slu72 Posted August 24, 2006 Share Posted August 24, 2006 on CHN preview. They've listed the top 40 (X is there at 25). They are down to #78. Are we going to make it????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bauman Posted August 24, 2006 Share Posted August 24, 2006 Surely we are going to be in the top 78, but I'm not sure what this site's ranking really means. When you look at this year's ranking of Albany at 90, higher than Iowa 94, Cinn 98, Minn 103, & NCSt 107; along with High Point at 112 and S Hous. St. 117 both ranked higher than Prov 118, Miami 121, Ia St 134 and Wake F 143 (the last two also behind Oral Rob and E. Wash), it makes me wonder just who is doing the ranking and how much do they really know. Add to the above, the pre-season rating from last year where this site had us 196 overall and 12 in the A-10 and I lose faith in the value of CHN's preview. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu72 Posted August 24, 2006 Author Share Posted August 24, 2006 Yeah, but you don't want to be left out...and it's always good to see what "national outsiders" think of your chances. I did a little calculating on this: Of the Major conferences, The BCS boys, A-10, and CUSA...there are somewhere around 53 teams that haven't been named from these conferences. So in effect these 53 are competing for these 38 spots, plus you can toss in a handful of mid majors that might take some. The name mid majors: Gonzaga, SIU, Nevada, Wichita St are already in the top 40. So there are probably 60-65 teams left. Did we make enough of an impression last year to make it...only time will tell. That said, I do expect to see us any day now. I'm obsessing on this preview, I know, but after getting barely a line in ESPN's conference preview, I'm anxious for any little tid bit about this season. We sure aren't getting it from the PD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taj79 Posted August 24, 2006 Share Posted August 24, 2006 You asked the all-important question youself, 72 .... what's the difference between being ranked in this particular blurb and getting "barely a line in ESPN's conference preview"? Don't mean nuthin' in my book. And where it really is immaterial is in the fact that many posters before have pointed out that no one writing in these things does any bit of research whatsoever. So again, who cares? Am I looking forward to what this says and where we will be ranked? Sure. Does it mean anything to me? No. It will says essentially what we all know, that we snuck up on folks last year, that our defense carries the day, that we have three all-conference kids back and we need to find a four and some shooters or it will be winning and losing ugly all over again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu72 Posted August 24, 2006 Author Share Posted August 24, 2006 C'mon Taj Mahal '79, don't you want to see some preseason love too? Don't you want others to see the promise we see in our beloved Billikens? Hey, recruits may read this stuff for all we know. If the national guys think we aren't in the top 144 along with a whole bunch of mid major types like Albany and the Marist Red Foxes, what's that tell a recruit? These guys really must suck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taj79 Posted August 24, 2006 Share Posted August 24, 2006 I would counter that if we are depending on preseason "love" from prognosticators such as these, and hoping that translates into signings and committments from top 150- to top 200-level players, then we are screwed worse than we could have imagined! And I say that with some tongue planted firmly in cheek. The recruiting process, to me, is seasonal ... like planting crops. Only problem or difference is that its not annual anymore in that you start out fresh year in andyear out. Seeds are being planted now with kids named Suggs, Brandenburg and Griffey. They are what --- two or three years away and we've heard of them for at least a year or so prior to this post. So the harvest if you will is from the seeds planted years ago. Brad and his staff have to be in on things from two or three years past to reap the benefits in the coming November. If not, then I am afraid, as the anti-Brad group says, that the BS era might need to be over sooner than some might contend. This is a critical year for the program in teh BS era ... I have long advocated as Roy has about giving the guy time and that SLU is a difficult place to sell without winning. But this is the crest year ... the over-the-hump year. With three all-conference performers back and a roster of complete Brad recruitment, we need to see wins, we need to see the development of a four option (maybe that is by committee) and we need to see the hope on the hirizon that is some early and good signings. Its a natural progression demonstrating advancement. If we don't see it, then I start down a more agressive path of BS is not the answer. I like IV, TL and KL. I like the support that is DP, DB and LM. This year's Obi, AK, DM and HD class gives me some more hope that builds off last year's promise. It has to continue and that is measured in progress ... of which one sign is the early signings. A failure ther can be compensated for in a great record and an NCAA post season. But I'd like all signs to be positive for once. If not, the doubts ... and doubters ... will grow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu72 Posted August 25, 2006 Author Share Posted August 25, 2006 Agrre with both you and Broy that stability at the HC is the cornerstone for a top program. That said, if stability doesn't bring success, defined as annually in the top 50, then what good is it? The next two years to me are UB's over the hump years. If the program hasn't moved beyond two games above .500, a no show in the Dance, and recruiting classes that don't create some buzz about the future, it's sayonara time. This would also conincide with the opening of the arena. While I hope UB is at the helm for the arena's premiere game, if he hasn't achieved certain goals by 2008, it's time for a new era to begin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted August 25, 2006 Share Posted August 25, 2006 Not to burst a bubble ... but saying we have 3 all conference kids coming back is a little misleading. We have 1 all conference player returning and 2 all rookie returnees. I think we will be in the top 78, but won't be surprised if we are not ... and I won't really care. Many of these people making predictions know as litttle or less than you and I. Official Billikens.com sponsor of H Waldman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu72 Posted August 25, 2006 Author Share Posted August 25, 2006 I'm just hungry/anxious for some write up by someone whose supposed to be in the know. Fordham made it...if we don't this guys getting some kind of e-mail....Tired of being ignored by the so called national media. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshoe Posted August 25, 2006 Share Posted August 25, 2006 that the fact these rankings aren't just rankings of the BCS teams and give credit to the smaller schools is a sign that the person (people) doing the rankings actually know what they are doing and aren't biased. They may or may not be right (like any prediction) but at least they don't just list the BCS schools and ignore the smaller schools like most national publications are likely to do. It only takes a quick look at the RPI rankings to see that a lot of "big-name" schools end up below 100 at the end of the season. At the end of last year: K-State Miss. St. Georgia Auburn USC Texas Tech St. johns Missouri Mississippi Georgia Tech (championship game 2 years ago) Utah Purdue On another subject, I'm not sure why SLU72 is losing sleep over these rankings. Pre-season rankings mean NOTHING! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu72 Posted August 25, 2006 Author Share Posted August 25, 2006 No good reason, Shoe, other than I'd like to read something about the Bills, other than some of the tripe that's being posted here these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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