My counter to that is a noncon more like last year’s would’ve better supported BOTH goals so you wouldn’t have even had to pick.
I share that concern but Bennett’s gonna be Bennett. Taine scored 14 vs Iowa and then rarely saw the court even against a crappy schedule. Is Bennett going to revert back to playing 10 guys 10+ minutes like he did in the Harris/Brogdon years? Who knows. But we have a pretty good mix of returning experience with new talent and reports of heavy offseason work. Maybe Bennett’s comfort level will go up.
In any case, great programs are built with a schedule that includes great opponents. I want our guys to compete against the best. If some players rise to the challenge, great for us.
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I don’t’ have time to really analyze, but this feels incomplete to me
We got punished last year for a lack of Q1 wins and some very bad losses. Part of that was the ACC being terrible, but having more Q1 opportunities and fewer bad loss/unimportant wins on the schedule for this year seems like a good thing to me. But we can see things differently - that’s not a problem!
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This year’s team has no reason to shy away from big games early. Las year it made sense, but this is the same group as last year, and they’ve been through ACC play together already, so keep the heat on them. It will make them better.
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If you have all Q1 losses and no Q1 wins, then yeah, it’s a problem. But multiple teams with significant numbers of Q1 losses make the dance (see the BIG12, for example). Maybe I’m misremembering, but that’s been my impression.
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Maybe I’m being a contrarian, but I see this the opposite. Last year, being strategic probably didn’t matter. We lost mid-majors on the road and at home. We lost to good teams, bad teams, and mediocre teams. We beat some good teams, but not enough. This year, being strategic COULD make a difference. And more to the point, I am very worried about Tony’s comfort level with our young talent, and easier schedule in the early going would be better for his comfort level.
Also, we lost to “just okay” teams early, late, and in the middle. Heck, in our very last game, we lost to a “just okay” team at home.
Last year’s easy schedule did nothing to develop our young talent. Clearly, playing time is accorded to those who Bennett believes have earned it or I’m with whom he is comfortable. It’s not related to the schedule. Again, Taine had his best game against Iowa last year and then dropped off the map.
So whether playing time and pecking order is determined on the practice court or in Bennett’s head, let’s at least go big game hunting as a program.
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I agree with the contingent here excited by the difficult preseason schedule and don’t see a downside either tournament-wise or player development-wise. Decent team and weak schedule has never gotten us in the tournament. Good team and difficult schedule always does. Playing time for our younger players is not going to be particularly dependent on strength of schedule either, but on whether they are ready to contribute.
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Why did you assume different meant worse? I took this to mean he’s gotten much better.
I think his comment was TIC.
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Lol, another joke over my head. Story of my life.
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(Deleted - I think I’ve typed enough on this. I’m generally happy to be playing a tough, fun schedule. That much I agree with. But folks, as much as I admire your optimistic natures from afar, there are always downsides)
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I don’t believe our goal every year should be making the tournament
I believe our goal should be higher than that
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I didn’t say it was the only goal. For me it’s just a baseline goal. Obviously we have higher goals too, especially in years with elite teams.
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Im hoping we get back to elite very soon
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(Okay, I lied. More words…) but what if the baseline goal conflicts with the higher level goal? Like, if a certain choice means 60% chance Of tourney but a 30% chance of very good tourney outcome, while a different choice means 80% chance of tourney with 10% of a very good tourney outcome? Tougher question, right?
(I understand most will disagree with the premise)
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I don’t disagree with the premise and think maybe that could be the case. I just think given the number of variables at play and our inability to know how Tony will hand out playing time, it’s overthinking it a little to assume that will be the case.
Obviously it’s very reasonable to think playing time for the young guys could look like last year, since that was our most recent insight into Tony’s current approach. But it’s also reasonable to think it might look more like it did in years past, when our very good players played a significant amount away as first years, largely regardless of the schedule we had. It could be less that Tony is now uncomfortable with young guys in certain situations and more that last year was the result of Igor and Taine just not being able to get it done. I was a big supporter of playing them more myself - I still like to believe they would have made us better if they’d played more - but I also don’t think we should just assume the highly rated 2022 class will end up having the same first year experience as Taine and Igor. I’d be more inclined to think they’ll be given more playing time like past highly-rated US recruits have been, but who knows.
And given all of that uncertainty, I’ll take the things I’m more comfortable assuming - a stronger schedule will look good to the selection committee, we’ve got an experienced team that should hopefully have less major missteps, and these games should be fun (until Houston blows us out by 30 again). So I’m choosing to see the schedule as a positive, but I’m not ruling out that your scenario exists. I just think it’s one of many possible scenarios and there’s no way to know which one will play out. (Although message boards are definitely all about just throwing our your best guess, so that’s totally fair)
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Here’s my thoughts on our strategy:
Win games. Care about the rest later.
If you’re not winning, then care about the rest.
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Agreed. As @MaineWahoo said earlier in this thread, it comes down to hitting shots. Tough schedule or easy schedule, this all comes down to the team playing well and at least some of the new guys contributing.
Put me on team optimism on both counts. Let’s play the best and beat the best.
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