Blue Ribbon Preseason Rankings: #23 UConn

[tcf15]

Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook Top 25

1. Kentucky
2. Maryland
3. Virginia
4. North Carolina
5. Kansas
6. Duke
7. Arizona
8. Iowa State
9. Villanova
10. Gonzaga
11. Wichita State
12. California
13. Indiana
14. Vanderbilt
15. Michigan State
16. Oklahoma
17. Michigan
18. Oregon
19. Purdue
20. Utah
21. SMU
22. Texas A&M
23. Connecticut
24. Butler
25. Dayton

 

[ConnHuskBask]

DISRESPECTFUL!

 

[Pudge]

It is going to be sweet to beat #2 Maryland. Love seeing them up there.

 

[nomar]

I'm OUTRAGED

 

[CardiacAndre7]

YET AGAIN US VS WORLD

 

[Rico444]

I wonder how many times we're going to outplay our national expectations before these writers start giving us the benefit of the doubt?

 

[Yankees32123]

I don't care about preseason rankings. What does bother me is that schools like Arizona, who is retooling just like us, gets the benefit of the doubt and we don't. They have a solid recruiting class coming in (like us), but not good enough to replace the top 10 production from McConnell, Hollis-Jefferson, S. Johnson, etc. On paper, their roster is pretty comparable to ours as far as talent and potential goes, yet we're 16 spots apart from each other. I just don't get the widespread doubt over UConn. We've proved ourselves to be the type of program that deserves the treatment/respect that Arizona, UNC, Kansas and even Villa-ducking-nova gets, but for some reason we don't get it. The last time anybody expected anything from a UConn team was 2011-12 when we were preseason #4, I believe. Before then it was 2009 but since then we have been consistently battling from behind, doubted, and not given the benefit of the doubt, but have won 2 championships in the process.

I think this is caused by a few factors (conference, newer coach, the "Calhoun's players" bs, etc... But this season is crucial for our reputation going forward. We need to show that we can retool after down years and be elite consistently under KO.

 

[Silk31]

I don't care about preseason rankings. What does bother me is that schools like Arizona, who is retooling just like us, gets the benefit of the doubt and we don't. They have a solid recruiting class coming in (like us), but not good enough to replace the top 10 production from McConnell, Hollis-Jefferson, S. Johnson, etc. On paper, their roster is pretty comparable to ours as far as talent and potential goes, yet we're 16 spots apart from each other. I just don't get the widespread doubt over UConn. We've proved ourselves to be the type of program that deserves the treatment/respect that Arizona, UNC, Kansas and even Villa- ing-nova gets, but for some reason we don't get it. The last time anybody expected anything from a UConn team was 2011-12 when we were preseason #4, I believe. Before then it was 2009 but since then we have been consistently battling from behind, doubted, and not given the benefit of the doubt, but have won 2 championships in the process.

Do you not recall our 2006-07 team that lost every1 from the prior year's stacked team? We had nothing but a large recruiting class which wasn't considered anything all that special and yet we were as high as #8 early in the season before we promptly got exposed vs real competition and missed the post season altogether.

We have been on both ends of this and that's why pre-season rankings often don't mean . I agree that Zona will by no means be a top 10 team this season. The fact of the matter is Zona and some of the other teams you mentioned have been way more consistent than we have been lately.

Let them doubt us and rank us low or not at all...that is the way we like it after all

 

[Walker11]

I have seen Zona @ the back end on other lists.

I think the ranking is fine. I think anywhere between mid teens and mid twenties is appropriate. If we take care of business in the non conference, we will soar in the polls regardless of the starting point.

The last 5 years, it's been the m.o. to exceed or fall short of expectations, save the ban year I guess. I don't think the preseason ranking mattered once in any of those teams' outcomes.

 

[James]

again its all about just taking care of business. Could care where any of these 'experts' slot us until we all get a chance to see how uconns talent syncs.

But i am curious about villanova? top ten team? are arcidiacano, josh hart, and brunson better than Gibbs, purvis, and adams ( very debatable ). They lost hillard and pinkston, their two best players. And the frontcourt depth is nonexistent other than their ravenous rebounding center who is a poor rim protector; they'll start a bunch of unproven nameless players at the 3 and 4.

 

[cohenzone]

The next worst meaningless thing to pre-season polls is chat discussions about them. Guilty.

We lost our prime ball handler and #1 scorer and his backup transferred. We might be depending a lot on a Fr. PG. Our shot blocking center hasn't shown consistency and his back up can't score. Our best assist man going in is a forward and the most dangerous scorer was a tad inconsistent last year. We throw in two grads who look to be solid, but this team is really unknown in some key areas, chemistry not the least of them, coming off a down year. Let's see them play and then the rankings will take care of themselves.

 

[James]

The next worst meaningless thing to pre-season polls is chat discussions about them. Guilty.

We lost our prime ball handler and #1 scorer and his backup transferred. We might be depending a lot on a Fr. PG. Our shot blocking center hasn't shown consistency and his back up can't score. Our best assist man going in is a forward and the most dangerous scorer was a tad inconsistent last year. We throw in two grads who look to be solid, but this team is really unknown in some key areas, chemistry not the least of them, coming off a down year. Let's see them play and then the rankings will take care of themselves.

not sure if youre playing devils advocate here or what, but overall this seems like lazy analysis. lamenting the loss of terrence samuel, a pg ( i mean pgs can usually dribble up court under pressure, not stiff arm opponents) as you call him? Also brimah apparently not showing any consistency... just completely ignore all his leaps in production from frosh to soph year ( this was his first full healthy offseason, leading me to believe this trajectory will continue).

