Bilas Nat Champ pick | Page 4 | 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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We have all the ingredients less an elite PG and it took JC quite a few years to win our first but with some luck “I believe” there are no limits this year-just win the first and get the monkey off our back.
 
tzznandrew said:
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?
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thanks for that confirmation
 
This team is hard to read. At their best, they can win the whole damn thing going away, combine all 6 wins and it could easily be by 100+ points / last 5 could be 75+ points OR they could lose to Iona by 10 or 12 (if the team that blew a 17 pt lead to Shall or got their clocks cleaned @home to St Johns shows up) .... and everything in between and there really is no telling. If that team that beat Bama by 15 shows up, they win this without too much trouble.

I hope they come to play on Friday with their heads screwed on tight and laser focused.
 
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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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Yet they all did pick UConn into at least the Elite Eight, except for Dook Vitale
 
LIuconn said:
Im hopeful but we’ll see. I doubt Hurley as a tactician
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Hurley can’t afford to fail early. Opponents better keep an eye out for Jeff Gillooly during warm ups.
 
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It's so funny watching the difference between the CBS "experts" picking chalk and the ESPN guys that seemed to actually put real thought into their picks.

I'll be honest though. I'm not sure about all the love Alabama is getting. They are not a dominant team. There are many teams capable of winning it all this year, at least 12-15. Also, if Bama wins both the football and basketball national championships in the same year, an NCAA investigation is in order....
 
BigErnMcCracken said:
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.
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Followers of the team know it better than analysts who must know something about 30 teams so they can’t pay as much attention to one team. I doubt they know our record in close games. We know the good things but we also know the warts.

The 14-0 start book ended by the 8-2 finish is prob what most analysts are influenced by Imo.
 
Nice to be back in the conversation about a deep Tournament run.. Been too long.. Showtime
 
Placed is the west and the Final 4 is in Texas. Sounds like a recipe for success. Granted, the BE battles now are not comparable to 1999 or 2004, but I doubt UConn will see a more physical team in the tourney than some of the BE teams.
 
UCTitleTown said:
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.
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The best game to watch in the 2004 tourney is the semi-final against Duke. If not the full game, just the last 3 minutes. Uconn/Calhoun's determination to win and the Duke meltdown are just classic. The shots of Coach K and Duke players are great for all Duke haters. Packer's criticism of Duke shot selection funny as it it never Coach K's fault.

 
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Conquistador said:
UConn over Duke!
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UCTitleTown said:
It's so funny watching the difference between the CBS "experts" picking chalk and the ESPN guys that seemed to actually put real thought into their picks.

I'll be honest though. I'm not sure about all the love Alabama is getting. They are not a dominant team. There are many teams capable of winning it all this year, at least 12-15. Also, if Bama wins both the football and basketball national championships in the same year, an NCAA investigation is in order....
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en.wikipedia.org

2023 College Football Playoff National Championship - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Oats is a great coach and they have a top 5 draft pick. They could lose, but they've been the best team most of the year.
 
UConnRock said:
The best game to watch in the 2004 tourney is the semi-final against Duke. If not the full game, just the last 3 minutes. Uconn/Calhoun's determination to win and the Duke meltdown are just classic. The shots of Coach K and Duke players are great for all Duke haters. Packer's criticism of Duke shot selection funny as it it never Coach K's fault.

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Don't watch Okafor going out with 2 fouls four minutes into the game and zero points.... If you watched 80% of the game except UConn's initial fast start and didn't know UConn won, you'd never believe they won. Until Duke's desperation heave at the buzzer banked in, UConn outscored the great Coach K's team 11-0 over the last 3 minutes. If Duke did anything at all at the end, they'd have won. Rashad hit a few huge shots and Emeka rose up. Amazing game.
 
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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Its because theyve seen what we`ve all seen which is when this team is clicking its the best team in the country and its problably not even close. Unfortunately that team isnt guaranteed to show up on any given night and even when it does its for about 30 minutes while the other 10 are filled with putrid play.
 
