Halfway Done: 6-4 against an insane schedule

[SmellyCat]

We're somehow only halfway through the Big Ten schedule now, and the Cats at 6-4 have shown they belong in the top four in the conference. These road wins against good teams are so hard to come by, but they had leads or were tied late against Nebraska, Wisconsin, and now Purdue, and came up short in each. Being 6-4 now is still awesome. No more Purdue, no more Illinois, no more Wisconsin. They still will have to win a lot of tough games, but they're set up nicely for February and beyond. I'm more convinced than ever this is a team that can make it to the second weekend in the NCAAs.

 

[freewillie07]

Amen.

Hope they use this loss as fuel for the back half. Don’t mind much that Collins was ejected — game was over at that point and it signals his passion and that this team won’t stand by and be disrespected by the officials like that.

Terrible way for another great game to end, with the ref missing a blatantly obvious call right in front of him.

 

[Baz=Heisman]

To play devil’s advocate for a minute… we have 10 games left and probably need to “just” go 5-5 but there are few good win opportunities so the pressure to hold serve will be immense. I love these guys though and they’ve show they can handle the heat. We can do this and get a good seed in the tourney while we’re at it!

 

[CappyNU]

To play devil’s advocate for a minute… we have 10 games left and probably need to “just” go 5-5 but there are few good win opportunities so the pressure to hold serve will be immense. I love these guys though and they’ve show they can handle the heat. We can do this and get a good seed in the tourney while we’re at it!

Not against this remaining schedule. Need 7-3 to be safe.

 

[NUAlum2010]

To play devil’s advocate for a minute… we have 10 games left and probably need to “just” go 5-5 but there are few good win opportunities so the pressure to hold serve will be immense. I love these guys though and they’ve show they can handle the heat. We can do this and get a good seed in the tourney while we’re at it!

Going 5-5 against the remaining schedule would give NU little to no chance of making the tournament.

The Cats don’t have the same benefit that they had last year with a solid NET rating and VERY quality road wins. NU has exactly 2 road wins and a current NET rating that will see many rated higher missing the tournament.

7-3 or better from the remaining schedule is the path. 6-4 needs to include a win at MSU. 5-5 is NIT stuff.

 

[freewillie07]

Going 5-5 against the remaining schedule would give NU little to no chance of making the tournament.

The Cats don’t have the same benefit that they had last year with a solid NET rating and VERY quality road wins. NU has exactly 2 road wins and a current NET rating that will see many rated higher missing the tournament.

7-3 or better from the remaining schedule is the path. 6-4 needs to include a win at MSU. 5-5 is NIT stuff.

Doable as long as we stay healthy. Got very anxious with how some of the guys got dinged up tonight.

 

[NJcatsfan]

Disagree that NU “needs” more than 6 additional B1G wins to get in. Five more would be a winning record 11-9 in the league & 20 wins overall. Six more is 12-8 in the league. I think there’s a decent chance we get in at 11-9 (maybe a little borderline) — and almost no chance they’re left out at 12-8. I’d love to get 7 or more, of course. I think this group is capable of winning every remaining regular season game on the schedule. But nothing is a gimme in this conference. They’ll need to battle and play well. I’m very proud of their last 3 outings to finish out the first half of the slate. Would sure love a win at Minny. They’re tough & road games are always hard.

 

[Baz=Heisman]

Look at the next 6 - probably can only lose 1 (vs Nebraska or at IU). Tough but this team has shown tremendous resilience all year. Let’s bounce back and beat the Gophs Saturday!