So I was looking over men’s basketball conference standings last night and comparing our start to all those teams around our basketball area. This is what I came up with:
Season Record and Conference standing
Miami 13-4 Tied for first
UC 12-5 Tied for 11th
UD 12-6 Tied for 8th
Xavier 12-7 Tied for 6th
OU 10-7 Tied for 3rd
OSU 10-8 Tied for 14th
Wright S 10-10 Tied for 6th
NKU 9-11 Tied for 6th
I can’t say that we are better than all those teams, but we are certainly having a better season than all of them. For years we have been saying why can’t we do what those teams are doing. Well this year, at his point, we are having more success than all of them.
Still not sure what happened against Wright State. Michigan and Indiana? Sure. The loss at Vermont? Understandable. Losing at home to Wright State? That almost feels like a different season at this point.
The team was definitely finding its identity still. Steele himself has admitted the vermont loss was a bit of a personal come to Jesus moment on some mistakes as far as our pace and game plan and he made adjustments to how we should be playing
Results speak for themselves that those adjustments were wise
Potter was out injured and Woolfolk/Kotecki both got into foul trouble, so we got killed inside. We also had an uncharacteristic 10 minute shooting slump. One of those fluke games that happen over the course of a season.
Craft hadn’t really played in 2 years. Byers had an entire season off too. Suder had played 1 live game in an offense that allowed players to dribble. Most of our roster was new and still coming together. With the transfer portal, early season results can get wonky.
Steele talks about peaking in March, and his teams have made large improvements over the course of each season. Roster turnover seems to set us back a notch of where the previous year’s team finished. Hopefully that is resolved with entirely Steele recruits around.
A season is a long process. Teams do not just start out at one level and then stay there for the whole season. At any point in the season teams may be getting better or getting worse. Injuries affect things. Individuals getting better effect things. Wright State beat us because they were the better team at that point. It would be different now.