I think we beat Oregon, drop the game to Creighton, win the third game unless it's against Alabama, beat Wake, beat Tech and lose to Purdue so that puts us at 4-2 or 3-3 depending on if we play Alabama.

For part B for me it's probably 3-3, I think I'd feel okay about 3-3 as long as don't get torched by anyone. I can envision a world where even 2-4 doesn't feel that bad if all the games are close and we play Alabama or Houston, but if we get absolutely lit on fire a couple of times than 2-4 will be real trouble.

expectation 3-3
hope 4-2
would be disappointed with 2-4 but as we all know you can't ever get worried about a buzz coached team early in the season. these are all good teams so no bad losses.

Wake at home is on the fringe of a bad loss, not awful, but that's probably a borderline Q2/Q3 game. Otherwise yeah.

Quote:

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as we all know you can't ever get worried about a buzz coached team early in the season

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I think this has gotten a little off the track. There's definitely a lot of overreacting early in the season. Good teams lose games to bad teams, it happens, it's basketball. But if this Buzz team can't at least be pretty-to-really good in non-conference then it's a problem.

We were pretty good in non-conference last year, especially to start off. A brutal travel schedule and some injuries caught up to us some, but overall we were a pretty good team in non-con last year, so good it bailed us out of a borderline disastrous run through conference play.

This team is 8th in the country in KenPom's minutes continuity from last year. We do have some important new pieces, but we can't just be throwing in the towel on ever being any good in non-conference.

Oregon (W) - Other than Nate Bittle they don't rebound well. Oregon State outrebounded them by 8 and that game has been their only test thus far as they trailed by 12 late in the game, but pulled out a win.

Creighton (L) - Ryan Kalkbrenner is a problem - 25.8 ppg and 8.5 rebounds. Ranked #14 and it seems like these kind of teams always give the Aggies fits.

TBD (L) if it's Bama/Houston and (W) if it's Notre Dame/Rutgers - We all know about UH and Bama, but Mark Sears showed a ***** in his armor against Illinois this week. He did not score a FG and in the last 2 games is 1-10 from 3. Nate Oats tried to insert him in the second half and Sears declined, saying the other guards were playing better. Rutgers is #24 and Notre Dame would be tough, but hard to gauge as they've played patsies thus far.

Wake Forest (W) - They are 5-1 with a win over Michigan and a loss to Xavier. Beat USC Upstate by 5. Three double-digit scorers. Aggies should clean the glass as WF has been outrebounded by Coppin State, USC Upstate, Xavier and Western Carolina.

Texas Tech (W) - Haven't played anyone noteworthy and lost to St. Joseph's by 1. Tech has 5 players scoring in double figures led by JT Toppin at 20.8. Toppin, 6'9, is a New Mexico transfer who also averages 11 rebounds. TT shoots it pretty well at 41% from 3

Purdue (L) - Beat Alabama and lost to Marquette. No superstars, but they go 8 deep and don't lose much.Shooting 43.8% from 3, which is good enough for 8th nationally. Typical tough nosed Purdue.

What do I think is going to happen?

3-3 or maybe 2-4. I'll feel pretty good if we squeak out four wins.

What's the minimum acceptable record where I might be a little annoyed that we didn't win more, but you're not sounding the alarm on the season?

2-4 is the simple answer, but it depends on who we beat or lose to and how badly.

2-4 would be disappointing given the experience this team has. Oregon, Creighton, and Tech are the types of teams you'll see in the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament. With the preseason expectations this team has, I'd hope we can win two of those along with Wake Forest at the minimum.

Oregon barely got by Oregon St and was outrebounded by 17. We win this one.

Creighton is hard to measure up because they haven't played anybody with a pulse. I'm not afraid of going up against that one 7 foot kid. A couple of fouls early in the game and he's done for the half---we play our game and we could win this one; I'm marking this one a win just because Creighton hasn't had any real competition unless you count tonight's game against Nebraska comp.

The championship is probably going to have either Alabama or Houston; I think we'll lose this one just because winning 3 in a row is a low probability.

If this one wasn't at Reed against Wake Forest, I'd be 50/50 on it, but it's at home and I think being at home will do wonders to exorcise whatever demons we came across in Vegas. Remember! What ever happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!

Texas Tech: I mark this is a win just barely, but wouldn't be too bad if this were a loss. It's at a neutral site so either way, it's going to be a tight game.

Purdue is a loss just because I really don't see us beating a team at a... neutral site? Neutral site, my ass, it's basically a home game for Purdue. I will say this, IF we beat Purdue, that in my opinion will be one of the biggest wins on Buzz's resume here at A&M.

