2017-18 National Rankings

[Play Angry]

The folks on the AAC board have generally been incredibly respectful and welcoming. Why do we need to manufacture disrespect?

[Aargh]

Considering that we're moving to a rock-solid conference and we're favored to win that conference in our first year, I'd say the AAC fans have been unbelievably friendly and welcoming. They have every reason to have some attitude.

There has been some sensitivity when WSU players get national respect they think a player on their team should get, but didn't.

[AZ Shocker]

Why do we need to manufacture disrespect?

Cause CNN tells us too? Lol

[WuDrWu]

Considering our program has 4 wins (against 6 losses) against top 25 teams in the last 4 seasons, count me in the apparently small group of folks that believe a top 10 ranking is ridiculous at this point. To be the best, you have to beat the best.

And yes, you have to have the opportunity first, but still, as good as this program has been, and it's been damned good, 4-6 against ranked teams (and not all are UK and KU) over the last 4 seasons.

Pile on.

[ShockingButTrue]

Cause CNN tells us too? Lol

For real. :o

[WSUwatcher]

Pile on.

Glad to oblige, Doc, although this is almost too easy.

The (very preliminary) rankings guys are handing out for next season aren't based on what WSU has done over the LAST four years, whether against ranked teams or otherwise -- they're based on what the various prognosticators expect WSU to do NEXT season. Looking ahead, and admittedly taking into consideration how good WSU was last year with a bunch of guys not named VanVleet and Baker who weren't supposed to be as strong as they turned out to be (e.g, a top ten overall KenPom rank with EVERY important player coming back, which is not true of most candidates; plus 31-5 overall and 16-1 in their last 17 tries, with the loss being a one-possession game against a very strong opponent in which the Shocks had two chances in the closing seconds to win or tie), they're simply saying that WSU is likely to be one of the ten best teams NEXT season.

That not only wouldn't be at all surprising; what the forecasts are suggesting is that it would be surprising for it not to happen. Seems pretty straightforward and unexceptionable to me. You're overthinking this and trying too hard not to get ahead of yourself. So just sit back and enjoy the ride, as I believe you've been known to say yourself.

[ShanShock]

if you were to link that to the aac board, they would say it must be the work of a shocker fan, why, ranking an mvc team (until july 1) that high. lol

'can't wait to get a hold of them. you know the story "wichita state, well coached team, obviously, but lacking the true athletes because they come from the rollover mvc." .. the dunkathon is now on and coming to a theater near you..

👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🏀🏀🏀

[Steeleshocker]

Considering our program has 4 wins (against 6 losses) against top 25 teams in the last 4 seasons, count me in the apparently small group of folks that believe a top 10 ranking is ridiculous at this point. To be the best, you have to beat the best.

And yes, you have to have the opportunity first, but still, as good as this program has been, and it's been damned good, 4-6 against ranked teams (and not all are UK and KU) over the last 4 seasons.

Pile on.

I'll take a shot. In the last four years, how many of those 10 games came in Koch arena? I'm guessing zero. WAIT, I forgot the UNI grudge match, so one that I can think of.

3-6 in road/neutral games against top 25 competition is very respectable, even for Duke/UNC/MSU/UK.

[WuShock16]

Were UNLV and/or Utah ranked? Those might have been a couple others.

[Dave Stalwart]

Considering our program has 4 wins (against 6 losses) against top 25 teams in the last 4 seasons, count me in the apparently small group of folks that believe a top 10 ranking is ridiculous at this point. To be the best, you have to beat the best.

And yes, you have to have the opportunity first, but still, as good as this program has been, and it's been damned good, 4-6 against ranked teams (and not all are UK and KU) over the last 4 seasons.

Pile on.

HE'S A KU TROLL. BAN HIM!!!!!

[SHOCKvalue]

Were UNLV and/or Utah ranked? Those might have been a couple others.

Utah certainly was, but UNLV was not even close, IIRC.

[forevershockerfan]

This Shocker eternal optimist is also trying to ascertain the lucidity of all these glittering preseason rankings with caution, knowing I have the tendency to think with my heart rather than my pea brain. Was there ever a Season where we had this good of rankings up front? Thus I went back to watch the number 6 seeded Arizona game from 2 Seasons ago. We were only seeded 11th, but Baker and FVV made it crystal clear they were future NBA players in this impressive victory. Our D was tougher than nails against this team. Shaq chopped through their tall timber like an angry Paul Bunyan. Frankamp and MM led our bench rotation which outperformed Arizona's bench easy. Brown, Kelly, Nurger, all contributed and played their roles. Shaq and Brown started this game.

Springing forward, what excitement we have before us. I count 10 returning players that have Danced, so I like our chances to be ranked somewhere in the top 15 all Season long with the hopes we peak come Dance time.

[Cdizzle]

Considering our program has 4 wins (against 6 losses) against top 25 teams in the last 4 seasons, count me in the apparently small group of folks that believe a top 10 ranking is ridiculous at this point. To be the best, you have to beat the best.

And yes, you have to have the opportunity first, but still, as good as this program has been, and it's been damned good, 4-6 against ranked teams (and not all are UK and KU) over the last 4 seasons.

Pile on.

Is there a Top 25 win% that you feel teams should be meeting in order to be a Top 10 team? What about win% H/A/N? If it's higher than 40%, we may have difficulty fielding a Top 10.

[Dan]

Preseason rankings are nice but they are all based on on how we ended last season and what we have coming back versus other teams. We look good on paper but we have to back that up with high level play all season. We won't be able to afford to have many off nights and still come out with the W like we did in the Valley.

[ShockTalk]

Considering our program has 4 wins (against 6 losses) against top 25 teams in the last 4 seasons, count me in the apparently small group of folks that believe a top 10 ranking is ridiculous at this point. To be the best, you have to beat the best.

And yes, you have to have the opportunity first, but still, as good as this program has been, and it's been damned good, 4-6 against ranked teams (and not all are UK and KU) over the last 4 seasons.

Pile on.

I'm with you, Doc. Top 20? Absolutely. Top 15? Probably. Top 10? Maybe. Top 5? No solid reasoning, IMO.

What did this same very team do last year to warrant a Top 5 / 10 ranking? Well, their a very good team that has everyone back and coached by one of the very best. Sorry, not enough.

Forget the last 4 season, lets look at last season. The Valley was horrible. We did go 2-1 against 17-1 / 28-7 Illinois St, but they weren't even good enough to make the Dance. Who else did we beat?
@CSU. Were they rank? How'd they do in the NIT?
OU? Really? By 3 points to a Big 12 bottom feeder last year?
#34 OSU? Oh wait! They kicked our tail at home.
#10 Louisville that dropped to #14 in the final poll? Now there's a good team, but we lost by 10.
#24 Michigan St? Lost again and they finished #33.
Dayton? Ok. We beat a slightly over-seeded team on a neutral court that finished #35, lost their final regular season game to GW, and promptly lost to Davidson in the 1st round of the conference tourney.
#5 UK? Well, I can chalk up a moral victory on playing a great game.
So, just how many of the above games make you think we're sure fire Top 10 material? Not saying we won't be, but this set of games doesn't put us there, IMO.

Are we going to be better? We definitely should be and I believe we will be. However, lets also remember we just lost our top 2 assistants. We are also going into a grind we haven't faced in decades. Not only do we have a good non-con, but that will be followed up by a tough regular conference and conference tourney. There won't be near as many games where we can rest the top 10 players and keep them strong for the finish.