I thought I would pull this Before the Season thread back up to see how people feel about their preseason pics. ***This is NOT to put egg on anyone's faces!*** Just wanted to let us get a sense of where we've come with our thoughts on Keller and the team.

We are playing at a high level but we still have room to grow which makes March very exciting for us. We always have those surprisingly competitive games in conference, but this team is so deep I can't see anybody challenging us late in games even on the road.

Side note: Bogues wasn't a great three point shooter at Mclennan but he was average. So far this year he is only shooting 15%.

I'm going to say that Keller's team in coming together nicely. The point guard play is SIGNIFICANTLY better than last year. As far as individuals: 1) TJ is the best 4 in the league period. 2). Gilmore plays with the heart of a Lion. When he is in there you always see the guys around him improve. 3). Canette is a wild card mostly in a good way. 4). Augustin is starting ..... starting to look more and more like a real 1/2 combo. More of a point but has some flexibility. To many more to cover all of them. Some real player development going on.

Conference and tourney titles are a must. Then we see where they put us in the Big Dance.

Love Coach Keller and think he has a good handle on this team.

Just a quick note on Underwood. Am I the only one that thinks he had most of his success with players that were here from Kasper? Three players of the year...all from Kasper. He did bring in Ty and TJ thankfully. It was obvious we were going to have somewhat of a down year but after loosing Walkup and Pinkney I think we did as good as we could have expected. Especially with the injuries.
Don't get me wrong, I loved Underwood, but he did leave the cupboards a little empty!

I'm sure I will ruffle some flannel here but just an observation!

Sure Kaspar had done a great job finding Parker and Walkup even Des, but Underwood maximized their talent. It's almost inconceivable to think Danny could have done what Brad did with the same team. No knock on Danny as a coach or recruiter. But Underwood's coaching style is going to lead him to more success than Danny's.

Brad brought in great talent too. Players with a much higher recruiting pedigree. Parker and Walkup were great finds, but they were not real known quantities before coming. What was impressive was that Brad was able to turn winning into recruiting success - where we could get the guys other big teams were after. TJ, Ty, Bain, Averette were all guys other teams wanted.

Now, even more impressive to me is the recruiting Keller is bringing to the table. We are deeper than any Underwood team. I'm excited for what this team could look like in 3 years if Keller stays around.

I am impressed with Keller as a recruiter as well! Love the two kids from Houston Yates that we have already for next year.

The cupboard a little bare is not quite accurate. Averette was a top 20 recruit in Texas after his senior year that was properly released from his LOI and followed underwood to OSU. Canete and Nieminen were early signing period guys that stayed. Bain played all of three games before being injured. Ty played hurt most of the season. Williams did not play at all due to a previously undiagnosed heart condition. And, there is no way of knowing what other recruits Underwood would have gotten after the NCAA showing.

I like ke what Keller is doing, but believe underwood was building the program for a long run.

BigJack85 said:

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I'm probably the anomaly on Keller. Just not real sure on him.... Danny could go 18 - 12 and I was still 100% behind him.. I'm sure a couple good wins and a nice run in conference and I'll change my mind. My definition of a good season:

Non Conference = 9 - 4 Let's be honest, 5 of these are sub D1 so we should bag at least that + Longwood, ULM and Rice are gettable.

Conference = 16 - 2 This is a weak conference so this should be the bottom end of expectations.

Summary = 25 - 6 with a tourney title and at least a 15 seed..........

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I wanted to bring this one out to reveal my November hopes/predictions .......

BigJack85 said:

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BigJack85 said:

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I'm probably the anomaly on Keller. Just not real sure on him.... Danny could go 18 - 12 and I was still 100% behind him.. I'm sure a couple good wins and a nice run in conference and I'll change my mind. My definition of a good season:

Non Conference = 9 - 4 Let's be honest, 5 of these are sub D1 so we should bag at least that + Longwood, ULM and Rice are gettable.

Conference = 16 - 2 This is a weak conference so this should be the bottom end of expectations.

Summary = 25 - 6 with a tourney title and at least a 15 seed..........

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I wanted to bring this one out to reveal my November hopes/predictions .......

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Just a hair off on the actual records....but damn, you're just about gonna nail it.