Florida International comes in at #137. #7 in C-USA.
https://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/17588

(06-22-2019 08:38 AM)WKUAlum92 Wrote:  Florida International comes in at #137. #7 in C-USA.
https://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/17588

So they’re saying CUSA will have 6 teams around 130 or better...... if that happens I’ll be thrilled

(06-23-2019 06:58 PM)wkuhilltopperfan Wrote:  

(06-22-2019 08:38 AM)WKUAlum92 Wrote:  Florida International comes in at #137. #7 in C-USA.
https://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/17588

So they’re saying CUSA will have 6 tams around 130 or better...... if that happens I’ll be thrilled

I think the conference may surprisingly be better this year.

(06-23-2019 08:08 PM)MT FAN Wrote:  

(06-23-2019 06:58 PM)wkuhilltopperfan Wrote:  

(06-22-2019 08:38 AM)WKUAlum92 Wrote:  Florida International comes in at #137. #7 in C-USA.
https://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/17588

So they’re saying CUSA will have 6 tams around 130 or better...... if that happens I’ll be thrilled

I think the conference may surprisingly be better this year.

The A10 only has six teams in the top 144 with Saint Louis at 143, which doesn’t mean that CUSA will be better, but it’s an encouraging sign.

(06-23-2019 08:08 PM)MT FAN Wrote:  

(06-23-2019 06:58 PM)wkuhilltopperfan Wrote:  

(06-22-2019 08:38 AM)WKUAlum92 Wrote:  Florida International comes in at #137. #7 in C-USA.
https://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/17588

So they’re saying CUSA will have 6 tams around 130 or better...... if that happens I’ll be thrilled

I think the conference may surprisingly be better this year.

I think there's going to be two or three really good teams at the top and then 8 or 9 team log jam in the middle. It will separate out, somebody has to rise to the top and somebody has to fall to the bottom. But there won't be a lot of difference between teams 4-12. Perfect scenario for teams to drop a long way or climb a long way in a single year. I think UTEP will move up pretty big this year, and Southern Miss might well drop a good bit (possibly to the bottom bracket).

All of the teams that were in that bottom bracket last year can make a case for moving up. I think it will be really hard to predict how it shakes out. I'd be shocked if any of the pods look exactly like they did last year.

We say it every year... but we just need for teams to win in the non-conference. I think in addition to the pods we should experiment with some kind of system that counts non-conference win% towards conference standings. We have too many teams that piddle around in the non-conference and then turn it on when they hit conference season. We need some kind of incentive to change that mentality.

I predict UTSA wins the regular season. We struggled with them last year in Diddle and this year we will play in San Antonio. If they win that game in San Antonio then they likely get us again in San Antonio (I still hate that set up). In the tournament all bets are off of course.

(06-24-2019 06:31 AM)Hilltopper2K Wrote:  

(06-23-2019 08:08 PM)MT FAN Wrote:  

(06-23-2019 06:58 PM)wkuhilltopperfan Wrote:  

(06-22-2019 08:38 AM)WKUAlum92 Wrote:  Florida International comes in at #137. #7 in C-USA.
https://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/17588

So they’re saying CUSA will have 6 tams around 130 or better...... if that happens I’ll be thrilled

I think the conference may surprisingly be better this year.

I think there's going to be two or three really good teams at the top and then 8 or 9 team log jam in the middle. It will separate out, somebody has to rise to the top and somebody has to fall to the bottom. But there won't be a lot of difference between teams 4-12. Perfect scenario for teams to drop a long way or climb a long way in a single year. I think UTEP will move up pretty big this year, and Southern Miss might well drop a good bit (possibly to the bottom bracket).

All of the teams that were in that bottom bracket last year can make a case for moving up. I think it will be really hard to predict how it shakes out. I'd be shocked if any of the pods look exactly like they did last year.

We say it every year... but we just need for teams to win in the non-conference. I think in addition to the pods we should experiment with some kind of system that counts non-conference win% towards conference standings. We have too many teams that piddle around in the non-conference and then turn it on when they hit conference season. We need some kind of incentive to change that mentality.

I predict UTSA wins the regular season. We struggled with them last year in Diddle and this year we will play in San Antonio. If they win that game in San Antonio then they likely get us again in San Antonio (I still hate that set up). In the tournament all bets are off of course.

If you're going to factor non conference win % into conference standards then there would have to be some league guidelines/ stipulations to OOC scheduling.

(06-24-2019 07:30 AM)benny_t Wrote:  If you're going to factor non conference win % into conference standards then there would have to be some league guidelines/ stipulations to OOC scheduling.

