Thu Nov 23 Penn State (Kissimmee FL)
Fri Nov 24 FAU or Butler (Kissimmee FL)
Sun Nov 25 ?? (Kissimmee FL)
Wed Nov 29 at UVA
Wed Dec 6 DePaul
Sun Dec 10 Memphis
Sat Dec 16 at Cougar High

Given the makeup of our team so far (no Marble) and the horrid shooting of our preseason SEC POY guard (Taylor: 1 of 19 from deep in last 3 games), it feels to me like the Ags are a little overrated (#13) going into Thanksgiving.

Not taking anything away from two solid, true road wins at tOSU, SMU. There's a lot to love about our rebounding, protection of the ball (few turnovers), and FT shooting. Our upper classmen leadership is good and guys play tough on both ends regardless of whether our shots fall (thank God). There's a lot to be said for avoiding bad losses. (Hello, Arky.)

But our bunch is FAR from clicking on all cylinders yet. We have very little depth in offensive production. It feels to me like we aren't playing like an SEC title contender (yet).

My guess is that we would need need to win at least 5 of the next 7 to be ranked going into SEC play.

The way we are playing (shooting, especially) and without Marble, I see us winning 3 or 4 of the next 7.

If we win 5 of 7, I will be very impressed.

Hard to argue with that right now. Part of luxury of a Coleman AND Marble is that when the outside shots aren't falling we can adjust.

Outside shooting is outside shooting -- it's not gonna stay this bad all season.

But unfortunately staying ranked before conference play is extremely important for attendance reasons. No one cares about college basketball in Texas if you don't have a # next to your name.

3-2 over the next 5 would be very good IMO. Houston is Houston... But the other 4 teams are at the very least competent. Really need to take care of Depaul and Memphis at home.

Proposition Joe said:

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Part of luxury of a Coleman AND Marble is that when the outside shots aren't falling we can adjust.

Outside shooting is outside shooting -- it's not gonna stay this bad all season.

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IMO part of the reason that our outside shooting is so poor is that Marble is not on the floor. There is no reason for help defenders to sag to an A&M post player. So the perimeter is more tightly guarded and our shot selection is worse.

We are not getting the volume of "kick it outside from the paint to spotted up shooter" looks that we got w Marble in the game.

The fact that we are 3-0 with Wade shooting poorly gives me comfort. You know he'll get on track and when he does, look out.

Know Your Enemy said:

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The fact that we are 3-0 with Wade shooting poorly gives me comfort. You know he'll get on track and when he does, look out.

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Agreed that he will get on track and we'll be capable of beating just about anyone when he does.

But the issue is that without the alternative post-up that we can go to when we have those games where the shots aren't falling, it means we're probably going to lose to a handful of teams that we're better than on paper.

Certainly not the end of the world, and "that's how college basketball go", but I think as many of us have been saying that is the difference between a Top 25 team and a Top 10 team.

Absolutely agree. Either we need Marble back or Solo/Andy need to take a big step forward in the post quickly.

Agree with everything on this thread

I didn't want to be hyperbolic and start calling games "must wins" in November, but those wins against OSU and SMU are huge. Had we lost one or both of those we'd really be staring down the barrel of a potentially brutal non-conference record

Shoutout to Coleman for what he's done the last 3 games. He's really helped pull us through the burden of Marble's absence and our early perimeter shooting woes

I absolutely believe Wade will win us some games that we probably shouldn't later on, that's why it's so huge to get wins when he struggles to find his shot.

Know Your Enemy said:

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Absolutely agree. Either we need Marble back or Solo/Andy need to take a big step forward in the post quickly.

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I'll take both happening.

Yeah, it really does show how if you aren't one of the elite's in college hoops, "staying ranked" is a very difficult task.

OSU and SMU were "not must wins but really need to win to stay relevant".

Now you've got Depaul and Memphis a short time later in the same bucket.

