Top 25 talk

[SpringSt7]

IF Hixon returns to the sideline ... you never know what a sabbatical year might reveal. Don't get me wrong, I want to see him back ... but I am understanding that things like this could happen.

Agreed---I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for now, however.

[Fifth and Putnam]

OAC

1. Marietta - lose starters Hall and Hoyng but bring back the core of their scoring %
2. Mount Union - Bower-Malone, Carroll, and Friga will be big shoes to fill but I still expect a strong squad from the Purple Raiders with Gurley, Hill, and Poole returning.

---------------------------

3. Capital - Crusaders were a solid 9-9 squad last year that brings back everyone aside from Yahaya. Capital won't be down for long.

4/5/6/7/8/9  It really get's murky here as some of the perennial teams in the OAC (John Carroll, BW) that lose a lot of will mix with up and coming young squads on the rise (Wilmington, Otterbein, Ohio Northern, Berg).

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Centennial:

Swarthmore - they lose O'Dell and Shafer, but they bring back EVERYONE else and their bench is incredibly deep - they would run the second unit for large minutes in every game. I suspect they remain in the conversation for sure.

Johns Hopkins - they lose only Harry O'Neil and everyone else returns including Connor Delaney (who suffered an injury in the last game, but does not require surgery - as he did the previous season with a similar injury). They also probably grow stronger and while O'Neil is a huge loss inside, I suspect there are guys ready to step into that role and maybe even have two on the floor at the same time (to be determined). I always said Hopkins was a year ahead to some degree. I knew they would compete with Swat, but I expected them to be "Swat" next year.

There are also Ursinus, Muhlenberg, and Haverford. I think the Mules are the most likely to compete with the top group, but I am not sure they are ready for the Top 25 as of yet.

CAC:

CNU obviously is one you never forget, but YCP leaves the conference for the MAC Commonwealth. Hiding under them is Mary Washington who had a pretty decent season, though they lost more of their close games against good competition then they won. The conference is ... going to be different, but CNU and Mary Wash are the only two I think are in the Top 25 convo. Salisbury is still finding themselves.

MAC Commonwealth:

I'll add the MACC ... but there is a lot to figure out, I think. YCP enters and that certainly raises the national profile, but they also have Eastern enter from the Freedom (while Arcadia and Lyco leave for the Freedom and several other conferences in DIII get angry again). I think that shakes things up, but I'm not sure how it shakes out. Worth watching, but it will take some time. One thing will be for sure, the MAC Commonwealth will continue to be one of the more competitive conferences top to bottom and the Freedom gains a bit of strength it has been badly missing.

MAC Freedom:

Eastern leaves, but Arcadia and Lyco enter. This gives the Freedom some more competition. Stevens is the only one in the Top 25 convo right now and I'm not sure this conference will immediately become one to watch ... but in time they will.

[mailsy]

Atlantic East
Possible top 25 listed in order.
1. ??
2. ??
3. ??
4. ??
5. ?? 


I have way too much time on my hands!

[Titan Q]

This is great.  Keep it coming.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

This is great.  Keep it coming.

Then there is the CCIW ...

Just kidding ...

[Greek Tragedy]

Centennial:

Swarthmore - they lose O'Dell and Shafer, but they bring back EVERYONE else and their bench is incredibly deep - they would run the second unit for large minutes in every game. I suspect they remain in the conversation for sure.

Johns Hopkins - they lose only Harry O'Neil and everyone else returns including Connor Delaney (who suffered an injury in the last game, but does not require surgery - as he did the previous season with a similar injury). They also probably grow stronger and while O'Neil is a huge loss inside, I suspect there are guys ready to step into that role and maybe even have two on the floor at the same time (to be determined). I always said Hopkins was a year ahead to some degree. I knew they would compete with Swat, but I expected them to be "Swat" next year.

There are also Ursinus, Muhlenberg, and Haverford. I think the Mules are the most likely to compete with the top group, but I am not sure they are ready for the Top 25 as of yet.

CAC:

CNU obviously is one you never forget, but YCP leaves the conference for the MAC Commonwealth. Hiding under them is Mary Washington who had a pretty decent season, though they lost more of their close games against good competition then they won. The conference is ... going to be different, but CNU and Mary Wash are the only two I think are in the Top 25 convo. Salisbury is still finding themselves.

