Post Break Predictions - Men's

[WildHorses]

Here is the current Standings - How do you see things playing out?

North Division
1. Northern State (12-1, 6-0)
2. Minot State (11-1, 5-1)
3. St. Cloud State (8-3, 4-1)
4. Minnesota-Crookston (6-6, 3-3)
5. Bemidji State (5-6, 2-4)
5. Minnesota State-Moorhead (4-8, 2-4)
7. Minnesota-Duluth (3-7, 0-5)
8. Mary (2-8, 0-6)

South Division
1. Minnesota State-Mankato (9-2, 5-0)
2. Southwest Minnesota State (9-3, 5-1)
3. Sioux Falls (8-3, 4-2)
4. Augustana (8-4, 3-3)
4. Wayne State (8-6, 3-3)
4. Winona State (8-4, 3-3)
7. Upper Iowa (8-7, 1-5)
8. Concordia-St. Paul (1-10, 0-5)

NORTH Observations:

Northern State is in a class of their own. With their size, shooting and guard play they will have to stumble on their own in order for anyone to compete.

Minot State is the biggest surprise in the conference with their start. There schedule in January is fairly friendly with some tough teams headed to Minot. Real test will come when they go on the road to USF/SMSU and then follow that up with a trip to St. Cloud/Duluth

Moorhead is equally a surprise but mostly because they have been able to reload for a number of years. Looks like this may be a re-build season but they still have enough talent to give teams (besides Northern) a big challenge.

Crookston and Bemidji can get hot and make things interesting for teams while Duluth and UMary are tough places to play.

SOUTH Observations

St. Cloud Should he stay or should he go? If he goes there will be trouble, if he stays there will be double! Will be interesting to see how this team rolls in January. I am expecting them to surge if Davis stays active.

Mankato Have not heard much coming from the nicest hoops court in the conference except the cheers of the crowd. Right now there is no reason to think that they will not keep winning and be the Southern Champ.

SMSU started a little slow but have had two convincing victories to go into the break, with one of those wins being a convincing victory over USF. They may be the most complete team, from a position by position stand point, behind Northern.

Sioux Falls is in a little spin right now. They lost a key starter and they will have to find a new normal but with two of the best scorers in the conference they should rebound in January.

Can't count out Augie to pick up big wins and Wayne State is much improved. Winona is still a mystery but can play great basketball at times. Surprised with Upper Iowa and I predicted Concordia St. P to be tough to beat this year!

[simple as a $3 bill]

Re: Post Break Predictions - Men's

Here is the current Standings - How do you see things playing out?

North Division
1. Northern State (12-1, 6-0)
2. Minot State (11-1, 5-1)
3. St. Cloud State (8-3, 4-1)
4. Minnesota-Crookston (6-6, 3-3)
5. Bemidji State (5-6, 2-4)
5. Minnesota State-Moorhead (4-8, 2-4)
7. Minnesota-Duluth (3-7, 0-5)
8. Mary (2-8, 0-6)

South Division
1. Minnesota State-Mankato (9-2, 5-0)
2. Southwest Minnesota State (9-3, 5-1)
3. Sioux Falls (8-3, 4-2)
4. Augustana (8-4, 3-3)
4. Wayne State (8-6, 3-3)
4. Winona State (8-4, 3-3)
7. Upper Iowa (8-7, 1-5)
8. Concordia-St. Paul (1-10, 0-5)

NORTH Observations:

Northern State is in a class of their own. With their size, shooting and guard play they will have to stumble on their own in order for anyone to compete.

Minot State is the biggest surprise in the conference with their start. There schedule in January is fairly friendly with some tough teams headed to Minot. Real test will come when they go on the road to USF/SMSU and then follow that up with a trip to St. Cloud/Duluth

Moorhead is equally a surprise but mostly because they have been able to reload for a number of years. Looks like this may be a re-build season but they still have enough talent to give teams (besides Northern) a big challenge.

Crookston and Bemidji can get hot and make things interesting for teams while Duluth and UMary are tough places to play.

