Bilas Nat Champ pick | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Bilas Nat Champ pick

tzznandrew said:
To be fair, they don't watch the games. The team hasn't been great in one possession games, and the team under Hurley is 0-2 in the NCAA as the higher seed. Now, I don't think a 10 beating a 7 is an upset (though 7s win 60% of the time), but losing as a 5 last year hurt. The team didn't look great in either of those games, either. 1 game is somewhat meaningless, 2 games can be variance, but it might be a trend.

I think the board is way too down on the team after the loss to Marquette by 2, but I get the skepticism given the team has never won any thing in the post-season.

Has Hurley? Yes, at URI he won an A10 tournament and won NCAA tournament games his last two years here—2017 as an 11 over a 6 (and almost beat 3 Oregon the next round), and then as a 7 (over Trae Young's 10 Oklahoma).

The team just needs the monkey off their back. I think they're very good, but I don't think they will likely win a title because (a) that's unlikely no matter the team, and (b) they haven't proven the ability to remain consistent in a close game under 5 minutes left.

BUT: if the refs call the games like they did pre-BE, and Jordan Hawkins finds his stroke, I'm very happy to be wrong.
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As much as the boys need to win some games, Hurley needs it more. The albatross is around his neck. My biggest worry is those vibes are felt by the players and can fuel panic. Making it out of the first weekend successfully Should do wonders for them.
 
uconnric said:
Bilas has always been more than fair to us. Seems like a lot of love from the ESPN crew.
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Not always.

In any event, for all our flaws, there’s a lot to like about us.

(Still doomed.)
 
willie99 said:
I think most of you that "are skeptical" about this team are as far from realistic as one can be.

It's like you have no idea what highest level of competition is. Success, growth and winning is really all about skill, perseverance and a little luck. You think it's simple, when it's all extremely hard. The best thing any fan can really hope for is the be in the conversation, and we are

What is realistic is to suggest it's hard to win the national championship. Only one team in the country can do that

We've already exceeded expectations in every way known to college basketball, yet you "realistic" fans (A/K/A Hurley Haters) somehow find failure in that.

I think many "realistic" fans are emotionally invested in seeing Hurley lose. All so damn bizarre to me.
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I am not a Hurley hater, far from it in fact. He's done a phenomenal job rebuilding the dumpster fire that was left by Ollie, but we are now in year 5 of the Hurley era and the facts are these:

  • We've finished #323, #270, #285, #304, and now #355 (dead last) in team win % in "close games"
  • We've failed to finish higher than 3rd in the conference regular season
  • We've failed to advance past the semifinals of the conference tournament
  • We've failed to win a game in the NCAA tournament

Now the Ides of March are upon us yet again and if Hurley doesn't deliver a VERY doable S16 appearance this postseason, then I and a lot of fans will start getting close to calling for him to get Caesared.
 
willie99 said:
I think most of you that "are skeptical" about this team are as far from realistic as one can be.

It's like you have no idea what highest level of competition is. Success, growth and winning is really all about skill, perseverance and a little luck. You think it's simple, when it's all extremely hard. The best thing any fan can really hope for is the be in the conversation, and we are

What is realistic is to suggest it's hard to win the national championship. Only one team in the country can do that

We've already exceeded expectations in every way known to college basketball, yet you "realistic" fans (A/K/A Hurley Haters) somehow find failure in that.

I think many "realistic" fans are emotionally invested in seeing Hurley lose. All so damn bizarre to me.
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Please explain how UConn this season and under Dan Hurley has exceeded expectations in every way known to college basketball.
Has UConn had an undefeated NBE conference record, won a NBE regular season title, a NBE tournament title, has UConn been awarded a top seed in the NCAA? Has UConn won any NCAA games as a higher seed recently?
Being skeptical is now reaching into the zenith of lacking realism in your world?
Wow - it must be a true burden for you to carry the title of being the true believer and torch carrier for Dan Hurley and UConn.
I know competition and have coached at very high levels and have been a UConn fan most likely longer than you have been on this earth. In am skeptical about a lot of things UConn basketball lately but this doesn’t stand in the way of wanting them to succeed.
 
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Huskyforlife said:
Every single national reporter that works for the espn must not know Han Durrrley can’t coach. Someone must warn them before they look like fools!
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just off a bit, here, but didn't UC court Shaka Smart, during the last coaching search. For some reason, I thought his name had been mentioned.
 
CTFIRERETIRED said:
just off a bit, here, but didn't UC court Shaka Smart, during the last coaching search. For some reason, I thought his name had been mentioned.
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There were strong rumors that he would be the hire when Calhoun stepped down. It seems pretty clear Calhoun stepped down as late as he did to force Ollie into the position and hamstring an AD that was going to do a national search ending in Smart.