I'm absolutely the guy that was pushing for a tougher non-conf schedule, but almost hate to see it in a season where we have a lofty preseason ranking because while it's going to keep our NET elevated so that making the tournament shouldn't be an enormous task if we don't crater -- on the flip side it means that it's going to be very tough to make it through non-conf staying ranked.

And I know that *shouldn't* matter in the grand scheme of things, but it does.

I really like this non-conf schedule. I wish it were this good every year. Even if we lose a few it benefits us.

Adam87inSA said:

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I really like this non-conf schedule. I wish it were this good every year. Even if we lose a few it benefits us.

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Buzz learned from BCG how to use opponent strengths to prep team even if opponent isn't good. But I do agree as we improve building in better opponents and not stepping back from that is better for our national recognition and status. Or a final four…

Not sure how many Aggies outside this board even know what the NET is so your point about staying ranked to remain relevant (in the eyes of the fans) is unfortunately spot on. If we had Marble I'd feel much more confident about this upcoming stretch. That being said there's a chance Wade and/or Boots go off in this tournament in which case we can beat anyone.

FAU lost to the unranked Bryant Bulldogs. Either they have fallen off this year, or they may get pssed off about the loss and really bring it in Orlando.

Great competition either way. Steel sharpens steel. We'll get better no matter the outcome, but you hope we learn new ways of how to win with each game/opponent.

Butler hasn't played a tough schedule, but they're annihilating people and look much improved under Thad Matta. That could be a great game if we end up matching up with them.

I like our chances against everyone except Houston. The early season tests at Ohio State and SMU were great scheduling choices to prepare for this stretch, and we have the guys to rise to the challenge!

I agree with most of this, except that we wouldn't be ranked.

At 11-2 going into conference play, with that tough of a schedule, I'd expect to be top 10, especially with the help of our preseason rank.

But I'd still expect borderline top 25 at 9-4, aka losing 4 of next 7. It would be disappointing, but also way better than we've entered January in previous years.

On another note, students won't watch all of these winter break games. They are excited, and would rally around "Don't Rank Us" if it came to that early in conference play with big games like LSU and Kentucky happening at home early.

It is a tough next 7 games coming up but hopefully we can improve a bit and get at least 4 wins out of that stretch. Hoping this will pay dividends later in our season.

Early Penn St comment. They are 4-0 against what I'd call bad competition just based on records. They are getting outrebounded by several rpg. Our competition has been relatively better , especially SMU and Oh St . They have one guy scoring 17.5 ppg and then no one else over 10 ppg. Just based on that little bit it seems like we'll give them a lot of trouble with more balanced scoring and we are out rebounding opponents by 12 rpg.

Even our "weak" opening opponent, TAMU-commerce ain't that bad. They got blown out by 27 by Texh and 20 by Kentucky but also beat what has traditionally been a decent St Joseph's team . Gotta give those guys kudos for their scheduling. They ain't skeered. St Joseph's was a 17 pt favorite over tamu-c fwiw.

Is the guy that killed us on 3s back this season?

No. He will be replaced by another guy who will kill us from 3.

UH and UVA will tear this team apart on the defensive side of the ball unless the outside shots start falling for us.

I can't comment on UVA this yr but last yrs UVA team was tough to watch on offense.

It's a safe bet that us vs Virginia will be one of the ugliest basketball games of the season. We thrive on dragging teams down into the mud with us but Virginia already lives there.

Is Ped State any good? I see they're 4-0 but didn't return any of their three leading scorers from last season

As an avid PSU fan, we are trying to figure that out as well. Our coach from last year left for Notre Dame and our new coach is the former VCU HC (Mike Rhoades). Most of our team graduated, some transferred, so all-in-all we have 10 new faces (9 transfers). The players have good pedigrees (Georgetown, 2 from UNC, 2 from VCU including the A10 POTY, 1 from Temple, 1 from Miami, etc), but playing together as a unit this early in the year with that many new faces is a challenge.

