are we playing better than last year?

[Andy]

i think we are playing at a higher level now than at this point last season.  the wins over ku and @texas were better than any wins we had last year. 

the starting 5 and overall depth appear stronger.  the loss of denis appears to be overcome by an even better pullen, an upgrade at the 3 with mcgruder, an at least equal or better kelly, and an upgrade with JHR over colon.  samuels is a little down though.  southwell, doc, and irving provide depth at guard we didnt have.   

statistically we aren't as good, though this yr we are obviously dragged pretty far down by our early conference stats. 

It'll be tough to top the postseason accomplishments of last season, but at least now there is a chance to match.   

[SdK]

the loss of denis appears to be overcome by an even better pullen

look out now! 

[GetVocalwithCurt]

I am doing this based upon observation, but our defense is much better than it was last year.

We are being aided by having two high-level players who are seniors this year.

Pullen and Kelly are going to play their asses off to make sure we go as far as possible in the tournament.

Both could use a strong March to help their pro prospects.

[sys]

i don't like to go around downtalking my 'cats.  but the texas win was more than an equal part ut playing pretty poorly.

[One Nut Willie]

 

[TaqMan]

i think we are playing at a higher level now than at this point last season.  the wins over ku and @texas were better than any wins we had last year. 

the starting 5 and overall depth appear stronger.  the loss of denis appears to be overcome by an even better pullen, an upgrade at the 3 with mcgruder, an at least equal or better kelly, and an upgrade with JHR over colon.  samuels is a little down though.  southwell, doc, and irving provide depth at guard we didnt have.   

statistically we aren't as good, though this yr we are obviously dragged pretty far down by our early conference stats. 

It'll be tough to top the postseason accomplishments of last season, but at least now there is a chance to match.   

I don't know. Last year, we were a Final 4 team if you take away the 700 minutes we had to play against Xavier the game before. If we're fresh, we beat Butler easily. That said, getting to the Eliete8 is hard every year, but it should be attainable for this team. A 5 seed would be nice.

[SlamSam]

This team has a slightly improved post game (as long as they stay out of foul trouble) than last year's team which opens a lot of things up. Lately, random shots haven't been thrown up too often to waste possessions which I think happened more often at the beginning of this year and a lot of last year. Last year we loved the transition game, but this year for some reason we pee down our leg in transition (it's gotten better though). Also, the transition game last year was due to the defense and speed of our team. The current team plays a more controlled half court game. They are two different teams.

Team Denis/Pullen: More intense/aggressive defense, better transition, worse half court offense, slightly worse but equal posts
Team Pullen/McGruder: Fundamentally sound defense, impaired transition, impressive/smart half court offense, posts contribute a bit more

They are close to equal in my eyes, but the intensity and transition created by last year's team along with Pullen and Clemente's clutchiness puts them ahead in my book. I think it's possible we end up with the same outcome though.

[Cartierfor3]

i think we are playing at a higher level now than at this point last season.  the wins over ku and @texas were better than any wins we had last year. 

the starting 5 and overall depth appear stronger.  the loss of denis appears to be overcome by an even better pullen, an upgrade at the 3 with mcgruder, an at least equal or better kelly, and an upgrade with JHR over colon.  samuels is a little down though.  southwell, doc, and irving provide depth at guard we didnt have.   

statistically we aren't as good, though this yr we are obviously dragged pretty far down by our early conference stats. 

It'll be tough to top the postseason accomplishments of last season, but at least now there is a chance to match.   

I don't know. Last year, we were a Final 4 team if you take away the 700 minutes we had to play against Xavier the game before. If we're fresh, we beat Butler easily. That said, getting to the Eliete8 is hard every year, but it should be attainable for this team. A 5 seed would be nice.

we did avoid playing high seeds.  i doubt that'll happen again

[kcchiefdav]

This team has a slightly improved post game (as long as they stay out of foul trouble) than last year's team which opens a lot of things up. Lately, random shots haven't been thrown up too often to waste possessions which I think happened more often at the beginning of this year and a lot of last year. Last year we loved the transition game, but this year for some reason we pee down our leg in transition (it's gotten better though). Also, the transition game last year was due to the defense and speed of our team. The current team plays a more controlled half court game. They are two different teams.

Team Denis/Pullen: More intense/aggressive defense, better transition, worse half court offense, slightly worse but equal posts
Team Pullen/McGruder: Fundamentally sound defense, impaired transition, impressive/smart half court offense, posts contribute a bit more

They are close to equal in my eyes, but the intensity and transition created by last year's team along with Pullen and Clemente's clutchiness puts them ahead in my book. I think it's possible we end up with the same outcome though.

