Andy Katz (from espn chat) says, sweet 16 would be good

[Marat]

2:13 PM

Andy Katz
The inside game in 2011 was better for UConn and the overall field was not as strong. I don't see a similar run for the Huskies. Getting to the second weekend by leaning heavily on Shabazz would be quite a coup for this crew.


Agree or Disagree?

As much as I want to disagree, based on our expected seeding of 4-7 it will be a tough matchup in game 2 having to face a team of the caliber of LVille/SMU/Cincy.... So winning that will not be easy, just to get to the second weekend. I'm not sure I agree with the field not being as strong in 2011, as now. If the team gets hot, runs thru the AAC tournament then I would be disappointed with just making it to the sweet 16, though.

 

[djct1999]

The overall field was not as strong in 2011? Who is that good this year? On any night this team could beat anyone in the country. As long as UConn plays hard on defense for a full 40, Bazz gives us his all, and someone like DD, Boat, Niels, or Kromah step up offensively, they can go far.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

Obviously a lot hinges on our seeding, but at the moment I would be happy reaching the Sweet 16. Note, being happy now with reaching the Sweet 16 won't prevent me from going on some kind of tirade here in the BY after we finally lose.

 

[metsfan2323]

Our point guard is our leading rebounder which is a major flaw. Anything after one win is gravy. I do hope we get some gravy.

 

[Jerry1714]

The overall field was not as strong in 2011? Who is that good this year? On any night this team could beat anyone in the country. As long as UConn plays hard on defense for a full 40, Bazz gives us his all, and someone like DD, Boat, Niels, or Kromah step up offensively, they can go far.

I think that KU team in 2011 was better then any team in this field.

Facing UK and Butler as opposed to Ohio St and KU in the final four was a blessing. Not sure the bracket can break that way again.

But there are strong teams this year, Florida, KU, Witchita and Zona are all strong.

I think the overall depth in this field is stronger, there are a lot of solid teams this year, not so much in 2011.

 

[Fishy]

The "field" is lousy this year.

We're talking about Syracuse as a #2 seed and they haven't scored more than 62 points in over a month.

But the killer for UConn is that eventually, the shots won't fall and the front court's inability to rebound will be fatal.

Sweet Sixteen would be a good result - anything past that this year is gravy.

 

[Penfield]

All this talk of gravy is making me hungry.

 

[tcf15]

Here's Lunardi's bracketology from today:

http://espn.go.com/ncb/bracketology

 

[SubbaBub]

The "field" is lousy this year.

We're talking about Syracuse as a #2 seed and they haven't scored more than 62 points in over a month.

But the killer for UConn is that eventually, the shots won't fall and the front court's inability to rebound will be fatal.

Sweet Sixteen would be a good result - anything past that this year is gravy.

Assuming that round of 16 game isn't against a certain private school from southern Canada, winning two NCAA games with essentially half a squad is pretty good.

 

[Jerry1714]

The "field" is lousy this year.

We're talking about Syracuse as a #2 seed and they haven't scored more than 62 points in over a month.

But the killer for UConn is that eventually, the shots won't fall and the front court's inability to rebound will be fatal.

Sweet Sixteen would be a good result - anything past that this year is gravy.

My guess is you have no memory of the field in 2011.

A 8 loss UNC team was a 2. ND was a 2 seed.

A Cuse team who got beat by over 20 by Seton Hall was a 3.

Do you remember how bad that Gtown team who had 11 loses was? They were a 6.

There was a reason these teams all got bounced early by mid majors. They were not good.

 

[CAHUSKY]

Im still flabbergasted we haven't tried to force feed Amida and Phil in the post more often. I realize they are both offensive liabilities but in the rare instances we run plays for them we have had some success. Without them providing at least a tiny bit of offense its going to be damn near impossible to move beyond the sweet 16 unless we shoot 60% from three.

 

[imno1]

The "field" is lousy this year.

We're talking about Syracuse as a #2 seed and they haven't scored more than 62 points in over a month.

But the killer for UConn is that eventually, the shots won't fall and the front court's inability to rebound will be fatal.

Sweet Sixteen would be a good result - anything past that this year is gravy.

Completely agree but I think more than our inability to rebound is the inability of our bigs to score. Because if the 3's ain't falling we have no option

 

[Husky25]

I think in order to reach the Elite 8 and provided UConn is not a 3 seed or higher (a probability which doesn't current look good) then a 6 seed would oddly be ideal this year.

Being a 7 or 8 seed means a 1 or 2 seeded opponent on the first weekend. A 4 or 5 seed means a 1 seed opponent in the Sweet 16. I think UConn can absolutely take care of a 3 seed which, if bared out in the rankings, is theoretically a 9-12 ranked opponent.

I agree with Andy Katz. The Sweet 16 is attainable. Anything more is gravy. What a shame, really, considering I though this team had Final 4 potential back in the preseason.

 

[Penfield]

My guess is you have no memory of the field in 2011.

A 8 loss UNC team was a 2. ND was a 2 seed.

A Cuse team who got beat by over 20 by Seton Hall was a 3.

Do you remember how bad that Gtown team who had 11 loses was? They were a 6.

There was a reason these teams all got bounced early by mid majors. They were not good.

There was a 3 seed w/ 9 losses!

