AP Preseason #3

[The Yakk]

Lol I love this reply in the comments:

"Bulletproof"? Bad choice of words considering the program he plays for

 

[Waquoit]

Lol I love this reply in the comments:
"Bulletproof"? Bad choice of words considering the program he plays for

I guess. But he was quoting Hurley when Dan called his team "bulletproof". Apparently that quote sunk in. Sears is basically saying Dan Hurley talked the talk then walked the walk.

 

[B1GEast]

You don't want to be preseason number 1. Too much pressure for the guys to try to maintain that ranking.

UNC in 09 was the last number 1 preseason team to win a title.

I'd much rather our guys have a chip on their shoulder to go out and prove everybody wrong.

 

[The Yakk]

I guess. But he was quoting Hurley when Dan called his team "bulletproof". Apparently that quote sunk in. Sears is basically saying Dan Hurley talked the talk then walked the walk.

All true, and beside the point.

The commenter was zinging Alabama for having a history of players committing gun murders or bringing the gun to the crime scene or the coach asking Ray Lewis for spiritual guidance to help get the team through the crisis.

The fact that Sears cribbed the word from Hurley doesn't make it any less funny.

 

[FearThePups]

Found an interesting back and forth on the Kansas forum between two fans.

Tony_JHawk said... (original post) Why in hell would he leave UConn for KU? The only way he leaves UConn is if he gets some itch to go to the NBA.
show more

Yeah he ain’t coming here. He’s a Jersey guy. UCONN is close enough. And they’re a blue blood now so whatever.
I’m not sure who we call when Self retires. God?

 

[HooperScooper]

Here's the CBS Sports Top 100 and 1 from Matt Norlander. He has UConn #4 and then a write up on why.

Most others in this scenario wouldn't sniff the top 10, solely because of the amount of unproven players that are going to step into new roles and more prominent tasks in Storrs. But UConn is different. Dan Hurley is even more different than different.

College basketball rankings: CBS Sports Top 100 And 1 best teams for the 2024-25 season

It's time for the biggest preview of 'em all: Matt Norlander's exhaustive ranking of the squads you need to know going into November

www.cbssports.com

 

[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.

Duke just won a true televised exhibition (not secret scrimmage) against Arizona State by 56. Insanely dominant. They went 13/19 from 3 in a stretch in the 2nd half. Defense was suffocating.

 

[Kitaman]

As a blueblood coming into another season with a deep and talented team, we know all too well how wrong preseason polls are pertaining to UConn. Nowadays with a couple more Championships and the best Coach in college basketball, preseason polls are meaningless. (Before it was good for recruiting, publicity, respect, etc.).

Just saying our UConn brand always polls best in post season polls. To me #3 is actually disrespectful to Clingan, Castle, Newton and Cam yet super respectful to Hurley. The Hurley effect.

 

[jleves]

Found an interesting back and forth on the Kansas forum between two fans.

Yeah he ain’t coming here. He’s a Jersey guy. UCONN is close enough. And they’re a blue blood now so whatever.
I’m not sure who we call when Self retires. God?

That link in you post is ridiculously fun to read.

 

[bendm]

Duke just won a true televised exhibition (not secret scrimmage) against Arizona State by 56. Insanely dominant. They went 13/19 from 3 in a stretch in the 2nd half. Defense was suffocating.

KU got smacked in an exhibition against Arkansas (without Dickinson) but Arkansas didn’t have Aidoo either. I was always most worried about Bama then Duke

 

[AntG168]

Duke just won a true televised exhibition (not secret scrimmage) against Arizona State by 56. Insanely dominant. They went 13/19 from 3 in a stretch in the 2nd half. Defense was suffocating.

Arizona St is also terrible

 

[auror]

Arizona St is also terrible

Most likely. But they're top 75 in both KenPom and Torvik and #100 exactly in Miya in the pre-season, so they're not expected to be DePaul bad. Even still, it's hard to beat a 300th+ ranked team by 50, let alone a potential top 100 team. It's a testament to Duke's depth that they staved off any rubber-band effect.

 

[caw]

Most likely. But they're top 75 in both KenPom and Torvik and #100 exactly in Miya in the pre-season, so they're not expected to be DePaul bad. Even still, it's hard to beat a 300th+ ranked team by 50, let alone a potential top 100 team. It's a testament to Duke's depth that they staved off any rubber-band effect.

