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Okay, now that I vented a bit on some of the other threads, there is still a good shot we can finish at least tied for second place. First off, tomorrow night. The two second place teams are both on the road. ISU is at SIU and Creighton is at Drake. Also 6-5 Evansville is at Missouri St. All of the home teams are capable of winning. SIU is depleted, but are still a tough out at home. Drake is decent this year, but not great. However, they are capable of beating a Creighton team that has underachieved this year. And while MSU is not a good team, Evansville is pretty bad on the road, though they did beat Drake at their place last week.
Second, Drake is beatable at their place (our next destination). It won't be easy, but again, if we play like tonight, I think we can win as Drake is not as dangerous as UNI is.
Third, Creighton has to go to UNI on Sunday. However, InSt visits ISU on Sunday which will be an easy win for ISU.
If all goes well, we can still be tied for second place with ISU at the end of the weekend. Lots of time remains after this weekend, but with three easier home games to come against Drake, Evansville and Missouri St, a win at Drake should guarantee 11 conference wins and a trip to the NIT if we take care of a so-so Loyola team. This would still be a good season, but we have to put this UNI game behind us and get a win on the road.
The players have to continue to tell themselves that they are good enough to win some more games this year! They can't harp on these losses, and they can't worry about being shorthanded. This can still be a successful season if they focus. I'm hoping for the NIT in that it would show improvement despite being shorthanded. This would bode well for next season when hopefully we will have a full compliment of players for a change. But we need to take things one game at a time.
I hope us fans can keep our heads up as well. I know I was about as disappointed as anyone else that we could not pull this game out tonight. But if we don't put this game behind us quickly, I can see us falling to 9-9 or 10-8 in a hurry. Yeah, maybe that's good enough to get us into the CBI for another nice run, but I'm hoping to at least see some progression this year, even if that means an NIT road game in the first round. Let's see if we can play well the rest of the way out and win some more games!
Second, Drake is beatable at their place (our next destination). It won't be easy, but again, if we play like tonight, I think we can win as Drake is not as dangerous as UNI is.
Third, Creighton has to go to UNI on Sunday. However, InSt visits ISU on Sunday which will be an easy win for ISU.
If all goes well, we can still be tied for second place with ISU at the end of the weekend. Lots of time remains after this weekend, but with three easier home games to come against Drake, Evansville and Missouri St, a win at Drake should guarantee 11 conference wins and a trip to the NIT if we take care of a so-so Loyola team. This would still be a good season, but we have to put this UNI game behind us and get a win on the road.
The players have to continue to tell themselves that they are good enough to win some more games this year! They can't harp on these losses, and they can't worry about being shorthanded. This can still be a successful season if they focus. I'm hoping for the NIT in that it would show improvement despite being shorthanded. This would bode well for next season when hopefully we will have a full compliment of players for a change. But we need to take things one game at a time.
I hope us fans can keep our heads up as well. I know I was about as disappointed as anyone else that we could not pull this game out tonight. But if we don't put this game behind us quickly, I can see us falling to 9-9 or 10-8 in a hurry. Yeah, maybe that's good enough to get us into the CBI for another nice run, but I'm hoping to at least see some progression this year, even if that means an NIT road game in the first round. Let's see if we can play well the rest of the way out and win some more games!
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