Well ... it's on.

[Shenandoah]

Attendance will be interesting. Students will show for sure. No doubt about that. Everyone else, who knows. Probably not what ESPN wants, but scheduling a big game in one of the most northern schools in early February is kind of silly and a bit of a crap shoot. Big game or not, driving in a snow and ice storm is dumb and not only puts fans at risk, but also our fire/police/paramedics that have to go out there and rescue them. Towards the end of next week we're looking at high temperatures possibly in the single digits, and we wonder why Connecticut doesn't get big time football recruits. Who the hell wants to come to our frozen tundra of a state when anyone with talent will likely have offers from nice warm southern schools? Like Coach Macy of ECU said: I don't know how you people do it. Connecticut where it's freezing seven months out of the year, or SEC country where it's beach weather seven months out of the year. Tough choice.

I don't know; Michigan, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Ohio State do pretty well recruiting...

 

[MuchoDogYears]

UConn, like they're apt to do at times in big games after playing a number of patsies, will come out racing up and down the court a million miles an hour, making a TO's left and right. USC will score early and often inside and out. Geno will call timeout early, blow a gasket for the ages, and send them back. First half will end with a tight score, USC up by a couple buckets.. Second half, UConn settles down, and pulls away, winning by 12. That's Scenario #1, 50% probability.

Scenario #2, 30% probability. UConn calm, cool and collected from the start methodically hammer away at USC, building the lead to double digits in the first half, winning by 20+ at game end.

Scenario #3, 20% probability. USC wins. Their inside game works early, and after UConn adjusts, their outside game works late.

 

[SallyH]

Wow. Nice typo.

Typo? Shoot, I thought he was talking about me! I mean not a lot of drama for we old folk.

 

[HoopsFan21]

I don't know; Michigan, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Ohio State do pretty well recruiting...

Not sure I agree with that. Of the last two decades of titles and season ending #1 rankings, all but 3 years (OSU 2002, 2015; Michigan/Nebraska 1997) were won by southern teams. Either the schools you listed are not recruiting as well as you think or every coach north of the Mason-Dixon line is terrible. There is a clear trend that favors the south when it comes to football, and UConn has other obstacles facing it as a new FBS program that other schools don't. Northern football is fading, and has been for a while.

 

[SallyH]

The difference in average ages between tOSU football fans and UConn women's basketball fans is probably 30 years.

Unless you're like me, born in OH, left for 30 years, which included a nine-year stint in CT (during which time I fell in love with UConn basketball), only to return to OH in 2001. 2014 was a great year for all my college teams - dual basketball championships and the first ever playoff football championship. The Browns continue to break my heart, however.

 

[Geno-ista]

This site will be draped in black when Geno retires.

You know- that's what it will feel like. It was like the season after D left. Those early games that season were depressing without her. Her ability & personality!
And I'm sure the rest of the WBB world is counting the minutes till he's done.

 

[Geno-ista]

Unless you're like me, born in OH, left for 30 years, which included a nine-year stint in CT (during which time I fell in love with UConn basketball), only to return to OH in 2001. 2014 was a great year for all my college teams - dual basketball championships and the first ever playoff football championship. The Browns continue to break my heart, however.

The browns had the best team in football in the early/mid 80's with Cedrick Mack & Ernest Biner- and they had there shots to go to the S Bowls and missed it! I'm a giants fan that loved some of those teams.

 

[scrooster]

I'm trying to remember what Chris said but, geez, it was 11 years ago. I'm lucky if I remember what happened yesterday.

I was talking to Chris on the phone and scribbling like mad. In looking at the 1979-1980 schedule, UConn played Duke, North Carolina, and Auburn. Maybe she said she went through South Carolina? My mistake for not researching.

Nah, there's more to it than that. I know someone that was on that 1979-80 Gamecock team so I'll ask her the backstory. She still lives around here and I sit behind her in club section at football games. We were actually talking about this just last season when it was rumored that Dawn and Geno had scheduled this game because she reminded me of Gedney's correct last name ... I kept calling her Kris Gaffney until then because that was how I was picturing it in my mind.

 

[scrooster]

Well, you can stand by a pile-of-poop and naturally find yourself stuck in a bad place. Even discussing RPI is painful, but as VG says, Realtime RPI has no predictive abilities; it is merely a ranking tool to rate UConn as the #7 team in the nation. There is however a W-L tool that Warren Nolan uses to show how teams should finish out their season using the RPI ratings, and it shows USCar with two SEC losses, and also UConn losing to USF.

What you are referring to is a totally different index on the site called the RPI Power Index. Now if you are going to use that, than it is silly and ignorant to say USCar is favored by 3, even by that dumb index's system. All systems like Sagarin have a home\away factor of anywhere from 3 to 4 points for normal teams, so USCar would at best be a draw. But UConn generally should get a +20 point home court factor, so the predictor would be about 17 points for UConn.

None of it matters ... because they are playing one another and it'll be settled by midnight tonight - finally.

