How many losses this year?

[maysvilleky]

OK we've seen the Cats for the first time. How many losses do you predict on the year and how far do they get in the NCAAT?

My prediction: 7 losses and NCAA Final 4. I think they take a few losses early and by the end of the year they have their dribble drive fine tuned.

 

[CatPhight]

I'll with go 35-5 and hardware.

 

[Dakota25]

Six losses sounds right to me. This is a final four team capable of winning a title.

 

[dlh331]

37-3; NCAA Champs

Darryl

 

[caneintally]

Dlh331 I like the way you think . Have me down for that as well 37-3 and NCAA Champs . Losses to Kansas , At Vandy and in the SEC T .

 

[Ben101er]

I think 5 going into the tournament.

 

[DoyleHargrave1]

IDK but 5ish with this young group and the OOC schedule we play would seem reasonable to expect and anything better just gravy.

Anybody remember the phrase "ten loss tubby"? Seems like an eternity ago.

 

[mebeblue2]

2

 

[ganner918]

6-7. We're very young, and we play a very tough schedule.

 

[bucsrule8872]

Four regular season losses.

@KU
@LSU
@A&M
@Vandy

 

[KentuckyRLD]

OK we've seen the Cats for the first time. How many losses do you predict on the year and how far do they get in the NCAAT?

My prediction: 7 losses and NCAA Final 4. I think they take a few losses early and by the end of the year they have their dribble drive fine tuned.

I have a little problem seeing 7 losses. Would you mind listing the teams that will cause those 7 losses?

 

[true blue1]

34-6. NCAA Champs!

 

[ganner918]

I have a little problem seeing 7 losses. Would you mind listing the teams that will cause those 7 losses?

Except for 2012 and 2015, every one of Cal's teams has lost conference games nobody would have expected. It's hard to slog through the conference schedule without picking up a few losses.

 

[StubbornPenny]

4 or 5

50/50 on Duke.
We'll lose at Kansas. It's just a hard place to play.
L at Vandy
Then 1 or 2 random WTF games against a Devin Downey type or something. One of those losses will be in the SEC tourney.

Then we bring home 9, and that's all that matters!

 

[CUT-NETS]

6 regular season losses and then get taken out in Elite Eight on the way to the final four. Many on here have talked about how even the greatest coaches are prone to let downs in the tournament, and I fear this is our year for a let down in the tournament. Ulis gives me hope because I think he is a winner. But he was a winner last year and was watching from the bench at the end of the game.

 

[Joneslab]

I'm going to say 6 or 8.

Guards win in this sport which is why we'll be in the hunt for a title. But getting there is going to be tricky with this schedule.

One thing about this team is that it's going to have to shoot the ball well. Just very little semblance of a back-to-the-basket true post player to go to when games get into a halfcourt fistfight. Also, the rebounding has to be a concern. 2011 is the best model for this team, but both Harrellson and Jones were ferocious rebounders. You have to worry about nights when shots aren't falling and when we can't clean up our junk and get high-percentage looks.

But more than us, it's them. This schedule is seriously tough.

Think we'll be right there in the mix in March.

 

[Smashcat]

5-6 losses.

 

[UK_Johnny24]

Damn. If y'all think we're gonna lose 6-7 games this year y'all are trippin. I mean come on. We are the best and most talented team in the nation. 2-3 loses. 4 is the absolute MAX. My prediction - 3.

 

[KWilt43atbuzz]

2

This ^^^^^^^^

 

[kghighroller]

7 losses

 

[BigAbe4UK]

Yea I'm not seeing over 6 losses with this group. My guess is 4-5 tops. I think we make the FF again. All those guards in march will just be too much for most teams to handle. Of course after we get there its basically a crap shoot as we saw last year. I've stopped predicting championships after 2015 couldn't even win it. Anything can happen

 

[ORCAT]

5 sounds pretty realistic for a young team who will still be learning to play together at the start of the season with Poy getting himself back into a playing groove. In SEC play if we encounter some bad foul problems with our frontcourt guys we could see a surprise loss on the road that no one is anticipating and we have a tough OOC schedule. Team should be very fun to watch as they develop and an exciting group to follow all year. I can see them getting to the Final Four and anything can happen there where we can bring home #9.

 

[Notorious23]

1 by 1 point

 

[CalCat57]

I'll say 5 losses going in to the tourny. Then we will be very dangerous.

 

[OldEvilleCat]

I'll with go 35-5 and hardware.

I'll go with this as well. One loss per month...except for April, of course.

