Bilas picked us 10th

[WestCoastHusky]

All I got to say is I hope we finish better than 10th. I hope Calhoun will let the team run and press more often. The best way we will be able to score this season will be in transition. We need to run as much as possible.

 

[nomar]

Yes im also a UConn fan who wants them to win every game. But, there is a different feel to this upcoming season. I honestly dont know how ill react to this season until it is underway. As everyone already knows UConn will not play in the Big East or NCAA tournament no matter if they finish 10th or 1st and that will not change. The NCAA has been very firm with this whole APR issue from the start and it does not seem like they care about punishing kids that had nothing to do with this. I dont buy the idea of, if we win the BE regular season or have a strong year it would "stick it" to the NCAA. If they were to finish top half of the Big East and have a good NCAA tournament resume, i think it would be kind of bittersweet because we will always wonder what could of been if they were able to compete for a championship.

All fair points. (To be clear, I don't think a good finish would "stick it" to the NCAA in any meaningful way -- I was just saying it would be nice to be able to make the point, as a UConn fan, that we were getting screwed. Of course we already did get screwed by the postseason ban, as it forced 2-4 kids out the door.)

But are you going to not watch games? Are you not going to root for UConn to win as many games as they can?

 

[mauconnfan]

Our front court is that bad, and I think the season is going to ride on our wing players, especially DD. Right now, we have no reason to believe that our front court players will be able to do much more than grab rebounds and stand in people's ways. I believe that the wings' abilities to move off the ball, around and through traffic, to find open spots for good shots will dictate a lot of our scoring.

So what you're saying is won't take much to improve in the front court? ".....our front court players will be able to much more than grab rebounds and stand in people's way.." ....hmmmm and besides Andre and Roscoe on occasion, but not consistently from them either, who did more than that? We will improve shooting from the bigs with Tyler playing more, he mixes it up and passes it better than Alex and his defense is as good as neither is quick afoot. We will miss Andre's blocking ability but that's about it. I think all of the bigs are better offensive weapons giving playing time and feel we will improve offensively down there........hard work, people who really want to wear the uniform and play together can more than make up for debacle the front court was last year I believe........they will certainly be easier to root for!!

 

[MCNPA]

UL should run away at #1. They should be in the top 5 all year and shoot for a NC this year. This is going to be their best team in years and if they can't do it this year, it will be a disappointment.


Cuse is interesting. I'm not as high on them as they are. They lost a ton in Joseph, Waiters, Melo and Jardine. That's a total of 42 points, 15 rebounds, 4.6 steals and 3.9 blocks. Not to mention 107 minutes. They have some talent but they will need a lot of improvement this year to be a top 10 team. MCW especially will need to make a leap. I would drop them down a notch.

ND will be solid, but similar to last year. I could see moving them to #2, they didn't lose much and Cuse probably has more question marks/unproven players than ND. Both rely on systems to get results though.

Marquette at #4 seems a bit high. They lost Crowder and DJO. That was their heart and soul. Not to mention 26 pts and 70 minutes of PT.

Pitt lost Gibbs, but pick up a PG and Adams. Adams will need to be as good as everyone says for them to be #5 and Pitt doesn't have the best reputation with high rated bigs the past two years. This seems high if Adams doesn't dominate.

Georgetown: Lost their 3 best players. Porter is nice but not sure what else they can rely on. They need some big help from freshmen and bigs who haven't produced in the past (like Sims this past year).

Cincy: losing Gates could hurt them, he was really their only dependable big. Their bigs are almost as bad as UConn's (or at least as unproven). Getting Kilpatrick back was huge for them.

USF: shocked people last year. Losing Augustin will hurt, but won't kill them. They looked a ton better when they got a PG and their pace will annoy plenty of teams.

Rutgers may actually be decent this year, but they are Rutgers.

