Looking forward to 2014-2015 basketball. Top 5 teams in the league ?

No idea if we will be top 5 or not but as shitty as this conference is you gotta think we have a decent shot

Forgot to throw Vandy in there. They could very well be in the upper half of the league this year as well.

IMO there's to many unknowns for me to put us in the top 5 as of now. But I like the direction, especially compared to where we thought we were going to be this season with CCM

Not quite sure what the drop off with Mizz will be with Parker and Brown moving on or what to expect from UGA and USC. For whatever reason those 2 teams never worry me in basketball though

I would not have Mizzou in contention. Anything is possible but we are returning about 35 points per game, and that includes the transfers coming in. I understand some will up their game, but EVERYONE would have to average doubling their offensive output to get to 70 points.

I don't know if I'd put Arky as a lock in the top 3. I like Arky, but I just don't know that they're that much more dominant over the other teams. I think it's a complete toss up after UK and UF.

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Understandable, I'm not sold they'll be top 3 but I do believe they'll be a top 5 team in conference play. If not you've got to imagine Andersons seat get's warm this year. Anything less than a tournament birth has to be a let down.

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I see what you're saying and I wouldn't argue with that. Of the remaining teams, they may very well be the most likely to finish top 5.

As for Mizzou:

PG
Clark: Plenty of PT as a freshman. Showed decent but not much offensive production.
Shamburger: Graduate transfer from Hawaii that Anderson landed. Others are higher on him than I am. Should be serviceable as a PG.

SG
Bello: Transfer from Baylor eligible this year. Highly touted out of high school(top 75). Not much to show while at Baylor. Supposedly defense is his strength.
Biedscheid: Transfer from ND, originally from St. Louis. Highly touted out of high school (top 50) but was average, at best at ND. Is not eligible until the second half.
Wright: Top 75(or 100, can't remember) recruit.

SF
Gant: The best of the incoming recruits. Didn't make the final cut but was nominated as a McDonald's All American.
Allen: Incoming freshman. Late addition to the class.

PF
Williams III: Plenty of minutes as a freshman. Long and athletic. Good nose for the ball on the boards but not physical and not a scorer.

C
Rosburg: Insert sterotypical descriptions of white players here. Not real athletic. Not a scorer. Game's too fast for him. But a scrapper on defense and boards. Ok if coming off the bench, getting a few boards and picking up his 5 fouls making life miserable underneath.
Post: Worthless last year coming from JUCO. No offense. No defense. Not physical on boards. Too slow.
Jones: Not much PT as a freshman, but when he did play, he brought more energy than anyone, Brown and Clarkson included. Probably the most upside of the bigs, but very raw.

2 scholarships available. They've put a push on for 4* PG Sheldon Mitchell(Wake Forest decommit) and it appears it is down to Vandy or Mizzou. The other scholarship was slated for graduate transfer Kreklow from Cal, who started at Mizzou, transferred to Cal and who has now chosen Creighton over Mizzou despite the fact that his parents coach the Mizzou volleyball team. I imagine the last scholarship will either be used on a transfer (preferably graduate transfer) or will be pocketed.

By all accounts, Anderson runs a triangle offense much like he learned under Norm Stewart. Defensively, it sounds like he'll extend the defense with more perimeter pressure. Stewart used to live and die with man to man. I'm gonna guess Anderson won't be strictly man to man but will use it more than we've seen in the past. Regardless, we'll see more perimeter pressure than we ever saw under Haith. Here's a fairly good post that talks a bit more about it. I think I'll enjoy the style of ball a lot more and Anderson is what Mizzou needed, I just don't think we have the talent/scoring to compete for much this year.

LINK

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I agree with you in part, but in a sense he reminds me of Dale Brown. He's a great coach when he doesn't have a lot of talent, but he underperforms when he has good players (come tournament time anyway).

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I hadn't realized it had been since 06-07 since you guys had made the sweet 16. Congrats on the Mitchell pick up by the way. You guys have really positioned yourself nicely with the 14 and 15 classes.

What if any, are concerns for the upcoming year?