TheChamps990411 said:
Its because theyve seen what we`ve all seen which is when this team is clicking its the best team in the country and its problably not even close. Unfortunately that team isnt guaranteed to show up on any given night and even when it does its for about 30 minutes while the other 10 are filled with putrid play.
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Hence the massively disappointing regular season, right? I swear to god by Friday an alien visiting would think this is a Prairie View A&M message board with the negativity and panic around here.
 
BigErnMcCracken said:
Hence the massively disappointing regular season, right? I swear to god by Friday an alien visiting would think this is a Prairie View A&M message board with the negativity and panic around here.
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Wheres the negativity and panic in my post? I pointed out my opinion on why the talking heads at BSPN were so high on us and stated facts. They may be facts you dont like but it is what it is. Get over it.
 
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TheChamps990411 said:
Its because theyve seen what we`ve all seen which is when this team is clicking its the best team in the country and its problably not even close.
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Hate to say it, but I'm assuming you didn't see the Pitt v Duke game two weeks ago. Pitt actually played their game and weren't incompetent at it. But Duke annihilated them by 28 anyway. That was the best I'd seen anyone play this year, and it probably wasn't close.
 
storrsroars said:
Hate to say it, but I'm assuming you didn't see the Pitt v Duke game two weeks ago. Pitt actually played their game and weren't incompetent at it. But Duke annihilated them by 28 anyway. That was the best I'd seen anyone play this year, and it probably wasn't close.
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No but you know what i did see? Uconn beat Alabama by 15 points and more recently Marquette by 15. Duke trouncing Pitt doesnt come close to either of those two wins.
 
TheChamps990411 said:
No but you know what i did see? Uconn beat Alabama by 15 points and more recently Marquette by 15. Duke trouncing Pitt doesnt come close to either of those two wins.
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I watched both those games as well, but I'll stick with my post above.
 
UConnRock said:
The best game to watch in the 2004 tourney is the semi-final against Duke. If not the full game, just the last 3 minutes. Uconn/Calhoun's determination to win and the Duke meltdown are just classic. The shots of Coach K and Duke players are great for all Duke haters. Packer's criticism of Duke shot selection funny as it it never Coach K's fault.

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Thanks, just watched it. Love Rashad talking to himself at the line and steering the first one in.

Billy's still hoping that they foul Ben out.
 
UCTitleTown said:
Don't watch Okafor going out with 2 fouls four minutes into the game and zero points.... If you watched 80% of the game except UConn's initial fast start and didn't know UConn won, you'd never believe they won. Until Duke's desperation heave at the buzzer banked in, UConn outscored the great Coach K's team 11-0 over the last 3 minutes. If Duke did anything at all at the end, they'd have won. Rashad hit a few huge shots and Emeka rose up. Amazing game.
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i was in the 3rd row under the UConn basket. the memory of Emeka's determination ripping the rebound away from Duke at 25 seconds and scoring is forever seared in my memory. The final over GT - 82-73.
 
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HooperScooper said:
Mike DeCourcy ranked the 68 teams in the NCAA Tournament and their ability to win the championship. UConn is #2, behind Alabama. I do find it amusing how the media is much more confident in the Huskies than the average UConn fan is.

www.sportingnews.com

March Madness 2023: Ranking the 68 best teams in the NCAA Tournament, from Alabama to FDU | Sporting News

There are certain components every NCAA champion shares, so watch out when making your Final Four and title-game bracket picks
www.sportingnews.com www.sportingnews.com
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Their flaws and failures this season have been greatly exaggerated on this board. That all changes if we lose to Iona. That’d be disastrous. But we have no reason to believe that’s going to happen outside of our PTSD
 
So is Bilas going to flip his pick back to us again? How many chances do you get? You call it before the tourney starts and stick with it. No do-overs.
 
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