TL;DR

W, W, L, W, W, L

Gotta win at least 3, 2 is going to be a tough pill to swallow, win 1 and it's a typical Buzz season all over again. Lather. Rinse. Repeat

Tech would be bigger if we can get that one I think mostly for in-state rivalry reasons, but the list of our big wins away from home under Buzz isn't incredibly long. Especially if you consider knowing it was a big game going in. Like Iowa State ended up being a massive win last year but we didn't realize at the time just how big that was going to be.

What else is under consideration? The Kentucky SECT game last year, Nebraska NCAAT obviously, maybe Auburn away or the Arkansas SECT game in '23? Auburn and Arkansas in '22 felt big at the time but ultimately didn't matter.

I think you all have hit on a lot of my thoughts already. I'll feel really good if we go 4-2 or better, as you'd really put yourself a long way clear of the bubble heading into conference play. I will feel just fine if we are 3-3, which is generally my expectation for this stretch.
If we end up 2-4, we need to hope one of those four isn't to Wake at home. That game has the potential to be like Memphis last year where it doesn't seem like that bad of a loss, but come resume time there is a real chance it is Q3.

Should be a really exciting stretch and we'll pretty much know exactly what this team is by Dec 15th.

We're going to win them all by 10+

if we win against Wake I will be ok.

A) 6-0 and I'm buying Final Four tickets
B) 3-3

Just has this pop up on my feed. Not super familiar with him, but it seems like a big loss based on fan reactions. Also, Creighton lost to Nebraska.

Creighton's Steven Ashworth is on the ground rolling in pain

Unclear the extent of the injury pic.twitter.com/8MqU2GwX5U

— Ryan Cassidy (@ryancassidycbb) November 23, 2024

Creighton's second-leading scorer and PG. 16 ppg and 6.4 assists.

This is behind a paywall, but the headline reads: https://omaha.com/sports/college/creighton/ankle-injury-could-sideline-steven-ashworth-for-las-vegas-event/article_a3e7ef20-a95b-11ef-8e0f-47ac184cc419.html

I'm hoping for 4-2

Content with 3-3.

Manny has to show out in a couple of games for us to make 3-3 or 4-2

A) With this talented team, I expect 4-2.

B) Minimum should be 3-3.

Watched Purdue and Marquette. Marquette reminded me of us a bit. Might not be a great matchup for Purdue.

Expect 3-3.
Hope 6-0

If we could somehow manage 5-1 you have to think we're bumping up on Top 10, not that it really matters at this point. Big picture maybe this tough stretch preps as for a faster start in SEC play.

Edited to add, if there's a weak team in the SEC it sure isn't apparent yet.

4-2. Phelps plays better and better each game.

rlb28 said:

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Creighton's second-leading scorer and PG. 16 ppg and 6.4 assists.

This is behind a paywall, but the headline reads: https://omaha.com/sports/college/creighton/ankle-injury-could-sideline-steven-ashworth-for-las-vegas-event/article_a3e7ef20-a95b-11ef-8e0f-47ac184cc419.html

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Stephen Ashworth took off his boot and went through warm-ups for Creighton. Not sure his status yet but sounds like he might try to give it a go.

— Seth Davis (@SethDavisHoops) November 26, 2024

I'll predict 6-0 - only because no one else will and it costs me nothing to make a wild prediction like that!

And I MIGHT be correct! (-:

5-1 if we can actually score a field goal in the last 5 minutes of a game

Interesting

A thread justifying going 2-4 prior to the games being played. This team should easily win three games in this stretch.

We shall see how they respond to playing so bad at the end yesterday.

Fanatic15...Drs2B! said:

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I'll predict 6-0 - only because no one else will and it costs me nothing to make a wild prediction like that!

And I MIGHT be correct! (-:

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Guess there was a reason nobody thought we'd make it through unscathed.

Hoping decision-making improves and we start taking better shots. But I am most concerned with live ball turnovers and our porous defense based on the Oregon game.

This is where leadership and experience should step up in righting this ship.

BTHO Creighton - and then MAYBE get a shot at Houston in Vegas on Saturday!

Who's justifying anything? I said I could envision a scenario where 2-4 doesn't feel that bad and I wouldn't panic but that scenario didn't include blowing a ten point lead in the first game.

A 2-4 where we're played well but all the losses were close and to the good teams would be rough but I wouldn't be panicking on the season yet.

Yesterday wasn't that.

Well I'm 0-2 so far

Same