Will LaSalle Break Into the Top 25 During the Season?

[MisterD]

Work the mint in 3 ways. Infuse the bourbon a few days in advance, make a mint simple syrup, then garnish with mint. No muddling thus no gross mint pieces in your drink.

[Shout out to my Cousin Bern]

Sept 23, 2013 9:10:46 GMT -5 MisterD said:

I predict games will be played but I don't want to think about anything beyond that!

I would be so bold as to say that there will be outcomes as a result of those games.

[durenduren]

Sept 23, 2013 14:51:57 GMT -5 MisterD said:

Work the mint in 3 ways. Infuse the bourbon a few days in advance, make a mint simple syrup, then garnish with mint. No muddling thus no gross mint pieces in your drink.

All bow your heads in respect for the mint julep mastermind.

[a10champion15]

I am just going to say this...6 more weeks from saturday and we have our first home opener which will be packed.

[Deleted]

Sept 21, 2013 13:45:00 GMT -5 broderickpresident said:

Our schedule will afford few opportunities for true statement wins. We'll have to sweep the non-conference slate and have a very impressive A-10 showing in order to get ranked. I think our non-conference schedule is stronger than it looks. Several dangerous under the radar mid-majors. This means we will not be rewarded by pollsters for wins and will be harshly judged for any losses. On the other hand, as long as those teams take care of business, it should keep us with a respectable RPI.

IMO, it will take a minor miracle for La Salle to crack the Top 25 during the season. I can see La Salle in the "others getting votes" category, but that's probably the best we can hope for unless they win all the games they're supposed to, win the Paradise Jam, and handle both VCU and St Louis. I agree with everything above that Broderick posted. The OOC schedule is a lot tougher than the majority of the college basketball media realizes. I expect Manhattan and Stony Brook to win at least 23-24 games each and be Top 60-70 RPI teams, and Quinnipiac and Wagner to win 20 games each and have RPI's somewhere around the Top 100. If La Salle is fortunate enough to handle all of them and have a top 3-4 finish in the A10, then you would hope that would be good enough to give them a RPI in the high 30's, low 40's which should get them some at-large consideration again.

I also don't buy that La Salle was lucky to get a bid last year. Maybe they were lucky in that the committee didn't let blowhards like Bilas or some of these so-called expert bracketologists influence their decision. La Salle made it on merit, finishing with a 46 RPI after the regular season with a number of quality wins. If anything, they should have been seeded no worse than 12 and probably even deserved an 11 seed. La Salle proved they belonged and I would hope if they have a very good season again this year (which I expect them to do), that the committee will remember that. Like last season, the only poll I care about seeing La Salle in is the season-ending one.

[MisterD]

Yeah, if it happens, it'll have to be at the end like last year or the beginning when the voters are looking to sprinkle 3 mid-majors into the usual mix of BCS teams. 8-1 winning the Paradise Jam would probably do it.

[MisterD]

Sept 24, 2013 10:46:29 GMT -5 @kjmac12 said:

I also don't buy that La Salle was lucky to get a bid last year. Maybe they were lucky in that the committee didn't let blowhards like Bilas or some of these so-called expert bracketologists influence their decision.

Also yes on this one. I'm sure it would go against the code, but some year a team at our level is going to miss because of the whole "who did they beat in the top 50!!!" thing and they're going to sell out every major that ducked them. Has to be coming; you can't keep arguing weak schedules when the blame lies well outside the school's control.

[a10champion15]

Sept 24, 2013 10:46:29 GMT -5 @kjmac12 said:

IMO, it will take a minor miracle for La Salle to crack the Top 25 during the season. I can see La Salle in the "others getting votes" category, but that's probably the best we can hope for unless they win all the games they're supposed to, win the Paradise Jam, and handle both VCU and St Louis. I agree with everything above that Broderick posted. The OOC schedule is a lot tougher than the majority of the college basketball media realizes. I expect Manhattan and Stony Brook to win at least 23-24 games each and be Top 60-70 RPI teams, and Quinnipiac and Wagner to win 20 games each and have RPI's somewhere around the Top 100. If La Salle is fortunate enough to handle all of them and have a top 3-4 finish in the A10, then you would hope that would be good enough to give them a RPI in the high 30's, low 40's which should get them some at-large consideration again.