Last year we were a 3-pt team, this year the early returns (and Mike's system) is a pressing, in-your-face defense that creates TO's (forced 27 TOs last game). We have one guy who is a bit of a sniper, Jameel Brown (currently shooting just shy of 70% from deep on somewhere between 10 to 15 attempts), but otherwise do not have any shooters quite like Andrew Funk last year.

I am thinking you'll win, but it will be very interesting for PSU fans to see what we actually have this early. By season's end, I imagine this team will be much better than they are at this point in time.

State4Life said:

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As an avid PSU fan, we are trying to figure that out as well. Our coach from last year left for Notre Dame and our new coach is the former VCU HC (Mike Rhoades). Most of our team graduated, some transferred, so all-in-all we have 10 new faces (9 transfers). The players have good pedigrees (Georgetown, 2 from UNC, 2 from VCU including the A10 POTY, 1 from Temple, 1 from Miami, etc), but playing together as a unit this early in the year with that many new faces is a challenge.

Last year we were a 3-pt team, this year the early returns (and Mike's system) is a pressing, in-your-face defense that creates TO's (forced 27 TOs last game). We have one guy who is a bit of a sniper, Jameel Brown (currently shooting just shy of 70% from deep on somewhere between 10 to 15 attempts), but otherwise do not have any shooters quite like Andrew Funk last year.

I am thinking you'll win, but it will be very interesting for PSU fans to see what we actually have this early. By season's end, I imagine this team will be much better than they are at this point in time.

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Thanks for the info. Sounds like where A&M was a few years in a row with major roster turnover each year

Is there a bracket for the Thursday tournament?

https://12thman.com/news/2023/8/8/mens-basketball-aggie-basketball-opens-espn-events-invitational-vs-penn-state

Are we just playing the Thursday pod teams?

May I also add that PSU has been dreadful from beyond the arc this year. Brown is 11-16, but take that away and the rest of the team is shooting 22% from deep. Plenty of clean looks, just not hitting. We have a career 43% 3pt transfer who has just been dreadful (WIDE open looks). He finally made his first three in the last game, so hopefully that gets him going. Our big down low is a lot better and more athletic than last year (from Georgetown), but we only return 4 pts from last year's game... We are a completely new/different team... A lot bigger, though

PSU looks good on paper, but I haven't actually watched them. Buy winning easily against teams they should win easily against which isn't always so simple

Virginia is getting their ass best by Wisconsin.

Funny…the defeatist attitude extends beyond football! I keep forgetting that!

bobinator said:

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It's a safe bet that us vs Virginia will be one of the ugliest basketball games of the season. We thrive on dragging teams down into the mud with us but Virginia already lives there.

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absolutely a true statement. uva reminds me of gillespie coached teams. they play tenacious defense and play ugly. should be one hell of a game. first one to 55 may win.

Where are you seeing a defeatist attitude on this thread? It's no secret that UH is a tough matchup for anyone. Virginia does play good defense and we aren't known for beautiful offense. Effective but not beautiful.

I actually predicted us to probably be 3-5 losses heading into SEC play and I think we will still hit in that range. These are the games I think as of today, we pull wins on.

Penn St
----Sunday game in the tourney
DePaul
Memphis

And to be honest, I think we probably win at UVA as well. They haven't been looking so great. Our defense and rebounding will travel well. Those are all very doable and if we end up like I have laid out, we will have only 2 losses but feeling more comfortable every game in 3 being our max # of losses coming out of OOC schedule.

I don't think most in the know thought we were going to be a title contender this year. I think Hop had us around 13-5 SEC record and probably a top 4 seed going into the SEC tourney. I think that is probably about right, maybe 12-6 and a 5 seed but somewhere in that area is probable. Don't get me wrong, would love for Hop and I to be wrong but think we end up somewhere around there. Probably lands us a 4 or 5 seed in the Dance and we are likely to make a S16 if not better run

this is a fantastic non-conf schedule. Really good on paper and likely really good product on the court.