ADVERTISEMENT

Games of Interest (1.23.20)

loca2874

loca2874

I.T.S. Athletic Director
Jan 23, 2008
8,849
4,369
113
50
Stafford, VA
IT IS A GREAT DAY TO BE A TU FAN!!!!!

Even though the teams in the GOI did not help us out at all, our very efficient 40 point massacre of what will not longer be #20 Memphis more than made up for it.

UConn (Our next opponent) is in action in Houston tonight.

Todays Games

AAC Games

Connecticut (87) at Houston (34)

Rest of GOI

Tennessee State (244) at Austin Peay (147)
South Alabama (180) at Arkansas State (199)

NET Rankings Through January 22

Wichita St (30) No Change
Houston (34) Up 2
Memphis (41) Down 15
Cincinnati (56) Up 7
Tulsa (66) Up 19
SMU (70) Up 2
Temple (83) Down 4
UConn (87) Up 1
UCF (118) Down 1
Tulane (126) Up 1
South FL. (137) Up 2
ECU (243) Down 2
 
So if we beat Uconn and Wichita St, that's gonna do what, take us to #3? If that happens, we better be #1!
 
  • Like
Reactions: loca2874
Can't remember the last time I've been this engaged in a college basketball season...probably Phillips' 2nd season with Self's players. Ever since then I've been engaged in TU basketball but not college basketball as a whole. I've watched a whole lot more games and pieces of games not involving TU than I have in a long time.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ba11game
Henry Kendall said:
One game at a time. UConn is tough at home...they took WSU to overtime. They played tough vs Villanova on the road.
Click to expand...
UCONN doesn't see us as an equal and they will come out and play as such. We are one of the reasons they desperately need out of the AAC because they can't recruit good enough players knowing they have to take trips to and play schools like Tulane and Tulsa.

WSU is not as good as everyone wants to believe. And Villanova does not nearly have the same talent that they've had the last few seasons. What both of those teams have is a coach in the top 10-15 in college basketball. As much as I like Hurley as a coaching mind, I think he freezes up at times when matched against coaches who can counter him. I think our coaching staff is finally to that point where we can counter. I'm not saying it's all Haith because I don't believe that. But I also believe Haith surrounds himself with assistants he trusts and lets them speak on adjustments. I think Wainright and Kwanza have been invaluable in that this season. I think Shea is growing in that area as well. And I'm OK that Haith does this. If only our football coach would take this approach.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TulsaFan2000 and Gmoney4WW
TU_BLA said:
UCONN doesn't see us as an equal and they will come out and play as such. We are one of the reasons they desperately need out of the AAC because they can't recruit good enough players knowing they have to take trips to and play schools like Tulane and Tulsa.

WSU is not as good as everyone wants to believe. And Villanova does not nearly have the same talent that they've had the last few seasons. What both of those teams have is a coach in the top 10-15 in college basketball. As much as I like Hurley as a coaching mind, I think he freezes up at times when matched against coaches who can counter him. I think our coaching staff is finally to that point where we can counter. I'm not saying it's all Haith because I don't believe that. But I also believe Haith surrounds himself with assistants he trusts and lets them speak on adjustments. I think Wainright and Kwanza have been invaluable in that this season. I think Shea is growing in that area as well. And I'm OK that Haith does this. If only our football coach would take this approach.
Click to expand...
We play like CACA on the road (reference: every road game except ECU, Tulame and Vanderbilt). We really don't play well in Storrs. UConn plays very well in Storrs. If we can play them defensively and offensively like we have the last 3 games then we have a great chance of winning there.
 
I think we just need to keep being negative and dismissive. That seems to have worked.
I think this is our schtick going forward:

Two-old-guys-from-the-Muppets_649785_1.jpg
 
TU_BLA said:
Can't remember the last time I've been this engaged in a college basketball season...probably Phillips' 2nd season with Self's players. Ever since then I've been engaged in TU basketball but not college basketball as a whole. I've watched a whole lot more games and pieces of games not involving TU than I have in a long time.
Click to expand...



This is what the football deciding powers need to recognize. Cinderella is the Belle of the Ball and while the name on and style of her dress may change, we all show up to see her at the dance.

Until they realize this the cfp will never reach full potential or the amount of people March Madness does every year.

10 autobids
16 total teams
Autobids get home field for opening round.
Quarters held at two sights, semi and championship at another.

People would lose their mind.
 
TU4ever2 said:
This is what the football deciding powers need to recognize. Cinderella is the Belle of the Ball and while the name on and style of her dress may change, we all show up to see her at the dance.

