Now that we're (somewhere near) the halfway point of the season, let's hear your hopes for your team's season. Three part answers: Highest hope, worst nightmare, and realistic expectation.

MileStretch · 3 months

Highest hope: We lose to either Vandy, Florida, or Mississippi State, but win the SEC & NCAA tourneys. Anthony Davis is transported to heaven in a chariot of fire.

Worst nightmare: Anthony Davis is transported to heaven in a chariot of fire before we get to the SEC tourney. We lose the semifinal, then lose in the second round of the NCAA tourney.

Realistic expectation: We lose 2-3 games in conference play, win the SEC tourney, and lose in the national semifinal. Anthony Davis is transported to the NBA in a chariot of fire.

notshawnvaughn · 3 months

UNC Highest hope: Team pulls together after Strickland's injury. We finally start playing with heart and to the full potential of our talented roster. We Beat Duke twice, face FSU in the ACC championship and beat them in a close game. One month later Henson correctly decides to pass the ball to Barnes who dishes out the buzzer beater against Kentucky to win the national championship. All is redeemed.

Worst Nightmare: The team quickly and methodically unravels after Strickland's absence. Marshall doesn't have the stamina to stay in any longer, not to mention any ability to guard the perimeter. Every opponent takes up "Hack-a-Henson," attacking him early and often. Opponents send towel boys in and they're still hitting it from half-court. We loose to NC State at home, Virginia and Duke - twice. Marshall is then shot in the face by Larry Drew. The committee feels bad for us, so we get a gracious 5th seed in the tourney, though we clearly don't deserve it. Now the Stormin' Mormon Stillman White has to lead the team, as apparently Bullock and Hairston are only good at handling their own balls, and not the team ball. We then meet UK (don't ask me how this tournament is seeded), who proceed to anally rape our players on the court on national television. Zeller is the only one who fights back and he's called for a foul. He breaks his wrist on the next play. Henson fouls out in the first five minutes, and all the fouls were committed against himself. Barnes is so disturbed by the whole experience he moves to Ireland and becomes a shepherd. Marshall recovers in the off season, but he still (somehow) goes pro. Strickland still has to play PG next season, especially after Stillman White leaves early for his mormon walk-about. There is an audible cry from Dean Smith's grave as Duke, somehow, wins anther tournament.

Realistic expectation: Nothing changes in our (lack of) perimeter game on either side of the court. We split wins with Duke and get to the elite 8.

EDIT: added my school at top. I guess I gotta figure out the team Flair thing again..

mcgillert · 3 months

Highest hope: Finish the season without losing again, win the CAA title, and make another crazy run in the tournament.

Worst nightmare: We lose half of the rest of our games, lose to ODU or George Mason in the CAA tournament, and make it to the CBI.

Realistic expectation: We go 24-7 or 23-8, win the CAA tournament, and win one game in the Big Dance.

checkag · 3 months

Highest hope: Beat UNC & Maryland twice, win the ACC tournament, and get a good draw to make it to the Final Four. No one goes pro early, giving the team a senior-heavy team for next season.

Worst Nightmare: Losing at Maryland and UNC. Students' attendance at home games keeps dwindling to the point where the student section is filled with old people, causing an absence of vigor in Cameron and an embarrassing lost to UNC in the final home game of the season. Duke goes into the ACC tournament as a 4 seed and loses to va tech. Duke limps into the NCAA tournament, wins a close 1st round game and then loses to VCU by 12 in the 2nd round. UNC goes on to win the championship. Rivers's sense of entitlement grows at an exponential rate and decides to go pro early. After a solid season, Mason Plumlee declares as well.

Realistic Expectations: The team loses at UNC and two other conference games. Duke has the 2 (or 3, if FSU keeps playing well) seed in the ACC tourney and plays in the conference championship. Duke has a 2 seed in the NCAA tournament and loses in the Sweet 16 (or Elite 8 if they draw a good matchup).

filmeister · 3 months

Highest hope- start playing like we should play. win out in the big east, win tourney, and make it to at least the elite 8. Worst nightmare: boatright can't return, keep playing like shit, lose in nit, calhoun retires, gampel burns down, etc. Realistic: we continue to improve, win 8 or so more games, make it to the sweet 16

harpwn · 3 months

Highest hope: winning the league regular season and tournament, 3-0 vs ku, Final 4.

