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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Feb 14, 2018 11:31:27 GMT -5
These are basically our scenarios going into the BET:
(4-0) Win out beating Xavier, Marquette, Providence, Villanova: RPI 80
(3-1) Lose to Villanova, Win Xavier, Marquette, Providence: RPI 97
(3-1) Lose to Xavier, Win Xavier, Marquette, Villanova: RPI 98
(2-2) Lose to Providence/Villanova, Beat Marquette, Xavier: RPI 111
(2-2) Lose to Marquette/Villanova, Beat Providence/Xavier: RPI 111
(2-2) Lose to Xavier/Villanova, Beat Providence/Marquette: RPI 112
(2-2) Lose to Marquette/Providence, Beat Xavier/Villanova: RPI 113
(NOTE: Some of these scenarios are obviously highly unrealistic and unlikely combinations, but I included them for reference.)
I am not going to bother calculating the 1-3 or worse scenarios, since if that happens NIT won't be even close.
Basically, in any scenario, to be safely in the NIT, we probably need some BET help. Surprisingly, even beating St. John's in the BET makes a pretty big difference. For example, in the most likely 3-1 combination (losing to Villanova, winning the rest), our RPI goes from 97 to 88 simply by beating St. John's in the BET (beating DePaul would give us an RPI of 92).
So basically, to be well within the NIT selection zone, we would need to at least go 3-1 and probably win 2 BET games.
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Cambridge
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NIT?
Feb 14, 2018 13:00:07 GMT -5
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Post by Cambridge on Feb 14, 2018 13:00:07 GMT -5
These are basically our scenarios going into the BET: (4-0) Win out beating Xavier, Marquette, Providence, Villanova: RPI 80 (3-1) Lose to Villanova, Win Xavier, Marquette, Providence: RPI 97 (3-1) Lose to Xavier, Win Xavier, Marquette, Villanova: RPI 98 (2-2) Lose to Providence/Villanova, Beat Marquette, Xavier: RPI 111 (2-2) Lose to Marquette/Villanova, Beat Providence/Xavier: RPI 111 (2-2) Lose to Xavier/Villanova, Beat Providence/Marquette: RPI 112 (2-2) Lose to Marquette/Providence, Beat Xavier/Villanova: RPI 113 (NOTE: Some of these scenarios are obviously highly unrealistic and unlikely combinations, but I included them for reference.) I am not going to bother calculating the 1-3 or worse scenarios, since if that happens NIT won't be even close. Basically, in any scenario, to be safely in the NIT, we probably need some BET help. Surprisingly, even beating St. John's in the BET makes a pretty big difference. For example, in the most likely 3-1 combination (losing to Villanova, winning the rest), our RPI goes from 97 to 88 simply by beating St. John's in the BET (beating DePaul would give us an RPI of 92). So basically, to be well within the NIT selection zone, we would need to at least go 3-1 and probably win 2 BET games. I'm no math major, but if we went 3-1 and won 2 games in the BET...wouldn't we be 20-12 with an 8-10 BE record (10-11 counting BET)? I understand that the RPI and all that is important...but it seems crazy that you would have to get to 20 wins and 10 in conference to be safely in the NIT.
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Post by Ranch Dressing on Feb 14, 2018 13:11:49 GMT -5
I don't believe 3-1 and 2 BET wins is really a debate for NIT. To me, that's a 100% lock scenario.
The question is whether we can sneak into the NIT going 2-2 with 1-2 BET wins. That's a dicey scenario, with an invitation relying, in part, on Georgetown's power conference membership, name recognition, and Ewing's story. I'm of the opinion that these intangibles are considered by the NIT as they try to sell seats and eyeballs to their "crappy" tournament. A real argument could be made, with that type of finish, that Georgetown is playing in their last 8-10 games at an NIT qualifying level. That counts for a re-building team that has shown big improvement from December to February/March.
2-2 gives us a real NIT shot with a good BE showing.
Let's face it, the NIT selection committee will be looking for any plausible reasons to invite Georgetown. We just need to be in the ballpark.
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TC
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NIT?
Feb 14, 2018 14:07:11 GMT -5
Post by TC on Feb 14, 2018 14:07:11 GMT -5
I'm no math major, but if we went 3-1 and won 2 games in the BET...wouldn't we be 20-12 with an 8-10 BE record (10-11 counting BET)? I understand that the RPI and all that is important...but it seems crazy that you would have to get to 20 wins and 10 in conference to be safely in the NIT. You're forgetting we have the worst major conference OOC schedule of the past 15 years. So yes, it's crazy. But this is the argument we've been making against the schedule since August.
