#1-NYU-Coach ricktaylor returns all 12 players from last year’s team that won a game in the NT.  9 of the returnees are upperclassmen, which bodes very well for their FB/Press.  NYU is not a star driven team and does not have any superstars on their roster, but John Prince will probably be the best player on this year’s team. 

Key Non-Conference Matchups:  1/7 PM at Rhodes, 1/9 PM vs. St. Mary’s (MN), 1/10 PM vs. Colorado

#2-Greensboro-In a shocking upset, Greensboro does not hold the #1 spot in these rankings.  After a down year of only making the Final Four, Greensboro will look to get back on track.  They return 10 guys, 6 of them being upperclassmen, including reigning USA South player of the year Jeffrey Smith (who somehow won it by playing 18 min off the bench).  The scary thing is, he might not even be the best J. Smith on the team.  It’ll be tough for anyone to beat them this year.

Key Non-Conference Matchups: 1/6 PM at #10 Susquehanna, 1/7 AM at Rowan, 1/7 PM vs. #6 Roanoke, 1/9 PM at Elmhurst

 

#3-Randolph-Macon-Like NYU, R-M returns all 12 players, five of them seniors and four juniors, from a team that won 20 games and made the NT last year.  They are led by senior guard Matthew Wong and junior athletic guy Ronald Llanas (who pumphead mercilessly stole from me). While they have a lot of decent rebounders, the biggest concern with this team is their lack of a dominant rebounder our of  their zone. 

Key Non-Conference Matchups: 1/7 PM at Colorado, 1/8 PM at Kalamazoo

 

#4-Drew-They return 9 players, including 5 seniors from last year’s team that got its first loss in the Elite Eight.  Drew might be the best defensive team in the country: They have the 2nd best team athleticism, 4th best team speed, and 2nd best team defense in the country, (not counting any incoming freshman).  If that isn’t a recipe for press success, I don’t know what is.  I’m sure glad I don’t see them in non-con this year.

Key Non-Conference Matchups: 1/6 PM vs. Swarthmore, 1/7 PM (which is loaded with great games) vs. Rowan, 1/8 PM at Colby-Sawyer

 

#5-MCLA-They return 9 players from last year’s 2nd round team, including reigning Little E Player of the Year, National DPOY, and First-team All-American Joe Monroe.  With a point guard James Humphrey and a center Joseph Butler, they’ll go far this year. 

Key Non-Conference Matchups: 1/7 PM vs. SUNY IT, 1/8 PM vs. #10 Susquehanna

 

#6-Roanoke-With the 5 seniors we have this year, I think we’ll be very strong.  We return 10 players and 4 starters from last year’s Sweet 16 team.  We’re led by stud G Michael Hughey and C Donald Christopher, but Lynn Franqui and George Gloria will also have a lot to do with how far we go.  We won’t have the strongest bench, but hopefully it will be good enough to win a decent amount of games.

Key Non-Conference Matchups: 1/7 AM at Colorado, 1/7 PM at #2 Greensboro, 1/8 AM vs. Rowan, 1/8 PM at Washington (MO)

 

#7-Hamline-They return 9 players and all five starters from last year’s championship game run.  They have a great front court with Jonathan Barnett and Joe Gardener, both of whom can rebound and score.  Coach zbrent has gone in a different direction with his back court though; he has recruited guards with extremely high athleticism.  These high athleticism guards fit perfectly into Hamline’s motion offense and zone defense and as a result they have been wildly successful.  I’m not convinced they’ll get back to where they were last year, but I do think they will be very good once again.

Key Non-Conference Matchups: 1/8 PM vs. SUNY IT

 

#8-Marrietta-They only return 5 upperclassmen, but they are loaded with talent.  They are led by their three seniors, guard Leroy Brantner, stud big man John Williamson, and JUCO product Robert McAninch.  It will be interesting to see if they ever play McAninch or junior SF Ronald Keller (who might be their best player) at PF this year and let them go off on the slow bigs they’ll be guarded by.  They’ll also get contributions from sophomore Peter Anderson, the reigning National Freshman of the Year.  They have too much talent not win 25+ games. 

Key Non-Conference Matchups: 1/6 AM at Colby-Sawyer, 1/7 AM at Kalamazoo, 1/8 AM at SUNY IT, 1/10 PM at Rhodes

 

#9-Millsaps-They return 11 players, 9 of them upperclassmen, from last year’s 2nd round team.  They’ll be able to score and they’ll play good defense with their high IQs, but they’ll have their biggest problems trying to keep other teams off the glass.  Aaron Cornell will probably be their best offensive player, a tough matchup for any team.

Key Non-Conference Matchups: 1/7 AM vs. Elmhurst, 1/8 PM vs. Rowan, 1/10 AM vs. #10 Susquehanna

 

#10-Susquehanna-They return 10 players (5 upperclassmen) from a team that went to the Sweet 16 last year.  They are led by C Martin Andreasen, reigning Commonwealth Conference Player of the Year.  If they can get big production from Cruz McLaney, a redshirt freshman, they will be very hard to stop this year.

