Never too early to start discussing next year's basketball season, right?
What does everyone think about their respective teams for next year? Who do you lose? Who comes back?
Here's my breakdown for next year:
-Belmont: Will be sorely hurting without their "Bigs". Nevertheless, they're the best "well-oiled" machine in the league. Always dangerous.
-Kennesaw State: Great athleticism, talent. Will they have a solid PG to fill the role of Ingle. Wooten will be a senior (Thank God)
-Jacksonville: Outstanding coach, and great young players. Kimbrough is seemingly a key cog for their team.
-ETSU: Concerence champions, POY, first-team Freshman, player. Our potential achilles heal will be our frontcout. Losing Brad, despite his absence in the final game, will be a key hole to fill. E.Thomas's lockdown 'D' Will also be tough to replace.
-Mercer: A lot ot potential. James Florence was my pick for FPOY. Need some pieces in the offseason, esp. in the interior
-UNF: Starting to turn the corner, still a at least 2 years away.
-Lipcomb: They have some rebuilding to do. They still have ARD, though.
-Campbell: Lose some key backcout players. J.Rodriguez is the one of the most, if not THE most, complete player in the league.
-Stetson: Need to acquire some better players to be competitive.
well next year is going to be interesting.
I cant see lipscomb and belmont really winning the conference next year, i think they lost 2 much.
ETSU...i could see them finishing anywhere between 1st and 3rd. they lost their 2 big men, and iknow they still have a ton of talent everywhere..i felt knuckles and eryk were a big part of their sucess last year.
Jacksonville...their good, but the problem is i cant see them improving that much more. they have some athleticism, and they are well coached, but i think they'll be around the same record next year.
Mercer could be a surprise team. everyones returning, and i believe a redshirt will be eligible. forgot his name, but he was big south frosh of the year a year ago. key for them is to not beat themselves...as in do stupid stuff in school to not be eligible.
Stetson and UNF...sorry i dont see any competition from them anytime soon. though unf is starting to play better...i think they'll win maybe 5 games all year.
Campbell is solid..but thats it. J-rod is a beast, but they dont have enough to compete yet. maybe they get some crazy talented freshman again to help.
Upstate...similar to UNF, cept going to be worse.
FGCU- they wont compete for a league title, but they will win 5 or 6 games in the conference. i could see them becoming very very good in a few years.
KSU- if they can get the pg position filled, which i'm sure they will..they could very well truley compete for the conference title. last year coach ingles goal and the players goal was not to win the league, cuz they knew they werent ready. however i asked coach a few days ago if that had changed, and he said their goal is to win the conference and make the NIT. Everyone still there cept Golden, who will prob be coaching, which will be nice, cuz i'm sure he'll play a little in practice. Whipple and Nickerson are going to be excellent and Wooten is could be POY. plus we'll get to see our 7 footer get some min. the recruiting disadvantage now starts to fade away, so we could get a really good freshman standout.
G-webb is still going to be here next year right? if so, dont be surprised to see them up in the top 4 next year.
Interesting discussion, guys.
Campbell will have more presence down low with Brown and Fagbenle, and should be improved.
I can't argue too much about Owlzfan's prognosis. I'd put Upstate at the bottom and I, too, anticipate Gulf Coast to win a few and maybe finish around 9th or 10th.
Will next year's A-Sun standings reflect the divisions or will they be bunched together like the ACC's 12? (I prefer the latter.)
FGCU apparently has been stockpiling D-1 transfers. I would not at all be suprised if they come out swinging.
ETSU, Jacksonville, Belmont, Gardner Webb, Lipscomb right now, I just can't believe Campbell can improve enough defensively, but let's see how the spring signings go.
Bucfaithful:
Don't be sleeping on the Webb! I know you guys would like to get rid of those pesky Dawgs a year early, but G-W is hanging around the ASUN until after the 2007-2008 season before heading to the Big South.