Worst nightmare: Ratliffe injury

Realistic expectation: at this point I honestly expect to win the league, 1-1 vs ku

wrigsam · 3 months

Highest Hope: Our young guys contribute, our PG steps up, and we make a run at the B1G title. Maybe the Elite 8.

Worst nightmare: We miss the tournament and lose Meyers Leonard to the NBA

Realistic expectation: We make the tourney as a 7 seed and win the first round.

Support_HOOP · 3 months

This thread sucks on alien blue. I can't see any flair so I have no idea who anybody's talking about

megamanxzero35 · 3 months

Highest Hope: Beat Kansas at home this weekend, finish Top 3 in Big 12. Win 2-3 NCAA tourney games.

Worst Nightmare: Team falls apart and we miss any sort of post season.

Realistic: Finish in top half of Big 12. Any post season berths, NIT or NCAA.

red_firetruck · 3 months

Highest hope: Win Big 10 and Tournament, possibly beating Duke for the second time this season. Realistic: Win Big 10 and make it to Elite 8 Worst Nightmare: Sully gets injured, lose Big 10, lose in Sweet 16

Home_sweet_dome · 3 months

Highest hope: win national championship. Realistic expectation: final four. Worst nightmare: Fab Melo doesn't come back.

Shanunu · 3 months

Highest Hope: Finish the rest of the season with 1 loss, preferably to WVU or UConn on the road, and destroy Georgetown for our first win on Senior Night in as long as I can remember. Finish 2nd in the Big East behind Cuse. Win the Big East tourney with a double bye, because Cuse got knocked out by UConn, who only uses their immense talent once in every 6 games. Get to the Final Four, and DJO and Jae Crowder go down as legends in Marquette lore. Also, Buzz decides he doesn't need as 2.5 million a year, giving much of it back in order to help build an on campus arena.

Worst nightmare: DJO and Jae Crowder both get hurt, MU loses 8 of 10, including DePaul, finish 12th in the Big East, go to the NIT, stopping our NCAAT streak. Buzz leaves for greener pastures. Steve Taylor decommits.

EDIT: Forgot Realistic expectations: Lose 3 of next 10 games, finish 3rd in Big East behind Cuse and Georgetown, get to semifinals of BET. Get to Elite Eight.

swatkins818 · 3 months

Highest hope: make the NIT.

Expectation: lose out.

Nightmare: lose out and Steven Adams decommits.

EDIT: Wow, this team is SOARING over my expectations right now! One whole win!

MC_GrandeSize · 3 months

Highest Hope: Defense continues to excel and this team maintains a red-hot shooting touch come March, ultimately reaching the Final Four.

Worst Nightmare: Berggren gets hurt so we have no inside presence and must rely even more on the 3-ball. Outside shooting goes ice cold and we lose in the first round of the Big Ten tourney, earn below an 8-seed in the NCAA tourney and get manhandled in the first round.

Realistic: We continue our streaky shooting and consistent defense, finish in the top 4 in the Big Ten and win one or two games in the NCAA tourney.

everyschoolboy · 3 months

Highest Hope: SEC Tournament Champions, Final four appearance. This requires at a minimum that Beal and Murphy keep getting better as the season progresses, and a healthy Patrick Young. It also requires luck. Probably lots of luck.

Worst Nightmare: Billy Donovan dies in a horrible accident. A less macabre and more realistic nightmare would be that injuries and loss of team cohesion lead to a nose dive in conference play and one-and-done exits from the SEC and NCAA tournaments.

Realistic Expectations: Beat Kentucky at home in the regular season (or away, but I know we can't have both), make it to the SEC tournament semi-final and sweet 16.

groggydog · 3 months

Highest hope: We win the Big XII in our last year by sweeping kU. Tigers then make a deep run in the NCAA tourney, potentially winning it all.

Worst nightmare: Our 4-guard offense collapses and we don't win a road game the rest of the year.

Realistic expectation: We either tie kU for the Big XII title or lose it to them outright, make it to the Elite Eight and are beaten in a tight game.

Kirjath · 3 months

Highest hope: We deserve the #1 seed, and get to the final four, before Tyshawn Taylor tries too hard and we lose to Ohio State in a grudge match. Also: We win our 8th straight regular season title.

Worst nightmare: We get a #4 seed, and Tyshawn Taylor tries too hard and we lose to a #13. Also: We lose by one game to Mizzou or Baylor for the regular season.

