Athletic ranks UCONN as #13?!

[KingKong139]

You need to consider the source. Chantel Jennings never played basketball or college sports of any kind. Her undergraduate degree from MI is in Spanish & English, not journalism She was the ESPN stringer in MI for several years before they let her go, covering football, MBB & WBB. After ESPN let her go she secured a fellowship at MI, her alma mater. About a year ago, the Athletic hired her to cover the W and college basketball.

Ya this is a terrible take. You don’t need to play in college to have an expertise in it. Just ask Mike McDaniel…

 

[oldude]

Ya this is a terrible take. You don’t need to play in college to have an expertise in it. Just ask Mike McDaniel…

That’s a terrible analogy. McDaniel put in 17 years learning the ropes before he earned his opportunity as a HC with Miami, working his way up from a coaching intern, through 9 different jobs. He also played college football at Yale.

Jennings was basically a sideline reporter for a few years on ESPN, chosen as much because of how she looked as what she knew. She never played sports in college. The Athletic is losing money hand over foot. They picked up Jennings from grad school on the cheap to cover WBB.

 

[Waquoit]

My point should be pretty obvious. The author of this article is an inexperienced journalist lacking the requisite knowledge or experience to rank WBB teams.

Is there a licencing program here we should know about? You are killing the messenger. UConn has a ton to prove with Paige on the sideline.

 

[oldude]

Is there a licencing program here we should know about? You are killing the messenger. UConn has a ton to prove with Paige on the sideline.

No licensing program. But there is certainly a hierarchy that starts with blogging on line at the bottom and tops off with Pulitzer Prize winning journalists. Jennings is much closer to a blogger, and that’s probably unfair to bloggers, many of whom are exceptionally knowledgeable.

Of course UConn has much to prove, as they do every season. As information, the last time UConn ended up outside of the Top 10 teams in WBB was 1993, 30 years ago. No reasonably competent journalist who covers WBB would ever suggest that this UConn team should be ranked 13th, even without Paige on the court.

 

[Bone Dog]

I’m with @oldude on this one. I think we’re all a bit shellshocked from last year’s many injuries and can’t feel confident in all the awesome talent on this team.

 

[sun]

I think the shock that UConn fans have about the low preseason ranking is not only because of uncertainties about many UConn players of which there's only 10, but because it's popular to kick UConn when they are down.
It's not unlike how the media treats the Green Bay Packers who have consistently made deep playoff runs but haven't won a Superbowl since 2011.
Sure the Packers have had injuries, coaching changes and adversity, but after so many failures the glamor fades away and many more media outlets criticize the team for failing under pressure.
The Athletic won't be the only media outlet to doubt the Huskies, they're only the first until the rest of the pre-season polls come out.
The uncertainties are real and based on UConn's recent track records until UConn can prove otherwise.
All the new & returning players need to gain respect.
With WCBB parity it doesn't really matter if they're ranked 8th or 13th, it still means that UConn has fallen to the back of the top 10 pack for now.