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This win will get us back in top 25! Possibly!

Wisky will drop, but not below Northwestern so that in itself will not create any room for Northwestern. I suppose someone could do the math as to what happened to the teams ranked 20 and below to see whether there is any chance of our leap frogging into the ranks of the nationally ranked.
 
No point in speculating where NU could be ranked at this point or at any point before the lights are turned out on the 2016-2017 season. Our guys dropped a game they probably shoulda/coulda won had they not turned the ball over more times than they got assists at home versus the Illinoyances. To follow that up, they won a game at UW in which nobody outside our little band of die hards gave them an outsider's chance. One game at time they stepped back and then catapulted themselves forward.

What matters to me WAY more than where the Cats are positioned in the Mid-February rankings by self-appointed experts are these 5 things:
1. Will Scottie come back at or near full strength and then perform at a level at which he’s already shown he can?
2. Can they hold on to a spot in the Top Four in the Big Ten, which earns them a double bye in the conference tournament?
3. Can they win their first game in the conference tournament? Then, can they follow that up with another and possibly another.
4. Ditto in the NCAA tournament matches they draw?
5. Finally, and only then, where do they rank after the Big Dance is played out?
 
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No point in speculating where NU could be ranked at this point or at any point before the lights are turned out on the 2016-2017 season. Our guys dropped a game they probably shoulda/coulda won had they not turned the ball over more times than they got assists at home versus the Illinoyances. To follow that up, they won a game at UW in which nobody outside our little band of die hards gave them an outsider's chance. One game at time they stepped back and then catapulted themselves forward.

What matters to me WAY more than where the Cats are positioned in the Mid-February rankings by self-appointed experts are these 5 things:
1. Will Scottie come back at or near full strength and then perform at a level at which he’s already shown he can?
2. Can they hold on to a spot in the Top Four in the Big Ten, which earns them a double bye in the conference tournament?
3. Can they win their first game in the conference tournament? Then, can they follow that up with another and possibly another.
4. Ditto in the NCAA tournament matches they draw?
5. Finally, and only then, where do they rank after the Big Dance is played out?

Agreed those priorities are paramount. However, this can be a "have your cake and eat it too" scenario. To the extent getting ranked in February is more than an academic exercise may be up for debate, but there are definite benefits that include being looked at favorably by The Committee if and when we reach point 4.
 
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I'm just wondering if, in the history of the English language, "possibly" has ever been written with the excitement of an exclamation point? (Or should I use an exclamation point there?)
 
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