At this point, what will you consider a successful season?

[JoeyBuckets]

The standard is winning championships. Big East or NCAA. Thats the standard our coach has built. Anything less is an unsuccessful season.

 

[ValleyGuy]

I'm nervous about playing Nova tomorrow.

Haha they’re coming into a lions den. hope the XL has the guys backs tomorrow night

 

[HCCForever]

It's the difference between facing Auburn/Duke/Alabama/Florida vs facing Tenn/Houston/Purdue/Texas A&M. Neither group is enticing, but if firing on all cylinders, we could take out a couple in that 2nd group.

Houston would be a tough game the way UConn handles the ball and pressure. I'm still hopeful of getting to the second weekend but the team needs to get it together.

 

[RuffRuff]

The standard is winning championships. Big East or NCAA. Thats the standard our coach has built. Anything less is an unsuccessful season.

Eh, have to be fair. Go look at Calhoun's run and tell me how many of the teams after his NC's made a dent. Most of them went kerplunk. Dude is a HOF coach.

I hope they finish strong within reason, maybe surprise us. Just don't want anything that that looks like a dysfunctional flame out that tarnishes the recruiting equity he's built with the 2 NC teams. The narratives are already bubbling, let's not feed those to a point they can be used against us in the recruiting wars. Right now I think top kids are willing to come here at a potential discount because they think they are going to have the best chance to win and turn into NBA players. If that starts looking like a mirage, would be bad. One rough season won't hurt much, but you don't want to reduce your room for future error. We need to keep our advantages over the power conference teams any way we can get them, and right now it's being a NBA development and NC factory. Can't lose momentum.

 

[Monte]

Make the Final Four

 

[NJHusky]

At this point, getting to 20 wins

 

[gtcam]

And two games we lost bc of refs who decided to swallow whistles. Very odd that we lost both of them but we have some very good wins. They care about who you can beat.

why do they eat their whistles?
That's the real question

 

[gtcam]

The Big East is down to 2 teams in the Top 25 with UConn and Creighton both dropping out. At this point I can't even try to predict how those games will go for UConn.

UConn has Nova, @SJU, Gtown, @PC, Marquette, SHU
Creighton has Gtown, DePaul, @Xavier, @SHU, Butler

If only 3 NBE teams in the dance - UConn has a ton of hard work in front of them vs what Creighton has and UConn better not lose to Nova

 

[storrsroars]

Houston would be a tough game the way UConn handles the ball and pressure. I'm still hopeful of getting to the second weekend but the team needs to get it together.

Marquette, St. John's, Georgetown, and Seton Hall are all top 50 teams in forcing turnovers. Marquette and St. John's are both top 15.

Of the top four seed projections, in order of ranking of forcing TOs:
14. St. John's
18. Iowa St.
42. Texas A&M
44. Houston
124. Texas Tech
135. Purdue
139. Florida
141. Arizona
151. Tennessee
169. Michigan
198(T). Auburn
198(T). Duke
278. Kansas
315. Wisconsin
322. Alabama
331. Kentucky

Bring on the Crimson Tide!

 

[Rocktheworld]

Get to the 2nd round. That's as far as Duke got when defending their B2B, and Florida didn't even make the tournament.

Still think this team can get to the 2nd weekend. A lot of it is matchups. A lot of it is how they finish the season. This kind of loss wakes you up, or finishes you.

Completely agree as to hoping to at least do as well as prior back-to-back championship defenders. As to the last sentence, you have to figure that Alex is ready to wake up. Samson has at least been around, but he has been what he’s been and hasn’t really been the problem. I think we all feel like Hass can and should wake up, hopefully he can get physically right for the post season. It is good that we have at least some championship pedigree still on the team to wake up.

 

[F101Voodoo]

Make the tourney

Right that is all that we an expect.

 

[UC1995]

Our team was flawed this year by having smaller point guards. We have been bullied and I think Hurley realizes he made a mistake after going out and getting Mahaney. When we have guys that can be physical other teams won't over play us. Our ball handlers look scared. Even when Newton was playing his worst he never looked scared.

We will be fine but this year was never going to look like last year two years.

 

[jibsey]

Just beat Nova and St. John’s #10 and I’ll be happy. The players have to know that this is kind of it so to speak. There can’t be any players saying they took it lightly. So if we lose then one must conclude we aren’t very good.