Until they realize this the cfp will never reach full potential or the amount of people March Madness does every year.

10 autobids
16 total teams
Autobids get home field for opening round.
Quarters held at two sights, semi and championship at another.

People would lose their mind.
Click to expand...
24 teams, top 8 teams have a bye for the first round.
 
I didn't realize that we were paying tribute to coach Tarkanian and his coaching tree with the ameoba defense.
 
  • Like
Reactions: loca2874
So should I be cheering for Houston (to keep that as a higher quality win for us) or UConn (to give us a better chance of finishing #1 in the AAC)?
 
The answer is, I want both to lose. Because I hate them both, for different reasons.

I’m actually pulling for UConn. I would really love to win the conference, both for postseason tournament seeding and because I think it would make a great statement for the program.
 
All that being said, I still really really want to punch Hurley in the face. More than once. What a punk.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TU_BLA
UConn went stone cold at the end. Bouknight fouled out on a weird double technical and that was all she wrote. That game hurt my eyes to watch. I just can’t root for Houston at any time for any reason.
 
Bouknight is a handful. We’ll have our work cut out for us Sunday and we sometimes have trouble with early games.
 
There are no games today. So time to rest and bask in that win. Yes I am still feeling the residual effects of that butt whipping.

NET Rankings Through January 23

Wichita St (30) No Change
Houston (34) No Change
Memphis (41) No Change
Cincinnati (56) No Change
Tulsa (64) Up 2
SMU (68) Down 2
Temple (85) Down 2
UConn (86) Up 1
UCF (117) Up 1
Tulane (125) Up 1
South FL. (143) Down 6
ECU (244) Down 1
 
  • Like
Reactions: Weatherdemon
Henry Kendall said:
One game at a time. UConn is tough at home...they took WSU to overtime. They played tough vs Villanova on the road.
Click to expand...

You’re correct. This will be an extremely tough one for us. They were tied with Houston with 1:45 left in the game. UConn had the ball down 2 with 7 seconds left.

They went to double OT with Wichita State. They beat a ranked Florida team, lost by 1 to a ranked Xavier, lost by 6 at ranked Villanova.

We will have to have a Memphis type effort to win and you know UConn will get most of the calls. It’s important to get off to a good start.
 
  • Like
Reactions: loca2874
Bill Lowery said:
You’re correct. This will be an extremely tough one for us. They were tied with Houston with 1:45 left in the game. UConn had the ball down 2 with 7 seconds left.

They went to double OT with Wichita State. They beat a ranked Florida team, lost by 1 to a ranked Xavier, lost by 6 at ranked Villanova.

We will have to have a Memphis type effort to win and you know UConn will get most of the calls. It’s important to get off to a good start.
Click to expand...
You pretty much put it all out there. They have been pretty consistent on how they matchup against teams. They are extremely tough in their building and this conference is tough as a whole. we have to bring the effort and energy every night, especially over these next three games (2 UConn and 1 Wichita State.
 
Looking at the net, due to the quirks of scheduling and the anyone can beat anyone dynamic, we only have 2 remaining opportunities for Q1 wins. Houston and Memphis with long win streaks could work their way there. However lots of Q2 opportunities.
 
Seems to me at this point we gotta finish at 1 or 2 in the conference and win a couple of games in the tourney for any chance. Any outside help from other teams is going to be slight, as they keep beating each other up in conference play.
 
Henry Kendall said:
Seems to me at this point we gotta finish at 1 or 2 in the conference and win a couple of games in the tourney for any chance. Any outside help from other teams is going to be slight, as they keep beating each other up in conference play.
Click to expand...
1st or 2nd in conference and we're in the NCAA tournament. I said it early that 14-4 in conference gets us in. I still believe that. But for the first time, I actually think it is possible. This team seems to have a mental toughness built for the long haul.
 
They have Wichita State, Houston, Memphis and Tulsa as in with Memphis on the bubble. Lunardi has Cincinnati out
 
That’s pretty crazy. Amazing what one game does for us. Gotta win Sunday.
 
