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Spiders picked #1 in early A10 ranking

Just all the more reason that next season should be an NCAA or bust year for UR. We have a very good team returning and on paper, and from all accounts, we have a schedule that should provide UR with an opportunity to make an NCAA resume.
 
Kinda funny that the picture they picked includes mostly players who are no longer on the team.
 
love this team, but if real experts pick us #1 then it's a down year in the A10.
we lose ANO and Kendall. two pretty big losses. we add Wood and some freshmen. we have no idea what we're going to get offensively at the 2 and the 3 most likely manned by Deion, Trey, Josh and maybe Marshall.

could be a great year. I'm looking forward to it. we should contend, but I can't see us as the favorite.
 
But we also return some very good players with at least a year's (or more) A10 experience under their belts.
 
spiderman said:
love this team, but if real experts pick us #1 then it's a down year in the A10.
we lose ANO and Kendall. two pretty big losses. we add Wood and some freshmen. we have no idea what we're going to get offensively at the 2 and the 3 most likely manned by Deion, Trey, Josh and maybe Marshall.

could be a great year. I'm looking forward to it. we should contend, but I can't see us as the favorite.
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Good summation, and accurate in my opinion.
 
Among the consensus top 5 teams in the league, we swept VCU in regular season, split with Davidson (including handing them their worst regular season loss), lost to Dayton by a possession and Rhode Island by two possessions. No reason we shouldn't be considered in the mix or even No. 1. Preseason polls mean nothing...except for all of the fans, parents and (ahem) recruits that sit around reading the internet. This is nothing but 100 percent good for us.
 
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I can believe we're the favorite. We have a lot of returning talent, who will be a year older, and seasoned. We lost Kendall, a tremendous talent, but I felt we were too one dimensional with Kendall. I think we may be more team oriented this season, and if so, we'll be a force to reckon with. But, it's up to the guys on the team. How they prepare for the season ahead, in the coming days, will decide what kind of year, we have. The difference between A-10 champion, and a mid range team, is razor thin.
 
What I like is that seemingly most other teams (or at least their fans, who I suppose don't matter) seem to think that since K0 graduated, we have to take a step back. They're sort of overlooking us. Hopefully other coaches will do that too.
 
I would imagine every other team in the league lost key players as well, so while we lost Kendal and ANO (1 starter and 1 reserve), we also have 3 of the best returning players in the league in TJ, Terry, and SDJ. Plus, we finished the season probably hotter than anyone in the conference. I don't find it a surprise that some will pick us to at the top of the league. I think we will be Top 3 when the official preseason poll is released.

And what makes me most happy is thinking about how this is going over at RamNation. Heh, heh, heh.
 
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Usually I do not care for being picked #1 in the league in the pre-season ranking. However...

What I do like about this is that it has to help us in recruting, during the upcoming summer and fall. Being picked #1 in the A-10 is equivalent to at least a top 30-40 national ranking, and sometimes a top-20 ranking.

And, in case we are competing with any other A-10 schools for players, this has to weigh-in positively for players who are interested in national exposure, national rankings, and being seen on TV! And, frankly, most players DO care about these things. I hope the coaches have mulitple copies of the article with these pre-season rankings and that they are very generous in giving out copies to our top recruits! This is a case where a high pre-season ranking may do much more good than harm.
 
Spideroldie said:
Usually I do not care for being picked #1 in the league in the pre-season ranking. However...

What I do like about this is that it has to help us in recruting, during the upcoming summer and fall. Being picked #1 in the A-10 is equivalent to at least a top 30-40 national ranking, and sometimes a top-20 ranking.

And, in case we are competing with any other A-10 schools for players, this has to weigh-in positively for players who are interested in national exposure, national rankings, and being seen on TV! And, frankly, most players DO care about these things. I hope the coaches have mulitple copies of the article with these pre-season rankings and that they are very generous in giving out copies to our top recruits! This is a case where a high pre-season ranking may do much more good than harm.
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To be clear, we have been "picked #1 in the A10" by some Bleacher Report Blogger that nobody has ever heard of. Sure, it's nice to see, but I'm really not sure this is something we frame and hang on the wall.
 
Yes - this is just some random blogger, and the real previews and predictions do not come out until the fall, but this is still good news. We can choose to disagree with this guy, but if you try to be unbiased on some level, there is no reason why the Spiders should not be picked in the top 3. And with the loss of Shaka and all their players, there is no clear cut favorite this season - so I think anyone in the top 3 or 4 can make a run at the number 1 spot.
 
urmite said:
Here is the other early ranking that I saw. Not as optimistic, but not bad.

http://basketballpredictions.blogspot.com

Groups seem to be by ranking within each group. Top 46 in the field URI last in, GW 52, UR 53.
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Urmite, to be sure one cannot put too much into these preseason predictions, but the blog you cite states: "They will also add 6'6" Chandler Diekvoss, a talented 2014 recruit who took a redshirt season." Ha!
http://basketballpredictions.blogspot.com/2015/04/2015-16-preview-mid-majors-part-iii.html#A10
 
SpiderTrap said:
Yes - this is just some random blogger, and the real previews and predictions do not come out until the fall, but this is still good news. We can choose to disagree with this guy, but if you try to be unbiased on some level, there is no reason why the Spiders should not be picked in the top 3. And with the loss of Shaka and all their players, there is no clear cut favorite this season - so I think anyone in the top 3 or 4 can make a run at the number 1 spot.
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Oh, i totally agree. I'm just saying that our coaches probably come across looking pretty petty if they're puffing their chests out about this random blogger's predictions on the recruiting trail.
 
CBS did not have us in the top 6 in the A10. Every team has lost players, added transfers, and bringing in players that have not played a single college game. Every prediction is guesswork or bias or both (as the case with CBS).
 
Pure speculation, but we look as good as anyone else on paper. Only one starter left, three solid starters returning and 6th Man of the Year becomes a starter. All good things that put us in a good spot.

Of note, did anyone else notice that 9 of the A10 teams added at least one transfer? Not that we should try to keep up with the Joneses, but makes me wonder why we didn't do the same given we have an open scholarship.
 
Interesting that Mike wrote that piece on the ranking. He's a Louisville guy and has 26k followers on Twitter, so reasonably credible, but the A-10 is not his forte, that is for sure. He did go to Dayton for two years, so perhaps he keeps up with the league from afar. That said, I don't feel we should put much weight in his opinion, even if he's probably not too far off.
 
The important thing, is that this year's team could indeed win the A-10 championship. But, of course, team has to continue to work to improve, and we have to play game by game at our best efforts. But we have a talented team.
 
Most of you may be right in not taking the ranking serious, but I was talking to an assistant coach at Winthrop the other day, he seems to think that Richmond has a very good chance of being a really good team. I asked why they have not tried to schedule the Spiders and he replied that they may be too strong for them this year. He sees the Spiders as a tournament team.
 
The spiders are too strong for Winthrop this year? I would think that would be the case just about every year.
 
MrTbone said:
The spiders are too strong for Winthrop this year? I would think that would be the case just about every year.
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Except Marshall's last three (2005-2007). 79-19, NCAA win, and loss by 2 to a 2 seed...
 
I'm feeling pretty good about our #1 power ranking and think our bevy of new players will back it up in ways unimagined.
 
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