Realistic: We lose in the Sweet Sixteen because Tyshawn Taylor tries too hard and screws it up against seemingly lesser competition. Also: We win or tie the regular season.

johnny_moronic · 3 months

Alabama fan's highest hope: Sweet 16 run. Worst nightmare: Not even making the tourney after a mediocre season and shitting the bed in the SEC tourney. Realistic expectation: Bubble team that wins the first round.

bilbravo · 3 months

Highest Hope: We get our consistency going and finish second in the Big East behind Syracuse, then go on to the championship game of the Big East tournament win or lose. Make the final four again. Kevin Jones POY.

Worst nightmare: The freshmen start being freshmen again, the seniors get into a funk and we lose half of our remaining games and go to the NIT.

Realistic expectation: We finish top 5 in the Big East, finish well, get a single digit seeding in the NCAA tourney and make the second round, possibly sweet 16. Kevin Jones BE POY. Too many freshman to do sweet 16, I think. Prove me wrong 'Eers.

thebizzle · 3 months

Highest Hope: Win the championship and somehow not lost a single player despite the fact that there are seniors on the team. Worst Nightmare: Being the first 1 seed upset by a 16 seed Realistic expectation: Barring some Butler level stupidity, we make it to the Final Four for the first time in 9 years, then whatever.

dannylandulf · 3 months

Highest hope: Final Four

Worst Nightmare: Lose both games to Mizzou, @Kansas State, @Baylor plus a couple of other games. Slide in as a 5-6 seed and get bumped in the first round

Realistic: Split with Mizzou, win enough for another Big 12 title. Sweet Sixteen.

adriardi · 3 months

Highest Hope: We go 11-5 and make it to the NCAA tournament after a long ass drought.

Worst Nightmare: Ending up with a losing record again in the ACC, or losing one of out starting 5 because we have absolutely no depth.

Realistic Expectations: We go 9-7 in the ACC, which may or may not get us a NCAA bid depending on how things play out (probably won't).

warchant · 3 months

Highest Hope: This team figures out they have the talent to be a top 5 team and actually starts consistently playing like it.

Worst nightmare: Losing the CUSA title

Realistic expectation: Probably lose 2/3 more games we shouldn't lose, but since the CUSA title is in Memphis this year I doubt we'll lose the tournament. Probably get a 8-11 seed. Hopefully make a deep run. Which is frustrating because this team is better than that.

sdub86 · 3 months

Southern Miss fan for those of you who don't know the logo or are on smartphones.

Highest hope: We maintain our top 20 RPI and sneak into the top 25 by the end of the season, FINALLY beat memphis, win the conference tournament, get into the NCAA tournament for the first time in 20+ years, and beat somebody in the first round.

Worst nightmare: Fall apart, lose a bunch of games, lose to memphis AGAIN, miss the NCAA tournament.

Realistic expectation: We beat memphis next week in hattiesburg, but lose in the conference tournament, sneak into the NCAA tournament as a 13 seed and lose to a 4 seed by 25 points.

ericdavidmorris · 3 months

Highest hope: Come back from these 2 losses in the last 3 games, win out against the rest of the ACC (maybe a loss to UNC at home) win/make final of ACC tourney. Get into tournament and make round of 32.

Worst nightmare: Lose our stride, lose to lackluster ACC teams and drop out of top-25 and maybe barely make tourney.

Realistic Expectations: We go 8-4 or 9-3 over our next 12 games, lose in ACC final, make tourney but only get past the 1st round.

Earl_Sinclair · 3 months

Highest hope: Head Coach Travis Ford remembers how to motivate his players and LeBryan Nash turns into the player we were all expecting. Win out at home, get a decent seed in the Big 12 tourney and make a strong enough impression to sneak into the big dance.

Worst nightmare: We loose another few players to transfer

Realistic Expectation: The sloppy mess continues unabated.

culdesaclamort · 3 months

Highest hope: the WCC puts three teams into the dance and SMC has another cinderella run

Worst nightmare: BYU, Gonzaga and SMC demolish each other so badly that the committee only selects the WCC tournament champion into the dance, which happens to be Gonzaga after a game-winning 3 from John Stockton's kid.

Kozemp · 3 months

Highest hope: beat Temple and SLU at home, finish 3rd in the A10, make it to the conference final and the tournament.