SJU: seems like they should be higher, but they lost Harkless and are going to rely on a bunch of freshman and sophomores. Not to mention who knows if Lavin will be back (Dunlap is gone), so not sure who will coach. They could jump up this list if they mesh well. They have a good amount of talent assuming everyone is eligible.

Nova, may actually be worse than this ranking.

Seton Hall: Edwin is nice, but...who else do they have

Providence: if Ledo is eligible and lives up to his hype, and Dunn gets healthy and does the same they could move up. Council, Cotton and Henton are a good 1-3 even without Ledo/Dunn. I guess they go with Batts and Kofane up front? Serious 4 guard look if Ledo/Dunn come in and run stuff. I might move them up based on the two teams above them.

DePaul, who knows. They were bad last year and probably will be again.

UConn could be a lot better than expected this year and would have actually been poised to have a very good year if AO/RS had stayed, considering what everyone else lost.

Lavin is back and 100%. No questions about him coaching. SJU likely to replace Dunlap within next few weeks. All 7 recruits are currently on campus, in school and eligible.

 

[Fishy]

Lavin is back and 100%. No questions about him coaching...

Now, is that a positive or a negative?

 

[Ts5034]

All fair points. (To be clear, I don't think a good finish would "stick it" to the NCAA in any meaningful way -- I was just saying it would be nice to be able to make the point, as a UConn fan, that we were getting screwed. Of course we already did get screwed by the postseason ban, as it forced 2-4 kids out the door.)

But are you going to not watch games? Are you not going to root for UConn to win as many games as they can?

Yes i will absolutely root hard for them to win just like every other year and i will be at as many games as possible like always. Dont forget this is an important time for the fans too. I think this program needs our support now more then ever. Im really interested to see what the attendance will be like this year. My gut tells me there wont be much of a difference compared to other years. On the other hand if this team is playing poorly in February i wouldnt be surprised to see a more empty arena especially the XL center just given the circumstance...

 

[champs99and04]

I would place UConn seventh, but of course, I'm a biased UConn fan who made a 3,000 word post last year explaining why UConn would repeat - so take what I say with a grain of salt.

Outside of Lamb, we didn't really lose a ton of offense from last year. Drummond was nice for a couple alley-oops and putbacks every game, but he in no way could have been considered a reliable offensive threat. Roscoe Smith caused us to play 4 on 5 offensively at times because he couldn't dribble the basketball without plowing somebody over or dribbling the ball off his foot. Oriakhi had the same problem - I won't miss the constant fumbling of the ball out of bounds, hook shots off the side of the backboard, and whining at the officials when his shot inevitably gets blocked.

Our three best offensive players last year were Lamb, Napier, and Boatright in that order. This year we return two of those guys, who should be a year better, and will pair them with Omar Calhoun, a freshman who could put up double figures, and a sophmore Deandre Daniels who has a lot of talent but hasn't put it together yet. I'd say a collection of Omar, Bazz, Boat, and Deandre is a good core offensively, and assuming we can get them all on the court together, especially since Olander, Evans, and Giffey would figure to be viable offensive options as well. I expect our best lineup to be Napier, Boatright, Omar, Deandre, and Olander, which doesn't overwhelm you on paper. However, all of them can shoot, four of them can handle the ball, and the floor should be spread. On paper these guys would figure to complement each other a lot better than the disfunctional team we had last year.

Defensively this crew will be far from great, but I think what people need to realize is that there are very few back to the basket big men in college basketball who will be able to expose our one glaring weakness. It proves time and time again in college basketball that it's better to go small than it has to have a couple of lumbering big man out there on the perimeter. Our biggest weakness will be rebounding, and I would expect us to lose that battle the majority of the time. Still, I think this team has enough offensive talent that they would have been able to make the tournament next year assuming they were eligible.

