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Anyone up for weighing in before the coaches preseason poll about how the teams will line out? My own guess would be wholly uninformed as I haven't really paid attention to much of what's gone on. Some of the top teams have new coaches too.... So, here's my 5 mins of thought guess... Never mind. I really don't have a clue this year! But we should be chattering and arguing about things already....
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I think CWU will rebound back into the GNAC Tournament, because of the added talent and size to the roster to add the depth they lacked last year. How far they go not so sure. UAF may improve a bit, as well. Not sure if enough to make the tournament. UAA will be in the top half like usual. Despite losing Arms I think NNU will still be a tournament team, too. SMU may take a major step backwards this year and miss the tournament, with a new coach and losing a bunch of players to graduation and two key lost transfers to CPP. SPU is certainly my favorites by far. Their freshman class is wicked good. They will have no superstars but they will have a solid team overall, like usual. Finally, WWU will rebound too with Schilder returning to a pretty good lineup mostly all returning.
So SPU, WWU, NNU, UAA, CWU will be my top 5 in no particular order after SPU. Not sure who else will get in. WOU or Billings perhaps. -
I would agree on SPU (that was the only piece of the ranking I could put together before I decided I just couldn't). I think with two top teams like WOU and SMU getting new coaches and losing some big players, it's really hard to know who steps up exactly, but I think MSUB will be in the top 6. I think CWU will get better too. I think SFU could build on last year too and be in the top 6 to close as well. UAA will be top half, as usual, but it's been a while since they were a big player in the top 4 teams, maybe this is the year they return to a more dominant team? I'm not a fan of the WWU program or how they play, so I don't have a whole lot of faith that they will play at the level of the individual talent they usually have, but they'll probably make the GNAC tourney just on ind. talent; could be wrong. Bottom of the pack? How's Concordia going to do with a new coach and a few disappointing years? UAF? Have no idea on UAF, but tend to think they will be toward the bottom of the pack. I'll be interested to see scores start coming in for non-con play.Comment
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Outside of losing Hawken, which hurts, WOU returns 5 good players and had quite a large recruiting class. Seems like they have enough talent to contend for a title. Not of unknowns on the new recruits, however, I haven't seen them play, but I definitely think they're a top tier conference team.Comment
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Interesting stuff. I guess I did not know that WOU retained a lot of players (I really didn't pay attention to offseason stuff this year). Anchorage (is that you HoosierDaddy?), that's a lofty goal saying you'd be shocked to see Anchorage not get 20 wins!!!! They didn't even make the GNAC tourney last year... You do realize that as a Fairbanksan, if UAA only collects 19 wins, I will remind you of this prediction in about 5 months (just like Tsull reminded me that I call ya'll bone-heads for saying that Sparling might come to Fairbanks!)... Sounds like everyone is predicting a lot of upward movement in the GNAC... UAA, SFU, MSUB, CWU are all getting better, so some of those top teams from last year will have to get knocked out to account for all these other teams coming in. That could be interesting!Comment
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WWU the favorites preseason poll while SMU is last. http://www.gnacsports.com/mbasketbal...ketball-title/Comment
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Here's hoping WWU stumbles badly! :fingers-crossed:Comment
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Wow. Yeah, this poll is interesting. I think it represents that the coaches feel similarly to how we do; it's a little less (or a lot less) clear this year who is expected to be at the top. It seems very surprising that SMU would go from finishing #1 to voted last in the conference.Comment
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So I heard that the Nooks scrimmaged Fort Wainwright (the military base adjacent to Fairbanks) yesterday. Heard that Fort Wainwright almost beat them, that Shabazz scored 47 and that our 7 footer, Kachjaani played well against a 6'10" guy who was much stouter. My takeaway is that Shabazz is as the name suggests, very good, but that Fort Wainwright played them tough is probably not a good sign. I didn't go because when I saw Fort Wainwright, I was thinking it couldn't possibly be a good use of 2 hours to watch, but perhaps it was more entertaining than I thought, certainly more than watching UAA slaughter Portland Bible two nights in a row.
Curious to see how the two Alaska schools fare next weekend when they open with Chaminade and HPU @ UAA. I may be slightly more convinced now about UAA having a great year due to the uncertainty on display in the coaches poll as well. And perhaps all the movement and uncertainty is going to open a door for UAF to be more competitive than I originally thought. We shall soon see...Comment
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