Agree, if we aren’t 11-1 there’s zero discussion because you didn’t set yourself up to even be in the discussion and we are DOA. We shouldn’t have to play perfect basketball every night. That’s why we left the CAA.
Now that we are in the A10, and especially when it’s also a strong year, why not always try to give yourself a chance at an at-large? I thought that was the point of being in the A10.
A gaudy 12-2 or 13-1 record against low competition is just setting up the fan base for disappointment. Casual fans, and even us, won’t care how we started the year. It’s all about how you finish and getting to the NCAA or NIT.
2-3 more games against quality OOC would have been ideal (I’d like to see ~5 a year, with 8 ‘cupcakes’). It wouldn’t be that detrimental to the team psychology if we lose those games and so what if we do? Even if we lose them, our profile is better. Then, if we do tear it up in conference, we could still be in the discussion since we lost to quality opponents. If we win them we have a solid chance at an large and less pressure to be perfect during conference play and win the conference tournament.
If that’s not the philosophy going forward I’m not really sure we ever get out of “mediocre” territory and there’s really no point to watch this team until the conference tournament. That is what is so frustrating, to me anyway, about this year’s schedule.
But hey, I guess the counter point is that we only need to be sub .500 (7-9 conference wins) to get 20 overall and look good on paper. Then we can play in some crappy tournament and say the year was a success. What do I know?
