Blue Ribbon Predictions

[Former SID]

While I'm verklempt over the NY Jets win over the Patriots, I want you to talk amongst yourselves. The topic is Blue Ribbon's 2009-10 Summit League predictions. Discuss...

SUMMIT LEAGUE

BLUE RIBBON FORECAST

1. Oakland

2. South Dakota State

3. IUPUI

4. North Dakota State

5. Oral Roberts

6. Southern Utah

7. IPFW

8. UMKC

9. Western Illinois

10. Centenary

ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM

G-Johnathon Jones, SR, Oakland

G-Davis Baker, SR, Southern Utah

G-Garrett Callahan, SR, South Dakota State

F-Derick Nelson, SR, Oakland

C-Keith Benson, JR, Oakland

PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Keith Benson, JR, Oakland

NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR

Chad White, FR, South Dakota State

[Old Titan]

OK, I'll bite:

As some of you may or may not know, most of these preseason magazines "contract out" the work when it comes to cross-country conference analysis, especially when it involves mid-major leagues in the hinterlands, like the Summit. Guys like John Hoover, Bill Haisten, and Mike Brown at the Tulsa World annually make a litte extra coin ghostwriting for publications such as "Athlon's", "Street & Smith's", "Lindy's", etc.

I have no idea who wrote this garbage for "Blue Ribbon", nor do I wish to waste time trying to find out, because it's obvious he's probably from the Dakotas, most likely a newspaper in Sioux Falls or Fargo.

And, he's an idiot. But I repeat myself.

Suffice it to say that, if both Dakota schools finish ahead of us in the regular season, and a Southern Utah player - any Southern Utah player - makes first team all-conference, I will eat my laptop.

With the power cord.

And all USB peripherals.

[ManiacAlum]

That is truly outstanding.

I swear I don't want to be an SDSU hater, because their enthusiasm is great for this conference-- seeing as there are only 4 schools with active message boards.

But those guys (fans and local media) have milked more from one win than any team in college ball. I've seen more talk about them than the actual conference champs. All this for a team that got their doors blown off 2 nights later by Oakland.

Where's the love for IPFW?? They and SDSU almost mirror each other with the guard play, and the 'Dons have just as many significant returning players as SDSU. That and they've been much more competitve and have a better coach.

I still believe Oakland and ORU are 1,2 in the league. Followed by either NDSU or IUPUI. But after that (just like last year), you could probably put 5-8 in a bag, shake it up, and pick the teams like it's bingo night and I would not be surprised with the results. IPFW, SDSU, SUU, WIU-- whatever, who cares.

And I'm a huge homer, but I'm not really ready to ink Oakland at the top spot. I DO see the overwhelming talent, and they deserve the preseason pick. But Kangas was a HUGE part of their success..... and Oakland is notorious for going spectacularly in the opposite direction of preseason prognostications.

I guess every team is a question mark this year, but sorry I just don't see a bad team making a 4-5 spot jump in one season.

[ORUTerry]

Wow....

I guess I could see someone making a case for SDSU; they are young and beat ORU in the tournament on what was tantamount to their home court.

And, ORU is really an unknown this year with lot of new and relatively unknown players.

But Southern Utah and North Dakota State? That is hard to figure. NDSU lost almost everyone and will be rebuilding. They have a nice player in Tveet (sp?) but no else who stepped on the court for them last year looked very good. Not impressed with Southern Utah's coaching. They evidently recruited some Australian post players but it is difficult to see how they rank ahead of ORU.

Everyone but Oakland is a bit of an unknown. ORU lost three starters but gained a point guard (or two). If reports are correct, Craion (juco transfer) can provide the defensive presence that Sango gave us with apparently more scoring ability. Bell-Holter, Ford and Nassare will work to replace Lewis in the post and it remains to be seen who (Stokes, Morrison, Niles, McClintock, etc) steps up to replace the points that Jarvis scored. It might be a committee approach. I contend that having a real floor general on the court will solve a lot of the scoring questions. Jarvis was hurt last year playing point guard (not his position) and not having someone who could set him up. His game suffered as a result.

The ultimate difference between ORU and the rest of the league is the defense Sutton demands from his teams. Typically, no one else in the conference plays tenacious defense like we do on a consistent basis. Defense will keep you in games... like last year when we struggled to score points.

