Jeff Goodman's College Basketball Preseason Top 25

[slojoe]

20 hours ago, BGleas said:

I agree. I think IU can do better than what many of these outlets are projecting. I'm also quite confused as to why people think Michigan won't be impacted by losing their far and away best player (Wagner), or why Purdue won't be impacted by losing 4 starters (we've seen that movie, Yogi's sophomore year). 

UM's defense was the reason I saw given for their high ranking though it was recognized that with Wagner gone their are big questions on offense.

[rico]

2 hours ago, slojoe said:

UM's defense was the reason I saw given for their high ranking though it was recognized that with Wagner gone their are big questions on offense.

I seen where the Wolves shot horribly in Europe.

[jblaz13]

: 

This was a somewhat interesting nugget I stumbled on today.:  Perhaps one of if not the most slept on team in all of CBB right now is the always unconventional SMU Mustangs!  Haha!! 

Well, at least that is according my SMU Mustang fan friend here seems to think so.In all fairness I know he isn't a homer since he cussed about their fortunes an awful lot last year. He also pointed out very clearly what hurt them most beyond the obvious stuff they self inflicted due to Brown. . That was a mutual thing since I had a lot to say to him about our PG play and roster deficiencies also costing IU a lot last year.    

However , as far as validity goes, I know very little about SMU other than IU recruiting their now ex PG Shake Milton at one time.I know they got caught being dirty, and got put on probation. They did lose Milton to the NBA and another kid graduated whose name I won't try to spell , and could fill it up from deep, but he is high on their experience(perhaps a bit of something else too.lol ) .No , jokes aside, he gave a pretty sturdy explanation.Here is some of it: 

Those who follow know they often go super small 4 guard ball, but they get a lot of rebounding and balanced scoring from a versatile veteran led backcourt group topped by Jarrey Foster who apparently pulled his name from the draft. I wasn't aware of that but then again, I don't follow them that closely. He says Foster returning for them is as huge as Morgan coming back to IU. He mention a couple kids I am slightly familiar with - McMurray and Ethan Chargois -who some of their fans think are going to break out. I watched Cincy out-bully the injury riddled late season version of SMU which had already nosedived to a shell of the team projected high off a 30-5 season 2 years ago. Chargois got absolutely manhandled and looked like a boy against men, so I'm not seeing that either. Even if he brings experience and improves. Depth is important to any program and asking a lot out of young frontcourts is hard enough to do as it is when they aren't also small..

He didn't feel sorry for them one bit , but said they could have packed it in ,and didn't in going down fighting to a 17-16 record and AACT Quarterfinal exit also to Cincy.  I trust the understanding of the game on the part of my source who thinks they make a strong resurgence and steal an at-large bid from one of the above teams. Hard to argue with versatility and a style that isn't easy to prepare for late season, but will they make it intact that far and will they get enough up front. . 

If they can stay healthy they can take advantage of flying mostly under the radar.The meat of their schedule is late so their best chance to revert back to their former trajectory begins and ends with availability and durability. By default, I personally do not envision much more than a bubble to NIT team if other Power 5 leagues like the B1G and PAC-12 are up.Their conference is top heavy and unless I'm wrong they still have the lost scholarships to overcome after their NCAA penalties. He thinks they should finished ranked and win 20-25 games. One of him or I will win 20 bucks on that before it's said and done .Lol   

Just making conversation and I'm ready for IU. I just found that interesting, because I had initially asked about Milton and learned he is now in the NBA. Go figure there! He wasn't in their one game I saw due to injury, but I search some Shake SMU highlights. Crean sure could've used him, and I'm personally convinced on how costly Crean losing out proved to be in hindsight since he materialized into everything IU didn't have at PG. I did let him know I have high hopes for IU at PG starting with Devonte Green and ultimately Phinisee moving forward as he grows into this level of play and it slows down-  as do most of us, plus other IU fans I know of.  

[Seeking6]

Wasn't sure where to stick this comment...but Archie is doing his presser right now. Guess the reports brought to this board about Jerome Hunter last month are true. Archie said Jerome has as much as upside as anyone we have and is a much better 3 point shooter than expected.