In two short months, the UW men's basketball team has gone from being a non-tourney team (according to SI's Seth Davis) to ranked 11th in the country in the polls.
Overrated? Perhaps - their Big 10 schedule has been ultra soft thus far. We'll know more when they face Purdue, Indiana and MSU in the upcoming weeks.
But I think they'll make the NCAA tournament.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
11 comments:
Are they the 11th best team in the country? I don't think so, but in no way are they as bad as some people were makig them out to be after that Duke loss. The Texas win was huge to give them some confidence. The Big Ten schedule couldn't have started out any better for them. Playing the bottom As a Big Ten lover, I have to admit the Big Ten is just brutal this year. Playing the bottom of the barrel has allowed this young team to gel and everyone can figure out what their roles are. The confidence gained with the Texas win and some road conference victories will go a long way.
"playing the bottom as a big ten lover..."?
that sounds, um, dirty.
I don't necessarily believe they are a top 11 team either, but when I see the teams around them on the polls, none of those other teams are teams that jump out at me as better than UW, either. Other than Duke, UNC, Kansas, and maybe Memphis, UW can probably play with anyone else in the country.
"Purdue, Indiana, and MSU..." Ooooooo...now there's a real gauntlet for you!!! The Big Ten is horrible, and wouldn't be surprised if nobody makes the Sweet 16, just like two years ago.
The Badgers deserve the 11 ranking with only two losses to both against quality teams. Although they are not a great team they are puting themselves in position to make a run at the Big Ten title as long as they beat all of the conference's cupcakes, which is more than half the conference.
Thanks for pointing that out Wrigleyville. I need to do better with my editing!
Looking at the polls, I agree with the statement that the teams outside of the top 5 or so are pretty equal at this point. It wa also nice to see the Badgers not trip up in the non-conference this year. Last year they lost to SW Missour St. (a good team), but still an unranked team. None of that this year.
Also agree with highplaya. If they take care of businees agianst the dregs of the Big Ten, theywill be fine. Protect the home court and steal a road win againsy a good team and they are set.
I would rather have the Badgers ranked like 15th or something... it's kind of a mental thing for other teams that play them. I think that happened last year when the Badgers looked like they were one of the best teams in the country and you had this gut feeling that without Butch Fresno State was going to beat them. I just don't like it when they are a bigger target then what they should be... it gives their opponents the advantage.
I too agree with highplaya- all we can do is play who's on our schedule and hope to pick up some Ws on the road.
I can't wait for Chip's post once UW, Indiana, and MSU sneak into the Swt16.
as a native hoosier who has watched every game, i can say indiana is a very talented team that hasn't put it all together yet. with dj white and eric gordon and very good complementary parts, they could be very dangerous come tourney time - or crap out in the second round with foul trouble or cold outside shooting.
neither a final four nor a second-round loss would surprise me.
thanks for the bold prediction wrigleyville
i'm sorry, i didn't know a prediction had been requested...
Post a Comment