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I never know if this thread should be us message boarders predicting the season outcomes or predicting what the coaches are going to predict in the soon-to-be-released coaches' poll.
What do you guys think?
Rather than predicting either of those two options, I'll throw some general thoughts out.
Teams that I expect to be really good (in no particular order):
1) St. Cloud - Gage Davis and Brindley Theisen are really good, and other guys on the team are above average.
2) SMSU - Bruggeman is really good and they have some solid returners.
3) Mankato - Good transfers (on paper) as always, and a couple of above average returners.
Teams that I expect to be good (in no particular order):
1) USF - Every year I overhype them and every year they let me down (which I simultaneously enjoy and appreciate). If they aren't a regional contender this year, I don't know that they'll ever be. Guebert and Evans are obviously 1st/2nd-Team all-NSIC caliber players, and they have a few good players back.
2) Northern - If they can make up for what they lose in Evans and Doyle, they've got good returners and should be solid again.
3) Winona - It has taken some time, and despite wsufamily's vitriolic opposition, the Warriors seem poised to be a top team again under Eisner. This will be an interesting year for them.
4) Moorhead - Assuming Moorhead123 is assessing the redshirt freshman class accurately, the Dragons should have some good pieces to start making progress and turning things around compared to the anomaly that was their 2017-18 season.
Teams I could see being better than expected or worse than hoped (in no particular order):
1) Augustana - Obviously I'm hoping for "better than expected" here, but there are going to be lots of very young guys getting minutes this year, with junior Adam Dykman being the only upperclassman I expect to see get substantial minutes. Otherwise it'll be a freshman/sophomore show for the Vikes, which has the potential to be a good thing in 1-2 years, but not quite as encouraging for this upcoming season (for reference, see Augustana's 2013-14 record compared to the two seasons that followed).
2) Upper Iowa - A couple of good players including the returning Freshman of the Year and a couple of strong incoming freshmen from what I understand.
3) Duluth - I'm throwing them in here because they've already had some recruiting success under Wieck this summer and, if he's a good coach, they have a couple of decent returners who might be able to make some noise.
4) Wayne - I've been a Kendall Jacks fan for a while now, and I think he's one of the more underappreciated players in the conference. This would be a good year for the Wildcats to make some progress and become more of a consistent contender, if the rest of their squad can step up and match the energy/effort Jacks brings.
Teams that might compete some nights, but I don't expect to see finishing in the top half of the standings (in no particular order):
1) Crookston - Can Cleary keep the Golden Eagles out of the cellar? Just for reference, to reflect the aforementioned anomaly that was the 2017-18 MSU-Moorhead Dragon season, Crookston finished not one but two games higher than Moorhead in conference play on their way to a 5th-place tie in the North Division and tie for 13th in the overall standings.
2) Minot - Without Tyler Rudolph, I think the Red Beavers might drop back down to their usual region of the standings by the time the season is over.
3) Bemidji - I just never know what to think about Bemidji anymore. Some years they are a flash in the pan and have key players the keep them higher in the standings and other years they more or less vanish and float around near the bottom. I don't know what to predict for next year.
Teams that I don't expect to see finish in the top 3/4 of the standings (in no particular order):
1) Mary - I just think Mary is a tough place to win. Other than a Randall Herbst special, the Marauders aren't the best at Marauding. There's always a good chance I'll be proven wrong, but I sort of feel like their recruiting strategy of getting the top 2 or 3 players in North Dakota every year hasn't exactly paid off, but we'll see. (To be clear, I believe Augie's approach of getting the best couple of players from SD the past couple of years will pay off...I clearly have more faith in the high school talent of SD than ND).
2) Concordia St. Paul - I just haven't seen anything from JJ that makes me think, "Oh, this is the year they turn it around." They beat a reasonably decent D1 team in a non-exhibition match last year and then proceeded to go 4-18 for a dismal last place finish in conference play. Not sure what else there is to say about that.
