Charlie Creme's Way Too Early "Pre-preseason" Top 25?

[Nuyoika]

Doesn't that normally come out this week? Just to jog your memory here are the last 3..

2013-2014: Creme: Early look at 2013-14
2014-2015: Creme: Pre-preseason Top 25
2015-2016: Way-too-early Top 25 for 2015-16

*** Funniest part of the 3 is that in everyone Tennessee is predicted to be the #3 team in the country and the prediction also references their FF drought every year.

 

[UcMiami]

Does seem to have a fixation on TN in the top four doesn't he - I think it is like a doctor in the old days always predicting a boy, sure that eventually he will get it right! Sooner or later TN HAS to get back on track, doesn't it?!! And he will have been the first to call it!

 

[Nuyoika]

Does seem to have a fixation on TN in the top four doesn't he - I think it is like a doctor in the old days always predicting a boy, sure that eventually he will get it right! Sooner or later TN HAS to get back on track, doesn't it?!! And he will have been the first to call it!

It certainly seems to be the strategy. I also noted Duke was pre-preseason #2 2013-2014 but who was really buying that?

 

[Jim R]

It certainly seems to be the strategy. I also noted Duke was pre-preseason #2 2013-2014 but who was really buying that?

"It certainly seems to be the strategy." Unfortunately, not just his.

 

[Orangutan]

It certainly seems to be the strategy. I also noted Duke was pre-preseason #2 2013-2014 but who was really buying that?

My recollection is that that was the conventional "wisdom" at the time. They were returning everyone from an Elite 8 (I think) team that had been without Chelsea Gray in the postseason. So with Gray plus the maturation of Alexis Jones it was reasonable to see them #2. Then Gray and Jones went down for the season and the whole thing went up in smoke. Even still, they led ND in the 2nd half of the ACC tourney final before Loyd went on a personal 8-0 run and seized the momentum.

 

[EricLA]

Tennessee should be in the 12-15 range. They lost some good players (one to graduation - Graves, one to injuries - Jones) and both were starters. But Creme seems to be obsessed with high school rankings as that's the only way he can come to that conclusion...

 

[Nuyoika]

My recollection is that that was the conventional "wisdom" at the time. They were returning everyone from an Elite 8 (I think) team that had been without Chelsea Gray in the postseason. So with Gray plus the maturation of Alexis Jones it was reasonable to see them #2. Then Gray and Jones went down for the season and the whole thing went up in smoke. Even still, they led ND in the 2nd half of the ACC tourney final before Loyd went on a personal 8-0 run and seized the momentum.

The problem for me with Duke is that I don't ever recall them being competitive with UConn... like ever ever. I remember a couple years ago KML hit like 7 3s or something against them and it was somewhere around the 3rd 3 pointer where I was seriously questioning if they have even practiced guarding her at all.

 

[Jim R]

Tennessee should be in the 12-15 range. They lost some good players (one to graduation - Graves, one to injuries - Jones) and both were starters. But Creme seems to be obsessed with high school rankings as that's the only way he can come to that conclusion...

My complaint with him, has always been his evaluation based upon their "potential". Unfortunately, in the Vols case, it often goes untapped.

 

[UcMiami]

The problem for me with Duke is that I don't ever recall them being competitive with UConn... like ever ever. I remember a couple years ago KML hit like 7 3s or something against them and it was somewhere around the 3rd 3 pointer where I was seriously questioning if they have even practiced guarding her at all.

You have to go back to the GG days around 2004 when they were competitive with everyone and flirted with #1 rankings. Been down hill for quite a while.

 

[Orangutan]

The problem for me with Duke is that I don't ever recall them being competitive with UConn... like ever ever. I remember a couple years ago KML hit like 7 3s or something against them and it was somewhere around the 3rd 3 pointer where I was seriously questioning if they have even practiced guarding her at all.

Well, I didn't watch any UConn-Duke games at that time. But JPM stubbornly clinging to an ineffectual zone while getting torched from 3 sounds about right.

 

[Plebe]

The problem for me with Duke is that I don't ever recall them being competitive with UConn... like ever ever. I remember a couple years ago KML hit like 7 3s or something against them and it was somewhere around the 3rd 3 pointer where I was seriously questioning if they have even practiced guarding her at all.

