ChooChooCat wrote:Longhorned wrote:Olsondogg wrote:It’s clear that several posters don’t watch much college basketball outside of Arizona games, coupled with the inability to understand much of anything.
Some really aggressive takes on here that are pretty idiotic yet funny.
I'm not proud to say that I've watched a ton of college basketball this season, and I share your opinion.
But even if somebody doesn't watch non-Arizona games, here's something straightforward we can all agree on:
Arizona does not play like the same team that was in the Bahamas. The number of Arizona's losses since that debacle (1) is equal to the amount of losses suffered by Villanova and Virginia, and second only to Purdue (0). That 14-1 record includes 5 true road wins.
While I agree with the two of you, my primary concern is that all the metrics certainly suggest we are absolute dog shit on one end of the basketball court and while that's not impossible to overcome in the NCAA tourney it doesn't necessarily bode well for our chances in said tourney either.
Choo, you are certainly spot on about the metrics being what they are, and your fears are surely valid.
Let me present this though. What did fantastic metrics get us in years past? What did that top 5 Adj win us? What did pretty, double digit wins and undefeated out of conference seasons achieve?
Metrics are great to ascertain who is good, bad or mediocre. They are along with rankings (to a lesser degree) are a tool to be used to determine how to gauge a team compared with other teams.
Having watched a ton of basketball, not only this year but for the better part of nearly 3 decades, I can say that there is not a team out there that is hands and shoulders above the others. Duke is nearly equally as shitty defensively, but does anyone think that they have a sweet 16 ceiling?
For some posters the anvil is always dangling by a thread above the head. It's January and a ton of basketball is to be be played. A ton of shit can happen-both good or bad...just look at what has happened after January in years past.
Arizona has to improve, be healthy and confident going into March. But anyone pointing to this season as a disappointment needs to have their expectations readjusted. Or better yet, try rooting for ASU who was the non-conf regular season champs before the PAC season started.