With an RPI at 111

[lamont]

this week is huge for basketball. We cant go on a losing streak despite this tough stretch we have coming if we want anything better than the CBI.

@Ole Missus
Tenn
@Auburn
SC
@Jawja
Florida

This team will show us who they are these next 6. Could be an 0-6 stretch.

@Mississippi- we can win there but wont be easy
Tenn- bad match-up for us. Long and athletic. Looks to be gaining their stride
@Auburn- young and talented just like us. Home team with the advantage
SC- the best defensive team in the SEC- 6th in the country in PPG allowed
@Jawja- Tough inside game for us to deal with
Florida- ranked SEC team

We need to take a step forward and make something happen in these next 6

[MarketingBully]

Love win you predict a 0-6 stretch with this team. Just like your 2-8 prediction they will surprise. I'm not going to predict anything with this team but we will be closer to 3-3 then 0-6 or 6-0 that stretch.

[lamont]

Love win you predict a 0-6 stretch with this team. Just like your 2-8 prediction they will surprise. I'm not going to predict anything with this team but we will be closer to 3-3 then 0-6 or 6-0 that stretch.

I in no way, shape, or form predicted us to go 0-6...nor did I predict 2-8

[sleepy dawg]

I in no way, shape, or form predicted us to go 0-6...nor did I predict 2-8

I didn't read it as a prediction...

I agree completely w/ your assessment, which is an obvious assessment if you're looking at the numbers. We need to win and we have to win now and it isn't going to be easy.
We're still kinda figuring out who we are, which is not ideal, but it's okay. We just have to get wins while we're doing it and not let it get the best of us. Any stretch of games that doesn't have LSU or Missouri in it is going to be tough. I think we will be underdogs in all 6 except maybe TN. Here's how I would rank the difficulty of each one from easiest to hardest:

Tenn
@Ole Missus
@Auburn
SC
@Jawja
Florida

At first it seems nice to have FL and SC at home, but I'd much rather have any of those others at home. Tennessee is pretty much a must, then we need to get a couple more from the rest.

[lamont]

I think it will be easier to win at Ole Missus or at Auburn than it will be to beat Tennessee

[BeardoMSU]

I think it will be easier to win at Ole Missus or at Auburn than it will be to beat Tennessee

Agree.

[Commercecomet24]

I think it will be easier to win at Ole Missus or at Auburn than it will be to beat Tennessee

Agree on that. Tennessee bad matchup with all their size.

[preachermatt83]

I think we can go 3-3 in that stretch. We ain't beating tn or Florida for sure. I think with OM it can go either way. I think we will beat uga and Auburn.

[msstate7]

Agree on that. Tennessee bad matchup with all their size.

They aren't very big. They're just tough... real tough

[MarketingBully]

I in no way, shape, or form predicted us to go 0-6...nor did I predict 2-8

You stated we could go 2-8 in the first 10 games after we played Bama. Now you are saying we can go 0-6 in this stretch as well. I love it when you do that because you were wrong once and you will be wrong again. We have more talent then the next six teams we play. The key is will we act like freshmen or will we start to put more games together like we did at LSU and at Arkansas. I think the latter is more likely.

[Commercecomet24]

They aren't very big. They're just tough... real tough

Guess I should've qualified that more. UT has more length than we do.

[MarketingBully]

Guess I should've qualified that more. UT has more length than we do.

It's not even length. It's called not getting called for over the backs and reach ins at home. They played their best basketball the last three games at home. It wouldn't surprise me if they lose to Auburn and then lose to us. They are a young team as well but their last road game they were called for 31 fouls and lost by 11.

[lamont]

You stated we could go 2-8 in the first 10 games after we played Bama. Now you are saying we can go 0-6 in this stretch as well. I love it when you do that because you were wrong once and you will be wrong again. We have more talent then the next six teams we play. The key is will we act like freshmen or will we start to put more games together like we did at LSU and at Arkansas. I think the latter is more likely.

I did indeed state that we COULD go 2-8 to start the SEC- and while we sit at 4-4, 4-6 could easily happen. Thats better than 2-8, but still not good.

Today I posted that we have a really tough stretch ahead that will define our team. 0-6 is absolutely in play. Hopefully it doesnt happen. As I said- these 6 games will define our team for this season and determine if we make the NIT or CBI

[lamont]

It's not even length. It's called not getting called for over the backs and reach ins at home. They played their best basketball the last three games at home. It wouldn't surprise me if they lose to Auburn and then lose to us. They are a young team as well but their last road game they were called for 31 fouls and lost by 11.

cmon dude- the refs arent responsible for our losses. We are. We have to get tougher on D and rebound as well as do a better job of attacking the basket. The refs arent costing us anything

[MarketingBully]

cmon dude- the refs arent responsible for our losses. We are. We have to get tougher on D and rebound as well as do a better job of attacking the basket. The refs arent costing us anything

I'm talking about Tennessee's style of play. When you are aggressive, you should get called for more fouls. When they are on the road, they get called for a shit load more then when they are at home.

[MarketingBully]

I did indeed state that we COULD go 2-8 to start the SEC- and while we sit at 4-4, 4-6 could easily happen. Thats better than 2-8, but still not good.

