College Hoops Around The Country [TN opponents, RPI, others]

[Anti-shunshinepumper]

See bold statement above. Exactly what happened to Houston. You contradicted yourself in consecutive sentences.

Not at all. In the end Duke showed they were a pretender as well.
Relying on a Freshman to win you a national championship is not a wise recipe to win a championship, either.
There coach also got little exposed as well.

Flordia was clearly the best team in college basketball last year and why so many pundits picked them to win it all most of the year.

 

[Col_Cathcart]

Not at all. In the end Duke showed they were a pretender as well.
Relying on a Freshman to win you a national championship is not a wise recipe to win a championship, either.
There coach also got little exposed as well.

Flordia was clearly the best team in college basketball last year and why so many pundits picked them to win it all most of the year.

Very few picked them “most of the year”. They didn’t become one of the favorites until well after conference play started. They weren’t considered even the best in the SEC by pretty much anyone until the last couple weeks of the season.

 

[Anti-shunshinepumper]

Very few picked them “most of the year”. They didn’t become one of the favorites until well after conference play started. They weren’t considered even the best in the SEC by pretty much anyone until the last couple weeks of the season.

When Flordia rolled us by 30 points that was one of the biggest beat downs of a #1 ranked team in decades. That's the point I remember not only personally believing they very well could win a championship, but the point I remember many pundits and fans talking about how they looked like the most "complete" team in college basketball. I distinctly remember them being talked about in that way.... as the team that looked most put together in terms of winning a championship.
(i.e offense/defense/depth/size/coaching).

That was still relatively early in the SEC season, and not even at the half-way point of the total season.
The majority of the season had not even been played at that point.

But the point isn't really how far back me, you, or pundits thought they could win it all, but the fact that they were clearly the best team in college basketball this year.
Should be no surprise as they convincingly became champions in by far the best conference in NCAA basketball this year (very arguably ever).

 

[99gator]

When Flordia rolled us by 30 points that was one of the biggest beat downs of a #1 ranked team in decades. That's the point I remember not only personally believing they very well could win a championship, but the point I remember many pundits and fans talking about how they looked like the most "complete" team in college basketball. I distinctly remember them being talked about in that way.... as the team that looked most put together in terms of winning a championship.
(i.e offense/defense/depth/size/coaching).

That was still relatively early in the SEC season, and not even at the half-way point of the total season.
The majority of the season had not even been played at that point.

But the point isn't really how far back me, you, or pundits thought they could win it all, but the fact that they were clearly the best team in college basketball this year.
Should be no surprise as they convincingly became champions in by far the best conference in NCAA basketball this year (very arguably ever).

When they beat Tennessee, the reaction was “hey, this team is pretty good and their record isn’t just a reflection of a relatively weak non-conference schedule”

When they beat Auburn @Auburn having over a 20 point lead at one point, is when some pundits began discussing whether this was more than just a a good team having a good season.

I don’t know if there is a way to track what championship odds were during a season or not, but for a significant portion of the season, most people considered Alabama and Auburn to be better.

I remember a broadcast where Dykes eventually said he had spoken to some SEC coaches and anonymously he was told that they thought Florida has the best team in the league, not Auburn. That broadcast was sometime after that Auburn game, but when those people shared that opinion with him I don’t know

 

[Col_Cathcart]

When Flordia rolled us by 30 points that was one of the biggest beat downs of a #1 ranked team in decades. That's the point I remember not only personally believing they very well could win a championship, but the point I remember many pundits and fans talking about how they looked like the most "complete" team in college basketball. I distinctly remember them being talked about in that way.... as the team that looked most put together in terms of winning a championship.
(i.e offense/defense/depth/size/coaching).

That was still relatively early in the SEC season, and not even at the half-way point of the total season.
The majority of the season had not even been played at that point.

But the point isn't really how far back me, you, or pundits thought they could win it all, but the fact that they were clearly the best team in college basketball this year.
Should be no surprise as they convincingly became champions in by far the best conference in NCAA basketball this year (very arguably ever).

They were #6 in the coaches poll on February 3 and weren’t even guaranteed a 1 seed following that UGA loss for a while after that. Maybe we have different definitions for what “most picked them” means. Everyone thought they were pretty good. Almost nobody thought they were the favorite until almost the end of the season.