Forde: Marquette was a "January fad"

[MU82]

Here's what Yahoo's Pat Forde had to say in his most recent column:

Mississippi, Oregon and Marquette were January fads with a home-stretch expiration date. The Rebels were 6-0 in the SEC before losing at home to Kentucky and being thrashed at Florida. The Ducks got to 7-0 in the Pac-12, then (without injured point guard Dominic Artis) were beaten twice in the Bay Area. The Golden Eagles led the Big East (for a day) before walking into a Louisville buzz saw Sunday. All three teams overachieved to be at the top of their respective leagues. Now comes the market correction and the reality check. All four figure to have multiple losses to come, but Oregon has the most user-friendly schedule (no more meetings with fellow Pac-12 title contenders Arizona and UCLA). Don't expect to see any of the three cutting down nets as conference champs.

Hurts to hear, but hard to argue with it.

Here's the link to the full article for anybody interested:

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ncaab--forde-minutes--parity-no-1-indiana-ncaa-tournament-seeding-083102727.html

[akmarq]

I don't think many MU fans really think that this team is a serious BE title contender. I do think that the remaining schedule gives us a pretty good shot at a first round BET bye and a decent to good seed in the NCAAs. I feel better about every game left on our schedule than I did about Louisville.

[T-Bone]

I'm grabbing my pitchfork and heading to Twitter!!  Who's with me??



I do agree that we have been fortunate.  With 4 home games in the remaining 10, 4 of those remaining games are against teams in the top half of the league (as it stands today).  We lose 4 of the ten, maybe get a good upset and have a bad one. 
We're in good shape, as schizophrenic as this team has been. 

I cannot disagree that we won't be cutting down nets as conference champs (unless there's some upsets in the BE tournament that bounce our way).  (I might have lost myself in the double-negative there.)

[bilsu]

I be happy, if we went 4 & 6. 6 & 4 would be unbelievable.

[jsglow]

I be happy, if we went 4 & 6. 6 & 4 would be unbelievable.

Seriously?  I consider 6 & 4 to be attainable.  There are two very important games this week.  We need both.

[MuMark]

You'd be "happy" with 4-6 with one of the 4 being Depaul at home?

So 3-6 in all other games would make you "happy"? Wow....

[Goose]

We will know in next couple of weeks if we were Jan fad or not. Interesting season for all of college hoops and enjoying watching the excitement. My gut tells me MU might have been more highly regarding than the talent merited. Previously I thought we could upset most top teams a couple times out of ten on neutral floor and now not sure.

[MUMountin]

2-0 this week is pretty important in my book.  Gets us to 8 conference wins with 8 to play, and basically eliminates almost any chance at another "bad loss" off the schedule (@SH the only other real danger there).

[Silkk the Shaka]

We probably performed better than all but a handful of teams in January.  MU went from #58 to #25 in Pomeroy's rankings from Jan 1 to before the L'Ville game.  It takes some excellent play to make a jump like that.  Forde might be extrapolating a bit much from the buzzsaw we ran into at the Yum.

[ChicosBailBonds]

I don't think many MU fans really think that this team is a serious BE title contender. I do think that the remaining schedule gives us a pretty good shot at a first round BET bye and a decent to good seed in the NCAAs. I feel better about every game left on our schedule than I did about Louisville.

Go back about 1 week and read some posts, some certainly did.  Nothing wrong with dreaming and hoping. 

[Lighthouse 84]

All four figure to have multiple losses to come......

Who is the "fourth" team?  Everywhere else he talks about three teams.....and we're supposed to take him seriously?  I say 6-4  is very doable.

[Silkk the Shaka]

Go back about 1 week and read some posts, some certainly did.  Nothing wrong with dreaming and hoping. 

We're still tied for 1st and we still certainly can do it.  Just have to win some tough games, but it's still doable.  Would I bet on it?  No, but it's not like it's a foregone conclusion that we won't.

[Lennys Tap]

Go back about 1 week and read some posts, some certainly did.  Nothing wrong with dreaming and hoping. 

akmarq says not many. You correct him by saying some. Can't that be the the same thing? Brew 77 (solid but very optimistic poster) led the charge, but I don't recall a great deal of support for the idea that we'd win the Big East.

