Post by Yotes on Apr 10, 2014 11:24:09 GMT -6
The Summit League has seen a highly abnormal turnover of men's basketball coaches this offseason:
USD cut ties with interim Joey James, and hired Nebraska assistant Craig Smith
NDSU had Saul Phillips leave for Ohio, and hired internally with Dave Richman
IPFW had Tony Jasick leave for Jacksonville, and hired internally with Jon Coffman
IUPUI fired Todd Howard after 20 years with the program, and hired Memphis assistant Jason Gardner
WIU may be losing Jim Molinari to Nebraska, but nothing is official. WIU came out and addressed the situation, saying that Molinari is still head coach, which means these rumors aren't out of thin air (and the Lincoln Journal Star has gone as far as to say that he is probably joining the program)
I've never heard of a conference losing 4, and likely 5, out of 8 head coaches. There will be lots of new faces in the league, plus semi-familiar Oral Roberts.
My bet for regular season conference champ will be Denver, followed by a mix of the South Dakota schools and Oral Roberts. Denver returns 4 of 5 starters, plus their head coach, and the other two schools who didn't lose substantially are USD and Oral Roberts.
We're definitely a top-half team next season. I believe that we'll be improved under Craig Smith, so long as the current players are all on board. If we make it through the growing pains and hit our stride at the right time, who knows what might happen in Sioux Falls? We look poised to make a great step in the right direction.
USD cut ties with interim Joey James, and hired Nebraska assistant Craig Smith
NDSU had Saul Phillips leave for Ohio, and hired internally with Dave Richman
IPFW had Tony Jasick leave for Jacksonville, and hired internally with Jon Coffman
IUPUI fired Todd Howard after 20 years with the program, and hired Memphis assistant Jason Gardner
WIU may be losing Jim Molinari to Nebraska, but nothing is official. WIU came out and addressed the situation, saying that Molinari is still head coach, which means these rumors aren't out of thin air (and the Lincoln Journal Star has gone as far as to say that he is probably joining the program)
I've never heard of a conference losing 4, and likely 5, out of 8 head coaches. There will be lots of new faces in the league, plus semi-familiar Oral Roberts.
My bet for regular season conference champ will be Denver, followed by a mix of the South Dakota schools and Oral Roberts. Denver returns 4 of 5 starters, plus their head coach, and the other two schools who didn't lose substantially are USD and Oral Roberts.
We're definitely a top-half team next season. I believe that we'll be improved under Craig Smith, so long as the current players are all on board. If we make it through the growing pains and hit our stride at the right time, who knows what might happen in Sioux Falls? We look poised to make a great step in the right direction.