I'm sure I'll be ridiculed for this take, but this team, at full strength, reminds me a lot of the 96-97 team. That team had much more athletic ability (Randy Duck, for example, was a freak of nature), but the teams were similar in that they had a number of players that had different strengths, allowing the team to match up well against different opponents. We would have had that this year, had Rytis and Lee not been injured for so much of the year, because we would have been more able to match up against teams with inside strength. The 96-97 team had no injuries, until Ed Gray broke his foot. Had he played, I'm convinced that was a Final Four team. Had we had Rytis and Lee for the entire year, I think we win three or four more regular season games, get maybe a six or seven seed, and have a decent shot at making it to the second weekend. I still think it's a successful season, especially if we win on Sunday against St. Joe's, but I'm satisfied with the progress. It's just too bad we didn't have everyone for the full season.

Jeff82 said:

---

I'm sure I'll be ridiculed for this take, but this team, at full strength, reminds me a lot of the 96-97 team. That team had much more athletic ability (Randy Duck, for example, was a freak of nature), but the teams were similar in that they had a number of players that had different strengths, allowing the team to match up well against different opponents. We would have had that this year, had Rytis and Lee not been injured for so much of the year, because we would have been more able to match up against teams with inside strength. The 96-97 team had no injuries, until Ed Gray broke his foot. Had he played, I'm convinced that was a Final Four team. Had we had Rytis and Lee for the entire year, I think we win three or four more regular season games, get maybe a six or seven seed, and have a decent shot at making it to the second weekend. I still think it's a successful season, especially if we win on Sunday against St. Joe's, but I'm satisfied with the progress. It's just too bad we didn't have everyone for the full season.

---

Not a ridicule but NOT a good comparison. That 96-97 team had Al Grigsby, Yogi Stewart, Tony G., Sean Marks Four frontcourt players who were either big and/or powerful. Nobody we played was going to push us around. This year's team has been manhandled all season long. It's the primary reason for our losses. The two teams - not even close.

Jeff82 said:

---

As I said, that team was much more athletic than this one. But if we had had Dort, Petraikis and Yeanay for the entire year, we would have had a fighting chance matching up with teams that were more physical, and Bell and Camden and Ilic would not have gotten as worn down as I think they were at the end of the year. Arguably, we beat any three of KSU, FSU, Pitt, Syracuse and Wake, and maybe some of our other wins are laughers instead of nailbiters. In that instance, we definitely make the NCAAs, and maybe we get a 7 seed which gives us a decent chance to make the second weekend. I'm just saying it was possible. Injuries really hurt this team, I believe, and didn't impact the 96-97 team until Gray broke his foot. I'm absolutely convinced that with him, we match Jamison, and have a good chance to beat North Carolina, which would have given us a good shot at the Final Four.

---

I agree with your basic premise. However, Bell and Camden had shooting slumps in the middle of the season, a few games into the conference schedule. They both have been playing well at the end of the season. Bell just scored 31, his career best. He did not look worn down at all, quite the opposite.

I do think the argument is that they do not match up well with big physical forwards, especially when the refs are allowing physical play, or it is one sided against us and they have to avoid fouls, all exacerbated when Dort was out. Thus the injuries to Dort and our other frontline players really impacted those games. That and just unfortunate shooting slumps midseason that they eventually got out of. It happens (as do injuries). I agree that without the injuries we win a few that we lost and with our shooting we could be very dangerous in the NCAA Tournament.

I really like this team and wish they were all coming back next year. Madsen did a great job assembling this team and overall did a good job coaching them up.