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Post by luhoopsfan on Feb 4, 2013 10:03:20 GMT -5
I gotta say - I think the 1st of essentially two bye weeks the team has is coming at a perfect time. Right smack in the middle of the season after a brutal schedule for the 1st half. I beleive we have played the toughest A10 schedule of the top 5 teams at this point and are the only team to play 4 of the top 5 slots in the current standings. To come out with a 5-3 record is really impressive and bodes well for the 2nd half of the season. Another benefit is being able to start off at home, against Fordham, and eve if the guys are a little flat after the layoff shoul have the revenge factor in mind from last season and be able to get going again with some wins.
SJU and Temple back-to-back are going to be tough, but this team has already proven it can play well agaisnt btough opponents back to back. Add in the fact that this week off will allow them to get rested and healthy and all things are set up for the team to have the ability to have a strong finish.
The game at URI could be difficult after the SJU and TU battles and could very well play out much like the UMass game. Hopefully the team learned from that game and will be able to keep the momentum going. Then it's another week off basically before the 3 game stretch run where they absolutely must win 2 of 3 and I think they will.
In reality, if the team can win the next 7 games it will all but assure the NCAA berth. I'm not saying that 1- it's likely, 2- it's easy or 3- that 'm expecting it, but if you just look at the schedule and the opportunity it presents (3 road wins -SBU, TU, URI) and another top 100 win at home this is by far the best chance to secure a berth this program has seen in 20 years.
I'm excited and we shoudl all get behind this team in a big way starting Saturday. This is the stretch run we've all been waiting for.
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Post by explorer88 on Feb 4, 2013 10:06:38 GMT -5
St. Bonaventure away won't be easy either. Not a lot of gimme's in this league.
I am enjoying each game and taking it game by game. The bye is much easier to digest after playing so well recently.
It actually will be nice to watch the league beat each other up on Weds while we are relaxing.
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Post by luhoopsfan on Feb 4, 2013 10:24:47 GMT -5
by no means is SBU "easy" but I like the idea of playing up there after the break and after hopefully getting back in rhythm against Fordham. I would rather play them up there under those cicumstances than after the SJU & TU double dip. My point being that you have to play @ URI and @sbu but the schedule is set up in a way that helps increase the chances of success. I also expect Charlotte to come back to the pack in a big way - get a load of this schedule for them @temple VCU @butler @slu Temple
They've been great at home, but with that kind of stretch, late in the year, it's not impossible to imagine them losing 4 games.
Those wins we have over Butler and VCU already could be enormous. I could see a scenario where it plays out that SLU is in 1st and we are in 2nd with Butler and VCU 3 and 4 with the tie breakers.
12-4 in the league this year will be an amazing feat for any team and SLU looks like they might be able to pull that off. I remain conviced that we will be 11-5 when all is said and done and finish the regular season with 21 wins.
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Post by stlexplorer on Feb 4, 2013 10:38:29 GMT -5
Every week this conference has shown any team can be beaten on any night
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Post by explorerman on Feb 4, 2013 11:03:04 GMT -5
St. Bonaventure away won't be easy either. Not a lot of gimme's in this league. I am enjoying each game and taking it game by game. The bye is much easier to digest after playing so well recently. It actually will be nice to watch the league beat each other up on Weds while we are relaxing. I second this
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Post by vasalos on Feb 4, 2013 11:23:02 GMT -5
Speaking for bye weeks, I don't want the 4th Seed bye for Brooklyn. That would potentially set up our first tourney game to be against St. Joe's. I would love to have the #3 seed for Brooklyn.With St. Louisand Charlotte still having to play Butler and VCU, the #3 seed is very real.
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Post by lwc4591 on Feb 4, 2013 11:38:09 GMT -5
These are my final picks before my real final picks. (1) Butler 12-4, (2) St. L. 12-4, (3) La Salle 11-5, (4) VCU 11-5, (5) Charlotte 10-6, (6) St. J. 10-6, (7) Temple 10-6, (8) Mass. 10-6, (9) X 10-6, (10) Richmond 9-7, (11) G.W. 9-7, (12) Dayton 8-8, (13) St. B. 8-8, (14) Ford. 4-12, (15) R.I. 2-14, (16) Dukes 1-15.
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Post by La Salle 08 on Feb 4, 2013 11:45:43 GMT -5
Unbelievable to think that a team that could go .500 in conference (or 7-9) and have an RPI better than 150 will likely finish in 13th and miss the conference tournament. We all talk about how good the conference is all of the time but that really puts it into perspective.
