Predicted order of Finish
The Pretenders
These teams the are the pretenders in the Big XII and this is my attempt to rank where they will finish in the bottom half of the league. One of them might jump up and surpise somebody, but don’t expect them to be making any reservations for the big dance.
- Texas A&M Aggies-Bryan Davis is the reason that I rank the Aggies this high. He brings a solid blue collar work ethic to the table and should really be able to cause problems for opposing front lines this year. Donald Sloan and Josh Carter also draw quite a bit of attention as potential all post season recognition players, but I just don’t see that happening. Josh Carter is a nice complimentary spot up shooter and a pretty solid defender, but a play-maker he is not. Donald Sloan will need to show a monumental improvement from last year to merit recognition. If these things happen, the Aggies could move up a few spots in the standings.
Kansas State Wildcats-Jacob Pullen and Dominique Sutton will have to do quite a bit of work to carry this team to the post season. This team does have a decent amount of athletic ability which will help against some of the less athletic teams in the Big XII North. It doesn’t hurt that the Wildcats have the best coach in the Big XII as well.
Nebraska Cornhuskers-Doc Sadler has done an outstanding job of getting his often undersized teams to overachieve in Big XII play. With the loss of Alecs Maric to graduation, what little size they had is now gone. The Bugeaters are going to have to rely on some excellent guard play by Cookie Miller and Ade Dagunduro and the development of some young talent like Toney McCray.
Texas Tech-I am rating Texas Tech this high because they have a Voskuil on their team and a Knight as thier coach. Those two things alone should allow you to beat Iowa State and Colorado. The sad thing is, that is the only reason I can think of to rank this team this high, because I have not heard of a single player with the exception Corbin Ray. Ray is at least a year away from being a major contributor.
Iowa State Cyclones-Wesley Johnson’s decision to transfer put the nail in the proverbial coffin for the Cyclones this season. Greg McDermott is very good at getting maximum effort out of his kids, but maximum effort from Division II athletes will not get it done in the Big XII. Look for the Cyclones to upset a few teams in Ames this year like they always do, but this team is a few years away from making any noise in this league unless Harrison Barnes stays in Ames in 2010.
Colorado Buffalos-The Buffs lose Richard Roby this year, who happens to be the only reason this team was watchable the last few seasons. That should tell you what I think of Jeff Bzdelick’s team for this season.
Camacho
