Ok, its early for this, im partly kidding, but is anyone else excited even for this exhibition opener November 1st? This is going to be a FUN team to watch. Im anxious to see if NIU gets one or two votes for the Mid Major Top 25 which should be released this week.
NIU 98
Aurora 72
Okay, here we go....
NIU 102
Aurora 66
Yes, this could be a fun year indeed - and it can't get here fast enough.
(10-19-2009 08:04 AM)Dog Fan Wrote: [ -> ]Okay, here we go....
NIU 102
Aurora 66
Yes, this could be a fun year indeed - and it can't get here fast enough.
I guess you think free throw shooting will be much improved?
(10-19-2009 08:16 AM)klake87 Wrote: [ -> ] (10-19-2009 08:04 AM)Dog Fan Wrote: [ -> ]Okay, here we go....
NIU 102
Aurora 66
Yes, this could be a fun year indeed - and it can't get here fast enough.
I guess you think free throw shooting will be much improved?
No, just for the Aurora game.
(10-19-2009 08:00 AM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote: [ -> ]This is going to be a FUN team to watch.
Don't you say that every year?
(10-19-2009 08:00 AM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote: [ -> ]Ok, its early for this, im partly kidding, but is anyone else excited even for this exhibition opener November 1st? This is going to be a FUN team to watch. Im anxious to see if NIU gets one or two votes for the Mid Major Top 25 which should be released this week.
NIU 98
Aurora 72
Votes for top 25? What? Most 'experts' don't even have us in the top 2 for the MAC West and you are talking Mid-Major Top 25? We are going to be better, without question (and yes for you with 1-track blinders on - free throws also). Yes, we are going to be a fun team to watch that will play hard and improve (remember still not as much experience as most teams). I don't know how many early season wins we'll have with a really tough schedule, but it should be a team worth the price of admission. Probably not a pre-season Mid-Major Top 25 though!
Highly doubt we'll get any Mid Major top 25 votes. We've done nothing the past several years.. why would we get a single vote?
As for the prediction, it may be preseason against a div 3 opponent but scores in the upper 90s-low 100s seems a little crazy to me. In fact, if we scored that many points it probably means we were running up and down the court playing street ball instead of running an offense. That may work against Aurora but it won't during the regular season (until we play Chicago St again).
Huskies 80
Aurora 62
(10-19-2009 09:36 AM)NIUtrav09 Wrote: [ -> ]We've done nothing the past several years.. why would we get a single vote?
amen
MD.. worry about the votes we get during the season. Pre-Season votes don't mean anything anyways (not that we deserve any).
I'd be much more concerned about the votes we earn over the course of the season. If we play up to our potential, we could definitely end the season with mid-major top 25 votes. Could care less how many we start with.
(10-19-2009 10:15 AM)HuskieFan84 Wrote: [ -> ]MD.. worry about the votes we get during the season. Pre-Season votes don't mean anything anyways (not that we deserve any).
I'd be much more concerned about the votes we earn over the course of the season. If we play up to our potential, we could definitely end the season with mid-major top 25 votes. Could care less how many we start with.
I know preseason does not mean much but until Trav posted the Sporting News preview I thought we were crazy or something for the optimism because seemingly noone else saw the potential for improvement. Any little bit of preseason recognition just eases my mind a little that someone else can see what we see.
see what we see? or see what we hope? sporting news knows less about huskie bball than the guys on this board--which, in some cases, ain't much....most know little and talk much.....the NIJ guy is typical--he bases how good we will be on the "fact" that X is so good...but he has NEVER seen X...Elgin thinks we stink cuz zach and paradise and other non-athletes are gone and believes jud did a bang up job compared to patton...not a lot of credibility in these opinions....and Sporting News probably NEVER saw these huskies play but talked to a guy who talked to his uncle's gardener who said his mother in law thought her neighbor said some guy told her that NIU might be good....
