BleedsOrange44
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Orange earn praise from Buzz Williams/Ed Colley/Mike Brey
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BleedsOrange44
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Especially given how much we focus on the negative comments, I thought it was worth pointing out the positive.
orangetrojan
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My two cents, which probably isnt even worth that, is some people who question our schedule's strength have a valid point. But I get tired of hearing that we've played no one - so far our list includes Florida, Virginia Tech, Stanford, Marshall, Marquette, Pitt and NC State. For the record, I was most impressed by our performance at NC state because it was our first 'true' road game, no less at a time when we first became ranked the #1 team in the country - a very hostile scenario. Pitt was also a really good win to me only because they always give us fits. You would think though, sometimes when you hear people speak, that we've played nothing but a bunch of bottom-half teams from the MAAC or CUSA, people completely overlooked the Florida win and sometimes its as if we never even played Marquette to begin with. Do I think there are some valid points? Absolutely, and I look forward to this team playing Cinci, Gtown, and UConn down the road to really test where we're at. But My question is, if we're not the #1 team, who is?
I'm sick of hearing about UNC, yes the talent is there, but apparently the toughness to compete isnt, so while they may have 5 future first-round picks, I'm not even sure they get to the final 4 if Roy doesnt get them playing with more focus and intensity. OSU is a really good team but they've been up and down. Baylor I cant ding too much for a loss to Kansas away from home. As for Kentucky, their black eye is that loss to Indiana which is looking worse by the day the way indiana is playing now. So the reality is, my 1-2-3 (and I believe most rational people would think this way) should go Syracuse, Kentucky, and Baylor. Remember, we were preseason #5, people tend to forget that this was a highly regarded team to begin with, but now that we're #1 people want to poke holes in that assumption. The way we are playing right now, we are the best team in the country. Maybe UNC will get it together and come on strong, but maybe not. I think people who do dismiss us as the #1 team is because its not easy to pinpoint why we are #1 because we play better than the sum of our parts and that's hard to quantify. I'll be interested to see when we do lose a game (and I think we will) where we'll get ranked, I would think we should drop to no more than 4th in the country, but something tells me with all the hate we could drop even lower because people will use that as evidence that we just arent that good because they dont believe we have the underlying talent like other top 10 teams such as tOSU, Kentucky, UNC, and Duke.
In a game where big stars are praised for their scoring ability we have a team that prides itself on defense and creating points off that defense. For the first time in a long time we have a group of kids who are 100% committed to winning this way. It's funny because in college football, the two best defenses played in the BCS championship game because according to everyone, defense wins championships. We dont have a Harrison Barnes or Jared Sullinger or some annoying white guy from Duke that people can point to and say "see that's why this team is so good". But the truth of the matter is, we do, its just that our guy comes off the bench. There's no question in my mind Dion is the most valuable player on the team. But it frustrates people and the media because we're good, really good, and we're doing it in a manner that's unconventional.
I'm sick of hearing about UNC, yes the talent is there, but apparently the toughness to compete isnt, so while they may have 5 future first-round picks, I'm not even sure they get to the final 4 if Roy doesnt get them playing with more focus and intensity. OSU is a really good team but they've been up and down. Baylor I cant ding too much for a loss to Kansas away from home. As for Kentucky, their black eye is that loss to Indiana which is looking worse by the day the way indiana is playing now. So the reality is, my 1-2-3 (and I believe most rational people would think this way) should go Syracuse, Kentucky, and Baylor. Remember, we were preseason #5, people tend to forget that this was a highly regarded team to begin with, but now that we're #1 people want to poke holes in that assumption. The way we are playing right now, we are the best team in the country. Maybe UNC will get it together and come on strong, but maybe not. I think people who do dismiss us as the #1 team is because its not easy to pinpoint why we are #1 because we play better than the sum of our parts and that's hard to quantify. I'll be interested to see when we do lose a game (and I think we will) where we'll get ranked, I would think we should drop to no more than 4th in the country, but something tells me with all the hate we could drop even lower because people will use that as evidence that we just arent that good because they dont believe we have the underlying talent like other top 10 teams such as tOSU, Kentucky, UNC, and Duke.
In a game where big stars are praised for their scoring ability we have a team that prides itself on defense and creating points off that defense. For the first time in a long time we have a group of kids who are 100% committed to winning this way. It's funny because in college football, the two best defenses played in the BCS championship game because according to everyone, defense wins championships. We dont have a Harrison Barnes or Jared Sullinger or some annoying white guy from Duke that people can point to and say "see that's why this team is so good". But the truth of the matter is, we do, its just that our guy comes off the bench. There's no question in my mind Dion is the most valuable player on the team. But it frustrates people and the media because we're good, really good, and we're doing it in a manner that's unconventional.
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