meh computer numbers. Whatever. They are fine for discussion but at the end of the day you win or lose on the court. The day they start out handing trophies for KenPom is the day I stop watching hoops.
It absolutely did over the long haul and especially at the end. But at first it seemed we were overcoming it as we were pulling some serious recruits : Daniel Hamilton, Jalen Adams were top,top level recruits, and even as late as 2016-17 top 5 class which at the time via rankings was best class in UConn history. Plus we pulled the top of the transfer market at the time players like Larrier, Purvis, Sterling Gibbs and Shonn Miller. They were among the most coveted transfers in the country in their years.
To be fair, I don't think Ollie would have won with that team if the tournament were run again. Luck is probably the biggest factor in every NCAA championship, and that year was an extreme example.
It's not "handing out KenPom trophies," this stuff affects seeding. Historically top seeds do better than low seeds. Not that hard.
They absolutely hurt Houston, there's a pretty clear outlier in how these teams were seeded
Good call. Too bad there is no way to equal out the weight of a strong regular season (title) vs post. The drama is the only thing missing but it is sooo huge. How can you say any reg season champ was a disappointment if they got booted early from the dance? It shouldn’t be the case. But we ALL feel that.
How on earth are they as HIGH as 182?
If you’re saying Ollie was a better game coach than Hurley, then yes that’s true, his years as Calhoun’s assistant and his years in the NBA are a testament to all that experience. That said, it most definitely does not make him a better teacher of the game or a better recruiter. Hurley blows away Ollie in both of those departments and overall is a better coach with much more potential to improve his coaching abilities.
Luck plays a factor in each individual game and season, but over the course of multiple years you can definitely identify patterns. It's too early to make a definitive judgement on Hurley. It is kind of nuts that he has two tournament wins and neither are here, though.
Love this. When do people start maybe putting some blame/credit on the players and acknowledge a little luck? So easy to blame the coach because we subconsciously feel it is easier to replace one guy than admit the pieces aren't there. In the Duke MSU game, coach K said in the press conference. "I didn't do anything in the last 5 minutes. These players took the game in their hands. It was all them" and you can tell that he wasn't just using coach speak. If he didn't qualify that, a fan could easily say "K coached them to the W" but it was luck and a bunch of 5 stars
Yup. I think we’re going to struggle next year a bit due to some inexperience. But the year after that there are zero excuses.
From top to bottom the NBE is better than the AAC, IMO, but everything else you stated is 100% on point.
Do you mean before or after the Big 12 exodus. If you mean before, you're wrong. If you mean after, you're WAY wrong.
The conference sucked the life out of the program. How can you recruit kids to play at UConn in both football and basketball in basically southern conference? The answer is you don't. That's why we are no longer in the AAC.
Ollie(before he stopped doing his job) and Hurley recruited fine in the AAC. Obviously it is easier in the Big East, but the conference was not why we sucked with Ollie.