MAAC Preseason Preview Coaches Poll on ESPN3

[IndianSaint]

Did anyone watch this? It was today at Noon. Just read the link today and didn't watch.

www.sienasaints.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/091013aab.html

[Deleted]

Men picked to finish 10th! A PW hangover that will quickly go away.

[rcpjr]

It's still on. Fairfield coach being interviewed right now. I like us being picked 10th. Should be a breeze to beat the low expectations.

[MTS]

Sept 11, 2013 12:02:02 GMT -5 rcpjr said:

It's still on. Fairfield coach being interviewed right now. I like us being picked 10th. Should be a breeze to beat the low expectations.

I understand why they picked us 10th and it will just give Jimmy another motivational tool to use with the team. I'd be SHOCKED if we finished 10th. There is always a team or two that exceeds expectations by a bunch of spots. I see Siena in the 4-8 range. But time will tell how quickly the freshmen adjust to D1 basketball.

[easymoney]

What do the coaches know, we all know at least two out of four who didn't know squat.

[SaintMisbehavin]

Here's how the coaches poll shook out with voting points. The clusters are about what I expected, although I'm a little surprised Rider garnered so many votes. As you can see Siena was basically clustered in with Niagara & Saint Peters for the 8-10 spots.

1. Manhattan 119
2. Iona 108
3. Canisius 100
4. Rider 85
5. Marist 69
6. Fairfield 61
7. Quinnipiac 58
8. Niagara 39
9. Saint Peter’s 38
10. Siena 35
11. Monmouth 14

[diamonddog]

My take...

Manhattan- yes
Iona-yes
Canisius- yes
Rider (6th-7th)
Marist-yes
Fairfield-(7th-8th)
Quinnipiac- (4th-5th)
Niagara- (11th)
St. Peter’s- (8th-9th)
Siena- (4th-5th)
Monmouth- (10th)

But whatever- it's poster board material- it should energize the kids to do well.

[th24]

This will look great in the Siena locker room billboard.My message to the team- F-the polls - play HARD and play with a chip on your shoulder!

[CellarRat]

Sept 11, 2013 17:59:05 GMT -5 th24 said:

This will look great in the Siena locker room billboard.My message to the team- F-the polls - play HARD and play with a chip on your shoulder!

How about playing disciplined well coached basketball with the appropriate amount sportsmanship. I just love a classy team. I think Siena has always had that image.

[th24]

Teams can play with chip on their shoulder and still play with class!  It's all about ATTITUDE. This video from Penn State shows that! 

[Deleted]

One thing I like about the current starting 5 is that they all make FTs AND they get to the line, ...well as long as Lavon makes his. We have a legitimate shot at leading the league in that category. Bisping is amazing from the line and Hymes and Poole are very solid. Wright should be ok.

They all can shoot at least out to 18 ft too with Wright probably being the weak link there. Without the lane clogged and the pressure on him Hymes should have a positive assist ratio again despite his occasional mental lapses. Poole should be ok and Lavon has as good a handle as anyone playing the 4 in the league. That lineup might be able to put up enough points and avoid turnovers enough to overshadow its potential defense and rebounding issues.

Saints are very similar to Canisius of last year in their offensive style and defensive softness although Wright is clearly a ballhawk and Poole is tougher.

Lavon needs to be great on D and we need Silas, Ogunyemi, and White to bring some measure of defense off the bench if that's going to be their roles.

[Sienafan]

Sept 12, 2013 9:38:44 GMT -5 @saintkk said:

One thing I like about the current starting 5 is that they all make FTs AND they get to the line, ...well as long as Lavon makes his. We have a legitimate shot at leading the league in that category. Bisping is amazing from the line and Hymes and Poole are very solid. Wright should be ok.

They all can shoot at least out to 18 ft too with Wright probably being the weak link there. Without the lane clogged and the pressure on him Hymes should have a positive assist ratio again despite his occasional mental lapses. Poole should be ok and Lavon has as good a handle as anyone playing the 4 in the league. That lineup might be able to put up enough points and avoid turnovers enough to overshadow its potential defense and rebounding issues.

Saints are very similar to Canisius of last year in their offensive style and defensive softness although Wright is clearly a ballhawk and Poole is tougher.

Lavon needs to be great on D and we need Silas, Ogunyemi, and White to bring some measure of defense off the bench if that's going to be their roles.

They don't all make FTs. Silas shot 46% from the line last year - he's worse than OD. Marquis Wright shot FTs at an 81% clip his H.S. senior year, so he should be better than okay - though that may have been an anomaly compared to his prior years. He also shot 58% inside the arc that year, so I don't see him as a weak link inside 18 ft. Wright has in fact improved most of his numbers every year in H.S. From what we saw in Montreal, he is capable of being quite the scoring machine. Defense and rebounding are indeed potential concerns, but we'll see whether Jimmy emphasizes them in practice and shores up those areas. Does anyone know if Jimmy's Loyola teams were known for strong defense?

[Deleted]

Sept 12, 2013 10:01:13 GMT -5 Sienafan said:

Sept 12, 2013 9:38:44 GMT -5 @saintkk said:

One thing I like about the current starting 5 is that they all make FTs AND they get to the line, ...well as long as Lavon makes his. We have a legitimate shot at leading the league in that category. Bisping is amazing from the line and Hymes and Poole are very solid. Wright should be ok.

They all can shoot at least out to 18 ft too with Wright probably being the weak link there. Without the lane clogged and the pressure on him Hymes should have a positive assist ratio again despite his occasional mental lapses. Poole should be ok and Lavon has as good a handle as anyone playing the 4 in the league. That lineup might be able to put up enough points and avoid turnovers enough to overshadow its potential defense and rebounding issues.

Saints are very similar to Canisius of last year in their offensive style and defensive softness although Wright is clearly a ballhawk and Poole is tougher.

Lavon needs to be great on D and we need Silas, Ogunyemi, and White to bring some measure of defense off the bench if that's going to be their roles.

They don't all make FTs. Silas shot 46% from the line last year - he's worse than OD. Marquis Wright shot FTs at an 81% clip his H.S. senior year, so he should be better than okay - though that may have been an anomaly compared to his prior years. He also shot 58% inside the arc that year, so I don't see him as a weak link inside 18 ft. Wright has in fact improved most of his numbers every year in H.S. From what we saw in Montreal, he is capable of being quite the scoring machine. Defense and rebounding are indeed potential concerns, but we'll see whether Jimmy emphasizes them in practice and shores up those areas. Does anyone know if Jimmy's Loyola teams were known for strong defense?

Silas might be able to shoot 60%. His shot isn't nearly as bad as Anosike. As of the last 2 games though, he wasn't starting. Because of prior years, like you said, I'm just hoping for 70% out of Wright. He's gonna be taking a lot of them. His shot is good inside 18ft, it's outside that needs work. JO and Wolfe shot 67% ish from the line last year.

Only 2 teams shot over 70% from the line last year. CC and Iona. CC lost its shooters. Iona lost Momo who took 250 FTAs at 89%. We shot 73% as a team in Montreal and that was with Oliver and Audu shooting bad. I think our best strategy is definitely going to be throwing ourselves into defenders.