It seems pretty clear Smart would have been a huge success here. Would we have title #4, though?
 
Pmurph678 said:
Bilas has changed it to Arizona over UConn
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They are from the conference of champions

Nba All Star Sport GIF by NBA
 
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Bilas now has Arizona beating UConn in the title game. Stanford Steve wants nothing to do with UConn, thinks Iona's speed will expose UConn's lack of no true point guard.
 
superjohn said:
Bilas now has Arizona beating UConn in the title game. Stanford Steve wants nothing to do with UConn, thinks Iona's speed will expose UConn's lack of no true point guard.
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All fine and dandy but how is Iona going to handle our defense? I think the game will be competitive, but UCONN has too much.
 
superjohn said:
Bilas now has Arizona beating UConn in the title game. Stanford Steve wants nothing to do with UConn, thinks Iona's speed will expose UConn's lack of no true point guard.
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:)
 
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I'm watching the 2004 National Championship on YouTube right now to get pumped.

People forget how talented that team was. Four great big men in Okafor, Boone, Villanueva and Armstrong (imagine any team having four great big. Two is a luxury), plus guards of Gordon, Taliek Brown and Rashad Anderson and Denham Brown coming off the bench. Crazy to look back now. Also seeing Okafor went out very early in the first half with two fouls and zero points.
 
ElGreco said:
:)
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A true PG is our weakness, and great PG play tends to fuel deep runs. We seem to do pretty good notwithstanding we don’t have a great penetrating guard, but it sure we be handy.
 
superjohn said:
Bilas now has Arizona beating UConn in the title game. Stanford Steve wants nothing to do with UConn, thinks Iona's speed will expose UConn's lack of no true point guard.
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I could've sworn Bilas picked Zona over UConn an hour ago but he just picked UConn again over Duke to win it all. It's weird how everyone on ESPN has UConn in the final 4.
 
superjohn said:
I could've sworn Bilas picked Zona over UConn an hour ago but he just picked UConn again over Duke to win it all. It's weird how everyone on ESPN has UConn in the final 4.
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I think it's being prescient, not weird.
 
superjohn said:
I could've sworn Bilas picked Zona over UConn an hour ago but he just picked UConn again over Duke to win it all. It's weird how everyone on ESPN has UConn in the final 4.
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His ESPN article had Zona over UConn when I read it a few hours ago. Still does:

National championship​

No No. 5 seed has ever won the national championship, or so Rece Davis told me on the Dirty Dog in between spine-rattling screams on the Screaming Baby Express from Greensboro to Bristol. I am going with Davis' wisdom ... or maybe it was the guitar-playing cowboy that told me that?! No matter, Arizona will win the Pac-12's first national championship since 1997, when Arizona won it under Lute Olson. Winner: Arizona.

Don't know why he's talking about a 5—rather than a 4-seed, which has won the title—but here it is.
 
Its tough to pick a team that wasn’t top 3 regular season in conference or hasn’t reached the final in conf tournament
 
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LIuconn said:
Its tough to pick a team that wasn’t top 3 regular season in conference or hasn’t reached the final in conf tournament
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Neither of those things matter an iota starting Thursday so, given where UConn stacks up in basically every conceivable metric, it’s not as strange as our fans seem to think that other people have a positive impression of this team.
 
LIuconn said:
Its tough to pick a team that wasn’t top 3 regular season in conference or hasn’t reached the final in conf tournament
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Meh, that generally doesn't have a direct correlation to NCAA tournament performance.
The NCAA tournament is a different beast. It's win or go home. And this team has proven itself out-of-conference. We're 14-0 there.
I think we'll be even better in the Saturday/Sunday games, meaning, when a team has less than 48 hours to prep for us. We are a very difficult team to prep for on quick turnarounds, particularly when you haven't played us before. We proved that at the PKI against high end competition.
 
tzznandrew said:
His ESPN article had Zona over UConn when I read it a few hours ago. Still does:

National championship​

No No. 5 seed has ever won the national championship, or so Rece Davis told me on the Dirty Dog in between spine-rattling screams on the Screaming Baby Express from Greensboro to Bristol. I am going with Davis' wisdom ... or maybe it was the guitar-playing cowboy that told me that?! No matter, Arizona will win the Pac-12's first national championship since 1997, when Arizona won it under Lute Olson. Winner: Arizona.

Don't know why he's talking about a 5—rather than a 4-seed, which has won the title—but here it is.
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Hedging his picks. Does he have a podcast where he picked Kansas?
 
UCTitleTown said:
I prefer to be disrespected and prove the doubters wrong. "This is what happens when you ban us."... The team doesn't seem to believe the hype too much and it shows on the court.
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Maybe we can do both- respected and win. Let’s do it :)
 
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