Collegesportsmadness' Top 144

[RUBillsFan]

1 hour ago, Taj79 said:

Hines became the long-lasting embodiment of Jared Drew, Lancona, Agbeko Jolly, Gillmann, Bartley, Reynolkds, Yarbrough, Neufeld, Bishop and Zeke Moore --- with Moore being the consolation "prize" instead of Tatum.  [dead] should be made to reimburse the school for the insanely wasted scholarship money. 

Agree with your overall point, so I'm just clarifying here.  Jared Drew was a Majerus recruit.  He never played for Rick (RIP), but it was recruited & signed by him not Crews.

I saw somewhere on social media that Hines is working is tail off to try to be able to play professionally overseas.  This kid may have been comparatively lacking in innate physical ability / stature, but he was never lacking in effort.  Any criticism of him is misplaced.

[wgstl]

George Mason comes in at #61

 

Based on likeliness.  at this point in time it appears A10 is likely to get 4 into the dance.

[billikenfan05]

9 minutes ago, wgstl said:

George Mason comes in at #61

 

Based on likeliness.  at this point in time it appears A10 is likely to get 4 into the dance.

My prediction 53 is sitting pretty right now

[cheeseman]

11 minutes ago, wgstl said:

George Mason comes in at #61

 

Based on likeliness.  at this point in time it appears A10 is likely to get 4 into the dance.

Are you sure - people on the board have been reporting that  we are likely a one bid league this year -  I don't know about  4 but we will have more than one.  

[Billiken Rich]

10 minutes ago, RUBillsFan said:

Agree with your overall point, so I'm just clarifying here.  Jared Drew was a Majerus recruit.  He never played for Rick (RIP), but it was recruited & signed by him not Crews.

I saw somewhere on social media that Hines is working is tail off to try to be able to play professionally overseas.  This kid may have been comparatively lacking in innate physical ability / stature, but he was never lacking in effort.  Any criticism of him is misplaced.

The only criticism I ever had of Aaron was that there were at least three players in Jalen, Roby, Bess (and Goodwin when available,) that I would rather have taken that last second desperation three (with 5 seconds left on the clock.)  Hines could never find them open and didn't really seem to notice when they were.  I wish him all the best and yes we did NEED him mightily last year.

[wgstl]

1 minute ago, cheeseman said:

Are you sure - people on the board have been reporting that  we are likely a one bid league this year -  I don't know about  4 but we will have more than one.  

im just saying because almost all teams around 60 or better get in via kenpom.  obviously it'll take other factors to get to that. Last year St bonnies(68), rhody(52), and davidson(43) all got in. on what was kenpoms final rankings.

[GBL_Bills]

3 minutes ago, cheeseman said:

Are you sure - people on the board have been reporting that  we are likely a one bid league this year -  I don't know about  4 but we will have more than one.  

When was the last time the A10 was a 1 team bid? I mean, heck, even last year we got 3 in.

[billiken_roy]

1 hour ago, tarheelbilliken said:

I was never that optimistic that we would have landed Tatum. He would lost millions if he had Crews coach him and would had no one around him. My big beef is we never went after Mike Lewis II. Big miss. Always impressed me when he played us, would have been a 4 year player & would have solved our current outside threat guard issue. 

i disagree.   nba scouts find all worthy players.   he was likely earmarked as a lottery pick before he ever committed to Duke.  in fact Jason would have probably increased his draft worth because he would have been the desparate highlight player that would have carried the billikens completely and shown he was better than they even expected rather that just another spoke in the wheel at duke.     

[slu72]

6 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

i disagree.   nba scouts find all worthy players.   he was likely earmarked as a lottery pick before he ever committed to Duke.  in fact Jason would have probably increased his draft worth because he would have been the desparate highlight player that would have carried the billikens completely and shown he was better than they even expected rather that just another spoke in the wheel at duke.     

But landing Tatum would have secured Dead's job. Losing him to Duke was the best thing to happen to this program since the Majerus hire. Addition by subtraction. After watching Tatum in the NBA playoffs,  he may well have led us to 20 w's, but with the rest of the deadwood around him that would be about the maximum. We probably would have made the NIT, because he would have drawn a crowd. He made the right move for both him and SLU.

