Anyone else concerned about a post-OSU hangover Saturday? That's about the only way I could see us losing to this Stinson-less ISU squad.
I do expect a bit of a letdown but nothing fatal. KU 75-66.
Speaking of the Pac-10 (as Chris was below), it appears they are now signed on to a "challenge" series with the Big 12, a la the Big 10/ACC series. As a result, Arizona is coming to Lawrence next year (along with our already scheduled visit to USC). So there is some hope that our SOS might exceed this year's 159.
The Pac-10 does seem to be the best conference this year; next year, who knows? But if Arizona's young phenoms stick around they should be an exciting opponent.
Well, the game's on, so I won't make any predictions (tied at 25 now (ugh); hope we can get to Deron's 75 . . .).
ReplyDeleteWanted to say, though, that that strength of schedule stuff is not a static number: my sources tell me that we're up to 113 as of right before the OSU game.
OK, that hangover almost was fatal.
ReplyDeleteCredit to ISU for playing tough D--this McDermott guy is for real.
But it was our fault that we almost lost. After 58% shooting and very few turnovers on Wed., against ISU we found every way to turn the ball over in the first half and every way to miss easy shots in the second.
What stands out is 7 TOs by Julian and 1-6 shooting by Darnell (those shots were right at the basket).
On the positive side: Sherron went 5-8 and pulled some incredible shots out of his a--. Brandon overcame a weak start and was heroic at the end, just like against Florida. And we were good defensively, as usual; they only shot 37%.
Sasha made big plays, but it was kind of a wash because he allowed their European big man to repeatedly score off him.
Thanks for the SOS update, Yance. Good to see us moving up (now at 31 on the overall RPI), but needless to say, 113 still sucks.
This game was truly emblematic of the thing I have disliked most about Bill Self's teams and the thing I have liked the most.
ReplyDeleteWe showcased our continual inability to pull away from teams with inferior talent. We have our 3-5 lulls per game where we always let them back in. With as much rotation as we do, I don't understand why this still goes on, but I guess it's here to stay.
We also showed tremendous resolve to gut it out in crunch time. Except for tourney time, Self teams seem to be pretty good at this.
On a side note, Deron did you notice Russ Rob get yanked for taking those two bad shots near the end of regulation? I'm telling you, Collins is right on his heels. He'd better pull up his abysmal shooting or he may begin to start games on the pine.
The game wasn't pretty. But it's a road win on a weekend that saw Wisconsin barely beat Northwestern and North Carolina lose to Virginia Tech, so I'll take it.
ReplyDeleteAnd with Arizona's loss to Oregon (not much of an upset) it seems like pretty much everyone in the top ten but KU lost in the last week.
We're probably looking at Florida or Wisconsin at #1, followed by UCLA, with KU at 4.
And our win over USC is looking better with them losing by 1pt. to UCLA, and beating Oregon and Washington in the last few weeks.
carolina is 4, and we're 5 in the espn poll- i forgot carolina would have to go somewhere. still, i could make a case for us being 4 - big win over a top 10 team and a road win - but it's no biggie.
ReplyDelete