Conference play, fresh start | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Conference play, fresh start

raf46 said:
Good that the students are on break. The adults will get very quiet against Wichita. The students would boo. Which should not happen. Do not question the team's effort. They just are not a good team.
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The students average about 100 in attendance at Hartford. They never show up there it's pathetic
 
Yonick said:
I did read your post. What you said has been said over and over on the boneyard.
The difference is the previous posts are much briefer.
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Which part? I've read a lot of them. The posts I've seen tend to either shame people into being supportive or caution that things could be worse. This post basically says hey, I know we're bad and the conference is bad and we have no rivalries and the vibe around the program in general is horrible, but I'm still really looking forward to conference play because for everything that has changed there are still a lot of things that haven't. It's difficult for me to see how anybody could find fault in that sentiment even if they feel differently.
 
I was optimistic after Arizona. The effort and compete was there. The defensive scheming on Ayton was, dare I say, masterful. We really held their best player in check and it gave us a chance to win.

The Auburn game was just a kick in the nuts. This season is going to be ugly with the roster as it's currently constituted (no Gilbert or Wilson).

If we get Gilbert back I will be optimistic again that we will be competitive.
 
This board is nuts. A fresh start? We had people here thinking we would win 2 out of 3 against Zona, Auburn, and The Shockers. People thinking we had turned the season around because we didn't lose by 30 to Zona, now people thinking we can turn around the season by beating The Shockers.

We had zero chance of beating Zona or Auburn and we have zero chance of beating Wichita State. I put us at 15 wins on the season a long time ago, think I may have been too generous with that. We are a terrible basketball team.
 
Paesano said:
You know what makes me sad? That this team actually is a vital part of some people's lives and, for those people, it is a rare source of joy and a distraction from the challenges they face.

I remember my father telling me in 1987 that Calhoun was a good coach and that this was going to be a good team. That was my freshman year and he was battling cancer. He loved watching those teams play and it was a distraction from what he was going through. He didn't live long enough to even see the dream season.

My wife's grandfather was a big fan of both the men and the women. He was a tough WWII vet that landed on Normandy. He did get to see both teams win championships. And when he was battling cancer, the games and our conversations about those games were a distraction for him. It really brought happiness into his life, if even temporarily.

The women are still a source of happiness for those who are fans and are going through tough times. But the men are not. That's the sad part.
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There's no doubt that winning can lift a lot of people's spirits and that it's sad that things aren't as good as they could be. I'm also of the belief that these things do not exist in a vacuum and that everything has its saturation point. Over the last few years this program has been a distraction to me and it has at times even brought joy. Sometimes the most fulfilling moments are the ones that cause you to forget about everything and everybody else. When we beat Tulsa in the AAC semis a couple years ago in a brutally ugly game I didn't care that we could have been playing at MSG, I didn't care that the team was bad, and I definitely didn't care that the product I was seeing was a million miles from the one I grew up with. I just cared that at that moment in time I wanted one thing and I got it, a chance to see my team play another game.

As far as the women's team, different people like different things. I've never really been interested for a variety of reasons the biggest of which being that I was a male growing up in a culture that was largely indifferent to women's sports. Oddly enough, I think people avoid certain products for the same reason that they eventually embrace them - I don't care about the UCWBB team because it's foreign to me, and it's foreign to me because at one point in time I probably decided I was too good for it. Now obviously that's a nonsensical position but it's a nonsense grounded in a well-reasoned reality. I gravitated towards men's sports because that's where the people were. It didn't matter whether they were there for the right reason or the wrong reason it just mattered that they were there. With the men's program in tough times, I've realized that it was never about the wins and losses as much as it was the spectacle. That's what drew me. It's what draws everybody at some point. Those moments you speak of with your father couldn't make my point any better. It was never about the winning. The winning just gave you an excuse to see what it was about.
 
superjohn said:
This board is nuts. A fresh start? We had people here thinking we would win 2 out of 3 against Zona, Auburn, and The Shockers. People thinking we had turned the season around because we didn't lose by 30 to Zona, now people thinking we can turn around the season by beating The Shockers.

We had zero chance of beating Zona or Auburn and we have zero chance of beating Wichita State. I put us at 15 wins on the season a long time ago, think I may have been too generous with that. We are a terrible basketball team.
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marked this down.

Lets see if you are right.
 
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superjohn said:
This board is nuts. A fresh start? We had people here thinking we would win 2 out of 3 against Zona, Auburn, and The Shockers. People thinking we had turned the season around because we didn't lose by 30 to Zona, now people thinking we can turn around the season by beating The Shockers.

We had zero chance of beating Zona or Auburn and we have zero chance of beating Wichita State. I put us at 15 wins on the season a long time ago, think I may have been too generous with that. We are a terrible basketball team.
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I agree and for the first time since I joined the BY (this version), I've been motivated to change my avatar.
 
champs99and04 said:
Which part? I've read a lot of them. The posts I've seen tend to either shame people into being supportive or caution that things could be worse. This post basically says hey, I know we're bad and the conference is bad and we have no rivalries and the vibe around the program in general is horrible, but I'm still really looking forward to conference play because for everything that has changed there are still a lot of things that haven't. It's difficult for me to see how anybody could find fault in that sentiment even if they feel differently.
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Never found fault in your post, just thought it could have been much shorter.
 
