MAAC predictions...

[MTS]

Went to CVS to check out Lindy's (who would pay $9?) I'll post more predictions when I see them from other publications.

FWIW... these are kind of "odd" predictions from Lindy's

1. Iona
2. Rider
3. Manhattan
4. Canisius
5. Siena
6. Quinnipiac
7. Monmouth
8. Fairfield
9. Niagara
10. St. Peter's
11. Marist

POY: EJ Crawford
Best NBA prospect: Jalen Pickett
Top newcomer: Gary Harris

Wrote by Brian Lester

Other teams Siena plays in the OOC - Harvard to win the Ivy and 32th nationally. Xavier 3rd BE, 15th nationally. Yale 3rd Ivy.

Colgate, 1st Patriot, Bucknell 2nd, American 3rd, Holy Cross 9th. St. Bonaventure 7th in A10. Cal Poly last in Big West.

[Deleted]

Unverified but someone on CC board posted that the Athlon's order was this:

Iona, Quinny, Siena, Rider, Monmouth, Manhattan, Canisius, Marist, St. Peter’s, Niagara & Fairfield.


Either way, I don't particularly like either poll.


I think it's something like this:


Rider
Iona
Quinny
Siena

St. Peters
Manhattan
FF

CC
Monmouth
Niagara
Marist

Monmouth lost their best defensive player in Rutherford from a team that mostly relied on defense. I think some teams are going to pass them even though they have some experience. I feel like they're gonna fall.  There's not a lot they do well. St. Peters and FF might surprise.

Those last 7 teams are tough to predict. CC still has Malik Johnson at PG...so maybe they have some shot at moving up if frosh are good. Still, FF should have interior play and a coach who puts emphasis on D...CC probably no.

[goldsaint17]

Unfortunately, these writers often don’t follow the league and then are tasked with the preview.

[mike60]

How can the POY not be best NBA prospect? Also, Siena beat Rider. What phenominal (sp.) improvement has Rider made?

[nolesaint]

Thanks for sharing. Always fun to talk about these predictions when they start coming out but we all know they don't mean a thing once the ball is put into play.
Go Saints!

[MTS]

Sept 10, 2019 15:56:44 GMT -5 @saintkk said:

Unverified but someone on CC board posted that the Athlon's order was this:

Iona, Quinny, Siena, Rider, Monmouth, Manhattan, Canisius, Marist, St. Peter’s, Niagara & Fairfield.


Either way, I don't particularly like either poll.


I think it's something like this:


Rider
Iona
Quinny
Siena

St. Peters
Manhattan
FF

CC
Monmouth
Niagara
Marist

Monmouth lost their best defensive player in Rutherford from a team that mostly relied on defense. I think some teams are going to pass them even though they have some experience. I feel like they're gonna fall.  There's not a lot they do well. St. Peters and FF might surprise.

Those last 7 teams are tough to predict. CC still has Malik Johnson at PG...so maybe they have some shot at moving up if frosh are good. Still, FF should have interior play and a coach who puts emphasis on D...CC probably no.

Quinny graduates the best player in the league and they're ahead of Siena? I would disagree with that. Kelly is real good but he'll be a marked man without Young. Still think Rider is a paper tiger. Iona has earned top billing. After that I think Siena is right there and potentially can overtake the Gals if a few questions are answered positively.

[OneIndian]

Without putting too much thought into it .....

Iona 14 - 6
Siena 13 - 7 (Siena cuz I’m a homer & we’ll be tough at home)
Rider 12 - 8
QU 12 - 8


St. Pete’s 10 - 10
FF 10 - 10
MC 9 - 11
CC 8 - 12
Monmouth 7 - 13
Niagara 6 - 14
Marist 5 - 15

[CellarRat]

Sept 10, 2019 17:33:12 GMT -5 OneIndian said:

Without putting too much thought into it .....

Iona 14 - 6
Siena 13 - 7 (Siena cuz I’m a homer & we’ll be tough at home)
Rider 12 - 8
QU 12 - 8


St. Pete’s 10 - 10
FF 10 - 10
MC 9 - 11
CC 8 - 12
Monmouth 7 - 13
Niagara 6 - 14
Marist 5 - 15

I like it! Except Niagara, Beilein won’t finish less than .500.