(10-19-2009 06:09 PM)cagy cager Wrote: [ -> ]see what we see? or see what we hope? sporting news knows less about huskie bball than the guys on this board--which, in some cases, ain't much....most know little and talk much.....the NIJ guy is typical--he bases how good we will be on the "fact" that X is so good...but he has NEVER seen X...Elgin thinks we stink cuz zach and paradise and other non-athletes are gone and believes jud did a bang up job compared to patton...not a lot of credibility in these opinions....and Sporting News probably NEVER saw these huskies play but talked to a guy who talked to his uncle's gardener who said his mother in law thought her neighbor said some guy told her that NIU might be good....
That's funny
and frustrating
at the same time - because they are somewhat true! I'm sure it is more "legitimate" though, like a sportswriter near Akron or Cleveland or something who is contracted by The Sporting News to write up a pre-season report on the MAC. He talks to some other sportswriters, maybe some friends or co-workers who are fans and saw more MAC ball than him, reads some things online, maybe has an email questionnaire returned by assistant coaches, and comes up with his write-up. Life as a Mid-Major
People should feel slighted by the Rivals.com ranking of NIU among all the D1 teams. They think NIU will be the 325th best team out of 347 teams. I expect this team will be around .500 for the season but with the tough schedule we play that would rank us much higher than that.
(10-19-2009 06:47 PM)epasnoopy Wrote: [ -> ]People should feel slighted by the Rivals.com ranking of NIU among all the D1 teams. They think NIU will be the 325th best team out of 347 teams. I expect this team will be around .500 for the season but with the tough schedule we play that would rank us much higher than that.
That is the one that sticks in my mind. THat is just pure laziness to come out with a ranking like that. Every day rivals shows me they do the least research and know the least about college sports.
Our basketball program sucks. Until it shows otherwise you'll be pretty dadgum low in preseason rankings.
NIU will win the MAC West in 2009-10. Granted the MAC is a wretched basketball wasteland. But that said NIU is going to be the surprise of this conference this year. And Xavier Silas shall instantly vault into the status of top 5 conference player.
ok, NIJ, educate us from your vast reservoir of knowledge about X's game.....give us a scouting report on him....outline his specific strengths and weaknesses. what does he do well? is he dead eye jump shooter? is he a slasher who finishes at or over the rim? big time dunker? how are his handles? what is he like on the boards? what are his best moves? can he post up? can he defend a quick guard? can he battle with a strong 3 or 4 man?
(10-19-2009 10:18 PM)cagy cager Wrote: [ -> ]ok, NIJ, educate us from your vast reservoir of knowledge about X's game.....give us a scouting report on him....outline his specific strengths and weaknesses. what does he do well? is he dead eye jump shooter? is he a slasher who finishes at or over the rim? big time dunker? how are his handles? what is he like on the boards? what are his best moves? can he post up? can he defend a quick guard? can he battle with a strong 3 or 4 man?
I do think Akron and NIU are the two best teams in the MAC going into the season, but you have to give Akron the clear nod over NIU (at least for 1 more year).
Someone please explain how we go from winning 3 games on the road the past two years, to winning the MAC this year? I love your optimism, but how do you make that leap? Silas and another year's experience? And until we prove we can do otherwise, its crazy to "feel slighted" about any low ranking.
You can't make that jump in pre-season rankings, although The Sporting News did and that just sent some people into a frothing frenzy. It doesn't make sense to do that. It doesn't make sense to think that we are all of a sudden good enough to be predicted to win the division. And, in all reality I don't think we should win the MAC West even though we will be much improved. We are still a year away providing everyone who can return does return and stays healthy. That said, could we win the MAC West this year? Yes, we could. If things went our way and other teams didn't play up to their potential while we did, and we got some lucky breaks. If that type of stuff happened, we are good enough to win the division. But, to get all excited and start dreaming of 20+ wins and a MAC West title is just setting yourself up for almost certain disappointment. With the tough schedule we have, I'm thinking 15+ wins and a 2nd-3rd place finish in the MAC West and maybe a couple wins in the MAC tourney would be a solid season to be excited about. Anything more is just that much better.