2023 KenPom preseason rankings

[BuBrave2006]

To be the top mid-major you have to have everybody better than 200. The 350 and 300 teams are what kill you. You don't have to have great teams, just n0 horrible teams. Is there any hope Evansville is really not that bad?

They have some pieces. I know that at least Blaise, Phillips and Strawbridge all have a pulse. If they can just get any sort of moderate consistent production from 1-2 other guys, it "should" be enough to place them comfortably inside the top 300. Any more than that and I think being in the 200-250 could be a very attainable goal and a successful season for them.

I know Evansville isn't great, but you've gotta keep in mind that these teams in the 300+ range are BAD. I don't think Evansville will be completely terrible this season.

[hot nuts]

To be the top mid-major you have to have everybody better than 200. The 350 and 300 teams are what kill you. You don't have to have great teams, just n0 horrible teams. Is there any hope Evansville is really not that bad?

Well, Drake could roll over to them a couple times (if they play twice) to help boost them up. Take one for the team!

[BigMacAttack]

To be the top mid-major you have to have everybody better than 200. The 350 and 300 teams are what kill you. You don't have to have great teams, just n0 horrible teams. Is there any hope Evansville is really not that bad?

Evansville will be nothing like the Lickliter teams. Taller, more athletic, and an infusion of 5 freshmen and 4 transfers. More emphasis of defense and rebounding which should translate to no more 5 players running back for defense after every shot. Intersquad scrimmage score last weekend was 28-20 for 10 minutes of play. Offensive possessions ranged from fast break to maybe 15 seconds.
Does this translate to a better MVC team? Maybe. But surely not a ranking below 250 and hopefully less than 200.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1581441450692472832

[IllinoisState]

If this holds up the bottom 4 teams, especially UIC and Evansville, need to get it together.

Yeah and we just added UIC. Clearly the quality of the program didn't matter to the MVC, just their location. If they were located in Kankakee they never would have received consideration. MVC should have quit after the Belmont and Murray adds.

Here's hoping for a Loyola-esque turn-around from UIC.

To be the top mid-major you have to have everybody better than 200. The 350 and 300 teams are what kill you. You don't have to have great teams, just n0 horrible teams. Is there any hope Evansville is really not that bad?

Evansville will be nothing like the Lickliter teams. Taller, more athletic, and an infusion of 5 freshmen and 4 transfers. More emphasis of defense and rebounding which should translate to no more 5 players running back for defense after every shot. Intersquad scrimmage score last weekend was 28-20 for 10 minutes of play. Offensive possessions ranged from fast break to maybe 15 seconds.
Does this translate to a better MVC team? Maybe. But surely not a ranking below 250 and hopefully less than 200.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1581441450692472832

I would love for you to be right, but Evansville has not proven they can do that recently. Only the first year NET rankings were out did Evansville finish below 200.

If our worst team could be around 175 we would be in really good shape. That doesn't seem too difficult.

[Adunk33]

To be the top mid-major you have to have everybody better than 200. The 350 and 300 teams are what kill you. You don't have to have great teams, just n0 horrible teams. Is there any hope Evansville is really not that bad?

Evansville will be nothing like the Lickliter teams. Taller, more athletic, and an infusion of 5 freshmen and 4 transfers. More emphasis of defense and rebounding which should translate to no more 5 players running back for defense after every shot. Intersquad scrimmage score last weekend was 28-20 for 10 minutes of play. Offensive possessions ranged from fast break to maybe 15 seconds.
Does this translate to a better MVC team? Maybe. But surely not a ranking below 250 and hopefully less than 200.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1581441450692472832

This reminds me a bit of when Muller was hired at ISU. Two things that Jank did that drove fans nuts was his scheduling and at times, they would play painfully slow. In Muller's intro he talked about wanting to schedule better and play faster. They did just that. It just turned out in years 7-10...they played so fast they frequently lost control of the ball or on the other side, played so slow there would be 1 sec left on the shot clock and an ill-advised three was going up.

Here's to hoping for success across the league this year. Except Bradley. Hope they go 0-20 in the conference.

[RacerJoeD]

To be the top mid-major you have to have everybody better than 200. The 350 and 300 teams are what kill you. You don't have to have great teams, just n0 horrible teams. Is there any hope Evansville is really not that bad?

They have some pieces. I know that at least Blaise, Phillips and Strawbridge all have a pulse. If they can just get any sort of moderate consistent production from 1-2 other guys, it "should" be enough to place them comfortably inside the top 300. Any more than that and I think being in the 200-250 could be a very attainable goal and a successful season for them.

