Mid(conference)-Season Check-Up
- Thread starter NENick
- Start date
I'm typically on the optimistic side and understand there is plenty of doom & gloom right now, but I hope the realists will lead this discussion.
To start off, I will point out that 2 years ago the eventual national champion UCONN Huskies lost 6 of 8 during a mid-season slump.
To start off, I will point out that 2 years ago the eventual national champion UCONN Huskies lost 6 of 8 during a mid-season slump.
Didn’t realize that. Not saying we are them. But dang.
No matter what happens tomorrow night I’m confident that these guys will adjust and right the ship. The back half of our schedule is a definitely more favorable than the front half. Everything we did yesterday is 100% correctable.
Funny I was curious and looked this up. They lost by 11 to a St. Johns at home that ended up 18-15 overall.
Yesterday's loss is still awful/inexcusable to end up a route but I'll be surprised if KSU doesn't end up similar.
I also don't think ISU is on that UConn team's level for talent.
Hopefully they work through some things and can etch out a 3ish seed and make a run.
The 'Well if ISU wants to get to a Final Four, they need to get it together!' stuff is wild, like it's just a done deal.
Good perspective! I hope we can figure it out like they did.
PS. I would just like to sincerely thank ALL Cyclone Fanatics; I haven’t seen one instance of the infamous “but our 2000 team lost to Drake!!” reference as a means to awkwardly justify that turd of an effort yesterday. And for that, I am thankful
I'm going with 13-7. Right now they are 3-3 without Milan. I'll say they'll go 3-3 until he comes back for the Houston game.
After that we'll probably lose at least 1 or 2 more because it will take everyone a few games to integrate back to pre-injury form.
So we are looking at likely Big 12 tourney time before we look competent again.
I think we end up a 3 seed with the possibility of falling to a 4.
After that we'll probably lose at least 1 or 2 more because it will take everyone a few games to integrate back to pre-injury form.
So we are looking at likely Big 12 tourney time before we look competent again.
I think we end up a 3 seed with the possibility of falling to a 4.
Guys looked uninterested in a trap game between two huge road games. Happens. Goal needs to be to ramp back up to be peaking again in March.
Milan will be a key. Will he come back in form or will he struggle to find his shot after the injury and layoff? I like Heise as a player, but he’s just not the level of player we need to win games in this league. If he has to get more than 5 minutes a game, we’re in trouble. I’d really like to see most of his minutes go to Watson when Milan gets back cause he has the athleticism to play in the conference even if he’s not a huge scoring threat.
I think we drop @KU, @UH, and maybe @KSU if they continue to find this game they didn’t have to start the season. I think they finish 14-6 and probably a 3 seed or so?
Milan will be a key. Will he come back in form or will he struggle to find his shot after the injury and layoff? I like Heise as a player, but he’s just not the level of player we need to win games in this league. If he has to get more than 5 minutes a game, we’re in trouble. I’d really like to see most of his minutes go to Watson when Milan gets back cause he has the athleticism to play in the conference even if he’s not a huge scoring threat.
I think we drop @KU, @UH, and maybe @KSU if they continue to find this game they didn’t have to start the season. I think they finish 14-6 and probably a 3 seed or so?
My take is pretty much 100% of @Clonehomer and @NoCreativity takes above. Hard to see us right now finishing any better than three more losses, let's pessimistically drop one more too, so 20-8 (13-7), probably 5th-ish in the Big 12. Not "bad" objectively of course, but not what you'd hope from a 15-1 (5-0) start with the only loss on a buzzer-beater to the #1 team.
Our problems are way beyond Milan being out. Too many guys who are near-zeros on offense (Heise, Chatfield, Jackson, Watson) or who evidently can't see the floor at all (Nojus), and the talent/effort/focus/execution/physicality on defense in the frontcourt that was so critical to the previous three years is just not there this year.
