Top 25 talk

[Greek Tragedy]

UWSP has everything but a dominate post. Krull is good but will settle for outside shots, if Point has a Joe Werner, Kerry Gibson, Jeff Skemp or one of any of the 6'8" to 7' guys that the rest have it would help take some pressure of the outside shooting.  They have some bigger post on the bench but they are role players (maybe due to the system and not the player)

Maybe if you weren't lame and followed your brother to Stout, you could've been that low post presence we've missed the last two years!  OK, obviously I'm joking and I'm in no position to question Point's recruiting practices or YOUR decision making, but you get the idea! lol.   I'm sure you might have even started. 

[Greek Tragedy]

Titan Q,

I've been offline for a day or two, so I didn't really get to respond to your response.  No big deal.  I might've posted that message out of frustration! lol.    I thought I had heard you were going to make the trip up North to Quandt.  Guess that didn't materialize.  No problem.  I'm rooting for Washington U to beat Virginia Wesleyan and then lose in the Final...or historical reasons. 

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

The final poll is out now.  http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/

[njlincolnlion]

Lincoln closes out it d3 Basketball affiliation ranked #19.

[MR. PAC]

When does the new top 25 teams come out.

[David Collinge]

Instead of bugging Pat with an e-mail, I will just ask it here.  When does d3hoops usually release the real and only preseason poll that matters?

Around Nov. 1.

Street & Smith's basketball preview issue (which includes a page on D3 with a top 10, "possible breakthroughs," and preseason All-Americans) should be out in early October.

[Titan Q]

Sporting News/Street & Smith's 2007-08 Division III preseason top 10:

1. Wash U.
2. UW-Stevens Point
3. Brockport St
4. Amherst
5. Augustana
6. Brandeis
7. Virginia Wesleyan
8. Guilford
9. Rochester
10. Williams

"Possible Breakthroughs":

Alvernia, Aurora, Averett, Calvin, Capital, Defiance, Elmhurst, Hampden-Sydney, Heidelberg, Hope, Keene St, Lewis & Clark, Loras, Mississippi College, Plattsburgh St,  Puget Sound, Rhode Island Coll, Rowan, Stevens Institute, Ursinus, Wheaton, Whitworth, William Paterson, UW-Platteville, UW-Whitewater, Wittenberg, Wooster, Worcester Poly, York


Preseason All-American Team...

1st Team

James Cooper, Wooster
Andrew Olson, Amherst
Troy Ruths, Wash U
Ben Strong, Guilford
Larry Welton, Aurora

2nd Team

Sherod Harris, Brockport St
Chad McGowan, York (Pa)
Kent Raymond, Wheaton (IL)
Nick Shattuck, Ursinus
Anthony Williams, Plattsburgh St

Honorable Mention:

Ton Ton Balenga, VA Wesleyan
Damien Brown, Averett
Matt Brynes, Rowan
Steve DeLuca, Brandeis
Jason Foster, Puget Sound
Travis Gorham, Plattsburgh St
Nate Hainje, Chicago
Steve Hicklin, UW-Stevens Point
Craig Johnson, Coast Guard
Tyler Kathan, Keene St
Kyle Kuenstling, Coe
Jeremiah Lawrence, Shenandoah
Russell Martin, Trinity (Ct)
Onyie Onunaku, Shenandoah
Jonathan Onyiriuka, Rochester
Anthony Pettaway, Defiance
Pete Rortvedt, UW-Stevens Point
Chris Rose, Williams
Chris Shalvoy, Williams
Jeff Skemp, UW-Platteville
Nate Stahl, Capital
Ryan Symes, Whitworth
Brandon Todd, Muskingum
Derek Van Solkema, Hope
Caleb Veldhouse, Calvin
Sean Wallis, Wash U
Kyle White, Loras
Brandon Williams, Brockport St
Andrew Zimmer, Wabash

[Titan Q]

Their NAIA top 10, for anyone interested...

1. Oklahoma City
2. Concordia (Ca)
3. Robert Morris (Chicago)
4. Campbellsville (Ky)
5. Mountain St (W Va)
6. Faulkner (Ala)
7. Crichton (Tn)
8. Georgetown (Ky)
9. Azusa Pacific (Ca)
10. Louisiana St - Shreveport

They don't break out into NAIA I and II...all lumped together.

