Peach Belt Season Preview:
There are 9 human coaches in the Peach Belt Conference this year, which saw it's conference prestige fall back to a B after a brief moment on top. Even though N. Florida won the championship again, the bottom-feeding sim teams were bad, even for sims. One new coach and one 3rd year coach can hopefully turn 2 of those programs around. There are 4 teams in the preseason top 25, three of them in the loaded south division and Clayton St up north. 8 teams have enough talent to make the dance, but with all the young players this season, 6-7 is more realistic.
N. Florida: teamvip's team is terrifying every year. Not only are his boys the defending national champions, but he has 3 national titles in the last 5 years along with 1 title game loss in that span. He returns 10 players from last season and begins the year ranked #2 in the polls. PF Kenneth Prejean (1st-team preseason AA), PG Osvaldo Navarro (3rd-team preseason AA), SG Bryant Swindell and C Michael Carr (preseason honorable mention AA), SG Daniel Forsyth, and C Jonathan Zumstein can all score, giving opposing defenses nightmares. The post players are elite defenders as well. Kenneth Prejean would be a starter for any major D1 program. This team is deep, with only a slight weakness in defense at the PG position. They are the favorite to win the conference yet again and aspire to defend their hardware.
Lander: The one time N. Florida didn't make the title game in the last 5 seasons, Lander did. Coach getbedarded has 3 national titles during his 49 years at the helm and comes into this season ranked preseason #7. This squad is not as deep as N. Florida, but the major 6-7 contributors are just as scary and are returning hungry from an elite 8 trip. PF Miro Ivancovic (2nd-team preseason AA), PF Norman Sherrod, and C Erasmo Rossi form the best trio of big men in the conference. Add 3 perimeter scorers at the SG/SF positions and the exceptional PG Lin Chinn and getbedarded has the pieces to make a deep run. Although a lack of elite passing and depth are issues, expect 1 or 2 of his four freshmen to vastly improve before season's end.
USC Upstate: towlie's team begins the season ranked #5. Nobody is really sure how coach towlie landed the #15 SF John Kogan (1st-team preseason AA) four seasons ago when we were doing 3.0 recruiting for the first time, but he begins the season rated 889 and shows no signs of slowing his improvement yet. By the way, he is a junior. The only thing keeping him from dominating the national POY conversation is towlie's strict adherence to the slowdown offensive tempo. The style seems to work for him though, and while the remaining players not named Kogan are not as dominant as some other teams in the division, the only glaring weakness is a lack of good passing. Kogan, along with C Scott Beck, PF Shawn Defreitas, and SG Genaro Costa will handle the scoring duties. The team is looking to improve on its sweet 16 run from last season.
Kennesaw St: Coach adlorenz only brings back 6 players from last year's sweet 16 dance and has recruited the best-named class in Peach history. SF Earl Geary "Tea," PF Cory "Booty" Swett, C Dallas Davis, and PG Morris Jesus will be the butt of many bad jokes and puns over the next four seasons. Joking aside, the only 3 upperclassmen on this roster are elite defenders and perimeter scorers, so this team just might just lead DII in 3-pointers. PG Raymond Leddy (1st-team preseason AA), SG Christopher Wong, and SF Randolph Collinsworth will test even the mightiest perimeter defenders. Although depth is clearly lacking this year, even the underclassmen can play defense and this team fully expects to make the NT again.
UNC Pembroke: Rounding out the south division is coach skinnycat's baby squad. If you thought Kennesaw's 6 freshmen were a lot, the slim feline has 7 of them. Known for re-labeling players into odd positions to fool the sim gameplans and frustrate the humans (doing what cats do), skinnycat will be starting a bunch of SF's and PF's this year. William Barnett (fastest guy alive 100spd/100sta), Richard Alves, Santos Duran, Anthony Mason, and even freshman Philip Ripley are very talented defenders and the 3-2 zone will frustrate many teams. Alves and Duran can get buckets too, so count on this team making the tourney again despite their youth and inexperience.
Clayton St: In the north division, Coach wildblue leads this preseason #14 squad after getting bounced in the 1st round of the NT a year ago. This is a fast team that can defend, but will need to rely on only a few scorers. Their best shooter is a 94 PER freshman without much IQ yet, so SF Michael Fox and C Jason Jones are going to be punching teams in the mouth with inside baskets. PG Dean Joseph will carry the backcourt and this team should make the NT fairly easy with an extremely daring non-conference schedule boosting their SOS ranking. Teams with great interior defense might be Clayton St's cryptonite.
Columbus St: After barely making the dance as a 16-seed last season, pdxblazerfan looks to earn more favor from the seeding committee this year by fielding a team with much-improved interior defense anchoring the zone scheme. C Timothy Lowry, C Aaron Fellows, and PF Amos Byrd will look to slow down opposing teams in the paint with their above average athleticism and defense. Also returning are SG Stephen Zeitz (1st-team preseason AA) and PF Stephen Myers, who will be heavily relied on to provide scoring for this squad. Zeitz is a beast on offense, but pales in comparison to other top players in the conference on the defensive end. The team only has 1 good ballhandler in PG Frank Nevius, so pressing teams may be able to exploit that weakness.
Augusta St: Two seasons ago, coach Asharriger began the monumental task of rebuilding this team from the depths of sim despair. Bringing in the highest rated recruiting class in the conference with 6 recruits, expect the young kids from this class and Asharriger's sophomores to get lots of playing time as this team looks to clean out the chaff of a program that's been ignored for 10 years. Soph point guards Marcelino Russo and James Gigliotti will make the headlines for this team which is going to be fighting for the north division crown in a few short seasons.
Armstrong Atlantic St: After only 1 year run by the sim, coach strang's program isn't quite in as much turmoil as Augusta St, and this team has enough talent to make the NT. PF Matthew Bibler (preseason honorable mention AA), SG Sandy Roberts, and PG Tim Hensley will do most of the damage on offense. The starting lineup will look to shutdown the inside with good interior defense, although the bench is not very athletic and lacks defense. Expect this team to slow down the pace to squeeze more minutes out of their starters.
4/4/2017 11:51 AM (edited)