Today I posted that we have a really tough stretch ahead that will define our team. 0-6 is absolutely in play. Hopefully it doesnt happen. As I said- these 6 games will define our team for this season and determine if we make the NIT or CBI

Lol, based on your prediction above it wouldn't surprise me if we win the next two to go 6-4.

[sleepy dawg]

I think it will be easier to win at Ole Missus or at Auburn than it will be to beat Tennessee

I just think home court matters that much vs playing on the road. Either way, I think those are the 3 to win.

[lamont]

Lol, based on your prediction above it wouldn't surprise me if we win the next two to go 6-4.

what prediction????

[MarketingBully]

what prediction????

You just said 4-6 could easily happen. That is a prediction trying to validate your previous 2-8 prediction.

[MarketingBully]

I think a good prediction for the next six games would be 3-3. I think 2-4 or 4-2 could happen but when you have a team this young and talented making any prediction could make people look like idiots. I will say this the least likely scenarios are 0-6 or 6-0. If we are hitting our threes, we could easily win most to all of them. We easily have more talent then the next six teams we play so given that I think we will be okay which is why I think we go 3-3. We will win some games we shouldn't and lose a game we shouldn't. I just want us to get to 9-9 or 10-8 by the end of this stretch.

[Homedawg]

You just said 4-6 could easily happen. That is a prediction trying to validate your previous 2-8 prediction.

What he said was if we lost to lsu we could start 2-8. He never said we were losing to lsu nor going 2-8. He said IF and COULD. Dear goodness.

[lamont]

You just said 4-6 could easily happen. That is a prediction trying to validate your previous 2-8 prediction.

No. A prediction is saying "we'll lose the next 2 and end up 4-6"...I didnt say that. I said we could easily lose the next 2 and end up 4-6, and thats an absolute fact. We probably wont be favored in either game.

[lamont]

What he said was if we lost to lsu we could start 2-8. He never said we were losing to lsu nor going 2-8. He said IF and COULD. Dear goodness.

after being right so often- people try desperately any way they can to make me be wrong about something

[BayouDawg]

We desperately need to beat Randy and the boys Tuesday. We have the talent. It's all between the ears at this point.

[MarketingBully]

I think we win the next two especially if Tennessee loses to Auburn on Tuesday. Ole Miss is last in the league in three point defense because they use that crappy 1-3-1 zone. There will be a lot of open three point shots against them. I also think we beat Tennessee as they will get in foul trouble early and players like Williams and Schofield won't be available down the stretch for them. That six game stretch isn't that brutal if we play like we are capable of.

[smootness]

after being right so often- people try desperately any way they can to make me be wrong about something

Calm down.

You constantly make these non-prediction predictions. Had we gone 2-8, you would have claimed you were right, but you leave yourself enough wiggle room to be able to say you weren't wrong when we don't. It's not that hard.

[msstate7]

Calm down.

You constantly make these non-prediction predictions. Had we gone 2-8, you would have claimed you were right, but you leave yourself enough wiggle room to be able to say you weren't wrong when we don't. It's not that hard.

Yep

[smootness]

BTW, I said before our last 3 games, and still believe, that we needed to probably win 4 of the next 6 to have a good shot at the NIT. That means we probably need to win our next 3. Doable but certainly tough. If we don't, it's tough for me to see us getting there with our current RPI and the schedule beyond the next 3.

[louisvilledawg]

Agree on that. Tennessee bad matchup with all their size.

Or lack thereof

[louisvilledawg]

I just picture Sebastian Saiz going for 20 and 12 against us. That boy good.

[HSVDawg]

BTW, I said before our last 3 games, and still believe, that we needed to probably win 4 of the next 6 to have a good shot at the NIT. That means we probably need to win our next 3. Doable but certainly tough. If we don't, it's tough for me to see us getting there with our current RPI and the schedule beyond the next 3.

Would certainly agree with that. Personally I won't melt if we don't get to the NIT this year, but I'm sure some people will. In my mind if we can get to 18 or 19 wins that would be a solid step forward from the past 4 years (and also would be on par with Howland's past teams in his second year). But next year's squad needs to be an NCAA bubble team at absolute minimum. March has got to be interesting for us again at some point.

[Eric Nies Grind Time]

Would certainly agree with that. Personally I won't melt if we don't get to the NIT this year, but I'm sure some people will. In my mind if we can get to 18 or 19 wins that would be a solid step forward from the past 4 years (and also would be on par with Howland's past teams in his second year). But next year's squad needs to be sn NCAA bubble team at absolute minimum. March has got to be interesting for us again at some point.

Yeah I would be fine with 18 wins. We have basically an entire team hitting a freshman wall.

[PMDawg]

He will have to see how the next 6 games play out before he decides whether or not it was a prediction.

[smootness]

He will have to see how the next 6 games play out before he decides whether or not it was a prediction.

This

[MarketingBully]

The key these next six games will be can Lamar be mature enough to play a bigger leadership role while Ready is out. We saw what happened Saturday. He allowed himself to be emotionally taken out of the game. Before when he did that, we could put in Ready to steady us. We also will need Carter to step up his game if Ready is out any significant period of time to help in this situation as well. A lot to ask of freshmen but at least they should be emotionally ready for bigger roles instead of going into those games not mentally prepared for it. I think they will grow and we will be pleased with the results.