13 games in, how good are we?

I think have seen enough games to form some opinions about this team.



Strengths



-Jimmer is still very, very good offensively. The opposing teams have to game plan for him and he still scores 20.



- We have 3 very good perimeter defenders in Emery, Abouo and Kyle C.



-The Davies, Hartsock and Chris C. are a decent trio of bigs. They aren't perfect but they appear to be able to rebound enough and score enough to allow Jimmer to gut the other team.



Weaknesses



-Outside of Jimmer we don't have a consistent shooter.



-Davies is foul prone



-Martineau isn't ready for big minutes if Jimmer is hurt or has foul trouble





So where does that leave us?



Are we going to win the MWC regular season? the MWC tourney?



If we stay healthy are we going to win 2 games in the NCAA's?



IMO I think we will be able to get two games. Jimmer knows how to deliver his best games when the pressure is on. I also think we have enough players around him for us to matchup with most teams.

You are spot on about Jimmer and the fact that even when teams scheme specifically at him, he still gets his points. He's hard to stop and he's pretty certain at the line.



I would agree that thus far, we don't have one specific shooter outside of Jimmer, but each game someone stands up and is counted, so I think that scenario makes it unimportant as long as someone is there and it makes it actually harder to scheme.



I can easily see us going two-deep into the NCAA tournament, but it all has to do with the matchup.

I think we're a pretty good team. Top 15? Probably not. I think we're probably a borderline top 20 team. #16 might be a tad high.

kitic77 wrote:
I think we're a pretty good team. Top 15? Probably not. I think we're probably a borderline top 20 team. #16 might be a tad high.

Might agree that#16 seems high for this team, but at the same time, who do you think is ranked below us that should be ranked ahead of us?



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We will know how good this team is when we play UNLV on the road. If we lose as usual custom - we are our typical 1 and out tourney team. If we win at UNLV, SDSU, and everywhere we are supposed to win - sweet 16 and MWC regular season and tournament champs.



We seem to be in that range but I am not sure yet where in that range - if U had to make the call now - 3 losses in conference and 1 in MWC Tournament and I won't call the NCAA tourney until I see our seeding.



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BYULV wrote:

I think we're a pretty good team. Top 15? Probably not. I think we're probably a borderline top 20 team. #16 might be a tad high.

Might agree that#16 seems high for this team, but at the same time, who do you think is ranked below us that should be ranked ahead of us?



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Well, Kansas State is ranked below us but that needs an asterisk since their two best players are suspended. Michigan State has a good team but that team to an extent is also in disarray. Honestly I do think we really deserve to be where we are since the aforementioned teams are each dealing with some issues. I think BYU can hang with a few of the teams in the top 15 (Notre Dame and Purdue stick out to me since they really haven't been tested)...but as always, lets hope success in the regular season translates to a far run in the tourney.



How good are we? We will see when the measuring stick games of UNLV and San Diego State roll around.

AZman wrote:

kitic77 wrote:
I think we're a pretty good team. Top 15? Probably not. I think we're probably a borderline top 20 team. #16 might be a tad high.

Might agree that#16 seems high for this team, but at the same time, who do you think is ranked below us that should be ranked ahead of us?



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Well, Kansas State is ranked below us but that needs an asterisk since their two best players are suspended. Michigan State has a good team but that team to an extent is also in disarray. Honestly I do think we really deserve to be where we are since the aforementioned teams are each dealing with some issues. I think BYU can hang with a few of the teams in the top 15 (Notre Dame and Purdue stick out to me since they really haven't been tested)...but as always, lets hope success in the regular season translates to a far run in the tourney.





Last truly magical season that sticks in my mind - Notre Dame played a role in the tournament. Wouldn't it be poetic to see if Jimmer could outdo the drama of Ainge in such a match-up.

How good are we? We will see when the measuring stick games of UNLV and San Diego State roll around.

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We're pretty good. We'll definitely challenge for MWC champions and I think we have a pretty good shot of winning it. I think we're a top 20 team for sure and depending on match ups have a good shot of getting to the Sweet 16.



If the shooting picks up, the defense stays where it's at, Davies stays consistent, and Jimmer stays healthy then I think we could be very potent. With better shooting our lack of an inside game isn't as obvious; so, I think that's the biggest factor right now. We're supposed to be a really good shooting team and right now we're average.



Emery needs to be chipping in 15 pts a game. If we can then get 10+ from Davies and 10+ from Noah a game along with Jimmer's 24 we ought to be pretty good. Hope Emery's shooting woes are behind him and that injury is healed.

Very good, everyone has 1 bad game in 13 tries or so, and our's happened to be against ucla, an awful team. Well, thanks for the future Jimmer player, we'll come to find an equal trade in that perspective I believe. For me to feel like the regular conference season is a success we have to beat all the tough teams at home duh, and we have to win 2 of 3 on the road: SDS, NM, we'll lose to unlv since Rose will never win there as an HC. For the unlv tourney to be a success we have to win 1 game. for the entire season to be a success we have to win 30+ games, and make it to the sweet sixteen, however the "Nationalsozialistische" IE-NCAA will work tirelessly to put us in a bad bracket, so we need big wins and to stay in the top 20.

The sequence of next month of @CSU, SDSU and @NM will be a big indicator, but as noted, it will really boil down to seeding and opponent in the NCAA tournament. I think it is a toss-up on BYU, SDSU and UNLV for the regular conference crown. I feel that the teams 35 down to 5 are all able to beat one-another in a head-to-head matchup, so I think rankings are arbitrary and the only poll I worry about is the one in the heads of the selection committee.

EM_Puma wrote:
The sequence of next month of @CSU, SDSU and @NM will be a big indicator, but as noted, it will really boil down to seeding and opponent in the NCAA tournament. I think it is a toss-up on BYU, SDSU and UNLV for the regular conference crown. I feel that the teams 35 down to 5 are all able to beat one-another in a head-to-head matchup, so I think rankings are arbitrary and the only poll I worry about is the one in the heads of the selection committee.

Getting the UNLV monkey off our backs would do us wonders as far as the committee goes. Handing SDSU their first loss would also help in that category.



Maybe I'm just being too optimistic here, but I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't get short-changed as much this season by the committee as in the past. Either a seeding closer to what we deserve or an easier first round opponent than years' past.



Between Jimmer, joining the WCC, our ranking, and last year's "success" we've got some hype behind us this season, which translates into interest, which translates into dollars. More people want to watch us this season. It's in the committee's best interest to play to the demand.

Gunk wrote:
Getting the UNLV monkey off our backs would do us wonders as far as the committee goes. Handing SDSU their first loss would also help in that category.

My feeling exactly. Each year Rose has taken his team down there I say to myself mathematically THIS has to be the time. With our track record in Vegas playing Vegas, a win should turn the head of anyone knowledgeable.

Gunk wrote:
Maybe I'm just being too optimistic here, but I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't get short-changed as much this season by the committee as in the past. Either a seeding closer to what we deserve or an easier first round opponent than years' past.

Looking at history and our track record, it's hard not to feel as you say.