It's 2023. What have we learned?

[Xuperman]

No doubt Boxer....I stand corrected.
Obviously Matta is our former coach and Miller mentor. We all payed close attention has he kicked some serious ass just 100 miles north of Victory Pkwy.....but honestly he just slipped my mind.

BTW, your AD hit a massive home run bringing in Shaka to run your program. He is the real deal and there can be no doubt he will keep y'all "dancin'" for years to come.

[Jasper67]

I'm not sure there's any applied logic here. You listed 6 teams,

currently MU is 2-1 against said group with the 1 being in 2x OT @PC.

Putting CU in that top tier means that you value wins against SHU, Butler and Depaul enough to say "they're back" but they haven't beaten anybody yet to prove it.

With XU you have a legit argument, they beat UConn but that's the only upper echelon game they've played thus far.

Nova right now is on the outside looking in and we assume will challenge because of Moore but they've lost to MU and UConn in their only challenging BE games thus far so what proof do you have to put them up there other than assumptions? Kyle Neptune is still new and fairly unproven, does Moore bring enough to really boost a .500 team to the next level? Whitmore didn't.

PC is also a legitimate argument, they've wins over MU (again in 2x OT @home) and against UConn, how do they fair though away from home when the whistle isn't friendly? IN both of those they had insane free throw disparities. Do they draw these friendly whistles away from the former dunk? I'd say the jury is still out.

Honestly this post reads like fanboy stuff rather than analysis. I think XU is the team to beat but everything else the jury is still out on.

That's a bit weird Boxer. "Applied logic"? Have you been asleep for the last few days? Your Creighton comment is just ignorant. "Logically" a healthy Kalkbrenner moves the needle JUST A TAD and apparently Cam Whitmore doesn't impress you.

Now using the word "fanboy" in response to my post gives me a sense you're agitated. That would more accurately describe you if you're thinking Marquette will end up on top of this thing. Logical odds would be around 10-1.

Look, my intent was to focus on the coaching dynamics and the fact that with the roster talent at the top in close parity, coaching will decide this thing IMO.

No "Logic"...just fact. WIth GQJ gone, Sean Miller is the most accomplished and effective HC, by any metric, in this league and that could play.out in a big way.
Sincerely,
Fanboy Xup.

Yes, I have been getting my 8 hours of sleep a night I appreciate your concern. Yes, if you make sweeping declarations you should have applied logic to defend them and again there's no logic to the tiers you listed other than fanboy idealism.

Blind records of the top 6 you listed against each other (none have slipped against lower teams so irrelevant to discussion):

2-1
0-1
1-2
2-0
0-2
1-0

Rank based on that and compare to your tiers.

As far as Whitmore not impressing, he's a great great player, he was also not enough to get them over the hump against MU or UConn. I'm less impressed by Neptune than anything and don't think Moore coming back changes that.

As far as Kalkbrenner goes right now it's "theoretically" there's zero proof that Creighton can compete with the top tier so they don't belong in that top tier till we see Saturday. Yes, I think they'll be much better but it's also entirely possible that he's lost a crap ton of muscle and endurance and gets worked by the top tier so again it's theoretical not logical that his come back bumps them to the top.

I don't think MU will end up atop this thing, I think we end up 4th in the BE. But given you were basing this off of "what we have learned" well there's no reason to put some of the teams you have ahead of MU.

As far as Miller being the most accomplished by any metric that would be false Matta has a .737 winning percentage to Miller's .725. Matta has more tournament success, 1 more A-10 championship, an equal amount of power conference reg season championships, and 1 more power conference tournament championships. equal amount of A 10 coach of the year, equal amount of power conference coach of the year. So that's an awful lot of metrics disproving your "just fact Sean Miller is the most accomplished and effective HC, by any metric" I'd maybe consider revising that to "of the contenders..." lol

Until this Saturday when we see a lot more of the top tier teams play each other this post was pointless.

BTWs you didn't respond to the Providence point I made and I anxiously await the defence of that because the likelihood of 39-19 and 49-19 free throw disparities away from home is very low.

