Contrarian View: Not Ready to Throw In The Towel

[Billy Jack]

It’s certainly not outside the realm of possibility with the way we are playing

Nothing is outside the range of possibility as we saw when DePaul beat a far superior Xavier team.

But the likelihood of Butler coming into Hartford and leaving with a win is so slim as not to be seriously entertained.

It”s amazing to see how wide panic mode has spread within UConn Nation.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Nothing is outside the range of possibility as we saw when DePaul beat a far superior Xavier team.

But the likelihood of Butler coming into Hartford and leaving with a win is so slim as not to be seriously entertained.

It”s amusing to see how wide panic mode has spread within UConn Nation.

FIFOthers

 

[nelsonmuntz]

We already beat Butler at their place. You think they’re going to come into the CL Center and beat us there?

We will find out. That’s why they play the games.

 

[Billy Jack]

We will find out. That’s why they play the games.

Yup. You’re right on that.

 

[Candyman]

The loss doesn’t mean we played badly, but it only takes a few mistakes against a good team to turn a win into a loss.

Bro we couldnt have played any worse and your here saying it doesn’t mean we played badly.

We lost 5 of 6 and the spin doctors are spinning away. First it was we lost to top 3 BE teams on road then it was St Johns is good and we don’t match up good with them. Now it’s Seton Hall is top 50 and a very good team.

Seton Hall is mid at best. We are still 6th in Kenpom so let’s not talk metrics. They have no big man at all. One shooter who went 1-9 from 3. No excuse to lose these two games. None.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Nothing is outside the range of possibility as we saw when DePaul beat a far superior Xavier team.

But the likelihood of Butler coming into Hartford and leaving with a win is so slim as not to be seriously entertained.

It”s amazing to see how wide panic mode has spread within UConn Nation.

Because we went from arguably the best team in the country to losing 5 of 6 in less than a month. That’s out of the ordinary.

 

[UConniki]

Because we went from arguably the best team in the country to losing 5 of 6 in less than a month. That’s out of the ordinary.

 

[UConniki]

So is this expression on our 50 year old coach… the man most definitely has some serious issues.

 

[Billy Jack]

Bro we couldnt have played any worse and your here saying it doesn’t mean we played badly.

We lost 5 of 6 and the spin doctors are spinning away. First it was we lost to top 3 BE teams on road then it was St Johns is good and we don’t match up good with them. Now it’s Seton Hall is top 50 and a very good team.

Seton Hall is mid at best. We are still 6th in Kenpom so let’s not talk metrics. They have no big man at all. One shooter who went 1-9 from 3. No excuse to lose these two games. None.

I can see you’re panicking. Hilarious.

 

[Billy Jack]

Because we went from arguably the best team in the country to losing 5 of 6 in less than a month. That’s out of the ordinary.

No, it’s not. It happens all the time. The 2011 NC team was ranked #5 in late January before losing 7 of 11 and 4 out of 5 to close out the regular season. What’s out of the ordinary is to be ranked as high as we were.

Just this year, Baylor was ranked #12 and then opened it’s conference season with 3 straight losses a couple of weeks ago.

Creighton opened this season with 6 straight wins and a #7 ranking before losing 6 in a row.

Indiana opened the season winning 8 out of 9 and a top 10 ranking before losing 5 of their next 7.

Arkansas opened the season 11-1, ranked #9. They’ve lost 5 of their last 6.

Would you like me to go on?

 

[CardiacAndre7]

No, it’s not. It happens all the time. The 2011 NC team was ranked #5 in late January before losing 7 of 11 and 4 out of 5 to close out the regular season. What’s out of the ordinary is to be ranked as high as we were.

Just this year, Baylor was ranked #12 and then opened it’s conference season with 3 straight losses a couple of weeks ago.

Creighton opened this season with 6 straight wins and a #7 ranking before losing 6 in a row.

Indiana opened the season winning 8 out of 9 and a top 10 ranking before losing 5 of their next 7.

Arkansas opened the season 11-1, ranked #9. They’ve lost 5 of their last 6.

Would you like me to go on?

Indiana, Arkansas and Creighton all had major injuries to top players on their teams. We haven’t…

 

[UConniki]

So is this expression on our 50 year old coach… the man most definitely has some serious issues.

