Andy Katz AAC 2018-19 Preview

[kobe]

TIL that a team losing its 1st, 2nd and 4th leading scorers and returning one truly good player, who is merely a Sophomore, and adding no impact freshmen or transfers, is supposed to challenge for a league title.

TIL UConn has never finished better than 12-6 in the AAC and Cincinnati has never finished worse than 12-6. #Trolling

 

[HuskyHawk]

TIL UConn has never finished better than 12-6 in the AAC and Cincinnati has never finished worse than 12-6. #Trolling

Irrelevant to what will happen in 2018 and beyond. Those were the Ollie years. They did come with a National Championship.

That said, I am looking forward to playing you guys.

 

[Chief00]

Calhoun inherited Cliff Robinson
Phil Gamble
Tate George
Steve Pikell
Gary Besselink
Jeff King
The problem was the Big East was loaded with better talent
Those were awesome years for the league
Georgetown
Cuse
Nova
Pitt
Seton Hall were great
and even PC was good
Cliff, Phil, Besselink would all be staters
That’s your 3,4,5
Boy would I love to have those guys this year.
Phil & Cliff would be all League
The only guy(s) from this years team that would break into that
starting lineup would be JA and maybe Gilbert. Vitiate off the bench

Cliff was obviously really good, but I think you are overrating Phil.

 

[kobe]

Irrelevant to what will happen in 2018 and beyond. Those were the Ollie years. They did come with a National Championship.

That said, I am looking forward to playing you guys.

Kevin Ollie is a great man. Never should have been let go, IMO.

 

[Marat]

Kevin Ollie is a great man. Never should have been let go, IMO.

Being a great man and a great coach are two different things, and we need to get back to being UConn.

 

[Huskybass]

Being a great man and a great coach are two different things, and we need to get back to being UConn.

I think you are missing the point. Remember, he is a Cincy fan and liked those easy W's.

 

[the Q]

Kevin Ollie is a great man. Never should have been let go, IMO.

You probably wanted him to coach for...32 more years.

 

[GAlawyer]

This is bulletin board material for sure. Expectations within the program, from Coach Hurley down, will not tolerate an 8th place finish in the AAC. We are UConn dammit. The last 2 years were an anomoly - we get back to who we are starting now.

I know it's a partial rebuild, but the cupboard is far from entirely bare, and for 2019 and 2020 recruiting, we can't finish 8th in the American anymore. It's just not an option. You hear about how competitive practices are, and how much effort and hardwork are being stressed more than in the past few years. That can be the difference, with the talent we have, between 8th place and top 4, which is enough to get back into the dance and confirm the narrative that UConn is on the short road back, so everybody better get ready.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Being a great man and a great coach are two different things, and we need to get back to being UConn.

Quite frankly, KO was neither by the end.

 

[BFieldHusky]

TIL UConn has never finished better than 12-6 in the AAC and Cincinnati has never finished worse than 12-6. #Trolling

Yet uconn has 7 tournament wins in 2 NCAA appearances with a national championship while Cincy has 3 wins and no sweet sixteen in that time despite making the tournament every year.

#trolling

 

[Hoophound]

Cliff was obviously really good, but I think you are overrating Phil.

Yeah, I think of Phil as a good shooter that couldn’t really create off the dribble. We could have used him in recent years but he wasn’t a real game changer. Nonetheless, he did get on the covers of magazines and stuff, so he was pretty good and scored some points.

 

[gtcam]

We have sucked badly for several years. Really badly

How many is several? 5, 6, 7?
I don't think so, a couple? yeah

I have no care where folks rank us in the conference
I feel that strongly that UConn will be top 4 - minimum - by the end of the year

 

[gtcam]

TIL UConn has never finished better than 12-6 in the AAC and Cincinnati has never finished worse than 12-6. #Trolling

You don't want to go into that - would you trade 2014 for all of Cinci's GREAT tournament runs?
I thought so

 

[Mokum]

I'm glad we are ranked low. It's motivation for the guys to prove him wrong. We are going yo have to earn that respect again, after the last couple years.

 

[gtcam]

Quite frankly, KO was neither by the end.

Not a great coach by many measurements and not good by many others
BUT you don't know KO, I do, and he is a great person
Enough said about that topic

 

[Huskies4ever]

Not a great coach by many measurements and not good by many others
BUT you don't know KO, I do, and he is a great person
Enough said about that topic

I second that.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

This conference don't look all that bad. It's quite amazing how fast USF and UCF made names for themselves in college athletics. USF feared UCF joining the AAC; guess that's been justified.

The conference strength and even how many we get in will be determined by 12/31/18
The early season is critical. The problem the AAC has is most of the teams with talent lack experience. In early season experienced teams have a big advantage.
Even with that ,I’m predicting no worse than 4th place.

 

[andy34]

until and unless we put something on the court for which bleach, mops, and large squeegees are not needed to remove.

it would take a heart of stone not to laugh

 

[Chief00]

Yeah, I think of Phil as a good shooter that couldn’t really create off the dribble. We could have used him in recent years but he wasn’t a real game changer. Nonetheless, he did get on the covers of magazines and stuff, so he was pretty good and scored some points.

He wasn’t a great defender either but he was a quiet nice guy. I played against him several times even 2 on 2 - nothing stood out. In contrast, Earl could really explode when he wanted to, Jimmy O’Brien was the best passer I ever played with and Cliff had pro written all over him if he could unlearn the off court stuff Earl taugh him. Just Chief keeping it real.

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

Cinncinnati to win the league:

LOL LOL LOL

JMHO take Cicinnati out of the top 3.

Almost as overrated as Michigan State is on the national level (with all the preseason top 10- 15 picks by the "experts").

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Irrelevant to what will happen in 2018 and beyond. Those were the Ollie years. They did come with a National Championship.
Who was that team that was high fiving as we hit the winning shot.
In 2016

Cliff was obviously really good, but I think you are overrating Phil.

I think your unestimating how good the Big East East 1984-87

Cliff was obviously really good, but I think you are overrating Phil.

Really he scored 25 hitting 5 threes
In the win over Ohio State with Cliff in Foul trouble to win the NIT
I believe he was the NIT MVP
Really who on this years team would be a better option at the 3 or 2?

 

[Chief00]

Really he scored 25 hitting 5 threes
In the win over Ohio State with Cliff in Foul trouble to win the NIT
I believe he was the NIT MVP
Really who on this years team would be a better option at the 3 or 2?

He played really well in that game. Maybe he didn’t try real hard in pickup games - yet let’s not overstate things - did he get drafted? And I believe there were more rounds then?

 

[AZHuskiePop]

TIL UConn has never finished better than 12-6 in the AAC and Cincinnati has never finished worse than 12-6. #Trolling

After my brilliant defense of Cinn in the all time basketball tourney . I owe you this:
Not only did our former coach have more wins in the NCAA tourney than all the other teams combined winning in 2014
But we also won the AAC championship in 2016
Something about the other team high fiving as we tied the game and won in the next OT
who was that team?

 

[Burnsbros23]

We had a horrible coach.

If Gilbert is Healthy we have the best back court in the league.

If Hurley can coach we’re a top 4 Team in the league.

 

[lange10]

We had a horrible coach.

If Gilbert is Healthy we have the best back court in the league.

If Hurley can coach we’re a top 4 Team in the league.

Gilbert’s health is the biggest x-factor and it’s not even close. With an incompetent coach but a healthy Alterique, we looked like a tournament team to start last season.

If he can stay healthy I’d project 22-24 wins, whereas if he’s out I think we’ll finish with 16-18 wins.