UPCOMING 2018-19 SEASON

[EvanJ]

Steven Marcus made mistakes in his preview that could have been looked up in seconds. He butchered the spelling of Juan'ya, and he said Marshall was the 16 seed who beat the 1. In the preview of Stony Brook, the 16 seed who beat the 1 was correctly identified as UMBC. It said JWF and Pemberton are the third best returning duo in 2017-2018 points per game.

[Cards]

preseason KenPom rankings for our scheduled opponents (CAA in bold)

30 Maryland
78 Northeastern
95 Marshall
98 Rider
99 Charleston
126 VCU
128 W&M
137 Cal St Fullerton
153 James Madison
156 Hofstra
176 Monmouth
184 UNCW
216 Elon
224 Stony Brook
230 Towson
241 Delaware
251 Siena
285 Manhattan
293 Drexel
324 Mt St Mary
329 Kennesaw
346 NC A&T

Non conf opponents - three top 100, three 100-200, three 200-300, three 300-350
note - that Marshall, Rider, and Cal ST Fullerton are all picked to win thier conference (so they are experienced teams)
Conf opponents - two top 100, three 100-200, four 200-300

[stuball888]

Conference having four teams with a rating of 200 to 300 does not bode well for the conference

[cactus]

156 seems pretty low for Hofstra, they will be playing the underdog role with a talented team.
Stu, we know because of a number of key transfers out the league is very top heavy.

[EvanJ]

Conference having four teams with a rating of 200 to 300 does not bode well for the conference

It's an average rank of 177.8 compared to 168.8 in the RPI last season, which was good for 12th out of 32 in the Conference RPI. Last season half of the CAA was in the 200s, but there were three teams in the top 100 and one team in the bottom 100. James Madison was worst at 79th worst.

With 353 teams, the average rank is 177. The average of rank of the 22 teams in New York is 200.4.

Edit: http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basket ... team-1-353 doesn't have the CAA with a really good or really bad team. Northeastern is the only top 100 team in 71st. Hofstra is 165th. James Madison is fifth in the CAA and close to third in 172nd. Drexel is last in 270th. The average rank of 189.1 is a little worse than KenPom.

[triplec2195]

Depending on who you want to believe as far as basketball predictions are concerned College Sports Madness has us as the #93 ranked team in the country. NE #69, W&M #83 AND COC #118. It seems some of their predictions certainly could be out of line but the only thing that matters is what we do once we step out on the court. We have an experienced team coming back that won 19 games last year. We have more depth then last year and for us it probably comes down to winning the Colonial period if we're going to get to the dance. Sure we would like to beat everyone but there will be games we lose that we should of won and vice versa. Don't place too much credence on these pre-season rankings.

[stuball888]

There are still a lot of unknowns about this team. My concern is the front line and defense. Injuries can blow this team up so I’m keeping my fingers and toes crossed

[triplec2195]

There are still a lot of unknowns about this team. My concern is the front line and defense. Injuries can blow this team up so I’m keeping my fingers and toes crossed

Absolutely and Joe has talked about making up for the rebounds Rokas was getting and how the Colonial is one of the top offensive conferences in the country. He emphasized over and over again how this team needs to play better defense so we'll see if that comes to fruition. We need to contest and block shots in the paint. We can't give up the easy layups like we did last year. The injuries can absolutely hurt us especially if they're key injuries.

[garyg]

Injuries happen to all teams at all levels in all sports...good teams have depth and learn how to deal with injuries

Hoping Taylor can average 8 or 9 PPG and 6 RPG plus block a few shots here and there...those numbers will help to replace those lost with RG and HS moving on plus the rest of team will also contribute towards replacing those numbers

[triplec2195]

Injuries happen to all teams at all levels in all sports...good teams have depth and learn how to deal with injuries

Hoping Taylor can average 8 or 9 PPG and 6 RPG plus block a few shots here and there...those numbers will help to replace those lost with RG and HS moving on plus the rest of team will also contribute towards replacing those numbers

I'm with you 100% on that Gary and would love to have an enforcer/shot blocker in the post.

[The Shadow]

To triplec2195, thanks for the college sports madness site. It seems like a good resource.

[Cards]

Hoping Taylor can average 8 or 9 PPG and 6 RPG plus block a few shots here and there...those numbers will help to replace those lost with RG and HS moving on plus the rest of team will also contribute towards replacing those numbers

I'll settle for a flip of those numbers - something like 6-7 ppg and 8-9 rpg. Don't think we need too many points from the 5 spot, but I know we do need rebounds from the spot

[triplec2195]

To triplec2195, thanks for the college sports madness site. It seems like a good resource.

