Feel free to post any conference previews. I'll start this off with my version of the dynasty rankings for seasons 91-95, similar to alblack used to post.
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1	N. Florida
2	Lander
3	Incarnate Word
4	USC Upstate
5	CSU, San Bernardino
6	Dominican
7	Kennesaw St.
8	New Mexico Highlands
9	Wisconsin, Parkside
10	Seattle
11	Harding
12	St. Leo
13	St. Edward's
14	Northeastern St.
15	W. Virginia Wesleyan
16	N.W. Nazarene
17	Mount Olive
18	Pfeiffer
19	Bentley
20	St. Anselm
21	Philadelphia
22	Wayne St. (NE)
23	Erskine
24	Concord
25	Anderson

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26 CSU, Los Angeles, 27 Longwood, 28 Mesa St., 29 W. Florida, 30 Gannon, 31 Johnson C. Smith, 32 Rockhurst, 33 California, San Diego, 34 UNC, Pembroke, 35 Coker, 36 Glenville St., 37 Alaska Fairbanks, 38 N. Alabama, 39 Bellarmine, 40 Clayton St., 41 Shepherd, 42 Columbus St., 43 Ohio Valley, 44 S. New Hampshire, 45 Lock Haven, 46 Chadron St., 47 Pittsburgh, Johnstown, 48 Concordia, St. Paul, 49 Felician, 50 Armstrong Atlantic St., 51 New Jersey Tech., 52 Charleston, 53 Lees-McRae, 54 St. Andrews Presbyterian, 55 Bloomfield, 56 Drury, 57 Abilene Christian, 58 Central Oklahoma, 59 Quincy, 60 Kutztown U., 61 Fort Valley St., 62 Saginaw Valley St., 63 Bowie St., 64 Minnesota, Crookston, 65 ,

Yeah we gotta get that up. Nice to see North Florida not be OP.

Yeah, the dynasty rankings are just based on post-season results, so it doesn't involve any subjective evaluation outside of setting the rating criteria (i.e. how much is a PI championship worth compared to a 1st round exit, etc.) I thought alblack's rankings were cool, but he stopped posting them before my teams ever were any good. Naturally, my criteria are surely somewhat different from his, but hopefully we can revive this a little. If I could import tournament results into excel, I would do it for other worlds and divisions.

Yeah we all appreciate the work you put into this world

It would definitely be cool if we could get more activity in the World MB's since the regular board has turned so toxic and useless that it is barely worth checking any more. Anyway, I'll keep posting the Northern Sun preview here so that anyone that feels like posting their conference preview can feel welcome to do so. In 3 more days - night before it begins, I'll get the Yarnell preview up (which looks great if we can take a snapshot tonight - teams ranked 3,4,5,6,15,22).

Here's the Northern Sun Preview.

After losing a couple of coaches in the off-season, the Northern Sun again will try to push out of second tier status to challenge top conferences. This season, multiple teams potentially could make deep NT runs.

EAST DIVISION

Concordia, St. Paul: The transition to FB/FCP is over to say the least, as the Golden Bears look not just to be the class of the East in the Northern Sun, but for all of D2. Coming into the season ranked #1, speespa returns 11 players from last year’s CT champion. While there is a lot of talent throughout the team, one name stands out, last year’s conference POY and pre-season 2^nd team All-American, George Hillyer, the lady killer. Last year, he averaged 22.4 pts and knocked down about 45% from the arc. The skillset of 98PE, 91BH coupled with a 77ATH and B+FT would make Hillyer an offensive force even in D1, and of course, he is also elite defensively (95). As for the team, they have the top ranked and rated team in D2, which includes the 2^nd rated athleticism (70), speed (65), and defense (73) while having the top rated team ball handling and 3^rd rated passing. The furthest the Golden Bears have made it in their history is the S16, so look for a breakout year this season.

