Div 1 level of play .

M

matt105

Well-known member
So far this season I've had a chance to watch a number of good D 1 teams play against 'weaker " opposition . My takeaway from these games is that
there are a lot of very decent "weaker " teams out there. There have been a few upsets but all in all these teams have been able to stay with the better teams
thru half time and even well into the second half . Many of these teams have developed an offense based on taking 3pt shots and on any given night
when they are hot they are very dangerous .
 
Do not kid yourself, to make any Division 1 or Division II basketball program you have to be a real baller and are probably shooting lights out at your local play ground or high school gym.
 
The margin between lower, mid-major and major have never been closer because the best players at high major no longer stay in school more than a year or bypass school completely.
Ewing declares the minute after Fred Brown throws the ball away in 82.
Walter Berry never steps foot on St. John's.
Ray Allen checks out of Storrs after one year.
And on and on....
 
matt105 said:
So far this season I've had a chance to watch a number of good D 1 teams play against 'weaker " opposition . My takeaway from these games is that
there are a lot of very decent "weaker " teams out there. There have been a few upsets but all in all these teams have been able to stay with the better teams
thru half time and even well into the second half . Many of these teams have developed an offense based on taking 3pt shots and on any given night
when they are hot they are very dangerous .
Click to expand...
Great observation! Also , you see a lot of pump fakes and quick first steps, if you add that to a 3 point shooter you can play with anybody. Central Ct. was so quick and kept hitting 3s in first half last nite. I think they eventually wore down but very competitive !
 
Amaseinyourface said:
Maybe the %s should be adjusted

Click to expand...

That's an interesting statistic but how many of those games have been played so far. It has to be at least 200 so in the aggregate it may not be that surprising. I have seen a number of games this season where the favorite has played great defense and the low/mid major has looked terrible.
 
Amaseinyourface said:
Maybe the %s should be adjusted

Click to expand...

It definitely needs to be. All these analytics, BPI, Kenpom rankings, means nothing. If a team full of D1 players get hot on any given night they can compete and beat a high major. It literally happens almost every single night college basketball games are on now. We see a Cinderella story every year in the tournament. People were complaining how weak the non-conference schedule was last year, and didn't know it would end up being 2 elite 8 teams on that non-conference schedule. All those pre-season polls and early rankings are just talking points for broadcasters to use, every year is different, you don't know how good a team is or is going to be at least late January/early February, and even then you see teams that people thought were bad go on runs in their conference tournaments.
 
Also,

Here's the results from our non-conference schedule last year.

Miss Valley State - 2-26
St. Peter's - 22-12 (NCAA Tournament Elite 8)
Indiana - 21- 14 (NCAA Round of 64)
Fairleigh Dickinson - 4-22
St. Francis - 10-20
NJIT - 11-18
Kansas - 34-6 (NCAA Tournament Champions)
Fordham - 16-16
Monmouth - 21-13
Colgate - 23-12 (NCAA Round of 64)
Pittsburgh - 11-21

So, It contained 4 NCAA tournament teams, 2 Elite 8 teams, 1 National Champion, and 6 teams with a .500 record or better.

The only "cupcakes" were Miss Valley State, St. Francis, NJIT, & Fairleigh Dickinson.
 
MainMan said:
The margin between lower, mid-major and major have never been closer because the best players at high major no longer stay in school more than a year or bypass school completely.
Ewing declares the minute after Fred Brown throws the ball away in 82.
Walter Berry never steps foot on St. John's.
Ray Allen checks out of Storrs after one year.
And on and on....
Click to expand...
This is 100% head hitting nail. You get the kind of cohesion at some of these mid-majors that can build into winners, or at least, the belief. Of course, pure talent probably wins out the majority of the time but if you get these types of believers they can beat any team on their best night. Teamwork and trust are very important at this level, imo.

Plus, you got a bunch of guys who just want to compete, who have been doing it together for a few years and who will never play professionally vs freshmen and sophomores who are auditioning to play pro for the next 5-10 years at least.
 
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