AAC Tournament: (SMU vs. UConn)

[Jimdish255]

Adams got hammered going to the basket with about 5 min left and it was a turning point with a foul immediately called on us at the other end. That said no reason a slightly better performance can't get it done against a shorthanded SMU. If we lose Ugh!!

 

[Travelman6]

Dear lord, did someone just say "winnable". Have we not learned our lesson yet?

 

[upstater]

Adams got hammered going to the basket with about 5 min left and it was a turning point with a foul immediately called on us at the other end. That said no reson a slightly better performance can't get it done against a shorthanded SMU. If we lose Ugh!!

View attachment 29179

Yup, and the idiot announcers even said, "No foul there." Ridiculous.

I actually thought this was a turning point in a game where people (i.e. Vital) were called for fouls for putting a hand on a guy cutting through the lane.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Yup, and the idiot announcers even said, "No foul there." Ridiculous.

I actually thought this was a turning point in a game where people (i.e. Vital) were called for fouls for putting a hand on a guy cutting through the lane.

There were numerous times where there was just a random whistle and a foul no one saw. We got a few too though. It was also so strange how they were letting everything go in the first then you couldn’t breathe without fouling someone in the second half.

 

[Stainmaster]

^^^I hope you’re joking. I think the B1G realized how dumb it was to push up their tourney just to get into MSG. Most people probably don’t even know their tourney even happened. They were playing their final while the Patriot League was playing their semis and any other major conference was playing their final regular season game. For a team like Nebraska or OSU who will have not played a game for 2 weeks and will be gonna face a hungry mid major 12-14 seed they’re gonna get stomped.

Hey, I had a great time watching Rutgers lose.

 

[champs99and04]

I have a feeling that something wacky is going to end up happening on the other side of the bracket and Temple is going to end up playing in the championship game. Hell, I wouldn't put it past South Florida to end up in the semi-finals - with Memphis just having essentially fired their coach and them missing their best player, who knows what you're going to get from them, and then you draw Tulsa in the next game. (The fact that Tulsa finished 4th in this league while we're 8th means somebody needs to get fired.)

I don't think Cincinnati is a great team, but they're too competent for me to envision us winning that one. Barring some miracle where Diarra becomes Gary Clark over night, we're just way too over-matched in the front court. If by some miracle we do win that game, they should just go ahead and cancel the NCAA tournament to save the rest of the country some time because we'll obviously be cutting down the nets. One thing people should keep in mind is that only ten victories separate us from title #5.

 

[uconnbill]

UConn can win, but they have to play tough defense, rebound well and pass the doggone ball for easier shots.

As a guy that sees things half full, I can see a win or two in the tournament

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

Honestly the tournament should be at Mohegan

Ollie's been gambling on the roster all season

 

[mauconnfan]

I wouldn't be worried about playing SMU in the first round. We are the worst team in the American right now, lost to USF yesterday and literally only have 3 guys that can practice (one of those is a transfer that can't play until next season). You guys will be fine. Please just end our season and put us out of misery.

Oh Boi doakw we have no shot now with your reverse play here, none, DOOMED.

Right back at ya

Best of luck, tough season for you guys thought you'd be great but injuries are a killer.

 

[jibsey]

Dr. Kevorkian could help both teams.

 

[Tommyboy]

I paid $6 for a ticket for session 1 tomorrow. Most likely I will spend more on 1 beer than my ticket for 2 games. Look for me on TV. I will be the fan.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

So basically this game is going to be like the episode of South Park where the little league teams keep trying to lose to end their season? I hope BigErn is down in Orlando in his batdad cape.

 

[the Q]

I prefer being positive so here's some good numbers/observations from Sunday going into this game:

• Another spectacular performance by Jalen (22 pts, 6 assists) and his ability to create for himself is really fun to watch (really hope we get to watch him 1 more year)

• Larrier had another great shooting night (6-12 FG-FGA, 4-8 3P-3PA). When he doesn't put the ball on the ground and shoots without hesitation he doesn't miss often. Since we're staying positive I will not discuss that after 31 games he still thinks he can put the ball on the ground, but he did grab 7 rebounds and he really used his length well to get those 7 rebounds. That's back to back games (Temple & Houston) of 7 rebounds so that's a positive sign.
• Adams & Larrier did most of the heavy lifting scoring wise but Vital had a couple good baskets off of steals and tough finishes around the rim. This was one of the few games this year where I would say all 3 of Adams, Larrier, and Vital showed up.
• I wish I had some positives to report on defense. The Adams block was incredible, otherwise it was another bad effort on D by players and bad strategy by coaches.

To beat SMU it won't require this kind of performance to win, but to beat Cincy the game thereafter will require this effort, plus Larrier not dribbling at all (he should be not allowed to put the ball on the floor), DO not touching the court, and a better effort on defense (prior to this season Kevin Ollie coached teams worst KenPom adjusted D was 63, including last year. This year they are 168).

I'm not surprised.

their best defender has been a true frosh who hasn't even played 500 minutes.

And their bad offense and rebounding has left them horribly vulnerable to transition baskets by the other team.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Yup, and the idiot announcers even said, "No foul there." Ridiculous.

I actually thought this was a turning point in a game where people (i.e. Vital) were called for fouls for putting a hand on a guy cutting through the lane.