Maybe you think screaming clown 20 times a game at the referee’s and pouting like 5 year old having a temper tantrum is what I’d expect from the 50 year old coach of my favorite team who’s making 3.5 million dollars a year and is supposed to be a role model and teaching character and leadership skills to the young men that play for him. I have 6 children and I’m proud to say none of them exhibit this childish immature behavior as adults. I have a UConn room in my house and our UConn tree stays up till the last basketball team is finished playing and a UConn flag hanging from the front on my house in SW Florida, so don’t tell me to go find another team, Hurley is an immature embarrassment to the School and it’s been 5 years without a tournament win so that’s lose lose in my eyes.

 

[Billy Jack]

Indiana, Arkansas and Creighton all had major injuries to top players on their teams. We haven’t…

I understand and was aware of that when I posted. But injuries are part of the game and there are always various reasons for a skid.

Let’s look more closely. At Creighton, for example, Their slide started with Kalkbrenner in the lineup for the first 3 games of that losing streak. And if you look only at games in which he played, they lost 5 out of 8. Regardless of his absence, it was a complete reversal of fortune.

And I could have listed other examples. Iowa, for example, opened the season with a 5 game win streak, ranked in the top 25. They then lost 6 of their next 9 and 5 of 7 at one point. They’re now back on track, riding a 4 game winning streak.

My point was that these things are not out of the ordinary. Things happen. College kids are going through growing pains. Sometimes injuries are a factor. But those are the injuries we know about. Kids can be banged up and we don’t know anything about it. These are not professional athletes. They are teenagers and 20 year olds who are also full time students. There are other things going on in their lives.

What’s normal and ordinary in a season actually is to have ups and downs.What will be the test is whether the kids can figure it out when they face challenges and use those experiences to get better. We’ll see.

 

[freshler40]

The flaw in your argument is that Seton Hall and St. John’s are very good teams. Not by Big East standards but in the overall world of college basketball, they are very good.

Seton Hall in particular is being badly disrespected here. They beat Rutgers on the road, a team currently ranked in the top 25. They beat Memphis on a neutral court, a team currently ranked in the top 40 by both Sagarin & Ken Pom. Seton Hall themselves is ranked in the top 50 by both Sagarin & Ken Pom. This figured to be a tough game from the get go. The way we lost it is is our aging, but losing to them by I point on the road in the final seconds was certainly within the range of possibilities going in. The loss doesn’t mean we played badly, but it only takes a few mistakes against a good team to turn a win into a loss.

The St. John’s loss was a far bigger disappointment because it was at home, because the margin of victory was bigger, and because they aren’t ass good as Seton Hall. But they are a good team. They are ranked in the top 60 by bith Sagarin and Ken Pom. They actually have an outside shot of going to the tournament. While this is a bad loss, it’s the only truly bad loss on the resume, and it’s not as bad a loss as say, Xavier’s loss to DePaul. In a tough league like the Big East, games like this happen from time to time. Xavier recovered fro their loss to DeOaul and we’ll recover from this one.

Forget the comparisons, just watch the game and tell me how well they played. Seven (7) field goals in the second half, none in the last 6 minutes. That is 14 points from the field in 20 minutes. Where are the plays to score? Watch the replays of recent games, tell me again how well they played! Our turnovers exceed our field goals. Something smells in Denmark and other places!

 

[AZHuskiePop]

We need the Maker’s Muppet post bumped , Heartless and Gutless is going to be this teams legacy.
But that’s probably unfair.,All our good teams have one thing in common a leader on the floor. Not necessarily even a star but a cool head in charge . 2004 our leader was its 3-4 best player. Even 2019-20 Gaffney brought order to another headless team .
This season resembles 2011 in a lot of ways Maui champs to BE regular season chumps.
Do we have a Kemba ? Of course not but this team is headless on the court . Someone has to step up and make everyone else better.
I thought it would be Jackson but he is indecisive on offense. Indecision is death . A team without a head is never going to be successful in competitive games .

 

[Billy Jack]

Forget the comparisons, just watch the game and tell me how well they played. Seven (7) field goals in the second half, none in the last 6 minutes. That is 14 points from the field in 20 minutes. Where are the plays to score? Watch the replays of recent games, tell me again how well they played! Our turnovers exceed our field goals. Something smells in Denmark and other places!

I agree that turnovers aren’t a problem. I’ve posted that repeatedly. That’s a problem, which needs to be corrected.

Saying they smell just reflects your frustration and is not a balanced evaluation of the game or the team. Did you watch the first half? Am I only supposed to watch half the game?