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superjohn said:
This board is nuts. A fresh start? We had people here thinking we would win 2 out of 3 against Zona, Auburn, and The Shockers. People thinking we had turned the season around because we didn't lose by 30 to Zona, now people thinking we can turn around the season by beating The Shockers.

We had zero chance of beating Zona or Auburn and we have zero chance of beating Wichita State. I put us at 15 wins on the season a long time ago, think I may have been too generous with that. We are a terrible basketball team.
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August_West said:
marked this down.

Lets see if you are right.
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We are beating Wichita State.

Mark it down.
 
8893 said:
We are beating Wichita State.

Mark it down.

hAN8D0U.gif
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I’ll sign this
 
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Uconn had a chance at a fresh start when they had a unique 12 day break to freshen up, improve and work on issues. To lose by 25 in the 2nd game back from such a break is a huge problem in my opinion. To lose by a combined 40 in the first 2 games is alarming. What did they do in the 12 days they had?
 
Travelman32 said:
Uconn had a chance at a fresh start when they had a unique 12 day break to freshen up, improve and work on issues. To lose by 25 in the 2nd game back from such a break is a huge problem in my opinion. To lose by a combined 40 in the first 2 games is alarming. What did they do in the 12 days they had?
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We were taking the stairs. Turns out, winners take the escalator.
 
Our next 4 games we play Wichita, Tulsa, ECU, UCF, and Tulane. We’re not expected to beat Wichita but if KO gets us to keep it close that’s a plus. Tulsa and ECU should be wins. UCF only had a bad loss to West Virginia. Then Tulane. By then we probably know whether we want KO back next year because maybe he turns things. I don’t expect it.
 
If this team can harness the energy and aptitude they exuded in most of the Arizona and Michigan State games they can string together some wins. The potential is there. They were exciting to watch for the bulk of the Arizona game. What we have yet to see is any sort of momentum carried over from the positives of one game into the next. Of course, those two games only obtained some degree of "moral victory" and not the W. What keeps me hopeful is that I know this team is capable of doing more. Should be that the best is yet to come for this season "IF" they improve as the season progresses.
 
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ESPN has an article today (ESPN Insider's article) where they revise their conference projections. UConn is now expected to finish 7th (which would probably equate to around .500). That wouldn't be a fresh start. More like a punch to the gut.

American Athletic Conference
Neither of the two preseason favorites, Wichita State and Cincinnati, have looked infallible so far, but the Shockers are getting Markis McDuffie healthy, and Cincinnati seems to have rebounded from a two-game losing streak. The two teams don't play until Feb. 18, but they will face each other twice in the final five games of the season. SMU looks like an NCAA tournament team, and Houston has surprised despite a couple of weird losses.

1. Wichita State Shockers
2. Cincinnati Bearcats
3. SMU Mustangs
4. Houston Cougars
5. UCF Knights
6. Temple Owls
7. Connecticut Huskies
8. Tulsa Golden Hurricane
9. Memphis Tigers
10. Tulane Green Wave
11. South Florida Bulls
12. East Carolina Pirates

(Revised) projected standings for every conference in the country
 
HooperScooper said:
UConn is now expected to finish 7th (which would probably equate to around .500). That wouldn't be a fresh start. More like a punch to the gut.
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7th might also be optimistic at this point.
 
jibsey said:
Our next 4 games we play Wichita, Tulsa, ECU, UCF, and Tulane. We’re not expected to beat Wichita but if KO gets us to keep it close that’s a plus. Tulsa and ECU should be wins. UCF only had a bad loss to West Virginia. Then Tulane. By then we probably know whether we want KO back next year because maybe he turns things. I don’t expect it.
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There are no "should win" this year. They'll be "might win". When we win, they'll be "we won??". Sad, but this is where we are. I put all road games in the "we'll lose" category and only certain home games in the "might win" category.
 
UCweCONN said:
There are no "should win" this year. They'll be "might win". When we win, they'll be "we won??". Sad, but this is where we are. I put all road games in the "we'll lose" category and only certain home games in the "might win" category.
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True. There really are no games you can call "locks." None. I won't go so far as to assume we'll lose all road games, but recent history has shown us that there are no W's you can write in beforehand- unless you use a pencil. ;)
 
8893 said:
7th might also be optimistic at this point.
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Right now, I think we’re probably the 9th best team in the conference.
 
Fishy said:
Right now, I think we’re probably the 9th best team in the conference.
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The only two teams we're comfortably better than right now are South Florida and East Carolina. There are a bunch of other teams in our orbit that aren't very good that we should rack up some wins against by default. Gun to my head, I'd pick us higher than 9th, but it's certainly not out of the question.

I saw the Auburn game coming from a mile away. Mediocre teams almost always perform poorly in those situations - whenever you have several days to prepare for a ranked opponent, play hard in a losing cause, and then have to fly across the country to play a slightly lesser opponent 36 hours later, you're asking for trouble. Every under-achieving team that we have ever had has played that exact game. The 2010 season is a collage of those games.

They'll be ready to play Wichita State. They have enough pride for that and they probably have enough talent to win or at least keep it close if the stars align. The five games following that, especially if they lose Saturday, will be when we see them check out.
 
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