I think non-D1 games should definitely not count towards standings. Personally I think it would be enough to have some formula that accounts for strength of schedule. Like two thirds of your standings is win% and one third is opponents' win% something like that. You can tweak the breakdown. So if you schedule good teams and win against them, then your score is higher than if you schedule weak teams and win against them. But the most important thing is to win in the non-conference.

The thing is that it would be hard for the top teams to win much more than they do. Once you get up around 22-24 wins it gets harder and harder to get additional wins. But I don't think it would take all that much of a push to get the middle teams 1-2 more wins a year and the bottom teams to win 3-4 more games a year. If you get that then the top two teams that rise to the top will always be at large contenders even if they are not really any better than they were before. They will just be getting credit for being as good as they are.

I'll copy/paste what I did earlier. This didn't really take into account transfers. I downgraded La Tech from 3 to 5 based on Duriju(sp?) leaving to Florida. I also bumped up Charlotte and UTEP a bit, they have a lot of incoming talent. It's still pretty early. Tier 1 was easy though.

Tier 1 = Contenders, would be surprised if they don't win title
Tier 2 = Possible contenders, would take an upset to win title
Tier 3 = Not good enough to be contenders but could get a first round bye (aka top 4 finish)
Tier 4 = Will not get a first round bye

--Tier 1--
1. WKU
2. UTSA

--Tier 2--
3. ODU
4. UAB
5. La Tech

--Tier 3--
6. UTEP
7. FIU
8. Charlotte
9. Marshall

--Tier 4 --
10. Rice
11. UNT
12. MTSU
13. USM
14. FAU

UTEP comes in at #125. #6 in C-USA.
https://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/17602

UAB comes in at #118. #5 in C-USA.
https://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/17611

clt expects Charlotte to be around 100

(06-24-2019 08:03 AM)odu09 Wrote:  I'll copy/paste what I did earlier. This didn't really take into account transfers. I downgraded La Tech from 3 to 5 based on Duriju(sp?) leaving to Florida. I also bumped up Charlotte and UTEP a bit, they have a lot of incoming talent. It's still pretty early. Tier 1 was easy though.

Tier 1 = Contenders, would be surprised if they don't win title
Tier 2 = Possible contenders, would take an upset to win title
Tier 3 = Not good enough to be contenders but could get a first round bye (aka top 4 finish)
Tier 4 = Will not get a first round bye

--Tier 1--
1. WKU
2. UTSA

--Tier 2--
3. ODU
4. UAB
5. La Tech

--Tier 3--
6. UTEP
7. FIU
8. Charlotte
9. Marshall

--Tier 4 --
10. Rice
11. UNT
12. MTSU
13. USM
14. FAU

MT will move out of the bottom this season and will be upper middle tier team.

(07-11-2019 06:25 PM)WKUAlum92 Wrote:  UAB comes in at #118. #5 in C-USA.
https://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/17611

I think UAB will be higher than that. I'd put them in my top three with WKU & UTSA this year.

For UAB to have a great season, Will Butler will need to come back strong from his knee injury and production will be needed from the new players.
Bryant is all conference and Lovan might be as well.
Makhtar Gueye is a tough matchup with his length and agility.
Tyreke Scott Grayson has great basketball ability and will be needed to play tough by hitting open jump shots and taking it by his defender.
Butler and Lovan will provide the toughness.
I’m looking forward to seeing this team develop.

(06-24-2019 08:03 AM)odu09 Wrote:  --Tier 1--
1. WKU
2. UTSA

--Tier 2--
3. ODU

I think with the transfers and experience you have to move ODU to the top tier. Still my third place pick but a legitimate contender. I think UTEP will easily be tier 2.

(07-12-2019 06:11 PM)Hilltopper2K Wrote:  

(06-24-2019 08:03 AM)odu09 Wrote:  --Tier 1--
1. WKU
2. UTSA

--Tier 2--
3. ODU

I think with the transfers and experience you have to move ODU to the top tier. Still my third place pick but a legitimate contender. I think UTEP will easily be tier 2.

Tough to say. On paper the transfers are impressive and we should be the best offensively we've been in a while. But... new pg so might take a while to gel.

ODU is 93rd, 4th in CUSA

So here's what it looks like now:

93. ODU
118. UAB
125. UTEP
137. FIU

Three more teams to go: UTSA and WKU seem like locks. Third is ... La. Tech maybe?

Louisiana Tech comes in at #85. #3 in C-USA.
https://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/17702

UTSA comes in at #76. #2 in C-USA.
https://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/17734

So #1 has to be either WKU or Rice and since this is a preseason rank I’ll give a slight nod to the Hill Toppers