[theeagleman5]

.....Blue Ribbon must have one of Conan's comedy writers doing the Summit pre season picks....it's absurd not to have ORU in the top 3.....no chance that NDSU or SDSU finish ahead of us unless we are beset with injuries....TheEagleman can make a good case for ORU being #1 but I will concede that to Oakland for the time being....our boys will do just fine once the conference season begins and with a little luck, ORU might even be .500 when we ring in the new year with a win at SDSU.....oh, revenge is sweet!..... ....yes boys, the summer is over and fall is upon us.....let the smack talk begin!......

[FargoBison]

SUU's 2009-2010 roster...

http://www.suutbirds.com/SportSelect.db ... M_ID=20100

They don't belong ahead of anyone not named UMKC or Centenary.

[theeagleman5]

For sure SUU won't be very good this year....and guess what, Fargo....TheEagleman can see a couple of wins vs. the Bison this year.....ORU needs a little payback and having a couple of true point guards this season should help the cause....

[Grizzfan1]

Even I have a hard time understanding how the heck did this person come up with these predictions. I know that SDSU will improve but to put them that high . No way in heck do I see NDSU finishing ahead of ORU. The Eagles will finish no lower than 3rd at WORST.

[Old Titan]

That is truly outstanding.

I swear I don't want to be an SDSU hater, because their enthusiasm is great for this conference-- seeing as there are only 4 schools with active message boards.

But those guys (fans and local media) have milked more from one win than any team in college ball. I've seen more talk about them than the actual conference champs. All this for a team that got their doors blown off 2 nights later by Oakland.

Where's the love for IPFW?? They and SDSU almost mirror each other with the guard play, and the 'Dons have just as many significant returning players as SDSU. That and they've been much more competitve and have a better coach.

I still believe Oakland and ORU are 1,2 in the league. Followed by either NDSU or IUPUI. But after that (just like last year), you could probably put 5-8 in a bag, shake it up, and pick the teams like it's bingo night and I would not be surprised with the results. IPFW, SDSU, SUU, WIU-- whatever, who cares.

And I'm a huge homer, but I'm not really ready to ink Oakland at the top spot. I DO see the overwhelming talent, and they deserve the preseason pick. But Kangas was a HUGE part of their success..... and Oakland is notorious for going spectacularly in the opposite direction of preseason prognostications.

I guess every team is a question mark this year, but sorry I just don't see a bad team making a 4-5 spot jump in one season.

ManiacAlum, that is a GREAT post.

[SDSUJacks]

As an SDSU fanatic, I will offer my .02....

First, let me post my prediction of the Summit....

1.) Oakland - Absolutely loaded. Lose Kangas but also get back Nelson (17ppg 7rpg) and add transfers Hamilton from UMKC (12ppg) and Wright who averaged 9ppg at St. Johns as a sophmore. They have 3-4 guys on the bench who would start for most Summit teams and any of their starting 5 could possibly make a run at Summit POTY. Their out of conference is brutal (@Wisconsin, @ Kansas, @Memphis, @Michigan St, @Oregon, @Syracuse) but it should only get them primed for a dominant run in the Summit.

2.) IUPUI - Not getting enough credit. They return most of their key players and should have a pretty nice rotation already set. Added just one player so far I believe.

3.) ORU - Could easily jump up to the #2 spot if all the new talent pans out and/or gels quickly. The loss of Jarvis, IMHO, could be addition by subtraction in McClintock plays like many think he's capable of.

4.) SDSU - Return everyone, plus add 3 very promising freshmen. Two of those are South Dakota kids (6'6 Nate White, 6'7 Tony Fiegen) were high school teammates (won state championship) who, according to a very reliable AAU source, would have had much better offer from conferences bigger than the Summit had they not committed as sophmores and had they stayed healthy. Incoming PG recruit Nate Wolters (6'3) had an offer from Colorado State among others and was the games leading scorer when his HS played the #1 high school in the country. They also get a couple of 6'8 kids off redshirt who should help. They don't have a ton of height inside but the athleticism should be way up and the outside shooting as well. This will, by far, be the deepest and most athletic team in the D1 era for SDSU.

5.) IPFW - I'll admit I'm not as up to speed on them as some of the others. They pretty much get this spot by default.

6.) NDSU - The only returning player w/ any experience is Mike Tviedt (a South Dakota kid). There are others on the roster that the Bison faithful swear are ready to step up to the challenge. This might be true but they have alot to replace. A pretty nice recruiting coming in and expect 2-3 of those guys to see the floor early and contribute.

