. . . instead of 7-4, with an eeked out win over KS. And 3-3 v ND, 'Bama, A&M, OSU, PSU, and SHU, would your perception of the season be different by much would your perception of the season to this point be? How about your sense of likelihood to make tournament?
If 8-3 . . .
- Thread starter zebnatto
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My perception of the team would not be much different so my base case would still be missing the tournament. It would obviously be nice from a resume perspective though.
If we squeaked out another win, I'd still have concerns. Team is not being maximized to its personnel. If Ace or Dylan- hit the freshman wall, were probably done anyways. That's why putting your transfers, in a position contribute better, was so important. We haven't don't it
If we were 8-3 I would say we were on track from a record perspective. But when looking toward the future I would also take into account how we won.
We did not look or play like an NCAA quality game in our wins against Saint Peter's, Monmouth, Merrimack, Notre Dame, or Seton Hall. We also were very bad against Kennesaw St (flipping it to a 1 point win wouldn't change this) and Ohio State.
Ironically we did look like an NCAA team in two of our losses (Alabama, Texas A&M) as well as Wagner and Penn State. But that's only 4 our of 11 games.
I always believed that this team would need to weather the first 10-15 games given 2 freshman would be leading the team. 8-3 would of been my hope but it was going to be a tough go. This team so far, battles every game and has top notch scoring abilities. The defense will come (hopefully). Given Pikes defensive coaching abilities, we should give him the benefit of the doubt. If that happens, this team will be hard to handle.
This is pretty much how I see it too. However, through one-third of the season our two 18 year-old freshmen are already scoring an average of 42 points combined, making almost 50% of their shots including around 35% from deep. (Pretty ridiculous, in a good way, when you think about it)
I was hopeful that the veteran transfers would have stepped up more through this point in the season, so that we would have won at least 1 more game, and maybe 2.
Its hard for the veteran transfers to step up with a half court offense that lacks player and ball movement to create open 3 point shots from the corners.
That has been the big miss so far. They have shooters but they aren’t finding enough time on the court. That is the mystery with this team. RU needs Hayes, Martini or Acuff on the floor. They just haven’t found the right fit or rotation.
I predicted 8-3 OOC, thinking Kennesaw State as one of the games we could lose. Need to win the next two to be where I expected. I predicted 12-8 in the B1G, thinking we'd be a much better team when the calendar flips to 2025. Need two (and hopefully three) of those 12 wins to be on the road. If this happens, we won't be sweating on Selection Sunday.
What do your eyes tell you after 11 games? We are 1/3rd of the way thru the regular season. There is no next year. It's this year or bust.
In our current form, we aren't dancing this year. Does anyone disagree? The only way we dance this year is if the offense and/or defense improves. There are differing opinions on where the improvements need to come from. Ultimately, it's Pike that has to get it right. He has NEVER been in this type of situation so he has to get it right in his 1st attempt. It's clear he has not figured it out after 1/3rd of our season. The last 3rd of the season might not even matter if he doesn't figure it out quickly.
If you were forced to bet 3 months of your annual income on whether or not we make the NCAA tourney, what are you betting on? That amount would likely require you to bet with your eyes, not your heart.
At this point, we're just hoping Pike gets it right.
In our current form, we aren't dancing this year. Does anyone disagree? The only way we dance this year is if the offense and/or defense improves. There are differing opinions on where the improvements need to come from. Ultimately, it's Pike that has to get it right. He has NEVER been in this type of situation so he has to get it right in his 1st attempt. It's clear he has not figured it out after 1/3rd of our season. The last 3rd of the season might not even matter if he doesn't figure it out quickly.
If you were forced to bet 3 months of your annual income on whether or not we make the NCAA tourney, what are you betting on? That amount would likely require you to bet with your eyes, not your heart.
At this point, we're just hoping Pike gets it right.
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I don't think we're quite as far off as this makes it sound. If I HAD to bet three months income on one or the other I would bet "no" but I wouldn't be super jazzed about that bet either.
Since Pike did figure out how to right the ship in the 21/22 season, betting "no" certainly isn't a lock, but it would be the correct bet. If we weren't a tortured fan of the program that we had to bet on, it would be an easy decision.
Pike can't just copy what he did in 2021. We are not going to ride the defense to the tourney.
Our record doesn’t tell the whole story. Not even close. We gave Alabama all they could handle and we should have won the Texas AM game (everyone here knows it! We screwed the pooch. But we were right there)
… point is, we’ve demonstrated we can play at the absolute highest level.
… point is, we’ve demonstrated we can play at the absolute highest level.
And we've proven we can play at the absolute lowest for long stretches then do our best to dig our way back into the game. Resilience? Immaturity for letting it happen? Youth? So many questions with so little time left to answer them.
If we beat KSU, I would have a more positive outlook without a doubt. However, I would also know that by not winning another NIL tournament game, we botched a major chance to notch a positive win for our resume. At this point, we need to win a couple quad 1 road games to really start to stand out from other teams. I do not think we will make the tournament at this point.
I don't think Pike has to figure out anything. Pike knows what needs to be done. It's the players who have to figure out exactly what Pike wants out of them. If they figure it out, we'll be fine.
Yeah; it’s still December. A lot of games left to play and they still need to prove it. Agreed.
And we didn’t even cover against most of our cupcakes. Got the wins but very unimpressively. And coming off the momentum of the games you’ve cited we laid a complete egg at OSU. That’s a peak at life on the road for us in the B1G. I just see 10-10 as our ceiling in Conf. With the floor a lot lower. What teaches me that, not my pessimism, it’s poor defense, especially in the interior, it’s sometimes abysmal three point shooting, terrible clutch FT shooting, poor substitution patterns, and some sloppiness with not turning it over. 8-3 or 7-4 alone right now wouldnt change my opinion at this time. What else I’ve learned is that there are a lot of elite frosh in the country and while Ace might be a top nba prospect he’s not near a top frosh like Dylan. He will improve but so will all the others, meaning we have an elite young player, a very good youngster and an ensemble cast that hasn’t really shown they can run yet. Through 11 games they are what they are. The talk about how they’ll gel and improve, like the rest of the teams will stand still, come on. For example Pikes had questionable sub patterns for a couple years now. That’s not going to change. FTs, it’s been a thorn in our side for years. To me they’ve shown they can lose close against good teams and keep worse teams close for what “should be” dramatic wins. Hopefully we survive the ivies, not a given. That will make us 9-4, with 18-13 as the ceiling imho. And that won’t be easy. 16,17 wins is more likely.
Huh??? The players have to figure out what Pike wants out of them? That's not how good coaching works.
Did Cliff figure out what the Alabama coach wanted out of him or is it more likely that the coach made it VERY clear what he wanted from Cliff?
All good points. I'll take the over on your 17 wins, though. All it takes is three guys on this team getting warm (not even HOT, just warm!) and they could go 8-1 in a month.
