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

[Jerry1714]

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.

I do not disagree that ND deserved a 2 seed, but that was not a team who looked like a typical 2. Do they have one guy who plays in the league?

That was my point, these teams no doubt deserved their seed but their records was a product of the rest of the teams were just not that good. Like being the tallest midget.

2011 was seen as a down year for the sport from the start of the season. This year definitely has a better crop of teams.

 

[ctchamps]

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

Duh! Brain gas. So he doesn't think the odds are great that UConn gets to the sweet 16 and if they do that would be an accomplishment. I read a post or two in which the posters feel a sweet sixteen game is attainable and that Andy agrees with them.

 

[aceboon]

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.

Yea I really don't understand posters harping on our lack of post offense. Obviously it would nice to have a Cam Bairstow to dump it into the post, but as much as Alex O's 2011 performance gets pumped up on here, we reached a Final 4 with him scoring 9, 4, 5, and 7 points in the West bracket tourney games. Obviously he was a force on the boards and defensively, but we weren't getting anything in the post from him or Chuck. But we did have the best player in the country who could switch from PG to SG(like what we have now), and a dynamic scoring wing as his sidekick. We're 24-6 without a reliable 2nd scoring option to Bazz, its amazing to think what this team could look like if DD could operate @ 75% of what he did vs Memphis or the closing stretch of last season on a consistent basis, or if Boat didn't have to labor to score 10 points completely out of the flow of the offense. Focusing on non scorers is a waste of time, its the guys who can score who aren't living up to their potential that are holding back the team.

 

[HuskyHawk]

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.

And you can expect something similar this year. Aside from Arizona, Florida and KU if they play as they can, nobody is very good. They can all be beat. UConn relies too much on oustide shooting, so the odds are they they will have a bad shooting game at some point.

 

[Jerry1714]

And you can expect something similar this year. Aside from Arizona, Florida and KU if they play as they can, nobody is very good. They can all be beat. UConn relies too much on oustide shooting, so the odds are they they will have a bad shooting game at some point.

I would not say nobody is very good, but I agree UConn can beat anyone. Right matchups and the team can make a run.

 

[aceboon]

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

if true that's pretty disappointing and he is only hurting his own future pro prospects. I chalked it up to genetics but when you see how some of other thin framed guys have progressed with their bodies, Nolan, Lamb, Roscoe now with UNLV, DD sticks out as the only one who hasn't put on any noticeable muscle.

 

[Palatine]

A UConn basketball season starts at the Sweet Sixteen.

 

[breezy]

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

How did the staff possibly allow him to not lift daily.

 

[ctchamps]

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

Interesting because it was reported that he worked out a lot off season.

 

[mauconnfan]

Match ups are key……….for instance I don't like this weekends I'd rather play Cuse, Wisconsin and so many others who will be higher seeds that LVille……..

For our '14 version it's all about match ups Jerry is right………plus they have to shoot the ball as well as last night but dig in harder on D than they did last night…….shoot it like last night and play D like Cincy (every play) and they'll make us proud no matter!

 

[Wise2]

Match ups are key……….for instance I don't like this weekends I'd rather play Cuse, Wisconsin and so many others who will be higher seeds that LVille……..

For our '14 version it's all about match ups Jerry is right………plus they have to shoot the ball as well as last night but dig in harder on D than they did last night…….shoot it like last night and play D like Cincy (every play) and they'll make us proud no matter!

Exactly. The difference between the SMU game and last night was Bazz 3 point shooting. If he shot like that against SMU, we proably win that game. Likewise, if he shot poorly last night the outcome might have been different and we would be killing this team for not playing defense and letting Rutgers shoot almost 50%

 

[HuskyHawk]

I would not say nobody is very good, but I agree UConn can beat anyone. Right matchups and the team can make a run.

Nobody is good like 99 Duke and UConn, who would cut through this field, or even 04 UConn. Part of that is the change in the game and the number of one and done's. Kansas has loads of talent, but little experience. Wichita State is the opposite.

I sometimes think we under-appreciate the effect of our experience. Our best player is a senior, our second most talented player DD is a junior and two more seniors (Giff, Kromah) and a junior in Boat get major minutes. Three guys have NC rings.

 

[Jerry1714]

Match ups are key……….for instance I don't like this weekends I'd rather play Cuse, Wisconsin and so many others who will be higher seeds that LVille……..

For our '14 version it's all about match ups Jerry is right………plus they have to shoot the ball as well as last night but dig in harder on D than they did last night…….shoot it like last night and play D like Cincy (every play) and they'll make us proud no matter!

