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What are your expectations for this year?

5-7 regular season losses with a good OOC and in a very good SEC.

Sweet Sixteen run. Anything else is gravy.

5-6 guys back next season with 2-3 superstar recruits and we have a great shot at the Final Four and a title in 2018-19.
 
This year with the roster we have a National Championship is very realistic and that is my expectation.

I felt last season's team was 1 good player short. Not so this time.
Another thing to consider. Kentucky always wins the NCAA basketball championship every 20 years ending in "8". 1958, 1978, 1998. So the next NCAAT is our traditional year to win it all.
 
Bridge year.....could be kinda rocky at times. Very, very young and inexperienced. A sweet sixteen would be an accomplishment and a Final Four a welcome surprise. How well this group gels and avoids injuries will determine how far they go. It is really hard to say at this point.
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I am still concerned about how young our team is this year. I do expect them to be pretty good though and very exciting to watch as they do have a lot of talent on the roster. In the end, I guess I could see a ceiling of Elite 8 but hope I end up very surprised with a trip to the Final Four. There might be some rough times in tough OOC games and also some very tough games in SEC as I feel the conference will be much tougher this year. I see a real battle to stay on top in the SEC also. As bucsrule8872 said above, we have a number of our guys return next year and add several studs from the recruiting class and we could have a very special season next year.
 
I will say this. Firstly I'm already in love with this team and some of the players . I've really been following and watching their videos , mix tapes , interviews , stories etc

Stoked for diallo Knox Green Vanderbilt Washington and baker in particular

I will say tho , lack of any "real" experience/ the being superrrrr young does worry me a *tad**

That being said , I still think we have all the pieces to def be a contender come march

And that's all you can ask of a coach. That's why I still don't understand the cal haters or being super duper pissed we don't have 1-3 more titles

Should we have prolly won it in 10, 14 , 15 and last year ?

Ya you could say that - but we didn't . But we were in CONTENTION, Nearly every year sans 1 (13) maybe 2 (Murray and skal team ) . That's pretty freaking awesome .
Like literally every year we get to follow exciting recruiting , get best of the best and have fun watching our teams grow and 90% of the time give us a real shot at the title .


Now... the following year could be VERY special Bc I think we bring back a few (baker , Gabriel , green ) maybe more and will pair them with (imo) Bol Bol, quickley and a few others .

That'll be another fun team to watch.

Stoked for this upcoming season!
 
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Bridge year.....could be kinda rocky at times. Very, very young and inexperienced. A sweet sixteen would be an accomplishment and a Final Four a welcome surprise. How well this group gels and avoids injuries will determine how far they go. It is really hard to say at this point.
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Yeah, pretty much my thoughts. Though, I think this could be the best defensive team we've had since '2012, and that might make this team much more dangerous than we think right now.
 
We're young but that's what we do.

Cal needs his second ring. For his legacy moving foward that's the mark and what I want to see.
 
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Lots of wins, flashes of greatness, lots of mistakes, sweet 16 to elite eight is ceiling. This team is too young to make final four.

I'm not overly optimistic because of youth. It's been proven too many times that you must have quality veteran players to win the title and we don't have that.

If we can get Gabriel and SKJ for a 3rd year along with some of these kids to return for a sophomore year, along with some talented freshmen.....that's the recipe.
 
Had Bamba signed I would've felt a FF was almost guaranteed.

With that said, I think this team reaches the EE depending on the draw (and when is it ever decent?)
Bamba guaranteed FF to guaranteed NIT. What a decision
 
As young and inexperienced as this team is, it wouldn't surprise me if we took a couple of early season losses. The SEC will be much improved this year so there could be times where we struggle, particularly on the road.
But by SEC Tournament time, and with all the talent on this team, we should be a force to be reckoned with. We could lose as many as 6-7 games in the regular season but we have Final Four potential if all this talent gels.
 
Elite 8. This is generally my expectation every preseason. After the Sweet Sixteen it pretty much becomes a toss up. I expect us to be in that toss up.
 
Texas is going to the NIT
I highly doubt that. Texas has a lot of talent coming in along with a lot of four star sophomores and juniors and Shaka has been a pretty good coach throughout the years, hasn't done much at Texas so far but he hasn't had the pieces to, this year will be pivotal for him and I think Texas will be one of the most improved teams. I think Duke is overrated because they have very little depth and UNC doesn't have a decent big, we'd probably match up better with both this season.
 