Northern St: The Wolves return 4 starters this season, three of which were freshmen last season. Unfortunately, johnmacdan was not able to supplement last year’s strong recruiting class with another one this season, and so the ratings are deceptive due to two walk-ons. That’s the difference between a 579 team rating you might overlook with 12 guys, versus a 616 rating that would put Northern St among the top 25 team if you only count the 10. If johnmacdan can slow the game down effectively, the Wolves could present problems for good teams. Senior SF Dennis Gillmore looks to lead the way this year after averaging 15.8 pts a game last season. However, also look for true sophomore William Urrutia (overall rating 729) to make a mark this season as a post scorer (88 LP). Look for Northern St to easily collect more wins than losses this season, and depending on overall success and winning a key game or two could find themselves in the NT.

Minnesota St., Moorhead: The Dragons have an interesting mix of players that make them hard to evaluate. There are elite defensive players like junior center Major Page (97), while other players are clearly lacking on defense but could be key contributors on offense. For example, juniors Boardman and Fitzgibbon are just in the 20’s defensively but are 91 and 87 respectively at the post and perimeter. How gabby123 is able to get contributions in spurts from these guys offensively while limiting their liability defensively will be a determining factor on the team’s success. Last season the squad took a step back after a couple of PI appearances. With a sim non-con schedule, look for gabby’s team to push for a winning record, but SOS could hurt them on the projection report. No player averaged more than 9 points a game last season, so it remains to be seen who will get the bulk of the distribution.

WEST DIVISION

Wayne St: Last season, after going 3-2 in the Yarnell which consisted of losing to 2 eventual 1-seeds and beating the top ranked team and Yarnell champ, Wayne St. landed a 2-seed and reached the Sweet 16. The challenge for the Wildcats will be replacing 3 starters from a very good team that went 15-1 in conference play. As per usual, jt starts with a solid foundation on defense (64…66 w/o the redshirt). Where this team will be particularly tough, though, is scoring from the perimeter, just like last season. The Wildcats rank 1^st in D2 from the perimeter (66) and would be in the top 5 in D1. With only two players below 58, they actually have 6 players 75 or better, led by senior SG Jason Thomas 93, who averaged 8.0 pts a game last year. With last year’s key players gone, look for jt to provide this squad with a new identity. While junior PF Kyle Curnutt was not a primary offensive option last season, look for him to become a scoring threat this season from both the post (69) and perimeter (80) that will be difficult to defend from his power forward position.

New Mexico Highlands: The Cowboys return all 12 players that surpassed expectations in an Elite 8 run. Speed and stamina are traditionally the traits of long_ge’s team’s and this year is among the best in that regard, leading D2 in both with 70 speed and 81 stamina. Good guard skills ranking second in D2 in ball handling and passing will give the offense and edge, while the defense can hold its own, rated 6^th overall (67). While junior point guard Tracy Mixson averaging 4.5 assists as a sophomore will key the attack, what is interesting about this year’s Cowboy squad are the scoring options who aren’t necessarily elite but are very good from both the perimeter and post. Senior Kevin Long (73LP/56PE), Michael Dixon (58LP/85PE), and Cameron Numbers (56LP/97PE) all averaged more than 10 pts a game last year, and could lead a very potent offense. The major weakness is on the boards with only one player above 58. Expectations after last season’s run are high for another deep NT run this season.

The Two Teams of the Great Northwest Preview:

Seattle:
Seattle had an unsurprising off year last year as they boasted 5 freshmen and only 1 senior. They still managed to get to the second round of the tournament, however, as their freshmen had incredible gains throughout the year. As Seattle returns all but 1 center from that team, veteran coach, Davidcrone, has arguably the fastest and deepest guard corps in the country. With half of his team at 79 speed or over, the main problem for Seattle will be rebounding. The only 80+ rebounder is Daniel House who will undoubtedly be the key player in many of Seattle's games. The offense will lead lead by a dangerous trio of Tony Freeman (96 BH, 89 PA), Alvaro Conti (91 Ath, 87 Sp, 79 BH), and George Jorgensen (92 PER). Seattle plays a reltively easy schedule this year with the only challenges against N.W Nazarene.

