Did we over schedule this year?

[CajunCrimson]

Was looking at Florida’s sorry OOC schedule. Maybe we over scheduled this year. Thinking Auburn did too.

what we viewed as “battle tested” as a good thing, may be showing as battle fatigued. Auburn showing similar signs.

Perhaps we will know more soon. But just floating it out there.

 

[AlexanderFan]

It’s typically the front end though, if they haven’t recovered from December yet, they might need to get that looked at.

Conference schedule may be the culprit. Florida is potentially peaking too early.

Or, the scary part for everyone else, they may not have peaked yet.

 

[CajunCrimson]

how do you recover from December if 18 of your 20 games since are vs Top 45 teams and 2/3 play rugby basketball.

Not sure of the answer, but I wonder.

 

[BamaMoon]

There could be something to it.

I think we also have to adjust to the more physical style of rough play at all 5 positions on the floor.

Philon is probably the best put together for that mainly because of his length.

Need more length and bulk at the guard and forward/center positions. But we've got to remember there's a balance between bulk and basketball skills. We obviously need bigger basketball skilled players. But they don't just grow on trees or everybody would have them.

 

[DzynKingRTR]

We had no way of knowing the SEC would be so loaded. Our backend schedule was much tougher than the front-end

 

[tusks_n_raider]

I don’t think anything is wrong with our schedule.

I would argue that we’ve handled the NCAAT better in recent years because we’ve been battle tested by playing a very tough OOC schedule.

Fla is just a Great team and right now they are playing their best BB of the season and are in a particular a bad matchup for us.

 

[TideEngineer08]

No. And it turns out our non-con schedule wasn't that extreme.

Purdue and Oregon turned out to be decent, not great.

Creighton was good, UNC turned out to be overrated.

The Houston win stands out, of course.

No, the issue is that the SEC had 4 elite teams, and then a solid core of 8-10 teams capable of beating anyone on a given night. I do not recall anything like it. I just hope we can get as healthy as possible now.

 

[Cruloc]

The last 9 games of our season....that was a brutal, exhausting stretch.

Auburn - L
@ Missouri - L
Kentucky - W
Miss. State - W
@ Tennessee - L
Florida - L
@ Auburn - W
Kentucky - W
Florida - L

We went 4-5

4 games vs #1 seeded teams

 

[ga tide man #9]

I guess if coach Oates had any idea that the in conference schedule was going to be this tough. Do think he he would’ve throttled back on the non conference schedule? No way of knowing?

 

[DzynKingRTR]

I guess if coach Oates had any idea that the in conference schedule was going to be this tough. Do think he he would’ve throttled back on the non conference schedule? No way of knowing?

Doubt Coach Oats would have changed a thing. He scheduled tough while at Buffalo too.

 

[BamaHoopsBoi]

This is definitely a recurring issue over the last few seasons. Maybe the exception being last year being that we exited the SEC tourney so early and had plenty of time to recover.

This year and some previous years I seem to remember us just being downright tired by NCAA tourney time. That on top of some of the injuries with Nelson and Reid worries me a little. It hasn't helped that the SEC was absolutely BRUTAL this year either.

This team has so much potential and I really don't think we've reached our ceiling because of those injuries.

 

[TideEngineer08]

Doubt Coach Oats would have changed a thing. He scheduled tough while at Buffalo too.

True. But he had to at Buffalo due to the weak conference they play in. If the SEC is going to turn into this behemoth, then maybe he can dial it back a bit. It wouldn't be smart to play a weak non-con, but there is no need to try to fit in 7-8 really good teams either. We can get away with 4 or 5.

But this year I just don't see 7-8 really good teams at the end of the year. It looked that way to begin with, for sure. At the end of the day, though, you have to admit what he has done is working.

I'm not sure Florida benefited at all from their schedule... they had to play the same juggernaut conference schedule we did. Did it really help them stay healthier than us, or is that just pure luck? If you are playing 18 games against this conference, you are going to get beat up.

 

[Coach D]

No, we don’t really know how good conference will be each year. Teams basically completely overhaul each year so hard to know. The back end was the killer not non con.

 

[bamamc1]

I don't think the SEC is going anywhere in basketball as far as strength of the league. Too many great coaches and players. Maybe he will dial it back a little but Oats likes a tough schedule and it's hard to argue with the success he's had. RTR