Power 5 Conference predictions contest

[Tangential]

Win prizes of unspeakable (zero) value. Welcome to the dog days of the NCAAW. The vast majority of the transfer portal's names have decided their new schools and there is even a lull in practices. However, we can have a contest to revive some interest. Predict the order of finish for the Power 5 conferences this coming year. Even though the BE is coming off of a solid year, I made the executive decision to only include Connecticut.

The scoring will be based off conference record only. If you pick a team to finish 3rd and they finish 1st, that is 2 points (if they finish in a 2-way tie for 1st -- 1.5 points). Low score wins and I'll keep the tally. You can choose to guess fewer conferences, but you won't be eligible for the GRAND BY prize. For the Huskies -- it will be based on their AP rank after the conference tourneys and prior to the dance. You can change your selections as many times as you want, but all picks will be locked in the day before the 1st games of the year. I realize that it's very early and people may have no interest in making selections now.

I'll start by making my preliminary B12 picks and UCONN:

1. Texas
2. ISU
3. Baylor
4. OU
5. KSU
6. KU
7. Texas Tech
8. WVU
9. TCU
10. OSU

UCONN: #3

 

[triaddukefan]

Before I make a prediction for the ACC .. Can we change our picks up until the beginning of the regular season?

 

[Tangential]

Before I make a prediction for the ACC .. Can we change our picks up until the beginning of the regular season?

Yes, up until midnight of November 7th. In my opinion, the ACC will be the most difficult to predict. Good luck on your bias-free picks, triadduke.

 

[triaddukefan]

Last night's ACC Draft #1 from off the top of my head

1. State
2. Louisville
3, Duke
4. Notre Dame
5. Virginia Tech
6. Miami
7. Georgia Tech
8. Syracuse
9. North Carolina
10. Wake Forest
11. Virginia
12. Florida State
13. Pittsburgh
14. Boston College
15. Clemson


**** Subject to change

 

[baggerbob]

Last night's ACC Draft #1 from off the top of my head

1. State
2. Louisville
3, Duke
4. Notre Dame
5. Virginia Tech
6. Miami
7. Georgia Tech
8. Syracuse
9. North Carolina
10. Wake Forest
11. Virginia
12. Florida State
13. Pittsburgh
14. Boston College
15. Clemson


**** Subject to change

The surprise team will be Syracuse, Hyman was good Last year even though they had 5 starters and 1 bench player.
Add Fair, and a lot of transfers.
But the Big thing is the new coach.
She will win games by outcoaching others. Her team gave Tennessee a battle with a lot less talent.
She has the right idea for a coach. She calls it CAB. What she looks for in a player, C for Character, A for Academics, and finally B for Basketball.
She calls it a life journey, Fair said the reason she picked Syracuse was to be with her coach. She cares about you today, tomorrow, and in the future.

 

[nwhoopfan]

@triaddukefan 's "bias free" went flying out the window w/ UNC at #9. To quote one of his favorite gifs "Come on man!"

 

[Tangential]

@triaddukefan 's "bias free" went flying out the window w/ UNC at #9. To quote one of his favorite gifs "Come on man!"

I was eagerly anticipating where he would slot the 'heels. The ACC will be so interesting this year -- don't anticipate any 17-1's now that Elissa and the 3 super-seniors (KJ, Perez, & Clutchfield) are gone. For example, it wouldn't surprise me if Duke finished in about 8 different spots and OTOH I'd be surprised if Tennessee finished 1st or 3rd in the SEC.

Looking forward to your PAC picks

 

[TheFarmFan]

For tempting-the-Woofing-Gods-related reasons, I am going to decline to participate, but I like this idea and look forward to others' insights!

 

[Tangential]

For tempting-the-Woofing-Gods-related reasons, I am going to decline to participate, but I like this idea and look forward to others' insights!

Feel free to skip a conference or 2, if you want

 

[triaddukefan]

@triaddukefan 's "bias free" went flying out the window w/ UNC at #9. To quote one of his favorite gifs "Come on man!"

Well........

1) I did say off the top of my head
2) Subject to change.

I may have picked them too low..... might move them up to 7th in the next off the top of my head poll

 

[nwhoopfan]

I may have picked them too low..... might move them up to 7th in the next off the top of my head poll

I know the hate is strong and clouds your vision. Seems to me like UNC brings back more from last year than just about anybody else in the ACC, and they were pretty darn good last season. Ask South Carolina about that. I won't go so far as to call them the favorite, but Top 5, maybe even Top 3.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Looking forward to your PAC picks

Oh boy. I actually looked up rosters last night. Everybody but UCLA is updated. I think most of the teams have more questions than answers at this point. Can I wait til the deadline to answer...and then maybe wait another month or two?

