bobinator said:

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I absolutely bet their fans expect they'll lose certain games. It's not like we're all on the team. I'm sure the team expects to win every game.

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You are absolutely correct as usual sir.

jja79 said:

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It's possible to follow more than one team/sport closely at the same time.

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I honestly think the overwhelming majority of our fan base only follows college football. The percent of the fan base that watches a non A&M, non SEC regular season college basketball has got to be less <5%? <1%?

Fire everyone!
We lost on the road at Rupp midseason..

I'm part of that tiny fraction.

Imagine ASSUMING wins against two top 10 teams (one on the road in one of the toughest places to play), WITHOUT your leading scorer.

We win both of those games if Wade is healthy.

t - cam said:

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Luke The Drifter said:

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I told y'all this is what would happen when the football board folks made their way over here…

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We all knew. It happens every year. Those of us that are actually into college hoops know that losses come with the territory. I'd say we just lost 2 games that were expected losses even for a top seed, especially down your all American.

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Both were winnable and we were missing our most experienced player. But the team only really let up against Kentucky when they ran out of gas in the second half.

greg.w.h said:

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t - cam said:

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Luke The Drifter said:

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I told y'all this is what would happen when the football board folks made their way over here…

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We all knew. It happens every year. Those of us that are actually into college hoops know that losses come with the territory. I'd say we just lost 2 games that were expected losses even for a top seed, especially down your all American.

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Both were winnable and we were missing our most experienced player. But the team only really let up against Kentucky when they ran out of gas in the second half.

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That is actually my #1 concern with this team. Through the first 17 games, they have played so hard, so fast, and they've found a way to grind out wins. Will they have enough gas in the tank for the final 14 games, plus the SECT, plus the NCAAs? I hope their legs aren't completely given out by the time March gets here.

I think it's fair to be aware of how well we played in non-conference, how we are still competing without Wade... but also how under Buzz this team has a tendency to make things really tough on themselves. Every game is a grind, every game is a rock fight.

Are there reasons for bumps in the road? There always are. In this case the absence of Wade is a big one. But it doesn't change that there is a very real chance our "best team under Buzz" could start conference play 2-5 and fall out of the rankings with a week left before the calendar flips to February.

Is it worst case scenario? Sure. But it's also not all that out of the realm of possibility. We'll be underdogs @OleMiss, and slight favorites at best @Texas. Taking care of business on Saturday is not necessarily critical to this team's tournament chances, but it's critical to what kind of seeding the team gets and what kind of support it gets the rest of the season.

Simply put - there's a very good reason we haven't won the last two games. Every team that struggles has a reason for it. But whatever the reason, if Buzz can't find a way to keep this team ranked and we instead shift back to "Buzz teams really thrive come tournament time" then there's absolutely a reason for people to start voicing concern.

For all of Billy Kennedy's faults, when he finally got his best, most experienced team together he won a conference title en route to a 3-seed.

This is Buzz best, most experienced team. A conference title in this stacked conference isn't necessary, but we can't find ourselves unranked before the first month of conference play completes.