Does anybody else realize that if the A-Sun doesn't replace G-W with a an established Div 1 team (one that has been around at least 5 years) we won't have enough teams to fill out the conference tournament?
11 teams UNF and K- State will be in their last year of probation and FGCU and USC-Upstate will only be in there 2nd year. That only leaves 7 teams for the conference tournament. I am also afraid the NCAA is going to decide that the A-Sun has been out of compliance for to long and pull the automatic bid.
Runnin' Bulldog Pride Wrote:Bucfaithful:
Don't be sleeping on the Webb! I know you guys would like to get rid of those pesky Dawgs a year early, but G-W is hanging around the ASUN until after the 2007-2008 season before heading to the Big South.
My bad...wishful thinking on my part!!
RodShaw2 Wrote:Does anybody else realize that if the A-Sun doesn't replace G-W with a an established Div 1 team (one that has been around at least 5 years) we won't have enough teams to fill out the conference tournament?
11 teams UNF and K- State will be in their last year of probation and FGCU and USC-Upstate will only be in there 2nd year. That only leaves 7 teams for the conference tournament. I am also afraid the NCAA is going to decide that the A-Sun has been out of compliance for to long and pull the automatic bid.
It worries me too. However, it's not like the A-Sun never thought of this when they took FGCU and Upstate. I'm confident they have a plan, or know they won't lose the bid.
Ok here's my feel for next season, now that I've thought about it --
East Tennessee State-- Losing key big men. Same guard play will help, but they better hope they can replace Nuckles & E.T. ... but those are big shoes to fill. I really liked Thomas.
Belmont -- Bye Bye Boomer and Preston... bye bye Belmont. You can't stay on top forever. Their 2 year run is over 100%. Hare will get worse with no presence down low. Coaching will keep this team on the up side of .500. Best coaching in the conference.
Jacksonville -- Who knows, right? They lose their top scorer. That's not a good thing, but that's all they lose. They should be O.K. Lets see if this new coach can recruit. His boys will start taking bigger roles.
Lipscomb -- You can't stay at the top forever.... oh wait that's Belmont. This team missed their chances. They lose Trey Williams and FISK. Unless Eddie Ard can start at Point, SG, and Small Forward all that the same time, then the Lipscomb Bisons will not be feared. Yes, the BisonS.
Mercer -- Of course I'm partial, so take this as you will. I'm also level headed though. We lose 0 starters. We get back our best man down low (9+ boards and 9+ points) from suspension. We get our Big South 2005-06 freshman of the year. We have a 6'10 man locked up. This bench will be deep, and playing time will be hard to come by. This is our year to do some real damage. I said that at the beginning of this season about 07-08, the pieces are all here now.
Kennesaw -- I was impressed with their heart this year. Find them a point guard, and they will still be good. However, without a true point guard I would not be as optimistic. Good luck recruiting.
Campbell -- J-Rod can't do it all. This team is losing a lot of points (Smith, Eackles, Gibson)... That's 29 of their points. They need a strong recruiting class here. Right now Campbell is very top heavy. There is plenty of opportunity for young guys to come in and contribute immediately. They need to use that as a selling point... 08-09 depends on it.
G-Webb -- They lose their top scorer. The next guy is solid at 11 points and 7 boards. After that it's a crap shoot. Nothing on paper convinces me they will do well. There's no way to know til they play the games. Young guys are gonna get shots here.
Stetson -- Waugh really isn't a bad coach. He just doesn't have much to work with. It's baseball season, enjoy it.
UNF -- Expect more of the same.
FGCU -- they won a lot of D2 games, like 27-6 record or something. They will be better than UNF, that's all I would bet on.
Upstate -- 17-11 in D2... who knows. Not expecting much.
Campbell had two guys on the bench this year that would have made them No. 3 at worst in the league if they had played this year.
The only real loss from this group is Ledell at the point guard. Russ was a product of the system down low. If Robbie can find a suitable point guard to plug into the system, Campbell will cause a lot of people problems next year.
