How crucial is the game at Gonzaga?

[thebigabd]

How crucial is the game at Gonzaga?

 

[Sam]

Honestly at this point I don't think this game matters, if this team is going to battle back to the NCAA tournament it is going to have to be done during the conference season.

 

[DeaconBoomer]

Zags by 10-15 pts. Losing this game isn't going to change this season. I just don't see us faring well against this team. I hope I am totally wrong.

 

[aaron7]

Honestly at this point I don't think this game matters, if this team is going to battle back to the NCAA tournament it is going to have to be done during the conference season.

Exactly how I feel about this game. If we come through in the conference season, I think the committee will give us the benefit of the doubt for the non-conference losses by attributing them to a young team learning on the fly.

 

[thebigabd]

So if they lose the game, it does not matter? I have to disagree with that. Sure, they need their primary body of work to come in the conference year, but there are only so many realistic wins.

When you go into conference at 9-5 (Maryland Eastern Shore being the 9th) you pretty much have to go 11-5 to make the NCAA Tournament. That gives you a 20-10 record going into the Big 12 tournament.

Gonzaga at least gives you a quality win and gives you some confidence going into Big 12 play.

 

[aaron7]

So if they lose the game, it does not matter? I have to disagree with that. Sure, they need their primary body of work to come in the conference year, but there are only so many realistic wins.

When you go into conference at 9-5 (Maryland Eastern Shore being the 9th) you pretty much have to go 11-5 to make the NCAA Tournament. That gives you a 20-10 record going into the Big 12 tournament.

Gonzaga at least gives you a quality win and gives you some confidence going into Big 12 play.

I think 10-6 gets nearly every Big 12 team in the tourney, especially a team in the South.

9-7 for OU would require at least one win in the tourney, maybe two depending on the seeding.

 

[DeaconBoomer]

So if they lose the game, it does not matter? I have to disagree with that. Sure, they need their primary body of work to come in the conference year, but there are only so many realistic wins.

When you go into conference at 9-5 (Maryland Eastern Shore being the 9th) you pretty much have to go 11-5 to make the NCAA Tournament. That gives you a 20-10 record going into the Big 12 tournament.

Gonzaga at least gives you a quality win and gives you some confidence going into Big 12 play.

We are not going to beat the Zags. I'm still PO'ed about the UTEP game. I sat on the floor and it sucked watching the beatdown from my perspective. This ball club might win 7 conference games if we catch some breaks. Sorry, I just have a crappy attitude after the beating last night.

 

[Krugerfan52]

If we don't win the Gonzaga game, even if we go 9-7 or 10-6 in the Big 12 I could still see us being left out of the NCAA tourney with such a poor non-conference record.

If we do win, then we have a big nonconf road win under our belt and 9-7 might get us in.

In my mind though, we just have to beat Gonzaga to make up for one of the games in Alaska or we are sunk.

 

[ousooners1baby]

At this point in time my opinion is that we are in too deep to make it. Struggle we will in the conference. Dancing we will not be. Tough time getting NIT bid I say.

 

[soonerczech]

You have to realize that the Pac-10 is so crappy this year that they may only get 2 teams in at most, with a slight possibility of 3. I think the Big XII conf. RPI will be 2nd or 3rd in the nation and going 9-7 may be enough.

 

[BigTime]

Have to win it to make the dance imo (obviously we could still win the conference tourney...but good luck to the guys on that one.).

Extremely important.

 

[CokeSooner]

I'd say rather important because the team needs a quality non-conference win.

 

[seniorsooner]

If we lose this game we are going to have to go no worse than 10-6 in the league to have any chance of making the tournament. And 10-6 wouldn't even guarantee us a slot if we have 5 non conf losses.

 

[SoonerEyeDoc]

I'd say rather important because the team needs a quality non-conference win.

Agreed. This is a must win for NCAA tourney consideration, as the Big 12 is one of the strongest leagues in the country, so anything better than 8-8 or 9-7 in the conference will be unlikely barring dramatic improvement defensively. I do think this team will get better as they are so young, but this is not a good year to expect 11-5 in the conference to pull OU into the tournament as the league is too good from top to bottom (at least based on the Sooners body of work to date).

 

[campbest]

I actually feel better about this game than I did a week ago, not because how we're playing but don't know if anyone caught the Zags-Duke game on Saturday, but they looked awful.

 

[FaithfulSooner]

Be careful deacon. Ask bigabd what happened earlier this year when he picked arkansas to beat OU by 12. There's a lot of season left and I have confidence in our coach and team to get this thing turned around. BOOMER SOONER BABY!!!:clap