Vitale has X at preseason #40

[Mr. Neutral]

http://www.yardbarker.com/college_baske ... oll/351179

[muskieman]

Is this the first time he has given us an honor like this?
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[Masterofreality]

Wow.

Nothing like going overboard in effusive praise for a team that made the Elite 8 last year.

#40. Just awesome, baby!! That equates to a 10 seed- barely in the tournament.

Somehow, me thinks that if Syracuse had the same kind of finish with the same player losses, they'd be in the Top 20.

Anybody look up Dookie V's Syracuse rating from last year?

[Mr. Neutral]

We can already see our preseason rankings are going to be all over the map. That's to be expected when (1) you're coming off an Elite Eight season and return a number of key guys, BUT (2) lose 3 of your starters, with all 3 being key players.

And if college basketball's a point guard's game, we don't have a proven one at this point, so there are certainly big questions to be answered.

[muskie4106]

Dick Vital is a bafoon and is so stupid when it comes to basketball

[madness31]

I agree with neutral. This team is unpredictable given the point guard situation. You also have to consider that the A-10 is not the most respected league in the country. If we get off to a slow start as Freshman guards learn the system and get accustomed to college level play it will be tough for the team to get a great ranking. That being said we have a ton of talent down low and could be dominant if the guards are able to avoid turnovers and knock down the occassional open shot. There is also the possibility of a point forward if Brown shows he can handle the ball in the open floor.

If the rest of the league takes care of business in pre-conference play then a slow start created by inexperience won't be as damaging. I suspect our guards will be adequate to put us in position to win games with the incredible tallent down low and we will be a top 25 team that advances in the tourney.

[Masterofreality]

The answer to my question above is that Dookie picked Syracuse to be #18 last year in preseason- even with an allegedly young team and a team that missed the NCAA's the year before.

BTW. He picked last year's Xavier team to be #39- one spot above this years. Huh?

Also he picked Indiana to be #8 last year.

Yeah. Don't take any stock tips from Vitale either.

[bleedXblue]

I'm really confident that this years team will be very, very good. Yes, not having a seasoned PG will be an issue, but we have 3 legit scoring options in BJ, CJ and Derrick. I think McLean will get some time and be a huge asset. Jason Love will continue to improve and Dante showed signs of a shooting touch late in the season. Add all of the Frosh, and there's no way this team shouldnt be in the TOP 25 most of the season.

[Mr. Neutral]

I like the fact that people get upset and offended by pre-season picks, which are only posted for informational purposes and because there's no "hard news" to post at this point. I could see taking issue with in-season polls because then there's actual game results to go on. Right now, it's all speculation, including ours. Not a single one of us can say definitively how Holloway or Redford will handle the PG spot, or how much Anderson or Love will improve, or....anything, for that matter. It's all opinion, no more, no less.

Of course, if the pre-season pick has us ranked highly, then we're OK with it. So, we're anti-preseason pick-----unless they rank us high. Hmmm.

[XU84]

I really couldn't care less about the pre-season polls. If we rattle off some early season W's and take care of business against Duke we'll be back in the top 25 soon enough. I agree that the lack of an experienced point guard is somewhat worrisome but someone will step up. And if Crawford can play, we'll be tough all year. Lets hope he can.