Updated Top 25 (and one) from CBSSports.com | The Boneyard

Updated Top 25 (and one) from CBSSports.com

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UConn pushed down 2 spots to 19th. Louisville and Texas jumped over UConn.

19. UConn Huskies
Daniel Hamilton's decision to leave UConn hurts. But Kevin Ollie still has enough quality returning parts -- and a top-10 recruiting class -- to make the Huskies the favorite in the American Athletic Conference. (Previous ranking: 17)

Top 25 (and one): Duke, Kentucky still at top, but then shuffling begins
Not a bad ranking considering the team hasn't proven anything yet.
 
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I really like the CBS guys (Gary Parrish & Matt Norlander) but they will never be big advocates of the program. Parrish is too SEC/ACC centric and Norlander just isn't a fan.

Given that, I think their podcast is excellent and really worth a listen.
 
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"I really like Matt Norlander and Garry Parrish" I think that's a first in boneyard history.cant say I agree either
I like both of them, apparently I'm in the minority there though
 
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I like them too, but it's standard practice here to accuse every media member of hating UConn with all their passion.

With some guys, it's probably earned, but I would imagine a lot of it stemmed from a dislike of Calhoun. Pretty sure Parrish didn't like him. I doubt that's influencing this ranking, though.

I'm not a big fan of Norlander or Parrish but I do like Seth Davis.
 
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With some guys, it's probably earned, but I would imagine a lot of it stemmed from a dislike of Calhoun. Pretty sure Parrish didn't like him. I doubt that's influencing this ranking, though.

I'm not a big fan of Norlander or Parrish but I do like Seth Davis.

its almost like experience has helped him analyze the field, he is much more level headed with his takes , though some seem to still be scorching hot. Its strange that i actually think davis is a more reputable voice covering real ncaab than jay bilas... but it aint 2005 anymore i guess...
 
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I like them too, but it's standard practice here to accuse every media member of hating UConn with all their passion.
I don't think Norlander has exactly hidden that he's not a fan of the program, he goes out of his way to write negative stuff about UConn. He's my least favorite guy in the business, there is something really wrong about a Connecticut guy going out of his way to bash the home team.
 

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I enjoy cbs way more than bspn when it comes to college bball coverage. Parrish is cool with me and has been fair to us over the recent years, Rothstein as well. Norlander is a along with Eammon Brennan from that place in Bristol
 
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I don't think Norlander has exactly hidden that he's not a fan of the program, he goes out of his way to write negative stuff about UConn. He's my least favorite guy in the business, there is something really wrong about a Connecticut guy going out of his way to bash the home team.
he was one of the prominent writers purporting uconns demise post calhoun, completely thrashed the 2013-2014 team until he realized he was . There were a ton of those types in the media in the ban year saying we were done. Hopefully this is another year to remind them how wrong they were...
 
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No one has proven anything. The season hasn't started yet.
True, I meant that we had a lot of question marks given how much scoring and rebounding we lost from last year. But most other teams do as well.
 

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We have been stuck in this decent program but not threatening anyone or anything territory of upper teens, low 20's rankings for like 3 straight years now. It almost feels like the pre-season write ups and rankings for us have been verbatim the same from each source each of the last 3 years.

I understand it and it's fair I guess relative to how we end up performing but it's stuff like this that makes recruiting guys like Bamba and Diallo so much harder. Our competition is basically handed a top 3 preseason rank every year, they just shuffle Duke, UK and KU around. These guys start ranked high so they finish ranked high, that's just how the ranking system seems to work, and it results in more talk and analysis throughout the season. Guys like Diallo will only likely play one year for their college careers, and with all that's riding on it, I can see why they will want to mitigate risk and not take a chance on a team stuck in middling territory as far as the national contender discussion goes and just go straight to the team that will be all but guarenteed to be highly ranked all year. These are the real metrics recruits care about.

Just a personal rant as these rankings start coming out, don't quote me if you just want to fight about how UConn doesn't need those guys and how we've done it in the past blah blah blah, don't have the energy for that.
 
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We have been stuck in this decent program but not threatening anyone or anything territory of upper teens, low 20's rankings for like 3 straight years now. It almost feels like the pre-season write ups and rankings for us have been verbatim the same from each source each of the last 3 years.

I understand it and it's fair I guess relative to how we end up performing but it's stuff like this that makes recruiting guys like Bamba and Diallo so much harder. Our competition is basically handed a top 3 preseason rank every year, they just shuffle Duke, UK and KU around. These guys start ranked high so they finish ranked high, that's just how the ranking system seems to work, and it results in more talk and analysis throughout the season. Guys like Diallo will only likely play one year for their college careers, and with all that's riding on it, I can see why they will want to mitigate risk and not take a chance on a team stuck in middling territory as far as the national contender discussion goes and just go straight to the team that will be all but guarenteed to be highly ranked all year. These are the real metrics recruits care about.

