Reasons Why This Team Will Make the NCAA Tournament

[CTBasketball]

1. We play in the AAC.
2. This team has grit and shows effort, especially in big games.
3. Once we find that 3pt shooter the flood gates will open. My bet it is Calhoun, despite that missile he launched last night.

 

[8893]

1. AAC Tournament Champion.

End of list.

 

[huskiesnyc]

1. AAC Tournament Champion.

End of list.

Pretty much. Let's say we split Florida and Stanford and go 15-3 in conference. That would put us at 22-8 and right on the bubble going into the AAC tourney. Knowing how the selection committee feels about the AAC that's probably not good enough.

 

[BFieldHusky]

Pretty much. Let's say we split Florida and Stanford and go 15-3 in conference. That would put us at 22-8 and right on the bubble going into the AAC tourney. Knowing how the selection committee feels about the AAC that's probably not good enough.

While I don't disagree with you, I think it is silly to project what 22-8 would look like 3 months out from the American tournament. What does the RPI/SOS look like? What are other bubble teams profiles? Is it a soft bubble? The last couple of years the bubble has been very soft.

 

[FASTEDDY]

Unless we win against Florida & Stanford, our RPI will be terriblea and we will either be a long-shot to make the NCAA's or will be a very very low seed.

Our chances for real qualty wins have already come and gone. (duke, Texas, WVU). Floriday and Stanford are decent but not like they hav ebeen in the past.
A loss to Yale will hurt quite a bit RPI wise as well.

 

[huskiesnyc]

While I don't disagree with you, I think it is silly to project what 22-8 would look like 3 months out from the American tournament. What does the RPI/SOS look like? What are other bubble teams profiles? Is it a soft bubble? The last couple of years the bubble has been very soft.

Yes, there are other factors I agree. I'm just basing it off the fact that as a conference we only have 1 top 25 win and that's not likely to change. Also, the snubbing that SMU got last year with several top 25 wins and 23 wins overall. There's not much breathing room in this dumpster fire conference that's for sure.

 

[LRock34]

As this team courantly stands I don't see us making the tourny. You need to be able to shoot the 3 to win in college. This team can't shoot for shitee. They also struggle to rebound. I like the speed and I love the defense but if you can't rebound or shoot you're not going to win many games. I really can't believe how bad this team is at shooting. Did anyone other than Boat hit a 3 last night? Knock down a couple of open J's and this team is at worst 7-1.

 

[mets1090]

Thankfully the tournament is in Hartford. They should win this tournament at a neutral site anyways but with it being at home, if they can't win it (and can't win a single game against a big OOC opponent) they probably don't deserve to make the NCAA tournament anyways.

 

[Rocktheworld]

I say by the end of the year we pass the eye test

We do still pretty much need to win the AAC tournament because our only chances at "good wins" remaining OOC are Florida and Stanford, both away.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Sadly, we are the best 4-4 team in America by a long way. Last second shot loss to #4, played the seemingly invincible #2 Duke very close and with a few layups and FTs falling are in a position to win. Yale loss was with our whole backcourt injured and still came on a last second 3.

All that being said, the committee won't value close losses against good teams. Unless we win the American tournament, we have concerns.

 

[junglehusky]

Hard to prognosticate at this point, but it seems safe to say this year's team has plenty of room for improvement and if they reach maybe 70% of their potential they should be in a decent position to win the AAC tourney. If they don't they will be NIT bound. We don't need every guy to improve 200%, but we do need a kids to take significant steps forward so that we can go into games knowing we have a 2nd, 3rd guy to help score.

 

[BFieldHusky]

Yes, there are other factors I agree. I'm just basing it off the fact that as a conference we only have 1 top 25 win and that's not likely to change. Also, the snubbing that SMU got last year with several top 25 wins and 23 wins overall. There's not much breathing room in this dumpster fire conference that's for sure.

I think it comes down to not having any WTF losses in this conference. My concern is that we will not blow a lot of teams out because of our shooting, so someone along the way will beat us who shouldn't, like Yale did.

 

[Jay-Bone]

I haven't been paying close attention, but it seems like the AAC is egregiously bad this year. Memphis, SMU, Houston, USF, Cinn, even us all have bad losses. Nobody else appears to be even marginally good. Maybe Cincy? Maybe SMU is on an upturn. Down year for an already dismal conference. And the kicker is the Big East is having a better year than last.

 

[8893]

I think it comes down to not having any WTF losses in this conference. My concern is that we will not blow a lot of teams out because of our shooting, so someone along the way will beat us who shouldn't, like Yale did.

I fully expect at least a couple WTF losses in AAC conference play. Remember when the wheels came off last season at Houston and SMU. It will happen again at some point. We just have to hope that we get it out of our system by the AAC tournament.

 

[CTBasketball]

I fully expect at least a couple WTF losses in AAC conference play. Remember when the wheels came off last season at Houston and SMU. It will happen again at some point. We just have to hope that we get it out of our system by the AAC tournament.