[bauman]

On 8/18/2018 at 12:21 PM, bauman said:

Top 144 update.  Memphis came in today at #81.  Still 5,  A-10 teams to appear, which isn't bad, 5 top 80 teams.

Contest update, as stated in the original post changes cannot be made after 8/15, meaning no more changes.  Many of your numbers have been passed and if that is the case, no free A-B product for you.Those still with a chance to win are SShoe, Next Year Bill, slufan13, JohnnyJumpUp, drkelsey55, BillsBeliever, Willie*, Cowboy*, johnbj14, Bills71, brianstl, BandLegend, Sluletthedogsout, Billiken Rich*, Old Geyser*, ////slu72*, Quailman*, Kshoe*, Taj79*, IceBilliken, bauman*, motoy12*, slufanskip, juniorbill76, MajorMajerus*, wgstl*////, BillikeFan05*, BilliKitty*, philliken, Billiken Fan_Dan*, tonka*, Father B, dlarry, Slu_Lax, White Pelican, GoSluBills*, Jettflight5*, ////AGB91*, gobillsgo*, BigMouthBilliken*,  Old Guy, Majerusmajor, Billiken Boy 10 , and Scoop(but only if the Bills come in next at #80 since Scoop picked the Bills at #81 and Billiken Boy 10 picked them at 78).

Remember ties are broken by first to pick the number unless the picks were made on the same day.

*---predicted the same number.

*//// divides groups of ties

Everyone in the above list after dlarry is out and dlarry  can only win if the Bills come in at 60, the next team in the rankings.

Still no mention of SPUMAC

[billiken_roy]

1 hour ago, slu72 said:

But landing Tatum would have secured Dead's job. Losing him to Duke was the best thing to happen to this program since the Majerus hire. Addition by subtraction. After watching Tatum in the NBA playoffs,  he may well have led us to 20 w's, but with the rest of the deadwood around him that would be about the maximum. We probably would have made the NIT, because he would have drawn a crowd. He made the right move for both him and SLU.

i have no problem with your take and trust me, one more second with crews would have been too much.  but the point was that jason made his own situation better because he went to duke and i contend he was so good it didnt matter and might have actually showcased his skills more had he went to slu.   the debate had nothing to do with crews hanging on for more agony.   it was about tatum.  

[Taj79]

Well, it seems my somewhat defense and belief in a possible Mason placement was, well, misplaced.  Wrong on that account.  Not the first time, eh boys?  Oh well ....

The article on Mason actually says the A10 will be a two-bid league this year.  Given that only two teams are left awaiting their reveals .. Davidson and us .... it would appear these guys have anointed us as the Dance reps.  But it also means that should a team surprise in Brooklyn come March, well, look out. One of these two will be in jeopardy.   Even though these guys are going to nominate Davidson for either 1 or 2 in this year's A10, I am still skeptical.  If Grady gets hurt the backlash will be five times greater than when Newkirk and Kimble went down for St. Joe';s.  He's a nice player and I'd love to have him but I don't rank him at the same level I ranked DeAndre Bembry. 

Oh well, can't wait .....

Nick:  I'll take your bet ... as I understand it, I win if Mason gets the higher seed in the A10 tournament over Davidson, correct?

[slu72]

2 hours ago, billiken_roy said:

i have no problem with your take and trust me, one more second with crews would have been too much.  but the point was that jason made his own situation better because he went to duke and i contend he was so good it didnt matter and might have actually showcased his skills more had he went to slu.   the debate had nothing to do with crews hanging on for more agony.   it was about tatum.  

I understood your point. Hell, Tatum likely would have gone lottery if he stayed home that year and just ate Imos pizza. I'm grateful he chose Duke since it got us Travis. 

[wgstl]

best case scenario.  Tatum goes to Duke to get paid, we were able to fire crews, Tatum shows unconditional support for SLU athletics.

 

It seems we're on our way for all three to actually happen.

[RUBillsFan]

4 hours ago, wgstl said:

George Mason comes in at #61

 

Based on likeliness.  at this point in time it appears A10 is likely to get 4 into the dance.

