Tough weekend for our "good wins"
- Thread starter khokhol8
- Start date
Our nonconference accomplishments were never going to look that good unless the team went undefeated. One loss in nonconference would look okay but people came into the season with such a low opinion of the program that the team has to do more to get noticed.
Beating an Arizona team ranked at #2 would have helped a lot but they just had to shock everyone with 3 losses the week before they played us.
Beating an Arizona team ranked at #2 would have helped a lot but they just had to shock everyone with 3 losses the week before they played us.
The current Mountain West Kenpom rankings are as follows:
33-UNR
61-SDSU
66-BOISE ST
71-FRESNO ST
72-UNLV
114-WYOMING
145-UTAH ST
178-COLO ST
179-N MEX
281-AIR FORCE
312-SAN JOSE ST
Go Rebels!
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The Boise State game at T and M will be a great test for the team. Are we contenders or pretenders? Will the team be ready to play a tough conference opponent after playing a couple of, I hate to jinx us, cupcakes?
Most of the team has never played a MWC game. Even though our conference is not great, those in conference games are more intense and hard fought than the pre-conference games.
Most of the team has never played a MWC game. Even though our conference is not great, those in conference games are more intense and hard fought than the pre-conference games.
Updated Kenpom rankings-12/27/17:
36-UNR-DROPPED 3 PLACES
56-SDSU-ROSE 5 PLACES
66-BOISE ST-UNCHANGED
68-UNLV-ROSE 4 PLACES
69-FRESNO ST-ROSE 3 PLACES
135-WYOMING-DROPPED 21 PLACES
148-UTAH ST-DROPPED 3 PLACES
184-NEW MEXICO-DROPPED 5 PLACES
188-COLO ST-DROPPED 10 PLACES
279-AIR FORCE-ROSE 2 PLACES
295-S JOSE ST-ROSE 17 PLACES
And the Rebels begin their steady climb towards the top. So far, they jumped over Fresno St into the fourth spot. If they can beat the Broncos on Saturday night, they should be able to supplant them in third.
After that, the Aztecs lie 10 spots ahead. I don’t believe they are nearly as good as they’ve been in recent years. Yes, their upset of Gonzaga was impressive, but they also have some very bad losses in their resumé. It remains to be seen if Brian Dutcher can inspire his troops as well as Steve Fisher was able to. I don’t believe that Fisher’s teams would have lost to a bad Cal team, or absorb the kind of beat-down they suffered from Hurley’s (gag!) Arizona St. squad.
As for Reno, it will require some upsets by the Rebels to reach them, but it’s not un-doable. Our guys are capable of making this happen. Let the conference wars begin!
Go Rebels!
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Kenpom rankings for 1/01/18 are as follows:
31-UNR-ROSE 5 SPOTS
57-SDSU-DROPPED 1 SPOT
58-BOISE ST-ROSE 8 SPOTS
73-UNLV-DROPPED 5 SPOTS
85-FRESNO ST-DROPPED 16 SPOTS
107-WYOMING-ROSE 28 SPOTS
154-UTAH ST-DROPPED 6 SPOTS
165-NEW MEXICO-ROSE 19
195-COLO ST-DROPPED 7 SPOTS
296-AIR FORCE-DROPPED 17 SPOTS
300-SAN JOSE ST-DROPPED 5 SPOTS
I’m a bit surprised that the Rebels only fell by 5 places after the beating they took at the hands of the Broncos. Although, the separation between us and Boise St widened from 2 places to 15. The community college to our north managed to rise by 5 places, despite a very close call vs New Mexico.
Wednesday’s game has us facing #300 San Jose. We’d better put up a good showing, or we’ll be falling a lot more. I imagine that getting schooled by Boise, put the Rebels into a bit of a depressing mind-set. Hopefully they’ll be able to put that game behind them, and move on. Not to say that they should forget the lessons learned, but that they lift their chins and return to winning ways. We've been a much better team. The last game was the first of the season where we were just out-played. Sure, we played a weak OOC schedule, but even in our 2 previous losses, we were not thumped like that. Arizona and Northern Illinois on the road, are no cupcakes. and we could have, no we should have won those games.
#73 isn’t so bad. If we can (and should!) string a bunch of wins together, we can get back up a bit.. Yes, we’re facing the dregs of the MW over the next few games, but if Washoe County Institute can gain five spots, after barely hanging on vs #165, then some good showings against the cellar-dwellers, should still improve our standing.
Of course, I’m well-aware that these numbers are meaningless in the “big picture”. The only way anyone from our anemic conference is getting into the NCAA’s, is by winning the tournament in March. Our focus should be on learning how best to beat the rest of the field. That means, not how many wins we can line-up against the lower-ranked opposition, but what it will take to get us to a place where we can knock-off Sparks University, Boise St, San Diego St and Fresno. For those are the teams we’ll have to beat at conference season’s end.
Of course, we get them at the T&M, which is always an advantage, but it hasn’t helped us in season’s past. So MM and his staff have plenty of work ahead of them. I’m sure they’re well-aware of this. So let’s concentrate on getting better.
Go Rebels!
