An Early 2019/2020 "Season Record" Poll

[PacoSwede]

i'm no expert, but i have a feeling some here are seriously over-rating the abilities/talent of some of the opposition's 'stars' and strangely are shorting those of our returning starters (especially christyn) plus liv. and among the group of newcomers, i expect at least one will meet our highest hopes. and perhaps touly finally will be healthy. so i say, at this point and considering recent past history at uconn, it's damned crazy NOT to be optimistic.

 

[oldude]

i'm no expert, but i have a feeling some here are seriously over-rating the abilities/talent of some of the opposition's 'stars' and strangely are shorting those of our returning starters (especially christyn) plus liv. and among the group of newcomers, i expect at least one will meet our highest hopes. and perhaps touly finally will be healthy. so i say, at this point and considering recent past history at uconn, it's damned crazy NOT to be optimistic.

Never underestimate the relentless pessimism of the “doom & gloom” crowd on the BY. Sometimes it feels like the LV board around here.

 

[southofnorth]

i'm no expert, but i have a feeling some here are seriously over-rating the abilities/talent of some of the opposition's 'stars' and strangely are shorting those of our returning starters (especially christyn) plus liv. and among the group of newcomers, i expect at least one will meet our highest hopes. and perhaps touly finally will be healthy. so i say, at this point and considering recent past history at uconn, it's damned crazy NOT to be optimistic.

Never underestimate the relentless pessimism of the “doom & gloom” crowd on the BY. Sometimes it feels like the LV board around here.

It would also seem that some are underestimating the teams that UConn will be playing. Nothing wrong with thinking there may be a slip up or two given the amount of talent on other teams.

Right now all we can do is guess based on what UConn has returning and what other teams have returning. Suggesting that UConn could lose a couple of games based on what is currently known seems like a far cry from suggesting the program is done for. This is also just a poll for the regular season, so I expect quite a different result—0 losses—if a similar poll were done about the post season.

 

[oldude]

It would also seem that some are underestimating the teams that UConn will be playing. Nothing wrong with thinking there may be a slip up or two given the amount of talent on other teams.

Right now all we can do is guess based on what UConn has returning and what other teams have returning. Suggesting that UConn could lose a couple of games based on what is currently known seems like a far cry from suggesting the program is done for. This is also just a poll for the regular season, so I expect quite a different result—0 losses—if a similar poll were done about the post season.

No doubt Geno & UConn have some challenges to overcome early in the season vs a brutal OOC schedule, but so does everyone else. In Geno & CD’s 30+ years together at UConn, absolutely no one gets their team ready for the season better than UConn. So when I look at the OOC challenges that UConn will face, I come up with 0, where other see losses:

Oregon will certainly be a preseason #1 with all the talent & experience they have, but they have to come all the way across country to play the Huskies, and even most Beaver fans believe Geno will outcoach Graves

Baylor is a powerhouse, but the graduation of Brown & Jackson makes them a much easier team to defend. On the road at UConn, Kim’s teams have always come up short.

Others predict losses to ND, Louisville & SC, all of whom have graduated or lost (transfer) significant talent and experience.

So who’s left to beat UConn? Tennessee?

I have UConn for 0 losses and I’m stickin with my call.

 

[LoTrader]

Oregon, Baylor, and UConn are by far the best 3 teams in the country! Replacing Collier and Samuelson's production will be tough and UConn may struggle a little bit early in the year, but by the time the tournament rolls around Coach Auriemma should have them clicking like a fine oiled machine.

Oregon & Baylor are the two best teams in the country. After these two, it is a logjam from 3-10.

No doubt Geno & UConn have some challenges to overcome early in the season vs a brutal OOC schedule, but so does everyone else. In Geno & CD’s 30+ years together at UConn, absolutely no one gets their team ready for the season better than UConn. So when I look at the OOC challenges that UConn will face, I come up with 0, where other see losses:

Oregon will certainly be a preseason #1 with all the talent & experience they have, but they have to come all the way across country to play the Huskies, and even most Beaver fans believe Geno will outcoach Graves

Baylor is a powerhouse, but the graduation of Brown & Jackson makes them a much easier team to defend. On the road at UConn, Kim’s teams have always come up short.

Others predict losses to ND, Louisville & SC, all of whom have graduated or lost (transfer) significant talent and experience.

So who’s left to beat UConn? Tennessee?

I have UConn for 0 losses and I’m stickin with my call.