 

[metsfan2323]

I really like the play Samuel is giving us (fearless, aggressive, smart) and he looks like he is full of gravy. Maybe the solution to having weak bigs is to play small ball and pick up the tempo. Some old school Husky fast break with Samuel driving and dishing. More Samuel means more gravy.

 

[aceboon]

Im still flabbergasted we haven't tried to force feed Amida and Phil in the post more often. I realize they are both offensive liabilities but in the rare instances we run plays for them we have had some success. Without them providing at least a tiny bit of offense its going to be damn near impossible to move beyond the sweet 16 unless we shoot 60% from three.

Bigger issue is Boat and DeAndre. Omar's struggles are somewhat masked by Kromah and the improvement of Giffey, but I think all of us pretty much expected Boat and DeAndre to be consistent dbl figure scorers, and that really hasn't been the case. If we could rely on a somewhat efficient 12-15pts from the both of them game in and game out, especially against good teams, I don't think anyone would be talking about the lack of scoring from Nolan or Brimah, two guys who we knew weren't going to be scorers for us going into this year.

 

[businesslawyer]

I think in order to reach the Elite 8 and provided UConn is not a 3 seed or higher (a probability which doesn't current look good) then a 6 seed would oddly be ideal this year.

Being a 7 or 8 seed means a 1 or 2 seeded opponent on the first weekend. A 4 or 5 seed means a 1 seed opponent in the Sweet 16. I think UConn can absolutely take care of a 3 seed which, if bared out in the rankings, is theoretically a 9-12 ranked opponent.

I agree with Andy Katz. The Sweet 16 is attainable. Anything more is gravy. What a shame, really, considering I though this team had Final 4 potential back in the preseason.

It still all comes down to DD. I thought we had Final Four potential pre-season as well, but I assumed DD would be marginally better than the DD that finished off last year. Not significantly not as good.

 

[tzznandrew]

My guess is you have no memory of the field in 2011.

A 8 loss UNC team was a 2. ND was a 2 seed.

A Cuse team who got beat by over 20 by Seton Hall was a 3.

Do you remember how bad that Gtown team who had 11 loses was? They were a 6.

There was a reason these teams all got bounced early by mid majors. They were not good.

UNC was a 7 loss team when they were seeded. A 7 loss team that won 18 of its last 20, went 14-2 in the ACC, made it to the ACC finals, and lost to Duke. They went from 7-4 in late December to 26-6 in the ACC title game in March. That's a hell of a run.

Notre Dame was 14-4 in a Big East that had 11 NCAA teams. They had a number of really good wins, including a season sweep of the future champs.

That Georgetown that had a 6 seed was 20-5 before a major injury, and went into the tournament at 21-10. They had the #1 SOS according to the RPI. A 6-seed is a perfectly reasonable seed for them.

And Syracuse went in at 26-7, with some a number of big wins. I mean, sure, they lost to Seton Hall badly, but we've had good teams beaten badly by poor wons, doesn't mean they aren't good team deserving of their seed.

 

[ctchamps]

Am i reading it wrong. He says getting to the second weekend would be quite a coup. Doesn't that mean he thinks winning the first game isn't a given? And doesn't that mean, in his opinion, that winning one game in the NCAA's would be better than expected for this team?

 

[Wise2]

Am i reading it wrong. He says getting to the second weekend would be quite a coup. Doesn't that mean he thinks winning the first game isn't a given? And doesn't that mean, in his opinion, that winning one game in the NCAA's would be better than expected for this team?

To get to t second weekend, you need to win two games. So, it would be an accomplishment to get to the sweet 16, not the round of 32

 

[jibsey]

Last night we were abused down low on both offense and defense by Rutgers. Love the players on this team but that's been this year's weakness and reality, so being hopeful rather than expecting.

 

[champs99and04]

Bigger issue is Boat and DeAndre. Omar's struggles are somewhat masked by Kromah and the improvement of Giffey, but I think all of us pretty much expected Boat and DeAndre to be consistent dbl figure scorers, and that really hasn't been the case. If we could rely on a somewhat efficient 12-15pts from the both of them game in and game out, especially against good teams, I don't think anyone would be talking about the lack of scoring from Nolan or Brimah, two guys who we knew weren't going to be scorers for us going into this year.

If you had told me before the season that Omar would shoot 31% and be a complete non-factor, Boatright would tailspin to 12 a game on 39% shooting, and DeAndre would be virtually the exact same player he was last season, I would have figured we'd be heading to the NIT. I mean, I thought we had a legitimate big four before the season, and that any of them were capable of going for 25 on any given night. Yet here we are in March, and three of them have been wildly inconsistent, with just one 25+ point game between them.

All of this just demonstrates what a great job KO has done to have the team at 24-6.

 

[Husky25]

To get to t second weekend, you need to win two games. So, it would be an accomplishment to get to the sweet 16, not the round of 32

Technically, a team needs to win at least 3 games to get to the second weekend, seeing as the Sweet 16 games are played on Thursday/Friday.

 

[James]

Who are these teams with terrific interior play ? We are 2-0 against Memphis , probably the one of best interior game in the country. Most teams have 6'6 - 6'7 guys down there.
Boatright has continued his enigmatic play . The guy trends upwards , then takes a serious step back. DD is also lost and that really hurts. our ceiling is higher than a sweet sixteen given how well we defend , also having an AA.

 

[James]

It's a dead horse but dd not bothering lifting this offseason has hurt our growth. Have it on first hand all he did was play pick up