We should be gearing up for the semifinals of the conference tournament - I thought it'd be interesting to look forward to 2020-21.

I see Houston as the consensus favorite and I doubt that is a controversial take. I could see Jarreau and Grimes moving on - those guys are very important from a depth, length and defensive perspective. If they move on, you really need Mark to make a big impact as a freshman.

After that you really have a ton of unknown. Wichita has already seen 2 key contributors hit the portal, Memphis has no recruits for next year, Cincinnati loses two stalwarts in Cumberland and Scott, Tulsa loses their best player, SMU appears to be losing Davis, etc...

I won't pretend to make a prediction on that second tier but I'm excited about UC's future - I see the rotation as follows:

Lead guard: Adams-Wood, Saunders
Wing: Williams, Harvey, Madsen,
Forward: Eason, Davenport
Center: Diarra, Vogt

The team will be much more athletic and long on the perimeter and will play combo forwards at the 4 rather than a more traditional 4 like Scott. For UC to be a contender, Williams clearly needs to have a big summer and become a 1st team all conference type player (if not POY candidate). Diarra needs to continue to progress and I'd love to see him take the majority of the minutes at the 5. Other than that, you are really counting on a core of freshman/sophomores to produce. Brannen will probably add two guys in the offseason with one being a big - Jalen Tate from NKU has been heavily rumored as a grad transfer and he was DPOY and won MVP of the Horizon League tournament.

My attempt on preseason all conference teams (I'm sure I'll forget some players):

1st team:
G DJ Jefferies
G Caleb Mills
F Keith Williams
F Jayden Gardner
F Isiaih Mike

2nd team:
G Dexter Dennis
G Lester Quinnones
G Tyson Etienne
F Nate Hinton
F Colin Smith

Freshman Team:
G Tramon Mark
G Caleb Murphy
G Gabe Madsen
F Jadun Michael
F Tari Eason

Wichita lost a lot but as of right now is returning a key contributor at every position. This is our depth chart right now with several scholarships to fill.

PG: Sherfield

SG: Etienne

SF: Dexter, Jadun Michael (incoming Frosh)

PF: Wade, Bilau (redshirt 6'10 freshman)

C: Udeze, Poor Bear, Midtgaard

Our class balance is a lot better now with 2 seniors, 3 Juniors, 2 sophomore, 2 freshman.

Probably try to get a couple guards (transfer or juco hopefully and a younger big

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you forget yetna, who could come in as the preseason POY...
still alot to decide..memphis, wichita, cincy will are still looking to pick up multiple players .will jank be fired, how many transfer...
houston probably the favorite..2/9 jumbled up depending on offseason moves...temple/ecu looking like 10/11...tulane probably last

pitino says he is returnng to college basketball, but hasnt said the team yet
https://twitter.com/MattNorlander/status...0431691777

what are the chances that its SMU

(03-14-2020 01:57 PM)pesik Wrote:  you forget yetna, who could come in as the preseason POY...
still alot to decide..memphis, wichita, cincy will are still looking to pick up multiple players .will jank be fired, how many transfer...
houston probably the favorite..2/9 jumbled up depending on offseason moves...temple/ecu looking like 10/11...tulane probably last

We only have 11 teams next year. I have ECU 9th, Tulane 10th, and Temple dead last.

(03-14-2020 02:07 PM)pesik Wrote:  pitino says he is returnng to college basketball, but hasnt said the team yet
https://twitter.com/MattNorlander/status...0431691777

what are the chances that its SMU

No way SMU goes down that Rabbit hole again. I’ll say Grand Canyon.

(03-14-2020 01:57 PM)pesik Wrote:  you forget yetna, who could come in as the preseason POY...
still alot to decide..memphis, wichita, cincy will are still looking to pick up multiple players .will jank be fired, how many transfer...
houston probably the favorite..2/9 jumbled up depending on offseason moves...temple/ecu looking like 10/11...tulane probably last

Oh definitely forgot about Yetna. He’d probably replace Mike for me. If he’s back and 100% and Murphy is eligible then they may be a NIT team.

(03-14-2020 02:10 PM)Joprior23 Wrote:  

(03-14-2020 01:57 PM)pesik Wrote:  you forget yetna, who could come in as the preseason POY...
still alot to decide..memphis, wichita, cincy will are still looking to pick up multiple players .will jank be fired, how many transfer...
houston probably the favorite..2/9 jumbled up depending on offseason moves...temple/ecu looking like 10/11...tulane probably last

We only have 11 teams next year. I have ECU 9th, Tulane 10th, and Temple dead last.

We've never finished last in conference in our history. I don't see that changing.

