WeagleTheBeagle 60 Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 You can count me among the biggest skeptics that these last two B-ball wins mean anything in the grand scheme of things and I absolutely refuse to let myself get excited about this team yet BUT... I took a look at the Sagarin rankings this morning and there may be a glimmer of hope for this season if the preseason (prior to conf play) is any indicator of future success. We are at lowly #170 in the rankings (better than our #195 to end last season) but hear me out on this one... Losses: Iowa State - #5 (we absolutely got smeared but this is undeniably one of the better teams in the nation) Illinois - #44 (Got beat pretty bad in this one but no shame in AU losing to a top 50 team) Northwestern State - #199 (This is a bad loss no doubt. They aren't terrible but we should have beaten them.) Wins: Clemson - #49 (This is a Top 50 win for us. We had zero of those last year) Boston College - #184 (It's an ACC win and that makes two for us. BC will be better than Clemson and has been predicted as a fringe NCAA tourney team and mid to top half of the ACC finish by nearly every outlet.) I'm not saying we are a good team (nor do I think we will become a good team) and we have a brutal start to the SEC schedule BUT it wouldn't surprise if we finished the year with 6-8 SEC wins. That would be Barbee's best team so far. We won't go to any post-season tourneys but I think AU basketball is at least worth watching this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey 16,734 Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 The women's team is worth watching. I do not believe Barbee is capable of 8 SEC wins. Of course, I hope I'm proven wrong and we win 20 but.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeagleTheBeagle 60 Posted December 23, 2013 Author Share Posted December 23, 2013 The women's team is worth watching. I do not believe Barbee is capable of 8 SEC wins. Of course, I hope I'm proven wrong and we win 20 but.... It's pretty sad but I don't ever go into B-ball season hoping to make the NCAA tourney anymore. Being a middle of the pack SEC team is the new goal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
penguin149 391 Posted December 24, 2013 Share Posted December 24, 2013 I hope after this season we are all sitting around saying how glad we are that JJ didn't fire CTB after last season. Over .500 in the SEC, made it past the 2nd round of the SEC tourney and got a post-season bid.... Of course, hope and $5 will get you a latte at Starbucks... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexasTiger 13,017 Posted December 24, 2013 Share Posted December 24, 2013 BC has not done well, but they only lost to UConn by 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jared52 4,354 Posted December 27, 2013 Share Posted December 27, 2013 AU kinda did this last year as SEC play opened up. They beat LSU and USCe and everyone was all fired up and calling me a moron for not believing Barbee had gotten things on track with those two wins. What I saw in those two wins last year was some terrible basketball and AU fizzled out as we know. Things seem a little bit different this time around. I don't know if it's better, but there's youth on this team that hasn't yet been exposed to the bitter times of bad losing streaks. They do, however, exhibit the patented Barbee slump where they go long, long stretches without scoring any points. That's always concerning. The FT shooting is getting better this year though and that's very important for winning any games they can keep close. And let's be frank here, SEC basketball is below several conferences (ACC, Big 10, Big East, Pac 12, and maybe the Big 12) so there's not a ton of talent going forward. Of course that could be said of last year, but I think Barbee lost that team down the stretch. We're in for a bumpy ride going forward but expectations are pretty low so who knows what the young guys can do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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