The amout of people on this board who believe Samson would have started over Karaban when both were heathly is truly staggering. Like mindblown.gif stuff.Somewhere deep down inside I get a reoccurring question; Has everyone forgotten Samson Johnson? Remember the guy who was supposed to make Alex Karaban the best 6th man in the BE.
"Not ranked in the Top 10" is the new "Not ranked in the Top 25."They clearly messed up badly not ranking UConn preseason last year. Our preseason ranking this year shouldn't have anything to do with them blowing it last year.
That speaks to the oddity of preseason rankings. Up until first games the rankings are the projection of where everyone thinks teams will be at END of season. Once games start it immediately shifts to snapshot of where they are right NOW. So I think you are right, UConn might not be top 10 immediately and is likely to have some ups and downs.Top 15 is generous considering who we lost. The freshmen will need time to adjust, and DC will need to adjust to being the main guy at Center. Both will take time.
I expect we will be top ten in February and beyond.
I think preseason rankings are useless.That speaks to the oddity of preseason rankings. Up until first games the rankings are the projection of where everyone thinks teams will be at END of season. Once games start it immediately shifts to snapshot of where they are right NOW. So I think you are right, UConn might not be top 10 immediately and is likely to have some ups and downs.
As champs returning a decent # of contributors, the 23-24 Huskies have more ballast (internal & external perception) to start high and stay in top-25. The floor & ceiling depends on the newcomers. Europe trip will be telling and is HUGE for recreating cohesion, comes at exact right time following the 3 NBA exits. Hopefully we are saying WOW about a couple of the newcomers and no limits on what team can be ranked or achieve.
Pre-season rankings are pretty good measures of team talent/potential+infrastructure. Not perfect, but actually capture team ceiling/upside better than midseason/end of season polls. We were the exception last season.I think preseason rankings are useless.
We were unranked and went on to win every non- conference game by double-digits, and lost only once on a neutral court while dominating the advanced metrics. Conversely, UNC was preseason #1 and didn't make the tourney. Those rankings are useless to until about 10 games into the season.Pre-season rankings are pretty good measures of team talent/potential+infrastructure. Not perfect, but actually capture team ceiling/upside better than midseason/end of season polls. We were the exception last season.
UConn was unranked last season (well just, we were 27th), but we basically went 6/6 on development:
1) Karaban freshman hit.
2) Clingan massive freshman hit,
3) Jackson development as passer/"point guard".
4) Sanogo added outside shot and improved passing.
5) Hawkins massive improvement in basically all areas.
6) Newton game translated up competition level.
Only thing that didn't really develop as hoped was Jackson's outside shot.
I'd add a 7th: the additional inbound transfers were a net improvement over the outbound transfers.Pre-season rankings are pretty good measures of team talent/potential+infrastructure. Not perfect, but actually capture team ceiling/upside better than midseason/end of season polls. We were the exception last season.
UConn was unranked last season (well just, we were 27th), but we basically went 6/6 on development:
1) Karaban freshman hit.
2) Clingan massive freshman hit,
3) Jackson development as passer/"point guard".
4) Sanogo added outside shot and improved passing.
5) Hawkins massive improvement in basically all areas.
6) Newton game translated up competition level.
Only thing that didn't really develop as hoped was Jackson's outside shot.
The pre-season poll is more predictive of the champ than the final ap poll.We were unranked and went on to win every non- conference game by double-digits, and lost only once on a neutral court while dominating the advanced metrics. Conversely, UNC was preseason #1 and didn't make the tourney. Those rankings are useless to until about 10 games into the season.
Then why are you reading this thread?I think preseason rankings are useless.
Because you can't stop me.Then why are you reading this thread?
What?Because you can't stop me.
Honestly I think I’m with @aburks41 for once. If we were Duke or Kentucky, with this starting lineup, coming off a national championship, on top of a top 3 recruiting class, we’d be moved to the number 1 spot after landing Spencer. Dan is not getting the proper respect he, and this program, deserve.
Honestly I think I’m with @aburks41 for once. If we were Duke or Kentucky, with this starting lineup, coming off a national championship, on top of a top 3 recruiting class, we’d be moved to the number 1 spot after landing Spencer. Dan is not getting the proper respect he, and this program, deserve.
Honestly I think I’m with @aburks41 for once. If we were Duke or Kentucky, with this starting lineup, coming off a national championship, on top of a top 3 recruiting class, we’d be moved to the number 1 spot after landing Spencer. Dan is not getting the proper respect he, and this program, deserve.
I really don’t. It’s a good starting 5, and I’d understand anyone who has them top 5 with Self as coach. But I’m really struggling to understand why it’s projected to be much better than our lineup?Do people really think the projected starting 5 for Kansas is signifcantly better or better at all than UConn's projected starting 5?
Dajuan Harris, Nick Timberlake, Kevin McCullar, KJ Adams, Hunter Dickinson
Stephon Castle, Tristen Newton, Cam Spencer, Alex Karaban, Donovan Clingan
Kansas is the consensus #1 and UConn seems to be around top 10ish. It seems a bit strange.
I've actually been pretty pleased, there's been a healthy amount of different views on number one this year. Kansas might be number one in a consensus, I'm not sure, probably depends which sources you aggregate, But it seems like a pretty tight top four (Kansas, Duke, Michigan St, Purdue) and then we're in the next group (Marquette, UConn, Creighton, FAU, Miami, Houston).Kansas is the consensus #1 and UConn seems to be around top 10ish. It seems a bit strange.
2 big 10 teams? Wait until they flame out in the tournamentI've actually been pretty pleased, there's been a healthy amount of different views on number one this year. Kansas might be number one in a consensus, I'm not sure, probably depends which sources you aggregate, But it seems like a pretty tight top four (Kansas, Duke, Michigan St, Purdue) and then we're in the next group (Marquette, UConn, Creighton, FAU, Miami, Houston).