BEARZ77 wrote:BCPanther wrote:Here goes nothing--
1--UNI (17-1)-Clearly the class of the league, we always wondered what would happen if a Ben Jacobson team ever learned to play offense and here we are. Homer for sure, but UNI is a legit Top 25 team. AJ Green is going to be 3 time Player of the Year.
2--Drake (12-6)-Only team, other than UNI, to beat the teams they were supposed to beat. Didn't look great against Cincy or Dayton but didn't lay a total egg anywhere.
3--Indiana State (11-7)-Played a really good Dayton team tough and have been good since they figured it out around Thanksgiving.
4--Loyola (10-8)-Inconsistent and seem to be playing slow for playing slow's sake, defensive intensity is way down.
5--Bradley (10-8)--The Childs injury is a killer and certainly doesn't help to address offensive inconsistency. Need Darrell Brown to find the Darrell Brown that existed in February of last year.
6--Missouri State (8-10)--They haven't beaten anybody good and have some truly head scratching losses. Dana also has to prove he can get it done on the bench, he hasn't shown that yet.
7--Valpo (8-10)--One man shows don't tend to work very well in this league but I'll give them credit; they're much better than I thought they'd be.
8--Evansville (6-12)--The Kentucky game says a lot more about Kentucky than it does UE. Williams is phenomenal but, like Valpo, one man shows struggle here.
9--Illinois State (5-13)--I don't hate the pieces but something is off. When they've been beaten they haven't been competitive and that's worrisome in Nov/Dec.
10--Southern Illinois (3-15)--They hired the right guy. He's got a team with no talent playing hard. They'll be back to the top half within 3 years.
You're pretty much in line with where I'm at right now except I see Loyola a little higher and MSU a bit lower. The honeymoon period with Ford is pretty much over and there is quite a bit of concern in Springfield. While there's been a bit of bad luck with Ridder's injury, Bonner not sticking, and Prim basically only able to play games w/o much availability to practice, questions about Ford's poor offensive and defensive systems and roster construction are hot topics. While there is talent it appears to be a bad mix with too many one dimensional guys who aren't all that interested in filling necessary roles. He's been slow to integrate Mosley , probably the most talented player, and has allowed several players to continue to play key roles despite repeated poor play.
For my part, I said all along we weren't ready to challenge for the title yet this year, so while I share many of the concerns others have, I'm patient and hope Ford figures it out as the year goes along and still think we
can be in position going into next year to be on schedule. Mosley and Prim can both be elite Valley players , but Dana has to find a better on court mix to surround them with moving forward. Mosley has gone for double figures in two straight games off the bench and is simply one of the most efficient scorers I've seen come along for the Bears . He's a 60% 50% 80% type shooter and can score at every spot on the court w/o having to be a high volume shot taker. Like most freshmen he can have defensive issues at times, but hardly is a major liability there as a 6'6 sg/sf .
But right now I can't see the Bears any better than .500 this year, and then it will be a very important off season for Ford and the program. We'll have talent no matter what, but Ford's grab bag approach hasn't yielded a very cohesive unit and his overall X/O acumen is up for debate.
Total outsider of course, but you can tell watching Missouri State that they don't particularly like each other. They're slow to pick guys up off the floor, there isn't a ton of fire after a big play and there's just something 'off' about how they interact during games.