[Deleted]

Sept 10, 2019 17:32:54 GMT -5 MTS said:

Sept 10, 2019 15:56:44 GMT -5 @saintkk said:

Unverified but someone on CC board posted that the Athlon's order was this:

Iona, Quinny, Siena, Rider, Monmouth, Manhattan, Canisius, Marist, St. Peter’s, Niagara & Fairfield.


Either way, I don't particularly like either poll.


I think it's something like this:


Rider
Iona
Quinny
Siena

St. Peters
Manhattan
FF

CC
Monmouth
Niagara
Marist

Monmouth lost their best defensive player in Rutherford from a team that mostly relied on defense. I think some teams are going to pass them even though they have some experience. I feel like they're gonna fall.  There's not a lot they do well. St. Peters and FF might surprise.

Those last 7 teams are tough to predict. CC still has Malik Johnson at PG...so maybe they have some shot at moving up if frosh are good. Still, FF should have interior play and a coach who puts emphasis on D...CC probably no.

Quinny graduates the best player in the league and they're ahead of Siena? I would disagree with that. Kelly is real good but he'll be a marked man without Young. Still think Rider is a paper tiger. Iona has earned top billing. After that I think Siena is right there and potentially can overtake the Gals if a few questions are answered positively.

We've been over this.  The other 3 over Siena is a depth issue.  Siena simply has less of it.

[Sienafan]

How can one be the league's best NBA prospect, yet not be its best player? Tells you all you need to know about the knowledge of whoever wrote that preview.

It's hard to guess Siena's predicted order of finish, because there's too many new things about them - coach, key starting players, etc. But I do believe that they will be in that top tier that KK posted unless Carm is a total disaster. I'm not as concerned about depth as KK is. They certainly have adequate depth up front. As far as guards go, they have Pickett, Camper, Harris, and Carey as a solid foursome (it would be unwise to start all 4 if they want a solid 6th man). Beyond that we just need either Hein or King to step up (Ratliff is purely a 3 who cannot help at the 1 or 2). King's high school numbers are outstanding, but no one wanted him, so we'll see what's up with that. Hein isn't a starter quality player with mediocre averages, but he may just be enough off the bench. In 2017-2018 he put up 12 points, making 4-of-7 shots from long range against Indiana State. He topped that against Evansville with 13 points, making 3-of-9 shots from the field and 5-of-6 from the free throw line. He also scored 12 points against Southern Illinois in the semifinal round of the MVC Tournament. He had several other productive games that season. Then last season he played a third of the minutes he played previously and put up shit numbers thanks to a broken hand suffered at the beginning of last season.

If they get 2017-2018 vintage Hein and/or King surprises, they've got enough. That would give them 6 playable guards. Pickett and Carey are going to do the lions's share, but that's enough of a rotation to give those two a 5-8 minute blow each game. Is the depth of backcourt talent as deep as some others? Probably not. But they have the likely best starting backcourt in the conference, which makes up for that. McCaffery made do with less and still owned a much stronger MAAC.

[rpize24]

This is just me but I wouldn't think it would be terribly far off:
Iona(they've deserved it until someone knocks them off)
Siena
Rider
Quinny
Monmouth
St. Peter's
Manhattan
Niagara
Fairfield
Marist
Canisius
POY: Jalen Pickett
ROY: Gary Harris

[Deleted]

Sept 10, 2019 19:50:33 GMT -5 Sienafan said:

How can one be the league's best NBA prospect, yet not be its best player? Tells you all you need to know about the knowledge of whoever wrote that preview.

It's hard to guess Siena's predicted order of finish, because there's too many new things about them - coach, key starting players, etc. But I do believe that they will be in that top tier that KK posted unless Carm is a total disaster. I'm not as concerned about depth as KK is. They certainly have adequate depth up front. As far as guards go, they have Pickett, Camper, Harris, and Carey as a solid foursome (it would be unwise to start all 4 if they want a solid 6th man). Beyond that we just need either Hein or King to step up (Ratliff is purely a 3 who cannot help at the 1 or 2). King's high school numbers are outstanding, but no one wanted him, so we'll see what's up with that. Hein isn't a starter quality player with mediocre averages, but he may just be enough off the bench. In 2017-2018 he put up 12 points, making 4-of-7 shots from long range against Indiana State. He topped that against Evansville with 13 points, making 3-of-9 shots from the field and 5-of-6 from the free throw line. He also scored 12 points against Southern Illinois in the semifinal round of the MVC Tournament. He had several other productive games that season. Then last season he played a third of the minutes he played previously and put up shit numbers thanks to a broken hand suffered at the beginning of last season.

