I don't need to read Blue Ribbon, ESPN or anything else to know that the B1G provides top competition from Top to Bottom. The leagues best player (Dawson Garcia) might be on one of the rosters that lost the most via the portal (Minnesota).
When you have a player that is well known leave via the portal, that program is immediately going to be downgraded as we leave the spring. That is what happened to RU with Cliff leaving for Alabama......it can be said that the same thing happened to Seton Hall, with Kadary Richmond leaving for St Johns.
The sports media is for the most part lazy and have short attention spans. St John's getting Richmond immediately props them up, because he is a known quantity. The media never takes into account any sort of adjustment period, new system, new coaches, new style of play....
The portal is how schools are judged, which is why Blue Ribbon mentions Derkack and ignores everything else that was done.....Derkack was a popular name in the portal and averaged 17PPG.....because his name was associated with other Power 5 programs in recruiting, his name will be mentioned before Acuff, who essentially had a much less publicized recruiting cycle. Acuff averaged more PPG in a tougher league (MAC) than Derkack (Northeast).
Once you add in 3 new schools with known coaches like Mick Cronin (UCLA) Musselman (USC) and Dana Altman (Oregon), those coaches are held in higher regard than Pike. Whether that's fair or not, it is the reality of their resumes. Mix in Purdue, Indiana Ohio State, Dusty May fresh off a Final Four at FIU and now at Michigan and someone has to be picked 14th through 18th.
This is a publicity based sport......and when in doubt, pick the school with the more known fanbase or the coaches that just have been to a NCAA Sweet 16 recently. There's never going to be a time where RU, Penn State, Nebraska, Minnesota or Washington are going to be picked higher than a UCLA, Indiana, Ohio State or Michigan in a preseason ranking unless it is 1000% clearly obvious that the Blue blood program has literally no players.
If a Blue blood recruits name brand players, they're going to be picked higher, plain and simple. The good news is the RAC is still here and the program has rebuilt its bench, rebounding and defense should be fine.
I maintain what I posted a couple of weeks ago, there should be 5 to 6 teams tied at 10-10 in the conference and it's a league that should get 10 to 11 NCAA bids.
When you have a player that is well known leave via the portal, that program is immediately going to be downgraded as we leave the spring. That is what happened to RU with Cliff leaving for Alabama......it can be said that the same thing happened to Seton Hall, with Kadary Richmond leaving for St Johns.
The sports media is for the most part lazy and have short attention spans. St John's getting Richmond immediately props them up, because he is a known quantity. The media never takes into account any sort of adjustment period, new system, new coaches, new style of play....
The portal is how schools are judged, which is why Blue Ribbon mentions Derkack and ignores everything else that was done.....Derkack was a popular name in the portal and averaged 17PPG.....because his name was associated with other Power 5 programs in recruiting, his name will be mentioned before Acuff, who essentially had a much less publicized recruiting cycle. Acuff averaged more PPG in a tougher league (MAC) than Derkack (Northeast).
Once you add in 3 new schools with known coaches like Mick Cronin (UCLA) Musselman (USC) and Dana Altman (Oregon), those coaches are held in higher regard than Pike. Whether that's fair or not, it is the reality of their resumes. Mix in Purdue, Indiana Ohio State, Dusty May fresh off a Final Four at FIU and now at Michigan and someone has to be picked 14th through 18th.
This is a publicity based sport......and when in doubt, pick the school with the more known fanbase or the coaches that just have been to a NCAA Sweet 16 recently. There's never going to be a time where RU, Penn State, Nebraska, Minnesota or Washington are going to be picked higher than a UCLA, Indiana, Ohio State or Michigan in a preseason ranking unless it is 1000% clearly obvious that the Blue blood program has literally no players.
If a Blue blood recruits name brand players, they're going to be picked higher, plain and simple. The good news is the RAC is still here and the program has rebuilt its bench, rebounding and defense should be fine.
I maintain what I posted a couple of weeks ago, there should be 5 to 6 teams tied at 10-10 in the conference and it's a league that should get 10 to 11 NCAA bids.
