and just looking at it on paper I find it amazing that said team could be so much better than this team is predicted to be. Are we really gonna be that bad?
and just looking at it on paper I find it amazing that said team could be so much better than this team is predicted to be. Are we really gonna be that bad?[/quote]
Good point. It’s amazing how much of a difference a 4 year SR, with game, can make. We didn’t have that the past 3 seasons. We had a chance last year with Spears. But we all know how that turned out.
So a team we lost to by 1 point in OT with 8 guys, at their place, who lost one of their best players is a top 100 team… We would have beat them if we had Jones… really I would be shocked if we are not in the top 100 this year, I know that’s nothing to brag about but it’s a start. Then we can be like StillJonesing and talk about how great we are that we have a double digit RPI ;D
and just looking at it on paper I find it amazing that said team could be so much better than this team is predicted to be. Are we really gonna be that bad?[/quote]
Ya, the Johnnies are replacing pretty much their entire team. They were almost all juniors and seniors…I hope they do well again, though. It’s better when NYC has a strong team like that, and Lavin’s good people. They’ll be good, but the Big East will be ridiculous yet again, so that won’t help.
And it’s pretty tough to see we aren’t even a Top 144 team anymore. The A-10’s really kicked us in the balls, hasn’t it? We’ve gotta schedule better, since nobody gives a shit about seeing Rhode Island, Richmond, Dayton or even Xavier come to Halton, no matter how good those other teams get. Without getting some big name schools to come play us, we’re not gonna get any top recruits to come play here…I don’t care if it’s a 3-for-1 deal, without ACC or SEC or Big East teams coming to Halton every now and then, we’re gonna be screwed for a long time to come.
-G-
We will be back in the top 75 or better in this “questionable” poll next year. That’s because this season will turn out better than some of you think.
We’re gonna have to put up 22-24 wins with a schedule that has Kennesaw State, Lamar, Radford, ETSU, NC Central, ECU and Coppin State on it - not to mention the 5-6 dungpiles we have to play from the A-10.
Anything less than that keeps us in other-rans category. Even with 18-19 wins this season against that schedule, our RPI is gonna blow (probably between 80-100). We may play 1-2 teams all year in the Top 25. Hell, Marathon Oil and the Harlem Globetrotters play more Top 25 teams than that.
Without a better schedule, we’ll never be taken seriously by anybody…Get some more Big East, Big 12, ACC, SEC or even Missouri Valley or MAC teams on that schedule, coach!! Nobody’s gonna buy tickets at Halton to see these scrubs, and we’re surely not gonna get any national recognition or TV games against anyone we’re playing now. Even the best the A10 has to offer - Xavier/Charlotte or Dayton/Charlotte or Temple/Charlotte - aren’t TV games. You think ESPN gives a damn about showing those? They’ll pass that up for Duke/Winthrop or UConn/Hartford any day of the week.
I’d take a 17-15 record with teams like Cincinnati, Wake Forest, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Illinois and Maryland on the schedule and an RPI in the 40s, rather than going 20-12 against scrubs like Coppin State and still ending up 7th or 8th in the A10 and hoping for an NIT bid. You don’t get better that way. You don’t recruit better players that way. And you don’t excite your fans that way, either.
-G-