- Joined
- Aug 27, 2011
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Now is time for a sober appraisal of what we can expect to accomplish this year. It's apparent that we're not necessarily "peaking at the right time"; we've steadily beaten the cupcakes at the bottom of our league, but are middle-of-the-pack, at best, among the 5 legitimate teams.
We're 21-6, 5th in the AAC, about to fall out of the rankings, and in line for a 6-7 seed. We have 2 more cupcakes interleaved around huge games vs. Cincinnati and @Louisville. Heading into today, I felt we were likely to beat Cincy and lose to Louisville. After today's performance, with a tough, physical team completely shutting us down at home, I think that Cincy game is more of a toss-up, and I'm even more bearish on the Louisville game.
Worst-case scenario: Lose both games, lose in the 4/5 game of the AACT, end up 23-9, 8 seed.
Plausible-good scenario: Split those games, go 1-1 in the AACT, end up 25-8, 6-7 seed.
Best-case scenario: Win out, win the AACT, end up 28-6, 4 seed.
The disappointing thing is, after losing today, unless we run the table, we won't generate any of buzz from the national media heading into the Tournament. And unless we make the Sweet 16, we won't have gotten much buzz this year at all (for the 3rd straight year). That's a disturbing trend for a program that desperately needs to prove to the powers that be that we're still a major player on the national landscape.
We're 21-6, 5th in the AAC, about to fall out of the rankings, and in line for a 6-7 seed. We have 2 more cupcakes interleaved around huge games vs. Cincinnati and @Louisville. Heading into today, I felt we were likely to beat Cincy and lose to Louisville. After today's performance, with a tough, physical team completely shutting us down at home, I think that Cincy game is more of a toss-up, and I'm even more bearish on the Louisville game.
Worst-case scenario: Lose both games, lose in the 4/5 game of the AACT, end up 23-9, 8 seed.
Plausible-good scenario: Split those games, go 1-1 in the AACT, end up 25-8, 6-7 seed.
Best-case scenario: Win out, win the AACT, end up 28-6, 4 seed.
The disappointing thing is, after losing today, unless we run the table, we won't generate any of buzz from the national media heading into the Tournament. And unless we make the Sweet 16, we won't have gotten much buzz this year at all (for the 3rd straight year). That's a disturbing trend for a program that desperately needs to prove to the powers that be that we're still a major player on the national landscape.