(10-28-2019 09:40 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  Really odd since we were in Creme's original preseason Top 25 at #24, and just last week he had us as a #6 seed in his and ESPN's preseason NCAA bracket.

That's because, as it states in the article, this ranking was decided upon by Mechelle Voepel and Graham Hays in addition to Creme. Apparently, they don't think as highly of Rice as Creme does.

The AP's pre-season All-America team came out, and no one from Rice is on it. To no one's surprise, Chennedy Carter of Texas A&M did make it, and she appears to be the only player on a team that Rice will meet in the regular season this year.

Rice picked up two more points (32) and remained in the 29th spot for the AP Poll.

https://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/rankings

A&M moved up to 5 in the country.

(10-30-2019 01:51 PM)elw4796 Wrote:  Here are the projected conference finishes for all of the teams on our schedule:

Nicholls (#7, Southland)
Little Rock (#1, Sun Belt)
SMU (#12, American)
TAMU (#2, SEC)
OK St (#6, Big 12)
McNeese (#9, Southland)
NAU (#8, Big Sky)
Texas Southern (#5, SWAC)
Prairie View (#3, SWAC)
Va Tech (#10, ACC)
Ga Tech (#11, ACC)

Gonna be honest here, I think anything more than one loss is a bad OOC performance. Maybe two losses are acceptable if Oklahoma State is better than expected and/or Little Rock is very good, but we're in the same boat as last year. The ice below us is very thin, maybe more so because CUSA should be really solid again.

CollegeSportsMadness did move Rice into their Top 25.

Quote:#24
Owls picked up from where they left off last season as they beat Nicholls and Little Rock with easy 20 plus point wins.

https://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/17980

(11-13-2019 03:44 PM)dragon2owl Wrote:  CollegeSportsMadness did move Rice into their Top 25.

Quote:#24
Owls picked up from where they left off last season as they beat Nicholls and Little Rock with easy 20 plus point wins.

https://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/17980

Win tonight and Sunday, and we'll be in everyone's Top 25.

(09-04-2019 02:35 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  https://www.espn.com/womens-college-bask...son-top-25

We are #24 in Charlie Creme's way-too-early ranking (which is surprising because he gave Rice zero credit last year). Nancy Mulkey shrank two inches during the offseason to 6-7 apparently. But otherwise, all is good.

It looks like Creme's ranking was indeed way too early. In an ESPN website article on women's college basketball asking him and Graham Hays, among other things, which teams they overestimated this season, Creme included this:

Quote:Coming off the best season in program history and returning four starters, including Conference USA Player of the Year Nancy Mulkey, Rice was the runaway choice to win the league again and was in my preseason top 25. Today the Owls have the NCAA's 251st ranked offense, a 5-6 record that includes losses to SMU and Texas Southern and no chance of making the NCAA tournament without winning the Conference USA's automatic bid.

(12-28-2019 12:57 PM)Jonathan Sadow Wrote:  

(09-04-2019 02:35 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  https://www.espn.com/womens-college-bask...son-top-25

We are #24 in Charlie Creme's way-too-early ranking (which is surprising because he gave Rice zero credit last year). Nancy Mulkey shrank two inches during the offseason to 6-7 apparently. But otherwise, all is good.

It looks like Creme's ranking was indeed way too early. In an ESPN website article on women's college basketball asking him and Graham Hays, among other things, which teams they overestimated this season, Creme included this:

Quote:Coming off the best season in program history and returning four starters, including Conference USA Player of the Year Nancy Mulkey, Rice was the runaway choice to win the league again and was in my preseason top 25. Today the Owls have the NCAA's 251st ranked offense, a 5-6 record that includes losses to SMU and Texas Southern and no chance of making the NCAA tournament without winning the Conference USA's automatic bid.

wow-that is brutal. Guess we really missed the graduating seniors, who were a gritty bunch.

This year will be a good test how successful Coach Langley can be in developing young players. She really has not been in this situation at Rice to date.