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Post by yotemeal on Dec 10, 2014 15:41:25 GMT -6
Conclusions drawn at this point in a season need to be taken with a grain of salt, but the sample sizes are growing, so why not? I’ve mentioned before that this is the time of year to hold your nose and cheer on our conference mates. The league needs non-conference wins to boost its stature. Thus far, there hasn’t been a whole lot to cheer about, but opportunity remains in the lead up to the conference slate.
I might take issue with those convinced the Summit League is down this year. It really depends on how you look at it. I think the “ceiling” remains at roughly the same height. IPFW this year is IPFW last year – a legitimate conference contender every bit as good as any team in the Summit last season. I think the “floor” of the Summit is maybe up a couple of notches. IUPUI has surprised me. I think they’ll win a number of league games this season. I think Western Illinois will struggle, but not be “2013 IUPUI” bad. It’s everything “in between” in the Summit that offers so many question marks. Denver and Oral Roberts have underwhelmed but have promising pieces. SDSU has been just okay, but the coming point guard Marshall will make a difference. NDSU appears to be a bottom-half team. Omaha is good and my dark horse to win the regular season crown, though not eligible for the tournament. I think a lot of gelling continues in this league. By the time the tournament rolls around, I think there will be a surprising number of teams playing at an elevated level.
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Post by yotemeal on Dec 15, 2014 14:07:27 GMT -6
My crystal ball tells me USD ends the year 16-15. Mark it down. And by "crystal ball" I mean empty bourbon bottle.  There's a lot of basketball left, and USD, per the usual, has been on the road a lot up to this point. Despite our lousy record, it's hard to find "bad" losses outside of Fairfield (at their place) and maybe Youngstown (must protect the Dome). I think when the season ends and we rank the difficulty of our opponents, Creighton, Stanford, UNLV, Wofford and Sam Houston State will all be toward the top. I prefer our chances against this year's Summit League, which isn't nearly as meaty in its upper tier. 11/14/14 at Utah Valley, LOSS 60-52 11/16/14 at Stanford, LOSS 84-73 11/21/14 vs. Sam Houston State, LOSS 93-85 (3OT) 11/22/14 vs. Wofford, LOSS 72-68 11/23/14 at Fairfield, LOSS 80-72 (OT) 11/26/14 vs. Wayne State (Neb.), WIN 86-69 11/30/14 at CSU Bakersfield, WIN 68-66 12/02/14 at Cal State Northridge, WIN 68-65 12/05/14 vs. Youngstown State, LOSS 87-79 12/09/14 at Creighton, LOSS 91-88 (2OT) 12/13/14 vs. UNLV, LOSS 75-61 12/18/14 vs. Montana State WIN 12/21/14 at Montana LOSS 12/28/14 vs. Milwaukee WIN 01/02/15 vs. Omaha WIN 01/04/15 at Denver LOSS 01/10/15 at Fort Wayne LOSS 01/14/15 vs. North Dakota State WIN 01/17/15 at South Dakota State LOSS 01/22/15 at Western Illinois WIN 01/24/15 at IUPUI WIN 01/29/15 vs. Fort Wayne WIN 01/31/15 vs. Oral Roberts WIN 02/05/15 vs. Western Illinois WIN 02/07/15 at North Dakota State LOSS 02/12/15 at Omaha LOSS 02/14/15 at Oral Roberts LOSS 02/17/15 vs. Avila WIN 02/21/15 vs. IUPUI WIN 02/25/15 vs. Denver WIN 02/28/15 vs. South Dakota State WIN |
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Post by Yotes on Dec 15, 2014 17:15:40 GMT -6
That looks like a very reasonable prediction to me, I am expecting us to finish within 1-2 games either way of that...probably on the more optimistic side if Flack returns early in conference play.
