Monday, September 14, 2009

The Athlon Preseason College Basketball Preview Issue - plus other BU topics

Since I have already given my thoughts on the Lindy's Preseason issue, I will offer a few thoughts on the Athlon issue.
Athlon came out first, back in early September, and I have already given a pretty thorough review elsewhere...but the extended details will require you to log on a send me a private message and I will send the expanded review to you...at this site.
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13022

However...let me give an overall summary for fans of any Valley team...
It is not real good.

There are 15 pages dedicated to precise discussion and reporting on the ACC and its teams. There are 17 pages for the Big East and its teams....even 5 full pages on the A-10...but....
The entire Missouri Valley section fits easily on just three pages, thus they say so little except the basics that any fan of the Valley already knows, and the amount of truly important and significant Valley info that's left out - greatly outweighs the stuff included.

The writer of the Valley section is Wichita's Paul Suellentrop, and I don't really blame him as the amount of space he was given likely was determined by the east-coast-centric editors of Athlon.
Paul is very, very good and I read his stuff all the time and I think he's fair...but the guys at Athlon simply do not care whether they please Valley people, they obviously just think we're all yokels and don't have enough money to buy their mag anyway, so they don't even give the Valley a courteous nod.
And the fact that he picks Wichita State 3rd goes along with, I guess, his literary license and editorial privilege.
But how many times are they going to use Bradley's losses in the paint as the reason BU will drop to a sub-.500 squad?
Seriously, Bradley won 10 Valley games last year and the only post player lost is David Collins...who didn't contribute all that much.... in his 17 minutes per game (less than Sam Singh).
Returning are all the key Bradley guards plus their returing top scorer from 2007-2008 Andrew Warren, plus in the paint we have Sam Singh coming back, as well as Will Egolf (who, by the way, started ahead of Collins until he was injured) plus Anthony Thompson with a year more maturity to help out. And BU will even likely get additional help from the freshmen, especially Jordan Prosser...so I think, barring unforseen injuries, BU should be considerably stronger both in the paint and in general than last year.
But....getting picked 6th in the Valley is just fine....it's higher than where these guys picked Drake in 2007-2008 and as high as they picked UNI last year.

My overall recommendation...unless you just gotta have it, for Valley fans it offers next to nothing, although the Valley section was written a whole lot better than the Lindy's issue was.


BTW--- is it any wonder the Creighton fans love the Lindy's issue, as it was written by their own guy and goes a bit overboard being pro-Creighton...
http://creighton.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=2688&tid=125722734&mid=125722734&sid=1209&style=2



A couple more brief Bradley notes...

--the BU Cheerleaders are helping out in the community
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13084

-and BradleyFans.com is giving a brief profile and some praises and encouragement to each of the BU seniors....RP will be up next!
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13074
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13079
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13086



Our friend Joe has a countdown of the MVC's Top 15 players by his account....
too bad he doesn't think any BU players should be in the top 7, but that's OK...keep 'em under the radar. Personnally Andrew Warren belongs on this list, Joe...
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=139769#post139769
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13085



The BU schedule is nearing completion, with a few finalizations deducible from other teams' schedules...
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=140022#post140022



Here's a column on kids and the schools they choose....no specifics or examples but the big point is that so many waste their talent sitting on the bench at bigger schools and might be better off choosing a smaller school, playing a lot, and being a star.
I can give a couple examples...Sean Curry, Hersey Hawkins, Anthony Parker, Kyle Korver...
http://blogs.suntimes.com/hoopsreport/2009/09/choosing_substance_over_glamou.html



A new name for those interested in recruiting...
http://twitter.com/tropicalshox/status/3959141879


Keep up with current BU topics at
http://www.BradleyFans.com
and also follow BU news on twitter....

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