Can we sneak into a bye in BET?

[uconnfan68]

The Arby's not far from garden on 8th Ave near times square closes at 9PM. Otherwise Id be there. Do you think you are talking to an amateur here who doesnt know and plan for Arby's rendezvous' in the city?

Im gettting old but Im not at early bird special stage yet, like you. I still eat dinner at 11 PM.

Keep going for all the red meat and you might not make it to my age.

 

[August_West]

Keep going for all the red meat and you might not make it to my age.

It will take a week for the coroner to pry the smile off my face though.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Here’s one man’s best guess for how the teams finish at the end of the regular schedule. I’ve gone through the schedule game by game and have tried to account for the loss of Freemantle at Xavier and the return of Justin Moore at Villanova. With the caveat that many of these games are close & could go either way, here’s my best guess without doing tie breakers for seeding:
/
16-4 Creighton
16-4 Marquette
16-4 Providence
13-7 Xavier
12-8 UConn
11-9 Seton Hall
9-7 Villanova
6-10 Butler
6-10 St. John’s
4-16 DePaul
1-19 Georgetown

I’m probably wrong.

Creighton? They have a brutal schedule coming up. I don't even think that's possible based on which teams play each other.

 

[storrsroars]

It will take a week for the coroner to pry the smile off my face though.

You should've lived in Westport when Mario's was still around.

 

[Billy Jack]

They just beat the 2nd best team in the league without him during the first game he was out, with zero time to adjust. Xavier will be fine.

Ill bet you 50 dollars right now, to a UConn charity that we are not fighting PC for 3rd place. Let's get that done here.

This is you.

And Freemantle is like the 4th best player on that squad. LOLOLOLOL!

You thought last night was a strong game fir Xavier? Hmmm . . .

They were at home and blew a 14 point lead. They had to go to OT to pull it out. And frankly without some help from the refs, they don’t win that game. They were very fortunate to walk away with a win.t

As for Providence being the 2nd best team in the league, no one has them ranked that way and they aren’t even 2nd in the standings with an unbalanced schedule.

As for Freemantle being the 4th best player on Xavier, you’re going to have to explain that to me. He’s their leading rebounder, second in scoring, leads the team in both FG% and 3-point %, and is 3rd in both assists & steals.

 

[Billy Jack]

Creighton? They have a brutal schedule coming up. I don't even think that's possible based on which teams play each other.

What games do you expect them to lose?

 

[August_West]

They were at home and blew a 14 point lead. They had to go to OT to pull it out.

I think Providence is VERY strong. That was a big game. Have you watched them this year? the erase EVERY teams 2nd half leads. They are the most composed 2nd half team Ive seen this year What you were watching last night (if you watched) between those 2 teams was the cream of the Big East. You can put Marquette almost right there too.

 

[August_West]

As for Freemantle being the 4th best player on Xavier, you’re going to have to explain that to me. He’s their leading rebounder, second in scoring, leads the team in both FG% and 3-point %, and is 3rd in both assists & steals.

Freemantle is a very nice player. Boum, Nunge,and Jones are all more vital to that team, and the outstanding play of Jerome Hunter this year takes a ton of sting out of Freemantles injury,

 

[XLCenterFan]

I think Providence is VERY strong. That was a big game. Have you watched them this year? the erase EVERY teams 2nd half leads. They are the most composed 2nd half team Ive seen this year What you were watching last night (if you watched) was the cream of the Big East. You can put Marquette almost right there too.

I watched the whole game. Loved how Boum bricked everything, yet he missed nothing at Gampel the other night. It's like X only really shows up vs. us. Refs were trash. They missed so many fouls/travels/timeout calls, and they were constantly making makeup calls. When kids have to rely on makeup calls, they don't know how to play. I am shocked that we haven't beaten either of these teams. Are they good? Yes. Great? No. So much better than us? No way. Oh, and X fans stink. We have the best home court in the BE. You know my standard lets-get-rowdy-at-home thread is coming.

 

[August_West]

I watched the whole game. Loved how Boum bricked everything, yet he missed nothing at Gampel the other night. It's like X only really shows up vs. us. Refs were trash. They missed so many fouls/travels/timeout calls, and they were constantly making makeup calls. When kids have to rely on makeup calls, they don't know how to play. I am shocked that we haven't beaten either of these teams. Are they good? Yes. Great? No. So much better than us? No way. Oh, and X fans stink. We have the best home court in the BE. You know my standard lets-get-rowdy-at-home thread is coming.

