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madmartigan

Rank'Em: MBB

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14 minutes ago, FinnaSmash05 said:

1. Utah State
Undefeated and have played (and controlled) a top 5 conference team to prove their hype is not solely due to playing the bottom tier teams.

2. Boise St.
Also undefeated and I think they're the best team in the conference, but until they play a top 5 team in the conference, I think you have to give Utah St. the slight edge. 

3. SDSU
Current conference record is skewed by playing 3 of the other 4 top teams and when you look at the series vs. CSU, we outplayed them both games but choked on three fat schlongs in our loss by blowing a 26 point lead, then a 7 point lead with a minute left, then fouling on a 3-pointer to hand CSU a victory. Next 10 games vs. the bottom tier teams will right our ship by the time we play Boise.

4. Colorado St.
Rams fans will be mad and say a win is a win (as would I, if I was them) but if you watched our 2 games in full, I think it's hard to argue that CSU is a better team than the Aztecs. All that being said, they have a very nice guard in Stevens, a great player in Roddy and one of the better coaches in the league in Medved which makes them dangerous.

5. Nevada
Really good looking team that will only improve as the year goes on and the youngsters get more experience. My hope is that they play spoiler and help our Aztecs by splitting a series or two against Utah St. and Boise.

6. Frenso
7. Air Force
8. Wyoming.
9. San Jose St.
10. New Mexico
11. UNLV
6-11 is tough because I haven't watched much of any of these teams play but I love Justin Huston (as an assistant) and acknowledge that UNLV fans live in the upside-down, so I figured I rank them #11 to let them think they're on top.

The biggest measuring stick of note at this point is Utah State lost to BYU in Logan while Boise beat BYU in Provo. That's why I would give Boise the edge at this point, but still reserving judgement until I see a little more.

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19 hours ago, halfmanhalfbronco said:

 

We have not had a rankem in a while because nobody wants to admit Boise looks like the best team in the league.

@4UNLVhas agreed to hang a Leon Rice poster in her grandkids bedroom if Boise wins the regular season title.

 

It is quite common the newer members of the conference are viewed as less than. Since Boise generally has an excellent football program, folks don't want to admit their Bball program is improving rapidly. As an aside, @4UNLVand others said USU would really struggle without Merrill, and they were right... early on. USU has a long ways to go but looks like it will be fighting for the title with Boise/CSU. Now I am starting to hear the chirping about USU not being good without Queta. With Craig Smith, USU will always be competitive. It's akin to every time Boise gets a new coach people predict their downfall because they really want it to happen, but it doesn't. 

There are only two things I can't stand in this world: people who are intolerant of other people's cultures and the Dutch. 

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37 minutes ago, madmartigan said:

It is quite common the newer members of the conference are viewed as less than. Since Boise generally has an excellent football program, folks don't want to admit their Bball program is improving rapidly. As an aside, @4UNLVand others said USU would really struggle without Merrill, and they were right... early on. USU has a long ways to go but looks like it will be fighting for the title with Boise/CSU. Now I am starting to hear the chirping about USU not being good without Queta. With Craig Smith, USU will always be competitive. It's akin to every time Boise gets a new coach people predict their downfall because they really want it to happen, but it doesn't. 

Craig Smith is a really good coach no doubt. In fact, he is so good that USU is likely going to start having some serious challenges keeping him in Logan after this season, especially if USU makes it back to the NCAAT again.

I'm not predicting the downfall of USU basketball if you were to hypothetically lose Smith, but you would need to make another great hire because the Duryea era proved you can't win at a high level with an average coach. 

 

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1 hour ago, KingBronco said:

Craig Smith is a really good coach no doubt. In fact, he is so good that USU is likely going to start having some serious challenges keeping him in Logan after this season, especially if USU makes it back to the NCAAT again.

I'm not predicting the downfall of USU basketball if you were to hypothetically lose Smith, but you would need to make another great hire because the Duryea era proved you can't win at a high level with an average coach. 

 

He will likely be gone after this year. I’m trying to enjoy the ride. 

