What letter grade do you give the 2017-18 team this year?

[Shockers5150]

I had to go with a C, based on expectations. Just a weird, inconsistent year. Played down to competition, played up to competition. One possession away from winning in Maui, one possession away from splitting the Conference Title. But got worse from there and didn't play well in Orlando, and played even worse today. It's like we never found our identity. It also didn't help that so many players regressed or didn't get better. Zach Brown, Markis McDuffie, Rauno Nurger all regressed. Darryl didn't get any better (refused to use his right hand, even when on the right side of the basket). Austin, Landry, and Conner were just inconsistent throughout the year. New guy SMJ was a non-factor. It was just weird.

I'll miss the seniors for all the memories they gave us over the years. But maybe a fresh team next year might be what we need. Who knows.

Agree on every point. Today's Conner should have been there all season.

[Shockm]

We won against a bunch of average teams and had one good win at Cincy. Other than that we were over rated by the media and did just enough to stay relevant. When the seedings came out, we should have been a 6 in all honesty. Fizzled at them end which was fitting for this group.

Do you know what AVERAGE means? Statistically, we won 13 games in the Top 70 percentile and 17 in the Top 65 according to NCAA RPI. Cincy is a Top 98 percentile team. By the way we are a Top 93 percentile team. Two teams we lost to had extensive injuries after we played them and they were still Top 65-75 percentile teams for the year. While we weren’t Top 20 this year and we expected to be we were far above average.

[Shock Top]

Truth is, they were 1 basket, FT from winning in Maui. 1 basket from winning the AAC Regular season (and beating Cincy twice), 1 basket from getting to the valley title game, and a basket away from tying it up today possibly, even though R, McD, S we're 0-14 from 3.
But close doesn't cut it.

and I was chance meeting away from marrying Kate Upton.

[im4wsu]

In the 5 way better, 5 way worse and the rest are who you are scheme of things, WSU was just three off. Give them a B

[Dan]

Do you know what AVERAGE means? Statistically, we won 13 games in the Top 70 percentile and 17 in the Top 65 according to NCAA RPI. Cincy is a Top 98 percentile team. By the way we are a Top 93 percentile team. Two teams we lost to had extensive injuries after we played them and they were still Top 65-75 percentile teams for the year. While we weren’t Top 20 this year and we expected to be we were far above average.

where did I say average compared to all 300+ D1 teams? Our conference was filled with average teams. Average teams go to the NIT or CBI. Our “good” wins were against teams like Baylor and OSU who did not even make the tourney. Houston at home was a good win but I feel like we caught them off guard at the right time. They were ready for us the next 2 times we played and were clearly a better team than us head to head. I love how people on this board cling to one word in a post rather than context of the entire thought.

[Rlh04d]

I wouldn't say clearly better head to head. In the neutral court game, we were very well matched up, and the game could have easily gone either way. Over the course of our three meetings, they were the better team, but "clearly better" is stretching it. If the rubber match comes down to one play, that's a damn close matchup.

[Shockm]

Well make up your own definition of average if you want. But when rankings are given, they include all Division 1 schools. Maybe you want to choose another word than average or make up a definition of what means average to you. However, statistically speaking, I am correct regarding what average means.

[SHOCKvalue]

You might have the concept of average all wrapped up with a bow, but you might want to brush up with percentiles.

[Dan]

Well make up your own definition of average if you want. But when rankings are given, they include all Division 1 schools. Maybe you want to choose another word than average or make up a definition of what means average to you. However, statistically speaking, I am correct regarding what average means.

Nerd

[Shockm]

LOL

[ShockTalk]

Doesn't one "grade" a certain team by how that team exceeded or under performed what that person thought they should do? It has nothing to do with what is an average team, it is where you stand originally within all teams and how well, or not, you have performed by the end.

If a person had higher expectations than what was achieved, grading a C could be considered questionable, yes?

Since we had separate polls for players and coaches, one could blame or give credit to one more than another. I choose a C for the players and a D for the coaches. While I thought our players gave a very good effort, few improved, and some fell back. We seldom played 2 solid halves, let too many lesser teams hang around, gave up good leads, and consistently could not close the deal or did not play solid under pressure with little time left. Overall, I thought we were a C-.

C for the preseason (record was what I expected, especially with our injuries early). Lost to OU (thought we'd win), but beat both Baylor and OSU on the road (thought we'd lose one). Also, were underwhelming against SDSU and Arky St at home, particularly the later.

C for the conference (thought winning it would be hard first year). We finished where I expected. What I'm not taking into account, however, is what would have happened had SMU and UCF been healthy all season. 3rd place, maybe tied for 3rd?

C- for conference tourney. Thought we'd get to finals at least.

D+ for NCAA. I'm being kind here.

[pinstripers]

Does anybody think we'd beat Baylor or OSU on the road if we played them now?

[Rlh04d]

Does anybody think we'd lose to OU if we played them now?

[pinstripers]

maybe

[shoxilla]

Shox battled somethng all year long. Injuries, comebacks, cold shooting (AR saved us when CF and LS went dark), and here lately they battled mainly themselves which is the worst of all.

If Marshall beats WVU I will be just a tiny bit happier.
Whale Oil Beef Hoooked - Happy St Paddy's Day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDTQQWSmo8s

[pinstripers]

every team did

[ShockAzs]

I'm gonna say C-.

We accomplished a decent accoun, but should've accomplished so much more. Our bbiq was very bad.

Why not let/demand commit shoot way more against Marshall? Why not post up shaq more? etc

We regress so incredibly bad on defense? Why did the offense look so stagnant? Why did these problems not start to get corrected?

I was hoping that non American teams would have a hard time against us. I was wrong.

[Shockm]

I'm gonna say C-.

We accomplished a decent accoun, but should've accomplished so much more. Our bbiq was very bad.

Why not let/demand commit shoot way more against Marshall? Why not post up shaq more? etc

We regress so incredibly bad on defense? Why did the offense look so stagnant? Why did these problems not start to get corrected?

I was hoping that non American teams would have a hard time against us. I was wrong.

Actually in the American, we had 11 new scouting reports and they had 1. As for shooting against Marshall, Landry put up lots of shots and just didn’t make them. So did Austin. Conner shot well but needed help. They often doubled Shaq. After we led by 10, we made too many stupid turnovers. 15 turnovers.

[Dan]

We started out pretty good and fizzled out in the end. It was just a disappointing way to end the season.

[ISASO]

C. And that doesn't stand for Championship, because we had none.

[asiseeit]

I think just about everyone, fans, players and coaches would agree it was a season of
disappointments all things considered. Having said that I choose to look forward and not
backwards. I'm excited about NEXT season. Best of luck to all departing seniors.