Sunday, January 11, 2009

What Lies Ahead

Oh, boy. This is what makes playing in the Big East interesting.

1/12- @ #21 Louisville
1/17- @ #9 Syracuse
1/24- #5 Connecticut
1/26- #15 Marquette
1/31- @ #1 Pittsburgh
2/4- Cincinnati
2/7- @ #7 UCLA
2/12- #21 Louisville

Seven ranked opponents in eight games over a stretch of a month. Just brutal.

Ken Pomeroy says we will go 1-7 over those games. I'm a lot more optimistic. The 5-3 predicted at the start of the year is possible, but it is also quite likely we will drop one of those home games. We will know a lot more about this squad 32 days from now.

Keep your heads down, we'll take a few shots but should also get our punches in. The defense is not good enough to allow us to blow anyone out, but our offense will keep every game competitive. Should be fun.

6 comments:

MJenks said...

Didn't Pomeroy predict a loss at home against Georgetown?

BlackandGreen said...

Exactly. His formula takes into account offensive and defensive statistics. Since our defense has been so poor, we are ranked 43rd, far below the other top half Big East teams.

FWIW, the computer predicts a ten point loss with the 17% chance of a Notre Dame win. Personally, I think this is our best shot to pick up a non-Cincy road win over this stretch of games. We'll see.

Anonymous said...

I actually think we have a better shot at Syracuse. We play well at the Carrier Dome and I've watched three Syracuse games this year and was underwhelmed to say the least. They're defense is worse than ours & Kmac should shoot the lights out in that game. I think both of these games are our best shots at road wins against the upper echelon though.

BlackandGreen said...

Syracuse is a little overrated. They beat a down Memphis team and played well in Kansas City, but lost to Cleveland State at home.

I like our chances in both games and would be happy with winning either. The nice thing is that we will be underdogs in both contests, a role we have historically relished but don't get to experience much this season.

Anonymous said...

Watching game on ESPN, is Billy Packer doing the game, they talk no substance just hype!

Anonymous said...

Jackson shit the bed on the last drive, the rest of the team joined him in OT. Pity; they played really well until then, and should have won this game. The score will not reflect the closeness of the game.