Worst nightmare: lose to Temple and SLU and 5 of our 6 remaining road games, finish 18-13, and bomb out of the A10 tournament in the second round. Again.

Realistic: lose to Temple at home, beat SLU at home, pick up a couple road wins, finish 21-10, make the conference semis and enjoy the NIT.

fuzzybunnytails · 3 months

Highest hope: We finish strong in the Pac-12, win the conference tourney, and somehow manage to win our first-round NCAA game. Every single Top 100 recruit announces he will go to the Pac-12. Experts hail the coming decade as the golden age of West Coast basketball.

Worst nightmare: We lose the rest of our games (which feels entirely possible). No postseason. Dana Altman leaves and Ernie Kent announces his triumphant return. Phil Knight becomes a Scientologist and gives them all his money. The Pac-12 collectively decides to be D-III in basketball.

Realistic expectation: We will probably end up somewhere about 4th in the Pac-12, and with a little luck we will be playing in the NIT or CBI. The Pac-12 will still not be respected. :(

Edited for grammar

xcrouton · 3 months

Highest hope: The loss at Notre Dame leaves a chip on our shoulder all year and we finish the Big East season with only one loss and win it outright by 3 games. We head into March as the overall #1 seed and cut down the nets in New Orleans.

Worst nightmare: Fab Melo's academic problems are more serious than we realize and he's gone for the year. Kris Joseph's knee problems resurface, Baye's hands still can't catch a ball or rebound, and Scoop reverts back into Jade Scorpion. We don't win the Big East, lose in the 2nd round of the tournament, and Dion Waiters decides to go pro.

Realistic expectation: We lose 2 more games the rest of the way and win the Big East outright. Make it into the tournament as a 1 seed and make a Final 4 run.

zwatt09 · 3 months

Highest Hope: Sully sets it on fire for the remaining schedule, we lose maybe 1 more game and make it to the ncaa championship game.

Worst Nightmare: William Buford announces the reason he is such an Off/On player is because he is actually a menstruating coyote and is no longer allowed to play mens college basketball. Thad Matta knew the whole time and allowed him to play, therefore the ncaa burns us like a witch at salem.

Realistic Expectation: We lose 3 more games, one of them being the b10 championship. Make an elite eight run. Sully is top 10 pick in nba draft.

redheadsrage · 3 months

Highest Hope: Meyers Leonard avg 20-10 for the remainder of the season, and we cut our turnovers to under 10 a game. We win the Big Ten Tourney and make an elite 8 appearance, Jabari Parker Commits to Illinois. IU loses in the first round of the NCAA tourney.

Worst Nightmare: Illinois goes 2-8 in its last 10 games and 1-1 in the BIG tournament, losing in the 2nd round of the NIT. Weber kept on as the head coach for some unforeseen reason, Jerrance Howard Leaves Illinois for Kentucky. Jabari Parker Commits to tOSU and gives it to Illinois HARD in big ten play. KAMS is closed. IU makes it to the final four.

Realistic Expectation: Continued Mediocrity. Illinois goes 6-4 in its remaining games, and 1-1 in the Big 10 Tourney for a 6 seed in the NCAA tourney where they go 1-1. Jabari Parker commits to Duke. IU goes 1-1 in the NCAA tourney as well.

Vague_Intentions · 3 months

Highest hope: We learn how to box out and win out in conference and get a 1 seed in the tourney en route to a championship.

Worst fear: We never learn how to rebound and get beat early by a lesser team that is more fundamentally sound on the boards than us.

Realistically: We get better at rebounding, but never quite reach our potential. Turnovers kill us in nearly every game, but we still make the sweet 16 by raw talent.

HurricaneHugo · 3 months

Highest Hope: Finish MWC play undefeated, take the conference tournament, and we make a surprising Final Four run.

Worst Nightmare: We suffer an injury to one of our star players, suffer about 4-5 losses in remaining MWC play, limp to an at-large bid and get ousted in the first round.

Realistic Expectation: Finish with 2 conference losses, make it to the conference final, make it to the sweet sixteen again.

sas4740 · 3 months

Highest hope: Sweet 16

Worst Nightmare: Miss NIT

Realistic expectation: Make NCAA tournament

jmk1991 · 3 months

Highest Hope: Marcotullio and Cobb get healthy, giving us much-needed depth off the bench. We win our next 5 games, giving us enough momentum to get to 9 or 10 Big Ten wins, and carrying us into our first ever tournament appearance.

Worst Nightmare: Shurna and/or Crawford gets injured, leaving us with 5 or 6 serviceable players, none of them any good. We win, at most, one more game this year.

Realistic Expectation: Get to 7 Big Ten wins, have a decent showing in the Big Ten tournament, and sneak our way into the NIT, where we lose in the second round.

rkenned · 3 months

Highest hope: I don't think it is unthinkable that we win the rest of our games along with the SEC and NCAA tourney, and finish the season with 40 wins. Very unlikely...but that's why it is a highest hope.

Worst nightmare: Any one of our front 6 goes out for the season with an injury. After all, if we lose pretty much anyone in the top 6 players, we're out by the second round of the NCAA tourney.

Realistic expectations. We walk into the tourney with 3-4 losses, and make another final 4 appearance. We lose to a team with more veteran players.

doctormack · 3 months

Highest Hope - Final Four or Championship, where we would probably get beat, which I definitely think is achievable. But this is not our year to win it all.

Worst Nightmare - We tank like I'm expecting us to eventually, stumble into the tourney as a 14 seed and get knocked out immediately. Cody Zeller jumps ship for the NBA sending us back into obscurity, where we were one year ago.

Realistic Expectations - Sweet 16 is definitely a plausible goal. We've shown we can play with anyone, but also that we can lose to anyone.

mthardison · 3 months

UNC
Highest Hope: The team rallies around Strickland's injury. Kendall decides he doesn't need to ever rest again and develops a way to never need a rest. We win out the rest of our ACC games and right before the ACC tournament, John Henson finds a stray golden retriever.
But this isn't just an ordinary golden retriever. This retriever somehow knows how to play basketball. The dog dubbed "Air Bud" by the press, teaches John how to make free throws. UNC faces FSU in a rematch for the ACC crown in Greensboro and Harrison, with Air Bud, combine for 90 points. Coming into a tournament as a one seed, the team storms into NOLA. Right before the championship, Air Bud's first owner comes and tries to take him back. The team struggles against Kentucky before Air Bud returns in the last five minutes of the game. In the last few seconds of the game, with UNC down by one, Henson is guarded by Anthony Davis. Instead of making the same mistake twice, he passes to Harrison who then hits Air Bud for the easy 3 pointer as time expires. Air Bud then meets Dean Smith and cures him of his Alzheimer's. Air Bud and Harrison go 1-2 in the NBA draft to the Washington Wizards and Charlotte Bobcats respectively. They later go on to star in Space Jam 2.

Worst case: Mason Plumlee encounters a stray golden retriever...
Realistic: Team loses to Virginia, but manages to beat Duke twice and wins the ACC crown. Make it to another Final Four, potentially a championship if we get our shit together.

wesweb · 3 months

Highest Hope? Championship. Worst nightmare? That Draymond Green continues to shoot that 3 every chance he gets. Realistic expectation? Draymond Green costing us our season in the first round again. Edit: I was being pretty sarcastic because i'm trying not to get my hopes too high with this team.

Realistic Expectation: Sweet 16.

kkaabboomm · 3 months

highest hope: 1 or 2 loss SEC regular season, SEC champs (3 peat), and a banner.

worst nightmare: dropping one or more at rupp, SEC semi's, sweet 16.

realistic: 1 or 2 losses away in SEC, SEC champs, probable/possible champs - ncaa tourney is really a crapshoot.

MightyMorphnPowerEnt · 3 months

Is there a way to see flair using the reddit is fun app on anroid? It sucks not being able to see which teams you guys are talking about.

aimbonics · 3 months

AZ:

Highest hope = sweet 16 Worst nightmare = miss the tourney Realistic expectation = 2nd or 3rd place in pac-12, NIT invite

HeroicGomez · 3 months

High hopes: UW runs the table on the regular season, makes a miracle Pac 12 tournament run, gets into the tourney and shocks the world enough to save Romar's job for another few years.

Worst nightmare: UW loses Pac 12 games to bitches like Arizona State and USC, easily misses the NCAA tournament and the perpetually underachieving and overrated Lorenzo Romar finally gets canned.

