Way too early pre season ranks for next year.

[wazzuwildcat03]

Since there is not much talk on here I thought it would be fun discuss who we think will be the favorite and so forth next year. Instead of predicting 1-12, I'm going to put the teams in categories. We can do a 1-12 around October since by then we should have a better feel for the other teams. Here is how I see it next year.

Contenders for the conference title in no particular order.

Weber State: We return the best big man and we are defending champions. I think our young guys will really improve next year and I can see Gittens and Senglin make a strong case for all conference along with Bolomboy.

NAU: I think they return the best guard line in Upsher, Yanku and Dixon. I think Murphy is top 3 coaches in the conference too.

Sac St: They return a great 1 2 punch with Garrity and Mkinny. I think Mkinny could be MVP. They also have some good other players returning with some size.

EWU: They return the best overall player in my opinion in Harvery and one of the best bigs in Jois. THey have some other solid players coming back too. I thought they would be better this year, but next year they could contend.

Teams that could surprise and contend, but not likely.

Montana: They have a few solid players coming back, but the lose of Jamar is going to be why they don't contend next year. Tinkle is still a very good coach though and they can surprise.

Northern Colorado: The lose some very good players and have some solid but not amazing players coming back. I could see them make a push, but not in the top 4.

Teams with some talent, but wont a crack top half of the conference.

Idaho
Idaho State
Portland State
Montana State

The bottom feeders.

North Dakota
SUU

 

[WSUProf]

I think you are right about Sac St and NAU being at the top next year. Sac St returns everyone: McKinney, Garrity, Demps, Stuteville, Mills, Hornsby (and has a pretty good looking recruit coming in).
NAU does lose Jacobsen, but Dixon, Upshur, Yanku, Bewernick are all returning.
As for Montana, I'm not sure how much of a hole Jamar leaves, but pretty much everyone else is returning.
I don't know if I would put Weber up there with Sac St and NAU right now, based solely on players returning who played significant minutes this year.
I would put Weber in with Montana and EWU in the second tier.

 

[oldrunner]

I'll put Sac in my top 4, only because they do have a lot of talent coming back. However, we have been saying this for years now and they always break our hearts. NAU and EWU will be about what they were this year. I expect us to be contenders for the championship as well.

Top 4... WSU, EWU, Sac, NAU

Mid 4... UM, UNC, ISU, UI

Bot 4... SUU, PSU, MSU, UND

We have a little bit of new coaching blood coming in and a new team in UI. With the scheduling changes, some teams are going to get a break and other teams will feel slighted. It will be interesting to see how long that all lasts.

 

[n.ogdencat]

Sac has never had the proven talent that they currently have. Also, I think Katz is one of the best coaches in the league. He has never had the talent to compete. He is starting to get some and we are starting to see Sac become better. I think Sac along with EWU and NAU are the two best teams in the league. I would put PSU and MSU above Idaho. I'm not impressed with the Vandals.

 

[oldrunner]

Both Sac and EWU have the talent to win the championship. However, they still have to go through Ogden to get it. That is not going to be an easy task for anyone. I think that we are going to be pretty darn good. We should still be favored, even if you don't consider the incoming players. Yes we lost some good seniors, but the guys in line can get that job done. I think that we are a better team next year than we were this year. Not as experienced, but more talented.