You're welcome Shadow. I don't know if this site is spot on since I see St John's ranked at 115 but that's before Mustafa Heron was declared eligible. I would appreciate it if some of you guys who are more involved with the program and have inside info. would share that info. with some of us who are not privy to that info. I specifically would like to know what the early impressions are of Taylor??

[stuball888]

I think the wild card here is Dan Dwyer. As a grad student and st 6ft 8 and 220. He can play the 4 or 5. He gives us flexibility up front. He is also an Ivy player who is smart and coachable

[triplec2195]

I think the wild card here is Dan Dwyer. As a grad student and st 6ft 8 and 220. He can play the 4 or 5. He gives us flexibility up front. He is also an Ivy player who is smart and coachable

OK Stu thanks but does he have any mid range game and what has the coaching staff been seeing with Taylor. I'm sure a lot of us would like to know about him.

[HUSID74]

Saw the team in action last Sunday at the Blue and White scrimmage...they had three referees and went pretty hard. Best player on the court by far is Justin, but that is no surprise. Really impressed with Coburn and his ability to score inside...he is a strong 6-5 and could see him starting ahead of Truehart. Taylor is big, athletic and can score, rebound and block shots around the hoop...could be more aggressive but we'll see...heard a lot of good things about Dwyer but he did not stand out in the scrimmage. Pemberton did not play but I heard he was practicing. Jalen Ray left early for more work on his hamstring...that seems to be the only significant injury right now.

All in all I think we are deeper and more athletic than last year...looking forward to a CAA contending season!

[triplec2195]

Saw the team in action last Sunday at the Blue and White scrimmage...they had three referees and went pretty hard. Best player on the court by far is Justin, but that is no surprise. Really impressed with Coburn and his ability to score inside...he is a strong 6-5 and could see him starting ahead of Truehart. Taylor is big, athletic and can score, rebound and block shots around the hoop...could be more aggressive but we'll see...heard a lot of good things about Dwyer but he did not stand out in the scrimmage. Pemberton did not play but I heard he was practicing. Jalen Ray left early for more work on his hamstring...that seems to be the only significant injury right now.

All in all I think we are deeper and more athletic than last year...looking forward to a CAA contending season!

Great news SID and thanks for giving us a sneak preview of what we're all anxious to see first hand. I wish we were 100% healthy now but its early and its better to let these injuries heal so that we will be healthy moving forward. It's interesting that you mention Coburn standing out since a lot of us figured he would be fighting for playing time but I know Joe mentioned him as did the players on media day. He could be one of the early very pleasant surprises this year for us and that would be huge. He does give up 3 inches to Trueheart but if he brings intensity and can play D that would be awesome.

[ProudofPride]

Anyone hear anything about yesterday's scrimmage at Penn?

[daHUPride]

Saw the team in action last Sunday at the Blue and White scrimmage...they had three referees and went pretty hard. Best player on the court by far is Justin, but that is no surprise. Really impressed with Coburn and his ability to score inside...he is a strong 6-5 and could see him starting ahead of Truehart. Taylor is big, athletic and can score, rebound and block shots around the hoop...could be more aggressive but we'll see...heard a lot of good things about Dwyer but he did not stand out in the scrimmage. Pemberton did not play but I heard he was practicing. Jalen Ray left early for more work on his hamstring...that seems to be the only significant injury right now.

All in all I think we are deeper and more athletic than last year...looking forward to a CAA contending season!

Great news SID and thanks for giving us a sneak preview of what we're all anxious to see first hand. I wish we were 100% healthy now but its early and its better to let these injuries heal so that we will be healthy moving forward. It's interesting that you mention Coburn standing out since a lot of us figured he would be fighting for playing time but I know Joe mentioned him as did the players on media day. He could be one of the early very pleasant surprises this year for us and that would be huge. He does give up 3 inches to Trueheart but if he brings intensity and can play D that would be awesome.

Thats a great report SID - thanks.
Love that Coburn is playing - well the more talent/the better we are. Dont love that he could beat out Truehart - I like talent and size! Now if he can D at 6'5" like Mahlik Nicols did then I could be OK.
A deeper/more athletic team is always a good thing.

[Jojogunne]

There was a Blue and White scrimmage?