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Charleston Pony wrote:If there is such a thing, I am calling this a must win for these young Mustangs post season chances!

To me the reason this game is crucial is because of how this tournament sets up. Win tonight, and barring a huge first round upset, we are guaranteed games against two of Arizona, Villanova and Purdue. Lose tonight and we fall to the other side, where the teams aren't anywhere close to that caliber. The way the tournament selection has been working in recent years, just PLAYING two of those top teams, even if we lose (which, sadly, is likely), is a much bigger boost to our resume and tourney chances than beating teams like W. Kentucky and Tennessee.

You can be an 8 or 9 loss team and make the show when you are in the ACC or the Big East. What is the number for a third or fourth AAC team? Six honest losses? Seven? Eight?

ThatΓÇÖs what IΓÇÖm guessing weΓÇÖll be dealing with come March.

Just for grins:
Two ΓÇ£good lossesΓÇ¥ this week.
USC at home
Three total to Cincy/WSU
THATS six.

Add one unexpected conference loss and one more OOC..... 8.

Not much margin for error here.

SMU_Alum11 wrote:

smupony94 wrote:SMU -6 versus UNI

I see a 7.5 spread.

I'm seeing 7.5 as well, too big for my liking

I will always be nervous about us playing decent teams until Akoy is back because we currently rely on 2 freshman for our defense against bigs, one of which is undersized. Good teams with good bigs will be able to exploit that.

Pony_Law wrote:I will always be nervous about us playing decent teams until Akoy is back because we currently rely on 2 freshman for our defense against bigs, one of which is undersized. Good teams with good bigs will be able to exploit that.

Based on what i saw watching this dude Koch play their last game it looks like he is the kind who can give us trouble. Hopefully some backside help and he gets his pocket picked.
If their sixth man is injured and canΓÇÖt play it limits the kick- out options.

sadderbudweiser wrote:You can be an 8 or 9 loss team and make the show when you are in the ACC or the Big East. What is the number for a third or fourth AAC team? Six honest losses? Seven? Eight?

ThatΓÇÖs what IΓÇÖm guessing weΓÇÖll be dealing with come March.

Just for grins:
Two ΓÇ£good lossesΓÇ¥ this week.
USC at home
Three total to Cincy/WSU
THATS six.

Add one unexpected conference loss and one more OOC..... 8.

Not much margin for error here.

I would say 8 losses would get us in comfortably as a 9/10/11 seed if we have 2-3 real quality wins (TCU, One of WSU/UC, Temple, and maybe another surprise)

Cincy got in at 22-9 in 2015 and Tulsa snuck in with 10 losses, because they beat us at home. Teams in the ACC get in with 11 and 12 losses sometimes. If we keep it to 8 losses we should be fine. 9-10 puts us squarely on the bubble.

LetΓÇÖs see how all of OOC goes before we get to worried about this though.

sadderbudweiser wrote:

Pony_Law wrote:I will always be nervous about us playing decent teams until Akoy is back because we currently rely on 2 freshman for our defense against bigs, one of which is undersized. Good teams with good bigs will be able to exploit that.

Based on what i saw watching this dude Koch play their last game it looks like he is the kind who can give us trouble. Hopefully some backside help and he gets his pocket picked.
If their sixth man is injured and canΓÇÖt play it limits the kick- out options.

I'm very interested to see Ray play against a quality big. Ethan doesn't move his feet as well on defense, but I have really liked what I have seen out of Ray so far. These games are going to be great learning experiences.

sadderbudweiser wrote:

Pony_Law wrote:I will always be nervous about us playing decent teams until Akoy is back because we currently rely on 2 freshman for our defense against bigs, one of which is undersized. Good teams with good bigs will be able to exploit that.

Based on what i saw watching this dude Koch play their last game it looks like he is the kind who can give us trouble. Hopefully some backside help and he gets his pocket picked.
If their sixth man is injured and canΓÇÖt play it limits the kick- out options.

Is their 6th man questionable for the game tonight?

Purdue has their hands full in game one - down 4 to Tenn with 13:00 to go. I would prefer for Purdue to win this game and play Nova in the second round, and then with a win we get AZ and one of them (all three highly ranked of course).

Tennessee beats Purdue in OT.

Western Kentucky hanging with Villanova, down 1, as 2nd half starts.

PonyLawExpress wrote:

sadderbudweiser wrote:You can be an 8 or 9 loss team and make the show when you are in the ACC or the Big East. What is the number for a third or fourth AAC team? Six honest losses? Seven? Eight?

ThatΓÇÖs what IΓÇÖm guessing weΓÇÖll be dealing with come March.

Just for grins:
Two ΓÇ£good lossesΓÇ¥ this week.
USC at home
Three total to Cincy/WSU
THATS six.

Add one unexpected conference loss and one more OOC..... 8.

Not much margin for error here.

I would say 8 losses would get us in comfortably as a 9/10/11 seed if we have 2-3 real quality wins (TCU, One of WSU/UC, Temple, and maybe another surprise)

Cincy got in at 22-9 in 2015 and Tulsa snuck in with 10 losses, because they beat us at home. Teams in the ACC get in with 11 and 12 losses sometimes. If we keep it to 8 losses we should be fine. 9-10 puts us squarely on the bubble.

LetΓÇÖs see how all of OOC goes before we get to worried about this though.

The 2013/14 team called and said you are full of it.

I really hope that the Mustangs go a long way this weekend but I really don't want to listen to Dickie V. any.

PonyBait wrote:I'm seeing 7.5 as well, too big for my liking

I don't mind going a bit big for a 7.5