So just how good are we really?

[BleedingOrange]

The 13-2 Oregon team we beat not too long ago just handed #4 Arizona their first loss of the season.

Makes me wonder how good we can be when we play to our potential...

[Realm]

Oregon beat Arizona 70 - 66 in Eugene, Oregon.

Utep beat Oregon 91 - 84 in 3 OT in El Paso, Tx

Arizona beat Utep 72 - 51 in Tucson, Az.

Bleed, the ONLY thing this tells me is that playing at home... on a familiar court... without having to travel... in front of your fans... with referees calling plays in favor of the home team does seem to favor the home team most times.

Playing either of these 2 teams on a neutral court will show that Utep is the weakest of the bunch.

At every chance but one... Everytime we played a prominent team that would show how good we were.... we failed every time.

I agree Utep added some new players who have improved things... but not enough to warrant any REAL optimism.

Simply Put --We have to win the Conference Tourney to get into the NCAA... we won't get in based on our RPI when you match that up with our record.

A couple of pleasant additions... BUT I definitely don't see this team getting ready to take off...

Realm...

[MinerMan2010]

Pretty much what Realm said. This team won't have another opportunity to prove themselves on the road this season. Neating Tulane and Houston on the road doesn't say much.

[mistabinks]

I only slightly disagree. In theory (only), if we did not lose another game this season, and won two games in the cusa tourney, we would probably be in rpi top 40/45 and have an outside to decent shot of an at large bid.

That is a lot of if's and probably unlikely.

Still, as the "wise man" said, "so you are saying there's a chance..."

[BleedingOrange]

I agree that we failed to get a "statement" win against the prominent teams we've played, but that was a freaking BRUTAL schedule to open with considering all the new and inexperienced players we had. I'm surprised we were even in a position to win a few of them, frankly.

I'm just excited because we're showing improvement. We were one or two missed shots away from beating both UNLV and Colorado State, and soundly beat a Marshall team that the experts were sucking off before the season started (Marshall and Memphis were the only CUSA teams predicted in the preseason to go to the Dance).

I know we've got a lot of basketball yet to play, but from what I've seen, we could be dangerous. If we can put together a run of wins and win a game or two in the conference tourney, I'd say we have as good a shot as anyone else to possibly get an at-large. ESPN currently ranks our Strength of Schedule NUMBER ONE in the entire country. We've got losses on our record that helped our RPI a hell of a lot more than a few cheap wins over Northeastern Southwest Tech Junior College.