https://www.si.com/college-basketball/20...ions-seeds

SI Rankings for all 351 Division 1 Teams of course some C-USA are terrible again and dragging down the conference. Bottom 4 could get beat by a high school team

MTSU - 83
WKU - 100
Old Dominion - 112
La Tech - 119
UAB - 165
UTEP - 167
Marshall - 226
FAU - 230
Charlotte - 232
UTSA - 243
Southern Miss - 294
North Texas - 313
Rice - 316
FIU - 327

Only 3 teams in the 300s, we are closing the gap

Haha I wish they were helping close the gap but they are making the gap bigger

(11-01-2017 09:43 AM)odu09 Wrote:  Only 3 teams in the 300s, we are closing the gap

We only had 3 at the end of last year.....

Southern Miss, FIU, and North Tejas

We should be improved. If not, I believe that's it for Sadler.

It appears Rice's ranking is based solely on what they lost, not on what they replaced them with. Yes, it is hard to build a team from scratch. No, it is not impossible - just ask UAB. So I think this ranking to be way low. Let's play the season and see where we end up.

(11-01-2017 10:12 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  It appears Rice's ranking is based solely on what they lost, not on what they replaced them with. Yes, it is hard to build a team from scratch. No, it is not impossible - just ask UAB. So I think this ranking to be way low. Let's play the season and see where we end up.

Lets look at the teams around the bottom 3:

313 - North Texas (C-USA)
314 - Norfolk St
315 - Northern Arizona
316 - Rice (C-USA)
317 - UMKC
318 - Lafayette
319 - Hartford
320 - NJIT
321 - Southern
322 - Stetson
323 - MD Eastern Shore
324 - SIU Edwardsville
325 - Little Rock
326 - SE Missouri St.
327 - FIU (C-USA)

These other teams have a fraction of the money, resources or name recognition of any team in C-USA. If you are ranked in the 300s you are not trying. I dont care if you lost a couple players or not. This is unacceptable.

(11-01-2017 09:39 AM)cmett003 Wrote:  https://www.si.com/college-basketball/20...ions-seeds

SI Rankings for all 351 Division 1 Teams of course some C-USA are terrible again and dragging down the conference. Bottom 4 could get beat by a high school team

MTSU - 83
WKU - 100
Old Dominion - 112
La Tech - 119
UAB - 165
UTEP - 167
Marshall - 226
FAU - 230
Charlotte - 232
UTSA - 243
Southern Miss - 294
North Texas - 313
Rice - 316
FIU - 327

Considering we went to 2OT in 2 games last year vs D2 or lower teams, lost to a SWAC school and then lost 6 more games by 30 or more points that isn't too far fetched.

(11-01-2017 10:35 AM)cmett003 Wrote:  

(11-01-2017 10:12 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  It appears Rice's ranking is based solely on what they lost, not on what they replaced them with. Yes, it is hard to build a team from scratch. No, it is not impossible - just ask UAB. So I think this ranking to be way low. Let's play the season and see where we end up.

Lets look at the teams around the bottom 3:

313 - North Texas (C-USA)
314 - Norfolk St
315 - Northern Arizona
316 - Rice (C-USA)
317 - UMKC
318 - Lafayette
319 - Hartford
320 - NJIT
321 - Southern
322 - Stetson
323 - MD Eastern Shore
324 - SIU Edwardsville
325 - Little Rock
326 - SE Missouri St.
327 - FIU (C-USA)

These other teams have a fraction of the money, resources or name recognition of any team in C-USA. If you are ranked in the 300s you are not trying. I dont care if you lost a couple players or not. This is unacceptable.

Rice is kinda in a special circumstance, though. Let's see how it plays out.

A bit alarmed that the conference tourney is being hosted closest to our worst team, however.

I cannot remember-- do all the teams make the tournament this year ?

(11-01-2017 10:49 AM)KAjunRaider Wrote:  

(11-01-2017 10:35 AM)cmett003 Wrote:  

(11-01-2017 10:12 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  It appears Rice's ranking is based solely on what they lost, not on what they replaced them with. Yes, it is hard to build a team from scratch. No, it is not impossible - just ask UAB. So I think this ranking to be way low. Let's play the season and see where we end up.

