Poll: Grade the season
- Thread starter cyclones500
- Start date
B-
Finishing 9-9 in conference is probably the textbook definition of a C grade.
Lost to most of the half way decent teams we played in preseason, though did beat Ole Miss in the SEC/BigXII challenge.
Won the conference tourney so a bonus there.
Losing so many games to subpar teams late, especially the ones at home, really left that sour taste in my mouth towards the end of the Feb/beginning of March. Hilton Magic is now not so potent. I hate that.
Just too much "Highs Too High" and "Lows Too Low" for me emotionally this season.
And the giant turd we laid on Friday seemed like the most awful way to end it. But somehow fitting.
Maybe B- is too high.
Finishing 9-9 in conference is probably the textbook definition of a C grade.
Lost to most of the half way decent teams we played in preseason, though did beat Ole Miss in the SEC/BigXII challenge.
Won the conference tourney so a bonus there.
Losing so many games to subpar teams late, especially the ones at home, really left that sour taste in my mouth towards the end of the Feb/beginning of March. Hilton Magic is now not so potent. I hate that.
Just too much "Highs Too High" and "Lows Too Low" for me emotionally this season.
And the giant turd we laid on Friday seemed like the most awful way to end it. But somehow fitting.
Maybe B- is too high.
B-. Credit for the run in KC and getting back to the tournament. Points taken away for some really baffling losses in conference play and general inconsistency, along with an early exit from the tournament when the draw was about as favorable as we could ever hope for in terms of travel - first weekend in Tulsa, second weekend in KC, Final Four in Minneapolis. It was a golden opportunity to play in front of a heavily pro-Cyclone crowd deep into the tournament.
I guess my expectations for the team changed after seeing what they were capable of. Knowing that, it feels very much like they left a lot of meat on the bone.
I guess my expectations for the team changed after seeing what they were capable of. Knowing that, it feels very much like they left a lot of meat on the bone.
I think it's right on but I wouldn't quibble if someone felt like it was a C or C+ season. I tried to give a little more weight to the positives - walloping KU, beating K State in Manhattan, the run in KC - than the negatives.
C-
Justification... you couldn’t give that exact performance 4 years in a row and expect to have a degree waiting for you.
The whole exceeded expectations thing is such BS. Most everyone who closely follows the team knew we had a lot better team heading into this year than the ‘experts’ were predicting. Easily top 3 talent and finished 9-9. Just because you didn’t expect much doesnt mean this team didn’t drastically underperform.
Justification... you couldn’t give that exact performance 4 years in a row and expect to have a degree waiting for you.
The whole exceeded expectations thing is such BS. Most everyone who closely follows the team knew we had a lot better team heading into this year than the ‘experts’ were predicting. Easily top 3 talent and finished 9-9. Just because you didn’t expect much doesnt mean this team didn’t drastically underperform.
B for me.
- Went .500 in conference play (A winning B12 season is still a big thing)
- Conference tourney champs is nice.
- Made it to the NCAAs again
- Major wins of top 25 teams many on the road (look at ISU's past - that just is not a common thing at all)
- 20+ wins overall
I think things were pretty smooth sailing up to Big 12 play and than we played a few games at max potential/overperformed around that KU home win and road Texas Tech win. Got punched in the mouth with some losses and the team being composed of 1 senior, 2 transfers, freshman, and a couple sophomores didn't have the experience on how to respond to that as a team and things slid. I think blame can go all around for those things. Coaches and players.
C+: Late season fade and first round loss are offset only somewhat by the B12 tournament championship.
My expectation for going into this season and thus a C, was making the NCAA tournament. That was achieved but most of the rest good and bad was mostly canceling each other out.
My expectation for going into this season and thus a C, was making the NCAA tournament. That was achieved but most of the rest good and bad was mostly canceling each other out.
Despite variance in grading, a lot of analytic points in the thread point to the same ups and downs. Some of us weigh those aspects differently.
