Chance at the postseason seems more plausible at this point

[RC3]

Figure we only need 7 more. 13 regular season games left, right? Plus a chance at a game or two in the sec tourney. NIT is def doable. Gutsy performance tonight.

[whosyourdawgy]

We are going thru the good part of our schedule right now. It's gonna get tougher starting Saturday. But we did what we've needed to do so far. What's say we put De'runnya in the game to start and on Henderson's first 3 put him a few rows back in that shitty place.

[RC3]

Yes it gets tougher but I look at the remaining schedule and can see us finding 7 in there somewhere

[Goat Holder]

I think we'll be doing well to win 3 more games.

[smootness]

Getting to 20 wins would be very, very tough. We could easily lose our next 5.

But the NIT is pretty much out of the question. It won't matter much what our record ends up being, our RPI won't be good enough because of our OOC schedule and the fact that the SEC is still really down.

[engie]

Don't think 20 gets it done...

At the point we find ourselves on a bubble, the ridiculously soft non-conference schedule will punish us in the RPI. 17(predicted) doesn't even put us close.

[RC3]

Probably right on the rpi not getting any better (unless we pull a legit upset somewhere along the way) but I do think we can get to 20. Not likely, but possible. Even if we missed out, I'd still be pleased with the progress

[Bully13]

I never thought I'd see the day a SEC team could win 18-20 games and not make the NIT

[smootness]

Realtimerpi.com has been pretty good in their projections, and they have us winning 5 more - Georgia, Arkansas, Tennessee, South Carolina, and....wait for it.....Florida.

I'm going to go ahead and guess we don't beat Florida. SC is a game we should win, and I think that about UGA, too, but now I don't know what to think about them.

I'd rank our remaining games, from most to least likely to win, as:

1. South Carolina
2. UGA
3. Arkansas
4. Tennessee
5. @Vandy
6. @Auburn
7. @UGA
8. @Ole Miss
9. @Texas A&M
10. Kentucky
11. @LSU
12. @Missouri
13. Florida

I just don't see us winning 7 of those. Once you get into the road games, especially after @Vandy, it's going to be tough to win anything.

[RC3]

Realtimerpi.com has been pretty good in their projections, and they have us winning 5 more - Georgia, Arkansas, Tennessee, South Carolina, and....wait for it.....Florida.

I'm going to go ahead and guess we don't beat Florida. SC is a game we should win, and I think that about UGA, too, but now I don't know what to think about them.

I'd rank our remaining games, from most to least likely to win, as:

1. South Carolina
2. UGA
3. Arkansas
4. Tennessee
5. @Vandy
6. @Auburn
7. @UGA
8. @Ole Miss
9. @Texas A&M
10. Kentucky
11. @LSU
12. @Missouri
13. Florida

I just don't see us winning 7 of those. Once you get into the road games, especially after @Vandy, it's going to be tough to win anything.

Very little margin for error as it's easy to see what amounts to four, probably five guaranteed losses. Say we could win 6 of those instead, we would end up with a pretty tough draw in the tourney too. Doable but TOUGH

[Quaoarsking]

If we finish with a winning record, we'll probably get a CBI or CIT invite. We should accept it -- if Texas, Stanford, Butler, Pittsburgh, Washington, Oregon State, and St. John's aren't too good for the CBI, neither are we...

[Coach34]

I never thought I'd see the day a SEC team could win 18-20 games and not make the NIT

It's been happening for a few years already

[civilengineerdog]

not happening

[engie]

I don't see how anyone that's watched much SEC basketball this year can label many of the upcoming games as guaranteed losses. Every one of these teams other than Florida are flawed and exploitable. Even Kentucky is 2-4 away from Rupp. We're starting to hit some 3s now. Auburn TOTALLY took us off our gameplan -- took Sword out of the game -- we were down our starting Point Guard -- and our ONLY big man played a total of 4 minutes in the first half in foul trouble -- and we beat them fairly decisively as an underdog.

How many times will it take before our own fans quit short-selling us and just get excited and let the season play out?

[Coach34]

How many times will it take before our own fans quit short-selling us and just get excited and let the season play out?

Well, to be fair, our fans arent used to seeing well-coached basketball teams. They just assume since the talent isnt there that has sealed our fate- thus all the 3 SEC win predictions earlier this year

[engie]

Well, to be fair, our fans arent used to seeing well-coached basketball teams. They just assume since the talent isnt there that has sealed our fate- thus all the 3 SEC win predictions earlier this year

Bad thing is -- it looks like I might have shortsold us with 17 regular season wins -- and many laughed at the prediction at the time.

Here's a little blast for the past I just found interesting.

http://forums.sixpackspeak.com/showthread.php?104116-Coach-you-ve-mentioned-on-several-occasions-that-you-see-16-18-wins&highlight=basketball+predictions

[chef dixon]

If we win 20 games, I don't think there is any way we are left out of the NIT. But 7 more wins will be a hell of a finish to the season.

[chef dixon]

Bad thing is -- it looks like I might have shortsold us with 17 regular season wins -- and many laughed at the prediction at the time.

Here's a little blast for the past I just found interesting.

http://forums.sixpackspeak.com/showthread.php?104116-Coach-you-ve-mentioned-on-several-occasions-that-you-see-16-18-wins&highlight=basketball+predictions

If you really think about it, you could argue this team is already better than Stansbury's second to last year, which most people would say was fairly talented.

[smootness]

I don't see how anyone that's watched much SEC basketball this year can label many of the upcoming games as guaranteed losses. Every one of these teams other than Florida are flawed and exploitable. Even Kentucky is 2-4 away from Rupp. We're starting to hit some 3s now. Auburn TOTALLY took us off our gameplan -- took Sword out of the game -- we were down our starting Point Guard -- and our ONLY big man played a total of 4 minutes in the first half in foul trouble -- and we beat them fairly decisively as an underdog.

How many times will it take before our own fans quit short-selling us and just get excited and let the season play out?

I agree with everything you said. I still just think there are some teams we can't hang with...I mean, we lost to a very mediocre Bama team by 19. Granted, it was on the road and teams everywhere are struggling on the road, as you said, but I'll be pleasantly surprised if we can win any of the games below 7 on my list.

It's possible, I just don't see it as likely. But I'm not going to count a Ray team out of anything at this point. If we get to 18+ wins, he should be a slam dunk for SEC COY.