Remember that time we made the tourney?
- Thread starter Fitz51
- Start date
Yup, I remember it well. We were MUCH stronger by season's end than the team that barely got by one of the worst teams in the country, Chicago State. Believe that will be the case this year as well, and we will make the Dance again, barring injuries.
Right about where we were last season at this time, I believe. We were higher after we beat Texas, but then Texas kept losing....
Love your optimism, but I am not buying into this years team. Last year when we lost we were almost always in the game. This year we look lost on D and we can’t consistently get good play from the big 3. To me, our best pro prospect is Pardon.
We can stil salvage the season, but will need to be top 4 in conference to dance. IMO, there are at least 4 teams much better than us now and all of the other teams have a legitimate shot against us in the rest of our games. We are playing like a 500 B1G team if that. I turned on the I Love Lucy Christmas special at halftime, Eeeeee ghad.
There is no prediction service right now that has as few as 4 BIG teams going to the Dance.
I think we need 14 more (11+3 BTT or 12+2) wins to make it to March. 15 (12 more + 3, which would be 13-15 and playing to Sunday) would be 100% safe.
Just as a matter of fact, we have a very flimsy resume right now and thus a slim margin for error. We're going to have to earn our way into the bracket by winning lots of games from here on out. Games at Minnesota, Maryland, Iowa and Wisconsin represent the best chances for what could be deemed quality road wins. Losing the way we did to Purdue stings, as does not finishing Creighton or GT. Normally I'd say it's a good thing we don't go to East Lansing, but that would have been another chance at a prime road win. Regardless, they're going to have to play nearly perfect ball at home and very good ball on the road from here on out.
We're still in a position that we can win our way in, and I guess that's something. But they're gonna have to really pull it together. Hopefully Law comes back for conference play and we don't put any more stinkers up.
Just as a matter of fact, we have a very flimsy resume right now and thus a slim margin for error. We're going to have to earn our way into the bracket by winning lots of games from here on out. Games at Minnesota, Maryland, Iowa and Wisconsin represent the best chances for what could be deemed quality road wins. Losing the way we did to Purdue stings, as does not finishing Creighton or GT. Normally I'd say it's a good thing we don't go to East Lansing, but that would have been another chance at a prime road win. Regardless, they're going to have to play nearly perfect ball at home and very good ball on the road from here on out.
We're still in a position that we can win our way in, and I guess that's something. But they're gonna have to really pull it together. Hopefully Law comes back for conference play and we don't put any more stinkers up.
You may be right but shouldn't this team be better than last year - certainly was on paper?
We were kenpom 43 on December 22 last year. We had wins against Texas, Wake Forest and Dayton. And our only 2 losses were final-minute close losses to Butler and Norte Dame.
Stop trying to kid yourself that we are in the same position as we were last season.
Correct. Does not look like a tournament team right now. Not sure how they get to that point, but the B1G schedule provides the opportunities. Still, I have a hard time seeing it. I think BMac would need to find a whole new level and the entire team would have to start playing like there's nothing to lose. Right now, it is the exact opposite, kind of like late last season before they broke through against Michigan.
Yup. And I believe that we can end up being better than last year''s team. Our noncon was significantly tougher this year, and we have not consistently had our starting 5 even out there, first with the Falzon injury and now with Law.
Last edited:
I think it is a little like football this year. We had really high hopes and expectations and now a slow start. Expectations are a tough task master.The team has a good shot to come together.
Nice thing is in BB if you figure things out at the end of the season you can still win the B1G championship and the Big dance.
One big difference in this team is that the number one and two guys off the bench were Seniors.
I think it is kind of like the Cubs - got a huge monkey off their backs last year and it is taking some time to get refocused, like you said though there is still time to get back on track
Excellent posts. Will they get back on track? No one knows for certain. But to write us off for this season, as some posters have done, is just silly. imo.
There were two Seniors on the 2016-17 team: Lumpkin, who was a starter all season, and Tap. So the #2 guy off the bench was most certainly not a Senior.
And that is right about where we are now. The difference between Kenpom 54 and 43 is not much. So no I will not stop trying to "kid myself"
Texas was terrible last year, and we simply did not play anyone the caliber of WF or Dayton this time around (we only played teams that were better, or worse).
Like I've repeatedly stated, all of our goals are ahead of us. Teams like Wisky and Iowa are not writing off their seasons, and neither should we...
I like this thread, and the comparisons to football and expectations. I also thought that on paper this was going to be a better team than last year but it’s a very different team. The way the team started out on defense this year (aside from Sanjay) is a bit of a mystery but I suspect it had to do with attitude - a let down on effort. And just a little less effort is enough to lose to ANY team. I liked CCC’s “we’re not that team anymore, we’re not going back there, now we expect to win these games” - that was an important attitude change the team made during last season that helped us win the close games that we used to lose.
This year’s start is disappointing. How we get there from here is exactly what CCC needs to figure out. If they figure it out (and I believe they can), we’ll be in for a very exciting season the rest of the way.
This year’s start is disappointing. How we get there from here is exactly what CCC needs to figure out. If they figure it out (and I believe they can), we’ll be in for a very exciting season the rest of the way.
See my response to backdoorpass, above. Also, if we win at least 12 in the BIG, and our schedule would dictate that we certainly can, our OOC will not matter much, since every BIG team is top 100 KenPom.
Similar threads