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Post by yotemeal on Dec 22, 2014 10:35:26 GMT -6
My crystal ball tells me USD ends the year 16-15. Mark it down. And by "crystal ball" I mean empty bourbon bottle. There's a lot of basketball left, and USD, per the usual, has been on the road a lot up to this point. Despite our lousy record, it's hard to find "bad" losses outside of Fairfield (at their place) and maybe Youngstown (must protect the Dome). I think when the season ends and we rank the difficulty of our opponents, Creighton, Stanford, UNLV, Wofford and Sam Houston State will all be toward the top. I prefer our chances against this year's Summit League, which isn't nearly as meaty in its upper tier. 11/14/14 at Utah Valley, LOSS 60-52 11/16/14 at Stanford, LOSS 84-73 11/21/14 vs. Sam Houston State, LOSS 93-85 (3OT) 11/22/14 vs. Wofford, LOSS 72-68 11/23/14 at Fairfield, LOSS 80-72 (OT) 11/26/14 vs. Wayne State (Neb.), WIN 86-69 11/30/14 at CSU Bakersfield, WIN 68-66 12/02/14 at Cal State Northridge, WIN 68-65 12/05/14 vs. Youngstown State, LOSS 87-79 12/09/14 at Creighton, LOSS 91-88 (2OT) 12/13/14 vs. UNLV, LOSS 75-61 12/18/14 vs. Montana State WIN 55-53 12/21/14 at Montana LOSS WIN 67-62 12/28/14 vs. Milwaukee WIN 01/02/15 vs. Omaha WIN 01/04/15 at Denver LOSS 01/10/15 at Fort Wayne LOSS 01/14/15 vs. North Dakota State WIN 01/17/15 at South Dakota State LOSS 01/22/15 at Western Illinois WIN 01/24/15 at IUPUI WIN 01/29/15 vs. Fort Wayne WIN 01/31/15 vs. Oral Roberts WIN 02/05/15 vs. Western Illinois WIN 02/07/15 at North Dakota State LOSS 02/12/15 at Omaha LOSS 02/14/15 at Oral Roberts LOSS 02/17/15 vs. Avila WIN 02/21/15 vs. IUPUI WIN 02/25/15 vs. Denver WIN 02/28/15 vs. South Dakota State WIN I love being wrong in this context. Nice win over Montana. These are confidence builders leading into conference play (and Christmas break). Looking forward to the Milwaukee game. |
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Post by yotemeal on Jan 4, 2015 17:00:45 GMT -6
My crystal ball tells me USD ends the year 16-15. Mark it down. And by "crystal ball" I mean empty bourbon bottle. There's a lot of basketball left, and USD, per the usual, has been on the road a lot up to this point. Despite our lousy record, it's hard to find "bad" losses outside of Fairfield (at their place) and maybe Youngstown (must protect the Dome). I think when the season ends and we rank the difficulty of our opponents, Creighton, Stanford, UNLV, Wofford and Sam Houston State will all be toward the top. I prefer our chances against this year's Summit League, which isn't nearly as meaty in its upper tier. 11/14/14 at Utah Valley, LOSS 60-52 11/16/14 at Stanford, LOSS 84-73 11/21/14 vs. Sam Houston State, LOSS 93-85 (3OT) 11/22/14 vs. Wofford, LOSS 72-68 11/23/14 at Fairfield, LOSS 80-72 (OT) 11/26/14 vs. Wayne State (Neb.), WIN 86-69 11/30/14 at CSU Bakersfield, WIN 68-66 12/02/14 at Cal State Northridge, WIN 68-65 12/05/14 vs. Youngstown State, LOSS 87-79 12/09/14 at Creighton, LOSS 91-88 (2OT) 12/13/14 vs. UNLV, LOSS 75-61 12/18/14 vs. Montana State WIN 55-53 12/21/14 at Montana LOSS WIN 67-62 12/28/14 vs. Milwaukee WIN 84-60 01/02/15 vs. Omaha WIN LOSS 86-77 01/04/15 at Denver LOSS WIN 74-69 01/10/15 at Fort Wayne LOSS 01/14/15 vs. North Dakota State WIN 01/17/15 at South Dakota State LOSS 01/22/15 at Western Illinois WIN 01/24/15 at IUPUI WIN 01/29/15 vs. Fort Wayne WIN 01/31/15 vs. Oral Roberts WIN 02/05/15 vs. Western Illinois WIN 02/07/15 at North Dakota State LOSS 02/12/15 at Omaha LOSS 02/14/15 at Oral Roberts LOSS 02/17/15 vs. Avila WIN 02/21/15 vs. IUPUI WIN 02/25/15 vs. Denver WIN 02/28/15 vs. South Dakota State WIN Latest adjustment to my schedule prediction. Huge win today @ Denver. Got back the loss vs. Omaha. IPFW has been shaky of late. Our next game is winnable, especially with a little confidence. |
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Post by Cousin Eddie on Jan 4, 2015 17:29:03 GMT -6
Western Illinois seems to be exceeding expectations thus far.