N.W Nazerene:
N.W Nazerene is one of the oddest teams ever put together at DII. They have a team defense of 83 which would rank Top 5 in Iba DI. However, they have no shooters over 75 PER and will struggle with that throughout the year. Returning 11 players from the #2 overall seed upset in the second round, this is cubcub's last chance to win with the current core of players. The team does not have 1 clear star player but will be lead by a combo of WIlliam Tucker (100 LP), Danny Tyberg (90 LP), and Donald Arnold (91 LP). Anyone see a theme? As N.W Nazerene is playing in the Yarnell, they have an incredibly hard schedule playing 8 games against the Top 25 and 4 against the Top 5 other teams in the nation. The other surefire thing about this team is they will be very different heading into the NT.

Our games should be fun this season Cub! Definitely a clash of very different rosters when we meet up this season. I'm still shocked by how balanced your team is for a D2 squad with such unbelievable defense and athleticism. It seems like coaches typically have to sacrifice things like ball handling and scoring to get those gaudy Ath/Def averages, but your team really doesn't have any major holes in those areas to easily exploit!

We should get a mini Great NW vs Northern Sun challenge going for next season, I'd happily schedule a few games against you guys in the coming seasons.

I'd be happy to schedule two or three games against N Sun.

Yeah, we could figure something out, I think it would be cool to try, and not so complicated since it wouldn't involve 8 and 9 team conferences. Perhaps since the Northern Sun generally has one team playing in the Yarnell, we could have two teams not in the Yarnell play both Great NW teams. Granted, you guys are periodically in that tourney as well (and I want to get Seattle in during one of the years they have more seniors). In that case, we could use some of the slots 5-9 when the Great NW doesn't have a team in the Yarnell and could slide them to 1-4 (or 10) if one of you is in the Yarnell next season. I'll mention it on the cc to see if the NS wants to. Next season, speespa is in the Yarnell, so jt and I could play each of you if we did this. Then it would rotate depending on the Yarnell.

Sounds good for me!

NT 2nd round rematch in Game 1 of Yarnell. NW Nazarene vs Harding. Both teams have everyone back. I'm not thrilled about moving from Neutral court to Nampa, Idaho for this rematch. Would rather be in the friendly confines in Searcy, Arkansas.

Posted by hackerhog on 8/29/2017 11:18:00 AM (view original):
NT 2nd round rematch in Game 1 of Yarnell. NW Nazarene vs Harding. Both teams have everyone back. I'm not thrilled about moving from Neutral court to Nampa, Idaho for this rematch. Would rather be in the friendly confines in Searcy, Arkansas.

Your team is scary this year. I actually lost one of my best players. I'll need some good luck to win! I'd say it's 50/50.

I'll go ahead and post the Yarnell preview below (writing when very tired, be warned the quality might be iffy). As of this evening, we have teams in the Yarnell ranked 1, 2,4,9, 12...so I think this could be potentially one of the best recent fields (and we had two 1-seeds, a 2-seed, a 3-seed, which resulted in 2 F4's last season).

All info and rankings were taken from the pre-season. What kind of stands out this season is that 4 of the teams in the Yarnell this season played each other in the NT last season. (Harding v Longwood - 1st round, Harding v NW Nazarene -2nd round, Kennesaw St. v New Mexico Highlands - S16)

This year’s participants, with preseason rankings are:
#3 NW Nazarene (Great NW)
#5 Harding (Gulf South)
#9 New Mexico Highlands (Northern Sun)
#10 Kennesaw St. (Peach Belt)
#22 Longwood (CVAC)
#27 Incarnate Word (Heartland)