On paper Duke reminds me of the UK teams with the twins and Davis, deep and talented. I need to watch them in a real game to get a better idea of how they play.

Were they pressing the entire game? Wondering if Scheyer is taking after K in terms of pressing teams they think are worse to run up the score. Made it super hard to judge them until they ran into a quality team.

 

[gtcam]

You don't want to be preseason number 1. Too much pressure for the guys to try to maintain that ranking.

UNC in 09 was the last number 1 preseason team to win a title.

I'd much rather our guys have a chip on their shoulder to go out and prove everybody wrong.

Without being preseason #1 this team has the hugest target on them in years due to the back to back. Thats a great thing.

 

[Iluvsuebird]

Uconn should be number 1 until we lose. I get that we lost A LOT of production but this degree of dominance should have some carryover in the rankings.

You realize that your take makes no sense, right? Hypothetically speaking, if we were returning Cam, Clingan, to go with Alex, Has and Samson, we would expect to be voted #1 because of the returning players. Well, that's exactly what Alabama and Kansas have. They are returning more valuable assets than we are. That said, who gives a s---. What matters is the last poll, not the first.

 

[aceboon]

Duke is gonna be a problem, they're built much differently than their previous 2 teams under Scheyer

 

[3rdbass]

Duke is gonna be a problem, they're built much differently than their previous 2 teams under Scheyer

I hoping you aren't basing this by killing Arizona State in a pre-season game. I'm sill not sold on Scheyer as being a good coach. I need to see more even if the talent is best he has had since being the coach.

 

[aceboon]

I hoping you aren't basing this by killing Arizona State in a pre-season game. I'm sill not sold on Scheyer as being a good coach. I need to see more even if the talent is best he has had since being the coach.

I'm basing it off of actually looking at their roster

 

[3rdbass]

I'm basing it off of actually looking at their roster

Yeah but still until the coach proves he can coach I'm not picking them to be a real competitor to win it all. How about all those Kentucky teams with all those great rosters. Where did they get with Calipari as coach. He is a better coach than Scheyer is presently and he didn't really win or get to a lot of finals recently.

 

[3rdbass]

Duke just won a true televised exhibition (not secret scrimmage) against Arizona State by 56. Insanely dominant. They went 13/19 from 3 in a stretch in the 2nd half. Defense was suffocating.

When has the last time Arizona State been relevant and it was still a exhibition? Too many quick takes on the BY for my tastes.

 

[bballgrda]

Yeah but still until the coach proves he can coach I'm not picking them to be a real competitor to win it all. How about all those Kentucky teams with all those great rosters. Where did they get with Calipari as coach. He is a better coach than Scheyer is presently and he didn't really win or get to a lot of finals recently.

They won when they had a generational talent in Anthony Davis. Duke with Flagg is definitely scary.

 

[tzznandrew]

Where did they get with Calipari as coach.

1 National Championship
4 Final Fours
7 Elite Eights
8 Sweet Sixteens

Not what he should have done, especially after 2015, but, um, they were almost always really good and four Final Fours and a National Title is nothing to sneeze at.

 

[Tenspro2002]

1 National Championship
4 Final Fours
7 Elite Eights
8 Sweet Sixteens

Not what he should have done, especially after 2015, but, um, they were almost always really good and four Final Fours and a National Title is nothing to sneeze at.

The start of his Kentucky tenure was incredible. 4 Final Fours in 6 years.

Then they were consistently in contention but couldn't get over the top.

Since the pandemic they've been awful in March and not exactly the face of the sport the rest of the year either.

 

[auror]

When has the last time Arizona State been relevant and it was still a exhibition? Too many quick takes on the BY for my tastes.

Dan's brother is the coach. They won a game in the NCAA tournament the year before last.

 

[navery12]

Yeah but still until the coach proves he can coach I'm not picking them to be a real competitor to win it all. How about all those Kentucky teams with all those great rosters. Where did they get with Calipari as coach. He is a better coach than Scheyer is presently and he didn't really win or get to a lot of finals recently.

Like for example Jon Scheyer making the Elite 8 in his 2nd year as coach, with a roster significantly less talented than this year? That seems like a good example of a guy who can coach