14 in ESPN/Coaches
Baylor at 7
If we win on Wednesday, we should be around 8 or so. Definitely top 10 heading into SEC play.
Baylor at 7
If we win on Wednesday, we should be around 8 or so. Definitely top 10 heading into SEC play.
Polls are out...
- Thread starter Coastdog28
- Start date
This is one of the bigger games weve played since the LRob days. A win would be huge come tourney time.
Andy Katz's take:
No. 17 Mississippi State vs. No. 7 Baylor (ESPN2, 9 p.m. ET in Dallas)
What’s at stake for the Bulldogs: Mississippi State can take a major step forward in its development in becoming a legitimate contender in the SEC with a neutral-court win over Baylor. In terms of overall talent, the Bears will be the closest match to Kentucky the Bulldogs will face over the next two months. Mississippi State can match Baylor at each position, even off the bench. A win should put the Bulldogs into top 10 range heading into the New Year.
What’s at stake for the Bears: Baylor has dismissed each challenger it has faced so far this season, winning on the road at Northwestern and BYU, beating Saint Mary’s and West Virginia in Las Vegas as well as San Diego State at home. Mississippi State poses the final test for the Bears before Big 12 play begins, and they’ll be the toughest it has faced yet.
Andy Katz's take:
No. 17 Mississippi State vs. No. 7 Baylor (ESPN2, 9 p.m. ET in Dallas)
What’s at stake for the Bulldogs: Mississippi State can take a major step forward in its development in becoming a legitimate contender in the SEC with a neutral-court win over Baylor. In terms of overall talent, the Bears will be the closest match to Kentucky the Bulldogs will face over the next two months. Mississippi State can match Baylor at each position, even off the bench. A win should put the Bulldogs into top 10 range heading into the New Year.
What’s at stake for the Bears: Baylor has dismissed each challenger it has faced so far this season, winning on the road at Northwestern and BYU, beating Saint Mary’s and West Virginia in Las Vegas as well as San Diego State at home. Mississippi State poses the final test for the Bears before Big 12 play begins, and they’ll be the toughest it has faced yet.
Our loss to Akron still looks bad compared to everyone in front of us. I agree that I don't think we will move up too terribly much. I think maybe 10th.Either way I don't care. A win over Baylor and Utah St. to finish 14-1 in nonconference play puts us in about as good a position as we could have hoped for going into conference play. </p>
as he was bitching about the Akron loss. (They showed a graphic during the Baylor game of the six undefeated teams left in D-I)
Would you rather be 14-1 with a loss to Akron or 14-1 with a loss to Baylor?
I'd take the former every year. A win over a top ten team is worth more in the terms of PR/RPI than a single bad loss come March.
This is a team that has enough talent to overcome bad games against the Auburn, South Carolina and (I love typing this
Tennessee's of the SEC. If we can split with Alabama, and win the games we're supposed to in the SEC, a slip up in Baton Rouge, Fayetteville or Oxford isn't going to hurt. No one is going unbeaten in Division I basketball ever again - and some people don't realize how hard it is to end up with just 4 or 5 losses. If we beat Baylor, a 12-4 SEC record would put us at 26-5 heading into the SEC Tournament. That would tie the Final Four team in number of wins and we wouldn't have even played a postseason game.
Acceptable Losses from here on out (4) but Wins would be HUGE.
Baylor
at Alabama
at Florida
Kentucky
Losses that Will not kill us if we dropped 1 or 2 (5)
Alabama
at Ole Miss
at LSU
at Arkansas
at Vanderbilt
Games we simply cannot lose (8)
Both Auburns
Home games with Ole Miss, LSU and Arkansas
South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia
Would you rather be 14-1 with a loss to Akron or 14-1 with a loss to Baylor?
I'd take the former every year. A win over a top ten team is worth more in the terms of PR/RPI than a single bad loss come March.
This is a team that has enough talent to overcome bad games against the Auburn, South Carolina and (I love typing this
Tennessee's of the SEC. If we can split with Alabama, and win the games we're supposed to in the SEC, a slip up in Baton Rouge, Fayetteville or Oxford isn't going to hurt. No one is going unbeaten in Division I basketball ever again - and some people don't realize how hard it is to end up with just 4 or 5 losses. If we beat Baylor, a 12-4 SEC record would put us at 26-5 heading into the SEC Tournament. That would tie the Final Four team in number of wins and we wouldn't have even played a postseason game. Acceptable Losses from here on out (4) but Wins would be HUGE.
Baylor
at Alabama
at Florida
Kentucky
Losses that Will not kill us if we dropped 1 or 2 (5)
Alabama
at Ole Miss
at LSU
at Arkansas
at Vanderbilt
Games we simply cannot lose (8)
Both Auburns
Home games with Ole Miss, LSU and Arkansas
South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia
There probably will only be 5 or 6 teams in the country that won't suffer a bad loss or two by the end of the season so I think it will all even out but we definitely do not need many more of them. Namely we don't need to lose any games to Auburn, Arkansas, South Carolina, or UT. Fortunately, the SEC does not have as many "RPI killer" type teams as it has had in recent years.