Contrarian View: Not Ready to Throw In The Towel

[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.

 

[KingAG]

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.

 

[HooperScooper]

"Adversity is good," UConn coach Dan Hurley said. "Going through adversity and tough times. If you're not soft and you keep preparing and keep working, you take a look in the mirror as a head coach and as players, don't blame, complain or defend, and you just lock in.”

We'll see if they start to "lock in" and play better.

Journal Inquirer

Serving towns east of the Connecticut River

www.journalinquirer.com

(If you right click in Google Chrome and click on "Open Link In Incognito Window" you should be able to read this.)

 

[superjohn]

"Adversity is good," UConn coach Dan Hurley said. "Going through adversity and tough times. If you're not soft and you keep preparing and keep working, you take a look in the mirror as a head coach and as players, don't blame, complain or defend, and you just lock in.”

We'll see if they start to "lock in" and play better.

Journal Inquirer

Serving towns east of the Connecticut River

www.journalinquirer.com

(If you right click in Google Chrome and click on "Open Link In Incognito Window" you should be able to read this.)

I was hoping for an article with quotes from coach and players recognizing what's wrong and how they will fix it. Something to make me feel a little better about the direction of the season and that wasn't it.

Thank you for posting though.

 

[FlippinCrazy!]

Obviously I’d rather be struggling at this point than in the big east tourney / ncaa tourney. We’re almost a lock for the tourney, so let’s just keep working on getting out of this funk and figure out what our best team is. I’m not worried.

 

[FlippinCrazy!]

"Adversity is good," UConn coach Dan Hurley said. "Going through adversity and tough times. If you're not soft and you keep preparing and keep working, you take a look in the mirror as a head coach and as players, don't blame, complain or defend, and you just lock in.”

We'll see if they start to "lock in" and play better.

Journal Inquirer

Serving towns east of the Connecticut River

www.journalinquirer.com

(If you right click in Google Chrome and click on "Open Link In Incognito Window" you should be able to read this.)

This is spot on, we’ll get better in the end from this stretch. Teams are exposing our weaknesses now, there’s more than enough time to fix things.

People can say what they will about Hurley (who personally I have the upmost faith in), but don’t forget we also have 3 top notch assistant coaches capable of adjusting and getting this team better too.

 

[Billy Jack]

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?

Kansas just lost their 3rd in a row, a streak which included a 23-point blow out loss to TCU at home.

 

[giddyup]

This is spot on, we’ll get better in the end from this stretch. Teams are exposing our weaknesses now, there’s more than enough time to fix things.

People can say what they will about Hurley (who personally I have the upmost faith in), but don’t forget we also have 3 top notch assistant coaches capable of adjusting and getting this team better too.

Utmost faith? Hurley hasn’t seen weekend 2 in his career, and its Year 5 and he still can’t quite get it together. I would be skeptical that he can ride this team deep into the tourney given the high stakes pressure until he actually proves he can. Past performance is often fairly indicative of future results.

 

[PAHusky]

Kansas just lost their 3rd in a row, a streak which included a 23-point blow out loss to TCU at home.

Kansas lost their third in a row - one by one point to #5 KSU on the road, the blowout to #11 TCU and home, and another loss to #17 Baylor on the road (they beat #12 ISU the game before the streak). It's obvious that Kansas is having some issues too, and they're also playing tough conference games on the road.

No one thinks we should be winning every game. But to hear people acting like we're chicken littles for thinking something is fundamentally flawed with a team that lost to St John's at home and hasn't looked good against any half decent team in a month plus is crazy.

This is not 2011 or even 2014. We don't have the best player in college basketball on the team. We may not even have a top 25 player. I don't know why UConn fans, of all people, who understand just how improbably beautiful those Kemba/Bazz teams and runs were ever cites them as some sort of "relax bro" argument when UConn goes through a bad stretch.

