WKU Basketball: NBC Sports Picks Tops to Finish 6th
Before last weekend came and went, NBC Sports not only gave a bit of an outlook at how Conference USA looks on the hardwood as we enter the…
Before last weekend came and went, NBC Sports not only gave a bit of an outlook at how Conference USA looks on the hardwood as we enter the season, but also took a stab at predicting how the conference will finish.
Here’s the entire predicted finish for the conference:
1 Middle Tennessee
2 Louisiana Tech
3 Old Dominion
4 UAB
5 UTEP
6 Western Kentucky
7 Charlotte
8 Marshall
9 Rice
10 UTSA
11 Southern Miss
12 Florida Atlantic
13 North Texas
14 FIU
From a Toppers’ standpoint, the predicted standings are, at the very worse, an upgrade from where the Tops finished last season (in eighth-place, sandwiched between UAB and UTSA).
And if you’re wondering what exactly NBC Sports had to say about the Tops specifically, well then look no further:
Things looked really good for Western Kentucky when they had five-star center Mitchell Robinson, but he’s gone and the team lost its most talented player. Rick Stansbury still brings in a ton of transfers as Lamonte Bearden (Buffalo), Darius Thompson (Virginia) and Dwight Coleby (Kansas) are all joining the roster.
This, from everything I’ve gathered from brief snippets from others on Twitter and in the early previews that are beginning to come out, is a fair and popular assessment. Yes, obviously losing Mitchell Robinson is going to hurt WKU, but everyone loves the talent the Tops have coming in, but I bet (even though they didn’t state it in their brief overview) Scott Phillips wonders 1.) if the mod podge of players will gel together and 2.) how long that process will take.
Phillips also gave a preseason All-Conference Team which, unfortunately, doesn’t include a Topper. (Although I’ll bet good money MR would have made that list.)
What do you think of Phillips’ overview and predicted final standings? If you could tell him why he’s underestimating (or overestimating) the Tops, what would you say? Let us know in a comment below, via Twitter at @TheTowelRackWKU or on our Facebook page.