NW Nazarene – Entering his 4^th season at the helm in Nampa, ID, cubcub113 has already collected a F4 appearance and a 1-seed, accumulating an impressive 84-11 record. Last season, the Crusaders were one of the favorites to win it all before running into Yarnell team Harding in the second round. Were NW Nazarene excels is having exceptional athleticism (72) and defense (83), both tops in D2. To call that level of defense elite misses the point, as this is an historically high level for D2 defense, which would rank them in the top 5 of D1. With such defensive talent, have the Crusaders punted on offense? Unfortunately for opponents, the answer isn’t as clear or affirmative. While NW Nazarene does not have the best offensive back courts, there are some effective post options. Overall, cubcub113’s squad rates 5^th overall in LP, with 4 individual options at 88 LP or higher, so we can expect different scorers to get utilized. That said, the one weakness is that the offense becomes more predictable due to the inability to react to defenses that challenge them to beat them from the perimeter, particularly teams that play the slow the game down well. Still, with this team, it might not matter, as they will be capable of beating other elite teams just playing their own style.

Harding – After reaching three Sweet 16’s and one Elite 8 in the last five seasons, Yarnell originator hackerhog brings a team into this season ranked #5 with the second overall team rating in D2 (670). Running a half court press/zone defense, a distinct advantage hackerhog creates is the ability to keep elite players on the court and control the tempo, depending on the opponent, especially with 8 upperclassmen and 6 players rated over 700. Where the Bisons really separate themselves, however, is a combination of speed (61- rated 5^th), perimeter play (59 – rated 4^th), and ball handling (57 – 3^rd), which can give any defense problems. Having an elite PG, senior Victor Burdick really helps Harding get to another level in terms of being able to compete with other top teams. Averaging over 20 points a game last year in large part due to an 86 PE rating, you have a guy with 99 speed and 91/89 ballhandling/passing that can open up the offense and create fouls. However, with just a 50 defense rating, there is also the danger of losing this key player to foul trouble against athletic teams that can attack the guards.

New Mexico Highlands – Returning to the Yarnell, the Cowboys will have the same lineup as last year, losing no one. Where NMHU tries to win games in their FB/FCP system is through being faster than the other guys and with more stamina. This year, long_ge’s squad does that well, with D2 leading speed (70) and stamina (81). After an Elite 8 last season with no seniors, hopes are high to try to make the next step, and this year’s Yarnell will be provide a strong set of early tests. What will make this Cowboy team a tough game in addition to play the uptempo game well is the ability to take care of the ball and having multiple effective scoring options. Led by junior PG Tracy Mixson (BH 100), NMHU has the 2^nd overall ballhandling rating. Also, the Cowboys even in their strong years have rarely had high overall team ratings, in large part due to finding players to fit the system rather than overall ratings, whereas this team rates 6^th overall in D2, so it will be telling to see if this means the team will perform better than past seasons. The major disadvantage this squad will have to overcome this season is lack of rebounding ability, with only one post player above 58. Expect the Cowboys to give their opponents many second chances, which could be dangerous against elite teams.

Kennesaw St – Coming into the season ranked 10 and representing the dominant Peach Belt, adlorenz’s squad comes in with the 12^th rated team at 633. However, this includes a red-shirt and a walk-on, so if we adjust for those players, Kennesaw St would rate at about 677 or so. That would put them at the second spot, if we didn't make similar adjustments on other teams. Last season, the Owls crossed paths with NMHU in the Sweet 16. Just three seasons ago, adlorenz brought the national title to Kennesaw, and this year’s team looks like it also has the key pieces to make another deep NT run, with surely a title in mind for this North Ga school. Even with the red-shirt and walk-on dragging down overall averages, the Owl defense and athleticism are both in the top 5 of D2. With 8 upperclassmen, this squad has several very effective scoring options both on the inside and outside. Senior C Dallas Davis averaged about 20 points a game last season with 98 LP, while sophomore Thomas Leger averaged over 15 points a game with a 96 PE rating and looks to be a major threat to take over a game. The combination of Davis and Gilbertson at the post could mean control of the boards against any team in the Yarnell.