Also underplaying the addition of two near all conference starters in the grads. And why can't a forward be the best passer on the team?

I agree , lets see them play and chemistry is vital... But i don't have the same concerns as you; personnel wise everything is there.

 

[BUConn10]

UConn aside, I will never for the life of me understand how these publications can rank a UK team like this #1 with almost nothing to base it on. Teams like Maryland, Virigina and UNC have earned those top spots yet UK just keeps getting preseason #1s because they get a few top 15 guys, which subsequently brings more top 15 guys the next season. And all of these publications unanimously seem to be putting UK at one, almost like they copy cat one another, if everyone has the same rankings, then no one can be singled out and blamed when it inevitably looks blaringly wrong one month into the season.

Some programs seem to get the "benefit of the doubt", and despite winning more than all of them barring maybe one, UConn does NOT get that same treatment.

 

[Kitaman]

It's pre-season many teams will disappear come March.

But who's Vanderbilt, Oregon and Texas A&M, ranked above us?

 

[champs99and04]

Not a bad list overall but I must be missing something on Oregon.

 

[cohenzone]

not sure if youre playing devils advocate here or what, but overall this seems like lazy analysis. lamenting the loss of terrence samuel, a pg ( i mean pgs can usually dribble up court under pressure, not stiff arm opponents) as you call him? Also brimah apparently not showing any consistency... just completely ignore all his leaps in production from frosh to soph year ( this was his first full healthy offseason, leading me to believe this trajectory will continue).

Also underplaying the addition of two near all conference starters in the grads. And why can't a forward be the best passer on the team?

I agree , lets see them play and chemistry is vital... But i don't have the same concerns as you; personnel wise everything is there.

I see no problem with wait and see. The point is, pre-season rankings don't mean a thing, regardless of whether or not any of us has faith in the team. They are worthless because it takes them weeks to settle into something resembling what the season rankings should be because they are usually enough off-base that the better then expected teams take too long to jump and the worse than expected teams take too long to fall. They shouldn't have polls until at least the first month or even 10 games are played.

The point about the forward is that our particular forward isn't the press-breaking ball handler, and neither is Purvis. The guards need to lead the way, and that is where we have a few questions that I hope can be answered positively. Is Gibbs that guy? Is Adams ready? Is Calhoun going to be a positive depth factor? Ditto Cassells and Facey. What will Enosch bring? Brimah improved,but remained foul prone. Nolan is Nolan. The only thing I'm saying is not about the team, but the relevance of pre-season polls in the first place and that based on who we were last year, who we lost and what we have coming in, are we an easy team to peg right now relative to other teams.

 

[Walker11]

The only main objection I have is that you seen to think Gibbs is an unknown quantity.

 

[cohenzone]

The only main objection I have is that you seen to think Gibbs is an unknown quantity.

I said I don't know what kind of ball handler he is. That's a minor point to my main point. There is no point to preseason polls and getting worked up by where we are ranked. Last time I looked, we have to play real games, not paper predictions.

 

[superjohn]

I see no problem with wait and see. The point is, pre-season rankings don't mean a thing, regardless of whether or not any of us has faith in the team. They are worthless because it takes them weeks to settle into something resembling what the season rankings should be because they are usually enough off-base that the better then expected teams take too long to jump and the worse than expected teams take too long to fall. They shouldn't have polls until at least the first month or even 10 games are played.

The point about the forward is that our particular forward isn't the press-breaking ball handler, and neither is Purvis. The guards need to lead the way, and that is where we have a few questions that I hope can be answered positively. Is Gibbs that guy? Is Adams ready? Is Calhoun going to be a positive depth factor? Ditto Cassells and Facey. What will Enosch bring? Brimah improved,but remained foul prone. Nolan is Nolan. The only thing I'm saying is not about the team, but the relevance of pre-season polls in the first place and that based on who we were last year, who we lost and what we have coming in, are we an easy team to peg right now relative to other teams.

It's clear that Enosch will be the new Boatwright.

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook Top 25

1. Kentucky
2. Maryland
3. Virginia
4. North Carolina
5. Kansas
6. Duke
7. Arizona
8. Iowa State
9. Villanova
10. Gonzaga
11. Wichita State
12. California
13. Indiana
14. Vanderbilt
15. Michigan State
16. Oklahoma
17. Michigan
18. Oregon
19. Purdue
20. Utah
21. SMU
22. Texas A&M
23. Connecticut
24. Butler
25. Dayton

At a first quick glance I may consider removing the 4 teams in bold and replace them with Cincinnati, Miami, Florida State and Valparaiso. I think Keith Carter was fouled on that 3 pointer in the NCAA Tournament vs. Maryland that could have tied it at the buzzer last year. Valpo returns everyone plus adds injured Lexus Williams, LSU transfer Shane Hammink and Rik Smits kid for more depth. On a neutral court I would take Valpo over Oregon. This year they travel to Eugene. Any At-Large hopes will be riding on that game for Valpo most likely. Also if Anthony Drmic is actually 100% for 2015-16 then Boise State could be very legit and a Top 25-30 team. They lost to Dayton AT DAYTON in the NCAA Tournament and essentially had that game won. They lose Marks but I really like Paris Austin who was Ivan Rabbs running mate at Bishop O'Dowd. Austin probably won't start so their back court is very good. Rhode Island at home against Valpo ESPN2 Tip Off Marathon game will be a great game also.

 

[BUHusky]

CAPS LOCK!!!