(03-14-2020 02:20 PM)JFlight21 Wrote:  

(03-14-2020 01:57 PM)pesik Wrote:  you forget yetna, who could come in as the preseason POY...
still alot to decide..memphis, wichita, cincy will are still looking to pick up multiple players .will jank be fired, how many transfer...
houston probably the favorite..2/9 jumbled up depending on offseason moves...temple/ecu looking like 10/11...tulane probably last

Oh definitely forgot about Yetna. He’d probably replace Mike for me. If he’s back and 100% and Murphy is eligible then they may be a NIT team.

they might be an ncaa tournament team...murphy is legit good, he is the best player on the current #3 high school team in the nation. i stumbled onto one of his games on tv (and it was actually vs Quincy Ademokoya, a temple recruits team). it was a destruction (something like 70-20) murphy was playing them..he will have a james bouknight type year ..his ability to drive is elite

yetna (likely preseason POY), david collins (multiyear all-conference), with now upperclass experienced role guys (zach dawson, castenda, justin brown, michael durr)..
then add an elite recruit in murphy...the x-factor will be the 4star iowa state transfer they have sitting out, luke anderson (transferred before freshman season)..
https://twitter.com/CycloneMBB/status/10...9840260096
3pt shooting on paper should still be an issue but thats a good roster

(03-14-2020 02:11 PM)Joprior23 Wrote:  

(03-14-2020 02:07 PM)pesik Wrote:  pitino says he is returnng to college basketball, but hasnt said the team yet
https://twitter.com/MattNorlander/status...0431691777

what are the chances that its SMU

No way SMU goes down that Rabbit hole again. I’ll say Grand Canyon.

Ncaa has field offices at Memphis and SMU. Glad he’s going to Iona

Tulsa will probably get voted to finish 8th or something like that. Happens every year.

(03-14-2020 03:56 PM)Hurricane Drummer Wrote:  Tulsa will probably get voted to finish 8th or something like that. Happens every year.

I have you guys finishing 5th. Top 50 team. I think y’all are going to be really good.

We should be pretty good, with Collin Smith, Darin Green, Brandon Mahan, Tony Johnson, and Dre Fuller all returning as solid players, and a very good recruiting class coming in with center Jamille Reynolds as the jewel, and 2 solid forwards in Isaiah Adams and Marchelus Avery. Should be an NCAA bubble team.

Tulsa’s big question mark for next season will be our inside game. We only lose two players but one of them is Igbanu. I’m hoping Josh Early can make that big Freshman to sophomore leap you often see because he’s shown some good inside moves and he’s already a good rebounder. If he can cut down on the fouls and improve enough to be in a regular rotation with Ugboh then we should be ok, not great but ok. We’re still recruiting big men and may add one before fall but haven’t had a lot of luck with first year inside players. I would like to see us get a good grad transfer center from a mid-major.

We have an excellent returning core with Horne, Rachal (third team all AAC), Joiner, Jackson and Hill along with the above mentioned bigs and we’ll have three D-1 transfers eligible next year who can all shoot.

Keyshawn Embery-Simpson is a former 4-star high school player who was a freshman at Arkansas and transferred when they changed coaches. He was hampered by injuries at Arkansas but should be healthy and ready to go in the fall. As a RS-sophomore he’ll have three years to play.

Curtis Haywood is a transfer from Georgia Tech. He’s an Oklahoma native and will be a RS-junior next season.

Ryan Gendron was a baseball player at his last school but if his shot is anything like his father’s (Jonnie Gendron, a TU player from the late 90s) he should be a contributor. He’ll have three years to play.

Other new players include Keyshawn Williams, a Chicago area high school player considered by many as one of the best players in Illinois and Rodgerick Brown a Juco transfer from Pearl River JC, where Brandon Rachal played. Early reports are that Brown, who played his freshman season at WSU, should have a game similar to Rachal with maybe more driving and less outside shooting.

Overall I’m very excited about next year’s team and think we’ll finish somewhere in the top half of the league. If we can shore up that interior I think we’ll be a contender for the title again.

cincinnati will continue to dominate this conference

Too early to tell on Memphis. If we don’t have any key transfers and get the late signing guys we are hoping for(green, brown, and cisse if he reclassifies) then we have to be competing for first. Don’t sign any of those top guys and keep who we have then probably a bubble team barring grad transfers to us.

WSU top 4. Mark it.

Houston's gonna three peat.

(03-15-2020 05:14 PM)pvtlamb Wrote:  WSU top 4. Mark it.

Let's wait to see if anyone else leaves first...

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(03-15-2020 05:29 PM)WhoseHouse? Wrote:  Houston's gonna three peat.

Be very surprised if this isn't true

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