tough road ahead...

[SpaceRaider]

earlier, I was looking at the women's schedule and seeing their remaining schedule h/a was 7/4, and I suddenly realized the men's schedule home and away is 4/7...

Kermit's teams have been traditionally tough on the road but the youth and inexperience, plus some venues the older players have never been to before, set up to be a tough time to maintain any momentum...

 

[C-Bow]

They'll need to finish 8-3 to get to the 20-win plateau as well. Tough road, indeed.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[MTFNBY5]

Getting to 20 will be a real accomplishment for this team. Considering the returnees and the 9 newcomers [only one of which was a 3 star IIRC (D-1 ready - Richmond)] just having a winning season would have been acceptable.

Gotta think this season is setting the stage for a really good year in '15-'16 and beyond. Much will depend upon normal progression from those in the program and the impact of the recruited "bigs".

 

[MTsumner92]

The confidence is there. After watching our Freshman get rattled handling the press at La. Tech makes me agree that we will at best win half of our games on the road. If we can go 4 -3 on the road then that would be incredible.

 

[SpaceRaider]

teamrankings.com projection

http://www.teamrankings.com/ncaa-tournament/bracketology/by-conference/#c-usa

 

[RandallThomason]

NCAA Tournament is obviously only accessible by winning the conference tournament. An NIT bid is virtually impossible without winning the regular season league title and getting the auto bid (assuming we didn't win the conference tournament). I think a bid to the CIT or CBI is the most likely postseason scenario this year. I can't believe that we would turn down any postseason tournament this year like we did last year.

We certainly have a chance to get hot in the conference tournament. I think the chances to win the regular season championship are less than 5%. We are already 2 games behind and have a large majority of our remaining games on the road. Realistically I think the ceiling for this team is probably 12-6 in the league (19-12 overall) and that may be a reach.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[MTsumner92]

Not worth the money to enter into the other tournaments. The exposure does not match the money doled out imo.

 

[MTCasey]

I don't think the goal would be exposure in one of those pay-to-play tourneys. I think the idea is getting a young team more practices and games.

 

[MTFNBY5]

I hate the idea that MT fans should be happy with an invite to the CBI or CIT. Count me among them.

But, I did understand turning down the invite last year (we were among several schools including Indiana who did) considering the frustration of being left our of the NIT. Regardless, I would like to have seen the team play in The Mruph at least one more time. In addition, the local media would have covered the team should we have gotten on a run which was possible and would be achievable this year.

With four freshmen guards we need every game within reach and as much practice as obtainable. For one, I would relish that opportunity for this year's team in any post season tournament.

 

[JohnDavidBlue]

I just hope that this young team is not peaking too early or will hit a ceiling. I have see it several times with Kermit's team... Western seemed to be exceptionally good at peaking at the right time regardless of their regular season record in the past.

I think we will see that fairly well over the next 3 weeks....

 

[MTsumner92]

We by far haven't peaked. Just look at our ball handling and you will clearly see we have a long way to go.

 

[dukewayne]

While the odds may be long, it would seem to be a fairly decent success to make one of the other postseason tourneys i.e. CIT. Last year forgoing those after missing at least NIT made sense for a senior dominated NCAA tourney goal oriented team. Such a young team this year with potential and bright future needs all the experience, especially tournament experience, they can get.
This team seems to have bought into toughness and defense from the beginning. The offense has been rough and a learning process. To be expected with so many new players. The OOC schedule seemed dominated by implementing defense, toughness, rebounding, and overall learning of offensive system. Lots of ups and downs in the early going. It took weeks for the players to learn that offensive movement/motion. Still needs work, especially in passing and ball control. Understandably, chemistry is still in development. Executing the offense has been a problem. Since conference has started, the team has finally started to begin to get a grasp on that offensive execution. The key, attacking the basket! Since they started attacking the basket right after the UAB loss, the team began to take a big step forward. The team is still real rough on offensive execution, but it seems they are catching on. If the chemistry can continue to develop along with offensive flow into attacking basket, this team will be a handful for most opponents.

Lastly, a few players of note. Ivory, wow! Raymond, so much talent and bball smarts if he just asserts himself and knew how good he really could be. Harris has the look of a player that can be really really good and smooth in scoring. He appears to have a good bball IQ. Love the effort of Buford. Love the attitude of Giddy Potts. He's starting to figure out high level D1 play; just maybe another Marcus Knight type player. Simpson and Richmond seem to have potential, just need to continue to develop. Consistency will be helpful. Finally, these young players have to figure out ball control as in limiting turnovers. Hopefully Ivory, SImpson, Richmond etc will become those guys with terrific assist:turnovers ratio. That is a key factor lacking for his team right now. I get the feeling it will come with experience and confidence in attacking the rack.