preseason prognostications?

[2011WinOverVillanova]

(Didn't really know where to post this so I decided to craft a thread. If one of the admins like Mr. Met or Mr. Orioles wants to move this around into another thread that's fine)

"Lindy's College Basketball 24-25 Magazine
Atlantic 10 Conference Picks

1. vcu
2. Dayton
3. Saint Joes
4. SLU
5. Loyola
6. UMass
7. George Mason
8. Duquesne
9. Spiders
10. URI
11. Bonnies
12. Davidson
13. GW
14. Fordham
15. LaSalle"

George Mason - "Good News: Guard Darius Maddox is one of the best Atlantic 10 returnees and should be in the all league conversation. Bad News: Three of Mason's four scorers are gone including star forward Keyshawn Hall (transfered to UCF). Our call: If the portal additions are as good as advertised they might finish even higher in the A10"

 

[phoenix-arizona]

If the middle seven is the consistent bottom for GMU in the preseason prognostications that's something positive. That seems better than in the last few seasons and their pre-season consensus.

 

[GMUgemini]

I can’t believe they’re falling for St. Joes again. I mean maybe Lange finally puts it together. But their defense is still going to be suspect.

Also surprised UMass is top six after losing Cohen and Cross.

 

[gmujim92]

LOL at the “experts” just looking at the numbers and thinking Hall is a big loss — more like addition by subtraction, and Anderson is a much better fit for how Tony wants to play.

It’s all gonna come down to KD. If he is good this team will be better than these preseason predictions and not by a small margin.

 

[Falco]

It’s all gonna come down to KD. If he is good this team will be better than these preseason predictions and not by a small margin.

I have no reason not to trust Skinn. But I’m still very surprised the staff didn’t bring in a true PG.

 

[GMUgemini]

I have no reason not to trust Skinn. But I’m still very surprised the staff didn’t bring in a true PG.

Aren’t Quigley and Begg true point guards?

They are a bit more of an unknown since Begg is a true freshman and Quigley is only a sophomore and is tranferring up. The hope would be that if KD has to play more off ball because he just can’t run the point that between those two we’d still have a functioning system, but maybe our ceiling isn’t as high.

 

[PDGL Hoops]

I predict more mediocrity and 1 win in the A-10 tourney before wrapping up the season.

 

[EXpatriot13]

I predict more mediocrity and 1 win in the A-10 tourney before wrapping up the season.

Hard to fault anyone for having this opinion, but man this would be such a disaster.

If not now with this coach, this roster...then when? I have higher expectations and confidence going into this season than I've probably had in a decade, we have to take that leap and get out of purgatory.

 

[gmujim92]

I have no reason not to trust Skinn. But I’m still very surprised the staff didn’t bring in a true PG.

Quigley is a PG and he comes from a solid Iona program with an excellent coach in Tobin Anderson. But as noted, he is only a sophomore — can’t blame Tony for taking the opportunity to bring in a 4-year SEC player, this is a win-now roster and going into the season with only 2 young guys at PG would’ve been a head-scratcher.

Also, I think people might be misunderstanding why KD’s performance is so important to the team’s success. Tony’s system doesn’t require a ball-dominant PG, what he needs is for KD to not take bad shots, keep the ball moving, be smart with his opportunities to score and be an absolute demon defensively.

If KD is content to do those things, we’re gonna be dangerous. If he dominates the ball, bogs down the offense and insists on taking a lot of 3s, he’ll be a net negative and the team results likely will reflect that.

 

[GMUgemini]

Being able to have two lockdown defenders in the backcourt will go a long way to winning a lot of games, so long as our point guard doesn’t make a bunch of boneheaded decisions with the ball in other words.

If he can get back to shooting like he did at Oregon we have legit top 3 threat.

 

[mkaufman1]

I have no reason not to trust Skinn. But I’m still very surprised the staff didn’t bring in a true PG.

Aren’t Quigley and Begg true point guards?

They are a bit more of an unknown since Begg is a true freshman and Quigley is only a sophomore and is tranferring up. The hope would be that if KD has to play more off ball because he just can’t run the point that between those two we’d still have a functioning system, but maybe our ceiling isn’t as high.

KD played PG in high school and while he hasn't played it at a collegiate level, he still should be able to transition. Bringing him as an experience guard and whether he plays PG the entire year or he gives Quigley time to settle to A10 basketball will be interesting to see. Quigley may end up being the Pg and handling the duties most of the time by the end of the season, but having KD allows him to settle in nicely. I think we're really going to like JQ, but having him have some time to settle will be important. Much like he took off in the last 2 months at Iona, I expect him to really showcase his abilities by conference play.

Anything Begg offers at point will be extra at this point. If the kid can play (or is as talented as a guy like Baraka was as a frosh), then we wont really need to worry about KD playing much point guard at all.

Either way, the position is handled with depth and experience and like @gmujim92 said, as long as whoever is playing executes what we need from the position, we're going to be absolutely fine. There is no reason to not have high expectations this year.

 

[Falco]

Aren’t Quigley and Begg true point guards?

They are a bit more of an unknown since Begg is a true freshman and Quigley is only a sophomore and is tranferring up. The hope would be that if KD has to play more off ball because he just can’t run the point that between those two we’d still have a functioning system, but maybe our ceiling isn’t as high.

I’m a bit of a size snob, both on the smaller side.

But again, I have no reason not to trust Skinn.

 

[gmutom]

Anything Begg offers at point will be extra at this point.

Good point.