For the first time in a while...

The men should pop into the top 25 when rankings are released Monday. I think the win over A&M probably secured our move into the top 25. I could be wrong, but it looks like we'll debut somewhere around #23/#24.

 

I hope we're in the top 25, but I'm not sure it's going to happen yet. In the AP poll we're basically 30, and in the coaches poll we're basically 34. We're going to have to jump several teams, and I don't think our win against A&M is going to do it. Most weeks, only 2 or 3 teams drop from the top 25, so that means only 2 or 3 teams have the opportunity to move in. The A&M win will look good, but I think a win against a top 25 team would've been more likely to do the trick. I think we'll get more votes and pass the teams with only a few, but the teams with more significant amounts like UCLA and Pittsburgh will probably stay above us unless they lost this week (haven't checked up on that stuff).

Assuming we win our game this week, I think there's a decent chance we go into the game against Texas with both of our teams being ranked in the AP poll. Man, that would be nice. I miss the days of Sampson and Barnes going at it.

 

No question it's going to be close, but I was looking at the bottom (of the top 25), and there were several that lost. I didn't look at the "other's receiving votes", so I don't know how they fared.

It could be a little early (but I'm excited).

Not sure if you caught the game last night, but at one point in the first half, one of the commentators said "if A&M wins, they'll be ranked next week!!". I thought "what?! I think he means OU". A&M is a decent team, but they had a couple of losses coming into that game, even if they had won, they weren't getting ranked.

 

I was happy last week when we had votes in both polls but I can't see a top 25 ranking yet. I think the Texas game will get us there. I really like this team.

 

I watched some of the second half, but wasn't able to see much. Yeah, A&M had a couple of bad losses, so I don't see how they could've moved into the top 25.

The more I start to think about it, the more I think we'll get into the top 25 (for the AP at least). I expected to jump all the teams in the AP Poll "others receiving votes" category except Pitt and UCLA, because they were about 60 points ahead of us. Both of those teams lost, though, so we're looking pretty good to make that jump. UCLA lost to #8 Duke, so we'll see how much that counts against them, but Pitt lost to unranked Cincinnati. A&M isn't top 25, but there is the name recognition, and it was in the state of Texas. We also have the Alabama win, and I think that was on a neutral court as well. The other thing I see working in our favor is Texas' win at UNC. They've been getting a lot of attention, which I think we'll indirectly draw attention to us. Texas is probably top 25 bound, so it's going to feel odd for some of the voters to not bring us up with them. 5 of the top 6 teams in the Big XII would be ranked, and the unranked team would be the one with the second best record.

 

On a positive note, we're #19 in the RPI. That puts us in the NCAA without a doubt, but it's obviously way too early for the RPI to really matter. Unfortunately the only top 50 RPI team we've played was MSU (#17), and we've only won one game against top 100 RPI (#93 Mercer). Making things even worse, Alabama (#112) is the only other team we've played in the top 150. We've beaten Tulsa (#151), George Mason (#153), and Seton Hall (#154), but yikes. Only 2 wins against top 150 opponents is kinda scary at this point. I hope Lon starts to ramp up our OOC schedule in the coming years.

 

Tulsa, George Mason, and Seton have all been good teams historically. They just happen to be down this season.

 

ut has some big dudes...hopefully we'll run them and gas them...if Ridley..(I think) gets it low we go no one that could stop him. He is huge. Has soft hands, good touch. Should be a telling game.

 

We're lucky number 26 in the AP poll. We don't play again until next Monday so just waiting on somebody above us to lose to finally get back in the poll.

 

We got some love from the AP poll, but not much from the Coaches poll. Most teams either don't play, or have a weak opponent next week, so I don't expect much movement. The Texas game will vault one of us into the top 25, though, and that's probably for both polls.

 

And we may yet crack the top25 with only 1 non-conf remaining.

Having said that, is anyone concerned about our upcoming, opening Big12 schedule?

@Txass
KU
ISU
@KSU
@Baylor

That is one tough opening and we will find out quickly just how good we really are...