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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Feb 14, 2018 14:10:00 GMT -5
I'm no math major, but if we went 3-1 and won 2 games in the BET...wouldn't we be 20-12 with an 8-10 BE record (10-11 counting BET)? I understand that the RPI and all that is important...but it seems crazy that you would have to get to 20 wins and 10 in conference to be safely in the NIT. In 2016, Marquette went 20-13 (8-10) and didn't make the NIT. There's no magic to getting 20 wins. There are also teams with under 20 wins who make it. Like us this year, Marquette had a really bad OOC in 2016 (but not as bad as ours last year).
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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Feb 14, 2018 14:17:39 GMT -5
That's a dicey scenario, with an invitation relying, in part, on Georgetown's power conference membership, name recognition, and Ewing's story. I'm of the opinion that these intangibles are considered by the NIT as they try to sell seats and eyeballs to their "crappy" tournament. A real argument could be made, with that type of finish, that Georgetown is playing in their last 8-10 games at an NIT qualifying level. That counts for a re-building team that has shown big improvement from December to February/March. 2-2 gives us a real NIT shot with a good BE showing. Let's face it, the NIT selection committee will be looking for any plausible reasons to invite Georgetown. We just need to be in the ballpark. Ranch, what you describe is how the NIT operated before it was purchased by the NCAA in 2006. Since then, the criteria for selection has changed considerably and now basically resembles the same criteria used for the NCAA tournament. So no, I don't think the NIT selection committee will be looking for any plausible reason to invite Georgetown. It's basically just an extension of the NCAA criteria for teams (like ours) that aren't good enough to make the NCAA tournament. The pre-2006 NIT (which had to profit to be sustainable) did want to sell seats and get ratings, so they favored teams like Georgetown, and in that regime, we likely would have made it. It just doesn't work that way anymore. Here are the official criteria: i.turner.ncaa.com/dr/ncaa/ncaa/release/sites/default/files/files/NIT_Principles_Procedures.pdfThe official critere includes: "The committee shall select the best available teams to fill the NIT field."
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Cambridge
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Post by Cambridge on Feb 14, 2018 15:29:30 GMT -5
I don't believe 3-1 and 2 BET wins is really a debate for NIT. To me, that's a 100% lock scenario. The question is whether we can sneak into the NIT going 2-2 with 1-2 BET wins. That's a dicey scenario, with an invitation relying, in part, on Georgetown's power conference membership, name recognition, and Ewing's story. I'm of the opinion that these intangibles are considered by the NIT as they try to sell seats and eyeballs to their "crappy" tournament. A real argument could be made, with that type of finish, that Georgetown is playing in their last 8-10 games at an NIT qualifying level. That counts for a re-building team that has shown big improvement from December to February/March. 2-2 gives us a real NIT shot with a good BE showing. Let's face it, the NIT selection committee will be looking for any plausible reasons to invite Georgetown. We just need to be in the ballpark. Just gaming it out, and ignoring the RPI, since I understand that regardless of what happens we will hover in the 90-100 range. 20-12 (8-10 BE, 2-1 BET) OR 20-13 (7-11 BE, 3-1 BET) - We are definitely in the NIT. That would mean we either go 3-1 down the stretch with at least 1 win vs Xavier or at Nova plus two wins vs Marquette and Providence. Then we would win two in MSG, prob against St. John's and Xavier. OR we would go 2-2 down the stretch, but play in the BET Finals having likely notched a wins over the 1/2 and the 3/4 seeds. In either case, over our last 10 games of the season, we would have gone 7-3 with at least 2 top 10 wins (Xavier/Nova)..maybe 3, 3 wins against other NCAA teams (Seton Hall, Butler, Providence), and lost in the BET Semis or Finals. At that point, we are definitely in the NIT. RPI be damned. No question. Hell, there would probably even be some hot takes out there about how we are a bubble NCAA team. 19-12 (8-10 BE, 1-1 BET) OR 19-13 (7-11 BE, 2-1 BET) - We are probably in. That would mean we either go 3-1 and get 1 