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Message: [QUOTE="wbball novice, post: 2674979, member: 8663"] I'm not suggesting that the AAC will become a power conference, or that there will be parity anytime soon. Of course out of conference games are going to be more challenging. It's the combination of incremental improvement on the part of some of the AAC opponents in concert with an arguably weakened UConn team, due to key departures and necessary reliance on inexperienced players, that might result in more competitive games. Without Stevens, Tulane came pretty close to beating UConn. No Nurse to shut down South Florida's Laksa. Without Stevens, teams with predominantly smaller players would have an easier time penetrating and defending, and my impression is that many of the AAC teams are handicapped by having mostly shorter players. Besides UCF, other AAC teams might take note of UConn's issues with slow down zone defense. UConn might very well beat them anyway, but not by as much. (There was an interesting article in The Ringer on zone defense -- I wasn't aware that it was rarely used by NBA teams and has potential for throwing off the rhythm of the increasingly common reliance in the NBA on pass and shoot.) Like many fans (and very few non-fans) I enjoy UConn blowouts, but fewer of these and more grind it out games might be a lot more beneficial to the team in the long run, especially one that will have a lot of inexperienced players. One concern might be the coaching staff could leave the starters in the game further into the second half, with more potential for injury or burn-out. And the beauty of pass/assist/3pt/transition, what makes UConn basketball so aesthetically pleasing, might not be experienced as often. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach