Post by kiyoat on Nov 14, 2019 14:58:26 GMT -6
With all the hoop-la around the basketball season starting, and early signing day, and the FB team actually not sucking.... I forgot to start the final game threads.
With the regular-season and tourney-hosting and 1-seed all clinched, what is left to play for?
Plenty.
Chiefly RPI, but also the team's personal goals of completing the season sweep. And pride, of course. This team is capable of pulling off the sweep, so they should do it. No reason to let up. I'm sure I am forgetting to mention the sports-psychology aspects of never letting up, never looking ahead or behind, staying focused, "trying to be 1-0", etc.
As a fan, it's easy for me to look ahead, or to under-estimate the opponent, or to get complacent. But this team has succeeded precisely because they don't do any of those things, and that is a testament to coaching.
Of course, I personally know a bit more about RPI than any of those other intangible goals, so... What I have seen is that we have hit the "RPI wall", where you have to just keep winning just to not lose ground. And sometimes you backslide anyway, because of the SOS of a mid-major conference. So if we win these next two matches, we will still have an RPI in the 37-40 range. Which is squarely on the bubble. Not much we can do about that at this point but keep winning.
I'd love to say that the NCAA bid is in the bag, but unfortunately, Denver and Omaha might still have something to say about that, and we will probably have to play both of those teams in Denver (Omaha will likely stay as the 4-seed). So RPI is important for us this year.
Just win, baby.
With the regular-season and tourney-hosting and 1-seed all clinched, what is left to play for?
Plenty.
Chiefly RPI, but also the team's personal goals of completing the season sweep. And pride, of course. This team is capable of pulling off the sweep, so they should do it. No reason to let up. I'm sure I am forgetting to mention the sports-psychology aspects of never letting up, never looking ahead or behind, staying focused, "trying to be 1-0", etc.
As a fan, it's easy for me to look ahead, or to under-estimate the opponent, or to get complacent. But this team has succeeded precisely because they don't do any of those things, and that is a testament to coaching.
Of course, I personally know a bit more about RPI than any of those other intangible goals, so... What I have seen is that we have hit the "RPI wall", where you have to just keep winning just to not lose ground. And sometimes you backslide anyway, because of the SOS of a mid-major conference. So if we win these next two matches, we will still have an RPI in the 37-40 range. Which is squarely on the bubble. Not much we can do about that at this point but keep winning.
I'd love to say that the NCAA bid is in the bag, but unfortunately, Denver and Omaha might still have something to say about that, and we will probably have to play both of those teams in Denver (Omaha will likely stay as the 4-seed). So RPI is important for us this year.
Just win, baby.
