3 reasons why we have to rethink our chances to 3 peat

[Hans Sprungfeld]

For you to put me on ignore.

No such luck for you.

I'd rather criticize such a post, and I'd overall bet against your continuing at a pace that would make me or anyone bother to put you on ignore. You're too good a fan for that, and simply misguided to post a cold splash of water in a thread like this.

I take your silence on all the other questions I posted as awareness that your post offered no unique insight, and held no positive value as a statement of support for your favored team.

We had one common opponent and, while we beat St. Johns by four in regulation at MSG, Duke had to go to OT in MSG to beat them by four.

UConn and Duke had 4 common opponents in the 1998-1999 season: Fairfield, Notre Dame, St. John's, and Michigan State.

While there is nothing definitive about measuring teams by their performance against common opponents, UConn had a greater margin of victory in games against every common opponent, except for St. John's where you correctly noted the 4 point margin in both games.

Duke did defeat Michigan State two times, by 4 points and by 6 points. UConn defeated Michigan the one time they played, by 14 points.

I rooted for UConn to win, and UConn won. I was informed enough to know that UConn was a heavy underdog, but I did not feel shocked by the outcome, so much as I felt elated.

For sure, it was a close game that Duke continually treated to win. They believed they would win...but they did not.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

At the time, Duke was considered a machine. I was a sophomore at storrs in 99 and remember the feeling on campus was "well, at least we got here". Nobody considered uconn the better team.

If Duke won and Battier yelled "we shocked the world" we'd all say- "who are you kidding?"

I still remember that year vividly. On a different thread there was a discussion yesterday about the regional finals in Greensboro against UNC in 1998. After that game I was convinced that we would win it all in 1999 and never wavered.

We were either one or two for the bulk of the year, and while Duke was also one or two, there wasn't any talk through a lot of the season that they were clearly better. In mid-February, due to personal reasons that I don't need to get into, I had to stop following pretty much everything going on in the world (outside of my specific personal sphere) for a couple weeks and when I was able to get involved again (around the start of the BET, which I had tickets to that went to waste), somehow Duke was allegedly the clear number one, among the best teams ever assembled and we were likely behind Michigan St (who we happened to have beaten handily that season). I have no clue what caused that but at the time I felt it was merely propaganda and to this day I still believe the same.

Having watched a lot of basketball from late November to early February, I was convinced that we would not only beat Duke, but that we would surprise them as we were both faster and deeper than they were, two things they would have thought impossible goinig in to the game. The only advantage that I saw them having was that with Elton Brand, if it became an entirely half court, slow down game, they could score from down low a lot more effectively than we could.

Going into the final four, I became furious when many talking heads were claiming that the tournament should reseed for the final four as it wasn't fair that the two best teams (Duke and Mich St in their eyes) had to meet in the semifinals.

Yes, the press going in had this as a bigger mismatch than Tyson-Spinks and afterwards as a greater upset than USA-USSR in the 1980 Winter Olympics, but they were wrong on both counts. We were the better team. In an extended series (best of five, best of seven, whatever) we would have some out on top. I will go to my grave believing this (and even told that to Jim Calhoun, face to face once).

 

[Jaydumo20]

I still remember that year vividly. On a different thread there was a discussion yesterday about the regional finals in Greensboro against UNC in 1998. After that game I was convinced that we would win it all in 1999 and never wavered.

We were either one or two for the bulk of the year, and while Duke was also one or two, there wasn't any talk through a lot of the season that they were clearly better. In mid-February, due to personal reasons that I don't need to get into, I had to stop following pretty much everything going on in the world (outside of my specific personal sphere) for a couple weeks and when I was able to get involved again (around the start of the BET, which I had tickets to that went to waste), somehow Duke was allegedly the clear number one, among the best teams ever assembled and we were likely behind Michigan St (who we happened to have beaten handily that season). I have no clue what caused that but at the time I felt it was merely propaganda and to this day I still believe the same.

Having watched a lot of basketball from late November to early February, I was convinced that we would not only beat Duke, but that we would surprise them as we were both faster and deeper than they were, two things they would have thought impossible goinig in to the game. The only advantage that I saw them having was that with Elton Brand, if it became an entirely half court, slow down game, they could score from down low a lot more effectively than we could.

Going into the final four, I became furious when many talking heads were claiming that the tournament should reseed for the final four as it wasn't fair that the two best teams (Duke and Mich St in their eyes) had to meet in the semifinals.

Yes, the press going in had this as a bigger mismatch than Tyson-Spinks and afterwards as a greater upset than USA-USSR in the 1980 Winter Olympics, but they were wrong on both counts. We were the better team. In an extended series (best of five, best of seven, whatever) we would have some out on top. I will go to my grave believing this (and even told that to Jim Calhoun, face to face once).

I felt the same. I thought KEA and RIP were the 2 best players in the country and that we were super specialized and deep. But I thought that I was just being a homer because all the talk was about Elton and how unstoppable this Duke team was. So I told myself well it's just husky goggles.

I feel the same way about this year's team. I think we're just as talented as anybody.

 

[Doctor Hoop]

This year we don't have the best team...so far

FIFY

 

[Ewekon]

Here are the 3 reasons why we shouldn't trust our doubt about this team. Spoiler: It's all about the coaching.

