Your input on how the season played out

Now that we have won the title outright, and seeing we have won the magic number, 14 games, I am curious to hear from you all if things played out the way you thought they would.

I looked back at the Conference Poll created in December by Bayhawk. Click here
It is interesting to see that out of 16 votes (where was everybody?), 15 voted that we would win at least 14 games! Way to go, everyone! Either we are all "homers" or what?

I will admit that I was a bit fearful at the beginning, but I was hoping that Baylor and WVA would suffer attrition throughout the league. It didn't look that way at the beginning, but that was what I was bargaining for. I thought we could take care of business, but honestly thought it would go down to the wire, rather than be clinched this soon.

For those who love to do research, what is the earliest time the outright championship was clinched?

Takes one to know one! My homer poll was prophetic. . .

RC

I picked an optimistic 14, and we could still wind up there, but 16 is still in reach. What surprised me most were unforced errors by both WVU and Baylor.

WVU lost to OU and OSU in Morgantown. Ok, OSU at 9&7 isn't horrible, but the OU win was one of OU's FOUR wins. FOUR. OU won 3 at home and only one on the road. That, ladies and gentlemen, is an unforced error. WVU's 5-3 road record is good, but not great. Losing at KU is understandable, KSU...ok, maybe it's an anti-Huggy thing, and Tech beat Baylor at home too.

Baylor also had unforced errors, but I kind of expect that out of Scot Drew who seems to be perpetually doomed to "almost there"-ness. KU beating them in Waco was huge, but losing to KSU there was a blown opportunity. Baylor going 4-4 on the road certainly fits into the "win your home games, and win half your road games" thing, but the 2 home losses change the algebra on that.

The final note here is, of course, that Baylor still gets to host WVU which could knock WVU down a notch to a tie and leave ISU alone in 2nd place. Of course ISU still plays at WVU.

So to sum it up, the only real blemish on our year is the loss at AFH to ISU, which is nothing to hang our heads about, especially combined with a 7-1 road record in the conference. We overperformed this year.

I am really happy that it has gone as well as it has. I voted for 14, if I remember correctly. When Doke went down I was very concerned that our lack of size would doom us in a lot of games but that obviously has not been the case.

I fully admit this season has not played out like I projected. I thought KU would win 13 games and come in 2nd. But I had a suspicion they would possibly win less once Doke went out. I also thought West Virginia had a chance to win 15 games. The meltdown of West Virginia this season has quite frankly, shocked me. They have the talent to dominate. They do not have a Josh Jackson or Frank Mason but they are better at virtually every other position. They have a tendency to play so badly at times it is mind-boggling. Baylor I thought would win 12 games even though their pre-conference season rating said 14. I even thought they might win 12. Scott Drew is simply a mediocre coach at milking the very best out of his players 40 minutes of every game. What we must remember, that 4 blown calls in a game (by a coach) can be the difference in close games. Baylor has that many frequently. Drew loses Baylor at least 2 games a year. Iowa St. has done much better than I anticipated. Bottom line, KU has simply outplayed my expectation. Mason and Jackson are incredible and Lucas and Devonte' have been so solid. It boggle my mind how this team of 4 solid players, 3 iffy players and 2 rarely players, have accomplished what. They have. Thank you Mssr's Lucas, Graham, Jackson and especially Mister Mason. And of course thank you to the other 5. While they have not played at a level normally associated with a top ranked team, they have nonetheless played pretty well and certainly contributed from time to time in key ways.