ESPN - Ranking the conferences for 2010-11

[UofMGrizFan]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/preview2010/news/story?id=5782969
Ranking the conferences for 2010-11
#20. Big Sky: Montana lost Anthony Johnson, who you may remember from his brilliant performance in last season's Big Sky conference title game. (Johnson's performance -- 34 of his team's 46 second-half points, 11-for-14 second-half shooting, 10-for-10 from the free throw line -- was the kind of thing you usually see only when you play as Michael Jordan in NBA 2K11.) But even without Johnson, Montana is one of the favorites to win a conference with a handful of interesting teams (Weber State, Northern Colorado) at the top and a few truly terrible teams at its bottom.

 

[Potomac Griz]

Interesting read. Thanks for posting the link! I'm glad that the Big Sky is considered in the mid major section that people would want to watch instead of the other sections below

The WAC was at #10 last year, just below the PAC10 and Missouri Valley, and just above ConfUSA, CAA and the WCC. Them down at #14 below the WCC seems a little low.. Fresno, even though they had George, wasn't exactly a powerhouse last year anyway... With the other talent lost in the WAC though I could see dropping them a couple from 10...who knows...14 might be about where they end up. Of course once they lose Nevada to the MWC that'll hurt their RPI a bunch, since Nevada is usually very good.

WCC at #12 above the WAC.... Not buying that at all. St. Marys losing Samhan is a huge blow to that conference...without him they wouldn't have done shit in the tourney last year and wont be nearly as good this year. Gonzaga again will be over hyped to the point of making college basketball fans everywhere want to puke... and they'll drop in the 1st or 2nd round of the tournament again. WCC always seems to be over rated lately...

The Big Sky was #18 last year at the end of the year, just below the Southern conf, and just above the Big West. Dropping the Big Sky from 18 to 20 based on losing 1 player seems a bit much... Losing Anthony Johnson really hurts the Griz obviously, but as we know the Griz have a lot of talent still and Weber still has Lillard, and UNC will likely be very good again. Of course, the weak teams in the Big Sky are VERY weak....so that might be dragging us down below the Big West

When we add Southern Utah and ND (if they haven't improved drastically) it'll just be adding a couple more very bad teams at the bottom to the Big Sky (#328 and #340 last year), which will hurt the conference rpi overall. Not saying that Southern Utah and ND won't turn things around.. I really hope they do.. but initially it probably will hurt the RPI of the conference.

Just my 2 cents

 

[CDAGRIZ]

WCC at #12 above the WAC.... Not buying that at all. St. Marys losing Samhan is a huge blow to that conference...without him they wouldn't have done shit in the tourney last year and wont be nearly as good this year. Gonzaga again will be over hyped to the point of making college basketball fans everywhere want to puke... and they'll drop in the 1st or 2nd round of the tournament again. WCC always seems to be over rated lately...

The Big Sky was #18 last year at the end of the year, just below the Southern conf, and just above the Big West. Dropping the Big Sky from 18 to 20 based on losing 1 player seems a bit much... Losing Anthony Johnson really hurts the Griz obviously, but as we know the Griz have a lot of talent still and Weber still has Lillard, and UNC will likely be very good again. Of course, the weak teams in the Big Sky are VERY weak....so that might be dragging us down below the Big West

I hear LMU is supposed to be a great team this year with Teel and Viney. Also Saint Mary's is still going to have the best backcourt in the league, so maybe that's why he has the WCC where it is. It was a two horse race last year, and will probably be a three horse race this year; or more. I agree that the Zags have been overrated for almost 13 years now. Seems they would learn their lesson...

Agree that the BSC bottom feeders bring the conference down in total.

 

[Potomac Griz]

I hear LMU is supposed to be a great team this year with Teel and Viney. Also Saint Mary's is still going to have the best backcourt in the league, so maybe that's why he has the WCC where it is. It was a two horse race last year, and will probably be a three horse race this year; or more. I agree that the Zags have been overrated for almost 13 years now. Seems they would learn their lesson...

Agree that the BSC bottom feeders bring the conference down in total.

I forgot about LMU Viney and Teel were very impressive last year... They gave the Griz all they could handle in Missoula, and were much improved over the previous horrible seasons they had. Going from 3-28 one season to 18-16 the next season (and a CIT invitation) is pretty impressive!

I don't know how great St Mary's is going to be though without Samhan in there... That's a huge loss.. 20+ points 10+ rebounds, and damn near 3 blocked shots a game. He was a blast to watch last year the few games I got to see (and in the tourney). Maybe they've reloaded and got another good big man. Who knows... I hope so, I'm always hoping for more Mid Major's to make it to the tournament and beat up some teams from the "major" conferences

 

[CDAGRIZ]

I hear LMU is supposed to be a great team this year with Teel and Viney. Also Saint Mary's is still going to have the best backcourt in the league, so maybe that's why he has the WCC where it is. It was a two horse race last year, and will probably be a three horse race this year; or more. I agree that the Zags have been overrated for almost 13 years now. Seems they would learn their lesson...

Agree that the BSC bottom feeders bring the conference down in total.

I forgot about LMU Viney and Teel were very impressive last year... They gave the Griz all they could handle in Missoula, and were much improved over the previous horrible seasons they had. Going from 3-28 one season to 18-16 the next season (and a CIT invitation) is pretty impressive!

I don't know how great St Mary's is going to be though without Samhan in there... That's a huge loss.. 20+ points 10+ rebounds, and damn near 3 blocked shots a game. He was a blast to watch last year the few games I got to see (and in the tourney). Maybe they've reloaded and got another good big man. Who knows... I hope so, I'm always hoping for more Mid Major's to make it to the tournament and beat up some teams from the "major" conferences

I agree. I don't think the Gaels can replace Samhan this year. But, the team GPA will surely rise, and they'll save on team meals.

Still, I bet St. Mary's will do fine this year in the WCC. They still have the ugliest player in the history of sports running the point. I don't see a tourney run for them or anything, but they should compete in conference play.