I agree with this new and insightful young man. Our transition game last year really was awesome. We would demoralize people with it. I like last year's team better as well, but those dumb fucks lost to ISU at home on the last weekend of the season...lets see if this year can do better.

[hemmy]

i think we are playing at a higher level now than at this point last season.  the wins over ku and @texas were better than any wins we had last year. 

the starting 5 and overall depth appear stronger.  the loss of denis appears to be overcome by an even better pullen, an upgrade at the 3 with mcgruder, an at least equal or better kelly, and an upgrade with JHR over colon.  samuels is a little down though.  southwell, doc, and irving provide depth at guard we didnt have.   

statistically we aren't as good, though this yr we are obviously dragged pretty far down by our early conference stats. 

It'll be tough to top the postseason accomplishments of last season, but at least now there is a chance to match.   

I don't know. Last year, we were a Final 4 team if you take away the 700 minutes we had to play against Xavier the game before. If we're fresh, we beat Butler easily. That said, getting to the Eliete8 is hard every year, but it should be attainable for this team. A 5 seed would be nice.

Butler was really good last year, I doubt we would have beat them.

[SwiftCat]

I don't think we are better this year than last year. We are starting to play well, but I don't think we are a top 10 team right now. Last year we were definitely a top 10 team.

[0.42]

focus less on being butthurt and more on being a better poster.

[WillieWatanabe]

this place is even worse when we're winning.

[One Nut Willie]

focus less on being butthurt and more on being a better poster.

I try my best to please you 42.  ?

[Andy]

this place is even worse when we're winning.

thanks for the requisite goEMAW.com wannabelitist response that adds nothing.

[Andy]

fear noted

[Andy]

This team has a slightly improved post game (as long as they stay out of foul trouble) than last year's team which opens a lot of things up. Lately, random shots haven't been thrown up too often to waste possessions which I think happened more often at the beginning of this year and a lot of last year. Last year we loved the transition game, but this year for some reason we pee down our leg in transition (it's gotten better though). Also, the transition game last year was due to the defense and speed of our team. The current team plays a more controlled half court game. They are two different teams.

Team Denis/Pullen: More intense/aggressive defense, better transition, worse half court offense, slightly worse but equal posts
Team Pullen/McGruder: Fundamentally sound defense, impaired transition, impressive/smart half court offense, posts contribute a bit more

They are close to equal in my eyes, but the intensity and transition created by last year's team along with Pullen and Clemente's clutchiness puts them ahead in my book. I think it's possible we end up with the same outcome though.

good post.  they are two completely different teams, no doubt.  which definitely makes the debate more interesting.  too many people will look at the season long body of work and just pick last years team.  but frankly i think the level of play is at a minimum equally good right now.

[sys]

kenpom.com.  go to the kstate page.  check the little box for conf. only under the scouting report.  compare to 2010.

2010 was better, q.e.d.

[sys]

what's kinda interesting is 2008.

[yoga-like_abana]

I don't know. Last year, we were a Final 4 team if you take away the 700 minutes we had to play against Xavier the game before. If we're fresh, we beat Butler easily. That said, getting to the Eliete8 is hard every year, but it should be attainable for this team. A 5 seed would be nice.

It's like 1998 all over again folks

[steve dave]

jfc people

[kso_FAN]

Even in our last 8 games our points per possession numbers are 1.12 offense to .99 defense. Good, but not great. However, its hard to ignore two wins over Top 10 teams, another over a Top 30, and even the two over Nebraska in that stretch.

[Dr Rick Daris]

Even in our last 8 games our points per possession numbers are 1.12 offense to .99 defense. Good, but not great. However, its hard to ignore two wins over Top 10 teams, another over a Top 30, and even the two over Nebraska in that stretch.

can you please cherry pick the home ku and ut games from last year and add them to the other down the stretch games? really want to build my hopes up here.

[Andy]

kenpom.com.  go to the kstate page.  check the little box for conf. only under the scouting report.  compare to 2010.

2010 was better, q.e.d.

Would like to see those numbers after the cu home loss

[kso_FAN]

Would like to see those numbers after the cu home loss

Even in our last 8 games our points per possession numbers are 1.12 offense to .99 defense. Good, but not great. However, its hard to ignore two wins over Top 10 teams, another over a Top 30, and even the two over Nebraska in that stretch.

Last 8 games:

   EFF   eFG%   TO%   OR%   FTR
KSU   1.12   52.4%   18.4%   36.8%   46.0%
Opp   0.99   47.3%   22.2%   30.4%   45.3%