Key Non-Conference Matchups: 1/6 AM vs. Rowan, 1/6 PM vs. #2 Greensboro, 1/8 AM at St. Mary’s (MN), 1/8 PM at #5 MCLA, 1/9 PM at Rhodes, 1/10 AM at #9 Millsaps, 1/10 PM at SUNY IT

1/2/2011 7:17 PM (edited)
Good stuff, but my money is on Hamline this year. This team is gonna be rated in the 600s by the time the NT starts. The Hough - Lavender backcourt is nasty. 
1/1/2011 11:35 PM
Posted by tianyi7886 on 1/1/2011 11:35:00 PM (view original):
Good stuff, but my money is on Hamline this year. This team is gonna be rated in the 600s by the time the NT starts. The Hough - Lavender backcourt is nasty. 
I'll do my best not to let ya down, but that's a long way off. Right now I'm just thrilled I was able to land what may be my best all-around recruit to date - James Saltzman.

Potential
  Current
Rating
Potential     Current
Rating
Potential
Athleticism 44 High   Perimeter 32 Low
Speed 31 High   Ball Handling 18 High
Rebounding 43 High   Passing 12 Low
Defense 46 High   Stamina 52 High
Shot Blocking 25 High   Durability 53 Average
Low-post 49 High   FT Shooting   High
1/2/2011 2:34 AM (edited)
Wow, he's ridiculous zbrent.  Please don't redshirt him  lol
1/2/2011 8:51 AM
"#7-Hamline-They return 9 players and four starters from last year’s championship game run."

Out of curiosity, which starter do you think we lost?
1/2/2011 4:25 PM
Probably one of the top 3 recruits I have seen in D3. Whether he matches to those other 2 depends on how high those highs are, and whether stamina can break 80. 
1/2/2011 4:25 PM
Was the quality of recruits higher this year?  I was feeling pretty good about my class until I checked out some of the other A-range prestige teams and their recruits.  It seems to me that the mean was raised.
1/2/2011 6:12 PM
Posted by point_piper on 1/2/2011 6:12:00 PM (view original):
Was the quality of recruits higher this year?  I was feeling pretty good about my class until I checked out some of the other A-range prestige teams and their recruits.  It seems to me that the mean was raised.
In the Upper Midwest, I actually thought it was a bit lower overall (which I why I spent nearly all my money battling a D2 school for Saltzman). I didn't see too many guys that projected to as good as what I have now (recruited 2-3 seasons ago). I didn't do a ton of recuiting nationally though, so can't speak to that.
1/2/2011 6:32 PM
Posted by point_piper on 1/2/2011 6:12:00 PM (view original):
Was the quality of recruits higher this year?  I was feeling pretty good about my class until I checked out some of the other A-range prestige teams and their recruits.  It seems to me that the mean was raised.
Alot of it is luck. If you only recruit within your 300 and the recruit generation in your neighboring states are bad, you won't have a great year. I took 2 great PGs for my team and struggled signing a quality big, even though I came into this recruiting round with the mindset of signing 1 guard 2 pf/c. 
1/2/2011 6:51 PM
Posted by zbrent716 on 1/2/2011 4:25:00 PM (view original):
"#7-Hamline-They return 9 players and four starters from last year’s championship game run."

Out of curiosity, which starter do you think we lost?
I looked at the guys games started stat and obviously missed a guy.  I'll fix that.
1/2/2011 7:17 PM
As for recruits, it seemed normal to me, if not a little down.  The best d2 guys went to d2 schools and the best drop/pulldown candidate went to an A+ school with 6 open ships.
1/2/2011 7:20 PM
Posted by tkimble on 1/2/2011 7:17:00 PM (view original):
Posted by zbrent716 on 1/2/2011 4:25:00 PM (view original):
"#7-Hamline-They return 9 players and four starters from last year’s championship game run."

Out of curiosity, which starter do you think we lost?
I looked at the guys games started stat and obviously missed a guy.  I'll fix that.
I mixed up my lineups some, so the 2 guys I lost (or at least one of them) did start some games for me, but we have 5 guys who started 30+ games returning this season.
1/2/2011 7:51 PM
I recruit nationally out of Colorado but did not have any money to do my normal FSS barrage.  On paper, the recruits looked better this season.  Wish I had a couple of extra schollies right now...and about 5Gs
1/3/2011 10:46 PM
Posted by zbrent716 on 1/2/2011 2:34:00 AM (view original):
Posted by tianyi7886 on 1/1/2011 11:35:00 PM (view original):
Good stuff, but my money is on Hamline this year. This team is gonna be rated in the 600s by the time the NT starts. The Hough - Lavender backcourt is nasty. 
I'll do my best not to let ya down, but that's a long way off. Right now I'm just thrilled I was able to land what may be my best all-around recruit to date - James Saltzman.

Potential
  Current
Rating
Potential     Current
Rating
Potential
Athleticism 44 High   Perimeter 32 Low
Speed 31 High   Ball Handling 18 High
Rebounding 43 High   Passing 12 Low
Defense 46 High   Stamina 52 High
Shot Blocking 25 High   Durability 53 Average
Low-post 49 High   FT Shooting   High
I saw Saltzman but did not have any money left...he should be a DIII monster.
1/3/2011 10:48 PM
he was on my list too, but i wasnt going to battle a local school for him at distance.
1/3/2011 10:58 PM
◂ Prev 1|2|3|4|5...8 Next ▸

Search Criteria

Terms of Use Customer Support Privacy Statement

© 1999-2024 WhatIfSports.com, Inc. All rights reserved. WhatIfSports is a trademark of WhatIfSports.com, Inc. SimLeague, SimMatchup and iSimNow are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts, Inc. Used under license. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.