Season 106 Preview
Collegiate Insider Rankings
#2 Metropolitan St. Loaded with talent.
wolfman44 steps in for the legendary coach Chew, and will have one of the best rosters and player in
Randolph Solomon, in the nation. This is an extremely well-balanced squad that should have expectations of going far.
31-5, National Champs. Coach Wolf stepped in for the hall of fame coach Chew, and didn't blink with the loaded roster he inherited. With the motto of, "don't mess this up", Metro who was a #3 seed in the RMAC tourney, found a groove in the CT and never looked back as they continued it throughout the NT.
#7 Western St. Last year Western made a sweet 16 run while having a terrific season overall finishing with the #4 RPI.
Shawn Conover is one of the best guards in the nation, and if it wasn't for so many weapons alongside him, would probably be more of a national POY candidate.
Craig Waggoner is an excellent big that can do everything well and is a pre-season HR all-american. They may be the best 3pt shooting team in the nation.
21-8, 2nd Round. Western finished with the #5 RPI was most likely disappointed with their second round exit. Western won their second Southern conference title in a row, splitting the title with Metro and Mesa. Craig Waggoner was the conference DPOY, and was a 3rd team All-American. Western loses two big guns in Conor and Waggoner but will return three 700+ level players for next season.
#13 Fort Hays St. Last years runner-ups will look to try and finish the job this year. With a bit of the sting still present, this years team has worked hard in the off season in hopes of making another run. They have one of the better front-courts in the nation, and an arguably better starting line-up, but won't be as deep as last year. "Last year it didn't matter who we started, everyone was so similar. This year our freshman are a bit younger, and don't forget, we lost two pretty good scorers, that said, I think this team can be very good by the time the NT comes around". Ft. Hays will rely on its athleticism and defense.
26-6, Final Four. Ft. Hays found their way to the final four again, making that the fifth time in the last six years. "Two years ago I told coach aaronwins that we'd bring back a title this year. That was a response to him saying "Chew is going to beat everyone in two years".
"Turns out he was right. Well, it wasn't Chew, but Metro brought home the apple pie".
#14 Colorado Christian CCU is wondering what they have to do to make it out of the first round. With most of their team back, perhaps that answers the question? D
avid Iversen will lead a very well balanced team that plays solid defense, has outside scoring, and should be one of the best at taking care of the basketball - a truly underrated skill.
23-8, Elite 8. Finishing with the #4 RPI in the nation, CCU at one point looked like they may win the whole thing. Baums returns studs Herbert Yocum and
John Gunter for next year. Baums has turned CCU into one of the top programs in the nation. His first year at CCU they finished with an RPI of 139. The following years they finished with the 124, 35, 17, and then 4. CCU is here to stay.
#15 Chadron St. - Chadron has what some people might call a surprising run to the sweet 16 last season, nothing they do this year will surprise anyone, however. Coach Kevo returns most of the squad including five seniors including a dynamic guard duo in
Michael Williams and
Shaun Barton.
16-12, 1st Round. Kevo wasn't pleased with the early exit, but that doesn't take away from what was a successful season. Michael Williams was impressive for Chadron as he averaged 16.4 ppg.
#19 Fort Lewis - We think Ft. Lewis is the team to beat this year. A sweet 16 team last year returns all but one and is very deep and well-rounded. They are athletic, play good defense, are quick and are probably the best bh/p team in the nation which will make their offensive talent even more capable. If there is a con with this team, it's that they don't have a definite all-american type player on their hands, or that tremendous defensive star.
23-11, Elite 8. What a great year for Ft. Lewis. Ft. Lewis played had the toughest SOS, and finished with the #7 RPI in the nation. After playing in the CT final, Fort Lewis rolled through their competition before facing a monster of a squad. Fort Lewis will return a front court that will be similar to the monstars from space jam.
#23 Regis Coach Starks returns a nice looking squad that will be quick on the court and one of the better rebounding squads around. The team should be above 60 in ath/spd/def by the tourney, which always translated into success. With eight upperclassmen and junior stud
John Arnold continuing to impove, Regis will look to make waves this season.
17-14, 2nd Round. They barely went .500 and still managed to make the second round. That's the RMAC for ya. Not easy to go 5-11 in conference and finish with a top 20 RPI, but Regis did it. Coach Starks has Regis going in a great direction. They've now made the NT the past three seasons and are on the fringe of having a national title contending team.
(NR)
Adams St. - Adams is going to be much better this season, how much better is the only questions. Last seasons was the first season Adams failed to make a post-season tourney since season 77. Adams is returning a balanced team at the core values while possessing a good group of passers.