One thing is intriguing about JA
I can’t think of a UConn player who spent more time with the ball penetrating and either kicking ,pulling up ,or taking it to the hoop.
He is quick and probably as good an athlete as Kemba or reasonably close.
I rewatched much of 2011 minus the emotion looking for specific things
1. Kemba had a top ten assist year ,but he played in 41 games ,his assists per game were a very pedestrian 3+ . Not a very good year for a PG . This isn’t surprising because of 5he inexperience around him. Yet we still won.
2. This begs the question why.
The number that jumps out at You is Kemba had 12+ FTA per 40 minutes
Jaylen is in the 5 range.
I reviewd some film and Kemba got pretty much every close call partly because he sold them well but it could have also been JC intimidation
JA continualy gets hammered which a guy in his position should but for some reason
either he never learned to sell a call or KO hasn’t done an adequate job .
I know to some 7 free throws a game doesn’t sound like much , but that’s just the first and obvious variable
A important secondary effect is you get opponents in foul trouble but most importantly
If the JA more room he could kill you.

 

[UConn_Top_Dog]

I will be driving by Orlando on Sunday on our way to Miami. Keeping my fingers crossed for an afternoon pitstop to watch us win the whole damn thing.

 

[auror]

One thing is intriguing about JA
I can’t think of a UConn player who spent more time with the ball penetrating and either kicking ,pulling up ,or taking it to the hoop.
He is quick and probably as good an athlete as Kemba or reasonably close.
I rewatched much of 2011 minus the emotion looking for specific things
1. Kemba had a top ten assist year ,but he played in 41 games ,his assists per game were a very pedestrian 3+ . Not a very good year for a PG . This isn’t surprising because of 5he inexperience around him. Yet we still won.
2. This begs the question why.
The number that jumps out at You is Kemba had 12+ FTA per 40 minutes
Jaylen is in the 5 range.
I reviewd some film and Kemba got pretty much every close call partly because he sold them well but it could have also been JC intimidation
JA continualy gets hammered which a guy in his position should but for some reason
either he never learned to sell a call or KO hasn’t done an adequate job .
I know to some 7 free throws a game doesn’t sound like much , but that’s just the first and obvious variable
A important secondary effect is you get opponents in foul trouble but most importantly
If the JA more room he could kill you.

We reached a similar conclusion:
AAC All-Conference Teams

 

[sammydabiz]

Not looking past SMU, but surprisingly we match up very well. The "trip up" will be Cinci, if by some miracle we defeat the Bearcats, I see us winning this tournament.

Which will get us a 14 seed against Michigan. Round of 32 here we come! And Ollie earns himself another "show me" year.

 

[raf46]

I think

Hopefully the refs don’t screw us again...

I think the refs last year were on the take. Most one sided game of BS calls I have ever seen.

 

[Austin316]

I think

I think the refs last year were on the take. Most one sided game of BS calls I have ever seen.

Last years outcome would have been completely different if the refs didn’t screw us over... heck if we won the AAC tournament last year had it not been for those one-sided whistle blowing refs I could make the argument that we wouldn’t have had so many transfers and KO wouldn’t be in the predicament he is in now.

 

[sledog]

where is the bracket posted?

 

[Stainmaster]

where is the bracket posted?

The chat.

Just kidding.

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

I have a feeling that something wacky is going to end up happening on the other side of the bracket and Temple is going to end up playing in the championship game. Hell, I wouldn't put it past South Florida to end up in the semi-finals - with Memphis just having essentially fired their coach and them missing their best player, who knows what you're going to get from them, and then you draw Tulsa in the next game. (The fact that Tulsa finished 4th in this league while we're 8th means somebody needs to get fired.)

I don't think Cincinnati is a great team, but they're too competent for me to envision us winning that one. Barring some miracle where Diarra becomes Gary Clark over night, we're just way too over-matched in the front court. If by some miracle we do win that game, they should just go ahead and cancel the NCAA tournament to save the rest of the country some time because we'll obviously be cutting down the nets. One thing people should keep in mind is that only ten victories separate us from title #5.

I think if we win the first two games we dance. Big IF. Basically I am looking at it as a 2 game tourney. Temple is such a strange team. It would be just like them to make the AAC Final and then lose by double digits to a team like Connecticut.

 

[upstater]

One thing is intriguing about JA
I can’t think of a UConn player who spent more time with the ball penetrating and either kicking ,pulling up ,or taking it to the hoop.
He is quick and probably as good an athlete as Kemba or reasonably close.
I rewatched much of 2011 minus the emotion looking for specific things
1. Kemba had a top ten assist year ,but he played in 41 games ,his assists per game were a very pedestrian 3+ . Not a very good year for a PG . This isn’t surprising because of 5he inexperience around him. Yet we still won.
2. This begs the question why.
The number that jumps out at You is Kemba had 12+ FTA per 40 minutes
Jaylen is in the 5 range.
I reviewd some film and Kemba got pretty much every close call partly because he sold them well but it could have also been JC intimidation
JA continualy gets hammered which a guy in his position should but for some reason
either he never learned to sell a call or KO hasn’t done an adequate job .
I know to some 7 free throws a game doesn’t sound like much , but that’s just the first and obvious variable
A important secondary effect is you get opponents in foul trouble but most importantly
If the JA more room he could kill you.

Good job. If you remember, a lot of the BE games that season were lost because Kemba was getting hammered and no fouls were called. Outside the BE regular season, UConn was undefeated.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

I’m a teacher and have the day off, but unfortunately Optimum is down. Hopefully it’s back in an hour, but likely watching this game on DVR.

Aside from UConn, I’d love to see Tulsa win the tourney.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

It’s 11:11 where’s the game?