SOUTH Observations

St. Cloud Should he stay or should he go? If he goes there will be trouble, if he stays there will be double! Will be interesting to see how this team rolls in January. I am expecting them to surge if Davis stays active.

Mankato Have not heard much coming from the nicest hoops court in the conference except the cheers of the crowd. Right now there is no reason to think that they will not keep winning and be the Southern Champ.

SMSU started a little slow but have had two convincing victories to go into the break, with one of those wins being a convincing victory over USF. They may be the most complete team, from a position by position stand point, behind Northern.

Sioux Falls is in a little spin right now. They lost a key starter and they will have to find a new normal but with two of the best scorers in the conference they should rebound in January.

Can't count out Augie to pick up big wins and Wayne State is much improved. Winona is still a mystery but can play great basketball at times. Surprised with Upper Iowa and I predicted Concordia St. P to be tough to beat this year!

A bigger question and concern is...when did the league office arbitrarily move SCSU from the North into the South. That is going to create some real scheduling problems as they need to revamp everything. Looking forward to getting to play Joey twice though. But going to miss playing Bemidji, Crookston, Duluth and Mary twice.

[NSU4LIFE]

Re: Post Break Predictions - Men's

Moorhead won't compete for much this year but they have some nice pieces moving forward. Tough to judge wolves, as hyped up as I am, they have played Moorhead x2, Crookston, Mary, Bemidji and beat Minot by 20+...history is what it is, so despite how good we might be, we have to prove it coming up. I don't think st. Cloud will be a walk in the park. Mankato keeps winning so who knows (excited I'll be at that one though). I think Augie and Winona have more talent than most may believe, as they keep improving they could finish near the top and we won't beat SMSU so handedly next time. I thought it was already stated that Gage isn't coming back...but maybe I missed something. Looking forward to this break being over and getting back into the season.

[MrAugustana]

Re: Post Break Predictions - Men's

Was actually going to start a "Christmas Break Observations thread, but this seems like a suitable place for that type of conversation too.

I don't have much other than hoping that the Vikes continue to gel and get better. I like our team, but Jordan Spencer has seemed weirdly off for roughly 4-5 games and we really need one of the big men (most likely Dykman or Asmus) to step up and be a consistent presence for the rest of the season. Doesn't need to be an 18 and 9 kind of average, but at least a 12-14 ppg, 7-8 rpg type of statline would be nice.

The one thing I am particularly excited for is the continued emergence of freshman Matt Cartwright as a scoring threat. As Augieholic noted in The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings, Cartwright's jumper is a thing of beauty and his confidence to fire at will seems to be increasing game-by-game. In conference play, Cartwright is currently the 2nd-leading scorer out of the NSIC's freshmen (averaging 11.3 ppg... Smoldt from UIU is averaging 11.8 ppg), and his growth from game one until the Christmas break has been visibly noticeable. If he continues on the trajectory he's showing, I could easily, easily see him averaging 13-15 ppg, if not more, by the end of the season. I hope I'm right, as the Vikes will certainly need that from him if they want to stay in the top third of the conference this year.

Lots for the Vikes to do before they're high-level contenders this season, but if they can pull a few things together, I think they have a chance to put a nice run together in the latter portion of the season.

[simple as a $3 bill]

Re: Post Break Predictions - Men's

Moorhead won't compete for much this year but they have some nice pieces moving forward. Tough to judge wolves, as hyped up as I am, they have played Moorhead x2, Crookston, Mary, Bemidji and beat Minot by 20+...history is what it is, so despite how good we might be, we have to prove it coming up. I don't think st. Cloud will be a walk in the park. Mankato keeps winning so who knows (excited I'll be at that one though). I think Augie and Winona have more talent than most may believe, as they keep improving they could finish near the top and we won't beat SMSU so handedly next time. I thought it was already stated that Gage isn't coming back...but maybe I missed something. Looking forward to this break being over and getting back into the season.

I'm going to resort to the old line...Just because they said it, doesn't make it true.
He's back, and I'd say with a vengeance, but since he's one of the nicest kids you'd ever want to meet, spends his off time driving around St. Cloud looking for little old ladies to help cross the street. He just wants to play and spend his last year and a half doing whatever he can to help good ole SCSU win. :) Can someone hand me a tissue please.