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Post by Cousin Eddie on Jan 4, 2015 17:59:18 GMT -6
NDSU beats SDSU
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ctc2010
Sophomore Member
Posts: 238 
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Post by ctc2010 on Jan 5, 2015 11:44:52 GMT -6
I know it's early.... but damn it feels good!  Joking aside, I'm more impressed at the 4 road wins, which is best in the Summit at this point. Fun fact: Offense is 2nd (out of 9) in the Summit in PPG at 72.3, while the defense is 8th (out of 9) in PPG at 73.3. Omaha is 1st in offense and last in defense. |
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Post by Yotes on Jan 5, 2015 17:34:26 GMT -6
We really have the most road wins? I'm very pleased to hear that after just two road wins last year. The win at Denver yesterday likely trumped all of last year's accomplishments. I'm exctied to see how the Yotes do in the Summit this year
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ctc2010
Sophomore Member
Posts: 238
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Post by ctc2010 on Jan 5, 2015 19:58:26 GMT -6
We really have the most road wins? I'm very pleased to hear that after just two road wins last year. The win at Denver yesterday likely trumped all of last year's accomplishments. I'm exctied to see how the Yotes do in the Summit this year  Doesn't account for neutral site games, which we are 0-3 in. But still... PROGRESS! |
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Post by yotemeal on Jan 6, 2015 13:58:57 GMT -6
Summit League continues to climb the RPI charts. Up to 21 of 32 conferences. Not great, but moving in the right direction. For reference, we ended last season at 17.
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Post by coyotecrazie5 on Jan 7, 2015 10:37:53 GMT -6
USD's Tyler Larson named Summit League athlete of the month for December.
Congrats to Tyler.
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Post by canislatrans on Jan 7, 2015 11:20:57 GMT -6
USD's Tyler Larson named Summit League athlete of the month for December. Congrats to Tyler. I guess that makes "him good enough to talk smack"... Congrats to Tyler, well-deserved, and a real model for fighting through adversity to achieve success! |
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ctc2010
Sophomore Member
Posts: 238
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Post by ctc2010 on Jan 7, 2015 12:43:51 GMT -6
USD's Tyler Larson named Summit League athlete of the month for December. Congrats to Tyler. I guess that makes "him good enough to talk smack"... Congrats to Tyler, well-deserved, and a real model for fighting through adversity to achieve success! I'm assuming this is in reference to the Denver game. I tried finding out who the color commentator was from the pxp guy but he ignored me when I asked |
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Post by canislatrans on Jan 7, 2015 14:25:35 GMT -6
Yes, ctc2010, I was referring to the commentator from the Denver game. You would think, with at least a small amount of preparation, the commentator could identify the opponents' contributing performers. Now he can just look it up on thesummitleague.org!
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There's a lot of basketball left, and USD, per the usual, has been on the road a lot up to this point. Despite our lousy record, it's hard to find "bad" losses outside of Fairfield (at their place) and maybe Youngstown (must protect the Dome). I think when the season ends and we rank the difficulty of our opponents, Creighton, Stanford, UNLV, Wofford and Sam Houston State will all be toward the top. I prefer our chances against this year's Summit League, which isn't nearly as meaty in its upper tier.