I'm hoping the time off this week gets all of the guys back to 100% health, that's the most important thing to me. Hopefully the worst of the flu season is behind us.
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Post by ltrain38 on Feb 4, 2013 11:57:13 GMT -5
These are my final picks before my real final picks. (1) Butler 12-4, (2) St. L. 12-4, (3) La Salle 11-5, (4) VCU 11-5, (5) Charlotte 10-6, (6) St. J. 10-6, (7) Temple 10-6, (8) Mass. 10-6, (9) X 10-6, (10) Richmond 9-7, (11) G.W. 9-7, (12) Dayton 8-8, (13) St. B. 8-8, (14) Ford. 4-12, (15) R.I. 2-14, (16) Dukes 1-15. Not sure those numbers add up.
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Post by broderickpresident on Feb 4, 2013 11:59:34 GMT -5
These are my final picks before my real final picks. (1) Butler 12-4, (2) St. L. 12-4, (3) La Salle 11-5, (4) VCU 11-5, (5) Charlotte 10-6, (6) St. J. 10-6, (7) Temple 10-6, (8) Mass. 10-6, (9) X 10-6, (10) Richmond 9-7, (11) G.W. 9-7, (12) Dayton 8-8, (13) St. B. 8-8, (14) Ford. 4-12, (15) R.I. 2-14, (16) Dukes 1-15. You have something like 18 more wins than losses in these standings
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Post by lwc4591 on Feb 4, 2013 12:32:28 GMT -5
You guys are correct, my mistake. I wasn't thinking about totals but just guessing at where in a best case scenario each team may end up win wise. Obviously it has to end up 128-128.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2013 12:34:34 GMT -5
Speaking for bye weeks, I don't want the 4th Seed bye for Brooklyn. That would potentially set up our first tourney game to be against St. Joe's. I would love to have the #3 seed for Brooklyn.With St. Louisand Charlotte still having to play Butler and VCU, the #3 seed is very real. The 4 plays the winner of 5/12, which could quite literally be anyone. With projections showing that as many as 9 teams will finish within a game of .500, the draws are quite impossible to predict right now, other than Butler, SLU and VCU each having the best chances of being among the top four. Who cares where St. Joe's finishes, as long as it's below us? And I'll take St Joe's in Brooklyn where it would be nice to end their regular season like they did to us in 2001, 2002, and 2010. I'd take any #1-4 especially because of what it would mean for the selection committee when they go to pick at large teams. The top four seeds are so much more critical this year than in any years past. #3 however, and #4 are both going to play a .500 opponent in the first round, and I'm not sure if we can tell which one we would get until the other results shake out. I don't understand your logic about avoiding St Joe's. #5 must host a team like Dayton, GW, or Temple. I'd just as soon skip that round and take any of the byes so that we can focus on properly preparing for a second round game with a very good middle tier team like Umass, Xavier, or SJU.
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ahawk
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Post by ahawk on Feb 4, 2013 15:29:31 GMT -5
Speaking for bye weeks, I don't want the 4th Seed bye for Brooklyn. That would potentially set up our first tourney game to be against St. Joe's. I would love to have the #3 seed for Brooklyn.With St. Louisand Charlotte still having to play Butler and VCU, the #3 seed is very real. The 4 plays the winner of 5/12, which could quite literally be anyone. With projections showing that as many as 9 teams will finish within a game of .500, the draws are quite impossible to predict right now, other than Butler, SLU and VCU each having the best chances of being among the top four. Who cares where St. Joe's finishes, as long as it's below us? And I'll take St Joe's in Brooklyn where it would be nice to end their regular season like they did to us in 2001, 2002, and 2010. I'd take any #1-4 especially because of what it would mean for the selection committee when they go to pick at large teams. The top four seeds are so much more critical this year than in any years past. #3 however, and #4 are both going to play a .500 opponent in the first round, and I'm not sure if we can tell which one we would get until the other results shake out. I don't understand your logic about avoiding St Joe's. #5 must host a team like Dayton, GW, or Temple. I'd just as soon skip that round and take any of the byes so that we can focus on properly preparing for a second round game with a very good middle tier team like Umass, Xavier, or SJU. The one advantage that SJU will have over everyone (other than Fordham) is the team played two games in the arena earlier this season. Maybe not a huge advantage but an interesting side note.
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Post by sweat83 on Feb 4, 2013 17:41:18 GMT -5
You guys are correct, my mistake. I wasn't thinking about totals but just guessing at where in a best case scenario each team may end up win wise. Obviously it has to end up 128-128. St Joe's student trolling on our board??? What the heck!
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