7.) WIU - Like IPFW I really don't know much and like IPFW they get this spot by default. They could get bumped by SUU but the bottom two spots in this conference are darn near as locked down as the top spot.

8.) SUU - For whatever reason they had a mass exodus this offseason. I thought they looked pretty decent last year at times but have lost all but 6 or so players on their roster to transfer or graduation. They brought in three (I believe) guys 6'11 or bigger and one is rumored to be real solid.

9.) UMKC - They have to be loving Centenary right now, making UMKC the second biggest mess in the Summit. There has to be something positive to say about these guys....but I don't know what it is.

10.) Centenary - Do we need to or even want to discuss them at this point? A real grease-fire.

[Old Titan]

1.) Oakland - ...add transfers Hamilton from UMKC (12ppg) and Wright who averaged 9ppg at St. Johns as a sophmore.

As I have repeatedly pointed out, on this and other boards, Hamilton quit on his UMKC teammates in January of this year and must sit out this season at Oakland as a transfer. He will have two years of eligibility left starting in '10-'11.

The difference between ORU and IUPUI will be whoever gets the best play from the point guard position.

Great to hear that SDSU has so many players returning from last season. Now, tell me again: how many road games did they win last year? And the year before that?

Team defense wins road games, and championships. I'll believe it when I see it from the Jackrabbits.

[SDSUJacks]

I am not sure who made this list but I'd be real shocked if they were from around here. The SDSU beat writer is Terry Vandrovec and I can pretty much guarantee it wasn't him. And he's not a homer anyway. And the NDSU beat writer is far less involved than Terry and would never give their rival SDSU that much credit.

I also don't agree picking SDSU to finish 2nd. They could quite possibly get there if EVERYTHING went right for them and a few things went wrong for IUPUI and ORU.

I'm not sure why they picked Chad White as newcomer. How about Wright at OU or one of the talented newcomers at ORU or even the big at SUU or one of the kids up in Fargo who will be relied upon to pick up alot of slack? White should be a real fine player eventually but I don't see him making a huge impact from day one. He's a 6'6 kid who can play the 1, 2 or 3 and has an all-around game. I don't see him being a huge scorer but I see him doing a little of everything. If anyone from SDSU should get newcomer consideration it's PG Nate Wolters who could start from day one.

I do have to question the guy who said Fife at IPFW is a better coach than Nagy at SDSU. Fife appears to have a very bright future as a coach. Okay, I'm biased here...in part b/c Nagy truly is genuinely a very, very fine and Christian family man. I know it was just D2 and I know what you guys think about that, but 6 of his 9 years in D2 he guided SDSU to 24+ wins...5 conference titles in 9 years....5x Coach of the Year, and just one season out of 9 he finished w/ under 20 wins (17-10 that year). Success at the D1 level has been much harder to come by (duh) but very little, if any of that is a result of his coaching or recruiting. Many feel our bad luck is now behind us and the ship is going in the right direction. He has some verbals from some pretty outstanding players the next couple of years.

I also don't get the statement that our fans and media have milked more out of our ORU win than any team in CBB. To be honest most of our fanbase is very excited over our FCS #17 ranked football team who appears headed for special things at the moment. I think the ORU win in SF gave the fans alot of hope but the excitement moreso stems from the recruits we have coming in, the returning players and the fact that we'll actually have a little depth for the first time in a loooong time. The media hasn't milked it much at all. Honestly the focus on SDSU Basketball is the excitement for the future. There are two outstanding local kids who are alot of the talk. They are HS teammates (one 6'8 and one 6'9) and one has already verballed to SDSU. The other, a 3-star recruit ranked top 150 in the country recently de-committed from Iowa State and there is a good chance he joins his teammate at SDSU. The teammate who actually verballed is said to quite possibly have the higher ceiling of the two. The media mostly has been focusing on the football and the new AD, who seems to be an outstanding hire.

And yes, we are very enthusiastic (and appreciative) about the Summit and making it the best it can be. And you guys should be honored if we are milking a win against you. It's b/c we want to be you. I think that game also helped develop a rivalry btw the two schools, which is great for everybody.

Sorry about the loooong post talking mainly aboutmy team, I know how some of you hate it. Just nice to talk hoops...even if I am really enjoying all the football right now.

Take care and good luck!

[SDSUJacks]

We won two road games....

One was at Hilton Coliseum versus Iowa State.

The other was on the road in Sioux Falls against Oral Roberts University Golden Eagles.

