Hoops: Texas at Oklahoma Game Thread

[BobInHouston]

3 hours ago, bierce said:

It could even wind up facing Vandy in that game.  In Nashville.  Different arena, but still in Nashville.

Kentucky fans will dominate, but if someone otherwise doesn't care, that person will root against Texas.

[bierce]

For s*s and giggles, I decided to look at Bracket Matrix.  We were 5th on the list of teams left out before the games played 1/14 and 1/15.  A majority of the brackets that were updated today include us, and the few that don't include us still have us in the first four out with one exception.  Someone had us 65th before yesterday's games.  He/she/they grudgingly bumped us to 53rd. 

The main takeaway is who is the competition for the last spots if the tournament was chosen today.  Teams like Maryland, Iowa, Indiana, Arizona State, Vandy, Arky, all teams with 0 or 1 q1 wins at present.  The bubble will probably be pretty soft again this year. 

[BobInHouston]

18 hours ago, bierce said:

For s*s and giggles, I decided to look at Bracket Matrix.  We were 5th on the list of teams left out before the games played 1/14 and 1/15.  A majority of the brackets that were updated today include us, and the few that don't include us still have us in the first four out with one exception.  Someone had us 65th before yesterday's games.  He/she/they grudgingly bumped us to 53rd. 

The main takeaway is who is the competition for the last spots if the tournament was chosen today.  Teams like Maryland, Iowa, Indiana, Arizona State, Vandy, Arky, all teams with 0 or 1 q1 wins at present.  The bubble will probably be pretty soft again this year. 

They landed in the 68th spot on Lunardi's bracket today, after being next four out.

Bracket Matrix normally gets updated late tonight, right?

They just have to get on track to eight wins to make the cut. That's all. Just that.

[BobInHouston]

I'm being a little sarcastic. Eight wins will not be easy. Doable, but not easy.

[bierce]

53 minutes ago, BobInHouston said:

I'm being a little sarcastic. Eight wins will not be easy. Doable, but not easy.

It also might not be enough without something resembling a signature win in there.  We have lots of chances remaining to get one of those, but we could get to 8 wins in conference by beating only OU, Arky, LSU, Vandy, South Carolina, and either Georgia or Missouri in Austin with only the road wins at Arky, Vandy, and OU winding up as q1 wins.  LSU could easily drop out of the top 75, and either Georgia or Missouri (or both) could slide out of the top 30.  That would also be a resume without any wins against the at-large outside of a home win over 8ish seed Missouri or Georgia and road wins against double digit seeds if Arky, Vandy, and/or OU sneak in. 

The bubble will be weak again this year, but it might not be so weak that we get in without at least one really good win.  We had two of them last year (home vs. Baylor, @ Tech). 

My paranoid vision might require the development of a clear three tier conference with Auburn, Tennessee, Florida, Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, A&M, and Mississippi State, and all pounding on everyone else in the conference, and that obviously won't hold true every day, witness Missouri winning in Gainesville and Georgia beating Kentucky in Athens, but those are the only two times so far this year that one of the projected bottom 8 has beaten one of the projected top 8.  Meanwhile, the top 8 have beaten the bottom 8 16 times. 

I don't think our season will end with us not winning against at least one opponent of note.  I also don't think it will end with us not losing to one of the bottom teams in the conference, so our final resume this year could look much like it did last year, but I tend to think we were gifted a 7 seed just to create the match-up between Barnes and Terry, and I note we finished .500 in the top ranked conference, had two road wins against tournament teams, two other road wins against top 50 teams, we beat a three seed in our place, and we were jobbed out of a win against a #1 seed.  We have a lot of chances to create similar high points this season, but I think we'll need to cash a few of them in to get that kind of deference from the committee this year. 

Might as well start with that tomorrow.  I think Florida will beat our brains out on boards, but Kent showed on the glass against OU for the first time in conference play, even if his ft attempts were ugly as hell.   Florida profiles a lot like a much faster playing Tennessee (great at offensive rebounding and hampering opponents' threes), and we hung with Tennessee all game in Austin and even had our best stretch when the game greatly sped up in the first half. 

We still could really use Weaver out there. 

[Jordan91]

1 hour ago, bierce said:

It also might not be enough without something resembling a signature win in there.  We have lots of chances remaining to get one of those, but we could get to 8 wins in conference by beating only OU, Arky, LSU, Vandy, South Carolina, and either Georgia or Missouri in Austin with only the road wins at Arky, Vandy, and OU winding up as q1 wins.  LSU could easily drop out of the top 75, and either Georgia or Missouri (or both) could slide out of the top 30.  That would also be a resume without any wins against the at-large outside of a home win over 8ish seed Missouri or Georgia and road wins against double digit seeds if Arky, Vandy, and/or OU sneak in. 

The bubble will be weak again this year, but it might not be so weak that we get in without at least one really good win.  We had two of them last year (home vs. Baylor, @ Tech). 

My paranoid vision might require the development of a clear three tier conference with Auburn, Tennessee, Florida, Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, A&M, and Mississippi State, and all pounding on everyone else in the conference, and that obviously won't hold true every day, witness Missouri winning in Gainesville and Georgia beating Kentucky in Athens, but those are the only two times so far this year that one of the projected bottom 8 has beaten one of the projected top 8.  Meanwhile, the top 8 have beaten the bottom 8 16 times. 

I don't think our season will end with us not winning against at least one opponent of note.  I also don't think it will end with us not losing to one of the bottom teams in the conference, so our final resume this year could look much like it did last year, but I tend to think we were gifted a 7 seed just to create the match-up between Barnes and Terry, and I note we finished .500 in the top ranked conference, had two road wins against tournament teams, two other road wins against top 50 teams, we beat a three seed in our place, and we were jobbed out of a win against a #1 seed.  We have a lot of chances to create similar high points this season, but I think we'll need to cash a few of them in to get that kind of deference from the committee this year. 

Might as well start with that tomorrow.  I think Florida will beat our brains out on boards, but Kent showed on the glass against OU for the first time in conference play, even if his ft attempts were ugly as hell.   Florida profiles a lot like a much faster playing Tennessee (great at offensive rebounding and hampering opponents' threes), and we hung with Tennessee all game in Austin and even had our best stretch when the game greatly sped up in the first half. 

We still could really use Weaver out there. 

Did you just admit you suffer from Paranoia? In all seriousness we have heard nothing about Kaluma. And given RT’s history on injuries, we may not know until game time. 

[bierce]

7 minutes ago, Jordan91 said:

Did you just admit you suffer from Paranoia? In all seriousness we have heard nothing about Kaluma. And given RT’s history on injuries, we may not know until game time. 

CONSTANT VIGILANCE!