Weave guys did very heavy lifting on the MM/LM workload from what I know. Heat Check guys who I’m also a big fan of were very involved too.
Example of what the team pages will look like. Every coach in the country was interviewed for the project. Also will include some more nationally framed sections on the front end. More Athlon-y than 3MW’s normal previews for sure but should still be super informative.
Hunter Dickinson (and Jordan Bohannon) are doing a barstool podcast?
Interesting that Holy Cross was invited to be a member of the Big East. I realize that they had a few decent teams in the 70’s, but maybe this is a “we’d like you to come, but if you come you will need to “upgrade” some things reflecting of you being in a major basketball conference”.
And if they would have joined the Big East, does that change the trajectory of Holy Cross as a school in general?
Yes it doesn’t almost certainly. Most all of current athletics is shaped by how the conferences shook out.
Hey, please take the Big East discussion to the proper message board - Big East Basketball Discussion (formerly Big Ten Basketball Discussion 2022-23).
I guess that was my point. It seems that many schools are striving to get into a “better conference” for whatever reasons. Maybe because if you are in a “better conference” you have a higher prestige (whatever that is) and can draw a higher level of student (higher scores, HS GPA, etc.) and that leads to a higher levels of professors and that leads to more grant money, etc. Or it means a bigger slice of TV money because the Big East has a bigger TV payout than the Patriot League. (Although a quick check ranks The College of the Holy Cross #35 in National Liberal Arts Colleges so they seem to have plenty of prestige without the Big East.)
Jim Root from 3MW picked Mich to win big ten on their pod and he’s extremely high on Jett
Yeah, I feel like their breakdown was light on how good Hunter could be this year and how much JL can help Hunter be good. If Michigan wins the B1G, I would bet Hunter has something like 122+ORtg on 29%+ usg. That will be nearly impossible if JL doesn’t translate like they talked about and it’s more likely if Jett is reliable, but more than anything the rest of the team has to play well on defense. I think Dylan is one of the only people out there who thinks Hunter could have a legit NPOY type of season (as in it’s possible), surprised these guys don’t think similarly.
It also seemed more like a pick just to have someone other than Indiana first. It seems more likely that one of Michigan, Purdue, or Illinois plays way better than expected and IU is a 10-20th ranked team, and I’m glad Jim picked Michigan out of that group.
Totally agree here. I sense IU is the favorite by default and if you are going to pick somebody else, I am comfortable picking Michigan.
I understand why IU is the favorite…but I just can’t get over how they were one half of basketball from the NIT and bring back mostly the same guys.
Same guys? They bring in the #23 and #29 recruits. Not saying I think they win the conference but it’s clearly not just “the same guys”. JHS is a 5 star.
It’s college basketball and players can improve, plus good recruits to course. I just don’t like their roster construction though. Gives me some Michigan last year vibes with Reneau and Geronimo being guys that are probably good enough that they have to play but they might not be good fits
Freshman might hit, they might not. See our team last year for prime examples. TJD has been essentially the same player for 3 years. Johnson is…lets just say inconsistent. It is year 2 with Woodson and that could pay off, I’m just not buying in on their roster being far and away the best team in the B1G. I can get behind a team in the 10-20 range nationally and being a B1G contender, sure. I don’t see a top 10 team that runs away from everybody. That would take TJD and Johnson making huge leaps and the 5 stars coming in and being players right away.
That basically played 2.5 games worth of basketball beyond what they played all year to save their season. I don’t know that they can do that over the course of a full year.
I’m not arguing for or against Indiana. Saying that it’s basically the same guys is just demonstrably wrong, though. Maybe the freshmen hit, maybe they don’t. But when you bring in two top 30 prospects it’s not a team of “mostly the same guys”.
Indiana is basically the same guys
There is an argument that both you and Big Boutros are correct. Certainly, IU had a very good recruiting class, but the best guys they got in the class have similar skill sets to the guys they already have. Talent matters; so does fit.
No matter what way you slice it calling them basically the same guys or team next year is a lazy argument similar to one you’d get about Michigan on other home boards.
As one poster pointed out, returning players is not a bad thing because generally players, even older and lower ceiling players, improve somewhat year to year.
It’s another year under a new coach.
It demonstrably isn’t just the same players when you are adding two top 30 talents.
I’d bet money on Indiana being a top 25 team which isn’t who they were last year. Up to the best team in the conference? I’m not making that case but certainly better than basically the same team that finished 11th in conference.
This is what I’m also saying. When you put it that way, then yes they will improve over last year. Top 25 Indiana should definitely happen this year.
Just the narrative of them being a Top 10ish team and “far and away” the favorite in the B1G is where I struggle. I can even put them in the top tier of teams and a likely favorite but it seems like people are saying everybody else is playing for 2nd. I would take the field over IU for sure.
I’m just waiting for the Kenpom preseason rankings so I know what to think.
