Define a successful season

[ConnHuskBask]

Big East title or a Final Four appearance and the season is a success

I'm far from a national title or bust fan, but I find it hard to imagine that winning the Big East title with this group and failing to make 2nd weekend would look like anything but a failure.

 

[elmcityboy]

i reallllly want to see this team sweep the big east regular season title and tournament title. would be extremely sweet to put these other big east teams in their place.

and obviously a repeat trip to the final four would be magical, especially if we are in brooklyn and boston, but i would take the sweet sixteen. anything less would be very disappointing.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

If the season ends with a loss and our initial response is "how $%# did we let this happen?" the season will not be a success.

Pretty much everything else will be a success.

 

[ninety-nine]

I also think it's important for UConn to have a dominant regular season (for a change) and win the Big East title, hopefully outright. I'd like to see us finish at least 17-3 with no worse than a split against Marquette, which with UConn being 10-1 right now (with upcoming games against DePaul and G'town) is not a pipe dream. This hearkens back to some of the seasons we put together in the 1990's and 2000's.

Obviously I love the national championships and they're the top priority, and if we somehow stumbled and finished 15-5 with Marquette ahead of us, only to win another NC (or at least reach the Final Four), the season would clearly not be a failure. That's ridiculous. But in terms of goals for this team, a true success would be to show consistent dominance throughout the year, not lose to a Xavier-type bubble team in the BET, and then reach the Final Four (hopefully hoisting NC #6). That's who this program wants to be and can be.

An Elite Eight loss might be okay only if we played well, but lost to a loaded team playing its A-game. (Or if we were dealing with a key injury.) But then I think we'd have to have won the regular season title and the BET as well. The standards are very high again, especially with so much realignment chaos happening. We have to seem indispensable as a brand to CBB.

 

[navery12]

I'm far from a national title or bust fan, but I find it hard to imagine that winning the Big East title with this group and failing to make 2nd weekend would look like anything but a failure.

I agree but I didn't think I needed to be that specific. Feel like that goes without saying. Obviously losing early in March would suck

 

[87Xfer]

Making the Elite Eight or further (or possibly Sweet Sixteen - I'm on the fence there) in the dance > BET champs > BE reg season IMHO.

Not making the 2nd weekend is a disappointing season.

 

[Luna]

It’s been a successful season already..any team can lose in the tournament.. you have a bad shooting day.. the other team shoots lights out.. I’ve enjoyed this season so much, and when it ends it ends… nothing is going to take away from the great year we are having

 

[storrsroars]

I'm getting a bit of a 1992 Pittsburgh Pirates vibe. We pretty much know we're losing at least 4 of the 5 starters, and maybe all 5 after this year. We're looking at a couple of years w/o realistic NC chances after this. So for me, it's NC6, although I suppose I could be talked into a FF loss vs a top 3 seed (as long as it's not Purdue or Duke).

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I'm getting a bit of a 1992 Pittsburgh Pirates vibe. We pretty much know we're losing at least 4 of the 5 starters, and maybe all 5 after this year. We're looking at a couple of years w/o realistic NC chances after this. So for me, it's NC6, although I suppose I could be talked into a FF loss vs a top 3 seed (as long as it's not Purdue or Duke).

SR,

I think you've been in Pittsburgh far too long.

If our season ends the way the Pirates 1992 season did, blowing a series they had won, it will absolutely not be a success.

I want to expand on my earlier post (that a WTF season ending loss is the only path to failure). The way I see it, there is very little out there that can lead to a season ending loss for us. Success for us can only be one of a very small number of possible outcomes.

 

[CL82]

Ordinarily I would agree with you, but this team is far too skilled and deep to not win another National Championship. Failure is the wrong word, but I fully expect this team to win another title as long as they remain healthy. They are that good.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I'm far from a national title or bust fan, but I find it hard to imagine that winning the Big East title with this group and failing to make 2nd weekend would look like anything but a failure.

Absolutely.

One question that I believe needs to be posed:

If this season ends like last season, one of the top few teams in the conference regular season but not outright regular season champs, knocked off by a missed last second shot for the win in the BE semifinals and a dominant run through the NCAA's to cut down the nets. Is there any way that this could be framed as less than an exceptionally successful season?

 

[superjohn]

We're looking at a couple of years w/o realistic NC chances after this.

I get what you're saying but I don't really see how you can say that with NIL and the portal now and with this staff (might be the last year they're all together) and program.

That being said we have the best team in the country and I think if healthy this has the chance to be our best team ever so I will be disappointed if we don't win it all. 2005-2006 didn't feel like a success despite having a gaudy record and winning the Big East regular season and I like this team a lot more than that one.

 

[ctchamps]

I will keep saying what I am saying. Healthy, we are the best team in the country. Not winning your conference regular season title with the best team in the country is failing. However, once the Dance starts the best team normally does not win. We are 10-1 in Final Four games. That is an absurd stat, and while I’d love to win it all crap is some day going to happen.

Win the Big East regular season and get to the Sweet Sixteen or Elite Eight and it’s been a very successful season. Beyond that — just because we’ll want more with all our being doesn’t mean we haven’t already been succcessful.

This rationale take is an affront to those of us that choose to ignore the reality of college basketball tournaments.

We reserve the right to scream, cry like two year olds having a tantrum, and deride and destroy any reasonable discourse that supports historical evidence of events if our spoiled and arrogant expectations are not met. Attempting to preempt our inalienable rights of emotional immaturity is the most egregious of those affronts.

