NIT?

[shandeezy7]

59 points is a complete joke against this absolutely putrid Pitt team. Pitt is not even a zone team, let alone a good one. Yet our guys looked as if they had never seen such a thing. Playing catch from the top of the key to the wing, from the wing back to the top of the key, again, and again and again. The only thing missing was turning themselves around and doing the hokey pokey...so incredibly frustrating.

The passing around the top of the key last night reminded me of this:

 

[br801]

We speculate and commiserate.

When you put it like that, it makes this place sound so sophisticated and refined.

 

[Cusefan0307]

KenPom expected a 14 point win last night. We won by 14. Forget the aesthetics.

That was actually the worst offensive performance Pitt had on offense all year.

 

[blust2i3d4]

I figure wins at GTech and Pitt and home for Wake are pretty sure wins and maybe also BC and NCSt at home. I figure 16 wins is a good bet...18 possible with one win in the ACC to get to 19. I figure that (19) is best case.

I am just happy we won last night. So we can avoid 1-17 ACC finish. This team can easily lose 17 consecutive ACC games.

 

[br801]

I am just happy we won last night. So we can avoid 1-17 ACC finish. This team can easily lose 17 consecutive ACC games.

Indeed. They were a mere 13 losses away from doing so before somehow pulling that one out last night.

 

[Knicks411]

KenPom expected a 14 point win last night. We won by 14. Forget the aesthetics.

That was actually the worst offensive performance Pitt had on offense all year.

45 points on 59 possessions; man that's bad.

We're 11th in defensive efficiency. We've had one defense finish the season ranked better than that in the last 15 plus years. That's probably been a little lost because the offense is just so bad. We're currently 112th in the country; going back to 2003 we've only finished outside the top 60 one time; in 2015. So the offense is just really, really bad.

The next 3 games are really big, we'll be favored in all of them, probably. (Ga Tech may be a push). Of course, we may be dogs in 7 of the last 9 games. Need to bank some wins coming up if you want to have any chance of a ncaa bid

 

[Cusefan0307]

45 points on 59 possessions; man that's bad.

We're 11th in defensive efficiency. We've had one defense finish the season ranked better than that in the last 15 plus years. That's probably been a little lost because the offense is just so bad. We're currently 112th in the country; going back to 2003 we've only finished outside the top 60 one time; in 2015. So the offense is just really, really bad.

The next 3 games are really big, we'll be favored in all of them, probably. (Ga Tech may be a push). Of course, we may be dogs in 7 of the last 9 games. Need to bank some wins coming up if you want to have any chance of a ncaa bid

Yep. 2013 was the only year better.If we had a top 75 offense we probably would have just one loss.

Some of the games we will be dogs in are virtual toss ups probably such as at BC, and home against Clemson/UNC.

 

[Knicks411]

Yep. 2013 was the only year better.If we had a top 75 offense we probably would have just one loss.

Some of the games we will be dogs in are virtual toss ups probably such as at BC, and home against Clemson/UNC.

Yeah the last 2 games of the year look to be pushes right now, with us currently on the wrong side. The Ga Tech game is the other way, KP has us a 1 point fave. UNC at home right now we'd be about +3, 39% win probability, that's kinda just outside the range I usually look at as a toss-up, but obviously these percentages are just estimates so it's dumb to draw the line at any one specific #, but here we are.

I remember breaking down the acc schedule before the year into should wins, toss-ups, and probably will lose. I'm bored, so with 12 games left, here's how I see it:

Should wins: BC home, @ Pitt, Wake home, NC State home
probably lose: UVA home, @Lville, @Miami, @Duke
Toss up: @Ga Tech, UNC Home, @BC, Clemson home

Nice that it works out that we have 4 in each category, admitting I fudged it a little to get UNC as a toss up. So if we win the 4 we should, lose the 4 we should, and split the 4 tossups, we're sitting at 8-10, which is meh. Gotta do some work in Brooklyn.

tl;dr. We are probably going to be sitting here in March and really regretting the loss to Notre Dame

 

[NorSyr66]

We've lost to 3 teams without one or two of their best players and a garbage Pitt team played competitive with us 75% of the time at home.

This win doesn't have us trending up.

