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Message: [QUOTE="VAHuskyFan, post: 3025222, member: 1585"] We’re 13-9, in the bottom half of the conference, and far from being an at-large contender for the tournament. But we’ve come a long way. Here are two facts that show how far the team has come this year vs. 2017 and 2018. [B]Blowout losses against good teams are WAY down: [/B] The past two years, we went 0-19 against RPI Top-50 opponents. What’s worse is how we lost. 15 of our losses (~79%) were by 10 or more. 9 of our losses (47%) were by 20 or more. We were basically even money to have the doors blown off us every time we stepped onto the court against a good team. This year, we’re 1-6 against RPI Top-50 teams. Not a huge shift in winning percentage, but we’ve cut our double-digit losses in half (43% vs 79%) and only lost by 20 or more once (14% vs 47%). In other words, we’ve generally competed against good teams, even if we haven’t quite broken through to where the wins start piling up. [B]Blowout wins against bad teams are WAY up: [/B] The past two years, we went 13-2 against teams outside the RPI-Top-200. Rarely did we put bad teams away. We won by double digits less than half the time. And we won by 20+ just 3 times (20%). This year, we’re 9-0. We’ve beat EVERY team by double digits. And 2/3rds of our wins have been by 20+. That’s a huge and encouraging shift. [B]What about the other games?[/B] The 2017 and 2018 Huskies went 16-15 against RPI 51-200 teams, outscoring opponents by 18 (half a point per game). This year, we’re 3-3 and have outscored our opponents by 31 (5+ points per game). Similar records, but the scoring margins suggest improvements here as well. In conclusion, this team and Hurley have shifted the window of competitive games. The past two years, we got blown out by good teams and played everyone else close (even terrible teams). This year, we’ve played close against good and OK teams and run roughshod over bad teams. It’s a process, but the initial signs are encouraging — even if we haven’t seen a huge shift in wins and losses just yet. [/QUOTE]

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