Message board fodder

[Halldan]

Combining my two posts this last month re the record


vs
Saint Peter's
W easy win


vs
Wagner
W easy win


vs
Fairfield
W easy win


vs
Monmouth
W easy win


vs
New Haven
W easy win


Neutral
NC State
L competitive loss


vs
Central Connecticut State
W easy win


at
Kansas State
L non competitive loss


vs
Rutgers
W competitive win

7-2 with two more games scheduled in Hawaii


And then


At Providence
L

Vs Villanova
W

At Marquette
L

Vs Creighton
L

At Georgetown
L

Vs UConn
L

Vs Butler
W

At St. John's
L

At DePaul
L

Vs Xavier
W

Vs Marquette
L

At Villanova
L

At Creighton
L

Vs Providence
W

At Butler
W

Vs DePaul
W

Vs Georgetown
W

At Conn
L

At Xavier
W

Vs St. John's
L


That's 15-14 with two Hawaii games to be played.

2 questions.

Almost to a man no one thought our early non conference wins would be easy. Have you changed your opinion?

And of course does anyone still think 8 Big East wins is unreachable?

 

[HallGuy2323]

I truly have no idea. It seems there is better talent on this years roster. But I’m not sure how much more or how it will relate to other high major competition. I truly can’t guess our outcomes. I think the days of expecting blowout wins against the local low majors is off the table.

My biggest question is whether they can become an actual team. So many new players having to learn weaknesses and strengths. It’s a difficult job for Sha and the players.

I worry that as the gap in college athletics grows regarding talent drifting towards money and only money that players only view SHU as a stop gap to a bigger payday.

And how do you get that bigger payday? By playing selfish basketball in order to showcase your individual skill to the next suitor. Which of course leads to lack of cohesion as a team and a mess on the court regardless of increased roster wise talent or not. Right now that’s where I think we are until we can prove to be a consistent winner that will treat the program as such.

 

[Harty9]

Nice anticipation! If we go 8-1, I'll get excited.
6-3 disappointed,
5-4 not.

 

[HALL85]

We may get one or two easy wins, but given 11 new players and playing 10+ during the OOC, I expect a lot of uneven play, fouls and turnovers.

Until I see this team play, I’m sticking with coaches poll. BE games will be closer but unless Hines develops quickly, still feels like a 4-6 win team.

8-3
5-15

13-18

 

[dehere23]

Combining my two posts this last month re the record


vs
Saint Peter's
W easy win


vs
Wagner
W easy win


vs
Fairfield
W easy win


vs
Monmouth
W easy win


vs
New Haven
W easy win


Neutral
NC State
L competitive loss


vs
Central Connecticut State
W easy win


at
Kansas State
L non competitive loss


vs
Rutgers
W competitive win

7-2 with two more games scheduled in Hawaii


And then


At Providence
L

Vs Villanova
W

At Marquette
L

Vs Creighton
L

At Georgetown
L

Vs UConn
L

Vs Butler
W

At St. John's
L

At DePaul
L

Vs Xavier
W

Vs Marquette
L

At Villanova
L

At Creighton
L

Vs Providence
W

At Butler
W

Vs DePaul
W

Vs Georgetown
W

At Conn
L

At Xavier
W

Vs St. John's
L


That's 15-14 with two Hawaii games to be played.

2 questions.

Almost to a man no one thought our early non conference wins would be easy. Have you changed your opinion?

And of course does anyone still think 8 Big East wins is unreachable?

I think our non-conference schedule is incredibly soft/easy. If we win early in Maui it gets more challenging, but that’s no given. So, if we are as good as many here think, we should win most of those pretty comfortably. I definitely think k your projections in the OOC are doable.

For league projections, I would take the under on 8 if so inclined. But we are going to cruise through the OOC if we are good enough to approach that number in league IMO.

 

[Halldan]

As I sat with a old frat brother watching the team in Walsh yesterday he said....There's no doubt we are better. How much better is hard to say this early. Plus who knows how most of the rest of the legaue looks as they are in the same boat as us. But this team does not look like a last place team. And my frat brothers not only knows the game but until a knee injury he played the game at a high level. So he knows what he is talking about.

I tend to agree with everything he said. And as Pete noted above, Hines might be the key. Each time I see him he looks better and better. And when Jerry saw him Tuesday he was very impressed.

For me short of major injuries I very much like what I have seen and think my projections above are fair and doable.

 

[shu67]

I think the talent was much better last year by a mile but they did not play well together and there were a ton of injuries. Will these kids play well together and avoid injuries? Can they play Sha's style of offense and defense? Lots of questions many have pondered on this forum.

So predicting how the season will go is an exercise in futility at this point for me at least.

 

[SPK145]

Nothing I've seen or heard changes anything with me, still say 8-3 OOC and 7-13 in conference,

 

[Halldan]

Nothing I've seen or heard changes anything with me, still say 8-3 OOC and 7-13 in conference,

That basically what I predicted. Who else agrees or disagrees.

