QuattroCane
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- Joined
- Jul 21, 2016
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Say we win out and make the ACC CG, could this team snag an at-large bid?
Say we win out and make the ACC CG, could this team snag an at-large bid?
Yes I think it is a possibility under that scenario, obviously depending on what happens with the teams around us. As always, the "if we win out" approach would put us in the at large discussion. The problem has been the winning part.
Sitting now at 22-25, a 5 game winning streak, and 7 regular season games left.Say we win out and make the ACC CG, could this team snag an at-large bid?
All I know is regardless of if we get hot and somehow get an at-large bid, this team isn't a postseason team. Last year's was more qualified in terms of how they played, I think...but that's not saying much.
Let me make one thing clear before I say this next part: I am NOT rooting against this team, and will be happy if we make the postseason.
However - for the culture of the program and to hopefully spur some positive change, I actually kind of hope we don't make it. Sure, the extra reps for the underclassmen and postseason experience (even if it isn't a winning one) can be helpful. I can see a scenario where it could be more helpful for us to miss 2 years in a row, because that will hopefully force DiMare's hand to make some meaningful changes to how things are being done currently in several facets - hire a different hitting coach with a more aggressive approach, upgrade the facilities w/tomato money, rethink how we recruit and what types of players we need.
My fear is that the stagnation and ****tiness we've all observed continues if we somehow back into the postseason because some within the program will view it as "improvement" over last season, and a reason to stay the course without any consideration for any changes that could help the program.
... nothing is going to change next year as it pertains to "staying the course".
Being completely out of the picture and then sweeping teams 123, 162, and 199 to finally get over .500 while hoping that a dozen other teams fall apart is pretty much the definition of backing in. The opposite of backing in would be Florida, winning 40 games and leading the RPI during the months of April and May.
While this is true, it's still not a good thing (using our program's history as the measuring stick) that we're having to rely on sweeping bad teams here at the end of the season to nab a 3-seed at a high national seed's regional. I won't argue the "backing in" vernacular one way or another, but as of a few weeks ago - we weren't in, and didn't deserve to be in the postseason. Sweeping those RPI 123/162/199 teams and winning 15/16 (if we do it) doesn't really mean we "deserve" it either...especially given our performance against better teams not named Clemson.Backing in is the 8-5 NFL team that loses three straight games to finish the season but still makes the playoffs.