Our problems are way beyond Milan being out. Too many guys who are near-zeros on offense (Heise, Chatfield, Jackson, Watson) or who evidently can't see the floor at all (Nojus), and the talent/effort/focus/execution/physicality on defense in the frontcourt that was so critical to the previous three years is just not there this year.
See, I don’t think it’s much more than Milan being out. We have a bunch of guys that have a specific role to play. And they don’t do much beyond those. We have a couple of guys that can drive to the basket, but they need that shooter out there to keep defenses honest. We don’t have that right now. So Milan’s absence means that Gilbert is seeing so much more traffic in the lane than he saw before. CuJo was so great as a 6th man because he could come in and give energy when the starters (on both sides) start to slow down just a bit. So now that he’s starting, he’s wearing out earlier and we don’t get that same mismatch.
For as deep as we say this team is, we’re really not. We have 7 or 8 guys that have a particular set of skills. You take one of those away and there isn’t a replacement on the bench with those same skills and you end up with a hole in the lineup that you just can’t fill. Maybe Chatfield could replace Jackson, but I don’t see any other starter that could go down and not mess up the entire rotation, just like we’ve seen.
I said we’d drop the Houston game because I thought we would even when we were 5-0. The Kansas game tomorrow would have probably been a win with Milan in my mind. The KSU game may still be a win if the guys come back to form. But, I’d be fine with another clunker if that means being focused on the postseason.
Respectfully, to finish 20-8 would be crushing. It would be as disappointing of season as we would have ever had - relative to expectations. And not preseason expectations (because preseason expectations and rankings are beyond stupid) - but broad spectrum expectations (after the 15-1 start) from basically everyone (including the metrics) that this was indeed one of 4/5 best teams in college basketball.
I'm not sure where you're reading this as something other than a more extreme version of the same thing I already said.
There is a long way to go. Houston and Kansas lost yesterday as well. I think we will have a better feel on the trajectory of this team when Milan returns.
Regular season conference title seems to be off the table. But real basketball starts in March. Figure out the issues now to make a run in March
Regular season conference title seems to be off the table. But real basketball starts in March. Figure out the issues now to make a run in March
We won’t finish 20-8 though. If we end the regular season at 20-8, yes that’s disappointing. But people will care more about the final record. Do we then finish with 9 or 10 losses? If we then end up at something like 28-9 or 28-10, then the regular season record probably doesn’t bother people anymore.
This is maybe the most disappointing part of yesterday to me (along with a #1 seed likely being off the table too). With Houston dropping one at home and Kansas losing again, without that stinker yesterday we'd have been in descent position to catch Houston, with KU pretty deep in the rearview.
You said "not bad objectively" referencing 20-8. I think that would indeed be objectively very bad
IMHO, of course.
Yep certainly fair.
Like the Kane/Ejim year; that team REALLY sputtered in conference. And had Naz's prayer against OSU not went in, we would all felt really sh*tty about our regular season conference play, record, momentum, etc. But we won the Big 12 tourney, rolled into the NCAA tourney, and had Niang not went down with injury, were poised to make a deep/memorable run.
Hopefully Milan getting back is the 'key'. I worry too about the scouting against us, and our lack of adjustments thus far. I worry that we've given up 80+ points in 7 games already (including OT, yes). We gave up 80+ only 3 times total last year. And yeah, us playing a faster offensive tempo does have something to do with that. But giving up 80+ in Hilton in back to back games doesn't make me feel warm and fuzzy.
I honestly don't care about our record or placement in the big 12 at this point. My only hope is that we can get healthy and get people right mentally before the big tournament starts. If we put our game on the floor we can beat anyone anywhere but the team I saw yesterday definitely won't make it out of the first weekend. We have 4 players that we can count on every game and 3 players in heise, jackson and Chatfield who have regressed horribly in the last month. Heise and especially Chatfield have become almost unplayable. If we can get those guys back to being any semblance of productive and get a healthy MM our main goal is definitely still on the table. If those guys don't get it back together it's gonna be too much to ask 4 players to carry us deep in March with little to no help.
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CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
We're fine, but it's all over and we'll still win it all.