Michael Layman is one of the best sophomores in the conference - if not the nation. Adams has zero seniors, so this may be another rebuilding year for the team, but they should have a good starting five, and their style of play tends to keep games close - even when they shouldn't.
19-12, 2nd Round. In what was supposed to be a down year, and perhaps was, Aaronwins led Adams to the second round. After an unimpressive non-conference, Adams started to sneak some wins from the RMAC higher powers before eventually getting into the tourney and winning a game. With most of the RMAC squads having "peaked" last year, Adams may return the most amount of talent for next season.
(NR)
Colorado School of Mines Coach Billyg takes over for Crush, and who wouldn't be excited about taking over a team with so much talent? Mines may have the best starting five in the nation, but their bench appears to be light. But with the likes of pre-season all-american and last years RMAC POY
Chester Williams and company, it's ridiculous that this team is not ranked. Mines will rely on their athleticism and their big time play makers.
(NR)
Colorado St., Pueblo Coach arain has put together a good squad here, what they lack in athleticism, they make up for in speed and defense. Their above average bh/p should allow for their shooters to out perform their already impressive perimeter ratings.
Joseph White will look to play big down low for CSUP, while
Sammy Liszewski is probably their most dynamic scoring guard.
(NR)
Mesa St. Last years PI Champs, look to get into the big boy tournament this year. This team is flat out good, and it's ridiculous they are unranked heading into the year. This is one of the most athletic defensive minder teams in the nation. They lack real inside scoring, but they make up for it on the perimeter where they have multiple players that can knock down the three ball. In our eyes, this team is absolutely an RMAC contender, which will surprise those outside of the RMAC looking in, when the reality is, the only thing that kept Mesa out of the NT last year was a silly rule.
20-8, 1st Round. Two seasons ago, Mesa didn't have enough wins to qualify for the NT. This year there was no way they were going to let that happen. Finishing with the #13 RPI, Mesa was upset in the first round by a team that should have gotten a much better seed. Mesa, like Adams, returns a lot of talent for next season. Last year they started the season un-ranked, and finished with a quality RPI, hopefully the polls give Mesa St. more respect next season.
(NR)
Colorado, Colorado Springs Last year UCCS made a nice run to the sweet 16 and will look to do so again. The teams strength is their ability to defend. Almost everyone on this team can play defense. They appear to be a little slow overall, but if their team speed can improve, and they can indeed do a good job of defending teams, UCCS may find its way back to a successful season just like last year. With five freshman, and two of them being walk-ons, terps will have his work cut out for him though. Bigs
Daryl Gaylord and
Dima Zweifel will look to carry the team to RMAC greatness.
11-16. Everyone knew that UCCS was going to have a down year. After a great run to the sweet 16 the previous year, they simply didn't have the horses. But the reality is, although their record appears non-impressive, they were absolutely an NT worth squad. They simply didn't have enough wins to be eligible. Dima Zweifel was a 3rd team all-rmac selection after scoring an efficient 12 ppg. He will return to help UCCS get back to the NT.
"Pre-Season" Coaches Poll
1. Metro (2) 45
2. Western (1) 42
3. Fort Lewis 39 (1)
4. Mesa 32
5. Fort Hays 30
6. Chadron 29
7. CCU 28
8. Regis 25
9. Adams 15
10. Mines 13
11. UCCS 8
12. CSU Pueblo 5
"Going into conference" poll
1) Metro State 24 (2)
2) Western State 21
3) Mesa State 20
4) Fort Hays 18
5) Colorado Christian 17
6) Chadron 15
7) Fort Lewis 12
8) Regis 10
9) Mines 6
10) Adams State 6
10) Pueblo 6
12) UCCS 2
"Going into CT, Poll"
1) Ft. Hays (2) 33
2) Metro 32
3) Mesa 30
4) Western 29
5) CCU 23
6) Ft. Lewis 22
7) Adams 16
8) Regis 15
9) Chadron 11
10) UCCS 9
11) Mines 7
12) Pueblo 5
Pre Season All-RMAC 1st Team
G:
Randolph Solomon
G:
Chester Williams
G/P:
Craig Waggoner
P:
Gary Batiste
P:
Luther Chouinard
Pre Season All-RMAC 2nd Team
G:
Shawn Conover
G:
David Iversen
G/P:
John Thomas
P:
William White
P:
Daryl Gaylord
6/20/2017 4:29 PM (edited)