You aren't wrong, but I'd put more stock in that argument if we didn't also have a lot of close wins. If close losses could have easily been close wins, then close wins could have easily been close losses. If we needed our team to win EVERY close game, well, I don't think that really means we were a very good team. I'd guess our record in close games was pretty similar to most teams, or kind of around the average.
Close wins:
Ark PB by 8, but was a 4 point game with 30 seconds left
South Alabama by 4
Ole Miss by 4
@TT by 5
vs WVU by 1
I counted about 7 games that I'd consider close losses, so we were about 5-7 in close games. Even swinging that to 7-5 which is probably pretty good only would have picked up 2 more wins.
The team was WILDLY inconsistent. All season. Played pretty bad early and lost some games we had no business losing, and won some close games that shouldn't have been close. Got better and had some good showings in conference play, but also had some stinkers.
Like beating Alabama (arguably the best team most of the season) by 24, then losing the next four by 10, 32, 10, & 23. Just wildly up and down all conference season. Some may look at that as being close, but teams that wildly inconsistent are typically further away, rather than close.
I'm VERY cautiously optimistic that we'll put a better team on the floor this year, but that is mostly due to the guards. PM really dropped the ball at the 4/5 spots, and it'll be interesting to see how and how much that hurts us. We have almost no room for error. And if this new style doesn't pan out, the pressure defense and transition offense, I think we could really struggle, b/c I don't like a lot of our offense in the halfcourt. Or defense around the rim. Or potentially, our rebounding.