 

[Huskies4ever]

Yes im also a UConn fan who wants them to win every game. But, there is a different feel to this upcoming season. I honestly dont know how ill react to this season until it is underway. As everyone already knows UConn will not play in the Big East or NCAA tournament no matter if they finish 10th or 1st and that will not change. The NCAA has been very firm with this whole APR issue from the start and it does not seem like they care about punishing kids that had nothing to do with this. I dont buy the idea of, if we win the BE regular season or have a strong year it would "stick it" to the NCAA. If they were to finish top half of the Big East and have a good NCAA tournament resume, i think it would be kind of bittersweet because we will always wonder what could of been if they were able to compete for a championship.

And Ts5034, this is why we need to rally behind them! the NCAA. Let's put it this way, if UConn has a strong, surprising year, and gets the media talking, that may bring negative attention to the NCAA. Many on this board have criticized the national media, but if UConn surprises, you may see more of the media take up our cause.

 

[uconnbill]

No, does it matter where we finish? Next year is meaningless.

It is not meaningless to me and I can bet it is not meaningless to the players.
Sometimes it's better to say nothing if you can't say anything nice

 

[MCNPA]

Now, is that a positive or a negative?

Big positive. Haters can hate. Lavin doing big things at SJU.

 

[HuskyFan32]

I think that is very optimistic. Didn't we finish 9th/10th last year. I say the over/under on Big East wins next year is 6. They only had 8 last year. They will be very thin and if they get into foul trouble of if the guards have off shooting nights, we have nobody in the front court to take over. Plus I think ever team listed below us and jump up over us.

What is this "they" garbage? Are you a Husky fan or not?

 

[mauconnfan]

Big positive. Haters can hate. Lavin doing big things at SJU.

Good job recruiting somehow but will never take away the fact he's not a good coach and never will be............glad he's healthy really he is a decent guy......but also not a bad thing having him back running the show!

 

[MCNPA]

Good job recruiting somehow but will never take away the fact he's not a good coach and never will be............glad he's healthy really he is a decent guy......but also not a bad thing having him back running the show!

I wont go into it any more than this post on your board, but his record doesnt indicate he isn't a good coach. Quite the contrary. Too much propaganda from ucla fans that ran him out of town for one bad season. Hes been tagged that way after being scapegoated as a young coach at ucla. Lavin had a lot of excellent seasons at ucla but some bad breaks too. He was a Baron Davis knee injury away from a national championship. Lavin's career at ucla is better than Jamie Dixon's first 7 years at Pitt, yet one gets a bad rap. If Baron Davis didn't blow out his knee as well as some other big injuries, Lavin likely would have won a NC or two and we'd never be having this conversation.

 

[Ts5034]

And Ts5034, this is why we need to rally behind them! the NCAA. Let's put it this way, if UConn has a strong, surprising year, and gets the media talking, that may bring negative attention to the NCAA. Many on this board have criticized the national media, but if UConn surprises, you may see more of the media take up our cause.

That would be nice to get some national media on our side with this APR issue. Like i have said in other posts, i guarantee there are fans and people in the media local and national that have no idea what this APR is about. Now its too late for any media to jump on this and influence the committee to change the system so we can play in the tournament. People do not realize these players are being punished on the court for something that happened in the classroom to players 3-4 years ago.

 

[caw]

Lavin is back and 100%. No questions about him coaching. SJU likely to replace Dunlap within next few weeks. All 7 recruits are currently on campus, in school and eligible.

Glad to hear he is healthy, I meant assuming he doesn't have a relapse. As for the recruits, I hadn't really followed SJU's that closely, but had heard some stuff a few months ago. Thanks for the update. Like I said, they should probably be a bit higher, assuming what you say is true.

As for Lavin being a good coach; that is pretty debatable. He's not as bad as some make him out to be, but in the BE he's not exactly in the top 5 either, and I don't see how you can argue that. He might be in the top 10 in the BE.

 

[aceboon]

So Lavin goes from making Sweet 16's to likely winning a NC if he has BD? NCs aren't a sure thing, to say he likely would've got one just because of BD(no matter how hood he was) is assinine.

