Late Season Road Games?

[corpgator]

Originally Posted by rserina

Nobody at the time was really talking about us having four NBA prospects. Only there were even in the ballpark at the time (Noah, Horford, and Brewer), with only Noah even getting lottery buzz heading into the tourney. That all changed with a great run. With this team, Young and Murphy are definitely candidates, Boynton and Rosario on the fringe because neither has the size for their positions, and Wilbekin, who is just starting to get on the radar the way Noah did as a sophomore. Recall that it was until the game in Rupp that Noah began drawing attention (yet that was before losing three of our final six).



They had just beaten a 2-seeded Ohio State. Killed them actually. But the point is that no one looked at them as a threat heading into the tourney. Neither Green nor Hibbert were elite prospects as preps and both were projects Thompson developed impressively that season and the next.

Pomeroy said before the tourney that there were two underseeded teams: Georgetown and UF. Georgetown got a particularly bad seed because they play very slowly. They would beat a team by 10, but it would be a 15 point win at a normal pace. They should have been 4 seed going into the tourney. That was the year the entire big-10 choked out because they were all overseeded.

[themistocles]

Originally Posted by rserina

And Georgetown was a miracle Brewer NBA continuation call away from beating us as a 7-seed. Of course there are plenty of good teams that can beat us in the tournament. Precious few teams are unbeatable.

But the fact that we have not played many close games or that we may have lost in the two we did or that we could potentially lose two of our three late season road contests does not necessarily mean we are any less capable of a run than it did when the 2006 team lost all six of its games decided by six points or less until finally wining one against SC in the conference title game, then doing the same thing to Georgetown on the way to a national title.

Similarly, if you turn those around and we win the close games or road games, it doesn't necessarily mean we will win those same tough games in March.

The only thing that matters is the kids on the floor, how they play together, how they compete, what their strengths and weaknesses are, and how they compare with their opponents at the moment. Now, you can appeal for precedent to the games already played, but 2-3 losses in certain situations is a pretty limited sample size, as the 2006 team showed.

As usual, you are on the money.

The best time to predict anything is after it has occurred.

When the SEC season, the SEC tournament and the NCAA tournament are all over, I can tell you what the Gators will do. Now, where did I put my Time Machine?

[rserina]

Originally Posted by themistocles

When the SEC season, the SEC tournament and the NCAA tournament are all over, I can tell you what the Gators will do. Now, where did I put my Time Machine?

Says the statistician? No way.