 

Yeah, that's brutal. Our two home games are against RPI top 5 teams, and road games are always tough in a conference like the Big XII. Our most winnable game appears to be on the road against a K-State team that's won 6 straight and just knocked off a ranked Gonzaga squad. It's not going to get much easier, though, because we're in the toughest conference. We're probably going to need a WVU/TCU/Tech sweep to get into the NCAA's.

 

yeah, it'll be a tough stretch. I was pleasantly surprised in the non - conf. I had 2-3 losses. Conf..10-8, MAYBE 12-6.

we'll be lucky to split with the top 3, ku, osu, isu...ut, ksu and bu are tough as well. tt/tcu/wv should be sweeps.

so that's 6/6 with the top 3 being a tough row to split..I haven't seen isu play, osu is osu.

ku/ut have some bigs that we just don't have the size for, it will be interesting.

 

Ok, we are all in agreement then. Tough battle out of the gate for sure. I haven't really dove into the conf schedule but I think I'd be excited for a 10-8 record...that's 22-9 overall. Right on the bubble, but the Conf RPI might be enough to push us in this year.

 

I have missed the days of Sampson since Blake Griffin left. I'm glad I'm (also) a Rockets fan.

the_ouskull

 

I miss Blake Griffin, and I'm sorry you're a Rockets fan.

 

Tulsa has been down for quite a few years now. Their last NCAA appearance was in 2003, which is 10 years ago. They've made quite a few mistakes in coaching hires lately, including their current coach IMO.

 

I think it's a tough start and a tough conference overall. However, I will say that KU, BU and OSU and even ISU have had a few games where they look totally beatable and played poorly against good to mediocre teams. If it were just one game I would blow that off, but each have had several in the non-conf. Some listed like CO, Iowa etc. I know are good, but I don't think any better than OU. I also realize we've had some struggles too, with UTA and a close one with Seton Hall. But we have some good wins with Alabama and A&M and Seton Hall was a good win too even though it was only by 2. We handled George Mason much better than ISU did. Our lost to Michigan State was pretty good as far as a loss goes, we lead through a lot of the game and didn't get blown out by the then #1 team in the country eventually loosing by 11, but were within 4 in the final minutes.

KU lost to Vilinova, Colorado and Florida and struggled with UTEP finally winning by 4. Good win over Duke. I think we can split with them.

BU lost to Syracuse and won by 2 over South Carolina, 5 over Georgia Southern, 3 over Dayton and needed OT to beat Northwestern State. Good win over Kentucky, decent win over Colorado. i think we can split with them as well.

OSU lost to Memphis and struggled with Butler winning by 2, Purdue before pulling away and winning by 10, and recently by 5 over Colorado. They are a tough match up and will be hard to split with.

ISU has not lost but struggled against Iowa winning by 3, needed OT to beat Northern Iowa, and Boise State by 4. Iowa is ranked and a good win and they beat Michigan a top 10 team. They will be the toughest I think to split with, but it's doable.

Texas didn't look very good early but has since looked really good. Similar loss to MSU as we had where they lead for a lot of the game then lost in the second half by 14. I think we also split with them.

KSU recently beat Gonzaga that looks like a good win, but I think we beat Gonzaga as well. They lost to Northern Colorado, Charlotte and Georgetown, and struggled against Ole Miss and South Dakota. I think we handle them both times.

I also think though they are 8-3 we handle TCU both times as well as Texas Tech. WVU might be a bit better than given credit for, in their 5 loses they lost by 7 to #10 Wisconsin, by 4 to #20 Gonzaga, and none by double digits. I think it's possible we might split with then too.

So my bold prediction providing Hornbeak returns and we stay healthy, is we win against La. Tech, then go 11-7 in Conference for a total of 23-8. Not counting what might happen in the Big XII tourney, I think that record overall and in this conference gets you not only in, but maybe as high as a 6 seed.

 

If OU shoots well, they can be anybody on the schedule. They run and play defense. If shots dont fall we will struggle against the bigger post guys.

 

being ranked is nice for cosmetic reasons but as long the rpi is less than 30 i'm happier.