Originally Posted by
UrinalCake
Is it too early to start speculating on the season? Now that the Maui bracket has been released, we have a pretty good idea of what the schedule is going to look like (minus the exact dates).
Champions Classic:
- Kentucky (ranked #1 or #2)
Maui Invitational:
- San Diego State, then likely Auburn (top-10) and Gonzaga (top-5)
ACC/B10 Challenge:
- Indiana (in Cameron)
Other OOC games:
- Texas Tech (in MSG)
- St. John's (in Cameron)
ACC Schedule:
- Home/Road: North Carolina, Syracuse, Virginia, Wake Forest
- Home: Boston College, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Miami, NC State
- Road: Florida State, Louisville, Notre Dame, Pitt, Virginia Tech
Then add in a few scrub opponents in the fall. By my count we have 13 games that I'd consider "losable." What I mean by that for each game, if we were to lose I wouldn't be surprised. That isn't to say that I expect to lose them all, or that we won't lose any of the other games, but basically these are the games that I will go into feeling a little worried. These games are the three November games, CHeat x2, Syracuse x2, UVA x2, @FSU, @Louisville, @ND, @VT. And yes, I am aware that there are other land mines as well. St. John's beat us last year. Indiana gave us a game. NC State is never a gimme even at home (they beat us in 2017 with our team mostly healthy).
Given this schedule, then adding the ACCT and NCAAT, I think a ten-loss season is a possibility. We lost 8 games last year and had a much easier schedule. We'll have a young team that will lose some games they shouldn't. The conference will be down, but still has some good teams and everybody will be gunning for us as always. And the start of our schedule is brutal, with three possible top-10 opponents in November.
What do you guys think? Am I being overly pessimistic?