It appears to me we are just up to our old style of playing to the level of the competition. We simply have played that way too many times recently. Unfortunately we have come out on the short end of the score for too many games early in this ACC season. To get to the winning side of these close games we have several weak areas we need to turn around. In no particular order - Chukwu has to stop dropping passes, putting the ball on the floor and simply jam it in the basket. Brissett needs to find his way to the basket and score. Marek needs to reclaim the high energy level, make it happen attitude from earlier this season. Get more quality minutes out of Washington and Sidibe. Moyer needs to step up to beast mode on the boards. We have seen short glimpses in a couple of games. Lets hope the next week off with the practice time available that JB says this team so desparetly needs will deliver results. Lets Go Orange.

 

[SoBeCuse]

45 points on 59 possessions; man that's bad.

We're 11th in defensive efficiency. We've had one defense finish the season ranked better than that in the last 15 plus years. That's probably been a little lost because the offense is just so bad. We're currently 112th in the country; going back to 2003 we've only finished outside the top 60 one time; in 2015. So the offense is just really, really bad.

The next 3 games are really big, we'll be favored in all of them, probably. (Ga Tech may be a push). Of course, we may be dogs in 7 of the last 9 games. Need to bank some wins coming up if you want to have any chance of a ncaa bid

Yeah, if we are going to play so slow (341 AdjT) and are 112 (165 via teamrankings.com) like you showed then that is a double-whammy and a death sentence. Virginia who I don’t even think is that good is ranked 30 and their AdjT is 351. Michigan is at 338 AdjT but they are 38 in Efficiency. Michigan lost Zak Irvin, DJ Wilson, and Derrick Walton by the way from last year’s team and are managing fine.

 

[Jasoncuse]

45 points on 59 possessions; man that's bad.

We're 11th in defensive efficiency. We've had one defense finish the season ranked better than that in the last 15 plus years. That's probably been a little lost because the offense is just so bad. We're currently 112th in the country; going back to 2003 we've only finished outside the top 60 one time; in 2015. So the offense is just really, really bad.

The next 3 games are really big, we'll be favored in all of them, probably. (Ga Tech may be a push). Of course, we may be dogs in 7 of the last 9 games. Need to bank some wins coming up if you want to have any chance of a ncaa bid

I don't even think we've played very good defense this year. We've had a weak schedule overall to this point, slow the tempo to almost a halt and have blocked some shots with our length, but any team with an idea of how to beat the zone seems to be able to do. FSU just did whatever they wanted in the 2nd half. Teams get wide open 3's all the time, especially from the wing. Our interior D is soft even with the blocked shots. The zone can cover up warts for sure, but can definitely be exposed if a team plays smart and pushes us.

But yeah, the real issue is on the other end of the floor, so can't really go too negatively against the defense that is keeping us afloat.

 

[justgold315]

I will predict winning:

BC
at Pitt
at GTech
Wake
NCST
at BC
Clemson

That will get us to 9 and 9 in the ACC and to 20 wins

 

[Knicks411]

I don't even think we've played very good defense this year. We've had a weak schedule overall to this point, slow the tempo to almost a halt and have blocked some shots with our length, but any team with an idea of how to beat the zone seems to be able to do. FSU just did whatever they wanted in the 2nd half. Teams get wide open 3's all the time, especially from the wing. Our interior D is soft even with the blocked shots. The zone can cover up warts for sure, but can definitely be exposed if a team plays smart and pushes us.

But yeah, the real issue is on the other end of the floor, so can't really go too negatively against the defense that is keeping us afloat.

We're 7th in the country in 2 point field goal% defense, so I dunno about being soft down there.

We do allow a bunch of 3's though, so I guess the impact of our 2 point defense is lessened because we don't face as many.

 

[Cusefan0307]

I don't even think we've played very good defense this year. We've had a weak schedule overall to this point, slow the tempo to almost a halt and have blocked some shots with our length, but any team with an idea of how to beat the zone seems to be able to do. FSU just did whatever they wanted in the 2nd half. Teams get wide open 3's all the time, especially from the wing. Our interior D is soft even with the blocked shots. The zone can cover up warts for sure, but can definitely be exposed if a team plays smart and pushes us.

But yeah, the real issue is on the other end of the floor, so can't really go too negatively against the defense that is keeping us afloat.

The metrics disagree with your opinion on the defense and schedule strength. According to RPI we are 15th in schedule strength and KenPom we are 43rd. BPI 40th.

