We need to be better in the OOC going forward.

[Cusefan0307]

If we make the NIT it will be because of November and December, not what we did in the ACC. Last year we had Atlantis, but still lost to Georgetown, Wisconsin at home and St. Johns. In this conference the most we can expect are about 12 conference wins each year. You can't makeup losses that easy from early in the season because the conference is a gauntlet. ND and FSU tied for 2nd with 12 wins. If we lose 3 plus games in the non-conference going forward, I would expect to be on the bubble consistently until we start playing better early.

 

[jdubs30]

If we won @BC on New Years Day we'd be in

 

[Alsacs]

Our schedule was fine. Frank Howard was the PG for UConn, and Georgetown games.
Gillon being the PG we do better.

I am ready for change though. These losses are annoying when we don't change things up.

 

[OrangeDW]

We used to roll the OOC teams every single year. How many years did we go into conference play with 0 losses or 1 loss, and how many years did we win our preseason tourney? And we beat everybody too, not just crap teams.

We've gotta get back to that. Get some depth in the program so we have some continuity and we aren't starting from scratch every time a couple guys graduate and another guy leaves early. It's hard to hit the ground running when you've got a new team.

 

[Briancuse]

If we won @BC on New Years Day we'd be in

Or Uconn, one more win and we would be in.

 

[CorduroyG]

exactly. the losses to uconn, gtown and st johns are the reason we're in this situation. we should have won all 3 games, but even just 2 of the 3 and we're a lock right now.

 

[Cusefan0307]

IF we were 12-1 in the OOC we would have been 22-10 back end top 25 right now and most likely are a 6 seed somewhere with our conference wins. This season and last season have been bubble seasons because we didn't take care of business in December.

 

[Briancuse]

We got rolled by Sc and Wisc, and St Johns, not sure who we should have scheduled.

 

[NineOneSeven]

IF we were 12-1 in the OOC we would have been 22-10 back end top 25 right now and most likely are a 6 seed somewhere with our conference wins. This season and last season have been bubble seasons because we didn't take care of business in December.

Last year our OOC got us in. Can't agree there.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Last year our OOC got us in. Can't agree there.

We still were 10-3. If we had beat St. Johns and Georgetown we would have been a lock.

 

[hoopsupstate]

We have to stop playing Big East teams. We can't beat them. JB needs to go back and play his cupcake schedule and then we might win 20 games. Anyone any good and we won't beat them when we don't have veteran players coming back. Our style is not going to be successful unless we have upper classman in the program. Unless our freshmen are top 10 worthy, we won't be good enough to beat good teams in the nonconference portion of the schedule. When was the last time we recruited a top 10 talent?

 

[SUOrangeSU]

I think the thought was Uconn was going to be better with games vs SC and Wisc would help boost the OOC with a few mid majors + Gtown to offset the cupcakes...just didn't go our way this year

 

[Madbiker]

There are 2 OOC strategies:
1. The Michigan State strategy: schedule many games against top 20 teams to give yourself multiple chances to pick up high quality wins.

2. The Wichita St strategy: schedule all cupcakes. Go 13-0 against total dogs.
Then if we go 10-8 in the ACC we have 23 wins and a tourney bid. Pick up your quality wins in conference.

Given the way our recruiting is trending...it's #2.

 

[HOFCeluck]

We have to stop playing Big East teams. We can't beat them. JB needs to go back and play his cupcake schedule and then we might win 20 games. Anyone any good and we won't beat them when we don't have veteran players coming back. Our style is not going to be successful unless we have upper classman in the program. Unless our freshmen are top 10 worthy, we won't be good enough to beat good teams in the nonconference portion of the schedule. When was the last time we recruited a top 10 talent?

Um, These Big East squads WERE cupcakes.

 

[Alsacs]

Our schedule was fine.

We played only one road game.
Played 2 BE teams at home.
Played crap UConn at MSG.
Played South Carolina in Brooklyn.

It wasn't a hard schedule. We had the rotation off and JB adjusted in conference play because these tough games prepared us for conference play.

 

[Delmar]

Historically, we have been a very good November and December team. This year is the aberration. We used to play cup cakes for the most part, with a tourney thrown in. I like our schedule now much better. I like playing Georgetown, Villanova, St. John's.

It helps if we win.

 

[PoppyHart]

There are 2 OOC strategies:
1. The Michigan State strategy: schedule many games against top 20 teams to give yourself multiple chances to pick up high quality wins.

2. The Wichita St strategy: schedule all cupcakes. Go 13-0 against total dogs.
Then if we go 10-8 in the ACC we have 23 wins and a tourney bid. Pick up your quality wins in conference.

Given the way our recruiting is trending...it's #2.

Substitute St. Mary's for Wichita State. Wichita played Louisville, Michigan State, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Colorado State, Tulsa & LSU.

 

[djorange1989]

If we won @BC on New Years Day we'd be in

exactly, even with the pathetic SJU game, and the Gtown and UConn debacles, all it would have taken was BC. 11-7 in the ACC makes you a lock, and that's what we would have been.

 

[djorange1989]

We used to roll the OOC teams every single year. How many years did we go into conference play with 0 losses or 1 loss, and how many years did we win our preseason tourney? And we beat everybody too, not just crap teams.

We've gotta get back to that. Get some depth in the program so we have some continuity and we aren't starting from scratch every time a couple guys graduate and another guy leaves early. It's hard to hit the ground running when you've got a new team.

well said. I think the combo of guys leaving early, whiffing on a few kids and NCAA sanctions has killed us. We need to get back to being Syracuse.

 

[cuse10]

They have Kansas, Georgetown UConn, B1G/ACC challenge on the schedule already for the OOC.

 

[MGP]

2. The Wichita St strategy: schedule all cupcakes. Go 13-0 against total dogs.
Then if we go 10-8 in the ACC we have 23 wins and a tourney bid. Pick up your quality wins in conference.

most likely don't go 10-8 in conference without testing yourselves somewhere along the line beforehand...

 

[Knicks411]

Our schedule was fine, we just played really poorly for 2 months