Pre-Season MBB: Rank'em

[madmartigan]

With a few teams having games next week, I thought we could start the time-honored tradition of ranking the teams in this marvelous conference. Besides these rankings, I'm calling for the MW to earn multiple bids in the NCAAs. 

1. SDSU

2. USU

3. BSU

4. CSU (I love MedVed)

5. UNLV

6. Nevada

7. UNM

8. Fresno

9. Wyo

10. AFA

11. SJSU

 

[nvspuds]

1.  SDSU

2  CSU

3. BSU

4 UNLV

5 USU

6 NM

7 NV

8 FSU

9 WY

10 AFA

 

[blind_squirrel54]

1.) SDSU

2.) BSU

3.) USU

4.) CSU

5.) UNLV

6.) NEV

7.) FSU

8.) UNM

9.) WYO

10.) SJSU

11.) AFA

[Nevada6077]

No way nevada finishes that far downnnnn

[nvspuds]

You could be right but I am just looking at the unknown.  The team has 9 underclassmen and returns 1 starter.  Hopefully lots of guys make the sophomore jump and Cambridge and Sherfield are studs but at this point..Question marks..

[ph90702]

Anyone who has UNLV fifth is an idiot.  UNLV is the second best team at worst.

And I’m a scrumptious little bunny!

[kingpotato]

11 minutes ago, Nevada6077 said:

No way nevada finishes that far downnnnn

Who were you responding to and who above them will they finish higher than? I can't imagine anyone (outside of UNRfan) would have them above any of these; SDSU, USU, BSU, UNLV, CSU. All of those teams were either on par or better than UNR and return a lot more.

[kingpotato]

Just now, ph90702 said:

Anyone who has UNLV fifth is an idiot.  UNLV is the second best team at worst.

Remember that time that you were never gunna post on this board if UNLV didn't win the conference? What did they finish? 7th? 8th? Good times...

[Jalex4141]

1.  SDSU

2.  BSU

3.  USU

4.  UNLV

5.  CSU

6.  UNR

7.  FSU

8.  UNM

9.  WYO

10.  SJSU

11.  AF

2 NCAA bids. 3 if number 1 or 2 doesn't win conf tourney. 

[TheJackel]

Tier 1

1. SDSU - they’re the top until they’re not. We’ll see how well they can replace Flynn and Wetzell 

2. BSU - they have the talent, can they put it together 

3. UNLV - Hamilton and Jenkins will be dynamic but they still need a offensive front court threat

4. CSU - same situation as UNLV, another dynamic back court but the loss of Carvacho hurts, need someone to step up in the front court

5. USU - another extremely talented team, just need to see what players replace the chasm left by Merrill’s departure

Tier 2

6. UNR - Harris, Drew, and Johnson are gone. Losing that much talent is going to hurt.  They’ll be decent though.

7. Fresno - Good talent but can they put it together? 

8. UNM - they’ve been ‘UNLVing’ with their talent. Hopefully that changes this year

Tier 3

9. SJSU - Seneca Knight show.  We’ll see if there is enough talent around him to do any damage but that’s unlikely 

10. Wyoming - First year for the coach.  Outside of both the Hunters I think they have a tough go of it

Tier 4

11. Air Force - they’ll always have athletes but even with a retread coach I think it’ll be a down first year

[Lobonado]

Fire Weir! UNM should never finish below 5th!

[4UNLV]

1 hour ago, TheJackel said:

Tier 1

1. SDSU - they’re the top until they’re not. We’ll see how well they can replace Flynn and Wetzell 

2. BSU - they have the talent, can they put it together 

3. UNLV - Hamilton and Jenkins will be dynamic but they still need a offensive front court threat

4. CSU - same situation as UNLV, another dynamic back court but the loss of Carvacho hurts, need someone to step up in the front court

5. USU - another extremely talented team, just need to see what players replace the chasm left by Merrill’s departure

Tier 2

6. UNR - Harris, Drew, and Johnson are gone. Losing that much talent is going to hurt.  They’ll be decent though.

7. Fresno - Good talent but can they put it together? 

8. UNM - they’ve been ‘UNLVing’ with their talent. Hopefully that changes this year

Tier 3

9. SJSU - Seneca Knight show.  We’ll see if there is enough talent around him to do any damage but that’s unlikely 

10. Wyoming - First year for the coach.  Outside of both the Hunters I think they have a tough go of it

Tier 4

11. Air Force - they’ll always have athletes but even with a retread coach I think it’ll be a down first year

This is where I put my top 5.. USU is going to struggle without Merrill and Porter, and as much as I like CSU's back court, I think they will need to find a replacement for Carvacho. Boise has talent coming in, we'll see if Rice can do something with it. UNLV finished 2nd last year, and brings in a ton of talent, maybe they can get it done this year.