[Ralph Turner]

Their NAIA top 10, for anyone interested...

1. Oklahoma City  D-I
2. Concordia (Ca)   D-I
3. Robert Morris (Chicago)  D-I
4. Campbellsville (Ky)  D-I
5. Mountain St (W Va)  D-I
6. Faulkner (Ala)   D-I
7. Crichton (Tn)  D-I
8. Georgetown (Ky)  D-I
9. Azusa Pacific (Ca)  D-I
10. Louisiana St - Shreveport   D-I

They don't break out into NAIA I and II...all lumped together.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

My initial thoughts to Street & Smith's attempt at a pre-season Top 10... not quite!

There are a few teams I think they have just a BIT high.

- Virginia Wesleyan has lost a lot from their past two seasons of success to be ranked that high.
- Brockport State seems a bit high too me... after losing three seniors and making a coaching change. But they did make a deep run in the NCAA Tourney last season and the new coach is an eight-year assistant at Brockport.
- Rochester - huh? Finished unofficially 38th in the final D3hoops.com Top 25 last season... but do bring back a lot of players... but still play in the tough UAA. That pre-season ranking seems REALLY high!
- And Williams. Sure, they finished on a great run last season with some big upsets... but they were 16-12 last year. Why should anyone have confidence that the squad is a Top 10 team this year... especially in pre-season?

That being sain... I am sure someone or team will prove me wrong!

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Williams was surprisingly bad last year, especially at the beginning of the year.  They were a much better team than their record indicated, which explained the late season success.  Their younger players are a year older.  Top ten might be too high, but not for those reasons.  It might be too high because Williams always seems to have an inflated ranking.

[nescac1]

Just to expand on what Hoops Fan said, Williams returns its entire starting five.  Two of those guys were frosh last year and took some time to get acclimated.  And Williams' top player, Chris Rose, had a broken hand that kept him out of action for the start of the year, and then really limited his production for the first half of the season.  Williams had a very strong frosh class last year, who should really blossom as sophomores.  Top ten might be a little high, only because New England has some other really stellar squads returning: Amherst and Brandeis of course, Trinity who is always strong, and Keene State who returns all but one guy.

I think Amherst belongs above Brockport, but otherwise they look about right ... I believe Brockport returns their entire starting line-up from last year, and they barely lost to Wooster in the elite 8.  I do agree that VWA and Rochester are a little high, I might put the pre-season top 20  ranking as something like:

Amherst, Wash U, Stevens Point, Brockport, Guilford, Brandeis, Wheaton (IL) / Elmhurst / Augustana (a CCIW person would know better but all three seem to return a lot), UW-Plattesville, Wooster, Williams, Capital, Keene State, Calvin, VWA, Rochester, Trinity (Conn), Hope, Aurora

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

As long as the Brockport starters spent the summer running, they'll be ok.  They're not going to get the breathers they did last year, so their stamina better be top-notch.

[Greek Tragedy]

Stevens Point is too high.  Their only resemblence of a post game, offensively or defensively, Jon Krull, graduated.  It won't be too hard to defend a team without a post presence.  At the tail end of the season, teams learned how to guard Rortvedt and his barrage of 3-pters.  Guard him well and without Krull, Point is in trouble.

[Gregory Sager]

Amherst, Wash U, Stevens Point, Brockport, Guilford, Brandeis, Wheaton (IL) / Elmhurst / Augustana (a CCIW person would know better but all three seem to return a lot), UW-Plattesville, Wooster, Williams, Capital, Keene State, Calvin, VWA, Rochester, Trinity (Conn), Hope, Aurora

The CCIW preseason coaches poll will almost certainly slot the top three teams as Augustana, Elmhurst, and then Wheaton, and I think that most of the league's observers would agree with that.

I'm not sure that UW-Platteville will be the WIAC's second-rated team coming into the season. UW-Whitewater really loaded up on transfer talent this past off-season. Of course, UWW frequently has chemistry issues, and with all those new transfers those problems might arise again. But the Warhawks may be the most talented team in the WIAC going into 2007-08.