Musketeer Madness

Let's have a thread that is devoted to the early polls for the 2016-2017 season. Here is the link to CBS Sports' Matt Norlander's ranking of all 351 D1 programs (http://www.cbssports.com/college-basket ... -rankings/). Xavier checks in at #5, right behind Villanova. The BE is the only league with 2 teams in the top 5.

ESPN's Dick Vitale has the Muskies 9th. Link: http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basket ... p-40-teams.

Hope y'all don't build expectations off these polls. Lots of question marks in terms of our bigs. Will they have developed since last year? Will new guys need time to adjust? Sure we look good at guard (hopefully with Myles included), but polls mean nothing at this point.

oldhoopster wrote:Hope y'all don't build expectations off these polls. Lots of question marks in terms of our bigs. Will they have developed since last year? Will new guys need time to adjust? Sure we look good at guard (hopefully with Myles included), but polls mean nothing at this point.

Chris Mack, at a recent meet and greet, raved about Tyrique Jones (Fr) and Rashid Gaston (GS, transfer). Both are 6'9", and are (according to Mack) the toughest guys on the team. They will be a nice complement to O'Mara up front. And we might reasonably anticipate the return of Myles Davis in January for league play. Nothing is for sure, but it seems more likely to happen than not.

Of course he raved about his players especially a senior who transferred for his final year. It's time for more than a second round trip in the NCAA tourney. Preseason polls mean nothing if you lay an egg in tourney

Well Said Skyhops

Preseason polls are like the first bet in a poker hand. Usually little bearing on who takes the pot.

I agree the polls mean nothing at this point. We got off to a magical start last year running the table for the OOC schedule. Unlikely to happen again, but I do hope we don't get any bad losses in the OOC. In conference is always tough, especially in the BE. So even though I think our talent is equal this year to last or even better, can we be consistent like last year. I certainly hope so.

the polls are pretty much meaningless but it's nice to get the respect from the media early on. just means expectations are higher to start off.

the biggest difference/most important factor of whether we stay at the top of the polls throughout this season will be rebounding. plain and simple. i can't remember a player who rebounded on both ends of the floor as hard and as well as Farr did the last two years. you might be able to name some guys who did it just as well, but i would put him up against any Musketeer player we've ever had, in terms of rebounding/going after the ball/relentlessness on the boards. Reynolds was long and athletic but didn't rebound nearly as hard as Farr.

that will be the difference. we have plenty of guys who can score and our back court will be fine. how our front court measures up will be the key.

Best rebounder: Bob Pelkington!!