Do you have any feel for how competitive we will be in the NEC in basketball and across the board? Are there ranking numbers for volleyball to give a comparison?

I think the NEC is as bad in volleyball as it is in basketball. Possibly worse. And I’d say the same holds true in virtually every sport.

In volleyball, even with 14 conference games, there was only one team that finished the season above .500 overall. Even the conference tourney winner and NCAA tournament rep was under .500.

https://northeastconference.org/sports/w...volleyball

Here is the volleyball RPI ratings. No one is even remotely close to Chicago State. The Cougars finished at #163. Most of the NEC is above 300.

Out of 344 volleyball programs, the NEC average is 314….

https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/volleyball...eyball-rpi

Combined, the 8 schools had only 15 out of conference wins. And most schools played around 30 games. Sacred Heart finished tied for first in the regular season at 11-3. They were 12-15 overall.

Out of conference, the teams were a combined 15-100. 2 of the 8 teams didn’t win a single out of conference game, 3 more only had 1 apiece, and the other 3 teams had just 3, 4, and 5 OOC wins.

Even if Chicago State losses a lot from this year, I think Coach Trifonov has shown that he can recruit higher level players than anyone in the NEC, so I would expect them to contend for the conference championship and NCAA tournament bid.

The NEC is also pretty weak in men’s soccer. So was the OVC. With that said, there are 211 D1 teams. SIUE was 39, but the next best team was Liberty at 149. Over all, the OVC average RPI was 162, while the NEC last year was 157. Similar. But excluding SIUE, the OVC was 180. SIUE really skewed the average.

The NEC had 3 teams ranked above the OVC’s 2nd team, but the NEC also had 4 teams below Chicago States RPI, out of 9 teams.

https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/soccer-men...soccer-rpi

(02-02-2024 07:13 PM)Todor Wrote:  Even if Chicago State losses a lot from this year, I think Coach Trifonov has shown that he can recruit higher level players than anyone in the NEC, so I would expect them to contend for the conference championship and NCAA tournament bid.

The two Polish kids by themselves were an upgrade to the average skill level of the squad. Coach T can recruit!

Who will we for sure lose from the volleyball roster for next season?

Also, since the NEC has men's volleyball, and since the Midwest is one of the few places where men's volleyball is strong, we might want to consider starting that program. Already have the facility. Shouldn't be any problem getting talent since a lot of the lower level schools in the region have the sport. Also, unless they have someone waiting in the wings, the NEC currently has an odd number in MVB (7).

Are there any current sports in which we might not be competitive in the NEC?

Are there any rankings of college tennis?

(03-04-2024 01:32 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  Are there any current sports in which we might not be competitive in the NEC?

I don’t think Chicago will the very bottom of the NEC in much, if anything. They may be in the bottom half in some, but the league is not very good, so I think Chicagos teams should fare OK.

I think women’s basketball and soccer may be very near the bottom in the first few years, but they’ll still be getting some wins I expect. Looking at how NEC standings in various sports look, some of their middle of the pack teams have very, very few out of conference wins. So sometimes a team that may be very bad on a national level, might still be getting a number of wins within the conference. I think a few of Chicago States programs may be in that position.

Ball park predictions-

M&W Cross country- probably in the bottom 2-3 in the NEC.
Volleyball- Should win the conference
Men’s Soccer- Middle of the pack
Women’s Soccer- Bottom 2-3
Men’s Basketball- Top 2
Women’s Basketball- Bottom 2-3
M&W Golf- Middle of the pack
Mens Tennis-Bottom half, but not last
Women’s Tennis-Top half
M&W track- Bottom half, but not last

Assuming the NEC has a Commissioners Cup all sport’s championship ranking, I think Chicago should be right near the middle. My only caveat is some schools like Fairleigh Dickinson have large sports programs, so there could be some sports that Chicago State doesn’t have that boost some schools rankings. Possibly lacrosse or some others.

Good analysis. Thank you. At least we now can go into the season knowing that we are on something approaching a level playing field and at least when conference season starts we won't have to get our brains beat out EVERY game. In fact, depending on the sport, based upon what you said above, we should be able to hand out about as many lumps as we take.

#6 seed Wagner gets the NCAA bid for the NEC. They are below Chicago State in the NET, despite having won more D1 games. Most of their wins were in the NEC where they went 7-9.

In fact, they came into the tournament having lost 4 of the last 5. Then they knocked off the 1, 2, and 3 seeds. In conference play, Wagner was 1-5 versus those 3 teams. The one win was versus Merrimack in the very gym they just played in at Merrimack.

This time next year, Cardet, Corbett, Davis, Crawford and company could be the ones celebrating in the JCC. It would not surprise me a bit.

Wouldn't that be something! That should be worth a big celebration.

(03-13-2024 02:48 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  Wouldn't that be something! That should be worth a big celebration.

One interesting thing is, recruits are motivated by different things. Some want to play at the highest level possible, some go to programs where they are sure they can start/be a leader/high scorer etc, and there are also those that really care about getting to play in the NCAA tournament.

Chicago States position in the NEC has the potential to be a nice draw for certain recruits. Take some guy who was the leading scorer on a bad team that had no chance of making the tournament, Chicago State becomes a nice option.

Few conferences are as wide open right now as the NEC. Turnover among schools, fairly tight grouping in the NET, and Chicago being senior laden make the Cougars a strong contender. And that is going to make a great recruiting season I believe.

Ken Pom ratings of next seasons NEC teams

Central Connecticut 265
Wagner 293
Lemoyne 300
Chicago State 302
Fairleigh Dickinson 326
LIU 344
St Francis 355
Stonehill 358

Even better, Stonehill and LeMoyne aren’t NCAA eligible yet. NEC teams have the best chance of any teams in the country to make the tournament with only 6 teams competing for the bid.

Why 1 bid conferences keep adding more teams, all the way up to 14 or more is beyond me.