Better team - this year or last year?

[gocubs2118]

I think this years has the potential to get a better seed and go farther in the tournament but that doesn't mean that they're better than last years team. I don't know, its pretty close right now. Like its been said, I'll let you know after this 6 game stretch.

[zach]

Not sure I agree with the MAC comparisons as lesser... Top25 has VCA, Butler, Creighton and probably could add San Diego State, Zag,...



Z

[alarson]

Our big win this year is BYU. I'll go with last year's team.

As of this point last year, im not sure our big win was much better.

[exCYtement]

As of this point last year, im not sure our big win was much better.

Totally agree. At this point last year our best win was Texas at Hilton. Im not convinced that is better than BYU. And we have to remember how absolutely horrible the Drake and UNI losses looked on our tournament resume. This year our worse loss is Iowa, and even that isn't too bad...

[Doc]

I'll say this year's team is better IF we can fix our offensive rebounds allowed problem. 12, 13, 15, 15... offensive rebounds allowed in our first four B12 games. We have more scoring options on this team. Niang gives us interior scoring we didn't have last year. Lucious has really settled into a steady, clutch player. Ball handling and defense seem to be improved from last year as well. A question that's been asked a thousand times... what if Royce came back for one more year. I honestly think we'd be talking national championship potential.

I think that with Royce this is a Top 15 team, but not a team that's likely to get to the Elite 8 or Final 4. The team would still be weak on interior defense and wouldn't have a dynamic guard court to make up for it. It would be a very good team, but not a likely Final 4 team or nything.

I think this years team is better, because I think the offense is better than last years. Despite losing Royce, I think they're a better passing and offensive rebounding team.

[gocubs2118]

Totally agree. At this point last year our best win was Texas at Hilton. Im not convinced that is better than BYU. And we have to remember how absolutely horrible the Drake and UNI losses looked on our tournament resume. This year our worse loss is Iowa, and even that isn't too bad...

Agree. At this point, I think this years team has a better resume than last years team at this time just because of the lack of bad losses. Though, this year we don't have the same amount of opportunities to get big wins as last years team.

[Doc]

Seriously? The Big 12 blows this year, it may be the worst power conference in the country this year. The Big 12 has two legit teams that deserve to be in the tourney this year, ISU is the 3rd best team in the conference no question. The rest of the teams are MAC caliber.

Troll. The Big 12 may rate as one of the worst power conferences this year because Tech and TCU are ridiculously bad. It's going to be at least a deserving 4-bid league, though. The top 8 are far, far, far better than the Pac-12 of last year. I'm not sure that league got a single BCS team in nonconference last year and still got two bids.

[im4cyclones]

KU is solid, KSU is solid. OU, ISU and OSU are all decent bubble teams. Oklahoma hasn't beat anyone, the only two teams they have played with a pulse were Gonzaga which they got blown out 72-47, and KSU, which they lost 69-60. OSU beat NC St which was a huge win, but haven't beaten anyone else. I'll concede that they are a good team, probably 3rd best over ISU. And ISU hasn't beat anyone with a pulse all year. Sure, they played KU tough and should've won which would've been insane, but they didn't. They have shown multiple times this season they can't close. I still think they are the 4th best team in the conference. That being said they got beat down by Iowa, in a game that the score was a lot closer than what actually happened on the court, and they still won by 10. And keep in mind, Iowa is probably the 8th best team in the Big 10.

Another way to look at that is we played one of our worst games (maybe the worst so far) and Iowa played one of their best. And they only won by 10. If they played 10 times this year, ISU wins the series.

[clone4good]

I am going to go with this years team. I just think we are more athletic in every single position. Should be 4-0 in conference play.

[cyclones500]

Totally agree. At this point last year our best win was Texas at Hilton. Im not convinced that is better than BYU. And we have to remember how absolutely horrible the Drake and UNI losses looked on our tournament resume. This year our worse loss is Iowa, and even that isn't too bad...

I second the motion.

It's easy to forget we were still a little uncertain after four conference games in 2012 ... ISU was 2-2, the wins over UT & A&M were encouraging, but there was a home loss to Missouri and road loss to KU. Didn't get a signature win until the last two games in January.

We thought maybe Texas was a "big win" but it turned out to be just a "good win." BYU is closest comparison, and BYU 2012-13 > Texas 2011-12 (not by much)

Compare losses overall to this point:
2011-12:
at Drake
UNI
at Michigan
Missouri
at Kansas

2012-13
vs. Cincinnati
at UNLV
at Iowa
at Kansas

[andymhallman]

I'd have to say this year's team is better because it has avoided bad losses. In fact, we have beaten all the bad teams we've played by at least 10 points, with the exception of West Virginia (which will never score 29 points in a 9-minute span for the rest of the year like they did against us).

[GrindingAway]

The hard point about this question is remembering how I felt about last years team at this same point in the season.

I remember going in to the big 12 season being kind of frustrated. Lot's of talent but didn't seem to play to their potential. Which is pretty similar to this years team going into the Big 12 season. I don't remember for sure when it turned around for me last year, but I don't think it was this early. Most of our memories of last years teams are skewed by how they finished though.

I love this years teams and I think they have potential to exceed last years team. They need to get the offensive rebounds under control like others have mentioned. I think they can get there. The other concern I have is if we are going to get and exceed the level of last years team we are going to have to have someone step up and be that guy that can we can count on when we really need a basket. Royce was obviously that guy last year. I'm not sure yet who it is this year. Will is likely the guy, but I don't have that confidence in him yet. If he can step up and be the guy that can get us a basket down the stretch when we really need it I think we can do better things than last year.

Also with the Big 12 down compared to last year I think from a record standpoint we can beat last year. I honestly don't see a game on our schedule that I don't think we can win going in.

[cyclones500]

This team is less talented than last years team but fits Hoibergs system better.

Have to give this a Like ... I don't entirely agree with this team being "less talented" (since five contributors returned this years), but it does have more of Hoiberg blueprint on it.

[bawbie]

Not sure I agree with the MAC comparisons as lesser... Top25 has VCA, Butler, Creighton and probably could add San Diego State, Zag,...



Z

None of those teams are in the MAC...

[CyFan61]

At this point last year we lost by a decent margin @ Kansas and needed a buzzer beater to beat OK ST at home. I'll say this year is so far, but with the understanding that last year's squad improved a great deal through February.