I know Evansville isn't great, but you've gotta keep in mind that these teams in the 300+ range are BAD. I don't think Evansville will be completely terrible this season.

Man this is the main reason why I was so gung ho about leaving the OVC. I mean, last season look at how many 300+ teams we had to play and what our ratings were. Taking too 100 losses don’t hurt you as much as a close win vs a 300.

[E-Villan]

To be the top mid-major you have to have everybody better than 200. The 350 and 300 teams are what kill you. You don't have to have great teams, just n0 horrible teams. Is there any hope Evansville is really not that bad?

Evansville will be nothing like the Lickliter teams. Taller, more athletic, and an infusion of 5 freshmen and 4 transfers. More emphasis of defense and rebounding which should translate to no more 5 players running back for defense after every shot. Intersquad scrimmage score last weekend was 28-20 for 10 minutes of play. Offensive possessions ranged from fast break to maybe 15 seconds.
Does this translate to a better MVC team? Maybe. But surely not a ranking below 250 and hopefully less than 200.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1581441450692472832

I would love for you to be right, but Evansville has not proven they can do that recently. Only the first year NET rankings were out did Evansville finish below 200..

When you have an entire new coaching staff, roster, AD and even President getting his first chance at building "his" team, the only thing proven recently that matters is how big of a hole this staff has to dig out of. I have no idea how the record will shake out, and yes, that hole from last year is huge...but BigMac is correct, you will see a taller, more athletic, younger and certainly better prepared team than what we endured last season.

Every fanbase gets fired up when there is a coaching change, and obviously, the difference between a hungry, personable and competitive Ragland to Sleepy Todd is huge..but not as big of a gap as the difference between our former AD and the new guy, AD Ziggy. This is by far the most impactful move in moving our entire athletic programs forward. Night and day doesn't begin to describe it. Our former AD was arrogant, dismissive and refused to engage with the fans, donors, alumni and students. Most of you are familiar with his failure with the McCarty saga, from going against the committee choice in Ragland at the hire, to not vetting him, to giving him a leash, then after firing him, making a panic hire in Lickliter even though the runner up was still available. There are plenty of other examples, but I will leave you with one from this week.

AD Spencer stopped having our pep band at games. He claimed they didn't want to participate, and that today's crowds wanted piped in DJ music instead. He also moved weekday start times to 6PM, which knocked out anyone with jobs or families. His brilliance resulted in a guy named DJ Naughty blasting hip-hop to a crowd of retired, senior citizens. AD Ziggy has already moved our games back to 7PM, and has brought the pep band back. In the twitter clip below, you will see how he is engaging everyone to be involved, and notice how fast the band director, who supposedly didn't want to participate, has his jersey on. If anyone is doubting where we are going, I would strongly suggest following @EvansvilleAD on twitter.

https://twitter.com/UEAthletics/status/ ... Fpage%3D17

[Aces44]

The current roster at UE would beat last year’s UE team by 25

Who knows where they end up, but the Lick era is thankfully long gone, both in the Basketball office and all over campus

[dr222]

Conference ranking is based on averaging each conference team ranking in this KenPom preseason article.
https://kenpom.com/
Ave
Rk.... Ave Rk....Conf
1.......31.9...... B12
2.......39.3...... SEC
3.......48.3...... B10
4.......56.1...... ACC
5.......58.6...... BE
6.......75.8...... P12
7......100.4......Amer
8......115.2......WCC
9......118.3......MWC
10.....125.1......A10
11.....148.8.....CUSA

12....165.2.....MVC

13.....178.8.....WAC
14.....185.8.....SC
15.....203.1.....BW
16.....203.8.....SB
17.....211.6.....Ivy
18.....218.3.....MAAC
19.....219.9.....MAC
20.....228.4.....BSth
21.....231.8.....CAA
22.....232.0.....ASun
23.....238.7.....Sum
24.....248.4.....BSky
25.....254.8.....Horz
26.....255.2.....AE
27.....257.6.....Pat
28.....288.5.....MEAC
29.....299.0.....OVC
30.....314.6.....Slnd
31.....323.9.....NEC
32.....326.5.....SWAC
33.....350.5.....ind

[tribecalledquest]

The current roster at UE would beat last year’s UE team by 25

Who knows where they end up, but the Lick era is thankfully long gone, both in the Basketball office and all over campus

25? Then we should expect this UE team to compete for the title then.