Candid Coaches: Will UConn at least make a third straight Final Four this season?

[HooperScooper]

Continuing the Candid Coaches series.

32% say yes and 68% say no.

"I'm not betting against UConn -- although Hurley would probably like that, to use it as motivation. Gotta knock them off the mountain first. He won back-to-back national championships with very different teams, yet were elite both offensively and defensively. Hard to do that. They have become so much better on the offensive end the last two years and they are always hard to score against and out-rebound."

Candid Coaches: Will UConn at least make a third straight Final Four this season?

The Huskies are looking to win the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season, but it won't be easy

www.cbssports.com

 

[RuffRuff]

Glad to see Hassan getting some props here, as I fully agree he is going to be better than expected and a catalyst to keep the Fanta wagon in motion. Hassan brings every intangible you want to this system, is a leader and has an end to end engine. It’s his time to shine and I think he’s ready to embrace that role. Third year in the system, playing arguably most important position on the court, and he’s done nothing but get better. I’m expecting big things from him, and to be a key leader on the floor.


"I absolutely see it. Obviously, Alex Karabanwill get a huge bulk of the preseason hype (and it is well-deserved), along with the expectation of a sophomore jump from Solo Ball and Jaylin Stewart, and Liam McNeeley could be a lottery pick. But I think the straw that will stir the drink here is having a veteran like Hassan Diarra leading the way. I think he is an absolute unsung hero that could find himself on the Cousy finalist list if the season goes as well for UConn as everyone expects it to. I think the Big East will be more than winnable again, and they should walk into the tournament with a top-2 seed."

Interesting to see one coach question the roster. I could swear this was the same question mark last preseason.

If I were to make a call, would say this is a F4 team this year, perhaps not a full NC. There are a couple teams out there who have such impressive rosters (Kansas and Bama) that I wouldn’t be ready make that call until I see this team gel, and see what Tarris Reed is all about.

 

[uconnfan68]

Glad to see Hassan getting some props here, as I fully agree he is going to be better than expected and a catalyst to keep the Fanta wagon in motion. Hassan brings every intangible you want to this system, is a leader and has an end to end engine. It’s his time to shine and I think he’s ready to embrace that role. Third year in the system, playing arguably most important position on the court, and he’s done nothing but get better. I’m expecting big things from him, and to be a key leader on the floor.


"I absolutely see it. Obviously, Alex Karabanwill get a huge bulk of the preseason hype (and it is well-deserved), along with the expectation of a sophomore jump from Solo Ball and Jaylin Stewart, and Liam McNeeley could be a lottery pick. But I think the straw that will stir the drink here is having a veteran like Hassan Diarra leading the way. I think he is an absolute unsung hero that could find himself on the Cousy finalist list if the season goes as well for UConn as everyone expects it to. I think the Big East will be more than winnable again, and they should walk into the tournament with a top-2 seed."

Interesting to see one coach question the roster. I could swear this was the same question mark last preseason.

If I were to make a call, would say this is a F4 team this year, perhaps not a full NC. There are a couple teams out there who have such impressive rosters (Kansas and Bama) that I wouldn’t be ready make that call until I see this team gel, and see what Tarris Reed is all about.

Too many unknowns, but I’m hopeful.

 

[JerseyAlum]

"I think they come back to the pack. Not a great roster."

This is going to be fuel for the team for sure.

 

[NJHoops]

"I think they come back to the pack. Not a great roster."

Someone’s salty!

 

[UConnTrumbull]

"I think they come back to the pack. Not a great roster."

This is going to be fuel for the team for sure.

Hurley is going to LOVE that

 

[Tenspro2002]

As a gambler, 32% or around +200 would be astronomically good odds this time of year.

 

[NJHoops]

Someone’s salty!

Also, I’m pretending Pitino said it.

 

[husky429]

Final Fours are exceptionally hard to get to--even for great teams. We already know we've got a system on both ends that can win it all.

As I've said before, we have the talent. Probably 9-10 guys who would start for most high-major teams. The question isn't if we have enough overall size/skill/athleticism, it's if we have those 1-2-3 guys who can take over a game on either end when the going gets rough or you need to stomp on a teams throat and end them. It's hard to find that out in a pre-season. Guys of Clingan's or Newton's talent take you to that next level with their mentality just as much as their skills and size. We know that Karaban has it in him, but past that, we have a lot of conjecture. Any of Mahaney, Hass, Solo, Stewart, McNeeley could be up to the task but we just don't know.

