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10 - DePaul
9 - St. John's
8 - Seton Hall

I like Milliken a lot and am rooting hard for CU. Great fan support; great addition to the league. But man, they lost a LOT of players from last year's team that struggled. Coach Mac should be COY if they can finish in the top half of the league.

There's no doubt that Kris Dunn is an amazing player and a future lottery pick (barring injury), but my questions lie with his supporting cast. Losing LaDontae Henton and Paschal Chukwu are huge hits to the Friars front court. Bentil has a promising future, but he's going to have to adjust to playing the center spot. Who knows if Rodney Bullock will be healthy. Jalen Lindsey, Junior Lomomba, and Kyron Cartwight need to be more consistent offensively. I suspect the Friars will be a better shooting team next year with their newcomers and will shoot their way to some wins, but I see some serious problems in the paint both offensively and defensively.
Bottomline, I'm slotting the Friars in 7th, but I would not be surprised if they finish from 5th-7th.

10: St. John's
9: Seton Hall
8: DePaul
7: Providence

I'm putting Marquette here, but could just as easily taken creighton or pc.

R Jay wrote:There's no doubt that Kris Dunn is an amazing player and a future lottery pick (barring injury), but my questions lie with his supporting cast. Losing LaDontae Henton and Paschal Chukwu are huge hits to the Friars front court. Bentil has a promising future, but he's going to have to adjust to playing the center spot. Who knows if Rodney Bullock will be healthy. Jalen Lindsey, Junior Lomomba, and Kyron Cartwight need to be more consistent offensively. I suspect the Friars will be a better shooting team next year with their newcomers and will shoot their way to some wins, but I see some serious problems in the paint both offensively and defensively.
Bottomline, I'm slotting the Friars in 7th, but I would not be surprised if they finish from 5th-7th.

10: St. John's
9: Seton Hall
8: DePaul
7: Providence

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I agree with/share this viewpoint.

GumbyDamnit! wrote:I like Milliken a lot and am rooting hard for CU. Great fan support; great addition to the league. But man, they lost a LOT of players from last year's team that struggled. Coach Mac should be COY if they can finish in the top half of the league.

...and the Creighton Bluejays will finish in the top half of the BE Conference, men's basketball, in the 2015-16 season.

I don't know who picked Xavier but...that's interesting...

I can certainly see arguments for MU, PC, and CU here but X seems like a lock to be solid again.

We lost a lot sure, but much of that is addition by subtraction:

Groselle is healthy, and better than Artino hands down
Cole Huff will be gobs more productive than Avery Dingman
Losing Rick Kreklow will hurt but I'm confident Huff/Harrell/Krampelj can pick up the slack
Devin Brooks was always inconsistent and a defensive liability, he will be replaced by Khyri Thomas/Malik Albert, both looked very good in Italy

The one loss that really mattered most was Chatman. But we essentially swap him out with Mo Watson, who many around the program believe is more offensively talented. I've seen him in person and the dude's arms/upper body are cut like marbled Italian salsiccia.

tldr; yes, we lost a lot after a season in which we struggled, but the talent upgrades could lead to some surprising outcomes

It seems like Providence should be 7th or lower with everyone they lost.

But (1) Kris Dunn and (2) Ed Cooley. I voted for Creighton, even though I'm a CU alum.

gtmoBlue wrote:...and the Creighton Bluejays will finish in the top half of the BE Conference, men's basketball, in the 2015-16 season.

You realize they finished last place in the league last year right?