You sir must relinquish your membership in the “Spoiled and Arrogant” UConn Irrational Fan Club. Return your “Spoiled and Arrogant” tee shirt(s) and/or sweatshirt(s) at once.

We will sentence you at tournament time with the objective you must post demands that nothing short of a National Championship will suffice. You will be required to confront any poster offering a rational counterpoint with an emotional tirade refuting that position. Your Yale legal persona must be replaced with the persona of the Yale Drama School. Nothing short of your best impersonation of Meryl Streep will be accepted.

With Kind regards,
Delores Umbridge
Hogwarts Headmistress

 

[Palatine]

If we make the Final Four it will be one of the greatest seasons in the history of the program.

That would be true even if we don't win the BE or the BET.

If we win the BE and the BET and don't make the Final Four, it will be a nice season, a good season. Nothing wrong with adding another Sweet Sixteen. But if that's all we do it will be somewhat of a disappointment.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Big East title or a Final Four appearance and the season is a success

Coming into the season, I'd agree.

At this point, I would consider it an and rather than an or.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

UConn won so many league titles they have become a yawn . The Big East/ or Conference tournament is important to a team on the bubble or for better seeding .
Only certain Conference tournaments are memorable 1990 our first , 2011 with its 5-5 in the old Big East or 2016 in the AAC . . Winning the AAC tournament in 2020 would have been a special way to go out for Vital.
Or winning the Big East tournament in 2021 or 2022 would have helped with seeding .
But as we proved last year those things are unimportant.to a great team whose seeding is going 1-4 .
Case in point
What do you remember about 2009
1, Going to the FF and playing MSU
2. Not winning either the BE tourney or the regular season .
When viewing past seasons frankly I had to be reminded of most teams regular season or conference tournament success .
For this team it’s a FF or bust winning the regular season might be significant since we haven’t done it in this league.
1. It’s in AZ
2. It may be my last opportunity if I could get there .

 

[Kenny11]

The Clingan foul trouble problem could bite us. Without that, we really should be a final four team. Anything can happen in a single elimination tournament but we have so many answers

 

[Rocktheworld]

If we wind up healthy as a 1 or 2 seed in the East, I feel like anything but a final four is a bit of a disappointment

 

[freescooter]

Why in heavens name would anyone vote for winning the Big East tournament? I’ve never understood why it matters. It is in so many respects a meaningless prize. Win the regular season and it pretty much guarantees a 1 seed. In the NBE Tournament I’d consider using bench guys to get them ready in case we need them. Ask basketball fans across the country who won the NBE tournament last year and you’ll get blank stares ( or more likely folks scrambling for their phones to google it). Ask won won the national championship and they will know. Ask Seton Hall if they would trade their 2016 title for a national championship. Of all the events out there, the NBE championship is about as meaningful as the 2K Classic. Nice to win but really, unless you are a bubble team or worse, who cares? For UConn it is kind of like an NFL team that has locked up home field for the playoffs with a couple of games left. You might think of sitting guys who have had some injury issues like Clingan so the don’t get hurt in a meaningless game and cost you when the important ones occur.

i guess I come down on the side of those who say I really want another National Championship, but a deep run would be ok so long as it wasn’t a George Mason style loss. As bl says the “best” team doesn’t always win in a 1-done tournament. I tend to think that there are a bunch of really good teams who could beat each other at any given time. Would anybody be surprised if we played UNC or Kansas and had the opposite outcome from earlier?

 

[UChusky916]

Final 4 and a BE trophy would be a success.

 

[Poe]

Before the start of the season, considering the fire power we lost, I would have said sweet 16 would be a success. Now - championship or bust, this team is incredible and getting better.

 

[Fan1978]

20-2, 10-1 in the BE so far and #1 in the country- it’s obviously been an incredibly successful season to this point. Before the season started, I believe we had a thread about what would make for a successful season. I think it’s a good time to revisit that now and ask, how would you define a successful season the rest of the way?

For me it would be a BE Regular Season title, a strong showing in the BET (maybe make it to Saturday night) and at least a Final Four appearance in the tourney. Another title would be great but I wouldn’t consider the season a failure if it didn’t happen. What say you?

 

[Fan1978]

We've already had a successful season.
To me a Final Four appearance does one better and is more valuable than a BE season or tourney title.
Now a super successful season is #6.

We are missing close on some big recruits right now. National champ and current #1, who wants to join the best program either late 2024 or 25 or reclass. Perhaps a duke commit changes mind?

 

[auror]

The Clingan foul trouble problem could bite us. Without that, we really should be a final four team. Anything can happen in a single elimination tournament but we have so many answers

Well we're 8-0 in high major games without Clingan or where he had foul trouble, including 4 games away from home against possible tournament teams. So I'm not so worried about it. .

If we wind up healthy as a 1 or 2 seed in the East, I feel like anything but a final four is a bit of a disappointment

In this scenario I will be personally disappointed by the result, but I won't consider the season itself a disappointment.

 

[tzznandrew]

If we wind up healthy as a 1 or 2 seed in the East, I feel like anything but a final four is a bit of a disappointment

So much is contingent. I think usually an E8 run is a success—ideally a FF, but so much is random. But when the bracket breaks like it did in 2006, and E8 is a failure.

If they're a 1 in Brooklyn-Boston...it's a major disappointment to not make the Final Four.