 

[KY Long Rifle]

I'm going with 4. 2 in the pre-conference, while we are still figuring ourselves out. Then one let down during SEC season, one in the SEC tournament. After that, we bring home the bacon.

 

[blugrazz]

I am getting the tattoo tomorrow and thinking 38-2 or 37-3 with Final Four bounding it. Let me know if you think differently.

 

[UK2005_24]

2 or 3

 

[jackcarlson]

I suspect we will be favored in every game this season. I'm calling 38-2 with a trophy. losses to Duke and LSU

 

[Ben101er]

at LSU
at Kansas
at Texas A&M
at Vanderbilt

4 regular season losses, possibly 5 losing to Duke.

That is my thinking, but they could mature quicker and only lose 2-3. For instance, KU is far enough into the season, that they should be comfortable with each other, and the college game. It may be a possible win, although Lawrence will be tough place for a UK team to go, since we have beaten them quite a bit. Either way, it will be a great experience leading up to the tournament.

 

[BoulderCat]

26-5 in the regular season is my thinking. I'll hold off on predicting the post-season until we get a ways into things. At most though 7 even if we lose in both the SEC and NCAA tourney's.

 

[UK_Johnny24]

Just curious, if you can honestly remember: How many losses did you predict in 2014? How about 2011?

I predicted seven losses in each of those years -- heading into the NCAA tournament. I never call the tournament until the seedings are out.

In 2014, especially, I was called crazy and an irrational pessimist. I just saw a young team that would struggle in ways we couldn't predict.

I make the same call for 2016: Seven losses going into the NCAA tournament. No, I can't list them, anymore than I could have listed South Carolina and Baylor in 2014.

I cant remember exactly. And I am kind of a homer or whatever, but man. I just think this team is way too talented to lose 6-7 games this year. I mean we're absolutely loaded. We have 3 all American superstar freshman. 2 of which will be top 5 picks and most importantly we have a 2nd year experienced PG who's a leader on the court. That's huge right there IMO. I just cant see us losing that many games.

 

[Cats78]

7 or 8. Maybe more. They'll struggle on the road in the SEC.

 

[Joneslab]

Okay. Thanks for the response. I hope the optimists are right. I've seen Cal's team as falling into two categories: The Transcendentally Talented (2010, 2012, 2015) and the Very Talented But Young (2011, 2013, 2014.)

The first category was just too overwhelming to lose more than 1-3 games. The second category all had a chance to be a contender by the end, but were clearly going to lose 6-7 games along the way.

A strange thing about the '11 team is that they just couldn't win close games. If they would've figured things out sooner they probably would've been a 4 or 5 loss team. But if they would've figured it out sooner they might not have made their run.

This team definitely has talent, but it plays the toughest slate of any Calipari team. Going to Lawrence right after the SEC begins? Ohio State and Arizona State sitting there in the heart of the OOC? Going to UCLA? We haven't seen a schedule like this.

And through it all, Kentucky is still going to start three freshmen and play four, along with possibly a JUCO transfer and a guy coming back from an ACL tear that's always had confidence issues.

There are going to be some bumps. Which is good.

 

[Joneslab]

And really, as shaky as the '14 team was, they were right there in so many of those games.

Kentucky fans don't want to hear this when the team loses. They don't want to talk about how close the game was, even if UK plays well. UK fans have this odd tendency to believe the team is playing in a vacuum. It's much more pleasing to come to message boards and scorch the earth with rage, generally about the coach.

But I would be willing to bet what I own that this team is going to have the same sort of problems closing out tight games. Young teams have to learn how to win. They might not go into South Carolina late in the season and lay an egg like '14, but I think there will be nights they struggle and people start saying, predictably and sadly, "This is a sweet Sixteen team."

 

[Poetax]

6 regular season losses and then get taken out in Elite Eight on the way to the final four. Many on here have talked about how even the greatest coaches are prone to let downs in the tournament, and I fear this is our year for a let down in the tournament. Ulis gives me hope because I think he is a winner. But he was a winner last year and was watching from the bench at the end of the game.

Yeah Cal will will probably bench him for the last 10 minutes of that game, he loves losing those kinds of games. lol, you are consistent.

 

[calamitybone]

Three losses and national champs.

 

[ymmot31]

ZERO

 

[maysvilleky]

I have a little problem seeing 7 losses. Would you mind listing the teams that will cause those 7 losses?

Duke, Kansas, 4 SEC Reg. Season + 1 SECT. I think we lose 1 SEC home game (Likely Vandy or LSU) and 3 on the road.

 

[KWilt43atbuzz]

No offense but anyone that has this conglomoration of talent losing more than 3-4 gms is wacked out.