Originally Posted by forego1
As NET rankings are the NCCAT guideline, note Dayton has no 1st group wins, and only one 2nd group win. Barring that, our claim to fame is a #159 win.
That is too surreal to be real!
Hence why I criticized those who said we we're ahead of schedule. I mean, what test allowed you to arrive at that? My eyes are working fine.
So here we go. AND, mind you, none of these opponents move a dial either, but at least it is not bottom of the barrel. God help this program if we don't emerge with twenty regular season wins, because I got news for you, AG is here to stay for a long time. I say he will do at least that much, and I don't put it past him to get some NCAAT bids (though not wins). Sheesh.
I no longer have a gripe with AG as head coach. The door was only a tiny bit open after AM is closed. I do think AG is competent (not great), and that he is it. Period.
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If your benchmark is quality wins vs last year, then I don't think you see the whole picture.
UD played competitive against Virginia, Auburn, Oklahoma and Miss State. None were wins but they were competitive. While I wish they were wins, last year's team would have been blown out (and they were). Last year's team was embarrassed at home against
UMass. This year a close win. Last year, they won one road A10 game. They already have three.
Yes, the A10 schedule is back loaded. UD lost on the road to a tough VCU team. They should not have lost to George Mason, but look where GM is in the standings. The upcoming road schedule is very tough.
If you look at metrics besides wins, there is significant improvement. Look at the KenPom data. The biggest improvement is defense. The defense last year was terrible. Ugly, terrible. If you look at wins, they matched all the wins from last year. How can you look at those two data points and not see progress? Are you predicting 14-17 again?
I think Anthony has improved as a coach this year. His substation patterns are much better. He uses timeouts are better even though he prefers the NBS style of letting players work their way out of a funk. There is actually some merit to that practice. His end of game coaching has been questioned, but he was 3-2 in the last 5 close games. You could also see some very poor player execution in the two losses.
I see progress. Not enough for an NCAA bid this year. I did not expect that going in. Toppin has been a surprise. Mikesell made contributions. Crutcher has emerged as very good point guard. Cunningham is a force.
This team is not deep and still has some big holes. That makes it difficult to judge the total quality of Anthony's coaching.