I don't really buy the argument that just b/c a young team struggled the year or year(s) before that they'll always struggle. We finally have some upper classmen leadership, as well as depth. In the past we've had so many players play out of position and for way too many minutes based on the makeup of the team. I don't think that's going to be the case anymore. Not only do we now have some competetion at most positions, but we'll have the depth so we can avoid the fatigue we saw last year towards the end and we'll have players playing in their correct positions.

We'll win some road games. I think everyone expects us to be in darn near every Summit League game, which will be fun.

Realistically.....I'm expecting about a .500 finish and some road wins (UMKC, Centanary, SUU, WIU).

[Old Titan]

We won two road games....

One was at Hilton Coliseum versus Iowa State.

The other was on the road in Sioux Falls against Oral Roberts University Golden Eagles.

I don't really buy the argument that just b/c a young team struggled the year or year(s) before that they'll always struggle. We finally have some upper classmen leadership, as well as depth. In the past we've had so many players play out of position and for way too many minutes based on the makeup of the team. I don't think that's going to be the case anymore. Not only do we now have some competetion at most positions, but we'll have the depth so we can avoid the fatigue we saw last year towards the end and we'll have players playing in their correct positions.

We'll win some road games. I think everyone expects us to be in darn near every Summit League game, which will be fun.

Realistically.....I'm expecting about a .500 finish and some road wins (UMKC, Centanary, SUU, WIU).

Gimme a physical break - a first-round Summit League tournament win in Sioux Falls, in front of 99% SDSU fans, hardly rates a "road" win. It is technically "neutral", but as anyone who had to deal with the SDSU fans sitting behind the ORU bench can attest, there was nothing "neutral" about it.

And, a non-conference road win against a bad Iowa State team is great, but we're talking Summit League standings here, so the true answer to my question is this: SDSU was 0-9 in conference road games last year, including losses at UMKC and Centenary, which I frankly didn't think was possible for a D-1 team.

Nowhere to go but up!

[ORUTerry]

SDSU does appear to be getting some attention from a couple of nice recruits in the area..... Snagging these kids would be a big boost to the Jackrabbits.

[SDSUJacks]

Were there SDSU fans directly behind the ORU bench? I guess I didn't really look. I remember seeing alot of OU fans behind their bench. I know that the first X amount of rows behind each teams benches were reserved for their fans, if they wanted them.

I would venture to guess most people would be more impressed w/ a road win at a Big XII school than any of the Summit schools.

Our road woes are in the past (thankfully). Our first road trip is IUPUI/WIU. We could win the WIU game, which would be nice to get the monkey off our back right away. If not our next road trip is SUU/UMKC and we could and probably should win both of those. Then it's a trip to Fargo on a Friday, a game 2 hours straight north that we could very well win and then the next road trip is Centenary/ORU. Of the first 6 conference road games we could realistically win 5. I'd settle for 3 and that's probably more realistic. But that's still 3 more than the past two years. Progress!

[SDSUJacks]

SDSU does appear to be getting some attention from a couple of nice recruits in the area..... Snagging these kids would be a big boost to the Jackrabbits.

Recruiting has some serious momentum right now. The 6'9 Heemstra is a great player and terrific kid. He's from NW Iowa which is a big Christian Reformed area. It's not my chosen religion but I have alot of Christian Reformed friends and they are great people. His high school teammate 6'8 Dykstra (the kid ranked in the top 150 and something like 26th best rated PF in the country who de-committed from Iowa St) would be a huge get to say the least. I hear Wake Forest just offered him but he was just at our most recent football game w/ several members of the team. We have a 6'5 guard coming in the next year who dropped 50 in a game as a sophmore last year and was the second leading scorer on a good AAU team this summer. Hopefully the early verbal keeps other schools away as his AAU director said he could easily play higher than the Summit League. There are other really good kids on the radar with offers on the table. Good recruits bring other good recruits and we're starting to see that right now. It finally seems that high school coaches and kids see that SDSU is back to our winning ways and it's an attractive destination again.

[darrenj]

From what i hear SDSU is the up and coming team in the conference and that is a good thing.

Oakland is really loaded this year and has the most talent.

I really think NDSU takes a pretty big step back this year. Like maybe 5 or 6 in conference.

ORU has some unknowns but i think may end up being better in the end. Pearson and Craion will make a huge difference. The non conference is brutal this year. Hopefully win a few before conference and get some momentum built up.

Steady point guard play and guys hitting some open shots should make a big difference.