Best Ollie Quote Ever

[Ts5034]

Dont forget Louisville in 2014 won the AAC regular season and AAC tournament championship, 25-26 wins, and was probably playing the best basketball of anybody in the country at the end of the season and still ended up with a 4 seed

 

[80shusky]

I'm bullish on this team but the weekend was a failure, we just don't have a ton of wiggle room, Maryland at MSG now becomes a must win.

Maryland at MSG isn't remotely a must win.

 

[intlzncster]

What games do you see pulling our resume up to "elite". You can't just look at UConn's season through binoculars and ignore the competition. The elite teams nationally all have top ranked conference opponents which will give them top ranked resumes when the selection committee sits down to make seeding. UConn on the other hand has their tough opponents early in the season(who still despite all our scheduling prowess is still weak overall when compared to other overall schedules) with little opportunity to make up for it throughout the season. After Maryland, I'd estimate that UConn has roughly 3, MAYBE 4 ranked games left on the schedule, with those likely being 10-20 range rather than top 10 teams you'd see in a P5 schedule.

As I said above, 8 losses overall, 6 in conference, 3rd in AAC, and runnerup in the tournament earned us a 7 seed. The AAC is NOT great....but it's a far cry from the Patriot league.

If we had only 2 losses, we'll be a 1 seed. End of story.

 

[Rico444]

Dont forget Louisville in 2014 won the AAC regular season and AAC tournament championship, 25-26 wins, and was probably playing the best basketball of anybody in the country at the end of the season and still ended up with a 4 seed

Louisville was a 4 seed, not a 5.

 

[NC_Uconn_Fan]

I just can't be positive right now. Starting to remind me of last year. We desperately needed 2 wins out of this tournament, we got 1 vs UM. This tourny was a failure for us. I guess we'll see how the remaining out of conference games go. The Maryland game is looking more important now.

 

[August_West]

The idea that this team's "ceiling" has been established as a 5 seed at this point in the season is ridiculous. If they're sitting at 29-2 in March they're getting a 5 seed? C'mon, people, do better.

Out of AAC? No they wouldn't get a 5. I bet they get a 3 with that though. And that is a 1 seed record in P5.

 

[SouthBayHusky]

This sucks

 

[BFieldHusky]

For people referencing UCONN in 2014...please remember that while UCONN had a good win OOC against Florida, they lost twice to SMU (who didn't make the tournament) and Houston, and lost to Stanford at home. 3 losses against non-tournament American teams, and 1-1 out of league against tournament teams.

We are going to have to sweep everyone in the conference who isn't SMU, Cincy or Tulsa this year. As much as it is about getting good wins, it is also about avoiding bad losses. I know that is tough, but that is the world we live in.

While I agree that our season doesn't end if we don't beat Maryland in two weeks, it is the best opportunity for the rest of the year to right these past 2 games. A neutral court win against Maryland crosses out the losses to Syracuse/Gonzaga.

 

[SirHypeAlot]

Maryland is hyped to all holy hell. Beating them is important. Georgetown will beat some people this year thus beating them is critical as well. Win both of those and take care of business in conference and we're ok. no easy task but Ollie needs to force the issue. being under-seeded gives these guys added motivation, which frankly they may need.

 

[SubbaBub]

Played two terrible games, played too many players too many minutes, and took about half of each game off and still nearly beat two top 25 caliber teams.

It sucks to lose two games that should have been won and that's on the players decision making. But, this team will get a lot better if they play a consistent 40 minutes. That is the challenge going forward as they create so many mismatches it's frightening. A little more attention on D wouldn't hurt either.

 

[Tenspro2002]

The idea that this team's "ceiling" has been established as a 5 seed at this point in the season is ridiculous. If they're sitting at 29-2 in March they're getting a 5 seed? C'mon, people, do better.

Literal ceiling? No. If we get to 29-2, we're a #2 seed regardless of what anyone else does.

But it's a matter of probabilities. Before this tournament, I would say

a 90th percentile outcome: 28-3, #2 seed
a 50th percentile outcome: 26-5, #5 seed
a 10th percentile outcome: 22-9, #10 seed

After this tournament, more like:

a 90th percentile outcome: 27-4, #3 seed
a 50th percentile outcome: 25-6, #7 seed
a 10th percentile outcome: 21-10, NIT

This tournament probably cost us 1-2 seed lines. If we had gone 3-0, it probably would have been a seed line bump the other direction.

 

[cohenzone]

Granted it would have been great to have won at least one of the last two games, both of them, despite not playing great, were on less hoop for them and one more for us from being wins. Both with basically a half day to prepare. Syracuse won again today. Yes our league isn't great, but tte speculating about seeding and being foreclosed from this path or that is silliness. We have other good teams to play and if we can win those and have an exceptional league record, a very high seed has not been foreclosed by two closed neutral court losses to a couple of decent or very good teams.

 

[gtcam]

While he is learning KO can also rule out a Providence/Brooklyn to Philadelphia (East Regional) path to the Final4 if championships are on his mind (my preseason expectations with others here). Unfortunately that desired path has more probably than not been burned as KO focuses on the learning curve. No doubt we learned a lot though and hopefully a quick look in the mirror by KO himself helps facilitate the overall progress of the team looking forward. As tight as our team chemistry appeared to be coming into the season... I think some changes are in order that could test that dynamic to a certain degree. My guess is we will be ok.

