CSNbbs

http://www.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1004624

October 21, 2009
Steve Megargee

Quote:PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH
East
1. Akron
2. Buffalo
3. Kent State
4. Miami
5. Bowling Green
6. Ohio

West
1. Central Michigan
2. Ball State
3. Western Michigan
4. Eastern Michigan
5. Northern Illinois
6. Toledo

PRESEASON PICKS
First team
F/C Jarrod Jones, 6-9/230, Soph., Ball State
F Brandon Bowdry, 6-6/235, Jr., Eastern Michigan
G Darion Anderson, 6-2/203, Jr., Northern Illinois
G David Kool, 6-3/213, Sr., Western Michigan
G Rodney Pierce, 6-2/200, Sr., Buffalo
Second team
F Brett McKnight, 6-6/245, Jr., Akron
F Chris McKnight, 6-7/225, Sr., Akron
G Armon Bassett, 6-2/180, Jr., Ohio
G Kenny Hayes, 6-2/183, Sr., Miami
G Chris Singletary, 6-4/220, Sr., Kent State
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
G David Kool, 6-2/213, Sr., Western Michigan
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR
G Armon Bassett, 6-2/180, Jr., Ohio

AT A GLANCE
Regular-season winner last season: Bowling Green and Buffalo in the East; Ball State, Central Michigan and Western Michigan in the West
Tournament winner last season: Akron (lost in first round of NCAA tournament to Gonzaga as a No. 13 seed)
2010 conference tournament: March 7, 11-13. First round at campus sites, then Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland.
New coach: None.
Best frontcourt: Akron.
Best backcourt: Northern Illinois.
Coach on the rise: Ernie Ziegler, Central Michigan.
Last NCAA tournament win: 2003, Central Michigan won a first-round game as a No. 11 seed.

Didn't know Armon Bassett transferred to Ohio. Hes definetly going to be one of the top players in the league and makes ohio dangerous than finishing last place than they predict. His freshmen year at IU you could tell he was going to be a good one.

Apparently best backcourt gets you 5th place in the MAC West.

I don't mid being the underdog. I think our team will surprise a lot of people. Silas not even a sniff of post season recognition. They will learn.

Rivals it the one that had NIU at 330 preseason. They are at least going .500 this year, not sure how that puts you at 330.

There aren't a lot of checks and balances in those publications when putting the magazines or sites together, especially regarding mid-majors. They may have more local or regional sources that give them insights but don't really investigate or research. And they don't care much about how teams are ranked past the top 100. Maybe even less than that. As I mentioned in another thread, really the only thing they go on is past performance and predict from that. I'm not even saying that is wrong because that is all they have to go on without deeper investigation. But I will say it often leads to inaccurate "predictions". Sometimes maybe even contradictory predictions between how they think they will do in a conference and how they have teams ranked nationally. It is my guess that they just don't have the time or resources to do the other 200 or so D-I schools accurate justice (and maybe don't really feel the need to), but feel they need to have the national pre-season rankings for some reason. Which makes them pretty useless for many of the bottom 150-200 teams.