AP Preseason #3

[Son of Robert]

That's a solid top ten.

 

[superjohn]

clingan ain't walkin' back through the doors of Gampel this year. It's not fair to expect this team to be as good as last year, DH has said as much.

It doesn't have to be bur people were saying the same thing heading into last season.

 

[uh-no]

It doesn't have to be bur people were saying the same thing heading into last season.

People were dumb. I hope I'm dumb again this year.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

ACC with just 2? Dean Smith must be turning over in his grave.

They’re both in the top 10 though, Big East has only 1 in the top 10 with the other two way down at 15 and 18.

 

[Scoe]

The number makes sense for what our goal is, number 3 in preseason going for a 3 peat.

 

[giddyup]

Every year the B1G flops with 8,9.10 teams in the tourney. Fascinating.

 

[Ports21]

How is Hunter Dickinson still eligible?

 

[auror]

Kansas, Alabama, and Duke have 3 of the most on paper talent loaded rosters I can recall. Duke and Kansas learned from their mistakes from last year. Alabama has been building to this. We've got talent, but taking x's and o's out of it, we're not as loaded as that group.

But scheme and program infrastructure is going to put us in that conversation.

 

[Gurleyman]

My thing with Storr is I am averse to wing scorers who can’t pass (he averages less than an assist per game). You can’t win with guys who have the ball in their hands a lot and can’t/don’t make plays for their teammates. Offense becomes too predictable.

 

[Platt81]

clingan ain't walkin' back through the doors of Gampel this year. It's not fair to expect this team to be as good as last year, DH has said as much.

As Hurley said, they don’t need to be as good as last year to win the title. Not being as good as last year doesn’t mean that they’re still not better than everyone else.

 

[auggie22]

They’re both in the top 10 though, Big East has only 1 in the top 10 with the other two way down at 15 and 18.

ACC has 18 teams and two are ranked. No way to spin it.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Preseason doesn't mean much. I think #3 is fine. If anything they've learned that Hurley will get the team together and it will be more than the sum of its parts. No real complaints about the rankings, some teams will surprise to the upside and some to the downside. Always happens.

 

[HuskyHawk]

ACC has 18 teams and two are ranked. No way to spin it.

They can fix that very easily.

 

[auggie22]

They can fix that very easily.

I’m ready when they are.

 

[temery]

As Hurley said, they don’t need to be as good as last year to win the title. Not being as good as last year doesn’t mean that they’re still not better than everyone else.

Returning players need to be at least as good as last year.

 

[aceboon]

Maybe but Mayo hasn't done it yet at high d1 level...Storr has that Caleb Love gene where they have a 99/100 on the confidence slider but 13/100 on team concept. Very dangerous combo, both good and bad. Can shoot teams out of late game situations a lot.

Mccullar couldn't shoot either but he was a Swiss army type, somewhat like AJax was. That's a big piece to miss and they better really really really hope that Elmarko takes a step and the transfers get it done because their team last year was unbelievably bad at shooting.

Jackson is out for the entire year and with the portal additions they've added he wasn't going to be a make or break player for them anyway

 

[Tenspro2002]

Well we lost 3 starters after 2022-2023 and we went on to be the most dominant tournament team ever in 2023-2024.

We were bringing back Newton, Karaban, and Clingan, which was two starters and a third guy who everyone acknowledged was starting-caliber. We added top 10 recruit Castle. The question mark was Spencer and the bench. Spencer turned out to be a perfect fit and the bench was good enough given how elite and well-composed our starting lineup was.

This year we're trying to elevate bench guys to two starting guard positions, or possibly Mahaney (poor man's Spencer), and hoping that Johnson or Reed is up to the task at center (much bigger question mark than Clingan). Karaban is Karaban. McNeeley should be the real deal. But that's like 3 spots you're having to project and making up for it with depth, which isn't important as the quality of your first 5.

I just find it funny that we're ranked more highly to start 2024, even though we ostensibly have more question marks. I guess chalk it up to the respect that Hurley/UConn is (finally) getting.

 

[AntG168]

Kansas, Alabama, and Duke have 3 of the most on paper talent loaded rosters I can recall. Duke and Kansas learned from their mistakes from last year. Alabama has been building to this. We've got talent, but taking x's and o's out of it, we're not as loaded as that group.

But scheme and program infrastructure is going to put us in that conversation.

You’re judging this purely off of HS rankings.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

You’re judging this purely off of HS rankings.

That’s offen how talent is evaluated, yes.

Kansas just outright is probably the most talented team, regardless of recruit rankings.

 

[7774]

You’re judging this purely off of HS rankings.

Yeah that’s what talent on paper means.

 

[AntG168]

That’s offen how talent is evaluated, yes.

Kansas just outright is probably the most talented team, regardless of recruit rankings.

Thats how lazy talent evaluation is done.

Also my comment wasn’t based on his inclusion of Kansas or Bama. But rather his mention of Duke. Saying they’re more “talented” is as stupid as Goodman saying Indiana was “just as talented”

 

[AntG168]

Yeah that’s what talent on paper means.

Not when you have proven college guys who are mid. And proven guys who are champions. We have enough information about college guys on both teams so that we don’t have to use HS rankings

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Thats how lazy talent evaluation is done.

Also my comment wasn’t based on his inclusion of Kansas or Bama. But rather his mention of Duke. Saying they’re more “talented” is as stupid as Goodman saying Indiana was “just as talented”

That last statement is patently false. Cooper Flagg is more talented than anyone we have, by a pretty large margin. Talent doesn’t always win as we know. But Duke probably has a more talented team than us. They don’t have as talented a coach or staff though, which matters as well.

 

[uconnfan68]

Easy enough.

Sets up nicely for two games in Providence and East Regional at Prudential Center.

Duke and UNC are other high ranked east coast schools and the committe is going to put at least one of them in Raleigh.

Put NC teams in NC? They wouldn’t do that, would they?

 

[UCan3]

I was hoping we’d be unranked.

There may be an unranked team now that has us in their sights…. Like we did just a couple years ago… Disrespected and ready to prove everyone wrong…

We have to keep up the intensity no matter who we’re playing - think we’ll see tonight how far we have to go in that regard.