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College Sports Madness Top 144 Teams 2014-15


Old Titan

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It's 144 days until the tip-off of the D-1 basketball season, so it's time for the start of an annual summer tradition, the Top 144 Teams Preview.

 

In past years under Joel Welser, this one-team-a-day ranking has been pretty accurate when it came to assessing ORU and its opponents.  Case in point:  the Golden Eagles were ranked for several years in a row before not making an appearance last season, which proved to be very accurate

 

It appears early on, however, that Joel may not be at the helm this season - should be interesting to see if the crystal ball still works for his replacement(s).

 

Top 144 Teams Preview for '14-'15

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TheEagleman wonders if ORU would make this list even if it was expanded to the top 244..... :sweat:

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ORU could easily make the list this year. 

 

Based on what the Golden Eagles have coming back and the mass departure of key players and coaches from the Summit League, I think ORU could possibly garner something in the 130-140 range as the consensus #2 team in the conference.

 

Denver, with almost everyone back from their (albeit somewhat disappointing) 2013-14 campaign, will most likely be the league favorite, checking in somewhere around 110-120, I would guess.

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That would be a pleasant surprise, OT....if we are in the Top 144.....and we would already be ahead of Fordham and Arizona State......we shall see.... :nerd:

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If we're not ahead of Alabama State.....it could be another LONG season! No disrespect to ASU of course.....just sayin'

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Alabama State #142?......hummmm.....yeah, Illini....I sure hope that ORU is coming up soon on the list..... :sweat:

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#2 in the Summit OT?

 

- best player coming off acl reconstruction

- big question mark at the PG position

- defense?  some games flat out looked like a layup drill last year

- rebounding in the post...the leading rebounder last year was the 2 guard

 

if Coach Sutton finishes second or better in the league..............he deserves a raise. :D

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#2 in the Summit OT?

- best player coming off acl reconstruction

- big question mark at the PG position

- defense? some games flat out looked like a layup drill last year

- rebounding in the post...the leading rebounder last year was the 2 guard

if Coach Sutton finishes second or better in the league..............he deserves a raise. :D

I would invite anyone to analyze what every other school in the Summit League has coming back this year, both on the court and on the sidelines, and tell me a team they like better for second place than ORU.

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i hope you are right OT.  i can't say i've followed the Summit enough the last 2 years to know what everybody has coming back.  i just feel like ORU has more than a few question marks entering the season.

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Accepting my own challenge:

 

North Dakota State, South Dakota State, Western Illinois and IPFW all graduated a load of key players.  NDSU and SDSU each lost four seniors off their starting five.  Nine of the 16 players on the Summit League All-Conference team were seniors; only ONE was an underclassman (freshman Garret Covington at WIU).

 

In addition, upper-division schools NDSU, Western Illinois and IPFW lost their head coaches to other jobs.  IUPUI and South Dakota also have new coaches this year.  Scott Sutton has by far more Mid-Con/Summit League games under his belt than any other coach in the conference (though Scott Nagy at SDSU has more years at the same school).  There simply isn't any Homer Drew, Greg Kampe or Ron Hunter in this league anymore.

 

Denver is my choice as the favorite, with most of their cast back and a smart, veteran coach.  Omaha may be a dark horse, and I'm sure the Dakota schools have good players waiting in the wings, but I'm betting the hunt for the Summit League crown this season is a two-horse race between Denver and ORU (at least out of the gates, to carry the equine theme a bit further).

 

ORU has two solid starters returning in Conley and Bilbury, four part-time starters back in Word, Singleton, Emegano and Henderson, plus a talented big man off the bench in Wilson and a servicable body (though questionable shooter) on the wing in Webber.  Throw in the Creighton transfer Harris, man-child freshman Owens, redshirt coaches' favorite Lee, and mystery man juco transfer Young, and why wouldn't an impartial observer pick ORU at least 2nd in this year's watered-down Summit League?

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Heck...you got me so pumped, OT....TheEagleman will pick ORU to win it all!!!..... :clap:

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I would invite anyone to analyze what every other school in the Summit League has coming back this year, both on the court and on the sidelines, and tell me a team they like better for second place than ORU.

 

The SDSU forum has this running thread of Summit Leauge transfers.

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Great info Dr. C.....

What's with the exodus from Loyola to IUPUI?

 

IUPUI's new head coach (after one season as an assistant at Memphis last year) was previously an assistant at Loyola and likely recruited and/or coached those guys there in the first place.

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  • 2 weeks later...

ORU could easily make the list this year. 

 

Based on what the Golden Eagles have coming back and the mass departure of key players and coaches from the Summit League, I think ORU could possibly garner something in the 130-140 range as the consensus #2 team in the conference.

 

Denver, with almost everyone back from their (albeit somewhat disappointing) 2013-14 campaign, will most likely be the league favorite, checking in somewhere around 110-120, I would guess.

 

It's looking less and less likely that ORU is in the Top 144 for this year:  the count is already up to #125, with no mention of the Golden Eagles. 

 

Would imagine Denver will be the lone Summit League representative this year, some time in the next couple of weeks.

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The Top 144 continues with #117 South Dakota State: http://t.co/MuDrwxGv0e http://t.co/UKIlcVBsg6

— CollegeSportsMadness (@CSMadness)

July 15, 2014

 

Frankly surprised at this one:  as the preview states, SDSU lost four major senior contributors from last season, and have NINE new players (though, four of them are redshirts, one with previous Big 10 experience, and two more are jucos, one a JC All-American of some sort).

 

Still, they look on paper to be talented, and very tall.  I can see where they might edge out ORU for the #2 preseason pick in the Summit League, with Denver soon to follow in the rankings as the conference favorite.

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So we are behind schools like Yale, Siena, FGCU, Wofford and SHSU.....YIKES!..........that's not good..... :sweat:

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