I'm one of the Beaver fans who know that Geno will out-coach nearly every coach in America. However, I don't see the mature talent at UCONN in 2019-20 season, that was present over the past 10 seasons. This is why I cannot see UCONN beating Oregon at any venue, at any time next season. Now, I also admit, that I did not see UCONN getting to the Final 4 last year, so, there you go!

 

[oldude]

Oregon & Baylor are the two best teams in the country. After these two, it is a logjam from 3-10.

I'm one of the Beaver fans who know that Geno will out-coach nearly every coach in America. However, I don't see the mature talent at UCONN in 2019-20 season, that was present over the past 10 seasons. This is why I cannot see UCONN beating Oregon at any venue, at any time next season. Now, I also admit, that I did not see UCONN getting to the Final 4 last year, so, there you go!

There is no doubt in my mind that Oregon is a better team on paper than UConn. I rate Baylor as even with UConn, which is probably a somewhat biased assessment on my part. But other than Cox, assuming that Evina’s waiver is granted, UConn’s next 6 players are better than Baylor’s.

One additional point. The “mature talent” didn’t exist at UConn during the 2016-17 season when the Huskies were undefeated during the regular season with big wins at home vs Baylor, SC & Louisville along with wins at ND & MD.

Finally, we have to look at where the games will be played. UConn hasn’t lost a game in the State of CT in a very long time. I don’t expect the Huskies to lose there this season.

 

[LoTrader]

There is no doubt in my mind that Oregon is a better team on paper than UConn. I rate Baylor as even with UConn, which is probably a somewhat biased assessment on my part. But other than Cox, assuming that Evina’s waiver is granted, UConn’s next 6 players are better than Baylor’s.

One additional point. The “mature talent” didn’t exist at UConn during the 2016-17 season when the Huskies were undefeated during the regular season with big wins at home vs Baylor, SC & Louisville along with wins at ND & MD.

Finally, we have to look at where the games will be played. UConn hasn’t lost a game in the State of CT in a very long time. I don’t expect the Huskies to lose there this season.

It will be fun to have a friendly wager on the UO vs UCONN game.

 

[soxfan23]

Oregon & Baylor are the two best teams in the country. After these two, it is a logjam from 3-10.

I'm one of the Beaver fans who know that Geno will out-coach nearly every coach in America. However, I don't see the mature talent at UCONN in 2019-20 season, that was present over the past 10 seasons. This is why I cannot see UCONN beating Oregon at any venue, at any time next season. Now, I also admit, that I did not see UCONN getting to the Final 4 last year, so, there you go!

The starting 5 most likely consists of:

Dangerfield Sr. #2 ranking
Williams So #1 ranking
Westbrook Jr #2 ranking
Walker Jr. #1 ranking
Nelson-Ododa So #5 ranking

That is not enough talent?

 

[LoTrader]

The starting 5 most likely consists of:

Dangerfield Sr. #2 ranking
Williams So #1 ranking
Westbrook Jr #2 ranking
Walker Jr. #1 ranking
Nelson-Ododa So #5 ranking

That is not enough talent?

The addition of Westbrook makes UCONN highly talented as a group. I'm not as high on Walker, and Nelson-Ododa as others, when I compare/contrast to UO, which has Sabrina, Boley, Sabally (x2), Hebard, + a decent bench. UO has more talent, and, more experience as a unit.

 

[mbr33ct]

Oregon & Baylor are the two best teams in the country. After these two, it is a logjam from 3-10.

I'm one of the Beaver fans who know that Geno will out-coach nearly every coach in America. However, I don't see the mature talent at UCONN in 2019-20 season, that was present over the past 10 seasons. This is why I cannot see UCONN beating Oregon at any venue, at any time next season. Now, I also admit, that I did not see UCONN getting to the Final 4 last year, so, there you go!

If I read this correct, you just can't see...sorry to hear that.

 

[eebmg]

If I read this correct, you just can't see...sorry to hear that.

Must be all those forests.

 

[Reypl21]

The addition of Westbrook makes UCONN highly talented as a group. I'm not as high on Walker, and Nelson-Ododa as others, when I compare/contrast to UO, which has Sabrina, Boley, Sabally (x2), Hebard, + a decent bench. UO has more talent, and, more experience as a unit.

Who is Boley going to guard? That player should go off, as Boley is a below average defender... Especially at the 3 position.

Sabally is the matchup that will give UConn fits. But she has to stay out of foul trouble on big games.

I bet on UConn beating Oregon because of coaching. Oregon may have more talent, but I think Geno can neutralize that.

