It's been a blast diving into some uga hoops content this week. This will be my last deep dive for the week until the postgame of Mizzou on Saturday.
We're not even being fans if we don't have some predictions, right?!?!?! Let's do our SEC conference predicton. Here's where three different "expert" models have us ranked as of today (these are computer models that change every night a little based on how teams are doing):
Barttorvik has us as the 94th best team in the country, 11th in the SEC.
Ken Pom has us as 86th in the country, 11th in the sec.
Evan Miya has us as 111th in the country, 13th in the SEC.
Let's look at the where one of the easiest, free, accessible site (Barttorvik) predicts us with a game by game prediction:
T-Rank College Basketball Ratings and Rankings. And fun.
barttorvik.com
If you scroll to the bottom, you can see how each of our conference games are predicted. It even lists a point margin and final score. The Barttorvik model does not directly correlate to Vegas. For example:
Tonight - Memphis plays Tulsa, Barttorvik has the spread at Memphis minus 4.9, ESPN has the actual spread at Memphis 9.5.
But it also can be dead on. Tonight, Gonzaga plays Pepperdine, Barttorvik has the spread at Gonzaga minus 20, ESPN has the actual spread at Gonzaga 20.5 .
But this model will give you an idea of other teams, when it's especially hard to know what other teams have in this transfer portal era. Where yesterday, today, and tomorrow can change in a flash.
So Barttorvik has our conference record at 7-11. It changes all the time. I believe last night we were predicted at 6-12.
My SEC prediction for us is 7-11 as well (honestly tempted to say 6-12). I will go into every game believing we are going to win. I truly do like our pieces. The biggest thing that I'm concerned about is that I don't know if we have a true Batman. We have a much better supporting cast this year. I'm just not sure we have seen yet that DUDE step up and be that guy to get us a W when we need it. Jabri, Noah, Demary, and Melendez have shown flashes of being able to carry us. Blue can be an absolute microwave. I love these pieces, I'm just not sure we have one guy or two that will make 1st or 2nd team All-SEC. Jabri seems to have that kind of potential, but can he grow enough in confidence to be that guy right now? Will we go to him enough? If we can win Saturday at Mizzou, this thing gets really fun in a hurry, I'm just really nervous about our first true road game atmosphere (Fla State resembles a library at the moment).
Let's hear it! Where do you have our record in conference play?