Realistic expectations: UW probably finishes strong with several wins and maybe a couple losses against a beatable Pac 12, gets to the Pac 12 tourney semis before losing and probably will just miss the NCAA tourney on the bubble... but will have saved Romar's job by ending the season on a tear. Bonus points for a surprisingly deep NIT run but given it's a Romar team they'll likely get beat in the 1st or 2nd round.

philo13181 · 3 months

Highest Hope: Win a game in the tournament

Worst Nightmare: Lose in the Sun Belt conference and get left out of the tournament

Realistic Expectations: Make the Tournament, lose first game

rhgenkoba · 3 months

Highest Hope: Win Pac12 Tournament, earn a slot in NCAA Tournament, make it to the sweet-16. Worst Nightmare: Someone passes the ball to Kyryl Natyazhko. Finish Pac12 with a losing record, miss NCAA tournament entirely. Realistic Expectation: We finish behind Cal, Stanford, and Oregon in conference standings, make it to the pac12 championship game and lose, and perhaps sneak a 12 seed in the NCAA tournament

boneillhawk · 3 months

Highest Hope: We're the team that led Xavier at halftime a week ago. We earn a bye in the A-10 Tournament, and put ourselves in position for an at-large or actually win the conference tournament. Martelli explains why he didn't approve Todd O'Brien's transfer and the explanation actually makes sense.

Worst Nightmare: We're the team that forgot to play the 2nd half against Xavier and was down 23 vs. Penn on Saturday. We lose more winnable games in the A-10 and end up with a road game in the opening round of the conference tournament (which we lose). We go to the CBI or CIT and don't even last long there. Martelli explains why he didn't approve O'Brien's transfer and the explanation makes him seem worse than if he'd stayed quiet.

Realistic Expectations: We go 9-7 in the conference, which gets us a home game in the opening round of the conference tournament. We make our way to the conference quarters or semis. It isn't enough for an at-large, but we make it to the NIT. We win a couple of games in the NIT but don't make it to Madison Square Garden. We never find out Martelli's reasoning for denying O'Brien's transfer.

(Edited to include Todd O'Brien hopes/nightmares.)

rplan039 · 3 months

Highest Hope: We win most of the games in the rest of Big East play and then win the Big East tourney and get into March Madness narrowly and then lose to a good team in the first round.

Worst Nightmare: We finish with 2-3 wins in the Big East and end up praying for an NIT berth.

Realistic Expectation: We finish with 4 or 5 wins in the Big East, lose in the Big East tournament, and make an improbable run deep into the NIT.

bssoprano · 3 months

Highest Hopes: win out the rest of the season, win regular season, bye for first round, and win conference tournament. Then, third times the charm.

Worst Nightmare: Brad can't get the team together for March. Lose rest of the way. Don't make NIT. Rotnei Clark goes back to Arkansas.

Realistic: 50/50 on winning the Horizon league tournament. If win, 10/11th seed and make it through the first round. If lose, make it to MSG in NIT.

bobwoodshed · 3 months

High Hope: Win the PAC-12 tournament

Worst nightmare: Lose out the rest of our games (entirely possible)

Realistic expectation: Lose all of our road games while winning most of our games at home. CBI invite.

jesuschrysler69 · 3 months

Highest Hope: finish the season losing maybe one or two games the rest of the way, win the MVC Tourney and make a sweet 16 or elite 8 run in the NCAAs that we've been desperately waiting for

Worst Nightmare: start losing uncontrollably finishing with 7-8 losses in the valley, lose in the first round of the MVC tournament and end up in the NIT.

Realistic: lose 2-3 games the rest of the season, maybe one we shouldn't lose on the road, at the very least get to the final of the valley tournament and play wichita state, get to the NCAA tournament and win one game before losing to a 2-3 seed

llimllib · 3 months

Highest hope: The team comes together and we make a final four run. The talent is there, especially if the NCAA decides to stop doing unmentionable things to Ryan Boatright. #FreeBoat. Ahem.

Worst nightmare: The current skid leads the team to a below .500 finish and an NIT berth. Gahhhhhhhh.

Realistic: 6 or 7 seed to the NCAA, win a game or two, early exit. The supremely good personnel, for whatever reason, just doesn't make a good team.

jewunit · 3 months

As a Syracuse fan.

Highest hope: Win the national championship.

Worst Nightmare: Blow it, get a 3 or 4 seed, lose in the first round of the tourny.