 

[Ex Nutmegger]

I agree with old dude. Everybody else lost a lot of talent with the possible exception of Oregon with Ionescu. And I am confident Geno can devise a defense for her and her posse. I chose zero and say now that it includes the tournament. I think Geno is looking at four or five of the next six NC’s; and his toughest competition - taking one or two of those NC’s - will be Tara.

 

[DaBball]

No doubt Geno & UConn have some challenges to overcome early in the season vs a brutal OOC schedule, but so does everyone else. In Geno & CD’s 30+ years together at UConn, absolutely no one gets their team ready for the season better than UConn. So when I look at the OOC challenges that UConn will face, I come up with 0, where other see losses:

Oregon will certainly be a preseason #1 with all the talent & experience they have, but they have to come all the way across country to play the Huskies, and even most Beaver fans believe Geno will outcoach Graves

Baylor is a powerhouse, but the graduation of Brown & Jackson makes them a much easier team to defend. On the road at UConn, Kim’s teams have always come up short.

Others predict losses to ND, Louisville & SC, all of whom have graduated or lost (transfer) significant talent and experience.

So who’s left to beat UConn? Tennessee?

I have UConn for 0 losses and I’m stickin with my call.

Agreed.

1. Talent and coaching disparities often make for interesting discussions. When we lost to Mississippi State in the Final Four, the talent level wasn't even close. They had two WNBA players in Victoria Vivians and Teaira McCowan, while we had five players who were/are future first round draft picks, as well as Chong. I think Oregon poses some interesting matchups -- Sabally is a mismatch for nearly everyone in the country as a 6-4 wing, Ionescu is just really tough to guard, and Hebard will also be a tough matchup for Nelson-Ododa at this point. It will definitely be something to watch for...Oregon's 5 vs. UConn's 5 and Kelly vs. Geno. I don't think the cal

2. Baylor is certainly much easier to defend without Jackson and Brown, but we are too without Collier and Samuelson. Both teams lose their top 2-3 options, so it'll be interesting to see how Christyn and Megan react to being the opposing defense's top priorities, and same with Cox (without Brown), Cooper, and Smith for Baylor.

3. I sure as heck don't see us losing to Notre Dame this year. It would be a huge disappointment if we did. Not sure if they are on the schedule this year, but Louisville's losses are about equal to UConn's (they lose 39.6 PPG compared to our 39.3 PPG), and our losses are greater than SC's, so while they all lost significant scoring, talent, and experience, we did as well (we didn't lose nearly as much as ND, but we lost about the same as Louisville and South Carolina).

I view the Baylor and Oregon games both as being able to go either way. It may just depend on whose day it is.

 

[LoTrader]

If I read this correct, you just can't see...sorry to hear that.

I wrote this without my readers on.

 

[Carnac]

It would also seem that some are underestimating the teams that UConn will be playing. Nothing wrong with thinking there may be a slip up or two given the amount of talent on other teams.

Right now all we can do is guess based on what UConn has returning and what other teams have returning. Suggesting that UConn could lose a couple of games based on what is currently known seems like a far cry from suggesting the program is done for. This is also just a poll for the regular season, so I expect quite a different result—0 losses—if a similar poll were done about the post season.

Bingo!!! That's all we can do (guess/hope) as of today. I'm a seer and I'm getting nothing. We'll have to wait until we can get a sample of games (a minimum or 5) to critique and analyze before we can form an intelligent and informed opinion on our team and the teams on this year's schedule. You can't draw any conclusions from 1-2 games. I like to use five because anyone can have a bad game, like Walker's 4 points against Oklahoma, or a "one-time" career game, like Crystal's 19 against Baylor or Christyn's 28 against ND.

We know who the elite teams are one our schedule, and can guess which ones will put up the most resistance. What we don't know is the starting line-ups, their 6th & 7th players off the bench, or how well they will have jelled by the time they play us. Early season injuries to a starter could also be a factor.

There are simply too many unknowns/variables to to make anything other than a guess at this point. I'd be very interested in the results of similar poll taken at the Christmas break. We'll know whose who at THAT point, and ALL of the unknowns will have answers.

 

[CPD016]

0 = Optimist 1-2 = Realist 3 = Pessimist 4+ = Mod's plead with posters to be civil to one another - To no avail

 

[UConnCat]

UConn v Oregon will be Monday, Feb 3 at Gampel.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

 

[MilfordHusky]

Let's look at it differently. What are the chances that UConn keeps its streak of seasons with 30+ wins? I think we do.

 

[DeeHusky]

Uh 0...cuz I think we win every game before we play them despite who’s coaching or playing on the opposing team. I’m taking my team vs anybody.