Next Five Games

[jibsey]

We have a lot of bullets , and the toughest job is knowing which ones to put in the chamber. Imagine the pregame planning that goes into the staff for these games for each different team. We have a pretty good brain trust on that bench too.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Neptune
Miller
Cooley
McDermott
Smart

Mostly experienced coaches
Majority hostile crowds
Teams feeling pressure to make up ground after injuries, illness, and close OOC losses

Isn't this what we've wanted?

One
Game
At
A
Time

(That's how we did it against 5 consecutive P5 opponents)

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

I highly doubt it.

I think they lose at least 2 of these. Haven’t settled on which ones yet.

 

[MuchoDogYears]

I think they lose at least 2 of these. Haven’t settled on which ones yet.

“At least” 2 is pretty harsh. Would be bad to lose 3 of these. I’m thinking 1 or 2 losses. Or we go 5-0. 50/50 chance for either.

Nova game will set the bar for how we’ll handle the next 4 games.

 

[UCLJ0211]

As of now, Marquette and Xavier are probably the 2 best teams after us in the BE. Those are certainly tough teams to beat and probably our most likely loss(es).

Also, many are mentioning how difficult the GTown game was, but don’t forget they played out of their minds-and maybe we overlooked them a little. Danny will make sure that won’t happen again and we’re not likely to run into too many teams that will shoot close to 50% AND outrebound us by 12 again.

 

[J187Money]

We should beat everyone on our schedule. But this is basketball and it doesn't work that way. The depth helps tremendously. This team is different because we can get points from anyone on the roster. If someone is off - put in someone else.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

As of now, Marquette and Xavier are probably the 2 best teams after us in the BE. Those are certainly tough teams to beat and probably our most likely loss(es).

I feel that way about Villanova and Creighton. They're different teams when healthy.

5-0 would be a tremendous run. I have a little bit of a feeling that we surprised people out of the gate and there might be some catching up going on. But I would love nothing more than for them to prove me wrong and roll through all five of these games.

 

[Captbluefin]

I think we loose 2 of the stretch. I also think it will help us grow a lot.

 

[Waquoit]

I think the way we wear teams down is underestimated. And teams don't make shots like G'town did routinely. I don't think losing will teach us anything the G'town game didn't.

 

[MTBingNinja]

12/28 vs. Nova
12/31 @ Xavier
1/4 @ Prov
1/7 vs Creighton
1/11 @ Marq

They were talking about this on The Field of 68 After Dark that this is our toughest stretch of the season.

As much as I want to go 5-0 my gut is saying 4-1, but our depth and energy in last 10 minutes means it’s doable.

Either way, going to be a fun 3 weeks. Let’s get it done boys.

I agree. All those teams “have nothing to lose against a #2 team” so I’m expecting tough games. The Georgetown game was certainly a wake up call.

 

[driveway]

All of those teams are going to come at us as if their life depends on it.

I hope the Huskies have the mental fortitude to handle it as much as the literal gameplan.

We got Joey Calcattara and they don't.

 

[TheChamps990411]

12/28 vs. Nova
12/31 @ Xavier
1/4 @ Prov
1/7 vs Creighton
1/11 @ Marq

They were talking about this on The Field of 68 After Dark that this is our toughest stretch of the season.

As much as I want to go 5-0 my gut is saying 4-1, but our depth and energy in last 10 minutes means it’s doable.

Either way, going to be a fun 3 weeks. Let’s get it done boys.

Youre gut is filled with undigested waste and bacteria.

 

[TheChamps990411]

I agree. All those teams “have nothing to lose against a #2 team” so I’m expecting tough games. The Georgetown game was certainly a wake up call.

Yup. The starters were flat and lacked energy. You could see the difference in energy the second Diarra came in the game and then Joe Cali jumped off of that and took the energy to a whole new level.

 

[ucp990411]

I think they lose at least 2 of these. Haven’t settled on which ones yet.

What?

 

[jibsey]

Yup. The starters were flat and lacked energy. You could see the difference in energy the second Diarra came in the game and then Joe Cali jumped off of that and took the energy to a whole new level.

We saw the same game? We started that game hot, 2nd half started badly until Diarra but we shot well early.

 

[MrSec224]

4-1 in this stretch is a tremendous accomplishment in my opinion. 17-1 and 6-1 in BE thru 18 we will be in amazing shape

That being said, I’m mentally conditioning myself for 3-2 and I too cant pin point the two losses.

Whenever we do lose…I do believe that the next opponent is in deep trouble.

 

[CL82]

A key is the 40 minutes ten toes in and unity with each other

Bookmarked

 

[Waquoit]

Just as a thought experiment, those that were there, go back to December 1998. Were you thinking we were going to lose twice? I wasn't. I thought we were going to win 'em all. Why not the same feeling with this team?

 

[CL82]

this might come back to bite me, but i am not really worried about marquette for whatever reason

Don’t do that.

 

[BGesus4]

We’re the best of these teams but they’re all good enough to beat us on a given night—and Creighton can be elite when firing on all cylinders. I’m still not completely sold on if nova is a great team with whitmore but they are definitely good.

One loss or better in this stretch we would be sitting very pretty. Even with two losses, which I’d vote the most likely scenario, we’d be in solid position for pursuit of BE regular season title.

As we have already been reminded, with the familiarity and scouting etc, conf games will be much more difficult to gain real separation from teams.

 

[tcf15]

@60'sfan looks like you deleted your thread, but here’s the target return for Samson:

 

[jibsey]

@60'sfan looks like you deleted your thread, but here’s the target return for Samson:

With no games under his belt how much could be really expect to see him out there? I’m thinking 5-8 minutes.

 

[HitDog]

I think we loose 2 of the stretch. I also think it will help us grow a lot.

Just as long as we come out loose I don’t think we loose 2.

 

[CL82]

@60'sfan looks like you deleted your thread, but here’s the target return for Samson:

I take these statements from Hurley with a very large grain of salt.

 

[REB1094]

4-1 in this stretch is a tremendous accomplishment in my opinion. 17-1 and 6-1 in BE thru 18 we will be in amazing shape

That being said, I’m mentally conditioning myself for 3-2 and I too cant pin point the two losses.

Whenever we do lose…I do believe that the next opponent is in deep trouble.

Villanova has been a completely different team since Whitmore came back. That said, we're at home and we beat Villanova at home last year when we were not as good as we are now, and they were a lot better than they are now. We should win that one

@ Xavier and @ Marquette are the ones that scare me the most. They've both shown flashes of being really good teams and we'll be in their house where they'll probably set their season record for highest turnout against a top 3 team.

We "should" go 5-0 but we all know that undefeated seasons are nearly impossible. I agree 4-1 would be great but I'm mentally preparing for 3-2. If I HAD to pick 2 losses, it would be Xavier and Marquette. I hope we beat the brakes off Providence and take care of Nova. The other 3 will be very tough games (as long as Kalkbrenner is healthy and playing)