Non-con grade

[Uncle Rico]

F

The loss to Wisconsin means another year of constant references to that game by the usual suspects who treat the game like life and death and have to "suffer" being around Badger fans

[1SE]

A-.  Faced a gauntlet.   Beat either Wisconsin or Purdue and it is an A+.

And beat both and it is what? A++++? What are we, Lisa Simpson?

[1SE]

I would go B-. It was okay, but this team came into the year with a #5 next to their name and national championship aspirations. We didn't hurt our 1-seed hopes, but if the tourney started today we wouldn't be there and that should be one of the goals for this team, to make their journey to Glendale as easy as possible. The only way this team would deserve an A would be if they had a 0 in the loss column.

High expectations require high standards to be met to reach them. We didn't come close to exceeding expectations, in my opinion. I say this with the idea that a C is average. This team has been slightly above average to date, really the Kansas and Texas demolitions are the only reason it's a B- as opposed to a C.

100.

We mostly are playing like we were last year - which of course was pretty darn good.

[tower912]

And beat both and it is what? A++++? What are we, Lisa Simpson?

Beat them both and MU is ranked #1 and nobody asks this question.

[Herman Cain]

A

I thought it was an excellent pre-season.  We played a very formidable schedule and to come out of it 9-2 , with no bad losses, is fantastic.

Looking forward to a strong performance in a challenging 20 game conference slate .

This is a fun group of kids to watch play.

[WellsstreetWanderer]

  My grade is a solid B.  The team has acquitted themselves well against a real solid schedule and held off a team that was red hot firing up threes from beyond the arc and off balance tosses that improbably found the net. I am happy with only two losses to two really good teams

[MU82]

F

You're too easy on 'em.

I'm sticking with F-minus-minus.

I just hope we finish ahead of DePaul and Georgetown.

[Badgerhater]

A-

Team played the toughest non-conf schedule in quite some time and went 10-2 and ranked in top 10.  Plenty of great wins on the resume when it comes selection time in March.

We really do get too wrapped up in the Lake Mendota State game and Purdue needed a 75-footer to win that game.

St Thomas was a bunch of seniors who can shoot.  Those teams are always dangerous to everybody.

Let's enjoy this season because this is a fantastic team and teams like this do not come around all that often.

[brewcity77]

Can I just remind everyone we're not 10-2, we're 9-2. It's 11 non-con games, not the 12 or 13 we used to play before the league went to 20 games.

[Goose]

brew

Thanks for the clarification. With the schedule they played it felt like 15 games to me.

[Uncle Rico]

Can I just remind everyone we're not 10-2, we're 9-2. It's 11 non-con games, not the 12 or 13 we used to play before the league went to 20 games.

Ok, dad

[JakeBarnes]

Ok, dad

That's not my dad, that's a cell phone.

[JakeBarnes]

I find it hard not to be impressed with the season so far. Losing to Wisconsin sucked, but I felt like that wasn't a great matchup for us (forced to pick, I would have thought we win badger game and lose Illinois game).

I'll give an A-. They played with the best and overall succeeded.

[lawdog77]

Can I just remind everyone we're not 10-2, we're 9-2. It's 11 non-con games, not the 12 or 13 we used to play before the league went to 20 games.

Either the Kansas or Texas beat down should count for 2

[dgies9156]

A+

Brother and Sister Scoopers:

C'mon, are you people out of your collective minds?

Think about it! We defeated the number 1 team in the nation. We knocked off ranked teams in Illinois, UCLA and Texas.

We destroyed Notre Lame in a manner I haven't seen from us since the days of Al McGuire.

We're 7th in the nation and established ourselves as a legitimate contender for a Natty. I haven't seen that since 2003 and 1978.

OK, we lost to the rodent. Six weeks from now, if we keep playing as we have, the rodent will be a bad memory. So will Purdue, which we came within an eyelash of beating.

St. Thomas? Who cares? We won!!!!!!!

[Coleman]

B+ or A-, or in MU's grading when I was there: A/B

A+ is winning every game. Would have been an A if we beat Bucky.