 

[awy]

i'd be very interested in what the coaches are thinking in terms of cribbing uconn's system or developing countermeasures, but they won't ever talk about that in this kind of poll. just talking about the roster is pretty meaningless considering the large impact of development and lack of exposure of the sophomores.

 

[auror]

Also, I’m pretending Pitino said it.

Was thinking Self.

 

[nomar]

"I think they come back to the pack. Not a great roster."

This is going to be fuel for the team for sure.

All of the other comments, Yes and No, were reasonable. This dude is a hater.

 

[HooperScooper]

Did I miss Dick Vitale getting hired as a college coach?

"Love UConn's roster. However, I know how hard it is to be flawless in March -- even with an excellent group of bought-in young men. You have to be able to withstand a night or two where the opposition (Oakland, Princeton, VCU) goes on a magical run or has the night of a lifetime. Even if you play well they could still get you on a given night. That being said, if there were ever a time to bet, I'd put my money on Hurley seven days a week and two times on Sunday! UConn goes back to the Final Four, baby!"

I'm trying to picture any coach saying that punctuated with "baby". I can't come up with anyone.

 

[mauconnfan]

• "I think they come back to the pack. Not a great roster."

Let’s throw this on the board!!

 

[RuffRuff]

Was thinking Self.

I don’t think it’s either. Pitino is pro BE, and Self doesn’t seem extreme enough to underrate coaching, as he’s coached some less than NBA caliber talent to titles.

Feels like a Calipari angle, or some other non top coach.

 

[Hoophound]

• "I think they come back to the pack. Not a great roster."

Let’s throw this on the board!!

If you don’t think we have a great roster, you don’t know our roster. Talent is not the problem. If we aren’t a really good team, it will be because we don’t mesh. There’s been a lot of turnover and of course, that can work against you. We are a final four caliber team that might lose on the way to the final four.

 

[uconn_jack]

So if we get to but lose in the FF this year, I wonder how many people are going to say we are coming back down to earth and that the last 2 years were a fluke?

 

[slepers]

• "I think they come back to the pack. Not a great roster."

Let’s throw this on the board!!

It’s probably the Georgetown coach….whats his name?.

 

[The Viking]

• "I think they come back to the pack. Not a great roster."

Let’s throw this on the board!!

Hurley found a way to get in the article and have that posted. Brilliant move. Chess vs checkers

 

[uconngb]

So if we get to but lose in the FF this year, I wonder how many people are going to say we are coming back down to earth and that the last 2 years were a fluke?

Lol

 

[Stasher599]

I just read the article to completion and noticed one of the coaches that doesn’t think we will make the 3rd straight final four was quoted as saying “Not a great roster”. This along with hearing a recent podcast from Fanta and the boys saying UConn would have be a top 20-30 team without Hurley& Co.
I honestly really like this roster and think from top to bottom the team is built really well and extremely talented. I would not call the talent on this team a fringe ranked team….thoughts?

 

[REB1094]

Our top 8 is Ball, Diarra, Karaban, Mahaney, McNeeley, Reed, Samson, Stewart. With guys like Ross, Nowell, Abraham after that

On paper and with no other context, that’s a pretty good team. Definitely a tournament team, wouldn't argue against a second weekend team. Final 4 team? I wouldn’t say so

But layer in the best coaching staff in the country with a master at player development and you have a serious national title contender. Guys will outperform an average summer of offseason development. The Dan Hurley effect!

 

[UCFan1513]

"I think they come back to the pack. Not a great roster."

This is going to be fuel for the team for sure.

Sounds like this was Brad Underwood. Not because he’s salty, but because he doesn’t scout other teams until 30 minutes before the game

 

[RuffRuff]

Roster is underrated, natural instinct when you compare against an all time roster, times most not thinking its possible to do it again. This is no different than last year when most had us ranked 6-8 in the preseason, talking about all we lost, unfamiliar with what was coming in behind. Then we bitch slapped the field at a historic level.

When you see it in appropriate light, you have two seasoned leaders coming back, one which will be a preseason AA and first round pick. The other a gritty tomcat and leader who has been trained up at a very important position.

We then have a lottery pick frosh at the 3. We have a two year top scorer at a KPI top 15 team two years running at the 2. We have an uber talented physical freak at the 5, who has tons of untapped potential.

Then layer in a ton or talent BEHIND that. We lost a unicorn in Cling, but this is a very talented and underrated roster. That felt like a sour grapes comment.

 

[uconngb]

Sounds like this was Brad Underwood. Not because he’s salty, but because he doesn’t scout other teams until 30 minutes before the game

Not to mention halfway through the game says he’s gonna stick with the game plan despite profuse bleeding from the head from constant beating of it into a brick wall