I also don't buy that La Salle was lucky to get a bid last year. Maybe they were lucky in that the committee didn't let blowhards like Bilas or some of these so-called expert bracketologists influence their decision. La Salle made it on merit, finishing with a 46 RPI after the regular season with a number of quality wins. If anything, they should have been seeded no worse than 12 and probably even deserved an 11 seed. La Salle proved they belonged and I would hope if they have a very good season again this year (which I expect them to do), that the committee will remember that. Like last season, the only poll I care about seeing La Salle in is the season-ending one.

I was going to keep my mouth shut but I couldn't resist.

I think your right KJmac I think will be in that category of "receiving votes" for an extended period of time. I do believe though this year we will have more opportunities for big time wins.

Providence
Maryland
VCU
SLU
UMass
Villanova

All these teams have a chance to be a top 50 team if not higher. I heard solid reports from all these schools and we only play two of these schools away with the exception of the paradise tournament. Obviously it is not guarantee they all materialize or that we play Maryland but I think it was fair to put them on the list. Last year we only had 2 Top 50 wins with Villanova in that 50 to 60 range for quite awhile and one bad loss against CCSU. You also never know with the A10, someone else could emerge such as Dayton, GW, URI and so on. 

Also, I have to disagree about Quinn I think they are going to be very mediocre at best but Manhattan and Wagner could be very solid mid majors that will improve our SOS if they have solid RPI as well as stony brook. If we can put away the terrible teams like Siena or Hartford at home and prevent bad losses or any other bad losses and grab perhaps 3 to 4 top 50 wins, Top 25 may not be unobtainable depending how the other conferences are stacking up.

[lasalle89]

I agree. That is why winning these tournaments is so important. Normally I wouldn't even consider starting a thread like this but I am excited for the start of the season. We sparked some national attention with our run. If we can get into the polls it will be great exposure. 6 weeks... Can't wait.

[mikesmd77]

Just because we were one of the last team in shouldn't temper expectations.. last team in doesn't mean # 65-69.. its more like 35-39... We lose one player, albeit our major player, but we were/are a team oriented basketball squad.. We absolutely should have being ranked expectations this season... of the 34 or so teams who got in before us, many will not return even half of what we do. The bar should be set high this year, and expectations certainly can be met. With that said, an early season loss won't kill us either. Need a couple big road wins and to handle our business in games we're supposed to win and win a couple of the tossups...

[coachd]

I am just glad we are a national program again. I can be anywhere in the country and request that the local bar put the La Salle game on one of their tvs. I am no longer confined to having carry my laptop to watch or listen to the games in a "closed" environment.

Let's celebrate and capitalize on this first! People in other states will no longer be asking "who is La Salle?" but rather state "Philadelphia has a great university".

[big5vet]

Back in the mid 1990s, I would ask myself when was La Salle going to be "good" again and by that I meant win about 18 games a season like a lot of normal programs. Well Dr. "G" was able to accomplish that early on in his tenure with the Steven Smith led team. After one season of relative success followed a serious rebuilding which had its ups and downs until two seasons ago. Of course last season was a historic success for the many reasons discussed on this board. We are relevant again, we were the darlings of the City last Spring. The upcoming season will be a good one for sure. Will we be better than last year? I don't know and it doesn't matter that much anyway. We have regained lost respect that we previously almost took for granted. I believe this year's team will be very good and maybe even excellent. Either way, I'm fine because it won't be like the mid 1990s.

[lasalle89]

I was not able to go to the practice or the reception. For those that did how did we look? G seems to think Jerrell is going to be a beast. If he and Zack are greatly improved I expect us to have a great year.

[vasalos]

First coaches poll came out and we received 7 votes:

fansided.com/2013/10/17/college-basketball-rankings-2013-first-coaches-poll-released/

[durenduren]

That's 3 more votes than Nova and Temple, so there's that. Still don't get Boise State getting more love than us, but to hell with 'em. Heard they don't wear deodorant or something.