Of course, anything can happen, but projecting any reasonable metrics on this team… there are handful of winnable games that would represent resume building wins. This team isn’t winning at Bama or Arky. and games versus vandy, usc, ole miss and like … will mean little as victories. And so… I think these games versus LSU and Mizzou are critical. Granted, many here may have written off the tourney. But if you hold out hope… gotta get these wins.
Up to this point we have not displayed the abilities to beat Mizzou or LSU. Both have 1st year coaches. Right now they are looking better than ours.
My path to the NCAA was to finish the reg season with 19 wins and a win or 2 in the SEC tourny. Getting to 19 included sweeping A&M and splitting with LSU. Now we need to split A&M and sweep LS. Beating Missou is included in the 19. Not an easy path, but that's my path. Also includes beating pUKe at home. Beating Kansas State would be a bonus.
We are 0-6 in Q1 games and 0-0 in Q2 games so I’d say the ship has left the dock. Yes technically we could win a bunch and make it, but that’s pretty much always true until 9 games are left in the season. We are now in the mode of wins at Bama and at Arkansas are the only types that will get us back in the conversation.
We were right there with Awbrin and Tammy at the buzzer. Both were within grasp and winnable, but we played poorly in the last couple of minutes. We shot it better vs. UGA and got the win, even though the Humpers got hot late and were making contested 3s. So we can hang with or beat most of the teams in the league. Now we just gotta build on the Humper game. I feel much better about the LSU game than I did last week.
Yeah, barring a major turnaround, we are halfway through the season and don’t have a single quad 1 or 2 win. Probably need six or seven of those to have any shot at NCAAs. And we only have 15 games left plus the SEC tourney, and not all those are going to be quad 1 or 2. So even getting a couple now probably doesn’t move the needle much without a large winning streak against some good teams, which means LSU doesn’t mean that much in the end either way. But would be nice to beat them.
It will be very difficult to get to 19. They really have to focus on winning the next game and so forth. Not taking advantage of any of those preseason opportunities have put them pretty close to a must win situation for every game. I was happy to see the performance on Saturday. I'll need to see a few more games with the same results before I feel that they have turned the corner though.
I wouldn't write-off the Gumps or any other team if the kids turn a corner and play the aggressive defense and faster paced offense. They battled Auburn close and they're due for some 3s to fall. However, I agree with you this is a very important game.
Good news is, we have a couple of players that are improving but aren't even close to their ceilings yet. Fudge and Kugel. Big if, but if they start to get close in the next couple of weeks we could go on a tear. Kugel showed against Georgia that he's getting accustomed to the length, speed, and athleticism of high D1 teams. That's always a shock to freshmen.
This is true. The problem with young guys (and even seniors) is that when their shots aren't falling to find other ways to impact the game. Fudge had a rough game, but I'm sure he'll bounce back
Fudge has shown that he can make a difference with offensive rebounding and shot-blocking. Once he gets more aware in both individual and team defense, he could also be a Corey Brewer type of stopper on the perimeter. His outside shooting will probably never be better than average so he needs to keep working on his scoring in the lane.
AKA posted: And so… I think these games versus LSU and Mizzou are critical. Granted, many here may have written off the tourney. But if you hold out hope… gotta get these wins. I personally resigned myself to the NIT or even a losing season / no NIT after the Oklahoma game. Let Auburn and TAMU off the hook and that pretty much ended the dream for me. Beating UGA is not much to get worked up about, they will be exposed for who they are during the SEC schedule. Hate it, but this team will really struggle to finish .500 IMO. Still love the Gators and will watch and cheer for them.