In league play you are what your record says you are.

 

[Billy Jack]

I think Providence is VERY strong. That was a big game. Have you watched them this year? the erase EVERY teams 2nd half leads. They are the most composed 2nd half team Ive seen this year What you were watching last night (if you watched) between those 2 teams was the cream of the Big East. You can put Marquette almost right there too.

I have a son-in-law who went to Providence, so we have a little family rivalry going, and yeah, I’ve watched a lot of Providence games. And I know what the Friars are capable of. But this was on Xavier’s home court!

I also know that this is the same Xavier team that blew a 17 point game against us.

 

[Billy Jack]

Freemantle is a very nice player. Boum, Nunge,and Jones are all more vital to that team, and the outstanding play of Jerome Hunter this year takes a ton of sting out of Freemantles injury,

They’re not a team that depends on one or two players. They’re a 5-man team and they’re all vital. Fremantle is probably the most well rounded of the bunch. He does almost everything well.

Sure, Hunter has been playing very well, but how does it take the sting out of Freemantle’s loss when you’ve just shortened your bench? Losing Freemantle will hurt them a lot.

 

[Billy Jack]

I watched the whole game. Loved how Boum bricked everything, yet he missed nothing at Gampel the other night. It's like X only really shows up vs. us. Refs were trash. They missed so many fouls/travels/timeout calls, and they were constantly making makeup calls. When kids have to rely on makeup calls, they don't know how to play. I am shocked that we haven't beaten either of these teams. Are they good? Yes. Great? No. So much better than us? No way. Oh, and X fans stink. We have the best home court in the BE. You know my standard lets-get-rowdy-at-home thread is coming.

How did an 88% FT shooter brick that critical FT late in the game on the front end of a 1 and 1? Blum almost cost them the game with that miss.

 

[Billy Jack]

In league play you are what your record says you are.

Only when the schedule evens out.

 

[August_West]

They’re not a team that depends on one or two players. They’re a 5-man team and they’re all vital. Fremantle is probably the most well rounded of the bunch. He does almost everything well.

Sure, Hunter has been playing very well, but how does it take the sting out of Freemantle’s loss when you’ve just shortened your bench? Losing Freemantle will hurt them a lot.

Somehow we were 14-0 without Samson Johnson . Go figure.

 

[storrsroars]

How did an 88% FT shooter brick that critical FT late in the game on the front end of a 1 and 1? Blum almost cost them the game with that miss.

It happens. Pitt missed the front end of two 1-and-1s under 3 minutes in a one possession game. With guys that are 92% and 88% on FT buckets this year. Held on to win anyway, just like X.

Is an 88% shooter missing the front end really any worse than a 75% shooter missing both in crunch time when you only need one?

 

[buddy]

Well, this conference season has already been a failure anyways. We finished 3rd in the BE the last two seasons, and now we had our best OOC results in a decade and we are on track to be the 5/6 seed. Any way you look at it, it's a failure

Losing to Seton Hall, and even worse, St John's at home were the defining moments of the conference season.

 

[Billy Jack]

They just beat the 2nd best team in the league without him during the first game he was out, with zero time to adjust. Xavier will be fine.

Ill bet you 50 dollars right now, to a UConn charity that we are not fighting PC for 3rd place. Let's get that done here.

This is you.

And Freemantle is like the 4th best player on that squad. LOLOLOLOL!

You thought last night was a strong game fir Xavier? Hmmm . . .

They were at home and blew a 14 point lead. They had to go to OT to pull it out. And frankly without some help from the refs, they don’t win that game. They were very fortunate to walk away with a win.t

As for Providence being the 2nd best team in the league, no one has them ranked that way and they aren’t even 2nd in the standings with an unbalanced schedule.

As for Freemantle being the 4th best player on Xavier, you’re going to have to explain that to me. He’s their leading rebounder, second in both scoring and assists, and leads the team in both FG% and 3-point %.

 

[uconnfan68]

It will take a week for the coroner to pry the smile off my face though.

You do seem to live large. I respect that.

 

[homunculus]

And frankly without some help from the refs, they don’t win that game.

This sounds familiar.

 

[Friarsnoop]

The thing I love about the Big East is that everyone (except maybe Butler) has talent on their roster. Georgetown and St. John's lack coaching, but there are skilled players there. While the odds may dictate one thing, there aren't many games immune from upsets. Connecticut (along with the other top 5 teams) has enough talent to run the table, but could also go 4-4 or 3-5.