For now:

#1 Stanford
#2-12 the other teams; maybe I'll go out on a limb and pick Arizona St. for the cellar, they only have 6 players listed on their roster

 

[TheFarmFan]

Oh boy. I actually looked up rosters last night. Everybody but UCLA is updated. I think most of the teams have more questions than answers at this point. Can I wait til the deadline to answer...and then maybe wait another month or two?

For now:

#1 Stanford
#2-12 the other teams; maybe I'll go out on a limb and pick Arizona St. for the cellar, they only have 6 players listed on their roster

+1. On so many levels, these days, I think the Pac-12 has more questions than answers...

 

[Tangential]

Oh boy. I actually looked up rosters last night. Everybody but UCLA is updated. I think most of the teams have more questions than answers at this point. Can I wait til the deadline to answer...and then maybe wait another month or two?

For now:

#1 Stanford
#2-12 the other teams; maybe I'll go out on a limb and pick Arizona St. for the cellar, they only have 6 players listed on their roster

The deadline is fine. I'm going to try do 1 conference per week to have my picks before the media/coaches come out to see how I do vs. them. I'll also include some commentary as well.

 

[stwainfan]

SEC will be hard to predict. I will give it a try.
Tennessee
South Carolina
LSU
Vanderbilt
Kentucky
Georgia
Florida
Texas A&M
Arkansas
Alabama
Ole Miss
Mississippi St
Missouri
Auburn

 

[Tangential]

SEC will be hard to predict. I will give it a try.
Tennessee
South Carolina
LSU
Vanderbilt
Kentucky
Georgia
Texas A&M
Arkansas
Alabama
Ole Miss
Mississippi St
Missouri
Auburn

Agreed. Who would have thought last year at this time that Florida (btw, you need to put the Gators somewhere -- good luck) was going to finish tied for 4th and A&M would finish tied for 2nd to last?

In addition, LSU was a pleasant surprise in Kim's inaugural season there and Tennessee was off to a stellar start before Keyen Green and then Horston got injured.

Anyway, I'll have my SEC picks next week and I'm pretty sure that they will be very different for a few teams -- which makes this endeavor fun.

 

[stwainfan]

Agreed. Who would have thought last year at this time that Florida (btw, you need to put the Gators somewhere -- good luck) was going to finish tied for 4th and A&M would finish tied for 2nd to last?

In addition, LSU was a pleasant surprise in Kim's inaugural season there and Tennessee was off to a stellar start before Keyen Green and then Horston got injured.

Anyway, I'll have my SEC picks next week and I'm pretty sure that they will be very different for a few teams -- which makes this endeavor fun.

thanks for reminding me. I did add them in there.

 

[Big12wbbFan]

Win prizes of unspeakable (zero) value. Welcome to the dog days of the NCAAW. The vast majority of the transfer portal's names have decided their new schools and there is even a lull in practices. However, we can have a contest to revive some interest. Predict the order of finish for the Power 5 conferences this coming year. Even though the BE is coming off of a solid year, I made the executive decision to only include Connecticut.

The scoring will be based off conference record only. If you pick a team to finish 3rd and they finish 1st, that is 2 points (if they finish in a 2-way tie for 1st -- 1.5 points). Low score wins and I'll keep the tally. You can choose to guess fewer conferences, but you won't be eligible for the GRAND BY prize. For the Huskies -- it will be based on their AP rank after the conference tourneys and prior to the dance. You can change your selections as many times as you want, but all picks will be locked in the day before the 1st games of the year. I realize that it's very early and people may have no interest in making selections now.

I'll start by making my preliminary B12 picks and UCONN:

1. Texas
2. ISU
3. Baylor
4. OU
5. KSU
6. KU
7. Texas Tech
8. WVU
9. TCU
10. OSU

UCONN: #3

Win prizes of unspeakable (zero) value. Welcome to the dog days of the NCAAW. The vast majority of the transfer portal's names have decided their new schools and there is even a lull in practices. However, we can have a contest to revive some interest. Predict the order of finish for the Power 5 conferences this coming year. Even though the BE is coming off of a solid year, I made the executive decision to only include Connecticut.

The scoring will be based off conference record only. If you pick a team to finish 3rd and they finish 1st, that is 2 points (if they finish in a 2-way tie for 1st -- 1.5 points). Low score wins and I'll keep the tally. You can choose to guess fewer conferences, but you won't be eligible for the GRAND BY prize. For the Huskies -- it will be based on their AP rank after the conference tourneys and prior to the dance. You can change your selections as many times as you want, but all picks will be locked in the day before the 1st games of the year. I realize that it's very early and people may have no interest in making selections now.