win in the BET OR go 2-2 and get 2 wins in the BET. The situation would be the same, with the key difference realistically being that we would not have a top 10 win (Xavier or Nova). But, I think we would be in. 19-14 (6-12 BE, 3-1 BET) - Real odd situation. This would mean going 1-3 down the stretch but then making a magic run in the BET. While the numbers would not back up getting a nod, the media fairytale of a deep BET run (with Patrick Ewing on the sidelines at MSG) would make the Hoyas hard to ignore. I bet we get an NIT bid. 18-13 (7-11 BE, 1-1 BET) OR 18-12 (8-10 BE, 0-1 BET) - This seems like the NIT bubble. The best case scenario here would be for 2 of the 3 remaining wins to be against Xavier and Nova, while losing to Prov, Marquette, and St. Johns/Depaul in the BET. If that happens, I think they are in. On the other hand, if we get wins against Prov and Marquette, split the Xavier and Nova matches, and then crash out against St. Johns/Depaul in the BET...there, the team is sweating bullets on the NIT bubble. 18-14 (6-12 BE, 2-1 BET) - Off the bubble but with a chance. This would mean going 1-3 down the stretch but then making a run to the BET Semis. As noted above, the story of Patrick making a run in MSG might get the team a bid, but I would doubt it. 17-13 (7-11 BE, 0-1 BET) or 17-14 (6-12 BE, 1-1 BET) - It would be splitting the rest of the BE schedule 2-2 and crashing out on the first day of the BET OR it would mean going 1-3 down the stretch and getting one win in MSG. We may get lucky with NIT selection committee sympathy and desire for name recognition, but we would be off the bubble. EDIT to note that if Georgetown somehow makes it to the BET Finals it is definitely in the NIT on media exposure alone.
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NIT?
Feb 14, 2018 15:50:18 GMT -5
Post by Ranch Dressing on Feb 14, 2018 15:50:18 GMT -5
Thanks, Cambridge. After reviewing the scenarios, I think we need 2-2 (7-11 or better in conference) with at least 1 BET win, at a minimum. The other scenarios to me seem like real long-shots from a selection standpoint.
Anything more than 2-2 and 1 BET win and we are looking like a lock for NIT.
I would add that, while the OOC schedule is crazy weak, our overall SOS is currently 114. Is there a way to calculate what our SOS will be after our next 4 games? Perhaps our SOS falls below 100 after next 4 games and makes the NIT resume a bit strungthier.
Fun stuff!
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NIT?
Feb 14, 2018 15:55:47 GMT -5
Post by Ranch Dressing on Feb 14, 2018 15:55:47 GMT -5
That's a dicey scenario, with an invitation relying, in part, on Georgetown's power conference membership, name recognition, and Ewing's story. I'm of the opinion that these intangibles are considered by the NIT as they try to sell seats and eyeballs to their "crappy" tournament. A real argument could be made, with that type of finish, that Georgetown is playing in their last 8-10 games at an NIT qualifying level. That counts for a re-building team that has shown big improvement from December to February/March. 2-2 gives us a real NIT shot with a good BE showing. Let's face it, the NIT selection committee will be looking for any plausible reasons to invite Georgetown. We just need to be in the ballpark. Ranch, what you describe is how the NIT operated before it was purchased by the NCAA in 2006. Since then, the criteria for selection has changed considerably and now basically resembles the same criteria used for the NCAA tournament. So no, I don't think the NIT selection committee will be looking for any plausible reason to invite Georgetown. It's basically just an extension of the NCAA criteria for teams (like ours) that aren't good enough to make the NCAA tournament. The pre-2006 NIT (which had to profit to be sustainable) did want to sell seats and get ratings, so they favored teams like Georgetown, and in that regime, we likely would have made it. It just doesn't work that way anymore. Here are the official criteria: i.turner.ncaa.com/dr/ncaa/ncaa/release/sites/default/files/files/NIT_Principles_Procedures.pdfThe official critere includes: "The committee shall select the best available teams to fill the NIT field." Thanks, 2003. I read your post. We'll have to agree to disagree here. My belief is that, despite their stated criteria, the NIT will not drop Georgetown from a group of teams in the NIT invitation ballpark. I think our name, story, and recent good play (this all assumes a strong finish) breaks most, if not all, ties.