There are only two things I can't stand in this world: people who are intolerant of other people's cultures and the Dutch. 

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Thought I'd wait to open this thread for a couple days before reviewing what others said. I'm pleased to report that the board's basketball IQ seems to be improving. I could give other evidence but most prominently, nobody has been dumb enough to say the Aztecs suck because they're just .500 in the conference right now.

Not only does SDSU now have the weakest part of its schedule coming up before playing Boise in the last two, our biggest problem has been replacing Malachi Flynn. Obviously there was going to be a reduction in quality at PG but thought Trey Pulliam was good enough the dropoff would be merely slight. But Pulliam has fallen in love with his floater and clearly has no confidence in his jump shot and he's mediocre at best in hitting Mensah off the pick and roll. Meanwhile Lamont Butler, who is just 18 years old, is getting better and better.

SDSU's history has typically been like last year in winning the conference regular season title and then losing the MWC tournament final knowing the team will get an at-large bid anyway. This year I have a feeling it could be the opposite.

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18 hours ago, FinnaSmash05 said:

1. Utah State
Undefeated and have played (and controlled) a top 5 conference team to prove their hype is not solely due to playing the bottom tier teams.

2. Boise St.
Also undefeated and I think they're the best team in the conference, but until they play a top 5 team in the conference, I think you have to give Utah St. the slight edge. 

3. SDSU
Current conference record is skewed by playing 3 of the other 4 top teams and when you look at the series vs. CSU, we outplayed them both games but choked on three fat schlongs in our loss by blowing a 26 point lead, then a 7 point lead with a minute left, then fouling on a 3-pointer to hand CSU a victory. Next 10 games vs. the bottom tier teams will right our ship by the time we play Boise.

4. Colorado St.
Rams fans will be mad and say a win is a win (as would I, if I was them) but if you watched our 2 games in full, I think it's hard to argue that CSU is a better team than the Aztecs. All that being said, they have a very nice guard in Stevens, a great player in Roddy and one of the better coaches in the league in Medved which makes them dangerous.

5. Nevada
Really good looking team that will only improve as the year goes on and the youngsters get more experience. My hope is that they play spoiler and help our Aztecs by splitting a series or two against Utah St. and Boise.

6. Frenso
7. Air Force
8. Wyoming.
9. San Jose St.
10. New Mexico
11. UNLV
6-11 is tough because I haven't watched much of any of these teams play but I love Justin Huston (as an assistant) and acknowledge that UNLV fans live in the upside-down, so I figured I rank them #11 to let them think they're on top.

This is a good assessment to this point.  Still a lot of b-ball to play.   USU has played the toughest conference schedule so far & absolutely throttled 3 of the wurst teams, which is not like USU, normally we have a close call or loss with bottom teams. 

also USU has 2 Freshman guards playing a lot of time & playing really well & getting better each game. Normally freshman hit a wall late in year & cost you some games. 

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1 hour ago, 818SUDSFan said:

Thought I'd wait to open this thread for a couple days before reviewing what others said. I'm pleased to report that the board's basketball IQ seems to be improving. I could give other evidence but most prominently, nobody has been dumb enough to say the Aztecs suck because they're just .500 in the conference right now.

Not only does SDSU now have the weakest part of its schedule coming up before playing Boise in the last two, our biggest problem has been replacing Malachi Flynn. Obviously there was going to be a reduction in quality at PG but thought Trey Pulliam was good enough the dropoff would be merely slight. But Pulliam has fallen in love with his floater and clearly has no confidence in his jump shot and he's mediocre at best in hitting Mensah off the pick and roll. Meanwhile Lamont Butler, who is just 18 years old, is getting better and better.

SDSU's history has typically been like last year in winning the conference regular season title and then losing the MWC tournament final knowing the team will get an at-large bid anyway. This year I have a feeling it could be the opposite.

Aztecs are just so up and down, as always.

We don't know if we're going to see a SUDS team make every shot, grab every rebound and block every shot, or the SUDS team that has to finally call a timeout after another team goes on a 20-2 run against them.