LVille is a team I would definitely love to avoid. Given we are in the same conference we would have to until the sweet 16 right?

As bad as UK can look I would prefer not to see them given their size and the fact they are #1 in offensive rebounding %. Texas too.

Cuse, Nova, St. Louis, Michigan yes please.

 

[Jerry1714]

Nobody is good like 99 Duke and UConn, who would cut through this field, or even 04 UConn. Part of that is the change in the game and the number of one and done's. Kansas has loads of talent, but little experience. Wichita State is the opposite.

I sometimes think we under-appreciate the effect of our experience. Our best player is a senior, our second most talented player DD is a junior and two more seniors (Giff, Kromah) and a junior in Boat get major minutes. Three guys have NC rings.

Definitely agree, but I do not think we see teams like that again under the current NBA entry rules, unless we get a rare team like Florida in 2007 who loves college and decides to come back and do it again.

Experience is huge, thats why teams like Florida and Wisky are dangerous

 

[DCUconnfan]

Granted this changes much more frequently than Lunardi's brackets, and while it's anybody's guess as to each and every game in the tournament, based on the current CBS bracketology ( http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/bracketology ) (5th seed in the East) I would be disappointed if we didn't make the Sweet 16. Tough teams, yes. But all teams we should be able to beat to get to 16, if not 8. So much comes down to how the bracket breaks down, however, so who knows.

*note this post is only relevant as of March 6th or up until CBS changes their brackets again

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

And you can expect something similar this year. Aside from Arizona, Florida and KU if they play as they can, nobody is very good. They can all be beat. UConn relies too much on oustide shooting, so the odds are they they will have a bad shooting game at some point.

We've been getting the bad shooting games out of the way recently perhaps?

 

[James]

Interesting because it was reported that he worked out a lot off season.

Daniels has not made it a priority , like how Giffey did in Germany. Or boat. Dd would lift , but weight training takes a lot if dedication. Can't just show up once a week.

 

[James]

if true that's pretty disappointing and he is only hurting his own future pro prospects. I chalked it up to genetics but when you see how some of other thin framed guys have progressed with their bodies, Nolan, Lamb, Roscoe now with UNLV, DD sticks out as the only one who hasn't put on any noticeable muscle.

Yeap . It's pretty obvious. he could easily get wirey strong. His inability to establish offense or defense rebounding position is sad. Maybe he didn't plan on banging down low his college career, that's speculative though .

 

[CTBasketball]

DD lifting lol.

 

[BoatShow]

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.

Actually saw this a bit last night, even DD had a few nice lowpost moves for buckets. RU's frontcourt leaves a lot to be desired though. The issue with feeding AB and Phil is that AB doesn't have the footwork (yet) and Phil has a bad case of "I'm gonna take a power dribble and load for a huge dunk even though I'm wide open and let the defense come to alter the shot." If DD sticks on the block and we find a way to feed AB and Phil for a combined 8 shots and 6 of them fall I'll be very happy.

 

[tzznandrew]

If DD sticks on the block and we find a way to feed AB and Phil for a combined 8 shots and 6 of them fall I'll be very happy.

That's shooting 75%. I'd be more than very happy. If they hit 4 of them, I'd be pretty happy.

 

[BoatShow]

LVille is a team I would definitely love to avoid. Given we are in the same conference we would have to until the sweet 16 right?

As bad as UK can look I would prefer not to see them given their size and the fact they are #1 in offensive rebounding %. Texas too.

Cuse, Nova, St. Louis, Michigan yes please.

We played Cincy in the round of 32 in '11. They count the play in games as round 1. Conference foes can meet in the round of 32 which is now considered the third round.

 

[BoatShow]

That's shooting 75%. I'd be more than very happy. If they hit 4 of them, I'd be pretty happy.

Well yeah but I'm talking like lobs or Boat/Bazz/Tsam driving drawing the defender and dishing.

 

[ctchamps]

Daniels has not made it a priority , like how Giffey did in Germany. Or boat. Dd would lift , but weight training takes a lot if dedication. Can't just show up once a week.

UConn hired a new conditioning staff. The football posters have been pointing out a supposed big difference in conditioning with the football players vs. last season. Are these conditioning trainers handling the bb players as well?

 

[CTBasketball]

UConn hired a new conditioning staff. The football posters have been pointing out a supposed big difference in conditioning with the football players vs. last season. Are these conditioning trainers handling the bb players as well?

Conditioning is completely different than strength training. DD needs to hit the gym 6 times a week and consume protein like he's on Jersey Shore. That will build mass.