I'll be the VERY first to say that last night's loss was concerning for way more reasons than the result alone. Everything from the lack of fight to the sloppiness to the failure at BASIC execution like layups and in-bounds plays was nothing short of alarming ... 2019-level bad. However, since this is a Bracketology thread, I will try to remain positive and point out that even home losses to Maryland and USC aren't resume-killers. They're concerning because of what they indicate about this team going forward, but the hole we have dug is not a death sentence. As of today, we have the following resume, with Quad results/upcoming games below:
13-6 record
#9 NET Ranking
4-5 vs. Quad 1
3-1 vs. Quad 2
0-0 vs. Quad 3
6-0 vs. Quad 4
QUAD 1
L 64-66 vs. #4 Tennessee
L 87-100 vs. #7 Alabama (Birmingham, AL)
L 78-80 at #16 Michigan State
L 71-90 vs. #20 Maryland
W 86-80 vs. #22 Wisconsin
W 109-77 at #23 Oregon
W 80-77 vs. #27 Missouri (St. Louis, MO)
L 66-70 in OT at #46 Northwestern
W 94-69 at #65 Indiana
vs. #2 Duke (New York, NY)
vs. #12 Purdue
at #13 Michigan
vs. #16 Michigan State
at #22 Wisconsin
vs. #30 Ohio State
at #55 Nebraska
QUAD 2
W 91-52 vs. #49 Penn State
W 90-77 vs. #54 Arkansas (Kansas City, MO)
L 72-82 vs. #70 USC
W 81-77 at #94 Washington
vs. #35 UCLA
vs. #46 Northwestern
vs. #63 Iowa
at #81 Rutgers
at #104 Minnesota
QUAD 3
QUAD 4
W 66-54 vs. #193 Oakland
W 92-34 vs. #219 Little Rock
W 90-58 vs. #239 SIU Edwardsville
W 112-67 vs. #344 Eastern Illinois
W 117-64 vs. #356 Chicago State
W 87-40 vs. #361 Maryland Eastern Shore
So speaking STRICTLY from a NET perspective, there are no potential bad losses left on the schedule, and we also don't have one yet ... of course, USC could easily slide out of the top 75 and become Quad 3, but I guess that's water under the bridge. While this might feel eerily like 2023 with supposed toughness problems and an identical 13-6 record at this point, we had a far worse #28 NET Ranking at this time that year, and we had half as many Quad 1 wins. This team, SOMEHOW, still has every opportunity in front of it to earn a good seed. But again ... this is strictly on paper. If we don't get our heads right, play TOGETHER and play to our potential, this is all meaningless. As always, I will maintain a fool's hope that we got the kick in the rear we needed last night, we get healthy by Sunday and we can start a MUCH needed hot streak by getting revenge on Northwestern.
