State 23rd in AP Hoops poll
- Thread starter 615dawg
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On the list of things I never expected to see over the next few months, State cracking the Top 25 polls in men’s basketball was pretty high up there. I’m both happy and frankly amazed
Historically, it seems some teams and/or coaches get the benefit of the doubt more that others when it comes to rankings. Is part of this early ranking from Jans having more respect from the rankers that Howland did? I know the biggest is being undefeated and having beat some good teams. But not sure we would have been "noticed" this quickly in years past even if we'd performed the same.
I wondered that too. Hard to say because Howland's teams always seemed to lose a game they weren't supposed to by this point. But Jans's reputation for getting the most out of his teams may be a factor.
Being the #2 defense is the factor. Howland's teams did not absolutely shut down other teams although they played hard. Jans D is impressive, will be interesting to see how it works in the SEC.
I will not lie to y’all, I thought we were going to really suck, like not even sniff the NIT. Was always a fan of the Jans hire but thought we were in an awkward place with personnel this year and it would take a couple of seasons before things got rolling.
I still don’t know exactly how good we are but dang it’s fun to finally feel like we are headed somewhere in men’s basketball. If not this year then very soon.
I still don’t know exactly how good we are but dang it’s fun to finally feel like we are headed somewhere in men’s basketball. If not this year then very soon.
Long way to go yet but so far this season is shaping up to be the final indictment of the Howland era.
In the previous three seasons we lost at least 3 games prior to conference play. We now have not lost any with four remaining. Even more remarkable that we have done this in a year that we were primed to take a solid step back with what we lost and had coming back.