Lets look at the teams around the bottom 3:

313 - North Texas (C-USA)
314 - Norfolk St
315 - Northern Arizona
316 - Rice (C-USA)
317 - UMKC
318 - Lafayette
319 - Hartford
320 - NJIT
321 - Southern
322 - Stetson
323 - MD Eastern Shore
324 - SIU Edwardsville
325 - Little Rock
326 - SE Missouri St.
327 - FIU (C-USA)

These other teams have a fraction of the money, resources or name recognition of any team in C-USA. If you are ranked in the 300s you are not trying. I dont care if you lost a couple players or not. This is unacceptable.

Rice is kinda in a special circumstance, though. Let's see how it plays out.

A bit alarmed that the conference tourney is being hosted closest to our worst team, however.

I cannot remember-- do all the teams make the tournament this year ?

I hope rice is not that bad but its just tough on the conference when there is multiple sub-300 teams. Kills any chance for a multi bid league

It's a preseason ranking. I say that we save our snotty comments for actual, on-court inadequacy.

My guess is there will be plenty of opportunities in the coming weeks for all of us to exercise our fingers based n actual results. I'll frankly be happy if the bile is limited to the four that are currently getting picked on.

(11-01-2017 12:23 PM)AdoptedMonarch Wrote:  It's a preseason ranking. I say that we save our snotty comments for actual, on-court inadequacy.

My guess is there will be plenty of opportunities in the coming weeks for all of us to exercise our fingers based n actual results. I'll frankly be happy if the bile is limited to the four that are currently getting picked on.

Yes its a preseason ranking but its an indication of where the conference is in the basketball landscape. A third of our conference is ranked below teams that no one has ever heard of. That is a problem.

Here are the ESPN.com preseason rankings: http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketb...ball-1-351

In Football, UAB was ranked last preseason in multiple publications.
I say CUSA will be vastly improved this year, and predict no 300+ RPI teams by yrs end.
We just need to win most all games we are supposed to win, and win a few games as the underdog.

Not that it's any great accomplishment but Rice TAMU-CC in a secret scrimmage this past Saturday. They finished 2nd in the Southland last year, but I don't know what they returned.

Also of interest (sort of) is that it has come out over the last couple weeks that former Rice PF Marquez Letcher-Ellis, who attempted to transfer to Nevada, is not currently enrolled at the school because he failed most of his classes at Rice last spring semester and was unable to gain acceptance to UNR.

We have an open scrimmage against Wayland Baptist this Saturday, so that should be interesting.

With regard to our commitment to basketball, I hope the recruiting class we have committed is evidence that we don't plan to stay down for long. I think Pera is a better fit at Rice anyways, as he seems to be recruiting players who want to go to Rice instead of wanting to go to Mike Rhoades.

(11-02-2017 11:32 AM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  Not that it's any great accomplishment but Rice TAMU-CC in a secret scrimmage this past Saturday. They finished 2nd in the Southland last year, but I don't know what they returned.

Also of interest (sort of) is that it has come out over the last couple weeks that former Rice PF Marquez Letcher-Ellis, who attempted to transfer to Nevada, is not currently enrolled at the school because he failed most of his classes at Rice last spring semester and was unable to gain acceptance to UNR.

We have an open scrimmage against Wayland Baptist this Saturday, so that should be interesting.

With regard to our commitment to basketball, I hope the recruiting class we have committed is evidence that we don't plan to stay down for long. I think Pera is a better fit at Rice anyways, as he seems to be recruiting players who want to go to Rice instead of wanting to go to Mike Rhoades.

What's the word on Ako? Will he be the man this year?

(11-02-2017 11:45 AM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

(11-02-2017 11:32 AM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  Not that it's any great accomplishment but Rice TAMU-CC in a secret scrimmage this past Saturday. They finished 2nd in the Southland last year, but I don't know what they returned.

Also of interest (sort of) is that it has come out over the last couple weeks that former Rice PF Marquez Letcher-Ellis, who attempted to transfer to Nevada, is not currently enrolled at the school because he failed most of his classes at Rice last spring semester and was unable to gain acceptance to UNR.