MAC Commonwealth:

I'll add the MACC ... but there is a lot to figure out, I think. YCP enters and that certainly raises the national profile, but they also have Eastern enter from the Freedom (while Arcadia and Lyco leave for the Freedom and several other conferences in DIII get angry again). I think that shakes things up, but I'm not sure how it shakes out. Worth watching, but it will take some time. One thing will be for sure, the MAC Commonwealth will continue to be one of the more competitive conferences top to bottom and the Freedom gains a bit of strength it has been badly missing.

MAC Freedom:

Eastern leaves, but Arcadia and Lyco enter. This gives the Freedom some more competition. Stevens is the only one in the Top 25 convo right now and I'm not sure this conference will immediately become one to watch ... but in time they will.

Swarthmore loses their two bigs, I haven't looked at their roster too indepth, but do they have bigs to replace them?

Stevens loses a ton. Really only returns two of their top 8. Lycoming moving over from the MACC returns 6 of their top 7. Not to say they are Top 25 worthy, but they could be the favorite. I just look at rosters, remember!

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Centennial:

Swarthmore - they lose O'Dell and Shafer, but they bring back EVERYONE else and their bench is incredibly deep - they would run the second unit for large minutes in every game. I suspect they remain in the conversation for sure.

Johns Hopkins - they lose only Harry O'Neil and everyone else returns including Connor Delaney (who suffered an injury in the last game, but does not require surgery - as he did the previous season with a similar injury). They also probably grow stronger and while O'Neil is a huge loss inside, I suspect there are guys ready to step into that role and maybe even have two on the floor at the same time (to be determined). I always said Hopkins was a year ahead to some degree. I knew they would compete with Swat, but I expected them to be "Swat" next year.

There are also Ursinus, Muhlenberg, and Haverford. I think the Mules are the most likely to compete with the top group, but I am not sure they are ready for the Top 25 as of yet.

CAC:

CNU obviously is one you never forget, but YCP leaves the conference for the MAC Commonwealth. Hiding under them is Mary Washington who had a pretty decent season, though they lost more of their close games against good competition then they won. The conference is ... going to be different, but CNU and Mary Wash are the only two I think are in the Top 25 convo. Salisbury is still finding themselves.

MAC Commonwealth:

I'll add the MACC ... but there is a lot to figure out, I think. YCP enters and that certainly raises the national profile, but they also have Eastern enter from the Freedom (while Arcadia and Lyco leave for the Freedom and several other conferences in DIII get angry again). I think that shakes things up, but I'm not sure how it shakes out. Worth watching, but it will take some time. One thing will be for sure, the MAC Commonwealth will continue to be one of the more competitive conferences top to bottom and the Freedom gains a bit of strength it has been badly missing.

MAC Freedom:

Eastern leaves, but Arcadia and Lyco enter. This gives the Freedom some more competition. Stevens is the only one in the Top 25 convo right now and I'm not sure this conference will immediately become one to watch ... but in time they will.

Swarthmore loses their two bigs, I haven't looked at their roster too indepth, but do they have bigs to replace them?

Stevens loses a ton. Really only returns two of their top 8. Lycoming moving over from the MACC returns 6 of their top 7. Not to say they are Top 25 worthy, but they could be the favorite. I just look at rosters, remember!

They have one right now.  Michael Caprise is very talented.  Needs some confidence, but a strong player.  Also, this will be the first class Landry recruited off the national championship appearance, so I imagine he'll have some pretty decent bigs coming in.

[ronk]

Landmark

1. Susquehanna  possible Top 25
2. Scranton possible Top 25
3. Drew

Susquehanna - maybe, they only lose one of their top six scorers and have a lot of youth. But they didn't figure things out until late (inconsistent prior). I love what Frank Marcinek does there and I would hope they could be tough, but I also found them to be a bit undersized. I think I would wait to see on these guys despite how they finished the season.

Scranton - why? I think this is a wait and see. First, losing Mancuso and Verma will have an impact. I know they have other talent, but those are two huge losses. Secondly, they don't put together schedules that challenge them. They just inflate WL% numbers.

Drew - this could be interesting. While they lose two of their top scorers (and a good player in Riley), they have a lot of youth that really stepped up. I'm not sure I buy in for preseason, but they will be on my watch list.

Granted - this is off the top of my head. The Landmark is not that strong a conference ... it just doesn't build national teams and it really never has despite some teams either getting to the tournament or one miraculous run in 2012. And not many are willing to go out and put together really challenging schedules leaving a lot to be desired. Maybe they figure it out and maybe they produce some good teams ... but even as one who knows the conference well ... I'm going to wait and see.

