We have 20 games to get 7 more wins...

hatfieldms

All-Conference
Feb 20, 2008
8,641
2,216
113
To finish over .500 for the season. I think we can do it, and that would be a big step forward for Ray and the dogs, all things considered.
 
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Sutterkane

Redshirt
Jan 23, 2007
5,100
0
0
Beat UMES
Split with UGA
Split with UM
Split with Auburn
Beat USCe

That's 5...

not happening:
UK
Vandy
Mizzou
Florida

realtimerpi projects we'll finish 18-12 at this point and that's before tonight's win. That should be good enough for NIT methinks. That also counts for us beating UT, Florida, and Arkansas(okay...).

So far Jackson State is our best win at 118 RPI.

We're improving(we had nowhere to go but up), but so far I'm not "impressed".
 

DawgatAuburn

All-Conference
Apr 25, 2006
11,008
1,869
113
My preseason expectations are being exceeded. Hope we can keep it up. I never saw us winning 10 OOC games, which we have a great chance to do with Maryland Eastern Shore next week. UNLV is winnable but it is basically a home game for them so I have low expectations. The SEC is proving to be as terrible as most thought it would be. It would be crazy to go .500 in the league and get to 20 wins in the SEC tournament. 20 puts you on the bubble, right? *******

Originally Posted by DawgatAuburn

I am seeing 11 on the low side and 17 as a max.

I think we no doubt lose to Utah State and Florida Gulf Coast. We beat Prairie View, Kennesaw, Valley, Jackson State, SE LA, FAMU, and MD Eastern Shore. That's 7-2. The rest are tossups to me - TCU, Loyola, and South Florida. I do think if we lose to USF then we will beat Santa Clara, but if we beat USF we will lose to Vegas. That's what I would rather do in that tournament. Want to see our guys play Vegas in Vegas, even if it's the Orleans and not the T&M. I would take 2-2 out of all of those tossups right now, so 9-4, but either 8-5 or 7-6 is possible heading into the league.

Kentucky twice, Florida, Tennessee, Missouri, and LSU are almost certain losses so that's 0-6. Everything else is winnable I think. Ole Miss twice, Auburn twice, Georgia twice, and TAMU twice. Need to be 4-4 out of that. Bama and Vandy on the road will be tough to get either, but Bama is going to be bad too outside of Releford. Arkansas and USC at home balance that out. I would again take a split of those and go 2-2. That's 6-12 in the league.

I think worst case we go 7-6 in the OOC, then go 4-14 in conference play. Best I can envision is 9-4 OOC and 8-8 in the league but 17 is a huge stretch. We are more than likely in that 13-15 range overall.
 

DawgatAuburn

All-Conference
Apr 25, 2006
11,008
1,869
113
Not impressed by what? That we're not a top 10 team? You are certainly entitled to feel however you want, but the only way I can see someone not being impressed thus far is if the expectations for this team were way out of whack. I get what you are saying to an extent. We don't pass "the eye test" with flying colors, but we're doing pretty well on the results test.
 

DerHntr

All-Conference
Sep 18, 2007
15,819
2,741
113
We aren't a good basketball team but we are improving and exceeding what a lot thought we could do at this point. I like that a lot.

My biggest hope is that Ray is building the right kind of team chemistry and culture that will turn us into a tough out when we increase the raw talent each year.
 

Shamoan

Redshirt
Jun 27, 2013
12,466
0
0
rr is gonna get us to 500 i think. we arent "good" but we are certainly improving, which is all we can really ask for at this point. i still think we need some bodies/options, but i like where we are headed. the nit would be phenomenal with this team.


if these points have not convinced you, consider these additional points:

1. moisture is the essence of wetness
2. wetness is the essence of beauty

 

mstateglfr

All-American
Feb 24, 2008
16,006
5,845
113
Why not? It allows for more practice and games.
Ive heard programs do sometimes lose money by playing in the CIT- oh 17ing well. Lets lose a little money to get some more practice and games.
 

Dawg1976

All-Conference
Aug 22, 2012
8,139
2,646
113
Maybe we are just debating semantics but I am 'hopeful' and feeling positive with where we stand at this point. We are improving and fighting hard. That's all I ask for right now.
 

Hail Storm Dawg

Redshirt
Dec 22, 2013
4
0
0
I think we surprise some people if we keep grinding like we have been lately. Seems like a switch has flipped all of the sudden.
 

engie

Freshman
May 29, 2011
10,756
92
48
Everything has gone prettymuch how I thought(hoped) it would in the preseason. I didn't really think we would lose to TCU, but I did think we would lose one of the previous two games -- so the net effect is basically zero. I still think 17-13 is a pretty real possibility and wouldn't be shocked to go 1-2 games better or worse than that.

As of today, Alabama, Tennessee, aTm, USCe, and Kentucky(not that this one matters) are all behind where I thought they might be. Vandy, LSU, Mizzou, Auburn, Florida, and Georgia are about as expected. Ole Miss(other than last night's debacle) and Arky are a bit ahead of expected.

Overall, there's not really that many "guaranteed losses" on the SEC slate. Mizzou, UK(2x), and Florida are all that I'm ready to concede on the front end. @LSU seems probable as well -- but crazy stuff tends to happen in our games against them. We will be an underdog to Arky -- but they come to Starkville -- and we've beaten them at home basically ever since they were still a national power.

Here's the thing -- I think we've got to win 20 to get into the NIT. We scheduled for a continued rebuild this year -- not a potential postseason(yes, there is a huge difference). As of today, WarrenNolan predicts us to go 17-13(7-11) which is currently only good for RPI #173.
 

kired

All-Conference
Aug 22, 2008
7,017
2,332
113
I'm proud as anyone about our record... but for some reason I can't help thinking this will end like 2012 football. I guess since we've played the 300th ranked schedule I'm cautiously optimistic.

I felt like we could have a winning season this year and I believe we're on track to do that. January is so big this year. Both games vs UM, Auburn and TX A&M at home, a frustrated Bama team on a short road trip. If we could manage to get 4 SEC wins in January that would be huge. 4 more wins the rest of the schedule and we've doubled our SEC wins from last year.
 

patdog

Heisman
May 28, 2007
56,848
26,250
113
One very big difference between this and 2012 football. SEC basketball <<< SEC football.
 

IBleedMaroonDawg

All-American
Nov 12, 2007
25,551
9,758
113
I am going to wait till the end of the season before I am satisfied or not. At the point we are at right now, I am looking more for overall improvement than wins and losses. I do reserve the right to raise hell about performances like our shittastic performance against TCU.

You can't be too disappointed about the fact that our record is 9-2. League play is a grind… we will see how they and Coach Ray handle it.
 

Sutterkane

Redshirt
Jan 23, 2007
5,100
0
0
I have no expectations except for improvement. As stated though, we had plenty of room for it after last year. If we had regressed somehow, we should be potentially looking to get rid of Ray sooner rather than later. Last year's team was plum awful.

Impressing me would be showing we can sack up and beat a quality team and beat all the teams that we should beat. TCU is included in that. We didn't do that, so I am not impressed.