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sleepy
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Feb 14, 2018 16:09:46 GMT -5
Post by sleepy on Feb 14, 2018 16:09:46 GMT -5
I mean, even the NCAA tournament factors that stuff into seeding/match-ups and occasionally selection at times. I don't think we need to pretend the NIT is stricter than the NCAA tournament in unbiased selection. I also think conference finish matters a bit more than people are factoring in. Right now we are 8th, if we finish 7th in conference with the 6 teams above us getting NCAA tournament bids, that will be considered. If we somehow finish 6th (not sure that is even possible at this point) in the second best RPI conference in the country, I think that would lock us in.
The Marquette example that keeps being used was a year the Big East was 4th in conference RPI. This year we are 2nd. That will be a factor in determining "best available" teams, imo.
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NIT?
Feb 14, 2018 16:09:48 GMT -5
Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Feb 14, 2018 16:09:48 GMT -5
Based on a few sites, it looks like our strength of schedule will end the season somewhere between 88-90. Because everyone in the conference has a higher strength of schedule than us, playing any additional games in the BET will raise our strength of schedule at least a little bit.
Ranch, we can agree to disagree. Just one more thought though - even if one assumes that there might be some benefit to having Ewing's story, the team improving at the end of the year, etc., the tournament committee has a track record of awarding tough schedules and doing the opposite for bad ones. Any goodwill we might get from the Ewing stuff (which I think is negligible at best) would be counterbalanced by the awful schedule. I don't know that it will - I am just saying this because there are bunch of factors going both ways. We will see soon enough!
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LCPolo18
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NIT?
Feb 14, 2018 16:21:08 GMT -5
Post by LCPolo18 on Feb 14, 2018 16:21:08 GMT -5
Ranch, what you describe is how the NIT operated before it was purchased by the NCAA in 2006. Since then, the criteria for selection has changed considerably and now basically resembles the same criteria used for the NCAA tournament. So no, I don't think the NIT selection committee will be looking for any plausible reason to invite Georgetown. It's basically just an extension of the NCAA criteria for teams (like ours) that aren't good enough to make the NCAA tournament. The pre-2006 NIT (which had to profit to be sustainable) did want to sell seats and get ratings, so they favored teams like Georgetown, and in that regime, we likely would have made it. It just doesn't work that way anymore. Here are the official criteria: i.turner.ncaa.com/dr/ncaa/ncaa/release/sites/default/files/files/NIT_Principles_Procedures.pdfThe official critere includes: "The committee shall select the best available teams to fill the NIT field." Thanks, 2003. I read your post. We'll have to agree to disagree here. My belief is that, despite their stated criteria, the NIT will not drop Georgetown from a group of teams in the NIT invitation ballpark. I think our name, story, and recent good play (this all assumes a strong finish) breaks most, if not all, ties. Keep in mind that pre-2006 ESPN was involved in the selection, so they had influence to pick big name teams and teams with good story lines to help with ratings. The point is that when the NCAA took over the NIT, they sought to make it a "best of the rest" tournament with more prestige than the previous version of the NIT (where team's would occasionally decline an invitation to the "inferior" NIT like the Hoyas in 2002). So the NIT selection committee will be picking the best teams, not the teams with the best names and stories.
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sleepy
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Post by sleepy on Feb 14, 2018 16:26:16 GMT -5
Based on a few sites, it looks like our strength of schedule will end the season somewhere between 88-90. Because everyone in the conference has a higher strength of schedule than us, playing any additional games in the BET will raise our strength of schedule at least a little bit. Ranch, we can agree to disagree. Just one more thought though - even if one assumes that there might be some benefit to having Ewing's story, the team improving at the end of the year, etc., the tournament committee has a track record of awarding tough schedules and doing the opposite for bad ones. Any goodwill we might get from the Ewing stuff (which I think is negligible at best) would be counterbalanced by the awful schedule. I don't know that it will - I am just saying this because there are bunch of factors going both ways. We will see soon enough! That's true, but you seem to be using RPI as the predominant factor in NIT selection. From how you describe it, you would think the committee looks at RPI ratings and picks the teams with the highest RPI that didn't make the tournament, and might make an exception here or there. I don't think, if we have a decent finish, the NIT selection committee would only pick Georgetown because of the media/Ewing/ratings story line, RPI be damned. I think there would be a very legitimate argument to be made that we were one of the best teams in the country remaining. How much do we hear about the NCAA committee using the eye test? A lot. I think the reason the RPI ranges you keep citing exist is because usually teams in those RPI ranges are the best teams left. I think our historically bad schedule this year would make that metric a bit useless in evaluating us. The committee may realize that or they may punish us for said schedule. Who knows. I just think your putting way too much value in RPI as whole, when I think across the board there has been a de-emphasis on it as an accurate measure for evaluating teams.