 

[nomar]

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.

post/handle

This casual fan agrees that things can turn around (although 9-2 might be a stretch). Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor or Ben Hansbrough earned Big East MVP honors? Hell naw

 

[ValleyGuy]

God you people on here are the worst. Everyone hits a wall, it happens. Kansas just lost 3 in a row. They’ll be fine. Sound Like a bunch of Patriots fans on this blog

 

[nomar]

Kansas lost their third in a row - one by one point to #5 KSU on the road, the blowout to #11 TCU and home, and another loss to #17 Baylor on the road (they beat #12 ISU the game before the streak). It's obvious that Kansas is having some issues too, and they're also playing tough conference games on the road.

No one thinks we should be winning every game. But to hear people acting like we're chicken littles for thinking something is fundamentally flawed with a team that lost to St John's at home and hasn't looked good against any half decent team in a month plus is crazy.

This is not 2011 or even 2014. We don't have the best player in college basketball on the team. We may not even have a top 25 player. I don't know why UConn fans, of all people, who understand just how improbably beautiful those Kemba/Bazz teams and runs were ever cites them as some sort of "relax bro" argument when UConn goes through a bad stretch.

Good post and I agree with you a lot more than I disagree with you.

I wonder if we drew a Venn diagram, how many people that were in the "UConn's the best team since 1990 UNLV" circle and those in the "we're not making the NIT" circle would be in the overlapping portion. Probably a lot.

This is a bigger valley than I expected but I expect there will be another peak. I agree the team is flawed. Most teams are. I don't thin we can "fix" the PG issue but at least better shooting from the position would help.

 

[Billy Jack]

Kansas lost their third in a row - one by one point to #5 KSU on the road, the blowout to #11 TCU and home, and another loss to #17 Baylor on the road (they beat #12 ISU the game before the streak). It's obvious that Kansas is having some issues too, and they're also playing tough conference games on the road.

No one thinks we should be winning every game. But to hear people acting like we're chicken littles for thinking something is fundamentally flawed with a team that lost to St John's at home and hasn't looked good against any half decent team in a month plus is crazy.

This is not 2011 or even 2014. We don't have the best player in college basketball on the team. We may not even have a top 25 player. I don't know why UConn fans, of all people, who understand just how improbably beautiful those Kemba/Bazz teams and runs were ever cites them as some sort of "relax bro" argument when UConn goes through a bad stretch.

OMG. The sky is falling.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

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

Injured psyches.

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

You can carp or joke about emotional immaturity, or you can model emotional maturity. Choose wisely.

I can see you’re panicking. Hilarious.

Your post is aligns poorly with a comment directed to a fan of a team you frequently mention with the word "we."
Contemptuous.

Utmost faith? Hurley hasn’t seen weekend 2 in his career, and its Year 5 and he still can’t quite get it together. I would be skeptical that he can ride this team deep into the tourney given the high stakes pressure until he actually proves he can. Past performance is often fairly indicative of future results.

Would you rather be right or be happy? Which are you pursuing with a comment like that?

OMG. The sky is falling.

Is that a wish, a provocation, a hidden cheer, or a cry for help?

 

[giddyup]

Injured psyches.



You can carp or joke about emotional immaturity, or you can model emotional maturity. Choose wisely.



Your post is aligns poorly with a comment directed to a fan of a team you frequently mention with the word "we."
Contemptuous.


Would you rather be right or be happy? Which are you pursuing with a comment like that?


Is that a wish, a provocation, a hidden cheer, or a cry for help?

I’d rather be proven wrong than right.

 

[JB75]

You can substitute stupid as being synonymous with stubborn, maybe even a little crazy( doing the exact same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome each time is the clinical definition of insanity). And if you remember the last seton hall game Richmond scored 16 points in a row before Hurley made any meaningful changes and we lost that game too. He had a week to prepare for New Mexico St last year in the NCCA tournament and stop what was basically a one man team and he did nothing, he came into the game with no specific plans on how to defend the one player who proceeded to have a career game and we were bounced as a 5 seed in the first round. Apparently he doesn’t have the ability or desire to change

I agree —nothing to say.

 

[Conndog]

post/handle

This casual fan agrees that things can turn around (although 9-2 might be a stretch). Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor or Ben Hansbrough earned Big East MVP honors? Hell naw

Doesn't really pertain to the discussion, but what does "post/handle" mean? I've seen it a few times and have always been curious about it.