The Maryland game now becomes a must win. If we drop that game and Ohio State, Georgetown and Texas wind up on the bubble a third place finish in the AAC may send us to the NIT again. It is a painful thought and shows how quickly the "I'm learning about this team as we go..." has the potential to spiral out of control quickly.

I am very disappointed in the 1-2 Atlantis result but am now rooting for MD to beat UNC and for UConn to hand MD its first loss. This reality check certainly is painful.

As the past has shown - Put UConn anywhere and magic can happen

 

[gtcam]

Dont forget Louisville in 2014 won the AAC regular season and AAC tournament championship, 25-26 wins, and was probably playing the best basketball of anybody in the country at the end of the season and still ended up with a 4 seed

Who cares - who won it all??????

 

[intlzncster]

Literal ceiling? No. If we get to 29-2, we're a #2 seed regardless of what anyone else does.

But it's a matter of probabilities. Before this tournament, I would say

a 90th percentile outcome: 28-3, #2 seed
a 50th percentile outcome: 26-5, #5 seed
a 10th percentile outcome: 22-9, #10 seed

After this tournament, more like:

a 90th percentile outcome: 27-4, #3 seed
a 50th percentile outcome: 25-6, #7 seed
a 10th percentile outcome: 21-10, NIT

This tournament probably cost us 1-2 seed lines. If we had gone 3-0, it probably would have been a seed line bump the other direction.

I think you are looking at this in a vacuum. You don't know what everyone else is going to do. There are no great teams this year. A lot of teams are going to be taking their lumps.

 

[Uconn77Duke74]

lets just hope Cuse, Zaga end up being top 5 teams at end of season and these losses wont seem so bad.

 

[BFieldHusky]

I think you are looking at this in a vacuum. You don't know what everyone else is going to do. There are no great teams this year. A lot of teams are going to be taking their lumps.

Exactly. Miami just lost at home to Northeastern. A lot of teams have WTF losses already. Notre Dame yesterday.

Losing to Gonzaga and Syracuse on neutral floors are missed opportunities, but they are not bad losses.

 

[Ts5034]

Who cares - who won it all??????

Yes I know UConn won it all in 2014. But my argument was about seeding and how much work we would have to do in order to get a top 4 seed.

 

[UCweCONN]

I think by March this team will be able to beat anyone on any given night.

The problem is the path to a championship as a 7 seed like in 2014 is so much harder than the path as a 3 or 4 seed, and to be a 3 or 4 seed we'd need a gaudy OOC record.

This team already can beat anyone on a given night. The problem is, it can also lose to almost anyone too. I think the problem is there's only one ball to go around.

 

[Jerry1714]

lets just hope Cuse, Zaga end up being top 5 teams at end of season and these losses wont seem so bad.

Some people are just insane.

Are you saying losing to a top 10 team on a neutral site by 3 is a bad loss? Or losing to a team by 2 who just won this tournament and beat a very good A&M team to do so is a bad loss?

We played poorly and lost 2 games by a combined 5 points. We blew out a Michigan team who opened the year ranked. No the tournament did not end great but this nonsense about bad losses and Maryland being a must win is just asinine.

It is November. We have a ton of new parts it will take time, we will be fine, nothing to be embarrassed about losing to two goods teams in the final seconds. It happens.

 

[Jerry1714]

This team already can beat anyone on a given night. The problem is, it can also lose to almost anyone too. I think the problem is there's only one ball to go around.

No it cannot and you have no evidence to demonstrate it can.

 

[Kitaman]

Very early to see so many cliff jumpers.

 

[Stainmaster]

Very early to see so many cliff jumpers.

I'm glad to see them hop off the bandwagon. More space for me to recline and put my feet up!

 

[champs99and04]

Some people are just insane.

Are you saying losing to a top 10 team on a neutral site by 3 is a bad loss? Or losing to a team by 2 who just won this tournament and beat a very good A&M team to do so is a bad loss?

We played poorly and lost 2 games by a combined 5 points. We blew out a Michigan team who opened the year ranked. No the tournament did not end great but this nonsense about bad losses and Maryland being a must win is just asinine.

It is November. We have a ton of new parts it will take time, we will be fine, nothing to be embarrassed about losing to two goods teams in the final seconds. It happens.

This. The idea that we are anything other than a one if we run the table from here (which obviously won't happen) is similarly insane.

Invoking Louisville and SMU teams from past years is a false equivalence. Louisville was a four seed because they beat nobody OOC. SMU was a six seed because they didn't beat anybody OOC (as Blue said, the Michigan win turned out to be meaningless).

You don't have to run the table OOC to earn a high seed in a mid-major conference. You just have to take some scalps and prove you belong. We've already beaten Michigan (up 5 on Texas w/3 to play) and one possession losses to ranked teams certainly going to be deal breakers. Win the remaining OOC games, win the conference, and win the conference tournament and I can't see us being worse than a three.

 

[Hi-Low]

The season isn't doomed but there is reason to be concerned....we have maybe 15 games on the schedule that have any meaning & 15 games that are basically meaningless except for "cosmetic" record purposes. So we are 1-2 with 12 to go....more close wins than close loses and we'll be fine.

Annoying but true....top 50 wins are really what matter on that special Sunday in March...."who did you play and how did you do".