Shocker 2015/16 Season Prediction Poll

[Aargh]

I highly dislike this post. I don't care how many we lose this year, so long as we win our last.

You dislike my post because I'm not predicting an undefeated season topped off by winning a NC? Tough crowd!

[ArtVandalay]

You dislike my post because I'm not predicting an undefeated season topped off by winning a NC? Tough crowd!

I'd just rather you predict an earlier loss without one in the tourney.

[Aargh]

I figure the odds of an undefeated regular season are at best 40%-60% against. I'll go with the long odds and the undefeated regular season. The odds of a NC are a lot longer.

I believe I'm taking an optimistic position while not abandoning reality due to yellow shaded spectacles.

[Ricardo del Rio]

I don't know much.

Right now the Shockers are 0-0.

[ArtVandalay]

I figure the odds of an undefeated regular season are at best 40%-60% against. I'll go with the long odds and the undefeated regular season. The odds of a NC are a lot longer.

I believe I'm taking an optimistic position while not abandoning reality due to yellow shaded spectacles.

Eh, I'm not predicting I national championship. Those are unpredictable no matter how good a team you have. But, if an undefeated regular season is a possibility, to me a national championship is a possibility.

[The Mad Hatter]

I figure the odds of an undefeated regular season are at best 40%-60% against. I'll go with the long odds and the undefeated regular season. The odds of a NC are a lot longer.

I believe I'm taking an optimistic position while not abandoning reality due to yellow shaded spectacles.

I think that after actually running the table (and then having Kentucky do it), it is easy to forget how improbable it actually is. Arguably, it is a lot less likely than winning a national championship. After all, 1 team is going to do that every year, but there are no guarantees that a team will run the table (and an overwhelming percentage of the time, no one does).

In both cases, you have to string together wins (30 in a row against mediocre competition or 6 straight against good competition) and very few teams are good enough to reasonably consider either goal attainable, but even if you have the talent, each takes some luck.

The main difference, of course, is that the stakes of losing out on the undefeated regular season are much lower than on losing in a win or go home scenario. If you lose the second game of the regular season, you could still be 29-1. If you lose the second game of the NCAA tournament, you're KU.

[pogo]

I agree with you that Tulsa will be a good team but we play them very early in the season (second game) so I think the experience of the Shockers and the close geographical proximity to Wichita will overcome Tulsa's home court advantage.

Tulsa averaged 4,700 per home game. I think we had a much more vocal crowd the last time we played there which negated their home court advantage. If you think our fans are old you should see theirs. I think half of them were using walkers or wheel chairs.

[Play Angry]

This is the year we win the whole thing.

[ShockerFever]

This is the year we win the whole thing.

Are you talking about the Valley Tournament? Because I've been told by Illinois State fans that it's the most important tournament out there.

[tropicalshox]

We might drop a couple, but we win the last game.

[LoneStar48]

Since Maryland is 8/1 odds and the Shocker droppings from Lawrence are 12/1 odds to win the national championship, I would say that our odds of 25/1 put us in a pretty good place to win the last game of the year. I imagine there would be 1 loss sometime before the end of March.

[forevershockerfan]

We might just lose 2-3 games going into the Lew. We win the Valley, we win the Lew, and we make it to the Final 4, no less than the Elite 8. My dreams are to do even better than this which is very possible. My eternal optimist tendencies think with my heart, not always my lil pea brain and always will. Even so, I really like our beloved Shockers chances this Season, but expectations will be through the roof. If we peak in March and April, the sky is the limit but the blue sky won't be falling on us this Season.

Here are some key factors. When it comes to Coaching and being prepared, we will not have to take a back seat to anybody. No other team has a collective better group of guards. Repeat, nobody but nobody will have better guards. I really do like our experienced team depth, IMO, the best we have ever had.

We will have more sharpshooters and athletes now mixed in with 5 very solid Seniors leading the way. Will we crack the top 10 in rebounding? If so, that would make us spooky tough to beat. The proof of the puddin could be just how well our bigs perform, including our younger ones and how they develop and improve this Season. We know from our own history lessons that our D-fence will be playing as angry like a flock of unsatisfied stinging hornets which really contributes in a positive way to us again winning our fair share of road games as fierce road warriors do.

Last but not least, I hope we have a team that can ace throws in the top 10 or 20 in the nation. How many times can something as simple as this have such an impact in the close games that every solitary team faces every Season that can work either way towards the outcome in winning and losing.

[shocksrbest]

One more thing regarding the overall record one needs to consider is we now have Jans as a consultant.

[ShockdaWorld]

Although I think we win the game, I think UNLV will be a bigger challenge than many others seem to think. They've had some really nice recruiting classes. Our experience and coaching will be what wins that game for us. It also happens before CF becomes eligible, so we won't be quite as deep as we will be later.

[shockmonster]

One more thing regarding the overall record one needs to consider is we now have Jans as a consultant.

Ok. Now let's keep our feet on the ground. While Chris Jans may give us an edge, he isn't going to be a direct link to games won. All he can do is watch film and give advice. He doesn't recruit, isn't on the bench during games, etc. The biggest part of his being a consultant is that he knows our system, knows Gregg, knows our players, knows our tendencies, and that Gregg trusts him. But Fred, Ron, and company will win games.