The way I look at it, the wheels already fell off. And we need to figure out how to replace the wheels with brand new ones that never puncture. To be honest, I said WTF in all the games vs Duke, Yale, and Texas. WVU I just shook my head.

 

[Wise2]

Other other problem will be getting up for the competition. Its easy to get up for Texas and Duke, but as we saw against Yale, we could still struggle against inferior teams if they have any talent at all. That is my fear. We are really bad as so many things right now, that we can easily be exploited by some teams (FT, 3s and Rebounding). Are defense can only carry us so far. I expect we will more likely go 13-5 in conference or 12-6. Therefore, we will probably have to win the AAC tourney or beat both Florida and Stamford

 

[lange10]

Purvis when healthy (4 games - CofC, Dayton, Coppin St, Dook): 11 PPG, 43% from the field, 38% from 3. He's explosive and can get to the rim. He's still getting back into game shape (which is TOTALLY different from practice shape and you know this if you ever played any basketball) so just give the man some time. Yes he turns it over 3-4 times a game but I can live with that if he is being aggressive, attacking, and looking for his shot. He needs to be our 3rd scoring option and he will be. He wont be a "ferarri" but he will be our guy to get us 10ppg.

Brimah: I mean I don’t know who the heck thought even with all the pre-season hype that he would gone after this year but that is absurd. He has a ways to go. Right now he can handle undersized bigs and tall lanky bigs akin to himself easily. But the skilled bigs with some meat on their bones obviously still pose a tough challenge for him. BUT take it easy on the big man. He has developed EXPONENTIALLY since last year!! Last year he struggled to walk and chew gum and now he’s out their catching alley-oops and all. He will get stronger, which will allow him to be a bigger force on the glass and obviously on the offensive low post.

Omar: Just give the man a damn shot before you all write him off. Freshmen Omar was amazing and had so much potential. That potential is not gone, but his confidence is. Even last night was so much better than what we saw for the most part at the tail end of last year. Last year he was an automatic turnover when the ball touched his hands. He was cool, calm and collected last night. Yea the shots didn’t fall for him but they will and when they do and his confidence begins to sky rocket it will be HUGE for this team.


Overall: There is so much positive to take from this team. 4-4 sounds so bad it makes me sick but were 2 last second 3 point attempts from being 6-2. We’ve lost to 3 automatic tournament teams and Yale has a shot in the IVY to win the regular season title and get the automatic bid. This team will get it together, it will all click, unfortunately it will be against our putrid AAC opponents. But I truly believe in this team, I’m not giving up yet, this team has so much fricken potential and god damnet we held our own with #2 Duke who was considered by ALL to be one of the top 2 title favorites.

 

[HuskyBballFan]

Yes, there are other factors I agree. I'm just basing it off the fact that as a conference we only have 1 top 25 win and that's not likely to change. Also, the snubbing that SMU got last year with several top 25 wins and 23 wins overall. There's not much breathing room in this dumpster fire conference that's for sure.

You're not wrong, but our OOC schedule this year compared to SMU's last year is night and day. With no context, I think the scenario you posted earlier (split Florida/Stanford and 15-3 in the AAC) would get us in pretty easily. I think we'll be rewarded for playing so many tough OOC games away from home. As an example, our loss last night actually got us a 9 spot improvement in the RPI.

The bigger concern for me is whether or not we can actually get to 15-3. We have a 22-game stretch ahead of us where we can't really afford any bad losses at all, and a loss to anyone other than Florida, Stanford, Cincy, and SMU would be a bad one. Are we really going to go 16-0 in the remaining games we're "supposed to win?" The way this team plays offense, we're not just going to win all 16 of those games comfortably. A handful of them will come down to the wire where we'd be one bad call, bad bounce, or corner three-pointer away from an ugly loss.

 

[Gampeltiles]

You're not wrong, but our OOC schedule this year compared to SMU's last year is night and day. With no context, I think the scenario you posted earlier (split Florida/Stanford and 15-3 in the AAC) would get us in pretty easily. I think we'll be rewarded for playing so many tough OOC games away from home. As an example, our loss last night actually got us a 9 spot improvement in the RPI.

The bigger concern for me is whether or not we can actually get to 15-3. We have a 22-game stretch ahead of us where we can't really afford any bad losses at all, and a loss to anyone other than Florida, Stanford, Cincy, and SMU would be a bad one. Are we really going to go 16-0 in the remaining games we're "supposed to win?" The way this team plays offense, we're not just going to win all 16 of those games comfortably. A handful of them will come down to the wire where we'd be one bad call, bad bounce, or corner three-pointer away from an ugly loss.

All true, but I don't see them losing a game by 41 points this season.

 

[willie99]

I think it's Hamilton and Pervis that will become the scoring options and Facey a more productive force down low

I also think AB learned a valuable lesson yesterday, he should play within himself going forward