I voted C. Yeah, if you'd asked me at the beginning of the year, I would have taken this season - winning the Big 12 tournament and advancing to the the NCAA tournament even if we got knocked off in the first round. But after hanging around first place through about 2/3s of the conference season my expectations changed. This was a team good enough to win the conference regular season in a year that a team other than KU was going to win it, and they lost 6 of 8 to finish in 5th. In spite of that, this team landed the second best path to the Final Four out of the entire tournament, a path that this team that may never again see as good of a path, and they laid an egg in losing to OSU.
If my expectations hadn't changed in January this was probably a B+ season IMO. But those expectations changed, and what was plenty good enough back in October just feels hollow now.
If my expectations hadn't changed in January this was probably a B+ season IMO. But those expectations changed, and what was plenty good enough back in October just feels hollow now.
B-
You could make a case for B though.
Could have been better. Could have been worse.
After last season, I wanted us back in the tournament and top half of the B12. Mission accomplished. It would have been nice to win one in Tulsa though.
You could make a case for B though.
Could have been better. Could have been worse.
After last season, I wanted us back in the tournament and top half of the B12. Mission accomplished. It would have been nice to win one in Tulsa though.
I went B+ as we ended up with a record I would have been happy with at the start of the year, but feel should grade lower based on expectations that developed and floundered. Such a strange season to grade. This team had very high highs (amazingly against top teams often on the road!) and some low lows (equally as dumbfounding in Hilton of all places against teams we shouldn't lose to if we played our game)...real Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde type of year. Johnny's teams used to be different that way, but won at home and couldn't win on the road...but that was expected. This year we could look like the Spurs moving the ball one night, then it could stick on others. We played great D at times with steals and runouts, then gave up direct line dribble drives and couldn't defensive rebound on others. Started the year with positive vibes, but then we had some big wins that dared us to dream, then--dare I say--we had a "Hawkeye-esque late season swoon" before rallying for an exciting Big 12 tourney run, only to have Mr. Hyde show up in the first round of the NCAA tourney.
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So far, this year's poll is pending/trending B, with B-minus runner-up.
Out of curiosity, I combed through polls from previous seasons.
Results of “Grade the Season” from recent years.
2017-18: C—
2016-17: B+
2015-16: B (poll did not include a B-minus option)
2014-15: B+
2013-14: **can’t find, might not have done a poll**
2012-13: B+
2011-12: A—
Out of curiosity, I combed through polls from previous seasons.
Results of “Grade the Season” from recent years.
2017-18: C—
2016-17: B+
2015-16: B (poll did not include a B-minus option)
2014-15: B+
2013-14: **can’t find, might not have done a poll**
2012-13: B+
2011-12: A—
I went with C. Primarily this team had a lot of talent and seniors - the team showed it's potential and then fell apart. The team struggled with consistency and coaching staff struggled with in game changes. Great they made the tourney and won the Big12 - however winning the Big 12 showed what the team was capable of doing, however they were not able to sustain it which lead to internal and external disappointment.
TBF while the plurality is B the median is a B- and I’d guess without doing some sort of math that the mean is too.
I voted B-. If I compare this year's team to last this team underachieved. Last year's team didn't have as much talent and then lost players due to injury. This team had the talent, fewer injuries and just couldn't pull things together for extended periods. Every time they started to build some momentum they laid a clunker.
Losing that many games at Hilton almost had me lowering it to a C. First order of business for any Cyclone team should be protecting home court. If they can't do that, eventually they will lose the crowd advantage. I'd rather not see Hilton become like other arenas which are half full for home games. An opponent winning at Hilton should feel like a major accomplishment and I didn't see that this year.
B-
The weekend in Kansas City city was fun and finally showed what alot of us knew we had when the team played together as a team and was motivated. We did beat Kansas and K-State 2 out of 3 times each and had some good road wins so I cant go into the C territory overall even though the pathetic showing against a horrible Big 10 team tempts me to go to a C+.
The weekend in Kansas City city was fun and finally showed what alot of us knew we had when the team played together as a team and was motivated. We did beat Kansas and K-State 2 out of 3 times each and had some good road wins so I cant go into the C territory overall even though the pathetic showing against a horrible Big 10 team tempts me to go to a C+.