Just a personal rant as these rankings start coming out, don't quote me if you just want to fight about how UConn doesn't need those guys and how we've done it in the past blah blah blah, don't have the energy for that.

tell that to archie goodwin, pretty much an identical prospect to diallo and he ended up losing to robert morris in the NIT. I wouldn't worry about getting propsects, just look at our two best point guards both 5 star players. also, If Uconn wins maui they are pretty much a lock top 5 team this year... and in 2017 we play zona and crap ton of ranked teams in that phil knight invitational . There is plenty of intrigue in signing to uconn right now, bamba and diallo are major targets.
 
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its almost like experience has helped him analyze the field, he is much more level headed with his takes , though some seem to still be scorching hot. Its strange that i actually think davis is a more reputable voice covering real ncaab than jay bilas... but it aint 2005 anymore i guess...

Agreed on Bilas, I think over the years he's become more of a personality and less of an in-the-trenches analyst. He still knows the game in and out, but I'm not sure he puts in the same time in regards to research (my perspective could be skewed, since he doesn't cover UConn as much as he used to, and as a result he's probably less familiar with the team) and film prep.

One guy a lot of people tend to s*** on is Fran, but you sure as hell can't question his commitment. He probably over-analyzes to some extent, but he's one of the few guys where I feel like I might actually learn something from listening. I remember his comment during a game last year about how UConn ranks poorly in PPP on ball screens and going, huh, that's actually really relevant to the way I think about this team (and foreshadowed the shift later in the season to ore circle action and less pnr).
 
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What the majority of the media underestimates is mental toughness. Bilas understands that talent + mental toughness is the formula while so many other media types become spellbound by skills and athletic ability and can't comprehend what a grind it is to be part of a great team.
 

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tell that to archie goodwin, pretty much an identical prospect to diallo and he ended up losing to robert morris in the NIT. I wouldn't worry about getting propsects, just look at our two best point guards both 5 star players. also, If Uconn wins maui they are pretty much a lock top 5 team this year... and in 2017 we play zona and crap ton of ranked teams in that phil knight invitational . There is plenty of intrigue in signing to uconn right now, bamba and diallo are major targets.
I disagree that Goodwin and Diallo are similar prospects. Based purely off of recruit rankings maybe but then you could also say Bamba and Diallo are similar prospects too and we both know that's false. Goodwin was a solid 2G prospect but wasn't considered a game changer, and didn't have nearly the athleticism that Diallo has. Diallo has the physical tools to be a superstar and everyone knows it, people weren't saying the same things about Goodwin, in fact that draft was widely considered one of the weakest ever a full year before the draft even took place.

Even still, that Kentucky team with Goodwin got 5x the hype and attention we got all that year, and they still spent a large majority of the season ranked higher than any rank we've achieved in the regular season over the last 4 seasons overall. That level of public interest and perception still makes them a better landing spot for top 15 guys than Storrs, frankly speaking.
 
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I disagree that Goodwin and Diallo are similar prospects. Based purely off of recruit rankings maybe but then you could also say Bamba and Diallo are similar prospects too and we both know that's false. Goodwin was a solid 2G prospect but wasn't considered a game changer, and didn't have nearly the athleticism that Diallo has. Diallo has the physical tools to be a superstar and everyone knows it, people weren't saying the same things about Goodwin, in fact that draft was widely considered one of the weakest ever a full year before the draft even took place.

Even still, that Kentucky team with Goodwin got 5x the hype and attention we got all that year, and they still spent a large majority of the season ranked higher than any rank we've achieved in the regular season over the last 4 seasons overall. That level of public interest and perception still makes them a better landing spot for top 15 guys than Storrs, frankly speaking.

while i agree that draft was horrid with bennett, oladipo, porter, zeller, and len as the top 5(yikes thats bad), was it really called a weak draft a year before it took place? regardless, even in the aac uconn players will get plenty of hype if they are ranked. If you take care of business in the early season tourneys, scouts will flock to your games when they see that top 15 or 10 number near the schools name. visibility is not an issue imo for these top prospects, uconn had tons of nba scouts at every home game pretty much in years with barely any draft picks recently.

it sounds like your saying if HD goes to UK and averages 12 ppg/5 rbs on good %s & defense it would mean more if he did it at uconn, i'm not sure thats true if the huskies are winning and he is impacting the game.
 
