ESPN's Mid-Major Review

[Taj79]

Presented for reading pleasure:

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/30209086/mid-majors-2020-21-predictions-gonzaga-transcends-labels-win-title

Some decent stuff but nothing too revealing on the Bills.  Things we already knew.  Only Lunardi picks us to win the A10.  The rest says Richmond even with Sherrod's injury.  I just don't see Gustavson, Burton and Crabtree replacing what a fifth-year senior was bringing to the table and the rotational change will hurt Richmond as well.  Lunardi also tabs Crutcher as Mid-Major POY.  

[slu72]

We really get very little love from ESPN. We beat Richmond by 12 at their joint and basically both teams return intact. ???? WTF ESPN. I’m kind of happy we’ve lost the Orlando opportunity to play Zaga this early. Yes, we’re experienced, but so are they. I just get the feeling at this point they’d take us 70% of the time. A loss this early might take some of the wind out of our sails, so Zaga can wait until March. No reason to rain on our early season expectations. 

[3star_recruit]

45 minutes ago, slu72 said:

We really get very little love from ESPN. We beat Richmond by 12 at their joint and basically both teams return intact. ???? WTF ESPN. I’m kind of happy we’ve lost the Orlando opportunity to play Zaga this early. Yes, we’re experienced, but so are they. I just get the feeling at this point they’d take us 70% of the time. A loss this early might take some of the wind out of our sails, so Zaga can wait until March. No reason to rain on our early season expectations. 

Richmond is a safe pick because they went 14-4 in the conference last year and have everybody except Sherrod back.  At our best, we're the better team but they proved over 18 games they were the most consistent team.  It's not anything more complicated than that.  

[Taj79]

Personally, I like NOT having the bull's eye on my back.

[Cowboy]

1 hour ago, Taj79 said:

Personally, I like NOT having the bull's eye on my back.

-if we want to be the next Gonz with that comes being the target

[Reinert310]

Just now, Cowboy said:

-if we want to be the next Gonz with that comes being the target

I agree. But the other teams in the A10 know how good we’re gonna be, regardless of what media members think. But they’ve never seen us with Gibson sniping from deep. The Tulane game comes to mind when we’re firing on all cylinders offensively. None of the teams in the A10 have seen that in person. Even with a target on our backs, I think we might surprise some teams. I’m excited 

[slufanskip]

2 hours ago, 3star_recruit said:

Richmond is a safe pick because they went 14-4 in the conference last year and have everybody except Sherrod back.  At our best, we're the better team but they proved over 18 games they were the most consistent team.  It's not anything more complicated than that.  

I agree but I'd call that the lazy take. Yep, they had 2 less conference losses than we had. However, the teams we played twice finished 1,5,9,10,14 in conference. Thiers finished 7,8,10,11,12. We beat them badly at their place. We played 6 games against the top 4 not counting us. 2 at home, 4 away, both the top 4 we didn't play 2 against we got on the road. They played 2 against none of the top 4, 2 away, 2 home.  We both played Auburn they lost by 14 in a real neutral court (NYC). We lost by 6 at a supposed neutral site (110 miles from their campus) We both played BC, they won by 20 at home, we won by 10 at BC.  Now add the cherry on top we beat them by 16 on the road. After the game their team was seen carrying our dirty laundry to the team bus.

I don't see how anyone who puts in even a little effort ranks them ahead of us based just upon the above as we clearly had the much more difficult conference schedule. We switch schedules we could have been 14-4 and they could easily have been 12-6. 

They lost a 12.7 ppg / 5.4 rpg 43% 3 pt shooter for the season. We gained a 10.9 ppg 43% 3 point shooter. Basically they lost their best 3 pt shooter, we got ours back. 

Just my opinion but ranking Richmond above us is a lazy take

[3star_recruit]

31 minutes ago, slufanskip said:

I agree but I'd call that the lazy take. Yep, they had 2 less conference losses than we had. However, the teams we played twice finished 1,5,9,10,14 in conference. Thiers finished 7,8,10,11,12. We beat them badly at their place. We played 6 games against the top 4 not counting us. 2 at home, 4 away, both the top 4 we didn't play 2 against we got on the road. They played 2 against none of the top 4, 2 away, 2 home.  We both played Auburn they lost by 14 in a real neutral court (NYC). We lost by 6 at a supposed neutral site (110 miles from their campus) We both played BC, they won by 20 at home, we won by 10 at BC.  Now add the cherry on top we beat them by 16 on the road. After the game their team was seen carrying our dirty laundry to the team bus.

I don't see how anyone who puts in even a little effort ranks them ahead of us based just upon the above as we clearly had the much more difficult conference schedule. We switch schedules we could have been 14-4 and they could easily have been 12-6. 

They lost a 12.7 ppg / 5.4 rpg 43% 3 pt shooter for the season. We gained a 10.9 ppg 43% 3 point shooter. Basically they lost their best 3 pt shooter, we got ours back. 

Just my opinion but ranking Richmond above us is a lazy take

The teams that finished 5th, 6th and 7th basically had the same record so I don't see any significant difference in schedule strength there.  What it really boils down to is that we had to play Dayton twice while they only played Dayton once.  Given, but that one game doesn't translate into "much more difficult" conference schedule for me.  It gave them a one game advantage. 

The winner of the league will probably have to go to 15-3 or better this year.  The prognosticators chose as a placeholder the team that just went 14-4 instead of trying to figure out how many wins Gibson Jimerson and Fred Thatch add to our win total.    When you read the previews for both teams, it's clear that we're viewed as the team with more upside.  

[slufanskip]

42 minutes ago, 3star_recruit said:

The teams that finished 5th, 6th and 7th basically had the same record so I don't see any significant difference in schedule strength there.  What it really boils down to is that we had to play Dayton twice while they only played Dayton once.  Given, but that one game doesn't translate into "much more difficult" conference schedule for me.  It gave them a one game advantage. 

The winner of the league will probably have to go to 15-3 or better this year.  The prognosticators chose as a placeholder the team that just went 14-4 instead of trying to figure out how many wins Gibson Jimerson and Fred Thatch add to our win total.    When you read the previews for both teams, it's clear that we're viewed as the team with more upside.  

That's not correct.  

Dayton 18-0  SLU played twice

5th Duq 11-7  SLU played twice 

7th Davidson 10-8 Rich played twice

8th VCU 8-10 Rich played twice

9th Umass 8-10  SLU played twice

10th La Salle 6-12 Rich and SLU played twice

11th GW 6-12  Rich played twice

12th GM 5-13 Rich played twice

14th St. J 2-16 SLU played twice

 I'll stick with our conference schedule was significantly more difficult. If Davidson and the Dukes 1 game difference is basically the same then give Richmond another loss at Dayton which puts us and them  at a 1 game difference making us basically equal, we beat them at their place so we finish ahead of them in conference. 

[dlarry]

9 hours ago, Taj79 said:

Personally, I like NOT having the bull's eye on my back.

I don’t think it matters what ESPN says. The rest of the A10 has already planted a bull’s eye right on the Bill’s jerseys.

With the team we have returning they will get everyone’s best effort.