[quote="Boo Harvey" post=400690][quote="SJU85" post=400674][quote="Boo Harvey" post=400668][quote="kred" post=400652][quote="Boo Harvey" post=400650][quote="JohnnyFan" post=400648]If I am CMA, I love being picked 9th. Let people sleep on us. There's no trophies for preseason rankings.[/quote]
Not sure how CMA feels, but as a general matter, I’d prefer being picked first over being picked 9th.[/quote]
Why ? Picked means nothing.[/quote]
So you don’t think there is any correlation between where a team is picked and where they finish? Historically, do you think that teams picked last have performed better than teams picked first?[/quote]
Some prefer being the hunter at the beginning than the hunted.
We are talking about this year and this team had no shot being picked in the top 4 let alone 1st. So realistically he was looking at maybe a five. After another year of recruiting, different story with expectations (hopefully).[/quote]
I haven’t done an empirical study, but I feel confident in saying that teams projected to finish fifth or even sixth in the Big East historically outperform teams projected to finish ninth. So objectively speaking, I don’t think there’s much upside to being projected near the bottom of the conference. But if CMA, the staff and fan base can spin this to create some extra motivation, great. In my view, the kids and staff should be plenty motivated already.[/quote]
Sorry no spin here at all, I leave that to the politicians and apologists. Empirical data is just that but the funny thing is there are always cases where the opposite happens other than what the data shows . These exceptions due occur like losing four games in a row in a series that you were up three games to none or a 16th seed in the NCAAA Tourny upsets a No. 1 seed (after 33 years iit finally happened in 2018) . Rarely happens, but can and teams in the bad position have the hope, expectation, that they will be the exception.
Do I love being picked ninth, no, nor did I say that. I can’t however argue with where we were picked based on where we finished last year, what we lost, what we returned and picked up, it’s a reasonable choice.
In today’s generation any perceived slight can be a motivating factor and gives coaches more ammunition to use when pumping up their team. Being picked two slots from the bottom is a motivating factor that any good coach can use, especially if he and the team feel slighted and have the ability to do something about it on the court. Anderson is no dummy and is a good coach so he will use it as I don’t think he or his team really believe they don’t have the ability to finish higher. That’s what I am saying.