Are we losing our Prestige as a Program?

[nomar]

Coming off of 10 #1/#2 seeds in 16 years, our NCAA Tournament seeds have been:

None
3
9
None (would have been around 8/9 without ban)
7
None
9

It's been papered over by 2 great months (and some early-season magic in 2011), but on the whole we've been very mediocre.

Other than that, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?

Look, we haven't had the regular season performances that we got used to in the 1990s and early 2000s for a long time. It started even before the BE died and JC left. We were never like Kansas, winning the regular season title year after year. What our team did was rally and win when it mattered. That was the pattern under JC, and it looked to be the pattern under KO. I can't sugarcoat the season so far. It's a disaster. If it wasn't this horrific, we wouldn't be seeing so much panty-wetting. But this team is young and it still controls its own fate.

We're still getting good recruits. Luckily they don't view this program the way this group of fans does.

 

[JimHurley]

Short answer, yes. Prestigious program don't go through these bad stretches like us. We haven't had a great team since 13-14. I still think we're a top 10-15 program of all time but as of right now, not on the same level as Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, Arizona, etc.

 

[Tenspro2002]

We were never like Kansas, winning the regular season title year after year. What our team did was rally and win when it mattered. That was the pattern under JC, and it looked to be the pattern under KO.

This is just too simplistic, and misleading.

JC won 10 regular season conference titles in the 90's and 00's. We garnered a #1 or #2 seed 10 times in 16 years, a reflection of our regular season performance. We used to dominate the regular season and perform to expectations in the postseason.

This narrative about how we've always been a mediocre regular-season program that came through in the clutch is bogus. It's been true twice this decade, but this is far more the exception than the rule.

Moreover, going forward we're not going to be relevant much longer if we're continually mediocre from November through February and hope to catch lightning in a bottle in March. That's not a strategy or an MO, it's wishful thinking.

 

[nomar]

This is just too simplistic, and misleading.

JC won 10 regular season conference titles in the 90's and 00's. We garnered a #1 or #2 seed 10 times in 16 years, a reflection of our regular season performance. We used to dominate the regular season and perform to expectations in the postseason.

This narrative about how we've always been a mediocre regular-season program that came through in the clutch is bogus. It's been true twice this decade, but this is far more the exception than the rule.

Moreover, going forward we're not going to be relevant much longer if we're continually mediocre from November through February and hope to catch lightning in a bottle in March. That's not a strategy or an MO, it's wishful thinking.

I don't disagree with your ultimate point. I don't think anyone would. I do have a problem with you saying I made a misleading comment when you ignored and/or omitted the first sentence of my post, which read:

Look, we haven't had the regular season performances that we got used to in the 1990s and early 2000s for a long time.

I didn't say we've always been Comeback Kids, and I didn't say that our recent pattern isn't a problem. I just pointed out that there has been a pattern for a while. While it may not be the best--everybody would rather win 25+ regular season games every year--it's better than starting strongly and tailing off.

All this is to say that (a) we shouldn't write off this team because of the horrific start and (b) UConn isn't any doomed more than it was 5 years ago when everybody previously announced the death knell of the UConn basketball program. We have good recruits and whatever anyone may say about KO's coaching, he's continuing to get good recruits. I'm not being Pollyannish: this team stinks right now, and our conference stinks now and forever.

We faced and survived JC's retirement and the death of the Big East. Losing to two s----- teams isn't going to destroy the program.

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

We still have a target on our back to some extent. Our quality of competition has lowered which contributes to that, but we still earn respect around the country (atleast up until Friday).

Our team is built differently now. We used to base our play on bigs that take over games, dominate the glass and intimidate opponents (which was the nature of the vintage almighty Big East). Now we are seen as a program that produces elite guards, which leads to higher profile guards looking at our program, while elite bigs are harder to find now. I still think we are left with the front court we have now partly due to our sanctions a few years back and the fact Brimah was our only option. After all, we were ready to replace Brimah with a guy (Brown) who had as much upside as Okafor, Thabeet, etc., but we got unlucky because he's a headcase.

I still think we can bring prestige back, we aren't too far gone.