I'll start by making my preliminary B12 picks and UCONN:

1. Texas
2. ISU
3. Baylor
4. OU
5. KSU
6. KU
7. Texas Tech
8. WVU
9. TCU
10. OSU

UCONN: #3

I agree that Texas, Baylor and Iowa State will be the top 3 teams in the Big 12. I am just not sure of the order.

Both Texas and Baylor did well in the portal and will have a lot of new players this season. Their success is going to depend on how well these new players fit into Vic and Nicki’s systems and how well they can play together. I believe Iowa State is returning their entire starting line up so that is big plus for them.

The Big 12 is much more competitive than it used to be and it will be a fun season.

 

[TerpWomenFan]

Since the Big 10 hasn't been represented yet, let me give it a shot.

1. Iowa
2. Indiana
3. Ohio State
4. Maryland
5. Nebraska
6. Michigan
7. Northwestern
8. Purdue
9. Michigan State
10. Minnesota
11. Penn State
12. Rutgers
13. Illinois
14 Wisconsin

I'm pretty confident of the top 5 but rest is a crap shoot. I think I may have Minnesota too low.

 

[Tangential]

I agree that Texas, Baylor and Iowa State will be the top 3 teams in the Big 12. I am just not sure of the order.

Both Texas and Baylor did well in the portal and will have a lot of new players this season. Their success is going to depend on how well these new players fit into Vic and Nicki’s systems and how well they can play together. I believe Iowa State is returning their entire starting line up so that is big plus for them.

The Big 12 is much more competitive than it used to be and it will be a fun season.

Completely agree that ISU is a lot more of a known quantity relative to the slew of transfers and incoming freshmen with super high potential that UT & Baylor have. I'll go a bit more in-depth in the coming days, but I think Texas will get more contributions from returning players (IMO, the biggest leap will come from Aaliyah Moore) and is deeper than some on the transfer portal threads seem to believe. Iowa State plays some of the best fundamental and esthetically pleasing basketball, but struggled immensely vs. the physical play of both Texas & Baylor last year. I also like the pieces that Nicki has coming back and have a feeling that Sarah Andrews might have a breakout year.

 

[Tangential]

Since the Big 10 hasn't been represented yet, let me give it a shot.

1. Iowa
2. Indiana
3. Ohio State
4. Maryland
5. Nebraska
6. Michigan
7. Northwestern
8. Purdue
9. Michigan State
10. Minnesota
11. Penn State
12. Rutgers
13. Illinois
14 Wisconsin

I'm pretty confident of the top 5 but rest is a crap shoot. I think I may have Minnesota too low.

Thanks. Obviously, with the crazy amount of influx and exodus of talent, Maryland will probably be the most interesting to observe, but people seem to consistently overlook Nebraska and perhaps this year, Minnesota. Questions as to how Michigan, Mich State, & NW replace their WNBAers (& obviously vital cogs to the teams last year).

 

[cancontent]

Since the Big 10 hasn't been represented yet, let me give it a shot.

1. Iowa
2. Indiana
3. Ohio State
4. Maryland
5. Nebraska
6. Michigan
7. Northwestern
8. Purdue
9. Michigan State
10. Minnesota
11. Penn State
12. Rutgers
13. Illinois
14 Wisconsin

I'm pretty confident of the top 5 but rest is a crap shoot. I think I may have Minnesota too low.

I'd have Michigan State ahead of Purdue. They're getting 2 key players back who were out for all of last season. I think they have more depth in comparison to Purdue based on the transfers coming in and their freshman.

I think your ranking of Minnesota is fair. They're dealing with a lot of turnover with Scalia, Powell and Sissoko transferring out. While they're hanging their hats on their 2022 class, one player is lost for the season and it's unclear how the rest will adjust to the conference. There still are questions as to whether Whalen is really ready to be a coach as well.

 

[eebmg]

SEC will be hard to predict. I will give it a try.
Tennessee
South Carolina
LSU
Vanderbilt
Kentucky
Georgia
Florida
Texas A&M
Arkansas
Alabama
Ole Miss
Mississippi St
Missouri
Auburn

Would love to see Vandy (Shea) as 5th. Your rationale for it?

 

[stwainfan]

Would love to see Vandy (Shea) as 5th. Your rationale for it?

I think they will be better. I think Shea will do a good job there. I think the first three teams are clear. After that it's just a guess.

 

[dws3665]

SEC:
1. South Carolina
2. Tennessee
3. LSU
4a. Arkansas
4b. Florida
4c. Georgia
4d. Kentucky
8a. Ole Miss
8b. Alabama
10. Miss St
11. TAMU
12. Vandy
13. Auburn
14. Mizzou