Saturday Men's BBall Ranked @ Unranked Results

[Tater]

#2 Duke 63 @ WF 56. Closer than score says cause of garbage time. Duke struggled mightily in the second half and won ugly.

#3 Iowa State 76 @ ASU 61. ISU trailed with ~5 to go before ending on a 19-3 run. Was a struggle win.

#8 Michigan State 81 @ Rutgers 74. Maintained a close gap throughout and won ok-ish.

#9 Kentucky 69 @ Vandy 74. Other than an early second half run, Kentucky looked awful.

#13 Aggy 69 @ Texsa 70. Aggy dominated and led by as much as 22. They then proceeded to blow it catastrophically. How could a Maroon SEC school do this against a non-original SEC member. Pathetic and their season is done. Especially after beating OM in exciting fashion this past week. If I need to lay the sarcasm on any thicker for folks please let me know.

#14 State 65 @ SCar 60. State did solid for 35 minutes and led by as much as 14 but almost blew it at the end. Win in OT showed resilience. Could have easily been a catastrophic loss ending our season especially ranked where we are and the situation we had coming into this game.

#15 Oregon 69 @ Minnesota 77. Slow start and couldn't overcome it. Losing to the preseason B1G basement dweller just gives them more momentum.

#19 UConn @ Xavier. Yet to play, but the ranked team is the underdog.

#23 West Virginia @ KSU. Still time to come back but 42-18 first is a tough gap.


I post this so the board understands some context about our game today. You're comparing us to an ideal that doesn't exist. Winning on the road is tough. No one had a cakewalk today anywhere else against unranked teams.

[BeardoMSU]

Great update.

And holy shit, A$M....

[Tater]

Great update.

And holy shit, A$M....

NCMSTFAN gave me the inspiration. He asked who in the country are we comparing against. Auburn is about the only team I'd say that is firing on all cylinders and even they only beat SCar 66-63.

[BeardoMSU]

NCMSTFAN gave me the inspiration. He asked who in the country are we comparing against. Auburn is about the only team I'd say that is firing on all cylinders and even they only beat SCar 66-63.

Great perspective, obviously!

[Coach34]

Mississippi loses their 3rd game in a row. The SEC is a grind this year

[Tater]

Mississippi loses their 3rd game in a row. The SEC is a grind this year

Glad we could help teach them how to lose. Feels good to be 2-1 in our last 3 instead of 0-3.

[LC Dawg]

Mississippi loses their 3rd game in a row. The SEC is a grind this year

Ole Miss was a false 4-0 because of their schedule and then they had to play 3 ranked teams in a row (2 on the road) and the schedule caught up to them. They're now 4-3 and still a very good team.
The league is definitely a grind. I wonder if that hurts some teams come tournament time because of fatigue based on having so few easy games.

[Tater]

WVU @ KSU loss official. UConn struggling @ Xavier early.

[Rawdawg]

We’re the only team in the league that has played @Auburn and @Tenn this far.

[Coach34]

Ole Miss was a false 4-0 because of their schedule and then they had to play 3 ranked teams in a row (2 on the road) and the schedule caught up to them. They're now 4-3 and still a very good team.
The league is definitely a grind. I wonder if that hurts some teams come tournament time because of fatigue based on having so few easy games.

Joey Brackets has 13 SEC teams in the field right now. Its helping as far as SOS. Now the physical demanding toll its taking could have some teams beat up or limping into the Tourney. I think the SEC breaks the record and gets 12 teams in

[BeardoMSU]

Mississippi loses their 3rd game in a row. The SEC is a grind this year

Hate to see it, lol

[LC Dawg]

Joey Brackets has 13 SEC teams in the field right now. Its helping as far as SOS. Now the physical demanding toll its taking could have some teams beat up or limping into the Tourney. I think the SEC breaks the record and gets 12 teams in

Yeah, my wording wasn't clear. I meant hurt teams in the tournament. I agree the league will set the record.

[RisperDawg]

Might want to add LSU @ Bama to this thread.

[Tater]

Might want to add LSU @ Bama to this thread.

That's unranked @ ranked. I was just emphasizing the teams who had a similar game to us today. Being the ranked team and playing @ the unranked team.

[Tater]

If we lost the game the way UConn lost to Xavier - our board would be calling for Hurley to be fired and half the team to be replaced.

Winning on the road is hard.

[Tater]

Not on theme. But the way Kansas blew that game at home to Houston was insane. There just isn't a perfect team out there. That loss won't derail their season. But it doesn't feel good.

Alabama benching Sears for the second half for non-injury is something to pay attention to. I expect him to go off against us Wednesday night now. Or be a dud. No in between.

[NCMSTFAN]

NCMSTFAN gave me the inspiration. He asked who in the country are we comparing against. Auburn is about the only team I'd say that is firing on all cylinders and even they only beat SCar 66-63.

Nice post and Thanks!

[R2Dawg]

If we lost the game the way UConn lost to Xavier - our board would be calling for Hurley to be fired and half the team to be replaced.

Winning on the road is hard.

I think everyone on here knows the SEC is best ever been, we all know how SC played Aub and UF, we all knew it wasn't going to be a 35pt win on road, most know we are a very good team (I've said we have Final4 potential and most experts agree)

However, what happened yesterday was not what SC did but how poorly we played. I say that not as a negative cause we still won despite that but we have some issues we need to address and having a few more players regress lately is not the way to do it with Hub in a season slump it seems.

I still expect us to win 25+ games this year though.

[NCMSTFAN]

I think everyone on here knows the SEC is best ever been, we all know how SC played Aub and UF, we all knew it wasn't going to be a 35pt win on road, most know we are a very good team (I've said we have Final4 potential and most experts agree)

However, what happened yesterday was not what SC did but how poorly we played. I say that not as a negative cause we still won despite that but we have some issues we need to address and having a few more players regress lately is not the way to do it with Hub in a season slump it seems.

I still expect us to win 25+ games this year though.

Good points, we do have some work to do and things we have to figure out but overall, I love our depth, our coach and this team. As I've mentioned before every team goes through issues every year, I can promise you whoever wins the National Championship this season has fans currently complaining about their team right now. We are in a pretty good spot right now

[Coach34]

The NC will be from the SEC or Duke/Houston/Iowa St/Mich St

[Hot Rock]

I usually think in terms of "Iron sharpens Iron". Good teams get better if playing good teams that can beat them.

There is a limit for high contact sports, how many tough games can be played and injuries do happen. Some think SEC football could have crossed that threshold of getting too beat up to also run the gauntlet that is the playoffs. Personally, I think all the SEC teams this year had too many flaws from the start. Ohio State's easier schedule didn't keep them from the injury bug. Their OL was decimated this past year but had the depth to overcome it.

Basketball is a contact sport but it's not football but it's not golf either. I think the extra, tougher games will make everyone better. I think the SEC will present several teams that are plenty healthy and battle tested by March Madness.

One last thought: Bad teams sometimes get upset and take cheap shots which can create just as many injuries or more than if both teams are trying to win.

[1bigdawg]

In 1996, the Final Four almost had three SEC teams. Syracuse rallied late to beat Georgia that year. The league was pretty strong then, too.