[nvspuds]

Something that might help a bit is some idea of each team's starting lineup and rotation players..

I am not positive but I believe the only 2 guys who appear to be likely starters for Nevada are Cambridge and Sherfield.  The rest are anybody's guess..

For me there are too many unknowns..

 

 

[Shaker]

1. SDSU

2. UNLV

3. USU

4. BSU

5. CSU

6. UNR

7. UNM

8. Wyoming

9. Fresno

10. AF

11. SJSU

I haven't looked at everybody's ooc schedule so I can't say how many bids we get.  I am guessing 2 unless someone has a very good ooc and makes some noise in the schedule. But I could see 3 nit bids to go along with the 2 ncaa bids

[Swoll Cracker]

1 hour ago, nvspuds said:

Something that might help a bit is some idea of each team's starting lineup and rotation players..

I am not positive but I believe the only 2 guys who appear to be likely starters for Nevada are Cambridge and Sherfield.  The rest are anybody's guess..

For me there are too many unknowns..

 

 

For CSU here’s what I expect:

Starting backcourt will be Isaiah Stevens (13.3ppg, 4.7apg) and Kendle Moore (9.8ppg, 2.4apg). Starting forwards will be David Roddy (12.9ppg, 6.1rpg) and Adam Thistlewood (9.9ppg, 2.4rpg). Starting Center is still up for grabs. The position will be shared by Dischon Thomas (3.8ppg, 2.2rpg in 10 minutes a game as Nico Carvacho’s backup) and James Moors, a 6’10” 240lb redshirt freshman.  

Off the bench, we will see PJ Byrd as the primary backup for Stevens and Moore; he played minimal minutes last season after transferring from VCU. John Tonje will be the primary backup at the forward position; he played limited minutes as a freshman last year but demonstrated that he can really shoot the ball. The other player who will see time off the bench is freshman Isaiah Rivera, a 3-star player from Illinois who is a physical, slashing type of player. Ignas Sargiunas, a 4-star transfer from Georgia, has decided to hang up the Jordans. 7-foot freshman center Jacob Jennissen will most likely not play this season as he recovers from an ACL injury he suffered in high school last season.

Obviously filling Carvacho’s shoes is big.  Look for more help out of players like Roddy and Thistlewood on the boards to go with the Thomas/Moors center tandem.  Carvacho was not a big shot blocker but he did defend the paint with intelligence and positioning.  

I expect to see CSU improved defensively because it will be their second year in a defensive system that they introduced last season on top of being a year older.  Offensively they’ll have the ability to stretch the floor with 3-point shooters at every position.  Thomas is a very good perimeter shooter and Moors was the leading 3pt shooting big at the U19 World Championships in 2019 ( he had 14 for New Zealand against the USA). We might see some small ball lineups as well.

I expect CSU to be improved this season over last, even with the loss of Carvacho (and other key seniors Kris Martin and Hyron Edwards).  I’ve seen some advanced statistics from last year that would suggest that if DIschon Thomas can handle the extra minutes he will be an improvement over Carvacho.

As for the league (and who really knows with COVID),

1 SDSU

2 USU

3 CSU

4 Boise State

5 UNLV

6 Nevada

7 Wyoming

8 New Mexico

9 Fresno State

10 San Jose State

11 Air Force

[ph90702]

8 hours ago, kingpotato said:

Remember that time that you were never gunna post on this board if UNLV didn't win the conference? What did they finish? 7th? 8th? Good times...

Otzelberger can coach.  UNLV tied for second last year, and that was with a lousy roster.  This year’s team is much more talented.

[NevadaFan]

2 minutes ago, ph90702 said:

Otzelberger can coach.  UNLV tied for second last year, and that was with a lousy roster.  This year’s team is much more talented.

What does your response have to do with his point? 

[ph90702]

2 minutes ago, NevadaFan said:

What does your response have to do with his point? 

Pants on fire!!! 🔥 🐰 

[Spaztecs]

11 hours ago, nvspuds said:

1.  SDSU

2  CSU

3. BSU

4 UNLV

5 USU

6 NM

7 NV

8 FSU

9 WY

10 AFA

 

Have you kicked Sparty out of the Conference ?

[Spaztecs]

Top Three

Aztecs.    Rebs.     Rams

 

Dark Horses

Boise.        Utags

 

Hopeful things come together

Pack.       Fresno

 

Hoping for an extended Covid pause

AFA.  

UNM @ LV

Sparty

Poke - mon