The past 2 surprising wins as 5-6 point dogs have allowed them to survive an L at 1-6 FSU, which unfortunately would really hurt their rankings. If Dort IS out, Wed is unfortunately more likely than not an L, because FSU is close to pulling out some real good W’s. But let’s say you get 1-1 in Florida and finish 1H 4-5 in ACC.
Then, 6-3 2H likely locks it up, and 5-4 is big time bubble.
With Cal’s non-con, if they finish 10-8 in ACC they should be safe. 9-9 will depend on bid thieves. That non-con slate won’t help much either unless fUCLA goes on a run and Pacific or Columbia start winning.
Either way, even an NIT bid would be great - tangible progress in year 3 is something to build on.
After having one of the worst MBB NIL’s in the entire nation because of clowns like Williams, Wyking, Knowlton and Fox, the fact that we’re having a bubble discussion this late in the year after building a roster predominantly out of mid-major/unproven P4 guys is a real good sign.
The men's team making the Tourney this year would exceed my expectations. Hoping we can close strong and snag a bid! We've been playing Tourney-level ball recently so hope the resume is enough.
For the women's team, Barnes looks like she can be a star. Against Furd, starters logged heavy minutes except Walker. Eschmeyer was a PROBLEM inside. Langarita actually got more minutes than Ojukwu, maybe because she's physically taller. Ojukwu plays bigger than her height but that has its limits.
Few things feel better than resuscitating a dead program. Immensely proud of Madsen and this men's team. This season is already a success and a NCAA tournament appearance would be the cherry on top.
Looking forward to reading Cal's name in every Bubble Watch for the next two months!
Next step for Lunardi ESPN Bracketology is Last 4 Out OR Next Four Out…even after UNC W we’re still only in the “considered”category, but the new article Tuesday reflecting the W at ‘Furd should hopefully help.
The women are looking like a WNIT team that could go deep in that tournament. Yesterday's game was huge for the season and one of my favorite all time games at Haas. I think this is a rebuilding season in the truest sense of the word. With only two players graduating if we can keep key players away from the portal with the freshies we're adding and a player or two from the portal next year could be really good.
If we can get to 20 wins and not lose any gimmie game at home, I think we go dancing. Our losses are all legitimate (other than KSU is starting to not look good but still it was on the road) and the ACC is a real power. If we can pull off one more upset against a ranked team and go 6-5, I really feel good about it.
The Dominican game is dicey. Think we need 22 overall W’s to feel safe…whether that’s 21 regular season (9-9 in ACC) plus an ACC Tourney game or 10-8….
Absent multiple big non-con wins, which we don’t have, we need to get to at least .500 in Conference, IMO. That would mean wins over UNC, ‘Furd, SMU, maybe Clemson…and need to avoid bad losses too.
I felt like this was an NIT team in the non-conference season, but the last couple of results can have us dreaming bigger. If this continues it will really speak well of Madsen's ability to develop and grow with a roster, and maybe we can then start to improve recruiting and NIL buy-in.
Based on the roster changes and what we had seen from the team/staff defensively in the past 2 seasons, NIT was my realistic ceiling heading into the year.
Dort injury looms large, so we’ll see.
The past 2 surprising wins as 5-6 point dogs have allowed them to survive an L at 1-6 FSU, which unfortunately would really hurt their rankings. If Dort IS out, Wed is unfortunately more likely than not an L, because FSU is close to pulling out some real good W’s. But let’s say you get 1-1 in Florida and finish 1H 4-5 in ACC.
Then, 6-3 2H likely locks it up, and 5-4 is big time bubble.
With Cal’s non-con, if they finish 10-8 in ACC they should be safe. 9-9 will depend on bid thieves. That non-con slate won’t help much either unless fUCLA goes on a run and Pacific or Columbia start winning.
Either way, even an NIT bid would be great - tangible progress in year 3 is something to build on.
After having one of the worst MBB NIL’s in the entire nation because of clowns like Williams, Wyking, Knowlton and Fox, the fact that we’re having a bubble discussion this late in the year after building a roster predominantly out of mid-major/unproven P4 guys is a real good sign.
Any time we can beat stanfraud in anything I'll be happy. Even though my grandson was an all American track performer for them,
The men's team making the Tourney this year would exceed my expectations. Hoping we can close strong and snag a bid! We've been playing Tourney-level ball recently so hope the resume is enough.
For the women's team, Barnes looks like she can be a star. Against Furd, starters logged heavy minutes except Walker. Eschmeyer was a PROBLEM inside. Langarita actually got more minutes than Ojukwu, maybe because she's physically taller. Ojukwu plays bigger than her height but that has its limits.
Thanks Nick!
Few things feel better than resuscitating a dead program. Immensely proud of Madsen and this men's team. This season is already a success and a NCAA tournament appearance would be the cherry on top.
Looking forward to reading Cal's name in every Bubble Watch for the next two months!
Next step for Lunardi ESPN Bracketology is Last 4 Out OR Next Four Out…even after UNC W we’re still only in the “considered”category, but the new article Tuesday reflecting the W at ‘Furd should hopefully help.
The Athletic's Bracket Watch has us just making the First Four Out cut!
Nice!
A W tomorrow would be awesome…keep this momentum going. Tournament teams beat 1-6 ACC foes!
The women are looking like a WNIT team that could go deep in that tournament. Yesterday's game was huge for the season and one of my favorite all time games at Haas. I think this is a rebuilding season in the truest sense of the word. With only two players graduating if we can keep key players away from the portal with the freshies we're adding and a player or two from the portal next year could be really good.
If we can get to 20 wins and not lose any gimmie game at home, I think we go dancing. Our losses are all legitimate (other than KSU is starting to not look good but still it was on the road) and the ACC is a real power. If we can pull off one more upset against a ranked team and go 6-5, I really feel good about it.
The Dominican game is dicey. Think we need 22 overall W’s to feel safe…whether that’s 21 regular season (9-9 in ACC) plus an ACC Tourney game or 10-8….
Absent multiple big non-con wins, which we don’t have, we need to get to at least .500 in Conference, IMO. That would mean wins over UNC, ‘Furd, SMU, maybe Clemson…and need to avoid bad losses too.
I felt like this was an NIT team in the non-conference season, but the last couple of results can have us dreaming bigger. If this continues it will really speak well of Madsen's ability to develop and grow with a roster, and maybe we can then start to improve recruiting and NIL buy-in.
Based on the roster changes and what we had seen from the team/staff defensively in the past 2 seasons, NIT was my realistic ceiling heading into the year.
This is fantastic. - keep the D up.