I wont go into it any more than this post on your board, but his record doesnt indicate he isn't a good coach. Quite the contrary. Too much propaganda from ucla fans that ran him out of town for one bad season. Hes been tagged that way after being scapegoated as a young coach at ucla. Lavin had a lot of excellent seasons at ucla but some bad breaks too. He was a Baron Davis knee injury away from a national championship. Lavin's career at ucla is better than Jamie Dixon's first 7 years at Pitt, yet one gets a bad rap. If Baron Davis didn't blow out his knee as well as some other big injuries, Lavin likely would have won a NC or two and we'd never be having this conversation.

 

[caw]

So Lavin goes from making Sweet 16's to likely winning a NC if he has BD? NCs aren't a sure thing, to say he likely would've got one just because of BD(no matter how hood he was) is assinine.

I was a bit confused about this as well.

Baron Davis was on the 1997-1998 team that was a #6 seed that lost to UK by almost 30 in the Sweet Sixteen. Davis was injured in the game against Michigan in the Round of 32, where UCLA romped. I still don't think he was enough to make up 24 points. Not to mention they would have had a darn good Duke team (#1 seed) to play in the next round. Assuming they made it past them, they had a Stanford team they had lost to twice already. Finally they would have had to beat Utah. That is quite a leap.

He was also on the 1998-1999 team that was a #5 seed that lost in the first round. UCLA wasn't beating Duke or UConn that year.

 

[MCNPA]

I was a bit confused about this as well.

Baron Davis was on the 1997-1998 team that was a #6 seed that lost to UK by almost 30 in the Sweet Sixteen. Davis was injured in the game against Michigan in the Round of 32, where UCLA romped. I still don't think he was enough to make up 24 points. Not to mention they would have had a darn good Duke team (#1 seed) to play in the next round. Assuming they made it past them, they had a Stanford team they had lost to twice already. Finally they would have had to beat Utah. That is quite a leap.

He was also on the 1998-1999 team that was a #5 seed that lost in the first round. UCLA wasn't beating Duke or UConn that year.

Was just stating that they had a few issues and had things been different, we likely wouldn't be having this conversation. Losing Baron was like a Uconn team losing Kemba. One year they also lost Jelani McCoy and Kris Johnson to suspension. I believe one of them was also inured. The real point was that in more than one year, Lavin's teams were a few bad breaks away from very possibly advancing a few rounds more and nobody would be having this conversation. I don't deal in hypotheticals. I'm glad ucla ran him out. I don't think he's John Wooden, but I think Lavin is a fantastic recruiter and knows very well how to build a successful program. Lots of average to better than average coaches have won many a championship. Talent wins ballgames.

 

[caw]

Was just stating that they had a few issues and had things been different, we likely wouldn't be having this conversation. Losing Baron was like a Uconn team losing Kemba. One year they also lost Jelani McCoy and Kris Johnson to suspension. I believe one of them was also inured. The real point was that in more than one year, Lavin's teams were a few bad breaks away from very possibly advancing a few rounds more and nobody would be having this conversation. I don't deal in hypotheticals. I'm glad ucla ran him out. I don't think he's John Wooden, but I think Lavin is a fantastic recruiter and knows very well how to build a successful program. Lots of average to better than average coaches have won many a championship. Talent wins ballgames.

Listen, I get Baron was a great player/athlete but you are overestimating how good he was as a freshman and what he meant for his team. You said, "He was a Baron Davis knee injury away from a National Championship." That is just false. Lavin wasn't going past the elite eight that year (very arguable he would have gotten past the sweet sixteen).

A month before Davis got injured against Michigan, UCLA lost 120-84 to Duke. That would have been the elite eight opponent. Davis played 36 minutes, they were completely destroyed. UCLA was likely not beating UK that year and very likely not beating Duke, regardless of Davis' injury. They went as far as they could that year.

Likewise, they were not beating Duke or UConn in 1999. Those two teams were just heads and shoulders above any other team out there.

