Rivals.com Top64

[blueness]

Aren't preseason rankings fun?

http://collegebasketball.rivals.com/content.asp?SID=1146&CID=699690

FWIW!

(Still not a single Valley Team and as of today they are at #45...interesting for any number of reasons...:ermm:)

Some interesting choices that may make Valley fans puke:

#47 George Mason
#46 Nebraska
#45 Illinois

:valley:

[Mick Taylor]

It's Rivals, who cares? They don't even cover the Valley do they?

[tennis08tarheels]

The fact that Nebraska is in the top 50 automatically destroys any credibility that this list might have had.

[blueness]

The fact that Nebraska is in the top 50 automatically destroys any credibility that this list might have had.

We have a winner!

And Mick, notice I posted this as a "for what it's worth" type of link.

[JVShocker]

You pay for what you get with Rivals. You can see who all the big Rivals sponsors are by the way they ranked the teams.

There's a reason they put blinders on horses - they don't want them to get spooked by the other horses around them. :innocent::grin::valley:

[txsaluki05]

#25 Southern Illinois
http://collegebasketball.rivals.com/content.asp?SID=1146&CID=714965

One Valley team in their Top 64 ... :no:

[kevinmitchell]

Does a rivals.com ranking make a team better or worse heading into a season? Never understood why this stuff is a big deal to fans.

[dawg]

Does a rivals.com ranking make a team better or worse heading into a season? Never understood why this stuff is a big deal to fans.

It doesn't, but after years of toil it is nice to be recognized.

[goaces]

Since Rivals believes that the Atlantic 10 is on the upswing, that means their publication can effetivlely be used as a viable substitute for toilet paper.

[SiuCubFan8]

Does a rivals.com ranking make a team better or worse heading into a season? Never understood why this stuff is a big deal to fans.

Obviously way better!:yes::valley:

[squirrel]

I understand people are going to be upset at the Valley being overlooked. Don't worry that works to our advantage.

But we are also not going to be as visible this year or as highly rated, IMO.

The A10, CUSA, and MWC are all loaded, and their teams were decent. IMO, those three leagues could take anywhere from 7-10 of the at-larges collectively this year, meaning Valley teams are going to have to be that much better in the non-con.

And Bradley who has been tabbed as high as 2nd place in a couple places goes on the road to 4 Horizon teams this year. Bradley hasn't won on the road against a Horizon team since Evansville was in the league (@ Loyola in either '91 or '92 I believe without looking it up).

So even if we do beat Michigan State and VCU at home and Iowa in South Padre, they'll point to those Horizon games as reasons to keep BU out of a potential at-large.

[doinit salukistyle]

Since Rivals believes that the Atlantic 10 is on the upswing, that means their publication can effetivlely be used as a viable substitute for toilet paper.

Cant they only go up though? If so, technically they would be right

[blueness]

Another credibility smasher:

Where's the MVC love?
How can you overlook the Missouri Valley Conference? The MVC will have four teams (Bradley or Illinois State, Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois and Creighton) in the NCAA Tournament. It's a lot better than the A-10 or Conference USA (Rivals.com writers recently debated whether the A-10 or C-USA would be the better non-BCS conference in 2007-08.)

-- Jim from Ft. Washington, Md.
-----


I asked the same question when our staff here at Rivals.com sat down to put together our preseason rankings. Most argued that only one MVC team deserved to be in our Top 64 (Southern Illinois sits at No. 25), and ultimately it was difficult to disagree with their logic.

Other than Southern Illinois, the top programs relied heavily on seniors last season. The amount of top players who left the league is staggering.

Creighton lost its top four scorers. Nate Funk, Anthony Tolliver, Nick Porter and Dane Watts combined to average 51.7 points and 22.2 rebounds a game last season. Why do you think Dana Altman, who had turned down several head coaching offers before, briefly accepted the Arkansas job? With all Creighton was losing, he probably thought it might be a good time to finally leave.

Missouri State, which has fallen just short of an NCAA Tournament bid the last two seasons, loses three of its top four scorers. That includes lead guard Blake Ahearn, who shot a stellar 94.5 percent from the free-throw line.

New Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall inherits a team that must replace three starters. The Shockers also lost one of their top recruits when former coach Mark Turgeon lured former WSU-signee Denzell Bowles to Texas A&M.

Northern Iowa and Bradley are both losing a pair of double-digit scorers.

I can't buy into the whole "reloading" argument either. Rivals.com ranked the top 20 classes among mid-majors, and Creighton was the only MVC team to make it at No. 6.

What has made the MVC so strong in the past, particularly when it sent a mid-major record four teams to the 2006 NCAA Tournament, has been experience. Their rotations have been full of juniors and seniors, and consequently have had great chemistry. That's simply not the case this season.

Perhaps an MVC team besides SIU will surprise us and land on the NCAA Tournament bubble. But there is no doubt the MVC is no longer the premier mid-major league. The A-10 is loaded with veterans, and Conference USA had five schools among the top 20 mid-major classes.

:lol:

Man, I wish Watts hadn't gone pro..

[iSASO]

Is he on the same NBA team as Matt Shaw?

[Dawgbit]

Is he on the same NBA team as Matt Shaw?

No, nor, is he in the same criminal detention center as Jamar Howard.

[WSUbballer]

No, nor, is he in the same criminal detention center as Jamar Howard.
3 year and you're out rule violation. Please use smack that involves current players or players that have graduated within the last 3 years.

Stale, outdated, laziness = not a good slam.

[iSASO]

No, nor, is he in the same criminal detention center as Jamar Howard.

You're really out of touch. Jamar is getting paid to play basketball, just like we knew he would.