A10 Pre Season Predictions

[wgt]

Mostly guess work due to all the player movement. Bona predicted #10. Lowest prediction in over 20 years?

collegehoopstoday.net/rothstein-files/atlantic-10-offseason-breakdown-5/

[kccgold]

Thanks for sharing. I appreciate the work the author did because it’s hard enough keeping up with our new roster so it’s nice to see a clean breakdown across the league

I think we will definitely exceed that prediction and will be in the top half of the league, maybe even higher if these guys buy in and play well together.

- i think St. Joes has the best backcourt in the league looking at that list and usually those are the teams that win in March.


-Loyola seems high to me, especially after losing Alston and Norris.


- a lot of veteran talent on St Louis. They will probably do well but sometimes it’s hard for a new coach joining this league

[coach]

Jul 8, 2024 19:28:16 GMT -5 kccgold said:

Thanks for sharing. I appreciate the work the author did because it’s hard enough keeping up with our new roster so it’s nice to see a clean breakdown across the league

I think we will definitely exceed that prediction and will be in the top half of the league, maybe even higher if these guys buy in and play well together.

- i think St. Joes has the best backcourt in the league looking at that list and usually those are the teams that win in March.


-Loyola seems high to me, especially after losing Alston and Norris.


- a lot of veteran talent on St Louis. They will probably do well but sometimes it’s hard for a new coach joining this league

I agree. How do you even project the conference and you have to put bona's down at the bottom b/c it's a whole new team.

[bigcat]

VCU and Duquesne, had new rosters last season — as did Alabama — and they excelled. The Dukes started horribly and grew throughout the season. Why not us this year?!?

In this new era I don’t buy into “they have a new roster so they will suck”. It depends on the quality of players … how each of them do at adapting to new systems and teammates … chemistry … maturity … coaching etc. I do see a lot of new talent in the A10 so it should be interesting.

We have a returning center who has all-league potential, plus two redshirt players who can help indoctrinate others. We have more talent, athleticism and depth than last year’s team that underachieved — but still won 20+ games. Also could be addition by subtraction.

Mooney and Schmidt are among the A10’s best at getting their teams to overachieve. Can’t see either one of them finishing outside the top 6.

[kccgold]

Jul 8, 2024 22:03:02 GMT -5 bigcat said:

VCU and Duquesne, had new rosters last season — as did Alabama — and they excelled. The Dukes started horribly and grew throughout the season. Why not us this year?!?

In this new era I don’t buy into “they have a new roster so they will suck”. It depends on the quality of players … how each of them do at adapting to new systems and teammates … chemistry … maturity … coaching etc. I do see a lot of new talent in the A10 so it should be interesting.

We have a returning center who has all-league potential, plus two redshirt players who can help indoctrinate others. We have more talent, athleticism and depth than last year’s team that underachieved — but still won 20+ games. Also could be addition by subtraction.

Mooney and Schmidt are among the A10’s best at getting their teams to overachieve. Can’t see either one of them finishing outside the top 6.

I was ready to be all psyched about your post but Duquesne was lead by Grant and Clark last year who were returning seniors in the backcourt. Which is why I feel like St Joes is that team this year.

[chrismoses]

Hard to really predict how this team will perform this year, but it'll likely be similar to 22-23. While it's possible they will perform better, I think most will predict a finish around 9th. Obviously, outperforming that is possible if we get some major contributions from some of the freshmen or JUCO transfers.

Based on who we brought in, the starters will likely be something like this: Bowen, Council, Moore, Edwards/Jones and Brown. On paper, it seems like they don't have a lot of juice offensively, and based on who the A10 has returning, I'd think a finish inside the top four would be unlikely.

Saint Joe's, VCU, Dayton, Saint Louis and Loyola will all probably be picked in the top five. UMass has a solid core returning, so I imagine they'll be a top half pick. In addition to that, Mason looks very solid with what they return and their two key transfer pickups. Rhody also has a solid core returning and some OK transfers.

Some question marks for me would be, who is our go to scorer? Will it be one of the D1 transfers or one of the JUCOs. Who runs point? It appears that it'll be Bowen, but will his knee issues prohibit him from playing 30+ minutes a night. If he doesn't have the ability to play major minutes, will Jonah Hinton be ready to be a D1 PG?

Noel Brown was great last year in limited minutes, but played 25+ minutes just once last year. Will he be able to fill the void left by Venning or will we see Brown play just 15-20 minutes a night this year?

The only thing that worries me is the shooting percentages of some of the D1 transfers. Not awful by any stretch, but also not overly encouraging if you want this club to be a real contender this year.

As always, the exhibition typically shows us who is ready to contribute on the team that year and who is not. Given that this is basically a brand new team, it probably makes sense to wait until then to see what we truly have.

[NILsucks]

Get used to it. The new norm.

[coach]

Jul 9, 2024 3:05:11 GMT -5 NILsucks said:

Get used to it. The new norm.

yeah, we all know this is the new norm. Thank YOU. Nobody commented with any confusion of the new norm.

[coach]

Jul 9, 2024 0:12:07 GMT -5 chrismoses said:

Hard to really predict how this team will perform this year, but it'll likely be similar to 22-23. While it's possible they will perform better, I think most will predict a finish around 9th. Obviously, outperforming that is possible if we get some major contributions from some of the freshmen or JUCO transfers.

