Purdue will be the new No. 1 men’s basketball team, but it won’t matter until they perform in March (and April)
Purdue will be the new No. 1 team in men's basketball on Monday, but it won't matter until they go deep in the NCAA Tournament.
Zagoria: Purdue will be the new #1 but it won't matter until they perform in March
- Thread starter Smashcat
- Start date
They looked pretty good, and that big fella is a load. He is just so much bigger than everybody else, I actually wanted him to play against Hunter Dickinson and see how that went. It was better for Kansas to get the loss so they didn't gain any ground on us.
I always think opinions like this are a bit overblown. The tournament is extremely hard to win. That's not excuse losing in the first round to a 16 seed, but it is the reality of the tournament. There are often narratives around teams or coaches that they can't win in March and all it takes is a few unlucky tournaments to get there.
Villanova always couldn't win in March until they suddenly did and won two titles in three years. Virginia was a choke artist and then won the title. Gonzaga is often talked down on this board despite making however many straight sweet 16s and a title game recently.
I hate judging the success of a coach or team based on a really small sample size of tournaments, or worse one specific tournament. Purdue is looking great this year and they're a title favorite. What happened last year shouldn't change that.
Villanova always couldn't win in March until they suddenly did and won two titles in three years. Virginia was a choke artist and then won the title. Gonzaga is often talked down on this board despite making however many straight sweet 16s and a title game recently.
I hate judging the success of a coach or team based on a really small sample size of tournaments, or worse one specific tournament. Purdue is looking great this year and they're a title favorite. What happened last year shouldn't change that.
I had Purdue rated way behind where the polls had them all last year. They were a flawed team with little chance of winning anything, imo.
I haven’t run any numbers yet this year.
We call a five year run like that failure around here. Different standards.
I will say the 2022 team was rated 93rd in adjusted defensive efficiency. If that didn't raise a red flag, it should have.
This year they are currently top 10 in both offense and defense. So might be a little bit different.
This year they are currently top 10 in both offense and defense. So might be a little bit different.
You are right...but I have not seen them play against each other, never interested in either of them up until they are supposedly the best two bigs in the Nation, guessing they are at their zenith as far as college game goes now.
A 5 year run like that is a failure for UK fans?
Makes no sense. Assuming that would be the minority or otherwise would be a miserable existence.
Makes all the sense in the world if you had any grasp of our history.
Winning at the highest levels and demanding success - I’ve never found it miserable. The championships and Final Fours are worth whatever “misery” is born of calling out poor performance.
A 5 year run with 1 Elite Eight and 1 Sweet 16 qualifies as a poor performance around here. If I was good with that, I would just go cheer for Tennessee. Or Iowa.
Same applies to us really. No way this team isn't top 5-10 with this class if we hadn't sh*t the bed the last few years. We had many teams not as good as this one get more respect preseason when the media and others actually still had faith in Cal due to that first run.
Just need to prove the doubters wrong and that will flip.
Just need to prove the doubters wrong and that will flip.
Not exactly like it, but not that different from DePaul in the late '70s into the early '80s. They did make a final four in 1979, but most of the years they were out of the tournament quick. Many of those years they were number one for almost the entire year.