1. We weren't gonna shut down purdue's 3 point shooting. They're gonna get theirs.

- they didn't get theirs. At all. Nobody thought we'd let Edey score as much as he did either. Unorthodox game plan. Big results

2. The Gonzaga game- how are we gonna stop Timme? This is a bad matchup for us.
- we stopped Timme. We torched the best team in our region. Torched. Not beat. Torched. Against a great coach. He was baffled. They were baffled.

3. My biggest one- T Shannon and Illinois.

- a great coach and a superstar were outsmarted. Remember, this was a bad matchup for us. I want to focus on this for a bit.
We were all so very wrong. We based our thoughts on this game based on things we were so certain of- Shannon is gonna get his and they are soooo well coached.
They took the biggest beating of all time. After the game Underwood was confused. He had no idea what hit him.

All these things that every talking head was so sure of. We were so sure of. This year, we are so sure we can't hang. It's not like our staff is one of the ten best staffs in the country. They are the best. Why wouldn't we still believe this? Kelvin, Nate, Bruce, Barnes... these guys have been around for a minute and had the chances and resources to do what we've done. They haven't. Plain and simple. The last 2 years in the tourney the best coaches in the league were flumoxed by this staff.

Way hindsight.

What??

 

[Austin316]

We're still the CHAMPS....... until we're not !

This is the right take.

I thought Oklahoma was going to win. I then realized there is an unrealized notion that we have about us… it’s the name, hardware, and the coach.

We are still a boogie man that teams fear until we are no longer the champs. If Florida is as good as advertised this year, good for them. Preconceived notions may help us. There’s another side of me that thinks we played a certain way tonight with the hope that we have different style/gameplan for Florida. Going into the game Hurley said he thought it would be a low scoring game 59-58. I think won the way he wanted to win. Such a sicko playing with our emotions.

Alas, if this is it, I hope we go out to a nice tune. Until that happens we’re still the champs baby!

 

[87Xfer]

Is McNeeley gonna have any impact as a college player or just cruise into the lottery?

 

[FLDawg16]

Is McNeeley gonna have an impact as a college player or just cruise into the lottery?

Without Liam we most certainly wouldn’t have even made the tourney

 

[87Xfer]

Without Liam we most certainly wouldn’t have even made the tourney

How do you figure that? He looked great early, but since the injury, he's been abysmal on D and he can't shoot.

 

[sneaks]

Here are the 3 reasons why we shouldn't trust our doubt about this team. Spoiler: It's all about the coaching.

1. We weren't gonna shut down purdue's 3 point shooting. They're gonna get theirs.

- they didn't get theirs. At all. Nobody thought we'd let Edey score as much as he did either. Unorthodox game plan. Big results

2. The Gonzaga game- how are we gonna stop Timme? This is a bad matchup for us.
- we stopped Timme. We torched the best team in our region. Torched. Not beat. Torched. Against a great coach. He was baffled. They were baffled.

3. My biggest one- T Shannon and Illinois.

- a great coach and a superstar were outsmarted. Remember, this was a bad matchup for us. I want to focus on this for a bit.
We were all so very wrong. We based our thoughts on this game based on things we were so certain of- Shannon is gonna get his and they are soooo well coached.
They took the biggest beating of all time. After the game Underwood was confused. He had no idea what hit him.

All these things that every talking head was so sure of. We were so sure of. This year, we are so sure we can't hang. It's not like our staff is one of the ten best staffs in the country. They are the best. Why wouldn't we still believe this? Kelvin, Nate, Bruce, Barnes... these guys have been around for a minute and had the chances and resources to do what we've done. They haven't. Plain and simple. The last 2 years in the tourney the best coaches in the league were flumoxed by this staff.

Enjoy the ride. There would take a miracle for Uconn to beat Florida on Saturday. Danny Hurley has provided all of us with great players and people to root forever the last three years. They won two NCAA titles. This year has already been a success. They will be great again soon.

 

[Jaydumo20]

This is the right take.

I thought Oklahoma was going to win. I then realized there is an unrealized notion that we have about us… it’s the name, hardware, and the coach.

We are still a boogie man that teams fear until we are no longer the champs. If Florida is as good as advertised this year, good for them. Preconceived notions may help us. There’s another side of me that thinks we played a certain way tonight with the hope that we have different style/gameplan for Florida. Going into the game Hurley said he thought it would be a low scoring game 59-58. I think won the way he wanted to win. Such a sicko playing with our emotions.

Alas, if this is it, I hope we go out to a nice tune. Until that happens we’re still the champs baby!

He definitely has a plan for Florida.
we may lose, but we will be in the game the whole way. We shot terribly last night.

They lost to Georgia and Missouri in 2025

Did you see Georgia and Missouri?????

 

[Husky25]

Also I'm still waiting for the Arro6ant and Spo11ed" merch.

Great for Geno. Great for Paige (gonna miss her). Great for UConn. Great for the state of Connecticut.

More importantly, how the Kruk do we do "Arrogant and Spoiled" merch with 6 and 12?

Maybe make the "e" in spoiled look like a 2, perhaps?

"Arro6ant & Spoi12d."

Get it done!!!

 

[Scoe]

Well UConn basketball did 3 peat. It's certainly nice to have 3 stars.