[wscsuperfan]

Re: Post Break Predictions - Men's

I'm just hoping WSC can secure a top half finish within the division.

[NSU4LIFE]

Re: Post Break Predictions - Men's

I'm going to resort to the old line...Just because they said it, doesn't make it true.
He's back, and I'd say with a vengeance, but since he's one of the nicest kids you'd ever want to meet, spends his off time driving around St. Cloud looking for little old ladies to help cross the street. He just wants to play and spend his last year and a half doing whatever he can to help good ole SCSU win. :) Can someone hand me a tissue please.

Didn't bother checking the box score...that's on me.

[WildHorses]

Re: Post Break Predictions - Men's

A bigger question and concern is...when did the league office arbitrarily move SCSU from the North into the South. That is going to create some real scheduling problems as they need to revamp everything. Looking forward to getting to play Joey twice though. But going to miss playing Bemidji, Crookston, Duluth and Mary twice.

Inserted the "North Observation" and "South Observation" after the fact. . . placed South a little early! Apox upon me as a clumsy lout!

[simple as a $3 bill]

Re: Post Break Predictions - Men's

Inserted the "North Observation" and "South Observation" after the fact. . . placed South a little early! Apox upon me as a clumsy lout!

And on this board you'd be the first one to be a clumsy lout. :)
To bad for you, and the other clumsy louts on this board, mainly the Augustana guys who I like picking on so much, that there's perfect individuals such as myself on here who catch the missteps. :)

[NSU4LIFE]

Re: Post Break Predictions - Men's

And on this board you'd be the first one to be a clumsy lout. :)
To bad for you, and the other clumsy louts on this board, mainly the Augustana guys who I like picking on so much, that there's perfect individuals such as myself on here who catch the missteps. :)

Seriously....every single one.

[wsuguy87]

Re: Post Break Predictions - Men's

I'm in serious minority with this opinion (at least among most of the WSU fans), but I think the Warriors will continue to get better and will win a few games. That, of course, assumes they stay healthy because depth is an issue. In watching the game last night against Michigan Tech, you can see the talent on the floor. If they continue to improve on defense and can shoot it consistently, they will be alright.

[MrMustang]

Re: Post Break Predictions - Men's

Thoughts:

1. Northern is the class of the league. They compare very well to the 2017 Mustangs. Deep, talented, good, old. They should win the title and have played to expectations.

2. Biggest surprise is Winona who is decent and competent. I thought they would stink.

3. Minot is where expected. Rudolph is great. They will finish 2nd or 3rd with SCSU now that gage Davis is back.

4. SMSU is only 1 game behind where I thought they would be so hard to get too upset. I figured we would be 10-2 and 6-0

5. Mankato is better than expected but hard for me to know if they are the best in the South but it looks to be between SMSU and Kato for the top south spot.

6. Upper Iowa is the 2nd biggest disappointment. They are at least 2 games below where I thought they would be.

7. UMD is one of the worst teams I have seen in the last 10 years.

[NSU4LIFE]

Re: Post Break Predictions - Men's

I'm in serious minority with this opinion (at least among most of the WSU fans), but I think the Warriors will continue to get better and will win a few games. That, of course, assumes they stay healthy because depth is an issue. In watching the game last night against Michigan Tech, you can see the talent on the floor. If they continue to improve on defense and can shoot it consistently, they will be alright.

I'm slightly on your side, see below

[DapperDan]

Re: Post Break Predictions - Men's

I'm in serious minority with this opinion (at least among most of the WSU fans), but I think the Warriors will continue to get better and will win a few games. That, of course, assumes they stay healthy because depth is an issue. In watching the game last night against Michigan Tech, you can see the talent on the floor. If they continue to improve on defense and can shoot it consistently, they will be alright.

[Stanger86]

Re: Post Break Predictions - Men's

4. SMSU is only 1 game behind where I thought they would be so hard to get too upset. I figured we would be 10-2 and 6-0

What do you think about our depth? It can be a little inconsistent offensively I feel, but I really love the cohesion of that second unit. A pleasant surprise!