Maryland (using the logic used by many around here)

[pearl31]

is surely mediocre at best this year.
They had to come from way behind to beat Rider last game and tonight their down to Illinois St. with under 7 min to play. If you're a good team you cannot struggle against teams like that, regardless of where in the season it is.
Oh Lord

 

[br801]

Aw, just let everything happen naturally. It's great fun reading that stuff every year and watching people get all worked up about what every result means.

 

[scottynguyen]

Always felt they were overhyped. They won a ton of close games last year, very difficult to replicate that.

 

[orangebabe]

is surely mediocre at best this year.
They had to come from way behind to beat Rider last game and tonight their down to Illinois St. with under 7 min to play. If you're a good team you cannot struggle against teams like that, regardless of where in the season it is.
Oh Lord

They also could have and should have lost to a very young Georgetown team at home.

 

[SoBeCuse]

Fair thread. Maryland may have won some close games last year but they had some very good wins. They had an unlucky and weird loss in the Tourney as well. I think they are perhaps over-confident and integrating Sulaimon still. They have very good players and will be dangerous come March, imo.

 

[Knicks411]

Wow, #28 and Ken Pom and what, #2 in the polls? You rarely see that much of a discrepancy.

 

[pearl31]

Fair thread. Maryland may have won some close games last year but they had some very good wins. They had an unlucky and weird loss in the Tourney as well. I think they are perhaps over-confident and integrating Sulaimon still. They have very good players and will be dangerous come March, imo.

I'm not talking about last year. I'm talking about these November patsies that all good teams are supposed to crush by 30+!

 

[OrangeFoo]

I'm not talking about last year. I'm talking about these November patsies that all good teams are supposed to crush by 30+!

As one of those November pasies... If you can't see that this team has some fundamental flaws then I don't know what to tell you. JB coached teams usually play their best ball in November/December... If this is our best I think we are in trouble. Very rarely do our teams get better over the course of the year.

 

[DoctorBombay]

As one of those November pasies... If you can't see that this team has some fundamental flaws then I don't know what to tell you. JB coached teams usually play their best ball in November/December... If this is our best I think we are in trouble. Very rarely do our teams get better over the course of the year.

 

[pearl31]

As one of those November pasies... If you can't see that this team has some fundamental flaws then I don't know what to tell you. JB coached teams usually play their best ball in November/December... If this is our best I think we are in trouble. Very rarely do our teams get better over the course of the year.

Riiiight, and this team is a typical JB team, isn't it? We were just going adjust to the loss of an all-conference center and implement 3 key freshmen seamlessly from game 1, weren't we?

Remember Nov 2012? That team needed the final minute to defeat a St. Francis team, while struggling to beat a couple other patsies as well and getting crushed by Temple. Then later they were embarrassed by Georgetown a couple times. Then they went to the Final 4.

 

[pfister1]

is surely mediocre at best this year.
They had to come from way behind to beat Rider last game and tonight their down to Illinois St. with under 7 min to play. If you're a good team you cannot struggle against teams like that, regardless of where in the season it is.
Oh Lord

Most people here aren't looking exclusively at the score of our games to make their assessments positive or negative about what the season holds in store. They are looking at what they believe to be the individual player's potential; improvement or lack of improvement in individual ability from last season; the way we appear to be playing the game; how Boeheim appears to be utilizing the resources he has available; our expectations for how JB will or won't be able to wring improvement out of what we are seeing - based on years of observing JB coaches teams.

Does it really pain you so much when someone looks at this team and makes a negative assessment that you have to go out and rationalize their assessment by pointing to other teams. Why can't that assessment just stand on its own merits or lack thereof.

When someone says we are going to be a great 3 point shooting team this year and an offensive juggernaut as a result, people don't go out and point to some low RPI team that had a night where they went 15-28 from 3 and say Aha you must think that so and so low RPI team is going to be a NC contender. I mean who cares what Maryland did against Rider or that Duke stuggled with Georgetown? How is that relevant to what people see from this team.

 

[dasher]

As one of those November pasies... If you can't see that this team has some fundamental flaws then I don't know what to tell you. JB coached teams usually play their best ball in November/December... If this is our best I think we are in trouble. Very rarely do our teams get better over the course of the year.

You confuse wins with playing your best. They are not the same. In January and Feb. we play tough league games on the road every year. We don't do that in Nov and Dec.. maybe neutral sites but not road games. Our teams get better. Just don't have a better record.

 

[pearl31]

Most people here aren't looking exclusively at the score of our games to make their assessments positive or negative about what the season holds in store. They are looking at what they believe to be the individual player's potential; improvement or lack of improvement in individual ability from last season; the way we appear to be playing the game; how Boeheim appears to be utilizing the resources he has available; our expectations for how JB will or won't be able to wring improvement out of what we are seeing - based on years of observing JB coaches teams.

Does it really pain you so much when someone looks at this team and makes a negative assessment that you have to go out and rationalize their assessment by pointing to other teams. Why can't that assessment just stand on its own merits or lack thereof.

When someone says we are going to be a great 3 point shooting team this year and an offensive juggernaut as a result, people don't go out and point to some low RPI team that had a night where they went 15-28 from 3 and say Aha you must think that so and so low RPI team is going to be a NC contender. I mean who cares what Maryland did against Rider or that Duke stuggled with Georgetown? How is that relevant to what people see from this team.

It's relevant because I've seen some posters on here proclaim, simply, that not squashing these teams = bad season ahead. And, "we are what we are right now, we won't get better." It's a bunch of BS and I'm calling it out.
And I haven't been very pleased at all with what I've seen from the team so far. Spurts here and there have been encouraging, but I'm on record saying they have a ton of work to do. My point is, look around. Lots of teams struggling. Teams (especially ones like ours trying to bring in new players and a whole new style) evolve from November to March.
Does it pain you so much to enjoy a little optimism and hold out a little hope?

 

[RoatanCuse]

Saw this on Facelift yesterday: Want to create an internet argument? 1) post your opinion online, 2) wait. LOL

 

[orange2win]

is surely mediocre at best this year.
They had to come from way behind to beat Rider last game and tonight their down to Illinois St. with under 7 min to play. If you're a good team you cannot struggle against teams like that, regardless of where in the season it is.
Oh Lord

They are bucking for #1 in the polls with 6 first place votes, but KenPom has them ranked at #28. Whoa!!! So there may be some hard stat data in support of your position.

 

[pearl31]

They are bucking for #1 in the polls with 6 first place votes, but KenPom has them ranked at #28. Whoa!!! So there may be some hard stat data in support of your position.

hey, not my position! Can't take credit for it!

(Maryland will be a very good team that quite likely will be playing in the Final4 in March)