Just remember what Dapo did in 2005-06 late in the season defensivley.
A lot of you are forgeting about him when talking about next year. J-Rod will be able to move to the 3-spot on the floor, which will allow him to do even more with Dapo at the 5 and Eddie at the 4.
BC you are dreaming if you think that Campbell would have finished no less than 3rd, lol. Dapo is still unproven and so what he blocked a few shots. He was never in shape and with the knee injury that will even set him back further and he is way behind in his skill development. Besides you never know when he might lose the "love" for the game like he told Laing and his team mates his first year and quit only to have mommy come over from England and knock some sence into his silly ass cause she wasn't going to pay any CU tuition. He is more interested in cutting rap tracks in his home made recording booth than sweating about his basketball career (actually he is pretty good at the rap stuff). As for Eddie his game is rough as well and needs a lot of work before he is effective. That JR college program that he came from was a D2 level which played teams like the local military base and the IMG prep school in Bradenton, FL. He has only been playing since he was a junior in high school. Not to say he won't materialize at some point but I doubt it will be next year.
J-Rod will stay at the 4 he is a point forward and not a full time perimeter player. Laing will rotate Kyle, Dapo, Eddie and a freshman at the 5 and 4 to spell Johnny. Reggie, Ruell, Jake and Stephon will be the guards 1-3 with another freshman getting some time. The look will be the same to fit the style of play and the result will be a middle of the pack finish. They will continue to get beat by teams that they should beat and will knock off one or two that they shouldn't.
We are going to have to agree to disagree, b/c everything you just said I don't agree with at all.
Heck Ill give it a shot..
ETSU
Belmont
Jacksonville
KSU
Mercer
GW
Lipscomb
Stetson
FGCU
UNF
Upstate
For the record, mine were in no particular order... I'll hold that back til recruiting is done.
ETSUfan1 Wrote:Heck Ill give it a shot..
ETSU
Belmont
Jacksonville
KSU
Mercer
GW
Lipscomb
Stetson
FGCU
UNF
Upstate
u think jacksonville is going to finish third? i guess that could happen
1. ETSU (without knuckles and eryk i could see them slipping to third, but i'll give them the benefit of the doubt just because i like Mike Smith and Pigram.
2. KSU(thats if we get the pg pos filled)
3. Belmont (i think they'll reload alright)
4. Mercer (A the bigsouth frosh of the year from 05 is eligble, if they can keep their academics up..they could compete)
5. Jacksonville(they improved a lot, but they only won at home, and for some reason that second to last weekend KSU and ETSU both should of beat them at home. not sure what happend there
6. GW (talented group of freshman last year, but i think they need one more year of playing time together b4 their really competitive.
7. Lipscomb(think they lost 2 much)
8. FGCU (a very good D-2 team that shouldnt be taken lightly)
9. Stetson(yea...not very good here...good thing they have baseball over there)
10. UNF(with upstate, they should no longer be cellar dwellers
11. Upstate(two words: Fresh meat)
two picks and both without Campbell, come on now guys
the Big Camel Wrote:two picks and both without Campbell, come on now guys
LOL
i thought i put in campbell in..i had them after jax. o well. i guess i messed up and copied and pasted over it.
but yea didnt forget you guys... i had you sixth. play defense better and you could crack the top 4.
and again..j-rod is a beast. If wooten doesnt win poy i want j-rod 2.
Stetson, plain and simple, lacks the size and talent to compete at the Division I level. We've got some exciting guys shaping up down the pipeline like Garfield Blair and Kris Thomas but we lack SIZE! Truth be told, our "big guys", Collins Okafor and Tim Lang, just suck.
It's too bad - I'd love to see them make the NCAA's one day. I know when it happens, I'll be the first one to book a flight :)
I'm bringing this thread back. Anyone else want to chime in with some predictions?