Why the negativity about topics(strength of conference,scheduling) that are irrelevant to what was solicited, namely, which are the top teams in a conference and where should they be considered wrt Top 25 discussion?

[Titan Q]

Swarthmore - they lose O'Dell and Shafer, but they bring back EVERYONE else and their bench is incredibly deep - they would run the second unit for large minutes in every game. I suspect they remain in the conversation for sure.

I don't doubt they end up in the Top 25 conversation as the year goes on, but would you agree they should not be a preseason Top 25 team? 

They lose their two most valuable players:   
* Zac O'Dell: 10.7 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 2.3 apg
* Nate Shafer: 10.5 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 2.1 apg

Certainly a deep bench this year, but if you took O'Dell and Shafer off the team, Swarthmore would not have been a Top 25 team this year.

Seems like a team to put on the "watch list" and see how Nov/Dec plays out and if they do truly re-load?

[Titan Q]

Granted - this is off the top of my head. The Landmark is not that strong a conference ... it just doesn't build national teams and it really never has despite some teams either getting to the tournament or one miraculous run in 2012. And not many are willing to go out and put together really challenging schedules leaving a lot to be desired. Maybe they figure it out and maybe they produce some good teams ... but even as one who knows the conference well ... I'm going to wait and see.

A team can be from a bad conference and have a bad schedule and still be a Top 25 team though.

See Yeshiva. Probably a Top 5 preseason team next year.

[Titan Q]

So far from the comments here, and on some other boards, seems the following 14 teams are probable Top 25 teams for me...

(alphabetical)

* Amherst (18-8, 7-3)
* Elmhurst (25-5, 11-3)
* Emory (22-5, 11-3)
* Hobart (23-5, 15-3)
* Illinois Wesleyan (19-9, 11-5)
* Johns Hopkins (24-4, 16-2)
* Middlebury (21-6, 6-4)
* Randolph-Macon (28-2, 15-1)
* St. Thomas (26-3, 19-1)
* Tufts (23-6, 8-2)
* UW-Platteville (23-5, 12-2)
* Wash U (22-5, 11-3)
* WPI (20-8, 10-3)
* Yeshiva (29-1, 16-0)

I could be missing some obvious candidates.  Just kind of a work-in-progress list.

Please keep the ideas coming.

[Greek Tragedy]

Swarthmore - they lose O'Dell and Shafer, but they bring back EVERYONE else and their bench is incredibly deep - they would run the second unit for large minutes in every game. I suspect they remain in the conversation for sure.

I don't doubt they end up in the Top 25 conversation as the year goes on, but would you agree they should not be a preseason Top 25 team? 

They lose their two most valuable players:   
* Zac O'Dell: 10.7 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 2.3 apg
* Nate Shafer: 10.5 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 2.1 apg

Certainly a deep bench this year, but if you took O'Dell and Shafer off the team, Swarthmore would not have been a Top 25 team this year.

Seems like a team to put on the "watch list" and see how Nov/Dec plays out and if they do truly re-load?

They do return their top THREE scorers on the team, from a very balanced team, as mentioned. They were the best team last year as well. I would probably put them near the high teens, low 20s. Nearly every team loses someone.

On paper, right now, are there 25 teams better than them? Your previous post kind of answers that...as a group, we have 14 and I'm not sure all of those 14 are better than Swarthmore.

[thebear]

#11 - Brockport returns 6 of their top 9, I would add them to the list. 

They return Jahidi Wallace (2nd team all region), Davante Hagins (former 1st team all-NYS player), Danny Ashley (former SUNYAC ROY), Tyree Grimsley, Antonio Alvarez, Tyler Sullivan.

Preseason AA Justin Summer was hurt for the middle of the season and came off the bench after his return.

[Greek Tragedy]

Looking back at the last regular season poll...you could probably add:

Swat - They lose two guys, return their top 3 scorers and a deep bench.
St. Joseph CT - In theory returns everyone, but someone said some could transfer to D1 or D2 schools.
Wash U - Lose three starters, but return Nolan and Hardy.
Marietta - Loses only one senior starter.

Others not in poll

Wabash
Texas-Dallas -Could have Underwood back
RPI
Albion
PS-Harrisburg - Made some noise in the NCAAs. Return everyone