I’m still wavering on what I think our chances are realistically tonight, to do the unthinkable. And I’m trying to think back of how many games the hogs exceeded my expectations this year. I want to know which games the hogs exceeded your expectations at the time? I’m not talking Vegas oddsmakers expectations I mean your personal expectations. For me, definitely the Kentucky game on the road; auburn on the road was a big wow moment; and the Florida game. But that’s it, and those weren’t ranked opponents. Other than those, the hogs won as I expected, except for the mizzou at home and the Stillwater game disappointments. And lost as expected. Mostly we played to my expectations. Very consistent. But not overwhelming in favor of exceeding expectations. Hurry somebody post our total current quad 1 record to reassure me
I thought a 20-7, 21-6 regular season would be outstanding. Make the tournament, hopefully win a game. I don’t think I thought we had a shot at the SS, much less the EE. Beating Kentucky was a turning point for me; coming back against Auburn at home as well.
They quit updating the official NET after the tournament was selected. At that point we were 6-5. Since then Colgate and Tech were Q1. ORU was still Q3. We’re also 2-1 against Top 10 NET teams (Bama and Colgate); Baylor is #2,
Second Bama game. I didn’t expect to win it. In fact I thought they would handle us pretty easily. Instead we beat them badly.
I thought we would lose to Alabama the second time for sure.
I was worried about Texas Tech until my middle son said “Dad they only have two players”…lol…
Tonight I’m worried but I feel like we are playing with house money. We are not supposed to win, we are playing a 1 seed. I also believe that Muss will have a game plan. I don’t believe for one second that they just started prepping for Baylor. I would bet my house that GA’s have been doing film study and cut ups this entire week on Baylor.
That being said we had almost a week to prepare for ORU and that didn’t do much to help. Does Baylor have a staff as good as ours? Do they watch a ton of film or do they just try to out athlete you? Villanova played them tough and Villanova did not have a point guard. Jay Wright was having to play his off guards at the point and that really helped Baylor D them up full court.
It will be interesting to see who Baylor chooses to put Mitchell on to start the game. That kid can flat out play defense. They said he transferred from Auburn??? I never remember him at Auburn. I would guess he will be on Tate full court so that’s going to put Devo bringing the ball up.
Baylor likes to play in your face switching man to man defense. Very similar to Texas Tech. Can we take advantage of back door cuts? Can Moody play like he was last month? Can JD not fall apart and rise to the occasion? Can Williams play bully defense on their bigs?
I will say its been great having these discussions again. Go Hogs!
Ya ball handling will be huge. I’m trusting Devo in a big way. Tate has been mvp maybe in the postseason. It might come down to… it’s definitely gonna come down to Notae and Moses being aggressive, catching fire, and not turning the ball over. We got this!
We are playing Baylor tonight, not the Lakers. So, I expect us to compete. If we get excellent guard play defensively, we will give them all they want. If we play well, we will have a chance to pull the upset. If we play really well (which we haven’t done in about a month), we could beat them without sweating out the last possession. If we play just okay, we could lose big.
Baylor is really good, but they don’t present a lot of size problems for us. Could this be the game that Williams is the difference?
I’m also confident about our front line. Williams and Smith could totally have themselves another 11 rebound tourney game. We might need it. Hoping Moses and Tate are good for their usual 6 or 7 boards too.
I will be surprised but not disappointed if our post players have to shoulder the load on offense tho. I’m thinking we need this to be a shootout with our guards going off like they have done a few times this year. Our big men could definitely help open it up for them - just setting the tone being the more aggressive team most of all 
We haven’t really had a good shooting game in the NCAA and still we find ways to win. This team and staff believes they can and we should also. Tonight it all comes together… Final Four
I expect us to play a great game. We are due one.
I expect the team to play hard and give it their all–I think the odds are 50\50 although those that make a living on betting are favoring the bears. I question some of the thinking that says we have not played a good game so far in tournament —if that was true , we would be home now. Playing our best game means is it enough to win and move on. The competition gets greater each game until you get to this point then all the remaining teams are playing well and seating and matchups are the luck of the draw. For any team to win at this point on , everyone has to play their best and even that might not be enough depending on how the other team does.
I actually thought it was the Baylor Lakers.
I keep fantasizing about Sills getting his groove back and getting hot, both from the three and driving into the lane and either making a circus shot or drawing some fouls. Although I get the feeling that Muss has somewhat reigned him back since earlier in the year.
That could really work in our favor if 6’1" Mitchell is on Tate in the half court. That’s assuming that Devo (or Notae) can get the ball into the front court without turning it over. Tate really took advantage of the shorter Abmas by taking him down low and scoring at will in the ORU game.
On offense, we have got to get the FT line and make the shots to break down their defense. And we have to make 3’s. We don’t need to make a lot, but if we shoot 10 three pointers, we’ve got to make at least half of them to keep them honest on defense.
On defense, our man defense has to be a true man defense. Helping double Baylor will get us killed. Musselman might be using more than 7 guys tonight for this very reason.
I think our win over Alabama is what made a believe of me. However, my belief at that point was still just to win one in the NCAA. Once we climbed to the point people had us as anywhere from a 2-4 seed, I just wanted to get to the Sweet 16. I’m now very happy, no, ecstatic, with the season. Anything more now is just gravy. I badly want to win tonight, but I doubt we will. I know we can, but I figure Baylor is the better team.
Thing is, if this team would stick around another year or two, I’m sure they could win it all. However, I know the odds of keeping Moody is low. Do Tate & Smith still have another year of eligibility?
We will need Moses to return to form. Can’t have another 4-20 performance.
I’m trying to remember a player missing 16 shots in a game. I’m sure it’s happened, but that was pretty remarkable - not in a good way.
Make enough threes to keep them honest, make the free throws stay out of foul trouble and play our game. We’re not great in any area other than heart, we never quit no matter the opponent and there’s no one we can’t beat on a given day. We are the team you don’t look forward to playing as we have to many guys that can drop 20 on you even if they come off the bench. No idea who wins tonight, but I do feel like we’re playing with house money so to speak. Good luck to a bunch of really good young men. WPS
I don’t know why, and I may be way off base, but somehow I feel that with Baylor’s lack of size (Vital is their 5 at 6-5; they “go big” with 6-8 and 6-10), Vanover may have a bigger role tonight. Of course, since he never got off the bench against either Tech or ORU, any role at all would be a bigger role.
Might be easier right now to beat the struggling Lakers with LeBron and AD out.
We are in trouble if we are depending on Notae to not turn over the ball.