Likes the Hogs to reach the Sweet 16. I’m not sure anyone outside Muss expects us to get past that.
I saw a USA Today writer tweet that he had us in his Final Four
Interesting. Who was that?
I wanna say Dan Wolken
Found it (would love another shot at UCLA): https://twitter.com/DanWolken/status/1503197668314689540
I do…
Me to. If we actually get to the Sweet Sixteen, and we are playing like we were in the 17 games (15-2 stretch) before the A&M game, I actually like our chances against Gonz. Especially since Muss will have 5 days to prepare for that game. Back to the Elite Eight, and who knows from there. We won’t be playing a 1 seed, like last year.
I’ll admit, I’m having a bit of trouble getting the last 10-12 minutes of that A&M game out of my head. I believe that was an aberration and we won’t see it again in the NCAA tourney, but if we do, it will be a short run by the Hogs.
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We got lucky last year. We played a 14 seed, a 6 seed and a 15 seed before Baylor. And Boom we’re out of the Dance…
No luck involved. We earned the 14 seed by being a 3 seed. We were unlucky that we had to play the highest seed (6 seed TTech) possible, instead of the 11 seed in the 2nd round. That 15 seed was the hottest team in the tourney, beating 2-seed Oh. St., then beating 7 seed FL.
We were the only team that Baylor didn’t beat by double digits in last years tourney, including their 2 final four games. We did that with JD fouled out with about 10 minutes left in the game.
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The Hogs certainly played Baylor closer and better than anyone
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Me too. And that last 10-12 minutes makes me think the first half of the TN game wasn’t such an aberration, either. Two of the last 6 halves of basketball we played were pretty bad. Hope those are behind us.
The 1st half at TN did not bother me at all, except for the size of the deficit. It’s common for very good teams to have bad 1st halves on the road against a good conference opponent. We came back against TN after that bad 1st half and had 2 different shots at the end of the game to tie or go up 1 with the ball in our hands. We outscored TN by 17 points in the 2nd half. Just like Arkansas, it happened to Aub, KY, and TN in conference games.
It’s only important to survive the adrenalin laced 1st half shooting onslaughts by the good home teams and win (or have an opportunity to win) in the 2nd half.
In our long streak after 0-3 in conference, we lost twice (on the road) by a total of 5 points to Bama and TN.
The A&M game was a different situation on a neutral court. We were down big early as A&M shot out of their minds from 3. We fought back in the 2nd half and had cut the deficit back to 3 points with 11 or 12 minutes left. However, at that point, A&M scored 8 straight, including two 3s. Unlike all our previous games at home and away, we spit the bit, and fought back no further. That’s what bothers me about that one specific game.
Knowing our coach and this team, I believe that was uncharacteristic for it to happen. I’m hopeful that it will prove to be an anomaly going forward. I just need to see it in this next game to wipe it completely from my memory.
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Good points. I hope you’re right about your ultimate conclusion. I have a hard time believing Vermont is anywhere near as good as 7 or 8 of the SEC teams we’ve played.
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Well, actually we spit the bit big time against OU. And to some extent against Hofstra.
You took that out of context. It followed this statement above it: “In our long streak after 0-3 in conference, we lost twice (on the road) by a total of 5 points to Bama and TN.”
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It’s nice having a bunch of Akansas farm boys on this forum…“spit the bit” LOL. How old are you guys anyway?
Me, older than dirt.
Your context in that sentence was “all our previous games”. Not all our games since January 15. If that was what you meant, it ain’t what you said,
If you couldn’t see the time period I was following in that entire post, I can’t help you.
If you can’t make it clear what you’re talking about, I can’t help you. And I’m done with this discussion.
I looked on my ESPN App – and the vast majority of the ESPN prognosticators picked the Hogs to get to the Sweet 16 to face Gonzaga.
I think that shows we really do have our respect back after 25 years of wandering in the wilderness.
I was really angry about the 4 seed projection, until we laid that egg against the Aggies. When the dust settled from that, I felt like a 4 seed was about right.
How did we get a 3 seed last year? It does seem like the two teams took very similar paths in both seasons. Just trying to understand in my mind why last year’s team was deserving of a 3 seed.