 

[shu09]

6-5 / 5-15 (11-20)

 

[Hall84]

As I said over a month ago if we are to exceed expectations the major reason will be the play of Hines.

 

[CaptBob]

Without personally seeing the team or hearing an evaluation from a non-partisan reporter, it's difficult to make prediction. Going from past history, we should have a 6-5 or 7-4 OCC before the bottom falls out in the BE. Looks like 5-15 or 6-14 at best. Sorry--

 

[dehere23]

That basically what I predicted. Who else agrees or disagrees.

I’m around where you guys are. I think the OOC is weak. We should be at least 8-3. I think 7 is doable if the BE is as down as most expect. I said in response to another of your posts that I would sign up for 8 league wins right now. I also see a world in which 5-6 happens even without major injuries.

 

[Piratz]

Our non-conf is so incredibly soft. I went a little higher at 17-14, 8-12.

 

[Seton75]

That basically what I predicted. Who else agrees or disagrees.

9-2, 10-10

 

[TheHall87]

I've said before that if we know anything about this team before Maui, it's probably bad news.

It's not hard to envision being 5-0 and barely being tested at that point. If it's a tough 5-0 or worse we lose a game I'd say it will be a rough season. Not 7-25 rough but we won't enjoy BE play very much.

8-3 OOC is realistic as we should win one in Maui -- it might well be Chaminade in the third game. Beyond that the home schedule looks soft and RU figures to be down again so 7-0 is not only realistic but probably necessary to expect being reasonably competitive otherwise.

 

[TheHall87]

Without personally seeing the team or hearing an evaluation from a non-partisan reporter, it's difficult to make prediction. Going from past history, we should have a 6-5 or 7-4 OCC before the bottom falls out in the BE. Looks like 5-15 or 6-14 at best. Sorry--

If we lose five OOC games then we are not winning five BE games. We might get more than one.

 

[donnie-baseball]

Without personally seeing the team or hearing an evaluation from a non-partisan reporter, it's difficult to make prediction. Going from past history, we should have a 6-5 or 7-4 OCC before the bottom falls out in the BE. Looks like 5-15 or 6-14 at best. Sorry--

What past history? We have an almost entirely turned over roster, and for the 10 years or so before last year, we were nothing like last year's team.

 

[shu67]

I can't wait for the BE coaches poll.

 

[radecicco]

Who cares? Why wallow in misery. We know what the coaches poll is going to say. Let’s see what kind of team Holloway puts on the court.

 

[dehere23]

Who cares? Why wallow in misery. We know what the coaches poll is going to say. Let’s see what kind of team Holloway puts on the court.

I don’t know what the coaches poll will say this year based on where certain other BE teams project to be and the uncertainty that surrounds the middle-lower half of the league.

A poll is just that. But in years where we were projected to be solid or better, I think there are many here who were happy the preseason poll reflected as such.

Last year, Sha and the staff seemed to focus a bunch on where we were projected on the BE poll, so it was clearly something they felt the need to address. It happened at BE media day and also the whole “quite confidence/mocking stuff” leaked after Beef Steak.

It isn’t the be all end all by any stretch. But it’s definitely something both for the team and individual players that people here have always talked about or even cares about in some cases.

 

[wpc75]

Big East coaches base their poll on quality of players only.

 

[shupat08]

I don’t know what the coaches poll will say this year based on where certain other BE teams project to be and the uncertainty that surrounds the middle-lower half of the league.

A poll is just that. But in years where we were projected to be solid or better, I think there are many here who were happy the preseason poll reflected as such.

Last year, Sha and the staff seemed to focus a bunch on where we were projected on the BE poll, so it was clearly something they felt the need to address. It happened at BE media day and also the whole “quite confidence/mocking stuff” leaked after Beef Steak.

It isn’t the be all end all by any stretch. But it’s definitely something both for the team and individual players that people here have always talked about or even cares about in some cases.

Maybe this team surprises. I hope they surprise.

But yeah, in a few short years we went from looking forward to the coaches poll, to mocking the coaches poll, to no longer caring about the coaches poll lol

 

[shu67]

From the NY times /The Athletic (whatever that is) but a nice team by team breakdown and update

Big East men’s basketball preseason rankings: How UConn, St. John’s and Creighton stack up

Can Kevin Willard help take Villanova back to the top? What's in store for Xavier under Richard Pitino?

www.nytimes.com

 

[dehere23]

Big East coaches base their poll on quality of players only.

It’s based on the quality of the coaches too

 

[Seton75]

Who cares? Why wallow in misery. We know what the coaches poll is going to say. Let’s see what kind of team Holloway puts on the court.

7 out of 9....what they said in 89 and 91

 

[radecicco]

7 out of 9....what they said in 89 and 91

You made my point. The poll is nice to look at but let’s see the team Sha puts on the court. I’m optimistic that we will be a much better and competitive team. Not sure how that will stack up in W/Ls.

 

[Halldan]

In the words of our founder here Tom K

We'll be going whatever and 1 this season. Book it!