I don’t have a dog in this fight, but with regard to “zero proof that Creighton can compete with the top tier”, it’s like they haven’t already competed with top teams. They beat Arkansa (12-2) on a neutral court. They beat Texas Tech (10-4) on a neutral court. They took Arizona (14-1) down to the wire on a neutral court, competing very well against them. They played Texas (12-2) to a 5 point loss on the road. And they’re 3-1 so far in the Big East, beating the teams they’re supposed to beat and doing it by double figures.

Just sayin’ . . .

[MUBoxer]

Jasper67: you are right. They have major wins. I was trying to keep this to conference only to simplify and standardize the data set.

[kayako]

I would not have believed you if you had told me that Creighton and Nova each took 5 OOC losses and the conference still has 5 top 25 caliber teams.

What I am starting to believe is that Xavier, Marquette, UCONN, and Providence has higher ceilings than I had thought before the season. Creighton is even more reliant on Kalkbrenner than I could have imagined, so lets hope the guy is healthy rest of the way. Top of the conference looks as dangerous as the 2019-20 season which unfortunately never got to prove it in the NCAAT.

[kayako]

Xavier and Marquette has elite point guards. UCONN, Providence, and Creighton (IMO) can play better defense. PC and X are undefeated, but I still think this is a 5 team race.

[Xuperman]

Xavier and Marquette has elite point guards. UCONN, Providence, and Creighton (IMO) can play better defense. PC and X are undefeated, but I still think this is a 5 team race.

Well, the current parity among those 5 is remarkable, and odds that a current bottom 6 team gets the #1 seed is improbable. HOWEVER, I am not buying the doom and gloom from our Nova fans here.

Whitmore WILL NOW go "beast mode" in padding that top 5 lottery pick....that's a certainty. But Dixon and Daniels are All BE type guys that play with PASSION AND PRIDE. Armstrong is going to be there as well....sooner than later....his "D" is phenomenal and Slater starts for just about any team in the country. So those 5 are EXTREMELY formidable. If Moore ever slots at the 1...game on! Regardless, it seems to me that winning 7 of the next 10 is an easy prediction.

As far as the top 5 go, who among them are most likely to get swept in the regular season? That could play big in getting that #1. I am still solidly on UConn.....no sweeps and 16-4.

BTW, the guys in Omaha have a hellacious PG.

[Omaha1]

I learned that Jordan Hawkins will get a whistle shooting a three pointer at least once per half even if he isn’t fouled and the replays show there was no contact.

[Xudash]

I learned that Jordan Hawkins will get a whistle shooting a three pointer at least once per half even if he isn’t fouled and the replays show there was no contact.

It’s a gift. Maybe no contact, but he was breathing on him.

[Xudash]

N/M

[kayako]

Xavier and Marquette has elite point guards. UCONN, Providence, and Creighton (IMO) can play better defense. PC and X are undefeated, but I still think this is a 5 team race.

Well, the current parity among those 5 is remarkable, and odds that a current bottom 6 team gets the #1 seed is improbable. HOWEVER, I am not buying the doom and gloom from our Nova fans here.

Whitmore WILL NOW go "beast mode" in padding that top 5 lottery pick....that's a certainty. But Dixon and Daniels are All BE type guys that play with PASSION AND PRIDE. Armstrong is going to be there as well....sooner than later....his "D" is phenomenal and Slater starts for just about any team in the country. So those 5 are EXTREMELY formidable. If Moore ever slots at the 1...game on! Regardless, it seems to me that winning 7 of the next 10 is an easy prediction.

Thanks Xuper. Nova's playing better than in November, but those early bad losses on the road will be awfully difficult to overcome. I think we'd need to go about 10-5 the rest of the way, and still need a win or 2 in the BET. Achieving 10 wins would require really laying the hammer down on the bottom 5 teams (Seton Hall is included in this group but they're probably in a better position than Nova currently) and taking a few from the top teams. We're so bad defensively that I think the hard part will be to avoid losses to the bottom teams all season. Moore doesn't sound like he's mentally ready to play this season, but I'll probably hop back on board if we can win the next 4 winnable games. If Nova takes another loss in the next couple of weeks, it probably is really over.