trick and the Herd won 4-0. UCF also had a huge upset over 9Clemson.