Previewing the preview magazines: Lindy’s

Here at Big Apple Buckets we can’t wait for the season to begin. If you don’t believe me just check out my calendar. The two big preview magazines in college basketball are Lindy’s and Athlon. Of course you should also get Basketball Prospectus 2013 at some point, but we’ll discuss that in more depth later. While I recommend you buy all three, here’s some facts to whet your whistle with Lindy’s.

First off, for Wagner fans Bashir Mason gets mentioned in a short front-of-book feature about young coaches using Ken Pomeroy’s tempo-free statistics and how it is changing college basketball. Honestly, I wish this piece was 3,000 words instead of the 300 that it was, but it’s still cool to see Mason getting mentioned amongst coaches like Brad Stevens already. That little piece was almost worth my $8 alone.

Also worth mentioning is that Lindy’s ranked the conferences from 1-34. The MAAC ended up right in the middle at 17, which is impressively high. The NEC was 23rd, which is also high. Last season according to Pomeroy they ranked 20th and 26th respectively, so that’s a three slot jump for both, which would be impressive. Both conferences are on the way up. The other interesting thing that Lindy’s always does is rank the top 25 players at every position. Julian Boyd was ranked as the 17th best power forward in the nation. I’m surprised that Jason Brickman, even after finishing amongst the national leaders in assists, didn’t crack the top 25 point guards.

And now onto the projections. If you saw my tweets you already know I have some issues with these picks, but I’m just going to report the facts for the most part. I do think Lindy’s is a great magazine with some of the best writers in the business and a lot of people I personally respect writing for them. Lindsey Willhite and Craig Haley for instance are two writers I consider mentors in this business. But there is something funny going on with the MAAC and NEC projections.

Atlantic 10: Fordham is picked 15th (not last!) and Chris Gaston – Best Rebounder

America East: Stony Brook is picked 2nd, Tommy Brenton – Player of the Year, Best Rebounder, Best Defender and Best NBA Prospect, and Dave Coley 2nd team

CAA: Hofstra is picked 11th (i.e. last)

Ivy League: Columbia is picked 3rd, Brian Barbour 1st team and Mark Cisco 2nd team

MAAC: Iona is picked 2nd, Manhattan is picked 5th, Momo Jones, George Beamon and Emmy Andujar on 1st team, Beamon – Player of the Year and Best NBA Prospect, Jones – Most Versatile

Alright, quick aside here. How can you possibly pick Manhattan fifth? I mean this is inexplicable. What’s absolutely hilarious is that Beamon was named Player of the Year. If he has that type of season – and is fully healthy all season – then Manhattan could run away with the MAAC. The Jaspers had the second best offense and the second best defense in the conference last season and return 80% of their possession minutes. There’s no way this team will finish fifth. If I were a betting man I’d tried to figure out some way to get to Vegas and bet against it. Is there anyone out there that agrees with this projection? If so please leave a comment and let me know why.

NEC: LIU Brooklyn is picked 1st, Wagner 2nd, St. Francis (NY) 6th, Julian Boyd and Jamal Olasewere 1st team, Latif Rivers and Jason Brickman 2nd team, Boyd – Most Versatile and Best NBA Prospect, Kenny Ortiz – Best Defender

Before the LIU situation happened (when this was written) this seemed like a perfectly reasonable ordering of the teams, I still can’t figure out how to account for it in my NEC preview. What made me laugh out loud though was seeing Shane Gibson on the All-NEC 2nd Team. Gibson was in the discussion for NEC Player of the Year last season. He is the only reason that Sacred Heart even made the playoffs last season. He is definitely one of the most underrated players in college basketball and is by far the best shooter in the NEC. How can he not be on the first team? It is just ridiculous. On Twitter I joked that maybe he missed the first third of the conference season. That’s the only way it’d happen.

Have you picked up Lindy’s yet? Is there anything you like? Don’t like? Let us know in the comments.