Based on who we brought in, the starters will likely be something like this: Bowen, Council, Moore, Edwards/Jones and Brown. On paper, it seems like they don't have a lot of juice offensively, and based on who the A10 has returning, I'd think a finish inside the top four would be unlikely.

Saint Joe's, VCU, Dayton, Saint Louis and Loyola will all probably be picked in the top five. UMass has a solid core returning, so I imagine they'll be a top half pick. In addition to that, Mason looks very solid with what they return and their two key transfer pickups. Rhody also has a solid core returning and some OK transfers.

Some question marks for me would be, who is our go to scorer? Will it be one of the D1 transfers or one of the JUCOs. Who runs point? It appears that it'll be Bowen, but will his knee issues prohibit him from playing 30+ minutes a night. If he doesn't have the ability to play major minutes, will Jonah Hinton be ready to be a D1 PG?

Noel Brown was great last year in limited minutes, but played 25+ minutes just once last year. Will he be able to fill the void left by Venning or will we see Brown play just 15-20 minutes a night this year?

The only thing that worries me is the shooting percentages of some of the D1 transfers. Not awful by any stretch, but also not overly encouraging if you want this club to be a real contender this year.

As always, the exhibition typically shows us who is ready to contribute on the team that year and who is not. Given that this is basically a brand new team, it probably makes sense to wait until then to see what we truly have.

Some of the new players had better shooting percentages than last year's roster, correct? No way can a team be more inconsistent than last year? please tell me it's not possible. Last year's team went over 5 minutes without scoring a bucket. I have never seen more inconsistent shooting. Let's hope this team isn't ON or OFF. That team last year started numerous games without scoring a bucket for over 5 minutes. I have no clue how they won as many games as they did.

[kccgold]

Jul 9, 2024 0:12:07 GMT -5 chrismoses said:

Hard to really predict how this team will perform this year, but it'll likely be similar to 22-23. While it's possible they will perform better, I think most will predict a finish around 9th. Obviously, outperforming that is possible if we get some major contributions from some of the freshmen or JUCO transfers.

Based on who we brought in, the starters will likely be something like this: Bowen, Council, Moore, Edwards/Jones and Brown. On paper, it seems like they don't have a lot of juice offensively, and based on who the A10 has returning, I'd think a finish inside the top four would be unlikely.

Saint Joe's, VCU, Dayton, Saint Louis and Loyola will all probably be picked in the top five. UMass has a solid core returning, so I imagine they'll be a top half pick. In addition to that, Mason looks very solid with what they return and their two key transfer pickups. Rhody also has a solid core returning and some OK transfers.

Some question marks for me would be, who is our go to scorer? Will it be one of the D1 transfers or one of the JUCOs. Who runs point? It appears that it'll be Bowen, but will his knee issues prohibit him from playing 30+ minutes a night. If he doesn't have the ability to play major minutes, will Jonah Hinton be ready to be a D1 PG?

Noel Brown was great last year in limited minutes, but played 25+ minutes just once last year. Will he be able to fill the void left by Venning or will we see Brown play just 15-20 minutes a night this year?

The only thing that worries me is the shooting percentages of some of the D1 transfers. Not awful by any stretch, but also not overly encouraging if you want this club to be a real contender this year.

As always, the exhibition typically shows us who is ready to contribute on the team that year and who is not. Given that this is basically a brand new team, it probably makes sense to wait until then to see what we truly have.

I think Council is your go to scorer this season but your concerns are valid on the shooting percentages

Bowen as a playmaking PG is going to help open things up, but the guys are going to have to defend hard and win games in the 60 points mark

[skeller6]

When will single game tickets go on sale?

[skeller6]

My prediction is that the Brown and White will finish 5th in the A10 this year.

Schmidt is a pro at rebuilding rosters, and I have no doubt he will rebuild or has rebuilt this one too.

We are so lucky to have him...........in a world of complete MBB instability and chaos cause by the NIL and paid college athletes scams (athletes are already handsomely paid with free college tuition, room and board, and a monthly stipend) Schmidt continues to provide stability and accomplishment.

Now that we have a real AD, our situation should improve and improve dramatically.

[ceharv]

IMO, coming from any of the usual multiple-league,, nationwide predictors who publish these lists each year, anything in the top 10, middle of the pack-ish prediction is a reflection of confidence in Schmidt’s ability to quickly mold a team of strangers into a team capable of playing together and succeeding. After all, it’s not like we have anyone coming back who has demonstrated success in playing in the league, or that we brought in multiple four and five star players, so there’s no real objective evidence to substantiate a prediction of a top of the league finish. Obviously we all hope Mark will be able to get these guys to exceed expectations, but right now, there’s nothing objective for these predictors to base such a prediction on. A fair, objective prediction is middle-of-the-league or lower.
On the other hand, some of our best recent results have come when we have been overlooked or under-rated. So there’s reason for subjective hope or higher expectations. In the meantime I am preparing for the annual Class of ‘75 back wing of First Rob mini-reunion this weekend in Buffalo (or Clarence Center more precisely). This will be a year in advance of next year’s official school 50th Reunion (!!!) where many in the same gang have the Old Library B&B basically sold out.

[towniegrad]

Article in the BN. today by Rachel Lenzi on big four wny basketball and the nil developments …informative.

[joe48]

I have no idea how this will come together. What I do believe is we will see Mark’s thick playbook used for kindling this winter. I wonder if you can coach a group like this to play hard defense. I have my doubts. I expect to see less playbook and more individual skills to drive our offense.
Depending on the athleticism of this group the offense could be more running and less half court sets.