Realistic expectation: Right now? Final Four.

kelling928 · 3 months

Highest Hope: Beat KU, Mizzou, and Baylor in our second matches with them, somehow win the Big 12 title on a huge winning streak and miraculously win the Big XII tourney. Enter as a 2-3 seed and make it to the elite 8.

Worst Nightmare: Lose several road games down the stretch to the likes of Texas, Texas A&M, Iowa State, and get trounced in the Big XII tourney in the first round and end up as a 4 seed in the NIT.

Realistically: We beat KU at home, but lose to Baylor and Mizzou on the road, and only drop one other game we should win(ISU or Texas likely), be 4th in the league, make it the tourney Semis, go to NCAAs as a 6-7 seed and make it to Sweet 16 with an upset.

PetrogradIV · 3 months

Highest Hope: Win the rest of our games, including the Big Ten Tournament. Get some much wanted revenge on Michigan State, Minnesota, etc. Tom Crean leads team to a new Golden Age of IU basketball. Final Four run, maybe Tournament champions. Worst nightmare: Team falls apart, injuries all around. Cody Zeller leaves for NBA. Realistic Expectations: Drop a couple games we shouldn't have but win most of our close contests. Get a couple rounds deep in the Big Ten Tournament and Sweet Sixteen run.

Siggy778 · 3 months

Highest hope: Make it to the tournament for the first time since 2006 and make a run. With that defense they can play with anybody, but scoring can come difficult.

Worst nightmare: They lose their remaining difficult games and even lose 1-2 games against bad teams.

Realistic expectations: I think we finish around 10-6 in SEC play, and 21-9 overall, which would mean winning 8 out of our last 11. Hopefully we can get 4th place in the SEC and get a bye in the conference tournament. I think we make the tournament at an 8-11 seed and win one game.

cometparty · 3 months

Highest hope: we keep our streak of 12 straight NCAA tournament appearances alive.

Worst nightmare: we end up in the NIT

Realistic expectation: we end up in the NIT, unfortunately. Fuck.

the_chandler · 3 months

Highest Hope: Our kids get it together, our freshman start learning from experience and Truck cuts out the mistakes and starts performing the way everyone knows he can when his head is in the game. Go 9-2 down the stretch to finish 3rd in the Big East behind Syracuse and Marquette (tied with Georgetown). Big East tournament finals/championship. #3 seed in the big dance. Final Four. Kevin Jones National POY.

Worst Nightmare: Freshman make freshman mistakes and Truck makes Truck mistakes. KJ can't compensate and we lose 7 out of 11 (including both games against Pitt) to finish 9-9 in the Big East and 19-12 overall. NIT Finals loss to Marshall.

Realistic Expectations: Freshman continue to play decent to solid. Truck still makes Truck mistakes, but few and far between and mixed with a glimmer of something really special every now and then. Kevin Jones continues to average 20 and 11 to get his name into National POY conversations. Finish 12-6 (5th) in Big East play and 22-9 in the regular season. Loses in Big East tournament semi-finals to Syracuse. #4 Seed in NCAA tournament. Advance to Elite 8, where we lose to Kentucky. Again.

JayJay729 · 3 months

Highest Hope: Cuse wins the nat'l championship and all underclassmen return for a repeat.

Worst Nightmare: Fab Melo gets canned for the rest of the season and gets deported back to Brazil or Bernie Fine takes his spot on the bench back.

Realistic Expectation: Cuse loses about 2 more games, makes it deep into the BE tourney, gets a 1 seed and makes it to the final four.

BigStein · 3 months

Highest Hope: we get to the final four and lose to a high profile team.

Worst Nightmare: we fall apart in the rest of the regular season and only reach the NIT.

Realistic Expectations: losing in the tournament to a one or two seed early.

ilovefacebook · 3 months

Highest Hope: Elite 8

Worst Nightmare: We don't get a bid because of dumb losses down the stretch

Realistic Expectation: Tough loss to an ACC school in Sweet 16.

gigatwo · 3 months

Highest hope: We win out the rest of the A-10, and Dayton drops a few. Then, we win in Atlantic city and proceed to the sweet sixteen on a last second buzzer beater by Fernandez.

Worst Nightmare: Villanova turns around their season and gets into the big dance, and we don't. Michael Eric's knees explode into nothing. (Our only big man, who was out since the 4th game of the season, and our exuse for losing to bowling green. He returned saturday)

Realistic Expectations: We get an at-large..... maybe. :/

the_ouskull · 3 months

High: NCAA tournament. Nightmare: Already happened. We're moving forward.
Realism: A decent showing in the NIT.

