ATLANTIC 10 (COACHES AND MEDIA)
1 Xavier
2 Temple
3 Saint Louis
4 St. Bonaventure
5 Richmond
6 Dayton
7 Saint Joseph’s
8 George Washington
9 Duquesne
10 Rhode Island 11 CHARLOTTE 12 Massachusetts
13 La Salle
14 Fordham
ATHLON
1 Xavier
2 Temple
3 GW
4 Dayton
5 Duquesne
6 Saint Louis
7 Bona
8 Richmond
9 UMass
10 URI
11 St. Joe’s 12 CHARLOTTE
13 La Salle
14 Fordham
CBSSPORTS.COM
1 Xavier
2 Temple
3 Saint Louis
4 Bona
5 UMass 6 CHARLOTTE
7 Duquesne
8 Richmond
9 GW
10 URI
11 Dayton
12 St. Joe’s
13 La Salle
14 Fordham
CINCINNATI ENQUIRER
1 Xavier
2 Temple
3 Saint Louis
4 Bona
5 Richmond
6 GW 7 CHARLOTTE
8 UMass
9 Duquesne
10 Dayton
11 URI
12 La Salle
13 St. Joe’s
14 Fordham
COLLEGE CHALK TALK
1 Xavier
2 Temple
3 GW
4 Bona
5 Saint Louis
6 Richmond
7 St. Joe’s
8 Dayton
9 URI
10 UMass
9 GW
11 Duquesne 12 CHARLOTTE
13 Fordham
14 La Salle
DAYTON DAILY NEWS
1 Xavier
2 Temple
3 Saint Louis
4 Bona
5 Richmond
6 Dayton
7 St. Joe’s
8 UMass
9 GW
10 Duquesne 11 CHARLOTTE
12 URI
13 Fordham
14 La Salle
LINDY’S
1 Xavier
2 Temple
3 Saint Louis
4 St. Joe’s
5 Dayton
6 GW 7 CHARLOTTE
8 Bona
9 Richmond
10 Duquesne
11 UMass
12 URI
13 La Salle
14 Fordham
RIVALS.COM
1 Xavier
2 Temple
3 Saint Louis
4 Bona
5 Duquesne
6 Richmond
7 Dayton 8 CHARLOTTE
9 GW
10 St. Joe’s
11 URI
12 UMass
13 Fordham
14 La Salle
RUSHTHECOURT.NET
1 Xavier
2 Temple
3 Saint Louis
4 Bona
5 GW
6 Duquesne
7 Richmond
8 Dayton
9 St. Joe’s
10 La Salle
11 URI
12 UMass 13 CHARLOTTE 14 Fordham
SPORTING NEWS/RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH (NOTE: SN & RTD predictions made by RTD sportswriter John O’Connor)
1 Xavier
2 Temple
3 Saint Louis 4 CHARLOTTE
5 Bona
6 Richmond
7 Dayton
8 St. Joe’s
9 Duquesne
10 UMass
11 URI
12 GW
13 La Salle
14 Fordham
SPORTS NETWORK
1 Xavier
2 Temple
3 Bona
4 Saint Louis
5 Dayton
6 Richmond
7 GW
8 St. Joe’s
9 Duquesne 10 CHARLOTTE 11 URI
12 UMass
13 La Salle
14 Fordham
[quote=“sokool, post:2, topic:25747”]RUN, what about The Sporting News ?[/quote]Haven’t seen a copy of TSN yet. I know they have us 4th (per your post on A-10 board - Thanks!), but just haven’t seen it on the stands. Will look for it this week.
How are we predicted to finish 12th in the first one? It just seems we have too much decent talent this year to finish anything below 10th. I’m really hoping for 7th or 8th with the depth that we’ll have.
Those predictions are wayyyy across the board. What popped out is the 9 position swing below… goes to show that these predictions means Diddly. They know nothing. Charlotte is a top 6 team in the A10 this year!!!
JFelt. I think you are helping make his arguement.
Hootie has been around as long as I have and he is just taking a bigger picture perspective of our death spiral to where we are now. It was not that long ago that we were unbelievably pissed that GW beat us in our season opener when Withers was suspended and lots of people were saying that should never happen.
I understand your point from a short term view of last year but from following the program for quite some time it is depressing to see our now modest expectations. Hopefully Major can change that. He is getting the players he is targeting so it is all on him now.
We won ten games last season. TEN. Only two of those in conference.