 

[mauconnfan]

He recruited very good players, kept players home and went out to get more solid athletes. Having said that his teams were solid, competitive but not as good as they should have been almost every year. They were always out of control and rarely looked to be fundamentally sound. It was obvious to most, except maybe Johnnies fans who had even worst coaches during this period!

 

[aceboon]

You said you don't deal with hypotheticals yet you make claims that Lavin would have rings if the immortal Baron Davis hadn't been injured??

Was just stating that they had a few issues and had things been different, we likely wouldn't be having this conversation. Losing Baron was like a Uconn team losing Kemba. One year they also lost Jelani McCoy and Kris Johnson to suspension. I believe one of them was also inured. The real point was that in more than one year, Lavin's teams were a few bad breaks away from very possibly advancing a few rounds more and nobody would be having this conversation. I don't deal in hypotheticals. I'm glad ucla ran him out. I don't think he's John Wooden, but I think Lavin is a fantastic recruiter and knows very well how to build a successful program. Lots of average to better than average coaches have won many a championship. Talent wins ballgames.

 

[MCNPA]

You said you don't deal with hypotheticals yet you make claims that Lavin would have rings if the immortal Baron Davis hadn't been injured??

No, just said there would some big injuries and suspensions that prevented his teams from likely going further. Lavin catches more criticism than any young coach I've seen. The guy was in his early 30's when he was thrust into that job and it resulted in one elite 8 and 4 Sweet 16's. Was Jim Calhoun the same coach in his first 6 seasons up in Boston as a young coach as he is now? Not likely. I'm simply saying that Lavin's results were quite good, and likely would have been even better if not for some big setbacks. Lavin caught are ally bad rap for a pretty successful run as a young head coach. The standards he is held against are pretty absurd.

 

[caw]

No, just said there would some big injuries and suspensions that prevented his teams from likely going further. Lavin catches more criticism than any young coach I've seen. The guy was in his early 30's when he was thrust into that job and it resulted in one elite 8 and 4 Sweet 16's. Was Jim Calhoun the same coach in his first 6 seasons up in Boston as a young coach as he is now? Not likely. I'm simply saying that Lavin's results were quite good, and likely would have been even better if not for some big setbacks. Lavin caught are ally bad rap for a pretty successful run as a young head coach. The standards he is held against are pretty absurd.

He was also getting very good players. Nobody doubts he is an excellent recruiter, but his in game coaching is not top notch for the BE.

 

[MCNPA]

He was also getting very good players. Nobody doubts he is an excellent recruiter, but his in game coaching is not top notch for the BE.

I just don't know how somebody can say his game coaching isn't up to par, when there isn't much data that supports that argument except from maybe one season of his 7 seasons back in the late 90's as a young first time head coach. He got good players at ucla, but also upended the #1 team in the country at that time, 4 years in a row.

I'm not saying he's the best coach in America. His record doesn't indicate he's a bad coach though.

 

[caw]

I just don't know how somebody can say his game coaching isn't up to par, when there isn't much data that supports that argument except from maybe one season of his 7 seasons back in the late 90's as a young first time head coach. He got good players at ucla, but also upended the #1 team in the country at that time, 4 years in a row.

I'm not saying he's the best coach in America. His record doesn't indicate he's a bad coach though.

This is a coaches league. Up to par for a coach in the BE is not the same as other conferences. Let me be nice and rephrase, he isn't a top 5 coach in the BE and is probably closer to 8-10, IMO.

I would put Pitino, Calhoun, Jimmy B., Huggins as givens. Then I would throw Dixon, Brey and Buzz ahead of him also. You can argue Wright and Cronin if you want.

 

[MCNPA]

This is a coaches league. Up to par for a coach in the BE is not the same as other conferences. Let me be nice and rephrase, he isn't a top 5 coach in the BE and is probably closer to 8-10, IMO.