 

4 hours ago, wgstl said:

im just saying because almost all teams around 60 or better get in via kenpom.  obviously it'll take other factors to get to that. Last year St bonnies(68), rhody(52), and davidson(43) all got in. on what was kenpoms final rankings.

Not that these preseason rankings mean anything, but your analysis seems flawed here.  A10 got 3 bids last year mostly because Rhody (19) and St Bona (24) were very highly ranked in RPI which the selection committee actually used as opposed to KenPom and Davidson (47) likely would have been out if they hadn't won the tournament.

Further saying that "almost all teams around 60 or better get in via kenpom" is not accurate.  15 of the 34 teams ranked from #32 to #65 by KenPom for 2018 missed the tournament.  56% in and 44% out is not "almost all".  I'd anticipate that the remaining 2 A-10 teams (SLU & Davidson) will both fall north of #32 on this list.  Using last year's rate that means the A-10 would likely only get 2 bids, but might "luck" into a 3rd if a different team than the top 2 wins the tournament (like last year).

I hope the A10 gets 4 into the dance this year, but I'm not counting on it.

[papal]

It seems that everything depends on the non-conference won-loss record.  If A-10 does well, we can get 4 teams in.  Have no idea who the other A10 teams are playing early on

[Cowboy]

4 minutes ago, papal said:

It seems that everything depends on the non-conference won-loss record.  If A-10 does well, we can get 4 teams in.  Have no idea who the other A10 teams are playing early on

-I started to look at this but the A10 composite schedule doesn't include most of the teams yet, so I will circle back in a couple of weeks, we know LaSalle and StJ will have Nova in the Big 5

[HoosierPal]

34 minutes ago, papal said:

It seems that everything depends on the non-conference won-loss record.  If A-10 does well, we can get 4 teams in.  Have no idea who the other A10 teams are playing early on

The revamped quadrant system using the new NET will go a long way in selecting who gets at large bids.  We should have an opportunity for OOC Quad 1 wins against Butler, Houston, and Florida State.  Seton Hall: probably in the Top 75, but they are an interesting situation. Might SIUC wiggle their way into a top 75 rating?

In conference, St Joe may give us at least one Q1 opportunity.  Playing Davidson and George M only at home isn't going to help our NET Quad rating, unless they are top 30.

New Quad Win System, Using NET ratings

Quadrant 1: Home 1-30, Neutral 1-50, Away 1-75
Quadrant 2: Home 31-75, Neutral 51-100, Away 76-135
Quadrant 3: Home 76-160, Neutral 101-200, Away 135-240
Quadrant 4: Home 161-353, Neutral 201-353, Away 241-353

[bauman]

Last 59 by Conference:

ACC                                                                    11

AAC                                                                      4

A-10                                                                      2

B East                                                                  5    Would have been 6 if they had been smart enough to take SLU instead of Creighton

B 10                                                                      8

B 12                                                                      8

CONF  USA                                                        1      (Marshall)

MONT  WEST                                                    2      (Nevada/NM)

MVC                                                                      1      (Loyola)

PAC 12                                                                 6

SEC                                                                     10

WCC                                                                      1     ( Zags)         

                                                                            ______

                                                                                59                                     

 

33 Billiken.com members still in, with picks ranging from a very optimistic #1 (sshoe)    which will make him the winner if we come in  from #1 to #12 to a semi-optimistic Father B at # 58          

[Brighton]

Wow. Davidson comes in at 57.

[drkelsey55]

10 minutes ago, Brighton said:

Wow. Davidson comes in at 57.

Has them as #2 in the A10 but projected to the NIT??? One bid year???

[Glorydays2013]

26 minutes ago, Brighton said:

Wow. Davidson comes in at 57.

So that confirms SLU is number 1?

[Brighton]

18 minutes ago, drkelsey55 said:

Has them as #2 in the A10 but projected to the NIT??? One bid year???

Sure looks that way. Kinda disappointing.

[TheChosenOne]

5 minutes ago, Glorydays2013 said:

So that confirms SLU is number 1?

That deserves some Pitbull. The Billikens are coming, tra-la, tra-la.

[billikenfan05]

@philliken has 54 and I have 53. I think one of us is going to snag this.