TU_BLA said:
1st or 2nd in conference and we're in the NCAA tournament. I said it early that 14-4 in conference gets us in. I still believe that. But for the first time, I actually think it is possible. This team seems to have a mental toughness built for the long haul.
Click to expand...
That’s definitely possible but I’ve learned to temper my optimism. Our first year in the league we finished second, and I think we were 14-4, and they jumped us to invite Cincinnati. I think we were screwed that year and I will always believe it factored into our getting a bid the following year with a lesser record.
 
loca2874 said:
That's why I am saying we are in a tough enough conference that we still have a shot at this. ITS NOT OVER!!!! LETS DO THIS!!!!!!!
Click to expand...
I suspect he put us in because we’re in first place and he includes conference first place teams as default conference tournament winners.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TU4ever2 and Gmoney4WW
nevadanatural said:
That’s definitely possible but I’ve learned to temper my optimism. Our first year in the league we finished second, and I think we were 14-4, and they jumped us to invite Cincinnati. I think we were screwed that year and I will always believe it factored into our getting a bid the following year with a lesser record.
Click to expand...
I'd have to go back and see. I know we were good in conference our first year, but we had a not great out of conference record and some bad bad losses OOC that season (wasn't that the year of losing to Lamar AND ORU?). I am hoping our OOC doesn't come back to bite us. Losing to Arkansas doesn't hurt us, losing to KState probably doesn't hurt as all that much. Losing to UTA and Arkansas State are going to destroy us if we're on the bubble. The committee will look at different metrics or criteria when looking at us versus say a marginal Syracuse team who finishes 18-14. They'll say we have bad losses while ignoring a 40 pt blowout of Memphis. Syracuse will get the benefit of the doubt because they're ACC (which sucks this year) and any bad loss will get written off as Syracuse being young or something lame like that.

But doesn't it feel good to be debating what TU has to do to earn a bid to the NCAA that doesn't include "must win the conference tourney" at this point in the season?
 
nevadanatural said:
I suspect he put us in because we’re in first place and he includes conference first place teams as default conference tournament winners.
Click to expand...
Yeah, but it would also be easy for Lunardi to assume Houston will win the conference and leave us out just as well. They are tied and the ESPN hacks like to push their favorites with the way they list their placements within conferences. Maybe he's done some actual analysis of our performances and who we have left on schedule and has played a couple of projections out, applied the most likely one and what that might do to the NET result for us and put us in based on that.

Again, isn't it nice to be discussing our chances of getting an at large at this point in the year again?
 
TU_BLA said:
Yeah, but it would also be easy for Lunardi to assume Houston will win the conference and leave us out just as well. They are tied and the ESPN hacks like to push their favorites with the way they list their placements within conferences. Maybe he's done some actual analysis of our performances and who we have left on schedule and has played a couple of projections out, applied the most likely one and what that might do to the NET result for us and put us in based on that.

Again, isn't it nice to be discussing our chances of getting an at large at this point in the year again?
Click to expand...
Maybe he saw a 40 point butt whippin and said "How bout that Golden Hurricane"
 
  • Like
Reactions: Gmoney4WW and nevadanatural
nevadanatural said:
Here’s the Wikipedia entry
Frank Haith (American Athletic Conference) (2014–present)
2014–15 Frank Haith 23–11 14–4 2nd 1–1 (NIT)

Our bad losses were ORU and SEOSU.

Yes, it’s great being able to discuss at-large possibilities, let’s keep it going.
Click to expand...
Thanks. Those are some pretty bad losses and no wins of note in the OOC. And the AAC was not quite as strong that year. SMU and Cincinnati right? It was pre-Calvin UH, pre-WSU AAC, UCF wasn't good, UCONN was marginal
 
TU_BLA said:
This team seems to have a mental toughness built for the long haul.
Click to expand...
Let's hope the staff keeps reminding them how tough this game will be on the road. At this point, they are certainly capable of beating anyone in the AACK!. However, after the incredible beatdown of Mem., they might be thinking "invinceable". Staff must have their minds right
 
  • Like
Reactions: Gmoney4WW
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

loca2874

GAMES OF INTEREST (12.07.24 - 12.13.24) SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY

Replies
22
Views
2K
TU Basketball
loca2874
loca2874
loca2874

GAMES OF INTEREST (12.04.24 - 12.06.24) OKLAHOMA STATE

Replies
18
Views
771
TU Basketball
loca2874
loca2874
loca2874

GAMES OF INTEREST (12.14.24 - 12.20.24) VS UCF IN ORANGE BOWL CLASSIC

Replies
23
Views
1K
TU Basketball
dougheffking
D
loca2874

GAMES OF INTEREST (11.13.24 - 11.15.24) O R WHO?

Replies
16
Views
1K
TU Basketball
Gmoney4WW
G
loca2874

GAMES OF INTEREST (11.16.24 - 11.19.24) @ MISSOURI STATE

Replies
18
Views
1K
TU Basketball
loca2874
loca2874
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest posts

ADVERTISEMENT
Top Bottom
Back