We have an open scrimmage against Wayland Baptist this Saturday, so that should be interesting.

With regard to our commitment to basketball, I hope the recruiting class we have committed is evidence that we don't plan to stay down for long. I think Pera is a better fit at Rice anyways, as he seems to be recruiting players who want to go to Rice instead of wanting to go to Mike Rhoades.

What's the word on Ako? Will he be the man this year?

He'll be the starting PG, that's for sure... He's quite quick and a good ball handler but it remains to be seen how much his offensive game has improved. I've heard that his shooting hasn't improved that much. But if he can just get to the hoop and average 9-11 pts per game, I think we should be OK.

I'd look for junior Connor Cashaw to lead us in scoring this year. He's our one returning starter. AJ Lapray, a Oregon/Pepperdine grad transfer, should be our biggest threat from the perimeter.

Breakout candidate will be SG/SF Robert Martin Jr.

The part I'm really concerned about is our inside game. We only really have one legit, semi-proven big man (Austin Meyer). Going to need Tim Harrison (a sophomore who barely played last year) or Malik Osborne (True freshman who was a fairly highly rated recruit) to step up.

(11-01-2017 09:39 AM)cmett003 Wrote:  https://www.si.com/college-basketball/20...ions-seeds

SI Rankings for all 351 Division 1 Teams of course some C-USA are terrible again and dragging down the conference. Bottom 4 could get beat by a high school team

MTSU - 83
WKU - 100
Old Dominion - 112
La Tech - 119
UAB - 165
UTEP - 167
Marshall - 226
FAU - 230
Charlotte - 232
UTSA - 243
Southern Miss - 294
North Texas - 313
Rice - 316
FIU - 327

Admittedly NT was horrible last year. However, ODU wins of 7 and 6 points against an injury-ridden poorly coached NT were not exactly against high school scores.

I wouldn't take any pre-season ratings all that seriously. Things can change fairly quickly in basketball. NT for example has a new coaching staff and 9 scholarship players that didn't play for NT last year. That certainly is not going to get a team rated very high, but my guess is they are going to be much more competitive.

I was down on Western because I was expecting a team of selfish players like last year....no heart. If the two Exh. games plays out over the season this is going to be a fun Western team to watch. Also probably heart breaking team. They fly all over the floor on defense. Hustle their butts off and really quick with their hands. Good inside play.

The heartbreaking part will be only 7 scholarship players so this team will have nights that foul trouble will lose a few games that could have been wins. A inside injure will be a killer with only JJ and Coleby (6'9) inside...that's it then it's all guards and one 6'6 small forward/guard.

If Western can get a little luck this season might just be one of those years fans can look back on and talk about as ...remember that 2017 team. Need some luck getting the NCAA to clear a player. Need some luck on injuries being limited. Might not play out on the number of wins. But just one of those teams that plays better and harder than their win total. I love a team that flat leaves everything they have on the court. Winning makes it better. But sometimes even in losing you can enjoy watching a "team".

(11-02-2017 12:17 PM)WKUYG Wrote:  I was down on Western because I was expecting a team of selfish players like last year....no heart. If the two Exh. games plays out over the season this is going to be a fun Western team to watch. Also probably heart breaking team. They fly all over the floor on defense. Hustle their butts off and really quick with their hands. Good inside play.

The heartbreaking part will be only 7 scholarship players so this team will have nights that foul trouble will lose a few games that could have been wins. A inside injure will be a killer with only JJ and Coleby (6'9) inside...that's it then it's all guards and one 6'6 small forward/guard.

If Western can get a little luck this season might just be one of those years fans can look back on and talk about as ...remember that 2017 team. Need some luck getting the NCAA to clear a player. Need some luck on injuries being limited. Might not play out on the number of wins. But just one of those teams that plays better and harder than their win total. I love a team that flat leaves everything they have on the court. Winning makes it better. But sometimes even in losing you can enjoy watching a "team".

Well, I know JJ will. He did it last year. Coach said he needs to get into game-shape after gaining about 30 lbs from football.