 

[Fishy]

Make the tournament. Do not lose in the opening rounds of the Big East Tournament or the NCAA tournament. Introduce Danny Hurley to the other two freshmen so that he knows both of them actually arrived on campus in September. I don’t think he’s aware.

Get through the portal season with as little damage as possible, despite our best efforts to shoot ourselves in the foot on a nightly basis. Ask Mr and Mrs Spencer if they have a third son hiding at a mid-major somewhere.

 

[Huskyforlife]

Final 4, Big East tournament champions. Not lowering the bar, we should have blue blood expectations.

 

[Viet Vet]

Only three times since the NCAA Men's tournament expanded to 64 teams (1985) has the defending champion failed to qualify for the subsequent tourney:

1987 - Louisville
1989 - Kansas (on probation; otherwise would have qualified based on their record)
2009 - North Carolina

40 years; only two defenders have not qualified based on their season's body of work. Will we make it a trifecta?

 

[lateralous]

So much has gone wrong this season, some of it self inflicted and much of it beyond our control with the injuries. A Sweet 16 appearance would be a great finish after a wildly uneven season IMO. With all of its flaws, this team will never be consistent enough to make a run, I’ve accepted that. My hope is to see it all come together for a night with McNeeley, Ball, Karaban etc all hitting at the same time in the 2nd round to take down one of the big boys. If we flame out in the sweet 16 after that, so be it, it will still be a “good” season overall

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

At this point, I would like the freshman and sophomore group, especially Ross and Stewart, to find some consistency and confidence going into the end of the season to build some positive momentum for next year.

 

[huskyharry]

? Was what would I consider to be a successful season. Not my expectation.
Sweet sixteen or better would be a successful season to me.
Anything less is a bit of a disappointment.
I enjoy seeing players and the team playing better over time.
So, if they play great and win the BET then only make it to round of 32, there would be satisfaction in that as well.

 

[bfs3]

My hope is to hang on to our current recruits for next year and not seriously damage our recruiting for the year after.

 

[JohnFSilver]

Team isnt good enough at the lead guard spot. Diarra is hurt, Mahaney and Nowell non-factor and when you factor in Solo Ball’s poor defense and poor ball handling skills, it is just too much. ’

My thing? Win Big East tournament and/or get 8/9 seed and play Duke round of 32.

 

[storrsroars]

Only three times since the NCAA Men's tournament expanded to 64 teams (1985) has the defending champion failed to qualify for the subsequent tourney:

1987 - Louisville
1989 - Kansas (on probation; otherwise would have qualified based on their record)
2009 - North Carolina

40 years; only two defenders have not qualified based on their season's body of work. Will we make it a trifecta?

Thank you for your service and your interest in UConn basketball.

 

[navery12]

Only three times since the NCAA Men's tournament expanded to 64 teams (1985) has the defending champion failed to qualify for the subsequent tourney:

1987 - Louisville
1989 - Kansas (on probation; otherwise would have qualified based on their record)
2009 - North Carolina

40 years; only two defenders have not qualified based on their season's body of work. Will we make it a trifecta?

No. And it's not even close to being a concern. And without even fact checking the rest I know this isn't true because Florida didn't make the NCAA tournament following their back to back championships in 2006 and 2007

 

[DogMania]

With a chance to make history and the the hype from day 1, a 3-peat is what it would take for me.

If healthy, not losing McNeeley for a long stretch, defending without fouling so much, Karaban playing up to his potential, Hass healthy, having a solid backup PG and the team capable of inbounding the ball, their record, ranking, expectations and this thread would look a lot different. The fact is all that hasn't happened, though Alex might have begun to come around.

I think a lot of the above can be fixed, except for the lack of PG options, especially if Hass is not able to heal, which seems unlikely. I can't imagine him being able to play 3 to 4 (or even back-to-back) consecutive BET games.

I'd prefer that the season end with a win and not a loss. If they make the NCAA Tournament only one thing can happen for that to be the outcome. Just haven't witnessed the level of play, execution on either end of the floor or the toughness to feel all that good about our final outcome. That doesn't mean I'll stop hoping for history to be made.

 

[WeAreUCONN]

Cooper Flagg winning it all is probably the best outcome. I’m focused on the Championship.