I personally like to keep my expectations realistic. And now sitting here on December 17, we have at least some data to suggest that we have a really, really good team on our hands.
For context - before the season started, I honestly did not see a roster that had a ceiling in the Top 10. I was thinking back then - if we played well this year, we could be a top 15/20 type team, at our max. Not a type 5 team, at all.
But now I have 11 games to base an opinion off, and it looks like my initial preseason thoughts were off-base; the data and the eye test tell me that we actually do have a ceiling of Top 5. This is awesome! We should all be really excited about this.
So yeah, I do expect us to play well and end up with an extremely good W/L record and a great seed in the NCAA tourney. If we don't, I will absolutely be disappointed. Let's say we finish the regular season with 8 losses and we're ranked #24 in the country. I'm not going to say "well, I guess if you asked me in October, I would have said this sounds about right, so now I can use my preseason expectations to make me feel better about our record now.." It doesn't work that way. And it is beyond annoying and ridiculous when Cyclone fans do this. It's like collectively we're so damn scared to get our hopes up. It is almost like some here almost prefer to NOT be ranked #4 right now as this will inflate expectations. Expectations should go up right now. The team should be aiming for a Big 12 title right now. The team should be acting like, practicing like, and playing like a Top 5/10 team. Because they are one! The Big 12 is extremely top heavy this year, so there is an amazing opportunity to have our best record ever in conference and be right there are the top of the league contending for a title. I will be frustrated if we are not in contention.