And none of it really matters in the overall scheme of things, unless it is for seeding purposes, because the tourney is going to take care of itself when the time comes. Brackets are what they are, as are venues, injuries, etc. It's all luck of the draw for the top eight teams come March.

 

[scrooster]

Oh, and Scrooster, my friend, just one more point: We know and appreciate the tongue-in-cheek nature of your original post. But I, for one, wish you'd left out the part about Dee and the other refs. Look, do human beings sometimes blow calls, and sometimes do so egregiously? Of course! Can blown calls seriously affect a close game's outcome, especially down the stretch? Natch! But, pulling the classic routine of building in an advance excuse for an anticipated loss by suggesting, "the refs are gonna be against us?" Not only is there zero evidence to support that contention, but, frankly, it constitutes the ultimate losers' refrain, worthy of Notre Dame fans, but, I hope, not of you. Lets hope that we are on the brink of a truly great rivalry breaking out, and that there will be lots of fun back-and-forth "trash talk" to go along with it, but implicating some perceived bias on the part of the refs as determining the outcome of this or future games? I hope that the fans of neither side go there.

Well, there is that reputation thing, where the refs are concerned up there and all ... but that's no biggie. I remember Ken Norton beating Mohammed Ali but not winning ... it just is what it is. When you are playing the champ on their home court you can't just win, you gotta knock'em out and that is going to be a tough task for my Lady Gamecocks tonight. Now, will they do it? Who knows. They are definitely capable but they're going to have a lot to overcome. Refs, a great coach and team, home-court advantage, all the pomp and circumstance. This is all new to the Lady-Gs, but I still like our chances.

 

[Striper69]

Am I the only one that thinks it will be decided by less than 10? I'm not pessimistic, I just see a South Carolina team that is battle tested in close games. UConn on the other hand is not so great in tight games.

The first quarter of the last game has me wondering about this one. What if they do that again? This time they're not playing an AAC team.

Can't wait for the game to start!

 

[Bigpetunia]

The first quarter of the last game has me wondering about this one. What if they do that again? This time they're not playing an AAC team.

Can't wait for the game to start!

Quite right. I fully expect the Huskies to prevail. But the conference in which the team is currently forced to play doesn't help much with the preparation, except for the fact (not inconsiderable, I admit) that it gave at least one key bench player a chance to regain some lost confidence. OK, that's fine and good. But I think what got Geno so frustrated down in Memphis is an inevitable by-product of way too many yawners. Personally, I'd far rather see the team play in a more competitive conference, one in which their typical margin of victory was more like 10-20 points than 40-50. I'd be much happier with more uncertain outcomes, where the team runs a true risk, on an off-night, and especially on the road, of dropping one here and there, and then coming back to beat up those teams in the tourney. It's almost unnatural that all of us fans are so "up" for this game, a game that really doesn't ultimately have all that much meaning, at least insofar as the eventual NC is concerned. Most of the season has put us, and, to some extent, the players to sleep!

 

[Striper69]

Quite right. I fully expect the Huskies to prevail. But the conference in which the team is currently forced to play doesn't help much with the preparation, except for the fact (not inconsiderable, I admit) that it gave at least one key bench player a chance to regain some lost confidence. OK, that's fine and good. But I think what got Geno so frustrated down in Memphis is an inevitable by-product of way too many yawners. Personally, I'd far rather see the team play in a more competitive conference, one in which their typical margin of victory was more like 10-20 points than 40-50. I'd be much happier with more uncertain outcomes, where the team runs a true risk, on an off-night, and especially on the road, of dropping one here and there, and then coming back to beat up those teams in the tourney. It's almost unnatural that all of us fans are so "up" for this game, a game that really doesn't ultimately have all that much meaning, at least insofar as the eventual NC is concerned. Most of the season has put us, and, to some extent, the players to sleep!

Maybe so but I'd love to watch this team from a courtside seat even one time!

 

[scrooster]

Y'all are obviously good fans - hungry for some competition. Friendly, respectful, competition. I'm just hoping we give you that, and more, tonight .... as in "more" than you bargained for.

We're still cool though, amirite? Y'all are not going to be ugly about this no matter the outcome.

 

[Tonyc]

Turn out the lights This train aint stopping.

 

[HuskyNan]

Y'all are obviously good fans - hungry for some competition. Friendly, respectful, competition. I'm just hoping we give you that, and more, tonight .... as in "more" than you bargained for.

We're still cool though, amirite? Y'all are not going to be ugly about this no matter the outcome.

I certainly hope no one is ugly about the game. You and your fellow SC fans have been good visitors and I hope you guys ("you guys" is Northeasterners' version of y'all) stick around.

 

[UcMiami]

I certainly hope no one is ugly about the game. You and your fellow SC fans have been good visitors and I hope you guys ("you guys" is Northeasterners' version of y'all) stick around.

I thought the Northern version was 'youse guys'

 

[j66kicker]

I thought the Northern version was 'youse guys'

Brooklynese