Rivals: Breaking Down the Preseason NIT

[districtballer]

Rivals.com College Basketball staff discussed this year's preseason NIT in this week's college roundtable discussion. 4 of their analysts gave their predictions about who would advance from each pod, and all 4 said that VCU either has a very good chance at making noise or picked them outright to advance from the East regional. I think we also have as good a shot at advancing in this tournament as we'll ever have. Wake is prime for the picking and VERY young. The analysts agree.

http://collegebasketball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1116076

I'm not sure what to make of the East. Wake Forest is the weakest Big Six conference team in the field. VCU has a chance to make some noise in that bracket.

-David Fox

The East and West groupings are especially dull. NIT officials want UCLA and Wake Forest to get to New York, but I don't think either of those teams is going to be that good. Still, I'm not sure about their regional opponents, either. I think VCU could win the East, even without big man Larry Sanders, who went pro early.

-Mike Huguenin

I'll take Villanova in the North, Tennessee in the South, Virginia Commonwealth in the East and Nevada in the West. In most seasons, I'd pick Wake Forest to win the East, but the Demon Deacons are entering this tournament at a bad time. Star forward Al-Farouq Aminu is in the NBA now, and the team is adjusting to a different style of play under new coach Jeff Bzdelik. I hardly expect Wake to look crisp this early in the season.

-Jason King

The four glamour teams are Villanova, Tennessee, Wake Forest and UCLA, but the latter two teams in that group probably won't be picked to reach the NCAA tournament by most preseason prognosticators. I'll still pick those four teams to win their respective regions, though it wouldn't surprise me if VCU came out of the East or Nevada advanced from the West.

-Steve Megargee

 

[districtballer]

Another article from Rush The Court:

http://rushthecourt.net/2010/08/17/preseason-nit-weakened-field-but-still-special/

The third and fourth seeds and regional hosts Wake Forest and UCLA are two of the weaker teams we’ve seen in this position in some time. Neither is a likely NCAA Tournament team next season, and it says here that both schools will have trouble getting out of their PNIT region despite the fact that it will be played on their home courts. Wake returns two promising sophomores in CJ Harris and Ari Stewart, but the loss of all-ACC players Al-Farouq Aminu and Ish Smith, not to mention head coach Dino Gaudio (replaced by Jeff Bzdelik), will be too much for the duo to bear so early in the season — expect the Deacs to crumble against a strong VCU team with something to prove.

Here's the bracket:

 

[ViCtorioUs]

expect the Deacs to crumble against a strong VCU team with something to prove.

Don't you know this is already posted in the Wake Forest locker room, not to mention it is probably on all the Demon Deacon fan message boards as well.

 

[vcubballfan1]

Let's win against Winthrop before we even start talking about possibly beating Wake. Have to beat Winthrop first, don't do that then we won't even see Wake.

 

[districtballer]

expect the Deacs to crumble against a strong VCU team with something to prove.

Don't you know this is already posted in the Wake Forest locker room, not to mention it is probably on all the Demon Deacon fan message boards as well.

Well the Rivals article has hit their messageboards with the thread title 'Ouch....No respect for our Bball team':

http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=192&f=1118&t=6247753

Well............good chance to prove them wrong.

safe to say we better get used to these articles, I think this will be a decent team by year's end but with a new coach, a whole bunch of frosh, and losing 2 NBA players - there will not be a lot of faith in this year's team from the media

VCU is going to be tough....

Respect must be earned. This is going to be a tough season because we are filled with youth and untapped potential, a hazardous combination. I think what we are going to see a lack of consistency. One guy might have a great game and then disappear the next. But that is to be expected, especially early, until we find out who we can rely on every game.

But I am excited for the season. It will be fun to watch, yet at the same time frustrating, which always makes the boards interesting.

New coach, young team, no surprise.

Unproven team, new coach. Makes sense.

They seem pretty realistic and understand that there are a lot of unknowns with their squad. We still have to get by a strong Winthrop team as well. We can't overlook them.

 

[ViCtorioUs]

Geez DB, you're better than Google.

 

[BaNgMyPrOgRaM]

Right vcubballfan1!

 

[ram4life]

Best pre-season information we've had in years. Let's hope we can make it happen!

 

[VRam]

Yeah, let's beat Winthrop first.

 

[Mistachill]

Yes, lets focus on Winthrop first.

But if we get past them, lets not forget how much Wake fans totally disrespected us in 2004 prior to the NCAA tournament before we scared the _____ out of them.

 

[vcu_dan]

Geez DB, you're better than Google.

he is like the districtboogler ok I'll admit that was terrible