If they get 2017-2018 vintage Hein and/or King surprises, they've got enough. That would give them 6 playable guards. Pickett and Carey are going to do the lions's share, but that's enough of a rotation to give those two a 5-8 minute blow each game. Is the depth of backcourt talent as deep as some others? Probably not. But they have the likely best starting backcourt in the conference, which makes up for that. McCaffery made do with less and still owned a much stronger MAAC.

It is very difficult for me to drop Siena to 4th given what I think could be very good defensive potential.  However, I have to take a step back and realize that Harris, Sutherland, etc...are just freshmen and we don't know how the D will translate without Smithen's pure defensive energy.  So much is riding on Harris and I just don't know enough about his statistical history to bet that his albeit somewhat impressive highlights will translate to consistent success.... a success that will likely be necessary to overtake the other top teams.

[Sienafan]

Sept 10, 2019 20:44:13 GMT -5 @saintkk said:

Sept 10, 2019 19:50:33 GMT -5 Sienafan said:

How can one be the league's best NBA prospect, yet not be its best player? Tells you all you need to know about the knowledge of whoever wrote that preview.

It's hard to guess Siena's predicted order of finish, because there's too many new things about them - coach, key starting players, etc. But I do believe that they will be in that top tier that KK posted unless Carm is a total disaster. I'm not as concerned about depth as KK is. They certainly have adequate depth up front. As far as guards go, they have Pickett, Camper, Harris, and Carey as a solid foursome (it would be unwise to start all 4 if they want a solid 6th man). Beyond that we just need either Hein or King to step up (Ratliff is purely a 3 who cannot help at the 1 or 2). King's high school numbers are outstanding, but no one wanted him, so we'll see what's up with that. Hein isn't a starter quality player with mediocre averages, but he may just be enough off the bench. In 2017-2018 he put up 12 points, making 4-of-7 shots from long range against Indiana State. He topped that against Evansville with 13 points, making 3-of-9 shots from the field and 5-of-6 from the free throw line. He also scored 12 points against Southern Illinois in the semifinal round of the MVC Tournament. He had several other productive games that season. Then last season he played a third of the minutes he played previously and put up shit numbers thanks to a broken hand suffered at the beginning of last season.

If they get 2017-2018 vintage Hein and/or King surprises, they've got enough. That would give them 6 playable guards. Pickett and Carey are going to do the lions's share, but that's enough of a rotation to give those two a 5-8 minute blow each game. Is the depth of backcourt talent as deep as some others? Probably not. But they have the likely best starting backcourt in the conference, which makes up for that. McCaffery made do with less and still owned a much stronger MAAC.

It is very difficult for me to drop Siena to 4th given what I think could be very good defensive potential.  However, I have to take a step back and realize that Harris, Sutherland, etc...are just freshmen and we don't know how the D will translate without Smithen's pure defensive energy.  So much is riding on Harris.

Pickett was just a freshman too last season. If you're a great, it'll come out as soon as freshman year - for guards at least. Unless the play that got Harris those high major offers was a fluke, I'm confident he'll come through. Defense from frosh is a lot to ask. I'd be more hopeful of someone like Camper stepping into that Smithen role.

Among frosh, I'm more concerned about guys like Sutherland and King. I think we're going to need them to be step up to give us the depth at all 5 positions we're seeking to make this thing happen. We need a PG who can give Pickett a solid 5-10 minutes of rest each game without the offense going to hell. And a guy like Sutherland could be a real difference making weapon because if he's good, he wouldn't really have a counterpart on any other team.

[johndoh12]

Some more info from the magazines...Athlon lists Jalen as the 67th best player in the nation in their top 150 players. Jalen doesn't even make Lindy's top 150. It is fairly clear the writers in both magazines are not well informed on the MAAC or most of the other mid and low major conferences.

[hoopjunkie]

Picking Crawford as POY is more of a reflection of their choice to win the league (Iona) and their senior leader. Not that crazy.

Quinny will be very good. Def as good as us. They have 3 real good guards besides Kelly, and the 5th year kid we all wanted from Northwestern. They might stop people, but they'll outscore them.