Now that your head is out of the oven, make your prediction

[Jaydumo20]

Many of us watched in confusion, as some of our own relegated this team to the trash heap after Maui.
This staff teaches, and responds and every year our teams look markedly different in February than they do in November.

Where do you see this team headed now? And please try to leave out the obvious, universal, qualifier for every team in December: "they still have work to do"

Go

 

[BFieldHusky]

I think it's a 2nd weekend team. You get there and anything can happen.

I think we also are a very hard team to prep for in a 48 hour window.

 

[Jaydumo20]

My prediction is that we will still be very much considered for #7 and that we will be the casual office pool favorite come march.
However, I think Kam Jones and Marquette, are our toughest competition not only in conference but in general. I don't think they're the best team necessarily, but they will be our "louisville" from a decade ago. may keep us out of the Big East regular season title at the very most.

But mostly, after a Gonzaga W, I expect crow to be on our collective xmas dinner table this year.

 

[BlueHen]

We weren't as good as our #2 ranking.
We aren't as bad as our performance in Maui.

We have great coaching, and so far they have done a nice job of recruiting the type players they want to play their system.
I expect we will at least make it to the sweet 16. Nobody is going to want to play us in the tourney.

 

[Hunt for 7]

If we keep getting better defensively I think we are a second weekend team. They responded well in a tough environment.

I think we will all understand more after the Gonzaga game. We all said 2-1 against Baylor, Texas and Gonzaga was a goal. That has been achieved.

You really have to give Hurley and staff a lot of credit. But defense is easier to teach than offense on a player by player situation. Solo was fair against Texas. Really if he was further along he would have been the best choice to guard Johnson. You could see when longer players closed out on him he was not as efficient. Solo and his defense may be one of the biggest keys to our success because of his length and athleticism. Let’s see if he continues to improve because he is a lethal three point shooter.

Offensively this team will score and you can’t teach shooting as easily as you can get a player to learn defense.

Although he did not do anything that stood out Singare bought the team 8 minutes and held up well enough that it will help his confidence.

We played through a tuff whistle and won. We could not do that in Maui.

It was fun to watch them just take the crowd out of it. I am not sure how Texas will fair with the chicken man as their coach, but Johnson looks like a lottery pick to me. Beautiful step back three when AK was guarding him.

So second weekend team if we can get a four seed or higher.

 

[That Guy]

The offense is elite, one of the best in the country. I think the defense will continue to improve, but I don't think it will ever reach an elite level with this team, which is why I think the ceiling is probably Elite 8.

 

[phillionaire]

I think the ceiling is a 3 seed, but no 5 seed has ever won the title before so that would be pretty cool.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Very impressive Texas win! We looked like the better coached team out there.

Waiting for Gonzaga to see what’s what.

 

[Horatio]

A Sweet 16 and I’m good. Especially because Hurley maintained his loyalty to the kids he recruited. He could’ve definitely bought 2-3 players and guaranteed a three-peat but I’ll take loyalty, player development, and a sweet 16.

 

[UConnSwag11]

We win the Big East and get to the second weekend

 

[Get a Job]

A Sweet 16 and I’m good. Especially because Hurley maintained his loyalty to the kids he recruited. He could’ve definitely bought 2-3 players and guaranteed a three-peat but I’ll take loyalty, player development, and a sweet 16.

You think Hurley knew a way to guarantee another championship and didn't act on it?

 

[Jaydumo20]

Very impressive Texas win! We looked like the better coached team out there.

Waiting for Gonzaga to see what’s what.

I like this and agree. Who knows anything yet? I have a few questions for you or anybody else:

1) Solo, Liam, Samson, Hass and Mahaney have improved defensively since maui. But was that Texas game their defensive ceiling?

2) we don't necessarily know fully what we have in Jaylin Stewart yet, but we see his tools. Could his big leap be just around the corner (O and D)?

3) is it possible that, given his build, energy and athleticism, that J Ross starts to become a top level defender this year?

4) Could Ahmad and Hass,or Ross and Hass combine to limit a Kam Jones like Steph and Hass did to T Shannon last year?

If any of these are possible, then you're right. We will see

 

[HuskyHawk]

As @BFieldHusky said, 2nd weekend team. From there it's matchups and who gets hot, who is playing well. I do not see a run like the last two years. Not saying they can't win a title, just that if they did, it sure wouldn't look like the last two.

 

[Jaydumo20]

As @BFieldHusky said, 2nd weekend team. From there it's matchups and who gets hot, who is playing well. I do not see a run like the last two years. Not saying they can't win a title, just that if they did, it sure wouldn't look like the last two.

What's your Kansas assessment?

 

[Sphinx]

Before yesteday, I had them for a 16-15 season, maybe 10-10 in conference, so I'm eating crow baked in a pie this morning. To eat crow raw, I would have to see them beat Gonzaga. But I do see the pieces coming together. The coaching is beginning to tell.

 

[HuskyHawk]

What's your Kansas assessment?

They will figure it out and likely end up about the same. Second weekend team, from there matchups and who is playing well decide. They have so many new pieces they simply haven't found a rotation yet. I think UConn was in a similar place in Maui. Even now we see so many passes (often to Solo) where the player cuts the opposite way the passer expects. We never saw that last year. Kansas is going through some of that too, figuring out how to play together. Lots of talent once they figure it out, and Self will figure it out.

 

[storrsroars]

I hate saying this, but I think Duke has a better chance than any team to win the whole thing. They're not there yet, but I see the ingredients for them to dominate. If it were just Flagg, I'd pull back on that, but the supporting cast is coming together quicker than I expected Scheyer to be able to pull off.

I think we have a better than even chance of getting to second weekend.

 

[tennmike]

This team has shown they have the ability to beat some good teams, but now, I think they also can get rolled. It's still early and the coaches can iron some kinks out. I firmly believe that Stewart needs to be a meaningful contributor, Reed needs more minutes, and Mahaney needs to light some people up.

 

[controlfade]

The outcome of this season is all contingent on how the defense evolves. When (not if) this team will be able to play with anyone.

-Ball, had his best game and still only had 1 rebound and steal, what we saw yesterday can not be his ceiling.

 

[REB1094]

Sticking with my preseason prediction. Judging based on the names on the roster and nothing else, this is definitely a tournament team and I wouldn’t argue a second weekend team

The difference is we have the best coaching staff in the game. The strengths and weaknesses are incredibly clear right now, and the variance between sweet 16 and title contender is how well that coaching staff can develop our defense from now until March

 

[temery]

Final Four

 

[Son of Robert]

We will be a top ten team in February if not sooner, as this team continues to get better, each player adding their developing skills to the mix. Gonzaga will be a very solid test, great game win or lose, a building block to build on.

 

[Hurleyman216]

Our defense just took a huge leap forward in the past 1.5 weeks and I expect it will continue to improve. Solo in particular was much more engaged on defense yesterday. In multiple plays where he would previously get beat off the dribble he forced his man to the baseline too far under the basket to do anything. That’s a difficult spot to execute from and usually bad things happen for the offense when you get stuck on the baseline. A lot of times it results in someone stepping out of bounds or turning it over.

 

[ucp990411]

You guys are Debbie downers. I predict we beat Gonzaga then Xavier then every other team that gets in our way including 2 games in April in San Antonio