Longwood – While Longwood has historically been a frequent participant in the Yarnell, this is the first time for coach snewell12, who in seven seasons has reached two elite 8’s, and met with rival Yarnell squad Harding in the first round last season. The Lancers look to be the team to beat in the always very competitive CVAC this season. While they come into the season ranked 22, that appears misleading. Longwood, like NMHU this season, has no freshmen, which will help the entire 12 man roster to become contributors and enable Longwood to push the tempo against weaker teams or strong teams with less depth, particularly with a 7^th rated defense (66). With several scoring possibilities, a lot of the load will fall onto junior PG Joshua Smalls with an 89/75 ballhandling/passing combo on a team that has a bit lower than average passing rating. Senior David Woolf will showcase elite speed (98) and effective perimeter scoring(79), averaging 14 points a game last season. With several perimeter options, a lot of Longwood’s success could end up riding on last year’s CVAC freshman of the year and #17 PF in recruiting, Michael Stokes, who averaged almost 9 points a game last season.

Incarnate Word – Returning to the Yarnell as defending champs from season 94, fungobatboy also brings in effectively a 10-man roster, when you exclude the red-shirt and walk-on. That essentially brings their overall team rating from 596 to 620, and could be a factor in why IW is ranked just outside the top 25, at 27^th. Considering, the Cardinals run a zone, the 10-man roster is a complete non-factor, and the ability to customize the defense and run slow down, like Harding, could play against the strengths of teams like NW Nazarene and NMHU. Despite a relatively early 2^nd round exit from last year’s NT, fungobatboy has collected a 56-7 record while playing in the normally competitive Heartland conference, which has seen some recent turnover. What particularly would catch your attention scouting this Incarnate Word squad is the disparity in classes from post players to guards. All of their upperclassmen are forwards and centers, and they do have a very young back court. Whereas the underclassmen guards will probably develop very nicely in the next couple of seasons, they could struggle against elite competition early this season. Where Incarnate Word would find success in the Yarnell this season, will be in their strong post play. Rebounding, defense, and LP are all relative strengths of the unit. The challenge for the Cardinals in the Yarnell will be overcoming their class disadvantage, only having 1 senior and 3 juniors, while facing some very mature teams.

Posted by cubcub113 on 8/29/2017 11:31:00 AM (view original):

Posted by hackerhog on 8/29/2017 11:18:00 AM (view original):
NT 2nd round rematch in Game 1 of Yarnell. NW Nazarene vs Harding. Both teams have everyone back. I'm not thrilled about moving from Neutral court to Nampa, Idaho for this rematch. Would rather be in the friendly confines in Searcy, Arkansas.

Your team is scary this year. I actually lost one of my best players. I'll need some good luck to win! I'd say it's 50/50.

I actually cut my backup center last year and signed a guy with a lot of blue who's ineligible this season. Then I have 2 guards that are playing this season that were ineligible last year. So I'm a little different. Deeper and quicker. Like long_ge, I recruit speed.

Posted by hackerhog on 8/29/2017 9:38:00 PM (view original):

Posted by cubcub113 on 8/29/2017 11:31:00 AM (view original):

Posted by hackerhog on 8/29/2017 11:18:00 AM (view original):
NT 2nd round rematch in Game 1 of Yarnell. NW Nazarene vs Harding. Both teams have everyone back. I'm not thrilled about moving from Neutral court to Nampa, Idaho for this rematch. Would rather be in the friendly confines in Searcy, Arkansas.

Your team is scary this year. I actually lost one of my best players. I'll need some good luck to win! I'd say it's 50/50.

I actually cut my backup center last year and signed a guy with a lot of blue who's ineligible this season. Then I have 2 guards that are playing this season that were ineligible last year. So I'm a little different. Deeper and quicker. Like long_ge, I recruit speed.

We would be NT Champs easy if instead of basketball we did high jump and defensive slides...