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6 hours ago, madmartigan said:

It is quite common the newer members of the conference are viewed as less than. Since Boise generally has an excellent football program, folks don't want to admit their Bball program is improving rapidly. As an aside, @4UNLVand others said USU would really struggle without Merrill, and they were right... early on. USU has a long ways to go but looks like it will be fighting for the title with Boise/CSU. Now I am starting to hear the chirping about USU not being good without Queta. With Craig Smith, USU will always be competitive. It's akin to every time Boise gets a new coach people predict their downfall because they really want it to happen, but it doesn't. 

Yes, I did say that USU and SDSU would struggle without Merrill and Flynn. USU has adapted earlier than I thought they would, but the AZtecs are about where I thought. With that said, I do think the Aztecs will still be right in the middle of things by the end of the season.

As for CSU, I would feel better about them being at the top at the end of the season if they had beated UNLV by as much as I thought they would, after UNLV's long layoff. I really like Roddy and Stevens, but I would love to see the rebs play them again later on. Maybe the tournament, and I would be ok with that.

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2 hours ago, BodyBagGame said:

Aztecs are just so up and down, as always.

We don't know if we're going to see a SUDS team make every shot, grab every rebound and block every shot, or the SUDS team that has to finally call a timeout after another team goes on a 20-2 run against them.

Last year their motor was Flynn. Flynn was an animal and the team emulated his play.   This year it's Mitchell.   And IMO, as good as Mitchell is he can disappear.   Same for Shakel IMO.    When those 2 are on, SDSU is as good as anyone in the MWC.   

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4 hours ago, 818SUDSFan said:

Thought I'd wait to open this thread for a couple days before reviewing what others said. I'm pleased to report that the board's basketball IQ seems to be improving. I could give other evidence but most prominently, nobody has been dumb enough to say the Aztecs suck because they're just .500 in the conference right now.

Not only does SDSU now have the weakest part of its schedule coming up before playing Boise in the last two, our biggest problem has been replacing Malachi Flynn. Obviously there was going to be a reduction in quality at PG but thought Trey Pulliam was good enough the dropoff would be merely slight. But Pulliam has fallen in love with his floater and clearly has no confidence in his jump shot and he's mediocre at best in hitting Mensah off the pick and roll. Meanwhile Lamont Butler, who is just 18 years old, is getting better and better.

SDSU's history has typically been like last year in winning the conference regular season title and then losing the MWC tournament final knowing the team will get an at-large bid anyway. This year I have a feeling it could be the opposite.

When the tournament rolls around the two teams you won’t want to play are SDSU and USU.  Those are the two most well-coached teams in the league.  

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8 minutes ago, roughrider said:

Last year their motor was Flynn. Flynn was an animal and the team emulated his play.   This year it's Mitchell.   And IMO, as good as Mitchell is he can disappear.   Same for Shakel IMO.    When those 2 are on, SDSU is as good as anyone in the MWC.   

Flynn was good, We know Mitchell can be dominant.  Shakel can shoot.

But if most teams' two best players are on, they should have a good chance at winning.

Aztecs gave up the biggest lead in MW history to lose. And yet they will probably be favored to win the MW tournament. I don't get them.

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1 hour ago, cosinama said:

When the tournament rolls around the two teams you won’t want to play are SDSU and USU.  Those are the two most well-coached teams in the league.  

Maybe...but I'm fairly confident no one is going to be clamoring to play Boise this year either. 

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18 hours ago, cosinama said:

When the tournament rolls around the two teams you won’t want to play are SDSU and USU.  Those are the two most well-coached teams in the league.  

That isn't going to be the case. Boise is every bit as good as both teams defensively and much deeper and more dynamic offensively. Hell, Boise is so deep they have gone 12-1 while only having thier full roster one single time all season. They beat BYU without two players that average 13 ppg a piece. I don't think any of the other top teams in the league could do that missing two 13 ppg players... I mean, neither SDSU or USU could do that with thier full compliment of players

I would check the sanity of a fan that would want to play Boise in the MW tournament

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