I tempered my expectations after Orlando, and, it’s just one game on the road against a decent OU team, but I think this year is unfortunately poised for disappointment (at least for me). I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t see us making the tourney, we should be able to make the NIT.
Offensively, we still really struggle to score against competent teams. Now in year 3, this has become a pattern unfortunately. I was fine with rock fights the first two years given what TJ was building from, but in year 3 I’d like to see a semblance of offensive basketball (I did appreciate them pushing the pace some yesterday and attempting to score in transition). Especially because we aren’t as strong defensively this year.
I had hopes this year because of the strong recruiting class and in year 3 TJ can make a leap to the next level (5 games over .500 in league, 3 or 4 seed in the tourney). Unfortunately, I don’t see this team making those strides.
We’re seeing the challenges with building a team with high school recruits, this year. Milan has some serious deficiencies in his game right now (defense, physicality, and creating his own shot). Omaha (and for sure the others) look like they’ll be non-contributors.