We can't quite say "ever". Ten years ago Duke (still under Goestenkors) beat UConn in the Elite 8. That was the year Duke should've won but blew a lead against Maryland in the final.

 

[Nuyoika]

We can't quite say "ever". Ten years ago Duke (still under Goestenkors) beat UConn in the Elite 8. That was the year Duke should've won but blew a lead against Maryland in the final.

I plead the 5th.... I was still in high school 10 years ago. My memory from those years are a bit hazy.

 

[vtcwbuff]

I don't have a problem with Creme's picks. He was 3 for 3 for the only team that counted.

 

[Kaizen]

There is only one thing he is right in the last 3 pre-season ranks:
UConn is the #1 rank.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

ESPN has had it's apogee and the descent is troubling them... hence the union with the SEC, destroying their appearance of objectivity, but promising them a huge fan base to pander to.... Lets repeat the lesson ... to pander too. It will infect their entire college sports coverage and just not be kind to them in the end.

 

[HardHatGuy#2]

The problem for me with Duke is that I don't ever recall them being competitive with UConn... like ever ever.

You missed all of the fun when Gail get-a-title-and-THEN-we'll-talk Goestenkors was coaching the Waitresses. Then she left for $$$ and completely @$$ed up Texas; it took them a while to erase that history. That was during the period that Geno was learning how to coach again after 3 years of learning to manage DT.

 

[Gus Mahler]

Well, I didn't watch any UConn-Duke games at that time. But JPM stubbornly clinging to an ineffectual zone while getting torched from 3 sounds about right.

Wasn't that the game Dave O'Brien said something like "You might want to think about guarding her"? [KML]

 

[SCGamecock]

Look at the 2013-2014 preseason list... NO South Carolina, that goes to remind some of you how new to the scene we are!

Hope we hang around for a while!

 

[easttexastrash]

We can't quite say "ever". Ten years ago Duke (still under Goestenkors) beat UConn in the Elite 8. That was the year Duke should've won but blew a lead against Maryland in the final.

Abby Waner still blames GG for that loss because they chose not to foul and allowed a three pointer to tie the game at the end of regulation, if my memory serves me correctly.

 

[easttexastrash]

You missed all of the fun when Gail get-a-title-and-THEN-we'll-talk Goestenkors was coaching the Waitresses. Then she left for $$$ and completely @$$ed up Texas; it took them a while to erase that history. That was during the period that Geno was learning how to coach again after 3 years of learning to manage DT.

GG was a disaster at Texas. I really don't think her heart was in it, and it showed.

 

[Plebe]

Abby Waner still blames GG for that loss because they chose not to foul and allowed a three pointer to tie the game at the end of regulation, if my memory serves me correctly.

I hadn't heard Waner's take on it, but that's the obvious criticism. It's a hotly debated topic whether to foul in that situation, with smart minds falling on both sides.

My big problem with that final defensive stand is that Bales took a step back when Tolliver jab-stepped, allowing just that sliver of daylight that she needed to get the shot off over a MUCH taller defender. If you're gonna choose not to foul ahead 3, then you sure as hell better know not to back up inside the arc.

 

[HopJim]

There is only one thing he is right in the last 3 pre-season ranks:
UConn is the #1 rank.

Any writer who takes this much time to review women's basketball is my friend. Gives us more to discuss.

 

[Nuyoika]

Look at the 2013-2014 preseason list... NO South Carolina, that goes to remind some of you how new to the scene we are!

Hope we hang around for a while!

That was the year they got a number one seed and everyone was like, "Who the hell is South Carolina?"

 

[UcMiami]

GG was a disaster at Texas. I really don't think her heart was in it, and it showed.

I always just thought it was a monumental culture clash - anyone coaching at a TX school has to be able to recruit local talent which means establishing relationships with the HS and AAU coaches. GG was a disaster in that area as well as I gather in her local 'political' relations with boosters and the movers and shakes in UT circles and the ordinary fanbase.

 

[TerpWomenFan]

Doesn't that normally come out this week? Just to jog your memory here are the last 3..

My guess is he is waiting for Ionescu decision. That decision will affect the rankings quite a bit.