Goal: start the new year 11-2

[Eric15]

Bucknell, North Florida, Oakland and Niagara should hopefully all be manageable wins.

If we can go 4-1 (edited: or 3-2 at worst) in that five game stretch of Oklahoma St., PSU/Ole Miss, Iowa, Georgia Tech and Georgetown, I'll personally feel pretty content as to the trajectory of the season.

 

[NKR1978]

Don't forget Ole Miss/PSU.

 

[Cheriehoop]

Bucknell, North Florida, Oakland and Niagara should hopefully all be manageable wins.

If we can go 3-1 in that four game stretch of Oklahoma St., Iowa, Georgia Tech and Georgetown, I'll personally feel pretty content as to the trajectory of the season.

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We would probably still need 10 more wins or half our ACC games.

 

[Eric15]

Don't forget Ole Miss/PSU.

Whoops you're right. 11-2*

 

[A Clockwork Orange]

I am really interested to see how this team operates against a major conference opponent. Oklahoma State and then Penn State or Ole Miss will tell a lot about this team at this stage of the season. I expect this team to grow all season long, but those games will be a great barometer.

The four games they've played thus far are difficult to judge. They were unprepared for UVA and their defense. That's not entirely surprising given the make-up of the team. Then they played three lower division teams and beat them all pretty handily while still showing the inconsistencies that usually plague young teams.

The NIT games will show the amount of work this team needs to be competitive against our likely peers this year. I don't think this team is capable of top 5 in the ACC, so their peers (in the sense I'm using it) are the middle of the road ACC teams. How the team progresses throughout the year will determine the difference between being #6 and #12 in the ACC.

These early major conference games will show us what their potential learning curve may be this season. It's a GREAT litmus test this early in the season to be facing off against five teams in a row that are middle of the road teams (for the most part). I'm hopeful we'll see a massive progression in the team even in those five games.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Bucknell, North Florida, Oakland and Niagara should hopefully all be manageable wins.

If we can go 3-1 in that four game stretch of Oklahoma St., Iowa, Georgia Tech and Georgetown, I'll personally feel pretty content as to the trajectory of the season.

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Think that would be a tall order for this team. While we have definitely looked a lot better since the UVA disaster you have to be concerned about potential scoring droughts against better teams if our 3's aren't falling. We can get away with that against Cornell and others but against a team like say OK State or Iowa or GT it could really be an issue. I also worry about rebounding against other P5 teams. That said the schedule certainly isn't a murderers row by any stretch and we could definitely come out with an impressive record. One thing that this team has to do is take care of business against non P5 teams. Can't afford a loss to an Oakland or Bucknell this year, we just cant.

 

[hoopsupstate]

This team will be fun to watch, but they are going to have a hard time scoring against physical, athletic teams. Buddy and Girard can be slowed down and our bigs have no post moves except occasional dunks off penetration. Guerrier might become a physical factor as the season progresses. This team will not win at Georgetown or GTech. I think they beat Iowa and will be lucky to split in NewYork. I think we’re looking at 4-5 losses before the first of the year. Four losses will put us at 9-4. It will be tough making the tournament with only 9 wins before the regular conference season starts. If we lose to GTech we will have to go 10-8 to finish 10-10 in the ACC. That will only give us 19 wins. Straight on the bubble.

 

[Orangezoo]

UVA is such an anomaly. They play with the fundamentals and deliberate possession style of an experienced mid major paired with high major talent. I think that what this will come down to is the style of play. We can overpower lower teams this year with better offense and the zone. When we get to the high majors, the teams willing to slog it out and slow it down are my biggest worries. To get a win they will emulate what they can from UVA. Cornell did this well but of course talent won out .

Okie state won't play slow just not in the B12s DNA. Iowa - could definitely see them along with PSU going for a rock fight. Ole Miss likes to play fast. The Hoyas want to play fast too. GTech as we have seen in the past are happy to slow it down if needed. So then when you look at matchups I could see that Iowa and GTech game being a problem . From there it comes down to can we win they way we want to play vs teams wanting to win a shootout.

 

[JeremyCuse]

This team will be fun to watch, but they are going to have a hard time scoring against physical, athletic teams. Buddy and Girard can be slowed down and our bigs have no post moves except occasional dunks off penetration. Guerrier might become a physical factor as the season progresses. This team will not win at Georgetown or GTech. I think they beat Iowa and will be lucky to split in NewYork. I think we’re looking at 4-5 losses before the first of the year. Four losses will put us at 9-4. It will be tough making the tournament with only 9 wins before the regular conference season starts. If we lose to GTech we will have to go 10-8 to finish 10-10 in the ACC. That will only give us 19 wins. Straight on the bubble.

