A look back at our Non Conference opponents

[nallen34]

IOWA STATE: Record 10-3, RPI-52, Key Wins-BYU(31), Florida Gulf Coast(95); Key Losses-Cincinnati(29-neutral court),@ UNLV(26), @ Iowa(75); Record vs. RPI Top 100: 2-3, Record vs RPI 101-347: 8-0.

8 of our 10 wins are against teams that don't have a winning record. Those 8 teams combine for a 35-75 record.


*all records against Division 1 opponents only

WIN Southern: Record 6-6, RPI-123, Key Win-@ Texas A&M

WIN Alabama A&M: Record 4-8, RPI-306

WIN Campbell: Record 4-8, RPI-253

WIN North Carolina A&T: Record 6-9, RPI-189

LOSS # 21Cincinnati: Record 13-2, RPI-29, Key Wins-Oregon(neutral court), Iowa State (neutral court), Alabama, @ Pitt, Xavier (neutral court); Key Losses-New Mexico, St John’s

LOSS # 24 UNLV: Record 12-2, RPI-26, Key Wins-Iowa State(neutral court), @ Cal, UNI; Key Losses-Oregon, @ UNC

WIN BYU: Record 11-4, RPI-31, Key Wins-Utah; Key Losses-Notre Dame(neutral court), @ Baylor, Florida State(neutral court), @ Iowa State

WIN Florida Gulf Coast: Record 8-6, RPI-96, Key Wins-Miami; Key Losses-@ VCU, @ Duke, @ St John’s, @ Iowa State

LOSS Iowa: Record 11-4, RPI-75, Key Wins-Iowa State, UNI; Key Losses-Wichita State(neutral court), Indiana, @ Michigan, @ Virginia Tech

WIN Nebraska-Omaha: Record 3-13, RPI-318

WIN Drake: Record 5-8, RPI-206

WIN UMKC: Record 3-12, RPI-251

WIN Yale: Record 4-11, RPI-196

It’s a good thing our 3 losses come against top 100 RPI teams considering the teams that we have beaten are pretty bad. BYU sounds like a good win but it’s really not considering the fact that the only decent team that they have beaten is Utah(88) who isn’t even that good. They have lost to every good-decent team that they have played. Florida Gulf Coast shouldn’t be a top 100 RPI team, the only reason that they are is because they beat Miami early in the year without their leading scorer. Our 10-3 record makes us look like a deceivingly good team. IMO I don’t think we are thus far. As of late we are barely beating teams like Drake(206), UMKC(251), and Yale(196). Granted we are also barely getting beat by the teams that we have. I honestly think we just play to the level of our competition. If we stop letting teams dictate how well we play and just play our game, I think we will play much better and be in the NCAA tournament discussion at the end of the season.

[dahliaclone]

WE ARE WINNING THE GAMES WE SHOULD! My God some fans expect blowouts every single game. We are NOT a bad team

[alarson]

WE ARE WINNING THE GAMES WE SHOULD! My God some fans expect blowouts every single game. We are NOT a bad team

The problem that has many a bit worried is that we've had some scares against some bad teams. You can recover from those against bad teams, but as Hoiberg said, you do that against big 12 competition and youre in an unrecoverable hole. We'll know soon enough how we do against the mid-range.

[Cydkar]

WE ARE WINNING THE GAMES WE SHOULD! My God some fans expect blowouts every single game. We are NOT a bad team

That's like bragging that I have all 'C's on my report card. I don't think we know what we have.

[dahliaclone]

The problem that has many a bit worried is that we've had some scares against some bad teams. You can recover from those against bad teams, but as Hoiberg said, you do that against big 12 competition and youre in an unrecoverable hole. We'll know soon enough how we do against the mid-range.

Scares? Yet we won. Yale by ten. UMKC by 15 on the road. In state rival Drake on neutral court by nine. Florida Gulf Coast by 11. Unlike recent years, like last year, where we lost to Drake and UNI for instance. That has NOT happened this year.

I don't think we're great. But we are NOT a bad team. Period. EVERY team has a few games they get 'scared', not just ISU so that argument hold no water with me.

[Rhoadhoused]

That's like bragging that I have all 'C's on my report card. I don't think we know what we have.

This is how I feel. Losing to every good team you played, beating every bad team, beating one decent team at home (BYU), and losing to one decent team on the road (Iowa) could not make this a more neutral start. We have done nothing yet except not shoot ourselves in the foot. If we play well in the Big 12 we will go to the NCAA tourney. If we win the games we are favored only and lose the games we are underdogs we won't make it, IMO. At the very least we will be on the fringe of the bubble.

At this point I don't feel as though this team can make a run the way I did last year, but to be fair I didn't feel that until late in the season.

[heitclone]

We looked rough last year at this time as well. In fact, our losses this year are better than our losses last year. I'm not saying we are better or even as good as last year, only that we don't know much about this team yet. Just like we didn't last season through non conference play. Honestly, I don't know how good this team is but I think we saw last year that the non conference doesn't tell us everything.

[klamath632]

WE ARE WINNING THE GAMES WE SHOULD! My God some fans expect blowouts every single game. We are NOT a bad team

Seriously? This team's defense is BAD. I'm talking "Nicholas Cage movies" bad or "Vending Machine Sandwiches" bad.

[wonkadog]

Scares? Yet we won. Yale by ten. UMKC by 15 on the road. In state rival Drake on neutral court by nine. Florida Gulf Coast by 11. Unlike recent years, like last year, where we lost to Drake and UNI for instance. That has NOT happened this year.

I don't think we're great. But we are NOT a bad team. Period. EVERY team has a few games they get 'scared', not just ISU so that argument hold no water with me.

Completely agree. I think most on this board would agree that we know we are not a bottom 3 team in the league which is a good starting point. From there we can have disagreements but some seem to be insinuating that we are going to finish towards the bottom of the standings. Look at our home games if you want to get some optimism going. Even in bad years we have been really really good at home.

[gocubs2118]

That's like bragging that I have all 'C's on my report card. I don't think we know what we have.

Hey now, Cs get degrees.

[wonkadog]

Seriously? This team's defense is BAD. I'm talking "Nicholas Cage movies" bad or "Vending Machine Sandwiches" bad.

What is your prediction for our season based on our horrible defense? It's easy to complain about one aspect of this team (and I agree, defense has looked bad) but how much is that going to hurt us in the standings?

[ISUTKD]

Seriously? This team's defense is BAD. I'm talking "Nicholas Cage movies" bad or "Vending Machine Sandwiches" bad.

So was last Years team until CFH SLAMMED the table...

[bawbie]

Seriously? This team's defense is BAD. I'm talking "Nicholas Cage movies" bad or "Vending Machine Sandwiches" bad.

The numbers just don't back that up. kenpom.com has us at #45 overall, with a defensive efficiency of #81, putting us 6th defensively in the BigXII. We are a pretty good offensive team (#32) and a mediocre defensive team. Our defense is not "BAD".

[klamath632]

What is your prediction for our season based on our horrible defense? It's easy to complain about one aspect of this team (and I agree, defense has looked bad) but how much is that going to hurt us in the standings?

Luckily, most the league seems to be on the order of "Sharing a Hotel Room on Company Trips" bad, so I'm predicting no worse than an 8-10 finish in the league, and probably closer to 10-8.

[gocubs2118]

The numbers just don't back that up. kenpom.com has us at #45 overall, with a defensive efficiency of #81, putting us 6th defensively in the BigXII. We are a pretty good offensive team (#32) and a mediocre defensive team. Our defense is not "BAD".

Some people like to use their eyes instead of stats, for a reason I can't explain.