Northern Iowa adds a transfer from Baylor
Wasn’t sure where to put this, but has anyone noticed Nagy’s Twitter account was hacked a few weeks ago and still shows up as under some scammer’s name/handle now? Not that he ever posted anyway, but still, pretty bizarre.
Now that the roster dust has pretty well settled, curious what people think this team can realistically achieve in Nagy’s second season.
I think the ingredients are there to compete in the upper half of the league (believe the top five teams get byes now with 11 teams in the MVC), but there are several other teams that look pretty good on paper as well: probably Illinois State topping that list, but Murray, UNI, Bradley and Belmont also should be formidable, and maybe a sleeper team or two beyond that.
For Southern to compete in that upper group, they probably need all or most of these things to come together:
- Stafford to be healthy and in good form as a major scorer
- House to build on his strong freshman year at Jax State and be one of the better PGs in the Valley
- At least one or two of the returning bigs (plus Pikaar) to make a big step up in production and turn that post depth into a strength
- Have one of the best benches in the league. Seems very realistic, ideally with Mayo and Sykes leading the way
Guessing SIU is picked 5th or 6th, but hoping for better.
Now that the roster dust has pretty well settled, curious what people think this team can realistically achieve in Nagy’s second season.
I think the ingredients are there to compete in the upper half of the league (believe the top five teams get byes now with 11 teams in the MVC), but there are several other teams that look pretty good on paper as well: probably Illinois State topping that list, but Murray, UNI, Bradley and Belmont also should be formidable, and maybe a sleeper team or two beyond that.
For Southern to compete in that upper group, they probably need all or most of these things to come together:
- Stafford to be healthy and in good form as a major scorer
- House to build on his strong freshman year at Jax State and be one of the better PGs in the Valley
- At least one or two of the returning bigs (plus Pikaar) to make a big step up in production and turn that post depth into a strength
- Have one of the best benches in the league. Seems very realistic, ideally with Mayo and Sykes leading the way
Guessing SIU is picked 5th or 6th, but hoping for better.
Good assessment, although I also could see Drake being picked among the top five or six based on recent history and a strong coaching hire. I'm not predicting an overall record until the non-conference schedule is official. Unless something changes, looks like we'll have road games against Nevada and High Point, and those will be tough. As much as I'd like to see SIU play in my home state of Florida, I hope they avoid the place this season after losing three games and Elliott to a season-ending injury during the trip to the state last season.