And we missed our conference tourney. Top six would be an accomplishment worth applauding.[/quote]
Past performance has no determination on future years performance. You can see that just in our team from the 11 win 08-09 season to going 18-5 in the first 23 games the following year… of course that was before the shenanigans and the meltdown.
The predictions are meaningless, but it gives the writers a job I guess.
Think we could finish anywhere between the best (4th) and worst (12th).[/quote]
I think somewhere between 4-8 is about right. If we finished anything under 10 I will be VERY disappointed. This is a team that should have fnished around .500 last year if our starting center had gone to class. If you think about it, the fact that we managed 10 wins is amazing given all the crap that went down in addition to having a rookie HC. So with that in mind I really expect a significant leap. While we are brining in some new players and we will depend on new faces I feel confident for a few reasons.
[ul][li]Derrio, Deuce, KJ, JB and Braz got plenty of time and experience last year.[/li]
[li]Demario and Luka were with the team all last year.[/li]
[li]All 7 of these players got to experience an offseason with no distractions or changes.[/li]
[li]All 7 of these players can now be leaders and assist the new guys.[/li]
[li]Add into that the overall talent level of the team increasing with the the new guys. [/li]
[li]And most importantly IMO is Major has grown. He flat got out coached a few times last year - mostly early in the season. He was learning on the job and I think adjusting his style to some degree. I tink he now has a bettter idea of what he wants to do and how to do it. This I really think can not be overlooked.[/li][/ul]
We are taller than we have been in a long time and we have more ahtletes than we have had in a long time. While none of these things are promises of a successful season I would be shocked if we are not a very solid club.
[quote=“TheShowDawg, post:13, topic:25747”]JFelt. I think you are helping make his arguement.
Hootie has been around as long as I have and he is just taking a bigger picture perspective of our death spiral to where we are now. It was not that long ago that we were unbelievably pissed that GW beat us in our season opener when Withers was suspended and lots of people were saying that should never happen.
I understand your point from a short term view of last year but from following the program for quite some time it is depressing to see our now modest expectations. Hopefully Major can change that. He is getting the players he is targeting so it is all on him now.[/quote]
I think only winning ten games is a lot more depressing than our lowered expectations.
It’s been half a decade since we could get angry about early season losses to GW. Unless, of course, you mean Gardner-Webb. :
I predict us to finish in the top half, and make the semis of the conference tourney. We’re going to take our knocks early but gel at the end, as most young teams do.
I will be very dissapointed if we finish outside the top six, mainly for the reasons wupass mentioned. I think if we stay healthy and academically eligible, a top 4 finish is well within reason.
[quote=“J Felt, post:16, topic:25747”][quote=“TheShowDawg, post:13, topic:25747”]JFelt. I think you are helping make his arguement.
Hootie has been around as long as I have and he is just taking a bigger picture perspective of our death spiral to where we are now. It was not that long ago that we were unbelievably pissed that GW beat us in our season opener when Withers was suspended and lots of people were saying that should never happen.
I understand your point from a short term view of last year but from following the program for quite some time it is depressing to see our now modest expectations. Hopefully Major can change that. He is getting the players he is targeting so it is all on him now.[/quote]
It’s been half a decade since we could get angry about early season losses to GW. Unless, of course, you mean Gardner-Webb. : [/quote]
I think a lot of folks are saying we’re a young team, but I think that assumes the new guys are going to be playing most of the minutes. We have 2 seniors and 3 juniors and probably 1 sophomore from which the starting lineup will probably come. I’d say we’re middle-aged at worst.
This season is about two things: a) whether the returning guys have progressed from last year, and b) whether the young guys can get some playing time and experience for next year. I really like the new guys who’ve been brought in, but I like them primarily because I think they can develop into very good players. I don’t think anyone coming in will be an instant star, though I’ll be glad to be wrong.
We need to see a few things for this year to be good. Braswell needs to become more dominant down low and deal with athletic post players. Sherrill needs to learn to play with control and finesse. Green needs to take better shots (though part of that may have been feeling pressured to carry the team). Briscoe needs to cut down on the turnovers and play tough D. Barnett needs to show up every game and position better on D (to make up for slower foot speed). I’m not sure what we get from Mayfield, but I’m hoping for good defense, some slashing ability, and an occasional outside jumper. If all these things happen and the team comes together early on, we’ll be pretty good. If we have a weak link, we’ll be depending on a freshman/new guy I’m not sure is ready yet and probably struggle.
Given these contingencies, predicting the Niners higher than 6th is very surprising to me.
