can we?

JHutch · 01-13-2007, 09:17 PM

can we make a serious run this year based on what we have seen in the first 3 conference games? Can we get in the top half of the big 12, even top 4? i only see this team getting tougher, smarter, stronger, and more determined as the season goes on. this poses the question...can we get a decent conference record and get an at-large bid in the NCAA? I still think its a stretch, but if the team keeps this up, its more than plausible

ISUFan22 · 01-13-2007, 09:20 PM

Can we? I think we've learned to expect the unexpected from this team.

Maybe we should continue doubting them...it's working well so far!

cyclonedcm · 01-13-2007, 09:22 PM

Maybe we should expect our teams to do well every year... I think we have a good coaching staff and good players.

A-town Cy · 01-13-2007, 09:22 PM

Too bad we didn't win today, we'd be 3-0 and looking at 2 very winnable games this week to go 5-0 in conference and sitting pretty in the Big 12 rankings...but yeah. Who knows, maybe we win today, and get cocky and go lose at Colorado.

I think we can get into the tournament, we need to win out at home, that'd help a lot. @ Texas A&M, and @ OK St., @ Texas, @ Kansas our all tough and most likely losses. Toughest home game remaining is Oklahoma late in the season.

JHutch · 01-13-2007, 09:27 PM

another encouraging tid-bit is that we didnt play up to potential today andwe were a point away from beating the 6th best team in the country. make some more free throws...a couple smarter shots....and shoot, we would of beat them by double digits...so i think theres even better things to come

CY ST8T · 01-13-2007, 09:39 PM

Why are A & M, Okie State, Kansas and Texas automatic losses? Obviously we have proven we can hang on the road with a team like Ohio State and at home with Kansas. I wouldn't be shocked to have us pull one or more of those out.

mwitt · 01-13-2007, 09:45 PM

With as young as the team is, we still have to take it one game at a time. For as close as we are to being 3-0 in conference right now, we're just as close to being 1-2.

Prone2Clone · 01-13-2007, 09:46 PM

It's great to see the improvement we've seen since the holidays...I'll be happy if that continues whether we make a the NCAAs or not. A whole lot of us said that we'd be very lucky to finish .500 this season a month ago. Appears as though we have a pretty good shot at besting that as long as nothing catastrophic happens.

Drive4cy · 01-13-2007, 09:52 PM

90 % chance of qualifying for the NIT
65% chance of qualifying for the NCAA

I think the next 2 games will be telling. A NCAA tournament team would win the next two.

JHutch · 01-13-2007, 10:29 PM

if we cant beat colorado then throw all this talk out the window

ISUCY11 · 01-13-2007, 10:33 PM

with the defensive mindset we now have, I think we can beat anyone on any given night. Instead of being scared of giving up points every time down the court as I was in the WM days, I now expect us to stop the opposition every time. I'm disappointed when we don't. When our offense starts hitting, we will be a scary team.

hiwhatis · 01-13-2007, 10:55 PM

If we beat Colorado and K State than I'll say we have a decent shot at the big dance. If we make it that far it will be an incredible example of what a good coach can do for a team. Last year we had far more experience and talent than this year but I'd argue that this team is easilly better than that talent wasted squad with no discipline, defense, or coach!

Drive4cy · 01-13-2007, 11:21 PM

I think people underrated the talent we currently have. With the exception of a pure PG (Blalock) and experience(we're getting there), I like this years team better. Much rather have Mike Taylor than Curtis Stinson. Our bigs are better this year. Cory Johnson would have played A LOT last season it was so bad. Our bench is solid as well. Dodie "downtown" Dunsen has proved to be big time. There's no need to bring up how good Wesley J is. Marsden is a safe, reliable player who isn't being forced into big minutes like last yr. GMAC is one helluva coach, but he's got some tools to work with thanks to him and his staff's last second recruiting. (laughable ppl said this guy couldn't recruit)

A-town Cy · 01-13-2007, 11:25 PM

Originally Posted by CY ST8T

Why are A & M, Okie State, Kansas and Texas automatic losses? Obviously we have proven we can hang on the road with a team like Ohio State and at home with Kansas. I wouldn't be shocked to have us pull one or more of those out.

Didn't say automatic, said "most likely" which isn't automatic. The question was if we can still make the tourney, and I think we can, win the games we should, and we can. We won't be favored in any of those 4 road games I mentioned.

bawbie · 01-14-2007, 12:22 AM

Originally Posted by A-town Cy

Didn't say automatic, said "most likely" which isn't automatic. The question was if we can still make the tourney, and I think we can, win the games we should, and we can. We won't be favored in any of those 4 road games I mentioned.

I think we need to win at least one, if not two, of those tough road games to get into the tourney. Think about it, right now we have ZERO wins over tournament teams. We need quality wins, and we only have a couple more good teams coming into Hilton.

Close losses to OSU and KU don't get you into the tourney, wins do.

Someone above posted percentages. Here's my take:
NIT 85%
NCAA 10%

I think we'll make the NIT, but we just don't have the resume to go dancing. Our best chance is to win the conference tournament, which will be possible with our style of play and our continued improvement.