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TC
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Post by TC on Feb 14, 2018 16:40:57 GMT -5
Thanks, 2003. I read your post. We'll have to agree to disagree here. My belief is that, despite their stated criteria, the NIT will not drop Georgetown from a group of teams in the NIT invitation ballpark. I think our name, story, and recent good play (this all assumes a strong finish) breaks most, if not all, ties. Based on what? What is the precedent you're arguing where name, story, or recent good play matter whatsoever with a RPI in the 100's? Last three years, Big East in the NIT : 2013 : Providence 17-14 86 RPI, St. John's 16-15 89 RPI (Xavier at 17-14 95 RPI misses) 2014 : St John's 20-12 82 RPI, Georgetown 17-14 75 RPI (Marquette 94 RPI out) 2015 : None (Seton Hall 16-15 103 RPI misses) 2016 : Creighton, at-large 20-15, 94 RPI (Georgetown 103 RPI out) 2017 : None (Georgetown 115 RPI out) RPI in the 90's for a Big East team has gotten a team in one out of three times. With the schedule we have, I don't think we have a prayer getting in if we don't get the RPI under 100 - which would require 3-1, or 2-2 and a lot of wins in the BET.
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NIT?
Feb 14, 2018 18:05:10 GMT -5
Post by Ranch Dressing on Feb 14, 2018 18:05:10 GMT -5
Thanks, 2003. I read your post. We'll have to agree to disagree here. My belief is that, despite their stated criteria, the NIT will not drop Georgetown from a group of teams in the NIT invitation ballpark. I think our name, story, and recent good play (this all assumes a strong finish) breaks most, if not all, ties. Based on what? What is the precedent you're arguing where name, story, or recent good play matter whatsoever with a RPI in the 100's? Last three years, Big East in the NIT : 2013 : Providence 17-14 86 RPI, St. John's 16-15 89 RPI (Xavier at 17-14 95 RPI misses) 2014 : St John's 20-12 82 RPI, Georgetown 17-14 75 RPI (Marquette 94 RPI out) 2015 : None (Seton Hall 16-15 103 RPI misses) 2016 : Creighton, at-large 20-15, 94 RPI (Georgetown 103 RPI out) 2017 : None (Georgetown 115 RPI out) RPI in the 90's for a Big East team has gotten a team in one out of three times. With the schedule we have, I don't think we have a prayer getting in if we don't get the RPI under 100 - which would require 3-1, or 2-2 and a lot of wins in the BET. I really didn't mean to turn this into a big debate. It's just a gut feeling I have that, if Georgetown is in the mix among a group of similarly qualified teams, they are likely to get the nod over non-brand teams from small conferences. I did not do any independent research to back up my gut feeling. However, if you scroll back in this same thread, you will see just last year that Georgia Tech and Syracuse received NIT invitations over non-brand teams with better RPIs (e.g., UNC-Asheville, Furman, George Mason, Georgia State). Now you can retort by saying RPI is not the only metric, yadda yadda yadda, and start splitting hairs. But, at a very basic level, I can point to supporting evidence just last season without doing any independent research to back up my claims. Would a double-blind placebo controlled study be sufficient next time? I think we can all agree that we have a lot of work to do to get into the mix for NIT consideration.
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bamahoya11
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Post by bamahoya11 on Feb 14, 2018 18:42:52 GMT -5
I've enjoyed reading through some of the different analyses today. It's at least nice to talk about post season play in February. I think what we really should all hope for is a run to the BET Finals at this point. If we make the BET Finals, we are obviously just 40 minutes away from playing into the NCAA Tournament. And if we lose in the BET Finals, I think we would probably make the NIT so long as we grab a couple wins down the stretch. I think if we go 2-2 in the regular season and go 3-1 at the BET, we have a compelling case to make the NIT. I'm not going to say it's a lock, but then I think a lot of factors (Ewing in his first year (the story angle), major conference, solid play late in the season, impressive league tournament run) cut in our favor and outweigh our clear weaknesses in terms of scheduling. If we go 2-1 at the BET but go 3-1 down the stretch here, I also think we have a strong NIT case for much the same reasons. Anything less, and I think it's probably a stretch for the reasons I noted yesterday and that others have mentioned, namely our week out-of-conference schedule. I don't think we would be an NCAA Tournament bubble team for an at large under any circumstances, unless we possibly went 7-1 (4-0 in the regular season, 3-1 in the BET) and narrowly lost in the BET Finals. Even at my most optimistic, it's hard to see that happening.
