The path to a 12-6 conference record (or better) is still there for this team. Make no mistake, I'm very concerned about what I'm seeing on the court. But now is a time to refocus on the big picture.
We're one third through the conference season and stand at 4-2. Go 4-2 every 6 games and you have a 12-6 record. Yeah, some of us wanted or even expected better, but that's still pretty darn good in this league.
Here are the next 6:
vs. Xavier
@ DePaul
vs. Providence
@ Villanova
vs. Marquette
@ Georgetown
There is no excuse to not go 4-2 again. Even 5-1 should be a possibility. We should be able to handle Providence and Marquette in our building. We should win at DePaul and Georgetown. CAN we lose any of those games? Absolutely. But that would be unacceptable in my mind. Saturday is a huge, huge game. Have to protect home court against one of the league's top teams. Win that one and 5-1 over this stretch becomes a lot easier to get to and gives us a buffer in case we slip up elsewhere.
Then you look at the last 6 games of the season: @ Xavier, vs. DePaul, @ Providence, @ St. John's, vs. Villanova, vs. Butler. We should handle DePaul and Butler at home. Probably win one of the three road games at the very worst. That means a fourth win has to come on the road or at home vs. Villanova. A tough ask, but I believe this team can do it.
All of this is why Saturday's game is the biggest of the season to date. It can set the tone for the rest of the conference schedule and set us up nicely for 12+ wins. Get back to basics, clean up the nonsense and just play good basketball. Is it too much to ask? We'll see.
We're one third through the conference season and stand at 4-2. Go 4-2 every 6 games and you have a 12-6 record. Yeah, some of us wanted or even expected better, but that's still pretty darn good in this league.
Here are the next 6:
vs. Xavier
@ DePaul
vs. Providence
@ Villanova
vs. Marquette
@ Georgetown
There is no excuse to not go 4-2 again. Even 5-1 should be a possibility. We should be able to handle Providence and Marquette in our building. We should win at DePaul and Georgetown. CAN we lose any of those games? Absolutely. But that would be unacceptable in my mind. Saturday is a huge, huge game. Have to protect home court against one of the league's top teams. Win that one and 5-1 over this stretch becomes a lot easier to get to and gives us a buffer in case we slip up elsewhere.
Then you look at the last 6 games of the season: @ Xavier, vs. DePaul, @ Providence, @ St. John's, vs. Villanova, vs. Butler. We should handle DePaul and Butler at home. Probably win one of the three road games at the very worst. That means a fourth win has to come on the road or at home vs. Villanova. A tough ask, but I believe this team can do it.
All of this is why Saturday's game is the biggest of the season to date. It can set the tone for the rest of the conference schedule and set us up nicely for 12+ wins. Get back to basics, clean up the nonsense and just play good basketball. Is it too much to ask? We'll see.