Its hard to say anything concrete when it comes to this team because we don't know what the shooting will look like from game to game. Gtown seems like a definite tough game on paper but they were embarrased at home versus a mediocre Penn State game and play Texas tonight. Yurtseven is definitely a problem matchup for us but Gtown is not a great shooting team outside of McClung who runs hot and cold. G-Tech is a complete unknown as well. I do agree that if SU doesn't play well they could easily lose to either team especially with both game on the road. At worst we need a split there.

 

[Brooky03]

If we lose to any of that trash, I’m going to feel sad

 

[Jasoncuse]

This team will be fun to watch

What is fun about watching this team? Just wondering, because these have been 4 excruciating games. The lack of offensive sets has been discussed enough, but we just don't have the ball handling, drivers or athleticism to be anything more than a team that has to slow it down and try to grind out W's. If our outside shooting is off, we literally have little to no chance against good teams.

The starting lineup has to be the least athletic group we've had in many, many years. It doesn't hurt as much against the Colgate, Cornell and other underwhelming mid-majors, but against the big boys, this discrepancy is going to be tough to overcome.

I wish this team were fun to watch, getting up and down the court and lighting up the scoreboard, but they just aren't.

 

[moqui]

all currently top 70 kenpom, all but iowa road or neutral site. if they all maintain fairly close to their current rankings, 4-1 would be an outstanding ooc resume. even 3-2 would be good on selection sunday.

42 ok st
25 psu/54 ole miss
56 iowa
62 gtech
70 hoyas

for multiple reasons, i really hope we draw penn state in that 2nd game

 

[Alsacs]

I would take 8-3 in the non conference.
I don’t think we are good enough to go 9-2 in the nonconference.

 

[Ghost]

If we can go 1-4 in that stretch I'll be feeling pretty good!

 

[Eric15]

If we go 2-3 in that 5 game stretch against major teams, I feel like it's almost certainly going to be a season where we are scratching and clawing to make the tourney.

 

[Alsacs]

If we go 2-3 in that 5 game stretch against major teams, I feel like it's almost certainly going to be a season where we are scratching and clawing to make the tourney.

If we make the tournament this a good year.
Having higher expectations than being a bubble team I wouldn’t recommend with all the youth we have this year.

 

[Cusefan0307]

all currently top 70 kenpom, all but iowa road or neutral site. if they all maintain fairly close to their current rankings, 4-1 would be an outstanding ooc resume. even 3-2 would be good on selection sunday.

42 ok st
25 psu/54 ole miss
56 iowa
62 gtech
70 hoyas

for multiple reasons, i really hope we draw penn state in that 2nd game

All of those games are near mathematical toss ups according to KenPom. 3-2 should be the goal.

 

[Eric15]

Having higher expectations than being a bubble team I wouldn’t recommend with all the youth we have this year.

I'm still holding out hope that this could be like a 7-8 seed type year where I don't have sweaty palms on Selection Sunday and we're not praying to be the last team in.

 

[FrancoPizza]

I'm still holding out hope that this could be like a 7-8 seed type year where I don't have sweaty palms on Selection Sunday and we're not praying to be the last team in.

Hairy palms >>> sweaty palms.

 

[pearl31]

I'm still holding out hope that this could be like a 7-8 seed type year where I don't have sweaty palms on Selection Sunday and we're not praying to be the last team in.

that was the case last year...

 

[orangehomer]

how about we show we can beat a p5 team before we start predicting win streaks?

 

[rrlbees]

how about we show we can beat a p5 team before we start predicting win streaks?

so we should throw out the IGGY Award predictions?

 

[MadNY3]

Bucknell, North Florida, Oakland and Niagara should hopefully all be manageable wins.

If we can go 4-1 (edited: or 3-2 at worst) in that five game stretch of Oklahoma St., PSU/Ole Miss, Iowa, Georgia Tech and Georgetown, I'll personally feel pretty content as to the trajectory of the season.

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If we are 11-2, I will send you $50.

This doesn't look or feel like a team that can routinely take care of business.

 

[SUfanNC]

If we lost 1 or 2 games out of that group I don't want to lose to Georgetown for obvious reasons. GT because it would mean 0-2 in ACC play. I would like to have a good showing in the preseason tourney so I guess if we did lose Iowa and or Oklahoma state would be my preference.

That said I really feel like we should beat these schools year over year but given our youth and frankly the games we have played blowing through occ seems unlikely

 

[SUFan44]

I would take 8-3 in the non conference.
I don’t think we are good enough to go 9-2 in the nonconference.

That would mean losses to three of Oklahoma State, Iowa, Penn State/Ole Miss & Georgetown.

I would be somewhat disappointed if that happens.