[Benny B]

We're still tied for 1st and we still certainly can do it.  Just have to win some tough games, but it's still doable.  Would I bet on it?  No, but it's not like it's a foregone conclusion that we won't.

In a league where a 5-5 Villanova has beaten your #1 and #3 team, I wouldn't feel too bad about sitting at #2.

[keefe]

Forde isn't wrong but I think we can go 7-3 the rest of the way and get a bye. You really have to admire Buzz and how hard these kids play. I have a lot more confidence in Buzz than his predecessor.

[BCHoopster]

You have to beat the 2 teams coming up!  Have to hold service against teams on the lower end of the conference, and you have 2 right now, S. Florida, never easy and
DePaul who should yesterday against Villy that once you get them down there toast.  Georgetown will be challenging but beatable, will be a tight low scoring game.  When
those games, then it will be hard not to make the tournament.

[Golden Avalanche]

We probably performed better than all but a handful of teams in January.  MU went from #58 to #25 in Pomeroy's rankings from Jan 1 to before the L'Ville game.  It takes some excellent play to make a jump like that.  Forde might be extrapolating a bit much from the buzzsaw we ran into at the Yum.

Love that guy's computer rankings. Glad he had Florida giving the points last night for a rollover in Fayetteville. Very relevant.

[MuMark]

So by my calulations we have 10 games left and the only one where we will for sure be an underdog is @ Georgetown. Might very well be an underdog against Nova. Certainly home games against Pitt, Syraucse and ND will be difficult but I bet we will be favored against Pitt and ND and close to a toss up against Syracuse. The other road games will be difficult because they are on the road but none fo them are against NCAA tourny teams as things stand today.

If we go 4-6 the rest of the way and finish 10-8 after a 6-1 start that would indeed be disappointing. IMO

[Silkk the Shaka]

Love that guy's computer rankings. Glad he had Florida giving the points last night for a rollover in Fayetteville. Very relevant.

It's an objective measure of relative strength.  It's not the be all end all, but speaks to our January performance quite well.  Sorry it shows MU in a good light, I know that makes you sad  

[Lennys Tap]

So by my calulations we have 10 games left and the only one where we will for sure be an underdog is @ Georgetown. Might very well be an underdog against Nova. Certainly home games against Pitt, Syraucse and ND will be difficult but I bet we will be favored against Pitt and ND and close to a toss up against Syracuse. The other road games will be difficult because they are on the road but none fo them are against NCAA tourny teams as things stand today.

If we go 4-6 the rest of the way and finish 10-8 after a 6-1 start that would indeed be disappointing. IMO

In our last 3 home games we'll be a slight favorite over ND, pick 'em vs Pitt and a slight dog vs Syracuse. We'll be a 5-6 point dog at GTown, and the balance of the eastern (SHall, Rutgers, Nova, St Johns) will be close to pick 'ems. Lots of tough games left.

[BrewCity83]

Pat Forde was a January fad. 

If that.

[Bocephys]

Pat Forde was a January fad. 

If that.

[jsglow]

In our last 3 home games we'll be a slight favorite over ND, pick 'em vs Pitt and a slight dog vs Syracuse. We'll be a 5-6 point dog at GTown, and the balance of the eastern (SHall, Rutgers, Nova, St Johns) will be close to pick 'ems. Lots of tough games left.

That's why tonight and Saturday are critical.  Much like the past 10-15 days, win the 2 you are supposed to and then a road loss at UL didn't really hurt.  Beat USF and DePaul and then we're playing with house money against GTown next week.  And if by chance we can go 3-0.....

[Marqus Howard]

I be happy, if we went 4 & 6. 6 & 4 would be unbelievable.

According to the poll DenverMU started after the Louisville game, about 65% of posters believe we will go 7-3 the rest of the way. Only about 12% think we'll go 6-4 or worse, for what it's worth.

[dgies9156]

Get us in the NCAAs and I don't care what anyone thinks of our Januarys!

As Al Davis said, "Just win, Baby!"