What is the ceiling for this years team?

[XUGRAD80]

The discussions on the Ramsey, Jones, and Butler game threads, in regards to lineups and rotations, for me thinking.....

Realistically speaking, what is the ceiling on this years team? What about next year?

Let’s assume they are going to make the Tourney. How far can they go? How far do you think they WILL go? I’d say that if they get favorable matchups and regain their shooting touch, it’s not inconceivable that they win a couple of games and make the S16. If they don’t, I can see a loss in the first round. (It could go either way, but I’d bet on the latter more than the former..just my opinion.)

So do they go for broke, cut the rotation down to 7-8 players and not put people like Tandy, Whilcher, Ramsey, etc on the floor the rest of the season? Or do they say, let’s play them all, give them all as much playing time as we can, cut back on starter minutes, and look to next year and beyond?

Go for broke this year? Or chuck it, play the younguns and look to the future?

Hmmmm.....I’m not sure what I would do if I was making that decision.

[GoMuskies]

The ceiling is whatever the hell happened in that Oklahoma game.

[Xavier]

Go for broke this year? Or chuck it, play the younguns and look to the future?

Hmmmm.....I’m not sure what I would do if I was making that decision.

Realistically speaking- Steele has to go for broke. I can see times you make decisions for the future and spend some time developing guys. Late in the third year and not a lock in the tournament, after missing previous two seasons, is hardly the time for developing talent.

As GoMuskie said- Ceiling is what happened in that Oklahoma game. Tournament can be wonky and I would imagine this year even more so. Find a way to get in and they have a team that can catch fire and make a big run.

[boozehound]

This is absolutely a team that can make a Finals run, but with like a 1% (or less) chance. We would need a whole tournament of everyone shooting like we did against Oklahoma, so that's obviously highly unlikely. We have enough shooters that we could get hot and to on a big time run. Lack of a true PG could kill us if we faced a team that pressed effectively though, even if our shooting was on.

[JTG]

I don't see much past a first round win. If the OK shooting returns, maybe a Sweet 16. On our current path, a second round game will be against a 1 seed. So get in, win a game, I'll consider the season a success. As for next year, there needs to be a lot of time in the weight room, or a ready to go transfer big.

[Xuperman]

If this team continues to shoot the 3 ball as displayed in the last 2 games, we will not get another W....period. There is no team other than a drastically hobbled Futler that we can beat shooting like that. It's just too much of what our current offense needs to win any game.

After watching last nights game twice, I just can't see us splitting these last four considering our only home game is CU.

[drudy23]

I think our "average" performance is near a .500 conference team.

We also have games that we look awesome and games that we look abysmal.

If we can make it into the tournament, and have one of our best games, I think we can make a Sweet 16. But it's a thin line between that and not even making it at all.

[markchal]

Lack of a true PG could kill us if we faced a team that pressed effectively though, even if our shooting was on.

I think this has never been less of an issue IMO. It's not like we're asking Naji to bring the ball up the floor like in years past. Odom, Scruggs and Jones can all bring the ball up the floor, along with Tandy, and Johnson/Kunkel are athletic enough to help.

The thing that would kill us is running into a team with a good big guy. Most teams will be better than us inside, but if faced with a dominant big, we'd get out-rebounded all night and torn up inside, leaving us w/ no inside scoring threat (with Free in likely foul trouble) and then chucking and praying.

Still, with the way we shoot, there's always a chance we get hot and steal a win. Like everyone has been saying, we did beat a top-15 team, and it wasn't even close (they didn't play bad, either).

[AviatorX]

I would be thrilled if this team won a first round game and feel that they have a puncher's chance against most team's they'd see in round 2.

[XU_Lou]

Realistically speaking- Steele has to go for broke. I can see times you make decisions for the future and spend some time developing guys. Late in the third year and not a lock in the tournament, after missing previous two seasons, is hardly the time for developing talent.

As GoMuskie said- Ceiling is what happened in that Oklahoma game. Tournament can be wonky and I would imagine this year even more so. Find a way to get in and they have a team that can catch fire and make a big run.

Good God, stop with the lie about missing the tournament last year! Everyone did, and the majority of bracketologists had X in the tourney.