[burger]

The bad news:
Our NET ranking is 77, and that’s the one they use to pick at large teams for the tourney

Updated NET ranking following the win at VaTech is #69. Still not NCAA tourney-worthy, but moving in the right direction.

Anything sniffing last year's ranking (NET #80, KenPom #81), given on-paper net talent drain, is miracle work.

If there's one defining feature of the Haase years, it's that the team never seemed to play up to their talent level*.  Several future NBA guys came through, and we never even sniffed the Tourney.

Small sample size, and who know how this year will play out, but under Smith, we seem to overperform.   He seems to really get the maximum out of the roster.  And so far that's mostly with a ragtag bunch of transfers and Haase leftovers.  I'm very excited to see what Smith can do with a fantastic class of freshmen coming in next year.

*the other defining feature of the Haase year was a Stanford player dribbling into a thicket of defenders in the lane and getting a turnover

[burger]

The bad news:
Our NET ranking is 77, and that’s the one they use to pick at large teams for the tourney

Updated NET ranking following the win at VaTech is #69. Still not NCAA tourney-worthy, but moving in the right direction.

Anything sniffing last year's ranking (NET #80, KenPom #81), given on-paper net talent drain, is miracle work.

If there's one defining feature of the Haase years, it's that the team never seemed to play up to their talent level*.  Several future NBA guys came through, and we never even sniffed the Tourney.

Small sample size, and who know how this year will play out, but under Smith, we seem to overperform.   He seems to really get the maximum out of the roster.  And so far that's mostly with a ragtag bunch of transfers and Haase leftovers.  I'm very excited to see what Smith can do with a fantastic class of freshmen coming in next year.

*the other defining feature of the Haase year was a Stanford player dribbling into a thicket of defenders in the lane and getting a turnover