One thing I will underscore on the NIT, which some have also touched on -- the automatic bid structure also really changed the selection process. When you go back a number of years, the NIT had the discretion to let a lot of major-conference teams in. That has been really constrained by the automatic berth for regular season conference champions. If you really want Georgetown to make the NIT, it's worth watching and hoping that regular season conference champions in small conferences do really, really well in their conference tournaments. That would elevate our chances slightly.
Right now, I just hope we can beat Providence and Marquette. That alone would get us to 7 league wins and give us a legitimate chance to play spoiler in New York. I also hope we can be competitive with Xavier and possibly Villanova. This team is playing well enough right now that if they're in a game late, they're playing well enough to pull an upset.
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guru
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Post by guru on Feb 14, 2018 19:35:28 GMT -5
The fact that we are even having this discussion in mid-February means the season is already a success.
I don’t care about making the NIT, to be honest. The only tournament I care about is the NCAA tournament and our only shot st that winning the BET. So that’s what I’m rooting for. If we don’t, can’t wait till next year. The program is on its way back.
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Hoyaholic
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NIT?
Feb 14, 2018 21:12:09 GMT -5
Post by Hoyaholic on Feb 14, 2018 21:12:09 GMT -5
Here's a bit of perspective. Exactly a year ago today we were coming off a lopsided win over Marquette to get to 5-8 in conference. We had wins over Butler, Creighton, Oregon, Syracuse and Uconn and a very favorable schedule remaining: Creighton, who we had dominated two weeks prior; SJU; DePaul; Seton Hall (OT loss a week earlier); and Nova. Hope was in the air, and many on the board - myself included - were analyzing various 9-9 scenarios and whether they would make us an NCAA lock or merely put us on the bubble.
We all know how those 5 games turned out.
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sleepy
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Feb 14, 2018 21:23:56 GMT -5
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Post by sleepy on Feb 14, 2018 21:23:56 GMT -5
Here's a bit of perspective. Exactly a year ago today we were coming off a lopsided win over Marquette to get to 5-8 in conference. We had wins over Butler, Creighton, Oregon, Syracuse and Uconn and a very favorable schedule remaining: Creighton, who we had dominated two weeks prior; SJU; DePaul; Seton Hall (OT loss a week earlier); and Nova. Hope was in the air, and many on the board - myself included - were analyzing various 9-9 scenarios and whether they would make us an NCAA lock or merely put us on the bubble. We all know how those 5 games turned out. Not really comprable situations nor am I sure what the point of this post is. For the most part, we've already met and potentially exceeded expectations this year. We've shown growth as a team and individual players have improved through the year. Not the case last year when we essentially needed to win out to save III's job and I think you can swap the word desperation for hope in your description there. As to the point of your post? Remind us we can lost 5 games straight? Remind us how depressing last season? To remind us anything can happen as long as anything is worst case scenario? I really don't know.
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drquigley
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Post by drquigley on Feb 14, 2018 22:01:36 GMT -5
Here's a bit of perspective. Exactly a year ago today we were coming off a lopsided win over Marquette to get to 5-8 in conference. We had wins over Butler, Creighton, Oregon, Syracuse and Uconn and a very favorable schedule remaining: Creighton, who we had dominated two weeks prior; SJU; DePaul; Seton Hall (OT loss a week earlier); and Nova. Hope was in the air, and many on the board - myself included - were analyzing various 9-9 scenarios and whether they would make us an NCAA lock or merely put us on the bubble. We all know how those 5 games turned out. Not really comprable situations nor am I sure what the point of this post is. For the most part, we've already met and potentially exceeded expectations this year. We've shown growth as a team and individual players have improved through the year. Not the case last year when we essentially needed to win out to save III's job and I think you can swap the word desperation for hope in your description there. As to the point of your post? Remind us we can lost 5 games straight? Remind us how depressing last season? To remind us anything can happen as long as anything is worst case scenario? I really don't know. My buddies and I were at the Marquette game. We all agreed that it was the best we played all year and yes we could easily win out. The collapse afterwards deservedly cost JT3 his job. I think the object of the post was to remind us what a disaster those last few games were and, no matter what happens these next few games, we need to appreciate how far we've come this year.
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