Most importantly, relatively to expectations, the non-con didn't really hurt or help us. We are essentially right where we were when the season started (a top 10 team).

We are just fine. A one seed is still in play.

[Galway Eagle]

We're 7th in the nation and established ourselves as a legitimate contender for a Natty. I haven't seen that since 2003 and 1978.

What about last year? 2 seed, swept BE championships, got up to 5 or 6 iirc.

[withoutbias]

I would go B-. It was okay, but this team came into the year with a #5 next to their name and national championship aspirations. We didn't hurt our 1-seed hopes, but if the tourney started today we wouldn't be there and that should be one of the goals for this team, to make their journey to Glendale as easy as possible. The only way this team would deserve an A would be if they had a 0 in the loss column.

High expectations require high standards to be met to reach them. We didn't come close to exceeding expectations, in my opinion. I say this with the idea that a C is average. This team has been slightly above average to date, really the Kansas and Texas demolitions are the only reason it's a B- as opposed to a C.

🙄

You act like this team is a historically good college basketball team. They're a very good 2023-2024 college basketball team. They're far from a dominant team. You have set yourself up only to be disappointed by this team, and that's extremely unfortunate for you because this season so far has been a joy.

[jfp61]

its an A. if you expected a better record than this, you are nuts.

Only reason to downgrade it is if stevies injury lingers. Clear top 4 player on this team.

[Galway Eagle]

B+, can't ding the first L for being right there with Purdue at the end of the game when they're also a top tier team. Disappointed with WI, we looked out of sorts and had to battle back then fell flat again & Disappointed with last night. That's enough to knock us to B+ imo.

[zcg2013]

Surprised no one is giving the grades that so many of us got during finals back in the day.

Going to go with an AB instead of a straight up A. This is not due to the record, 9-2 with no bad losses is plenty fine.

Lowering it due to our shooting outside of Tyler, Kam, Jop, and Ben (he's now shooting 35% on the year). Shaka called it out last night, teams are going to start sagging off of some players and crowding the paint. ST did this to Sean yesterday. Need him and Stevie (and Chase for that matter) to up those percentages, otherwise the lane is going to be real crowded coming up here.

[1SE]

its an A. if you expected a better record than this, you are nuts.

Only reason to downgrade it is if stevies injury lingers. Clear top 4 player on this team.

How is "meeting expectations" an A?

I'm super bullish on this team and season - but I want March succes - the probability of that falls drastically from a 1 seed to a 2 or worse.

[1SE]

Surprised no one is giving the grades that so many of us got during finals back in the day.

Going to go with an AB instead of a straight up A. This is not due to the record, 9-2 with no bad losses is plenty fine.

Lowering it due to our shooting outside of Tyler, Kam, Jop, and Ben (he's now shooting 35% on the year). Shaka called it out last night, teams are going to start sagging off of some players and crowding the paint. ST did this to Sean yesterday. Need him and Stevie (and Chase for that matter) to up those percentages, otherwise the lane is going to be real crowded coming up here.

Was going to comment earlier on Ben's shooting but that's actually up 5% from last year.

I think any hopes of him being Novak 2.0 are pretty much dead. Can you imagine how unstoppable we'd be if we could.being him of the been shooting 46% from behind the arc?

[FairWeatherEagle]

B+.  Losing to Bucky....i won't argue with an A-

[jfp61]

How is "meeting expectations" an A?

I'm super bullish on this team and season - but I want March succes - the probability of that falls drastically from a 1 seed to a 2 or worse.

because... with hindsight they were expected to lose more than this.

8-3 or 7-4 were more likely than 9-2. If you backtrack the games we played we were expected to lose againist kansas and at illinois. Wisconsin and Purdue would remain expected loses. 

This team is 9-2 with its fourth best player injured, a 4 man who can't score in the paint would be benched if stevie was healthy, and very very bad backup pointguard play (Sean Jones is somehow +23  on the season having played more posessions than Stevie Mitchell "+83")