We are 7th in steal%, 2nd in block%, 7th overall in two point percentage and we are only giving up 33% on 3 pointers. Pretty hard to be much better than that.

 

[two3zone]

It appears to me we are just up to our old style of playing to the level of the competition. We simply have played that way too many times recently. Unfortunately we have come out on the short end of the score for too many games early in this ACC season. To get to the winning side of these close games we have several weak areas we need to turn around. In no particular order - Chukwu has to stop dropping passes, putting the ball on the floor and simply jam it in the basket. Brissett needs to find his way to the basket and score. Marek needs to reclaim the high energy level, make it happen attitude from earlier this season. Get more quality minutes out of Washington and Sidibe. Moyer needs to step up to beast mode on the boards. We have seen short glimpses in a couple of games. Lets hope the next week off with the practice time available that JB says this team so desparetly needs will deliver results. Lets Go Orange.

We got blown out by Kansas. How's that playing to a level?

Playing to the opponents level isn't something the players bring with them from high school, so our coaching is the issue or our coaching and our coaching coaches to these low levels.

Or we're just not that good.

 

[orangenirvana]

So these losses don't count? Our play isn't any concern for future games? I'm not following you, what do you see that I don't that makes this a tournament team?

It's an extremely young team. Howard and Chukwu aren't stars but they're way better than I ever anticipated. Washington is just beginning to contribute. Dolezaj looked much better, more aggressive/confident last night. Battle won't be slumping forever. Brissett can't miss layups forever, can he?

I see all the warts, but I still really like this team and think they can develop and do just enough to be an NCAA team. Will they? Who knows.

 

[jncuse]

I am just happy we won last night. So we can avoid 1-17 ACC finish. This team can easily lose 17 consecutive ACC games.

Shouldn't something that can be easily done not be impossible? Your blue and white colours are showing.

 

[NorSyr66]

We got blown out by Kansas. How's that playing to a level?

Playing to the opponents level isn't something the players bring with them from high school, so our coaching is the issue or our coaching and our coaching coaches to these low levels.

Or we're just not that good.

Interesting!!! Had to go all the way back to the Kansas game? Good point.

 

[TinyManInside]

It appears to me we are just up to our old style of playing to the level of the competition. We simply have played that way too many times recently. Unfortunately we have come out on the short end of the score for too many games early in this ACC season. To get to the winning side of these close games we have several weak areas we need to turn around. In no particular order - Chukwu has to stop dropping passes, putting the ball on the floor and simply jam it in the basket. Brissett needs to find his way to the basket and score. Marek needs to reclaim the high energy level, make it happen attitude from earlier this season. Get more quality minutes out of Washington and Sidibe. Moyer needs to step up to beast mode on the boards. We have seen short glimpses in a couple of games. Lets hope the next week off with the practice time available that JB says this team so desparetly needs will deliver results. Lets Go Orange.

Another thing that would help a lot would be to to get Howard to cut out about 3 unforced turnovers per game too. That would help a lot. Last night was a step in the right direction (4 assists to 1 turnover and should have had at least 3 more assists if PC and OB converted his setups). I know Pitt didn't pressure him, but there have been several games where he had 3 or 4 completely unforced turnovers.

 

[Orangello]

We may be lucky to make the NIT. CBI or CIT is not out of the realm of possibilities with this group. Just plain fugly.

 

[orange79]

We may be lucky to make the NIT. CBI or CIT is not out of the realm of possibilities with this group. Just plain fugly.

P5 (and other major BB conferences - A10, BE, etc.) aren't eligible for the CIT. There hasn't been a P5 team in the CBI since 2014.

Nice try, though.

 

[TexanMark]

P5 (and other major BB conferences - A10, BE, etc.) aren't eligible for the CIT. There hasn't been a P5 team in the CBI since 2014.

Nice try, though.

Maybe we can be a trendsetter...have the team go the road to UNC Greensboro? Denny's could be the sponsor.

 

[TinyManInside]

Can we get to 18 wins? Figure that is the minimum needed.

NIT will take us with a winning record. Don't need 18 to get there.

 

[TinyManInside]

Boeheim vs. Hopkins NIT matchup?

 

[TexanMark]

NIT will take us with a winning record. Don't need 18 to get there.

Used to be that way...since the NIT now is required to take conference champions who get upset in their conference tournament into the NIT...you pretty much need to be a couple wins over .500