I usually hibernate after a loss like this, so will focus on other things, like the Super Bowl and my other hobbies, as I just don't enjoy watching other hoops games or posting much when we're on a losing streak or after a bad loss (and this was kind of a bad loss, although not "horrific" as some have said).
Two straight losses on the road against good teams aren't unexpected, but still disappointing, since even without Mag, we showed we can still play well enough to beat good teams on the road, even including this game - but it's impossible to overcome a 10-minute scoring drought and 19-0 run - the worst stretch we've seen from this team in a very long time, although even with that it ended up 69-60 which isn't a blowout and we have no blowout losses yet this season.
So, I think we'll really see what this team is made of over the next 3 games. I expect us to beat NE at home, hopefully handily, and if we then split with UW and MI, we'll be 10-7 and probably one more win from locking up an NCAA tourney bid, as I think we need to be 11-9 for that. I'll only start to worry if we go 1-2 over the next 3. And we ought to win all 3 of our final games, even without Mag, IMO, but I could easily see us going 2-1, which would put us at 12-8 and a definite 8/9 seed with our excellent road wins (and OSU should be another, we all know) and great NET.
However, even if we go just 3-3 to get to 11-9, we're in the NCAAs, but stumbling badly. Beyond that, a collapse is always possible (meaning less than 3 wins), but I don't see that under Pike and with these players. I also don't see us finishing 5-1 or 6-0, as we do miss Mag: I feel like we've gone from a top 15 team to maybe a top 35 team with his loss. Hope they prove me wrong and finish with at least 5 wins.
Two straight losses on the road against good teams aren't unexpected, but still disappointing, since even without Mag, we showed we can still play well enough to beat good teams on the road, even including this game - but it's impossible to overcome a 10-minute scoring drought and 19-0 run - the worst stretch we've seen from this team in a very long time, although even with that it ended up 69-60 which isn't a blowout and we have no blowout losses yet this season.
So, I think we'll really see what this team is made of over the next 3 games. I expect us to beat NE at home, hopefully handily, and if we then split with UW and MI, we'll be 10-7 and probably one more win from locking up an NCAA tourney bid, as I think we need to be 11-9 for that. I'll only start to worry if we go 1-2 over the next 3. And we ought to win all 3 of our final games, even without Mag, IMO, but I could easily see us going 2-1, which would put us at 12-8 and a definite 8/9 seed with our excellent road wins (and OSU should be another, we all know) and great NET.
However, even if we go just 3-3 to get to 11-9, we're in the NCAAs, but stumbling badly. Beyond that, a collapse is always possible (meaning less than 3 wins), but I don't see that under Pike and with these players. I also don't see us finishing 5-1 or 6-0, as we do miss Mag: I feel like we've gone from a top 15 team to maybe a top 35 team with his loss. Hope they prove me wrong and finish with at least 5 wins.
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