If anyone wants to do a preseason coaches' poll prediction or anything of that nature, fire away.
What do you guys think?
Rather than predicting either of those two options, I'll throw some general thoughts out.
Teams that I expect to be really good (in no particular order):
1) St. Cloud - Gage Davis and Brindley Theisen are really good, and other guys on the team are above average.
2) SMSU - Bruggeman is really good and they have some solid returners.
3) Mankato - Good transfers (on paper) as always, and a couple of above average returners.
Teams that I expect to be good (in no particular order):
1) USF - Every year I overhype them and every year they let me down (which I simultaneously enjoy and appreciate). If they aren't a regional contender this year, I don't know that they'll ever be. Guebert and Evans are obviously 1st/2nd-Team all-NSIC caliber players, and they have a few good players back.
2) Northern - If they can make up for what they lose in Evans and Doyle, they've got good returners and should be solid again.
3) Winona - It has taken some time, and despite wsufamily's vitriolic opposition, the Warriors seem poised to be a top team again under Eisner. This will be an interesting year for them.
4) Moorhead - Assuming Moorhead123 is assessing the redshirt freshman class accurately, the Dragons should have some good pieces to start making progress and turning things around compared to the anomaly that was their 2017-18 season.
Teams I could see being better than expected or worse than hoped (in no particular order):
1) Augustana - Obviously I'm hoping for "better than expected" here, but there are going to be lots of very young guys getting minutes this year, with junior Adam Dykman being the only upperclassman I expect to see get substantial minutes. Otherwise it'll be a freshman/sophomore show for the Vikes, which has the potential to be a good thing in 1-2 years, but not quite as encouraging for this upcoming season (for reference, see Augustana's 2013-14 record compared to the two seasons that followed).
2) Upper Iowa - A couple of good players including the returning Freshman of the Year and a couple of strong incoming freshmen from what I understand.
3) Duluth - I'm throwing them in here because they've already had some recruiting success under Wieck this summer and, if he's a good coach, they have a couple of decent returners who might be able to make some noise.
4) Wayne - I've been a Kendall Jacks fan for a while now, and I think he's one of the more underappreciated players in the conference. This would be a good year for the Wildcats to make some progress and become more of a consistent contender, if the rest of their squad can step up and match the energy/effort Jacks brings.
Teams that might compete some nights, but I don't expect to see finishing in the top half of the standings (in no particular order):
1) Crookston - Can Cleary keep the Golden Eagles out of the cellar? Just for reference, to reflect the aforementioned anomaly that was the 2017-18 MSU-Moorhead Dragon season, Crookston finished not one but two games higher than Moorhead in conference play on their way to a 5th-place tie in the North Division and tie for 13th in the overall standings.
2) Minot - Without Tyler Rudolph, I think the Red Beavers might drop back down to their usual region of the standings by the time the season is over.
3) Bemidji - I just never know what to think about Bemidji anymore. Some years they are a flash in the pan and have key players the keep them higher in the standings and other years they more or less vanish and float around near the bottom. I don't know what to predict for next year.
Teams that I don't expect to see finish in the top 3/4 of the standings (in no particular order):
1) Mary - I just think Mary is a tough place to win. Other than a Randall Herbst special, the Marauders aren't the best at Marauding. There's always a good chance I'll be proven wrong, but I sort of feel like their recruiting strategy of getting the top 2 or 3 players in North Dakota every year hasn't exactly paid off, but we'll see. (To be clear, I believe Augie's approach of getting the best couple of players from SD the past couple of years will pay off...I clearly have more faith in the high school talent of SD than ND).
2) Concordia St. Paul - I just haven't seen anything from JJ that makes me think, "Oh, this is the year they turn it around." They beat a reasonably decent D1 team in a non-exhibition match last year and then proceeded to go 4-18 for a dismal last place finish in conference play. Not sure what else there is to say about that.
If anyone wants to do a preseason coaches' poll prediction or anything of that nature, fire away.
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