Basketball is a game of runs. We got up big at the half. But they made a game of it in the second half. When they got within a point, we went on another run an extended the lead back up to 7. SH battled back again and came out with the win in the final seconds. It’s not like our kids were just making mistakes. There was another team out there and they were also trying to win. No team is perfect. Win or lose, ever team makes mistakes in every game. You can spend all day pointing out mistakes. So, go for it. Have fun.

 

[Tyler2Rings]

This season resembles 2011 in a lot of ways Maui champs to BE regular season chumps.
Do we have a Kemba ? Of course not but this team is headless on the court .

Don't need a player to play like Kemba. But someone needs to be even half the leader he was. It's not too late for someone to rise up

 

[UConnSwag11]

Seton Hall is “Good” I guess. But they aren’t “Very Good” as I pointed out, but I guess you can argue they are somewhat close to it? St John’s is just plainly not very good.

Seton Hall is terrible even in this subpar Big East

 

[superjohn]

Indiana, Arkansas and Creighton all had major injuries to top players on their teams. We haven’t…

It's shocking, I thought the only possible way this team could be derailed would be massive injuries.

I also thought 4 regular season losses was the most we could expect with this squad.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

It's shocking, I thought the only possible way this team could be derailed would be massive injuries.

I also thought 4 regular season losses was the most we could expect with this squad.

Before the season one of the big things I was worried about was the lack of driving ability the team had. During the 14-0 start we were lights out from 3 and played great defense, but we still didn’t drive well at all. Now we are shooting poorly, and playing bad defense to go along with the last of slashing.

 

[AntG168]

Indiana, Arkansas and Creighton all had major injuries to top players on their teams. We haven’t…

Did you forget the beginning of the year?

Edit: nm you said major. Although we don’t know how good SJ would’ve been

 

[gioff2323]

This is not a good team. Yet. There’s plenty of time, but they do not seem to have the mental fortitude to step up or close out games. Frankly, they need to put their big boy pants on and man up.

Having said that, those so- called fans that cried and exclaimed they were quitting the other night, need to do the same. Man up. Act like you’ve confronted a tough situation before and see if they can figure this out. They exceeded expectations in 22 and underperformed in 23. Who knows where they go from here.

But throwing yourself on the ground and screaming like a 2 yo says more about you than it does the kids.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Did you forget the beginning of the year?

Edit: nm you said major. Although we don’t know how good SJ would’ve been

I mean, i’m a believer that SJ is a good addition, but he’s not the caliber of player (as of right now) that those teams lost.

 

[Chief00]

We have 6 home games left/5 away games.. Irrespective of the opponent.. See us going 5-1 at home.. Of the 5 away games.. All except Creighton are vs opponents currently ranked below us in BE standings. See us going no worse than 4-1.. If my numbers hold up preceding the BET.. We're 24-7.. With very strong OOC wins on the resume that appear to be growing in value for Selection Sunday.

Some teams are more comfortable playing with a chip on their shoulder.. And are chasers.. Some like to lead and go wire-to-wire and be the chased. Think our guys like the chip on the shoulder kind of vibe.

We've got our "warts".. Areas for improvement. Fans can make a choice as to their optimistic or pessimistic views.. I'm still "in" on the season being a success.. A choice I've made as a casual fan.

Good view.

 

[jibsey]

The flaw in your argument is that Seton Hall and St. John’s are very good teams. Not by Big East standards but in the overall world of college basketball, they are very good.

Seton Hall in particular is being badly disrespected here. They beat Rutgers on the road, a team currently ranked in the top 25. They beat Memphis on a neutral court, a team currently ranked in the top 40 by both Sagarin & Ken Pom. Seton Hall themselves is ranked in the top 50 by both Sagarin & Ken Pom. This figured to be a tough game from the get go. The way we lost it is is our aging, but losing to them by I point on the road in the final seconds was certainly within the range of possibilities going in. The loss doesn’t mean we played badly, but it only takes a few mistakes against a good team to turn a win into a loss.

The St. John’s loss was a far bigger disappointment because it was at home, because the margin of victory was bigger, and because they aren’t ass good as Seton Hall. But they are a good team. They are ranked in the top 60 by bith Sagarin and Ken Pom. They actually have an outside shot of going to the tournament. While this is a bad loss, it’s the only truly bad loss on the resume, and it’s not as bad a loss as say, Xavier’s loss to DePaul. In a tough league like the Big East, games like this happen from time to time. Xavier recovered fro their loss to DeOaul and we’ll recover from this one.

They won't be convinced here because these teams have been painted as bad for a long time, and guess what? They're not terrible.