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tell that to archie goodwin, pretty much an identical prospect to diallo and he ended up losing to robert morris in the NIT. I wouldn't worry about getting propsects, just look at our two best point guards both 5 star players. also, If Uconn wins maui they are pretty much a lock top 5 team this year... and in 2017 we play zona and crap ton of ranked teams in that phil knight invitational . There is plenty of intrigue in signing to uconn right now, bamba and diallo are major targets.
Agree with everything you said except for the Goodwin Diallo comparison. I think Diallo is a much better athlete with a lot more upside.
 
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Agree with everything you said except for the Goodwin Diallo comparison. I think Diallo is a much better athlete with a lot more upside.

No doubt. Bigger picture, when you look at the landscape of draft class talent over the past 20 years, its a very interesting pattern... 2003 was the beginning of a run of great drafts featuring several franchise centerpieces up until 2011 or 12. these hs classes starting in 2016 are the resurgence of that imo, so i clearly regard HD higher than many of his five star sg predecessors... I'm very high on his two way ability and potential to be the number 1 option on a college team. What excites me most is the idea of KO helping him become a top 5 pick; he could be his 'ray allen'.
 

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while i agree that draft was horrid with bennett, oladipo, porter, zeller, and len as the top 5(yikes thats bad), was it really called a weak draft a year before it took place? regardless, even in the aac uconn players will get plenty of hype if they are ranked. If you take care of business in the early season tourneys, scouts will flock to your games when they see that top 15 or 10 number near the schools name. visibility is not an issue imo for these top prospects, uconn had tons of nba scouts at every home game pretty much in years with barely any draft picks recently.

it sounds like your saying if HD goes to UK and averages 12 ppg/5 rbs on good %s & defense it would mean more if he did it at uconn, i'm not sure thats true if the huskies are winning and he is impacting the game.
I agree to a certain extent with your first paragraph. UConn is a big enough of a brand name, and has enough respect amongst the casual fans that when they are good and ranked people take them seriously. The problem I was referring to lies in the disparity in achieving those rankings, especially pre-season when it's most impactful in my opinion for recruiting purposes. We don't get the same type of "benefit of the doubt" those top 3 get. Each year they have tons of turnover and get top 3 rankings, we do something similar and get a "let's wait and see what the Huskies do over their first 12 games before adjusting this rank" reaction from almost every writer. This is what hurts trying to consistently recruit pro-ready players.

As for the second statement, in a way yes I do believe that. I will always point to the Drummond experiment as proof of the discrepancy. Many have pointed out some differences between Drummond and his competition that year like Embiid which were valid but you really can't ignore the bias. UK, Duke, KU and to an extent recent Arizona guys have been going lottery purely off of potential and hype/brand development even in dissapointing seasons while similar prospects elsewhere get drafted with a sense of weariness and lack of confidence from GMs that you don't see elsewhere. The guys from the top 3 I mentioned get labeled and packaged as premier prospects, future all star the guys. While elsewhere they don't get that treatment for a similar level prospect. It's largely because at other, non-one and done centric programs (really there's only 3 programs fully committed to that system and they are the top 3 in question here) the Top recruits they get often don't start on day 1, and/or have more senior guys ahead of them on the depth chart. This causes their numbers to be less than stellar after one year due to less minutes, less opportunities and the offense not being designed around them, and when they do play they play rushed. But at the OAD programs like Duke, UK and KU, their top recruits are basically promised starting spots from Day 1 on one of the most followed programs in the sport. This means way more exposure as well as a team system built around you with similar level guys that hide your flaws and allow you to play to your strengths. You are featured but so are two or three other similarly ranked incoming recruits so no one is forced to be Kemba in crunch time where they may get exposed. Then come draft time they all declare and get drafted on stellar freshman numbers and potential but we all know those numbers are misleading. For example if Jamal Murray had committed to UConn instead of UK last year his draft resume numbers wouldn't be nearly as good as they actually were. Looking at the various pieces and elements that 2015-16 team was lacking, he would have been forced to handle the ball a lot more (more turnovers, seen as more of a non-ball handler by scouts), and his FG% would have likely been affected as well. UK just let him go out there for 30 minutes each night and just shoot when you get an opening, and it worked wonderfully.

Put Adams on UK last year and force him to start from Day 1 and he would have likely averaged around 10-12 ppg with decent A/TO numbers with a solid chance at going after that first year, he has the body and he put up numbers as a freshman at a top school l, whereas here he had to earn his time which affected his entire resume. /rant
 
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