PREDICTIONS for the 2019-20 NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll

[MrAugustana]

We're close to a month away from the NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll for this season. Since the better side of the message board has been relatively dead for a week now, I figured I'd throw this out there to get a little action going.

Thoughts on preseason conference predictions? My thought behind this thread is more of a "who do we think the coaches will choose in the poll that gets released" kind of prediction rather than a "who do we think are the best teams/players" kind of breakdown, but you guys can obviously take this in whatever direction you want to.

[Moorhead123]

Predictions on coaches poll (not my predictions):

1. Mankato
2. Augustana- (my no.1)
3. Duluth
4. Northern
5. Winona
6. Moorhead
7. St. Cloud
8. Wayne State
9. Bemidgi
10.crookston
11. Southwest
12. Mary
13. Sioux Falls
14. Minot
15. Upper Iowa
16. Concordia

[Stanger86]

Predictions on coaches poll (not my predictions):

1. Mankato
2. Augustana- (my no.1)
3. Duluth
4. Northern
5. Winona
6. Moorhead
7. St. Cloud
8. Wayne State
9. Bemidgi
10.crookston
11. Southwest
12. Mary
13. Sioux Falls
14. Minot
15. Upper Iowa
16. Concordia

Those are fair predictions

[Moorhead123]

[Purple Mav Man]

Predictions for coaches poll:

1. Northern
2. Augustana
3. Mankato
4. Duluth
5. Moorhead
6. Winona
7. Wayne State
8. St. Cloud
9. Crookston
10. Southwest
11. Bemidji
12. Sioux Falls
13. Upper Iowa
14. Minot
15. Mary
16. Concordia

[Thunder]

1. Augustana
2. Mankato
3. Duluth
4. Moorhead
5. Northern - my #1 pick
6. Winona
7. Crookston - will be overrated, I think they should be about 12
8. St. Cloud
9. Wayne State
10. Southwest
11. Sioux Falls
12. Bemidji
13. Mary
14. Minot
15. Concordia
16. Upper Iowa

[RollStangs]

Predictions for Coaches Poll
1. Augustana
2. Northern
3. Duluth
4. Mankato
5. Moorhead
6. Winona
7. Wayne
8. St. Cloud
9. Bemidji
10. Crookston
11. Southwest
12. Upper Iowa
13. Sioux Falls
14. Mary
15. Minot
16. Concordia

[MrMustang]

What I think the Coaches will do :

1. Augie
2. Mankato
3. Northern
4. Winona
5. UMD
6. SCSU
7. SMSU
8. Moorhead
9. UMC
10. Wayne
11. Upper Iowa
12. Bemidji
13. Sioux Falls
14. Minot
15. Mary
16. Concordia

[MrMustang]

What I think the Coaches will do :

1. Augie
2. Mankato
3. Northern
4. Winona
5. UMD
6. SCSU
7. SMSU
8. Moorhead
9. UMC
10. Wayne
11. Upper Iowa
12. Bemidji
13. Sioux Falls
14. Minot
15. Mary
16. Concordia

Personally, mine would be much different

[mosofan1]

When does the coach's poll come out? MIAA came out yesterday with no surprises at the top.

[Moorhead123]

Last year it came out on October 18. Assuming this year will be similar...

[Thunder]

This seems like as good a place as any, so I'll make a few sure to be wrong predictions here. This is how I would preseason rank the NSIC.

1. Northern - To be the champ you have to beat the champ. The Wolves have lost 7 very good players and the entire coaching staff over the last 2 years, but expectations remain high in Aberdeen. I am really interested to see what style they will play this year and how the current players fit that style. I don't know a ton about Phillips, but by all accounts he seems like a good dude. Gabe King has POY potential, and Parker Fox will hopefully expand his game and become one of the top bigs in the NSIC. Guard play will be the key for the Wolves. I also expect 2 true freshman and a redshirt freshman to play significant minutes this year. The new era of Wolves basketball is almost upon us and I'm excited to see what happens.

2. Augustana - Losing Plizutweit no doubt hurts, but I don't think he was the best player on the team last year. Cartwright and Riemersma are very good and they have a host of other talented players back. Augie is loaded again and will be a tough out for anybody in the NSIC.

3. Duluth - Brandon Myer is a beast. If the bigs that transferred are good they will have the best backcourt in the NSIC. Wieck seems to be building something in Duluth and the 2 games against NSU this year should be a lot of fun to watch.

4. Mankato - Kirksey is still there??? How old is that guy? He will be tough to stop. Marg seemed to lose them a bit at the end of last year, but if they can get everyone pulling in the same direction I expect another good year from the Mavs.

5. Moorhead - The baby Dragons are another very good team in the North. Baumgartner should have a big year. I'm not terribly sold on Beeninga and Irsfeld but they are tough dudes. They will win a lot of games this year.

6. Winona - I was really impressed with Winona in the conference tourney last year. Kevion Taylor is a problem for everyone. Devin Whitelow is a true point guard, but he needs to develop a shot. If he can do that he will be a lot of fun to watch the next 2 seasons.

7. Wayne State - The Wildcats lost a lot from last season in Jacks, Joseph, and Janssen but that will be a common theme with the next few teams. Jordan Janssen has the potential to be one of the best big guys in the conference. This might be a little high for WSC, but I was really impressed with how they played last year.

8. Ding dong the witch is dead, the wicked witch is dead! He's finally gone! I'm kidding of course, because by all accounts Bruggeman seemed like a good dude but I hated when he played against the Wolves and I hated all of the calls he got against everyone. The fact I have them this high is completely due to confidence in Bigler. He's a really good coach.

9. St. Cloud - When you lose 2 of the top players in the league you expect a down year. They will be in the middle of conference.

10. Sioux Falls - When you lose 2 of the top players in the league you expect a down year. They will be in the middle of conference.

11. Bemidji - Ja Morgan and Derek Thompson almost took down NSU early last year so I wasn't completely surprised by there upset of Mankato in the conference tourney. They could be the surprise team in the conference but I don't see any way they top NSU, UMD, or MSUM in the North. But, with 6 chances against those teams I would guess they get at least 1 W though.

12. Crookston - The Harrison Cleary farewell tour, he may average 30/game and shoot 50 times per game this season. They also have a couple other chuckers on the team too. They will probably finish better than this but I hate the way they play and don't enjoy watching them even when Cleary goes off. I guess I'm the wet blanket on this board for the Golden Eagles.

14. Mary - Don't really know much about Mary, but I don't expect much of a threat.

13. Minot - Don't really know much about Minot, but I don't expect much of a threat.

15. Upper Iowa - I was shocked they were as bad last year as they were. Smokin' Joe Smoldt can be one of the most dangerous scorers in the league, but he doesn't have much help.

16. Concordia - I don't know how they weren't better last year with McKay and Matthews. They will really struggle without them. Maybe Joey James isn't that good of a coach?

[Augie Skyhook]

12. Crookston - The Harrison Cleary farewell tour, he may average 30/game and shoot 50 times per game this season. They also have a couple other chuckers on the team too. They will probably finish better than this but I hate the way they play and don't enjoy watching them even when Cleary goes off. I guess I'm the wet blanket on this board for the Golden Eagles.

I think Augustana fans will agree with you after the debacle in the NSIC tourney last year.

[Augieholic]

I think Augustana fans will agree with you after the debacle in the NSIC tourney last year.

You merely adopted the Cleary, I was born in it.

Yeah that loss was extremely painful but it did nothing to disrupt my affinity for Cleary. Guys with that skill set do not end up in the NSIC very often, I eagerly await having his silly stat lines back in our lives.

[Moorhead123]