Non-conference review

by **ShoxNAwe** » December 30th, 2015, 4:20 pm

One man's opinion:
http://www.kansas.com/sports/spt-column ... 53725.html

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by **Rambler63** » December 30th, 2015, 5:19 pm

1. Both Warren Nolan and bbstate.com have the Valley at 13th.
2. The Colonial (8th), Summit (10th), and Big West (12th) are having extraordinary years-- not because of their top teams, but because their worst teams are collectively a little better this year.
3. Warren Nolan and bbstate.com both have the Horizon at 15th. The MAC (14th), the West Coast (17th), and Conference USA (20th) are all having worse than expected seasons, well below the Valley.
4. Last year, Warren Nolan had the Valley finishing 9th, ahead of the West Coast, MAC, and Mountain West.
5. The American is a newer Top 10 conference created from high-budget football exiles, and the A-10 has strengthened itself as a top 10 by adding VCU and Davidson.

Obviously, Wichita State not having Van Vleet available for several key games hurt, ISUr hasn't been as good as expected, and the teams that were supposed to be really good or are better than expected (UE, SIU) haven't played schedules up to their potential. Loyola had some bad losses (UNC Asheville, Cleveland State) that have turned out to no be so completely terrible, and their better wins (Toledo, Creighton) haven't been as good as previously thought. Bradley is recovering from a tire fire, and should be pretty good in two years.

The sky is not falling, but the league should be making more progress. The fact that a few key injuries and a recovery from a bad hire can knock the league down into the teens for one year should be of concern, but it should also be somewhat understandable.