Fuckin' "Boomer!" Oh well; next year.

trumpet_23 · 3 months

4-5 more wins is kind of where I expect us to get, which would continue to show that we're building our team the right way. More than that would be awesome, less than that would set us back a bit and give me even more worries about next year.

Nebraska_Actually · 3 months

Highest hope: Make a big enough run in the conference tourney to manage a Big Dance invite.

Worst Nightmare: Lose out, Doc Sadler gets fired

Realistic Expectation: CBI or CIT

Support_HOOP · 3 months

Highest Hope: Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr. get hot at the same time. Win the Big Ten and make a deep run into the tournament.

Worst Nightmare: Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr. both get hurt, miss both tournaments (B1G and NCAA) and then leave for the NBA

Realistic Expectation: Close loss/win in the B1G semi/finals, depending on who we play and when. Make it to the Sweet Sixteen. Upset someone in the round of 32 or sweet sixteen, depending on who we play. Lose a close game in the next round

sonofgumbercules · 3 months

Highest hope: everyone starts contributing at just the right time and Tom Izzo gets his 7th Final Four and 2nd National Championship. B1G tournament and regular season champs as well.

Worst Nightmare: complete collapse, we make the tourney based on our current achievements and then get upset in the first round by a PAC-12 team.

Realistic Expectations: continue our current rate of success and possibly win(or at least share) the big ten title. win a couple of games in the B1G tournament and then make a run through at least the sweet sixteen.

ShiroiYatsu · 3 months

Great thread.
Illinois fan here (for the smartphone crowd)

Highest Hope: Fluid offense. Consistent contribution from everyone including the bench. Freshmen get some playing time and the opportunity to gain confidence for the future. Get ranked again and don't lose the next game. Challenge for B1G title. Good finish in B1G tourney. Elite Eight/Final Four. Meyers Leonard stays another year for more development and the possibility of a title.

Worst Nightmare: Average 46 points a game from here on out. Go the way of the football team finish well below .500 in the B1G. 1st round exit in B1G tourney and NIT. Meyers goes pro.

Realistic Expectation: Slug it out - scrape by when winning. Have another stinker and another unexpected win. Finish 10-8 in the B1G. Win 1 or 2 in the B1G tourney. Win 1 or 2 in the NCAA tournament. Meyers stays one more year. Constant chatter about replacing the coach.

ModestAugustine · 3 months

Highest Hope: We manage to win out the rest of the season, including a decent bracketbuster away win to help out out of conference record, and win the CAA tournament. We go into the NCAAs and pull an upset or two, maybe getting as far as the Sweet Sixteen.

Worst Nightmare: We implode at the end of the season, dropping some away games and losing our undefeated home record. We then quickly drop out of the CAA tournament and have to hope for a CBI spot at best.

Realistic Expectation: We finish the season strong, with the bracketbuster and ODU being our hardest games, and at least get to the final for the CAA tournament. If we win, NCAA, if not, NIT.

shankywank · 3 months

Highest Hope: Win out, win Horizon league, get to the Final Four for the third year in a row (and actually win this time...) Worst Nightmare: Losing against Loyola and UIC at home, losing first round of Horizon tourney, and not make any tournament at all Realistic Expectations: Finish the season 18-12, lose in Horizon semifinal, (barely) make NIT, lose first round.

cranberrysaus · 1 month

Highest hope: Tournament bid.

Worst nightmare: Seth throws a chair and strikes Erick Green in the head. Our basketball team is demoted to the Virginia High School League, finishes the season just under .250

Realistic expectation: NIT. Hopefully.

ponyboy_coitus · 3 months

Highest hope: Another National Title.

Worst nightmare: Lose once to the Missouri Skunks and T. Robinson gets hurt.

Realistic: Yet another Big XII title and Elite eight.

CzarCruise · 3 months

Highest Hope: National Championship. Who knows, anything can happen right?

Worst Nightmare: Going on a losing skid, losing a star player, not getting to the tournament for no reason.

Realistic Expectation: We can very easily lose to UNLV in UNLV. After their subpar performance today though, it really depends on which UNLV team decides to show up. I think we can make it deep in the Tournament...but I only think we can make it to the Elite Eight at the level we are performing right now. Another stellar year for the Aztecs hands down though.

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