Some people in this thread is selling this team short, especially right now. There is no ceiling for this team. Now they might bow out in the second round, but they could also be national champions. I'll never understand why some people still play the experience card. Most years it isn't our freshman that let us down, it's the upperclassmen. I also think it is crazy to think this team will lose double digit games. However, chemistry and how hard they work is what the difference will be. My opinion is about 5 losses right now, and a floor of an elite eight finish.
 
Some people in this thread is selling this team short, especially right now. There is no ceiling for this team. Now they might bow out in the second round, but they could also be national champions. I'll never understand why some people still play the experience card. Most years it isn't our freshman that let us down, it's the upperclassmen. I also think it is crazy to think this team will lose double digit games. However, chemistry and how hard they work is what the difference will be. My opinion is about 5 losses right now, and a floor of an elite eight finish.

Chemistry should not be an issue when most of the Freshmen wanted to play together. The biggest two stars (Diallo and Knox) specifically wanted to play with Green as their PG. Also, Richards wanted to play with Green as well. That's four of your five probable starters that wanted to play together. That's a pretty good start to forming team chemistry before the season ever started.
 
I highly doubt that. Texas has a lot of talent coming in along with a lot of four star sophomores and juniors and Shaka has been a pretty good coach throughout the years, hasn't done much at Texas so far but he hasn't had the pieces to, this year will be pivotal for him and I think Texas will be one of the most improved teams. I think Duke is overrated because they have very little depth and UNC doesn't have a decent big, we'd probably match up better with both this season.
Bookmark this and hmu in March 2018. Shaka fired within 2-3 yrs. 11-22 last year
 
I genuinely don't understand when people say this team will struggle due to youth. What? Sure we've had a couple of upperclassmen along the way but I just don't think they've ever been so vital to that seasons success that those teams would've done much worse without them.
 
Given the inexperience and youth, I still expect the team to have a much bettter year than one would reasonably anticipate. I expect the CLOD to exploit every opportunity to drag the program, players and coach through the mud.
 
5-7 regular season losses with a good OOC and in a very good SEC.

Sweet Sixteen run. Anything else is gravy.

5-6 guys back next season with 2-3 superstar recruits and we have a great shot at the Final Four and a title in 2018-19.
Cal is undefeated in the sweet 16 so I hope he continues that trend. As mentioned, this is sort of a bridge yr but it will all depend on who returns. If they right guys come back, next yr could possibly have similarities to the 2015. Maybe not undefeated, but a very strong tourney run
 
All you can ask for is being in the talk for a NCAA title and competing to go to the Final four.

So far, besides 2013 & 2016, we've gotten that. Pretty good percentage.
 
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Sad the goal is a final four. Smh
Who said it was a goal? I saw a bunch of predictions that said FF, but I also saw 8-10 losses and sweet 16 as a prediction. These aren't goals, these are predictions. Big difference.
 
I think we will look like garbage at times and lose 2 Non Con games ( KU and WVU IMO ) and then we lose 3-4 in tough SEC( we win it by a game over UF) . But we are a the last 1 seed or the first 2 seed ( just like this last season) and we make the final 4 at worst as our front court talent mixed with Green/Diallo/Baker/Alexander is enough . Most surprising player for the better will be Richards and the most surprising for the worst will be Green ( he is going to turn it over alot early on but come on in March).
 
I think we will look like garbage at times and lose 2 Non Con games ( KU and WVU IMO ) and then we lose 3-4 in tough SEC( we win it by a game over UF) . But we are a the last 1 seed or the first 2 seed ( just like this last season) and we make the final 4 at worst as our front court talent mixed with Green/Diallo/Baker/Alexander is enough . Most surprising player for the better will be Richards and the most surprising for the worst will be Green ( he is going to turn it over alot early on but come on in March).

Agreed.

I think the top three 1 seeds are going to be:

Zona (West)
KU (Midwest)
MSU (East)

Then the South will be between UK and Duke. So if we are the 1, Duke will be the 2. If Duke is the 1, we are the 2.

Of course, if UofL is on the 2 seed line, they may put them with us instead of Duke and move Duke to the East, because K likes being in that region and the Selection Committee loves for us to play UofL in the tourney.
 
The talent and versatility this year is phenomenal. I think Bamba going to Texas has held back expectations. I see a real chance for #9 this year.
 
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