Believe it or not we now have a full 2 game lead in the Western Division. We only have to win 2 of 3 to clinch an undisputed division championship. I obviously hope we can win all 3, but none will be easy. Troy doesn't appear very good, but they almost always have several guys who can light it up from 3, so if they get hot look out. Also, despite our success this season you can never count a road game as a "W". However, we seem to have the ingredients for success; primarily a coach that keeps them focused and motivated no matter where they are playing, a solid point guard, and mental toughness. Don't know if we will, but I "expect" to win. Not many times I could say that, over the years, playing a Sun Belt road game. I have no doubt the players expect to win as well, and that is often half the battle.

(02-17-2012 06:06 PM)mjs Wrote:  Believe it or not we now have a full 2 game lead in the Western Division. We only have to win 2 of 3 to clinch an undisputed division championship. I obviously hope we can win all 3, but none will be easy. Troy doesn't appear very good, but they almost always have several guys who can light it up from 3, so if they get hot look out. Also, despite our success this season you can never count a road game as a "W". However, we seem to have the ingredients for success; primarily a coach that keeps them focused and motivated no matter where they are playing, a solid point guard, and mental toughness. Don't know if we will, but I "expect" to win. Not many times I could say that, over the years, playing a Sun Belt road game. I have no doubt the players expect to win as well, and that is often half the battle.

I hadn't thought of it that way before, but you are right. This team now "expects to win" every night out. That is a real tribute to Coach Shields and his staff. Especially considering how the team's mind set could have been the total opposite given the trials of the non conference season.

And now they have us fans coming around to the "expect to win" attitude. That's the mark of a successful program. I'm very pleased with the direction we seemed to be heading.

I expect to win. I expect that we have a great shot at winning 2 of the next 3 but we have to play them one at the time.

Now, in most years i liked the fact that we won the division but really did not mean that much to me after we got the early boot in the sbc tournament.

This year, this has been a great coming of age story with a lot of hope going into next year. I feel like we have a great shot to make it back to the finals.

(02-17-2012 07:37 PM)insideualr Wrote:  I expect to win. I expect that we have a great shot at winning 2 of the next 3 but we have to play them one at the time.

Now, in most years i liked the fact that we won the division but really did not mean that much to me after we got the early boot in the sbc tournament.

This year, this has been a great coming of age story with a lot of hope going into next year. I feel like we have a great shot to make it back to the finals.

Even with last year's great run in the SBC Tournament, I'm still a little gun shy on getting too confident about the Trojans in SBC Tournament play. We've seen a lot more tournament collapses than we have runs like last year. However, I do think this team is mentally tougher than some in the past, so maybe that's not as big of a concern.