Even Butler beat Kansas State somehow.

 

[CTBasketball]

So is this really true? UConn is likely favored in the final 8 games. Suspend any disbelief and assume we end up that way at 14-6.

Xavier plays @Marquette. Call that a L. @PC another L. Without Freemantle it could be worse.
Marquette has Xavier home, W. But UConn and Creighton away, two Ls.
PC has 3 losses now and could lose 3 more. 2 is more likely @ UConn and @ St. Johns
Creighton though, has 3 losses now and a gauntlet coming. Nova home and away, UConn home, @PC, @ St. Johns, Marquette home
Seton Hall has it even worse than Creighton.

Barring a collapse, Xavier and Marquette look like 1-2, PC looks like 3. UConn could still be 4.

The most surprising part of this prophecy is that UConn finishes 14-6.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Keep going for all the red meat and you might not make it to my age.

My gut tells me that A-Dub signed up for the Keith Richards plan a few decades ago. He'll piss on all of our graves.

 

[Dove]

The top 4 spots in the BET are locked up. They are in no particular end of season order,but 1-4 will be Xavier, Marquette, Providence, and Creighton. So that leaves only 5th place at best for us.

Right now we are playing on Wednesday as the 6th seed in a first round game.

We will be competing with Seton Hall (a game up on us) and Nova (a couple games back but with a game in hand). I've gotta figure the only 2 realistic options are a 5 or a 6. We have a better chance of being a 7 than a 4, but I don't care about 4 because 4 or 5 seed is the same game time.

Right now I think it is a coin flip we earn a bye. Don't know what to think, and I'm trying to plan my NYC dinner reservations for that week (namely 4 Charles Prime Rib, which is impossible to get a reservation at, they book 21 days in advance and you have to be luckier on resi than you would be trying to get Taylor swift tix on ticketmaster............ and we will need to make a decision in a couple weeks).


There is a tear in my eye typing this, because if you told me 31 days ago that our most likely league finish is 5-7 I would've called you Nelson Muntz. On 1/31 I was already locked into BET but was also tentatively making plans for Albany and MSG.


So I guess I'm asking for predictions on out BET seed.

Norm will get you your reservation. Don't sweat it.

 

[HuskyHawk]

The most surprising part of this prophecy is that UConn finishes 14-6.

UConn will be favored in every game. Will we lose 1-? Probably. Creighton might lose 4-5 of the remaining games, and Seton Hall as well.

 

[CTBasketball]

UConn will be favored in every game. Will we lose 1-? Probably. Creighton might lose 4-5 of the remaining games, and Seton Hall as well.

We were favored in each of our 6 Big East losses this year. In some games, we were favored by more than 6 pts.

I don’t understand your take.

 

[Billy Jack]

UConn will be favored in every game. Will we lose 1-? Probably. Creighton might lose 4-5 of the remaining games, and Seton Hall as well.

You are way underrating Creighton. We will not be favored in the game at their place.

Our other problem is Villanova. Justin Moore is back in their lineup. He’s struggled his first couple of games back, but that’s to be expected since he was away from the game for 10 months. But we don’t get to play them until March, the last game of the season. With Moore hitting his stride by that time and with the game being played in Philly, this figures to be a close game with the edge going to Nova. Although it could go either way.

 

[HuskyHawk]

We were favored in each of our 6 Big East losses this year. In some games, we were favored by more than 6 pts.

I don’t understand your take.

That was when there wasn't much information about who would be good. Marquette for example. UConn has made adjustments. This isn't the 14-0 squad, nor is the team that lost 6 of 8 anymore.

@Billy Jack You vastly overrate Creighton. They are going to lose a lot of the last games they play. I do think that is the toughest game on UConn's schedule.

 

[UconnFanDC]

Great question but so sad we're having this discussion. I'm sure not one of us thought this after the 1st 14 games. Sigh. But I'm sure we'll be anyone's nightmare regardless.

 

[Billy Jack]

@Billy Jack You vastly overrate Creighton. They are going to lose a lot of the last games they play. I do think that is the toughest game on UConn's schedule.

I’ll ask again. Who are they going to lose to?

Forget their 14-8 record. They are 14-5 with Kalkbrenner in the lineup. They’ve beaten Xavier, Providence, and Arkansas when they were healthy and ranked in the top 10. They are undefeated at home. So why would I expect us to win the game in Omaha?