The unofficial online home for fans of the UAB Blazers. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

Courtesy of rpiforecast.com:

Creighton: 26
Illinois St: 57
North Carolina: 29
Middle Tennessee: 29
Rutgers: 82

TCU: 235

Our highest win so far is South Alabama, at 181. This team is playing like a .500 team right now, but it's hard to tell what we truly have. All of our tough opponents have been on the road, and our easy opponents have been at home. And, we haven't played anyone in the 90-170 range (our current peer group).

We feast on 3 cupcakes which we should win before going on the road to Dayton, which, if the script follows, should put us going into conference play at 7-7 (vs D1).

In conference, the only current Top 100 projections are UCF (78), Memphis (52), and Southern Miss (49). The conference race will be wide open and should be fun this year, although the overall competition level will be down for C*USA.

Way-too-early FN Bubble Watch® prediction: We may be taking the year off again in 2013 if things don't pick up. Absent a road win at Dayton, we would likely have to go 13-3 in the league to have a shot (which would likely win the regular season title). 10-12 conference wins will give us a solid shot at an NIT berth, which I think would be a great accomplishment this year.

Other interesting notes:

*UAB is currently projected to finish in a 4-way tie for 5th place at 8-8 behind Memphis (12-4), USM (11-5), UCF (10-6), and--gasp--Tulane (9-7). Seeing as UCF will be ineligible, a Top 4 finish seems attainable, even playing mediocre basketball. That's how bad the league is this year, although the bottom teams won't be super-WTF bad.

*The average projected RPI of the defectors at this point is 118, with the newcomers at 165. La Tech, MT, and Charlotte are all top-shelf, but ODU (273), FAU (237), UTSA (267), and North Texas (192) are all below any of the defectors. However, you can't expect ODU to stay down forever.

Yeah, but what does Pomeroy say?

It is disturbing that UAB hasn't pulled out at least one upset of those teams. We have a team with enough experience to win more than one game on the road, that game being Troy.

I actually think the conference will be tougher than most think, mainly because we can't win on the road.

I can't remember the last time ODU was this bad. Surely, it is just an off year for some reason. North Texas has the talent to be so much better than they are, but as I told their fans toting them as a top 25 team this offseason, a team is rarely the same on paper and in games. Hopefully they continue to recruit well and become a decent program. I'm afraid FAU, UTSA, and FIU are really going to hurt the conference RPI for the foreseeable future.

(12-17-2012 03:42 PM)FNblazer Wrote:  *UAB is currently projected to finish in a 4-way tie for 5th place at 8-8 ...

Win all the home games and lose all the road games?

Quote:We have a team with enough experience to win more than one game on the road

Yes. Seeing Purifoy play like he should Saturday is encouraging, but there's still something missing.

I have a suspicion the Blazer bench is now shorter by two spots, whether they have warmup-clad bodies in them or not.

We could win the rest of our games or lose 12 or more this year. While I dont like mailing in victories or losses, I will give the coaching staff a pass.
This look like a very good team that is able to win as many games as they lose, and thats a .500 team.
Now next year with the parts that should return, I see a top 50 team.
So lets enjoy this year and cheer for our Blazers, knowing this is our team and that better days are ahead.

The something that is missing is someone to consistently lead & direct the team at point.

Quincy is playing well at the point. He is the best option at this time. The other Guards are 2's and not 1's. Quincy is getting better as the season progresses.
I agree the team need a leader, and the leader need to be a go to knock down shooter. I still believe Swing, PP, Williams are the most likely players to step up.

(12-17-2012 04:20 PM)rebounder2u Wrote:  We could win the rest of our games or lose 12 or more this year. While I dont like mailing in victories or losses, I will give the coaching staff a pass.
This look like a very good team that is able to win as many games as they lose, and thats a .500 team.
Now next year with the parts that should return, I see a top 50 team.
So lets enjoy this year and cheer for our Blazers, knowing this is our team and that better days are ahead.

Unless some of the newcomers step in ready to play next year, I don't see a top 50 team. A better team than this year, yes, but top 50 is a reach.

I believe that QT is our best option at point.

I am reaching, but we have positions with experience 1 thru 3, I see players who can open up the paint with length coming and with a years worth of experiences returning. I see shooters and slashers all thru the roster.
I believe Hasse style will work well here in CUSA,especially when he recruits the parts to play the system.
Okay I am going on the record, at some point in the next season we will be ranked in the top 50 in America.

(12-17-2012 04:31 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  

(12-17-2012 04:20 PM)rebounder2u Wrote:  We could win the rest of our games or lose 12 or more this year. While I dont like mailing in victories or losses, I will give the coaching staff a pass.
This look like a very good team that is able to win as many games as they lose, and thats a .500 team.
Now next year with the parts that should return, I see a top 50 team.
So lets enjoy this year and cheer for our Blazers, knowing this is our team and that better days are ahead.

Unless some of the newcomers step in ready to play next year, I don't see a top 50 team. A better team than this year, yes, but top 50 is a reach.

If we can get 15 - 20 points a game from the newcomers we will be okay

(12-17-2012 04:54 PM)rebounder2u Wrote:  

(12-17-2012 04:31 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  

(12-17-2012 04:20 PM)rebounder2u Wrote:  We could win the rest of our games or lose 12 or more this year. While I dont like mailing in victories or losses, I will give the coaching staff a pass.
This look like a very good team that is able to win as many games as they lose, and thats a .500 team.
Now next year with the parts that should return, I see a top 50 team.
So lets enjoy this year and cheer for our Blazers, knowing this is our team and that better days are ahead.

Unless some of the newcomers step in ready to play next year, I don't see a top 50 team. A better team than this year, yes, but top 50 is a reach.

If we can get 15 - 20 points a game from the newcomers we will be okay

So you don't even calculate defense into your equation to reach Top 50. Offensive production hasn't been our problem this year. Even our perceived weakness of no big men hasn't manifested itself in that we are out rebounding our opponents so far.

Defense has been our struggle. We are committing more fouls by a lot than the other team, which is an indication of getting beat on defense. It seems clear to me that we don't have an assistant coach that was a defensive guru like Marsh was.

We need more than 15-20 points to be good next year. We need the newcomers coming in ready to play defense at the D 1 level.

(12-17-2012 03:53 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  Yeah, but what does Pomeroy say?

To keep the structural integrity of the thread, I'll invoke the Ken Pom.

Here's something that's actually cool: UAB's adjusted tempo ranking has risen to 21st! While that's not translating into higher scoring per se, it shows that the team has made huge progress transitioning to the new system. We were in the 200s after about 5 games, and it's not easy for our returning starters who played at a pace in the 320s last year!

Adjusted offense and defense are in the 140s, which show that as of right now, we're a .500 caliber basketball team. It would be really nice to see them pull it all together by the end of the year, and even though the losses may be more than we'd like to see, this year's team won't be excruciatingly painful to watch like last year's.

On December 17, 2011, we were 2-6 with 3 WTF losses. Never again.

@Purifoy24: Life wuld b way better if we were winning but things will change, bc I refuse to hav another losing season 20+ wins promised this yr watch!