Realistic expectation for the last 8 games...

Feb 1, 2023, 11:28 AM

Looking ahead....

The goal is to finish in the top 4 of the ACC and give the best possible chance for success in the conference tournament. Along with that, winning enough games to secure a NCAA bid. I think these two things go hand in hand. Not going to get into the NET stuff...that's dead horse territory.

I expect that we could go 5-3 in our last 8 games, which would put us at 15-5 in the ACC. 23-8 overall prior to the tournament. I think it's realistic and would be a great accomplishment for this team. If we happen to exceed that, it would be incredible.

If you look at the standings, that would probably good enough for the top 4. That assumes that teams that currently have 4 losses will drop a couple and perhaps a team with 3 losses like Pitt will drop at least 3. Currently Pitt & UNC have 3 losses (they play tonight by the way). Duke, Miami & N.C. State have 4 losses. Among those teams, there are plenty of games where these teams play each other, guaranteeing losses along the way. UVA has 2 losses like us, but I'd be surprised if they lost more than 2 additional games. But I think 15-5 would guarantee top 4, without having to deal with tiebreakers, etc. If we slipped to 14-6, that would get dicey and potentially put us in tiebreaker scenarios.

I feel really good about our home games against Notre Dame, as well as our road game at Louisville.

I feel pretty good about our home games against Syracuse and FSU. FSU tends to present matchup problems for us, but I think we are just better at home.

The Miami game is a really important game. Could legitimately go either way. It's nice that we get a break after that...this team needs to get healthy. But this is the biggest home game left, for sure.

The road games at UNC, at NCSU, and at UVA are all pretty brutal. If we can get one of those, that would be great. Those teams don't lose at home very often. All three are playing good ball at the moment.

flag link

military_tech

thumb_down

thumb_up

Re: It the team plays like it did last night...

Reasons:

- Earl Grant seems to have some sort of former assistant mojo working against Brownell.
- Missing Galloway is a big deal. Hemenway is not magically going to be a big factor after missing several games. We really didn't get any type of scoring from the 2 guard spot.
- People can downplay it all they want...but the "back-to-back" road game thing, regardless of where it is...tends to lead to road teams not playing as well. Check the other ACC teams' road records...the only teams above .500 on the road are UVA, Clemson and Pitt. Everyone else is .500 or below (mostly below)

We definitely need to play better. I do think we need a fully healthy team for this stretch run...missing Chase Hunter for a few games, now Galloway for a couple of games...has been difficult...the VT & FSU games could have easily gone the other way.

5-3 finish assumes a healthy team with all hands on deck.

Realistic expectation for the last 8 games...

It the team plays like it did last night...

Re: It the team plays like it did last night...

I'm assuming last night was an aberration for a few reasons.

I don't think anyone expected Clemson to go 9-0...

I tend to think that we will play "above" ourselves.....

4-4 or 5-3 I would guess.***

Yes...could definitely see either one of those....

Re: Realistic expectation for the last 8 games...

TigerBoard POTD