I would put Pitino, Calhoun, Jimmy B., Huggins as givens. Then I would throw Dixon, Brey and Buzz ahead of him also. You can argue Wright and Cronin if you want.

I certainly wouldn't argue with Jimmy b, Calhoun, Pitino. Huggins no longer in this league. Id put him in the group with Dixon, Brey. Buzz, Cronin not even close just yet. Cronin has 2 good seasons. Lavin had 5 sweet 16's or better and has been coaching less than 10 years. He has a long way to go to write his own history. Jimmy B and Calhoun are on their way to retirement.

 

[caw]

I certainly wouldn't argue with Jimmy b, Calhoun, Pitino. Huggins no longer in this league. Id put him in the group with Dixon, Brey. Buzz, Cronin not even close just yet. Cronin has 2 good seasons. Lavin had 5 sweet 16's or better and has been coaching less than 10 years. He has a long way to go to write his own history. Jimmy B and Calhoun are on their way to retirement.

Lol. I keep forgetting wvu is gone. Considering lavin hasn't coached a team of his players in years I drop him below Brey, Dixon and buzz. Cronin you can argue with wright.

 

[MCNPA]

Lavin and Brey have similar winning percentages. Brey marginally higher, but Brey has 1 sweet 16 to Lavin's 4 sweet 16's and one Elite 8. Lavin has beaten Brey the last 2 years as well. In fact, Lavin has as many sweet 16's and Elite 8's as Brey, Buzz Williams and Dixon combined. Hard to say they are better than Lavin when you need to combine all 3 to reach Lavin's tourney advances.

I will say though, that none compare to Calhoun who has done more than any coach in the country with less. Other coaches don't match Calhoun's success considering the talent level at other competing schools. Uconn has landed some nice talent, but not the red carpet of McD's players that other top schools have had. Problem is he's impossible to replace.

 

[mauconnfan]

Lavin and Brey have similar winning percentages. Brey marginally higher, but Brey has 1 sweet 16 to Lavin's 4 sweet 16's and one Elite 8. Lavin has beaten Brey the last 2 years as well. In fact, Lavin has as many sweet 16's and Elite 8's as Brey, Buzz Williams and Dixon combined. Hard to say they are better than Lavin when you need to combine all 3 to reach Lavin's tourney advances.

I will say though, that none compare to Calhoun who has done more than any coach in the country with less. Other coaches don't match Calhoun's success considering the talent level at other competing schools. Uconn has landed some nice talent, but not the red carpet of McD's players that other top schools have had. Problem is he's impossible to replace.

Fair assessments and not clouded. He's a good coach and needs to make this Johnnies team special to hit the next level of coaches and who knows, maybe he will. The one thing you have to remember he took over a job at UCLA which was at a historic basketball school which was on a roll again bringing in good players, winning a NC a couple years prior. That's a bit different than many of the coaches you compare him to. I think he needs to win something at StJ's before he steps it up and he may just do that with the crop of athletes he continues to bring in.

 

[MCNPA]

Fair assessments and not clouded. He's a good coach and needs to make this Johnnies team special to hit the next level of coaches and who knows, maybe he will. The one thing you have to remember he took over a job at UCLA which was at a historic basketball school which was on a roll again bringing in good players, winning a NC a couple years prior. That's a bit different than many of the coaches you compare him to. I think he needs to win something at StJ's before he steps it up and he may just do that with the crop of athletes he continues to bring in.

Agree with you totally. SJU needs to be his legacy, not UCLA. I think it is a big reason he chose to come to SJU. Lavin's strength is his ability to manage the program and his recruiting ability. Now we have to wait and see what he does. I think his approach has been great. He's hiring great people and landing top talent that suits his style of play. Now he needs to get SJU winning.

For what it's worth, SJU will be real young this year, but I think the roster is real sound and almost all spots. Great depth and athleticism. I think we will start to see this season as the cornerstone to Lavin finally having HIS team together and moving in a positive direction. Finally we at least have a deep roster to compete with.