To try to steer the discussion away from a topic that never ever, ever should have been brought up ....

Posting without comment and prior to offseason development:

Returning for Salem State: All 12 players are returning (3 seniors, 9 juniors) with an average rating of 535. The Fab Five that have been starting since day 1 for Salem State will be juniors with a current average rating of 551.

Returning for Thomas: 8 players returning (4 seniors, 4 juniors) with an average rating of 578.

Returning for Mount Ida: 10 players returning (6 seniors, 4 sophomores) with an average rating of 554. The six seniors have an average rating of 594.

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I won the North and went to the NT last season with 6 frosh and a walk on, anything is possible! ;)

yeah you never know what will happen hopefully I can bring this conference a Elite 8 or Final 4, but it seems that I always get tripped up. Also anyone have a DII team in Smith because I am looking to move up to a good conference that would eventually lead to DI

Interesting work Coach Floyd.

I'm really surprised at how poorly the SF players are at ball handling and passing. Maybe I should feel a bit better about starting James Posey next year. (He's not a SF, but that's where he'll play.)

And I am surprised that the centers pass the ball a lot better than the power forwards. That's probably a sample size thing though.

yeah very interesting that SF would have so low a BH and P.

Pretty good offseason for me:

Jeffrey Hooker -- 9 points gained, 7 in the important categories (ignoring stamina and durability). Would have like to see more, but since he's somebody that is not going to start as a senior, it's probably for the best that he ended up being one of the guys that developed the least.

Anthony Ellington -- 15 and 12. Ellington gained 3 points in perimeter and 5 in passing. That's nice but he gained just 1 in athleticism and 0 in speed. Speed is what he needed more than anything else.

James Posey -- 23 and 21. A fantastic offseason. I feel better about starting him at SF this upcoming season. He's still not great -- but he's looking better now. 21 points of improvement in the skill categories was a nice surprise.

James Lau -- 7 and 10. Lau didn't develop much. But of his 10 points in the skill categories, 6 came in perimeter. That's how I would have wanted it.

Lawrence Mueller -- 18 and 17. Very solid offseason. Mueller has not been an asset his first three years as a starter. Maybe things will change in year 4.

Randy Meader -- 16 and 17. 4 points in athleticism, 4 in blocks, and 5 in the low post is a nice improvement for a player that will be moving from the SF position to PF this year.

Jerome Whitmarsh -- 23 and 14. The 23 is gaudy, but isn't that impressive since a lot of it came with his stamina increasing by 2 and his durability by 7. Can't complain though -- his rebounding went up by 6 this offseason.

Michael Scott -- 12 and 7. 0 points gained in rebounding, 1 in the low post. Not a great offseason.



I'm feeling better about this bunch. I don't think we'll rebound well enough to win the conference. But I think we're a bit closer to Mount Ida than I thought we were a few days ago.

Hope you fellas don't mind me posting in here. I saw some discussion about the schedule for Thomas next year, and since I set it up, I figured I might as well chime in.

First off...it's definitely not a schedule that you should go 10-0 with. All the teams are beatable, but there are few gimme games.

Rivier: They have a deep roster. Good speed/ath/reb. Much better defense ratings...and they play man. Either way, he should be able to play himself into an rpi in the 50-80 range...which will be good for you.

York: I'm going to go on a limb and say this is one of the games you might lose. Coach has a great track record. Deep team. Press defense. Has some nice perimeter guys too. RPI for this guy should be around 30 or so.

Chestnut Hill: Once again, a very deep team. Similar to Rivier, though playing either press or zome/press combo. I don't have a feel for where this team will end up rpi wise, though it should be top 100 at worst.

Haverford: On paper, this is your best match-up so far. He has 4 very good players. If they wear down or foul out it should be an easy game. If they don't though...he might take it. Either way, those guys should be able to take most teams easily enough and this is a likely NT team.

Marian: This is your true gimme game. No real excuse to lose this one.

Howard Payne: A press team. With 9 upperclassmen. Skill wise, you have a big advantage, but this team has the potential to be very tough on the defensive end. The coach hasn't had a good track record so far though, so I don't know what to make of the teams potential for the season.

Whitworth: Another press team (my apologies, I didn't realize that I scheduled so many). Incidentally, Thomas performed somewhat poorly against the press last season, though that is partly due to my inability to beat them. Should be beatable though...expect rpi around 150.

Marymount: I'm going to go on a limb and say you lose this one too. Returns 10 players from last seasons squad. How did that team do? Elite 8, final rpi of 28. He has some great speed and rebounding up and down his roster.

Concordia, Moorhead. This should be an interesting team. He appears to be playing a Man to Man / press combo. He seems too slow for press, but his def ratings are solid. No clue how that configuration will work out, but that is what will decide the game.

Connecticut: Better front court depth. Some amazing perimeter guys. I think you're a better coach and have a better team, but...there could be an upset here.

My prediction: 6-4 with loses to York, Marymount, Concordia Moorhead, and Howard Payne.