siudawgs wrote:Wichita, obviously, should win the league again and be a top 15-type team. For Evansville's sake, I hope they're a clear second and NCAA contender, because this is clearly the season the Aces need to make their push and sniff some long overdue national relevance. Agree with the consensus that UNI, Illinois State and Loyola (provided Doyle stays healthy) also look like upper-half teams. I think 6-8 will be a crapshoot between Indiana State, Drake and SIU. Southern has had pisspoor point guard play since Bryan Mullins graduated ... if one of the JUCOs brought in there can raise the bar and a couple among Southern's large crop of newcomers click, the Salukis might be a little better than most think, but still disappointing for Year 4 under Hinson. Mo State ninth. Bradley 10th. Looking forward to the season, and hoping the Valley shows well in the non-conference.
A lot of folks underselling the Sycamores. They have a chance to be a very good team this year. Scott, Brown, and Smith are not glamorous, but they are high end players. The addition of Van Scyoc at the 4 gives them a strong line-up and a couple other decent kids on the bench. They might get abused at the five, but who's going to do that? The Aces, and maybe WSU. They should go toe to toe at all five positions with the majority of the Valley. I don't know if that makes them the second best team or the seventh best team this year, but I'm not counting them out.