Leatherneck Nation

2016-2017 PRE-SEASON POLL:

Place - Team - Points (1st)

1. Fort Wayne - 491 (18)
2. South Dakota State - 424 (9)
3. North Dakota State - 422 (4)
4. Omaha - 352
5. IUPUI - 331 (1)
6. Oral Roberts - 199
7. South Dakota - 176
8. Denver - 150
9. Western Illinois - 107

Yeh, the team was pick for last place, but Covington was a 1st Team pick.

Impressive. Looks like we have another year of poor basketball at Western Hall. Except for the D3 schools we will demolish.

We haven't even started the season and we have already started with the negativity and bad attitudes. Obviously they were picked last due to their finish from the previous year.

I don't mind getting picked last. It just means we can only exceed expectations. For some reason it always seems like we do better when we're picked lower. Time to get out there and surprise some people.

Not to negative but we don't only have to go up. There is zero guarantee we will go up.

With enough effort we can own the 9 spot. I'm a realist, we will start the season with less than 300 spectators in the stands for D-I Ball.

Kudos to MT and crew for partially rehabbing Western Hall.

If they can come out and play like they did for the first few games last year, they can play with anybody in conference. Some consistent shooting from the point guard position will go a long way towards teams double teaming Covington. Big red being stronger and more consistent will go a long way as well.

IMO we are gonna be a 4-5-6 team in the conference...I really think a couple of the freshman are gonna take alot of playing time away from some of the "veterans"....if we do end up as predicted, than it is gonna be time for a change....

If I remember correctly, when the team were the co-conference champions in 2013 they were also picked last in the preseason.

There are a lot of question marks with this team. How much better have the big men gotten? How will the new transfers adjust to the DI level? What impact will the guards have on this team? Have the young forwards gotten stronger to play inside? This team got killed in the inside game last year because no one could defend the paint and the rim, no one rebounding and too many fouls. Will they adjust the offense to make more plays inside or just be another perimeter shooting team? Will they adjust their defense to defend against the different styles from every team? Did Coach Wright learned from last year that he needs to adjust his game plan on the fly? These are the questions that will need to be answer this year in possibly their toughest schedule in years.

WIU men predicted ninth; Fort Wayne to win Summit.

From the McDonough County Voice:
http://www.mcdonoughvoice.com/sports/20 ... win-summit